The Runaway Queen

Chapter 7

I can feel myself distancing myself from being royalty. Its like the farther I get away from Delllea, the farther I am from myself.

And I love it.

I love the fact that nobody knows me here. I'm just a girl that has long blonde hair and blue eyes like almost every single girl on this planet. Not that I'm really anywhere though. I'm deep in Fayiria's countryside-there's hardly any villages in the north (where I am). So I ride through the long prairie grasses with the occasional tree and hill, in a desperate attempt to reach the Echidinare border before dawn. If I'm already far into our rival country by the time that Mufar wakes up, then his chances of finding me are much slimmer. I know he's going to try to find me-Mufar won't just sit around and hope I come back (even though I wish he would), he's going to jump into action and do anything to make sure that I don't succeed in my plans. I need to remain inconspicuous in order to at least get to the Amazons without Mufar finding me. And lets face it-it wouldn't be good for my health if the Amazons heard about me before I even arrived. Actually it would be very bad for my health.

All of this is running through my head. So when I hear the cries and screams from right around the corner, I'm tempted to turn around and go another route. But then I hear a girl's high pitched scream and before I know it, I'm in the thick of the battle with my knives swinging.

Its a group of thieves attacking a small farm in the middle of nowhere. I know that the thieves are from Echidninare because Faiyrians are much too noble to attack a fellow farmer. Because I know this, I have no qualms about severely wounding the thieves. I ride into the mass of them, swiping and slashing. A body already lays on the ground next to a bent pitchfork. They killed one of my people. They killed a innocent farmer. They will pay. Fury floods though me, and I fight with a renewed energy. My leg starts to sting but I brush it off and continue. Soon the thieves are running north back towards the border, leaving a woman sobbing in the dirt. I slide off of Silver and run to the woman. She's clutching her side. I gently pull her hand away from her side and swallow a lump in my throat. Its a bad wound. Far to bad for me to do anything but hold her as her life slips away.

"Arlen! Arlen" The woman whispers. I can only assume that Arlen is her daughter somewhere. It just makes the whole situation that much worse.

"Please take Arlen....parents house...Byfay..." The woman mutters out. Byfay is about a two hour trek out of my way. But if its her dying wish, then what choice do I have? The only problem now is finding this Arlen. It proves to be not as difficult as I first thought.

"Mama?" A baby girl-perhaps 5 years old-stands at the edge of a little clearing. I feel the woman's grip go slack on my hand, and I know she's gone. I gently close her still open eyes, and lay her head gently on the hard ground. Then I bite my lip and steel my nerve. I go and bend down next to the little girl.

"Is your name Arlen?" I ask gently. The girl just nods silently looking at her dead mother.

"Mama?" Her voice trembles as she speaks. All I want to do is gather Arlen up in a hug. I want to tell her I know what she's going through. I'm a orphan too. I want to tell her it gets better.

"Arlen-your mama asked me to take you to your grandparents house in Byfay. Your grandpa wants to see you." I tell her sweetly, taking a wild guess that she actually has grandparents. Then I pick her up and carry her to Silver. She doesn't even protest, just rests her head on my shoulder. My heart breaks for this sweet little girl. I jump onto my horse's back, then hoist her up in front of me. Then I kick the horse and we begin to move. I look back to the two body's on the ground, and swear that this tragedy will never happen again. Never again will my people be slaughtered like animals for the amusement of some stupid thieves. Arlen and I gallop towards Byfay, with the sun just touching the horizon in the east.

Two hours later we wearily ride into Byfay. I slowly ride around the villiage. I have no clue how I'm going to find Arlen's family, but I will. She's leaning against my chest, finally asleep. I don't have the heart to wake her up, and she probably wouldn't know where her grandparents live anyway. I decide to stop at a street vendor.

"Excuse me-do you know where this little one lives?" I call down. A older man looks up.

"Who do-wait. Arlen is that you?" He asks. I nod. The man seems to age another ten years looking at Arlen's fresh face.

"Are her parents dead then?" He says wearily. I nod yet again. The old man sighs sadly, then points to a house just up the hill.

"Thank you sir." I say before galloping towards the house.

Its a nice house-obviously a rich man lives here. I've never really trusted rich people which is ironic because I'm the wealthiest person in the kingdom. But ever since I was a child, I've noticed that rich people always want more money, and they're willing to hurt other people to get it. Like Gai for example.

I barely able to stay sitting up by the time we ride up to front of the house. A young woman is outside hanging laundry. She notices me, then she notices Arlen. Her eyes widen and she screams for somebody. A old man runs outside, looking around. He spots Arlen and begins to cry. He runs towards us and scoops her up, twirling her around. Then he spots me, and his joyful expression turns somber.

"Lyli, take Arlen inside please." He tells the woman. Then he helps me off my horse and supports me as I almost pass out from exhaustion. When I regain my footing, he speaks.

"I will be forever grateful that you brought Arlen to us. Her parents...they are?" He asks. I just nod. The man wilts.

"My poor Hudson." He murmurs. Then he realizes that I'm still there.

"Anyway, thank you so much for all you've done. My name is Ivo Roth. Please come inside."

He tells me. I'm so tired I hardly protest. I let him lead me to a soft bed.The instant my head hits the pillow I'm gone.