"Life just doesn't care about our aspirations or sadness. It's often random, and it's often stupid and it's often completely unexpected, and the closures and the epiphanies and revelations we end up receiving from life, begrudgingly, rarely turn out to be the ones we thought." - Khaled Hosseini

En-route to Da-Nel, Ardam 40

Departing from Raven's Peak so soon after my return, filled me with an unexpected sadness and the feeling of leaving a horde of possibilities behind. My brothers were vague about the details as to what my training in Da-Nel would entail, but I feel a strange sense of foreboding whenever I recall our last conversation. They spoke in riddles and somehow I know that I wouldn't like the answers to those riddles. It is as if a horrifying truth awaited me at my destination.

Even though I haven't been to Da-Nel, I know that the city is one of Vaubadon's greatest allies. I will be expected to attend all the social events and hold my own. At least Ria will be there to help me plan and execute gossip-worthy tea parties and embroidery gatherings. I'll probably stay with the Lord and Lady of Da-Nel, or some other noble or wealthy family. My brothers didn't even bother to inform me of my accommodation.

The soldiers packed lightly - only food and weapons. Two horses draw a small carriage with our food, tents and my chests. Ria, having grown up as my closest companion, was taught how to ride. Looking at her patting the neck of the grey mare from our stables, one would never guess that she has nothing but disdain for the majestic beasts.

After our second day of riding, we camp out near a cluster of trees. While eating dinner in my tent, Ria and I hear the drawing of swords. I cautiously stand up, grabbing Storm by her hilt - ready to withdraw if needed. There is no need for me to demand silence from Ria. With her forefinger pressed to her lips, she picks up my heavy silver mirror - indicating that she plans to bludgeon someone with it. I grin and shake my head.

I listen closely to the sounds outside the tent: the sound of blades cutting into flesh, gurgling blood, and dying moans. I slowly open my tent's door a centimetre and peek outside.

It takes me a moment to process the scene. One soldier shouts but is silenced mid-scream by a blade of his comrade. Two other soldiers are lying with their dead eyes and throats cut open. I realise with a jolt that the men are fighting against each other. Before I can react, the fight is over. Lord Hoyt, the man tasked with ensuring my safe arrival, walks towards my tent. His slight limp is barely discernible as he approaches with a cocky grin. "Princess Aebbé, I have no desire whatsoever to hurt you. I am sorry about the deaths of the other men, but they were a liability to us if kept alive. Now, please come quietly. Step out of the tent, with your hands in the air."

I let the door fall closed and wait until the right moment before plucking the tent door open.

His square shoulders tense in astonishment at seeing a weapon in my hands. He rubs his greying temples before withdrawing his own sword. "Your Highness put down the sword."

I decide not to answer him as I cannot afford a moment's distraction.

Lord Hoyt is more skilled and stronger than I am. Soon he knocks Storm out of my hands and quickly puts his sword against my throat. "Daughter of Vaubadon, now you will surrender," he says menacingly.

Suddenly someone tugs my hands. Another soldier had sneaked behind me and ties my hands. Then I see Aelfraed standing with his arms tied and a trickle of blood on his face. My resolve crumbles. Ria, putting up a commendable fight, is brought out of the tent.

"I had hoped that this would go smoother, but it still went well," Lord Hoyt announces.

"Why are you doing this?"

"It is not now the time for answers. Someone, please blind and gag her," he orders.

"That was not our orders!"

"Well, clearly our employer has underestimated her," he says sarcastically. "And he is not here. So unless you go back to Raven's Peak and tell him, he will not know. Are we clear? "

Someone in Raven's Peak is responsible for this. There is a traitor in Raven's Peak!

"Yes, sir Hoyt."

A soldier comes closer and blindfolds me. He puts a piece of cloth in my mouth. Before the world goes black, I notice that the cloth is damp and tastes weird.

The four boys approach me. The oldest is almost a man - with light stubble threatening to bloom from his cheek. For a moment his big brown eyes remind me of Ria's, but where I always see loyalty in hers, a dark look of intense hate smoulders in his. Their shadows leer over me, blocking out the high-summer sun. Their taunts grow louder as their shadows grow darker. As the youths touch me, a crack of lightning illuminates the air. The smell of burning flesh follows the sizzling sound as a crater of ash is left behind.

I jolt awake, immediately appreciating the quality of the linen that I'm entangled in. The first thing I see when I open my eyes, is a grey, almost black, stone roof two metres above my head. I turn my head to study my surroundings before I jump out of the bed.

The walls, darker than the Hiraebev Mountains, are carved out. The only conclusion I can make from that is that I must be in a hollowed out cave.

The only places with caves and stone darker than Raven's Peak are to the west; towards Darkeland.

I'm in Darke, or somewhere close to the border. Both are impossible as I can't have slept for more than a day.

With bile rising in my throat, I turn my attention back to the room. The room is about three by four metres with the bed in one corner and the sun shining dimly through the small, barred window above the bed.

My head feels fuzzy.

In the other corner is a small trunk. I stand up slowly and walk to the trunk. A chain on my left ankle drags behind me with a clunk and a thunk. I give a futile tug at the chain secured to the wall. All my belongings are in the chest, except Storm, my sword. I am a prisoner, but the presence of the quality linen and my belongings indicate that I am valuable. I doubt Lord Hoyt is the mastermind. He is muscle, not an engineer. The only reason I can think of that would lead to my abduction is that someone wants to demand a ransom for me.

I know my attempt to open a solid iron door in the middle of the wall opposite the barred window will be unsuccessful, but I still try. I push against the door that refuses to budge. After a few more attempts I finally surrender. A small desk and chair, with a candle and tinderbox, stand in the third corner.

I do not know anything about doors, except that they open and close and can be locked, but I know the function of the two slits in the door. The top one is barred, and shut, and it is for guards to look into the cell. The bottom slot is open but is only narrow enough to push a tray through.

I kneel down on the floor and try to look through the slit. Darkness greets me from outside my cell. I take the candle and tinderbox. Kneeling down, I push my hand with the candle through the slit. My other hand with the tinderbox follows. At first, I struggle to light the candle, but then a small flicker of light reveals a dark passage stretching from my cell. I realise that, if I had a guard at my door, they would have tried to stop me from lighting the candle.

I pull the candle nearer and blow it out. After pulling the tinderbox and candle back into my cell and placing them back on the table, I notice a wooden door in the fourth corner. It opens easily and reveals a small bathroom of sorts.

I walk back to the cell door, banging my fists against the door. "Lord Hoyt, you are a coward! You better hope my brothers show you mercy. They will give me your head, and I will feed it to the wolves! Lord Hoyt, tell your employer that I want to face him. I want to spit in his face!"

The string of insults should cause the guards to rush to my cell. I wait but do not hear any approaching footsteps. "Lord Hoyt, I can stake my life on the fact that your father was a coward too! Oh, he was!" I give a feigned laugh. I have no idea if lord Hoyt's father really was a coward, but it is still it is the best insult I can think of currently.

No one approaches.

"Thunder! Are you all idiots? I command you to at least show me your faces."

No answer.

There is nothing I can do to attempt an escape. I have nothing to do but to read the only book I have with me - the one lord Caith gifted me. It has many pages, but I read fast.

I can only read and wait.