Queen of the Warriors

Chapter 1

No story is truly fake; all are based on truth, in their roots. Every single day of my life, my parents drilled that into my head. As second in line to the royal throne for the Maelecka family, who ruled all of Evershine, I was expected to know everything.

"Victory, remember, everything depends on tonight for Tyra, so please, try to help her." My mother, Queen Ellyn Faechild, begged me as I straightened out the last of the wrinkles in my cloak. I mentally groaned. I'd forgotten tonight was the annual Winter Solstice Ball. The ball was one of the four times a year all of the races in Evershine were together. This ball was important though because it was the coronation and crowning of the Crown Princess. Evershine's entire society was built upon the royal family: The Maelecka. Maeleckians are beings of immense power, if they so choose to wield it. The difference between a human and a Maeleckian is fairly obvious. Maeleckians have tall, sharply pointed ears, abnormal eye color, long and curly hair, and are fairly small. Most of us are about five feet tall. Some are shorter, some taller. The royal family is distinguishable by our raven-colored hair, and the odd marking on our forearms. The mark looks like a dragon, but nobody is really sure what the mark is.

Later that night, I stood in front of my mirror trying on different dresses, each one more ridiculous than the last. Bridget, my youngest sister, laughed at me and told me, "Tory, you look like you took a bath in glitter and then just covered yourself up with shredded fabric." It's kind of humiliating to be told I wasn't wearing enough by a girl who appears to be about seven.

"Thanks Bridget. What should I wear, if this isn't gonna work?" I asked. Bridget pointed to a dress in my closet, one that I had kept for my very first court session. I pulled the dress out and my jaw dropped open. Red in color, the floor length dress lacked sleeves and hung perfectly on my body. When I stepped out from behind my changing board, Bridget clapped.

"There! You're gonna be the prettiest one there!" She squeaked. I smiled at my baby. Bridget was adorable, and most beloved.

"Oh, my. Somebody dressed up!" Misty's voice came from behind me as I fixed my hair. The shy teenager (at the moment) stood in my doorway and twirled her wand between her fingers. I smiled and ruffled her hair. "Don't mess up my hair!" Misty cried and I looked at her, unamused. Misty moved to sit on my bed, and in her place, Sapphire, Destiny, and Karya appeared. Each of them wore a different shade of blue. Sapphire wore her name, Destiny wore the sunset hue, and Karya looked as if the ocean and sky had mixed.

"Why is everyone in here?" Emmaline asked as she stuck her head in. She sat down on my chair, then jumped off as somebody shrieked.

"GET OFF OF ME! OW!" Justice's voice came before she actually shimmered into sight. Justice's gifts were Unseen and Shifter, which basically meant she could become invisible by will and become any animal she wanted. Emmaline put a hand to her heart.

"I have Rosy, Lyra and Cory with me right here, but we all need a place to stand, so move!" Olivia's annoyed command brought me back to reality. All of us, except for Tyra, were gathered in my room. Granted, my room was very small, on the account of my love of the feel of homeliness, but with twelve girls in there, it was a little stifling.

"HOLY MIDNIGHT, it's crowded!" I exclaimed and everyone nodded. "In other words, let's all go." I explained. Bridget pouted.

"But I can't go to the ball!" She complained, and Rosy, Justice, and Cory joined her. They all chose to be too young to go, but then complained about it. Cory once decided to age herself to go, then decided it wasn't worth it.

"I'll read to you as soon as I'm done with the coronation, OK?" I asked quickly. Bridget reluctantly agreed and used her teleporting abilities to pop herself and the three other girls to their respective rooms. "Okay gang, let's go. I want to be done by midnight this time." I looked at my sisters, who enjoyed the ball much more than I did, and they all sighed.