Chapter 3 MARK OF DESTINY

He grabbed the young girl's arm and covered it properly with a slim piece of cloth identical to the one of the dress she wore.

'You should always keep the mark covered up your highness, you don't want to get in trouble do you?' Arbeit, a stout elderly man with a thick beard and a weak right leg said as he clutched his walking stick tightly between his arm and his body.

'But if I get in trouble you'll always be there to protect me won't you uncle?' The young girl asked him and he scratched his head.

'Well if I had both feet to stand on, I would be able to hold a sword. But I'm a weak old man with only words of caution to provide, Lexa, you should at least listen to me and keep that mark hidden for now.'

'I don't get what's so important about some birthmark,' the little princess said. 'It's not like I asked for it anyway,' the nine year old Lexa proclaimed, showing her absolute disgust for it.

'It chose you, just like it had chosen many royals before,' Arbeit said and began to walk away.

'Now keep practicing, those arrows aren't going to shoot themselves,' he said and she finally looked back at her hay woven targets. She then pulled the arrow in her bowstring and fired.

'Lexa you are old enough to travel alone now and if anything happens we have taught you everything. News is spreading about your mark, I'm afraid we're all going to be in danger when he finds out. The Lunaris family have always been our allies and it will always be safe for you in Redwell. You must go there if ever you need help or you have nowhere left to go,' the queen of Armenia told her daughter some time after she turned sixteen. She had been born with a peculiar mark on her arm and had been keeping it covered since, however somehow the people had found out about it and word about the mark might've reached the high king in Eradia. She had to prepare her daughter for something that was imminent and though they had hoped it would not happen it did, and it came to pass sooner than they expected.

'Redwell? But that's all the way in the south. It's going to take forever to get there,' she had always said, as though the day wouldn't come when she'd need to go there for sanctuary. However that day couldn't be avoided as without warning, the high king of Eradia along with two hundred of his men arrived in Armenia. They had heard the rumors of one born with the mark of destiny and they had come to get her if it were true. It was cold in the north almost everyday and as they warmed themselves by the fire, the three princess siblings; Mara, Lexa and Hertha could hear the horses all the way from the walls around the country. The queen, their mother, came to them quickly and pulled them away.

'Listen to me girls, the moment we all feared is here, the king has heard about Lexa's mark and he's come to fetch her. We cannot be absent from him, but we can help your sister get away. Mara, Hertha, once you stand before the king, no matter what he asks of you, and no matter what he presents to you, you must never mention your sister Lexa or her mark, it is for the good of us all that you prove you are ignorant. If anyone asks you... you do not know her, you have not heard anything about a mark. Is that clear, children?' She asked and they both nodded obediently.

'Come on Lexa,' Arbeit said as he took the girl by the hand. They headed behind the castle where a carriage was waiting to take her away. She was put in with haste and the horses galloped away into the snow covered woods northwest of the country. Arbeit and the king's most trusted knight were the princess' escorts apart from the coachman and his two strong horses.

The high king and his small army reached the castle courtyard where the Armenian royals came to meet and welcome him warmly.

'You're welcome, your grace, what brings you this far north?' King Adrian, the king of Armenia, father to the three girls and the high king's old comrade said as the high king stepped out of his carriage.

'Adrian, it's been long since I came this far north, how have things been in Armenia? I hear the snow has been relentless all year round,' His Greatness, High King Dareg of Eradia said as he walked forward to shake and hug the king of Armenia. On his head was the gilded crown that held the highest power, which bore the marks of all six families. He was an elderly ambitious man who, like his predecessors, was especially sensitive to threats to his throne.

'It's an honor to have you here, Your Majesty, please may we take you inside and get you warmed up? I'm sure you must be tired after such a long trip,' King Adrian suggested but the high king refused spitefully.

'I did not come here to stay, Adrian. You and I have known each other for a long time, and I know you understand that as a king it is treason for you to have something that could destroy my whole reign. And it is a treacherous crime to lie to me or keep such secrets from me. The people are blind, and they would follow anyone so long as they get their daily bread. I need to make sure my throne is secure and my crown is safe,' The High King said.

'Of course your majesty, I understand fully well, and I intend to honor the trust between us,' King Adrian said.

'This must be your lovely wife Hanna,' the high king said as he approached her where she stood with Mara and Hertha.

'She is a spectacle to behold but, I thought you had three daughters instead of two? Where's the other? The one who supposedly bears a peculiar mark on her skin...' the high king asked Adrian who tried to remain as calm as possible.

'I'm sorry Your Majesty, but the existence of my third daughter is only in false rumors meant to unsettle you and put your royal limbs to work. I assure you I have just two daughters, Mara and Hertha here,' he said and introduced them to him.

'Rumors you say. I sure hope they are. Well about any time now we shall see Adrian,' he said and beckoned one of his knights to which he whispered something. Moments later the carriage which had left the castle with Lexa, came returning back to them, and as it appeared from the gate none of them were able to keep their composure any longer. Their panic stricken faces caused the high king to laugh so heartily he almost snorted and the carriage drew to a stop beside him. Queen Hanna started sobbing silently and King Adrian could no longer hide his raging emotions and expressions. Lexa was escorted out of the carriage and so was Arbeit who was shoved to the ground and stunned with a hard kick under the chin by one of the high king's knights, the same one the family had trusted to get Lexa to safety away from Armenia. He had been a spy working for the high king and with Arbeit in no fighting shape he had managed to overpower them easily and hindered their plan to escape with the princess.

The high king showed the girl to her family and pulled back her left sleeve to reveal the mark on her forearm. An eye, which was the crest of her family, seemingly etched into her skin like a scar from birth.

'Now doesn't this girl look a little like someone of royal birth to you Adrian? She even has your eyes!' The high king tauntingly asked, and Adrian dropped pleadingly to his knees.

'Please Your Majesty, I beg of you, please spare this child, she was just unlucky to be born with that cursed mark. I can assure you she has no interest whatsoever in wearing your crown or placing her backside on the throne of Eradia!' King Adrian said and the high king laughed again.

'But then again, you did assure me that there was no such person with such a mark in Armenia. It turned out that you lied to me Adrian! You had three daughters, not two! One of them did bear the mark of destiny. It pains me as well to end this girl's life. She would have been a good wife to my son Wolforn, but the mark can never be removed. If we cut it off it will only appear somewhere else on her body. The only real remedy here is... death and you should know by now that our mutual trust is gone and your assurance means nothing anymore.'

'I'm sorry Your Majesty, I have disobeyed and betrayed...'

'You certainly have King Adrian, and for that by the power that is highest, I High King Dareg Of Eradia, sentence you to death by sundown. You as well as your family will be beheaded by your own executioner today.' The high king proclaimed and Queen Hanna fell to the ground in extreme grief.

'Please Your Majesty, at least spare my wife and children, she had not meant to betray,' Adrian said with tearful eyes as he groveled before the High King.The high king was not done, but upon his honor as an old friend he allowed some mercy.

'Fine then, for the years you have faithfully served me and the fruits of that labor will be reaped by your wife.You and your two good daughters will be executed and your wife will be spared. Your other daughter, the one who carries the mark will come with me to Eradia, where for her crime of bearing such a mark she will be sentenced to death after trial in the capital.'

Hanna cried as Lexa was taken away and put into one of King Dareg's carriages and she hugged her two other girls who were grieving as well.

...And so it was that by sundown three Armenian royals, King Adrian and his daughters Mara and Hertha were executed. One head rolled after the other. This was the single worst day for each Armenian. A day they never forgot for Adrian and his family were very good people. This also happened to be the day when a wandering stranger entered the castle, rumor says, to steal the queen's money. Before that however, he along with many others had witnessed as the young princess was forced into one of the high king's carriages and taken away. He also witnessed the execution which nobody wanted to happen and yet nobody was able to interfere with. The beheading of a father, a twenty year old daughter, and another as young as fourteen. That was a taste of the kind of power commanded by the high king.

That day every Armenian heard about the mark of destiny. The one which genuinely marks those who would become "The King Of Kings" which the princess had on her skin from birth, and from then a new light was shown to them.

The boat reached Dableen, and the old fisherman dropped his two passengers off at the port, where other fishermen, seeing he had managed to bring back not one fish, began to mock him. The Dragon of Yol paid some coins and he accepted them gratefully. They walked up into town where a bustling crowd went about their businesses and headed for a tailor's so she could get a new set of clothes that were more feminine. He also needed to get some food and water for the road, as well as some horses and some weapons too. Their trip south wasn't going to be easy and they knew that better than anyone else.

'Now that we're both traveling together, why don't I introduce myself,' she said. 'I'm...'

'Lexa Menara, second princess of Armenia, daughter of Queen Hanna and the late King Adrian Menara,' he told her and she looked sheepishly at him. Then she sadly lowered her gaze.

'So he really died didn't he?' She asked and remained silent for a moment after.

'It's not fair. You knew who I was the whole time?'

'I did. Your mother paid me to get you out of Carta alive. She didn't mention that I should take you south to Redwell and for that I have to get some extra money from you too,' he said.

'Who are you anyway?' She asked, ignoring everything he said.

'It doesn't matter. You can call me whatever you want,' he said as they reached the place and she went in. A few minutes later she came out, dressed rightly this time. She was a beautiful spectacle, young, naive, with pretty white features, long smooth dark hair and vibrant brown eyes, and though she wasn't clad in her royal garments she looked far better than most young women of her age.

As she came closer to him he noticed she was hungry and he decided to take her to the nearest alehouse. Fancy places would attract too much attention to them and he couldn't have that. They got the horses, then went to eat something when they reached a low class inn. It was already dark when they got their food, and after the first bite which she took carefully and reluctantly, she started to eat non stop. She had been starving the whole time and he wondered why she said nothing about it.

'I didn't know you were that hungry. And you can be so talkative about trivial matters like names,' he said as he gulped down his third mug of ale and ordered a mug more.

'I just felt it was too much to ask you for food too, since I'd be dead if it wasn't for your help,' she said.

'You're different from other royals I know. Even though the bread was hard and the wine was not as sweet as the ones served at your luxurious tables, you devoured it with no complaints at all.'

'Why don't you want to tell me your name?' She asked him and after looking menacingly at her he finally opened up.

'You can call me Raeco. You can never use my name aloud in public. I like my identity to remain a secret,' he said, then quickly reached for his new mug of ale before the lady dropped it on the table. As he gulped it down a stranger came to their table and looked strangely at him.

'Who would've thought I'd be so lucky. I never thought I'd find you here,' he said and looked more closely at him as he dropped the mug.

'It is you! I can't believe it! Dragon of Yol!' As he mentioned the name the whole inn became quiet and when they noticed his face some if not most of them fled the place quickly. Lexa had heard of the legendary criminal who fought for justice but she had no idea that man was Raeco. There were just five people in the inn now. Lexa, Raeco and three other stiff looking men who carried weapons ready to attack. One of these three was the one who had recognized him. He unfolded a piece of paper and showed it to Raeco and his companion. It was a new wanted poster with an insanely high amount of money on it. They had almost every detail of his face intact, except for his nose which was a little crooked and short, but it still looked exactly like him. It had barely been a day and they had already made posters and distributed it across Eradia and some had even managed to get to Dableen before the day could come to an end. He looked at the three well built men observantly and noticed they each had a threatening look. Their clothes, their weapons... They were bounty hunters.

'I heard you can breathe fire, and that your skin is fireproof, also that you once battled an army of high knights alone and you killed them all!' One of the bounty hunters said and he scratched his head.

'The breathing fire part is false but I did fight sixty high knights at once, and they all died, eventually,' he said and told Lexa to leave the place.

'They must've been spineless then. Normally I like to take my bounties alone but since it's the Dragon of Yol I wouldn't mind sharing with two other bounty hunters,' another of the men said and Raeco laughed.

'Just admit you don't want to fight me alone, because you'd die before you try. You guys should also know, that just like whoever you plan to sell me to, I also have spies everywhere.'

'Yeah you sure do Dragon of Yol,' the first one said again.

'Can't you at least wait until I sober up first? I am really drunk now and I don't think I want to fight any of you,'

'You can sober up as I decapitate you, how do you think that sounds?' He asked Raeco who scoffed and reached for his ale. The third hunter pulled out his sword and stabbed the first through the heart, then turned quickly to dodge the other's sword. Then he cut off the second bounty hunter's head which fell to the ground and rolled once. There was blood everywhere and after Raeco finished his ale, he stood to his feet and picked up his own sword which he tied to a belt around his waist.

'Are you hurt in any way young sir?' The third bounty hunter asked and Raeco shook his head.

'Any news for me?' Raeco asked the bounty hunter who nodded and gave him an old map.

'The High King of Eradia wants you so bad he's already mobilized half his forces to block every known path that leads south to Carliff and Redwell. They passed not long ago and they have blocked every path As at now nobody goes to the south without authorization from King Dareg himself or without the Eradian knights' allowance.'

'Is there any way we can head south without being detected?' Raeco asked and he nodded again.

'There is one way, but you're not going to like it. It is... crazy and dangerous,' he said and pointed to a spot on the map. Raeco raised a suspicious brow and stood up to thank the bounty hunter who with his whole heart wished Raeco wouldn't take that deathly route.