Chapter 11: Of Alura and Rebellious Daughters

    Their group had left Lunaris with the satisfaction of a job well done, and thirty more gold coins each. They had told the High Priest that they hadn't needed any sort of payment, but he had simply shaken his head and pressed the bags into their hands.

As they had looked upon the wreckage in various parts of the town, Addy had felt a strange sense of foreboding. Why had the rats spoken to her, and - perhaps more concerningly - why had no one else heard them?

She had thought about what the infernal creatures had said for hours afterwards, lying in her room in a local inn. She wasn't quite sure who King Theodore was. She was certain that she had heard the name before, probably from one of her tutors, but she couldn't place it. Not paying attention to her schooling was really having problematic effects in later life.

    Addy exhaled. She closed her eyes and let herself enjoy the feeling of her hair ruffling in the wind, as she sat on Apple's back. There really was no other feeling quite like riding a horse. It was a shame that she had scorned the art so much when she was younger. Addy knew now that, if she had just been open minded, she would have enjoyed it.

    "Well, what's with the sudden change of mood?"
    Addy jolted upright at the sound of Hayden's voice. Even with nearly a week on the road with him, his voice disarmed her every time. It reminded her of when they were children, young and carefree.

    "What do you mean?" Addy tried to keep her voice light.

    "You've been brooding for hours, all dark and mysterious. For a few seconds there, you looked like the happiest person on the planet. I thought, thank Alo, she's better. But no, you're brooding again."

    It was probably the most Hayden had said to her throughout the entirety of the trip. Though their hostile days were long gone, he hadn't said much to her either. Addy and Lillian had filled most of the conversation with their chatter, while Hayden watched on with an amused glint in his eye.

    Addy tried her best not to show her surprise at his analysis of her emotions. Had he really been watching her that closely? She couldn't imagine why. "I really love horseback riding, so I suppose you can attribute that to my good mood."

    He stared at her for a long second, seemingly looking for more information. When none was forthcoming, he only raised his eyebrows and smiled. "Mysterious, just like I said."

    Addy couldn't help the laugh that bubbled out of her. "Mysterious? How in Delos's name am I mysterious?"

    "All the mystery, I'd guess."

Seeing her incredulous expression, he elaborated. "You speak nothing of your past, interests, or hobbies. All I know about you is that you're from Alura and you're good with your sword, and I only know the former because Lillian told me."

She shot a disbelieving look at Lillian, who shrugged, as unfazed as ever. "We are going to be travelling with each other for weeks on end, you know. Besides, the poor boy seemed so desperate to know something, anything about you that I had to throw him a bone."

Addy saw Hayden's cheeks flush a bright pink. It was almost a welcome sight, reminding her of the shy child she had befriended all those years ago. Though she did wonder what he had to be embarrassed about - perhaps he didn't like being reminded that he was Lillian's junior?

It was strange, though, that Hayden now thought that she was the mysterious one. It was a motion that would have gotten a laugh out of her, if she had heard it back when she was thirteen. Hayden had been so guarded when they first met, it had been a small miracle to get him to talk about anything. Now, she was the one with the secrets.

It was almost a bitter thought.

"Lillian was correct on that account. I am from Alura." Addy agreed.

It couldn't do too much harm to confirm her country of birth, she reasoned. Alura was the largest country in the continent - only Mordan came anywhere close. Millions of people were born and raised in the cultural capital of the world. Besides, judging on how they'd been getting along, it wasn't as if Hayden would care enough to ask any follow-up questions-

"I had several friends who grew up in Alura. If you don't mind me asking, where was it that you grew up?"

Addy resisted the urge to curse. She supposed she had been wrong about her assessment of him - more proof still that he wasn't the boy she had known. She paused for a moment, thinking about his phrasing. Several friends who grew up in Alura...

Some deep, long-buried part of her wanted to laugh. Friends? Was that really what she and Hayden had been to each other?

Though, some bitter part of her could understand Hayden not wanting to be associated with someone like her. A criminal. Did he believe the rumours? She desperately wanted to know.

"And our dear Addison is being as secretive as ever," Lillian chimed in. "Don't take it too personally, lordling, I've hardly been open myself. Comes with the job, you know."

"You seem terrible cocky, considering I could beat you in a fight in a matter of minutes." Hayden's voice was teasing, yet it seemed somehow lighter than when he'd been speaking directly to Addy.

"If you believe that, Hayden, then you're more of a fool than I thought."

He laughed. "Coming from someone who doesn't even have magic? I'm not worried."

Addy winced, knowing just how an insult of this level would affect her newfound friend. It was almost instantaneous. Lillian's expression, which was as open as Addy had ever seen it, closed down in a heartbeat, her face returning to a cold, emotionless mask.

Hayden seemed to realize that he had hit a nerve, judging by his stricken expression. Addy could feel a tension in the air, and searched desperately for a way to salvage the sour conversation.

She settled for answering Hayden's earlier question - though not exactly truthfully. "I'm from Lys, if you must know," she said, naming the first Alurian city she could think of.

Lys. Aluria's military capital, and a place she had visited many times. The homeplace of her former best friend, Eliza. Who was a person, Addy realized - just seconds after speaking - that Hayden knew.

He turned to her, looking grateful for the potential distraction. "One of my dearest friends came from Lys. She said it was a lovely city." His brow furrowed, and Addy recognized this as the expression Hayden always wore when he was figuring out just how much to divulge.

"She's the lady of the city now, from what I hear. I assume you've heard of her - Eliza Barclay?"

Addy just nodded her assent, much too overwhelmed to say anything. If Eliza was ruling Lys, what had happened to her father? He had been healthy and was too skilled a battle commander to die easily. And the way Hayden spoke, that implied that he hadn't heard from Eliza in years.

But that made no sense. Surely, Jay, being the king, would have invited Hayden back to Moonlight City.

He would have certainly seen Eliza then. Addy almost regretted having avoided news of Alura like the plague all these years. Though she hadn't been home in ages, she couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong - very wrong - in her home country of Alura.

"Addy, are you alright? You looked a million miles away."

Hayden was glancing at her with a concerned look in his eyes. She wanted to hug him, ask a million questions about what he knew about Alura.

But she wasn't Abigail and, even if she had been, he certainly didn't... care for her as he once did.

So she settled for smiling at him, as brightly as she was able, which wasn't very much in her current state. "I'm fine, just a little homesick."

Addy ignored that urge every bone in her body had, to turn Apple back around, to go flying back through the fields to Alura. To tell Hayden the truth about what had happened. But however much she wanted it to be, Alura wasn't her responsibility anymore. Jay was the king, it was his. He knew what he was doing.

Abigail Valadon knew that the best thing she could do was to stay as far away from Moonlight City as possible. She had made her father a promise, and she intended to keep it.

No matter the cost.

~~
    Madison Gardner

Madison Gardner, the only child of an Alurian carpenter, was exceedingly bored. This had been an all-too-common occurrence in her childhood, with her father working constantly. She amused herself for the time being, braiding and rebraiding a small string bracelet. Her fingers fluttered, as she removed excess nervous energy.

Growing up with Arthur Gardner, the best carpenter in all of Moonlight City, as a father, meant that she had been used to spending long amounts of time by herself.

Her father had never wanted her to spend too much with the other girls who lived nearby, fearing that she might discover a taste for rebellion that would put her on the wrong side of the law.

Dimly, Madison could still recall what had happened last year. When she had organized the other children of local business owner's to protest Queen Luna's new laws, which would end trade with Giana and Perrnath permanently.

"Come with me," she whispered to the others on the street, who feared for their parent's livelihood. "We'll show them what the true spirit of Alura is."

Not only did the laws cripple the Perrnath economy, which relied so heavily on trade, but that meant prices had increased so much that it no longer was profitable for Father to make his furniture. They were at risk of losing the shop.

It had filled Madison with a righteous ignition. At fifteen, she had grown up under years of the reign of Alura's Dark Queen. Oh, how she had longed for the days her Father spoke of, when the King of Alura was glorious and good.

But Johan Valadon was long dead, and it seemed the spirit of his son had died with him.

Everyone knew that Jason Valadon was little more than a puppet - and a missing one, at that. It was Luna Valadon who was in charge, who had let - no, it wouldn't do to think of that, she was free now. But her father was still there in Moonlight City, still worried about her, just like he was all those months ago, after her protests landed her in prison, with a black eye and broken wrist.

"I'm just worried about you, Madison," he had said. "After what happened to your mother... I can't lose you too. Promise me, no risks. Not now, not ever."

Madison snorted, now, recalling how she had nodded and agreed to her father's unreasonable request. And now here she was, on the run and in the middle of nowhere. In Perrnath's woods, with no sign of any civilizations or any sort of people nearby.

Still, wasn't this the adventure she had always dreamed of? Leaving her father behind couldn't possibly be selfish, not when she was doing this for him.

She had heard rumours of a Mordan stronghold on the border of Perrnath. If Madison could collect information on the inner workings that led to its downfall, perhaps she could gain Queen Luna's favour and use it to save her father's business.

The Alurian Queen might have been cruel - or so the whispers said, but even she wouldn't stoop so low as to not stand against Alura's greatest enemy. She had to see the threat that was on the horizon.

Wait - what was that? Madison's horse whinnied, almost in fear, as a loud roar cut through the air. She squinted, trying to see what was on the horizon. The string bracelet in her shaking hands slipped out of her grasp and fell to the ground.

The creature approached her, baring its teeth. To call it a bear would be an understatement. It was as large as a normal bear, and that alone frightened her. Growing up in Moonlight City, Madison had always been more than a little afraid of large creatures, which she had heard about only in the stories other children liked to tell.

As she stared into the face of a fierce, unweilding creature, what really scared her was the red eyes. Whatever it was, it wasn't of this world. No, it was darkness incarnate.

Maybe coming out here with no weapons truly had been a fool's quest.

~~
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