The War Against Aberon (Rough Draft #1)

Chapter Twenty

    "What are the stones?" Zaffre spoke before she could stop herself. Her curiosity got the best of her; Freya urges for her in her mind, not helping either.

    For a moment there was silence as the most important members of society looked at one another. Questions in their eyes, they seemed to deliberate without speaking. The queen did not give them the courtesy of making a group decision and rose from her seat. Walking to the bookshelf farthest from the door, the lady general removed one of the oldest tomes from the top shelf. The leather-bound publication was better described as a gathering of pages than a book as the spine was barely holding together. The cover, once supple and beautiful, was nothing more than shambles of browned hide.

    "The stones," the queen began. She arrived back at the table and gently placed the old book down. " Are the most important six objects in our kingdom." She opened up to a specific page with some of the most aged paper Zaffre had ever seen. The general lifted her head and made eye contact with Zaffre as all the others in the room remained studiously silent. She motioned for the young Felipara to approach and look at the yellowed book.

    Zaffre did so cautiously with darting eyes. Slowly Freya and she made their way to stand beside the queen and her leopard as they waited for her. When she stood beside the queen, she peered over at the faded images and writing in the old book. The two pages showed painted pictures of six gems in a circle. All varying colors and unique shapes, Zaffre thought they were beautiful and had seen nothing like them.

    "This is the Stone of Life, its magic allows our people to be healthy and strong." The queen pointed to a stone at the top of the page. Almost perfectly circular in shape it glowed red like a ruby. Zaffre wanted to scoff at what the queen said. If these stones were magic, why was her father dying?

    "The Stone of Aquifer fuels all things water in the kingdom. Keeping our lakes pure and clean," Valarie continued. She pointed out a deep blue gem that was shaped like an egg. "Next we have the Stone of Sun. This gem gives us our sunny days and good summer planting." She motioned to a bright yellow stone of ovular shape. Zaffre thought it looked vaguely familiar, however, she couldn't remember why. She was so focused on it that she nearly missed what the monarch said next.

    "There's the Stone of Nature, which has a power you can probably guess, keeping plants, animals, and all things living in our lands healthy," Valerie stated. The Stone of Nature was a deep green and had no specific shape. It looked like a rock. Zaffre nodded along and waited for the queen to talk about the next two stones, but she seemed hesitant. Noticing her confusion, the general seemed to gather her will and began talking about the final two stones.

    "The Stones of Light and Dark are a pair. They're the forces of good and evil, the shadow and brightness in our world. They're also the most powerful as they influence all sentient beings. Never touch one of them directly." The queen turned to look at Zaffre when she gave the warning. The emotion in the woman's eyes made Zaffre gulp as she quickly muttered her ascent to the request.

    "You will protect these stones with your life, they're what the Aberon forces are after since they seek to claim the magic for themselves," Malikai inserted himself into the discussion. The Felipara could only nod after he spoke. This was all very surprising information that she never dreamed of learning.

    "You shall head to camp now, your training awaits you."

    "What?" Before Zaffre could question the queen's parting sentence, she was led out of the room by guards who had just made their way into the conference room. She didn't have time for anything other than walking out as she and Freya were taken back out into the halls where they would then take her to a military camp. She was going to fight in the war, this was a fact more certain than ever now. She could only hope she'd be ready when the time came. 

Word Count-727

A/N:

Sorry for the wait and short chapter! This one was difficult for me to finish. I'm hoping to get the rest of my chapter's done by the 30th however, that may not happen. If it doesn't I promise to still finish the book anyway! Though, I may not update as much as people would like...

Thanks for reading! See you soon hopefully! 

Fingers crossed