Way of Tyrants and Snakes

VIII | Revelations

   "Go!" Soni screamed, waving her arms toward them. Soni sped up with her enhanced speed, and Lyrael covered her mouth when she realized Wynn was lagging behind her. He was a Low Elf and didn't have the speed Soni had, and the soldiers were catching up to them.
     The pair yelled in surprise when Lyrael lifted both of them into their air, pulling them toward her and setting them on their horses. She reached back and detached Wynn's lead rope from her saddle, digging her calves into Nightheart's sides, egging him into a trot.
     They reached the bridge within moments and raced across it, the bridge rocking with the weight of the horses, hooves clacking on the cobblestones. As soon as they crossed the bridge, Lyrael squeezed her legs again until Nightheart went to a canter, and then again until he switched to a gallop. She focused her magic and used her wind magic; forming a wall of wind at the end bridge as they entered the forest on the other side of the river, hoping it would stop the soldiers or slow them down.
     "We should leave the path," Tsarra shouted over the wind whistling past their ears. "Considering they know one of us has illusion magic, they'll assume we just kept going on this path."
     Lyrael knew she was right, but she hated leaving Anwel's trail. She didn't know for sure where it was leading. She feared losing his trail forever and never being able to find him.
     "I'll make a fake path into the woods and imbue it. It'll stay there for a while and won't disappear when it leaves my range." Lyrael decided, and she reached down, grabbing Nightheart's lead rope and attaching him to Tsarra's horse. In an instant, she was in the air, levitating herself off of Nightheart.
     She hovered in the air as Tsarra, and the others kept following the path. Lyrael called her magic forward once again and created a path into the trees, imbuing it with her magic. She heard hooves coming from the direction of the bridge and she blinked from sight and used her wind magic to fly herself back to the group.
     Landing back on Nightheart with an oomph, she used her levitation to detach his lead rope. She quickly crafted another illusion to hide them as well as wrapping them in her sound manipulation.
     They kept riding for another mile, before the horses had to slow. Lyrael finally dropped her magic when she felt herself tiring slightly.
     Lyrael and Tsarra were ahead of Soni and Wynn by half a mile. They were trotting slowly, side by side, sitting in silence. Her mind began drifting toward thoughts of Anwel when her eyes fell on the handkerchief that was tied to the handle of her bow. He'd carved the bow herself, just for her when she turned fifteen, after he'd decided that she needed a bigger, more powerful bow. He carved and strung it himself.
     "Elys? Are you okay?" Tsarra's voice pulled her from her thoughts. "You look mournful."
     Lyrael just gave her a soft smile. "I was just thinking of the man that raised me. Despite his lies, I still consider him my father. He's a good, kind man. Or, well... halfy. He never hurt me, taught me right from wrong."
     Tsarra nodded along. "I understand. You can't banish him from your thoughts overnight. He raised you as his own and he obviously loved you. It sounds like he cared for you deeply."
     "Can I ask you a question?" Lyrael requested and looked away from the cloth tied to the handle of her bow.
     "Sure, Elys, of course."
     "Why are you guys going to the capital? Is there a specific reason?"
     Tsarra glanced over her shoulder, toward Soni and Wynn who were quite a ways behind them. "Well... it's complicated."
     With a sigh, Lyrael decided to just drop it for now. "Look, I know you guys don't trust me. It's obvious. I get it, we're strangers–"
     "Of course we trust you!" Tsarra cut her off, waving her hand. "At least, I do. Soni just has trust issues and Wynn just goes along with whatever she says because he loves her."
     "Okay. Then why did those soldiers take Soni?"
     Tsarra looked distraught, glancing once again over her shoulder toward her friends, before looking back at Lyrael. Words pour from her lips. "They were trying to take her for ransom. They wanted to use her to bargain for information from her family."     Lyrael sent a wave of her magic, not sensing anyone nearby but them. Soni and Wynn were too far out of earshot, but she surrounded them in her sound manipulation. "What kind of information?"
     Tsarra's voice dropped to a whisper. "Her father is a member of the High Elf Council. They wanted information from him... specific information."
     Lyrael frowned. She didn't quite understand.
     "I'm sorry? So they were trying to take her for ransom to get information from her father? What does he know that's so important?"
     "Someone that her father reported to be still. He recorded her birth and we have reasons to believe that he lied or reported incorrectly." Tsarra said softly, staring straight ahead of them. "You see, part of their job is to record the birth of every royal baby."
     "Royal baby? So, you're saying the baby he recorded to be still wasn't actually still?" Lyrael gathered and Tsarra nodded, pressing her lips together.
     "Queen Saelihn has given birth to five boys and three girls. All of the girls have been recorded to be still, but for some reason, her last girl, something odd happened following the child's birth. The midwife who delivered her subsequently disappeared. She just fell off the face of talahm. She hasn't been seen or heard for twenty years."
     Lyrael furrowed her brows. "That is odd... so you guys and these soldiers think the princess was taken by the midwife or something?"
     "Possibly. Considering you live on the other side of the Border, I assume you know not of the prophecy?" Tsarra glanced toward her and Lyrael shook her head.
     "No, I do not. I get what it is, but I assume you're speaking of a specific one? What does it say?"
     Lyrael felt like Tsarra was going somewhere with this, and she was just waiting for some big, obvious piece of information to pop out at her. She felt like she was holding her breath, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
     "It's relatively simple and its meaning has been debated for years. But all it says is: 'The rabbit will save us from the snake.' Like I said... it's simple."
     Lyrael frowned, her hand instinctively raising, thumbing the locket beneath her blouse. She could picture the locket in her mind and engraved on the front of it was a rabbit.
     "However, for some reason, only one Apprentice was chosen during the last Selection, which isn't something that's ever happened. An Apprentices' First Prophecy usually becomes apart of our history. It's usually about how to avoid a war, or a plague, or something like those lines."
     "So why is this prophecy important to why the soldiers want Soni?" Lyrael inquired. She still wasn't grasping some of this.
     "Because, three years ago, Queen Saelihn was murdered in her sleep. Ever since, talk of the prophecy and of the last princess Queen Saelihn had and how her midwife went missing, has increased."
     A few minutes of silence passed before Lyrael looked back over her. Lyrael knew little of the Elven ways. It was not something Anwel taught her, and it wasn't included in any human history book she ever read. "Is there a specific reason you guys are ruled by a Queen and not a King? I apologize for being clueless. Elven history was not something I was taught."
     "Okay, so... five hundred years ago, Kamthas was ruled by a king, a brutal, bloodthirsty tyrant." Tsarra explained, staring off into the distance. "He led Kamthas into many, very bloody wars and he sacrificed thousands of Low and High Elves. The king's own daughter led the coup that overthrew him. She became Queen, promising peace and for the first time hundreds of years, we had no wars, less hunger, and Kamthas prospered due to the First Queen's actions."
     "What does this have to do with the princess and the prophecy? How do they coincide?" Lyrael questioned. She was barely grasping what Tsarra was explaining, not able to make the connections in her mind.
     "I'm getting there," Tsarra smiled briefly and continued. "Since Queen Saelihn, god rest her soul, did not produce a proper heir, the eldest son, Zaos, took over as king." Tsarra shuddered and looked at Lyrael. "We have reasons to believe that he is the snake in the prophecy and we are... searching for the rabbit." Once again, Lyrael was reminded of the locket at her neck. "That is why we are searching for her. The dead princess. Her name is Lyrael Weyfiel, and she is the most important High Elf alive."
     Lyrael's mind spun as she heard her own name tumble from Tsarra's lips. This must be a coincidence. Did I just hear my name?
     Pieces began connecting in her mind, comprised of all the information she's learned over the last two days.
     I'm not human.

     Anwel is not my father.

     Someone glamoured me, someone with dark magic.

     And... I share a name with a supposedly dead princess.
     Lyrael's golden eyes flicked back to Tsarra's. "Why do you need her help exactly? What can she do to help you?
     "The first day of his coronation he declared war on one of our biggest rivals, one that we've been at peace with since the First Queen, who devised a treaty between our countries."
     Silence fell between them again as Tsarra fiddled with her horse's reins. "So you see... Princess Lyrael is our only chance at salvation."
     Lyrael froze slightly at the return of her name and the gears began spinning in her head again. A memory flashes before her. One of her earliest memories of Anwel; he was explaining to her that her true name was Lyrael, but that it was a secret, and that she could tell no one of it. He told her she must always go by Elysande, her middle name.
     She had so many questions for him.
     So many, very important questions.
     Tsarra's voice broke her out of her thoughts. "Princess Lyrael is our only hope. King Zaos even brought back the Old Ways, which were abolished by the First Queen. When King Zaos took over, he brought those back, as well as the Testament, something Queen Saelihn abolished herself when she took over fifty years ago. The Testament is a brutal, age old championship where High Elves can prove their strength, courage, bravery, and power. Watching it is mandatory for all Low Elves and not showing up results in severe punishment."
     "That's crazy... what's the point of it, really?"
     "To show how High Elves are so much better than Low Elves; to keep them sedated and quiet, to smother any kind of rebellion. There is a Testament in every large city and work is paused for everyone for one day so that everyone can go watch in the nearest city. The winner of the Testament rises in rank, receives a god awful amount of money, and is also given the chance to become an apprentice to the Ten Guardians. The Ten Guardians are an elite group of High Elves that work directly for the royal family and the High Elf Council. About half of them specifically protect and do dirty work for King Zaos."
     "Okay..." Lyrael trails off, looking anywhere but at Tsarra. "Why do you need the princess again?"
     Tsarra just stares at her, her tone flat. "We need her to save us. To save us from the snake. We believe she is the rabbit and she will be the one to save us from Zaos' tyranny."
     Lyrael thumbed the locket beneath her blouse.

     Anwel knows. Anwel knows who I am, yet said nothing. He lied to me about who I truly am, for my entire life.

    I am Princess Lyrael Weyfiel, the dead princess.