chapter 46

We arrived at the ridge just before night fall and it didn't take long for us... well me to set up camp. We choose a location with a clearing surrounded by bushes and leafy trees. I put up two simple tents made from some long sticks and simple tarps and a single camp fire. Simon was sitting on a log as I was tying the horses to a sturdy branch.

"You are so much like your mother" he said.

"What?" I said.

"Your mother was always very good with animals and people" he said.

"You knew my mother? personally?" I asked, sitting by the camp fire.

"Yes, she was good friends with my son, they spent a lot of time together as they were growing up, their friendship only grew stronger as they continued to grow, inch by inch" he said.

"But she was the princess of the Emerald kingdom back then, she told me that only she survived when the attack took place" I said.

"She wasn't completely wrong... you see the attack on the Emerald kingdom left oceans of blood and bodies, but not everyone in the kingdom was slaughtered that night, the soldiers along with everyone who resisted were killed, but the very young children, babies and some experienced farmers were spared. My wife was a personal body guard assigned to the princess... she was killed in the line of duty. My son and I surrendered" he said.

"Do you have any stories about my mother?" I asked him.

"I bet she didn't tell you the one about her first love... when your mother was five years old she snuck out of the castle and went for walk through the wheat fields when she meant a young boy named Kobe. Kobe was working in the fields with his father harvesting the wheat. They hit it off right away. She stayed in the fields with them lending a hand even after the guards have found her. Everyday for seven years she went to fields to see him. They loved each other, but they were to afraid to tell each other. After all those years her father decided to make the mother of the young boy his daughters personal guard so that she could see him when ever she wanted. They started dating a year later, in secret of course. But it didn't last long. Four years later her father asked her if she would agree to marry a stranger to bring peace to the kingdom. Suddenly her responsibilities to her people was more important then her love. She broke it off with my son to marry the young prince at seventeen years old. But she never stopped loving him. Even when she was a queen she would sneak out of the castle away from everyone to see him in the new kingdom. One day the king found out about this and that the unborn child within her wasn't his. He locked my son in the dungeon to await execution. He manged to escape and ran for his life after he said goodbye to his love. He is still out there somewhere" Simon said.

"My mother was in love with your son? And they had a child!? Which child? There are so many of us" I said. 

"The child was her second born... The king could only have sons, when he found out about you he considered it to be a curse, he wanted to find a way end your mothers pregnancy, but she fought for you and she never stopped fighting for you" he said.

My mouth dropped. It couldn't be true, could it? Could it be possible that I'm not the true daughter of the king. He always looked at me like I was some short of witch. I picked up one of the twin blades that were leaning up against the log.

"These belonged to your wife... she was trying to save my mother, I... I wish I could thank her in person" I said.

"Ever since her death, I believed that her soul was still within those blades, they saved her life more times then I could even begin to count... I have something that might help you carry those" he said while reaching into the sac.

He shuffled around the inside of the sac for a minute before pulling out two sheaths specifically made to hold the twin blades.

"These will allow you to fasten the blades to your back" he said.

"But, I don't even know how to use them" I said.

"Our next destination is a small village filled with excellent warriors... its where my wife learned to use those, it's also where we met" he said.

"Do you have any more stories about my mother?" I asked.

"Yes, I was there when my mother first touched mud, when she first learned to ride a horse, or time she caught her first fish... her father was a very proud man" he said.

"Could you tell me one?" I asked.

"Tomorrow, right now you need to get your rest we have a long journey a head of us" he said.

I nodded my head and walked over to my make shift tent. Crawling in, I faced my head away from the entrance and pulled a thin deer skin blanket over myself. I wasn't long before my mind was filled with blank thoughts and nothing but darkness was around me.