“What if I want to leave? I feel like a prisoner here.”
“That is far from the truth, but there is a further complication. King Armanar is aware we face our time of greatest peril; the forces of Gorath grow and his army of soldiers ready arms and march on Ampheus as we speak. They will be here within the month.
“We are fortifying the castle making ready our defences but Gorath has amassed his army. They are now strong and I am concerned Ampheus may fall.
“How does it affect me?” asked Leo.
“If Ampheus falls, the peoples of the Ancient World will be under Gorath’s dominion. He only believes in destruction of all life; he hates, loathes, this kingdom. The Fire Realm, once the creator of earth, now reeks of death. He would want to rule all and create havoc in this world.”
“Again, how does it affect me?”
Daylon sighed. “Well, it’s the vision. Whether you like it or not, there is a connection to you or the chapel, or both. The King will not let you go, not if there is the slightest chance there is a link between yourself and defeating Gorath once and for all.”
Leo was stunned. “Me, really? As I said, I am just a boy; what can I do?” Daylon shrugged. “It is the way it has happened. It is the way it is. In the vision seen by Saturnus, the Dark Lord was the ruler of Earth. He cloaked it in greed, misery and despair. There was no escape. But while there is still a chance to free the world from the powers of evil then we must take it. The coming battles will be played out in this ancient theatre, with powers derived from the core of the planet. So it was foretold and so it shall be. Finally, it seems the hour is here, and the final chapter of this story will be written. This is how it’s been foretold, this is our destiny.”
Chapter 4
Princess Fayette
“It’s unbelievable; I can’t believe this is happening,” said Leo.
They sat in silence and finished their lunch. After a while, Leo became more and more aware of a group of men standing and drinking at the tavern bar. By the sound of their raised voices and unsteady feet they’d started drinking from the moment the tavern opened. And been there all morning.
The largest of the men kept glancing at them. Then eventually he staggered over, leant over them and placed his hands on the table. He snarled at them, the stench of stale beer on his breath overwhelming them.
He pointed his finger at Daylon. “Windstrom, you are Windstrom; where are your armies? Why are they not here to aid us? Do we have to fight everyone’s battle while you hide and cower in your marble-lined streets?”
The man made to grab at Daylon’s neck but Daylon was remarkably fast and dodged the man’s hand. He grabbed him by the wrist and spoke. “There is no trouble here, we are all friends in this house; bid us farewell and be on your way.”
The man was initially startled. He blinked as if he struggled to remember quite what he had been doing. “Well,” he said, “I wish you well my friends, and now I must be on my way.”
Leo looked at Daylon questioningly, and Daylon smiled. “Just an elementary seer trick. I can put slight suggestions or seeds of thought in someone’s mind.
“Either way we should leave before any more trouble finds us. As you can tell not everyone sees eye to eye between the three realms. Or in our case eye to chest,” and he chuckled at his own joke. He dropped a few copper coins on the table and bade farewell to the innkeeper as they left.
Daylon led them further round the castle into areas where they had not been before. At one point they entered an enormous square where the soldiers trained in preparation for battle. Soldiers sparred with swords, maces and pikes, and fired volleys of arrows at targets.
Knights on horseback charged stuffed hay sacks striking them with lances or swords. The clatter of steel, grunts and snorts of horses could be heard as they strained at the reins. Shouts and curses of men and women echoed around the battlements.
Leo turned to Daylon and he nodded. “Both men and women serve side by side in the military. What perhaps the women lack in strength and power they make up for in speed. Can you tell the difference in style? The women use a slightly lighter two-handed arming sword. They are able to manoeuvre much more swiftly. Those thick-skulled stubborn men won’t listen. They think longer, heavier broadswords are most effective, but I don’t agree.”
Daylon chuckled to himself. “Most will be cut down by a woman before they raise their broadsword above their heads. I’m pleased the women are on our side!”
As they strolled across the square, no one paid them any attention. With the noise and action around them, Daylon did not notice Leo disappear from his side. He made his way to the rack of swords and picked one out.
The sword was heavy and difficult to wield, but he managed to switch it from hand to hand. Without warning there was a flash of a silver blade and a heavy clash of steel. Leo felt the pain in his arm as the sword was wrenched from his hand by the force of the blow, which knocked him to the ground. Before he could react, he felt the blade press against his neck; he stared up and looked into the face of Logar.
Something seemed to soften in his eyes and he chuckled. Leo had never seen him laugh before but now the lines softened around his face. He paused. “Well you chose a sword which is far too heavy for you. Even my sergeant-at-arms would struggle to lift it.” There was a certain mischievousness in his voice, as if he was having a dig at someone else. Leo smiled as the stout, broad soldier standing behind Logar grunted as if in disapproval.
“Perhaps you need a slightly shorter blade, sergeant!” he barked. The officer strode forward. “Sir?”
“Make sure he finds a sword befitting his size. Give him all the tuition he needs. Don’t let him rest until his arm is numb and he can’t lift his sword any more. I’ll be back in a couple of days to test him myself.” Finished, he turned and whisked himself away. With his back turned on Leo he did not catch the big grin on his face.
*
Later that day, Leo and Daylon strolled up to the top of the hill and sat on a grass knoll, which overlooked the castle. They lay back in the sun and Leo hitched himself up on his elbow.
“How come Gorath is marching now?”
Daylon shrugged, “I guess it is just the time. Life has been pretty much stress-free for centuries; we preserved the old ways. But he would come eventually.
“We will fight to safeguard our ways. Life is still very real, simple, but in tune. We balance the practicality of mankind with a ‘sprinkling’ of magic. Some things have been forgotten, passed to myth, into folklore. But here the world around us is in harmony. To the west are the rolling hills, the lush woods. You can hear the wind rustling gently through the branches. Everything here is pure, natural. Worth sacrificing your life for don’t you think?”
Leo stopped to think about it and Daylon continued, “Smell the grass, the flowers.”
“Hmmm, and the horse manure?” said Leo.
“You can hear the birds, the flapping of butterfly wings.”
“You are joking, right?” Daylon smiled, but Leo breathed in deeply. He listened to the birds singing. The sounds of the peasants’ voices drifting up from the valley. The musical voices of children laughing as they played hopscotch in the villages beyond the castle walls and banking the river, which flowed through the valley below the lake.
“Honestly Leo, don’t you think this is all worth protecting?”
Before Leo could answer, he heard a shout from a startled guard as a rider galloped from the castle gate away in the distance.
A hooded rider galloped towards them. The white mare pitched its head as it bound through the meadow and up the hill. A grey stallion trailed them by a tether. As the rider approached they pulled back on the reins. The stallion’s eyes bulged in defiance, its teeth gnarling at the bit.
The rider threw back her hood, and the long locks of dark hair spilled around her shoulders. The Princess laughed
at their surprise and scolded her horse as it padded its hooves nervously in front of them.
“Whoaaa,” she said with a mischievous sparkle in her eyes. “I wondered if our guest would like to join me for a ride.”
Leo groaned inwardly. He had only ridden once before and to say it was an uncomfortable experience was an understatement. He instinctively rubbed his bottom as if he still expected it to be sore and remembered how raw the inside of his thighs had been.
“Errrr, no thanks, it’s all right. I’m relaxing here,” he said. As an afterthought he made light of it. “Ummm, and I don’t like getting on top of something which is bigger than myself and has a mind of its own.”
He had joked but the grey’s eyes glared at him. It seemed to suggest no amount of carrots or cane sugar could win him over. In fact, if he was not mistaken in the horse at this point of time appeared to be eyeing Leo up, deciding which part of him appeared to be the softest for him to sink his teeth into.
Daylon shook his head. “Princess, that’s Flint; no one’s been able to tame him. He even threw Urien of the Castle Cavalry the other day. The more they train him and treat him firmly, the more difficult he gets. Leo can’t ride him. One of the geldings would be better, they are much gentler.”
“Nonsense,” said the Princess. “Leo, are you joining me or not?”
“No, I don’t think so,” said Leo, though the idea of spending time alone with the Princess was not unappealing.
“Hmmm,” she said. “I had not realised country boys were such cowards.” Leo shook his head at her. Now, that was a challenge. He did not want to let some jumped-up Princess make fun of him.
“Is that so?” he said. “Well if you insist,” and with that he stood up. Leo snatched the reins from her hands and swung up onto Flint. The horse reared instantly and raked the air with its front hooves.
“What the hell?” shouted Leo. “Whooooaaa, whoaaa boy, easy, easy.” Flint danced on his hind legs for a while as Leo desperately held on to his neck. Then, in one swift moment, the stallion launched himself forward and bolted towards the woods.
Leo hung on for dear life and clung to the reins, as his legs flapped to the side of the massive horse. His body jerked up and down in the saddle like a rag doll, and his arms flailed around in the air like a chicken flapping its wings.
Princess Fayette laughed, kicked the rump of her horse, spurred it into action and set off after them. Flint entered the woods, swerved around trees, jumping fallen branches. The horse burst through small bushes and saplings whipped at Leo’s face and clothing. Every time Flint changed direction Leo was almost flung off, having to grab the horse’s neck just to stay on. He yelled, “Princess, help, this horse is crazy.”
Fayette had difficulty catching them in the woods. Leo spotted a branch racing towards him and managed to duck under it. “Whoaaa, that could have almost taken my head off.”
He desperately pulled on the reins, but it was no good. Flint was too strong and kept going. Suddenly they burst out of the trees into the sunlight and charged across the meadow. Leo glanced back and saw the Princess as she emerged from the woods, catching them.
“Princess, how do you stop this thing? It appears to have a mind of its own,” he exclaimed.
He could hear her laugh. “Just wait, I’ll catch you and slow him down, hold on.”
Leo grimaced, but when he turned back his eyes widened. “No, we’re heading for a stream, quick!”
Perhaps fifty yards ahead of them, a turbulent mass of white water churned over rocks. The Princess drew level and tried to grab hold of the reins and missed. She tried again in time to take a firm hold, and just prior to the water’s edge, she managed to pull Flint round.
Flint had other ideas though; at the last moment he dug his hooves into the ground and stopped dead on the bank. Leo unfortunately had not been prepared for this and still travelled at seven leagues an hour. He was flung forward out of his seat, did a somersault and landed with a huge splash in the water.
Luckily the water was fairly shallow. He managed to scramble over the wet and slippery riverbank and grabbed tufts of grass to haul himself to his feet. He pulled off the weeds which were tangled on his head and shoulders. When he looked up, the Princess was in stitches and Flint, with his head cocked to one side, bared his teeth and neighed.
“Terrific,” said Leo, as he pulled himself soaking out of the water. He felt and looked like a drowned rat. His woollen clothes had soaked up the water and now sagged heavily around him. He felt cold, wet and mad, and his pride was more than a little hurt.
He did not like the Princess laughing at him. She smiled and said, “Jump back up and I’ll lead you back to the castle.”
“No fear,” he replied. “I’m not getting back on that ugly brute ever again. I’m walking,” and trudged off sulkily back to Ampheus.
*
The council reconvened the following day in the Great Hall. The ambassadors and entourages of Windstrom and Aquamura and King Armanar’s senior military officers were all present.
Daylon had joined Leo. He was still smarting because he felt Fayette had made a fool of him.
“Fayette may appear free-spirited and perhaps a little shallow, but there is a deeper side to our Princess,” explained Daylon.
“You’d be surprised; there is much more to the Princess than meets the eye. Perhaps three years ago you’d have been correct in your assessment. The Princess had grown up in a sheltered existence unlike her brother who had been given greater freedom. She spent most of her time in the castle being educated to be a lady. But as you can tell, the Princess is obstinate, outgoing, adventurous, and opinionated! But at the time she was perhaps also a little spoilt, selfish and shallow. She was used to getting her own way. It’s difficult to ensnare a swift in a cage, for its passion to flee and fly are not diminished with time. The swift will take the one opportunity it has to flee the cage given a chance. And so it was with the Princess.
“She’d made friends with one of the few girls her age around the castle, a scullery maid’s daughter, Sarah. She sometimes came to the castle when her mother was working. They would tear around the corridors in the castle and play in the gardens. Sarah would teach the Princess rhymes and songs from the village, or perhaps they would make daisy chains and thread them through their hair. It would put a smile on even the dowdiest face when you saw them play. But the Princess wanted more, to escape the castle and explore the surrounding hills. If you find a quiet moment with the Princess she will tell you that Sarah urged her not to leave. That it was not safe outside the castle. That her father forbade her to leave without being accompanied.
“But she ordered Sarah to take her. ‘I am the Princess and you must do what I say,’ she insisted. The Princess donned a hooded cloak and the two girls slipped out of Ampheus. The Princess dashed carefree through the meadows and up the hills surrounding the castle, spinning round to see its towers receding behind them and rejoicing in her freedom. All the time, Sarah urged her to return, but the Princess would not listen. They ventured into the woods, following squirrels that scrambled up tree trunks and across branches, nuts clutched in their teeth or claws. Or following shards of sunlight that scattered and sparkled through the trees.” Daylon looked up to see the other council members still gathering themselves and continued.
“It was only when they paused to return that they realised they had lost their way. They tried to retrace their steps as dusk approached but could not find the path they had taken. As the night came up and darkness fell, clouds blocked the moon, extinguishing the little light that remained. The rains fell, chilling and soaking them as they huddled together in the roots of a large oak tree. By the time they were found two days later, both girls were barely conscious. Their bodies were so cold they were like ice to touch. The knights wrapped them up, returning the Princess to the castle and Sarah to her family.
“The Princes
s had a fever for two days. Her mother stayed by her bedside the whole time, never slept, applying cooling towels and comforting her daughter. When her fever broke, she slowly recovered. Enough to ask after Sarah. But it was not to be. Sarah’s clothes were too thin, perhaps the peasants’ diet did not sustain her, and she perished on the second night.
“The Princess was wracked with guilt. She remained in her room and you could hear her wail in pain and anguish at her failings and the hurt she had caused Sarah and her family.
“Eventually, as if this was a rite of passage for the Princess, she emerged from the dark hole she had made for herself. She took herself to Sarah’s family, falling to their feet and begging forgiveness. That they did, but they made her promise one thing. It’s an oath that she has kept to this day, and compass that guides her and her purpose. That no child in Terramis will go unclothed, unfed, uneducated or untended for, while it is in her power to see it happen.
“If you look around the castle you will see small but important changes she has made: schools open to all; standards for orphanages; clothes and shoes provided for the winter months; basic food items distributed to the families temporarily down on their luck or the needy. Behind the exterior facade of a fun-loving girl, don’t doubt the young Princess has a steely desire to make a difference for the people of her realm.”
*
A hush fell over the hall as King Armanar entered the room and made his way to his throne. Everyone sat waiting for him to speak. Leo sat expectantly; though he did not know why his presence was required.
The King’s face was ashen and drawn. Worry lines streaked his face. He had aged even since Daylon had seen him a couple of days previously. He guessed his king was not getting much sleep.
The King surveyed the room as if gauging what reaction he would receive from the assembly as he delivered his address. “There is dire news. We were aware that Gorath’s armies are readying themselves and preparing for battle. We had no idea quite how advanced they are, though. Last night I received several reports from our scouts. Gorath’s armies are on the move, they head for Ampheus. They are perhaps only fourteen days’ march away.”
Ampheus Page 5