Chapter Text
„Smile! The king of Tesra doesn’t want a sad bride!“
Aalgard scowled at Lord Asra. She would be smiling plenty if the king of Tesra had never wanted a bride in the first place.
From her earliest childhood, she had known that she would likely have to leave her home one day. It had made her irrationally envious of the poor peasant girls who had to marry only into the nearest village, if that.
Their lives were harder than her own, she well knew that, but at least they got to see their family every market day.
Yet Tesra … It was said that, in their coming of age ceremony, young boys had to murder a slave.
Her sons. Cold blooded murderers as soon as they reached adulthood. Or dead, she supposed. No one had never mentioned what would happen to a boy who refused, but it could not be pleasant.
And they likely were raised not to refuse.
She looked around. It was hard to enjoy the scenery of the first long-distance journey in her life with that threat looming over hear head, but the landscape was beautiful.
She had seen the mountains, for the first time in her life, looming large, with their snow-covered tops.
They were traveling through the mountains now, and fast approaching a narrow valley, where only one of the noblemen guarding her would be able to ride beside her.
Lord Erdan stuck to her like a burr. “The valley ahead would be an excellent location for an ambush”, he warned.
It was no empty words; with his already greying temples he might look older than his forty years, but he had fought enough battles to know of such things.
“Who would attack us? We aren’t carrying anything of value”; laughed Lord Asra.
It was a barefaced insult, but so cunningly worded that she could hardly say anything. There was her dowry – just three small chests, more like a peasant girl’s dowry, linens and tableware, to make her life in the foreign country more bearable, the only gold and silver being that of cups and plates and cutlery, and what little gold and silver thread her dresses were embroidered with.
But that was not what Lord Asra meant. No, he meant herself. To her face, no one had dared more than to say that she was not as lovely as her sisters, but she knew what they whispered behind her back.
She was the ugly one.
And the king of Tesra had only consented to take her because he had seen no more than a flattering painting, and because what he mainly looked for was a broodmare. At twenty-one, she was simply the youngest woman of royal blood he had been able to secure.
“We are not, but this noble steed is”, Lord Erdan replied, patting her palfrey’s neck. “Yet I agree that there likely is no danger ahead. Princess Aalgard and I shall ride in front.”
She smiled at him, her eyes tearing up, not because of the other Lord’s insult – she was well used to that – but because of his kindness.
Soon, they were in the valley’s shadow. Aalgard pressed her feet into her horse’s flanks. Lord Erdan did likewise.
When they were far ahead of the other riders, she heard something rumble behind her. She turned around and saw a boulder had rolled down into the valley, blocking the road.
“Greetings, princess! This is an ambush. If you come willingly, we will spare your men.” The voice seemed to come from nowhere, yet echo around in the valley.
Aalgard looked up, her heart beating faster at the sound of the foreign accent.
One by one, men dressed in brown and green appeared between the firs lining the narrow valley.
“Never!” She heard Lord Erdan draw his sword. “If you want to harm even only a hair on her head, it will be over my dead body!” His voice rang loudly through the valley.
“Good lord, rest assured, that can be arranged.” The man who had spoken wore a coat of arms depicting an eagle, brown on green.
Aalgard froze. This was not supposed to happen!
“Don’t! Lay down your sword, Lord Erdan, please!” What a fool she had been!
Before she could say anything more, a man attacked Lord Erdan, and while the other man was on foot, Lord Erdan seemed too overwhelmed to best him quickly.
And too distracted to notice another man, the leader, sneaking up on him.
“Watch out!”, she called, but it was too late. Lord Erdan was hit over the head with the heavy-looking hilt of a sword, and began to sway. His attacker easily pulled him out of the saddle.
Behind the boulder, the other men in her retinue were trying to get to her by climbing up the sides of the valley, but their opponents had the advantage.
Frozen in fear, she watched as the leader of the attackers placed Lord Erdan on the ground and rejoined his comrades.
Before long, all the men who had accompanied her – it were not many, they had expected no attacks, and meant to meet up with the warriors of Tesra – were dead or wounded; with the boulder blocking her sight she only noted that the sound of fighting had ceased.
Lord Erdan was still lying on the ground, pale and still. One of his knights had also made it around the boulder and was down with an arm wound, two of the attackers were in the process of tying his hands with rope.
“How unpleasant.” The leader stepped forward and took off his helmet to reveal piercing blue eyes and a blond braid that went down to his waist. “Ah, but I suppose we could not expect such honourable men to give up their princess without fighting. Now?” He looked at her expectantly, offering his hand as if to help her dismount her horse.
“I’d rather die than let a bunch of brigands rape me!” It had all gone awry. Lord Erdan should never have been harmed! How could she have been so foolish to make such a bargain, to assume – to hope ...
The leader frowned. “Princess Aalgard, I did not expect you to be so unreasonable.”
“No one intends to rape you”, a beardless youth piped up, walking to stand next to the leader. “You shall be respectably married before a man touches you.”
“Your word is cheap.” After what they had done to Lord Erdan, how could she trust them?
“You wound me, princess.” The leader replied. “I shall swear upon my life.” He called out to his men, talking too fast in his foreign accent for her to understand, and before long, two of them brought out Lord Asra, his arms and legs bound.
“Will this one suffice to carry word back to your father?”
“I suppose so.” She looked down on Lord Erdan, who still had not stirred. Dread rose in her insides like ice water. Was he dead? Had she gotten him killed with her naive arrogance, thinking she could make deals when she had nothing to offer?
Tears were rising in her eyes. She swallowed.
“Now, Lord Asra, it seems I am worth stealing, after all.” It tasted like ash on her tongue – a meaningless triumph, now.
Lord Erdan calling her valuable mere moments ago had meant so much more.
“I never expected anyone would be to ruthless as to lay a hand on you, highness”, he denied his implications, but it rang hollow.
“I must point out that no one did lay a hand on her, Lord Asra. You were right about that, it appears.” The leader turned to look at Aalgard. “So that is your condition? That no man lay a hand on you until you are married? I will not swear to that.”
Of course not.
“It would see me dead the first time a man offers his hand to help you dismount your horse. Could you not define it a bit more narrowly?”
Aalgard swallowed, still fighting tears. Perhaps he intended to touch her in lewd ways, but she had no choice. “I shall be content to keep my maidenhood.”
“Well then.” The leader took a striking blue flower bud, offered to him by another of his men and placed his other hand on his heart. “Lady of the Spring Flowers, Queen of the melting water streams, hear my oath! I swear to protect the maidenhood of Princess Aalgard until she is married, or die trying. If I fail to do so, my life shall be forfeit. May this flower wilt in my hand if I am forsworn!”
Aalgard gasped when the flower opened its blossom, as if commanded to do so.
The leader handed the flower to the youth who had spoken before. “Keep it safe. And help the lady off her horse.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Aalgard was confused for a moment – the youth seemed like an adult, but then, why had his voice not broken yet? Then she realized that the hand offered to her was not that of a beardless youth, but of a woman.
She took it and slid out of the saddle. Had the young woman been allowed to accompany the men so that Aalgard would not be the only woman in the group?
“There now. Let us behave like civilized people.” The leader beckoned another man closer, and took from his hands a set of shackles. “Just a safety precaution, you understand? Give me your hands.”
With his oath, she felt a bit safer, so she offered her wrists.
To her surprise, there was soft leather inside the shackles, and the chain between them was so long, she could easily have strangled a man with it.
“Now. Your witness shall be escorted back to his fellows. As for the good lord who was with you, I think we will take him with us. You will be glad for the company. He can witness the wedding.”
“You think he will survive?”
The leader looked at her, seeming puzzled. “I did my very best to only knock him unconscious. We are hoping that your father will not attack us anymore while we have his daughter, but it will be helpful for the peace negotiations to not have killed anyone important to him, will it not?”
His very best – was it good enough?