The Arrival: An Epic Fantasy Romance

by Nicole MacDonald

  'How can you be so calm?' Cat demanded. She sat on her bed, legs crossed with her knees bouncing in agitation.

  Kassie shrugged. 'You know how it is, one of us freaks and the other is cool with it. We’ll find out shortly. Patience is a virtue.' She winked at Cat.

  I snorted in annoyance at her patronizing tone and crawled across the bed to peer out of the window. Whoa.

  Our windows overlooked what must be an inner courtyard. Like the rest of this place it looked huge, more like a park. I gazed down at the beautiful canopy, a rustling mass of colors; green, gold, crimson, silver. Shuffling closer, I put my elbows on the windowsill, head in hands while I gazed about. So much bush, very pretty. I wonder if the guys live in the castle? Maybe they have their own places, I would. I looked higher, staring over at the Anguem Range and the dense forest that led to the mountains. It made me think of my family’s cabin. That's what I’d do, I’d build a little cabin in the bush for myself, I thought. Tears slipped down my cheeks, but I didn’t make a sound. I didn’t want to upset Kassie. Audi snuggled closer to me and I sat straighter, wrapping my arms around her, my thoughts stuck on the cabin. It was my favorite place on Earth, where I felt safe, at peace, and Audi had so much fun. My parents and I spent lots of time up there together. It’d haunted my dreams last night. I felt this horrible sense of dread that I’d never see it, or them, again. God I hope I’m wrong. Sian and Loi came clattering out of the bathroom. I wiped my eyes discreetly. We wait and see, I guess.

  Sian had just finished tying a belt around her waist when someone knocked on the door. Cat went to answer it and Sian checked her reflection again. The light blue dress made her blonde hair and blue eyes appear brighter. Pleased, she smiled at the reflection.

  'We’re to follow this man to the Great Hall,' I said when the others came to stand beside me.

  'For breakfast and then to meet with the Lady Elena,' the page explained. 'You can bring your dog. I will bring some food for your cat to your room.'

  Again we passed through a maze of corridors. I marveled at the workmanship of the castle, wishing I had time to admire it. We heard voices as we neared the Great Hall and two guards opened the enormous doors for us.

  Alek felt oddly nervous at the thought of seeing Cat and he couldn’t understand why. It had only been overnight. Elena had arranged for an extra seat next to each of the men. Having the space beside him made him feel lopsided, every courtier in the room studied the space curiously. It almost feels like a bell’s ringing over it, he thought sourly, hurry up girls.

  Just then the doors opened and he could hear them. The men sat up, out of the corner of his eye he saw Yakov shoot Elena an amused look. The room fell silent when the four women entered, but all Alek really noticed was Cat.

  As we entered everyone fell silent, turning to observe us. I felt a pang of nerves but stamped on it and held my head high while we followed the page. The tables were set out in a large U shape with Alek, Elena, Yakov and the others seated at the curve. The clever U shape meant the servers could walk down the center without having to navigate the seats. A huge smile spread on my face when I caught sight of Alek, I headed straight for him. His blue eyes regarded me warmly and he stood as we approached. Screeches of wood against wood rang out as everyone else in the room pushed their chairs back and stood. The four of us froze, startled by the abrupt movement then Alek held his hand out to me. The sense of relief when our hands touched felt wonderful and we stood for a moment, staring at each other with silly grins.

  Everyone sat. I greeted Elena and Yakov and nodded to the Lieutenants who inclined their heads at me. No one talked over breakfast; all too busy eating. The food was fantastic. A proper cooked breakfast with hot and crispy streaky bacon, freshly poached eggs, sautéed mushrooms, crunchy hash-browned potatoes and more. By the time we finished my stomach almost groaned with fullness and I relaxed back in the seat. I stuck my tongue out at Alek when he looked at my plate in exaggerated astonishment. 'Did we not feed you enough?'

  'You did, but after that fantastic sleep I needed this. You can’t compare a sleep on a cot to one in a bed.'

  'I take it your room is suitable?' asked Yakov.

  'Oh, most suitable,' we assured him.

  'If you’re all ready, why don’t we head to the library for a chat?' Elena asked. As polite as the request sounded, it became apparent that it was an order when the men immediately stood. I hastily got up. All those in the room bowed to Alek when he passed by and didn't sit again till we exited the room. Sian and I exchanged a confused look; what the heck was that about?

  They followed Elena to the library, pausing while Daron and Rumal pushed the huge doors open. Are they incapable of having normal sized doors, Kassie thought in amusement following the others in. She stopped short. WHOA. This is the library?

  The room was enormous. Two story's high with a partial mezzanine level in the far right corner. The walls were lined with immense bookcases that ran the full height of the room, with a couple of rolling ladders on rails that trailed across the top level of each bookcase. The stocked shelves almost made her drool; I could live here. Glancing at Cat, Kassie chuckled when she saw the same expression on her face. The two of them frequented all the libraries in Wellington together. I wonder if we’ll ever do that again? A pang of homesickness hit her and she banished it. No point in thinking about that at the moment. Rumal urged her forward and they walked into the room. It opened up to the left after the first enormous bookcase and more bookcases filled the walls. The very back wall was made entirely of glass and the view! Is that the courtyard? Kassie stared in amazement. It looks like a proper park; I didn’t realize just how big this place is.

  Rumal grinned at Alek, Sabyn, and Daron when the women gasped at the window. It was a point of pride for the castle. It took six fire dragons a month to create the window, the largest single pane of glass in the land with tiny gemstones suspended inside so it glittered no matter where the sun hit it.

  It had to be the most beautiful window I’d ever seen. My fingers itched to touch it. Look how it sparkles, I thought; feeling my magpie tendencies right now. With the shelves of books and the pretty window, this room had to be my favorite, so far at least. I couldn’t believe how many books they had crammed in this place. You could only see glimpses of the white stone on the walls. I must come back to look at this room properly, if we get time. Elena sat on a large ornate chair and indicated we should sit. We sat on two couches that ran parallel and looked to the Sorceress.

  Elena smiled at the curious faces before her. 'I suppose you are wondering why I sent the Griffon Guard to bring you to me?'

  The women nodded earnestly.

  'I believe I will have this conversation with the women only,' she spoke to Alek who glanced at Catherine. 'Why don’t you men head to the solar as you usually do? I will send them that way when we have finished.'

  The men stood, bowing to the Sorceress then left the room.

  The four of us switched seats so that we sat on the couch opposite Elena and waited for her story.

  Chapter Eighteen

  'When you four arrived in our world,' Elena arched an eyebrow at us. 'You each threw off a massive power surge. Something I haven’t seen in quite a while. As you might have noticed, there are people in this world who are gifted. They have special abilities. Anyone with these abilities will have sensed your arrival too. Even more so after the incident on the griffons.'

  Abilities? What did she mean by power surge? All we’d done was freak out when we thought Sian was in serious danger. I interrupted her. 'Elena, I’m sorry, but I don’t think we understand what you’re talking about.' The Sorceress looked surprised. 'Are you saying we have abilities?'

  'Yes. You must have. To give off such an energy wave is absolute proof.'

  'But we didn’t do anything,' Sian said, looking like the rest of us, very confused.

  'Yeah, all we did was pass out,' Kassie said. 'That doesn’t sound like an impressive gift to me. Passing out when
something scary happens.'

  I agreed, 'Totally useless.'

  Elena shook her head. 'No. What I’m trying to say is I believe you girls are gifted, of the elements.'

  Nope. Still no clue what she’s babbling about, I thought then remembered something. 'Sian, our weapons we found when we arrived, they’re all engraved right? With designs that could represent the elements.'

  Sian stared at me while she thought about it. 'Actually yes, I think they are.'

  'Well there you go then,' Loi said to Elena. 'We have been gifted but in a more literal sense.'

  There was silence as we waited for her response. She’d shut her eyes and put a hand to her head. We glanced at each other. Loi shrugged, settling back in her seat.

  Elena let out a sigh. 'Let me start again. In Gar'nyse—the world you’re now on, beings can be born with special abilities. These are known as gifts. For example, some are born with the gift to foresee events. Others can change form and some can create illusions. Every time a gifted being uses their gift, consciously or not, it throws off an energy wave. When you four arrived you threw off a very remarkable wave.' She paused, allowing us to digest this. Before we could ask questions she continued, 'What you will not know, is that a person’s abilities can be drawn from them and absorbed by creatures whose abilities are very strong. This process kills you. Hence the need to get you under our protection quickly.'

  We all sat a little straighter at that.

  Loi, a frown on her face, questioned Elena. 'Why do you think we’d be of interest to such a person?'

  'And how do we know you aren’t such a person?' Kassie demanded. We looked at her in surprise then back at Elena.

  'Yes,' Sian gave Elena a straight forward look. 'We’ve been informed that you have abilities. You do carry the title of Sorceress.'

  Elena looked surprised. 'Oh. Well, I guess you wouldn’t know. Yes, I do have abilities. They are hereditary in my family and no, I have no desire to rob you of yours. I have all the powers I need.' She gave a light laugh. 'I have no desire for world domination.'

  World domination. My brain froze at that. What did that mean? We had powers strong enough to do such a thing? Surely not.

  'Elena, we thought a love spell we cast brought us here,' Sian confessed blushing. 'Was it you who brought us?'

  Elena's full lips twitched, the hint of a dimple appeared in a cheek making her seem much younger. 'No, I didn’t bring you here. You simply appeared. What was the spell you cast?'

  Sian spoke the spell while Elena listened, she had Sian repeat it a couple of times.

  'Yes that sounds like it would work. As the spell says, it will create the right time and place for it to work. Obviously that’s on our world, not yours. Did the consequences not occur to you?' Elena asked.

  'Normally when we cast spells in our world it’s to draw positive energy to the cause,' explained Sian. 'I’ve cast many spells on Earth before, none of them have ever done this.'

  'This only happens in fairytales,' Kassie added. And only in fairytales are there magickal abilities, griffons, and scary creatures like elgrids, she thought; oh God, I hope we can get home. The horrible butterflies returned to her stomach, somersaulting about, making her feel queasy. She spat out the question she knew they all wanted to know. 'How can we get back to Earth?'

  Elena's face went slack, her eyes wide. 'But you didn’t ask for that,' she said in astonishment. 'You asked to find your soul mates, that is why you are here. There is no reason for you to just zap back when you find them.'

  The four of us stared at her, aghast. We can’t get home.

  The answer to the question we’d been waiting to ask but this wasn’t what we wanted to hear. The realization hit hard. I felt like I’d taken a solid punch to the chest and leaned forward, trying to breathe. Beside me Kassie began to cry, silent tears running down her cheeks, both hands pressed over her mouth. Sian stared at Kassie with an expression of agony, I reached out to her.

  'We know it’s not your fault, Siany.' I caught her hand and squeezed it. Tears began to run down our faces and we wrapped our arms around each other.

  'I’m so sorry.'

  'It isn’t your fault.'

  'We’re okay,' Loi’s voice sounded hoarse. 'We’re okay, we’ve got each other. We’ll make the best of it.'

  'But our families,' Kassie moaned, pressing her head to my shoulder.

  Our families. I’d never see mum and dad again. I started breathing hard. Oh god that hurts. Images of them flashed through my mind, the tears flowing faster. We clung tight to each other while Audi whined and cried at our feet. It was some time before we stopped. Elena sat silently, allowing our grief.

  Wiping away the tears, I glanced at her. 'We’d been hoping that you might have been able to get us home.'

  'Yes, I gathered that.' The Sorceress' eyes softened and she regarded us with sympathy. 'I’m very sorry I can’t. Inter-world magick is not easy, almost impossible.'

  The room fell silent again while we pulled ourselves together, managing tentative smiles. Calmer, we shifted about on the couch so we faced Elena again but stayed close enough to touch, holding hands, leaning against each other. It felt necessary. A soft knock on the door broke the silence. Elena smiled and called out, her voice echoing in the large room. 'Come in.'

  The door opened a fraction and a petite woman with short dark curly hair stepped into the room. She crossed the floor to where we sat. Elena gave her a look when she registered our damp faces and she kept hers impassive.

  'I would like to introduce you all to Ada. The castle’s newest and most gifted fabricer.'

  Ada beamed at the compliment and bowed.

  What is a fabricer? Is it like a tailor? The atmosphere shifted from somber to curiosity while we waited to see why she’d been summoned.

  'I’m very pleased to meet you all.'

  We responded likewise and Ada took a seat next to Elena, quite comfortable with her.

  'Ada is here to discuss ideas for your gowns. There is a ball at the end of the month,' Elena explained.

  Well that was a change of pace, we go from never being able to return home, to ball gowns. I fought the urge to glare at the Sorceress. Loi squeezed my hand and I gave her a rueful smile. Can’t blame her I guess, it isn't as though it matters to her.

  'What’s the ball for?'

  'Alek’s birthday.'

  My brain froze. Surely they didn’t throw a ball in honor of anyone’s birthday. Hesitantly I asked, 'Why? Who is Alek?'

  Elena looked very amused. 'Elion’s Crown Prince, of course. Did he not mention that?'

  Suddenly the bowing and standing at the table made sense. I flushed. 'Apparently it slipped his mind.'

  Elena let out a peal of laughter.

  Sian watched Cat flush and spoke up, hoping to give her a few moments to compose herself. 'What is it you want with us then, Elena? Or was it solely to keep us out of the way of those who would take our abilities?'

  'I would like the opportunity to train you all to use your powers. If you do have the abilities that I think you do then you would be very valuable allies,' Elena said frankly.

  'How do we know you’re the good guys?' Loi asked. 'We could be allying with the wrong side.'

  Elena let out an exasperated sigh. 'Here is the offer I make you. I will train you and provide for you. You will have free reign to explore as you like and ask what you like. All I ask is that you give it at least one month before you make any final decisions as to what you are going to do.'

  'Why one month?' queried Kassie.

  'Because it will take a month to develop your abilities to a level that will be of any use to you. Hopefully to a level that will allow you to defend yourselves if necessary,' Elena explained.

  'What do you think we’re capable of? Are you saying you would want us as allies? Why would you need such allies? Who are you at war with?' Sian wanted to clarify a few more things.

  'As I’ve mentioned, I suspect you have the gifts of the elements.
If you are blessed with these abilities then you would be a great help against our Southern enemy and anyone else who threatened our realm.'

  'Who is your Southern enemy, Elena?' I figured I could safely join in the conversation now.

  She gave me a sympathetic smile then answered. 'Her name is Jenviet DeNaga and her family’s treachery spans about nine millennia.'

  I’m pretty sure it wasn’t just my jaw that dropped at that sentence. Nine millennia! I stared at Elena in shock. Elena shifted position, turning to Ada, who still sat there silently. 'Why don’t you create some concepts that the girls can look at later?' Ada bowed her head and left, closing the door behind her.

  'And so let me tell you the story of my family, the Mestarns, and the beginning of the Royal Thalian lineage.

  Nine millennia ago in the Southern realm of Vo Arum two families, the Mestarns and the DeNagas, inherited special abilities. They were chosen by the citizens of the realm to rule Vo Arum jointly. Both families accepted and at first it was the perfect arrangement, the realm prospered greatly from their joint abilities.

  Then members of the Mestarn family began to disappear in seemingly innocent accidents; a tehnear attack, or a landslide. But one of the bodies was found by a Mestarn who discovered that it had been drained of its gift. They realized something sinister was afoot. Aware that the only ones with that kind of power were either a member of their own family or a DeNaga, they investigated and established it was the DeNagas.

  The Mestarns knew that in a fight the DeNagas would win. As now, not only did they have higher numbers but greater abilities. The Mestarns did the only thing they could, they gathered the remaining members of their family and fled to Elion. Elion had just come out of a massive civil war and King Thalian, as the successor, had ascended the throne. The Mestarns met with the King and, after negotiations, settled on an agreement which would be prosperous for both families.