It was already late afternoon when the tops of the three towers of Emfer appeared in front of her eyes. Emfer was surrounded by fields and the houses of peasants' scattered around it. Cows were still grazing here and there, and people were finishing their work in the gardens or grooming the animals. The pigs were happily roaring in the muddy field, and two dirty kids were watching them, herding them towards the leaning pigsty. The fortress itself was clearly reflected against the background of the surrounding city. It was built of light stone and consisted of three towers connected by bridges. The middle tower was accessible only through these bridges. The other two towers were connected by the palace part. The fortress was surrounded by a wall to which only one gate led. Next was the outer bailey full of houses of merchants, craftsmen and townspeople. Another wall surrounded the whole city. In this wall there was one main gate with small towers for observation of the area and two smaller side gates. The main gate was already closed.
Setia mumbled a curse in her mouth. She wasn't going to wait here with her horse until the morning. She climbed down from the wagon and began pounding on the gate with her fists.
"The gate is already closed, we will not open until tomorrow!" She heard the guard's hoarse voice from behind the gate.
She knocked again on the wooden door. This time a small barred window opened and a mustachioed guard with a red nose exclaimed with irritation in his voice.
"Are you deaf? It's closed!"
"I'm carrying a valuable cargo for Prince Tendred. Hiron, the blacksmith sent me." She replied in a firm tone.
"Open the gate!" Setia demanded.
"Wait," shuffling and muffled voices could be heard behind the gate. Setia got on the cart, waiting for the gate to open.
"Well, well." She heard from the side, a smiling middle-aged gentleman was lying under a bush, he was wearing a green coat with a hood and he was holding a bundle in his hand. "Goods for the prince himself and valuable ones, carried by a young woman." He whistled lingeringly and got up.
Setia adjusted the hood of her cloak covering her face, she did not feel like talking, but this man didn't seem to be discouraged by her sitting in silence. He walked lightly to the wagon and bowed courteously.
"I'm Atnar, a wandering musician at your ladyship's service." He had bright eyes and straight brown hair. His neatly trimmed beard and neat clothes made him look likeable and trustworthy. My father used to say that's what assassins looked like.
"What do you want, Atnar?" The coldness in her voice was meant to put him off.
"Can I enter the city with such an unusual woman as you, my lady? I don't like sleeping under a cloud in front of the gate." A courtly smile appeared on his face.
Said gate just creaked and opened its doors.
"Get in," She said quietly.
The whole city was preparing for the upcoming celebration. King Latamor's daughter was about to get married with the Prince Gorsep. Horse dung was collected and the streets were swept. The main road was sprinkled with fresh yellow sand and on its edge a decoration of sheaves of grain and blue flowers was placed. For blue and yellow were the colors of Prenian. The solemn mood spread to everyone, except Dagrana, Latamor's daughter. In her room, she was sitting stiffly upright, patiently enduring the maids' desperate efforts to make her beautiful for the arrival of her future husband. She had no illusions about this marriage, it was an arrangement her father had made to ensure peace for Prenian. The growing power of the Equerds would soon overthrow him anyway. For now, he sacrificed her to some bloodthirsty warrior prince. Her stepmother said she was lucky because she was able to marry a man who wasn't her father's age.
Well, she knew what she was saying, she is 30 years younger than King Latamor.
"Princess," the maid's voice snapped her out of her thoughts
"Yes."
"We're finished." The ruddy maid smiled, pleased with her work.
Dagrana looked in the mirror, her light, almost white hair were made into curls and partly pinned up. The cheeks were slightly pink and the lips were touched with a blush. Her long, swan-like neck was left bare. Then there was a white corset that was trying to emphasize her figure. While the waist was very slim and she had nice hips, the cleavage looked bad. She was flat as a board. Even stuffing the corset and squeezing the remnants of the breasts could not make them protrude lushly from the neckline. A blue dress was worn over it to accentuate the color of her eyes. Blue, framed by long and very bright eyelashes.
The princess sighed and got up from her chair.
"You can go now." She ordered the servants. Dagrana nervously walked around the room, breaking her fingers from stress. The horn signal startled her. She knew that Gorsep had already arrived.
The massive oak-bound gate to the heart of Prenian swung open for the Equerds at the sound of the horn. A crowd of curious townspeople stood along the road leading to the castle. Latamor's house did not have the character of a fortress, it was a comfortably built, spacious manor house. Only the outer wall had a defensive function. The castle was separated from the town buildings by a decorative wall with two figures at the entrance, depicting a woman with a sheaf of grain and a man with a scythe. The inhabitants of the Prenian capital greeted the newcomers with flowers, led by Prince Gorsep and King Hadbel. Gorsep dressed in silver and black proudly presented himself on a young stallion, smiling and nodding his head in response to the joyful exclamations of the gathered.
"It's the first time I conquer the city and they greet us with flowers." Said Hadbel with an ironic smile.
From the window of the castle, blue eyes watched their arrival with tension.