The Kingdom of Etherna: Return of the Prophesied Queen

Chapter 7- The Palace Ground

They are following the guard after they have been released from the wood cell. Each women were wondering where they will be staying, are they given a place to sleep, are they going to give them enough food, or are they going to be trained directly. Those were just from her thoughts.

She’s in the middle of thinking when she noticed they are taking a secluded path of the building, its dark alleys blinded their eyes as they walk. It made some of the women shiver, she can feel their fear, but for her, the dark alley is not a problem, her thoughts now lingered on where are they going.

They continued to walk further from the entrance they got in, it is nowhere to be seen. She think that they were following an underground path. The warm air was replaced by thin cold air, the drop of water from the ceiling of the quadrangle path they are taking only shows that they were walking in an underground area.

“Where are we going?”, she said firmly with no hint of fear from her voice.

“Is this the palace, or is this hell where going?” eyeing the guard hard as she talks.

“This is not the palace”, the guard replied.

“We are far from the palace, the place you’ve entered earlier was just the gate and part of the palace ground, the palace is kilometers away from here, and we are taking the path to where you will be trained and stay for a week or two. If you will endure the training then maybe you can have the opportunity to enter the palace. But, I doubt since warriors always stays outside the palace, guarding.”, the guard said in a low tone.

Maybe the guard wants us to relax, he thinks we are scared since other girls were acting one. She thought to herself.

They continued walking until they reached their destination. They got out from the tunnel they were hiking earlier, they only realized it as they got out from it. Now, they are facing a camp, a soldiers’ camp to be exact.

Some soldiers were practicing their swordsmanship, some were using their bow and arrow targeting a human dummy. Some were having a sparring and some were running in group. The girls were murmuring to themselves, some were excited and some were scared. She roams her eyes around, tents were everywhere and there were small wooden houses not far from where they stand.

“Follow me,” the guard said that made her back to her thinking.

The girls followed the guard and end up in a small house made of wood, nothing is in there, it is an empty house. They entered the house, no one sits nor make every move as they come inside.

“Stay here for a while, you can sit and relax, the captain will be here anytime soon and he will tell you the things you need to learn in this place, for now, enjoy your stay,” he closed the door and smirk after telling those words.

The girls finally slump their selves on the wooden floor. They seemed relieved finally having a break from the long hiking they took a while ago. Other girls were talking to each other, but she spaced out. She doesn’t want to be close to anybody nor become friends with them. She has a task to do and having friend will only slow her down. Before she could close her eyes to take a small nap, a girl talked to her.

“Hi”, she’s shy saying those words.
She eyed her, she thinks this girl has the same age as her, maybe 21 or 22.

She seemed quite pretty, small nose, blue eyes with thick black lashes, and has a beautiful curly brown hair. She’s thin, and seems malnourished. Her pale skin made her more malnourished to look at. Khaliana didn’t bother to entertain her greetings, she turn her back from her. But the girl continued talking to her.

“I’m Lily, I know you don’t like talking to me, but I just want to talk to you”, she said in a very calm tone.

“This place we are into will become a paradise or a hell to us, other girls were excited about the fact that they can enter the palace and have the opportunity to see the king, but for me, I just want to survive.