“I didn’t see him. The kids said they waited for him, but he never came back.”
Red bit her lip as she glanced back to the entrance of the cave.
“Let’s work until lunchtime and then head back,” Sera suggested, as she could also see that Red was upset by my words. I was glad to see that we weren’t going to just leave this as another unanswered question.
I looked back down at my paper as both Sera and Red went back to theirs. I glanced through each column and found nothing as I had in the last edition. I had a feeling there was nothing to find, but I needed to be sure. If there was a lead to where I came from, that would be helpful, maybe give us a clue as to why the curse stopped when I came to Elder as a baby.
I continued to scan everything. It was boring to read over what didn’t make a single difference to me. It was interesting though to see actual pictures of the birds they used to fly around on. I had never traveled to Arboria before, but now with my new ability, I would be able to travel anywhere. I stared harder at the birds and wondered if I could transform into one myself. So far, I had only tried animals I had seen with my own eyes, but this was something that might be a bit of a fun challenge. I studied the picture more.
“A baby boy,” Sera read from over my shoulder. “It isn’t about a boy being kidnapped, but isn’t it strange that the king and queen of Arboria had a baby boy around the time Red took you in?”
I wasn’t sure what she was talking about until I looked at the column next to the picture I was studying. There was a much larger picture of a king and queen with an infant in their arms. I quickly scanned the writing next to it. Sure enough, in the winter I came to Elder, the King and Queen had a baby boy. I scanned the article. It mentioned nothing about an adoption, but it did say it was quite a surprise. No one knew the queen was pregnant. He was currently the crown Prince. Prince Fallon. I had heard of the name but knew nothing of the guy.
Red was now standing and looking over my shoulder too.
“I’ve met him before.” Red finished the article and nodded. “He’s been to Elder once. I’m pretty sure he hated it here.”
Sera laughed with Red. But I could completely understand. Arboria and Elder were two different worlds. I was more than sure I’d hate it in Arboria too.
“We need to head back and deal with the wolves,” Red said as she placed her paper back in the box.
She then carried the box over next to the cave wall and added it to a pile. I grabbed my own box, taking one last look at the Prince’s birth announcement before taking the box over to Red. She took it from me and put it in a different pile. There must have been some sort of order I didn’t understand.
We left the sort of cave and trekked back across the fields. Red didn’t cut through the freshly growing corn like Sera did before, so it took a bit longer to get back to her office. She walked in silence the whole way, and I felt like she didn’t want to be interrupted in her thoughts.
As we went into her office, she finally spoke.
“Then, we were right about his magic being accepted by the trees?” Red asked Sera. Not where I thought she was going to go with questions.
Sera looked me up and down.
“He seemed to come through whole. I guess that’s a yes.”
Whole? Was there any question of going through the magical tree not whole? And they both let me do it? Heck, they didn’t warn me? Typical Red and future Red.
“Good,” Red replied as she walked over and opened the tree door. She stepped inside and shut the door. I didn’t know anything happened. How could I have missed her doing that as a kid? Maybe she never did it in front of me because I would have asked.
Sera didn’t wait as she opened it again. Without a sound, Red was completely gone. Because of our lack of magic in Elder, it always surprised me when I saw something like that. I tried to keep my face neutral, but it was strange to see magic. Maybe I hadn’t’ seen enough of the world because Sera and Red didn’t bat an eye. Sera turned to me and tapped her foot.
“Waiting for an invitation?” she asked. “Would you like it on paper or just sung?”
I smirked at her teasing. “I’d prefer it in a dance.”
Without a second thought, I grabbed Sera and twirled her around in a circle, making us end up in the small secret tree space. My back hit the tree wall with a thud, and Sera bounced into me. I kept my arms around her, making sure she didn’t hit the tree walls at all. I grinned as she looked up with flushed cheeks.
“That was the perfect invitation,” I teased.
Sera huffed and turned back around, pressing her back into me. She yanked the door shut, and we were left in complete darkness again. Before she could touch the wall and send us back to Red, I bravely dipped my head and kissed her jaw just under her ear. My feet dropped as Sera made contact with the tree and sent us back to Red.
We stood in the dark tree with Red right on the other side. Sera twisted in my arms without opening the door. I could barely make out her face in the pitch black, and that was probably only thanks to my animal abilities. I wanted to be able to see her eyes and judge what she was thinking, but as she pushed up on her toes to kiss me, I didn’t have to wonder. All that thinking about if she liked me too was very much confirmed.
I don’t know how long we would have stayed there in the dark tree, but the knocking on a door made us both pull apart. Sera turned and pushed open the tree door to find Red answering her office door.
“They are all gathered,” a man’s voice said from the other side of her door.
“Who is gathered?” I asked from behind Sera as we approached Red.
Red didn’t answer as she left, and we followed as expected. Sera didn’t seem to know what was going on either, but that didn’t matter. Red’s always had been like that. Some things in life never changed, and I was actually grateful for that.
The tree people had built an amazing system of homes all several saplings off the ground, but one problem you encountered when you build a bunch of connecting buildings was that there is very little space to have a meeting of all the inhabitants. I could tell what Red had planned as we walked further towards the middle of the village. There were several stories of bridges that went around the trees, and there was one favorite spot that Red always liked to talk to her people from. Red walked far enough that anyone who wanted to hear her could.
“Thank you all for coming here on short notice,” Red started as she looked around at the faces gathered. It wasn’t all of Azren, but it was a lot of them.
“We need to talk about the wolves.”
A few people groaned, and a couple more glared, but most of the faces waited for her to continue. I wasn’t the only one used to waiting for Red to say what she needed to say.
“Right now, they are trapped behind a wall. They chose to build a wall to keep the rest of us safe. They chose to isolate themselves. While I understand your fear of the wolves, I need everyone here to think hard about what is going on. The wolves are citizens of Elder, just like every one of you. They are humans, even if they can turn into wolves. They are our friends, family, and neighbors. They are a part of this, all of this.” Red gestured around the city.
Faces stared back at her, but surprisingly, no one was complaining. Days without any attacks seemed to have quelled the majority of the people’s fear.
“We need to think of what we can do to help them,” Red continued. “Every night, more and more wolves succumb to the curse. Yes, you are all safe here, but they aren’t safe there. The wolves are attacking each other, and many are dying. Even worse, are the children. Micco told me he had plans to keep the children safe, but Castiel was brave enough to enter the wolves’ territory and help all the ones he could find. There are still children left unprotected beyond that wall.”
Women gathered, all looking shocked. I was sure many of them were picturing their own children in the same place as those lost children.
“As many of you know, children can’t get sick. It isn’t un
til they come of age that they can get the curse. So those children are sitting there with their parents, waiting for them to turn on them and attack them, if they have parents left. These children are innocent. The wolves are innocent. All they’ve ever wanted to do was be part of Elder. And you have all turned your backs on them.”
Red now looked from face to face, and many turned from her stare.
“I’m ashamed to call myself a tree person.”
There were a few gasps from the crowd, but most of them nodded along with her.
“If this was happening to your mother, your brother, your children, how would you feel?”
I could see that she still affected the people of Elder. Even if her Red powers were draining and going to Sera, Red still had the power of her voice and reasoning. Red was still the leader that had been running Elder for many seasons. Red was Elder.
“I expect more from you,” she concluded before turning back to Sera and me.
That was our only cue to move out of the way, and Red left the tree people citizens of Elder sitting in the safe tree bridges stunned. I wish I had more time to see what was coming next, but I needed to head back to Nikkan and Grace and check on the children. I had been scolded more times than I could count by Red, and I knew what it felt like to get her look of disappointment. Even the people scowling seem to be ashamed as they should be. Red couldn’t make them be better people, but that didn’t mean she has to sit silently and let them continue to act like they were. I couldn’t be prouder of Red as she walked away without a single look back. She would forever be the Red in my mind.
Red packed as many supplies on me in my bird form as she could. I wished I had time to carry more, but I didn’t as night was falling, and I needed to make it back to my friends. For the second night in a row, Grace had to fight for control of her wolf. I was certain we almost lost her before she submitted to me, but luckily enough, she did, and we had a restful night; no wolves tried to come out to where we were. Grace was losing her battle with the curse, but I wasn’t going to give up on her.
I felt slightly guilty after my mother’s impassioned speech. Here I was hiding off in the corner of the wolf territory, and the wolf village was in chaos. I knew the sleeping children above me needed me to stay and protect them, but it was still hard to hear the pleas of people and the howls of the wolves.
4
21st March
When we woke the next day, it was like the horrible night hadn’t happened. I could pretend we were just camping, and Grace sure did keep it cheerful enough for the children to do just that, but the older children knew the reality just as Nikkan, Grace, and I did. The curse was destroying the wolves.
“Can we go back today to check on them?” one of the older kids asked.
It was obvious that they had also heard all the howls. I didn’t blame them in the least for being worried. They had left behind parents, grandparents, and older siblings.
“We can’t go back until it’s safe,” I answered before Nikkan could. He would have said the same thing.
“If we can make a safe zone here, then maybe some of the parents, if they aren't cursed yet, could come here,” Nikkan suggested. “They could live on the ground away from the children but still be able to see and talk to them. We could build a real house for the kids, like the tree people have.”
That sounded like a good enough idea to me, but I wasn’t sure how to execute it. I had built my own place, but that was on the ground. I wasn’t really versed in how to build treehouses. Azren was safe and secure by the time I was born, and I wasn’t sure how to do that from scratch. It was a whole city in the trees, and I didn’t know where to start to make one house. I couldn’t think too hard as Azren took too many seasons to count to build, but we had to start somewhere.
“How about I head back to the village and pick up supplies, see what I can find,” I suggested.
Nikkan nodded.
“I’ll come with you.”
“I can stay with the kids,” Grace added.
“But wouldn’t it be easier if they had your help too?” Samuel asked.
He was the oldest of the kids. He probably didn’t have too long before he was old enough to be cursed also, but for right now, he was safe from it.
“I can take care of the camp. It isn’t like anyone is going to come and cause trouble right now. It is day time.” The boy had a point.
I looked at my friends. We weren’t going to be gone too long, and it was daytime. And besides, I could fly back in only moments if we needed to help.
Nikkan nodded like he was on the same thought path I was.
“Okay. You keep the younger ones to the trees just in case, and we will be back by lunchtime.”
Samuel nodded to Nikkan and then to me. I could see the boy was confident enough. He would be fine.
Nikkan, Grace, and I took off back to the village. Where I could normally run back in record time with my new endurance, I took it slow for my friends. Grace was still a bit weak from her fight with the curse, and Nikkan was the ever-attentive boyfriend. He carried her part of the way despite her protests.
“So, you didn’t get to a chance to tell us if you found anything,” Nikkan began as we got out of sight of the kids. I had turned back one last time to be sure they were fine, and they were.
“We didn’t find much. It seems Red keeps newspapers from all the kingdoms. We went through them, and the only thing we found was that a Prince from Aboria was born around the same time as me.”
“Could he be your twin?” Nikkan asked.
Grace burst out laughing.
“Not possible. They are as much alike as night and day.” She tried to keep her laughter down but still found it quite funny.
I shrugged. I knew very little about Prince Fallon. I had no clue what he looked like.
“How do you know that?” Nikkan asked as I raised an eyebrow at Grace.
“He’s in all the magazines we import. Haven’t you seen him before? He’s that really good-looking guy with a crown. I’m sure you would have seen him at the magazine stand. I think he’s always on a cover or two every moon cycle.”
“Good-looking?” Nikkan asked. I could see the jealousy on his face.
Grace laughed again.
“Not as good-looking as you.” She grabbed his arm and twined her fingers with his. That seemed to appease my golden-haired friend.
“What do those magazines say about him?”
I didn’t think I was related to him as I could picture the guy Grace was talking about. I never knew his name, but I was vaguely aware who Prince Fallon was, and we looked nothing alike, but I had to wonder if there was some sort of connection. He was the best lead I had so far. It wasn’t like any mysterious babies adopted seasons ago would just be roaming around the forests of Elder so I could ask them.
“What’s he like?” I asked. Grace seemed to know more than the newspaper I was reading.
“Handsome, but not as handsome as you,” she added again for Nikkan. “And he seems to know it. He doesn’t go anywhere without women throwing themselves at him. They say he’s the most eligible royalty as he doesn’t have any siblings and will inherit the throne outright when his father wants to be done. You can’t imagine how many girls want to be a princess that’s guaranteed to become queen.”
Nikkan made a gagging face behind Grace’s back.
“What does he do for a job until he becomes king?” I asked. I had heard that some royals had other jobs or trained with their military. If I remembered right, the King of Aboria wasn’t much older than Red, and he was likely to rule for quite a few seasons.
“Job? Does Prince Fallon work? I doubt it,” Grace replied with a flutter of her eyelashes. She might have said Nikkan didn’t need to be jealous, but I could understand that look on her anywhere. She had a crush.
“No job?” Nikkan asked, puffing out his chest as if that made him a better candidate for Grace.
Not that my friend could say much. Nikkan spent mos
t of his time as a wolf sleeping around my house. We made most of the border runs together, but that was about all Nikkan would do as a job. Not that it meant much. Most people in Elder didn’t have traditional jobs, at least, not the people living in the forests. We had enough stuff to get done each day just not to go hungry or cold. Jobs were an afterthought or a talent.
“Then what does he do all day?” I asked. I wanted to understand this Prince Fallon better.
Grace shrugged. “Not much of anything, I suppose. All the pictures I see of him are when he is at parties. He seems to do those a lot. And he must like them. He’s always smiling.”
Okay, I really had nothing in common with the Prince of Aboria. But that didn’t mean I was giving up quite yet. It was possible what I needed to do was meet this prince. Maybe he could tell me where he came from and give me a better clue as to where to look. Adoption by a stranger wasn’t that common in Elder. Most people knew who their parents were, even if they weren’t raising them. Maybe it was wishful thinking, but I felt like I needed to talk to this prince.
“Even if he’s handsome,” Nikkan drew out the word while his nose wrinkled in disgust. “He doesn’t sound like he provides much. A pretty face can’t catch you a meal or build you a home.”
I nodded. That much was true.
“And that’s why I’m with you and not running off to Aboria to try to catch the eye of a prince,” Grace said as she patted Nikkan’s arm.
I had to agree with Nikkan. The prince didn’t sound like much, but he was a lead. If I didn’t find any new answers here in Elder, I was going to have to look further into him.
We all three stopped talking as we came to the village. I didn’t think it was possible that it could be in more disarray than before, but it was. At least a quarter of the huts were torn down or burned. Off to the west, I could see there was smoke, possibly from a burning hut.
Castiel: Son of Red Riding Hood (Kingdom of Fairytales Boxset Book 3) Page 27
