Disclaimer- I own nothing, all credit goes to Jennifer A. Nielson.

I glare across at Jaron, there was absolutely no reason for why we were here. Roden and Mott were going on a routine patrol along the border of Gelyn, they did it about once a month. This time Jaron had felt Drylliad was too "boring" and had decided to come along.

We had protested of course, but Jaron had made up his mind, which meant that Tobias and I were also coming for safety. Well, Tobias was, I came along because I had no intention of letting Jaron go alone. He argued of course; he always did. Claiming that border patrol was no place for a lady, much less the future queen of Carthya. I fought back, saying that it wasn't the place for a king either. If he was going, I was going.

So, here we were. Mott was riding up front, with Roden patrolling the back and Tobias, Jaron, and I in the middle. Jaron, feeling the heat of my glare, turned, and smirked at me before riding up to join Mott. Tobias glanced over, looking worried. "I have a bad feeling about this."

I just roll my eyes "That's nothing new, most of Jaron's ideas end in disaster."

"Yeah but…" He trails off as up ahead Mott and Jaron come to an abrupt stop and draw their swords. Behind us I hear Roden unsheathing his as well. Tobias opens his mouth, probably to ask what is wrong. Before he can, cloaked figures slip out of the woods and surround us.

Mott, Jaron, and Roden form a small circle around us as one man steps to the front and removes his hood. He has close-cropped black hair and icy blue. "King Jaron, so nice to finally meet you. After all I've heard I expected you to be more intimidating and," he continues after a pause "better guarded."

My hands' clench, Jaron could be plenty intimidating when he wanted to, and this man obviously underestimated Mott and Roden. Even without them, Jaron could hold his own just fine, I'd seen him fight, many times, and he was an expert at it.

The man surveyed us for a moment, "Men, tie them up!" Jaron had frozen while the man was talking, but now unfroze with a start and jumped into action, fighting viciously along with Roden and Mott. Tobias carried a small sword but was hopeless with it so instead swung his medical bag back and forth, trying to ward off attackers. I convinced Tobias to give me his sword and was a bit more successful than Tobias at fending them off.

The fighting ended when the man, obviously their leader, held a sword to Tobias's neck. Jaron sighed, looking exasperated, like this was just a minor inconvenience, "Ok Frosty, put down the sword and we'll cooperate."

The man blinked, "Frosty?" Jaron grinned, "Yeah, a name to match both your attitude and your eyes. Now, why do you want me dead? You're not the first, and certainly won't be the last, but I would like to know why you, in particular, want my life."

The man glowered at him, "My name's Manson Selvik, and my men and I are here we believe that you are not worthy to be King of Carthya." Jaron glared at Manson, his expression a mixture of anger and shame, but maybe a bit of curiosity too. To anyone else, Jaron's face would have been unreadable, a mask of calm, but to me his face betrayed everything.

"Enlighten me, Manson, how exactly am I unworthy to be king? Last I checked, I, along with our armies, had just won a war against not 1, not 2, but 3 other countries. I, if I remember correctly, had quite a large part in winning it."

Manson continued to glower at him, "You may have helped win the war young king, but you were also the reason it happened in the first place. If you hadn't come back to claim the throne, Avenia, Mendenwal, and Gelyn would not have declared war and people would not have died in meaningless battles."

During Manson and Jaron's argument, his men had led us away from the road to a small clearing, where they searched us and tied us to various trees. Mott, Tobias, and I were tied together, while Jaron and Roden were tied to a different tree a little way away.

Manson walked up to Jaron continuing their argument, "You see Jaron, the pirates failed to kill you and the fact that no one since has succeeded is a mistake that we intend to fix."

Jaron smirked, his confidence back and no traces of concern on his face, despite the fact that we were tied up in a forest, with no way to get help, and our captors had just declared their wish for his death. "I've already told you Manson, plenty of others have also wanted my death instead all of them are now dead or in prison. As for the mistake you think needs fixing, I much prefer myself alive and hope that most of Carthya feels the same. If that is so, you are not fixing a mistake, you are making one, because, you see, threatening the King and his friends has severe consequences, consequences that are coming your way."

With that, Jaron and Roden pulled their hands forward, and the ropes binding them to the tree fell to the ground.

It was obvious what had happened, while Manson and Jaron talked, Jaron had also been working on untying both him and Roden. As soon as their ropes fell to the ground, Manson called for his men to contain them. Despite having no weapons, Jaron started to fight his way over to the tree we're tied to, while Roden tries to reach the weapons stash.

I struggle against my ropes, anxious to help and not be a burden. Beside me, Mott and Tobias seem to be experiencing similar thoughts. Jaron somehow makes his way over to us, though how he manages it without a weapon is beyond me. He unties us as quickly as he can, meanwhile, Roden causes a distraction while also aiming to get over to the weapons.

He put up a fair fight, considering he was alone and unarmed. Nevertheless, he was being overpowered, "Jaron" I hissed, "Hurry!" By now he had finished untying Mott, who ran to help Roden, and had started working on Tobias's ropes.

Tobias twisted around, "Jaron, do you and Roden have an actual plan? Or is this just another of your 'make it up as we go' strategies?" I had to agree with Tobias on that one, more often than not, Jaron seemed to do whatever came to mind first, without taking the time to form a plan. However, much to our surprise, Jaron stated that he did indeed have a plan, and that Tobias should have more faith in him.

Tobias opened his mouth, looking like he wanted to argue, but before he got the chance, Mott and Roden interrupted us. They had managed to fight past Manson's men to the weapons pile and had grabbed most of ours. They were now trying to work their way back to us. Jaron began working even faster, if that was possible, and had Tobias free in less than a minute.

He then moved to my ropes, by that time Mott and Roden had made it back to us and starting to hand out weapons, the downside to this was that Manson's men had finally realized what Jaron was doing and he, along with the others, left to go fight them off, leaving me tied to a tree.

I struggled against my bonds, Tobias tried to help, but he was terrible at knots and probably made it worse. He eventually gave up and edged around the outskirts of the battle, looking for a way to help but not knowing how. At the very least, he was nearby if anyone needed him. I, on the other hand, could only watch helplessly as they dueled back and forth.

Luckily, neither Jaron, Mott nor Roden seemed to be seriously injured, and there were multiple of Manson's men on the ground. Soon only Manson and two of his men were left, Jaron and the others had somehow managed to beat the rest of them. Roden had taken on Manson, while Jaron and Mott had each taken one of his men. Mott and Jaron both quickly took care of their attackers and moved to help Roden, however, he and Manson were fighting so swiftly it was impossible to get close.

This went on for a couple of minutes but at one point Roden stumbled on a rock and fell to the ground. Just as Manson moved to deliver the killing blow, Jaron dove in front of him.

Right before my eyes, I watched Jaron, the love of my life, get pierced in the stomach in his efforts to save his friends.

The next and final chapter should be out somewhat soon! Sorry for the cliff-hanger :) As always, I apologize for any mistakes. Please review, it would mean a ton to me!