3:The journey

       ZARA'S POV

It's been two days since I left home, and we stopped at an inn to rest for a day before we continued our journey.

King Carl's nation, Everton was a three days journey and by tomorrow, we'll be there. 

"Princess, I mean Zara...

"Lia don't call me that, remember I'm in disguise."

"What should I call you then," Lia questioned

"You should call me captain, after all, I'm the leader of one hundred men."

Okay, captain, she muttered, giggling. 

"Are you going in disguise all the way to Everton, or you will change when we get close?" Lia asked and I thought for a while.

"Hmm, why don't I just play a prank on King Carl."

"What do you mean prin..., I mean Captain?"

"I mean, I will go in disguise and ask someone else to act as the princess."

"But isn't that risky, what if the king gets upset."

"It's not for long, I just need him to think that the other person is the princess before I introduce myself."

"You are something else Captain," Lia muttered and I chuckled.

I stuff food into my mouth like someone who has not eaten for days. I'm sure no one will believe that a princess would be eating like a glutton, but I didn't care.

It's was just me and Lia in the restaurant, while the soldiers were outside. 

"Captain, you should take it easy, or you might choke. how can a princess eat like that?" Lia muttered 

"It's a good thing that for now, I'm a captain, not a princess, so I can eat however I want."

She sighed, shaking her head, and I chuckled.

After resting for a day, we continued our journey. 

"Princess, watch out Lia yelled but it was too late, I fell into the trap. we were in the middle of a forest, and the place looks like where someone could easily be ambushed.

"Protect the princess," Jamie, the leader of the soldiers yelled coming to my side.

"You should not call me that, or I will be in bigger trouble if the enemy finds out."

"You should call me Captain until we get to Everton."

"Protect the captain," he yelled, and some group of soldiers immediately came to free me from the trap.

They rounded me, forming a shield to protect me. A group of bandits came out and began fighting our soldiers. They were more in number than we were.

This was the reason, my father sent a lot of men with me, but I told him they were too much.

"Zara, we need to go now. we are outnumbered, and if we don't leave, they will capture us," Lia muttered.

"Captain, she is right. you need to leave, I will fight along side the other, to buy you more time," Jamie said.

"I should also fight with you, after all my fighting skills are not bad," I muttered.

"No Zara, the fate of Azrael is in your hands, and if anything happens to you, it will be a disaster," Lia muttered.

"She's right, leave now before it's too late," Jamie muttered.

I climbed my horse and Lia also did the same. 

"Go fast fury, I yelled and she rode fast through the forest. It didn't take long before the enemy started chasing us.

"Lia, stay beside me," I yelled.

They chased us and even fired arrows at us. Fury was riding really fast, leaving Lia behind.

"Lia, hurry, Lia," I yelled but she fell from her horse. 

"Leave Zara, just go," she shouted, but I was not going to leave her behind no matter what.

Fury, let's go back."

I rode back to where Lia was, in an attempt to carry her, but I was late. we were surrounded by the bandit.

I could fight them if they were small in number, but they were like twenty men. They looked dangerous and some even had tattoos and piercing on their noses. They looked like savages.

"Look who we have here, a pretty boy and a pretty lady, we must be so lucky today," one of the men yelled and they all cheered.

Lia held on to me tightly, and she was shivering.

"But, isn't this one too pretty to be a boy," another man said and the first man scanned me.

"Yes, he is. Look at his smooth face, look at those pretty eyes, they look so fierce."

He came towards me, grabbing my hands roughly.

"Ahhh, so soft, he must be from a wealthy family, we are very lucky, if we sell him, we will definitely get a huge amount of money," The man said and they cheered.

It looked like the first man was their leader, he had more piercings and tattoos. 

"Take them and the other men we captured," he ordered and they tied us dragging us with them.

        CARL,S POV

"My king, our spy confirms that princess Zara was on her way but got captured, should we send me to go rescue her?" Jerald asked. Jerald was my right-hand man. He was my most trusted person and friend.

"And why should we. They could have sent enough men to protect her."

"But my king, she is going to be your wife and the queen of Everton, I think you should send some men to rescue her."

"I won't send any men to rescue her. They should figure it out by themselves. How many men did they send with her?"

"One hundred."

"One hundred, and they couldn't protect her, They must be incompetent."

"My king, they were ambushed by bandits."

"That's not an excuse and stop taking their side."

But my king, you...

"Just keep quiet. This will be their challenge, if they can save themselves and bring the Princess to Everton, it will prove that Azrael is a strong nation, but if they are unable to save the princess, I won't spare Azrael."

"But my king, the bandits who kidnapped the princess are one of the most dangerous. they sell women for slavery."

"That's Even better. Ask the spy to keep an eye on them, if they're going to sell the princess, then he should buy her.

"My king, no one knows what the princess looks like."