The Ashen Queen

by Sidney Gray

  “Very well. Ella, why don't you and Reed show Sofia around the village and introduce her to everyone.” Elder Yarrow said as he turned to Ella.

  “Reed? are you sure?” Ella questioned as Sofia stood to leave.

  “Yes, I’m sure, I think it will do them both good.” Elder Yarrow replied

  “Over the next couple of days, you will be spending time with many villagers, learning their story and how they communicate with the land, everyone is different.” Elder Sage added.

  The Elders all stood to leave as well, and Sofia followed Ella to the door, her mind spinning, going over everything they had talked about, she was still so confused, she knew she needed to learn the Ashens’ magic and the ancient language and combine that knowledge in order to stop the evil, whatever that meant? But how was she supposed to learn the ancient language if the Ashen didn’t know it?. The ancient language had been written on the walls in the mountain, but she couldn’t learn from just that, it would be impossible. She just had to hope that Alex knew it and would be willing to teach her. She was beginning to think this was just an impossible task.

  But one thing at a time, Mal would say if he were here, she needed to focus on learning the Ashens’ magic first. Everything else would have to wait for now. She pushed her worries about the ancient language and leaving her family to the back of her mind, determined to focus on the task at hand, the quicker she learned the Ashens’ magic the sooner she could go home. Although a voice at the back of her mind questioned whether she really wanted to go back to Selinus and the future she had been dreading.

  CHAPTER 25

  She followed Ella out of the hall, and she led her over to a boy about their age, leaning against a tree not far away, and she realized that it was the same boy who had stormed out of the meeting hall.

  “Sofia, this is my brother, Reed,” Ella said introducing them.

  “Brother?” She studied him surprised, Ella had never mentioned a brother, but she could see the resemblance, especially in the blue eyes though his were slightly darker and more piercing and right now, annoyed, at her it seemed.

  “I take it you're not pleased to see me,” she asked.

  “No,” he said abruptly, turning away.

  “Reed, you're being rude.” Ella chastised.

  “Why don’t you want me here?” Sofia pressed.

  “Why would we? Your people banished us here! Why would we let one of them in our home, especially a spoilt princess, I don't understand why the Elders think you're the..?”

  Ella interrupted him before he could finish, snapping at him “Reed! She’s here to help us!”

  “Why are you mad at me?” Sofia exclaimed, “It was my ancestors that banished your ancestors not me, besides it doesn't look that awful here.” She said waving her arm around.

  “Our people were innocent victims, and they struggled for years to survive, this village may look beautiful now, but a lot of work went into building it, our people suffered because of your ancestors.”

  “Yes I know that now, but my ancestors didn't know that. They were just trying to protect their people.”

  “How do you know?” Reed asked furiously.

  “Know what?”

  “That they didn't know that they were banishing innocent people?”

  Sofia was momentarily stumped, she hadn't thought of that possibility, what if they did know that some of the people were being controlled, but chose to perform the banishing anyway?

  “Reed now is not the time to argue over this. We have to introduce Sofia around to the rest of the Ashen.” Ella said while Sofia stood speechless still thinking over Reeds comment. It worried her that her ancestors would do something like that but then again, did they really have a choice? They weren't strong enough to stop the cult, and if they hadn't done something, more people would have died.

  “Why do you need me? You can show her.” Reed asked, surprised.

  “Because Elder Yarrow said we both should show her around,” Ella said glaring at him.

  Reed looked annoyed but didn't protest again as Ella grabbed Sofia's hand and pulled her along.

  “How many of the Ashen are there?” Sofia asked, trying to distract herself from thoughts of the banishing as they wandered back through the village, it was relatively quiet, most people had gone out to do their chores for the day. She wondered what it would have been like to grow up there, so different from the palace she had grown up in.

  “There are probably around a hundred of us here in this village. Then there are a few other villages in the woods as well, though not as large. There are also quite a few people who prefer to live alone,” she replied, and Sofia was surprised, she hadn't realized there were other villages.

  The entered a building closest to the meeting hall, and she knew even before she entered that it must be a kitchen, the smells coming from it were amazing. Ella introduced her to their cook, Willow, she had long white hair and an exuberant laugh. Willow also had a number of helpers, two of which were Ella’s friends, Ivy and Holly, they were twin sisters, not identical thankfully. They seemed nice although they bombarded her with questions about the palace and the world outside the woods and it made her suddenly realize how sheltered they were, they knew nothing of the world outside the woods, only stories they had been told. The twins were so curious, it made her wonder if everyone was as happy there as Ella had made it seem.

  Next, they climbed up a ladder to a nearby tree, they walked across a couple of bridges until they came to a tall tree with another ladder leading up. Sofia stared at it hesitantly, but Ella gave her a reassuring smile and so she followed Reed up and up until they reached a platform built high in the trees. Reed held out his hand to help her onto the platform, and she took it gratefully.

  She gasped in surprise when she stood up and looked around her, from the platform they could see the entire village and across the tops of the trees to the mountain on one side and hills on the other. She stared around her in awe as Ella pointed out different landmarks she could use to navigate her way around the village, it was a lot larger than she had realized.

  They climbed back down, and Reed led the way over to a large cottage surrounding by plants, rows, and rows of them, she had never seen so many in her life, even in the gardens at the palace. She spotted a man crouched down amongst them, pulling out various plants and placing them carefully into baskets, he briefly looked up as they went approached before turning back to his task.

  “That's our herbalist,” Ella said quietly, “he uses plants to helps us when we are injured, he doesn't say a lot.”

  Ella called him a herbalist but it sounded like a healer to her, the only difference was he used plants.

  “Oh, so those are all herbs surrounding his cottage?” she asked.

  “Yes, and you should see the inside. I'm not sure he even has a place to sleep. Our mother helps him a lot, I think she’s the only person he actually likes.”

  From there they went to the very edge of the village to a large field full of cows and goats. Reed went over to pat the animals while Ella introduced her to Larch, the keeper, and his son, Ash, who looked after and protected the animals.

  “Why do they need protecting, don't you control all the animals in the woods?” Sofia asked.

  “You can't control wild animals.” Ella replied laughing, she hurriedly went on when she saw Sofia’s frown, “we can communicate with them, the animals in the village have all been rescued for one reason or another, and they just decided to stay, but we don’t make them.”

  “Oh,” Sofia said, she was confused as to how it was they communicated with the animals, but before she could ask, Ash grabbed her hand and led her over to the nearest cow.

  “You should come back tomorrow morning, and we can show you how to milk them,” he said excitedly.

  She hesitated; she had never milked a cow before.

  Before she could reply Reed jumped in, “I think that might be a bit early for the princess,” he said, as he raised an eyebro
w at her.

  She glared at him, offended by his tone, “actually, I would love to.” she said to Ash as he glanced back and forth between them confused. Reed just shrugged and turned away. It frustrated her that Reed blamed her for the actions of her ancestors, but she didn’t want to get into another argument with him, so she ignored him and followed Ella as they left the animals and walked through more woods until they came to another clearing, this one was filled with rows and rows of crops. People were working in the fields, kids as well.

  Ella explained how connecting with the earth allowed them to grow better crops, they could tell when they needed water and when they were ready to be harvested, which they were doing now. There were also a few villagers who could tell when it was actually going to rain.

  “Should we help too?” Sofia asked Ella, she heard Reed scoff behind her, but she forced herself to ignore him again.

  “Not today. There are still people you haven't met.” Ella replied, glaring at Reed.

  “Who’s next then?” she asked.

  “Hunters, but they are probably out hunting at the moment, we'll never be able to find them so we'll have to head back to the village and wait for them there.”

  On the way back to the village, she also met a group of anglers down by the river that ran through the valley. Ella explained how the anglers were able to feel where the fish were in the water and use nets to catch them. She watched fascinated until Ella dragged her away, they followed the river back to the village and arrived at the same time as a hunting party was arriving back.

  “How did it go?” Ella asked the nearest hunter, a tall, muscular boy about their age.

  “Not great,” he replied shortly, “traps were all empty, but we managed to find a deer.”

  “It’s been that way for a couple of seasons now, animals are dying,” Reed explained quietly to her.

  He went off to talk to the other hunters who were carrying the deer and Sofia sat down heavily on a rock nearby. She couldn't remember ever being this tired in her life, her whole body ached, and her head was spinning. Ella noticed her sitting and came over.

  “Are you okay?” Ella asked concerned, “I’m sorry, we shouldn't have done this much today, you should be resting.”

  “I’m fine,” she insisted, although she wasn't’ sure that was true. It was just a lot to take in, she was in the middle of the dark woods with complete strangers who were convinced she was the only person who could save them. And she still had her doubts, of all the people in Latheria, why her?

  “Wait here, I'll get you some water,” Ella said rushing away.

  After a minute, Reed came over to find her with her head in her hands.

  “This is crazy,” she muttered.

  “Yes, it is,” he agreed quietly, “but if Elder Yarrows believes this is what you need to do then you should do it. I guess you're not really used to doing what you're told.”

  “Actually that’s all I do,” she muttered.

  He snorted, “Yeah, right.”

  “I'm not Queen yet, and even when I am, I'm not in charge. The King is. I don't have a choice in anything,” she said bitterly, “My whole life has been planned out for me since I was born.”

  “Well now’s your chance to change that,” he replied before walking away.

  She thought about it and realized he was right. Mal had said something similar to her as well only a week ago. It felt like so long ago, so much had happened since then. But it was time she stopped thinking that her future was set in stone. If she wanted to change it, she had to act. She had been complaining her whole life about not having choices, and she was tired of it, she was done waiting for people to decide for her, from now on she would make her own decisions. She knew it wouldn't be easy but she would be the Queen one day, she had to start standing up for herself.

  Ella came back with water, and they sat in silence for a couple of minutes before Sofia realized she didn't know what Ella and Reed’s roles were in the village, everyone also seemed to have a specific job, but they hadn’t mentioned there’s.

  “Well, Reed works in the fields a lot,” Ella replied when she asked, “he has always loved working with plants, while I spend most of my time with the Elders, and basically help out wherever we need it,”

  “Wait, so does that mean your training to be an Elder?”

  “Well that's not really what we call it, there's a lot of work that goes into becoming an Elder.”

  “But the Elders are your leaders and they make all the decisions, don’t they?”

  “Yes and no, the Elders make the decisions, but every village member has a right to have their say and can object to any decision made by the Elders. Elder Yarrow overseas the council but he still only has one vote although if they cannot come to a decision, technically, he is allowed the final say. Although that has never happened as far as I know.”

  It was interesting how very different it was to how the council in Arandale worked, where the council members were basically just advisors to the King. The King always had the final say, and the council members couldn't make any major decisions without his approval. She briefly wondered what it would be like if they made their decisions the same way the Ashen did, probably a lot of arguing, and nothing would ever get done, she thought. Although at least everyone would have a say, but in a city the size of Selinus maybe that was just wishful thinking.

  CHAPTER 26

  She spent the next couple of days with the Ashen, getting to know them and how they used their magic. She was eager to start training, but Elder Yarrow insisted this was the best way for her to learn and so she reluctantly agreed.

  She spent her mornings with Larch and Ash, learning how to milk the cows and watched closely at how they both interacted with the animals, they almost seemed to know what the animals were thinking and when they were sick or scared or hurt.

  “There is magic in all animals, you just need to open yourself up to the magic, let it in,” Larch explained as he led her over to the cows.

  Easier said than done, she thought, she didn't even know where to start; she hoped her training would begin soon.

  As Larch introduced her to all the animals one by one, she tried to do as he had said, but she couldn't feel anything at all. Still, working with the animals was by far her favorite part of the day. She didn't get to spend a lot of time with them at the palace, aside from horses there weren't any other animals within the palace.

  Her grandfather had taught Sofia to ride when she was younger, much to her mother’s disapproval. He had even given Sofia a pony for her birthday one year, but her parents had refused to let her keep it, stating it wasn't suitable for a Queen to have.

  After spending some time with the angler’s and watching how they used their connection to find fish and use the water to guide them towards nets, she would work in the fields for a couple of hours where they showed her how they used their magic to draw the plants from the earth when they were ready. They could also sense where the best soil was and when plants needed water. Then she would head to the kitchens to help prepare food, it amazed her how Willow seemed to know exactly how much she needed of each ingredient without even needing to taste the food. Magic was such an integral part of their day to day life, but it was so different from what she was used to.

  But she was surprised by how kind and helpful the Ashen were, she thought some of them might share Reeds hostility, but if they did they didn't show it.

  Curious, she asked Reed about it later that day when they joined the hunters on a hunting trip instead of helping in the fields like she had the past couple of days. In truth, she was trying to distract herself from the fact that they were actually going hunting. After spending her morning with the cows and goats, the thought of hurting an animal was making her stomach sick, but she was determined not to let it show. Reed words about her being a spoilt princess had hit close to home, and she wanted to prove him wrong.

  Ella walked ahead with the other hunters, so she dropped back to ta
lk to Reed. She tried to move as quietly as possible, but she hadn't grown up in the woods and found it impossible to move with the speed and stealth the hunters did.

  “Everyone in the village is very nice,” she commented.

  “Yes they are, when you grow up in a small village like ours you learn to take care of each other,” he said shortly.

  She glanced at him sideways. “I was surprised that no one else seems mad at me like you are,” she ventured.

  He sighed, “They are more forgiving.”

  “Or maybe it's because they know it's not my fault your ancestors were banished and I'm just trying to help.”

  “Are you?”

  “What do you mean? of course I am, I'm here aren't I.”

  “Yes you're here but are you really trying, it's been here almost a week, and you haven't made any progress. You’re still as clueless as when you arrived.” He snapped angrily before he stormed off.

  She stared after him, shocked at the outburst. How could he possibly expect her to learn anything, she hadn't even had any training. She hurried after him suddenly furious, but after a few minutes realized she didn't know where he was, she had expected him to be waiting for her up ahead; she did a slow circle scanning the woods carefully but couldn't see him anywhere, and she realized she had no idea where she was. She sat on a nearby log to wait until he calmed down and came back for her, muttering furiously under her breath.

  Hours later the sun was starting to disappear behind the trees, and fear was starting to creep in. How could he leave her like this? She thought furiously. She had never been alone in the woods, and the noises and creaking of the trees were starting to spook her. At one point she swore she felt like she was being watched. She yelled and shouted for help, but nobody came.

  She knew Reed had been angry, but she still couldn't believe he would leave her out here on her own, especially now it was getting dark, he had to be coming back for her, she thought desperately. She paced back and forth before finally deciding she couldn't wait around any longer, they hadn't been walking that long before he had left her stranded, so she decided to try and follow her tracks back to the village. If a bear or other predator found her, she had no weapons to defend herself. She had seen how dark the woods could get at night and she really didn’t want to be stuck out here on her own any longer, she had to get back to the village.