Merely moments had passed before an elven lady came running
out of the trees to greet Shade while the rest of the party looked around in
confusion. She gripped him tightly in a loving embrace, “Thank the stars you
got the message!” She said swiftly.
“The raven is tied to my blood.” Shade reminded her, “It can
ALWAYS find me.”
She let go of him and gripped his shoulders looking into his
eyes with care, “It’s good to see you again Shade.”
He smiled for only a second, “Indeed, but you know how I feel
about this place…how dire is he?”
Her gleeful attitude shifted to darker tones. She sighed
heavily and shook her head, “We needed to call you, what do you think?”
“Tell me the story of his affliction.”
She looked over the party who had followed him, “Who’re
they?” She asked licking her lips.
Shade nodded at her, “They’re friends of mine. It’s safe.”
She eyed them suspiciously before quickly turning on her
heel, “I’ll believe you, but mother will decide that. Follow me and I’ll tell
you what’s transpired.”
Shade quickly walked after her using his head to signal for
the others to come with, “So?”
“Faris came home one day after hunting like normal.” She
started to tell him, “Learned this part later, but while hunting he
accidentally inhaled some powder from an artificial plant that has since been carefully
removed.” She paused for a moment, “I don’t know how better to describe this
so…” She opened up a door that was carved into the side of a large tree trunk
and quickly stepped down into the small passageway. “It’s exactly like that one
time…when you…” She let the sentence fade away knowing Shade would follow she
meant.
Shade froze for half of a second before quickly taking off
after her at a quicker pace than before, “What?!” He said in shock, “Why didn’t
you contact me sooner?”
“It took a long time for it to set in.” She explained while
leading them down the darkened secret passageway, “At first he was just
exhausted, tired all the time, nothing too abnormal. Then came the nausea and
vertigo…”She took a deep breath, “It wasn’t so sudden like before. This time it
came on, piece by piece, affliction by affliction. At first it seemed like we
should have been able to cure it. Mother was the one who made the connection.
As soon as we realized that was a possibility we sent out that raven.”
She opened another door which led out into a large
magnificent room. The stone walls and flooring were of a luminescent pale blue
color that reminded Walker of moonlight. A large bed with grass green sheets
and rose red canopy caught everyone’s eyes besides Shade’s and the elven girl.
A tall, slender, elderly elf smiled warmly at Shade from the far side of the
room, “Shade,” She said softly, “Always a pleasure to see my lost son.”
Shade smirked at her, “You know very well you’re not suppose
to call me that anymore.”
She waved her hand dismissively at him, “I am the Queen
Mother and I am your mother, I will call you whatever I wish.”
Shade lowered his head respectfully at her before turning
back to the other elf, “Latiya, clear out the royal alchemist room.”
She nodded at him, “Right on it!”
As she ran out of the room Shade’s mother looked at him,
“Your sister has done quite well over the years. She leads the rangers now,
patrolling the borders of our-“
“I know what they do. I may be an exiled elf, but I am not
so unaccustomed to our kind to forget everything.” Shade cut her off with a
slight tinge of annoyance in his voice.
“Of course.” She stopped and finally looked at the rest of
Shade’s party, “Who are they and why should I not detain them?”
“They are my friends, and because they are my friends.”
Shade said with a nod, “They’ve taken me in, which is more than you can say.”
She closed her eyes and looked away from Shade slightly,
“You know exactly why we couldn’t take you-“
“Save your justifications.” Shade hissed, “I’ve heard them
all.”
The silence that ensued was palpable. Walker, hating the
physically awkward atmosphere spoke up quietly to Shade, “Your mother…is the
Elven Queen Mother?!”
Shade glanced back over at him, “Yes…” She said softly.
“That means that you’re-“
Walker was cut off as Latiya flew into the room, “Shade! The
room is clear!”
“Thank you sister,” Shade quickly responded. He then nodded
at Walker, “I’ll be back sooner or later.” He said before quickly taking off
towards the alchemy room.
“Stay here and make sure they don’t leave, Latiya.” The
Queen Mother said looking at Walker and the rest of them, “I don’t trust
outsiders.”
“Yes, mother.” Latiya nodded at her respectfully as the
Queen Mother took off after Shade.
As the door closed Rede spoke up, “Latiya? I say that
right?”
She nodded at him, “Mhm. And you are…?”
“Rede.” He responded, “Here with me is Walker, Callie, and
Gorgos.” He gestured at each one as he said their names, “So if you’re Shade’s
sister, and his mother is the Queen Mother-“
“Yes,” She cut him off, “That makes me a Princess.”
They all quickly bent their heads in respect, “Forgive us,”
Callie spoke up, “We don’t often meet royalty.”
Latiya chuckled, “Think nothing of it. That title gets me
nowhere fast. Captain of the Rangers is the only reason I get respect around
here.”
“Where Shade?” Gorgos asked her.
Latiya looked up at her confused for a second before
answering, “Oh! He’s gone off to the alchemist room to make a potion for the
King.”
Gorgos nodded and leaned up against the wall pouting, “Don’t
like Shade gone.”
Callie patted her arm, “It’ll be fine, dearest. Shade will
be back soon enough.”
Walker smirked and looked up at Latiya, “So, are we privy to
hearing Shade’s story? Never knew he was an estranged Prince.”
Latiya chuckled, “Not surprised and to be fair, he’s not a
Prince.”
“But if he’s the King’s brother-“
Latiya shook her head silencing Rede, “Shade wouldn’t bring
you guys here if he didn’t trust you with his life.” She shrugged, “It’ll be a
while before the potion is ready and the King can drink it. Sit down and let me
tell you the Tale of the Dead Prince.”
They all glanced at each other confused by the name, but
quickly got themselves comfortable. Latiya chuckled, “Well then…like all sad
tales, this one begins once upon a time…
The Elven King and
Queen had three children. The youngest daughter, Latiya, me, was their sweet
little Princess. Before her was Faris, the now King of the Elves, and the ‘eldest’
son, only a year older than Faris, the heir to the throne, Yarit. Latiya wasn’t
allowed to do much of anything besides stay at home in the palace and practice
‘queenly’ things, while Yarit and Faris would tell her tales of their mischief
in the forest.
One day the pair of
young Elven Princes went out to explore as always, but things were not as fun
as they had hoped to be. The pair of children ran off farther than they ever
had before, exploring unknown woods. That night they never returned. The King
and Queen, so worried about their sons, sent every single able-bodied elf out
to find them. It took the elves half a day to find the terrified Faris shaking
in a corner shivering with fear, but Yarit was nowhere to be found. After much
mental and emotional help, Faris was freed of his paranoia and finally able to
communicate normally again.
Faris told them that
the pair had been playing tag as normal. He was ‘it’ and trying to chase Yarit
down when suddenly Yarit dropped through a hole in the ground. Looking down,
Faris could see his brother, who was screaming in pain from a broken ankle
inside of a ritualistic magic circle. Yarit’s scream stopped suddenly and his
eyes opened up wide in fear. The magic circle started to light up with power
and a crooked, old, withered witch slowly stepped towards him snickering, ‘Perfect…perfect…’
It mused at Yarit, ‘You will do finely for my experiment.’
Yarit, while still in
shock, knew about loyalty and family. Looking up out of the hole at Faris he
shouted as loudly as he could, “RUN! RUN AND DON’T STOP!” The witch turned
upwards immediately and locked eyes with Faris. She had the eyes of a demon,
fiery and filled with passionate rage. Faris, overcome with fear, turned and
ran, but as he ran the laughter of the witch echoed within his mind, his very
soul, and he felt a deathly chill gripping its way around him. The laughter
only became louder and louder as the feeling of skeleton fingers crept around
his skin grasping at him. The next thing he remembered was being broken from
his state of paranoia by the elven monks. Yarit was never heard from again.”
Latiya paused and smirked for a second, “If only the tale
ended there…” She mused quietly.
“Years passed and
Yarit had been assumed killed. The elves were never able to find any witch lair
within the woods. Faris had taken up the mantle of heir to the throne, being
the only son left, and life returned to normal, or as normal as it could have,
but alas, it would not end this way. One day Faris was walking with the King
and Queen when he suddenly became nauseous, fell over throwing up blood, and
was overcome with endless pain. Blood started to slowly drip out from his ears
and his joints froze up, leaving him in a never ending state of torture, while
never passing out.
The King and Queen had
the best healers and alchemists in the whole Elven kingdom to try and help him,
but nothing helped their son. He was left in a catatonic state, stable, but in
pain, immense pain. One day a female elf, that went by the name of Shade and
that no one knew, arrived claiming she could heal the Prince. Desperate to help
their only son, the King and Queen let her in. Within a day this woman had
devised a potion that started to relieve some of the Prince’s conditions.
Within a week, the Prince was fully healed.
The King and Queen,
baffled that this ‘nobody’ was able to heal their son, insisted on knowing the
story of this woman. Shade smiled at them and quickly started to tell her
story, from most recent events to later. She told them that she recently had
killed her master, finally feeling confident she wouldn’t destine her brother
to a endless fate of pain. She had studied under her master, being the test
subject for nearly every potion for years. She learned to make every type of
potion under the sun, and more. She had learned how to create potions of
endless torture, and godly healing. Potions of wealth, and potions of sex
changes. It was more of a slave position as her master, a witch, had cast a
spell on her brother that would put him in that never ending pain should she
ever disobey the witches wishes.
Shade then proceeded
to tell them that she was not originally a female, but that on her first
encounter with the witch, that she had been turned from male into female. She
was the witches first successful sex change. The witch had to use magic to
enable the potion, but its success led to multiple potion-only formats being developed.
Before that, this Shade recalled a tale of two brothers running though the
woods. And one, her, falling into a hole. The King and Queen stared at her in
utter shock and disbelief realizing that this tale, was the same tale Faris had
told them.
In their frozen
moments, Shade took out a potion and downed it. Her face slowly started to lose
its feminine feature, and her breasts disappeared before their very eyes. ‘My
name is Yarit,’ The now male elf told them, “And I have finally returned home.”
The King and Queen
doubted him, but he was able to recall childhood memories that only Yarit would
have. There was no questioning it, he was their long-lost son, but he did not
receive the glorious welcome home he expected. They called him an abomination, a
creature, and disowned him immediately. They had already proclaimed him dead,
held funerals and remembrance days. His brother Faris was already in line for
becoming the next King. They told him, ‘You are not our son! And should you
ever try to return to our lands, we shall have you beheaded for such blasphemy!’
Yarit, his heart
shattered, nodded at them and left, taking another potion to turn him back into
the female elf named Shade before leaving the room. On her way out, Latiya
caught her and told her that she had listened in on the conversation and was
filled with joy that her brother was alive, but more importantly, cared not
that her brother was now a female, or male. Shade, with tears in his eyes
pulled out a vial and filled it with his blood telling her, ‘If our family ever
falls ill beyond our healers’ abilities, tie my blood to one of the crimson
ravens, and I will come.’ He gave her one last heart-felt hug, before leaving
the city for good.”
Latiya took a deep breath, “Faris doesn’t know his brother still
lives. Mother has tried to make up for what she said to him, but Shade will
never forgive her and I don’t blame him. I’m the only reason he ever comes back
now. He’s my brother, always has been, always will be.”
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