My Clan: Chapter four

BY THE TIME I reached the Castle again, I can see that Phoenix’s smile has soured to a sneer. His eyes are bloodshot and Obsidian looks worried. That at least is good news. Crimson arrives just before me, his wings tucked behind his back.

“Do you know what this is about?” He asks me.

Utterly lying, I shake my head. “Nope.” He glances at me in a way I know he knows I’m lying. Guilt almost swallowing me, I dash into the building with my head down. I meet my father at his normal seat and jump up on the table without waiting for a signal. It’s not real original, I know.

“The Blood clan stole the entire harvest crop from the Sun Goblins! They can testify!”

Moh nods and stands up. “Wez beez be all starvzin’ be next comen summur! Wed bed deader by vinter, cha?”

Alastair looks at me to translate.

“Uh, we’ll all starve by next… summer, I think.”

“Ah. Well, you can’t prove this, can you?”

“Don’t be stupid!” I yell. “I know it’s hard for you, but try to understand logical conversation!”
 “Here we go.” Alastair mutters.

“We saw them! Eating half their spoils right in the middle of their town square!”
 At this point, Obsidian stands up. “I told you, we took that out of our own cellar! It was the last of our stock, in celebration!”

“Celebration of what?” Alastair asks.

“Exactly what we called instantaneous for.” Phoenix steps in.

“Oh?”

“I have something to show you all. Something that will be groundbreaking, change the nature of our clans… forever!”

He’s playing it up. And it’s working. Alastair is leaning forward in his seat. I want to slap him.

“Yes?” He asks. Grhh.

“We’ve discovered an entirely new world: something thrilling and something that will surely win me place as mayor-but of course, that’s not important. Please welcome…. The Rainbow Clan!”


There’s silence in the room.

“What do you mean, The Rainbow Clan?” Alastair asks.

“We’ve discovered a new clan.”

“What?!”

“More than that, these unique individuals can go invisible at will: meaning that they most likely are the ones who took the Sun Goblins harvest crop. Why? Because they have been hiding from us. Their leader, a faery named Serenity, told me in the ancient years, they were prosecuted and people tried to take their powers. So they went into hiding, but I convinced them to come back into the world. They have been stealing from the Sun Goblins merely to stay alive.”

This is a shock. No one had discovered a new clan for hundreds of years: the tree clan is the newest among us.

“But-“ Alastair stammers. “But where are we going to put them?”
 The room erupts. Nobody wants to have their land overtaken by a new clan, the sun goblins are more than willing, but Phoenix said the faery queen would not go underground. The Chieftess Lei of the Water Clan points out the obvious: they can’t go underwater either. Brine says they won’t have humanoids around.

Morgn’s clan lives inside the trees: no one but they can enter. The Blood clan’s already full to the brim, as is our clan. I don’t feel safe putting them with the Stone gnomes, and again, underground. Suddenly, Crimson stands up and spreads his wings for silence. Everyone stops and stares at him.

“We have plenty of room.” He says quietly. “We won’t mind housing the Rainbow clan, if they will except. Fey and Faeries aren’t all that different.”

It’s a good suggestion. I’m surprised. A few months ago, his father and older brother both died when a mountain collapsed on top of them. He’s still pretty much a teenager in human years, and the weight of the throne’s been a lot for him. In fact, I’ve never heard him say more than yes or no before today. I glance at Alastair to see if he agrees.

“Hmm.” He leans back in his throne. “This was… truly unexpected. Are you sure you’re ready to accept such a responsibility?”
 Crimson nods. “Yes.”

“Well, I suppose that’s settled then. Food is a different matter: you’ll need twice the amount you usually eat. What do we do about that?”

“Simple.” Phoenix says, and I know it will be nothing good. “The sun clan can merely lend some of their vegetable crop to the Rainbow clan: for free!” He brandishes a shiny smile as if it’s the most brilliant idea ever.

Moh bares his teeth. “We needs fat as much tas de too!”

Alastair looks at me again. Uhh.

“They need food too? I think that’s what he said.”

“How about this?” Alastair starts. “We know there is plenty of game on our land. If the Rainbow clan needs food, they are free to come here and hunt.”
 “We are making all these decisions without the faeries themselves.” Says Phoenix. “Perhaps it’s time to invite Serenity in?”


She’s even prettier than the mermaids. Her hair is thick and moist looking, and a color that makes me think of chocolate cake. Her eyes are sparkling green-blueish, sort of like an ocean color. Of course, her skin is perfect, almost as dark as her hair.

“This is Serenity.” Phoenix announces. She tips in a slight bow and graces us with a tiny smile. “I’ve told her our plans for her clan: she seems happy with them.”

She shoots Phoenix a slightly irritable look, making me like her even more.

“Yes, I approve. Thank you for you generosity.”

There’s an awkward silence.

Then Alastair clears his throat and nods. “We still have the matter of the harvest crop. Would you mind returning it to the Sun Clan?”

She shakes her head. “It’s gone. I’m sorry.”

“Gone?!” Alastair, Moh, and me all shout at the same time. She shrugs lightly, blowing off the matter, and my respect for her lessens.

“I’m sorry. We were hungry. There is nothing we can do about it now.”
 “But- But our clan’s need the crops to survive. We can’t live off of our individual resources. Everyone contributes.”
 “Well, we don’t have food to spare. And like I said, It is gone now, nothing to do about it.”
 This time I can see her expression tighten. I wonder if she’s lying.

“Well,” Says Alastair slowly. “This is unfortunate. Can everyone get by with what they have?”
 I know the Blood clan will be fine: they love their meat and won’t mind a year without vegetables. They’ve done it before. The Water clan has their own sea vegetables they prefer anyways. The dragons: well, that should be obvious. The gnomes only eat roots they find in the ground because they are paranoid someone will try and poison them. I’m not sure how the night clan has enough saved up in stock to last.

But it’s the Tree clan, the Sun clan, and us I’m really worried about. The Tree clan gets all their food from the leaves in their trees and the vegetables the Sun clan grows. Their clan is the smallest one, but they still might run out of food before the Sun goblins are able to plant more. It’s practically impossible for my clan to grow edible foods because of the altitude and climate. The vegetables the Sun clan provides is half our diet. And then of course there’s the Sun clan itself. They don’t eat anything but the vegetable they grow. I have no idea how to solve that. Then it hits me.

“I have an idea.” I say slowly, not sure how this will run over.

Alastair raises his eyebrows at me, a sign for me to continue.

“The Blood clan has tons of vegetables saved up in stock. What if we trade meat for all of theirs and we split it between the Tree, Sun, and Sky clan. I’m sure it’ll be enough. And we’ll trade gold for it too.” I say this even slower, because I don’t have my father’s consent on this yet and our gold is precious. But I do have a plan in mind. Phoenix’s eyes light up with a hungry glow.

“I may be willing to do this. We do have quite a bit saved up. And we might be willing to share.”
 Ha. I’d caught him in the act.

“You and your son told me that your feast this morning was the last of your stock. So you were stealing from the Sun clan. What do you have to say?”

His greedy expression quickly changed to one of shock. Then it changed again, a bit defeated.

“We may have… borrowed some.”
 “In that case,” I continued. “I am sure you are more than will to give it back now: for free. With the Blood clan’s stock, we’ll have enough to last all year.”

Even Alastair couldn’t resist laughing. “Well, I suppose that concludes our meeting then. The night clan will show you to your place, Queen Serenity, and the Blood clan may now do the honors of carry their loads of stolen vegetables through the clans.”

“You did well out there.” My father told me flying home. “I’m very proud of you.”

And I smiled to myself. “I’m proud of me too.”