Several days later, Shean and I had to sit in on a council meeting. Ferrel was declaring war and we were going to be forced to sign into it and we had to be prepared to fight them. So we had a representative of all of our allies (and some kingdoms that were considering becoming allies) at a meeting and I, being the princess, had to sit in on it, so I hauled Shean along, since he knew more about tactics or whatever than me. (which isn't hard, since I know nothing about tactics, but whatever) Several of the allies sons and daughters had come along, too (no doubt Kyrria's trying to get another cemented ally by marrying me off), but Shean and I were the only under-twenty-ones at the meeting.
Shean elbowed me suddenly and I woke up. I doubted anyone had noticed that I had dozed off, but just to be certain, I set down the book I had been reading and looked around as if I had just been reading and was now ready to get involved in the debate.
"No, the champion must be from Sellian," protested one man, banging his fist on the table. I threw Shean a glance out of the corner of my eye.
"They're trying to decide who should go after the Seeing Stones," he whispered discreetly.
"Huh?"
"I'll explain later. Just suffice to say that they're links between kingdoms and are very important." Now I wished I'd stayed awake, since all I knew about the Seeing Stones was legend. Oh well. At least it was starting to get exciting now.
The debating continued for ten minutes and I yawned. Did I say exciting? It had been exciting. Now it was mind-numbing. And it still wasn't done. And they still hadn't chosen anyone. I sighed and leaned over to Shean to whisper inconspicuously for his ears only.
"Geez, wouldn't it just be easier if we went ourselves?" I asked with a little almost inaudible chuckle. Then I froze, a hundred-watt light bulb going off over my head.
Shean saw the look on my face and hissed, "Val," in a warning tone. I ignored it.
I raised my hand and cleared my throat. Every single eye in that whole entire room turned to me and I swallowed a couple times before speaking. "Um… respected peoples of this world." Gee, what a great start, Val. "I would like to make a proposal." No one moved. "I would like to propose that Sir Shean and I make the journey to collect the Seeing Stones." There was a moment of silence, then every single person in the room except the Kyrrians and Shean burst into loud guffaws of laughter.
"You, Princess?" Chuckled one large man, clutching his expansive belly as he laughed. "I don't think you know what you're saying."
I shook with rage. Of course I knew what I was saying. "Yes, I do."
But no one would listen. When the laughter had finally subsided and all the gibes had stopped, they turned back to which of their knights should take the quest on. Insulted, I got up and strode quickly and stiffly out of the hall and up to my room with Shean running along behind. He caught my arm just as the door shut behind us in the corridor outside of the meeting hall.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm going to my room; what does it look like I'm doing?" I all but yelled back as I continued walking, his hand still holding my arm, trying to stop me.
I whirled on him and tried to pull away. "What's the problem? I just want go to my room and punch something."
Shean moved ahead of me, dragging me along by my arm at a pace faster than I could easily keep up with. He pulled me to my room and closed the door, then dumped me firmly down onto my bed. He stood over me, glowering.
"Look, Val, I'm not very happy, either. Next time, please ask me first." He sounded rather mad. "Do you even know what you're getting yourself into?"
I nodded confidently. "I know all the legends, 'cause they were taught to me in my history lessons."
Shean sat down and sighed, his head in his hands. "Then tell me, please?" He asked, not looking at me.
"Well, ages ago, there was a great lord named S'selth. He was a great master of magic and he created the fifteen Seeing Stones. They were created so that he and his allies could communicate across any distance."
"Wait, wait," Shean interrupted. "If they were for his allies, then why are we trying to get them? I thought I remembered someone in the council mentioning his name, and I thought he was on the other side a long time ago."
I shook my head. "He was a bad guy. He was defeated and confined long ago. But when he made the Stones, he was on our side. But then he got too power hungry and turned to the dark side. The Stones were lost to monsters and other difficulties, either lost by their masters or put there by S'selth. Now we have to go and find them again. With them, we'll be able to use the minor Stones we still have, and we can give them to our army commanders and officers and other important people and be able to communicate with them without risking our messengers."
"Huh? Minor stones?"
"Yeah, they're kind of like the seeing stones, but without pictures, just sound. And they're smaller, so they're easier to carry. Kind of like the difference between holos and comm links."
Shean nodded, trying to look like he understood. By now, we had both calmed down. I sighed.
"But now I'll bet we'll have a problem."
Shean cocked his head. "Why?"
I looked up. "Because I'll bet that none of the knights or champions will want to go. The whole journey is said to be loaded with peril, not to mention what you have to go through to actually get each of the stones. And none of them are in the same place. Luckily, we no longer have to get S'selth's Stone."
"Why?"
"Because when he was defeated and confined, his Stone was taken and is now in custody in Ayrlan."
"Is that one of the allies?"
I nodded. "Before I left, I think I heard them agree to bring the Stone here. They probably already sent off a messenger to bring it back." I sighed and flopped backwards onto the bed, then sat up and went to get my guitar.
I sat back down on the bed and started strumming some chords. Pretty soon, my pick was flying up and down the strings and my fingers were squeaking across the frets on the neck and Shean had joined in. Suddenly, there was a knock on the door and we both froze, hands automatically covering the strings to stop the music.
I stood up and put my guitar on the bed. "Yes?"
"Val?" It was my mother's voice.
"Yeah?"
"Could you come out here?"
Shean and I exchanged glances, but I went and opened the door.
"Where's your guitar?" Not what I was expecting. I was expecting a reprimand on how loud we were. (well, aren't acoustics supposed to be loud? It's not like you can make them be quiet and still sound good)
"Um, in my room," I replied, wrinkling my brow.
"Oh. I heard you playing and I was going to ask if you and Shean would play after dinner tonight."
I sighed, but I was actually rather delighted. I had been playing for three years, most of that time I had been in the band, but I'd never gotten to play before my parents or other dignitaries. "You're trying to show me off to show them that we're just as good as they are, aren't you?" I asked, knowing what she'd say.
"Well, no, I… yes." Maybe not. "I believe we need to convince them that Kyrria does have strengths. We may be the head of the council right now, but that's only because we're in the front lines of the attack that will be launched on the allies. We need to convince them to let our champion be the one to get the Stones, so we can prove we're not just asking for their aid and won't give anything in return if the fight comes past us to their homes as well."
I felt the urge to laugh, but didn't. "Great, Mom. They're sure going to want to let our knights go after the Stones once they hear me play my guitar. Sorry, but I'd rather just play in my room." Well, actually I wouldn't, but I was afraid she had someone who was going to go and propose or something after I played and exclaim about how good I am. Just what I needed. I like compliments, but only when they're genuine.
A small sly smile played on her lips. "Well, if you don't want to, that's fine, although the arms master –"
"What about him?" I interrupted, suddenly alert.
"Well, he had suggested that after we show them that Kyrria is gifted in the arts, we could show them we're also gifted in the combat arts by letting their sons challenge my daughter, but if you don't want to play, then…"
"No, I'll play, I'll play," I quickly amended, knowing she was baiting me, but I didn't care. Most of those boys were stuck up, haughty prigs who thought all girls were good for were batting their eyelashes and kissing. I was dying to show them wrong.
Mother smiled smugly. "I thought you might change your mind. Well, I'll see you at dinner. Don't forget your guitars," she added blithely over her shoulder as she walked away, still smirking. Sometimes she still acted more like a child than me. (Yes, hard to believe, I know)
I walked back into my room, picked up my guitar, and started playing in a minor key.
"What's the matter?"
"Matter? Oh, nothing's the matter," I replied through gritted teeth, holding my pick tighter in my fingers so the strings would vibrate better and produce an even louder noise.
"Val," he said, grabbing my hand to stop me playing, "you're playing in a minor key and not even playing a song. Something's the matter."
I sighed. He knew me too well. "My mum got me to play in front of everyone after dinner tonight."
Shean looked confused. He dropped my hand to scratch his head. "But I thought you liked playing in front of people?"
"I do. Just not when it's to promote Kyrria and for that reason alone."
Shean sighed and looked heavenward. "Oh boy, not again."
"Though, I do get to beat up those pretty boy sons of all those dignitaries, who pride themselves so much on never being beaten. Hah. That's because everyone in their kingdom lets them win because they have to. Let them try fencing with a girl and lets see their egos go from hero to zero." I knew I had an evil grin and a glint in my eyes, and that was fine with me. That's exactly what those boys would see before they went down.
Shean looked up at the ceiling and closed his eyes. "Saints preserve us. Whatever idiot let Val loose on the world with a sword…" He trailed off.
I grinned. "My mom."
He jerked back to stare at me. "Your mom?"
I nodded, pleased with myself. I might have to play for the good of Kyrria, but I was going to fight for the good of me. And, boy, was I looking forward to it.
Shean started muttering something about me and swords and violence and blood and egos and pretty boys of the court who thought they were too good for their own britches and how we were all going to die after dinner. I just laughed.
A/N: I hope you liked this chapter. I can't wait for the next chapter. I love bringing boys' egos down, heehee, especially stuck up ones. Even if it's just in a story. Anyways, if you liked it, thanks in advance for reviewing, and if you didn't, thanks for reviewing anyways. Have a wonderful day and if you see me with any sort of weapon, run for your life. I may be insane. (Wait, scratch that; I already am)
P.S. The next chapter will probably be optional again, so I'll post the twenty-third chapter along with it, which is when we'll start to see some action again. Once again, sorry this has been so slow lately, it'll speed up in a couple chapters hopefully (speaking of action scenes, not how fast I'll update, hehe).
As I've said before, I can always use more Beta Readers, especially once I get done with this and get to rewrite it. Boy, that'll be fun. A whole two hundred pages, probably, heehee. (I'm hoping, anyways) But yeah, I definitely looking for Beta Readers. Thanks for reading this far! And thanks to all my reviewers!