Forbidden Queen
Chapter Forty – Our Journey North

Katy

We are on our way to the northern territory. We said goodbye to Emma and the household staff this morning, and Kirsty made a rare appearance to perform a blessing before we started our journey.

Her blessing had been strange, and I had felt uncomfortable when she started singing and began dancing around each of our vehicles, wafting incense in the air from an incense burner she held in her hand. The whole ceremony had taken fifteen minutes, and by the end I could tell that I wasn’t the only wolf who felt uncomfortable.

It was heart-breaking saying goodbye to Emma, I hate having to leave her again, but she has Mrs Wilson with her, and Aaron has promised to spend as much time with her as he can.

There are four armed cars in our convoy. I am in the second car with Alex, Daniel and Anna, which is going to be fun. I don’t get as many opportunities as I would like to catch up with Daniel. My royal duties and training take up most of my time. There is little time left for friends. S~ᴇaʀᴄh the FɪndNøvel.ɴet website on Gøøglᴇ to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

The journey will take three days, and we are not expecting to be ambushed today. Alex doesn’t think that Lucius will launch an attack while we are still close enough to the palace to request help. Tomorrow is the most likely day because we will pass through several locations which would be perfect to launch an ambush.

Not that Alex or Joseph really expect us to be attacked. We are following the route that we shared with Karen. The fact that her whole family were killed by Lucius’ pack, makes it highly unlikely that she is the spy. Alex and Joseph might have agreed to bring me along and allowed me to act as bait, but they are doing everything they can, to make sure that I am not at risk.

We expect Lucius to attack one of the two decoy groups who set off at the same time as us. We had briefly met up with them before we left the royal forest. We wanted to make sure that we were all travelling at the same time, to avoid suspicion. The spy was sure to have notified Lucius’ warriors of the time that I had left the palace.

Also, I wanted to thank them personally for taking on such a dangerous mission. If they were attacked, by the enemy some of them might be killed.

“We will not be stopping until we reach the small hotel we are staying in tonight. I know I promised that I would show you the sights on the way, but sightseeing will need to wait until after Lucius attacks. I am sorry but it just won’t be safe enough. We can stop on the way back” Alex tells me.

“I understand, it would be frivolous to waste time sightseeing. I know we will have other opportunities.” Where do you think they are most likely to launch their attack?”

“Tomorrow we will travel through a narrow ravine, it’s walls are made of sheer rock stretching fifteen metres high. It is the perfect spot for an ambush. If I was Lucius, it would be the spot that I would pick.

We have planned for this. If they choose the ravine as the place to launch their attack, we will be ready for them.

Later in the day when we get closer to the Northern territory, we will pass over a narrow bridge which is the only way to cross a deep fast flowing river. This is where Joseph thinks they will attack, because we will be very exposed, and it would be easy to trap us when we are halfway across.

Anyway, let’s forget about the ambush for the moment, we are passing near to the sacred mountains. Just to your right you can see the silver moon mountain where the Great Seer communed with the Moon Goddess.”

I peer over his shoulder to look at the mountain, he is pointing at. Its rocks are an unusual silver colour so different from the grey mountains, that comprise the rest of the mountain range.

“The legend goes that until the moon goddess appeared before the seer here, this mountain was grey rock like the other mountains that surround it, but her magic changed the colour of the rock so that it became as silvery as the moon.”

“Wow.” I had never heard that story before. I don’t know much about the moon goddess and why we worship her. The Lunar Eclipse Pack were not particularly religious, and we were not taught the history of our goddess, other than that she created all werewolves.

I knew that it was my duty to understand our religion if I was to properly fulfil my role as queen, but the best way to do that is to spend more time with Kirsty, something which I have been avoiding so far.

“I have never heard that story before” Anna says. “What did the moon goddess say to the great seer?”

“That she was gifting to all werewolves the ability to shift at will. Before this we were only able to shift when there was a full moon. By giving us the ability to shift at will we were able to leave our dens in the forests and build houses and businesses. We formed strong packs and found a way to co-exist with humans without them discovering who we are.”

This was worth knowing and I wondered why I had never heard the story before. I was going to use this trip to learn as much as I could about our history and the moon goddess.

…………….

It was eight o’clock by the time we arrived at the hotel we were staying in that night. It was small and inconspicuous, situated in a small settlement of wolves. The hotel was comfortable but not as grand as many would expect a queen to stay in.

I could understand why Joseph and Alex had chosen it. It stood alone, with no other buildings nearby. The ground surrounding it was flat, and it was 200 metres away from the forest. We would be able to spot anyone who tried to attack us before they got too close.

I was tired after our journey and went straight up to bed. The day had been enjoyable, and I had managed to relax even though there had been a chance that the Black Moon Pack would attack. I knew that tomorrow would be different. We would all need to be alert and on guard for an ambush.

Tonight, I was going to curl up with Alex, and just enjoy being alone with my mate. I was loving spending all day with my him without the interruption of my royal duties and his responsibilities to the Lunar Eclipse warriors.

…..

We had settled down for the night when Joseph knocked at our door.

“Just to let you know that I have heard from the decoy parties. Neither of them was attacked today, and they safely reached their accommodation for the night. They are confident that no one who saw them while they were travelling will have realised that they are not the royal party.”

“Things are still going to plan then, good. Tomorrow will be the real test” Alex says.

“Yes. I will leave you now. You will both need to rest for what could be a very eventful day tomorrow.

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