Choice Read online

  Table of Contents

  Choice

  Book Details

  Dedication

  I

  II

  III

  IV

  About the Author

  Choice

  ANDREA LOREDO

  Ser Mirele Heine is a Guardian, sworn to protect the royal family. One night, after being oddly called away to slay a dragon in another province, Mirele and hir companions are ambushed. They rush back to the castle to find a coup is underway. Mirele manages to escape with hir charge, Princess Shahira de Granius.

  As the two go into hiding and move from town to town, Shahira grapples with her conflicting feelings over the slaughter of her family, and Mirele struggles with the dark secret ze harbors and hir own affections for the princess.

  Choice

  By Andrea Loredo

  Published by Less Than Three Press LLC

  All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner without written permission of the publisher, except for the purpose of reviews.

  Edited by V.E. Duncan

  Cover designed by Natasha Snow

  This book is a work of fiction and all names, characters, places, and incidents are fictional or used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual people, places, or events is coincidental.

  First Edition October 2017

  Copyright © 2017 by Andrea Loredo

  Printed in the United States of America

  Digital ISBN 9781684311217

  Thanks to Sarah for helping me make this story a reality and for putting up with my texts at three in the morning.

  I

  Ambush.

  A damned nighttime ambush in the middle of the Vahens Forest, just an hour on horseback away from Pasmyral, the capital of the kingdom of Navio and their destination.

  Ser Mirele Heine wrenched hir dragon tooth and steel blade out of the chest of a dragonslayer, albeit a rather green one, from the Coria province in the northern part of Navio. Ze breathed heavily, winded from the blow ze had taken to the ribs.

  "What was that?" Ser Lucia Didius approached hir, the blue plumes of her silver helmet bobbing as she shook her head. Her voice was muffled slightly by the enchanted scarf she wore. "Why in oblivion did they attack us? What sort of treasonous bullshit is this?"

  "I don't know." Ze was shaken. Why did this happen? "They said something about not allowing us to reach the castle. We need to reach Pasmyral, Lucia."

  All of them, being dragonslayers, had been sent to deal with a dragon terrorizing a town in the Coria province. Two dragonslayers was normal, but to send two royal dragonslayers, a former dragonslayer and current Guardian to the Princess Shahira de Granius, and seven novice knights aspiring to be dragonslayers? Such a thing was unheard of. Not to mention that no wizard had been sent with them. Mirele had said nothing of hir very limited magical ability. Mentioning it would only draw suspicion and questions ze did not wish to answer.

  At least the dragon they had slain was a normal adult dragon and not the elder dragon Mirele had feared they'd encounter. The thought of seeing another elder dragon sent a harsh shiver down hir spine.

  Corian knights had set a trap for them in the dark of the forest, and when the trap had been sprung, the novice knights of their team had turned on them.

  "Mirele, Lucia!" Ser Salah Modius, an older and very accomplished dragonslayer, called them. He had his sword pointed at a figure on the ground. It was one of the novice Corian knights, Mirele realized, remembering her name as Lamis.

  Mirele marched over and pushed past Salah and stepped on Lamis's throat. "Who ordered this?"

  Lamis clawed at Mirele's foot, trying to somehow keep it from crushing down on her windpipe.

  "Whose orders are you following?" Mirele asked again, blood-coated sword pointed squarely at Lamis's face.

  "Oblivion take you," Lamis croaked out.

  Mirele looked over at Lucia and Salah. He shook his head, and Mirele took hir foot off of Lamis's throat. The knight turned onto her side and coughed, struggling to breathe again. Before Lamis could catch her breath, however, Mirele's blade was through her neck.

  "Damn it all." Lucia pulled down her scarf, her mouth set into a deep frown. "They’re from the Coria province. Who there would give such an order? Duchess Zaman wouldn't. She's too close to the royal family."

  "I know not," Salah replied, shaking his head. "Are either of you injured?"

  "My side hurts from a blow I took, but that is it." Plate armor protected well against many attacks, but it still hurt to get hit with a mace, even if the weapon didn't penetrate the skin. Mirele didn't think any ribs were broken, but now was not the time to whine about pain.

  "I'm fine, old man," Lucia said, shaking her head in frustration. "We better get to the capital as quickly as possible. If we were attacked, then I don't even want to think about what's going on over there." Her expression was grim.

  "Agreed," Mirele said, beckoning hir chestnut warhorse Duha over. Mirele felt no sign of Shahira being in immediate danger, but ze worried. "We make haste for Pasmyral."

  They jumped on their horses and sped off. There was no time to deal with the bodies of the attackers and betrayers, their horses, or the loot from the dragon they carried.

  As they reached the end of the forest, the spires of the castle and the walls surrounding Pasmyral came into clear view, even in the dead of night.

  "Only half an hour now until we—ah!" A shriek of pain cut off Mirele's words. Sharp stabs coursed through hir side where hir mark was, as if someone was sticking hir with a needle repeatedly and without mercy.

  "Mirele?" Lucia tugged on the reins of her horse, slowing and turning around to head back to where Mirele was hunched over in the seat of hir horse.

  "What is it? Mirele?" Salah came up from his position at the rear.

  Mirele gritted hir teeth. Ze knew exactly what this pain was, but how could ze explain it to the others? That would mean divulging hir secret and possibly giving up hir very life. "The princess," Mirele gasped through the pain. "Shahira's in danger."

  "What?" Lucia looked over at Salah. "How do you know that? Why are you in such pain? Did you sustain wounds worse than what you said?"

  Shaking hir head, Mirele spurred Duha onwards. "Not now," ze called behind hir as ze raced towards the gate of the capital.

  Please, please. Let her be okay. Mirele could not stop hirself from thinking the worst. Was Shahira hurt? How badly? Mirele wouldn't be able to forgive hirself if something happened to her, or if Shahira lost her life.

  To say nothing of hir being dead if the latter actually happened.

  "The gates are closed," Salah stated. "The Golden Gates are never closed."

  "Hey!" Lucia cupped a hand around her mouth as she called out. "Open the gates! Sers Lucia Didius and Salah Modius, Royal Dragonslayers of the Crown, along with Guardian Mirele Heine, protector of Her Royal Highness, Princess Shahira de Granius, request entry!"

  A beat.

  No response. Mirele strained hir ear. Ze could hear some low noise, but ze couldn’t quite identity what it was.

  "What in the spirits' names?" Salah whispered. The Golden Gates were only closed in times of crisis, and to not receive an answer when requesting entry never happened. The guards could hypothetically deny people entry, but not people of their station.

  "Hello?" Lucia called again, and again there was no response. "What's going on?"

  Mirele cursed. "We use the back entrance into the castle," ze muttered to hirself. The back entrance was only known to a select few, one of the many hidden passages in and out of the castle for use by the royal family.

  Beckoning for Lucia and Salah to follow hir, Mirele spurred hir horse onward, circling around the side of the castle walls until ze reached the h
idden doorway.

  Or rather, the previously hidden doorway.

  The door hung open, and in the doorway was the body of a guardsman, his lavender and silver tunic darkened with blood.

  "What?" Mirele could only let out that single word as ze stared in shock at the body.

  Lucia quickly dismounted and rushed over to the body, examining it. "Looks like the poor man got stabbed in the gut. Nasty way to die," she said, shaking her head.

  Mirele glanced over at Salah, whose look of shock mirrored hir own. Lucia seemed to be handling the sight of a dead guardsman in a secret passageway much better than they were. Both of them dismounted and walked over to Lucia.

  "Who knew about this passage?" Lucia asked. Mirele understood what her true question was. Who in the castle could have betrayed them all?

  "Myself, the other Guardians, the Head of the Guard, the royal family. That’s it," Mirele replied.

  Salah clenched the hilt of his sword, his face set into a grim expression. "We need to find the royal family as quickly as possible. Once we find them, we can focus on who betrayed us."

  "Agreed," Lucia said, standing.

  "An assassin would not be so careless," Salah muttered to himself, rubbing his chin. Mirele would prefer for everything to be the work of an assassin and not the alternative, but everything pointed to a coup.

  "I need to find Shahira quickly." Mirele drew hir sword, leaving hir shield on hir back, and began walking into the hidden passageway.

  "We'll follow," Lucia said. "We have no idea how many people are in there, so we shouldn't split up."

  The passageway was dimly lit and cramped. Mirele was practically walking sideways, as hir broad shoulders and pauldrons nearly scraped the walls. Ze could not stop hir heart from beating so quickly, its thumping probably echoing inside hir chest and reverberating through hir armor. The pain at hir side had dulled slightly, but it was still there, a grave reminder that Shahira was in danger. Or hurt. Or both.

  A gloved hand tapped hir shoulder. A glance behind revealed it as Lucia's. "She's fine, Mirele."

  "I hope you are right, my friend." Mirele sighed and tightened hir grip on hir longsword.

  The telltale sounds of combat—shouts ringing through the night and steel clashing against steel—grew louder and louder as they exited the passageway and entered one of main hallways of the eastern part of the castle. A few bodies lay on the carpeted floor, royal guardsmen and soldiers wearing another lord's colors.

  Mirele knelt next to one of the soldiers, taking her cape in hir hands and examining it. "Spirits take me," Mirele cursed, hir fist tightening around the cloth.

  "That is the crest of the Zaman family," Salah whispered. "Duchess Zaman ordered this?"

  Aside from her young children, Duchess Oliva Zaman was the only living member of the Zaman family. For generations, the Zaman family and the royal family had been close.

  "That damned witch!" Lucia's armored fist collided with the nearby wall with a clang.

  Mirele stood. "That should be my line." The king had ordered Mirele to accompany the dragonslayers to Coria, saying the Duchess Zaman had asked for the best to defend her province. When Mirele had protested leaving Shahira, the king had assured hir that another guard would temporarily take hir place as the princess’s shadow. Mirele’s other protests to the order had been similarly shut down. Ze had no choice but to go.

  The trip had taken much less time than Mirele expected, thanks to everyone leaving the dragon fight with minor injuries, which meant they had arrived back at the castle in time for this attack, instead of missing it entirely as Zaman had likely wanted. The more Mirele thought about it, the more suspect it all became. Zaman had called hir away to leave Shahira without her shadow and vulnerable to attack. Something similar had likely happened to the other Guardians of the royal family, though to call all five Guardians, including Mirele, away should have drawn great suspicion.

  Just what is going on?

  "We have to find Shahira. Now." Mirele didn't care if ze sounded panicked. Ze needed to find Shahira and get her far, far away from danger. Hir side continued to throb just as strongly as it had in the beginning; Mirele did hir best to ignore it.

  "The rest of the royal family as well," Salah said.

  "If they're still alive," Lucia added grimly.

  Hir heart beating frantically in hir chest, Mirele led the others towards where the sounds of combat were loudest, down the hallway and into the main dining hall of the castle. Bodies lay on the floor—soldiers, guards, and servants alike.

  "How could Zaman do this?" Mirele whispered to hirself in horror as ze recognized a number of the corpses, some of whom ze had considered friends. Righteous anger bubbled inside of hir. Zaman would pay for all their deaths tenfold.

  But ze could not stop to mourn. Ze had someone to find. Lucia and Salah did, too, Mirele realized. Lucia's elder brother worked as one of the head chefs in the kitchens, and Salah's wife was master of the rose garden.

  The door to the main dining hall was slightly ajar, light from the room filtering into the dark hallway through the opening. Mirele could hear loud shouts and other racket. Ze looked back to confirm that both Lucia and Salah were ready. Both nodded, and Mirele pushed open the door to find a veritable bloodbath occurring in front of hir.

  Dozens of bodies from both sides lay across the floor, tables, and chairs of the hall. A handful of guards currently fought about seven of Zaman's soldiers, from what Mirele could tell.

  They saw an archer knock and loose from the far side of the room. Mirele had barely any time to react. Without thinking, ze summoned a small magical barrier, and the arrow turned to dust as it collided with it.

  Make that eight soldiers.

  Shield raised, Mirele headed towards the archer in the corner of the hall. Out of hir peripheral vision, ze saw Lucia and Salah rush towards the thick of the fighting.

  The archer kept firing, and arrow after arrow either bounced off of Mirele's shield or flew past hir. It was slow going, heading towards him, but Mirele knew that getting in close was hir only real way to deal with him, as ze wasn't confident enough in hir fledgling magic to do anything other than raise an evanescent barrier.

  Deciding that sooner was better than later, lest the archer get a lucky shot at hir face, Mirele ran as fast as ze could in hir heavy plate armor and swung hir blade in a wide horizontal slash.

  The dragon tooth and steel blade easily cleaved through the wooden bow, severing it in half and cutting deeply into the archer's hand. He cried out in pain, hastily drawing a dagger with his uninjured hand. Yet Mirele saw him reach, and ze knocked the pommel of hir sword against his temple, hard enough to break the skin there. A quick thrust of hir sword through the gap in his armor at his armpit and the man was dead.

  Not bothering to wipe the blood from hir blade, Mirele ran to the nearest Corian soldier, meeting her blade with hir own.

  Things fell into that comfortable battle haze Mirele was so familiar with after that.

  Strike. Block. Dodge. Stab.

  Everything fell together into a deadly dance, and the partners changed as one fell to the floor after the other.

  *~*~*

  Mirele breathed heavily and gingerly touched hir nose, wincing as ze did. Hir ribs still ached from the blow ze had taken earlier that night, and now ze was sure hir nose was broken after one of the soldiers had hit hir with the butt of her sword.

  "Ser Heine!" A guard—Mirele recognized him as Riad—rushed over to hir. "Thank the spirits you are here!"

  "Please, tell me where the princess is. I must find her." Mirele put a hand on his upper arm, noticing that he was bleeding from what appeared to be superficial cuts all over his person. Over his shoulder, Mirele saw Lucia kneeling next to a heavily wounded guard, a knife in her hand. Salah was speaking to another guard and favoring his left leg as he stood.

  Riad shook his head. "I'm sorry, Ser Heine, but I haven't seen her since this all began. I don't know where anyone is."


  Mirele sighed, worry filling hir. "Tell me what's happened. Everything." The pain at hir side had dulled a little, meaning ze had time to find Shahira.

  At least Mirele knew that Shahira yet lived because ze hirself still lived.

  "Zaman's soldiers," Riad said, casting a glance downwards at the corpse of one, "they stormed the castle gates, and it was complete chaos. Zaman's ordered them to take the castle and kill us all so she can be queen, hasn't she?" His breathing quickened as he sank to his knees. "Spirits. There's so many dead."

  Mirele wanted to comfort him, to tell him it would all be okay, but ze didn't even know if that was true. Ze simply placed a hand on his head as he sobbed over his lost comrades.

  "There are many dead," Salah said, walking over. He limped slightly. "Zaman's soldiers came in force, apparently. At least this room is clear for the moment."

  "They'll be back. If they really have been ordered to kill everyone, then they'll make sweep after sweep," Mirele replied. Hir only option was to find Shahira and run, the rest of the royal family be damned.

  "Yes," Salah mumbled, bowing his head.

  "We should move on." Lucia stood. Her knife lay on the floor next to the guard. Blood covered the blade.

  Mirele nodded, gesturing for them to leave, and then turned to look down at Riad. "Will you be okay?" There was only him and another guard left alive in the room.

  He stood and straightened. "I have to be. I'm a guard of Pasmyral, and I will do my duty." Tears still fell down his cheeks, despite his words.

  Clapping him on the shoulder, Mirele bowed hir head towards him and made hir way to the other side of the hall where Lucia and Salah waited.

  "If Corian soldiers enter this room again, those boys in there will die," Lucia muttered.

  Mirele knew she was right.

  "What was that earlier, Mirele? Why can you do magic? You're not a wizard," Lucia asked lowly as they walked.

  "Now is not the time. Later." It would never be the time if Mirele had hir way. Ze could tell no one.

  Lucia narrowed her eyes and fixed Mirele with a steely gaze before nodding slowly. "I'll hold you to that."