Heir of Golden Storms
Chapter Seven

For a second, I lay on my side on the floor. People are running. Chairs have fallen. My head is spinning. What happened? An explosion. Someone attacked the Court of Miracles. Who would be that fool?

I stand up quickly. Where is Thalia? I replace her next to me on the floor. I lower myself and try to make her seat. Her eyes are almost closed. I shake her shoulders, but her eyes keep trying to close. I put my hands on her cheeks, holding her head in my hands.

“Thalia! Thalia!” I yell over the commotion. “Are you hurt? Please, Thalia, tell me. Are you hurt?”

She opens her eyes slowly. She stays a few seconds looking directly at my eyes and then I see the exact moment when her blue eyes notice what is happening. She snaps into action. “I am fine. I am fine,” she says.

“And you, North?” I ask. She has seated up on her own.

“Just a small hit on the head, but I am all right,” she says, touching the back of her head.

I draw the Cursebreaker out and, with my free hand, help North stand up and then Thalia. People are running away. I do not recognize anyone, and I am not taking chances that whoever made the explosion was among us in the wedding.

“Stay behind me,” I yell at Thalia and North.

My mind drifts to the conversation that Zephyrus and Haldol had. They spoke about stealing father’s crown. Is this their way of doing it? No, it does not sound like Zephyrus. Zephyrus is sneaky and prefers to strategize, but Haldol is not.

I grab a hold of Thalia’s hand with my left hand. I start moving towards the castle with my sword in front. If the castle is under attack, the safest place is in the library. There is a seventh floor, hidden under the sixth visible floors. It is a panic room made to hide the king and royalty.

Dodging everyone and seeing no sign of anyone attacking, I make it to the library. On the first floor, the pedestal with the research book has been moved and an underground compartment has been open.

“Thalia, North, go inside and remain there,” I say and then look at the nearest knight. “Keep an eye on those two. If anyone asks for the white-haired girl to be removed from there since she is not loyalty, tell them that I told her to stay there. I do not care if the king wants her gone. You keep her safe!”

I spot Zephyrus arguing with some knights a few meters away from the entrance. He has his golden armor on without a helmet. That is the color for the princes’ and king’s armor of the Court of Miracles, while the common knights are silver.

“What is going on?” I shout as I approach.

“The Court of Autumn is attacking us,” Zephyrus tells me. He shifts back to the knights that he was talking to. “I want a sky and a land army. Divide your troops, more knights on the ground and less on the air. We cannot let them get to Fairdell, and even less to our castle!” He puts his golden helmet on. “Get me a horse. I will be leading the ground army.”

“Where is father, Ailsa, Marin, and Easton?” I ask as he starts walking. I follow him to the stairs.

“They are safe underground,” he says. “Easton wanted to lead the air army, but I told him to stay and guard the castle. He will lead our last line of defense.”

“Let me lead the air force,” I say. We are now walking the hallways.

“All right, we need all the hands that we can get, but I do not want to hear father’s voice if something happens to you,” Zephyrus grunts.

“You won’t,” I say and take a turn away from him. I head back to the garden and move to the right to where the stables are. A group of knights are already pulling horses out and forming groups. “Zephyrus is ready to start the attack on land. We need to be ready to attack by air.”

“Oh, no, this is no place for a prince,” a knight says. He is one of the generals. “Go back to the library.”

“I won’t,” I say. “Zephyrus instructed me to lead the air army.” Then I shout orders. “I need someone to fetch my armor in my room now!” I do not wait to see if anyone followed my order. “We are doing three groups. The left group will be led by the general, the right group by someone whom the general picks, and the middle one by me. I need the swiftest and fastest knights. Anyone who does not fit the description or does not know how to fly a horse can go to Zephyrus’s land army. Is that clear?”

“Yes, sir,” the knights shout.

“Sir, your armor,” a knight says, holding my golden armor in his hands.

“Take it from here,” I tell the general.

I grab the armor and start putting it on piece by piece. When I was little, I dreamt of being a knight and leading my own army. As I grew up, I lost interest in it, knowing that I was average at fighting with every other weapon besides the sword. I learned how to use a sword, lead an army, strategize, and more things than an average knight knows, except for fighting on ground.

When I am done, I stare at the knights. The general has already assembled the three groups. There is a white horse with white mane without a horseman in front of the middle group, my group and my horse. I hop on my horse and put my golden helmet on.

“For Miracles!” I shout, drawing the Cursebreaker out, and the knights chime in.

My horse starts running, followed by the galloping of the other horses. When we are near the castle, my horse extends its wings. We ascend the skies. When we pass the castle, I look down. Knights are gathered in front of the castle with a golden knight in the middle and front, Easton. Another group of knights in horses are past the Slumbering Forest and Fairdell, led by another golden figure: Zephyrus.

It takes some seconds of flying to spot the army of the Court of Autumn. They are on land, riding on brown foxes that are almost the same size as the horses. Before I can dive to help fight the army, something passes at my left, almost hitting me. Another thing passes near me. It is coming from below.

“Archers!” I shout. “They are at the trees! Disperse and be eagles!”

Being eagles is a strategy that the court teaches the flying knights. It means to dive in, attack, and go back up, like an eagle catching a fish. I am the first to dive, but I hear the wings of every other horse do the same. I spot an opening between the trees, and that’s where I enter. I swipe my sword at the first archer and at the second one, who is closely behind it. The third one is too far. I fly back up before it can shoot me.

The second time I dive in, I am faster. I slice the Cursebreaker at every archer I spot. Below me, I hear the clashing of the swords. Zephyrus’s army has met with the Court of Autumn’s army. Two archers spot me and when they are ready to fire, I fly back up.

I may not be good at fighting on land, but in the sky, I am invincible.

When I am about to dive again, something crashes with me and I am flown out of my horse. No, it is not something but someone. A knight of the Autumn Court is holding me. She has a dagger on her hand, and she tries to stab near my ribs, where the armor’s weak point is. I catch her hand with my left hand and push back. She sees an opening on straggling me with her left hand, but I grab her wrist with my right hand. She is on top of me as we fall, but I move my body to change positions and push her on the stomach with my feet as I let go of her. She is falling quicker than I am.

I extend my arms and legs, trying to slow my fall. My horse passes below me, and I am lucky enough to get a hold of it. I climb up to its back. Part of the miracle that our ancestors made for horses to fly was that they should anticipate and hear every command of the Court of Miracles. That is why my horse passed below me. It was picking me up.

I start ascending but replace that the Court of Autumn also has a sky army. They are bigger than our sky army. They are riding owls, smaller than horses but big enough for a faerie to ride. Dark clouds are gathering above them, not letting the sun illuminate us.

“Ready?” I ask my horse, putting my left hand on his neck. The horse neighs.

The horse flies towards the owls above. I keep the Cursebreaker in front of the horse. I strike an owl from below as my horse clashes with a few owls on the side. As I keep going up, I let go of my horse. I fall on top of an owl. I slice my sword on the faerie riding in and push him out of the owl. The owl moves, trying to get me off him. I jump off him and he clashes with a few other owls.

I land on the next owl, slicing the faerie riding it and jumping to the next one. I repeat and repeat, until there are any more owls nearby. I look around to see where my horse is, but before I replace it, an arrow hits me on my right leg, right between the two plates of the armor. Pain explodes. I look to where the archer is. He is flying towards me with a group of owls behind him. There is nothing left to do so I jump towards the endless sky.

I am diving directly at the ground with no flying horses or owls nearby. I take peek behind me. More owls have gathered and are following me towards the ground, shooting arrows at me. A chance to kill a prince will bring anyone a new title at their court.

A light blink, and I look under me again. A lighting comes from the dark clouds, striking the owls following me. Before it can hit me, it disappears, and the thunder comes. This is no ordinary lighting. This is no ordinary storm. This is the work of Thalia and her storm magic, and I have never been so glad to have her on my side.

My horse picks me up, too close to the ground that it must gallop through it in order to fly again. As I fly up, I notice that the owls are multiplying. Hail is starting to fall, but not tiny pieces of ice, they are chunks. I doubt that Thalia can summon a hailstorm and a thunderstorm at the same time. No, this is not the work of Thalia. This is North helping her.

The chunks of ice hit the owls and faeries, distracting them. This makes them clash with each other or distracts them enough for a Miracle faerie to strike them. Lightings are hitting groups of owls. Still, this is not enough. For every owl we strike, two more appears. They have a bigger army than ours. They know that they are going to win this. They have planned this for a long time.

“Easton,” I hear a voice, echoing through the sky. It takes me a second to notice that it is Gracin speaking, but she is not anywhere to be seen. “For my miracle, I wish for our court to win this battle.”

It does not even take a second to feel the change. I feel stronger. I pull the arrow stuck in my leg. The wound start healing, the scratches on my horse and on me start disappearing. The owls start flying slower as if they are losing strength. Their strength is being taken from them and absorbed by us. This is Easton’s magic. This is the Court of Miracles’ magic. This is my home’s magic and they are going to regret coming here.

***

I land my horse in front of the castle and throw my golden helmet at the floor. Someone will pick it up later. Knights are gathered there, still protecting the castle. We have taken down most of the enemy’s army down. The Court of Autumn has given the signal to retreat. Now, the remaining knights from our court are hunting the escaping faeries, owls, and foxes.

“What is going on?” I ask Easton who is starting to walk inside the castle. He and Gracin saved the court with their miracle. Easton is a proud person, but right now, is not the time and he knows it.

“Zephyrus captured the princes,” Easton answers. “Congratulate your future wife. I saw her saved your life up there when you took that gamble.”

At the steps of the entrance to the castle, Thalia and North sits. They are tired, but as soon as Thalia sees me, she stands up. I do not hesitate and hug her, stronger than I ever have hug anyone before.

“You save me,” I say, still hugging her. My voice comes with disbelief and gratitude.

“Today and always,” she says.

I stop hugging her and stare at her blue eyes. She has saved me. She has saved my secret. For once, I am glad that I am going to marry her.

“You, stand up,” I tell North. She stands and I walk towards her. I put my hands on her shoulders. “Thank you.” First time and last time that she is going to hear it. “You have shown loyalty to me and the Court of Miracles. Your loyalty will not be forgotten.”

I walk inside, and I know that North and Thalia are following me. Easton is at the main hallway, talking with Gracin. Gracin only looks a little sloppy, probably due to the explosion.

“The castle is secured,” Easton tells us as we approach. “You can all go to your rooms and lay down if you like, except you, Rowan. The king requested our presence at the throne room.”

“Of course,” I say. “If you will excuse me, ladies.” I take a bow and walk away with Easton.

The huge throne room is mainly empty. At the end of the steps is the golden throne and father is seated on it. He stands up when we approach. At his right stand Zephyrus, still with the golden armor but without a helmet. At his left stands Blaise with a knight’s armor, probably borrowed, and next to him Haldol, with another borrowed armor.

Two hooded figures are kneeling in front of the throne with knights standing closely behind and beside them. The figures arms are behind their back, tied with iron chains. It must be burning their wrists. Easton and I walk towards the throne. Easton stands beside Zephyrus, and I beside Easton. Father walks towards us.

“I am very proud of you, my sons,” he says with a smile. He returns to the front of the throne. He nods at the knights.

The knights release the sacks off the figures’ head. The first figure is a man with dark skin who must be around my age. He has a long straight black hair and black eyes. The second figure is a light skin woman, a mere kid around ten years old. She has the same hair and eyes as the first figure. They must be brother and sister.

“Prince Fulton and Princess Veda from the Court of Autumn,” father says. He is letting them know that he knows every royalty from the Court of Autumn. “Tell me, have you ever been this close to the High King?”

“You are not our High King!” Fulton growls.

“I think that your court has made that clear,” father says. He starts walking slowly towards them. “Have you ever wondered why your court has been at peace all these years? Have you wonder why, even though your court does not share an alliance with my court? Because I allow it!” The last words come with hate.

“You believed to be stronger than me.” Father continues with the same tone as the last sentence. His words are completely towards Fulton, instead of Veda. “You believed that you could declare war while I was in the middle of my son’s wedding. If war is what your court wants, war is what they will get.”

In one swift move, father takes the sword from his waist and swings. Fulton flinches but the swing was not meant for him. Veda’s body falls and her head rolls away from her body. Fulton screams. He starts cursing at father, but father does not care what he has to say.

“Drop him at the edge of the Court of Autumn,” father says to the knights over the screaming and cursing. “Let him deliver the message to the royal family.” Father start walking back to the throne. “And get rid of the body and clean the blood from my throne room. It is staining my floor.”

I watch as the knights drag away Prince Fulton from the throne room. When he is out, I stare at the little girl’s lifeless head until a knight picks it and leaves. If I am cruel, I do not know what the High King of the Court of Miracles is.