Adrian's POV
I could feel death lurking around the corners, waiting for me to send Araknee to him. One last squeeze and Hartland will be mine.
Tightening my prey in my water snake's hold, the sight of her writhing in pain brought a smile of satisfaction to my face. So long, Lost Princess!
With a quick motion, I squeezed out the last bit of life in her. Her lifeless body slouched forward, indicating my victory. The small room in the temple filled up with applause. The council members stared in awe at the wonder I'd performed right before their eyes. The three wizards stood in their corner, clapping.
"Thank you, gentlemen." I basked in my triumph. Finally! The assurance and satisfaction I needed ran through my veins. The throne was mine and mine alone. T
Adrian's POV Paow! Mother's slap stung my left cheek. "H-how could you!" she screamed. "The only person you were to kill was Araknee! Not Whitlock!" "He called me weak, Mother!" "So what?" She yelled in my face. "You should have ignored him! Oh heavenly Creator." Mother ran a hand over her face as she paced back and forth. "We can't let your father know about this. He will definitely disown you! He already doesn't acknowledge you as his son." "Well that part isn't my fault," I murmured but she must've heard what I said because... Paow! Another slap landed on my right cheek and my entire face burned. My hands curled into fists, resisti
Rakia's POVHermon was a town in the Eastern Midlands named after a great healer who cured the entire town of a dreaded skin disease that killed millions of people in the 1800s.That was what Richard told me, a few hours before we got to the town.It was buzzing with life, reminding me of market days back in Hartland. Traders displayed their goods and hawked everywhere. Fruits, vegetables, jewellery, clothes, hats, cooking utensils, farming tools, weapons, upholstery, pottery, ceramics, firewood, you name it. Everything was sold here. Little children loitered around the wooden stalls and tents as traders called for customers to purchase their wares."Is this place always like this?" I asked."Yeah. It's the biggest trading town in the Midlands,"
Rakia's POV "Here we are!" Marion chimed, as soon as the carriage pulled up in front of a huge three storey wooden house. I guess she wasn't lying when she said her father was rich. We followed her into the house, meeting her parents and two other siblings. Marion's plump mother was beyond overjoyed to see Clifford and Richard again. She trapped them each in warm hugs that nearly suffocated them. I caught Marion and her siblings stealing glances at the boys and whispering. It wasn't long before they climbed upstairs, giggling. Ignoring the jittery girls, I shook hands with her parents and thanked them for accepting to house us for tonight. Marion's mother brushed it off us nothing and invited us to their family dinner. We were asked to wash our hands, after which we settled at the table with me, sandwiched in between Cli
Rakia's POV Two days later "This is a colossal waste of time." I propped myself up on Luca, watching in disgust as Clifford washed Marion's feet at a small nearby creek. "Tell me about it," Richard remarked, bent over and busily cleaning out his horse's hooves. I moved Luca closer to his side then jumped off my horse. "We've barely covered enough ground since we left Hermon and it's all because she keeps insisting that we stop for flimsy stuff like picking berries!" I huffed. "And the part that irritates me the most is that Clifford lets her. He lets her do anything she wants. I mean...." Frustration took my tone a notch higher. "Can't he see that Marion is a distraction?" "Nope. This is what love does to a person. It blinds out all logical sense of reasoning." Richard put Hope's leg down and straightened himself up. "Last night, wh
Clifford's POV "Argh! I'm exhausted!" Richard fell flat on his sleeping bag. "We all are." I sat down on a log close to our small campfire. Six hours of riding was stressful, but it was the only way I could be absolutely sure that we weren't going to be traced or followed. Rakia appeared with more firewood, dumping it in the growing fire. She had been unusually quiet the entire ride, probably trying to figure out what she did to me earlier. Overhearing her tell Richard it had something to do with water made me curious. She could create water snakes, turn warriors into ice statues and apparently heal people to the extent that no scars were left behind. Was there anything she couldn't do? "You can't keep this up, Clifford." Marion plopped down next to me. "It's useless. We have to turn her in."
Rakia's POVThe water rising up to meet me came as a very big surprise, that I also lost the breath I was holding. I really need to learn how to control this thing fast.My eyes took a quick scan of my new environment and finally locked on Marion's drowning form. Her curly long hair covered half of her face, making it difficult to tell if she was still alive. Hopefully she was.Quickly, I swarm in her direction, grabbing on to her flailing arms. Pulling her up, I swarm underneath her and placed her arm round my neck. My right arm secured her round the waist and with my left arm and legs, I pushed us up to the surface.I gasped as air seeped past my nostrils. "Marion?" Her head had fallen slack on my shoulder and it struck fear in my heart. Using my free hand, I led us to the pa
Rakia's POVMy chest was burning, but I couldn't stop running.In that short period of surprise, the creature had put a gap in between us; a gap I needed to fill if Marion was going to stay alive.My boots screeched to a halt when I caught sight of Marion in a tree, holding on for her dear life whilst the creature attack the bottom, trying to bring the plant down."Somebody, please help!" She cried, "Rakiaaa!"Gripping the tree branch in my hand, I raised it and to tossed at the animal. I didn't exactly have a plan after that, but I needed to do something quick because Marion's tree had began to tilt to the side.The stick left my hand, soared through the air and finally smacked the creature right on its b
Clifford's POVOnce I got to the horses, I gave Hero a pat on his head before proceeding to take out a clean shirt from the bag on his side."What's going on between you two?""Huh?" I turned around, finding my obnoxious girlfriend behind me."You and Rakia," she clarified. "What's going on between both of you?""Nothing, Marion." With an eye roll, I turned back to my horse. "You're being paranoid.""Oh so I'm supposed to pretend that I didn't notice how panic-stricken you became when I told you that Rakia was being chased by a tiger-boar?"My hands froze."All of a sudden, you were on red alert," Marion continued. "Screaming