Ancient Cardos: The Knight of Cardos

Chapter 1: My Rotten Past

Lets begin with the usual. My name is Alice Bennet, a princess to the kingdom of Cardos. After discovering my mom's journal on what she did as a knight, i'm writing my own as well. I did fill in some details from stories that I've heard for hers. So here's mine.

I don't remember what it is like to have a father. My father had died of a sickness back when I was only a year old. My mother does say he was a great knight.

My mother on the other hand, gave me a book she was writing and I filled in blank spaces from stories I've heard.

My mother did so much more than I could imagine. She fought two dragons and won. She also helped defend the castle of Cardos when it was attacked by dark mages and dragons.

My Uncle Chris used to be an evil dark mage from what my mother told me. In the end he turned away from the evil side and decided to be a kind man to the world.

My father in his dying words gave the crown of Cardos to Chris. Not so much of my rotten past, but I am here now living with those choices that my ancestors had made.

One night however, I went sword training with Chris and Leonard to become a knight like my mother.

That was the last night I saw my mother. She passed away in the bed from too much body heat. I was only 12 at the time.

I'm 15 now, and Leonard is 17. He has grown up to beat me down with the sword constantly. It irritates me.

"Come on Alice, show me some skill." My blonde headed friend said. He says this all the time when I lose. "Your dark ponytail can't hide from my blade any longer."

It was almost sunset and I had to return back to Chris at every sunset. It was annoying. I enjoy the night more than the day.

"Don't threaten my hair." I whispered to myself. He swung at me and I stepped to the side of his swing. I grabbed his sword arm with my empty hand and pulled his arm up and shoved my sword between his body and arm.

"I could have stabbed you and killed you." I said mocking him.

"I'm not dead yet, princess." He closed his arm down quickly and tightening my sword in between his arm and side. He quickly turned around and I lost control of my sword. It went spinning through the air and landed on the soft dirt. I had nothing and he had a sword.

"I should have stabbed you." I picked up my sword and sheathed it. "I'm going to head back home, the sun is setting. See ya tomorrow, Leo."

I climbed onto my white horse and rode off. I didn't reach home until the sun had already set and when I walked in, Chris was waiting as expected.

"Late." He said, as expected, but he was not surprised. "I know you and Leonard have a lot of history together, but evil is out there and they strike at night." He sat in his chair and swirled his cup of tea with a spoon.

"I know uncle. I did leave before the sun had set."

"I believe you, because I can read your mind. Your mom never got to tell you something." With his magical powers he lit all the candles in the castle room.

I began to take off my armor and get back down to my normal clothing. "What did she never tell me? That you'd be hard on me?"

"Your mother was a dark mage as well." I gave him the lost look and stopped taking off my armor. I had my chest plate off and greaves off, but my plate legs and boots were still on. "But she knew to not have children if she had powers." I said in response.

"Yes, she had lost them for a long time. An evil spirit named Percy Ward came up to your mother one day. He pointed a Warden Stone at her and was beginning to unlock her true natural talents. Her parents had locked her abilities."

"Are you telling me she got her magic back?"

"She refused it at first. She denied magic to have children. She slashed at Percy and he dropped the stone."

"So how did she get her magic back?" I sat down next to him intrigued by the story I was being told about my mother.

"This is what I was wanting to tell you. At the time of your birth she could do no magic at all. During the days of your father's illness she got her magic back somehow."

"Go on." I said. He stared into an empty abyss it looked like. "Uncle, hello?" I waved my hand in front of him.

"Yea, anyways. She had feared that the magic was passed down onto you." It all rushed my head. I may or may not have magical abilities.

"I'll leave you alone to think about it." Chris got up and walked out of the room and went into his own with a soft close of his stone door.

I went up to my room and laid on my bed. I stared out the window. Hoping that getting lost in the outside world would put me to sleep. Which it didn't at first.

I got out of bed and went to over to my desk. I opened my mother's book and noticed something different about it. Somethings didn't make sense.

The book clearly says she was a dark mage. How did I miss that? I put it away and went to back to my bed thinking about my magical powered mother. I quickly fell asleep.

I had a weird dream. I dreamt of a man walking into Cardos. He held a chalice in his hands. It then skipped over to a celebration. A different man being called king was sitting at the throne. It must have been my father.

I saw my mother sitting next to him and even Chris was there. The strange man had placed the chalice in front of my father.

After a while he picked it up to drink and he set it down. He began to look sick and he fell back in his chair.

Everybody noticed and made a scene about it. He was carried out and taken away.

I woke up in the night and ran down the stairs to tell Chris.