In the Shadow of the Night

The Long Journey Ahead

Someone roughly shook me awake and held a hand over my mouth. I looked up and saw the eyes of Connor. "Aislin, you have to go, the black knights are approaching" he urged and I nodded. Tristan was already up he helped me up. "Here, take this. We'll hold them back" Connor whispered and he pushed a duffel bag in my hands. "Thank you" I stuttered and Tristan and I left the hunters. We ran up the hill and towards the river. The next village was over a mile away and we still had a long way ahead of us. We avoided the main paths and hid in trees as soon as we heard someone approach.

It was exhausting but finally we found the village and went to the inn. In the bag that the hunters had given us were a few gold pieces, we went to the keep and rented a room. Exhausted I dropped into one of the chairs by the fire, Tristan went looking for books, no surprise there. When he had found one he flopped into the seat next to me. He smiled his cheeky grin at me, showed off the book and started reading.

My gaze is locked on the fire where the little flames danced. I longed for my own room in the orphanage were Maera would come to tell us it was lights off. It hurted my heart to think of Maera and again I see her die in front of me. The image just doesn't want to disappear. The injustice of it all angered me, but I couldn't change it. The queen was so powerful and I did not want to come across her again. I shuddered at the very thought.

I looked at Tristan who was deeply involved in his book. He looked older than he had a few days ago, a serious look was now on his face, it had replaced his goofy smile. I studied him as he read on, taking in every detail of his face. Tomorrow morning I would sneak out and go off on my own. I did not want to risk Tristan getting hurt in any way. Then again maybe it would hurt him if I left like that, that hurt would be nothing compared to the hurt the queen could cause.

I grunted in frustration, this was all to hard. Why did life have to change like this and make it this complicated. I looked up and stared straight into the eyes of Tristan who had noticed my frustration. He looked at me as if staring right through, I looked away blushing. "What's up Ais" he asked. "No nothing, just thinking" I stammered. "Yeah right, you can't fool me Ais" he laughed and I blushed again, seriously what was up with me! I put on my most normal face and tried to react as dry as possible "I was just thinking about everything, I just don't know what to do" the strong emotion in my voice surprised me.

"I could do what is right and claim the throne, but she's powerful and has an army" I continued. It felt good to say what had been on my mind since I met the queen. "I could also choose for myself, sign the paper and be free." I said and a dark thought entered my mind "I am after all just an orphan, I can't rule a country, people never listen to me let alone respect me." I said finally saying out loud what I thought about myself. Tristan sat up and looked me in the eyes "Aislin, you are many things, stubborn, sarcastic and..." I stared at him hard "you can stop right there" I snapped. He laughed "but if there's one thing you're not it's just an orphan." he continued with a smile "you are special Aislin, you have a light inside of you that's not easily defeated" he put his hand over mine and gently squeezed it. "Let's let tomorrows worries not darken today and go to bed" he said yawning. It had been a long day and we were both sore, tired and beaten up from all the running.

The next morning we woke up refreshed and ready for the new day. I was so tired that I only woke up when half the morning was already gone. I got dressed and noticed my clothes were torn, bloody and falling apart. Okay I definitely need some new stuff to wear. I went downstairs and saw Tristan talking to the barkeep. I walked up to them and greeted the keep. He smiled, it showed of his golden tooth and I tried not to laugh. "Your friend told me about you peculiar situation. If you two will follow me to the back, there we can talk in peace" He said as he held the door open for us. I looked at Tristan unsure if we could trust this man but he nodded and I knew it must be okay.