The Lost Crown

Dandrealla's Garden

Chase kept giving Walliam strange looks as they walked around the palace, back to the stairs.  They got back to the Archon and went to the Great Hall and discovered Swyvern, walking towards the door to leave.  The old man saw them and stopped.  He stared at Chase and then at Walliam.  “So this is the young man who shows up and then disappears on us.  Are you Walliam?”

It was the man Walliam had seen in his dream the night before.  He was old, and his head was bald except for a wisp of white hair near the back.  His skin was wrinkled and pale, and he had pale eyes.  His lips were thin and his cheekbones were high.  His nose had a slight hook at the end of it.  The man’s eyes were locked on Walliam now as he waited for him to respond.

“I am, master,” Walliam said.

“Swyvern is the name,” the old man said.  “Master will do, or Councilor.  Where have you been?”

“Chase showed me the royal library.  We were looking around and I think we lost track of time.”

Swyvern stared at him for a long minute and then turned his gaze to Chase.  “Is this true?”

Chase nodded.  “Yes, master Swyvern.”

“Well, you missed Harknull’s lesson for the day.  Perhaps an afternoon mucking out the stables will help concentrate your minds.  I will talk to brother Harknull.”

Swyvern walked up to Walliam and stared into his eyes.  He said nothing, just stared for a long moment.  The old man walked around him and left the Great Hall.  They spent the next few hours mucking out the stables.  Walliam was used to the smell of horse manure, but not Chase, who at one point almost vomited.  They were both exhausted when they were done and went to the baths next to the dormitory to scrub the stable off of themselves.

When they got to the common room of the dormitory it was empty and the other students were in their rooms.  They scrounged up some food and ate a stale dinner together.

“Do you know who she is?” Chase asked while they chewed dry bread.

“Who?” Walliam asked.

“Lady Soronia.  She is supposed to marry Crown Prince Baerik.  One day she will be your Queen.”

Walliam felt ice form in the pit of his stomach.  She was going to marry the Crown Prince, who was off hunting monsters in Gideon’s Waste.  Her eyes had danced when she laughed.  She had almost given him a hug in the carriage.  Her lips were full and he had wondered what it wold be like to kiss them.

“Prince Baerik will run a sword through you if you aren’t careful,” Chase said.  Walliam saw the seriousness in Chase’s eyes.  “You are in the shadow of the royal palace, Crown Prince Baerik’s home.  One day he will be King, and he will decide the fate of the academy and everyone in it.  Including you.”

Walliam thought of how Soronia’s face lit up when she laughed.  It was almost as pretty as Maysie’s.  Maysie’s face did the same thing when she laughed.  He felt a jumble of emotions as he thought about the two women.

The next few days were very busy for Walliam.  Master Harknull felt it his duty to corner Walliam and drag him off to the Magian’s study chamber.  The room had stone walls, like every room in the Archon.  It was on the bottom level, and there were no windows.

Master Harknull talked at length to Walliam about the hidden world, and making doorways into the hidden world.  He talked about concentrating on the hidden world in your mind, and feeling it’s presence so that you could open a doorway into it.  He talked about the gods, and how they had made the hidden world.  His voice droned as he told Walliam things about the hidden world that he had already heard from master Planchiko.  He said something about how important it was not to say the name of a god when inside the hidden world, unless in a prayer.  If he did, he would run the risk of the god coming to his call.  That unsettled Walliam.  He wondered what it would be like to actually see Eperna.  What did she really look like?