Chapter 4
News
Myra awoke as the sun was rising. Staring up at the treetops she smiled. Tonight was going to be one of the best nights of her life. Almost ten months had passed since Julian brought the two of them here, in the forest called Arden, and now Myra was ready to take the final step and come into her heritage. Jade had left for the city a couple of months ago, saying she couldn't stand the outdoors any longer. Julian took her to the palace in Amber, where she walked the pattern, the source of almost all of Amberites unique abilities.
After she got comfortable Jade proved to be extremely impatient. Myra, on the other hand, wanted to gain as much knowledge as she could before diving into the pool, so to speak. Since Jade left Julian had taught her a lot, especially about hunting and family history. He seemed to have taken a liking to her, even going so far as to give her rides on Morgenstern, his great beast of a horse. A thing, she gathered from the patrol troops, to be quite an unusual occurrence.
While she'd been in Arden she also got to meet a couple of other family members. Yes, she found upon her arrival here that she was a member of the royal house in Amber. Julian was a prince and she was somehow related to him, though she didn't know exactly how. The others who stopped by were also princes. The first one she met was Benedict, dressed all in orange, yellow and brown. He was very tall and thin. He was also a quiet man, only speaking when it was necessary.
He stopped by on his way to a distant shadow during the second month that she was there. Being not only the eldest living family member, but also the Master of Arms he decided to teach the two girls a little bit of sword play. He didn't stay long that day, but he stopped by several times after that. Because they both studied fencing during college for fun they were far more skilled than he thought they would be. Still, he was able to teach them much and soon he told them they were already better than some of the Elders, meaning the acknowledged children of the late King Oberon. He went further to say that they were the best swords women in the family since Deirdre. That was quite a compliment, though Deirdre had preferred the battle-ax, they were told.
Only a couple of weeks ago the other visitor stopped by. It was Blyes. In the green of the forest he stood out like a bright flame. Red was his hair and he was clothed in orange and red. Myra noticed a devil-like glint in his very blue eyes as he stopped to great her. He only stayed for about an hour to have a private conversation with Julian. Then he disappeared into the forest as suddenly as he had come.
Myra got up and stretched, thinking of her old life. There was no way she could go back to it now, knowing what she did. Still, she thought of all the people she'd known, the fun times that they had. She would probably never see them again. Thinking that reminded her of the way Drake acted the last time she'd seen him. It was like he knew what would happen ahead of time. She reached for her jacket and took out the envelope he'd given her that day and regarded it. It bulged slightly towards the bottom, containing more than just a letter. Maybe it was a set of keys and the letter asked her to water his plants while he was away.
Whatever. It remained unopened, and Myra could only guess what it really said. Why hadn't she opened it? She shrugged mentally and replaced it in her jacket pocket. "That life is dead and gone." She thought to herself, "Besides, tonight I'll make my grand debut in Amber and meet the rest of the family, well hopefully."
Still Drake and his envelope remained in her mind, refusing to commit themselves to the filing cabinet of things forgotten. "Are you ready?" a voice called, rousing her from her thoughts. It was Julian. He was going to escort her to the palace today and he seemed to want to get it over with as soon as possible. Myra wasn't surprised by his gruffness though. He always acted that way and even though he treated he better than most people he still remained cold and closed off. It was just his nature.
"Yeah, I'm ready." Myra replied without even a glance in his direction. She picked her jacket off the ground from where it fell when she was thinking. "Lets go now." He came up beside her with a card in his hand. It was the one depicting the front hall of the palace. After a moment of concentration he'd taken her hand and they stepped forward into the room. Jade had been waiting for them and ran to greet them as soon as they began to appear. "Well, I've got things to attend to." Julian said, "Good day to you, ladies. I'm sure I'll see you at the ball this evening." With that he strode away down the nearest corridor.
"I'm glad you're here." Myra said, embracing her long-time best friend.
"Me too," She replied, "Come on, why don't I show you around while we talk. I have some interesting news for you."
"Alright. Do you know where my room is?" Myra replied.
"Yup, lets go there." Jade said, then she began walking up the main stair, Myra in tow. After a few moments of silence she spoke again. "So I went back home..." She began.
"And..." Myra prompted.
"Well, for starters I noticed that time travels about twice as fast there as it does here."
"Oh yeah?"
"Yeah. When I got there we'd already been gone for over a year." Jade replied, "The strange thing though, is that your sister found me almost immediately upon my arrival."
"She would," Myra snorted, "Looking for me, no doubt? I wonder what she wants this time, she usually doesn't bother."
"Well, I wouldn't know about that, " Jade said, "All she told me was that she needed to speak with you. Apparently your mom has returned from places unknown and has something of importance to discuss. She didn't tell me anything else though."
"Knowing my mom, this 'important' business is probably advice on how to grow bigger rutabagas." Myra laughed, "I think I can let her wait for that."
"Fine by me," Jade shrugged, "Oops! We've passed your rooms!" They backtracked about five feet down the hallway and stopped before a mahogany door. "One more thing of business," Jade said.
"Yes?" Myra paused while opening the door.
"Nayda was still around while I was there. She's probably left by now though,"
"You talked with her? What'd she have to say?"
"Yes, I spoke with her on several occasions. She was still trying to find Nicole. I even told her to try Daniel's house, but still no luck."
"I see," Myra, replied with a contemplative frown, "I think I'll just have to check it out myself."
Jade shrugged, "Anyway, I'm going shopping later. I've got to find a dress for the ball tonight. Did you want to come?"
"Sure, Come get me here. I think I'll take a nap or something." With that Jade strode down the corridor, probably towards her own chambers. Myra sighed, and then went to take her nap, even though she'd only woken up a couple of hours ago.
A/N: Well, there you go, another chapter. You're quite lucky this one came up so fast. I wouldn't have gotten a chance to update, but I finaly got a day off from everything. Please feel free to review, I apreciate the comments.
