Authors: Catherine Banks
“Faxon!” Esmeralda yelled and pointed at me.
Faxon walked over to me, glowing orange like the setting sun. “That haze did more than explode,” he told me, “It’s a fear spell. Jared uses fear to his advantage and Esmeralda and I were protected against it, but you aren’t yet capable of that.” He reached out towards me and before I could run from him he hit the center of my chest with his palm.
Orange light from his hand seeped into my chest and slowly the fear dissipated. As soon as it was gone I felt a white hot rage.
“Those bastards!” I screamed at the top of my lungs.
“That’s my girl,” Jared said with a smile.
The chimera leapt out of the letter and roared at us. I stepped around Finn and screamed back at it. It stared at me for a second and then its tail, which was a snake’s head, sped towards me with its fangs extended. I chopped the head off and the chimera breathed fire at us. I leapt up and over its fire and landed on its back, right next to the goat’s head that came out of its back. I hacked the head off and the chimera reared up on its hind legs. I grabbed a hold of its mane to stay on it and stabbed it in the back with my sword. It shook its body and breathed fire at the others. Faxon and Esmeralda used a containment spell to keep the fire from going past them and endangering the citizens and buildings. I jumped off its back and landed in front of it.
“You should have stayed inside the letter,” I told it angrily.
It roared at me and drew in a breath to spit more fire, but before it had a chance, I slid underneath it like I had seen Jared do before, and stabbed it in the center of its chest. It howled in pain and tried to get me with its clawed paws, but after a good twist, the beast fell over and died. I pulled my sword from its body and wiped it clean on the animal’s fur.
I looked down at the note and read: “For the death of our father may you experience the death of a loved one or yourself.”
I turned and looked at my family and was shocked to find a shell holding me alone inside with the chimera. Finn was glaring at Faxon, but otherwise everyone was happy. Faxon released the shell and Jared said, “Well done, Tilia.”
Faxon walked towards me and patted my shoulder. “We figured you could handle it.”
“You locked her in there by herself with a chimera,” Finn said angrily.
“It’s a special shell that allows Jared or Esmeralda to enter or exit as well,” Faxon told him. “She was never in danger.”
Faxon looked down at the letter and his eyes widened in shock. He wrapped his body around me and then everything swirled around me like spinning stars. I closed my eyes and focused on Faxon’s body touching mine to distract me from the spinning or I would vomit. The spinning stopped a second later and we found ourselves in a large stone arena with four other chimeras. A lone figure stood above them on a stone outcropping.
“You may have defeated one of my chimeras, but how will you fare against four more?” the person asked.
“Who are you?” I called.
A flame lit next to the person’s face, she was a petite woman with silver hair and dark circles under her eyes. “I’m the Queen of Trian. Your kingdom killed my husband for kidnapping you. So now I will watch the chimeras kill you and revel in your blood soaking into my floor.”
“You really need to learn to pick weaker opponents,” Faxon said casually.
“I’m going to kill these chimeras and then I’m going to kill you and take your kingdom over,” I told her, “because you ruined what was a great day for me.”
“You’re too conceited!” she yelled. “You aren’t nearly as powerful as you think; especially when you’re aunt and uncle aren’t here.”
“I don’t need them here,” I told her with a laugh. I looked at Faxon and he raised his staff in preparation and understanding. I had hoped he would understand my request, although it would use a lot of his magic up and he would not be able to protect himself while holding the spell, he still seemed willing to do what I wanted. I walked towards the chimeras and he slammed his staff on the ground, magic pulsed underneath my feet and towards the beasts in front of me, who snarled, hissed and bleated angrily. As soon as the magic touched them, the chimeras froze in place. I ran forward and sliced through all of the lion heads, then the snake heads, and lastly the goat heads. I walked back to Faxon who lifted his staff and all of the chimeras fell to the ground in pieces.
I looked up at the person who was shaking with fear and said, “I need a lift.”
Faxon whispered, “Showing off?”
“Grandly,” I said with a smile.
He whispered a few magic words and the ground beneath me rose up so fast that it threw me up into the air. I flipped in midair and landed on the outcropping next to the woman. “No,” she whispered, “You can’t be this strong. It’s impossible.”
“For attempting to murder the royal family of Crilan, your sentence is death,” I said, trying to sound as regal as I could. I struck her down and then headed down the path the outcropping went to without a second glance at her body. Part of me disliked killing, but the more logical and trained side knew it was necessary to keep myself, my family, and all of Crilan alive. Faxon appeared behind me a moment later and said, “Jared is going to be extremely bummed that he missed this, especially with your dramatics.”
“He got to have fun last time we were here while I was being held prisoner.” I stopped and looked at Faxon, “Do you have enough magic for the trip back? I know it takes a lot to freeze large beings like the chimeras.”
He looked insulted. “I could freeze the entire kingdom and then teleport a dozen times immediately following.”
I smiled and patted his shoulder. “Don’t be indignant, I haven’t seen the extent of your magic powers so I just wanted to be sure.”
The path led to stairs that went up for at least three floors and then into the royal meeting room where the Prince of Trian, now nineteen years old, was pacing back and forth with a sword in his hand.
“Your family has brought grave dishonor upon your kingdom,” I told him, “And although we were merciful the last time we were forced to come here, we will not be merciful now.”
He spun around and stared at us in shock. “I knew she would fail.”
I prepared to attack him, but Faxon stepped in front of me and killed the prince before I could. “You can’t have all the kills,” he said as if that was explanation enough, though I supposed it was. I tore down the tapestries with their royal seals and family crests and tossed them into the fireplace.
We headed out of the room and down the halls killing guards as they attacked us. Once outside we were shocked to find a large gathering of citizens and guards. It looked like they were waiting for something.
“Your royal family has dishonored your kingdom and has been punished for the attempted murder of the Crilan royal family,” I told them loudly. “As of this moment you are now a Crilan territory.”
“What right do you have to make this claim, girl?” one of the old grizzled guards asked.
Luckily I had heard speeches made by my aunt and uncle enough times to have one prepared for myself in this instance, not that I had ever though I would be able to use it. “I claim it by right of blood as the Princess of Crilan and the heir to the throne. If you question my ability to hold the claim, please step forward.”
The crowd murmured in shock and then slowly one man walked forward with a sword drawn. “I decline your claim,” he told me, “as the first cousin to the Prince of Trian and therefore the next in line with his death.”
“We need to start keeping a chart with all of the other Kingdoms’ family trees,” I told Faxon.
“Good idea,” he said.
I walked towards him and raised my sword. “To the death,” I said loudly so that all gathered would hear.
He paused a moment in shock and then charged. He was fast, he had good form, but he wasn’t capable of defeating me. I didn’t feel like toying with him or making a show and instead opted for fast and dramatic to try to cement my claim with the citizens. I stabbed him through the stomach and then cut his throat.
“Any others?” I asked after stepping back from his body. Faxon handed me a rag and I used it to wipe my sword off. No one moved forward. “Good. Spread the word that you are no longer Trian and now shall be called…” I paused since I hadn’t thought that far ahead.
“Trilan,” Faxon whispered.
“Trilan,” I said to make it seem like I hadn’t paused for thought. “Return to your families knowing that you’re alive and your country lays safe because we know the blame is not on you, but on the royals who had ruled over you.”
The people talked loudly and the guards shifted from foot to foot nervously.
“We will return next week to arrange everything,” I told them, “for now go about your lives normally. Guards, I trust you will keep the peace and protect my castle.”
Faxon rested his hand on my shoulder and after a brief amount of swirling, much less than the trip to Trian…Trilan, we landed back in the field we had disappeared from.
“How’d it go?” Jared asked calmly from where he was standing with a dagger he flipped absentmindedly in the air.
“Tilia claimed Trian for Crilan,” Faxon said.
Esmeralda’s eyes widened and she gasped, “You did what?”
“The queen planned to kill whichever of us came through. She had four more chimeras there. So, I killed the rest of the royal family and claimed Trian, now called Trilan for Crilan.”
“You claimed a kingdom by yourself?” Marquez asked in disbelief from a short distance away from my family. “Without any duels?”
“She fought one, but ended it so quickly that no one questioned her after that,” Faxon said.
“Very impressive,” Jared said.
“Who are we going to send to manage Trian…Trilan?” Esmeralda asked with a sigh.
“We can worry about that next week,” I told her. “Now it’s time for my dagger throwing contest.”
“How is this something you talk about so nonchalantly?” Marquez asked. “How can you move from claiming a kingdom to a dagger throwing contest as if they are not immensely different?”
“Did you get hurt?” Finn asked, finally speaking up. He had been standing there in silence since I returned and had not moved towards me.
I turned and smiled at him. “Nope. I’m perfectly unharmed.”
He looked mad, but it wasn’t my fault that Faxon and I had been sucked into the stupid teleportation spell. I started heading towards the arena and Finn held back to talk with Jared.
Marquez walked beside me and asked, “How did you defeat four chimeras?”
I smiled and said, “That is a secret we will not share.”
“But you truly defeated them?” he asked.
“I’m sure the guards have gone down to find the queen’s body as well as the four dead chimeras’ bodies by now. News of it will spread quickly and you can get your confirmation then.” I didn’t need to explain myself or confirm what I had already told him.
“Why did you take Trian? Why not let them decide what to do with the kingdom?”
“Their kingdom has caused me too much trouble lately and it will help the others to know that we mean business and that I am powerful enough without my aunt and uncle to do this type of thing.”
“It is rather shocking to hear that you did such a thing, but then again when you look at your family it really isn’t so surprising,” he said with a laugh.
I waved to the person running the dagger throwing contest and he waved me forward. “I’ll be right back. I have to win this contest real quick.”
“Are you all so overly confident?” he asked.
“It’s not over confidence if you can back it up,” I told him with irritation. “If I said things like that and then fell flat on my face that would be over confidence.”
“You arrived just in time,” the person running the dagger-throwing contest said. “It’s your turn.”
I walked in, grabbed the four daggers they provided from the table and faced the targets. They were set up so you could walk down to each one and stand in front of it, but they were close enough for me that I could throw the daggers from one spot and hit them all in the center. I turned and winked at Marquez and then threw all four daggers from the spot I was standing in. There were several exclamations from onlookers and when I turned around I saw a look on Marquez’ face I hadn’t wanted to see. Desire.
Finn walked up next to him, which saved me from whatever Marquez had wanted to say. “All done?” Finn asked me.
I smiled and nodded my head. “Yes.”
“Good, let’s go get some food. I’m hungry.” He looped his arm around my waist and kissed me quickly before taking my hand and walking with me away from Marquez who stared after us.
“I don’t like how he is looking at you,” Finn whispered when we were a distance away from Marquez.
“Me either,” I told him honestly.
He looked down at me in shock. “Really?”
“A girl does enjoy being wanted, but I’m yours and I don’t want some prince trying to mess that up just because he thinks he should because of his bloodline,” I said honestly.
“His blood won’t help him in a fight and I’ll fight anyone to keep you.”
“I don’t doubt you,” I said, “especially not after you defeated Carlos the Crusher to save me.”
“You better not forget it,” he said, “I love you.”
“I love you too.”
“Oy! Captain Finn!” a man called.
We turned and found Captain Liam walking towards us. “How are you today?” Finn asked him.
“Alright. Tried my hand at a fight, but that’s not my type of thing. I prefer stealing things,” Liam said with a smile. He looked at me and asked, “Are you drugged miss?”
“No,” I said in confusion.
“Then why would you be with this bloke?”
Finn smiled and said, “Captain Liam I would like to present Princess Tilia of Crilan.”
Liam’s eyes widened in shock and then he dropped down to a knee. “Your Highness.”
“Stand up,” I ordered him, “We don’t make people bow around here.”
“You sure you’re not in trouble?” Liam asked. “Why would you be with this bovver boy?”
“Well, he’s my boyfriend,” I said.
“Wait a second, you’re the Pirate Princess!”
“No, sorry, I don’t participate in piracy,” I corrected him.