She laid in her bed, a blanket laying halfway across her body and a pillow below her head. "Bring me my children..." she rasped, her words cut off by a bout of coughing.
At her command a guard nodded, proceeding to disappear down the hall. After a small wait, pawsteps could be heard rushing through the hall toward her room.
"Mother!" three worried voices called out to her in unison as they reached the door. Princess night and princess ruby ran to their mother, one on either side.
Well his sisters checked on queen scarlet prince silver shifted on his paws, hanging back near the door.
"Silver, come here-" queen scarlet coughed again, her body shaking before she continued, "your my son, you should be over here with your sisters."
Silver slowly walked over, sitting down near his mother.
They sat in silence for a few moments that seemed to drag on and on.
"Ruby, night, would you leave us for a moment.." she asked, breaking the silence.
Both princess nodded, disappearing into the hall.
Her tail flicked, pushing the blanket off as she sat up. "Silver, we need to talk."
_________________________________________
The look on his mother's face was serious despite her scrawny state. Silver glanced at the door, the scents of his sisters were already fading, he was alone with his mother. "What do you want to talk to me about?" silver asked nervously.
"You need to remember," she breathed, her voice was so quiet that it was barely a whisper.
"What do you mean? remember what?" he puzzled, trying to figure it out in his head but inevitably failing.
She didn't answer, instead queen scarlet stood up and walked on shaky legs to a nightstand that was pushed to the corner. As silver watched she opened the drawer, pulling out an old parchment.
"A scroll?" he murmured when she came over and dropped it at his paws.
"No, a map," she unrolled the old parchment to show a very old and dirty looking map.
"Why a map? it looks like all the other... maps?" he stopped as he noticed the normal kingdoms and wild towns on the map, but there was also words written on it.
Queen scarlet pointed to the words, "The prey kingdom. Not everything was resolved when the war ended, there's still memories to be found."
"Why are you showing me? I don't know much about it, no one talks about the prey kingdom." silver muttered, still transfixed by the map.
"But you will be able to find what others refuse to see." scarlet responded, looking deep into silvers eyes.
Well he resisted the urge to back away and hide in the corner pawsteps sounded, heading towards the room.
Scarlet shoved the map closer to him, "find the secrets, but be careful of who you trust." she whispered fiercely as he fumbled with the map.
Silver hid the map under his wing as shade burst in. "Scarlet, what are you doing. you need to rest so you can get better." He fretted, quickly moving to her side.
"I'm fine." scarlet answered, as she looked at shade it seemed like she hadn't said anything to silver.
"Your mother needs to rest, you should be going." shade turned his caring gaze on the adopted prince.
"Ofcourse," he mumbled turning towards the doorway. Silver kept his wings folded until he was down the hall, the map squashed uncomfortably against his side. "Why does she want me to find secrets?" he breathed, unrolling the map on the floor to study it. He stayed there for a few moments, trying to see if there was anything he had missed on the map. Eventually he heard pawsteps and quickly tucked the map bellow his wing again.
"Silver? what are you doing?" it was ruby. She looked at him with gentleness, ruby was the oldest princess tho everybody expected that night would take over after queen scarlet since ruby didn't have wings.
"Nothing, I was just coming from mothers room." he told her, part of him wanted to explain everything that scarlet had said but he held his tongue.
"Mother is very sick," she sighed, "I brought her some medicine, I hope she recovers soon."
Silver noticed a bag on her side, "Hopefully she gets to live for many more years." he sympathized.
"I'll see you later," she murmured and continued down the hall past him.
He stared after her until she was out of sight. Once he could no longer see her he dashed down the hall, running towards his room.
It seemed he had been running forever, he took as many dark and lesser used passages as he could so he wouldn't run into any others but it took much longer. Finally he was nearing his room. His pace slowed as he was turning into the room, he let out a sigh of relief as he was walking into the room.
"Why did mother want to talk to you?"
Night! He thought in a panic, pulling his wings closer to his sides. The map pressed harder against his side. "Why are you in my room?" he hissed, glancing nervously at the door.
"Why did mother want to talk to you?" she snapped back, unfurling her wings to make herself look bigger. Night was a few years older than him and already noticeably bigger, probably due to the fact she was a fox and he was a cat. "Answer me.." she growled, moving closer.
silver had never been her favorite sibling, the only ones she didn't seen to argue with was shade and scarlet. "I.. I.. I don't know.." he fumbled, trying to figure out an excuse.
"Liar!" she lunged, rage burned in her eyes.
What did she want him to say? silver thought as she barreled into him. Fear spiked throughout his pelt as she clawed at his belly.
"WHAT DID SHE TELL YOU!" night howled, "Is she trying to make you the next king?!"
"What? I don't want to be in charge! she didn't say anything like that." he coughed, his gaze blurring.
"SHE.. She didn't?" she stared at him puzzled, the anger quickly subsiding. "Oh my goodness," she stared in horror at his bloody fur. "I'm sorry!" she cried as she dashed out into the hall.
NO, WHERE ARE YOU GOING?? he wanted to scream but his body was frozen, blood slowly creating a small pool on the floor. What am i going to do.. he thought as the edges of his vision started to go dark.
After what felt like hours of barely staying conscious he finally heard a noise in the tunnel. Night? He thought with a spark of hope.
"Hurry!" her voice sounded.
Two shapes burst into the room, night and ruby. Night stayed next to the door, shifting nervously, well ruby rushed towards him and began to cover the scratches with bandages. "It'll be ok," ruby murmured as night whispered, "sorry.." near the door.
"The scratches aren't too deep but it's still going to hurt for awhile," ruby glanced from silver to night. her gaze didn't carry any anger, only concern for her younger siblings.
Nights gaze was fixed on her paws. "Im sorry.." she mumbled, her voice barely audible.
"Its ok," he said, wincing from pain. She flinched away, as if struck by the claws of guilt.
"There. You'll heal quick but pain lingers, don't forget that." Ruby told him, taking a step back as silver sat up.
The pain spiked through him and his legs shook as he tried to stand up. As silver began to fall his sisters moved to either side, pushing him up. "You need to rest," night murmured gently, guiding him to his bed.
He fell onto his bed, gasping from pain. Silver slowly moved on his bed until he was somewhat comfortable.
"I'll check on you later but you should rest now." ruby told him, and with that she turned and guided night out of the room. As she left, night stared back at him until he was out of her sight.
