A Kingdom of Tales (Kingdom of Avenlea #1)

Chapter 19

We spend the entire day in our room. Miles leaves a few times during mealtimes to get us some food.

A few hours later, we finally land. Miles carries my bag for me even when I argue. We walk down the stairs, side by side. When we're finally on the ground, Miles and I hug each other. It's been a long few days. You never really know how much you love the feeling of actual ground beneath your feet until you miss it.

Over Miles' shoulder, I see Sage at the top of the stairs. He narrows his eyes when he spots me and takes the stairs two at a time.

I spur Miles to run. Together, hand in hand, we run until we reach the city gates. Thankfully, we were the first off the cruise, so there's no line before us. Miles gives the guard our papers.

This time, our guard is an older man. He barely looks at the papers before handing them back to Miles. "Have a good day, sir."

When we're far enough away from the gate, we start running again. I sneak a look over my shoulder. I watch Sage get interrogated by a different guard. The guard stares Sage down, obviously suspicious of his papers. I almost let out a sigh of relief—that is, until I saw Sage pointing a finger in our direction.

I take both bags from Miles and start running. He's slower than me, even without the bags. We're far from the capital here, so the streets aren't very crowded. On one hand, it's easier to run, but on the other hand, we can't hide ourselves in the crowd.

We turn a few corners until we reach an inn. Miles suggests we stay the night here so that we can cover more distance the next day, and I agree.

He hands our papers to the innkeeper, along with the price of a night's stay. I'd assumed he'd gotten all the money from the king for his mission, but maybe it's because he's the prince. A prince would definitely have access to the royal coffers.

As soon as we're in the room, we both let out a sigh of relief. We at least have until tomorrow for the guards to find us here. We can rest for the night without worrying.

I thank all the gods I can name that we managed to get away from Sage.

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"Each of the eight houses had a patron god or goddess that had blessed them with their powers. Zadona blessed the Archerons with their fire. She is the strongest of the gods. And she is said to be the first to suggest blessing humans with godly abilities." Melody explained.

"I thought the Archerons had two abilities..." I said.

"They do. Alena and Zadona argued over who should bless Archeron. In the end, both of them decided to bless him. Alena is the goddess of war, but she is also the goddess of shields. She gave him the ability to spread a shield over Avenlea to protect it from other nations that seek to take it down." She continued.

"What about the Foxes?" I'd asked. They were always my favorite house. They had the strongest ability, which therefore always piqued my interest.

"They were blessed by Anos. He is the god of wisdom, which fuels their mind reading. Then there were the Griffins, who were also blessed by Alena. Their strength and speed come from her jurisdiction over war."

"Oh... That's why they're so strong." I stared at her in awe.

"Odia, the goddess of nature, blessed Damaris. She has limited fire powers; that's why the Damaris can only use fire in limited ways. Silo bestowed Raven with time manipulation, as he is the god of time. Cismos, the god of trickery, gave Florian the ability to shapeshift."

When Melody had stopped talking, I knew something was wrong; she'd left out two houses. I'd recalled the names of all the houses until I knew which ones she hadn't mentioned.

"What about the Valors and Astors?" I'd asked.

"The thing with them is that they were both blessed by the same patron goddess. Adite had seen fit to grant them both a type of healing. The Valors healed injuries, and the Astors could bring back the dead. Some say this is the reason Astor went mad. They say it's because the goddess spread the powers too thin." Melody paused to take a breath. "Of course, these people are wrong. The only reason Astor went mad was because of the balance of the universe. When you give life, one must be taken from you. We are not gods and therefore should not behave like them. That is the lesson Adite wanted to teach us."

I took in every word she said with the utmost fascination. "There are other gods, aren't there?"

"There are three others. Nophine, Odar, and Sudar. Death, luck, and flight. Nophine had chosen not to bestow any mortals with her powers. The oracle had explained her actions by saying that Nophine knew there was enough death without someone having powers over it. Odar and Sudar chose to bless ordinary people."

I wasn't very old when we had this conversation, so I'd had the time to worship all of the ten gods.

"The biggest temple in Avenlea is dedicated to Zadona, as she is the most powerful. Her temple is closed to everyone other than the royal family. There are temples for the other nine gods, but they are significantly smaller than hers."

"Do people pray to these gods often in Avenlea, Melly?"

"Yes, darling. Most Avenleans dedicate at least a few hours a week to their patron god. Some even dedicate their lives, choosing to become priests or priestesses."

"I want to become a priest, Melly." I gave her a toothless smile. I still hadn't grown back my lost teeth.

"A priestess, lovely... I'm sure you'll make a wonderful priestess." Bash pressed a kiss to my forehead, tucking me in gently.