Chapter 4 - Kenna
Kenna’s military training was not simple, or basic, or whatever else one might expect from a ceremonial role appointed to a young queen.
Growing up, she spent her summers at a camp deep within the mountain ranges, training alongside the troops she would one day command. From age seven to seventeen, from spring to the autumnal equinox.
She and Ty trained together. They trained under the same commanders, sat at neighboring desks, and paired up for sparring. There was nothing he did that she didn’t do, and no resource available to her that she didn’t drag him along for.
She always considered her skills to be above average. How could they not be when the instructors gave her more special focus and instruction compared to the rest of her peers?
There used to be speculation all up and down the mountain. Where did the princess disappear to for months each summer? Was she accompanying her young friend on his vacation back to the Beyond? Or was she sick? Was that the sinister secret reason her aging grandmother hid her away during the social months? Was there a plague coursing through the Aurelia bloodline, and had the same mystery sickness that had killed her parents come back for the young princess, too? Perhaps this was a sign of festering weakness in the noble Mountain Kingdom?
Far from it. Kenna’s grandmother was no fool. She was well aware of the rumors circulating in the Valley Kingdoms’ courts. But she knew her time on this side of Earth was dwindling with each passing day, and sooner rather than later her granddaughter would have to take up the Mountain Kingdom’s mantle. Her granddaughter would have to be prepared—would have to be ready to face the rumors of weakness head-on. Kenna’s grandmother may not have been warm and loving like Ty’s, but she was political and logical. She had ensured Kenna was ready before she surrendered her life to the goddess. Such training—both in the council chambers and on the sparring mat—would see Kenna’s reign through the political turmoil and instability that her parents’ premature deaths had created.
And it was that training that enabled her to react quickly enough to the click of the gun.
“Down!” She wrapped her arms around Ty’s bicep and dropped to her stomach, allowing her body weight to pull him down with her.
The whizz of a bullet swished over the top of Ty’s head, close enough that its heat stung her cheek.
The snow ballooned around them as they collapsed, momentarily blocking her senses as she rushed to brush it out of her eyes. She heard another shot and threw herself to the side as more snow exploded around her.
Again and again, shots peppered the ground around them. Damn the snow for being so light and wet and not packed down enough for her to get a good grip on it.
She rolled again as a shot landed in the imprint she and Ty left in the snow.
A gloved hand wrapped around her ankle and yanked her forward, down the slope of the hill.
Ty yanked until she was in front of him, blocking her from the trees where the bullets were raining down. Faster than she’d ever seen him move; he drew the crossbow over his shoulder, loaded it, and fired a shot over her head into the trees. There was a cry and the unmistakable sound of a body falling from a lethal height.
Stillness. Silence.
Ty knelt over her, his crossbow already reloaded and aimed at the trees as he searched for another assailant.
She sat up so they were chest-to-chest and brought her hands to his face. “Are you bleeding?” Her voice sounded too shrill in her ears and in the deadly silence of the forest around them.
“No.” His eyes finally dropped to hers. His pupils were blown so wide that there was hardly any green left in his gaze. Melted snow dripped from his hair. There was fear in his gaze as he looked her over. “Are you?”
“No, I think I’m okay.” She scooted back, putting space between them. Her hands shook as she tried to brush the hair out of her face, and her mouth was too dry. A clump of snow slid down her temple, but she hardly noticed. “Holy hell, Ty.” Her voice shook. “That person was aiming for you.”
“I know.” His voice had no inflection, no emotion. His head was on a swivel through the canopy above them. He still hadn’t lowered the crossbow.
She rose onto shaky knees. “We need to get you back to the palace. It’s not safe for you—”
“Not safe for me?” His voice took on a menacing timbre she’d never heard come from him before. “This was a deliberate, premeditated attack meant to isolate you. Don’t talk about me right now.”
“We don’t know that.” She stood and squared her shoulders, forcing herself to look braver than she felt. She marched toward the tree from whence she thought the assailant had fallen. “This could’ve been a hunter who just got confused or scared. Maybe this is his land we’re on. Maybe he was tracking the blue bear, too, and found your snow pants. Maybe that’s how he found us.”
She looked over her shoulder to see if Ty was following her. He was. “Maybe he’s still alive. We can get him help and ask him why he shot at us. There must be a reason.”
“I didn’t shoot for mercy, Kenna. He will not still be alive.”
The hair on the back of her neck rose. “Well. Let’s see.”
But even as she approached, she could tell the man was dead. Even if someone could survive a fall from that height, no one survived a cross bolt through the center of the neck.
She swallowed, her hand fluttering around her collarbone. “Nice shot.”
“Thank you.”
Ty stepped around her and crouched in front of the body, poking it with the tip of his crossbow.
Their assailant was a man, but definitely not a hunter defending his land. He wore armored plates around his forearms and legs that would be too clunky for a man stalking animal prey. His boots looked like thin leather, not durable enough to keep out the wet and the cold. He had a brown cloak that matched the texture and coloring of the dense pine trees scaling the mountain. Kenna wouldn’t let her gaze travel above the gaping hole in his throat. She didn’t need to see the empty eyes and face of her would-be assassin, not when the bushel of wheat stamped on his breastplate was evidence enough.
He was a soldier in the Savannahland’s employ.
Ty stood and stepped back to where she was. "We treat this as an assassination attempt,” he said through the ring, his voice echoing in her head. “This hunt is over.”
“I know.” She pressed her hands against her hair, plastering the wet strands on her face. Her mind raced a mile a minute. “We communicate through these rings only from here on out. I doubt this man acted alone, and we’re already conspicuous enough in all this snow.”
Ty bent down and worked the shotgun out from where the assassin had fallen on it. “You’re my queen; I defer to your leadership here. What do you want to do?”
Kenna looked around. The evidence of their ambush in the snow was clear as day, and their footsteps might as well have been glowing beacons pointing straight to them. They needed to get out of there. They needed to get back to the palace and behind its safe, towering walls. Then she could focus on the act of war from the kingdom to the north.
“We need to get away from here,” she said through the ring. “Any predator with a nose for blood within a mile of here is likely already on the scent. Let’s keep trying to find Collins and Audra. We’ll be safer together, and they have the horses. We’ll never make it back to the palace on foot like this.”
“Agreed.” Ty handed her the shotgun. “He had three shots left in this. You’re a better shot than I am; you’ll put it to better use than I would.”
She took it and checked it over. The summers spent on the range slid to the forefront of her mind as muscle memory—however dusty it was—took control of her movements. She could do this. This was just another training exercise her instructors had drafted to occupy their afternoon. This was just another objective to complete before dinner. She said into the ring, “I’m telling you right now, I will only fire if it’s to defend you or anyone else under my command. I will not act on the offensive in any capacity until I can review today’s events with the Council. I will not give the Savannahland any ground to stand on beyond their initiation of aggression.”
“That’s fine.” Ty rolled the body over and covered it with as much snow as possible. It was still the most damning mound of blood-soaked snow she’d ever seen. “But I will not have the same reservations. You can say I acted as heir to the Beyond and punish me or sanction my parents accordingly. But you are my queen, and I will defend you against every threat that comes our way. And I don’t care if that means I shoot first.”
“I expect as much.” She hefted the shotgun onto her shoulder and practiced aiming at the trees. This was familiar, this situation, however garish. How many times had they conversed exactly like this when running simulations? How many potential scenarios for assassination had the two of them been debriefed on? This was just another role for them to play and a mindset to inhabit. It would all be over soon. She’d be back inside the palace, sitting in front of a warm fire, before she could blink. She’d convene her Council, debrief and discuss their options, and then retire to bed. She’d tell Sam about how scared she was right now and how glad she was that he wasn’t there, experiencing the same fear.
Thank the Goddess she had stood her ground and hadn’t let him come today. He had no military training, not in the way she and Ty did. She couldn’t bear the thought of losing him to the assassin as collateral damage; the guilt that would consume her for jeopardizing his life unnecessarily. She wouldn’t be able to focus and work with Ty to get to safety if she also had to worry about him.
“I wish this were packing snow,” Ty said, breaking her from the spiral of her thoughts. “We’d blend in so much better if we could stick it to us. We’ll have to keep our hoods up so we don’t draw any more attention to ourselves.”
She tightened the drawstrings around her chin for what she hoped was the last time today. They’d be moving with the wind now, so hopefully, no more gusts would knock it back. She lowered the shotgun and stepped to the side, gesturing to Ty and his tracking prowess to take the lead. “Let’s go.”
They walked in silence for ten minutes or an eternity; she wasn’t sure which. Kenna kept the shotgun aimed at the crown of branches above their heads while Ty followed the invisible tracks in the snow. Her shoulders ached, and her arms trembled under the weight of keeping the weapon trained at the sky. She hadn’t moved through rough terrain like this in years—hadn’t practiced stealth in just as long. Her training screeched to a halt after her grandmother passed away. Then, when she ascended the Mountain’s throne, all exercises in arms were strictly forbidden by the Council. It was unseemly for their young queen, they said. Any protection she needed going forward would be provided by Collins. A load of good that was doing her now.
She shouldn’t have let him and Audra go off on their own. If they were guarding the cave, they might’ve noticed the assassin scaling the trees and posting up, waiting for her and Ty to emerge. They might’ve acted and eliminated the threat before she and Ty even knew it existed.
“Kenna.” Ty’s voice stopped her in her tracks. He gestured to the snow before them and the footprints that appeared out of nowhere. She looked around. The snow was perfect and undisturbed, save for this trail that spawned from nothing.
“That’s too easy. Too convenient,” she said.
“I agree. It must be a trap,” Ty replied.
“So we go around. It’s leading down the mountain, so let’s approach from the north.”
“We do not split up. We go in together.”
She nodded. “That’s fine.”
They turned, keeping an eye on the suspicious tracks as they widened their approach. A copse of trees hid their footsteps in the shadows as they moved around the trail.
She scanned her eyes through the branches and found nothing. “Canopy is clear,” she said before training her gaze forward.
An ungloved hand slapped over Kenna’s mouth and nose, and she was hauled back against a man’s chest; her shotgun trapped between her back and his front. The cool kiss of a blade pressed too tightly against her throat. “Make a sound or a move for that gun, and yours will be the next throat I slit,” a scratchy voice whispered in her ear as the soldier took a small step back, bringing her with him.
She thought she did a good job of keeping a quiver out of her voice as she thought down the ring, “Don’t turn now, but I’ve been ambushed.”
She watched as every muscle in Ty’s body locked up. But he did not turn around or give any indication that he was aware of the scene unfolding behind him.
The assailant took another step back, and the back of her head whacked against his metal chest plate. She shot into the ring, “He’s taller—”
Ty spun before she could even get the words out and loosed a bolt she hadn’t seen him notch. It sailed over her head and found its mark with a sickening crunch. The arms around her loosened as a shrill scream pierced the air.
She dropped to her knees and took in a large lungful of air; her hands pressed to where the blade had nicked her skin. But a single breath was all she got before Ty was hauling her up by the armpits. He gave her the quickest once-over before saying, “They’re in the trees. We need to run.”
As if to punctuate her words, another man dropped into the cushy snow from branches just above their head. He, too, wore a breastplate stamped with a bushel of wheat.
It was a trap.
A vice squeezed her heart. She grabbed Ty’s hand in hers and took off the way they came.
She had never run so fast, yet so slow, in her life. The inches of snow worked against every step as she slipped and slid and kicked wet snow up on her back.
Ty dropped her hand and turned, pausing only a moment to shoot another bolt at the newest assailant. Kenna didn’t bother looking to see if it hit its mark before grabbing his hand again. She trusted his skills.
As they skidded around a giant pine tree, she cupped her free hand around her mouth and whistled a three-note tune. She hoped the horses were close enough to hear the recall and come running.
Sporadic bullets rained down around them. The trees. They were all in the trees. And with her arms up around her head, she couldn’t look and find any of the concealed Savannahland men.
Again, Ty fired another bolt into the treetops. She had no idea whether it had found its target.
“How many bolts are left?” Even in her mind, she sounded winded. They had been climbing this mountain for hours. Crawled into and out of a bear’s den. Skinned said bear, too. The air was thin, and she was soaked and frozen to her bones. And however bad off she was, Ty, with one less layer and all the hunting he had done that day, was worse off. They could not keep this up for much longer.
“Not enough.” The fatigue in Ty’s voice confirmed her suspicions. She stumbled a step as another bullet landed in the snow just inches in front of her.
Another assailant dropped from the trees twenty yards ahead of them. He was the biggest yet, but he moved like the snow was no obstacle. His eyes were locked on Kenna as he raced toward them; his arms out wide as if to grab her.
She flipped her shotgun around so that she gripped the nozzle with both hands. And then, just when the assailant was about to grab her, she swung with all the strength she could muster. The butt of the shotgun connected with the side of the assailant’s head with a sickening crunch, and he went down in a heap.
More bullets sprayed into the snow. It was their only saving grace right now, the fact that the assailants were too afraid to actually shoot and injure her. They were being overly cautious with their shots aimed at Ty, and it was costing them.
Kenna knew they wouldn’t be this lucky forever. Eventually, one shot would stick. She pressed closer to Ty, trying to ward off that inevitable possibility.
Through the trees ahead, a horse burst into the clearing. Ty’s mare reared up on its hind legs at the sight of its master in distress.
A little sob broke free of her. The Goddess hadn’t gifted them this mercy a moment too soon. The horse pawed anxiously in the snow as it waited for them under the shade of a nearby pine, as if it could sense the danger of being out in the open.
Ty got there first. He grabbed his mare’s snout and tenderly whispered to her as Kenna fisted the reins and hoisted herself into the saddle. She twisted her shotgun around to the front of her chest and leaned down with a hand outstretched to Ty. “Come on, hurry!”
He grasped her knee and hip. “Go as quickly as you can,” he said, his eyes locked on hers. “Straight to the palace; Honey knows the way. Stop for nothing and no one.”
“What? No.” She grabbed his shoulder, trying to pull him up by sheer might alone. “You’re coming with me.”
He shook his head. His hands on her leg might as well have been an iron bar locking her down as she tried to shake him off and dismount. “You’ll be faster without my added weight. I'll cover for you.”
Then he stepped back and slapped the horse’s flank, and she took off in a gallop down the mountain.
“Ty!” She twisted, trying to see him, but Honey moved too quickly through the trees. Kenna tried to pull on the reins, tried to get the horse to stop, but whatever Ty had whispered in her ear fueled her speed through the snow.
He couldn’t cover for her. He had a few precious bolts left and nothing else. His hunting and carving knives would do him no good against the assailants in the trees. And now that she was gone…now that there was no hindrance protecting him from the shower of bullets…
She had to get back. She couldn’t leave him there. Queen or not, kingdom or not, she would not leave him there to die. If she lost him in this ambush…there would be no coming back from it. She’d unleash the kind of wrath on the Savannahland that would one day be whispered about in legends.
Without another thought, without another second to second-guess herself, she hurled herself sideways off the horse.
The snow that had been her enemy all day did nothing to soften the blow. It was like the Goddess had reached down and plucked all the breath from her lungs. She lay there, gaping like a fish, trying to pull in a sip of air. As the spots in her vision cleared, she rolled with a pained grunt. Snow and mud slid down her face. Through squinted eyes, she peered through the gloom of snow and trees, spotting Ty in the distance.
He was lying up against the base of a tree, his crossbow aimed at the skyline. The cover wouldn’t last for long. Soon, the assailants would reposition and get him in their sights again. There would be nothing left to protect him.
She scrambled to her feet and took off toward him, sticking close to the cover of trees that would hopefully keep her out of sight. She didn’t dare summon the horses back again. Didn’t dare whistle a note that would betray her position.
She stopped and pressed tight against the trunk of a tree. To her right, an assailant dropped from low-hanging branches on silent feet. He didn’t even see her as he crept closer to where Ty was posted up, completely oblivious to the world. The assailant had no gun. His hands hung loose at his sides, as if he intended to finish this off the dirty way.
Kenna’s heart stuttered in her chest. What was he planning? Why hadn’t he shot Ty from the tree? He was moving undetected; Ty didn’t even know he was there.
Kenna lifted her own shotgun and followed the assailant through the lens. She only had three shots of her own; she couldn’t waste them.
Should she shout down the ring at Ty? Give him a heads-up about the attacker at his back? She watched him fire another bolt into the trees. No, his hands were full already. She could handle this for him on her own.
She adjusted her grip and clicked off the gun’s safety. Any lingering reservations melted like a springtime snowfall. She knew what she was doing. She had been trained in situations just like this one, even if it had been an age since she’d drilled one. The gun was comfortable and familiar in her grip.
And it was real. It was personal. Ty was her closest ally and friend. She would never let harm come to him, not while she was Queen and had any say.
As the assailant drew a wickedly long knife from the sheath at his side, she mouthed a plea for forgiveness and pulled the trigger.
Nothing happened.
The gun clicked uselessly in her grip.
She pulled the trigger again. And again and again and again. Nothing.
She almost screamed out loud. It was jammed.
She tossed the useless contraption away and fumbled for the satchel at her side. There had to be something in there that she could use. Something that could protect Ty. The assailant was twenty feet away, and Ty was still none the wiser. He was about to be dead—
Her hands closed around something familiar at the bottom of her pack. She whipped it out and shouted at Ty through the ring, “Duck!”
Ty dropped to the ground just as she shot a bright red flare directly into the assailant’s back.
The blast shook the trees and sent down a cascade of snow. She scrambled to her feet and rushed to where she thought she saw Ty fall, covered by the avalanche.
She dug through the snow, painfully aware of how exposed she was now that all the branches were bare. Her eyes should’ve been trained on the sky. She should’ve been seeking out each and every remaining assailant now that their cover had been quite literally blown. But she could only focus on Ty; on getting him to safety and making sure he could breathe.
A hand grasped hers from beneath the snow, and she pulled back, freeing him from the snowdrift. He gasped for breath, his eyes wide. “Kenna.” He said her name not through the ring but aloud, the desperation in his voice as clear as the danger surrounding them.
He tried to say more, but a coughing fit overtook him, and he bowed over her arm as his body shuddered.
“We need to keep moving.” Her own voice shook as she hauled him to his feet. He stumbled a step before regaining his balance. The snow had turned his golden hair white like the landscape, and there was a blue tinge to his lips. They were out of time.
In a move as foolish as it was desperate, she whistled for the horses again. She didn’t care if it betrayed their position on the mountainside. They were already compromised. Ty leaned forward and hacked again. Spittle landed in the snow. She needed to get him out of this situation and back to warmth and safety. She wouldn’t lose him to something as pathetic as hypothermia or frostbite, not after all they’d already been through today.
She wrested the crossbow from his grip and aimed it at the trees. She’d never fired one before, but the assailants didn’t know that. And she’d seen Ty do it hundreds of times. How hard could it be? She scanned the treetops. Just because she couldn’t see any more assailants didn’t mean they weren’t there. They’d likely fled to neighboring trees after their snowy cover had been blown to bits. She had to remain vigilant.
There was a clatter to her left. She swung the bow hard enough to give her whiplash, but it was just Maple, bursting through the trees and galloping toward them like the Goddess herself was on the chase.
With all her might, Kenna pulled Ty along. He had stumbled more than once by the time they reached Maple. And his grip around her hand was too weak.
“Okay.” She cupped her hands on her knees. “Get on the horse. I’ll boost you.”
His eyes slid over her shoulder, and he listed forward. Her knees buckled under his weight, and she swayed as Ty wrenched the crossbow out of her grip and fired a shot over Maple’s back. He sagged back into her as soon as the shot was off.
She righted herself and took a steadying breath. She needed to get him out of here. Every extra second in this harsh landscape made her heart pound with fresh apprehension. She would not let the mountains or the Savannahland soldiers claim his life.
Gritting her teeth and bracing against Maple’s flank for extra support, she boosted Ty into the saddle, then swung herself up behind him. Her legs ached against the frigid leather seat, but she pressed closer to her friend. Her arms wrapped around his middle as she grabbed the reins. He was shivering so hard that she worried he’d shake himself right off the horse, but somehow he had the strength to lift his crossbow to the trees. She pressed closer, trying to make him an impossible target to hit. She willed whatever warmth she had left inside her bones to infuse him. Then they took off at a gallop down the mountain.
About the Author
Madeline is a fourth-year student at the University of Iowa. When not focused on classwork, she can be found watching football and enjoying a mug of coffee. Madeline loves hanging out with her friends, reading anything fantasy-related, and getting inspiration from TikTok edits and cheesy Pinterest posts.
Instagram: @Madeline_Hussey @madelinehusseywrites
Cover design made using Canva design tools