Chapter 7

A week passed in which Este and I had 'dates' with the king. He was always very polite to me, but I somehow felt that there was not much spark between us. Not that it mattered. I mean, who cares that he is another guy that just gave me one look and says 'meh' and tossed me on the side. I had that before. Like at the party Este and I left behind. I noticed at least two guys that checked me out, but then decided I wasn't worth the effort. Bastards! Just because I am shy and didn't flaunt my boobs in their faces like someone else I know I am being thrown on the ash heap!

I enjoyed the times more that I had with Hiro. It seemed like he would be with whoever was not with the king, unless he had 'other duties'. I once asked him what duties he had, but he didn't want to elaborate. He always treated me like a butler would treat a guest, nothing less and nothing more. This hurt me a bit. Was I never good enough for any decent guy?

One morning I heard some maids chattering nervously.

"His highness is surely going to behead him!"

"Oh! How could he have done that?! He should know better than to betray his master!"

When they saw me they quickly bowed their heads to me and rushed off.

What on earth was that all about, I wondered. Traitor? I followed in the direction they had left. Soon I got to door that exited onto a wall. From there I could see over a courtyard. It was packed with what looked like castle staff. I noticed Hiro and the king standing in the middle. Hiro was addressing them.

"...as you all know, betrayal is a serious offence in the Unmarked lands. It can mean the end of a kingdom." He kept silent a bit and the crowd whispered amongst themselves.

The accused stood with his head bowed and didn't say anything. I wondered what exactly this man did wrong? I've obviously missed part of Hiro's speech. Just then the accused man suddenly pulled out a knife from his shirt. Hey, wasn't his hands bound just a moment ago?! He was going to stab Hiro, who's back was facing him as he was addressing the crowd.

"Hiro!" I shouted. At the same time the king had in one swift movement pulled the long thin sword from his hip and pierced the man right through his stomach. The crowd was in uproar. The accused man gripped onto the sword that stuck out his stomach and then sunk to his knees. His form changed. His skin became grey and his body became taller and he had devil-like wings. He screamed something in a language I didn't understand, but sounded very rude. Hiro said something in return to him, but I couldn't hear what he said, then he looked up to me and his eyes met mine. I had thought that the noise of the crowd had drowned out my shout... That was when the king pulled his sword out of the creature's stomach and cut its head right off. Its body fell over and the head rolled towards the crowd. I felt the blood leave my face. There was so much blood... I felt like I was going to get sick and rushed away.

I kept to my room for the rest of that day. A maid brought me my meals to my room, but I couldn't eat much. Later Este came around to check up on me. She didn't know what happened this morning, she said she heard a bit of noise and asked if I knew what had happened. I was still too shocked to talk about it and said that I wasn't sure either.

The next day we were informed that the king had to attend to urgent matters relating to his lands and that he and Hiro would be out for most of the day. This meant that we had to keep ourselves entertained.

Este surprisingly came by my room again and couldn't talk enough about how wonderful the king is.

"We went to this river not far from the castle and I almost fell in. He grabbed me just in time! He's so strong! I think I'm already in love with him!"

"How can you love someone you barely know?" The image of the king slicing the head of the demon (I think that is what it was) was not a very friendly one. I don't know if I could love someone like that...

"You know, love at...fifth sight, or whatever."

I felt a bit annoyed by her bubbly talk. It seems like they are really hitting it off. She knew more about him than I did, even though I asked him about himself. He didn't seem to like talking about himself for some reason. Perhaps it was just me giving off the wrong vibe or something...

"Oh, and he said we can arrange a ball sometime. People from the other kingdoms will attend and everything!"

"Oh, great..." I said with not much enthusiasm.

"What?"

I wasn't going to tell her that I felt jealous that she just gets along with every guy she meets. I've never had much luck when it came to boyfriends. I spoken more to Hiro than I did to all the other guys I've met together and that's just because he is being ordered to by the king. How pathetic!

"Nothing...I am bored, let's take a walk to that river you spoke of."

"Yeah, why not?"

The sky was somewhat clouded over. When we were about to exit the gate a maid came running to us.

"Where are you going, Misses'?" she asked in a panic.

"We're just going to the river near hear – don't worry, I've been there before with his highness and know what to watch out for!" Este told her. Her eyes widened a bit.

"But...but...!"

"Don't worry, we'll be back by midday!" The flustered maid hurried inside the castle.

The riverbank was quite steep. I could see how it is easy to slip and it would be difficult to get out when the banks are wet and muddy. I kept a safe distance from the side. In the meanwhile Este was already planning out her honeymoon and everything.

"So what do you think, do they have beach cottages in these lands?"

"I have no idea...buy the way Hiro told me that the queen needs to read up about the ways of the land, so if I was you I'd get reading! Perhaps you'll find out where potential honeymoon beach cottages are."

She pulled a face at me.

"That's boring! Next time I see the king I'll just ask him."

Just then I thought I heard a sound.

"Did you hear that?"

"What?"

"I heard a growl..."

"What?! Where?"

"Shhhh!"

Just then we saw the biggest dog-like animal I've ever seen come out of the bushes. It was heading to a lower bank of the river that was less steep. I froze on the spot. This wasn't good!

Este panicked and slipped, sliding halfway down the bank.

"Aaaaaah!" she yelled. This made the creature look up at us. I wish I didn't see its face. It had yellow eyes and very sharp teeth.

"Grab my hand, quick!" I yelled and reached out to Este. She grabbed it and I almost slipped down as well. I steadied my boots into the mud and pulled hard. Thank goodness for putting on sturdy sensible boots this morning even though Este said I looked like I was going mountaineering. I kept an eye on the creature and saw that it hadn't moved yet, it was still trying to decide if we were a threat or food.

"What shall we do...what shall we do?!" Este was almost chanting.

"Run!" I saw that the creature was slowly starting to come towards us.

"Wha..."

"Run dammit!" I yelled and pushed Este. She seemed to come out of her stupor and ran. We both ran like we never did before. It was not so easy because the ground was muddy at places and we eventually reached the patch were the road was very close to the steep riverbank. The dark water looked very ominous and it had pieces of what looked like ice drifting in it! I kept looking over my shoulder to check if the creature was following us. It looked like we're sa... Just then my boot hit a root and I tripped. I heard Este yell. Before I knew what was happening I had slid down and fell into the water. It was so cold that it instantaneously squashed all the air out of me and everything became black.