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Disclaimer: I do not own Heir Apparent or any of its characters. Vivian Vandle Vedla does.
Janine kept her breath steady as she hid behind the pillar in the west wing hall. Stifling the giggle stuck in her throat, she kept quiet and listened.
"Janine, when I find you, I'll cast a curse on you! Do you hear me!?"
Finally allowing herself a chuckle, Janine dashed off down the hall, looking for a hiding spot. It had been well over an hour after Janine had poured the honey water on Xeno's head, yet he seemed bent on making her pay. Letting out an especially loud laugh, Janine stumbled. Catching herself, she picked up the pace of her sprint, rounding the corner. She sprinted down the stoned passage way, thankful that the sound of her flats pounding against the brittle stones was subtle. Leaning against the stone wall, Janine listened once more for sounds of an incoming Xeno, but all was silent.
Sighing from relief, Janine slid down the gravel surface, and sat down. Sitting up straight, Janine let out a yawn and looked around.
There were many parts of the castle she had yet to explore. Might as well be a good time to explore the west wing, thought Janine. After stretching her arms momentarily, Janine slowly stood up and glanced around once more. A second glimpse showed that this was probably a passageway that hadn't been explored in a while. Straining her eyes in the dim light, illuminated by cracks in the wall, Janine could see spider webs on the ceiling and walls. This place is disgusting, though Janine as she stepped away from the structure. Squinting her eyes once more, Janine began walking through the fairly pitch-black hallway.
The place was quiet dusty, and Janine had to stop once or twice to cough. Even once, she had to stop and swat what she believed to be a spider out of her hair. It was too dark to know for sure. At some point, the light was too dim and Janine had to lean against the wall, despite the dirtiness of it, so she wouldn't stumble. After what seemed like an eternity of blind shuffling, Janine finally stopped and crashed into a wall.
Holding her head, Janine sat up and let out a soft "Ow". She looked up at the structure she had walked into and noticed that there was a faint glow in the shape of a rectangle on it. Crawling next to the wall, she used it as a support when lifting herself off the ground. Janine felt around, and smirked when her hands ran along a knob. Twisting the door handle, Janine opened the door and stood dumbfounded.
The faint glow that she saw from under the crack in the door was coming from some strange, glowing mixtures in bottles and goblets. Glancing around, Janine noted that this was a barely furnished room. Aside from a table from which the glasses of potions lurked and from a few stray shields, the room was basically bare. Hesitantly, Janine walked towards the table and gazed into one of the goblets. There was a sort of rack holding a few of them over the others. "Well, this is certainly strange..." muttered Janine as she pondered over what she was seeing. Reaching out, Janine lightly tapped one of the overhead bottles and jumped and gasped as the bottom of the glass broke. Janine watched silently, as the mixture from the top bottle mixed in with the mixture from the goblet bellow it. Aw crap! thought Janine as she saw that the goblet was visibly shaking and that foam was bubbling up in it.
Whipping her head around, Janine's eyes spotted a tiny, almost miniature shield. She grabbed it and held it over the goblet, while also keeping a tight grasp on the goblet to make sure that its contents would not tip over. Her heart was pounding, and her eyes were beginning to tear up. Come on, she thought. Don't let me die now, not after I worked so hard!
To her relief, the goblet vibrating soon ceased and it no longer bubbled. However, if you looked close enough, you could still see tiny ripples in the mixture inside. Janine sighed with relief, deciding that it would probably be best to return to the party, in case anyone is curious of her absence. She walked out of the room, making sure to close the door behind her, and restarted her journey through the pitch-black hallway.
Walking up the stairs, Janine made a mental note to check with Sir Demming about her discovery. Was certainly an odd room, pondered Janine. However, with her mind in deep thought, Janine was barely aware of her surroundings. This made it not so difficult to run into someone.
"Sorry!" she cried as she sat up, staring at the now surprised King Grimbold.
Letting out a hearty laugh, he replied saying, "Why that's all right." Janine smiled and accepted his hand as he pulled her up. However, a certain piece of jewelry caught her attention. "Where did you get that?" she asked, trying to keep the nervousness out of her tone. Grimbold tilted his head and grinned.
"From the queen m'dear. She asked me to pull it off her finger, and gave me it as a thank you."
"And, just where is my mother?"
Ignoring the fact that Janine had just wretched her hand out of his grasp, King Grimbold just beamed and replied," Me thinks she be in her chambers- oi, where are you going?" However, his question was caught on deaf ears, for Janine was already down the hall, rushing towards queen Andreanna's room.
Authors Note: And the plot thickens...wait, there was a plot?
No, Wulgar is not sick yet, but he'll met the cause of his illness shortly, I promise. Also, just wanted to say that I figured I'd update regularly on Wednesday. Just a little heads up.
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