CHAPTER XIII #4
“-None of that, Alexis. Let’s talk of something else.”
I frown and look away from the girl, swearing I see the smallest of grins from the corner of her lips.
“How about Hiro?” I turn to the twins, “can we talk more about him? I should like to hear stories of his powers and summoning, especially after what I did in the woods…”
Holis catches my gaze in deep understanding. “Of course, Alexis…”
“The Ancient didn’t walk the Old World much when they were all awake, or perhaps he did and kept it well hidden.
The sheer appearance of him was enough to frighten the beings of the Kingdoms, with everyone fearing the reason for his arrival.
Stories from those that have met him tell of a man who moved amongst the shadows, manipulating the air and fog so as not to be seen.
They told stories of a dark figure who graced their homes at night, of a man standing in the corners of their rooms before he led them to their next beyond.
His power, they said, radiated off him as a grip that consumed their full beings and rendered them unable to move.
His eyes were told to glow brightly in both the day and night, seeing through anything and anyone, as if reading the true nature of the person and judging them before he took them to their next exploration... ”
“He’s revered by all Four Kingdoms, but for vastly different reasons…
Pyre likes to claim the Ancient for his affixation with souls, revering the flames that release those souls from their bodies.
They respect the role fire plays in the process of reaching your next exploration and herald the Ancient for his symbolic use of ash.
It was also rumored that the Ancient could do the same as Stormfall, that when he claimed a person’s soul he laid his fingers on their cheek and watched them disappear into the grey. ”
“Disce revered the Ancient out of a deep respect for their dead, the Kingdom most prevalent to celebrate the life lived and honoring the custom of Death’s Bonfire.
Livyatan feared the Ancient, but that fear was also steeped in heavy respect, oftentimes challenging the Ancient’s power as something to overcome.
Aireal, and not many know this, Alexis, but it’s Aireal from which the Ancient hails.
You told my brother and I that his hair is black and his features are fuller than the Discerni’s?
Those are the same features that grace those from the Kingdom up north.
His power commands that element and manipulates it to his will, the only one of his brothers and sisters able to do so. ”
“Air is always around us, Alexis, don’t ever forget that.
It is the single element in the Old World that will always grace the lands you stand on, no matter where you are.
Fire has to be created, while water is only found in certain areas, and earth falls flat when you’re in the deserts of Livyatan surrounded by sand.
It is the strongest of the four elements, though not many like admitting that, and one that can be wielded with terrible beauty if in the wrong hands.
Such was the fate of the Kingdom of Aireal all those years ago.
They wanted more and they let their arrogance get the best of them without truly understanding that they commanded the greatest power of all.
The Ancient will teach you how to use it, Alexis, I know he will.
And when that day comes, it will be you who protects us, you who safeguards those around you with the power and love that you hold so deep in your heart… ”
The Forest of Quiescence sparkles in its green and silver around us, hovering over our backs and sides as we ride swiftly down the Road of Silver.
We had stopped earlier for lunch at the break between Silver and Gold, the mood so bleak and anxious that nobody spoke more than a few sentences to each other.
All eyes were either fixated on me, the King, or the new Woodlands Discerni who always seemed to have a small smirk playing at her lips.
I tried to recall the way she looked at the inn in Alston and how she sat in her corner reading her book, but that vision was now replaced with whoever this malicious girl was.
Were all Woodlands’ women so deceiving?
Or just those that held hate in their hearts for humans?
“Alexis,” the young girl taunted my name at our stop. “I see you eyeing me, Queen to Be. I know you want to hurt me…”
Holis had to place a hard hand on my shoulder and lead me towards the woods.
“Release me and I’ll let you take the first swing,” she laughed as both Keane and Desmond walked towards her.
“I killed your friend. Your human lover. Everyone saw you two at the coronation. How cozy you were with each other. What will the Kingdom say when they find out the King’s betrothed is crying over another-”
“-Oh shut up,” Heysan flicked his hand in that moment as one of the bangles from his wrists flied straight for her face.
I watched with wide eyes as the silver expanded in the air and opened at the clasp, circling towards her neck.
Within a breath the bracelet was as wide as the girl’s head, surrounding her mouth before it covered her lips and closed shut at the back of her hair.
Both brothers turned with cool eyes, nodding in appreciation as Desmond lifted the blanket over her hands and checked her bindings.
“Ignore her, Alexis,” Holis frowned.
“Does the Kingdom really think that of me?” I whispered in anguish. “Do they think I took Arens as a lover?”
Holis shook his head hard, eyes meeting mine in heated denial.
“No, Alexis. That’s the first I’ve heard anything of the sort. Just Woodlands being Woodlands. The rest of the Kingdom does not think that.”
But the words gripped my mind as we continued on the road, pulling my thoughts into deep and dark corners that I had no place dwelling in.
I had heard all the rumors that spread in Bardot and ignored the names that were used of me there, but the words spewed from the girl’s mouth hurt me more than I cared to admit.
Not only were they a slap in Keane’s face, tarnishing his reputation along with mine, but they laid waste to Arens’ true memory, a man with twice the heart and mind as this petty girl who rode with us.
Fucking Woodlands.
I truly hated everything about this damn court.
We reach the outskirts of the village of Etter just before the sun begins its dip on the horizon. The argents are calling above us, the birds dipping through the trees as their songs fill the woods, unable to see our group.
Desmond stealthed us on our ride in, wary of the magical beings and any communication they may take back to Esme. We were to arrive in surprise, with Lord Alexander meeting us in the town square with another group of men who were ready for whatever was to come.
Keane’s summoning presses against my lower abdomen, filling me softly with his desire as he turns his head from up front. I meet his gaze with a questioning one of my own, watching as he tilts his chin and urges me to join him.
“I’m going to ride with the King,” I tell Holis quietly.
My Discerni friend nods as I softly kick Millie forward, riding past Mana, Cal and Alanna, the three of them looking at me in small concern.
I pull her to a halt, however, when I ride past Canon, feeling that strong vibration under my bones that’s not the normal hum from the argents.
Nothing moves around us, save my severely beating heart as it pushes hard against my chest. Though when I peer down the road ahead, there’s four argents all hovering just below the limbs.
“No,” I let out a heavy breath, narrowing my eyes towards the trees as I watch them disappear.
The hum under my skin grows stronger, hearing their calls so plainly as my heart starts to fall in my chest. I kick Millie into a gallop, rushing down the road as both Keane and Desmond turn towards me with their eyes going wide.
They both kick their horses into a run, calling my name as I ride straight for the sinister birds and whatever games they think they’re going to play.
Millie rears her head in the next instant, her front legs hitching into the air just as a body falls from the woods above the two of us. I try to steady her at the same time my stomach lurches forward, every instinct wanting to heave at the sight of what is dangling before me…
Old Maude rests lifeless from the limbs, twisted and tied, her wrinkled body and skin a pale grey as if she’s dead for a while.
A thick vine is secured tightly around her neck, holding the Discerni woman in the air as her body swings back and forth in front of Millie, her eyes open and wide as if her death was another brought on by pain.
I bring a hand to my mouth, the stench of old decay lingering in the air around her.
My eyes start to water at the sheer brutality of her frail body being held to the limb, her neck angled in an unnatural position as her long silver hair falls disheveled around her face.
I spot something on the inside of her left forearm, two strong and wide lines that are dried up and scabbed, carved not recently but what looks to be days ago.
Two.
The number two.
Maude was the second of three.
Millie rears again as I hold on tight, my girl also smelling the stench of death on the woman and bucking up in nervousness.
I maneuver her to the ground with reddened eyes, eyes so harrowed with tears of anguish and anger that I have to look away from the lifeless body so as not to do anything rash.
There’s no doubt the old woman had been dead for a while, just as I know that whoever dropped her here was aware that we were coming.