Young Writers Society

Chapter 2

The market district of the royal capital of Londarium was filled with many different types of shops. From shops selling exotic fruits from far away lands, to shops selling beautiful and colourful fabrics, to shops selling armour and weapons. The market district was perhaps one of the busiest parts of the royal capital during the day. Zander loved to visit the market district to see the various different shops a found in it as well the people who went about their daily business in the district. One shop he liked to visit in particular was a small and quaint little bakery off the main street of the market district. The family that owns the bakery, which Zander had come to know personally, made some of the finest and most delicious pastries that Zander had ever tasted, particularly the croissants. It was so good, that he always made it a point to visit the bakery once a day for them.

Zander walked down one of the more empty streets of the market district with a bag of croissants in his hand. Following him was a female member of the Royal Guard who had been assigned to guard him whenever he left the grounds of the Royal Palace. Her skin was fair and unblemished, and she had long dark brown hair that was tied into a braided ponytail. She, like the other members of the Royal Guard, wore a gold and silver coloured enamelled armour with a gold cloak. The armour she wore fit her athletic physique perfectly. Zander took a big whiff out of the bag’s content. The smell was truly wondrous. His nose was in heaven. Zander let out a sigh of contentment.

“You know you’re addicted to those, right?”

“I’m not addicted to it,” began Zander, looking at the Royal Guard assigned to guard him. “I just like it very much.”

“You get those croissants almost every single day,” pointed out the Royal Guard to the Crown Prince. “I’ve yet to see you go a single week without getting one.”

“Because it’s just too good,” replied Zander.

“That’s addiction, right there.”

Zander let out a laugh that filled the streets. As it was late in the evening, the streets of the market district were no longer filled with people, as many shops had already closed or were closing for the day. They were now empty and quiet. As the two neared the exit of the market district, four figures surrounded appeared out of thin air in a cloud of black smoke and surrounded the two. They were wearing black cloaks as well as a mask which had a long bird’s beak which obscured their identities. Sensing something sinister and amiss, Zander’s Royal Guard unsheathed her rapier.

“Who are you? What do you want?” inquired Zander’s guard, raising her guard.

None of the four mysterious figures replied her. She asked the same questions she asked earlier on, this time, more forceful. None of the four mysterious figures replied her. Instead, they drew their weapons-needle swords, the weapon of choice for an assassin.

“I’ll hold them off,” began Zander’s Royal Guard. “When you see and opening run straight back to the Palace.”

Zander shook his head. “I’m not going to leave you to fight them alone, Emma,” stated Zander, drawing his short sword and placing his bag of croissants on the ground. “I may be Crown Prince, but that does not mean I don’t know how to fight.”

“Prince Zander, please-”

Emma was interrupted, however, when two of the hooded figure charged towards her and Zander. Emma parried the attacks by the two figures with much ease and grace. Neither of them could land a single hit on her. Seeing Emma being preoccupied, the two other figures made their move for the prince. However, they had underestimated Zander’s ability to fight and he had managed to dispatch one of his assailants, which disappeared in a puff of black smoke upon being defeated. Emma had also managed to dispatch one of the mysterious figures who like his compatriot, disappeared in a cloud of black smoke.

Seeing that two of their fellow compatriots had been dispatched by Zander and Emma rather easily, the remaining two decided to retreat, disappearing in a cloud of black smoke.

“Who were they?” asked Zander, looking at the spot where the two mysterious figures had disappeared.

“I don’t know,” replied Emma, shaking her head. “But we have to get you back to the Palace and inform your father about this.”

“Agreed,” Zander said, nodding his head. He then turned to the spot where he had put down his bag of croissant, only to see it had been trampled upon during the battle. He let out a huge sigh of disappointment before walking off with Emma back to the Palace.

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Chapter 3

Upon returning to the Royal Palace, Zander and Emma immediately made their way to the throne room to have an audience with King Edmund. The throne room was made out of beautiful and unblemished white-coloured marble. Its walls were lined with tall windows that allowed light to enter the room. Compared to other throne rooms in the world of Aldrizhon, the throne of the Kingdom of Britarion was simple and did not contain any unnecessary decorations. The only decoration the throne room had were banners of the royal house with its lion, unicorn and dragon sigil on it which hung on the walls adjacent to the throne.

“So you don’t know who were responsible for the attack?” asked King Edmund who was sitting on his throne. Flanking him were two male members of the Royal Guard. One was perhaps in his early thirties, where else the other one was perhaps in his early sixties. Felix was also present.

“No, Your Highness,” replied Emma, shaking her head. Zander stood next to Emma as his father questioned her on the events that had just transpired not too long ago. “They all vanished in a cloud of black smoke before I could question them. Even the ones Zander and I had defeated.”

Edmund let out an audible sigh before getting up from his throne and began pacing around it. Zander knew from his father’s action that he was in deep thought and that something troubled him. Edmund finally stopped and turned to look at Emma who stood at the base of the throne area.

“Thank you for protecting Zander and for the information you have provided” began Edmund. “Now if you all don’t mind, I would like to speak to my son in private. Felix, you stay.”

Emma bowed her head in respect to her liege and offered Zander a smile before making her way out of the throne room through its large oak doors. The two Royal Guards who flanked King Edmund also bowed to their liege before making their way to the exit. Now only Edmund, Zander and Felix remained in the throne room.

“What is it you want to talk to me about, father?” queried Zander, watching his father descent from the throne area to where he stood.

“It is about you,” replied King Edmund.

“About me?” queried Zander, arching his brow.

“I’m sending you to the Lake District to live with your older sister, Zahra for awhile.”

“Why?” questioned Zander, confused.

“Because it is no longer safe for you to remain in the capital,” answered Edmund to his oldest. “I can sense something dreadful is about to befall the capital and our family. The fact that you just got attacked is proof enough for me that you are no longer safe here. So I’m sending you down to the Lake District until I can find out who tried to kill you.”

Zander could see it in his father’s eyes that he was adamant in him going down to the Lake District. He knew that no amount of reasoning was going to get his father to change his mind when he has already made it up. As much as he wanted to protest, he knew that it would be a waste of his breath.

“When do I leave?” Zander asked.

“Tomorrow at first light,” began Edmund. “Felix and Lady Emma will accompany you.”

Zander nodded his head in understanding. Well, at least Emma will be coming, thought Zander to himself. It won’t be too bad then.

Xenos limped quickly through a wide and empty hallway before reaching his intended destination, the office of his master, Lord Malverys. The entrance to the office was guarded by two well-built men. Both men wore armour that was coloured maroon and gold. Upon seeing Xenos, they opened the door to the office, allowing him entry into it.

Xenos saw that his master was not alone in his office. He was with another gentleman, a gentleman that Xenos did not recognise. The stranger in the room with his master had short platinum blonde hair and was impeccably dressed in black. He also had purple coloured eyes which were devoid of emotion.

“Why are you here, Xenos?” questioned Lord Malverys, furrowing his brow.

“I have important news from the Palace, My Lord,” informed Xenos, bowing his head and trying to avoid eye contact with his master.

“What sort of news?” inquired Lord Malverys.

“King Edmund plans to move Crown Prince Zander away from Londarium and to the Lake District.”

“When does he plan to move him?” asked Lord Malverys.

“Tomorrow at first light,” answered Xenos.

“This is all your fault!” hissed Lord Malverys, turning to look at the stranger in the room. “If you had not sent your assassins after the prince, none of this would be happening. Now we have to strike before the prince gets out of our reach. By tonight!”

“Which will not be a problem,” stated the stranger, calmly. “Now that I know what my assassins are up against, I can better plan for our assault on the Palace. The palace will fall to you and your forces.”

“You better be right, Covic,” hissed Lord Malverys. “You better be.”

“I am,” replied Covic, calmly and without emotion. “Now if you’ll excuse me, I have an assault to plan.”

Instead of using the door to leave, the man named Covic left Lord Malverys’ office in a cloud of black smoke.

Lord Malverys turned to look at Xenos who still had the look of bewilderment etched on his face. “Prepare our men for combat,” ordered Malverys. “We march for the Royal Palace tonight.”

“As you command, Lord Malverys,” acknowledged Xenos, bowing his head before limping towards the office’s exit.

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Chapter 4

Zander was having trouble falling asleep. No matter how many times the young Crown Prince changed positions, he just could not go to sleep. He came to the conclusion that the reason as to why he was not able to drift off into sleep was because his mind was too preoccupied with running through the events of the day. Zander’s already restless and sleepless night was made worst when he started to hear people screaming and shouting.

What’s going? muttered Zander to himself as he got out of bed and walked over to one the windows in his room. What Zander saw shocked him. There were countless number of people dressed in either full battle armour or cloaks walking through the Royal Palace’s courtyard with their swords drawn. The young Crown Prince could see that some members of the Royal Guard were laying face down on the ground in a pool of blood. He could not believe what he was seeing. 

Zander was snapped out of his stupor when he heard someone trying to get into his room. He rushed over to his bedside table to retrieve his short sword . The door to the Crown Prince’s room flung open just as he had reached his short sword and unsheathed it. But standing at the door was not an enemy, but Emma, his personal Royal Guard. Even in the poor light, Zander could she that she was not wearing her usual armour. She was instead wearing a simple leather tunic and pants. Her rapier was drawn and was stained with blood.

“Emma! What’s going on?” queried Zander, as Emma closed the door behind her.

“The Palace is under attack,” answered Emma.

“I know it’s under attack,” snapped Zander. “I can see that. But by who?”

“I don’t know,” replied Emma, shaking her head. “All I know is that I have to get you out of here.”

The shouting and screaming were getting louder as the moments passed. It was apparent that the mob was about to break into the Palace itself.

“Hurry up and change out of your night clothes and into something...peasant like” instructed Emma to Zander. “We need to get out of here before they break through our last lines of defence.”

Zander nodded his head and quickly left for the part of his room which contained all of his clothing. After a few moments, Zander came back wearing a simple brown coloured jacket over a white collared shirt. He also wore a pair of olive coloured pants which matched with his jacket. Strapped to the side of the pants, was a holster for Zander’s short sword.

“Good, now let’s get going,” commanded Emma, walking over to the door, sword in hand.

“We can’t just leave yet,” voiced out Zander to his personal guard. “What about my father?”

“His Highness’ Royal Guards are more than capable of protecting him,” Emma said, opening the door of Zander’s room slowly. “To add to that, your father is quite the formidable warrior himself. He’ll be fine. Right now, my responsibility is to get you to safety.”

Zander nodded his head, agreeing with Emma. “Lead the way.”

As Zander and Emma navigated their way through the halls of the Royal Palace, making their way towards the entrance of a secret passage which would lead them out of the Palace. The entrance to the secret passage was located in the basement of the Royal Palace. Along the way, the duo had dispatched many intruders that were trying to stop them.Many of the intruders Zander and Emma came across looked identical to the mysterious figures which ambushed them earlier in the day. However, unlike the mysterious figures they encountered earlier on, these figures did not disappear in a cloud of black smoke when defeated. Some of them, however, were different as they wore armour or a chainmail instead of cloaks. While navigating through the hallways, the duo also came across the bodies of fallen Royal Guards.

Zander and Emma were almost home free when they were surrounded by the intruders on all sides. Zander counted that there were probably surrounded by thirty intruders. There’s no way Emma and I can take them all down, thought Zander to himself, gripping his short sword’s hilt tighter.

“Get to the exit, Zander. I’ll try to hold them off for as long as I can,” declared Emma, raising her sword.

“I’m not going to let you die here,” expressed Zander, raising his short sword.

“This is not up for debate!” snapped Emma, shaking her head. “I took an oath to protect you. Now let me fulfil it!”

The intruders began to move in on Zander and Emma to seize them, their weapons drawn. They stopped, however, when they heard the sound of thunder fill the room. Zander, Emma and the intruders looked up to see dark clouds starting to form inside the hallway!

“Lightning magic,” muttered Zander aloud, recognising the telltale signs of lightning magic about to be cast.

Without warning, lightning bolts rained down from the dark clouds, hitting all of the intruders that surrounded Zander and Emma. The duo stood still in utter shock and amazement as all the intruders around them dropped dead like flies.

“Hohoho looks like we arrived just in time,” announced a familiar voice, coming from the first floor of the hallway Zander and Emma were in.

Zander and Emma looked up to see a smiling Felix. He was wearing his usual maroon coloured robes. The elderly mage also had with him a wooden staff that had a purple orb on its tip.

“Felix!” yelled Zander, smiling. “Thank the Goddess you arrived when you did.”

Felix using his magic, levitated himself down to the ground floor where Zander and Emma was. As soon as Felix touched down on the ground, the young Crown Prince hugged the elderly mage, happy to see another familiar face.

“How did you find us, Felix?” queried Zander, sheathing his short sword back into its holster.

“I followed your unique magical signature,” answered Felix, smiling.

“My unique magical signature?” said Zander, confused. “What’s that?”

“I’ll explain it to you another day,” began Felix. “Right now we have to get out of here while we still have the time.”

“Agreed,” echoed Emma, nodding her head. “We better get to the exit in the basement before more of these intruders come.”

“We best not go there,” voiced out Felix, shaking his head.

“Why not?” asked Zander, arching his brow.

“Because I have a bad feeling that that secret exit is not much of a secret anymore,” explained Felix.

“Then how do we get out?” queried Emma. “That’s the only secret passage that leads out of the Palace.”

“No, it is not,” revealed Felix to Zander and Emma. “There is another.”

“Where is it?” queried Zander

“The kitchen.”