Chapter 2
1470 Words
Alera
Three years later
"Alera! Don't even think about getting close to the palace guard!" Ada shouted, her voice cracking with frustration. "The last time I had to drag you out of trouble don't make me do it again!"
I grinned, basket swinging lightly in my hand, and circled the small hut. "Ada, relax. I'm just taking the food porch to my new friend," I called back in a subtle way I knew would make her scowl soften.
"New friend? Since when do you make friends with guards?" she shouted, but she was already running after me, shaking her head like she'd lost her mind.
I laughed, darting around the hut, careful not to let her catch me. Ada's feet pounded the dirt path, but she wasn't fast enough to stop me from my little victory.
I had grown in these three years. Not just in height or strength, but in the confidence I carried. People knew me now. Alera who helped the elderly fetch water. Alera who patched up cuts. Alera who joked with kids and made them laugh, even when the world was harsh. I was stubborn, funny, daring and Ada sometimes said I gave her headaches, but she never stopped watching out for me.
Life had changed since that day. Three years ago, everything I knew had burned away. And while the pain still sat deep inside me, I had found a new rhythm. I worked with the villagers, traded goods, learned to read and write from the travelers passing through, and trained my body with Ada's guidance. I had always wondered why Ada saved me back then. But she was just as alone in the world as I was. She also lost her son at a young age so she said I reminded her of him. Which was the main reason she saved my life.
I wanted to know why my village had been destroyed. I wanted to know the truth about the Vale King the rogue who had stolen my family from me.
And while I smiled and joked in the daylight, a fire of vengeance, of questions, of plans waiting to take shape burn inside me. And my free spirit was a mask to hide my inner pain.
"I promise I won't stay long," I said, moving backwards toward the door, basket in hand. "I'll just give it to him and come right back." I smiled at Ada, trying to hide the sparkle of mischief in my eyes.
"Make sure you rest well, see you later!" I called, before darting off.
The village was alive with morning bustle. I passed by the market stalls, greeting familiar faces traders, farmers, children everyone nodding back, smiling at me. I waved, tossing a quick joke to a man fixing his cart. They didn't know, and I'd keep it that way.
My path led me toward the outskirts, down a narrow, hidden trail I'd found months ago. It twisted and bent, almost ugly in its crookedness, but it was perfect for staying unseen. At the far end, the gleaming walls of the Vale Palace rose before me. My heart picked up pace.
Guards were stationed along the outer gates. I approached confidently, basket in hand. "Morning, sirs," I said, offering it forward. "I've brought food. Thought you might like to taste something fresh before the day begins."
They chuckled, examining the basket. "You're a bold one," one muttered, and they handed me some coins for the goods.
But my eyes were elsewhere closer to the inner palace. There he was. Someone I needed to get near. I adjusted the berries in the basket casually, pretending to fuss with them while listening to the guards. "You know....Nelson, The end-of-year celebration is coming up. The King is inviting high-ranking men, nobles... big politicians, all the important people. Looks like this year is going to be very, very big. Everyone says it'll be the grandest one yet." One of the guards said.
Nelson snorted as he took a bite from one of the pastries. "Grandest one yet, my foot," he said, shaking his head. "Every year they say that. But this time?" He lowered his voice, leaning closer to the other guard. "This time the King wants to show off. New alliances, new power... he wants everyone to bow twice instead of once."
The other guard laughed. I tilted my head, trying to sound casual. "So... villagers aren't allowed to attend?"
They both shook their heads at once.
"No," Nelson said. "Only nobles, high ranks, and the people working at the palace. Normal villagers? Forget it."
"The only regular folk allowed near the place are guards," the second one added, slinging his spear across his shoulder.
Guards.
I forced a smile. "Makes sense. Wouldn't want us simple people mixing with all the perfumes and crowns."
They laughed, not knowing I was already pulling threads together in my head.
**
Ada had been stealing glances at me for the past ten minutes. I sat cross-legged on the floor, fabric spread over my lap, needle flashing as I stitched two oversized shirts together.
"Alera, what... exactly are you up to now?" She finally broke the silence.
"Just patching," I muttered. After what the guards said, an idea came. The only way for me to get closer to the rogue king is doing the unthinkable.
"Alera."
Her tone carried that warning note, the same one she used when I "accidentally" climbed the palace fence last month or when she found me talking to the guard she told me to avoid.
I sighed and lifted my head. Ada's eyes narrowed at the mess of fabric in front of me. "That's not your size. That's not even your shape. Why are you sewing two shirts together? And why does it look like you're creating the ugliest outfit ever made by human hands?"
I blinked innocently. "Because," I said, tightening another stitch, "from today... I'm going to be a man."
Ada's mouth opened... then closed... then opened again.
"A man?" In no time she was in front of me. "Why? Why would you even...what plan is crawling through your brain this time?"
I pushed the needle into the fabric and met her eyes. "The end-of-year celebration is coming up in a week time. Only guards and nobles can go inside. I am-"
"No. Alera....don't start."
"I'm not going as myself. I'll disguise myself as a young guard and slip in. I'll blend in, listen, watch. If there's any information about the Rogue King... about that night... someone will mention something. And I'll finally be there to hear it."
Ada shook her head in disapproval. "Absolutely not! I didn't save you three years ago so you could throw yourself into danger again!"
I placed the half-sewn shirt aside and moved closer. "Ada... I can't keep waiting for answers to fall from the sky. This is the one chance I have. If I look like a guard, I can get close to the real ones before the celebration. I can learn how they move, how they speak, what to copy."
"Alera—"
"You said I had a future," I whispered. "Let me find it. Let me find the truth about what they did to my parents. To Yonah."
"You're eighteen," she breathed. "You're still a child."
"I'm not," I said quietly. "I just haven't shifted yet."
Last spring had been my shifting age every girl shifted at fifteen, boys at sixteen. Ada had baked a honey cake shaped like a wolf head, smiling the whole time. We waited.
And nothing happened.I remembered feeling disappointed for a few days, watching other girls brag about their first run under the moon. But the feeling didn't last. I had bigger things buried in my chest heavier things that claws and fangs couldn't fix.
Finding answers mattered more than shifting ever could.
Ada looked at my hands then back my face, at the determination she hated and loved at the same time.
I gently took her hand. "I'll be careful. Nothing will happen to me."
"Alera..." She shook her head, eyes glistening. "You're too stubborn for your own good."
"That's why you kept me," I said with a small smile.
Ada heaved out a sigh. "Fine. Fine! But only because if you make that shirt alone, you'll go in looking like a crooked turnip."
Relief burst out of me in a laugh.
"But listen," Ada said, pointing a finger at my forehead. "If anything happens to you, I'll drag your spirit back from the afterlife just to beat sense into it."
I lifted the ugly shirt. "Deal."
Ada rolled up her sleeves and plucked the fabric from my hands. "Move over. If you're going to disguise yourself as a man, you are not entering a royal palace looking like a lopsided potato."
- Writer
