Princess Ruby of Tamworthia
Page 34
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Jevon leaned backwards and snapped the large book closed. "So now you know. You've nothing to be afraid of Kady; you're just different, like me."
"A Stibmit," prompted Kady with a cute smile.
"Yes. You will see the creatures but they respect you, they're indebted to our family and they'll protect you. You must never share your gift," Jevon started to laugh. "They'll think you're strange like me and cart you away." He continued laughing. "We've one hour left and I want to show you something, have you eaten enough because we have to leave now?"
Kady didn't know where he would take her and she was still hungry. She didn't want this to end, so she simply smiled and stuttered a response, "Sure."
Jevon seemed motivated; he'd repacked the picnic in minutes and was bundling Kady into the back of the car. “Where are we heading?” inquired Kady.
“To the Castle, Skipton Castle,” shouted Jevon, louder than he needed to. “I have to show you something, and we’re running out of time. If I don’t get you back by 4pm, you know what kind of trouble I’ll be in with your Mother.”
Kady laughed, but inside she knew only too well. Jevon sped towards the Castle, he approached the lights, and they turned yellow. Instead of braking, he sped through the intersection at yellow. He glanced at Kady, to see if she had noticed; she had. It was a short ride to the Castle and Jevon was getting excited. He parked the car and hurried Kady inside the Castle's grounds. Kady could hardly keep pace, as Jevon rushed her into an old courtyard, sporting a beautiful Yew tree.
The courtyard contained an inlaid stone floor. Old stone buildings, two levels in height, enclosed the square courtyard. Ornate windows surrounded the courtyard, with a large Yew tree at its center. Jevon’s frantic pace came to an abrupt halt, in front of a carved stone doorway. Kady stopped and faced the doorway. “You're standing in the Tudor Conduit Court, this place oozes with history. Lady Anne Clifford planted the Yew tree in 1659. I draw your attention to the Coat of Arms, located above the door. It’s the Coat of Arms for John Clifford, 9th Lord of Skipton. Study it carefully.” Jevon paused for effect. “You can see three Wyverns, representing Odin, Safaa and Bao. Small front flippers and scaled tails; yes, these are Wyverns, Sea Dragons, yet we’re so far from the sea. Look down at the bottom right hand side of the shield, tell me what you see; talk it out to me.”
Kady studied the image carefully. I see the three Wyverns, but on the shield I see a pattern. Six round rings, arranged in a pattern?”
“Does the pattern remind you of anything?” Jevon was trying to be patient.
“Wait yes. The three rings at the bottom are the Wyverns in the water, lined up across the pond.”
“Good, yes. And the three rings at the top?”
“They represent the leaders; Belver, Ruby and Ranger.” Kady stared at the shield, carved in weathered stone for all to see. Thousands of tourists have passed under this carving each year.
“Remember the ceremony at the Pond; the one used to summons the Wyvern? Well this is their formation, when the Wyvern's returned.”
“Wow,” said Kady, hardly believing her own eyes. “That day will never be forgotten. I guess it’s when the shift of power happened, when evil was defeated.”
Jevon looked at Kady; it was a profound statement from someone so young.
"The mystical creatures took a chance on a small girl. They adopted her as their Princess. She saved the day, Princess Ruby of Tamworthia.”
“Did she live happily ever after?"
"She did. She married and had two boys. She lived happily into her old age and never went too long without a visit to the forest."
Jevon smiled at how bright this young lady was. She stared in awe at the Wyverns carved into the stone wall. “We have to go Princess; we have to get you home by 4pm.”
On the ride home Kady was curious. “So tell me,” she paused. “Why does my Mother always give you a hard time, I mean, why doesn’t she trust you?”
“So you see that then?”
“I’d have to be blind and dumb not to notice.”
“When I was younger I excelled at school. My grades were really good. When I became a Stibmit, I wanted to spend all of my time in the forest. I liked my friends, the mystical creatures. They were wise and I learned far more than the stuff they taught me at school. I couldn’t tell people what I was doing in the forest so I became a bit of a loner. Besides, if I started to talk about Wood Sprites and Fairies they would have locked me up.”
“That’s true,” blurted Kady.
They both laughed. “So, I was always considered a bit weird and a loner. Your Mother means well, but she has never gotten over my choice of career. She thought that my grades would take me to university and I was a huge disappointment to her when I decided to work for the conservation agency. She thought I just wanted to waste my time and my life hanging around in the forest. So I got labeled. Kady, society doesn’t like people who are different. They want us all to be the same. I was labeled weird, odd, a creep, dangerous, mentally unstable. Yet I haven’t done a thing to deserve this reputation. I could never tell your Mother why I so desperately needed to protect the forest. I’m not a land Baron. This is the only way that I could spend my life making sure the forest and those creatures remained safe.”
“I get it. My Mother’s so out of order.”
“She’s just trying to protect you, but people are not comfortable with people who don’t conform.”
“Well I’m a Sibmit now. It’s going to be interesting, I don’t like conformity,” she said with a wry smile.
The End …
"The moment you stop believing in fanciful things, the world stops being fanciful."
Phil Armstrong