Return of the Crown

ISBN
978-0-9857724-0-6

Connor shuffled to the Royal Coach, leaning a
wrinkled hand on its glossy side, steadying himself. The King and
Queen stood side-by-side waiting for his final report. Connor
sensed the pervasive evil that clung to the air, throwing the
safety of the royal family's trip in peril. How could he convince
them to stay? King Bryant overflowed with bulldog determination,
and he’d set his sights on making this trip. Blowing out a heavy
frustrated breath, Connor looked up into his King’s eyes.

The Coach creaked and rocked, drawing
Connor’s attention to the window. Small hands ripped back the red
velvet curtains, and a mischievous smile lit the little face in the
window.

“Father, let’s go. The tide’s going to leave
without us.” Princess Ravyn grinned at Connor, “Goodbye, Connor,
I’ll see you at the end of summer!” She pulled her head back into
the coach and resumed bouncing on the seats, setting the whole
thing rocking.

Connor’s brief smile faded. “Your Highness,
you must postpone this trip. A sorcerer of the Dark Arts is out
there, lurking in the shadows, waiting to strike. I’ll be blasted
if I can get a lock on the snake’s whereabouts.” He slapped the
coach’s side in frustration.

King Bryant’s smile faded, brows furrowing.
Something was wrong. They’d raked the woods and surrounding
countryside for months, never turning up anything unusual. “I’m
uncomfortable about this trip as well, but we can’t delay any
longer. We’ve postponed this trip for two weeks already.” He
paused, rubbing his chin, “If this rogue sorcerer is nearby, it may
be safer for us to be traveling abroad. Connor, you are Aigerach’s
anchor, weathering every storm. I have complete faith in you.”

Connor looked past his King, staring into
Queen Lareina’s blue eyes, willing her to understand the danger she
was in. She smiled, leaning across her husband to plant a soft kiss
on Connor’s cheek. “Connor, you have more control over the Light
than any living being in Aigerach. While we are gone, you will
discover who this sorcerer of Darkness is. I know someone is out
there, I sense the changes in the aural plane. It’s so close. In
fact, the other day, I could have sworn,” she paused, closing her
eyes. She shook her head. “Never mind, that’s impossible.”

“Your Majesty, what do you suspect?” Connor
scanned Lareina’s face for a clue to her suspicions, receiving only
a sad smile.

“I suspect the tide will turn soon. We must
leave. All practitioners of the Light are at your disposal. You’ll
find the sorcerer, and you’ll dispose of him.” Giving a nod of
dismissal and taking King Bryant’s hand, she leveraged herself up
into the coach.

Bryant patted Connor’s shoulder and then
disappeared through the door, following his wife. Ravyn’s squeals
of delight drifted out through the door before it was shut
tight.

Connor turned, heart weary, and shambled back
through the crowds that parted for him, aiming for his workrooms.
As he passed through the archway into the Great Hall, he hurried
his steps. Ominous vibrations pulsed along the aural field.
Something was happening, and it was not under his control. Fear
nagged his every step. He hastened to reach his scrying bowl to
watch the royal family’s departure and aid when trouble struck.

Ravyn dangled halfway out the window of the
Royal Coach, inhaling the rich scent of chocolate as the carriage
rumbled past the bakery. She waved at the crowds lining the cobbled
lane. Her ebony hair drank in the summer sun, her deep blue eyes
twinkling with excitement. She was finally going to sea. She’d
watched the ships come and go from the harbor for as long as she
could remember and dreamed of the wind ruffling her hair, the sun
kissing her brow, and the smell of salt tickling her nose. Oh, how
she wanted to climb the tall masts, to gaze out at the immense
briny expanse. Mother and father would never allow it. If she had
the chance, she wouldn’t let the opportunity escape her grasp.

For the last seven years, her parents
traveled to the Summer Estate without her. Left in the care of
Nurse Mayweather, she waited out the long hot summer for their
return. Nurse Mayweather was kind, and they always had fun; but
Ravyn knew she was missing some marvelous quest. This year she’d
worked hard to show her parents how mature she’d become so she
could accompany them. All the effort to keep to her studies, and
keep out of too much mischief, had paid off.

She pulled her head back through the window.
She leaned into the corner, looking up into her mother’s blue eyes.
“Mama, Nurse Mayweather said the Summer Estate is more beautiful
than the castle in Veris. Is that really true?”

“Well it’s beautiful in its own special way.”
Lareina closed her eyes, a dreamy expression crossing her face.

“Nurse Mayweather said the hills are so green
all the other hills are envious. She said wild flowers are
everywhere, blossoming all spring and summer. She said I could
never even begin to count all the different types.”

“That’s true. I spend a good portion of my
time scouring the hills for plants to bring back to the healers.
Many of the things growing there are very rare indeed. Would you
like to help me gather plants? They’ve given me a long list of
things they’d like for their storeroom.”

Ravyn frowned, picking flowers wasn’t the
kind of excitement she had in mind. Instead of answering, she
changed the subject, “What about the maze, Mother? Will you show me
the maze?”

Lareina smiled, “I remember solving the maze
for the first time, finding the fountain at its center. It’s a very
difficult maze, and I can show it to you; but you’ll have to solve
it for yourself.”

King Bryant smiled at Ravyn. “Maybe you can
help me with matters of the court. I’m sure I can find a job for
you as a scribe, or something. There are court rulings to be read,
accounting papers to double check, trade agreements to work
through, and I need someone to document it all.”

Ravyn’s button nose wrinkled at the thought
of stuffy rooms, filled with stuffed shirts jabbering politics all
day long. “Umm, writing really isn’t my best quality. I think I
should be in charge of inspecting the Estate, and the surrounding
countryside. I will give you a detailed report of my findings. You
know, should anything be amiss.”

Suddenly a young boy burst through the crowd
waving his arms wildly at the coach. The driver reigned in the
horses with a frantic tug, and the coach lurched to a halt,
skittering little stones across the cobbles. The boy scrambled up
onto the coach’s runner, clinging to the window casing. He peered
in looking for Ravyn.

“Ravyn, can’t you stay one more summer? I
can’t play knights by myself. I can’t solve the castle’s mysteries
alone. We still haven’t found that secret passage Nurse Mayweather
hinted was in the library.” His tawny head bowed. “Please don’t
go.”

Ravyn sniffed back a tear. She was sorry to
leave her very best friend Blade behind. They had the most
wonderful adventures sneaking about the castle.

Blade looked hopefully into Ravyn’s face, his
green eyes brimming with tears. He bit his lower lip to keep them
from falling freely. Ravyn brushed an errant strand of hair away
from her watering eyes, straightened her shoulders, and lifted her
chin.

“I shall miss you too. I shall sorely miss
your help with all the dragons and unicorns I will be finding, but
I will remember every detail of my adventures and share them with
you upon my return. You do the same. We will have twice the
adventures when I return.”

Her voice softened as she added, “Here, take
this to remember me by when you get lonely.” She unclasped a
delicate gold chain from her neck, removing her unicorn pendant.
She placed the intricate carving of a proud unicorn in his
trembling hands. Pure white quartz shimmered in the mid-day light.
Its delicate horn was spiraled in gold, and silver traced each
prancing hoof. There was no other pendant like it in all of
Aigerach.

“Then you take my pendant and keep it close
to your heart,” he said stifling tears, trying to emulate her
poise. He placed a dragon in her hand. It was meticulously carved
out of a piece of deep purple amethyst, with silvered wings and
glinting diamond eyes.

Queen Lareina smiled. “We’ll be back before
the beginning of harvest, Blade. We must be going, or we’ll miss
the tide. Or is that what you were hoping?” she teased with a sly
wink. Blade lowered his eyes and slipped back off the coach’s
runner edging back into the crowd. Before the driver could order
the horses to start, Ravyn wriggled out the coach’s tight window
flying across the cobbles to Blade. She gave him a big bear hug,
squeezing him long and hard. “I’ll miss you so much. Think of me
every day, I know I’ll think of you. I’ll be back soon. I promise.”
She pecked his cheek. Whirling around, she scrambled back through
the tiny window in the blink of an eye.

The driver clucked to the horses, and the
coach began its bumpy descent to the harbor. King Bryant grinned
like a fox. “You really should try using the door next time, little
bird. The way you flit through the windows is unbecoming of a
princess.”

Ravyn giggled. Her father furrowed his dark
brows in mock agitation. Then laughter erupted from the coach as
the horses picked their way down the cobbled lane teeming with
well-wishers. Ravyn beamed as the docks came into view.

Glaring down from the battlements of the
castle, the Queen’s sister Zelera scowled at the coach as it
disappeared into the bulging crowds. She was tired of taking the
backseat to her perfect little sister. Zelera was the elder
daughter of the deceased King Alric. If she had been born a son,
she would be the ruler of Aigerach.

However, King Alric never had any sons, and
Lareina had always been his favorite. Pretty Lareina, smart
Lareina, talented Lareina. Talented in the Light Arts, yes, but she
knew nothing of the power of the Dark Arts. Zelera paced like a
panther.

She stopped, gripping the stony wall in her
bony fingers. She tossed her dark head back, crying out with evil
abandon. Today things were going to change. Like a giant spider in
its web waiting for a fly, she had been biding her time patiently
until events fell in place. She mastered the Dark Arts, gaining
powers no one suspected right beneath their shortsighted eyes. It
had taken years of quiet study and cunning to direct attention away
from what she was learning. Practicing the Dark Arts carried the
penalty of death on Aigerach and had for hundreds of years. That
would be the first rule to change, after the fly snagged her
web.

A slow lazy smile tugged at the corners of
her crimson lips. She had the power to throw the royal family into
a timeless void. “Bye, bye, baby sister,” she murmured to
herself.

After she absorbed more power and gained more
control of the Dark Arts, she would banish them for all eternity
into the Darkness. Her violet eyes blazed as she savored the power
she would possess. She would be the absolute ruler, not of Veris,
or Aigerach, but of the entire world. No one would loft power over
her ever again.

Looking out over the rooftops to the harbor,
she could just make out the shapes of the happy family boarding the
ship. They looked like little ants heading into their hill.
Crushing that hill would be delightful. She spun on her heel,
slamming into Connor, the King’s advisor. The bumbling old fool had
been with the ruling family for as long as she could remember. She
despised her father’s faithful old lapdog. She straightened her
spine, looking down her nose at him.

“Out of my way you old fool,” she sneered,
“Things are about to change around here, and if I were you, I’d
disappear.” Feral teeth gleamed beneath thin blood red lips. “I can
make that happen for you,” she hissed, brushing past him with a
swish of her robes. He stumbled awkwardly to keep his balance,
falling into the rough stones of the battlement. He watched her
haughty retreat.