Red eyes flickered as they watched the arrivals from the shadow of the trees, the one who seemed to be alert at all times stared in his direction. For a brief moment, Cleon thought he was seen, but the Lycanthrope sniffed the air and looked away. Perhaps he could smell him but that was it, in a forest this large there were many scents. And he was sure to stay just far away so he would mingle with all else. He and his brother had been stationed at the lake for two and a half years now, this was what they were waiting for. Four Lycanthropes left the realm and four have returned, with an elvish beauty.
The Queen had set Cleon and Clovis to guard for their return. It wasn’t like King Keagan to send out his Lycanthropes, he usually kept them close at hand. So it must have been something very important. Queen Fay didn’t trust the King of the elves, she was always nosing around Ionna for word of his on-goings. Cleon surmised it was because the King had declined her marriage proposal. The Queen had been of the mind to join the Fair Folk to the Elven Folk by the marriage and ruling together. Their heir would have been one of the most powerful rulers in all Milbar.
With a tilt of his head, Cleon watched as the small group settled in for the night, the elf curled up between two Lycanthropes. The black was laying down nearby but his yellow eyes always watchful of the surroundings, the grey never seemed to be at ease. Clovis would be on his way to Myria to report to the Queen that they had finally returned and with them was another. He had stayed to follow them, though he knew they were most likely headed to Ionna. He wondered if there was anything he would be able to learn from them before they got there. He hadn’t been able to get close earlier to hear what was being said between the elf and Lycanthrope in the field so near the lake. And just now as they had fallen asleep all that had been talked about was Ionna.
The Queen was going to want to know who this girl was and why she was so important to King Keagan, surely she was too young to be a bride. And why did they have to leave the realm to retrieve her. Rumours were fluttering about Milbar that the Elven King was weakening with age and his time was coming. Without an heir to rule Ionna would fall to whoever came to claim the kingdom and its lands. Lazily sitting on a branch of a nearby tree, one knee bent for his arm to rest and the other dangling down below, Cleon leaned against the trunk of the tree.
Watching and spying was not very exciting, but this was the job set before him. Laying his head back against the tree as he lifted his crimson eyes to the sky and watched the stars. To think, finally after so many years of living in these woods and watching over an undisturbed lake, soon he would be going home. A smile curled his lips exposing his sharpened canines, to sleep in a real bed would be more than welcome. With a yawn Cleon stretched out his body there on the branch, his large thirty-foot wingspan also spreading out behind him, flexing his bat-like wings. The muscles here itching for flight, he hadn’t flown at all today for he didn’t want to be visible to those he was following. But now, as they had settled in for the night, a small trip over the treetops couldn’t hurt, there was a field nearby where hundreds of midnight berries grew.
As though making up his mind for him, Cleon’s stomach gurgled softly making him look down as he rubbed it with one hand and then look over at the party, most of whom slept. Lycanthropes had amazing hearing as well as sight and smell. Shrugging as he got to his feet and leaped into the air, with a stretching of wings and small movements he was propelled into the air. There was nothing in all the realm like flying he decided, the freedom felt within the heart as your wings flapped slowly and the wind moved around you. Higher and higher he climbed through the air then he stopped a moment and leaned his head back, curling his wings in a bit and letting his body fall. He loved the rushing in his ears as he twirled in the air and stretched out his wings once more before he crashed into the treetops.
Flying was also a lot faster than walking, for soon his feet were touching soft grass in a meadow no too far off. His pointed tongue moving over his lips as he moved in on the midnight berry bushes in the far end, dropping onto his back on the ground near the bushes so he could reach up and pluck berries without moving too much. Lazily watching the sky as he rolled a berry through his fingertips like a coin before popping it into his mouth. Watching the stars as he ate his fill, soon he would be under a different sky. The noise of his city, would it lull him to sleep like they used to or keep him awake after being stuck in this forest for years.
Yawning wide and letting out an audible breath as he folded his hands behind his head, all he had to do was figure out who the mystery elf was and then he could go home. If it was worthy information he could be in for a reward from Queen Fay, chuckling softly as he pictured the look on his twin’s face. They had fought over who would get to fly home and who would follow, he had lost but now he was thinking maybe it wasn’t such a loss. Pulling a drawstring satchel from his belt Cleon went to work filling it with berries, not knowing when he would get the chance to stop for something to eat again.
Careful not to squash them he tied the satchel to his belt once more and took off into the air, flying about the treetops in swooping circles. Up as high as he could until the air became too thin and cold before falling backwards with his wings tucked in once more. He stretched out his wings and exercised away the edgy feeling in his muscles, for tomorrow would be another day of sneaking among the trees.
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