My Story...Again!!! Chapter 2, Parts 1, 2, and 3!!!

Because you waited for weeks.

Chapter 2
A Mysterious Horse-Girl and A Strange Family of Mermen

They rode all night and most of the next morning. The middle of the island was quite a ways inland, and Adrian wanted to make it there in only a few days. Starr could tell he was nervous and impatient as he stretched out across from her in front of the fire. His deep green eyes scanned the sky. She pondered what boyish dreams were soaring through his mind.
“Where are you from?” Starr asked.
“The South.” he answered, never casting a glance at her.
“What part?”
“The most Southern tip. There is a port that ships stop at ever so often and a small fisherman’s village. But I was born here. Very near this place.”
“But how did you come to grow up so far from home?”
“My father was murdered. He had a hunting accident, they say, but I know the truth. A servant boy saw it all. His name is Royal. His family had great hopes for him. He did help me, that day, by seeing it all. But he said he was frightened. That must have made it hard for him to remember. Either way, I‘m not going to go around proclaiming that my father was murdered. I‘ve decided not to worry about that part of my past. It’s not that I don’t believe Royal, I just think the best way I can avenge my father and mother is by reclaiming what was stolen. Father would be happy to see the West in order once again. That was his dream. I wish to make his dream, and my dream, a reality.” Adrian turned over to stare into the fire.
“ My father’s men wanted to send me away. Probably kill me. I was told I would be going on a long journey and boarded a ship heading for the South. I ended up heading to the wrong place. They had most likely planned to send me elsewhere, because the next thing I knew, I was in a small port near a village called Foiseil Grianan*.”
“When did they do this to you?” Starr felt concerned for him. His eyes staring into the firelight held contempt, but she could see a strange sadness, too.
“I was three years old. It has been 16 years. They had stripped me of all the princely things that I normally wore so that no one would know I was of any high standard. I only know because of Royal and Mother...”
“She isn’t my real mother, of course. I never knew that mother. No, Mother is the young woman who found me wandering through the village.” Adrian laughed a bit. “Her real name is Callan. She was very excited. All the women were. They had a discussion on who should take me in and decided she would be the best one. Her husband and she had no children and they thought I was the most adorable child they had ever seen. It’s still a comical story. Then she found that dagger on me.” He pointed to the dagger that Starr had set by her side. She quickly picked it up.
“Stare at the hilt. See something?”
“Umm, writing?” Starr still couldn’t read his name.
Adrian sighed.
“It says ‘Adrian’. Get a brain, Starr.”
“I have one!!! Maybe you should just teach me how to read and write better, it isn’t my fault that nobody taught me!!”
“Whatever. Anyway, at the time, no one in the village knew that my father had been murdered...er, lost his life. Callan did not know what to make of it all, so she sat down and waited. Turns out, by the time I was five years old, news finally reached us. They told that one of my father’s advisers had taken the place of leader in the West.
“She knew it was wrong, but she loved me so much that she couldn’t let me go. She never even told her husband about that dagger. I never knew about it until I was eleven years old.” He explained. “But I don’t blame her. I still love her, even though she hid the truth from me.”
“How did you get Orion?”
An emotion flashed through Adrian’s eyes, but he rolled onto his back so Starr couldn’t see his face, saying with a sigh,
“I’ll tell you tomorrow night.”
The fire was dying now, so Starr found a place far enough from the it so as not to scorch herself in the still hot embers and lay down. From the other side of their little camp Starr could see Adrian’s silhouette in the silver moonlight.
As she let her eyes scan the moon like a milky pearl, the sky like deep blue velvet, and the stars like little diamonds, she thought about all he had said. About the South, the boy Royal and how Adrian had come to know him, about Callan and why Adrian had looked so strange when she asked about Orion. Oh, how beautiful his past is...Mine is nothing like that. She thought as she drifted off.
***
“Hold on, people!!! I’ll settle her, I promise!!! Hold on!!!
Now, my beauty, stop rearing and stand still for me...Yes, that’s it, so everyone can see what a handsome beast you are...” Misti held the reigns of her mare, Destiny, and guided her forward. The horse was frisky because she rarely saw all the commotion of the village. Misti figured telling Destiny they were going out for show would calm her down a bit. Destiny was very vain.
Misti tossed her red-orange hair over her shoulder. If she didn’t hurry, Adrian would get himself killed before she could find him. She urged her horse to a trot as they reached the outskirts of town.
“When I get to him...I’m going to beat him to pulp for leaving me behind...” She announced to her horse. “And then he’s gonna pay for taking my knife. I haven’t been able to live without it, what with him taking his dagger and sword too. And then...Ohhhh, if he’s met some girl and started out on that stupid quest with her like they do in all those fairy tales, I’m gonna beat him to death!!! How dare he do something like that!” She exclaimed. Destiny nickered a ‘How dare he!’ in response.
“I mean, what if they fall in love or something! That’s terribly cliché! I would never let that happen to this fairy tale!”
Misti continued until they were well away from the village and surrounded by the immense forest that covered the entire South area. She breathed a sigh of relief and Destiny broke into a gallop.
“Now, to head North or North-East? North-East. He will probably go after the healing shard as soon as he finds the fire shard.” Misti chatted to what seemed like nothing but the passing soft, warm and golden forest. Many people thought the forest ugly and frightening. But only because it appeared that way from the outside. The forest was the reason why the South had not been settled. People were too afraid to make the long journey South, by land or sea. But there were those who either sought a new life after experiencing some misfortune or were just dare devils like her and Adrian, who had moved South. And they were greatly rewarded. The South was a plentiful land, even though many thought it terrible and violent. Misti often made a point of saying that people were harder on the South, when the West was much worse off. Adrian would then go on a long speech a bout how he would change that someday. Misti smiled softly to herself.
“He really does get himself worked up about this. I hope he’s doing alright...”
She then snapped out of her dreaming and guided her speeding mare North-East, heading for the small Elvish kingdom of that area.
***
A few days later, a strange dream of home awoke Adrian earlier than usual. He was pleased to find that Orion had not run away at all the entire time they had been traveling.
He quickly untied his horse from a tree and began to saddle him up. He heard Starr stirring, and quickened his work. He wanted to be finished by the time she was awake so they could start out. But as he finished and gave his horse a reassuring pat, he wondered about whether he should tell Starr about this horse. She had asked twice now. Not that it mattered, but it was their secret. His and Misti’s. Not like Misti will ever find out, but...even the small chance she will...the thought is torturous.
Adrian turned as Starr called out.
“Adrian...Orion is already saddled?” Her voice was groggy, but she was sitting up.
“Yup, you can eat your breakfast as we ride.”
Then on to more traveling.
All day Starr wondered. But she never asked, as she knew Adrian was having trouble staying focused. She wondered if it had been his discussing of his past to her.
It was, indeed, his life that was bothering him. But mostly it was the feeling of uneasiness he had rocking in his heart. He sensed something odd...Misti had most definitely followed him.
Near noon-day, they came upon the swampy middle part of their island.
“I think we should stop here for awhile, so that we can have an early start and cross on the dry land before sunset.”
“Starr, I am crossing tonight, if you are coming or not. See, just north of here, there is a bridge of land across the swamp.” Adrian directed with his index finger. Starr began to speak, but he stopped her. “Then that’s settled, c’mon.” He was definitely thinking hard about something. He was becoming the same way he had been the night she met him.
They trekked around the mucky ground for another hour, Adrian leading Orion and Starr following not too far behind. Upon reaching the piece of land, Adrian groaned.
“What is wrong?” Starr asked. Then she rounded the corner. A perfectly dry stretch of land went in toward the center of the island, but only for a ways. Then it disappeared, bogged down because of all the rain they had received lately.
“Do you, by any chance, know how to fly?”
“Stop it, Adrian. Perhaps we can jump across the wet parts? They don’t look very long, and the road is not extremely narrow.”
“STARR, WHAT ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! That road is narrow as a-a-a-a”
“Road? Quit hyper-ventilating, Adrian. You‘ve been acting stranger and stranger since Friday!”
“I am not! You know how important this is to me! That shard is the most valuable out of all of them! ”
“ Well I’m not stopping until you calm down!”
“Why don’t you do so yourself!”
“Stop it!” An unfamiliar voice demanded.
Adrian and Starr turned. A tall young man with pale white skin and sea green hair stood in the middle of the first stretch of land.
“Adrian, if you don’t stop that, I will not show you the way to pass! Talking to a young lady that way... I should just leave you here, but that would be disrespectful as well.”
Starr gasped. He had gone from a normal human to a thing with a fin, dived into the swamp and was now swimming beneath the surface.
“R-Royal?” Adrian stuttered.
“Yes, Master Adrian?” Royal’s head bobbed up.
“I-Get over here! Why didn’t you tell me you would meet us!”
“I did not know there would be an ‘us’.” Royal explained, pulling himself out of the water and twisting back into a human. His tunic was a pearly white, his pants a watery green, and he wore a black headband around his forehead. A sparkling blue emblem was on the front. He began to walk slowly toward Adrian, his bare feet leaving watery tracks.
“Well, her name is Starr. She is a friend I met along the way. Surely you do not mind her?”
Royal smiled and held out a hand.
“Greetings, miss. You are an elf-human?”
Starr held out her hand, shaking her head.
“No, I am not elfish. I am a human. All the way.” She added, smiling. Strangely, his hand was not cold nor slimy like you would think. It was warm and damp, not clammy, just damp.
“Oh, my apologies, miss Starr. I am part merman, so I figured you might be part elf. Adrian said he would be visiting the elves, and I thought he might have already gone without me.” Royal explained. “It’s the ears...” he added, muttering to himself.
“WELL. Would you mind showing us that passage you were so gleefully offering to us?” Adrian began.
“Yes, I would be delighted to, Sir.”
***



So we meet two characters in these three parts. Royal and Misti!!! Finally, we have met Misti. I've been wanting to get to her for ages. Perhaps a bit too soon. But they won't meet up until Adrian reaches the Elvish kingdom, and that will be in about three chapters. Maybe less.

Ah, the word processor I use is Microsoft Works Word Processor. The font is Times New Roman. The letter size is 12. Adding all that up, only 21 pages on only one side is reasonable. Kinda. I really can't draw things out any longer.

Yes, Cyll, I know it's not what I sent you a few weeks back. I changed it, and now it's MUCH better I think.

Oh, Fantasy, I will try reading this chapter out loud to my mom at some point when she has the time to listen.

*What exactly does 'Foiseil Grianan' mean? It's Gaelic, to start. 'Foiseil' means 'restful; peaceful'. 'Grianan' means 'sunny place'.
I had the hardest time finding this on the internet. I know it's probably grammatically incorrect for Gaelic, but it's really hard to find Gaelic on the internet. So don't lose it with me if it sounds terrible. Peaceful Sunny Place isn't that bad in my opinion. (Sorry, but my mom and brother have been critiquing this chapter and my bro has been giving me the hardest time. Trust me, you don't know choosy till you've had a story or movie critiqued by my Shadow Strike)
Feel free to tell me if there's anything wrong, but please, for my sanity, have it be CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM. Not that any of my readers have ever bothered me with there criticism. You are good readers. :P

-Autumn