The Elderine Stone (28 page)

Time seemed to pass by with much haste, the plains passed by, followed by the farming land which seemed to pass by with the same swift fashion. It wasn’t long before the towers of the great city of Haspar were in sight. They each thought whether or not its inhabitants would be carrying on with their daily lives, still yet unaware of what they had achieved. Surely the friends would be granted a warm welcome by the royal courts, especially with Devon in their presence. Jason’s mind was still solely focused on what had passed by, he had been through a lot from the time that he arrived in these lands, an encounter with a terrifying beast that had full intentions on tearing his limbs off, the elves and their majestic city, then starting an adventure that would show that he was not only destined to be here, but destined to be this prophesised hero and that his mother was the Dark Lady.

His mind switched waves and he started to wonder what things would have been like if he had been given the opportunity to spend more time with his mother. Or what if his mother had managed to escape the corruption she encountered when she first entered these lands. How different would things have been? He supposed that all things happened for a reason, and that he would just have to live with the history that had passed him by. For a brief moment he wondered what would come next, would he gain this warm welcome that the rest of his friends were expecting, after all Devon was supposedly the favoured hero figure by the New Order and most likely the Royal family. Although Jason thought that it was best not to consider what was about to happen, he observed the others. None of his worries seemed to matter to them. They were still captive to their glee, looking forward to their welcome.

The large gate of the city lay open with its customary guards standing upright either side, protecting the innards from lesser good-natured folk. Along side the guards stood a rather familiar figure, long slim and striking, smooth in complexion yet with a certain amount of passing age. The figure was none other than Lord Elindril, a somewhat unexpected person to meet at the gates of the large city without his elven sentinels. He smiled as they approached, expressing what had to be the most welcoming smile the friends had seen in quite a while.

“
So the prophecies came true, young ones? Jason really was the chosen one, which is rather interesting. I believe the New Order will have to answer some questions, sooner or later.”

“How do you know?” Emily asked aloud before turning to her friends before continuing almost secretively to them “Does he know that we had vanquished the Dark Lady?”

“
Miss Emily, do not be surprised, much like some others I too have my way of uncovering the most secretive of information, or rather the whereabouts of certain wanderers. To be more informative I have been watching the work of quite an interesting researcher into the Stones of Averin, let us say we had been following your path closely”

Without a pause for thought Emily understood exactly what Elindril was talking about “A seeing stone” Emily said to herself, not intending anyone on hearing.

“
You are quite correct.” The old elf said with smile, “You are all expected, in the courts. The king and queen are most anguish to meet you all.” Before turning to leave, Elindril beckoned Emily over. “Miss Talathin, I have some disturbing news for you. You must not inform the others or anyone else for that matter.”

“
What is it Lord Elindril?” Emily asked with a worried expression.

“
It is concerning your Grandfather” He paused before he continued. Feeling that the other members in the group had picked up their ears to listen to what he was about to say. “Perhaps now, is not the best of times?” Stepping back, he continued to the whole group “I shall see you all at the royal courts, when you arrive. Please be hasty you are expected heroes after all”

Elindril turned and proceeded to walk into the city, leaving the group and Emily with unanswered questions.

“Is everything okay Emily?” Jason asked as he walked over to the young wizard.

“
Yes everything is quite alright, just some news about my family, nothing to worry about at this time.” Emily said with false reassurance. “In fact we better get a move on, aren’t we expected after all.”

“Yes we better make our way there, this city is a maze in itself, we can’t keep the royal family waiting, even if we do have a member along with us” Jason said followed by a playful laugh.

This time the maze like city of Haspar was a lot simpler to navigate and the friends soon found themselves at the steps of the Royal Palace. They would have to admit, that they did attract some rather encouraging attention as they passed through the busy streets of Haspar. Perhaps the city folk did know of their success, or perhaps it was due to the young prince walking alongside them, either way, they all felt rather smug with themselves.

The large marble palace was draped in flowers with dark green ivy hanging from the many terraces, ornate statues lined the outer walkways, and every so often the royal guards in their fancy green and brown outfits could be spotted amongst the large marble columns. The guards didn’t stop the friends, probably as Devon was amongst them, instead they stood smartly to attention as the young prince and his friends walked passed.

The doors to the palace opened smoothly without a noise, gliding back into place revealing a long corridor decorated smartly and most extravagantly with lush flowers, ostentatious oil paintings and wall hangings many of which displayed past historic events of Haspar or portraits of royalty from years gone by. A red carpet lined the floor leaving a smart smooth edge either side to show the white marble floor tiles beneath. The corridor seemed so extraordinarily calm, yet more importantly very welcoming.

A butler stepped around the corner to address them,

“
Ah I see that our expected guests have arrived. The King and Queen are most eager to meet with you.” Noticing the young prince amongst the assembly the butler continued, “Your highness, it is most splendid that you have returned in these most favourable times. Please allow me to lead you to the royal greeting room. We have prepared quite a banquet to celebrate your victory!”

Jason shuffled his way up to Emily, after the butler had proceeded to lead the group at quite a slow pace along the lavishly decorated corridor.

“You don’t think, he meant Devon’s victory?”

Emily gave a short outburst of laughter attracting a rather unpleasant and sharp look from the grey haired butler
. She quickly regained control of herself.

“Jason, we all know it was your victory, we could not have succeeded if it wasn’t for you, and Devon knows that, besides you heard Lord Elindril, he knows and I am more than sure he kept the King well informed”

“
You are right, as usual Emily. I am over reacting and becoming paranoid…”

Cutting in before Jason even had the breath to finish Emily proclaimed with much explanation “Listen to you, you have fairly filled those boots of the prophesised one, but just you make sure you don’t jump right out of them and into those of the King!”
Emily began to giggle again, but luckily this time the butler was more concerned with greeting and introducing the group to the concierge at the entrance of the Royal greeting room.

With a silent nod, the concierge pulled on a long red woven cord, a bell jingled musically and the grand brown oak doors slowly opened.

The room that lay ahead was yet again majestically dressed as would be expected in all the royal chambers of the palace. Wooden tables were plotted throughout the room, and a long red carpet tracked a straight path from the door through the tables to a long table at the top clothed with white linens and the royal crest, a lion with a crystal at its front paws. The room until fairly recently was bustling with chatter from the many guests, but suddenly grew still as the young friends entered.

A tall figure, who was sitting in the foremost middle seat of the long table, rose, to welcome his young guests. Jason had never seen the King of Hasparia, but he was quite sure, the man before him was most certainly one of royal blood. Though his wavy blonde hair and fair complex stood him out as an older version of Devon, an almost certain give away. The queen as Jason took it, sat beside her husband smiling down at the young friends, a sense of familiarity crossed Jason’s mind as he returned a quick smile back at her before focusing once again on the King.

“
My most welcomed guests! There is not a decent soul in all of Haspar that could not hold your names in glory. Please, come and join with me at my table, the feast has only begun.” The king turned to the court “These, my fellows friends are our heroes, the heroes that have destroyed the Dark Lady and brought peace back to our lands, welcome them.”

Each and every guest and royal family member with the exception of one person clapped as the friends walked the red carpet to the long table at the head of the room, that one person was none other than Master Talathin, who sat to the left of the king. His face burnt with what looked like anger, though when he noticed he had attracted a questionable look from some, he forced a brief smile and a weak clap. His mind however was not fixed on the rejoicing of the welcoming party, and he eagerly sought for the festivities to end so that he could continue with his business, and urgent it was at that. All he had to do was sit through this measly feast, and attend the royal speeches afterwards, and then he could begin.

The feast progressed rather slowly, four lavish starting courses, that would be enough to fill any stomach, two main dishes and then finally to top it off the choice of a rather large selection of desserts. Emily and Jason both expressed the same remarks that this would be the ideal heaven for Sherbit. When the final spoon had scrapped clean the last dropping for dessert the king clapped his hands and once again the white oak doors opened, all turned to watch as a cortege of entertainers entered the room, dancers, singers, entertainers carrying small musical instruments and a few rather strangely dressed clowns. The friends were not granted the opportunity to witness the magnificent entertainment that would be on display for the rest of the night, instead the king whispered for them to follow as he laid the way out of the room by means of a secret passage that was covered by a large wall tapestry. The arrival of the entertainment gave them enough time to sneak out unnoticed, hopefully.

The group of friends followed the king as they walked down a small and narrow corridor, which was by no means fit for a king. The corridor eventually led to a room which looked filled with books and strange objects. It was carpeted in a lavish red carpet. Each wall was covered in bookcases filled to the brim of books old and new. The friends gathered around the king as he sat on the edge of the study table rather casually.

“
I suppose you are wondering why I have brought you here?” the king said as he looked at each friend individually not paying anymore attention to his son than he did to any other.

“
Emily you may have…” Suddenly there was a creak, and each head spun in the direction of the secret door that they had entered from. There was another creaked and the door shifted forward slightly, someone was breathing quite heavily and rapidly, but no one turned in the slightest away from the door. The door swung open revealing a shadow in the dimly light passage.

Thoughts ran through Jason’s head, his paranoia setting in. Now that he was a hero, perhaps he had many more enemies that he didn’t know about yet. An assassin perhaps, sent by followers of the Dark Lady, sent by Sherbit?

There was another creak as the shadowy figure stepped forward into the light, each member breathed a sigh of relieve when they noticed who it was.

“
Ah Lord Elindril, you gave us all quite a fright, I should have expected that the entertainment would not have been to your liking.”

The elf chuckled as he walked up to the rest of the group “I suppose you are in the process of telling the young ones the situation.”

“Yes I was Just about to mention to Emily, about her…”

Elindril cut in before the King could finish “Perhaps we should ask the young wizard if she would like to hear the news in private first, before we reveal to the rest of the group.”

“
No, it is quite alright, we are all friends now and anything I should hear, we should all hear. We have been through a lot together, I am not going to let some news get in the way of separating us now.” Emily stated with much determination.

“
Quite the speaker young one, you would make a fine position on the courts someday.” The king said with a heart felt laugh “Very well if it is your wish for all to hear at once, then that should be so. Lord Elindril please, will you tell them the news.”

The e
lf gave a nod as he clasped his hands together before he began.

“Emily, you as much as anyone else knows that your grandfather has been a predominant leader of the New Order, he has worked many wonders into creation and we should all be thankful for his well doing.”

Elindril paused for a moment to prepare his next choice of word carefully, giving enough time for the young friends to come to the conclusion that what ever Elindril was about to say was not going to be pleasant.