The sun had only just passed the horizon as the tapping of horses hooves could be heard in Mistral city. The sounds echoed through the empty streets and in the new sunlight two nightmare horses cantered toward the castle. Their riders, Calum and Joseph wore dignified faces as they wove their way through the streets and to the castle gates. The looming structure had become a symbol of destruction in Mistral since the reign of Israphel; cobble paths leading through the gates were obviously unused as the two horses found themselves occasionally unable to find their footing. The over grown weeds and underbrush often trespassed onto the path and trees stood that had long since lost their leaves.

It was the setting of late Autumn that gave the wind its biting chill and the grass a frozen dew in the early morning but regardless the whole of the city's population had gathered. Everyone was there, young, old, poor and rich, some were on makeshift wheelchairs or crutches just attend the meeting that was to take place at noon. When the two nightmare horses slowed to a stop and their riders had hopped off, many cheered but some, mainly the richer and more well off looking ones booed. However one young man, dressed in the kind of suit you would expect someone from the Victorian era to wear, smiled warmly at their approach. He ran a hand through his chestnut brown hair to push it out of his face and walked up to greet them.

"Calum, Joseph." He nodded at each of them in respect as he shook their hands.

"I'm glad you have come, we were afraid you would not be able to make it so soon." He said. They could tell he was tired from the bags under his eyes but his voice showed stress and an over riding fear.

"We came as soon as we were told about the situation here in Mistral." Calum said, his voice deep and calm, commanding even.

One of the horses stamped his hoof in annoyance, letting out a bray that took the crowd by surprise. Joseph walked quietly toward the horses and muttered a foreign phrase, they looked at him in confusion at first but soon nodded and trotted off, supposedly to wherefrom they had come.

Ridge watched the horses leave, almost in awe, magic was the stuff of fairytales and yet here were two who could not only perform magic but understand the complexities of it. He turned slowly and focused his eyes on the gate.

"Right." He muttered, gathering his senses. "We shouldn't be standing around talking, we have a meeting to go to." He said, more sure of himself than he had ever been although desperately terrified in nerves at the same time.

"Indeed." Calum responded after a short second, apparently distracted by something which was unusual for him.

Ridge strode toward the gates that were sealed with a large copper padlock, he drew out a set of keys from his pocket and fished through them to find the one he was looking for. All of the keys seemed identical, bar from a set of numbers etched into the side of each one, too small for normal eyes to see. He held the winning key triumphantly in between his fingers before sliding it into the lock he turned it swiftly and as the bar came from the lock a satisfying click could be heard. He took the lock off and tossed it aside, muttering something as he did so and pushed the gates open easily.

Calum frowned in confusion for a second, why were the gates the only well kept part if the castle? It didn't seem to make sense until he remembered the council telling him something about the protesters destroying the gates to the castle. He grimaced at the thought.

There were many people here but you wouldn't know from first glance that it was the entire city considering the size of Mistral. The recent protests and tax rises had left many hundreds dead from starvation, execution or wounds from the protests as people were left without homes, jobs or even clean food or water to come back to. After Israphel's death and Israphel II's take over he had deprived the land of water and money and gave huge shares to the wealthy and hundreds of thousands of gallons to feed water features and a moat around the castle. The reason for this was unknown but he had been arrested for treason against the kingdom by the people, hence the protests. They had no way of enforcing it so that was why a messenger was sent to Arabor, telling of the horrors that were going on and asking for help, the council decided they would do their best to help Mistral on one condition, their leader would be chosen by the council. That leader was Ridge Goates Dog or Ridgedog as he was more commonly named.

It was clear as they were walking toward the main castle doors just how ignored the whole castle keep was. An old looking soldier with rusted and dirty armour patrolled the walls, pacing slowly. He wanted to be anywhere but there, he wanted to be home with his family but Ridge knew there was a chance he would have no home to go back to. So many people had died, starved, shot, hanged, burned and fallen ill, he would fix that, he would turn the world around even if he was assassinated by the forces of the rich even if he had to dig his own grave he would help them. All things ran through his mind as he the three encroached nearer to the castle.

Calum knocked hard on the cast iron and wood door, one that had stood strong for centuries. Ridge noted the amazing iron work on the door, Minecraftia had been known for its amazing architecture and workmanship rivalling even the dwarves until, him Israphel, he had ruined it with his plans that were never finished, his wanting to own everything, he destroyed it all. Family forges and businesses thrown to the sands of time when they could no longer work under his rules and now this, Israphel's devil son, continuing his fathers reign with vengeance. Why had Prince Xephos left? He could have saved us all but no, he ran and took Cynda and Rythian with him.

He thought about this for a few minutes and by the time he had realised there were two soldiers, clad in war stained armour standing infront of them. One was quite tall and slim in comparison to the other who seemed about to cry with the look he was giving them.

"What do you want?" The taller one asked in a gruff, tired voice.

Calum looked at the two, analysing them probably, and raised his head slightly,

"We are here to meet with the King." He said, his voice as commanding as before only this time, there was an edge to it that seemed to intimidate the two soldiers.

Joseph gave an angry look at Calum and hissed something inaudible at him, Calum shook his head which gave Joseph a quizzical look.

"You- you can't." The shorter one said, stammering out of slight fear.

"Well why not?" Calum said. It was a fair question but it seemed to terrify the two soldiers.

The taller one cleared his throat and gathered his senses, "The King has no planned meetings today, please come back when you have a time for him." He stated.

Joseph quickly took something out his pocket and forced it into the shorter soldier's hands. He looked at the letter for a second, then to the soldier, then back to the letter again. The taller one nudges him In the ribs,

"Open it." He whispered as quietly as he dared.

There was a told of tearing paper before he had managed to break through the letter, he read it silently first then handed it to the taller soldier to read, the whole process took about 5 minutes. Calum cleared his throat which called both of their attention's,

"As you can see we DO infact have a meeting planned with the King and if you don't let us in very soon we are going to be late." He said.

Both soldiers promptly nodded and stepped aside, allowing them in, the shorter one called for a servant.

"Show these three to the king." He said, his voice was calm and easy toward the servant who was standing just out of view.

A young girl of about 11 stepped out in front of them. She had long, braided golden, blonde hair that was settled over her right shoulder she had fair skin and was about average height for her age but the one thing that stood out were her eyes. She had ice blue eyes that seemed to glisten like stars. Ridge swore the room got lighter when he saw her. She looked at the three in turn, each with mild shock and looked back at the soldier who gave her a swift nod and walked out, leaving her alone with the three. She had long and slightly tattered overalls on and an apron tied loosely around her neck which seemed odd, her beauty would surely give her a higher standing than a simple servant.

She coughed slightly from nerves and shifted her weight on her feet, "Well, right this way." She said and swiftly walked through the corridor. It was clear she had been brought up around the castle as her walk was as dignified as you would expect a Queen's to be, she held her head high and her back straight.

The followed her past the kitchens and out into the castle gardens.

"What's your name?" Ridge asked quietly, he knew it was potentially a rude question but he wanted a name to refer to later.

She stopped suddenly and stared at him.

"I- uh, well- em, I- err Lomadia." She said, her mind seemed to be contradicting itself, both nervous but commanding, silent yet loud, beautiful and unloved.

Ridge nodded, he knew not to say anything from now on, he expected her just to carry on walking but she continued to stare at him.

"But you can err- call me Hannah." She added.

She looked away and then at the ground before continuing, her footsteps smaller and strides shorter, like she was going somewhere she didn't want to go.

The gardens were radiant, flowers and plants bloomed in sync, the trees were finely pruned and Oranges, apples and lemons hung from their branches in plenty. Daffodils and bluebells stood straight and looked onto the path with amazing resilience, all plants that should be dead or dying in the autumn chill swarmed the area. What stood out however, among all else were the beautiful water features, the way that they never seemed to destroy the perfect clarity, the way not a single dropped splashed or changed in a way it was not meant to. It was magic, it had to be, there was no way water would act like this naturally. Lomadia ran a hand though the water as they walked past one such of the features and the water seemed not to react to her movement, her hand moved out dry but shimmering with the clarity of the water. She smiled ever so faintly and walked quicker toward the King, who was now in sight.