AN: Here is chapter 2, still a little slow but the action should start p in chapter 4.
Would like to thank Darev for beta reading this fic and as well thank him, fierce firework, yellow 14, FFHannibal, Philip Gipson, TTigerz for reviewing the first chappter.
Disclaimer: Do not own W.I.T.C.H.
000
Chapter 2: Enforced Tradition
It was a normal day at the palace; Susan was in the throne room taking in the daily reports with Jaden at her side, though still unable to be of much help until he grew more familiar with his role as Royal Consort.
It was one of the few things he and Will connected on, since both were still getting to know one another. The powerful warrior was somewhat imposing to the young girl, while Jaden was unsure of what could create a bridge between them. Both were new to the father-daughter concept, so while they did care for one another they just needed some time.
The only thing that really slowed down this connection was Jaden constantly watching Caleb like a hawk when near Will. This was to be expected, given even a 'new father' would want to protect his child. Of course, most fathers spent years learning to balance protection with freedom, but Jaden came back into Will's life just as she was starting to notice boys, thus causing some minor issues with how to let Will and Caleb having a relationship without Jaden feeling he must skin the young man like most fathers do when their daughters started dating.
It probably did not help that Caleb had some bad history going against him in Jaden's eyes. Being the former rebel leader who led the charge against Queen Susan had Jaden also feel the need to go after the young man for trying to hurt his wife.
Despite all this, Jaden was not outright aggressive or spiteful, just being a bit over intimidating at times. He mainly tried to trick Caleb into the sparring at training times or let out a low growl when Will and Caleb were having a moment and forcing the young man to back off. Will was of limited help in controlling her father since she was scared to oppose him, after having a parent like Tony Vandom who often rewarded resistance with pain. This left Susan to be the only one who could rein the warrior shapeshifter in, given few other would dare challenge the royal consort.
Fortunately this was more than enough, given she had plenty of ways to keep Jaden busy without resorting to blasting her husband through a wall with her magic, such as helping her with her daily duties and thus letting Will and Caleb have a few hours of peace. The main distraction was to have him here in the throne room with Susan, while Will did her few duties and her studies, before going on with the rest of her day as she pleased, watched over by Caleb and her familiar Huggles/Khor.
Currently she had taken to do light training with the palace guard, though she had shown no talent for weapons. Susan assumed this was so Will could do something Caleb enjoyed and possibly find a way to connect with Jaden as well.
The dark-haired queen doubted Will's minor efforts would bear fruit, though she did notice the redhead had minor skill in hand-to-hand, a trait gained from when Will relied on her great enhanced Guardian strength, before she discovered her magic of being a member of the Meridian royal family.
'Sometimes I worry she tries to reclaim too much of her past life as a Guardian. It probably does not help Elyon accept the Oracle's offer to be the new Keeper of the Heart, though this was not yet public knowledge to the rest of Meridian yet,' she would think aloud at times.
There would be an uproar should it be knownthat a princess of Meridian is taking part in such dangerous training and possibly having any foes she battles target Meridian in retaliation. Nobles tended to be paranoid about such things and Susan did not wish for Elyon to have such distraction while mastering her new powers and learning her role as a member of the Guardians.
Susan knew Elyon was struggling in taming the powers of Quintessence when she was used to the generic and positive energy magic she was used, while at the same time having to go through complex sealing rituals to separate the two sets of magic and thus keep her from having too much more power than the other Guardians. Susan would normally just take Elyon's powers away, but the Oracle thought the young princess should have her old powers as a fall back option; an ace in the hole for the other Guardians to call on if things got difficult when on a mission.
It made tactical sense, so Susan agreed to leave Elyon's powers be and allowed Candracar to work out how to keep the balance of power between the five Guardians. It would help the girls in the long run to have a few tricks no one would expect them to have.
Susan was quickly drawn from theses thought as the sound of the two large doors to the throne room pushed open more aggressively than usual, making her look up to see Lady Adira push past her guards flanked by several other nobles.
"What is the meaning of this?" Jaden demanded, before Susan could make the same statement. No matter what their social status, no one had the right to simply barge into the throne room, unless it was an emergency. Somehow though, both Susan and Jaden doubted it was an emergency to anyone but the fools before them.
Lady Adira and her fellow nobles ignored Jaden though, and only spoke Susan directly; another insult to the pair given Jaden was the Royal Consort. "Your highness, we of the council of nobles have come to deliver our verdict in our last meeting and come to have you enforce it by the laws of our kingdom," Lady Adira stated with a term of authority, making Susan's face turn red with anger and Jaden's eyes went yellow and cat-like as he glared at the old woman.
"How dare you come in here and make such demands of me! As for you and your council, Lord Olsen has told me of no such meeting when I spoke with him yesterday, so how could one have been held and this so called 'verdict' be decided without him knowing?' Susan demanded while her eyes slowly starting glowing and an aura of white energy began to surround her body. She was making sure this woman remembered to whom she was speaking too.
Lady Adira stood unwavering at this sight, though some of her supporters seemed shaken. The aged woman had no intention of being intimated by the queen and began laying down her demands.
"Lord Olsen and your other supporters would have done just that, allowing you to possibly interfere with our right to invoke the trials upon the princess," Lady Adira stated with a tone of authority, which changed Susan's glowing eyes and aura to one of pure fire to represent her growing rage, while Jaden was quickly starting to change shape to his weretiger form.
"YOU'RE DOING WHAT?" Both parent roared in furry, not knowing drawing their rage was what lady Adira had wanted. She needed to stall the pair while another group of nobles moved in on Will herself.
000
In the training yard, both Caleb and Raythor were helping Will learn to kick on a training post using a roundhouse kick, while Will's familiar Huggles watched from the sidelines in a nearby tree. Both were hoping the training would solidify the young princess' confidence, rather than making her a full fledge warrior.
Being true warriors, Raythor and Caleb knew the disciple gained from the training would help Will more than any degree of fighting skill, which she had shown having only a minor talent in the art of hand-to-hand combat.
It was also easier than teaching her to use weapons like swords. Caleb had tried to teach her that at the start of these daily lessons, but Will lacked the strength to use a full size longsword like the ones Caleb and Raythor used. This made the pair focus on training Will's body which would also allowed her to handle the strain of using her magic at full power more easily, an issue Will still had at times.
"Switch legs, Will, and try another 30, higher this time!" Caleb instructed while Raythor's keen eye watched his princess' form. Both he and Caleb noted Will did not favor her right or left side, thus gave the redhead some minor flexibility in combat options but it also meant they had to make sure she did not get into the habit of using one side too much.
"You guys are slave drivers!" Will joked while switching her stance and starting the next series of kicks. Sadly they would not get a chance to finish as a group of five nobles entered the training yard and headed for the trio.
Huggles jumped down from his place in the tree and stood by its mistress' side. His fur was slightly on end, but was unnoticed by Will, who was going to greet the nobles.
"My lords and ladies, what brings here to the training yard?" Will asked politely, not knowing the danger she was in from this group, who were wearing fake smiles on their faces. They wanted to lure Will into their trap.
"We came to give you something, your highness.We were among the few who did not attend your birthday celebration and so we wanted to give you this as an apology present," The lead noble explained, this one was a man of the same age as Will's father by the name of Vulkron.
His hair was jet-black, shoulder length, and he had ice-blue eyes. His build was hidden by his dark blue robes, but those who knew of Vulkron were aware of him as a powerful warrior and was probably the same build as Shagon or Caleb in his Earth Guardian form. Lord Vulkron was a man who gained full noble status during the civil war, gaining the favor of his wife and her family when aiding in repelling a rebel attack on their lands. Despite gaining noble status by marriage, he had belief in the traditions of Meridian and did not like what he was seeing if the girl before him was to take the throne, assuming she survived the trials.
The girl before him had absurdly short hair and dressed in ridiculously strange clothes. The princess was dressed in a pair of baggy cloth pants (sweatpants) that were grey in color and a (in his personal view) a tight grey shirt with barely any sleeves (a t-shirt) and the strangest pair of white shoes he had ever seen (runners).
'Does she think she is a boy or did the Vandoms rattle her pint size brain of her in those beatings?' Lord Vulkron mentally growled, but made sure to keep his feelings hidden until the child before him fell into the trap the nobles planned for her.
Will, being unaware of the danger, just kept smiling as she shook and replied, "There is no need for that, my lord. I know some nobles were hesitant to appear at the part out concern of showing support for my mother in the war."
'She is so stupid and naïve; it makes me sick. I will enjoy watching this,' the warrior lord thought, while removing a clear crystal sphere from his robes and held it in one hand, while the other gently took one of Will's.
"Nonsense! All of us on the council of nobles want you to have this!" Vulkron stated and was placing the crystal in her hand, when Huggles let out a very loud hiss. The small dormouse jumped into the air and started to change into Khor, but one of the other nobles took out his rod with a similar crystal sphere on it, but this one dark green in color on one end and dark blue one on the other.
The noble used this rod's green crystal to fire a fiery bolt of green energy that blasted the still transforming familiar away from the group and render it unconscious. Will tried to run to her furry protector's side, but Lord Vulkron's grip on her hand become firmer as he forced the crystal into Will's hand.
"What are you...aaaahhhh!" Will started to demand from the lord, when she was suddenly overcome with an agonizing pain throughout her whole body. The crystal in her hand had also started glowing around this time and was slowly taking on a pink glow as Will screamed out in pain.
"Will!" "Princess!" Caleb and Raythor roared out in a furry at seeing all this and charged in to save the redhead, but a third noble stepped in to halt their advance. This one was also wielding a rod with two crystal spheres on either end, but this one's were blood red and pure white.
The pure white crystal starting glowing and the two warriors suddenly just froze in place, as if restrained by an invisible force.
Meanwhile, Will was now on the ground but still clutching the strange crystal that gained a stronger and stronger pink glow as the young girl curled up in the fetal position. She felt like something was being torn out of her and had tried to let go of the sphere, but it was like her hand was glued to the surface of the crystal.
"What are you doing to her? How dare you attack your own princess like this?" Caleb roared out, as he tried to make his body move but he seemed unable to fight the effect of the mystic forces the nobles were wielding. He silently swore he would kill these people slowly when he got free from their spell.
"Be silent, boy! This is the will of the council of nobles. We are insuring the prosperity of our world with this act of purging such weakness from the line of succession," Lord Vulkron ordered Caleb, but grew amused when he saw the expression Raythor's face. Vulkron could easily guess the captain of the guard had realized what the nobles were doing and that there was nothing he and Caleb could do to stop them.
"The…Succession Trials…but why?" Raythor whispered, but was still loud enough for Caleb to hear and realize what was going on and just how powerless he was right now. All the two could do was watch as nobles had their way with Will.
Will's suffering felt like an eternity, despite really only lasting for a few minutes. The crystal finally stopped glowing and now was just a solid pink color which Vulkron scooped up and giving Will a wicked smile, not that she could see with eyes filled with tears of pain.
"Thanks, your highness. I'll be sure to take care of this until your trials are over…assuming you have the strength and wits to pass without the aid of your magic," Vulkron said to Will in a mocking tone, before hiding his prize inside his robes.
The arrogant man was about to tell his fellow nobles they could leave now, but were halted by a terrifying roar and turned to see one of the most dreaded things in all of Meridian charging towards them. A transformed Jaden. In a berserk rage!
The nobles armed with the rods were about use the powers inside the magic items to repel the charging shape shifter, but they were ripped from their wielders' grasps and flew to the hands of another force to be feared, Queen Susan who had teleported behind the nobles while they had focused on Jaden.
This gave Jaden time to leap forward and grab Lord Vulkron by the throat and lifts him into the air with one hand and the second held out, as if expecting the man to hands him something.
"If you value your life you will give me that crystal. If you don't I will take great pleasure in snapping your neck like a twig," Jaden growled out, his claw-like hand squeezing harder to prove his point. He was hoping, praying Lord Vulkron would try to resist, he wanted kill at least one noble today after what they had done.
Susan meanwhile used the rods she had taken to free Caleb and Raythor and then toss said rods to them. "You two keep hold of those for now and get the other four of these…nobles…out of my sight. I take care of Will," Susan instructed her captain of the guard and her daughter's bodyguard, both of which did as they were told, but Caleb clearly wanted to remain by Will's side.
Susan then walked over to her daughter, who was still curled up in a ball on the ground crying in pain. Susan knew from past experience the crystals used in removing and heir's magic would leave her child in this state for some time. It was a fate she had been hoping to spare Will from experiencing but Lady Adira had clearly stalled both her and Jaden long enough for the other nobles to carry out their plan.
The Queen of Meridian knelt down and gently pulled her daughter onto her lap, making the redhead weakly embrace her mother. Will knew now that her mother and father were here, she would be safe and whatever was going on would be explained and sorted out. It was unlikely Will would continue to feel this way once she got the explanation she wanted. But at the moment the people who could do this sought to give Will this comfort until she at least recovered from the crystal's effects.
"How dare you do this? You know are not permitted interfere with our preparations for the trials!" the all too familiar voice of Lady Adira shrieked out, making both Susan and Jaden looked over from their respective locations to see said woman marching into the training yard, and clearly not happy.
'I swear once this over and free to do as I please again, I plan on making sure she never forgets who the ruler of this world is,' Susan thought bitterly, while stroking Will's hair in a comforting manner.
At the moment Susan was just glad the over traditional woman was currently putting most of her focus on Jaden, allowing the queen to telatransport Will to a place she would be safe, given the nobles would be swarming the palace for the next few days. Given the preparations Will would need to make for the Succession Trials, Susan knew her daughter would need a place where she could focus in peace without the wrong type of people looking over her shoulder.
This drew Lady Adira's attention for a moment from trying to get Jaden to release Lord Vulkron. She knew Queen Susan was probably trying to help her daughter in some way, a forbidden tactic depending on what this aid is, but for the moment Lady Adira knew keeping the crystal from Consort Jaden had to take priority.
"Release him at once, you savage! I'll see you locked away in Cavigor for interfering in Meridian law!" Lady Adira commanded, a mistake given Jaden was already in a bad mood and now turned his furious gaze towards the foolish woman.
"First you distract me and my wife while you send another group after my daughter, you brutally strip her of her powers and birthright and now you dare to insult and threaten me? You have given my wife more than enough ground to counter any charges you might try to use against me," Jaden growled out and clearly made Lady Adira back away in fear, neither noticing Lord
Vulkron removing the crystal that held Will's magic.
The lord used the stolen power to blast Jaden with Quintessence lightning at point blank range. The force of the blast combined with Jaden being caught completely off guard made the mighty warrior drop Lord Vulkron and revert back to his human form while falling to his knees.
Lord Vulkron coughed and wheezed harshly now that he could breathe again. As lady Adira helped him up, both looked at Jaden and were unsure what do about hm. Both wanted to punish him for interfering with the council duties but knew the shape shifter was right, there was enough possible loopholes to get Jaden acquitted of any charges.
"I assume we should gather our fellow nobles and begin preparations for the trials? Trying to deal with the Consort would probably end in failure, but we can at least make sure our real objective is carried out," Lord Vulkron asked, once his voice retuned from nearly getting strangled to death by the royal consort.
"It would be the wisest course of action at this time. We should also see if we can find out where the Queen as has taken Princess Wilhelmina, just to be sure the rules of the trials are not being violated. The last thing we need is for an unworthy heir to pass the tests due to lack of carelessness on our part," Lady Adira replied before both walked out of the training yard, leaving Jaden behind.
Jaden wanted to make the pair of fools suffer for what they said about his daughter, but knew he was too weak to do so. He also knew someone else needed his aid more right now, mainly a certain familiar who was still lying motionless on the ground.
The tiny creature's fur seemed greener then it should, making Jaden worry the magic used on his daughter's familiar had done something to it.
'If they caused any permanent harm to that creature, I will make those backstabbing fools pay dearly,' Jaden thought bitterly as he slowly made his way to Huggles' side. The mighty warrior planned on making sure his daughter's magical protector was well looked after until the time he could return the small creature to her.
000
Meanwhile, Susan was appearing inside the former home of the Mage/Nerissa. She thought this would be a good place for Will to rest and prepare the challenges to come, without fear of further interference from those among the noble families who had planned this attack on Will.
Susan placed Will in the bed in the far side of the room, knowing sleep was the priority right now. As Susan tucked her daughter under the covers, she noticed the exhaustion of the draining of Will's powers had finally overcome the pain of the experience. The redhead's breathing had become much deeper and relaxed, making the queen smile sadly.
'At least she can have some peace for the moment, but I better get back to the palace and gather Will's things and hope I can be back before she wakes up. Tradition normally has the nobles confiscate the belonging to the one entering the trials but I should be able to at least return Will's Earth clothes. Also should give her a few things she will need to help her prepare for the tests to come. I don't care if I'm supposed remain neutral for the duration of the Succession Trials, traditionally the nobles don't take the powers of the princess or prince without the current ruler present to make sure the process is safely done; not stolen in secret without the potential heir knowing what is happening!' Susan thought bitterly, before giving Will one last look to head back to the palace in a flash of light.
000
Back at in the castle, Lady Adira and Lord Vulkron were finishing the process of freeing their fellow nobles from Raythor and Caleb's custody. Both of them were less than thrilled at not being able to throw the four into a cell, but since the nobles had increased authority from the invoking the trials, there was nothing they could do.
The nobles even reclaimed the two magic rods the Queen had taken from them, something normally illegal for anyone to have under the current laws governing magic on Meridian. Theses rods were not seen as this though because their role was for specifically meant for making sure a Queen could not easily stop the trials from taking place using the Light of Meridian, thus evening the playing field, so to speak, for the council of nobles.
Of course the rods could not match the Light of Meridian, even if their powers were combined. They just made it clear they were exercising certain rights and if need be the rods could hold the ruler off. This may not seem like much help, but if the ruler kept resisting the council of nobles, the ruler could seem like she did not believe her heir was able to handle the trials. Not that there were many cases of heavy resistance, but the queens of the past thought arming the nobles for just such a possibility, without giving them the level of power to be a threat.
"I fail to see why you think the princess needs to be tested, Lady Adira. Rest assured though, I will take great pleasure in watching whatever you have in mind fail miserably against Princess Wilhelmina's abilities," Raythor stated firmly, making it clear how much he despised the group before him.
"Watch your tone, 'captain', you should show Lady Adira the respect she deserves for looking out for our world's best interest!" One of Raythor's former prisoners ordered; only making Raythor glare at the smart-mouthed noble.
Caleb meanwhile was getting close to his breaking point. The constant disrespect towards Will was making the former rebel leader want to call on the powers of the Earth Pendant to take revenge. The only thing stopping him was it might give the nobles more grounds to exercise their increased political authority.
Fortunately Lady Adira was a help for a change by defusing the situation. She turned to the one who spoke and stated, "Cease provoking the captain and let's rejoin the others. They should be done seizing the princess' belongings by now, so we should now begin preparation for the actual trial…which means I'll be back to see you later, Raythor."
With that Lady Adira and the other nobles walked away, leaving a very worried Raythor and Caleb behind. The comment Lady Adira made to Raythor could imply anything when it came to trials. They could plan to have her to take part in a warrior gauntlet like was done for Susan or some other kind of obstacle that came to mind for those planning Will's test.
'Whatever they have in mind, I will not be a part of it if I have any say in the matter!' Raythor mentally swore, though he had little hope of stopping the nobles with their authority able override even the Queen's commands at this time.
000
Meanwhile, Susan had appeared in Will's room and quickly gathered only the items that Will took from Earth. Everything else that Will gained after becoming princess had to be left for the nobles to take, mainly because it was meant as a way to prevent the one undergoing the trials to not have a secret weapon to aid in the tests, like mystic objects to provide magical aid or clothing that could have been enhanced to act like armor or provide ways to hide by invisibly or illusions.
The only item Susan took that was even close to this nature was Will's golden circlet, but not to give to Will. Susan just simply refused allow those people to strip Will of the last thing that marked her as a member of the royal family. She also planned being sure to have it ready to return to Will the moment the redhead passed the trials and put the nobles in their place.
Just as Susan finished gathering what she was after, she heard the door opening behind her. The ruler quickly left the same way she came, making her escape detection from the nobles entering the room.
They were surprised to find so little to take when it came to belongings. New perfumes, jewelry or fancy clothes, just the robes and single dress they had seen the princess wear and few simple things like items for personal grooming or books (some of which were from Earth and the nobles could not figure out what they were about).
They were surprised to find no clothing that might have been from Earth or most importantly, the circlet the princess wore when doing her duties. It was an important item; given it was their princess's symbol of her status and something they would have to destroy should she fail the tests.
"Could it have been stolen? Several Passlings have been seen to come and go in the palace, so maybe one took it?" One noble suggested, as the other three kept looking for the object. None of them would ever suspect Queen Susan being behind the circlet's disappearance until it was safely hidden away and unable to prove what she had done.
000
Speaking of the Queen, she was appearing in her private chambers with what she had gathered from her daughter's room. Susan quickly went over to one of the wall and touched it with a glowing white hand, which caused a large arcane mark to appear where she touched.
Shortly afterwards, the mark's glowing light changed into a swirling vortex much like the portals that formed when the Veil was still up. This was Susan's doorway to a special room she would hide Will's circlet and also retrieve the last of the items she needed to bring to Will.
The secret room was 20 feet by 20 feet in size and was entirely of stone in both the wall and floors. There were no windows and the only way in was the swirling vortex, making it the best place for Susan to hide valuables.
The only things in this room were several heavy metal chests with large iron locks. The strange thing about the locks was that they had no keyholes, which were the last line of defense should anyone somehow get into the room, since these locks were made for someone who could use the earth element to make the locks open.
Using that very power, Susan opened the chest closest to her and placed Will's circlet inside. At the same time she took out two objects wrapped in cloth and a third item in a small purple pouch. These items were not much, but Susan hoped they would be of use to Will in preparing for the challenges ahead.
000
A few hours later, Will finally began to stir from her rest and her eyes slowly opened to see she was in a different room then her own and that her mother, friends and Caleb, were present. Will had yet to remember what had happened, so was more confused when said friends practically dog-piled on and called it a 'hug'.
"Thank goodness you're alright, Will! We heard what happened and we almost started a war on those nobles for what they did!" Elyon exclaimed, feeling responsible for this since from what her aunt told them the nobles wanted to place her on the throne if Will failed the trials.
'If they did not have me to force on Aunt Susan as an heir, then maybe they would not have done this!' Elyon screamed in her mind, wanting to march over to the palace and use all her lessons in the Quintessence Element on them. She did not inherit Will's super strength for some reason, but she did gain the powers the Keeper of the Heart possessed and had been doing constant lessons in their use.
Will, meanwhile, was trying to figure out what her cousin was talking about, until she finally recalled what happened earlier that day. She now knew she needed find out what was going on and what that crystal did to her.
Will looked over to her mother and asked, "Mom…could you explain what is going on? What did the nobles do to me? I feel…weird and drained."
Susan looked at her daughter with a sad expression on her face, knowing she had to tell Will but at the same wishing that these questions had not come. The dark-haired woman just had to hope Will could handle the news better than her friends did…Susan did not know if she could stop said friends from actually getting violent toward certain people if Will got upset.
"Will…the nobles have chosen to invoke a law on Meridian that lets them force you to take the Right of Succession Trials. It's a test to prove you have the right to be my heir and must be done without any of your magic or the aid of anyone when the trials begin," Susan explained, though she knew once went in some other details was when things might get ugly…not that the first bit of news was all that great.
Will was shocked at hearing this, thinking Lord Olsen was behind this as well or possibly his grandson, Matt. Was the young man still feeling vindictive for her choosing Caleb and convinced his grandfather to push this or did she do something to anger the head of the Olsen family in some way?
Will was still new to Meridian politics, thus did not know her mother only had true support from twelve nobles and the head of what was called 'The Alliance', a group of lesser nobles who choose one member to represent them as a whole on the Council of Nobles. This gave her only thirteen supporters out a total of thirty-nine different major houses and thus the other twenty-six had pushed for the trials to take place.
It also did not help these thirteen had not been present to hear Lady Adira put forth the motion and thus were not able to counter argue her claims and hopefully win over some of the ones who would have remained neutral at the time. This was a fact Susan and her supporters had argued just hours ago about, but the group of twenty-six refused to allow any form of re-voting or compromises. This only proved how charismatic Lady Adira could be, since even usually reasonable nobles stood fast against the queen and her supporters' attempts to stop the trials.
"To make it worse is what they want to do you if you fail the test!" Irma spat out in anger, making Susan want to kill the Water Guardian for spilling that bit of information. The ruler of Meridian was hoping Will might not ask about that and worry herself about that sort of thing, but Irma prevented that.
The rest of the girls and Caleb though did not think that way, since anger clouded their judgment and not realize keeping that a secret would have helped Will. They were too focused on thought of revenge to think that clearly.
"W-W-What is Irma talking about, mom?" Will asked, her voice trembling at the thought of what could be the punishment for failing. Some ideas the redhead seemed obvious if it's called 'the Right of Succession' but from the level of everyone's anger, Will was worried there might be more to it.
Susan took a deep breath, a mix of preparing to say what needed to be said and to calm her desire to light the Water Guardian on fire. After few moments Susan finally answered, "There are…several consequences if you fail, Will. The obvious one is you are stripped of your status of being a princess and heir. Another is you will be never allowed to regain the magic they took from you and I can't give you new magic to replace your lost power. Those are the usual punishments; another one is to be…exiled from all the lands under the ruler of the Queen of Meridian until Elyon's reign is solidified."
"But…but why am I to be exiled?" Will asked, tears flowing to her eyes that the thought of not being able to be with her true family after regaining them. It was not fair! It would be several years before Elyon could take over for Susan and who know what would be considered to be solidified in the noble' eyes.
Seeing this had Susan gently push past Will's friends and sit next to Will in the bed, pull the child in a gentle hug. After a moment of soothing her daughter, Susan finally answered her daughter second question, "My guess is that it's to ensure you can't find ways to challenge Elyon's rule while it's still young and maybe gain enough support from the people to override their judgment, it has been known to happen for a failed heir to become more able than the one who does inherit the throne…some times by intent rather than accident. Given we just ended a civil war, some of the more paranoid nobles might be seeking avoid another one by making sure the people back Elyon before allowing you to come home."
Will looked like she was about to break down and cry, but Caleb put a stop to this. "Well, it just means we have to work hard to make sure you do pass! You might not be allowed magic for the trials, but anything else is permitted!" Caleb stated with complete confidence, knowing Will had great instincts in a difficult situation; this was proven when Will was still a Guardian and several times during the war fighting by her mother's side.
Will looked up at her boyfriend in shock. She was not expecting anyone to believe in her against such odds. What happened next would only add to this shock as Taranee spoke up.
"If anything besides magic is allowed, than maybe we can help Will prepare some tricks the nobles won't be expecting," The Fire Guardian stated with a broad smile, which was followed by the other girls.
"I was hoping you all of you would feel that way, which is why I brought these for Will, since neither I nor Elyon can directly help Will get around. We both sadly need to keep a level of neutrality even before the trials begin," Susan commented, while making the items she retrieved from her hidden chamber float over to Will and her location on the bed.
Will opened the pouch first; finding a small ring, the one the Mage/Nerissa used to wear until Susan took care of her after the war was over. It was still a closely kept secret by Susan and Jaden, so no knew the ring had once been hers.
"That ring will allow you to open folds, but once the trials begin you will need to give the ring back to me. The other two items though will be of help during the trials, if you pay close attention to Caleb that is," Susan explained, making Will confused and begin unwrap the cloth from the other items and figure out what her mother meant.
She found a short sword and dagger, neither looked impressive to Will's untrained eye, but Caleb knew the two weapons were of the best quality materials and an expert smith had mostly likely forged the items.
"Those served me well in my trial, Will, I'm sure they will do the same for you if Caleb can teach you how to use them properly," Susan explained to her daughter. The older woman gave the young man a glance, who nodded his head that he would do the best he could to teach Will.
With that, Susan told Elyon they should leave and let the group just to be safe in regards to the demand they be neutral. This would also let them be surprised by the tactics the group came up for Will to use in the challenges ahead.
As they left the room, Susan paused as they reach the top of the steps that would normally lead down into the Mage's former home, she sensed something, but Elyon broke her out of that trail of thought by asking, "What's wrong, Aunt Susan?"
"Nothing, Elyon. You should go home and tell your parents what is going on. If the worse happens, they should be ready to return to Meridian," Susan instructed her niece, who nodded and used the Heart to fold home and leave the dark-haired woman to herself...or so the child thought.
Once alone, Susan spoke out to no one in particular, "And what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?"
"Someone needs to watch over and protect the child, you clearly cannot," A female voice spoke out from somewhere in the shadows of the Infinite City. The echoes further hid where the speaker was hiding and said person was showing no signs of revealing herself to the Queen.
"Don't you dare judge me, you hag! You never helped either of us during the war so you have no right to lecture me on being able to protect her," Susan growled out before marching off towards the closest passage to the surface.
"If anyone else spoke to me that way, I would have killed them on the spot. Be glad your husband prevents that witch," the female voiced shot back, before silence once again claimed the hidden underground city.
000
AN: And there we go, will try to have the next chapter out soon.
