When The Heart Sings

Chapter 40

Serena's POV:

I slowly woke and realized that I was curled up in an odd position. I opened my eyes to see that the Queen had loosely curled herself around me. The Princess was lying down on her mother's shoulder right in front of my face as she watched me. Her nose was inches from mine. I jumped a bit in surprise. I had not been expecting to see that when I had opened up my eyes.

I slowly sat up and stretched the kinks out of my back. The Queen was watching me as she pushed a woven basket with fruit in it towards me. "Here, eat. How are you feeling?"

"I am feeling better, thank you." I picked up a piece of fruit and hummed a purification spell before trying it. These creatures had somehow picked things that were safe for me to eat. The purification spell did nothing.

The Queen stood up and stretched. She shook herself off, "I haven't felt this good in centuries. Thank you."

I blushed, feeling a bit self-conscious, "You're welcome. It didn't do much though. At a rough guess, it might have given you another fifty years." With as much time as she had seen, it was roughly the equivalent to a year in a human lifespan.

Her eyes were bright red, "I will count each day as a gift that I can treasure with my daughter." I bowed my head in agreement.

Once I finished eating, another creature approached and I had a suspicion that it was the one who had carried me here. Several scales above his shoulders were scuffed up and rough looking. There was no way to tell if it was the same one though, it looked identical to the others I had seen and I knew there were at least a thousand around here somewhere.

"Schlach will take you to a road frequented by the fighters."

I inclined my head again, "Thank you very much. Please send my thanks to the one who brought me here as well, I would have died out there without his assistance."

The Queen was amused as the one beside me replied, "I am he, and you are quite welcome." He dipped his shoulder and I took the cue to climb onto his slippery back. He turned to go, but a low whistle from the Queen caused him to stop and turn as he looked back at her.

The Queen was regarding me with a bright light in her red eyes, "You did not inquire about the gift you were promised."

I was self-conscious once more and squirmed a bit under her intense gaze, "I didn't mean to offend, but I didn't do it for a reward." The only thing I really wanted was Darien...

"Then why did you exhaust yourself for no gain?"

I struggled to put my values and morals into words, "I did it because it was right. Your people need you. Your daughter needs you. Without you, they would suffer."

She tilted her head slightly as she examined me in interest, "Very interesting. I have not seen such promise for a very long time." She was silent for some time, but Schlach didn't move.

She finally spoke again, "I think you might be able to put good use to the gift we have already given you. You have not asked what it is, so I shall tell you. We have our own magics. They differ vastly from yours and have different capabilities. Our magics allowed us to sense your mate bond, and we used it to match your life span to that of your mate. You will age at the rate he ages."

I blinked in shock, it had not yet occurred to me that Darien's lifespan was longer than mine. Darien only looked about 25, but I knew he had been in that lab for 30 years. He had not been a child when he was trapped in that place either. It should not surprise me that a race that was stronger than a human would also live longer. I didn't know how long they lived, but I could see them living a couple of centuries.

I have given the Queen a gift of time and she had more than returned it. My heart warmed towards the strange creatures. Tears of joy filled my eyes, "Thank you so much! You have no idea what that means to me!"

The Queen chuckled and looked pleased with my reaction, "Be sure to come back and visit every couple of years."

"I will try." If I lived that long, of course. I had encountered more life-threatening situations in the last week than I had in all of the rest of my 23 years.

The Queen nodded regally before turning her attention to her mate. Schlach turned and resumed his course. Most we passed looked at me with interest or curiosity. None of them appeared hostile or even aggressive, although I knew that they were a fierce predator in their own right.

The sunlit forest was beautiful as Schlach passed through it. Darien was somewhat closer now than he had been before, but he was still a very long ways away. We weren't really getting closer to him either, it was more like we were moving sideways. About an hour later Schlach came to a small trail and stopped as he lifted his nose in the air and carefully sniffed.

"The area is clear of any predators and this trail is used frequently. The camp is not far away. I will leave you here. My presence will alarm them if I stay."

He dipped his shoulder and I slid off. "Thank you very much for everything you have done."

He nodded before slipping into the bushes and disappearing silently from sight. I turned to the road and was uneasy at being alone again. Should I stay here or walk? Schlach had nodded in a particular direction when mentioning the camp. I might as well start walking down the trail.

The warriors would find me anyways. Hopefully, they feared Darien more than they wanted to kill me. Even if they decided to bundle me up and drag me to the front lines to lure Darien in, it meant that someone would tell Darien where I was. I knew he would come for me. He always did.

The narrow trail was closer to a rather wide deer trail and had many twists and bends in it. I kept walking as birdsong filled the air.

I rounded another bend and froze at the sight of a blue-skinned being walking along the far side of the clearing. He spotted me in almost the same instant and his golden slit-pupiled eyes focused on me as he tensed up in surprise.

I took an uneasy step back as the bond twisted in alarm. To the best of my knowledge, only the Dranek had blue skin, and this close to the battlefront, I knew that this was the race that had been fighting the Tarulk. The blue male in front of me made me think of the movie Avatar, right down to the minimal clothing and long tail. There were enough differences that they stood out though.

His skin was a very pale shade of blue. His short dark blue hair was cut to about the length of my finger and was smoothed straight backwards. I could see a ridge of similar hair trailing along the top of his tail as it ended in a diamond-shaped tuft. Darien would have barely reached this man's collarbone, although the Dranek had a thinner and lighter build.

The Dranek tilted his head as he realized that I was unarmed and he took a step forward. His bare blue feet reminded me more of a lion's in shape, and he even had extendable toenails. His hands looked much more human-like, although his fingernails were unusually long.

I backed up several more steps. If this race was faster than a Tarulk, then attempting to run was not going to do me any good. I wondered if Schlach had known that he had dropped me off near the wrong battle camp.