Solislunar

Chapter Seven

Lyqa towers over me, and I'm frozen in place. In her massive hands are on  an even more massive battle ax.                                                                                                                                                       "Don't you worry your pretty little head," Lyqa says, noting my gaze on her ax. "I won't hurt you -  yet. But I will if you try to corrupt my cousin here." she says, giving me a rotten smile filled with razor-sharp teeth.                                                                                                                                                           Fear is a powerful thing, when something out of your control starts fucking up your life. In this case, it's Lyqa. I just know she'll be a problem in the future. Hock starts stammering, trying to apologize.                                                                                                                                                                           "Stop, Hock. I'm not mad at you." I say, placing my hand on his outstretched arm.                                 "O-of course, just p-please don't hurt Lyqa... she's really quite harmless. Do you need to be shown around?" Hock asks, glancing at the growing crowd.                                                                             "I'd love to be shown around by a local, and a friend." I say, giving Hock my best smile. His pale cheeks turn pink, and he stammers more. I laugh and tell him to shut up and be my guide.                "Here is the Library of Emmyths. There the greatest tomes of old are stored, and only allowed to be read by scholars, or royalty. There's the Great Fountain, enchanted by the great twins Aired Virgwyn and Nyvorlas Xillee Virgwyn. It never runs out of water, or pollutes, and when you send a special prayer to it, you can be cured of sniffles or minor ailments. Anything worse can be treated by the Healers, in the Great Temple. There live two sister healers,  Sashura and Saša. There's the Creature Cave, where there are currently four Nagas, Sununiri, Yutakshux, Orkusie, and Hrashpornova." Hock says, his anxiety slowly melting as he points out his favorite spots as well as the other, less favorable, spots.                                                                                                   "Anywhere else?" I ask, and he turns to me, showing the first smile.                                                     "The Guardians Tower" He says, pointing. I gasp. The Tower was like something from a dream.  A thought occurs to me.                                                                                                                                               "Does the Night Watcher still live there?" I ask, and Hock starts.                                                                       "How do you know of the Night Watcher? He's been dead for ten years!" Hock says, his eyes wide as saucers. I go to speak, and catch myself. How did I know about the Night Watcher?               "I think I saw him in my dreams as a child," I say at last, looking at my slippered feet.                       "I see," Hock says, his voice laced with understanding and quiet caution. "All Royals have visions of the current Kingdom Guardian as a child. Queen Aonani had dreams and daymares about the Shadow Stalker, who led the Guardians when Aonani was a child, and he ended up being killed by his daughter, the Sun Chaser, who led the Guardians after him. The Shadow Stalker had been killing and devouring his citizens, first the homeless, and then the elderly, and the sick, and eventually women and children, until he tried to break into the castle and stole Prince Wave from his bed... He ate the prince, but the Princess was spared. Burst, the Shadow Stalker's daughter, found him bent over the remnants of Prince Wave, and drove him through with an onyx sword, his stomach full of vile blood and chunks of flesh. They buried the young prince's blood and the bits of his flesh in a small tin coffin, far below the dirt." Hock finishes, and I'm close to vomiting by his description.                                                                                                                     "The Sun Chaser led the Guardians until her untimely death in battle fourteen years after she killed her father. Her son, The Night Watcher, rose into power and died after ten years, killed my his own sister, who was executed for assassination. Her daughter, The Outcast, or Liuna, as she was named by her mother, still leads the Guardians to this day, ten years after her mother slaughtered her uncle in his bed. She's a kind young woman, who's a firm but fair Guardian and would like to see the world in a better state then before."                                                                                    I stare at Hock, wondering why my descriptive dreams never showed me The Outcast before, as it seems the Night Watcher died when I was a small child and so should have seen The Outcast as well.  I bring this question up to Hock.                                                                                                                       "You don't get dreams past seven years. Once you turn seven, you are considered a young woman or man, even though you can't do anything royal until you turn fifteen. The Queen, however, became Queen at twelve after her parents were both killed in a fire. With no older family to rule temporarily, Aonani had to do it all herself." He says, and I fill with inward sorrow for my birth mother. An unexpected sound to my left makes me whip my head around, and I regret it immediately. Lyqa is storming towards me, her battle ax in hand.