Kori was confused about the turn of events. She wondered why Pollyanna hadn’t killed her yet; she knew Eory had commanded her not to, and that Pollyanna was nothing if not loyal to the commands of the Arrozan family, but it was clearly in the warrior-maiden’s best interest to kill her or at least get her away from Eory.

Kori frowned deeply as she walked at Eory’s side. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. A sword has no will of its own.

Kori worried endlessly about the soul of her charge. She had opened her eyes late in the night and seen him sleeping with his head on Pollyanna’s shoulder, his dog curled up like a ball on his lap.

Kori had told her charge stories about Pollyanna because she wanted to give him someone to look up to; she wanted to show him that just because someone was associated with his family, that didn’t mean they had to be evil.

She realized now that her lies had backfired. She feared he was in love with the warrior-maiden, and Pollyanna was an odd, ugly, and too old of a woman to love.

And now, she was faced with having to travel with the most feared woman in all the land to a ball where Pollyanna would undoubtedly get both Kori and Eory killed.

Kori knew that the warrior-maiden had escaped her dwarven prison years ago, and a faction of King Laurence’s most elite mages and soldiers had been sent out to find and detain her in response, along with the dwarven king’s knights. However, nobody had any idea where she had gone when she had escaped.

The soldiers the king sent out never came back, and neither did the dwarven king’s.

When Kori saw him, King Laurence threatened many times to kill Eory as a show of power to Pollyanna--to convince the warrior-maiden to leave Maribel alone—but Kori convinced him that that would only make Pollyanna angrier, and would only sooner result in the destruction of Maribel. She added that, if she were successful in making Eory into a good person, that perhaps he could dissuade Pollyanna from harming the kingdom. The king was agreed, and decided to leave Eory alone.

“Waif, come here.” Pollyanna ordered her, interrupting her thoughts.

“I ordered you not to harm her!” Eory reminded Pollyanna sternly.

“I’m not a fool.” Pollyanna replied. “I just want to have a word.”

Kori patted Eory’s elbow. “It’s alright, Eory. I can handle myself.”

The four-foot-tall waif stood as tall as she could and walked beside the seven-foot-tall warrior-maiden as snow crunched under their feet. “What do you want, you monster? Why can’t you leave me and Eory alone?”

“You know I am loyal soldier who doesn’t disobey orders. I won’t be leaving either of you alone. I just wanted to tell you that you can’t change who he is. He is the same as all his ancestors, and he merely needs to be put in the right situation to show his true colors. He will be wanting his throne back that you helped steal.” Pollyanna said with a smirk. “Go back to your homeland, waif. I don’t know why you were banished, but you don’t belong among either fairies or humans.”

Kori ignored her latter comment and only addressed the former. “Fairies were the ones who stole the throne from humans in the first place! It never belonged to them!”

Pollyanna had no retort for a moment, she merely grinned sadistically, glad she was able to get under his skin.

In a moment, she said coolly, “Eory agreed to let me come into the castle with him. Once the king reveals whatever vile thing he has in store for Eory, I will be prepared to dive in and save him from it.”

Kori scowled. “The king has no ill will toward Eory!”

Pollyanna said smugly, “You sound so unsure, My Lady.”