I watched Father as he battled the next henchman. The big man drew his sword, and almost knocked Father's sword out of his hands. But Father held on to it. The henchman was slower, but stronger. Father dodged a dangerous swing that was aimed for his head, and stabbed the henchman in his stomach. The man howled in pain, and Father pulled his sword from the man's gut.

Sadon mockingly clapped, then started laughing. "Good," he said. "Very good. So tell me, your Highness. Are you ready for the next level?"

Father said nothing, but sprang into action. He swung for his head, but Sadon unsheathed his sword with amazing speed, and blocked Father's blow. Amelia snapped me out of my stupor, and dragged me towards the stables. Servants were rushing out of the castle. Guards were heading Father's and Sadon's direction. The last thing I saw was Sadon slashing Father across the chest.

☀

I couldn't scream. I couldn't speak. I could only run. It was night, but I could see from the light of the castle windows. Amelia was holding on to my wrist, in the lead. The stables were only forty yards away. I kept looking back, seeing if Sadon was running after me. Servants scattered across, trying to go as far away from the castle as they could. We came closer and closer to the stables. Thirty yards. Twenty yards. Fifteen. Ten. Finally, we yanked the stable doors open.

I immediately smelled the horses and the bales of hay. We came to the fastest horse we had - Tenderfoot. He was dark brown with a black mane. He was my favorite, because when he ran, I felt free. When I thought about it, I choked back a sob. I realized I may never come back here again. I knew Father was still alive. I would never believe he was dead. Ever. I sighed and looked at Amelia. Tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Be safe, alright?" she said shakily.

"I don't take orders from servants," I joked. I managed a smile.

She smiled, then heaved a sigh.

"I'm serious," she said. Then she stared at the ground. "Now go."

She slapped Tenderfoot's hide, and we sped off.

☀

Knowing the way to Fylon is just very strange. Father would go often, and I would come with him most of the time. I memorized the way when I was young. There were many trails, but you had to choose the right one, because if you chose another, you would find yourself where you were an hour ago, or you would yourself in a village, or many other places. I finally came to that part with Tenderfoot, and I paused to look at ten different trails before me. It was the eighth one. Tenderfoot ran through that one. A few miles later, I came to another twenty trails. I came through the tenth one. Finally, the trail led through a forest, and I followed it.

It was very dark, and Tenderfoot seemed nervous. I couldn't blame him. Once a limb from a tree fell down, and Tenderfoot ran almost as fast as he could, until I had to pull on reigns very hard. I didn't like hurting him, but I didn't want to get lost. Finally, I saw walls almost as tall as a mansion - Fylon's borders.

Villages that are outside of the city borders are for people that have been banned of that city, and I had to meet someone there. Father had to be insane, I thought. Nevertheless, Tenderfoot and I clopped down the trail, leading towards the village.

☀

Everyone there scared me. Most of them were wearing hoods that hid their faces. I could see their eyes gleaming, and some of them glared at me. I tried not to make eye contact. I walked and led Tenderfoot to a place called The Dusty Cupboard. Personally, I thought it was a stupid name, but I knew this was the place Father wanted me to go to, so I tied Tenderfoot's reigns to a nearby pole, and went inside.

Right as I opened the door, the strong smell of alcohol made my eyes water. Many people were here. A woman was pouring here ale on a sleeping man's head. An old man giggled as he picked a string of his old lyre. So much foolishness made me want to leave, until I saw one man sitting at a table. He was away from the crowd, just sitting there, with his hands clasped on the table. I walked over to him, trying to avoid another man sloshing his drink, and sat down. He was wearing a hood, with a bow and quiver strapped to his back, and he had a sword at his side. He looked like he fought a lot, because he has nice muscles. I could see some of his hair sticking out at his forehead. He barely lifted his head when I sat down, then looked back down.

"I don't feel like buying you a drink, lady," he said. He sounded a bit my age, but had a strong edge to it. It frightened me in a way, but I knew I needed his help.

"I'm not here to drink," I said as I handed his a piece of paper from my satchel. He opened it, then set it on the table.

"What do you want?" He asked sounding a little annoyed.

"I need help finding something."

"Do tell."

"Have you ever heard of Sava?"

He paused a moment, then lifted his head. His skin was a little tan, and his hair was black with steaks of brown. His eyes were the color of dirt, and he had a scar on his left cheek.

"Yeah," he answered. "What about it? You wanna find it?"

"Yes," I answered. "Yes I do."

He rolled his eyes, then leaned in. "Didn't you here that it's been gone for about fifteen years?"

I felt the bracelet tingle in my satchel. I wanted to show him, but I knew I couldn't. Not yet.

"Yes, I know that."

"Then why do you wanna find something that's gone?"

"Because I was there," I blurted. Uh oh, I thought.

He paused for a minute, then smiled. "I like you," he said. "You can make some insane person laugh if you wanted to."

That's it, I thought. I'm showing him.

"Your name is Frush. Am I right?"

He blinked. "How do you...?"

I slipped my satchel from my shoulder, and set it on the table.

"If you think I'm crazy enough to find Sava, people will say the same thing about you when you told them that there is a recovered object from it."

He peeked inside, and his eyes widened, and his jaw nearly dropped. But then he tensed, and he was back to a serious state.

"Sava, eh?" He smirked. "We can start tomorrow. In the meantime, get some rest upstairs. You have money right?"

I nodded. He grunted.

"Good," he said. "Get some sleep. You can order a room."

I nodded again. Before I left the table, I saw three men eyeing me. ☀

After the bartender gave me a room, I got settled and peered out the window. I looked at the different buildings, then something very wrong came to my eyes. Tenderfoot was missing. I ran downstairs, and out the door. Idiot, I thought. This is a place where outlaws live. That's when I heard a horse whinnying behind the building.

I ran behind the tavern and sure enough, there was Tenderfoot. I sighed in relief and walked over to him. Before I was within arms reach, a hand clamped over my mouth, and an arm was around my waste. He was a man, because i heard him grunt as my hands clawed at his. I felt my blood rush through my body with fear. The man pressed my back against his body as I tried to struggle out of his grasp. Then, two more men appeared out of the shadows of night. They were two of the men at the Dusty Cupboard. The one on the left was a few inches shorter than me, and his hair was in brown patches. His nose was long, and he had a crooked frown. One of his ears was missing, and he was about in his mid forties by the looks of him. The man on the right was scrawny, and he looked younger than the other. He had grimy black hair, and his eyes seemed to glow blue. He looked guilty for whatever they were doing to me.

"Take her to Daired," said the short one. "She was saying something to this Frush guy about money and this arm bracelet that might be useful."

The tall one walked over, and yanked the satchel off my arm, and he grimaced when he did it, as if thinking that I got hurt. He searched my satchel, grabbed the golden bracelet, and handed it to the short one.

"Let's take her," said the man behind me. "She might know something about it."

With that, he clamped my mouth and squeezed my nose shut. I couldn't breathe, and I kept struggling. Finally, everything became dark.