Inktober Day 3: Path

 Chapter One

One day, Magda, her mother, and her father were on a path leading to Tìrmàgach, a kingdom which they were to treat with. Magda’s father and mother were lord and lady of Tìrcuhachd, a powerful land with many secrets. Among those secrets was the Power of the King. Just the day before, on her birthday, the circlet which holds the Power was given to Magda. The stone set in this circlet was blessed many generations ago with the power to protect the king’s family from harm. Its previous wearer was Magda’s mother. Now, she sported a similar but wholly unremarkable circlet in its place.

    On this day, they had been traveling for about two weeks. Tìrmàgach was not so very far from their own land, but with the king, his family, their retainers, and some servants, the time it took to traverse any landscape quickly grew. That day, it was around noon, the sun was hot in the sky and Magda shifted herself away from the window of the carriage so it would not pierce her eyes. It was Fall, but the afternoons could still shift to uncomfortable warmth, and Magda was growing restless. It had been like this for several days, and just when Magda thought she could not stand to sit still any longer, her father called for everyone to rest and the horses to be watered.

    Magda and her mother stepped out of the carriage to stretch their legs, but just as she had landed on the dirt path beside her mother, she gasped. A cloaked and hooded figure stood some feet away, in his hands a bow and arrow. Before she could utter a word, the arrow was loosed.