The Blood King's Bride
Chapter Fifty Seven

The Blood Kingdom...

Days had passed, and Elena, Elion, and Forest had finally made the shelter house a bit

comfortable for themselves. They had made some friends and had even spoken with some of the blood kingdom citizens. Even though the people looked

when dealing with them.

them wearily, they were still lovely

Elena's heart, though, wasn't in all the peace. After her discussion with Forest about her dream, she knew that whatever she was linked with was associated with her revenge. Her goal to be even more decisive grew more within her, the urge to practice boiling.

They were all on the lawn, taking in the environment. Elena was thinking of telling Elion

to practice with her when she heard the sound of a horse galloping towards them. She looked up

and saw Aaron atop the horse, and immediately she thought of asking him to train her.

"Hey Elion," she called. "I know you don't like Aaron but we can at least use him for our goal, right?" Elion glanced at her drily.

"Which is?"

"To get stronger," Elena said proudly. "He is a warrior, and he was able to easily detain

our kidnappers that day. You can imagine how powerful he is. What better way to learn how to fight, but from the one who defeated them, right?"

Elion looked at her for a long time, and then she sighed. "I guess I have been uptight for a

while after arriving here. But I just can't help it, especially since the blood kingdom isn't what I expected. I keep on waiting for something to spring upon us."

"I understand you, and I agree that we should never let our guard down. But instead of

sitting here waiting for something to happen, we can use that time to train."

"Okay," Elion said, smiling slightly, "let's ask him to train us. If he would agree, that is." Elena beamed.

"Hey, you guys shouldn't forget that I'm here." Forest put in. "Just because I can't fight doesn't mean I don't have skills."

"What skills do you have exactly," his sister asked teasingly.

"Have you seen this face?" Forest asked, pointing to his own. "Just a single smile and I

have got girls telling me all their secrets. I can be your eyes and ears too." He folded his arms.

"That is a useful skill," Elena said thoughtfully. "Why didn't I ever think of that?"

"Because we had no reason to use it yet. We are in another Kingdom, we have to use all that we have to be alert."

She looked up to see Aaron walking over to them, and she stood up and walked towards him, giving him a wave.

"Good day, Aaron."

"Good day Elena." Aaron cast a glance behind her, no doubt looking at Elion. At that, she smiled wider.

"How has your stay been since you arrived here?"

"It's been wonderful. Your kingdom is beautiful, and the people in it too."

"Thank you." Elena could swear that she saw a light blush fan his cheeks.

"Oh, it's a good thing you came. I have a favour to ask of you."

"Sure. I came here to check on you guys, and to make sure everything was okay at the shelter."

"Yes, everything is fine. I was hoping if you could train me? I mean, I have fighting skills already, but after facing my kidnappers I do not think I am anywhere close to being strong." "I don't know, I'm not sure I can take you." He said hesitatingly.

"Why?"

"We can't train here, and I'm not sure if my colleagues would be comfortable seeing me train you."

"Oh," Elena said, feigning sadness. "Too bad, Elion and I were hoping it was possible. Well, it's no probe-"

"W-Wait, Elion is interested too?" He glanced behind her. Elion feigned obliviousness. "Yes, we were just talking this morning, and she was saying she hoped that you could teach us, after all, you're the only strongest warrior we have met since we came here-" "Yes," Aaron said, his voice hoarse. "Yes, I'll train you."

"What about your colleagues?"

"Don't worry about them. I'd deal with them."

"Thank you so much, Aaron, it means a lot!" Then turning towards Elion, she asked

teasingly. "Isn't there something you would like to say to Aaron?"

Elena had never seen Elion blush as she did when she spoke to Aaron.

"Thank you." She said curtly. Elena turned to look at Aaron, only to see his face flushed

and his eyes taking a dreamy appearance.

Oh boy, had he fallen deep.

"Your welcome." He replied, his voice coming out as a sigh. Then as if remembering

where he was, he shook his head and coughed into his folded hand.

"We leave tomorrow. You guys should use all day preparing. Your training is going to be very rigorous. And it won't be gentle."

Elena nodded. "Don't worry. We will take it. Thank you again." Aaron nodded just once, looked at Elion, then turned back and walked to his horse.

Elena walked back to where she sat before Aaron's arrival and sat down, smiling hugely. "Man, he's got it bad for you sis," Forest said.

"Oh shut up." At that, Elena and Forest started laughing.

They sat there for a while, just taking in the environment one last time before making it to their room to prepare for their journey.

*****

Elena sat in her room, stuffing what little article of clothing she had left into her bag. At

least her kidnappers hadn't taken their stuff along with them after ransacking and taking all their money.

She was also surprised that they didn't take her sword too. She had surmised that they hoped to sell it when they arrived, and thanks to Aaron, their plans were squashed. She studied the slim sword and the snake carved around its hilt. For some reason, the

sword reminded her of herself. Small, yet not willing to break. Beautiful, but can be deadly when honed right. She knew she could be fatal, but that part of her hadn't been sharpened yet. She was going to try her best to be powerful. She gripped the sword tightly. Elion had gone down to wait for Aaron's arrival along with Forest, so Elena was prepared when Elion opened the door to announce his arrival.

"I'll be down there. Just give me a minute," Elion nodded and closed the door gently from outside.

Elena took a deep calming breath and repeated it again and again. She threw her bag over her shoulder and her sword over the other side. Taking a final calming breath, she finally went out of the room.

She arrived downstairs, where Aaron stood with Elion and Forest. Aaron had brought a carriage that he would use to take them to the palace. He had told them that they couldn't practice at the shelter house, and neither was there any proper environment for them to practice except at the palace. He said they would be given jobs there while they practiced, and their movements would not be restricted but would be monitored. To Elion, he told her not to associate with any of the warriors and that should she need anything, she should ask him, not any warrior. Elion merely nodded her head.

"Are you ready?" Aaron asked as he watched the three huddle together into the carriage. "Yes. We are ready." Elena said with a smile. Giving them a curt nod, he jumped and sat across his horse, and with a powerful whip, their journey began towards the Blood King's Palace, the same place Elena swore to never go to.

*****

The journey to the Blood Palace took a whole day. After going through several beautiful villages, Elena and her friends found themselves heading towards the more secluded part of the kingdom. The atmosphere was strangely getting darker, and there were the occasional eerie sounds of animals they couldn't see.

"Where are we?" Elena asked.

"We are close to the dark forest," Aaron replied from where he sat. "We have reached the most dangerous part of the blood kingdom. The palace resides just at the heart of it." Forest leaned towards Elena. "For some strange reason, I find it calming that the king resides in this type of place." He whispered in her ear. Elion heard it and turned to face him, the corner of her eyes crinkling with mirth.

"Trust me, I understand what you mean." Immediately, the sky turned dark. They had

finally reached the dark forest.

"We're here," Aaron called out.

"Is it always this dark?" Forest asked warily. Aaron nodded.

"The warriors are sent into the dark forest to survive for a month. Live beasts capable of destroying a city resided in the forest, but our ancestors held them there using powerful magic. Now the whole forest is their domain. Anyone lucky to enter it and survive is fortunate indeed. The warriors are sent there with nothing except the clothes on their bodies. If anyone makes it to

the other end of the forest in a month, they are automatically made into a warrior.

"She?" Elion asked. "Your kingdom has female warriors?"

Happy that Elion had spoken to him, he puffed his chest proudly.

"Yes. In our kingdom, we do not practice segregation. Women are treated the same as men. It might be very rough in some special cases, but our women are unique. Stronger than most men." He said boastfully.

"They also come in handy when carrying out spy work for the king, if you get what I mean," he said suggestively. Immediately Elena got the meaning. They seduced information from their enemies. They had to be powerful for their king to include them in his army. And she always thought that Elion was the strongest woman she had ever met. She looked at Elion and saw her deep in thought.

Their journey through the forest felt excruciatingly slow. The incessant noises made mostly by animals she couldn't see made her skin crawl. Elion's eyes flashed bright, her every being alert. Forest's eyes roamed about, trying to pick out potential predators, even if he couldn't see any. Finally, after what seemed like hours, they reached what seemed like a river but wasn't a river.

"D-Did a bubble just rise from that?" Forest squeaked. Aaron jumped from his horse and motioned for them to do the same.

"As you can see, this isn't a normal river. It's toxic, and if one enters it, it causes instant death. If even a portion touches your skin, that part of your body is doomed already. This is the safest place you can pass through to reach the palace and to go out of the palace. To pass through the forest would be suicide. So you have to be careful in every area, do you understand?" This time, all three of them nodded their heads gravely.

"How would we pass through it?" Elion asked.

"There is a both by the other side of the river. Walk with me." They followed him

towards the larger side of the toxic river.

"Every warrior has a key to the boat. So only a warrior can assess it."

"What if someone takes it from one of your warriors? What if one of them betrays you?"

"For the first question, one would have to be as powerful as our king to achieve that. For

the other, well, I pity whoever does that. He would have our king to contend to." He pushed the boat tied to a pole at the dock slowly into the river. Once it had entered, he motioned for them to come over to where he stood.

"Now slowly, put one foot into the boat, and then the other. You don't have to worry about a drop of the toxic river touching you. As you can see, the boat is surrounded by a protective film, with a hole in its middle. The hole is where the oars are in, which would help us to drive the boat."

One by one, they all stepped slowly into the boat till finally, Aaron entered. They all sat

on the made-in seats and waited for Aaron to start propelling the boat.

"Are you ready?" He questioned, wanting to make sure they were comfortable. When no

one expressed any objections, he took it that they were ready and began to prepare the boat for

movement.

"Sit tight, and hold unto one another."