Chapter Four

The last and third day approaches as we spend the morning packing up camp. The weather last night was a storm, the winds blowing harshly as the rain hit the material of the tent like bullets. Soka said it was her gods, her gods telling her to get me out of her village's life, to leave her people alone.

As I throw the last sleeping pad made of feathers and a thin cotton sheet onto the wagon, the small boy who has become my friend tugs on my sleeve. "Alwin, what can I help you with?" I ask, sitting down on the wagon's edge as he follows.

"Udela says you are to be gone tomorrow night, to stay in the city."

Udela is his older sister, one of the two twins. She's the older of the two, Coventina being the younger of the two. I was told Coventina was named after their religion's goddess of the water, the one Soka says is warning her to get me out of here.

"I have to, I have to find someone," I explain, feeling his small hand take mine as everything else is loaded up. "But maybe we will see each other again?"

Alwin looks up to me with watery eyes, giving me a soft nod.

For seven hours we ride, the weather growing colder by the hour. Soon enough I'm being given a thick blanket to share, one that Alwin and I huddle under, my hands shaking. "Is the road to the Capitol usually this cold?" I ask Udela, watching as she puts on a fur coat.

"It is winter up in the Capitol, they are located higher above the sea, in four full moons it should begin to heat up," she explains, turning right back to her sister as I'm left to the company of a small boy once again.

Soon enough small villages once spotted every two hours ago become more consistent. Now, as we ride past, the villages grow in size and shorten in distance between each one. Eventually I'm spotting bigger houses, less farming, and even children running through the streets as they play. Nothing looks the same as back home, the once modern houses I was so familiar to seeing, now everything is made of white brick, shingles upon the roofs, and unique shapes making me only more interested in what the Capitol will appear to be.

I have many ideas. I can image tall walls just like the city of Troy, beautiful marble building like Athens, and upon a hill just like Sparta.

"Wolf, we are to be there before sunset, do you have everything you need?" Soka asks, walking over to the wagon as I remember myself who I am to be from here on out. To ever have hope of finding my father or going back home, I will have to take on this new identity. "Candice?"

"I have everything I need," I reply, watching as she nods and heads to another wagon, leaving me all alone in a strange world.

Before sunset I can already see the hill of the Capitol, the massive marble walls surrounding the city as a small town circles the gates. Soka told me within the walls are the wealthy homes, those of merchants, Royals, military officials, and much more who can pay for the higher living conditions. The castle can be seen as well, overlooking the town's below as it stands high, tons of towards with different heights coming from the center as the windows are beautiful, the deign just breathtaking.

"History says that the elves of the Third Age built the castle for the rightful rulers," Alwin explains as the cold air nips at my skin once again. Looking at the castle more, I can see the snow upon the roof, covering even the walls with ice sickles hanging low. The fields around the walls are surrounded in a thin layer of snow. "Winter has just begun, meaning the fields are to be dead longer than a month."

I nod, looking upon the child. "What do they grow out here?"

"Some do food, others grow items like cotton and even silk."

"Silk?" I ask, looking upon the fields where simple yet beautiful houses are placed. Silkworms are how silk is made, yet here, silk is someone farmed.

"Candice!" Soka calls out, shaking her head in the distance. I guess that's a topic she doesn't want me expanding upon. Maybe because it's different here. No doubt it is since these people can use some freaky magic.

The closer we get to the gates the more my body begins to shake in nervousness. It has the gates of Troy, the marble buildings of Athens, and (from what I've heard from Soka) the army of Sparta.

As we pull before the massive set of marble double doors, guards come out to search us, their armor a shiny silver, maroon colors under as a flag they also carry is a dark maroon with a silver wolf.

"When we stop I'll walk you to the royal library," Soka explains as the carts start up again, taking a seat beside me as my mother flashes through my mind. I wonder how she's doing, what she's up to, what she's doing to get me back. Yes, I'd like to go back, to head off to college and make memories, but I made my decision, and it has its consequences. Who knows if I'll ever be able to go home.

That's why I want to find my father, to see him once more as we search for an escape.

As we pass through the gates, I'm caught in amazement as I take in the buildings around me, white stone appearing like stone covering the ground as fresh green grass plays in certain locations where beautiful and massive trees with silver leaves are, the buildings made of white marble, the houses looking like the type a design would make in Greece for some billionaire's weekend escape. But what catches me off guard is the castle, the massive building that causes a gasp to leave my mouth. Tons of towers span towards the sky, glass windows tall and thin, letting in plenty of natural light. The doors to the palace are up a set of marble steps upon a hill, the castle about half a mile away, truly beautiful with perfection. I can what Alwin meant by the elves crafting the castle.

"Candice, come with me," Soka informs as we come to a small intersection where other carts also heading towards a market intersect us.

Jumping from the cart, I look to Alwin, offering him a simple goodbye. He waves bye, hoping me luck and my gods be with me. "Follow me."

And I do, weaving into small alleyway after small alleyway, the cold making me have flashbacks to last winter, how I shoveled the driveway while my mother was off in India, looking at different shrines for clues as to my father's mirror. "Where is the library?" I ask, the light later of snow barely crunching beneath my feet.

"See the massive building to the left of the castle, the ceiling made of glass?" I do. The roof is a massive window, angled, looking right up at the stars. "It's used for astronomy as well, many scribes using the library to write through the night. My people say the stars shine so bright at night in that room that the spirits of the gods flood the room."

"That's where I'll go?" I ask. "Where will I sleep? What will I eat?"

"I promised you a small amount of help. The man who works there now will take care of you. He owes me a favor."

"For what?" I ask, approaching the massive doors of the library. A thin bridge on the second floor connects the library to the palace, an arch under as people walk bye.

"I healed his daughter five weeks ago of an illness."

I nod, watching as the doors open for us and the scents of herbs meet my nostrils. Chandeliers hang from the ceiling that's not made of glass, a small room where the entrance is, the walls painted with a light blue tint as marble pillars spread across the area. A huge opening leads us into the library, rows after rows of books on white shelves spanning to the top of the floor's ceiling.

"Four stories filled with books. The fifth is where the ceiling is," Soka explains as a small opening on the first floor lets me see an area where all the stories open up, allowing me a view of the gray yet bright sky. "The man I am speaking of will offer you both a place to stay and food. I trust him. He is a good man, one dedicated to his Moon Goddess."

What I recall is the Moon Goddess is the werewolf deity.

"Follow me."

I do, coming to a staircase as we climb the first four stories. "Where will we find him?" I ask.

Soka leads me to the top floor, the floor covered in desks with simple chairs, the walls covered with books. "He is an astronomer, reading the stars for the Moon Goddess' plan. Also, a royal consultant for the King."

Two men are on the floor, one with longer gray hair, his blue eyes still bright, and a beard spanning to his mid-torso. The other is dressed in what would be a simple toga, his white hair trimmed short, no beard, and dark brown eyes that seem to convey a mysterious feel.

"Travon!" Soka calls out to the latter, the man in the toga turning around with a massive book in his hand.

"Merchant Soka, many greetings from the gods," Travon greets, a smile crossing his aging face as his eyes meet mine. "A friend?"

"One in need to help," Soka informs, Travon walking up to us as his shadow stands over me. He's tall for sure. "May we speak privately?"

He nods, Soka turning from me as they walk off towards a distant corner. No doubt she's explains to him either my situation or that she wants me dead before the morning sun.

I'm left to my thoughts as they reach the shadows of a corner, whispering among the other as I place my hands behind my back. Taking the time given, I head for the bookshelves, surprised to see everything in English. Weird. Though thinking back upon it, Soka said I spoke her language perfectly and I had no idea I was not speaking English.

The Age of the Darkest Blood

Sounds like one hell of either a boring or exciting book. No doubt history though, something that causes me to shake my head. Probably something to deal with elves or something.

"Most women wouldn't dream of picking that book up."

I look over my shoulder, surprised to spot Travon there with Soka beside him.

"Merchant Soka has expressed your situation and the name you are searching for. I am happy to provide you with a home, but the records you will not find here."

"Where can I find them?" I ask, feeling my body heat up in stress.

"In the castle. I can get into the records room tomorrow before the King orders the doors sealed. Do not fret."

Within another ten minutes I find myself in the company of a stranger, someone barely a friend told me to trust. He explains to me we are to head to his place soon, a simple house about a five-minute walk away, the second story of a building where his mate keeps it filled with plants. I remember Soka explaining on the way to the Capitol that a mate is the soul mate, a term I still believe is a silly idea. No two people are perfect together.

Yes, my parents were happy together, but they were not perfect. No one is perfect of each other. Not to mention the idea of far picking out who you are to be with for the rest of your life is just too childish to truly believe. Much less even think of.

We head out once more, leaving the library as Travon explains to me I am to follow him tomorrow into the room of records, to aid him as we look for my father's name or even recognition of a human out of place here. I'm also told the story of me being a wolf not yet shifted is perfect, how no one could ever tell unless my blood was to be smelled if I was bleeding.

Yet that frightens me. What would happen if someone found out I was not of this world, but the one where their predators still lived on? Would I become the prey, hunted down for game? Would I become what these people once were to centuries before my life? I don't even know how much time passes here as it does back home. What if I get back home to discover I've been gone for forty years and my mother is on her death bed or already gone? How many years has my father been gone for here?

As I look over my shoulder once again, I spit the castle, a place that just reels me in. Something about it has a pull upon me, my heart thumping in my chest the longer I look upon it. Whatever it holds, I know there is something drawing me to it. There must be something that causes my nerves pick up and my heart pound as my fingers become tingly.

"Candice?" Travon asks, pulling me back to reality.

"Yes?" I reply, looking back from the palace as he gets the hint something is going on.

"One thing you must promise me tomorrow is very important."

"What it is?" I welcome, understanding completely as I know the risks at state. Of me being found out to be a human in a world filled with myths.

"You must not make eye contact nor speak with anyone...if you do, I am afraid I cannot protect you from whatever happens."

"Why?" I ask, taking one last glance at the castle.

"Because I feel as if the Moon Goddess is warning me of something. Something that deals with you and that castle."

"What do you mean?" I ask, raising an eyebrow as my heart falls to my stomach.

"I mean that something is bound to happen tomorrow. Something fate has set in place."