I sat back on the saddle, the bounded book in my hand. “Wow,” I managed to say. This was because I had received a message from The Great, or the Lord of Light. He must have been trying to help me with this mission against King Ward!
“Sisters! Aaron! I have something important to tell you.”
I told them all about my dream and about what I had just read. I also informed them about what I had concluded and hypothesized.
My sisters and Aaron looked in awe. “This must be somewhat of a second coming of the battle against King Ward over a hundred years ago!” Aaron looked really excited.
Safire shared the same kind of expression that Aaron had. “That sounds really fun!”
Galena made a face. “That doesn’t sound so fun. The war was tragic. Millions of citizens died! It ruined the whole kingdom! Joshua had to rebuild it from the ground up.”
I really didn’t like the sound of that. “Maybe we could avoid that,” I tried to negotiate.
Aqua raised her eyebrows. “This battle seems like it can’t turn out well no matter what we do. If we win, the kingdom gets destroyed. If we lose, the kingdom gets destroyed. Bad things happen either way. Why are we even putting in so much effort for this?”
“This is our kingdom!” Galena shouted, probably a little bit too loud. “We are next to rule this place. We should do anything for this place. It’s our home.”
Aaron nodded. “Agreed. We will do anything to protect our kingdom,” he paused, “even if it means death.”
There was a hushed moment. Death? That didn’t sound so good to me. I mean, Donstania was great and everything but my life came first.
The sun was now high in the sky. It scorched our backs with its hot rays of sunlight. The path ahead looked dangerous with crooked trees and plants lining the sides.
“I’ve never been to Raven Town,” Safire admitted. “Is it nice?”
The thing was, my sisters and I have never been anywhere until this trip. Well, we had gone to parades and ceremonies in Flowing Lake, the large town by our palace. And we did attend a Pauper Concert in Duck Village, the closest village to our home. But besides that, we haven’t gone anywhere. It was nice to see some of the world finally.
“Yeah, the Paupers performed there several times. Big crowds, nice people. Well, lately…” Aaron’s voice trailed off.
“Lately what?” I asked.
“Lately there have been random attacks in this village. Might be an animal or a criminal but no one has found ‘em.” Aaron looked to the horizon. “I think it may be linked this whole King Ward thing. Let’s call it the return, my ladies?”
The return of King Ward. I said those words again and again in my head. I didn’t like it. It was somehow my mind knew that the return would fatal. “Is there anything we can do to stop it?” I didn’t think there’d be the answer I was hoping for but I decided to ask anyway.
“What about the attacks?” Aqua asked skeptically. In my mind, I was shaking my head. Why did Aqua always need to know the details?
“It used to be just sheep,” Aaron stated, matter-of-a-factly. “But that was because of the dragons. Now cattle, children, people, and even buildings have just—disappeared. There were signs of blood and possible violence by where the missing was last seen.”
Galena made a face. Violence and gore was not her kind of thing.
We started to pass small villages. People were working on their fields but looked up when we passed. One man, whose hair, posture, and clothes were a mess. His face was disgusting, it seemed half eaten by some sort of fungus.
My sisters tried to avoid staring at them but their illness looked so—odd.
“That man has no fingers,” Aqua whispered to me. Her eyes were huge because she had just seen something so shocking.
Aaron adjusted his tunic. “What is the matter, Princesses?”
Aqua bit her lip. “These people look so sick. My sisters and I … We have never seen such disease and devastation.”
“Never?” Aaron seemed to not believe us. “You princesses live such a pampered life. Most of Donstania is like this. We have a great kingdom but some diseases and illnesses we just cannot avoid. And to be warned, there are some diseases like this in Raven Town. By the way, we will reach the town in thirty minutes.”
I sighed, leaned back on Clouds, and pulled out the History of Magic. I flipped through it until I found a page on wise folk like Jenkins.
Wise folk have been alive for as long as we can remember. I encountered many on various adventures. Wise folk have been known to look similarly to humans. However, they have rather pointed ears, long and nimble fingers, blunt noses, and a vast knowledge of information. Many heroes and adventures have come to them for guidance. They understand easily, remember vital things from the past, sense dangers, and know important facts. Wise folk are known to live a rather long life. Their lifespan can reach up to one thousand which beats wizards by a full one hundred years. Wise folk are generally nice and kind to humans, except for individual exceptions. However, now a days, humans are forgetting of some wonderful creatures, the wise folk included. They seem to just be a good topic for a fairy tale or a bedtime story.
There are many great wise folk in the recorded history we have today. One such wise folk is King Lange of Chatson, a great kingdom modernly known as Hatsia. King Lange was the first wise folk king of a human nation. Wise folk today take pride in being the same species of King Lange for he was an honorable king. Another memorable wise folk is Garrlfed, a great war general. He was known for his successful and clever war strategies. There is also Hudson Wayfore III who was rumored to have been able to persuade people with just the sound of her sweet voice. More recently, there is Captain Jenkins, captain for the tragic war against King Ward. I take pride in knowing Jenkins on a personal level and he is surely a wholesome man. Hopefully, wise folk will receive more credit from humans, which they deserve.
