spoken to them before they left and had strongly impressed upon them the importance of keeping me alive. Beyond that comment, she would reveal nothing else, nor would her more easy-going silver sister, Dawn.
I do occasionally get to see Ollis and my grandfather. The news from Ollis is not good; officially, there is no progress on finding out what happened to my parents, and he suspects that the higher-ups are blocking the investigation, waiting to see if my reign lasts more than a week, I suppose. Ollis did tell me that word of the challenges and my response to them has reached the general populace, and people are starting to talk about their fierce warrior Queen; apparently, with growing pride. We are a martial society after all.
My grandfather is my one ray of sunshine, other than Winya. I enjoy his visits and I have made him recount his conversation with Alex in the hut more than once. He seems to be imbued with something I lack; simple faith that something good will come out of all of this.
Yawning, I am mildly intrigued by the concept that I might actually get some sleep tonight. It’s strange, I used to fear sleep because of the nightmares. Now I have real life assassins to worry about. Dawn and Dusk have been frighteningly efficient, and it isn’t unusual to walk past dagger-wielding frozen corpses on my frequent trips to the arena.
I try not to dwell on how much I miss Alex and my friends at Sky Raven. Instead, I focus on promoting the mission to further weaken the three enemy clans. I am thinking of trying a new tactic. Tomorrow I will make a public announcement declaring that all members of the three clans are despicable craven cowards and demand that they face me in the arena or forfeit their lands. That should stir them up a bit and perhaps provide me with some brief diversion.
I was nearly asleep when I sensed Dusk move away from the door and move closer to me, staring upward. Shaking the cobwebs from my mind, I threw off my blankets and followed her snake-like gaze up the wall to a small ventilation grate near the ceiling. It couldn’t have been more than four inches in diameter. Dusk continued to stare, and then tilted her head oddly as if tasting the air. Finally, something caught my eye behind the grate. It was a small rodent face, with black dots for eyes and long white whiskers, peering back at me. A few seconds later, there were three of them crowded behind the grate.
Rather than be alarmed, Dusk sniffed the air again, then relaxed and returned to her usual spot by the door, freezing back into her statue-like unblinking stance. Fascinated, I watched the rats stick their heads through the grate bars and squeeze they bodies through as well. The first rodent through stopped, clinging easily to the wall just below the grate to stare down at me curiously. In the blink of an eye, all three were using their sharp little claws to run down the wall to the floor. Once there, one hung back while two of them leaped up onto the bed with me. Now, I’m not normally a squeamish-type of girl. I used to sleep in snake-infested trees all the time when I camped out alone; it was safer than sleeping on the ground. But something about these rodents wasn’t quite right, and I had a suspicion I knew what it was.
“Ok, you two, you’re not fooling anyone, you know,” I whispered.
The two rats stood up on their hind feet, eyeing me curiously, and groomed their whiskers with practiced nonchalance. Finally, they dropped back to all fours and began to blur. Julia enlarged and came out of the change first, throwing herself into my arms.
“Maya! We’ve missed you!”
“That’s her eminence, Queen Maya, to you, shortcake!” I joked, rolling her over and tickling her. Seconds later, Lin finished her transformation, and we spent a few silly minutes roughhousing on the bed and just being carefree wild young girls.
Finally, I pulled back and settled the druids down. That’s when I noticed Ryliss standing in the corner
I do occasionally get to see Ollis and my grandfather. The news from Ollis is not good; officially, there is no progress on finding out what happened to my parents, and he suspects that the higher-ups are blocking the investigation, waiting to see if my reign lasts more than a week, I suppose. Ollis did tell me that word of the challenges and my response to them has reached the general populace, and people are starting to talk about their fierce warrior Queen; apparently, with growing pride. We are a martial society after all.
My grandfather is my one ray of sunshine, other than Winya. I enjoy his visits and I have made him recount his conversation with Alex in the hut more than once. He seems to be imbued with something I lack; simple faith that something good will come out of all of this.
Yawning, I am mildly intrigued by the concept that I might actually get some sleep tonight. It’s strange, I used to fear sleep because of the nightmares. Now I have real life assassins to worry about. Dawn and Dusk have been frighteningly efficient, and it isn’t unusual to walk past dagger-wielding frozen corpses on my frequent trips to the arena.
I try not to dwell on how much I miss Alex and my friends at Sky Raven. Instead, I focus on promoting the mission to further weaken the three enemy clans. I am thinking of trying a new tactic. Tomorrow I will make a public announcement declaring that all members of the three clans are despicable craven cowards and demand that they face me in the arena or forfeit their lands. That should stir them up a bit and perhaps provide me with some brief diversion.
I was nearly asleep when I sensed Dusk move away from the door and move closer to me, staring upward. Shaking the cobwebs from my mind, I threw off my blankets and followed her snake-like gaze up the wall to a small ventilation grate near the ceiling. It couldn’t have been more than four inches in diameter. Dusk continued to stare, and then tilted her head oddly as if tasting the air. Finally, something caught my eye behind the grate. It was a small rodent face, with black dots for eyes and long white whiskers, peering back at me. A few seconds later, there were three of them crowded behind the grate.
Rather than be alarmed, Dusk sniffed the air again, then relaxed and returned to her usual spot by the door, freezing back into her statue-like unblinking stance. Fascinated, I watched the rats stick their heads through the grate bars and squeeze they bodies through as well. The first rodent through stopped, clinging easily to the wall just below the grate to stare down at me curiously. In the blink of an eye, all three were using their sharp little claws to run down the wall to the floor. Once there, one hung back while two of them leaped up onto the bed with me. Now, I’m not normally a squeamish-type of girl. I used to sleep in snake-infested trees all the time when I camped out alone; it was safer than sleeping on the ground. But something about these rodents wasn’t quite right, and I had a suspicion I knew what it was.
“Ok, you two, you’re not fooling anyone, you know,” I whispered.
The two rats stood up on their hind feet, eyeing me curiously, and groomed their whiskers with practiced nonchalance. Finally, they dropped back to all fours and began to blur. Julia enlarged and came out of the change first, throwing herself into my arms.
“Maya! We’ve missed you!”
“That’s her eminence, Queen Maya, to you, shortcake!” I joked, rolling her over and tickling her. Seconds later, Lin finished her transformation, and we spent a few silly minutes roughhousing on the bed and just being carefree wild young girls.
Finally, I pulled back and settled the druids down. That’s when I noticed Ryliss standing in the corner
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