Birthright: The Crystal Throne - Book 1

by Kim Fedyk

  “Arleth,” he said, letting go of her arm “I need you to come with me for a while. I need you tell me every detail about the assassin now, when you can still remember him. We will go to my chambers, follow me.”

  With that, the King turned and walked away, leaving Arleth staring after him. She looked at his retreating figure, momentarily taken aback. That was it? He wasn’t going to ask her why she was in the courtyard? She thought that was strange, but then again, why would he question why she had been there? Just because Arleth knew she shouldn’t be there, didn’t mean that the king would know. The castle was too big and there were too many servants for him to know, or even care, where each of them was supposed to be at every moment. Arleth felt a bit foolish for worrying; Absalom probably had no idea she wasn’t supposed to have been there. Breathing a sigh of relief, she hurried after him.

  Arleth followed Absalom through the castle in silence until they turned down a hall that ended in a massive double door. There were two Grekens standing imposingly, one on either side of the door. Upon seeing the king, they lowered their raised weapons and pulled the doors open for Absalom and Arleth to enter. Arleth followed the king through the entrance, into a dimly lit circular room. She looked around hungrily, trying to absorb as much of her surroundings as she could. She was distinctly aware that she was one of the few people in the entire universe that had been or would ever get to step foot in the king of Oherra’s private chambers. That being said, she wanted to remember as much detail as possible.

  The walls were panelled in a dark cherry-coloured wood and the floors were covered in a deep red carpeting. There were no windows and the only light was coming from a chandelier which hung from the ceiling in the middle of the room. The room itself was massive although it seemed to have no purpose other than to act as a main hall; aside from a small table, there was no other furniture. Instead, there were four doors, all of which were closed, leading off of this room. Also, to Arleth’s immediate right was a winding staircase leading up to what she imagined were the king’s bed chambers.

  Absalom led her across the room to the second door on the left. He opened the door effortlessly and motioned for Arleth to go through ahead of him. She obeyed and found herself standing in a small sitting room. It was a cozy little room with a stone fireplace in the corner and a bookshelf across the far wall. Arleth noticed immediately that there was no wood in or near the fireplace and so she guessed that unless it was heated through magic, it was just for show. The bookshelf on the other hand, was jam-packed with books of all shapes and sizes. It looked like the original attempt was to keep a neat organized system, but over time as more and more books were added, Absalom had clearly just fit in books wherever there was space. In some shelves the books were in two rows or they were just crammed in haphazardly on-top of the existing row. At some point, he seemed to have given up on the shelves all together and just put them in disordered piles on the floor. The glass doors which covered the front of the bookshelves were all wide open. Arleth smiled in spite of herself, so the legendary King of Oherra, wasn’t perfect after all. He was messy and disorganized just like everyone else. Then again, he most likely was a lot busier and definitely had a lot more responsibility than everyone else so he had a good excuse for being messy, but regardless, Arleth was still amused.

  While Arleth had been looking around the room, the king had closed the door behind them and had deposited himself in one of the huge red armchairs in the centre of the room. Arleth now turned her attention to him and noted that even seated comfortably in his untidy sitting room, he somehow still managed to look regal. But he also looked quite impatient she realized with alarm and so she quickly hurried over to him and with an apologetic smile, sat down in one of the chairs beside him.

  Absalom turned to face her and with a smile said, “I hope you are beginning to adjust to life here.” He was used to wooing women to meet his own needs, and even though some had been very powerful, it didn’t matter; they had succumbed to him all the same. Arleth was just a child alone in a foreign world; she should be no problem at all. “Yes, I suppose I am,” Arleth replied. “Everything is very different here than on Tocarra, but I find it exciting. I will get used to most of the differences soon I imagine.”

  “Very good,” Absalom replied nodding. “And I trust that you find the food and your clothing satisfactory?”

  “Yes, thank you. They are both wonderful.”

  “Good, good,” Absalom said quietly, almost to himself. “And you were given a tour right? I believe I instructed someone to give you one?”

  “Yes, one of your other servants showed me around the castle.”

  “And what did she show you?”

  “Um,” Arleth said, thinking back, “She showed me all the rooms; the kitchen, the dining hall, the servants' bedchambers...” She trailed off, not wanting to list everything that she had seen. “Basically she showed me the whole castle except for your chambers and the towers. Oh and she also showed me the courtyard.”

  “And did you like any of the rooms in particular? Anything catch your interest?” He had seen Arleth leaving the courtyard, and he had seen the terrified look on her face. She had definitely seen something in there that had scared her. He had a couple of ideas what it could have been, but he wanted to see if she would tell him of her own accord. It would be a good test of how much she trusted him

  “I think the whole castle is amazing!” Arleth started excitedly. “I love the glass tunnels in between the rooms. I saw the pathways from outside and I think they are fascinating. How do they hang like that? There was nothing like that on Tocarra.”

  “Yes, Iridian Castle is an architectural marvel,” Absalom said dryly. “Anything else that you liked?”

  “Oh yes,” Arleth continued. “The courtyard!” She stopped abruptly with a sinking feeling. He had seen her leave the courtyard and he was trying to get her to tell him why she was there again today. He must have known that she shouldn't have been there after all. She really didn't want to lie to the King of Oherra, but she had no other choice. She just had to make her lie sound as plausible as she could. “Yes I found the courtyard particularly interesting,” she said slowly. “Practically everything in it was new to me; the plants on Oherra seem to be entirely different than the ones I am used to from Tocarra. I was so captivated the night I had the tour that I dropped my bracelet there. I went back just now to try and find it. Unfortunately I couldn't, but I wanted to get back to my duties and so I left the courtyard anyways.”

  She looked at Absalom's face carefully. She hadn't been wearing a bracelet, in fact she had never even owned one in her entire life. But it was the first thing that had come to her mind. She hoped Absalom would not have paid much attention to what she was wearing. If he hadn't, her story was perfectly believable. His face looked impassive, there was no sign that he thought she was lying. He was just nodding at her encouragingly. Just in case, she decided to change the topic, “The girl that gave me the tour, what was her name? I asked her but she wouldn't tell me. She was kind of weird, she didn't talk at all and she said she didn't know what her name was.”

  Absalom's face had a neutral mask, but beneath his calm disposition he was seething. She clearly didn't trust him yet; he was not fooled by her story. He knew for a fact that she had not been wearing a bracelet. And on top of it all, he now had to answer another one of this girl's stupid questions. “Her name is Sara,” He lied, giving the first name that popped into his head. “Some of the servants are very private; they don't like to talk about themselves with newcomers. Don't worry, she should open up within a couple of weeks.” He hoped that would put her off for a while. He was tired of this pointless drivel. “Anyways,” Absalom said in a serious voice, “We must now turn to more serious matters. I need to find out about the assassin.”

  Arleth nodded, “Of course.”

  Absalom smiled. It didn't matter if Arleth told him what she had seen or not, Rogan's memory extraction spell would find out what she was h
iding. Of course he would have preferred Arleth to tell him herself, but no matter, he could be patient. She would trust him eventually.

  Arleth smiled back at Absalom, unaware of what he was thinking. She hoped she would be able to remember everything about the assassin, she desperately wanted to help him.

  “So Arleth, I am not going to be asking you questions or have you give a description of the man who chased you. Such methods are only as good as the memory of the person questioned and inevitably, humans are forgetful creatures. This is too important to leave room for error, therefore, we will be using a memory spell.”

  Arleth was a bit frightened but she didn't want Absalom to know so she said “Ok,” as bravely as she could.

  “It is a completely harmless spell. It does not affect or alter your memory in any way. It just uses magic to probe into your memory and extract the truth from what you have experienced.”

  “What do I have to do?”

  “It is quite simple. I will guide your thoughts by giving you questions that I want you to think about. You need to hold the answer to that question in your mind and the memory spell will take the answer that you are holding and probe through your past experiences and extract everything that is related to that thought that you are holding. For example, if I ask you to think about what the man looked like, an image would form in your mind of his face, his stature, his clothing. Am I correct?”

  Arleth nodded, a clear image of the man had already appeared in her mind.

  “So the memory spell would latch on to that image and sort through all your past experiences that have to do with it. So in this case, every instance you had seen that face, even if you didn't consciously remember it, would be extracted.”

  A thought had come to Arleth's mind, “Would you be the one doing the memory extraction?”

  “No, my sorceror Rogan would be doing it. But I would be here, asking you the questions.” Absalom was going to say more but Arleth had given a curious reaction when he had said Rogan's name and it had given him pause.

  Absalom watched Arleth carefully, he was sure that it was Rogan's name that had caught her attention. There were hundreds of reasons why Arleth should be afraid of the man, but she shouldn't be afraid of him yet. He felt certain that something had happened in the courtyard and whatever it was, it had to do directly or indirectly with his sorceror.

  "Is something troubling you?"

  Arleth hesitated. She didn't how much she should tell him. The fact that Rogan was the king's sorcerer gave her pause. Maybe she had misinterpreted what she had seen. She laughed a bit, “I guess I am just a bit nervous about having magic used on me. But that is silly isn’t it?”

  Absalom smiled, “It’s natural to be afraid, but don't worry, it is perfectly safe.” He knew she was lying, she had too much of a reaction when he had mentioned Rogan's name. He wished she trusted him more easily, but regardless, Rogan's memory extraction would tell him what she wouldn't anyways. “There is one more thing about the spell though.”

  “Yes,” said Arleth cautiously.

  “You will need to keep your eyes closed so that there will be no outside influences to distract you from your thoughts. Unfortunately, due to the seriousness of the situation, I will need to put a blindfold on you to make sure that you do not open your eyes.”

  “That is fine,” said Arleth. “I understand how important this is.” She was still afraid, not really about Rogan anymore, but just about the magic being used on her. But she realized her fears were probably misguided and she didn't want Absalom to think she was a baby.

  Good, Absalom thought. It didn't matter at all to the efficacy of the spell if her eyes were open or closed. But he couldn't let her see Rogan. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a long length of cloth and smiling reassuringly tied it around Arleth's head, covering her eyes. If she saw Rogan, she would definitely remember him. A 10 year old child does not go through the kind of trauma she went through at the orphanage and not remember who it was that attacked her.

  There was a soft knocking on the door.

  “Rogan is here now,” Absalom said to Arleth, “I am just going to let him in, and then we will begin the memory spell shortly.”

  Arleth nodded her assent and waited for the king to return. She could hear his footsteps walking towards the door, the sound of the door opening and whispered conversation between two male voices. Then the door closed and two sets of footsteps walked back towards her. She felt someone come to stand behind her and a pair of hands rested themselves on her shoulders. Arleth jumped a little in spite of herself.

  “Rogan needs to have physical contact with you in order for him to use the memory spell,” Absalom explained. “He will have his hands on your shoulders for the duration of the questioning, but that should be all you feel. The magic itself does not produce any sensations or side effects. Are you ready to begin?”

  Arleth nodded again.

  “Very well, here we go.”

  For the next half an hour, Absalom asked Arleth a bunch of questions about the assassin. He didn’t care one iota what she answered, but it had to look like he did. After all, this was the pretence he had given for having her come to Oherra with him. So he asked her all the questions he could think of; what the assassin had looked like; what weapon he had been holding; if he had said anything to her. Arleth answered all of them as best she could, and Rogan extracted as much as he could. Absalom was just wrapping up with his questions about the assassin, but he still needed to ask the only question he cared about. He looked up at Rogan to signal that he was ready. Rogan returned the king’s glance with a knowing stare; he was ready too.

  “Rogan,” Absalom called to his sorcerer, emphasizing the man’s name “I think we are done here.” He was speaking slowly, trying to give Rogan as much time as possible. “I have asked all the questions that I needed to. Thank you very much for your help.” He looked at Rogan inquiringly, had it worked? Rogan smiled and nodded – he had got the information he needed. Arleth had been deep under Rogan’s memory spell and so when Absalom had said Rogan’s name, her thoughts had unconsciously drifted to where she had last heard his name. Rogan had then been able to extract the entire event, without Arleth even realizing that she had been thinking about it.

  “Ok,” Absalom said. “You can leave now, thanks again for your help.” Rogan withdrew his hands from Arleth’s shoulders and walked out of the sitting room. He didn’t want to be seen by Arleth, but he knew that Absalom would still want to talk to him so he entered into Absalom’s study, to the right of the sitting room and closed the door behind him.

  Once Rogan had left, Absalom removed Arleth’s blindfold. She blinked a couple of times adjusting to the change of light, and rubbed her eyes.

  “So, what did you think about the magic. It was painless just like I said wasn’t it?”

  “Yes, it was. I didn’t feel a thing,” Arleth said feeling quite foolish at her previous worry. She had felt absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. “I feel kind of silly for being afraid now,” she confessed.

  “That’s ok, you don’t need to feel silly,” Absalom said soothingly. “Magic can be harmful and it can be scary, especially to someone who has never experienced it before. But just remember that no one here in the castle will harm you with magic, or without. The only thing you could be worried about are the assassins, but you should be quite safe here in the castle. The castle itself is guarded by magical charms and you have the added protection of both Rogan and myself. You can think of both of us as your protectors if you like. I know Rogan views himself that way – he uses his magic to defend Iridian castle and protect everyone inside it.”

  “Thank you,” Arleth said feeling reassured.

  “No, thank you my dear,” Absalom said. “You have given us valuable information about the assassins. We will be a lot closer to catching them thanks to your help. But I am quite busy right now, so I must show you out.” With that, he took Arleth’s arm and led her out of the sitting room, th
rough the main entrance and out of his chambers. He walked with her a little bit down the hall until it split into two paths. Here he stopped, “I must leave you now Arleth, take the right hall until you see three doors, then take the middle door and keep going straight down the hall. It will lead you back to the courtyard. It is a different route than how we came here, but it is faster.”

  “Thanks,” Arleth smiled and turned towards the hall on the right. Absalom watched her walk down the hall for a few moments to make sure that she was going to follow his directions and then turned and walked back to his chambers.

  Rogan had emerged from Absalom’s study and was waiting in the main entrance hall when Absalom returned.

  “So,” Absalom demanded, “What did you find out?”

  Rogan didn’t answer right away, but instead motioned his head in the direction of the sitting room. Absalom nodded impatiently and followed his sorcerer back into the room.

  “Well, she went into the courtyard this afternoon to explore,” Rogan began, lowering himself into one of the armchairs. “She came across two members of your harem and one of them was splitting.”

  Absalom groaned, “And she saw the splitting?”

  “Yes,” said Rogan, “And she overheard their conversation in which my name was mentioned.” He reiterated it for the king. “You know, it would just be easier to enchant her. Clearly she doesn’t trust you yet or she wouldn’t have lied to you about why she was in the courtyard, or why she was alarmed when she heard my name.”

  Absalom looked at Rogan angrily, “You were standing at the door listening.” It was more an accusation than a question. “Yes,” said Rogan shamelessly. “But that part is not important, don’t you think enchantment looks more attractive now?”

  “No, not yet,” said Absalom stubbornly. “I am still trying to make her trust me, she is just a child, it shouldn’t be that hard. She will trust me eventually”

  “But she is his child.” Rogan interjected.