Doing my rounds was always so boring. Nothing ever happened. Why have a guard on patrol of this back side of our island nation if there were never any attacks even from our main port. But I had no say in the matter. I did whatever my sister Serena, our princess, told me to do. I guess I should be thankful King David had taken me in when I was little and wandering the streets alone.
I lost my parents when I was five years old. They were in some boating accident or something, I was never given the details. I ran out of my house before the orphanage could take me, because I had heard of their cruelty to the kids. I ran around the town when I bumped into a tall, strong man, the king. He took me back to his palace and raised me as his own daughter, along with his actual daughter, Serena.
I looked out at the ocean. I'd always wondered what else was out there. I'd been to just about every place on the island-granted that's not that great of a feat because the island isn't that big- but I'd never been anywhere else.
I was terrified of the ocean, of deep water. Ever since my parents had died I had been aware of the horror and terrible power of the ocean. I often had nightmares of drowning in its depths. I always wanted to leave the island and see what was beyond it, but never thought too seriously about it because of my fear. I gazed out longingly at the ocean, at the beauty of the sunset rising over it, at the tiny boat in the distance. Wait, there shouldn't be any boats in the water, we had no expeditions out at the moment and public boating hours ended at sunset.
The boat was getting closer and closer to land every second. My adventurous side wanted to stay there and fight the invaders off myself with my bow and arrows, but my logical half told me to turn around and run to the guard house to warn them of what could be coming.
I took one last longing look out at the ocean before turning around and running back toward the guard house. As I approached the guard house, the bright lights hurt my eyes in the darkening night. The thing that I couldn't detect, though, were voices. The other guards were almost always chatting together as they waited for the patrolling guards who almost never came.
I ran up to the door and peeked my head around the corner. "Hey, guys, there's something you should probably take a look at over by the southern beach," I announced before I noticed something strange. The room was empty. I was surprised for a few seconds before I remembered that King David had invited all the head guards to the palace for a feast. I was one of the few patrol guards who didn't want to go to the feast.
Even though I'd lived in the palace most of my life, I really didn't enjoy all the parties and politics that went on there. And I certainly didn't like living up to the traditional role of a princess: all the dresses and makeup and gossip. I chose to leave that for Serena while I spent my time in the archery range. Whenever there was some ball or party I tried to do my best to escape it in any way that I could.
Anyway, I was unsure of what to do. There were no guards to inform about the incoming boat, and I wouldn't have enough time to run to the palace to tell anyone there. I had only one choice. I'd have to fight off the invaders on my own.
I was just about to grab my bow that was hanging from my back when a hand from behind my back reached around me and covered my mouth. Then I felt the sharp point of a blade against my neck.
"If you scream I slice your neck," a threatening voice whispered in my ear. The voice had a strange, foreign accent that I did not recognize.
The instincts I'd spent years establishing by training with the men in the army kicked in as I elbowed my captor and turned around, grabbing my bow and aiming the arrow at his heart.
Who is the mysterious invader? Will Emma (the first-person character btw) be able to kill him? Please leave reviews. I'll try to post chapter 2 as soon as possible, but reviews will make it go faster.