Starlight And Mist

Once Upon A Time

The rest of the journey back to her impending doom was uneventful. Her father's men trailed at a respectable distance, but she stayed in their line of sight. She instinctively knew they wouldn't let her wander far after her stunt when they found her. She smirked at the thought that, even temporarily, she had outrun the top tracker in the kingdom. Of course, she also hoped Raulnat would decide to keep that bit to himself when he reported it to her father if he brought it up at all.

For the last leg of the journey, she let her horse slow down to an even trot. Her exhausted mind was empty of distractions, so she thought again about her last conversation with her father. He had been very clear that he already had a bidder. He had already made the transaction; all that was left was to stuff her into a gown and present her for approval for whatever stuffy old creep had bought her. She wondered what exactly her father had gained in this trade-off. It wasn't unusual for girls her age and station to be married off to other nobility. It was a prudent business: a carefully groomed, submissive lady in exchange for a military alliance, money, land, or security for her family.
It was a sterile tradition devoid of love or feeling; one Eiris had always despised. If there was one thing she had learned growing up in this awful city, love was a commodity out of reach for the wealthy. No, protecting and representing one's family rose above all else. And Eiris was no different. Even though she still saw herself as the girl from the forest, she had long since known that this was to be her fate. She had always thought that perhaps somehow her father would change his mind, that he would remember who he was and allow his daughter to be safe. She gripped the reigns until her knuckles turned white. She knew that had been a frivolous thought. Her mother's death had changed him. It had sent him out of his mind.
He enlisted in the king's army shortly after and worked his way through the ranks. They had moved to the city of Valor when she was only eleven. By the time she was sixteen, her father had become indispensable to the king.
She didn't remember much about the time after her mother died or the short period before they had abandoned the forest.
But she remembered all too well their arrival in the city.
Her father had been gone frequently, sometimes for days on end. She had stayed in the new home, crying in her bed, holding onto the last thing she had of her mother's: a small book of pressed leaf paper carefully inscribed with a fairytale in delicate looping letters.
She had refused food, was too shy and scared to talk to the servants, and had so many new and strange faces to get used to. Any attempt to console her resulted in her crying for her father. She had hidden in the unoccupied rooms at the very tippy top of the home, burying herself in her blanket and reading by candlelight. Once the great hall was empty and devoid of noise, she snuck downstairs in the dark and ate the warm meals they had left out on the grand table for her. But as time wore on, he became increasingly occupied with his work. She would see him briefly at meal times sometimes, and he would scold her about her lessons and ask if the servants were satisfactory, but then he would brush her off, buying her books and pretty dresses to occupy her time, to distract her. She'd felt so alone... And she had learned to deal with it.

"Who would want the general's daughter? She isn't beautiful and stands out," Hissed the small voice in her head.
She pushed it aside hastily.
She just hoped it was someone she didn't know. She couldn't bear to be married to her childhood bullies. This new person wouldn't know what to exploit immediately. It was a grim thought, but she found it comforting.
As dusk began to fall, she finally reached the city. She slowed her horse to a slow walk, encouraging it forward. She rode through the familiar Golden Gates on the outskirts of town. It was called the Golden Gates, but they were made of lumber and reinforced in iron. They stood taller than twenty men and were attached to a great stone wall built centuries ago to encapsulate the king's inner city.

Intermittently, down the wall lengths in either direction were turrets where guards were posted night and day. They patrolled the wall at all times lest a threat sneak by.
On either side of the gates were great statues carved from stone with veins of white marble; tall as trees, they towered over the world, their white eyes staring vaguely into the distance.
They were the gods Polis and Tresk, protectors of this realm.
The mythology stated that they were immortal twins, banished to earth from the kingdom in the sky. They had tried to steal from their wealthy father to feed the starving people. When their father had found what they had done, he banished them to earth, sending horrible beasts to tear them to pieces. They had built a kingdom of their own on earth, one filled with love, laughter, and equality for all, and had built the walls up high and imbued it with protective magic to keep the beasts at bay.
She tried not to scoff at the idea. If that were true, boy, would they hate the place now.
As she rode through the gates and deeper into the city, she clip-clopped past the Arani market. They had crudely built stalls with silk banners bearing different coats of arms. Each booth was tightly packed next to the others, each one offering a different but compelling ware. Some stalls were filled with deep boxes of foreign spices; others boasted bolts of fabrics that looked like they were made of water or glass, unlike any she had seen. Another stall boasting a coat of arms depicting two crossed axes had a shelf of glass bottles of every shape and size imaginable, the liquids inside ranging in color from pastel pinks to emerald green. From the largest stall, the smell of fresh meat pies stuffed with blood sausage and herbs wafted pleasantly through the late summer air.