Chapter 3
Hundreds of people gathered in the castle's courtyard to hear the new rulers speak the next day. Tatiana and Kaity had practiced their speech with Maddie all day, and with her help in reassuring the, the speech went as flawlessly as could be expected. The citizens of Silverbrook were still extremely upset about the loss of their beloved king and queen. They also still distrusted the new rulers, but accepted their presence well enough, because they knew and respected Maddie. She was the one high ranking official they felt they could still trust.
When the speech ended it was met with silence except for a few scattered claps. Once inside, they shut the door and let out a collective sigh of relief. "Well, they didn't have torches and pitchforks," Tatiana states, "That has to be a good sing, right?"
There was a moment where they just stared at each other before the three teens burst out laughing. The absurdity of the situation seemed to finally dawn on them.
"Oh, what the people must have thought! Three teenage girls ruling one of the most powerful kingdoms in the land!" Maddie held her sides as she doubled over in a fit of giggles. "And two of them are the feared and mysterious assassins of the king and queen!"
At that statement the laughter died out. The guilt on the other two's faces was apparent. The counselor searched for something to say to lighten the mood, wishing she could take the last statement back.
"Sorry, I, Oh! There is something that I must show you. Quickly, come with me, but you must promise not to let a soul find it." She led them down twisting halls and through more rooms than they could keep track of. Finally they descended into a small storage room in the basement.
"Because you know of the deadly secrets this land hold, you can enter this room. But be warned; this knowledge comes with terrible responsibility and danger," she cautioned as she felt her way along the bottom of the back wall. After shifting her hand behind some dusty cleaning supplies, she let out a small whoop of victory. She tugged upward on an unseen lever with all of her might and a loud creak was heard. Dust fell from a rectangular doorframe around the handle.
"Sorry, I haven't opened this in a few years. The king forced to keep out after that happened three years ago. I'm sure you have heard of it? A group of soldiers that were banned from our lands because they were plotting against the king?" Madelyn questioned as they crawled into the small hole behind the hidden door. It gradually got taller and taller until they could walk upright.
"Well it wasn't an uprising in the ranks. A patrolling group accidentally heard part of what was going on. They confronted the king and were thrown out to silence them. They would have been executed but the king thought that it would cause more suspicion and questions of what really happened. You know, some people say that they are still living out in the woods, despite the dangers. The stuff in this room can tell you more about the specifics, though. Here we are then, my father's secret quarters."
Maddie gestured with flourish… to a pitch black room. She frowned at their confusion before she turned around with a soft "Ah, right." She grabbed an unlit torch from the wall and a piece of flint that hung beside it. After the torch was lit, she slowly walked the perimeter of the room, lighting other torches and candles as she went.
Once lighted, the large room revealed huge book cases lining two adjacent walls. Hundreds of books lined the shelves and sat strewn about on tables and chairs, of which there were many. Two open walls were full of papers. Maps, pictures, and notes filled ever open inch of the space. "So, what do you think then?" Maddie asked, waving her arms around to emphasize the beauty around them.
Tatiana started as if shaken out of her thoughts. A huge grin spread across her face as she began to bounce up and down. "It's it's, it's wonderful! It's like a whole other world in here with dragons and magic and all sort of cool stuff!" She continued to hop around in glee and glanced over all of the papers and books splayed around. "Look at all these old books on history and legends and magic and creatures, oh its wonderful!"
Kaity was happy to see Tatiana so happy, but knew what was coming next. She made eye contact with Maddie who seemed to understand the silent question. Tatiana stopped for a moment and hurried back over to them. She opened her mouth as if she was going to say something, closed it, and then opened it again. Finally she spoke, "So, where's the stuff on the Forbidden?"
Maddie pointed to the back of the room, where there was endless papers but hardly any books open on a few tables. They headed over to them and stared at the chaos. There was absolutely no order to the papers, and many of them appeared to be illegible or covered in scribbles. It looked like a mad man's workspace, which it very well could have been. Maddie opened one of the few books on the table that they were at. She leafed through the pages until she found a place that satisfied her. "Here, read this," she murmured, "It might clear up some things."
