Chapter Two

Nina groaned, covering her eyes with her thin blanket as Louise prodded her awake with her foot. "Rise and shine daughter, there are chores to do. Oh how I miss having maids..."

Nina rolled her eyes 'Yeah and you expect me to be one instead even though you keep going on about how 'royal' we are,' she thought dully to herself, curling up in a ball as she tried to avoid further assault. "All right mother! All right!" Nina hissed, stretching her slim body. "Lazy child," Louise smiled briefly, handing her a basket filled with their washing as Nina stood up. "There's a storm coming in, try to get these done before hand please."

With a frown, Nina trudged out of the house and made her way down to the river which had almost frozen over during the night. Slipping in line along side the other younger women of the village, she began to dunk the soiled clothing in the freezing water and scrub clean everything with the soap that one of the villagers made and sold at the markets. Nina looked around, feeling slightly guilty as the other women did not have a big block of soap like hers. With a shudder, Nina hastened her cleaning, her hands protesting at the temperature, knuckles turning painfully red.

"That skyline doesn't look too flash does it? I was hoping to see Wilbur tonight. Doubt that's going to happen." A girl spoke glumly next to her in hushed tones. Her friend paused from the pair of pants she was washing the soap suds off, scanning the sky with her hand above her brow. "You're right, oh I hope Pa manages to get more wood this time, last night was dreadfully cold with hardly any fire, I would hate to think of tonight. Maybe Wilbur can keep you warm huh?" The two teens giggled, bending in closer to whisper. Nina kept her eyes on the clothes in her hands as loneliness began to creep into her heart. She wished she could give up her block of soap and warm fire just to have some friends. Her royal status and family secrets kept potential companions at bay.

In truth, Nina had no friends.

Once she was satisfied that her mother would not complain bitterly about her handy work, Nina made her way back up the hill to her home with downcast eyes. At least she had Ruppie to love. She hung out the washing on the line her father had erected inside before locating her brother, who was playing with hand crafted blocks that had been gifted from a villager. Rupert looked up at her with his big, soft hazel eyes which were filled with unconditional love.
Nina smiled as she bounced him on her hip, his innocent giggles lifting her spirits. She kissed Rupert's forehead, breathing in his baby smell as she brushed back his mop of dark hair. Nina adored how he had their mothers eyes, but Eldon's sharp face shape and hair. Nina was the opposite, she had Eldon's piercing arctic blue eyes and Louise's sunshine hair. "Oh you're a keeper," Nina murmured softly, tickling Rupert's pot belly which earned her a fit of giggles from her sibling.

"There is no way he is laying a hand on my daughter!"

Nina's head snapped towards her mothers shrill, panicked voice coming from outside. What on earth was she talking about?

"I don't think there is anyway around it. If he we don't comply he will surely kill the rest of us." Eldon's voice was lower than normal. Alarm bells rung in Nina's head as she clutched Rupert closer to her. His face screwed up as he began to cry, feeding off her anxiety.

"You will not be handing over Nina to Bronn!" Nina felt the room begin to swim around her. 'Bronn?! The leader of the Brood? Surely I have not heard them correctly!'

Nina placed a crying Rupert on his mat, her heart thumping so loudly that she thought it was was going to burst through her rib cage. She heard the scuffling of feet and a loud sob. Nina stroked Rupert's face while she waited for her father to come back in, barely able to contain the shaking of her fingers.

Eldon looked grave when he closed the door behind him, like he had aged 10 years over night. Nina stared at him, unsure of what to say. Was her mind playing tricks on her? Where they really sending her away to the Brood Warlord? The man that crushed her nation with his dominating fist?

"I'm sorry daughter that you had to hear that." Eldon sat down in front of the fire with her, "I did not intend for you to hear about it like that but one of the villagers let slip to your mother what happened in last nights meeting, and of course there is no stopping her once she is on a roll," He smiled sadly at Nina. "I'm afraid what you heard is true. Warlord Bronn has offered peace to the people of Wyndia in exchange for you."

"What do you mean 'exchange'? I am a person, an individual. He has no right asking for me!" Nina spat, hugging her knees to her chest as she struggled to fight off a panic attack that threatened to overwhelm her. Eldon grimaced at her words. "Trust me daughter, I do not want to send you into the Drylands. I would rather offer myself in your place but unfortunately..." Nina's father sighed, running his hand through his hair. "I argued till I was blue in the face with the elders not to let you go, but... But they made the decision in the best interest of the village. I'm sorry Nina, I have failed you."

Nina watched in horror as her fathers shoulders began to shake as he wept beside her. She was use to seeing women cry, however seeing a man cry made her feel hollow inside, like the world was crashing down. "Papa don't be sorry." Nina whispered, wrapping her arms tightly around Eldon in an effort to soothe him. "Why does he want me? He doesn't know what I look like, he doesn't know anything about me."

Eldon's head snapped up, a frown crossing his features. "One of his spies spotted you in the fields, he saw how white and pure your wings are and knew you were a royal straight away, not to mention how beautiful you are. What did I tell you about going into the fields Nina. I warned you and I warned you not to go there. You thought it was because I didn't want you to be a dirty 'pheasant' like your mother insisted, but I was worried about this all along. I feel like I am living my worst nightmare."

Ninas stomach dropped like a rock. Bile rose in her throat. "I'm s-s-sorry father, am I really going to have to leave here? Will I ever see you again? What about mother? Ruppie?" Ninas voice became higher with each word as the situation began to sink in. She detested living on the mountain, but it was the only home she had ever known. "What is he going to do to me father!?"

"He wishes to have you as his head mistress."

"I don't understand?"

"You are to be his second wife. You are to entertain his every need and whim." Nina gasped, realizing what her father meant. One of the beggars on the streets had told her about how Warlord Bronn had dozen upon dozens of beautiful women that he kept locked up in his castle, keeping his bed warm at night.

"I would rather cut my own throat than go through with this!"

"I'm sorry Nina, there is no other option. If we don't present you to the Warlord come the high moon, he will surely kill us all."

"Liar, liar! How could you!" Nina choked, tears rolling down her face in rivers. Eldon looked at her with blank eyes, his face a shadow of pain. He reached out to her as Nina scrambled away from him. "No don't touch me!" She burst wildly out of the house, using her wings to push herself from the ground. She ignored the gasps of shock and horror from the villagers as she took to the sky, the cold wind biting at her exposed flesh. She pumped her wings, raising altitude at an incredible speed, faster that what she had ever done before.

Clouds whipped past her as she climbed up higher, almost reaching the peak of Mount Voldorn. The tears began to freeze on her lashes, forming tiny icicles. The wind became stronger, pushing her aside as she struggled to maintain her pace. Eventually, it became too much. Nina crashed landed in the snow, crying out in pain as she landed on one of her wings. With an enraged roar, the weather went berserk around her as the blizzard settled in. Nina rolled around in the snow, disorientated and in pain. Ice pummeled at her with with its closed fist.

'Oh dear Landon, I'm going to die out here!'

Nina sobbed as the freezing temperatures pulled at her skin. She wordlessly summoned her fire balls, but they were blown away by the gale force winds. Feeling helpless, Nina looked around her. All she could see was a blinding white wall, she couldn't even see her own feet. Nina scrambled around on her hands and knees in vain, looking for some form of shelter. She was about to give up and accept her death when she came across a small rocky opening. "Ouch!" Nina withdrew her hand as the sharp sides sliced her hand open. Carefully, she felt around the edges, it was just big enough for her to fit into.

Easing herself in, Nina dropped into the dark cave. She lit up a feeble fire ball with the last of her energy. She was so cramped in the hole that she was barely able to fit her wings in it. She felt fatigue win the battle over her body. Before her eyes closed she wondered with regret what kind of chaos she will have caused in the village and if they would ever find her rotting carcass in this tiny hole.

###

Bronn was not an easy man to please. His tempter was well notoriously renown through the Drylands as being shorter than a poor mans dagger. In fact, he was quicker to anger than a mad bull preparing to stampede.

Ryu reminded himself of this as he kept his eyes averted as he instinctively noticed the familiar signs of displeasure creep into his Warlords features, the most obvious was the vein throbbing on Bronn's balding temple as a messenger shook in fear in front of him. Ryu shifted uncomfortably in his amour from his vantage point at the side of the hall as he witnessed the messenger piss his pants, a wet patch running down the leg of his cotton trousers. Ryu gripped his sword in uneasiness and chewed on a lose lock of his long blue hair that had strayed near his mouth, knowing what was to come next having seen it played out so many times before.

"What do you mean she is missing fool! And missing for two days? Why have I only just found out about this!" Bronn spat, waving a greasy turkey leg and showering his wife Lady Elaine who sat to the right of him in a splatter of oil, causing her to scrunch her long pointed nose in disgust. It was dinner time for the lords of Kagutsuchi* in the main hall. Which was the worst time to present news to the Warlord, no matter how urgent it was for Bronn really did enjoy his food and wine. Ryu couldn't help but feel sorry for the boy, he looked like he was barely starting puberty.

"Take this imbecile away at once, I want his tongue ripped off as punishment so he can't tell me terrible news ever again!" Bronn barked, ripping off a chunk of turkey meat and chewing it so loudly it made Ryu want to cover his ears even though he was at least ten metres away. The Brood solider sighed in relief as Bronn motioned at the two soldiers beside him to take the boy away, pleased it wasn't himself that had been chosen. The ;ast time someone had pissed Bronn off, which was only the day before, the Warlord had the mans eyes gouged right in the middle of the hall before his throat was cut. Ryu didn't have the stomach for unnecessary torture.

"Perhaps it is a good thing Nina has run away, we don't need that Wyndian filth in our castle," Lady Elaine looked hard at Bronn, her thin cruel mouth turned down with disapproval.

"Oh shut it ye old bat, you're just jealous that I no longer want to look at your naked body. Scrawny old hag." Bronn guffawed, letting out a mighty roar that matched his equally large frame. Lady Elaine looked at her husband in horror, her cheeks pink with humiliation. "You horrid brute!" She snapped as she gathered the large folds of her treacle coloured formal dress. "Oh bugger off to ye chambers and cry over there, I don't wanna see it. Just remember I can easily send ye back to the shit 'ole that I found ye from!" He called after her as she burst through the main doors out of the hall, her women in waiting scrambling after her.

"Boys, don't eva marry the rich Brood blood. Their all about their dresses and funny lookin' hair dos, not enough about the sex!" Bronn snickered crudely, the men in the room forcing themselves to laugh at his joke. "Now, Sir Hayato, organize a little party to go to those pesky birdies. I want Nina!" The Warlord snapped childishly, slamming a large fist on the wooden table, causing his wine goblet to fall over. A servant rushed to his side, mopping up the mess. Sir Hayato stepped in front of the main table, crouching down on one knee. "Yes Warlord, it will be an honour, when would you like us to be dispatched?"

"Daybreak. I'll be takin' her, you mark my words. Remind them I will be comin' in little under two weeks, with or without my army depends entirely on them." Bronn smirked, his eyes glittering with hatred as he twisted a finger through his large ginger beard. Ryu shuddered at his words, feeling sorry for whoever this Nina person was and for her sake, he hoped that she had escaped. She was better off dead than left alone with Bronn.

###

"Ryu you slow poke, stop day dreaming!"

Ryu shook his head in alarm, rubbing sleep out of the corner of his eyes. He looked at his comrade guiltily, before urging his horse on with a dig of his heals. He flashed Tommas a sheepish smile, flashing his large canines as he caught up to the small group.

"Jeez, you're as lazy as a common whore sometimes bro," Tommas laughed, slapping Ryu on the back causing the smaller blue haired male to lurch forward in his saddle.

"You're filthy Tommas, do you kiss your mother with that mouth?" Ryu jested back, trying to regain his posture with as much dignity as possible.

"No, I kiss your mother with it though and she doesn't complain- ouch!" Tommas protested in pain as Ryu cut him off with a quicl jab at his ribs.

"You two, stop joking around this isn't the boy scouts." Sir Hayato snapped from the front of the group. Tommas ran a hand through his shaggy mop of blonde hair, resisting the urge to laugh."See this is what happens when you day dream," He whispered as he leant in closer to his Brood companion.

Ryu shook his head before replying, "No this is what happens when you're friends when an idiot."

Tommas winked at Ryu, clicking his tongue to hurry his horse on. Ryu sighed, counting his lucky stars that Tommas had been selected to go with the group as well. It would have been a long few days without him, especially being stuck with the stern Sir Hayato who had the personality of a brick wall.

They had made good progress in the journey so far, leaving the desert behind them yesterday and making their way through the wilderness that had once been Wyndian forests. Their destination Mount Voldorn was on the horizon, with it's lethal looking peaks rising high in the air, reminding Ryu of the jagged edge of a shark tooth. Ryu shivered, he much preferred the hot dry heat of the Drylands and could already feel the temperature begin to drop. Not for the first time in his life, he wondered how these people could survive in such a harsh climate.

"And I wonder who this Nina girl is that is causing all this fuss," Ryu mused, trying to picture her in his mind. He had overheard a maid in the castle whispering that Nina was the late king Rupert's granddaughter, and was a beauty that was only witness once in a lifetime. Ryu had never seen a Wyndian before, and had no idea what to expect for their wings. Perhaps they would look like a sparrows, or a turkey?

He doubted that they would look like the leathery, cruel wings of the Brood - not that he had seen many of his kind in their true form. In fact, in Ryu's 21 years of life he had not even transformed himself. The one law in Dragon was that Brood only transformed if their life was in danger. It was necessary for their survival as a race. If fights got out of hand between two hot headed males, a whole village could be wiped out over night, let alone the damage and devastation caused by rioting.

Tommas had once told him quietly while they were sparring as part of their training that the laws on transformations were strict because Bronn was scared someone would go after his throne, so he kept an iron grip on the power of his people. This didn't surprise Ryu, for Mizuchi* was a seedy place, reeking of backstabbing and corrupt politics. He shuddered, remembering what happened to one of the boys at the barracks who had changed form after a furious row with another solider. The neck of those who transformed without a solid reason were often met the executioners blade, if they were lucky. Bronn certainly was creative with his punishments.

A lot of the Mizuchi peasants didn't even know how to transform, or were that inbred with human blood they couldn't. Ryu remembered vividly the night his father had transformed- the only time Ryu had ever seen a change. His fathers huge cobalt blue body spanning wide in front of Ryu and his trembling mother as they crouched behind the dumpster in a dark, dingy alleyway protecting them from the large mob. The smell of burning skin and the sight of tearing skin was forever imprinted on Ryu's mind.

Ryu frowned, the familiar feeling of frustration and guilt stirring in the pit of his stomach. During the attack, a bandit had knocked him unconscious and had left him in the alley way. He had awoken to the sneer of a city guard, shaking his shoulder with little disregard for the boys state. It was the same man who had told him that his parents were no more, their slain bodies lying in a cooling pool of blood next to him.

That same night Ryu, only 14, had been turned over to the army to be trained as a solider instead of being sent the orphanage due to his body conditioning from working in his fathers blacksmiths. To this day Ryu thanked Landon that someone recognized that Ryu had potential and was not throwen out onto the streets or turned into a slave, which would've been his fate if he had been sent to the Orphanage. This was the biggest stroke of luck he could have encountered at the time for he had no family, no hope of achieving anything as his parents had no wealth behind them, only debt. This was where he met Tommas, whose family had died around the same time from Dragon Pox. Together they hid their grief from losing their loved ones, their bond growing strong with each passing season. Without Tommas he would be nothing.

They had trained relentlessly together, using their emotional anger to fuel them into becoming better fighters. They were both naturals, with Ryu's small frame and speed work he was able to execute swordplay perfectly whereas Tommas was better suited for brute strength, and was able to crush anything with his battleaxe. Their opposites made them perfect partners, and they rose steadily through the ranks. Although it had been a hard road,

"RYU! Quit day dreaming or I'll hand you over to be whipped!"

The blue haired swordsman gulped and shook his head as Sir Hayato snarled from the front. It was going to be a long day.