The Arrival (Birthright Trilogy #1) (36 page)

God I wish the others were here, they would have loved to have seen this.
The other one, a plump blond in clinging fuchsia, hung off Alek’s every word, with an expression very like the vacant one I’d given him earlier.

Alek forced his smile as he answered the inane questions the women here loved to ask. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Cat watching in amusement.

Right then, he thought, let’s include you.

'May I introduce Catherine to you both.' he gave them a charming smile and indicated Cat. 'Catherine, may I introduce the Countess Stranson, and her good friend Lady Kelanor. Catherine is here with her friends at the Archduchess’s invitation.'

While Lady Kelanor looked impressed and gave Cat a tentative smile, the Countess shot Cat a barely veiled look of contempt.

'Are you one of the women the Griffon Guard rescued?'

I returned a bland smile while maintaining strong eye contact. The brunette,
sorry, the Countess
, flinched, which was mildly satisfying.

Let’s see if we can turn her green with envy, I thought, resisting a smirk and instead put on my best dumb blond smile, learned from Sian, of course.

'Yes we were exceptionally lucky. Alek and the others arrived just in the knick of time.' I beamed at Alek; his blue eyes twinkled at me.

Fighting off the giggles, I used the feeling of hilarity to smile at the women while fluttering my lashes.

If looks could kill I’d be fried on the spot. Yeouch.
That woman had an evil stare. The Countess went to say something but Alek beat her to it.

'If you’ll excuse us,' Alek gave them a polite smile. 'I have two days in which to show off the castle and Elion to Catherine, and I don’t want to miss out anything.'

He swept Cat along until they were out of sight.

'The Countess appears exceedingly fond of you,' Cat suggested with a wicked look.

He gave a short laugh and rolled his eyes.

'That woman has been my nemesis for years now, not that she appears to know it. She has been openly telling the high court since I was fifteen that she would marry me.'

'Not tempted?' I teased, 'I’m sure she’d look lovely draped over your arm and she probably has her coronation gown already designed.'

As well as the invitations and place-settings and if there’s a chopping block list I’ll bet my name’s at the top.
I smirked.

Alek gave me a long look then detached my arm from his and drew my hand to his mouth, gently kissing it, then led us on. The hairs on my arms went stiff and butterflies pinged about in my stomach. We’d wandered along a bit more before I felt steady enough to speak without stuttering.

'Where are we going?'

'To the kitchen.'

Not what I expected, but my stomach gave an approving growl making us chuckle. We passed lots of doorways and Alek explained they were various court rooms.

'Are they all in use?'

How many people did I see at breakfast?
I didn’t think it was this many.

He shook his head.

'No, most are empty. The majority of the Courtiers won’t return to the castle until I’m established on the throne, as there’s no reason to be here without a ruling monarch.'

'Will the castle be full then? When you’re crowned?'

'Actually there won’t be enough rooms then.'

Alek chuckled at my surprise.

'A whole new life is injected into Elion when the monarch returns, and it creates a huge amount of jobs. Nnelg won’t have as much time to play then.'

I’d forgotten about Nnelg.

'What’s his role in the castle?'

We rounded the corner to the kitchen, I could hear the noise of pots and pans and general cooking sounds.

'Nnelg is employed as the castle’s fire dragon. It’s his job to keep the fireplaces and lamps burning.'

I wanted to ask more about that, but we’d reached the kitchen and Alek ushered me in.

It was a bit of a shock to come from the quietness of the corridors, to the sudden noise and organized chaos of the kitchen, and they stood for a moment, observing. Then a kitchen worker spotted him and let loose a yell. Everyone stopped and turned to stare at them in surprise. At the realization that the Prince was there, they bowed and a man rushed over.

'Your Highness,' he stuttered. 'What a surprise, how can we help?'

Alek smiled and indicated Cat.

'Hiranes, may I introduce you to Catherine, one of the women the Archduchess is working with.'

'A pleasure. What can I do for you both?'

Alek drew him to the side while Cat wandered off around the kitchen.

It kept surprising me how modern things were here. The huge ovens could have been found in a restaurant on Earth, and it all seemed as clean and pristine as a kitchen should. I was fascinated when I noticed a row of five giant mixers all steadily mixing away.

What did they run on?
I snuck a little closer listening, and peering at them. I couldn't hear an engine of any kind and there was nothing that appeared to attach it to a power source. I turned to look for Alek, but he was still deep in conversation with Hiranes, so I snagged a worker.

'Excuse me, but how are those mixers turning?'

The boy, a waif like blond thing, stared at me like I was stupid then answered cautiously, 'Hiranes is turning them.'

He gave me another fishy stare then ducked off. I stared at the mixers, more puzzled now.

How could Hiranes be turning them?
He was nowhere near them. I went back to Alek who’d finished his conversation. He reached out to draw me close.

'Are you okay? You’re frowning,' he murmured in my ear.

'Oh. I was confused as to how the mixers are turning by themselves,' I spoke quietly so none of the staff would overhear me. 'A kitchen boy said Hiranes is doing it?'

Alek smiled at Cat. He was pleased she seemed distracted from her current predicament.

I’ll have to have a word to Elena tonight.
Before he could answer her question Hiranes presented them with a basket, and Alek thanked him then led Cat out of the room. He explained as they walked down another corridor, 'Hiranes is Gifted. He can make things move. It’s a gift that can open up many opportunities as it’s useful in most professions. He’s very lucky.'

That would be a cool gift. I wonder what ours might be like?
Alek led us out a door into the courtyard and I stopped short when the sun hit me.

'Wow. What a lovely day.'

The garden was beautiful. Neat paths, paved with glistening stones, meandered all over the place. The vegetation varied between, big, beautiful, maple like trees, and then shrubs and flowers. Tucked in niches were statues of faeries, goblins and other mythical (to me anyway) creatures, many I didn’t have names for. Alek chose a spot for us under a tree and I helped him set out the blanket and food. It looked great. As we ate I gazed around, admiring it all.

'What’s with all the statues?'

I rolled onto my back and looked up at Alek who ate a piece of fruit.

He paused between bites.

'They’re to honor someone. Each statue is of a being that for some reason or another has been recognized for a service to the realm. Around two statues are created each year and the one honored is allowed to pick a spot for it within the courtyard.'

Well that’s a bit more interesting than your average garden gnome. I’ll have to have a good look.

'Do they have plaques telling you why they’re honored?'

I wouldn’t mind having a look now, and sat up to see if one was close to us.

Alek shook his head.

'No. There’s a book in the library that has the details recorded. The chosen location and the reason for receiving it.'

Another reason to have a nosy at the library.

I wonder what gets you in the book?

We packed up the leftovers and Alek took a different route back into the castle to show me the Armory. Not knowing what to expect, I stepped through the door and stared in amazement at the display of weapons in the room.

To begin with, the room must have been as big as the ballroom. It had huge rows of shelving stocked full of items. On Earth it would have been a red-necked, gun-toting, male’s dream come true except, of course, there were no guns.

Instead, there were rows of crossbows, long bows, bows I didn’t know the name for, and swords of every length and manner imaginable. I made my way around the room and felt a shudder of disgust at the sight of heavy maces that hung from racks. I paused in front of a shelf covered in light, delicate looking daggers and moved closer for a better look.

'Careful,' Alek warned.

He reached past me to pick one up.

'These are exceptionally sharp and can even cut through dragon scales. The blade is made of a rock that’s only found within active volcanoes.'

But of course,
thought my rational voice sarcastically.
Where else would you locate something with dragon scale piercing potential?

'How do you get it out?'

Did they use those special suits like what we had on Earth?
I was pretty sure those suits couldn't get you that close to molten rock – at least not for any extended amount of time.

'There’s a creature, the requon that lives within the magma. We use it to collect the blistenid rock while it’s still molten.'

'What sort of creature? How do you use it?'

'It looks kind of like a fish and you can lure it to the surface by dropping gemstones into the lava. They take a moment to melt and the creatures love to eat them while they’re hard so they race to the surface. As soon as a requon appears, a harness is looped onto its dorsal fin. The requon then dives low, and the scoops hanging from the harness pick up the blistenid. We gently tug the requon back to the surface where the harness snaps off and we wind it up.'

Just that easy huh,
my rational voice sniggered.