#azure blackthall

[thebluekingdomstory]

Azure Blackthall (she/her)

Traits: ambitious, prideful, persuasive 

Birthday: 963

Race: Human (blue blood)

Family: Husband- Zaffre Blackthall, Daughter- Sapphire Blackthall, Son- Viridian Blackthall

Occupation: Blue Kingdom noble

[thebluekingdomstory]

Adara’s story, part fourty four

The sound of a horn pierced the air, followed by an unfamiliar battle cry. Soldiers dressed in orange and crimson flooded in from the south. It was the Desert Kingdom army; help had finally arrived! From the opposite direction, I heard a much more familiar yowl. Sable, and the reinforcements from the castle, charged towards us. Azure’s followers began to visibly panic, some even retreating at the sight of so many fresh soldiers. I dove back into battle, tackling a brown furred Wolfskin. I bit down on his foreleg hard. Blood filled my mouth. We may not have been outnumbered anymore, but this fight could still go either way. As I fought, I couldn’t help but keep an eye out for Luna. I still hadn’t seen her. 

A grief filled screech rung out from the center of the battle. My stomach turned as I realized I recognized the voice. It was Queen Celeste. I released my prey and rushed towards the sound. The fighting stopped abruptly. A tense silence spread over the crowd. I pushed my way through, dread rising in my chest. At its center, two bodies lay deathly still. I couldn’t help but stare along with everyone else. On the ground lay Lady Azure, and King Cobalt. 

I stumbled away. It was over. I couldn’t believe the King was gone. Who else hadn’t made it? I shifted out of panther form and took a head count. I spotted Noriko with Hari, injured but alive. I’d have to tell him about Noelle. But it could wait. Sable was at the edge of the crowd, I rushed over to her. I grabbed her by the shoulders. 

“Sable! Good job, you got here just in time” I told her. I was so proud of her. 

“Thanks, Adara” she purred. 

“Have you seen Luna?” I asked casually, trying not to seem nervous as I felt. 

“No, I thought she was with you” 

Then where was she? It took all my willpower power to avoid thinking the worst. I began to search the crowd, getting more frantic as the seconds ticked by. I tried to pick up her scent as I looked but the air was filled with too much blood. A familiar glint of silver armor caught my eye. It could have been anyone from the blue guard. But the uneasy feeling that swept over me told me otherwise. I approached the figure on the ground slowly. They were laying with the back to me, helmet still on. Blood everywhere. I held my breath as I got closer. I didn’t want this body to smell like Luna. I didn’t want it to smell like death. Then it would be real. I crouched down. Up close I could see a lock of white hair sticking out of the helmet. I grabbed her shoulder and eased her on to her back, into my lap. Luna groaned in pain at the movement. I let out a breath of relief, my eyes brimming with tears. She was alive! She opened her orange eyes to look up at me. 

“Adara” she croaked. I looked over her body, assessing the damage. Her chain mail was torn to shreds. A large slash covered the length of her upper chest. That must have been the source of all the blood. She must have seen the fear on my face as she reassured me, “it’s not as bad as it looks” 

My eyes went back to her face. I could see she was right. Her eyes were bright, and her skin wasn’t deathly pale, despite the blood loss.  She would recover from this. 

“When I couldn’t find you...” I could feel the tears start to fall. 

“Hey, hey. I’m alright, I promise” she soothed, cupping my face with her hand. I startled slightly at the contact. My eyes couldn’t help but be drawn to her lips. I really wanted to kiss her. I leaned down slowly, giving her time to push me away. Her eyes widened in surprise before gently shutting. She lifted her head to meet me halfway. I kissed her softly, her lips were warm on mine. I held her head, my fingers tangled in her long hair. I pulled away after a moment. Watching her face to gauge her reaction. Her cheeks were a pale pink. Her eyes sparkling in the morning light. When she smiled at me, my heart fluttered. Yeah, everything would be okay. 

[thebluekingdomstory]

Adara’s story, part thirty nine

I met Luna early the next morning at the castle gates. I let out a sharp breath as I saw what she was wearing. I had never seen Luna out of her usual light armor and blue tunic. Today she wore a loose cream coloured shirt and tight fitting brown pants. She looked so much softer than I was used too. I almost lost my nerve and ran but Luna caught sight of me and waved me over.

“It’s so quiet” I observed as I walked over, trying to cover up my nervousness.

“It is. Everything feels off nowadays, even the air” she said, pushing herself off the wall she was leaning on.

I knew what she meant. The tense anticipation was all around us. Between people turning to Azure’s side and others evacuating, the usual bustle of town was down to a quiet hum.

“Let’s go” Luna began walking to the northern gate, not waiting to see if I was following.

“Hey, slow down” I growled softly as I caught up. “My legs aren’t as long as yours.” I should not have mentioned her legs, now I couldn’t help but stare at them. Long and slender, but also muscular, made even more obvious without the armor.

“It’s not my fault you’re so slow”

My eyes snapped up to hers, my month opening to give a scathing retort until I saw her grinning. I couldn’t help but smile back instead.

“Slow?! Let’s see you keep up with this!” I broke into a sprint before she had a chance to respond. The look of shock on her face as I shot forward was priceless. I soon heard her footsteps behind me, gaining quickly. As we speed through the near empty town, Luna finally overtook me. I resisted the urge to transform as even though I knew it would give me the upper hand, I didn’t want to frighten the few people that were out. I slipped down and side street instead. I heard Luna call out “Hey!” but I ignored her. My shortcut paid off as our streets merged and I came out ahead.

“That’s cheating!” Luna huffed.

“That’s strategy” I smirked back at her. I stopped dead my tracks as I realized where we were. The smile left my face as quickly as it had appeared.

“What, tired already?” Luna teased as she caught up with me. My heart hammered in my chest, I couldn’t breathe.

“Whoa Adara, are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost” Luna put a warm hand on my arm, grounding me a bit. I managed to let out a shaky breath. In front of me stood an all too familiar building, Jes’ old café.

“I’m fine, I’m fine” I said more to myself than to her. I turned away from the building, I couldn’t look at it for another second. “Let’s just go”

“Are you sure?” she asked, concern clear on her face. I nodded and headed for the northern gate, we weren’t far now.

_____

Before long we were in the woods of the Wolfskin. I breathed in the fresh scents and sounds of forest and felt myself relax. Leaves whispering above, the crunch of twigs beneath our feet, birds singing to each other. It was different than my forest, but a forest all the same.

“I’m sorry if I worried you earlier” I said at last, staring at the ground as we walked. Neither of us had spoken a word since my panicking.

“It’s no trouble” she paused for a moment before continuing, “look, Adara, I know we haven’t always seen eye to eye, but if you ever want to talk, about anything, I’m here to listen”

“That’s putting it mildly…” I mumbled. I glanced up at her. She seemed sincere and I found myself actually wanting to tell her. “It’s a long story” I started.

“Halt!” a voice called from the trees. Three wolves approached us. The one in the lead transformed and eyed us suspiciously. He had soft looking pale pink hair and a hard blue gaze.

“Why are you trespassing on Oakleaf territory?” he asked.

“We need to speak to your alpha, it’s quite urgent” Luna requested calmly.

“How do I know you’re not one of Azure’s?”

“My name is Luna Vo, I’m the captain of the Blue Guard. I assure you that I would never side with the likes of Lady Azure” Luna sounded disgusted at the mere suggestion of working against the Kingdom.

“And her?” the wolfskin nodded to me.

“Adara here is retainer to the heir to the throne”

“Even if we were part of Azure’s forces, what are two Nekojin against a whole pack of Wolfskin?” I exclaimed in frustration.

“You’d be surprised…” the wolf trailed off. He exchanged a glance with his companions, a snowy white wolf and an auburn one. The white one nodded slightly. The boy sighed before turning back to us.

“Alight, we’ll take you to Sasha. But make it quick, she’s got enough on her plate”

The boy changed back into a wolf and begun to lead of swiftly through the woods. Luna and I shifted too to keep up. The other two wolves flanked us. I flattened my ears, feeling like a prisoner. Luna nudged me softly and gave me and encouraging look. She was right, we hadn’t done anything wrong, we’d be fine.

____

We arrived at a village before long. Our group all changed back as we left the tree line. I had never been this far into wolfskin territory. The village looked very different from the Pinewood pack’s. Most of the houses were triangle shaped, almost like tents made out of wood and glass. Each house was covered in windows looking out into the forest. My village was just a part of the woods, trees around every house, but here was a lot more open space, a defined rectangle of forest around the whole place, almost like walls of trees. I refocused on the task at hand as we approached what I assumed was the alpha house. It was one of the only more square houses in sight and much larger than most of the other buildings around us. I caught a glimpse of Sasha from one of the windows before she rushed down to meet us.

“Captain Vo, to what do I owe this honour?” Sasha greeted Luna from her doorway.

“Alpha Sasha” Luna nodded respectfully. “I need to discuss something with you”.

“This is about Azure, isn’t it?” Sasha sighed. “Please come in”

Sasha sat us down in her office. The walls were lined with bookshelves which gave the room a cozy feel to it. Another wolfskin joined us, standing by Sasha’s chair. There was an aggressive energy to him that made me feel a bit nervous.

“First things first, I think introductions are in order” Sasha began. “This is my mate, Chase”

“And second in command” Chase added, standing a little taller.

“And this is..?” Sasha gestured to me.

“I’m Adara. Retainer to Prince Aegean”

“We’ve heard rumor that Lady Azure was heading north to look for reinforcements. We wanted to ask if you could confirm these rumors, seeing as how she would likely have had to cross through your territory” Luna said, getting straight to business.

“I thought as much. Yes, Azure and her ilk did pass through here” Sasha spoke through gritted teeth.

“I still don’t get why you let them through without a fight” Chase muttered. “Azure only had two Nekojin with her, we could have easily taken them”

“You did what?!” I blurted out. Sasha seemed like a courageous and respected leader as far I could tell, why would she let Azure waltz through her territory? “I didn’t have a choice” fear flashed in her green eyes.

“I don’t understand, you’re supposed to be allied with the Blue Kingdom” Luna started.

“And I am. It hardly matters now, what’s done is done. You have the information you came for, it’s time you left. Noah and his patrol with escort you out” Sasha dismissed us. Luna and I stood up reluctantly. I began to follow Luna out but stopped in the doorway of the room, a question nagging at me.

“Who were the Nekojin with Azure?”

“It was the alpha of the Coldpeak pack, and her sister I believe” Sasha said. Lily, I should have known. Anger surged through me At least she was far away from Aegean, for now.