The Wild Hunt (Part One)

Princess Serri

"Urgh! Could you brush any harder Lah-ee?"

I felt the brush yank my head back as the older woman made another strong pass through my tangled hair.

"Tsk. Why you no bound ye hair before ye sleep like I asked?"

I touched the tender spot and grimaced as she dragged that torture device of a hair brush through the tangled knot again.

"Just cut it all off." I gritted out as pain raced across my scalp.

She huffed out a laugh and sat down the brush. Her fingers began nimbly working at the knot while I stared at my sullen reflection in the mirror.

Today was my coming-of-age ceremony and the last two years of hiding bloodied linens and rags felt wasted when a new servant came along and stumbled across the evidence shoved beneath my mat. What ecstatic joy she gleamed and hurried away to tell my father of the great news. Ugh.

I slumped in my chair and heaved out a strenuous sigh. I wonder what man my father intended for me to marry and sire him an heir to? What other use would he have for me than that? He would never allow me to ascend the throne after him. Even my own mother wouldn't deny him of that and tried as she may he still wound up killing her after he killed the ones before me. It was out of pure desperation and old age that he decided to keep me alive- the last child. If my mother wasn't able to give him a son then perhaps I could give him a male heir through marrying some high ranking general he didn't completely hate.

Thus began the close watch on my development and there wasn't a day that the servants did not tear up my sheets to eagerly find the evidence of my flowering. Of course, when it had come luckily I was alone in the gardens and was able to hide it before anyone noticed. As soon as it was night I burned the sullied clothes and took every precaution to conceal what leaked from me that whole week. I hid my flowering for two years up until a week ago.

It was tough and I cannot say that I am sort of relived not to hide it anymore but the relief was futile by the mere fact that I was bound to one destiny and that is to be an obedient dog bred until I pop out a son. Other than that, my life was nothing but what they offered me within these walls.

"Tsk. I've got it out. Now ye listen to me when I say to bound ya hair at night." I winced as she flicked me on the ear.

Lah-ee stepped away and studied my face. I looked up at the older woman and found her thin lips set in a deep frown. Her weary eyes were pinched and assessing.

"Ye not happy about today?"

Was it not obvious? I thought bitterly and brought my hands to my face. I felt the tears start to swell and my lips quavered for a second.

"I don't want this," I whispered, fighting the waves of emotion that dared to overcome me. I had to be strong. I had to be vigilant. I strived to conceal my emotions. Anything to deflect the burden my father placed on me from the age of six.

Lah-ee ran a hand down my back. "Princess. Why you no happy? Marriage is not all bad. Ye find happiness somewhere."

Yokoto's face popped into my mind and I savored the image of him smiling feebishly towards me. His freckled face flushed and nose scrunched. Those blistering blue eyes full of joy and mouth pulled into a wide grin. When I thought of happiness I thought of him. My closest friend. A friend I wouldn't see once I was married off. That thought alone had me sinking further into my despair.

"Let's finish this so I can enjoy the rest of my freedom before this evening." That is what little freedom I did have within the confines of this palace.

King Mansyee Bayor ruled from his glittering gold and emerald palace sat atop the highest hill in all of Miran. He was a harsh ruler who conquered land and sea. There wasn't a thatch of grass he did not step his mighty foot upon. In his youth he had slain all eight of his brothers in order to gain the throne of his late father. He did not mind spilling blood for his gain. He was ruthless, unforgiving and bitter to the core. The cities and small villages that made up Miran bowed to him in fear. Everyone lived on edge. You never knew when the king would raise his hand and wipe out a whole city.

Even though he had the men and weapons to slaughter whole villages there were still those who opposed him vigilantly. The Tewase tribe was one of them. They were a barbaric tribe know for their hunting skills, brute strength and animalistic ways of living. It seemed ironic how similar the kings enemy were to him.

The tribe lived deep in the lush forests of Miran. There whereabouts were know only to a few and many people believed them to not exist at all. Tales of their savageness and slithering ways were told to young children in an attempt to keep them from venturing deeper into the wild.

King Mansee sent a hunting party every week to scout out their location. None ever made it back besides one. And the one who did head was spiked on a pole attached to a horse. The Tewase tribe symbol had been painted onto the horses thigh in blood. No doubt the victims blood. It was a red slash of marks that created an x overlapping a narrow diamond shape.

That was all we knew of the tribe. That bloodied symbol that would adorn the surface of whatever place, village, boat, person... whatever thing they took in the darkest hour of the night. It was their symbol that ushered people into their homes by a certain time of day. Even King Mansee's guards we're not enough to keep the conniving killers out of the city.

Even I didn't venture out of the palace at night and I think that was what scared my father the most. He feared in his old age the Tewase tribe raiding his kingdom and slitting his throat atop his throne. And there would be no one to ascend after him. No one to hold the throne and a avenge his death. No one to continue his pursuit in conquering all of  the continent of YeWae. Miran was only a large chunk of the stretch of land mass that jutted from the dark seas surrounding it. What lay on the other sides of the world he did not know but he would conquer them as well.

"There. Beautiful as ever." Lah-we stepped back and admired her work of me.

I looked at myself in the mirror and found the Princess of Bayor staring back with cloudy grey eyes. Lah-ee had pin my black hair back up into a waterfall of loose ringlets that poured around my face and down my shoulders. She had entwined gold leafy vines into the crown of my hair and let the loose strands fall into the black rivulets. Nothing about my face was intriguing but today the makeup she applied lifted the weariness of my sullen eyes and a light blush filled out my cheeks. A thick sweep of black kohl over lined my eyes and a deep shade of carmine brought my lips into a voluptuous pucker. I looked strikingly like my mother and I hated it.

"Aye! No frowning on your coming-of-age ceremony." Lah-ee lifted my chin and placed the gold eye of Bayor in the middle of my brows. "There," she said. "Now your a Princess."

I took one last look at myself and vowed not to frown for the rest of the day. I would not let my father see how much I hated him. The despise I felt towards him, towards this whole ordeal. I would be stoic and calm. I would be the princess he desired me to be. I had to be. If I let myself crack open just a hair, I think I would do the unthinkable. And I couldn't do that to Yokoto.

So I smiled. I lifted my chin up and brushed my hair back over my shoulder. I would play the obedient princess locked in a wolves cage. I would bow at my fathers feet and show civility this evening towards the mass of suitors my father had chosen. If it brought me anywhere closer to the freedom I longed for then perhaps I could endure tonight and the man who I would marry and bed. If it meant I would escape these palace walls then I would submit.

What choice did I have?