Legon Awakening: Book One in the Legon Series by Nicholas Taylor Page A

Elven.” She sighed deeply
after saying this.
    “‘Elven’? What do you mean, ‘Elven’? Does that mean
that an Elf put it there? Why would they do that?” he stammered. He
didn’t like the thought of magic, but to think that an Elf of all
things had put the tattoo there was almost too much. The queen
hated the Elves and would stop at nothing to kill any in her
territory or anyone connected to them.
    “It’s a crest, Legon. An Elven crest, the kind they
mark all of their children with. Like I said, I don’t know much
about it, but Arkin somehow does. Before I thought that maybe the
tattoo was just done in the same style as the Elvin ones, but now…”
Her face was blank and pallid; the color in her eyes seemed to leak
out, leaving them weak and frail.
    As this last statement hit home Legon felt his jaw
begin to fall open. All brain function came to a screeching halt.
First fear came in, then terror, then denial. Arkin was wrong, or
his mother had misunderstood him. His first parents probably knew
magic and liked the Elven tradition like she said. He knew that if
it was an Elven mark then the people who killed his parents, or at
least his mother—“ Maybe my dad is still alive,” he thought—
worked for the queen and may have even been Iumenta. This placed
him in danger. If the tattoo was from an Elf then he could be seen
as a spy and killed, or if the mark was from a human he could be
seen as an Elven sympathizer and killed—two possibilities with only
one outcome.
    For the first time, Legon began to appreciate the
sacrifice his adopted parents had made on his behalf. They had
placed themselves in danger by harboring a possible enemy to the
state. At the same, time he was angry with them, not because they
had done anything wrong, but because they were there and he needed
someone to be upset with. His mother was looking intently at him.
Her face was dry, and it hit him that he had been quiet for a few
minutes.
    “Sorry mom… I blanked out,” he began.
    “It should be me who is sorry. We should have told
you sooner than this, and it’s a horrible thing to drop on
someone.”
    For some reason this made Legon even angrier. They
knew they should have told him but they hadn’t. Was it because they
didn’t care about him? He had been of use, taking care of Sasha so
they didn’t have to, and working in that shop… was he nothing more
than labor? No, that wasn’t right. His parents loved him and they
just wanted him to be happy. What was wrong with that?
    He stood suddenly. “I need to get outside and get
some air. There’s so much going through my mind. I’m sorry Mom.
Thank you for the tea.”
    She nodded at him and seemed relieved. “Take your
time dear.”
    He walked out the back door and toward the forest. A
walk in the woods would be good for him. It was overcast today,
which matched his new mood. The gray sky made all of the bright
colors of the field become more vibrant, and made the ground soft
under his feet. When he got in the woods the air was thick and
misty; there wasn’t a sound. The heavy air and the mist reminded
him of something… a dream maybe. It felt as though his feet were
carrying him of their own accord; he had no idea where he was
going. He saw a deer go bounding by and snap a branch. That too
seemed to remind him of something.
    His mind flooded with thought; he knew that this news
of his tattoo would change his life in ways he could not yet
comprehend. He couldn’t go to a big city. If he did his tattoo
would be seen for sure. He might have to go south to the
resistance, but he didn’t like that idea. He would be too far away
to help the family with their taxes. But that wasn’t his problem -
it was his family’s. He had to protect himself or he wouldn’t be
able to do anything for them. It felt like his emotions had been
taken over, controlled by something other than himself.
    “ It’s not my fault if something happens. There’s
no point in both Sasha and I getting