. . . . .
I woke up on a bed. Nate sat in the corner. On the table next to me I saw a washcloth that had blood on it. Was that my blood? I felt the loss for Lady Pandie fill me. I let out a cry. I had watched her die. I had watched her die. The storm would have scared me.
I remembered faking everything. I wouldn't take the necklace off. It was bad for me. Nate had saved me from it. It was eating me away, making me addicted, the feeling of nothing. I hated the feeling. It felt so cold, so hollow.
Nate woke up next to me. He stared me in the eyes. I could see his worry. He looked up and down my face searching to see if I was alright.
My heart was warm. He cared. The last time he stared at me he kissed me. Maybe it was just as a trick, a distraction. That didn't mean I didn't feel anything. I certainly did. I licked my lips then looked down. Tears ran down my eyes.
I was so confused. My emotions were running wild. I didn't even understand why I was so upset. Of course, I knew why I was upset but didn't know why I was crying. I clenched my hands into fists and curled up into a little ball. Nate was there in an instant.
He was like my own little personal guardian. Even protecting me from himself, even protecting me from myself.
“I need some time alone,” I said. Nate nodded and walked out of the room. I wiped my tears away. I got up and walked over to the mirror in the corner. I looked almost normal. I looked so fragile, breakable.
I was pale as paper and my freckles stood out on my face. I could almost see my bones from the slight amount of food on the journey. Scars covered my body from fights, some only recent. I had lines under my eyes from the lack of sleep last night.
My green eyes were vibrant and prominent and stood out on my face and contrasted against my pale skin.
My hair was curlier than ever. It fell down my back in dark locks. They were all uneven and out of place. It was messy. I grabbed a ribbon and braided then tied it with the ribbon.
I put on my regular clothes and my green cloak. Now I looked healthier than I have in a long time. I had a small smile on my face that showed my white teeth.
Maybe things wouldn't be so bad after all. I would get over the pain. I still had something to live for, something grand to do with my life. I must warn all the kingdoms with Nate before I give up. And that's a promise. I never break my promises. I let out a small sigh and kept my smile on my face. I turned around and tested out my legs. I opened my door and saw Nate standing there. He still looked worried. He had a lot to explain.
XXIII Shortlake Island
Petunia
Shortlake Island was almost an unnoticeable little island. They didn't even put it on the maps. The small piece of land was perfect for my stay. I waited here until the storm had passed.
My frustration grew when I realized that the storm did not kill them or ruin the boat enough to slow them down much. It didn't matter my plan was still working. I just needed more time, more distractions.
I let out a small huff as I watched the waves wash upon the shore. The day was so bright and happy. It made me disgusted. The biggest revolution would come and then the days could be better.
I let out a small smile. I walked back into the little hut I was staying in. Usually, it's size would bother me but this business was too important to me to be bothered.
A knock sounded on the small door as soon as I had crossed the room. I let out a sound of frustration.
I threw open the door “What” I said. I glared at the man standing in front of me.
That's when I saw who he had with him a small smile lit my face.
“You brought the rat,” I said. The girl glared at me. I gave a little smile.
“I found her in the kingdom of Radian, I fetched her before she could get anywhere near Princess Amaryllis to warn her,” He said. I nodded. I stared at her.
“Good job, you can let go of her. She is not going anywhere” I said. He did as I said and she pulled away quickly. She glared at me “You're the Rat here Petunia” She said.
I shook my head in disapproval. “You better watch your mouth Mary, your daddy chose me to be Queen instead of you. He gave me authority to you and know I can do whatever I want with you.” I said. She backed up against the wall.
I could see hatred fill her eyes. “I know you're the one who killed him, you are the one who poisoned his drink” She said with a snarl.
I snarled back “Oh Boohoo, I was tired of him bossing me around. He promised me I would be in charge. I'm not admitting anything to you. Even if I did, it wouldn't matter. Who would believe you? You are nobody. Your daddy chose me so he could protect you. This is how I protect” I said.
I saw her eyes start to tear up. I gave her a small smile. “Good Mary, go cry to your daddy. After all, this is his fault. How could you ever be mad at me” I said.
I turned around and sat down in a chair. I stared at her as she glared at me.
“What should I do with poor little Princess Mary,” I said. I tapped my foot. “I would just kill you to get it over with..” I said. I made a thinking face. “But no, I want to see you watch your precious kingdom fall to pieces,” I said.
She let out a yell and ran at me. I pulled out a knife, and she stopped instantly. “Mary, Oh little Mary, if you had any good sense still left in you, you would stay right there.” I said. She didn't move. I smiled. I was having way too much fun.
I pulled out a map and concentrated on it. “Hmm, why don't we let them go to Ozeana alone? If we just followed them, we would only be right on their tail. Let's go straight to Structane, so we are ahead of them.” I said. Mary watched me with careful eyes.
“That's where we can drop you off little Mary,” I said. “You have great ideas; we should take you along more. Too bad we hate and want to kill each other,” I said giving her a sarcastic face that showed it really was too bad. I smiled.
“Oh, how about this little Mary!” I said showing her the map. I trailed my finger on where I wanted to go. “Once I set up a few delays here and there in Structane we can leave you there to wander your way. Then we can go down Redgate river and go into The forbidden land of the Whispering Willow.” I said. I came close to her ear and whispered quietly. “Have you heard of the curse, the area is forbidden because it can kill you,” I said.
She shook her head. I have never felt inclined to know why the area was prohibited” She said. I nodded.
“Oh well, I have enough time to tell,” I said. I pulled her into a seat next to me and trailed my finger over the forbidden land in the middle of the map.
“The forbidden area was first just forest split up between the 5 kingdoms on the continent. Ozeana got none because it was part of the sea. There was a girl who lived in one of these kingdoms. I forgot which. She had a strange gift. People who felt no happiness or were lost in the world often came to her. They would tell her all their secrets. She would keep them and never tell their secrets to anyone. Her parents were scared of these people. They were often the ones that were thought of as bad.” I said. I gazed up to the roof of the small hut watching the story play in my head.
“The parents decided these people weren't safe for their daughter. They kept the girl in her room for an entire year. One night she faked being sick, and they opened the window to let her have fresh air. She ran away that night. She ran into the woods. She found a place right next to all the boundaries of the 5 kingdoms. She built a small hut out of twigs and ate berries as her only food. Most the day she would sit with her back to a tree. Travelers would always pass by and tell her their secrets. One day all the Kings and Queens came to her to visit the girl. Her name was Willow. Everyone called her Whispering Willow. They were surprised to see that the so-called Whispering Willow was a girl not a tree and they all felt inclined to tell her their secrets.” I smiled as I spoke. My finger trailed over the map. Mary looked almost bored. I still kept talking.
“When she saw who they were she asked them to stay a week. What they agreed for this girl was more of a myste
ry than anything else in their lives. The first night Willow had a vision. The vision told her to make 6 items. One for each kingdom. Each item had evil magic in it. She was shown that she made these things and put in a heart in all of them. Inside all these hearts she put in purple sap from a lone tree. When she woke up, she found the tree and took its sap. She made all 6 items in one night. She gave one to each kingdom. She told them what her vision told her to say. ‘Keep these gifts from me. Save them until the day you birth a child. It has evil magic. Don't use it. Keep it safe. Give it to the soldier who will save us all. If you never meet the soldier tell your child what I said in exact words. You will remember.’ She had told them. The last day of their stay they woke up and found the girl covered in the purple magic sap from the tree. The fluid had leaked into her heart. She was dead.” I smiled as I told Mary this. I always had a wonder for death.
“Where her body lay grew a large Willow tree. Its branches spread out wide. The magic was so strong that anyone who felt lost or broken or had no joy even for a second was cast under its spell. It would show you your worst memories when you entered its area. You became a slave to the tree and could never leave. You couldn't think for yourself. You were stuck in your own sorrow. The happy ones who escape say that it was the worst thing they have ever experienced. Most try to avoid it. Soon the tree grew its branches out to be as big as a kingdom. The land was labeled forbidden for the safety of the people.” I said.
Mary stared at me with unbelievable big eyes. “I do not believe you,” She said.
“Of course, you don't, who would,” I said. “I have something important there for me. Everything I need to win this war” I said. “Then I will rule all of the kingdoms. It will be easy.”
She glared at me. “Nobody would let you get away with it. The Lumine and the princess will stop you.” Mary said. She kept glaring at me.
“Good,” I said with a big evil grin. “I'm planning on them to try,” I said. Mary looked a little confused. I left her standing there with her head tilted to the side, wondering what I meant. I walked outside to order the ships of my plan. I wasn't afraid of her escaping. We were in the middle of an island there was nowhere to flee.
When I walked outside people got out of my way ready for my orders. They were smart enough to obey me. A small smile lit my face.
Ever since I had become Queen, I loved how people moved out of my way and fawned over me. They awaited my orders at every move. I thrived in their Loyalty.
A lot of people thought I was a bad guy but the truth is I sometimes have bad intentions, but that doesn't mean I mean to cause much harm. Maybe a little bit.
I am not evil either. I have been snarled at and told that I am a bad person. A villain from your favorite novel. I am nothing like that. Villains know there doing bad things. I know I am doing some right things to help Grarien. I have always tried to help this single continent. People just don't know how to rule right. I know that you need power and a good head on your shoulders. People need to know that you are in charge. They need to know how to fight. Those who resist will be killed. But that is not a bad thing. This world doesn't need rebels. Rebels are the ones who made this dysfunctional system of kingdoms. I knew better than the rest. All I needed to do was show them. The people who didn't rebel will soon see I'm right. They will appreciate it. Soon. Soon, but for now, I will wait, and plan. Then I will feel rewarded.
XXIV Ozeana Royalty
Nate
We walked a long distance. Amaryllis stared at the floor most of the time. She stayed pretty close to Rowan and me. Rowan held her hand and even acted like a typical little girl.
I wanted to help her, but I knew all this pain was caused by the necklace that I didn't hide very well.
So in a way, it was my fault.
“We are here,” said one of the men. I didn't see any castle. I looked around confused only seeing the dark ocean in front of us.
“Where is the castle,” I asked the man. He laughed and pointed down to a large gate that entered down to something underground.
I nodded but was still slightly confused. The gates faced off right into the ocean. Was the castle under water?
It made sense since the people here did everything involving water and the creatures inside.
The gates opened up for us, and we walked inside. There was a long tunnel made of concrete and dirt and soon it opened up to something beautiful.
The light reflected off the glowing walls. Every few feet stood a tall window that showed the open ocean. Fish swam by and so did people who sort of looked like fish.
The light from the water reflected across the walls. It was a beautiful effect.
We wandered for a while through the long hallway. We had to pass through many airtight doors. I knew they put these every place or so just in case the water flooded one of the tunnels it wouldn't spread.
We entered a small chamber. A man was inside wearing a mask for going underwater. He handed each of us one. Then he pushed a button that opened a door. Water rushed into the small chamber. The man swam across the large room. We followed him. We entered another room.
The chamber door shut leaving us in a little water full bowl. I watched as the water dissipated back into the large pool room we came from.
The room opened up on the other side, and we walked into another hallway. This hall seemed more like the other castles I had seen. There was no glass to show water.
We walked up a large spiral staircase. At the top was a large door. A guard stood outside. He didn't have Lumine symbol on his suit. That made me curious, all guards were usually Lumine.
The guard stopped us from approaching. “What are you here for,” He said.
“We are here to see the Queen,” I said. The man nodded.
“I will let you see her if you can find her. You only have one chance. I nodded. I had heard of people only visiting the Queen if they could get past the riddle.
The guard opened the large door that led us to a small room. In front of us were two doors.
“Choose between the doors,” The man said. I watched Amaryllis open her mouth. I put my hand up in front of her. I looked around the room. I saw a much smaller almost broken down door on the other side of the wall. The other doors had pretty patterns and fancy paintings of water.
I pointed at the single worn down door. The guard nodded with no sign of recognition to his face. I could see Amaryllis wanted to protest. I opened up the door and walked through a small cramped, dark hallway.
Amaryllis dragged her hand across the wall to feel where she was going. Rowan held her other hand.
I was used to the dark. I had lived in the dark all my life. It was a sort of comfort. I didn't need any help walking through the small hallway.
Finally, there was another door. It was clean and looked like it hadn't been used for a while. I knew this was the door. I opened it up. Light shined through the entrance. I sighed missing the small comfort on the darkness.
We walked into the large room, and I realized it was a sitting room. There was a large window against the wall that showed me we were only halfway above water. Half of the window was underwater while the other half was above water. It looked stunning to see both worlds at once.
A door opened revealing a woman. She was wearing a flowing blue-green dress. Her hair was wrapped up in blue cloth with two buns on the side of her head. The rest of the fabric dangled down. A bright white cloth covered the blue one. It dangled down over the blue making a beautiful effect. The white fabric was a bit see-through so I could only see the blue from underneath the sparkly white mass.
Her eyes were a blue-gray as they stared at me. She walked over to me. She tilted her head and the cloth flowed in that direction like hair would if it wasn't covered.
A small smile lit her face. She backed away and stood as straight as a line. She turned towards the large window. “Isn't it such a weird effect?” She said. I nodded when she turned to look at me.
I realized her skin was sli
ghtly blue. “Are you a bonder?” I asked. She laughed.
“Of course, I am. In fact, a lot of royalty are.” She pointed at Amaryllis, “I bet your parents are bonders but you just never knew.” She said.
Amaryllis looked a little surprised. The Queen of Ozeana looked at Rowan. “A child,” She said. “So young.” She smiled at Rowan then turned her attention back to me.
“I bond to the Immortal sea creature Pyzuke, It lives forever unless it gets a bad disease, then it will die. Or If they get their head chopped off” She said.
“I have been alive for 483 years. My son will take over the kingdom soon. He refuses to bond with anything.” She rambled on.
Then she gave me a strange look, “What are you here for?” She asked.
I gave a serious face. “I'm here to warn you of danger” Her eyes widened and fear filled her face.
“What kind of danger,” She said. I wondered why she seemed so scared by just the word danger. I still continued speaking.
“The Lumine. The Queen wants to take over all the kingdoms. The only way to stop her is to get an army ready. Never tell the Lumine they will try to kill you and all your people. You have to help us stop them.” I said.
She nodded, and I could still see the fear. “I knew this would happen. I was one of the originals who heard of this betrayal. The rest of them died and told their children.” She said. Then she scurried out of the room. She handed me a box covered in dust. I heard Amaryllis sneeze.
I opened up the box to see a Light blue globe. What you could see inside the globe was a gold heart.
“I was told to give this to you,” She said. “It shows you the path to evil, all you have to say is show me your heart.” As she said the words, the inside of the globe spun in a black mist. The heart was gone from the inside, and instead, it showed an arrow and words in a different language.
“Ignore the phrase, nobody can read that language anymore. It has been long forgotten even by me. Only the person who gave us these gifts of evil knew the language even then.” She said.
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