Chapter 7: The Red Princess
“Milady!”
A wave of panic instantly drowns Karis’ half-sleep into full uprise. The sudden hold on her shoulders gently pulls her up from the cold wood of the deck.
As her eyes open, she saw the scarred face of one of her retainers, Gikled.
“We must move for now milady” the man said with respect. “They are getting near us”
She immediately knew who he was referring.
As the huge commotion in the Alatyr Sient begun with a part of its wall broken, her small company made haste to use the pandemonium—the panic and fear of the crowd to slip unnoticed inside the breached city.
They all passed as civilians, not one even casting a second glance at them as they have glamoured themselves in a simple spell—darkening the color of their pale hair, and changing their bright red or maroon eyes to blend within the normal humani hues.
Their magic proved to be undetectable to human eyes as they manage to run until they reached the dock untraceable. Once there, they spent a good amount of gold to bribe the captain for an instant passage to the ship.
Karis thought they would be able to repose themselves from their restless haste when they have boarded the ship. But their problem started at the last moment before the vessel departed.
She vividly remembered their preternatural speed as she watches them materialize into the distance as they sprinted to the docks and jumps into the ship in time before the close call of being left behind in the voyage.
She glances as fast as she could as she passes the trio, now sitting at the stern, in a meeting of close semi-circle. Karis strides faster, she hopes no one noticed nor felt her eyes as she observes them from the corner of her eyes.
Fortunately, her already light footfalls remained light and soundless as the wind howled and their ship traverse against the mighty waves.
Gikled followed as quiet as she was until they reached the ship’s accommodation.
She walks down the eight slippery steps, greeted by another two of her companions who stood near the bottom of the stair, feigning to be a couple close to each other but were actually lookouts.
The hall of the ship was tight—one which would let only a single person proceed at a time. Karis pass many close wooden doors on either side. She kept her pace until she reached the end, a door was wide open revealing a room with a single bed and a small round table.
A tall-lean woman looms before the doorway. She was wearing a white loose linen-shirt, but Karis knew how unbreakable the light cuirass under the veil of cloth is.
“I must apologize but this is the best we can find as your temporary quarter for this voyage Your Highness” the woman said apologetically.
Karis looks at her personal guard, Evedeli Heimdall. The woman was a fearsome and mighty Templar of the Sanguine, which her father chose personally to protect her. Though reliable and powerful she might be, Karis could not help the uneasy feeling in her guts since the trio boarded the ship.
She knew they were dangerous. A huge threat that looms.
“What did you tell the captain?” she asks as she sat at the edge of the bed. It was not as soft as the cushion on her royal bed, but it was better than lying on the damp and cold wooden deck.
“That you are a daughter of a very rich merchant waiting in Vaettir. I think that would best explain why we have a company of armed-men and also our gold”
Karis nods. It was the same answer she had in mind. Their company could not attract more attention than being a travelling rich-lady. “Well done, Eve. Don’t you want to at least rest?”
The tall woman shakes her head. “I am fully rested and also restless Your Highness”
“Is it the three strangers carrying arcane weapons bothering you?” she asked even knowing the answer. ‘Their armament throb with unmistakable power’.
“Yes milady. I believe their weapons are those use by the Paladins of Avilyon”
‘What are Paladins doing here then?’ Karis puts a hand under her chin as she contemplated. “How many again are those who were exiled by Avilyon?”
She saw Evedeli’s eyes widened a bit. “Three” she stared at the princess.
Karis returns her baffled gazed with fear. “Do you think it is them?” her hand trembled.
“There is a high chance milady”
Karis could not stop the tremble in her hand. The three were reported to be merciless during the battle at Bastion. Killing many of the Daemon during the fight. Though she knew the Empire was the one to blame, the reports of how the three massacred an entire brigade was utterly terrifying.
Evedeli must have sense the dithery of her thoughts, and her anxiousness, “Should we deal with them now milady? the Templars are ready”
“No…” she whispered. After all they were also runaways. “Unless they have chosen to fight us first”
She could not risk being seen by one of the ‘Eyes’ of the Empire. She remembered the first lesson she was ever thought.
‘Remember, the Empire is everywhere’
The feeling that her father would still find her regardless of her whereabouts did not help at all.
Brought back… she knows only she will be alive to be brought back, her companions would be executed as treason for disobeying the Empire’s orders.
Her hands turned cold. This was one of their differences from the humani like she has read. The Daemons were sensitive to weather, the slightest change of temperature can immediately be felt by their skins.
They are already nearing the borders of the Northern Isles. All round year winter, she thought.
She bends down to her luggage and picks a thick-wool coat and drapes it over her shoulders. “I’m just going to get some air again”
“I’ll go with you” Evedeli strongly offered.
“No, I’m fine” her tone more of a command, “I think we will be more noticeable if I’m always accompanied by an escort. Take the time to rest Eve” she smiled and heads out. “Don’t worry. I’m not defenseless at all” she puts a hand on the side of her waist and red scabbard materializes and vanishes again in air as she removes her hand.
As Karis leans on the railing, her thoughts went to the rumored god of Vaettir. The deity of fire who went down to protect its nation. It was said it obliterated half the empire ships who was about to dock its land.
She wondered if every Sanguine was doom to that certain fate once they have set foot on the Northern Isles.
‘No. We are not seeking any violence or death. We just needed a place to escape’
She thought if a god had actually descended, Vaettir might actually be the best place to hide and start their lives. The Erysthrina Empire would be unable to touch an inch of its land.
Her grip on the rail tightens as she let the wind kiss her face. The calmness she had been seeking settled. The smell of salt, air, and sea.
The loud cries of the seagulls above were melodic compared to the tortured screams she always hears. The crash of waves against the hull seemed to drown the sound of butchery and savagery she had grown accustomed day after day.
She looks up seeing the birds overhead flying with ease through the clouds, high above the unreachable skies, the peace the world will never reach.
But she still hopes…
Soft and light footfalls broke her reverie. She turns to her right, panic abruptly rising as she saw one of the three strangers approaching her.
The one carrying the black ominous spear…
In her panic, she grabs for the invisible hilt of her blade, its whole glimmering red length of scabbard instantly materializes out of thin air.
The man did not move as he studied her. His eyes of deep-wood brown gaze intensely at her and to the blade now in her grip.
She wondered if her disguise was seen through.