A King's War

Chapter 12

VER

“How close to Valveronia are we?” I asked Raven shortly after we had once again set out.

“Too close,” She responded. “The convoy should not be that far ahead. If we hurry, we’ll catch them while we’re still far enough away that help won’t arrive in time. But you should all keep your eyes open, Valveronian soldiers tend to patrol this area of the Red Forest.”

“Wouldn’t they rather keep away from the dark hunters?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “Maybe,” She said as she continued on. “But they have nothing to fear from the dark hunters.”

I frowned. “Why not?”

“The dark hunters don’t attack Valveronian soldiers. Their tunics were spelled by the Ruthless King, making them invisible to dark hunters. Though not invisible in the sense they can’t see them since dark hunters can’t see, but because of the spell, the dark hunters can neither hear nor smell the soldiers. They’re safe to walk right up to them without consequence.”

“That is not a comforting thought,” Aila muttered and I agreed.

“And I suppose the King’s Bloods are spelled the same,” I said.

Raven shrugged again. “Some of them are, though most of them enjoy taunting and practicing their fighting and magic on the dark hunters. So, for the most part, they don’t spell themselves or any of their clothing.”

“They actually like trying to take those things on?” I asked her in disbelief. “Even if one scratch from a dark hunter means death?”

Raven shook her head. “Not for them it doesn’t.”

“What do you mean?”

“The king created the spell that made the dark hunters, but he wanted them to be a weapon that could never be used against him. So, in order to do that he made himself immune to the venom of the dark hunters. He used blood magic to bring the dark hunters into existence and as such, his blood is immune to their toxin. Which in turn makes all his children immune as well,” She stepped over some rocks. “They’re all safe from the dark hunters’ toxin. They won’t die from a scratch.”

“Lucky bastards,” Galen muttered and I nodded. The fact that the King’s Blood were all immune to the toxin of the dark hunters was not something that set me at ease. If anything, it only made that much more dangerous to me. That much harder to kill. And one of them had control over my kingdom.

Aila was walking beside me and shook her head. “Unbelievable,” She said. “The Valveronians should have all been wiped out centuries ago, then we wouldn’t be having this problem now.”

“After everything they’ve done,” I said to Aila. “I tend to agree. The world will never be safe with Valveronia still standing.”

I noticed Raven had begun frowning before quickening her pace to walk in front of us once again.

“Yeah well,” Galen interjected. “One problem at a time. We still have to deal with the Valveronians in our kingdom first.”

Raven suddenly stopped and turned toward us, leaning her staff against a tree, and crossing her arms. “You speak of the Valveronians as if they and the Ruthless King are one and the same,” Raven spoke up.

“Aren’t they?” Galen questioned her. “They’re just as much monsters as he is. They support him and care nothing of any of the other kingdoms they conquer.”

“He conquers,” Raven corrected him.

I looked at her. “Is there really a difference?” I asked. “The Valveronians are all as tyrannical as he is. If they had the same kind of magic he did, they’d have taken over the world by now.”

This seemed to make her angry, though she did not show it outwardly. Her eyes simply flashed with anger for a moment before it faded away. “You really think that way of all Valveronians?” She asked as she looked between the three of us.

“Don’t you?” I asked her.

She just stared at me for a long while before picking up her staff and walking past us. She shook her head and muttered something under her breath that I did not catch.

“There’s a place the Valveronian soldiers stop to take a break that’s a little ways ahead. If we move now quickly the convoy should still be there,” She said for us to hear. I had a feeling there was more she wanted to say but was keeping it to herself.

“Then let’s go,” I said.

She nodded but didn’t turn to face me. “Try and keep up,” She said over her shoulder. “I’m getting tired of saving your lives.” She took off at a sprint, racing along the forest floor, and somehow, she did not make a sound the entire time. She stepped between fallen branches, leapt over rocks, and the one time she lost her balance, she rolled forward and right back on her feet again.

We had no trouble keeping up, though, we didn’t know the forest the way she did and made a fair bit more noise than she did. Seeing as how we were light on our feet since we were elves however, we barely made a sound. But it was still more of a sound than she made.

She stopped abruptly and I almost crashed right into her, just managing to dodge her at the last moment. She held up her hand as she looked ahead to an area that looked to be surrounded by rocks. There was smoke rising from what was left of a fire, though it looked as if the fire had just been put out moments before we arrived. There was no one there as far as I could see, still, Raven crouched and moved quickly and quietly, using the cover of the nearby rocks and what few bushes there were.

She shook her head as she studied the area with a frown. “Something’s not right,” She whispered.

I looked around the area, trying to see what she was seeing, or what she wasn’t. “What’s wrong?” I asked her.

“Just stay here for a moment,” She said as she moved out of the bushes and walked forward slowly. She held her staff at the ready.

“Raven,” I whispered shouted at her but she didn’t acknowledge me.

She walked forward until she was in the center of the circle and bent down, picking something up from the dirt floor.

“Recognize that, do you?” A voice spoke up.

Raven stood up abruptly, dropping the object and grasping her staff tighter. I looked in the direction of the voice the same time Raven did as a girl stepped out from behind a tree and into view.

Raven took a step back. “Freena,” She said as she faced the girl.

The girl-Freena-smiled maliciously at Raven. “I told the soldiers someone was following us. Imagine my surprise when you walked right up to me.” She took a step closer to Raven and Raven took one back. She held her hand up behind her back, silently telling us to stay put.

Galen cursed from his position crouching beside me. “She’s a King’s Blood,” He whispered as he nodded his head toward Freena. And as she took another step forward, I could see the telltale black marks that snaked around her hands and up her arms. She even had some circling her eyes.

“I must say,” Freena continued as she took yet another step toward Raven. “I wasn’t expecting you to come after the prince of Ralorn. I was hoping you were his brother. Still, when I kill you and deliver your body to the Ruthless King,” She paused and her eyes turned black like the marks around her eyes She held a hand out and a black staff with a strange jewel on the top just appeared in her hand. “he’ll be most pleased.”

Raven dove out of the way just as Freena shot a ball of fire right where Raven had been standing.

“The convoy moved on long ago,” Freena taunted. “I sent them ahead while I decided to wait here for whoever was foolish enough to try and follow it.” They both circled each other and I noticed Raven was slowly leading her further away from us. “Why are you following the convoy? Why would you be trying to free the prince?” Freena questioned.

Raven didn’t say anything and instead continued to back up, trying to lead her away from us.

“Unless,” Freena said as she suddenly stopped advancing. “you aren’t here alone.” She said something I couldn’t make out and her eyes turned black again, and this time, she turned right toward us.

“Run!” Raven shouted out to us. She herself was already running just as Freena said something else and launched a spell our way. Aila, Galen, and I jumped up and tried to get out of the way. Just before the spell would have hit us, Raven had jumped in front of us and held up her arm. There was no way to explain what happened except the at the spell hit her gauntlet and was reflected back at Freena, who couldn’t move out the way in time. The spell hit her and she let out a scream as she was thrown back through the air.

“What just happened?” Aila questioned.

Raven shoved us forward. “Move now, talk later,” She said as she took off and we followed quickly after her. “We have to get as far away from her as fast as possible. Before-”

A shriek split through the air and Raven’s eyes widened.

“What was that?” I questioned as we continued to run. Raven’s pace suddenly picked up considerably.

“A dark hunter,” She told us. “Freena is the only one of the King’s Blood that can control them.”

“She can do what now?” Galen asked.

“Just keep moving!” Raven shouted. “We need to get as far away from her as possible before those dark hunters get here.”

We ran until we could no longer hear the shrieks and Raven finally deemed it safe for us to stop. She kept looking back as if waiting for something to pop out at us while we tried to catch our breath.

“The convoy is probably just outside the gates of Valveronia,” She said softly. She locked eyes with me. “I don’t believe we can make it in time. Especially not since Freena knew the convoy was being followed. She knows that we cannot make it into the kingdom and that we would attack outside the gates. The chances of us being successful are not good.”

She watched me the entire time she said this and I understood what she was really trying to say. Let your brother go. I ran a hand through my hair in frustration and tears welled up in my eyes. I turned away from her and let out a shaky breath, swallowing the lump in my throat.

“But we can try, right?” I questioned as I turned back to her.

She let out a resigned sigh and the look on her face told me she did not think we’d make it at all. She nodded none the less. “We can try,” She said to me.