I left the dance with a gracious bow and I walked up to my bedchambers where Lindsey had my nightclothes set on my bed. She helped me out of my dress and into my nightclothes.
“So, how was lunch with your new man?” I asked saucily.
“He’s a complete gentleman! He works in the Guard in the castle so I get to see him sometimes during the day,” Lindsey swooned.
I never understood how women and girls acted like such complete idiots over a man. I manipulated them for my purposes unless I took pity on them. It sounded horrible but it was the truth. I was a prissy girl who used whoever I could.
I never really understood love I suppose. It was such an abstract term, but I best defined it as strong positive feelings for someone who you are compatible with.
The closest thing I had to love was my friend Terence who was training to be a general in the Guard. His father was on the Royal Council. He left to train about six years ago.
Prince Evan definitely made me anxious and nervous but I never thought of it as love at first.
My mother was the beauty from Saturn that no other could match. She stole my father’s heart from their first dance, but unlike any other man in the whole nine kingdoms, she was stolen by him. They married and after several failures and depressing nights, I was born.
“Well, I wish nothing but the best for you,” I smiled and climbed into bed. I waited for Lindsey to leave and made sure no one was coming in and I made my escape.
Whether mother and father knew about it or not, I had discovered the secret tunnel system that ran throughout the castle. I had one next to my fireplace, cleverly hidden by a painting and the wall paneling. I discovered as a young girl and never dared to enter until my teenage years when my irrational fears were gone and I was much stronger.
I gingerly walked down the dark hallway, lit only by dim jars with some sort of magical goop or herb of some sort provided a light source. I went past turns and twists and climbed up a rickety wooden ladder as silently as a cat in the pitch of night.
I tiptoed onto the roof of the castle. I had a hidden stash of weapons up here but I didn’t need them. I walked over to the trapdoor that led into the study. My father had amassed dozens and dozens of books which he permitted me to read. He only allotted a few to the forbidden section, but I feared my answers lay there.
Though I loved stressing my parents, I hated going too far. I just liked to pick and pull at them and I never really meant any harm. What child wants to hurt the people who brought them into this world and nurtured them to health in illness or helped them learn to ride a horse or hunt. I realized not everyone had my luxuries and I tried my best not to take that for granted and I quite often wondered if the commoners resented me for being so rich and they had little. They probably did and it bugged me to my core, but I could suppress those feelings.
“Where is a book about wizards?” I looked along the shelf where my father had books on magical creatures. He liked his study nice and organized. I noticed several papers with a pentagonal shape on them on his desk but I ignored them.
I traced my finger along the spines of several books before I found wizards. I sat in a big armchair and opened the monstrous book.
My tutors often brought me to the study to find books to help me study and learn. I loved reading and learning new things about anyone willing to share. I really did care about people but when I saw an opportunity, I closed in.
I read the pages of the book:
The origin of wizards is not entirely clear, but most evidence points to Northern lands as being the birthplace of wizardry. The flashing lights of the North could give a potential wizard an uneasy feeling and they would begin to drastically change. Their hair would get longer, regardless of gender, and their eyes would turn a charcoal or stormy gray color. The biggest change would be their center.
I stopped and processed this information and compared it to Ortho. Ortho had dark eyes and long, and scraggly I may add, hair. I didn’t quite know what the book meant by “their center,” but I went with it. I continued reading:
Wizards are very powerful beings and most are wise and honorable creatures. With their power, they gain intense knowledge to which they could use for better or for worse. Most wizards choose the noble path of using their powers for good and their sacrifice helps keep the balance of nature. Their center, or inner peace, was decided by the knowledge they received and how the perceived it.
I processed this information and wondered if the wizard who healed me sought for a reward. I hoped he was an honest and noble wizard. I read further on:
For a long time, wizards were quiet beings with few needs, as they could conjure up their desires. Along came a young and very powerful wizard descending from the first wizard named Leonthor. Leonthor was a bad wizard and he was angry and spiteful and had a temper as short as an ant’s leg.
Leonthor had one interest in his life- power. He wanted to rule the world and he had all he needed at his feet, People saw him as a savior from tyranny in the Southern lands, and they eagerly joined his rebellion, hoping he could provide a happier life for them. He fed them lie after lie and easily covered his tracks. He conquered the South after only two years and he headed for the Midlands and no doubt would have gone for the North if it were not for one noble wizard, whose heart was as pure as gold and as brave as a lion.
His name was Arthur and he bravely, and singlehandedly, struck down dozens of Leonthor’s men at a time. He soon defeated Leonthor in a long fight to the death and the people praised Arthur, though mourned his loss in the next two days as he suffered sufficient wounds from Leonthor.
A secret, and sacred, wizard council then put limits on a wizard’s power, though they made a grave mistake as they did not-
I sighed in exasperation as I noticed the pages were ripped and the next twelve pages were missing also. I had a dreadful feeling my answer lied in the missing pages. I glanced at my father’s forbidden section and quickly but the book away. I was not to go in the forbidden section.
I climbed back up the ladder and shut the trapdoor and quickly scuttled back to my tunnel. I silently made my way back to my room and slid under my covers. Though physically exhausted, my mind was buzzing like a swarm of dragonflies after a rain.
I was processing all my new information about wizards and wondered why I had yet to learn about Leonthor and Arthur. I thought Arthur must have been very brave to face Leonthor, who must have been a fearsome, or very persuasive, being to control so many people.
I wondered how the people fared under Leonthor’s leadership. I doubted they were prosperous and he probably ruled them through fear.
I tossed around on my bed, my mind alive and full of new information. I loved learning things and it made my brain go nuts for a little while before I calmed down again.
I tried to piece what I knew about Leonthor and Arthur to Ortho, but something was missing. I was missing a lot of things actually.
I didn’t know if Ortho was good or bad only that he wanted to know who poisoned me. He must be looking for revenge or seeking an ally; I had no way of telling.
Another thing was whether he was a threat or not. He knew I had my dagger strapped to my leg, and he had no way of knowing unless he was watching when I slipped it on. He could have used some spell or whatever but I honestly didn’t know.
Whether it was exhaustion or frustration, I finally fell asleep and awoke the next morning, well into the daylight hours.
