Oh, she remembered now... "Alyssa, my lady, what's happened? You've been attacked!" Piper wailed, close to hysteria.
Alyssa shook her head calmly. "No, someone else was in my room last night – the sentries spotted him and well...that happened, I suppose."
"Shouldn't we tell the King?" Piper said nervously, picking up her laundry and stepping carefully over the bodies.
"No... I don't know, but I will find out who was sneaking around in my room last night," Alyssa said with determination. Alyssa didn't even know how the person had got in. The windows were locked with magic and the sentries would know if someone went into her room. The only people it could be are servants or a person disguised as a servant.
Even then they would have to state their business to the sentries at the bottom of the stairs. The only other option was...Kelsie. She was allowed in whenever she wanted; Alyssa had made that rule clear to the sentries a long time ago. But why would Kelsie hide in her bedroom? Something was suspicious and Alyssa hated not knowing things. However, like everything else, Alyssa was going to find out.
Ben had two hours of free time before the next Millay started. He had no intention of staying in the training grounds where Tristan was showing off his skills at magic and sword fighting and generally taking every opportunity to beat up as many elves as he could. Instead Ben decided to visit Rachel. She, of course, had always been there for him when he was younger, even though maybe not in the way he preferred. Still, she was good company and he needed another dose of her potion. This time he needed to remember to take extra with him. He knew he wasn't going to be able to keep going back and forth all the time. People would start getting suspicious and last was the last thing he had in mind.
Ben pulled on a brown woolen cloak and wrapped it around himself, to shelter from the sudden harsh wind. The sky looked as if there was a storm brewing, and there was a light drizzle in the air. He looked back once at the training camp and saw Prince Tristan kicking a defenseless elf, who lay dazed on the ground. Ben's eyes flashed and darkened like a raging sea under dark clouds and wind before he continued to exit the high wooden walls of the camp. Behind him, he heard sudden laughter and jeering. Ben smirked when he turned around again and saw Tristan’s trousers loose around his ankles. His face was bright red and his blue eyes full of anger and humiliation.
Even his friends were suppressing their amusement, behind shaking hands. Before Tristan could notice Ben, he smoothly turned a sharp right around a corner of a building. A mouth-watering smell emanated from the cozy inn on the market street. People bustled down the streets carrying bags or wallets safely tucked in their pockets – or maybe not so safe when he noticed two mischievous teenage elves nimbly plucking them back out. Everyone was talking or chatting to some extent, they all looked so peaceful and carefree it made Ben slightly jealous. How he wished he could belong somewhere, but no... He is forever cursed to walk alone since there was no one in the whole world that could accept him for who he really is.
A blonde girl sidled up to him; her group of friends was standing giggling not far off. "Hey handsome," she said twirling a loose strand of hair just a little bit too obviously.
"Hi," he replied politely, though he felt uncomfortable with her being so close.
"I watched you fight yesterday, you were A – Maz – zing! I mean...you were just like 'this is so eaaasy' how did you learn how to fight like that?"
Ben scratched the back of his neck, feeling slightly awkward. "Um...I guess I trained a lot."
"Who's your sword tutor? Mine's terrible he always goes on about how I'm a girl and shouldn't be allowed to fight – how sexist is that?"
"You sword fight?" The girl huffed and looked exasperated.
"Exactly! Everyone thinks I'm so weird for sword fighting, it's horrible. If only I had a good sword teacher, then I could show everyone that girls can fight."
"Right ok?" Ben wasn't sure what she was getting at.
"I'm talking about you, idiot – please please please can you teach me – you'll be like the BEST sword instructor ever! I promise I won't let you down."
Ben wasn't entirely sure if she was leading him on or joking about the whole thing. "You're serious about this?"
"Of course!"
"Uh-huh...I'm not sure when I can train you since the Millay and everything..." Ben said.
"The Millay lasts three months and then you'll be free to train me then. Please, this is my dream," she gave him big eyes, sort of like what Ben did with Rachel. It always worked. He just never considered it backfiring on him.
"I'll train you, after the Millay – I promise." The girl smiled so wide; Ben wondered if it hurt her face.
"Thanks so much! Message me by magic or something – I'm called Lacy, Lacy Beauregard – Azura Beauregard is my sister – do you know her? She went to live in Alltalos a few years ago. You came from Alltalos, didn't you? I haven't seen you around Mylvehil before." Ben nodded, though he felt bad lying.
There was an awkward silence hanging in the air whilst she was eating breakfast. Alyssa's father the king was picking at his food and staring at her as if he were trying to figure out something from her expression. That couldn't be good. "Alyssa," his voice was cold and quiet. She hated when he spoke like that. "You've used magic, haven't you?"
Alyssa froze. Jolts of fear suddenly racked down her spine, she couldn't meet her father's threatening glower. "No, why do you think that?" she said, lying between her teeth hoping that he bought it. Apparently not.
"I can sense the energy crawling all over you – and it's fresh, maybe six or seven hours old," his dark brown eyes pierced straight into her head. "You know there's a punishment for magic under sixteen, don't you?" Alyssa nodded. There was no point in arguing.
"Since you're my daughter I can't punish you fully for this -" his voice sounded like 'Oh, what a shame'. "I'm disappointed in you, Alyssa – I thought you knew how my laws work." She nodded her head again, hoping to get out of the banquet hall as quick as possible. "Answer me; don't nod like some mute fool."
‘Oh, so now nodding your head is against the law now?’ She thought bitterly. "Yes, father. I'm sorry father."
"You better be," her father growled. "I'm assigning you a bodyguard to watch your actions everywhere you go – until you learn to obey my commands."
"What!" Alyssa spluttered, choking on her glass of water. Her father glared at her disapprovingly. "You should be grateful that I'm not giving you the full punishment – however, if this un-ladylike behavior carries on, I might just reconsider that."
Alyssa swallowed. "Yes father, may I get down?" The king nodded; she could feel his glare on her back as she left the banquet hall. She then raced up the stairs and flung open her chamber door. Throwing herself on her bed, she screamed into her pillow letting out every drop of her emotions into the soft fabric.
Kelsie sat down at her desk, scribbling down the events of last night. ‘...an argument seemed to start but I couldn't hear what they were saying. In the end, Alyssa sat down and...’ She twirled the feather quill in her fingers. Since there was no tuition today, that gave Mr. Wright heaps of time to run away to his secret lair – or wherever he went on his own. Maybe he wasn't even up to anything. He could just be a red herring, leading Kelsie off onto a wild goose chase. But still, she was desperate to know what was going on.
She would find out, there was no way she was giving up. She shut her leather scrapbook and stood up. There was no point writing all this down when Mr. Wright could be saddling his horse right now and venturing into places unknown. Lifting a floorboard up in her chambers, right next to her bed, she placed the scrapbook inside and placed it back to normal. Quickly getting on her outdoor clothes, Kelsie ran down the stairs of her father's mansion and out of the front door. She briskly walked down the long driveway and made her way through the crowded streets.
"Hey, Kelsie!" One of the Stoll brothers ran up to her. She wasn't sure which though; they looked completely identical to her.
"Hey...err...Tra
vis!"
"Connor," he corrected.
"I see you've got out of prison then," Kelsie noted, she kept walking quickly. Connor was having trouble catching up with her.
"You heard about that?" he sounded surprised.
"Yeah, word spreads fast here in Mylvehil – Alyssa told me...something about you two fighting over a certain girl, huh?" Kelsie grinned knowingly.
"Yeah, yeah...anyway what I came to talk about – who is that guy you were with yesterday, huh? Care to explain?" Connor gave her a crooked smile.
Kelsie flushed. "It's not what you think, he's -"
"That's what they all say, you can't fool me!" did Connor sound slightly disappointed underneath his carefree attitude?
Kelsie had not a clue. "Think what you want, Con. See you later sometime," Kelsie rushed off, leaving Connor in the market street. She started sprinting when she saw the palace stables in sight. The other Stoll brother waved at her as she dashed in. To her horror, she found one stall empty. Mr. Wright must've already gone. She ran out again. Travis looked at her confused.
"Has an elf with massive bushy eyebrows taken a horse today?" she panted.
Travis frowned in thought. "Yeah, he was here about an hour ago – said he was going to collect some rare herbs – what a weirdo. Why do you ask?"
Kelsie groaned. He had gone an hour ago; she would never be able to follow him now. "It doesn't matter," she told Travis. "MM me if he comes again tomorrow, ok?"
"MM?"
"Magic messaging, keep up," Kelsie said impatiently.
"Oh, right..." he didn't sound too sure. "Did you hear Piper this morning – I think she woke up half the castle with her screaming – it was so hilarious!"
"Piper?"
"Alyssa's serving maid, keep up," Travis told her, grinning. "Apparently she found two unconscious sentry guards lying in Alyssa's chambers when she went in this morning. I've been teasing her all morning about it!"
"Oh, ahh, that's cool," Kelsie said. Hopefully, no one knew that it was Kelsie who had stabbed those two guards last night when she was following Alyssa. She probably should've moved them to a more obscure place. She'd have to remember that for next time...if there was a next time. "Are you going to Azura's wedding?" she asked randomly.
"You're good at changing the subject," Travis said. "Almost like you didn't want to talk about the last topic..." Kelsie laughed nervously. Travis' eyes widened. "I was only joking, you know! But, really is there something awesome you want to tell me about?"
"No, nothing," Kelsie snapped and then left him standing alone by the stables.
"A bit temperamental today," she heard him say. She rolled her eyes. If he figured it out, then by tomorrow the whole servant’s quarters would know about it – then Piper would know, and Piper would tell Alyssa...who most likely would not be amused.
"Stop! Stop! You're stirring it wrong! It's anti-clockwise not clockwise...Gah, you've ruined the whole potion!" Rachel complained, pouring the vile looking liquid onto a very pretty looking bunch of flowers. Instantly they shriveled up and disintegrated in the wind. "See, that's what would've happened to you," Rachel told him with annoyance. "Now we have to start all over again."
"We were only on step 3," Ben reminded her.
"Exactly," Rachel said. She handed him a bunch of garlic and half a mermaid tail. "Chop these up – carefully." Ben held his breath when he smelt a whiff of the pungent odor of the tail. He picked up a sharp chopping knife and sliced it up in 1cm cubes. Blood splattered onto his clothes and fingers. Disgusting.
Rachel started boiling water on a newly lit fire and added a bunch of random things Ben had no clue what they were. "Pass the tail cubes...thank you," she sprinkled them into the cauldron which made it turn a luminous shade of blue. "Now we stir it, this time I think I might since you don't have the capacity to stir anti-clockwise."
Ben decided not to take that to heart. Rachel started chanting in a strange language, occasional speaking in the language of the mer, but apart from that, it was gobble-de-goop. "Pour three drops of goblin blood each at a five-second interval," Rachel commanded. Ben obliged.
"Perfect!" Rachel squealed, clapping her hands together. She took the potion off the heat and professionally poured the liquid in several glass bottles. "Take as many as you need, just be careful though - the more you take the more risk someone might discover it."
Ben nodded. There was no way Ben was going to let someone spill his secret to the world. "Good luck," Rachel said as he left her small strange house in the middle of nowhere. "You're going to need it."
Chapter Nine
Ben stared around the arena in awe. It was completely different from yesterday’s plain dusty ground. This time it was filled with luscious green grass, tall pines and a random pond here and there. Some colossal Venus flytraps were randomly dotted around the arena and Ben could sense hidden bombs planted in the ground ready for exploding wildly. Out of the hundred contestants, now only fifty were competing in this event – the winners of the first challenge. At least now Ben didn't have to fight scarecrow anymore.
The King of Mylvehil stood in the royal box looking down at the contestants. "Warriors, you shall each be assigned a partner to accompany you in this arena – both of you must defeat the twenty monsters that venture into the arena – the warriors with the fastest time will be ensured a place in the next challenge." The spectators roared and applauded rowdily. "Any warrior that falls unconscious will be at risk of not making it to challenge three, am I understood?"
The contestants yelled their agreement. The king signaled them to leave and Ben followed them, giving Alyssa a quick smile who was sitting in the royal box next to a spiky black-haired girl. The girl gave him a suspicious look but the door to the arena shut and blocked her from view. Through the door, Ben could hear the monsters being let loose into the arena; they roared and screeched sending almost visible sound waves rippling through the air.
"Jason Grace and Chris Rodriguez." A tall blonde-haired elf pushed his way to through the contestants, followed by another elf who carried a long-bladed sword and shield with a picture of two snakes on the front. The crowd cheered when they entered the arena, Ben caught a glimpse of a terrifying ten-foot dragon roaring down at the two elves. Piece of cake. There was still plenty of room to move and maneuver around it since the arena was just humongous.
"Thinking about the monsters in there?" he heard a malicious voice say.
"Not really."
Hadaway laughed unpleasantly. "You should be worried, I've fought those monsters before – if I found them hard, you'll have no chance." Ben's eyes flashed; he felt his power rise in him. It took every drop of his will power not to annihilate him where he stood.
"I'm not surprised you found them hard to kill – you haven't stepped one foot on the training grounds. Where have you been all night? Cuddling up in your safe warm mansion? Coward."
Hadaway scowled at him. "I'll get you back for this, I'm the son of the Duke – so you better watch your words from now on."
Ben wrinkled his nose in disgust. "When you get a life." Though his threat still hung cold and fresh in the air. Hadaway' snorted and stomped away into the crowd of contestants, probably going to have another shouting match with Tristan. Ben had no idea how people could get so conceited, it just seemed surreal to him. He leaned against the arena wall; he could hear shouting on the inside. The crowd seemed to be going absolutely mental with screaming and yelling. He smiled to himself when he remembered the princess staring down at the arena with the most bored face he had ever seen. Thinking about her, he didn't even know her name.
Maybe it was the stereotypical princess name – Isabella? Esmeralda...hmm that didn't really suit her at all. He kicked a loose stone that was by his foot, it skidded a few meters away and clanged on something metallic. Ben leaned forward, curious. It was shaped like a compass, a small chain was threaded through the top of it, so it could hang like a necklace. He stepped forward. Eight meters away...seven meters away...
six, five, four...
"Benjamin Talon and Tristan Alltalos!" Ben stopped and looked back. He could hear the crowd cheering in the arena. Only four meters away...he jogged forward and pocketed the small object. He wasn't even sure why he bothered, but something about it hummed with an unfamiliar energy. It intrigued him.
He quickly jogged back to the arena entrance; Prince Tristan looked at him impatiently as if to say: 'What the hell were you doing? We've got a fight to win." The drums started playing as Ben entered the wild arena, the large double doors closed behind him with a bang. He could sense a strong layer of magic that protected the spectators. Great, now he was in a cocoon of energy with his best buddy Tristan. Well...that just made his day.
"Let me do all the fighting – I don't want you to embarrass yourself," Tristan tried to say that kindly, but it came out like 'I want all the attention to myself...Mwhahahahahahah!'
"I don't think it's me who should be worried about being embarrassed..." Ben muttered, remembering when Tristan's trousers fell in the middle of beating up a contestant. And Ben had absolutely nothing to do with it, nothing whatsoever...not. Doors suddenly opened from the sides of the arena. Monsters poured out, one after the other – roaring in hunger for blood. "So... you take the left flank I'll take the right?" Ben said, trying to make tactics.
"I'm not taking orders from you, peasant," Tristan spat arrogantly. "I'll kill as many as I like."
"Fine, but you're going to regret it," Ben knew that there was no possible way Tristan could defeat at least over ten of these monsters. They were too powerful for him. He'd be exhausted by the eleventh one. Ben, on the other hand, could probably disintegrate every single monster with one simple spell. Being half fish did have its perks. He started running to the right, dodging the trees that always seemed to be right in the middle of his path. It felt too realistic in the arena except fake at the same time. The trees were too tall to be natural; they must have been made from magic and there were no Venus flytraps in the whole world that were as big as the ones here. These ones could probably gobble up six elves in one go.
Dark Oceans (Ocean Series Book 1) Page 5
