Unfound

Unfound

By Joseph McCain

The blue and green cloaked horse rider pulled the reigns hard and fast. He glanced back yet did not spot any of his pursuers. He glanced over the early morning summer forest floor and above into the thicket of leaves and limbs. He gently shook the arm of the small child riding in front astride with him. She awoke and turned to him.

He peered down into the dark green eyes of Aurorra, the daughter of Cormac and Orta and the new ruler of Clett. The tattoo markings of her clan blue and green ran from her fingers to her chin. A living growing tattoo from the lichenous plants. He heard hooves and hollers, so he quickly stood upon his saddle and reached for her hand and scooped her onto a fold of branches in the tree.

“Stay quiet. Stay hidden. I or Sheen shall pluck you from this spot soon,” said Boyne.

The small child nodded and clung to the spot. Boyne girded his horse and set out at a fast gallop toward the marshes. Four reddish horses with men donning golden cloaks rode in a furor after Boyne’s tracks, never looking up or down as they passed Aurrora’s hiding spot.

Aurrora realized if she moved just so she could curl up next to the tree and pull her mother’s green cloak over her and sleep until Boyne or Sheen came for her. She slept for hours and awoke hungry. She looked around and the sun was in full afternoon warmth and the forest floor alive with ants and other bugs while a fox slipped down to a nearby creek. She could smell the golden rod flowers and the brief sweetness of honey from somewhere.

She remembered Sheen had stuffed two small biscuits into her dress’ inner pocket. She pulled the first piece out and quickly devoured it. The water from the stream would be great right now yet she could not think how she could possibly get down. A shadow cast across the trees and forest floor for a moment. A dashing whooshing sound came close as a small dragon slipped under the tree and landed near the brook. The dragon began to drink.

Aurrora was startled yet made no sound and quickly realized if she hopped like a rabbit down onto the dragon’s back, she could slide right up next to the stream with almost no effort. The dragon’s back was less than a few inches away from the branches. Aurrora summoned her breath and slid upon and then down the reddish-green dragon.

Niall was startled by the sudden hop onto her back and the sudden appearance of a snotty human child beside her at the water. Aurrora paused not and cupped the cool water in her hands and drank. Niall stood upon her hind legs and her body pushed and bent the tree away that Aurrora had plopped out.

“Human child, you are about to be my morning snack,” as Niall’s breath heated up and eyes clinched near closing.

Aurrora smiled up at her: “Hello, chosen.”

Niall almost laughed with surprise, for few humans understood the ancient language and fewer spoke it yet here was a child no bigger than the otter speaking and addressing her in all the proper form.

“Are you truly a human or a fairy playing with your cousin?” asked Niall.

Aurrora stood up straight and answered, “I am Aurrora of Clett. The daughter of the fair Cormac and Orta.”

Clett was the land she was in and one of the few blessed lands left that did not harm dragon eggs. Niall decided she would not harm this little friendly creature and the deer earlier had filled her belly and the water was refreshing.

“Where are Cormac and Orta?” asked Niall.

“At home. Sheen and Boyne will come back soon to get me,” answered Aurrora.

Niall heard humans and horses miles away and smelled them.

“Does Sheen or Boyne smell like smoke, swine and filth?” asked Niall.

“No. Boyne smells like fresh earth, damp vegetables and flowers. Sheen smells like rain with a touch of salt during a hard storm,” answered Aurrora.

“Get on my back child and let us lift to the sky and view these men from above the trees and clouds,” said Niall.

Aurrora climbed upon the dragon and slipped her fingers beneath a set of Niall’s neck scales to help hold on as Niall gently lifted into the sky. Niall and Aurrora could see a dozen horsemen riding through the woods back toward a castle and village that were on fire. Niall could see another half dozen villages burning in the distance as well.

“If those are not your humans, I will take you to my brood and we will get you home in the future, but not today,” said Niall.

Aurrora could see her castle home with smoke billowing out of almost all the windows. She leaned into Niall and whispered, “May I go with you?”

Niall did not speak but turned westward and trailed higher and then made a slow descent into a set of mountain caves. Niall swooped into the cave and gave a quick breath of fire which lighted several torches and a firepit in the center of the room. Aurrora climbed down and sat on a rock near the fire pit. Two large red dragon eggs were perched on black rocks and looked bigger than a full-grown pig.

“Those are my brood: Beyant and Bekase,” said Niall.

Aurrora smiled and reached and touched the closest egg. The eggshell felt soft and spongy.

“The eggs need soaking each day and will harden over the next 11 months to the point that only a dragon claw can break the egg,” said Niall.

“Humans once helped dragons care for their brood. Would you like to do that?” asked Niall.

“Oh yes, I would love to help,” said Aurrora.

“It will only be a year and they will hatch and within 10 years they will molt and they will be able to fly to our home land,” said Niall.

“This is not your home?” asked Aurrora.

“No, this is a hatching lair. My kind have returned to this one for thousands of years,” said Niall.

Her and the human child ate together, and Niall sang to her new foundling and to her brood with a song from the old lands. She sang and repeated:

Sleep, my children for the rustling trees

stir under the breath of the summer breeze.

Fairy songs of the sweetest note gently float

around us to give peace and rest.

Sleep, my children, and never weep.

Love from your mother will soothe thee, so rest.

***

Niall had not found the time in the first year of caring for her brood and Aurrora to venture far from the mountains, especially not far enough to check to see if it was safe for her “goddaughter”, as she now called her, to return home. Aurrora, even in her small size, represented the greatest helper.

Niall had collected wild sheep and goats as well as a cow from a faraway farm that they kept in the caves. Niall and Aurrora tended to them. The main item from these collected animals was the daily milking, which most of it was used to pour over the dragon eggs for the first year to nourish the brood inside. The shells of the eggs had gotten too hard to soak up the milk now, as the last days before the hatching occurred.

For almost 11 months, Aurrora and Niall had soaked the eggs with the milk and Aurrora would have sworn she heard them growing inside the eggs. Niall had made sure Aurrora shared in the milk. She also dined with Aurrora every night, where she would roast goat, deer, sheep or bear with her breath for the two to dine on. She had told Aurrora all the dragon tales and the tales of humans as well. Aurrora understood the stories and the theme that poured into her brain was simple, “Humans cannot be trusted.”

When Beyant and Bekase broke through the hardened eggs, the broken shell pieces bursts onto the walls and floors like great stones flying. Bekase emerged first with a stomping and tiny wings flapping, while really not even a day old he towered over Aurrora. He quickly rushed up to her and began to sniff her. He licked her hair and face. Niall quickly gathered him up under her wing where he looked up and rubbed his head on her while taking in her smell. Beyant flailed from the broken hole she made in the egg and jumped on top of Bekase, who emitted a yelp. Beyant nudged into a spot beside him and under Niall’s wing.

Aurrora was pleased to see what she considered her younger siblings.

***

Aurrora leaped up from the rocky cave entrance with unmatched quickness, landing just inside the cave entrance on one foot.

“I won,” said Aurrora.

She felt a pair of claws upon her shoulder and heated breath behind her. Bekase carried a large mountain goat in his other claws.

“When you announce a foot race you can’t be halfway up the mountain,” said Bekase.

Beyant chuckled from the other side of the room where she was roasting a pig. “I won anyway,” said Beyant.

Aurrora chimed up, “Flying on wings lifted by the upward winds of the mountain in a foot race does not count.”

“You have your strengths and I have mine,” said Beyant.

“Where is mother?” asked Bekase.

“She is out feeling the south winds to see if we are ready to navigate home,” said Beyant.

“Where did you get the pig?” asked Aurrora, now noticing the meal Beyant was preparing.

“A farmhouse just outside of some village within a quick flight,” said Beyant.

“Your mother is going to be angry with you for getting so close to humans,” said Aurrora.

“I sleep next to a smelly one every night,” laughed Beyant.

Her laugh cut off as Niall landed full in the cave.

“She may look human, yet she has the heart and soul of a dragon. She has done as much to raise you as any sister could. Those humans down there are dangerous,” answered Niall.

“Your fire is too close to the cave entrance. The smell could attract wolves or bears, and the fire light could attract humans,” said Niall as she breathed out a hot flame which pushed Beyant’s fire into silent, barely glowing embers.

Aurrora, standing beside Beyant, lifted up the pig and helped Beyant move back to the family’s cooking spot closer to the back of the cave. Aurrora pulled out her sword and struck it against a rock, igniting sparks and starting a fire in the fire pit.

Niall had made the sword for Aurrora almost 7 years ago. She had heated up and carved the sword from Beyant’s eggshell and had carved Aurrora a shield from Bekase’s eggshell. The sword and shield created with dragon’s breath can only be scratched or broken by dragon claws. Niall knew Aurrora would one day be fending for herself and would not be under her wings. So, she had spent time showing and telling Aurrora and her own brood how the humans fight and use their swords and shields.

“Godmother, are the winds good?” asked Aurrora.

“They will be within a few days,” answered Niall.

Niall told Aurrora the day after she took her in the story of how humans and dragons thousands of years ago were as close as family and that her own great-great-grandmother had served as godmother to four generations of one family.

The four sat down to dine on the pig and goat with Niall concerned about the coming weeks.

“Aurrora do you wish to come with us to the land of dragons?” asked Niall directly, since she had been avoiding this conversation for too many years.

“Yes,” she responded very quickly.

“There are no humans there, only a few hundred elves, some fairies and dragons,” said Niall. “So, before you fully answer, you may want to go down and visit one of the villages and ask about your family.”

Aurrora agreed with a silent nod, remembering the fires at her castle home and the feeling it was all lost.

“I shall go tomorrow,” she said.

Beyant and Bekase both yelped out “May we go with her?”

“So, she is going to show up with two dragons and just walk into town asking questions to people who have never seen a dragon. A dragon has not been among humans in almost a thousand years,” Niall answered.

“If she waits to go in early evening after dusk, I can borrow some bed covers from a home I know of and make Bekase and I cloaks and we can use our chameleon skills to hide our tails and appear close to human form from a distance,” said Beyant.

“So, this young human girl has two towering black-cloaked friends?” asked Niall.

“Yes, that is why she feels safe to travel at night,” said Beyant with a smile.

“Fine. I will watch y’all from the sky the best I can,” agreed her mother.

After Beyant and Aurrora were fast asleep. Bekase sat beside his mother to relay his concerns for Aurrora.

“Mother, Aurrora should come with us to the land of dragons,” he stated as a request to convince Aurrora to come.

“I don’t know?” said Niall. “She will never have contact with another human for the rest of her life and that may not be right for her.”

“I hope she comes with us. I love her,” said Bekase.

“You know of no one else. She is a beauty for a human and does have the heart and soul of a dragon, but she may not be meant to be with dragons,’ said Niall. “She will have to decide soon because we must leave in the southern winds within the next dozen days.”

***

As the sun set upon Tuatha, a small village in Clett, three strangers walked up the lane, arriving at the front doors of the tavern of Danan. Two of the strangers in black cloaks towered above their counterpart a diminutive figure in a well-worn green cloak. The small figure donned a sword sheathed on her side with a shield strapped under her cloak.

The three pushed the door open. Bekase and Beyant had to duck to fit through the door while Aurrora led the party inside. She directed them to a table at the back. The room was filled with about 30 men. Five men were seated at a table with swords and shields along with uniforms of leather.

A boy about Aurrora’s age stood behind the bar washing something out. A man walked about taking drink orders and cursing at a few patrons for not having full coins for their drink and meals. A woman worked behind the bar near a fire cutting meat and bread.

The three took up a table meant for eight, but Bekase and Beyant needed room. Aurrora fumbled through her pockets for the twenty gold coins she had upon her that day many years ago in the tree. Niall had stored them away just in case a day like this came. She did not want hollering for lack of coin to draw attention to her or her siblings.

Boyne approached Aurrora’s table.

“What would you like to eat and drink?” Boyne asked with a hard pleasantness. He was used to varying kinds of odd customers, but this table of three was without a doubt dealing out strangeness.

Aurrora, still covered in her full cloak, asked, “What do you have for weary travelers?” in a clunky foreign way.

Boyne felt if her native language was closer to the ancestral language than the way she spoke. Like she had just learned or had not spoken the language of the lands in many years.

“We have a fine mead and we can get you swine, goat or beef,” said Boyne.

“Three meads and three large servings of beef,” said Aurrora.

“It will be four talons,” said Boyne.

Aurora pulled out a gold coin and tossed it to him. Boyne caught it and looked at it. It was an old gold coin of Clett with Cormac and Orta’s seal and way too much for the bill.

“I will return with your food, drink, and change,” said Boyne, eyeing the green-cloak clad customer. He felt like the green cloak and the figure were familiar, but the two other figures felt kind of intimidating, so he did not press the situation.

“Sidhe (addressing the boy behind the bar) fix three meads and get your mother to fix up three large beef plates,” said Boyne.

Boyne was collecting some change when one of the soldiers spotted the gold coin and surmised who paid with it.

The soldier rallied his four men, donned a dirty golden cloak over his uniform and approached Aurrora’s table.

“Have you paid your taxes to the magistrate in honor of the soon to be crowned king,” he hollered at Aurrora, who looked up from the table.

Boyne, walking toward the table, had collected the change and had the three meads in his hand when he heard the soldier and saw them at Aurrora’s table.

“What taxes and who is the magistrate,” asked Aurrora with true perplexation.

Brice, the golden-cloaked officer, took these words with great offense not to know who the magistrate was and to question him about collecting taxes.

“The lord councilor, magistrate Armagh, the voice of the soon to be King Gaeyler. Give me your gold coins and I will see if it is enough to pay what you owe, especially with your insolence,” said Brice.

Boyne stepped forward and said, “She has no more gold coins. She gave me all she had and here is her change for any fees.”

Handing Brice over a dozen talons. Brice took the money and handed it to a soldier behind him who placed it in a crude leather bag.

“Let me see the face of the backwoods citizen who knows not of taxes and rulers,” Brice said with a harsh laugh.

“I dare not frighten you with my ugliness and uncleanliness having lived in the woods for so long,” said Aurrora. She feared if she removed her cloak that they would get Bekase and Beyant to remove theirs and the whole place would come apart.

Brice laughed and Boyne set the mead on the table. Brice, thinking about the 12 unexpected talons that he did not have to report, smiled again.

“Thank you for your tax payment and I will let you drink and eat,” said Brice as he and his men returned to their table.

As they were leaving, Sidhe arrived with the food his mother, Sheen, had prepared. Boyne returned to taking mead to all the tables and made sure to stop by the soldiers’ table first with a double round.

“What is your name?” asked Aurrora.

“I am called Sidhe,” he said.

“Sidhe, what can you tell me about Cormac and Orta?” asked Aurrora.

“You can’t talk about them. They and their line were burned into dust to make room for the magistrate, and the now dead king Till,” said Sidhe.

“Let me collect up some of the cups and plates from the other tables and the crowd goes away and I can tell you many great stories about them. My father and mother were with them until the end,” said Sidhe.

Sidhe went about cleaning and picking up and would check in on Aurrora and her companions. They sat quiet except for a few whispers between them.

Brice and his fellow soldiers, on the other hand, had become boisterous, spending the 12 extra talons that they got from Aurrora on much mead.

“You, girl, come here and take off that cloak. I have had enough mead that ugly would please me,” Brice said with laughter.

Aurrora did not respond. Brice stood up and drew his sword and walked toward Aurrora’s table.

“I will cut that cloak away from you if you do not remove the hood,” said Brice.

Boyne was thinking about how to intervene for the strangers and hollered, “More mead captain.”

“Yes,” he loudly replied as he continued his approach to Aurrora’s table. Aurrora had stood and moved herself between Brice and her companions.

“Remove your cloak and clothes by order of the magistrate,” joked Brice, but with seriousness.

Aurrora at that moment was filled with anger and action. She tossed off her cloak, donned her shield and unsheathed her sword.

“Human take not another step,” she said with an emphasis of disgust on the word human, like she was not one.

Brice was taken aback for a second. Boyne and Sheen jumped in astonishment, realizing it was Aurrora and she was not dead. Her grass and sky tattoo from the tip of her fingers to her chin was unmistakable.

Brice raised his sword and began to slam it down onto Aurrora but before it collided with her or her shield. Aurrora had sliced into his chest with quickness and quietness. He fell to the floor with a thud as the room went silent and the other four soldiers grabbed their weapons. They jumped to attack Aurrora. Before covering five steps toward her, the tallest cloaked figure had leaped over the table and past Aurrora and collided with all four. What looked like five sharp daggers gleaned out from the cloak for a second and sliced the four men. All four collapsed bloodied and dead to the floor.

Aurrora, Bekase and Beyant all now stood together back-to-back, ready to fight all the humans. Instead, all of the patrons along with Sidhe, Boyne and Sheen knelt on one knee with heads bowed.

“Queen Aurrora, you have returned. Blessed be our queen,” said Boyne.

Aurrora stood silent and guarded. The woman she had seen cooking in the kitchen and mother to Sidhe, slowly approached Aurrora. Sheen outstretched her arms and slowly hugged Aurrora.

“Do you remember your honour maid?” Sheen asked with tears in her eyes. “We thought they had found and killed you like they did your parents. They hung signs and bragged about how they had burned out the last royal line not from the line of Till.”

Boyne stood with tears, “I ask for your forgiveness my queen. I did not return until nightfall to the tree and you were gone. I assumed they had killed you. I should have searched high and low for you and never given up.”

Aurrora finally spoke as Sheen held her hand but relinquished the hug.

“Boyne, I do recognize you now from the day at the tree and from all the days you would walk me in the garden to show me how the meals I and my family ate were grown. No need to ask for forgiveness. I have been safe and loved this whole time. I am no queen. I am simply the daughter of Cormac and Orta,” she said.

Boyne asked her and her companions to please take a seat so they could figure this out and the other bar patrons could sneak the bodies outside and bury them in the pig pen.

Sheen led Aurrora to the table and Bekase and Beyant followed with Sidhe close behind. Sheen studied Aurrora’s face and smiled.

“You are more beautiful than your mother,” said Sheen. Sheen, Boyne and Sidhe were seated with Bekase, Beyant seated behind Aurrora. Boyne stared at Aurrora and then began to wonder who her companions were.

“Who are your protectors?” asked Boyne.

“This is Bekase and Beyant,” answered Aurrora with some hesitation.

Neither spoke but both ducked further into their cloaks.

Boyne and Sheen were about to ask a million questions but Aurrora beat them to the asking.

“Tell me about that day and about my parents,” said Aurrora.

Sheen looked at Boyne but let him speak. Boyne gave a brief story of that day:

King Till was determined to control all 10 kingdoms. His army attacked that day, led by the Golden Cloaks who, as you saw, Captain Brice was one. Under General Grange, they burned every village and killed all the children and men in every village and saved the women for the soldiers. When they finally reached the castle, your father sent me to hide you and your mother, but your mother refused to come. She wanted to stand with your father. The castle was overwhelmed within hours. Grange and six of his soldiers fought with your father and killed him. Grange then ordered your mother burned at the stake to turn the royal line to ash. His soldiers reported to him that they had found you in the marshes, drowned you and burned your body. King Till ruled over all 10 kingdoms until five years ago, when he died, and Grange has ruled as the King’s voice until Prince Gaeyler came of age to be crowned. Each kingdom has a magistrate who reports to Grange and Gaeyler.

He breathed heavily and glanced at Sheen, who tightened her eyes and shook a disapproving head, yet Boyne continued, “Queen Aurrora you can save us. Anyone of a royal line may challenge Gaelyer to one-on-one combat for the crown prior to the coronation and you are the only one remaining. Fate has brought you home. Gaelyer is coming to the 10th kingdom this week to speak to the final captured kingdom and will be crowned here in a week. I or Sidhe or maybe even your protectors could be a stand-in for you in the battle.”

Aurrora was stunned by the flood of information and all that was before her.

###

Aurrora entered the throne room. She walked the length of the processional still wrapped in her cloak. Upon reaching the point to bow and speak her title to the soon-to-be king, Aurrora tossed her cloak off, looked up to the soon-to-be king and uttered the challenge of the past.

“I, Aurrora, the rightful queen of the 10th kingdom, daughter of Cormac and Orta, the ruler of sky and grass, mark Prince Gaelyer to duel as my right as the last of royal inherited blood of my line,” said Aurrora.

General Grange waved his arms for the soldiers of the Golden Cloak to surround her, but Gaelyer waved his arms for the soldiers to step back to their posts.

“I’m intrigued by this challenge,” said the Prince. “I am to be crowned King tomorrow morning and your challenge today is within your rights if you truly are Aurrora of the sky and grass.”

He perused her for a moment.

“I declare you must truly be her, for your beauty is unsurpassed. You have the tattooed markings of the sky and grass. You have the courage of the noblest ones,” said the Prince. “Before I accept this challenge, let us discuss the agreement of the challenge results. Let us step into the King’s room.”

Prince Gaelyer stepped down from the throne and walked to the door of the private library. He opened the door and awaited Aurrora. She glanced about and said, “I accept this time of rules” as she stepped from her spot and walked to the room. Wary of all.

Grange went to follow behind her, yet Gaelyer, spotting him, raised his hand and simply said, “Only Aurrora and I shall enter to outline the rules of the challenge,” said Gaelyer.

Grange stopped in his tracks and slipped back to his post beside the throne chairs.

“Have a seat, my lady. It is a pleasure to meet you. The magistrate of the 10th kingdom assured me this very morning that you and your followers were surrounded in the mountains and would soon be captured or killed. I am very glad to see that did not happen for your beauty and bravery are already legendary just in the few short days of your emergence,” said Gaelyer.

“I am glad that I have not disappointed you,” said Aurrora.

“So, this challenge, which is completely within your rights, let me talk aloud about it and see if we can’t come to an agreement. I will accept the challenge if you are the one to fulfill it and not a stand-in-knight. It will be a three-blood cut challenge and not to the death, for I do not wish your death. I wish the opposite. If I draw blood three times first, you will be betrothed to me and in one year you will marry me or if you do not love me, by then I will name you magistrate of the 10th kingdom. If I lose, you will be crowned queen and I will be “your hand”, the wisest advisor and take the place to the right of you. For while you are brave, clever, and fascinating, I doubt you understand the clockwork details that keep the kingdom from falling into civil war and which magistrates are constantly trying to kill you and Grange alone will be on the constant fight to have you murdered. The kingdoms cannot go into war against one another again. When my grandfather and father consolidated the 10 kingdoms, they did it with bloodshed and that saved bloodshed. The kingdoms had been at war with one another off and on for thousands of years with blood soaking the soil constantly. We have had real peace for the last 10 years. The 10th kingdom alone has prospered through farming and trade. Yes, the magistrate has been overtaxing the people which I was going to address in several of the kingdoms once the crown rested safely upon my head and the power out of Grange’s hands. So, what do you think of my offer?”

“I accept,” stated Aurrora with a firm, undaunted voice.

“I am so enamored with your confidence. You have no belief you can lose. Your dragon shield and sword are wondrous, yet I have similar passed down three generations. So, in equipment we are evenly matched,” said Gaelyer.

“Is Grange the general over the Golden Cloaks?” Aurrora asked.

“Yes, as well as the appointed voice to lead until I was of age to rule,” said Gaelyer.

“Did he give the order to put my parents to the fire and sword?” asked Aurrora.

“He did. He is a cruel yet cunning man. He has held the kingdom together these past 5 years until I could be crowned,” added Gaelyer.

“Let us duel and know where we will stand in the dawn,” said Aurrora.

Gaelyer laughed and escorted Aurrora out of the room.

The two striking figures emerged from the library.

“Clear the coronation space. We will duel right here with a three-blood rule. We both know and have agreed to terms,” said Gaelyer to a large crowd.

The crowd backed away behind the pews of the coronation hall with guards pushing gifts and placing columns back into the walkways. A cleared space of 40 square yards lay open before the throne chairs and the crowds lined up at the seats. Grange did not move from his post beside the throne chair.

Sidhe pushed to the front of the crowd. “My queen, chose me to be your stand in. I will carry your mark and colors this day.”

“No. This is my fight and my destiny,” said Aurrora.

Aurrora and Gaelyer unsheathed swords.

Aurrora raised her shield and speed thrust at Gaelyer who parried quickly and slapped a quick blade across her left side jaw line. A dark crimson small band of blood dripped out.

The crowd cheered as Gaelyer had drawn first blood.

Aurrora, surprised by the noise of the crowd, realized she had been cut. She pulled her shield high and thrusted quickly. Gaelyer thrusted heartily and crashed his shield into hers. She struck his leg hard, cutting leather and wool and opening a gash in his leg, but at that same moment as the shields crashed she felt a prick in her side. He had used his dragon claw sword to pierce her shield and cut her. She pushed away.

Grange from behind her hollers, “Two cuts for the king. One for the usurper.”

She dashed at Gaelyer and dropped low under his shield and slammed her shield hard into his wounded leg, knocking him into the wall where she slashed his side almost to the rib bone.

She jumped from her lower position trying to attack again, but even with a bleeding leg and now a cut side, Gaelyer swiftly slipped behind a column and regained his balance. He launched with quick speed at Aurrora.

Aurrora heard Grange behind her hollering for the king to slice her open. All she could think of is how Boyne described Grange giving the orders to cut her father open and torch her mother.

She backed up toward the throne steps with Gaelyer landing several sword thrusts upon her shield. Grange’s voice grew louder as she backed up closer to the throne chair and his post just to the right of the chair.

With a breath and swift movement, Aurrora swung around sword head high and removed Grange’s head with his mouth open mid-throated yell. As she did, she felt a sword pierce her cloak and shirt into her bottom back rib.

Gaelyer, gaining the third cut, gripped hard against his weapon and swiftly removed it from Aurrora’s back. He then realized she had decapitated Grange. He swiftly leaped up to catch her as she began to fall back against the steps.

Gaelyer called for his doctor.

Aurrora looked to Sidhe and Boyne, “Be calm. Keep peace.”

Aurrora was taken to the king’s chambers to dress her wounds.

Gaelyer then had Grange’s head and body removed to be buried in the royal cemetery.

Aurrora awoke to the sound of Bekase’s voice at the window. Bekase stood on the windows ledge with his claws clinching the rock. He looked like a dark owl in the night perching upon it.

“Aurrora, mother says we must leave before the dawn to ride the winds safely home. Come with us. We can have adventures searching for the remaining elves and fairies. You will be safe and loved with us. What is here for you? You have no responsibility to these humans. You were with us for 10 years in safety and love. Less than 10 days among the humans and you have been stabbed several times and almost betrayed,” said Bekase. “You must choose.”

###