The Five [EDITING]

Chapter Three: Aflame

ALIENA

   I gave each of the nine wolves a rub behind their ears as I checked their leads, giving Chia an extra rub though I wasn't sure if she actually enjoyed the attention. This would be a long journey for them, the longest they've taken. I hoped they could handle it as well as I expected.

   "Don't worry for them." Said my mother as she finished checking over the nine that would be pulling my brother. "They travel often."

   "But not so far." I reminded her. "What if they're unable to find their way home again?"

   "They will always find their way home." She stood and smiled as my father and brother came out the back gate of the castle, apparently finally finished talking business.

   "I still don't understand why we must leave." Aaren was saying as they approached. "There's still so much work to be done here."

   My father clapped him on the back. "You'll not have your sister traveling alone. Protect her, yes?"

   My brother nodded, accepting the responsibility. "Always." He promised and turned to mother to say his goodbyes while I went to my fathers' waiting embrace. I felt a mild type of panic reaching up when I let go. "Papa, come with us." I begged. "Come now, please. There's not much time left. I just know it."

   He gripped my shoulders in his aged hands. "There is too much work to be done."

   "But---"

   "Shh." He said with a shake of his head. "Listen to me, daughter mine. I want to come with you. I truly do. If only to keep us together and know that my family is safe and well. But I am king, Aliena, and part of being king is having to be a husband and father second, not first. No matter how much I may wish it otherwise."

   "I understand." I said, and I truly did. "The blood of family is strong, but it is royal blood we bleed." I repeated something he had said to me a long time ago.

   He nodded, proud. "Do you remember what that means?"

   I thought I did but I shook my head.

   "We will never be remembered for long as a father or husband," he tapped my nose, "or even a daughter; we are remembered as kings or queens. And we wish to be remembered so that our daughters and our sons and our grand children can strive to be as we are remembered, for if they always try to be as good as our legacy, then they can become even better than us."

   "Even if it kills you?" I asked but I already knew the answer and do not wait for it. "I love you, Papa."

   "I love you, too, Aliena."

   But there was something else I had to say. "Promise me you will follow. Promise me you will come with us when you can."

   "We are already with you, darling." Said my mother as she approached before my father could answer. "Remember that: we are always with you."

   It was in that moment that I understood they both believed they would not escape in time. She hoped otherwise, but she was trying to prepare me just in case. I hugged her tightly, not wanting to let go, but knew that it was time.

   "You should go." Nania said before she, too, stepped up to embrace me.

   "I wish you could come with me." I whispered.

   "And ruin your fun by ordering you about? Forcing you to eat with you are supposed to and drink when you are distracted?" She tutted and shook her head. "I wouldn't dare." She was grinning, but there were tears in her eyes when we finally released each other. It was my mother that raised me, but Nania had a close hand in it and it was she who became my closest friend in the castle. Leaving her was nearly as difficult as leaving my parents.