Page 20 of The Kingdom of Eternal Ice
I do, also, but I don’t say it out loud. Instead, I gesture towards the vast training area behind the castle. “Come, Alana and Kilah are training their riding skills there. Let’s watch. Alana is a fantastic horse rider.”
“She promised she would teach me some tricks, too,” Nevyn says.
Every member of the royal family has to be a good horse rider. Caelan, Flinn and I trained our horses for battle, but Alana has a more artistic approach to horse riding. She is truly gifted.
*AZADEH*
After sleeping in a warm bed and getting served some hot porridge and tea the next morning, I’m ready to continue my journey. By now, my anxiety and curiosity have started to balance each other out. I didn’t expect these people to welcome me so warmly, and I certainly didn’t expect the guards assigned to me as bodyguards to still accept me so openly after they got a hint of how different I am.
Not even I know what I am capable of. Yet they didn’t even falter a little.
“So, the people from the Everlasting Desert do know how to ride?” Tynan asks me curiously.
“The warriors and nobles do,” I explain to him. “But mostly the males.” I pause. “And here?”
“Everyone knows how to ride,” Ita explains. “It’s mandatory to survive here as the distances are huge, and sometimes we need to run from the weather.”
“And creatures?” I ask.
Ita looks at me before she sighs. “There is no use in lying about it, but most of it is rumor. It's not like we constantly battle it out with mythical creatures.”
“But the woman I saw yesterday,” I point out. “You, Tynan and Royan know something, don’t you?”
“Not really,” she says. “It’s more like… there are rumors and sightings. People see things, and rumors spread.” She pauses. “I personally haven’t seen anything yet.”
The woman in white comes to my mind again. It must have been something the locals talked about, or it wouldn’t have gotten such a strong reaction from Royan. I wonder if Ita is telling me the whole story but I shrug it off for now, though. There will be better times to ask her more about this.
We all mount our horses again. Most of my warriors who crossed from the Desert over the borders with us will return. They were only supposed to accompany me until this point. A few will continue with us to provide some protection. Royan is in his human form this time, while Tynan shifts to his wolf form.
The ride to the capital is going to take us a whole day, so we try to set off early. Simin is so much in awe when we ride into the sunrise, and the snow is glittering beneath the few sun rays. It’s a beautiful view indeed, and I revel in it. It helps to distract her from her fear of horses.
Soon, we reach a road that leads us further into the country. There are little towns we come by, or rather packs, as the wolves call them. They seem to run similarly to our towns with a governor ruling, just that they have an Alpha. And as the governor has to answer to my father, they have to answer to Alpha King Gillean.
We only stop briefly to eat something in a pack. While the people there look a bit rougher than the ones at the town close to the border, they are polite and friendly and treat me with a surprising amount of respect.
“It’s because you are a princess,” Royan explains. “Werewolf or not, you are of high rank, and they respect that.”
The hours fly by, and soon, we ride through a vast forest. It seems to be a quiet and peaceful place, but I can’t shake off the eerie feeling creeping up to me. “Shayan,” I whisper.
“Yes?” he rides closer to me.
I don’t want to alert our werewolf companions, so I keep my voice low. “I just feel something,” I confide.
Shayan looks at me in worry. “Elaborate, Princess.”
“The hairs on my arms,” I whisper. “And on my neck, they are standing up, and it’s not because I’m cold. It feels like someone is watching.”
“Watching?” To my surprise, Ita rides closer to us. She heard me?! Wow, she must have great hearing.
Royan rides towards two of their own warriors; the men dismount from their horses and disappear into the forest. For a while, nothing happens. We just continue in silence until I can hear the cracking of some branches. I don’t think much of it until Royan returns to me and grabs the reins of my horse, his eyes gloss over. “Werebears!” he bellows. “Warriors, don’t play heroes! Protect the human warriors! I’m staying with the princess. We’ll take a run!”
I have barely been able to process what he said when his horse picks up its pace. The warriors flock around us while some others fall back to protect my men. “Is there anything I should do?” I ask as Royan’s and my horse easily outrun the others.
“No, Princess, just keep up the pace! I’m your protector, don’t worry.” I toss a glance back, the breath hitching in my throat. “And don’t look back.”
“Too late,” I blurt out.
Behind us, I can see huge creatures descending from the woods. Some wolves are surrounding them, trying to attack them. Ita falls back and seems to tell them something. They withdraw and soon follow us, with the bears hot on our heels.
