Book One: Chapter 8

Eunbi sleeps lightly, a habit rooted in years of sleeping on the cold ground, in the midst of a battlefield. She is used to waking at the slightest noise, used to hours of staring at the dark canopy above her bed as she waits for the dawn light to flicker through the cracks in the shutters on her windows. When she was a squire to her Uncle Gustus, under Sooyoung’s tutelage, she would be woken with a hand shaking her shoulder, or a sharply barked command. As queen of her people, she learnt to wake with the dawn and sleep long after the bell tolled the midnight hour.

Now, she somehow awakens moments before the knock comes to her door. In those few seconds she lies still and stares up at the canopy, where the silver threads catch the light of the guttering fire in her grate. The wind whistles against the shutters, and something itches beneath her skin, like a spark running through her veins.

At the knock, she swings her legs from the bed, calling for entry. She can tell by the fire in the grate that it is not morning yet, and a fine prickle of fear runs down the back of her neck.

One of her Queensguard guide in the waiting guard, who gives a deep bow at her attention. The torch her Queensguard carries casts flickering light throughout the room, illuminating their faces in ghoulish shadows. Her shoulders square at the sight of the guardsman, and she watches impassively as he straightens and begins, hesitantly.

“Your majesty, sorry to disturb you but something has happened.”

“What?” Eunbi stands from the bed, reaching for her hose and pulling them up her legs. Both of the men look away, colouring at the sight of their queen dressing so brazenly before them, but she ignores them. “What is it? Speak!” She demands.

“Lady Sakura, your majesty, there’s been an attempt on her life.”

Her fingers still, eyes widening and she has to take a moment to gather herself before she can speak again without her voice shaking. “An attempt on her life?”

“Yes, my queen.” The man is trembling now, obviously fearful of her wrath, but she only pulls on the rest of her hose and shrugs into the housecoat tossed at the end of her bed. Striding past him, she pushes her feet into boots and beckons him to follow her.

“Where is Lady Sakura?”

“In her chambers, your majesty.” The man is hurrying to keep up with her, but she dares not slow down. Instead, she turns back to her Queensguard and says.

“Fetch Lady Chaewon and the rest of the Queensguard, tell them to meet us in the south tower.”

Her Queensguard nods and strides away, and the guard beside her has enough sense to grab a torch from a sconce they pass to light their way. As they pass open windows, Eunbi can see that the sky outside is dark but for the moon shining down, the wind slipping through the open windows to send a chill down her spine. The castle is almost deserted, but the few passing maids and pages press themselves against the wall, almost falling to their knees in their desperation to show deference. Eunbi knows that her face must be a thundercloud of fury, but it is all she can do to keep from bursting into a run and screaming at everyone that passes her.

There are guards gathered around the doorway to Lady Sakura’s room and for a moment Eunbi feels her heart sink. She hadn’t asked the guard whether Lady Sakura was alive, but there is something about the pale set to the watcher’s faces that makes dread curdle in her stomach.

They move aside for her like waves and she finds her path to the door unobstructed. In the doorway, her step falters and she draws in a breath as she takes in the room. The shutters on the window are wide open, letting in a blast of cold air from the frosty night outside. It seems as if every surface is covered in blood, red and dark, congealing into sticky puddles on the floor and the bed sheets and the table. Someone has lit the candles around the room, giving it a warm glow, but the fire in the hearth is cold and silvery light shines in from the moon outside. There are two bodies in the room. One has been left mangled and bleeding out against the stone floor, dressed in dark robes with most of the innards of his neck showing. The other has been laid more carefully on a cloth and covered in a white sheet. For one, heart stopping moment, Eunbi thinks that is Lady Sakura, but then her eyes fall on Nyko who leans over the bed, tending to a figure upon it.

He looks up at her approach, bowing his head quickly, but his hands are hurriedly back to work as he cleans out a gash on Lady Sakura’s hip. Her nightdress, stained dark with blood and ripped, has been pulled up, a fur covering her modesty. Hesitantly, Eunbi inches closer, pausing an only barely respectable distance away to look down at the unconscious girl. Her skin is wan and pale, and dark bruises are already beginning to appear at her neck and face, a cut to her forehead matting her golden hair with blood. Both her hands are bandaged, and she lies incredibly still and quiet. On the bed beside her sits Faith, blood staining her white coat around and across her back. Her eyes are dark and dangerous when she looks up at the intruder, hackles rising before she realises that it is Eunbi.

“Nyko, how is she?” Her voice is strained with the effort of keeping it even and the healer makes a soft, concerned noise in the back of his throat as he dips her cloth in the bowl of hot water at his side. The water is already dark with blood, Eunbi realises with a sickening drop of her heart.

“Badly injured, but she should live.” Nyko tells her honestly, reaching for another set of bandages to press to the wound. With his free hand, he touches gently to her forehead. “She will suffer from this head wound, I think. And her hands will take time to recover. It does not seem as though the blade cut too deeply into her hip, she was protected by the bone.”

“Good,” Eunbi releases a shuddering breath. “She must have fought him.”

“Yes, and hard,” Nyko adds softly.

A throat clearing behind her makes her turn, and she finds Chaewon, in leather armour and a white cloak, stood in the doorway watching her with a dark expression.

“Chaewon, there was an attack on Lady Sakura’s life.” Eunbi welcomes her into the room, and Chaewon makes her way to the body covered with a cloth. Eunbi watches as she kneels and pulls back the sheet to show the face of a young girl, utterly still and lifeless.

“A handmaiden?” Chaewon asks softly, and slowly Eunbi nods.

“I assume so, we must see to it that her family is notified.”

“She should be given a hero’s burial.” Chaewon’s eyes are still fixed to the girl, and Eunbi watches as she stares down at her for a long moment, before carefully covering the girl back up and standing, striding across the room to stand over the attacker’s still form. Eunbi moves reluctantly away from the bed, her eyes lingering on Sakura, to join her.

“It seems he came into contact with one of your direwolves.” Chaewon remarks, dryly, and Eunbi’s gaze flickers to where Faith rests her head on the bed beside Sakura.

“It seems so.”

Chaewon kneels down beside the body, as Lincoln steps into the room, offering a bow in her direction.

“Your majesty, was anyone else harmed?”

Eunbi shakes her head, distracted, “No, only the handmaiden and Lady Sakura.”

Chaewon touches at the assassin’s face, turning it this way and that as she inspects his face. “I don’t recognise him.”

Eunbi gazes down at the man, her lips pursed. He has shaggy, dark hair that hangs about his eyes, which stare up at them, a pale blue like ice and unseeing.  His skin is sallow, his cheeks thin, but he doesn’t look unkempt or unfed. The dark robes he wears are utterly nondescript and as Chaewon pulls away the robes, there is no sign of any personal effects.

“Here, your majesty,” Lincoln speaks from across the room, and Eunbi looks up to see him holding up a dagger with a gleaming silver hilt. He crosses the room to place it in her hands and she turns it over, staring down at it thoughtfully.

The hilt is finely decorated in old silver metalwork, running around the handle. She turns it over, letting it catch the light and shine.

“A fine blade.” She says, thoughtfully, but her reverie is broken by loud voices from the corridor, and the ring of swords being drawn. In moments, Chaewon and Lincoln have their hands on their blades, and Eunbi brandishes her dagger. On the bed, Faith’s ears prick up and she growls, hunched low over Sakura’s still form, when a figure stumbles into the room, shaking off the hands that try to grab her.

Hyewon Snow is dressed only in linen rags, her sword clutched in her hand and her hair hanging about her face in messy tendrils. Her eyes are fierce with fire, and she does not back away at the sight that greets her, though her eyes are drawn insistently to the girl on the bed. Sooyoung follows her, grabbing at her arm to yank her a step back, but upon seeing Eunbi her grip falters just slightly.

“Apologies, your majesty. Snow was just leaving.”

“No I’m not,” Hyewon pulls her arm out of Sooyoung’s grip, barely flinching under Chaewon’s glowering expression and takes a step closer to the bed before Sooyoung can pull her to a stop again.

“It’s alright Sooyoung,” Eunbi holds up a hand, and slowly, Sooyoung lets Snow go so that she can stagger the few steps towards the end of the bed.

“Is she alright?” Hyewon demands of Nyko, “Was she hurt?”

“She was hurt,” Nyko glares at her, pulling the furs over Lady Sakura. “And the last thing she needs is this noise and commotion. I’ll have to ask you all-” His eyes flicker to Eunbi, “-respectfully, to please leave.”

“Of course, Nyko.” Eunbi glances again at Lady Sakura’s face, her parted lips and the flutter of her eyelashes against her cheek and Chaewon and Lincoln usher Hyewon out of the room. “Keep me informed, please.”

Nyko bows, and Eunbi follows her Queensguard out into the crowded corridor. The guards lingering at the doorway have the good sense to move back, giving them all a little space, and Eunbi pulls in a breath, looking down at the dagger in her hands again.

“I apologise, your majesty,” Sooyoung has a firm hand on Hyewon’s shoulder and the girl seems to have shrunk with the knowledge that the southern lady behind the door is alive, her relief palpable. “I tried to stop Snow, but she was most insistent.”

“I can understand that,” Eunbi’s eyes rake over Hyewon’s bedraggled form. “You were not on duty tonight, Snow?”

Hyewon shakes her head miserably, “No, your majesty, I was not.”

“More’s the pity,” Eunbi tries to soften her voice, “You probably would have given that assassin a harder time.”

To her dismay, the words only make Hyewon’s desolation carve deeper into her expression. “I should have been here, he wouldn’t have-”

“Hush,” Sooyoung’s hand tightens on her shoulder, but it seems more caring now that it did before. “No use shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted.”

“You’re on duty for the remainder of the night, Snow.” Eunbi tells her, decisively. “Get dressed and report back here, quickly.”

Hyewon nods, bowing. “Yes, your majesty.” She disappears down the stairs and Eunbi watches her go, her mind beginning to whirr.

“Someone else was on duty to cover Snow?” She turns back to Sooyoung, who almost looks affronted at the question.

“Yes, of course.”

“Good, find out who he was, I expect he’s already gone. With the assassin dead, he’s our only lead. Report back to my chambers when you know.”

Sooyoung nods, following after Snow down the stairs, and Eunbi gestures one of the waiting guards forwards. “Have the warning bell rung, no one enters or leaves this castle except for us.”

Chaewon eyes her. “What are you planning, your majesty?”

Eunbi turns the dagger over in her hand and when she speaks, it is with grim determination. “A hunt.”

---

The direwolves scent the bedclothes in the guard’s bunk and it takes them only seconds to begin following his trail. Eunbi takes her dagger and rips off a strip of the bed clothes to push into her belt. Her sword hangs on her hip, her fur lined cloak over her shoulders as she swings herself onto her horse. Behind her, several of the Queensguard accompany her, their white cloaks replaced with black to blend into the darkness of the night, and thirty soldiers are gathered to follow them on foot. Torches burn across the courtyard, but the moon is so bright they are barely needed and Eunbi clicks her tongue, squeezing her heels to jolt her mount into movement.

They leave the castle at a gallop, the direwolves quick on the scent of the fleeing man. Honour leads the pack, his dark fur making him almost invisible in the night, and Valour and Patience follow quickly at his back. Liberty lingers close to Eunbi’s horse, her eyes dark. Their noses are sharper than any hound Eunbi has ever encountered, and they track the man down the Kingsroad for a league, before darting into the surrounding fields.

The snow is left only in patches as the season changes, but Eunbi can see a few errant footsteps, clumsily left in what little snow remains. The direwolves track him easily through the grass and when Eunbi lifts her eyes to peer through the dark landscape, she sees that they are headed towards the Wolfswood. Her cheeks are tingling with cold from the wind that whips past them, but her blood feels hot with fury.

Honour leads them into the forest, and the horses have to slow, picking their way through the dense vegetation. The light of the moon is almost completely blocked here by the pine trees overhead, and though the wolves barely seem to notice, the hunting party is left blind for a few moments, until the runners light their torches. They are an easy target now for the beasts that roam these woods, wolves and bears alike, but with six direwolves they are unlikely to be bothered by such animals. The ground is thick with ferns and brambles under foot, and though the horses are unshaded, the men struggle to keep up. Without the aid of a torch, it would be difficult to traverse and Eunbi can only imagine that the guard, startled by the warning bell coming from the castle, had darted into the Wolfswood out of panic.

The direwolves do not lose his scent, leading them swiftly through the crowded trees. Eunbi urges her mount on, and though her beast is fast enough to keep up with the wolves, many of her companions fall behind, with only Lincoln and Chaewon close. The wolves begin to snarl, their pace increases and Eunbi knows that they are close. She swings her bow from around her back and notches an arrow, her jaw tight and her eyes narrow in concentration.

Suddenly, Honour darts forwards, his snarl becoming a growl and the rest of the wolves follow. Eunbi hears a cry through the darkness, the strangled shout of a man, and she sees Sage’s sandy coat glowing in the torchlight from behind her as the wolf fights over his prize with his brothers and sisters.

She whistles sharply and the wolves turn to look at her. The man’s eyes are wide, staring out at her like two white pebbles on the shore, and she is relieved to find he is still alive as the wolves clamber reluctantly away, still growling and snarling. The man scrambles up at their inattention, but he is barely standing before Eunbi’s arrow strikes him in the leg. The man shouts out, stumbling and Eunbi draws her horse to a stop a few paces away from him.

She lands on the forest floor with a thump, not even bothering to draw her sword as she approaches the terrified man. He still wears his guard’s uniform, and the sight of the Stark crest upon him is enough to make her wretch. She is reaching out before she knows it, hitting him hard across the face. He has barely hit the ground before her fist catches the front of his leather jerkin and she hauls him up, spitting in his face.

“You thought you could run from your queen?”

Despite the fear in his eyes, she respects him for not cowering. Instead, his lips roll back, showing a furious snarl.

Eunbi slams him back into the tree behind him, so hard that his head cracks, and hisses. “You plotted against someone protected by the queen. You’ll di