Aquirya
Chapter 10

Aeyla lay sleeping in her bed, in her castle chambers. The room was large, as is most rooms in a castle. Two wardrobes stood along the tall walls, two night stands on either side of the enormous canopy bed, her crown sitting on a stand with other jewelry below it on a dresser. There were paintings on the walls, decorative items hanging, a chandelier and candles. The room was clean, bright, and colorful the fire place in the middle of the room kept the whole place warm. Most things in the room were gold, purple, blue, or red. Blue curtains covered four ceiling to floor doors with full windows on one side of the room. These doors led out onto a balcony overlooking the kingdom, when the castle was actually on the ground in the kingdom. This castle had magic inside it, in the walls, the halls, doors, fireplaces, it cleaned itself, it kept itself warm, it repaired itself when it needed too, it had an armor that covered itself when attacked. It also, lifted itself off the ground and hid in the sky where evil couldn’t replace it. Evil never looked up, evil never searched in the light and Evil couldn’t break through good so easily.

A door opened and Niko walked in with a female who had purplish skin. “Princess.” She said as she bowed. “It’s great to see you back at White Sky castle.” She walked over to where there were curtains hanging and opened them. The warm sun came in the huge window and warmed her skin and body. It was nice to be warm. She smiled.

Aeyla sat up with a start. “Where am I?!”

“You are in the castle. Flash and I thought it best if you were under a sleeping spell when they came for us.” Niko said after bowing.

“Niko, you have to stop putting me to sleep then moving me it’s disconcerting and you’ve never bowed for me before. Why now?” Aeyla said confusion written all over face. Why a sleeping spell? She needed to know how to get here in case something happened, didn’t she? Who was this lady? She was in her castle? She hadn’t had much time to sit and think this whole thing out yet. She was still fighting with the fact that she was just 2 days ago, sitting in a beat-up jeep ready to go on a hike. This was definitely a hike, she thought. Be careful what you wish for.

“Princess, it was easier so that you didn’t get harmed in the process of bringing you up here. We didn’t want to risk startling or getting you lost or hurt.” Said the lady.

“Who are you? Explain yourself.” That came out more harshly than she wanted it too, but she was annoyed. Isn’t she capable of handling herself? Niko said she’d been trained in battle for a few years. Her parents had put her in the army to train without anyone knowing it was her so she could learn to defend herself without special treatment. Along with learning magic from the head wizard at the castle.

She’d liked learning all these things but it was time to know exactly what was going on with her kingdom. Yes, her kingdom, she was starting to like the sound of that. Getting used to it.

“I’m Lady Lilac, I am your maidservant.” She bowed again.

“Stop bowing Lilac. What’s going on?” Aeyla said to her annoyed.

“I’m sorry your majesty. It’s our custom to bow before our ruler.” She laid a dress on the bed. “You are to come to the war room when you get dressed ma lady.” Lilac turned and left without bowing and Niko smiled, bowed his head and walked out of the room closing the door behind him.

She looked over at the dress that was placed on the bed for her with shoes and a coat with a trail next to it. On the night stand next to the bed was a crown. She hadn’t noticed that there before nor had she seen Niko or Lilac put it there. The dress was purple and white. The dress had a v-shaped neck with silky like fabric. She picked it up and looked at herself in her floor mirror with the dress against her. There were small flowers embedded in the dress detail. The white outlined the V on her neck, her arms, it was the color of the belt and the lining of the whole dress. The Purple was a dark purple it covered the rest of the dress and the coat. She put the dress on and when she called for help with the tying on the back, lady lilac came in the door and tied it for her. Lilac went to the wardrobe opened a drawer and took out some hair pieces to help with Aeylas’ hair. Lilac told Aeyla to sit down at the vanity and fixed her hair for her. She walked over to the nightstand, picked up the crown, walked over to Aeyla and placed it on her head. Aeyla stared at herself in the exquisite vanity mirror.

“This is mine?” She asked in awe of the beautiful crown on her head. White Crown with an elegant design of flowers, and jewels throughout it. As she stood the dress and coat flowed against her like it was made for her. It was soft and smooth on her body and she loved the feeling of the fabric laying on her bare body.

“Yes. All this is yours.” Lilac motioned for her to step towards the door.

Lilac lead her down a number of halls and through many different rooms, reminding her which rooms were which and what they were used for. She told her little stories or history about each room as they continued on their walk to where the war room was, which was close to the dungeon, for obvious reasons. A floor above it to be exact. They stepped into a large room full of weapons, what looked like mannequins, shields, and a number of swordsmen practicing. Niko came up to her and bowed, “Ma lady, this is the war room. I will show you to your area. He walked down a hallway and opened a door that lead to three other doors that were all locked with some magical force field.

“This is where yours and your sisters’ weapons, like the sword I gave you on our journey, are kept. They all have certain magical qualities to them. You two are the only ones able to unlock or go through this door.” He pointed to the middle door and motioned for her to come forward. “Just put your hand on the force field.” She looked at him frightened. “It won’t’ hurt, it only knows you. When you go in look around, familiarize yourself with the weapons again, let them know you are here. They’ll need time to regenerate. This is a lot I know, but they need to know you’re here to come alive again.” She nodded and did what she was told.

The force field vanished as soon as she put her hand up to it. She turned around to look at her friends, Niko handed her a key and nodded for her to continue. She turned back and opened the door, when she stepped through, it closed behind her. Candles lit up when she entered. A Voice from overhead started talking. “Welcome princess. We have been waiting for your return. Weapons, awake, one of your masters has returned. Aeyla, please say hello to your old friends. The room lit up, it was much bigger than she expected. Numerous mannequins held different kinds of armor and/or dresses, some damaged some not. Some unrepairable some perfect and in cases. She saw 100′s of swords, dozens of maces, multiple staves, bows, daggers, in the same conditions as her armor was. Shields hung from the ceiling, in the middle of the room were four stands, one held a sword holder, one held what looked like a crystal ball stand, another a book stand, and the last a shield stand. She walked up to them and as she did the sword she had left in her room appeared on its stand and so did her shield. Other items lit up with the glow that her sword gave earlier. She walked towards them at the far side of the room. What looked like hammers, another sword, two knives, and multiple other weapons stood before her lit up. “Princess, now that they know you are back, your royal weapons will regenerate. You are wanted in the dining hall.” Said the overhead voice.

She smiled. This was something she actually remembered.

She walked out of the weapon room to see only Lilac waiting for her. She still wanted to know how they got her through this castle without her waking up. The castle was just like any other castle you’ve seen or heard about. Vast, tall, and spacious. It was silver and white, mostly, with colors here and there. Blues, Purples, Reds, and Greens. Animal skins and paintings adorned the walls. There was a well-stocked huge library, an abundantly filled kitchen, with a dining room made to cater to 50 or more people, a ball room with a much larger dining area for parties, with a court yard right outside, other court yards were around the castle for different purposes, about 30 bedrooms but she lost count at about 15. There was the throne room which was magnificent. Lilac told her the castle had burned down over 100 years ago but her parents, the king and queen had it rebuilt with magic, infused with magic and through the castle and also the magic her parents held. She winked when she said the magic part. There was a big garden outside the kitchen and to her surprise, Lilac told her they weren’t on the ground. They were up in a cluster of clouds above the Kingdom of Grazia, which was where the Castles’ home was. It floated around the land as not to be detected by the Evils. Below them, rain, snow, hail and other precipitation fell upon the whole kingdom, periodically to better conceal the castle. There was also a spellcasted castle still in the same place the castle had once stood.

They came to a great room with a long table. Sitting at the table were men and women of all ages, this was the “Conditioning room”, which was right next to the royal wizards’ tower and quarters. They stood when they saw Aeyla come in the room. Flash was in the seat closest to her. He bowed then pointed to the chair at the beginning of the table next to Frixon.

“Thank you Flash.” Aeyla said shakily. She didn’t know what to say to the fifteen-people staring at her, standing up, or bowing for her. It was new to her. It wasn’t new though, none of this was new to her. As she sat down she looked around the table studying faces as they all sat down. People looked familiar like she’d seen them in a dream before. She sat down and an old man at the end of the table looked at her and spoke up.

“Princess Aeyla, your return needs a celebration except we do not want to bring attention to where the castle is.” The man speaking was called Frixon the Wise, he stood up. “So, this feast will be your welcome for now. Since most of the subjects of Grazia are hidden elsewhere in the kingdom.” There was no feast in front of them though.

As she sat down, a plate of breakfast type food appeared in front of her. At her amazement food started appearing down the table at each persons’ seat. Like a domino effect.

“Wow!” She exclaimed, not realizing she said it aloud. The people around the table looked at her, some smiled, and others looked back down at their own plate and started eating.

“It seems the magic of the castle has eluded your memory princess.” Frixon said smiling. “It will return, the wicked ones magic is not stronger than yours. Once we replace the other members of the royal family, she won’t stand a chance.” He winked at her and smiled.

“I don’t even know how to really use magic. I mean I guess I can, I made a fireball appear and healed Niko, I don’t know how though.” She said.

People around the table giggled. “Silence.” Frixon said sternly. “The princess has been through a great deal, she has lost the memories of her home, therefore she has lost the knowing of her powers and most likely needs to be retaught or reminded of how to use them. We must help her get them back and we do not have a lot of time to do so. Princess, the first thing you will have to do is go to the tower with Quico, so that he can teach and show you some of your magical skills. Craceeris is growing more anxious and will replace the castle if we do not hurry.” He focused his attention back to his food. “Now let’s eat as we have a long day ahead of us.”