Highfield Academy - Revenge of The Crows
Chapter Thirty.

Queen Shellback had Kelton brought before her, and as he entered the Queens private chambers his mind had already settled matters, in his eyes he had been betrayed, used, and manipulated. Also, his mind had been prepared for over a year by Lord Belliteron, and the Demoni, to have expected this betrayal of friendship.

So, on seeing Queen Shellback, in his mind it was the enemy of my enemy, who is my friend, and although this was far from true, his young mind was so full of hate, that he was blinded to logical thinking and the Dryads had for the time been, stopped communicating with him. “Child, you are master Kelton the once apprentice to king Thalaba, is that correct?” enquired Queen Shellback.

Kelton looked at the person before him, “I know who you are that murderous pig king Thalaba brought me here once before,” he said and then paused only for a moment. “Were you responsible for saving my life and having my wounds cared for?” His question was not rude, but abrupt, especially when you consider to whom he was talking with.

Queen Shellback smiled and answered honestly, “Yes master Kelton, allow me to show you.” At that from empty air before their eyes a video stream of the events as they had unfolded appeared and started to play.

There Kelton relived the entire episode over again and saw the betrayal of who he thought was King Thalaba and the killing of those he had come to love and look upon as his family. Captain Willham had tried to intervene and was slaughtered, and then as Kelton had tried to intercede, he was injured.

Yet he fought trying to stop this carnage and discarding of innocent life, it was then Queen Shellback intervened and in doing so distracted king Thalaba, giving Kelton time to cut the retrieval spell, but in doing so Thalaba attacked him again and then vanished.

Kelton’s resolve for revenge only increased after witnessing the video stream as it reinforced in his mind a total desire for restitution of the loss of his parents lives, and for betrayal of his previously blind loyalty.

“Queen Shellback I am indebted to you for saving my life, I tried to prevent king Thalaba’s actions, and as to why he did this I honestly cannot understand; however, I intend to one day kill him for his crimes, and those in the Royal Fay Courts.”

He paused momentarily looking the Queen directly in the eye and considering his next words carefully. “Will you please permit me to live and be subject to your rule, in exchange I will serve you and with your permission train until one day I can seek out my revenge.”

The Queen smiled as she realised this was going to be easier than she had hoped for.

“Son, you tried to save the life also of someone I loved, trusted, and who had been a loyal friend to me as I grew up. For that I owe you, and as such we face the same enemy, I therefore grant your request, and if you agree I will have you taken on as my apprentice, as I was once apprentice to my mother, do you replace that acceptable?”

Kelton considered the words spoken, “Acceptable my Queen,” he replied, and then went to one knee, and subjecting himself to her rule. “Thank you, my Queen your offer is more than generous, please if I may be so bold as to ask, when may I start?”

Such was the determination now driving him forward that he wanted nothing to block his path in acquiring the skills required to reach his now desired goals. The Queen grinned at his tenacity.

“Child, I was hoping you would accept my offer before I had your wounds attended to, as far as I am concerned your training has already started. You shall undergo training by my highest Court magicians and at times I shall test you and pass further skills your way.”

Kelton’s heart had been racing, but for now he felt appeased, and he longed for his lessons to begin, and for now as all he could see was the desire to seek revenge. As he was led away to start his training, Queen Shellback consulted with her advisors.

“It will be interesting to learn at just what level king Thalaba had his prized student,” she had said.

The advisor looked at what intelligence they had gathered on Thalaba and his apprentice, “Interesting there is some confusion, as intelligence shows us king Thalaba was in the Fay Court at the time the murders took place, and as for Captain Willham, there is also some confusion, as his body shows indication of repeated torture and death some hours if not a day before the crime took place. As for master Kelton, as far as we can ascertain he is skilled and a knowledgeable magician, having defended himself in live combat and taken Tabard warrior life’s.”

Queen Shellback examined the evidence and found this most disturbing, and contemplated how this could have come about, it left her angry at the thought she had possibly yet again been deceived, and that she had been played like a Marionette, in the hands of a skilful puppeteer. Orders were given to seek out all who could have any involvement in having brought this into play.

The powers Guayangarea had once had were given directly by the fallen, and now flowed through Queen Shellbacks veins, it was for this reason Belliteron had originally tried to rid himself of her, now it was too late, and his only other option had been to bring her around to his way of thinking.

However, Queen Shellback had an acute mind and had loved, and that was the one thing her mother had never done, and this mixed with Shellbacks nature brought about an entirely different disposition of mind to that of Guayangarea, yet with her powers and an essence of that from Lord Belliteron.

“Belliteron,” Queen Shellback shouted. “No! surely he could not have.” She paused in mid speech, and then remained quiet as her mind once more examined the facts as they had been presented to her. In the cold light of logic, when you have ruled out all else, then whatever is left must be considered, as improbable as it might seem.

This now not only scared Queen Shellback, it angered her, the realisation that Belliteron had yet again manipulated her and possibly tortured her friend Captain Willham, and to have intentionally brought her kingdom to war with the faction of Fay.

There was also the matter of the mass murder of her people the Crow Tribe, when her spies in the Royal Fay Courts assured her King Thalaba was attending a meeting in the Queens Royal Chambers.

The evidence pointed clearly to an outside interference and there was only one whom Queen Shellback knew who could have orchestrated such a master plan and carried it out. Immediately the Queen drew on her mother’s powers and examined her mind and seeking through thousands upon thousands of years of memories, until she found that which was sought and then she smiled.

Belliteron had overplayed his hand and released a power which those of old, his predecessors feared and had handled with caution. In his eagerness to overthrow the ruling Over-Lords simply so he could gain the much-coveted rule over the Demoni. Belliteron had forgotten those who originally created Guayangarea and of the connection Queen Shellback could now draw upon through her mother’s ancient power, and which was now residing within her, and seeking revenge for Belliteron’s part in her demise.

As Thalaba considered his loss one of the Dryads spoke. “Master my siblings hidden in the palace of Queen Shellback inform me there has been a development and a possible change of circumstance which needs your immediate attention.”

Thalaba listened, as the Dryad revealed all she had learn, and together they devised a means of using this intelligence to their advantage. Over the next five weeks Kelton was taught under the direct tutorage of two people. Queen Shellback and her Master of Magicians, Merilic, who was himself as old as the hills, ancient in wisdom and skilled beyond imagination.

Also, he had reason to hate the Demoni, and had dedicated his life to secretly gaining knowledge on the fallen and those in their control. He had also secretly loved Guayangarea, and although she held no love for him, it was he who under the old Witches orders fathered the child who now ruled as his queen.

This drove Merilic forward to use all his skills and acquired knowledge to lay a trap for Lord Belliteron and to bring his rule to an end. When his daughter and queen had ordered him to oversee any means of preventing further infiltration and deception from the Demoni, Merilic was delighted and determined to not let his daughter down.

Every opportunity in the training of Master Kelton, Merilic used it to his advantage and drummed into the student, brain washing him into hating the Demoni and their ruler Lord Belliteron. Informing him of how the Demoni Lord had tried to murder the Queen and had sent Demoni warriors to slaughter her as she recovered.

Queen Shellback also used her time to focus Kelton’s mind away from seeking immediate revenge for the death of his family and to see the larger picture in how Lord Belliteron had brought such action into play.

Every night the Dryads secretly fed master Kelton mind with visions of what truly happened, so to Kelton’s mind it was as if he was analysing the events one frame at a time and re-living them night after night.

After five weeks Kelton was no longer certain events had played out as he had originally thought, and he sought an audience with Queen Shellback, so he could deliberate with her over his concerns.