A tale of shadows

2

Chapter 2

Nyrrea

Since the day I could read I always spent my time reading books. It also was the only thing I could do alone. If I want to go anywhere, my father sends a guard with me for safety. So I read books all day long. I think I almost have read every book there is. I mostly read books of our history, kings and queens, warriors and the gods.

My favourite books are about Hatroda and the books about the gods, especially about the god Vito, the god of war and the goddess Vita, the goddess of death. They were husband and wife. Vito and Vita loved killing. They knew they couldn't kill innocent people. So they came up with a plan. They would stand by the armies of our people, the Ignatios. Every time they would fight. They would give them the strength and the skills the warriors need. I have read books about them more times than I could count. I really like them, because they give strength.

When I am not reading a book is when I will sneak out of the castle without my father knowing. I will go to Lioso, my bestfriend. He is a year older than me and has a fox as his Raxi. Lioso teaches me how to fight. My father doesn't want me to train yet, when I am older he will teach me he says. I just can't wait. I love to fight so I can protect myself and I like doing it. After a couple of weeks training with Lioso I got pretty good at it. I even won a match with Lioso one time. I am very proud of myself. I just wish I could tell father. I always tell him everything, I hate lying to him. But I don't want to give up training with Lioso either, so I guess I will have to keep it a secret.

Today was a normal day. Nothing weird happened, but I couldn't really sleep at night. I was lying awake thinking of what happened when I was three years old. I can't remember everything but pieces of it. I do know since that age my parents like Axe more than me. He gets all the attention from everyone. I always hated it when I was younger, but now I am used to it. That's probably also why I don't have many friends. My only friend is Lioso. I am not saying I don't love my brother, but I wished I could get that attention sometimes.

My parents don't expect much from me so that's good. At some point of the night I must have fallen asleep because when I woke up the birds were already singing. So I got out of bed and took some food with me. I was going to be in the forest. I like being there, normally it's always quiet. Today it wasn't. My father and brother were going on a hunt so everyone was outside. It was Axe's first hunt. He was sixteen years old now so it's tradition. My father and brother left after dinner. My mom was really scared, she thought something bad was going to happen. I just went to Lioso to continue training.

After a couple of hours father and Axe still didn't come back. Normally a hunt takes three hours. So now I was worried too. Father was a pretty good hunter, but I didn't know if Axe was. Then I heard it, the bells. The bells only ring if we're being attacked or something is wrong with the royal family.

I rushed home as fast as I could. I came inside the castle and my mother was crying. Before I could go to her, father stood before me. He was covered in blood. What the hell happened... "Nyra... your brother.. he.." He was hesitating if he wanted to tell me. "Just say it dad". He sighed and started to tell me "everything was going great, Axe saw a deer and he tried to shoot it. But he missed and the deer ran away. I told him we would find another one. He didn't listen and ran after it. I ran after him, but I couldn't find him. But when I finally found him.. he was.. attacked by the deer and he was covered in blood. But he did it. He killed the deer". "Oh no, it can't be. He can't be dead", I thought. I asked my dad where he was. He was in his room.

I immediately ran to Axe. I stood before his door. I was scared. I didn't want to lose my brother. I couldn't lose him. Even though I hated him most of the time. But I do love him. He is my brother. I opened the door. He looked at me.He was not dead. Thank the gods. "Axe, I thought I lost you". He gave me a smile. "I'll never leave you, Xio". Xio means little sister. He always called me that since we were young.