LOGINNow as Toby looked at his laughing daughter, he again wondered how she’d gotten up that tree. “We are the only ones at home right?” He asked Anna. “Of course, why?” “Well,” Toby said carefully, “if no one else is here, and neither of us put her on the table, then it means she climbed up herself. Maybe she also climbed the wall, and the tree. That could explain why the security wolves haven’t caught the person who put her on the tree, because they don’t exist.” “That's impossible. No child can get up that high.” “We have heard of a child that did once, remember?” “That was years ago in Hexvale. And the child was a Draeth. No ordinary child could do that.” Anna reminded him. “Maybe our darling is a Draeth.” Toby teased. “Stop it!” “I'm just joking. Don’t worry my dear, Phina is just active. And it’s a phase. Once she is older, it will pass.” Toby assured his wife. “I just hope she doesn’t kill me or herself before then.” Anna grumbled. Toby laughed. “Now you are being dramat
Toby was packing his working tools when he heard Anna’s frightened shriek. He jumped instinctively, then relaxed. From experience he guessed she was probably overreacting to something Seraphina had done. “You are trying to give me a heart attack!” He heard her anguished and exasperated voice. Now what? He thought walking towards the big room. Anna was standing beside the large oak table in the corner of the room, holding a giggling Seraphina. “What’s going on? I heard you shout.” Toby said. Anna turned the angry frown she’d been directing at Seraphina on him. “Your daughter is trying to send me to meet the Goddess, or turn me to a rouge! I came in and met her sitting in the middle of this table.” “How did she get up there?” Toby asked surprised, staring at the still smiling Seraphina. “I don’t know how she gets to these places! First, she scales the wall at the back, then last week she was perched on the lower branch of a tree! If she keeps this up, I may not live to se
Corpa listened to their news with an angry frown. “Are you saying killing this thing would invite disaster in the kingdom?” He asked finally. “Killing the child, will invite disaster upon the land.” Donton nodded. “Are you sure you are not misinterpreting that scroll?” Nessa scoffed. “ It might even be a fake. There is no way the Goddess would want such an ugly thing kept alive.” “The scroll is definitely not fake.” The Library Master said, annoyed by her insolence. “It is highly sacred, and the interpretation is clear. Kill the child and see disaster upon our land.” “So it means that monster is going to be to perpetual torment me?” Copra asked gnashing his teeth. “Don’t worry sire, if that scroll is correct, then the thing can be killed after it’s first birthday.” Nessa assured him. “If the eyes of the Goddess are on the boy, it will be best not to take his life, especially since he hasn’t done anything wrong.” Donton said quietly. Nessa laughed derisively. “It being
For days, Donton locked himself in the library, reading book after book, scroll after scroll, searching for any record of the prince’s ailment. The Master of the Library, whom he had confided in, joined the search. But a week passed with no answers. “Nothing,” the Master said at last, slamming a book shut in frustration. “I have searched every scroll in this library. This has never been seen in the history of our kingdom.” Donton exhaled heavily. He had barely slept, leaving the library only twice, for Queen Boda’s funeral and to welcome Corpa’s new bride. “I fear you are right,” he said. “This case is unique. But we must find something. The child’s life depends on it.” “Perhaps the king should let him die,” the Master said quietly. “It would be a mercy afterall, given his condition." “The child’s life has barely begun,” Donton replied sharply. “Only the Goddess decides when it ends.” “But—” “Until she does, we must keep him alive,” Donton said, cutting him off. The Master inc
“Of course not! Why would you say such a thing?” Donton asked.“Because it’s true. My father hates me. He would give anything to see my head on a pike. If he dosen’t put it there, then Tok certainly would, when he becomes king.”“No one is executing you. Not while I live.” Donton promised. “And what makes you think you won’t be king when the time comes.”Roydo laughed gently. “I sometimes dream of being king. I have a lot of ideas I would implement to make people’s lives better, but my father has made sure it would never happen. If Tok can’t be, then father would rather see it go to a stranger.”“You can be king. Nothing is impossible.”“With me it is.” He sighed sadly. “Sometimes I wonder why the Goddess choose to let me be born at all if I was going to be abnormal. Won’t it have been better if I hadn’t been born? Perhaps you should have just let my father starve me to death when I was a baby.”Donton’s heart twisted hearing his words. Memories of six years ago came flooding back.S
The anger and hatred in Corpa’s eyes unsettled even Donton. Roydo shrank back, trembling. “I said get out!” Corpa roared. “Your Majesty—” Donton began. “Go! Now! Before I have you thrown into the dungeon, you ugly freak!” Corpa shouted. Roydo flinched and hurried from the chamber. Corpa dropped heavily into his seat, breathing hard, his eyes still murderous. Donton waited until the king’s breathing had steadied, before speaking quietly. “He is your blood, your Majesty. No amount of anger can change that.” “That monster is not my son.” “You know as well as I do that he is. Queen Boda was the purest of women. She did not betray you.” “She must have,” Corpa snarled. “How else could such an aberration be born?” “He bears the royal mark,” Donton said evenly. “He is yours.” As always, the mention of, the Mark, made Corpa grind his teeth and fall into a sulking silence. The mark, a small black star at the nape of the neck, had been borne by every royal of the Zombie K







