Awakening (Born From Shadows #1)

“He seems to like you,” the Prince said, “they all do.”

Tatianna looked down at the horse she was patting, it nuzzled its black nose into her arm.

“It must be the Elven blood. They are much more connected to animals and nature,” Freya whispered, ascertaining the horse’s owner did not hear the mention of her race.

“What’s her name?” she asked the owner out loud.

“That one is called Ida,” the man replied. “She is one of our finest, for the Prince. The other three are additionally exceptional.” The Prince grabbed the reins of one of the four horses and led it towards her.

“I don’t know how to ride a horse,” Tatianna said when the Prince gave her the reins to the magnificent beast.

“And you only decided to tell us this now?” Freya asked.

“I thought it was a custom for all children to learn how to ride?” the Prince queried why she hadn’t ever ridden before.

“Yeah…” she didn’t know what to say, how to explain that she grew up alone on the street with no one to teach her nor any horses to ride.

“The money?” asked the owner of the horses.

“We will only take three horses,” the Prince stated and handed the man the congruous amount of gold.

“Do you always carry around with you such large amounts of money?” Tatianna inquired, surprised he had so much on him without preparing for this journey beforehand.

“Of course, you never know when you can run into unexpected events,” he replied as if was normal to have so much wealth. After collecting his money the previous owner walked away from the completed transaction. “Now Storm. You are going to ride with me.”

“Um…what if I say no?” she asked, slightly afraid of being so proximate to the Prince.

“Well seeing as you are an Elf, I am sure the walk shouldn’t be too bad for you,” the Prince told her. She had no conception on how long of a walk it was to Faithorn, or where Faithorn was. She knew very little about the geography of the world only familiar with the main kingdoms. It could be a very long walk.

“I would take you but I struggle enough to keep myself on the horse. Never was a good rider,” Freya told her. She knew that riding with Riley would be just as awkward. Right now she was seriously debating whether the walk was worth it.

“I could do it?” Riley asked.

“No,” the Prince snarled, surprising Tatianna. “This is ridiculous just get on the horse,” he told the Elf.

Tatianna looked towards the frustrated Prince. She knew he was royalty, but he had no right to decide for her. “Ok,” she said and turned towards the horse. She did not know how to get onto the horse probably, but through a series of ungraceful events, she managed to get on.

“That’s Riley’s horse,” the Prince growled out.

“Is it? Sorry I didn’t notice your Highness. Guess I am riding with him now,” she replied with an ostensibly innocent smile. Riley chuckled and got onto the horse sitting behind her. She could feel his thigh press against her legs and she decided to focus her attention elsewhere than the male body behind her.

She watched Freya get onto the horse, and then the Prince who was muttering to himself quietly. He looked irritated, although she couldn’t tell if he was angry with her or himself.

“Hold onto the horse’s mane,” Riley advised his voice right next to her ear. It took everything within her not to shiver when his voice went straight through her. She did as he said and prehended onto the horse’s mane. He then reached forward and grabbed the reins, so that his arms were on either side of her. She didn’t realise just how intimate this was. Suddenly the horse commenced to move forward and she struggling to stay on, not expecting the movement. If Riley’s arms had not been there, she was sure she would have fallen off of the horse.

“I just want you to know, that Ida is offended you didn’t pick her,” the Prince call from on top of the black mare. Tatianna looked to her side and realised how veridical his words were as the horse was having what could only be described as a temper tantrum.

She then looked over to Freya who wasn’t lying when she said she couldn’t ride all that well, especially compared to the Prince and Riley. Freya looked like she was struggling to control the horse.

“We’re going to go into a canter now, is that ok?” Riley asked.

Tatianna had no idea what that meant but she nodded anyway. “Good,” he said. Tatianna watched as the Prince’s horse sped forward, then she understood what Riley betokened and held on for dear life as the horse’s speed increased. Her body was jumping everywhere, and she swore that this was the most terrifying thing she had ever experienced.

After a couple of hours into the peregrination, she got used to the rhythm of the horse’s movement, but her legs had turned completely numb.

“Can we have a rest?” She asked the others around her.

“I agree, my ass is killing me,” Freya further pushed the notion of a break.

“If we stop now, we won’t reach Cainva until tomorrow. The one-day ride would be stretched out to two and we will have to spend a night out here in the cold. The night’s chill can be lethal,” the Prince replied.

“I am well aware,” she replied with the slight roll of her eyes. The Prince looked over to her with a frown and questioning face. “If we huddle up, we will be fine.”

“That’s assuming the Hunt isn’t right on our tail. This is very risky,” the Prince admonished.

“If anything happens you can blame my ass,” Freya replied and slowed her horse down. Riley followed her actions, then the Prince with extreme reluctance.

“We will stop here for an hour or so, stretch out our legs, and give the horses a break,” Tatianna declared.

Riley pulled the horse towards the side of the path, moving a bit into the woods so that if any travellers passed they would hopefully do so without descrying them.

Riley got off his horse then helped Tatianna down. The Prince dismounted Ida with an ease that she envied.

“Ow,” Freya groaned. Tatianna turned and looked at Freya who had fallen off of her horse and onto the ground. “My legs don’t work.”

Tatianna walked over to the girl who had collapsed onto the ground and offered her hand. Freya took it, and Tatiana helped hoist her off of the ground then Freya did something that surprise her. The girl blushed and turned her head, moving quickly away from her. Tatianna decided to think of it at a later time as it didn’t seem all that noteworthy. For now, she would shake her legs and try and get her blood pumping through her body again.

She walked marginally away from the group and took in the resplendency of the frosted forest. The sunlight seemed to bounce along the snow reflecting into her peculiar eyes. She felt a presence approach her and she knew from his smell who it was.

“No matter how much I dreamt of places beyond Avalla, I could never have imagined this,” Tatianna said to the man adjacent to her.

“You’ve never left the city before?” The Prince asked surprised.

“No,” she replied.

“Tatianna, what is your last name?” The Prince asked curiously.

“Um…why?”

“I just want to know if I have heard it before. To understand why you’re an Elf,” he said. It seemed like an irreprehensible question, yet it would unravel everything she was trying to abstain from him. He wouldn’t know her last name, he would then know she wasn’t one of the rich members of the city.

She didn’t respond which unfortunately only heightened his curiosity in her. “Last night you looked entirely human…yet here you stand with Elven features?”

“I don’t know, it just…happened,” she tried to explain. She didn’t have to lie to answer that question. She thought she was human too until that morning. It made her wonder how many other Elves thought they were human, or if this was even a normal trait for the Elven.

“You seemed to know your way around the alleyways pretty well, through all those pathways most people are afraid to take,” he stated.

“Your point your Highness?” she asked sounding more defensive than she intended.

“I guess what I’m trying to ask is…where did you grow up?” He questioned. That’s when she realised, he had worked it out. He already knew, he was just asking for confirmation.

“You already know…don’t you Prince?”

“I’ve guessed,” he replied. “And don’t call me Prince, or you Highness.”

“Then what do you want me to call you?” She asked.

“Nik,” he replied. “It is my name after all.”

“Hmm…I think rich pain in the ass has a better ring to it…but I might be able to settle with Nik,” she replied with a minute smile. Happy the conversation was leading away from herself.

She looked towards him and saw him glaring at her, if not for the marginal smile he was attempting to repress she might have genuinely thought he was mad at her for the comment.

“Guys!” A female voice called out to them.

Tatianna looked back towards Freya who pointed towards something in the distance. She saw the group of riders that approached; she could see details that the others could not from such a distance. Like the weapons they carried by their sides, the anger in their faces. Her eyes fixated on the details of the armoury. How their weapons steel was layered just like her own dagger, a peculiarity that she pushed to the back of her mind.

“It’s the Hunt,” she announced.