Page 1 of Battle of Evyndral (Rebel Moon Shifters)
Elledan
2062 – The Fae Realm
The midday sun shone on Elledan as she pulled an arrow from her quiver and notched it. Drawing the string back, her fingers hovering close to her ear, she exhaled and let it fly. The arrow hit the target dead center as it did every time she aimed. A raven she had named Novus sounded his approval with a loud gronk . The bird was her constant companion whenever Elle was outdoors. She figured he would become her animal to call on as she grew into her other powers. When she wasn’t learning to fight, Elle focused on her ability to blend in with the shadows. It wasn’t a true elemental power like the other light fae possessed, but it came in handy when she wanted to hide. When she wasn’t training, she tended the garden with her mother. At least she had until her mother was found dead three sun cycles ago. Elle enjoyed planting a seed, watering, and nurturing it until it grew into some type of fruit or vegetable.
Her older siblings, Yaricelan and Thrandyr, sparred close by with swords, training for the dragon guard trials, which were held on the first new moon of the sun cycle. One would think creatures as threatening as the winged ones wouldn’t need protection, but the dark fae had weapons that could paralyze a dragon. It was an honor to be chosen as guardians for the dragons of Evyndral. Elle wanted to be a guardian too. Who wouldn’t want to hang out with the magnificent creatures, even if it meant putting your life on the line?
One couldn’t be considered for the royal family’s protection detail until they were at least one hundred, the age when a fae was considered an adult. Elle was only twenty-five, a mere child in her world. The twins had reached the age of maturity several full moons ago and had been training for the royal guard since they were Elle’s age. She would miss them once they were chosen because they would be among those the royals picked. Elle knew it in her heart. Even then, she would continue her training so one day she could join them.
When Yaricelan yelled, “Hah!” Elle turned to see that her sister had bested her twin. Yari was everything Elle wanted to be when she was older – brave and fierce yet maintaining her sense of humor and compassion. While most females worried about securing a mate, Yari focused on becoming the best sword wielder in the realm. Thran pushed the blade away from his throat, but he was grinning. They were competitive while still being each other’s biggest champion. Elle learned much from her siblings. Although she was young, they never overlooked her when she tagged along. Thran taught her the ways of the blade, whether a sword or dagger, and Yari instructed her with a bow. Her mother had taught Elle about incantations, portents, and sigils. Elle rubbed her chest over her heart. She missed Lorhana deeply.
The ground shook as horse hooves beat with each step. Their father pulled back on Dorcan’s reins, and the large beast slid to a stop. “Where is Elledan?” Ballymar demanded as he slid from the furry creature’s back. Their father was an imposing male with white hair flowing around his broad shoulders. His lavender eyes sparked with derision. Elle skirted behind a tree, drawing on the shadows to hide her from view. She couldn’t imagine why he was angry with her. The tone of his voice was something she’d never encountered.
The twins lowered their swords, and Yari approached. “Father, what’s the matter?”
“Grevolus of Winterhaven is claiming Elle is his daughter,” Ballymar seethed. Elledan fell onto her backside. No. Ballymar was Elle’s father, not some Und?nthú from the winter court.
“What?” Thran stepped up beside Yari. “That’s preposterous. She’s our sister. She looks just like Yari.”
Ballymar’s ire turned to sadness as his shoulders hunched. “That she does, but your sisters both resemble their mother, whereas you are my spitting image. He’s demanding to approach the elders to prove his claim.” Elle slapped a hand over her mouth to keep from screaming. It had to be a mistake.
“But that would mean…” Yari didn’t finish her thought. She didn’t have to. If what the dark fae claimed was true, it meant their mother had a dalliance with this male. Elle wouldn’t believe it. Lorhana had adored Ballymar. They were mates for the goddess’s sake.
“I know what it means. I don’t want to believe it either, but your mother isn’t alive to ask. The only way to prove his claim false is to involve the elders.”
Yari sheathed her sword. “Why wait this long? Mother’s been gone three sun cycles.”
“Because Elle is twenty-five. Her powers will begin manifesting soon,” Thran answered.
Her powers had manifested a few years ago, but her siblings didn’t know she had been honing them all this time. Elle pulled the shadows closer, hiding her from the others, and crept through the forest until she was far enough away to run. If they couldn’t find her, then the dark fae couldn’t prove anything. With Novus flying overhead, Elle ran fast and far.
Ten Sun Cycles Later
“Odette, get your ass in here and help your mother,” Grevolus yelled.
“She’s not my mother,” Elle hissed under her breath for the thousandth time. Asherah would kill Elle if it weren’t for the fact that Grevolus told her she couldn’t. She and Tovin, her half-brother, made her life miserable, and Grevolus didn’t stop them. Then again, he was an Und?nthú, so she held no hope he would ever have a kind word for her. He was evil after all.
Tovin stuck his head in her door. “Move your ass, Odette. Now.” Speaking of evil… Elle shoved her clothes in the small satchel and fastened the button. She had been renamed once the elder council confirmed she was indeed the offspring of Grevolus, but in her heart and head, she would always be Elledan, daughter of Ballymar of Summerland, one of the best D?nthúlú who ever lived.
Another change made was to her appearance. Elle had to leave her pretty clothes behind. The light colors weren’t allowed in Winterhaven or Autumnvale. Her white hair had been dyed black, but it wore off quickly; her roots offering proof of the better half of her parentage, so Grevolus insisted she use a glamour. The first time Elle removed it, he had beaten her within an inch of her life. It took weeks before she could get out of bed. Each day, Tovin taunted her for being weak. Asherah wasn’t much better since Elle wasn’t able to help with the cooking and cleaning. Elle could understand Asherah hating her since she was another female’s daughter, but that wasn’t Elle’s fault. That lie with Grevolus.
Instead of being allowed outside to practice with her bow, Elle was relegated to being nothing more than a house maiden. She was tasked with scrubbing their small cottage daily. She was also used to cleaning house with the wave of a hand. Grevolus insisted she do it the hard way. Back in Summerland, Elle had been used to a larger home with more amenities, like an indoor chamber pot that was situated above a system in the ground that led waste away from their home. Here, their chamber pot was in a wooden structure outside, and making the trek in the cold wasn’t pleasant, but it did get her out of the cottage for at least a short while.
Elle was also tasked with cooking three meager meals daily. There were few vegetables that grew in the rocky soil, but Elle managed to coax the few seeds Grevolus traded for at the market into producing with a kind word and a silent spell. Novus was there, in the trees, croaking his displeasure at what she assumed was being in the colder clime of Winterhaven. “Me too, my friend,” she would whisper.
The dark Queen wasn’t as generous with her fae as the light Queen, which meant their cupboards and larder held little to work with. Elle almost offered to hunt for meat, but she didn’t want Grevolus to know she was skilled with a bow. She would have needed to borrow Tovin’s since Elle had left hers on the ground of the training field the day she tried to run. The only knife she had access to was the one she used while cooking. She was tempted daily to use it for other means, but with three against one, her odds weren’t good.
When she reached the parlor, Asherah snapped her fingers. “Get a move on, girl.”
She held up her satchel. “I’m ready.”
Asherah drew her arm in an arc, gesturing to the messy parlor. It had been tidy earlier. “You’ll be ready when the cottage is picked up.”
Elle eyed the mess. “I thought we were in a hurry.”
“We are, so you’ll need to be quick about it.”
Elle took a deep breath. It wouldn’t do to argue, so she dropped her satchel by the door, then began tidying up the parlor. Tovin brushed past her, hitting her shoulder with his, as he took his own bag out the door. Grevolus was nowhere to be seen, and as soon as Asherah followed her son outside, Elle waved her hand across the mess as she spoke the incantation to make some of it disappear. It would be obvious if she had it all cleaned within seconds. Elle gathered the remaining detritus and put it away quickly.
Grevolus threw open the door. “Let’s go.”
Elle wiped her hands on her dress and made her way outside, stopping to grab her satchel that no one else had bothered to take for her. After making sure the door was fastened, Elle turned, then froze. Several families were gathered on the lane. Elle knew some of them by sight and fewer by name. There were three wagons hooked to horses, but by the number of fae milling about, it wasn’t enough for everyone.
“You won’t need this.” Tovin lifted her satchel and tossed it back toward the cottage before climbing onto the seat next to Asherah, where he gathered the reins. Elle strode to the carriage, but Tovin stuck his foot out when she tried to climb on. “You can walk.” Asherah didn’t contradict her son, keeping her face forward. Elle knew better than to ask Grevolus to intervene. When the others were either settled in their own wagon or sitting astride a horse, Elle was the only one left without transportation. That was fine with her. She would rather have herself for company than endure ridicule and teasing from others, even if it meant following on foot.
The thing about being alone was that no one paid attention to her. Neither did they talk quietly so she couldn’t hear their plans. It didn’t take long until dread filled her heart. The dark Queen had tasked them with killing the royal family. If only Elle could get word to the twins. By now, they would have been chosen for the dragon guard and would be among the elite team standing in the way of the dark fae. But why was Grevolus dragging her along? Did he intend for her to fight? Had he somehow learned of her skills? None of the other families on their journey included young females, so what were his thoughts?
Ah. If she had been left behind, Elle would take off for Summerland as soon as the last horse was out of sight.
A familiar gronk sounded overhead, and Elle glanced up to find Novus circling above. He wasn’t alone. A smaller raven danced on the air currents with him, and it warmed Elle’s heart to think he had a mate. Or it could be a sibling. If only she had been able to interact with her feathered friend more over the past ten sun cycles, maybe now they would be able to communicate. When she was still in Summerland, Elle thought Novus understood her words, but that might have been wishful thinking. As it were, she couldn’t speak to the raven without calling attention to herself, so she remained quiet.
They didn’t stop until the sun was high. Those on horses dismounted and led the animals to a stream to drink. She wondered about those yoked to the wagons, but she was enlightened soon enough when Tovin tossed a bucket at her. “Fetch some water and bring it for the beasts.”
Elle trudged to the stream, sidestepping a pile of horse droppings. She knelt beside the icy water, dipping the bucket until it was full. When she returned, the other fae were eating. Elle was offered nothing of the meals she had prepared earlier that morning as she held the bucket aloft to each of the four animals waiting patiently. After they drank their fill, she gave each one a rub under their jaw, and in return, they blew out a nasty breath in regards. Elle strode to their carriage, staring at Asherah. The woman ignored her while munching on bread. Grevolus returned with his horse and tied it off to a low branch.
Wordlessly, he took the bucket from her hand and tossed it into the back of the carriage. Asherah set her food down, then handed her mate one of the c?lim?gh Elle prepared that morning. Grevolus tore into it as though he hadn’t eaten in days. She was used to being ignored until they needed her, so Elle went to the back of the wagon and retrieved her own c?lim?gh from the basket she had stored them in. It was a simple meal of sliced cheese between two pieces of bread, but when Elle added an herb-infused butter to the bread, it then became somewhat tasty. Asherah complained the first time Elle put the butter on her bread, but afterward, when she left it off, Asherah demanded she add it going forward.
At home in Summerland, these were piled high with thin slices of meat, a variety of cheeses, and sliced vegetables. Since they had no meat and few vegetables, Elle made do with what she had. What she wouldn’t give to dine at her father’s table with the twins where there was no shortage of food or wine. Maybe it was a good thing Grevolus didn’t have as much gold as Ballymar. Elle could see him spending every coin on the honeyed drink. As it were, their skins were filled with water, which Grevolus drank quickly, the liquid spilling down his chin. He tossed the empty at her, but with her hands wrapped around her c?lim?gh, it fell to the ground.
“Pick that up and go refill it.”
Elle nodded as she wrapped her food up and slid it into the wide pocket of her dress. No way was she leaving it behind for Tovin to steal. At the stream, Elle dipped the skin into the water, then pressed the cork into the opening to seal it. She dipped her hands into the water and took several drinks before returning to where the others were ready to go. Taking aim, Elle tossed the skin to Grevolus who caught it one-handed. As their party moved out, Elle waited momentarily before walking behind them, removing the wrapped c?lim?gh from her pocket, and tearing bits of her bread into tiny pieces. She dropped them on the ground for Novus and his friend.
The closer they got to Evyndral, the more worried she got. Holding the last piece of bread between her hands, Elle whispered an incantation, turning the food into a thin, hard surface. With her fingernail, she etched a sigil into the hardened bread that her sister would understand. When finished, she whispered, “Novus.” Dropping to one knee, she held the message in her hand. “Trouble is coming for the dragons. Please find your way to Evyndral and give this to Yari.” Novus started to peck at it, but Elle closed her fingers. “Do not eat this. It’s a message. Can you take it to Yari?” Novus croaked once, and Elle opened her hand. The raven grasped the bread in his talon and took flight. Having never been to the royal city, Elle had no estimate of the distance from Winterland. She often dreamed of visiting Evyndral for the guardian trials where the dragons would shift into their magnificent beasts. Now, though, she dreaded seeing the posh land, the exquisite castle, and the numerous guards waiting to cut them down for daring to approach the royal family. Elle prayed to the mother goddess as she walked, asking her to intervene on behalf of the royals and the twins.