The Hunters Begin
1258 Words
Chapter 4
By the time the second night fell over Vareth, the kingdom was already changing.
Fear has a way of spreading faster than fire. It slips through doors, crawls under skin, whispers into ears until even the bravest men begin to doubt their own courage. By sunset every tavern in the city had already turned the same story over a hundred different ways.
The sky had broken.
The prophecy had begun.
And somewhere inside the kingdom, the Serpent Queen was breathing.
No one knew who she was.
But that did not stop people from guessing.
A merchant swore he had seen a girl with black veins crawling across her hands in the marketplace before the storm. A drunk soldier claimed the temple priests were hiding a cursed child beneath the cathedral. Some said the queen had already been born in secret and the royal family was protecting her.
Every story grew darker as the night deepened.
Because fear likes shadows.
Inside the royal palace the guards had doubled along the walls. Torches burned along every corridor. Steel armor clinked as soldiers moved through the halls like restless ghosts.
King Alaric had given one simple order.
Find her.
The council chamber had grown colder since the morning. No one dared speak loudly now. Even the High Priest looked like a man who had just opened a door he could never close again.
King Alaric stood beside the tall window overlooking the city.
“You are asking me,” the king said slowly, “to believe the creature in that prophecy might be living under my roof.”
The High Priest folded his old hands together.
“Not a creature, Majesty.”
The king’s jaw tightened.
“A queen.”
The king turned sharply.
“And what happens if this queen grows into the monster your prophecy promises?”
The priest said nothing.
The silence answered the question well enough.
King Alaric walked back toward the table.
“Then we find her first.”
The words fell like a blade.
One of the councilors shifted uneasily.
“And… what do we do when we find her?”
The king did not hesitate.
“We kill her.”
The torches flickered in the chamber as if the palace itself had heard the command.
Outside in the palace gardens Selene stood frozen beside the shattered fountain.
The serpent still watched her.
Its golden eyes glowed faintly beneath the crimson sky.
“You are very quiet,” the creature said softly.
Selene’s mind was racing too fast for words.
Everything the serpent had told her felt impossible.
A queen.
Serpent blood.
Hunters coming.
It sounded like madness.
But the black veins twisting along her arms told a different story.
They had spread farther now, curling across her skin like living ink. They no longer hurt the way they had earlier. Instead they pulsed slowly, like something settling comfortably into her body.
Selene swallowed.
“If what you say is true…”
The serpent tilted its head.
“It is.”
“Then why me?”
The serpent slid down from the fountain edge and circled slowly around her feet.
“Blood does not ask permission,” it said. “It simply remembers what it is.”
Selene clenched her fists.
“I am not some cursed queen.”
The serpent stopped moving.
“Every queen says that before the crown finds her.”
Selene turned away, pacing through the empty garden. The palace towers rose above her like silent judges.
“If the prophecy is real,” she muttered, “then the priests must already know.”
“They do.”
Selene stopped walking.
“And the king?”
The serpent’s tongue flickered.
“He will know soon.”
Selene felt a cold knot twist inside her stomach.
“My father will never believe this.”
The serpent’s voice turned strangely quiet.
“Your father may not be the one you should fear.”
Selene turned back sharply.
“What does that mean?”
But the serpent had gone silent again.
Its golden eyes had shifted toward the palace walls.
Listening.
Footsteps echoed somewhere in the garden beyond the hedges.
Heavy footsteps.
Armor.
The serpent hissed softly.
“They are already searching.”
Selene’s heart began to pound again.
The serpent slithered quickly back toward the fountain shadows.
“You must hide.”
Selene’s voice dropped to a whisper.
“Hide where?”
The serpent looked back at her.
“Anywhere that is not here.”
The garden gates suddenly burst open.
Three palace guards entered, their armor clanking loudly as they spread out across the stone paths.
“Princess?” one of them called.
Selene froze.
The serpent disappeared into the fountain water without a sound.
Selene forced her voice to remain steady.
“I’m here.”
The guards approached cautiously.
The captain of the group bowed his head.
“Your Highness.”
Selene folded her arms.
“What is it?”
The captain glanced toward the sky uneasily.
“The king has ordered all members of the royal household to remain inside the palace.”
Selene frowned.
“Why?”
The captain hesitated.
“There are… rumors spreading through the city.”
Selene already knew what those rumors were.
She nodded slowly.
“I understand.”
The guards turned to leave.
But before they stepped through the gate again the captain stopped.
He looked back at Selene, his expression uncertain.
“Your Highness…”
“Yes?”
The soldier lowered his voice.
“If you hear anything strange… anything unusual… the king has asked that you report it immediately.”
Selene felt the serpent blood pulse beneath her skin.
“I will.”
The guards left.
The garden fell silent again.
Selene waited until their footsteps faded before speaking.
“You can come out.”
The water in the fountain rippled.
The serpent rose slowly from the surface again.
“They are afraid,” it said.
Selene nodded.
“They’re hunting something they don’t understand.”
The serpent studied her carefully.
“And soon they will understand too much.”
Far beyond the mountains, Kael and his riders cut through the night like shadows.
Their horses thundered across the dark plains, hooves striking sparks from the stone road as they rode hard toward Vareth.
No one spoke.
Kael rode at the front of the column, his black cloak snapping in the wind.
The red scar in the sky guided them like a beacon.
One of the riders finally pulled his horse closer.
“My lord.”
Kael didn’t slow.
“Yes?”
“If the prophecy is true… why not simply kill the queen when we find her?”
Kael’s expression did not change.
“Because dead queens cannot open doors.”
The rider frowned.
“What doors?”
Kael’s eyes drifted toward the burning sky.
“The ones that will remake this world.”
He leaned forward slightly in the saddle.
“And if the prophecy speaks true…”
His voice grew colder.
“…she will belong to the man strong enough to claim her.”
Behind him the riders fell silent again.
The hunt had begun.
And somewhere inside the palace of Vareth, the girl carrying the blood of the Serpent Queen stood alone beneath the broken sky.
The world was starting to move around her now.
Kings.
Priests.
Hunters.
All of them searching.
All of them afraid.
But none of them yet understood the most dangerous truth.
The queen they hunted had not fully awakened.
Not yet.
- Writer
