In the realm of the Court of Moons, it was always night. The cool air would slowly make its way between the stone columns and across the marble floors that reflected the light of the twin moons overhead. It always felt like the perfect time to sleep, but the Court's Princes never quite did.
The leaves rustled and blew along with the wind, and unless one was listening very carefully, they would have missed the soft footsteps of Prince Calenor's leather shoes as they slid across the floor and stopped against the dark side of a column. His long, dark hair was tied back into a bun, and his beard was neatly shaped, without a single hair out of place. His gray eyes scanned the interior.
He stood for a moment and listened, before he looked out away from his royal home to the wheatfields bathed in moonlight.
Come now, Lys, he thought. You wouldn't be that stupid, would you?
After a few moments, the prince noticed some of the wheat moving as if a creature were running through it, with several other trails in pursuit, sets of glowing eyes peeking over the tops of the grain occasionally.
Moonstalkers.
He would be that stupid...
The Prince took off down the hill, his pale skin reflecting the moonlight. He frowned as he saw it, hating how their skin reacted. Mother had once said:
There are many who make their own light, and some that reflect the light of others, Calenor. It is nothing to be ashamed of. We are the Court of Moons, after all.
The Court of Moons... He thought on that a bit before he realized it lingered too long. Not now.
As he slid to the edge of the wheat, he covered his hands with leather gloves and his face with the hood of his robes so he would no longer reflect any light. His pointed ears heard the four steps of his brother, and he set off through the crops towards them. He quickly heard the shriek of a Moonstalker and picked up his pace before he came upon a small clearing with the translucent glowing skin of the creature looming over the collapsed body of a white wolf.
Calenor took two steps forward before leaping into the air, covering the light of the moon and seeing the glowing body of his target more clearly. It turned to look at him just as Calenor's blade was driven into its forehead, and its glowing eyes turned dark.
They both landed on the ground simultaneously as a second Moonstalker shrieked from the wheat and clamored for the two royals. Calenor quickly cast a spell that slowed the monster in its place before it erupted into black flame, and the dagger that was just buried in a skull was now thrown into the monster's own.
As quiet returned, Calenor turned to the white wolf.
"It would seem we call today a draw, Lys—" He stopped when he got a better look at the wolf. "Lunara? Why is your fur white?"
Calenor felt a blade pressed against his throat.
"So you would think it was me," Lysander said, resting his chin on his brother's shoulder. His eyes were piercing, with a gold ring around the iris, and seemed to glow despite being completely in shadow. His short tan hair looked like the rustling wheat, exposing the pale skin of his forehead as another cold breeze went through.
Lys looked at Lunara, who was happily panting on the ground, and he dropped his voice a bit.
"Oooh good girl, Lunara. You did good, girl. You'll have so many treats."
Calenor sighed and tried to push off Lysander, but the blade pressed harder against his throat, and the hand tightened on the shoulder opposite his brother's head. Lysander clicked his tongue.
"Not so fast, Cal," he said as he inspected Cal's hooded face. "It's not often I win our little game of assassin. I thought I'd have some fun first."
Before either of them could react, a third Moonstalker leaped from the grain in front of them, its claws and teeth standing out as they caught the moonlight. Just as it was about to dig its death into the Princes, a sound like the world fell out from beneath them filled their ears, and the monster exploded, sending both boys backward onto the ground. Lunara quickly stood up and ran next to the cloaked figure stepping out of the wheat.
"Is this any way for the future leader of this court to behave?" The soft, stern voice of the Moon King silenced everything in the realm. Even the wind didn't dare to move a leaf. "Only one of you will be named Prince of the Eclipse, after all."
Both Princes quickly scrambled to their feet in front of the king, their hands at their sides.
"Yes, sir," they both said in unison.
The King's eyes were shaped like crescent moons against a black sky. You could usually tell his mood by their shape, and right now the boys did not want to invoke the wrath that it currently meant.
As the King turned to leave, he paused and looked at the white paint coating Lunara, and he turned to look at Lysander, who was subtly pointing at Calenor while looking the other way. The King sighed with a hint of a disappointed groan and disappeared into the grain once more. The Princes let their bodies relax, and they breathed once more.
"I mean, I still won, right?" Lysander said with a smile. "Just because Dad found us—"
Lysander's body was met with a tackle from his brother, and they both fell to the ground. Lunara was on them in a second, and their laughter brought sound back to the realm.