CHAPTER ONE

Artemis Sloane

          It is dusk when I arrive on this foreign land of Fort Pottersbriar. It is without a doubt, far from the comforts of my home, Ossilia.

          After gathering my things off the floor of the ship, I turn to follow the crowd. I step onto this strange land that I will briefly call home and pull out a jar, as I always do and scoop up a handful of the soil. I rub it between my fingers to get a feel of the land.  The soil is dry considering the ocean is so close.  I get a sense that something evil lurks here.  After pouring the dirt it into the jar, I seal the lid and pack it away in my bag.  It is a little hobby of mine, collecting something from every place that I visit far from home.  Whether it is a flower or the soil from whence it grows. There is always something I keep to remind me of my adventures. I do not stray far from my home often but when I do, I always bring back a token.  My father would never have approved of my decision to travel neither would my brother, but I do not live by their rules.  I am a grown woman trained by the same swordsman as my brother and late father. I can hold my own. 

         Once again however, I am put in a situation that needs rectifying. My mother is ill my father was murder by the very hands of his fellowship and my brother, the selfish brute, has joined the crusades, leaving me to fend for our Kingdom alone.  Since my father’s death, I trust no one, for there are many traitors abroad. I have dismissed all, save a few staff that I know will never do my mother or me harm. Finding a strong alley is not an easy task anymore. The only problem now is that the strongest alley I know of; is a very old dear friend of my father, King Edmund Oroth III.  His son is soon to take the throne; Prince Edmund Oroth the IV.  Prince Oroth is a few years older than I.  He is charming and very much in love with me. My father had arranged our marriage and we were to wed on my twenty-first birthday.  I know it is my duty as his only daughter to marry, but I am the only heir left able to take the throne and I have no intentions on marrying.  Especially not to a man I barely know, besides marriage was never in my plans.  I did not want to rule the Kingdom, I wanted to defend it. My father would probably turn in his grave if he knew I had taken to the battlefield. I shook off the thought and carried on with my quest.

        Instantly I feel a great deal of despair here.  It wallows around me like a thick fog.  I need to move fast before it overcomes me, as it has the people that reside here. I quicken my pace down the dirt road.  I click my tongue twice and my familiar, Noir, is at my side. She frightens the other passengers but they settle once she is next to me. She tries her best to behave. Noir is a panther, which is why I gave her such a name, her fur is the colour of midnight and her eyes are as blue as the Anchusa, the Blue Angel flower, also known as, forget me not.  She is a true gem and I am honoured to have found her.   While, being connected, mentally, helps me in many ways, she always senses when I am near and when I am in need.  Upon the discovery of my ability to charm animals, I have successfully been able to charm four including Noir. My first was a bear, he was a fierce creature not easily tamed.  It took a lot out of the both of us, just to get him under control. He was useful in the end and I set him free. I never keep my familiars longer than I need too.  There is always someone out there willing to take on a tame animal as their pet.  The second was a tiger, a very feisty one at that. He was easy to tame since I found him at birth abandoned by his mother.  I think he was a lot like me in a way, considering I am as feisty as they come.  He was injured in battle and since then he stays home. He roams freely but always returns to me by the week’s end. My most cherished familiar was Kiara, she was a leopard a beautiful one at that. If she were human, she would have been my double. Our fighting capabilities were completely synchronized. I never had to question her ability or her loyalty.  She stuck by me to the end, when her life was taken, in front of my very eyes.  Tears well in my eyes at the thought but I shove my feelings aside, do my best to keep my eyes forward and my mouth shut. I am here for one thing and one thing only, nothing will make me stray from this quest.  The only thing that could ruin my chances at succession is my brother and his crusaders. I keep him farthest from my mind because I know not of whereabouts.  Nor shall he find me. 

        I am well suited.  My armour is comfortable yet durable in battle.  Gwendolyn the blacksmith from back home, altered it perfectly for my, well-endowed figure. I can still master a bow like the best of them, sometimes far better.  The mask I wear is of tough dark leather and I tie it tight against my face. All they will see are my piercing blue eyes, which is all I want seen of me. I keep my hair tied back tight so that it does not interfere with my line of sight. The fur that accents my armour is of my last familiar Kiara, in memory. She perished in our last battle together long before arriving here. 

No matter what I did, I could not prevent her death from happening.  A very powerful mage got between us and whilst we fought off our own foes, he weakened me to kill her.  After the battle was long over, I carried her to a safe resting place to bury her.  I took some of her fur, and had it fastened on my armour so that she can continue to protect me and reminded of how hard she fought alongside me as a true friend. I destroyed that mage when I found him again and I made him pay for his cruelty.