Hall of Mirrors

Chapter 7: The Secret Race

River tumbled into a different memory this time. It was the shortest, blurriest one yet. A blue cloaked man with jet black hair, an Endraithian, scaled the long path through Forest up to the familiar steps of black castle, carrying something- a baby?- up to the gates. He knocked once, twice.

Something about this memory was familiar.

Ominously familiar.

That was when she saw what the man pressed into the baby's hand.

A cherry-shaped amulet, wooden and on a fine silver chain.

Her amulet.

The baby was River.

The man left, and River gasped. Why would her father be leaving her?

But the man had disappeared, and all that was left on the steps was a crying bundle and a small fist clutching an amulet.

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River sat up, panting. Coal was holding her head and smiling kindly. He handed her a goblet of water, and she drank, suddenly parched. Apparently only a few seconds had passed, though she felt like she was in the memory for hours.

Elandor and Aleste looked concerned, and as Aleste's big, blue eyes rested on River's black ones, a shudder passed through her.

Aleste was not her sister.

Suddenly she couldn't bear to meet her sister's patient face.

Her sister was distant. She was the daughter of a witch. She was the daughter of a race that had killed River's own family.

River choked down a surge of panic and anger at her sister. Aleste had done nothing to her, but she still had a hard time comprehending what Aleste's race really was.

"Aleste," River said, biting her lip, "We're not sisters."

Aleste's head dropped to her hands, laid softly in her lap. Tears filled her eyes. "I know," she said. Elandor reached out a hand to pat Aleste's, but her head whipped up faster and he drew it back quickly.

"I'm going to be alone," she said, voice choked.

"I don't want to go back to mother. I don't want to leave-"

Aleste stopped, but River knew where she was going. Elandor's gaze softened, and Coal's eyes flashed a warning look, but then melted. "It's going to be fine, dear Princess," he said, smiling kindly. "You may stay. You, it seems, are not like your other kin." Aleste smiled, showing her dimples.

"Thank you."

River looked at Coal, one question swimming to the top of her pool of thoughts and musings. "Where's my father?"

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"Ah, you have all this information bestowed upon your young mind and you choose the most difficult question of all," Coal smiled, a cold, sad smile that did not reach his eyes.

"You are so like your father, River," he said, a twinge of remorse in his words.

"Is my father alive?" River asked, dreading the answer.

"Yes," Coal said, fire entering his eyes. "And that is why we must act. And fast.

You see, River, your father is the last of the Elvish Kings. The Elvish Kings are the only line of Endraithians that have kept their close bloodline with our ancestors. Your father was- and is- as great a king as our first Kings, the first Council of Seven, the beginnings of Endrai. He is by far the noblest, bravest- and he is dying. He is not going to last much longer, and the moment he passes, you are the Heir and Queen of Endrai. And your destiny must be fulfilled then."