Chapter 3: The Sorrow Begins *Aliana*

Fire was all around me, clouding my senses of sight, smell, and sound. Eyes being pierced by the bright orange of the flames, nose singeing with the heavy smoke and my ears filled with roaring crackles. The smoke was thick and all I knew was that I was close to the castle. I needed to find my parents; I was terrified and full of fear, but I would not leave them down here in the midst of battle not knowing if they were okay or not. I was young, but I knew I had to be brave.

Suddenly, a petite hand grabbed my arm and I jumped, until I heard the voice of my mother "Aliana! Thank goodness! Aliana, you must come with me, your father told us to go to the roof of the castle until things get better." Her voice croaked and seemed a bit distraught. She dragged me into the castle and up to the roof. It was the highest building in Telaerion, but not taller than the trees; trees in Telaerion were a grand height.

My mother and I closed the door to the little door on the roof and stared off the balcony. I searched desperately for my father through the smoke hoping to see his bright golden armor gleaming as he struck a human soldier. My mother was sitting beside me, and her eyes were straining to see the battle on the ground, her hand suddenly covered her mouth, and I followed her eyesight. There was my father, fighting with what looked like a human captain and four other men. My father was a wondrous warrior and very skilled, but as skilled as he was, he seemed to be weakening. He could not take on all those men at once even in his feral form.

Skyrel sparked his sword with the captains and then threw a kick at a soldier coming up behind him. One of the other soldiers cut him on the side; he let out a gasp of pain just before going into his feral form. His nose extended out into a muzzle and there was suddenly fur that was everywhere and his height grew significantly. As the humans stared in awe, Skyrel pushed away three soldiers at a time and slashed his claws at the captain, but the captain jumped away and Skyrel just scraped a bit of skin. He bit down on the remaining soldiers shoulder; as he did the captain struck his long sword blade in his side and it went through his chest coming out barely on the other side. Blood spurted out as the captain drew back his sword and stared at the large wolf. Skyrel shifted back to human holding a hand over one of his wounds that was now swelling with deep dark blood; he looked up at the balcony, at us, and fell to the ground.

Tears began to burn my eyes and it was becoming too hard for me to reach oxygen. I wanted to scream, but my sorrow was choking me. I could not seem to grasp my eyes into the image I was seeing or into any reality for that matter. I began to feel weak and then suddenly, my sight blurred, and everything went black.

***

"You see that rabbit right ahead of us Aliana?" I was four when my father began to teach me to hunt. "Yes father, but it's too far." A small rabbit was nibbling on a fallen seed about sixty paws away. I have never shot that far, so I thought for sure I would miss. "My dear, nothing is too far if you can see it as clearly as your eyes will believe." He set his hand on my shoulder and the other on the bow's grip over my hand. I pulled the arrow back, aiming as best as I could. "Take your time." I closed my eyes for two seconds and took in a deep breath and as I let it out, I released the arrow. The arrow struck the rabbit in the hip throwing it off its balance and a few feet away from the spot it was sitting. "Good shot my girl, a clean kill by the looks of it." His eyes glinted softly with pride as he looked at me, and I just smiled back.

My father was the one that taught me almost everything; out hunting he would show me certain plants and teach me about the medicines, what was edible and what was poisonous and everything they were used for. He would wake me up when the colors in the sky became bright to go hunting and right before I cleaned up for bed, he would give me short fighting lessons. My mother would watch us and sometimes help but mostly my mother was the storyteller, and the inventor. She told me stories of Telaerion and when she was a little girl, tales about how the werewolves began and tales her grandmother told her. Sadly, my grandparents were dead along with my mother's sister. I could not quite understand why they would want to leave Telaerion. My mother said they went out to see what was beyond Telaerion and never came home. Her sister died of birth and so did the child she was birthing; my father said he was terrified when my mother gave birth to me but was overwhelmed with happiness as we both came out alive.