"Get some sleep princess." Egut whispered softly as he kissed her forehead. He took watch, sitting on the creaky old floorboards with his back resting against the wall.
Princess, she wasn't sure she was one. She vividly remembered the white ivory palace she had grown up in until she was 6, but that was it. For the remainder of her life, she had lived as a fugitive, a runaway– and would probably remain so till she died.
"Why must we run?" she whispered to herself softly. But she already knew the answer to that, her uncle– the usurper was threatened by her presence, and there were many willing to take advantage of fallen nobility, especially one of royal blood like her.
Her eyes wandered from the ceiling to the old decorations in their cabin, then finally resting on Egut.
Cahyli felt safe when she was with him, and she rarely felt safe.
He was an older man, past forty and balding, but still strong and fit. Garbed in traveler's cloak of undyed wool, the hood thrown back. Long black hair with strands of grey that fell to his shoulders, and a silky grey beard covered the lower half of his face.
In his hands he wielded a sheathed katana, a curved, single-edged blade with a circular guard and long grip that accommodated two a two-handed grip.
Underneath the traveler's cloak were the remains of his armor. Very light armor that prioritized mobility and agility over durability and strength. Made from black-lacquered iron plates tied together by silken cords.
He was currently posing as a sellsword and she as his daughter.
They weren't always this alone. Ten years ago, in the hour of the wolf and the eve of her uncle's betrayal, she fled her homeland with seven protectors, each sworn to guard her life.
Egut, her most trusted swornsword, was a shadow at her side, wielding the sword that had saved her countless times.
Bey and Cug, her stalwart guardians, fell in the chaos of their escape, their blood dying the watery lands they once called home.
She wished Kuserik hadn't died. He'd promised to rally an army behind her and restore her to the throne, but he'd taken an arrow through the shoulder from one of her uncle's assassins.
She remembered Kuserik dimly, a great old man, half-blind, roaring and bellowing orders.
He called her "Little Princess" and sometimes "My Lady," and his hands were soft as old leather.
He told her of the great supermoon, that had ushered the night of her birth, and how special and favoured she was.
He became bedridden, and the smell of sickness clung to him for the next two days, a hot, moist, sickly sweet odor. That was when they lived in Hees.
They buried him under a mound of stones, and Padai had claimed his sword, while Apes and Shis helped themselves to bow and boots and knife.
It wasn't long when Padai left. At first, they thought he had just gone foraging for food or learning something important in the marker, that he'd soon return.
But they waited and waited, until finally Egut made them move on. She hated Padai for leaving.
Then Apes and Shis figured they could sell her hand in marriage to some Dorumish lord for his allegiance and army. Egut refused, and after three more failed attempts to make her marry some other lords, they killed such thoughts.
No king or Prince or heir would want to marry her, they'd rather not make an enemy of her uncle. The east might be far from their lands, but the Chyn Kingdom– her homeland, had the strongest navy.
And her uncle had allied with the Amarakian Empire, so she couldn't run there.
Some nobles and benevolent masters did ask for her hand in marriage, but they had ill intentions, some plotted to sell her back to her uncle, to win his favor.
The few that were sincere, were too weak to help her cause. She'd live her life as an ornament or a wife to show off.
Then while staying in an inn in Guvois, Apes and Shis had been prepared to sell her to the Usurper, but one night Egut broke into the inn, slipped past their defenses, stole Cahyli away, ensuring the schemers' plans were never fulfilled, and rode under cover of darkness for the safety of the Esgonian coast.
Later on, he narrated how Apes and Shis had led him deep into the forest, before trying to dispose of him. He escaped wounded, but returned to free her.
'It's been 4 years since then.' She thought with a wistful expression. They had hidden in the large port city of Esgon for Four years, doing small jobs and saving money to buy a voyage to Ubdran– a city on the western continent of Barbary across the mad sea.
'A whole world away from home.'
She had sold her last piece of jewelry to pay for the remaining of the trip. She felt obligated too, since Egut had done so much for her.
The moon shone bright, like a beacon in the starry night sky. Bathing her pale porcelain like skin in its soft radiance, and her Raven black hair like a waterfall of pure darkness. A sharp contrast with her pale blue eyes, like ice that burnt fire.
She tried to imagine a life that could have been, if her uncle had been content and had not schemed. She would be playing in the gardens like she did in her childhood, watching her older brother duel against challengers, and her father and mother give audience to the peasants and Lords.
The countless kimonos, silk, and cotton robes and dresses she would have gotten during her name day. The priceless bangles and jewelries countless suitor would have presented to her in hopes to win her hand in marriage.
Sometimes it felt like a dream, her younger years felt like it had happened to someone else. Now everyone was dead. Her Stern, but warm father, her sweet loving mother, and her charming brother.
All butchered by her uncle's dogs.
Now she could do nothing but weep, she had no illusions of raising an army to kill her uncle.
Who would want to rally behind a weak woman like her? Always in need of someone to save her.
The tears leaked from her eyes as she drifted to sleep.
Her dreams were dark that night, half forgotten nightmares.
After the third time she was too restless to return to sleep. Moonlight streamed through the windows, bathing the wooden floors.
She heard the faint creak of wood, water lapping against the hull, footsteps on the deck above her head. And something else. Someone was outside her cabin.
Egut was nowhere to be seen.
"Egut? Where are you?" Her swornsword did not respond.
She could feel the deep breaths against the door.
She crawled out of bed, walking slowly to the door.
"Egut, is that you?"
"They sleep," a voice said. "They all sleep." The voice was very close.
The door was open, as if it has always been. Cahyli didn't remember who opened it, but she was peering into the darkness seeping in from the door.
It was chilling darkness, it seemed to cool the room even further.
"Who's there?" Cahyli peered into the darkness.
She was sure she could make out the blurred shape of a shadow, the faintest outline of a familiar shape.
"What?" the voice chuckled, "Do you want to see me?"
She felt cold liquid rising at her feet. Looking down she saw the cabin was flooding. Water poured in from the crevices of the window. The glass started cracking, and the water had already reached her waist.
'I am in the presence of sorcery'
She looked at the door, her only escape. She sucked in air and stepped through the door, only to meet a mist of darkness.
A strange feeling of déjà vu took hold of her, and she started walking in the darkness.
She wandered for a while in the darkness, until she stumbled upon a wolf's head.
It was gigantic and the size of a modest keep.
"What in damnation" she muttered in shock.
"Oh, back so soon? Child" the head spoke. Frightened, Cahyli fell on her ass.
"W-what are you?"
"Hmm… When last you came you were hardly a foot tall, now you're as tall as the fairest of maidens" it chuckled, "I had forgotten human little lives are no more than a flicker in the grand sea of time."
It opened its mouth,
"Well then, I invite you to reclaim what is yours and forgotten."
Cahyli stared into the wolf's mouth.
'I must not be afraid. This may be a boon.' She got up and dusted her sleeping gown, before entering the wolf's jaws.
A long, dim, high-ceilinged hall. Along the right hand was a row of torches burning with a smoky orange light, but the only doors were to her left.
The wolf spoke one last word of advice "You might not remember, but do not enter any of the doorways to the left. Walk down to the end of the hall and you shall find that which has been lost."
She gulped and proceeded steadily.
The seventeen texts had spoken of chanced encounters and mysterious boons giving to the heroes to help them in their quest.
'It had also spoken of evil gods and devils using the boons to ensnare or trick the heroes.'
Cahyli had no way of knowing which was which. She might die in this strange place and a devil might possess her body, or she might gain a powerful boon that'll give her the power to fulfill all her desires. But she didn't want to go back, going back to crying and weeping without being able to do anything.
That was not living, Just surviving. And if she died, she died. No one would mourn her, and this might very well be a dream.
Perhaps Egut might mourn a little, if he found her corpse by the morrow. Or he might not if something sinister possessed her. But she wouldn't go back, no regrets, everything was a leap of faith.
Finally she saw a bright warm light on the other end of the hall, she hurried her footsteps in anticipation.
Until she was finally out of the hall and into a forest– No, a garden. The very same garden in the ivory palace at home.
She was a little girl again, and she remembered. She played in the gardens alone, often getting lost and turning up hours later. Her parents would berate her, after they found she was in good health.
In the middle of the hidden garden, was a clearing. Two figures sat behind a round marble top table, there were four chairs around the table.
Two were occupied. In one a rapacious monster having a woman's head and body, and a birds wings and claws– a harpy, it sat elegantly sipping tea from porcelain tea cup.
On the other was a small boy the age of six, with red skin and two magnificent horns that curved upwards and inside by the sides of his head.
His eyes were bright yellow with narrow slits for pupils, and he had an arrow like tail- A devil.
There was a third one, a tiny worm reading a large and ancient book.
'A harpy, a devil and a worm'
The harpy placed the cup gently on the table, and stared at Cahyli with a pleasant smile. Almost as if peering into her soul.
It lips contorted, and it spoke.
"Now I shall keep my promise, child".