Chapter 4: Mystery

Marriage was purely political either to gain ties or to keep the royal bloodline in the family. In this case it was for both reasons.

King Gorric of Wallachia decided to marry off his beloved daughter, Ezna Thorne to the crown prince of Wallace. The two had been engaged for a while never actually seen each other but he now planned to change that. He sent his daughter on an entourage to the Wallacian court so that she may get used to it.

The entourage comprised of three carriages surrounded by marching soldiers. The princess was in one presumably the middle one for protection.

The entourage had crossed the marks of Wallachia and was now in the Asmara border in Wallace. The path trekked across the Asmara thick forest but it was clear and undisturbed. The eerie silence though was suspicious and the carriages quickened their pace.

The silence was disturbed by the loud neighing of horses of the first carriage as it went to a sudden halt.

It was then several arrows whizzed by each landing squarely on the knights as they dropped down dead. The remaining knights took defencive positions as they tried to pinpoint their enemy but... Silence. It was as if it no one was there beyond the woods but the knights waited. It was very tactical of the offense to delay their second onslaught making the defence anxious and this bought them the element of surprise.

No one noticed when the shadow of the carriage shifted and a figure emerged from it dressed in black. The figure then expertly grabbed the nearest guard by the neck pulling him backwards and before he could make a sound sliced his neck. The rest turned but suddenly screams of women echoed from among the carriages as the horses neighed louder.

It was then the onslaught began. Multiple arrows were fired upon them from the woods followed by a band of around twenty armed bandits wielding twirled blades. Before they knew it the entourage was attacked by its front and the back by shadowy men.

The two sides clashed, one had the advantage of numbers but the bandits wielded several advantages. They were hard informal fighters with somewhat rogue swordmanship quite different from what the royal knights were used to, thus making it hard to predict their movements. The bandits had another crucial advantage, they employed long range attacks by stacking their rear with archers.Now it was no longer a battle but a one sided massacre.

The captain of the entourage bellowed at the attackers, "This entourage is under the protection of the majesty of these lands"

The latter continued on as if they were deaf and surrounded the entourage. The captain then realized that this was not an ordinary case of theft by bandits, it was a planned attack with a target.

"Protect the Princess...!" he shouted loud enough but it was too light. Blood dripped from the hole in his chest and soaked his Armour. The Bandit smirked and twisted the blade as it ripped the captain's insides and he fell dead.

"Get the girl."

One of the bandits roughly opened the carriage, the princess was there with her hands maiden. The bandit grabbed her by the hand ready to pull her out but then he seemed to remain still. His eyes remained still but the pupil kept on darting and he fell to the ground.

The princess raised her hands, the men raised their defences but it was too late. Boom! Boom! Boom!

Several blue lights shone the area as loud blasts were heard as smoke floated in the air and a smell wafted. A smell akin to that of cooked meat.

The smoke cleared leaving a barren ground with large scorch marks on it. The men lay on the ground with their burnt flesh sticking from their skin.

The whole entourage and the masked men were dead but the princess was yet to be seen.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Priesthood was sacred and strict on its implementation, following the rules of religion to the latter. But one would be surprised of one particular priestly family.

The Belmont family was a respectable priestly in the lands of Makuol. In its lineage there was one priest named Aurora . She was pure and kindhearted, that was needed for a priest but not quite all of it. She was female and that was unheard amongst priests but she was a Belmont and it slided. She became a Maester.

Maesters were healers of the Triumvirate who basically controlled religion in the kingdom. Aurora loved being a maester, they participated in charity works and helping the needy.

It was during one that she discovered a mystery in her self that later became part of her.

It was a village called Wanda, a few miles to the border of the kingdom of Wallachia and Wallace. The area around was semi arid and the people there succumbed to periods of short droughts. Worse yet it was where anti-regime wars were fought between the two rival Kingdoms. The wars disrupted the economic activities there and there became hunger pangs. Wanda thus served as a clinic for the injured and a camp for the poor and hungry.

The triumvirate sent their maesters in the claim that the gods had said so through them, Aurora on the hand was happy to help. And so they were sent. But after a week the situation turned to a standstill with the injured increasing the season transitioning to a long drought and the resources depleting. Better yet, the backup was not yet due due to the uneventful sandstorm hampering travel.

A man was carefully laid down on a soft bed as he groaned softly in his uneventful sleep of hushed hisses. Beaded sweat trails formed on his head as his breathing increased with rampant pants. The upper flesh of his right thigh had ripped open leaving a view of its inside with blood gushing out in splotches. A gruesome sight of failed butchery.

The man opened his eyes and winced them in pain.

"I need cold water" A dark haired lady with soft amber eyes said. It was Aurora.

"There is none, milady" her assistant replied in a dejected tone.

The man seemed to hear this for he groaned and turned to her.

"Am a going to die?"

He asked the question with a tear forming in his eye. Aurora shake her head, No. She wasn't going to let him die but the man had a burning fever and she needed to clean his wound.

But what could she? Cursed that the area was dry were good people like him then supposed to die. No she wouldn't allow it, she was a healer!

She raised her hands intuitively and closed her eyes as tears flowed vividly. It was then something mysterious happened, more like magical. From her palm water droplets materialized out of thin air and filled her jar.

She opened her eyes but she was too happy to think about what had happened and immediately got to cleaning the wound.

But unknown to Aurora , her assistant had witnessed the occurrence and could only think of the reward of capturing heretics.