Feathers Adrift

Chapter 8: The Forgotten

"I was the one that made them retreat. I took down their supplies and they couldn't last more than a day." Katar said.

"What about the you being captured part? How did you even get captured?" Lain asked.

"He can tell us when we stop patrolling. If another patrol sees him we're glowtoads in a river." Tiadrin said.

Lain nodded.

Rayla thought she was about to explode. All these things her parents never told her about...

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They sat on the chairs of Tiadrin's lounge.

"Start from the very beginning." Tiadrin said.

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I was desperate that we should cross the canyon now, and I went forward to get a passage from Sol Regem myself.

"What are you doing here elf?" Sol Regem roared, smoke flaring from his nostrils.

"I am asking for a passage to the other side. Me and my siblings wish to cross." I said.

"You dare ask for a passage to the human kingdoms? Why!" he roared.

The wind blew into my face. Then turning around, I was surrounded by soldiers. No, not elven soldiers. Human soldiers. They surrounded me and what looked like a human mage stepped forward.

"Filthy human! Get out of my canyon." Sol Regem growled.

"Not even close, dragon." the mage sneered. She pointed her long, vicious staff at the dragon and blasted him with magic. Within seconds, he was down.

"Come with me, elf. Have fun." she chuckled.

Inside the cart, I was tied up with chains and brought to a camp. There, I was thrown into a dungeon and chained to the wall for the next eight years.

I tried to escape twice but failed both times. But when I tried again this time, I thought it through. I would need some sort of distraction.

I saw the moon opal on me. I had managed to hide it in my pocket when I saw it on the floor. If only I had a spell...

Then I realised. I did could do a spell with the moon opal. All I needed was the right incantation. But where could I find a book with incantations? I lunged as far as I could to the bars of the dungeon and started looking around for any spell books. I couldn't see any. However, I had a feeling the mage was hiding them from me. There was probably one here, just hidden. So, I devised a plan.

I would pretended to be fast asleep, awaiting for the mage to come and retrieve a book. After many tries, one day she came back for an incantation for her primal stone.

"Too thick. Too old." she mumbled.

Finally she opened the bottom of a chair and lifted it. As I had suspected, a Xadian book with spell incantations was there. I peered narrowly to avoid suspicion.

But I had to wait more. I had to wait until she was on a mission.

I noticed that my daggers from the very first day I was captured were also kept in the hidden box.

I'll get back at you, mage. I thought.

I heard as she was called on a mission.

I could escape now.

I flipped my foot and loosened my body against the chain. It slipped off. It was a secret I had been hiding for a while. I flipped the seat with an outstretched hand, and flipped through the incantations furiously. At last, there was an incantation I needed. I gently placed the book back into its spot and closed it.

Summoning the moon opal, I chanted the incantation.

"Evanescet!" I mumbled under my breath so nobody could hear me.

I vanished from sight and unlocked the door using a key I had seen in the hidden box. It was indeed the key for my cell. I hurried out and walked past everything, taking my blades with me. I strode away but before I completely left the campsite, I heard voices.

"The attack on Silvergrove is happening now. We will conquer all of Xadia's lands!" a guard said.

There was an attack on Silvergrove? I had to prevent it.

I snuck into the supply tent and tugged all of it with me. I threw it into the river.

Then I ran towards Silvergrove.

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"So you escaped?" Tiadrin said, passing one of Lain's delicious star-seed biscuits.

"Indeed. But just barely. If the mage had not accidentally dropped the moon opal, I would've never made it out." Katar replied.

"I've never heard a story quite like that one before." Ethari said.

"Well now we know. This mage is the descendant of Ziard." Lain said.

"And not just that. She has a son." Katar continued.

"Then we need to be careful. We can't risk Silvergrove falling into the hands of this mage like Crescent Lake has been." Runaan said.