Silvestre Pendragon

Silvestre's treasure

Leisel had returned to the kitchen with a gleeful bounce in her step, and Silvestre now found herself back in her room, this time being careful to lock the door, before crouching down and pulling a large wooden chest out from under her bed. Striding towards her desk, Silvestre rummaged through the mess of parchment, quills and every random object that had been casually dismissed and thrown on its surface. Florette had once suggested that the desk be tidied and Evelyn had strongly agreed but Silvestre had objected, replying that the desk was an 'ordered mess'. However, now, searching through the explosion of her belongings, Silvestre was beginning to understand their reasoning. Finally, in one of the draws under various letters of unimportance, Silvestre pulled out an old, rusty key.

Tick tock. Silvestre hesitated a moment, the grandfather clock counting the seconds. Tick tock. slotting the key into the chest, she twisted it open and looked thoughtfully at the peculiar objects within...

Then there was a knock at the door. Slamming the chest shut, Silvestre jolted to her feet,

"Sil, it's Milo."

Silvestre gave a sigh of relief and hurried over to unlock the door, seeing Milo's autumn eyes and scruffy hair made all previous worries evaporate into thin air, but there was still an urgency that rattled in her brain, an important thing she had to tell him.

"Milo" Silvestre said, stepping aside and welcoming him into the room. Milo looked somewhat out of place in this setting, the muscular stable boy in the grand chambers of Camelot's castle.

" I'm sorry I couldn't meet you earlier, Florette said I could come up here but if you want me to.." It was rather odd seeing Milo so awkward. Silvestre returned back to the chest and seated herself on the floor, gesturing for Milo to do the same,

" I need to show you something. It's about Noirsk." At the mention of the name something flickered in Milo's eyes and Silvestre expected he knew it only too well.

Opening the chest, Silvestre removed it's contents and carefully placed them on the floor: a scarlet feather, a heavy book, a jewelled comb and a ruby.

"I've been on many expeditions with the Knights, all in attempt to find Noirsk...We were always so close." There was a bitter frustration in Silvestre's voice as she continued to explain, "But then she would vanish, making us look like fools.."

She paused, picking up the scarlet feather and letting it's softness calm her thoughts and she twisted it through her fingers. "Every time. She escaped. But she left everything behind her, and over the years I've collected things. Now I fear that what she wants is what I have." 

Silvestre desperately wanted Milo to grin, crack a joke or offer a solution, to reassure her fears. Intead he traced his fingers over each object, and rested them on the book, flicking through the fragile pages. It's cover was a faded royal blue and gold stitches spiralled across the ancient paper.

"It's not the book." 

"Why?" 

"Noirsk is too clever for that. She learns. Every spell inside this book, she knows. She memorises magic and with every ounce of knowledge, with every word, she becomes stronger. She's not that careless."

There was disgust in his words and as he picked up and began to examine the ruby, Silvestre could not imagine Milo's sweet smile or his joyful laugh.

At that moment, Silvestre hated Noirsk more than ever.

Milo's jaw was clenched and his fingers were sweeping over every jagged edge of the stone.  It glowed with colour as if it was bleeding , every sharp corner and smooth side emitting danger. The hairs on the back of Silvestre's neck prickled and a chill penertrated her skin, the taste of metallic blood leaked into her mouth...
Milo stilled, his palms pale against the bloody ruby.
"This. This is what she wants." He stated, staring at Silvestre. 

***

"What does it do?" 

"I don't know." Milo replied, quickly placing the stone back in the chest. Immediately, his eyes lit up, once again eager and lively, "But I'm not waiting to find out. Come with me, I want you to meet somebody."

"Leisel told me." Silvestre murmured, turning her gaze to the floor.

"Told you what?" 

"She said you had gone off into the woods with some pretty girl." 

There was a seconds moment of silence before Silvestre looked up to see a fantastic grin spread across Milo's face: he was laughing!

"You mean Crystal? She's my little sister!"

Silvestre heaved a sigh of relief, before rapidly regaining her self-composition. 

"Were you jealous?" Milo teased,

"Was not!"

"Oh, She'll love that! She made a Princess jealous!"

"I was not jealous!" Silvestre argued but she too was grinning,

"You sure?"

"ok, maybe I was a little jealous..." Silvestre admitted, blushing as her gaze lingered on Milo's blinding smile.  

The ruby was back in the secured chest, and as Milo and Silvestre left the room its aggressive power had no dominance over the two friends who were laughing in spite of the darkness that threatened to drown them.