The Princess Arrives

“Open the gates, the princess approaches!” 

“The princess!” A group of uniformed men, idling around on the floor, rose to their feet. “To the gates!” they screamed on their heels as they all ran towards the entrance bridge to stand in position. The gatekeepers grabbed onto two golden ring handles and pulled hard to kick-start a sophisticated mechanism behind the main gate. A bridge ladder dropped slowly to the floor, to allow passage through the menacing pits under it. The castle door popped open no faster than the bridge and through them one could see the silver-white flags of a golden crown seating on top of two blades, flying freely in the air.

The carriage guarded by two uniformed guards and three maiden escorts pulled up into the castle premises at a walking pace. Their horses jugged into the palace compound through the cracks of guards, bowed at both sides of the gate, while the Princess sat exalted in her chamber, unruffled at the sight of the guards.

The marbled compound with flower vegetation and water fountains stretched half the length of the famous kingdoms’ market and was as wide as the eye could see. It looked majestic in every way and felt like another kingdom within the kingdom.

Pathways stretched like tree branches along the floor, with each leading to various areas of importance. The horse raced along the marbled path leading straight until they were through two giant statues of kings, pointing the way to a four-floor architectural marvel directly up ahead.

 

On getting to the building's front yard, the carriage turned to the side for the occupant within to have direct access to the entrance when they stepped out. The guards following the cart popped open the door and a lady fair as snow stepped out majestically.

To say she was fair would be putting it mildly, as she could hide under the rays of the sun, like an angel to behold. Her maidens ran over to her side to help her sort her clothes and carefully adjust the purple gown she had on. The veil above her head was removed to reveal a diamond-studded tiara sitting on her well-packed blond hair, and her piercing golden brown eyes.

“Welcome Princess!” a royal attendant bowed to her as she climbed up the flight of stairs to approach the entrance platform. The man wore a red and white outfit with a silky red robe wrapped across his chest like a satchel. He wore a black hat with well-polished black shoes, and in his right hand was a well-crafted black cane. Everything about the man was neat, and judging by his charisma and gestures, one could easily tell he was leagues above every other attendant who had all gathered to either greet the princess or help her move her luggage.

“You look magnificent today.”

“Thank you, Master Greg,” the princess smiled. 

“How was your journey?” he questioned as he led her into the castle.

“It was great”, she walked alongside the fairly tall man in his early 50s, wondering what had him in his official robes as they walked into the golden-tiled castle.

“It could have been better if my brother joined me?” she sighed as a thought flashed into her head.

“Speaking of which, where is my brother?”

“Why are you here to welcome me and not him?”

The man quickly feigned a cough as if he had expected such a question and was getting ready to give a rehearsed speech for it. “Apologies, princess, but the king is engaged in a state of emergency meeting with some royal guests”. “His absence is one of the reasons why I am here to act as your guide. I am at your disposal if you should need anything.” 

“Emergency meeting, –” the princess wondered, but was easily distracted by the greetings of some maids in the hallway, who stepped aside quite awkwardly on seeing her. “–my brother?” she gestured with a raised brow, still trying to wrap her head around Greg’s words. 

“Yes princess,” The sharply dressed man reaffirmed, with his cane strapped down under his left armpit while he waved the serving girls away.

“This emergency meeting you speak of,” the princess's voice came out with a hint of scepticism, “-who did you say were invited?”

“Some royal guest”, Grey replied almost reflexively, before realizing that was not what the princess asked for. “The king requested the head of all six noble houses, the heads of affairs and commanders in his military units to join him on this occasion, princess.”

“And the Queen Mother, is she?”

“Her royal majesty the Queen was not invited.” The man bowed as he spoke, as if paying respect to the princess for uttering the queen’s name.

The princess stopped in her tracks and chuckled. “You almost got me there, Master Greg.” she chuckled some more but stopped after she saw the man didn’t seem to want to join her. “You're not serious, are you?” she asked, hoping she was not mistaken about her escort's intentions.

“Sorry to disappoint my princess, but I'm not comically gifted nor worthy to make jest on matters concerning the king.” He waited to see the princess's expression change after she saw he was serious. “They are currently in the throne room.” He affirmed.

My brother in the throne room, the princess pondered a bit more composed. She knew his brother to be the type that avoided meetings, he rarely ever attended the official ones, talk more of summoning one himself. Alone, without the Queen mother, something was wrong, she thought. “In that case, lead me there at once” she demanded.

“Princess I must warn, there are strict orders not to let anyone in until the meeting was over. The King himself gave the order”.

“Well I'm not just anyone, am I?” She asked in a stern voice, which gave off the impression her patience was running thin.

“Absolutely not princess, apologies if my words insinuated anything of such,” he bowed, “that was not my intention.” 

“Hmm”, the Princess walked past him and stopped, then pried with her eye.  “Well then, can we get going?” 

“Of course princess, –” The man adjusted his robe. “— please, this way”. He led the way through a different section of the halls, and this time only the princess accompanied him while the rest of her serving girls stood back and waited.

>>>>THE THRONE ROOM<<<<

The room was littered with men and women from different famous houses and high-ranking offices, all gathered for the emergency meeting the king had called for, with a bit of scepticism and fear harboured deep in their minds. The special occasion had them in their different colours and stripes, making it easy to tell who was from where without actually being acquainted with each other. And although there were very few guards in the room, there was no denying the throne room was the safest place one could find themselves at the very moment.

Among the guests, a man stood out and apart from the crowd, facing north towards the throne, while he backed the rest in attendance.  He was adorned in a standard blue and black body-fitted musketeer’s robe, with a sleeveless long jacket to show off his muscular arms.

The black dragon marking on the collar of his jacket revealed he was a member of a top-secret Organisation, known only to the king and his Six swords (Leaders of the Six Royal Family), making him quite the presence to be among them. His silk black hair hid under a feathered black hat and his face buried itself in a brown paper scroll he was reading from. His voice travelled through the room but echoed the words of another.

A few steps ahead of him was another man seated on one of the few two seats in the room, with a towering guard standing right beside him. The dashing young man garbed in the colours of black and red patterned cloth, and a long red cape hanging over his shoulder was none other than the king, slacked back into his seat like he was listening to an early morning newscaster. His hands and shoulders had no shortage of golden ornaments strapped around them, while on his head sat a magnificent golden crown which fit nicely around his long white hair. His presence cast an overwhelming blanket of order and power, while his gaze pierced through the room like a cold blade.

“The swarm kingdom is under attack” the man in black dragon marking echoed. “The outward invaders have finally reached the borders of the kingdom and currently encroaching into their lands.”

“We know little of these invaders except for the fact that they move in the den of night and vanish before the first sun is up, leaving no footprint nor their dead behind”.

“Words from the south have revealed that similar situations are taking place in the kingdom of Krallax. And according to our reports, they seem to be having it far worse, with their borders already breached”.

“Impossible” an Elder man uttered, his voice quivering as he spoke.

It was no secret in the room that the kingdom of Edrighton had never breached Krallax (kingdom of the shining crystal), in its 100-year war history. To hear their borders had been breached meant more than the utterance of a messenger, and might have as well been an apocalyptic-level threat if anything the knight reported was true. 

Asking the messenger to clarify what he meant by Krallax had been breached could have been a hot topic for the council, especially the Elder. However, he held back his curiosity and allowed the man his floor, hoping the rest of the letter would provide more details. 

The messenger's gaze met the throne and immediately got a wave from the king’s hand of supreme authority, which meant he could carry on.  

“As I write to you, it saddens me to report that we've lost two of our well-trained Shadows in both kingdoms and can no longer assess the serpent crossing or the hidden teleportation portals”.

A quick pause held the room as the man rolled down more of the sheets. “According to the shadows' last report, the invaders came through a portal, bigger than the hills of Lumberd, without the use of sorcery or artefacts.

It was reported that thousands of them were sported trooping in from the portal, but when morning came no single soldier was found there. They had taken it upon themselves to get closer to the portal. However, once the night came, their Cama beads faded to ash before my very eyes.” 

At this point, even though nobody said it, the word “Impossible!” filtered the room like the early morning dew, as fear and confusion gripped the congregation by the throat. No one said a word, no one needed to since it was painted in their faces.

With their latest bowl of contention being the cama beads, which everyone knew never faded to dust or ashes. It was more worrisome that a General could write such nonsense down in a letter than it was to believe it. The cama beads were simply a stone bound to one’s life force, it never faded or crumbled, since it was founded. It’s been confirmed to crack open when the owner faces a gruesome death or turn pale when the owner dies. So to turn to ash instantly made no sense, not to the cabinet nor the man who swallowed hard while reading it. 

The room suddenly felt so hot that it was almost as if someone put on the burning furnace. 

“I'm yet to run into these invaders myself and still do not know how they move, the true nature of the weapon they wield or their true goals. However, my shadows in both kingdoms will be reporting back to me on the fortnight.”

“I have asked them, to withdraw from these red zones and join me back at base, where we will regroup and await any further instruction from Your Majesty”.

“As far as our other business here, we’ve managed to retrieve some of the materials you requested, and have made some progress in finding the sources of the disturbance you reported.” 

“The night in the bush has started its clearing, and now it’s sent is clear as day.” The man carefully omitted this part of the message as he glanced through it and jumped to the next line. 

“The mining of Dra......” the messenger paused when he felt he was about to leak another sensitive information to the crowd and skilfully masked his blunder with a dry cough.

“The mining of the materials has been going splendidly well and at this rate, we will be done in fifteen sun-ups. We will be on our way back to the castle after everything is in place, that is, if there are no further instructions from Your Majesty.”

“I apologise for the inconveniences our failure to determine the enemy's true nature may cause your Majesty and the throne, and I will make sure to have additional information on the enemy available to you when we return to the castle.”

“May you live long, your Majesty and may your reign know no end.”

“Your Loyal Servant, General Ro”

The messenger rose his face to the throne and quickly climbed the few flights of stairs, where a member of the royal guards dressed in all black approached him to collect the letter.

After a brief scan through, the man nodded his head at the king, as if acknowledging the letter was real.

The king opened his left palm to the guard, insinuating he hands the scroll over, with a hint of curiosity hidden behind his gaze.

The messenger bowed at the king after he saw his part in this was over and calmly joined the rest of the crowd. The chief guard quickly handed the scroll to the king and took his position beside the throne. While, two heavily armed guards, who had moved closer to the throne when the guard had walked away, stepped back into their natural position to give the chief guard his space. 

The king unruffled the scroll handed to him and buried his face into it. He looked forward to picking up on secret monikers or messages which may have been left behind for him to decipher.

Murmurs broke into the room like wildfire, first as a whisper amongst familiar circles, then to echoes through the room. There was a lot to say and think of, and no one knew what was happening. They took care not to engage the king, who had his face buried in a scroll until one man eventually found the composure to speak up.

“Your Majesty, I sir Jack of the bloodhound regiment request your permission to match out across the barren fields of Gandor to Join General Ro. and face this enemy head-on”.

“I believe we need to stop those invaders, whatever they may be before they can cross the wasteland. We need to put an end to this madness before it can bare its fangs at us”.

“Yes sire!!” Half of the congregation echoed in agreement.

Give me your permission and I Sir Jack of the bloodhound regiment will lead your men to battle.

"And leave our kingdom defenceless, open for our neighbouring rivals to pick at us as they wish, WHEN they wish, I don’t think so.” Sod Dronas a noble of house Moon of the Six protested.

The room went silent for a while as some pondered.

“So what do you suggest we do then, wait here for our enemy's numbers to multiply?” another Noble, Sod Rupert of House Hills weighed in. 

“Not multiply” Sod Dronas retorted, “If you had paid attention to the report and not cower in fear like you always do, maybe you would see how this benefits us.”

Sod Rupert stamped his staff on the ground in annoyance, “Watch your tongue you old f…” he uttered, but was quickly cut off.

“I’m sure you heard the shadow knight say the enemy was engaged with our old rivals, Krallax.” 

“The way I see it, we have nothing to lose by staying put.” The short fur-coated white-bearded man shot an unwavering gaze at his average-height partner, who unlike him, wore an elegant silk wear, with a leaf-patterned upper layer.

“What happens when they don’t suffer casualties, if they take the borders of Krallax and make slaves out of them, surely their numbers will multiply, would you still believe we can handle them by seating back?” Sir Furgar Hills, Vice-Commander of the Eagle Claw regiment, joined his father’s side in the protest.

“Then you would have to prove your use to this kingdom, wouldn’t you?” Sod Dronas replied coldly. 

The two families leaked out an aura of malice into the room, but immediately went quiet when Sir Alfred Snowfang appeared in between both parties like a winter ghost. His gaze sent shivers down the three men that they decided they had had enough for the day and simply focused on other things. 

The Snowfang were known for their white hair and piercing blue eyes. They were a noble family closer to the king than most, and were a very decorated family, even among the Six Swords. So it was no surprise the effect the man’s presence had on them.

The young heir to the Snowfang family house returned to his father's side and remained silent, while everyone else tried not to stare and quickly went back to their rambles in their little circles.

The king dropped the scroll he was reading and watched his cabinet go at each other, with no intent of stopping them. He could already guess what most desired from him, but the news or good news they wanted to hear was not fort coming. 

“The outward invaders?” He sighed to himself, almost as if the very existence of it was a complete joke. 

If truth were to be told, he already knew about the outward invaders days before General Ro found out. He had told the General to keep it a secret when the man first brought it to his attention. Today’s meeting was just to cradle his cabinet into being security conscious. 

“The invaders”, he dulled his gaze, exhausted at the thought of what he had to do to save his people. Only if they knew that what they thought was a calamity was only the opening event for something greater. Something even he might not be able to stop. 

Ignoring the gentlemen arguing behind him, Sir Jack puffed his chest once more and called to the king, hoping he would be granted more attention now the king's gaze was focused on them. 

“Your Majesty, I believe we can take the invaders on, my regiment and I are always willing to match out to battle and stop anyone who might be a threat to this great Kingdom.”

“Allowing them to get any closer to us before acting would be a spit to our name and a stain to the power and pride which you have built for centuries. I say you allow us, show them why we are feared, why we are the strongest of the five great Nations”.

The room sat silent for a second as everyone waited for the king's response, but as time went on, it was clear that would not happen. The king barely caught on to the words of the Knight and only let out a faint hum as if pondering on it.

“And how do you intend to fight an enemy that comes at night and vanishes in the morning?” Elder Enwyld, one of the only three Elders in the room, spoke as if trying to fill in for the king's silence. While he gently walked out from the back to join the young commander of the bloodhound regiment.

“Elder” Sir Jack greeted on coming face to face with the old olive-skinned man in blue and silver robes. 

If the shadow knight's presence in the hall was not enough to build a suffocating atmosphere in the great halls, the presence of Elders, Men who had stepped down as Sod (swords) of their respective noble families in other to accept a new identity where they no longer answered to any family or organisation not even the king. Because of how few they were in number it was also rare to see them, however there was no doubt how powerful the pack of old men were, not in the throne room at least.

“I believe….” Sir Jack was finally about to reply when the entrance door to the throne room creaked open, dumbing him down to a pause. All eyes turned towards the door in anticipation as they all wondered who was brave enough to disturb the meeting.

The king's eyes, on the other hand, lit up with excitement, as if he was finally going to get what he waited for.

“Please welcome, Princess Areola," Greg announced behind the door before a figure white as snow and as elegant as a swan, walked into the room to break out a facial display of mixed reaction. While some smiled or bowed, some others frowned and worried, while the rest kept a straight face. 

The princess had in the past been banished from such gatherings, so no one was not to add that she was not invited unless, some judging eyes turned back at the king, wondering what would happen.

“My King, - "the princess bowed, “- may you reign supreme.”