Disclaimer: I am not, nor have I ever been, Angie Sage.

Author's Note: Enjoy!

Chapter One

Zelda Zanuba Heap, Keeper of Draggen Island, was savoring a tranquil day in her garden. It was MidSummer Day, the occasion to which Zelda Zanuab Heap looked forward ever single year. It wasn't that the remainder of the seasons were unbearable-they were lonely, but somehow she got by-it was simply that she never felt truly alive until MidSummer Day arrived. It wasn't the pleasantly temperate weather in the Marram Marshes which accompanied summer that so appealed to her or even the various creatures she kept about her home that were prone to giving birth during June. None of that truly mattered to Zelda. It was all lovely, of course, but it paled in comparison with the Queen's MidSummer visit. This year, Zelda was expecting Queen Elena to pay her visit to the Dragon Boat. Zelda's duties in life all revolved around the Dragon Boat in some way or another. It was a glorious vessel and had been beloved by Queens for centuries and paying a visit to the boat was a custom that all of the Queens had followed for some time . Annually on Midsummer Day, the Queen of the Castle journeyed to the Marram Marshes and as Keeper of the boat, it was Zelda's job to care for it and the other important life forms on Draggen Island until the Queen arrived. Zelda enjoyed her job. She preferred a quiet life and the Marram Marshes certainly provided one for her. She lived alone, as all Keepers must and she passed a great deal of time tending to the animals in her possession and attempting to create new recipes to prepare for her occasional guests.

However, hers wasn't a completely solitary life. Her brother, Benjamin, frequently dropped by to visit her and often he brought one or two of his seven sons with him. Benjamin was a Wizard, but he was not just any old Wizard. He was a shape shifter and could change form into almost anything he desired. Zelda's other brother, Theo, was also a shape shifter. Zelda didn't exactly approve of brothers' chosen branch of Wizardry. She knew that successful shape shifters had a very hard time keeping their own physical forms for an extended period of time. Despite this, Zelda enjoyed her brothers' company very much and always loved it when Benjamin brought his sons along, particularly his youngest son, Silas.

Silas was nine years old and full of energy. Zelda was only thirty-six, but she still couldn't keep up with Silas. He was such an enthusiastic, boisterous child. Even if he didn't have the kind of magykabl power that was expected of a seventh son, he was still special in his way. Although he undoubtedly had a good heart, it was obvious to Zelda that Benjamin and indeed his wife, Jenna, were a bit disappointed in Silas's lack of magykal ability. His older brothers had twice the talent he had, but secretly, Zelda preferred Silas's company because he was so pleasant and cheerful. She had tried to convince Benjamin to stop being so hard on Silas because he couldn't help the amount of talent with which he had been born. It was hardly the child's fault that he struggled through magyk.

This MidSummer Day was particularly important to Zelda. Not only was the Queen coming for her yearly visit, she was bringing along with her the young princess, Cerys, who was only a few years younger than Silas. Zelda had yet to meet the Princess, but she knew that, if the child was anything like her mother, Queen Elena, she would become rather fond of her. Zelda had spent much of MidSummer Day's Eve preparing an immense meal for the Queen and her daughter to enjoy. She was well aware that Elena would tell her that the meal was "interesting" as everyone always did, but still, Zelda loved cooking for others and the Queen was certainly no exception to that rule.

When the Queen at last entered Keeper's Cottage through the Queen's Way, it was midday already. Zelda had been in the middle of slicing some eel for the afternoon meal when she head Elena's voice calling down the corridor.

"Zelda? Zelda, where are you? We have arrived!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming, dear." Zelda cried happily as she approached the potions cupboard from whence the Queen had emerged . Upon reaching Elena, she embraced her excitedly. The Queen did indeed make for a lovely sight. Like so many of the Queens before her, she had thick, dark hair, a shapely form which was somewhat hidden underneath her billowing silk skirts, and the haunting violet eyes that appeared to run throughout the entire family. Zelda turned to a small girl standing beside the Queen and asked, "So are you Princess Cerys?" The girl nodded shyly, her eyes aimed at the floor. "You're so beautiful!" exclaimed Zelda, taking the girl into her arms.

Cerys smiled and her mother spoke once more, "Yes, beautiful she is, Zelda, but I'm afraid she takes after her father quite a bit. She hardly resembles me." It was true, little Cerys did bear a striking resemblance to David, Queen Elena's consort. Cerys smiled politely and took a seat by Zelda's fireplace, disturbing a none too clean duck which had been sitting there previously.

That MidSummer Day ended up being an extremely memorable one. Of course, Cerys loved meeting the living, breathing Dragon boat, but something happened to her that day that made perhaps an even larger impression on her. Cerys had the good fortune to meet Zelda's nephews. It was an accident, really. Benjamin did something that Zelda considered a typical Heap mistake. He forgot what day it was and decided to bring two of his sons, Louis and Silas to visit their aunt. Instead of forcing Benjamin to take his sons home, as Zelda probably should have, she allowed them to stay for the day. Princess Cerys didn't object to this at all. She was thrilled to have other children around her age with whom to spend time. Initially, Louis was a bit nervous about playing with the princess, but Silas was as bold as ever. He thought Cerys was the loveliest thing he had ever seen, but then again, Silas hadn't seen a lot of girls. His parents were homeschooling him and his brothers. Silas was thankful to have someone with whom to pass time. After all, his brothers were all considerably older than he was. Benjamin's second youngest son was Louis and he was already twelve.

Even though she was quite a few years younger than him, Cerys made quite an impression on Louis that day, one that she didn't make on Silas. For Silas, Cerys was the first of many women whom he would associate with in his life. For Louis, Cerys was going to be much more. But neither of the boys had any way of knowing the future.

When the day was finally over, Cerys didn't want to leave Silas and Louis. Before she left, Cerys promised that she would never forget them, and begged them to never forget her. Only Louis remembered his promise.

Later, once Cerys and her mother had returned to the Palace, Cerys announced, "Mother, I want to marry Silas Heap when I become a big girl."

In response to her daughter's statement, Elena laughed. "Cerys, darling, the Heaps are lovely, but they are not fit to marry princesses. You'll understand that someday."

"Mother, I think Silas is wonderful. He is fit to marry me!"

Elena decided to humor her daughter for now. There was no point in ruining her fantasies. After all, she was only a child. "All right, Sweetie. I'm sure that you're right. Now, get ready for bed, it's incredibly late."

"Yes, mother." Cerys replied obediently, leaning over to kiss her mother's cheek. Then she was off to her bedroom, leaving Elena to her thoughts. Sometimes, she wondered who Cerys would really marry and what kind of Queen she would be. It was an interesting concept to contemplate.

While the Queen was thinking about her daughter's future, a poor young woman named Lillian Willow was also simultaneously thinking of her own daughter. However, Lillian wasn't thinking of possible suitors for her daughter. She was thinking of ways she could get enough food to feed both herself and her child for the next months. Lillian had just gotten fired from her job as a seamstress because she had been late to work five times in the last month. Lillian had made just enough money as a seamstress to rent a small room in the Ramblings for herself and her daughter, Sarah, to live in. Now, that she no longer had a job, she and Sarah might even end up on the streets. Although Lillian couldn't show her daughter how she felt, she was rather afraid. Lillian's husband had left her five years earlier and ever since, she and Sarah had had to muddle through and hope for the best. Sarah was an inquisitive, thoughtful girl who always wanted to help her mother in any way she could. It broke Lillian's heart to think of Sarah standing on the streets, barefoot and in rags, but it was beginning to look like that just might happen. Lillian knew she'd have to get another job and fast, but not many businesses were hiring people now. Lillian sighed, heavily. She spent much of the night trying to plan her next move.

Sarah awoke the next morning with a bad cough, much to Lillian's dismay. She couldn't imagine where Sarah had picked up a cough at this time of year, but for whatever reasons, she had one. Lillian couldn't think of a worse time for her daughter to be sick. She knew that she was going to have to tell Sarah why she wasn't going to work that day. It wouldn't be easy.

Before Lillian could spit out her bad news, Sarah asked a question which caught her off guard. "Mummy, do you think I'm a freak?"

"No! Darling, of course not! Whoever told you a dreadful thing like that?"

"Clarissa Demarte." Sarah replied, staring at her huge black boots and stifling a violent cough. Clarissa Demarte's father was one of the richest men in the Castle, and Clarissa took great pleasure in torturing those who were less fortunate.

"Clarissa doesn't know what she's talking about, Sarah. I've told you that before. She has a tendency to be incredibly stupid but you must forgive her."

"Why Mummy? She's always been downright horrible to me." Sarah looked puzzled. Sarah's puzzled look always bothered Lillian because it looked so much like her husband's had.

"Because we always forgive others. I taught you that a long time ago, remember?"

"Of course." Sarah whispered, covering her hand to silence yet another cough. Lillian looked at her daughter and thought she might cry. Right then, she decided that there was no way she was going to let Sarah end up on the streets, no matter what she had to do.

Sarah's voice interrupted her mother's troubled thoughts once more. "Mummy, I'm not a freak."

"No, you're most certainly not." Lillian answered fondly, her mind already moved on to other thoughts.

At the same time, not far from the Castle, a young girl of about Sarah's age was staring into the mirror, whispering to herself the same words Sarah had just said aloud. "I'm not a freak." The girl muttered, staring into her solemn reflection in the mirror. She was so tired of everyone at school telling her how different she was. She was just about the least popular child in her class, which perplexed her mother because her mother had always been popular. But this child's mother had been careless and flirtatious while the child was studious and somewhat quiet. As she gazed into the mirror, she touched her hand to her soft, dark curls and wondered why no one at school wanted to be her friend. She wasn't ugly or repulsive.

Suddenly, the child heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She pulled herself away from the mirror and turned to face her bedroom door, which opened to reveal her mother.

"Marcia," demanded her mother, looking cross, "Why do you look so glum? I swear, you are always in such a terrible mood. Do you realize that most girls your age are actually easy to get along with? It's just my luck that I get one of the world's few irritable eight year olds."

Marcia was ashamed, but she said, "Mother, I'm not glum and I don't associate with the girls my age because they are silly."

"Don't give me that, Marcia. You don't associate with them because they don't want you around. Nobody wants to hang out with the school know it all. You need to stop acting like you're smarter than everyone else and maybe, just maybe, you'll have some friends. Besides, if you're going to be the school know it all, you should at least have the highest grades in your class. You do not. In fact, I seem to think that little poverty stricken child, Sarah Willow, does. If anything, she has the right to behave that way. I don't at all understand why you feel the need to do so."

Marcia was surprised. She never completely understood her mother. Marcia had always been told that parents were supposed to support their children, no matter how they turned out. In many ways, Marcia considered her mother to be just as horrid as the girls who she went to class with. Marcia tried not to tear up when her mother insulted her, but it was difficult. In spite her attempts to stop herself, Marcia felt tears starting to build up behind her eyes. She quickly glanced the other way to keep her mother from noticing, but it was too late.

"Oh cut it out, Marcia! Weak women cry, do you want to be weak? I can't even remember the last time I cried. I won't have my daughter crying like a stupid little wuss. Am I clear?"

Marcia nodded, "Yes, Mother." she said, quietly.

"Good." Her mother replied, "Now, I've got to go run some errands. Don't cause any trouble while I'm away." With that, she was gone, leaving Marcia alone for the rest of the afternoon, praying that her father would not arrive home before her mother returned.

In the Castle, Alther Mella, ExtraOrdinary Wizard, was enjoying a lovely evening with Alice Nettles, the girl he was courting. Alther had been ExtraOrdinary Wizard for nine years. Before him, his tutor, the darke necromancer DomDaniel had been in charge. The Castle had been a cold and eerie place when DomDaniel had been ExtraOrdinary, but now that Alther was in charge, the city was thriving again. Alther had had to fight DomDaniel to receive his position, but he had done it. Alther knew that DomDaniel was still out there somewhere, but he longer had enough power to defeat Alther. Alther knew the Castle was safe, at least for now.

There was one thing that Alther truly regretted about becoming ExtraOrdinary though. He knew that, in order to be a strong leader, he couldn't marry Alice and start a family with her. He was glad that Alice had continued to court him, though. He didn't know what he would do without her company, life would be rather dull. Alther was constantly telling Alice that he wouldn't blame her if she wanted to move, after courting him wasn't really going to get her anywhere. But Alice insisted that she wasn't bored with Alther. She told him she didn't care if they married or not, she just wanted to be with him. Occasionally, Alther wondered how he had been lucky enough to meet Alice. She was truly wonderful.

Unfortunately, Alther was quite right about DomDaniel. He was residing in the badlands. He had spent much of the last nine years planning his return to the Castle. In the years he had been in the badlands, he had begun to gather a group of supporters around him. He didn't have many yet, but it was a start. Eventually, he knew he would have enough followers to stage his take over. It would take him a little while, but DomDaniel was a patient man. He would wait. Someday, he would return for the seventh of the seventh.

Meanwhile, Sarah Willow was going through a very traumatizing experience. Her mother had just informed her that she no longer had the money or means to raise Sarah. She was going to leave Sarah with Galen, the kind Physik woman who lived in the Forest. Lillian promised Sarah that she would return for her someday when she had a little more money, enough to support the two of them. Sarah was heartbroken. Her mother had been the one person she had truly been able to count on her entire life and now, her mother was leaving her too. Sarah was terrified of being on her own. She couldn't imagine living in the Forest with total strangers. It was all too strange, too foreign for Sarah to wrap her mind around.

The same night Sarah's mother left her at Galen's, a terrible tragedy occurred in the Castle. Queen Elena's consort, David, was found dead in his bed. It was determined that he was poisoned. Cerys and Elena were utterly crushed. No one could figure out who would do this. Eventually, Elena came to the conclusion that it had been an accident. Cerys didn't know what she thought about the whole thing, but she didn't argue with her mother. If Elena said it was an accident, she would have to assume it was. Her mother was often right. Sadly, Elena was very wrong. David's death was far from an accident. It was in fact the first event in a series of events that were going turn the Castle upside down. It was going to be troublesome next few years for the citizens of the city. Seven people in particular were going to find the coming years very trying indeed. But happily for those seven, they didn't know the misery that they were going to endure. But they would find out soon enough. Their lives were getting ready to get extremely hectic.