An Oath Of Lords And Ladies (ARTK, Book 1)

Preface

    "If you truly want someone dead, and you have a good reason- nobody will be mad at you for killing them." Lord Drace Ashhand told his daughter with a serious expression as he placed her first real dagger in her hands. At eight years old, as the only offspring of Lady Imperia Ashhand( Formerly of house Tomhend) she was fully aware of what both houses expected of her. The pressure began last year, when her mother and little brother died in childbirth and her father- who'd "loved her mother more than anything else in the world," took the oath of the widower. It wasn't required of him; in fact the oath of the widower has never been common anywhere but Kroba.

At the time he'd given no thought to how it would affect his daughter. Because of her and her mother's status as only children, from that moment forward- she would be given constant protection by the five most skilled men in her father's guard. For if she died, the house would die out with her- and then what would become of Kroba, a Territory ruled by House Ashhand a thousand years before the Great War?

The young Lady Nara remembered her handmaiden sitting her down at the age of eight to discuss the specifics of her future her father was uncomfortable speaking on.

When her blood became a monthly occurrence, she would marry a male from a lower house so they would be forced to take the Ashhand last name. She would be expected to have at least one male child or three females so the name would cease to be in danger of extinction. Still a child, she didn't yet understand the urgency of the matter, and instead went about her daily lessons in leadership simply because she was told to.

The lessons leading up to the day she received her dagger consisted of the safety of various weapons- just in case something were to happen to all five of her guards, forcing her to defend herself. She ran her fingers over the small dagger, admiring the new, shiny iron. The golden handle was covered in intricate patterns similar to the ones on the crown of Kroba. That crown sat on her father's head now, and upon his death, it would be placed on hers. Though there were no Kings or Queens anymore; the last remaining ones of the Great War were forced to give up the titles or die. Now, the head of the most major house in in each of the seventeen territories ruled. In fact, her father's full title was Commanding Lord Drace Ashhand, the ruler of Kroba.

  Nara pricked her finger after feeling the tip of the blade a little too hard, and quickly understood why her father was more inclined to teach her about projectiles.

  "Careful-" He said as he showed her how to wield it properly. "Ashhand Iron Workers make some of the sharpest tools in the world."

"Why would I want to kill someone?" The child asked her father, still so naive to the ways of the world. She'd been taught of the Great War and thought: Surely something so bloody would remind people how quickly and far south murder can go.

"There are many reasons." Her father shrugged, positioning her arm so she could throw the dagger. "Maybe they murdered someone you care about, are trying to murder you, raped someone you care about, raped someone you don't care about- but regardless, you want to be prepared. The Territories may be at peace, but there are still evil individuals in each of them."

  She nodded. She didn't understand then but as she grew and her mind matured, she'd come to know what her father's words really meant- and why it was so important she be prepared for his death. Though it didn't seem so to her as a child, the house Ashhand had many enemies within its own walls and just outside them. Over the course of eight years, countless people who didn't approve of her father's authority over Kroba tried to kill him. She never imagined she'd be one of them, but on her sixteenth birthday she saw what type of person he really was- and soon after shared the need for violence.

At the protest of their guards, they'd gone outside the house walls alone to hunt. They had plenty of animals inside the house to feed it's six thousand inhabitants, but they were slaughtered once a year and they both preferred the freshest meat- which wasn't available at the time. They could have sent one of the servants out, but they also preferred to get the meat themselves.