Rhyles, they used to be called, or shadow people in layman terms. . Men and women who lived outside of royal rule. But the thing that set them apart from the rest of the world was their powers. Rhyles were rumored to open the throats of their victims without ever grasping a knife or waiting in tree tops for an unsuspecting victim to wander under them so they could steal their gold and their hearts. They were a thing of all Aldham children's bedtime stories to keep them from wandering in the middle of the night. But the Rhyles had never seen the inside of Aldham and in fact had never seen the country of Ostshore to begin because they were not real. Simply a scary story. Isadora had once asked her father in a fit of childhood confusion if the Rhyles really lived in the dark corners of their world. He had laughed, declaring that "The only thing waiting in the darkness is a place needing more light."
...
The arrow whizzed fast. Weaving through the trees and planting it's pointed nose deep in the side of the leading carriage. The horses, spooked, quickly haulted on their path. The startled guard in the injured carriage had not even had time to fully open the door when the second arrow struck, this time in his exposed hand.
His scream echoed through the forest, alerting the other carriages and startling the two lovers tangled together in their own world.
They broke apart quickly, their warm bodies quickly overcome with the cold fear that something bad was happening.
"What the-," Louis straightened his waistcoat and sat up to try to see what had happened. . Isadora felt herself instinctively reach for her bow before she could even think to do so. Louis was already unsheathing his sword when another scream came as loud as the first. The couple sat panting in their own silence for a moment, frantically scanning the treeline around them. Nothing. Izzy saw absolutely nothing besides the dark looming shadows at the base of the forest. There were no men with pitchforks, no group of looters, just an empty forest that seemed to be attacking them. When suddenly she caught a glimpse of the scene in the front. The marked guard had fallen to the ground out of the carriage gasping in pain. His hand appearing to be turning a dark black around the arrows entry, and the darkness was slowly spreading up his forearm. He hadn't yet pulled the arrow out yet. His partner frantically jumped from the cart and was beginning to frantically look around as well to no avail. When another arrow, quicker than the last caught the guard by his shoulder, ripping him to the ground with his other comrade.
A grown mans hand mysteriously turning black and arrows coming from seemingly nowhere should have been the most concerning thing about the scene, except for that it wasn't.
Isadora found her eyes stuck on one major detail- the first arrow embedded in the carriage. The carriages were built to withstand most kinds of weaponry, in fact these particular ones were only meant for outer kingdom travel because of their invincibility. So for anything to even consider penetrating one would have to have a little help from the impossible. She barely had time to process it all before two more arrows tore through the carriage in front of her.
Her father.
Louis began to frantically unlatch their door.
"What the hell do you think you're doing!" The first words came to her mouth, surprising them both.
"The king, I must protect him," And with that he firmly grasped his sword and placed his hand on the now unlocked door, "When I leave you lock this behind me, do you understand?"
Isadora nodded instinctively but internally knew she did not want to be left alone. He leaned forward and planted a fast kiss on her lips before quickly jumping from their cart and running to the one in front. She felt her fingers fumble as she turned and latched her way to security. The guards from the back carriage had started to run towards the Kings' carriage as well, swords at the ready. As if they thought they could swipe away the invisible enemy. But they were two men down, and had no idea what they were up against.
From what she could see, her father was still locked inside. Like hell they would let him out in the open. She watched as one of the extra guards scrambled into the kings carriage as the others worked to turn it around. The horses raced past her, taking her father back to Aldham.. Even with the guards in front of her, Izzy couldn't help to feel horribly exposed. The silence rang in her ears as she waited, for something, for anything to break it.
Like an answer to an unspoken wish, thunder cracked it's way above the tree tops. It made her jump in her seat and loosen her grip on her bow just enough to let it drop to the floor. It rattled the carriage and as she bent down to pick it up another scream ripped through the forest, followed by another, and another.
The arrows flew like lightning bugs through the dark, fast and skilled. She felt her voice get caught in her throat, too stuck to scream. One hit her carriage, followed by what felt like a dozen more. They rained steadily when Izzy looked in horror as another guard collapsed, injured, to the ground. They had been trying to carry their already fallen guards to safety but it didn't matter much anymore. Thunder began to roar even louder above them. Whatever was coming, was close. The sounds of screams began to grow. More arrows lodged themselves in the walls surrounding her, each finding it's way deeper than the last until finally one struck a horse. It screamed out frantically and Izzy watched in horror as it's skin began molting into a tar black color. It's front legs gave out, pulling the carriage forcefully forward onto it's side.
She yelped as her body fell forcefully into the front window. She gasped as a sharp pain ran fast up up her side, one of her own arrows had managed to fall from the quiver and pierce her skin on the fall. Taking a moment to find her breath she made the decision. One arm slung the quiver over her shoulder while the other pulled her to her knees. Izzy felt the warm blood seeping into her dress, but tried not to let it distract her. She began unlatching the locks one by one, the sound of yelling and more arrows striking filled the air around her. When she found the final one and unlocked it the door swung open quickly, causing gravity to pull her out on it's own. Izzy found herself scrambling to her feet with the box gripped tightly in her hand.
Silence fell. It's eerieness crept up the princesses spine and caused her to shiver. She watched as the guards in the distance worked to pull their fallen men into a carriage to safety.
"Izzy!" A voice cried out. Louis was running towards her, a look of terror in his eye.
He didn't make it ten feet before an arrow shot into his chest.
She felt the scream leave her throat but her ears heard nothing. As if everything was in slow motion, Louis collapsed into the ground. Her feet raced to his side. Izzy felt her hands grip the arrow leaving her fiances back and pulled as hard as she could. It broke free but the damage was already done. The darkness was spreading. She watched as the wound began to bubble and leak into the surrounding tissues. Whatever this was, it was fast acting. With the bit of strength she had left, she pulled him onto his back lying blankly up at her. The sobs left Izzy's mouth loudly as she let her head fall onto his chest. The man she was meant to marry, the man who was meant to protect her, gone. She brought her hand to his face and felt her breath stop as the whites in his eyes went black.
Her heart lurched when she felt another hand grasp hers.
"Come on, get up!" The voice harshly whispered. Izzy looked up to find a girl at the end of her hand. Her heart sped up when she realized that she could no longer see the other guards. In fact she didn't see anyone at all besides Louis and the stranger. It didn't make any sense, they were alone.
"Let's go!" The girl began forcefully tugging her arm, pulling Izzy away from the body of her lover.
"What the fuck do you-" She found her words jut to have them taken away once more.
"Shut up. Seriously. Are you trying to get yourself killed? You either come with me and live or stay here and have a great last, oh i'd say about 45 seconds." The girl looked as if she'd been living in the woods for weeks, but while her appearance was harsh her face looked kind. And at this point Izzy had nothing left to lose than to let herself be pulled to her feet. She quickly grabbed the bow and looked back one last time at her fiance's ink stained corpse before being lurched forwards by her arm into the dense woods beside her.
