Apparently, Ulric thought we were behind schedule, and he wanted to make it to the nearest settlement before sundown. This meant that we would be riding close to the side of the road atop his horse, which he fondly called Roach. I don't particularly know how the term Roach could be used endearingly, but Ulric somehow pulled it off, and I tried to rid my mind of the thought of spindly-legged bugs.

The only time I had ridden a horse had been on a stubby pony rented for a third-grade birthday party. Needless to say, I held onto Ulric for dear life as he deftly rode us through the trees.

At this close of proximity, it was evident that he had been camped out away from civilization for quite some time – I tried to breathe through my mouth and ignore the smell of body odor.

Fenrir and his pack chased after us deeper in the woods. I would occasionally get a glance of them moving and couldn't help but think of wraiths as they slipped through the thick trees like water.

The sun was beginning to make the shadows around us long, and a golden warmth filled the air, cutting through the winter chill.

A sharp yip broke the monotonous sound of the horse hooves, and Ulric suddenly tensed under my touch. His head immediately swiveled, taking in our surroundings. Roach slowed to a stop, and the silence felt deafening as we sat. The silence only lasted a minute before the clop of another horse's hooves could be heard. We were at a slight incline, and before we could retreat to the shelter of the trees, a horse toting a small covered wagon crested the hill.

"Keep your head down and don't look at any of them. Hopefully, we will pass by unnoticed." He turned slightly in the saddle and reached for the hood of the cloak I was still wearing. He pulled the fabric low over my eyes and tucked in my hair before removing the body of the cloak as well to cover my foreign clothes.

A growl from the underbrush next to our feet only a few feet away startled me, but I relaxed slightly, realizing it was Fenrir with his silver-tipped ears. Ulric held out a hand as if saying stop and then turned his wrist to make a circle motion with his finger. The silent communication made no sense to me, but Fenrir seemed to understand, and he disappeared with a hushed whisper back into the forest.

Ulric urged Roach forward into a gentle canter trying to play off a casual air to our travels. Although I doubt Ulric could ever even come close to looking casual.

As we neared the wagon, I noticed a single, somewhat heavyset male Elf sat upon a graying horse. The Elf was dirty, and a large scar on his face didn't look particularly friendly. Despite this, he seemed peaceful and offered Ulric a nod of the head as we neared.

That's when I noticed the chained Faun that was stumbling after the wagon. The Faun had no clothes despite the winter and looked malnourished and dehydrated. The furry, goat-like legs were matted with mud and had burrs clumping the curly hair together. The long goat ears protruding from his head were downcast in submission and acceptance of his pitiful fate. Fading bruises covered his skin, and a brand that looked old and healed marred the skin of his chest.

"The Faun," I whispered heartbroken at the sight, and Ulric made a small sound of agreeance. Of course, we weren't going to stop. Ulric's warnings from earlier today rang in my ears, and I knew that he would continue Roach onwards towards our destination – the palace of Ithica.

I lifted my head slightly as the wagon passed, and I was direct across from the Faun. The hair on his face and head was a dark brown and grew in tight natural curls. He was unkempt and dirty, and I noticed more bruises up close.

Our eyes connected for a moment, and another image flashed into my mind so intense I nearly fell off the back of Roach. The image of a field filled with spring wildflowers rolled out before my eyes. The mountains rose in the distance, and a river flowed peacefully across the clearing. Laughter and music filtered through the air as youthful Fauns frolicked under the sun. Happiness filled their faces, and a sweet breeze ruffled the hair between the horns that were only just starting to grow in. A small voice tickled my brain. "Help us," it said.

As quickly as the image came, it was gone, and it was as if no time had passed. The Faun still stared at me, and we were still moving away.

"Wait!" I said and ungracefully slipped off of Roach mid canter.

Ulric kept two swords in a leather saddleback on Roach's left flank, so I grabbed one as I fled towards the Faun, who looked startled at my outburst. Roach was also disturbed, and he rose up on his hind legs briefly with an irritated whinny. Ulric yelled for me to come back, but I was overcome with such a strong urge to save this Faun from this fate of torture and servitude that I kept running towards him.

"Hey! What are you doing? Get away from there!" the Elf driving the wagon yelled. He noticed the sword in my hand first, and then, as the wind grabbed the cloak around my body and threw it back, he saw my face. "Princess Amberleigh," his voice was in quiet awe at the revelation of who I was. A smile filled with ill intent split his face and I started to question my actions.

I had made it to the Faun, and the wagon had stopped. Ulric was close on my heels with Roach, ready to scoop me up and take me away. I looked at the thick metal chain that was strung from the back of the wagon to a rusted collar around the Faun's neck.

"Hold this," I instructed, and the Faun grabbed hold of the chain in front of his neck, providing more slack. I didn't want to hurt him.

The sword was much too large and heavy for me. I was about a foot shorter and likely half of Ulric's weight, but nevertheless, I lifted the sword onto my shoulder with both hands and then swung it down on the chains. They barely budged.

Suddenly everything was happening at once. Ulric grabbed the sword from my hand, "I'll take that," he snapped. Three more seedy and dangerous-looking male elves appeared from inside the wagon, and the one driving came as well.

"Lookey here fellas, we have the biggest prize of all. Princess Amberleigh." He flashed me another evil grin.

Ulric had shoved me away before he jumped off of Roach and stood in between the unfriendly elves and myself. Ulric let out a short, high pitched whistle, and soon Fenrir and his pack melted from the shadows of the tree line to create a ring around us all. The larger Elf who was apparently the leader paid no mind to the new additions, but the three who had come from the back of the wagon eyed the wolves nervously.

"That is no way to speak to a lady," Ulric said simply. He appeared somewhat casual, the sword pointed down at the ground and loose in his grip. He was waiting for them to attack first.

"She won't be much of a lady when we're through with her." One of the men chuckled, and I felt myself pale at their insinuation.

"Unfortunately for you, if you want the Princess, you will have to go through me."

"Four against one?" the driver smirked, "I quite like our odds." He sent a nod towards a skinnier elf with shaggy red hair. The Elf had a thin sword in hand, and he ran at Ulric with a yell.

I closed my eyes, afraid to see the sword peeking out of Ulric, but instead, there was a clang of metal, and the thin sword flew a few feet away to land with a shuddering thud. Ulric took one swipe with the sword and neatly cut through the Elf, leaving him with a spray of blood and a body. I looked away from the scene this time. I wasn't expecting to see something so gruesome, but Ulric moved with the experience of a trained killer.

There were more clashes of metal, and I looked again to see Ulric, a complete blur. He was clearly a master of the blade and quickly fought his way through the men. I looked away when another splatter of blood colored the ground and saw the Faun seeming afraid.

He was frozen still, and I ran to him once more and pulled him to the far side of the wagon away from the fight. I had no chance of cutting through the chain, but maybe there was another way to get him out.

"I'm going to help you out, okay? I'm not going to hurt you." A scream of anger followed by more crashing swords interrupted me. "I'm not going to hurt you," I repeated. "I'm going to try to get this collar off."

Fauns were typically smaller. The tallest males capped out around 5'8" or 5'9". This one was around 5'5" which made the collar easy to reach for me. It seemed to be a solid piece of metal except for a thin seam and some sort of locking mechanism on the back.

I didn't have much experience picking locks, but I had seen a spy movie or two and figured the bobby pin in my hair was my best shot. I only hoped that this was constructed similarly to locks in the human realm. Bending the bobby pin to a 90-degree angle, I inserted into the lock and began to wiggle it around. Focusing on the task at hand, I nearly forgot there was a full-blown sword fight happening on the other side of the wagon. I had moved a few pins when something was tossed at my feet with a jangle of metal that startled me.

"You made me lose my progress!" I snapped at Ulric.

He rolled his eyes. "Just use the keys." He gestured down to my feet. I sighed in annoyance and picked them up to find the one that matched the shape of the collar lock. A few moments later the Faun was rubbing his raw neck and looked between the two of us at a loss for words.

"Are you okay? Ulric, is there any water we can give him?" I asked my question first to the Faun and then to Ulric in quick succession.

"We must move quickly," Ulric said but did walk off to hopefully get some water off of the pack tied to Roach.

I looked back at the Faun and offered a small smile. He was pale and bewildered, clearly unsure of what all had just happened. "P-Princess Amberleigh," he stuttered out before dropping to one furry knee and bowing his head with reverence towards me. I was taken aback by his actions. For one, the princess schtick was pretty new, plus I wasn't much for being the center of attention.

"Um, that's not necessary." I offered an uncomfortable laugh. I was quite shy when I felt uncomfortable. "Please, just call me Amberleigh."

He rose once again and grabbed my hands. "Amberleigh, the Lost Princess, thank you for saving me from a life of slavery."

"Of course, what is your name?"

"As a young calf, I was called Gerard. But no one has called me that in a long time."

"Would you like me to call you Gerard?"

"Oh, yes, please! I have only been half-breed, and mistake, and mutant for the past 5 years."

"I'm very sorry. Where is your home? Can we help you get there?"

Gerard's face fell slightly. "The glade of my clan was destroyed when I was taken and sold in the underground slave market – I no longer have a home." He paused before looking at me. "That is unless you would take me as your servant?"

"My servant?" I was taken aback. "Why would you want to do that? You just spent the last five years of your life as a servant to those horrible elves."

"The role of personal servant to royalty, especially Ithican royalty, is a position of high pedigree and is often considered an honor," Ulric supplied. He had silently arrived with a bladder of water. Fenrir was back at his side, and Gerard eyed the large wolf nervously. I briefly wondered how wolves and Fauns got along.

"Yes, of course, Amberleigh! It would be a great honor to serve you."

"But you don't even know me. How do you know if you would like it?"

"Any person who throws themselves into danger to save another is someone I would love to serve."

And with that, we had now gained an extra horse and companion on our journey. After Gerard drank his fill of water, Ulric helped to get him situated upon the raggedy horse that had once been pulling the wagon.

Neither the horse nor the Faun looked particularly comfortable with each other, but we had a lot of ground to cover, and we had spent too long on the skirmish with the thieves (Gerard had filled us in on their less than noble actions). Gerard also seemed quite nervous around the wolves, but they were keeping their distance as they did last time, mostly keeping to the trees.

As we got closer to civilization, Ulric had the wolves disappear farther into the forest so they wouldn't be seen or get into any trouble within the town.

Today had been filled with more adventure than my entire life. In my first full day we--well I guess only Ulric--had already gotten into a sword fight. A sword fight due to my impulsive actions, but at least we were able to save Gerard out of the whole mess. I only wondered what other adventures would come my way in the future.