An Empty Throne Part One
The sun had risen high the next day over the river. The party were fast asleep. Caroline cuddled Felix in her arms. Nearby the egg glimmered in flashes of colours, releasing a chiming echo to the one who found it.
Carol. It called. Carol!
Felix's ears twitched and they flicked up alarmingly. He raised his head and saw the egg flashing brightly. And the sound of his person's name. He crawled out from under her arm and licked her face. She sat up and yawned and wiped the moisture off her face. "Hey, Felix. What's up?"
Felix cocked his head to the egg. Carol stared at it intently. Then she heard her name being called from the egg. She stepped over carefully and gazed at its amazing colours. "Is it…calling to me?"
Carol! She heard it again. She gasped and fell back in shock. Felix kept close to her growing at the egg. "I'm going crazy," Ignoring her fox's concerns, she pulled the lid of the rucksack over the egg but she could still see the flashes underneath. She walked back to her sleeping spot, pulling out her primal stone and the cube from her knapsack. She held the item close to each other. The Storm symbol pulsated glowing blue. She gazed at it in wonder. There was so much more than what it seemed. She eyed Bait sleeping near Ezran and Willow. She held it over him. The Sun symbol pulsated, glowing yellow. "Wow," she said in wonder. "It glows near anything magic,"
Felix cocked his head towards Raylan sleeping a distance away from them. He narrowed his eyes, still not forgetting the way he had lashed out at his person. He suddenly grabbed the cube from Carol with his teeth and bounded over to the sleeping elf.
"Felix. Come back," she hissed, not wanting to wake the party up.
Ignoring her, Felix positioned the cube in his mouth right in front of Raylan's face. The moon insignia glowed white. He pulled back. It stopped glowing and the pulsating noise stopped. He moved it near him again.
"Felix, stop it," hissed Carol in irritation.
But the fox enjoyed faffing around with the glowing cube when suddenly Raylan's eyes flicked up and he grabbed his throat. "This doesn't end well for you fox,"
"Get your hands off my fox," demanded Caroline.
The annoyed Raylan let Felix go and in a panicked state bounded over into her arms. "Maybe you should try teaching your pet to stop bothering people,"
"Did you just call him a pet?" she snapped. "For the record, he is not a pet. He is a companion," she stroked him, causing him to purr. "He probably did that to get back at you from last night,"
"Whatever games you and him are playing with the toy cube. Stop it,"
"It's not a toy. Look," Caroline took the cube from her companion's mouth and tossed it to Raylan who caught it. He saw the moon insignia glow white in his presence. "See. It's…"
"A glow toy," he answered unamused. She tossed it back to her.
"No. There's more to it than you think. The Sky symbol glowed near my primal stone and the sun symbol glowed near Bait. There's so much more to this cube than meets the eye,"
"You've got to stop tampering with magic," said Raylan seriously. "You could really hurt yourself,"
"Just because I'm a human doesn't mean I shouldn't try to understand magic," she answered stubbornly. Since casting that first spell, Raylan had never felt another passion in her life for magic other than art. It was her calling.
"Nice to see you two up," grumbled Willow. She and Ezran were wide awake.
Raylan stood up. "I'm gonna go and find some food,"
"No need," spoke up Ezran. "We've got plenty of food," he pulled out a loaf of bread from his rucksack. "Have a bite,"
Raylan sceptically took the bread. It felt hard. "It feels like a rock," he waved it around like a sword. "Feels more like a baton," suddenly he felt his right wrist stinging from the tight wrist band and he dropped it. It fell on a stone breaking it in half.
"It's not that bad," Ez picked up the bread. "It's food-ish," he took a bite.
Raylan rolled his eyes. "I'm good. I'm going to find something," he walked off into the forest. "I'll be back,"
"Where did you get the blue necklace?" Carol asked, stopping him in his tracks.
He held it tightly. "I don't want to talk about it," he disappeared again.
Caroline narrowed her eyes at his retreating figure. What are you hiding? Her instincts told her. Sensing her attitude, Felix narrowed his eyes too.
The kingdom of Katolis had just grieved for its king but had received news that the royal children were alive. Caldor walked out of town to reach the gates of the castle. Last night he was so heartbroken about King Harrow's death and supposedly the children, particularly Caroline's as well but now that General Amaya had brought news that they were alive and safe, he was filled with hope. He entered the courtyard.
"Caldor!" Claudia walked forward, greeting him. "What brings you here?"
"I wish to speak to your father," he requested.
"Follow me," Claudia led him through the hallways.
In the throne room, Viren eyed the empty throne. He had managed to conceal the truth of his dismissal from the kingdom but that had not become his only problem. "Father!" his daughter's voice called.
He turned around to see her entering the room. "Yes, my dear,"
"Caldor would like to talk to you,"
"Send him in," he requested. "Would you let us talk alone?"
"Of course," she said.
Caldor entered the room, a frown on his face. Tense a little, Claudia awkwardly left. Viren approached him. "What is that you want?"
"I want to know how you allowed our king to get assassinated," the bookman crossed his arms. "And how you allowed his children to end up far away from their home,"
"I offered a solution to him but he stubbornly refused to heed it,"
"Of course, he did. No matter how many times I have tried to warn you before, you always ignore the truth that dark magic doesn't achieve anything. You had no other option?"
"He wanted to face his doom. And you can't hold me responsible for what happened to the children. Especially his teenaged, immature step…"
"How dare you call Caroline that," Caldor snapped.
"I am the high Mage of Katolis. I will not be lectured by a mere bookseller!" the mage arrogantly retorted. "Which brings me to ask you this. You know Caroline more than anyone Caldor. I want you to tell me how she came into the possession of a primal stone,"
Caldor felt his heart jump. "I have no idea what you're talking about,"
Viren turned cold. "You're lying. The king certainly wouldn't have known of this so only you do,"
"I don't answer to you," Caldor retorted. "I answer only to the new king and his family,"
"Is there something about her I should know about?" Viren asked, stepping towards him menacing. Caldor kept silent. "Don't make me force it out of you," Still the bookman refused to speak. Before Viren could threaten him further, the loud opening of doors made them turn to see Amaya and Gren enter the room. The general had a frown on her face.
"Looks like you've got an angry aunt to talk to," Caldor said. He turned his back and walked off, knowing this was not his place to talk. He walked towards his friend and her translator. He and Amaya were very close friends. Without speaking, he communicated in sign language to her. Her eyebrows scrunched. Viren observed them from a distance, noticing only Amaya's facial features.
Caldor left the throne room peacefully, mounted his horse in the courtyard and galloped away from the castle and the village to the canyon where he last saw Caroline. He came to Queen Sarai's statue and eyed the red rose; her eldest daughter had left behind. "Oh Carol," he prayed. "I hope you're safe," he pulled out a candle and lit it bowing at the statue. "Sarai, if only you could see how much your children miss you, how much your kingdom misses you," Hearing footsteps, he turned and saw Amaya and Gren approaching, Amaya's expression heartbroken. He stood up. "I'm so sorry," he spoke and signalled at the same time. He offered a hug to Amaya and she took it gladly.
She lit a candle too and bowed to her sister's statue; she missed her so much. "If only you could see how much Caroline looks like you," seeing the red rose she picked it up.
"She came here before she tried to leave," Caldor spoke up.
Amaya sent a frown at him. "You knew she was leaving?" she communicated; Gren speaking again.
Caldor sighed. "Yes,"
"How could you let her leave like this? She could have been killed,"
"I know. I tried to stop her but I couldn't change her mind. I thought perhaps leaving was what she needed to figure herself out. When I found out she was nearly killed by Moonshadow elves, I felt so guilty,"
Amaya's features softened. "At least she's alive," she signed. "You were right not to trust Viren. I fear he is up to something,"
"Do you know what's happened to her and the others?"
"I found them at the Banther lodge. They were with this elf whom she claimed to be her friend. And then she used a magic stone to conjure up the fog. I don't understand why they would let that elf take them like that," Amaya couldn't forget the regretful face of her niece as they sailed away from the river.
"Wherever they are, I'm sure they're safe. She'll protect them," Caldor said positively.
"Do you know anything about this stone she used?"
"I gave it to her two days ago,"
"Where did you get that stone?"
"Sarai gave it to me," Caldor said. His words surprised Amaya. "She told me to give it to her when she turned sixteen. But since she was leaving and I didn't know when she'd be coming back, I gave it to her then. It's amazing how she's instantly got the hang of spell-casting," Sensing the worried look on Amaya, he said, "She can handle herself, Amaya,"
"We still have to find her. And Ezran and Willow," Amaya was determined. "I can't lose any more of my family. I don't trust Viren to do the job. I will be sending Gren to search for them. Oh, that's me," said Gren awkwardly. "I need to the Breach to protect our kingdom,"
"I should come with you Gren," insisted Caldor.
"No Caldor. It's best if you stay in the kingdom where it's safe," though admirable of his surrogate care for her niece, Amaya knew Caldor wasn't much of a sword fighter. "Gren will send news of the children once he finds them with my tracker Corvus. Hopefully, he's already got a trace of their trail,"
"I'm not gonna sit in my bookshop all day and do nothing," Caldor swore. "I want to find out what Viren intends to do,"
"Please be careful," implored Amaya, knowing there was no changing his mind.
Raylan sat at the end of a clifftop, looking out into the far distance, and seeing green everywhere. It was beautiful. He pulled out a sword. "Here goes nothing"
Caroline looked through her book of history spells. She found a spell that she hadn't quite managed to recap yet. "Mm. Lightning spell. Fulminous. Let's give it a shot,"
Felix and Bait eyed her worriedly.
"Carol are you sure you should be doing that?" asked Ezran.
"If I'm gonna do magic for our journey, I need to try memorizing more spells," she said. "I can do this,"
The elf tried countless times to slice the bindings off each wrist but with each attempt, he became angrier and angrier. "Come on! What is this thing made of? Man, I am so going to have a word with Runaan," he realised what he had said and felt his heart sink. He'd yet to tell his new allies the terrible news. What would happen if they did? Would they abandon the quest to return home? Would they want revenge against his surrogate father? What could he do?
Suddenly he heard loud screaming echoing through the trees. "Help! Help!"
He stood up. "Caroline," quickly he dashed into the forest, leaping up and across trees then diving back to the forest floor below near the river. HE tumbled-rolled as he landed and pulled out his blades. "What is it? What's wrong?"
But there was no danger. In front of him a distance away, Caroline was holding her primal stone but electricity was zapping all over the place. Ezran and Willow hide behind a log with the animals.
"What did you do?" Raylan demanded, seating his blades.
"I tried to do the lightning spell Fulminus but it suddenly got out of control!"
"This is why I told you to stop messing with magic. With a good teacher, you're gonna hurt yourself!"
"Stop giving me a lecture and tell me what to do!" she shouted.
"Try throwing the stone at him!" Willow suggested.
"Good idea! That'll end the spell!" agreed Ezran.
Raylan wide his eyes. "No! NO!"
"I'm gonna throw it to you!" said Caroline. "Three! Two!"
"Don't throw it!" he shouted.
"One! Tossing it!" Caroline threw the stone. Raylan braced himself and the moment his hands caught the ball he felt bolts of electricity shooting through his skin to the tips of her hair. The mage fell to the ground in relief. "Phew. I'm okay," Felix bounded over and licked her face in relief. "You okay Raylan?" When she looked up, she suddenly burst out into peals of laughter.
Raylan growled. His hair was standing up on the end and zaps of lightning were sparking out his strands.
Ezran and Willow burst out laughing too. Bait just growled.
"You've got to draw this," cackled Willow.
Ezran stopped laughing when he saw how humiliated Raylan was feeling. "Probably not a good idea. You're kind of sparking," he glanced at his cackling sisters and they stopped laughing.
"Sorry about that," Carol apologised. "I just got carried away,"
"Carried away?!" Raylan tossed the inactive Primal Stone back into her hands. "That's all you can say? I warned you and you didn't listen,"
"Stop telling our sister what to do," Willow spat at him, earning an approving croak from Bait. "She can do whatever she wants,"
"You treat magic as if it's a game," Raylan scolded Carol, ignoring her sister. "Well, it isn't. Now stop messing around and let's hit the road. The sooner we can get to Xadia, the better chance I'll have of not getting nearly killed again by another of your magic tricks," he tossed the rucksacks to the kids. He was about to pick up the egg rucksack but Carol beat him first, giving him an annoyed frown at him. He was about to walk off into the forest when he noticed the children about to board the docked boat. "What are you guys doing?"
"We're taking the boat," Carol decided.
"No. We're walking,"
"We can get to Xadia faster if we take the river,"
"We're not taking the boat. End of discussion," he said, swiping his hand in front of his face.
"Hey. Who made you boss?' Willow challenged.
"Let's do a vote," Ez suggested. "All in favour of the boat, say 'Aye'. Aye!" he raised his hand.
"Aye!" his sisters voted. Bait croaked which his owner took as 'yes' and Felix barked in agreement. "Five to one! We win!"
Carol noticed something was wrong with Ray. "Are you scared of the water?"
"No!" he denied. "I just think going through the forest is a better idea," he crossed his arms.
"Really? Going across the forest where there'll be soldiers searching for us when we've got a river to do the walking?"
"Fine!" Raylan cursed. "We'll take the stupid boat!" he marched and boarded the boat. The children mounted the boat and managing to cast the blow spell successfully, Caroline blew them offshore. "Woah," Raylan braced himself. "Please no more of that," he begged.
For the next hour, they sailed along the river. Raylan kept very quiet at the front, hiding his green, groaning face as he knelt on the floor. Ezran sat at the back with Bait whilst the sisters sat in the middle with Felix between them sleeping peacefully.
Carol, who rowed with the oar could see how strange Raylan was acting. "Are you okay? You don't look good,"
"I'm fine," he groaned.
"You don't look fine,"
"I said I'm fine!" he lashed out, not turning to her.
"Don't talk to her like that. She's only trying to help you!" Willow shouted.
"Don't bother Willow," sighed Carol. "I'm used to it,"
Ezran noticed Bait was dipping his tail in the water. "Bait don't dip your tail in the water like that," he pulled the glow toad out of the water "No playing in the water," he scolded gently. His words intrigued Raylan.
"Is he called Bait because he's used to catching big fish?" he grumbled.
"Shush," Willow hissed. "He doesn't know how delicious he is,"
Carol rolled her eyes, getting exasperated at this constant tension. "Why don't we just calm down and play a game called 'Five Questions' to distract ourselves?"
"Please. No questions" begged the groggy Raylan.
"I think we should," Ez said in agreement. "Maybe we can get to know each other better,"
"Fine," Raylan accepted reluctantly. "Just five questions,"
"Okay. Question One. Is it true that everything and everywhere in Xadia magic?"
"Yes," answered Raylan. He managed to turn around and sit down on the floor of the rowboat so they could have a proper conversation.
"It must be amazing being surrounded by so much magic," said Carol in wonder, ecstatic that all the stories about the magic that she read from Caldor's bookstore were indeed true. "I've always dreamed of seeing what it's like there,"
Raylan smiled a little, seeing such wonder and amazement in her eyes. He leaned over the ledge of the boat, staring out at the water and lily pads they passed by. "It's just like that saying that 'everywhere you look there's nature'. It's just part of the vibrance or spirit of things you know?
"I'm so excited to see all that," expressed Carol excitedly.
"Me too," expressed Willow. "Remember all those cool stories you read to me and Ez when we were young?" Ezran's face brightened up as he remembered those lovely nights when Carol would read to them. Their sister nodded remembering those times.
"Okay. Question Two," Caroline spoke again. "What are your parents like?"
The moment she asked that question, Raylan hid his face again, concealing anger and pain. "I don't wanna talk about it,"
"Oh. I'm sorry," she apologised quickly. "I didn't mean.."
"Uh, guys…is it just me or is the river going faster?" Willow leaned over the rim and saw currents passing faster under the surface. Carol leaned over too and so did Raylan.
"Oh my god," Raylan's face turned pale as he panicked. "Pull it over!" he clutched to the rim tightly. "Pull it over!"
"We can't! The current's too strong!" Carol held Felix firmly.
"Use your blowing spell!"
"I could cause us to crash!"
Ezran clutched onto Bait and held firmly to the rim.
"Okay! I admit it!" cried out Raylan. "I'm scared of water! I hate it! It makes me sick! And I can't swim!"
"You agreed to the boat and you can't swim?!" screamed Ezran.
"Why didn't you tell us?!" screamed Caroline.
"I didn't want you all to know!"
"Guys! We're heading for a waterfall!" Willow pointed ahead and they saw a drop in the river.
"Oh no," panicked Raylan. "We're gonna die! We're gonna die!"
"Hang on everyone!" Carol pulled them all to the back. "Brace yourselves!" the water splashed over the wood. The boat toppled over the edge. They screamed and held on tightly. They landed in the river with a large splash, getting wet all over. The royals laughed for joy. Bait and Felix held out their tails. Raylan kept himself pinned in place, his stomach bouncing under his skin and his lunch coming right up into his throat. The rapid carried them down the river. The ride turned from dangerous and frightening to fun and fantastic.
Whilst Raylan kept screaming in terror watching his braid untangle from the water, the children and the animal companions cheered for joy.
"This is fun!" Carol cried out jubilantly.
"No, it is not!" Raylan's shouting echoed through the forest. He had never felt more terrified than he had felt in his entire life.
That's another chapter done. I hope you all enjoyed it. And what do you all think of Caldor? Please send reviews and let me know what you all think. See you all soon. By the way, I haven't forgotten Encanto 2, just facing writer's block for it. Just wanted to let you all know. I am going to get started on the next chapter tomorrow.