The Lost Girl... (Faith, Hope and Tranquillity #1)

CHAPTER 20

Silver’s POV

After the group had come out of their shock over David being Dae, they started to ask so many questions. Questions I did not have an answer to right now. They knew he was a troublemaker and liked to play pranks, but he had never done anything this serious. He cared about all of them. He was like a brother to most of them. And why would he be trying to keep himself hidden whilst telling Sere things about her past but not helping her find out the complete truth. He had disappeared himself, but everyone knew he had left of his own free will after an argument. No one knew the argument details or even who it was with but why did that mean he had ended up here with Sere?

Estel and Voronwe decided to create a portal to home so we could talk to their father. Maybe he would have more information than we knew. The sisters joined hands and mumbled words in elven with their eyes closed. The air began to feel thick, light sparkled around them and suddenly, their hair began to float up over their heads, a light breeze flowing around them. On the final word they snapped open their eyes which were now elven again. They looked ethereal and moving, there was only colour and no pupil.

“Edro! Aina ando-en Fallalessie. Tauriel-o Fallalessie anglennatha. EDRO!” (Open! Holy gate to Fallalessie. Daughters of the forest of Fallalessie will approach. OPEN!)

A small golden light began to shine, like a small flame that got larger and larger as fuel was added. It slowly formed into a large circle, big enough for people to walk through. It was golden around the outskirt and slowly turned yellow, oranges and finally red as it reached the centre. It was crackling with golden power and seemed light a storm waiting to explode.

I nodded at everyone as they looked at the gate in awe and walked through the portal before anyone could object. I was followed immediately by the group, except for Morna who agreed to stay back should Sere arrive early or anyone else call by. As soon as I stepped through, I emerged into a beautiful, green and lush forest, thick with larger trees than you would ever find on earth. Birds could be heard everywhere, and critters ran across our path without a care in the world. The sun was just starting to set, faint purples and dark blues beginning to creep through the trees. I closed my eyes and breathed the freshness in. Sere loved this time of day and would have loved to be here.

I turned around to make sure everyone was through so Estel could close the portal. When I looked at everyone they had returned to their elven looks. Voronwe had more tattoos, all over her face and body, pictures which represented all the times she had training to become future queen, her ears were pointy again and her eyes had stayed their luscious brown colour but without pupils. Estel looked the same except for her ears and eyes, the only difference was her hair which was long in the human world but here it trailed along the ground behind her and had all sorts of flowers and vines angled within it. Alda was the biggest change, in the human world he had long brown hair and looked like a normal human but here he had bark like skin on his arms and stomach, his ears were extra-long, and his hair had leaves growing in it. We were all children of the forest, but Alda was half wood nymph, although he didn’t like people talking about his mother.

I knew I would be looking like my old self again and put my hand to my left side to feel the weight of my usual handmade sword. It made me feel safe and it bothered me that I couldn’t take it to the human world. I let out a loud sharp whistle and the others did the same. A few minutes later we could hear a thundering noise coming towards us as 5 horses emerged from the woods. 5? I looked confusedly at the horses wondering if maybe Morna’s horse had arrived as well. That was until I noticed, standing beside my beautiful grey stallion with blue hair, was a silver one with a black mane and tail. Chess had come along with my horse, Loume. It meant stormy sky which I think fit her well for both her colour and temperament, never knowing whether she would just grumble or completely buck me off. I smiled seeing Chess stand expectantly at the side of Loume, clearly looking for her owner. It cannot be coincidence that Chess was with me and Sere recently sharing our vision about the steeds. Maybe Chess could feel her returning to us little by little and was expecting her home.

“I’m going to leave the portal open, just in case.” Estel said whilst stroking her yellow stallion.

I nodded at Estel before noticing Loume who trotted to my side and blew air into my face, a horse greeting. I blew back, smiling, as she whinnied at me. I grabbed her mane and pulled myself up gracefully onto her back. Id missed this form of travel. The bike was close to riding a horse but not the same. As I noticed everyone else had mounted, we set off at full speed to the triplet’s home to speak to the king and queen about Dae.

Lily’s POV

The banging on the door became more persistent and I was scared out of my wits. It wasn’t a strong bang, like a person banging repeatedly. The noise was more of something small hitting it repeatedly. When I entered the room from my bedroom, I realised the noise wasn’t coming from my front door at all but from the sliding doors leading to the balcony. Confused, I began to realise that what I was seeing was Mr. Swallow flying at the door. I screamed knowing he could hurt himself terribly or even die and ran to open the doors.

“What are you doing?!” I screamed at the swallow who just ignored me. Chirping madly, he flew into the house and flew towards my kitchen windowsill. I ran after him and noticed he was trying to drag the lilies out of the flowerpot. “What’s the matter little guy?” I cooed trying to get him to calm down.

Suddenly the bird flew up to me and pecked at my arm, grabbing my night dress sleeve it attempted to pull me towards the lilies. He was chirping madly again, trying to tell me something.

“You don’t like the flowers?” I asked in confusion. I knew they had symbolised Dae’s parents and that’s probably why David gave them to me, but they were only flowers… right? The bird tweeted desperately again, still trying to drag me towards the flowers. I walked towards them. That’s when I noticed the pain in my head getting worse again.

Silver’s POV

We arrived at Estel and Voronwe’s home not too long after getting on the horses. Leaving the horses out front we headed to the house. The horses waited patiently, eating grass. I smiled, should we need to get back to the human world quickly they would wait. Estel had left the portal open just in case too.

King Sven must have sensed our presence as he was stood outside the large oak door to the house. He looked hopeful but when he noticed Chess was without a rider, his shoulders sagged a little. Clearly Chess coming with Loume had sparked hope within him that Sere was returning home.

“King Sven!” I shouted, walking towards him. “We have good and bad news.” The King stiffened, noticeably worried, and beckoned for us to come inside. Estel ran to her dad and gave him a big hug. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders, and they walked into the house. Alda was holding Voronwe’s hand as they walked through. I took a deep breath and followed everyone inside. The Queen, Meril, was sat reading at a table. As soon as she saw us, she stood up and greeted us all with big hugs. Her eyes were hopeful as she looked amongst us. King Sven took her hand and squeezed it. She looked anxiously at us as we all sat around the large table.

“So?” King Sven asked, his hands clasped in front of his mouth, his elbows leaning on the large table. His eyebrows met in the middle as his face took on a serious look.

“We have found her…” The Queen and King smiled in happiness and were about to start getting excited, but I continued before they could get carried away. “But…”

“But what? Why haven’t you brought her home?” Queen Meril asked, worriedly. “Is she ok?”

“She’s fine mother.” Voronwe added. “Please let Celeb finish and you’ll understand.” The Queen looked at me, pressing me to start again, apologising with her eyes. I nodded in acceptance.

I explained how we had found her, and we had been watching her but that she had absolutely no memory of anything and had been raised as a human for the last 17 years. I gave them as many details as I could. The fact that she was controlling magic without knowing it. The fact that she seemed to recognise us slowly. The King and Queen listened feverishly. I went on to explain about her headaches, memories, and visions and how they were being tampered with. The King suddenly looked worried when I started mentioning black smoke and mine and Dae’s bodies being swapped in the dreams.

“The last bit of proof I needed was when I went to see her last night. She is over halfway taken over by dark magic and Dae is there, posing as a human…” The Queen seemed uneasy, but she was confused.

“Dae loves Sere, they are like brother and sister. He would not hurt her. Is he protecting her? How is he? I raised him for 6 years. He’s like my son and when he ran away for no reason, I feared the worst.” The questions came quickly and didn’t make sense. I hadn’t been listening so Estel took over answering her mother. I was watching the King who was now squeezing his hands so tightly together his knuckles were turning white. He was sweating profusely. Something wasn’t right with him.

“He seems ok mum.” Estel answered, taking her mums hand. “We were not as close as Sere to Dae but were worried too. The problem is Dae seems to be telling her wrong information, and knowing he’s half dark elf we don’t want to reveal ourselves just yet. Just in case…” Estel finished.

“What do you mean?” Queen Meril asked, shock registering in her eyes and voice. “He wouldn’t hurt anyone! He loves Sere.” Suddenly the King slammed his hands on the table out of anger.

“He could and would…” The King answered shakily.

“What?” The Queen asked looking at her husband suspiciously.

“Dad?” Voronwe asked, cautiously.

“Dae is the Dark Prince; he isn’t half dark elf at all. He’s the remaining heir to the dark kingdom.” Everyone was shocked but that didn’t change anything did it?

“So?” I asked.

“There’s more…”

Lily’s POV

My head was getting worse, I couldn’t think and was starting to lose consciousness. NO! I couldn’t lose it. I needed to get Silver. He would know what to do.

“Mr Swallow, please get help…” I choked out as I collapsed onto the floor. The bird, seemingly understanding, flew out of the open sliding doors and down. I struggled to stay awake, and my body slumped to the ground. I heard someone shouting through the front door. I couldn’t see who it was but knew I recognised the voice.

“Sere! Are you ok?”

“GET… CELEB…” I managed to choke out before collapsing unconscious on the kitchen floor.

Silver’s POV

I listened, along with everyone else., intently. As the story progressed, I was in absolute shock, feeling sick to my stomach at what the king was saying. He had made a pact with the Dark kingdom, first red flag. So that his wife could have children. Second red flag, he had promised Sere to the future dark Prince!? The King then explained about the Maur-o Sere or the Vision of Tranquillity as it translated. A festival in the dark kingdom where the Dark Prince would take the most powerful sun kingdom bride, marry her and become king and queen then strip her of her power to add to his. It was an old tradition that had been abolished years ago but apparently Dae’s father had wanted to bring it back. But… surely Dae didn’t know about this though? His parents died when he was young. Unless there was something that had awoken those memories?

“But Sere doesn’t have sun capabilities. None of the girls do…” I said, knowing my Sere. She was powerful but not with sun magic. The King and Queen exchanged looks. I bit my lip. No…

“Actually, she does. She just doesn’t know it…” The Queen said quietly, shame in her face. “We never trained her in it as she was never destined to be queen. Once she found you though, we were going to start the training so she could be by your side as a equal, but she disappeared…”

“Oh…” I said aloud. “OH!” It hit me, Dae must know and wants to absorb her power, that’s why he had been keeping her out of everyones way, keeping her to himself and slowly turning her against her memories. “When is the Festival?” I asked. “Will it still go ahead with only a handful of dark elves left?”

“I… don’t know.” The king said sadly, shaking his head. “They may see it as a way to rebuild their kingdom. I’ll talk to my cousin…but as far as I know the festival takes place around Yule”

“So, December in the human world, we have about 5 months to fix this…” I had gotten up and started pacing around the dining room. “What I don’t get is how would he know about any of this being raised by you and then in the human world?”

“I have no idea, but it seems like the most fitting scenario.” The King said looking sadly at his wife who was scowling at him. “I’m sorry dear, you were heartbroken at not being able to have children. I did what I thought was best for us.”

“The cost was too great… DEAR!” She said sarcastically before stomping out of the room. Estel and Voronwe chased after her, shooting glaring glances at their father as they left.

The King sighed before looking at me. His eyes were extremely sad but not regretful.

“Please, bring her back Celeb. This is all my fault, and I will find out any information I can. I need to go and explain everything before she hates me forever.” I grabbed his arm before he could leave.

“She doesn’t hate you, she’s just worried about Sere, but I promise Ill return her safely.” Just then a flash appeared between us, and a screen magically appeared in front of the king.

“Sire! We have a message from Morna, he says he needs Celeb back right away.” I was running out of the kitchen before the message ended and anyone could say anything to me. I shouted back at Alda for him to get the girls and follow behind me. I didn’t need to know what the rest of the message said, Morna was calling and needed me which meant Sere was in some sort of danger.