"That was all?"
"Yes. That's all. The old man has since died, and it was never printed. I'm sorry I couldn't find out more."
I kissed him lightly on the cheek. "You found out everything. You found out that my real mother didn't want to let me go. She loved me."
He wrapped his arms around me and brought me into a hug as tears began to fall down my face. "Actually, there was one more thing. He said the carriage looked like one of those from Urbis."
17th January
I awoke to an urgent rapping on my door.
"Who is it?" I yelled out from under my covers.
"It's me."Oh, crap. Caspian.
"I think we should spend some time today working on our wedding," he shouted back through my bedroom door. "We didn't get nearly enough done the other day."
I rolled my eyes and dragged myself out of bed, wrapping my robe around myself.
"The wedding," I said, opening the door to him. "Not our wedding. There have been thousands of applicants for the position of my husband. Any one of them could win."
Caspian sneered and waved his hand dismissively. "Just a formality. I am the best swordsman there is, and beyond the guards at your castle, the people of Draconis aren't known for their fighting skills."
"Maybe, maybe not, but I wouldn't count your wedding favors just yet. I can't work with you on the wedding." I made to close the door on him, but he slipped his foot between the door and the frame. "I have to plan the competition," I reminded him.
"I don't know why you are bothering," he said. "It seems like a total waste of time, but if you must. I'll ask that lovely maid of yours to help me."
"Go ahead." Dahlia would probably love the idea of spending another day planning a wedding with Caspian, and if it kept the pair of them out of my hair, then all the better.
Kicking his foot back, I slammed the door, not wanting to speak to Caspian a moment longer. I had too much running through my mind, and I'd made it very clear that I didn't care one jot what the wedding was like. I didn't care about the dress, flowers, food. None of it. How could I even begin to care about any of that stuff when I didn't even care for my husband-to-be? Heck, I didn't even know who my husband-to-be was.
Dressing quickly, I made the decision to go to the library. I had the competition to plan, and that was much more important than the wedding. I needed to make it in such a way that Caspian didn't win.
Plus , at the back of my mind, I knew that all of this would be for nothing. The competition, the wedding, all of it. I would plan it like the dutiful princess I was, but I wouldn't be here to see it.
I was going to go to Urbis. After hearing that I might have been born there, it was the only possible lead I had, and I'd never forgive myself if I didn't go and check it out. I couldn't ask my father's permission. There was no way in this kingdom; he would let me travel alone to Urbis. I could have asked to bring Milo with me, but my father was already suspicious of him. No, I had to do this alone, and I had to do it without anyone knowing. The castle was going to be full of reporters next week. All here to write about and take pictures of the competition and the preparations leading up to it. Preparations that had not yet started.
If I handed my father a full list of what I planned to do for the competition, then he would not suspect anything. I hated leaving him, especially with my mother the way she was, but I was doing nothing here to help. I couldn't wake her up any more than the constant stream of doctors that saw her every day.
But...if all this really did have something to do with where I came from, then it was my duty to find out what. And if I could find a way to save my mother and maybe find my real mother at the same time, then fantastic.
Remy was already in the library, absorbed in his adventure books, as usual. He grinned at me when he saw me walk in and waved a book at me. I had to sit and read with him before doing anything. He wouldn't leave me alone for a second if I didn't. Half an hour later, when I'd read a few chapters of a book about the pirates of Skyla, and he'd acted out the swashbuckling parts with much glee, I finally pried myself away and found the book where Remy had originally found the information on the competition. The book, named Winning the Legend was so old that the leather binding it was beginning to crack, and the gold lettering on the spine had faded to almost nothing.
I opened it, flicking carefully to the page that mentioned the competition. It was so vague. It seemed there needed to be three parts. Part one had to be a game of skill, part two had to be a game of logic, and part three had to be a sword fight to the death.
Pulling a pencil and paper to myself, I wrote swordfight to the death in capitals.
I wondered how that would go down? If we killed all the men who had applied, we'd look like barbarians. It would make things easy for me, but I figured I should come up with something a little better. I didn't really want anyone to die on my behalf.
Milo would have been a good person to help me with this, but he was working today, and Jack wouldn't be too pleased if he dashed off with me again. There was no way I'd be able to take him away from his post without Jack tattle-telling to my father. And, of course, my father wouldn't be too happy about one of the contestants helping me. No, I was in this on my own, whether I liked it or not
Part one. A game of skill. But what skill? Nothing Caspian was good at, that was for sure. I could rule magic out then. I should also stipulate in the rules that anyone caught using magic would be disqualified for cheating.
I thought of Milo and his strengths. He was a good swordsman, and no matter what Caspian said about the men of Draconis, I wouldn't want to count him out. He could rival Caspian with his sword skills, but could he beat him? I sighed. I just didn't know. Caspian could still beat me in a swordfight, something that irked me no end. Anyway, swordfighting was the final part of the competition. The first part had to be something else.
I thought about the sword that Milo had made me. It was beautiful. I couldn't ask the competitors to make swords, it would take too long, and we'd need so much metal and way too many tools, but what if we had them make something out of clay? It wasn't exactly Milo's area of expertise, but he was artistic and could turn his hand to anything. Caspian, on the other hand, had made nothing but trouble since being here. And piles of clay could easily be brought in. The makers of the best statues or pots would qualify for the next round. As I wrote pot in my notebook, a thought occurred to me. I gave a giggle and erased the word pot and added the word princess. If they were fighting for me, they could make me. They could design a figurine that looked like me. The ten closest ones would get through. That would certainly whittle the pool down.
Chewing a hangnail, I moved to the next part. Logic. I probably should come up with some really clever logic puzzle, but I wasn't particularly good at them, and if I couldn't come up with anything clever, how would I expect others not to know the answer straight away?
I sat back in my chair, watching Remy. He was soundlessly acting out a part in his book, a sly smile on his face as he thrust his hand forward, killing some imaginary foe. When all this was over, I was going to take him to Skyla. The stories of pirates he read about were fiction, but I'd heard reports of pirates really sailing the waters around there. Not that I wanted him to actually meet a pirate, but he would be thrilled to just see the place where they lived. Part of Draconis bordered the ocean, but mountain ranges made it almost impossible to reach. We had no pretty sandy beaches that some of the other kingdoms boasted, and seaside villages on the Draconis coast were few and far between.
I decided to leave that part and move to the final part. A battle of swords. There was no way I was going to do that. I couldn't have someone's blood on my hands. Besides, as Caspian kept boasting, Swordfighting was one of his greatest skills. Pondering my other options for a second, I wrote down the word wrestling. Still not ideal, but the competition must have some form of combat, and wrestling was the safest I could think of beyond thumb wars, but my father would never go for that.
After another ten minutes of thinking, I wrote the word question under part two and left it at that. My father could come up with some crippling brain teaser. He was better at that sort of thing than I was.
Taking the paper out of the library, I headed down to my father's office. He sat quietly, a stack of papers on his desk, black circles under his eyes.
"What is it, Azia?" He sighed, his voice weary.
"I've finished planning the competition, Father." I handed over the scrap of paper I'd written on. He took it and looked at it, reading it quickly before turning it over to look at the back as though there would be something more written.
"Is this it?"
I nodded.
"Part two says answer a clever question."
"That's right."
He handed me back the piece of paper. "Please stop playing games and take this seriously," he admonished, massaging his temples. "This is your doing, and you need to be the one to sort it out. I have enough going on without having to worry about this competition."
I bowed my head. "I'm sorry, Father. I'll do better. What is it you are working on? Maybe I can be of help."
He shook his head. "You'll help by sorting that out," he said, pointing to the paper he'd just given back to me. I'm in the process of bringing the best doctors in all the kingdoms here to look at your mother. It's not as easy as you'd think. Plus, that wall has become a bugbear. A lot of our people want me to go and kill the dragons instead of building a wall, and so, I've got people feuding, my own staff turning against me. Jacob is practically threatening to start a revolution over it. The whole thing is an utter nightmare."
I jumped on his words. The last time I'd spoken to him about the dragons, he'd been adamant he was going to send his men up to attack. "You aren't going up the mountain, then?"
He shook his head slowly. "I want to. Killing the whole bloody lot of them will solve a huge problem. They've been nothing but a headache, but I need my men in case something else happens. A lot of them are still out looking for spindles, another bloody waste of time. As long as the dragons stay up there, I'll leave them alone. If there is another episode like the one last week, I'll have them up there in a shot. My whole army. Jacob keeps on at me to do it. He's not happy spending his days building a wall."
This Jacob character was really beginning to irk me, but at least, it meant I could breathe easy about the dragons now. Vasuki promised to keep his dragons under control, and my father wouldn't attack unless they did. One headache resolved. Now, if only I could resolve the other million problems I had.
I bade my father farewell and headed back to the entrance hall. A huge weight had been lifted from my mind. A weight I didn't know I'd felt so heavily. I shouldn't care about the dragons as much as I did. I barely knew them, but Vasuki had been right when he said we shared an affinity. There was something about them that called to me, and for whatever reason, they had made me their queen. I felt it, too. My magic only worked around them. I'd tried a hundred times to perform magic in their absence, but nothing had worked, despite Caspian telling me how powerful I was.
"Ah, there you are..."
I swear that man could read minds.
"Hello, Caspian. I already told you that I can't help you with wedding stuff. Do whatever you want. I don't care anyway," I said, walking past him quickly.
I waved my hand dismissively in his direction as I passed, hoping he'd get the hint that I didn't care to speak to him about the wedding or anything else, but in his usual Caspian fashion, he didn't.
"Actually, I wasn't here for that," he said, skirting around to face me. "My friend is coming, and I'd like to make sure she is welcomed nicely."
"Excuse me?" I stopped and raised my eyebrows.
"Well, you do have an awful attitude about you most of the time, and that sour face is enough to turn anyone off. Not me. I find it rather hot when you scowl, but I'd like it if you could be a bit nicer to her."
I planted on a smile to hide my anger and clenched my fists tightly by my side.
Through gritted teeth, I spoke. "I meant, what are you doing, bringing your friends here? This isn't your castle, and may I remind you that you are a guest here... an unwelcome one?"
"Fine!" he said, turning on his heel. "I'll send Charlotte back to Urbis after her three-day trip to get here.Only I thought you'd want to speak to her as she is renowned on the subject of Morpheus."
He began to walk away, knowing full well I would call him back. "The friend you told me about?" I shouted at him a little louder than I intended. My voice echoed around the entrance hall.
He turned. "That is the one. If you don't mind, I'll borrow a horse to ride into Zhore to the Urbis Express station and tell her myself that she isn't wanted. I think she'll be a little peeved. After all, she only came here to help you, but we all know how your wishes come before anyone else's."
"Okay, I'm sorry," I said, a little quieter this time. "I'd love to meet her. I'll come with you to Zhore, and I'll get the kitchen staff to make her a welcome meal."
"That's what I thought," Caspian said, his sly grin returning to his face. "I'll meet you in the stables in ten minutes. Hurry up, though, I wouldn't want to have to set off without you."
I fumed all the way to the kitchen. Caspian was becoming more insufferable by the second, but I needed to see his friend. I wanted to know if Caspian had been telling me the truth or if it was just some elaborate scheme to be able to stay in the castle. He was having it easy here. I don't know what his life was like in The Forge, but he had a cushy existence here. Not that I could say much. I lived this way, but this was my home.
Ten minutes later, we were saddled up and ready to go. The snow was really coming down again, and the dreary skies matched my mood well. I barely spoke to Caspian as we trotted down the road, but despite my murderous feelings toward him, I felt a flutter of excitement...no hope, in meeting this friend of his. I wasn't convinced that he was telling me the truth. I could never tell with him, but if this woman proved to be trustworthy and knowledgeable, then there was a chance...a slim chance I would be able to find Morpheus and the entrance to the dream world. If I could do that, I'd be able to find my mother and free her from her mental prison. My father had only just told me he was bringing in the best doctors from all the lands, but I already knew that it was a pointless endeavor. I think he knew that, too, but he felt as powerless as I did. If finding doctors helped him get through this, then I was all for it. Maybe they would be able to help him if not my mother.
I'd only ever seen the Urbis Express from a distance. When we traveled for royal visits, we only took the royal train, or sometimes, if it wasn't too far away like Badalah, we took horses and a carriage. I'd often looked to the skies and seen the large airships flying overhead and wished I was on them. It must be so wonderful to be able to fly above the kingdom in the comfort of a seat rather than in the talons or on the back of a dragon.
The huge airship was already in dock, and people were beginning to disembark. Despite the massive proportions of the ship, the part that held people was actually very small, only holding up to twenty passengers plus four crew members at a time. It made it an extremely expensive way to travel, which only the elite could afford. My family could afford it. Indeed, there was a special section on every Urbis express reserved for royalty and high-up dignitaries, but my mother was scared of heights, so we never used it.
I scanned the people heading towards us as Caspian jumped down from his horse. I was looking for an incredibly attractive fae, so I was surprised when the woman he hugged was human and average looking. Her medium brown hair was tied back, and she wore no makeup. Her clothes were smart like a business woman might wear, and nothing like the over-the-top attire that Caspian chose to wear on a daily basis.
I jumped down from my horse as Caspian brought her over.
"I'm very privileged to meet you, Your Highness," she said, dropping into a low curtsey.
"Oh, don't bother with all that, Charlotte," he said a
irily. "It's only, Azia. She doesn't need bowing down to."
Charlotte's eyes opened wide, and her bushy eyebrows shot up under her messy bangs.
"It's okay," I said, holding out my hand for her to shake and kicking Caspian's calf at the same time with my boot. "Caspian is right. We have no need of formalities here. We are all friends."
"Well, I'm very excited to meet you," she said, giving me a shy smile. "I couldn't believe it when Caspian told me you wanted to meet me. I never thought my degree would come in useful. My parents thought I was silly to take it, but look at me now. Heading to the Draconis Castle with the princess herself. That'll show my parents, eh?"
I laughed at her enthusiasm. Despite my reservations at her being Caspian's friend, I liked her a great deal already. A lot more than I liked Caspian, but then again, that wasn't saying much.
Caspian helped her onto the back of his horse, and the three of us made our way back to the castle.
Charlotte's mouth dropped as I escorted her into the castle. She gazed about her as I took her coat, her eyes drifting from place to place as she took it all in.
"It's so beautiful," she murmured.
"It's home, and you are very welcome here," I said. "I've had some food put out for you. Are you hungry?"
She nodded enthusiastically. "I'm famished. I couldn't afford to buy much food on the Urbis Express. I've only eaten a couple of sandwiches and some apples for the past few days."
"I've had a room made up for you. If you want to put your bags in there and then come back down to lunch."
She grinned and gave me the thumbs up as I asked a maid to take her to her guest room.
Throne of Fury Page 4
