Raven

Chapter 13 - Alexander

I stand in the throne room before Alethea with my shoulders slumped. It's dark, almost dawn. I came as soon as Raven vanished from sight, teleporting to just outside the throne room and demanding to see my queen.

'She's gone,' Alethea whispers. 'After everything we've done, she's just... gone.'

I nod, my eyes on the floor. She must be disappointed in me though she doesn't show it. I let my queen down by allowing Raven to leave and I even provoked her to do so. I should have gone after her first but I needed to inform Alethea. 'I'm sorry,' I murmur.

'We need elves out there finding her right now! There's still a killer about and she's not safe out all alone,' Alethea says, rising from her throne.

The killer... I should tell my queen about who the real killer is but it. I open my mouth to speak but close it again. Telling Alethea will affect Raven, even though she was killing the enemy she was still killing people. But if Alethea thinks that there is still a killer out there...

'Do you have something to say, Alexander?' Alethea asks, noticing my movement.

'No, my queen,' I reply quickly. I won't tell her the truth, not yet anyway. I'll wait until we find Raven so we can deal with one problem at a time. I follow Alethea out of the room and wait as she speaks to a guard.

'Please go gather my warriors and tell them to meet me outside,' she orders him. Alethea then turns away and walks out of the room to speak to a guard just outside of it.

'Please go tell William of Zaraeli that Raven has left and that he is welcome to leave if he pleases,' Alethea says. She turns away from the guard and walks down the tree, out into the forest where her warriors are already waiting. I stay right behind her the whole time.

When I was young I walked through this forest but none of us, not me nor the children of the elves were ever carefree or ignorant of the outside world. The elf children had just been forced to flee Elwia, their conquered kingdom and I, at the age of ten, had found my way from Nesleia, escaping after Bronwen took over it and her armies had killed my friends and family. I had stumbled across the elves while on the run in the months after.

'Alexander will take your group to where Princess Raven was last found and you will search from there,' Alethea was saying. 'You lot will search all edges of the forest on horseback while the rest of you are with me.'

My group moves to stand by me as the other two groups depart. I look at them and know that Alethea has left me with her strongest, most capable warriors. Without a word, I turn and begin to walk to the place I last saw Raven. I hardly hear them as they follow behind me. Good, my group shouldn't be noisy but instead able to travel as quietly as me.

'Xander?' One warrior asks after a while of walking in silence.

I don't stop walking or slow down the slightest bit. I do however glance over my shoulder to see that the elf who spoke is Xavier, one of my childhood friends, hence the nickname he gave me when we were younger. A hint of a smile touches my lips as I remember those times.

'Where are we going once we reach the spot?' Xavier asks.

I look ahead of me again and think about it myself. I've been so focused on getting to the spot I haven't really thought ahead. 'She was headed toward the waterfalls so we'll start there and work our way downriver,' I reply at last.

It is dawn when I stop, standing in the exact spot from which I last saw Raven flying off into the night. The elves come to a halt behind me, patiently waiting for my orders. I turn to face them, the sun rising to my right. 'Xavier will take half of the group to the river and follow it downstream. The other half of you will come with me to the waterfalls,' I tell them. Xavier nods once and divides the group in half. One half stays with him while the other half comes over to stand with me.

Xavier leads his group away at a jog, heading towards the river. They will keep up that pace all day, stopping only at nightfall to sleep while the stars are out. My group could do the same, I am just as fit as the elves and possibly even more than equal in strength, speed and stamina. However, I lead my group towards the waterfalls at a walk. I want to search the land between here and there better for signs of Raven. We will jog in some places though, just to make sure we reach our destination by nightfall.

The day wears on and I slow back to a walk after running the past few kilometres with my group of elves. The sun is just beginning to drop lower to the horizon as we near the waterfalls. I can hear the roar of the water as it crashes down now, the sound becoming louder as we draw closer and closer. A cliff as tall as some of the smaller trees comes into view and the waterfalls can be seen coming off it. Several streams of water crash onto the rocks sticking out of the river below, splashing up once before coming back down and joining the water of the river. I stop right beside the river where water sprays me and the sound is deafening. I look around for signs of Raven but like every other time I have today, I see absolutely nothing. Perhaps she never came this way at all, or, more likely, didn't touch the ground. She did fly off, after all. As for having no signs of her here, she might have managed to get past the waterfalls, to the land beyond the forest.

'Alexander?' An elf asks from behind me. 'What now?'

I glance at the sky. It's turned orange and pink, the blue now fading as the sun sets and the stars slowly begin to appear. 'We go downstream a little way and find a place to camp,' I reply. I lead the elves away from the waterfalls, following the river downstream until the noise is barely audible. It's dark by the time I pick a nice, grassy spot and declare that this is the place where we will sleep. I lie on my back, staring up at the stars and close my eyes, hoping we'll find Raven soon. We must, for I cannot let down my queen and the fate of all the kingdoms depend on it.

This chapter is a little different and for those who are terribly confused, this chapter is in Alexander's point of view. How did you like his chapter? Would you like more chapters in his POV? Vote and comment :)