Hidden Power

Chapter One

Mira held her dagger steady as she traveled through the forest. A deer had passed through this passage no more than five minutes ago. Her nose picked up every sent from the squirrels running through the trees, to the snake curling around it's eggs. Her pointed ears picked up small movement of the earthworms beneath her feet. She traveled with silent footsteps through the forest until she spotted the white tailed doe. With her heighten fae senses, she could tell that the doe hadn't sensed her approach. A small breeze kissed her checks and a stray strand of jet black hair fell on her pale face. In one swift movement, she swept her hair back behind her ear and aimed her dagger at the does head. She loosened her wrist and breathed out.

"You'll never hit it," a voice came out from the trees. In one movement, the doe leaped over the roots of the trees and vanished in to the bush before Mira was able to through the dagger. She spun around to see who scared her prey away. A lengthy figure with jet black hair like her own emerged from the bush. She recognized him immediately.

"Well maybe if you don't scare it off with your annoyingly loud voice, I might have hit it," Mira spat at her twin brother Nox. He had the same build and features as her. Tall, shoulder length black hair, skinny, pale, muscular, structured face and ocean blue eyes. Also extremely handsome. He wore a loose brown tunic with black trousers. He walked with immortal grace as he approached her.

"Maybe if you hold the dagger like I showed you, you would hit it," he said taking the jewel covered knife. He twirled it three times in his hand and threw it at a bird perched in the tree. A clean head shot.

"Show off," she said to him. He waltzed over to the bird and pulled the dagger from its head. Nox grabbed the bird and gently placed in her hunting bag with a smug smile, showing his elongated k-nines. Mira just stared at him, suppressing a growl that rose in her throat. He was only 32 minutes older than her and he acts like he's 32 years older than her. She had been practicing her knife throwing for a month now and still she hadn't hit anything. Nox had been teaching her, but he became annoying and pig headed when she had come to ask him for help. So she started going to the weapons master to get him to train her. She had mastered the sword, bow and arrow, ax, hammer and hand fighting, but daggers were not so easy to master. Nox had master all of those as well, but he just seemed to master them better.

"Come on, we should get home. Mother is furious that you didn't leave a note or tell the maids where you were going," of course she was. Mira's mother had a habit of fretting over small things. But she couldn't argue with him that they should go home. She was sore and tired from her workout yesterday. She straightened herself and stared heading west, towards the palace with Nox falling in step behind her. She scanned her surroundings with her fae eyes, seeing better that any human could ever imagine. She and her brother made small talk about throwing knives, hand fighting and of course, what was for supper. Mira thought that her brother thought more with his stomach than with his brain. Even though he ate more than the horses did, he still managed to stay skinny, like herself.  Nox rattled on, wondering wether or not it would be beef, deer or pork on the menu tonight.

She tuned him out and tuned in with her surrounding, hearing everything with her pointed ears. The sun was setting behind the towering mountains, meaning all the small animals were scampering to find their homes before the predators of the night come out. The dim afternoon light didn't faze her fae eyes or her brothers. They slid through the trees, making no noise on the forest floor, until the castle wall came into view. The castle was four stories high and made mostly of marble and sapphire with two gold plated towers. The stone walls surrounding the castle shielded the homes within. The guards at the gate didn't hesitate to let their prince and princess into the courtyard. They walked on the cobblestone pathway, passing taverns, houses, inns and shops. Near the gates of the castle, young fae children ran through the streets, heading home from school.

The entrance to the castle was made of pure iron with the symbol of a dragon, which was the families coat of arms. No one stopped them as the headed to the fourth level of the castle to bathe and then suffer their mothers fury at supper. Mira took her time in the bath, making sure she had scrubbed every bit of dirt off her skin. She dressed in a plain white dress that hugged her body closely and traveled past her ankles. Her mother always insisted that she look presentable for supper. She slipped her diamond covered heel slippers and placed a tiara on her head. It was the same as her mothers, but smaller. She left the bathing rooms and headed to supper, passing maids that bowed their heads as she passed. She met Nox at the end of the hall. He had changed into a white tunic with the same black trousers. His hair was combed neatly with a small version of their fathers crown upon his head.

They walked to the dinning room arm in arm, dreading their mothers lecture. Guards opened the door for them to reveal large mahogany table that could fit 14 people. Their father sat at the head of the table, with his queen to his left. Mira and Nox sat across from their mother, next to their father. Her eyes said everything, but she could tell there was something else going on. There was no food on the table, but something told Mira that there would only be food when curtain words were said. She almost went crazy with the silence, when her mother finally spoke up.

"Mira, Nox. You must prepare. War is coming."