Heart Of Embers (Slow Updates)

Chapter 6

Dedicated to @LauraEdsss for making this amazing trailer! Thank you so much!

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Amethyst woke up the next day, her muscles sore and aching. She sat on her bed, wincing as her limbs screamed in pain. She swore an unladylike word, and stood up, stretching her arms and back. After hearing the satisfying crack of bones, she made her way to the bathroom to take a bath by herself for the second time in her life.

That being done, she re-entered her room and noticed the folded clothes on her bed. She picked them up; they were similar to the ones she wore yesterday only with different colors. The tunic was this time a royal blue, decorated with the same golden thread, and it was paired with black pants and the same black boots from yesterday. She put them on quickly, and exited her room, making her way to the dining room.

When she arrived, she was greeted by Laial and Aelix standing next to each other with all sorts of papers and maps sprawled all over the table.

They offered her some tea which she gladly accepted and sipped from her cup as she asked them about what they were doing.

"I fetched all the maps I could find and we are trying to come up with a plan on how we are going to attack. The witches are currently living in the Maldorth Mountains up North. To get to them we'll have to go through the Ergandor forest, the past the Artefsat river to finally get to the mountains. It will take us approximately three months to get there. So we will have plenty of time to train through the journey. So I suggest the sooner we set off, the better. By making our departure sooner, the witches wouldn't have enough time to get stronger. So what do you say princess?"

All along his explanation, Aelix was pointing and dragging his fingers along the maps. Amethyst nodded in agreement. The plan sounded really great, perfect even.

"I want you to explain this to the people who will come today. The Maldorth Mountains are really dangerous. Legends say that many powerful creatures live there too. And the Ergandor forest is full of elves. Elves are known for their hate of humans. We should be really careful."

She set her empty cup of tea on the table and went to stand next to Aelix. She looked closely at the maps, memorizing every road. They had no other choice but to go through the places they chose, or it would take them forever if they went through another path. She needed to get rid of those witches fast. It all came too fast on her. Witches, elves, magic. Just yesterday her life was normal and all those creatures were legends and stories written in books. She would have never thought they would be true.

"We still got a couple of hours before noon. I'm going to take care of some things around here. Do what you want to do." She left the dining room, closing the door behind her. She walked to the training room, opening the door, and was welcomed by the bright light that came through the massive windows. She took the same sword she used yesterday, and started doing the same moves she did yesterday. This morning, she decided she would not wait for the others to train. She wanted to get stronger, and for that she needed to train all the time. She would not make her friends do that to. Her muscles were still sore, and she was having little difficulties with the pain in her arms and shoulders. After a couple of minutes, she was feeling better and her muscles were screaming less in pain. She twirled, ducked, and swung her sword. Yesterday night, she went into the library and took a couple of books about sword fighting. She read a couple of pages before falling asleep. She was now performing the moves she read about.

After the princess had left the room, Aelix excused himself and went after her. When he realized where she was heading, he staying a good distance behind, and when she was already in the training room, he opened the door slightly and spied on her. He watched her execute the moves of yesterday, and when she started doing techniques he didn't teach her of, he was left shocked. The techniques she was doing were the last techniques he was going to teach the girls, because they were the hardest. Yet, here Amethyst was, doing them gracefully and perfectly. He could see that she had no difficulty anymore with the weight of the sword. She kept surprising him more every day. She was a mystery and he was dying to figure her out.