The Letter

After a couple of days we arrive at the village, the sun is beating down on us we're both hot and tired from the trip, my aunt and the boys are waiting for me outside of the house. Rin gets off his horse then helps me; the boys run up to me and hug my legs. They look at Rin then at me before asking. "Who's that?"

My aunt comes up to us and gives me a quick hug. "This is Rin, we used to live in the same village together and he's a knight."

Rin puts his hood down and gives everyone a smile. "It's nice to meet you all."

"I'm Skye's aunt and these are my boys. Are you the recruiter for the knights?"

Rin looks at me and smiles. "No, I did however get a letter with your information on it shortly before we left." Oh no. "I approved it." What?

"What?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"What about what I did, what about when I killed Jacob? Surely that must make the captains not want me."

He shakes his head. "Trust me when I say this, but they could care less about that. They probably read that and thought 'this girl must be an amazing fighter' and approved it." I look at him with shock, is that what he thought? Does he think I'm a good fighter? Or does he think I'm a murder, a monster? "You should receive your letter any day, the letters arrive pretty quickly. The recruiters use magic to send their owls with the letters to the captains. Once they all approve or disapprove the letter it's sent straight to the person."

My aunt exclaims and rushes to the house, Rin and I look at each other in confusion before she runs back to us with a letter in her hand. "This came earlier today it's for you Skye."

She hands me the letter, I quickly open it and read it. "I have to go to the capital for the combat test." I'm relieved I got this far, I wasn't certain they'd consider me because of the accident.

"That's great honey I'm so proud of you." My aunt embraces me in a hug, the boys joining.

"If you need to get to the capital I can take you there as well, I have to get back anyways for work." My aunt takes the boys to the house letting Rin and I talk without any distractions.

"You've helped me enough the past few days, you can go I'll get there on my own."

"You know the event only lasts a week, the sooner you get there the better." He has a point.

I sigh and shake my head. "Okay, but I need to change clothes and pack some new ones. Give me a few minutes; you can come in if you want." I walk with Rin to the house inviting him in, while I'm going up to my room I notice Rin looking around the house.

I haven't been here in a few months, and nothing's changed. I dump all my stuff from the bag onto my bed organizing everything; I grab some new clean clothes and neatly put them in my bag. I grab another bag from under my bed and put some more clothes in.

I decide to change into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt; I brush my long blonde hair before putting it into a pony tail. I grab my other pair of shoes and stuff them into one of the bags as I go downstairs.

Rin and my aunt and the boys are in the kitchen talking while eating; a plate of food is sitting on the counter for me. "You should eat before you leave." My aunt points to the food.

After everyone finishes eating and talking Rin suggests we leave before it gets too late, the sun was already starting to set and he wanted to get some headway. We say bye to my aunt and the boys, Rin helps me on the horse and his escorts show up out of nowhere.

"Hey, Rin?"

"Yeah?"

"Where were your escorts this whole time?"

He looks at them before one of them speaks up. "We were at Lady Luna's; she offered her hospitality to us"

"Oh."

Rin slips into his hooded cloak before getting on the horse; I wrap my arms around him. "Must be nice to know that a Royal is living in this tiny village, huh?" He asks as he makes the horse start galloping.

"It's not that big of a deal." I can hear Rin laugh under his breath.

The sun has set and we're at our first stop, in the middle of nowhere. Rin and his escorts talk about the sleeping order so a few of them are on guard. After a few minutes he comes up to me and takes off his cloak and hands it to me.

"It's gonna get cold tonight, you should wear this it'll keep you warm."

"What about you?"

"I'm used to it I'll be fine."

I take the cloak and put it on; Rin brings me some bags that I can use as a pillow. Some of the men get a fire started and we all huddle around it, we all talk and as it turns out his escorts are very nice and funny. I can tell they have strong relationships with Rin.

As we all talk and laugh one by one everyone goes to sleep, Rin holds me as we talk to the few escorts that are up for guard. Shortly after he starts holding me I doze off in the middle of a conversation.

I hear someone yell at the same time I feel someone pick me up, I wake up to being carried away from Rin and the others. Everything's blurry all I can see are disfigured marks on the trees, Rin yelling at his men, his men running after us, and Rin getting on his horse.

I try to move but I can't, there's a sharp pain in my leg. Everything starts spinning before it goes dark.