The Home Guard

Ryan smiled as he went to fetch his friends in the Home Guard. If Roh was going to address the council, he was sure most of his friends in the Home Guard would want to come. His footsteps were silent as he approached the wall of the castle. He reached up to the highest row of bricks and pressed his first finger on the fourth brick from the left. It glowed a brilliant red for a heartbeat, then the entire wall folded back into a dark tunnel. Ryan disappeared into the tunnel, and the wall reinstated itself behind him.
He navigated the twists and turns of the tunnel with ease born of familiarity. Ryan quickly navigated to the center of the castle. He entered a large stone room. The light flickered warmly against the stone walls from the huge fire burning in the huge fireplace. He looked for his friends. They were sitting at a table in the corner by the fireplace, playing cards. They would want to come Roh's meetings with the council were legendary. Her brother was an excellent diplomat. Roh was not. She had been known to start screaming at the council, and throwing knives st them. There was one memorable occasion where she had become so angry at the way they were treating her, her hand had burned right through the table. The mark was still there. Will hadn't been there that day, and Will left it there as a reminder that his sister was no baby.
Ryan approached the table silently, and tapped the nearest one on the shoulder. Sam turned and looked up at him. She patted the seat next to her lightly. "Come play with us" she invited him.
He grinned. "Can't. Roh's addressing the council, and Ben's sent me to get you all." Sam chuckled and rose to her feet, followed by the rest of the group. One of them shoved the cards back in the box, and they briskly walked out of the stone room into the twisting tunnels that would lead them to the council room.

Inbetwixt

Roh strode after her brother, grinding her teeth. She rubbed at her right arm absently, and for half a second the sleeve was raised to expose a jagged cut on the inside of her arm. She hastily pulled her sleeve down. No one could know about the wound. She frowned as she peeked at it. It was almost three hours old, and instead of healing over, it remained open, oozing a clear liquid. Something was wrong. She cracked knuckles. Will glanced sideways at her, then paused, letting her continue ahead alone. She murmured something under her breath, and pressed two fingers against the lock. The door swung open. She turned to Will. "Wait here for me." she requested, and he nodded. She left, content with his word. Will would never break his word. She changed quickly, reemerging in a soft green dress that sank to her ankles. Will smiled slightly as he recognized the faint outlines of a brace that held two knives, one on either side, on her wrist. As she climbed the stairs he also saw the braces of knives on her ankles. No one could miss the sword strapped around her waist, and he knew that there was a knife in built in the belt, and probably more concealed behind it. Trust Roh to come so heavily armed to a meeting of diplomats.

The Door

Roh fell into step beside her brother as they walked to Kadoc's room. As the court mage, the men often went to him for injuries and illnesses. Ryan had insisted on taking Ben there, just to check for a broken rib or some other injury. That was, in the end, a good idea, Roh reflected as she walked. Quickly, they reached the rounded oak door. It had no handle or lock. Will pressed up against it. It didn't budge. Roh smirked. "Stand back." she commanded. Will glared at her, but took a step back. She pressed her palm flat against the door and pushed. There was a white blue spark that leaped onto her hand. She pulled it back with a hiss. Will smirked. Roh glared at him and took two steps back from the door. She trust her hand out, palm first, towards the door. A jet of fire poured from her hand onto the door. The flames burned and raged for several long moments before they stopped. The door held for half a second more, then collapsed into a pile of ash. A middle aged man with black close cropped hair stood, smiling ruefully at the remains of the door. Ben sat on the stool in front of the mage, shirt in one hand, mouth open in shock as Roh stepped over the pile of ash through the still smoking doorframe. There was livid purple and blue bruising across his ribs.
"I told you she wouldn't knock." he said, looking at Ben, whose mouth was still open.
"Shut your mouth before you swallow a mosquito" Roh told him casually as she passed to go sit with Ryan along the table in the back of the room. Ben shut his mouth with an audibe snap. Will followed into the room, watching the door frame carefully.
"Sorry about your door, Kadoc" he apologized to the black haired man. As he surveyed the damage to Ben's side.
"No problem. Not like she's never done it before" Kadoc said placatingly. Will's sharp blue eyes shot to Roh's green ones, and she grinned mishcheviously. He shook his head in defeat.
"How bad?" Roh asked Kadoc. The mage shifted to look at her.
"It's just soome nasty bruising. It'll hurt for a while, but there's no permenant damage." Kadoc answered, helping Ben to his feet and back into his tunic.
"So I'll still be able to kick Roh's butt in training tomorrow?" Ben questioned the mage turned doctor.
"I would adise to pick a less. . . merciless opponent. Like Ryan." he gestured to the 17 year old boy sitting next to Roh.
"But he'll go easy on me." complained Ben.
"That's exactly the point" Kadoc answered. Roh smiled a predator's grin. She knew a victory when she smelt it. Ben shot her the bird behind Kadoc and Will's back as they discussed something quietly. Roh cast a glance at her brother before returning the gesture.
"We've gotta go," Will announced, rather suddenly.
"All right." Roh grunted reluctantly.
"Where ya going?" Ryan inquired.
"To address the council." Will grinned suddenly "Roh's coming, and you guys should come and bring the rest of Roh's friends in the Home Guard," WIll winked at the boys "She'll have to wear a dress" He tipped his head towards his sister. A furious shriek ripped from her mouth. She chased him out of the room. Ben grinned at Ryan.
"Go fetch the boys. There's gonna be a show tonight." Ryan hurried off, and Ben followed after.

The News

Will looked up in surprise and alarm as the giant double doors boomed open. The guards rushed forward, and Roh smoothly disarmed them in a second. As they recognized her, they saluted, and she dropped their weapons on the floor. She turned around and continued striding towards her brother, who was bent over a huge 3D map. He looked up at his sister. Her long auburn hair was braided behind her and it had twigs and leaves in it. As Will took a closer look at her, he noticed the blood stain splattered across the front of her left leg and the smudges of dirt and blood on her face. "What happened?" he asked her.
She shrugged. "We won." she tilted her head to the side, inviting him to challenge her.
"We?" Will caught onto the pronoun quickly.
"I wanted to go for a ride, and I knew you would kill me if I went alone, so I brought Ben and Ryan. We ran into a. . .problem." She finished.
"You wanna elaborate? Cause I'll call the guys in here and they'll tell me." he was starting to get annoyed with the lack of information in her responses.
"Only because they have to." she muttered. "We were riding along, " she continued, louder "and I heard a noise ahead, so we stopped. Ryan saw it first. It was a huge sickly yellow snake with a crown of livid blue feathers. It attacked. At some point, it had Ben in it's coils, and was squeezing the crap out of him, so I jumped off Rocky onto the back of it's neck. I killed it by shoving this in it's throat." She pulled a silver dagger out of her boot. It was covered, even the hilt in sticky black blood. "We got lucky. We're three of the best fighters in the kingdom and we got lucky. This was a serious beast." she shook her head, her bright green eyes steady.
"Where's Ben?" Will asked after a long pause where he studied the bloody knife.
"Down with Kadoc. Just in case a rib was broken or some whatnot like that. He wouldn't tell me even if he thought he had broken a rib." Roh smiled slightly at her cousin's pride.
"And Ryan?" he inquired, his blue eyes locked with hers.
"With Ben. It's some weird guy thing." She rolled her eyes.
"And you? None of that blood is yours, is it?" Will looked at his sister with concern.
Roh scoffed. "When was the last time anyone got a hit on me?" she demanded. Will smiled slightly and took a moment to evaluate the situation.
"First, we're going to see Ben. Then you're going to change out of those bloody clothes and we're going to address the council." he said firmly.
"You know, since technically you're the king, I shouldn't have to go, right?" she asked
"Yes." he acknowledged as she opened her mouth. "But I make you come anyway." He smiled as she harrumphed her way out the door towards the westernmost tower before following quickly after her.

Introduction

This blog is going to be entirely little short blips (possibly longer blips) of the life of a girl. her name is Rowan Camrall. She is about seventeen or so, and her older brother, Will (short for William, which he hates), is about 21 or 22. Here are the ages and specialties of a few important people, who you don't know yet, and a few you won't know for a while.

Ben (her cousin) around 18
Alex 17, but really close to turning 18
Ryan 17
Chris 18
John 17 1/2ish
Nick 19 almost 20
Nat 16
Harriet 22

Here's a few things you need to know about. Rowan and Will are the only direct descendants of the royal line. Will, be both the oldest and male, is king. He rules without a Queen. Rowan is technically Princess Rowan, but she prefers to be called Roh, and that's what most people, including her brother, call her. Ben, her cousin, is a duke of sorts, and a master of weaponry. Both Rowan and Will were trained in the arts of fighting and war from a very young age. Roh is very sarcastic, and almost never cries, shows pain, or any other weakness. She has a horse, named Rocky, whom she is deeply attached to. She is very sensitive about herself, and will often start brawls in bars with some guy who couldn't take the hint to leave her alone. She has bright green eyes, unlike brother's which are blue, and long auburn hair which she keeps braided behind her in a braid that reaches all the way down her back. She stands about 5' 8", 5' 9", and favors loose clothing over the tighter clothing, which reminds her of the stifling dresses of her childhood. Until tomorrow, I leave you with this information. at that time I will post the first segment of what I hope will be many.

~Lady Kay