The kingdom, which we had named Orfedil, meaning “Sanctuary” in modern-day Elandrean, was half the size of its neighbours with only two towns outside the kingdom’s capital, Nälis, but Zachary and I didn’t mind this because our people were happy, and all had good jobs to feed their families – some of them are even working here in the palace as court herbalists and assistants in the kitchen, but just because a kingdom is small doesn’t mean it isn’t thriving.
After binding the paperwork so that none of it would get lost, I gave my slightly dishevelled hair a brush through and cleansed my face in our en suite, I headed downstairs to greet my first tea party guest.
‘Eila!’
When my best friend looked up from the book she had brought with her, she grinned and got up to embrace me.
As we released each other she laughed. ‘Oraela, I feel like I haven’t seen you for years, and yet it’s only been a few weeks since your last visit.’
I laughed, ‘you never change Eila, and I like that about you. Now, what would you like to drink while we wait for the other four to arrive?’
A few weeks following my tea party with Eila, Aiori, my mother and aunts, I was about to take a shower after brushing my teeth one morning a couple of days before Aiolos’s 23rd birthday celebrations when I suddenly felt nauseous, and stumbled over to the toilet, collapsing in front of it just in time as I was violently sick. Several seconds later, Zachary came in.
‘Sweetheart! What’s wrong, are you not feeling well?’ he asked, rushing over and rubbing my back soothingly as I raised my head and wiped my mouth clean of bile with the back of my hand. ‘You should go back to bed. I’ll have one of the herbalists make you something for the nausea.’
I nodded, and my doting husband carried me back to our four-poster and then, kissing my forehead, left to have something made to lessen my nausea.
Although the medicine Zachary brought me helped with the nausea that morning, I continued to feel sick several mornings in a row, and soon realised it wasn’t a stomach bug; sending a messenger to Ledoran with a letter to my mother explaining the situation, and she accompanied him back.
Thanks to my mother’s unique gift of being able to sense someone’s aura - or life line – even if they’re not in the living world, we discovered the reason for my sickness, and I was excited to tell Zachary.
I found him not long after my mother left, speaking with Kenton, who had come with us to become Captain of Orfedil’s Knight Guard, and took him aside.
‘Zachary, I have some exciting news. The explanation for my nausea in the mornings these past few days isn’t a stomach bug as we originally thought…’ I looked down at my abdomen and then back at him.
‘Zachary, I’m pregnant.’
His eyes widened. ‘Really?’
I smiled ‘yes, that’s the reason my mother visited; her unique gift allowed her to sense the little human slowly growing inside of me’
A grin of joy split Zachary’s handsome face, and he placed his hands on my waist, lifting me up and spinning me around slowly, as he happily exclaimed, ‘I’m going to be a father! I’m so happy!’
I laughed, bracing my hands on his shoulders, as he continued to spin – slowly – and laugh with joy at the news that in nine months, our first child would be born.
One chapter of my life had ended, but another – one filled with little ones that looked like Zachary and I – had just begun.
EVANDER
Part One: Evander
County Wicklow,The Republic of Ireland, The Human World
Fallon had to get away from them. She had put up with the way they treated her for far too long.
She didn’t know where she’d go, but early one morning she packed some clothes and her closest possessions into her rucksack and was out of the horrible house by eight thirty.
As Fallon passed into the forest bordering her foster parents’ land, she heard Henrietta and Gerald calling her name and cursing at her from behind.
She didn’t look back over her shoulder to see how far behind her they were or stop to catch her breath for fear of the two of them catching up with her and dragging her back to the farm house, so she kept on running.
As she rounded a corner, she breathed an internal sigh of relief as a cave came into view up ahead and, pushing her already aching legs to the limit, she stumbled towards the cave’s ivy-covered entrance, and fell into the safety of the darkness just as her legs and body collapsed from exhaustion…and unknowingly through a portal that led into another world.
A world where Henrietta and Gerald would never be able to find or hurt her again.
A world that would gradually heal her broken soul and remind her that love, care, and warmth really did exist.
The Girl on the Beach
It was a Wednesday morning, and my younger brother Adair and I were Dracoria riding, when me and my deep crimson Dracor, Coralis, pulled ahead of Adair and his own, Norali, who was an emerald green.
‘Hey! You’re cheating!’ he yelled at me, as he and Norali fell behind.
I laughed and started to yell back that he was just jealous of my superior riding skills, when I spotted a figure lying on the beach a few miles north-west of us, and asked Coralis to head over there so I could investigate.
Slipping off his back several minutes later, I ran over to the figure collapsed on the sand. I did a double-take when I discovered a pretty young girl with fiery red hair lying there, one arm bent at the elbow by her head, the other at her side.
I then noticed her strange clothing, and the backpack not too far from where she lay, as Adair appeared beside me. Kneeling beside the girl, I leant over her unconscious form and held my ear over her mouth.
‘She’s still breathing’ I announced with relief and lifted my head to look at Adair.
‘We should bring her back to the palace and have her seen to. Who knows how long she’s been lying here’ he suggested.
‘Took the words right out of my mouth, little brother. You head back there with the horses and I’ll carry her back to the palace by air’ I replied.
He nodded in agreement, remounted Norali and headed back to the beach we headed out from this morning.
I gently lifted her from the sand along with her bag and told Coralis I’d have to ride him again another day, unfurling my angel wings and taking to the air to fly back to my parents’ kingdom of Orfedil.
Fifteen minutes later, I landed in the palace gardens in front of the porch and the tall, arched glass doors that lead into the palace’s largest ballroom where my mother, Queen Oraelia of Orfedil was sat in one of the plush porch chairs reading a purple leather-bound book.
‘Mum!’
She looked up upon hearing my call, and then leapt from her chair at the sight of the girl in my arms and ran over.
‘I found her on a beach when Adair and I were racing our Dracoria, along with the bag hanging from my right hand. She’s soaking wet, as if she’s been swimming’ I told her, glancing down at the girl in my arms before returning my gaze to her. It was then that I noticed the shocked expression on her face.
‘Mum? What’s wrong?’
My mother didn’t say anything for a moment, and then opened her mouth to speak.
‘The clothes she’s wearing, and the backpack…they’re only seen in one place, and I haven’t been back there since I was eighteen. This young lady is from the human world.’
How?
A short while after I returned home the pretty human girl, changed into a soft cotton night gown since it was October by a few maids, was tucked up in bed in one of our many guest-rooms. My mother and I were sat on the room’s cushioned window seat watching over her, and waiting for her to wake up.
‘There’s something I don’t understand about this situation. How did she get into Elandrea when none of the portals have been disclosed to any humans unless they’ve been favoured?’ I asked, hands clasped under my chin.
‘It’s quite possible that she stumbled across one while on
a walk with family or friends, but we should wait until she awakens and listen to her story’ mum replied, just as Adair entered the room followed by my father and only slightly younger brother, Oisin.
‘Adair filled us in on what happened when he arrived with the horses not too long ago. Has there been any change since you got home?’ my father asked as they each took a seat in each of the remaining chairs.
I shook my head, ‘not yet, it’s anyone’s guess when she’ll wake up, so you guys should go and do what you like, or go back to what you were doing before you came in. I’ll stay so she won’t wake up to an empty room’
‘Are you sure honey?’ my mother asked.
‘Yes, I’m the one who found her and brought her home, so she’s my responsibility’ I replied.
The two of them nodded and then the four of them left, leaving me and our new guest alone.
Sometime later, the girl stirred and opened her eyes; turning her head to find me sitting on the window seat, watching her.
‘Where am I?’ she asked, pulling herself up slowly so she was sitting up against the pillows, ‘and…who are you?’
Not wanting to scare her, I remained where I was as I answered her questions.
‘You’re in Nälis Palace in Orfedil. It’s one of three kingdoms in Elandrea, a world living alongside that of humans and other realms, and I am Evander Kovah, its First Prince. I found you collapsed on a beach, along with the backpack leaning against the foot of your bed.’
‘It’s…an honour to meet you Your Highness, my name is Fallon. It means “leader’s daughter” in Irish’ she replied, introducing herself.
‘That’s a lovely name, and just call me Evander. You don’t need to bother with formalities.’
She smiled shyly, ‘okay.’
‘Do you remember how you ended up on the beach?’
She furrowed her brow for several seconds as she tried to remember, and then raised her amber eyes as she spoke.
‘I remember running away from my foster parents’ house into the forest bordering their land. I...collapsed from exhaustion into the darkness of a cave. The last thing I completely remember, is falling into cold water and dragging myself and the backpack onto that beach.’
After the short silence that followed, and after mulling it over in my head, I asked her another slightly delicate question that I didn’t really expect her to answer.
‘Fallon…why were you running from them,your foster parents?’
A sad and pained expression appeared on Fallon’s face, and she looked away.
I smiled softly at her, ‘it’s all right if you don’t want to say anything about it now, we’ve only just met after all. Is there anything you want to eat or drink?’
‘A glass of water would be nice, thank you - and could you pass me my bag, please?’
‘Sure.’ Picking up the bag as I passed the end of the bed, I threw it to her before heading out of the room to fetch her water.
On my way back from the kitchen, I bumped into my father as he came out of the library.
‘Evander! How is the young lady doing?’
‘She’s awake, her name is Fallon, she has a lovely accent, and I’m just bringing her some water.’
‘Ah. Would it be alright if I returned with you?’ he asked.
I nodded and so the two of us started up the stairs.
‘So, does she remember now she got here, or rather, ended up on that beach?’ he asked as we walked up.
I recounted what Fallon had told me, at which point he stopped abruptly as we reached the top of the stairs.
‘Dad?’
‘The only known portal into Elandrea accessed through a cave in the forest is in County Wicklow in the Republic of Ireland- but it hasn’t been active for well over a hundred years according to the history books – so how did Fallon pass through it?’
A Trip Into Town
When the two of us entered Fallon’s room moments after our conversation, she was on top of the bed covers, the contents of her “backpack” spread out in front of her – though it didn’t look like she’d taken much with her when she ran away, because there were only six items on the bed.
A scruffy looking teddy bear and a photo protected by some sort of casing. A hardback book I couldn’t quite make out the name of and an aged locket. A small statue of a wolf, and a pair of lilac pumps, each with two long ribbons attached to the back, that I remember were called “ballet shoes” from a picture in one of the books I was reading for my Human World studies lesson titled Dances of the Human World and their Traditional Clothes.
‘Here’s your water, Fallon’ I told her as my father closed the door behind him, and placed the glass on the bedside table to the left of Fallon’s bed. ‘Fallon, this is my father, King Zachary of Orfedil, formally Lord.’
My father stepped forward, smiling at Fallon as he spoke, ‘hello Fallon, it’s lovely to meet you.’
‘You too, Your Majesty’ she replied, returning the smile.
‘Fallon…could you - or rather, will you please tell us what you have laid out on the bed?’ I asked.
‘I will gladly do so’ she answered, the look in her eye telling me that she had seen the question in my eyes before it had even left my lips, and began to explain each item.
The scruffy teddy bear she’d had since birth, and given it the name Carmel. The photo was of a dog she’d discovered when she was four a few years before her parents disappeared, injured and hungry, and had nursed back to health with the help of her mother before bringing it back to its owners, and the hard-back book was a big old book of fairy tales her dad had bought when she was born, to lull her to sleep.
When she got to the silver locket, Fallon became rather quiet and sad. She said simply that she’s had it ever since she could remember, before moving onto the last two items on the bed. The little wolf statue she’d carved with her father when she was only five, after which he had told her what a talented young lady she was and that he couldn’t be prouder, and the ballet shoes she’d picked up at a “car-boot sale” while her foster parents had been away one year in the summer. They had agreed to let her remain behind, provided she didn’t touch any of their valuable possessions, and the ballet shoes had been a pale peachy colour until she dyed them lilac back at the house.
When Fallon had finished speaking, my father took a cautious step forward and sat down on the edge of the bed next to her.
‘Fallon, Evander has told me that you’d been running away from your foster parents, when you fell into our world. Do you remember anything about your birth parents?’
‘I have very few memories of them after I was five. I remember waking up one day and they were just…gone. My neighbours took me in and took care of me before child social services stepped in - they’re the people in our world who look after orphaned or unwanted children, and help them find new homes aside from other things. The only thing I have left of them is the locket mammy gave me when I was four…and the photo inside’ she replied, looking down at the locket in front of her.
‘Can I look at the photo?’ he then asked, and she nodded, her consent.
Picking up the locket, my father opened it and looked at the photo of Fallon’s parents, gasping a heartbeat later.
‘What’s the matter, King Zachary?’ Fallon asked, surprised.
‘I’ve seen them before, in another photograph; although I regret to say I can’t remember where. The best place to start would be the library, so I’ll go there now, and start looking for it. Excuse me you two.’
A moment later he left the room, a determined look on his face as he closed the door behind him.
Following my father’s departure I turned to Fallon. ‘While he does that do you feel rested enough to take a tour of the palace grounds and the city?’
‘I feel rested enough to do a little walking around - but what am I going to wear? I can’t go out in the night gown, and I’d look ridiculous in the clothes I brought with me when I ran away. I mean they’re from th
e human world, I’d stand out like a sore thumb.’
I chuckled. I’m really starting to like this girl.
‘I’m sure my mother has something she could do up and make some adjustments to for you. I’ll go and find her now.’
Half an hour later, my mother was moving around Fallon making the final adjustments to one of her old autumn dresses, a dark green long-sleeved gown trimmed with silver, as I watched from my perch on the window seat.
‘Okay, all done. You’re ready to go my dear’ my mother announced, standing up straight and admiring her handy work before turning to me.
‘What do you think Evander?’
‘You-you look great’ I stammered, feeling my cheeks flush a little. Shaking off my embarrassment, I told Fallon we should head out for our little trip and the two of us bade my mother goodbye and headed downstairs.
Another fifteen minutes later and I was giving her a tour of Orfedil’s capital after taking her briefly around the gardens, because they were so vast, when a shop with a navy-blue sign embossed with gold pictures of various medical supplies like gauze and bottles and read Malakhi’s Medical Equipment and Supplies caught Fallon’s eye.
‘Can we look inside?’ she asked.
‘Sure’ I replied, smiling.
Almost the moment she walked in, Fallon wondered around the store, running her fingers delicately over several corked bottles in varying sizes so she wouldn’t knock them over accidentally, until she stopped in front of a large open satchel. It had several pockets on the outside filled with bits and pieces from around the shop, including a roll of gauze and bandage material but - just as I was about to ask why this particularly caught her eye, a deep yet gentle voice spoke.
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