She sounded almost like a diplomat. I wasn't surprised, though; she seemed to be their village leader.
I was touched by her words. This stranger was telling me she hoped I succeeded.
"Thank you, Andraya, it means a lot," I said.
"How do you have the right to challenge the king to the throne if you don't mind my asking? I understand that the person of the prophecy has the right to challenge the King, but it never says why they do," she said.
"I am the great-granddaughter of Queen Victoria. She once lived in another world before she came to save this one. In that world, she had a child. That child is my grandmother. That is how I legitimately have the right to claim the throne," I answered.
Everyone gasped and dropped to their knees.
"All hail Princess Violet," they said in unison.
Not this again.
"Please stand up; you do not need to bow before me," I told them immediately.
It was kind of embarrassing...
"Why didn't you tell us who you are earlier, Princess?" Andraya asked me.
"It simply didn't come up," I told her.
"Please allow us to make accommodations for you and your friend Axel to stay the night. We will set you up in one of the homes not destroyed by the fire while you let your ankles heal," she said.
I was now in a sitting position and had regained some of my strength. I grabbed Andraya's hands and looked into her eyes as I spoke.
"Please don't treat me any differently than you would your own. I was not raised royalty, and I am not yet the Queen. Please just call me Violet and treat us normally," I requested.
"As you wish, let's get you set up somewhere," she smiled at me and stood up.
Andraya and Axel helped lift me up to a standing position. Axel squatted down and signaled for me to get on his back. Andraya led us to a small little house on the outside of the town square. It was the furthest one could get from all of the fire damage, right next to the fence that surrounded the village.
It was cozy on the inside. There was a small table with a small assortment of fruits and veggies. There were two beds pushed to the corner, but that's all there was to the house.
"Sorry, we don't have much more to give. We had a harsh winter, and we are having trouble getting our crops to grow. It's a rough life in this part of the kingdom, and the King doesn't like us much," she informed us.
Axel set me down on one of the beds.
"Why doesn't he like you?" Axel asked before I could.
Was he sensing a future ally like I was?
"Well, some of us are magic workers. We have minimal skills. My magic only applies to healing. There is a woman here that can make herself or other things turn invisible. He suspects that we possess magic but has never been able to prove it. We are careful with our magic, so we don't give ourselves away," she explained.
I cleared my throat, and both Andraya and Axel looked at me.
"Perhaps I can help you with your crop problem? I have decent control over the elements," I told her.
Just then, I saw hope light up her face again. It gave me a thrill to know that I could help all of these people just by using a little bit of my magic. It was incredible to even think about it.
Why would the King ever think magic is bad?
"You can do that?" she asked me.
"Yes, I believe I can," I said.
I imagined I had the same hope on my face. I was genuinely excited to help this little suffering village.
"I hate to ask so much of you, but our food supply is so short. Could you possibly do that today? Now even? We could hold a big feast in your honor tonight. It would be so nice," her voice was raising an octave. She was bouncing around, she couldn't contain her excitement.
If someone had all the solutions to my problems, I might be acting the same way. Who am I kidding? I might be bouncing around more than her.
"I think she needs her rest; maybe tomorrow?" Axel interceded.
I understood that he was trying to keep me rested for the journey ahead, but I might not have another opportunity to help someone like this. I needed to jump on the chance.
These people could be our allies. I didn't know what would happen after I killed the King. Maybe I would need someone to vouch for me? This village could end up helping me like I had helped them. I had to think about the long term strategy.
"No, I will do it now," I said, looking into her eyes.
This needed to be taken care of and over with. The sooner this was done, the more time I had to rest, and then we could be on our way.
"Are you sure you want to push yourself, considering everything going on tomorrow?" he asked me.
I was sure. He didn't need to ask to see the answer I had plastered all over my face.
"Do you plan on ambushing the castle tomorrow? Just the two of you?" she asked.
Surprise was apparent on her face. Maybe she had thought we were meeting up with an army later.
I could only wish.
"That was the plan," Axel replied coldly.
Axel didn't like answering all of these questions about our plans. I could tell if he had his way, this woman would have no idea who we were. His voice began to sound snarky, and I didn't know what was coming over him. These people had offered us a place to stay tonight. We were protected. We wouldn't have to sleep out on the ground somewhere, hoping to keep warm.
I needed to play the diplomat and fix this situation fast.
"Sorry about him. We have had a very long day. Someone once told me it was a tough job to protect a Princess. However, she proved one day she would make a great Queen, and he had to trust her decisions. So he must be having it rough."
She laughed at my comments.
"Yes, that is our plan for tomorrow. We will head out first thing in the morning. I would be happy to replenish your food supplies and enjoy myself at the feast," I replied.
I didn't want to take a shot at Axel like that, but I had to do something. Wisdom told me I was supposed to be making the decisions. I needed to remind him of that.
Her face lit up in a smile at the end of my little rant.
"Axel, could you please help me?" I asked him.
I hope he isn't too mad at me.
The look on his face said that he didn't like what I was about to do. I didn't need to accidentally jump inside of his head to know that. I was going to do it, though.
If I could help these people, why shouldn't I?
"As you wish," his voice gave away his displeasure. Why was he acting like this?
Axel carried me again, this time with one arm under my legs and the other hand supporting my back. My cheek rested up against his chest. I could hear his steady heart beating. If I wasn't mistaken, it was beating kind of fast.
Why was he nervous?
Andraya led us to a little area to the side of the village where they grew their food. She was right, this looked horrible. How were the two hundred or so people living here on this limited amount of food?
There was a very small plot of land. It was maybe half of an acre. There were dead plants scattered throughout the dead garden. How were these people hanging on? However, they were doing it, I admired them. Fate brought me here at the right time, and everyone knew it.
I leaned up to whisper in Axel's ear, "You know, helping them is the right thing to do. I'm supposed to save them. It might drain me a little, but you know I will recover. Have some faith. Also, I need you to set me down on the ground now."
Axel nodded and set me down on the ground. He tried not to look so grumpy from then on. I could see the massive effort he was putting into looking content. He knew I was right. Deep down, I could sense he was trying to trust that I could make the right choices. I knew I could if I was given a chance. I had confidence in myself when it came to these types of things.
Saving people and growing food is not a problem. It was doing something like fighting and killing people that I wasn't so sure about.
Once I was sitting on the
ground, I looked around. About ten people were standing off to the side, waiting. One woman could barely hold in her excitement. Another man looked pissed like I was showing him up, that must have been the farmer.
Hushed voices were distracting me, so I asked for quiet to begin my work.
I placed my hands on the soil and sent my awareness into it to see what was there. When I found the seeds, the farmer had recently tried to plant, I decided that giving those seeds nourishment was the first step. I would use the seeds from those plants to continue to grow even more plants.
I created a small rain cloud which hovered over the garden. Very quickly, my clothes became covered in another layer of mud as I sat there in the middle of the garden. I would fix that later, now was not the time to worry about what I looked like. That ship had sailed when I ran into that burning building and came back covered in soot.
When the seeds had enough water, I brought out my little ball of sunshine. I repeated the water and sunlight cycles often and concentrated on bringing the nutrients in the soil towards the plants. I focused on accelerating the cell growth inside of the plants. After a long hour of waiting, there was a fresh patch of crops.
There were some potatoes and onions, along with some lettuce and carrots. Even five tomato plants were growing off to the side. What did they eat before Victoria brought these plants? That had to be how they got here, right?
I instructed Andraya to collect half of the crops and remove their seeds. The other half could be picked and brought to the people who needed it immediately. I had no doubt there were some people that desperately needed it.
A short time later, Andraya was placing the new seeds in my hand. With my magic, I focused on pushing the top layer of soil beside me into a pile. In the space where the soil once sat, I scattered the seeds. I then replaced the earth back on top of the seeds. I repeated the whole process again.
This time there were more seeds, and it produced more plants and vegetables. I was magically lifting the new batch of vegetables from the soil when I heard what sounded like a sword being pulled from its sheath.
It is a very distinct sound, metal dragging against metal.
It was barely audible, and I wasn't sure anyone else had noticed it. When I turned around, I was right. Through a giant gap in the fence, I saw a knight in full armor. He was calling to someone else. He wielded his sword, and Axel was running right towards him.
Suddenly my world felt like it was moving in slow motion. We weren't ready for this, and my heart was in my stomach.
Chapter Twenty Three
Axel
I had to trust her judgment on these kinds of things. It was hard. Part of my training left me used to calling all of the shots unless I was being supervised by the King.
It is different having a woman tell me what we are going to do. It is hard to get used to, but I am trying for her and the sake of our very important mission.
I saw her down on the ground in a pile of dirt. She crossed her legs and told everyone she needed some quiet. I watched her stick her hands in the soil and close her eyes. She just sat there for a moment, looking like a statue.
Suddenly I felt a shift in the air, it felt moist and heavy. Then I could see the rain cloud forming above her. Only a moment later, the cloud was dumping water on her and the seeds she must have found in the soil.
It was amazing to watch. She didn’t flinch as what I’m assuming was cold water hit her. She didn’t complain about the mud. She just sat there in a trance.
I would be lying if I said I didn’t admire her for what she was doing. We both knew that today had been a rough one so far.
Our climb up the mountain had taken a little longer than we expected and startled her a little more than she let on. When I saw the rocks tumbling towards her, I thought all our hard work was about to end. Instead, only her hand was hit. I’m sure it was still bothering her, but she wouldn’t let on how banged up she really was.
When that finally passed and we got safely back down the other side of the mountain, I hoped that the rest of our trip would go smoothly. I wasn’t surprised that we had run into a century storm, though. I knew one was about due since the last one occurred a hundred years ago. It was just bad luck that it happened today when we were passing through.
Violet saved our lives, though, and it probably won’t be the last time she does.
I watched her create a ball of light. It sat a short distance from her and the small plants that were starting to poke through the surface.
She waited and waited, eventually making another small rain cloud. I recalled her creating a rain cloud not even an hour ago after she crawled out of the burning house.
As soon as the storm had weakened, Violet ran for this small village. We had both seen this place burning, but I didn’t expect her to take off like that. I wouldn’t underestimate her need to help others anymore.
She took off, and I had a hard time trying to catch up. I could sense her using her magic to help her speed, and I was impressed.
When she got to the village, she only stopped moving for a split second. As soon as she pinpointed why a woman was screaming, she ran into that house, and I was helpless to stop her.
I didn’t have magic, and she was much lighter than me. The floors and ceiling could cave in under my weight. I had to stay out of the way, hoping that she made it out okay.
I started to worry and panic when we heard part of the roof cave in from the blaze. My heart had started beating wildly. I thought it was going to overwork itself and stop.
When I heard the dog bark and saw it leave the house, I thought Violet might be in trouble. Maybe she had been pinned under the collapsed roof. I had been so sick with worry that it was paralyzing.
I was trying to get the man next to me to hold onto the screaming woman I had a grip on, when I saw Violet crawl out of the building with the baby pressed to her chest. I let out the biggest sigh of relief before I let the woman run to them. I was only a few steps behind.
Now not even an hour later, she was performing another miracle for these people, and she hadn’t asked anything in return. I didn’t know any words that could describe how selfless she is. It made my cold heart warm a little.
That woman sitting in the mud and dirt had woken up something inside of me when she came to this Kingdom. I hoped she would make the whole Kingdom feel that way.
Violet had just started digging up the second batch of crops with her magic when I heard the unmistakable sound of a sword being drawn from its sheath.
I had mine pulled before I even turned around and started running towards the source. I would protect that girl sitting in the mud with my life.
Violet
Axel was charging the knight. He pulled out his sword and vaulted the fence.
It was amazing watching him in action.
I only watched for a few seconds before I realized I was needed in this fight. I used my magic to push all of the food out of the way. I called Andraya to me. When she came, I gave her very specific directions.
“I need you to put all of the strength you can into my ankles, I need to fight, and I need to now,” I demanded.
I don’t know where my tone came from, but it had so much strength behind it.
“But you’re going to be in pain,” she truly looked worried.
I could tell she didn’t want me in this fight. She had nothing to lose now that I had grown enough food. This meant she cared about my well-being, and I was touched that she cared.
“Don’t worry about that. If I don’t fight and Axel loses, the whole village will be given over to the custody of the King. Am I right?” I asked her.
“Yes,” she said quietly.
She looked down like she was afraid to make eye contact.
She was just as conflicted as I was.
“Then right now, there is everything to lose,” I said.
Some of my strength laced back into my words. I wonder if the inner Goddess in me had something to do with it. Somet
imes I felt like maybe I could feel her fighting to make decisions.
“Hold on then,” she said.
She reached down and put her hands on my ankles. I felt a warm glow, but nothing like it did before. I took this as a good sign.
I pushed my own energy into helping her heal me. I don’t know why or how I did it, but I temporarily felt the force of her healing grow. I was strengthening her temporarily.
Fifteen seconds or so later, she was done. Her hands came off my ankles, and I jumped up. I winced a little but was supporting my own weight. I could run, it just might hurt a little.
Once I realized I could run, I took off in the direction Axel went. I hesitantly jumped the fence. Nothing could have prepared me for what I saw on the other side. There must have been at least twenty-five men in armor standing there waiting in some kind of formation. Axel was taking on two at a time, and there were a few men from the village engaging some of the other knights.
This was do or die, and I would rather not die.
How could I end this fast without killing anyone?
As dangerous as they all were, this was still a priority for me. The only blood that I needed on my hands was Eduard’s.
It would be easy if I took them all out from behind. Making sure no one was watching me. I looked around; everyone was distracted, so I took my opportunity to sneak up behind the fight.
I jumped the fence again, landing inside the village. Andraya ran to me and quickly asked what she could do to help.
“I need a way to try to get all of the knights close together. I need to be able to take them out quickly and easily. I’m going to cut through the south side of the gate and sneak around and attack from behind. Do you have anyone that could provide a good distraction while I concentrate? I don’t think I can wield a sword and use my magic. I’m not that good yet,” I told her.
“We can light things on fire and throw them at the knights. Maybe that will keep them temporarily distracted,” she offered.
Emerald Dreams (The Dream Traveler Series) Page 21
