Shades of Grey

ESTHEN— MARCH 1843

Lord Remacus gestured to the florid double doors at the top of the huge staircase. Forma and I promptly began climbing, looking uneasily to the intimidating guards who were still chary of our presence.

“I don’t think the guards like you very much,” Forma whispered pejoratively.

“Dinosaurs don’t like anyone,” I replied smiling. “However, I think it’s you they don’t like. You’re the one who keeps taunting them by changing into larger Creatures!”

Forma gaped at them in offence as they looked back at her with their cruel dinosaur eyes.

“You’d think dinosaurs would have thicker skin!” she cried in annoyance.

I rolled my eyes as we followed Lord Remacus and members of the royal guard through beautifully painted and exquisitely furnished antechambers into the throne room, which was even more elaborately decorated and beautiful than the rest of the palace interior.

The room was cavernous and had two very large murals on both lengthwise walls depicting Xanthar’s rebellion from the intrusive armies of Scotland and the New Caelan Islands during the 1500s when Xanthar’s gold production was at its highest and the country was at its most valuable. It was one of Xanthar’s most important and legendary battles.

“Xanthar’s Independence War?” I asked, gesturing to the paintings. Lord Remacus gave an impressed grin.

“Very good. Few know of our history or even of our existence!” he cried with a laugh from the large throne in the centre of the room.

“Hunters are taught a great deal of history during school,” I said, remembering the many detentions I had held with the unbearably dull Lord Krunuk, the ancient Gnome who taught World History — one of the few subjects for which I saw no use. I slept many a time in that class, hence my many consecutive detentions.

“Well, that should be useful when I illuminate our situation and our desperate need for a Creature Hunter,” he began. “You see, our monarchy has been dominated by one bloodline since the foundation of the country: the Riadas family. The Riadas heritage stretches to the beginnings of modern society and there is even historical evidence to suggest that they were among the first to sense the presence of Evil in the world after the Rip occurred. They have ruled us with wisdom and power, never overstepping the boundary between leader and tyrant.”

He paused, as though unwilling to share with a foreigner.

“I need to know this information if I’m to help you,” I pushed. “I apologise if it is unorthodox, but I must know.”

He nodded and took another breath. I patiently waited for him to continue.

“Each King in the Riadas bloodline is granted certain…abilities…in order to properly protect the kingdom. It is a great secret and must remain inside these walls. The people must never know.”

I stole a glance at Forma, who looked offended that I would suspect her of revealing a secret, even though she had leaked many a personal secret of mine to our close friends and, by proxy, the entire school. I looked at her more sternly, forcing her to recall these occasions. She looked away sheepishly in defeat.

“A few years ago, we lost our king and queen to a terrible disease that nearly wiped out the entire kingdom. Their only daughter — her Majesty Anesthia, was crowned Queen and Supreme Ruler over all of Xanthar. She was ten years old at the time.”

I gasped as Lord Remacus gestured to a large painting of a very beautiful young girl dressed in regal robes with air of sophistication worthy of Helen herself that was well beyond her years. Her beautiful face held the sort of stoic, timorous wisdom one would expect of the Biblical King Daniel. It was clear there was something special about her.

“Within a week of her coronation, Anesthia showed signs of the signature Riadas magic. Later in her life, she was encouraged to marry and continue the tradition. While at a Kestaslian gala, she met a certain prince...” Lord Remacus paused for a moment yet again, “...and now she is missing.”

He looked to me, waiting for a response. I felt my brow furrow even further than it already had and I gestured to the painting, noticing something above the elaborate neckline of her intricate dress.

“What is that impression just below her collar bone?” I asked.

“Once a Riadas comes to power, the key to the Xanthar Wall appears under the skin. It is the source of the Riadas magic. It protects the balance of the country.”

“How does the key get inside the skin? Is it swallowed?”

“If one were not a member of the Riadas bloodline, the key would need to be swallowed to obtain the power. Inside a Riadas, the key develops as thought it were an organ.”

“That’s disgusting…” Forma mused with a shudder. I cracked a half smile, but kept my attentions on Remacus.

“Who was this prince?” I asked.

“His Royal Highness Prince Lanark of Cronamia.”

I sighed and shut my eyes in frustration. Cronamians were dangerous creatures that I had only just recently learned to combat. Intensely beautiful but also intensely paranoid, they had gone into hiding underground, devolving into near quadripedal monsters, their minds growing exponentially in both capacity and speed of thought. They were smart, deceptive and dangerous to go up against.

“How long had they known each other before she was taken?” I asked, my eyes still closed.

“Four months.”

“Were they close?”

“Unnervingly. Her Majesty was attracted to learned men.”

“Do the Cronamians know the details of the Riadas magic?”

“Unfortunately, yes.”

“How long have the people been living in such conditions?”

I opened my eyes and noticed a flicker of annoyance cross Lord Remacus’s brow.

“Alas, my leadership skills cannot compare with those of Anesthia or her ancestors. In the absence of a Riadas, the balance of the country falters. This is why it is all the more important to retrieve the queen in a timely fashion, before something terrible happens. The queen has been missing for a little over five months and I fear what could happen if we fail to find her soon.”

I looked at Lord Remacus with a doubtful frown.

“As I understand it, you want me to travel to Cronamia to rescue your queen who, if she is as powerful as you describe, could possibly be dying from being so far away from her kingdom and save her from Cronamians while her people suffer and die of starvation in her absence. Is this correct?”

Lord Remacus nodded, his pride wounded by my curt summation of affairs.

I sighed and turned to Forma, overwhelmed with new information and a new mission. She gave me a passive shrug and I turned back to Lord Remacus.

“I accept.”