The Shadows of the Four Realms [BOOK TWO]

CHAPTER 2 - Of a Task

Summer heat clashed with the winter cold all around Eleni, while she slowed her intense run. The red forest trail which was now adequately etched in her head after two months of routine back and forth, seemed to make way for her, sprinkling along yellowish-red autumnal leaves, which scrunched in delight under her cat-like footsteps. A tangy smell of limes and floral musk of plums wafted in the clearing while she plucked a pink spring rose from a teeming shrub, coming to a halt and put it over her ear.

Her fellow trainee-mates were dispersing for the evening, after an entire day of weaponry drill. The training grounds to the east of the palace, a vast area of open land, a forest trimmed neatly to hide the warriors in action, was fast becoming Eleni's favorite place to be. She had always wondered—ever since finding out that she wasn't a Vacant, nor a Spring Realmer—how her life might have been if she were raised in one of her rightful Realms. A royal of the Summer Realm or a warrior of the Autumn Realm.

And now she had both. Well, sort of.

The other soldiers were in much better shape than her. While she was catching her breath near her regular carriage, they were laughing amongst themselves, patting each other's backs, tossing sweaty clothes around, picking up the swords and knives scattered after the work out. Eleni had offered to help for the first couple of days, but when they repeatedly rejected her, with pretentious polite smiles and steps retreating away, she dared not try again – and stuck to the shadows.

From her satchel, lying on a boulder, she fetched a flask and lapped up the cool water, splashing some on her sweat-laden face and neck. And she realized between a mouthful, it wasn't her regular driver-turned-Head-Guard on the front seat. And before she asked, the stranger turned around.

"Dylan, I suppose is his name, had to rush back, Your Highness. Thereby, I am at your service." The strange old man said with a kind smile.

"Oh. Is everything alright?" Eleni asked, as she heaved herself up inside the carriage.

"I am clueless, aye. Just following orders. Pick up the lady from the training grounds, they said." He tipped his hat in jollity, his lilt as old as his age.

Tutting his tongue, he gently tugged the reins of the stallions pulling the quaint carriage. When their hooves strutted on the wet soil of the autumnal land, Eleni felt an unusual energy swirl. Peeking out through the small window, she looked up and felt a rumble in the sky and a rustle in the trees.

"Might want to pull the curtains, Your Highness. Seems like the clouds are opening again." The old man advised and she obliged, settling for the short journey to the palace.

Tired from the workout, her eyes might have closed for one heartbeat or for a whole hour and when she awoke with a jerk of the carriage, her earthen instincts writhed like the layer of milk about to spill from an overheated vessel. She decided against using her ancient golden sundial to check the time, for it required knowing where north was and her tiny brain acknowledged 'left and right' as the only two directions in existence. Runs in the family, she supposed.

Eleni slid her silver-ringed fingers through the sea-green curtains just to find rain softly drizzling and... a valley beneath.

Her heartbeat quickened. It was happening yet again, just like it had in the very first week when she had arrived in the Autumn Realm and began her combat training. But then Dylan had been with her and now she was alone. She placed her hands on either of her sides—on her thighs, reassuring herself that she was sufficiently equipped for danger. Staring at the old man's back like a hawk, it dawned on her in all entirety –

She was as reckless as day one.

The carriage took a sharp turn.

"You tricked me, didn't you, sir?" Eleni said, reclining in her seat with a frown.