Elven Chronicles Book 4: The Final Stand

It has been a week since my engagement, and the elven kingdoms are buzzing already. I have been running for the past week, and the only words I have been hearing are 'Congradulations High Queen Kida.' It is nice, but hearing it from over a thousand people gets kind of old. I wonder how many are excited for me, or if they are excited for the huge wedding their high queen is bound to have. The thought made me laugh a little.

I was sitting by the river thinking of my engagement, when Nani came to me suddenly, "Kida, come quickly! There is evil upriver." I jumped up and followed her up the river with Laki close behind. Two minutes later we came upon them, and found ten of them sitting and looking over a map of some kind. I stepped out of the bushes while Nani came up next to them.

"Why hello. What the hell are you doing in my forest?" I said. They looked up, and I could see the fear in their eyes. One of them steeped up and tried to play that fear off.

"Just looking around High Queen," it sneered. But now, I guess we have to fight you." He lunged, and I shot fire at him. He was dead before he hit the ground. Nani shot water at the others, while I leaped in with my stave. It only took seconds to finish them all. I cleaned it up while Nani picked up the paper that they were holding.

"Kida."

My head snapped up at her tone. She sounded terrified, and her hands were shaking as she held the paper. As a strong woman, it frightened me to see that she could get this way. I grabbed it from her and my body turned numb. On the paper was a map of the entire forest. From the great deserts to the high mountains, every land and water mass was shown. That was not the bad part. They had battle plans written over the entire thing. Plans for huge armies were written and the words "Death to Elves" written next to the goal.

"Nani, find Queen Lyalle and tell her to come to the water kingdom. I will be there by the end of the night," I told her, and she just nodded and left.

I turned to Laki and wrote a brief message Get to the water kingdom immediately. Exteme danger to the elves. High Queen Kida. I wrote this twice and addressed one to King Levan and the other to King Elwen. Laki took off with them.

I ran to back to the village and found my mother in the back. "Mother, I have to go now. I'll come back when I am finished with my business."

She looked startled at my tone and immediately stopped what she was doing. "What is going on?"

"I don't know, but if I am right we may be in danger." I ran without another word and made it to the air kingdom in a hour. I burst into the castle and found my father with the General.

"Father, we have to get to the water kingdom. Read this." I handed him the note and watched as his face grew pale. He handed it to the general after he was done.

"Where was this found?" Was all my father could ask.

"Nani came across some evil beings, and we took care of them. They were reading this and scouting out the land."

I then addressed the general, "General, you cannot tell anyone about this just yet. We need to find out how great the threat is."

"Yes, High Queen. I will not say a word until you return."

Father and I got the horses ready and rode to the water kingdom. We got there about an hour and a half later, much to Isabel's surprise. She was just walking back into the castle with Fenel.

"Kida, Leto, what a-"

"Not now Isabel," I cut her off. "In a couple of hours the other Kings will be here, and we need to talk.

"Come inside now," She said. As we walked in, she handed Fenel off to the maids to be taken care of, and we joined her in her chambers. "Explain," she said.

I told her everything and she just would not believe that an attack could be coming. She seemed more afraid for Fenel than anything else. Three hours later King Levan, Elendil, Alia, Aaron, and King Elwen came. They all looked nervous.

We sat down and I explained the whole situation to them. They all read the paper, and we just sat in silence.

"Kida, what do you think we should do?" Elwen asked me.

"We must wait until the opportunity to find out more information comes to us. We cannot assume anything because the enemy is so unpredictable. I do not want any of this getting out until the right time. Queen Lyalle and the river women are patrolling their areas now to see if there are any more out there for us to investigate. Unfortunately, I have nothing else-"

"Queen Isabel!" I was interrupted when we heard a shout from outside. Isabel rushed to the window and looked out.

"I think we have our opportunity," she said.