Between the Willow Trees [NaNoWriMo 2013] (Editing)

Chapter 20: Last Minute Plans

Chapter 20: Last Minute Plans

For the rest of the week I spend almost all of my time searching the garden for the key. I’ve fished through the fountains, checked all the flower beds, searched all the statues, scanned all the birdbaths and inspected all the ponds. There is nothing that resembles a key anywhere. Plus, Thorne is probably beginning to worry about my sanity. It’s not normal for someone to spend so much time searching the gardens.

Today is the day before the wedding. Aranni should have fixed the portal by now and the others should be coming through to Elethoria. There hasn’t been any news though and I’m almost certain that he hasn’t managed to fix it on time.

This means that I am going to have to act alone but I still don’t have a plan figured out and the wedding is tomorrow. I’m gradually coming to terms with the fact that I will probably have to marry him. To be honest, it won’t be that bad. My only concerns are all the people watching me and then the wedding night. It’s gotten much easier to kiss Thorne but that’s as far as I plan on going with him. I can’t bring myself to sleep with him.

As I’m thinking about the pros and cons of getting married to Thorne I continue to wander around the gardens while the sun is setting in the sky. By now I have given up all hope in finding the key. It seems that Queen Eletha has hidden it well and there will be no chance of finding it.

I sigh and sit down on a bench.

All this planning and hard work is going to come to nothing and I’m going to end up getting married to the most hated man in Elethoria. Everything’s falling to pieces and I’m gradually getting angrier.

“Perhaps it is time for me to give you that tour of the gardens my lady,” speaks a voice from behind me. I turn to see the gardener who warned me about the fairies. He’s holding a shovel and is smiling at me, showing an incomplete set of teeth.

“That would be wonderful,” I reply with a smile.

“Would you happen to be looking for something, my lady?” he asks as he holds out his mud covered hand to help me up off the bench.

I frown, wondering if he’s referring to the key I’m in search of. If that’s the case then I better take the pocket watch off, just in case.  I slip the chain over my head and carefully place it in a bush.

“Do you know where I can find it?” I whisper. “The key Queen Eletha has hidden?”

“I am afraid that I do not know what you are talking about, my lady,” he says with a smile that suggests he’s telling a lie.

He leads the way through the gardens until we reach a pond that I’ve already searched. The pond is roughly a circular shape with a small island in the middle. On the island there is a statue of a young elf woman made from a dark black rock. She’s holding a sword in one hand, pointing up into the sky and wears the finest armour, her long hair blowing in the breeze under her helmet. 

“Here is Eletha Elmshade. This statue was created before she was made queen of Elethoria, when the world had no leader and war ruled the land. Most of the kingdom stood behind her because she is a wise and reasonable ruler. Obviously she had many enemies. The forge masters of the dark mountains were among them. They wanted to create the ultimate weapon to stop her from taking the thrown she fought so hard for. They succeeded in creating the weapon, but it took him thousands of years to take the throne away. Now we need a saviour, someone to destroy the ultimate weapon.”

“You know that’s what I’m here for, don’t you?” I ask. The gardener smiles at me.

“The key is in her hand,” he says, not answering my question but giving me what I seek instead.