Next chapter in the house!
After everyone greeted Emile they all migrated towards the large set of pale blue sofas that Belle had made the servants bring to the library before the visitors arrived for their usage. Emile, not knowing what else to do, walked over with them, and sat at the very edge of one of the sofas at a comfortable distance from the rest of the crowd. They all seemed curious, but nobody was asking any questions and all the polite silence was beginning to make him nervous again. He looked over at Rhonwen pleadingly, asking her what to do with his eyes. She blinked at him and then broke the silence.
"So Emile," she said confidently, "What did you think of the negotiations today?"
"Well, compared to the thought of meeting everyone, they were incredibly boring," he answered gratefully, and everyone seemed to relax a bit.
"Yeah, they're boring all the time," said Red obnoxiously, signaling the end of all polite formality.
"I honestly wish I didn't have to go to all of them," Melody said morosely, "Being a crown princess can be incredibly tedious sometimes."
"I agree," said Augustine.
"About being a crown princess?" asked Red mockingly.
"Oh, no, the male equivalent of course," he replied, smiling, then looking to Emile he said, "So Emile, you were cursed by a witch huh?"
"Well, sort of," Emile replied sheepishly, "I inherited the curse from my father. He was cursed by a witch."
"Ah," said Augustine understandingly, "Same way with me. My mother passed part of a sleeping curse on to me so I just fall asleep with no prior warning. It's a pain. So how do you break the curse?"
"Well," Emile said pensively, "I meet the near impossible and incredibly picky conditions set by the witch. Or I find the witch and kill her."
The last part about killing the witch had been intended as a sarcastic joke, but Edward, the mighty hunter, seemed to take to the idea.
"Hunt down the witch eh?" he asked, leaning forward in his chair with interest, "How would you find her? Do you have her description?"
"She can change forms," said Emile unenthusiastically, "No telling how many disguises she has. Trust me, in the summer when I'm baking under all this fur, I've thought of killing her many, many times."
"I'm sure," said Red, smiling broadly.
"What did she look like when you saw her?" Melody asked curiously.
"I've never seen her," answered Emile, "But my father said that when he first saw her she looked like an old hag. Then, when he was rude to her, she changed into a beautiful, tall, blond woman with green eyes."
"Wait," said Red, suddenly becoming more interested, "My mother's evil step mother was tall and blond with green eyes. Mom say's you never saw her hair after she was married because he always wore a tight black hood, which was the fashion for married women in our country then. But she was blond."
"That's an interesting coincidence," said Emile.
"Yes, it is, especially since my step grandmother was a witch who also used the disguise of an old hag," replied Red, revealing the reason for her interest.
This caused a pause in the conversation, as everyone began to think about the coincidence seriously.
"Could they possibly have been the same witch?" Akram asked skeptically, "I mean your two kingdoms are close to each other but not that close. It could have been two completely different people."
"It probably was a different witch," said Emile, not wanting to assume.
"But it might not have been," replied Red, smiling, "She could have been the same one. Tell me, when was your father cursed?"
"When he was eleven," replied Emile, "Which would have been a little over thirty years ago now. Why?"
"My Grandfather married Grimhilde, the witch, about twenty eight years ago!" replied Red triumphantly, "She could have traveled through your kingdom three times by then! So she could have been the same one."
"A witch with green eyes and blond hair," added Melody pensively, "I think I remember my Grandfather telling me about a witch like that once."
"And I can remember reading a book which mentioned her," added Dianna, surprising everyone by speaking after staying silent for so long.
"What book was it?" asked Emile curiously.
Dianna turned a bit pink and her eyes widened at all the sudden attention from Emile, but eventually she worked up the courage to answer.
"The Odyssey," she said quietly, biting her lip.
Emile rose and started to search the "O" section of the library for the book, relieved to have excuse to separate himself from the others, while they continued to talk about the witch.
"Red, didn't…?" Augustine started to ask.
He was interrupted by the loud and unexpected arrival of new parties, as the library door banged open. Everyone jumped, and Emile crouched down in the balcony, glad that he was high up as it might prevent them noticing him. He was also glad that he had closed the door. A secret room would have proved interesting to these new parties no doubt, as they had been rude in every other way, so snooping would be pleasant by comparison. Yes, the new people in the room were exactly the ones that everyone had been hoping to avoid. Akram's older brothers who had cause the trouble yesterday were back again, this time with two other brothers in tow, and the red parrot, Iago, flew in behind them.
"Hey everyone!" shouted Ahmed abrasively, voice heavy with false sincerity, "I'm glad to see you all again! Allow me to introduce my brothers, Ala' and Akif. Of course you know Adnan and Afeef!"
The two unfamiliar brothers bowed sarcastically, smiling as they stood up. The other three just continued to smilingly glare at the gathering before them. As they started to walk forward, Augustine and Edward stood up, going to meet them. Akram stood and quickly caught up with the other boys, thought he did not seem as intent as they did, and stayed just a step behind them. Red and Melody stood too, although this time Melody wisely kept them from getting too close to the rude boys as Red would undoubtedly punch one of them if they did to repay them for their previous rude behavior. Dianna looked frightened, and Rhonwen went over to her to provide some comfort.
"You should leave now," Augustine stated calmly, though there was a subtle menace in his voice, "You are not welcome."
"Now, you see, I find that rather rude," Ahmed said, smiling up at him, "Everyone should be welcome in the library."
"Well, I dare say you are not, so you should leave before we are forced to evacuate you ourselves!" Edward said haughtily.
The boys laughed at his queer, cheesy threat, and some of them responded similarly to him but Ahmed continued to stare at Augustine. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife.
"You got me in some serious trouble with your little fainting spell," Ahmed said, his smile shrinking for the first time, "My old man reamed me, said it could have been labeled as an international incident."
"Just think of how much trouble you'll be in if you start a fight now," Augustine said reasonably, straitening a little more despite his verbal attempts at peacemaking.
"Who said anything about me starting a fight?" Ahmed said, looking back at the other boys, "Did I say anything about starting a fight?"
The other boys shook their head, grinning, and the crown prince continued on.
"No, Swoony, I never said anything about starting a fight," said Ahmed triumphantly, "But you might."
At this he pushed Augustine a little bit, barely enough to move him and certainly not enough to push him down. It accomplished its intended purpose, though, as the barrier had been broken. Emile stared down from the balcony, his fur spiking up and his teeth instinctively baring. If only he could do something!
"I wouldn't recommend doing that again," Augustine said, clenching his fists.
"Yes," Edward added, mirroring Augustine, "I had had the best of combat training, as my friend undoubtedly has as well. Not to mention the obvious difference in size and strength."
The brothers blinked and stared up at Edward unbelievingly. He had somehow managed to sound both threatening and polite at once, not to mention he swung a low blow talking about the height difference. Akram looked a little nervous and started to talk to Ahmed in Arabic, most likely trying to calm the situation down.
"It's rude to speak in a language nobody else knows, little brother," Ahmed said, glaring at Akram, "Want to say that again, in English this time?"
Akram's eyes widened, and he looked to his friends. They all stared back at him curiously.
"Fine," he replied after a while, his friends giving him courage, "I said you should get out of here, before someone gets hurt!"
"And you're thinking that someone will be me, right?" Ahmed said, any trace of a smile disappearing as his bravado took full control.
"A lot of people could get hurt in the fight you're aiming for, Ahmed," Akram replied, stepping out in front of the other two boys, "And I'm pretty sure that someone would hurt you before it finished!"
Ahmed wasted no time. As soon as Akram stopped talking, he grabbed him by the shoulders and shoved him into the arms of Ala'. Ala' confidently put his younger brother in a headlock and Ahmed returned to his talk with Augustine. Emile's muscles tensed again when the bullied Akram, and again he wished there was something he could do. He couldn't reveal himself to them, because that would really get him in trouble, yet it was torture to watch his friends being threatened and bullied without moving at all. Unfortunately, because of his attention on the prospective fight going on, Emile had forgotten the bird.
Iago had been flying around the castle, exploring a little bit, and he had come across some of the royal boys. He followed them for a little while, but lost interest when he flew into the library, as it was a large opens space with a lot of nooks and crannies. He had been watching the boys in their little spat, and chuckling when someone said something amusingly vemomous, but they did this so often that it was no longer as interesting as it seemed. The strange scent in the air, however, was very interesting.
Iago flew through the library, looking for the source of the smell, and found that enormous wolf who had imprisoned him earlier. He smiled with delight. Revenge!
Landing of a low bookshelf below him, being careful not to be seen, and Iago started to yell frantically, waving his red wings and pointing up at the wolf.
"AHMED! AHMED!" he shouted, "THE GIANT WOLF IS SITTING ON THE BALCONY RIGHT ABOVE ME!"
Rhonwen's heart caught in her throat when she heard to bird scream, and, like everyone else in the room, she instinctively looked in the direction of the sound. Emile was indeed on the balcony, looking startled and a bit afraid, but that didn't last long. Standing and grabbing the railing, he sung down the ladder and grabbed at that bird. Rhonwen rather hoped he would get it, but he missed and it continued to squawk loudly, now flying high above all their heads.
All of the brothers were now looking at Emile, eyes wide and mouths open. Akram used the opportunity to step on his brother's foot, and Ala' let him go with a shout. However, nobody seemed interested in Akram anymore, not even Ala' after the moment he let him go. They were all staring at Emile.
Rhonwen thought on her feet and ran to close the door, trapping the bird inside to prevent the news from spreading. Shutting it behind the boys, she turned around, her back to the door. Nothing had changed, and the room was silent. Rhonwen signaled to Augustine to stand in front of the door, which both he and Edward did. Then she carefully stepped around the brothers, who were still too awed to move, and ran over to Emile. He was frozen again, his eyes very wide.
"Come with me," she said simply, pulling on his arm.
His expression did not change but he did as she asked, and followed her as she led him towards the others. She was a trained diplomat, and she could see that the situation would turn out very badly if something wasn't done to resolve or explain it. These boys would surely go, tell everyone they knew about him, and possibly even try to eliminate the threat he presented if she did not succeed.
"Prince Ahmed," she said softly, when she and Emile had gotten close enough that he could hear her, "This is Prince Emile."
Ahmed, predictably, turned to the door to try to run, as did all of his brothers besides Akram, but was met by Edward and Augustine blocking the way.
"Get out of the way!" he said frantically, his bravado giving way to his sense of self preservation, "Are you crazy?"
"Listen to her," Augustine said gruffly, returning his gaze to Rhonwen in hopes that the frightened Ahmed would do similarly.
Ahmed turned back around quickly, looking terrified. The other brothers had retreated to the right corner of the room, and bore the same expression of dread.
"This is Emile," Rhonwen said again, this time a little louder to gain their attention, "He's the heir to this kingdom's throne. He's a friend."
She added extra emphasis to the last word, trying to win their confidence. It worked a little bit, as their body language calmed a little bit. They were no longer rigidly strait and the facial expression had changed from complete horror to a mixture of fear and curiosity. Rhonwen sighed with relief. They could salvage the situation now.
And the chapter has left the building! Please review, I die to know what my readers think!