The metallic whistle of my sword sliding into its sheath echoed through the Cage, Draven's eyes fixed on me as he nervously crossed his arms over his chest. I tightened my belt, equipped with pouches, cinching around my waist, allowing me to carry various tools and essential items.

I tucked a couple of blades into the pockets of my soft leather trousers, fitted to my figure, providing both flexibility and protection. Leather bracers adorned with ancient inscriptions encircled my forearms, while sturdy boots rose to my knees.

Slowly, Draven slid my dark quiver on my back, filled with arrows with sharpened tips, ready to be shot at any moment. He turned me around to face him, his hands stiff on my shoulders, and pressed his forehead against mine. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, his breath brushing against my nose.

“Let me come with you,” he pleaded.

I shook my head gently and stepped back to look at him. His worried eyes conveyed all the messages he didn't speak aloud. He thought he would never see me again. He thought I was crazy to embark on this quest. But most of all, he resented me for leaving him behind. “Think of Love. Of Lirael. Of your mother. They need someone to watch over them. With what happened, they are certainly terrified... They are fortunate to have a future member of the Guard among them. A man who will be a thousand times more useful here to protect them in case of danger than being devoured by an ogre somewhere, or killed by a Black Dragon.”

He caught on to my words.

“Is that what you're aiming for then? To die out there, outside of Silyra, alone? What do you think will happen, Kassia, if you find the Black Dragons and die doing it? What do you think you'll leave behind? You ask me to think of them, but have you thought of me? Of what I will do if you disappear? Of my sister, who considers you as hers? Of your father? Of Lirael, even! I know you want to prove to the king that you have what it takes to be part of the Guard, but..."

“I need answers, Draven... I know things my father is unaware of, and if I play my cards right, I should be able to stop this phenomenon... or at least, provide a lead useful enough to push my father to accept the idea.”

My friend frowned, and the words written on the missive handed to me by Daenella, carefully tucked into one of my pockets, came back to me.

To King Galen - confidential

Your Majesty,

They have found the boy. He was hiding in a neighboring kingdom. He has not spoken since his capture, and they wonder what you wish to do with him. They are holding him in a forest of the Kingdom of Edaryn. They await your further directions.

Yours,

Jillian

I didn't know how much this boy, surely a man by now, if he was still alive, would be useful to me, and how much he was connected to all of this, but I trusted Daenella, and it was undoubtedly an asset that my father would never think to use.

“What are you going to do once you find them?”

“I'll figure it out when the time comes, I...”

He tilted his head back with a long sigh of exasperation. “You're going without a plan? Kassia, you're going to get yourself killed! You won't serve anyone if you die because you didn't take the time to think about what you should do.”

I slipped on my dark cape, draping it over my shoulders, ignoring his last words. I tried to avoid thinking about his lack of confidence in me... He was the one who taught me everything. We trained together almost our entire lives, he was the only one who knew my worth in terms of combat and survival. If even he couldn't believe that I could do it... did I really stand a chance?

However, I was determined to lose my life trying, rather than spend the rest of it pandering to a narcissistic prince. They all were.

“You know your father will find you, don't you? He'll eventually realize that it's not normal for his daughter to spend weeks locked in her room and have all her meals brought up to her...”

“Sometimes, I feel like we didn't grow up together, the two of us. If you don't believe I'm stubborn enough to hold a grudge for that long, then you don't know me. A few weeks is nothing. Once, I went two months without speaking to or seeing him only because he didn't let me kick a prince in the balls for being an asshole. And they had to leave my food outside my door because they couldn't open it. Believe me, Draven. Before he realizes anything, I'll be long gone. Gwendolyn won't have to lift a finger, and Daenella will serve her meals.”

He let out a long sigh, looking at me sadly. He pursed his lips.

“There's nothing I can say that will stop you from leaving, is there?”

I shook my head gently, and he reached out for one of the small braids lost in the thickness of my wavy hair. Slowly, he cupped my face in his hands and pressed a kiss to my forehead, pulling me into a hug heavy with unspoken words that weighed on my heart.

After a few seconds, I pushed him away firmly and brandished my sword, pressing the blade's tip against his chest as I gave him a defiant look. A small smile played on his lips as he shook his head, raising his hands gently.

“Really?”

I raised an eyebrow, mirroring his smile. With a laugh that brought me back years, he grabbed his sword in turn and deflected mine with a sudden movement. I quickly countered and aimed for his legs, which he blocked before directing our weapons into the air, making the blades whistle. I kicked him in the chest, knocking the breath out of him and making him step back, but before I could reach him again, he rolled to the ground and made me fall at the same time. I quickly got up, grabbing my sword as he tried to wrest it from my hands, and slid it close to his throat, forcing him to stay on the ground. My hair brushed against his cheek, and he smiled.

“Promise me you'll come back,” he whispered.

I bit my lip, my heart bleeding for this expression of distress and fear on his face.

What if I never saw him again?

I pushed that thought away and slowly got up, offering him my hand at the same time, which he took. I couldn't lie to him by promising him something I had too much chance of not keeping. I didn't want my last words to him to be a lie... so I told him the only thing that seemed right and true to me.

“I promise to try.”

Because I fucking would.

~

I focused on my first destination. Love was already waiting for me in the village, to bid me farewell and ensure that the transport she had arranged was on schedule. Finnegan was expecting a delivery, and if everything went smoothly, the carriage carrying it would then head to a village on the edge of the kingdom, where I would only need to travel a few kilometers on foot to reach the realm of Edaryn.

Dartveyn was engulfed in panic. A dreadful whispering wind hung over the village, as if a curse were waiting to be unleashed. The villagers, usually generous, festive, and joyful, were holed up in their homes and wouldn't open the door to anyone. No kids ran along the roads anymore, no parents laughed as they watched their children play with others, and no vendors sought to offer their services to passersby.

Only Love stood in the middle of a road, her long green dress billowing in the wind. Her hair was braided and tucked up into a bun, barefoot, nervously covering her arms with her hands. As Draven and I approached her, I enveloped her in my arms and draped a portion of my cloak over her shoulders.

“He should be arriving any minute now. He's behind with Finnegan,” she said.

I nodded slowly, and when my hand brushed her arm, I tightened my embrace. “You should go back. Draven will stay with me. You, go warm up... The temperature has been dropping for days,” I urged.

She furrowed her brows, looking down. “Tell me you won't do anything foolish, Kassy,” she said, worried.

I smiled softly at her. I would miss her, that was certain. I was already accustomed to not seeing her frequently, but this journey was different. I couldn't just run to the neighboring village to hug her or spontaneously engage in a sword duel with her brother.

She didn't return my smile, and that detail sent a shiver down my spine. Love was a joker, always laughing and partying. It was something my father detested about her from the moment we first saw her. But to me, it was what I loved. One couldn't stay sad for long in her company... and here I was preparing to venture to distant lands.

“Go,” I told her, gently removing my cloak from her shoulders to set her free. “Go back to your mother.”

She smiled sadly and hugged me one last time, burying her head in the crook of my neck. Tears glistened in her eyes as she took a deep breath and finally made herself leave.

Behind me, Draven wrapped his large arms around my neck and rested his chin against the top of my head. I placed my hands on his forearms, watching Love walk away with a prickling sensation in my eyes. Just moments later, we heard the heavy footsteps of horses, followed by the ominous creaking of the carriage wheels. When it stopped in front of us, the little hunched man who was driving it looked at me with his small black eyes. He didn't seem particularly friendly, and I could already smell the nauseating scent of Sylve leaf he was smoking, filling my lungs.

“Are you Elysia?” he asked in his old, hoarse voice.

I cleared my throat, then nodded. Love had taken the precaution of not giving my real name to avoid attracting attention. Most of the people in Ethria didn't know what “Princess Kassia” looked like, only my name. It wasn't every day that villagers wandered into Silyra, due to the high security of the Guard, which practically only admitted royalty or personal guests of King Urian. The only ones who knew my face were the people of Dartveyn, and they weren't likely to cause me any trouble. Especially after recent events.

Draven tensed behind me.

“You're not seriously going to get in there, are you?” he murmured in my ear.

I shook my head with a small smile. “Do you remember that time when I climbed onto the back of that griffin and took a fall from several meters because you assured me it was like a turkey and couldn't fly?”

My friend burst into laughter, but I looked at him with the same accusing gaze I had that day.

“That doesn't count. I was thirteen and going through my bad joke phase.”

“You were a total jerk,” I concluded, shaking my head.

He pursed his lips and nodded.

“Can't argue with that. Be careful, though. I still have two or three jokes up my sleeve that can't be done without you.”

I encircled his waist with my arms one last time and, without looking back, climbed into the dreadful carriage, whose canopy had a few too many holes to be reassuring. I hoped the temperature wouldn't drop any further... Otherwise, I was in for very long nights.