Realm of Wings

Jade, waking up with a strange experience…

A course rubbing over my cheek and forehead woke me up from my sleep and while having my eyes still shut, I rubbed over my face to get rid of the strange feeling. My hand became sticky, cold and wet and I instantly sat up straight to feel around to get to know what was going on!

While rubbing my hands on the blanket that was no longer covering me, I got nudged in the back by something big.

“Who’s kicking me!” I yelled, which was instantly replied to by loud laughter and clapping sounds.

I rubbed all the goo from my face and finally managed to open my eyes to really see what it was that was waking me so annoyingly and abrupt.

Once I turned around and looked the creature straight in its red glowing eyes, I instantly tried to scurry myself backwards, but while doing so, I had woken up Neil and he, as decent as he is, swallowed some English cursing and managed to scoot over. He hadn’t yet realised what kind of creature was lurking right next to him and even though I tried to warn him and wake him up, the stubborn old man wouldn’t get up!

“Don’t be afraid, they are herbivores. They just smelled the berries you ate last night, hence the reason he was licking your face.” Echo smiled and even Kallan was wide awake sitting next to him, laughing as well!

While my breathing went a bit slower now, I had taken the time to look a bit closer to one of the creatures that ‘attacked’ me. It was something so strange, yet it felt as if it was something so normal for these lands. The way it looked, and the way it acted, it just seemed right in this place.

A furry creature, the size of an overgrown badger, but with black and white stripes all over his body and it had small antlers in between his bear-like ears. His tail was long and also striped, and his paws, or more like small, four-fingered hands were now being licked off as he had found some other purple berries he could feast on. He wasn’t paying any form of attention to me anymore, he just went along with all the other ‘badgers’ that were with him and eventually they ran away, up in the trees or staying on the ground, playing and fighting with their strange small antlers.

“What are they?” I managed to ask once I was able to make myself stand up to see the last of them jump up in the trees as well.

“Mandibores. Gentle, but sometimes very annoying creatures, they tend to breed like the rabbits from Earth.” Echo replied.

“Well, not on the other side of the rift…” Kallan added, a little sad. “I haven’t seen a pack as big as this one, for at least fifty years I believe. I guess there is plenty of magic here.” He scoffed, clearly not agreeing with the whole situation of Kyalthemar being split in two.

“I know Kallan, but we have to be careful to take the rift down, we can’t just wing it and expect everything to be easily dealt with.” Echo replied and Kallan and I both wanted to interrupt, but as usual, he lifted his hand and continued. “All in due time, shush now because the guards are coming.”

Guards? What guards?

But I guess Echo’s hearing is more sophisticated or trained than ours is, as moments after he had spoken that sentence, I could see a cloud of creatures flying in our direction.

While we took the time to wake up the others, Echo approached us and told us to stay quiet. Not that I’m someone to easily follow orders when I’m expected to, or even wanting to stay silent when I’m eager to speak up my mind, I was inclined to listen to Echo’s question. We are here in unknown territory with people we don’t know or know how to trust, so let’s see what will happen and what Echo is going to do.

Besides, Kallan gently stepped half in front of me, guarding me subconsciously for whatever danger there might be. I know he saw me talking to Echo last night and I also have noticed for them to be speaking to each other, so I guess Kallan knows more than he is willing to let on right now.

I decided to not shove him aside, knowing perfectly well that I could defend myself should the approaching guards decide to attack us. But I’d like to keep me being the heir a secret a little longer. I don’t want the title and somehow, I don’t want to disappoint the people by telling them from the start that I’m not the right person to lead them.

While rubbing the pocket on my right leg, to check if the marble was still in there, a team of Pegasi approached us. Varying in multiple colours, wearing white shiny armour on their backs and heads, ridden by Fae who all looked just the same, except for the colour of their hair and eyes, the creatures landed on the ground right in front of us.

The arrogance that beamed off of these Fae was annoying me, to say the least. I mean, they are Fae, they have wings, so why use Pegasi to transport yourself then? And when they stepped down from the magnificent creatures, they walked right past us, not acknowledging our presence and went straight for Echo.

“These,” The leader of the guards, the one with golden adornments attached on his pristine white armour, spoke up with foul tone. “are the people you needed to transport?” He asked and Echo hummed agreeing. “Not only are they not Aether, you even brought along a human! He should be executed on sight!”

Instantly, the other white Fae aimed their energy-filled hands towards Neil, at which I stepped in front and instinctively reached for the swords on my back. I cursed inwardly for not realizing I never had the chance to take them with me when I had been captured by the King’s guards in E’ne Belanore and made my hands fizzle with my energy instead as well.

Balls of burning light came soaring our way and I could see Echo wanting to push us away as a form of defence. I know he is strong and renowned for the actions in his life, but he was too late to act upon this. Whether or not he was expecting this to happen, he would never be in time to bounce us all away with one of his booming sounds.

I wasn’t a hundred per cent sure I could do what I wanted to, but there was no other chance or moment to figure things out a normal way. The orb is in my possession, I’m supposed to be a Queen, I’m strong and I never walked away from a fight! This is my life, my determination and my right to defend whom I wanted to defend!

So, while Kallan and Trixie flew away, being pushed from the pounding sound blast from Echo, I pushed my hands forward and imagined creating several walls of light, hoping it to be strong enough to keep Neil from being hurt by any of these balls.

When the first one touched one of my shields, it didn’t penetrate and soon when I saw the others approaching, I shifted my stance to push them away as well. One after the other got pushed aside and I was stepping from left to right, to be able to get rid of all of them.

“Halt!” The golden adorned Fae commanded his men after a little while and I could see Echo standing to the side, showing a glint of a smile on his face, letting me know that he indeed hadn’t foreseen this to have happened and was happy that I could protect my companion from this assault.

But what this also let me know, as it was strange that he would be happy that I protected Neil this time, was that he wasn’t approving the presence of this Aether Fae either. In fact, I assume him to not like this Fae leader at all. Not that it was strange to not be able to like him, or his entourage, at all, but still, why should he not like his kin? Hadn’t he asked for transportation from these guards himself? And hadn’t he been the one that wanted to transport me to this side of the world? What is he expecting me to do here, why does he want me here? Like here, specifically. Can’t I take the rift down from the other side?

“Are you done now?” Echo suddenly asked him, not showing the smile any longer.

“Don’t use that tone to me! You are already showing disrespect by bringing along one of those filthy humans, and now you won’t even make it seem wrong for a Fae to have protected one?!” He said calm but with a massive amount of underlying anger and foul thinking.

“Ren, you might want to consider your tone to me. Or do you want me to tell your daddy exactly what happened here? Because I don’t think he would be appreciative of his only son to have attacked the true heir of the throne. Or am I wrong here?” Echo replied just as calm, but also with the certainty that he was not backing down from any threat this apparently only son would make.

The guards that had attacked me still kept their straight-up poses upon hearing this news, but you could see from their eyes that they hadn’t expected me to be that person. Fear was written on some faces, knowing they had willingly, commanded sure, attacked me and knew to might be able to receive repercussions from it.

And besides this, my secret was now out in the open even though I wanted to keep it still longer. I sighed upon knowing what would come next, as they would probably suddenly be nice and show a perfect attitude towards me. I never wanted this and I don’t need to be carried upon hands, sort of speak. I just want to find the other orbs, get this rift down and make sure that everything is back in order as it should be.

“Well, Princess, I don’t know what happened to you or who made you think that this human should be by your side at all, or who dressed you in these flimsy and dirty clothing to even begin with, but you need someone to show you some finesse.” Ren had to take a moment or two to come up with these words, as he would never agree to fully be nice, but I guess his arrogance let him say these things at least.

He is a snake, that much I can tell. He doesn’t faze that fast from someone saying something he doesn’t like, and he is trained to come up with a vocal counter-attack as if what happened before, never happened at all.

And I haven’t fallen from a brick wall when I was younger either… So, silence be damned.

“Well, Ren, how kind of you to acknowledge my body is more suited for silk and satin, instead of these rags I’m wearing now. Besides, this human here is well-trained and my most loyal servant. I have spent years having him do exactly what I want, and I don’t appreciate him being killed that easily. So, if you don’t mind, I’d like to take you up on that offer for some redressing and food also, please.” I said in the kindest and most decent voice I could come up with.

No one here expected me to act this way, as Trixie snorted behind me and Ren’s mouth dropped open in astonishment. Even Neil had to clear his throat but wisely kept his mouth shut. I straightened my shoulders to make my point more evident and once Ren had found his marbles again, he showed me the way to one of his free Pegasi.

“No, they won’t do. Poseidon, if you please?” I asked gently and without any form of hesitation Poseidon came over to me and put out his front leg, for me to jump on.

Trixie couldn’t hold herself any longer and burst into small laughter, which resulted in Zeph and Kallan hitting her on the back of her head to shush her quickly. She protested for a moment but regained her pose nonetheless.

Ren grumbled softly but didn’t show any form of annoyance other than that, even though I know he must be thinking otherwise. There was no use in trying to read his mind for it, as I know he must be hating me already, but I’m curious if I’m able to read his mind at all. The magic here is stronger, I can feel it, but I am wondering if it is the same here as it was on the other side of the rift.

I focused my mind to try and invade his, to see if he is indeed that hateful as he had shown earlier. But as soon as I heard some of his thoughts about him loathing me, he turned himself around and looked me in the eyes. My ability to read his mind suddenly got interrupted as soon as his eyes found mine, as if he had known me to be able to read his mind, as if he got some mental alarm that told him what happened. But I could tell he wasn’t sure of it because he squinted his eyes in not truly knowing what was going on.

“Is there something wrong?” I asked kindly, avoiding any form of happiness I had for my succession, but he shook his head and jumped on the back of his Pegasus, not commenting any further.

“Onward!” He shouted and soon everyone else followed him.

Kallan helped Neil to get on one of the majestic creatures and then stepped on one himself with Trixie behind him. Zeph and Echo jumped on as well and soon we flew right behind the perfectly engineered, double row of flying Pegasi that are owned by whoever this Ren’s daddy is.

“Silk and satin?” Trixie asked me as soon as Kallan made his Pegasus fly close to me.

“Yes, you don’t think that would suit me?” I said while flipping my hair to the back, which made Trixie laugh even harder.

“I’d never believed you to have an attitude with a princess-sass if I hadn’t seen it for myself! Silk and satin! I’m wondering how this Ren will react when you show up in black leather and swords! Ha!” Trixie kept laughing and nearly cried as well.

It was good for her to be seated behind Kallan, as she wouldn’t have been able to keep herself steady while flying herself that way. And Kallan kept shushing her but could hardly contain himself to copy her instead either. I had to smile too and was happy to have some sort of joy during all these trials and fighting. It was certainly giving me a good feeling to have friends like Kallan and Trixie, even though I have always been appreciative of Neil’s presence in my lonely existence.

But I was worried as well because if this Ren is so manipulative and arrogant, what of his parents or other people who live with him then? Are they just as bad or is Ren an exception?

A/n: So... where are they off to now?