Stolen Heir

Kalin walked along the wet cobblestone, the moonlight glistening on its surface. She looked up, the white marble castle sitting on the hill, surrounded by tall brick walls, painted white. The town around her slept, while the castle was lit up with life, that life being the guards outside the gate. They were dressed in chain mail, in a white surcoat with the Lyerian crest, a golden swan. They had swords on their hips, shining under the two full moons. She approached the golden gates; the two guards reached over and opened them for her.

Lampposts lit the marble way, powered by magic crystals. It was warned with holes and dimples from years of rain and storms. Trimmed hedges with small white flowers grew alongside the trail, freshly trimmed and pruned. They led all the way up to the large white oak doors where another set of guards awaited her arrival. The pair opened the door as she stepped over the threshold, her senses hit with a soft floral smell.

She stepped onto the polished floors, with black and grey veins through the white granite. There were white oak benches ling the entry way, decorated with plants in elegant pots carved out of marble. They must be new, as the previous ones were half dead, unless a flora witch had fixed them up. She looked around the room, there were three halls, one to the left, one the right, and one straight ahead. The two towards her side led to rooms and stairs, while the one in front was where her fate awaited her.

She strode towards the hall, faces of those now long dead staring down at her from painted canvases, a few yellowed with age. It was bright in the hall, despite the lack of windows and scattered lighting. Kalin kept walking, the hall seemed to stretch on till it opened into more halls. She went to the room straight ahead.

She opened the door and was met by a short corridor lined with stained glass windows, sunlight shown through them turning the floors into hues of reds, greens, and blues. The scene depicted in the glass was The Battle of The North, a bloody battle that led to the creation of the two northern countries, Lyerian and Hectae. At the end the doors to the throne room were opaque glass and two guards were stationed by the door. They were covered head to toe in weapons. Two swords on their back, daggers on their hip and a cross bow on the other hip. Their Armour was the same, though, she could tell the Armour was stronger, thicker. They were the King’s Guard.

The guard on the left opened the door, while the one on the right stared ahead at the doors she had just walked through. Kalin stepped forward, and into the throne room. As she walked in, she lightly bowed.

As she stood, King George was there, sitting on the throne, his shoulders low as if a pair of invisible hands were pressing down on him. His hair was unkept, growing past his shoulders, when he had always kept it short. The strong, mighty, but old king was gone, only a shadow remained on the throne.

“Ambassador Kalin,” King George said in greeting, his voice hoarse.

“King George, you called for me? The message said it was urgent” Kalin replied, her voice smooth and light.

“Yes, and you came quickly, thank you for that” He said. The king let out a long breath and took off the golden crown that was painted in bright white diamonds. Each gem reflected like a rainbow after a stormy day. The invisible pair of hands were gone, “My time as king is reaching its end, and the votes came in.”

The voting. Three weeks ago the kingdom held a country wide vote, selecting a candite from the council to be heir. The council was made up of lords from the largest cities around Lyerian. Kalin had wondered when the vote would finish but word had not been sent out yet. She supposed King George was waiting for the result. He must be wanting to get rid of the crown faster than she had originally thought. Tensions had been rising with Hectae and Trozian. The latter kingdom has always caused issues, but Hectae never did until a recent attack from Trozian on a small border town. Lyerian hadn’t even sent aid to them to show support.

“Yes, and I need someone to help document the result. It was too short notice to get a clerk.” He said. A clerk was usually easy to find. There’s countless of them around the castle and any of them would drop whatever task they were currently doing to complete this job.

“of course, when is it?” Kalin asked.

“Since you are here early, we can do it in an hour” he said. An hour. Such little time? The lords must already be here.

“Which room?” Kalin asked.

“Come here in an hour and either myself or a guard will escort you” He said.

“Thank you” she said.

“I’ll see you in an hour, you are dismissed.”

Luckily, the hour flew by, even without occupying herself. There was nothing to do except go to her room, the dining hall was closed, and she would lose track of time if she had ventured out into the city.

Kalin returned to the throne room, the king was not there as she had expected, instead one of the King’s Guard. It was an older blonde woman. She took her through one of the doors in the throne room. She was met with the faces of the lords, and two empty chairs, one for her, and the king. Her heart raced, she had faced kings, queens, and tyrants alike, but to see the fate of her country felt different.

It’ll be fine, A calm, light masculine voice said in her head. Standing a little over a foot tall at the withers was Solis, a bundle of fluff of red, white, and black fur. The vulpine’s golden-brown eyes met hers, the grey of her iris.

Kalin recognized all of them, but never met them. There were nine of them total, and one of them will become heir and another city’s lord will take their place on the council unless the city had a heir of their own to take over. They sat around an oval wooden table, some had papers with them, a few nothing, and a few with a glass filled with various liquids. All Kalin had was her crystal to record the meeting on, she had awful handwriting and nowhere in the traditions and rules did it say the clerk had to write them, not record them. She will transcribe it later of course. The crystal does have a writing feature, but the hologram keyboard can be annoying to use when she must type quickly. She is also awful at typing. The number of typos in her writing would make an English teacher cry, and that number goes up the faster she tries to type.

She found a seat between one of the lords and the empty seat the king would sit at. The lord next to her was Gavin Westwood. He had dark hair and olive skin like hers, though his brown was darker, his grey eyes were focused ahead of another lord, the redhead Freyja. There was no malice in his eyes, only a subtle softness.

The same could not be said for the other lords. There were a few who were hard, focused, and others cold. The only ones who didn’t share the unsettling looks besides the redhead and Gavin was Vincent, he had black hair and bright green and brown eyes. He was the lord of a seaside town, and it was evident by his tanned skin.

The door opened and a deshelled King George stepped into the dark room. All eyes went to him, and his appearance. He was dressed in a simple white tunic, which was barley buttoned all the way. The others were dressed formally, even Kalin wore a formal Burgandy shirt and black dress pants. He didn’t even wear his crown.

“ Are you okay, King George?” Vincent asked, the lord too must noticed how pale he was.

“ yes, yes, let’s just get on with this” The king grumbled and fell into his chair with a loud thump. “Everyone here?”

“ I believe so” Kalin said.

“ Good, I’ll start. In third place, was Vincent Ward” He started. It was no surprise; Vincent had the largest town here and it was well known as a tourist spot. He also was a kind-hearted lord, which attracted a lot of attention.

“ In second was Freyja” there was some mumbling in response. Freyja while she was not a rough lord to live under, was fiery and stubborn. She also wasn’t human. There has never been a witch, vampire, or werewolf king or queen in the history of Lyerian. The country was the stable ‘human’ region on the continent.

“ and finally, in first, is Gavin Westwood.”