Ariel Slick writes original fiction including short stories, novels, and memoirs to spread the joy of imagination and creativity. She also helps clients achieve their fiction writing goals with her ghostwriting skills on Upwork.com and Guru.com. Although she has  worked as a freelancer for three years, she has been dedicated to the craft all her life. Her fiction focuses on themes of love, justice, and magic, and her most popular works include romance and fantasy romance. 

What would make a girl, terrified of everything, go into the woods? Knights chasing after her, for starters. All Elaine wants is to stay in her small village forever, baking bread with her family. All that changes when she discovers that she is one of seven girls with the gift of magic. Elaine must leave behind her family and flee into the deep, dark woods where anything and everything can happen. Only guided by a talking fox, who may not be who he says on the surface, Elaine battles thieves, murderous plants, and magical creatures of all sorts. She will discover her powers and why they matter: to dethrone the evil king.  Will she be brave enough to embrace her powers?

Valient

As quickly as she could, Mariel found a horse that was not injured. She raced ahead of the group of peasants, pursuing the king's retreating army. When they were in sight of the castle, Mariel snuck up on one of the knights relieving himself in the forest. Slipping a knife around his throat, she whispered, "Fetch me your commander, and I will let you live. If you try to sneak away without doing so, I will make sure the rats visit you at night and eat you, starting with your eyes."


The sentry quickly fetched the commander, second only to the king regarding the army. 


Mariel stood straight and tall. She would need to do a fair amount of bluffing, and she could not show how much her knees were knocking together. 


When the commander appeared, Mariel said, "I accept your complete and unconditional surrender."


The commander laughed loudly. "Do you now? I did not realized that I would be surrendering to a peasant girl today."


Chapter 66