Shyshaker Princess

Chapter Five - Mutual Silence

A/N

Hello everyone, 

I just wanted to say before you start reading this chapter, that there are three POVs present in this chapter. Athlaya, Vay and Leo as we have already met. The regularity of having numerous chapter POVs is going to become a lot less after this chapter!

Jen xx

Part One: Snows Fall

Chapter Five - Mutual Silence

POV - Vaylor Pridemore

The girl was surprisingly light, Vay found as he carried her through the crowd towards the castle. Though she did not seem seriously injured, he hoped that the infirmary would have something to keep her sedated – to nullify the storm inside of her while he figured out what was happening.

He prayed to the Ageing God that he could keep a handle on his own emotions – and the girl's, should she wake. He was too close to the situation now to avoid detection. He should never have answered that indescribable instinct to run to this strange girl.

The crowd looked on in horror, surprise and what he thought looked a little like fear as he held the girl tightly, his legs shaking not with physical exertion but with the effort to keep himself grounded. Whispers began to trickle through the onlookers. He felt their curiosity tinged with fear.

An Ellesmere princess. Ellesmere, for crying out loud!

The amethyst ring, now safely stowed in his pocket, seemed to weigh more with each step. The last report from Ellesmere that had been whispered along the dividing border in the Shuddering Wood was twenty years ago. The Silent Kingdom, they called it. Even their maps were unfinished around the Ellesmere coastline, the Crown of Windhart had only every guessed at the land and amenities that Ellesmere had access to.

But there was one key piece of the myth that had always filtered through the woods – Skyshakers came from Ellesmere.

Yet when Vay looked down at the girl with her blonde curls, high cheekbones, and pale skin, he thought that she looked nothing like a Skyshaker at all. She seemed to be just that - a girl.

*

POV - Athlaya Hawmere

Athlaya woke as though she was being suctioned from her bed, both slowly and painfully. Slowly, the beginning of her memories came together.

Her mother, the powers in her veins, the Wood, the snow. 

While she knew that any logical person would be feeling anxiety at this, at the horror of her journey from Ellesmere, Athlaya felt nothing but an utter stillness in her veins where there had been a rushing wind as she had torn through the Wood. Such a fierce wind that it had threatened to consume her entirely.

With each passing second, Athlaya set about assessing her whereabouts without opening her eyes. She had to be cautious.

Had she made it over the border to Windhart? She wasn't sure if it was a good or a bad thing if she had. She knew very little about the Silent Kingdom, but that she had no other choice but to cross the invisible border.

It slowly became apparent to Athlaya that she was laying down on a firm bed and her clothes were damp.

"I know you're awake," A harsh voice to her right spoke, sending a shiver down her spine.

Rather sluggishly, Athlaya Hawmere opened her eyes to see an inky black speckled ceiling above. No – the ceiling was not speckled. It was a glass ceiling and the speckles were stars.