Chapter One: The Malignant Moorland

Hehe... Sorry my chapters are so long in this story :)  Believe it or not, this is one of the shortest chapters, at only 3,445 words :D

Chapter One- The Malignant Moorland

There are only three things I know for certain.
One- that time is utterly irrelevant.  You can have memories of the past, hopes and dreams of the future, but the only thing that really exists is this very second.
So don't lose it.
Two- that unthinkable ideas are unstoppable.  Why must we do the unthinkable, when the thinkable is so much easier to wrap your head around?  Simple.  And unthinkable idea cannot be extinguished.
Three- that no one can guide your life but yourself.  There are those who believe in the stars that light your path, those that think some unnatural force has our whole lives planned.  But I would like to think that I am the one who controls my life.

I am my own star, the one who lights my own path.
Of course there are many things I am fairly sure of- my name is Arayla Reed, I am a forgotten princess, it was my sixteenth birthday when my life shattered...
And that there is something about myself that I will never understand.
But those are only assumptions.  I can only draw conclusions that I come to myself.

My day was just about perfect until I remembered it was November 30.
I woke up and it was my favorite kind of weather.  Gray, misty, cold.  Just the way it was the day I was born.
Just the way it has been every birthday since then, for sixteen years straight.
"Happy birthday, ‘Ray," I whispered quietly to myself.
There was no way anyone else would remember.  No one in the castle, at least.
I checked the large clock that stared down into my bedchamber with its fierce face and gruesome foreign words scrawled around the body in a curving script.
It was long before anyone of my family would wake.  Last night, one of the maids had evidently slipped a pearl colored dress into my room.  Its sleeves ballooned out around the enormous skirt, with bells fastened around the hem.
I wrinkled my nose in distaste.
Moving to my closet, I instead grabbed hold of a torn, smoky colored dress best suited for summer, not the rain.  I'd torn off the sleeves, and the hem had ripped long ago so the skirt only came to just below my knees.
Worn brown boots.  My ashy blonde hair tied back haphazardly.
I spun the silver bracelet- I didn’t exactly remember where and how I got the bracelet; I’d just always had it- around my wrist once out of habit before yanking the window open. 
For sixteen years I had lived in that same bedroom.  By the time I was seven, I could scale that section of the castle wall with my eyes shut.
I dropped the last few feet, landing silently with a hint of a smile on my face.
Quickly, my eyes darted across the moor, searching for the Tegalons.
I spotted a tiny fire, glowing brightly through the rain about twenty feet away.  I walked in a far circle around the miniature campsite.
It's still a mystery to me how the Tegalons are able to survive in the moors, no matter what the condition.  They're only about as tall as my hand, but they have razor sharp fangs and beady black eyes that guarantee some kind of trouble or danger.
Not only that, but there skin is tinted yellowish-green, so they are near impossible to see in the moor grass.  If you so much as touch their leathery skin, you've basically given yourself a death sentence.
Once, a young village boy, only about eight, who didn't know any better ran out into the moor and picked one up.  The poison from the Tegalon's skin was bad enough, but then the little creature bit him.  Our healers did everything they could, but the Tegalons are lethal.
And if one could kill a boy that easily?  I wouldn't want to run into a whole campsite of them.
I shuddered.  I had to be careful.
The wooden barn seemed to grow out of the hillside.  I pushed the door open carefully.
The barn was dark inside, the only light seeping through from between the wall boards with the mist.
"Aylde?"  I called.  "Rigg?"
The ground fell out from under me.  I suddenly couldn't see a thing but black darkness.
I gave a swift jab in the general direction of my attacker and fell to the ground.  A small grunt escaped my lips as I hit the ground, my shoulder taking the complete impact.
A hand flew towards my face, and my first instinct was to block it.  I looked up into the eyes of the attacker and grinned.
I took his hand and allowed him to pull me to my feet.
"Nice going, ‘Rayla," he said with a smile.
"Yeah, nice," another voice muttered from the ground.  "Ray, I think you broke my thumb."
"Oh, quit it," the first attacker said again.
"You quit it!"
"I'm serious!"
"Just shut up."
I had to laugh.  Aylde and Rigg were brothers that couldn't be less alike.
Aylde had bright blue eyes, and fair hair the color of mine.  He had a mischievous grin most of the time, and was the one I went to when in need of a laugh or a smile.  He was the type of person no one could stay mad at- except maybe Rigg.  Everyone but his brother could forgive Aylde's sudden spurts of bossiness and sarcasm.
Rigg was the pensive twin.  Dark hair, thoughtful, deep eyes, so dark that the line between his pupil and iris was nearly imperceptible.  He questioned everything, wondered about everything, and always seemed to have an answer.  Unfortunately, he was also one to complain.  Endlessly.  But like Aylde, Rigg was too wonderful to stay angry at.
Aylde and Rigg were the two stable keepers, and my only real friends at the castle.  Aylde was a year older than me, and had been at the castle since he was about eleven, and Rigg since he was nine.
Before that, they were just orphans struggling to stay alive.  Neither can remember their parents.
By Aylde's constant smile, you could never guess how much pain he was hiding.
"We wanted to surprise you," he said sheepishly.  "But we brought a picnic!"  His face lit up with childlike glee.
That was what I treasured about being with the brothers.  With them, I was happy, carefree.
Trapped in the depths of the castle, I was a creature of the dark, I was someone invisible, someone invincible on the outside, empty on the inside.
I ate the food slowly, carefully taking at least twice as long as the twins.
They were the only people that cared about me, and I cared about them too, I really did.  I appreciated everything they did for me.  But I knew that they were waiting for me to tell them.
My mind flashed back, six years back.
Another misty birthday.
I was playing a game, hopping on one foot, then the next, only touching the green marble tiles on the corridor floor.  The pink skirt swished at my ankles.  My feet were bare, so the marble felt cold, almost icy.  But I was quiet enough to hear into the throne room.
"King Reed."  I placed the gravelly voice of one of my father's highest ranked knights.  "I found these two outside.  Shall I have the executioner deal with them?"
"Yes, yes, just get them out of my sight."
I was used to this tone from my father, the uncaring voice of someone with no heart or soul.  I had seen my father send scores of people to their deaths, this was nothing unique.
I dared a glance at the two prisoners and the breath was sucked from my lungs.  I saw two young boys, one even younger than me, held by their scruffs by the knight.
"Father!  Mother!"  I screamed, breaking my silence and running into the throne room.  "They're children!  Don't hurt them!"
The queen raised her eyebrows at me and narrowed her coppery eyes into slits.
"It's my birthday!"  I protested.  "Can't this be my present?"
"You need a present?"  My father asked.
"But...  Vivanna got her own Cavallgua.  Can't you just spare these two?  That's all I want!"
The king sighed.  "Alright.  Fine.  But they must stay out of my sight!"
A smile grew on my mother’s thin lipped mouth.  "If they are so filthy they shall work in the stables.  Taking care of Vivanna's birthday present."
I gave a lurching, quick bow and ran out of the room, taking the twins in tow.
"Thank you," one whispered.  Looking back, I think it was Aylde.
Rigg said, "Princess, if you don't mind me asking, why do they hate you?"
I turned abruptly, in time to see Aylde glaring at his brother.  I crossed my arms over my chest.
"Be quiet," I demanded.
He dipped his head.  "I'm sorry, Princess."
"Don't call me that!"  I turned my back and marched away, trying to keep my ten year old dignity intact.
"Will you tell me eventually?"  Rigg called after me.
"Yeah," I snorted, pausing for just a moment.  "In six years, I'll tell you why they hate me."
I knew that there was no one my parents kept around for six whole years.
With a lurch, the daydream disappeared.  The brothers were looking at me expectantly.
"You haven't figured it out by now?"  I said bitterly.
"Well," Aylde glanced over at Rigg hesitantly.  "Yeah, we have.  But we want to hear it from you, Arayla."
I slumped down against the stable door.
"First Odolo was born," I said, sealing my eyes and trying to keep my breathing even.  "Then Vivanna.  Then Miles.  After I was born, my parents thought they couldn't have any more children.  They had wanted to create a legacy.  At least five children.  And I ruined that all for them."
"What about Cassia and Cassius?"  Aylde asked gently.
"My parents were thrilled when the twins were born.  I didn't wreck it for them, they had two perfect children, twins."
"But... you never did anything wrong.  And now the twins are here.  Why are you still shunned?"  Rigg asked, narrowing his eyes at the empty air.
I sighed.  "I don’t know.  Thanks for the picnic.  I have to go.  Good bye."
It wasn't the truth, and they knew it.  I slammed the door of the barn and strode back towards the castle.
I fully considered walking straight through the Tegalon camp.  But I knew myself so much better than that.  Never would I consciously harm myself.  I have too much self-dignity.  Vivanna calls it being presumptuous.  Yeah.  She’s one to talk.
The sun was just trickling above the hills.  The yellow star grew higher, sucking the dull light back into the sea.
The dense mist diminished until it was only wisps of fog, and I could see the castle clearly in front of me.
Feeling rough gray stone under my fingers.  A breeze tossing my hair around my neck.
It felt natural.  I shut my eyes and dropped out of the window, onto my bed.
I didn’t realize I wasn’t alone until a sharp cough pulled my eyelids open.
“Princess?”  The maid asked timidly.
I stood up, took one giant leap, landing right next to the maid.
Her blue eyes were wide.
She was pretty, prettier than I at least.  Her skin was snowy and white, making her eyes look bluer and her long hair look darker.  And her dress was perfectly ironed, any small mends done neatly and precisely.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught my reflection in the tall looking glass.
My hair was windswept and tangled.  My dress was muddy and tattered.  And my eyes showed hostility.
I crossed my arms over my chest.  I was angry at the maid, not for looking more the part of princess than I ever could, not for being the type of daughter my parents would have loved.
No.  No.  I didn’t care about either of those things, not at all, not in the least.
And this was a new maid anyway.  She would have no idea how this worked, the situation within the royal family.
She’d be gone by sundown.
“The... the Queen said she wanted you downstairs immediately for breakfast.”  Her voice quavered.
I would crush her like a bug.
“Oh, now that’s not true,” I said, trying to sound casual.  “Mother knows that, since it is my birthday, I chose to go into the village today.  There is a man selling Cavallgua’s, and Princess Vivanna doesn’t like me riding hers.”
“B-but you’re mother sounded very certain.  She said you must come.  She said she demanded it of you!”
I raised an eyebrow.  “My mother would never demand anything from me.  Especially not on my birthday!  I think you’re lying to me.”
The girl trembled again.  “I’m not, Princess, I swear!”
“Please.  Get out of my sight.  Good day.”
She gave a few hasty bows and retreated.
The stories the staff must tell about how cruel I am to the servants...  I only try to protect them.  I simply try to scare them away.  It would be better if they left, after all.  If they tried not to understand our family secrets.  We have so many, after all.
My lie to the maid was not completely false.  It was true that Vivanna hated when I rode her Cavallgua, and it was true that I was leaving the castle to find a different one.  But going into the village, simply purchasing one of the creatures would have been the safe, smart thing to do.
So obviously, I couldn’t do that.

My cloak was pulled high over my head as I moved out around the castle, the opposite direction of the sea and the village.
The sun was creeping ever higher in the lightening sky.  The rain had actually disappeared for once on my birthday.  I took it to be a good omen.
It wasn’t.
The lake that started at the spring behind the castle was a perfect mirror of the glassy pale sky.  It looked to delicate, to perfect, like an enormous mirror really had appeared in the moor.
The surface broke, and a large fish gracefully arched through the air.  I stared at it for a moment, and it seemed to look back at me.  Something instinctive- fear, panic- was in its usually blank eyes.
I jumped backwards in sudden fear.
A lontralupa.
His muddy white fur was slicked back from his wolfish face.  Long, dagger-like canine teeth that snapped through the fish’s body in one bite.
He splashed back into the water, his strong back paws and sharp claws disappearing just before his tail.
He hadn’t seen me, thank God.
They were monsters, a strange hybrid creature of an enormous dog and a gargantuan otter.
The ripples subsided, and the pool was clear once more.  I stared at it with more uncertainty now though, remembering what lurked under the surface.
I shuddered and tugged on my silver bracelet, feeling distinctly unhinged.
Veering around the pond, like I had with the Tegalon camp, I saw Kusa Hills, then past that the Infinita Mountains.
Across the hills were flashes of blue, almost like mist clouds moving across the plains.
I smiled as one of the blurs slowed to a gentle gallop and approached the pond.
The cavallgua had misty blue-gray hair, big sapphire eyes, silver hooves.  It was still young, maybe a teenager, but still fairly large.  An aura of fog seemed to emanate from the creature.
Gently, I opened my hands, palms facing the sky, and met the cavallgua’s gaze.  We stared at each other of a long, pure moment before it dipped its graceful head and knelt down in front of the pond, taking a drink of the crystalline water.
I shouted as a white tail flicked above the surface, feet away from the wild cavallgua.
I was too late.  The lontralupa flew from the water, tackling the cavallgua and pinning it to the ground.  If lontralupa’s were normal canines, or normal otters, the cavallgua would have been able to flick it aside with no trouble.  But it wasn’t normal at all.  Lontralupa’s are creatures of murky, underwater realms that I hope never to adventure to.
The cavallgua whinnied frantically.  I looked around in despair.  None of the other cavallgua’s would come to defend their fellow.  It was simply too dangerous.
I could have let nature play its course, let the lontralupa kill the misty horse.  But it so went against an internal part of me, an instinct that told me I was a protector.
Summoning my courage, I picked up a sharp rock from the lake shore.
In my mind, I saw an image of Aylde, Rigg, and I throwing pine-cones at a target in the barn.  I had perfect aim, from further away than I was to the lontralupa now.  Was it that different, really?
Once I let the rock from my grasp, I knew it was different.  It was heavier than a pine-cone, and my throw sent the rock spiraling into the water.
I picked up another rock and re-aimed.  This time, the rock came very near the beast’s furry head, but it ducked just in time.
The rock hit the cavallgua on the hoof.  It neighed in surprise and outrage.  It kicked the lontralupa in the stomach, sending it sprawling back into the pond.
I sprinted all out towards the cavallgua, who was struggling to get back on his feet.  I grabbed around his neck, ignoring all obvious dangers of the wild animal, and the fact that the lontralupa was standing up in the lake-bed.
The cavallgua righted itself and sent a strong kick forward, hitting the lontralupa’s large, furry head.  That only angered it.  It moved towards us with redoubled speed.
My mind was totally and completely blank.  All I had was instinct.  I tightened my grip around the cavallgua’s neck and flung myself onto its back.  Fortunately, it was too preoccupied by the giant monster coming towards it to bother with its new passenger.
It took off back towards Kusa Hills, leaving the lontralupa hissing and snapping by the shore.
Once we were a safe distance away, my brave steed deposited me rather roughly in a heap on the ground.  He snorted and galloped away.
I rubbed my shoulder.  Well.  That didn’t work out as well as I had planned.
I guessed I’d be riding Vivanna’s Cavallgua for a little while longer.
A gusty breeze tousled my hair.  I shivered.  The sun had disappeared behind a cloud once more.
My eyes traveled upwards and into the sky.  It was dark, getting ever darker than if a cloud had passed in front of the sun.
The world became a perpetual darkness.  The distant shape of the moon, outlined in front of the sun hung in the black as night sky.
It was suddenly cold, the mist appeared once more.
I’d never seen an eclipse before, but I’d heard stories, how the eclipses prophesied nightmarish terrors.
I bit my lip and scrambled backwards on my hands and knees, gaping up at the sky.  It wasn’t getting any lighter.
Frantically panicking, I regained my balance and ran towards the mountains.  I disregarded everything I knew about staying safe in the moorland- never straying too far from Reed Castle, always watching out for wild creatures, never being out of earshot of help.
A rock jutted out from the moor and caught on my boot.  I tumbled to the ground.
As I pressed my hands into the ground to stand up, I felt a prickle in my finger.
I looked down.  Beady black eyes were staring up at me.  The Tegalon yelled in his unknown tongue as my own blood dripped from his pointed teeth.
I grimaced as I saw the flood freely flowing from my hand.  I gritted my teeth against the pain, but it drove absolutely everything from my mind.  It was an all-consuming monster, all I could think of was this horrifying pain that was eating me alive.
The world began to swirl, grow foggier and foggier.  Was that real, or just an effect from the Tegalon’s bite?
“Ow...”  I whispered.  Then, “Do you really exist?”
I saw a figure, a face.  He was tall, dark hair, but all I really noticed through the mask of fogginess and blurry tranquility were his eyes.
One was amber.
The other was jade.
“No,” the stranger whispered as his warm arms wrapped around my body and picked me up.  “I don’t exist at all.”