Chapter Three

"Keep it down Alora." Ava blushed hard. 

"Okay, okay. But tell me how it happened? How did you…. Oh yeah, I forgot he could easily order them to make you serve him. Oh you're so lucky Ava." Alora smiled, pulling her friend into a friendly hug. 

"He hasn't even told me anything so how am I lucky?" Ava raised her brows and Alora just clicked her tongue as she picked the wooden spoon in the soup to serve it on their porridge. 

"Well, you know Lord Zayen well. He would never allow any woman near him or touch any woman. Are you blind you didn't see or you didn't hear?" Alora sneered and Ava shook her head before sighing. "Well my dear friend, you're pretty and good for a high ranked Lord like Lord Zayen."

"But if it turns out to be true that he likes me, and he tells me. What would that mean?" Ava asked as she licked her fingers gently, staring at Alora. 

"You'll be the one to birth the next ruler after him." Alora giggled and Ava choked again, coughing a bit violently. "Don't get yourself killed you this lady. You're still too young to die." 

Ava sighed as she stopped coughing and dropped the cup of water. "Well we are just assuming here. It isn't the exact truth right?" 

"How am I to know? Go ask him yourself." Alora chuckled and Ava just groaned. 

She seriously couldn't wait for when her friend would fall in love and she would tease her to death on it. But the Alora she knew well doesn't have time for males. Her life was simple and all she focused on was healing people and helping on the farm. 

"I can't wait for the day you would also fall in love." Ava hissed. 

"In your dreams young woman. In your dreams." Alora smirked as she washed her hands and placed the dirty plates in the basket. 

"It's been days since I had dinner like this. That kitchen work is too exhausting. Thank goodness all the head cook asks me to do is help in mixing pastries and sometimes helping them do the dishes but still, it's exhausting. Imagine cooking for lots of people." Ava groaned. "And about ten different delicacies, if not more. And still, they won't eat it all up."

"That's a royal family for you." Alora smiled as she rested her back, looking up at the bright half moon above them. 

"It really annoys me. As in really, it does." Ava hissed but Alora didn't reply. She kept staring at the moon, not talking. She then sat up and moved closer to the creek, looking into it. She saw a crystal ball that looked amusing to her. Dipping her hands into the creek, she brought out the weird crystal shaped in a fine ball. It shone brightly and magically. 

Ava realized that her friend was either communicating with mother nature, so she decided to keep mute for some minutes. "Uhh…. Alora. Look." 

Alora jerked back to reality and looked at Ava before looking back at the sky which was now filled with dark clouds covering the moon. 

"Oh no this isn't good. This isn't good." Alora stood up and carried the basket she had brought along. "I'll see you tomorrow Ava."

Ava knew that Alora well, she knew what that meant. Alora ran back to the group of houses and rushed to her cruck. Everyone was still outside and we're surprised as they saw the cloud suddenly cover the once beautiful night sky. 

"What's wrong Alora?" Arielle rushed after her daughter who rushed into the cruck shivering. 

"Someone….. someone will die tonight." Alora mumbled as she rushed to her loft, laying on her bed and covering herself with her blanket. 

"Who?" Arielle asked but she knew it was of no use. 

No one in the whole kingdom slept well that night. The following morning, the sun rose earlier than usual and then, Alora was still in bed shivering. 

By the time she got out of bed, her skin was paler than usual and she looked sick. Her mother had quickly made her a cup of tea which she added to her healing herbs. 

"What's wrong?" Arielle asked as Alora rested her back with a sigh. 

As usual, her herbs were effective and her color was returning to her. "Someone died last night. They will announce it soon." 

Alora hadn't finished her sentence when the bell on the castle walls began to ring. It showed someone in the royal family just died. 

"Don't tell me…."

"There you have it. But I don't know who exactly." Alora got out of bed and pulled her mother out of the cruck. 

"Who died?" Arielle asked as they looked up at the castle and banners rolled down the castle walls. 

Everyone was shocked by the person that died. It was the first lady of the kingdom. All of them fell on their knees still in shock, still looking at the banner of the beautiful lady in her early forties. 

"She was killed."