CHAPTER 2: WARNING!
1679 Words
Elara did not stop running until the village was far behind her.
The forest had grown darker.
The path she had known since childhood seemed unfamiliar now, as though the trees had shifted while she wasn't looking.
She kept one hand pressed against the pendant beneath her dress.
Her mother's words repeated in her mind.
If anyone finds you, do not tell them your name.
Don't let them see the mark.
Go.
Elara stumbled over a root and caught herself against a tree.
She was breathing heavily.
“What is happening to me?”
No answer came.
Only the sound of leaves moving in the wind.
She looked down at her wrist.
The silver crescent was still there.
Faint.
But unmistakable.
She rubbed at it.
Nothing.
She scratched it.
Nothing.
It wasn't paint.
It wasn't a wound.
It was beneath her skin.
Elara pulled her sleeve over it.
Then she heard something.
A horse.
She froze.
Another.
Then another.
The royal guards had entered the forest.
“They're looking for me.”
She whispered the words.
For the first time, she understood what her mother had been afraid of.
Elara turned and hurried deeper into the woods.
She didn't know where she was going.
She only knew she had to disappear.
---
Several miles away, the royal party had reached the edge of the forest.
The commander dismounted.
“She went in here.”
A younger guard looked toward the trees.
“Should we follow?”
The commander stared into the darkness.
“No.”
The guard frowned.
“Why?”
The commander's eyes moved toward the faint silver glow between the trees.
“Because whatever she is…”
He lowered his voice.
“…the forest already knows she's here.”
---
Inside the royal carriage, Prince Caelan sat silently.
The wheels moved steadily over the rough road.
He had been summoned from the palace that morning without explanation.
Now he knew why.
A girl.
A village.
A strange mark.
And a name that had not been spoken aloud in the royal court for generations.
Moonblood.
Caelan leaned back.
His fingers tightened around the armrest.
“Your Highness.”
He looked toward the captain sitting opposite him.
“What?”
“There is something you should know.”
Caelan waited.
“The king doesn't want the girl brought to the palace.”
His eyes narrowed.
“Then what does he want?”
The captain hesitated.
“Her found.”
“That isn't an answer.”
“No.”
The captain looked toward the carriage window.
“He wants her power found first.”
Caelan's expression hardened.
“What power?”
“We don't know.”
“Then why are we hunting her?”
The captain was silent.
Caelan looked away.
That was precisely what troubled him.
His father rarely acted without a reason.
And when he did, there was always someone who paid for it.
---
Night came quickly.
Elara found an abandoned stone shelter beneath a rocky cliff.
It looked as though no one had used it in years.
She stepped inside.
There was an old fireplace, a broken wooden table and a pile of dry leaves in one corner.
It wasn't much.
But it was hidden.
For now, that was enough.
She sat against the wall and pulled her knees toward her chest.
Her thoughts returned to her mother.
Was she safe?
Had the soldiers discovered the truth?
Would they hurt her?
Elara squeezed her eyes shut.
A tear escaped.
She wiped it away angrily.
Her mother had always been her entire world.
She had no father.
No siblings.
No relatives she knew of.
Just her mother and the little bakery in Lunaris.
Yet suddenly, the life she had known felt like a lie.
She opened her hand.
The pendant lay in her palm.
It was old.
Much older than anything her mother owned.
Its silver surface had tiny markings around the edge.
Elara had seen them countless times.
But she had never really looked.
Tonight, she did.
She brought it closer to the firelight.
There were words engraved along the back.
Elara frowned.
She couldn't read them.
Not completely.
The language was unfamiliar.
But one word stood out.
Lunaris.
Her breath caught.
She stared at it.
Why would the name of her village be engraved on a pendant her mother had forbidden her to question?
She turned it over.
A small section had opened.
Inside was a tiny folded piece of parchment.
Elara carefully removed it.
Her hands shook as she unfolded it.
There were only six words.
When the moon awakens, remember me.
Elara stared.
Then she recognized the handwriting.
Her mother's.
She stood abruptly.
“No.”
The parchment slipped from her fingers.
Her mother had known.
She had known all along.
---
A sound came from outside.
Elara froze.
Footsteps.
Slow.
Heavy.
Someone was approaching the shelter.
She quickly extinguished the fire.
Darkness swallowed the room.
The footsteps stopped.
Elara held her breath.
Nothing.
Then—
A man's voice came from outside.
“I'm not here to hurt you.”
Elara reached for the small knife tucked into her boot.
She didn't answer.
The man continued.
“I know you're frightened.”
She remained silent.
“I know what they told you.”
Elara's grip tightened.
“What do they know?”
The voice paused.
Then:
“More than your mother wanted you to know.”
Elara's blood ran cold.
“How do you know my mother?”
No answer.
She moved toward the entrance.
“Who are you?”
The man stepped into the faint moonlight outside.
He was old.
Much older than she had expected.
His clothes were worn, and a long scar crossed the side of his face.
But what frightened Elara wasn't his appearance.
It was the symbol hanging around his neck.
A crescent moon.
Exactly like hers.
Elara instinctively touched her pendant.
The man's eyes fell on it.
His expression changed.
“You still have it.”
Elara stepped backward.
“What is this?”
The man looked toward the forest.
“We don't have much time.”
“Who are you?”
“My name is Alaric.”
“Why should I trust you?”
“You shouldn't.”
That answer surprised her.
Alaric continued,
“Trust is dangerous now.”
He reached into his cloak and removed a small leather pouch.
He tossed it toward her.
Elara caught it.
“What is it?”
“Open it.”
Inside was a ring.
Silver.
With the same crescent symbol.
Elara stared.
“Where did you get this?”
“It belonged to your grandmother.”
Elara's face went blank.
“My grandmother died before I was born.”
Alaric shook his head.
“No.”
He looked directly at her.
“She didn't.”
Elara's heart seemed to stop.
“What?”
“She disappeared.”
“That's not what my mother told me.”
“Your mother was trying to protect you.”
“From what?”
Alaric's expression darkened.
“From the truth.”
A branch snapped somewhere behind him.
His head turned sharply.
“We have to go.”
“Why?”
He looked at the trees.
“Because they're here.”
Elara listened.
At first, she heard nothing.
Then came the distant sound of horses.
The royal guards.
Alaric grabbed her arm.
“Come.”
Elara pulled away.
“I'm not going anywhere with a stranger who refuses to tell me the truth.”
He looked at her for a long moment.
Then he said something that made her blood run cold.
“Your mother didn't send you into the forest to save you.”
Elara stared at him.
“She sent you here because she knew they would come.”
“Who?”
Alaric looked toward the approaching lights.
“The people who have been searching for your bloodline for twenty-one years.”
Elara's heart pounded.
“Why?”
“Because you're not the last Moonblood.”
He lowered his voice.
“You're the first one to awaken.”
---
Outside, a horn sounded.
The guards had found them.
Alaric immediately turned toward the rear of the shelter.
“There's another way out.”
Elara followed him through a narrow opening hidden behind the rocks.
They emerged on the other side of the cliff.
Elara looked back.
Torches were appearing between the trees.
Too many.
“Who are they?” she whispered.
Alaric didn't answer.
Then Elara saw something else.
A rider had emerged from the darkness.
He wasn't wearing the same armor as the others.
His cloak was black, trimmed with silver.
He dismounted slowly.
Even from a distance, Elara recognized him.
The stranger from the village.
The crown prince.
Caelan Ardyn.
His eyes moved across the forest.
Then stopped.
Directly on her.
Elara instinctively stepped behind Alaric.
Caelan's expression changed.
He had found her.
But instead of ordering the guards forward, he raised one hand.
The soldiers stopped.
For a moment, the entire forest was silent.
Caelan looked at Elara.
Then at the silver pendant around her neck.
His face became unreadable.
Alaric whispered beside her,
“Don't let him see your wrist.”
Elara pulled her sleeve down.
Caelan took one step forward.
“Elara.”
She froze.
He knew her name.
The prince's voice carried through the trees.
“Your mother is alive.”
Elara's eyes widened.
Caelan continued.
“But if you want to see her again…”
His gaze shifted briefly toward the men surrounding him.
“…you'll have to come with me.”
Elara stared at him.
She didn't know whether he was lying.
She didn't know who to trust.
She didn't even know who she was anymore.
But one thing was becoming frighteningly clear.
The moment her power awakened, the entire kingdom had begun searching for her.
And somewhere beyond the forest, someone else was searching too.
Someone who had been waiting for the Moonblood to return.
Someone who knew exactly what Elara was.
And unlike the prince—
they didn't want her alive.
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