Page 44 of Forgotten Fate
I considered his ideas. We did desperately need supplies, that much was true. But I had the inkling that there was another reason he wanted to go there. I looked back up and met his gaze. Yet again, his power over me erased any common sense I had, as I blindly trusted him.
I cleared my throat. “Promise me something,” I said to him.
“Anything,” he answered gently.
My heart fluttered.
“Promise me you’re not hiding something. That there’s not an underlying reason to take us to Monuvia.”
Elias’s body stiffened only for a moment before he caught himself.He glanced at the fire, then back at me after a few seconds. “I promise,” he said finally, if a little hoarsely.
I eyed him up and down, looking for any sign of deception. I trusted him. I had blindly trusted him since day one. But something about this felt different. In the end, it didn’t matter. I couldn’t do this journey on my own. “Alright,” I answered, and I noticed his posture relax.
“We’ll head there in the morning,” he said with a half-grin.
“Great,” I said before lying down on my side with my back to him. “Goodnight,” I huffed.
He was going to take the first watch that night, even though it was my turn. But he didn’t question it. My eyes remained opened – and I could have imaged it, but I thought I saw Elias’s shadow from the light of the flickering flames reach for me, then stop. “Goodnight, Aura,” he said before lowering his arm and turning away.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
The dream came back that night. Not the one I had of my mother, or the one of Elias kissing me. The one with the wolf – the dream that started this whole mess to begin with. I realized I hadn’t had it since I met Elias. It was a welcomed reprieve, not waking up in a panic most nights.
But I noticed something different this time. I ran from the giant wolf and got to the cliff’s edge. I whipped around and watched the wolf stalk towards me, as it always did. I shut my eyes and put my hand out in a meager defense to block the beast, but was met with human skin instead of fur and teeth. But when my hand pressed against the skin of the person, a familiar shock of energy pulsed through my palm.
My eyes violently shot open, only to see the moonlight peeking through the canopy of trees above me, their dark leaves slightly swaying in the breeze. It was still nighttime. I turned to look over atElias, who sat on his makeshift bed, carving at a stick with his knife. He glanced down at me and noticed I was awake.
“You’ve only been asleep for an hour or two,” his baritone voice broke the silence of the night. “You can keep resting.”
I sat up and rubbed my eyes. “I don’t think I’ll be able to go back to sleep anytime soon,” I admitted. “You can get some rest now.”
“Are you having strange dreams again?” Elias asked. I couldn’t make out his expression because the fire had died down almost completely and it was too dark to see his face clearly.
“Yes,” I answered, although I knew he was referring to the dreams from the other night.
“Do you…want to talk about it?” he asked hesitantly. I guessed he was unfamiliar with how to comfort people.
I gave a half-smile. “No, I’m alright. But thank you.” I stood and stretched my limbs while Elias made himself comfortable. I watched him slowly drift to sleep, and let him stay that way until the sun began to rise.
Elias knew a shortcut to Monuvia through the lesser mountain passes. Although the hike would be more strenuous, we would get there in only a few days. Each day, we would train for one hour in the morning before starting our hike. I showed improvement during each session, Elias told me. We practiced more defensive maneuvers since overpowering Horus didn’t seem likely. The extra trainings proved valuable, as I was able to knock Elias to the ground once or twice.
His weird behavior from the earlier night seemed to disappear, and he was back to his normal brooding self. I did notice, however,that he seemed a little more alert, like he was expecting a threat to approach us at any moment. It gave me an odd feeling that he could sense something that I could not. But I watched him carefully, and nothing ever came of it.
On the third day, we finally reached Monuvia just before darkness began to settle. I could tell we were close, because the familiar sounds of gentle water and jovial music were heard in the distance.
We approached the kingdom entrance, the sunlight quickly fading. Monuvia was surrounded by a large moat which required a gate to be lowered in order to cross. The kingdom, often called the City of Streams, surrounded itself with water, and had channels and streams running throughout the city itself. Rebellia River flowed right into the moat that surrounded the city, which then flowed into the city itself through manmade channels that were dug under the city walls.
The main source of food for Monuvians was fish and other aquatic animals and plants. The kingdom was very different from my own, but I adored it nonetheless based on my foggy memories. I remembered visiting as a child and swimming in the lakes and springs with Max, otherwise known as Prince Maksym. He was a few years older than myself, but I got along with him well. Like me, Max and his twin sister, Nevaria, knew what it was like to lose a parent. Their father passed from a sudden illness when they were only four, leaving Queen Janness to rule the kingdom. After my own mother passed, the only time I ever got to see Max was when Queen Janness brought the twins to Rimor, which wasn’t often enough.
The gate was not lowered by the time we got there, likely because the sun was setting so quickly. With the cover of darkness and my hood up, I didn’t need to rely too much on a disguise, but I was cautious nonetheless. We made our way to the guard tower and waved down the guard posted there. “Hello,” I shouted up to him, my hood shadowing my face. “We seek entrance to Monuvia. Will youlower the gate?”
The guard that sat atop the tower looked down at us. “Welcome. Who are you and why do you seek entrance to the City of Streams?” he shouted down to us curiously, the music behind him slightly blurring his voice.
“We are hungry travelers, just in need of supplies and somewhere to rest for the night,” I called back.
“What are your names?”
I had forgotten how personable the Monuvians were. It didn’t surprise me that they wanted to know the name of every person who entered the small, peaceful kingdom. I wondered if they kept some sort of list of guests up there in their guard tower.