Magic

by Shelby Hild

  “I’ll be fine,” Vivilyn said, smiling reassuringly at the women at the table. “What’s the worst that could happen?”

  “Given your track record,” Louise said, half laughing, “there’s a lot that could happen, including but not limited to something exploding.”

  “Ha. Ha. Ha.” Vivilyn smiled and rolled her eyes as she grabbed the voucher for her food and moved to find her waitress.

  After getting her meal written on the paper and signing it, she excused herself from the table and began meandering around the square. Despite the lights around where she was walking, as she moved by alleyways or other breaks between the buildings, she thought she saw someone hiding in the shadows more than a few times.

  Don’t be silly, she chided herself. All these thoughts of spies and other dangers have made you paranoid.

  The square was loud with activity. People talked loudly and laughed at jokes that she couldn’t clearly hear. Almost everyone around was involved with the Enchanted Trials, but a few of the people were citizens of the city. The people from Crysteal were easy to point out because they were the only ones not wearing traveling clothing or outfits that were completely black.

  Nobody seemed to notice Vivilyn as she walked around. A few people here or there looked at her, but she just assumed it was to make sure she was one of the Chosen.

  Before too long, she had made an entire circle around the square. As she started to turn to go back into the building that she’d left Darissa and the rest in, someone darted down the alleyway away from her. The shadow was quickly followed by someone else. To Vivilyn, it looked like the first person was being chased.

  “Go away,” Vivilyn heard someone yell before something crashed in the distance.

  Without pausing to think about it, Vivilyn followed the shadows. She went down one alley and then another. Lights and laughter grew quieter the farther she moved away from the Square.

  Buildings grew smaller and less well kept. Soon, the only lights around her were the stars in the sky, barely visible through the curtains of buildings blocking her view as she passed.

  Vivilyn lost the shadows she followed. As she looked around to try and make her way back to the square, she tripped heavily over something on the ground.

  Her hands flew in front of her to catch her fall. The skin of her palms scraped against the hard ground and her knee landed on a small, but sharp rock.

  “Whatta we have here?” A man’s voice said from the shadows to her left. “Looks like a little lost mouse, come to visit the rats. Hasn’t anyone told you not to sneak around here alone in the dark, little mouse?”

  Whoever was talking to her kicked her side. She tried to hold back any sound, but a small umph escaped her lips.

  “She followed me from the square,” a female voice said. “Falling right for our trap. Perhaps she can be our ticket to something nice?”

  Before she could be kicked again, Vivilyn saw his foot coming towards her in a quick vision. So, she rolled just out of his reach and jumped back up.

  A small but painfully strong hand grabbed ahold of her wrist. She tore her hand out of the person’s grasp, but before she could run, a large arm wrapped around her chest.

  “Let me go,” she cried as she struggled to get out of the hold.

  She looked around quickly, trying to find a way out of the situation, but she was backed almost against a building by the two strangers.

  “And why should we do that? You’re one of them wealthy ladies, I reckon,” the man said with derision. “Them’s all that eat in the square. Them of Rank.”

  “I am not wealthy,” Vivilyn said. “My family is not of Rank.”

  “Then why are you—”

  “It’s the Treelyn girl,” the woman said. Scorn dripped with every word that left her mouth. “You know, the one they’re spouting off as the one who comes from a struggling family.”

  The emphasis the woman put on the word struggling made Vivilyn clench her teeth. She could smell the woman’s putrid breath and feel it warm on her nose.

  “You don’t know nothing about struggle, girl.” Saliva escaped the woman’s mouth as she spoke, and it landed on Vivilyn’s cheek heavily enough she almost thought she heard it splat against her skin. “You’re a fraud. You’ve never had to sit to the side while your family starves. Their own bellies eating themselves. You’ve never had to worry about where your next meal will come from. Chosen of the people? Pah. Let her go, Davie, she’s worth nothing. Not to us. Not to them. Just another fraud trying to make her way.”

  “You don’t know anything about m—”

  “I don’t need to know anything about you and your family. Orchardist, Gardener, they’re just fancy words for fancy people. Get out of here. We want nothing to do with anyone like you.”

  “We’ve never starved because we grow our food.” Vivilyn could feel her face warming up in anger, embarrassment. It was something, but so many emotions seemed to be warring through her she couldn’t decide which one was the strongest.

  “I said,” the woman stated through her clenched teeth, “get out of here.”

  “Ya heard her,” the man said pushing Vivilyn forward. “Get gone.”

  Before Vivilyn could take a step, the man pushed her again. Her left foot slipped out from underneath her. Before she could catch herself, the top of her head hit the wall of a building with a resounding thud.

  “Davie,” the woman yelled before everything around Vivilyn went black.

  The darkness swirled all around her as though she was looking at water flow to and fro in a completely dark room.

  “They’ll be here soon,” a man’s voice said in the darkness. “We will lead him here and he’ll release it.”

  “It grows weak,” another voice said. “Bring her—”

  The scene vanished in front of her, but it wasn’t replaced with anything. Just a solid wall of black. It reminded her of when she’d injured her back in the first explosion.

  Vivilyn couldn’t have been unconscious long. At least that’s what she tried to tell herself as her senses began to return. Her head thundered with a pulsing pain. Each time her heart beat, another wave of pain would pierce her skull.

  “Vivilyn,” she heard Darissa’s voice in the distance. Or at least it seemed like it was in the distance. She couldn’t be entirely sure.

  She tried to sit up, but her stomach rolled and it felt as though she would lose her dinner. She couldn’t call out, and she didn’t want to open her eyes.

  Someone tripped behind her, their shoes scuffed loudly against the ground.

  “Vivilyn,” Prince Ethan’s voice rattled painfully against her skull. It was followed by feet slamming on the ground in a run.

  “She’s over here,” the younger prince called out.

  Someone, it had to be Prince Ethan, knelt beside her before asking, “What happened?”

  More sounds of people running towards her vibrated in her mind.

  Why did they have to run? Couldn’t they just walk silently? It would be a lot less painful for her head.

  “Vivilyn,” Prince Aiden was there. She could smell Malcolm’s cologne nearby as well and it made her want to retch. Even though her eyes weren’t open, she could still see the shapes of everyone moving in near her.

  She groaned slightly as the increased movement added to the pain vibrating through her skull.

  “Vivilyn, what happened?” Prince Aiden asked.

  “I ran into some people,” she whispered, trying to avoid moving her head as she spoke. “I tripped and then fell into the wall.”

  “Why didn’t these people come find us?” Prince Aiden asked, his voice firm in anger and worry. “You’re very obviously one of the Chosen.”

  “They were probably from the outskirts,” Darissa said as she tried to slide in closer to Vivilyn. “None of them have ever been appreciative of people infiltrating their area and we are very close to their part of town.”

  “Their part of town?” Prince Aiden said in an almo
st yelling whisper. “This town, this whole kingdom is under the dominion of my family. You are all my guests, and what happens to you is of the utmost importance.”

  “They don’t see it that way,” Darissa said.

  Vivilyn mumbled something, trying to change the subject and wanting to get out of the darkness. Carefully she opened her eyes and slowly sat up, much more successfully than the first attempt.

  Then she went to lean forward in hopes of standing up, but someone’s hand put pressure on her shoulder.

  “I’m not sure that is a good idea,” Malcolm said.

  “I want to get moving,” Vivilyn replied quickly.

  “We should have a medic look at you before we even attempt to move you,” Malcolm said.

  “I’m fine,” Vivilyn stated.

  Darissa reached forward to help hold her steady as she hauled herself up. She stumbled and almost fell back down, but Prince Aiden reached around her waist as support. The world tilted slightly in front of her, but the pain in her head slowly began to recede. For a moment she was worried her mind was throwing her into another vision, but no. The world just seemed to tilt of its own volition.

  Together, the princes, Darissa, Malcolm and Vivilyn made their way back to the square.

  As they entered it, near the carriages, Vivilyn had a quick impression of an ant hill, like the ones that always tried to sneak into the garden right next to her family’s shop.

  Everyone ran around seemingly aimless, but she could tell there was organization to the chaos.

  “We found her,” Malcolm called, running ahead.

  Vivilyn squinted as the light from the square made him seem to shift and blur inside shadows. She had to close her eyes a few times before he returned to normal.

  “She’s going to need to see a medic,” he called.

  “Of course she is,” Brayleigh’s voice sounded from one of the carriages. “Maybe we should just assign one of the medics to her? That way he will already be there when she goes off on her own and winds up injured again.”

  Prince Ethan laughed.

  “That’s not so bad an idea,” Darissa whispered as they made it to another carriage.

  It was fancier than any Vivilyn had ever seen before, including the one she’d been traveling in from the Ettravil Palace.

  “Darissa,” Vivilyn said with a slight catch in her voice. She was going to argue with Darissa about needing a medic, but before she could say anything, Prince Aiden reached underneath her and pulled at her knees carefully. She didn’t even have time to protest because he lifted her up so quickly.

  “This is my car—” Prince Aiden said.

  “Our carriage,” Prince Ethan interrupted loudly, much louder than necessary since the words reverberated sharply in Vivilyn’s head. “And you should ask the other occupant if—”

  “You will be checked out in here,” Prince Aiden continued as if Ethan hadn’t interrupted at all. “Then I thought perhaps the two of you would prefer spending the rest of the journey with us?”

  “We would enjoy that,” Darissa said as she hopped in behind Vivilyn and Prince Aiden. Prince Ethan grumbled while moving in behind her. A cameraman and a woman with an armband embroidered with three red droplets forming a triangle followed them.

  “Set her here, sir,” the woman said.

  The lighting in the carriage was better than it had been outside, but Vivilyn still felt as though she was seeing shadows over everyone’s faces. Especially the medic’s face. Vivilyn tried to shake her head, but it brought the pain back ten-fold.

  “I’ll get you some water,” Prince Aiden said after he set her down where the medic had indicated. He immediately jumped up and ran back to the door.

  She heard him yell, “We need some water in here,” to whoever happened to be listening nearby.

  The medic knelt in front of Vivilyn. With a small torchlight, the woman looked into her eyes. She moved the light slowly in front of her face, back and forth. Then she moved it closer to and then away from her face as well.

  “Are you nauseous? Dizzy? Does anything feel abnormal?” The medic asked.

  “A little bit of all three,” Vivilyn said.

  “What happened?” she asked, clicking the torchlight back off as Prince Aiden returned and set a glass of water in Vivilyn’s hand.

  She took a sip as she collected her thoughts.

  “I needed to stretch my legs, you know, before getting back in the carriages.” Vivilyn started.

  As she told everyone what happened, both Prince Aiden and Prince Ethan’s faces grew redder and redder.

  “How dare they,” Prince Aiden said, shaking his own head when Vivilyn finished.

  “We can deal with that later,” the medic said. “For now, I’ll make the lady some chamomile tea. Your eyes are normal, and thankfully you are talking normally. Before your knightly prince picked you up, I saw you were walking relatively fine, so I don’t think you have a concussion, although both the dizziness and nausea have me a bit worried.”

  The medic left the carriage for a few minutes before returning to Vivilyn with a steaming cup of tea.

  After she handed the warm mug to Vivilyn, she said, “If anything changes, alert me immediately.”

  Then she left.

  “How far are we from Crysteal Manor?” Vivilyn asked as she sniffed at the chamomile tea. There was a slight hint of honey. It made her miss home even more, since her mother felt that a cup of tea could fix any ailment.

  “Far enough that you’re going to need to use the ladies’ room before we get there with all that you’re currently drinking,” Darissa said with a light laugh. "First the water, now the tea."

  “Don’t worry,” Prince Aiden said. “My brother will need to go before any of you ladies. He’s why we stopped this time.”

  “Hey!” Ethan shouted as he threw a pillow at his brother.

  It hit the window between Vivilyn and Prince Aiden and the whole carriage laughed, although Vivilyn didn’t laugh hard. Her head rattled painfully every time she moved it.

  Chapter 3

  The rest of the ride to Crysteal Manor went by rapidly. It was a complete blur to Vivilyn until they left the main road through the kingdom onto one just as well paved with stones. It didn’t have as many ruts from the many carriages that went over it as the main road did.

  As the night began to settle around them, Darissa started tapping her foot incessantly. Vivilyn reached over to hold her hand in comfort.

  “Are you alright?” Vivilyn asked. Darissa’s hand was warmer than the rest of the cabin and Vivilyn could feel her pulse beating heavily and rapidly through her hand.

  “I…” Darissa started, but then shook her head. Her eyes were wider than normal and for once, she wasn’t smiling. Darissa looked at Vivilyn and then the princes and then back again.

  “What if things have changed since the letters were sent? What if she fell back into her sickness?” she asked quietly.

  “It’s going to be okay,” Prince Aiden said as he set his hand on top of the two women’s hands.

  Prince Ethan leaned to the side and added his hand to the stack as well. “If your mother is still well, then it’ll be exciting, but if she’s not…”

  “If she’s not, then everyone will know the full extent of it all.” Darissa sighed. “Why did my father agree to host everyone? He knows she doesn’t handle stress well.”

  The trees surrounding the road began to clear. The carriage turned along the path and revealed the front of the Crysteal Manor.

  In front of the building was a large lake with an equally large fountain of a man and woman dancing in the center. Roads ran around the lake on both sides meeting in front of six sets of stairs that all eventually curved in together to form a gigantic stairway. Giant candles flickered up the stairs causing the building to look like it had stars in front of it. Between the two largest center stairs, five archways held silver and gold statues.

  The building itself was stark white. The roof, the walls, even
the windows would blend in with the calm white clouds that had filled the sky the whole day.

  The only exception was the stain-glass window underneath a large replication of a holy orb.

  “When Papa visited Dravonya a few years back, he fell under the spell of the ideology of the Orbs. He did a few favors for one of the higher priests and they granted him the authority to bring an Orb home. Be careful not to get him started on it or you’ll be stuck listening to his speeches for days,” Darissa warned when she saw Vivilyn staring at the structure.

  Vivilyn’s vision wavered slightly and she saw a young woman with platinum white hair and glowing blue eyes in a room, tears in her eyes. “I’m not going to play by your games anymore,” she said as she threw an orb onto the ground.

  It shattered.

  A glowing gray mist lifted from the remains. With each orb she smashed, the mist grew larger and formed into two distinctly humanoid figures.

  Darissa’s voice brought Vivilyn back to the current situation.

  “Papa says that one of the elves of myth in that kingdom freed the god and goddess that birthed our world.” Darissa shook her head. “It doesn’t make much sense to me, but he believes it pretty fiercely.”

  “I’ve never understood how a god and goddess could get trapped in orbs anyway,” Prince Ethan added.

  “Well, don’t mention that to my father or he will explain it to you for hours until you do,” she said as the carriage came to a stop and someone knocked on the door.

  “We’re here,” Prince Aiden said with a small smile. The door opened and Prince Aiden stepped out of the carriage. His brother followed closely behind. After the princes, Darissa and Vivilyn exited slightly more slowly.

  The air was much colder here than it had been in Ettravil and Vivilyn’s breath was almost visible in front of her. It wouldn’t be long at all before the snow came from further north. She shivered and held her arms close across her chest.

  Looking up at the sky, she could almost see the comet she’d drawn into the painting of the beach date. It hadn’t made a full appearance yet, but she was anticipating everyone being able to see it soon.