"Why in the name of Gaia is there a delicious smell of Muntjac comes from your cave!" Ivan’s voice was heard before he was seen. The Slythins froze. I told the boys to prepare themselves, be respectful, I repeated. Laren and Taloc nodded their heads but Neit and Ryalin just looked confused. Ivan stood at the door, his smile turning to a scowl. I watched as his pale green hair turned to a very dark leaf green.
"Because they are cooking it" I replied to his question. He turned to me, his scowl was gone.
"Right" He said. I raised an eyebrow, I expected a different reaction
"Not surprised to see them?" I asked him
"No, I knew they were going to come and look for you" He said, entering the cave like it was any other day. He sat down next to Taloc, who half smiled and nodded. Ivan nodded back. He pulled out a dead lop and started to prepare it for the fire. "Why else would four Slythins comes to this island" he added
"Well, I thought that too, so thanks for sharing" I said
"Not a problem" He said. I gave him a frustrating look. He didn't even seem to notice it. He was too focus on the Muntjac in Taloc hands. When he did turn to me because I hadn't said anything else, he shrugged "what is the big deal, they are only children"
"We aren't children!" Ryalin and Neit said. Laren and Taloc turned to them and started to hit them.
"Being respectful means not yelling, Dragon's don't like yelling, well, being yelled at" I said to them calmly. Ryalin and Neit seem to suddenly realise what they did. Ivan's skin changed to a darker green, an outline of scales started to appear. The boys' faces, dropped, they all tried to move to the back of the cave. I wanted to tell them that being at the back of something when the dragon is at the front of it. Is the worst position to be in.
"I am so sorry" Ryalin said
"Please don't kill us" Neit said "we didn't mean to yell at you"
"We didn't know you were a dragon" Ryalin said.
"She told us yesterday there were dragons here" Laren said, "Why don't you two ever remember anything" Taloc added. Ivan started to grow. As his normal form was at least three times bigger than what he was now. He had a lot of growing to do. Though, he was nearing getting to the cave roof, so I told him to calm down.
"Settle down Ivan, you are overreacting"
He twisted his head, in what looked like a very unnatural position. He spoke with a course and uncontrolled tone "I am trying; it is a natural reaction. It has been a long time since anyone had yelled at me"
"What are you talking about? I yell at you all the time" I said
"Yes, but you are my superior, I cannot defeat you and your attacks hurt" He said, his colour slowly returning to his normal green. There was a loud crack as a bone went back into place.
"So, you only attack the weak" I said to him, a little disgusted.
"I am dragon" was all he said. His voice normalized. He straightened himself and push his hair out of his face. It was the pale greenish white colour again.
"You have never told me that before" I said. I tried to think back through the conversation that we have had.
"Yes, I have" he protested
"I don't remember" I said. He gave me an impatient look, then threw the prepared Lop on the fire, which had nearly burnt out. He brought it back to life again with a sneeze. The cave was silence for a while before Ryalin offered the rest of his Muntjac to Ivan, which he took. Dragon's didn't like used things, so I was surprised that he took the meat. Neit, Laren and Taloc followed. Ivan gave them the Lop to eat. Which they took without complaint. The sounds of eating and grunting was all that filled the cave. I just shook my head and starred at Ivan as he devoured the rest of the Muntjac.
"How many dragons are on the island?" Laren asked. However, Ivan ignored the question and asked his own.
"How did you boys get a Muntjac? I have never seen one here" Ivan asked. He was sucking on a bone, which was the most disgusting thing I had witnessed in a long time.
"We didn't get it" Laren said. Ivan paused and looked at me, I just shrugged at him.
"You killed?" he asked slowly
"I asked for help" I replied, "I needed it for the boys and she obviously thought they were in need" I turned back to the boys "there are two dragons on this island, which is why food is low."
"Lop is the only animal that breeds and grows fast enough to keep up with our needs" Ivan said. He flung the bone he was sucking out of the cave, grabbed another one that still had some meat on it and started to sucking again. "I can't wait till I rub this in Avery's face." The pleasure that was coming off him was palpable. I thought now might be a good time to get back onto the topic of why they came to be here.
"Why did you leave Tars'tunya?" I asked them, Ivan raised his eyebrows and turn to them. The look on his face seem to make them want to talk.
"There was an accident" Ryalin said.
"We were known as the city pranksters" Laren said, "people never saw what we did as anything other than kids playing games"
"Until the prank we did last red moon" Neit said "We... we... we injured someone" Ivan and I looked at each other
"Badly?" Ivan asked, the boys nodded.
"She died" Laren said
"She died!" Ivan and I yelled. This made all the boy jump a little. "You boys need to learn the different between death and injury" I added
"Our prank kind of explode in the wrong way" Taloc said "It was supposed to just break the legs of the chairs in the classroom, but instead it exploded the roof off the school"
"School!" Ivan and I yelled at them, all the boy cowards this time.
"It was our classroom" Neit said, "We were there"
"The girl was pushed out of the room and feel three levels down" Laren said
"She died a few days later" Ryalin said
"And they just kicked you out like that?" Ivan asked, his tone sounded like it was nothing.
"No," Laren said
"There was a hearing, it took a few moons" Ryalin said
"They said not to come back until we know who we were" Taloc said
"What does that even mean?" Neit complained. I had heard that sentence before. Ivan have heard that sentence before. It was an old Dragon saying, told to the younglings at the end of their first life.
"It means that you are not acting like the beings you are born to be" I told them
"What does that even mean?" Laren asked, I ignored him.
"How did your parents feel that about this judgement" I asked them. The group lowered their heads, looking ashamed and embarrassment. Neit hid his face, he must be missing his family. Laren put an arm around him.
"Disappointed, scared" Ryalin said
"Said that we should have known better" Laren said
"That we should be lucky that the Elves didn't get involved in the situation" Taloc said
"Mum told me that we put the family at risk with this activity" Neit said.
"Your parents just let them push you out?" Ivan said confused. Slythin's were extremely protective of their young. A Slythin mother had been known to kill people who hurt or even teased her child. Most Slythin young didn't stop their mother's milk until six red moon cycles after their birth. Even then most didn't leave the boundaries of the home until they had finished half of their first life. There were many laws and rules that surrounded the younglings of the Slythins. Where they could go? Who could speak with them? What stories they were told? It wasn't until they were ending their first life that they were considered full adults, which was usually around the age of 25 years.
"No, they protested" Laren said
"Though, two people's voices against a hundred is hard to hear" Ryalin said.
"You mean eight?" I corrected; the boys looked at us confused.
"No, two. We only have two parents" Laren said. Ivan and I looked at each other again. We had not looked at each other this much ever. I could see his mind was working just as quickly as mine. These Slythin's were brothers, four boys of a light green.
"You are all brother?" Ivan asking, pointing at all of them.
"Yeah, so we only have two parents" Neit said, all the boys were confused.
"Is it different with dragons?" Ryalin asked cautiously. Ivan turned back to me and we both mouthed the word 'brothers’'. I shook my head, but Ivan nodded at me. We were both so shocked at the idea we just mouthed words at each other and made straight hand guested. "Are you two all right?" Ryalin asked after a good while of us doing this. I pointed to myself and Ivan just smiled at me, nodding. I shook my head
"What is the big deal?" Laren said. We both ignored this question and started to speak to each other.
"This can't be true" I said.
"Slythins can only have one or two children. If their first born is a boy they do not have other children" Ivan said to me and then pointed towards the boys.
"I know that" I replied nodded
"Only one Slythins family in history is known to have more than one or two male children and that was..." Ivan trailed off, our facing both dropping, colour slowly draining, as the realization flood over us.
"Prostheses" I said quietly, we turned to the boys.
"That is our name" Laren said.
Ivan and I started to speak over one another. "How could this be possible? How did they make it here without being seen by the Elves? Why didn't anyone else tell us? How don't the Elves know? How did they hide them? Do you think Nevio knew? Who else knows? The parents must know. It's… it’s too early?
"It is too early" I said, shaking my head, "The last where only..."
"15 lifetimes ago" Ivan finished my sentence "it is early, the elves might not be looking so hard, too early" The knowledgeable silence continued as Ivan and I looked at each other. The four brothers of the Prostheses family. I thought for a moment that this couldn't be true. How would it be that these boys made it to here without being encountered by anyone.
"How are you not working with Elves" Ivan asked, "How did they keep you a secret?" I added
"What do you mean?" Laren asked
"You don't know" I said
"Know what?" Taloc snapped. Their palish green face started to darken, they were getting frustrated.
"You have never heard of the four brothers of the Prostheses family?" I asked, they all shook their heads
"They would be your ancestors" Ivan said
"Do they not teach you about the first war?" I asked
"Yeah, we study it for most of our schooling" Ryalin said.
"Did you hear how the Elves where defeated?" I asked them. They all thought for a moment.
"Gaia brought forth four beings that were able to stop them" Neit said. Ivan and I nodded trying to encourage them to think more.
"Didn't they kill a lot of the Elves?" Taloc asked, I nodded "And kill their King, Freyr?" I nodded again, they stopped and just shrugged. Ivan had a sour face. Should have known the Elves wouldn’t speak of their greatest loss.
"Gaia releases her warriors when her children are in danger and they are unable to protect themself" I said to them. They all just looked at me like I was speaking a different language. “The beings that Gaia released are called Pillars”
“That sound familiar” Neit said
“Didn’t mum say something when we left, like…” Ryalin started but lost his train of thought.
“She told us the next time she saw us we would be Pillars of Strength, Wisdom, Existence and Silence” Taloc said quietly. It was difficult to hear what he was saying. He seemed uneasy as he spoke.
“That’s it. I thought she was just having one of her strange moments” Ryalin said.
“The Four Pillars of Gaia are the beings that rescued us, saved Seraphina from the Elves last time” Ivan said.
“What do they have to do with us?” Neit asked
“I don’t really understand what they are?” Ryalin said
“The Pillars are four beings. That is their kind, Pillars just like he is a dragon and there are Fea’s in the village. Pillars are a kind of being that is created from a celestial being, like Seraphina or Gaia.” I said
“Like Marian’s?” Neit asked
“Yes, similar to that” I said. I tried to keep my face neutral I still hadn’t told them who I was. “Their meaning of existence is to protect. Gaia is the mother of Seraphina. When Seraphina cannot protect her, Gaia sends her Pillars to protect her. Now they don’t travel in a cart, they can only come to this world by being born. Like you and me” I said
“Our ancestors were Pillars” Laren said. He wasn’t looked at anyone, he was sitting against the wall, with his knees to his chest.
“What?” Ryalin said. Laren turned to his brothers and then looked at me.
“Mum told me a long time ago, that we were descendant from The Pillars of Gaia. I thought she was being odd. But she wouldn’t stop going on about it. You think we are the four Pillars, don’t you” Laren said. I opened my mouth to say something, but I didn’t have to. His brothers started to talk.
“That is ridiculous” Ryalin said
“We were born Slythin” Neit said
“Mum was being strange; she is always strange” Taloc said
“Yes, I do” I replied to them.
“It makes sense” Laren said
“How does it make sense” all his brother said at once. He straightened up then, determined to be right.
“What other reason would they have for making Taloc and I live with Aunty? Why weren’t we allowed to tell people were brothers? Even at school, they made you two lie about your age” he pointed to Taloc and Ryalin “Don’t you remember how angry dad got when we told Nevio that we were brothers. What about Cassie? We all know that she is our sister. No one else was allowed to know. Why would they do that?” he said. His voice was loud, passionate and I was glad that he could put it all together.
“Those are very good questions” I said to him. I let the silence run for a long time. I made sure that Ivan didn’t interrupted as their thought process would be long. Though I also realised that they probably didn’t believe it. Even Laren, who had seemed to figure it all out. He looked like what he just said was the oddest thing ever. That he might have read it in a book.
“How did the first war start?” Taloc asked, I thought this was a strange question. Specially after everything that had just been said.
"In the first war, the Elves were digging into the heart of Seraphina, removing the material and fire that keeps her alive."
"I never knew why they did that" Ryalin asked.
“How did it end?” Neit asked. We all looked at him “They never tell us they just say that the Elven Empire had thrived even with the oppression of Seraphina” Neit put on a fake voice which made me laugh.
“The Pillar’s killed Freyr, believe that he was the reason why all of this had started” I said.
“So, what where they looking for?” Laren asked.
"They were looking for her water" I said, Ivan looked at me strangely, I replied with a stranger face. I wondered if he even knew this "They wanted her water. I am unsure why they wanted it, but I feel that it has something to do with the old Links"
"Links" Ivan said, he was taken back by the word "there has not been a Link since... Pandora."
"I know" I said to him
"Is that when Seraphina joined with another planet?" Laren asked
"Yes" I said
"They stopped because the last planet nearly killed us all?" I nodded to Taloc's question
"But the Links are still able to happen if Seraphina wants it too" I said "The only issue is that she doesn't want it. The last Link was frightening"
"Why would the Elves want another Link" Neit said
"They want to find their home planet" I said to them
"But even if the Link started again the Link time is random, making it impossible to know what planet will be linked." Ivan pointed out.
"I know, I am unsure if they know that. They tried anyway, and they were stopped. To be honest, the time between the first war and second was 10 lifetimes. I am surprised they were able to raise their numbers so fast." I said. It was a subject matter that I would think about a lot while alone in the cave. With no one else to talk too I couldn’t explore the subject. But now with others I could. The Slythin looked at me now, like this time, I was the ignorant one. When I turned to Ivan I didn't have to asked, he just told me.
"They used slave women"
"They have slave women. You know this?" I questioned. I have never asked Ivan if he knew I just guessed that he didn’t.
"Yes. The women who don't past the age test. They are force to produce more children. They were raped constantly until the armies were fully stocked. I saw it when I went looking for your body." Ivan pause, disgust washed over him "I feel that they purposely failed some of the women"
"Like Princess Adalia" Laren said. We both turned to him. Adalia was my friend, she was also part of the Elven royal court. She was Nevio's wife, even though that information isn't public knowledge. Adalia was the one who told us that Arina had been taken.
"Adalia? But she was past that age, she was in her fifth life? She wouldn't have even gone through the test" I said
"They send out a notice saying that some of the females were being retested, that there was a fault when they went through" Taloc said
"I saw her" Ivan said, I turned to him "being forced into the Slave building at Fhaeldin" The hated that I felt from years ago started to rekindle. It felt like hundreds of ants crawling over my skin. Suddenly the cave was hot, and my heart felt like exploding. I moved to the mouth of the cave where I could feel the breeze. I let my mind calm as I thought about these new series of events. The events that I had purposely hid myself from. My friends, my family, my planet. The Elves were taking everything. How had I just sat here for so long and let them do this? Why was I being such a coward? I couldn't sit here anymore. I knew that I had to do something, even if it was just to save her because I could save her. Unlike my brothers and sister, she was in reach. No one large action was going to fix this. It was going to take planning, skill, and moons of hard work, small victories to make it too the end.
My mind started to think like my old self. I ruled out idea after idea, trying to find a way to save Adalia. This would be the first step to in this journey. I looked down and suddenly noticed the markings on my legs started to show. My body was covered in markings, I was born with them. They worked in similar way to Ivan's colour change. The dark they were the stronger I was. The more that happened in my life the more defined they would become. While I fought, they glowed, protecting me, and making out my position for my brothers and sister. When I turned to look at the group, Ivan had an eyebrow cocked, he obviously noticed it too.
"Why would they take her to Fhaeldin? Isn't that just a port" I asked everyone.
"I guess they would be moving her to Usheche" Ivan said thoughtfully, "That island is no place for a Fea let alone an Elf. Once there the Embers would be able to torture her better than her own kind" he stopped talking, but still pensive. I thought that was a horrible idea but then again, Dragons were good at creating horrible ideas.
"Do you know when she was taken there?" I asked
Ivan shook her head, "long ago, I wouldn't even know if she was still there or even alive"
"She’s still there and alive" Said one of the boys, I didn't see who but Ryalin continued "We heard about her a few days ago, something about a public execution"
"The traitor Adalia, will be hung for her crimes." Laren said, like he was reading from a paper.
"It will be done in Tsar'tunya they didn’t give us a date" Neit said. They all looked guilty or ashamed of what they told me. Maybe they admired Adalia. She was held in high esteem to people who didn't agree with the Empire. She was like the Elves from old, wise, gentle and levelheaded. She was nothing like her family and she knew it. She had been on ends with her family ever since it began. I knew it was a stupid idea even before I said it. I wondered how much back-lash I would get from Ivan or Avery on the idea. But nothing they could say would stop me. I could tell that Ivan knew what I was going to say before I even decided it. I couldn't let her die; I already let my brothers and sister suffer. I knew that I had to start doing something. I guess this was the sign that I have been waiting for. This was why she had started to talk to me again. The pillars, the help, the hope that things are not lost and there is still hope.
"I am going to get her" even I could hear the uncertainty in my voice. I knew from the look on his face that this time he wasn’t going to protest. However, he did say something that surprised me
"You will not go alone"
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If you want to read more, the book can be purchased at Zhai: A Seraphina Story eBook : Chi, Selena: Amazon.com.au: Books
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