The Huntress (Legend and Lore Book 2)

by TR Rook

  “How did you ladies manage to defeat a troll?” The one Amala said was a shifter asked, his strange eyes flickering to the heap of stones. “There is no direct sunlight in the woods.”

  “I am a witch,” Liv told him in a low voice. “I did a light spell and it calcified the troll immediately.”

  The black-haired one, the one with the now normal eyes, nodded approvingly. “Good work. Are you making it your purpose to get into it with trolls then?”

  “We are just passing through,” Amala replied. “We aren’t looking for trolls. It seems, however, that they might be looking for us.”

  The black-haired one smiled slightly at that, but his partner’s focus was not on them any longer. He turned his head to the road up the slope, watching it steadily for a few seconds. “It seems that more than trolls are out looking for you two,” he said then, his canine eyes flashing in the sunlight coming through the tree branches. “They have your horses.”

  “That is our cue.” The other one started walking upriver, but stopped and turned to look back. “We make our permanent residence at Vortigern. If you ever find yourselves in need... you are welcome there.”

  Liv started at that, but the two were already walking away at quite a speed.

  “That has any meaning to you?” Amala cast her a wry look.

  “Yes,” Liv whispered, “Vortigern... long ago, the University lay there until it burned down. They did not build it up again, for reasons unknown, and instead moved it to the capital. There are stories. Always there are stories.”

  Amala looked like she wanted to ask, but the sound of hooves brought her attention to the road. “Let’s get up there. I don’t want to meet whoever it is all the way down here.”

  Liv nodded mutely, following Amala up the slope. She came up behind her so that Amala shielded the road from her, and Liv hesitated for a moment before stepping to the side, worried about what she would see.

  When she saw, she wished she had never moved.

  Chapter Three

  The End

  “Liv!”

  The voice whipped out, terse and angry, and Liv flinched back before regaining her composure. Taking a deep breath, telling herself she was not afraid, she straightened her back and met her brother’s hard gaze.

  “What are you doing here, Jorek?” She cast a wry glance Amala’s way, perfectly aware that she had never told the woman who she was. The cat would be out of the bag soon, so to speak. Jorek was not going to keep quiet now that he was here.

  With him he had Bas. Bas sat atop his black stallion, face set in stone and eyes locked on Jorek. Liv put a hand over her heart, still not able to hear Bas’ heart beating in sync.

  “You’re shutting me out?” she asked him incredulously.

  Bas’ eyes slowly turned to lock on her. “You left.” His tone was neutral, but Liv knew he was being condescending. “One thing happens that you do not like and you leave.”

  “I cannot let them decide my life for me,” Liv argued. “I have a right to have my own say.”

  “No, Liv, you do not. Sometimes you just do not have a say in the matter. Not when you are a princess of the realm, and certainly not when you are a lowly shifter bonded to her.” Bas abruptly turned his head away and Liv realised he had not meant to let the last part slip.

  What had Bas been forced to give up for her? She could not remember a time when Bas had not been there. What had he been, where had he been, before he had got stuck with a young princess with witch potential?

  Amala moved restlessly next to her and Liv turned to her. Amala’s expression was closed, eyes hard as they locked on Liv’s.

  “Amala, I—“

  “You just neglected to tell me that you’re a princess?” Amala asked, voice low and terse.

  “I just... It does not matter,” Liv replied meekly.

  “Of course it matters,” Amala snapped. “If I’d known you were a princess, I never would’ve brought you.”

  “Now that is unfair,” Liv accused. “Just because I am a princess I cannot experience the life you live? Simply because I have noble blood? I am no different than anyone, noble or peasant. I am me, and I want to live my own life.” She stared hard at Amala, trying to make her understand. “Amala... I never meant to deceive you. If I was open about whom I was, no one would treat me like an equal. I just want to be someone’s equal.” She bowed her head, swallowing hard.

  “Of course they wouldn’t,” Amala said coldly. “No one treats royalty like equals.”

  Liv’s temper flared again and she looked back up at Amala. “You really are no one to talk, Amala. You are doing the exact same thing. I do not even know who you are. Yes, I know you were banished from your tribe, but what tribe is that? Are you even from Lore? Shifters live in tribes, but you do not have a shifter’s eyes. So tell me, Amala, just who are you?”

  When Amala did not answer, just stared at her, Liv turned to Bas. “Give me my horse. Now.”

  He gave the reins over without a word and Liv took them angrily. She patted her mare’s nose softly, staring into one big eye. The horse was the only one here that was not currently angry at her.

  “I do not care what you are up to out here in nowhere land,” Jorek spoke up. “You are coming home with us. Now.”

  Liv stared up at him. “I will go home with you, Brother. But only to tell Mother and Father that I am renouncing my title.”

  Jorek whipped his head around to stare at her. “You will not—“

  “I will!” Liv shouted. “I will not live a life of luxury, being manipulated by cunning nobles and forced into a marriage of convenience. You might be happy living that way, as our other siblings are, but I will not!”

  “It is part of being royalty,” Jorek argued. “You do not have a choice.”

  “As I said, I will renounce my title,” Liv told him stubbornly. “That is my right. When I do, no one will have any say over my life. I can do what I want.”

  “You will be poor,” Jorek pointed out. “You are a spoiled little twat, Liv. You really think you would be happy being poor? You cannot wear your fancy dresses, boss servants around, or expect to get your way all the time. You will have to fight to get food on the table every day. It will exhaust you and then you will be begging to come home.”

  “How do you know how peasants live?” Liv asked him, voice rising with her temper. “I have been living like a peasant for some time now and I am not complaining. I have been happier this short while than I have ever been.”

  “You really want to be poor?” Jorek asked incredulously.

  “I think that commoners, who have to work for what they want and need, are happier and more appreciative than those who do not.” Liv firmly believed that, after witnessing these people since she had been on her own.

  People in the villages she had visited were happy and content and knew how to have fun—real fun, without any motives behind it. It appealed to Liv, much more than court life. She hated living at the castle, surrounded by the cruel manipulations of the nobles.

  “If you feel that way, Sister, then you will come home with us and tell our parents yourself,” Jorek snapped.

  Liv gripped the reins tighter at the thought of facing her parents. She did not want to, but she knew she had to. If anything she owed it to them to be honest, to tell them herself. After running off like she had... she had to go home, show them she was fine, and tell them of her plans.

  “I’m leaving.” Amala’s voice broke Liv out of her reverie. Liv did not have a chance to turn to look at her before Amala rode past, having got her horse back and mounted it without Liv even noticing.

  “Wha—“ Liv blinked, confused for a moment before she realized that Amala was leaving. “Amala, wait!” She mounted her own mare, a little clumsily in her hurry, and hurried after Amala, reaching up to her right before the bend in the road.

  “What do you want from me, Liv?” Amala asked her. “You just agreed to go home, so our adventure is over. I’m on my own again, I get i
t.”

  “No.” Liv quickly shook her head. “I do not want you to go on alone. I want to go with you. But I owe this to my parents.” She stared into Amala’s silver eyes, silently begging the woman to understand. “But I do not want to leave you, so I would like it if you would come with me.”

  Amala’s eyes were hard, cold. An astonished expression fleeted across her face at Liv’s last sentence before she schooled herself. “You want me to go with you to the capital?”

  “Yes.” Liv stressed the word, hoping Amala would understand just how important this was to her.

  “Why in the name of all the gods would you want that?” Amala demanded. “I do not belong in a city. And your parents—the King and Queen—will certainly not approve of me as your...” She stopped for several seconds, hesitating. “...your companion,” she concluded meekly.

  “But you are not just my companion.” Liv steered her mare closer to Amala’s horse, so that their feet were touching. The kiss they had shared, it had been like nothing Liv had ever felt. She had never felt good when being kissed, the few times someone had dared, but when Amala had kissed her, the world had tilted on its axis.

  Amala stared at her, face unreadable. Liv was not to be deterred by anything, not now that she was finally going to prove a point. So she reached out, wrapped her arm around Amala’s neck, tangled her fingers in some of the tiny braids, and drew Amala towards her. Liv bent closer as well and their lips met softly, neither of them moving for several moments.

  Liv closed her eyes, hoping Amala would reciprocate, because Liv had taken the first plunge. Now it was Amala’s turn.

  She took it, reaching out to grab a hold of Liv’s waist, drawing her body as close as possible when on horseback as she started kissing Liv for real. Liv sighed into it, opening her mouth and welcoming Amala’s warmth.

  She did not know how long they kissed, just as their first time it seemed to go on both endlessly and in the span of a moment. All she knew was that Amala’s eyes had warmed and a small smile tilted one side of her lips up. “All right,” she agreed. “I will go with you.”

  Liv smiled, leaning in to press another kiss to Amala’s lips. Now she just had to get her parents to see, but she did not think that would be as easy as convincing Amala to come home with her.

  Jorek and Bas had taken another road up the mountain, which explained why they had been ahead, coming towards them. They were now taking that road home, with Amala leading the way. She knew the Black Mountains like no one else, after all.

  The tension between the four of them was palpable. Both Jorek and Bas seemed to be against Amala going with them, or perhaps it was the fact that she was something more to Liv than a friend, as they had obviously seen them kissing. They could not have missed it, and Liv knew both her brother and her familiar were quite protective of her, even when they were angry with her.

  “Why are you travelling without guards?” Liv questioned, wanting to break the tense silence.

  “We wanted to find you quickly, and the less people in our party, the better,” Jorek replied tersely.

  “I see.” Liv bent her head, not knowing what else to say. Mother and Father had let Jorek off on his own, which was unusual. Jorek was a trained warrior, yes, but he always had at least two guards with him in the capital and fellow warriors with him when he travelled.

  “I do not like this, Liv,” Jorek spoke up softly.

  Liv raised her head, looking over at him in wonder. She had not heard that tone of voice for many years ,that caring tone, the worried tone.

  “I do not like that you plan on living a commoner’s life,” he continued, eyes trained straight ahead. “It is quite different than what you are used to, and even if you have been living like it for a short while... even if you like it now, you might grow to dislike it in the future.”

  “Jorek.” Liv sighed. “I am lucky to have lived in the castle, in the luxury that we, as royals, have, but I do not want it and I do not need it. I know that. I will not come to resent my choice in the future. I will resent it more if I stay. Court life is not for me and it never has been. Can you just support my choice, even if you do not understand? We are not the same, Brother; we want different things in our lives. I do not second-guess your decisions. All I ask is that you do not second-guess mine. I am sure of this.”

  He finally looked at her, his eyes conflicted. “You are my little sister. I worry for you.”

  “I know, but I can take care of myself. And if for some reason I cannot, I have Amala to do it for me.” She smiled as she thought of her first meeting with a lindworm, how she had frozen up and how Amala had come to the rescue.

  Jorek’s eyes flickered to Amala’s back ahead of them for a moment, then settled back on Liv. “You care for the woman?”

  Liv nodded. “ I do.”

  “Good for you.” He sounded completely sincere.

  Liv watched him quietly. Of all her siblings, Jorek was the only one who still was not married. He was the next to youngest child, only two years older than Liv herself. As far as Liv knew, Jorek had no romantic entanglement going with anyone.

  The sound of hooves brought Liv back to the here and now. She watched as Amala came riding back to her side. “This is lindworm territory,” Amala told her. “They’re all over the woods, but in this area there are more than usual. The trolls wandering around might have scared some away, but not all. So keep your eyes open and be alert.”

  Liv nodded gravely. Even if she had gone on this trip to help Amala slay the lindworms, she hoped she would not meet one again. Or a troll. She had had a lifetime’s worth of trolls. She knew she would eventually have to deal with at least lindworms again if she wanted to stay with Amala, but for now... she could very well do without them.

  Although, if something were to happen, maybe it would do something about the tension between the four of them. Amala was intent on scouting, Jorek was worrying and Bas... Bas was avoiding her, so he was probably sulking.

  “I have had enough.”

  Liv put her hands on her hips, staring steadfastly at Bas. She had him neatly cornered now in a dark corner of the inn where they were staying. For four days she had let him sulk and avoid her, but she really had had enough.

  “I get that you are angry with me for leaving like that and for now wanting to renounce my title,” she started, “but this is my life, Bas. Even though I am the daughter of a king and queen, I do have a say in the matter.”

  “You are selfish, is what you are,” he snapped, and Liv could clearly picture him in his cat-form, his fur standing on end in anger.

  “How am I selfish?” she asked, her anger rising as well.

  His eyes, the colour and shape of a cat’s, glared at her. “Because you think only of yourself. Do you know, or even care, what I have had to give up for you?”

  “No, I do not,” Liv replied in frustration. “I cannot remember a time when you were not there. You have always been with me.”

  “I am a simple commoner,” he replied, his anger fading to sudden nostalgia. “I had a good life, in the little village I grew up in. Then in comes a little princess whose heartbeat I can feel, and I am shipped to the capital to be properly educated. I have not seen my parents since and I have barely been allowed to send a letter every now and then.”

  He took a deep breath, eyes skittering past Liv. “It has not been easy for me, you know, staying at court. Nobles do not take kindly to a commoner being around them, especially not when that commoner is given the same education and the same status as them.”

  “ I did not know,” Liv replied faintly.

  She truly had not. She had always thought Bas had been around the castle, though he had never spoken of any parents or siblings. Now he mentioned it... People back home did not care for Bas. He was never included in conversations unless he was with Liv, he had no other friends that she knew of.

  “Bas, I am so sorry,” she whispered. “No one ever told me anything. That is not an excuse, though, is it? I shoul
d have noticed how they treat you and demanded an answer. But I... I guess I am selfish because I have never really noticed how you are seen at court.”

  Bas crossed his arms over his chest and seemed to almost shrink into the dark corner. He was several years older than her, but right then he looked like a lost little kid.

  “I think you should go home,” she said then. “Go back to the life that was taken from you.”

  Bas raised his head, staring at her. “I am your familiar,” he argued. “I took a vow to the King and Queen. I cannot just leave you. You have been my family for fifteen years.”

  Liv blinked. “Fifteen? I was five when we were bonded?”

  Bas nodded. “And I was fourteen.”

  Liv stepped closer to him, putting a hand on his forearm. “Then, as I am still a princess of the realm, I am ordering you to go back home. I will deal with Mother and Father, do not worry. You just... go be happy, Bas. I know now you are not happy at court, and I doubt you will be happy travelling around the realm with me and Amala.”

  Bas looked torn and conflicted. “Are you sure of this, Liv?”

  “We will always be bonded.” Liv smiled. “But we do not have to be together. I have been away from you for a while now, and all has gone well. So go home. Go to where you really want to be.”

  Bas drew her into a hard, unexpected hug then. Liv let out a startled laugh, not used to this kind of affection, not from Bas. She wrapped her own arms around him, hugging him tightly.

  “Just go,” she told him, voice filled with emotion. “After fifteen years, you deserve to be happy.”

  “I have not been entirely unhappy,” he muttered against her shoulder. “Not all the time.”

  “Good. I would hate for you to have spent the entirety of your fifteen years bonded to me unhappy.” She sniffled as it finally dawned on her just how different her life would be now. She would not live in luxury, she would not have Bas, her bonded and tutor, around anymore, she would have nothing of what she was used to...