Duty Calls

Chapter 2: A New Friend, and a New Problem

Princess Seriana continued her trek towards Losankra. It was the City of Mages, where wizards’ apprentices from all over Amosela were given the option to continue their schooling. The entire place was filled with out of the ordinary things, made from spells gone wrong or right. As she continued down the road, Seriana noticed more and more things that showed her approach to the city. There were trees with silver bark and golden leaves and several flocks of minuscule birds zoomed around her, leaving sparkling lights in their trail. Strange-looking butterflies flew through patches of bright blue and orange grass mixed in with the lush green. When Seriana looked closer, she saw that they were actually groups of faeries dressed in brightly colored clothing that clashed wonderfully with their wings. This gave the entire group the effect of a small, vivid cloud drifting close to the ground. A winged cat ran straight across the path after what looked like a toad with eight legs, hissing in vexation as it pursued its prey.

The land adjoining the road had dried up a few hours and hours ago, and a dark blotch appeared on the horizon. This was now revealed to be a marvelous forest with trees larger than any Seriana had ever seen. In the marshy area around Niachol, trees were scarce. Inside the city walls, many had been planted, but none grew much taller than twenty or thirty feet. The ones at the forest towered far above Seriana’s head, their tips out of sight and their trunks larger than a turret. The sounds were also unfamiliar. Near the marshlands, there were crickets, frogs and a few birds to be heard at their nighttime chorus, but here the loudest ensemble was at dawn. There was not a single birdcall that she could recognize, nor could she easily distinguish the ones affected by magic from the ordinary species. Though there were some with regular brownish feathers, others varied from a vivid reds or yellows to pale blues. Their voices also weren’t the normal repetitiveness, but a continuous gushing of chirps and warbles, sounding like a gurgling creek after the winter melting.

Seriana was once again enjoying how marvelously simple her escape plan had been. She had collected food, supplies, extra clothing, and other essentials for months before her birthday. She had even managed to smuggle in a sword, longbow and some arrows. She had been carefully, and secretly, training to use these weapons, as well as daggers, for nearly a year and a half. Seriana had found a maid named Prendalia who looked remarkably like her. After getting to know her, Seriana secretly began to teach the girl how to act, talk, walk, and basically become her double. While Prendalia was being the princess that she always wanted to be, Seriana was outside the castle finally having a bit of freedom.

She began staying at Eleanor’s house, who had once been her nurse before she retired, deciding to live a simpler way of life. Her husband, Thomas, had once been part of a spy group while there was still unrest between Imosieb and Amosela. He could fight with a broadsword quite well, but had used his knives much more. “Anyone can see you carrying a huge sword about.” he had said. “Daggers are much more subtle. You can keep them in your boots, on your arms, hidden in packs, disguised in staffs, and pretty much anywhere else.

Seriana had succeeded quite well using daggers. While sparring, it came to the point when she was beating Thomas almost every single time. They then moved on to broadsword training, as well as fencing. Though Seriana had been told many times that sword fighting was a brutal thing and ladies should have nothing to do with it, these were the lessons she most enjoyed during her time away from home. It amazed her how different weapons could be, and excessively enjoyed learning to finally use so many of them.

She soon became an adequate fencer and swordfighter. Though Seriana was better with daggers than with a sword, she was beating Thomas a little under half of the time, even though he was rumored to be one of the best swordfighters in all of Amosela. She always enjoyed the little surge of pride she received with every victory, even though she refrained from gloating over the aging man. However, Prendalia had then been discovered because of her lack of knowledge in earlier subjects and her clumsy writing. When she was thrown out of the castle, Seriana directed her to a group of traveling players because of her marvelous job at acting.

Seriana was then forced to return to the castle, and was guarded more vigorously than ever before. However, she would continue to work on archery during the afternoon, rushing through her lunch in a rather unladylike manner and then sneaking outside to the target practice. Though it eventually became more and more difficult to get past the guards, she would sometimes take a bow to her room, and practiced her aim at a bundle of discarded blankets. Seriana continued to walk along the road, enjoying the crisp, cool air that was signaling the approach of autumn.

Back in Niachol, Ephraim was in a difficult predicament. He had run in the direction of the castle and now found that if he continued running that direction, he would have the palace guards to deal with too. Never dropping his pace, Ephraim searched for another alley to hide in, but none appeared. He then glanced at the looming doorways to his right, and suddenly veered off course. The guards came to a halt a few paces beyond where Ephraim had disappeared, and then looked back to see him sprinting down the road they had just left.

The kidnapper was strolling down a side street, looking for his apprentice when a fast-moving blur barreled straight into him. The person had almost immediately leapt to their feet, but was locked in an iron headlock before Ephraim was recognized by his master. “Conrad!” Ephraim noisily wheezed.” You’ll never guess ---“

Ephraim was silenced by his master’s gloved hand and pulled into the shadows as the weary pursuers came round the bend. Panting heavily, they halfheartedly glanced around before walking off mumbling. Ephraim was released and he said, in a much quieter tone “Con, I just stole enough to feed us for ‘bout a couple o’ years!”
“I, in the meantime,” Conrad replied. “have been looking for you all over the place. Next time you’re going to cut some nobleman’s purse, warn me ahead of time.”
“Why?”
“So I’m can plan on what to use the extra cash for and I know you haven’t been killed.” was the sarcastic answer. “Now, we need to leave before we’re discovered by one of the King’s spies. They always seem to work everything out so far as spying goes for Vanion.”

Ephraim looked uneasily away before hastily changing the subject. “Do we have to go now?” he inquired. “Even if we did get on the road at this very moment, we wouldn’t make any progress whatsoever towards Imosieb, and would have to camp in this horrid marshland. Besides, you don’t know what creatures could be lurking out there. Isn’t tonight the full moon?” Ephraim continued on that subject, playing on Conrad’s eternal fear of werewolves after a rather close scrape with one a few years back. As they walked back towards the inn, Ephraim finally convinced Conrad to stay another night, so long as he didn’t sneak out at dawn again. Ephraim enthusiastically agreed, because sneaking out in the morning to steal some money was much less important than the plans he had for that night.

Seriana had just come upon Losankra, and was simply standing there staring in awe. It was so different from anything she had ever seen in any paintings, books or stories. She had imagined Losankra as a city very similar to her own, but that was about as far from the truth as possible. Losankra wasn’t big; it was tall. All the trees around her were congested with wooden and stone buildings reaching up as far as the eye could see. They were stacked on top of each other like her old set of building blocks, but somehow stayed together on the side of the tree. In some places they weren’t even stacked, but floating in the air, anchored only by some steep staircases to nearby buildings.
Suddenly, one of the buildings directly above Seriana started sliding out of its space. She squeaked in terror and cringed, getting ready to bolt. Suddenly, a small voice beside her said “What’s the matter?”

Seriana jumped and turned around in one motion, hand flying to her sword. Only then did she see a young girl innocently standing there, looking rather puzzled about Seriana’s reaction. She wore a long robe customary to most wizards, and if you couldn’t tell her status by that, there were always her eyes. The eyes of a potentially magical person, master magician or anyone in-between always gave them away. Though the eyes of every wizard or sorceress had their unique color, they were always impossibly deep, as if you were staring into a bottomless hole. Different shades of the same color swirled around each other, continuously separating and combining to form a liquid result. The little girl’s eyes were a wonderful blue, and as Seriana relaxed her hand, she realized that they reminded her of watching feathery clouds float by on a clear, blue sky.

Another giveaway for a wizard’s identity was the pendant that they wore, even though they could take it off to be less conspicuous. The color of the gem represented their specialty, and the power stored inside the gem represented their skill. Unfortunately, only skilled mages could tell the gem’s power, and all others were left to guess if they were a mere beginner or the Alothiace, which meant Head Mage in the common tongue.
The Alothiace was a very mysterious figure as far as it concerned the average person. Little was known about him or her, other than that they were the one that organized magical attacks and defense during wartime and made sure that magic was being used for good in times of peace. They were in charge of every single magician in Amosela, whom, when ordered, were required to report to Losankra for duty. This was for organizing the magicians into a powerful fighting force that could shield troops as well as fight enemy magicians. The last time that there was a war, (over two hundred years ago with the country of Imosieb after an attempted invasion) Amosela’s magical forces made a quick and easy victory over the competitor’s inferior army and wizards.
Once Seriana took her hand off of her weapon, the little girl looked up at her and smiled, saying “It’s okay if you’re a little surprised about that. We usually only move them during the evening and at morning, but tonight we have to get them further off the ground. My name’s Lasarea. What’s yours?”

Taken by surprise, Seriana frantically searched her mind for an ordinary name, and then settled on the pet name that her nurse had given her. “Sara,” she said. “My name’s Sara. Why did you say that you need to get the buildings higher off the ground?”

Surprised, the girl raised her thin eyebrows and said “To keep the werewolves away, of course. Don’t you know that tonight’s the full moon?”

Seriana had completely forgotten, and once again wished that she had planned ahead better. Even though Enchanted Creatures was one of her favorite classes, she had completely overlooked their important dates. Some of the most well-known ones were the Harvest Festival, when goblins were at large, and the Winter Equinox, when the barrier that separated Seriana’s world from other realms was at its thinnest. Sometimes people even stumbled through it, sometimes returning and sometimes not. “I had totally forgotten.” Seriana apologized. “Do you have somewhere I could stay tonight? I’ll be on my way in the morning.

Lasarea then appeared to be deep in though, scrunching her eyebrows together and chewing on her lower lip. After what seemed to be a great length of time, Lasarea lifted her chin up from her hand where it had been resting, and asked a question that startled Seriana rather a lot.

“Why aren’t you staying any longer? It’s not like we don’t have enough room for another sorceress.”

Seriana started, and then quickly said “I’ve never had any skill in magical talent. I haven’t been taught by anyone else, nor have I ever learned any words of power. Why do you ask?

Lasarea appeared even more confused by this, and then cautiously asked “Have you ever, in your entire life, looked into a mirror?”

Seriana opened her mouth to reply that yes, of course she had, when she paused. Had she? The furniture in her bedroom was made of beautifully carved wood, not of the shiny metal that other royalty coveted. She had never asked for this to be changed because she preferred it to having more uselessly decorated, fragile things in her room. When preparing for public appearances, the gown designers and hair dressers always claimed that their work was far too sophisticated for reflections. All of the silver bowls, plates, and utensils at meals were so adorned that they were barely recognizable. All of Seriana’s former tiaras and jewelry didn’t have enough area for a good reflection, and water was usually too disturbed to see you r face in. After this reconsidering, Seriana meekly replied “No. But why does that matter?”

All of the sudden, Lasarea was beaming brightly and chirping; “So that’s why you don’t know! You’ve never seen a mirror and, for some reason, nobody has ever told you!” She was now rummaging through a brown, leather pack that Seriana hadn’t noticed slung across the younger girl’s back. She craned her neck forward, curious as to the contents of the pack as well as why the girls was acting so strange.
Eventually, Lasarea pulled out small, round mirror with sides made in the contour of a vine with blossoming, jeweled flowers. She eagerly said “This is my scrying mirror. I’m sorry if it’s not very clear, because I haven’t polished it in awhile, but it should do. Look into it!”

Slowly, Seriana lifted the mirror. It was much heavier than it looked, but she glanced at it and saw her face for the first time in her life. She looked like a lot of average girls her age, maybe with a slightly pointier nose, but what truly startled her were her eyes. They were just as deep as Lasarea’s, with the same swirling shades moving through them. She now knew why she was always kept so far away from shiny objects. It was to hide the truth from her; the fact that she might be the one who would fulfill a prophecy that had been cast long ago by one of Imosieb’s most powerful magicians; Vanion.