Chapter 60

Two days later, an eerie silence settled over the mountain of Lady Maria's cottage. The extensive howling sound of the unnatural wind ceased in unison. Birds of prey and land predators stalking their next meal froze in place as though aware of the great unknown power, appearing from above the mountains. The sounds, the movement, all the signs of life that filled the dawn light just halted. The wildlife knew what was happening.

The mountain on the right side of the cottage stood above the valley of the northernmost tip of the Icy Cavern. The can of troll who happened to camp in her backyard stopped on their activity and watched the mountain clouds above them. It was the tallest peak in the area. Crowned with snow most of the quarter of the year and was known for its heavy dew and its evergreen trees that peppered the region.

Lady Maria gestured towards Anna to the garden shed, then she took her hand and pointed it into the little wooden stool. They sat and talked about their next plan. "Anna, I think you should know by now about your healing ability."

"What healing ability?"

"A day after yesterday, when you whispered something towards Harry's ears, I felt your amazing healing capabilities. It was the fire inside you! There was something inside you that conveys a healing skill far beyond my understanding."

"It does?"

"Yes, my dear. Now I want you to focus and hold the medallion, just think about it, no more doubts or any negative thoughts, just wait for it to appear in your mind, maybe your fire could help you in time. Just relax and focus on one thing. That medallion is the answer."

Anna followed her instruction and waited for the coin to do its magic or whatever it was, she concentrated. Much to Anna's surprised, she disliked the idea of assuming a healing ability could make her special all the more. She didn't appreciate the fact that according to Lady Maria, Harry might be in danger, now that he had been cursed by Icy cavern. Long after their predicament of Harry's wound on his palm and when his memory of that cave slowly emerges, he told them everything, about his meeting with the old couple and the ape-like community in that cavern. With that she heads, Lady Maria told them the story about the apelike people who once ruled this land. The one who helped the king of the Golden Royal kingdom to reach its glory. And helped the king and queen's, after the poisoned cursed ale of Lady Magda. It was often believed that they sold their soul to the cavern to protect their one and only Son. The true heir of Golden Royal bloodline. After the so-called decision, the Golden prince vanished from everyone and was rumored to be dead. It was likely Lady Maria's guessed that Harry Camilton was the missing prince, after all, only the bloodline of the Golden Royal could see the cavern's true form and she speculated that he was the missing prince. That was the reason why he had asked David to rescue Jerome, the only living Alpha who hasn't been summoned to his feral self. He was the only one who could help Harry to get his wolf back.

Anna consoled herself that she would be the undisputed Moon Goddess' daughter. The one fated to ruled side by side with the Golden Royal Heir. The descendant of the First. And she will fight for what was best for them and her people. She pondered how she might play out the prophecy in a demeaning way with Harry's curse? She doesn't want him hurt or dead.

"How about you combine all the coins, dear?" Lady Maria said, "Maybe, it will help you clear your concerns, and maybe this time you can read it."

"Sure let me try." She replied while removing the coins from her pocket and watched it carefully. Abruptly, the blast shook the last few autumnal leaves from the branches and the worried thoughts from her mind emerge, the trees bowed to the breeze as if willing to do their bidding it whispered on her. It was telling her something.

She knew deep in her heart that the air was a warning for her, for something terrible that might happen in the later quest. She concluded that her next task was to see the third prophecy and be quick. It was as clear as the morning light. She took the medallion into her eyes, reading it too close that she could almost breathe the aroma of tinge blood and the rusty smell of it, yet it was welcoming her. Calling her fire.

"Should I recite it loud, Lady Maria?" She inquired in astonishment. Her eyes never leaving the medallion in her hand, it trembled a little.

"Yes, dear!" Lady Maria exclaimed in no time. She waited. Her worries were tangible.

"In the cold land, together, free from thy curse. If thy heart concedes, one shall survive and one shall end. "

Silence fell, no one uttered for about two minutes, both lost in their thoughts. They dreaded the idea of losing someone close to their heart. And Anna was more anxious than ever. Someone will die. They knew that. Someone's life shall end.

Such disappointment, Anna shouldn't have to battle to recover the liberty required for genuine commitment or relationship, yet being with Harry was new to her, and losing him was her nightmare, to have him see her as a normal girl. They should be free to show their love to each other, to find many adequate and beautiful ways to reveal themselves. Perhaps in the human world?

Could they just go with the flow, let each day build a picture until they feel certain that when they are with each other, they become a better and happier version of themselves? Anna thought that was reasonable enough if they aren't in the Moonland. If she thinks about it, she can only ever get to understand a person.

However, it's when they were happy together and true when they talk in the way boyfriend and girlfriend do, that things are perfect. So, should she just loosen up and everything will be okay? She wishes it was that easy, she hoped she could just return to the actual world and forget all of this, even though she could not. She needs to finish this. 

However, being this open, this emotional vulnerability was hard enough for her, her fears and concerns for the future were beyond her. How could fate play her like this? Sean was the only one in her heart. She doesn't want to be so confident with him, and yet, those old insecurities came back for one last jibe. She wished it'll be okay though, she wishes it'll be comparable to having a summer cold, passing, enabling the safe days to return, and her faith in herself to thrive all the more.

There was a joy in how she did it, Lady Maria thought that maybe it was as if for a moment, a feeling of love that played in Anna's subtle smile and soft gaze heartily consumed her. But she felt better than that. She saw her worried about the man, for everyone. For David, for the kingdom. Lady Kristy clasped her hands together then she brought it over her heart, the medallions on their palms became a part of the rhythm of her heart, she murmured some prayers to the gods and wishes for her to win those battles ahead altogether. For the first time, she could see every day of Anna's future, and she wished to tell her about it but could not, Lady Maria wanted her to stay and be a part of her instead, be her daughter that she never had, more than anything she has ever wished, she couldn't bear to think her unhappy and so alone in the future, if only something she could assist within until she was old if only she could change Anna's fate.

Harry Camilton peered through the tiny window of the small cottage. The early morning sun was giving him uncomfortable feelings, yet he had to squint. Rising off the sun-scorched blacktop. He was tired, and his eyes felt scraped. The heat illusions combined with periodic songs of birds weren't helping him either. The enormous sceneries of the lake on the horizon made it difficult to maintain an accurate awareness of mind; he didn't feel as if his mind was streaking along at a mile an hour, but it was. In his circumstance, he should have been thinking a lot slower. 

Since the burnt from the medallion, his body has become weaker and weaker. But it filled him with a growing assumption that he was too late to regret it, that he was going to screw up. Someone was going to die because he had not been careful enough. He glanced at the two women angled in front of the garden shed, Anna was sitting on the little stool on the shed floor, while Lady Kristy was facing towards her. An entire box of bottles concoction on her side and some dried leaves. They appeared to be in a serious conversation.

Half sick with anxiety, his eyes blurring for a complete minute, his head buzzing with pain and heart beating faster, he pressed his hand to his heart and tried to slow his breathing.

Below lay a bowl-shaped valley twenty or thirty miles in diameter, so alkaline that it was white, barren but for a few gray tumbleweeds and a stubble of woodland scrub. It might have been formed by an asteroid impact eons ago, its outlines thawed bypassing millennia but otherwise still as primeval as any place on earth.

The uneven smoothness of a large path on which mirages of water glistened intersected the valley. Along with the tiny windows in the narrow cottage, the heat phantoms gleamed and crawled. 

He saw the horse wagon first. It was pulled off to the right of the short pathway, a mile ahead. His heart pounded harder, and despite the rush of windy air coming from the outside, he broke into a sweat. Who could that be?

Then he spotted more dozens of a wagon too, half a mile behind the first, surfacing out of one of the narrow roads towards the cottage. It was lumbering away towards them, and toward the distant wall of the valley; where the bigger path sloped up between treeless, icy cavern mountains. It seems like they were surrounding them. When the wagon came near, it didn't surprise Lady Maria to see David and a familiar man emerge from the first carriage. Harry looked at the blond man. He was barely familiar yet his scent was unique like a call of something wild, Harry realized that the man was a werewolf and a powerful one.  

He also approached the horse carriage, not sure where his help was needed. His attention was drawn to the wagon and the two men. Behind them were dozens of men in a peasant tunic, and almost everyone was gigantic and hairy. Are they a pack of werewolves? He thought to himself.

A moment longer he waited for a clearer awareness of David's sudden appearance and his companion. He feared that this was not good news. However, David didn't come so nervous. Harry was compelled to act, as if by an inner voice that uttered to him only on a subconscious level, or as if he were a machine responding to a pre-programmed course of action. Not this moment. Nothing. His instinct altogether withdrew him.

With growing desperation, he went next to Anna's side.  Maybe he felt optimistic because for the first time in his life he had found someone to which he was willing to commit himself. Not a casual engagement, either. Not an until-I-get-bored commitment. He will put his heart on the line for this, for Anna.

Even if she had told him, he could go back to the human world and wake up without any pain or discomfort, and indeed if he had felt that her release of him was sincere, he would not have abandoned her. She was his. And he was hers. 

The leader of the pack stood guard against the now ashen sky but stopped when he saw Harry. He had not appeared in the garden. Perhaps he had not even awakened that there were still many mysteries within this maze, but so much was apparent now though, frightening and odd. "Unbelievable! Is that you little Harry?"

"I'm sorry milord, but I…"

"I'll be damned! The prince. Oh good gracious. The Moon Goddess has answered my prayer. The heir has come at last. Everyone, hail the prince." Everyone kneels and even the smallest among the groups bow their heads. Harry at the same time was confused and Lady Maria smiled. David and Anna looked at each other in question.

"What the hell?" He asked Lady Maria. His face was grim. He looked exhausted and had attained a new hardness there in the last few hours. Lady Maria pitied him as she pitied David who couldn't take his eyes on Anna. Yet, the sudden appearance of David surprised Anna either, she thought the man left her again.

"I'll tell you everything later dear. For now, acknowledge you people."