The Orphanage of Miracles (The Kingdom Wars Book 1)

by Amy Neftzger

  “How do we fight that?” Kelsey asked. “How can we change this? How do we get rid of the pain that people are feeling?”

  “We can’t get rid of it because it is real. Pain isn’t bad, in itself. It’s what the sorcerer does with pain. It’s the way he distorts it that causes the problems. But that’s another story that will be told at another time.”

  “Tell me about it,” Kelsey insisted.

  “It’s not the right time, Kelsey,” the king said firmly but kindly.

  “What if I don’t get to hear the story?” Kelsey asked in frustration. She was just now beginning to get answers and she didn’t want them to stop. “What if we run out of time and the story never gets told?”

  “All stories will be told, eventually. It’s the nature of the world, and it can’t be stopped. Stories are in the very fabric of the universe. One of the reasons truth endures is that stories help to preserve it. In fact, they’re often one and the same. Without stories, we’d have even more trouble recognizing what’s real.”

  “I just want to understand,” Kelsey insisted. “I want to understand everything so that I can know what’s real and determine what isn’t.”

  “First things first,” he replied. “And then there will be time for those things. Rushing anything takes away more than it gives.”

  “So what do we do next?” Kelsey asked, attempting to sound more patient than she felt at the moment.

  “We preserve the miracle in you,” he replied. “And we grow it.”

  “This miracle?” Kelsey asked as she held up her hand to display the stone she had once thought was a shooting star.

  “No,” he replied. “The one inside of you. The one that is Kelsey. Everyone is a miracle if the love inside of them is nurtured properly. When you share yourself, it’s like sharing something beautiful. That’s when that miracle grows.”

  Kelsey thought about this. Had she shared herself? She reflected back over the past weeks and the experiences that she’d had and she saw that she wasn’t alone through any of them. There was someone with her nearly the whole time. She had Silence, but she also had others to keep her company and share her experiences, both the good ones and the bad ones.

  And then she realized that the reason for her journey was something of an illusion itself. She had been seeking a miracle to solve a problem that had solved itself while she was still looking for an answer. It was like a puzzle whose answer is itself. The very fact that she went looking for a solution was the answer to the problem she was trying to solve. She just didn’t understand the type of miracle that the situation required, and this kept her from seeing that the problem had already been solved. The real miracle was that her parents had let go of a false future and embraced the present.

  At the same time, while she was on her quest, she had been looking for a miracle she thought she needed and almost lost the one that she was: the one that was inside of her - the one that her friends helped her to keep safe as they traveled. Time after time she wished that she was alone so that she could move about more freely. She didn’t want the responsibility of having to care for another person. But she found Silence and shared herself and her journey with him. She now saw that she had come to love him as her friend. And Roland. And even Megan. When she looked back over her quest for an answer, she saw that she had journeyed with friends. She had shared her joys and her burdens, and that had made the journey that much easier and more wonderful. Now Kelsey understood what Megan had meant when she had said that she had healed Kelsey. Megan had shown Kelsey what she really needed and Megan had done it so well that Kelsey didn’t even know it was happening.

  “It’s a difficult road that we’re about to embark upon,” the king explained. “We have battles to win and character to build. We have beauty to create to help people see truth, and we have lies to destroy. It’s going to be very ugly at times, and we’re facing a very powerful adversary.”

  “I can handle ugly, and I’m willing to face the adversary and take him down,” Kelsey assured him with confidence, and then she sensed the wisdom the journey had given her. “But, as you said, first things first.”

  She felt energized and ready to start her new tasks. It was time to move. She had reached her first destination only to realize that it would be the first of many and she couldn’t wait to get started. She stopped walking through the garden and turned back to look at Nicholas and his friends waiting outside the courtyard.

  “I’ll help you take these miracles to where they belong. But then what? What’s next?” she asked.

  “New friends,” he said as he nodded in the direction of Nicholas. “And we’ll see some old ones, too.” He smiled. “And along the way, we’re going to win a war.”

  Kelsey felt the hilt of the knife in her belt. She looked down at the path of miracles beneath her feet - the sparkling, beautiful path that wanted to be so much more than simply ornamental. Kelsey looked back up at her friend and said, “I’m ready. Let’s send these orphans home where they belong.” Then she suddenly remembered who her friend was and added, “Sire.”

  Acknowledgements

  First of all, I’d like to thank Mr. Rogers for taking me to the Land of Make Believe. I was already going there on my own when I first started watching your TV show, but you showed me that adults can go there, too. That’s an important thing for any child to learn.

  I’d also like to express gratitude to those of you who have taken the time to read any of my work. Thank you for joining me in my land of Make Believe. I hope you enjoyed the visit as much as I did.

  Ken, you’ve been a wonderful editor who has worked with me for several years on different projects. A good editor is like the readers’ guardian angel. Thank you for looking out for them.

  Cory, you did beautiful work, as usual. Don’t ever stop, even when I’m not there standing over your shoulder. You have too many wonderful things inside of you that need to come out through your pen and brush.

  Special thanks to Melissa and the team at Found Feather Communications for their tireless efforts helping me to promote my work. You’re not just talented, you’re also fun to be around and you made this project enjoyable. I am privileged to have you working with me.

  I’d also like to thank my dog London. If it were not for her tireless requests for my attention, this book would have been done six months sooner. But I loved every non-productive minute with you.

  Most importantly, this book would never have been possible without the assistance of Tyra, who has been the best husband I could have. I love you the most. There. It’s in print, and that makes it true, and now you’ll just have to live with it.