“Hello!” he said. Before I had a chance to reply, I realised that he was not alone. A few more young men also hopped off the side of the fountain where they were sitting.
“Oh hello!’ said another one. The third just stared. He was tall with blonde, shoulder length hair. He had eyes as blue as the fountain and was very tall. He wore a light chemise of white linen and light blue pants that finished just below his knees. The rest must have been concealed in his large brown boots- finely laced and very well cleaned. As I realised that I had suddenly looked him all over, from top to bottom, I blushed. He suddenly flashed me a great smile and I also noticed how white his teeth were.
“Oh, don’t mind her, she is still tired from the journey. “ But I’m not.” said Oriana, daringly, jumping right to the front of where these three men now stood. She followed up with a “Hi!”.
The young man who I noticed first of all who was smaller than the one with blonde hair and slimmer, was also now on his toes. Brushing his pants off. He had dark black hair and wore a light green tunic made of chiffon. A rather exuberant fabric, I thought for sitting around a fountain. The other young man who had spoken after him to wish us hello, was also wearing a green tunic. I would think they were very similar in age to me and Oriana. The blonder one seemed older, closer to Cordelia’s age.
As he was closer to me than the others, I could see more detail and noticed his tunic had a motif embroidered into it on the right-hand side, over a pocket. All three wore sword belts, holding what looked like very fine swords.
“So, does she speak?” said the blonde haired one.
“Yes, of course she does.” replied Cordelia as she nudged me from behind with her knee.
“Oh yes – right, um yes - hi.” I rattled out, realising that I couldn’t have sounded more awkward if I tried. All three boys, just looked at one another, threw their heads back and laughed. Gosh, I felt so embarrassed what an idiot. My cheeks brushed, very red very quickly. Realising that I was clearly embarrassed, Cordelia quickly broke up the laughter with her wry tongue, as she could so often do.
“So, do you boys have names, or are you nameless!” she spouted in a rather tight-lipped manner, clearly aiding me in support of my embarrassment. But it worked. They immediately stopped.
“Oh! Proud are we?” Interjected, Oriana. “Ah it’s always the same with little men…” she was going to continue. But I could see the icy glaze coming over their faces. They were clearly not amused anymore.
Oh dear, I thought, this is not going well at all. I had better try and so do something about it. After all, had I not of opened my mouth to start with, none of this would have happened.
“Would you like one of these?” I said as I held out a small, hessian bag. They are new – not many of them out yet. I offered them a mezedi ball. Each one beautifully wrapped in their special paper.
“You have to take the paper off and hold it in your closed hand.” I said as I saw them looking lost to know what to with them.
Put the ball in your mouth and eat, suck chew, gobble. Whatever you want to do to eat it. Then when you have eaten it, open your hand. The paper will have disappeared and if you look into the palm of your hand you will see what the week holds for you. I rather like them.” I finished saying.
My mother introduced these to us many years ago. I suppose really at my age, I am too old for sweets, but these reminded me of my childhood. At least I thought they did. Now I can’t seem to remember my childhood.
My father did not like the mezedi balls at all. He said it is encouraging logic where only illusion lies and therefore it must be false, false hope, he called it. Then he would normally start wittering off about the possibilities of this and the probabilities of that as he scratched his head which was laden with soft, deep, dark curls, beneath his silver, rimmed glasses. Such a typical statement from my father.
I knew for his employment he worked with some type of machine programming organisation, but he would never talk about it. My mother would not allow us to talk about these types of machines at all – not ever.
I suddenly started to feel the loss of my father again and as I could feel my eyes starting to well, I blinked and suddenly thought how strange! As much as I can remember my father, I can’t seem to remember where we lived before, before we came here. I can’t see any of that in my mind, in fact I can’t seem to remember anything about anything before we came here – anything at all. All I can remember is that my mother would not tell us why we came to be here, she would only tell us that we came from a land called Submertia.
All of these thoughts were crossing my mind as I stood there for a moment standing close to the three men, we had just met with my arm stretched out towards them and the simple bag of meridian balls in my hand. Drawing my mind back to where I was now, I realised that none of the boys had moved. Then just as I was about to say something, the small one dressed in the chiffon tunic, walked towards me smiling.
“I don’t see why not!” he said and gave the other two a side shot glance as he said that, which they knowingly acknowledged and moved to his echo his actions.
“I’m Mabon, by the way” he said and these two are, Hearne’” he said pointing at the other dark-haired man and Custennain.” We three are brothers.
“Ah, just like us,” replied Oriana in a pleasured, haste. Her eagerness to answer the question was embarrassingly, formidable. As the other two did not seem to acknowledge my gesture at all, I retracted my arm and scrunched the bag quickly in my hand and put the meridian balls back into the pocket of my doublet.
“I think, it’s time we returned now!” I said quite firmly, to Oriana and Cordelia, growing a little tired of their coldness. I wasn’t feeling in the mood to continuing coaxing them all to be sociable or as sociable as Mabon was. And I was beginning to feel really awkward at the way Custennain was looking at me. It was like he really didn’t like me which I thought was very odd as he didn’t even know me. And he probably won’t if he keeps this manner up either – I thought.
“I am sure mother will be wondering where we have got to.” I continued, as I started to turn and make steps towards the exit door.
“Well thank you for the offering.” called out Mabon as we left. I could see him just unwrapping his meridan ball as we were leaving. The other two just waved in a casual manner. Neither one smiled though, I noticed.
As we neared the door from which we arrived, I suddenly noticed a man. I was trying to remember; was he there from the start or did he arrive after us. I hadn’t noticed him before. He was quiet and elegant. He sat, simply robed in light grey and had a strange type of hat that I hadn’t seen before, it was as long as his robe. He appeared to have been reading as he had papers in his hand. I noticed his long, elegant, thin fingers and on one of the fingers, he wore a huge cabochon ring with a large, cabochon stone in deep red, embedded into a golden sphere. I think it must have been a garnet. As we passed him I tried to stare and see what he was reading in passing but in a way that made it seem like I was just glancing. The words on the paper seemed different to what I had seen before. The letters were in an unfamiliar script, not know to me. As we neared the door, this man who was seated on a stone bench by the door pulled up his head and looked straight at us. He smiled pleasantly and then repositioned his glasses and started to read quietly, again.
I am not sure if Oriana and Cordelia noticed this man as Oriana was so obsessed with twisting at every opportunity to look back to get a last glance at the young men. Cordelia just seemed set by the nature of her fast paced walk, on leaving the courtyard as soon as possible.
As we passed through the door and returned back into the corridor. I asked them both,
“Did either of you see the emblems on their tunics?”
“The only thing I noticed was the small one’s eyes.” said Oriana. “As blue and as crisp as himself, with an appeal as attractive as that wonderful sword he carried. Did you see the sheath?” she asked. “My oh my, what jewels did it boast?” Cordeli
a as normal, ignored anything and everything that related to any l type of vanity.
“I didn’t have my glasses with me.” Cordelia said in a totally uninterested tone.
“I stupidly, left them in my room -so I couldn’t see a thing, why what was it?” she asked.
“I am not quite sure. But I am sure it must mean something.” I replied. And I then thought, about the man sitting by the door, with the look he gave us. It must mean something. But that, I would keep to myself until I had figured out what it did mean.
Chapter 4
When we returned into the corridor, we found our mother who had come to see where we had got to. We followed her into the dining hall and ate a simple meal of pulses and herby, creamed chicory. The bread was stone cooked and still warm. It was delicious. It was nice to see everyone around the table chatting along merrily and eating together. My mother seemed a lot more relaxed than she had been and she had a healthy glow in her cheeks. I was pleased to see the paleness that had inhabited her face for so many weeks, move on. As my mother refreshed our cups with fresh elderflower juice, she smiled contently.
After dinner my mother said that she wanted to speak with us about something tomorrow.
“Why, what is happening tomorrow?” I asked .
“Tomorrow you will start to attend the school of the Chateau.” replied my mother.
“The Chateau!” said Cordelia.
“Yes my sweet – you are in a Chateau.
“Did you not realise?” replied my mother. “No –!” we all replied.
“Well tomorrow you will see, on your way to the school of the Chateau.”
When I woke next morning, Cordelia and Oriana were already at my bedside again – dressed and ready. Both quietly bursting with excitement. I hurried to get ready and we dashed to the dining room to find our mother seated at the table waiting for us with a table laden with food. Berries, small cakes, slices of ham, hot rolls and sweet honey tea.
“Now when you go to school, don’t expect it to be like before – if you can remember!” said my mother, with her eyebrow raised and the other eye keenly on us, waiting to see our reaction.
Before I could remark that I could not remember anything Cordelia who was always little miss ‘get ready ten years in advance’ was already scuffling us out of the chairs over to the door, taking the place quite well, of mother.
“Come along now we don’t want to be late,’ said Cordelia. And like little nestled ducks, off we set.
When we arrived at the school with mother, we went into another room. Strangely we accessed this room by a passage way under the floor where out bedrooms lay. Dark, damp walls shadowed our small steps. But the windows of this room did not look out onto the courtyard but onto the most beautiful, landscape imaginable. It was like a garden of paradise but the size of the biggest country imaginable. My eyes could not actually take in the scale of the landscape. Colourful flowers of all colours and shapes were dotted in this perfect landscape, trees blossomed everywhere – tall and colourful, reaching up to the bluest of the largest sky I think I had ever seen.
Trees of small and green, wide and wonderful and everything in-between. Small lagoons of waters filled with turquoise and fuchsia pink appeared perfectly placed in-between this picturesque tableau of beauty. In the sky, clouds or what looked like more clouds hosted additional, smaller versions and platforms of what I was seeing in front of me. I realised that this was actually real.
The sound everywhere was beautiful. You could hear the sun dazzling, water tripling, small animals furying along and wild horses gently running alongside others that grazed next to tall necked giraffes and other animals that I had not ever seen before. But what I noticed the most was lots of mini rainbows beaming. Mini rainbows, beaming everywhere - reflecting everywhere … off of leaves that were bending over in the sun and upon rock surfaces to which tropical flowers embedded themselves upon the shiny skins of the wallowing animals that resided near the lagoons and the waterfalls.
As I started to look deeper into what I could see in front of me, I passed through a doorway which led me outside to see even more. My sisters and my mother followed me. I said out loud.
“Have you ever seen that many rainbows, in one place?”
“Oh those are not rainbows,” replied my mother. “They are fractural, reflections of that.” said my mother proudly as she turned and pointed, in admiration.
“Of what …. ?” I replied as I started to turn to see what my mother was referring to – but then stopped midway, midturn. Because as I turned, I saw the outside of the Chateau. It was enormous and stretched as wide and as far as I could see. Turrets, windows and doorways of the most beautifully elaborated design embellished this opulence of wonder. Every part was a pure work of art, moulded and sculpted into the most beautiful forms. Each part seemed to lead the eye further and further along into another wonderful piece of excellent architecture, tall and white, intricate and unusual. It took my breath away with its sheer amazing, wonder.
But the most amazing realisation of this wonderful Chateau, was that it seemed to be made entirely of glass.
“And before you think, that it is made of glass – think again,” my mother said, as if she had read my mind.
“It is not glass, it is crystal, all natural crystal grown, from the very planet that we are standing upon and sculpted into place by the spirits of the Divine universe. We are at the Chateau of Dalia – the high priestess. This chateau was gifted to her by the deities of the ancient world – their protection is eternal and the power of the crystal which this is built, is unbreakable – by magnetic or magical force or by nature. It has been standing here for many dynasties. It is timeless and for that reason those who are blessed to find it and live here, will not be able to remember the past of other planets outside of the Universe of the ancient ones. Only the now and the future, exist here.”
Before we could catch our breath that I don’t think I had even heard, in the last few minutes, she continued …
“When the dark, war lords tried to change the ruling of the ancients as governed by Ra – the sun god, Anpu, the ancient one’s magician banished them from our kingdom here. And cast them into eternal darkness for trying to rob us of eternal light which is our life force. Without light, time has no meaning. Crops will not grow, life cannot prosper, and the teachings of the ancient ones would be eradicated. The dark, war lords, now live in-between the land of Submertia – where we lived with your father and the deserted land which is found within the forbidden forest. They live as slaves to their own wilful thoughts that now live in a world with no light. It is for this, that entry to it …. to us, is forbidden as there we would lose our lives.
As my mother turned to smile at us, my eyes just could not leave the chateau. It shimmered of all the colours of the rainbow – iridescent in some parts, glittering like sun on the ocean, and dense and colourful in other parts whose turrets stretched high into the sky, the crystal shone like a million of the most beautiful multi coloured diamonds ever known. The beauty of the chateau was sublime. I had never seen anything like this before – never ever before in my life.
“Oh, my to think that, here is where we live,” said Oriana.
“Well, there will be plenty of time to explore later … “said mother “… after Chateau school. But for now, we must hurry along. I can’t keep time waiting for much more!” said mother. I thought this was quite a strange comment to make but I was dazzled with everything just now – so I made a mental note to ask my mother later, as I and my sisters did as she asked and hurried along.
When we finally arrived at our class we were surprised to see the same three men that were at the fountain. They didn’t say anything to us. Hearne and Custennain really paid attention in the lessons and hung on to every word of the teacher, scrunching their faces up with extreme focus and concentration. Mabon seemed distracted all the time and kept looking out of the window impatiently. There was a small handful of other pupils also and the teacher w
as a lady of a very unassuming manner - bearing in mind where we were. The teacher had brown hair and a simple robe which bore a simple, thin, golden, plaited belt. She spoke softly and clearly, and her gaze was upon every single person at all times. She was known by the name of Mrs Levity.
In the class that morning we learnt mostly about the power of crystal’s and how natural energy could be used to charge an object to allow it to levitate. We even had a go which was unlike anything I had ever done before – I think I wouldn’t mind practising that on a person! – tight lipped Custennain, comes to mind.
After that we learnt about hissing dust and when we could use it and how it could be found and made, which was quite interesting to say the least – not to mention dangerous as a trip to the edge of Lemanta would be needed to source it from the spinning, yellow palm lizards that live there. Lemanta is found near the edge of the forbidden forest – and oh, how I now feel goose pimples on my arms and legs and the sides of my neck, just as the thought of going near there occupies me…
Sword practice was the final lesson of the day. This was one of my favourite lessons, Oriana’s too – judging by the way her eyes lit as she gnashed her teeth when locking her opponent in with a double sword twist. Males and females had to learn in pairs how to use their swords to demobilise without harm a moving Thylax; which I also learnt was one of the deep, purple coloured animals with fluorescent green webbed feet that I saw today, outside the Chateau. Apparently, Thylaxs’ are harmless but can get over excited if they drink too much of the blue, source water which is in abundance here. As a result they can start to knock and break things of historical value and need due to their size and weight.
We only had chateau school in the mornings apparently, so it was back home for lunch, before we set off to explore, again.
Home - did I just say home?
What is home now?
What was home then?
The Queen of Hope (Tower of Glass series) (The Throne Of Glass Book 1) Page 2