Chapter 1
It was raining heavily. Who loves the rain? The wind, the freshness of the air most people do. But not me. I never thought I would hate the rain, never thought I would experience such a tremendous and tragic incident. My land, my home, my family everything was gone. They attacked us. They ruined everything. I ran with my nineteen-year-old friend and my seven-year-old little brother. We ran and we didn’t know where we were. It was a jungle full of long trees, dense forests, and breathtaking flowers, but we had nothing to do there. We were stuck, searching for a place to spend the night and find food. We had lost everything.
As we walked, I spotted a tribe. We were far from them, far enough that they couldn’t see us. We crawled and sneaked closer to see what was going on, and to figure out how we could enter and beg them for mercy so they could take us in as slaves or workers, so we could stay alive and ease our hunger.
“It seems they’re dancing,” Tony said.
He was my friend, the only friend who had survived with me.
“What do you mean?” I said.
“There are a lot of soldiers see? All of them are gathered in front of a massive bonfire and they are very loud,” Tony said.
To the right of us was the sea, to the left were mountains. The tribe was surrounded by the sea on three sides. The only way to enter was to go straight and turn left, where their soldiers were likely standing with their weapons.
We decided to go and surrender ourselves and beg for help. I was holding my little brother’s hand as we moved closer, but Tony suddenly yanked me down.
“It seems there are a lot of horses coming this way,” Tony said.
I wondered why, in the rain and fading light of sunset, we could hear such a massive number of horses heading toward the tribe. We crawled and watched to see what would happen.
Suddenly, a rain of flaming arrows came down upon the tribe. More arrows than I had ever seen in my life. Then an army on horseback stormed in, killing every soldier, every blacksmith, setting fire to everything throwing people into the flames, throwing women and newborns into the fire, cutting down children without mercy.
“What’s going on there?” said my little brother.
“Nothing,” I said, covering his eyes.
I had never seen war, never seen bloodshed and cruelty like this. Innocent people dying in fire, heads being cut, not a single soul spared. As darkness crept in, the army finally left, leaving the entire tribe ablaze behind them.
“Let’s go there,” Tony said.
“No. There is so much blood everywhere, everyone is dead and I have my little brother with me,” I said, still shivering from what I had just witnessed.
“Maybe we’ll find some food, some clothes. Let’s go, maybe there’s something we can use,” Tony said.
I was hesitant. I was afraid. But I agreed.
We entered the tribe. Bodies everywhere. Blood, burned bodies, and walls of flame in every direction. We took some coins from the pockets of dead soldiers we had nothing, we had no choice. We took some clothes. As we moved deeper in, we spotted a massive tent and decided to enter.
It was the leader’s tent. The one who ruled the tribe.
He wasn’t dead, but he was suffering. He was badly wounded. He saw us.
“Who… are… you…” the leader said, struggling to breathe.
“I am the daughter of George VI, leader of the King’s fourth tribe,” I said.
The leader smiled faintly. “Oh… you are his daughter… He was my good friend…”
He closed his eyes.
He was gone.
We had no idea who he was or what connection he had with my father. I supposed we would never know.
We left the tribe.
As we walked, a castle appeared in the distance ahead of us. I was afraid — afraid they would kill us for wandering near their land.
The castle was enormous. A bridge connected it to the land, with soldiers standing at the entrance carrying swords, and archers posted above. The castle was surrounded by sea on all sides except the approach we stood on.
“I think we should surrender,” Tony said.
“What if they make us slaves? Or kill us?” I said.
“There is no other option. We need to do something — otherwise we will be killed by wild animals or hunters out here,” Tony said.
We walked toward the castle.
“HEY! WHO ARE YOU?” one of the soldiers shouted.
“We need your help. We are poor, we have nothing left and nowhere to go. We will work for you, we will be whatever you need us to be,” Tony said.
The soldiers came forward and inspected us thoroughly, checking for weapons or anything suspicious. Then a knight stepped out, placed black cloth over our eyes, and led us inside.
They brought us before the king. We knelt.
“We are not enemies. We are helpless. We need your mercy, my lord,” Tony said.
The king studied us carefully.
He looked at my brother blonde hair, white skin, amber eyes, wearing a simple tunic.
He looked at me blonde hair, purple eyes, white skin, wearing a tunic.
Then he turned to Tony white skin, brown eyes, brown hair, wearing a tunic.
“What are your names?” the king said.
“I am Elena. This is my brother Josh, and this is my friend Tony,” I said. I was the daughter of George VI, but I had no intention of telling him that. He might kill us.
“Why have you come here?” the king said.
“The people of our tribe killed my father. They accused him of blasphemy and murdered my mother. We fled for our lives. Tony is an orphan he has no one, and they would have killed him too, my lord,” Elena said.
The king was quiet for a moment.
“You may stay. Tony will work here. You will serve as my cupbearer, and your brother is free,” the king said.
“Thank you, my lord. Thank you very much,” Elena said.
A knight stepped forward. We rose and followed him out of the king’s hall.
The gate closed
“Do not take your eyes off them,” the king said quietly.
“Yes, my lord,” the knight replied.
