Elven Chronicles Book 1: Into the Shadows

I hated being impatient. I had no contact with elves for two days and it had now been two weeks since my accident, and I had no idea what was going on.The doctor said that I healed remarkably fast and assumed it must be an elven thing. I was just sitting, practicing my bending because all my sisters were out and about. I had been going crazy just sitting around. My mother was getting tense because she thought that my father was going to kill me or something. I could always see the guilt in her eyes when she looked at my scar. In the midst of my thinking, there were footsteps coming for me. I grabbed my stave and waited for any trouble.

My father came crashing out of the forest out of breath.

"Kida, where is your father and mother? We need to talk."

"They are in the house," I answer. "Come on."

We ran in the house (well, he ran and I hobbled) as my mother came running out of it toward us.

"DON'T YOU DARE COME INTO MY HOUSE LETO!" Wow, she was mad. Father was in trouble.

"YOU ARE GOING TO KILL MY DAUGHTER! SHE HAS ONLY KNOWN YOU FOR THREE MONTHS AND SHE HAS ALMOST DIED BECAUSE YOUR ENEMY ATTACKED US! SHE IS TIRED ALL THE TIME AFTER RUNNING AROUND IN THE FOREST AND DOING THAT STUPID BENDING! I HATE YOU!"

Then, she charged at him with her fists flailing. She hit him in the jaw, chest, and stomach before collasping into him in tears. He held her for a while while she sobbed, and it was about ten minutes before any of us spoke.

"Come now Tina. Calm down and we will speak about this," my father said.

Just then, my dad came out and saw the scene. He turned to go back inside, but my father stopped him.

"Gabe, please join us at the dinner table. You raised Kida and need to be part of this conversation."

We all sat down and my mother's eyes were still red. My father started to explain the situation.

"Now let me explain without any interruptions. There is a huge army gathering north by the mountains, and the elven kingdoms are preparing to fight. The armies from both are gathering along with any volunteers from the kingdom. I know that this is crazy to have Kida come, but we need her dearly. She is part of a prophecy to become high queen of the elves." My head snapped up at that comment but my father gave me a sharp look to silence my question. "Nothing will happen to her. I will have my best fighter, Alia, with her at all times."

"I'm coming with you," my dad said. My mother turned to him in shock.

"Gabe no. I am not going to lose either of you."

"The men of the viliage and I must attend. I raised Kida, and I am not going to let her die without trying to protect her."

My mother just looked like she was about to cry, and my father told dad that it was fine if he wanted to come. They both left to speak with the leader of the viliage. I turned to my mother and made her a promise that I have no intention of keeping.

"Mother I will not do anything reckless or crazy. I will stay glued to Alia, and she will protect me until the end. I am coming back. I promise."

She just looked at me and gave a weak smile. "Fine. You may go but you come back. Be careful and kick some ass."

"Thank you." I left to go and pack my things. My father and dad showed up, and said that the elves are coming to get the humans in a week. By then, we will be ready to march to battle. Everything was happening so quickly and I could not believe it at all.

My father and I said good-bye and raced on horseback to the kingdom. When we got there, all I saw was elves running everywhere.My whole left side was protesting at the effort I was putting it through. When we arrived at the castle, my father was attacked by his General and the Princes of the fire kingdom.

"King, sire. Elwen has returned with grave news. Please come with us."

"Hello Princess," Aaron addressed me with a smile. He was really handsome with reddish-brown hair, grey eyes, and he was tall and thin. "It is nice to see that you feel better."

"Hello Prince. It is nice to see you again. Even if we are preparing for war."

We followed my father to the grand meeting room. There were about twenty men and one woman, Alia, all waiting for my father to speak. We all sat down and Elwen started to speak first.

"Everyone. The enemy's numbers have risen and they are ready to go. We need to march in no more than a week if we wish to fight them there."

"Fine then, I will ready my troops. King Levan, are you with us?"

"To the end," he replied. "Is the Princess coming? This could get rough."

My father turned to look at me with amusement on his face. He let me anwser.

"Yes, I am coming sir. I think I can handle it seeing that my leg looks like this, and I survived."

I pulled up my pants leg and most of them cringed at the jagged, bright red scar that ran up it. The only ones who didn't were those who saw it earlier and Aaron. He just looked angry.

"Oh and another thing," I continued," I can bend three of the elements."

That really got them going. Everyone started speaking at once until Elwen shut them up.

"Kida," he said," Why don't you show everyone right now."

I did and the older prince, Elendil, asked me to come with him to see if I could bend fire like him. I followed him into the courtyard with Alia and Aaron close behind.

"Okay Princess," he has never spoken to me before and I noticed he had a very calm and commanding voice," I want you to place your middle finger on your thumb and start rubbing them together." I did this for a couple of minutes.

"Good. Now snap your fingers and focus on the heat between them. This is how you create a spark. You should get a small flame in your palm if you are sucessful."

I started snapping. I did this a few times before I started feeling the heat. I imagined that little spark in my head, and then there it was. There was a little flame resting in my palm. I felt the heat, but was not burned. The Princes stared in wonder while Alia looked really tense. Oh, crap, she hates fire. I put it out immediately.

"Wow." I said this to calm the mood. I demonstrated that I could move a rock and puddle and that was convincing enough for Alia and Elendil. Then we all ran to my father and the council.

Brief summary of what happened there. They took one look at the Prince's and Alia's faces and bowed calling me High Queen. My father sat there in shock, and I just ran to my room. I could not handle this. All of a sudden, I am some Queen. That sucked.

There was a soft knock on the door and my father came in. I was just sitting looking out my window trying to figure out what the hell was going on.

"Hey sweetie. I know this is crazy but you have to believe it. Just relax and let me explain things to others.You will be trained as we go along and I promise everything will be told to you as we figure things out. Word has spread among the kingdom, and the other elven army is coming, along with their volunteers. Now relax and Rose will be here to dress you for the grand dinner. I love you."

He just left, and Rose came in to torture me. She dressed me in a dark purple dress that had two inch sleves, it was ankle length, added a small amount of make-up on my eyes, and silver in my hair while she put it up in some beautiful bun. At six, my father came and got me.

"Who is at this dinner?" I asked him.

"All of the people in the meeting, their spouses, and a couple extras. About thirty five people."

When we entered there was a little gasp from those near us. We joined the other royal family and talked with them. The Princes were really polite and I was having a great time. Then I noticed Elendil's eyes get really wide. I turned and saw the reason why.

It was Alia. She looked beautiful. She strawberry blonde hair was down and curled, she had on a light blue dress that did wonderful things for her figure, and she had on a smidge of make-up and she looked very relaxed.

"Wow. She is beautiful." Elendil whispered to me.

"Go talk to her before Elwen does you idiot," Aaron told him.

Elendil went over and started to talk to her, while Aaron explained some things about the elements to me. Most of the evening went by in a blur because I was so self- concious of people constantly looking at me. The rest of the night was pretty uneventful and before I left for bed, my father told me that I will have to speak in front of both kingdoms after he gives them the news. Great.