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“Queen? Queen, you say. And you wish to extract my seed? And maybe even make me your king? Now, your presence I could almost believe, but your words prove I have indeed completely lost my senses.”

He throws his head back again and bellows with laughter. Unfortunately, as he does so my blade nicks his skin and a trickle of blood runs down his neck.

The laughing stops and he fixes me with a cold stare.

“I could pass your beauty off as being a vision and your words as a trick of my mind, but by the gods your blade is real enough,” he says in a voice that is suddenly laced with anundertone of danger. Unfortunately, it's a danger I don't pick up on in time and before I know it, my dagger clatters across the cobblestones as I am spun around and find myself restrained in the prince’s arms. I struggle to break free but my efforts are useless as his arms are made of pure granite.

I slam my foot into his shin and then straight down onto his instep. It's a move calculated to at least get him to loosen his grip, but if anything he pulls me tighter to his chest. Then he lifts me slightly into the air, thereby further restricting my movements.

“Now, tell me, who in the devil are you?” he demands, the deep richness of his voice vibrating through me.

At this point I'm hoping Kes and Ailish are planning on taking him down soon, which means I will be able to draw a much needed breath into my lungs. However, there's a part of me also hoping they will take their time as I have to grudgingly admit the feeling of being wrapped in his arms, up against his rock hard body, is more than a little pleasurable. Actually, if I’m totally honest, it’s downright arousing and I can feel a tingle of excitement between my legs.

Thwack!

There it is – the sound of Kes’ baton connecting with the back of his knees, and I instantly feel the loosening of his grip as he stumbles backwards. I quickly take advantage, make like a snake and slip from his grasp.

“What the…?” he exclaims, as Kes jumps on his back and clamps a kerchief soaked in nightlily over his mouth. His eyes go wide in disbelief, as if he can’t comprehend what is happening. He grabs at her arm hooked around his throat, but the nightlily’s effect is almost instant and his eyes roll back in his head as he starts to sway.

Thump!

He falls to the ground and by the time his head hits the stones he’s out cold.

Ailish quickly spreads a large piece of grey cloth beside his unconscious frame and I help her to roll him onto it. As soon as all of him is on the cloth we pull the cords we have threaded through it like a net and tighten them around him. Then we drag him to the edge of the terrace and lift him over the castle wall and slowly lower him down to the waiting Khaleeni below.

Kes, Ailish and I quickly shinny down the wall of the castle and as soon as our feet are on the ground Kes sets fire to the rope. It burns as we make our way back to the copse and by the time we climb into our saddles all that remains, as evidence of our presence at the castle, is a small pile of ash.

Chapter Five

We ride hard and swift towards the Dark Forest. The terrain is uneven and bumpy and our captive bounces around in the small cart we have placed him in. A twinge of guilt pulls at my conscience at the bruises I have no doubt he will awaken with, but I quickly consign such thoughts to the furthermost recesses of my mind. We had no choice but to subdue him with the nightlily and to transport him as such, as we simply couldn’t risk him being awake and alerting anyone to our presence. The whole operation is high risk and hangs on absolutely nothing going wrong. It has been a resounding success so far, and all we have to do now is ride hard for the border and cross over into Ardvalla as quickly as possible.

The moon is high in the sky by the time we reach the Dark Forest and I’m glad of the little light it provides, even though I wish it were more. The Dark Forest is named after the black bark of the trees here but, as Ailish tells it, also because the Ellerban believe dark forces from long ago took up refuge here and still linger. However, she maintains the Ellerban people would do better to fear it for the very real living threat of prowlers who have made it their home. Prowlers, she explained, are those who have been exiled from their communities for breaking the Ellerban code. I can’t help wondering at the severity of what these people have done as, it seems to me, the Ellerban have little enough in the way of laws or codes. As we make our way deeper into the forest, I have to admit I have no desire whatsoever to encounter these prowlers and I hope our passage is as uneventful as it was on our way here.

Alas, it seems this is not to be. We haven’t been in the forest long when a pair of the Khaleeni front riders approach. They and two others were riding ahead to scout for trouble or danger and, it seems from the expression on their faces, they’ve found one or the other and maybe even both.

“Your Majesty,” Aneeya addresses me, “there is danger ahead. We need to either conceal ourselves or divert to another path through the forest.”

“What is the nature of this danger?” I ask and I can see from her face she is concerned. The Khaleeni front riders are fearless so I instinctively know if she is so concerned then I need to take this threat very seriously.

She looks to her companion and then at Ailish.

“There are soldiers up ahead and they are led by a prince. They are Ellerban.”

I turn my head to look at Ailish and I can see from her puzzled expression this information is surprising to her. However, before I can ask her what it means she quizzes the two front riders herself.

“You’re sure they are soldiers and not prowlers? And how can you be certain they are Ellerban?”

“Yes, ma’am,” they reply in unison.

“They are all dressed in uniform,” Aneeya adds, “and they wear the insignia of the white mountain on their right arms and their leader wears the symbol of the white eagle.”

Ailish’s expression turns from one of surprise to shock, and her head swivels around to look at me.

“The white eagle?” I ask Aneeya. “Are you sure?”

“Oh yes, Your Majesty, it stretches across his shoulders and even in the black of night in this dark forest, there’s no missing it.”

I look at Ailish.