Chapter 10: Meeting at the Grand Tower

Princess Amy hurriedly climbed the stone steps of the Grand Tower. Panting, she reached the very top room to meet the four other princesses. Natalie glared at her as she got in. Sinead stood firm while breathing deeply. Blissy floated on her cloud, with her guardian, Maria, since Blissy was still little. The twins, Madison and Reagan were whispering to one another. Amy walked to her position in line with the others.

"Sinead? Are you alright?" Reagan asked, looking at Sinead.

The Ekaterina princess gulped. "Yes." She waved her hand and a cloudy haze surrounded her. She exhaled as warmth traced her skin. "I can still feel the snowy breeze…"

"Oh…," Reagan muttered. "I've heard about what happened in your Kingdom."

"Something's also happening in our place. The waters suddenly turned green!" Madison cried.

Sinead sighed. "I don't know how it happened. But one thing I'm sure of is that it has something to do with the disappearance of the Scroll."

The twins stared at Sinead quizzically.

Amy was shocked. Missing scroll? What's going on? From the corner of her eye, she saw Natalie listening intently to the conversing princesses. She looked like she wanted to speak, but kept quiet instead.

"Our Scroll is missing, too!" Madison said. "Maybe it is the reason!"

A momentary silence filled the room.

"Twee!" Blissy babbled. "Twee!"

"Wait. Is she talking to us?" Reagan asked.

"The tree," Maria whispered silently. "She's talking about the Life Tree."

"Why?" Sinead asked.

"It's dying…and the entire kingdom, too…also because of the scroll."

"No…," Amy whispered.

"How about you? Amy, Natalie? Is there anything happening in your kingdoms? Something strange? And what about your scrolls?" Reagan asked.

Amy gulped. "Well, mother said…"

Natalie interrupted. "You have no right to find out." Her eyes narrowed.

"Hmph. Well, we were just asking. And, yes Amy? Don't mind the mistress of mad." Reagan scoffed.

Natalie's fingernails faded into the shade of red.

"S-something happened…," Amy stuttered. "B-but…our s-scroll is safe."

The twins, Sinead and Natalie all eyed each other.

"What?" Natalie said. "So...all of our scrolls are missing...and yours is not?"

"That's strange." Sinead looked at Amy. "I wonder why."

"Umm…" The Madrigal princess clutched her skirt. "Well, I actually never knew about what happened in your kingdoms until now. So—"

Madison summoned a streak of water and wrapped it around Amy's hand. "Tell us. Who stole the scrolls? You must know something." Her tone showed intensity.

Amy flinched. Maria tried to grab Madison's arm. "Wait. Let go of her."

"I'm asking her something important."

Natalie rolled her eyes. "Madison's right, though. It can't just be a coincidence that only your scroll is unaffected." Sparks appeared on her fingernails.

The streak of water wrapped Amy's hand tighter. "I'm t-telling the t-t-truth. I d-don't know about th-this…" Apparently, Amy hated being interrogated. The water was already crawling to her arm.

Reagan stared at Amy, and the twins' eyes glinted, so did Natalie's.

Blissy yelled, "Weena! Weena!" She pointed to a stone door.

"Stop it, Blissy." Maria cupped her hand to Blissy's mouth.

Sinead snapped her finger and clouds swirled around Amy's arm. Amy bit her lip and closed her eyes. "I really don't know anything! I promise!"

"It's alright." A flash of lightning appeared and the water vaporized. A small grayish spot was left on Amy's skin, smoke curling around it.

"Oh, thank you, Sinead." Amy moaned it pain as she touched her skin. "What is this?"

"Oops. I guess I need to work on my magic more."

"Sinead. We didn't ask you to do anything," Natalie said.

"I know you didn't, but I had to."

A small vortex formed in between Reagan and Madison, Natalie and Sinead. Their emotions caused their auras to blend, which made a powerful magic reaction.

"Weena!" Blissy cried.

"What is it, Blissy?" Amy asked. She turned her head to the princesses, who were looking at each other angrily.

A blinding light came from the stone door Blissy had pointed to. It washed the room with a flaming nova and cleared the growing vortex. Panicking, the girls went to their positions.

As the light resided, a distressed-looking Dame Irina stepped out of the door.

"Good morning, Dame," the princesses greeted all at once.

Irina nodded. "Yes, good morning."

Amy gulped and stood straight. She felt the roasted ash-colored part of her arm.

Sinead shivered upon meeting the striking eyes of the dame.

Blissy sat properly on her cloud, while her guardian was poised like the other princesses.

Reagan and Madison kept their military-like positions, as what their father taught them.

Natalie's face was blank when the dame faced her. "What did you do again? Your mother's order was for me to watch over you. But you're causing trouble again."

"Was it just me? Ask them." Natalie pointed to the other princesses.

Sweat dripped down Amy's forehead.

Irina folded her arms across her chest and gave Natalie an intimidating look. "Well, we must go on. I'll speak to you later."

The dame announced that the Warrior Princess competition will be moved the following month due to circumstances she left unnamed. But she did mention that the representatives were too busy to be working on it. And as she spoke, her tone seemed to show anxiety.

"Excuse me, dame, but what about the scrolls?" Reagan asked.

"Yeah. You didn't tell us about it." Natalie demanded.

The dame coughed. "We are currently working on it; don't you worry."

"And the Madrigals…how come theirs is safe?"

"Natalie, let's just be glad that it's safe. That scroll is very dangerous when put in the wrong hands. Whoever stole the other scrolls would not dare," Irina said.

"Hmph. Didn't you ever wonder if the thief was a Madrigal?"

Irina shook her head. "I doubt it."

Amy looked down. "Well, bad things are also happening even though our scroll is there. My mother became sick, and she seemed to have been possessed."

Sinead's eyes widened. "Your mother can predict the future, right?"

"Yes, but it occurs against her will. When she is ill, it means something bad is happening in the island that involves all the Kingdoms..."

Dame Irina flinched.

Blissy pouted.

"Well…are you sure?" Natalie said. "Because our problem now doesn't involve yours, right? Your scroll is safe, and your environment is completely natural."

Amy tried to keep a straight face. "No! That's not true. I have a feeling something bad is happening"—she gulped—"or, Mother told me, will happen…"

"AAAARRGGHHH!" someone screamed from below the tower. The princesses, Maria and Dame hurried to the windows. They felt the floor shake.

"Dan!" Amy cried.

"No, Prince Jonah!" Maria yelled. "Babou!" Blissy babbled.

"Brother!" The twins screamed.

"Ian," Natalie whispered to herself, looking at the injured prince. "Stay there, I'll come down."

Irina couldn't believe her eyes. The sky was dark gray with streaks of red and orange. The princes who were training on the grounds of the tower scurried like ants below. Their medic, Sir Alistair and their sword fighting teacher, the Tomas knight Paul, tried to gather the boys. A huge ghost-like creature emerged from the forest.

It was the Spiorad na Draiochta, making its attack.