Allocer leans down to wipe his blade before sheathing it at his side.

He jog-walks over to where I sit, climbing the steep side of the hill nimbly to sit next to me.

“Well,” he starts, “I think that about does it.”

I nod in agreement as I watch a small handful of lesser exit the tree line across the clearing. I was thankful to the small handful of sentries I had in this realm. We would’ve never known this hoard was a threat.

My men make quick work of them before continuing their scan of the fallen bodies that litter the field.

“Not as many as I thought there would be.” I respond, leaning forward to set my hands on my knees. Allocer hums his agreement.

“I think this hoard was only half the size of the last one we had to knock down.”

I grunt in response.

“I wonder how they got this close?” Allocer asks, running a hand through his sweat dampened hair.

Allocer was my complete opposite. Whereas I was tall and burly, Allocer was tall and leanly muscled. I had two black horns that were reminiscent of ram horns, and Allocer had two thinly arced horns.

My hair was long, black and straight, but his was curly and white.

We looked nothing alike, but we were closer than two brothers ever could be.

I lay back with a thud, lacing my fingers beneath my head.

“The moon is full tomorrow.” Allocer says, pulling a leg up to rest his elbow on it.

I don’t respond at first, watching the clouds roll by above me. I enjoyed this from time to time. The skies weren’t this blue in my realm.

Sighing heavily I look over at him.

“Yeah, I know.”

Allocer doesn’t push the subject. He knows how I feel about this whole situation. Why it had to be this generation that chose to bear the promised child I had no idea, but I wasn’t exactly thrilled about the idea of having a baby in my realm.

“Fuck.” I hiss, sitting up. “Let’s go. There’s got to be a portal nearby that these lesser were using to get around. Let’s go see if we can find it.”

Elora

Morning rays of sun filter through the window, shining on my eyelids. I groan and throw an arm over my eyes, rolling over.

The day’s events prior come rushing back, and I shoot up in bed, my heart thudding quickly in my chest. I take a few breaths, trying to calm my anxiety.

I needed to get up and get moving. From the look of the moon last night, I’m out of time.

The moon will be full tomorrow night.

I sigh heavily, flopping my arm to hang over the side of the bed. Squinting my eyes against the sunlight, I sit up, running my hands through my tousled locks.

A fire was already kindled in the wee hours, started by the maids to stave off the cold. I swing my feet over the edge of the bed, stretching.

A knock sounds at the door, and Granuail enters the room.

“Good morning, princess.” She says, a smile playing at the edges of her mouth.

Her eyes, however, look very far away.

“Good morning, G.” I say, smiling back.