Forest of Kings

by Jack Knight

Sarin greeted the Sisters kindly when she arrived, and then asked if she could speak to the rest of them alone. The Sisters happily obliged and filtered out of the room quickly.

  As soon as Azeral, the last to leave, closed herself behind one of the many doors leading off of the main room, Sarin said, “We have a problem.”

  “What kind of problem?” Ava asked with a sigh, as if she had expected it.

  “I think I have one, too,” Xion said, finally forcing himself to speak.

  Sarin looked like she might insist on going first, but she looked at Xion for a few seconds and said, “You look like you may be ill.”

  “I feel like it,” Xion agreed. He had tried to keep his composure while Sapphire was introducing him to everyone, but it got more difficult as time went on. Once they all left the room, Xion could not keep himself together any longer.

  He told them all, Laira included, about what he had realized about his mother. Once he finished that, he relayed everything he could from his dream. He added the fact that he had met Paarathax once before, something he had never told any of them, and explained the most important bits of information from that previous conversation.

  Once he had begun talking, he could not stop himself. It all poured out of him as if it had been trying to spill out for weeks. Once it started, he could not stop until he had said everything there was to say. Having said it all out loud made him feel marginally better, but the possibility of having a sibling still weighed him down heavily.

  “Well, you are definitely not related to Sapphire,” Sarin said, once he had finished.

  “How do you know?” Sapphire asked urgently, as if this was the most important part of anything Xion had said.

  “Blue eyes and red hair, those do not appear spontaneously. At least one of your parents must share those traits with you. And, neither could have possibly had black hair or eyes. If this woman was Xion’s mother, as he believes, you two cannot be related,” Sarin explained.

  “Well, thank goodness,” Ava mocked. “Now, how about the dragon part, that seems a little more pressing.”

  “Okay, so, dragons aren’t extinct, they’ve all been brought back to life, and you see them in your dreams?” Laira confirmed. She looked like she was going to fall over.

  “You catch on quick,” Warren joked as he bumped her with his shoulder.

  “That would explain why I have not heard a word about any dragons,” Sarin mused. “They are all in hiding.”

  “Okay, but what about the ‘of his blood’ thing?” Warren asked.

  “And, who exactly is Paarathax?” Sapphire added.

  Xion shrugged. “They didn’t really say. And, he just showed up and saved me from that runaway horse, and then disappeared,” he answered. “I honestly thought that I could only see Draxis in my dreams.”

  “Great, so no information, just a bunch of new questions,” Ava complained. “What about Xion’s tutor?” she asked Sarin.

  “That is why I came straight here. My contact, Kronos, has left. He moved to Evergreen seven years ago, I don't even know if he is still there,” Sarin told them.

  “Okay, so we go to Evergreen and ask,” Xion said simply.

  “No!” Ava shouted.

  Everyone looked at her in surprise. Ava’s eyes were wide, and Xion was sure that he saw fear in them.

  “Ava, Xion needs to learn to control his magic,” Sapphire pointed out.

  “Qua’ke is dangerous enough, we can’t go to Evergreen,” Ava insisted.

  “We have to,” Xion argued. “We don’t know anyone else that can teach me, and it’s our only lead.”

  “The chosen one has spoken!” Warren cheered. “No arguing,” he said, pointing a finger at Ava.

  “Lower your hand or I break it,” Ava glared at Warren, and Xion was sure she was not making an empty threat.

  “Right,” Warren’s hand dropped, “but my point stands.”

  “It’s a bad idea,” Ava glared at Xion.

  Xion did not understand why she was so insistent, but they did not have any other options. “Sorry, Ava, but we don’t really have a choice.”

  Ava rolled her eyes and walked away, shaking her head. “Whatever,” was all she said as she walked out the door of the temple.

  “I will speak to her,” Sarin said calmly. “Meet us at the front gate at dusk.”

  As Sarin followed Ava out the door, Xion looked around at everyone who was still there. “Did any of you understand that?” he asked.

  “Nope,” Warren said happily, “but I never understand Ava. So, what do we do now?”

  “I’m hungry,” Laira said quickly, “we should eat.”

  “Oh! That’s perfect!” Sapphire cried excitedly. “I can show you guys my favorite restaurant!”

  “What’s a restaurant?” Xion asked. He had never heard the word before. He could surmise that it had something to do with food, but he was not sure if it was a shop or a tavern of some kind.

  “Come on,” Sapphire grabbed his hand and pulled him out the door. This was starting to become a recurring thing, and Xion was not sure if he had any issue with it or not. He was concerned about the scales on the back of his hands, but Sapphire did not appear to have any problem with them.

  Warren and Laira followed behind them as Sapphire led them through the city once more. This time, Sapphire pulled him along much slower than she had on the way to the temple. She pointed out buildings and told Xion about all the places she had played as a child, and who owned which shop.

  After about twenty minutes, they reached what Xion thought was a house, except there were tables set up outside. Sapphire pulled him into the building, and he saw that it was set up very similarly to the tavern, with tables all around the room, and a fireplace set in the wall. The only difference that he could see was that there was not a bar, instead there were two doors set in the wall where he thought the bar would be.

  Several of the tables were occupied. Xion noticed that the tables were a lot smaller than in any tavern he had ever seen. They were only large enough to seat four people, but every table that was occupied had only two.

  Sapphire pulled him over to a table and sat down. Warren and Laira joined them a few seconds later, and Warren looked around confused.

  “So… it’s a tavern?” he asked, voicing what Xion was thinking.

  “No, it’s like a tavern, but nicer,” Sapphire explained. Xion did not see much of a difference.

  “‘Nicer’ means more expensive,” Warren pointed out. “We have no money.”

  Xion thought about the two gold pieces that he had in his pack. He had had those two pieces since he left Fairen. Jorham had given them to him just before the bandits had attacked. He had never had the heart to spend them, nor had he ever felt any desire to. Sapphire had been so excited to go to the strange tavern, he did not want to have to leave before they could even eat.

  “Oh,” Sapphire said, dejectedly, “I didn’t think.”

  “Don’t worry, I can pay,” Laira offered. She took off her pack and dug around for a few seconds before pulling out a handful of silver coins.

  “Whoa, I like this girl,” Warren chuckled.

  Sapphire smiled, but Xion could tell there was something wrong. He felt like he should have been the one to offer. He even considered pulling out the gold in his pack, but before he got the chance, someone walked over to the table.

  The man was human, and very handsome. He handed each of them a thin piece of wood with words intricately carved all over it. Xion realized that every word was some kind of food or drink that they could order. Next to each item was a small number, and then the letter “s”. It took Xion a few seconds to realize what it stood for.

  The man had started asking them if there were any drinks that they wanted, but before he could finish, Xion finally understood the “s” and could not stop himself.

  “Two silvers for a leg of rabbit?” he exclaimed.

  Sapphire gripped Xion’s arm with surprising strength. “A glass of elven wine
for both of us,” she said quickly.

  Warren laughed. “Sorry about him. He’s a hunter,” he explained.

  The man did not seem surprised at all. “It happens a lot,” he said. Xion noticed that, even though Warren was the one that had spoken, he was speaking to Laira.

  “I’ll have wine, too,” she smiled at the man.

  “Are you sure?” the man asked Laira. “What we have here can be a lot to handle.”

  Sapphire started turning red, and she leaned closer to Xion and whispered, “I can’t handle when people do that in front of me.”

  Xion looked at her, confused. “Do what?”

  Sapphire blushed even more red. “They’re flirting,” she whispered insistently.

  “Oh,” Xion said in surprise, furrowing his brow. “How can you tell?”

  Sapphire gave him a look he did not understand. “Come on, can’t you see it?”

  The man and Laira were still talking back and forth, but he was not able to focus on two conversations at once. All he noticed was that Warren kept trying to order a drink, and he was being talked over by both of the others. Xion did his best not to laugh.

  “Not really,” he whispered back.

  “It doesn’t bother you?” Sapphire asked.

  Xion shook his head. “Nope.” He got the feeling that Sapphire had gained more from the conversation than he had when she sat up straight again, and her face was lit up with a glowing smile.

  Warren finally ordered a drink, and the rest of their meal passed quickly. Xion felt bad about not being able to pay for his part, and ordered only bread and cheese, the cheapest thing the tavern had to offer at only one silver piece.

  The man spoke to Laira every time he came by the table, which Xion felt was much more often than necessary. He did not notice anything that sounded like flirting to him. He considered that he just was not great at noticing these types of things, but then he realized that he didn’t actually care that much.

  After their meal, they left the city to meet up with Sarin and Ava. Sapphire was clearly upset to leave, but she did not complain. In fact, throughout the entire meal, and on their walk out of the city, Sapphire seemed happier than he had seen her for at least a week, even though she was leaving the city she had grown up in.

  Ava and Sarin were outside the gate when they exited the city. Neither of them looked very happy, but they did not say or do anything to portray their emotions.

  They set out quickly, and in silence. Xion did not like how quickly the mood changed among the group, it was as if Ava and Sarin had brought the collective mood down just by being near them.

  After a few days, the mood did lift a bit, especially after Warren started reading from one of his books.

  “You could be descendant from a volcano giant,” Warren suggested. He had been flipping through the book trying to find some sort of bloodline that fit Xion.

  Ava let out a harsh laugh. “He’s the shortest giant I’ve ever seen.”

  “Right,” Warren admitted with a smile. “How about,” he flipped a few more pages to another one that he had marked, “chimera.”

  “Warren,” Sapphire said disapprovingly.

  “It would explain why he was immune to its fire,” Warren pointed out.

  “What about the scales?” Xion asked.

  “The snake part had scales,” Warren joked.

  Laira laughed. “So, he’s got an ancestor that got together with a magical animal’s tail?”

  “Yeah, probably not,” Warren admitted, and flipped a few more pages. “How about a demon, their descendants have scales.”

  “What?” Ava asked. She seemed surprised and upset by the information.

  “Yeah, it says they grow scales under their skin, and it can act like a thin layer of armor. They also have resistance to fire,” Warren explained. Ava fell silent, as if she was lost in thought.

  Sapphire spoke up, “But, what about the salamander? ‘Resistance’ doesn’t sound like enough to survive salamander poison.”

  Warren hummed his agreement and continued flipping through the pages.

  “What all do you guys know about Xion’s special powers?” Laira asked, grinning at her own question.

  “He survived a bite from a salamander, which should have turned his blood into fire, but it did not affect him at all,” Sarin answered. “He survived chimera flames, which burn hot enough to melt steel. And, his eyes change when he uses powerful magic.”

  “I forgot about the eyes!” Warren exclaimed. He brought the book closer to his face as he started flipping through the pages again.

  “What about the aging through childhood faster thing?” Xion ventured. He was not able to put a finger on why exactly it bothered him so much, but he wanted some reason to believe that he was not a child any longer.

  “That is a possibility,” Sarin agreed.

  “Really?” Laira asked.

  Sarin looked at her quizzically, and so did Xion. “Yes, Xion shows much more maturity than the average human at his corresponding age. Why?”

  “Ya know, it’s just cool, I didn’t know that was something that could happen,” Laira said, smiling at Xion.

  “Okay, so,” Warren seemed to be speaking to himself, “we’re looking for vertical slitted eyes, scales, immunity to fire, and accelerated adolescence.”

  Sapphire fell in step next to Xion. “I don’t mind if you aren’t technically of age, yet,” she told him in a voice not loud enough for the others to hear.

  Xion was not sure why, but it made his stomach tighten into knots to hear Sapphire say that. He wanted her to believe that he was just as much an adult as everyone else in their group. Her saying it didn’t bother her sounded to him like she thought that he was still a child.

  “Oh, thanks,” he said, trying to force his voice to sound upbeat.

  “Three years isn’t that long to wait,” Sapphire continued. He was not sure, but Xion suspected that Sapphire glanced at Laira as she spoke. What did Laira have to do with when he came of age?

  Xion had been so wrapped up in the conversation, he was surprised to look up and see that a forest was coming into view ahead of him. Tall, thick trees and a sea of green leaves had covered the space in front of them, stretching from one horizon to the other. They were only about a half hour’s walk from the treeline when he finally noticed.

  “Is that the northern forest?” Xion asked, pointing to the stretch of trees in front of them.

  “Oh,” Sapphire sounded slightly disappointed by the change in subject, “yes. That’s Qua’ke.”

  Xion was confused. Was she saying it was the northern forest, or was she correcting him? “Not ‘the northern forest’?” he asked.

  Sapphire smiled at him. “They’re the same thing. ‘Qua’ke’ is the name it had long before the humans renamed it.”

  “Why would they rename it?” Xion asked.

  “Because humans are idiots,” Ava answered without turning around. She was only a few feet ahead of them, but Xion had been sure she was out of earshot. He had completely forgotten, elves had much better hearing and vision that humans did.

  “Humans renamed many of the places in Ustama,” Sarin explained, “when they broke Der’nia and divided it into the four kingdoms. I have explained this to you, Xion,” she chided.

  “Right,” Xion nodded. He did not remember anything about that at all.

  “For those of us who weren’t paying attention,” Warren said, turning his head to smile at Xion, “one more history lesson?”

  Sarin sighed. “After the Great Shift, the world was in chaos. Fey had appeared, magical creatures roamed the wild, human cities fell, and the world was being destroyed. It was like that for many years.

  “Elves, once they had established themselves as a race, came together and formed the cities we know today. They established trade routes between cities, so that all could prosper, and they formed the one kingdom of Der’nia. Prosperity reigned throughout the kingdom for nearly a thousand years.

 
; “Human population spread, and they eventually decided that they did not like being ruled by another race. They overthrew the elven lords and ladies and took the kingdom for themselves. The humans were much less suited for working together as a larger whole, so they divided the kingdom into four pieces, which they named the east, south, west, and north.

  “The elves suffered in the newly formed kingdoms and fled to our natural homes in the forests and mountains. These places, too, the humans renamed. They claimed that all of the names that had been in place since the Great Shift were nothing more than foreign words and should be put out of use.”

  “So, humans suck,” Ava summed up. Xion had a hard time disagreeing. It was difficult to argue, if the kingdom had been at peace, and humans had taken it for themselves. Xion thought about the fact that the kingdoms were currently at war with each other and wondered if that would be happening at all if they had never overthrown the elves.

  “What about the riverlands kingdom?” Laira asked. “That’s the fifth kingdom, isn’t it?”

  “That was created thousands of years later,” Sarin explained. “The riverlands held every trade route between the kingdoms, so they made more money in those cities than most of the other cities in the rest of the kingdoms combined. They had to pay a large amount of taxes to the capital in the south. After a while, a civil war broke out. The riverlands won, and formed their own kingdom, choosing a name that fit their location, instead of a cardinal point.”

  “Why haven’t the elves ever taken back the kingdoms, then?” Xion asked. “If they did, there wouldn’t be a war now.”

  “There will always be war amongst the humans,” Sarin argued. “It is in the nature of humans to fight. They live such short lives, they insist on taking everything they can while they live, it is what they do.”

  Xion got the feeling that elves looked at humans the same way that someone he had known in Aur’in had. The elf, Vairiel, had been disgusted by the mere presence of humans in the city. The way that Sarin spoke, she had a similar, if not quite as overt, view of the race.

  They made it the rest of the way to the forest without much more conversation. Xion was glad, the more information he obtained, the worse he felt. It had seemed to be that way since he had first stepped foot outside of Fairen. Humans are war-hungry, magic is dangerous, he was the chosen one, destined to defeat Draxis, all of it was better left unsaid. If he could go back, he probably wouldn’t change any of the decisions he had made, but he remembered his simple life before all of this with fondness.