Chapter One

Author Note: Sea Maiden details the life of Reslin Lofn, Princess of Kritainia and older sister of Eulaina. Sea Maiden is rated M for mature, and it starts out this way with cruelty toward all parties of the story. You do not need to read the content of Thorn Dancer to understand Sea Maiden or Sea Maiden to understand Thorn Dancer, they are two separate stories despite any collating lines of time as both stories take residence in the same time line. This is chapter one.

Reslin was shaking as she hid under her bed, her younger brother trembling in her arms as they hid from the men turning the room inside out. They where vile men dressed in the night with miniature suns on their cloaks, black blades in their hands, she would have been angry if it wasn't for the fear that stopped her naturally fire clad tongue. The men rummaged though her things, pulling out gold bracelets and rings and tossing her clothing on the floor as they lined their pockets with her jewelry. The scream was the thing that gave her away, not hers, and not her little brother trembling in her arms, no, it was the shifting as she tried to right herself as Vesil's head slammed into her developing chest hard enough to make the air in her body rush from her lungs fast enough to make her body burn and eyes water. She wouldn't have thought her breath could be heard over the roaring thunder above, but it was, and it was almost in the same moment that one of the greedy bastards dropped to hands and knees, looking under the bed with brown eyes that soon turned wicked

"Found you, little bitch" he sneered as he reached under the bed, his massive bear like hand grabbing for her bright grey eyes, but instead tangling in her almost invisible little brothers brown curly locks, causing him to scream as he was pulled out from under the bed. Reslin followed behind him, scrambling to get to her brother as she saw the black blade pressed against his small throat.

"Let him go!" She yelled at the man, taller than herself by several heads who just grinned

"alright, how about you come here, and I'll let your brother go" he said as he lowered the blade just a fraction, Reslin grit her teeth, she wasn't stupid, she had read books like this in the royal library, where bandits would try to trick the hero into self sacrifice. Reslin understood why the hero's always did now. Looking at her little brother, Reslin could understand why they always gave in as she took a step forward, and then another. The man in front of her lowered the blade a little bit more with every small step she took forward until finally his meaty hand lurched forward and grabbed her around her thin arm, tossing her brother to the other man in the room

"Hey!" she yelled and the man holding her sneered

"I said I'd let your brother go" he growled, and Reslin, despite her young age already knew what those unspoken words where 'but I never said anything about anyone else' Reslin's heart sank as her captor grinned

"How much do you think we can get for the brats?" he asked and his partner frowned

"the boss wants them dead, we cant get anything" but her captor seemed to have a different idea as he grinned

"yeah but we know why thats for." he said as he looked down at her brothers

"We just have to make it so they can't become a threat...thats all" he said and his partner laughed manically

"think we can make a pretty penny off the royal brood if they can't have brats of their own?" his partner said "hey! Damis!" he yelled and a man appeared at the door just as he shoved her brother at him

"strip him" he said as he drew a thin black dagger from his boot. Reslin struggled in the grip of the man holding her as she saw her brother stripped

"Stop it!" she yelled "Mercy! Please!" she said, tears running down her face as she saw the blade near her brothers genitals

"Mercy! He's just a boy!" she cried out to no avail as with a single sickening slice blood flowed and screams filled the room, not just hers but her brothers as well as his stormy-grey eyes widened and filled with tears. Reslin felt hot breath at her ear and her eyes followed suite as she felt the sticky breath of her captor

"Now you girl" he whispered as she felt her arms yanked behind her back as she saw the man who had just mutilated her brother wipe his bloodied blade on the comforter and head toward her

"It wont hurt a bit, and who knows, you might not miss a think" the man behind her chuckled. She felt the water start to fall down her face as she saw the oddly warm blade at her belly

"great Nahata, goddess of blood and war, spare me. Goddess Nahata, consort of magic, goddess of blood and battle, spare me" she whispered franticly to the amusement of the three in the room

"Great Nahata, please, Mercy" she begged as she felt the cold blade start to sink into her flesh though her blue night gown. She stopped praying, as her thoughts filled with horror, what had she done to deserve this, had the gods abandoned her, had she done something wrong. She felt a scream start to boil in her throat but it was quelled when the mans head disappeared in front of her, the blade in her lower stomach protruding from her body. The man holding her dropped her arms and she fell to the ground as her world was stained with red. She didn't look up again until she felt a gentle hand on her shoulder

"Princess" Reslin looked up to see Phyras and the water started to fall down her cheeks again

"Princess" he whispered again and pulled her body to his, she buried her face in his chest as she felt the blade pull free from her flesh, and his large warm hand press against her stomach

"theirs a sash next to you, grab it" he whispered and she nodded, reaching her hand down to pick up a silky cloth. Phyras moved away and wrapped the sash around the wound in her stomach

"This will stop the bleeding, but you won't live unless we get out, do you understand" Reslin looked at Phyras and nodded her head

"Stand" he said before leaving her to tend to her brother, he was barely conscious as the captain of the guard did his best to wrap him before picking him up in his strong arms and dropping into a crouch

"Onto my back princess" he said and Reslin obeyed, wrapping her legs around his torso, and her arms around his neck as he started to run, he had an arrow sticking out of his back that seemed to pain him, but he didn't stop as he ran though the stone and silver halls. Reslin didn't ask questions as he ran out the servant's quarters and down the hill back of the castle toward the river. The rain pounded against them, soaking them almost instantly as he ran, she could hear Phyras' hard breaths as he tried to move faster than the eye could see, but it was no use, the horses would be released from the castle and the murderers flock would be on them.

It didn't take long for them to get to the river, the river so swollen its banks where struggling to keep all the water in, the current was moving fast, headed out toward the gulf miles away, Why where they here. Phyras walked now, following the river as he carried her young brother, pale and deathly, she walked behind him at a slow limp, but she kept up with her injured captain of the guard

"Thank you" Reslin whispered, and Phyras nodded his head

"Why did you save us?" she asked and Phyras frowned as they walked

"did you think I wouldn't?" he asked and Reslin nodded her head, still he didn't smile

"I took an oath to your father long before he became king, to protect him and those he holds dear, and when he married your mother a made the same vow to her. I could not save them, I could not save Reyel, I will not let anyone else the King loves die." he said

"So father is dead...he's no longer king, you're free of your oath" she said but Phyras shook his head

"No, it's not that simple." he said as he got back onto his knee's ordering her to climb back onto his back

"and when you are older you will understand" he said just before he started running again.

It took two days, running and hiding, for the horsemen to catch up. They where at the first cliff of the god falls, dozens of falls all named after another god in the Pantheon. At the head of the horsemen was the murderer himself, Phyras has explained what had happened as they ran, Alioth, the bastard had led a coup

"Phyras Kane, your king demands you give up the Prince and Princess" Alioth yelled. Reslin shivered slightly as she looked up at the long glossy haired man, already he wore the crown of the king on his head, his vivid orchid eyes blooming in front of her as he stared at Phyras

"Never" he whispered and Alioth frowned

"Phyras, we where once friends, you will retain your possession as captain. The children, if you please" he said and Reslin shivered, gripping Phyras' hand. The man looked enraged

"Reslin. Do you trust me" he whispered, and she slowly nodded her head as he took a step forward, and then another, and another until he was standing by Alioth's Horse

"I do not remember being friends with a murderer, Alioth" he whispered, turning his head to look at the orchid eyes of the beast in human skin

"and you will never be my king." Reslin heard a snort and saw Phyras' lips pucker before he spat at Alioth, a glob of spit landing on his cheek

"Run" Phyras whispered and turned, he ran toward the cliff and Reslin ran with him, she could vaguely hear Alioth order the others riding with him to aim to kill just as she felt her wrist burst into little stars of pain as Phyras though her forward, her healing stomach starting to bleed once more as her body stretched just before she was caught in the air. She turned her body to see Phyras falling though the air above her, her brother in his arms just before she hit water and her world was enveloped with the icy chill of the first fall of the god falls.