Search for the Extinct [Last of Elves book 2]

Forty: Aura

Aura

All the stories were wrong.

For a long time, the quill stayed still. Dark hair brushed the parchment, partially blocking the flickering light of the fire before it was impatiently brushed away.

Thunder isn't like what they say he's like.

I know, because I saw him.

He's magnificent. What they said about his colour was almost true, but not quite. He is dark, but there's something about the colour that reminds me of new life, of growing. It's not just a dark brown. His eyes are the same golden as Hunaja's and Vakt's. They gleam with knowledge.

But he's big. So very big.

I've never imagined a beastkin as big as he was - is. His shoulders are level with my shoulders, his head higher than mine. His paws are massive, the claws blackened and caked in dirt from wherever he's been. His coat, too, was covered in soil, but it didn't seem to matter.

But what was really different about him is the dark brown, almost black, strip down his back. It goes from his nose to his tail tip in a straight line. It's so much darker than Hunaja's or Vakt's stripe. He also has almost a mane around his neck. The fur is so thick and shaggy.

He seems like a fierce beastkin. Protective.

Again, the quill stopped. There was so much wonder in the vision that couldn't be put onto the parchment.

Kura was speechless when she saw the beastkin. I've never seen her speechless. I don't think it was what she was expecting. Ali didn't answer her questions, or mine. He just kept walking, not letting go of Thunder's fur. It was like he still couldn't really hear us. He was deep in thought, like he was thinking.

I'm not sure what finding Thunder means for me.

I don't know why they let me come along with them. It's clear that not even Kura was supposed to come with him, but she did. And then I came along too. I don't really understand.

Maybe they'll explain it to me. I hope they do, but at the same time, I hope they don't. I don't want to be told that I have to do something, or I have to be this, or I have to be that. I just want to be me.

Ali's different now. Like he's no longer distracted. I heard him talking to his sister a few weeks ago, when we were travelling here. They said something about a song - maybe it was Thunder calling to Ali.

Maybe that's why he's changed. He can't hear the song any more.

Thunder refused to leave Ali's side - still refuses. He lies opposite me now, curled as close to the fire as he can get. Ali's sitting on a log beside him, staring into the fire. It's like he's not here with us anymore.

Kura's nearby, Vakt at her feet. Hunaja's at mine.

I think I understand now what Ali was trying to say. About the beastkins only choosing one companion. Hunaja's chosen me. Although she stayed with Ali and Kura for the beginning of her life, she was never theirs in that sense. After all, Kura had Vakt already, and Ali ...

Well, he seems to be Thunder's companion.

That makes him the last elf.

And the first.

For a long time, the quill was still. Hunaja's purr rose, mixing and falling with the purrs of the other two beastkins. Thunder's was much deeper, almost a rumble, and Hunaja's was the highest, with Vakt in the middle. The sound of Kú's snore was barely audible, but still there, a tiny soft snore. It was a comforting sound.

So what does that make me?

I don't know who I am anymore. I suppose I never did.

Again, the quill was still, gently tapping the page it was marking.

I don't know what my mother is going to do.

Last time she saw him, she ordered him chained. Both of them. And that was without Thunder with them. I'm scared that she will do it again, and I don't want her to.

They understand me. I feel comfortable with them. They don't care that I can't talk, that I prefer being outside. They're much the same. They don't seem to talk much, and I have the impression that if I wasn't here, they would talk even less.

The quill paused, firelight flickering off the end of it. There was more to say, but it was hard to find the right words. Nevertheless, the quill tried.

I want to stay with Ali and Kura. I never want to live among the walls of Highstone again. They terrify me, suffocate me

If my mother tries to make me stay, I'll run away. I refuse to stay. It will kill me.

I want Ali to teach me. I want to know what he does with a sword. I want to be able to protect myself like my mother can. I know she carries a dagger around everywhere, and that she knows how to use it.

I want to as well.

A voice carried softly through the air, and the quill stilled. No more would be written that night.