The sky was painted in multiple shades of oranges, purples, and pinks as the sun set. Its last few rays glanced about this side of the world once more before fading off into the distance. The wind waved good-bye; fingering the honey-colored hair of a young woman. She stood on the balcony outside her room and let out a sigh. It was late and her father was going to be making his nightly rounds soon. As she headed toward the open door, a lingering ray of sunlight glinted off an object in the garden. Her brows creased and emerald eyes filled with confusion. ‘What could that be?’ she thought to herself. Thinking she was seeing things from lack of sleep, she rubbed her eyes and glanced at the garden again. The glow stayed for a few more seconds before disappearing.

Curiosity filled her as she ambled back into her room. Thinking that it should only take a few minutes, she peaked out into the hallway before stepping out and quietly shutting the door behind her.

“Where do you think you’re going, little missy?” A baritone voice echoed down the corridor. She gave a startled gasp before spinning around and ducking her head. A short and stout man strolled up to her with a lit candle in his grasp.

“I was just heading down to the kitchen for a glass of water, my lord.” she lied.

“How come you didn’t get a drudge to do it for you?” he inquired. His emerald eyes searched hers but found nothing.

“I didn’t want to bother them at this time of night. Plus I’m going to become fat and stupid if I don’t do something once in awhile.” she replied easily. The last part always appeared in this conversation with her father. After giving her a defiant stare; he grunted and dismissed her with a wave and a short ‘fine but hurry it up’ before making his way toward the staircase. She waited until she could no longer see his bulky, pajama clad body then she scurried off in the direction of the main doors.

--

Silently cursing herself as she approached the gardens she pulled at the sleeves of her nightgown. Maybe she should have brought a robe or something to keep her warm. She sighed; then again her father would have known something was up.

Now where had that object been when she had looked out her window?

Ah-ha! She caught sight of a foreign object near her favorite tree. Getting closer to the object she could pick out its shape: square. Picking it up she noticed it was a box about the length and width of her hand and as thick as a walnut.

The surface of the box was made of a shiny plastic, there were no legible writings on it, and it was coated in a thin layer of some slimy substance. She grimaced at the feeling, but held onto it nonetheless. Maybe her father would know what it was.

She shook her head. No showing it to her father would be a bad thing. He would ask her where she got it and probably order one of his drudges to have it burned immediately. Knowing him, he probably wouldn’t even look at its contents. She lowered her head as a memory of her lost friend surfaced her mind. ‘Father wanted nothing to do with him either…’ she thought to herself.

“Father! Father I need your help. Please!” A young girl cried from the doorway. Her hair and clothes clung to her body from the pouring rain outside; puddles forming were she stood. She held a piece of red cloth tightly in her grasp. Finally an angry man came down the stairs. “Dad, I need your help. There’s a boy outside he’s really skinny an’ pale an’ he’s hurt. Not to mention he coughed up blood before he passed out! We need to get him to a warm bed an’ in some warm dry clothes immediately.”

He rushed out the door past his daughter and came up to the small circle of his guards that were told to fetch his daughter a half an hour ago. “Move outta the way! Let me see ‘im.” The guards scattered and he bent down toward the little boy, who was not much older than his own daughter. The boy’s dark brown hair was sticking to his forehead and his pale form was completely limp. The lord glanced down at the rip in the boy’s shirt and saw a deep gash, he grimaced. His daughter must have torn off some cloth to try and clean it. Shaking his head he spoke, “He looks like that beggar fellow’s kid. I think his name is Kevin, he’s father Joshne was arrested a few months ago by a nearby village for attempted rape if I’m correct.”

“What do you want us to do, my lord? Should we prepare a room?” One of the oldest guards spoke up for the group, murmurs echoed his inquiry.

The lord gave the group an exasperated look before standing up and turning back toward the doors. “Are you telling me you want me to save this lowlife, Earl? He’s a waste of time and precious medicine so just get him off my doorstep.”

“Sir…?” A younger guard called out nervously to the annoyed lord. He was only 6 years older than his lord’s daughter and the youngest of the lord’s top-trained guards. His sky blue eyes glanced at his lord asking for help.

“What do you want, Sean?!” The lord whirled around, glaring at the redhead. His expression softened when he saw Sean holding his blubbering daughter. “Koriana…”

“Oh daddy!” She ran to him and clung to his leg. “You can’t just leave him out here!”

He peeled her off his leg and bent down. “Honey, we can’t save every person you bring here. With the latest war we hardly have enough medicinal herbs to take care of our own sick and injured.” His daughter sniffled.

Earl and another guard picked up the limp figure of Kevin.

Koriana pushed out of her father’s arms and rushed after them. “No! Put him down! We have to take him to a bed and get him taken care of! I’ll even go down to Sara, the town healer, and get some medicine. Just…give him a chance, please? We can’t let him die like mama did!” she begged.

The lord flinched as his daughters words registered. His wife…She had died from an injury soon after his son was born. It wasn’t supposed to be anything more than a scratch, but it grew worse until she died. When they had taken her body to get cleaned up for the funeral they saw that the ‘scratch’ had turned into a huge gash. He let out a long sigh of remorse before turning toward his guards. “You heard her, men. She’s the boss on this one. Just make sure she doesn’t over work herself.” With that he turned and headed back through the doors, leaving his guards to receive orders from his daughter.

--

Thank goodness she had got her father to change his mind even if she had played her mothers card. “It’s been 14 years. Kevin…I wonder where you are.” she thought out loud to herself.

“Wasn’t he the one who left a little after he got better to search for his father?” Koriana jumped at the voice but relaxed when she saw it was her redheaded friend.

“Uh…yeah that was him.”

“I thought so. Nobody has seen or heard about him since he left.” She let her honey bangs cover her eyes in despair.

Thoughts of that day played in both of their minds. A few minutes of silence washed over them until Koriana looked up at him. “Just wondering…why are you out here Sean?”

“Travis...er...your father told me to come get you, Kori. He knew you weren’t going to the kitchen. Now come along my dear.” He chuckled. He took hold of her elbow to steer her in the direction of the mansion. The movement caused the slimy box to fall from Koriana’s grip. Sean bent down to pick it up when Koriana snatched it off the ground. “What’s that Kori?”

“Oh this…it’s the reason I came down to the garden. I saw it outside my window and had to find out what it was.”

“Ever hear the saying “Curiosity killed the cat”?”After receiving a death glare from the girl he sniggered. “Okay, okay forget I said anything. So…what’s in it?”

“Dunno. I’ll find out in the morning ‘cause—” She failed miserably at trying to stifle the yawn that escaped her throat.

“You’re tired.” Sean finished for her. He turned toward the mansion with his arm held out as an invitation. “Let’s get you to bed. It’s late, plus Travis will be mad at me if I don’t get you inside soon and I don’t feel like doing extra chores for the next month…” She walked past his arm and he sighed in defeat. The rest of the trip to her room was in silence.

--

“Have you already put Jason up to bed?” Koriana asked when they reached her room. Sean shook his head.

“Nah, your father did though.” Things got hushed for a moment before he spoke up again. “You should get to bed Kori. I’ll be on watch in the eastern towers tomorrow if you aren’t too busy to talk to me.”

She giggled. “Okay after I finish all my morning chores and back-breaking labor I promise I will go talk to you…when you’re on break anyway!”

Sean chuckled and shook his head. “Like your job is hard...just pretending to behave…..Goodnight Kori.”

“Goodnight Sean.” Waving goodbye, she shut the door, put the box on her dresser, and had just reached her bed when she heard a knock on her door. “Come in.” she called.

Sean popped his head in the doorway once more and glanced about her candle-lit room. “Forgot to mention something…”

Koriana raised her eyebrow in confusion before gesturing with her hands for him to continue.

“Promise you’ll tell me what’s in the box tomorrow?”

“Sure.”

“You’d better.” He replied once more before leaving her room and silently shutting her door. ‘Tomorrow was going to be an interesting day…’ she thought before getting ready for bed.

--

Koriana’s mind started to register it was morning when the sounds of the guards and warriors practicing in the courtyard reached her. The sun was also waking her up too, for it shined on her face causing the inside of her eyelids to turn a bright red-orange. She grumbled in annoyance. Today was not good in the least. She threw a pillow over her head and relished in the fact that neither sounds nor did sun reach her. Or so she thought…

She had just started to drift back to sleep when she heard a faint noise coming from the northeast side of her room near the door. In fact it was her door. She slowly uncovered her head and let her eyes adjust to the light then threw the pillow to the other side of her bed. “What?” Koriana answered, her voice heavy with sleep and irritation.

“You are to report downstairs in Lord Travis’ office immediately, Miss Koriana.” A deep, masculine voice responded. It was probably just Harold. The devious bastard…

“Whatever, go away.” She ground out, yawning afterwards. She really didn’t like that her father always sent that man to wake her up. He is one of those guys that are nice and polite on the outside, but makes you feel like you’re doing something you shouldn’t be…or that’s just the feeling she gets when he is around.
The sound of feet moving alerted her to his departure.

Stretching, Koriana sat up on her bed and glanced around her room. The walls covered in twenty different shades of lavender painted in precise patterns with little crimson and sapphire roses, appearing every once in a while on peacock green vines. The crimson curtains that were parted to the sides to allow sunlight in; the peacock green bed canopy with hits of reds and purples. The deep brown hardwood floors that covered the floor reminded her a little of dirt.

Sighing, she snapped back to the present and knew that when Harold called her “Miss” that whatever her father wanted her for was very serious. She got up and headed toward the southwestern wall and pulled on one of the two roses, that were added on to the wall, and it opened up into a large walk-in closet. She glanced about and wondered what she should wear.

“Today is a red day.” She muttered to herself as she pulled out a red shirt from one of the racks. Also grabbing a pair of jean shorts she sauntered over to the southeastern wall and pulled on another rose, this one lead toward a huge bathroom. Since her father wanted to see her “immediately” she sat her stuff on the bench in the middle of the room and walked toward the shower. She turned the handle all the way toward the hot side and undressed while she waited for it to warm up. Once it was hot she turned the handle a little bit until it reached her desired temperature and stepped it. No matter what happens, she was determined to make the day turn out well.