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They told me everything, from the servants who had been expelled from the castle to the knights who were to be executed. That's how I realised the first step I had to take to save myself.

It had to start with fixing what had caused Marcus to leave the castle. Rohan's execution.

Marcus grew up not knowing who his father was. When he asked about his father, his mother would eagerly tell him.

She wouldn't give a name.

She said he had shiny silver hair and blue-grey eyes, just like Marcus'. She talked about how handsome his face looked and how tall and strong he was. His father was a warrior. He was in a war for the Emperor, killing monsters. His mother told Marcus that when his father won the war and came back, he would find them and they would be a big family. He would love his son very much and always protect them. He would play games with Marcus. His father would pick him up when he fell, say well done when he did well, and caress his head with his big, strong, warm hands.

Marcus met his father for the first time on the day his mother died when he was ten years old. He had imagined his father as a soldier, but he was so much more.

His father was Duke Orion Averia, Lord of the North.

His mother's words were not an exaggeration, but an understatement. Marcus was as much like his father as two peas in a pod. His father was a powerful warrior and it was true that he fought for the empire, but the truth was not limited to that... Most of what his mother told him was nothing more than a fairy tale invented to console a child. Contrary to what his mother told, the reality was very different. Because in reality, the Duke was already married to another woman, he was in love with that woman and he had a daughter whom he loved very much.

In fact, the Duke already had the family that his mother said they would have, and Marcus was not accepted in this family, there was no place for him in this family.

Some children would have reason to grow up to be spiteful.

Duke Averia did not look at Marcus, his son born to a commoner woman, as his firstborn. He saw him as a mistake that had been made, as nothing more than a responsibility that had been thrust upon him. It did not matter to the Duke that Marcus was a man or that he inherited the power of the dynasty.

He never loved his son or hid his love so well that Marcus could never find it.

It was different for Elisa. Elisa was his second child. A special child, born to the woman he loved. The fact that she was a girl was not a problem for the heir of the family, so he always supported her, gave her all his attention and love.

So Marcus grew up distant from his father. Things were always cold between them. They had more of a master and servant relationship than father and son. They were like two strangers. When they needed to talk, Marcus would address the Duke as "Your Excellency", never "Father". The Duke never called Marcus "son" either...

As a lonely little boy, Marcus met Rohan. He was left to grow up under his care.

Rohan was his guardian, sword trainer, friend, confidant, brother... Marcus travelled with him, hunted with him, studied with him, ate with him.

Rohan trained Marcus, protected him, scolded him and sometimes praised him.

Rohan was the only person Marcus cared about in Averia.

The only link that connected him to the north, to Averia.

In my novel, I chose to break that bond.

Even if I write fifty pages to explain Rohan's importance in 'The Fire of Prophecy', it would not be enough. Readers as well as writers know very well how valuable such a character is in the flow of the book. The presence and disappearance of this character is a blessing for the protagonist's character development. Maybe that's why I felt that I had to write like that, I had to kill him for the continuity of the book, but now that I was thinking about it, Rohan needed me alive. The head and the rest of the body are not separated from each other, as a whole.

I focussed on the servant's words again.

"... The twenty guards who accompanied your carriage and Sir Rohan, captain of the guard, have been imprisoned. Baron Kairos accuses them of betraying their knightly oath. They have been ordered to be executed this afternoon for failing to protect the Duke and you..."

...

Rohan's death was undeniably a breaking point for Marcus. It was the impetus for Marcus to leave the duchy for the imperial capital of Thera. Mainly because of his regret at not being able to save Rohan, but also because of the effect it would have on the future.

...

I looked at the servants, their eyes were on me anxiously, as if they expected me to faint at any moment. Maybe it was the medicine the doctor had given me, and if I laid my head on the pillow I would sleep for days and nights. But I had already slept enough, I couldn't waste any more time.

"You," I said to the one whose name was Mandy, or was it Ruby? "Choose a comfortable dress and shoes to keep me warm." The other maid had orange hair and pale brown freckles scattered over her nose. "You go outside and get me a strong guard."

"My lady! Forgive me for being so harsh, but I must speak," said one of the maids. When she spoke, she sounded as if she might cry at any moment. She stuck her small, freckled nose in the air and looked me straight in the eye. "We will do as you order, of course, but first you must eat your soup..." After a short silence, she added. "Please?"

I let out my breath loudly and looked at the young girl's face for a while. She looked as if she would faint from fear if I opened my mouth and spoke, but her concern for Elisa had given her so much strength that she dared to speak to me head on. I admired her courage.

My stomach, which had ached from the first mention of food, was grateful to her for reminding me to eat.

I pointed to the food tray and it was placed beside me.

It was difficult to hold a spoon with bandaged hands, and if I looked at the servants, they would have told me to eat with their own hands. So, even though it was difficult, I managed to take a spoonful of the soup and put it in my mouth, even if I spilled it on myself. I thought that was the hard part, but it wasn't. Trying to swallow turned into a torment for a long time. When I drank it, I felt step by step how the watery soup flowed through my oesophagus and where it passed until it reached my stomach.

My stomach contracted so much that it hurt with the effect of the food.

I hoped it would get easier after the second spoonful. As I dipped the spoon into the soup, I looked up and locked eyes with the servants, who were looking at me with tears in their eyes.

Even though they were afraid, Elisa was still loved.

If the novel progressed as I had written it, all the servants in the castle of Averia would be expelled and replaced by Baron Kairos' men. I was going to protect Averia and its inhabitants, and I was the only one with the power and knowledge to do it.

"Come on..." I said, my voice not as harsh as I wanted. "What are you waiting for? I'm eating, you do as I say."

"We'll do it right away!" They spoke in unison and then started to move.

I continued to drink my soup slowly as I slumped back on the pillows behind me.

Mandy kept appearing and disappearing in the wardrobe, which was as big as a room. Finally, she chose a blue cotton dress with a small red floral pattern on the skirt. Then she rummaged through the drawers and found a long woollen sock. I don't think they had the kind of black mourning clothes that a nine-year-old girl would wear.

She brought a pair of brown leather boots from the shoe room, which had obviously never been worn before, and presented them to me. I nodded and allowed her to dress me, not trusting myself to button the pearl buttons of the dress with my hands bandaged.

"Just a moment..." the maid said, leaving me sitting at the end of the bed, ran to the wardrobe and came back with a white cloak. When she draped the fur collared cloak over my shoulders, I looked as white and fluffy as a snowball. She asked with a happy glow on her face. "Now you are ready, my lady, do you like it? "

"Yeah, you did good."

I watched her cheeks flush with praise. It was cute.

When the other maid returned, she was accompanied by a tall, well-built guard. He was a young man with mussed brown hair and hazel eyes. His nose was crooked from being broken a few times, but it gave him a different look. The throat laces of his white inner shirt were visible through the oval collar of his black leather waistcoat. He wore leather riding trousers matching his waistcoat. On his feet were hard and warm army boots suitable for the harsh winter of the north. He wore armbands and shoulder pads over his cotton shirt. His dagger and sword sheaths were full and hung on his belt to his left. Just as I wrote, he looked like a knight out of a medieval novel.

"Name?"

"My name is Samuel. Samuel Green, Lady Elisa." He bowed his head in greeting.

"Nice to meet you, Samuel... I was wondering, do you know where the castle dungeon is?"

"Yes? Yes, I do, my lady."

"Excellent! Then I want you to take me in your arms and lead me there." I smiled.

Samuel was surprised, but he nodded with a face that didn't show it.

"Yes, my lady." After a brief pause, he approached me. "Allow me to touch you."

I nodded with my chin.

He took me in his arms. I didn't know where to put my hands as they were wounded and bandaged. Samuel guided my hand so that I could wrap my arm around his neck. Together we left my room. My servants followed us like shadows. Sam was descending many stairs, travelling through corridors and galleries on his way to the dungeons, focused on his goal. For a while I tried to memorise the paths, but the castle was so big that I gave up. To memorise the castle, I had to lose and find myself over and over again.

As we descended the spiral staircase, I began to think that the path would never end. Torches were placed at intervals on the bare stone walls so that we could see the paths we were travelling along. I was grateful for the presence of my cloak when a cold wind blew in our faces from below.

When we finally reached the dungeon, we began to hear voices talking. I stopped Samuel with my hand and listened. Someone was engaged in a heated discussion.

"Rohan... Stop being stubborn. I will never forgive you if you die like this," a young man was saying.

" "I'm sorry," replied a man with a baritone voice. "I can't do what you say and run. Having betrayed my oath... And you expect me to run like a coward and save my life? I would rather die with honour."

"Rohan! What happened was not your fault. It's not unprecedented that you can't protect the Master in such a situation. You couldn't do anything. "

"Marcus... you have to go."

Oh, my God! I was in the middle of the dramatic scene I'd imagined when I wrote it.

"... Your stupid stubbornness causes others to stay."

"I may be their captain, but I don't interfere with their choice between staying or going. Those who want to go can go."

A woman's strong voice was heard answering.

"If I live or die, I am with my captain."

A woman knight? I didn't remember writing such a detail in the story, but its existence excited me.

After the woman's words, the voices of the men who said "Me too" began to echo on the stone walls of the dungeon.

I looked at Samuel's face as I felt him stiffen, and though he tried to look emotionless, I could tell by the cracks in his mask how sadly affected he was. He should have befriended them. If he hadn't been ordered to stay in the castle, he might have been one of them, and now he might be waiting for his death.

I tapped him on the shoulder and ordered him to advance.

Our footsteps announced our arrival.

Mouths closed and conversations stopped as all heads turned in our direction. All the attention of the guards, confined in four cells opposite each other, was on me alone.

I avoided looking in one direction in particular.

In the first cell, in front of the bars, there was a tall, bald and brunette man who I thought was Rohan, with a huge muscle mass that even his clothes could not hide. Next to him stood a beautiful woman with blonde hair and a stern look. The woman whose voice I heard must have been a knight.

When the person I avoided looking at couldn't hide his surprise and asked "Elisa?", I stopped ignoring him and looked at his face.

Our silver hair, blue eyes and every detail of our faces... If we were twins, we could only be so similar to each other.

It was very difficult to suppress the intensity of emotion I was experiencing due to seeing him, but I succeeded and placed a blank expression in my eyes.

This person...

Hello, the male protagonist of my story.

...

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