The Book of Arenden

❀ Five ❀

❀ Five ❀

All of them turned their heads towards the king, Robert Xander. He walked towards the girls. His head held high, like he was reminding everyone who walked his way that he was in charge.

"Robert," said Lerana with a smile. "Come, meet our guests."

As soon as the king reached them, the girls including Lereena but except the queen curtsied in sign of respect. He, the same as his wife, is a very good-looking man. His hair, unlike the queen, is blonde. What surprised Ella-and also no doubt the girls too-is that he looked very young.

Ella didn't seemed to be surprised when they saw the queen looked young 'cause that's usually what queen is. Beautiful and young and well, in movies beautifully evil. But... no words about the queen looking evil. She was nice.

Ella expected the king to be ... well, king. Like, with beard and big body and tired eyes because of being a king. She didn't expect that he would be young-handsome. He didn't have beard. He have muscular body. A body of a soldier not a body of someone who sits on their chair and worked on handling the country-or the world-or whatever Arenden is.

"So, you must be the earthens," he said.

"Yes. Yes we are, Your Majesty," said Raylene.

"May I ask," said Ella after staring at the king and queen for a long time. "How did you know we are here? I mean, you were the one who summoned us here."

The king smiled. "Haven't you heard the big siren before?" They nodded slowly. "That's the siren for when someone had enter Arenden by The Book of Arenden."

Their eyes widen with understanding. "So, that big annoying noise is because of us?" Asked Caith and Raylene elbowed her in the ribs. "Ow, what's that for?" Asked Caith.

"Don't use that kind of words in front of the king and the queen," whispered Raylene. The king and the queen seemed to pretend they don't hear them but nonetheless, the queen nodded.

"Yes, it sirens whenever an earthen came by The Book of Arenden," the queen said.

"Will the sirens go off if someone came here by the book but was not an earthen?" Asked Frana.

Lerana gave a small laughs. "Well, The Book of Arenden is in earth. And there were no fantasy creatures in earth."

Caith slapped Frana on her arm. "Think with your brain," she said. Frana glared at her. "And besides, the only key to the book is Ella's necklace. Right? Or is there any other keys out there?"

Lerana seemed to not be listening to Caith anymore but her eyes everted towards Ella. "Your necklace?" She asked. Ella nodded. For the first time, the queen looked at Ella, like really looked at her and studied her. She stared into Ella's amethyst eyes. She studied her face very closely and Ella shifted her weight. Uncomfortable under the queen's gaze. Then, Lerana smiled at her widly. "Thought that you are very familiar. You look just like Quina."

Ella raised both of her eyesbrows at her. "My grandmother?"

"Oh, yes," said Levana. "I-we"-she gestured towards herself and her husband-"have been friends with your grandparents. Quina and Herret."

It was a shocking news to Ella and also the others. "My grandparents... And you? But... How?"

The king laugh slowly. "It was a very long story. And we were standing here for a long time already. Let's take this elsewhere. Let's have a feast shall we? Of meeting with Quina and Heret's grandchild." He looked towards the other four girls. "And also her friends."

And so, they agreed and walked to a big dining room. 6 big round table filled the space of the room. Chairs were tucked under the table. There were almost 200 chairs inside the dining room, maybe more.