The River In the Stars, Page 2

Despite my best efforts at finding a single pair of even slightly normal looking nightclothes I was currently wearing a very beautiful nightgown with an even more beautiful robe on top. I was sitting on a lovely wooden couch with cushions that seemed as if they were made of plower petals.

  “Those creatures. The werewolves, were they once people? Do nature catchers, or humans, or faeries turn into them if they are bitten like in stories?” I asked Chani. I brushed my hand along my leg where scars had already formed thanks to the faerie medicines. She smiled.

  “It’s a bit more complex than that. Not only is it rare, but you have to already have some part of you that is werewolf resembling. Finding enjoyment out of violence, or others’ pain. It has to be someone who has already chosen to lean more towards darkness than light,” She said.

  “So if I fed one of the community tutors to the werewolves, they might have turned into one?” I asked with a smile. Chani laughed.

  “It is possible. However when they are turned they aren’t like the wolves you saw today. Some of them can shape shift into their human forms,” Chani said.

  “So if they aren’t like those other werewolves, and very rarely people turn, how do they keep the species alive?” I asked.

  “They have children. They teach them to be as awful as possible, and if they don’t get eaten by another werewolf, or killed by one of their siblings they live to continue the cycle.” Chani said. Killed by one another, how awful, to be killed by a brother or sister.

  “Brings a different meaning to family feuds,” I said. Chani laughed a little.

  “Okay then so how do you kill a werewolf? Why didn’t the faeries just fight back?” I said.

  “Only a few select elves, faeries, Nature Catchers, or Nature Keepers can kill werewolves, and there are never two at the same time. They only come around every thousand years or so,” Chani said.

  “One every thousand years?” I asked. She nodded.

  “And they have to wait, until they are a certain age for that power to become active. Everyone’s age is different. For some it is thirty, others five hundred six, some thirteen. If you they too early, they die,” Chani explained.

  “Did you just say five hundred six?” I said. Chani nodded.

  “At some point in our seventeenth year our aging slows,” she said.

  “How old are you?” I asked.

  “Seven hundred.” She said. I gasped.

  “I must seem like a baby to you.” I said.

  “Not a baby, a tot perhaps,” she smiled. I laid down and placed my head in her lap.

  “A Queen… I don’t believe I can do this Chani. I would refuse it out right, give it to someone else yet when I heard what they have all been through today, I wanted to help. I still don’t believe that I can, but I wanted to. They think I’m going to be the one to save the day, and I don’t see how it’s possible, but I will try.” I said.There was a knock on the door, and Keatin entered.

  “I’ve been instructed to stay close to you at all times, which apparently means sleeping in your living room. I hope you don’t mind.” He said, a pile of blankets in his hands.

  “No, of course not. That’s just fine.” I said.

  “Chani, they wanted me to tell you that you are to sleep in Ellasis’ bedroom with her to insure her safety,” he said. I took and internal deep breath. Thank goodness. Orders or no orders, there was no way I was going to let her leave me alone in this place, especially with a stranger sleeping in the next room over. I stood and so did Chani.

  “A peaceful night’s rest to you,” I said.

  “And to you my Queen,”

  “Ellasis, please. I imagine we will be spending much time together, it would help me to be more at peace if we were more relaxed regarding all the formalities, at least when we aren’t around everyone else. That and being called queen of anything is nothing short of petrifying at the moment,” I said.

  “Of course,” he nodded. I smiled, then left for bed. It wasn’t long before everything was quiet and Chani was sound asleep next to me. I however was striving not to keep my heart from beating out of my chest. How could this have all happened? I could barely help provide for my family, let alone lead a whole kingdom. What about the war? Peter, was probably completely distracted looking for me, how on earth will I manage this? I rolled over. I didn’t want this. I was having a difficult time coping with the responsibilities of one war, and I wasn’t heading it. I had a feeling of what they would ask of me, what plans they have for me, and I knew that I would crumble under the weight. At the same time, I knew that I had to help them. I wanted to help them. They had already been through so much, and I didn’t want to let them down. I swiped my hands through my hair, then got out of bed. I put on some casual clothing, and a jacket. I slipped into the living room, shut the bedroom door, and crossed to the front door where I stepped on something, and an 'OOOF!' came out of it. I clamped a hand over my mouth, and shot backwards. A sigh of relief escaped from me when Keatin jumped up, one hand on his belt, ready for an attack.

  “Shh, ‘tis only me. Come,” I said, and opened the door. I pulled him out into the night air with me.

  “What are you doing awake? You weren’t planning on running?” he said.

  “No. I can not sleep, I needed air. What were you doing sleeping on the floor?” I said.

  “Well if an intruder came in I’d be alerted immediately where I was. I suppose it works for runaways as well.”

  “I wasn’t running away,” I said. I plopped down on one of the steps. I bent my head, my hands bracing my neck.

  “You’ve had a difficult past few weeks,” he said, and sat next to me.

  “You could say that.”

  “I sent some men to check on Peter.”

  “How-”

  “They told me of your life,” he said. I nodded.

  “Come, I want to show you something. Perhaps it will help,” he stood and put out his hand to help me up. I took it, and he lead me up the winding staircase. We climbed until we had passed the room we’d met in and were nearly at the top of the tree. The scent of cotton and roses drifted to me. My hand gripped the silky smooth wooden banister, my other was in Keatin’s hand as he lead me upwards. Our heads broke through the trees, and I was speechless. By the light of the moon I could see everything. Trees and mountains accompanied by hills and valleys spread as far as I could see. I could see a lake in the distance, and the moon reflected in its obsidian surface. Keatin lead me to a shallow staircase that took us to a glass structure. He held the door open for me. The room was filled with intricately carved wooden dining sets. At the end of the room was a nook where a overstuffed chairs faced the windows. Keatin motioned for me to sit in one of them, and he sat in the other.

  “What do you think?” he said.

  “It’s beautiful, it’s absolutely beautiful.”

  “You need not fear it,” My eyes met his. “You were born for this,”

  “I was raised poor, I’ve had to work since I was a child to help provide for my family. I’m no queen. I may have the blood, but I don’t have the breading,”

  “Do you really believe that matters?”

  “Our people don’t need such a ruler as that. They need a warrior, and a mother. You may be young, but you are able,” he said.

  “I don’t know how to fight.”

  “A warrior is more than how well he wields his sword.”

  “I hope you’re right.”

  “I am right, I’m always right,” he said with a side smile.