Transcendance

6

We stopped to rest for food around midday. It was nice to be able to stretch out my legs after so many hours of sitting. Lunch for everyone was a few roast rabbits, various small loaves of bread sprinkled with seeds, a few wheels of small, soft cheese, and some kind of green. Leira looked depressed as she sat down next to us. Brett, Rhys, and Rhyana sit next to us.

"How are you faring, Princess Leira?" Brett asked as he tore into a rabbit leg.

"I suppose I'm doing alright for myself at the moment." Leira sighed.

"I'm sorry this is happening to you, Princess." Rhyana spoke.

"It is alright. This is not your fault." Leira sighed as she started to spread some cheese into a bread roll cut in half.

"Things have been hard for everyone." Rhys spoke. "A lot of crop failures and angry mobs have been happening in neighboring villages. The dying rot is getting closer to us."

"You're not helping." Brett chuckled. "I'm sure we'll be okay. We've survived worse.

"If one of the Solar or Lunar Royals had survived the ordeals, we wouldn't be going through this." Rhys spoke.

"Ugh, not this again, old man." Rhyanna sighed. "I apologize, my father is getting quite old. Four hundred years old."

"Wow." Kyra spoke. "How long would Brett and I live?"

"Two hundred." Brett sighed. "Still good for what we are. Did you always know?"

"About me being half-Fae? I did..." Kyra sighed. "When I was ten. I cast a burning spell on my mother without knowing. We didn't get along to say the least."

"My mother never told me who my father was until I was eighteen." Brett spoke. "She had fallen for a human Agent but he died during a mission and she never told anyone about him."

"That sucks." Kyra responded. "I know my father was a Fae nobleman but that was it."

"Anyway, what is a Solar or Lunar Royal?" Jackson asked.

"Before the Fae took over, this realm had primordial deities known as the Solar and Lunar Deities ruling it." Rhys spoke. "However, the deities ran from our realm at the end of the ordeals and us Fae were left to fend for ourselves. Their magic was keeping our realm alive but now it is dying as the line dies out."

"How did it die out?" Heather asked.

"That's a longer story for another day. Maybe Princess Leira would love to tell you the story herself." We all look at her and her cheeks flush pink.

"Don't stare all at once." Leira chuckled.

"We must get going. There's some soldiers telling me they saw some beast in the shadows." A soldier walked up to us. We start to wrap up our lunch.

"Hey, Heather and Jackson, why don't you switch with Kyra and Erika?" Rhyanna spoke. "That way you'll get to move your legs more."

"Okay." I guess we were being delegated to marching duty. Oh joy. Kyra and I start to walk with the other Fae. I notice she's keeping a close eye on Brett and Leira.

"You know, I'm ready for this to be over with." Kyra sighed. "I already miss my couch."

I chuckled. "I miss my bed."

Jackson and Heather were chatting with Leira. Leira looks out of the window.

"I wish I could be walking." She says. "My bottom hurts from all this sitting."

"We'll travel until sunset, my lady. We'll have our dinner and rest for the night." Rhys spoke.

"That sounds good." Leira sighed. She was rather pretty, with auburn hair and bright green eyes. I could see why she would be coveted. She looked depressed as any child bride would.

Kyra briefly looked behind her.

"Everything okay, Ky?" I asked her.

"I thought I saw something." Kyra sighed.

"I heard you guys discussing the Brendan thing earlier." Jackson says, looking at us from the carriage.

"Did you?" I raised my brow at him.

"I think we're onto something." Jackson crossed his arms. "I got that same vibe from that King Leandrus."

I wonder how much he heard.

"So we are all in agreement that he's a creep?" Heather asked. We all said yes.

"Anyway, we should probably tell Amanda and them when we get back from escorting Princess Leira." Jackson spoke. "Maybe we'll be able to think of a plan to save Brendan and the kingdom."

"You're right." Kyra asked. "I wish we didn't have to wait on that."

"Yeah but the princess is the reason we're here. We have to make sure she's safe." Kyra says.

Leira sighed. I feel really, really bad for her. She's barely eighteen and already being forced to be someone's wife and a future mother, knowing how these types of places work. At least Brendan and I loved each other. I don't think she fully knows her "prince".

"So have you actually been to Meryll?" Heather asked her.

"Once for my betrothal." Leira responded. "It was rather dreary and the air smelled of manure."

"I can see why you're not excited." Jackson spoke. Leira chucked.

"Some Fae don't get the concept of hygiene. Meryll Fae are one of them." Leira sighed. "I wish I had been able to bring my books with me. But Mother said I'll have no use for them."

"Wow, that's shitty. What kind of books do you like?" Heather asked.

"Well, I do enjoy romances and histories." Leira sighed, smiling. Heather opened up her bag.

"Well, you might like this. I was trying to finish it back in the palace but I didn't get the chance to." Heather handed her what looked like one of Alison Weir's books. I couldn't tell which one.

"Wow, what is this?" Leira asked, browsing through the covers.

"It's about a queen from our world trying to save her position as Queen and her love for her King. You might like it." Heather smiled at her.

"Wow, thank you, Heather." Leira hugged her. Well, that was nice of her.