Chapter 72

Minutes later, Rhobart reached the camp.

"Milton! Ayla is hurt!" Rhobart as he made his way to the fire camp. The twins and the Mage

were sitting on logs in front of the fire, eating breakfast.

Eude was first to stand and asked in a cold, deadly tone, "What happened?"

Milton took out a mana potion and a rune while Rhobart took Ayla to him. The Fire Mage drank the mana potion and then put the vial back in his robe.

"Shadowbeast," the King said.

Hudde stood and pulled out his sword. "Where is it?" he asked in a tone similar to that of his brother.

"Dead," Rhobart replied while helping Ayla take her coat off.

"Rhobart almost cut it in half," Ayla said with pride in her voice.

Eude snorted, "I would have cut it in pieces!"

"And feed it to Kerra!" Hudde said while he put his sword back.

The snowcat growled and turned her back to the twins.

"You shouldn't be so picky!" Eude said to Kerra.

"Food is food!" Hudde said, and Kerra turned her head, narrowed her eyes, and spat in the twins' direction. The Paladins put their arms in the air, "We get it! We get it! You don't fancy shadowbeast meat. No need to get your saliva on us!"

Ayla tried hard not to laugh.

Rhobart already removed her coat, took out his dagger, and cut the sleeve of her tunic. Milton took Ayla's left hand and looked at the wound–the shadowbeast didn't bite Ayla very hard, and she was barely bleeding. The Fire Mage examined it for about a minute before taking a healing potion from his robe.

"It is not deep. A healing potion and some healing magic, and the wound will heal by the end of the day," the Fire Mage said as he gave Ayla the potion.

"It was a young shadowbeast, not an adult. And Ayla stabbed it in the neck before I cut it with my sword," Rhobart said.

"With more training, she will become a killer princess," Eude said.

"We should train her," Hudde said.

"Ayla trains with me!" Rhobart growled, and Milton laughed.

While the King and the Paladins argued over who gets to train Ayla, she drank the potion. Moments later, the pain started fading away. Milton used his magic on her, and the wound stopped beeling. He stopped only when the places where the shadowbeast's fangs broke Ayla's skin were closed. The wound wasn't fully healed, but Ayla felt relieved that by the end of the day, it be gone entirely.

"Thank you," Ayla said to Milton.

While the Fire Mage was healing Ayla, Rhobart took out the kettle, filled it with snow, and put it above the fire. The snow melted fast, and when the water was warm, Rhobart took the kettle from the fire and went to Ayla.

"Eude, bring one of my tunics," Rhobart said to the Paladin while he sat next to Ayla and took her left hand into his and looked at it.

The Paladin did as the King asked. When the tunic was in Rhobat's hands, and cut it into pieces, soaked one of them in the water, and gently cleaned the blood from Ayla's arm. When he got to her palm, Rhobart's fingers trembled when the blood was gone, and a white scar could be seen in the middle of Ayla's palm.

"Rhobart! Is that what I think it is?" Milton asked with a shocked tone.

Rhobart put his left palm next to Ayla's. A twin scar to that of Ayla's was in his left palm.

"I didn't see that the scar was back until I got Ayla to camp," Rhobart said, and the Fire Mage smiled.

"I don't want to say I told you so, but I told you so," Milton said and smirked.

The twins got closer to Ayla and Rhobart and looked at their palms. When they saw the scars, their eyes went wide.

"I'll be damned!" Hudde said.

"The bond is still there!" Eude said.

Ayla put her hand in her lap from looked at the men. "All of you knew about Rhobart and me, and no one said anything?" she asked in an angry tone.

"Someone said we can't say anything about it! I was dying to tell you all about it," Hudde said.

Eude grinned, "And it was impossible not to know. Rhobart would sulk and drink until he would get drunk and–"

"Shut up, Eude!" Rhobart growled.

"–cry because you left him!" Hudde finished the sentence for his twin.

Ayla felt sad for Rhobart. While she didn't remember anything, he was the one to suffer, thinking that she had left him.

"I did not cry!" Rhobart protested.

"I remember one night in particular when you drank so much you ended up crying on Godefray's shoulder!" Eude said, laughing. "And the next day, you went to that a woman's tent wanting to fuc–"

"I am going to send you to Beliar if you don't shut up!" Rhobart growled.

"But nothing happened! He got out a minute later with a grim expression on his face. He then left with Droyn–" Hudde said.

"Shut up the fuck up!" Rhobart growled.

"And when he came back, Rhobart had tattoos and pierced his left nipple!" Eude finished.

Ayla was looking at the Rhobart and the twins. They seemed more like brothers and not like King and Paladins. She liked, no, she loved how Rhobart treated his Paladins. Galian would never treat his knights or Paladins like Rhobart was treating his people.

"What happened to the bond?" Milton asked Ayla, ignoring the bickering between the King and the Paladins.

She looked at Rhobart, "This is something I have to talk with Rhobart in private."

"Talk. Sure," Eude said.

"If you are so scared of fucking her, put her on top and let her ride you," Hudde said.

Ayla's cheeks turned red, and Rhobart looked at the twins with so much anger.

"Was everyone listening to what Milton and I talked about?" Rhobart asked in an angry tone.

Eude shrugged, "Next time, talk in a private place. But if you put Ayla on top and have her fuc–"

Hudde interrupted his brother, "Oh yeah. Having a woman on top of you, riding your co –"

"If you two don't shut up, I am going to cut your tongues and give them to Kerra!" Rhobart said and reached for his dagger. Kerra sat on her haunches, looked at the twins, and licked her whiskers.

The twins took several steps back, "We pretty much prefer our tongues in our mouths!"

Rhobart looked at the twins for a few more moments, then said, "We should leave as soon as possible." He looked at Ayla, "You think you can ride? If not, you can ride with me."

"If I were the princess, I would ride the King!" Eude said before rushing to his horse.

"I swear to Inoss, Eude–" Rhobart started saying, but Ayla interrupted him and said to Eude, "Maybe I will."

Rhobart looked at her with hungry eyes.

Milton choked on the air, and the twins grinned, looked at Ayla, and said, "She is growing up so fast!"

"Start packing!" Rhobart ordered the twins while his eyes were on Ayla. "The next camp has cabins. We can talk there," Rhobart said to Ayla.

"Milton, I hope we brought enough provisions with us. We will spend at least one week in the next camp," Hudde said to the Fire Mage.

"I am not concerned about that. We can always hunt," Eude said. "But while others will have fun, we will have no one to keep us company."