(Author’s commentary): Okay, I am really starting to like Sanara, the 15-year-old farm girl. So far, she is the first main female character to show up in the novel that isn’t a princess. She is feisty and brave and… well, I won’t spoil the part you are getting ready to read…

If you are new here, this is part of a novel I am writing right now. I am posting the chapters as soon as I finish them, with no editing, just a quick read through. (I actually wrote this chapter and the next one at my mom’s house in the Bay Area when we were there for Christmas. I write all my books by hand with a pen in notebooks and then type them up later). If you spot any mistakes, please let me know. Also, you can read the whole thing without these annoying commentaries by clicking the button on the top bar of the blog page called: The Seven Kingdoms.

Oh, and I am still looking for good names to use in the story… once again, it isn’t that I can’t make up names, it is just that I like to write my friends into my books… so give me your name… or the name of your kid… or dog… or whatever. I will change it just a bit to fit the make-believe world.

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The Seven Kingdoms

Chapter 9

Sanara stood alone by one of the sets of doors in the great hall, the sling still dangling from her hand, as she realized that most everyone in the hall was now staring at her. Then the men of Dancer began cheering as they went back to bombarding the Skulls with anything they could find to throw, while the Skulls, having reached the main doors, gave up all pretense of a slow retreat. The Skull king growled an order, and two men reached down to drag the unconscious thin man along with them as they scurried through the wide, double doors and out into the courtyard. A few of the Skull soldiers continued to stumble backwards, keeping their spears leveled at the crowd of Dancer soldiers and civilians that were making ready to come after them.

“Hold!” shouted king Oluff. “Let them go. We must prepare an organized defense of the town. The Skull fleet is the real danger here.”

Sanara watched as the kindly old king she had known all her life as a gentle, grandfatherly figure, snapped out rapid and concise orders. Runners were sent to call all the kingdom’s soldiers to the castle. Those already on duty were mustered in the courtyard. The king also sent all the civilians off to rally the people and gather any men who wished to join the fight, and to scour the town for anything that might be used as weapons, or to get the women and children to safety. “These Skulls have abandoned the old ways of war, and replaced the honorable matching of skills with pure viciousness,” the king pronounced to his people, “and we must lower ourselves to their level or be destroyed.”

As captains and soldiers and the working men of his kingdom scattered to obey his commands, the king turned towards Hildy, lifted his hand, and beckoned her. Hildy went to him. Her father, who had been walking towards her and had not seen the king’s gesture, was confused, stopping to watch as his daughter strode past him to stand in front of the king.

“Child, how old are you?” the king asked, once again the kind-hearted man she remembered from the few times she and her father had visited the castle for some state occasion.

“Fifteen, sir,” she replied.

The king set a hand on each of her shoulders. “That was an admirable shot, my brave young lady. Is that your father?” he asked, tipping his chin at the only man in the hall that didn’t seem to be going anywhere.

Sanara simply nodded.

The king waved her father over to join them. “You have raised a fine young woman. She will be remembered as a hero of our kingdom, no matter how the rest of this day plays out.”

Her father replied only with a nod, but she noticed that he stood straighter than she ever remembered seeing him stand before.

“I have a favor to ask you, as one father to another,” the king continued. “You saw those evil blades the Skull soldiers had. They will not hesitate to use them. No doubt they have far more trained soldiers than we do. I have no intention of surrendering without putting up a fight, but I see no way that this will end well for us. I see from your hands and your sun-browned skin that you are no craftsman or shopkeeper. You carry no knife, so I assume you are a farmer and not a fisherman or sailor?”

Sanara’s father nodded his agreement.

“Take my son with you when you return your daughter to your farm.” The king’s voice was more pleading than commanding.

“Father!” said the prince in outrage.

Sanara glanced at the boy. She wasn’t any more thrilled about this than he was.

“I stay to fight with you to protect the kingdom,” Sanara’s father said firmly.

“Father!” blurted Sanara, knowing there was no point in finishing the thought.

“My daughter is quite capable of returning home on her own, as you well might imagine,” her father said proudly, “and your son is welcome to accompany her. But you should know that the girl’s mother died years ago, and there will be no one there to watch over them.”

Sanara eyed the prince again. He was about her height. She knew that he was fifteen years of age, the same age as her, but she had never seen him up close before. He was heavyset and had buck teeth. His hair was somewhere between blond and brown, and hung to his shoulders. His pale, watery, blue eyes had none of the sparkle of his father’s eyes to go with the matching color. She was almost as horrified by the notion of spending a prolonged period of time with this boy, who seemed to have all the personality of a fish, as by the fact that her father would be risking his life in battle.

The king noticed her studying his son and misread her interest. “Perhaps, when all is settled, and a few years have passed, there will be a royal wedding. You would make a fine princess to this kingdom, my dear,” he said hopefully.

The prince seemed to like the idea well enough, and gave her a smile. The very thought of kissing that mouth nearly caused her to tell the king exactly what she thought of this plan. Her father knew her well enough not to give her that opportunity. “Let’s save the kingdom first, and take the rest as it comes,” he suggested carefully.

The king agreed, and sent his son to change into his plainest tunic and boots, in the hopes that he could pass for just another farmer’s lad. And then the king was gone, to lead his people in a fight for their very survival.

Sanara’s father knelt before her and grasped her almost painfully by the shoulders. “Stay safe, my love, and I will be home almost before you know it.” And then, he too was gone.

Sanara kept herself from crying by pure strength of will. When the prince returned, she led him out through the side gate of the castle without a word. On the long walk back to the farm, the prince tried relentlessly to engage her in conversation. She answered his direct questions in the fewest words possible. He asked all about her life and likes. She, on the other hand, had no interest in learning anything about him at all.

When they reached the farm, the prince sat and watched her as she prepared them a simple meal, but made no offer to help. Instead, he talked incessantly about himself, almost as though he were answering all the questions she had never bothered to ask on the long walk home. At last, she had had enough. She set a plate of food before him and then took her own plate back out onto the little covered porch. Prince Aluff was getting on her nerves.

He came out a little while later and sat on the only other chair on the porch, the chair that her father sat in when they had those rare moments to relax. This time, the prince didn’t say a word to interrupt her thoughts. They sat in silence for over an hour. She began to wonder if perhaps the prince was not as bad as she had begun to think he was, and that her worries for her father’s safety and the very survival of the kingdom hadn’t made her judge him too harshly.

“That bread was pretty bad,” the prince said suddenly. He waved a hand vaguely at the green fields all around. “I mean, isn’t that the stuff you make bread out of? Seems like you should be able to make some pretty good bread.”

She looked at him in astonishment. The level of stupidity, rudeness and self-absorption inherent in those statements was such that she couldn’t even bring herself to be angry. Men were risking death to save his kingdom, his own father among them, and he was annoyed that his meal had been less than satisfactory. She decided to test the level of his stupidity. “I made that bread, just so you know. It’s a few days old. We are too busy on a farm to have fresh bread every day.”

He considered this for a moment, and appeared to be thinking deeply. “When we get married, the palace cooks can teach you how to make good bread, and lots of other things that I like to eat.”

There were many ways she could have chosen to reply to his statement, but she went with the one that just felt right. “Shut up, Aluff.” Then she walked off to do her chores, leaving him sitting on the porch.

Later, as she brought a load of firewood into the house, he was still sitting there. “I don’t think that is a fitting way for my future wife to…”

“Shut up,” she said as she walked by without slowing.

When she went back past him to get another load of firewood, he opened his mouth again. She just pointed at him and scowled. He closed his mouth again. When she came back with the next load, dropped it off, and headed back to the woodpile, he got up and followed her in silence. When she picked up more wood, he grabbed an armful and followed her back to the house. They didn’t really need that last bit, but she wasn’t going to spoil her progress by saying so.

As she stepped back onto the porch, deciding what to do next, she glanced at the setting sun to determine how much daylight they had left. That is when she saw the four men approaching. No, she realized, it was five men. The four she could see clearly were soldiers, wearing the purple armor of the kingdom, and they were carrying the fifth man on a stretcher made of staves and a cloak. Her heart leapt into her throat. She ran to meet them as they turned down the lane that led between the fields to the house.

Her father lay on the stretcher, but he was alive, and he smiled and waved as she ran up. “Don’t worry, don’t worry. I just got stuck in the leg,” he assured her as the men carried him into the house, and, under her direction, got him settled into his bed. She looked at the wound after removing the sodden bandage, and it didn’t look too bad. She cleaned it and put on a fresh bandage.

“Sanara,” he said seriously as she finished the task, “I have to tell you something important. The king is dead, and there is something you need to do.”

She heard a sharp intake of breath, and turned to where the prince stood in the corner of the room. He looked pale, but showed no emotion whatsoever. She turned back to her father.

“You have to go with these soldiers and take the prince safely to Flame,” her father told her. “The kingdom is lost, at least for now. The Skulls will be looking for the prince.”

“But, Papa, I need to stay, to help with the farm and take care of you!” She clasped his hand tightly.

“Dear daughter, don’t you see? The Skulls will be looking for you as well. Their king saw you when you struck down his wizard, and so did his soldiers. I doubt very much that they will let that insult go unanswered. I have plenty of neighbors to give me a hand. And you know Widow Raker has been trying to figure out a way to get herself invited over, to fatten me up with her cooking like she did her first two husbands.” Sanara noticed that her father didn’t seem too distressed by this notion.

One of the Dancer soldiers stepped closer. “My name is Bram, Bram Crest. My father is a fisherman, and my uncle captains a trading ship. My uncle is due to arrive in the morning. We are going to sail out to meet him at sea in my father’s boat, to save my uncle’s ship from being seized like all our other ships that were in port. We can be in Flame by tomorrow night.”

Sanara suddenly realized that the boy standing in her house was now the king, her king. She went and stood in front of him. “I am sorry about your father,” she said simply.

He nodded wordlessly.