Amulet of Fate

Chapter 8

Kaliste

"Father, you summoned me?" Kaliste bowed, ashamed of her soiled appearance, she was still embarrassed by her behavior at the meeting, it's very reminder sent chills down her bones. Her hands were trembling as she looked at her father, who was staring at her angrily.

"So, all your life you desire freedom and you wish to break our customs, with your unruly fantasies...and the one chance I give you to go outside of our kingdom, you decide to shame me in public?" He yelled.

"N-no father, I allowed my emotions to get the better of me. I shouldn't have yelled at the prince, and I shouldn't have said anything at all at the meeting. I-I just felt so hurt when he rejected the proposal. I swear, I did not mean to shame or disgrace you in any way."

King Ailard scoffed in response, his eyes looking down upon her as if she was nothing more than a piece of dirt. He threw a wine bottle at her feet, and she stumbled back in fear.

"Listen well, Kaliste. You are very fortunate your mother and I kept you at all, you are well aware that you have been nothing but a sheer disappointment to me. Even as I brought you here to fulfill your purpose and to give you a husband and a home, you could not even successfully accomplish that."

Her mother glanced at her with a sliver of sympathy in her eyes, but she looked away and back down at the ground.

Princess Kaliste stood up tall in her father's presence, even though every word he spoke was sharp and sunk into her skin. Her throat bubbled up, as if she were about to burst into tears. But she did not. One way or another, she would have respect, the respect that she deserved.

Her breaths were shaky nonetheless, and she took a deep breath before speaking again. "I appreciate all that you have done for me, even if I am not deemed worthy of it in your eyes."

He walked up to her, and backhanded her with all his strength. Kaliste fell to the ground, pressing her palm to her searing cheek.

"You don't seem very appreciative, girl. If you had even an ounce of appreciation in you, you would not have made a scene to begin with." He gritted through his teeth.

Kaliste flinched, as if ready for another slap. "Father, I beg you...please tell me how I can be useful to you."

"You cannot be, that is my curse.

Kaliste went on her knees, and begged. "Please father, allow me to assist you in some way."

Her father twirled his beard as he pondered, thinking and devising as he did. "I want you to win his heart."

"Pardon?"

"I want you to tag along with the Prince and his new elven friend, and I want you to win his heart. Solandis is the largest Kingdom in all of Tethoris. By marrying the prince, the Solandi King and Queen will gladly strengthen our allyship. By doing so, they will be quite easy to persuade when I propose my plan to invade the Zeyphirian lands."

"Father, you wish to invade Zephyria? Have we not all been at peace for hundreds of years?"

The king cleared his throat, silencing her at once. "Tensions have been growing at the border, and have been brewing for years. The Zephyrians have mountains and resources that would be beneficial to add to our own Kingdom, and from there we can only expand. But as of now, Solandis insists on remaining at peace with the other two kingdoms. I intend for all of that to change."

Kaliste bowed her head, "Father, I will do my best to make you proud."
...

"Goliath! I repeat, Goliath!" Emric shouted frantically, taking out his sword and trying to calm Epona down. The horses neighed and galloped erratically, trying their best to get away from the horrid monster.

The Goliath was towering over them, it's head seemed like it was hundreds of feet off the ground. It was enormous, with it's swollen head, which was no doubt much larger than the four of them combined. It's skin was brown, and it's eye was orange. It's hands were stained by the blood of it's victims, and it roared loudly, scaring away the woodland animals, and even crushing the nearby deer, and foxes with it's massive feet, the group gaped as the once-green grass was splattered with crimson blood. Kaliste's hands began to tremble.

"I know!! What are we going to do?" She yelled loudly.

Haelia smiled at Kaliste. "Wow, I thought you were ready for adventuring...what happened?"

"Pfft, I didn't realize that thing was gonna come. You're a wood-elf, aren't you? Go on and think of something."

Haelia examined the beast for a moment, and cleared her throat. "His advantage is his size, so we have to knock him down, and attack the weak spots we can find. For example, his eye seems to be a pretty legitimate target, and his feet are ground-level."

Dusan spoke up, "I have an idea, all of us can work together to take out one of his weaknesses."

Haelia nodded, "I have my daggers, so I can take out one of his feet. Emric, since you have a sword, you take out the other one."

Kaliste unsheathed her bow and took out an arrow from her quiver. "I can take out the eye."

It was a good thing Kaliste had paid attention to her older brother, Cillian's archery lessons. Sometimes at night, Kaliste would sneak off to the archery grounds and try it for herself.

It had been years of practice, but not a single year of experience. She had to make sure her target was open, after all...a missed arrow can be deadly.

The Goliath was charging towards the group, flailing its arms. It began snapping the barks of the trees. The sound of it's screeches were deafening, causing Kaliste's ears to ring sharply.  Haelia leaped off of the horse, slicing the beast's foot with her daggers. Emric did the same on the other side.

"I need a clear shot, make him stop moving around!"

Dusan peaked in his tome, and began to read aloud. "Circulus Ignis!"

At that moment, flames began to burst around the Goliath, in the shape of a circle. The monster began wailing in pain, bellowing as it tried to move. Black blood began spilling out of it's stinky, large feet. Kaliste adjusted the arrow, and pulled back the string, until she released it. The arrow zipped through the air, and splashed into the beast's eye socket. The monster screeched as loudly as it could, as it's blackened blood oozed out of where it's eye used to be, spilling onto its face. It roared as it's life began to fade away, as it's breaths became more and more labored, before it fell to the ground, and reduced to nothing more than a pile of ash.