Blood Oath (Book 2 of Alfireán age)

Prologue

"Stop that mouse!"

Alfonso Vivyander Brockovich glanced back to see one of the maids pointing at a white mouse scurrying along a few inches behind him. The little creature looked up. For a moment, they stared at each other in surprise; its tiny, pink nose twitched and round, dark eyes blinked. Then, suddenly, the rodent darted for the side of the road.

"Stop that mouse!" the maid shouted again.

Alf threw out his hand, channeling a shield along the edge of the road. The critter slammed headfirst into the base of the clear blue barrier, flipped end over end, and came to a scuttling halt. As Alf hurled himself towards the ball of fur, the mouse gaped at him, its small body shaking in fear. The creature shrieked and dashed along the rim of the shield, trying to escape into the tall grass.

Alf moved the shield, cutting off its way of escape, and pounced. The mouse tried to scramble up the barrier wall and away to safety, but Alf's giant hands swooped down to engulf him, and a loud, frantic squeal escaped its small mouth as Alf yanked it into the air.

"You caught him!" the wide-eyed, brunette girl exclaimed, running over to Alf.

"Where in the world did it come from?" Olivia asked as Alf went to hand the squirming animal back to the maid, but as Alf loosened his grip, the creature clawed out of his hand, dashed up his arm, and leapt through the air. The mouse landed squarely on Drake's head, and faster than any of them could react, clambered down his neck and into his shirt.

Everyone paused in breathless anticipation, waiting to see the boy's reaction.

With a smooth, collected motion, the prince simply reached into his shirt, grabbed the mammal by the tail, and yanked him out.

Alf's jaw dropped open and Olivia reared back. They had both expected Drake to start jumping around and start screaming, or at least do something.

Instead, he calmly walked over, and with a straight, humorless face, held the rodent at arm's length. "I believe you wanted this," he stated, his single, piercing, blue eye glaring at the red-faced maid.

"Yes," she squeaked and held out her hand.

Drake dropped the rodent back into her care, and carefully cradling the newly recaptured mouse, she scampered back to her companions.

"I thought I told you to leave all your animals behind," the silver haired woman, and leader of the trio, scolded.

"But some of the new residents have a cat, and I didn't want to take the chance of her getting eaten while we're gone."

"Oh yeah, I'm sure thaaat's the reason why," said the last of the sisters as she rolled her green eyes and placed her hands on her hips.

"How did you not even blink? You just had a rat in your shirt," Olivia exclaimed; her eyes fixated on Drake as if he were a weird creature dredged up from the age of the dragons.

"My father taught me how to ignore such trivial distractions," the prince replied.

"How?" Alf muttered, thinking how even Harold, his lifelong butler and close friend, would have at least blinked.

"I'll tell you once you start running again. We are almost there and time is of the essence."

As if on cue, a loud crowing sound erupted from the forest, and a large flock of blackbirds burst from the tree line. They were only birds; yet somehow, the motion made the entire jungle take on an ominous feeling. A shiver ran down Alf's spine. It might be his imagination, but ever since Vackzilian had taken over the Empire, the land had taken on a menacing air, as if an unseen evil lurked deep within its bowels.