The Seven Swords

Chapter 1

All was still, save for the slight clicks of the horses' hooves as they moved over the rocks. Somewhere in the night an owl called, startling the boy and causing him to awaken from his light slumber.

As the wind whipped around him, the boy was reminded of where they were. Out in the cold, wind swept mountains, both himself and his guard riding one horse.

"Are we nearly there yet?" asked the boy.
"Yes, we are almost there," came the reply, although the guard knew they were far from safety.

In these situations it was best to try and remove doubt from a young mind. Although the boy was not a child anymore, a 14 year old should never have to witness what he just had.

His parents, friends, servants and guards all slaughtered in the blink of an eye. It had all happened so fast, first the thud as an arrow found his fathers chest, and then the second a hail of arrows. As soon as the king went down, a volley had followed and dropped half the attendants and guards.

Jheiran had been first to react after the king fell from his horse, immediately grabbing the prince and throwing him across the front of his own horse. At least the prince would be protected from the arrows on one side.

Looking around he saw men lying on the ground, riddle with arrows and more arrows flying through the air. It was a miracle he had not been hit yet.

The arrows were coming from both sides of the small column of horses. The only way out was either to carry on forward or turn around and go back the way they had come.

Jheiran whipped the horse around and dug his heels into its flanks and within a few strides they were at a full gallop.

The ambushers would undoubtedly have placed more men further along the road in anticipation of men trying to flee. He hoped they would not expect anyone to try and return the way they had come. Luckily for him his gamble was correct and he managed to get out of the mad scramble of men and horses without being hit.

Who could have been brazen enough to attack the king of one of the most powerful nations and think they could get away with it? The Saladarians? Or maybe even just a rogue hill tribe trying to show the nobility they were a force to be reckoned with?

No. This had been a coordinated attack. A trap laid with archers on both sides of the path who never actually showed themselves or House colours. If it were a random attack it probably would have all come from relatively the same side and the attackers would have shown themselves.

But right now he needed to get the prince to a safe place and then he could consider what the next move should be. The attackers would have already realised that the prince had not been caught in the ambush and would immediately send out search parties to finish the job.

He had to go somewhere nobody would expect him to go. He could go to the king's estate and ancestral home where a small army would be waiting and ready to defend the prince, however that would be the first place the attackers would look.

He had an idea. It would not be an easy ride, a week of hard riding in the best of conditions but now they only had one horse and would not be able to travel on the roads. They would have to ride all the way through the forest and constantly be on the lookout for the search parties. One wrong move and it would be over for them.

Just before dawn, Jheiran decided to make camp in a thick stand of trees well away from any path or road. They would have to rest in the day and travel at night for a few days until they were far enough away that they would not be found.

For breakfast they had some snacks Jheiran had in his saddlebags and then he told the prince to get some rest. Unfortunately he could only afford to doze for a while as he also had to be awake enough to hear any approaching horses.

Before waking the prince to move on, Jheiran set about removing their House insignia from his clothes. He hated having to do it, but it was necessary. He could not risk anyone connecting them to the king if they happened to come across any travellers.

He was one of the best with a sword, but anyone could be beaten if he was trying to protect himself and someone else against a whole group of attackers.

From now on nothing would be the same. Most likely the capital had also been attacked. He could not know this for sure but if a group had killed the king they would most probably attempt to take the capital as well.

For the next five days they rode hard at night and slept during the day. Twice they saw scouting parties looking for them, but only once did they get close enough to pose any danger.

The prince had been riding next to his friend, Will, when the trap had been sprung. Jheiran had not seen what had happened to Will, if he was lucky the attackers would have taken pity on the boy and spared his life. That's if the arrows had not gotten to him already.

During these days the prince had constantly been asking what had happened to his parents and Will. Jheiran had no answer to give the prince, either they were dead or somehow had been spared. The only one he had actually seen been killed had been the king and he did not want to speculate on anything else.

On the eighth day the prince was expecting them to stop riding at dawn and make camp but when he enquired as to why they were not stopping, Jheiran replied that they had almost reached their destination.

An hour later they were stopped in their tracks when an arrow slammed into a tree two feet away.