Heir of Golden Storms

Thalia is the eldest daughter of Queen Willow. She is seated next to her mother. She also shares the same dark purple cloud shaped hair as her mother. She seems younger than me, by a year or two. What she does not share with her mother are her eyes. She has sapphire blue eyes, probably a characteristic inherited from her father.

When she hears the news, she smiles. If she is faking, I cannot even say. She sits down on her chair as everyone does and takes a sip of her wine before putting it back. I take a sip from my wine, but before I put it back on the table, I take another sip and another and another. I will need more wine if I am going to get through this night.

Thalia’s eyes catch mines and I stop drinking. I put the goblet back down at the table, evading her eyes in the process. When she notices that I do not want to look at her, she looks away.

“I am sure that you are thrilled to get to know Thalia,” father tells me. “Why don’t you and Thalia eat in your chambers? I will send the servants to take your food up to your rooms.”

“Of course,” I say as I stand up, goblet of wine on my right hand.

I fake a smile as I walk past my father and Queen Willow. I pull slowly Thalia’s chair and offer her my hand. She takes it; her hand is soft against mine. When she stands up, I move her hand and place her arm softly between my free arm. I feel everyone’s eyes on me as I waltz past them. All I want to do is leave without Thalia, but princes have been taught to be nice, or at least pretend. With my head raised and a smile placed on my face, I leave the dining room.

Once I am at the hall, and without eyes except for the knights to see me, I let go of Thalia’s arm. I do not wait for her to decide what she is going to do. I do not know her, and this marriage is going to be only for political reasons. My only job is to marry her and have children when the time comes.

I climb the stairs, not looking behind to search for Thalia. I open the door of my chambers and that is when I feel that she is behind me. I leave the door open and walk inside. I sit on my elegant brown sofa in the room with the goblet of wine in my hand. Thalia remains at the hallway, looking at me. The servants enter the room and place the plates on the small table in front of me before leaving.

“You can enter if you want to eat,” I tell Thalia. “If you want to remain outside and starve, it will not matter to me.” She enters, closing the door behind her.

“I am guessing that you are not happy by this arrangement,” she says. A sweet voice comes from her. The innocent voice that could sing lullabies perfectly.

“Who would be?” I say, taking a shrimp from my plate. I put it in mouth. “People marry for love, but when you are born royal, marriage has nothing to do with love.”

“And do you think that I am happy by this?” Thalia asks. She moves to sit on the sofa next to me. “I have been alive for sixteen years. Believe me, I did not want to be tied down.”

I stare at her. She is honest, more than faeries. Faeries cannot lie, but they bend their words. Thalia does not bend her words. She also speaks freely like the princess that she is. There is no reason to be mean to her. She can be crueler.

“You need this more than I do,” I say handing her the wine. She takes it and drinks a big gulp. She returns the goblet to me.

“Tell me, what made you arrogant?” she asks, leaning back on the sofa.

“I do not need to answer to you,” I answer as I look towards the balcony.

“Oh, but you should,” she says and my attention snaps towards her.

That is when I notice her dress. It is a dark purple dress, representing the Court of Storms. The color white is represented by a small amount of glitter around the dress. It reminds me of the night sky. The dress is long and flat but the way that she is seated, with one leg across the other, I can see part of her legs.

“See, my family and your family are expecting us to be talking, maybe even kissing,” she says. They will not expect us to do anything more; that it is saved for the wedding night. “So, you could tell me something about you, and I will do the same, and then we can start ignoring each other.” She snaps her fingers and I hand her the wine. She takes a sip. “You are not used to being bossed, are you not?”

“Shut up,” I say, because denying it would be lying. I sigh. “My mother died when I was born. My older brother, Zephyrus, who is the second born but the first male born, barely acknowledges my existence. Ailsa, the third born, is only polite with me because she rarely talks to someone. Easton, the fourth born, pushed me away since I took his honor of being the youngest son.”

“What about the first born?” Thalia asks, wine cup laying lazily on her hand.

“Marin is the only one that could say that truly loves me,” I say. “She is the only one that seems to enjoy my company.”

“Maybe it is because of your arrogance,” Thalia says, forming a smile on her face. “Or maybe because you think that you are all that.”

“Oh, really?” I say and she nods. I stand up. “Some people find this arrogant charming.”

“Maybe they do,” she says as I lean closer.

“They also find it tempting, seductive, irresistible,” I say. My face is inches from hers. Our body close enough to touch. Before she speaks, I steal the goblet from her hand and gulp down the rest of the wine.

Before I return to my seat, I see a moth coming from the balcony. I extend my left hand and it lands on my index finger. It is a black moth which only can mean that Hesperia has arrived. The moth flies again as I walk towards the balcony. I spot Hesperia and Caspian a few levels down, hiding behind a tree. I signal them to wait. I should look for an excuse to leave the castle without drawing suspicion for Thalia to see. When I turn around, Thalia is standing behind me.

“Who are they?” she asks as she leans on the balcony to see them. When she spots them hiding, she turns to face me. “You were going out tonight before all of this ruined it for you.” It takes me a second, but I nod. “And you were not planning to tell anyone.” I nod again.

She walks back inside slowly. I follow her without knowing what to say. She can tell father what I had planned. He will not allow me to go to the lectures anymore because a prince needs to behave and be in court instead of wasting his time with anyone else. Thalia stops next to the bed and turns again.

“Go,” she says, putting a strand of hair behind her pointy ear. “We should trust each other if we want to survive after getting married. This will be our first secret.” I stare at her blankly. Why is she being nice to me? “I will stay in this room. If anyone comes, I will say that we are occupied.” After a second, I nod. “What are you waiting for? Go! Change into something untraceable to the Court of Miracles.”

“Thanks,” I say, handing her the empty goblet and walking towards my dressing room. She is now holding one secret for me. What would she ask in exchange?

She follows me watching the room cautiously. The curtains of this room are always closed and so are the windows. There are many wardrobes and dresses, each one with different kind of clothes. Mirror has been stationed on different sides of the room. Candles are enchanted to turn themselves on whenever I arrive.

I open one of the wardrobes and under the hanging clothes, pull the piece of wood, revealing a secret compartment. Inside of it there are completely black clothes that does not show any sign of royalty. I take the clothes out and put it on the small table inside the room. I look towards the door, where Thalia is laying against the frame.

“A little privacy,” I tell her.

“Prude much?” she asks, teasing.

“No,” I say. “I am confident of myself. You can stay and have a look but after this, you are going to crave for another show.”

“You wish,” she says, and she leaves.

I take my clothes off, tossing it on the table where the clothes are. I put my black pants first and then the long sleeve shirt. I put the boots, that are supposed to resist every kind of weather and soil, on. Then, I put the black coat with the hoodie on. The cloak is supposed to be enchanted to never rip and for people to not see me in shadows.

I move back to the room where Thalia is. She is sipping from a bottle of wine. She must have found it from my secret stash inside an empty vase near the balcony. She stands up when she sees me walking towards the balcony.

“What are you doing?” she says, standing against the frame of the entrance to the balcony.

“Getting out of the castle,” I say, climbing the ledge of the balcony.

“We are three levels above ground,” she says. “How are you getting down?”

“By climbing, of course,” I say. “This is not my first escape.”

I lower myself to the edge and jump to the nearest window at the right, grabbing the stone edge with my hands. I know that Thalia is looking at me. From the window, I let myself fall to the balcony below. I hide myself in the corner of the balcony because if someone is in the room inside, I do not want them to see me. I jump from the balcony to a nearby window and let myself fall to the ground.

I look up back to my balcony and see Thalia staring at me. I smile, but she only rolls her eyes and goes back inside. I walk away from the castle and towards the tree where Caspian and Hesperia are standing.

“Who is that lady in your room?” Hesperia asks. She is wearing a brown dirt cloak that surrounds her completely Her blonde hair is tied up in a ponytail.

“My future wife,” I say, now realizing that my life has change drastically.

I look at Caspian. He is not wearing any cloak. He wears baggy jeans and a plain blue tight turtleneck shirt that must be a size less than his.

“Why are you not wearing a cloak?” I ask, trying to change the subject from Thalia.

“I am a merman from a wealthy family,” Caspian says. “I am not royalty nor a close relative of them. No one will recognize me tonight. On the other hand, you two should keep those cloaks tight.”

Hesperia pulls her cloak tighter and says, “Let’s go.”

She is the one that leads. We walk through one of the gardens of the castle, but we stop behind a tree when we see guards standing at the gate and exit of the garden. Hesperia takes something from an inside pocket in her cloak and pulls it out. A dark green centipede with orange legs dances in her hand. She whispers something to it and puts it on the floor.

The centipede starts roaming around the floor until it starts moving away as if it remembers where it must go. The centipede continues until it reaches one of the guards. It climbs the armor of the guard and enters through an opening between the shoe. For a second, nothing happens but then the guard jumps.

“What is wrong?” the other knight asks him.

“Something bit me,” the guard answers, still shaking and jumping. “It is still inside my armor. Get it off! Get it off!”

“Is it poisonous?” I ask Hesperia. I do not bother whispering; they cannot hear me with all the screaming.

“A little,” she says. “It will not kill him, but it will numb his leg. Of course, if he does not treat it quickly, he might slumber for a day.”

“I cannot feel my legs!” the guard says on cue as he falls. He is lucky enough to grab the other guard’s shoulder and hold himself. “Get me to a healer, quickly!”

“O-of course,” the other guard says. He puts one arm of the bitten guard around his neck and, holding him by the waist, starts moving him away from the gate.

When they are out of sight, Hesperia crouches towards the gate. We imitate her. At the small gate, I pull out a key from my pocket. It is a master key of the castle. There are only two copies of this key: the original and this one. Hesperia once stole it while I distracted father. Caspian then went to a locksmith and made a copy before returning it.

I open the lock and push the gate carefully. A faint screech can be heard. I stop when the gate is big enough for us to pass. I slip out first, then Hesperia and when Caspian slips out, I close and lock the gate.

“Why did we not bring horses?” Caspian asks, after minutes of walking.

“Because there are not any horses at my court,” Hesperia says.

“But Rowan’s father has a stable with horses,” Caspian says. “And not any horses, winged ones.”

“And how do you expect that we take them out from the stables and sneak them out of the kingdom without anyone hearing us?” I ask.

“All right, I should not have asked,” Caspian says while his hands go to the air as surrender. “The only thing that was missing in your question was a finger snap and you would have topped your prince attitude.”

I do not bother answering. The Witches’ Forest are several yards away from us. The gloomy trees do not show any sign of life. They are still as if death has already come for them. Their leaves are not green nor orange, they are black or the darkest purple possible. Their trunks are darker than their leaves.

“Remember, do not trust anyone in the forest,” Hesperia warns. “No matter if it is a witch, faerie, or if it even represents a family member. Do not trust anyone.”

As soon as I step into the forest, I feel the change of scenery. I am no longer at my court. The air and floor are moist. The temperature is higher than the Court of Miracles. The ground is darker and without grass; only trees, vines with thorns, or dangerous plants can grow on it. There is hardly any light in here, making me almost blind. Hesperia is the only one that can see almost fully in here.

“My gills feel the humidity in the air,” Caspian says, trying to move his turtleneck. “They want to breath.”

“I know, my wings are feeling their home,” Hesperia speaks. “They want to be free.”

“This is not your court,” I tell her.

“I know, but we are close enough,” she answers.

The Witches’ Forest is a place of many homes. The Court of Swarm, where Hesperia leaves, is the biggest court in the Witches’ Forest. It covers every single inch of the forest but underground. The entrances to the court are well hidden that hardly anyone knows where the court is located.

“Do not separate,” Hesperia says when we arrive. “Try not to, but if you do separate and get lost in the forest, find a moth or some other bug to lead you towards me. And do not, I repeat, do not eat, drink, or smell anything.”

I nod. We have arrived at a swamp. Small candles are scattered around the swamp, on top of tree’s branches, and rocks, with blue flames lighted. Bridges are on almost any corner that leads to different islets on the swamp. In the middle of an islet, sits a bonfire with blue flames. Above it, there is not any branch from any trees, letting the moonlight shine on top of it.

This is a Moonlight Festival. Every full moon, creatures gather to receive benefits from the moon. Witches gather to collect moonlight or sell potions, poisons, or anything that contains dark magic. Faeries, ogres, trolls, and other creatures come to make deals with witches. But most of the people that come here are for the party. The only problem is that the Moonlight Festival is illegal.

“The music is calling me,” I say. Music is being played by faeries. I extend a hand towards Hesperia. “Would you grant me the honor of this dance?”

“There is no need to be charming,” Hesperia says with a smile as she takes my hand. “Of course, I will dance with you.”

I pull her close and start moving with the music. The music is different than what the faeries play at the balls in the castle. It is sharper, more danceable. It is played with a variety of low budget instruments, crafted by the same people that play them. The musicians do not even care if they are playing strictly the piece. Instead, they add their own touch to the songs by adding solos or changing certain notes. It makes the music vivid.

Right when the song ends, I bow at Hesperia as she does the same. An ogre with horns in his head asks Hesperia to dance and she accepts. Caspian turns to a faerie with dark hair to dance and leaves.

Do not separate.

So much for that.

When I turn around, a woman is facing me. She is bigger than me. Her face is wrinkled with warts all over her skin. Her hair is only strands and unwashed as if shampoo has never touch it. Before I could turn around and away from those horrific black eyes, she blows a black dust that hits my face.

Do not eat, drink, or smell anything.

I stumble with a rock behind me as I try to escape her. What is that dust? The world tilts and before I could stand straight, I fall, hitting my head with the same rock that I tripped with. The last thing I see before my eyes close is a red frog catching a moth.

***

When I wake up, I am stiff. My eyesight is a blur. I try to move, but I am unable too. I am sitting with my hands on the armrests of a chair, tied with something. The left side of my head hurts, right where the rock hit me. All I see are shadows, hidden between sources of light.

“Wakey-wakey, little prince, or I shall make you wince,” a rough female voice says. I feel something sharp slipping from my right cheekbone to the corner of my mouth, cutting everything in its trajectory.

“What do you want?” I ask, trying to stop my head from spinning.

“No need to be rude, even if everyone calls you cruel,” another female voice says in the room.

Witches. The only creatures in the kingdom that must rhyme when they speak, just as we, faeries, cannot lie. They are dirty creatures, always claiming what is not theirs. They even trick faeries into marrying them.

“Stop moving around, unless you want to get in the ground,” says a third witch.

“I cannot help it. I am dizzy,” I say.

“With this smack on your face, I will make everything go away,” says a fourth witch. She is chanting a spell. I feel a slap across my face and the throbbing on my bump on the head stops.

My eyesight returns. We are at what looks like a cabin with broken woods and holes in it. Four or six candles are all around the small cabin, illuminating just enough for the witches to see. Termites are eating the old wooden wardrobe, table, and even part of the chair that I am sitting on. Several bats are hanging upside down from the ceiling.

“Again, what do you want?” I ask. I am glad that I can see them.

Two of the witches are standing in front of me. One of the witches in front of me is the big witch that threw the dust on my face. The one on her right is a younger witch, but still old, with some strands of black hair on her gray hair. Another witch with green skin is standing by the door. A last witch is seated on an old chair. She seems to be the oldest of the foursome.

“When is he going to go so that I can feast on his bones?” the oldest witch says.

“Patient my friend, he needs to entertain,” the green witch says.

“Who, me?” I ask. “I am fine without the need of entertainment.”

“I do not care what you say, you will do it my way,” the big witch says.

Try not to, but if you do separate and get lost in the forest, find a moth or some other bug to lead you towards me.

I look around. The only bugs in the room are termites. Even if I order the termites to search for Hesperia, they will not make it in time. What else can I do? Stall until Caspian or Hesperia notice that I am not with them.

“Do it your way, do it my way, I do not care. Just get to the point,” I say, turning my face and eyes to the side in boredom.

“You seem quite eager to your doom or are you only a fool?” the youngest witch asks.

“A little bit of both,” I say.

Every prince or princess are taught from a young age what to do in scenarios like this. The most important lesson is that we should never show any sign of fear. The other is to keep them talking, even tease them, in order to stall until someone arrives. The final one, and the most important one, to never ever do anything that they ask for.

“If you want to leave, you need to give us a gift,” the green witch says.

“Hurry up now and do not disavow,” the old witch says.

“I am not sure that I understand you completely,” I say, which is the truth. I know that all that they want is a miracle, but I do not know which miracle.

“A miracle is what we want. A miracle is what you shall grant,” the green witch says.

“Oh, I see,” I say. “And what are the miracles that you wish for?”

“Eternal youth for the price of a tooth,” the old witch says as she stands up with carefulness.

“Ah!” I exclaim. “There is a problem with that. You have to give a price of equal value.”

“And if I want grace, what do I have to pay?” the big witch says.

“Beauty is one of the biggest miracles,” I say. “Almost nothing, with a few exceptions, can be exchanged for beauty or youth.”

“I will pay the price, not matter the size,” the old witch says. She is the first to ask a miracle. She is the desperate one.

“A death of someone close or someone that you love always seem to do the trick,” I say.

The rest of the witches stare at the old one. It seems that they know that they are the only people that are close to the old witch. It takes a few seconds before the old witch pulls the young witch towards her and places a knife on her throat. She quickly slices it, letting the body fall and the dark blood scatter.

The young witch tries to move. She crawls with one hand while the other hand is on her neck. When she does not think that she can crawl anymore, she extends her arm towards me. She is asking me to save her with a miracle. It takes her less than a second after that to let her head fall and lay still.

“I killed my fellow witch, now grant me a wish,” the old witch says.

“First, set me free,” I say. The old witch moves towards me, but the green witch grabs her by the arm.

“No need to resist, can’t you do the miracle without being dismissed?” the green witch asks.

“You tell me,” I say, “Can I?” Miracles can be done without a wave of a hand. I will not let them know that.

She looks at the big witch as if checking to see if they know what I need to do a miracle includes setting me free. The big witch gives her a shrug. The green witch looks at the old witch, asking with her look if it is a good idea to set me free. The old witch only turns her sight towards me. The green witch takes a step towards me.

The door flies open, breaking itself and hitting the green witch on the back. I used that opportunity to stand up with the chair. They forgot to tie my legs. I swing my chair at the big witch, breaking it when it hits her. I am free. I pull the ropes out of my wrists.

The big witch turns to me. Her arm and side are covered with blood and small part of wood. She starts running towards me and before she clashes, a sword passes through her chest. The big witch falls to her knees, her life disappearing in her black eyes. The sword is pulled out and the lifeless body falls to the floor.

Gracin, Easton’s fiancée, stands behind the witch with a sword on her hand. She is still wearing the same dress that she wore at dinner.

“W-What are you doing here?” I ask, walking towards her while trying to not step on the big witch. The green witch and the old witch are also dead on the floor.

“This is my court,” she says as she starts walking away.

“But how did you know that I was here?” I ask her.

“Spirits speak, Rowan,” Gracin says. “You were lucky that I was coming from your court. I had to steal this sword from someone at the festival.” She drops the sword. “I know that you come here for every Moonlight Festival.”

“What are you going to do?” I ask her. She knows that I come here every Moonlight Festival, she might use that against me. She might tell father about it.

She stops on her tracks. “You have not given me any reason to use this information against you, but know this, if you do, I will not hesitate to use it.” She points towards north-east from where I am standing. “The exit is that way. The next time that I find you at the Moonlight Festival, I am taking you directly to your father. Is that clear?”

I nod. I put my hood on and start walking towards the exit without giving her another look.

Remember, do not trust anyone in the forest, no matter if it is a witch, faerie, or if it even represents a family member. Do not trust anyone.

And Gracin is not an exception.