Chapter 2
It was midnight by the time I stopped for rest. I had left Katolis that morning, leaving a note on Falima's desk telling her of my whereabouts and several packages for Deran and Calliope on their doorstep. I smiled softly as I thought of them opening the small cloth bags and finding the now fixed leather-bound books they had read as children, their favorite sweet rolls and honey cakes wrapped tightly in silver handkerchiefs. They had done so much for me over the years, and now it was my turn to thank them, however small my gift may have been.
I only hoped they would not stay angry at me for leaving too long.
As I sat my bags down by the stream, I looked up at the stars and sighed; it indeed was a beautiful night. The clouds usually covering the sky were all but gone, filling the brilliant canopy above with glittering lights that seemed to stretch on endlessly. Behind me my horse nickered quietly, snuffling as he pressed his nose to my dark brown hair that fell in waves down my back.
"No eating my hair, remember? It is not food, Serah," I chuckled, patting his velvety muzzle and scratching the lone silver star on his head. Serah shook his mane playfully and laid down at my side, watching carefully as I pulled out a bright red apple from my travel pack.
"You can have this, however," I said as I bit off a chunk and handed it to him, laughing as the fruit disappeared in an instant.
"Where are we headed to tomorrow, Serah? The mountains?" I asked as I pulled out the map of the human lands, trailing my fingers across the page to locate the volcanic gap between the two continents.
"Ah! Here we go. The gap is-well-guarded heavily, but here-there's this path Viren told me about that's called the Moonstone Path. It can only be seen through the light of the moon, hence its name I guess. So, we have to go that way. That should be…fun," I said, pointing at a small sketched runic pathway leading across the lava bridge.
Serah gave me a scorching side eye in response.
"I joke, friend. It's a joke. Anyway-" I stopped speaking as the bushes across the stream rustled. I reached for the dagger at my side, narrowing my amber eyes.
"Who's there? Come out, so I can see you," I said, trying to keep my voice level as the branches behind me quivered and snapped.
Whatever it was, it moved fast.
Serah whinnied in warning as a shadow covered the moonlight behind me, and I felt the blood in my veins freeze as the tip of a blade pricked my back.
"Do. Not. Move," A masculine voice said, and my eyes widened.
I knew that voice.
"Deran, I thought I said to let me go alone," I sighed, turning slightly to see Calliope stomping out of the woods with a look of rage.
"What did you expect us to do when you left us those packages and then said little more than 'love you, bye' to us? We have been there for you for years, and you just leave us like that! How dare you!" Calliope said, her voice raising with every word until she was yelling in my face. I blinked, looking from her to Deran, who was in the process of sheathing his blade, his face red and angry. Looking quickly at Serah, I was met with the horse equivalent of "I told you so" as he simply stared back, his silver eyes glimmering with laughter.
"I did not wish to worry you-" I started, and Deran snorted mirthlessly.
"Well, you did. And now we are here to join you on whatever dumb adventure you have planned. So don't you dare try to get rid of us again," He said, his jaw tense, and I glared.
"...fine. But we are going into Xadia. I need answers from this," I said, handing the ancient eleven scroll to Calliope, "and I need answers about who I am and where I come from. And I am not leaving until I am satisfied," I finished, watching as the blood boiled on my sibling's faces.
"I'll kill any elf who dares to lay their four-fingered claws on you," Deran said, gesturing to the sharpened blade at his side, and Calliope nodded, the arrows on her back glinting in the darkness.
"...there won't be. Trust me. And they are called hands, not claws, Deran. They are people just like us. Do not ever say that to me or anyone else ever again. Am I understood?" I said, and Deran glared as I narrowed my eyes.
"...whatever. Let's get going," Deran mumbled, walking into the woods and leading out two horses, one a dappled grey stallion and the other a mare, pale white against the moonlight. Calliope jumped up on the white, patting the mare's blackened mane and looking over at Deran, who stood next to his mount stiff as a board.
"Deran, I'm sorry. I didn't mean t sound so harsh," I apologized, but he shook his head, smacking my hand away as I reached out towards him.
"Let's go. We've got a week's ride to Xadia."
His voice was emotionless, leaving no room for further conversation. Sighing, I walked back to Serah, who had helped himself to the rest of the fruit I had packed, and mounted.
"Let's go, buddy. We have a scroll to read," I muttered, clicking my tongue and urging him forward. Serah ran ahead, his hooves hitting the ground beneath like war drums before a battle, and all I could think about was how in the world I was going to convince my family to cross the border.
…
Seven days later, the volcano separating the human world from Xadia was visible. I could see the smoke rising in the sky from where we stopped for the night, the small village on the border seeming a pleasant enough place save for the small piles of ashes swept up near the homes and shops. Leaving our horses at the stables for the night, I watched as Deran and Calliope walked into the inn to pay for our boarding. The past week had been spent in almost complete silence, save for the sound of our breathing and the beating of the earth under our horses' hooves.
I couldn't blame them, honestly. If they had left me with care packages and a note saying "We love you, but we cannot stay. We shall see you when we find the answers we are looking for. Be well, sister," I would have also lost my mind.
"What shall we do now, Serah? Journeying into Xadia as three humans does not bode well for us," I muttered as I stroked Serah's dark mane, laying my head against his.
"Journeying into Xadia, huh? And what does a human have business with the elves for?"
I jumped slightly in surprise as a woman I did not recognize walked into the light of the stables, her crystal blue eyes shimmering with wisdom beyond her years. She wore a wide-brimmed cap, her teal gown and purple shawl covering her lithe frame, and her silver hair was tied loosely in a bun. She looked human enough, but I could sense something…ethereal about her appearance.
"...you're not human, are you?" I asked, and the woman smiled mischievously.
"I can see my disguise isn't as good as I hoped," the woman laughed, her gaze scrutinizing as she looked me over.
"Oh, dear. You have quite the spell on you, don't you?" she said, and I blinked.
"Excuse me?"
"Oops! I wasn't actually supposed to say anything about that. Whoopsie! Anyways, you look as marvelous as ever, dear. Now, what was I here for? Oh! Yes, right. I heard you've been needing a scroll read for you. Something about it…glimmering?" The woman asked, her eyes seeming to know everything and nothing all at once, and I placed my hands over my travel bag protectively.
"How do you know about the scroll? Who are you?" I asked, my voice lowering to a whisper, and the woman smiled.
"Oh, I am sure you have many questions. And I can answer them for you. But, in order for that to happen, you need this. Talk to Him, and then I shall do my best to help you."
I glanced down at the sparkling amulet the woman held in my hands, her hands shimmering as if through a mirage. The amulet was shaped like the north star, with carved designs of intertwining wings holding the star safely in their grasp like a pair of hands cradling a child.
Looking up at the strange woman, I briefly saw a pair of shining elven ears on the sides of her head before they disappeared.
"You're…how…?" I asked breathlessly, and the woman grinned.
"I can see your father trained you well. Good. You will need that for the journey ahead," she said, her hands leaving mine as I placed the amulet in my pocket.
"My…wait. You know my father? I have a father? Well, that's a stupid question, I have to have a father, because…well, you know, but how do you know my father? Are you friends? Is he..well…dead? No, he can't be, because I've still got questions he has to answer, and-" I stopped as the woman laughed brightly.
"My goodness, you sound just like Callum! That boy had so many questions he gave old Lujanne a headache!"
I paused, looking at her.
"Wait. Prince Callum? How do you know the Prince? And who's Lujanne? Wait, are you Lujanne?" I asked, and the woman smiled.
"I suppose I'm getting ahead of myself. Talk to Him, and then I will find you. I must go, now, before my old coot of a lover finds me away from the market and talking to a random stable girl who I definitely don't know at all," she said before skipping away, leaving me standing alone in a barn with a million unanswered questions.
….
That night, as I lay in bed, I reached down and pulled out the amulet from my pocket. My room window was luckily faced towards the moon, so when I held the image into the light, it shone brighter than any star I had ever seen.
"Woah…now that is cool," I whispered, careful not to wake Deran and Calliope who slept next door. Turning the amulet over, there were runes etched across the wings and on the back of the star, but they were unfamiliar. The script was the same elegant writing as the scroll, and so I guessed it must have been made by the same author.
"Okay. Now how do you…work this thing," I muttered, smacking the surface of the amulet as if that would make anything magical happen; nothing. I tried holding the amulet up closer to the sky, pressing it up against the glass, and hoping the moonlight or the stars would trigger something.
Nope. Not a thing.
"Wait, what if…" I muttered, reaching down to pick up the scroll in my bag; unrolling the aged parchment, I placed the amulet on the runes, holding it up to the moonlight shining through the window.
"Please work, please work, please…" I said, hoping and praying for something to glimmer, runes to light up, or anything really, but nothing happened.
"Ugh, you are a hopeless piece of jewelry," I sighed, placing the amulet next to my pillow and the scroll in my bag.
"Maybe that weird old woman will help me figure you out. I'll go see her tomorrow. You…don't go anywhere," I said, wondering why on earth I was talking to a piece of stone and fell asleep minutes later.
It had only been five seconds before I was startled back awake, my bed and room gone and my feet on a cold stone floor. Bookcases surrounded me, a high-backed red cushioned chair and a fancy wooden desk stacked high with ancient scrolls and books across from where I stood.
"What the-" I whispered, my voice echoing distantly as if I was speaking underwater. The room I was in was cozy, but felt-empty. Lonely, and cold, as if the person who lived here hadn't been in here for a while. Bright lights shone through the glass windows behind the desk, multicolored and mesmerizing. I looked behind me at the books organized neatly in rows on the shelves, finally deciding to move my feet and walk toward them. Each book had an elvish script, the writing familiar as I traced my fingers along the letters.
"Whoever lives here probably won't mind if I read one of these. They are books, after all," I said, placing my hands on a navy blue leather bound book as the doors to the room creaked open.
"I wasn't touching anything!" I said loudly as I swiveled around, meeting the startled midnight gaze of a very tall elf; one who very clearly knew who I was, based on the fact that they dropped the stack of scrolls they were holding and stood in the doorway looking like they had seen a ghost.
"Astreaea."
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