by V. M. Sang
Now he could at last go home.
The next morning Pettic and Cledo walked into the palace gardens. He wore the pin Eloraine had given him, but he wore it behind the lapel of his shirt just in case someone recognised it and thought he had stolen it.
He reached the arch and grabbed Cledo by the scruff of his neck. They passed through the arch into a mist and stepped out on the other side into a familiar place.
A sheep, grazing near the arch, jumped and ran away bleating at seeing Pettic and Cledo appear. Pettic laughed and then jumped as a figure approached. It was Princess Lucenra.
'Luce!' he exclaimed. 'What are you doing here?'
The princess smiled. 'I just came up on the off-chance you would be coming through.'
Lucenra patted Cledo who seemed pleased to see her, then she looked at Pettic and said, 'Father's lifted the banishment. The two girls, when they heard you'd been banished, told the Duke it was Torren who had instigated the game of strip poker and you tried to stop it. The Duke came and told father and he rescinded the banishment. That was six months ago. Since then we've been waiting for you to come back from your “business trip.” '
'And what about Cledo? He did attack Torren. That much is true.'
'His sentence has been suspended. The girls said he was protecting them, and so he's one more chance, but if he attacks anyone again, then he will be destroyed.'
'Now I need this whole story,' said Lucenra as they walked back to the city.
'When we get back,' said Pettic. 'Have you been coming up to the standing stones often?'
The princess looked down at her feet. 'I've come up at some time every day,' she told him.
'How did you know what time to come up?'
'I didn't,' she said. 'I just guessed or came up when I could. Sometimes it was only for a half hour, but one day I managed six hours.'
'You stayed waiting for six hours?' he said, stopping to look at her and raising his eyebrows. 'From winter to summer? Is it the same year I left? You look no different.'
'Yes, it's been 6 months since you went. Pettic. How long were you on Aeris?'
'Probably about eight or nine months. Time wasn't so different this time, then?'
The pair soon arrived at the palace gates. The guard on duty saluted as they passed through. They went up to Pettic's apartment where Lucenra said she would send for some hot water so he could have a bath and be changed before meeting the princess to talk about his adventures in the world of Aeris.
He lay back in the bath luxuriating in the hot water until it started to feel cold, then he got out and had a shave.
He was just brushing his hair prior to performing the same task for the dog when he heard a knock at the door.
Lucenra, entered his apartment at his call. 'I hoped you were ready, Pettic, I couldn't wait to see you and the gem.'
Pettic held out the pin for her to see.
'Oh, that's beautiful,' exclaimed the princess. 'A diamond. A crystal clear diamond for the clear air. Now, tell me about your adventures on Aeris.
She sat down in a chair and motioned for Pettic to sit opposite her. He looked at her face and her eyes held his. An exquisitely beautiful face momentarily appeared in his imagination, but the familiar face of Lucenra soon eclipsed that of Eloraine. Lucenra was pretty while Eloraine was beautiful, but Pettic thought that Lucenra's inner beauty far outstripped the outer beauty of the aerial princess. He smiled.
'What are you smiling at?'
'I'm so glad to be here, and to see you, Lucenra.'
Lucenra blushed, but then said, 'I expect you'll be glad to see the others too. Now, tell me about your time away. What happened? Was the diamond difficult to get? What was Aeris like? Was it dangerous?'
'Woah,' laughed Pettic. 'One question at a time please. Aeris is a very interesting world.' He began to tell her of all that had happened.'
Chapter 18
That afternoon the king summoned Pettic. He entered the small throne room and bowed. His eyebrows rose as he saw a small gathering of courtiers there as well as the queen and all the royal children except for the Crown Prince. He bowed deeply to the king and queen, and less deeply to the royal children. The youngest one, a boy who had been born only three years previously, developed a fit of giggles as Pettic bowed to them.
'Why Pet bow?' he asked and was shushed by the queen.
Then the king got down from his throne and bowed to Pettic. The young man was confused. The king should not be bowing to him! Then the king spoke.
'My Lord, Earl of Flindon, I, King Horraic the second, offer my sincerest apologies to you for banishing you. It seems I was mistaken in what I had been led to believe and that you were innocent. Your dog, Cledo is likewise reprieved, but only on condition he does not make any further attacks. Any other attacks will result in his being put down.
'The true culprit in this case has been banished to a monastery for one month in order to contemplate the wrongs of his deeds. I will not have innocent young girls compromised while I am ruling this land.'
The king then returned to his throne and dismissed the assembled courtiers. As Pettic turned to leave along with them, the king called him back.
'I did that formally, Pettic, so the whole court can see you are innocent. I will not have anyone saying an innocent man is guilty of something he has not done. I'm ashamed of Torren, that he should have been so wanton.'
The king seemed to think for a moment and then said, 'Torren doesn't seem to have been himself for a while now. I think it's mixing with those guard friends of his. Some of the guards are a bit rough. When he comes back, Pettic, I'd like you to try to re-establish your friendship.'
The queen stepped down from the dais where she had been listening.
'We've noticed you and Torren seem to have become estranged,' she said. 'Whether that's due to an argument or just growing apart we don't know, but we prefer your influence to that of the guards. They're getting him into drinking, gambling and womanising and that's a worry for the future king.'
Pettic bowed to the King and Queen and told them he would do his best to do as they asked. He agreed Torren had not been himself, but did not know why. There had been no falling out between them except for the argument over the girls and playing strip poker.
Later that day, Lucenra came to see Pettic.
'We should take that pin to Blundo,' she told him. 'It needs to be with the sword. It's very valuable and anyone could steal it if they know it's here, then we'd be unable to rescue Torren from the Bubble.'
Pettic agreed, and the pair climbed the now familiar stairs to Blundo's quarters.
The magician rose as Princess Lucenra and Pettic, Earl of Flindon entered his tower laboratory.
'Your Royal Highness, Your Lordship.' He bowed to each of them in turn.
'Pettic has the gem from Aeris,' Lucenra told him.
Pettic held out the diamond pin still on his lapel. He unpinned it and Blundo took it.
'I'll put it with the sword then,' he said. 'Was it very hard to get?'
'Pettic had to foment a revolution on Aeris,' the princess told him. 'It was right that he did so, though. I think Aeris is a much better place now for everyone concerned.'
The three sat down and Blundo asked Pettic to tell him of his adventures.
When he finished, Blundo said, 'Well, I agree with the princess that you had to do that. You couldn't leave those poor groundlings as slaves.'
'They were worse than slaves,' Pettic told him. 'They were treated like animals. In fact the aerials believed they were animals, or at best, little better. I hope they've learned more now. I think Princess Eloraine was learning. She'll be the next queen of Faoor, so they should be better treated under her rule.'
Princess Lucenra scowled at the mention of Eloraine, but said nothing.
'You deserve a little rest before you go on your next adventure,' Blundo told him. The next full moon isn't until three weeks' time. You've just missed it this time round.'
The pri
ncess and earl descended the stairs and returned to her quarters. Once there, the princess sat down and ordered some wine for them both.
While they waited for the wine to arrive, Lucenra turned to Pettic.
'And is she very beautiful?' she asked him.
'Who? Oh, Eloraine. Yes, she's the most exquisite woman I've ever seen, or am likely to see.'
'And is it true the aerials wear no clothes?'
'Well, they would find it difficult with the membranes joining their arms and feet.'
Lucenra pouted. 'I suppose so,' she said. 'Still, you saw a lot of her in more ways than one.'
'You aren't jealous by any chance?'
'Jealous? Don't be stupid. Why would I be jealous?'
Pettic grinned a mischievous grin.
'Because she is more beautiful than you?' he said.
Lucenra's eyes narrowed as she picked up a cushion and threw it, with surprising accuracy, at Pettic. It hit him right in the mouth.
'That serves you right for grinning like that when I'm upset,' said Lucenra.
Pettic picked up the cushion and handed it back to the princess.
'She may be more physically beautiful than you, but there is more to beauty than what you see. You are a much more beautiful person than Eloraine ever could be.
The End of Book 1.
Will Pettic be able to find the gems on the other Elemental Worlds? Will he be able to rescue Prince Torren, and if he does, how will he manage to ascertain without doubt which young man is the true prince to the satisfaction of the rest of the court?
Read Book 2 to find out.
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Thank you.
You can contact me on my website, http://aspholessaria.wordpress.com/
Twitter @VM_Sang
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I would like to thank all at Creativia for their help especially Miika Hannila who has been a great support in bringing this book to fruition.
About the Author
I was born and lived my early life in Cheshire in the north west of England. My father died while I was very young and my mother remarried. My stepfather was a farmer on the Cheshire/North Wales border. My step brothers and sisters all went to boarding school, but I was lucky enough to escape that, going to live with my mother’s elder sister and her husband in order to get a good education. I passed my 11+ examination and went to Grammar School, thus getting a more academic education.
I have always loved books and reading. I learned to read before I went to school. The earliest book I remember was one about two little pandas whose Great Aunt Patsy gave umbrellas. They gave them away to aid a rabbit whose burrow was leaking and a bird whose babies were getting wet in the nest. It was in rhyme, and my mother told me I knew it off by heart and would say it along with whoever was reading it to me.
I loved Enid Blyton books. I know she’s not supposed to be good, but she certainly got me reading. I loved her Famous 5 books and the Adventure books, like the Sea of Adventure, the Mountain of Adventure etc. There was another book by Enid Blyton, called Shadow the Sheepdog that I loved. This inspired me to write my very first story. I could not have been more than about 6 or 7, because I know I spelled ‘of’ wrongly throughout. I spelled it ‘ov’.
I loved Black Beauty too, but was not impressed by Alice in Wonderland at all.
During my teenage years I wrote some poetry, one of which was published in the magazine of the University of Manchester Institute of Science and Technology (UMIST). Unfortunately, that is the only one that is still around.
I became a teacher and taught English and Science at my first school. My main subject was science, though, although I also taught Maths and what was then known as Computer Studies.
I was introduced to fantasy by a little 9 year old boy with the wonderful name of Fred Spittal who told me I should read The Lord of the Rings, but first read The Hobbit. This I did and have been hooked ever since.
I did little writing until I started teaching in Croydon, Greater London. Here I started a Dungeons and Dragons club in the school where I was teaching. I used bought scenarios at first, then thought I could write my own, which I did. The idea of turning it into a novel formed but I did little about it until I took early retirement. Then I began to write The Wolves of Vimar Series. Not having written a novel since my teens (a rather bad romantic novel) for the consumption of my friends, I was surprised at how this work seemed to take on a life of its own, and what was supposed to be a single novel turned into a series.
Walking has always been one of my favourite pastimes, having gone on walking holidays in my teens. I met my husband walking with the University Hiking Club, and we still enjoy walking on the South Downs. We also bought a kayak and have done quite a lot of kayaking in Brittany along the river Vilaine and the Oust.
Quieter things that I enjoy doing are a variety of crafts, such as card making, tatting, crochet, knitting etc. I also draw and paint.
I am married with two children, a girl and a boy. My daughter has three children and I love to spend time with my grandchildren. They are so much fun. I now live in East Sussex with my husband.