Moon Kingdom: Fair Warning

Warm Winter

      It was mid-December and it hadn't snowed. Stubborn weeds grew tall in the fields surrounding the Kingdom of Marama. Inside the city walls, people were having trouble adjusting to the strange weather. The houses built onto the Eastern wall were crowded with people celebrating their good fortune but farther in the city, the people were anxious about the strange weather.
     In the upper room of a house in the wall, Athena Oliver sat at her writing desk. Her documentation of the party that had occurred the night before was splattered with wine. A stranger lay sleeping on the floor, tangled up in the blanket he had been dancing with a few hours earlier.
     Athena had not joined in the party. She stayed awake only to write about it. She intended to bring her story to the authorities of Marama, to beg them for help. For months the people had not worked much. Most created impromptu holidays, worshiping the sun that kept the land from freezing.
     Nobody had noticed the rumbling that came from the forest. Separated from the city by large fields and a sturdy wall, it wasn't a concern to most. But Athena had heard it- the thundering of something unknown, something dangerous.
     "Good morning, Athena!" One of her housemates, a woman who was consistently drinking white wine, stood at the door.
     "Good morning, Ava." Athena turned to greet her friend.
     "I see one of our guests made his way up here last night." Ava nudged the sleeping man with her boot and laughed. "He's from a couple houses down I believe. His wife wandered off home without him."
     "These celebrations keep getting crazier." Athena nodded, "In the past week people have barely stopped to sleep."
     Ava picked a goblet of wine off the floor and tipped the stale contents into her mouth. She frowned at Athena before walking over and sitting on her bed. The bedframe creaked. Ava stretched and lied down.
     "It's usually colder up here, isn't it?" Ava mumbled, her eyes half closed.
     Athena nodded as she folded the papers she had written on. On her right middle finger, Athena wore a ring with a lapis lazuli stone set in gold. She tapped this finger twice on the desk and a flurry of cold air swirled out, creating a light frost on the goblet that was still in Ava's hand.
      "Hmm, that's better." Ava yawned and began to fall asleep.
      Athena carefully put her papers in a small cloth bag. She went over to the water basin that she kept in the room to wash her face and hands before changing into slightly warmer clothes. She wore a dark blue dress that had a hood but she kept the hood down for the moment. Her dark, reddish brown hair was in tangles so she brushed it out and tied it back into a messy bun.
     Athena laced up her boots and wrote a short note to Ava, explaining where she was going- to the centre of the city. As she was just about to head downstairs to leave, she heard a person scream.      Athena ran to the window that looked out the city wall into the fields and beyond.
     "Ahhhhhh!" The scream resounded again.
     Athena stuck her head out of the window and looked down. There, sitting in the still green grass was a wisp of a woman. She was pale, with light hair, and dressed in a black dress and robe. Her shoulders shook violently as she sobbed.
     "Are you okay?" Athena asked. She wondered how nobody else had come running to see what was going on. Even Ava and the man on the floor barely stirred at the noise.
     The woman looked up. She looked young. Her wide green eyes were lined in black and her lips were painted black as well, contrasting harshly with her pale complexion.
     "Do you need help?" Athena called down.
     "Death is coming near." The woman said, and Athena felt a shudder go down her spine.
     "Death?" She asked.
     "From the forest." The woman insisted, "I've come to warn Marama. I've travelled so long. Please, all my people are gone."
     Athena gestured for the woman to wait a moment. She ducked back into the room and looked around. There was no rope but the blanket wrapped around the sleeping man was long, perhaps long enough if torn in half.
     "Wait there." Athena said, looking down out the window for just a moment.
     The man was still sound asleep, and heavier than he looked. Athena struggled to get the blanket loose and then struggled to tear it. In the end her makeshift rope was a mess but it would have to do.
     "Try climbing up this." She shouted as she threw down one end of the blanket. The woman stood up and grabbed hold of it. Athena held tight, feeling the weight of the woman pulling her. Luckily the woman was as light as she appeared to be. She used her bare feet to grip the stone walls as she climbed up to the window.
     The two women sat on the floor of the upper room. Still Ava and the strange man slept. It seemed the late night and wine had made them dead to the world, if only for a few hours.
     "You're not from Marama, are you?" Athena asked the strange woman who sat before her.
     She shook her head, "There was a small village deep in the forest to the east called Luna. That's where I'm from."
     "Was?" Athena questioned.
     "It's taken me days to get here." The woman said, "I've hardly stopped. Luna was attacked by the Bears."
     "Bears took out your entire village?" Athena could hardly believe it.
     "These aren't your typical bears. They were human once." The woman shuddered as she spoke,              "They'll be headed in this direction soon."
     "How soon?" Athena asked.
     "A few weeks, I think." The woman stood, "I've come to warn you."
     Athena stood and extended her hand, "I'm Athena Oliver."