CARLIE: The Adventure Of A Lifetime

04 | the start of an adventure

04 | THE START OF AN ADVENTURE

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      BEING A GIRL IN THE THE SMALL KINGDOM WHERE EIGHTEEN IS THE AGE of marriage, I've never been on a journey or adventure. The furthest I've ever been from Morderel is when I accidently took someone home to Ardel. Other than that, I've been stuck here, doing the normal things that bring me joy but I'm starting to think I don't have the ability to  feel adrenaline.

As I put the last thing in my small rucksack, I take some time to start at it. It's a framed picture of my mother when she was about 18. That was way before she knew she would make a big mistake later on.

I wish I got the chance to meet her. Everyone tells me she was great, nice, funny and always positive. That's someone I would like to be. But instead, in the half sister of the the royal children in Morderel on her way to possible death.

I leave my room quickly and quietly, and soon, I'm walking out of the palace and making my way towards the market place to meet my dad and explain all this to him. He'll know what to do.

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When I get to my father's little shop, I smile at the sight of him. His head is buried in a novel thaf looks older than him, and no, he's not reading; he's sleeping. As much as he's so wise and loves to just know everything, he can't read to save his life. It's quite funny because I can't even count the number of times I've found him sleeping in a book.

"Papa, wake up." I say as I giggle at him.

At the sound of my voice, he quickly gets up and tries to make it look as if he was reading but we both know the shameful truth.

"Ah, Carlie." He says putting the book down. "It's always a pleasure to see my beautiful daughter."

I smile and give him a hug as he kisses my forehead.

"Papa, I'm in trouble." I start, taking a seat next to him. I explain it all to him and it's honestly heartbreaking to watch his face fall the moment I tell him about the plan to kill me.

"So you want to go on a whole journey to find it?" He asks and I nervously nod. "You must let me accompany you."

"Papa, no." I say. "You're far too old to be travelling at such lengths. I can't allow you to come with me."

"But Carlie, it's too dangerous." He tries to reason with me but I'm not having it. I need to do this alone.

"May you please tell me where to start?" I ask.

He sighs heavily then nods. "The crystal turned blue that night when it was on Carveler mountain in the north wing. People say it hides in the truth of that day. The things that..." He trails off and clears this throat. "The infidelity of the queen had an effect on the crystal's behavior."

I feel my heart ache at the mention of infidelity. It makes me so sad to know my mother is known to be a disloyal woman and my father, the manipulative servant man who helped her do such. And me? I'm the product of that.

"There are four mountains behind the Carveler mountain and they represent four different things. One represents love, the other; all that is right and pure, the other, hate and the final one represents mistakes and things that make us impure." He tells me. "You'll need to go to the one that's impure because that night, even though I got the gift of a wonderful daughter, your mother and I made a mistake."

I nod as I feel my heart drop even lower to my stomach.

"Be safe, my princess." he tells me and gives me a hug. "Just follow the parts that seem true and honest. Don't go astray, following the messy parts of the road. No matter how easy they look."

Smiling, I nod as I hug back. I know there's a whole deeper meaning to what he's just said because that's how he us. Wise, old and kind. I honestly would never replace him.

After about another five minutes of farewells, I'm off to the forest of out village to start my long journey. But I need some food so I go off to the small bakery to get myself some bread and jam.

As I carefully look through the variety of jams, I start to hear someone hum my favorite song behind me. Smiling at that, I turn and come face to face with a grinning Keller.

I roll my eyes even though it's not so bad that he's here. I actually really enjoyed his company last time.

"Hello Carlie." He says with a smile that I admit is one of the best I've ever seen.

"Hello, Prince Keller." I say then get back to picking a jam.

"None of that prince nonsense. I introduced myself as Keller, so Keller, I'll be." he says then stands next to me as I pick up a jar of apricot jam. It's always made me nauseous but I'm foolish enough to consider it. "What are you up to?"

"Just picking up some jam." I state the obvious.

"Obviously," he says and chuckles. Another thing that sends my stomach in a series of of twists of nervousness. "But what is the jam for? Your parents or you're just a fan?"

I sadly smile at the idea of me being a normal girl with two normal parents. It's even so hard to truly know the feeling.

"It's a long story." I tell him.

"I have the time."

"But I don't." I say, grabbing the apricot jam and turning to him. "I'll be on my way now."

With that being said, I turn on my heels and make my way to the front to pay for my jam and bread. I'll regret getting this jam but I can't think about good decisions right now, I need to get out of here and start off. If I want to make it on time, I have to start walking now.

"You look like you're going somewhere far," I hear Keller speak once I'm out of the shop and walking towards the forest. "Can I know where the fair lady is off to?"

"Why are you following me?" I ask him with a smile of amusement. He just has a way of amusing me.

"I'm curious." He says with a mischievous tone. It's so clear that prince Keller isn't an ordinary Prince who enjoys all that royalty has to offer. It's clear that he's rebellious and spontaneous. It should worry me it I'm just allured. That being the reason I'm letting him stick around as I walk.

"Well, my prince." I say playfully. "Curiosity killed the cat."

"Good thing I'm not a cat, right?" He sends me a smile then steps in front of me. "So, where are we heading?"

"I am heading to Carveler mountain." I say, making sure to stress on the I. "You will be heading back home because you have quite the journey ahead of you if you want to make it home on time for breakfast."

"Carveler mountain?" He asks with clear confusion on his face. "What could you possibly want?"

"It's a long story." I repeat the line I used earlier. "And I don't have any time."

"Well, I shall accompany you so we both have needed time for you to explain." He declares. "Let me just fetch Tob."

"Woah," I say. "You can't come with me."

"I didn't ask for your permission, my fair lady." He says then runs off to fetch a nearby brown horse. Soon, he's taking my rucksacks from me and carefully placing it on the horse; that I'm guessing is named Tob; and walking by my side.

I don't even understand how I ended up in this situation but Keller has proved to be a stubborn guy that I can't seem to get to leave. Plus, the fact that he fascinates me makes me more willing to have him travel with him. But unfortunately, I owe him an explanation for this voyage.

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Word count: 1376