2-

It had already been only an hour since she had begun her ride into the forest, the dark trees and shrubbery blocking out any trace of sunlight that still lingered in the fall as she rode. Now as the young woman looked at the map in her hands as she stood beside her horse, in the middle of the trail that the girl was officially... lost. Map reading had never been her specialty but she had tried her best to try to make out the map that Velkan had taken the time to collect and send to her on her before she left London. But that had been before she actually gotten to Romania. As the girl stand there in her long black trousers, working boots, and light blue peasant shirt covered only by a very old and worn wool cloak that she had taken from her bag while riding, she attempted to find any landmark she could to help her find her way. After a moment or two of not being able to find anything remotely similar to her on the map she looked to the sky and saw the dark rain clouds over head and sighed. She could either turn back or press ahead, either option and shed be soaked to the bone from the impending rain. Kya looked to her horse and gently pat his neck before taking the reigns and carefully begins to walk down the dirt path way, deciding to press on.

"I do hope that this Castle has decent fireplaces, and a warm stable for you young sir." She spoke aloud to no one in particular. Since she was alone she could do as she pleased and she felt like talking to her horse, so damn her she will.

As she walks down the pathway she periodically looks between the map in her hands and the road to ensure that shes at least going in a direction that is some what close to where she is supposed to go. After passing by what looked like a dark patch in the road she heard something break nearby. It sounded almost like someone walking behind her but as she stopped to look around she saw no one in sight.

"How strange..."

Kya turned back around and gently pulled on the reigns to her horse as she began walking again. This time paying a bit more attention to her surroundings than before. There were no forests like this in London, all that was there were thick alleyways filled to the brim with merchants of all kinds and the wealthy and poor mingling together, respectfully in their own sections of course since no wealthy person wishes to give money to the poor now do they. Kya sighed slightly as she stopped once again to look at the map in her hands then cursed to her self before going to the bag that she had managed to strap to the saddle on the horse and reached into the bottom and took out a small fountain pen that she had brought with her and began to mark symbols on the map to attempt to aid her in her travel.

"Oh no Kya ve cannot come to get you for ve are busy vit our hunting and our fishing, and other shite! So ve do not have time to come and show you the vay!" She yelled to herself as she placed the pen back in the bag doing her impression of what Valerious must sound like with his Romanian accent and everything. "Why must i find the way on my own, its nearly dark."

With a sigh Kya carefully mounted her horse and urged him to start into a slow trot to try and make progress through the woods. Though he wasn't a purely bred horse he has a very good temperament and has been trained and already obeys her commands when asked. Though Kya was sure the training could have involved a weapon of some kind she did not want to think of that while she rode through a dark forest. All the while she is observing her map she is also holding the reigns in one hand and the map in another, she then realizes shes had it upside down the entire time. She pulled her horse to a stop and crumpled the parchment into a ball and pretended to throw it into the distance.

"I! HATE! MAPS!" She yelled before calming down slightly and looked around her to see just where she is. Pushing part of her short black hair out of her face, it appears that all shed been doing was going in circles for the past hour and she was about to complete another loop.

She groaned and rubbed her hands over her eyes before looking around once more but this time on the road up ahead she spots a black figure. Gently digging in her heels she tries to get closer hoping that it wasn't a tree and someone she can ask directions from.

"Excuse me?!"

Just as she called out the figure turns to show that it wasn't a tree but a man. He stands probably a bit taller than Kya when standing on the ground, but he is dressed in a black cloak that covers his entire body, you couldn't even see his arms as she stands there looking at her with light blue eyes. As she drew nearer to the man she could see now that he appears to be a noble. Upon seeing this she immediately hopped off her horse and carefully walks over to him trying to remember her manners around those of nobility.

"Excuse me sir, but i seem to be lost out here. Could you possibly point me in the direction of..." She quickly pulled out the map again as well as the letter taking a moment to smooth out the parchment that was the map and tries to pronounce the name correctly as she explains it to him. "I believe its called Valirious Castle?"

"Castle Valerious?"

Kya's head snapped up at the sound of the mans deep voice as he graciously corrected her. She nod and noted that the air around her seemed to drop in temperature as well as grow a little more dire. The man smirked partially to him self but then nodded and moved out of the way and gestures to a branch in the road.

"Follow that path way and you will go straight there." The mans thick Romanian accent made her feel horribly embarrassed by her mocking of it earlier.

"Thank you sir. Thank you very much." She gently placed the map and letter inside her corset pocket before climbing back into the saddle and looked down to the man. "Truly sir, thank you. I'd have been out here all night if you hadn't been here."

"If i may ask, why do you seek the castle?"

She looked down to the man a bit cautious to answer his question but, he didn't seem to have any weapons on him or have any ill intent. What would be the harm in answering a few questions?

"I have family, well... so called family there. They sent for me to come and here i am." She smiles kindly before bowing her head to him. "Thank you again sir."

She dug in her heels and her horse took off in a faster trot down the new pathway. That man was very odd to her as she thought about her encounter with him as she rode. Perhaps it was just the fact that she was lost in a foreign place, or that he had seemingly come out of no where. The longer she thought about it the more odd this situation became. Why did Anna and Velerious contact her? Did they need another maid for their castle? Surely they could afford new help other than a "Distant cousin" from London. Their families had barely spoken to one another int he past decade let alone see each other. Why now, after five years since the passing of her father would they contact her, and then not even bother to come out of their precious castle to try to make her feel a bit more at ease in a country that has creatures roaming about, or at least the stories surrounding this place told her.

This time as she rode down the path she was able to follow the map with ease and made it to a small snow covered town within two hours. The streets were filled with people going to and fro going about their daily business. Now that she was at the town she could stop and take a moment to ask for proper directions from a towns person to get to the castle, seeing as she had gotten her self lost before. Just as Kya drew up towards what appeared to be a pup another rider came up beside her. This one is also a woman with long wavy dark brown hair draped over one shoulder. Wearing black trousers, long leather riding boots and a top similar to what Kya is wearing, only her shirt was creme with red roses on it and she wore a black leather corset on the outside of her clothing.

"Are you Kya Albarn?" The woman asked her in her Romanian accent.

The woman nodded. "Yes i am, i assume that you are Anna?"

The woman on her magnificent black horse, surely must be a pure breed, nodded her head. "Follow me to our home we don't have much time before the night falls."

With that the woman turned her horse around and began to head off in the direction that Kya was now supposed to follow. Clearly this will not be a very easy relationship between her cousins and her self. The daughter of a merchant from London and the two royal twins, clearly the difference between them would drive a wedge between them in some way. Kya could only hope that they aren't what she thinks they are.

Damn i am proud of myself. Two chapters in one week, this has to be a miracle. Well thats all i got for this time. Please review, leave a like!