Heir to the Sundered Crown Read Online Free PDF Page A

in her eyes was mesmerising. She rounded on the jailors and tried to force her way past them, but the bigger man simply pushed her back to the ground. With a click the cell was locked and the two jailors walked away cackling to one another.
    “Bastards!” screamed the girl.
    “Let me out of here!” Another twenty minutes passed with the girl screaming obscenities at the jailors.
    Finally Kaiden had had enough. “They won’t listen to you and where in god’s name did you come up with such foul words.”
    The girl jumped only just noticing the chained knight on the far wall of the cell.
    “You startled me. I didn’t know you were there…” she said nervously. She paused as she remembered what the jailors had said. A look of fear and doubt passed over her face. “I’m no whore so don’t you touch me.” She said defiantly.
    The girl was attractive even though she was covered in mud and dirt. Her green eyes were mesmerising and the look of determination gave her a look of strength. Her golden hair fell to her shoulders, matted and knotted but nonetheless appealing. Her tunic was torn almost revealing her breasts. She covered herself as best as she could and held the torn material in place.
    “What’s your name?” asked Kaiden.
    The girl looked at him, curiosity and mistrust in her eyes.
    “Alira”
    “Well Alira, my name is Kaiden; I am a knight in the order of Niveren. I promise I won’t hurt you.”
    Alira’s eyes went wide as he told her who he was. A look of respect showed in her eyes which were quickly replaced by suspicion.
    “What is a knight of Niveren doing in a hole like this?”
    Kaiden sighed and told her his story. Afterwards Alira laughed at the knight’s predicament and his foolishness.
    “I never thought a knight could judge something so badly.” She said sarcastically. Kaiden scowled at her, embarrassed that this peasant girl thought him a fool.
    “Well then what’s your story?” he asked brusquely.
    She went to the cell door and checked to see that the jailers were nowhere in sight before she turned to him with a mischievous look in her eyes.
    “I’m a mage,” she whispered.
    Kaiden stared at the girl in disbelief.
    “That’s impossible. A Mage hasn’t been seen in these parts for decades. They all went into hiding or fled to the Mage realm of Caldaria to the far north. And another thing... a mage would never let her-self be caught by the baron of Retbit.” He shuddered at the thought.
    Alira looked at her feet.
    “I’m not a very good one okay.” She admitted sadly. ‘My father died before he could teach me anything important, and I was sent to live with my grandmother when I was eleven. She hated magic and she hated me and all of what my father stood for and practised.”
    Kaiden nodded his head in sympathy. He too had lost his father when he was young. Sir Fredrik of the Marble Shore had been killed in battle against one of the many warlords that threatened the peace of the kingdom. The Knights of Niveren and other orders were constantly fighting to remove them from the world.  
    “It’s a pity. I was hoping you were some mighty warlock and could make these gods damn chains remove themselves from my wrist.” Replied Kaiden jokingly.
    “You’re a Knight of Niveren, your kind hunts us just as much as the others, and yet you joke.” Said the girl seriously.
    An awkward silence followed but for the next two days and nights the two talked and told each other tales.
    *
    On the dawn of Kaiden’s fifth month of captivity the Baron of Retbit himself came to the cell. He was a dour looking man in his early fifties; his grey and balding head was covered in pox marks. He was a short man no more than five feet tall but nonetheless he gave off an imposing aura. Now as he stood before the cell of the knight who had dared favour his son he smiled evilly.
    “I thought you would like to know sir knight that I have taken the castle at Rook’s peak. The siege was long and costly