Chapter 1 - Outside the Castle Walls

The human kingdom, more commonly known as Sanobar, was ruled by the Blackrose family. Serving directly under them were the Whiteroses, the branch family of the royal Blackroses. The Whiteroses controlled about a third of the kingdom and held tremendous power. Second in power were the Ravenstorms, followed by the Thronesgar family. Minor lords of small fiefs served under the great houses, but it was within Thronesgar castle that things were not as they seemed.

A girl stood in the waiting chambers outside the lord's room. She had stood there everyday, hoping to finally be admitted. She waited dutifully for a full hour, before turning to leave.

"Lirya Thronesgar. Only daughter and heir to the Thronesgar empire, the third most powerful noble house in Sanobar! So why won't father see me?" she muttered, leaving the room with defeat in her eyes.

It had been gradual at first. Moments when he would not look her in the eye, or when he excused himself and left her quickly. Then one day, with no explanation whatsoever, he simply refused to see her at all. It had been many months now. She knew he was there, but no one opened the door. No one told her why he had suddenly disappeared.

She walked out into the hall and tripped over the hem of her dress, but was caught by one of the guards stationed outside the waiting room. He picked her up, set her upright and gave her a sympathetic look. All the guards were aware of her attempts to see her father.

"Thank you, Reylous," she said gratefully.

He bowed to her. "No problem, m'lady."

Grumbling about how dresses were an inconvenience to everyone, Lirya recalled her brief conversation with her mother, concerning the extravagant piece of lace. That had been before she fell sick and Lirya was forbidden to see her.

"Why, in the name of Pelos, must I wear this?" she had asked her mother that day, many months ago.

"As the only daughter of Lord Rowan, you have a reputation to uphold, just as I have mine. So you will wear that dress, Lirya Elena Aylusa Thronesgar," was the stern reply.

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Hours later, when she was momentarily freed of her duties as the heir to the House, Lirya changed her attire. Dresses, though pretty, were an inconvenience to anyone who wished to do anything other than sit around all day. Instead, she wore plain leggings and a loose tunic. If not for her long auburn hair that she had braided down her back, she could easily have been mistaken for a boy. Her mother would have thrown a fit if she had seen how her daughter was dressed. Not that Lirya particularly cared about her mother's opinions anymore.

Lirya descended the spiral stairs quickly, but caught her foot on a step. Before she knew it, she was falling. At that height, it would certainly hurt, but she grabbed the hand rail and twisted— slamming into the unfortunate who had been climbing the stairs at that moment. They both tumbled down the stairs and landed in an undignified heap. She'd been lucky because she had been shielded by the person she crashed into. Lirya sat up and marvelled at how everything was working as it should. She'd gotten away with a slight headache and a few minor scrapes. The other person had been knocked out from the impact, and she looked closer. He wore the uniform of a squire at Thronesgar castle and had pale gold hair that reached his shoulders. Bangs brushed his eyebrows and nearly obscured his vision.

Lirya shook him gently at first, but when he didn't respond she shook him harder. Then she lightly slapped him across the face, to which he gave a small groan. His eyes fluttered open, a bronze shade of brown that looked at her own dusky ones. He frowned and squinted at the figure above him.

"Who…?" He groaned, wondering why he'd never seen that face before.

"You're awake!" Lirya exclaimed, "Can you stand?"

He sat up without help, wincing slightly as his battered body moved.

"Who are you?" He asked, eyeing her clothing. A squire off duty, perhaps?

It was not uncommon for women with potential to become squires, then knights. The kingdom could not afford to be distracted by gender prejudices when so many knights had been lost during the Demon War. Even fifty years had not restored the knight Order to a fraction of its former power.

Lirya hesitated a moment before answering, "Ah… I'm Lirya."

"Jason Kainley."

Lirya looked at him in confusion.

"It's my name. You told me your name, so it only seems fair that you know mine."

She nodded, but looked at his sorry condition and winced, apologising.

"I'm so sorry for this!" She cried, glancing over his numerous scrapes and bruises.

He smiled, "It's alright, really."

"How can I make it up to you?" Lirya asked, "I feel so bad for crashing into you because I wasn't looking!"

The boy laughed, brushing his bangs away from his eyes, "Well, then… maybe you could escort me to the medical wing? As you can see, I'm not in such a great state at the moment…"

In a castle belonging to one of the High noble Houses, there would always be a medical wing located near the training courtyards. Minor noble Houses often did not have a medical wing, simply because of the expense of medicine. Sanobar was still recovering from the loss of nearly all of their magic users, including healers, so the cost of inferior herbal medicines had skyrocketed after the Demon War.

Lirya, who had grown up in the castle, knew her way around most of the castle, including where the medical wing was. Although she had been forbidden to touch weapons, much less learn to wield them, she had often snuck away to visit the kindly nurse who worked at the medical wing.

"Yes, I'll take you there right away!" She said, grabbing one of his arms to support him.

He looked at her as a thought suddenly occurred, "Hey… actually, if you really want to pay me back, then you can go on an errand with me! I have to go outside the castle walls to the town to pick up some training weapons."

"I- I'm not sure… I've never been outside the castle before?" Lirya mumbled.

The boy looked very surprised at that, but the thought that she was the Lady of the House never occurred to him. Perhaps she's the daughter of one of the ladies in waiting or servants…

Most times, servants were permitted to keep their children in the castle if they worked at the castle. However, Lirya had grown up far from the scruffy servants' kids and minor nobility and her face was not known to many. She'd been living inside the castle taught by tutors since a young age and had never been outside the castle walls.

"Well… it's amazing out there, you know! Come with me! It will be fun!" He grinned.

After years of continuous monotone studies to become the 'perfect' lady, Lirya had developed a bit of a rebellious streak. The thought of going outside the castle walls piqued her curiosity and desire to do something of her own initiative.

"Yeah! I'll come!" She grinned, "When?"

Jason answered, "Hmm… well, it has to be today. I'll get a salve from the medical wing, then we can head out!"

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The salve had done wonders. Jason could walk freely without much pain and prepared to head out. He grabbed an old leather bag and headed out to the castle gates where Lirya was waiting. Jason showed a small wooden tablet to the guards at the gate and they were out.

"Wow! It's.... amazing!" Lirya exclaimed.

The castle was situated upon a hill that overlooked the town. A dirt path, worn by the tire tracks of many wagons over the years, snaked down to a small stream that separated the main village from the castle. Down by the stream, there was a tiny wooden bridge that allowed wagons to cross. While the bridge itself had been set down in the early days of the Age of Mortals, the wood had been replaced many times and imbued with strengthening magic before the Demon War. A few small buildings stood near the stream banks, with huge water wheels spinning at the back. Using those wheels, powered by the water flow, humans had found a way to live without magic. The spinning wheel powered great bellows in forges and grindstones in mills.

"I never knew that the places outside the castle could be that pretty!"

Lirya ran ahead, stopping only to peer at the town as they headed nearer. Jason laughed and increased his pace.

They crossed the bridge and Jason grabbed her hand saying, "Make sure you don't get lost. Since it's your first time here, stay close to me."

The town was bustling with midday activity as merchants clad in bright clothes loudly advertised their wares, hoping to draw customers to their stalls. Stalls outlined the narrow streets and the sounds of haggling floated over the general marketplace clamour. The atmosphere was loud and lively - the polar opposite of Lirya's usual surroundings. The servants trod carefully, fearful of angering the Lord. The noise entranced her. It was as if someone had removed the veil obscuring her eyes, flooding her view with bright colours, sounds, smells and life. The light breeze brushed her face, blowing stray strands of her hair lightly out of her face. She closed her eyes and smiled softly, revelling in the feeling of freedom that leaving the castle walls had brought her. Little did she know that freedom was not the only thing that awaited her outside the castle walls, though.

Jason made for a small stall hidden in the corner of two stores. Glimmering weapons were on display, but the stall did not attract many customers. Tucked in the corner as it was and lacking the bright silks that adorned the merchant stalls, it was overlooked by most. An old man with hair greying at the temples, dressed in a rough woolen shirt and worn leather apron was snoring away at the stall. Jason stepped up to him and tapped him on the shoulder, eliciting no response.

"You're too soft!" Lirya said, walking up to the man. She bent down to the old man's ear and shouted loudly, "You have a customer!!!"

He woke with a start, looked around wildly and spotted Jason. Grumbling irritably, he gestured to a loosely wrapped bundle nestled in the shadows of his stall, "There's your order... Now leave me be! Did you really have to be so loud?! I must be half deaf by now, at least!"

Not bothering to correct the man, Jason picked up the bundle and unwrapped it, revealing the metallic glint of utilitarian swords. He counted them, nodded to himself and rewrapped the swords.

"Come, Lirya… let's go!" He smiled.

Jason looked back at the old man and waved, "Thanks, Eisul!"

Eisul grunted and waved the boy off.

Lirya turned to Jason and asked, "Where do we go next? I want to see more!"

Jason opened his mouth to answer when a commotion broke out in the crowd. Guards pushed through the market, roughly shoving people out of the way. That was unusual, given how guards didn't often have a reason to enter the marketplace and when they did, they treated the people with dignity. It was only in times of emergency that they acted in such a manner.

One of the guards spotted Jason and Lirya and pointed to them. Before he knew what was happening, Jason was restrained by two guards, his swords dropped to the ground and forgotten amidst the chaos. Lirya was separated from him and taken into custody by the guards.

"Jason Kainley, you are under arrest for kidnapping Lady Lirya Thronesgar. Please do not resist us, or we will have to use force!"