(A/N)In this part, I'm introducing to you my own character Agnes and TP's own character Kel. I'm sorry if it's a little boring towards the end, but I'm trying to get into some of the past history of Ligheren and the characters within the kingdom. Please tell me what you think so far. I know it all probably seems a little far-fetched, but I wanted to take some of Tammy's characters and put them into a whole another universe to see how they would act. Please, stick with me here, I promise it will get better as the story goes on. Enjoy!
"Lady Agnes?"
"What?"
"Please open the door."
"No!"
Keladry Mindelan sighed and leaned her forehead against the rotten, termite-eaten door. She knew it wouldn't be a problem kicking the large thing down, she'd done it many times before, but then it'd be her job to fix it and she was too lazy at the moment to even think about picking up a hammer.
"Leave me alone. Go away!" A loud bang against the door caused Keladry to jump back from where she had been resting her head. The little chit had thrown something across the room. Growling in great frustration, Kel counted to ten and then proceeded to take a deep breath of air that just happened to be thick with dust. Every once and a while someone in the castle was lucky enough to receive an inhalation of dusty air and it seemed today Keladry had won the jackpot. After her coughing fit passed, Kel decided to try a different maneuver.
"Lady, I brought a present for you. I can't give it to you if you don't open the door." Kel listened and heard a squeak followed by a thud as if Agnes had jumped off her bed.
"Do you really? What is it?" The voice sounded as if it was coming through the keyhole. Kneeling down to match the lady's voice, Kel spoke enticingly.
"It's a secret, Lady Agnes. The person who gave it to me made me promise not to tell you. I'm supposed to deliver it into your hands personally."
All movement and noise stopped on the opposite side of the door. The deathly silence was so great that Kel believed her plan had not worked until she heard the sudden, quick sound of bolts being removed and a creek as the door opened less than an inch for Agnes to peer out of. An inch was all that Keladry needed. She rammed her shoulder into the crack and pushed into the room closing the door after herself. Agnes had jumped back onto her bed and was standing in a defensive pose waiting for Kel to make her move.
Keladry sighed internally and stared up at the sad figure before her. At seventeen years, the same age as Kel, herself, Agnes seemed to be overly immature. While her body had developed into a young woman of her age, her mind seemed to had stayed behind. Lady Agnes Finber of Ligheren just never grew up. Kel, lost in quiet contemplation of the girl in front of her, didn't realize until too late that Agnes, like a cheetah, had shot passed her and was now running down the hall. Immediately, she started after the lady. How in the world her charge could run like that in a dress was beyond Keladry. Almost after a few seconds into the chase Kel lost sight of Lady Agnes. Leaning her back against the cool, stone wall she sank herself onto the floor. She didn't know what to do, but was determined not to give up. Agnes would disappear for days at a time and then show up again out of the blue. It was up to Kel to try to discover where the girl went to. All she had figured out so far was that there was some secret passage that led in and out of Agnes's bedchamber. She just didn't know where it was. All she could do now was wait until Lady Agnes came back and try again.
Slowly getting up, Kel began to walk down the long, silent, hall listening to the sound of her shoes echo as they hit the cobblestone floor. She thought she had been so lucky when her Ladyship, the Duchess Alanna Finber had promoted her to being a lady's maid to Lady Agnes, the eldest of the royal children. It's not that Keladry didn't enjoy the job, it was just the fact that it took up all of her time. Agnes, once a person got to know her, wasn't that bad to be around. Except for the childish part, she was wonderful and fun, but Agnes, being an introvert, didn't let people get close to her, ever. Not even her own mother and father. Then again, no one in the family was very close. The Duchess never came to see Agnes or any of her own children for that matter. The last time the royal mother had seen her daughter was about a year ago when the birth of Donovan occurred and Agnes had gone to see her new, little brother (which she was none to happy about).
The Earl Jonathan, was just the same. He was always living in the library with his books and only came out on the children's birthdays or royal functions he was required to attend. Otherwise he would just send Gervaise, the middle child and male heir to Ligheren, to take care of whatever needed to be done. It was a sad family indeed.
Lost in thought, Kel continued to walk down the narrow hall towards an unknown destination when she heard a loud crash and a yell come from behind one of the doors behind her.