Unfinished First Draft in Freezing Flame

    My nostrils sting. My eyes flare. I look upon my city, my kingdom, my people, and watch as they burn. I stare unable to look away, unable to speak, unable to save them. The kingdom of Sabri has fallen.
When they come for me, I do not resist. I know what fate awaits me and I do not plan on bringing it upon myself any faster than it already is. I have seen what happens to members of royal courts after a kingdom is conquered by another. The gleaming ax blade yearning to slice throats, the crowd begging for blood.
I am led away from the grand castle that I have called home for the past three years and through what was once the entrance to this home. Now lying in splinters on the ground, are the oak doors that were once engraved with the arms of the King of Sabri. The bodies of soldiers that had died protecting me lie strewn across the cracked stone. Those that surrendered are lined against the wall and gutted like pigs. 
Just outside the once glorious entrance stands a man, his golden armor roaring with flames. His eyes shine with excitement and blood lust. The crown, stolen from my king, is cradled by gray shadowy waves upon his head.  He smiles as I grow near, like a dog about to strike.
“Princess Colenso, how are you this afternoon?” he growls, hoping for me to crack.
I stand taller and send a glare his way that would stop any sane man in his tracks. The Prince of Mareena, however, is nowhere near sane. He quickly closely the gap between us in a few steps. He smells of ash and sweat. I stare straight ahead trying to ignore the burn of his stare.
“It’s good to finally see you too.” He smirks “What has it been, a year?”
“Two years,” I state looking him dead in the eyes “and you still do not deserve the crown of Sabri.”
He snatches me up by my throat and raises me off the ground. “You have gone soft, princess. And to think I was going to offer you a place in my court.” He spits
“Only a spineless worm would kill his blood family and burn his own kingdom to the ground for a headdress of metal!” I force through my throat.
He slaps me and I taste the bitterness of blood in my mouth. “You are nothing compared to me. You are curse to this kingdom that allowed you in their court. You only bring destruction upon this kingdom.” He spouts.
“Look around, Daniel. Destruction is already here and I did not bring it.” I spit blood spilling from my mouth.
He laughs at this and drops me. As I gasp for air, he turns to his men and barks orders “Take her to our camp and lock her up. She will be going to Mareena, where she will be executed for treason against the kingdom of Mareena and the assassination of Prince Aizen.” 
With those words, I am carried off to a carriage that was used to carry the royal family of Sabri, but now there is no more Sabri and no more royal family. When they open the door I can see the last of the royal blood staining the carpet inside and my stomach turns at the image of the once happy family cut down in their own carriage.
The soldiers don’t bother putting a guard in the carriage with me. I may be defeated, but I am not about to try and run away in a dress. I take a seat on the bench, remaining poised and proper as I was taught to do when I was young. The guard laughs and slams the door. Leaving me alone with what’s left of my beloved friends.
As soon as we start moving, I break. I slump down and tears roll down my face. My moans seem distant and inhuman. Unable to stop the images of the once joyful and kind King’s head rolling at Daniel’s feet.
I remember the King’s eyes and how they gleamed every time I spoke to him. Both of his sons had those eyes. They would have both been great leaders had they been given time to mature. I remember the queen with flowing hazel hair that curled ever so slightly and the fairest skin that I have ever seen. Her children had inherited that from her. Daniel did too. Even amongst the fire and destruction he brought upon his true family and once strong kingdom, he stood tall and beautiful. Any young woman would fall for him, if he was more kind and loyal.
My sorrow quickly grows to despair as I think of all the ways I could have tried to keep Daniel from going to Mareena. How I could have saved the royal family, how I could have saved Sabri, how I could have saved him.
But it’s too late. They are gone. The citizens of Sabri are ashes, along with the royal family and the buildings that once show cased the power of the Sabris, and the once noble Prince Daniel of Sabri is dead.
In the midst of this despair, I almost miss that the carriage has stopped. I am sure we are not yet there because we are still within what used to be the outer wall protecting Sabri from invaders. I open the curtain to see what is happening.
The road looks clear, all but for a man holding his stomach. His shirt drenched in blood. Whether it is his or someone else’s I do not know and I don’t believe that he does either.
“Please, help me!” the man hollers to my escorts.
The guard gets off the carriage and walks towards the man. His steps slow and cautious. He looks at the man with suspicion, but the other guard calls to him saying “Just put him in the carriage with the girl! We can help him once we get back to the camp!”
“Thank you, sir.” The man says as the soldier allows him to lean against him for support.
As the guard grows near I wipe my tears from my face and straighten myself. I look straight at the door as it swings open. The guard helps the man in and I try to look annoyed at the delay. “Sorry for the delay, your highness.” He hisses “I didn’t know you were in a hurry to get to executioner.”
The guard slams the door shut and after a few minutes, the carriage picks its pace back up. I glance at the man. His hair is jet black and his eyes are the color of fresh frost. He looks at me and I quickly look away.
I look around the whole carriage, as if I have never ridden in it before taking in every little detail, and eventually settle on the red stain in the carpet once more. We sit in silence, but I can still feel him staring at my face as I watch the bright red stain fade to crimson.
“My name is Genu.”
I don’t look up. I don’t even nod. I just sit there in silence. If he knew who I was he wouldn’t be talking to me right now.
“What is your name?” he presses.
I look up at him for a second and then slowly look back down at my stain.
“You don’t have to talk to me, but it would make my job allot easier if you’d at least tell me your name.” he sighs, begging for an answer.
“Well, damn.” He says leaning his head against the wall. “I expected you to be cautious, but not to the point where you won’t even say your name.”
This gets him a glare and few nasty replies that play out in my head. All ending with him crying in humiliation. “Now, don’t get angry at me just yet.” He says smiling.
“In a few minutes, I guarantee you’ll be happy I got in this carriage.” He boasts.
The carriage goes on for a little while longer and we start to enter the forest separating Sabri from the shoreline where the camp for the Mareenan troops lay, when I hear something fly through the sky and strike something solid. The carriage shifts as a large weight is lifted off of it. The horses grunt to life as we pick up speed.
Genu looks at me grinning wildly and says “Wait here, princess. I’ll be back.”
He then swings out the carriage door and onto the roof. He makes his way to the driver and quickly disposes of him. The carriage then takes a sharp right and we start bolting into dense forest. Every little root throws me against the wall of the carriage. I just know I will have bruises after this.
Finally, after what seems like an eternity of bumps and mumbled curses, the carriage comes to a sudden halt. That was possibly the worst horse ride I have ever been on and I rode bareback into battle in the middle of winter with three black horsemen chasing after me. Genu seems unaffected by the bumpiness of the ride and hops right down as if nothing ever happened.
“Good Evening, Your Highness.” Genu teases. “We have reached our destination.” His hair is plastered to his forehead with sweat and his eyes are still shining with excitement.
“Are you not supposed to be dying?” I ask getting out of the carriage.
“So you can speak.” He says reaching out to help me, but I push his hand away.
“Of course I can.” I say my shoes landing in soft dirty and slowly soaking.
“My sincerest apologies, my lady.” He says bowing.
I choose to ignore him and instead look around us. We are surrounded by dense forest on all sides. The road is long gone and the animals are silent. The sun is setting making everything a glowing orange and I feel myself start to panic.
“Where are we?”
“We are safe.” Genu answers picking up dry wood and putting it in a pile surrounding it by stones.
“I meant location.”
“I know what you meant.” He says glancing my direction.
“Fine, what do you want from me?” I ask “You saved me for a reason, so what do you want?”
“Right now,” he starts lighting the fire “I just want your name.”
“Colenso.” I state.
“Good. At least I saved the right girl.” He says sitting down on a stone admiring his work. He crosses his lean arms over his chest and stretches his legs out towards the fire. After looking at me for a few minutes, he asks “Are you going to sit down?”
I move towards the tree opposite of him, putting the fire between us. I sit there and watch as he relaxes against the base of a great oak, when I finally can’t take it anymore. “What are you doing?” I ask “Prince Daniel will come looking for me. He will find me. The soldiers of Mareena are known for their success with manhunts.”
“It will take him two days to find this camp.” Genu states “By then you and I will be long gone, so just relax.”
“Daniel is not someone you can simply dismiss.” I cut, staring the way we came.
“We will be gone before dawn. We are only here to wait for my comrades to return.” He says staring at me.
“What if your comrades don’t return?”
“They will.” He states “After all, we are from Norta.”
I attempt to hide my shock, but am obviously failing because Genu starts to explain. “We were sent by King Saleen to save any remaining survivors of the royal court of Sabri.”
“But Sabri and Norta are rivals?” I say confused.
“Yes, we are.” He agrees “However, Sabri and The Kingdom of Valten are allies. If we would have let you die, we would have to suffer the wrath of Valten.”
Of course. Valten has saved me. Valten is the richest kingdom in the world. They have the largest navy force and are the most technologically advanced in the strategy of warfare. Anyone would be a fool to go against Valten, but Daniel has just openly attacked one of Valten’s allies. This will not be overlooked by Queen Taliea.
After a long silence due to my thread of thought, Genu interrupts with “Hey, princess”
“Do not call me that.” I say through gritted teeth.
“What?”
“Do not call me princess.” I say in an eerily calm voice “I am not a princess and I have not been since I was three years old.” I glare at him.
“So what, it’s not like you can do anything about it if I do call you it?” he challenges.
“If you truly saved me because of who I am, then you know where and how I was raised. You should know I was taught how to make people disappear. You can keep calling me princess and see how long your heart keeps beating in your chest.”
He sits in silence trying to see if I was bluffing. I wasn’t. He surrenders with a smile and puts his hands in the air, palms up. I only just realize that I had picked up a rather sharp branch and was gripping it for dear life. I slowly drop the branch and kick it away from me to avoid future accidents.
I sit staring at the flames, distracted by the faces of the dead I’ve left behind. I barely notice that someone is approaching us. I stiffen and Genu pulls a dagger out of his belt. We wait in silence and anticipation. When a slim figure in brown with a rag cover her face stumbles into the open, I feel disappointment as Genu puts away his blade. “I see you weren’t successful, Trista.”
She scoffs at the remark. “Well I didn’t get to save someone who already knows how to survive!” she cocks her chin my way.
“That’s right you were sent for the ambassador to Norta.” Genu says sitting back down.
“Is he dead?” I ask the girl.
“Yes, he was dead by the time I got there.” She says with a look of pity in her eyes.
I shake her look off and turn back to the fire. We sit in silence, except for the moaning from Trista as she sits down. She doesn’t look like she’s badly injured, after all she’s so short no one probably ever sees her coming. She takes the rag off her face and reveals an old scar running down her jaw line. In my years spent as a mercenary, I had grown accustom to scars. Everyone had one and if they didn’t I was usually hired to given them a few.
“We need to go.” Genu says, suddenly standing.
“What about Rat?” Trista asks looking into the forest.
“He’s not coming.” Genu states “He was sent after the young princes and by the looks of the inside of the carriage. I don’t think he was successful.”
Trista sits in silence, staring at the ground. Genu doesn’t move to comfort her and instead moves to the carriage. He pulls out a jagged dagger and cuts the horses out of their harness. He grabs their bridles and drags on over to Trista.
“We have to leave, now.” He says pushing the animal towards her.
When Trist looked up, I had expected to see tears in her eyes. Instead her eyes were cold, her face frozen in indifference. She stood slowly and gently took the bridle out his hand. He then turns to me, gets on the horse and offers his hand to help me mount the beast.
I stare at his palm. Annoyed, he offers “You can either stay and be killed when Daniel finds you or you can come with us and be free.” I weighed my options and took his hand allowing him to pull me onto the horse I front of him. As soon I am sitting down, the horse jolts forward and I nearly fall off the horse. Genu rest a hand on my shoulder to steady me and I shrug him off. “Where are we going?”
“We are going to the Nortan capitol.” He says in my ear “We should arrive by noon tomorrow, if we don’t stop.”
I knew how long it took to reach the capitol, but I also knew that freedom does not wait for me in Norta. Freedom is something I will never have, no matter how hard I attempt to secure it. I have killed too many men, sold too many secrets, and brought the destruction upon too many countries. King Saleen knows this. He will never allow me to be free to do as I wish. As long as I live, I will be seen as a threat to his life and his throne.
As dawn approaches, we come upon the river separating Sabri from Norta. Genu brings our horse to a slow stop. Trista pulls up next to us and leaps down from her horse. She leads him to the river allowing him to drink water. Genu gets off, allowing me to dismount by myself. He grabs my arm once I am on the round “We will rest here until the horses have cooled down.” I nod and walk to a nearby tree. I climb into the branches and find a spot where I can easily watch my two rescuers.
I study their movements, searching for weaknesses. Making plans in case our interaction didn’t go the right way. I note that Trista limps when she puts weight on her right leg, I could easily break her leg if needed. She also has a recent deep wound above her brow, if I apply enough force I should be able to reopen it and effectively blind her. 
Genu would prove to be difficult. As far as I could tell, at least through the blood, he didn’t have any major injuries. He did however, have a knife in his left boot, if I could beat him to it then I might have a chance at defeating him. Only the problem is, he doesn’t let his guard down and he most certainly is stronger than I.
“You never give up do you?” he asks walking the horse to my tree.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re always trying to find weaknesses in your allies.” He states “You learn to trust people more.”
“Well, seeing as I was just betrayed by someone I had considered a friend and most people who have saved me in the past ended up trying to kill me themselves. I think it acceptable of me, if I don’t trust anyone very easily.”
Chuckling he says “And who’s fault is it that everyone wants you dead?”
“Not everyone wants me dead, just most people.”
“No, it’s everyone.” Trista grumbles tying her horse to a branch.
“I have long since abandoned the title of mercenary.”
“Of course,” she hisses “now you’re just a private assassin for the kingdom of Sabri. Or should I say was?”
Before I knew it, I had flung myself onto the girl and slammed my knee into her right shin, earning a satisfying crack as it shattered. She screamed as she desperately tried fling me off. Before I am wrenched from her body, I get the upper hand and trust my elbow into her wound above her brow.
I fight against the arms holding me back and watch as blood quickly covers Trista’s face. She foolishly attempts to wipe the red liquid off her face. “You bitch!” she screams “That fucking hurt!”
“You think you’re the only one in pain!” I yell over Genu’s arm.
“Colenso-” Genu starts
“You think you know what it is to suffer?” my question is met with silence. “I was born and raised into suffering. I was tortured countless times as a child, my own uncle forced me to kill my only friend I have ever had, I have watched my allies be slaughtered for being associated with me, and the faces of those I have killed, of those I couldn’t save, haunt my dreams every night. So do not speak to me of pain or suffering. You do not know the meaning of the word.”
I stand still now. Looking down at the girl covered in blood. She scoffs and beckons Genu over. “She broke my fucking leg.” she mumbles.
Genu nods and cut down a branch to use as a splint. Using the sleeve of his shirt, he ties the branch to her leg and hopes for the best. He then cuts off his other sleeve and gently wraps the girls head. He steps back once he’s finished to view his handy work. Satisfied he speaks “Well, that wasted a good amount of time. Thank you, Colenso.”
“Anytime.”
“We should get moving. Daniel is without a doubt on our trail and closing in as we speak. Do you think you ride alone, Trista?”
“Of course I can.” She says offended.
“Good then let’s get going.”
He mounts the horse and once again offers a hand. I take it carefully and pull myself onto the horse. Trista struggles to mount her horse, but eventually she does so successfully. We set off once more to Norta. To what we thought was safe.