Water Princess, Fire Prince
Page 1
“Water Princess, Fire Prince is a fun venture into portal fantasy with unique worldbuilding, interesting and relatable characters, unexpected twists and turns, and an absolutely unforgettable adventure. This is a fantastic story. Kendra’s best so far.”
—Morgan Elizabeth Huneke, author of Time Captives
“Water Princess, Fire Prince is author Ardnek’s best book to date! The world she weaves is highly developed and entertainingly creative. Her characters develop along their adventure, and bring the reader along for the trek. You don’t want to miss this story.”
—A. G. Werff, author of After the Twelfth Night
Water Princess,
Fire Prince
The Rizkaland Legends
Book 1
Kendra E. Ardnek
This is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely in the author’s imagination.
Copyright © 2015 Kendra E. Roden
Cover Design Copyright © 2017 Alea Harper
All rights reserved.
No portions of this book may be reproduced without the author’s permission, or without proper credit, except in written reviews.
DEDICATION
For LaRue. I promised you this book for your birthday, and here you go.
CONTENTS
Cast of Characters
Part 1 – The Water
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Part 2 – The Fire
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Part 3 – The Mountain
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Part 4 – The Kastle
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Part 5 – The War
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Epilogue
Reference Guide
Glossary
The Islands
The Water
Alphego’s Hill
Through the Mountain
Cast of Characters
Abraham: Lord of Lower Klarand
Alith (ah-LIHTH): Bookdaughter, advisor to the Wind Prince and Leaf Princess
Alphego (ahl-FAY-go): Creator and Keeper of Rizkaland and Klarand. He appears as a white lion, with the head and wings of an eagle. His body is covered with lamb’s wool and his head and wings with dove feathers, with rainbow feathers edging his wings.
Amber: The Lady Dragon, a terrible sorceress.
Andrew: The Fire Prince
Clara: The Water Princess
Dina (DEE-nah): Li’Daughter of Upper Klarand
Dular (DOO-lar): Alith’s husband, advisor to the Wind Prince and Leaf Princess
Erik: Lord of Upper Klarand
Essua (es-SOO-ah): Li’Daugher of Upper Klarand
Granite: Amber’s husband
Henre (ahn-RAY): Clara’s sword instructor
Jakob (JAH-kob): Lor’Son of Upper Klarand
Jasmine: Clara’s energetic young maid
Jill Anna: A seamstress
Josef: One of Abraham’s men
Karlos: Lord Abraham’s young son
Kiona: Queen of Rizkaland of the line of Violet
Laura: The Doorkeeper, a traveler between worlds
Leaf Princess: Sister of the Wind Prince
Martin: Clara’s martial arts instructor
Phillip: Bugslayer in the Kastle
Rhodan: The oldest of Abraham’s men
Rigel: Clara’s archery instructor
Roxanne: Lady of Upper Klarand
Sarai: Phillip’s wife and fellow Bugslayer
Stephan (STEP-han): King of Rizkaland, Kiona’s husband.
Tnika (tuh-NEE-kah): A Bookdaughter, successor to Alith as advisor
Tyrus: King of Rizkaland, of the line of Ralph
Wind Prince: Ruler of Klarand
Zimon: One of Abraham’s men
Part 1
The
WATER
In the height of winter, in Aaron’s month, Upper Klarand received the Water Princess. From the Waterfall she came. Small she was, and unused to our ways, but her spirit was strong, and her sword was ready to defend our land.
Chapter 1
“It is a fact universally acknowledged that a short girl in pursuit of something above her head must be in want of some young man to get it down for her,” Clara stated as she and her two best friends headed to the pool. “And no matter how far from the case it may be, if some guy just so happens to be walking by and sees her trying to get something that’s over her head, he’s going to offer his help.”
“What happened this time?” asked Rhoda, sighing.
Clara rolled her eyes. “I was getting my swim bag down. Mother stashed it on the top shelf, again, but I could reach it. He was just trying to get my attention.”
“Maybe he was trying to be nice,” Rhoda suggested.
“You’re a pretty girl, the instructor’s daughter and all that,” Kath added. ‘‘We may know that you’re against the thought of boys liking you, but they don’t know, so…”
Clara tossed Kath a glare. “I’m not against boys liking me, it’s just that—”
“Was he a redhead?” Kath continued, oblivious to Clara’s protests. “Because I do know that you are especially against them if they’re not.”
“Redheads have nothing to do with it,” Clara insisted. “I’m only fifteen, and I’m not ready to be thinking about things like that, and he was being an unnecessary dashing hero. That’s what I don’t like.”
“That and the fact that he probably wasn’t a redhead.”
Rhoda rolled her eyes. “What is it with you and redheads when it comes to Clara?”
Kath gave an innocent smile. “It just seems to me that a redhead would be perfect for Clara. Hey, don’t you have some redheaded cousins?”
“Yes.” Rhoda sighed. “Two of them are, we’ve been over this before. Several times.”
Kath nodded. “But Josh is younger than I am, and would certainly not do for our Clair.”
“I would appreciate it if you wouldn’t try to match me up with every redhead we have in our acquaintance,” said Clara, rolling her eyes. “Honestly, I could care less about hair color, and I’ve never even met Rhoda’s cousins. Neither have you, Kath, so knock it off.”
“But that shall change today,” said Kath, in her best ominous voice.
“If you keep it up, you can be uninvited to the picnic,” Rhoda threatened off-handedly.
Kath didn’t respond as they had reached the pool. Instead, she stripped off her coverup and ran over to the diving board. “Youngest first, right?”
“How about most obnoxious last?” asked Clara. “And you’re supposed to walk.”
“You know, we could alwa
ys go shortest to tallest,” Kath continued. “That way you go first, Clair. We can also achieve the same effect going oldest to youngest, though that would mean I go last.”
Rhoda sighed. “I can’t believe we go through this every single day. Kath, just get up there and dive, since you’re already there, and then Clara can go, and then I’ll go last. Why must this always be so complicated?”
“That’s what I’d like to know,” said Kath. With that, she scrambled up the ladder and dove into the pool, executing a perfect backflip.
“You know,” Clara commented, “it wouldn’t be so bad if I understood why she is so convinced that I like redheads.”
“It’s not as though you’ve ever favored them – you’ve never favored any guy, regardless of his hair color,” Rhoda agreed. “I think she’s just trying to point out that you’re the oldest of us, almost sixteen and never been kissed and all that.”
“But why redheads?”
“Three points!” Rhoda shouted, for Kath surfaced at that moment.
“Three?” repeated Kath, as she climbed out of the pool. “It felt like a better dive than that.”
“But we’re only in the mood to give you three points,” said Clara, as she marched over to the diving board. “Tough judges today and all that.”
“Well, enjoy your dive then,” said Kath.
“Hush, I’m concentrating.”
Sure, this wasn’t the Olympics, but Clara believed that everything she did should be done like it was done for competition. She knew what was expected of her. It didn’t hurt to practice.
She counted to three, then ran to the end of the board, jumped, and entered the water flawlessly. It was a perfect dive, she knew, though she wasn’t likely to receive a high score from those stingy “judges” she had to contend with today.
But, as she turned to swim upward, she found herself pulled down by some current … but since when had someone installed a current machine in the swimming pool?
She tried to fight the current, but it continued to pull her down. This was definitely not good. She was going to run out of breath soon – she could already feel the world around her grow cold. That was what happened when you were dying from lack of oxygen, right? You get colder? Stars danced in her eyes.
Just as she was about to pass out, her head burst from the now-freezing water. She gasped in a lungful of bitterly cold air before she was sucked under again, but sliding against a bumpy surface.
She twisted around and tried to get a hold of those bumps – they felt almost like the pebbles at the bottom of a river – but she was moving too fast, her fingers were too numb, and the bumps were too slippery. This was not funny. Nor was it normal.
Finally, she got a grip on the pebbles – or whatever the bumps were – and came to a stop. Pushing herself up, she found that she was in rather shallow water, which was a good thing. For a moment, she just sat there, sucking in ice cold air and shivering. It was so cold that thinking clearly was out of the question, but once she gathered what she could of her thoughts, she scrambled numbly to her feet.
She found herself staring up a waterfall – a literal waterfall. How her swimming pool had turned into a waterfall was beyond her, but here she was.
Completely weirded out, Clara turned around, hoping to find some sort of answer. She stood in the middle of a stream, and there was what seemed to be snow on the banks, snow that was a distinct shade of pale blue.
Panic cut through her thoughts. How had she come here? What happened to the pool? How had it gone from summer to winter in mere minutes?
Squeezing her eyes shut, she forced her mind to focus. She was hallucinating, that was all. Soon she’d wake up to find herself on the side of the pool choking up water – or better yet, still in bed and the whole day had been a dream.
Opening her eyes again, she refrained from pinching herself. It was terribly cliché, after all, and she was probably too cold to feel it whether she was dreaming or not.
She focused instead on getting out of the water – but the banks were covered in that pale blue snow, which was just as cold. Hugging her arms to her chest, she wished she was wearing something more than just a tankini, but, sopping wet, even a wool coat would have done her no good in this cold.
“You know dear, you’ve chosen a very bad time of the year for swimming.”
Clara looked up to find a woman standing on the bank, a hand held out to her.
“Y-you think?” Clara’s teeth chattered so violently that she was barely able to get the words out.
“Come now, take my hand, don’t try to talk. We need to get you to Lord Erik, he’ll take care of you.”
Seeing no reason to protest, Clara took the woman’s hand and allowed her to pull her onto the bank, which wasn’t much better, considering the snow. The woman threw her own cloak about Clara’s shoulders and guided her down what seemed to be a mountain.
Clara zoned out and concentrated on not stepping on rocks – she didn’t want to step on any with her feet this cold and numb. Therefore, it wasn’t until they stopped walking that she realized that they stood before the gate of a very large stone building. A guard stood in front of the gate, giving the woman a very disapproving stare.
“Why have you brought me a half-frozen girl? Lord Erik does not have time to deal with such matters at the moment, and you have fires of your own at your own house.”
“Because she is no ordinary girl,” said the woman, without hesitation. “I bring her to you from the Waterfall itself, and she is none other than your Water Princess.”
The what? Then again, being called a Water Princess wasn’t the strangest thing that had happened to Clara that day. What was to be expected from a dream?
“The Water Princess, you say?” said the Guard, suddenly a bit more interested. “Are you certain?”
“I’m rarely mistaken in such matters.”
“Very well,” said the Guard. “Come with me, young lady. We’ll see if her claim is true. There’s a warm fire inside where you can thaw yourself.”
The gate opened. The woman gave Clara a small push.
“Follow him,” she instructed. “And, perhaps, you and I shall meet again.”
So Clara followed the guard. He led her down long, winding hallways covered with lush carpet, which was nice on her feet, but still the chill pervaded her entire being. At last, they came to a large room where a dark-haired woman dressed in rich clothing sat before an enormous embroidery frame. Several girls sat in odd corners busying themselves with other tasks. Most importantly, there was a roaring fire.
Clara ran up to it and thrust her hands over it in hopes of thawing her fingers.
“Lady Roxanne,” said the Guard, bowing. “I believe that Alphego has finally sent the Water Princess. A woman – perhaps even the Doorkeeper herself – brought her down from the mountain just now.” With that, he pressed a fist over his heart, bowed slightly, and left the room.
The woman stood up and approached Clara, placing a fist over her own heart. “Have you truly come to us at long last?” she asked.
Clara looked up from the fire and blinked. “What?”
“Ah, but you are ice cold,” the woman observed. She clapped her hands and a young girl scampered over to her. “Have a hot bath fixed in the Blue Room at once.” The girl nodded, pressed a fist over her heart, like the guard had, bowed slightly, and ran out of the room.
“I am Lady Roxanne,” the woman said, removing her own scarf from around her neck and wrapping it around Clara’s. “It’s an honor to have you here with us at long last, Water Princess.”
Clara sneezed. “M-my name’s C-Clara.”
“Yes, dear, you are the Water Princess, sent to us at long last as an answer to our prayers.”
Clara didn’t think the woman quite understood her, but since she was still having trouble understanding herself, she decided not to press the issue. Besides, if this was a dream, it didn’t really matter. “Where am I?”
“You are in the castle of m
y husband, Lord Erik of Upper Klarand,” Lady Roxanne explained.
“How far is that from Texas?”
“I’m not sure what you mean,” said Lady Roxanne. “I’ve never heard of such a place. However, if this ‘Texas’ is the favored country from which you came, I would guess that it’s a great distance, for you surely have come from another world, just as the Leaf Princess and Wind Prince did.”
“The who?”
“We will explain in time,” said Lady Roxanne, shaking her head. “For now, concentrate on warming yourself, for you will be no good to us if you die of frostbite.”
Clara didn’t quite like the sound of that but was too confused to ask questions. Lady Roxanne returned to her embroidery. Clara continued to thaw out her fingers and toes. Slowly the time eked by, and the girl returned.
“The Blue Room has been prepared with a bath for the Water Princess,” she announced. She pressed a fist over her heart and bowed towards Clara. “If you would follow me?”
Chapter 2
The bath was warm and smelled of citrus and vanilla. According to the girl, this was to be Clara’s room if she liked it. From what she saw of it so far, she did. It had a nice hot fire and a nice warm bath.
If she closed her eyes, she could almost pretend that she was back home and that the plunge into a frozen stream was just a bad dream. But then she would open her eyes again and see a glass chandelier, which was most certainly not something from her own room. Also, she tried to avoid looking at the water, since it was a decided shade of purple.
She wasn’t sure how long she had been in the water when the door burst open and another young girl of no more than ten barged in carrying a huge armload of clothing. Clara sank down under the bubbles – somehow, after all this time, there were still plenty – as the girl plopped her armload down on the bed and sorted through it. After a few moments, she started talking – not loud enough that Clara could understand what she was saying, but it prevented her from ignoring the girl’s presence.