The Tsuki Saga
The Arrival
As she looked out of the window, she heard the clock in the hall strike eleven. The night sky was blacker than she had ever seen. Not a single star could fight its way through the shroud of blackness. The weather had recently been hot and humid; perhaps they were in for a storm? From this window, the view could seem endless, on a clear day you could see for miles and miles, right up to the mountains on the far side of the island. Tonight it was all black. A glimmering orange-red light caught her eye. Was it a fire? She looked harder. Yes, it was definitely a fire. Who in the name of The Supreme Being could be camping out there in conditions like these? Even when the weather was fine, wolves, and other such beasts roamed the woods at night. Curious she picked up a cloak from a chair near the window and clambered out as silently as a cat. She ran, bare-footed, across the open grassland towards the woods. She preferred to travel barefoot outside, for the feeling of grass between her toes and the dew or rain (if there was any) could be refreshing. Tonight however, there was only dust and dirt to find its way to her toes. She slowed as she approached and cautiously approached the clearing. Creeping around the edge of the clearing she climbed up a nearby tree, crawling out onto a branch almost directly above them. But who were they? Why were they here? Blackthorn woods was hardly a place to camp for the night! Especially not this close to the castle.
She looked down at the people around the fire. There were five of them. She looked more closely. Handsome, she thought, as she looked around. She surveyed them one by one. The first her eyes fell upon was the smallest of the five. An elf or half-elf she concluded by his dress. Leather armour over a soft shirt and tight trousers, leather boots on his feet and leather covered helmet on his head. A quiver of arrows slung across his back and the style of the bow at his feet made her think he was not one of the local elves. The next in the circle was medium height and build, with blonde wavy hair and blue eyes. Very pretty, she thought. He was clad in chain mail and carried a broadsword and a shield with the symbol of a lady and a deer on it. A lord perhaps, pondered our observer. She moved her gaze onto the next in the party, a taller man still, about six feet. He had mousy brown hair and a gentle countenance. His attire was that of an elf, which looked odd on this tall man. His helmet lay on the floor, and he was holding what looked like a small wine flask. Intrigued she gazed at him a moment longer, before moving on to the next fellow. Alike in looks to the knight, but dark rather than fair, the next gentleman was wearing the symbol of an unknown cult to her. He appeared, by most accounts, to look like a sorcerer of some sort. Again she moved her gaze on, down to the man below her. He was a human who was tall and dark. She had ascertained only this much when she lost her grip on the mossy branch, slipped, yelped and crashed down from the tree onto the poor, unsuspecting man below. Startled, the rest of the party was at arms almost immediately; two bows, a sword, and a staff were pointed her way. The man she had landed on could do little. She raised her hands and slowly got off the man she had fallen on. She was shepherded to a nearby tree, and then surrounded. The party looked at her, not sure what to make of her.
Slim in build, she was startlingly unusual. Her striking features were no less than pretty and were perhaps more to some eyes. She had shiny hair, which each of the travellers saw as a different colour. While the elf saw it as purple, the half-elf saw it as blue, the knight saw a redhead and the sorcerer saw a black-haired girl. The tall dark one she had landed on saw a brunette. Her grey eyes darted from one to the other as she inspected them. The first to recover his speech was the knight. He bowed slightly to her before he spoke: "My lady." He began in a gentle, almost soothing voice, "Who, may we ask, are you, and why are you spying on us?" She set her gaze upon him and spoke in a soft voice, "I am princess Tsuki, and I was not spying upon you, I was merely checking on my land." The tall dark one was by now recovered enough to smile and ask, "Your land?" she nodded. He spoke again; "We were told that the land here belonged to the owner of that castle over there." He pointed towards the castle in the distance, from where she had come. She again nodded. "Indeed," she said, "Indeed it does. My father passed the castle onto me when he died." The tall one dressed as an elf then spoke, "Then, my lady, we must ask your forgiveness for trespassing on your land." She looked at them a while trying to decide what to make of them, before she ventured to speak again. "In order to show my forgiveness, may I invite you all to supper at my castle with me, there you can have a hot bath and a warm bed, and breakfast inside you in the morning." Somewhat surprised the group agreed, with little discussion, for they were all longing for a soft bed to sleep in rather than the hard earth.
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