"She doesn't have a crown on her head yet and she's already an arrogant bitch," said General Marcellus to the commander.
"Considering who she is, she can afford it," replied the commander. "But you have to admit that she's different from all the queens. She's more than good with a sword."
"If that priestess hadn't distracted her, she would have defeated you," said the general.
The commander looked at him in astonishment. "Never," he objected to his remark. "I'm better. She would never beat me."
"We can find out after returning to Deira," suggested the general.
The commander wanted to say something, but then the door opened and he preferred to remain silent. Amaya came out of her chambers and they both kept their eyes on her. They looked at her with amazement in faces.
"Do you have a wish, gentlemen?" Amaya said, rolling her eyes at their stares.
"You look like a warrior queen," said the commander.
She was wearing a brocade doublet embroidered with gold. She changed the skirt for narrow pants decorated with laces. She usually had knives tucked in, but now she didn't have any.
"Watch your words, Ciaran, someone might think you like her."
Commander Ciaran grinned.
"Can we go now?" Amaya said, ignoring their words.
"I'll make sure you don't have any other weapons," said the commander.
Amaya just rolled her eyes and let him search her. Of course, he found nothing. Who would have thought that a stick in her hair could serve as a dagger?
"We can go." The commander offered her a shoulder.
Pushing him away, Amaya walked past him and strode down the hall.
The rest of the army was waiting in front of the monastery. The priestesses watched as Amaya voluntarily left with the commander of the enemy army. They begged her not to do it. But what options did she have left?
"Amaya!" a female voice shouted her name.
Amaya saw the soldiers holding the high priestess in handcuffs.
"Release her immediately!" she ordered them.
The soldiers ignored her.
"She said that wherever that witch goes, she must go with her," they told their commander.
Amaya was like her own daughter to her. She was still young when she came to the monastery. She practically raised her. Her heart simply told her to go wherever the wind took Amaya. A constant need to protect her tormented her inside.
"You can't, Zariah," Amaya told her. "It's dangerous where we're going."
"That's exactly why I can't let you go alone, Amaya," Zariah objected.
"She's staying here," Amaya told the commander.
"She will go with us," the commander ordered his soldiers.
"No!" argued Amaya.
"If she comes with us, maybe you'll be more tame, little goddess." He smoothed an unruly strand of hair behind her ear with a gentle touch.
Amaya jerked his hand away. "I'm no goddess, but one day you'll worship me like one," she told him with venom on her tongue.
The army finally started to move. They have already lost more time than they planned. They wanted to be in the harbor by sunset, and the sun was getting dangerously close to the horizon. The commander put Amaya on his horse, insisting that she go with him.
"I can ride a horse," Amaya complained.
"It's a safety measure so you don't run away, miss," replied the commander.
"Aren't you worried that Zariah might run away too?" Amaya remarked.
"I came here for you, miss," said the commander. "I don't care if she runs away."
He twisted her hands behind her back and tied them. Amaya was flinching, but he bound her too tightly.
"Is it necessary?" she asked irritably.
The commander leaned towards her. Amaya felt the warmth of his body on her back, his breath on her neck. He took the reins of the horse in his hands.
"I don't trust you, Miss Amaya, so it feels very necessary," he whispered in her ear.
"You'll never make it across the border anyway. Fighting rages there. You won't be able to get through the Amorite defense line." Amaya said with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "The falcons must have already brought word of your attack. The royal army will be waiting for you."
"That's why we're heading to the harbor," replied the commander.
"Royal Navy ships will destroy you with their firepower."
"They won't risk it with you on board, miss."
"You must be overestimating my worth, Commander. King Damon would rather see me dead than in your hands."
"In that case, it's good that we don't go through the bay, but around," said the commander. "It'll take longer, but they won't even notice we're gone."
That surprised Amaya . She didn't expect it, but it was a well-thought-out plan.
They walked in silence. There was an almost supernatural silence full of tension between them. However, their surroundings were no longer so quiet. The joyful voices of soldiers rejoicing in their victory filled the air.
They entered the Whispering Forest. The wind whispered its secrets in the treetops. However, that is not the reason why it was called that. Real whispers, soft voices echoed through the forest. They called you to them. They were laughing. The soldiers didn't notice, but Amaya and Zariah were fully aware of the voices. They exchanged worried glances. It was the day of the summer solstice and they were well aware of what would come with sunset.
Amaya leaned her back against the commander. She closed her eyes. The commander looked at her inquisitively. He allowed her to rest against his body. In that moment, he felt the gentle touch of her hands, where they had not belonged.
"You definitely won't find what you're looking for there, Miss Amaya, but you can go ahead," the commander said with amusement in his voice. "I have to admit it feels nice."
Amaya opened her eyes. Their eyes met. She slammed her shoulder into his chest. Due to the fact that she was tied up, she couldn't hit him as hard as she wanted to. Amaya threw her leg over the horse. The commander immediately grabbed her, thinking she was about to jump off, but she turned to face him instead.
"So, if we're so intimately close now, what should I call you, Your Highness?" Amaya said.
The commander stared at her in astonishment. She surprised him with that addressment.
"How?" he wondered.
"You can't deny the royal upbringing in you," she remarked. "It gave you away in the way you talk, the way you walk. You can play a regular soldier, but you can't hide it. But how is it possible that I don't know you yet?" she asked him. "I know all the princes of Deira."
"My name is Prince Ciaran," he told her. "I am an illegitimate son of King Mael. That's why you haven't heard of me yet."
"It's not common for a prince to command an army," Amaya remarked.
"Also, it's not common for a girl who has spent her whole life in a convent to wield a sword like you, miss," Prince Ciaran replied.
"I spent more time with the soldiers hunting than in the monastery itself," she remarked.
"Do you have royal army training?" the prince wondered.
"Yes," Amaya admitted proudly.
"What does the future queen need military training for?"
"We hunted dark creatures," she replied.
"Dark creatures don't exist," remarked General Marcellus as he overheard their conversation.
Amaya turned her attention to him. "You'll believe it when you see it, General," she told him. "Even in this country, not everyone believes, and I also know stories about dark creatures from Deira."
"Those are just myths," replied the general.
"What do you think, Prince Ciaran?" Amaya asked him.
The prince was silent. However, as he opened his mouth to say something, the high priestess caught up with them on horseback.
"Speaking of dark creatures, Amaya, it's getting close to sunset."
Dusk was falling on the land. The last rays of the day penetrated through the canopy of intertwined tree branches and green leaves. They lent the world a magical atmosphere. The bodies of the trees formed unnatural shadows in the gloom. They acted like living beings. As the night came, the fog formed. It distorted reality. You thought you were seeing things that weren't really there, and you didn't see what was really creeping through the fog.
"What happens after sunset?" asked Prince Ciaran.
"Night will come," Amaya replied.
"Amaya." Zariah warmed to her. "They'll kill us all."
"What will happen when night comes?" the prince repeated his question.
"The moon will shine," Amaya said with a mischievous smile on her lips.
Zariah rolled her eyes. "You came on the day of the summer solstice," she said. "On this day we light fires to ward off the darkness and with it the monsters that come from it."
"They're just trying to scare us," said the general.
"What are these monsters?" asked the prince.
"Ghosts," Amaya replied. "They can't be killed," she warned them. "However, they will kill everything in their path."
"Then let's make camp and set the fires," suggested the prince.
"You believe that?" laughed the general.
"Better to be prepared for all possibilities," replied Prince Ciaran.
Amaya laughed. "It doesn't work that way," she said. "You can't shine through the darkness, you can only drive it back where it came from. And we are in the heart of it."
"So what do you suggest, little goddess?" the prince asked her.
"Get out of the forest as quickly as possible," she answered his question.
Prince Ciaran ordered everyone to trot their horses. They hurriedly tried to get out of the Whispering Forest. But the nights did not run away. The sky had not yet completely taken on its dark form, but a gloom was already creeping under the treetops, a promise of the coming darkness. And shadows crept through that gloom. They dissolved and materialized. The horses were getting nervous. Even the soldiers themselves, who did not believe in dark creatures, felt insecure.
The horse that Amaya and Prince Ciaran were sitting on spooked. He squealed in fright. Wildly kicking in the air with his front legs. The prince tried to tame him, but in the end, he couldn't hold the reins and both he and Amaya fell off. They hit the ground hard. The prince helped Amaya back to her feet.
"Are you alright, miss?" he asked her.
"It wouldn't hurt you to untie me, Your Highness," Amaya said.
"But don't try to run away," the prince told her after an almost endless moment of thinking about her request.
"Before or after they kill you all?" Amaya smirked.
"You are not at all afraid that they will kill you too?" the prince did not understand her frivolity.
"I'm blessed by the gods, they won't hurt me," she replied.
The soldiers could not hold their horses. They writhed in fear in their grip. They tried to throw them off their backs. Zariah fell to the ground. Amaya immediately went to help her.
"What kind of illusions are you making, witches?" The general drew his sword at Amaya and the high priestess.
Prince Ciaran stood in his way. "Put down your sword!" he ordered.
The general hesitated for a moment but followed the order of his commander and the prince.
There was heard a scream. The apparition yanked one of the soldiers off his horse and dragged him with him into the darkness of the forest.
"What the hell was that?" the general freaked out.
"You believe in witches, but not ghosts, General?" Amaya laughed to herself. "If you survive, you might finally believe."
"Amaya, you have to chase them away," Zariah told her.
"I can't," Amaya said.
"You've done it once before, Amaya, you can do it again. You have the gods on your side."
"That was a long time ago."
"You will make it."
"I can't," Amaya objected.
"So what are we about to do?" the prince asked her.
"Light the fires," Amaya said.
The prince and the general tried to set a fire. For now, the night has taken its full power. Darkness has taken over the Whispering Forest. The soldiers drew their swords to defend themselves, but they were of no use. The ghosts were intangible, the blades passing through them as if through the mist that surrounded them. They were formed from the darkness from which they emerged. The edge of the swords did not even scratch them. The prince and the general tried to start fires while the soldiers defended them from the bloodthirsty ghosts. But it was a massacre. The screams of dying soldiers echoed through the silent night landscape. Horrific shadows flickered through the darkness, tearing living flesh to shreds and spilling blood. Their sharp claws slashed, their fangs bit into defenseless bodies. Pieces of bodies and entrails lay scattered among the trees. Their blood sprinkled the forest floor. The trees adored it more than pure water.
The ghost grabbed Amaya by the leg and pulled her into the bowels of the forest. His sharp claws dug into her ankle. It dragged her through the forest floor, leaving a trail behind them. Fallen leaves and branches got caught in her hair. The faint embers of the fanning flames disappeared from her sight.