17. Duke of Helios

The house was now filled with the smell of camomile and Anna was stunned about it.

"I drank camomile tea and the smell never was this strong. How interesting."

The camomile was even harvested right after the rain and not in full sunshine as it should be, but it still had an amazing smell.

And soothing as well.

The rain became strong again and the three girls ate a bit of dry toast with some dried meat and drank some of the long-shelf milk she found on the shelves in the store.

This kind of milk can stay without a fridge for many months and she planned to fill at least a few carts with such a thing.

Considering that they are growing and each of them needed at least two cups daily. So she planned to gather lots of it.

They had no cow and they needed supplements until the milk don't turn bad.

She restlessly turned around as she slept on the ground again and thought about how much they would need in the next few months.

One package has four cups and that's enough for the two girls daily. But she is bigger and she needs to drink at least three cups so then two girls can share one cup.

They worked hard and she knew that winter won't be peachy in this place.

Finally, her tiered body gave up struggling and she fell into a dreamless sleep.

The night in their little cottage was peaceful, but village fields near the small river were flooded over the night.

Luckily they gathered the rest of the vegetables just in time and sighed in relief.

Even though the flood was bad, it was good as well as flooded fields usually grew better vegetables the year after.

They were not worried they will be flooded themselves as water rushed down to the other places.

After all, this plane was much higher than other places and there were never real floods here recorded.

Overnight the rain stopped and slowly the wind blew away the clouds and showed something the girls didn't see.

Birth of the two moons.

Both traveled seemingly together, but we're actually far from each other.

Manfred stood by the window and solemnly looked at the double Moon. "Father, you said that double Moon never appears twice in ten years. This is already the second time I see it."

Dirk Sole, Duke of Solos furrowed his eyebrows. "There is an old story about big changes when both Moon's appear at the same time. Those creatures on the other side of the world became restless again. Various countries already started gathering armies to fight against them."

"Father, it's been now one thousand years since they attacked our part of the planet. Why would they do that?" Manfred rose his eyes and thought of the strange three girls but didn't say a word about it to this man.

He knew his father's mind. Even small speculation might cause death to them. He was not really willing to harm them and they definitely were human.

But the Dark Ones always searched around and even killed many people only because of doubt.

The creatures on another side of the planet could change their appearance and were hard to kill.

Literally, you had to decapitate them seven times until they are dead.

They regrow heads instantly.

So to kill one you had to cut head as that was their only weak spot. One and only.

He brushed off his dark thoughts and glanced at his father. "What about those that came to attack is? Why? Why would they do that?"

Dirk Sole's face became stiff as he tried to avoid his question. "Let's go to sleep."

"Father, if you don't tell me the truth I will go hunting them down and get the truth out of them. You know I am not a soft person and I will not care if those two are females or not." Manfred solemnly stared at hai now profusely sweating father and almost cursed. "What is it to make you look like a frightened rabbit?"

"Stop!" A female voice could be heard and his mother came into the room.

Manfred looked at his own mother with strangely cold eyes and smirked. "Mother, since when can noble ladies interrupt talk between two men? Even if you are my mother, please watch the rules and regulations."

He always told her to get rid of these ancient rules as many nobles gave up, but she persisted personally.

This is the leverage he had to stop her speaking.

She froze in motion. "You..."

He looked at his father coldly. "You two have only two choices. Old rules or new rules. If You say new rules I definitely will use them momentarily. If you say old rules I ask mother to go back to her wing and wait to comply with to wife duties when father comes there. You two can choose only one of these two things. I inherited from my mother a straight line and I will claw my way to achieve it. This or that way, I will find out the truth. Now speak or be silent until the end of your days. Your choice... mother..."

Duchess of Solos became paler by his words and fainted.

Before her husband could use that to escape his son grabbed his arm and called servants.

"Quickly! Duchess fainted. Bring her to her room. Now!"

His voice echoed in the silence and two shaky servant girls went inside and pulled duchess out.

The door closed and Duke of Solos realized he couldn't avoid him any longer.

"It seems I can't avoid talking about it. Are you sure you can handle the truth? You are so young..."

Manfred slightly turned his head towards the two moons shining brightly over the sleepy mountain and snorted. "What secret? That I'm adopted? Or that I'm only living descendant of the ancient Helios family. A Duke of Helios is what I am already. What else?"

Dirk Sole paled and sat onto a nearby stool. His whole body shook.

"You... you knew?"

Manfred sheepishly glanced at him. "Now... explain why does my background matter so much and what does it has to do with this event?"

Duke of Solos shook on the whole body and started talking.

And what he said was not pleasant to hear...