Possibly a Princess
Chapter 7
The corridor was cold and quiet. A lone woman passed back and forth. It was far past midnight and she feared that the sun would rise before she received her message. She was about to give up when a passage way in the wall opened and an arm reached out and pulled her in.
"Don't scare me like that! I almost screamed!" Whispered the woman as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light in the passage.
"Sorry, but I had no choice, you know nobody can see me dressed like this!" The other woman replied, she was still dressed in the green dress and mask from the testing.
"So did she pass or not?" The first woman asked impatiently.
"Yes, she passed in fact, she did better then anyone ever has! She was able to project the images from her mind lock to everyone in the room and the best part is that she did not even realize she was doing it!" The masked woman whispered as loudly as she dared.
"Are you serious? I did not think that was possible. I thought her thoughts were only supposed to go to the guardians!"
"Shhh! You're right, no one's supposed to be able to do what she did unknowingly! It was like I was there with her! I saw what she saw, felt what she felt, and I could even hear her thoughts! It was the most amazing thing ever. She's the one, she just has to be."
"Are you sure? We don't have time to be wrong." Whispered the first woman a little worried her friend was making too much of what had happened.
"The guardians think so. They're just worried she will not learn how to control her power in time. They had to control her power to keep her from putting everyone in the country in the mind lock! Well maybe not the whole country but at least the farmers near by. They believe she's the one who was prophesied and so do I."
"I hope they're right. I have a family and I don't want to see it destroyed. She's our last hope. I must go now but thank you for giving me hope. We just might make it through this after all." The first woman said as she quietly slipped back into the hallway.
"Keep your faith. It's all we have now." Whispered the masked woman. She was worried about her friend working here in the middle of it all.
"Thank you, but you must go now before someone sees you." Her friend replied and then slipped down the hallway into the darkness.
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Cassie rested her head on the back of her carriage seat. She just wanted her long journey to be over. She had spent the last miserable week completely seasick. The queen had refused to answer any of her questions saying only that she would be properly instructed when they arrived at the palace. So Cassie had opted for the week boat ride instead of the month long trek across the mountains. Now she wished she had more patience. But at least the worst of it was over now. She had just one more day of traveling and then her curiosity would be satisfied.
"We will be stopping soon." Said the queen filled with concern for her future daughter-in-law. "We will spend the night at my dear friend's house and then continue on to the palace tomorrow."
"Thank you my queen, but it is not necessary for you to stop just for me." Cassie replied extremely grateful that she would not have to greet her new people looking like something the cat had dragged in.
"Why would you think it had anything to do with you?" The queen asked in a severe tone but with a smile on her face. "Besides I've had this planed all along. My friend only lives an hour away from the capital and we both need to be properly dressed for tomorrow. I have handmaidens waiting there as well as my favorite dressmaker."
"Thank you so much my queen. I should have known you would have something of this sort planed." Cassie all but yawned as she laid her head back against the seat and closed her eyes. She wished that Beth had been able to come with her but grandmother dragon would not allow it. She had insisted that with all the servants at the palace Cassie would not need Beth and that the two of them together only caused problems anyway.
The carriage jolted to a stop and Cassie awoke as she was flung across the carriage and landed almost on top of the queen.
"Oh Your Majesty! Are you alright?" Shouted one of the foot men as he tore open the door and helped Cassie and the queen dismount the carriage.
"I'm alright Edmond. What happened?" The queen asked as she smoothed her skirts.
"Hit a hole in the road and the wheel fell off. It's odd, Your Majesty, I swear that it was not there the day before yesterday. I would have noticed a hole that large and had it filled in." Replied the driver as he surveyed the damage.
"Will you stop beating yourself up? It's not your fault! You have been my driver for as long as I remember and I have absolute faith in you. Now, how long will it take to fix the wheel?"
"Well I can't fix it your majesty. I was going to send one of the footmen to the city to get another wheel and carriage." The driver replied very saddened that he had let his queen down.
"I can't possible wait that long. Unload most of the luggage off the baggage cart and we will ride that to Lady Clant's. It's only an hour or so away." The queen ordered, taking a long look at the perfectly square hole the wheel was in.
"Right away, Your Majesty!" The driver all but shouted. He was glad that the two women would not be standing by the side of the road. He did not like the look of the 'hole' ether.
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A surprisingly young woman was waiting for them on the steps as the carriage finally arrived. She had flaming red hair but no freckles and looked to be sixteen or so. The house was a large stone building that seemed to be built around the trees.
"Oh, welcome my friend! Whatever are you doing driving around in a luggage cart?" Said the young and very pretty woman who Cassie took to be Lady Clant.
"Ah my dear, dear friend! It is so good to see you! We lost a wheel in the woods and I did not feel like standing around while the men tried to figure out a way to keep us confortable and fix the carriage at the same time." The Queen replied as she hugged Lady Clant.
"Well, I'm glad you decided to come here, there are some odd things going on in the forest right now. Is this the girl the prince was raving about?" Lady Clant asked when she caught sight of Cassie trying to get off the cart as ladylike as possible and still fell on her butt.
"Yes, Cassie, come here girl and meet Lady Odessa Clant." The queen said trying her hardest not to laugh.
"It's good to meet you Lady Odessa Clant." Cassie said her face turning red. What a wonderful impression of the future queen, falling on her bum.
"You must call me Essa, all my friends do and I feel we will be great friends. Please, come into the house and get cleaned up. I'll have my maid find you something better to wear and when you're rested I'll tell you about this insane house and the person who built it." Essa said as she led Cassie up the stairs. "Lizbeth, will you take Lady Cantron to the east wing and get her cleaned up for dinner. I fear she's had a rough journey."
"Thank you Essa, you must call me Cassie." Cassie said as Lizbeth led her off to the baths.
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Cassie walked in to the dinning room feeling much more refreshed. She had taken a bath and a long nap. Her stomach was almost settled now and Cassie felt as if she could eat a cow.
"Cassie! We're out here." Shouted Essa from the balcony. "Well, hurry up! I know you must be hungry!"
Cassie quickly walked across the rather large room to the balcony, but she could not enter the balcony. There was some sort of almost invisible green certain that was blocking her. She reached out to touch it and it buzzed under her fingers and opened a door of sorts for her to pass through.
"See, I told you she would be able to do it." Essa told the queen excitedly.
"Yes, I see she did. It won't take long to train her." The queen replied.
"You don't need to talk about me like I'm not here! What was that and what did I do?" Cassie asked in a quite controlled voice. She wanted to scream. All these secrets! It was impossible for someone to know what was going on.
"Yes we know you're here, and that was what some people refure to as magic. We call it power." The queen said as she walked up to Cassie and handing her a glass. "Sit and Essa will tell you the history of the Fey."
"I'm sure you've heard of fairies, witches, trolls, and such. Well, they do, or did exist, just not in the way most people think. Since the begining of time people have been born with certain powers. These powers have long been misunderstood and taken to be something evil. So people with powers had to hide their powers to keep from being killed. Hence the fairies and such were born. People with different powers would band together. They would live far away from normal people and cast illusions to make people think they were something other then people themselves. They got so good at this that after a while they forgot who they really were.
It probably could have continued on this way for quite some time, but an evil arose that no one could have even imagined. They called themselves the Goblins. I will not go into their evils but it's safe to say that they killed thousands of people in unimaginable ways. They found a way to invade people's minds and make them kill each other. At first, the powered people stayed out of it. They thought that normal people had gone insane. It was not until the Goblins tried to attack the trolls that the truth was revealed. At that time the powered people chose to band together to destroy the Goblins.
That was the beginning of the worst wars in our history. You would know them as the Reshy wars. These wars, as you know, lasted for two hundred years. Luckily, the Goblins were destroyed but so were most of the powered people. So they decided to merge with normal society and keep their powers secret from the rest of the world. This worked to a certain point but they were lonely and missed using their powers so they banded together once again in a secret society known as the Fey.
Well, let me correct myself. The women call themselves the Fey and the men call themselves the Wizard. Of course, the men had to pick such a silly name but we are all still here. In fact, this house was built as the central meeting place for all Fey and Wizard. That why it's built so crazily. The Fey with connections to the forest could not stand to feel the pain of the trees being chopped down. So now you know who the Fey are." Essa said as she picked up her wine goblet.
"So I have powers?" Cassie finally asked after pondering what Essa had just said. "What can I do with them?"
"Anything you want." The queen said with a smile.
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A/N Thanks to my wonderful reviewers mint tea rose, bingo5, and Emmeline Hawthorn! You guys are great! Your reviews really mean a lot to me. Okay, I just posted what has to be the longest chapter I've ever posted! So please R&R! I even update fast. (well fast for me anyway) I know there's not much of prince caspin in this chapter but I promise he will be in the next one!
Oh and as always thanks so much to fanficaholic for betaing. (is that even a real word?) You rock girlie!
