Hey there party people, blah blah blah. It's the second installment, blah blah blah. I own none of these characters, blah blah blah. Further chapters will only be written IF good reviews are written, so r&r. (blah blah blah) Oh, by the way, this is a little long so make sure you have time to read the whole thing. :-)
Chapter Two: In which everyone is a little tense
Daystar looked feverishly around the room, a cold sweat running down the back of his neck. The dream had been so vivid he might as well have been there; he could still feel the hand around his neck, and a sense of urgency still persisted. Daystar got up from bed and moved to the window gracing the eastern wall of his room. It was early morning, the sun had barely worked its way through the forest and a few stars still speckled the darker areas of the sky. The world outside was peaceful and half asleep, not even the birds were up to greet the day. All the same, Daystar was not at all tired.
"This is useless!" cried Shiara in a fit of frustration, slamming shut the huge magical volume she had been reading. "There is nothing in here that even mentions that stupid sword."
Shiara and Daystar were sitting in the castle library poring over volumes concerning mystical weapons in the hopes of reversing the odd predicament Shiara was in. Although Shiara now lived in the Mountains of Morning as Kazul's princess, despite the fact that she had no royal blood to speak of, she had begun stopping by the castle at least once a week. In the three months since, they had managed to read nearly half of the books in the castle library devoted to this subject, and they had nothing to show for it. Even Daystar had to admit feelings of frustration, although he liked the excuse for spending time with Shiara.
Daystar sighed and stole a look out the window. The afternoon sun was now high in the sky, flooding the canopy of the forest with its rays. A breeze ran through the leaves, taking Daystar back to his nightmare. Daystar's face must have betrayed his feelings of worry.
"And what's wrong with you," Shiara demanded now pulling out yet another volume on mystical weapons from the library's shelf, but sparing a second to glare demandingly at Daystar. "Your not the one who's magic got screwed up by the stupid sword, why are you so upset?"
"What- oh it's nothing." Said Daystar apologetically. "I … just thinking."
Shiara gave an impatient snort and began to read.
"Are you sure you want to work on this so close to the wedding? I mean it's only three days away." Said Mandabar from the hall outside the library, the sound of footsteps drawing near. Daystar heard Telemain give an impatient sigh, he turned in time to see both Mandabar, his father, and Telemain enter the room.
"As I explained to you on the mirror I am only going to execute preliminary trials to determine the exact configuration to be carried out on at a later time. Oh, hello Daystar, Shiara." Said Telemain nodding to each of them in turn.
"Found anything of use yet?" Asked Mandabar picking up a book from their table.
"Unfortunately no," replied Daystar, ignoring Shiara's annoyed glare. "And we've already gone through the more specific areas, so we had to widen our search, but there doesn't seem to be any one who wrote about the sword of the sleeping king."
"Well I'm honestly not surprised," said Telemain now looking over the various books. " The sword of the sleeping king holds no precedent beyond the limits of the forest, only weapons that manage to kill or transform beings or places beyond a single area ever get any mention in such volumes."
"So why has no one written about the sword?" Asked Shiara, a slight look of confusion present on her face.
Telemain sighed, "Because, only weapons that can move outside of a certain area and still function properly are the only ones that can be widely realized. Since the sword of the sleeping king-"
"Since the sword can't leave the Enchanted forest no one else knows to write about it." Mandabar finished.
"Exactly."
From across the table Shiara stiffened. "So why don't you work on it?" she asked of Telemain, a slight glimmer of hope in her eyes. "I mean you love stuff like this right?"
Telemain suddenly looked very uncomfortable. "Perhaps…but for now it would be unwise for me to publish such information." Shiara frowned and Telemain added hastily, "But that doesn't mean that I can't help you with the research later, I just have a more pressing study in the works."
"But we can talk about that later." Said Mandabar hastily, cutting of Shiara before she could ask her question.
Just then Willin entered the room looking very upset. "Your majesties, sir, madam." Said Willin, hastily bowing to Mandabar, Daystar, Telemain, and Shiara in turn.
"What's wrong Willin," asked Mandabar, a note of tension in his voice.
"Nothing that greatly concerns your majesty," said Willin, giving Mandabar an apologetic bow, "rather it more directly concerns master Telemain."
"What is it?" Asked Telemain sounding highly confused.
"It is the matter of you wedding sir, your future wife has gone through several of my layouts and decorating instructions, and changed them completely." Willin finished grumpily.
Telemain relaxed a little, "It sounds like this is more of a complaint for Morwen."
"I have addressed the issue with her sir," said Willin his voice hinting on the slight verge of panic, "but she insists on the minimum of almost everything, the food, furniture, seating arrangements-"
"I'll discuss the matter with her later." Interrupted Telemain hastily. "For now keep a hold on your plans."
Willin bowed gracefully and left the room
"How you ever managed to talk me into letting Willin help, I'll never know." Said Telemain giving Mandabar a reproachful glare.
Mandabar laughed, "We'll worry about that another time, but for now I suggest you find the book you came for, then talk this whole wedding ordeal over with Morwen. By the way have you two decided where you are going to live yet, her house or your tower?"
"Yet another issue up for debate, but at the moment not exactly the most pressing one." Replied Telemain, striding over to one of the library's bookcases and peering at its contents. "Aha, here we are." Telemain pulled a silver book from the shelf and tucked it under his arm before Daystar or Shiara could get a good look at it. "Well, I suppose I must be going."
"Tower, or Morwen's house?" asked Mandabar, his eyes focused on the invisible strings of magic.
Telemain thought for a moment, " The tower, I need to drop this off before seeing Morwen." He motioned to the book as he said this.
"Tower it is." Mandabar pulled at the stirrings and Telemain vanished with a slight puff of air.
"Now that that's taken care of…" said Mandabar to no one in particular. "I'm afraid I won't be able to help today," He said in apology to Shiara. "But you can stay as long as you need to, and as always you are welcome to join us at dinner."
"Thanks." Replied Shiara stiffly, and odd look spread across her face. "I'll think about it."
Mandabar wave as he walked out of the library, closing the door behind him. Shiara sat motionless in her seat for a few seconds, as if listening for something. Daystar was about to ask if anything was wrong when she sprung from her seat and walked over to the shelf that Telemain had been inspection only minutes before.
"What are you looking for?" Daystar asked getting up to join Shiara. "All of the books on weapons are in the other corner of the library."
Shiara gave Daystar an irritated glare and returned to inspecting the bookcase. "I want to know what is so dangerous that Telemain should wait till after the wedding for…well this is odd." Said Shiara, her voice drifting off.
"What's odd?"
"This area is devoted to wizards." Replied Shiara waving a hand at the bookcase.
"What?"