IrateRapScallion
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Chapter 58
🕑 Added 2019-01-16 04:16:19 +0000 UTC“Oh, hello Marcus! Are you here for your treat?” Mrs. Araun asked as Arlette walked into the baker’s tiny store. Every year, the old woman would celebrate the Festival of the Seven Saviors by making honey buds, a special sweet roll shaped like a flower bud just starting to bloom and covered in honey, and giving one each for free to every child in the village.
“Yes please!” Arlette said, her voice coming out sounding like that of a young boy instead of a young girl. She did her best to tamp down her giddiness, her mouth watering at the thought of two honey buds in a single day. She wanted to cackle at her own brilliance.
Honey buds were without a doubt the most delicious food the children ever got to eat, and every child in Nordhom wished that they weren’t limited to only one. Well now Arlette had a way to get more. She’d already picked up her own honey bud a little while ago and scarfed it down. Now, under the guise of “Marcus”, she was about to get her second.
Marcus was a boy who, like her, was five years of age. He lived in a small house near the center of the village, as opposed to her family’s cottage on the outskirts, and had a similar size as she did. That meant that he was the perfect person to be the subject of her new technique, the illusion disguise! Mwahaha! Her disguise was perfect! The honey bud would be hers!
Even though she’d been able to make illusions for almost a year now, it had taken her this long to realize that she could be inside the illusions she created. That meant that she could cloak herself in an illusion to hide or pretend to be somebody else! Hiding inside a fake rock or something was easy because it never moved. A disguise, however, was a different story. It wasn’t as simple as just realizing she could do it; actually creating the disguise, making it look and sound real, and keeping it in sync with her real body turned out to be incredibly difficult. Even after days of practicing with Peko out in the woods, she had to maintain her focus on it at all times while avoiding any overly-complex movements and she could only keep it up for a little while before exhausting herself. Just long enough to, say, pretend to be another kid and get another of these wondrous treats.
“Here you go, dearie,” the elderly woman said, handing her the precious dessert. “Be careful, it’s hot.”
Arlette eager grasped the honey bud, wincing slightly at its heat and redoubling her focus so as not to drop the disguise from the slight pain coming from her fingertips. A little pain was worth it for a second honey bud. “Thank you very m-”
“Missus Araun, could I have a honey... huh?” a familiar voice said behind her. Arlette turned around and froze in fear. Standing behind her was the real Marcus, looking very confused to find that he was already here. The two stood stiff and stared at each other for a moment as Arlette desperately tried to think of a way out of this predicament.
“Arlette Faredin, is that you?” Mrs. Araun asked accusingly.
“Eep!” Arlette jumped at the sound of scorn and displeasure in the old woman’s voice. Time to get out of there! Quickly Arlette sprinted past the still-confused Marcus and out the door, her disguise falling away as she ran.
“Arlette, get back here right now, you little scoundrel!” the old woman hollered from the bakery doorway.
Arlette ignored her and kept running. She ducked into a nearby alley where her friend was hiding.
“You got a honey bud, so it looks like your plan worked,” Peko observed as he quickly caught up with her fleeing form. “So why is she yelling at you?”
“Because Marcus is a dumb idiot!” Arlette replied between huffs.
Together, the pair ran into the woods outside the town until the small clump of buildings vanished behind the tree line and Arlette felt safe enough to stop. Quickly she began stuffing pieces of the treat into her mouth like a rodent, warily glancing back towards the village in search of pursuers.
“Relax,” Peko said as he leaned against a tree, calm as could be. His dark brown hair blended in with the tree bark. “She’s not going to chase after you. She’s way too old for that.”
“Really?” Arlette brightened up considerably at the news.
“After all, it would be much easier for her to just go tell your mother.”
Arlette nearly choked on her prize. “Y-you really think she’d do that?” she asked once her windpipe was clear of chewed honey bud.
“Probably. She didn’t sound happy at all.”
This was getting worse and worse. Arlette had no problem running away from somebody like Mrs. Araun, but her mother was a Feeler and a very fast one at that. Arlette could never outrun her, no matter how hard she tried, and she'd tried plenty.
“Do you want any?” she asked the boy beside her, holding up the half-eaten treat.
“Come on, Arlette, you know I’m not real. How would I even eat it?” To demonstrate, he waved his hand through the dessert. It passed through both Arlette’s hand and the honey bud, completely immaterial. The boy rolled his eyes. “You just want me to be guilty too because your mom goes easier on you if she thinks it’s my fault.”
Arlette flinched. “How’d you know?!”
“I’m part of you! How wouldn’t I know?!” her imaginary friend replied with an annoyed huff.
“You’re just jealous you can’t eat a honey bud,” Arlette replied.
“Is it so good that it’s worth getting in trouble for?”
Arlette thought about it for a moment, before taking another bite. The sweet glaze mixed in her mouth with the crispy crust and the delectably soft center to create a pure sugary joy that danced across her tongue. “Uh huh!” she replied.
* * *
Arlette crept towards the cottage with her heart pounding in her chest, her eyes darting back and forth in search of angry adults. Strangely, none could be found. As she closed in on the cabin, she picked up the sound of somebody inside humming a jaunty tune. She recognized the voice as that of her mother and her spirits brightened. Her mother couldn’t be too mad if she was singing like that.
“Oh, hello you two,” her mother said with a smile as Arlette and Peko entered the small house. “Sit down, it’s time for dinner.”
Arlette and Peko exchanged curious glances before sitting down around the small table. Arlette’s mother had been very off-put by Peko’s presence back when he’d first started to appear, but more recently she’d started to simply treat him as a member of the family. As such, he had to sit with the others at the table even though he couldn’t eat and didn’t need to.
Something was strange about this. Try as she might, Arlette couldn’t smell anything coming from the kitchen, nor could she hear the sizzling of meat or the banging of pots. Instead, her mother simply came out of the kitchen carrying two large baskets full of something wrapped in cloth, set them on the table, and unwrapped one.
Arlette gasped. Honey buds! More than a dozen of them! They were having these for dinner? It was a dream come true!
“I thought it would be nice to eat something special for once. I know I’m not the best cook,” her mother said, sitting down across the table and taking one from the basket. She bit down and Arlette could hear the crunch as she bit through the hard, crispy exterior. “Mmmmm! So good! Go on, dig in!”
“Is this really what you're having for dinner?” Peko asked, his voice filled with doubt.
“Peko you stay out of this. These are for Arlette,” her mom replied.
Well, even if Peko was jealous, there was no way she was going to turn down more honey buds! Taking one from the basket, she tucked in, enjoying her fortuitous third piece of nirvana in a single year.
Ten honey buds later, Arlette was stuffed. She’d never had such a delicious meal before and hadn’t been able to stop stuffing the desserts down her throat. She leaned back with a groan and a smile of contentment on her face.
“Did you like them?” her mother asked. Arlette nodded vigorously. Her mother smiled and unwrapped the second basket, revealing another basket of honey buds. “Well, good, because we have so many more to finish.”
Arlette stared at the mound of large pastries, each one bigger than an adult’s fist, and frowned as she felt her stomach bloating. “I’m full.”
“What have I told you about wasting food?” Arlette’s mother replied. “Eat it.”
“But I can’t eat anymore!” Arlette whined.
“But I thought these were your favorite food?” her mother asked. “They must be if you’re willing to steal them.”
“Urk!” It had all been a trap! Arlette had never known adults could be so tricky! She turned to Peko for assistance, but he'd vanished. Traitor!
“Keep. Eating.” Her mother’s tone held no room for compromise. Arlette grumbled as she picked up one of the many remaining honey buds and slowly bit into it. The sweetness didn’t hold quite the same appeal as it had just a few rolls ago...
Half an hour later, Arlette was vomiting profusely outside the cottage’s front door, tears falling from her face. This was the worst. She never wanted to see another honey bud again!
“Only six more to go,” her mother stated from behind her. Still her voice held no sympathy for Arlette and her poor stomach.
“I can’t!” Arlette cried out. She couldn’t take this anymore. “Please, I’m sorry! I won’t do it again, I promise!”
“You promise? Like how you promised your father that you would be a good girl? Like how you promised him that you’d care for the people of this village and treat them well? Why should your promises mean anything to me, when you’re willing to break your word and spit on your own father’s spirit just for a measly little treat? He sacrificed everything for you and this is how you remember him?!”
“WAAAAHHHHHHH!” The floodgates opened and Arlette began to bawl. Her mother was right, she’d broken her final promise to her father. She’d been so stupid! “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! I’m sorry!” she wailed.
To Arlette’s surprise, her mother bent down and hugged Arlette tight. They were both crying now. Arlette buried her face into her mother’s embrace, covering the woman’s chest with mucus and tears.
Eventually the crying settled down into intermittent sobs and sniffles as the mother and daughter continued holding each other. Even a year later, the pain still ripped at them both.
“I miss Daddy,” Arlette choked out.
“Me too, dear, me too,” her mother replied. “But don’t worry, he will always be here in spirit, protecting us from evil. He’s never truly gone.”
“But he’s not going to love me now, because I broke my promise!” Arlette sobbed.
“Oh, baby, he will always love you,” came the reply.
“Really? He’s not angry at me?”
“He’s not angry, he’s just very disappointed in you. So am I. You made us both very sad and disappointed today.”
Arlette had been afraid that her mother would be angry and yell at her for her trick. For some reason, this felt much worse. “I’m sorry,” she said for the twentieth time. This time, however, she truly meant it in every way. “I’ll be a good girl. I promise.”
* * *
“Hey, Arlette!” Arlette looked up from the lizards she was poking with a stick to see one of the village kids running toward her. The kid pulled up wheezing and glanced at Peko for a moment before gasping out, “Your mom said to come get you right away. She said it’s very important.”
Arlette ran back towards her house, dodging roots and branches as she went. As she exited the tree line, she swerved right to avoid running into the fence that was built around the blighted land. Nothing grew in that area even now. She’d heard a grown-up say that it might be another three or four years before that place had recovered and they’d be able to rebuild the part of the village that had vanished that day.
Continuing on through the rest of Nordhom, Peko right behind her, she ran all the way to her home without stopping. Arlette almost couldn’t contain her excitement. Her mother didn’t use words like “important” often, so this had to be something special.
Instead, she found her mother speaking with a man who looked to be about twenty years old. With a chiseled face, blond hair, blue eyes, and a fancy regal uniform, Arlette knew as soon as she saw him what he was: a knight. The Royal Order of Knights were Ofrax’s greatest heroes, valiant warriors and great people all. Arlette’s eyes lit up at the sight. She’d never seen a knight in the flesh before, only on a Many’s broadcast.
Arlette’s mother turned to her with a strangely sad smile on her face. “Arlette, this is Knight Maniston,” she said.
“Hello, Arlette,” Knight Maniston said. He turned to Peko. “And you must be...”
Without warning, the man put his hand atop Peko's head. It entered into the false boy's skull without resistance. Peko hopped back with a “Hey!”, a scowl on his face. He didn’t like it when people tried to touch him.
“Wonderful,” the knight exclaimed. “How old are you, Arlette?”
“I’m six!” Arlette proudly proclaimed, puffing out her chest.
“Tell me, is it true that you can disguise yourself as somebody else?”
Arlette glanced at her mom and drooped her head. She could still remember the horrors of that day a bit more than three seasons ago, when her mother had ruined her favorite treat for her forever. “...I’m not supposed to do that anymore.”
“It’s okay, show him,” her mother urged. Well, if her mother said it was okay this time...
Arlette concentrated and suddenly her appearance changed to that of Marcus again. It was her best disguise, after all. Nothing changed from her perspective—when inside her own illusions, they were invisible—but the smile on the man’s face instantly widened.
“Marvelous!” he exclaimed. “Can you move about? What about your voice?”
“Yeah,” Arlette replied in Marcus’s voice while walking and moving about. She found it easier to hold the illusion these days even when moving about and doing other things, though it still was rather tough.
“Coming here was worthwhile after all,” he said. “Very well... Arlette, how would you like to go to the capital?”
“Whaaa~! C-could I really?”
“Of course!”
“Knight Maniston is here to take you to the capital to go to school to be a knight,” her mother chimed in.
Arlette couldn’t believe her ears. Her? A knight? It was every child’s dream to be a knight!
“It’s getting late, so I will return tomorrow morning,” Knight Maniston said. “We leave at first light.”
“Of course, sir,” her mother replied. “Thank you, again.”
“I do what I do in service to the crown, think nothing of it. Goodbye for now.”
Arlette’s mother handed her a small canvas bag once the knight was out the door. “Here, go pack your things while I finish our meal.”
“Okay!” Arlette sprinted into the bedroom she shared with her mother and hurriedly gathered what she could and placed everything she could fit into the small sack. Her three best outfits, the doll her mother had made her several years ago, and a few other miscellaneous items. There wasn’t much to choose from; while it would be a lie to say that they’d lived a life of destitution since her father’s death, she and her mother lived in a tiny cabin near the outside of the village for a reason.
Soon dinner was ready, and the two of them sat down to eat. Peko had disappeared around when the knight had left and hadn’t reappeared yet. He did that sometimes, and Arlette didn’t question it.
The meal was fancier than normal, surely in celebration of the big news. Yet for some reason, her mother didn’t seem very happy. Maybe she wasn’t looking forward to packing up all her stuff before the morning?
“Mommy, it’s okay, I’ll help you pack for the trip,” Arlette said reassuringly.
“What? Oh...” Her mother sniffed and wiped something from her eye. “Mommy’s not going to be coming with you, sweetie. The school is only for children.”
What?!
“B-b-but I don’t want to go without you!” Arlette protested, the thought of losing her only remaining parent bringing tears to her eyes. “Can’t I just stay here then?”
Arlette’s mother got up and walked around the table to wrap her daughter in a tight embrace. Arlette could feel her mother trembling as she held her in her arms while Arlette began to sniffle.
“Arlette, there’s nothing I want more than to be with you forever, but I’m just a poor widow in a small village. I can’t give you the life that I wish I could. That’s why you need to go to the capital even though I want you to stay here with me forever. If you stay here, you’ll grow up here, marry here, and die here, just like my grandmother, and my mother, and likely me. But if you go, you could be a real knight when you grow up! You could be somebody special! You’re going to get learn so many things and eat the best foods and make so many friends that you would never get meet if you stayed here your whole life. And don’t worry, I’ll still be here for when you come back, and you can tell me all the amazing things you saw and all the incredible food you ate that made honey buds taste like dirt.”
“I h-hate honey b-buds,” Arlette grumbled. She sniffed loudly while rubbing her nose on her sleeve. Snot was starting to drip liberally from her nose.
“I know you do,” her mother chuckled. “No more crying, now. Big girls don’t cry, especially big girls who are going to be knights when they grow up.”
“I’m n-not a big g-girl,” Arlette stammered.
“Yes you are. Keep eating your dinner, I have to go find something for you.”
As her mother walked out of the room, Arlette tried to eat some more of her meal, but the food didn’t taste good anymore. She was going to be alone again. The feeling twisted her insides into knots.
“Here we are,” her mother said after a while. She entered the room holding a small box that Arlette had never seen before. She opened the box and pulled out a necklace and held it up for Arlette to see. Hanging from the necklace was a small stone carving of a leaf. “Your father made this for you, as a present for when you became a big girl, okay?”
“Really?”
“That’s right. I want you to take this with you, and if you’re ever feeling down, look at this and remember that he loves you and I love you and we always will love you. As long as you remember that, sweetheart, you will never be truly alone.” She wrapped Arlette in another smothering embrace and held her for a long moment before releasing her. “Make me proud, my child.”
“Okay mommy,” Arlette replied. “I will.”
* * *
“Have you ever ridden a vekkel before?” Knight Maniston asked after a few hours of riding.
“No,” Arlette replied. “Daddy showed me how to ride a garoph once...”
“Well, you’re doing a very good job of it for your first time,” the man replied. “Remember to keep yourself balanced, and don’t lean forward too much or you will tire out quickly. It will be several days of hard riding before we get to Brenridge, so you need to save your strength as much as you can. Feel free to lean back on me if you’re tired. I’m strong enough for us both, I should think.”
“Okay...”
They rode together on the same beast with Arlette sitting in front of the large man. She hadn’t said much since leaving Nordhom. Now that the rush of emotions was over and everything had quieted down, she couldn’t help but feel rather subdued. Anxiety and homesickness were already starting to creep in. Everything felt so surreal. Just the day before, she’d spent an hour having a mud fight with other kids in the village and then run home with a smile on her face, covered in grime and dirt. Now she was on her way to the capital, a mythical place where dreams came true, to become something she’d never thought she could actually be. It was too much to handle sometimes.
At least Knight Maniston seemed nice and reliable. He held the reins to the large lizard mount on which they rode with a practiced hand, his bearing confident. He really was the perfect image of a knight—handsome, strong, and steady in a way that his mere presence brought a feeling of calm and safety to those around him.
They rode much of the first day in silence, the vekkel’s long powerful strides propelling them across the Kingdom of Ofrax far faster than Arlette had ever moved in her life. Forests and fields seemed to flash by faster than she could process. Only when they stopped to let the beast rest or to eat or relieve themselves, did she get to truly take in the flower-filled fields, the dense forests, and the freshly-worked farmlands of her country.
“How long do we have to go?” Arlette asked a bit after midday. “Is Ofrax really big?”
“That depends on how you look at it,” the knight answered. “What do you know about the kingdom? Did you learn anything in school?”
“We don’t have much school in Nordhom,” Arlette replied. “Elder Codswell taught us to read and write but that was about it.”
“Oh, well that’s a good start at least. Should make things easier down the road. Alright, let me tell you about Ofrax...”
And so for the next hour the man talked to her about Ofrax and the many things there were to know about it, until she never wanted to hear about it ever again. The Kingdom of Ofrax stood sandwiched between the Ubran Empire to the west and the Divide to the east, with the Droajan Confederation of States to their south and the sea to the north. While technically the smallest country in the world, it wasn’t much smaller than the Federation of Gustil, and it more than made up for its size through a robust economy. The lands of Ofrax were rich and produced wonderful crops, while their blacksmiths created the greatest tools and weapons using metal mined from the Divide itself. Even more, Ofrax was the only country in Obura with access to Nocend, through the pass to Redwater Castle. That meant that they controlled the entire flow of goods from Obura to Nocend. Or so the knight said; all she got out of his explanation was that Ofrax was small but not poor and that it was a good thing.
That night they stopped to rest at a small inn in a town called Quickrun. Arlette sat across from Knight Maniston as she scarfed down a meal of ground meat and roasted vegetables. Normally she didn’t like roasted vegetables, but she’d gotten very hungry during the journey and it made everything taste better. The knight kept some cured meat for eating but he hadn’t let her have any while they rode, saying she could bite her tongue off.
“What’s it like being a knight?” she asked eventually.
The man shrugged. “Same as any other job, I guess. We train, we patrol, we protect. Most of us spend a lot of our time guarding the border between us and Ubrus. The Ubrans have been eying us for years now. We must always be vigilant.”
“Oh! Is it true that the Ubrans were going to invade last year but Princess Rosalyn scared them into changing their minds?” Arlette asked, nearly jumping out of her seat when the opportunity arose to talk about one of her favorite subjects. “I heard that the princess is so strong that she could take out a thousand Ubrans without even trying!”
The knight chuckled. “There are some who believe that, yes. It sounds like you like the Princess a whole lot.”
“Are you serious?” Arlette scoffed. “Everybody loves the Princess, even Granny Everston! Princess Rosalyn is the greatest! She’s strong and pretty and she has the best smile! One day I want to meet her. We could even be friends, because my mommy says that the Princess is only five days older than me!”
“Yes, that’s quite interesting,” Knight Maniston said, trying to head off the sudden rambling of an overenthusiastic child. “I’m su-”
“Did you ever get to meet the princess? What about the king and queen?” she interrupted.
The knight coughed. “I have met them, yes. You have to be knighted to be a knight, after all.”
“I’m gonna be a knight too so I can meet Princess Rosalyn one day!” Arlette proclaimed. “I’ll protect her from everybody who wants to hurt her!”
The man simply smiled a small, soft smile. “I’m sure you will,” he said.
* * *
“Woaaahhh! Is that Brenridge over there?” Arlette exclaimed as she spied a massive town off in the distance. Having never been to a city before, she had never imagined that they would be so big!
“Welcome to the capital,” Knight Maniston replied, “the most wonderful city in all of Ofrax.”
“There’s so many people!" Arlette exclaimed, looked about as cart after cart trundled towards the city. "I’ve never seen so many people together before.”
The knight laughed. “Wait until you get inside. Over two and a half million people live in Brenridge.”
Arlette’s head swam, as she was literally unable to conceive of a number that high. How many Nordhoms was that? It had to be more than a hundred!
Given his lofty status, Knight Maniston was able to bypass the long lines to get into the city proper. Once they were inside, Arlette was simultaneously assaulted across three of her five senses. A kaleidoscope of shifting colors popped out at her no matter where she looked, blindingly bright yellows and whites contrasting with deep, dark greens, blues, and blacks. The cacophony of thousands of people doing thousands of things all around her made her countryside ears hurt. The less said about the smells the better. A bouquet of aromas found her nostrils, and the great majority of them landed on the unsavory side of the spectrum.
Knight Maniston rode forward as if nothing was wrong and this was completely normal. The people all around them parted as he urged their vekkel forward. Perhaps to take her mind off of her sensory overload, he began to point out various landmarks as they went.
“...and then when Lord Eon slew the evil King Daaved, he freed the land from tyranny and became the first true King of Ofrax,” he continued, pointing at a stone statue of an armored man impaling another on a massive spear. They were much deeper in the city now. His pointing moved to a new target, a large series of buildings that towered over the smaller nearby homes and stores. “And that is where the best, most talented children in Ofrax learn to be knights.”
“Ohhhh!” Arlette was excited as she studied the buildings. More statues of brave soldiers decorated the school’s exterior, along with banners hanging from nearly every wall. She could see other children, just a few years older than her, training outside with swords, spears, and other weapons. There was just one problem. “Why did we go right past the school?”
“I’m not taking you to the school,” the knight replied.
“But you said that I was going to school!” Arlette began to fret. Had a knight lied? They weren’t supposed to do that!
“I never said that, your mother did,” Knight Maniston replied, placing a strong hand on her shoulder, perhaps to calm her down, but more likely to keep her from doing something like running away. “Don’t worry, we’re going someplace even better.”
* * *
“Greetings, child,” a man said as he entered the lavishly appointed room where Arlette and Knight Maniston had waited. “I hope your journey here was not too unpleasant.”
Most six-year-olds were far too young and carefree to have a panic attack, but Arlette was an unfortunate exception. King Ramad Kallenvale, wearing the same purple outfit and golden crown that she only saw in the broadcasts, was talking to her.
The King, the most powerful man in the nation, was talking.
To her.
Arlette felt like she was going to throw up. What was she supposed to do? Curtsy? Salute? Bow? She didn’t know what you were supposed to do when the King appears and talks to you. But there he was, just paces away, talking. To her!
Quickly she glanced over toward Knight Maniston and found him bowing from his waist up towards his king. Quickly she copied him. King Ramad chuckled at the sight.
“Calm yourself, child. You are welcome here. Sit down.” He indicated one of three large chairs.
Arlette willed herself to walk to the nearest chair and climbed up onto it. Built for an adult, it was far too large for a child of her age and size. The pressure of her situation led her to shrink back all the way to the chair’s backrest so that her legs barely reached the front of the seat. At least the high sides of the chair and the curvature of the back helped her feel more enclosed and lessened the pressure bearing down on her reeling mind. Still, she couldn’t stop fidgeting nervously.
“The rumors must have been true, if you brought her back,” the King said to Knight Maniston.
“Indeed, they were quite accurate. We were lucky to find somebody so perfect for the task. Give me two seasons to prepare her and the plan will work.”
“We do not have two seasons. We can only keep the rumors from spreading for a bit more than another season at most. Do you believe her to be trustworthy?”
“I do.”
“Good.”
As the two talked, the door opened again and a woman entered, causing Arlette to nearly have a heart attack. Queen Terassi Kallenvale, the most beautiful and elegant woman in the land was now standing next to her husband. Even though she’d only seen the woman in the holiday ceremonies that were broadcast across the country each year, Arlette would have recognized her anywhere. The two most important people Arlette could ever imagine each took a seat across from her, holding each other’s hand.
The king turned to Arlette, his face suddenly serious. “Arlette Faredin, thank you for coming. We brought you here because we need your help.”
They needed her help? What would they need a six-year-old’s help for? Unless... An idea spawned inside her mind and she perked up. “Do you need me to be Princess Rosalyn’s friend?” she asked excitedly.
The King and Queen reacted to her question as if struck. Queen Terassi let out a sob and began to weep into her husband’s shoulder, while the King squeezed her hand far tighter than before. Their reaction confused Arlette greatly. She knew she’d done something wrong, but what?
“Child, what I am about to tell you must not leave this room,” the King said just before she could open her mouth again to apologize. “Only a few people know this secret, and if it were to spread it would spell disaster for the entire country. Do you swear upon your honor, your family, and your very spirit that you will tell nobody of this until your dying day?”
Arlette was even more confused, but if the King wanted her to swear to keep his secret, she didn’t have to think hard about it. “Okay, I swear,” she replied.
“Our beloved daughter Rosalyn died twenty-six days ago. She is no more.” Tears began to roll down King Ramad’s face as he spoke and as soon as he finished he turned and embraced his wife, who was sobbing even harder now.
Arlette was stunned. “Y-you’re lying,” she stammered. “Princess R-Rosalyn can’t die! That c-can’t be t-true! T-there’s no way! We were going t-to be f-f-friends!”
A flood of grief welled up inside her and exploded outward in a fountain of sorrow and tears as she curled up into a ball and began to wail. She didn’t want it to be true. The very thought that her idol, the girl beloved by all, was gone was too much for her to handle and she wanted desperately for it to be a lie. But no matter how much she didn’t want to believe it, Arlette couldn’t deny the pain on the King and Queen’s faces. They were telling the truth. The horrible, terrible, soul-crushing truth.
It took a good while for the three grieving people to calm down again, but finally their tears ran dry and the King resumed the conversation.
“You may have heard stories that the princess was the reason that the Ubrans decided not to invade last year,” he said, his voice still somewhat unsteady but growing firmer as he went on. “Those stories are true. She was unique and frighteningly powerful—powerful enough to dissuade the Ubrans from the latest plans. The truth of the matter is, if the Ubran Empire wants to invade and conquer Ofrax, Ofrax will lose.”
“What?! But won’t the knights and the army stop them?” a shocked Arlette interrupted.
“Even if our soldiers are better than theirs, they are just too many. As long as they are willing to take the pain, the Ubrans will win through sheer numbers alone.”
“But why did they stop then?”
“Because we have simply shown them that the pain of attacking us would be too much for what they would get in return, much like how some lizards use bright colors to warn predators that they are poisonous and would make the predator sick if eaten. As long as the cost of conquering Ofrax is higher than the benefit of ruling Ofrax, then our nation is safe. This strategy has worked for nearly a hundred years now.
“There are many ways for us to show strength, but Rosalyn was the greatest reason that the Ubrans decided not to invade. Without her, Ofrax will look too weak. That is why we need you. The Princess’s death is a secret known to only a tiny handful of people. As long as the Ubrans believe that she is still alive, they will continue to stay their hand. That is why we need you, Arlette Faredin. We need you to impersonate Rosalyn. We need you to be our Princess.”
Queen Terassi let out another sob and wiped her tear-streaked face.
“You want me to pretend to be Princess Rosalyn?” Arlette repeated, aghast. “I-I can’t do that! It’s...” She trailed off as the magnitude of the King’s request continued to sink into her mind.
“You can,” King Ramad assured her. “If the rumors I heard are to be believed, what you can do is amazing, not just for somebody you age, but for any illusionist, and you have never even been taught how to use your powers, correct? With the proper training and tutoring, we believe that you can do more. Much, much more.”
He leaned forward.
“I’m told that your dream is to be a knight and protect people, yes? By doing this, you would become far more important than just any knight. You would be protecting the entire kingdom. You would be protecting your family, your friends, everybody important to you. This is something that only you can do. The Princess cannot be simply an illusion made by somebody else. She must be able to touch and be touched. She has to interact with others so that there can be no doubt that she still lives on. Anybody else would be unable to do this, but you can. You’re the same age, the same size, the same gender, and you have the power. Only you can do what needs to be done to save us all.”
“Would it be for a long time?”
“I will not lie to you, Arlette. It could take a very long time. Perhaps seasons, perhaps years. However long it takes before we can find another solution to hold off the Ubran legions. But we must have your help. The fate of the entire kingdom depends on you.”
Arlette didn’t respond for a good while. Her head was still spinning. This was all too much for her. But... she’d promised to make her mother proud. How could she keep that promise if she ran away when her entire country needed her? “I... I can try,” she finally said.
“We thank you from the bottom of our hearts,” the King replied solemnly. He pointed to Knight Maniston. “Head Knight Cunningham here will be your bodyguard, as he was for the original Rosalyn. He will help you adjust to your new role and train you in much of what you will need to know.”
Arlette looked at the knight with a puzzled expression. “But you said your name was-”
“Ah, yes,” the King interrupted. “My apologies. I instructed Head Knight Cunningham to use a false name to better hide what we are doing. It is the same reason why he was instructed to lie to your mother. Unfortunately, your mother cannot know of this secret.”
“I’ll take great care of you, don’t you worry,” the knight said.
“Thank you, H-Head Knight...”
“Oh, please, don’t bother saying such a long title as that all the time. It’s far too cumbersome. Here’s your first lesson: refer to me like Princess Rosalyn always did.”
He smiled a warm smile that lit up his handsome, flawless face.
“Just call me Sebastian.”
Comments
IrateRapScallion
So I made a small but potentially very clarifying sentence to the last chapter, since it seems that my editor was very confused about when things happened in that chapter and the length of the timeskip. Basically, at chapter start, she is a late five-year-old. Then, after the scene where her mom punishes her, there is a timeskip and she is now a late six-year-old, about 6 3/4. Apparently that was not clear to him. Now hopefully it is. The new paragraph is: "Arlette glanced at her mom and drooped her head. She could still remember the horrors of that day a bit more than three seasons ago, when her mother had ruined her favorite treat for her forever. “...I’m not supposed to do that anymore.”
