Chapter 2: Enemy Within
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A strong horse strolled along the main road leading to Kaedon's castle, the capital of the eponymous kingdom, carrying two women on its back. The knightess Loretta was in the front, holding the horse's bridle, her trusty sword strapped to her hip.
Princess Elisa was sitting behind the knightess, her arms wrapped around Loretta's armored waist. She was grimacing in pain, clinging to her friend's body as if her life depended on it. She was used to the comfort and luxury of carriages and as such riding a horse bareback for multiple hours was quite an unpleasant experience for the usually wimpy Princess.
The two women had reluctantly chosen to abandon their carriage, one of its wheels broken far beyond Loretta's meager repair ability, and the coachman having met his untimely end during the night. The horses that had been drawing the carriage thankfully had appeared perfectly normal and unharmed since Urilesh's demise, and Loretta had quickly asserted that one of them could easily carry the duo to their destination.
Before abandoning her expensive luggage, Elisa had gotten a change of clothes. A new underwear to replace the one that had been destroyed during the night and a new dress to get rid of the one she had been wearing and that was now stained with mud, blood and other unspeakable fluids.
The Knightess hadn't been that lucky. With her garments shredded, she had thought of borrowing one of the more sensible outfits that the Princess had in her wardrobe, but the women's difference in height and figure had made that impossible. Loretta had had no choice but to wear her muddied armor directly on top of her skin.
The duo had traveled in silence as the sun rose and took its place in the sky above them. But now that Kaedon's castle was looming in the horizon, the end of the path inching closer and closer, the knightess was getting gradually more agitated, fidgeting on the horse. For the first time in hours, words disturbed the silence.
"Princess, upon reaching the castle, we... We'll have to explain what happened..." Loretta said quietly, craning her neck backward trying to see the Princess' face.
"Yes, I imagine we'll have to." Elisa answered impassibly, obvious to her friend's agitation.
"Have you... Have you considered what you're going to tell your family? Your Father?" Loretta insisted.
The knightess' question hung in the air for a while as the Princess stayed silent. Elisa was emotionally and physically exhausted after the night she had had. Even holding a conversation was overwhelmingly difficult for the young woman. She wished for nothing but a long, hot bath and a comfy bed.
"Merely the truth, I suppose." The Princess finally said, hand waving the question after a few minutes.
"The truth..." Loretta mumbled to herself, then she forced a smile on her face. "The truth, of course." She repeated louder.
After an hour of quiet horse riding, the summer's sun reached its zenith in the clear blue sky and Loretta stopped the horse.
"I'll escort you until you're within your family's embrace, Princess, but then I'll have to leave you. You'll have to retell what happened on your own." The knightess said without looking at Elisa. "There's... There's other matters I'll have to attend to. I must report what happened to the Order as soon as possible."
Elisa acquiesced with a murmur. After a few more minutes of hesitation from the knightess, the duo resumed their journey toward the Princess' deliverance.
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In the early hours of the afternoon, two elegantly-dressed women were sitting on two comfortable chairs in a luxuriously furnished lounge, drinking tea. One of them was a voluptuous, mature-looking woman with long dark blonde hair flowing down her back. The other was a much younger woman, Elisa's spitting image, with the same blonde hair, blue eyes, full lips and figure. A servant was respectfully standing a few steps away from them, carrying a tray with a teapot, standing at the ready to refill the women's cups upon any requests.
The oldest woman finished her tea and delicately put the cup down on the table, a preoccupied look on her face. With a simple hand gesture, she made the already-approaching servant stop dead in his tracks and retreat further away in the room. Clearing her throat, she looked at the younger woman sitting next to her.
"I'm getting worried, Sofia. Elisa should have been here hours ago already."
With a last sip, Sofia finished her tea as well, and she held her cup in the air expectantly. "I'm sure everything is fine, Mother. You know how Elisa is, she probably left Summerhills' Estate this morning instead of yesterday's evening." Sofia said reassuringly as the servant poured her another cup of tea.
"Yes, I know how she is. I raised her." The older woman replied sharply. "She can be... indolent, yes, but she wouldn't make me worried like that."
Avoiding her mother's gaze, Sofia took a swig of her tea and mindlessly played with the hem of her dress.
"And I raised you too, I know when you're anxious and try to hide it." Sofia's mother continued.
Sofia sighed, then pursed her lips. "You're right. I'll go see the Commander Wilhelm and ask him to send a few men to Summerhills' Estate, just in case. But I'm sure she's just running late and that she'll be here any minute now."
The shadow of a smile appeared on Sofia's mother's lips and she nodded. "Thank you, Sofia."
But before Sofia had even put down her cup of tea, a soft knock was heard on the door, then it opened smoothly and the castle's chamberlain, a lanky man wearing opulent clothes, entered the room with a somber frown on his face.
"My apologies for my intrusion, Queen Mireya, Princess Sofia, but Princess Elisa and Loretta of the Order of the Moon arrived at the castle, and they are requesting an urgent meeting with your Majesty."
Queen Mireya let out a deep breath of relief at the news, but the chamberlain cleared his throat and continued.