"Thank you Sven you've saved my life for the time being. I only hope she doesn't suspect that you were involved". I meant every word I would never have known until it was too late had it not been for Sven. Regardless of his betrayal he had proven last night what a true friend he was.
"Do not worry about me Snow; I deserve death and more for the unspeakable act that I have committed. It is only fair that I pay the devil my dues" With hands that shook he grasped me in his arms and hugged me. "Stay safe young one". With his parting farewell he left me.
Shifting the pack to a more comfortable position on my back I walked. And walked, and walked. With the sun beating down upon my neck and burning the ground underfoot I grew weary. My lips were cracked and dry and the emptiness in my stomach made me nauseous. In our desperate haste to be gone from the palace we had not packed the necessary provisions, those being food and water. One painful step after another took me further and further away from a certain death at the hands of Jasmine, but led me closer to uncertainty. I looked around at the barren land that surrounded me. What is the point death lay behind be, in front me and all around me. Why bother to fight the inevitable? What's the difference of dying out here than at the palace? Nothing my brain supplied except the fact that you would surely be torn apart by any number of scavengers. I couldn't say for sure but suddenly everything seemed rather funny and I laughed into the deafening silence. The sound that tore from my chest bore more than just a hint of madness. I sank to my knees clutching my locket that held on one side a picture of my mother and father and on the other a picture of my mother holding me as a baby. The smiling faces depicted mocked me- a reminder a happier simpler days. I closed my eyes.
THE TWELVE MEN rode their horses, at the front their leader a fierce and dangerous man with cruel eyes and a cold heart. Not even the men that rode behind and beside him wanted to risk the vicious rage that seemed to always brew just beneath the surface. These men were outlaws, bandits, thieves and murderers wanted by church and state feared in their own right but were no more than pups with their tails firmly between their legs at one glance by their leader. A frightening man indeed. The man they called priest rode his horse as though riding into hell. A frightening man indeed.
It had been a good day for the men they'd discovered a mine rich with coal. After one of their men had been run through the stomach with a knife, the previous miners had been so kind as the leave behind their tools, and food and wine. Death certainly was an effective means to convince a man who showed reluctance to do a certain thing. None of those men wanted to end up like their fallen comrade, pathetically clutching their intestines and chocking on their own blood. A powerful incentive indeed. The remaining men had been allowed to leave but not before giving a few more things in return. Mouths with no tongue could not tell tales after few too many drinks at a tavern. Frightening men indeed.
Suddenly the leader called a halt to their riding; the sky had turned red with the setting of the sun. There in the middle of their path lay something, something quite large. The priest dismounted and walked up to the motionless object with his sword drawn.
