Bleeding Heart 7 Amriel's Contribution

Right after she had brought the priest to Raven's room, one of the servants brought her a letter. She opened it, and read it. It was from the prince of Amriel answering the call for help that she had sent to each of the other kingdoms.

An affirmative answer telling her that they had already picked some of their knights to send with her. It did not surprise her that it was the prince answering as she knew that the king had gotten hurt by a.s.sa.s.sins.

She smiled, excited that her plans were one step closer to completion, "Raven, I am going to leave you in the hands of Geris here. Geris, see if you can fix his eyes."

She left quickly and got her griffin. Amriel was one of her closer neighbors and so it did not take long for her to arrive there. She noticed as she flew in that the people drew away and looked a bit startled and frightened. That was not a huge surprise, Amriel was distrustful of anything related to magic, except divine power of course.

Dawn quickly walked up to the knights at the gate of the castle. While she might be willing to fly directly into the home of King Jayesh, Dawn actually knew him. She had never really met the royal family of Amriel and as such courtesy must be paid. Especially as Amriel cared about proper ceremony much more than the more laid back king of Carendlus.

The two knights she noticed seemed to be tense and were glaring at each other. As it was none of her business what their problem was, she ignored it.

"Excuse me. I am here to see Prince Regent Heron. May I pa.s.s?" She kept her voice polite as she spoke in a soft tone.

The older of the two snorted but the younger smiled, "Are you Queen Dawn? It was mentioned that you might be dropping in at some point." When she nodded, the young man gestured her to follow him, "I will take you to him. Right this way, Your Majesty."

She followed him into the castle of Amriel. Amriel's castle was much like a fortress, strong and fortified. Curiously she looked around, she had never been in Amriel before and found herself curious about their way of life. They were the only of the civilized lands that completely outlawed the arcane arts.

Due to the fact that all their allies had some magic users they would tolerate the presence of visitors with magic just as long as they did not use it. A blind eye so to speak.

The knight stopped at a stone door and knocked before opening at a surprisingly casual, "Come in."

She was not sure what she was expecting the prince of Amriel to be but she was sure that this was not it. Heron was tall, long-legged, with a slight build. His legs were propped up on the desk as he talked with a woman. He was clad in leather armor instead of the steel armor that was so popular in Amriel.

The woman he was talking to had wavy brown hair that fell to her waist. She was dressed in green dyed hides and perched on the edge of the desk. Her nose had a sharp point to it and she had a decisive air to her. A large bird, Dawn thought it was a hawk, perched on her shoulder preening her hair.

Dawn noticed that there was a snake climbing up Heron's arm to circle around his neck, a viper of some kind. She stared at it for a moment but because he ignored it, she decided to as well.

"Ah, Queen Dawn of Lumna. Welcome to Amriel." Heron removed his feet from the desk, turning to the young man who had brought her here, "Aklane, go and bring Kion, would you?"

"My prince." Aklane bowed and swiftly left.

"He is one of the knights I am going to lend you. I sent him to get the other one." Heron turned and looked at her. His brown eyes had a steely determination to them. It made a s.h.i.+ver go down Dawn's spine as she realized that this man had enough determination to change the world if he had to in order to get what he wanted. And Dawn was not easily intimidated.

"Thank you." She spoke cautiously. She did not know much about Heron, she realized. "Sending your best knights is highly appreciated."

"Oh, neither one of them is Amriel's best knight. Second and third best though I would hazard." Heron smiled wryly, "Our best knight is named Asrar, but he is not even in Amriel at the moment. Protecting my sister. I am sure you know of our custom."

"Ah," She smiled. Amriel always sent their royalty out for a year in order to learn other cultures. It was sorta similar to the custom of Lumna to have its oldest prince to go on a journey. "Are you worried about her?"

"Hazel is in Carendlus." An affectionate look crossed the prince's face. "I miss her but she is much safer there. Especially as she is with Asrar. He would never let any harm come to her."

"You seem quite sure about that. Many people might talk a good talk but when –"

He burst into laughter, "Asrar… is fairly simple to understand. He does not really care if he lives or dies but is totally devoted to my sister. They are best friends, and, well I would not be too surprised if he ended up my brother-in-law."

She fell silent, not sure what to say to that. After a few minutes she cleared her throat, "I am sorry about what happened to your father."

"He will be alright," Heron sighed heavily, "It is far worse what happened to your husband, my condolences by the way. I met Arrion once a long time before he became king. He was a good man."

"Thank you. I miss him very much." She smiled grimly.

There was a slight knock on the door and Heron bid the knights to come in. Kion looked very much like Aklane, the only difference was in their clothing. Identical twins?

"Aklane and Kion volunteered for this. They are very dedicated soldiers and some of the best for this kind of thing that Amriel can offer. Please take good care of them, Queen Dawn. I am rather fond of them."

She nodded and requested to take them back with her so as to reduce the amount of traveling she would need to do before setting out. Heron agreed and bid the knights good luck.

Seeing the way Heron treated the two men, Dawn realized that someday this man would make a good king. It was obvious he genuinely cared for his subjects.

After heading back home she gave them a place to stay and to train. The knights bowed to her before leaving her presence.