Chapter Seven

Liz rounded on Istelle "wait, who?"

"Soren...."

"Who's that?"

"...my boyfriend."

For a second, Liz just stared at her.

"Um, what? Your boyfriend?"

"Ohhhhhhh," said Lina, understanding "I bet he's the boyfriend of the Istelle from the far past. The redhead whose body Istelle's in."

"Oooooh," said Liz, she and Arin started giggling. "So tell us about him, Istelle," Liz was sitting straight up and watching Istelle with much interest.

Jude stood up, "Oh no, I really don't want to be here to hear this. I'm going back inside the cabin." Liz and Lina ignored him, their main focus now being Istelle's boyfriend, but Istelle, who was not in the mood to be questioned on that subject, called out to Jude, "can I come too?"

"Nooooo" moaned Lina, "stay here Istelle, just for a bit, pleeease?"

"Fine, just a bit," Istelle consented, laughing at her friends' eagerness, "and then I'm going inside to help Gwanwyn clean up."

"Fine by me," said Liz, "I just wanna know, what does he look like?"

"He's got spiky, jet black hair...he's tall, his skin's pale, but not as pale as mine...dark eyes." Istelle stared off into space. Lina and Liz exchanged glances, then Liz asked, "what's he like?"

"Strong. Serious...except sometimes with me, he's not always serious…" Istelle smiled, recalling, and Liz grinned at Arin, who giggled again, she had been watching their conversation, the changing expressions of Istelle, with much delight. Lina had a small smile of her own, "wow Istelle, you really like him don't you?"

"Mhm."

They all cracked up laughing, then stood up and headed back to the cabin together, leaving behind Alistair and Evan, who was commenting on the coming full moon when they left.

It was sometime in the middle of the night when Lina awoke with a start. She was laying in a makeshift bed of blankets on the floor, surrounded by silence and darkness. For a second, she was afraid, couldn't remember where she was. Then she remembered and sighed with relief. Of course, she was at Evan Greene's cabin, he had invited her and her friends to stay as long as they needed. Her friends were all asleep around her.

Now she heard one of them moving nearby and she cocked her head up and to the left where the light from a window on the other side of the room was enough to illuminate a figure getting to his feet, long, straight, shiny blonde hair - "Jude?"

"Lina!" he whispered back, "did I wake you up?"

"...I don't think so. What happened?"

"Nothing. I just couldn't sleep."

Linaria climbed out of her pile of blankets to stand next to him in the dark room. "What are you going to do now? We have to be careful not to wake people up."

"I've been laying here for hours. I couldn't stay any longer. Also, I noticed Alistair's not on his big rug."

"The wolf? He's probably in Arin's room. We should talk somewhere else...I don't want to wake anyone up."

"Okay...outside then?"

"Sure."

They carefully made their way around their sleeping friends and together wrenched open the heavy front door, slipping out and closing it behind them as quietly as possible.

Lina threw out her arms and twirled in circles, taking in the warm air and the dark night, happy to be out of the cabin.

"You know, after such a long day, I feel like I should be exhausted, but instead I'm full of energy," she told Jude.

"Yeah, same...I actually really want to explore this place right now, in the dark, but I'm scared I'll get lost."

"Yeah, let's not"

"Hey, wanna check out what's behind the cabin anyway? We don't have to go far. I just don't like sticking around here...too boring."

"Sure"

The two walked around the cabin along the side of the hill, sticking close together. They followed the cabin walls to the other side and came around then both stopped abruptly, staring in surprise.

They weren't alone. There were already two people there, sitting against the cabin. They immediately recognized Arin, sitting in the lap of a boy they didn't know, her head resting on his shoulder. He spoke to her softly, looking out at the full moon above and the forest below and the land all around.

Arin's and the boy's heads snapped around in surprise when Jude and Lina arrived. The boy stood up, setting Arin gently on the ground. She stood up as well.

Jude approached them and Lina followed him.

The boy was white-skinned and black-haired. He wore a heavy, dark cloak and warm boots. There was something strange about him. Besides his clothing. Looking at the way he moved, Lina noticed there was something wrong with the way he walked. As if he was a toddler just learning to walk, he was unsteady on his feet. Walked slowly, with caution and reservation.

When she looked into his face, however, he looked much older. There was a depth to his eyes and she got the feeling he knew much more than she. But altogether, he looked about Jude's age.

"Howdy!" Jude greeted them.

"Hi," the boy gave them an awkward little wave.

Lina crouched down a little until she was eye level with Arin. "Who's this boy?"

Arin giggled and hugged the boy

"This is Alistair!"

Lina stared dumbly at Arin and 'Alistair.'

"Say what now?"

Alistair started laughing, then said, "I am Alistair."

Again Lina was surprised, this time by his voice, which to her sounded more like that of an older teen, 16 years old maybe.

"Okay...I'm Lina. I mean, I'm Linaria. But my friends call me Lina."

"I know."

"Oh…"

He laughed again, "you know me better in my wolf form. But I turn back into a boy once a month when the moon is full. It's all because of a prank some bullies back in my hometown once played on me, but I live a better life now, ever since Arin found my new wolf form run away in the forest and took me to live with her and Evan."

Linaria was astonished. "Wait, so you live in the woods with a wizard, and ashy and Arin in a wolf form just because of some bullies in your old town?"

"Yes"

"But...but...how did they do it? How did they make you a wolf?"

"Can we sit down? I'm not good on two legs anymore…" Alistair trailed off

"Sure!" Jude plopped down on the ground and the others sat down as well, forming a small circle.

Alistair said "so I was bringing some fresh bread and cheese back to my little home where my mother was waiting, walking through the village, then the trouble seeking boys attacked me, which wasn't unusual...I was trying to get away of course, but they overwhelmed me. In the end, I was free with an arm that hurt for being twisted the wrong way, a scraped knee, and no more bread and cheese, they had taken it all, which was for me, the worst of it. When I came to my home, I was yelled at and beaten for not having the cheese and bread, letting those boys take them from me…"

"Jeez"

"Yeah, so I left the house almost in tears, although such things as village boy attacks and intense 'scolding' from parents happened quite often, I was still rather young and not the toughest at that."

"Woah"

"Right. So the other kids thought it so funny that I was nearly crying of course. Maybe they were having bad days too, they decided to give themselves some more satisfaction by hurting me.

Though this is a magic land, and much magic happens all around, the villages are usually pretty normal, there is little magic that happens in most towns. Take Gwanwyn for an example, when her people saw her, they drove her out of town. They didn't even know what an Ashy was."

"One second," interrupted Jude, "what is an ashy exactly. Like, how did Gwanwyn's dad have Gwanwyn? Since she's like, half-wolf and stuff…"

"An ashy is born when a human and an animal each willingly, for that purpose, give a piece of themselves up and burn those pieces together in any flames magically produced. The ashy, a mix of human and animal that were the sacrificers, rises out of the ashes, hence the name 'ashy.'"

"Uhh okay. Continue with your story then, thanks"

"No problem. So our town had a healer, a witch. She was very kind, had lived in the town for a very very long time and rarely used magic anyway, so she was accepted by the people as the town healer, they would come to her for potion remedies whenever illnesses broke out.

But the witch was very old, and not so aware. That day, she was out, probably visiting at another villager's home, or perhaps at the bakers, or the blacksmiths, or collecting herbs...in any case, the boys broke into her home and stole some random potions from her cabinets. About three different potions."

Lina gasped. "They didn't...they didn't make you drink it, did they?"

"They did."

"Oh my gosh."

"They tied me up to a fence, and made me drink the potion concoction they'd made."

"And you knew it was three random mixed potions?????"

"I did."

Lina shuddered "so why did you? Why did you drink it?"

"I...I don't know. I was weak."

Jude spoke up "that's outrageous. Crazy. How old were you then?"

"About nine years old."

Jude shook his head and Lina shuddered again.

"How old are you now?"

"Fourteen."

"Oh. same"

"Cool"

"I'm thirteen," said Lina

"And I'll be nine soon!" Arin piped up for the first time since they'd sat down "Al, I don't wanna hear the rest of the story…"

"That's fine," said Lina, "I'm not sure I do either. Could you guys tell us what the 'Akeefa' and the 'Lette' are instead?"

"Yeah, of course!" Alistair seemed to be relieved to change topics, "so, in the beginning, the Lette were the only ones here. The Akeefa existed, but they weren't so...big. And they were far away. Over time, the Akeefa has grown and shifted around. Now they are nearly the size of the Lette, with much land and a great population. And right next to the Lette.

Soon, the Lette saw which way the Akeefa was moving, and they began to see the Akeefa as a threat. When the Akeefa were almost to the Lette land, the Lette attacked them, and there were several weeks of battles that took place on the territory the Akeefa inhabit now. The Akeefa won the battles and took the land. They and the Lette have been enemies ever since."

They sat in silence for a few minutes.

Alistair stroked Arin, who had fallen asleep a while ago. Finally, he said, "We should put Arin to sleep inside. I do not wish to wake her up…" he looked at Jude.

"You want me to carry her?" asked Jude.

"Well...perhaps she would be too heavy, but if…" he trailed off. "I cannot, as it is not so easy for me to walk even without weight."

Lina asked, "how come you're wearing so much hot heavy clothes? It's warm out."

"I am used to being in a warm coat of fur. If I were to wear light clothing like you, I would be miserable cold."

Jude tried to gently pick up Arin. "She's. Heavy. And. Big." he grunted. Lina sighed, "you might drop her. Maybe we should carry her together? Or get help?"

"Oh yes!" said Alistair, "Gwanwyn is usually awake around this time, she takes many naps in the daytime to make up for it. And she carries Arin all the time. It will not be difficult for her."

So Lina followed Alistair back around and into the cabin. They stepped around their sleeping friends and Alistair came to one of the doors on the side of the huge round chamber. Lina saw that a faint light was shining through the crack of the door. Alistair knocked quietly and Gwanwyn opened it a crack and peeped out. When she saw it was Lina and Alistair, she came out.

"Good evening," she whispered.

"Good evening," said Lina, would you mind helping us carry Arin inside? She's outside, sleeping…"

"Oh yes, of course."

The next morning, Jude and Lina told Istelle about what they had learned the night before. The news didn't seem to mean much to Istelle, probably because she had actually gotten sleep.

All she said was "Huh, that's cool," and then went to help Gwanwyn with something.

Her friends stared after her. "It's so weird looking at that pale, curly teenager and knowing small, wispy Istelle from school is inside her, what the heck," said Lina.

"Ha yeah," agreed Jude, scratching his arm.

After breakfast, a tiny girl about Arin's age with straight red hair, freckles, grey eyes and a pretty, navy blue summer dress arrived at the cottage. Arin introduced her to Jude, Lina and Istelle as her best friend Adalyn.

Then Arin, Adalyn and Alistair, who was back in his wolf form, took Jude, Liz and Lina down to the large creek to play. Istelle insisted on staying behind to talk to Evan and make plans for what they were going to do next.

The creek was wider and deeper at some parts and narrower and shallower at others. The water here was silky and silvery looking, though still very translucent.

Arin and Adalyn showed their new friends the dam they'd been building with rocks and weeds and they had fun working on that for a little while.

Later, Arin and Adalyn ran off down the creek together leaving Lina, Jude and Liz alone together. Alistair had disappeared with the others.

Lina and Jude told Liz about the night before and what they had learned about the Akeefa being enemies with the Lette for many years now.

"That's interesting. I wonder if that has anything to do with the war going on now," she said.

"Hmm," said Lina, thinking "let's ask Evan when we get back."

"Good idea," agreed Jude, let's go find the others then?"

And the three of them headed downstream to find the girls.

Back at the cabin, Jude, Liz and Lina approached Evan, Istelle and Gwanwyn who sat together at the table, talking.

"Hello there" Evan greeted them "had a good time at the creek I hope?"

"Yes," said Jude, "we did. And we also talked a little about...the war and some stuff we learned recently."

Liz said, "we'd just like to ask, do you know what the war now is about? Does it have anything to do with the original fights between the Akeefa and Lette at the beginning, when they first moved together?"

Evan and Gwanwyn exchanged glances.

"Well, as it turns out…" started Gwanwyn,

"We know more about the war than most." finished Evan, studying the three. "Why don't you sit down, and we'll tell you what we know."

They obediently took seats, ready to listen.

"Years after those battles broke out," Evan began, " the Akeefa accused the Lette of stealing one of their two most sacred treasures: The Symbol of Air."

"What's that?" asked Liz.

"There are four symbols, one for each element, and each with its own unique and great power. If one individual should gain control of all four symbols, they would become unstoppable. The four symbols are spread out through the kingdoms, but the Akeefa had two of them, the Mark of Fire and the Symbol of Air before the Symbol of Air disappeared."

"And so the Akeefa thought the Lette stole it because they're enemies?" asked Jude

"I believe that is correct. The Akeefa accused the Lette of taking the Symbol of Air—"

"What does the Symbol of Air look like?" Liz interrupted

"I heard that the Symbol of Air is a spirit that lives protected inside an egg. The egg sat in a nest in the highest branch of the lone willow tree that grows on the highest cliff of the highest mountain in the Akeefa territory where the air is thin and the wind blows strong. The egg is guarded by a magical bird, the same one that brought you here: the Amazara; the bird of time."

Jude started laughing "how do the Akeefa expect the Lette to steal that? Sounds pretty hard to reach if you ask me."

"Yeah," Lina agreed with him. "And the Lette didn't actually steal it right?"

"Well, they certainly seemed quite enraged at the accusation and denied the theft with much anger and force. In fact, they chased the Akeefa representatives who had come to accuse them out of the territory. A few days later, the Akeefa attacked and the war continued, and in fact, escalated since then."

"But why is the Symbol of Air such a big deal?"

"The four marks, also known as symbols, signs, and emblems when combined together, create the most powerful magic ever seen on this earth. If one person manages to become master of all four marks, they should be unstoppable. "

"So," said Lina slowly, "if the Lette weren't the ones to steal the Symbol of air...who was?"

"That," said Evan, "is unclear." He looked at Istelle. She said "the Amazara, the bird of time, she brought us here to help the Lette win this war. Because if the Akeefa wins, they will take over the entire Lette. But eventually, the Lette will rebel, and war will continue, maybe endlessly. Probably split into many little territories, involve other...clans, and just never end. But if the Lette win, then the Akeefa return to their territories and leave the Lette alone, and the war's over. But unfortunately, the Akeefa are winning. Their army is larger, they have more, and advanced weapons and they have good training. So we were thinking….to help the Lette, we need to help them build their army."

"But," said Lina, "don't you think those who were interested in joining the Lette army have already done so…?"

"We'll gather our own army, from the sides of the Akeefa and the Lette and in between and on borders. Everyone who just wants the war to end. There are many people like that, in hiding everywhere. We'll call our army the 'Ennell.'

"But…"

"But,"

"But—"

"I mean...I guess that's a good idea. It's going to be hard...but what else can we do?" said Liz.

Lina, Jude, and Istelle looked at each other, their eyes meeting. They would do their best together.