Chapter 4
Amy and I were sitting in our history classroom at our desks, watching the clock on the wall tick each second at a tormenting speed. It was not that our topic in history was dreadfully boring, in fact, I quite liked our unit, it was simply that I was eager for the holidays and therefore my mind was completely elsewhere.
“Now, like we learned a few lessons ago,” Miss. Holly began. “Queen Crystal was the ruler of Jamaa hundreds of years ago. She was, in fact, the first Queen of Jamaa. Queen Natalie is one of her grandchildren, the whole royal family being of Crystal’s blood.” She explained, rapping the smartboard with a stick.
On the board was an elegantly done portrait of the first Queen. She was a regal and truly beautiful arctic wolf. She had long fur, a crisp and delicate white. All through her marvellous pelt were dove grey blocky swirls like the pink ones that wove through my coat. She wore a sparkling white and blue tiara on her head, her posture erect and imposing. On her neck was a magnificent and obviously expensive silver necklace encrusted with deep blue sapphires and translucent ice coloured diamonds.
To look up again at her eyes… those deep crystal eyes. They were warm and welcoming and had a motherly twinkle. Her smile was sincere and genuine. That was all we could see in the picture, but even the small part we could see was truly, superbly brilliant.
“Queen Crystal of Jamaa was leading a patrol of her soldiers to destroy one of the phantoms’ many bases that emerged throughout our country.” She flipped the slide which turned out to be a portrait of Queen Natalie. I had never compared the two, Queen Crystal and Natalie, but there was quite a resemblance. Queen Natalie had the same perfect posture and a natural smile as though she was forced to take a proper picture while mid laughing with her friends. She also had a pleasant, kind look about her, but there was a somewhat different glimmer in her gaze, the slightest shimmer of playful mischief or furtive humour. Other than her youthful features, Natalie's body structure and fur patterns matched her royal ancestors'. They almost could have been mother and daughter.
“Oh and that is our Queen Natalie, long live the Queen.” Holly reminded us, dipping her head in respect. She changed the slide to a picture of an old, mysterious-looking book. The cover bore the picture of mountains and a forest below, all swallowed up by a hazy veil of mist. The whole picture was tinted blue, as the scene was a nighttime one. The one feature of the picture that really caught my eye was the beautiful, bright moon in the sky.
“This is the story of how Queen Crystal and the other royalty after her saved Jamaa from the phantoms that were ever so persistent in snatching our land away from us.” Our teacher explained. Then, I read the title just as she said it. “You shall all be reading The Legend of the Moon Queen.” With that, she pulled a thick book off her desk and patted it gently. “For homework, I expect you all to read the prologue of this book.” She picked up the rest of the stack and began handing out the books to us, placing one of them on all of our desks.
Mine landed before me with a satisfying, bookie thump. I held it up and studied it. The Legend of the Moon Queen. I thought. How mysterious. That was when a feature I had not noticed before caught my eye. There in the picture of the full moon was the faintest outline, the slightest silhouette, of an arctic wolf howling…
Holly clapped once loudly, snapping me violently from my thoughts. “Alright! I hope you enjoy the read.” She said, smiling. “You are all dismissed!”
We packed up our things. With one last glance at the curious moon, I slid the thick novel into my pack.
Amy and I walked from the classroom together and down the hall back to our dorms where we would be doing our homework.
Once back in our rooms, I put away my stuff and flopped down on my bed, deciding to save the exciting homework for last. I began with some mind-numbing math homework which was, unfortunately, more on graphing functions. It was all so pointless in my opinion, even if it was easy.
I quickly finished that before I picked up the book we were given and opening it. I heard the soft crunch of opening a book for the first time. I flipped quickly through the pages, allowing the breeze to gently brush my face so I could smell the beautiful bookie smell.
I turned to the first page: the prologue, and began to read.
Darkness filled the forest with its wrathful shadows and breathed through the souls of the innocent. Night surrounded the six silent animals as they crept through the dry, yellowing grass towards their enemies. The leader of the patrol was a regal and elegant white-furred arctic wolf with dove grey blocky swirls twisting through her thick winter fur. Her name was Queen Crystal. She ruled the land of Jamaa with power and kindness for her subjects. For as long as she had been Queen, the phantoms had been banned from the land of Jamaa until recent days. The phantoms were getting stronger and were starting to slowly take over the land of Jamaa. Crystal did everything she could to stop them and was winning the war, but every passing second, the phantoms were growing stronger…
“Hey, guys!” Denaé called, opening the door and stepping in. “Hi, Denaé!” Amy called, a welcoming smile on her face. “What’s up?” Denaé sighed. “I am sorry I took so long, I had to stay after class for a little while because I couldn’t understand what I had to do for my project assignment.” She smiled, brushing off the problem. “What are you guys reading?” She asked, pointing at the copy of The Legend of the Moon Queen that Amy had on her bed.
“It is a novel based on Queen Crystal’s conquest for Jamaa,” Amy told her. Denaé nodded. “Sounds interesting!”
I read a little more of the story before I was rudely interrupted by the announcements that instructed us to go to the frozen pond behind the school. We grabbed our things and set quickly out.
This time there was a bonfire by the rink that Denaé and I stayed at the whole time. It was sure getting colder!
We stayed by the warmth and watched the girls skate. Amy was doing quite well. Her routine was coming along, and she was making hardly any mistakes. The black and white girl, Raven, was also doing well. She made a few more mistakes than the other girls, but overall too was improving. Casella was graceful but often began doing her own thing rather than what she was supposed to do for the competition. Lastly, oh what an unfortunate sight, was Evica. She was not doing horribly but she needed work. She had her routine correct, but she was rushing and had the beat off. She occasionally slipped, making it so she had to start all over again.
I put my paws out, moving them closer to the fire’s warmth. The idyllic heat and the fact that we were getting hot chocolate with marshmallows after, really brightened me up.
Once practice was over, the skaters backed up their things. Raven, instead of staying for a snack, instantly took off back to the school. Probably has more homework…
Casella and Evica stayed for a little while, but Evica said she needed more rest and left before Casella.
We didn’t stay too long either. We finished our drinks and chatted with each other and the coach for around forty-five minutes before trudging back through the snow to the school.
I walked up the school’s front stairs. Why did there have to be so many stairs? I complained inwardly. We walked sluggishly down the halls, pushing each other playfully in advance to returning to our living quarters.
Just before I opened the door to our room I suddenly gasped. There, taped right above the doorknob was a threatening note written in messy, scratchy letters. I ripped it off and read it quickly over, my mind racing. Next, I read it out loud so my friends could hear. “Quit the competition before it’s too late!”
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It appears there has already been a little strife and that the skaters’ relationships are becoming a little strained. Who would write such a note and most importantly… why?
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*This story is written by Nop62. All credits go to them. Cutey just uploads this. Jam On!