Chapter 22

Claire sucked in a breath and sat up quickly, her heart pounding. Her hand reached for her sword, trying to ward off the finishing blade she knew would be coming. But found a handful of simple sheets instead.

She looked around, finding herself in a simple room with plain furniture. As Claire wondered where she was, she noticed that the clothes she wore weren’t hers, but a simple dress, that fit somewhat loosely on her.

She climbed out of the bed, expecting pain, but felt fresh and energized instead. The feeling was familiar, and she went to the window to figure out if her guess was right. As she opened the shutter, she found herself looking down the hill at the village of Road’s End, villagers going about their day in the morning light.

As Claire stared out the window trying to process what was going on, there was a creak behind her. She turned to watch as Tirr, holding the cub Garm, came in followed by Maria.

“Look, I told you Garm was right, she is awake.” Tirr told Maria as they came in, he plopped Garm down on the floor and stepped in front of the frozen Claire with his usual arrogant pose. “What were you doing in the forest like that? Garm said he happened to smell you while hunting and went over to take a look. Found you and one of your maids all messed up.” Garm let out a loud yip to confirm wagging his tail as sat on the floor by Tirr.

Claire startled at the mention of her maids, her eye’s filling with tears, “Is Jill…?”

“Garm brought you both back pretty fast, but she was in even worse shape than you were. If you hadn’t been brought to me, you were both gone for sure. Even I had to spend a decent bit of energy to get you both healed.” Tirr replied, expecting praise.

Instead, Claire’s face went white as she remembered Kerri’s body falling to the ground, blood spurting from the arrow through her throat. She fell to her knees and as Tirr took a concerned step forward, reached out to grab him. Clinging to him desperately as tears streamed down her face and fell onto his tunic.

Tirr stood frozen in place, His hands held out at awkward angles on his sides as she held him. He looked back at Maria, desperately looking for some kind of help.

She simply came and patted Claire’s shoulder, “I’ll get some tea and food ready, come out when you’re ready.” Before turning and leaving the room along with Garm, who followed behind, excited for the morning’s meal.

Tirr gave her a furious glare, before looking down at the sobbing young woman holding him. He lifted one hand and stiffly patted her back. “I don’t know why you're crying, but you said you were my follower, so if someone hurt you… I promise as your god, I’ll make them pay… Okay?”

Claire just nodded into his shoulder as she continued to cry, letting out her rage at her half-brother’s betrayal, her hatred for the slimy Baron Rills, her pain at the loss of one of her oldest friends.

Tirr just continued to stand there, letting her cry as he just slowly patted her back.

After a while, the sobbing stopped and she just held him for a bit longer, before finally separating. She chuckled and let out a halfhearted sorry as she looked at his ruined tunic.

He gave her a glare but didn’t say anything, just repeated what Maria had said before leaving to go change shirts.

Claire gathered herself together, wondering over how she should pass on the news she knew she needed to. She found she felt much better now, after having let out her feelings. There was still the dull ache when she thought of Kerri, but there were more important things to worry about now. She would have to grieve later.

Maria was just helping her granny finish cooking when she saw her bedroom door open and Claire come out slowly. Her maid, Jill, had come out a short while ago, having said nothing beyond asking if the Princess was safe. They noticed each other immediately and shared a quick hug. Maria motioned for them both to sit at the table as they prepared to serve the food.

Tirr sat at the table already, unable to hide his curiosity as he watched them. They soon all sat down at the table, With Maria and Claire taking positions on either side of Tirr, with Nora and Jill on the other side. Lina had spent the night with her father and Doron at his own home but were expected to show up for the morning’s training after breakfast.

Before any of them started to eat though Tirr broke down, unable to stand his own curiosity. “So are you going to tell us what happened?” He blurted out.

Claire nodded and explained what had happened after they left leading all the way to where the carriage suddenly went off track and they found themselves surrounded by Baron Rills men.

“My older brother has gone further than I ever thought possible, He sent that patrol to attack you. They don’t believe in the Blessing and think you’re hiding a Shard.” She stated plainly.

“But why would they attack you? There’s no way they could get away with it.” Asked Nora.

“They wanted a reason to attack the village again…” Claire responded looking down. “They planned to kill me and claim that it was agents from Lutel that had taken over the village. That way no one would have reason to question them for marching down and attacking.”

“Marching down?” Maria asked, concern growing with each word. Tirr and Nora sensed it as well.

“Yes…” Claire said flatly, before looking up. “My brother’s Knight Order is coming here, a hundred knights and the rest of his Shard users. They’ll be here in three days, and they aren’t planning on letting anyone leave here alive…”