Faeling

Chapter #01

      The first time Kayla left the Faeling woods was the day her father died. Of course, he wasn't her real father, but he had found her, abandoned at the edge of the woods, whatever adult that had left her there certain she would be found by a beast and eaten. He was a beast, a large one made from bark and stone, but he did not eat her. Far from it, actually. He raised her as his own child under the watchful gaze of the Aluklai, hiding high in the trees. The Aluklai eventually called her theirs as well, as her father was their good friend and ally. When he died, ironically buried in a rockslide when Kayla was nine, the winged beasts of the sky began teaching her their magic, and in return, she became the speaker of their tribe, often going into court to argue the removal of the Faeling woods and other such magical issues.

     As the speaker for the Aluklai people, Kayla was not to speak unless it was the words of the Woods, and as such, she was made into the mysterious figure always at the King's side, never speaking, dressed in the formal garb of the Aluklai people. This persisted until she was fourteen, when the old king died and his son, Paloma, took his place. Paloma was a good man, and even more fair to the beasts of the woods, making Kayla's service... no longer necessary . She spent the next year preparing for her entry into the Aluklai tribe in the woods, becoming all but forgotten in the courts and the town of Thulag, the capital of Vrael and the neighbor to the Faeling Woods. Her voice, found after years of little use, was soft and calm, her mint green eyes the only hint of the fire and magic that flowed through her veins. She was small, wiry, and made for fast movement, her deep brown hair flowed wild and her long, sharp canines making her appearance close to that of a vampire. But she was Faeling, through and through, the magic of the woods overwriting her normal birth and making her no longer able to call herself "human".

       She didn't leave the woods again until a year later, when she wandered out on a need for normal clothing, the Aluklai cloth she always wore foreign and unwelcome by the world she was soon to journey out and see. She left the woods at midday, and wandered the shops throughout the marketplace well into  the late afternoon. What little she had to trade, she used to get her a pair of loose fitting brown leggings and a light blue bell sleeved shirt. The black clothing that grew with her body (which she had been wearing since she was four) discarded and placed in her knapsack. When the sun began kissing the horizon and the people were no longer willing to trade, she wandered out into the streets and began making the long journey home, satisfied with her trades and the fact that she would not be able to make it to her home until the next morning.

Something sparkled in the alleyway next to her. She looked over, always attracted by shining things, and saw the little sparkle in the grass that had overcome the cobbled road. She took a hesitant step towards it, drawn to it, when a sharp crack sounded next to her. Kayla's head snapped to the right, seeing crimson eyes looking back at her. The vampire lifted his face, sniffing the air. When he caught her scent, his eyes lit up with hunger, drool beginning to drip from the corner of his lip. Upon seeing this, Kayla did the only thing she knew to do; she turned around and ran. She ran until she couldn't breathe and the moon was high overhead, giving her extra light she didn't need. Smelling her target, she veered left sharply and jumped straight into a wild garlic patch, rolling in it and hoping it would mask her scent, at the cost of it clogging her own nose at the overpowering scent.

       A sound behind her made her freeze in place, her palms pressed flat amongst the garlic and her head lifted slightly to aid her straining ears for any sound. A rustle, this time close to her right caught her attention. Too close. She didn't even have time to get her legs under her when a crushing weight settled on her back, pinning her to the ground.

"Found you, little Faeling" he said, before a sharp pain pierced her shoulder and darkness crowded her vision.