“Well?” Vladek sounded furious he didn’t just tell him without prompting him to.

  Artur suspected the way in which the druid could make the knights fight better came at a price and that’s why they hadn’t already empowered them even more.

  “They will be fiercer, more determined, more deadly,” Lentil said.

  “Then do it!” Vladek said.

  “But we will have much less control over them,” Cabrillo quickly said. “We can control them now, direct them where to go, but anyone in Leogane’s party would be at risk, including the princess.”

  Vladek paced next to the fire. “The witch was supposed to bring the princess to me.”

  “She didn’t hide the healer’s body well enough. They found it too quickly,” Lentil said. “Rumors are circulating that the princess has been revealing some of our archers’ positions.”

  “She wouldn’t know that unless…she’s coming into some of her abilities,” Vladek said. “I’ve communicated with her, but she doesn’t respond so I believed she didn’t have her abilities yet. I should have reached Castle Mayden before Leogane did.”

  “You didn’t find out until it was too late that he was going to see her. Even then, you weren’t sure he was going to like her well enough to take her with him. There is another woman that he wishes to marry,” Lentil said. “Her guardian was supposed to help us get the princess. Her maid even. But Leogane didn’t take her guardian with them and the maid accompanying the princess is way too much of a mouse.”

  “So what do you want to do?” Cabrillo said.

  “I want the princess separated from her escort and then you can make our knights stronger, capable of actually killing Leogane and his men,” Vladek growled.

  “We can’t get close enough to the king and his men to grab her,” Lentil said.

  Vladek ran his hands through his hair. “You have to. Do whatever it takes.”

  Suddenly, a hand was on Artur’s arm, and he thought a dark arts knight had found him, though if one had, Artur would have been dead. He turned to see Rina and took a relieved breath.

  “Come, we need to return to our camp,” Rina whispered to him.

  “Aye.” Then the two of them began to make their trek back to the trail where the king and his party were waiting.

  But this time, they ran into trouble. They were in between the dark arts knights and Vladek’s encampment, a small area free of any of the enemy’s forces, and then more of them. Artur paused, seeing five knights spread out ahead of him.

  He tried to go around them but there were more of them. Still, there was an area where they weren’t massed, and he was trying to move through the “safety zone” without being seen. He was glad that at least Rina was more hidden from view.

  He realized in that moment how he’d said he wouldn’t be interested in a woman who had magical abilities. He was quickly changing his mind about that. She could be invaluable to a fighting force. He couldn’t believe she would think the king would want to wed her. Though Artur figured she’d even said so to annoy him. Which he had to admit she had done to an extent. And being interested in some langolar from some other world? He wanted to scoff at that, until Rina pinched his arm.

  “Pay attention. Move.”

  He nearly smiled, but the situation was far too dangerous for that.

  It wasn’t too much longer after that, that he couldn’t slip by a knight and quickly engaged him. Unfortunately, there were more of them that converged on him. Thankfully, Rina was with him, hidden, then out of hiding and attacking the knights as fast as he was.

  She blended against a tree and then he struck a knight, and she reappeared, hitting the knight at the same time. He wanted to tell her to get her own targets and not waste her energy on taking down the same knight. Not when they suddenly had a swarm of several of the dark knights upon them.

  They had killed about six of them and he was glad that the druid hadn’t made them any stronger or more vicious or he and Rina wouldn’t have managed to annihilate them.

  Rina grabbed Artur’s hand as he cut off the head of another knight and ran to a massive oak tree. As soon as they made it to the tree, she wrapped her arms around Artur and leaned him against the tree. What…?

  The knights were swarming all around them and they didn’t seem to notice them. Artur couldn’t believe it and he kept expecting the knights to see them. They were brushing past them, so close he felt the breeze stirred up by their movement. Rina’s body was pressed against him as tight as she could, and her head was resting against his chest. If any of the knights saw him, he wouldn’t be able to swing his sword to defend her.

  But she wasn’t moving while the knights were frantically looking for them.

  It seemed like forever before the knights began to disperse. She whispered to him, “Are you ready to move again?”

  He kind of liked this time alone with her, but he knew they needed to get out of here and get the word to the king about what was going on. Not to mention they couldn’t hold this position forever.

  “Yeah. Let’s go.” Things had really quieted down and the knights weren’t close to them now, still searching for them but closer to where Artur and Rina had killed the others of their kind.

  They quietly moved away from the knights, trying to reach the trail without engaging any more of the dark arts knights. But then they came across another group of them, seven in number, watching the king’s encampment. They tried to skirt around them, but that was taking them farther away from the king’s party. Once they reached the trail, they would be on their own, exposed to any knights that might be watching it. Though they probably would be observing the king’s party from the woods, and not searching for stragglers.

  Rina suddenly whistled and Artur wondered what she was doing. Then he heard a horse coming. At first, he thought it was a dark arts knight riding a horse, but then he saw it was Rina’s horse. As soon as her horse was close enough, she jumped on his back and offered her hand to Artur. He took her hand and slid behind her. Two of them on her horse would slow them down and they couldn’t easily fight on horseback against their enemies like this either.

  She kicked her horse on and he took off like the wind. He was beautiful but in motion, truly amazing. They finally reached the trail, and the dark arts knights heard them galloping off.

  Rina and Artur and her horse kept going, keeping out of the knights’ reach. Then they finally heard someone on the trail ahead of them and he hoped it was his men, not the enemy.

  But there were four dark arts knights ready to fight them on the trail ahead.

  She was riding toward them. Artur was thinking she should let him off so she could hide herself on her horse’s back and he would fight them on foot. But she wasn’t slowing down. They waited for them and when they were upon them, she switched her sword to her left hand, surprising him. He swung at the knight to their right while she swung at the one to their left. The other two were closing in when bolts flew toward the last two knights, striking their targets, and the dark arts knights fell off their mounts—dead.

  “Stop here,” Artur said, seeing some of King Leogane’s men riding toward them to offer their support.

  “Why?” Rina asked.

  “I’ll get one of the dead knight’s horses.”

  She pulled her horse to a stop, and Artur jumped off and grabbed one of the knight’s horses that was milling around. He leapt into the saddle and headed out with Rina.

  “You didn’t tell me you are ambidextrous,” Artur said.

  She laughed. “I don’t tell anyone in case I need to swordfight with my left hand and catch them off-guard.”

  “You are very clever.”

  “Thank you.”

  Rina couldn’t believe she could actually cloak another person with her abilities, but she’d had to do it. When they had been surrounded by the dark knights, they wouldn’t have survived if it hadn’t been for her abilities. She was amused he was so shocked when she could fight with her left hand just as well as with her right. And she was really glad he had come with her. She thought she’d have done fine on her own, but she had welcomed being with him on this mission, which was really unusual for her.

  She was disappointed to learn Vladek had two druids working for him. Who knew if he himself had dark arts abilities.

  Then they reached the encampment and met up with the king and Erlig. The princess was sound asleep.

  They explained everything they’d learned to the king.

  “So taking the druids and Vladek out isn’t going to be easy,” the king said.

  “The problem is that they want to make these creatures even stronger. We’re beating them too easily,” Rina said.

  “But they have to get to the princess first and take off with her or these knights could end up killing her too,” Artur said.

  “What do you suggest we do?” King Leogane asked.

  “As long as we have the princess with us, I don’t believe the druids will make their knights any stronger,” Rina said. “I suggest we continue on our way to your castle.”

  “All right. We’ll leave at dawn,” the king said. “The two of you get some rest.”

  Gladly. Rina was tired and when she laid out her bedroll, Artur laid his next to hers. “Are you lonely?” she asked him as she laid down and covered herself with a blanket.

  Artur scoffed. “If we are attacked in the middle of the night, I want your protection.”

  She smiled and closed her eyes.

  “Thanks for saving our lives back there.”

  “It was all in a night’s work.” And then she fell asleep until she smelled porridge and saw the sun peeking through the trees. She groaned. She hadn’t had enough sleep. As soon as she rolled up her bedroll, she saw the princess watching her. “Did you have a good sleep, my lady?”

  “Aye, once I made my proposal to the king.”

  Astonished, Rina said, “To marry him?”

  “Nay. To be his ally once he ousts my uncle from the castle.”

  “Oh. And the king agreed?” Rina was a little surprised to hear it.

  “He is considering my proposition.”

  Artur was already up and about and brought them both porridge. He looked ready for the journey again.

  “I worried you would not return to us,” Mirabella said to Artur.

  “Rina kept us safe.” Artur took off to speak to his men.

  “That takes a good man to admit that a woman could protect him in battle, I’m sure,” the princess said to Rina.

  “He fought just as hard to keep us safe, but he doesn’t feel the need to mention his heroics.” Rina ate some more of her porridge. She wanted to ask Mirabella what she would do if the king said he wanted to marry her to obtain an alliance with King Inari. It would be so much easier then going to war with him to put Mirabella on the throne. Though he wouldn’t just have an alliance with her, if he also married her. He would have any expanded kingdom.

  When they were on the trail traveling again, Rina and Artur stayed near the princess this time.

  They fought two more ambushes, both times Mirabella alerting them of the battles ahead of time, giving the king and his men the advantage.

  They were finally within a day’s ride of Grande Castle and everyone’s spirits were lifted.

  To Rina’s surprise she saw her cousin Dracolin, his dark brown hair and Persephonice’s red hair whipping about as they rode a green-scaled dragon, flying toward them. Why? Had they come to see Artur for some reason? Rina knew they wouldn’t be looking for her.

  13

  When Artur saw the dragon coming toward them and could recognize Dracolin and Persephonice were riding him, he assumed they were coming to see Rina, but she looked surprised. But Dracolin was her cousin. He wouldn’t be coming to see Artur for any reason.

  Then the king stopped his party and the dragon landed in the middle of them.

  Dracolin jumped off the dragon’s back and offered his hand to Persephonice to help her down. Artur glanced at Rina to see if she realized a male warrior could help a female warrior dismount and for it to be perfectly all right.

  Rina looked at Artur and smiled.

  The king greeted them as if they were royalty.

  But then Dracolin saw Rina and said, “We’ve come for her.”

  “Rina?” the king asked.

  “Aye, her parents said she should never have been this far from home,” Dracolin said, looking sternly at her.

  Artur glanced at her, waiting for her to say she hadn’t gone against their wishes.

  “The king has hired me to help him take the princess to his castle.” Rina sounded irritated that her parents would treat her like a kid instead of a warrior, particularly since she’d killed dark arts knights and a druid on her own.

  “Aye,” King Leogane said, confirming he had hired her.

  Frowning, Rina looked annoyed that her family would make a fuss about this. “I’m staying here to help protect Princess Mirabella. We’ve been besieged several times by dark arts knights.” She told Dracolin and Persephonice about Vladek, the druids, and the dark arts knights.

  “Wait, like the druids and the other dark arts knights you’ve killed already?” Dracolin asked.

  “Aye,” Rina said.

  “Rina has been invaluable to us in helping to take down these knights,” Artur said to Dracolin. “We were unable to get close enough to eliminate Vladek or the druids, however.”

  “Good to see you again, Artur,” Dracolin said, shaking his hand.

  “Same here.”

  Persephonice walked over and gave Rina a hug. “I’m glad you’re fine and that you’re helping out here.”

  “Did my parents really send you to find me?” Rina was still frowning, looking like she could not believe they would embarrass her so.

  “Yes. You’ve been gone for far too long. They said you normally only take jobs closer to home,” Dracolin said.

  “Ugh,” Rina said. “I’d heard the rumors about a princess locked in a tower and I had to investigate to learn the truth.”

  “In the Black Hills? A Black Hills elf?” Dracolin said, glancing at Mirabella, as if he thought Rina should never have gone that far from the shadow elf kingdom.

  “Of course,” Rina said. “When we believe a wrong needs to be righted, we have to do it.”

  “Aye, but you should have told your parents.” Dracolin sounded so stern, like he was her older brother.

  And Rina was bristling about it. Artur didn’t blame her. She was a warrior, and she was really good at it, though she should have probably told her parents where she was going.

  Rina scoffed. “Everyone was on a mission when I left to check this out.”

  “And you didn’t leave a note behind,” Dracolin said.

  “None of us do. We just go.”

  “But not for that—”

  Suddenly they were being attacked again and Dracolin grabbed Mirabella and put her on the back of the dragon. Persephonice leapt onto the dragon, but Dracolin stayed with the party.

  “No!” Rina said, shouting at him.

  “I’ll take the princess to King Leogane’s castle. Vladek’s men won’t be able to get to her,” Persephonice said.

  “He’ll make the dark arts—forget it. Take her safely away from here,” Rina said.

  Artur understood Rina’s concern, but he also knew the princess could be protected in this way and the rest of the warriors would fight the dark arts knights, no matter how powerful they made them. Having Dracolin with them would be good too.

  “What about the other woman?” Persephonice asked.

  “No,” Rina said, already rushing forth to kill a knight.

  Persephonice took off before a swarm of dark arts knights attacked the dragon.

  Artur believed Rina was right. He didn’t trust Justina with the princess. But then he was fighting beside Dracolin and Rina against the knights. They weren’t more powerful, but he was afraid Rina was right. Once the word got back to Vladek and the druids, the new knights they had to face would probably be tougher to beat.

  He was relieved that the princess was taking off to the king’s castle. He swung his sword at another knight and noticed Rina had vanished. He glanced at the ground, worried she might be wounded and on the ground, but she was…gone. He wished he had that talent.

  Everyone but the maid was fighting the knights. Then Artur saw the last dark arts knight fall from his horse in the woods. Rina came walking out afterward, sheathing her sword.

  Artur couldn’t help but admire her for what she could do and swore she did it to prove to Dracolin that she was perfectly capable of dealing with this on her own.

  Dracolin looked at her and then at Artur, and Artur figured her cousin wondered if he knew what had happened, if he knew about her ability.

  “They know,” Rina told Dracolin.

  Artur figured she didn’t tell everyone about her uniqueness then.

  Dracolin got one of the dark arts knight’s horses and mounted it. “If you’re ready to continue traveling?”

  Artur was amused. Dracolin often took charge of a situation, even if he wasn’t supposed to be the one who did.

  Everyone moved then, doubling up on the trail. Dracolin rode beside Rina, who gave him an annoyed look as he forced Artur to drop back with Jeremka. Erlig was riding beside the king.

  Artur missed having the princess’s ability to warn them of danger. But he also missed being able to ride beside Rina.

  Mirabella couldn’t believe she’d be riding on a dragon with a woman who wasn’t an elf but married to Dracolin when they arrived at the beautiful castle and grounds. Mirabella was relieved to be out of all the conflict and safely within the walls of the castle. But she was disappointed she couldn’t continue to give the king and his knights fair warning about impending battles. From what Rina and Artur had told them, the knights Vladek sent would be even more powerful now. She paced across the courtyard when a few people came out to greet her.

  “I’m Callie, the king’s advisor’s daughter, and I want to welcome you to Castle Grande,” a pretty dark-haired woman said.