Legends of Dorconia Book 1- Elisif

Chapter 2 A Man Of Power

My brother and I  walked up to the throne and bowed to our father. He spoke. "Both of you down to the dining room please". His voice was deep and extremely powerful. I both admired my father and feared him. Alton and I bowed again and made our way down one the gigantic corridors. We walked in silence. The only sounds we made were our feet echoing off the marble floor. "we should head back to our rooms to change before dinner" said Alton his voice echoing like our footsteps on the marble floor. We shook hands before parting down different corridors. My room was at the top of the tallest tower on the southern side of the palace giving me a three-hundred and sixty degree view of all of Astolia. I threw my wooden chestplate and helmet on my four poster bed and dropped my sword on the floor. I was sweaty from training with Alton and needed a good bath. I sniffed my armpits. The smell almost wanted to make me puke because I was so sweaty. My father had told us to go to the dining room and he would be disappointed if he was the one too enter the room first. A thought entered my head and I would be in great trouble if my father discovered me doing it at this time. I took the chance and  grabbed some spare clothes and made my way to the private bath house. As I walked up to the room I saw Alton coming up from the other side of the corridor. He smiled his infamous smile and said "Taking the risk too sis". I returned his smile and spoke. "Yeah so what". He grinned and opened the door to the baths. It was extremely hot in the room and enormous. The baths were more pool sized that could fit a good ten people. I wrapped a towel around me and let my body slip into the comfortable water. Alton also wore a towel but just around his waist. Men I thought. The water was deep and my feet barely touched the bottom. My brother and I did a few laps and then just relaxed for a few minutes chatting. After a quarter of an hour Alton spoke "sadly sis we better get going or we'll be late for dinner". We climbed out of the massive  sized bath and headed for the dressing rooms. The funny thing about the baths were that you couldn't stay that long and were forced to leave for one thing or another. For me, I would never ever want to leave if I stayed there to long. A servant came up and used a spell that made me dry up instantly and then proceeded to do the same to Alton. We got dressed as quickly as we could and then ran out of the room and up to the dining room. We opened the massive doors and braced ourselves for my father to be sitting at the head of the table. But he was nowhere to be seen. "phew". "That was close" said Alton. "What was close" said a voice behind us. I was so surprised that I jumped back five feet. My father was standing beside Alton in all his magnificent glory. He looked confused at my fright. " Um... shall we proceed to dinner" he said calmly. We nodded quickly and took our places at the huge oak table. As the meal arrived and we started to eat I opened my mouth and spoke to my father. "Will mother not be joining us tonight as well father"? He stopped eating his stew and looked at me. "Come now Elisif you know your mother is very ill and is in no fit state to join us down here". Sad I slumped in my seat. My mother had been very ill for a few years now. It happened the day I turned ten. She use to always be full of laughs and fun but when she became sick. It was all over. For a few days my father or Alton didn't speak to each other or made no contact whatsoever. The disease my mother had was named Frostfall. The way it works is that your entire body slowly turns to ice over the years painfully. Now the only way to catch  Frostfall is from incredibly powerful magic. It could happen by contracting it off someone else or a mage directly targeting you. But we all agreed when we started talking again it was unlikely because my mother had no enemies and she was kind to everyone. The worst thing about the disease is that it can not be cured in anyway. We tried everything from magic to potions to medical herbs but nothing worked at all. All we could do was prepare for the worst. Only a small number of people have survived. Know one knows how. But they did. I really hope my mother is like them. I still remember her laugh and her smile and how she was never sad at all no matter what happened.  I went back to eating my meal putting those thoughts out of my head. After a while I spotted Alton looking at my father and inching his head towards me. My father sighed and said loudly as if wanting me to hear. "No Alton she is to young". I was confused. I don't know what it was but at that moment Alton jumped out of his seat and shouted. "Come on. She is of age. Are you just scared of what would happen". My fathers face changed to a look of fury. "H-How DARE YOU SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT. YOU THINK I AM SCARED. I AM THE RULER OF THIS KINGDOM AND I WILL NOT TOLERATE THAT TONE WITH ME". I was so confused and scared. I had never seen my father this angry before. But what surprised me more was Alton. He had never in his like raised his voice to anyone at all like this. They continued to argue about whatever this was about. I had to do something about this but what. "Um excuse me but what is this all about and what has it got to do with me"? I asked praying they wouldn't start blaring at me. Alton looked around and stared at me huffing with all his anger. "Yes father Why don't you tell her about this. She does have the right to know". As Alton spoke I heard something in his voice. What was it ? jealousy but that can't be right. What did Alton have to be jealous about. He was a warrior with fame and strength while I was just your typical pretty little princess that waited for a young handsome prince to whisk me away. My father sighed again. "Elisif you are to young it will crush you if you knew". He spoke sadly as if the world was ending and it was his fault. Alton was still huffing with rage waiting for me to say something. I wanted to ask again what was this all about but before I could the palace shook from top to bottom. "What was that"? Alton said his rage gone from his voice. "Some sort of explosion" my father said. "We need to check it out" I whispered in fear. The three of us ran out onto one of the ginormous balconies that jutted out of the palace. What I saw made my heart skip a beat and I gasped. There were huge fires all over the city and smoke rising from the ground. But the most fearful part of the scenario was the massive army entering the city with amazing speed and brute strength they had destroyed the city gate and I saw dead bodies littering the ground around the gates. "W-w-what's going on father"? I ask terrorized. Instead of my father Alton spoke. "Only one thing my dear sister. We are under attack".