Slaying the Blood King

♤•Chapter 4•♤

I couldn't believe my eyes when I had first seen the village, but inside the Great Willow?

I had never seen anything more beautiful.

As we stroll in along one of the vines into it's entrance, my breath is instantly whisked away. Glowing mushrooms decorate the interior, bringing enough light to see within the tree's heart. I watch as the Fey-folk walk back and forth into different chambers of the tree along the glowing vines that illuminate the floor, almost like the base trim in my room. The dark flowers I had originally seen out in the huts peak down above the openings to the chambers. The sweet aroma of nature fills my nostrils, and I can't help but enjoy the calm it makes me feel.

Albesk leads me through, keeping his hand locked in mine as we dodge Fey-folk. Many of then give me curious stares. Others seem to be wary of my prescence. I understand it though, I'm an outsider, and you don't trust outsiders.

"Albesk!" a voice sounds from behind us. I turn and find the most gorgeous woman I have seen. Her hair is grass green and the glowing strands that the Fey-folk seem to share burn a bright gold. Her eyes match her illuminated hair, but I can see the kindness and warmth radiating out of them immediately. Her narrow frame, covered in a gold, silk robe, reminds me of my own, except I highly doubt hers is broken and covered in bruises. When she notices me beside Albesk, she stops, holding a hand to her face.

"Myriad," she whispers. Confusion crosses my mind immediately when I hear my mother's name. How does she know my mother? Albesk clears his throat beside me.

"Liona, meet Lunar," he says. The dark-skinned Fey walks toward me. When she reaches to touch my face, I flinch involunatrily, causing hurt to illuminate in her beautiful eyes. I instantly feel bad for my reaction.

"I'm sorry," I start. "I'm not used to gentle touches," I explain. Hurt rises in her eyes even more.

"Well," she finally says in her calm, soothing voice. "You won't be feeling pain from these hands unless it is to mend your wounds. I couldn't hurt the daughter of the greatest Fey-woman I knew."

With her words, I stop in my tracks. "F-fey? My mother way one of the Fey?" I ask in disbelief. Liona gives me a confused look. "Well, yes. How do you not-"

Her voice stops as something dawns on her. Before I can question her further, she takes the hand that had been holding Albesk's, leading me down the long stretches of tree. We only stop when we reach a doorway to a large chamber. When I look inside, my jaw drops.

Inside is the makings of a med-wing, but instead of a sick bed, there are swinging hammocks made of vines. In the center of the chamber is a crystal-clear pond. Though it isn't very big, the lillies and illuminated mushrooms along it's edge give it that majestic glow.

Liona leads me toward that pond, only stopping when we reach the edge. I look at her, questioning. She doesn't say anything, only motioning for me to look. When I look into the depths of the water, I gasp.

The person staring back at me was not me.

I bend down-careful not to move my arm too much-before tapping the water, seeing if maybe the reflection is wrong. When the water stills once again, I realize that it isn't-that my father had been keeping a great secret from me.

I am one of the Fey.

"B-but, how?" I ask softly, taking in the new me. My platnium-blonde hair remains, but some of the lighter strands had gone from white to bright, glowing jade. My eyes had changed from the hazel/green they used to be to the same color as the glowing locks in my hair. My face... my eyes were more almond-shaped, my nose more pointed. I turn my head, and there it is. The pointed ears, marking me as one of the Fey-folk. The bruise had resides is no longer there, making me question so much. Liona rests a hand on my back.

"Your mother," she whispers. "Looked just like you." I turn to face her then, slowly rising from my kneeling position. She shakes her head then, clearing her sad thoughts.

"Come now, we must check that arm, and while I am tending to you, I will tell you of your mother."

Liona leads me over to one of the hammocks, urging my body into one of them. When I lie into it, I am automatically hit with it's sweet, calming aroma. I sigh as any pain that had been harboring in my body disperses. Liona smiles. "These hammocks are made with Lucavorialice, vines that have pain-relief properties. Their scent alone can ease severe pain," she explains.

"Now, let me have a look at that arm."

I watch as she slowly unwraps the cloth that held my arm in place. Her eyes look deternined, as a doctor's would, but behind her facade, I know that her and my mother had been close. Seeing me now must bring back too many memories, as well as the pain of losing her.

When my arm is unwrapped, I find it weird that the pain I had felt in the castle, I no longer feel here. Even when Liona pokes and prods at my shoulder blade where I'm sure it had been broken, the severe pain is nonexistent. Only a dull throb remains. I watch as her eyebrows furrow.

"Lunar," she says. "What exactly had been here?" she asks. I give her a confused look.

"Well, it had been broken. My father kicked me to the point that it broke," I say. Her facial expression remains perplexed. She holds up a finger before strolling over to a book case that rests by the chamber's opening. She holds a finger against the leather spines until she retrieves a black-leather bound book. She flips through it until a page catches her eye.

"A-ha," she says, before walking over to me.

She rests the book in my lap. Using the arm that I knew for sure hadn't been injured, I steady it as I read.

Moon-healing Fey

Occurence: Bloodline specific. Moon-healing Fey come from the same family line as the moon goddess. It is hereditary only, making it rare.

Ability: Able to heal within the moonlight. The closer to the full moon, the higher the healing abilities.

I think back to tonight. The moon had been full, and if I had these abilities, that explains why I healed so quickly.

Closing the book, I try to hand it back to Liona, but she shakes her head. "There is much knowledge to he had within that book. Think of it as your birth right," she says with a warm smile. I smile back at her, but then something nags at my mind.

"Liona?" I question. She pins me with her warming gaze. "How come I didn't know I was Fey until I came down here? I didn't have these features just this morning," I question. She nods her head, and based off of her expression, this is common knowledge to the Fey.

"You see, our realm is much different than yours. We live in the darkness, sleeping in the morning light. Up in the mortal realm, we were slaughtered and enslaved, just because of our features, so Mother Moon gave us the power to look human in the human realm, as you did while you lived there. As your mother did as well." I watch the hurt in her eyes as she mentions my mother, and then just as quickly, the light returns as she continues.

"In order for us to flip between your formal world and ours, is to cross into the waters of Lunus Lake, a portal that is only available to us in the light of the full moon."

I remember Albesk uttering the word 'Entradact' which gave us passage into the water. So many questions flood my mind, but only one bothers me most.

"Liona, forgive me, but when I was in the castle, it wasn't just Albesk. There were two other people, a man and woman who spoke Elvish. Yet, when I awoke in the woods, only Albesk was there. Why is that?"

I watch as her eyes dart back from chamber's opening, to me again. She sighs.

"You see, your father isn't the most welcoming of people, as you have known. We have informants, spies if you will, keeping tabs on your father." I shake my head in disbelief. All my life, and all this time, the Fey had been there, but none of them had stopped my father?

"Why didn't anyone save me? Why didn't someone stop him from hurting me?" I ask, pain rising in my voice. A hot tear slips down my cheek.

"Because," she starts. "We needed the right time." I look into her eyes.

"The right time for what?" I ask.

"The right time to assassinate your father."