I hold my hands over my mouth as I begin to pace. Oh my God. Oh my fucking God. What does this
mean?
I met him when I was buying this ring.
I stand at the window and look at the raging storm outside. The rain is reallying down and I get a
cold shiver run through me. As I stare into the darkness, I see Henry as clear as day, and happiness fills
me. He is holding Elizabeth in his arms. Only this time, I am Elizabeth. I can feel his arms around me.
“I love you,” he whispers.
I feel happy. “I love you, too.”
Oh my God.
I run to the table and quickly shuffle through my box of letters from the guard to his princess. I have held
off reading this letter because it is thest one and I just know that something has happened to them. Why
did the letters stop?
My beloved Princess.
You are in danger, my love. I need you to be brave for me.
Alchron stands with the king as they assess the test letter of demands. Ulysis, the king from
another county, has demanded that they hand over the princess to be his wife or he is going to
overturn the kingdom, kill the people of the vige, and take her anyway. Alchron’s heart is in his
throat. He knows their army is bigger and their weapons are greater.
The threat is real.
The King paces back and forth deep in thought. “What should we do?” he asks his trusted guard.
“Maybe we should let her go.”
“No!” Alchron snaps. “She will not be that animal’s wife. I will not hand her over.”
“But so many innocent people are going to die if we do not. There will be war.”
Alchron stands and stares out the window, his hands sped behind his back. “Then we prepare for
war.” He growls.
Seven nightster, in the middle of the night.
Alchron and the Princess are woken by the sound of screams in the vige and nearby explosions.
Alchron runs to the window to see the iing enemy army breaking the castle gates down. Fires and
mayhem can be seen for miles.
They are under attack.
“Get dressed!” he yells to the princess.
“What’s happening?” she cries.
“They are here for you.”
“No,” she cries as she frantically dresses.
He grabs his sword and his precious princess, and they run down the stairs two at a time to the
sound of the guards and uproar as the rms across the pce ring out. The windows start to smash
with bombs of bright fire.
“My father,” she cries.
“He has his guards,” Alchron replies as they run down the stairs. “I need to get you out of here.”
His heart is hammering. He knows this will be a fight to the death. They burst out through back
door of the castle where the fastest horse in the county has been saddled in preparation for this
instance, and he throws his princess onto its back. He climbs on in front of her and he whips his horse
hard. “Yah!” he cries.
“Hold on!” he calls.
The princess cowers into her love’s back as she holds on for dear life. He races at full speed out of
the back gate and down to the meadow. He needs to keep her safe. He will do anything to keep her
safe. The enemy army spot them and make chase, the sound of the horses pursuing them rumbles
through the ground below.
What does he do? He wonders as he rides like the wind. What does he do?
“How many?” he calls over his shoulder.
The princess turns to look into the darkness and she counts the men chasing them on horseback.
“Fifteen,” she cries. “At least.”
They sound a horn and his heart drops. They are calling for back up and he knows that it is herText property ? N?vel(D)ra/ma.Org.
they want.
“Yah!” He yells to his horse to spur it on. He whips with the reigns and they run down to the
bottom of the hill where a small creek is sheltered by trees. The army are still climbing behind on the
other side and cannot see them at this stage.
He stops and jumps off the horse.
“What are you doing?” she whispers.
“Get off the horse, my love,” he whispers calmly.
Her eyes widen. “‘What are you doing?” she whispers in a panic.
“I want you to hide. Find a spot in this creek and hide.”
She shakes her head frantically. “No.” She shakes her head as she cries. He is going to sacrifice
his life for her.