“Tristen, how was the fruit punch last night?” Rowan asked at breakfast the next morning.
Elurra looked up distractedly to see the youngest member of their group stagger through the doorway. He was rubbing his head and blinking in the morning light.
“What are you talking about?” he asked wearily as he sat down with a grunt.
He wasn’t the last one to join the group for breakfast. Snore was still asleep, and Terrin hadn’t shown up, either. Tristen blearily looked at Rowan and Plague, who were both grinning diabolically at him. Aleah was trying to keep her head down and her eyes averted, but Elurra saw a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.
“Nuthin’ major. We just noticed you drank a lotta fruit punch at the party is all,” Plague said casually.
Tristen looked at them doubtfully. “What about it? What was in the fruit punch?”
Elurra tried not to grin. She saw where the conversation was going. Plague tried to stifle a laugh and ended up sneezing.
“Let’s just say it wasn’t all fruit juice, and whateva else was in there didn’t sit well with ya,” Rowan said as Plague and Aleah cracked up laughing.
“Let me tell ya, li’l buddy. You sure can’t hold your liquor,” Plague said stuffily.
Elurra took one look at Tristen’s expression and covered her mouth to keep from laughing. Rowan patted him on the back.
“Afta five or seven glasses you were mighty squiffy. We had ta escort ya upstairs. Hopefully, ya stayed there. I'm not sure how many embarrassin' things ya coulda accomplished while you were unda.”
“Tristen, can you remember anything that happened last night?” Elurra asked kindly.
“Not after the first half,” he admitted softly.
“Good morning, Tristen. Is yer hangover gone, yet?” Snore asked as he plopped down beside him. Tristen moaned and laid his head on the table while Snore yawned and reached for the fruit bowl.
“How’d you know about it? You went to bed an hour after the party started.”
“I didn’t know until ya tried ta climb into my bed last night. Ya seemed ta be very keen on cuddlin’,” Snore said with a straight face as he bit into an apple.
Tristen groaned and hid behind his hands.
“Thanks for the warning, guys. I’m going to get payback one day,” he growled over Rowan and Plague’s howls.
Elurra hid her smile from Kai as he walked in the room and sat down with the rest of the dwarfs. Aleah immediately flushed and smiled into her cup.
“Good morning, Your Highness. I did not expect to see you here. I thought you were eating with your parents in the grand hall this morning,” Elurra said.
“I assumed you were going to be there too,” he said, smiling faintly.
“I do not belong in a grand hall. I belong with my troops.” Elurra gave him a large smile.
“My thoughts exactly. That is why I am amazed that you are leaving them behind.”
Everyone around the table stopped eating and glanced at Elurra in bewilderment.
“Leavin’ us?” Rowan asked.
Elurra sighed and glanced around the table regretfully. “I was not going to mention it until after breakfast, but there is a lot we need to discuss.”
°◌°○●○°♣°○●○°◌°
Elurra commenced packing her meager belongings once again. She’d grown rather fond of her travel pack. It was well worn, but she couldn’t bear the thought of giving it up yet. She gently tucked away her ragged traveling dresses and a large bag of dried meat and fruit, which she’d learned to loathe. She knew from experience heavy bags slowed her down, so she tried her best to pack light. She tucked her supplies away and secured the top of her pack. Her gaze fell on the pile of books from the library, and she hesitated. She and Terrin had skimmed through the literature on Tipet and spells, but they hadn’t made it to the book on Demons. She gently opened the aged cover and ran her fingers over the fading words printed in fancy cursive.
“Long ago, in the second age of Incari, a meteor fell from the sky and landed in what is now known as Garthu Vore. It was the Kutsal Stone. Demons followed in its wake, appearing out of thin air like nightmares released from Hell. They feasted on the souls of their victims. The screams of the dying filled the air, pleading for the creators to save them. The Demons’ dark poison infected the land, killing crops and animals. Nothing seemed to kill them. Then, the Guardians came. They slew the Demons and shared their weapons with us. They brought magic with them, filling Incarian warriors with the power to stop the Demons. War tore apart the kingdoms. Earthquakes shook the ground, and eruptions spouted from below as the land tried to expel those from Yamoi.
“Tiberius, the captain of the Demons, and Ulliet, the leader of the Guardians, had a final showdown on the Rath Flats. Hordes of Demons and Guardians fought as their leaders rained death upon each other. Mountains rose and trenches cut into the earth. Explosions rocked the land, and fire fell from the sky. Rifts of light tore across space, sucking Demons and Guardians back to Yamoi. During the battle, an Incarian blacksmith named Quren discovered the secret to saving Incari: the rare northern terrant metal. Anything from Yamoi that touched the metal was masked. In this way, they could neutralize the Kutsal Stone. Quren’s son, Burr, realized the potential of the metal. He asked his father to craft him armor from the steel and traveled to Garthu Vore. The armor protected him from Garthu Vore’s power, and he plunged a sword into the Kutsal. The stone shattered into five fragments, and the Demons and Guardians were immediately pulled back to their world. If the Kutsal Stones stay encased in terrant, Incari is safe from the terror of Demons,” Elurra read aloud.
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“That sounds like the scariest battle of all time,” Terrin said in her ear.
Elurra shrieked in surprise and dropped the book on her foot. She grunted in pain and knocked into Terrin, who toppled backward and whacked his elbow on her bed.
“What was that for?” he moaned as he rubbed his sore arm tenderly.
“You deserved that, you blinking daft prince!” she told him hotly as she sat down and rubbed her foot.
“I couldn’t help myself. The door was wide open, and you were completely absorbed,” he admitted, sitting down beside her. “Although I can’t blame you. That is fascinating. Where do you think the Demons and the Guardians come from?”
“Yamoi, of course.”
“I know that, but where do you think Yamoi is?”
A smile twitched at the corners of her mouth.
“Far away. Somewhere with a purple sky and countless moons. Somewhere with different stars and an alien sun to warm their faces,” she said wistfully.
Terrin laughed. “You’re so weird.”
“That is no way to address a princess. We royal types prefer the term ‘special,’” she said playfully. “Seriously, though. Tiberius claimed he was the “destroyer of worlds” and other species feared him. The religious scholars have always described Yamoi as another intangible realm where the creators live, but do you think it is just another world like ours? I would like to believe we could travel there, just like they come to Incari.”
She flopped back onto her bed and stared up at the ceiling, her mind whisked away to imagined distant planets. Terrin just gave her a lopsided grin.
“You cause enough trouble without the power to jump between worlds. Can you imagine? Princess Elurra, with the power to hop through the universe, impulsively kidnapping random village boys and roping them into random crazy quests? I shudder just thinking about it.” he jested.
Elurra thumped his arm in mock indignation and stood on her injured foot cautiously. A fresh blossom of pain bubbled from the bruised area, but it was bearable. She limped forward and picked up the book.
“If I had that power, I would be unstoppable. The universe would tremble in fear the day I unleashed my Snowborn chaos,” she threatened as she wiggled her fingers spookily in his direction. He laughed and swatted at her playfully.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked with an eyeroll. She nodded.
She set the book down with the others and hefted her pack before following Terrin out of the room. Elurra waited in the hall while he slipped away to grab his own bag. She ran her fingers over the cold balcony railing absentmindedly as she looked down at the ballroom. The sun glimmered through stained-glass windows, bathing the massive area in a spectrum of shifting colors. She descended the spiral staircase and met the rest of the dwarfs near the main gate of the castle, along with the king. Aleah greeted her first with teary eyes and a crushing hug.
“Aleah, you do not have to worry. I will be back before you know it,” Elurra assured her former governess.
“Promise me you will be safe. I gave your parents my word I would protect you, and yet you’re leaving me behind.”
“You know as well as I do you cannot protect me from Nitiri. I must find answers in Tipet, but I am leaving you here because I am thinking of the future. After Nitiri is gone, it will take a lot of hard work to get Lur Alava back on its feet. You are going to be part of that reconstruction. Your marriage to Kai will be an asset for both our nations. I hope it will build a lasting bond between Lur Alava and Amora. We can open the borders and encourage trade. Lur Alava has always been a closed off nation, but I want to change that.” Elurra glanced around and lowered her voice so only Aleah could hear. “And you would be missing you-know-who the entire time if you came,” she muttered.
Aleah flushed and glanced over at Kai discreetly.
“I have trained you too well, Elurra. I promise to do my best for both Lur Alava and Amora,” she promised as she pulled away from the embrace.
Tristen was next in line to say goodbye. Elurra gave the bashful young boy a quick hug and then took him by the shoulders.
“You have a bright future ahead of you as one of my personal knights, so I want you to learn all you can from your training here, alright?”
Tristen beamed at her and dumbfounded her by bowing and kissing her hand.
“I will not fail you, Your Highness,” he said formally.
Elurra smiled and moved on to Snore, who had finally woken from his nap. He yawned and smiled at her.
“My Snowborn Lady,” he said softly as he bowed.
“Francis,” she murmured back, nodding her head.
She moved on to Rowan, who shook her hand roughly.
“Take care of the troops while I am gone,” she told him. In Terrin’s absence, Rowan was the next in command. He gave her his signature grin.
“Aye, Capt’in,” he said as he saluted. She grinned and moved closer to Rowan so she could add in a whisper, “I also have another task I need to ask of you.”
“Yer wish is me command, mi’lady,” Rowan said in the quietest voice he seemed to possess.
“I need you to send a message to Blade and ask him about the status of the Dwarf. We may need backup soon, and I would like to know we can count on him.”
“Of course, ma’am.”
“Thank you, Rowan. Please write to me in Tipet as soon as you get any news.”
He nodded eagerly, and she moved on to Kai, who gave her a bone-crushing hug.
“Thank you for everything, Elurra.”
“It was nothing. You are going to be a great king one day. Take care of Aleah for me while I am gone.”
“I will.”
Elurra gave him a knowing smile and walked over to Plague, who was last in line. Terrin appeared from inside, carrying his bag. Everyone Elurra had already talked to gravitated toward him to say their goodbyes, leaving her and Plague alone.
“Are you feeling better?” she asked, remembering he’d spent quite a bit of time in the infirmary.
“Very much so. The healers here are amazing,” he said in a clear voice, free of its normal stuffy quality. “I’ve been sickly my whole life, but for the first time, I’m feeling much better.”
“You sound much better. What did they do? You spent the entire day there yesterday. It must have been extensive.”
“All I did was drink ah remedy they concocted for me. It worked within ah hour. Royal medicine is amazin’. Facin’ all those monsters was worth it to get my hands on those potion journals. My favorite was by this man called Ramer. I think he was the old castle healer. His work is revolutionary. Princess? Are you alright?” Plague asked, stopping mid-story.
Elurra realized she must look rattled. She felt a little dizzy.
“Who did you say the healer was?”
He gave her a peculiar look and repeated slowly, “Ramer? Am I sayin’ it wrong?”
She shook her head, digesting the new information.
“Do you need to visit the healers, too?” he asked tentatively.
“My apologies. I get distracted easily,” she said, flashing him a smile. He returned her gesture and bowed as she turned to talk to the king.
Did Lira meet Ramer while he was working here? she wondered as she bowed deeply to the tall man.
“Thank you for your hospitality, Your Majesty. I am extremely grateful for all you have done for us.”
“Speak nothing of it. I only wish I could have done more to thank you for returning my son,” he replied warmly. She bowed again and turned to watch Terrin say his goodbyes.
“We will be back,” she said loudly, addressing her dwarfs. “I doubt I could have ever made it this far without all of you. I am truly grateful to have found such brave companions.” She gave them a kind smile and gestured for Terrin to follow her.