If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Shadow Monarch in Dc / Shadow Monarch in One Piece!
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access Up to 7 More Chapters if you want !
/-\
The courtyard smelled faintly of horses and sea salt, the wind carrying the echoes of Cintra's bustle beyond the palace walls. The sun had begun its slow descent, turning the banners above the gate into streaks of orange and gold, colors that did little to soften the tension hanging over Count Fabian var Winneburg's shoulders. His cloak, black and trimmed with gold thread, snapped in the breeze as he crossed the cobbles with the calm pace of a man too proud to show frustration but too seasoned to hide urgency.
His Nilfgaardian guards waited by the carriage, armor gleaming darkly in the light. They straightened at his approach, the air around them thick with discipline. His wife stood nearby, her silk travel gown brushed with road dust, holding their son by the hand.
"Fabian?" she asked softly as he neared, her voice both a question and a plea.
"We're leaving," he said simply, tone clipped and final.
She blinked, taken aback. "Already? You've only just met with the Queen and..."
"This was only a stop," Fabian interrupted, not unkindly but firmly. He loosened his gloves, eyes flicking toward the palace gates. "We shouldn't tarry here longer than needed. I had a message from His Imperial Majesty, and I've delivered it. That is all. Our destination remains Kaedwen."
Something in his voice low, contained, but edged with iron ended the discussion before it could begin. His wife studied him for a heartbeat, saw the hard line of his jaw, and understood there was more to his haste than diplomacy. Still, she drew a quiet breath and nodded, lifting her chin with the quiet dignity that Nilfgaardian women always shown.
"As you wish, my husband," she said, her hand tightening on their son's shoulder.
Arven looked between them, confusion flickering across his young face. He didn't understand the sudden rush, only that his father's voice left no room for questions. The boy's small fingers twisted in the fabric of his tunic. He wanted to speak to ask why, to plead to stay just a little longer but the words stayed trapped behind his teeth.
Because he was thinking of her.
That girl. The one from earlier. Her laughter. The way her eyes had caught the light green and bright and alive, unlike anything he'd ever seen before. He'd only seen her for a few moments, yet the image lingered as if she'd carved it into him.
A soldier opened the carriage door. "Count, the road is clear," he said in thickly accented Common Speech.
Fabian nodded, ushering his wife and son inside. "Then we waste no more daylight." He climbed in after them, the door shutting with a solid thud.
The caravan began to move. Hooves clattered, wheels creaked, and the black-and-gold banners of Nilfgaard rippled against the wind as they rolled down the cobbled road, away from Cintra's towers.
From the small window of the carriage, Arven looked back. The city's walls stood proud and distant now, the great banners of the fluttering in defiance against the sea breeze. The further they rode, the smaller they became, until they were no more than pale shapes on the horizon.
Inside, his father sat with hands clasped over his knee, face unreadable, lost in thought. His mother glanced at him once, concern in her eyes, but said nothing.
And Arven… he just stared out that window.
The wheels rolled on. The soldiers' armor clinked. The sky darkened to violet. Yet in his mind, he could still see that courtyard. That flash of sunlight on ashen hair. Those emerald eyes meeting his own, curious and fleeting as a dream.
He didn't know why it mattered why something so small stayed with him but as Cintra disappeared behind them, he made himself a quiet promise.
That one day, he would see those eyes again.
Even if he didn't yet know her name.
****
KAEDWEN -
The forests of Kaedwen were old. The kind of old that breathed and whispered and remembered blood. The cart creaked along a narrow, uneven path where the roots of ancient oaks jutted through the soil like gnarled bones. Moss clung to everything, stones, branches, even the wheels of the carriage as though the forest wished to swallow them whole.
They had been on that road for hours, the light long gone, and the world dimmed into the dull glow of lanterns swinging from the cart. Occasionally, a hoot from some unseen owl echoed through the canopy. But no merchant had passed for some time now. The last one, a balding man with a crooked smile and a voice that carried false cheer, had sworn the road to Ard Carraigh was "clear as a priest's conscience."
Fabian var Winneburg had started to doubt that man's words not long after.
He sat stiffly in his seat, one hand resting on his knee, the other occasionally brushing his trimmed beard an old habit when deep in thought. Beside him, his wife leaned slightly toward their son, who had fallen asleep.
The forest grew thicker still, the air dense and damp. The hooves of the horses clopped softly on the dirt, but even those sounds began to feel too loud, too sharp. Every creak of the wheel, every snort from a steed felt like a noise that shouldn't exist here like they were trespassers in a place not meant for them.
One of the Nilfgaardian guards riding ahead a burly man in black and gold, his cloak wet from mist raised his hand. "Count," he called out, voice low but urgent. "It's too dark. We should camp for the night."
Inside the cart, Fabian's gaze flicked toward his wife, then to his sleeping son. He could see the fatigue in both their faces. But beneath that… he felt something else in the air. A pressure.
"No," Fabian said sharply, shaking his head. "We can't stay in this damned forest for the night."
"Count, with all respect..."
"I said no," Fabian snapped, his tone leaving no room for argument. He adjusted his cloak and looked out into the dark stretch ahead. "We keep going. I want us out of these woods before dawn."
The guard hesitated, jaw tightening, but finally nodded. "As you command."
They moved again, slower this time. The horses snorted uneasily, their breath visible in the chill. From inside the carriage, the trees looked closer now, bending almost unnaturally toward the road as if curious who dared disturb their slumber.
The silence deepened.
Then movement.
At first, it was subtle, a shadow between trunks. The swaying of leaves without wind. But then it came again. A darker shape, sliding between the trees, low and smooth.
One of the guards muttered a curse. "Is that… a tree moving?"
Another leaned forward, eyes narrowing into the dark. "Could be bandits," he said, though his voice betrayed little confidence in his own guess.
Inside the carriage, Fabian's wife tensed. "Why are we stopping?" she asked, voice soft, cautious.
Fabian leaned toward the window, frowning. "What's going on? Why did you stop?"
From outside came a quick reply "Nothing, Count!"
But then, before Fabian could press further, it came.
A sound that cut through the still air like a knife.
A long, drawn-out howl deep, mournful, and close. Then another. And another.
The guards straightened immediately, hands flying to the hilts of their swords. The horses stamped, restless, tossing their heads and snorting in panic.
Fabian's eyes darkened. "Wolves.." he muttered under his breath.
The Nilfgaardians fanned out instinctively, forming a loose circle around the carriage. Their armor gleamed faintly in the lantern glow, and steel whispered as blades were drawn.
/-\
If you Like this story! Check out my other stories! Shadow Monarch in Dc / Shadow Monarch in One Piece!
&
If you wish to read more or simply support me than check out my patreon at
"https://www.patreon.com/FrenzyAren"
You can Get Access Up to 7 More Chapters if you want !