Tales of the Five Nations 1-Scarblade

Chapter 6-Painful Secrets

The night of the announcement was a long night. Alban and Feris never planned to be found out—and neither did the Zan. They got pajamas given to them from Eliada again that night, and they went to sleep with the sinister thoughts of being captured by the Ice Nation. What were they going to do when they found them?

The window of that upstairs bedroom was open again, and they could once again hear the trees rustling and playing with the wind. The next day, after what seemed like an almost restless sleep for her, Alban woke up early and overheard something that her ears were not ready to hear.

"Damon, Alban's father gave the Power part of his spirit to Alban! If she's captured, they might kill her!" Eliada said.

"They're going to try and kill the last Fire Mage no matter what," Teagan argued back.

"We know, Teagan!" everyone yelled at him.

"I think we ought to teach them both to Teleport, so they can try to escape if—"

Alban had heard enough. Now she knew that her parents had lied to her the entire time she was alive. Her father didn't have Powers: he had given them to Alban. She put her hand to her mouth and managed to get to the front door without being noticed. She ran away from the Carwyn house, and headed for the old Armastus home. Why would her parents do this to her? Why would they give her more Powers?

Why would she need them?

Meanwhile, back at the Carwyn house, Feris had just woken up, got dressed and headed downstairs to find a few of the Zan members talking about Teleportation.

"Where's Alban?" Feris asked, heading into the room with all of the members without hearing their conversation.

Eliada tilted her head at the question. "Well, no one saw her come down...she wasn't upstairs?"

Feris shook his head. "Maybe she went to go and see her parents' graves again. I'll go check there, and if I can't find her there, I'll check in her old house."

"If you can't find her, just tell me: I'm really good at hiding and finding things," Teagan said, raising his hand and volunteering.

"Thanks."

So Feris went out of the house and started the search for Alban. She wasn't at the hill where her parents' graves were, so he headed towards the Armastus home, where he had no idea Alban was crying her eyes out.

Alban was inside the main room of the Armastus house, holding a Memory Painting of her father and mother. She dropped it on the ground, but the glass didn't shatter, and she backed away from it and started yelling at no one.

"Why did you do this to me?! Why?! All my life you've lied to me! Lied!" she sobbed.

She could feel the outside of her body start to heat up. But since she was a Fire Mage, she can't feel her own heat. It was good that no one else was there, because if someone had touched her at that moment, their hand would've been severely burned by now. Before she could finish the thought, the front door opened, the sudden sound startled her, and she jumped back in surprise.

"Alban, are you okay?" Feris asked from the doorway.

"I'm fine, Feris." She crossed her arms, and tears streamed down her face, proving otherwise.

"You don't seem fine," Feris pointed out as he picked up the Memory Painting she had dropped onto the floor. "You just ran out of the house without telling anyone and came here."

He set the painting back where it had been before, and turned around to see Alban with tears dripping from her chin onto the floor beneath them.

"Alban, what happened?" he asked shakily.