Procrastinate

Ashton's POV

As soon as I leave my father's office I rush to the guards to get an update from my men. I'm hoping that they will have already found the scouts to save me the effort.

"I'm sorry your majesty, the search parties have returned and found no trace or trail to follow. The king ordered their return before they could search the full road though."

"They are my men, not his, they should have finished their task!" I shout while fireballs appear at my fists making the man flinch.

"Sorry your majesty but disobeying the king is treason"

"Stupid, stubborn, interfering old man" I grumble and throw the fireball at a nearby tapestry hanging on the wall. The guard rushes to put the fire out as I storm off.

I sigh and head to Merla. I hate the old krone, but she is a very powerful Fae. As predicted she is of little help spouting nonsense like "make love not war" and "trust your heart". I swear the fumes from the potions she brews are getting to her. She did give me a potion book which might be useful since I never bothered to learn the art in class.

I'm half way through packing my things when I decide that should call my father's bluff. He would not banish his only child and I really don't want to go on this voyage. I know I'm strong enough to take out an entire army, but the whole walking and tracking thing sounds like a lot of effort.

I decide that I will have a banquet lunch and then call on one of my regular girls to keep me busy.

The girl (I don't remember her name) is undressing as my father bursts into my room.

"This is how you prepare!" He shouts.

"I don't think I will be going, I have much more interesting things to do here" I reply and wink at the girl.

"That's it, get out!" The girl jumps up and runs off

"What?"

"You have 5 minutes to gather your things and then I'm sending the guards to escort you out."

"You are not serious" I say shocked

"I suggest you dress yourself quickly, the dark road is not a place to walk nude" he says harshly and storms out.

I hate him so much. I throw a gust of wind at the door slamming it shut. I dress in my leathers and grab my half filled bag about to finish packing when the guards arrive and throw me out of the castle. I'm so angry I consider burning it down but I control myself.

John arrives running out of the castle. He is my best guard and closest friend.

"I'm sorry Ash, I came when I heard" he says.

"It's not your fault, that man has been looking for a reason to banish me since I was born" I say

"Oh come on, you do give him a lot of reasons" John tries to joke

"I can never please him, so what's the point trying" I shrug

"Well this time there are lives at stake and you are the strongest warrior, you will draw less attention than a search party and no one is a threat to you" he says.

"Well that is true, but I don't see why I have to do it alone, and I didn't even finish packing" I grumble

"You would just annoy anyone who came with you, I for one would not want to hear your annoying whining" he jokes

"Do you want me to beg you to come?"

"I'm not allowed, the king said he would lock me up if I helped... But I did manage to smuggle you this" He hands me a pack of food and other supplies.

"Thank you" I say and hug him

"Wow did his royal Highness just say thank you" he says.

"Don't push it" I warn, anyone else who tried to talk to me like that would have been punched by now, but I love John's mum too much to hurt him.

Taking the supplies I reluctantly head towards the dark road.

Ava’s POV

I have barely been walking 10 minutes and I'm already regretting my decision. My heart is pounding in my chest and I'm scanning every inch of the surrounding forest for dangers. Scenes pull at my memory but I try to suppress it, not wanting to feel more on edge than I already do. I touch a tree and reorient myself to follow the trail to where Ezra went. The vision of the path appears in front of me.

I head north to the boarder. Suddenly from a tree a large black panther jumps down. I jump back and run as fast as I can away, not caring about anything except escape. I keep checking over my shoulder and I notice that it is not there so I slow and hide behind a bush. A voice comes in my ear "What is someone so pretty doing here all alone?” it hisses.

I don't answer, I just run again. I hear a howl and the sound of paws thudding behind me. It must be a shifter, I don't know much about them, but they can change into any creature not just a wolf like us. I shudder, how can I escape something that can change to suit the environment. I keep running anyway. I am so busy looking behind me for signs of the shifter that I don't see the cliff in front of my until I'm right on the edge. I feel the rubble give way under my feet and I slip off the edge. I scream and close my eyes.

Well, death by falling is probably preferable to whatever the shifter had planned.

I brace for the fall, but it never coes. I open my eyes, I'm not dead. I carefully look down. I'm balanced precariously on a tree that is growing out of the cliff face. I should feel relieved, but I'm still too full of terror looking at the 200 ft drop that is below me.

My wolf would be pretty useful just now, it would probably be able to jump up, but I can't make the distance. I look up to try to work out a way back to the road and as I do I see a man staring over the edge and laughing. I press myself close to the wall praying he did not see me. I hear my heart beat loud in my ears and worry it will give me away. As I hear the laughter grow quieter I risk a glance up and see that he has moved on.

I breath, not realising I had been holding my breath. I'm grateful that the danger has passed until I remember I'm stuck on a tree on the side of a cliff. Fabulous.