Page 5 of Forgotten Fate
I stared at this mystery kingdom on the map.Zolmara. Then I noticed its location. That must be why I hadn’t seen it immediately. It was on a spot on that map that I typically never paid attention to, since no kingdom resided there. At least, there wasn’t supposed to be a kingdom there.
“Look where it is,” whispered Rose as if reading my mind. “The Forest of Torment.”
Where the Forest of Torment sat on every map of the Four Kingdoms I had ever viewed, this map showed Zolmara. The Forest of Torment was a large, heavily wooded area shrouded in fear and mystery. Multiple rumors surrounded the Forest – from it being where bandits, raiders, and exiles lived freely, to terrible creatures inhabiting the never-ending woods, ready to swallow you whole ifyou dared set foot in its vicinity. Some have said the Forest will drive a person mad, and that if you made it through unscathed, you’d find riches beyond your wildest dream on the other side.
In addition to all of that, even though it sat on a map, the Forest was nearly impossible to find. It was rumored that getting there was like walking through a labyrinth. Those who believed they’d find treasure and dared attempt to make their way to the Forest but never found it blamed it on trees that moved, mountains that appeared in your path out of nowhere, and even spirits that whispered to you and led you astray. But the only rumor that had any truth to it was that anyone who was bold enough to enter the Forest of Torment never returned. The rest were surely fabrications.
I paced the room, staring at the map and Zolmara. At some point, Rose had made her way to sit on my bed without me noticing, patiently waiting for me to speak. I didn’t really know what to say. This added another huge item to my endless list of questions. I looked at Rose, who was staring towards the one window I had in my room. “Maybe you can ask your father,” she said, breaking the sound of my pacing steps.
I let out a bitter laugh. “Knowing him, he’ll burn the book and play it off like it never existed.” Rose nodded, agreeing with me. Her idea struck me with my own epiphany, however. “But,” I continued, “I think I might know someone I can ask.” I smiled maliciously, and Rose caught on quickly.
“Is it almost the third new moon already?” she asked. Rose was the only person in the entire kingdom who knew I snuck out every third new moon to meet my uncle. It was the only time I ever snuck out at night.
Nearly one year after Balor’s exile, I got a mysterious letter, handed to me by a stranger on the streets of Rimor during one of my escorted outings. The man ran up from behind, pushed past my guards, andshook my hand vigorously, thanking the gods he got to shake hands with the Princess. Horus quickly grabbed him and beat him to a pulp, the poor man. No one knew that the stranger had slipped a folded piece of paper into my grasp, which I kept hidden in my robes until I was alone.
It was a note from Uncle Balor, saying when and where to meet him – an abandoned, rundown theater on the outskirts of the city. My only task was to figure out how to sneak out of the castle at night. It took weeks of planning, but I did it. And when I met up with Balor, I had never felt more nervous, and yet never felt so alive. He was risking his life to meet with me, and I was risking my freedom to meet with him. We decided to let him continue training me, but only a few times a year. Every third new moon, we would meet at the same time and spot and train until I had to leave to make it back to the castle before the sun came up.
This was the only time I snuck out of the castle. During the day, on the rare occasion my father would agree to let me go into the city with an escort, I could evade my guards to have a little mischievous fun. For all my father knew, that’s all it ever was – harmless fun. But if he knew I snuck out at night alone to train with his exiled brother, he’d increase security and never let me leave the castle again. Not until his dying breath. I would be locked away, never to see my uncle again. And so, as often as I wanted to sneak out at night, I just couldn’t risk it.
“Yes,” I answered Rose with enthusiasm. “And what better person to ask about Zolmara than the King’s brother,” I whispered to avoid the prying ears of the guards outside.
I told Rose how I planned to take the book to my uncle and see what he may know about Zolmara, or about the giant wolves and glowing-eyed people. I would ask him every question I had on my mind, with the book in tow. Maybe he could even tell me what language it wasin. In just three nights, I would meet him at the abandoned theater and do my interrogation.
Rose left shortly thereafter, remembering to quietly unlatch the large lock on the door. The guards said nothing as she left and returned to her castle duties. She did, in fact, come back a little later with enough rags to clear the cobwebs under my wardrobes. Bless her.
That night, I had the dream again. The wolf chased me through the woods. I ran to the cliff. The creature stalked closer and closer until my eyes shut and my hands reached out to feel human skin. I opened my eyes and shot up in my bed, drenched in sweat per usual. Something felt different this time, though. I glanced around the room, my eyes adjusting to the darkness.
And that’s when I saw it. The dark shadowy figure of a person staring at me from my windowsill, the breeze blowing in from the open window causing the candles to flicker. In a state of shock, I couldn’t move or scream. Mere moments passed as I stared directly at the dark silhouette of the cloaked man.
I could tell it was a man now, the longer I let my eyes adjust. He had broad shoulders and a large build. He faced me, his body as still as a statue. The hood of his cloak hid his face, but I could feel him staring at me. My hairs stood on end and alarms in my head screamed at me to defend myself. Finally pushing past the fear that caused me to freeze, I shot up then darted down to grab the knife I kept hidden under my bed. It took only seconds, but when I looked up again with the dagger now clenched in my hand, the figure was gone.
CHAPTER THREE
Idid not sleep for the rest of the night. I stayed sitting up in bed with my back to the bedpost and knife in hand until the sun came up. If the intruder returned, I could quickly stand and would have the fighting advantage from the height of my bed. My uncle taught me the importance of having the higher ground.
When Rose and another handmaid arrived in the morning to bring me fresh linens and do my hair up for the day, I stayed silent about the man in the window until I could meet with Rose in private. She begged me to tell my father, but I refused. I was to meet with my uncle in just two nights. If my father learned about the intruder, the guard protection would only intensify, and I surely would not be able to sneak out unnoticed. I told her I would consider telling him after I met with Balor, but I wasn’t planning on doing so, only to save myself from a life of even more supervision. She’ll forgive me.
Although I projected confidence, I genuinely was shaken up by theexperience. Who the hell was the man in my room andhowdid he get in through the window? My bedroom was in one of the tallest towers in Rimor Castle. The only way to get to the window would be to climb up multiple stories of stone wall. And although I was decent in combat, I had never truly had to put my uncle’s trainings to use.
Was he even intending to harm me? It seemed not because as soon as he saw me, he vanished. Perhaps he was a thief who realized he was in more than he bargained for when he entered the princess’s bedroom. It didn’t exactly make sense that a thief would climb to one of the highest rooms when our gold vaults were located beneath the castle. But it’s the excuse I held onto in order to keep myself calm.
The next two days went by agonizingly slow. I remained on castle grounds, intending to get back into my father’s good graces and avoid any suspicion. I spent the majority of the days either tending to the flowers in the gardens, helping the cooks in the kitchen – which was a favorite pastime of mine – or sat alone in my room nearly memorizing each page of the mysterious book.
I would speak with my father in brief passing and at mealtimes about my day, but he otherwise remained either busy in his study reviewing ledgers, out in Rimor resolving territorial disputes, or administering justice in the royal court. I was grateful that he hadn’t passed those duties to me just yet. They sounded dreadfully mundane.
At night, I placed large, unbalanced objects on and around my bedroom window. This included a chair staggered on two legs that leaned against the window, a few heavy books placed upright on the windowsill, and an opened chest on the floor with a lid that typically shut loudly. If the ominous man were to return, at least one of the items would surely fall and be loud enough to wake me. But it seemed the man did not return, as I woke in the morning with my room untouched.
Nightfall finally came at the end of day two, and the new moonhelped to preserve the darkness of the night. It was time to secretly flee the confines of Rimor Castle and meet with Balor.
While most of the clothes I owned were royal dresses, I did have a chest of tunics and trousers that didn’t get much use. I sifted through them and picked black wool pants that were comfortable and maneuverable, and a midnight-blue top to help me blend with the night. I pulled a black vest over the tunic and tied it tightly, if only to keep my breasts snug against me while I trained. Then I donned my favorite knee-high leather boots, and placed my dagger into a matching leather sheath at my belt.
I was about to close the chest when I noted a small satchel within. I pulled it out, dusted it off, then grabbed the mysterious book and placed it inside.
Feeling like I had everything I needed, I stepped over to the only window in my room and unlocked it, then pushed open the stained glass. I began to wonder if I had left the window unlocked and ajar when the intruder found his way in, as I often did on warmer nights. I climbed backwards out of the window one leg at a time, and descended until only my hands held the windowpane and my boots pressed against the castle stone.
It took a lot of planning and observing for my first time sneaking out, in order to learn where each crack in the stone wall lie within reach of each other. Luckily, this wasn’t my first descent down the tall stone tower into the grass below. Rose always said she would never attempt such a climb. I found it exhilarating, as it tested my muscular strength.
I carefully placed my left hand into a large crack in the stone, then my right, then slowly lowered my body until my footing found the next crevice. The descent was easier than the climb back up, which I wasn’t looking forward to. The man in my room must have climbed up this same way.