The Prince of Ilios

Six

Nicola rode through the night, pushing his horse beyond its limits. He urged it onward. There was no way under heaven that he was going to allow one of his sisters to marry Cyrus.

Cyrus was the fire-bearing heir, the only one. His temper was that of a volcano and he had the mind of a sadist. Nicola had met him once when he conquered Vatra. He should have just put him to death, but it was not the Ilios way. If at all possible he always found a way to make the provinces willingly join. Most of the time it was through intense negotiations and compromise. For Vatra, it was through a barbaric and bloody war. He had taken too many lives in the last battle for his own taste. The Chairman was a cowardly, self-interested man, his son was cold and uncaring. Before Cyrus surrendered, he had killed the rest of his family, leaving only himself and his father. Anyone who would do something like that, did not deserve to marry into the monarchy, no matter how beneficial the political match may be.

Nicola yelled into the wind. The cloudy night covered him as he rode, but there was plenty of light in the sky to brighten his path. If there was any more lightning, the whole path would be ablaze from the strikes.

---

"She's awake, Ma'am." Ellora heard the sound of a voice calling to her mother.

Soon a warm hand was resting on her face. Her head throbbed as she opened her eyes. It was still dark, "Mother?"

Her mother was a more beautiful, older version of herself. Her eyes spoke of all her worry, but her hands were calming, almost healing to the touch, "Ellora, my dear. I am so glad you are awake. How do you feel?"

"Like I bashed my head into a cliff." Ellora immediately regretted sitting up and slumped back down under the covers. She had been changed into warm dry clothes and placed in her bed as soon as Alyn had carried her in. Ellora looked around for her older brother, "Where's Alyn?"

"Here." He said from the door way. He looked ashamed.

His mother waved him over, "I'll go make some tea, keep your sister company, Alyn."

Alyn looked as though he were trying to stay as far away from her as possible while also being inside the room as his mother had asked, "Loraby, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault..."

"No." She interrupted, "I made it to the surface. I accomplished the training."

He moved quickly to her side, "You did more than that!" His eyes filled with wonder.

"Yeah, I almost died, don't look so excited."

His face became all confusion, and then it was like a lightbulb clicked on in his head, "Oh, you don't know what you did?"

"What?" Now she was concerned.

"Ellora, you reversed the currents of Dead Man's Pit."

"I what?!" She practically screamed. There had to be some mistake, no way did a weakling like her have enough skill to reverse the currents of the most dangerous whirlpool in the ocean.

"No, you did. You came up in the exact spot that you entered the water. I couldn't believe it at first, but when I jumped in the water was completely calm. Not even I could do something like that. You were magnificent!"

Ellora stared at her fingers, in complete shock. She almost died in the process, but she succeeded.

"You almost died though. I should have waited until you were ready..." He rose when his mother brought the tea in.

"I think I need some sleep, this must be a dream." Her exhaustion overtook her. Somewhere she heard her mother and Alyn laughing together. She slipped in to a restful dreamless sleep.