by S R Ahuja
Jade didn’t have an answer to any of her questions, and she didn’t want to ask Menelwen because then she would have to explain how she knew about Lyonés, and that meant more lying, which Jade was not in favor of. She tried asking just vaguely for some stories about her mother, but Menelwen always had a way of winding the topic of conversation away from her mother or anything else she didn’t want to talk about. So, all she could do was wonder until one day, about a week after her little adventure, when she went for a ride with Sir Jack.
Jade liked Sir Jack. He was different from the other knights. When she had any of the other knights as her escorts, they all treated her like some precious jewel they had to make sure didn’t get scratched, but Sir Jack treated her like a kid. He talked to her and told her stories and listened to her jokes. He poked fun at her when she did something silly, and he let her tug on his hand when she wanted to go faster than he was allowing. She had the feeling that he might have been an adventurer when he was a kid, so she felt pretty safe asking about Lyonés even though she couldn’t tell him the whole truth about how she knew about it.
They had gone for a ride out to the shallow river that ran parallel to the Avalon River through the forest and out into the meadow, pooling in a small pond.
Jade was learning to gallop now, and there was nothing she enjoyed more than feeling the wind whip through her hair and the speed of the horse’s hooves as they pounded the ground. They had along the river near the forest’s edge to give Arthur and Merlin, the horses, a drink when Jade finally worked up the courage to ask Sir Jack about it.
“Sir Jack, is Avalon the only magical kingdom?” she asked, trying to appear only curious.
Sir Jack was used to her asking questions, but this one seemed to be different. He looked a little uncomfortable when he responded. “No, Princess, it’s not the only magical kingdom. Actually, there are many.”
“Really?” Jade said, not faking the pure curiosity any longer.
He smiled a little, maybe sensing her natural thirst for information. “Yes, really. But not all kingdoms have the same kind of magic. Our magic comes from Avalon, from the very earth and plants and animals, so of course no other kingdom could have the same kind of magic.”
“What other kinds of magic are there?”
“Well, I don’t know much about other kingdoms. Remember, I never studied with the Sisters or the Centaurs. I went straight into training to become a knight on my twelfth birthday. I do know a little about a few kingdoms. There’s one kingdom in another world where they call themselves gods. In the stories I’ve heard, they were actually given the name by the Northmanni many hundreds of years ago when their ancestors used to dazzle them with their kind of magic.”
“It’s in another world? So, we couldn’t get to it?”
“No, we couldn’t get to it if we wanted to. We would need special permission from that king and a portal to their world, which only the King of Avalon has the right to use. Your father, the King, would be the person to ask if you’re curious about other kingdoms and other worlds. He sometimes goes to visit other worlds. Every ten years, the kings of all the worlds get together to discuss problems and to reaffirm the alliance, like a friendship between all of the kingdoms.”
“Are there any other kingdoms that we can get to? Like ones we could visit today?” Jade prodded.
Sir Jack looked at her with suspicion and… was that fear? He waited a long moment before he answered, but when he did he said, “Yes, there is actually one other kingdom in this world, if you can call it a kingdom. But it is a place that you must never go.”
“Why?” Jade asked surprised.
“Because it is a very dangerous place. Its ruler is evil and has hurt many of Avalon’s people, including your own father.”
“Where is it?”
Sir Jack knelt down in the grass, and firmly turned Jade toward him with one hand on each shoulder. “You must promise me never to go there. It is unsafe for everyone and downright dangerous for a princess. Swear it to me.”
Jade really didn’t want to promise. She was already planning to go back to Lyonés to see those three boys. There was still so much she didn’t know; there was no way she couldn’t go back.
“Say it out loud,” Sir Jack commanded.
Jade searched his eyes for leniency and her own mind for an escape but found none of either. She sighed, and then said very quietly, “I promise.”
“Good,” Sir Jack said, rising to his feet.
“But, if I don’t know where it is, what if I stumble into it just by accident?” Jade asked.
“You won’t,” Sir Jack assured her. “There is a barrier between that kingdom and ours put there by the Sisters many years ago to keep us safe. You would know if you were crossing it, and no Avalon knight would allow you to cross it. Since you are never without a protector, there is no danger of you accidentally crossing into it.”
Jade wanted to beg for more information, but she could tell by the look on Sir Jack’s face that he was done with this conversation. They told stories for a while as Arthur and Merlin rested, and then they rode back to the castle. Neither one of them brought up Lyonés or the forbidden kingdom again.
Chapter VII
School
____________________________________
Jade had been in Avalon for about a month when Menelwen told her she was going to start going to school with the other children in the Hamlet.
“Why?” Jade whined. She had hated school in the Northmanni World. The other kids teased her and made fun of her for the admittedly odd things she would say. Then there were kids like Tommy Tinkus who would bully her because she believed in magic. She could always hold her own against any bully who targeted her, but it was a lonely place to spend the majority of her time.
“Because your father commands it,” Menelwen said simply.
Jade fell back onto her bed in a huff. “I hate school, Menelwen. Please, don’t make me go.”
“Ammie, you will never be taken seriously as a leader if you don’t go to school. That is where you will learn the history of this kingdom. You will learn the stories of your ancestors, and the stories of each former king will teach you at least one thing to do or one thing not to do. If you do not go to school, you do not become a leader.”
Jade thought about it for a moment. “Do I have to go to school with the other kids? What if they don’t like me? The other kids at my old school hated me.”
Menelwen sat next to her on the bed and pulled her into a sitting position. She put her fingers under her chin and pulled her face up so Jade had no choice but to look at her. “Princess, don’t worry anymore about what the Northmanni children thought of you. They are a part of your past now. I promise you that the children of Avalon will like you. They will find you fascinating, and if you are the kind, witty little princess I have seen you be at times, they will absolutely adore you. Now, if you are the whiny, entitled little princess you are being right now, then they may not like you so well. It’s all up to you.”
The next day, Menelwen woke her up as the sun was rising to get ready for school. She dressed in one of her simple, long sleeved, knee-length dresses (the green one this time), and Menelwen braided her hair in one simple braid down her back. She ate breakfast on her own because the King had some kind of important kingly business again. Then, Menelwen helped her with her cloak, put a small bag with a chalkboard and chalk over her shoulder, and walked with her, hand in hand, to the front door. Sir Jack and a royal guard were waiting there to walk Jade the rest of the way to school. Menelwen bent down to give Jade one last hug.
“Are you sure they’ll like me?” Jade whispered in her ear so Sir Jack could not hear.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything in my life,” Menelwen whispered back before she let go.
The school was in the Hamlet. The guard followed silently behind them. It was close enough that Jade and Sir Jack just walked rather than bother tacking up the horses. Sir Jack didn’t hold her h
and like Menelwen did, and they didn’t talk much on the way there; Jade was much too nervous, and she didn’t want to share her fears with Sir Jack. He might think they were silly. The school house was a large wood building with a short tower on top. There must be a bell inside the tower because as they approached it, it began ringing. The children who were gathered on the steps of the building all got up and headed inside. There were children who looked as young as five or six and older kids as old as maybe twelve.
Without thinking, she grabbed Sir Jack’s hand and squeezed it tightly. Sir Jack turned his back on the guard who seemed to take the hint and stepped away to give them privacy.
“Amalthea,” Sir Jack said, kneeling down in the dirt so he could look at her face while he spoke. “Kids can be mean. I know that better than anyone. But do you know what my mum used to tell me whenever I’d come home with a swollen lip or a bloody nose?”
Jade shook her head very slightly side to side.
“When I’d come home crying because some kid hit me, or even worse said something that made me feel like I was worth less than the dirt on the bottom of their shoes, my mum would say to me, ‘Jack, do you know why kids are mean to you? It’s because you are so amazingly unique that they’re afraid of you. They’re afraid they will never stand out the way you do. So, they bully you and say mean things because if you believe you’re so small that you don’t matter, then maybe they will start to believe it too.’ And you know what, Jade? I never believed her. I would smile and nod because it made her smile, but I never really believed her, but do you know where the kids who used to bully me ended up?”
“Are they knights?” Jade hedged.
“No, they are not. They’re farmers; some of them are even servants in the castle, and I am a knight of the round table, and every time I walk past them, do you know what they have to do?”
Jade looked at him and smiled a little. “They have to bow to you.”
Sir Jack was positively beaming. “That’s right. I don’t think anyone in that building will have a problem with you, Amalthea, but if they do, just remember that that’s their problem, not yours. Keep your head high, and don’t let them ever make you feel like anything less than what you are, the Heir to the Kingdom of Avalon.
Jade nodded. “Promise you’ll be right here after school?”
“Cross my heart. I will be right here when the final bell rings, and Lucentio will be waiting here all day, should you need something. Now go on, you don’t want to be late on your first day.” He let go of her hand, and she very reluctantly released his.
Every step toward that building seemed like it took all of her energy. She kept thinking she would fall from exhaustion. She turned to wave at Sir Jack once more from the top of the steps, and then she entered the building.
The schoolhouse was packed with students of every age, and they all turned to stare at her as she entered. The room, which a moment before had been boisterously loud with cries of the young children and chatter of the older ones, became suddenly silent as they all stared at her.
Jade wanted to shrink back against the door and grow smaller and smaller until she completely disappeared. But she couldn’t do that. She also wanted to burst into tears, turn around, run out the door, go find Sir Jack, and beg him to take her home. But she couldn’t do that either.
Instead of running away, she found her feet carrying her slowly forward toward a desk at the front of the room. Despite the instinct to stare at her feet, she remembered what Sir Jack had said and tried to hold her head high. A woman was standing behind the desk. She had unnaturally straight hair that was the color an apple might turn if you left it sitting in the sun too long. She was writing something on a piece of paper when Jade entered but looked up as the room went silent.
“You must be Princess Amalthea,” she said in a soft voice that Jade had to lean in to hear. “I spoke with your father last night about your first day. You’ll be in my class. I’m Ms. Hastings.”
Jade nodded and smiled at her new teacher. She assumed that, although Ms. Hastings looked quite a bit different from her former teacher, because she was a teacher, she should be kind and friendly all the same.
“You can just call me Amalthea, or Ammie, or Jade.”
Ms. Hastings did not smile. “What do you want me to call you?”
“It doesn’t matter to me,” Jade said, shrugging.
Ms. Hastings just stared at her until Jade finally said, “Amalthea is fine.”
Ms. Hastings made a note on her paper. “Sit down anywhere. You’ll stay here with me and all of the students who are in level four. If we find that you need more challenging work, we’ll move you up a level, and if you find that the work is too difficult, we will move you down a level.”
“Ok,” Jade said. She turned nervously to look at the other children. She saw only one open desk; it was next to a slight girl in a brown dress that was much too big for her. The edges that hung down to her ankles were frayed and worn from many washings. Jade sat down next to her, feeling uncomfortable in the eerie quiet.
“Hi,” the girl said, “I’m Helena.”
Jade tried to smile at her. “Hi Helena, I’m Amalthea.”
“What level are you in?” Helena asked and smiled. When she smiled, Jade could see that her teeth were very crooked and slightly yellow.
“Umm… Level four, I guess. That’s what the teacher said,” Jade said uncertainly.
Helena’s smile faltered slightly. “That’s my level, so you’ll be with Ms. Hastings.”
Ms. Hastings called the room to order then, and the little chatter that had sparked up since Jade’s entrance went quiet. One by one, Ms. Hastings called the name of every student there, and each student had to say present to acknowledge that they were in fact present for that day of schooling. Once she was done with the list, Ms. Hastings dismissed the majority of students, leaving only ten or so left in the school room.
Ms. Hastings stepped around her desk. “Good morning, children,” she said.
One or two students said good morning back.
Ms. Hastings didn’t not waste any time on introductions and instead skipped right to the topic of the day. “As you will remember, all this week you will be quizzed over your knowledge of our founding stories. Helena, you will go first today. I assume you are ready?”
Helena’s eyes grew huge and her face pale, but then she stood up and walked to the front of the classroom. “Yes, Ms. Hastings,” she said.
Ms. Hastings sat down in Helena’s now vacant seat, right next to Jade. Jade knew it would be rude to scoot away from her, but she couldn’t help sliding just a little to her left to be as far as possible from her without moving her seat. She couldn’t say what it was, but she didn’t like Ms. Hastings very much. She missed Ms. Johnson. At least she smiled.
“I’m going to tell the story of how our world was created.” Helena said in a very small voice. She took a deep breath and when she spoke again, her voice was stronger.
“Once, long ago, there was no land called Avalon. All that existed was the Northmanni World and a great mountain called Olympus. The Gods lived in a great castle on Mount Olympus, and all of the other creatures, humans, elves, dragons, fairies, even powries, all lived in the Northmanni World. Of course, they didn’t call it the Northmanni World. They just called it the World, since there was only one.”
“Move along, Helena,” Ms. Hastings prompted.
Helena continued, “So, for a long time, all of the creatures lived together in the World, and they were happy, but eventually the humans, who did not have any magic, got jealous of all of the creatures who were more powerful than them.”
“How was it decided who had power?” Ms. Hastings asked.
“Oh, right, sorry,” Helena said. “The King of Olympus decided who could have magic and who couldn’t. And if you were one of the chosen, then you didn’t even have to study it, you could just do any kind of magic you wanted. The King and his children were of course magical, and so were som
e creatures like fairies and unicorns and centaurs, and then there were some sorcerers who were born to human parents but could do magic too.
“Other than that, most of the humans couldn’t do any magic, so they got jealous. When the King refused to give them all the gift of magic, they moved away from the magical creatures and only spent time with other humans. If a human child was born with magic, that baby was killed.
“They lived several generations like that, but when children who had never known any creatures with magic became adults, they started to fear the magic these creatures could do.
“They saw them as evil and wanted to destroy them. They started attacking all of the magical villages. Soon all of the magical creatures were praying to the King to save them from the savage humans.”
“Thank you, Helena,” Ms. Hastings said, rising and cutting Helena off. “Audrey, please continue telling the story where Helena left off.”
Jade breathed a sigh of relief when Ms. Hastings moved away from her and Helena sat back down. An older girl in the front row with curly brown hair stood up to take Helena’s place.
Audrey began telling the story again, “The King of Olympus heard all of the prayers of the magical creatures in the World, but he didn’t care. He did not want to get involved with their little problems, so he ignored them. But there was someone who heard the tortured screams of the magical creatures.
“The King had many children, all of them were sons except for one. The one Princess of Olympus was named Avalon. Avalon heard the cries and begged her father to help them, but even with his only daughter begging him, the King refused to help. ‘It is their problem to figure out on their own,’ he told her.
“Still, Avalon would not stand for innocent creatures to be in pain. She had a plan, but she knew she did not have the power to overcome her father on her own.
