The Destined Protector (The Chronicles of Mistar - Book 1)

Two · · · Mell

Safe House, Hut, Casta, Pezda

ALL MELL BYRIN COULD HEAR WERE THE SCRATCHY BREATHES from underneath the sheets. She could feel hands lunging at her and a scream ripple through her mouth and throat. She thrashed and bit, but touched nothing.

Mell woke up and stared at the ceiling. It was just a dream, she thought.

She heard a door open and she looked up to see one of her guards just standing in the doorway of her room.

"Is everything alright miss?" he asked in his most polite voice.

Mell nodded even though it was fairly dark and he most likely couldn't see.

"Yes," she replied.

The guard bowed. "Alright then, my princess. I'll leave you to your bed. Goodnight."

He bowed again and left her room, leaving the door cracked just a little bit behind him. Through the aca wood house, Mell could see her two guards standing outside dressed in their dark leather plated armor. The soldiers of Casta weren't particularly the strongest or most experienced soldiers in Mistar, but they fought with as much heart and honor as any other soldier. That is what made them the best warriors in Mell's opinion.

Mell laid down again, her sheets ruffling around her waist. She heaved a sigh as she stared at the palm fronds that made the ceiling. She could hear the rain patter on top of the fronds. Its sound was soothing to Mell and made her eyes heavy, but every time she closed her eyes she imagined the hands.

Breathing hard, Mell pulled off her covers and paced in front of her bed. She jumped when she heard a scream, but then sighed in relief when she heard them laugh. Mell spotted a lantern outside coming her way. She guessed that the lantern was the source of the laughter.

Mell stopped pacing when they opened the door. It was her mother and father, Queen Meg and King Pon.

King Pon stood tall in his posture. Small palm fronds made a collar around his neck stitched into the hem of his shirt, which was considered the crown in Casta to show that he was royalty. He wore olive green pants, a few shades darker than his shirt, and big black leather belt that wrapped around his waist. His black leather boots, the same as his belt, came up to his knees with Casta's royal crest, an aca tree surrounded by two wolfas and two citizens of Casta, one male and one female.

His wife, Queen Meg, wore a dark green dress with bronze flakes encrusted at the hem and made of silk from a lala worm. Casta's symbol ornamented the chest of her dress. The silk separated at her waist to reveal green pastel cotton. On her head and in her hair was a curved and smoothed out aca branch. The branch was wrapped in the small individual leaves from a palm frond. The back of the crown was tied with a bronze ribbon. The tail of the ribbon was so long that it reached her ankles.

Both of their skin colors were dark brown, darker than most since their family married into original Castans. Most of the citizens of Casta had past family members from the country of Pent, which is on Pezda. Pents have abnormally grayish-yellow skin due to their lack of sunlight since they built their cities underwater.

Like Mell's eyes, her mom had dark stormy gray color to them, while her father had light brown eyes that looked like the color of an aca tree. Queen Meg's hair was held in a bun on the top of her head and was the same color as her skin. King Pon's black hair was short and curly like a buzz cut. A black curly beard hung on to his chin which ran up the side of his jaw, along with the line of his lip, and under his nose.

Queen Meg smiled at her daughter with a curious glint in her eyes. "What are you doing awake?" she asked.

Mell crossed her arms making her light brown silk pajama dress billow around her ankles. "I couldn't sleep."