Era of Wrath (Chrim Chronicles #2)

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

Neviana Moreau

         The sleeping sea was a dull grey beneath the clouded sky.

Other than the soft ripples spreading out, the water stood calm and still. A horde of seagulls circled above the horizon and rested on the boulders, screeching their way back and forth. It was the most peaceful day I had seen in a long time, not even the strong winds we always had were blowing today, all was serene until the ships poured through the sea's strip.

For the second time in our lifetime, we saw the tall wooden bridge of our fortress being pulled up in a means to defend our lives from vicious intruders. Women urged their children inside the walls as men shouted commands at one another and grabbed weapons and rushed outside the walls. But these were no intruders.

As I held onto the soft fabric my long white skirt, I went down the stone steps and walked over towards the sealed gate. After throwing one look at the guards, they lowered the bridge and the gates squeaked open. Miles ahead on the ocean I could see the ships approaching, at least two dozen of them and even bigger than the ships already tied to the docks, those which the former flock of Eileen Dovraven had brought along.

A breeze blew my long curling hair around as I watched the bloodlines step foot on dry land. First appeared the Fay clan, a bloodline made of filthy gypsies with clinging coins attached to their hideous clothes, whose only notable talent was to see hints of the future in their glass ball. The Torve family followed, a bunch of snobs with arms full of glistening jewelry, their men dressed in suits and their women in gowns that were only appropriate for weddings. They looked so opposite to the Fay clan that it seemed as if one of the two families had time travelled. Third came the Provszak bloodline, and the greasy look they had to them matched their reputation of being conniving snakes. They pulled a cage along onto the beach. I squinted my eyes and focused hard to see what was inside, and once I had cracked the dark shadow inside the cage I saw it was a bear, brown but not so big, and sleeping. Or dead, perhaps, there was no way to tell.

A dozen more bloodlines followed of which most of them I didn't even know the name of. I didn't need to learn their names, as I could make each and every one of them drop dead with a flick of my finger. Compared to the blood that streamed through my veins, that of the Original Seven, all of these inferior bloodlines were mere ants beneath my soles.

A pale woman with white hair and dark eyes stepped in front of me and gave me a slight, vain curtsy. Her green trench coat flapped around in the wind, as did her hair. "Nice to see you in one piece, Loreen," I said, and nodded at the horde of people behind her. "You recruited nearly all of those on the list?"

"Yes," Loreen said with a frown. The way she looked at me was as if she were equal to me, and I didn't like it. Once she may have been a witch of the Original Seven, but today she was nothing more than a filthy vampire, and therefore Loreen needed to be aware of her new place. But she wasn't. She stared down at me with a bored look in her eyes, as if anything else in the world was more impressive than I, a queen, was. "Only the Drossen family refused to align with us, everyone else pled their loyalty."

"And, none of them chose to align with Farren?"

Loreen shook her head. "Strangely, Farren didn't even bother to recruit them." The families moved past us with their suitcases and she paused for a moment. "After the Fay clan chose our side above hers, she stopped trying."

"That is indeed very strange," I said with a frown as I observed the families settle inside the tents. "Farren must have some tricks up her sleeve, otherwise she wouldn't take the risk of not gathering an army."