Page 3 of Soul Forge

“How many?” the captain pressed.

“Seven.”

“Class?”

Elda knocked an arrow, aiming towards the noise and ignoring the trembling in her hands. “Lesser.” Some of the foot soldiers accompanying the captain raised their weapons. Behind them, the four archers in her unit lifted their bows. “They hunt in a pack. Sharp claws, but stupid and feral.”

“Not as stupid as you,Your Grace,” Reiner quipped, raising her mace. “With respect, of course.”

Elda scowled.

The beasts burst through the tree line and found themselves peppered with arrows, their bodies juddering with each impact. Elda hit the smallest in the centre of its forehead and watched the spindly legs fold beneath it, the usual rush of joy when her shot was on target faltering under the adrenaline beating through her veins.

The other monsters squealed when the archers stepped back and the rest of the soldiers moved in. Captain Reiner hefted her mace and crushed the head of two beasts from horseback with ease, leaving her men to destroy the remainder. A shiver walked the stairs of Elda’s spine at the sound of their high, keening death knells.

“How did you find me?” she demanded, turning to the captain.

“By accident.” Reiner arched an eyebrow and held out a gauntlet-covered hand. “Get on the damn horse.” The princess scowled and took it, seating herself precariously on Atlas’ slippery hide as the unit made its way back to the city.

Elda glared at the ground with clenched teeth. Her hands were balled into fists as she listened to the captain recount the incident in the forest. The valkyrie stood with her back straight, her mace secured between her shoulder blades. All traces of mirth left her the moment they’d entered the palace grounds, and the king had forced Elda to turn out her pockets. The lockpick and lilac powder sat on her father’s desk.

“Thank you, Captain,” King Hrothgar said, inclining his head towards the armour-clad soldier. “Bring the guard in.” Reiner crossed her right fist over her chest in a salute, her mouth pressed into a thin line. The expression sent a skitter of fear across Elda’s scalp.

Instead of shouting, the bearded king sighed and rubbed his eyes. He let the silence settle around them until it was so heavy, Elda could practically feel it sitting on her shoulders. Somehow, it was worse than him getting angry.

“I won’t apologise,” she muttered, too agitated by the creeping claustrophobia to be polite. She waited for the rage, for the shouting and the pulsing vein in his temple.

“I’m not asking you to say sorry.” He gestured at the chair opposite him, looking more tired than Elda had ever known him to be. This was worse than fury, much worse. “Sit.”

“I’d rather stand.”

He gave her a look that brooked no argument, watching her lower herself reluctantly onto the seat cushion. His blue eyes, the double of her own, passed over her dishevelled braid and the ill-fitting tunic, dropping to the desk to study the lockpick and pouch of sedative. Despite the dirt smudging her cheeks and the leaves caught in her blonde hair, Elda lifted her chin. The one thing her mother insisted on was a brave face, even when fear dug its claws in.

Hrothgar shook his head, his fist clenching on the tabletop. “Why do you refuse to stay where it’s safe?”

Elda scowled at him. “I feel at home in the forest.”

“There aredemonsin the forest,” he thundered, his anger slipping its reins at last. “Big ones, apparently!”

“I’m no safer here than out there!” she snapped back, surging to her feet again. “There’s a man accused of murdering three of his consorts wandering around my home like he owns it! You expect me tomarryhim, father! Do you not see why I went out there?! At least the demons would kill me quickly!”

"Enough!" King Hrothgar roared, his fist slamming down on the tabletop. The look in his eyes smothered the furnace inside her, leaving her cold and empty. She deflated and sank back into her chair, hot tears pricking her eyes. Backlit by the stained glass windows, each one depicting the nightmares inflicted on Valerus by Lord Malakai and his Corrupted, the king was menacing.

“You have no idea how awful my life is going to be because of you,” Elda whispered.

Hrothgar exhaled heavily and steepled his fingers, no pity in his eyes. “Your duty is to the crown. The needs of the people come before your happiness. You know that.”

“Why now?” she pressed. “Why is it so important that I marry? And why Horthan?”

He relaxed his fist, laying his palm flat on the wood. “We are on the brink of war.”

Her heart dropped into her boots, eyes straying to the carnage depicted in the windows at his back. Monsters, fire, and blood.War.

“Things are that bad?” The skin around his eyes tightened, followed by a slow nod. “How?”

A different kind of terror scuttled over her skin, one that made her think of the young children playing in the streets. The humans with no magic of their own, relying on her to keep them happy. Her father took the crown off his head and set it on the table beside her contraband, leaning forwards on his elbows and interlacing his fingers.

“Falkryn knows our army is dwindling.”

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