Chapter 7: The Rocky Journey to a New Beginning

Finally, by the early afternoon, Akio's party was ready to depart. Azrya's family had not come to bid her farewell, however she was unsurprised by her actions. Akio stood by the side of the carriage door. Reluctantly, Azrya made her way towards him, each step she took felt heavy, as if there were invisible tons attached to her feet.

As usual, Akio's stare was as cold and as harsh as ever, as he outstretched his arm, giving a hand to Azrya to assist her in entering the carriage. As he she was about to enter, Azrya heard a high-pitched voice belonging to a child yelling frantically,

"Wait! Don't leave yet Azrya!"

Azrya immediately turned around. She instantly recognised the voice, belonging to her youngest sister Iris, who was running towards her, tears streaming down her face as her nursemaid chased after her.

Iris tightly hugged Azrya as she ran into her arms crying.

"Azrya, I tried to come sooner, but they wouldn't let me see you. I'm – going to – miss you – terribly."

She said between sobs, clinging to the skirt of Azrya's dress.

Azrya hugged her tightly back, then crouched down to her sister's level so that they would be eye to eye and smiled reassuringly saying,

"It's okay Iris, don't cry. I won't be gone forever. I promise I'll come back to visit you. You can even come to Magnus and visit me if you like. You can have your own room and wardrobe full of pretty little dresses just for you."

Azrya said to her teary-eyed sister, while gently stroking her hair.

"Can it be decorated pink?"

Iris asked sweetly, successfully distracted from her crying by Azrya's proposal.

"Of course my sweet sister. You'll have a pink bed, pink walls, pink floors and even a pink potty." Azrya said smiling, making Iris laugh.

"Lady Iris."

A stern voice said interrupting them.

"We must return now."

Said Iris' nursemaid frowning her face.

Iris' smile disappeared and the tears reappeared.

"Be a good girl now and listen to your nurse maid Iris, and I'll be back before you know it."

Azrya said gently cupping her face, not wanting to get her sister into any trouble.

They hugged one last time before the nursemaid led Iris away, taking her by the hand.

Azrya turned away from Iris, trying to hold back her own tears, but her attempt was futile as the drops involuntarily rolled down her cheeks.

During the whole exchange, Akio had been silently observing, but he now spoke up, saying coldly,

"It's time to go."

Azrya glared at him with her watery eyes as she entered the carriage, ignoring his hand as he offered it to help her up into the carriage.

Akio closed the door and mounted his horse as anger built up inside of him. However, he never showed any emotion on his face. He wished he could bring Azrya's sister with them to Magnus to make her happy. Seeing their emotional goodbye hurt him, and left him frustrated that there was nothing he could do to ease the pain Azrya felt leaving her sister.

However, Akio had never been good with his words and struggled to find any words of comfort and reassurance to provide Azrya with. Instead, in his head he thought to himself that he would provide Azyra with every luxury, want, and need in Magnus, to make her happy. But he struggled to understand that it wasn't the materialistic things that Azrya needed to be happy.

All the dresses, jewellery and treasures in the world would not make Azrya happy, but it was the intangible things in life she needed, that would put a smile on her face.

The small-sized party of about twenty men, plus the now addressed Lady Halen, departed from castle Toria, riding away, until it became a spec in the distance.

Roughly three hours into the journey Magnus, the party came to sudden halt. Azrya stared out the window wondering what was happening. Surely they couldn't have arrived at their destination yet.

Magnus was a two-day ride from Toria, and the area they had stopped in was just a woody road surrounded by trees, deep in the dense forest. As she stuck her head further out the open window, she was able to see why they had stopped.

A fallen tree was blocking the road. Even though the men on their horses could easily go around it into the forest, they had to move it out of the way in order the let the carriage and wagons pass. As some of the men had dismounted to push the tree trunk out of the road, while the others remained mounted and alert on their horses, there was a sudden shout.

"BANDITS!"

One of the soldiers yelled, as the group was suddenly ambushed by what seemed to be about fifty men, outlaws no doubt.

Among the chaos, Akio rode up to the carriage on his black stallion and brusquely commanded Azrya,

"Stay in the carriage."

While sliding the window shut.

He then signalled for two men to guard her from the outside while the rest of them fiercely fought the bandits.

The stench of blood filled the air and the piercing screams of men being slaughtered could be heard. Azrya peered through the closed window anxiously.

Despite Akio's men being greatly outnumbered, the outlaws were no match for them, as she saw bandit after bandit fall to the floor in defeat while all of Akio's men remained uninjured and still violently fighting.

As Azrya continued to observe the battle that was commencing, one bandit caught her eye. He was only a boy, younger than her, probably only about sixteen years old. As Azrya continued to stare, she recognised his face which was contorted in pain, as he lay on the ground, his arm broken and bending the wrong way.

It was one of the boys from the orphanage that she supported secretly all these years. His name was Julien and he had lost both his parents in a tragic fire which had left him and his three siblings homeless, until the orphan took them in.

Without a second thought Azrya jumped out of the carriage and raced towards him, ignoring the carnage occurring around her. The knights who were protecting her carriage were busy, engaged in fighting bandits who had approached the carriage, so she was able to speed past them. She reached the boy who was a few metres away, and knelt on the floor examining his broken arm.

Having been locked up in the castle at Toria with nothing to do, Azrya had studied and read many books from the library, a lot of them being medical ones as they had fascinated her the most. She would then use the knowledge she gained from the books on the children on the orphanage, as they would often end up with many scrapes, bumps and broken bones, as children tended to have, and they couldn't afford to visit a physician.

Knowing what to do, she confidently said to Julien,

"This is going to hurt, but it has to be done so take a deep breath and exhale on the count of three."

Recognising Azrya, some of the pain left the boy's face as he looked up at her with worried eyes.

"One, two -"

But before getting to three Azrya quickly snapped his arm back into place, realigning the bone causing the boy to scream in agony.

She knew how much pain he would be in and purposely caught him off guard as to get it over and done with as quickly as possible.

Azrya quickly ripped her dress, using the material to bandage the boy's arm where it had broken, keeping it in place.

Tenderly patting his shoulder, Azrya spoke softly to the boy saying,

"Julien you did so well but we can't stay here, it's too dangerous."

Helping him up to his feet, putting his good arm around her soldier, supporting him as they headed for the carriage.

However, they had only managed a few steps when a bandit suddenly appeared in front of them.

The man swung his sword up in the air, aiming for Azrya as he was about to bring the sword slaying down upon her. But before he got the chance to do so, there was a sudden flash and the man's head rolled on the floor as his body fell limp to the floor.

Standing behind his lifeless body was Akio.

The look he had on his face was more intimidating than Azrya had seen so far, as he coldly eyed Azrya who was still supporting the boy.

The battle had now come to an end and all around lay the bodies of the outlaws, while Akio's soldiers cleaned the blood off of their weapons.

Unable to support Julien's weight anymore, Azrya gently placed him on the ground crouching next to him, examining his wounds once again, ignoring Akio has his eyes seemed to pierce two holes into her as anger seemed to seep from his pores making the air tense.

"Didn't I tell you to stay in the carriage."

He said to Azrya calmly with a deadly edge to his words.

Azrya, not wanting to reveal her secret about the orphanage replied,

"He's just a boy. He needed my help."

She said without removing her focus from tending to Julien's injuries.

For a moment Akio said and did nothing, and just stood there still as though time had frozen.

He then withdrew his sword which he had sheathed after beheading the man who had dared try to harm his wife.

Taking a step towards the boy, Akio robotically stated,

"He is the enemy. We do not risk our lives for our foe. We kill our foe."

He said raising his sword, ready to swing at Julien who lay on the floor unarmed and injured.

Realising what was about to happen, Azrya screamed,

"No!"

And shielded the boy's body with her own, looking back and glaring at Akio.

"If you want to kill him, you'll have to kill me first."

Sensing her resolve and stubbornness, Akio sheathed his sword glowering thunderously at Azrya and turned away from her. Addressing one of his men he ordered bluntly,

"Escort my wife back to the carriage."

He said as he walked away from Azrya to the front of the group,

One of the knights approached Azrya.

"Lady Halen, please follow me back to the carriage."

"Could you please help me bring this boy?"

Azrya replied to the knight.

The knight shot a worried glance at one of his comrades, unsure of what to do, looking back to observe Akio, who was discussing something with one of the other knights further up ahead, not refusing to acknowledge his rebellious wife.

Sighing, sensing that Azryana would not comply with him unless he fulfilled her request, he signalled to one of the knights to help the Julien up.

"The best I can do is take him in one of the wagon's, Lady Halen. We will be riding for an inn where we will stay the night and he can be treated and looked after there. I hope this pleases the lady."

Understanding that she was not going to get an offer better than that, Azrya nodded agreeing, and complicitly followed the knight back to the carriage and they rode off, reaching the inn after a short ride.