But sleep didn’t come at first. My thoughts tumbled around too much for me to actually relax. The clock tower that had acted as my beacon echoed in the distance, signaling the hour of ten p.m. It was earlier than I usually went to bed, but as Hazel had said, we had an early morning tomorrow, and my previous night’s sleep wasn’t exactly rejuvenating. I shivered slightly at the memory of sleeping in the carriage, blissfully unaware that the man escorting me had intended on ending my life. Now that the day had ended and I was alone with my thoughts, I began to ponder the meaning of a Drancos knight being sent to assassinate me. It didn’t make sense. Even Mother was under the assumption that the purpose of the foreigner’s visit was for a marriage proposal. What did they have to gain from my death? I tossed around in my makeshift bed, sorting through all the possible motives I could conjure.
Okay, let’s think.
Isalla has always been revered for our strength and power. My father spent his time as king building up our armies and displaying his might to anyone who dared challenge us. The kingdom of Drancos, on the other hand, had always been far more docile. Instead of building up armies, they gained influence by establishing alliances through trade. The land of Drancos was richly fertile and they often produced most of their harvest for the sake of trade. With both kingdom’s history under consideration, I couldn’t blame my mother for assuming that King Garrett had planned to propose an alliance through marriage. After all, our kingdoms bordered each other and the combination of Isalla’s military and Drancos’ prosperity would make the union nearly indomitable. So why would they risk losing that opportunity by killing off the only candidate for a marriage alliance? Unless…
I bolted upright, jarred by the realization I had come to. After a quick glance around the room, I took a breath of relief seeing that my jolt hadn’t disturbed any of my roommates. I leaned back on my laundry mattress, my heart pumping hard in my chest. My memories replayed the events leading up to the ambassador’s arrival, specifically the events involving the queen. Her new dress, the lavish hair and jewelry, her coy flirting and feigned youth… It was all starting to make sense. She wasn’t truly anticipating an engagement between me and Prince Jasper, but she wasn’t lying about a potential betrothal, either. She was hoping to secure the heart of King Garrett.
The Drancos king has been without a wife for almost ten years, and I would gamble she had intended to fill the role. Perhaps King Garrett was expecting this and was in favor of the union, but what about his son? I didn’t know much about Prince Jasper other than he was only eighteen and maintained a friendly reputation amongst his kingdom. Maybe the king suspected that a marriage between me and Jasper would be supported more by the citizens, as opposed to a union between him and the queen. That would make sense considering the prince and I were far younger and held the duty of inheriting our kingdoms. The only thing that still didn’t make sense was why the Drancos king would go as far as to send an assassin after me. If he wanted to marry my mother so badly, then why not just deny an engagement between Jasper and I?
Unless he was planning to more than just marry the queen. What if I was only the first victim and my mother was next? The pieces started to flow together, albeit a little jaggedly. The silver knight had initially claimed that Drancos had intentions of either allying with Isalla or conquering it, but what if they were planning both? If the Drancos king were to marry my mother under the impression of alliance, and then killed her off in a tragic accident, then he would gain both the pity and support of both kingdoms over his loss. Plus, having me already removed from the picture would prevent any claims I could make to the kingdom upon her death.
It made sense. King Garrett wanted to conquer our kingdom in a way that would ensure the support of the people. If I tried to return to the castle now, he might simply kill me off with his own hands before I could warn anyone. That was if I could even make it past the hunter on the prowl for my life. Maybe he was keeping me alive as a warning to my mother? Would he force her into a marriage under the facade that he would let me return home? That idea may not be necessary considering her willingness to gain attention the day before. My head spun with all the theories, trying to make sense of it all, but no matter how many times I turned the questions over in my mind, they just didn’t fill in all the blanks yet. The only certainty was that returning to the castle now would endanger my life, my mother’s life, and the safety of Isalla. Until I had a better understanding of what King Garrett was planning, my best option was to hide and hope I was good at it.
Fourteen days to survive.
My time started now.
chapter six
The king surveyed the letter delivered from his covert emissary. The seal bore only the shape of plain rectangle with a few adornments on the corners. He already knew who it was from, though there was no name, nor any other identifiable information on the envelope. His newest hired pawn knew better than to contact him without adequate reasoning, so he opened the letter without delay to browse its contents.
My Eminent King,
I write to inform you that my mission has been successful thus far in regards to the assigned target. However, my actions have failed to go unnoticed by the Isallan queen. Though she remains unaware of my true purpose, she has acquired knowledge of my skills and wishes to hire me to track down their missing princess. I have informed the queen that my formal confirmation or denial of the job will reach her within the next three days. If I refuse the task, I have no doubt she will simply seek service from another source. Due to this fact, I boldly propose that you allow me to accept the queen’s offer and use her faith in my skills to Your Majesty’s advantage. I shall await your response before acting further.
Sincerely,
Your Humble Servant,
-M
The king folded the letter and paced for a moment in consideration. A decision permeated his mind an instance later, and he prepared a letter of response. He dotted his quill and wrote out a short-handed approval before placing it into his own unmarked envelope. He removed a rarely used signet ring from his desk and sealed the letter with the same rectangular emblem used on the previous note. Flagging down his private messenger, he sent off the letter without forthwith hesitation.
“Very well then,” the king murmured to himself, gazing into his ornamental mirror. “I suppose the queen would prefer to answer our questions directly.”
No matter how fast, I ran there was always a man blocking my path, a man in silver-mirrored armor. Silently, he fiddled with his glinting dagger as he watched my movements. I turned to flee in the opposite direction, but he was still there, standing watching, laughing at me as I tried to escape him. The more I tried to run, the closer he stood, until eventually he was directly in front of my terror-stricken form. His hand lunged for my throat, gripping it tightly with a cold, gloved hand. I opened my mouth to scream, but made no sound. I trembled and clawed at the man’s hand as it blocked my airway, but my efforts only drew a twisted laugh from him. I looked to him pleadingly, but saw no remorse in his eyes. There was only the cold determination of an assassin who had caught his prey.
“Times up little princess,” he spoke with sickening glee. “Ready or not… here I come.”
I snapped awake from the nightmare— the same dream of running through the forest overwhelmed my sleep. My entire body was covered in a thin layer of sweat while quivering lightly from the dream. I took an uneasy breath and remembered where I was. The morning sun cast golden light across the mill floor. The dusty shutters broke up the light into crooked slim lines, but the glow still saturated the expanse of the room. I sighed in relief, recalling the safe haven I had found. My body ached from the events of the past two days. Every bone in my body rebelled against my attempt to sit up, nagging at me to lie back down.Why did working hurt so much?I rubbed my throbbing foot for a moment, trying to regain the ability to walk. As I began to press into the muscles of my sole, an abrupt wake-up call jarred me.
“Good morning, Annie!” Hazel nearly shouted in my ear. I bounded out of the laundry from fright at the shocking greeting. The fear from my nightmare flooded back to me in an instant as I jumped onto my sore feet. “You had better get yourself ready. We depart in twenty minutes!” Fully disregarding my terror, the spunky girl spun on her heel and marched toward the fire where the other girls were already freshened up and sipping mugs of tea together. I placed my hand over my chest as my adrenaline began to come back down.
“Relax, you’re going to be alright,” I whispered to myself in an attempt to lower my heart rate. Taking some deep breaths, I gathered my blanket and made my way back toward the storage space. Quickly throwing my hair up in a semi-decent knot, I managed to get cleaned up in enough time to grab a cup of tea with the girls. Susan passed me another slice of stale bread from last night’s dinner, which crunched far harder than any meal should. I still managed to chew through the stiff breakfast, then settled onto a stool while I waited for Hazel to finish her tea. As we began to chat, Glenda and Daniela walked inside through the back door.
“Good morning, ladies,” Daniela greeted with a friendly smile that contrasted Glenda’s frown.
“Good morning to you both,” Bethanne replied sleepily through the steam of her mug. “Did either of you hear any decent gossip this morning? The weekly announcement flyers should have been posted last night from the capital.” The other girls looked up excitedly from their mugs at the reminder.
“Meh. Plenty of gossip, but none of it any good,” Glenda responded with her usual gruff tone. She placed her belongings inside her locker, then joined us to pour her own cup of tea, “The blasted princess has run away… right before King Garrett was going to arrive with his son. It looks to me like the girl is too spoiled to face her duties and has run away from another betrothal.” She huffed as she filled her cup. Gasps and murmurs filed the room as the others began to theorize about the princess’s disappearance.
“Maybe she is already in love with someone else,” Susan commented dreamily. “Why else would she run away from a handsome prince? I’d bet she’s eloping!” The other girls quickly jumped on the idea and started romanticizing about a forbidden love. I smiled at the idea, but mainly avoided eye contact as I sipped my tea. Why would they announce that I had run away? Given the events that occurred before I left, I suppose it made more sense than claiming I was kidnapped.
“Doesn’t matter if the girls in love or not.” Glenda’s strong voice hushed the other ladies’ giggles. “Because of her actions, we now have the Drancos ruler arriving today to probably make an even bigger mess of things.”
“King Garrett is arriving today!?” The question erupted out of me, startling even myself. “I mean, the ambassador only just arrived. I didn’t think the king would be here for another week at least.” I tried to sound a little less desperate as I anxiously awaited her answer.
“Well, it seems like something made him come earlier.” Glenda’s eyebrows rose at my sudden curiosity, but quickly dropped back down again. “Maybe he got early word about the princess’s runaway and wanted to come to try to help find her. Coulda been anything really. These pesky royals just do whatever pleases them anyway,” she grunted as she sipped her tea.