It was dusk when they reached a solid wall of bramble and Ivy, and the pair had settled into an icy silence.
“Lost?” Astrid snapped, finally speaking to the tall knight again.
“Hardly.” He looked up. “Open the gates.” Sigwulf bellowed. He paused. “Sir Sigwulf brings a package for Lord Draynon. Open the gates.”
“Package?” Astrid said indignantly.
Sigwulf squinted up at the carefully concealed watch tower. “Farr.Sigwulf stopped and knocked on a stout, black oak, wooden door.“Enter.” A muffled called voice from inside.Sigwulf opened the door and stood aside to let Astrid enter first. He followed and shut the door behind him. Astrid stared at the room. A small fire blazed in the stone wall on her left, and books lined the right. In the centre of the room, was a large wooden desk piled high with papers, scrolls and books. Behind the desk sat a man with iron grey hair and a weather beaten face. His grey eyes were harsh and his expression grim.
Draynon nodded and opened the book. He leafed through the book until he found the chapter that he was looking for. “Here we go. Now this was roughly 120 years ago, or four generations. It’s not so much a history book, but written similar to a novel to make the facts easier for the reader to remember, rather than just bombarding them with endless seeming names and numbers.” He coughed once to clear his throat and began reading from the book. “After the destruction, many people wondered how it started. Who gave the order to kill us?
Draynon cast his eyes down to stare his desk, his hands clasped in front of him and resting on an old, leather bound book with brass corners. Two grey eyes looked back at Princess Astrid.“What is your exact age?”Astrid frowned. “Ah, 19 years and 11 months exactly. My birthday is next month.”“That’s right. August 11.”Astrid nodded.“That gives us one year to find your other necklace, prove your legitimacy and stampede you onto the throne, then have your coronation before the first new moon after your 21st birthday. Not much time.”Astrid gave him a questioning look.“It will take half a yea
Astrid was woken at dawn that morning by a light and persistent knocking on her door. She climbed out of bed and slipped on the dressing gown. Padding across the thick woollen rugs that covered the stone floor she carefully cracked open the door a few inches.“Good morning,” a chirpy voice said as Astrid peered out. The voice belonged to a slim girl with an excited expression and wide, vapid, blue eyes. Strawberry blonde hair hung lightly across the girl’s shoulders and her dress was a pale lavender. Her nose was slightly snubbed and she had a face that was flat in a conventional form of pretty that looks very nice while the girl is young, but does not last long.
Janine dragged the suffering Astrid to their first class that was sewing where she introduced the overwhelmed girl to her uninspiring friends.“Astrid,” Janine giggled. “These are my friends. We have Edlyn, Beda, Maida and Deena. Ladies, this is our new best friend, Astrid.”The girls waved and all giggled. The eyes of the girls were blank of independent thought and Astrid felt the urge to scream.“Janine,” purred the voice of Serra who walked over, flanked by three other girls. “Allow me to introduce ourselves to your new friend as you have neglected to do so.”“You didn’t give us a chance,” Janine mur
Mrs Bellmar was not amused about being forced to teach Astrid Politics or Statecraft. Astrid knew this to be a fact as Mrs Bellmar spent the entire lesson telling her about it.“It’s not my place to say anything about Lord Draynon’s choices, and I really shouldn’t say anything,” Mrs Bellmar said in a voice that could have easily commanded troops across a battlefield. Astrid feared that the buxom Mrs Bellmar would say something, and that particular something would be extended. “Why a young girl such as yourself needs to know politics and such is beyond me. Young girls should be concerned only with sewing, cooking and catching a suitable husband.&nbs
Astrid found the Women’s Etiquette class to be as bad as she feared and her thoughts meandered as Mrs Bellmar repeated the ‘women are servants’ speech again. She is Princess Astrid Nara Katrall, the true heir to the Kaltharian throne. Does she really want to be a Queen? People have sacrificed their very lives and outlawed themselves permanently for her. Just for her. She remembered all the risks she had taken with her own life as a thief, never knowing that thousands, maybe tens of thousands of people depended on her.“Miss Astrid,” Mrs Bellmar called. “What are the two main duties of a woman?”
“Brian,” Sigwulf called as the older man ran past.“In your office,” the man replied before he disappeared into the swarm of people scurrying everywhere.Sigwulf grumbled as he stalked into his office and collapsed onto the chair behind his desk.He picked up the letter on his desk and scanned through it.Sigwulf,Be informed that we are conducting an investigation of all reports relating to the following...1) Galadon Knights,2) The Katrall family,3) Reports of large numbers of people moving into forests across Kalthar,4) Sounds of large groups of voices in the forests,5) Anything else relating to the above.The functioning information you gather is to be placed into three annals.