Welcome Home, Princess

Zatana meets her new family.

Zatana wiped away her tears and tried to relax against the plush carriage seats, her female guard, Corina, sat across from her looking out the window to give Zatana some privacy. The journey to Elleria would not take long they were the closest kingdom to Alyrius.

Zatana started to fall asleep and just as she started to slip into sleep her personal guard, Raven, yelled and the carriage came to a startling halt almost knocking Zatana to the floor.

Corina helped her up and grabbed her sword, outside fighting could be heard.

"Help them," Zatana said but Corina shook her head.

"No I must stay with you the guards can handle them." Fear filled Zatana but not for herself but for the people protecting her.

A loud thud hit the carriage and moments later the door was ripped open by a cloaked figure Corina instantly attacked him pushing him back and leaving Zatana unattended. Zatana laid a hand on the dagger Linden had given her and wished her sword wasn't with the rest of her bags.

She inched towards door and peaked out, Corina and the hooded figure were still fighting other attackers were being run into the forest by guards but some attackers stayed and fought.

On the ground lay Raven, the source of the thud they'd heard Zatana quickly climbed down and kneeled beside him, blood oozed out of a gash on his side but he was alive, Zatana took off her cloak and pressed it to the wound in an attempt to stop the blood.

"Don't die," she whispered and sent a quick prayer. He moaned but stayed unconscious. More riders approached and Zatana's heart clutched knowing her people would have a hard time fending them off.

The head rider headed straight for Corina sword raised without meaning to Zatana screamed alerting the cloaked man who turned and took a swipe at the head riders horse who immediately reared and threw the unsuspecting rider to the ground seeing her opening Corina cut the cloaked man down. The other riders had gotten rid of the attackers and captured a few, some rushed over to the fallen man while Corina ran to Zatana's side.

"Princess, are you harmed?" She asked checking Zatana for wounds.

"I am fine but Raven's hurt badly he needs help and soon."

"Fine? With the way you screamed I thought you had been hurt," Zatana shook her head.

"No that rider to was coming at you and I just screamed thinking he was going to hurt you" Corina smiled little. "Thank you for your worry but I was fine, those are the Royal guards of Elleria didn't you see the crest on their armor?"

Zatana looked at the soldiers and upon closer inspection saw the crest of the Eagle, the Ellerian seal instantly she felt silly for screaming and guilty for getting the guard hurt when he was only trying to help.

Looking over at him he appeared to be fine just very angry and glaring right at her she tried to look away from his burning gaze but couldn't. Her other guards formed a half circle around her as the Ellerian guards approach with the fallen rider in the lead, Corina pulled her to her feet while another guard cared for Raven.

"Is the Princess alright," one of the Ellerian guards asked.

"Yes, she appears to be fine but we would like to get her completely to safety as soon as possible and get our wounded some medical care," Corina answered. The fallen rider shifted his glare from Zatana to look down at Raven.

"We have no way to carry this man the rest of the way." His voice was deep but smooth almost nice if it hadn't been laced with anger.

"Are you suggesting we leave him?" Corina said outraged. He glared even harder, something Zatana didn't think was possible.

"We have no other choice with no way to transport him and assassins lurking we have to go"

"Put him the carriage," Zatana ordered, all eyes turned to her.

"Princess?"

"I said put him in the carriage we will not leave him he put his life at risk for me the least I can do is try my best to save him." Still they stared.

"Corina will ride his horse and I'll watch his condition while we travel the rest of the way."

"You heard the Princess, get him inside," Corina barked. The rider looked at Zatana scowling at her disobedience but there was something else in his eyes but gone too quickly for her to identify. Once Raven had been moved to the carriage and Zatana with him the journey continue. Zatana tried her best to care for Raven but he soon became feverish and she feared they would not be able to save him.

The journey didn't take too much longer, when the carriage stopped moving, Zatana quickly climbed out so her guards could get to Raven, the Ellerian guards directed them to the nearest doctor and they were gone.

Please let him live. Zatana thought. The head rider stayed and led them inside the palace, because they'd arrived so late Zatana couldn't see much of the land. Maids stood waiting for her the head rider gave her a quick once over before departing Zatana stuck her tongue out at his back making a young maid giggle causing the older ones to shush her. They led Zatana and Corina up to the bedroom Zatana would be staying in.

The room held a big four-poster bed, a desk and large wardrobe with a window seat and a balcony, the walls were painted in a soft buttercup yellow the bed had a handcrafted quilt and a lace canopy draped over it. Corina had grabbed her travel case and sat in next to the desk where a fresh basin of water sat waiting for her.

"Please take time to freshen up before coming down to dinner," one of the maids said, Zatana nodded and the maids departed.

Welcome home to me. Zatana thought wearily.

Reviews

[Sean Reigner]

Pretty good, I wanted to care more about the characters. I have some
pointers if interested. :)

[Gem]

Yes I'm always interested in help

[Sean Reigner]

Cool, first; Way too much with her name. Just my humble opinion. Instances could replace it with "her" and "she" to point back her character. It's an ok plot to start with.
That this is only a chapter, It may fit in the larger picture coming up. Hard to say.
' I wanted to care more about Raven's possible demise, But don't know much about him.
other than that, It has good potential. Please keep it coming!

[Gem]

I added another chapter today, thank you for the advice irs still a work in progress so any help is always welcome the whole thing was pretty much written while I ignored my health lecture so I haven't done much editing lol Raven comes back in the 4th chapter I believe but I'll add in some more details to this one. Thanks again :)

[Sean Reigner]

Your welcome!