Bigs hugs to you all! Eating breakfast and trying to type at the same time, so I can't give individual thanks at the moment; promise I'll make it up to you in the next chapter!
Meanwhile, at the town of Wyverley Village;
He fumed quietly, clenching his hands into fists and unclenching them again, venting his frustration silently. How had they done it? He had watched the Royal Guards riding to meet his Dead creatures, but there was only just over half the number of them compared to his servants; how could they defeat them? Giving up trying to work it out, he decided to go and see for himself.
As soon as he got within 100 yards of Docky Point, he could smell the Free Magic; the metallic tang that left a bitter aftertaste at the back of his throat, though that had ceased to bother him when he had reached the age of 12. But what did worry him was the strength of it. He had felt the Dead destroyed over an hour ago and had waited to make sure that everyone had gone before coming to investigate; even without a strong wind, the smell of Free Magic should have disappeared by now… He scouted around and discovered a huge patch of burnt grass, reeking of Free Magic.
"So this is how she did it," he muttered to himself, looking around further, "Princess Iana is more powerful than I had expected…" Suddenly, he caught the faintest trace of Charter Magic, coming from a spot a couple of metres away from him. Treading silently, he found the spot and examined it with Free Magic; this is where Iana had stood. He smiled; so the Princess wasn't as in control of her power as she or her father would like. His mouth twisted; father. He had never known his father properly, aside from the visits which his mother claimed had happened when he was a baby, though he would never know whether or not she was telling the truth; his mother had died 9 years ago when he was 16.
He shook his head, ridding himself of old thoughts; he had to concentrate on the task ahead of him. Moving off, he followed the road leading down to Wyverley College, staying in the cover of the trees. Once at the college wall, it was simple matter of using his inhuman strength to jump and pull himself over; he dropped to the ground quietly, creeping towards the college building. It would be safer to eliminate Princess Iana first, he thought; get rid of the strong and the weaker will fall easier. He smiled as he realised how simple this was going to be.
Suddenly, a dim figure moved ahead of him towards the rear of the college, leading a string of horses; he grinned wickedly. Princess Iana was well known throughout the Old Kingdom for her love of horses, so - according to his logic - she should visit them at least once a day. As silent as the shadows around him, he followed the figure, feeling for the border of Death at the same time to make sure he could still reach it here in Ancelstierre.
He waited until the man had stabled the horses before coming out into the open; the stableman stared at him, not knowing what to do when faced with a stranger in a mask.
"I need you to do something for me…" he began, already assessing the man to work out how long he would last, "You are going to look after my little friend…"
Next day;
Iana POV
I woke early, as usual, and stared at the ceiling of the bedroom, wondering if last night had just been a dream… I didn't think so… I could still smell the last lingering scents of Free Magic. I sat up and took a look around the room; it was spotless! It had been real! I jumped out of bed and ran to the bathroom, even though we didn't have to get up for another hour and a half. I wanted to see if the soldiers were awake yet… and I was starving. The cooks were used to seeing me in the kitchen at this time in the morning; I knew each of them by first names I saw and talked to them that often. I got washed and dressed in my uniform, and then went to wake Silver up; I didn't think she'd mind getting up this early to see Ancel…
She did.
She groaned and pulled the covers back up over her head. I tried pleading with her; I didn't want to be the only girl down there if all the soldiers were awake. She seemed to be asleep again. I nudged her.
"Ancel will probably be up…" I said slyly; she lowered the covers so that I could see her face.
"Do you think so? I… I need to speak to him about informing Father about what happened last night," she lied; I hid my grin and nodded.
"Good idea," I agreed. She sighed and got out of bed while I went to brush my hair and put my makeup on. When Silver had finished getting dressed she joined me at the mirror, and I could see she was making more of an effort to look good today. I just smiled and decided not to say anything; I knew I'd get elbowed in the ribs again if I mentioned it. I waited for her as she touched up her lip gloss and ran a brush through her long auburn hair again; I knew it was all for Ancel's sake, but she would never admit to it.
They were there as we entered the dining hall, every one of them tucking into a large, hot, breakfast. They all looked up as we entered the room, then stood when they realised who we were. I felt my cheeks getting hot and turned to Silver, she was bright red too.
"You don't have to stand," I muttered, "We're not in the Old Kingdom now…"
"Yeah, here we're just ordinary girls, with half of our army sleeping at our school," Silver growled; she really wasn't a morning person. I looked at her.
"You called me… ordinary…"
"Oh… sorry… I'm just an ordinary girl, no one knows what she is." I narrowed my eyes at her.
"You know, those 'She's a weirdo, I'm her carer' jokes are starting to get really old…"
"They might be old, but they're funny, like Grandpa Touchstone." she sniggered, I smiled.
"True…" Then I realised that the soldiers were still standing up, obviously waiting for us to actually tell them to sit down.
"Ermm… At ease?" Silver tried; there was a lot of noise as the soldiers sat down again and began to eat. Just then, my stomach gave a huge growl… Silver giggled; some of the soldiers near us stared at me and sniggered slightly.
I slowly made my way across the room to the serving hatch. It was horrible; all the men stared at me while I walked… Silver followed me quickly, not wanting to walk all the way across the room alone.
"Scary, isn't it?" she asked.
"Yeah; and I'm wearing a skirt…" I hated our college uniform; the short sleeved white shirt with a thin navy tie tucked into a knee-length pleated black skirt, long black stockings with sensible black shoes and a navy blazer; both mine and Silver's showed our names stitched onto the pocket, an enamelled school badge pin, a Roman 'VI' for the sixth form and a gilt crown for our Prefect status.
"Now you know how I feel when I'm at the palace." I nodded, understanding completely now.
"Luckily, I don't have that problem," I told her, placing my tray on the counter and asking for cereal … and a glass of apple juice… and toast… and jam…
"Don't count on it…" Silver muttered quietly, also placing her tray down and asking for a glass of orange juice and toast. I was about to ask her what she meant when Betty, one of the cooks began talking.
"Hello darlin', hungry are you?" she asked me, smiling; I grinned back.
"Very!"
"And how are you Silver? We never usually see you down here at this time in the morning," Betty mentioned; Silver yawned and smiled back.
"Usually I'm all snuggled up in bed, but the weirdo decided to wake me up today," she told Betty as I elbowed her. Our food and drinks came and we carried them over to some empty seats at the end of the soldier's table. We sat down and Silver began to eat her toast, but I just looked at her.
"What do you mean 'Don't count on it'?" I asked; Silver looked quite guilty and studied her toast closely, a sure thing that she was hiding something.
"Oh, nothing… Forget I mentioned it," she told me.
"But what did you mean?"
"Nothing… Dad's gonna kill me…" she muttered; I frowned at her.
"Why would Sameth kill you?" I asked, frowning in confusion.
"No reason," she answered and I was about to question her further, but she interrupted me, "Oh look, here's Ancel; come and join us Lieutenant," she said brightly. I looked up to see Ancel hovering behind us with a tray of food. He smiled and sat down next to me, tucking into his breakfast.
"This stuff is delicious…" he muttered, "What is it?" I grinned.
"It's called Cereal," Silver explained, buttering her toast, "We can take some back to the Old Kingdom with us if you want…" I grimaced; I knew she was trying to change the subject…
"Did you know that Silver's father is going to kill her?" I asked Ancel, as if it was a totally normal conversation; Ancel dropped his spoon into his bowl with a clatter.
"What!"" he exclaimed, staring at Silver; I watched as she put her head in her hands and sighed.
"Its nothing!" she huffed, glaring at me, "Iana is just trying to… annoy me…" I smiled smugly.
"And it seems to be working," Silver narrowed her eyes at me; I looked at her with a calm expression on my face. "You know I'll keep on doing this until we get to the House… Unless you tell me…?" I saw Ancel watching Silver closely out of the corner of my eye, and suddenly had an idea.
"Or I could be exceptionally evil and say things…" I muttered, taking a sip of my apple juice, "If you get what I mean…" Silver gulped and looked at the table for a second, then back at me.
"You wouldn't…" she breathed; I smiled sweetly and shrugged my shoulders, before starting to eat my cereal. Ancel looked from Silver to me, then to Silver again.
"What's going on…?" he asked, frowning. I looked Silver in the eyes; she turned away, unable to stand my gaze… So I gave her a kick under the table instead. I watched her face flush red as she tried not to cry out in pain; Ancel looked concerned…
"Are you all right, milady?" he inquired; Silver put on a fake smile and nodded.
"I'm - fine..." she gasped, rubbing her leg under the table, "Just a - shooting pain - in my leg…" I took another sip of my juice as I tried to hide a smile.
"So, are you going to tell me?" I asked politely; Silver glared at me as I took another sip of my juice.
"Fine!" she snapped, "Aunt Ellimere thinks it's about time you were introduced to the court properly, so you can meet possible suitors!" She clapped her hands over her mouth as I choked on my drink, spitting it out onto the table and holding my throat as it burned. All of the soldiers jumped in shock and turned to look at me, wondering what was going on. I started coughing violently and turned to the side so that it wouldn't get anyone. Ancel took action immediately, giving me a couple of sharp slaps between my shoulder blades. My face a bright red, I turned back to Silver, fury etched in every part of my face.
"WHAT!" I roared, unable to control my rage; Ancel - unwilling to get involved, even if he was curious as to the reason for the outburst - jumped back from my anger and almost fell from the bench. Every soldier stared at me, expressions of surprise on his face; probably wondering what I was on… Even the cooks in the kitchen stopped what they were doing, and they were used to the small scraps that happened every now and then. Silver gulped and looked away, not being able to stand my gaze again.
"It wasn't my idea; I-I told them you wouldn't agree to it…" she whimpered, "They told me not to tell you."
"Damn right I won't agree…!" I replied, lowering my voice slightly because all the soldiers were listening and she seemed upset; Ancel was watching her closely and I could see his hand itching to reach out to touch her.
"Iana, please!" she pleaded, "Please just do this once, for me… Then you can run off somewhere else and fight the Dead… But I really don't want to go by myself for the feast Father's throwing to celebrate us finishing school. I have no one to talk to, and people are always watching my every move. And it'll be so humiliating this time…" I frowned; she really was upset, and Silver didn't get upset over nothing…
"Why will it be so much more humiliating this time?" Ancel asked softly before I could; his eyes hadn't left her face and her eyes darted to him for a second; she blushed and looked at her food.
"Well… I-I'll be officially available… f-for… courtship…" she muttered; I was shocked by this, but I wasn't shocked enough to miss Ancel's reaction. He visibly flinched, his face fell and his eyes went to his food. Silver rested her elbows on the table and ran a frantic hand through her hair, sighing. "In her letters, Mum's been telling me all about these men I've never met before, and how handsome and reliable they are, and who's son they are, and how much Dad thinks of them… And she's invited them all to the feast…" she moaned; Ancel was fidgeting madly, not knowing what to do with his hands, not knowing if he should stay or go. "I'm not ready for it yet. I'm not ready to settle down for the good of the kingdom…"
Ancel promptly got up and muttered something about having to speak to the Sergeant, and hurried away. Silver looked up as he left, a puzzled expression on her face; she glanced at me, as if questioning why he had left.
"He's jealous…" I told her knowingly; she smiled weakly.
"I wish…"
