CHAPTER FIVE
Amber had never considered herself to be wise but when the other wizards came along to the castle, she knew that the council didn’t completely agree with the idea of joining the war if all the wizards present were the ones working for Henry. They were among the best within his circle and that was saying a lot considering Henry’s choices in every issue. The truth was they didn’t exactly like each and there wasn’t any one of them who was in the least bit likeable.
There was Eli, brawny and gigantic. One would assume he’d be of earth but he was water dominant. He considered himself a genius and that was his weakness. He stood at the entrance of the castle and surveyed the grounds. He could not be told anything and he had a tendency to try to correct everyone else around him.
“Amber.” So much for warm greetings. “Hi Eli.”
She turned to the next person on Eli’s left. Serena, oh great, it was the diva of the group. She was powerful and of fire, there was no doubt about that although she was a lot younger than anyone else within the group. She pushed back her curled long blond hair behind her ear. She raised her perfectly arched eyebrows and her purple lips curled as she looked Amber up and down and then dismissed her. Amber felt like grabbing her hair just to get her attention but that was what Selena wanted. She thrived on belittling everyone else and it didn’t help that Amber was from the training grounds, sweaty and muddy.
Amber was about to turn around when her eyes were drawn to the short purple skirt with the knee high purple boots and she looked up in shock and found a smirk on Serena’s face that seemed suggest she was definitely better than the latter. It didn’t help that she was Henry’s current mistress. Amber turned to the next person and found the ever joyous David Miller. He smiled at her with that creepy smile he had.
“Amber my dear, I had thought you had been banished to this god-forsaken place.”
“No David, I’m here on duty.”
The smile widened, “I can see that,” he looked her up and down then turned to look at Selena then shook his head without his smile disappearing. “You certainly aren’t any better to look at.”
“Bastard,” Amber said under her breathe as she turned to the other guy. Handsome was the first thing that jumped into her mind as she stared at the face. He was tanned, his hair was jelled up. He had a swimmers body and he stood with a relaxed posture as if someone was about to take his picture for a magazine or something. He didn’t smile but by the look he gave her, he seemed to be debating on what to do next or maybe it was what to say. “Who are you?”
“George Franklin, at your service.” “A pleasure meeting you.”
“You’ll regret that rather soon.” His eyes narrowed as he studied her. Amber felt as if she was being undressed in front of the others and her impulse was to cover up her body.
“Stop looking into his eyes,” a soft voice said as the others started laughing.
Amber pulled her eyes away from his and looked behind him to the very small woman behind him. She was a girl really. She also had blond hair though hers were cut into a bob. She barely had any make up and she was in skin tights with a reasonably long pleated skirt and her shoes were black and almost flat. She had on a white shirt underneath a black sweater. She recognized the school wear. The girl was from the Felicity Academy. She tilted her head slightly then she gasped before she blushed. Amber turned to look behind her and saw Martin walking towards them as he was talking to Annie.
He got to them and Annie walked past the group without even greeting any of them. Martin frowned as he looked around at the group, “What’s going on?”
“Henry brought us more company.” Amber said but instead of answering, Martin got suddenly very quiet. She looked to him only to find that he was staring at the frowning George. His hands were trembling. “Martin! Martin, relax, they are friends.” Martin pulled his eyes from George’s and looked up at the ceiling as he took a deep breath but it didn’t help. He was still trembling.
“I think I need some fresh air.”
“Yeah,” Amber nodded as she watched him walk back to where he had come from. She turned annoyingly to George. “What in the world did you do to him?”
“Nothing.”
“Then why did he almost lose control? We’ve been working with his impulses and just when he’s about to get control over them, you make him want to kill us again.”
“I told you, I did nothing. You accept it or don’t but that’s the truth.”
Eli huffed a laugh, “You couldn’t do anything. You are unable to affect his mind.” George turned to look at Eli in anger and the latter looked away in a snap. It was so fast that they all heard his neck snap. Amber sighed. This group was just a mistake. They couldn’t work together without people losing their temper. It didn’t seem as if any of the others have ever been in a room together.
“Let me show you to your rooms. I’m sorry but you’ll have to share…”
“What?” Serena gasped in shock. She looked at the school girl then shook her head. “There is no way I’m sharing a room with her.”
The girl flinched then murmured, “You don’t have to. I’ll share a room with Denise.”
“Who’s Denise?” Amber asked.
“The professor’s assistant. Oliver is showing her where to keep some of the equipment they brought with them. And he was supposed to tell you to reserve two rooms for Henry and the professor.”
“Okay.” Amber had questions about why she was even there but she stopped herself. She didn’t know why the girl was there and she figured she’ll find out sooner rather than later.
“We need to wait for Henry. We don’t even know if we are going to stay here.” Selena looked around with disgust.
Amber looked around and saw similar expressions on the rest of the faces. “Then you’ll wait in the ballroom. It’s the most comfortable room if you are leaving soon.” They nodded in agreement.
*
Wendy rode slowly into the castle grounds followed by the professor’s horse. She clutched the baby protectively in her arms and when they stopped, she found Martin waiting nervously for her. She passed Jane to him then alighted. Someone came to help the professor from his horse. She stared at Martin as he played with the toddler before he handed her back.
“Sidney gave her to you?”
“Yes, something’s happening at the castle and they had to evacuate the castle. Anyway she’s only here for a short time.” She looked at him with the kindest eyes. “What’s wrong?”
“The wizards?”
“I don’t think I can control it.”
“You need to get used to them. They are going to be fighting with us.” “So it makes sense not to kill them.”
Wendy laughed, “I like the way your confidence in your fighting skills have improved.”
“They are not really my skills.”
“Come on. You won’t hurt anyone, trust me.”
“Fine,” he sulked but followed behind her as they entered the castle. The professor opted to walk around since no one was really paying him any attention. They walked to the crown room where the others were. It was strange finding a room with people but none of them was talking to one another in fact, they weren’t even looking at each other. The tall blond girl in purple stood out of all of them. Then there was the handsome guy who looked at her with those eyes. She just shook her head as she thought of his utterly perfect looks and wondered what his body would look like. Her attention left him as she glanced at the hulking guy at the corner of the room watching the ceiling, his mind clearly not in the room. He was probably in a much better place.
The creepy smile guy made her nervous and it wasn’t for very good reasons either, finally, the school girl who sat on one of the benches humming to herself. She looked at them and held Wendy’s attention before she glanced at Martin and blushed. Oh boy! “How cozy!” She said sarcastically as she walked into the room. All the other’s attention drifted to her and they took a small amount of time then went back to whatever they had been doing. The creepy smile guy walked to her and held out her hand.
“Who says what about me?” she smiled sweetly back at him then adjusted her body and the baby so that the baby was angled away from creepy smile guy. As much as they worked for Henry, she didn’t trust any of them. It was no wonder that only Amber, Ken and Victor had been the only wizards she had met who worked for Henry. These others were not even likable though she doubted what the young girl was doing there in the first place. She seemed out of place in the company of such cold wizards.
“They say you have utterly white hair.” “It had to be the hair.”
The guy seemed confused, “Of course, what else is there?”
“Indeed,” she looked at him for a moment longer then flipped her hand and the wind carried him and slammed him to the wall before he realized what was going on. “What else indeed?” she walked to the throne at the front of the room and sat down. She looked around at everyone else. Martin had walked to stand on her right hand side. “You came here to help win this war. You do not work for me but under my roof, you will do whatever necessary to fit in and do your part.”
“We aren’t staying here.” The girl in purple said.
“On the contrary, you are until Henry says otherwise. And as you will be here for a while, you will take part in the training of my army.” The girl fumed. “I assume you also have to train?”
“Not really.” The hulking one said.
“Oh well, I need wizards to train my army and here you are.”
“Have you passed this through Henry, your father?” Again the hulking one said.
“Not yet, but I imagine what he’ll say. Anyway, if I could have this room now, I have business I have to conduct.”
“Are you dismissing us?” the model guy asked drawing Wendy’s attention to him. As they locked eyes, she thought she was nothing but someone seating on the seat of power with no authority over anyone but she changed her thought pattern. She was strong enough. She had been trained for this and she had wanted to have this seat since forever. She had known she would be queen and she knew so now.
She smiled as a result he frowned, “Yes, now leave!” The young girl was the first one to leave taking another glance at Martin before she walked out of the door. The others followed. When they were alone she turned to Martin, “See how easy it is to be in control.”
“Do you think it’s a good idea to make them dislike you so much?”
“They’ll never like me, so why bother. Can you find out if they have somewhere to go? Are their rooms ready?”
“They refused to be shown their rooms.”
“Oh well, I guess they’ll wonder around until they find something to do.” She was distracted by the baby for a moment then she looked up. “My timing may not be good but I need to talk to Nathan. Send a message to him requesting a meeting. I’ll be going to his castle.”
“Why?”
“It’s my duty.”
“Forget I asked,” he shook his head. “I don’t want to know. What do you want to do about the old man?”
“Let him wander around though keep an eye on him. He’s very interested in studying us.”
“Very well. You should probably be ready to have some complaints from the residence of the castle.”
“I will be ready for them. Also get me Jared, he’s actually better at handling the affairs of the castle than I am.” Martin shot her an embarrassed smile before he went away.
*
Gorham walked into their room and found Sidney looking outside. She didn’t even turn to look at him when he entered and that made him uneasy. He moved towards her as if he was approaching a dangerous predator and when he was finally at arm’s length he started, “I just talked to Henry. He didn’t tell me much which makes me assume that he talked more with you.”
“The wizards are going to join the war. They will help win it and in winning the war, they are going to help retrieve back our son.”
“He said he talked to you about what we are to do with Julius when he is back?”
he posed it as a question.
Sidney sighed, “I didn’t want to talk about this right now.”
“Then what do you want to talk about right now? What would you wish to discuss so as not to leave me clueless as to what is going on with my own son and my own wife? I don’t want to be in the dark anymore.”
“I’m sorry if you think that way. I’m legally…”
“Bullshit!” Sidney blinked in surprise but didn’t look back at him. He continued trying to calm his temper but failing miserably, “I’m tired of everyone saying that we are legally married as if that will excuse all the bad decisions you have made. Being loyal to me did not prevent you from keeping things from me when we first got married Jansenist. This life, all the others, you have hid behind the pretense that you are legally married to me. Tell me what happened when the barrier was up.”
“I- I can’t…”
“So something happened?” he asked as his voice became very soft, very deadly. “It’s not like that. We talked about Julius and what would be best for him.”
“You talked about my son and what is best for him with another man who I barely tolerate. Do you hear yourself when you say something like that?” he turned her around and found that tears were running down her cheeks but he didn’t relent. “You cannot discuss something that involves me without me being present. He is my son and I’m not going to let him go and be raised elsewhere.”
“That is why you don’t understand. It is for his own good. Do you think that Henry wanted Wendy to be raised without him? Do you think Diane wasn’t hurt that she was giving up her daughter? One who was supposed to inherit her throne? You think they made these sacrifices because they wanted to?”
“At least they discussed it together before they did anything.” Sidney simply stared at him for a moment and then walked out. “Where are you going?”
“That does not involve you so I need not discuss it with you.” She ran out and jumped on the nearest horse and rode away. Several minutes later, the guards who had been sent to her came back and reported that they had lost her.
*
Henry walked into her daughter’s castle intending to tell her that he was about to leave. Things were escalating a bit faster than he had thought and now he had to hurry his plans. He walked in without being stopped which made him start doubting the security measures were being taken.
He found Wendy in her ballroom sitting on her throne playing with the baby. “You love children.”
She looked up startled. “I suppose you could say that.” “You want your own?”
She sat up straighter. “Do you want to tell me who is going to be the father of my children? You’ve seen the future.”
“The father of your children, I have no idea. When you see the future, it is simply images and feelings. It’s hard to tell someone’s parentage from them.”
“And yet you saw something that made you think that Victor wasn’t the one who was meant for me?”
“I saw the one who will be standing by your side as you will be crowned.” “So you think that this person is the one who will be my husband?”
“Did I ever tell you that the future is very complicated?”
“Just one more question,” she stood up and carried the child up with her. “What can you tell me about this person? Will you approve of him?”
“That’s two questions.” He looked around then back at his daughter. “Where are they?”
He didn’t have to mention who specifically. “I don’t know. I chased them away from here.”
He chuckled, “They are not as bad as first impression may lead you to think. Each and every one of them is unique.”
“You are avoiding my question.”
“Okay, fine. I don’t usually approve because I don’t believe they are the ones who will complement you best. I’m not even sure the one I saw would have been the right one for you, but I will make an effort to like him.”
“You didn’t tell me anything about the person.”
“Sorry about that.” He took her arm and started leading her out of the room. “All I know is that he is going to secure your position as the ruler.” “So you want me to be queen?”
“I want only what is best for you.”
“Ruling a whole kingdom is not what I would have considered the best for me. Giving me the responsibility of these people is not what I would have considered good for me. I may die young due to stress or even an injury from a battle. There are so many uncertainty.”
“Life is full of uncertainty. It doesn’t matter that you are a queen or not. For all we know you could have died due to some stupid disease outbreak or even a car accident on the other side. The other side is not any safer than being here.”
“I get the point. It still doesn’t mean that I like being queen to a people who denied me my right in the first place.”
“Win them the war and they will see the error of their ways. You will be accepted back. They need you.”
Wendy was quiet for a while as she considered the words from her father. She knew that was the truth but she just didn’t want to be happy about it. Her position was still in jeopardy even when she would win the war. She wasn’t crowned yet. “What if Alice comes back?”
“Alice is a traitor. It doesn’t matter what excuse she has for running away. She deserted her people when they needed her most. That merits death in my books.”
“The council will never go for that.”
“I suppose not. Anyway,” he started as he went and sat down on the seat next to her. “I have to leave now.”
“You aren’t even going to stay the night?” “I’m afraid not. I have things I have to do.”
“What about the others? I already told them they would help train my army.”
“They’ll stay. What I have to do is a man job. They will help you and follow your orders.”
“Who’s the young girl? She doesn’t seem to belong to the group.” “She’s my sister.”
“What?” Wendy turned sharply to look at him. “To be more precise, she’s my half-sister.”
“Do the others know?”
“No and I would like to keep it that way.” “Does she know?”
“She suspects. That is why she chose to come on this mission. I don’t talk about my family because I don’t want others to talk about it. But I don’t mind you meeting her.”
“What is she doing here?”
“Her mother was going on her honeymoon and she asked me to take care of her. Of course I didn’t plan on coming with her here but she did insist so I let her.” Henry laughed when he saw the expression on Wendy’s face. “Don’t worry. She will behave herself.”
“I’m not worried about whether she will behave or not. She’s a child and you brought her to a war zone.”
“I have trained Ella since she could walk. She can take on any of the wizards here,” he leaned forward slightly. “Don’t ever tell her I said that.”
“Why not?”
“She’ll get cocky and that could kill her. This is one of the few relatives I have that I want to live a long life.”
“How exactly are the two of you related?” “We share the same mother.”
“But you said her mother. Not yours too.” “Like I said. I have very few relatives I claim.” “What about your other relatives? My relatives?”
“One day you might meet them.” He stood up and looked down at Wendy. “Pray that the time is not soon. Let’s take a walk as I leave.” He waited as Wendy lifted the baby then they headed to the door. “I had hoped we would be able to stop this involvement of the wizards before things got too far. Unfortunately, they now have a key element to the equation.”
“You mean Julius?”
“Yes. You and Julius are quite alike and special. You two are part of the only three in the world who can activate the Mantegna stones.”
“What are the Mantegna stones?”
“Max will explain that. Also remind him to tell you about the Excricians and the true reason for their…nonexistence. History is supposed to teach us some things and I hope you take the lesson seriously. Also, I need you to keep this,” he handed a clear stone resembling a crystal into Wendy’s hand. “Use it to train your army if you figure out how to use it. Trust no one with it. It is to remain in your possession until I come back.”
“Anything else?” Wendy asked with a slight smile on her face.
“As a matter of fact, I need you to allow the professor to examine you if and when using the stone. His ideas and theories have been very valuable to me and I think you will appreciate his input.”
“I thought you said trust no one with the stones?”
“Of course, but his opinions are well informed. Don’t leave him alone with the stone. Not because he will steal it but because he won’t be able to keep it safe it he is attacked.”
“Okay,” Wendy said as they got outside. They found a whole assembly of wizards waiting for them. Henry kissed her on her cheeks then walked towards his waiting horse. He was intercepted by Serena. They talked in whispers for a few seconds before Henry caught her around her waist and pulled her to him. Then suddenly kissed her. It came as such a shock to Wendy that her mouth was still gaping open when the kiss ended. “What the…”
“I know right! You’d think his standards were higher,” a voice murmured next to her. She turned and saw Ella, supposed aunt watching Henry with a frown. “Fortunately he’s not really in love with her. That would have been a disaster waiting to happen.”
“How long?” Wendy asked still in shock.
“How long what? Before the disaster or how long have they been a couple?” Wendy waved her hand hastily. Ella took it to mean the latter. “I don’t know. Henry tends to always need distractions. Currently his mistress is Selena. Tomorrow it might be someone else. Fortunately he’s a one woman at a time kind of guy or we couldn’t have avoided world war three for this long.”
Wendy shrugged then held out her hand to Ella. “It is a pleasure to meet you.”
Ella gave Wendy one of the brightest smiles she has ever seen, “I have always wanted to meet you. So believe me if I say that it really is my pleasure.”
*