The Eris

Vanessa looked out the window of the carriage to the rolling hills. A sea of grass waved with every gust of wind, creating the illusion of a sea. Gold on green blades bounced back sunlight and shadowed brown when the breeze made them bend.

The sun must've been in a good mood today, because it shone brightly and here weren't any clouds as far as the eye could see.

She could hear the sounds gravel crunching under wheels and the lazy clopping of hooves

She was riding a carriage into the country side to get some fresh air. She and her eldest brother had yet another fight and her father made her take a carriage ride to cool off while separating her from her brother.

She stewed in her anger for her brother and father. It may seem like she was sent out of the castle to cool off, but she knew that her father had basically given her a time out. Her face furrowed in distaste at the fact that her father still treated her like a child.

He'd never send Uriel out like this, to wander the road feeling like you'd been sent from your own home. Just because he was the Crown Prince it didn't mean that Uriel was worth more than her. Did it?

The ego of that man was something else. He'd never allow anything to be done a different way. No, that wasn't quite right. He'd never allow her to do anything in a different way.

Ever since their mother died, things just got worse for her. Not in the Cinderella type of situation though. She knew her father loved her. Maybe he was a tad overprotective because of the fact that she was the only duaghter he had compared to his other three sons, but she knew that he loved her. The problem lie in her eldest brother.

After their mother died, she felt like he always blamed her for it because he made her life miserable. He'd always criticise the things she did and never gave her any leeway in her own choices. Nothing seemed to please him. He'd always have something to say about her behaviour. Just because she felt like not being a shallow, depthless princess whose only purpose was to look pretty. In her opinion anyway.

It didn't start out like that though. After their mother's death, Uriel was a great older brother when she was younger. Around that time, the twins, Alec and Evan, went to military camp. She never saw them much, and even Uriel was busy with his duties as Crown Prince while her father was busy with being King. So that meant that she was all alone. There would be times over the years when Alec and Evan would come home to visit, but since they were apart for months or years on end, it was like they didn't even know each other anymore.

Without any siblings or their father to keep some semblance of balance, that meant that the youngest and eldest were left to each others own devices. They couldn't stand each other at all and they fought every other week.

Maybe her father's intervention was inevitable, but she hated it nontheless.

Vanessa plopped her head on the carriage seat and closed her eyes, trying her best to match her breathing to the carriage's repetitive bumps as it traversed the coarse graveled road. She liked the days when the clouds were never present in the sky and the sun took the spotlight. It wasn't hot though, and a cool breeze blew. So even if it was, you'd atleast be cool.

'It's so BORING!' she thought to herself. She began to think about the fight earlier. Did she really blow things out of proportion? Maybe she did, but Uriel had it coming. So what if she didn't want to act like a princess. She hated going to balls and galas only to be treated like a lesser being. She'd rather stay locked up in her library or staying in the castle garden. Anything that wouldn't involve the ridicule she'd experience from the snooty men and women who'd frequent the castle.

She wasn't being selfish, was she? Was she only thinking of herself and not once thinking about the position her brother was in?

All of a sudden she shot up and held her head in her hands. 'This is exactly what Dad wanted me to do!'

There was no way she'd let that train of thought continue. Uriel was an asshole and that was that!

Sometimes, she wished she hadn't been born a princess. Her life was just a combination of shit mixed with worse shit. The only time she could remember having some semblance of happiness was when her mother was still alive. Back then, atleast everyone was a family. She had nothing to worry about because she felt like there was no place else she'd rather be. Now things were different.

Her mother was the kingdom's general and fought wars. But when Vanessa was born, she retired to take care of her family. everyone respected her then. Elizabeth Cartise, the kingdoms shining silver dagger. She had attained a position no other woman in the kingdom had ever had in it's history.

So why didn't they treat her daughter like that? Them moment she died it was as if all of her accomplishments had no meaning anymore. They'd mock her, throw sexist comments her way and treat her as if she had no value other than her title.

Vanessa hated it; and what she hated even more was the fact that her own brother would join them. She wanted more in her life. Some normalcy.

She'd often picture a nice little house in the middle of nowhere where she could be free; but she'd snap back to reality when the aspects of her life would come back to her and she'd be reminded that something like that wasn't in the cards for her at all.

A few months ago, her father had made an arranged marriage for her with a prince from another kingdom. He only called it off because of how much she protested it. Now she was in the situation she was in with Uriel. It seemed that he only cared about duty or responsibility and not his own family. He was completely OK with letting her marry for the sake of an alliance. Why was he so heartless?

Deciding that she should stop fuming about all the things she couldn't control, she popped her head out of the window to get the drivers attention.

"Excuse me, where are we going next.?"

"To a village nearby, Princess. Your father ordered me to take you there to mingle with the townspeople." he replied curtly.

She sat back down and prepared herself for the long ride there. She decided to lie down and sleep the rest of the way there.

Vanessa woke up to a particularly big bump from the carriage that knocked her from her seat and unto the floor. She rubbed the spot on her head where she landed and poked her head out the window to scold the driver, but instead a horrible sight met her eyes.

Five men, which she could only describe as bandits pulled the driver from his seat and ran a blade through his stomach, then twisted it and pulled it out.

"Should have cooperated old man, I'm not fond of killing, but I will if I have to." a voice snarled. It was mixed with sadism and mockery at the man infront of him. Almost sarcastic.

Her eyes widened with terror. They killed him, just like that, without giving it a scond thought. She'd always thought that people like that only exist in stories, but not in real life. How could they take a life so easily, like it meant nothing to them?

They turned around to face her. There were two humans and two other creatures with animalistic features.

She ducked back into her carriage and locked the doors. Her breath came out ragged and erratic. She could hear sounds outside, but she didn't dare look.

She jumped when she heard a bang on the door. The eris from earlier tore the door off as if it were paper and hopped inside. She'd read about them before. Native beings to the continent before humans first settled. They were described as humans with such a deep conection to nature that they'd beome part of it. Some of them had features of diferent animals, like fur, claws, tails and faces. Others could switch from human to animal and there were a rare few that could be all three. They weren't treated the best when humans settled and most had to hide themselves with their abilities. Those who couldn't or chose not to were shunned and had to live in seclusion or resort to crime to survive.

He came inside and sat down with his hands between his legs. He had the face of a panther and spotted fur along his arms and legs which were only interrupted by the plentiful scars that decorated his skin. He had a tail that would curl and move every once in while and Vanessa couldn't help but stare at him in fear.

The eris pulled down his mask and stared at her with an amused face.

"What's wrong princess? Never seen an Eris before? Don't worry, we're not gonna hurt you. Not too much anyway." He let out a dry laugh at his humour and stood up to put his arms on the sides of her head. Then he inched towards her ear and whispered:

"Y'see, then we wouldn't get payed."

Vanessa felt trapped. Without thinking, she grabbed the knife that was hidden in the cushion seats and stabbed him in this shoulder, when she wanted to aim for the neck. She then landed a blow to his face and while he was stunned, ran out of the carriage down the road.

When she was a few meters away from the confused bandits, she heard a furious growl and turned back to see the eris charging at her with inhuman speed. Within a few seconds he drew close enough to pounce on her and pinned her hands down with one arm against the gravel.

He brought his face closer to hers and snarled at her.

"You're gonna pay for that you little bitch!"

She tried to break free, but he was so much stronger than her that her hands didn't even move.

He pulled the dagger from his shoulder and faced her. She knew then that she had pissed him off.

'Am I going to die?'

Without any warning he reared back his arm and the last thing she saw was his fist speeding towards her face before she blacked out.