Kiatana's Journey (Creatures of the Lands Book 1)

by Natalie Erin

  “There may not be hope for your creatures. Then again, there may be a way to save them,” the fairy said simply. “Vixen’s name is Vixen, keeper of the unicorns.” The small fairy spread her arms wide as if to show the group the perfect animals they had already seen, and they got the feeling she thought they were blind.

  “I am Kia, keeper of the Verinian Forest. This is Keota and Ionan, Accompany and Changer. The pups are Lottie and Lilja, and my pegasus is Snow Drop,” Kia told her. “I must return home soon, my land has been under siege and the only reason I haven’t returned is because I need this cure.”

  “Come with Vixen. Vixen can get you the cure.” Vixen led the small group through the herd and to a small shack on the other side of the open field. They sat on the lawn outside until Vixen came prancing out with a black bag, something hidden inside.

  “Where is it? I can’t save my forest unless you give me this cure,” Kia demanded.

  “You will not receive what you ask for until after you answer Vixen’s riddle,” Vixen replied. “It is a protective charm that the first keeper of the unicorns put on this land long ago. Everyone must answer a riddle before taking anything from the herd. Vixen is unable to help you unless you figure it out.”

  “Ask, and please hurry. I don’t have time to play games,” Kia said quickly.

  “Very well,” Vixen said softly. “What is as red as the blood that drips from its protrusions, yet is as soft and sweet as a babe’s hair? The gods bow before its might and the angels write sonnets to celebrate its beauty. It is the one thing that is the same color as Vixen’s hair.”

  “That’s easy. The only thing that’s the same color as a vixen is a fox,” Keota answered.

  “You are wrong, my friend. Terribly wrong,” Vixen smiled slyly.

  “Keota, what if by saying Vixen she’s referring to herself?” Kia asked him.

  “Then it’s a rose,” Lottie said. “Her hair is the same color as a rose, which is also the same color as blood. The protrusions are thorns, your blood drops off them when you prick yourself. A rose smells very sweet and the petals are soft. The gods fear their might because a rose is far prettier than even the most beautiful god. The answer is a rose.”

  “You answer correctly, young wolf. Where did you get to be so wise?” Vixen asked gently.

  “I’m not wise. I just happen to adore roses.” Lottie replied.

  “Very well. Here is your prize.” Vixen handed Kia the horn of a unicorn. “Stab it into the ground in the center of your forest and all will be well. Vixen promises.” With that the fairy vanished on the spot.

  As they were sitting around in the fields, each one of them pondering where Vixen had gone, the biggest unicorn they had ever seen stepped out of the shadows of the giant mountains. The stallion stood nineteen hands high, with silver hooves like giant dinner plates and eyes that sparkled like starlight. He was a perfect, spotless cream, and had a magnificent golden horn nearly three feet long in the middle of his head. His mane reached down to his knees, his tail nearly to the ground. They were wavy and shiny, flowing behind him like a robe. He seemed as old as Vixen, but his body was one of a young and very muscular animal. This, they knew, was a king among beasts.

  “Greetings to you.” The unicorn dipped his head, and his low voice echoed along the valley.“My name is Dragonstar, leader of the herd and Vixen’s right hand. I heard whispers of your journey from across the mountains and saw you on my patrols. You looked like you needed guidance.”

  “You were the white thing that was following us,” Keota said defensively.

  “On the contrary,” Dragonstar said, “You were following me. You couldn’t have gotten here without my careful guidance. Look over there.” He pointed his horn at a group of unicorns that were standing up on a hill nearby, their manes blowing in the wind. The group tore their eyes away from these creatures to look back at Dragonstar, but when they did, he had disappeared as well.

  “Here one minute and gone the next,” Snow Drop muttered irritably. But before she could make another comment the group of unicorns walked down the hill and began circling the group. There were seven of them, and they all seemed to travel in pairs, every shade from red to purple. The unicorns circled them, whispering amongst themselves.

  The unicorns and travelers stood there blinking at each other for a long time. Finally Kia snapped, “If you’re not going to say anything then let us pass.” She stepped forward but a blue stallion put his curved, knife-like horn down in front of her.

  “No,” he said. “You will hear us out.”

  “May you speak then,” Ionan said. He was looking at the equines with curiosity, and his cat ears peaked in attention.

  “Casiff’s own have turned against him,” the gray mare spoke up. “The sickness of your land has spread now to the plains. They have grown weary and tired of fighting for him. You need not worry about them now. The biggest enemy is yet to come.”

  “Excuse me?” Lottie said. “How do you even know anything about the…”

  “We have our ways. We listen to how the land cries and hear the gossip that travels from creature to creature. News of the Night Death has spread far and wide.”

  “If there’s anything worth knowing about back home my father will send a letter to me. I don’t need silly rumors to get me all panicked.” Kia crossed her arms and stared the unicorn down.

  “Family!” one of the mares cried. ““There is betrayal from within, and not only one! Each will turn on the other until there may be none left, lover against lover, and brother against sister. Many bonds will be broken to be retied with the enemy, but this may not pass until the first that is yet to come!”

  “What in all the Lands are you talking about? Have you gone off your tail?” Lilja asked.

  “The prophecy is nigh!” a stallion cried.

  “Did you just say ‘neigh?’” Keota asked slowly.

  “No, nigh!” he screamed. All of the unicorns began rearing on their back legs and screamed, “The prophecy is nigh!”

  “Kia, I’m scared,” Lottie shivered. The fairy patted her fur, her own mouth wide open. Lilja snarled and began to pounce but not before Ionan stepped in front of him. “Wait,” he whispered.

  They stomped their hooves as the leader proclaimed, “And she is coming, the child who brings the prophecy! In order to unbind and to set free, they must find the items three! And there shall be many, and they will form as one! Prophesy, young ones, prophesy!”

  “But not yet!” another mare cried. The unicorns grew silent and the travelers huddled against each other, frightened. “First they must face the Night Mares,” he whispered. “The Night Mares and the Night Terrors will be waiting for them, hiding in the bodies of the dead sick. He will sell himself to control them, and by his master’s bidding he will flood each of the Lands one by one.”

  “I don’t think Casiff would go that far,” Kia said with doubt.

  “Heed me,” he said. “There will be much to face when you get back.”

  With these last words the unicorns left. They filed out one by one in a long, curving line that writhed like a snake.

  “Spooky,” Keota said.

  “More like silly. Whatever that fairy has been feeding them, I think she should look into it.” Kia picked up one of her bags that had dropped on the ground.

  “I will remember their words,” Ionan said. “Most of what I heard made absolutely no sense, but I will remember it all the same.”

  “Then you are a fool,” Kia shot at him. She turned her back on the Changer and he snuffed, his cat tail twitching in irritation. He cleaned his paw and said, “Whatever you may think, what they told about these Night Mares must be true. Casiff has sold himself to take control over the sickness in its darkest, most real form. We’re up for a real fight once we get back, and I thought I had seen the last of war.” His claws retracted in and out of the ground.

  “By the sound of them you’re going to see a lot more of it. That was scary!” Lottie said, e
yes wide.

  “It was only frightening because you didn’t understand what they were telling you.” Ionan cuddled next to the pup in a very father-like manner. “Don’t worry about it and it will all sort out.”

  “I like Dragonstar,” Lilja said excitedly. “He doesn’t go around saying crazy things. He just slips in and out when he wants to and if you’re bad you go splat under his feet. I wonder if we can find him again.” He looked around eagerly.

  “This isn’t a game of hide and seek. We’ve got the cure, now let’s go,” Kia said.

  Ionan started pacing back and forth and muttered, “Prophecy…three items…a child? What does all this mean?”

  Kia jumped as something landed on her shoulder. It was only Malaki’s messenger falcon, and it had a new note on its back.

  “Thank you,” Kia replied, taking the note. She unraveled the message and began to read.

  KIA,

  There has been news of the sickness growing worse as Casiff moves in his forces. You had better take a shortcut through the Black Woods if you want to make it home before Casiff destroys everything. Don’t worry about finding it; it’s circled on the map from previous use. Careful. Too many people get hurt or lost in there.

  “THE BLACK WOODS,” Kia murmured. She crumpled up the note and stuffed it in her dress pocket before grabbing her bag.

  “Let’s get going. It’s going to take a while to get home,” Keota urged.

  “Home?” Kia asked with a strange look.

  Keota looked cowed. “Oh, sorry…is it alright if I call it that?”

  Kia smiled. “You’ve done as much as I have on this quest. I guess you can.”

  Keota laughed, but Ionan didn’t even smile. He looked at Keota and whispered under his breath, “But Nesting’s Haven is our home.”

  The Accompany didn’t hear him.

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  WOLF’S POISON

  A nother long, cold six days and they were back out of the mountains. They traveled eagerly now, with the cure in hand and hope renewed. Ionan’s and Snow Drop’s muscles soon were too strained to fly anymore, and the group began walking for a few days to rest their wings. Lottie and Lilja decided to walk on the ground to ease Snow Drop’s load, and were able to keep up with the horses due to their growing bodies and the immense endurance they had inherited from their ancestors.

  Trees soon began where the Ice Borns ended and they charged through the brush, wondering which fairy owned this land. It was soon obvious however that no fairy resided here. The animals were too wild and the plant life too mangled to indicate being taken care of by a master. Indeed, the deeper they went into the trees, the darker it got.

  “Be on your guard,” Kia warned. “Anything could be hiding in this forest.”

  Ionan himself was more cautious than usual. His hooves danced nervously on the ground, and he jumped at the crackling sounds of the branches, shielding Keota and the pups from harm with his wings.

  “What’s his deal?” Kia asked sharply, more apprehensive than annoyed.

  “Changers are naturally overprotective. It’s a survival instinct to keep us alive, and a reason why they get jealous so easily,” Keota explained behind Ionan’s neck.

  “Better me than him,” Ionan said in a hushed voice. He perked his ears forward and said, “Some creature is moving out there. I suspect we’re being followed.”

  “What do you smell, Lottie?” Kia asked, noticing the wolf’s nose flaring. The pup took a few steps forward and said, “I’m not sure. It smells like…blood.”

  “Not a good sign. Let’s hope something has died nearby, instead of it being what I think it is.” Kia’s face looked grim.

  “What do you think it is?” Keota asked, looking fearfully at the groaning trees.

  “An Ortusan.” Kia said nervously. She urged Snow Drop on, who kept shying at the faces in the tree trunks.

  “Well if we do run into one…” Keota asked. “How do we kill it?”

  “We don’t,” Kia answered. “Ortusans can only be killed by a true wolf’s bite.”

  “A true wolf’s bite? What does that mean?” Lilja asked from her side.

  “A wolf’s bite is poisonous to Ortusans. Since they only take the appearance of wolves to better hunt and deceive they are simply an image, a lie of what they really are. If a real wolf bites them a poisonous reaction spreads and kills them.”

  “We can protect you then. You have nothing to worry about,” Lilja said by her side.

  “I’m not risking your necks to save mine, thank you very much,” Kia snapped. “Who do you think I am, sending kids out to fight monsters while the adults run away? You must always be aware when fighting Ortusans. They have the power in their venom to make you forget.”

  “Forget what?” Keota said.

  “Forget everything! You can’t remember your past, your loved ones, or even your name. They use it while hunting to get their prey confused. If you get the venom in your blood your memory will vanish. If you survive it will return eventually, but usually the victims don’t last that long. Luckily Ortusans don’t use their venom that often. Takes too much energy, so much that they often lose their dinner while doing it.”

  “I thought if an Ortusan bit you and you lived you turned into one of them,” Keota said.

  “It takes a lot of venom for an Ortusan to change you into one of them,” Kia said. “They’d rather just make you their dinner.”

  “If they’re that horrible why don’t you just cast them out of the Lands?” Keota asked.

  “I can’t get rid of the Ortusans. It’s a law that you can’t banish any race from the Lands.”

  “But I thought you were the princess,” Keota said with a small voice.

  Kia let out a skeptical noise. “Technically I could override them but that would make the citizens of Mortica very angry.”

  “Mortica? What is that?” Ionan said.

  “It’s what the Lands were called many years ago, back in the old fairy language. Nobody uses the name anymore, ever since the humans came and taught us their tongue. It’s easier to speak like a human than to remember all the different words in fairy. I just used it out of old habit, because my mother always calls it Mortica. Unlike your Great One, I don’t have unlimited power.”

  “The Great One is not all knowing,” Ionan said. “He dwells in the forms of anything he wishes, whether it be a fairy or an animal or even a plant. At first appearance the Great One is a normal creature, but when his need is called he changes into a shining, otherworldly being of light and power.”

  “So really, the Great One is a light spirit who watches over Accompanies and Changers,” Kia said.

  “The Great One guides lost Accompanies and Changers to their true destinies and stops wars with his peacekeeping manner. The last and current Great One ended the Despondent long ago.”

  “The Despondent…” Kia whispered. “Why is that name familiar?”

  “Didn’t you learn any history?” Keota asked. The group stopped in their tracks, shocked he knew more than Kia did. He looked at them and said, “What? I know stuff too. The Despondent was a ten year war fought between fairies and Accompanies. There was a horrid famine in the Lands and my people never got any sun since we had to hide all the time, so both sides were malnourished. The population dropped like a rock and if you lived through the next night, you were considered lucky. I had always considered the Despondent to be just a fairy tale, but I realize that it must be true now.”

  “Didn’t the Ortusans and other dark things flourish during this time?” Kia asked, recalling her schooling from years ago.

  “I would think so. It was when the laws of Accompanies being the masters of Changers were first laid down.”

  “So who won?” Lottie asked, interested to hear this story.

  “The fairies,” Keota said. “There were too few of us and too many of them. The fairies got the Lands and we fled to Nesting’s Haven.”

  “So that means your races are natural bor
n enemies,” Lilja said in wonder, looking at the two.

  Keota shrugged. “I guess. That’s why it’s forbidden for me to associate with Kia, though I’m still going to do it anyway.” He smiled sweetly at his companion and she smiled back.

  “If the Great One found out that you two were in love, he’d kill us all,” Ionan said. “Which is why you should not be together. It’s irresponsible.”

  “What do you know about being in love, Ionan?” Kia said. “If you felt this way you’d understand.”

  “I know exactly how love feels, Miss Kia. Probably more so than you, and you’re both putting us all in danger,” Ionan argued. “Fairies and Accompanies shouldn’t be together. It isn’t right.”

  “I’d rather risk death to be with Kia than survive and pretend we didn’t have feelings for each other,” Keota said. “Besides, how would the Great One ever find out?”

  Lottie and Lilja looked at each other, then at the couple. The past history of war between their kinds didn’t seem to bother Kia and Keota much, if at all. Lilja went to speak again but Ionan suddenly halted in his tracks and said, “Hush. I hear it.”

  “Hear what?” Kia whispered.

  Ionan didn’t answer right away. “I have a feeling we’re being…hunted.”

  Kia put her hand on her dagger. As the stars loomed ahead all of them felt an ominous chill in the air. There was a rustling in the bushes ahead and the group prepared to spring, but it was only a simple she-wolf, one who had black fur with caramel streaks. She looked well fed and was almost as beautiful as the unicorns they had seen before.

  “Are you lost?” the she-wolf asked, putting out a small paw daintily. “You look very tired.”

  The travelers sighed wearily. “We’re not exactly lost, but we do need a place to stay,” Kia said. “Who are you?”

  The wolf flashed her white canines prettily. “I am Carmilla. I live here in the Black Woods. There’s an old castle further down that you could rest in. I could lead you to it.”

  “I don’t know…” Lilja said in mistrust. He began to walk the other way