Chapter 6
Earlier that day...
"What the hell is going on here???" King Jonathon exploded, "How – HOW – can a Tortallan princess disappear in the middle of the night and not be heard by any of the guards, not get stopped by anyone and leave no trace of her whereabouts?!" He was pacing up and down in his private study, where a group of his most trusted subjects were gathered. His Champion, Lady Knight Alanna, was there, alongside Duke Gareth of Naxon the Younger, (the Prime Minister) Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malories Peak, Sir Myles of Olau, (The Royal Spymaster), Baron George of Pirates Swoop, Buriram, (chief of the Queens Ladies) and of course, Queen Thayet.
"Jon, calm down. Look, she can't be much further than Corus and Corus isn't even that big! We'll search the whole area and we'll find her, I know we will." Gary, (Duke Gareth!) said, but even as he said these reassuring words his brow was creased and his eyes worried. "Calm down?" Jon said quietly, "Calm down???" his voice was getting louder, "HOW CAN YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN???" he yelled at his friend, "My eldest daughter is missing and you're telling me to calm down?! She's missing! She could be anywhere! And..." his voice faltered, "And it's all my fault..." He sat down in a chair behind his desk and put his hands in his head. Thayet stood up and said quietly, "Could you leave us alone for a moment?"
Automatically everyone stood up and left the room, Thayet closed the door behind them and turned to face her husband. "Jon, listen to me. You have to pull yourself together! If not for my sake then for everyone else's! Nobody is used to seeing you break down like this and it's unnerving, even for me. We have a team of wonderful people who would be willing die for Kally at the slightest word at our command. And all of them are going to help look for her. We'll find her, we have to...the gods will smile on us in the end, you'll see."
Jon raised his head and nodded slowly, "I am responsible for making her run away, I will not rest until she is safe at home under our protection and supervision." He walked over to a painting on the wall and started studying it, unaware of Thayet's worried gaze following him. It was a portrait of Kalasin, painted only a month before. She was looking thoughtful, but cheerful and contented at the same time.
There was a creak as the study door opened. Prince Roald, Princess Lianne, Prince Liam and Prince Jasson walked through the door, all of them looking worried and upset. Jon turned around, "Why are you all awake? You're supposed to be in bed!" He said angrily. The younger children looked down at the floor, ashamed, but Prince Roald stared stubbornly up at his father. "What's going on?" he asked, "What's happened to Kally?" Jon was overcome with emotion and turned away to face the wall.
"Children, it's under control. We don't know much about what's happened but I promise that you'll know as soon as we do. There isn't anything you can do, so why don't you go back to bed and you'll feel better in the morning?" Thayet said gently, herding the children out of the room and issuing an instruction to a servant to see them back to their bedchambers.
She came back into the room and shut the door with a snap. Spinning around to face her husband, she forced him to look up at her, and then slapped him sharply across the face. He seemed to wake up from a trance and stared at her in shock as his face rapidly turned red where her hand had fallen. "What was that for?" he demanded angrily.
"I'm sorry Jon, I didn't want to do that but I had no choice! You've fallen apart and in front of the children too! If they see you in pieces then what will they think?! They'll lose all hope and start to despair! No matter what is going on, I will not allow that to happen. Not to them, they deserve better from you. They've always thought of you as a strong rock to lean on. If they lose that, it could kill them, I don't want them to have to see you like this...I don't want them to be ashamed of you."
Jon stared up at her with anger and shame in his eyes. He stood up, strode to the door and yanked it open, "Come back inside," he said to his friends, "We need to start sorting this out."
Later on during the day...
"Sadira...Sadira, c'mon wake up!" Kally mumbled and forced her eyes to open as she rolled over on her bed. It was late in the day, and dark outside. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, she was surprised to see that the person waking her up wasn't Kai, but a young girl about her age. Kally sat up suddenly, her mind whirring with thoughts and her stomach fluttering with different emotions. She suddenly felt sick as she remembered the events that had taken place earlier on in the day. She had run away from home...her parents were going to be so mad when they found her. But even as she was thinking these horrible thoughts, she could feel excitement stirring up inside her.
Kally stood up and followed the girl out of the room. Dozens of candles lighted the hallway and Kally was able to study the other girl more closely. She had a cheerful face and a cheeky grin that matched the mischievous look in her eyes. She had coal black skin and fairly short, spiky hair that was also coal black but had streaks of bright purple, blue and gold in it!
She grinned at Kally and said, "Hi! I'm Terina, I'm Kai's friend. He sent me to call you down for the evening meal. He wasn't able to come up to you himself because he was told to go to see The Unicorn before the meal...don't ask me why, I never get told these things. He didn't tell me anything about you except your name so tell me, how old are you? You look about thirteen. And where are you from? I'm from Corus by the way. And how come you decided to become a Shang novice when you were so old? I should be a dedicate by now but I've been kept back about four or five times, apparently I don't work hard enough, although I can't see that! You can call me Rina by the way, everyone does. I'm not talking too much am I?" she said suddenly.
Kally was trying to make sense of everything she had just been told and all the questions she had just been asked in the last three seconds! She didn't think that Terina had even stopped for breath in the middle of her speech! Terina obviously took her silence to be affirmative so she went on, "I'm sorry, it's one of my biggest faults, I'm always being told not to talk so much and not to talk so fast but I just can't help it!" she said, throwing up her hands and sighing dramatically.
Kally couldn't help herself; she laughed out loud, as the other girl giggled to herself and winked at Kally. Kally liked the look of Terina; she seemed like a lot of fun. And Kally knew that she would need as many friends as she could get in this place. "C'mon" Terina jerked her head at the stairs and started to walk towards them. Kally had to walk fast to keep up with her, she walked very quickly.
"Um...Terina?" she said tentatively as they walked down the stairs to the first floor. The other girl waved a hand airily, "I told you, call me Rina. I'm uncomfortable being called by my full name because that's what The Unicorn calls me. So now every time someone calls me Terina, I think I've done something wrong and I automatically start apologizing!" she said happily.
"Okay then, Rina?" Kally said again. "Yes?" Rina replied. "How old are you?" Kally asked. "I'm thirteen, like you...You are thirteen aren't you? Only you never answered my question!" Rina exclaimed, pretending to be hurt. "Well I would've, but you didn't give me much of a chance! Yeah I'm thirteen too. I'm from just outside Corus, not this side, the other side. And to answer your other question...well I suppose I just wanted a change in my life. I was bored and I wanted excitement and adventure. I knew I'd never get it where I was living so I just decided to go...to pick up and leave."
"What about your parents? Didn't they mind?" Rina asked. "I...I don't have any parents...they died when I was little." Even as she said it Kally felt blood rush to her cheeks and felt sick to her stomach at the thought of what she was saying. She felt incredibly guilty but she knew that she couldn't leave her story there, so she kept on going. "I was sent to live with an elderly aunt but she died recently too, there was nothing keeping me where I was, I'd never really felt at home there anyway. So I left, to find a better life, although by the sounds of things this life is even harder than my earlier one!" she finished up.
"That's true!" Rina agreed, "But at least they feed you well, I live for food! I eat a lot, as you'll see in just one moment." She said as the two girls walked into the main hall. At the head table sat twelve adults, Shang masters. Kally recognized the middle two adults as being the Shang Unicorn and the Shang Griffin. On the main floor, the two long tables to the left and to the right were both filled with scrambling children and teenagers trying to get a seat at the table. The ages of the students ranged from about four to about nineteen.
"Hey, look, there's Kai!" Rina said, heading over to where Kai was waving at them to get their attention. Kally followed her and took a seat next to Rina, opposite Kai. There was butter and fruit already on the table. There were also little bread rolls, some plain and others with chopped fruit in them.
After all the students had managed to claim a seat, they stood up and there was silence in the room, as if everyone were expecting something. The Unicorn stood up and raised her hands, palms facing upwards. "May the great gods, Mithros, Minos and Shakith, look kindly upon us and bless this food that is served at our tables. May they give us courage, wisdom and strength. So mote it be." She said, all the students joining in for the sealing of the prayer. Everyone sat down again. Kally was surprised, normally at the palace the king would only ask for Mithros's blessing upon their food. She was sure that she had heard of the other gods before but she couldn't remember where.
Suddenly dozens of servants appeared from a hidden door in the wall, all of them carrying trays laden with plates of steaming food. They served the head table first and then made their way down to the four other long tables. They served every student, having to make second and third trips back to the kitchen before everyone had a plate in front of them. Kally looked down at her meal as everyone around her started to eat. On her plate was rice, studded with almonds and raisins and some type of chicken with sauce. There were vegetables on the side of her plate.
She could see that some people were glancing at her curiously, but mostly everyone was eating as much as they could and as quickly as they could. She now understood what Rina meant about her eating so much. The other girl had already finished her dinner and was spreading butter on her second roll. Kally picked up her fork and started to eat; she wasn't surprised to find that the food was as good as Rina had said it was. After everyone had finished eating, they sat back and started talking as the plates were being taken away by the servants. Kai and Rina seemed very popular and soon everyone at all four tables were coming over to be introduced to 'Sadira'!
When the dessert, rice pudding with honey and cream, had been served, the people seemed to drift away, back to their tables to eat again. Kally started listening to what Kai and Rina were talking about. "Where is he?" Rina was saying. "Didn't I tell you? He was given permission to go into town today and to stay the night, you know that his sister's ill, he'll be back tomorrow afternoon though." Kai replied. "Who are you talking about?" Kally asked curiously.
Kai turned to face her, "Oh, our other best friend, Roka, you haven't met him yet. He'll be back tomorrow though, we'll introduce you to him then." He told Kally. Satisfied with this answer Kally finished off her dessert. When the last plate had been cleared from the tables, everyone got to their feet again. The Unicorn said the final blessing and dismissed everyone. As they walked out of the hall Kally said, "Now what happens?"
Rina answered her question, "Well after dinner every night we are allowed two hours to do our studies that the masters set us in class before we go to bed. Just to warn you, we are given a lot of work, so be prepared! I'm in your dorm Sadira, by the way. I know that neither of you have studies because you were having a free day, Kai and Sadira, you haven't had any lessons yet! But I've got loads to do so I'd better get started. I'll see you tomorrow Kai, and I'll see you upstairs Sadira." She waved merrily and set off up the staircase. Halfway up she stopped, turned around and as an afterthought added, "Does anyone ever call you anything other than Sadira? It's a really long name." When Kally shook her head Rina looked perplexed and quite worried. Then her face broke into a smile, "I'm going to call you Sadi, okay? It's a lot easier to say!" and with that, she ran up the stairs.
Kai shook his head at his friend amusedly and said, "So what do you want to do? Most people study in their dorms but Roka, Rina and I have a study group in the library every night. I suppose Rina will study in her – your – dorm tonight." Kally noticed Kai yawning and said, "I'm still tired and I can see that you are too! I might just go to sleep, if you don't mind...It's been a very long day."
Kai nodded gratefully, "Thanks, I want to go to bed anyway, so I suppose I'll see you in the morning?!" Kally nodded and started walking alongside Kai up through the first floor and onto the second floor. She paused outside the dormitory door and turned around. "Kai?" she said to the boy who was about to walk into his dorm. He turned around, "Yeah?" "...Thanks." Kally said, before turning around and going into her dorm. A screen for dressing behind had been put up in the room. Rina was already at the far end of the dorm, writing on a page that was on a small table, balanced on her knees. Two other girls were with her, Kally recognised one from dinner. She smiled and grabbed her night-clothes out of the small bag she had brought with her.
After getting dressed behind the screen she apologised to the girls for going to bed but explained that she was just too tired to stay up. They nodded and said nothing as Kally lay down in bed, shivering in the cold night air. It took only two minutes for her to fall asleep, and she fell asleep anticipating tomorrow, whether the day would be bad or good, she was yet to find out...
**************** Okay that was a really long chapter and probably very boring but it'll get more interesting soon I promise. In the meantime, Please keep reviewing. I'll try to post another chapter up soon. Oh and for those of you who didn't get to read chapter 4, there was a bit of a mix-up, I've corrected it now so you can go back and read the REAL chapter 4!
Earlier that day...
"What the hell is going on here???" King Jonathon exploded, "How – HOW – can a Tortallan princess disappear in the middle of the night and not be heard by any of the guards, not get stopped by anyone and leave no trace of her whereabouts?!" He was pacing up and down in his private study, where a group of his most trusted subjects were gathered. His Champion, Lady Knight Alanna, was there, alongside Duke Gareth of Naxon the Younger, (the Prime Minister) Lord Raoul of Goldenlake and Malories Peak, Sir Myles of Olau, (The Royal Spymaster), Baron George of Pirates Swoop, Buriram, (chief of the Queens Ladies) and of course, Queen Thayet.
"Jon, calm down. Look, she can't be much further than Corus and Corus isn't even that big! We'll search the whole area and we'll find her, I know we will." Gary, (Duke Gareth!) said, but even as he said these reassuring words his brow was creased and his eyes worried. "Calm down?" Jon said quietly, "Calm down???" his voice was getting louder, "HOW CAN YOU TELL ME TO CALM DOWN???" he yelled at his friend, "My eldest daughter is missing and you're telling me to calm down?! She's missing! She could be anywhere! And..." his voice faltered, "And it's all my fault..." He sat down in a chair behind his desk and put his hands in his head. Thayet stood up and said quietly, "Could you leave us alone for a moment?"
Automatically everyone stood up and left the room, Thayet closed the door behind them and turned to face her husband. "Jon, listen to me. You have to pull yourself together! If not for my sake then for everyone else's! Nobody is used to seeing you break down like this and it's unnerving, even for me. We have a team of wonderful people who would be willing die for Kally at the slightest word at our command. And all of them are going to help look for her. We'll find her, we have to...the gods will smile on us in the end, you'll see."
Jon raised his head and nodded slowly, "I am responsible for making her run away, I will not rest until she is safe at home under our protection and supervision." He walked over to a painting on the wall and started studying it, unaware of Thayet's worried gaze following him. It was a portrait of Kalasin, painted only a month before. She was looking thoughtful, but cheerful and contented at the same time.
There was a creak as the study door opened. Prince Roald, Princess Lianne, Prince Liam and Prince Jasson walked through the door, all of them looking worried and upset. Jon turned around, "Why are you all awake? You're supposed to be in bed!" He said angrily. The younger children looked down at the floor, ashamed, but Prince Roald stared stubbornly up at his father. "What's going on?" he asked, "What's happened to Kally?" Jon was overcome with emotion and turned away to face the wall.
"Children, it's under control. We don't know much about what's happened but I promise that you'll know as soon as we do. There isn't anything you can do, so why don't you go back to bed and you'll feel better in the morning?" Thayet said gently, herding the children out of the room and issuing an instruction to a servant to see them back to their bedchambers.
She came back into the room and shut the door with a snap. Spinning around to face her husband, she forced him to look up at her, and then slapped him sharply across the face. He seemed to wake up from a trance and stared at her in shock as his face rapidly turned red where her hand had fallen. "What was that for?" he demanded angrily.
"I'm sorry Jon, I didn't want to do that but I had no choice! You've fallen apart and in front of the children too! If they see you in pieces then what will they think?! They'll lose all hope and start to despair! No matter what is going on, I will not allow that to happen. Not to them, they deserve better from you. They've always thought of you as a strong rock to lean on. If they lose that, it could kill them, I don't want them to have to see you like this...I don't want them to be ashamed of you."
Jon stared up at her with anger and shame in his eyes. He stood up, strode to the door and yanked it open, "Come back inside," he said to his friends, "We need to start sorting this out."
Later on during the day...
"Sadira...Sadira, c'mon wake up!" Kally mumbled and forced her eyes to open as she rolled over on her bed. It was late in the day, and dark outside. As her eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, she was surprised to see that the person waking her up wasn't Kai, but a young girl about her age. Kally sat up suddenly, her mind whirring with thoughts and her stomach fluttering with different emotions. She suddenly felt sick as she remembered the events that had taken place earlier on in the day. She had run away from home...her parents were going to be so mad when they found her. But even as she was thinking these horrible thoughts, she could feel excitement stirring up inside her.
Kally stood up and followed the girl out of the room. Dozens of candles lighted the hallway and Kally was able to study the other girl more closely. She had a cheerful face and a cheeky grin that matched the mischievous look in her eyes. She had coal black skin and fairly short, spiky hair that was also coal black but had streaks of bright purple, blue and gold in it!
She grinned at Kally and said, "Hi! I'm Terina, I'm Kai's friend. He sent me to call you down for the evening meal. He wasn't able to come up to you himself because he was told to go to see The Unicorn before the meal...don't ask me why, I never get told these things. He didn't tell me anything about you except your name so tell me, how old are you? You look about thirteen. And where are you from? I'm from Corus by the way. And how come you decided to become a Shang novice when you were so old? I should be a dedicate by now but I've been kept back about four or five times, apparently I don't work hard enough, although I can't see that! You can call me Rina by the way, everyone does. I'm not talking too much am I?" she said suddenly.
Kally was trying to make sense of everything she had just been told and all the questions she had just been asked in the last three seconds! She didn't think that Terina had even stopped for breath in the middle of her speech! Terina obviously took her silence to be affirmative so she went on, "I'm sorry, it's one of my biggest faults, I'm always being told not to talk so much and not to talk so fast but I just can't help it!" she said, throwing up her hands and sighing dramatically.
Kally couldn't help herself; she laughed out loud, as the other girl giggled to herself and winked at Kally. Kally liked the look of Terina; she seemed like a lot of fun. And Kally knew that she would need as many friends as she could get in this place. "C'mon" Terina jerked her head at the stairs and started to walk towards them. Kally had to walk fast to keep up with her, she walked very quickly.
"Um...Terina?" she said tentatively as they walked down the stairs to the first floor. The other girl waved a hand airily, "I told you, call me Rina. I'm uncomfortable being called by my full name because that's what The Unicorn calls me. So now every time someone calls me Terina, I think I've done something wrong and I automatically start apologizing!" she said happily.
"Okay then, Rina?" Kally said again. "Yes?" Rina replied. "How old are you?" Kally asked. "I'm thirteen, like you...You are thirteen aren't you? Only you never answered my question!" Rina exclaimed, pretending to be hurt. "Well I would've, but you didn't give me much of a chance! Yeah I'm thirteen too. I'm from just outside Corus, not this side, the other side. And to answer your other question...well I suppose I just wanted a change in my life. I was bored and I wanted excitement and adventure. I knew I'd never get it where I was living so I just decided to go...to pick up and leave."
"What about your parents? Didn't they mind?" Rina asked. "I...I don't have any parents...they died when I was little." Even as she said it Kally felt blood rush to her cheeks and felt sick to her stomach at the thought of what she was saying. She felt incredibly guilty but she knew that she couldn't leave her story there, so she kept on going. "I was sent to live with an elderly aunt but she died recently too, there was nothing keeping me where I was, I'd never really felt at home there anyway. So I left, to find a better life, although by the sounds of things this life is even harder than my earlier one!" she finished up.
"That's true!" Rina agreed, "But at least they feed you well, I live for food! I eat a lot, as you'll see in just one moment." She said as the two girls walked into the main hall. At the head table sat twelve adults, Shang masters. Kally recognized the middle two adults as being the Shang Unicorn and the Shang Griffin. On the main floor, the two long tables to the left and to the right were both filled with scrambling children and teenagers trying to get a seat at the table. The ages of the students ranged from about four to about nineteen.
"Hey, look, there's Kai!" Rina said, heading over to where Kai was waving at them to get their attention. Kally followed her and took a seat next to Rina, opposite Kai. There was butter and fruit already on the table. There were also little bread rolls, some plain and others with chopped fruit in them.
After all the students had managed to claim a seat, they stood up and there was silence in the room, as if everyone were expecting something. The Unicorn stood up and raised her hands, palms facing upwards. "May the great gods, Mithros, Minos and Shakith, look kindly upon us and bless this food that is served at our tables. May they give us courage, wisdom and strength. So mote it be." She said, all the students joining in for the sealing of the prayer. Everyone sat down again. Kally was surprised, normally at the palace the king would only ask for Mithros's blessing upon their food. She was sure that she had heard of the other gods before but she couldn't remember where.
Suddenly dozens of servants appeared from a hidden door in the wall, all of them carrying trays laden with plates of steaming food. They served the head table first and then made their way down to the four other long tables. They served every student, having to make second and third trips back to the kitchen before everyone had a plate in front of them. Kally looked down at her meal as everyone around her started to eat. On her plate was rice, studded with almonds and raisins and some type of chicken with sauce. There were vegetables on the side of her plate.
She could see that some people were glancing at her curiously, but mostly everyone was eating as much as they could and as quickly as they could. She now understood what Rina meant about her eating so much. The other girl had already finished her dinner and was spreading butter on her second roll. Kally picked up her fork and started to eat; she wasn't surprised to find that the food was as good as Rina had said it was. After everyone had finished eating, they sat back and started talking as the plates were being taken away by the servants. Kai and Rina seemed very popular and soon everyone at all four tables were coming over to be introduced to 'Sadira'!
When the dessert, rice pudding with honey and cream, had been served, the people seemed to drift away, back to their tables to eat again. Kally started listening to what Kai and Rina were talking about. "Where is he?" Rina was saying. "Didn't I tell you? He was given permission to go into town today and to stay the night, you know that his sister's ill, he'll be back tomorrow afternoon though." Kai replied. "Who are you talking about?" Kally asked curiously.
Kai turned to face her, "Oh, our other best friend, Roka, you haven't met him yet. He'll be back tomorrow though, we'll introduce you to him then." He told Kally. Satisfied with this answer Kally finished off her dessert. When the last plate had been cleared from the tables, everyone got to their feet again. The Unicorn said the final blessing and dismissed everyone. As they walked out of the hall Kally said, "Now what happens?"
Rina answered her question, "Well after dinner every night we are allowed two hours to do our studies that the masters set us in class before we go to bed. Just to warn you, we are given a lot of work, so be prepared! I'm in your dorm Sadira, by the way. I know that neither of you have studies because you were having a free day, Kai and Sadira, you haven't had any lessons yet! But I've got loads to do so I'd better get started. I'll see you tomorrow Kai, and I'll see you upstairs Sadira." She waved merrily and set off up the staircase. Halfway up she stopped, turned around and as an afterthought added, "Does anyone ever call you anything other than Sadira? It's a really long name." When Kally shook her head Rina looked perplexed and quite worried. Then her face broke into a smile, "I'm going to call you Sadi, okay? It's a lot easier to say!" and with that, she ran up the stairs.
Kai shook his head at his friend amusedly and said, "So what do you want to do? Most people study in their dorms but Roka, Rina and I have a study group in the library every night. I suppose Rina will study in her – your – dorm tonight." Kally noticed Kai yawning and said, "I'm still tired and I can see that you are too! I might just go to sleep, if you don't mind...It's been a very long day."
Kai nodded gratefully, "Thanks, I want to go to bed anyway, so I suppose I'll see you in the morning?!" Kally nodded and started walking alongside Kai up through the first floor and onto the second floor. She paused outside the dormitory door and turned around. "Kai?" she said to the boy who was about to walk into his dorm. He turned around, "Yeah?" "...Thanks." Kally said, before turning around and going into her dorm. A screen for dressing behind had been put up in the room. Rina was already at the far end of the dorm, writing on a page that was on a small table, balanced on her knees. Two other girls were with her, Kally recognised one from dinner. She smiled and grabbed her night-clothes out of the small bag she had brought with her.
After getting dressed behind the screen she apologised to the girls for going to bed but explained that she was just too tired to stay up. They nodded and said nothing as Kally lay down in bed, shivering in the cold night air. It took only two minutes for her to fall asleep, and she fell asleep anticipating tomorrow, whether the day would be bad or good, she was yet to find out...
**************** Okay that was a really long chapter and probably very boring but it'll get more interesting soon I promise. In the meantime, Please keep reviewing. I'll try to post another chapter up soon. Oh and for those of you who didn't get to read chapter 4, there was a bit of a mix-up, I've corrected it now so you can go back and read the REAL chapter 4!
