Crustel

Chapter 23

      Aunt Ayari was gone for months. The war ended up taking away Emerald's life. I still remember vividly the eyes of the fake Emerald. It was familiar but I couldn't recognize it. I saw a better future for Crustelicians but didn't see a better future for the royals. My ancestors announced me as the winner and Emerald's spirit joined with our ancestors. That gave me slight hope. I could only talk to her during Madzitateguru but there was no more Madzitateguru in my life unless the next heir of the throne is eighteen. My coronation was around the corner. Still, our soldiers didn't find the fake Emerald. Before I was crowned, I did my deeds as a princess with the guidance of the grand council. Obviously, Lanshirens were causing so much trouble. They were homeless and had to stay in the forest. We knew how it felt staying in a forest. "They are living in Crustel. Not every Lanshiren is bad or evil. We need to prepare them shelter." I confessed my viewpoint at the Grand Council Meeting. 

  The first one to object to my opinion was certainly Ethan. I shrugged. "Cora! Are you out of your mind? The Lanshirens you are thinking about were the reason we had to go through so many problems!" Ethan burst like a volcano. My mom agreed to his opinion. Suddenly, "KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!" someone knocked on the door. "We are in the middle of something!" I lunged out but Mom gave me a deadly stare. "Fine! Come in!" I shouted unwillingly. It was a servant. She was holding a scroll. She handed it to me and told nervously as she was scared of me, "Your highness, the prince of Aquanya sent this scroll. He tried to send this scroll earlier but due to circumstances he couldn't," she explained. Mom was shell-shocked as she didn't know that Prince Kanyal and I have already met and the utmost vital part was, I sneaked out Crustel and went to Aquanya. 

   "Give it to me!" Mom grabbed the scroll from my hand. The servant was frozen. "You may go!" I smiled at her. That gave her slight relief. She exited the grand council room. When I turned back to see mom's reaction, I was quite startled. She gave me a stare which obviously portrayed disgust. "May I see it, your majesty?" Ethan asked. To be much specific, he grabbed from mom's hand. He gave me such a look too. I was puzzled. "What's written? You guys are freaking me out. Just give it to me!" I grabbed the scroll from Ethan. They didn't change their look. I started reading the scroll. Nothing was on it. "Why are you guys giving me such a look? There's nothing on the scroll," before I finished speaking, much to my dismay, a map formed. It was an enchanted map but it was really far from Crustel.

    As I was gazing at the map, mom roared. Ethan trembled. I was shocked. "You have to explain this!" I knew what she was asking about. I took a deep breath. I calmly called Ethan. He knew what to do. He took his wand as I prepared a white screen in front of us. Ethan mounted a spell and the image was portrayed on the white screen. Our journey was clearly unveiled to mom. She was still mad at us. Her look showed anger. Ethan and I exchanged looks. "Knock Knock Knock!" someone knocked on the door again. Mom shouted with her thunderous voice, "Come in!" It was the servant again. She was timid. She was too frightened. "Your majesty..." She trembled with words.  Mom gave her a deadly stare. The servant was about to faint. I grabbed her. I cast a spell that made her lose her vision for few seconds. ( I told her before I cast because she was too scared). " Your majesty, Aquanyan are attacking Lanshirens in Corta." I stopped her. "Lanshirens  are in Corta?" She nodded and continued. "The king and the prince of Aquanya have arrived. They are waiting in the guest room." She stopped. To be honest, I was excited to meet Prince Kanyal. I wanted to thank him for lending their Aquan Shield for the war. Mom was not delighted as she was sitting on her chair with her hands on her forehead. She was confused.

   I undo the spell. To her dismay, mom's condition made her faint again. I quickly sent her out. " Well, we have to go to the guest room," I told firmly. Ethan agreed but mom disagreed. "I am certainly not going to meet that traitor. He was one of the reasons for my brother's death." She broke down. I tried to calm her down. I accompanied her to her room. "Mom, I have to meet them. Please...Just don't stress out!" Mom nodded unwillingly. I closed the door and went to the guest room. Ethan accompanied me. "Cora, what is that map we saw before?" Ethan asked calmly as he showed me the scroll that he was holding at the moment. "Let's ask Prince Kanyal and his father," I told him nervously. I knocked on the guest room before we entered. "Excuse me...Prince Kanyal?" I lunged out from outside the room. The door was answered. As I expected, it was him, Prince Kanyal. "Thank you" I whispered. He smiled. "The reason for your arrival?" Ethan was quite rude actually. I stared at him but he ignored me.