Chapter 1

In a tower room overlooking jagged mountains, a young girl, nearly seventeen years of age, sat sorting through a multitude of differently shaped bottles and jars. The late autumn sunshine shone down on her long, glossy black hair. A frown creased her pretty face as she puzzled over a particular jar, filled with some type of ground herb. "Now why didn't I label these when I gathered them?" she muttered to herself. She knew why, of course, she was always too tired after one of her herb collecting expeditions to label anything, so she had to put herself through this once a month.

A knock on the door startled Lady Arieleani of Trebond to her senses. "Come in", she called. A maid opened the door, looking anxious.

"Lady Arieleani, have I interrupted you?"

Arialeani sighed. "Marni, how many times do I have to tell you to call me Arie? Arie, unlike most nobles, hated being addressed so formally by her servants.

Apparently, the young maid still felt uncomfortable with this, however, because she stammered on. "Sorry to bother you miss, but its…well…it's just…"

"Spit it out Marni!" Lady Arie, for all her kindness, was not very patient.

"Well, Lady, it's my cat, she's injured.

Arie knew all the castle animals well. "Oh, you mean the pretty calico? What happened?"

Marni relaxed now that Arie would help her cat. "Well, I think she was injured by an owl, she's got deep talon slashes on her side." Without replying Arie flew into action, pulling jars of healing herbs down from the shelves that lined the walls. With the ease of practice, she mixed them together in to a thick poultice. Under her breath, she muttered a few words, taught to her by her old school master, that would call her gift, and help the wound heal quickly. She could have healed the cat instantly, but she preferred to use the somewhat more natural methods first. She scooped the mixture into a jar and handed it to Marni.

"Thank you!" Marni cried, "You…" They were interrupted by yet another knock on the workroom door. Arie got up to answer it. A burly man, his hair almost completely gray with age stood in the doorway. Arie recognized him instantly, this was Herof, who had served the family since before she was born, and was a good friend to her. Herof wasted no time. "Arie, your mother wants to see you now, its urgent."

Arie followed Herof down the castle corridors, not thinking about the familiar twists and turns. Her mind was churning with thoughts. Why did her mother want to see her? Herof's voice had sounded solemn, almost ominous. Had somebody died? No, she was not going to let her self think of that. But it was too late. The thought of death had wedged it self into her mind. Her mind drifted back to that horrible day, ten years ago. She was only seven years old at the time. She had been playing with one of the castle cats when her mother had come out into the courtyard where she had been sitting on the grass. She had never seen her mother cry like that before. Arie remembered frantically asking her mother what was wrong. "Arie, oh Arie, it's…. Your father…. he's….dead!" At that both Arie and her mother had begun to sob uncontrollably. Gareth, the lord of Trebond, her father, was dead. He had gone out into the mountains to kill a creature that was ravaging the village. The animal had been to strong for him, and had mauled him to death. Arie had cried for days after that, worrying everyone around her, because, even at that age, Arie almost never cried. It was little comfort to his family that Gareth had gravely wounded the animal and it had died of its injury's some time later, but they knew that Gareth would have wanted to die fighting. He had been that kind of man, never one to sit at home and let others do the work. After he died, Aries mother had taken over managing Trebond. It was a lot of work, because Trebond had some of the best mines in the kingdom, so Valerie was always busy.

Arie was glad when they reached the door to her mother's study. It took her mind off her father's death. She once again began to wonder why her mother wanted to speak to her. She did not have much time to ponder this however because, at that moment her mother, Lady Valerie of Trebond opened the door. Simply the look on her mother's face told Arie a great deal. Valerie almost always had a smile on her beautiful, if lined, face. Today, though, her face was solemn and sad. When she saw Arie standing behind Herof, her green eyes, began to fill up with tears. Her daughter knew that she was trying, so as not to worry her, not to cry.

"Sit down" Valerie said, in a very choked voice. Aries mind once again filled with worries.

"There's…something… I need to tell you."

"What is it, Mother, what is it?" Arie said, sounding just as worried as her mother.

Valerie took a deep breath. "You need to leave here, now." Arie almost lost her composure and cried when she heard those words. Leave Snowshine? Her home, where she belonged? She had lived there since she was born. It was where she had said her first word, taken her first step. Where she had first discovered that she had magical powers? No. She couldn't. She just couldn't. "Why?" She asked, trying to keep herself from crying, screaming, throwing things, anything to avoid facing the fact that she might have to leave Snowshine. "Well, it's a long story." said Valerie, sounding much calmer now that she knew Arie wasn't going to explode. "There is much I haven't told you, although maybe I should have."

"Spit it out Mother!' Arie blurted out. She may have been able to hide her emotions, but she had never been the most patient of girls.

"Well then, you can't interrupt me" Said Valerie. She was all too used to her daughter interrupting her, but usually it didn't bother her. She knew that it was just in Aries' character to be curious and inquisitive. However, she knew that in this particular conversation at least, they would not get anywhere if Arie kept interrupting to ask questions. By the same character trait, Valerie expected her daughter to argue with the order to keep quiet, but Arie just gulped and nodded for her mother to continue.

Valerie told of how the King, who all the nobles thought of as a kind and just ruler, was in danger. Apparently, the peasants and even some of the less wealthy merchants and traders, thought less, much less, of the king. They were of the opinion that the king was cruel, un-just, and oblivious of their suffering." At this, Arie, who, like all nobles, had been raised to hold the king in extremely high respect, gasped at the indication that anyone might think that the King, the ruler of their kingdom, was anything less then all mighty. At a stern glance from her mother however, she remembered her promise not to interrupt, and fell quiet. Her mother went on to explain that there were murmurs of rebellion among the lower classes of society. She also said that there had been a rumor going around that at the heart of the uprising was the last remaining member of the previous ruling family. Recently these rumors had gotten to a point that the king felt that he, and his heirs, were in danger. Arie, unable to contain herself, asked, "So, what does that have to do with me?"

Valerie took a deep breath. "This is the part I should have told you long ago." "How do I say this?" Valerie was quiet for a moment, thinking. Then she looked up. "Who is the king's heir?"

Arie sighed, thinking her mother was giving her yet another test. Of course, this was an easy one. Any well brought up young noble woman like herself could recite all the family trees of the noble houses, back ten generations to the present. This should have been simple for her, so Arie was shocked when she didn't know at once. Let's see, she thought, thinking it out in her mind. The king's first wife had died, childless, four years ago, and the king had never remarried. But, that was impossible. The King HAD to have an heir. But, that was the only possible explanation. Arie was mentally yelling at herself. How could she have not noticed before? She thought back to the lessons on the royal lineage. Now that she thought about it, her tutor, Leah, had never really made her recite that line, not nearly as much as she had gone over all the other families. She had just assumed that her teacher knew that she obviously knew the royal line and didn't need to practice it. But had this been why? Had someone no wanted her to know that the king had no heir? There was no other way she could have found out. She had never been to court, and she didn't social much with others of her age and class. All her friends were commoners and didn't care for noble's gossip.

Valerie looked at Arie's troubled expression. "You don't know, do you?"

"But….But…That's, not possible!" Stammered Arie.

"How can I not know?"

"Because we kept it secret"

"But why would you do that?" Arie wondered why her mother would keep such a crucial piece of information from her.

"To protect you." Valerie said in a hard voice. "It was the best thing for you that you did not know until you absolutely had to.

"Know what?" Asked Arie. She was all a tangle inside. She was afraid to find out, she was worried because her mother was worried, but above all, she wanted to know.

"You are the Kings heir."