Caelestis

Chapter 8 & 9

Chapter 8: Lord Ragus

* * *﴾Five Gramores, accompanied by ten foot soldiers, gathered in the dungeon of Lord Ragus' castle.

"Tonight," said Yavex, "we venture into enemy territory to destroy the Powerful Zanzibar. The Great and Mighty Lord Ragus has instructed me to have the Pegasus to him in three days' time. We must hurry. Capture and kill whomever and whatever you can. Just do it well. Oh, and grabbing the princess and the queen wouldn't hurt." The five Gramores pushed each other around and reached for their weapons. The soldiers were already armed and stood in silence, gaping at the stupidity and strength of the Gramores. Yavex led them to the drawbridge door and tried to open it. Being one of the smallest soldiers at Lord Ragus' castle, he had to ask Buck, the second largest Gramore, to open it for him. Buck easily did as he was told and the sixteen set off to crash the queen's party.

"Hey! Yavex?" Buck ordered in a slurred voice. He smashed his battle-ax on the stone floor to get the soldier's attention and then growled violently.

"Um...yes?" answered Yavex, turning around.

"We gonna throw and eat some screaming people?"

"Well, Lord Ragus said we could do anything we wanted just so long as we killed the Mighty Zanzibar and capture the Queen or Princess."

"Good!" mumbled one of the other Gramores. "I'm gonna eat a pretty lady and then kill the Queen."

"Yeah right, looser!" Buck said and shoved the Gramore to the ground. Yavex led the group of Gramores and silent soldiers through the castle gate and into the forest. They walked on until they reached the territory of the Queen, their enemy.

"Now," said Yavex, "we will lie and wait here until dark to make our move on the enemy."

Chapter 9: I Sweat a Lot at a Party for Me

I was nervous. I had never been to a party like this before and I had no clue how to dance. What would happen if someone asked me to dance? I shivered as a chill ran down my back.

"Are you all right?"

"Well, it's just that, I don't know how to dance or anything. What if a boy asks me to? What do I say?" So many things were going through my mind.

"You could tell him the truth, first of all. Or you could observe the other dancers and try to imitate them." Zanzibar offered.

"Well, all right, Zanzibar, if you say so. But I don't think my mother will approve of my lack of skills." I looked around at the starry sky. It was a beautiful night. I was so worried that my mother would see me, be disgusted, and then shun me away. No, I couldn't bear to think about that right now.

"Oh, don't worry about that. Your training begins soon." he explained.

"Training? What training?" I asked with interest.

"Well, you need to know how to be a princess. Don't you? It doesn't just come naturally, you know." Zanzibar turned his head to look at me.

"I guess so. Um, do I get to have any fun? I mean, all the movies I have ever seen, well, the Princess is always bored and can't do anything fun."

"You know, you can't always believe everything you see."

"I guess... Hey! Is that where the party is going to be?" I saw a huge gazebo type building in the middle of a field. It was mostly white and enormous arched windows lined the building. Ladies in elegant dresses and men in fancy suits type uniforms were dancing in the middle of the room. Gardens surrounded the gazebo and fountains spit out crystal clear water. Little candles outlined the pathways that weaved through the gardens. I guessed that it was about a half mile from the castle because I could still see the shining lights coming from the windows in the towers.