Break Them - Chapter 1
Tuesday, May 17th, 2016 10:20 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
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mindcrackloveSo, this is a little ("little") fic I've been working on for a while now but I finally got the motivation to finish this beginning chapter and edit it to make it smoother, so I thought I may as well see how everyone likes it :P
You’ve been a talented singer since birth, her father had told her. Although it could just be fatherly love, Aureylian couldn’t help but agree. She’d found no one else could evoke so many emotions with their voice, not even the travelling minstrels who had such talents down to a “t”. As a result, her father allowed her work in the village inn when she asked him at the age of 12. She became the entertainer, and she performed for the men going in for a good drink after a hard day’s work every night, and her mere presence provided a huge influx of people to the inn. All the attraction to the young maiden’s voice kept a steady stream of people coming and going from the village, and there was a huge economic boom from all the new business the town was receiving. Soon, all the villages within a day’s walk knew of the wonderful girl Aureylian and her beautiful singing voice. One day, her father received a surprise letter at a time when letters themselves were a surprise. It contained a summons to the Royal Palace to perform in front of the king and his court by the week’s end. The letter, such a small parchment with ink and a wax seal, set the ball rolling towards Aureylian and her family to have a new life. But, it also set about much, much more.
~~
“Aurey, it’s almost time for you to leave! You need to get ready!” a quiet, high-pitched voice said with a hint of urgency to Aureylian as she rolled over in bed. She opened her eyes to reveal her younger brother standing at the foot of the bed, gently nudging her lower leg and foot to rouse her.
“You’re awake!” he said happily as she lifted her head and pulled herself out from under the sheets, still quite groggy. “Come on, you need to pack. The escort will be here any minute!” Escort? She thought. Why would there be an- Oh no!
“Oh my gosh, I need to go!” she exclaimed loudly, throwing away her bedsheet and rushing to her chest of blouses, skirts, and dresses she reserved for her nightly performances to find something suitable for an audience with royalty. Shooing her little brother, she changed in record time into the best one she owned; a white knee-length dress with red trim and a matching red velvet cape with a hood and white fur lining the edges. Slipping on her boots that stood by her bedside, she ran out of her bedroom and down to the kitchen, where her mother, father, and two brothers, one older and one younger, sat around the table, eating a breakfast of eggs and oatmeal.
“G’mornin’, darlin’,” her father greeted her with a warm smile and a motioning towards her small satchel by the door, hanging by a hook that also held a smaller bag that looked almost identical. “Good luck out there. Them royals have different standards than us here in lil ol’ country folk towns, but I’m sure yer gonna knock the shoes off their fancy horses with that beautiful voice of yers.” Aureylian felt a small pricking around her eyes as tears began to work their ways to the side of her vision. Her father and mother were the best people in the whole world, and now she was leaving them behind to go sing for royalty… It was all happening so fast.
“Come on and sit down with us for one last meal, Aurey, won’t you?” her mother asked in a voice sweet like honey. She walked over and sat down next to her mother and father, looking down at her bowl of oatmeal. There was a small design made out of the little strawberries they grew in their garden that formed the words “good luck” and Aureylian felt those tears at the edge of her vision begin to stream down her cheeks. Her family had really pulled out all the stops this morning.
“Oh, darlin’… Come here,” her father said comfortingly, holding his arms open for her embrace, which she gladly leapt into. She breathed in the earthy smells of his clothes that had been used when he went out to tend to the fields every day, and the comforting undertone of the sweet apple trees that he always used to get her the ripest apples from to eat on the back porch as the sun set, making her giggle like she was 5 again with all of his childish jokes and silly overreactions to her playfully punching his arm when he teased her. He ran a hand through her hair, just comforting her as she let out the sadness she felt at having to leave behind her family and everything she’d always known.
Not a moment after she sat back down from her father’s embrace was there a knock on their thin wooden door, and Aureylian stood up from the table, grabbing a few bites of the oatmeal and picking up a few strawberries in her hand that she ate as she walked to the door, picking up her two small bags as she went.
“Hello?” she said quietly as she opened the door, wiping away the last few tears from a moment before. A number of soldiers in the royal purple, green and black clothes stood outside in front of a small carriage drawn by a team of horses.
“Hello. You are miss Aureylian, I’d presume?” the soldier at the door asked, bowing to her.
“Y-yes,” she stammered. She was alarmed at someone bowing before her, especially someone who protected the king and his family at the palace each day. He clearly had much more worth than she did, and she could only think that she was really the one who should have bowed to him.
“Wonderful. Are you prepared for the journey to the Royal Palace at Cevrenia, miss?” the soldier asked her, and all she could do was nod. She looked back to her family, who stood in the entryway behind her, all of them giving her looks of confidence and happiness, especially her younger brother and her father, who both were beaming widely and giving a thumbs up.
“Goodbye, mom, dad… Chad, Arkas… I’ll be back soon,” she said, her voice nearly breaking as she said the final goodbye to her brothers and parents.
“Go on, Aurey! You’re gonna sing great, and you’re gonna blow those other singers out of the water!” Chad said in the silliest tone he could manage, giving Aureylian a needed laugh before she leaned down and gave him a hug.
“See you soon, Chad,” she said, a few tears in her eyes, and Chad hugged her back, wiping away the tears with his little hands.
“No need to cry, big sister. You get to meet the king! That’s so cool! Now, go and show him how good you sing!” Chad said happily, turning around and going back to wait next to the rest of their family. Then, with a final wave and good wishes to all, Aureylian closed the door and walked over to the carriage with the soldier, and they began the trip to the Royal Palace in the new morning’s light.
~~
Aureylian was amazed by everything about the capital city of Cevrenia. There were so many people and so many stores and roads and… just everything! It dwarfed her small village easily, and she could only see the main street they rode down.
Once they arrived at the castle, Aureylian saw huge banners with the kingdom’s symbols; a violet dragon and a green lion entwined around a black sword, as well as a number of ornate decorations of dragons and lions around the pathways.
A horn sounded loudly and the carriage slowed to a stop. The soldier that sat next to her opened the door of the carriage and helped Aureylian down out of it as well, and she nodded her thanks to the man. Before he could respond, however, a loud voice rang out from the palace stairs above her.
“Miss Aureylian of Raysle, welcome to our majesty’s royal palace!” a man in a long robe with the dragon and lion crest on the chest said, his voice projecting loudly and clearly down the long staircase. “Please, come up this way and we will show you into his majesty’s meeting hall.” Aureylian began to walk up the large stone steps to the man. Her anticipation grew in the pit of her stomach as she neared the man, and even from a short distance she could see truly how extravagant the man’s robe was. You practically couldn’t see any threads, there were no loose bits of cloth, or any patches in it. Finally, she reached her apparent guide, who held out his hand and bowed very slightly and crossed his arm over his chest in a show of respect. Aureylian, although flattered at how she had been treated thus far into her journey, felt quite awkward about being held in such high regards. She was only a girl from a small village in the middle of the country, and these people were the king’s men and protectors. Who was she compared to them?
The man, however, paid no attention to her internal struggle, as he stood straight once more and spun on his heel, walking her up to the large wooden front doors of the castle. Their sheer size made her house look dwarfed. They opened slowly, a couple of men on each door pulling it away to reveal the inside of the castle. It was no less grandiose than the exterior. Huge, ornate designs were placed all around the walls and even a large mural on the ceiling of the entryway, which held multiple levels above it, lead up to by a vast marble staircase spanning out in front of her. She once again fell into a state of awe. Aside from the building itself, the number of vases and expensive tapestries and paintings, among many other decorative pieces, simply was astonishing. She supposed her family wouldn’t even have enough money to buy one of them in their entire lives. Led by the soldiers and robed man who had greeted her out from, she walked through large hallways until they reached another huge door guarded by two men in armor and the king’s colors, as most everyone else in the palace seemed to.
“You may enter,” a loud, commanding voice called out from behind the door, even before the man escorting Aureylian knocked on the door. The guards in front of the door pulled them open, revealing a massive circular room with a domed ceiling, a set of four thrones towards the farthest end from the doors. Off to one side, near one of the walls closest to the door, a large round table and at least 13 chairs around it. It showed little wear aside from a few stains that looked like the ones she’d seen on the bar in the tavern, and she supposed the king used it when he had meetings with other rulers.
“Ah! There she is, the woman with the most beautiful voice in the kingdom as the rumors go. Miss… Aureylian, yes?” the king asked her, and she curtseyed before responding, as it was customary to do before the king.
“Yes, your majesty. And I think the rumors may be a bit over the top. I most certainly do not have the best voice in the kingdom…” Aureylian said modestly, trailing off at the end.
“Well, I suppose we’ll put that to the test tonight at dinner. That’s alright with you miss Aurelian, yes? Dinnertime?” the king asked, and she nodded her agreement. “Splendid! And please, you’re a guest here. There’s no need for you to keep referring to me as ‘king’ and ‘your majesty.’ Paul is fine. It is my name, after all.”
“A-are you sure?” Aureylian asked, shocked. She’d never heard of the king ever allowing someone that wasn’t close to him to use something so… informal to address him.
“Of course, of course!” he said, laughing a bit and making a gesture as though it were of no matter, which, it really was, as he was the king of her kingdom. “Now, let me introduce you to the princes of our lovely kingdom. Guude, Nebris, come over here please.” Paul looked over towards a side-entrance to the room that looked to be almost an afterthought to the design of the spectacular room. Sleeping quarters for staff? When no answer or movement came from the direction, Paul called out again.
“Guude! Nebris! Come in here, please!” Again, no answer. Aureylian felt anxious just being in the presence of someone so powerful, and here he was struggling to get his sons’ attention right in front of her, within the first five minutes of her arrival, no less.
Guude! Nebris! Get your butts out here!” Paul nearly bellowed in rage at the far room. “What could they be do-”
A loud crash came from the door as it was blown off it’s hinges, sending showers of wood and splinters all over the room. A man came flying through the doorway as well, his hair black as midnight, with clothes of the same shade but for a purple belt and amethyst-colored fingerless-gloves.
He slid across the floor of the throne room on top of a large piece of the door, the only piece that seemed to still be intact after he flew through the doorframe. As the man in black stopped sliding and began to get up again, a flash of green sparkled at the edge of Aureylian’s vision. A man with blonde hair wearing a large green tunic with a large ‘G’ symbol on the chest sprinted out of the room directly for the man in black. As he ran, Aureylian saw two spinning metal discs materialize next to the man, and she let out an inaudible gasp. Was that magic? she wondered, but she could only think of it momentarily before the fighting continued.
The man in green drew back his fist, still running at the man in black, and the disc flew right in front of his fist. Upon contact, Aureylian’s eyes widened even further as she saw the man’s fist drive right into the metal disc, and it bent around his hand as he continued to throw the punch at the man wearing black. A sickening thump was heard as the metal made contact with the man’s stomach, and Aureylian saw the metal disc go from an almost liquid-like appearance to completely solid once more, and extended back out to it’s former shape and size, further throwing the man in black backwards, this time much faster than before. He hit the wall with yet another smacking sound and slid down to the floor, but before the man in green could move, the light in the room dimmed beside the glow of four people’s eyes; her own, the man in green, the man in black, and Paul’s.
“STOP FIGHTING RIGHT NOW, YOU TWO!” Paul’s voice erupted from his position on the throne, and the lights flashed like lightning, returning the room to perfection, the two men standing before the throne on either side of Aureylian. When she looked, the guards looked like they hadn’t even noticed that these two men had nearly killed each other, and another look told her that the door was fixed as well.
“What in the world…” Aureylian whispered to herself, but she was interrupted by Paul’s voice booming down towards her and the two men once more.
“Guude! Nebris! Get over here. Now!” he said, his voice and his eyes the only thing betraying the seething rage that she felt emanating from the king. The two men quickly raced up to Paul and knelt next before him, both with their eyes showing a good deal of fear for what the king might do to them. Paul cleared his throat and his eyes lost the threatening look, then went to address Aureylian once more.
“I’m so sorry you had to witness that, miss Aureylian, but these are the two princes of Cevrenia. The idiot to the right of me wearing black and violet is Nebris, and the idiot to the right wearing green is Guude,” Paul said in a much calmer tone than before, and he gestured to each man, both of whom proceeded to give Aureylian a bow.
“We’ve heard wonderful tales of your singing voice, miss Aureylian,” Guude said in an accented voice, and Aureylian wondered how he had one so evidently, yet his father didn’t seem to have one at all.
“Looking forward to hearing you sing, miss Aureylian,” Nebris spoke up in a much quieter, raspier voice than his brother.
“Please… It feels odd to have you all addressing me as miss when I’m talking to you on a first name basis. Call me Aurey,” Aureylian said, heat rising to her cheeks at the mere remembrance that she was among royalty.
“Very well, m- Aurey,” Paul said, catching himself with a grin as he began to say what she had made it clear she didn’t want. “If you would like, I can have someone show you to your quarters.” As if he sensed the rising questions from his sons, he held up a hand and spoke again. “I have to talk to my imbecile sons about how to properly behave in front of guests, especially such an esteemed guest as yourself.”
“Y-yes, it would be nice to unpack my things and rest for a short while before I perform. Thank you... Paul,” Aureylian said with another curtsy as Paul directed a nearby guard to come guide her to her room.
~~
“Oh. My. Gosh!” Aureylian nearly squealed in delight at the room before her. It was ornately decorated in an all-pink bed, curtains, and various pieces of furniture, and with the afternoon sun filtering through the large windows, the room seemed to sparkle in a fiery light. “This room is amazing! It’s, like…. five times bigger than my room at home! Ten, even!”
“I’m glad it is to your liking, miss Aureylian,” the guard behind her said in a very formal manner, as he’d obviously been trained to. She could detect a slight countryside accent in the way he spoke, but it was different than Prince Guude’s accent had been, at least from her best guess. Neither man had spoken very much.
“Please, call me Aurey, as I told his majesty,” she said with a bright smile and a kind, warm glow in her eyes that the man had no ability to resist, and he was beginning to grin as she was only a moment later.
“Thank you, Aurey… My name is Anderz, and I’m the man in charge of his majesty’s armies, the g-”
“You’re the general!?” Aureylian exclaimed, clapping a hand over her mouth when she realized how loudly she’d said it, color rising to her cheeks. This is going to be happening a lot while I’m here, isn’t it, she rhetorically asked herself.
“Yes, I am the general,” Anderz said with a nod, and he felt himself developing an even wider grin in response to Aureylian’s reaction to his title. “There’s no need to grovel and bow or anything, don’t worry. I hate all of that stuff, man. I only do it so that I don’t make a fool of myself in front of his majesty’s guests.” He immediately felt a bit self-conscious that he was on the verge of giggling like a little girl in front of someone, but the halls seemed to be empty. Regardless, he quickly regained composure, or what he called composure, which was more along the lines of not-quite-as-lax-as-before than returning to a true soldier’s stance. “I’ll leave you to get some rest before the performance, Aurey. Do you know how to get to his majesty’s dining chambers?”
“Uh… I don’t even know when dinner is, let alone where…” Aureylian said sheepishly, and Anderz let out a loud laugh, which sent Aurey into a fit of giggles as well, even though there really wasn’t anything funny in what she said. Anderz simply found it amusing for some reason. He told himself he’d have to check himself for some sort of contagious laughter disease later that night, which nearly set him off again.
“Don’t worry, I’ll come back and get you just before we need to be down there. For now, just get yourself settled in, and feel free to ask one of the other people around if you need to find something before I get back,” Anderz said, bowing as he exited and walked down the long hallway, his boots making a soft scraping sound on the hard flooring.
Aurey put her satchel down onto a chair at a desk within the room and took a moment to bask in it’s beauty. It really is gorgeous… I wonder if it’s just a guest room? If it’s just a guest room, I can’t imagine what the royal chambers would look like, Aurey thought to herself, awe coursing through her with each passing moment inside the castle walls. She walked to the windows and beyond them, she could see almost the whole capital city, the crystal-clear glass letting her see each little detail exactly how she would have if she’d been inside the buildings, other than being so far away that they were much smaller than they actually were.
There appeared to be a door made of glass to Aurey’s right, which she was fascinated by for a few moments, having never seen something like it before, until she realized that beyond it, there was a balcony outside the room, looking out over the city. Excitedly, she ran out into the outside, and she was greeted by a pleasant breeze and the warmth of the sun on her skin, the wind blowing her hair around behind her as the sun reflected a color like fire off of it. Humming happily, she gazed out over the city for another hour until the sun began to set, chilling the air a bit too much for her liking in such a dress, which wasn’t designed to keep her warm, unlike her clothes for more casual situations than a dinner in the king’s court.
She walked inside, taking another moment to look out over the city before walking to her satchel and opening it up, just to make sure she had all that she’d brought with her still inside it. Clothes for the next few days, a hairbrush, a small necklace made of small interwoven strands of metal wires, and a small box she didn’t remember packing. She picked it up out of the satchel, and placed it down on her bed carefully. It was slightly bigger than her hand, and it was decorated with the image of a rose and vines surrounding it on the lid. Slowly, she opened up the lid to see a locket that looked like it could hang on her necklace, as it was lacking any sort of ornamentation aside from the chain itself. She opened it, and inside there was a small inscription that read "family" on one side, and "love" on the other.
Aurey felt emotions well up inside her at seeing such a wonderful and clearly expensive gift that her family had gotten her. Searching the box, she found a small paper with her father's handwriting, as well as what appeared to be a little something from Chad and Arkas.
"My wonderful daughter,
Don't be upset at me for spending what I had on this gift for you. I know you would never approve of this unless I gave it to you secretly, so I slipped it in with your things for your trip to see the king. I know you have a true gift with your voice, and you may not think it special, but the words you sing have true power behind them. I can’t wait to see you home again after such a wonderful and once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully you’ll be the exception to the “once”) experience, but I wanted you to be at your best when showing off your wonderful voice before the king.
I love you,
Da & Ma”
Scribbled just below her parents’ signatures were a couple of stick figures that displayed her family - including the family cows and the migrant robin family that lived in the barn - that was clearly something Chad had drawn. His little drawings always made her feel better, and this one was no exception. A much better quality portrait of Aurey herself was stashed below the note from the rest of her family, signed with Arkas’ name. She doubted anyone else in the entire kingdom could compare to his level of proficiency with a writing tool.
A sharp rap on the open door startled her out of her reminiscing. Anderz stood in in the doorway, his burly frame nearly preventing him from entering without turning sideways. Quickly attaching the locket to her necklace, Aurey grabbed her hairbrush and began rapidly running through her red hair.
“I’m so sorry, Anderz, I didn’t realize it was getting so late,” she apologized as she walked over to get her boots on and looked for a basin of water to check how she looked.
“It isn’t a problem, Aurey. Are you looking for a washbasin? We don’t have one in here, but there is a mirror to your left,” Anderz pitched in as he saw her frantically looking around.
What is a mirror? She wondered, and upon turning her head in the direction Anderz indicated, her jaw dropped to the floor. She saw a perfect image of herself standing before her, with no ripples or imperfections that came with using her washbasin to see herself.
“How does it do that!?” She nearly yelled, looking at Anderz with wide eyes. He chuckled and began to lead her towards the door.
“I don’t know, to be honest, but Nebris is pretty smart. Maybe try asking him?”
Castle life is so strange, she thought as she looked back on her day.
And in case you want a bit of info on the area, here's a map for all of you:
Lardrys continent map:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1LyyTQ8R2C8YkF0ZUwxRThkYWM
(Just to clarify, the trees are the little blocks of pencil marks, and the spiky areas are mountains)
You’ve been a talented singer since birth, her father had told her. Although it could just be fatherly love, Aureylian couldn’t help but agree. She’d found no one else could evoke so many emotions with their voice, not even the travelling minstrels who had such talents down to a “t”. As a result, her father allowed her work in the village inn when she asked him at the age of 12. She became the entertainer, and she performed for the men going in for a good drink after a hard day’s work every night, and her mere presence provided a huge influx of people to the inn. All the attraction to the young maiden’s voice kept a steady stream of people coming and going from the village, and there was a huge economic boom from all the new business the town was receiving. Soon, all the villages within a day’s walk knew of the wonderful girl Aureylian and her beautiful singing voice. One day, her father received a surprise letter at a time when letters themselves were a surprise. It contained a summons to the Royal Palace to perform in front of the king and his court by the week’s end. The letter, such a small parchment with ink and a wax seal, set the ball rolling towards Aureylian and her family to have a new life. But, it also set about much, much more.
~~
“Aurey, it’s almost time for you to leave! You need to get ready!” a quiet, high-pitched voice said with a hint of urgency to Aureylian as she rolled over in bed. She opened her eyes to reveal her younger brother standing at the foot of the bed, gently nudging her lower leg and foot to rouse her.
“You’re awake!” he said happily as she lifted her head and pulled herself out from under the sheets, still quite groggy. “Come on, you need to pack. The escort will be here any minute!” Escort? She thought. Why would there be an- Oh no!
“Oh my gosh, I need to go!” she exclaimed loudly, throwing away her bedsheet and rushing to her chest of blouses, skirts, and dresses she reserved for her nightly performances to find something suitable for an audience with royalty. Shooing her little brother, she changed in record time into the best one she owned; a white knee-length dress with red trim and a matching red velvet cape with a hood and white fur lining the edges. Slipping on her boots that stood by her bedside, she ran out of her bedroom and down to the kitchen, where her mother, father, and two brothers, one older and one younger, sat around the table, eating a breakfast of eggs and oatmeal.
“G’mornin’, darlin’,” her father greeted her with a warm smile and a motioning towards her small satchel by the door, hanging by a hook that also held a smaller bag that looked almost identical. “Good luck out there. Them royals have different standards than us here in lil ol’ country folk towns, but I’m sure yer gonna knock the shoes off their fancy horses with that beautiful voice of yers.” Aureylian felt a small pricking around her eyes as tears began to work their ways to the side of her vision. Her father and mother were the best people in the whole world, and now she was leaving them behind to go sing for royalty… It was all happening so fast.
“Come on and sit down with us for one last meal, Aurey, won’t you?” her mother asked in a voice sweet like honey. She walked over and sat down next to her mother and father, looking down at her bowl of oatmeal. There was a small design made out of the little strawberries they grew in their garden that formed the words “good luck” and Aureylian felt those tears at the edge of her vision begin to stream down her cheeks. Her family had really pulled out all the stops this morning.
“Oh, darlin’… Come here,” her father said comfortingly, holding his arms open for her embrace, which she gladly leapt into. She breathed in the earthy smells of his clothes that had been used when he went out to tend to the fields every day, and the comforting undertone of the sweet apple trees that he always used to get her the ripest apples from to eat on the back porch as the sun set, making her giggle like she was 5 again with all of his childish jokes and silly overreactions to her playfully punching his arm when he teased her. He ran a hand through her hair, just comforting her as she let out the sadness she felt at having to leave behind her family and everything she’d always known.
Not a moment after she sat back down from her father’s embrace was there a knock on their thin wooden door, and Aureylian stood up from the table, grabbing a few bites of the oatmeal and picking up a few strawberries in her hand that she ate as she walked to the door, picking up her two small bags as she went.
“Hello?” she said quietly as she opened the door, wiping away the last few tears from a moment before. A number of soldiers in the royal purple, green and black clothes stood outside in front of a small carriage drawn by a team of horses.
“Hello. You are miss Aureylian, I’d presume?” the soldier at the door asked, bowing to her.
“Y-yes,” she stammered. She was alarmed at someone bowing before her, especially someone who protected the king and his family at the palace each day. He clearly had much more worth than she did, and she could only think that she was really the one who should have bowed to him.
“Wonderful. Are you prepared for the journey to the Royal Palace at Cevrenia, miss?” the soldier asked her, and all she could do was nod. She looked back to her family, who stood in the entryway behind her, all of them giving her looks of confidence and happiness, especially her younger brother and her father, who both were beaming widely and giving a thumbs up.
“Goodbye, mom, dad… Chad, Arkas… I’ll be back soon,” she said, her voice nearly breaking as she said the final goodbye to her brothers and parents.
“Go on, Aurey! You’re gonna sing great, and you’re gonna blow those other singers out of the water!” Chad said in the silliest tone he could manage, giving Aureylian a needed laugh before she leaned down and gave him a hug.
“See you soon, Chad,” she said, a few tears in her eyes, and Chad hugged her back, wiping away the tears with his little hands.
“No need to cry, big sister. You get to meet the king! That’s so cool! Now, go and show him how good you sing!” Chad said happily, turning around and going back to wait next to the rest of their family. Then, with a final wave and good wishes to all, Aureylian closed the door and walked over to the carriage with the soldier, and they began the trip to the Royal Palace in the new morning’s light.
~~
Aureylian was amazed by everything about the capital city of Cevrenia. There were so many people and so many stores and roads and… just everything! It dwarfed her small village easily, and she could only see the main street they rode down.
Once they arrived at the castle, Aureylian saw huge banners with the kingdom’s symbols; a violet dragon and a green lion entwined around a black sword, as well as a number of ornate decorations of dragons and lions around the pathways.
A horn sounded loudly and the carriage slowed to a stop. The soldier that sat next to her opened the door of the carriage and helped Aureylian down out of it as well, and she nodded her thanks to the man. Before he could respond, however, a loud voice rang out from the palace stairs above her.
“Miss Aureylian of Raysle, welcome to our majesty’s royal palace!” a man in a long robe with the dragon and lion crest on the chest said, his voice projecting loudly and clearly down the long staircase. “Please, come up this way and we will show you into his majesty’s meeting hall.” Aureylian began to walk up the large stone steps to the man. Her anticipation grew in the pit of her stomach as she neared the man, and even from a short distance she could see truly how extravagant the man’s robe was. You practically couldn’t see any threads, there were no loose bits of cloth, or any patches in it. Finally, she reached her apparent guide, who held out his hand and bowed very slightly and crossed his arm over his chest in a show of respect. Aureylian, although flattered at how she had been treated thus far into her journey, felt quite awkward about being held in such high regards. She was only a girl from a small village in the middle of the country, and these people were the king’s men and protectors. Who was she compared to them?
The man, however, paid no attention to her internal struggle, as he stood straight once more and spun on his heel, walking her up to the large wooden front doors of the castle. Their sheer size made her house look dwarfed. They opened slowly, a couple of men on each door pulling it away to reveal the inside of the castle. It was no less grandiose than the exterior. Huge, ornate designs were placed all around the walls and even a large mural on the ceiling of the entryway, which held multiple levels above it, lead up to by a vast marble staircase spanning out in front of her. She once again fell into a state of awe. Aside from the building itself, the number of vases and expensive tapestries and paintings, among many other decorative pieces, simply was astonishing. She supposed her family wouldn’t even have enough money to buy one of them in their entire lives. Led by the soldiers and robed man who had greeted her out from, she walked through large hallways until they reached another huge door guarded by two men in armor and the king’s colors, as most everyone else in the palace seemed to.
“You may enter,” a loud, commanding voice called out from behind the door, even before the man escorting Aureylian knocked on the door. The guards in front of the door pulled them open, revealing a massive circular room with a domed ceiling, a set of four thrones towards the farthest end from the doors. Off to one side, near one of the walls closest to the door, a large round table and at least 13 chairs around it. It showed little wear aside from a few stains that looked like the ones she’d seen on the bar in the tavern, and she supposed the king used it when he had meetings with other rulers.
“Ah! There she is, the woman with the most beautiful voice in the kingdom as the rumors go. Miss… Aureylian, yes?” the king asked her, and she curtseyed before responding, as it was customary to do before the king.
“Yes, your majesty. And I think the rumors may be a bit over the top. I most certainly do not have the best voice in the kingdom…” Aureylian said modestly, trailing off at the end.
“Well, I suppose we’ll put that to the test tonight at dinner. That’s alright with you miss Aurelian, yes? Dinnertime?” the king asked, and she nodded her agreement. “Splendid! And please, you’re a guest here. There’s no need for you to keep referring to me as ‘king’ and ‘your majesty.’ Paul is fine. It is my name, after all.”
“A-are you sure?” Aureylian asked, shocked. She’d never heard of the king ever allowing someone that wasn’t close to him to use something so… informal to address him.
“Of course, of course!” he said, laughing a bit and making a gesture as though it were of no matter, which, it really was, as he was the king of her kingdom. “Now, let me introduce you to the princes of our lovely kingdom. Guude, Nebris, come over here please.” Paul looked over towards a side-entrance to the room that looked to be almost an afterthought to the design of the spectacular room. Sleeping quarters for staff? When no answer or movement came from the direction, Paul called out again.
“Guude! Nebris! Come in here, please!” Again, no answer. Aureylian felt anxious just being in the presence of someone so powerful, and here he was struggling to get his sons’ attention right in front of her, within the first five minutes of her arrival, no less.
Guude! Nebris! Get your butts out here!” Paul nearly bellowed in rage at the far room. “What could they be do-”
A loud crash came from the door as it was blown off it’s hinges, sending showers of wood and splinters all over the room. A man came flying through the doorway as well, his hair black as midnight, with clothes of the same shade but for a purple belt and amethyst-colored fingerless-gloves.
He slid across the floor of the throne room on top of a large piece of the door, the only piece that seemed to still be intact after he flew through the doorframe. As the man in black stopped sliding and began to get up again, a flash of green sparkled at the edge of Aureylian’s vision. A man with blonde hair wearing a large green tunic with a large ‘G’ symbol on the chest sprinted out of the room directly for the man in black. As he ran, Aureylian saw two spinning metal discs materialize next to the man, and she let out an inaudible gasp. Was that magic? she wondered, but she could only think of it momentarily before the fighting continued.
The man in green drew back his fist, still running at the man in black, and the disc flew right in front of his fist. Upon contact, Aureylian’s eyes widened even further as she saw the man’s fist drive right into the metal disc, and it bent around his hand as he continued to throw the punch at the man wearing black. A sickening thump was heard as the metal made contact with the man’s stomach, and Aureylian saw the metal disc go from an almost liquid-like appearance to completely solid once more, and extended back out to it’s former shape and size, further throwing the man in black backwards, this time much faster than before. He hit the wall with yet another smacking sound and slid down to the floor, but before the man in green could move, the light in the room dimmed beside the glow of four people’s eyes; her own, the man in green, the man in black, and Paul’s.
“STOP FIGHTING RIGHT NOW, YOU TWO!” Paul’s voice erupted from his position on the throne, and the lights flashed like lightning, returning the room to perfection, the two men standing before the throne on either side of Aureylian. When she looked, the guards looked like they hadn’t even noticed that these two men had nearly killed each other, and another look told her that the door was fixed as well.
“What in the world…” Aureylian whispered to herself, but she was interrupted by Paul’s voice booming down towards her and the two men once more.
“Guude! Nebris! Get over here. Now!” he said, his voice and his eyes the only thing betraying the seething rage that she felt emanating from the king. The two men quickly raced up to Paul and knelt next before him, both with their eyes showing a good deal of fear for what the king might do to them. Paul cleared his throat and his eyes lost the threatening look, then went to address Aureylian once more.
“I’m so sorry you had to witness that, miss Aureylian, but these are the two princes of Cevrenia. The idiot to the right of me wearing black and violet is Nebris, and the idiot to the right wearing green is Guude,” Paul said in a much calmer tone than before, and he gestured to each man, both of whom proceeded to give Aureylian a bow.
“We’ve heard wonderful tales of your singing voice, miss Aureylian,” Guude said in an accented voice, and Aureylian wondered how he had one so evidently, yet his father didn’t seem to have one at all.
“Looking forward to hearing you sing, miss Aureylian,” Nebris spoke up in a much quieter, raspier voice than his brother.
“Please… It feels odd to have you all addressing me as miss when I’m talking to you on a first name basis. Call me Aurey,” Aureylian said, heat rising to her cheeks at the mere remembrance that she was among royalty.
“Very well, m- Aurey,” Paul said, catching himself with a grin as he began to say what she had made it clear she didn’t want. “If you would like, I can have someone show you to your quarters.” As if he sensed the rising questions from his sons, he held up a hand and spoke again. “I have to talk to my imbecile sons about how to properly behave in front of guests, especially such an esteemed guest as yourself.”
“Y-yes, it would be nice to unpack my things and rest for a short while before I perform. Thank you... Paul,” Aureylian said with another curtsy as Paul directed a nearby guard to come guide her to her room.
~~
“Oh. My. Gosh!” Aureylian nearly squealed in delight at the room before her. It was ornately decorated in an all-pink bed, curtains, and various pieces of furniture, and with the afternoon sun filtering through the large windows, the room seemed to sparkle in a fiery light. “This room is amazing! It’s, like…. five times bigger than my room at home! Ten, even!”
“I’m glad it is to your liking, miss Aureylian,” the guard behind her said in a very formal manner, as he’d obviously been trained to. She could detect a slight countryside accent in the way he spoke, but it was different than Prince Guude’s accent had been, at least from her best guess. Neither man had spoken very much.
“Please, call me Aurey, as I told his majesty,” she said with a bright smile and a kind, warm glow in her eyes that the man had no ability to resist, and he was beginning to grin as she was only a moment later.
“Thank you, Aurey… My name is Anderz, and I’m the man in charge of his majesty’s armies, the g-”
“You’re the general!?” Aureylian exclaimed, clapping a hand over her mouth when she realized how loudly she’d said it, color rising to her cheeks. This is going to be happening a lot while I’m here, isn’t it, she rhetorically asked herself.
“Yes, I am the general,” Anderz said with a nod, and he felt himself developing an even wider grin in response to Aureylian’s reaction to his title. “There’s no need to grovel and bow or anything, don’t worry. I hate all of that stuff, man. I only do it so that I don’t make a fool of myself in front of his majesty’s guests.” He immediately felt a bit self-conscious that he was on the verge of giggling like a little girl in front of someone, but the halls seemed to be empty. Regardless, he quickly regained composure, or what he called composure, which was more along the lines of not-quite-as-lax-as-before than returning to a true soldier’s stance. “I’ll leave you to get some rest before the performance, Aurey. Do you know how to get to his majesty’s dining chambers?”
“Uh… I don’t even know when dinner is, let alone where…” Aureylian said sheepishly, and Anderz let out a loud laugh, which sent Aurey into a fit of giggles as well, even though there really wasn’t anything funny in what she said. Anderz simply found it amusing for some reason. He told himself he’d have to check himself for some sort of contagious laughter disease later that night, which nearly set him off again.
“Don’t worry, I’ll come back and get you just before we need to be down there. For now, just get yourself settled in, and feel free to ask one of the other people around if you need to find something before I get back,” Anderz said, bowing as he exited and walked down the long hallway, his boots making a soft scraping sound on the hard flooring.
Aurey put her satchel down onto a chair at a desk within the room and took a moment to bask in it’s beauty. It really is gorgeous… I wonder if it’s just a guest room? If it’s just a guest room, I can’t imagine what the royal chambers would look like, Aurey thought to herself, awe coursing through her with each passing moment inside the castle walls. She walked to the windows and beyond them, she could see almost the whole capital city, the crystal-clear glass letting her see each little detail exactly how she would have if she’d been inside the buildings, other than being so far away that they were much smaller than they actually were.
There appeared to be a door made of glass to Aurey’s right, which she was fascinated by for a few moments, having never seen something like it before, until she realized that beyond it, there was a balcony outside the room, looking out over the city. Excitedly, she ran out into the outside, and she was greeted by a pleasant breeze and the warmth of the sun on her skin, the wind blowing her hair around behind her as the sun reflected a color like fire off of it. Humming happily, she gazed out over the city for another hour until the sun began to set, chilling the air a bit too much for her liking in such a dress, which wasn’t designed to keep her warm, unlike her clothes for more casual situations than a dinner in the king’s court.
She walked inside, taking another moment to look out over the city before walking to her satchel and opening it up, just to make sure she had all that she’d brought with her still inside it. Clothes for the next few days, a hairbrush, a small necklace made of small interwoven strands of metal wires, and a small box she didn’t remember packing. She picked it up out of the satchel, and placed it down on her bed carefully. It was slightly bigger than her hand, and it was decorated with the image of a rose and vines surrounding it on the lid. Slowly, she opened up the lid to see a locket that looked like it could hang on her necklace, as it was lacking any sort of ornamentation aside from the chain itself. She opened it, and inside there was a small inscription that read "family" on one side, and "love" on the other.
Aurey felt emotions well up inside her at seeing such a wonderful and clearly expensive gift that her family had gotten her. Searching the box, she found a small paper with her father's handwriting, as well as what appeared to be a little something from Chad and Arkas.
"My wonderful daughter,
Don't be upset at me for spending what I had on this gift for you. I know you would never approve of this unless I gave it to you secretly, so I slipped it in with your things for your trip to see the king. I know you have a true gift with your voice, and you may not think it special, but the words you sing have true power behind them. I can’t wait to see you home again after such a wonderful and once-in-a-lifetime (hopefully you’ll be the exception to the “once”) experience, but I wanted you to be at your best when showing off your wonderful voice before the king.
I love you,
Da & Ma”
Scribbled just below her parents’ signatures were a couple of stick figures that displayed her family - including the family cows and the migrant robin family that lived in the barn - that was clearly something Chad had drawn. His little drawings always made her feel better, and this one was no exception. A much better quality portrait of Aurey herself was stashed below the note from the rest of her family, signed with Arkas’ name. She doubted anyone else in the entire kingdom could compare to his level of proficiency with a writing tool.
A sharp rap on the open door startled her out of her reminiscing. Anderz stood in in the doorway, his burly frame nearly preventing him from entering without turning sideways. Quickly attaching the locket to her necklace, Aurey grabbed her hairbrush and began rapidly running through her red hair.
“I’m so sorry, Anderz, I didn’t realize it was getting so late,” she apologized as she walked over to get her boots on and looked for a basin of water to check how she looked.
“It isn’t a problem, Aurey. Are you looking for a washbasin? We don’t have one in here, but there is a mirror to your left,” Anderz pitched in as he saw her frantically looking around.
What is a mirror? She wondered, and upon turning her head in the direction Anderz indicated, her jaw dropped to the floor. She saw a perfect image of herself standing before her, with no ripples or imperfections that came with using her washbasin to see herself.
“How does it do that!?” She nearly yelled, looking at Anderz with wide eyes. He chuckled and began to lead her towards the door.
“I don’t know, to be honest, but Nebris is pretty smart. Maybe try asking him?”
Castle life is so strange, she thought as she looked back on her day.
And in case you want a bit of info on the area, here's a map for all of you:
Lardrys continent map:
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B1LyyTQ8R2C8YkF0ZUwxRThkYWM
(Just to clarify, the trees are the little blocks of pencil marks, and the spiky areas are mountains)
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Date: Tuesday, May 17th, 2016 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, May 17th, 2016 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, May 17th, 2016 06:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, May 17th, 2016 06:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, May 17th, 2016 09:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, May 17th, 2016 09:56 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Tuesday, May 17th, 2016 11:10 pm (UTC)-Observing Anon
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Date: Wednesday, May 18th, 2016 04:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, May 18th, 2016 03:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, May 18th, 2016 04:21 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, May 18th, 2016 10:52 am (UTC)-the lurkiest lurker
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Date: Wednesday, May 18th, 2016 09:57 pm (UTC)sadie here
Date: Wednesday, May 18th, 2016 12:14 pm (UTC)Re: sadie here
Date: Wednesday, May 18th, 2016 09:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: Wednesday, May 18th, 2016 11:02 pm (UTC)I can't wait to read more.
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Date: Thursday, May 19th, 2016 01:02 am (UTC)no subject
Date: Thursday, May 19th, 2016 01:32 am (UTC)Cool :D
Don't try to be like Tana, Tana's Tana and you're you, so you be Clash, ok? XD
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Date: Sunday, May 22nd, 2016 01:03 pm (UTC)I LOVE THIS SO FAR!!! LITTLE AUREY IS MY FAVORITE THING