Chapter 8

My father paced, waiting for any news. He was the Farkhi king, and I was his heir. We were the eyes and ears of all the tribes because we could turn into small things and fly. The spies he had around the castle had come back immediately with word about the girl. My dad sent more to find out whatever they could about her. One had been in the forest when she first appeared as a swan and had seen everything that happened.

He followed them into the dungeon and witnessed everything that occurred. He couldn't get close to the girl, as a fly, to really see what she was, or risk being swatted, but he saw the other tribes' reactions to her and as soon as he heard them repeat part of the prophecy after touching her, he immediately flew back home and told Volaris.

My dad immediately called for me and told me she was finally back. I knew the prophecy, too, and I prayed like everyone else, but I was pretty sure that story was just a myth. I was also certain it was holding us back. We shouldn't be waiting on anyone. Neptis, the Tark prince, and Oris, the Theran prince agreed with me. We should be taking care of all the problems we faced ourselves.

I was there when the spies reported everything about the girl. They'd seen everything. Yeah, it was all insanely unusual, but could be explained if someone broke our laws and mixed and we had been wrong about the entire thing. Neptis, Oris, and I didn't think it was that bad. You couldn't help your feelings.

I still didn't know how Belisarus found this girl or why he kept her from us. Even if she wasn't who my father thought she was, she belonged with us. If she really was the Princess Lisana, keeping her from her mother was also cruel.

Her abilities were also interesting. I was nineteen, so I was still young enough to remember the freedom that came with being able to change into whatever I wanted before my tenth name day. Neptis, Oris, and I got into so much trouble.

We knew the Tall Man, too. It wasn't completely terrible that he was protecting her. It was the other humans with her that we worried about. I knew she had been taught to fear all the tribes and humans as well. My dad kept ranting about what that old fool Belisarus was thinking, teaching her to fear us if she truly was the one.

We needed more information.

She should have been raised by all four kings or queens. She had all of these gifts, but I wasn't sure Belisarus taught her how to properly use them. As soon as she created her traveling companion, a tribe king should have worked with her on developing that talent, if the prophecy was true. I didn't know if she was the one, but I couldn't explain how she turned a frog into a man either.

My father paced, his muscles flexing under his yellow robes. He had sent someone to replace Tropos and expected him back soon to tell us what he had learned so far. I wished we could just watch her ourselves and learn about her. We needed to get her away from the humans and properly train her. My father and I both turned into eagles and one of the humans might suspect we were Farkhi. I didn't particularly want to get shot at.

My dad had worked himself into a state before I saw the air in front of me vibrate and Tropos changed back from a gnat into his human form. He had his yellow robes on like us, but his face was painted differently because he was a spy and not a warrior king. We sat there, while Tropos filled us in on everything that had happened since their group had left for Idric.

My dad and I were surprised that all the humans, save one, that she had exposed herself to so far, didn't want to hurt her. They were curious and seemed to want to help and protect her. I knew we had to get close enough to her to convince her to leave with us so that we could bring her back and introduce her to the other tribe-kings to properly teach her. It was rash and irresponsible of her to expose herself to save a human. If she could heal herself from fighting a bear, she had to be something special even if she wasn't the one we had been waiting so long for.

I knew she had the Vudos flute and wondered when she would play it. It would summon the tribe-kings and all the tribes. The only reason it hadn't so far is because the only place she played it was Idric, where it's magic couldn't call to us. The fact that she was powerful enough to have magic even on Idric had to mean something.

I wondered how Belisarus managed to find the flute, since all the tribes thought it was lost to us. I didn't know why Belisarus gave it to her and didn't tell her what it meant. I didn't know why she was told to only play it on the journey back, nor the fact that she wasn't told that when she did play it, she would be summoning the tribes.

It could possibly be dangerous for us to come when she summoned since the tall man heard the prophecy repeated when they touched her. He had no way of knowing what it meant, but he assumed it was bad. The humans had always been mistrusting of the tribes and the tribes had always been mistrusting of the humans.

I wondered what it meant that most of the humans wanted to protect her. We knew the Tall Man wasn't bad, but I couldn't explain the others. The one who wanted to hurt her needed to die. It didn't matter if she wasn't the one. She was special and needed to be protected.

We needed to get close to her, but I didn't know how. My dad also needed to let the other tribes know about her. He told me and only his spies knew. After he got over his surprise, he waited to call a meeting because he wanted to be sure she was really the Spirus. It would have been easier if she knew who she was and had been raised with the tribes to fulfill her destiny.

My dad decided to wait to call the meeting and see if we could get close to her or if she played the Vudos Flute to be sure.