The Last Princess of Lorrea Ch. 02

After making her way cautiously through the small forest separating their castle and the city, she neared the edge of the treeline. She peered at the smoldering ruins of her beloved city, waiting for some sign of life, yet none appeared. Ten minutes of silent staring had heightened her senses so she jumped in fright when she saw a man picking his way through the forest. Elena recognized him as one of her countrymen, owing to his style of dress and fair features. She made her way over to intersect him, hoping to gather some information.

"Psssst" she hissed at the man, who froze suddenly as if bitten by a snake. He slowly looked around before spotting Elena. He didn't seem keen to approach her so she made her way over to him, but still keeping a body length between them.

"What do you want?!" he asked in a hurried voice, clearly not keen at being held up.

"Please sir, can you tell me where the townspeople are?" pleaded Elena.

"Gone" he croaked, tears welling in his eyes. "Those that were not slain were taken by the Kravaolian's as spoils of war". He looked at Elena with a little more curiosity. "how did you escape them? I was knocked unconscious and they thought I was dead, but they were more interested in the women anyway" he said in a hollow voice.

"I.. I wasn't in the town.. I was with my parents" she whispered, as she pulled the golden chain from beneath her robe, showing the man her medallion.

The man gasped "Hide that quickly! you can't go showing that to complete strangers! My goodness child, have some sense! Soon enough there'll be Kravaolian soldiers pretending to be Lorreans... they know that there are a few of us in these woods - you can't trust anyone anymore!" he said as he scanned the forest surrounding them.

"I don't know what to do... My father..." her voice faltered for a moment. "He... He said that our countrymen would help me. but if you say that they can't be trusted... I don't know what to do." Elena said, tears brimming in her eyes.

"Look, I'll give it to you straight" the man said, looking at her pityingly. "You're in a tough spot. You've got a price on your head for sure because you are a royal so you can't trust anyone... the longer this goes on the hungrier people will be - they'll trade your life for a loaf of bread, don't have any illusions otherwise. Secondly, your looks are a danger to you... blonde hair, blue eyes, fair features - you are beautiful... some people in these woods don't treat women right... especially at a time of war. And I'm not even talking about what the Kravaolian troops get up to" he added darkly, causing her to shiver involuntarily.

"What I suggest you do is lay low for a while, then try and make it for the border. Now, i'm not saying to go live in one of our neighbouring countries.. no. they are turncoats and can't be trusted. You need to go a few countries more to be safe from the Kravaolians" he said, looking around.

"I can't do that! I can't abandon my country now that i'm.. i'm.. the only...the only Lorrean ruler left" Elena added somewhat lamely.

The man shrugged "You're the one that asked. I was just telling you what the reality is." he said before moving away.

Elena sat down on a tree stump, despair was seeping in. She didn't know what to do. She replayed the last few hours in her mind seeking some kind of instruction, but none came to her. Only her oath to her father remained. She sighed. It was his last request of her... she must obey it.

She took stock of her situation. She had a quiver full of arrows, and a small knife in her boot. Other than that she had nothing. She quickly made a mental list of things she would need to survive in the woods. Yes, she had decided that her only choice was to wait out the local battle before deciding on her next move. Little did she know that the Kravaolians would not leave the vicinity for two years.

During those two years Elena hunted deer and small animals, she slept in the trees by securing herself with some rope she had fashioned out of strong vines. Occasionally she saw a Lorrean slipping through the woods, but soon they became fewer and fewer until they disappeared completely. She made no attempt to contact anyone, heeding the stranger's advice. The only interaction of hers with any other humans were when she stripped a dead body of their belongings or clothes that she may have needed at the time. As for the Kravaolians, she knew that their strength was in numbers so she only attacked when a lone soldier wandered stupidly into the forest, more often than not because they were drunk. They were hit by her arrow and never saw it coming... but after a year of stealth attacks they only ventured into the forest in pairs and Elena didn't fancy the risk of someone spotting her, so she gave up on that vendetta. Her plan was just to wait them out.

One evening, Elena was settling in to sleep, high above the ground in a large and leafy tree. As usual, she tethered herself to a limb and was just drifting off to sleep when she heard noises below her. Slowly, she peered down below and was shocked to see five Kravaolian soldiers milling about beneath her tree. She dared not move from fear of making a sound or dislodging tree bits that may drift down onto the soldiers causing them to look up. She waited with bated breath, hoping that they would move on, but groaned inwardly as she realised that they were setting up camp. Calm yourself she thought, there has to be a way out of this. She watched the soldiers put up tents, thinking that she'd escape when they all went to sleep, however she was sorely disappointed when she realised that they posted a sentry to guard them while they slept. Curses!. Elena was already exhausted from hunting all day and coming up empty handed again, as the winter time didn't allow for much game as most of the animals were hibernating out of sight. She did not have the will or strength to deal with this lot.

Elena knew that there was no way she was going to stay awake all night, cold, hungry and wet if it rained, which it seemed like it would.

Resigned to her predicament, Elena reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a length of cloth that she used for many purposes. She wrapped it around her head, pulling it tight against her mouth, effectively gagging herself. She knew that this would be the only way she wouldn't cry out if something woke her or if she had one of her bad dreams about the burning castle, from which she usually woke up crying.

Down below Elena could see a large soldier (she could only see him from above) talking to another. smaller soldier. It seemed the smaller one was being reprimanded for something. Elena strained to hear the conversation.

"You'll guard because I say so, private" The large man barked.

"but sir, you know these woods are not safe to be alone in at night" the small man said in a low voice.

The Large man laughed, making Elena jump slightly. "Again with the Ghost of the Fallen Archer?! you men are too superstitious... all this nonsense about an archer who died in battle and seeks to avenge himself by attacking Kravaolians. Utter rubbish. It's been months since anyone has been shot. Most likely it was some Lorrean scum that somehow escaped capture" Elena's blood boiled at the term, but continued to listen to the conversation. "the reason it stopped is probably because the pathetic Lorrean died from hunger in the winter... no one could survive out here by themselves" he concluded matte-of-factually, before returning to his tent. The guard grumbled something to himself before leaning against her tree.

Elena leaned back, smiling to herself. It had been a while since she last smiled and it felt odd, but knowing that she had become a Kravaolian legend made her freezing and uncomfortable position just a little more bearable. She leaned her head back against the tree and drifted off to sleep, as the rain started to fall.

Wet night after wet night Elena had used the same vines. They never dried during the cold winter's day as they did in the summer and Elena was unaware that they were slowly rotting away. Unaware that is, until she fell out of her tree.