Sera pulled her horse to an abrupt stop as the castle came into sight. Tall spires rising over the fading sunlight cast the illusion of a clawed hand trying to rake away the captivating sunset. All living green seemed to have been swept away from the land in view by that same desperately reaching claw. Sera nudged her horse into a trot as she tried to push away the image of an aura of death settling around her as she entered the forbidden territory.
The drawbridge was down, chains rusted through on both sides had long ago relieved themselves of the terrible burden of the solid oaken bridge. The moat was parched, but far from lifeless. In just a simple glance, Sera caught an image of snakes winding and twining around a skeleton that was too big to be a horse. At the sight of several human skeletons scattered in the moat with the dried body of the monster, some of the grinning bones bearing the royal crest, Sera turned away and resolutely finished the crossing of the ancient bridge.
An iron grate stood between her and the dubious safety of the courtyard. With a simple spell, she raised the grate from the sunken ground. Expecting creaking joints long forgotten, she was taken aback as the gate lifted with a lubricated silence.
The courtyard echoed the silence as she dismounted and led her horse in. As the gate came whispering down behind her, she released the reins and moved as a ghost across the courtyard toward the double doors at the far end. To her right, she could detect the faintest trace of old feed and manure of the stables. To her left, she recognized the barracks and training yard behind the muted waves of laboring weeds. Empty words babbled nothingness on both sides, shadowing her movements with menacing intentions.
She entered the inner sanctum with an uneasy feeling that the shades would have more power in the murky tomb within. As she passed beyond the double doors, they closed themselves like sentinels of an ancient prison. The meeting hall was dark at first, but after a few moments, she was able to perceive mist-vague shapes by the dim sunlight filtered through molding mortar. She was again plagued by the sight of unseen shades on the edge of her vision, impossible to define as they moved with the turning of her head in order to retain their maligning presence.
She continued straight after realizing the idiocy of trying to see something that could not possibly be there, intent on reaching the upper table, where the lord and his close advisors would sit. As she came to the stairs leading to the upper table, she removed her sword with a rasping sigh. The shadows mimicked the precautionary action with an impish delight, repeating the rasp over and over in as many tones and mediums possible. She placed her foot on the first step, then immediately pulled it back as something scampered toward her boot. She raised her sword to strike, only to realize that the dreadful demon was just a rat. She gave it a malicious kick and sending back into the living darkness from which it came, and she was rewarded by a dull crunch and a momentary surprise uttered by the fading spirits. She resumed her trek up the stairs, amused by her own prosaic fears.
The attack came without warning. A moment's flash of steel was all the time she had enact a deadly counter. Her blade was true, but the enemy was not. The metal crashed through empty air, severing ties between bones that should not have been there. The skeleton warrior was destroyed by the loss of the head, and the twiggy bones fell to the ground and splintered like stained glass thrown down upon bare rocks in a fit of fury. Within the wreckage, Sera shuddered when she saw the symbol of the Royal Elite Guard.
She forced her eyes away and continued up the stairs, more cautious of demented bones from beyond the grave. She obtained the landing without another encounter. She had expected to find a last meal to still be laid out on the table, covered with dusty cobwebs and dank mold, and she was not far from wrong. She did, however, err by one minor detail.
A body lay sprawled across the table in the middle of the splendid feast. The facial features had long since been eaten away by insectile infestations, but the clothes had remained relatively intact. Enough for her to recognize the man lying there.
Nacre, Lord Chancellor of the Court Treasuries, or, as he had been known by the peasants, the Bloodsucker. A bigger bloodsucker had ended this leach's aspiring career, she decided with an amused detachment. The Royal Elite on the stairs must have been part of his honor guard. The rest of the honor guard was probably in the moat, suffering the same indecency as the other tax collectors had over the last twenty years. She remembered the Lord Chancellor's departure, five years past. His boasts of how much gold and treasure he would bring back had been enough to attract the memory of an inquisitive princess of sixteen. The fact that she had been promised to marriage to this pompous of a man if he returned triumphant had helped the incident cling to her memory as well. No amount of taxes will bring you back now, chancellor, she thought to the man who she had feared and despised for the last five years.
A feeling of relief had just swept over her tense body when she realized that she was no longer alone. She looked up slowly from the corpse and fixed her eyes on a shape that was standing across the table. She guessed it to be Karvan, seeing that the person standing there was tall, taller than most men of that time. Karvan had been reputed for his height. Sera was unable to decide whether she should approach him, or let him speak first.
She had no more time to think on that as suddenly, the person across the table leapt in the air at her. She raised her rapier to retaliate, thinking that no human could possibly move that fast. No human. Just what was this Karvan?
He brushed her rapier away with a casual arm, blade seeming to have no edge, following through to strike her across her face. The force of the blow threw Sera across the room. Recovering, she scrambled to her feet, but a strong arm from behind pulled her down to her knees. She felt lips graze her neck and all doubts of the legends she had heard were dissipated.
"Karvan," she said, knowing that if she waited a moment longer, he would kill her as easily as he killed all of the others sent to his castle during the past two decades. "If you kill me now then the king will have the reason he needs to raise the army against you and claim your lands."
"No mortal can take from me what is mine," he replied, his voice a hoarse, unused whisper.
"Perhaps not one mortal, but if you kill me, there will be thousands to deal with."
"Your king loves you this much?" he asked in skepticism.
"I am his daughter," she answered with slight amusement, despite her situation, "he has no choice." Karvan seemed to hesitate, unsure of what to do.
"Why should I be afraid of mortals?" he asked at last.
"Does the idea a several thousand raging peasants strike fear somewhere in that immortal heart of yours?"
"Why should they rise to revenge an aloof princess as yourself?" he said, his breath raising the hairs on her neck with every word. "What reason, other than your sweet countenance, would make them want to avenge you?"
"I am not so aloof that they cannot relate to me, " she replied, "They would demand a blood price from you for me."
"A blood price indeed," he said, amused. His lips grazed her neck as he spoke. "I find this hard to believe, that royalty would want to befriend the filthy peasants."
"They are but simple people," she said, "they cannot help but to surrender to my charm."
"I believe I cannot help but surrender as well," he said, kissing her neck, then tasting the skin with his mouth.
"This is what my father wants," Sera said hurriedly as she felt the brush of fangs across her neck, "for you to kill me. Will you fall in his trap?"
"He sent you here to die," whispered Karvan softer tone against her neck, "why would he do so if you are so well liked?"
"I am heir to the throne," she said, trying to relax so her fear would not be so evident, "I am favored above my younger twin brothers by the nobles. My father believes it is not a woman's place to rule the kingdom."
"Is he not afraid of these. . .loyal nobles, in that they might rise against him should they see that he has removed you?"
"That is why I was sent here. The blame will fall to you. It will seem that I was sent here to enforce the king's power and to collect taxes."
Karvan laughed softly, showing that he cared not for the taxes, but he released her and stood. Sera rose to her feet as well, turning to watch him carefully in the dim light.
"Your king and his nobles cannot affect me." He stepped closer to her, cupping her chin with his hand. "I could think of a reason to let you live," he said, a dangerous glint in his eye, "but I doubt you planned on entertaining me in exchange your life." He kissed her lightly, pulling away when she remained unmoved. He stepped away and bent to the ground and retrieved something lying at his feet.
"I believe this is yours," he said, offering her the rapier hilt first. She took the weapon and made a slight bow to him. There was an awkward silence as she sheathed the weapon.
"I do not believe you were forced to come here," Karvan said after a moment, "if your king was truly sent you here to die, he would have made a show of it, sending with you other courtiers who were. . .undesirable. Yet you arrived alone. What are you hiding, princess?"
She regarded him for a moment, wondering how well he could differ truth from lies. She decided that it would be in her best interest at he moment to tell the truth.
"You are very good, Karvan. It is true I came here of my own will. I overheard I was to be sent here and decided to leave before he could send any of his people with me. What I have to say to you is not something my people need to hear."
"And what is that?"
"I will tell you, but not now," she said, trying to get the upper hand, "I am tired from my journey. We can talk later. . .when it is light." She started to turn from him, but he moved in and grabbed her arm, whipping her around to face him. He leaned closer to her and wrapped one arm around her. Sera didn't fight him as he kissed her softly. As he pulled away, he stroked her hair with his free hand. Then he wrapped his fingers in the silky black tresses and forced her to look up at him.
"I do not like being evaded," he said, holding her tightly, "what are you hiding?"
Sera said nothing, but merely looked into his eyes and disclosed nothing with her own. You won't win that easily, Karvan, she thought, I am not a weak, simpering woman.
They stood in silence for several moments, and Sera could tell that Karvan was growing more and more incensed by each passing moment she resisted him. At last he started whispering words to a spell. Sera was unable to recognize the words, but she started a small spell of her own in order to protect herself against him. It was a weak spell, and she knew it, but it was the only option she had with her limited knowledge. Karvan stopped before he finished his spell. He was looking at her oddly, as if she had just grown wings or something on that train of thought.
"A mage as well," he thought out loud, "how did mageblood get into the royal line?"
"My mother was from the Forest of Pell," Sera said, proud of her heritage, "she was a healing mage."
"Your power is not that of a healing mage of Pell," he stated.
"Yes," she replied.
"Does this have something to do with your little plan?" he asked after a pause.
"I will tell you, but not now, not like this," she said, "I am a mortal, and I am hungry and tired.".
"I have no supplies," he said, letting her go at last.
"I can hunt," she said evenly, "And I have some provisions of my own. Tonight, however, I would like some meat. Where is the best place to go?"
"West," he said, looking at her oddly, "how do you know how to hunt? That is not a task for a woman, much less a princess."
"Perhaps that is why I am so well liked by the common people," she answered, walking slowly down one of the steps, "and why I am still alive." She left him without a further word, and she left the castle without any further encounters.
Karvan watched Sera ride out of his courtyard and head in the direction of his private hunting grounds. She rode the horse she had ridden in on. He was in control of himself again, and soon was going to start getting his castle functioning properly again. He had started cleaning a little, but there were still no supplies. So now Sera had gone to hunt for some food herself. But he wanted to know why Sera had arrived alone. She had made no attempt to explain her arrival. She needed food, and his private forest was filled with game. He still puzzled over the idea that a woman, much less a princess, would know haw to hunt and use a rapier as a soldier would. There was more to this royalty than he knew about, and he did not like surprises. This Sera was also a witch, though of minimal power and ability. With training, she might become something of a mage. Perhaps that was why she had been "sent". If she could bully the king that much. But she had not spoken as if he had wanted to come here at all. She seemed to think that he was a weak noble with strange habits, but had found otherwise. Her position added to her beauty, clearly got her way most of time. Now that she had realized that he had the ability to kill her, and that he really didn't care if the peasants of the land stormed his castle, she was learning her place. He had merely spared her life on a passing whim that may change at any moment. But not any time soon. She provided him an attraction that he found amusing. The next few months, maybe years, were going to prove to be one of the most interesting strategy games of his life. There was no question of who would come out on top, just how long she would take to fall.