Prophecy of the Twins

Talissa O'Shrigar

Published by Talissa O'Shrigar, 2020.

While every precaution has been taken in the preparation of this book, the publisher assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

PROPHECY OF THE TWINS

First edition. September 29, 2020.

Copyright © 2020 Talissa O'Shrigar.

Written by Talissa O'Shrigar.

Table of Contents

Title Page

Copyright Page

Dedication

00.

01.

02.

03.

04.

05.

06.

07.

08.

09.

10.

11.

12.

13.

14.

15.

16.

17.

18.

19.

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About the Publisher

My Dear Husband,

Thank you for all your support.

Dear Sheila,

Thank you for your patience and help.

00.

Rodon is the country of fortune tellers where fortune tellers have existed for the last couple of centuries to serve the Kingdom. In Rodon we already know what kind of life we will have, who will be our friend, who we are going to marry, how many children we will have, how and when we are going to die. Here everyone knows what is waiting for them and makes decisions based on that. Everyone, apart from myself, and my twin sister, Alana.

01.

For the beginning of summer, it was a very hot day today in our seaside city where it was hot all the time and the temperature in the smithy did not help either. My family’s huge workshop stood on one side of the plot and we used only half of this building as a smithy, the other half was kept for practising our craft with wooden dummies and wooden weapons. Because of the weather conditions, I was working in short trousers and had just finished a knife which had been ordered for tomorrow’s wedding when the warning bells started to ring. Shirela, the fortune teller of our city had already notified everyone that the tax collectors were coming today, I hoped that my sister was somewhere around.

I stopped my work and pushed the old anvil aside to open the door of the hideaway beneath it which stood in semi-darkness at the side of the smithy. Alana, my twin sister had just arrived, her beautiful, long blond hair was tied up and completely covered with a grey kerchief. Her long, grey sackcloth covered her body everywhere hiding her real shape.

She had light skin, gold blond hair, blue eyes and a short feminine slender shape which completely differed from the tall, dark-skinned local people in our city and province. When we were young her different appearance was subject to ridicule and derision and she has not changed her dresses ever since. All our family were different from the local people, but I never had long beautiful hair and the people in the city owe a lot to my family. I became tall like my father and my uncle and as a blacksmith’s apprentice, I developed a wide back. Alana was like my mother, I had dark blond hair like my father. I did not stand out from the crowd as much as Alana, even the sun made me more tanned than her because she sat a lot inside the house to avoid the ridicule.

‘Hurry,’ I said to my sister, ’not much time left.’

‘I know,’ she said while she lay down in the casket size place which was covered with a blanket and contained two short swords.

I closed the floor of the trapdoor which was pierced with small holes and pulled the old anvil back.

We dug this place many years ago together with my father and my uncle to hide my sister from the tax collectors so that they would forget about her. We were able to pay the necessary tax all the time, but my sister’s appearance was more and more eye-catching even with her grey and brown dresses and my mother never wanted to risk her daughter’s life. For the last couple of years, every tax collector had thought that my sister was dead and luckily the people in our city kept their mouth shut as well. Anyway, I doubt that anyone would have been able to find her apart from me and my family.

I had just finished pulling the anvil back, when the noises from outside showed that the four tax collectors had arrived. I unhooked the bag I had prepared from my belt and went outside to the front of the house.

Our plot was at the end of a cul-de-sac surrounded by a tall stone wall and the back of our garden was washed by the sea. The rest of the houses in the city did not have walls or fences at all, but my parents decided to hide the secrets of the smithy and Alana felt safe all the time at home.

When she was mocked as a child, she took refuge at home and read all our books. As of today, there is no book in our city which she has not read at least twice.

The houses did not have fences, the boundary lines were obvious to everyone all the time. The streets were paved, the shorter streets were looked after by the citizens. People travelled on horseback; many families bred horses. In our hot weather all the rubbish very quickly became smelly, so we kept the streets cleaned and the rubbish was collected by one family from the whole city who burned it once a week. It was the job of that family and everyone in the city paid them.

In our city, no one lacked anything, the vexation of tax collectors brought the people together. We helped each other with food, clothes, even money. My family was working a lot of the time for free or on credit but many of them were never paid off. From what I heard the tailor and the baker did the same. We did not have city guards in the city. If someone was caught for theft or something similar, the citizens would take the thief to the royal guard post nearby or they could solve the issue amongst each other. Due to the oppression of the tax collectors, we solved these crimes inside the city and preferred to give the thief a job to do.

‘Aleron,’ the leader of the tax collectors was fat like a swine, he sweated all the time and never got off his horse to assert his authority.

He had dark skin, like everyone else, but he was a bit younger than my father.

His yellow-green cloak with the royal coat of arms surrounded his disgusting body. The royal coat of arms was a portrayal of a sun partially covered with a crown above a tree.

‘Here is our monthly tax, sir.’ I handed the bag with the same number of coins as last month over.

‘I’m afraid that it will not be enough,’ the swine was sarcastic, ‘His majesty decreed that the price should go up.’

‘How much?’ I stayed calm, my uncle would never allow me to draw a sword to attack these people even though they deserved it.

‘By two silver coins,’ the man said with a lowly grin, ’if your sister were alive, you could save the tax for a couple of months.’

‘I’ll bring the money,’ I said and went back to the smithy.

I hurried back to the workshop and with a loud cough I gave Alana a sign that she should stay still. I took two silver coins from another bag and took a quick look at my swords wondering whether to use them. My father and my uncle forbade me many years ago to kill the tax collectors, they chose instead continual hiding and humiliation. I went out to the street with a sigh.

‘Please do not take her,’ our neighbour, Corul shouted who worked as a tailor to raise her daughter, Inula.

The man was walking with a stick and his daughter meant everything to him. Inula was a year younger than me and Alana, she had dark skin with black curly hair and looked a bit fatter than a couple of months ago. In this heat, she was wearing very colourful shorts and a top, like everyone else of our age. The girl sat in the sand in their garden and objected loudly to the tax collector while he was tying her wrist with a rope.

‘Last year she was in a different shape,’ one tax collector noted, while he was forcing Inula to stand up and move.

‘Please give me a day and I’ll collect the additional coins,’ Corul begged.

‘She will not come to any harm,’ the swine on the horse grinned, ’we will bring her back as soon as she pays your debt.’

The tax collector was tying Inula to his horse when a swinging blade cut the rope directly next to the girl’s wrist.

‘Here are your two silver coins,’ My uncle’s voice filled the street while he walked to our house, ‘the girl stays here.’ My Uncle gave the coins to the swine.

My uncle was a very tall, strong big man and when he was angry like now, his voice made many people shake. With his long dark blond beard and long hair, in general he commanded authority. He scared Alana and made her cry many times as a child without meaning to. Our father looked similar my uncle, but he had short hair and his shaved face never scared his daughter.

‘So be it,’ the swine said, ‘try to collect enough money for the next month, blacksmith and be happy that your brother’s daughter is dead as next month nothing would be able to save her.’

‘She is in a better place already,’ my uncle said.

The three tax collector sat on their horses and rode out from the city following the swine.

‘Thank you Shiveron,’ Corul said to my uncle, ‘I’ll pay it back.’

‘It does not matter,’ my uncle said, ‘you can make a few nice dresses for Alana.’

‘Which she would never accept,’ Corul said with smile while the two men were shaking hands.

‘I thought that you were visiting Shirela regularly,’ I said to Inula while I was helping her to get up from the ground.

She was indeed slimmer a couple of months ago, probably she wanted to protect herself from the tax collectors.

‘I’m visiting her,’ Inula said, ‘she told me a couple of months ago to hide myself today as they will try to take me, but we collected every coin, so I did not believe it.’

‘Shirela is never wrong,’ my uncle said, ‘when you are visiting her, you should listen.’

I went back to the smithy and let my sister out from her hiding place. When I opened the floor, my sister’s swords were in her hand, laid on her belly. She was scared and prepared for everything.

‘You did not whistle,’ she said, ‘and I waited longer than usual.’

‘The prices went higher again, and they almost took Inula.’ I told her the whole story.

‘Soon there will be no one who does not owe something to our Uncle.’ she smiled.

‘No,’ I said, ‘but at least you will be safe.‘

‘Hopefully.‘

‘Do we have time until dinner?’ I asked my sister.

‘For the lessons today, I received roast meat and bread, so there is not much to prepare.’

Our mother used to work as a teacher until her death last year and she taught us to read, to write, to count and all about herbs, but Alana was only interested in that. From our parents, we learned etiquette and dances, but dance was not one of our strengths. Alana worked as a teacher with our mother already but when my mother became sick, she took over all her students. Some children came to our house, but sometimes Alana went to the children. When Shirela had predicted the visit of the tax collectors, she never left our plot.

‘So, we have time until dinner,’ I looked at my sister’s blades, ‘we can practise a bit.‘

‘I’m in,’ my sister said with a smile and took off her sackcloth to practise in a short and a top, which was under her cloth. Now she dressed like everyone else here.

We went to the empty part of the smithy, I took a long wooden sword for myself from the shelf and gave two wooden short swords to my sister and started to practise.

My uncle and my father were great swordsmen, they taught us to use the blades since we were small children. Because Alana was skinny and short, she used all the time two short swords, I used one long sword, as most of the soldiers do in Rodon.

I liked to practise with my sister. In the city, no one was as proficient a swordsman, as my Uncle, father, Alana and I. Around a year ago, a couple of days after my mother’s death our father left us. He said that he would explain the reason when we meet again but since then we have not heard of him. Since last year we have lived only with our Uncle.

‘Alana,’ we heard our Uncle’s voice from the door, ‘keep your left arm higher, don’t leave your shoulder so unprotected.‘

Our Uncle picked up a wooden dagger from the shelf and joined us practising. He decided to attack my sister and he kicked out her leg to make her fall.

‘Aleron never does such a thing,’ he said, ‘but these tricks can be expected during a fight.‘

Alana stood up quickly and fought with determination, but she was in a difficult situation fighting against both of us. We attacked her until she was not able to stand up because my uncle pointed his dagger at her throat.

‘It was not an equal fight,’ my sister said with a smile, while I was helping her to stand up.

‘A real fight is never equal,’ my uncle was serious, ‘let’s go and prepare for dinner, Shirela will arrive soon.’

My sister put her sackcloth on and left the smithy to prepare the dinner at our house on the other side of the plot. I walked to our courtyard which was connected directly to the sea and into our stable and paddock to feed our four horses. Apart from them, we did not have any other animals. If I had a chance, I rode them daily. Alana never joined me, as she never left our city apart from the full-moon festival. When the sea reached our plot, the horses were never in danger, my family had constructed everything carefully. Our well was near the smithy to carry the water easily.

I fed the four mares, we did not have the heart to release my mother’s horse after her death, so we kept her. After the jobs were done in the stable, I walked back to our house near my sister’s herb seedlings which was encircled by a rope, so that we did not step on them accidentally. The herbs were planted based on their light requirements, but now only Alana was able to take care of them.

Our house was not big at all, we used the huge space behind the entrance as a kitchen and dining room. We had five rooms facing in three directions, my parent’s room, my uncle’s room, the bathroom and our room with Alana. Our room with Alana was supposed to be one room, but after our birth, they built a wall in the middle and another door to divide it. The candlesticks which hung from the ceiling provided better light than in any other house as our candlesticks had small mirrors to scatter the light further. Our floor was covered with wood, in other houses the ground was not covered to help to cool the heat down. Our bathroom was also different from the rest, as they boiled water outside and poured into their tub. We had metal containers outside the house which we filled with water in the morning and during the hot days it became warm. We used pipes high up which were controlled by pedals to allow the water to drain on to our skin from the containers. Based on our house we seemed wealthier than we were.

When I arrived, Alana had just finished preparing everything and my Uncle returned from the cellar with some vegetables. The cellar door was near the entrance and as many other families, we kept the food there to keep it fresher. I had just finished washing my hands when Shirela arrived.

She was only two years younger than my uncle, she was taller than my sister and she had dark skin with long, black curly hair. She was a nice woman who smiled a lot and she was wearing colourful shorts and a sleeveless top. As they grew older, women showed less and less their upper body, apart from my sister, as based on her dresses she looked like the oldest grandmother here.  Everyone could recognize that Shirela was a fortune-teller as she had a thick leather strap round her neck with a wooden medallion of the tree of fate and supposedly it was sculptured from the tree of fate itself. Every fortune-teller showed with similar pride a visible sign of their skills.

‘Just on time, as always,’ my uncle smiled at Shirela and gave her a gentle kiss.

‘Please, sit down,’ my sister indicated the usual chair in front of my uncle.

We shared the meat, the bread and the vegetables around the table and started to eat.

‘Thank you for mentioning the arrival date of the tax collectors,’ Alana said it today as she did every month.

‘No problem,’ Shirela said, ‘I’m here to help.‘

‘Are you not afraid that they will attack you?’ I asked, ‘as you can predict them coming, they are less able to abuse their power.‘

‘To kill or even attack a fortune teller is treason with an immediate death sentence,’ my uncle said it as a fact.

‘The other fortune tellers would feel it immediately as the tree would tell them,’ Shirela said with a smile, ‘Aleron,’ she looked at me, ‘are you waiting for the full-moon festival in two weeks?’

The full-moon festival is organized during every full-moon, every month and the cities which are close to each other meet together in a glade in the forest and sell their products to each other. Our festival embraces four cities and it is the main income for many families as it happens every month it helps everybody’s finances.

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘I’m already making the knives and daggers which I’m planning to sell.‘

‘I’m selling my herbs as usual,’ Alana smiled, ‘no one knows them apart from me, I always receive good money for that.‘

‘Are you joining in the sword race?’ Shirela asked kindly, but as a fortune teller, she knew for sure.

‘Of course,’ I said, ‘Hopefully I’ll win again.’

‘No-one has beaten you for many years,‘ Alana smiled, ‘They should just give you the prize,’ She laughed.

‘Shirela, will Aleron win again?’ Alana turned to our guest.

‘Alana,’ my uncle was calm for the time being, ‘we had discussed this already many years ago.’ Alana nodded quietly.

‘I do not understand why we cannot know anything about our future like everyone else.’ I said.

‘I do not want to talk about this topic again,’ my uncle was decisive, ‘mine and your parents’ lives were thrown into chaos by fake prophecies, we will not let it happen to any of you,’ He stood up to wash his plate in a tub.

‘If I do not know whether I will win, others can know,’ I said.

‘Your decisions are influencing your fate,’ Shirela said, ‘we can only see what is possible at this moment.’

‘Good,’ I was sarcastic and stood up too, ‘in my age group everyone has a partner, apart from me because I do not know whom I should court.’

‘A girl who you like,’ my uncle wanted to close the discussion, ‘Do not court because of a prophecy, court because you decide to do so.’

‘But the girl will refuse me because she will know that I’m not her fate,’ I said, ‘How can I live my life if everyone knows about their future apart from Alana and me?’

‘Simply just try it!’ My uncle shouted, the walls almost shook, ‘End of discussion. Shirela, you know that you are always welcome in my house, but if you say anything to the twins, we are done,’ My uncle shut the entrance door behind him with anger.

‘They never told us anything,’ Alana said to Shirela after the door was shut, ‘we do not even know what this fake prophecy is. They never explained why I was so different, and they always said that it was not our business.‘

‘You should think only about your future,’ Shirela smiled kindly, ‘do you know what the tree of fate which helps us to see into the future and past looks like?’

‘No,’ Both of us shook our heads, ‘what does it look like?’ I asked.

‘It is beautiful, but I have seen it only a couple of times,’ Shirela spoke it with sincere admiration, ‘but it is not an ordinary tree. The branches branch off from its trunk, but every branch relates to other branches, there is no free part at the end of any branch. The fates relate to each other and if it is important it will divert back where it originally should be.’

‘Do you know everything about us?’ Alana asked quietly and hesitantly.

‘As soon as I answer your uncle will open the door,’ Shirela smiled.

The door opened and my uncle came in calmed down.

‘I will walk Shirela home,’ he said, ‘Please clean up and go to sleep, it is late.’

‘Good Night,’ Shirela said and walked out of the entrance.

The couple closed the door behind them. Alana washed the dishes in the tub, I cleaned myself in the bathroom.

‘I do not understand why they are doing this,‘ Alana sighed.

‘Me neither,’ I said.

‘Inula will get engaged during the next full-moon festival,’ Alana said, ‘she told me yesterday.’

‘It will not be a big surprise,’ I said.

‘No,’ Alana smiled, ‘but at least she has someone who is courting her. So far no one has ever told me that I would be his in the future,’ she sighed, ‘some girls of my age already have children.’

‘Who would like to want a pale person like you,’ I teased her with the sentence which was used most often to mock her, ‘Believe me, one day someone will ride in the city saying that you belong together. Marry him,’ I hugged her, she laughed.

‘You understand romance very well,’ she smiled, ‘are you riding today as well?’

‘I’ll be here at dawn before our Uncle’s return,’ I promised.

‘Please be careful, Aleron, you almost got caught last week,’ my sister was serious.

‘Hopefully, Shirela will protect me,’ I said, while I was putting on trousers and a shirt, ‘did you prepare the potion?’

‘It is in your room, as usual,’ Alana said, ‘I don’t want to be an auntie yet.’

‘We agreed that we would have a family together, remember?’ I teased her.

‘I do,’ she laughed, ‘but in my case, there is even less chance. Drink the potion.‘

My sister withdrew to the bathroom. I went to the stable to saddle my mother’s horse. I rode through the meadow where the festival is organized every month to get to our neighbouring city. This city was by the sea as well, everything looked very similar to our city. I rode along a cul-de-sac to a tavern which had a huge iron fence with an iron gate. The carriage was one of my best assignments last year and the weekly payment was acceptable but if my uncle had known about it, he would probably have killed me.

I stopped my horse and left her in one of the open paddocks near the entrance. I drank my sister’s potion, I knew how long it took to work. I entered the tavern where a big man like me sat near the door watching the dancing girls. Girls in shorts and tops were dancing in front of the entrance while an old man was playing on his violin. The dance was more about movement than about perfection. On the left near the bar, men sat with girls on their laps before they went up the stairs on the right. In the middle, everyone sitting by the round tables could watch the dance.

‘Aleron,’ a dark-skinned, very beautiful woman, who was taller than Alana and had long black hair greeted me.

She had the same dress as everyone else but it was a bit tight. She owned this tavern as a family business, but it was not worth keeping as a traditional tavern, so Gaina changed the type of service. Since I came here, I had only met up with her. At the beginning, I thought that our relationship was based on love, but since then I realized that it cannot be love.

‘Gaina,’ I cuddled her before we walked up into her room. I did not spend time downstairs having a drink as I always had to arrive home earlier than my uncle.

Her room showed love everywhere, red walls, beautiful huge curtains, and a huge bed. Gaina was way more experienced than me, so she taught me all the time something new. She never rushed. She always spent time listening to me.

‘Have you thought about settling down?’ I asked while she brought me a drink.

‘I’ll,’ she laid back next to me, ‘in around two years I’ll close this tavern down and leave for the Eastern province to meet my husband.‘

‘Why not now?’ I asked, ‘You do not have to wait just because your fortune teller said so.’

‘Because the man is not a widow yet and I should wait until the end of the mourning period,’ she laughed.

‘Have you ever thought of going somewhere different from where your fortune teller suggested?’

‘Why would I do that? I will be happy with that man and he will never find out my current life. I will not risk everything for something uncertain. You still cannot know your future, can you?’ she asked.

‘No,’ I said, ‘Shirela promised my family she would not tell us our future but sometimes I would question her.’

‘Go to our fortune teller in this city,’ she said, ‘He could tell you anything.’

‘There must be a reason that it should be so, ‘I said, ‘I respect my parent’s request, but sometimes it is just difficult.’

‘If you knew your future, you would never confess your love to me,’ she laughed, ‘that was funny.’

‘Thank you for not humiliating me,’ I laughed too.

‘I’m sure that someone is waiting for you in the outside world. I’d say to write to me when you find it out, but probably I’ll already be in the east.’

‘Are you not afraid that your future husband will find out your current life?’ I asked.

‘As you know with adults without permission only official information can be shared from their pasts, like height, weight, appearance, age and similar information.’

‘The council of fortune tellers set up the rules very well,’ I said, ‘I need to leave soon.’

‘You can stay for a while,’ she smiled before kissing me.

When I left the tavern only a couple of people were watching the remaining dancers. I rode home quickly, and I was lucky as my uncle had not arrived home yet.

Alana slept and her room door was open as always when she was home alone. Half awake she was going to reach for her swords on the floor, but I started to whistle, and she fell back to sleep. Our father and uncle raided us many times with a sudden night practice, so we got used being woken up by some noises already. My whistle made her calm, knowing that it was only me.

02.

In the following weeks everyone started to prepare for the full-moon festival, I made the daggers and knives and Alana made small bags with different herbs. Many people shod their horses for the horse race which gave my uncle a lot of work. My uncle had experience in horseshoes, and I had in swords, just like my father, but during my childhood, they already shared their experience. When my uncle spent the night at Shirela’s house, I visited Gaina once a week.

The whole city was sparkling, the festival was the main income for everyone.

‘We are leaving tomorrow after an early breakfast,’ my uncle said in the evening, before the day of the festival.

‘Is Shirela joining us?’ Alana asked.

‘Yes, she will join us near her house,’ my uncle said, ‘she had already planned to come, but she is very excited about tomorrow.’

‘I doubt that Inula’s proposal would be very exciting to her,’ I said.

‘She did not say any details and I never ask her about these things,’ My uncle said.

‘There still will not be any tax-collectors, correct?’ Alana asked.

‘Shirela has not predicted them,’ my uncle said, ‘and theoretically it is forbidden for them to be at the festival. The festival never has any royal coats of arms and no one can attend who serves the royal family.’

‘Was it always like that?’ Alana asked my uncle.

‘Even in my childhood. As my parents told me, people feel freer without any royal coat of arms and the royal family need to remain popular.’

‘They are not so popular with me,’ Alana said.

‘Nor with me,’ I said, ‘I’m curious whether the tax collectors will ever cheat.’

‘In that case Shirela and the other fortune tellers would notify the King immediately and they would be dismissed immediately,‘ my uncle said.

‘Uncle,’ Alana said hesitantly, ‘how do you know so much about the royal rules?’

‘Your grandfather used to work as a clerk, and he shared these rules with us during the evenings,’ our Uncle said calmly, ‘maybe the rules had been changed since then, but I know it this way. By the way, you can ask these questions a hundred times,’ he smiled, ‘I will always have the same answer, as this is the truth.’

After dinner, we prepared everything for tomorrow and went to sleep.

Next morning, we woke up quite early and left our plot with our four horses after sunrise. We used our mother’s horse to carry the packages as we did not want to leave her all day long in the empty city alone. Shirela was already waiting for us on her horse in front of her house. Her house stood at a crossroad and a wooden picture on her door of the tree of fate showed her profession.

Alana covered herself with brown sackcloth and a head scarf, so she was almost invisible in the crowd. In previous years people from other cities had already got used to the light-skinned sales girl, but many of them expressed their regret to me because of my sister’s unknown sickness. I never mentioned any of these things to Alana. She does not have to know about it.

We rode to the meadow, but we were not the first ones, many other families had arrived already. The citizens voluntarily organized everything by themselves. The musicians for the music band were coming from different cities, but I did not recognize anyone apart from the old man who played in Gaina’s tavern on his violin. The podium and the information boards were built by carpenters. The information board contained the times of the events which were read out loudly from the podium for the benefit of illiterate people. In our city, my mother and Alana taught almost everyone to read, but in other cities, people were not that lucky. Alana never travelled to another city to teach, she only accepted students in our house and set the price depending on the wealthiness of the family.

The horse races always took place in the forest near the meadow, but our family never joined in. I was interested only in the sword tournament. Everyone put their blankets down on the grass randomly, we used one huge blanket with Alana together to sell the knives, daggers and herbs. Using one blanket allowed one of us to look around and to buy something interesting. Alana always looked for books or decorations for the house, I was interested in weapons. Many people sold dresses, everyone changed them quite often. Some families were preparing meat and fish for today to sell them at lunchtime. Almost everyone bought something from them as many of us had not brought food with us.

My sister’s herbs were very popular all the time, she sold out very quickly. Mainly families with small children and the girls from Gaina’s tavern bought her stock. While I was looking around, Alana tried to sell my stock, and she was confident talking about my knives and daggers but being a girl almost no one believed her. Based on the law of Rodon women were not allowed to take any weapon in their hands. I was not aware of exactly what kind of punishment Alana would get for her knowledge, but I was not about to find out. Men could carry weapons all the time but using them must happen for a reason.  When the tax collectors visited us, I had to take them off, in order not to provoke the swine.

For the events, we always enclosed a place on the meadow with fences and ropes to let people observe the tournaments from every side. Tournaments were organized all day long until sunset before the music and dance could start. There was running, archery, dagger throwing and different competitions for children. A dagger throwing tournament took place between my uncle and my father, no one was able to beat them.

The four fortune tellers were always the judges and after our arrival, Shirela left us to go to the podium to join the rest.

A handbell could be heard, the tournaments would start soon.

‘Attention, please,’ A tall, dark-skinned, bold big man said loudly, and everyone turned to him.

The man had a similar headband to Shirela’s leather strap, showing that he was a fortune-teller too.

‘The archery begins now,’ he said.

After his announcement, some people with bows went into the enclosure.

The games officially started, the winner always received a small wooden chalice and some coins. From what I heard fortune tellers received coins from the royal family to order the chalices and pay for the winners’ coins. I had a lot of chalices already, Alana spent a lot of time polishing them, while she was cleaning the house. My chalices stood in my room on a shelf which had been forged by me.

My uncle won the dagger throwing competition easily. Since my father had left no one was able to challenge him.

Every competition for adults was followed by a competition for children so that the day was exciting for everyone. Alana always watched these quietly, I saw her desire for a family, but she never spoke about it. She did not have to, it was clear to me.

The sword race was organized always as the last competition for adults after lunch. We packed our remaining things back in the bags to let my family watch my contest. Any mistakes that I made in the rounds were corrected by my uncle at home all the time.

My competition was the most popular, many men joined and almost everyone watched it.

‘Attention, please!’ The tall man rang the bell after the lunchbreak.

‘Our last competition, the sword race starts now,’ he said, ‘Everyone who would like to participate, please come inside the enclosure and take one shape.’

Three fortune tellers, including Shirela walked between us with small bags, which contained wooden shapes which could be paired up. I picked out a sun shape which meant that I’d have to contest against a boy, who had the other sun shape.

After everyone found their partner, we always gave back the shapes to keep them for the next round. No one’s name was known, the fortune tellers mentioned always just the shapes.

The boys with moon shapes had the first contest but it was a quick win as one of the boys was a lot younger than his opponent. The people with moon shapes were followed by men with stars and after heart shapes.

With every contest, I became more impatient as I was called just before the last one.

I had a young, fattish boy, who was easy to beat. Every contest continued until someone was disarmed which would be the same situation in real life.

‘Congratulations to the first round winners,’ the bold fortune teller said it loudly after the first round, ‘today is a very special day as apart from the normal rewards the winner will receive a special invitation to the capital until the end of summer to be a training partner for his majesty, Prince Veron.’

People clapped happily, I looked at my family. Alana smiled cheeringly at me, my uncle was looking to the fortune tellers and tried to cover his anger. We chose the next shape after the clapping.

After the announcement my opponents were very determined to win, the possible trip to the capital made everyone excited. I got into the final easily and I faced a boy who I had never met before.

‘We have our finalists,’ the man said after the last round, ‘we will continue it after a short break.’

I went to my sister and to my uncle who were standing next to the rope.

‘Be smart, Aleron,’ my sister told me, ‘this is a rare opportunity for you. You might even get into his majesty’s guards.’

‘An opportunity for us,’ I corrected her with a smile, ‘I will not leave you behind.’

‘Uncle, is there any problem?’ Alana asked our Uncle who almost exploded silently.

‘No,’ he said, ‘good luck, son,’ the sentence was forced. It was obvious that at this moment he would kill the tax collectors if they were here.

I heard the handbell, I went back to the middle of the enclosure.

‘Aleron,’ I offered my hand to the boy, ‘from the city of Kadin.’

The boy was shorter than me, he had strong muscles and very short black hair.

‘Telin,’ the boy said, ‘from the city of Eten.’

‘Nice to meet you and good luck,’ I smiled, in the final instance it is just for fun.

‘You too’ he smiled.

Our contest had started. He was not a bad swordsman; the people were shouting and cheering. During the rounds, he seemed to be on my level but now I already felt the difference between us. He was not even on my sister’s level. The boy started to get tired and he found it harder and harder to escape my attacks. I felt that winning was close when Gaina caught my attention from the corner of my eye. She was sending me kisses coquettishly and I looked at her for a second. The woman liked this type of teasing, but it was enough to lose my advantage, I had to defend myself.

‘Aleron,’ my Uncle’s loud voice brought me back to attention, ‘do what I taught you last week.’

My uncle showed me a trick last week to make my opponent believe that he can win. I pretended that I would slam his sword but in reality, I bypassed it and got it out of his hand. The boy lost his sword and became unarmed. I pointed my sword at him when the handbell sounded.

‘Congratulations!’ the boy said while we were shaking hands, ’good luck in the capital.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, ‘I have not seen you here before.’

‘I moved here with my mother this month, she married a man in this province. Are you going to the capital with your fiancée?’ He looked at Alana.

‘She is my twin sister,’ I said, ‘and yes, I want to take her with me.’

‘She looks interesting,’ he stared at Alana.

‘That is true,’ I said, ‘Do you want me to introduce you to her?’

‘No thanks,’ he said, ‘my fortune teller did not say that I would meet anyone special today.’

‘Had he predicted our fight?’ I asked with curiosity, ‘I did not have time to visit mine’ I lied.

‘He said that it would depend on many circumstances and he could not help.’

‘I see,’ I said, ‘Next month you will have the chalice for sure.’

The boy went to his family, I walked to my family while I saw Shirela being hugged by the other fortune tellers and had tears in her eyes.

‘Aleron,’ my sister hugged me with excitement, ‘you won, we are going to the capital.’

‘Good job, son,’ my uncle also hugged me.

After my tournament the children played some games before the dancing. Couples were kissing hidden around the meadow. There was no law about it, but people treated this with discretion. We never stayed for the evening, Alana was never asked for a dance and I did not like to dance. We packed our stuff and went home. Shirela joined us, but together with my uncle, she remained quiet. Shirela stopped at her house, my family rode home.

‘I’ll come back soon,’ my uncle said and stormed out the door.

‘I’ll be back soon too,’ I said to my sister, who was so surprised that she could not say a word.

I wanted to know what was going on, so I walked to Shirela’s house along a smaller street. I was sure that my uncle would be there. The city was still empty, I arrived at the fortune teller’s garden quickly as she did not have a fence either. I went to the courtyard and stopped near an open window.

‘How could you do that?’ My uncle was so loud that I could hear him easily.

‘We didn’t decide about the gift of his majesty,’ Shirela said quietly.

‘You just suggested it to him,’ my uncle was angry.

‘Shiveron,’ Shirela said gently, ‘I had not predicted any of his combats including the ones today. You decided to help him to win. You helped him to get back on track.’

‘So, cancel the trip,’ my uncle said, ‘I know that you know exactly from what has happened in the past that the twins cannot go to the capital.’

‘The only thing that I know for sure is that they should not be here,’ Shirela kept calm.

‘They are safe here with me,’ my uncle yelled, ‘If they go to the capital, we will lose all our work and they will be called traitors.’

‘They cannot escape their destiny, Shiveron,’ the woman said, ‘you were able to change their destinies, but you cannot change major things. You should have known that. Why did you help the boy if you want them to stay?’

‘Because Aleron is a much better swordsman than that boy was, and Alana does not belong here,’ my uncle sighed, ‘They don’t have any friends. Aleron thinks that a few hours weekly with that frivolous Gaina means a relationship and he almost even lost today because of that. Alana is lonely and unhappy and her mother, Amina’s heart would break if she would have seen that. Her dresses are awful, and I have not seen her beautiful hair for a long time. Did you know, that no one ever asked her to dance or courted her? She thinks that something is wrong with her, but she is just as beautiful as her mother and her aunt was. Men should be around her instead of avoiding her.’

‘I know,’ Shirela said, ‘Sometimes there were questions about her, but I cannot see her being a part of anyone’s future here. Shiveron,’ the woman’s voice became serious, ‘you must let them go, they do not belong here. If they don’t go now, they will go later for another reason. Their destiny is pulling them to the capital.’

‘So, I should prepare them,’ my uncle sighed.

‘Yes,’ Shirela said, ‘I’ll do the same. They must leave as soon as possible.’

‘So be it,’ my uncle said, ‘Sooner or later I will follow them.’

‘I know,’ Shirela said nicely.

My uncle left the house, I was thinking about what I had just heard. Being a traitor, never came to my mind, I was thinking about myself rather like a royal guard. I had no idea why anybody had predicted such a thing, but I started to understand my parents’ decision.

‘I’d like to sleep soon, please come in,’ Shirela said loudly with a laugh.

I entered the house. Shirela’s house was smaller, she had only one bedroom, but the living room looked gorgeous. In the corner she had two sofas with a coffee table, she had beautiful curtains and huge candlesticks with a mirror were hanging from the ceiling.

Pigeons were sleeping in a cage in a semi dark corner, Shirela sat on the sofa with a cup of tea waiting for me.

‘What was all of that?’  I sat down on the sofa, ‘why will we be called traitors?’

‘As you don’t know much about us, fortune tellers, I’ll tell you a few things so that you understand everything,’ she said, I nodded.

‘When two people are getting married, at least one fortune teller must attend the ceremony who can talk about the future of their wedding,’ Shirela started to talk, ‘we don’t offer wealth or happiness for everyone and many people do not like what we tell them. Over the years we learned from each other to stay quiet rather than to tell too much.’

‘It is understandable,’ I said.

‘When your parents got married, at their wedding they got to know that their first born will be a boy and that they will love each other until the death of your mother.’

‘And it happened like that,’ I said, ‘I’m the first-born child.’

‘When a child is conceived, his fate is very sensitive, and we don’t like to tell anything. In your case one of the fortune tellers said something to your mother and you were called traitor immediately.’

‘What did he say?’ I asked, ‘Is there any record?’

‘We don’t write down what we can predict at that moment, and in the past I’m not able to see the exact sentence only the feelings and reactions.’

‘So, you have seen this only in my parent’s past?’ I asked, she nodded.

‘The fortune teller, your mother and the father of King Darion are dead already. Only your father knows the real prophecy, but he is gone now as well. After the prophecy your parents had to leave the capital almost immediately, they got only a few days to prepare. Until then they used to live in the capital.’

‘And my uncle?’ I asked, ‘does he know the prophecy?’

‘He was not present when the prophecy was told.’

‘I didn’t know that I had an aunt,’ I said.

‘You had. The King’s guards pushed her too hard while they were looking for your mother. Her death was an accident, your uncle did not arrive on time. It is your uncle’s past and I can share this. Her death was unexpected and a consequence of a prophecy which threw everything into chaos and many of us do not even believe it.’

‘Why would Alana and I be pulled by our destiny to the capital?’ I asked.

‘If I look at someone, I can see his possible future and his past. For some people it is variable, like for example a noble whose life depends on others. There are people who have got a straightforward future, like Inula who will never leave this city. There are others for whom we cannot see anything.’

‘Who is like that?’ I asked with curiosity.

‘Alana and you,’ Shirela said, ‘when I look at you, I can see nothing. Neither your past nor your future. Visiting me was not forbidden because of what I will tell you, but to let you know that you are not part of the tree of fate.’

‘How is it possible not to be part of the tree?’ I asked.

‘A few years ago, some branches of the tree became sick, but the leaders of our council were not able to find out the reason. When you were born, the fortune teller who used to live here before me had not seen you at all, as your father pushed her out of the house. She had never seen you. When I arrived, I met the child Alana accidentally when she was running into me while running from other children who called her pale face. I found out that I could see nothing at all, neither her short past, nor her possible future. During that time, we found out that the branches were sick because of you because you are not part of the tree. Your parents probably simply just cut you off.’

‘How is that possible?’ I asked.

‘Since your birth you have lived in a place which has nothing to do with your real destiny and everything you do now is just pushing you away from it. Alana locks herself more and more away from the outside and you live only for your job. If everything remains the same, you will never leave this city.’

‘So, I should be a traitor just to make the tree of fate nice again?’ I asked.

‘While someone is young his future is sensitive,’ Shirela said, ‘We can advise what kind of profession he should choose, and we see only his possible friends. Some follow our advice, some not, the choice is theirs.’

‘Why are you telling me this?’ I asked.

‘The disease of the tree started to spread, and a few months ago the future of the royal family was obscured. As it had never happened before the council thinks that it is because of you, as you could have a connection with the royal family, but because of your absence everything is becoming more and more unpredictable in the capital.’

‘Like if a branch in the middle broke down,’ I said, ‘the small ones nearby would break down too.’

‘Something like that,’ Shirela said, ‘I knew that you always join the tournament and with the invitation we get a chance to put you back on the path. Gaina’s distraction made your winning difficult and you needed your Uncle’s help.’

‘Can you see something already?’ I asked.

‘No, but when you arrive in the capital, the tree might start to recover. We assume that If you don’t go, the future of the whole Kingdom will be obscured.’

‘Does the royal family know about the prophecy?’

‘No. Only some of the fortune tellers had heard about it, including the personal fortune teller of the royal family. Prince Veron invited you to get to know the working class better before he became King.’

‘Will you see me if I leave the city?’ I asked.

‘My skills are not infinite, I won’t,’ she said, ‘We have pigeons and fortune tellers in every city across the Kingdom. If the personal fortune teller of the royal family informs me, I will know about you.’

‘Why were you hugged by the others?’ I asked, ‘They were happy that we will leave, weren’t they?’

‘The tree has got a chance to recover. Today’s event was a clear example of how people are impacting on each other’s lives. Don’t forget it Aleron,’ she said, ‘your destiny can be affected by others’ decisions.’

‘What if I will not accept the invitation?’ I was phlegmatic.

‘Alana cannot hide forever,’ she said, ‘Even without skills I know that you will leave. That is the same reason why your uncle helped you. You simply don’t belong here.’

‘Is my sister invisible too?’  I asked.

‘Yes. I have no idea what is waiting for you, maybe after your arrival the fortune tellers in the capital will be able to see something.’

‘What if I’ll have a wife?’ I asked, ‘What do you predict for her?’

‘Nothing. Your invisibility impacts on others. She might have a husband or might be lonely forever.’

‘That is why more branches are sick,‘ I started to understand the connections.

‘Yes,‘ Shirela nodded.

‘Do you know something about my father?’ I asked while I stood up.

‘He will meet Shiveron in a couple of months, but your father is changing his possible destinies with his fast decisions, just like your uncle. It is difficult to see them, probably they were trained to be hardly visible.’

‘Why you have never told anyone to court my sister or at least ask her for a dance?’ I turned back from the door.

‘Because my vow forbids me to lie and here everyone’s future is clear.’

‘How does my uncle know about Gaina?’ I asked.

‘He followed you once,’ Shirela smiled, ‘He was obviously not happy, but he understood your reason and he hopes that you are drinking Alana’s potion.’

‘I do,’ I said.

‘I know,’ she smiled, ‘I saw Gaina today and her future too.’

‘How did you know that I was near your window? You said that I’m invisible.’

‘The pigeons outside woke up for a second,’ She smiled, ‘the city is almost empty, so it was either you or Alana.’

‘Thank you for telling me all of this,’ I said, ‘Will our uncle follow us?’

‘Probably yes. He will leave for the capital soon so I assume that you will meet.’

‘Will he leave you here?’ I asked.

‘No,’  she smiled, ‘My path had been clearly changed.’

‘Good. My uncle loves you very much. You should not have declined his proposal when he kept and kept trying for many years.’

‘I know that now, maybe I’ll correct this mistake,’ she smiled.

‘That would be good,’ I said before I left the house.

I said goodbye and went home, my sister was sleeping already, my uncle was waiting for me by the table.

‘Have you heard everything?’ he asked straight.

‘I think so, yes.’

‘Good, at least you will not question any of my orders.’

‘Will you let us go?’ I asked.

‘Shirela is right, you don’t belong here. Go to sleep, tomorrow we have a lot to do.’

‘Thank you, uncle,’ I said.

‘Aleron,’ he said quietly, ‘Alana does not have to know all about this.’

‘I agree, she won’t,’ I said before I entered my room.

03.

Next morning, I finished almost all my orders, Alana cancelled her classes apart from today ones. Using Shirela’s pigeons, she sent a letter to other cities to inform her students there about her departure.  At the start of the busy day, Shirela came over to prepare both of us to the journey. We sat round the dining table, Shirela and my uncle brought a lot of documents.

‘As we never treated you differently,’ my uncle started, ‘I’d like both of you to hear this.’

He took a map and opened it. The map showed our country, which had a similar shape to a deciduous tree drawn by a child. The tree was surrounded by the sea and the trunk was connected to the land. The tree was upside down, the sea surrounded the Kingdom on the south.

‘We are here,’ my uncle indicated the top of the tree, the southernmost point of the country, ‘Here is the capital,’ he indicated the trunk. ‘They have different weather from here, but as it is summer now, you will feel only a little chillier.’

‘They dress differently,’ Shirela said, ‘women wear long dresses which are tight at the top and have a comfortable long skirt at the bottom. They like to wear different belts. Men wear long trousers and shirts.’

‘Never wear a green dress or any green colour,’ my uncle said, ‘Green is the colour of the royal family, it is improper to wear any green. If you don’t want to be conspicuous, avoid green even if you can buy it very cheap.’

‘It’s a pity,’ My sister said, ‘green is a nice colour, but I’ll give it up then.’

‘I’ll show you the route where you must go,’ my uncle said, ‘I marked on the map the posts of the royal guards. The tax collectors are staying there as well, you must avoid them. I marked your route with blue dots. Most of the cities are by the seaside. There are three trade routes, two are close to the sea and one is in the middle of the Kingdom. You must ride on this one,’ He showed the route on the west coast, ‘The road in the middle is too busy as this is the shortest, the east one is too far. This road on the west will be the safest for you.’

He showed us the red circles which were the places of the guards and small blue dots which were leading to the capital. The dots started with a huge bypass, but after a while, they turned back to the trade route on the west.

‘I marked the inns with green,’ my uncle continued, ‘you shouldn’t stop in any other inn apart from the marked ones. Even if you are sleepy or tired, you should not stop anywhere else,‘ He stressed it, we nodded, ‘I’m giving you a list with the names of the inns.’

‘I’ll give you a list about when and where the guards will be,’ Shirela said, ‘you must avoid the southern tax collectors. For most guards during the journey to show your invitation card will be enough.’

‘Can we go together?’ My sister asked.

‘Yes,’ Shirela smiled, ‘the winner and his family have been invited as the winner can have a family from any province.’

‘Were others invited from every other province?’ I asked.

‘From all the four,’ Shirela said, ‘after the summer the Prince might ask some of his guests to stay.’

‘If you are good, you might stay like a royal guard. Teachers are needed in the capital for sure, so I could find something for myself too,’ my sister was enthusiastic.

‘Only very rich children are private students,’ Shirela said, ‘the rest go to school, but you can find something there for yourself.’

My uncle said that we should not be surprised at meeting someone on the road, but we should be careful with the bandits.

‘Don’t trust anyone who you don’t know,’ my uncle said, ‘it is very important.’

‘Understood,’ I said.

‘You are going to travel like two brothers,’ my uncle said, Alana raised her head.

‘I did not plan to cut my hair just now,’ she said, ‘but I’ll do it of course.’

‘Don’t cut it!’ my uncle said immediately, ‘you can wear your hair open in the capital. You will not look weird there.’

‘As a boy, you can wear your weapons and you will get a room easier,’ my uncle said.

My uncle stood up and went to his room and brought out some huge packed bags.

‘This is yours,’ he said to my sister and gave her a shawl with hair hanging from it.

‘It is a wig,’ Shirela said, ‘it is a fashion in the capital. If you tie your hair, and put this wig on, you will look like someone who has short brown hair.’

Alana went to the room and put the wig on.

‘How do I look?’ she asked from her door with a smile.

We were resembled siblings, she looked very like as my very young brother, but her feminine slender shape showed that she was not a boy.

‘I don’t want to disappoint any of you,’ I smiled, ‘but she is well developed for a boy,’ Alana started to laugh.

‘I asked Corul today to change some of Aleron’s old dresses,’ my uncle said, ‘In loose shirt and trousers you will look like a boy. The rest in this bag,‘ he showed the bag, ‘are old dresses from your mother.’

‘I will use them for sure,’ Alana smiled, the trip made her very happy.

‘Corul made two sets for both of you when you introduce yourselves to the royal family. You will know which ones they are at the bottom of the bag. There are shoes and other things which Shirela thought would be useful.’

‘Do you still remember the etiquette and the behaviour protocol?’ my uncle asked, ‘it should be in your head.’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘we remember everything. After our arrival, we will call a courier from the inn and deliver the invitation card. He will come back with the details.’

‘Take your mother’s mare with you,’ my uncle said, ‘you need a place to carry the bags.’

‘Is there anything else?’ I asked.

‘I cannot tell you everything in one night,‘ he said, ‘the most important thing is not to trust anyone.’

‘I will not trust the royal family for sure,’ Alana said, ‘as they are collecting taxes this way, they cannot be fair rulers.’

‘Before you judge them, you should get to know them,’ my uncle said.

‘Do we have anyone to contact in case of an emergency?’ I asked.

‘Unfortunately, no one,’ my uncle said and took a quick look at Shirela.

‘Tomorrow you should pack everything and leave during the night,’ my uncle said.

‘Why during the night?’ Alana asked.

‘Tomorrow night the tax collectors will spend their money in Gaina’s tavern,’ Shirela said, ‘to leave tomorrow night will be perfect timing.’

‘There is one more thing,’ my uncle said, ‘the money. As a guest of his majesty in the capital, you will not need any. In the beginning, you will be given everything and after that, hopefully, you will have your own money.’

My uncle went to his room again and came back with four small bags with coins. He put them down on the table, I looked inside the bags.

‘Uncle,’ I was surprised, ‘these are gold. It is a lot of money.’

‘It is,’ he said, ‘take your own money with you, during the journey gold will not be needed. Hide these bags in four different places, you might need them later. In the capital, everything is more expensive. Never leave any of your bags in the stable, always carry them up into your room.’

‘Where did this money come from?’ Alana asked, ‘what should we do with the bags after our arrival? We cannot hide them under our pillow.’

‘This is from your parents, ‘my uncle said, ‘in the capital put them in a place called the "guardian of coins". They will take care of them instead of you and you can take out any coin if needed at any time.’

‘We will do that,’ I promised.

‘Now go and have some sleep,’ Shirela smiled, ‘today no one should go anywhere,’ she looked at me, I understood that I could not visit Gaina anymore.

We listened to the adults and went to sleep quickly.

Next morning, I wrote a short letter to Gaina thanking her for the past years and wishing her good luck for the future. I packed my daggers and knives in separate bags and helped Alana to dig out her herbs. She put the herbs in separate bags which contained fresh soil. Shirela came over in the morning and helped us with everything. She promised that she would send the letter to Gaina and she prepared some food for the journey.

‘Will your herbs survive the journey?’ I asked Alana.

‘I hope so,’ she said, ‘I need to take good care of them, but mother said that they should survive such a trip.’

I hid the moneybags and we packed everything. Alana tried on one of my old dresses with a flat boot and the wig.

‘Are you ready?’ our uncle asked at lunchtime.

‘Yes,’ Alana said, ‘after lunch, we will drink some of my tea and go to sleep. We are leaving in the twilight.’

After lunch, Alana and I drank a small cup of tea and we went to sleep for a couple of hours. When I woke up my sister was already in the bathroom. Both of us got dressed, Shirela and my uncle prepared dinner.

‘What do you think?’ Alana asked when she came out completely dressed.

She looked like my young brother and her chest looked flatter. Probably Shirela had given her something to tie down her breasts. Her eyes were shining, and she still had a very pretty face but for a young boy, it looked natural.

‘You look good, Alan,’ my uncle said it to remind me that Alana’s proper name would reveal her gender.’

We put a leather vest on, attached our weapons, saddled our horses and walked them to the gate of our stone wall.

‘We will be fine, uncle,’ I said and we hugged each other.

‘I know,’ he smiled, ‘after your arrival, please send a letter to Shirela.’

‘We will,’ I promised.

My sister hugged everyone and wiped her tearful eyes before she sat on her horse.

‘Obey my orders,’ my uncle said.

‘I will,’ I said before we left our plot with my mother’s mare.

It was completely dark; the stars were shining in the clear sky when we started to gallop. My mother’s mare was tied to my horse, she carried all our bags.

The royal guard post was near a nice lake, where we used to bathe in our youth ages. My mother forbade us to visit the lake from an early age, she wanted to keep Alana safe.

The post was between a lake and a forest in a glade, we bypassed the forest from the other side, following my uncle’s order. It was already dawn when we turned back to the trade route.

There were cities on both sides of this road, but we did not stop anywhere, we trusted our uncle’s orders. Based on the map the inner side cities were very well situated, they had a trade route on both sides. Each of our inns was in the cities by the sea, probably they were less busy. The landscape had not changed so far, the nearby towns had no walls, they were built in a similar style to our own. The first house near the road showed us that we had reached a new city. On the road sometimes we met people on chariots or on horseback mostly close to the cities. We passed each other without a word. People still had dark skin and hair, but Alana didn’t look so different from others in her wig and no one showed any interest in us. Probably without a wig, everyone would have stared at her or even worse. The sun was high when we stopped for a short break near a forest which started after an inland city. Based on my counting we were on time, so we decided to take a short break.

My sister took the food which was prepared by Shirela, I gave water to the horses.

‘It will take time for us to get there,’ I said, ‘It will take a few weeks.’

‘I know,’ She smiled, ‘I thought the same too, but I don’t mind. Do you think that we will return one day?’

‘If our Uncle comes too, it wouldn't make much sense to go back,’ I said, ‘I hope that we can stay after the summer. If I do not become a guard, we will look for a smithy and a school.’

‘I will look for a school during the summer,’ Alana said, ‘I will have nothing to do, only reading a few books in a good library.’

‘Instead of sitting in the library I would prefer you to make friends. There will be no mockery there, based on what Shirela said our appearance will be quite normal.’

‘It would be good,’ my sister said, ‘I would love to read in the garden.’

‘Don’t read, talk,’ I laughed.

After our break, we continued our journey until dark and arrived at the inn that our uncle had marked for us on the map. We followed his instructions and we left the horses in the stable without bags, I carried everything with us. I gave a light bag to Alana, as a boy he should carry something.

The inn looked a lot like Gaina’s tavern, but here, there was no podium with dancers and the people at the tables in the middle played some kind of board game. A violinist was playing quietly in the corner. A long bar was on the right side and the stairs led up in the middle where Gaina used to have the podium. Rooms were located on both sides upstairs. The inn was not full, only a couple of tables were occupied. People were already dressed differently from the way we did at home. Women’s tops were just as short, but they had knee-length trousers. Some waitresses had skirts already and they were less colourful, one dress did not contain more than three colours. Men had knee-length trousers as well and they were wearing shirts like I did now.

‘What can I do for you, boys?’ A short, but very strong man asked us from behind the bar.

‘I’d like to have a room for us for tonight and supplies for my three horses outside.’

‘No problem,’ the man said, ‘I assume you would like to have dinner as well.’

‘Yes,’ I said.

‘Your room will be upstairs the last door on the right side,’ he said, ‘right side is just above me.’

‘Thank you,’ I said and we went upstairs.

We went to our room where we had two beds by the walls with the window in the middle. At the end of one bed, there was a wooden tub and at the end of the other one, there was a cupboard and a handbasin.

‘Do you know where the bathroom is?’ My sister asked quietly.

‘I think partially it is the tub and it’s on the corridor,’ I made a guess based on Gaina’s tavern.

Alana went outside, I waited for her in the room.

‘Have you found it?’ I asked.

‘I have,’ she said, ‘they are not as good at cleaning as I am,’ she laughed.

We went downstairs to eat dinner, I chose a table where I could keep my eye on our room. I did not want anyone to go in. The innkeeper brought us two huge portions of meat, fish with seaweed and potato. I paid for dinner and the room.

‘If you want to take a bath,’ the innkeeper said, ‘we will start to fill the tub.’

‘Yes, please,’ I said and handed an additional coin over, my sister nodded gratefully.

‘What are you doing here boys?’ a man who was half my size just sat down at our table, the smell of alcohol hit my nose.

‘We are travelling,’ I said, Alana tried to eat timidly.

‘Do you want to play?’ he showed the board game at his table which was just next to ours.

‘We don’t have any money,’ I said calmly, ‘and we don’t know this game.’

‘It is your choice,’ the man said.

‘Come back,’ a fat man stood up, ‘you will just lose later,’ the man said, his mates started to laugh.

‘I’m coming,’ the man stood up, ‘if I don’t win today, my wife will kill me.’

‘She will kill you because you are spending your income here,’ the other man was laughing.

Alana and I finished our dinner and went upstairs. A girl was just coming out of our room with a huge, empty jug and she winked at Alana. I started to laugh, Alana just smiled at the girl.

‘Do you see?’ I teased my sister, ‘you already have admirers.’

My sister undressed and sat in the tub. I didn’t want to bother her, so I went out to the corridor. At home, we used to go into the bathroom while the other was standing under the pipe, but we never stared at each other. My uncle was right, Alana had undoubtedly become a beautiful woman and men would be buzzing around her.

When she finished, I sat in the tub as well. From what I heard from our neighbours the water is not changed after each person, so I did not request it from the innkeeper. While I was taking a bath, Alana took care of her herbs one by one, she watered every herb.

‘Could you please push the cupboard near the door?’ my sister asked, ‘I don’t want anyone to come in during the night.’

‘The cupboard is too heavy, but I’ll push my bed,’ I said, she nodded.

I quickly pushed my bed near the door. It was not easy, but I had pushed even heavier things before. We fell asleep quickly, this journey had made both of us tired.

We woke up and got dressed very early. My sister carefully pinned and patted the locks of her blonde hair under her wig, before we left the inn.

During our journey week by week, we got used to our schedule and the customs at the inns. During the evening sometimes we passed a noisier inn, but we never stopped anywhere apart from the inns on our list. Sometimes young men fighting fell out to the street in front of us from other inns, but we didn’t pay any attention to them. Our inns were generally quiet like the first one, mainly local people were resting after their daily fatigue. After two weeks riding people’s skins were visibly lighter and instead of black hair, they had brown hair. The clothes became more and more long and less colourful, women were wearing mainly long skirts instead of trousers.

In the middle of the Kingdom, there were mining towns, during the early morning and evening many people were passing by. The cities started to have chest high stone walls to clearly show their borders. If someone sat at our table in an inn, they were only curious rather than intrusive.

Close to the capital, we were stopped once by guards, but after showing our invitation card they politely let us go. We left the sea behind us only on the last day of our journey.

We planned the journey to arrive in the capital during the daytime, but the castle and the peak of a tower were visible even from afar. The tower was the same height as the castle and from here it had a brown colour.

‘What is that tower?’ my sister asked.

‘I have no idea,’ I said, ‘I haven’t heard anything about it.’

The capital was enclosed by a high thick stone wall, guards were able to walk on the top but at that point, I saw no one.

After our arrival in the capital, we understood our Uncle’s words. It was completely different from the cities in our province. The huge crowd went along the main road by foot, by chariot or by horse and they turned off to a smaller street. On the main road, many chariots transported the citizens. People had various skin and hair colours, from light till dark. Everyone dressed differently but all of them wore long clothes. No one cared about anyone else. We looked for an inn which was on the other side of the city close to the castle. The castle stood on a small hill near the brown tower. The chariots were coming and going on the main road and at some points, people got on and off them. On the side of the street sellers sold their products, the royal guards supervised the city on horses or on foot. We didn’t stop anywhere, we wanted to arrive in the inn as fast as possible. Our last inn was located near the castle in a small and quiet off street.

‘Finally, we are here,’ I said when I got off my horse, ‘let’s take the bags and go in.’

‘Yes,’ my sister said, she was beginning to feel uncertain about the city and the crowd.

The same as every evening in the last couple of weeks, I took the bags and walked into the inn which looked like other inns.

‘What would you like, boys?’ A well-built woman who was shorter than even Alana asked me. The woman seemed to be older than my uncle.

‘We'd like a room for two of us for a couple of days,’ I said.

‘Payment is in advance for every day,’ the woman said looking at us.

‘It is not a problem,’ I said and gave the estimated amount to her.

My uncle was right, the prices indeed went higher as our journey progressed.

‘Almost right,’ she smiled, ‘add two more copper coins to the rest.’

I gave her the exact money, she called a boy from behind the bar. The boy’s height was between Alana and me, but he was much skinnier and maybe a bit younger than us. He wanted to take our bags, but even my sister could carry them easier than he did.

‘Please follow me,’ the boy said and went upstairs coughing.

‘You are coughing very badly,’ my sister told him.

‘Yes, since my childhood,’ the boy said.

Our room was like the others during the journey, but here our room was connected with a bathroom, there was no need to go to the corridor. In this bathroom, they had pipes which were controlled by pedals just like at home.

‘What is that brown tower next to the castle?’ I asked.

‘The tower of the fortune tellers,’ he said, ‘I've never been to the tower or the castle, although I'd like to.’

‘Could you please call me a royal courier?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ he said coughing, ‘he will be here before dinner.’

‘Thank you.’

The boy left us alone, my sister unpacked her herbs carefully.

‘All of them survived,’ she said happily, ‘some of them even bloom,’ she showed me a tiny bud.

‘Let’s look for this guardian of coins,’ I said, ‘Who knows what is waiting for us from tomorrow, I want to keep the coins safe as soon as possible.’

‘I agree,’ Alana said.

We left the inn and walked back to the main street. I didn’t want to ask the innkeeper about the guardian of coins, she didn’t have to know that we had money. After a short walk, we found a huge building and a big wooden coin on the door showed that this was the building that we needed. Next to the entrance two royal guards stood with huge halberds.

We went inside, it didn’t look like a big place. In front of the door, behind a long table, three women sat next to each other in the same kind of yellow dress. Two women already had one handsome man each in front of them, so we walked to the third woman. With our current dresses, we didn’t fit in here.

‘Can I help you?’ The red haired woman who was older than us asked.

‘Yes,’ I said and sat down.

As Alana still looked like my younger brother, as an older brother I had the right to sit down. Alana stood behind my chair.

‘I’d like to leave my coins here,’ I said.

‘We keep here only gold coins,’ the woman said.

‘I know,’ I took the small bags out.

The woman looked inside the bags and nodded.

‘You should fill out the form,’ the woman said and gave us some paper.

The paper had three lines with beautiful writing.

‘Do you want me to read it out for you?’ she asked.

‘Not needed, thank you,’ I said.

I read the form, which contained questions about any number and quantity of coins and a space for a name.

‘Please provide a number and a name and write down the number of coins,’ the woman explained, ‘Only the person who knows these details can ask for the money.’

‘Write down your date of birth,’ Alana suggested, ‘and the name of our mother’s mare,’ she smiled.

I filled out the document with the details given by Alana. From one bag I took out one gold coin before I gave all the bags to the woman. She took the paper and gave us a wooden coin with an engraved number.

‘This wooden coin is not needed,’ she said, ‘but if you have it, next time my job will be easier. Where are you from?’ she asked with curiosity.

She was visibly surprised that we were able to read.

‘From the south,’ I said, ‘thank you.’

We left the building, the guards inside next to the door nodded to us. We walked without purpose, but we saw a market on a wide street, so we looked around. At the market, stalls stood next to each other covered by canvas. Alana bought some clay pots and soil for her herbs. People sold different kinds of products even very cheap green fabric. I saw stalls with belts, coats, sweets for children and other products that I didn’t even recognize.  Some people wore several belts above each other, but it seemed to be a normal thing.

‘I’ll mix some herbs for the boy in the inn,’ Alana said, ‘he coughs very badly, and he is very skinny.’

‘As you wish,’ I said, ‘what are they selling there?’

I pointed out a long queue of women to Alana near a stall.

‘I don’t know,’ she said, ‘let’s have a look.’

At the stall were creams, colourful powders, fragrance oils and similar products, my sister looked at a sticky and creamy substance and made a step aside.

‘Do you know what these are?’ I asked.

‘I do, Aleron,’ she smiled, ‘Our mother showed me all these many years ago. She said that a woman always needed to look after herself. I know how to use all of these.’

‘I haven’t seen you using any of these,’ I said.

‘I never used anything visible,’ she smiled, ‘I didn’t want to be conspicuous. The oils and the powders would have melted in that hot weather anyway.’

‘Are you going to buy something here?’ I asked, ‘Eventually, we will introduce ourselves to the royal family.’

‘I brought a few things with me, but I still don’t want to wear anything visible,’ she said, ‘who knows what kind of person the Prince is.’

‘You are right,’ I said, ‘based on the swine we cannot know.’

After shopping we went back to the inn, Alana wanted to take care of her herbs, and I was hungry.

‘From tomorrow you will get rid off this wig, won’t you?’ I asked while I was unpacking my clothes from the bag.

‘I thought,’ she began cautiously while looking at me, ‘I could stay as your brother. It would be safer.’

‘No,’ I said, ‘From tomorrow please wear our mother’s dresses. No one will mock you or stare at you. In the castle, we will be safe.’

‘I hope so,’ she said.

Alana started to plant her herbs, I ate the leftover from yesterday. It would be enough till dinner.

Alana finished planting and cleaned the desk when someone knocked on our door. Assuming by the cough, it must have been the boy. I opened the door and behind the boy, a man was standing who wore a yellow-green vest with the royal coat of arms. The man was tall like me but much thinner.

‘The courier is here,’ the boy said and made a step back.

‘Please give this invitation card to his majesty, Prince Veron,’ I said to the courier and handed the card over.

‘I will bring the answer back soon,’ the courier said and left us.

Alana signalled to me to make the boy stay here.

‘Please wait for a moment,’ I said to the boy, who wanted to follow the courier.

‘From these leaves,’ Alana gave a small bag to the boy, ‘create a tea for yourself twice a day until the cough disappears. If you run out of the leaves just let me know, but according from my experience, it should be enough.’

‘Thank you,’ the boy said.

The boy went downstairs, we followed him to have dinner. With the fish and the meat, we got a different kind of sauces, we tried all of them. One was rather sweet, the other one was rather bitter. The inn was quiet, the sun has just started to set. We had almost finished our dinner when the courier came back.

‘Tomorrow, after the noon bell, his majesty, Prince Veron will receive you.’

‘So soon?’ my sister asked.

‘Yes,’ the courier said, ‘every guest from the other provinces already arrived yesterday or even earlier,’ he gave me a card which needed to be shown tomorrow at the entrance.

‘Thank you,’ I said.

The courier left, the innkeeper stepped up to us with a smile.

‘You will not stay long here after all,’ she said.

‘No,’ I said, ‘we are leaving tomorrow.’

Both of us were tired, after dinner we went up to our room and after washing ourselves in the bathroom, we fell asleep quickly.

04.

Next morning, I woke up before my sister and took out the elegant long trousers with a white fabric shirt which had a blue bodice sewn on it. I wanted to put it on after breakfast, so now I just put on simple trousers and a shirt. I was getting washed and dressed when Alana was woken up by the noise.

‘Have I overslept?’ She asked quickly.

‘No’ I calmed her down immediately, ‘I woke up very early. We still have plenty of time.’

Alana and I went downstairs for breakfast, my sister still looked like a boy.

After breakfast Alana withdrew to the bathroom, her long hair had dried since yesterday evening. I packed everything and got dressed quicker than my sister. I was sitting on my bed quietly waiting for her.

My twin sister took a long blue velvet dress from the bag which had a white stripe on the edge of its long and downward expanding sleeve. It was a perfect match for the white belt which was sewn on the dress. The dress at the top followed my sister’s shape, showing a slight décolletage and from the waist, it was constantly expanded. I had not seen Alana’s hair down recently, but her thick blonde hair reached to the bottom of her waist. She made a braid from the side of her hair to the middle. Her blue eyes which were inherited from our mother were shining in her tanned face.

‘You are very pretty,’ I said to her honestly when she seemed to be ready.

‘Do you think so?’ She asked, ‘I didn't want to overdo it, but many people leave their hair hanging free. I saw it yesterday.’

‘It is good. Let’s try to eat lunch before someone is coming for us,’ I said.

‘Who knows when we will get dinner there,’ She smiled.

Catering should have been a part of the hospitality, I hoped that this rule had not changed.

We went downstairs to the almost empty inn; the innkeeper and her son were cleaning the tables. The boy couldn’t hide his surprise in front of my sister, I just smiled.

‘You had too pretty face for a boy,’ the woman said to my sister with a short laugh, ‘are you going to have lunch?’

‘Yes, we are,’ I said.

The boy brought us our lunch timidly, Alana just smiled at him.

‘Have you started to drink the tea?’ She asked.

‘Yes,’ the boy said, ‘I’ll drink all of it.’

‘I’ll come back next week to see whether you are getting better,’ my sister said, as she always did.

‘Thank you for doing this for me,’ the boy said.

‘It’s the least I can do.’

We had just finished our food when a man in a royal coloured tunic appeared at the door.

‘Your carriage is waiting for you,’ he said, ‘we will take care of your belongings and your horses.’

‘Thank you,’ I said.

Alana said goodbye to the boy and followed me and the man to the greeny yellow coloured carriage which stood in front of the inn. The carter in front of the carriage had the same uniform as the man in front of me.

‘Madam,’ the man helped my sister up to the carriage.

‘Thank you,’ my sister said while I followed her.

The carriage started to move and went up a beautiful well-kept, grassy hill before we passed a huge iron gate. The beautifully crafted iron fence marked the beginning of the royal estate. We were able to look out of the carriage, guards were walking close to the fence a couple of meters from each other. When the carriage stopped, servants helped us to get off and guards indicated to us to follow them after we had shown our invitation card. The brown tower stood just next to the castle on the top of the hill a couple of minutes’ walking distance away.

In front of the castle, there was a small circular ornamental lake which was surrounded by young trees. Near the lake, carriages were waiting on the pavement just after their arrival.

‘Please follow me,’ one guard said to me.

As I was the guest, both of us expected that people would talk mainly to me, as Alana is only my companion. The guard opened the entrance for me to go inside, Alana stepped in behind me.

The foreground of the castle was a large space with two flights of stairs leading up to it on both sides. In front of us, there was a closed, huge double door. Just as we thought, the castle was lavishly decorated, all in yellow and green. On the walls, royal portraits were carved in wood. Between the doors and the stairs, carved wood sculptures stood on pillars. The guards stood near the walls, sometimes I saw a servant dressed in yellow coming out of a door. The doors were almost invisible having the same colour as the walls. If the servants had not moved I would not have noticed any of the doors.

In the foreground, apart from us other people were waiting. There was a family with a five years old girl, two boys of our age, and a man of Gaina’s age with his wife. I was taller than anyone and broader apart from the man who came with his wife. Everyone dressed similarly to Alana and me, but we still felt like outsiders. According to learned etiquette, Alana stood just behind me, but if she said something quietly, I could hear it. I wanted to introduce myself to the others, but they didn’t show any interest, so we waited quietly.

‘Welcome everyone,’ a tall, slim, dark-skinned woman came out from a hidden door and stood in front of us.

She had a yellow dress which was like my sister’s, but it was not made from velvet.

‘My name is Tarla and I’ll help you with the introduction to the royal family. We will enter through the double doors and you will stay next to each other in your arrival order,’ she said, ‘western province,’ she looked around, the boys raised their hands.

Tarla went to the other side of the room and showed with her arms where the boys should stand.

‘Miner’s province,’ Tarla continued, the well-built man raised his hand.

Tarla came closer and showed the place for the couple where to stand.

‘Eastern province,’ she said, the family raised their hands.

Tarla indicated the place next to us.

‘Southern province,’ she said, I raised my hand, ‘You stay where you are currently standing,’ I nodded.

‘Is it clear so far?’ Tarla asked and everyone nodded enthusiastically.

‘When the royal family enters everyone should bow slightly,’ she said, ‘don't do a big bow, just a slight one. The guests should stay at the front, every companion should stay behind them. The families mustn’t say a word until the guest introduces them,’ Tarla explained the rule that we already knew from our mother.

‘What should we say?’ The father of the girl asked.

‘Every guest should thank the royal family the invitation in his own and his family name, saying where he has come from, what he does for a living and then he should wait for the greeting from his majesty, Prince Veron. After the greeting from his majesty, Prince Veron, the family should make a step forward next to the guest and they should thank the Prince for the invitation as well. The Prince will greet everyone one by one.  Is it clear?’

Everyone nodded but this time it was not so convincing.

‘Let’s starts,’ Tarla said, ‘Don’t keep the royal family waiting.’

The woman walked to the door and the rest of the people followed her like a herd. Alana was walking behind me following my steps. My mother had taught this to both of us, in case I needed I would have been able to walk behind her following her steps.

The guards opened the door, everyone took their place.

The room was smaller than I thought, the colours and the wall were decorated the same as outside. Three green and huge velvet chairs stood a few meters in front of us on a pedestal with two steps. This room must have been a small reception hall. Tarla arranged the families behind each other, but in our case, she just passed by. Alana was not visible for sure, my wide back completely hid her. The sound of a handbell gave a signal that the royal family had arrived.

An invisible door opened behind the chairs and the royal family entered.

The Prince seemed to be a little older than me and he was quite tall but shorter than me. He had a slim but muscular body and dark-blond hair. He dressed similarly to me, but he had a green tunic with gold stripes and the royal coat of arms was embroidered on the vest. The Prince was followed by an auburn haired woman of our parents’ age in a green silk dress which had a similar shape to Alana’s current one. This dress also had gold stripes with an embroidered royal coat of arms. The Queen was followed by a girl who had the same dress as her mother, but she had short red spiky hair. The Princess was only a few years younger than us and she carried a velvet pillow with cat on it which looked very thin and ill.

We bowed slightly, one of the boys from the west almost fell. He had to take a step forward to keep his balance. After a few seconds I stood up, Tarla coughed gently showing everyone to do the same by standing near the wall in the same line with us.

The Prince stood up from the middle chair.

‘I’d like to welcome every winner from the provinces, I’m Prince Veron,’ he said, ‘I’d like to get to know everyone, please introduce yourselves.’

According to the rules of etiquette the Prince stayed standing, Tarla looked at the western boys.

‘I’m Jonal your majesty. I’m a baker from the western province,‘ the boy was thinking about the sentence, ‘and this is my younger brother, Honal.’

The younger boy made a step aside, Tarla indicated that it was not correct. Based on our knowledge the Prince should have greeted the guest before the family, but it already didn’t matter. The boys even forgot to thank the Prince for the invitation.

‘I’m treating both of you as my guests for the next couple of weeks,’ The Prince adapted to the situation, the royal family didn’t show any disappointment because of the mistake. The Princess petted her cat, the Queen sat quietly.

Tarla waved to the man from miners’ province. The man was short but extremely strong.

‘I’m Kunal from miners’ province, your majesty,’ the man waited for the Prince.

‘I’m treating you Kunal as my guest for the next couple of weeks,’ the Prince said the official sentence.

‘This is my wife, Nataya,’ the man said, and his wife took a step next to him.

‘I’m Nataya, your majesty,’ the woman said.

Tarla sighed as they forgot to thank the Prince for the invitation, but she showed that it was enough.

‘I’m treating you Nataya as my guest for the next couple of weeks,’ the Prince said the official sentence automatically.

Tarla gave a sign to the father from the east. The tall man had darker skin, but he still could not be compared to the southern people.

‘I’m Doran, your majesty, I work as a carpenter,’ he said, ‘thank you for inviting me here,‘ he said proudly as he didn’t forget to thank the Prince for the invitation.

‘I’m treating you Doran as my guest for the next couple of weeks,’ the Prince said the official sentence again.

‘This is my wife Tila, and my daughter Dorana,’ the man said, his family took a step next to him.

The mother did a clumsy curtsy and the girl just smiled. Alana gently touched my waist showing that we were next.

‘I’m treating you Tila and Dorana as my guests for the next couple of weeks,’ the Prince said the official sentence again.

I took a step forward exactly as it should be.

‘Your majesty, I’d like to thank you for the invitation, my name is Aleron and I’m a blacksmith from the southern province,’ I said calmly, Tarla’s smile showed me that our mother’s teaching followed the rules of etiquette.

‘I’m treating you, Aleron as my guest for the next couple of weeks,’ the Prince said again.

‘I’d like to introduce my twin sister to you, her name is Alana,’ I said, Alana took a step next to me at the same time together with her name.

My sister bowed her head slightly and did a graceful curtsy.

‘Your majesty, I’d like to thank you for extending your hospitality to me, I’m Alana,’ my sister smiled, she too had remembered our mother’s teachings well.

Alana waited for the Prince’s greeting, but nothing happened. The Prince stood quietly not saying a word. Alana stood quietly as well, Tarla blinked towards the royal family. From what we knew, if the Prince did not greet Alana personally like everyone else, it would mean that he did not accept my sister as his guest and Alana would not be allowed to stay in the castle with me and she would have needed to step back behind me now.

After a few extremely slow and awkward seconds Alana glanced at me and made a move to step back behind me.

‘I’m treating you, Alana, as the guest of my son, Prince Veron for the next couple of weeks,’ the Queen stood up, but she had already started to say the sentence seated.

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ my sister said and stayed next to me.

The Queen glanced at her son, who coughed quickly and took a step forward. The Queen sat back down in her chair.

‘Tarla will walk everyone to the apartments which will be yours in the upcoming weeks. Everyone will have a servant, they are waiting for you in front of the apartments.  I’m expecting everyone for dinner,’ the Prince said, the Queen and the Princess stood up.

We bowed slightly, everyone did it better than the first time. The royal family left the room, Tarla came to our group.

‘Practices will be in the mornings and as his majesty’s guest, you must spend the mealtimes with him. The rest of the time you are free. If you need anything, please let your servant or the guards on the corridor know. Please follow me,’ she said and went up the right-side stairs.

From the stairs, we turned right to a narrower corridor where guards stood only a few meters from each other.

‘Has the etiquette changed?’ My sister asked quietly, while we were following the group.

‘I don’t think so,’ I said, ‘the Prince greeted everyone apart from you.’

‘So, I’m the only one who is not welcomed,’ she said, ‘here neither,’ she sighed.

‘For sure there is an explanation,’ I said to her nicely.

The corridor looked like downstairs, the doors were almost invisible on the greeny yellow walls, the sculptures and the carved pictures were used as decoration. At the edge of the corridors, I saw some handbells hanging from the walls. From what I heard from my father they are used in case of emergency and at least two bells can be found on each corridor. The corridor at the end turned further but we stopped in the middle. Between the guards, young girls stood by each door, I quickly stared at all of them. Tarla stopped next to the first girl.

‘Western boys,’ she said to the boys who stared at Alana more and more openly.

Maybe I’ll be a traitor because I’ll punch one of the Prince’s guests soon.

‘This is your apartment; the servant will be at your service,’ Tarla said to the boys, they went into their rooms.

Walking along the corridor, Tarla showed the apartments one by one to everyone. Just like during the introduction we were the last.

‘Southern twins,’ she said, ‘this is your apartment and she is your servant.’

She called a red haired girl who stood near our door. The girl was younger than us, and the same height as Alana. The servants had yellow A-line dresses made from a simpler fabric.

‘Hi,’ Alana offered her hand to the girl, ‘I’m Alana and this is my brother, Aleron.’

The girl bowed, as the Prince’s guests we currently outranked her, but by birth, we were in the same rank.

‘I’m Maina,’ she smiled and opened our door, ‘Each of your packs had been moved here, hopefully, you will like it.’

Alana hurried into her bedroom, I followed her slowly. Our apartment was huge, I saw three doors from the lobby. In the lobby, there were sofas with chairs and a coffee table just as Shirela had back home. From what I heard from my mother it was a drawing-room and should be used to entertain friends. From the drawing-room, one bedroom opened to the right and one to the left. In the middle, in front of the entrance, was the bathroom, which was built like our bathroom in the south. Alana’s herbs stood in the bedroom on the left, the swords were in the room on the right. Both bedrooms had a huge bed, cupboard and a chair with a table and a dressing table. Everything was green and yellow but without luxury.

Alana checked her herbs, I looked at the swords.

‘Every plant is here, and they are completely intact,’ she said with a smile as she came back to the lobby.

‘Can I help you with anything else?’ The servant asked.

‘Could you please bring a jug of boiling water every morning and evening?’ Alana asked, ‘please just leave it next to my herbs on the desk.’

‘Yes,’ the girl said, ‘of course. If you need something, please let the guards know.’ She turned to the entrance to leave.

‘Could you please show me a library?’ Alana asked quickly, ‘I assume, there is more than one.’

‘Yes, there is one on this floor,’ Maina said, ‘if you are ready, I can walk you there.’

‘We can go,’ Alana said, ‘Do you want to join us, Aleron?’ She asked me, I nodded.

I had nothing to do, at least I could look around. We left our apartment and followed the girl towards the bend at the end of the corridor.

‘Miss Alana,’ a loud voice echoed along the quiet corridor, we turned back and nodded.

The Prince and his sister with the cat on the pillow walked towards us, but as the meeting happened accidentally nodding was enough, a bow was not needed. This kind of official greeting from the Prince towards my sister was very polite, but in these circumstances, it was not needed at all. Either the etiquette had slightly changed during the past years, or there must be something that I’m not aware of.

‘Where are you going?’ The Prince asked Maina.

‘I’m about to show them the library on this floor, your majesty,’ Maina said timidly, she wasn’t used to talking to the royal family.

‘I’ll walk them,’ the Prince said, ‘you may go.’ Maina nodded and went further along the corridor.

‘I’d like to apologize for my behaviour, Miss Alana,’ the Prince turned to my sister, ‘After a lot of speeches, I experienced a dry mouth and couldn’t say a word.’

‘Thank you for the apology, your majesty, I’m happy to accept it,’ my sister smiled and offered her hand to the Prince for a hand kiss according to the rules of etiquette.

The Prince looked at Alana’s hand and afterwards looked up at my sister, but he didn’t move. After a couple of seconds, Alana pulled back her hand.

‘Come,’ the Princess broke the awkward seconds, ‘follow me.’

We followed the royal siblings quietly. Maybe I would become a traitor one day by punching the Prince’s face because of his impolite behaviour towards to my sister. I looked at my sister and I saw that she felt not being welcome here. After the bend, we met only a few guards and even fewer people. The decorations on the wall became rarer as well. The Princess opened a normal door.

‘We are here,’ she said and went inside, followed by her brother and by us.

The library was as huge as our apartment. Next to the entrance, two columns stood only in a meter away from the door. Previously that was the place for the guards, from behind the columns the guards were not visible from the library and the guests weren’t bothered by seeing them. Ceiling tall bookshelves stood near the walls throughout the library with a huge wooden ladder on both sides. The sun shone through the ceiling tall windows in front of the door on the other side of the library. In the middle of the room desks with chairs stood randomly.

Alana walked around sometimes blowing off the dust from the books.

‘Master Sifun,’ the Princess shouted with a laugh.

From the back, a huge thump could be heard and after a few seconds a very old, short and thin man appeared next to the windows. There must be a short aisle just in front of the windows, behind the shelves. The man looked like someone who had just woken up and he had a yellow tunic like every man in the castle.

‘Princess Velina, Prince Veron,’ he bowed, ‘I was just packing in the warehouse at the back.’

‘No problem,’ the Princess smiled, ‘Our guests, Alana and Aleron will come here in the next couple of weeks, please help them in everything.’

‘I will, your majesty,’ the man bowed, Alana and I shook hands with him before he went back to the warehouse.

Probably he wanted to clean up what had just collapsed before his arrival.

My sister took a book from the shelf and put it on a table. It was clear that she planned to sit down to read.

‘Today is a lovely day outside,’ the Princess said, ‘come and join the rest, they are already in the garden.’

‘My sister and I will happily join you,’ I said with a smile.

My sister looked at me and put the book back on the shelf, the royal siblings just smiled.

As I had accepted the invitation as the main guest meant that Alana as my companion needed to join us as well.

‘So, let’s go then,’ the Princess said and left the library.

The Princess went back to our corridor and walked down the stairs, we followed her quietly. She planned to go out of the main entrance and afterwards to turn back into the garden. The Prince overtook his sister, Princess Velina slowed down to walk between Alana and me. She held the velvet pillow and sometimes petted the unfortunate little animal. The cat was supposed to be grey coloured, but his fur was missing in patches and if I saw correctly, he had one foot missing.

‘Did you come from the south?’ The Princess asked Alana.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ my sister smiled, ‘it was not a short journey, we were the last to arrive.’

‘I hope that your apartment will be comfortable,’ the Princess said.

‘It is perfect,’ I said.

We followed the Prince to the garden, which started at the side of the castle on the opposite side of the tower. The castle could be bypassed by a wide paved pavement, but at the side of the castle we turned on to a well-kept road. The park was covered with green grass and next to the road nice trees provided shadows for the benches between them. On the other side of the road hedges and trees were planted as far as I could see. We arrived at a circular place which was part of the widened road. The circular place was surrounded by benches and trees, on one bench a lame old lady sat with a small dog by her feet and drew something. A stick leant next to her on the bench. The male guests stood near some huge stone tables with other men, the female guests played with a ball with other women in a couple of meters away from the tables. The women dressed like Alana, the men dressed like me. A few meters away from here in the same rest area servants and guards spent their free time, their clothes showed their roles.

Everyone stopped what they were doing and bowed to the royal siblings but after a quick gesture, everyone continued. The girls were the Princess's companions and the men were the Prince's companions. They either came from a noble family or the royal family expressed their gratitude to them with this gesture.

The companions were there to give company to the royal siblings and they always lived inside the castle.

‘Attention, please,’ the Prince said, everyone looked at him, ‘Everyone has already met with my guests here, let me introduce to you Alana and Aleron who have come from the south. They will be my guests for the next couple of weeks as well.’

The men introduced themselves to Alana and gave an air kiss on her hand, I did the same to the women. After the greetings, a tall handsome brown haired man with brown eyes stepped up to the Prince.

‘Are you joining in the game, Prince Veron?’ He asked and indicated the stone table.

‘No thank you, Baron,’ the Prince stepped away from the table handing his place over.

‘I’ll join in,’ the Princess put down the pillow on the ground, the cat limped off for a while.

The small dog raised his head, but he didn’t move to catch the cat. The Princess had a thick leather strap around her wrist with a wooden medallion of the tree of fate showing that she was a fortune-teller too. She must have been the personal fortune teller of the royal family. The Men nodded and stepped away from the table.

‘Alana,’ the Princess asked my sister, ‘Do you know this board game?’

One of the Princess’s duties was to help entertain Alana, as she was the only unmarried woman guest.

‘I don’t, your majesty,’ Alana said, ‘we saw this board game during our journey, but we don’t play it in the south.’

‘I’ll show you,’ Princess Velina said and she stepped up to the table with Alana.

Almost everyone stopped what they were doing and joined around the table. I followed my sister, I saw everything over her head anyway. A picture frame lay on the huge stone table with a bag in the middle. On the frame, there was either a loop or a socket shape pointing to the middle of the frame. The loop was exactly the size of the socket.

‘The game is very simple,’ the Princess smiled, and she sprinkled the wooden pieces from the bag on to the centre of the frame. The pieces were different from each other, on one side of the piece there was either one socket or one loop or nothing which fit to each other.

Every wooden piece was the same size and had the same loop or socket on them like on the frame.

‘Four players should sit on four sides of the table,’ the Princess said, ‘everyone takes five wooden pieces from the bag and puts them down inside the frame, connecting it either to the frame or to another piece. You can put a piece anywhere inside the frame. If you put down the last piece, you will win. After every round, we take a new piece from the bag and give away one to our neighbour. As the pieces fit each other and every piece has different shape and there are more pieces than needed, every game will be different. The pieces have two sides, one marked with red, and one with blue. The first player decides which colour we need to use throughout the game. If you cannot put a piece down, you may pass. I’ll tell you the rest during the game, are you ready?’

‘I think so,’ my sister said with a smile.

‘We are waiting for two more players,’ the Princess looked around.

‘I’d like to join,’ I said, ‘can men play together with women?’

‘They can,’ the Princess smiled, ‘but no one likes to play with me, because I know how everyone will move.’

‘I’d like to give it a try,’ I said curiously and with me being in the group Alana could be less shy.

‘I’ll be the fourth one then,’ the Prince smiled and joined us.

The girls stood near the long side of the table, we stood with the Prince on the short one.

‘You can start, Alana,’ the Princess said, Alana took five pieces from the bag holding all in her hands, ‘You have the right to put down the first piece.’

My sister fitted a piece marked with a blue line to a loop on a frame.

‘You should use the blue marked side of every piece from now on,’ the Princess explained, ‘Aleron, you are the next one.’

I took the pieces from the bag and put down one on the frame. My move was followed by the Princess, the Prince finished the round. Prince Veron blocked the empty space near Alana’s piece into a corner, from now on only one exact type of piece could fit there. At the end of the round, we passed one piece to our neighbour. Alana passed it to me, I passed one piece to the Princess, the Princess passed one piece to her brother and Prince Veron to my sister.

Everyone stood around us and looked at the game quietly.

‘Be careful, Alana,’ Baron broke the silence, ‘try to take the piece out of the bag, which will fit on the closed space.’ He showed the space on the corner.

‘Maybe I’ll be lucky,’ my sister said as she took a piece from the bag.

With every round, the game became harder. Even if I planned my moves, everyone could change my plans. The Prince seemed to be a good strategist. He was unpredictable, and he left more and more blank spaces where only an exact shape would fit in. Our father had taught me some strategies, but I didn’t know this game. During the game, Baron kept advising my sister, but Alana made decisions by herself whether it was good or bad.

For the last round, only two spaces left empty, my sister filled in one and everyone else passed.

‘I’ll finish the game then,’ Alana said with a smile and filled the frame with the last piece.

‘Congratulations, Miss Alana,’ the Prince said and smiled at my sister.

‘Thank you for the game, your majesty,’ Alana bowed.

‘You have a lucky hand,’ Baron gave an air kiss on my sister’s hand, who followed the rules of etiquette and allowed him to do it.

‘Next game,’ the Prince said, three boys stood by the table immediately.

I stepped back to my sister.

‘Well done, Alana,’ I said with a proud smile. I gave her a kiss on her forehead, it was allowed for siblings.

‘It was easy to win,’ she said, ‘I received both pieces,’ She nodded towards to the Prince with her head, ‘I’ll tell you later.’

‘You don’t have to,’ I said.

I started to understand what could lie behind the Prince’s weird behaviour and it was definitely not the etiquette as it hadn’t changed. The boys were playing with the board game, my sister joined the girls to play with the ball.

‘I have been waiting for you for a long time,’ the Princess whispered in my ear, ‘I was very curious about you, the traitor, although I imagined you differently.’

‘Do you know, your majesty?’ I asked hesitantly.

‘I'm one of the few people who knows about the prophecy which caused the disease of the tree,’ she smiled, ‘Shirela informed me about your departure.’

‘Does your brother know about me as well?’ I asked.

‘Apart from me no one from the royal family knows it,’ she said, ‘our council decided not to share it with anyone. We don’t know much about the prophecy and the tree got sick as well. There is no evidence about your future activities and we never make any judgement in advance. We cannot refer to any rumours.’

‘Could you please inform Shirela about our arrival?’ I asked.

‘I already informed her,’ she said, ‘I enjoyed the game, ‘she laughed, ‘at last, I couldn’t predict anyone’s move.’

‘I’ve heard about the fact that the Prince’s future is obscured,’ I said.

‘Veron loves it very much,’ the Princess laughed, ’he teases our parents that if they do not leave him alone, he will never get married and the royal bloodline will die. I assume you know, that the Prince needs to get married to become a King. My father wanted to retire last year already, but Veron is still in the middle of the selection process.’

‘Why did you not tell him anything about his future wife before the fact that the Prince’s future is obscured?’ I asked.

‘Because it was always uncertain,’ the Princess said, ‘many women wanted to become Queen and my brother never refused any applicants,’ she laughed, ‘With time it became more and more uncertain and I didn’t want to make the same mistake that happened related to your prophecy.’

‘I’d like to get to know the background of my prophecy,’ I said.

‘Just swim with the tide,’ she suggested, ‘the tree is leading your destiny, we just cannot see that. As you are here, everything will become clear over time.’

‘My sister doesn’t know anything about this,’ I said.

‘I’ll respect that,’ the Princess promised.

‘Thank you, your majesty.’ I nodded.

The Princess picked up the pillow with the resting cat, I went back to the board game. The Prince stood in the same place, and instead of my sister, his friend, Baron stood next to him. Baron’s hands were full of wooden pieces. The two other men at the table had a similar quantity of wooden pieces in their hands as the Prince had. My sister came back with the girls, as Dorana, the little girl had become tired and everyone had finished the ball game. Everyone joined around the table to watch the board game. Only a couple of spaces were not filled by a wooden piece in the frame, I assumed that all of them were in the Prince’s hand.

‘Baron,’ my sister asked with a smile, ‘What happened? You are standing on the lucky side of the table.’

‘Maybe you took the luck with you,’ Baron smiled trying not to drop any piece.

‘It seems, yes,’ my sister laughed.

The Prince looked at my laughing sister and lost his attention.

‘Prince Veron,’ his friend said standing at his other hand, ‘please take my wooden piece.’

‘Yes, of course,’ the Prince said and gave away quickly one piece from his hand to Baron.

‘Thank you, Prince Veron,’ the man said happily and put down the piece in one missing space.

‘As you can see, Alana,’ Baron said, ‘you brought back the luck.’

The Prince looked very disappointed as he wanted to destroy Baron in the game.

‘I didn’t do that,’ Alana smiled, ‘this luck was given to you by his majesty in the form of a wooden piece.’

I was right, the Prince had every piece, and he put all of them down one by one in rounds while everyone else passed. Everyone congratulated him, including my sister.

‘It was a very generous gift from you towards Baron, your majesty,’ my sister smiled.

‘I thought I could support him a little,’ the Prince smiled to my sister.

My sister’s appreciation made the Prince very happy, I became almost certain about my assumption related to the Prince.

‘It was very selfless,’ my sister said kindly and bowed to the Prince before she came back to me.

‘Everyone should go inside,’ the Princess said, ‘it is dinner time soon.’

The group walked inside while Tarla was walking to us from the castle. Apart from the guests everyone else walked into the castle following the royal siblings.  Two girls held Baron’s hands, one couple walked arm in arm.

‘From today everyone eats the meal together with the royal family,’ Tarla said, ‘We don’t have much time, so I’ll tell you only the main rules. No one talks or says anything until he or she is asked a question by the royal family,’ Tarla said, ‘If you are asked, please put down the cutlery, and give a short answer.’

‘Anything else?’ Jonal the baker who was the same age as us asked. He became more and more confident with every hour spent in the castle, ‘I’m hungry.’

‘Watch the southern twins,’ Tarla said and looked at us, ‘they are aware of the right behaviour.’

‘I watch one of them quite often,’ Jonal moaned, Tarla looked at him disapprovingly.

‘Go back to your apartments, the servants will walk you to dinner,’ Tarla said.

The group walked back, Alana walked together with the girl and her family in the front, I dropped behind with the baker boys. The boys were shorter and thinner than me. During as I walked between them, I hugged their shoulders.

‘Boys,’ I said, ‘We are friends, aren’t we?’ I asked kindly.

‘Yes, yes, we are friends,’ the younger one moaned.

‘I’m giving you a bit of friendly advice then,’ I said, ‘don't be dare to be rude about my sister again and don’t even look at her ever. Is it clear?’ I squeezed their shoulders a bit, it was obvious from their movements and the way they groaned that they felt it.

‘It is clear,’ the older one said.

‘Good,’ I said and left them behind.

We went back to our apartment, Alana changed her blue dress for a purple one with a black belt, which looked like the same dress to me.

‘Clothes are not so different here,’ I laughed.

‘It is easy to follow the rules,’ she said.

Maina knocked on our door, we followed her to the dining room. Every guest arrived downstairs in the dining room at the same time. In the dining room, there were four tables in a rectangular shape where servants stood in the middle and poured water for everyone. The corners of the tables were not connected, the servants walked in and out throughout the spaces. Four guards stood on the corners with halberds, Tarla was waiting for us to help us sit down.

‘You will sit here,’ she showed the long side of the rectangle, ‘please sit down in the same order as you stood during the introduction.’

She asked everyone to stand behind each chair, but she went past us as she had done before the introduction. Alana and I stood behind our chairs at the right edge of the table as it should be.

The companions arrived at the short sides of the tables, girls sat on the left side, close to the baker boys, men sat on our side. Baron quickly overtook his friends and sat down on the nearest chair on the edge of their table taking the closest chair to Alana.

We didn’t even try to sit down, the royal family arrived after a couple of minutes through a door from behind their tables. We bowed slightly, the royal family sat down, we followed them.

The four servants brought soup bowls and firstly they put them down in front of the royal family and after that they put the bowls on our table. Everyone started to eat quietly, Doran next to me tried to copy my gestures, I kindly showed him what I was using to eat and how.

‘Alana,’ the Princess said, ‘what did you do down in the south?’

My sister put down her knife and fork and swallowed what she was eating in seconds.

‘I used to work as a teacher, your majesty,’ my sister answered, ‘I taught children to write, read and count just like my mother did.’

‘Really?’ Baron sounded surprised.

‘Really,’ Alana didn’t understand why he sounded dubious.

‘I’m not saying that you could not be a teacher,’ Baron excused himself, ‘teachers are usually not so pretty,’ he corrected himself with a compliment.

‘In my city every teacher used to be pretty,’ my sister said calmly.

I smiled as my mother and my sister were the only teachers in the south.

‘People have darker skin in the south, haven’t they?’ One of the Princess’s friends asked this who had walked arm in arm with Baron that afternoon and wanted to draw his attention.

‘They have, Dalina,’ my sister answered, ‘but the skin colour does not affect someone’s prettiness.’

‘So, they were not as pretty you,’ Baron was confident.

‘Does skin colour affect prettiness?’ The Princess asked with a smile.

My sister continued her meal without any further word.

‘I did not say that your majesty,’ Baron said quickly.

‘Yes, Baron, you did,’ a friend sitting next to him patted Baron on his back, ‘you ran into that.’

‘I have a feeling, Baron that you were not prepared for our guest,’ the Queen said with a smile.

‘No one was prepared for her,’ the Prince said and looked at my sister.

The tone of this sentence was so nice, that it was obviously a compliment. My sister smiled at the Prince, this contrived compliment pleased her very much. After this conversation, the royal family asked the other guests about their lives and they accepted that the evening will not follow the rules of etiquette.

Close to the end to the dinner, Baron turned to my sister.

‘I’d be honoured, Alana if I could walk you back to your apartments.’

Baron’s offering was an indication a request to court her. If my sister accepted this, it would mean that Baron would accompany my sister to social events. Everyone else could compliment her, but until Alana decided otherwise, Baron could court her.

‘Thank you,’ my sister said, ‘my brother and I will find the way back to our room easily.’

My sister declined the offer, but Baron could try again tomorrow. I would be surprised if my sister accepted any offer on our first day. I looked at the Prince who just smiled quietly at his plate.

At the end of the dinner the royal family stood up, we bowed slightly while they were leaving the room.

The servant girls walked us back to our apartments.

‘Are you coming to the practice tomorrow morning?’ I asked while Alana was dressing in her room.

‘Yes, I’d like to see it,’ she said, ‘I’m curious to see how good everyone is.’

‘Do you know that you declined an offer of courtship today?’ I asked.

‘I know,’ she smiled and came out of her room, ‘and it felt good,’ she laughed.

05.

Next morning, I was exhausted and overslept, I only woke up because of Maina’s knocking.

‘I came to walk you to the training,’ Maina said.

‘Yes, of course, please wait for a moment,’ I said and closed the door.

I woke Alana up, none of us closed their bedroom doors. She slept deeply in a comfortable bed just as I did. I dressed up as it for a journey and picked up my wooden sword.

‘Don’t wait for me,’ Alana said, ‘I’ll follow you soon.’

I closed the apartment door behind me and followed the girl. We walked to the courtyard at the other side of the castle where a huge enclosed space was kept for practising with wooden dummies and wooden weapons.

Next to the fence, a balcony stood with covered benches from where the practice could be observed.

When I arrived, the wives and the Princess already sat on the pedestal and watched the warm-up. The younger baker boy was going to practise, probably the Prince allowed him to join us.

A huge circular area was marked in the middle for the contests, everyone rested or warmed up outside of it. The guards and the Prince’s friends whom we met yesterday were here. From what I heard, the morning was always used for practising.

‘Good morning everyone,’ the Prince said, ‘today I’ll start practising with my guests who arrived yesterday.’

Everyone waited outside the circular area, the Prince had the first contest against the younger baker boy. The boy was not unskilful, but he was young and weak, and the Prince got the sword out of his hand quickly. Jonal, the older baker boy seemed to be a better opponent, but he was still not a challenge to the Prince. The miner was very well-built, and the power of the blow from his sword was extreme, but the Prince was able to defeat him using his speed.

I looked up at the pedestal, my sister had just arrived in a red dress. She had let her hair down again, only a braid passed over the top of her head, crossing her side plaits.

The Prince had a contest against Doran, and even though he started to become tired, he won.

‘Aleron, ‘the Prince said, ‘If you don’t mind, I’d like to take a short break.’

‘Of course, your majesty,’ I said.

‘I’m happy to practise with someone during his majesty’s break,’ Baron offered and looked at my sister. I was not surprised by his offer, I understood his desire to impress Alana.

‘I’ll accept the challenge,’ I said, ‘After our contest, I would be as tired as his majesty after his short break.’

‘It won’t be a quick contest, Aleron,’ Baron said confidently and went inside the circular place.

‘I hope it will be,’ I said and followed him.

Baron was not a bad swordsman, but he was neither as fast nor as strong as I was. My sister observed my contest as an expert, and she applauded my victory. Baron bowed towards her slightly, Alana nodded.

‘I’m ready Aleron,’ the Prince drank some water and stood up.

‘Me too, your majesty,’ I said.

The Prince was an excellent swordsman, he was pretty much on the same level as my sister, but he was stronger than her. Our contest took longer than any other, and I won just because the Prince took a barely noticeable look at my sister to see whether she was observing the contest. As I expected, Alana was curious, and she didn’t miss even one move.

‘You were good, Aleron,’ the Prince said when I pointed my sword at his throat.

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Where have you learnt to fight?’ A soldier of my parents’ age asked.

‘From my father,’ I said.

‘Your technique is perfect,’ he said.

‘Thank you.’

Everyone congratulated the Prince and me as we were the only winners this morning. Prince Veron accepted everyone’s congratulations, but he became visibly happy when, following the rules of etiquette, my sister stepped up to him.

‘Congratulations, your majesty,’ my sister said with a smile, ‘From what I’ve heard, Aleron is very talented and he is challenging to beat.’

‘I’ll keep on trying in the forthcoming weeks,’ the Prince smiled.

Alana bowed to the Prince and came over to me to walk back together to the apartment. Everyone walked back to their apartment, Alana waited while I got dressed.

‘How did you like the contests?’ I asked her from my room through the open door.

‘The Prince is more or less on my level,’ she said, ‘Baron and the other guests are not even there.’

‘I agree,’ I said.

‘I’m curious whether the Prince or I is the better swordsman, but it will not be revealed ever,’ she said.

‘We need to find a way for you to practise,’ I said, ‘I’ll find a way.‘

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ she smiled, ‘that would be good.’

We went for breakfast which was less interesting for Alana and me than yesterday, as the swordsmen were asked about their experiences. Close to the end of the breakfast, the Prince stood up, but as his family didn’t follow him, we put down our cutlery and sat quietly to wait for the announcement.

‘I’d like to announce a dance evening tonight to honour our guests which will be organized after dinner today,’ the Prince said, ‘outfits will be delivered to your rooms.’

An enthusiastic roar could be heard across the room, the royal family stood up, everyone immediately followed them. The royal family left the room, we bowed slightly. We started to walk back towards our apartment.

‘Aleron,’ Baron’s voice stopped us, ‘please wait a minute.’

‘I can walk back by myself,’ Alana said to me and continued her walk along the corridor.

I waited with curiosity for Baron.

‘How can I help you?’ I asked Baron.

‘What is Alana’s favourite flower?’ he asked, ‘I’d like to send some flowers to her.’

‘Something white with lots of petals,’ I said.

I had no idea about flowers, and I was not aware that Alana would have any favourite one.

‘There are quite a few flowers like this,’ he laughed, ‘I’ll find something then.’

‘I’m sorry, I don’t know anything about flowers,’ I said.

‘No problem, please don’t tell Alana this conversation,’ he asked.

‘I will not tell her,’ I promised.

Baron went in the other direction, I returned to our apartment, but my sister was not there. I looked out on the balcony, but my sister was not amongst the group of people assembled in the garden where the same people had come as yesterday. I headed to the library, she must be there.

The library was the same empty just as yesterday. Alana stood on the long ladder and read a book.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked her, ‘I thought that we would join the rest in the garden.’

‘You can join them,’ she said while she climbed down the ladder, ‘I found this book about dance and I must learn it by tonight. Maybe this book will help me to remember our mother’s teaching.’

She sat down at the nearest table, I joined her.

‘Do you want to learn to dance from a book?’ I laughed.

‘From where else?’ she asked, ‘I have found only this old book, please help me to remember.’

‘Let’s see, ‘I turned the book a bit towards me and read it, ‘It is called Castle Dance. Are you sure that this is what we are looking for?’

‘Yes, this is what our mother taught us, but in this book, we have more than one type of dance.’

‘Which types?’ I asked.

‘Steps if the partner has a lower rank, steps if the partner is of the same rank and steps if the partner has a higher rank than ours,’ she read.

‘Which one did we learn?’ I asked.

‘I’m trying to figure it out from the drawings,’ Alana turned the pages forward and back.

‘As far as I remember there was a cross-step in the footwork,’ I said.

‘In the book there is a cross-step in every type,’ she answered.

Alana put the book on the table, and she tried to follow the steps in the book holding the desk. She faced the window and turned her back to the door.

‘Will master Sifun not come out of the warehouse?’ I asked.

‘I put a blanket on him after my arrival,’ Alana said, ‘he is sleeping in the warehouse on a bed.’

‘Did you find out what type of dance we learned?’ I asked.

‘I think none of them, the type with the same ranked partner is the closest match,’ she said, ‘I hope that the Prince doesn’t want to dance with me tonight.’

‘Why?’ I asked, ‘what is your problem with the Prince?’ I asked.

‘Nothing,’ she laughed, ‘when he forgot to greet me as his guest, I was not impressed by him, but during the board game, he seemed to be different. Yesterday afternoon he was very nice’ she smiled.

‘Maybe you scared him during the introductions, and he forgot to say anything,’ I teased my sister.

The Prince had tender feelings towards Alana, but I wanted my sister to find it out by herself.

‘I have not been described with this word before but maybe I was scary,’ she laughed.

‘Why don’t you want to dance with him tonight?’ I asked.

‘Because dancing with a higher-ranked person seems to be impossible,’ she said, while she kept moving her feet, ‘I cannot follow the moves even in the book. I don’t even understand why these different types are needed, I might not even know the rank of my partner.’

‘Put the book down,’ I said, ‘let’s try to dance together.’

I placed my right hand round my sister’s waist and pulled her close before we started to make the moves watching our feet.

‘Here comes one cross step,’ I said, she laughed.

‘Aleron, you just want to make a cross-step but we didn’t learn any before. The book is old and there are similar moves to a cross step, but we never learnt any. In case if we had learned any cross steps, you would have fallen over and I would remember that,’ she laughed.

‘I’m sure that we had a cross-step,’ I said, ‘we should have listened to our mother more.’

We stopped dancing, we didn’t remember anything. Alana held the table again and continued to copy the steps from the book with her feet. I drank tea, which was brought here by my sister in a jug. I recognized the taste of my native tea.

‘Do you remember what our mother said?’ She asked with a laugh, ‘If you danced as well as you use your swords, I would not have a headache so often.’ I laughed as it was a literal quote from our mother.

‘Our father always maintained that our swords would be more useful than some dance steps,’ I said.

‘He was right,’ Alana said, ‘we are here because you are good with a sword and not because of your dancing knowledge.’

‘Because no one saw you using your swords,’ I said, ‘based on your knowledge you could easily become a guard,’ I laughed, ‘Can we not request any help from anyone?’ I switched the topic back to the dance.

‘If I ask Tarla, she will have a heart attack because she will count on us tonight to set a good example,’ she said, ‘I think I’ll stay at home tonight.’

‘No, you won’t,’ I said decisively, ‘we are going to the dance tonight, and finally, for the first time in your life, you will be asked for a dance.’

‘All right then,’ my sister said, ‘in that case, we will need some help. No one knows our mother here, but she wouldn’t be happy if we were getting embarrassed tonight.’  Alana kept moving her feet holding the table and watching the book.

‘Maybe we can help you,’ the Prince came out from behind one of the columns, his sister with her cat from behind the other one.

My sister finished her moves, turned back surprised and closed the book in a hurry.

‘Your majesty,’ both of us bowed, ‘we were not aware of your presence,’ I said.

‘We were looking for you,’ the Princess said, ‘you were not in the garden, so we came here, and we can help you to prepare for tonight.’

‘Do you really know how to use a sword?’ Prince Veron asked my sister with unconcealed curiosity.

‘She doesn’t, your majesty,’ I answered instead of Alana, ‘women are not allowed to take any weapon in their hands, your majesty.’

I stepped up quickly next to my sister to move in front of her in a moment in case of any problem.  Maybe this will be the moment my treason would be revealed.

‘Probably you misunderstood something, your majesty,’ Alana said, ‘my brother is the swordsman.’

‘As a Prince, I give you my word, no one will ever hear about this from me or my sister,’ the Prince took a step backwards to show his peaceful intent.

‘Please tell me the truth,’ the Prince asked Alana nicely, ‘do you really know how to use a sword?’

‘You can answer, Alana,’ the Princess said, ‘no one ever will betray you.’

My sister looked at me, I shrugged my shoulders. We were caught, and the Prince became curious.

‘I learned a bit from Aleron, your majesty,’ Alana said carefully.

‘Here is my offer then,’ the Prince said with a smile, ‘Now we will teach you to dance in exchange for a competition in private this afternoon’ the Prince made his offer with a smile.

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ Alana said, ‘but I can dance.’

‘No, you can’t,’ the Princess laughed, ‘Aleron,’ she turned to me, ‘there is no cross-step in the dance,’ she put the cat down on a table.

‘Which kind of book have you found, anyway?’ the Prince went next to my sister and opened the book on the table.

He turned over the pages for a while and started to laugh.

‘Come Velina, look at this,’ he said, ‘this book is around a thousand years old and the steps are drawn.’

The Princess went up to her brother to look inside the book, Alana walked closer to the window.

‘This book is old,’ the Prince said, ‘I’m offering one more time my help if you don’t want to give Tarla a heart attack,’ he smiled at Alana.

‘Aleron?’ Alana asked me, she was visibly unsure.

‘We accept the offer,’ I said, ‘but no one else can know about my sister’s ability.’

‘It will be only the four of us,’ the Prince said, ‘I swear to that.‘

The Prince offered his hand to me to signify a business deal, I shook it.

‘Let’s start,’ the Prince said and pushed the tables and chairs aside, I helped him.

‘Velina,’ Prince Veron instructed his sister, ‘stay next to Alana in front of Aleron. Aleron, come and stay next to me.’

We stood in the middle of the room about one foot from each other. The royal siblings started to move their feet slowly, we copied their moves.

‘Our mother taught us this,’ Alana said while she followed the Princess’s steps.

‘This dance is our current dance,’ the Princess said, ‘that book is very old.’

‘Based on that book it would be really impossible to dance with me,’ the Prince smiled while slowly showing me the steps, ‘this is the only dance that has existed since I was born, it does not matter who the partner is.’

We practised slowly, only a few different steps needed to be combined. After a while, I started to understand the pattern, so did Alana.

‘I think I’ve got it,’ I said.

‘Me too,’ Alana smiled.

‘You knew the basics, you just simply forgot,’ the Princess said, ‘it was not apparent, but your mother taught you well.’

The royal siblings finished the moves, we continued to practise with Alana under their observation. I didn’t look at the Prince but probably he observed my sister more than me.

‘I think we are done,’ the Princess said when we had finished the last sequence.

‘We can do the next step now,’ the Prince waved to his sister.

‘Come, Aleron,’ the Princess put my right hand in place round her waist and pulled me closely, ‘let’s try together.’

We danced slowly and when I looked down at my feet, she raised my head with her hand.

‘Talking is seemly while dancing,’ she smiled, ‘I assume you know that.’

‘I know,’ I said, she chuckled.

We finished dancing, according to the rules of etiquette I gave an air kiss on the Princess’s hand.

‘We are next,’ the Prince said and stood up in front of my sister.

The Prince kept an unnaturally large space between Alana and him and slowly led her. When my sister looked down at her feet, the Prince coughed loudly, but he didn’t touch my sister’s head. They practised only one sequence before the Prince stopped.

‘I think you know everything,’ the Prince gave an air kiss on Alana’s hand.

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ Alana bowed with a smile.

The Prince and Alana looked at each other, something was clearly in the air, the Princess smiled at me.

‘We are ready,’ the Princess said.

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ Alana and I bowed.

We sat around the table where my sister kept her tea, the dancing lessons were over.

‘Tarla won’t have a heart attack now,’ the Princess said.

‘Are you ready for the afternoon practice, Alana?’ the Prince asked while he poured a cup of tea for himself.

‘I’m ready, your majesty,’ my sister smiled, ‘we made a deal.’

‘This tea is delicious,’ the Prince said, ‘I haven’t drunk this before.’

‘It is my tea,’ Alana said, ‘I brought the herbs over with the jug.’

‘How do you know anything about tea?’ the Princess asked.

‘From my mother,’ my sister said, ‘she taught me all about herbs and my tea contains some herbs.’

‘From how did your mother know so much about noble customs?’ the Prince asked.

‘We don’t know, your majesty,’ I said, ‘probably she knew them as a teacher.’

‘It’s lunchtime soon,’ the Princess said, ‘we should leave.’

‘Let’s go,’ the Prince said.

We stood up, Alana picked up her jug and her herbs. I took the jug from her before we left the library. The royal siblings were about to go in the opposite direction, we bowed and started to go back to our room.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince said, ‘please wait for a moment.’

Alana signalled to me that she was going back to our room, I turned back with the jug in my hand.

‘How can I help you, your majesty?’ I asked.

‘I’d like to ask you which flowers your sister prefers,’ he said, I laughed.

‘I was not the first one to asks this, right?’ the Prince asked.

‘No, your majesty and I cannot help you,’ I said, ‘I have no idea about her favourite flower as she hasn’t received any before.’

‘Never?’ the Princess was surprised.

‘Never, your majesty,’ I said.

‘That is why you said that she would be asked for a dance for the first time tonight,’ the Prince said, I nodded.

‘Veron,’ the Princess smiled, ‘you were the first one who asked her for a dance.’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘These things mean more to Alana than a few flowers.’

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ the Prince smiled, ‘you helped me a lot.’

The royal siblings walked in the opposite direction and I returned to our apartment.  Our lobby was almost full of huge flower baskets, every basket had different white flowers in it.

‘What is this?’ I asked my sister about the flowers.

‘Baron sent them,’ Alana stood in her room and took care of her herbs, ‘he wrote that he couldn’t decide which were my favourites.’

‘It’s very kind of him,’ I said and went into my sister’s room.

‘It is.’

‘What are you doing?’ I asked my sister.

On her table, small rags lay next to each herb with dried leaves on them.

‘All of them are blooming nicely,’ she smiled, ‘I’m taking off the old leaves in order not to overload the stem.’

‘I see,’ I said, ‘let’s go for lunch.’

We left our room, Maina walked towards us, but she just stopped and waited.

‘You don’t cause much work for me,’ she smiled.

‘We are happy not to,’ I said.

At lunch, we sat in the same place as yesterday, the royal family ate without saying much, the Prince glanced at my sister sometimes.

‘How was your morning?’ the Princess asked the girls.

‘It was good, your majesty,’ Dalina said, ‘we tried to beat Baron at the board game, but we were not successful.’

‘I let them change as many pieces as they wished,’ Baron smiled, ‘but they couldn’t win. Alana,’ he turned to my sister, ‘we missed your lucky hands.’

‘I doubt that I would have been a huge help,’ my sister smiled.

‘Where have you been this morning?’ Baron asked Alana kindly.

I looked at the Prince, he was visibly not happy about this question, although it was following the rules of etiquette.

‘I found a book in the library which took up my time,’ my sister said, ‘unfortunately, I haven’t finished it yet.’

‘I see,’ he said.

The royal siblings couldn’t be asked about their absence, and Baron was not interested in me, so we spent the rest of the lunch quietly.

After lunch we walked back to our apartment, Alana had to change her dress.

‘What should I wear now?’ she asked.

‘You can put on the dress that you used to wear during our journey,’ I suggested, ‘it allows you to move.’

‘I cannot put any local dress on,’ she said, ‘I will just put on one of my southern dresses then.’

‘You will look beautiful,’ I was sarcastic.

Alana got changed, her old dress looked more awful than before. Someone knocked on our door, I opened it.

‘Come with me, Veron is already there,’ the Princess said from the door, ‘very nice dress,’ she chuckled.

‘The other one underneath this would be more conspicuous,’ Alana smiled.

I picked up her two wooden swords and her steel ones, I didn’t know which one would be needed. We followed the Princess downstairs where she turned to a small corridor. Next to a door, a guard was waiting quietly.

‘Prince Veron and Aleron will have a private practice now,’ she said to the guard, ‘You should not open this door under any circumstances until my brother or I tell you to. Is it clear?’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ the guard said.

The Princess opened the door and we went inside a room. The room had huge windows couple of meters above me, close to the ceiling. The room was bright, but no one was able to look inside. Next to walls, there was a climbing wall, many kinds of wooden weapons, and wooden dummies. The Prince sat in the corner on a small chair, with the cat on his lap. As soon as we entered, he stood up.

‘Interesting dress,’ he looked at Alana’s sackcloth.

My sister took off her old-fashioned dress and put her hair under the wig. The Princess helped her until my sister looked as if she were on a journey.

‘I assume you travelled like this,’ the Prince smiled, he was obviously impressed by my sister.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ Alana said, and indicated to me that I should throw the wooden swords to her.

‘Two short swords?’ the Prince asked while he took a long wooden sword from the shelf.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ my sister smiled, ‘I’m a girl, I needed an effective weapon which matched my strength.’

‘So be it,’ the Prince smiled, ‘if you are ready, we can start.’

‘Princess Velina, will anyone open the door?’ my sister asked.

‘No, no one ever,’ the Princess smiled.

‘Thank you,’ my sister said, ‘I’m ready to start, your majesty.’

The Princess sat on the chair with the cat, I sat next to her on the floor. This contest will take a long time, I didn’t want to stand for such a long time.

The two short swords were unusual for the Prince, my sister didn’t demonstrate any of her skills, she just defended herself.

‘It will take a long time,’ the Princess said to me.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said, ‘my sister will not give up easily.’

‘My brother neither,’ she said.

‘Come on, Veron,’ the Princess said loudly, ‘do something, it is very boring so far.’

‘She doesn’t have any weak spot,’ the Prince said.

‘Attack her left shoulder, your majesty,’ I suggested, ‘she always keeps it unprotected.’

The Prince accepted my suggestion and attacked my sister’s left shoulder. Alana kept her left arm higher, but the contest started at last.

‘Finally, something is happening,’ the Princess said.

My sister gave up defending herself to attack the Prince. It was a fair fight, I had no idea who would win. They were on the same level, but the Prince was stronger. After a while, he started to use his strength as an advantage against my sister. The Prince kept attacking to make my sister tired until he was able to get the sword out of her left hand. My sister lost her left sword with a quiet scream and she attacked desperately afterwards. With one sword, my sister didn’t have a chance, the differences between the length of the swords made the Prince victorious. Both were bathed in sweat when the Prince pointed his sword at Alana’s throat.

‘Thank you,’ the Prince said and dropped his sword, ‘it was a perfect bout,’ he bowed to my sister showing how honoured he was.

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ my sister smiled, and she bowed slightly.

They looked at each other, I started to feel like a spare part.

‘Veron,’ the Princess broke the spell, ‘your friends are looking for you.’

‘It took longer than expected,’ the Prince smiled.

Alana took off her wig and put her sackcloth back on, I collected her swords.

‘Let’s go,’ the Prince said and opened the door.

‘Did you have good practice, your majesty?’ the guard asked.

‘Very good,’ the Prince smiled, ‘this person from a south is an excellent swordsman.’

The guard looked at Alana’s glistening hair, but he didn’t say a word.

‘Go to the garden, Aleron,’ my sister said to me, ‘I’ll join you later.’

Alana hurried back along the corridor to our room.

‘Velina, go with Aleron,’ the Prince said, ‘I need to wash. Tell them that I practised with Aleron.’

‘I’ll tell them that Aleron is so much better than you that he didn’t even sweat,’ the Princess laughed.

Velina and I walked to the garden, Baron came up to us.

‘Your majesty,’ Baron bowed to the Princess, ‘we are looking for Prince Veron.’

‘He will come soon,’ the Princess said, ‘he practised with Aleron. They had a silly bet.’

‘None of the bettings is foolish,’ Foren, the Prince’s other friend who had a dark skin said.

There wasn’t much time left until dinner, the contest had taken a really long time. The Prince arrived and he told everyone that he had beaten me. We played the board game until dinner, but my sister didn’t show up.

‘Where is your sister, Aleron?’ Baron asked.

‘She is preparing herself for tonight.’

I told the truth, washing her hair always took a long time.

Before dinner we went back to the apartments, our outfits for the dance waited for us on the sofa in our lobby. My outfit looked similar to what I had worn for the introduction, but the bodice was made from blue silk with silver stripes. My sister came to dinner in her dress she had worn that morning, after dinner she would have enough time to change.

‘My hair taking longer to dry here,’ she said, ‘I need to remember that.’

We spent the dinner quietly, everyone was excited about tonight. One of the servants poured a drink for the Prince, who looked at my sister with a smile. Alana smiled back and slightly nodded. I looked around but apart from me, no one noticed the smile between them.

‘Alana,’ Baron said, ‘will you honour me with the first dance tonight?’

‘Thank you, Baron,’ my sister said, ‘my first dance tonight belongs to my brother.’

As Alana was my companion and I was the main guest, according to the rules of etiquette, she should have the first dance with me.

‘Right,’ Baron said, Foren patted him on his back.

‘After a short break, Tarla will walk everyone to the dance,’ the Prince stood up, ‘thank you for coming.’

The royal family left the dining room, we walked back to our apartments.

‘What was this smile in the dining room about?’ I asked.

‘I sent a jug of tea to the Prince,’ Alana smiled, ‘I asked Maina to simply pour the Prince a drink from my jug.’

‘I see,’ I said.

I got dressed and waited for Alana. Her dress was made from blue silk with silver stripes on it. On this dress, there were no sleeve, her shoulders and arms were uncovered. The dress widened down from the waist and Alana put a petticoat with many layers underneath.  I helped her with a pearl necklace which matched the dress. She plaited a braid of pearls into her hair, but she let the rest down again. A pleasant scent surrounded her; her eyelids were gently coloured with blue and her lips were pink when she finally came out of her room. She was beautiful, I was proud to be her brother.

‘How do I look?’ she asked.

‘You will be asked for a dance for sure,’ I teased her, ‘You smell nice.’

‘I asked Maina to bring me some make up products from the market,’ she smiled, ‘I’ve noticed that women here frequently wear make up and use fragrance oil.’

Tarla knocked on every door to collect the guests and led us through the double door where we introduced ourselves. The room looked huge now, the temporary walls were pushed away next to the real walls. We walked to the middle of the room, in front of us in the corner a nicely dressed band waited and in the other corner three green velvet chairs were prepared for the royal family. At the side of the band, chairs stood with tables for the guests. Everyone was here already, we saw a lot of new faces, probably the noble families. The old lame lady sat by one table with her dog. Many people stared at my sister, but as she hadn’t accepted Baron’s offer of courtship, no one stepped up to her to ask her to dance.

The royal family arrived, and everyone bowed slightly. The Princess's hair now fell to her shoulders in pale-red locks, it seemed longer than yesterday, and alternating with the burning red, this hair colour suited her much better. The royal family wore green clothes with golden stripes, women’s dresses were the same shape as Alana’s. The Prince stood in front of his chair and he raised his hand to make everyone quiet.

‘Welcome everyone to the dance evening tonight, which has been organized to honour my guests from the four provinces,’ he waved towards us, all the guests stood in one group, ‘I wish everyone a good evening.’

The Prince asked his mother for the first dance.  According to tradition he had to dance with his mother first until he got engaged. From what I heard from my mother, this opening dance was used sometimes to announce the engagement of the Prince. I asked Alana for a dance and we were focusing on our steps during the first dance. None of us looked down, but we didn’t talk either. The Princess was asked to dance by an older man, they moved slowly.

‘You can dance,’ the Prince said behind my back, bowing to ask if Alana could dance with him.

‘Watch your legs, your majesty,’ I laughed and took a step away from my sister.

The Princess indicated that she would like to dance with me, so I went up to her and bowed slightly.

‘Thank you,’ the Princess said as we started to dance.

‘No problem, your majesty,’ I said, ‘your new hairstyle suits you, your majesty,’ I said.

With this hairstyle, the Princess looked more graceful and a nice scent surrounded her.

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ she said, ‘this is my real hair, but I like to vex my mother with wigs, she always thinks at first that I have changed my hair,’ she laughed, ‘thank you for asking me for the dance. I like Lord Adon, but he cannot dance anymore.’

‘Who is he?’ I asked.

‘He is a member of one of the oldest noble families,’ she explained, ‘He has a wife who walks with a stick and they have a small dog. Our family owe them a lot and they live in the castle. Our parents wanted me and Veron to marry their offsprings, but they lost their children in a battle and now it is only the two of them.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘maybe that had caused the uncertainty about the Prince’s future.’

‘Maybe,’ she said, ’but one thing is for sure, and that is that Veron is in love,’ she smiled, ‘at last.’

I looked at the dancing couples, my sister said something, the Prince chuckled and vice versa. They danced in harmony, there was no one so blind as those who could not see the mutual attraction between them.

‘That is why he was impolite, am I right?’ I asked the Princess, she nodded.

‘Yes,’ she smiled, ‘Veron forgot to say a word and our mother became more and more angry because Veron insisted that he had greeted Alana, but our mother couldn’t hear it. Our mother insisted on that awkward apology as well when Veron didn’t kiss Alana’s hand because he was afraid to touch her hand,’ she laughed.

‘How much have you heard today?’ I asked.

‘We opened the door when you were talking about master Sifun,’ she said, ‘when Alana said that she hoped that Veron would not ask her for a dance tonight, we hid behind the columns and watched the dance.’

‘Why is that library so empty?’ I asked.

‘It’s an archive library,’ the Princess said, ‘we keep the old books there because we have three other libraries with the newer books. This library is perfect for master Sifun as he cannot sleep during the night because of his wife’s owl.’

‘Their dance looks better now than the one this morning,’ I nodded towards the couple with my head.

‘I told Veron to be more natural as their dance this morning would be obvious to everyone,’ she smiled, ‘He was very impressed by the afternoon competition.’

‘Does he know that we are not nobles?’ I asked.

Nobles can marry anyone from the working class, but the royal family can marry only a noble person who has got noble ancestors for three generations.

‘He does,’ she said, ‘but he can court anyone, and he just wants to be with your sister now. Love rarely asks for a rank.’

‘Your parents?’ I asked, ‘What do they think?’

‘Nothing,’ she said, ‘our father has not been here for many months and our mother is waiting. Officially she doesn’t know, but this mutual attraction can be spotted unless you are blind.’

I had to watch my sister and who is asking her to partner them in a dance. Baron asked Alana to dance with him instead of the Prince, but as he didn’t have a partner, I continued dancing with the Princess.

‘You need to go,’ the Princess smiled, ‘Lord Adon will ask your sister for a dance. As the guest of the Prince, he should ask her for a dance.’

‘Who should I look for?’ I asked.

‘The lady is sitting there,’ she indicated a woman behind me, I turned.

‘Thank you,’ I said, Baron just appeared next to us.

I walked to the woman, the dog by her feet raised his head.

‘Can I ask you for a dance?’ I asked the lady with a slight bow.

‘My husband is dancing again with someone new,’ she laughed and stood up.

We stood on the edge of the dance floor, she moved slowly, and it couldn’t be called a dance.

‘Everyone here knows that I don’t have to be asked for a dance if Adon is dancing with someone, but you are new here.’

‘Yes, I arrived a few days ago with my sister and I’m staying for a few weeks.’

‘Where are you from?’ she asked.

‘From the south.’

‘You are too blond to be a person from the South,’ she smiled.

‘My parents were born here, they moved to the south afterwards.’

‘You know the etiquette very well,’ she complimented.

‘Our mother used to be a teacher and she taught us everything.’

‘She did a great job,’ she said.

‘Thank you.’

Another friend of the Prince asked my sister for a dance, I walked the woman back to her chair.

’Thank you for the dance,’ I said.

‘Thank you too,’ she said, her husband had just arrived.

‘Your sister is a great dancer,’ the man said, ‘and she is beautiful.’

‘She resembles our mother,’ I said.

‘I thought so.’

The old couple left the ballroom, the dog followed them. I kept dancing.  Until my sister took a break, I was not allowed to rest either. The rest of the guests stopped dancing quite early, the baker boys became drunk, they were walked back by two guards to their apartments. Doran and his family left with the little girl early, the miner couple mainly sat and made new fiends.

I didn’t have time to rest, Alana was dancing without a break but after two or three partners she was asked by the Prince. Close to the end to the event Alana was dancing only with the Prince and I just stood next to the Princess as she didn’t want to dance more.

‘Who is she?’ I asked about a woman who would catch the eye of every man.

The tall, slim woman had long brown hair and she wore a burgundy dress with a significant décolletage. She stood next to the wall and watched my sister dancing with the Prince.

‘Edria,’ the Princess said with loathing, ‘she desperately wants to become a Queen.’

‘I haven’t seen her behaving as if she’s your companion,’ I said.

‘I haven’t let her join my circle,’ she said, ‘we don’t have a good relationship, but the future of Edria has been hidden as well for a while.’

‘What happened between you?’ I asked.

‘She isn’t fit to be a Queen,’ she said, ‘watch her and you will understand why not.’

I started to watch the woman, who was passed by a servant with a tray of cookies. Edria waved to the girl, who stopped to allow the woman to take a cookie. The cookie was not tasty enough for Edria and she gave the servant a poke. Her move was barely noticeable, it seemed like an accident, but as I saw the whole incident it was clear that she did it intentionally.

‘Did you see that?’ the Princess asked, ‘she isn’t fit to be a Queen, she is power-hungry and evil. Unfortunately, I saw everything she did in the past.’

‘Does Prince Veron know?’ I asked.

‘He does. Last year Edria managed to have a courtship with Veron for a few weeks. Based on rumours, she already ordered her wedding dress at that time, but after a few weeks Veron told her that he would not be her suitor anymore.’

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘Veron got to know her. Edria even dragged my brother into her bed, but that relationship only lasted a few weeks,’ the Princess said, ‘Veron gets to know people quickly.’

‘She wouldn’t need much effort to drag your brother into her bed,’ I laughed, the woman was very attractive.

‘Quite a few women have already visited my brother’s bed,’ the Princess said, ‘it is not such a huge thing here, we need to be careful not to have a child, but we have a potion for that. Is this a problem in the south?’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said, ‘In the south, it can happen only after an engagement or in taverns where we have this kind of service. In the south, only Alana and my mother were able to make a potion.’

‘I see,’ the Princess said.

‘Please don’t tell your brother this, I don’t want him to look strangely at my sister.’

‘I think he already inferred it, as Alana never received any flowers and was never asked for a dance, but I promise you that I will not tell him.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Last dance,’ the Queen stood up and said loudly.

The band started a new song, Prince Veron left Alana and went to the Queen to dance the last dance with her. I danced with my sister, only a few couples were still dancing.

‘How was your evening?’ I asked my sister.

‘My legs are tired,’ she smiled, ‘I’m not used to doing this.’

‘From now on, you should be,’ I smiled.

The short song had ended, the royal family left the room, after bowing we walked back slowly to our room.

‘Alana, Aleron,’ the Prince said behind us, ‘wait.’

The Prince and the Princess walked towards us, we bowed and waited.

‘We will walk with you in order to talk about tomorrow,’ the Prince said.

The Prince stepped between my sister and me and slowed down, we adapted to his speed.

‘Did you enjoy yourself, Alana?’ the Prince asked my sister, completely ignoring me.

‘Yes, your majesty, thank you for the dances,’ my sister smiled.

The Princess hissed quietly at me, I joined her out of earshot, behind the couple.

‘Is it what I’m thinking?’ I asked quietly, the Princess nodded.

‘I think, yes,’ she smiled, ‘Veron told me to come with him but we were almost running along the servant’s corridor to reach you. He said he wanted to talk about tomorrow.’

With a slow walk, we arrived at our apartments, Alana and the Prince talked quietly and cheerfully until the Princess and I came. Our corridor was quiet, only the guards stood in their place.

‘It was an honour to walk you back, thank you Alana,’ the Prince indicated his intention to court my sister and be her official suitor for social events from now on.

If Alana had said that the walk was not necessary, the Prince would have been in the same situation as Baron, so we waited curiously.

‘Thank you for walking me back, your majesty,’ my sister smiled, ‘I hope that next time we can continue the discussion.’

The Princess looked at me with a smile, my sister accepted the Prince’s offer. The Prince gave a hand kiss to my sister who went inside afterwards. From now on the Prince could give a real hand kiss to my sister instead of an air kiss.

‘Aleron, see you in the morning,’ the Prince said, ‘don’t be late.’

‘I will not,’ I said and entered our apartment.

Alana took off her necklace and the pearls from her hair, I sat down on the sofa in the lobby.

‘Do you know that you accepted the Prince’s offer of courtship today?’ I asked hesitantly.

‘I know,’ she smiled, ‘I was not aware that he likes me.’

‘In the ballroom only you were not aware of this,’ I teased her, she just smiled at me happily.

‘Do you know that he cannot marry you?’ I asked again hesitantly.

‘I know,’ she smiled, ‘but he is very confident and nice, and I like him.’

‘I think it is more than just a like,’ I said.

‘Maybe,’ she kept smiling and went to the bathroom.

06.

Next morning only a few people were present during morning exercise. Most of the guards and companions had a hangover. The baker boys were barely standing on their feet, Doran and the miner were tired as well. I arrived in the courtyard together with my sister, who sat at the same place as yesterday.

‘I see that the dance evening had some impact,’ the Prince looked around with a laugh, ‘Aleron, I’ll start today with you.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said and entered the circular area.

‘Please take two short swords,’ the Prince said, the guards gasped, I took my sister’s swords from the shelf without a word, the Prince did the same.

‘We always assume that our opponent has one longsword, but in life, it’s not like this,’ the Prince said, ‘today Aleron and I will try something different.’

Our uncle taught us to use each other’s swords, but my sister was much better with these swords.

‘Let’s start,’ the Prince said, ‘I expect everyone to exercise with short swords tomorrow. If you did that today, you would just die,’ he laughed.

Both of us were just as unskilled with the short swords, I forgot to use my left hand, the Prince was disconcerted by having to use his left hand. He left his left shoulder more unprotected than Alana, which gave me the advantage over the Prince. I got his sword out of his right hand and beat him.

‘You were good, Aleron,’ the Prince said and nodded towards Alana with his head while she applauded the contest.

Most of the morning, only the two of us were competing against each other, Doran tried to beat the miner. After the exercise I got changed for breakfast, Alana was waiting for me, when someone knocked on our door. Alana opened the door and took a single flower with a note attached.

‘Who sent it?’ I asked, coming out of the lobby.

‘It says,’ my sister read the note on the stem, ‘I hope it tells you everything,’ she smiled.

‘It is beautiful, isn’t it?’ she asked and put the flower in water.

‘The rest will go to ruin,’ I indicated the baskets in the lobby, but Alana didn’t pay attention to me.

At breakfast everyone was curious about the Prince’s plans for today and ate without talking.

‘Please eat your breakfast,’ the Prince said, ‘afterwards we will ride to a meadow to spend the time there until lunch.’

‘Excuse me, your majesty,’ my sister said, ‘but this morning I cannot join you.’

‘Thank you for telling me, Alana,’ the Prince said.

I was sure that unlike me, the Prince knew the reason.

‘Why are you not joining us?’ Baron asked.

‘I promised Tila and Doran that I would teach Dorana while we are here, and they accepted,’ my sister said, ‘we will have our first lesson today.’

‘It is very kind of you,’ the Queen said.

‘It’s the least I can do,’ my sister smiled.

‘I’m not joining you either,’ the Princess said, ‘Aleron and I have different plans.’

I almost choked on my food, I was not aware of this plan either.

‘I’ll wait for everyone else in the stable and the servants will walk all of you there,’ the Prince said.

After breakfast Alana waved to me and walked with the little girl towards the library holding her hand.

I waited for the Princess, but I had no idea about her plans.

‘Aleron,’ the Princess came from behind a door which had the same colour as the wall, ‘come, let’s take a short walk.’

We walked towards the brown tower, she carried her cat.

‘Do you what is the story behind Peg Leg?’ she asked, ‘that is the name of my cat.’

‘No, I don’t, your majesty,’ I said.

‘When I realized that I could see people’s fates, I did some experiments. I had predicted a dog for myself, so I called a cat dealer. I saw how my future changed and that I would have a beautiful cat with long red fur. The cat dealer arrived, and I chose Peg Leg as a kitten. I waited to see what would happen.’

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘My brother received the dog, which I had predicted,’ she laughed, ‘he is gone now, but we loved him very much.’

‘So, it didn’t matter what you had done, the dog came to you,’ I said.

‘In this case, yes,’ she said, ‘but after that, I chose a servant whom I had not predicted. I never met the girl who theoretically was supposed to be my servant.’

‘So, we are able to change our destiny if we change something huge.’

I wanted to change my future as I didn’t want to be a traitor.

‘Yes, as your parents did,’ she said, ‘I have a feeling that I need to show you the tree of fate.’

We arrived at the brown tower which was the same height as the castle. Next to the entrance two royal guards stood with huge halberds, the Princess showed them her wristlet, and we entered the tower.

We walked into an echoing lobby where everything was covered with wood. The hall was bright as the sun shone between the wooden slats.  A wooden spiral staircase went upwards along the inner wall of the tower, down here only a couple of chairs stood around a wooden silver statue depicting the tree of fate. The statue was the size of my chest and stood on a wooden pedestal.

‘This silver statue is very nice,’ I said with a smile.

‘This is not a statue,’ the Princess said, ‘this is the tree of fate.’

‘So small?’ I asked surprised, ‘I thought the tree was more prominent.’

‘Come closer and take a look,’ she smiled.

I went closer to the tree and it looked the same as Shirela had described. The branches branched off its short and wide trunk, but every branch was related to other branches, there was no free part at the end of any branch. The tree didn’t have any leaves, and some branches were glass coloured.  Every branch kept moving slowly.

‘This is a birth,’ the Princess indicated a bud at the end of the branch, ‘and this is a death,’ she indicated a dry piece of branch which had just fallen inside the pedestal.

‘Are these the diseased branches?’ I indicated a glass coloured branch.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘and this is your branch,’ she indicated one branch, ‘the disease has started to spread from this and even though you are here, it hasn’t stopped.’

‘So, you can predict the future with the support of the tree,’ I said, the Princess nodded.

‘We can feel the birth or the death of a fortune teller as the tree tells us even if we are not there. The tree not only shows people’s past or future but helps to sense things as well.’

‘Can I touch it?’ I asked with curiosity.

‘Feel free to do so,’ she smiled, ‘I touched it many times, but nothing happened. You will have the same feeling as with an ordinary tree.‘

I stretched my hand very gently to reach my branch, but I felt nothing special, I was touching an ordinary branch.

‘Aleron,’ the Princess fell to the ground, ‘stop doing that.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I helped her up, she sat down on a chair.

‘What happened, your majesty?’ I asked.

‘When you touched the tree, I saw millions of memories in one second,’ she said, ‘I wasn’t prepared for that.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said, ‘I will not touch it again.’

‘On the contrary,’ she said, ‘I think the tree wants to show us something.’

The Princess sat comfortably and closed her eyes.

‘Touch it again and hold your hand on the branches until I tell you not to,’ the Princess gave me an order.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said.

I touched the tree again very gently and touched my branch. The Princess sat with closed eyes, she seemed to be sleeping.

‘The tree of fate is not sick,’ she said after a while with a smile and opened her eyes.

‘What do you mean, your majesty?’ I asked curiously.

‘The tree decided not to show your destinies,’ she said, ‘after your birth, each of you received a drop from the sap of the tree of fate. The tree offered you the drops, and the branches keep changing into a glass colour to hide your destiny. As you are related to more and more people here if the tree did not hide them, your future could be predicted from theirs.’

‘Why did we have to drink the drops?’ I asked, ‘what is the problem with showing me?’

‘You would be in danger,’ a man’s voice came from behind me.

The tall, thin man was of my parent’s age and his light skin showed that he is rarely left the tower. He had a brown cloak and clogs.

‘Councillor Totun,’ the Princess stood up, both of them bowed, so I did the same.

‘Have you seen the visions?’ the Princess asked, the man shook his head.

‘The tree wanted to tell it only to you,’ he said.

‘Why would I be in danger?’ I asked.

‘Many years ago, some fortune tellers left the council and the country because they wanted to rule the Kingdom instead of supporting the royal family. With their help, your mother was attacked a few times before your birth, and we tried to hide you. The tree showed the drops to one of the fortune tellers which he collected and gave to your mother.’

‘Why was I not aware of any of this?’ the Princess asked, ‘I’m the personal fortune teller of the royal family and I’m part of the royal family.’

‘Your rank doesn’t matter here, Velina,’ the man said, ‘only the boy and his sister have the right to know about this. I had to wait for their arrival.’

‘Why did these fortune tellers want to kill my mother?’ I asked, ‘because I was supposed to be a traitor?’

‘At your parents’ wedding the tree indicated something to one of our fortune tellers, which no one else had seen. The tree gave the drops to your parents because this fortune teller betrayed the tree, and the tree could keep you safe only by providing the drops. We assume that your fate is connected to the royal family and without you they could succeed in ruling the Kingdom. You will not be a traitor,’ he said, ‘you will be friends with Prince Veron.’

‘How do you know that?’ the Princess asked.

‘It was in Veron’s future when he was a child, you were not even born yet,’ the man said, ‘your friendship is deeply rooted, it will not change.’

‘Maybe you will protect him from an attack,’ the Princess said.

‘It is something similar to the story about your servant, your majesty,’ I said, ‘someone wanted to change their fate very much.’

‘Something like that,’ the man said.

‘Why am I called a traitor?’ I asked.

‘I cannot tell you this,’ the man said, ‘I was not present at this event, I have just heard about it.’

‘Is anyone alive, who was present at that time?’ I asked.

‘Yes, his majesty, King Darion and your father,’ Councillor Totun said.

‘His majesty, the King?’ I asked surprised.

‘Yes, your father was his majesty’s first personal guard until the moment of the prophecy, as afterwards he had to leave the city together with your mother,’ the man said.

‘Did you know that?’ I asked the Princess.

‘No,’ she shook her head, ‘but at least it explains why you are such a good swordsman,’ she left Alana out of the sentence intentionally.

‘Is there anything else?’ I asked, thinking about what I had just heard.

‘Nothing now,’ the man said, ‘but you will return anyway,’ he smiled.

‘I thought I was not visible,’ I said.

‘I can feel this too, although I cannot see anything,’ the Princess said.

We walked through the park back to the castle, the Prince and the rest of the guests had just arrived.

‘Please don’t tell anyone, your majesty, especially not Alana,’ I asked.

‘I promised you and I’ll keep that promise,’ she smiled, ‘there is not much to tell, I don’t even understand at all.’

‘You are not alone with that,’ I said.

‘Velina, Aleron,’ the price noticed us, ‘it’s a pity that you didn’t join us, the weather was beautiful, but we will make up for it after lunch.’

‘What do you mean?’ the Princess asked.

‘Every one of my guests deserves the same level of entertainment,’ the Prince explained, ‘so after lunch, we will ride out, only the four of us.’

‘I’m going as well,’ Baron said immediately.

‘No need, Baron, thank you,’ the Prince said, ‘please entertain the guests who are staying here as neither Velina nor I will be here.’

‘Are you taking any guard with you?’ the Prince’s other friend, Foren, asked.

‘Aleron will be enough,’ The Prince answered and walked into the castle, probably towards the library.

‘Princess Velina,’ Foren stepped up to us, ‘please take at least one guard with you.’

‘Aleron will be enough,’ The Princess answered, the men bowed.

The Princess stayed with the rest and I went to the library to meet with my sister. I had just opened the door, the Prince waved to me from behind one of the columns indicating that I should stay quiet and listen. I stepped up behind the other column. Five children sat in the library and they sang some rhymes. I showed five fingers to the Prince, he just nodded with a smile.

‘We have finished for today,’ my sister said after the song.

‘Thank you, miss Alana,’ the children said in unison and ran out of the door passing us without noticing.

‘Aleron,’ I heard Alana’s voice, ‘I know that you are here, you were quiet as a mouse,’ she laughed ironically.

The Prince signalled to me to reveal myself but asked me not to say a word about him.

‘What did the five children do?’ I asked my sister.

‘Maina asked me whether other children whose parents were working in the castle could join Dorana and I said yes,’ she chuckled, ‘From today on I’ll be teaching here every day.’

‘Prince Veron will not be happy that you are not joining him,’ I said.

‘He already knows,’ she said, ‘I told him yesterday that I’d like to teach. Initially, he knows about only Dorana, but I assume that he will not mind if others join her.’

‘Maybe I’ll join in one day as well,’ the Prince came out from behind one of the columns with a smile.

‘Then the children would become timid, your majesty,’ my sister smiled and bowed.

The Prince kissed my sister on the hand instead of an air kiss, as her suitor he could do that.

‘Would you ride out with me this afternoon?’ the Prince asked my sister nicely.

I took a step backwards, but I could even have left as they hadn’t noticed me at all.

‘Every one of your guests deserves the same attention,’ my sister smiled, ‘Aleron should join us as well.’

‘It will be only the four of us, together with Velina, if it’s acceptable to you,’ the Prince said.

‘That will be perfect, your majesty, thank you,’ my sister smiled.

‘What did you teach today?’ the Prince asked with interest when someone knocked on the door.

I turned to the door, Maina had just opened it.

‘It’s lunchtime now,’ my sister smiled.

Prince Veron offered his arm to my sister, she accepted it. They walked arm in arm along the corridor, announcing their courtship to everyone. I dropped behind them, everyone stared at them. My sister was used to being stared at by people, here at least no one mocked her. As they walked, sometimes they smiled at each other, not caring about the looks people gave them.

At the entrance to the dining room, the Prince kissed my sister on the hand and went behind an invisible door. The royal family arrived at lunch unusually late and they didn’t say a word to anyone. The Queen and her son were clearly not on speaking terms. Alana looked at me silently, I smiled at her cheerfully.

No one said a word at all. When the Prince saw that everyone had finished, he stood up with his family and walked out.

‘Maybe it was not such a good idea to accept his offer of courtship,’ my sister said on our way back to the apartment.

‘It was a good idea,’ I said, ‘You both like each other and only that matters.’

In our lobby, a new orange dress waited for my sister, which looked the same but instead of a long skirt it had breeches at the bottom. This dress was more comfortable to ride in, but if you were walking it looked like a skirt. My sister put some fragrance oil on her neck, I just smiled at her efforts.

Prince Velina came to us and walked us to the stable. Servants saddled our horses and two horses from the royal stable. One of the horses was black and beautiful and the Prince saddled him on his own, the servants were not even around.

‘Alana,’ the Prince smiled happily when he spotted my sister, ‘can we go?’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ my sister said.

We rode out. As the Princess was not a great rider, the Prince in a backpack carried her cat. We didn’t ride long, we quickly arrived in a meadow next to a forest. One side of the meadow the forest started, on the other side a nice brook flowed. The Prince stopped, so did we.

‘This is very nice place,’ my sister said.

We put down three blankets next to each other, I took the baskets and flasks from the horses, the Prince took off his belt with his weapons. From this morning he carried two short swords next to his long sword, as I did. Away from home I always kept our weapons on my belt, my father taught me to remember this.

We sat down comfortably on the blankets, the Prince sat in front of my sister, next to Princess Velina.

‘Your mother is not pleased that you are courting me,’ Alana said hesitantly.

‘She doesn’t mind,’ the Princess said, ‘she was not happy about the way Veron introduced the courtship.’

‘She has not told me for a long time whom I can court,’ the Prince said.

‘My brother is a real rebel,’ the Princess laughed, ‘both of us are.’

The Princess told the story of her cat and her servant to my sister.

’Once I had broken my leg just before my birthday dance night,’ the Prince said, ‘Velina told me not to ride outside as it was rainy and I would get hurt, so I rode out.’

‘He was not present at his birthday night,’ the Princess laughed, ‘our mother was distraught; our father just laughed about it.’

Whilst telling the story the Prince started to play with my sister’s fingers and gently caressed her hand.

‘We are going for a walk,’ the Prince said, ‘You can do whatever you like.’

The two of them walked towards the forest holding hands, their silhouette stopped under a tree and Prince Veron kissed my sister.

‘Was what you said really your mother’s problem?’ I asked with curiosity.

‘Yes,’ the Princess said, ‘I was surprised as well because Veron has courted working class girls before and when that happened, she was very angry. Now she has said that Veron should have announced the courtship during dinner similarly as Baron did, because it would have shown more respect to others. Veron treated this as an immediate attack on his relationship and they quarrelled. Our mother tried to convince him that she was not against the courtship, but my brother tends to overreact to things sometimes,’ she chuckled.

‘How long has your father been away?’ I asked.

‘More than a year now,’ she said, ‘Last year he said that he needed to leave and went somewhere with an unknown man.’

‘Our father left us with our uncle last year,’ I said, ‘the unidentified man was tall and strong like me with dark blond hair and blue eyes?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ the Princess said, ‘something like that. Maybe they are together somewhere. As he is my father’s guard, it would make sense.’

‘Veron planned this afternoon in detail,’ the Princess looked at the forest, ‘he hoped that he could kiss your sister.’

‘He didn’t do that in the library simply because he was disturbed,’ I said, ‘They didn’t even notice me.’

‘Did the flower make Alana happy?’ she asked.

‘Yes, very much,’ I said, ‘she got many baskets from Baron, but she only watered the Prince’s one. It is time for her to be kissed rather than mocked.’

‘Mocked?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘she was the only blond girl with blue eyes in the south and she was called pale face many times. At the end she already started to believe that something was wrong with her. When she started to teach children, people got to like her, but she never belonged there.’

‘It couldn’t be easy,’ the Princess said, ‘Did the same happen with you?’

‘No, I was never as beautiful and as conspicuous as her,’ I laughed, ‘It was easier for me.’

‘Did you leave anyone behind in the south?’ she asked curiously.

‘No, your majesty,’ I said, ‘There was a woman with whom I spent the night sometimes, but nothing more.’

The Princess attempted to kiss me, but I pulled away, surprised.

‘Excuse me, your majesty,’ I said, ‘I didn’t expect this,’ she laughed.

‘Don’t worry, Aleron,’ she smiled, ‘I haven’t fallen in love with you, but you are a handsome man.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ I was surprised.

‘You could visit me tonight in my apartment,’ the Princess said straight away.

‘Aleron,’ she smiled, ‘as I said it is not a huge thing here to visit someone and you are not the first one whom I ever invited.’

‘I see, your majesty,’ I said.

I ate silently, she watched me with a smile.

‘I said something unusual to you, didn’t I?’ she asked with interest.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said, ‘In the south a night together requires love.’

‘In here, it requires discretion,’ she laughed, ‘you said that you have not been in love in the south.’

‘No, your majesty,’ I said, ‘Giana’s tavern provided this kind of service.’

‘I see,’ the Princess said, ‘I’m sorry Aleron, just forget it. I thought only of a night without obligations and I’m not used to it being unusual for someone. As a Princess, I need to be careful whom I invite, and I feel that I could trust you,’ she smiled, ‘I understand your decision, Aleron.’

‘Thank you for your understanding, your majesty,’ I said.

We changed the subject to talk about her limping cat, I hoped that I hadn’t hurt her.

‘I hope that your brother will not invite my sister into his apartment,’ I said, ‘Alana is even less used to this than I am.’

‘Veron is in love,’ she said, ‘and that is different. I’m never going to be in love.’

‘How do you know that?’ I asked.

‘I predicted it,’ she said seriously, ‘I will never have a husband and probably I became a rebel because of that. I chose men to court me whom I had never predicted, and I hoped that I could change my fate and I would have a permanent partner, but it never happened,’ she said, ‘now I cannot see anything. I changed my path many times, but a husband never appeared in my future. It was like with Veron’s dog. The dog joined our family anyway, but whatever I do, I’ll never have a husband.’

‘I’m sorry,’ I said.

‘Not everyone’s fate is perfect,’ she said, ‘and we see all of them. As a child I predicted what I would get as a gift and if someone courted me, I knew why and when our courtship would finish. I can predict the death of a newborn and everyone’s death. I’m not sure whether this skill is a blessing or a curse.’

‘So, you are happy that many people’s future has been hidden,’ I said.

‘No. I would have enjoyed it as a child to be surprised at least once, but now my family needs my help,’ she said, ‘Veron would like to know his future related to your sister very much or when our father is coming back, but I cannot help him. I’d like to help you to find out everything about your prophecy, but my hands are tied.’

‘Just like for those who left your council,’ I said, she nodded.

‘That is the only advantage,’ she smiled, ‘I’m sorry Aleron, I didn’t want to be a burden to you.’

‘You were not a burden, your majesty,’ I said, ‘it is a huge responsibility and I never thought about it. I was always just kept complaining that I couldn’t know something.’

‘You were lucky,’ she smiled, ‘If I could see Veron’s future now, he would question me about even which tree is more intimate,’ she laughed.

‘I think, he has solved it,’ I looked at them with a smile, their silhouette didn’t move, they stood by a tree and embraced each other.’

‘Sometimes I say nothing about the future,’ the Princess said, ‘because it might not be good.’

‘Alana’s and my hidden future is a relief to you then,’ I laughed.

‘Yes,’ she smiled, ‘I don’t have any responsibility about what to tell you as I cannot see anything.’

I bowed to the Princess and kissed her. So far, I had only kissed Gaina, but it was different. Gaina was wild, the Princess kissed gently. I could imagine a night with her.

‘I don’t want to settle down ever, so love is out of the question,’ I whispered, ‘I’m not going to be your suitor.’

‘It’s a deal then, because I don’t want that either,’ the Princess smiled.

My sister and the Prince were away quiet a long, we already had packed everything when they arrived holding hands.

‘Just in time, Veron,’ the Princess said, ‘it is dinner time soon.’

‘I didn’t pay any attention to the time,’ the Prince said and smiled at my sister.

We rode back to the castle and went back to our apartment to get changed.

‘How was it?’ I asked Alana.

‘Veron kissed me,’ she smiled, ‘more than once.’

‘I thought so,’ I said, ‘just Veron?’ I teased her.

‘He asked me not to use the title of Prince apart from at official events,’ Alana said, ‘after dinner, we’re going for a walk, don’t wait for me.’

‘I would need a potion,’ I said.

‘I hope that you don’t do anything silly,’ she sighed, ‘Do I need to know who she is?’

‘No,’ I said, ‘nothing serious.’

‘From now on it will be on your table every day,’ she said, ‘If you don’t need it, just throw it away. In this way, you won’t have to ask anymore. At least I’m using my herbs,’ she laughed.

‘Maybe you could ask around who needs any herbs,’ I suggested, ‘not everyone can afford it here either.’

‘You are right,’ she smiled, ‘I will ask around.’

Before dinner, the Prince came to us and walked my sister to the dining room. The atmosphere between the Prince and his mother was amicable again.

‘What did you do in this afternoon?’ the Prince asked his friends.

‘We practised with two short swords,’ Baron said, ‘we would like to beat you tomorrow.’

‘Good luck,’ the Prince smiled.

During dinner, I received a piece of paper telling me where to go and the time when I should go. When I arrived back in my room, the potion was already waiting for me, but Alana had gone. They had gone for a walk straight after dinner.

I prepared myself and drank the potion.

Based on the paper instructions, I walked along the servants’ passage, which was behind the doors which were the same colour as the walls. The passage was narrow, and it had no decoration. The torches and candlesticks together with a mirror provided ample light. The servants’ passages looked like a labyrinth, passages opened from each other in different directions. I followed the instructions and opened the described door.

When I entered, the Princess had just lit a candle in a green silk robe. The candles already provided an intimate atmosphere. The Princess’s apartment didn’t have a lobby, only a bathroom and a bedroom with a fireplace in it.

‘Good evening, your majesty,’ I whispered while I closed the door.

‘You don’t have to whisper, Aleron,’ she smiled, ‘no noise can be heard outside.’

The Princess let her light red hair down and it fell to her shoulders. She was surrounded by a nice scent which triggered my desire.

‘You look great, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Forget the title of majesty here,’ she said and stepped up to me.

‘I don’t want to have an embarrassing evening,’ she embraced me, ‘let’s continue from the afternoon.’

After we had kissed each other, our instinct drove us, and the night was not embarrassing. The Princess was a great lover, she was completely different from Gaina. Velina cared herself more than Gaina, these could be the local customs which my sister had mentioned a few days ago. Gaina behaved in an artificial way, the Princess was natural. I hoped that she was right about the noise because we were not whispering.

‘Thank you for inviting me over,’ I said when we lay next to each other.

‘You’re welcome,’ she smiled.

‘We can repeat this from time to time,’ I suggested.

‘Aleron,’ she became serious, ‘please tell me that you haven’t fallen in love with me.’

‘I haven’t, Velina,’ I caressed her, ‘but as I said I don’t want to settle down and for you to find a discreet partner is difficult. I thought that this could work for both of us.’

‘As you are such a good lover, I don’t mind,’ she smiled, ‘that woman taught you well.’

‘I’m glad to hear that,’ I kissed her.

I went back to my apartment at dawn, Alana slept, and her bedroom door was open as always when she was home alone. Half-awake she was going to reach for her swords on the floor, but I started to whistle, and she fell back to sleep. Her habits hadn’t changed despite having four guards on the corridor.

07.

Our days under his majesty’s hospitality became similar to each other. The morning was always used for training, which Alana observed all the time. Before lunch, the Prince spent his time with his guests without my sister. Alana and Prince Veron spent the afternoon together, sometimes inside, sometimes outside the castle. Velina and I didn’t join them as everyone knew that he was courting my sister. Alana used the library to teach children and her class size was growing each week. Master Sifun was transferred to another library but using Alana’s potion he was sleeping well during the night. During my stay here, I had got to know some of the guards and found out that Baron's father, Brenbar, is his Majesty, King Darion's personal guard, who was now guarding her majesty, the Queen. He was the man who complimented me about my technique in the first practice.

The Prince and Alana were visibly happy together, but the Prince sometimes chose interesting places to spend the afternoon with her.

‘Where have you been today?’ I asked my sister one day after dinner.

‘In the picture gallery,’ she smiled, ‘Veron showed me the paintings of all his ancestors and we had a picnic in the gallery.’

‘A bit more romantic than spending the afternoon in the stable like yesterday,’ I laughed.

‘I enjoyed my time in the stable yesterday, we fed many horses,’ my sister smiled, ‘Veron is not an ordinary man.’

‘I must agree,’ I said.

‘Veron confessed his love to me,’ Alana said suddenly but with a smile.

‘I’m happy for you,’ I told her honestly, ‘did you give him an answer?’

‘I told him that I loved him as well,’ she smiled, ‘he said that he hoped that I would not reject his confession.’

‘Why would you do that?’ I laughed, ‘You cleaned up half of the stable yesterday. No one would refuse that romantic situation,’ I teased her.

‘Tomorrow we are cleaning up the library,’ my sister smiled, ‘in exchange for the stable he offered me his help in cleaning the dust off from the books.’

‘I’m glad that I don’t have to join you,’ I smiled.

The random trainings became more frequent, but apart from Doran and me, no other guests participated. The baker boys were busy with the girls, and the miner family were focusing on their new friends. Once a week, Alana went back to the inn to sell different kinds of potions to the citizens. The innkeeper’s son, Puron had fully recovered and on behalf of my sister he offered to help everyone. My sister set the prices depending on the illness and on the wealth of the family. Just like in the south, sometimes she helped for free. Velina and I became typical lovers and if one of us coughed at dinner, we spent the night together. No one knew about our relationship, and it worked for both of us.

Once a week, my sister had a sword contest with the Prince in the private room, Velina and I always watched them practising as officially instead of my sister I had a training exercise with Prince Veron.

‘I’m happy that our relationship is not similar to theirs,’ the Princess said while the two of them were practising.

‘Defend yourself in order not to be kissed by your opponent,’ I laughed, ‘I will tell your brother’s idea to the guards tomorrow.’

‘Be careful, Abidon has a fullbeard,’ the Princess smiled, mentioning one of the Prince’s friends who had returned from the western province a couple of days ago.

Both of them had always persisted in their contest for a long time, but close to the end to the practise one of them always surrendered to kissing the other leaning against the wall. In our company they felt safe, we never bothered them.

‘Do you think that they are surrendering intentionally?’ Velina asked me while the couple were kissing on the other side of the room.

‘I think so,’ I said, ‘both of them are better swordsmen than that.’

Autumn was almost here when one day I went to the library after my sister’s lesson. Alana sat by her table, and the Prince who sat next to her was kissing her. I coughed discreetly and waited.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince said without turning to me, he gently kissed my sister’s fingers.

‘It’s lunchtime, your majesty,’ I said.

‘I know,’ the Prince answered, ‘but I cannot convince your sister not to go to the inn alone. I want her to take one of my guards with her.’

‘Veron,’ my sister said nicely, ‘I always go alone.’

‘Not from today,’ the Prince said, ‘during lunch I’ll announce that you are staying in the castle. Do you feel like staying, my precious?’ the Prince asked my sister gently.

‘I do, Veron, I told you already,’ my sister said and caressed the Prince’s face with her finger, I sighed.

These discussions would have driven me crazy already and I was happy that I didn’t have to listen to similar things from Velina. Until today Alana and I were the Prince’s guests and Alana was free to do anything in her own time, but from tomorrow we would officially live inside the castle. I would be one of the Prince’s personal guard and Alana could stay as my relative. From tomorrow the Prince would have the right to send a guard with Alana while their courtship existed, and I was sure that he would not let her go alone outside the castle.

‘All right, Veron,’ my sister said, ‘after lunch I will take Baron with me. He is your best friend and you trust him. Is that acceptable to you?’ my sister asked.

‘Yes,’ the Prince said visibly jealous.

Alana hadn’t noticed his reaction and stood up from the table.

‘I’ll see you at lunch,’ Alana said and gave the Prince a gentle kiss.

‘Bye,’ the Prince answered.

We spent the lunch in silence, but when the Prince stood up between two courses everyone stopped eating. During the summer, everyone had learned the basic etiquette rules.

‘The end of summer has come,’ he said, ‘I’d like to thank you for my guests for being my training partners throughout the summer. Doran, please stand up,’ he smiled at the man next to me.

I looked at Alana and she nodded with a smile. The Prince’s request meant that Doran could stay as a guard. As Doran had his own family, he would receive a small house close to the castle. Doran looked at me with curiosity and I nodded with a smile.

‘Your majesty,’ he said as he stood up.

‘I would be honoured Doran,’ the Prince said, ‘if you could stay here in the capital as a royal guard.’

The man was very surprised, his wife stood up in a hurry and she hugged her husband. The Prince waited for them patiently to finish hugging.

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ Doran said, ‘I’m honoured to accept this.’

‘Great,’ the Prince said, ‘after lunch, we will meet at your apartment.’

Doran and Tila sat down and they looked very happy.

‘Aleron, please stand up,’ the Prince smiled at me, I stood up.

‘Your majesty,’ I said.

‘I would be honoured Aleron,’ the Prince said, ‘if you could stay here in the capital as a royal guard.’

‘Thank you for giving me the honour of staying, your majesty,’ I said, ‘I will never disappoint you, your majesty,’ I said according to the rules of etiquette.

‘I’m sure about that,’ the Prince said and sat back in his chair.

I would be one of his personal guards, but officially they were not known, everyone knew them as royal guards.

The miner couple and the baker boys mumbled quietly. After Doran’s offer, they were waiting for the offer to stay as well. The miner family were focusing on their new friends and the baker boys were busy with the girls, none of them attended any random exercises. The Prince was a good strategist, and he never cared about the morning training. He was interested in the perseverance and dedication on the random exercises where he was mostly not even present. The miner family and the baker boys never practised apart from in the morning, so they were not good enough to stay. Prince Veron had made a decision based on his friends’ observations, which could not have been predicted by anyone.

‘Baron,’ Alana said to the man sitting almost next to her, ‘could you please accompany me this afternoon outside the castle?’

The Queen and the other companions were surprised by the question, Baron looked at the Prince, who nodded.

‘I’m honoured, Alana,’ Baron answered not understanding the situation.

‘I place Alana’s safety into my best friend’s hands,’ the Prince explained, ‘don’t forget to take two short swords with you, Baron,’ the man nodded.

‘Thank you, Baron,’ Alana said, ‘If it suits you, we can meet in the stable after lunch.’

‘Yes,’ Baron said, ‘I’ll be there.’

After lunch, the Prince walked my sister to our apartment, and she collected her herbs. She put her old leather belt on with ready prepared potions in small ampoules and put her herbs in a backpack.

‘Take care of yourself, my precious,’ the Prince said and gave her a kiss on the hand.

‘Baron will take care of me,’ Alana smiled before she walked away along the corridor.

Prince Veron watched Alana jealously as she walked away, I did not envy him.

‘You can trust her, your majesty,’ I said.

‘I know,’ he answered, ‘but Baron could become engaged to her, I cannot do that yet.’

‘What do you mean by not yet?’ I asked.

‘I have been waiting for my father’s arrival to sign the proposal which would allow me to marry Alana, but I’m not waiting any longer. In his absence, the royal council’s majority decision is sufficient.’

‘Will they support you?’ I asked.

‘They should do,’ he laughed, ‘otherwise after my enthronement I’ll replace them with other nobles. They should be aware of that.’

‘Hopefully, you will be right, your majesty,’ I said.

Doran and his family had left their apartment after lunch, they were escorted by a guard into their new home. The Prince congratulated him one more time, the rest of the guests would leave the castle tomorrow morning. The Prince and I walked to the courtyard to spend the afternoon there.

‘Where will Doran’s post be, your majesty?’ I asked the Prince.

‘Here, inside the castle as a guard,’ the Prince said, ‘he will be present at my birthday dance night. I’d like to announce my engagement there,’ he smiled.

‘It is only a couple of weeks, your majesty,’ I was surprised.

‘I know,’ he smiled, ‘Alana must not know about it, it will be a surprise.’

‘I won’t tell her,’ I said.

‘Is this corridor suitable for you?’ the Prince asked, ‘This corridor will be unused and there is an apartment closer to Velina and me. If you decided to stay, the guards would stay as well, of course.’

‘This apartment is fine, we had already unpacked our belongings.’

‘Aleron,’ he said, ‘I know about your affair.’

‘How do you know, your majesty?’ I asked, as it wouldn’t make any sense to deny it.

‘I saw you sneaking in after I had walked your sister home. I use the servants’ passage too because I cannot be followed there.’

‘I see, your majesty,’ I said, ‘our relationship is a joint decision.’

‘I know,’ he said, ‘Velina is a real rebel. Please don’t fall in love with her because she cannot do the same and both of you will suffer.’

‘I won’t,’ I said, the Prince nodded.

I spent the afternoon with the Prince in the huge courtyard, but his mind was somewhere else.

‘They will return soon,’ I said with a smile, he nodded.

Only the two of us had remained in the courtyard, when Baron appeared through the fence. The Prince had thrown away his sword and went to his friend.

‘Was everything alright?’ The Prince asked.

‘Everything,’ Baron said, ‘the people love Alana very much. The queue was so long that the last person almost stood outside the inn,’ he laughed.

The man was still impressed by my sister, but since the announcement of the courtship, he didn’t even pay a compliment to my sister. According to the rules of etiquette, he could have done that, but he respected the Prince more than that.

‘I’m glad,’ the Prince said, recognizing the respect he showed.

‘From next week Alana would like to go to the inn twice a week,’ Baron said, ‘She asked me to accompany her.’

‘You should always accompany her,’ the Prince said, ‘I’ll talk to her about the frequency.’

‘Prince Veron,’ Baron said, ‘Why do I have to take the short swords with me? I’m better with my own.’

‘If you are with Alana, always take the short swords with you, apart from that I don’t care,’ the Prince was decisive, Baron nodded.

The Prince arrived at our apartment before dinner, and after a kiss in our lobby they walked together to the dining room.

‘How was your afternoon, Alana?’ the Queen asked, ‘Are you still selling herbs and potions?’

My sister put down her cutlery and swallowed what she was eating in seconds.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ my sister answered, ‘I have a lot of herbs. I used to sell them in the south as well.’

‘The queue was so long,’ Baron said with a smile, ‘that the last person almost stood outside the inn. She cured a sick little girl in one week,’ Baron said.

‘She only had an allergy,’ Alana said, ‘my tea helped her.’

‘Do you know that trading with herbs requires permission?’ the girl, who desperately wanted to become Baron’s wife asked.

‘I have permission,’ Alana said, ‘My family received it many years ago from his majesty, King Darion.’

Alana looked at the Queen, who nodded with a smile.

‘Alana helps a lot of people,’ Baron said.

The Princess coughed twice, signalling that she was waiting for me tonight. The Prince choked, Alana looked at him, but the Prince continued eating.

‘Aleron, Alana,’ the Princess said, ‘after dinner, please wait for me in the library.’

‘I think it can wait until tomorrow,’ the Queen said, the Prince choked again.

‘It cannot wait,’ the Princess said, the Queen sighed.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said.

After dinner we walked to the library, the Prince didn’t follow us.

‘Do you know what she wants?’ Alana asked me.

‘I have no idea,’ I said, ‘maybe she will ask you to be her companion.’

‘I doubt it. I haven’t done anything impressive to earn it.’

The royal siblings waited for us in the library. The Prince walked up and down the room, the Princess sat on a chair. The Princess invited me to sit down next to her. My sister had walked to the Prince to kiss him, but the Prince took a step backwards.

‘What is wrong, Veron?’ Alana asked nicely.

‘Are you having an affair with Baron?’ the Prince asked angrily.

‘Excuse me?’ my sister asked.

This situation was new for both of them, none of them had handled it well. The Prince had never been in love before, and Alana never made anyone jealous so far.

‘Velina,’ the Prince turned to his sister, ‘what did you see last year when you looked into Baron’s future?’

‘He will have a lower ranked, pretty blond wife, whom he hadn’t already met,’ Velina sighed, ‘I didn’t see more details at that time and now his future is hidden like everyone else’s.’

‘So,’ the Prince was sarcastic, ‘It is you, right?’

‘No,’ my sister said, ‘you asked me not to go out alone.’

‘And you chose him,’ the Prince spoke loudly.

‘It is good, that master Sifun is not here already,’ Velina whispered in my ear, ‘he would wake up for sure with this noise.’

‘Because he is your best friend and you trust him,’ Alana shouted as well, she felt offended by this assumption.

‘You should have taken Aleron with you,’ the Prince said.

‘Today he is not yet your guard, he will be your guard only from tomorrow,’ Alana said.

‘If they were finally sleeping with each other they would not be so uptight,’ Velina whispered with a smile, I nodded.

‘Baron can get engaged with you,’ the Prince said.

‘Princess Velina,’ my sister asked Velina, ‘do you see any husband in my future?’

‘No, Alana I don’t,’ the Princess said.

Velina gave a short answer as she could not say that she could not predict anything in Alana’s future.

‘So that’s all,’ my sister said, ‘Nothing happened between us and Baron will never propose to me.’

‘Are you sure?’ the Prince asked more calmly but still with some jealousy.

‘I’m sure,’ my sister stepped up to the Prince and gave him a gentle kiss.

We left them in the library and went back to our apartment. I quickly drank my sister’s potion and visited Velina.

‘Your brother is strange,’ I laughed.

‘This whole situation is new to my brother, and he doesn’t handle it well. He is in love, but he cannot marry Alana, and he is trapped. He had never been jealous before, none of the girls was as vital to him as your sister. He was jealous only about his horse. He forbade everyone to sit on him apart from him,’ she laughed.

‘Did your mother know?’ I asked.

‘As Veron had grumbled all evening that he would kill Baron if they were having an affair, I would say yes, she knew,’ Velina said, ‘the discussion over dinner didn’t help either. Veron is suffering because either Alana will become his lover, or he has to let her go.’

‘The royal council can vote in favour of your brother’s proposal,’ I said.

‘I didn’t know that you knew about it,’ she smiled, ‘they will meet tomorrow. I sincerely support Veron, so does our mother. She genuinely likes your sister.’

I spent the night in Velina’s apartment. I went back to our apartment only in the morning to get washed and dressed. Alana was getting dressed happily.

‘Was everything alright after I left?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ she smiled, ‘Veron is very cute when he is jealous,’ she chuckled, ‘I didn’t know what to do, I hadn’t been in a similar situation before.’

‘I think you should get used to,’ I said, ‘It can only be cute in the eyes of a woman in love, it would drive me crazy for sure.’

‘Aleron,’ she said timidly, ‘do you think that our mother would be ashamed if I were Veron’s lover?’

‘You are not even his lover yet,’ I teased her, ‘Look,’ I said seriously, ‘he is a King to be and sooner or later he must marry someone. As a lover, you would never have children, and I know how much you want a child.  Everyone would gossip about you and I think your heart would break more than our mother’s honour. Are you sure that Veron loves you so much that you could accept all of this?’

‘You are right,’ she said, ‘I need to think about it.’

‘What are you doing today?’ I asked.

‘Before lunch I’m teaching in the library and at lunchtime, I’m visiting Dorana, don’t look for me in the castle.’

‘Are you going alone?’ I asked.

‘Doran will be with me all the time,’ she said, ‘in his free time, he always goes home until his family will not get used to the new place. They are delighted. In the east they lacked many things, but here they can have a proper life.’

‘You may go then,’ I said.

‘Veron knows about my plans,’ she smiled.

‘Are we having dinner together?’ I asked, as we had never spent dinner without each other.

‘Of course,’ she smiled, ‘I will be back for dinner, I will meet Veron afterwards.’

At breakfast, every guest was packed and ready to leave. Doran and his family didn’t eat with us, now the miner sat next to me. At the end of breakfast, the Prince stood up.

‘Thank you for being my guests,’ the Prince said, ‘everyone should enjoy the next meal just like before the summer.’

‘Apart from the Prince’s lover,’ the older baker boy said, I started to stand up.

Alana put her hand on my knee and continued her meal.

‘Tarla will walk everyone out,’ the Prince stood up together with his family, ‘the hospitality had just ended.’

‘If I had a big bust like that, could I stay?’ the baker boy said again, I stood up, the Prince stopped moving.

In the circumstances, the Prince or I had the right to sort it out, but I was closer so it would be me now. I stepped up behind the baker boy and squeezed his shoulder, he groaned.

‘Just go,’ I whispered, ‘immediately.’

The boys had stood up, the four guards walked them out, the royal family left the room.

‘I’m sorry Alana that you had to hear this,’ Baron said honestly.

‘Thank you,’ my sister said, ‘I think this won’t be the last time. I’m going to the library.’

My sister left the dining room alone, I walked together with Baron and the others. I didn’t return to my apartment, but I hoped that the baker boys had left quietly.

I received a yellow-green uniform and schedule.

‘The Prince wants you to guard his sister and your sister,’ Baron said, ‘you should accompany them.’

Velina was in the tower, I walked to the tower to wait for her. I had waited for a while and started to get bored.

‘We need to go to Veron,’ Velina came out of the door with a letter in her hand.

I took Peg Leg from her, she could walk faster without her cat. The Prince probably had finished his meeting with the royal council because he was in the garden playing with his friends.

‘Veron,’ Velina handed the letter over, ‘it came from the south.’

‘What is it?’ the Prince took the letter and opened it.

‘The southern tax collectors have gone missing,’ Velina said while the Prince was reading, ‘they simply disappeared.’

‘They had gone to collect taxes in the city of Kadin, and they never returned to the royal guard post,’ the Prince summarized the information, ‘in Kadin, no one knows anything.’

‘Aleron,’ the Prince turned to me, ‘do you know anything about this?’

‘No, your majesty, I don’t,’ I said, ‘I’ve been here for the last couple of weeks with you.’

‘Do you know anyone in Kadin who would be capable doing such a thing?’ Baron asked.

‘I genuinely believe in that everyone from the four cities would happily do this,’ I said, ‘Whatever happened to them, they deserved it.’

‘What do you mean?’ the Prince asked, ‘do you know what you are talking about?’

‘I do, your majesty,’ I said, ‘these tax collectors have collected more than the capital tax for many years and if someone didn’t have enough coins, they made them pay differently.’

‘The southern fee is much less than the local one. How could people pay?’ Baron asked.

‘With their female family member. The tax collectors took them to garrison,’ I said.

‘Why?’ Abidon asked, but I saw from his expression that he knew, but he needed to hear it.

‘To make the women pay off the missing tax,’ I said.

‘Did Alana pay as well?’ the Prince asked hesitantly, I shook my head.

‘For the last couple of years, they believed that Alana was dead,’ I said, ‘From our city, they could never have taken anyone and from the other towns they took the last girl when I was a small child. They have been trying hard, but we paid off each other’s taxes.’

‘Why did they think that Alana was dead?’ the Princess asked.

‘She was the only blond girl with blue eyes and the swine spotted her quite early, so within two months, we had spread around the news that she was dead,’ I said, ‘in our city everyone kept their mouth shut as they owed this to our family.’

‘Why was I not aware of this?’ The Prince was furious, ‘Velina, did you know about this?’

‘Partially,’ she said, ‘many years ago, a pigeon arrived with a letter about this situation, but our father said that I didn’t need to worry, he would handle it.’

‘You should have told me,‘ the Prince snarled, ‘send a letter back that temporarily the garrison guards should collect the taxes, but if they line their own pockets with the coins, they will pay for it with an immediate death sentence. I need to send someone trustworthy to the south.’

‘I’m volunteering, your majesty,’ Abidon said, ‘I don’t have any family and I’m curious about the southern province.’

‘Thank you, Abidon,’ the Prince said, ‘you will get all my support. Velina, notify the royal inns next to the middle trade route about Abidon’s journey, he should be treated with priority everywhere.’

‘Yes, Veron,’ Velina said.

‘Excuse me your majesty,’ Abidon said, ‘but I’ll not be present on your birthday dance night.’

‘I can count on you and it means much more to me,’ the Prince said, ‘thank you, Abidon.’

Everyone had wished Abidon luck and he left to prepare for the journey.

‘Where is Alana?’ the Prince asked me.

‘She is visiting Doran, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Right,’ he said, ‘I forgot,’ he smiled.

‘Prince Veron,’ Edria walked towards us slowly. She bowed slightly to the royal siblings, Velina didn’t return the greeting.

The tall, slim, brown haired woman knew how to be eye-catching, her pleasant scent surrounded her orange dress.

‘What are you doing here, Edria?’ Velina asked.

‘My parents left and travelled to the western province and her majesty, the Queen, kindly invited me to stay inside the castle for my safety,’ Edria said, ‘my apartment will be close to yours,’ she glanced at the Prince whose mind was somewhere else. Probably he was thinking of Alana and the letter.

‘Of course, she invited you,’ the Princess said sceptically, ‘I believe you, Edria.’

‘We don’t know each other yet,’ she turned to me proudly and nodded.

‘No, we don’t, Miss Edria, I’m Aleron, the newest member of his majesty’s royal guards,’ I bowed slightly, as a guard, I didn’t have to give an air kiss on her hand.

‘I’m glad to meet you,’ she smiled.

In the afternoon, Prince Veron went outside the castle with Baron, I exercised with the rest of the guards. Before dinner, Velina played the board game before I walked her back to the castle. She coughed twice without a word, I nodded.

I went back to my apartment; my sister was already there preparing the table for dinner. I had taken my cloak off and washed my hands.

‘You’ve received a lot of food,’ I looked at the trays fully packed with different kind of meals.

‘The parents gave it to me,’ she smiled, ‘many of them cannot pay me, so they’ve decided to feed me,’ she laughed, ‘some of them said that I was too thin.’

‘No, you are not,’ I said when someone knocked on the door, I opened it.

‘May I come in?’ Edria asked, I nodded.

I took a step aside to allow her to come in, but I stayed close to my sister.

‘I’d like to introduce myself, I’m Edria, and I’ll be his majesty, Prince Veron’s guest for the next couple of weeks,’ the woman said.

My sister bowed, the woman outranked her, but as a private guard, I was in the same rank as her. The personal guards of his majesty are always receive the same rank as nobles.

‘Miss Edria,’ my sister smiled, ‘I’m Alana.’

‘I know,’ the woman said primly, ‘Currently, you are the woman who is courting with Prince Veron,’ she said.

‘Yes,’ my sister said shortly.

‘Are you going to be present at the birthday dance night?’ She asked.

‘Yes, miss Edria,’ Alana answered.

‘We will meet there for sure,’ the woman said and walked out.

‘What was that all about?’ my sister asked.

‘She is an old friend of the Prince,’ I said.

‘I see.’

At dinner I told her that the tax collectors had gone missing, she agreed with me that they had deserved it. She spoke about her students. She had to admit that she loved children.

‘How is Dorana?’ I asked.

‘From tomorrow she will go to school,’ she said, ‘As a guard’s daughter, she must go to school and they have one nearby. I will visit them regularly because at the beginning Dorana will require some catch-up lessons.’

‘Please just let me know in advance before you leave the castle,’ I asked.

‘I will do, Aleron,’ she smiled.

We had finished our dinner, when the Prince knocked on our door and gave a flower to my sister.

‘Can we go for a walk, my precious?’ he asked nicely.

‘Yes, Veron,’ my sister smiled, ‘we can go.’

I didn’t rush to go to Velina as we always met later. I walked along some corridors to check whether everything was fine. I returned to my apartment to drink my potion, but my sister was already there. She sat in the lobby on a sofa with a flower in her hand.

‘What is wrong?’ I asked and sat down next to her, ‘you look sad.’

‘I asked the Prince today not to court me anymore,’ she said.

‘So, you’ve made your decision,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ she said sadly, ‘did you know, that here, in the capital you could spend a night together with someone more freely than in the south?’

‘I did,’ I said.

‘Did you know, that Veron, I mean the Prince never asked me to spend a night in his apartment despite the fact that many girls used to sleep there?’

‘I did,’ I said.

‘I think he didn’t want to waste his time with me as I don’t have any experience in that area.’

‘I doubt that this would be the reason,’ I said.

‘I thought that he was interested in me,’ she said, ‘anyway, it was the best decision, I cannot ever be his betrothed.’

She hugged me and started to cry quietly, I hugged her back as always. Today I would not visit Velina, I never left my sister alone when she was sad and today her heart had just been broken.

We went to sleep quite late, when my sister was sad, I always told her stories to cheer her up. I had to wake up early for the morning exercise, but I felt tired. I woke my sister up; the children were going to be in the library soon.

‘Are we having dinner together?’ I asked before I left the room.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘of course. This afternoon I’m going to the inn,’ she said.

‘You have been there just recently.’

‘From now on I will have more time and people are counting on me,’ she said.

‘I see. Is Baron going to accompany you?’ I asked.

‘Not anymore,’ she said.

From yesterday Prince Veron was no longer responsible for my sister’s safety, but I was sure that the Prince would send someone with my sister.

‘Take your swords with you in a bag,’ I said, she nodded.

I went to the courtyard, the Prince and the guards were already there, the Princess sat on the balcony. Prince Veron was tired and inattentive, but he tried to pay attention.

‘Aleron,’ the Princess asked me, ‘will Alana join us in the garden?’

‘She won’t, your majesty,’ I said, ‘she is teaching in the morning, and in the afternoon, she is going to the inn.’

‘I’m going with her then,’ Baron said accommodatingly.

‘No, Baron,‘ the Prince said, ‘You no longer need to, thank you.’

There was silence for a moment as everyone acknowledged the change.

‘I see, I’m sorry Prince Veron,’ Baron said honestly.

‘Let’s start,’ the Prince said.

The practice was utterly senseless, the Prince fought like a small child. He was inattentive and missed with his sword.

‘Prince Veron,’ Baron said, ‘I think that’s enough for me, I’m tired.’

‘Me too,’ I stated as well.

Everyone followed our example and put down their swords on the ground. I looked at Velina, she was worried about her brother. We had just finished when Edria arrived and sat down on the balcony.

‘They have just finished the exercise,’ the Princess said and came towards us.

‘Veron,’ Velina told her brother, ‘today the eastern delegation is coming for an audience, we need to eat breakfast before that.’

‘I’m not hungry,’ the Prince said.

‘So, I’ll eat with our mother then,’  the Princess said, ‘you should just sit with us.’

Velina coughed twice, and the royal siblings walked away. Edria left the balcony, not many people liked her.

‘How is your sister, Aleron?’ Baron asked.

‘The same as him,’ I nodded my head towards the Prince, ‘she made a painful decision.’

‘I can imagine,’ he said, ‘the Prince was very happy with your sister, and I genuinely envied him.’

‘My sister was happy as well, but unfortunately, we are not a member of any noble family,’ I said.

‘It is not always beneficial to be a Prince,’ Baron said.

‘I’ve heard that you should get to find out who your wife is soon,’ I said.

‘When you arrived, I thought that it would be Alana,’ he said, ‘but I’m sure now that I was wrong.’

The day passed horribly slowly, I didn’t see the Prince, but I didn’t believe the delegates would have a successful audience with the Prince. In the afternoon, my sister rode out to the inn, I was on duty, and without permission, I could not join her. I went to the garden where Baron and Foren were playing a board game with the royal siblings. The Prince didn’t pay any attention, Baron easily won.

‘Prince Veron,’ Edria appeared in the garden, ‘I’ve heard what happened and I’m genuinely sorry.’

‘Edria,’ this was Velina speaking, ‘could you please leave us?’

‘Yes, of course,’ the woman turned to the Prince with a smile, ‘Your majesty, I wanted to let you know that If you need someone to talk to, I’m here,’ she smiled, the Prince just nodded.

The woman walked back to the castle, we stayed.

‘That woman is the last thing we need right now,’ Velina said annoyed, ‘Veron, I hope that you are not running back to her.’

‘She was never such a good listener,’ the Prince smiled.

‘But now she made you smile,’ Velina teased her brother, ‘so it was worth it.’

Before dinner time we went back to our apartments, my sister had already arrived. She received a meal today as well, but she didn’t have any appetite.

‘Did you have a good day?’ I asked, I wanted to make her talk.

‘Yes,’ she said.

She told me stories about the children and the people in the inn.

‘The innkeeper always gives me dinner,’ she smiled, ‘she said that on the days I was selling herbs at the inn, people were eating a lot.’

‘I’m not surprised,’ I said, ‘people love you.’

‘The innkeeper’s son, Puron offered to escort me home,’ she said, ‘but I came alone.’

For a while we ate without talking, I saw that she was thinking about something.

‘I’ve heard that miss Edria spent the whole afternoon with Prince Veron,’ she tried to be neutral, but every word was painful for her.

‘Whatever you have heard,’ I said, ‘it is not true. The Prince spent the afternoon with us in the garden, Edria only said hello to him.’

‘It is not my business,’ Alana said, ‘the Prince has the right to settle down with someone.’

We ate again without talking, there was something else on her mind as well.

‘Aleron,’ she said, ‘I think, I’m going to move back home. Now that the tax collectors are gone, it would be safe for me there.’

‘No,’ I said, ‘you hate that city and you can teach here as well. We didn’t come here for you to be a Queen, we came to start a new life. If you want, you could teach in the inn or anywhere else outside the castle and you would only need to spend the evenings here. We are not going back, and there is no way that you are going home alone.’

I sat next to her.

‘We will get over this,’ I said, ‘and one day you will allow someone to escort you home. If it does not happen this year then it will happen next year.’

‘You are right,’ she smiled, ‘Tomorrow I’ll look around to find a site for the school outside the castle.’

‘Good,’ I said, ‘do you want me to stay tonight?’

‘No, I don’t,’ she smiled, ‘I’m going to sleep.’

‘In case anything happens, the guards are outside. They will take care of you,’ I said and drank the potion.

‘And they will take care of me too,’ she touched her swords gently.

I left the apartment, the guards in the corridor waved to me.

‘Please take care of my sister,’ I asked.

‘We will do, Aleron,’ one of them smiled.

I walked to Velina along the servants’ passage, who was waiting for me in a robe.

‘You didn’t come yesterday,’ she said, ‘but after I met my brother, I didn’t expect you to come.’

‘I didn’t know that people can come to you for an audience,’ I said to her as I sat down to drink some tea.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘everyone can come, but from the south we have never received any letter to request it. The King and the Queen are always meet the delegation together, but today our mother and I both supported Veron. I didn’t need to be there but after seeing how upset Veron was, my mother asked me to join in. Veron had barely said a word, my mother took the final decision with me.’

‘How is your brother?’ I asked.

‘Not well,’ she said, ‘our mother is worried. In her opinion, Veron should talk with Alana.’

‘In my opinion it wouldn’t make sense,’ I said, ‘they should close the matter.’

‘What?’ Velina asked, ‘your sister just told my brother not to court her any more. Do you not think that she owes him an explanation?’

‘Explanation?’ I started to be angry, I didn’t want my sister to be blamed, ‘my sister is worth more than simply your brother's lover. What other explanation do you need?’

‘She was not even his lover yet,’ Velina had become angry as well, she wanted to defend her brother.

‘Because your brother didn’t want to waste his time with an inexperienced girl,’ I said, ‘here everyone walks in and out of each other’s bed, but their feelings are not respected at all.’

‘You don’t have the right to complain,’ the Princess shouted, ‘you gained all your experience from a tavern and me. Where are your feelings?’

‘Nowhere,’ I said, ‘but I’ve never offered a courtship to anyone. Here, in the capital you are spending the night with people in whom you are not even interested,’ I shouted, I would not allow anyone to blame my sister, ‘your brother should have never courted Alana. Everyone knows that he will marry Edria,’ I told her the gossip which could be heard everywhere since Edria’s arrival.

‘Veron will never marry Edria and your sister should be grateful that Veron courted her,’ Velina said loudly.

‘Grateful?’ I asked, ‘your brother is a Prince who is playing with everyone.’

‘Veron was a gentleman with every single girl, just like with your sister,’ she said, ‘Alana didn’t even become his lover, although it is not such a big thing here.’

‘Maybe it is not such a big thing for you,’ I said, ‘but Alana deserves to be the only person who is loved and she especially deserves a family and children. Alana doesn’t deserve being visited and vexed by a Queen to be in her apartment. You can be independent, but my sister is worth much more than that.’

‘So, is your sister worth more than me?’ The Princess asked angrily.

‘She is worth more than anyone in this castle,’ I shouted, ‘whether she has a rank or not.’

The Princess was going to answer but the emergency bells sounded. I raised my head; the Princess closed her eyes for a moment.

‘The guest corridor,’ she said.

‘Alana,’ I said to myself and I almost broke the door as I ran out.

I wore my complete uniform, I ran back to my apartment along the servants’ passage. The four guards lay on the ground, everything was covered with blood. I ran to our apartment, blood had leaked under the entrance door. Behind me, guards appeared but I ran inside our residence. Three royal guards lay on the floor in my sister’s bedroom, the room was soaked with blood and a familiar smell spread throughout the apartment which I couldn’t recognize. Alana lay on the ground next to the desk with her herbs with her swords by her hands, and Prince Veron crouched next to her. The herbs were overturned, the desk was moved, there must have been an extraordinary fight. My sister wore a top and shorts, just like at home. The Prince did not dare to touch her apart from her neck.

‘Alana,’ I whispered and crouched next to her.

‘She is barely breathing,’ the Prince said, ‘but she doesn’t have any wound.’

I picked her up and put her down on her bed. The Prince looked away while I put a blanket on her as her top didn’t cover much.

‘She has a wound,’ I said.

My sister had a scratch on her left shoulder, her skin was green and blue coloured around it and looked very unnatural.

‘Your majesty,’ one guard opened the door.

‘Bring Baron, Lord Adon and my sister here,’ the Prince ordered, ‘no one else can come in.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ the guard said and closed the door behind him.

‘What happened?’ I asked the Prince.

‘I wanted to talk with your sister, and when I arrived, the corridor already looked like now and I heard the noise of a sword fight from your apartment. I rang the bell and afterwards I ran here immediately. Alana had already lay on the ground just like the guards.’

‘These three guards attacked her?’ I asked, he nodded.

‘Veron,’ the old man from the dance night appeared at the door and was followed by two guards. Two thin blue lines crossed these guards’ yellow-green cloaks, but I was not aware of its meaning.

‘Lord Adon,’ the Prince stood up and bowed slightly, ‘she is barely breathing.’

The man must be a highly respected person if the Prince bowed to him. The man sat down on the edge of Alana’s bed and checked my sister’s pupils, tongue and the gash.

‘You are smart little blossom,’ the man whispered nicely, ‘very smart. You’ve learned everything that your parents taught you, but you were caught.’

‘She was poisoned,’ the man said to me, ‘but luckily, she drank the antidote before she was hurt, so she is still alive.’

‘Will she recover?’ I asked.

‘We need to wait,’ he said, ‘the poison was strong.’

‘I should have been here,’ I said to myself.

‘That would have been better,’ the Princess appeared in the room angrily.

‘We don’t have time for a domestic quarrel,’ the man said calmly, ‘you need to move her somewhere which will be known only to a few people. I need to see her very often.’

The man stood up, I did the same.

‘You called her little blossom,’ I said, ‘my mother used to call her this.’

‘I know,’ he answered, ‘I taught your mother all about herbs.’

All of us bowed slightly, Lord Adon left the room.

‘Your majesty,’ Baron had just arrived, he was barely dressed, ‘what happened?’

‘Alana has been attacked, ‘the Prince said, ‘You are the best person to tell me what happened here, and I trust you. You are my best tracker, Baron.’

Baron looked around, walked in and out between the rooms. He checked the different traces of blood and the scratch on the floor which was left by the moved table.

‘I think, she was already sleeping when she was attacked,’ he said, ‘she used the short swords to defend herself. She killed the two guards first, I assume they didn’t expect any resistance. She desperately needed something from the table, because she gave up her good position and she got stuck behind the table. Behind the table, next to the wall there was clearly not enough space for two swords, and her shoulder was cut. Alana and the man probably cut each other at the same time, but Alana did a perfect hit and the man died immediately.’

‘She needed the antidote,’ I said, ‘She recognized the smell of the potion, our father showed us many times. In the evening she always prepares the antidote together with some other necessary potions which might be needed urgently and during the night there is no time to prepare them. My mother and Alana saved some lives in the south with this habit.’

‘Today she saved her own life,’ the Prince said gently.

‘Apart from us no one can know about this,’ the Prince said, Baron nodded, ‘Officially the guards sacrificed their lives to kill the invaders who attacked the castle. News of Alana’s condition couldn’t be made known to anyone.’

‘She did well against three opponents,’ Baron said, ‘now carrying two short swords makes sense to me. Did she use them?’

‘She is better than you,’ the Prince smiled while he took a gentle look at Alana.

‘Why did your guards attack her?’ Velina asked, ‘because she refused you?’

‘They don’t belong to us,’ Baron answered, ‘they don’t have the royal coat of arms on their cloak,’ he showed the missing figure on the dead people’s shoulders, ‘Someone made the cloaks, but he didn’t have any royal coat of arms.’

We went to the lobby, Velina lit some candles, the three of us sat down on the sofa.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince asked, ‘did anything strange happen recently?’

‘Edria knocked on our door a few days ago,’ I said, ‘but nothing else.’

‘Was it before her decision?’ the Prince asked, I nodded.

‘With this information at least I understand some part of our last conversation,’ he said, ‘I wanted to talk to her today.’

‘It would have been superfluous, your majesty, she is not fit to be a simple lover.’

‘She is worth more than anyone here,’ the Princess said in disdain.

The Prince looked at his sister and raised his eyebrows.

‘I doubt that this is the right time to talk about who is worth more,’ I said decisively, ‘my sister is between life and death, your majesty,’ I spoke with more emphasis than usual.

Velina sat down silently, the Prince observed her for a while.

‘Baron,’ the Prince said, ‘as soon as possible, we need to take her to the western corridor. Apart from Lord Adon and us no one else is allowed to visit her.’

‘All right, your majesty,’ Baron said, ‘I will go and prepare a room.’

‘People will ask questions,’ Velina said, ‘what can we say?’

‘Nothing,’ the Prince said, ‘no one must know about the assassination. Are the guards on the corridor dead?’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ Baron said, ‘the first two guards were killed by a clean stab, the other two pulled their swords afterwards, but it was already too late. The invaders already had a considerable advantage.’

‘We will take Alana away from here,’ the Prince said, ‘you should check the bodies afterwards, I want to know who these people were. Velina, can you predict anything?’

‘Nothing, Veron, I’m sorry,’ the Princess answered.

‘Officially the guards killed the invaders,’ the Prince told his sister, ‘you can share this information.’

Baron left us to prepare the new room for Alana, I covered my sister with a blanket and took her in my arms, to carry her to the western corridor. Velina walked in front of us along the servants’ passage, the Prince and I followed her with Alana in my arms.

‘I’m not asking what this argument between you and Velina was about,’ the Prince said next to me, ‘but I told you not to fall in love with her.’

‘I haven’t done that, your majesty,’ I answered shortly, I didn’t want to have a senseless conversation.

‘I will get your room emptied,’ the Prince said, ‘you will move to our corridor, next to Edria.’

Following Velina, we entered a simple, white walled room with a bed, a sofa and a small cupboard in it. The bathroom was similar to ours, but it was much smaller. Baron was already waiting for us.

‘This is the guards’ corridor,’ the Prince explained, ‘all of you should use the servants’ passage, no one must know that Alana is here. Keep the entrance door always closed. Velina, do you have a trustworthy servant?’ the Prince asked his sister.

‘Maina, your majesty,’ I answered instead of the Princess, ‘Alana trusted her.’

‘She should be here all day long to help Lord Adon,’ the Prince ordered, all of us nodded.

The royal siblings and Baron left the room, I laid Alana down to the bed and covered her gently. I lay down on the sofa to sleep a bit.

08.

In the morning I was woken by Lord Adon’s noise.

‘Aleron,’ he said not even looking at me, ‘I didn’t want to wake you up.’

‘It is time for me to wake up. How is she?’ I asked as I sat up on the sofa.

‘She has a fever,’ he said, ‘her body is fighting against the poison.’

The man put some powder around Alana’s scratch and put a bandage on it before he raised my sister’s head up to give her something to drink.

‘Are you giving her an antidote?’ I asked.

‘I’m giving her a tea,’ the man said, ‘do you not know about herbs?’

‘No,’ I shook my head and sat on the edge of Alana’s bed, ‘we’ve learned everything together, but my mother gave up teaching me about herbs because I fell asleep and fell off my chair during lessons,’ I smiled at this memory.

‘That is the failure of a teacher,’ the man laughed, ‘when she cannot teach her own child. I experienced the same with my daughter as your mother did with you,’ he smiled.

‘Why do you give her tea?’ I asked.

‘She cannot have any more antidote, and she must not become be dehydrated. We simply need to wait.’

‘Will she recover?’ I asked.

‘I could clean her wound; the poison is the only challenge now. Whoever attacked her, it was skilfully planned,’ the man said.

‘It was a perfect plan,’ I said, ‘I should have been with her.’

‘You cannot change that now,’ the man said, ‘your sister resembles your mother very much.’

‘Why did you teach my mother all about herbs?’ I asked.

‘Because she asked me to do so,’ he said, ‘Your mother was very young when she came into our garden and she was interested in herbs from the beginning,’ he smiled, ‘we used to live close to each other. Later on, she affected my business just like your sister.’

‘Did my mother sell herbs?’ I asked with interest.

‘Yes,’ he smiled, ‘instead of selling them at the inn she sold them at the market and sometimes helped for free just like Alana. I never told her, but I am very proud of her.’

The Lord went to the bathroom, I gently held my sister’s hand, she was very hot from the fever. The hair on her forehead glistened with sweat and her face was very pale.

‘Alana,’ I said to her nicely, ‘Do you remember what we agreed? We were born together, and we will die together. As I was born first you must wait for me, so don’t you dare to leave me here alone,’ I said with huge self-control.

Someone knocked on the back door, the Lord’s guard opened it, it was Maina.

‘Aleron,’ she smiled at me, ‘her majesty, the Queen would like to see you.’

‘Yes, I’m coming, thank you, Maina,’ I said.

‘Before you leave the room, could you please move Alana over to the other side of the bed?’ Maina asked, ‘she is very sweaty, I need to change the bedsheet under her.’

‘Yes, of course,’ I said.

I picked my sister up and carried her to the other side of the bed. She hadn’t lost any weight so far, she would need all her strength to fight against the poison. I laid Alana down on the clean dry part of the bed, Maina put her hair above the pillow in order to keep her back cool and started to change the wet bedsheet.

‘Wash yourself,’ Lord Adon said to me, ‘you cannot go to the Queen like that.’

I quickly washed and put on my current uniform as I didn’t have any other outfit here.

‘I will walk you to the Queen,’ the man said and opened the door for me.

The guards in blue lined green and yellow cloaks took the man’s bag of herbs and escorted us along the servants’ passage and opened the door to enter the standard corridor. An increased number of guards indicated that the Prince must have doubled the number of guards everywhere. Guards walked in pairs and looked at the other guards’ shoulders to see if they had the royal coat of arms on their cloaks.

‘How long did I sleep?’ I asked the man.

‘Not long, we have just finished breakfast,’ he said, ‘Veron hardly slept, he ordered a full military alert. He asked me for a tea to keep him awake.’

‘We are here,’ the man said and stopped in front of a door guarded by two guards.

‘Thank you,’ I said and bowed slightly.

The man smiled and waved to his guards to walk forward.

I adjusted my crumpled clothes and knocked on the door. A guard opened a door for me and in the room six guards stood next to the walls and windows including Baron’s father, Brenbar.

The room was a yellowy green lobby with a beautiful fireplace, with two sofas, tables and bookshelves. The Queen sat on a sofa next to the window in a dark green dress and knitted something. On the other sofa Lord Adon’s wife sat with the dog by her feet, and she was drawing the Queen.

‘Your majesty,’ I bowed slightly, ‘you wanted to see me.’

‘Yes, Aleron,’ the Queen said, ‘I wanted to express my sincere regret about your sister. I genuinely hope that she will recover soon.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ I said.

‘How is she?’ the old lady asked me.

‘She has a fever,’ I said, ‘she will get well soon.’

The Queen wanted to answer me, but a servant came in and waited for the Queen to turn to her.

‘What does our guest want now?’ the Queen asked the girl.

‘New servants and more guards,’ the girl said, ‘she said that her current servants were too clumsy, and she could not trust the guards apart from his majesty’s, Prince Veron’s private guards.’

‘It is good that she trusts at least the private guards and not only Veron,’ the old lady said ironically, the Queen laughed.

‘Send two new servants for her,’ the Queen said, ‘and tell every servant that on the days when they are supporting Miss Edria, they will receive double payment.’

‘Even the double amount will not compensate for the work they are doing,’ the lady commented.

‘What should I say about the private guards?’ the girl asked.

‘Edria knows perfectly that to be escorted by Veron’s private guards would mean an announced courtship,’ the Queen sighed, ‘Tell her, that Prince Veron’s private guards are serving the current royal family members and not the overly optimistic nobles,’ the Queen said to the girl.

‘Vina,’ the lady said, ‘she cannot say this, because Edria will hit her.’

‘Right,’ the Queen smiled, ‘tell her that she should wait, we will see what we can do.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ the girl bowed and left the room.

‘I genuinely hope that Veron will not do anything stupid on his birthday night,’ the Queen sighed.

I waited for the Queen to talk to me because I couldn’t leave until she told me to do so.

‘It is great luck that the guards killed the invaders with one precise cut,’ the Queen turned to me.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said, ‘they were great guards.’

‘Adon told me that your sister had taken the antidote just in time,’ the lady said.

‘Yes, madam,’ I said, ‘she has a chance to recover.’

‘How did she know that she would be poisoned?’ the Queen asked with interest.

‘I don’t know, your majesty,’ I lied, ‘probably she had heard it.’

‘Probably,’ she smiled, ‘If Alana needs anything to help her recover, please feel free to come to me.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ I said, and after a bow, I left the room.

I went back to the guest corridor to take a look at our previous apartment, but the whole corridor was empty and clean. Our room was empty, even the furniture had been taken away. I walked towards the library; two guards stood next to the door. I waved to them and went inside.

The quiet, empty library still looked like a classroom; I could even read my sister’s last words on the board. I sat down at one table and didn’t hold my tears back. I'd never felt so alone or so helpless.

After a while, I went down to the guards’ canteen to eat something.

‘How is your sister?’ an older woman asked me, while I ate something.

‘She will be better soon,’ I said. I had no idea who knew what.

‘She is teaching my son and from what I heard the lessons were cancelled because she is sick,’ the woman said, ‘I wish her a quick recovery.’

‘Thank you,’ I said.

‘I’m so sorry, Aleron,’ Doran sat down next to me.

‘Thank you,’ I said, ‘Alana will be better soon.’

‘Tila is devastated,’ he said, ‘we cannot imagine who could do such a terrible thing. Dorana collected all the fortune flowers from the neighbourhood, to aid Alana’s recovery.’

Based on a legend a white, small flower which was called a fortune flower fulfils wishes. Our mother taught us from a young age that it was more useful as an antipyretic than for wishes.

‘Do you know everything?’ I asked, he nodded.

‘Baron told me what had happened, because he asked me whether I had seen anything when Alana visited us,’ he said, ‘unfortunately I haven’t seen anything suspicious, no one followed us. I promise you, Aleron that we will find the person who did this,’ he said.

‘Does everyone know?’ I asked.

‘They know about an unsuccessful attack against the castle which was stopped by the four guards, and Alana got cold and she needs to rest,’ he said, ‘her majesty, Princess Velina shared the information about Alana with the children’s parents.’

‘Probably Prince Veron asked her to do that,’ I said.

Doran patted me on my back and walked back to his post. After lunch I walked to the garden, I needed to find something to stop myself going mad. In the garden the Prince had just got off his black horse, Baron and Foren escorted him.

‘Your majesty,’ I went up to them and bowed.

‘Did she wake up?’ the Prince asked hopefully, I shook my head.

‘She has a fever now,’ I answered, ‘Have you found something?’

‘Nothing,’ Baron said, ‘it was a very well-planned job, but we think that they expected you to be there as well. Three men are too much against a girl.’

‘I have been to the guards’ families,’ the Prince said, ‘I wanted to extend my most sincere condolences to them.’

‘Now some of the guards are looking for hidden and suspicious people in the neighbourhood,’ Baron said, ‘it was led from behind the scenes.’

‘Have you checked the tailor’s workshops?’ I asked, ‘If I was right, not many tailors can keep green fabric if they are not royal tailors.’

‘You are right,’ the Prince said, ‘Foren,’ he turned to the dark-skinned man, who had a broad back similarly to me, ‘you need to go to each tailor’s workshop and look around.’

‘I will do that, your majesty,’ the man said.

‘No one must make a mess,’ the Prince ordered, ‘I don’t want you to scare anybody, just look around in the stores. If we are lucky, they won’t have thought about cleaning up any scrap material.’

‘Please send me with the team, your majesty,’ I said, ‘otherwise I’ll go crazy.’

‘I’m sorry, Aleron,’ he said, ‘I need you here.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Change your uniform in your new apartment,’ he said to me, ‘we will eat something and let’s meet here afterwards.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said.

I walked to my new apartment, which was on the same corridor as Velina’s room. The corridor was packed with guards, two of them stood by the door next to me.

Apart from the fireplaces in the bedrooms this apartment looked just like the previous one and all our belongings were already here. I was getting washed and dressed, when someone knocked on the door.

‘Aleron,’ Edria stood on the corridor and smiled at me, ‘I heard you had arrived. We have become neighbours.’

‘I’m glad, Miss Edria,’ I said, ‘how can I help you?’

‘I don’t feel safe in my room,’ she said.

‘I’m sorry about that, Miss Edria,’ I said.

‘I thought you could help me as you are Prince Veron’s newest personal guard,’ she said.

‘I’m sorry, Miss Edria, but Prince Veron is waiting for me,’ I said and closed my apartment door behind me.

I walked back to the garden, Edria and her guards followed me quietly.

The Prince and his friends stood by the games table, but instead of playing with the board game they looked at a huge piece of paper. After my arrival I noticed that it was a map of the capital.

‘There are only a couple of tailors’ workshops in the capital,’ Prince Veron said, ‘who would be able to store green material in such big quantities. The rest of them simply don’t have space for it. Foren,’ the Prince looked at his friend,’ you should personally visit with Doran these four workshops this afternoon, I do not want to involve anyone else,’ he showed some of the tailors’ on the map.

‘With Doran, your majesty?’ Foren asked, ‘he is the newest guard here.’

‘Yes,’ the Prince answered, ‘but he was hospitable to Alana and escorted her, he must be trustworthy.’

‘I will take him, then, your majesty,’ the man said and left us.

‘Prince Veron,’ Edria had just arrived, the Prince sighed quietly.

‘Edria,’ the Prince smiled at her, ‘how can I help you?’

‘I don’t feel safe in my room,’ she repeated the usual words, ‘I trust only your personal guards.’

‘I’m sorry, Edria,’ he said, ‘but I need them as well. Your room is safe, Velina’s companions are not even allowed to leave the castle. I cannot insist on this, but I can ask you to stay inside the castle. Would you please do that?’ the Prince smiled at Edria.

‘I will do that for you,’ Edria said sweetly and caressed the Prince’s arm, ‘will I see you later?’

‘Of course,’ the Prince said.

The woman left us with her guards, we stayed.

‘We need to wait then,’ the Prince said, ‘we will see whether Foren and Doran find something or not. Baron,’ he looked at his friend, ‘go and take some rest, Aleron, come with me.’

Baron bowed and went inside the Castle; the Prince picked up the map to carry inside.

The Prince and I walked to Alana’s room along the servants’ passage. Maina sat next to her and wiped her forehead. As soon as we entered, she stood up and bowed, the Prince signalled to her to continue.

‘How is she?’ I asked.

‘Same as before,’ she said, ‘Lord Adon said that until her temperature goes down, we cannot be certain about her recovery.’

‘Maina,’ the price said, ‘go and have some rest.’

‘Before I go, do you want me to bring you something to eat?’ she asked.

‘Yes, Maina, thank you,’ the Prince smiled.

The girl went out, the Prince sat next to my sister and held her hand, I sat down on the sofa.

‘Did she tell you that when I left her we had had a disagreement under the tree and I was angry?’ the Prince asked me.

‘No, she didn’t mention this,’ I said, ‘she said that she had asked you not to court her anymore.’

‘Yes,’ the Prince said, ‘that is what she asked me to do. She said that she didn’t want to hold me from finding a fiancée who suits me.’

‘You cannot get engaged with her, your majesty,’ I said.

‘No, unfortunately, I cannot,’ he said, ‘the council rejected my proposal, my father is my last hope.’

‘Why did they reject it?’ I asked.

‘The result depended on a single vote, but I didn’t get it. The council said that my proposal was childish, and a King needs to choose a wife responsibly and not based on emotions. Did Alana really think that she was not worthy of me?’ the Prince asked.

‘She thought that you might not want to waste your time with her,’ I said, ‘you’ve never invited her to your apartment, and she had heard about your previous courtships.’

‘I wished your sister to be in my bedroom more than anything or anyone,’ he said, ‘but I respected her upbringing.’

‘I thought about this, but she had already made her decision.’

‘That evening I was very angry and just left her under the tree in the park. I went back after a minute to talk with her, but she was already gone,’ he said, ‘now my mother thinks that I want to propose to Edria on my birthday dance night.’

‘Do you want to propose to her?’ I asked hesitantly, ‘I wouldn’t like Alana to see that.’

‘Of course, not,‘ the Prince shook his head, ‘Currently, Edria is the best choice from a political and relationship point of view and unfortunately, she knows it. Even without Alana I know that she would be an awful Queen. Instead of asking Edria I’ll ask my mother for the first dance again.’

‘Maybe that would be the best choice,’ I said.

Maina came back with a tray of food, put it on the table and after bowing, left us. Baron came in, he opened the door for her.

‘Your majesty,’ Baron said, ‘Foren and Doran found something.’

‘What did they find?’ the Prince asked impatiently.

‘An empty tailor workshop,’ Baron answered, ‘it was completely empty, the neighbours said that the man had left his home many weeks ago. He lived alone and he didn’t have anyone.’

‘He was easy to bribe,’ the Prince said, ‘it is getting dark soon, we cannot do any more today. Baron, go and have some rest.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ Baron bowed and left the room.

I started to eat, the Prince sat next to my sister holding her hand.

‘It seems like someone is continuously watching what we are doing,’ he said.

‘Maybe Velina, I mean the Princess could help us,’ I said and stood up, ‘will you take care of my sister?’ I asked.

‘Go Aleron, ask my sister, I’ll take care of yours,’ he smiled.

I swallowed the food and walked to Velina’s apartment to knock on her front door.

‘Aleron,’ she barely opened the door but the number of candles and the slowly moving bedsheet indicated a guest, ‘what do you need? I’m busy.’

‘I’d like to touch the tree, your majesty,’ I said, ‘I need to know if the tree wants to show us anything about my sister.’

The Princess thought for a couple of seconds.

‘Wait here,’ she said and closed the door.

Velina made me wait for a while, before she came out of her room fully dressed.

‘Let’s go,’ she said.

I had a feeling that she was upset, but I had no idea what the reason was.

‘Thank you for taking time out of your evening,’ I said as probably she was upset because I had ruined her evening.

‘I’d like to help Alana,’ she answered, ‘It’s the least I can do.’

We walked to the tower without any further word. Now there were four royal guards with halberds standing next to the entrance. Nothing had changed inside, I stepped up to the tree, the Princess sat down on a chair and closed her eyes.

‘Touch the branches,’ the Princess gave me an order.

I touched the tree and waited.

‘I saw the same as last time,’ she said, ‘nothing more, I’m sorry.’

‘Are you sure that there was nothing else?’ I asked.

‘I’m sure,’ she said, ‘we can go back.’

I escorted her back to her room, I didn’t want to take up her time any longer.

‘Thank you for walking me back to my room,’ she said as she stood next to her door.

‘That is my duty,’ I said.

Princess Velina angrily entered her apartment and shut the door behind her. I walked back to Alana’s apartment along the servants’ passage, the guards next to the backdoor signalled, that Lord Adon was inside the room.

‘Did she wake up?’ I asked as I entered the room.

‘No, she didn’t,’ Lord Adon answered, ‘she needs to drink to prevent her body from giving up.’

The Prince ate at the table, Lord Adon poured a cup of liquid into Alana's mouth holding her head.

‘Her fever should decrease in a couple of hours, otherwise we cannot be certain that she will win this battle.’

‘She cannot die,’ I said, ‘You must do something. Give her an antidote or something. Get her fever down,’ my commanding attitude wasn’t polite, but the Lord didn't care.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince said nicely.

‘Call someone else,’ I continued angrily, ‘who is really good at herbs. Alana would be able to cure such a sick person; my sister has helped everyone so far. I’m sure that you could do something more,’ I said, ‘try harder.’

‘Aleron, take some rest,’ the man said nicely, ‘I’ll be back tomorrow morning. Veron,’ he turned to the Prince, ‘if anything changes during the night, let me know immediately.’

‘I will do, Lord Adon, thank you,’ the Prince bowed sadly.

The man left the room, I hit a massive hole in the wall. My fist hurt afterwards but I didn’t care.

‘I cannot lose my sister,’ I said with anger.

‘Take some sleep, Aleron, I’ll watch her,’ the Prince ordered, ‘it is not a request. I don’t want you to smash up the castle.’

I lay down on the sofa and closed my eyes.

I was woken up by Prince Veron’s voice, who based from his silhouette sat next to my sister. Outside it was still dark, I had only slept for one or two hours. The Prince had probably kept talking to Alana throughout this time.

‘You can ask for anything my precious, please just wake up,’ the Prince said gently.

‘Water,’ my sister’s voice was weak and quiet, but I got up immediately.

I poured water from the prepared jug and gave water to my sister, who opened her tired eyes. I had seen how Lord Adon raised Alana’s head when he gave her tea, so I did the same. After a few sips, she put her head on the pillow. My sister still had a temperature, but she was less hot than this morning. I gave her a kiss on her forehead, it was allowed for siblings. The Prince and I sat on the two edges of her bed, I almost leaned over to her.

‘Alana,’ I smiled, ‘I was sure that you would not leave me here alone.’

‘Aleron,’ she smiled and turned to the Prince, ‘Veron, your majesty,’ she looked at the Prince.

‘My precious,’ the Prince smiled at her and he gave her a kiss on her forehead as well.

The kiss didn’t follow the rules of etiquette, but neither Alana nor I paid attention to that.

‘I was attacked,’ my sister spoke slowly.

‘I know, my precious,’ the Prince said to her, ‘we know everything.’

‘Aleron, bring Lord Adon here,’ the Prince ordered.

‘Yes, I’m going, your majesty,’ I said.

I ran along the servants’ passage, but I realized that I had no idea which was Lord Adon’s apartment. I had just passed Velina’s apartment, I banged on her door.

‘Aleron,’ she opened her door, ‘what do you want?’

‘Lord Adon,’ I gabbled, ‘I need to find him.’

‘Come in,’ she said and opened her door.

Her room was quiet, I must have woken her up. She put on a dress and she didn’t care about changing in front of me. We ran along the servants’ passage to the guards who had blue lines on their cloaks. I banged on the door, Lord Adon opened it in seconds and he hurried back with us followed by his guards.

‘She woke up,’ I said on the corridor.

We arrived back at the room, the Prince was sitting in the same way as I had left him.

‘You did a good job, little blossom,’ the man smiled at Alana, ‘a very good job.’

Lord Adon prepared some herbs and helped my sister to drink them.

‘She will recover now,’ he looked at me.

‘Thank you,’ I said, ‘and I’m sorry for this evening.’

‘No problem, my son,’ he smiled, ‘nice decoration,’ he waved at the hole in the wall with a laugh, ‘Alana, you still have a fever, you need to rest,’ he turned to my sister and checked her forehead.

‘Yes,’ Alana smiled wearily.

‘Let her sleep,’ the man said, ‘you can come back in the morning, but she needs to sleep now.’

‘I’m staying,’ I said decisively, ‘I won’t let her stay alone.’

The royal siblings walked out together with Lord Adon. I partially undressed and lay down on the other side of Alana’s bed. She had already fallen asleep. I was exhausted and relieved, I fell asleep quickly.

09.

During the night, I woke up from time to time to check whether my sister's condition had deteriorated, but her fever was not as high as in the morning. In the morning I was woken up by some noise, I was going to reach for my sword, but it was just Velina.

‘Your majesty,’ I said as I got up from the bed in my underwear.

‘I have come to see her before breakfast,’ the Princess said, ‘how is she?’

‘She was sleeping calmly during the night,’ I said, ‘her fever is decreasing.’

‘I’m glad,’ she smiled.

She wanted to leave, I touched her arm gently.

‘Velina,’ I said, ‘yesterday it seemed that you were upset by something. I didn’t want to ruin your evening, your majesty.’

‘You didn’t ruin it,’ she said defiantly, ‘I had a wonderful evening and night.’

‘I’m glad,’ I said.

‘What is your problem, Aleron?’ she snapped, I became surprised.

‘Nothing, your majesty,’ I said, ‘I don’t understand you.’

‘You haven't been looking for me for days, only when you wanted to see the tree,’ she said angrily.

‘Why would I have been looking for you?’ I asked, ‘I was sure that thousands of guards were guarding you.’

‘To ask me how I was,’ she snapped.

‘My sister had been poisoned and while she was lying unconscious, you expected me to visit you and ask about your well-being?’ I started to be angry, ‘We are lovers, Velina, nothing more. I really don’t understand you.’

‘We were lovers,’ she said angrily, ‘I already have a new lover.’

‘In that case, I don’t understand why I should be looking for you,’ I said.

‘Because of nothing,’ she said and was hurrying out of the room when Prince Veron came in.

‘I warned both of you,’ the Prince said and looked at his sister with a sigh.

‘Veron,’ my sister whispered.

I hadn’t noticed her waking up, but the Prince sat down on the edge of her bed.

‘My precious,’ the Prince said to her, ‘how long have you been awake?’

‘Since our siblings started shouting,’ she smiled.

‘I didn’t want to wake you up,’ I said and leaned over to hug her.

I started to get dressed quietly.

‘It is okay,’ she answered, ‘I need to go and teach.’

She began to get up, but the Prince pushed her back gently onto the bed.

‘This is not my best way to keep a woman in a bed,’ he laughed, ‘but I don’t have any better idea.’

‘You are not going anywhere, Alana,’ I said, ‘until Lord Adon says that you can get up, you should stay in bed.’

‘Did you catch the invaders?’ she asked after she had laid back on the bed.

‘You killed all of them,’ I said, ‘one clean cut with each. Our father and uncle would be proud of you.’

‘They came from a forest,’ she said, ‘They smelled of wet leaves.’

‘Are you sure?’ I asked, she nodded.

‘We will leave you now, my precious,’ the Prince stood up in a hurry.

He kissed my sister on her forehead and waved to me to follow him through the back door.

‘Is it a good idea to leave her alone?’ I asked the Prince as Maina entered.

‘Maina will be with her,’ the Prince smiled, ‘come, Aleron, we need to leave.’

The Prince woke his companions up. Now I knew that his companions were his personal guards and they escorted him everywhere as companions.

‘Alana woke up,’ the Prince smiled as we headed towards the stable.

‘That is great, Prince Veron,’ Baron and Foren smiled.

‘She said that the invaders had smelled like a wet leaves. In her opinion we need to look for a forest.’ Prince Veron said.

‘The border forest?’ Foren asked, ‘we haven’t searched that far from the capital.’

The border forest runs between Rodon and our northern neighbouring country but as the countries had a good relationship, the forest was never guarded.

The forest was so enormous that it took two days on horseback to reach the two ends of the forest along the trade route which crossed the middle of the forest. Half of the forest belongs to us, the other half belongs to our neighbour.

‘Let’s go,’ the Prince ordered impatiently.

‘We should take more people with us, Prince Veron,’ Foren said, ‘we don’t know what to expect there.’

‘I agree,’ the Prince said, ‘bring some more trustworthy guards, independently of rank or service period, but I don’t want to leave the castle unprotected.’

We collected a group of guards, which included Doran, Baron’s father, Brenbar and some guards of his majesty, King Darion. We rode out to the border forest. Thanks to the nice weather we arrived in a couple of hours. We got off the horse at the edge of the forest.

‘We're splitting into pairs,’ the Prince said, ‘Aleron, come with me.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said.

Half of the team went to the right of the trade route, the other half went to the left. We started to search through the forest, but it was like looking for a needle in a haystack. We got lucky, shortly after the beginning of the search Baron whistled loudly signalling that he had found something. Baron paired up with his father, we had found them easily. They were in a small glade next to an extinguished campfire. In the glade lay eight dead bodies with green-yellow cloaks without the royal coat of arms on them.

‘Four of them had been killed by throwing daggers, four of them had been killed by swords,’ Baron said, ‘perfect job, only one cut each. It wasn’t a long fight, it could have happened during night.’

‘They killed their own people,’ Foren said, ‘it was not us for sure.’

‘Let’s look around,’ the Prince ordered, we started to search the bodies and the camp.

I had found a dagger which was so familiar to me that I decided not to show it to anybody. I had forged it for my father a couple of years ago, so I hid it under my cloak silently.

‘Have you found anything?’ the Prince asked, everyone shook their head.

‘They have cleaned every trace,’ Baron said, ‘I’m sorry, your majesty.’

‘Bury the bodies,’ the Prince gave an order to half of the team, ‘and burn the cloaks and everything else.’

We rode back to the castle, Prince Veron almost ran to my sister, I followed him slowly.

When we entered Alana’s room, my sister was washed and dressed, and she sat on her bed half-sitting. Maina helped her to eat but she stood up to greet the Prince according to the rules of etiquette.

‘Alana,’ the Prince said and stepped up to my sister’s bed. Maina bowed and stepped aside but the Prince didn’t even notice her.

‘Your majesty,’ my sister said and sat up slowly.

‘I’m terribly sorry, my precious, that I left you under the tree that evening,’ the Prince said and sat down on the edge of the bed, ‘I was very angry, and I overreacted without thinking. Please forgive me and allow me to be your suitor again. I’d be sincerely honoured, if you would say yes. Alana, please say something.’

‘I was waiting for you to finish,’ my sister smiled, ‘I need to think about it, Veron. I’m still not a member of a noble family, that hasn’t changed.’

‘I’ll never get married then, and I’ll stay with you without being married,’ the Prince said, ‘after my father’s death I’ll change the law to marry you as a King.’

‘Do you think that I should leave?’ Maina asked me quietly.

‘No, you can stay,’ I smiled, ‘they are not noticing you. With time, you’ll get used to it.’

‘What will happen with Edria, your majesty?’ my sister asked, ‘Everyone knows that you will ask Edria for the first dance on your birthday dance evening.’

‘I know, that she has spread this rumour throughout the castle, but I’m never going to ask her for my first dance,’ the Prince said, ‘I can swear to that. I cannot lose you again, my precious. When I left you, you got in trouble,’ he smiled and caressed my sister’s face.

In the silence Maina looked at me, she had to get used to my sister's relationship. The door had opened, Lord Adon entered the room.

‘Veron,’ the man’s loud voice sounded, ‘let her have some rest, she shouldn’t even sit yet.’

‘Yes, Lord Adon,’ the Prince said, he stood up in a hurry and bowed.

‘How are you?’ Lord Adon asked my sister, ‘have you eaten?’

‘Yes, Lord Adon, thank you,’ my sister answered, ‘I could leave this room soon,’ Alana's statement indicated that she knew the effects of the poison and its treatment.

‘Yes, you know well,’ the man smiled, ‘you can go back to your room now, it will be more comfortable for you. Maina will walk with you, but I want you to rest without any physical activity,’ he glanced at Prince Veron, ‘every exercise in any room is forbidden. Do you understand me, Veron?’ the Prince nodded like a naughty child, ‘the poison must be eliminated from her body.’

‘I understand, Lord Adon, thank you,’ Alana said.

‘Unfortunately, I have bad news as well,’ the man said.

‘What is it?’ I asked anxiously, ‘you promised me that she would recover.’

‘The scar will remain on your arm,’ he turned to Alana not paying any attention to my voice, ‘I’m sorry.’

‘It is not a problem,’ the Prince said, ‘we will hide it under nice jewellery if needed.’

‘I see Aleron that you don’t trust people,’ the man smiled.

‘I was raised like that,’ I said relieved.

Maina stepped up to my sister to hold her. Alana was still weak and she moved slowly, but she felt better and that was the most important thing. The girls left the room through the back door, Maina knew the way, she would not get lost. Lord Adon waved to one of his guards to walk with the girls.

‘Veron,’ the man said when only the three of us left in the room, ‘it is not good if her heart beats fast. She needs to have a rest now, please don’t visit her.’

‘No,’ the Prince said decisively, ‘I will visit her because I love her. I’m grateful for everything that you did for me including your vote in the council, but I will not give up on her, whether I can marry her or not.’

‘Veron,’ the man said calmly, ‘I asked you not to visit her for a few days, not forever. As soon as she sees you, her heart beats fast and she doesn’t need that this time,’ he smiled, ‘I’m proud of you for your choice.’

‘Thank you,’ the Prince said, ‘I can accept a few days.’

Lord Adon and Prince Veron left us, I started packing our belongings.

10.

After my sister had moved back to our new apartment, Lord Adon allowed her to do more and more each day. The Prince kept his promise and didn’t visit my sister, but he sent a single flower every day to her. The Prince’s birthday evening was very close, the preparations had already started. As there was no sign of any further attack, Prince Veron ordered the ending of the full military alert inside the castle. Still, he relocated some of the guards and changed their posts. Lord Adon allowed my sister to teach in a seated position, in the morning children were running to the library again along the corridors.

‘Today you can go to the garden for a walk,’ Lord Adon said to Alana one morning before her lesson, ‘but it should be a slow and comfortable walk.’

‘Thank you,’ Alana smiled, ‘when can I go to the inn? People are waiting for my herbs.’

‘Tomorrow, but only for a couple of hours,’ he said.

Lord Adon left us, I had to start my duty as well.

‘Will you be okay?’ I asked my sister.

‘Yes, Aleron, I will,’ she smiled, ‘I’m teaching, and I need to take care of my herbs. You haven’t been doing that,’ she laughed.

‘It was better for your herbs,’ I teased her.

Prince Veron kept a huge number of guards on our corridor and in front of our apartment, two guards stood all day long, they escorted Alana everywhere. This morning I had to attend the daily exercises and when I arrived, everyone had already warmed up. Both the Princess and Edria sat on the balcony but they left a space between each other. I hadn’t spoken with Velina since Alana had woken up, we had only passed each other or met in company.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince greeted me happily.

During the exercise, the Prince was visibly happy, but he was waiting for the afternoon.

‘Why is Prince Veron so delighted?’ I asked Baron while the Prince had a contest against Foren.

‘Lord Adon sent him a piece of paper before your arrival,’ he smiled, ‘This afternoon Alana can go for a walk. I think he won’t rush to finish his meal quickly because Alana needs to eat properly.’

Baron was right, the Prince went for an early lunch, I wanted to talk with Velina so after lunchtime I knocked on her door.

‘Aleron,’ she opened her door with Peg Leg in her hand.

‘Your majesty,’ I said, ‘we need to talk, it is personal.’

‘Come in,’ she smiled and opened the door for me.

I entered her apartment, since my last visit nothing had changed.

‘What do you want?’ she asked and sat down on her bed.

‘I have wanted to talk to you for days,’ I said and sat next to her.

‘I’m listening,’ she smiled.

‘I found my father’s dagger in the border forest,’ I said and showed her the dagger.

‘What?’ She was surprised, she expected something else.

‘In the camp, where we found the bodies in cloaks, I found my father’s dagger,’ I said, ‘I’m sure that it belongs to him, I forged it many years ago.’

‘This is what you came for?’ she asked me, I nodded.

‘You are the only one who knows about my prophecy and the relationship between our fathers,’ I said, ‘I cannot turn to anyone else with this and I need your help.’

‘What kind of support do you want from me?’ she asked angrily.

‘Help me to find out, what my father did to that group of people who attacked his daughter. I thought you could hold the dagger and predict something.’

‘I see the future with the support of the tree,’ she almost shouted and stood up, ‘I cannot predict anything from objects. Go, leave me alone.’

‘I thought that I could count on you with this prophecy,’ I said.

‘As soon as I predict something, I will tell you,’ she said and opened her door to let me out.

I walked back to our apartment; the guards next to our door indicated that Alana was inside. She only taught for a couple of hours. My sister was sitting with Maina at the dining table in the lobby and they were eating their lunch. The dining table had been carried over after Alana’s arrival, before that we only had sofas and a coffee table. Alana and Maina were the same rank, but Prince Veron asked Maina to be at Alana’s service.

‘I’m joining you,’ I said and sat down at the table.

‘Have you seen the Princess recently?’ I asked my sister during lunch.

‘Yes,’ she answered, ‘She visits me every day either here or in the library.’

‘Something is wrong with her,’ I said.

I just had finished my soup when someone knocked on our door. Maina stood up to open the door, but I signalled to her that I’d do it. The Prince stood in the corridor with a single flower in his hand.

‘Your majesty,’ I said and opened the door to let him in.

Prince Veron sat down on the sofa, Maina stood up and after bowing she wanted to leave the table, but my sister put her hand on her shoulders gently.

‘Just finish your meal,’ my sister smiled at Maina, ‘I’m sure that his majesty doesn’t mind.’

Alana finished her meal quickly and stood up from the table, the Prince stood up from the sofa.

‘Your majesty,’ my sister bowed with a smile.

‘Alana,’ the Prince handed the flower over, ‘I’ve heard that this afternoon you can go for a walk in the garden and I’d like to accompany you.’

‘Accompany me or be my companion?’ my sister teased him with a smile.

Maina looked at me with a smile, I sighed.

‘I’d like to be your suitor again,’ the Prince said gently and took my sister's hand to raise it to his mouth to give her a kiss on her fingers.

‘I’d be honoured, Veron,’ my sister smiled at him.

The Prince pulled Alana closer to kiss her, Maina and I continued our meal.

‘Can we go, my precious?’ the Prince asked.

‘I’ll just water this flower and we can go,’ my sister said and went to take care of the flower.

‘Your majesty,’ I stood up and cleaned my hand, ‘I’d like to talk with you about your sister,’ I said.

‘What’ the matter with Velina?’ he asked.

‘Something is wrong with her,’ I answered, ‘She was not as sensitive before as she is now. Is she sick? I visited her because of her fortune telling skills, but I had the feeling that had I hurt her.’

‘No Aleron, she is not sick,’ the Prince smiled, ‘she is fighting against something unknown to her, but she will handle it.’

‘Is it related to her skills?’ I asked.

‘Something like that,’ he said, ‘if you are worried about her, you should go and talk to her.’

Prince Veron offered his arm to my sister, she accepted it and they left the room slowly. The two guards followed them out of earshot. Maina put all the remaining food on the trays to carry them back to the kitchen.

‘Do you need some help?’ I asked.

‘If you could take one tray, that would be great,’ Maina said, I picked up one tray.

‘Alana always receives lots of food,’ she said, ‘almost every parent sends her something more than once a day.’

We were leaving the apartment when we heard the sound of throwing and shouting from the apartment next to us. The guards next to the door looked at me but they didn’t make any move.

‘Wait here,’ I said to Maina, put the tray down and opened the door.

Edria sat on her sofa and she had thrown a cup at her servant.

‘Miss Edria,’ I said, ‘is everything all right?’

‘My coffee is cold,’ she said.

‘And you just threw it away?’ I asked.

‘It is not your business, Aleron,’ she said.

‘Yes, Miss Edria, it is,’ I said, ‘I’m responsible for the order in this corridor and damaging the castle is not something that I would ignore.’

As a personal guard, I was in the same rank as her and I wanted it to stop before she upset Alana. I stood in the door, as I was not invited, I didn’t enter the room.

‘Who do you think you are?’ The woman asked me and stood up, ‘you are talking with your Queen to be.’

‘Until Prince Veron announces his engagement, we are the same rank, Edria.’

‘Be careful, Aleron,’ she said, ‘after the forthcoming birthday in two days your sister and you would be well advised to leave.’

‘I’ll still serve the King for another three days and my sister could stay in the castle as my relative until she gets married. I’m sorry Edria, but you cannot tell me what to do. Not even as a Queen, because I’ll always report it to his majesty.’

I was calm but decisive, the woman liked to intimidate people, but I was never afraid of anything or anyone.

‘You may do, Aleron,’ she said, ‘but your sister is a nobody. Maybe she has the right to stay inside the castle as your relative, but if you do not know what your place is, I’ll shut her classroom down and she will have nothing to eat.’

‘Don’t you dare to talk about my sister like that,’ I was annoyed.

‘Edria, Aleron,’ the Queen’s voice echoed along the corridor, I turned to her and bowed immediately, so did Edria.

The Queen walked towards us, followed by two guards. One of them was Baron’s father, who barely left the Queen alone.

‘Edria, my dear,’ the Queen smiled, ‘is everything at your convenience?’

‘Yes, your majesty, thank you,’ she smiled, ‘but my servants are still clumsy.’

‘I’m sorry, Edria,’ the Queen answered, ‘do you need new servants?’

‘She would do,’ she looked at Maina, who stood just behind me with a tray in her hand.

‘I’m sorry, Edria,’ she said, ‘she would not be the best choice. Aleron needs to carry the tray instead of her. You may go, Maina,’ the Queen smiled at Maina, who bowed and walked away along the corridor.

‘I’ll stay with the current one then,’ the woman said.

‘If you need anything, let me know,’ the Queen smiled at Edria, ‘Aleron,’ she turned to me, ‘please pick up that tray and walk me back.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said.

Edria closed her door, I picked up the tray from the floor and walked next to the Queen without a word. She stopped by a door; Baron’s father opened it for her to let the Queen walk in. We entered the same lobby as last time, the lady was drawing her dog.

‘How did it go?’ the lady asked.

‘It went well,’ the Queen said, ‘Aleron, thank you.’

‘What, your majesty?’ I said. I expected a reprimand, rather than thanks.

‘Sometimes I forget, that courtesy and hospitality should have their limits,’ she said and sat down, ‘Edria recently is going too far.’

‘Only two days, Vina, not more,’ the woman smiled, ‘your husband should have kicked her out already whether she is noble or not.’

‘How is your sister, Aleron?’ the Queen asked me.

‘After lunch, she went for a walk,’ I smiled.

‘Was she accompanied by anyone?’ the Queen asked happily, the lady raised her head.

‘She went with Prince Veron,’ I said, ‘his majesty offered to be her companion and my sister accepted it.’

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ she smiled at me.

I bowed slightly and left the room. I carried the tray to the kitchen, some of the guards looked at me, but I didn’t pay any attention to them. I walked to the garden, I saw my sister’s and the Prince’s silhouette under a distant tree. The guards were not around them, probably the Prince had sent them for a break.

‘I see everything has gone back to normal,’ Baron told me and waved towards the couple.

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘the Prince said that he would never get married if he could not marry my sister. I have no idea what his majesty’s, King Darion’s opinion will be about that.’

‘His majesty is a really interesting person,’ Baron chuckled, ‘but he loves his children very much. Did you know, that Prince Veron almost died upon on birth?’

‘No, I didn’t know that,’ I said.

‘Lord Adon saved his life,’ Baron said, ‘the two families had a good relationship even before that, but they are even more indebted to Lord Adon since then.’

‘They can live inside the castle because of that,’ I said, Baron nodded.

‘After they lost their children, they moved inside the castle,’ Baron said, ‘the Prince was still a child. My father told me this many years ago.’

It was still not too cold for me, so I spent my time in the garden. For dinner I went back to my apartment, my sister and the Prince were kissing on the sofa. Maina never came in the evening, Alana always let her go after lunch.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince didn’t even look at me, ‘tomorrow Baron and you will escort Alana to the inn. I’m not happy about her decision, but as her suitor, I cannot forbid her to go to the inn.’

‘I have already recovered fully, Veron,’ Alana smiled at the Prince.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said. I didn’t need a reminder about the short swords, I always carried them on my belt.

‘Will you promise me my precious that you will have some rest this evening?’ the Prince asked, ‘you must dance with me on my birthday.’

‘I will have a rest, Veron, I promise,’ Alana smiled, ‘I brought some books over from the library.’

‘Good,’ the Prince stood up.

After a quiet knock, Velina opened the door.

‘Did I come at the wrong time?’ she asked and glanced at me.

‘No,’ my sister said, ‘I was just about to have dinner. I need to follow Lord Adon’s tight schedule,’ she smiled ‘do you feel like staying, your majesty?’

From what we had heard from our mother everyone could invite the members of the royal family for dinner, it was up to them to accept it.

‘I’m happy to join you,’ the Prince said with a smile.

‘My meal is not from the royal kitchen,’ my sister smiled, ‘are you sure about that, Veron?’

‘Yes, my precious, because I can eat with you,’ the Prince said, ‘Velina, are you staying?’

‘In that case, yes,’ Velina said.

The Prince told the guards on the corridor, to tell the Queen that they were not eating with her. I took my cloak off and helped my sister to prepare the food. She still received a lot of food, half of it would have been enough for this evening.

‘I’ve heard about Edria, Aleron,’ the Prince smiled at me during dinner, ‘good job.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Are you alright, your majesty?’ I asked Velina, ‘I heard that you have difficult days because of the tree.’

‘What?’ she asked surprised, ‘because of the tree?’

‘Yes, that is what I heard,’ I said.

‘Yes, Aleron,’ she answered constrained and calm, ‘I’m well.’

‘I’m glad your majesty,’ I smiled.

During dinner, my sister told some stories about her students, the Prince visibly adored her.

‘I’m leaving you for today, my precious,’ the Prince smiled at the end of the dinner, ‘will I see you tomorrow?’

‘In the evening, for sure,’ my sister smiled, ‘in the afternoon I’m going to the inn.’

The Prince embraced Alana gently.

‘Aleron, will you walk me back to my apartment?’ the Princess asked me nicely.

‘Your guards are waiting for you outside, your majesty,’ I said, ‘and Prince Veron is going with you as well, you don’t need me.’

‘I don’t understand what is wrong with you,’ she snapped.

The Prince sighed; my sister smiled.

‘So,’ the Prince said, ‘I told both of you that your affair would not end well. We will close this matter here and now.’

‘We have already closed it,’ I said, ‘your sister has had a new lover for many days. Let's say she is unbearable ever since.’

‘Unbearable?’ the Princess asked, ‘you did not look for me for many days and even afterwards you did it only because I’m a fortune teller so that you could show me some knives. Who is unbearable?’

‘You,’ I said, ‘you are a fortune teller and I asked your help which you refused to give. Since I told you that Alana was worth more than you, you have been really evil and odious to me.’

‘Aleron,’ my sister asked me, ‘did you really say that?’

‘She was blaming you for your decision, because she thought you should be happy as a simple lover as it was enough for her. It happened in the evening when you were attacked,’ I said, ‘if Velina hadn’t upset me, I could have saved you.’

‘I’m fine,’ she smiled, ‘I was saved, you don’t have to blame her.’

‘She was not attacked because of my opinion,’ Velina said angrily.

‘No one leaves until we will sort this matter out,’ the Prince said, ‘I don’t want any scandal on my birthday dance night.’

‘Aleron should just avoid me and there will be no scandal,’ Velina said.

‘Enough,’ the Prince said to his sister, ‘are you willing to tell him what your problem is, or should I do that for you?’

‘Don’t you dare to say a word,’ the Princess said, Alana smiled silently.

‘My sister has fallen in love with you despite my warning,’ the Prince said to me, ‘you told her that you had no feelings towards her and that she was not even on your sister’s level. She has been trying to handle this ever since, but every visit you made to her was because of her skills and not because of her.’

‘Veron,’ the Princess said, ‘you had no right to do that.’

‘I’m the King to be,’ the Prince smiled, ‘I can do whatever I want. Every time she asked you to accompany her, you refused,’ he continued to me, ‘Try to finish this somehow because it cannot continue like this. Let’s go, Velina.’

The royal siblings left our apartment, I was thinking about what I had just heard.

‘Aleron,’ my sister smiled at me after a short laugh, ‘what were you thinking of? You wanted to be her lover and that’s it?’

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘she invited me to do so, and she said that she would never fall in love with me because it was never predicted that she would fall in love.’

‘She was wrong,’ she smiled, ‘please don’t go looking for the Princess, if you don’t have to.’

‘I won’t,’ I said.

Next day in the afternoon, Baron and I escorted Alana to the inn. Alana always sent a letter to the innkeeper about her arrival, who spread the information throughout the city. When we arrived, the queue had already started, people already knew where my sister would sit.

Alana sat down at an inner table, I stood right behind her, Baron waited by the door. People came to her with allergies, coughs, colds and some other matters. She right away gave them a potion or herbs. People who had visited her before brought the ampoules back and Alana dropped them into her bag. We didn’t leave the inn until everyone had been served.

Luckily nothing happened in the inn, people honestly loved my sister. When there was no longer any queue, Baron came closer to me, I stepped away from my sister.

‘She will be an amazing Queen,’ he said to me.

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘but his majesty needs to agree.’

‘He will agree,’ Baron said.

The innkeeper invited us for dinner, we arrived back at the castle afterwards. Alana went for a short walk with the Prince, I wanted to talk with Velina, so I visited her.

‘Aleron,’ she opened her door, ‘what do you want?’

‘I want to speak with you about us,’ I said.

She let me in, she was alone in her apartment.

‘What do you want?’ she asked as she sat down on her bed.

‘Why did you not tell me that you desire a courtship?’ I asked as I sat next to her.

‘Because I was not aware of it either until we argued,’ she said, ‘Veron opened my eyes.’

‘How could you fall in love with me, if you didn’t foresee it?’ I asked.

‘You are invisible, do you remember?’ she smiled, ‘I changed my path many times, but a suitor never appeared in my future. Or he was there all the time, but the tree hid him from me.’

‘Listen,’ I said, ‘I like you, so I have an offer to make you. I will be your suitor and we will see how it goes. This is the least I can do for you. As we agreed at the beginning, I never thought about any courtship. I don’t know how I should behave as a suitor, I had only lovers before,’ I laughed, ‘is my offer acceptable to you?’

‘Not the biggest compliment that this is the least that you can do for me,’ she laughed, ‘but thank you. There is always the chance you will disappoint me.’

‘Exactly,’ I chuckled, ‘please ask your lover not to visit you from tomorrow.’

‘I don’t have any lover,’ she smiled, ‘I told you that to make you jealous. You were my last lover, since then I didn’t want anyone else.’

‘Who moved your bedsheet?’ I asked.

‘Peg Leg,’ she smiled, ‘When I’m alone sometimes she crawls my bed sheets. I lit candles every evening, waiting for you to knock on my door.‘

‘I must admit that it was a smart plan,’ I laughed.

I gently kissed her; she was still very attractive to me.

‘Are you staying tonight?’ she asked.

‘I don’t have any potion’ I said.

‘I have two,’ she smiled, ‘but one is enough.’

‘I’m staying then,’ I said as I pushed her gently onto the bed.

11.

Next morning everything revolved around the excitement of the evening birthday night. Alana went to the library very early to stay away from the crazy atmosphere, Tarla was running up and down along the corridors. In the morning, Alana had more students than usual, because many parents had sent them to the library so that they were not to be under their feet. Maina had informed my sister in advance and she was ready to handle such a huge number of children.

‘Her Majesty, the Queen would like to talk to you,’ Maina said to me while she was packing in our apartment.

‘Did she tell you what about?’ I asked.

‘No, Aleron, she didn’t.’

I hoped that she didn’t want to talk with me about my courtship that had started yesterday. Alana knew that I hadn’t slept in my room, but she didn’t mention it.

I walked to the same room where she used to sit during the day, the guards in the corridor opened the door for me without knocking. The Queen and the old lady sat in the lobby together with Velina, who was reading something.

‘Aleron,’ the Queen smiled at me.

‘Your Majesty,’ I bowed slightly.

‘I called you because of tonight,’ she said.

‘I’d like Alana to be my companion,’ Velina said.

Velina’s dress reminded me of our fantastic night, I tried to concentrate.

‘I’m honoured, your Majesty,’ I said, ‘but my sister hasn’t done anything impressive to earn that.’

‘I’d like to honour her with this gesture because of the attack,’ the Queen said, ‘that should not have happened.’

‘Thank you, your Majesty,’ I said, ‘Alana will be very pleased.’

‘I’d like to tell her this today,’ Velina smiled at me, ‘I’ll visit her this evening, please don’t let her know in advance.’

‘I’ll not say a word, your majesty,’ I said.

Someone opened the door after a short knock, it was Prince Veron.

‘My son,’ the Queen smiled at him.

‘You called me, mother,’ he said and glanced at me.

‘Yes, my son,’ she said, ‘I’d like to know your plans relating to the first dance.’

‘I’ll dance it with you, mother,’ the Prince said.

‘I thought that you were courting someone,’ the lady said while she was drawing Velina.

‘All of you know perfectly well that I’m courting Alana,’ he said, ‘and all of you know as well that the royal council rejected my proposal. I need to wait for my father.’

‘Veron,’ the Queen said nicely, ‘you should trust your father. Or if you don’t trust him, you should trust me at least.’

‘You know Veron,’ the lady said, ‘I used to know a young boy who wanted a horse very much. His parents didn’t agree, they said that the boy was very young to have his own horse. One day the boy took his parent’s moneybag from their cupboard and secretly went to a horse fair. He bought the most beautiful and the wildest black stallion for himself. When his parents found out what he had done, he had already shown the horse to everyone. He had had the horse branded, so the parents could not take the horse from him. Since then, this horse is the most beautiful stallion in the royal stable.’

The Prince thought for a while and he smiled broadly.

‘The carriage tour tomorrow,’ he smiled, ‘I love all of you a lot, thank you.’

The Prince had stepped up to each woman in the room and gave them a kiss on their foreheads, before he ran out of the door.

‘We will see each other in the evening, Aleron,’ the Queen said, I bowed slightly and walked out of the door.

I was thinking about what I had just heard when Velina appeared on the corridor.

‘Aleron,’ she stepped up to me and gave me a barely noticeable kiss on my neck.

‘My precious?’ I asked as I had no idea what she wanted to hear.

‘Please don’t,’ she laughed, ‘my name is enough. Please escort me to my apartment.’

‘Gladly,’ I said, she chuckled about my uncertain tone.

She went inside her room, waved to me to follow her. She closed her door and embraced me.

‘Do you know what the advantage of a courtship is?’ she asked as she took off my cloak.

‘What?’ I asked impatiently.

‘You can spend time with me in the daytime,’ she smiled, ‘we will not have time tonight.’

‘That is true,’ I said.

Velina sent me out of her room after lunchtime, I didn’t want to go. I was so worried about my sister that I forgot how much I liked to be with Velina. I went back to my apartment; my sister was cleaning the table after lunch. In the lobby, on a sofa a beautiful, royal blue dress lay which had golden stripes and a belt. Next to the dress, a gold bracelet lay to cover her scar.

‘Will you wear this dress tonight?’ I asked, she nodded.

‘I told Veron that the previous dress would be sufficient, but he said that I would look more stunning in this one,’  she laughed.

Someone knocked on the door, I opened it for the royal siblings.

‘My precious,’ the Prince kissed my sister, Velina shook her head, indicating not to do the same.

‘I came only to make these two talk in a proper way,’ he nodded his head towards us, ‘I didn’t expect to see you in the daytime.’

‘Me neither,’ Alana said, ‘but I’m happy to see you.’

The Prince kissed Alana again, Velina stepped up to me.

‘They should end up in bed soon, otherwise, they will keep kissing everywhere,’ she chuckled.

The Princess choked; the couple paid attention to us again.

‘Alana,’ Velina said, ‘I’d like to ask you to join my companions from tonight.’

‘I’m honoured, your Majesty,’ my sister was surprised, ‘but I haven’t done anything impressive to earn it.’

‘You were attacked inside the castle and I’d like to express my family’s sincere apology with this gesture,’ the Princess said.

‘Thank you, your majesty, I’m honoured, and I will stand next to your companions tonight,’ my sister bowed slightly.

‘Unfortunately, it is still not enough for Veron to get engaged with you, as you haven't got noble ancestors for at least three generations,’ Velina said.

‘I know, your majesty,’ Alana said, ‘but it is still an honour.’

‘Will I see you tonight, my precious?’ the Prince asked.

‘Yes, Veron, you will,’ Alana smiled.

‘Veron, please don’t kiss her again because I’ll go crazy,’ Velina said loudly, I tried not to laugh, as laughing about the royal family would not be in accordance with the rules of etiquette.

‘Let’s go,’ the Prince said and looked at Velina disapprovingly.

The royal siblings left us; my sister was visibly happy because of this gesture.

‘It is very kind of her, don’t you think?’ Alana asked me.

‘You deserved it,’ I said, ‘people love you.’

‘Did you spend the night with her?’ she asked me bluntly, ‘you talked to each other properly today.’

‘Yes,’ I smiled, ‘From today I’m courting her, and we will see what comes out of it.’

‘Please, just don’t break her heart,’ Alana said.

‘What if she breaks mine?’ I asked with a laugh.

‘In that case, we will survive together,’ she smiled and hugged me, ‘as always.’

In the afternoon, Maina arrived to help my sister to get dressed. She put blue pearls around the edge of Alana’s hair which barely reached her waist. My sister’s dress fitted her perfectly, the bracelet covered the scratch on her left shoulder.  She put a blue necklace round her neck and applied a fragrance oil. I put on my uniform with the yellow-green vest.

‘What do you think?’ she asked when she was completely dressed.

‘You are pretty, Alana,’ Maina said honestly.

‘I agree,’ I said, ‘it is better than your sackcloth,’ I teased her.

‘Thank you,’ she smiled.

We walked to the ballroom; the royal siblings waited for us in front of the closed door. Velina had a green dress with gold stripes, her nice scent reminded me about our time together in the morning.

‘You look stunning, my precious,’ the Prince said and gave her a kiss on the hand.

‘You look good,’ I said to Velina, she chuckled.

‘It’s better you don’t compliment me,’ she smiled, ‘you are not that kind of person.’

The Prince opened the huge door, they walked in arm in arm, we followed them arm in arm as well. No one was surprised by their entering, but everyone stared at us. I walked Velina to her velvet chair which stood in the corner just like the previous dance evening. The Prince walked my sister to Velina’s companions, who stood next to Velina’s chair. As the Prince stopped with Alana next to the girls, he indicated that as of today, Alana belonged to Velina’s companions. The other girls nodded to her with a smile.

‘I’m courting someone just for a day and everyone stares at me,’ I chuckled in Velina’s ear.

‘Get used to it,’ she smiled.

I left Velina and walked behind the velvet chairs, as a guard, I was supposed to stay there. King Darion’s and Prince Veron’s personal guards stood in different parts of the room, they could fully observe the event as guests.

The Prince waited in front of his chair, everyone bowed slowly, while the royal family were sitting down. I looked for Edria.

Before the first dance, she positioned herself between the Queen and Velina. My sister and the other companions stood on one side of Velina and Edria stood on the other side of her, next to the Queen. Edria wore a beautiful red and white silk dress; these two colours were the colours of her family. Edria’s parents stood on the other side of the dancehall in front of their daughter. Lord Adon and his wife sat at a table, close to the dancehall, just like last time.

The royal family stood up and stepped off the pedestal.

‘Welcome everyone to my birthday dance evening,’ the Prince said, ‘I wish everyone a good evening.’

He waved to the band signalling that he would start the first dance and walked to his mother. He didn’t bow to her as was the tradition, he only gave her a kiss on the hand.

‘Be a rebel, Veron,’ the Queen whispered to him with a smile, the Prince nodded.

The Prince stepped away from his mother and he passed Edria even without a glance. He stood in front of my sister and bowed slightly.

‘Will you honour me with the first dance, my precious?’ he asked my sister.

Alana nodded surprised and gave him her hand, the band started to play. They started to dance, but the Prince didn’t wave to the guests to join in, so everyone waited quietly. I took a step closer to Velina.

‘Are they already engaged?’ I asked. Our mother had never told us anything about the tradition of the royal proposal.

‘No, not yet,’ Velina said, ‘this is the traditional first dance, Veron needs to change his last steps. My brother practised this dance about a million times since yesterday with me to avoid all your sister’s possible mistakes,’ she laughed, ‘he is a real strategist.’

‘What if he will not change his last steps?’ I asked.

‘He would confirm his intention to court your sister,’ she said, ‘but he took the ring from our mother and he will change, just watch the dance.’

The dance was the same as I had learned, but after a while, the Prince extended his arm and Alana started to walk around him. When my sister almost had finished the circle to arrive back in front of the Prince, he took a step back and kneeled down. Alana had just finished her circle when the Prince held her right hand and placed the ring on her finger.

‘Wait,’ I said while I was watching the last steps, ‘this is the cross-step which I mentioned many weeks ago.’

‘You could call it that,’ she said, ‘but why would you have learned this? These steps should be known only to a future Queen.’

‘My mother never paid any attention to my clumsy kneeling,’ I remembered, ‘she only adjusted my sister’s moves.’

‘It means, that someone has predicted this,’ she said, ‘Alana’s steps really indicate that her legs remember the moves.’

‘Our mother prepared her for this dance,’ I said, Velina nodded.

The song ended, the Prince stood up and kissed my sister’s hand.

‘His majesty, Prince Veron is engaged to be married,’ the Queen said loudly, the guests applauded the announcement.

The band played another song, the Prince danced with my sister. According to the rules of etiquette, I had to choose between my partner and my sister’s partner depending on their rank. In this case, I had to choose between Velina and the Queen, who was Prince Veron’s partner. The Prince waved to everyone to join in.

‘You must ask my mother for a dance,’ Velina whispered, ‘It will be my turn afterwards.’

I went to the Queen and asked her for a dance.

‘Your majesty,’ I bowed slightly.

‘I hope that you are a better dancer than your father,’ she smiled.

‘I don’t know your majesty,’ I said, ‘did you know him?’

‘Yes, he was Darion’s personal guard,’ the Queen said as if it was an unequivocally known fact.

‘I’m proud of Veron,’ she said with a smile, ‘Alana will be a wonderful Queen.’

‘Of course, she will be,’ I said.

Lord Adon asked the Queen for a dance, I had no further obligations for tonight. The Prince had to watch Alana’s current partners and ask their partners for a dance. I asked Velina for a dance.

‘How much do you want to dance tonight?’ I asked.

‘I’m not into dancing,’ she smiled, ‘look at Edria,’ she nodded towards the woman with her head and pulled me gently to turn me around.

Edria stood where she had previously stood and she boiled with anger just like her parents who danced with each other.

‘I hope that your brother’s decision will not cause any internal strife,’ I said.

‘Edria’s family is heavily indebted to the royal family. If her father caused any problems, my father would simply replace him in the royal council with someone else. Edria's family's huge influence stemmed from their relationship with us. If they were no longer connected to the royal family they would lose their influence. Edria’s father voted against Veron and he convinced the rest of the nobles not to accept my brother’s proposal to Alana. Lord Adon tried everything but he lost by one vote.’

Everyone asked my sister for a dance, including Edria’s father. Many of us paid close attention to their dance, I didn’t want him to poison my sister with a needle or with something like that. Lord Adon asked Alana for the next dance, luckily nothing happened.

‘Could you please ask Edria for a dance?’ Velina asked me when we were resting next to the wall.

‘Why would I do that?’ I asked.

‘I’d like to see her reaction,’ she laughed.

‘That reason is good enough for me,’ I chuckled.

I kissed Velina’s hand and walked to Edria to ask her for a dance while Alana was dancing with her fiancée. According to the rules of etiquette, Edria couldn’t say no.

‘Peace is better,’ I said as we started to dance.

‘I agree,’ she smiled.

‘You look great today,’ I said, I was curious about her response.

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ she said, ‘your sister is really lucky.’

‘I think Prince Veron is lucky,’ I corrected her.

She was strained and behaved in an artificial way, the Prince and the Queen smiled when they saw us dancing. When the song ended, I walked her to her parents as etiquette demanded.

‘Thank you for the dance,’ I said with a smile.

‘Thank you too,’ she said and gently patted my arm.

I walked back to Velina, who was waiting for me with a smile.

‘Did you like it?’ I asked.

‘I liked it very much,’ she said,’ especially that now she wants to be courted by you,’ she smiled, ‘your sister’s engagement gives you an advantage as well.’

‘Do you think I could compliment anyone, if I can't compliment you?’ I laughed, ‘You and I belong together.’

‘That was a compliment,’ she smiled and leaned towards me, ‘you could visit me tonight,’ she whispered.

‘As your suitor I’m walking you home,’ I said.

‘Right,’ she said.

People finished dancing, at dawn only Alana and the Prince were dancing in the empty dance hall.

‘Last dance,’ the Queen said loudly.

The Prince went to his mother and asked her for the last dance.

‘The last dance always belongs to the mother,’ Velina said to me, ‘you need to dance with your sister.’

I went across the room and asked Alana for a dance. Only the four of us were dancing, no one else.

‘Did we learn the first dance?’ I asked my sister.

‘I don’t know,’ she said, ‘I simply remembered the steps. Veron asked me to be his betrothed.’

‘I know,’ I smiled, ‘I was here.’

‘He asked me after the first dance,’ she explained, ‘during the second dance he said that the first dance had been a surprise and he hoped that I would say yes. During the second dance he proposed to me, and I said yes,’ she smiled.

‘Congratulations, your majesty,’ I teased her, ‘I’m happy for you.’

‘What will we do now, Aleron?’ she asked.

‘You will marry Prince Veron and you will be a Queen,’ I said.

‘We are not nobles, Aleron,’ she said seriously.

‘What did Prince Veron say about it?’ I asked.

‘He asked me to trust him and he would find a solution,’ she said.

‘So, you should trust him then,’ I said.

The song had finished, the Queen and Prince Veron walked towards us. The Queen took my sister’s hand and put Alana’s hand in the Prince’s hand, expressing her blessing for the engagement. Everyone applauded, the Prince kissed my sister’s hand. The couple walked out together, everyone bowed. Velina and I followed them, the Prince waited for us outside the ballroom.

‘Alana, my precious,’ he said, ‘I will have my carriage tour throughout the capital tomorrow. I’d be happy if you would join me.’

‘I’ll happily join you, Veron, thank you,’ my sister said.

‘I’d be honoured if you would spend the whole day with me tomorrow including the night,’ the Prince said hesitantly.

‘I thought that you would never ask,’ my sister embraced the Prince with a smile, ‘I’m happy to spend your birthday with you.’

They kissed each other, I sighed.

‘I’m not able to say such silly sentences,’ I said, ‘courting is not for me.’

‘You are courting me,’ Velina smiled, ‘and you are doing well. These silly sentences would drive me crazy as well.’

‘Aleron,’ the Prince said while he was admiring my sister’s face, ‘I will walk your sister back to her apartment, you don’t have to come.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said.

Velina and I went to her apartment to spend the night together.

‘You don’t expect too much from me as a suitor,’ I said, while we were resting.

‘No, I don’t,’ she said, ‘a bit more attention to me than before is entirely enough,’ she laughed.

‘When is your brother’s birthday? Today or tomorrow?’ I asked as I was not aware.

‘Tomorrow,’ she said, ‘the dance night always takes place before the birthday as the tour and the dance night on the same day would be too tiring for everyone, and according to tradition, the Prince should do the tour on his birthday. He even did the tour when he broke his leg many years ago. The guards put Veron in the carriage and he just sat and smiled,’ she laughed.

‘Do you think my sister and Prince Veron will spend time together?’ I asked.

‘Not today,’ she shook her head, ‘they are too tired and Veron doesn’t want to rush. Probably they were kissing on your sofa for a while and when my brother was close to his limits, he came back to his room.’

‘Tomorrow he will announce his engagement to everyone,’ I said.

‘Yes, he wants to show our father that his mind is made up,’ she smiled, ‘if our father did not approve of his proposal, he would lose the sympathy of the people. Veron is an excellent strategist,’ she laughed, ‘our father made him learn from the best teachers.’

‘I need to talk with him about the dagger,’ I said, ‘I should tell him everything.’

‘Not tomorrow,’ she said, ‘he will spend the next couple of days with your sister. He is very happy that Alana said yes.’

‘What is the difference between the engagement and marriage?’ – I asked, as our mother never mentioned anything about being engaged to a Prince.

‘The main difference is about having a child,’ she said, ‘From tomorrow everyone will treat your sister as Veron’s wife. She should attend every official event with Veron, just as my mother used to accompany my father, like audiences and social events. As a fiancée, she should start taking on her future responsibilities that she will have as a Queen. The only thing which they need to wait for is having a child, but in case of an unexpected pregnancy a quick wedding would solve everything,’ she laughed, ‘Usually, the Prince gets married just before he wants children as informally he should take over everything from his father after his engagement. Technically there is no difference, in Veron’s case, the only difficulty is your sister’s rank.’

‘Can the royal council challenge their engagement?’ I asked.

‘At the end of the last dance, my mother gave her official blessing, which means that until my father’s return, their engagement is valid. During my father’s absence formally, she reigns,’ Velina said, ‘our father needs to approve the proposal before the wedding to make the marriage valid as Veron will become a King on his wedding day. In case of our father’s death, Veron would become King immediately as he is of legal age.’

‘Can Edria annoy my sister?’ I asked.

‘No. From tomorrow Alana will be a duchess and she outranks Edria. You don’t have to worry about Edria, Veron will send her home tomorrow morning before the tour. I think my father will replace his father in the royal council, he has been scheming too much since my father left.‘

IN THE MORNING I HARDLY left Velina’s bed, I had to admit that I liked to be with her. In our apartment, my sister had just put a green dress on, Maina helped her.

‘Aleron,’ she smiled at me, ‘what do you think?’

‘The green colour suits you, your majesty,’ I chuckled.

‘No,’ she said, ‘I have already told Maina as well, that I don’t want to be called majesty by any of you. She took care of me when I was barely alive, and you are my brother.’

‘All, right, your majesty,’ I teased her, she threw at me some kind of hair clip, Maina smiled quietly.

I washed and put on my parade uniform, which had golden stripes on the jacket and on the cloak. When I had finished, Alana had already eaten her breakfast.

‘What did you do after the dance night?’ I asked, ‘did the Prince stay long?’

‘We were just sitting on the sofa,’ she said, ‘but tonight I’m not sleeping here.’

‘I think you will never sleep here anymore,’ I smiled, ‘after today’s tour we will not even see each other. Veron loves you very much, you should spend the day with him.’

‘I hope you will use the word Prince sometimes, Aleron,’ the Prince came into our apartment with a smile.

‘Of course, your majesty,’ I said immediately, he just laughed.

‘You look beautiful in that green dress,’ the Prince turned to Alana, ‘are you ready, my precious?’

‘Yes, Veron, we can go,’ my sister smiled.

‘Are you coming, Aleron?’ he asked me, ‘if you were not a such a great swordsman, I would have sent you home already because of your delaying,’ he laughed.

‘In that case, my sister would not stay here in a green dress as a member of the royal family,’ I answered.

‘Right,’ he smiled, ‘Let’s go.’

Maina bowed, we left the room.

‘Please wait for me here, my precious,’ the Prince said and kissed Alana’s hand before he walked to the door next to us.

He waved to me to follow him and dismissed the guards in front of the door before he knocked on Edria’s door.

‘Your majesty,’ the woman opened her door surprised. She wore only a silk robe; it was evident that we had woken her up.

‘Edria,’ the Prince smiled at her, ‘I don’t want to take up your time, I just wanted to say goodbye.’

‘What do you mean, your majesty?’ she asked.

‘I saw your parents yesterday at my birthday dance night and I assumed that as they have already arrived back from their journey, you won’t require the protection of the castle anymore. My betrothed, Alana and I are going for my birthday carriage tour and I wanted to say goodbye as I assume that you will be leaving after breakfast,’ the Prince said calmly and politely.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ she said, ‘thank you for saying goodbye.’

The woman bowed slightly and closed her door.

She could not say anything in response to this polite goodbye, every word of the Prince was polite and genuine. Edria needed to leave before we arrived back at the castle.

‘Do you know Veron that my mother hasn’t taught me these polite goodbyes?’ Alana asked.

‘It is not a problem, I will handle them, just as my father does in our parents’ case. He would have sent Edria away after one day,’ he smiled, ‘you are just perfect the way you are, my precious.’

‘Thank you, Veron,’ my sister said.

The weather was nice and bright, two beautiful green and yellow coloured barouches stood in front of the castle drawn by a pair of horses. On the side of the barouche, eight small steps were prepared for the guards two on each side, but usually two guards had to travel on one barouche. Tarla walked anxiously between the barouches, giving orders to people, to make sure that everything went smoothly.

‘We will go in the front barouche,’ the Prince said to my sister, ‘Velina and my mother will travel in the second one.’

‘Aleron, you will come with us together with Foren. Baron and his father will look after my sister and my mother,’ he said, I nodded.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said.

The Queen arrived, Alana bowed slightly, the Queen stepped up to her.

‘The green colour suits you,’ she smiled and kissed Alana’s cheek.

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ Alana said.

‘You are royalty as well, call me Vina,’ the Queen smiled at her, Alana nodded.

Alana was a bit shy because our mother taught us all about etiquette except for how to behave when you are engaged to a Prince. I helped my sister up onto the barouche, the Prince sat next to her. Two guards on horseback led the queue and two followed the Queen’s barouche closing the line. Baron whistled, the horses started to walk.

The barouches passed the iron gate, the main street was closed by guards who stood a couple of meters from each other.

Everyone had heard about the engagement; people were shouting congratulations. We stopped every few meters, the Prince stood up and threw some coins to the people.

‘Alana, what are you doing?’ the Prince asked when my sister was about to get off the barouche.

‘I’m distributing the coins among the people, Veron,’ she said.

I jumped off the barouche and helped my sister to get off. Alana put the coins into the extended hands between the guards.

‘You chose your fiancée, Veron,’ Velina laughed loudly, ‘you should join her.’

The Prince jumped off the barouche and did the same as Alana. After giving away all the coins, they sat back on the barouche and moved forward.

‘Alana,’ the Prince said seriously, ‘please pay more attention to your safety.’

‘I am, Veron,’ she smiled, ‘I’m a rebel just like you.’

‘That is what I love about you,’ the Prince said and kissed my sister, which was applauded by the people.

The people genuinely loved my sister. Everyone would have heard about the girl who cured people at the inn, even if they had not known her in person.  The tour took about half a day, it was early afternoon when we arrived back at the castle. The royal family and my sister got off the barouches. Alana stepped up to the Prince who embraced her.

‘Thank you for the tour, Veron,’ Alana smiled at the Prince.

‘Can we go for lunch, my precious?’ the Prince asked, my sister nodded happily.

My sister hugged me quickly and walked away with the Prince and I stepped up to Velina.

‘Are you eating with your family?’ I asked.

‘No,’ she answered, ‘your sister and Veron will have lunch together in the eastern corridor in a private room and my mother always has lunch with Lord Adon and Lady Mara, usually I join them. Veron will spend the whole day today with your sister.’

‘We could eat together then,’ I suggested.

‘Good idea,’ she smiled, ‘You see, Aleron, you know how to court a girl,’ she teased me.

We ate together in a quiet dining room, I told her how Edria had been sent away. After lunch, we spent our time in Velina’s apartment.

‘Did your mother say anything about our courtship?’ I asked her.

‘She was happy,’ she said, ‘she said, that finally I had a nice suitor.’

‘What is your brother’s plan for today?’ I asked.

‘You are more nervous than they are,’ she teased me, ‘after lunch they are going for a walk and they will eat a candlelit dinner in my brother’s apartment. There is a lobby in everyone’s apartment apart from mine because I chose an apartment without a lobby.’

‘Let me guess,’ I said, ‘You had anticipated having an apartment with a lobby, so you decided to choose one without. Am I right?’ I asked.

‘Yes, you are right,’ she smiled, ‘I’m not sharing Veron’s further plans with you, because you will have a heart attack,’ she laughed.

‘I’m sure that the Prince will make her happy,’ I said.

‘From what I heard from other girls, he will,’ she laughed.

‘I think I really don’t want to hear this,’ I said.

‘But it is funny,’ she laughed, ‘sometimes some of the girls had predicted that they would be involved with Veron in the future and after two sentences they ended up in Veron’s bedroom saying that they had a common future,’ she laughed, ‘it did not last for ever, but Veron loved such days. Sometimes I thought that the girls were dreaming about Veron and they offered themselves to him and he never rejected anyone.’

‘Did he have an affair with your companions as well?’ I asked.

‘No. We agreed with Veron that we would not have an affair with each other’s companions, only if it was serious relationship. It would have been too awkward after a while,’ she laughed.

‘Like in our case,’ I said, ‘Should I ask you about your affairs?’

‘You’d better not,’ she smiled and kissed me.

I haven’t seen my sister for the last two days, from what I heard, neither of them has left the Prince’s apartment. I had slept in Velina’s room and I hadn’t been in my apartment either.

‘Your sister is catching up with her backlog of several years,’ Velina laughed.

‘She deserves it,’ I said.

I went for the morning exercise, my sister was sitting on the balcony in a green dress, the Prince already was having a contest with Baron. Alana waved to me with a smile, her eyes shone with happiness.

‘You are late, Aleron,’ the Prince said, but he didn’t care.

‘I’m sorry, your majesty,’ I said, ‘I overslept.’

‘You should go to sleep earlier,’ he laughed as he defended Baron’s attack.

The Prince practised with everyone, between every round he looked up at my sister who always waved to him.

‘We have finished for today,’ the Prince said after the last round, my sister left the balcony.

‘You were good, Veron,’ my sister stepped up to the Prince.

‘Do you think so?’ the Prince asked gently and embraced her.

‘Yes, Veron, I think so,’ my sister said and caressed the Prince’s face.

Baron coughed gently; the Prince looked at him.

‘We would like to play the yearly board game contest today, Prince Veron, because it didn’t take place after your carriage tour,’ he said.

‘Right,’ the Prince smiled, ‘Alana, my precious, will you watch it?’

‘Definitely,’ Alana said, ‘I’m only teaching from tomorrow.’

‘What are you going to do?’ the Prince asked.

‘I’m teaching. You know, the children,’ my sister smiled.

‘My precious,’ the Prince said, ‘the fiancée of a Prince is not going to teach. I don’t want you to overload yourself.’

‘Veron,’ Alana said nicely, ‘they are children and I like teaching. No one was teaching here before me and I don’t want to let them down.’

‘My precious,’ the Prince said, ‘Can I say anything to convince you, not to teach?’

‘Thank you, Veron,’ my sister gently touched the Prince’s chest, ‘it is very kind of you, I love you.’

‘I hope so,’ he smiled.

Baron coughed again, the Prince went back to his apartment, Alana came with me to ours.

‘How were your last two days?’ I asked her.

‘Do you remember when you first visited Gaina?’ she asked me with a smile, I nodded.

‘I was nervous and you gave a relaxing tea,’ I chuckled, ‘it was not my best night at all. The tea was too strong.’

‘I was nervous like you and I wanted to drink tea, but Veron told me that it would be not needed, and he asked me to trust him. My last two days have been amazing with Veron, he is very gentle and attentive,’ she smiled, ‘this morning he asked me to move into his apartment with my herbs.’

‘Did you say yes?’ I asked.

‘I wanted to talk with you about it,’ she said, ‘I don’t want to leave you alone.’

‘You will not leave me alone,’ I said, ‘I have Velina. I don’t want to marry her, but I like to be with her. Please, say yes,’ I smiled.

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ she hugged me, ‘Veron is an amazing man. I asked him this morning to leave his apartment, but I’d like to him to come back.’

‘Do I have to hear all of this?’ I teased her.

‘Yes,’ she smiled, ‘Veron is perfect, very attractive and funny. I even like to have a walk with him.’

‘I’m genuinely glad that you are happy,’ I smiled, ‘our parents would be proud of you.’

‘And of you too,’ she said, ‘thank you for bringing me with you.’

‘You’re welcome,’ I said.

We walked to the garden together to the board game contest. The Prince noticed my sister and he behaved as if he hasn’t seen her in a week. Velina was there with Peg Leg and I kissed her hand.

‘My precious,’ the Prince smiled, ‘You can watch while I beat everyone.’

‘Let’s see,’ my sister said.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince turned to me, ‘Your participation is obligatory, as my personal guard you must join in.’

Velina’s companions were here as well, but this contest was held only for men. From what I had heard everyone could challenge the Prince, but no one had beaten him so far. Doran, Brenbar and some other guards were joining the players together with some servants and Prince Veron’s personal guards.

Before the first round, Velina explained the rules to everyone. The same four men played two rounds, but they were changed their places around the table, standing next to someone else in each round. There was a point deduction for the remaining wooden pieces in the hands and after every round, winners received points.

My sister watched the game quietly, but when I played against the Prince and he handed the pieces over to me, she stepped up to her fiancée and caressed Veron’s cheek gently.

It was allowed even in courting, but the Prince completely lost his attention and surrendered his best pieces.

As Baron, Foren and I worked together with my sister’s support I was able to gain victory once.

‘Veron,’ my sister smiled, ‘my brother is a beginner.’

‘He is,’ the Prince smiled, ‘but someone distracted me all the time.’

‘I’m sorry, Veron,’ my sister teased him, ‘it was not my intention.’

‘Yes, it was,’ the Prince smiled lovingly, ‘but it is not a problem.’

My sister kept distracting the Prince who lost his attention and after summarizing the points, Baron won the contest.

‘Congratulations, Baron,’ Alana smiled at him.

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ Baron bowed, ‘you helped a lot. We can have a rematch next year, Prince Veron,’ Baron smiled at the Prince.

‘Next year I will be more focused,’ the Prince said not even taking his eyes off my sister, ‘come, my precious, let’s have a walk.’

Everyone bowed to them, the engaged couple walked towards the castle. The Prince put his arm round my sister’s waist. He was slipping his hand down Alana’s waist and gently patted her bottom while walking.

‘It will be a short walk to the bedroom,’ Velina laughed, I nodded.

‘I didn’t think that they could be worse, but they are worse,’ she laughed, ‘they were flirting during the whole contest.’

‘We could try it one day,’ I smiled.

‘You are better every day at courting,’ she caressed my cheek.

After lunch, Velina received a note from her servant to tell her that the Prince was waiting for us in the private exercise room. We had to help Alana regain her strength, as the attack had made her weak.  The guards were dismissed from this corridor as exercise rooms didn’t need to be guarded. My sister wore a shirt with trousers tailored for her and she covered it with a loose green dress. Her hair was twisted and tied so that it didn’t distract her.

‘This outfit suits you more than my old shirt and trousers,’ I teased her as Prince Veron gave her two kisses and her swords.

‘Practise carefully, my precious,’ the Prince smiled, ’I will need you to be strong today.’

‘If I have to listen to this for a long time, I will go crazy soon,’ the Princess said loudly, I chuckled.

My sister was weak because of the poison, she moved more slowly, and she got tired earlier than usual. The Prince noticed the changes too and he slowed down to my sister’s speed. Sometimes he hit my sister’s bottom gently with the flat side of the sword.

‘Veron,’ Alana said as she received a spanking.

‘As soon as you defend yourself, you will not get any more spanking,’ the Prince smiled, ‘I note that you have a beautiful bottom.’

The exercise this afternoon was tiring only for Alana, it did not tire the Prince out.

‘I surrender,’ the Prince smiled and threw his sword away when my sister was visibly tired.

‘It was just in time,’ my sister said and embraced him.

We were waiting quietly. Velina was hoping to leave soon.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince said, ‘Alana needs to practise every day, with you, with Baron or with me. I need to get back my opponent,’ he smiled, but he was noticeably worried.

‘With Baron, your majesty?’ I asked.

‘He knows about Alana, and she is not a challenge for him now,’ the Prince said.

‘Tomorrow I’d like to go to the inn,’ my sister said.

‘Where?’ the Prince asked surprised, ‘you cannot be serious, my precious.’

‘Veron, people are counting on me,’ my sister smiled.

‘There will be an argument,’ Velina whispered to me.

‘Alana, you are my fiancée, you cannot go to the inn to sell herbs,’ the Prince said, ‘teaching still is exceptional, but to go to the inn is too much.’

‘Should I let the people down?’ my sister asked.

‘I didn’t say that,’ the Prince started to be angry, ‘I simply don’t like the idea. We are collecting taxes and not money paid for herbs.’

‘I’ll not accept any payment then,’ Alana said, ‘would that be acceptable to you?’

‘That is not the case,’ the Prince said, ‘you are still weak; you need to have a rest.’

‘I’m going to the inn, not to war,’ my sister said.

‘My precious, please give up this pastime,’ the Prince said nicely.

‘Helping people is only a pastime to you?’ my sister was angry, ‘it is a shame, that no one has done this in the capital before me.’

‘I’m taking care of my people, Alana,’ the Prince said, ‘but not everyone can have a perfect life.’

‘The health of the children is of paramount importance,’ my sister snapped at him.

‘You mustn’t go to the inn anymore and that’s it,’ the Prince said.

‘Why?’ Alana asked.

The Prince was surprised, he was not used to having his decisions questioned.

‘Because you are my fiancée and so I have decided,’ the Prince answered with anger.

‘He will make my sister furious with this answer,’ I whispered to Velina, ‘she can be really stubborn.’

‘Just like Veron,’ Velina smiled, ‘let’s take a bet in a dinner.’

‘My sister will be at the inn tomorrow,’ I offered my hand to Velina, she shook it and I gave her a kiss on the hand.

‘She will not be there,’ she smiled, ‘the kiss on my hand was very kind of you. Should we leave?’

‘We can’t go,’ I said, ‘everyone thinks that I’m duelling with your brother.’

The argument became quite loud, Alana wanted to go to the inn, the Prince wouldn’t let her. Velina and I walked out of the room to wait in the corridor.

‘Why does your brother not want Alana to go to the inn?’ I asked Velina in the corridor, ‘don’t start to talk to me about taxes and similar things. I want to hear the truth.’

‘He is deathly afraid for her,’ Velina said, ‘Veron is certain that Alana will be attacked again. He would like to lock your sister in the apartment just to be safe. When you left with Baron for the inn before his birthday dance night, he was worried all afternoon long. He said that Alana was too weak to go to the inn, but honestly, he is afraid for her.’

‘Why doesn’t he say so?’ I asked, ‘I’m afraid for her as well.’

‘Because Veron doesn’t want to look worried,’ Velina answered.

‘I will tell my sister then,’ I said decisively.

‘That will be the moment your treason will be revealed,’ she chuckled; I opened the door.

‘Even as a Prince, you cannot tell me what I should do,’ Alana had just said.

‘I’m a Prince who will be a King, and in this country, I can tell anyone what to do,’ the Prince shouted overreacting.

‘He is afraid that you will be attacked again,’ I said loudly, ‘and I agree with him.’

‘Excuse me?’ my sister looked at me.

‘He is afraid for you and I agree with him,’ I said, ‘whoever attacked you, knows that we are alive, and he will not give up.’

‘Veron,’ my sister’s voice became gentle, ‘why did you not tell me that?’

‘Because I didn’t want you to know about this,’ the Prince said, ‘Aleron, you are a dead man,’ he looked at me angrily.

‘No, he is not,’ Alana said nicely, ‘Is this really your concern, Veron?’

‘Yes,’ the Prince said, my sister snuggled up to him.

‘Send as many guards with me as you wish and make whatever safety rules you want,’ Alana said as she caressed his face, ‘thank you for worrying about me, it means a lot to me.’

‘I thought that you wouldn’t be happy that I’m worried about you,’ the Prince said and embraced my sister.

‘I know that I was attacked, and I know that I’m not invulnerable,’ Alana said, ‘but If I don’t help the people, the invaders will win.’

‘You can go,’ the Prince answered immediately, ‘but six guards will escort you.’

‘Thank you, your majesty. Next time, please start with your real thoughts and not with the taxes,’ my sister chuckled.

The Prince kissed my sister.

‘Wait outside,’ the Prince gave us an order while his fingers were looking for the buttons on my sister’s shirt.

We left the room, Velina closed the door behind us.

‘Do you think that we should wait for them?’ I asked.

‘I don’t think so,’ the Princess laughed, ‘there are no guards, no one will notice that you are not in the room.’

‘Good,’ I said, ‘I don’t want to know what is going on inside the room. I hope that they will not forget the potion.’

‘Veron always has one,’ Velina said, ‘Many years ago he requested a pocket inside every one of his shirts where the ampoule fits. It has benefitted him many times, just like now,’ she laughed.

‘Let’s go,’ I said, ‘I don’t want to hear anymore.’

We left the corridor; they would join us later.

‘Please talk to your brother,’ I said to Velina while we were walking, ‘I need to speak with him tomorrow, while Alana is at the inn.’

‘Do you want to tell him everything?’ she asked.

‘I don’t know yet, but your brother is an excellent strategist and I need his help.’

‘I will talk to him,’ Velina said, I kissed her hand.

12.

Next morning Alana was teaching and before lunch she practised with Baron under Velina’s and my supervision. At the beginning, Baron found it unusual to have an opponent with two swords, but he won quickly, because my sister was still weak and slow.

‘I think that will be enough,’ I said when I saw that Alana was becoming tired.

‘Thank you for the exercise, your majesty,’ Baron smiled, ‘we will meet again next to the entrance after lunch.’

‘Thank you too,’ my sister said, ‘I will be there.’

We went back to our apartment, Alana still kept some of her dresses here, but her herbs were already in Prince Veron’s apartment just like the rest of her belongings.

‘I’m not going with you today, Alana,’ I said to my sister.

‘Why?’ she asked, ‘is something wrong?’

‘No, everything is fine,’ I said, ‘I just need to take care of something else. Baron, Doran and the rest of the guards will escort you.’

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ she smiled.

I walked my sister to the entrance, the Prince and Velina waited for her with the guards. When we arrived, the Prince had just given some orders to Baron relating to Alana’s safety. After my sister had ridden out with the six guards to the inn, the Prince waved to Velina and to me to follow him and we entered a roundhouse. In the middle of the room stood a huge wooden table with chairs around it. Next to the bookshelves stood a coffee table with my sister’s tea. We sat down around the table; the Prince poured tea for himself.

‘Velina told me that it was important,’ the Prince said, ‘so important that you didn’t go with your sister.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said, ‘and I’d like to ask you to promise me that Alana will not know anything about this meeting.’

‘I will promise you,’ the Prince said, ‘and before you start, thank you for telling her the truth yesterday,’ he smiled, ‘I’m all ears.’

I took the dagger out of my cloak and put it on the table, the Prince took the dagger to have a look at it.

‘I found it in the forest,’ I said, ‘it belongs to my father, I had forged it for him a couple of years ago.’

‘Was your father in the forest?’ he asked with curiosity, I nodded.

‘It turned out that he was our father’s personal guard and he left the twins with their uncle at the same time, as our father left us,’ Velina said, ‘we figured it out in the tower.’

‘So, our fathers were together in the forest and killed people with fake cloaks,’ Prince Veron said, ‘it is indeed important news.’

‘There is other news as well,’ Velina said, ‘Alana and Aleron don’t have either a past or a future. The tree has been hiding their fate since they were born.’

‘What do you mean?’ the Prince asked.

‘Your future is hidden because of them,’ Velina explained, ‘The tree is protecting Aleron because of a prophecy. This prophecy was told before their birth and their mother was almost killed many times because of that.’

‘Velina,’ the Prince said, ‘it is not clear. Why would my future be hidden because of a prophecy which was told to Aleron’s mother many years ago?’

‘After Aleron’s birth, Alana and he received a drop from the sap of the tree of fate and they are invisible to every fortune teller. They simply don’t exist. Everyone’s future is hidden in the capital because the twins’ future could be predicted from ours.’

‘So, Alana may become my Queen, but you cannot predict it, because in that case everyone else would be able to predict it from my future, right?’ he asked happily.

‘Veron, it is not about Alana,’ Velina sighed, ‘but the answer is yes. I haven’t predicted myself falling in love because Aleron is invisible.’

‘We think as does Velina that my sister and my mother were attacked because of the same prophecy,’ I said, ‘but we don’t know what the prophecy is.’

‘Who knows?’ the Prince asked.

‘Our fathers,’ Velina said.

‘If our father knows, our mother will know as well,’ he said, ‘we need to talk to her.’

He stood up to leave the room.

‘There is one more thing, your majesty,’ I said, ‘My mother taught us the engagement dance. You used my cross step,’ I laughed.

‘So, they knew before your birth that she would be my wife,’ the Prince said happily, ‘which means that my father will sign my proposal.’

‘It is not about Alana,’ Velina repeated herself, ‘it is about Aleron as he is the first-born child.’

‘I know, I know,’ the Prince said, ‘is there anything else?’

‘Yes,’ I glanced at Velina, she nodded to go on, ‘according to another prophecy, I’ll be a traitor, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Why would you be?’ he asked.

‘We don’t know, but his parents had to leave the city because of this prophecy,’ Velina said, ‘his aunt was killed because of this prophecy unexpectedly. But councillor Totun told us in the tower that Aleron would never be a traitor.’

‘I like clear prophecies,’ Prince Veron said sceptically, ‘let’s go, we need to talk with my mother. If our father knows about the prophecy, she will know as well.’

We followed the Prince along the corridor, the Prince opened the door after a short knock. In the room apart from the usual women, Lord Adon sat at a table busy with his herbs. Apart from Brenbar only one guard was in the room.

‘Mother, Lord Adon, Lady Mara,’ the Prince bowed, so did we.

The royal siblings sat down on the other sofa which stood in front of the Queen, I stayed standing.

‘Who is Alana’s father?’ the Prince asked.

‘He was your father’s personal guard,’ the Queen said, ‘I haven’t seen him for many years since he left the capital.’

‘Why did they leave the capital?’ the Prince asked.

‘I think they know about the prophecy,’ Lord Adon said not even looking up.

‘Do you know about it?’ the Queen asked, the Prince nodded.

‘Why did someone want to kill Alana?’ the Prince asked.

‘Because they realised that who their parents are,’ the man said, ‘the traitors wanted to kill both of them, but Aleron was not in his room.’

‘Could you please tell me the whole story?’ the Prince asked impatiently.

‘The mother of the twins had a fortune teller friend,’ the Queen said, ‘who attended their wedding. She predicted that Amina’s family would take power from the insurgent fortune tellers. Amina’s friend shared this information with the wrong person and the insurgent group tried to have Amina killed many times.’

‘Where is this woman?’ Velina asked.

‘She died many years ago,’ the Queen said.

‘You should have told me that Alana might be in danger,’ the Prince said, ‘I didn’t even know that you knew her parents.’

‘It took time for us to find out who they were,’ the Queen said, ‘no one thought that anyone would dare to launch an attack inside the castle.’

‘Was my mother really a teacher?’ I asked, ‘I thought my father was a blacksmith,’ I said, the Prince nodded in agreement.

‘She was one of the best in the capital,’ the Queen smiled, ‘she had taught Veron as a toddler before she left the capital.’

‘Why did they leave the capital?’ the Prince asked, ‘For a personal guard, no other place is as safe as the castle.’

‘It was your grandfather’s decision,’ the Queen said, ‘Amina was pregnant when one of your grandfather’s fortune tellers predicted the future of her child. Because of the prophecy, King Darion’s father captured Amina immediately saying that her first child would be a traitor. Aleron’s mother had been caught and led away by two of your grandfather’s guards, but your father as King took Amina from them in another corridor.’

‘I have two prophecies then,’ I said, the Queen nodded.

‘What was the second prophecy?’ Velina asked.

‘Darion’s father thought that Aleron would knock Veron off the throne and they had to leave immediately,’ the Queen said, ‘your father helped them to leave the castle and hid them until their journey was prepared to the south. For my sake and yours, Veron I didn’t know more.’

‘The fortune tellers would have known where your parents were from my mother’s past,’ Velina explained to me, ‘her past was visible to every fortune teller.’

‘Councillor Totun said that Aleron and Veron would be friends,’ the Princess said, ‘Aleron will not be a traitor.’

‘No, he won’t be,’ Lord Adon said, ‘Even though everyone thought so, the prophecy is not about you, Aleron,’ he continued, ‘the prophecy is about your twin sister. It became clear after your births.’

‘About Alana?’ the Prince was shocked, ‘why would she become a traitor?’

‘I’m sorry, Veron,’ the Queen said, ‘I cannot help you more.’

‘That is the reason why she learned the engagement dance?’ the Prince asked, ‘because she will become a traitor? Why did you not tell me?’ he asked his mother, ‘You let me get engaged with a traitor. What is her plan? She wants to marry me and poison me afterwards and reign the country as a royal widow? Is her love just a show and she doesn’t even love me?’ the Prince started to become nervous.

The Queen leaned over to her son and gently patted his shoulder.

‘Veron,’ the Queen was kind, ‘this girl will be your perfect Queen and she loves you very much. Can you not see that your grandfather and his fortune teller made a mistake?’

‘Velina, could they have made a mistake?’ the Prince asked his sister.

‘In case of an unborn they could, yes,’ Velina said, ‘most of the time we don’t even say any prophecies before a birth.’

‘I see,’ the Prince said, but I was unsure that he believed it.

‘Thank you,’ the Prince stood up, we followed him.

‘Veron,’ the Queen said gently, ‘please don’t ruin your life because of an unknown prophecy.’

‘I will not do that,’ the Prince said and left the room.

I bowed slightly and walked out following Velina.

‘Alana should not know anything about this,’ the Prince said.

‘She won’t,’ I promised.

The Prince walked away along the corridor, Velina pushed me through a door to the servants’ passage and opened the door a notch and waved to me to stay silent. She opened her mother’s back door, the three of them were talking inside the room.

‘If Veron does something stupid, I will clip him around his ears,’ the Queen sighed.

‘We should trust him; he is a smart boy,’ Lady Mara said.

‘We should have told them everything,’ the Queen said, ‘if Veron betrays Alana, she will never forgive my son, I would not do so for sure.’

‘Vina, you know that we need to keep them in the dark,’ Lord Adon said, ‘otherwise they will die and every one of their family’s sacrifices will be wasted.’

‘I know,’ the Queen sighed, ‘but we will pay a high price for this anyway. Veron will act again without thinking.’

‘Hopefully, you will be wrong,’ Lady Mara said to calm the Queen.

They had started to talk about Lord Adon being hungry, and Velina closed the door. We walked back to Velina’s apartment; her dinner was already waiting for her.

‘How did you know?’ I asked.

‘When my mother started to talk about your parents, I felt that she wanted to hide something. I can see her past, but she needs to think about it.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘She lied because everyone in the room knew who you were since your arrival,’ Velina said, ‘Alana’s birth was never predicted by anyone even though she knew that you were twins. You weren’t born here and both of you are invisible to the fortune tellers but everyone in the room knew that you were twins. They knew that you were twins even before your arrival.’

‘It means that the Queen was informed in advance,’ I said, she nodded.

‘Somehow, they knew about you and they were sure that you would never be a traitor. They are confident that the prophecy is about Alana.’

‘Have you not seen the prophecy?’ I asked her.

‘Unfortunately, I cannot see their past discussions, I feel their feelings and their thoughts,’ she said, ‘I know that the prophecy is about Alana.’

We sat down at the table and started to eat.

‘Maybe Alana should touch the tree,’ I said.

‘We should explain to her why we are asking her to do this,’ Velina said, ‘Veron forbade us to tell her anything.’

‘If she found out that she might be a traitor, she would go back to the south immediately in order not to hurt your brother,’ I said, ‘I have no idea what they could have predicted, Alana would never hurt anyone, especially not your brother.’

‘My grandfather was very credulous,’ she said, ‘he believed in everything that was predicted. I barely knew him; I was a toddler when he died. The insurgent fortune tellers left the council and the country during his reign because they wanted to rule the Kingdom instead of supporting the royal family. After his death, my father started to make decisions without the fortune tellers, and Veron continues that tradition. They are asking only councillor Totun or me for advice.’

‘I hope that your brother will not believe in this prophecy,’ I said, ‘he should know Alana.’

‘Veron tends to overreact to things sometimes,’ Velina said, ‘but I believe that now he will think carefully about it.’

‘As your mother said, my sister would never forgive him if he accused her without any explanation,’ I said.

‘Maybe she will be a traitor because Veron will provoke her,’ Velina said, ‘I would not be surprised if that happened. Perhaps the second prophecy had been exaggerated because your parents hadn’t left the capital after the first one. Maybe this prophecy was predicted as a way to force your parents to leave.’

‘Do you think that we should have left the capital anyway?’ I asked.

‘Maybe,’ she said, ‘Just think about it. If you had stayed in the capital, your sister and you would have had slightly different personalities. She would not know how to use a sword and she might not have enthralled Veron as much as she did. Probably she would be teaching in a school somewhere in the capital and she would never have met Veron. They would not have anything in common.’

‘Our parents would have been a connection,’ I said.

‘We would know your father and probably you as guards, but Alana would not be invited for any social event like a dance evening. If she came for a dance evening, Veron would never have spotted her in a crowd, especially if Alana had never made herself known to him. Her personality would not have changed so much.’

‘Of course, not,’ I said.

‘Veron didn’t spend much time courting,’ she chuckled, ‘he always chose someone who pursued him.’

‘He is a Prince eventually,’ I said, ‘why would he do that. I hope that you will be right, and he will think.’

‘If your family had stayed, you would have the same position as Baron,’ she said, ‘Brenbar has been my father’s guard since I remember, it was evident that Baron would be Veron’s guard. Maybe the tree changed their fate to replace your father and you. They even lost their mother, just like you.’

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘She became sick when Baron was a child. From what I heard, even though her death was predicted, Lord Adon tried to save her, unfortunately unsuccessfully. Brenbar taught Baron to be great at tracking and your father taught you to be a great swordsman.’

‘Maybe you are right,’ I said, ‘you are the most experienced person I know when it comes to the tree of fate.’

‘It was a great compliment,’ she chuckled, ‘thank you.’

We finished our dinner and walked outside the castle to wait for my sister. It was already dark when Prince Veron appeared at the entrance.

‘Are they not here yet?’ he asked, I shook my head.

‘Is something wrong?’ he asked Velina.

‘I’m sorry Veron, the whole castle is already hidden from me. The future is becoming more and more obscure every day.’

‘Good,’ he said sarcastically, ‘This whole fortune teller thing is useless.’

The Prince was walking up and down nervously when Alana arrived with the six guards. My sister got off her horse and stepped up to the Prince.

‘You are late,’ the Prince said.

‘I’m sorry, Veron,’ Alana said, ‘there were a lot of people and we had to stay for dinner. I brought you a cake,’ Doran handed a small piece of cake in a small napkin over to Alana.

‘Taste it, it’s delicious,’ Alana said.

The Prince looked at the cake for a couple of seconds, the guards led the horses to the stable, including Alana’s one.

‘It is not poisoned,’ she laughed, ’I brought it for you.’

‘I don’t want it, my precious, thank you,’ the Prince said, ‘I ate just a short time ago.’

‘As you want,’ my sister said and ate the small piece of cake, ‘is something wrong?’

‘I’ve just been missing you a lot,’ the Prince said more automatically than honestly, but Alana didn’t notice.

‘I’m here,’ my sister said, ‘will you walk me in?’ she asked with a laugh.

The Prince offered his arm to my sister, Alana accepted it.

‘Alana will find out quickly that something is wrong,’ Velina whispered, ‘he didn’t put his arm round her waist, and he was afraid of her cake. Your sister is not stupid.’

‘We have to trust your brother,’ I said, ‘Alana will enthral him again and everything will be solved.’

I walked Velina back to her apartment intending to spend the night there.

In the morning I went back to my apartment, where my sister was getting dressed while Maina was packing the leftover food.

‘What are you doing here?’ I asked.

‘I slept here,’ she said, ‘Veron had a lot to do and he didn’t want to wake me up with his noise,’ my sister explained.

‘Are you going to teach today?’ I asked as I didn’t want to talk any more about Prince Veron’s behaviour, ‘please don’t forget that we are exercising together today.’

‘I remember,’ she smiled, ‘I hope that Veron will have some time for me, at least for a short walk.’

‘He has a lot to do because his majesty is not here,’ I said.

‘I know,’ she said, ‘I should join him at every official event, but he said that he hadn’t had any so far.’

She hugged me and left the room with her books; I went to the courtyard to participate in the training. The Princess sat on the balcony with Peg Leg and waved to me happily.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince said, ‘you are not late today,’ he smiled.

‘I’m improving,’ I smiled.

The Prince was waiting outside the circle, the rest of us were practising.

‘Prince Veron,’ Baron said, ‘are you not joining in?’

‘No, Baron, thank you,’ the Prince said and kept seated.

After the exercise, I walked back to the library with Velina, to wait for Alana to finish her lessons.

‘Do you feel like riding out this afternoon? Only the four of us, like last time,’ the Princess asked my sister.

‘Yes, I’d like to,’ she said, ‘was it Veron’s idea?’

‘Who else’s idea would it be?’ I said, she just chuckled.

My sister changed in our apartment and we went to the private room to practise. She was gaining her strength back every day, she needed only a couple of days more. Close to the end of the exercise the Prince and Velina joined us.

‘Have you finished?’ he asked.

‘Yes, Veron,’ Alana snuggled up to him, ‘thank you for inviting me, it is a perfect idea,’ she said.

‘I’m glad, my precious,’ the Prince said and glanced at his sister as he had no idea what Alana was talking about.

‘I’ll prepare everything,’ the Princess said, ‘we will meet in the stable.’

The Prince walked my sister to our apartment, where Alana washed and put on a dress with breeches at the bottom. She already had a green outfit ready.

‘Do you want to join me to help me get dressed?’ my sister asked the Prince, who sat in the lobby on the sofa.

‘I’ll wait for you here, my precious,’ the Prince said in a monotone.

Alana closed her door to get dressed. When she came out of her room, she cuddled the Prince, but received nothing in return.

‘We can go,’ she smiled and went to the stable where Velina was waiting for us with three prepared horses.

The Prince saddled his black horse quickly without a word. Alana watched him silently, she already felt that something was wrong.

We rode out and quickly arrived at the same place in a meadow next to a forest. Velina’s idea was good, the memory of the first kiss might help.

We put down three blankets next to each other, I took the baskets and flasks from the horses, just like last time. We sat down comfortably on the blankets and started to eat.

‘Veron,’ Alana said gently, ‘is something wrong? You have barely talked to me since I came back from the inn. I’m not having an affair with anyone, I swear. I came back late because the queue was long.’

‘I know, my precious,’ the Prince said, ‘I’m sorry.’

‘Do you feel like walking?’ Alana asked gently.

‘No, I don’t. I’m sorry my precious, I’m tired,’ the Prince said.

‘Yes, of course,’ my sister said, ‘do you want some tea? I made it,’ the Prince shook his head.

My sister was trying hard, but she didn’t succeed, the Prince had excluded her from his life since yesterday.

‘Veron,’ the Princess said, ‘let’s have a walk.’

‘Good idea,’ the Prince said happily as then he wouldn’t have to stay with my sister.

The royal siblings walked away; Alana drank some tea.

‘I don’t know what I have done,’ she said to me, ‘the queue was really long.’

‘I know,’ I said.

‘Do you know what his problem is?’ she asked me.

I had seen that she was despondent, and I wanted to tell her everything, but for her sake, I couldn’t. She would never forgive Prince Veron for his behaviour, if she knew the truth behind it. I wanted to give Prince Veron a chance to correct his mistake and I decided to keep quiet.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said shortly.

She hugged me and started to cry quietly, I hugged her back as always. She didn’t understand what had caused this change, and she was helpless. Alana suddenly stopped crying and without moving her head, she grasped the short swords on my belt with her hands. The smell of the poison hit my nose as well shortly after her move. She had found her swords before she knocked three times on my leg. After the third knock, we both jumped up and drew our swords from my belt, as a man wearing a fake cloak ran toward us with a sword.

‘You should be dead,’ he shouted. His long sword was sprinkled with a pungent poison.

Alana and I had learned how to fight as a pair, we stood with our backs to each other as the man wouldn’t be alone. We were right, five people surrounded us in a couple of seconds. No one attacked yet, we were waiting as well. None of them was as tall as me, two of them were as short as Alana. They didn’t seem to be good swordsmen, but they were determined and for us even one cut would have been fatal. They tried to attack us together, but we defended ourselves easily.

‘Aleron, they cannot hit you,’ Alana said to me, ‘be very careful.’

‘You too,’ I said, ‘I’ll count to three and we are attacking,’ I gave an order as I did during the exercises in previous years.

‘I’m ready,’ she said as she used to answer during the exercises in previous years.

I counted to three and we attacked them together in harmony. They didn’t even have time to defend themselves, we killed two of them one clean cut with each. The remaining three men became more careful, we were cautious because of the poison.

‘Alana,’ the Prince shouted from afar and drew his sword to run to us.

‘Your sister,’ I shouted back to him, ‘take care of her, we will manage.’

‘Again, to three,’ I said.

‘I’m ready,’ she said.

We attacked again, two of them died immediately. The last man stood closer to Alana, I moved towards him, my sister followed my decision and stepped behind me.

‘You may leave,’ I said to him.

‘I’ll only get paid if you die,’ he said.

He desperately attacked me, I defended myself easily, Alana watched to see whether new attackers would approach me from behind. After stopping the man’s attack, I attacked back and cut his sword holding arm. The man dropped his sword, I pointed my sword at his throat.

‘I need you alive,’ I said.

Alana behind me breathed very sharply, she was not fit enough yet. The royal siblings came to us, Prince Veron checked that everyone was really dead. The man kneeled in front of me, I didn’t lose my attention even for one second.

‘Nice job,’ the Prince smiled, ‘we need him alive.’

‘I know,’ I said, ‘that is why he is still alive.’

‘I don’t have anything to tie him with,’ I said.

‘Give him this,’ Alana stepped up to me and gave me an ampoule from her belt, ‘It’s a strong sedative.’

I gave him the potion, he collapsed almost immediately.

‘I think the picnic is over,’ Velina said, ‘do you need the weapons?’

‘Don’t touch any of them,’ Alana said decisively, ‘none of you. The poison will hurt you through your skin, but it works slower. Take a rug and touch only the hilts of the swords, nothing else,’ my sister said decisively.

‘Don’t you want me to touch the blade?’ the Prince asked Alana with hatred.

I started to collect the swords with a rug, Velina took care of the foods and blankets.

‘Why would I want that?’ Alana asked not understanding the Prince, ‘I love you; I don’t want you to be hurt,’ she stepped up to the price to snuggle up to him.

‘I’m sorry Alana,’ the Prince took a step backwards, ‘I cannot continue with this.’

‘I see,’ Alana said shortly. My sister didn’t understand what was going on, no one would.

She silently took a rug to help me collect the swords, the Prince helped his sister. Alana cleaned the blades and put some powder on them from one of the ampoules on her belt.

‘Leave the bodies,’ the Prince said to me, ‘I will send Baron here. We should take only him,’ he indicated the sleeping man.

I was holding the sleeping man up when a dagger hit his back. The man died immediately.

‘Let’s catch him,’ the Prince shouted and ran towards the forest, I followed him.

We were running towards where the dagger was thrown from, but we didn’t see any movement in the forest which we could follow. Whoever it was, he had escaped. We went back to the girls; Alana had already pulled the dagger out from the man’s back and she was holding it.  Alana knew about daggers. Our father and uncle had taught us how to throw them, but Alana was not allowed to carry a dagger and I preferred my sword to a dagger and I practised rarely.

‘Aleron, this is our uncle’s dagger,’ she said.

‘Let me see,’ I said and crouched next to her to look at the blade.

It was indeed my uncle’s dagger, but I wanted to feign something.

‘No,’ I said, ‘he didn’t like the type of teeth on this dagger.’

‘You are right,’ Alana smiled, ‘he is in the south anyway. I think, I just miss him.’

‘Let’s go back to the castle,’ the Prince ordered and sat on his beautiful black horse, ‘Leave every body here. It doesn’t make sense to carry any of them.’

We rode back to the castle, the Prince jumped off his horse and left the three of us next to the entrance.

‘Wait here, Aleron,’ he ordered me completely ignoring my sister.

‘Go inside the castle and do something to amuse yourselves,’ I suggested to them with a smile, ‘we must go back.’

‘Take care of Veron,’ my sister said sadly and went inside the castle.

‘I will do,’ I said.

‘I’ll take care of your sister,’ Velina said to me quietly and followed my sister.

The girls left me, the Prince came back after a couple of minutes together with Baron and Foren.

‘Let’s go,’ he ordered.

We rode back to the meadow, but we could see the smoke from afar. When we arrived, the bodies were gone, their belongings and cloaks had already been burned, no evidence was left behind. We got off the horses to look around.

‘Who has done this?’ the Prince was furious, ‘Only those who knew we were coming here could have notified them.’

‘Only the four of us knew about this,’ I said, ‘it was Velina’s idea.’

‘Four people are more than enough,’ the Prince said clearly thinking about Alana.

‘I’m sorry your majesty,’ Baron said after looking around, ‘they cleaned up everything.’

‘I thought so,’ he said, ‘let’s go.’

We rode back to the stable, the servants unsaddled our horses apart from the black stallion.

‘Go and have some rest,’ the Prince said to Foren and Baron while he was unsaddling his horse, ‘Aleron, please stay.’

The two men bowed and left the stable, I waited for the Prince to finish feeding his horse with an apple.

When he had finished, he waved to me to follow him inside the castle. We went inside his apartment; the herbs were missing from the huge table in the lobby, but I was sure that he hadn’t noticed that. His apartment was similar to ours, but instead of two bedrooms he had only one and the decoration was more colourful.

‘Was it your uncle’s dagger?’ he asked.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said, ‘he must have arrived from the south.’

‘Do he and your father want to kill me with Alana’s help?’ he asked.

‘Definitely not,’ I said, ‘my family was always loyal to yours.’

‘To convince the Prince to marry you and kill him afterwards sounds a good plan,’ he made himself more and more nervous with every word.

‘Your majesty,’ I said with huge self-control, ‘my sister and my family would never hurt you, please don’t accuse them.’

‘Get out,’ he said, I bowed and left his apartment.

‘Leave the castle immediately,’ he shouted standing behind me at his door.

‘Excuse me?’ I turned around and asked him.

‘I said that you had to leave the castle immediately,’ he said impolitely and loudly, ‘you mustn’t ever come back or even stay close to the castle, neither you nor your sister.’

‘As you command, your majesty,’ I said with hatred.

The Prince had shut his door, I turned around. The guards nearby looked at me surprised, but they didn’t say a word. Alana and Velina stood behind me, both of them were shocked by this scene. Alana tried not to cry, Velina embraced her.

‘You are not going anywhere,’ the Queen’s voice echoed along the quiet corridor, we turned back and bowed, ‘everyone is going back to their apartment.’

‘I don’t want any of you to talk about what has happened,’ she turned to the guards, ‘if you do, you will answer to Brenbar,’ she said, Baron’s father behind her nodded in agreement.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ the guards said at once.

Alana and I bowed; I took Alana to go back to our apartment.

‘What is wrong with him?’ my sister asked me.

‘I don’t know,’ I said.

I locked our door, my sister had brought back all her herbs, they were in her room on the table.

‘Aleron,’ she sat down on the sofa, ‘I’d like to leave the castle. Veron hates me and I have no idea why. I’d rather go back to the south than stay here.’

‘You are right,’ I said, ‘it doesn’t make any sense to stay here any longer. Pack your belongings, we are leaving immediately. The Prince is just as evil as his tax collectors.’

‘I’ll be ready in a couple of minutes,’ my sister said and dressed the same way as for our journey to the castle.

She left all the dresses which she had received here on the sofa, she put the rest of them in her bag. She packed her herbs carefully, but her routine, which she had practised during our journey, made her quick.

‘We can go,’ she said and put her swords on her belt.

I picked up all our bags and left the apartment. I knew where we could expect to see guards and where not. We moved along the servants’ passage, I already knew the way.

I entered Velina’s apartment, she was walking up and down nervously with Peg Leg in her hand.

‘We are leaving,’ I said as I kissed her hand.

‘Please give this to Veron,’ my sister handed her ring over to Velina.

‘I will give it back to him,’ she said, ‘I’m genuinely sorry, I don’t know what is wrong with him.’

‘Thank you,’ my sister said.

We left Velina alone and headed to the quiet stable. I saddled our three mares in a couple of minutes and left the castle. It was dark, but luckily no one paid any attention to us. We looked like two servants, who were leaving the castle after work.

‘Where are we going?’ Alana asked me.

‘To the inn,’ I said, ‘we will move on in the morning. I need to think.’

We went to the quiet inn; the woman behind the bar saw that we were in trouble.

‘Your previous room is free,’ she said quickly.

‘Thank you,’ I said.

Alana could barely stand on her feet; she was shocked by the Prince’s behaviour. We went to sleep in our clothes, my parents might have felt similarly to us when they escaped from the capital. Alana cried quietly before she fell asleep. I was thinking about the dagger, but I couldn’t understand what my uncle was doing here.

I didn’t sleep much; in the morning I wrote a short letter to Alana while she was sleeping and went down to the innkeeper.

‘My sister needs to stay here for a while,’ I said, ‘no one must know that she is here.’

I slipped a gold coin through the bar.

‘I will take care of her,’ she said and passed the coin back to me, ‘she deserves it.’

‘Thank you,’ I said.

I rode back to the castle, I went to Velina. Luckily, no one knew about yesterday evening and no one stopped me.

‘You have come back on your own?’ the Princess asked as she opened her door.

‘Alana is in a safe place now,’ I said, ‘I came to sort things out.’

‘It will not happen,’ she said, ‘Veron became so drunk yesterday that Lord Adon made him go to sleep at dawn. He is sleeping now.’

‘Why did he become drunk?’ I asked.

‘Because he's struggling with himself,’ Velina said, ‘he is in love with your sister, but he kept thinking about the prophecy all day long and now he thinks that Alana’s love was a lie. He convinced himself that everything is a lie and your family wants to kill him.’

‘We could have done that already,’ I said, ‘my uncle is the best dagger thrower and my father is the best swordsman in the country. Alana is the weakest in the family and your brother is barely on her level.’

‘My mother clipped him around his ears yesterday,’ Velina smiled, ‘Veron was half drunk and he said that she was working with you to kill him. His servant said to me that he had been shouting non-stop all night long. He went completely insane.’

‘We will wait then,’ I said.

I waited for hours, Velina was walking in and out of her room to talk with the servants. The Prince didn’t wake up but lots of people were looking for my sister.

‘I told Maina, that the lessons were cancelled,’ Velina said, ‘she noticed that Alana had moved out and she brought back the dresses to our tailor from your lobby. She is a very nice girl.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, ‘yes, she is very nice.’

I was eating when Velina’s servant knocked on her door saying that the Prince had woken up.

‘I’m going to him,’ I said and picked up my sister’s ring.

I walked to the Prince’s door and opened it without knocking, Lord Adon was inside and gave the Prince something to drink. In the lobby bottles and glasses lay all over the floor, probably he had been raging about there yesterday. The Prince sat on his sofa wearing only shorts.

‘Your majesty,’ I bowed, ‘you called me.’

‘Aleron,’ he said seriously, ‘I didn’t call you.’

‘That is what I heard, your majesty,’ I said, ‘I heard something, and I assumed you had called me, but it seems that I was wrong.’

‘What?’ he asked as he was hungover, Lord Adon just smiled in silence when he heard what I said, ‘where is Alana?’

‘She is safe from you,’ I said, ‘she left the castle as you ordered.’

‘I’m safe from her,’ he said, I laughed loudly.

‘She is a weak woman, your majesty,’ I said, ‘and I’d like to ask you not to scold my sister, she didn’t hurt you.’

‘Not yet,’ he said, ‘but you’ve heard as well that she will be a traitor.’

‘No, I haven’t heard that,’ I said, ‘I’ve heard that the Prince is gentle and nice, but I think he is just a coward and a superficial person,’ I said.

‘Watch your mouth, Aleron,’ he said and stood up. He was very unstable, he almost had to sit back down again.

‘I believed my sister,’ I said, ‘but the reality is different. The Prince is a cowardly person whose love disappeared in one day because of a rumour.’

Lord Adon pretended that he was busy with his herbs, but he was just listening and smiling.

‘I’ll have you executed,’ he said.

‘Why?’ I asked, ‘I haven’t even hit you, even though you deserve it very much.’

‘Go for it,’ he said.

I stepped up to the Prince and I slapped him in his face, he didn’t even have a chance to defend himself.

‘Try to use your brain, your majesty,’ I said, ‘pay attention to the attackers and not to Alana, whose only fault is to love a person who doesn’t deserve it. Luckily it is over. She is sending this to you,’ I held the palm of his hand and dropped the ring into it.

‘She never betrayed you,’ I continued, ‘but you did betray her.’

I was just about to leave when the Prince grasped my shoulder. He tried to hit me, but his wrist was not even close to me. I gripped his arm easily.

‘I’m not going to beat you up,’ I said, ‘I came to ask you to sit down and try to piece together what happened. My sister, your fiancée was almost killed twice. You are the strategist and the Prince, not me. I won’t allow one more attack.’

‘I don’t care for your sister,’ he shouted.

‘That is the wrong answer,’ I said, and I slapped him lightly on his face again. If I had slapped him any more in his face, he would have fainted.

I felt sorry for him, he was falling apart, but we hadn’t got time on our side. Alana was in more significant danger with every day that passed, and I wasn’t prepared to lose her because of the Prince.

‘My sister would be disappointed if she saw you like this,’ I said, ‘I think she is already disappointed. Edria suits you and not Alana. Edria is as evil and power hungry as you are. You have no humanity inside you,’ I wanted to make him angry. He would need to help me out, if he wanted to get rid of me.

‘Aleron,’ he said, ‘I’ll have your head for this.’

‘So be it,’ I said, ‘I will protect my sister at all costs from anyone, even from you. If needed, I would be a traitor, I would have the same fate as my sister.’

‘Where is Alana?’ he asked.

‘It is not your business anymore, and you will never find out,’ I said, ‘I took her from you, and she will never return.’

‘I’ll help you, but I don’t want to see any of you in the castle afterwards,’ he said, ‘I’ll send a message to your sister that she is not allowed to wear any green colour anymore.’

‘She left all her dresses in the lobby,’ I said, ‘she hated that colour and Maina has already taken them back to the royal tailor,’ I smiled as I achieved what I wanted.

‘Drink this, Veron,’ Lord Adon said, ‘you need this.’

The Prince drank the tea, based on his facial expression it tasted terrible.

‘It was terrible,’ he said.

‘No, my son,’ the man smiled, ‘your visit to your mother will be terrible.’

‘I’m waiting outside, your majesty,’ I said and left the apartment.

While I was waiting for the Prince to get dressed, Velina came to me, probably she was waiting on the corridor all the time.

‘How did it go?’ she asked.

‘He will help me to piece together what has happened and afterwards I’m leaving this place with my sister. I’m sorry Velina, I like you, but I’ll never return.’

‘I understand,’ she smiled, ‘and thank you for being my suitor. I’ll go with you to the meeting.’

‘As you wish, your majesty,’ I kissed her gently, she deserved it.

The Prince came out of his apartment, he looked awful.

‘Send Baron and Foren to the round house,’ the Prince ordered his guards.

He went to the round house where we had met two days ago, we followed him with Velina. The room looked the same as last time, I drank my sister’s tea while we were waiting for Baron and Foren.

‘You called us, your majesty,’ Baron said, both bowed, ‘Prince Veron, duchess Alana has gone missing.’

‘My sister left the castle for her own safety,’ I said.

‘I see,’ he said, and both sat down.

‘Let’s start,’ the Prince said, ‘Baron, Foren, I want to find out what is behind the attacks.’

‘The first attack was a well-prepared job,’ Baron said.

‘Any idea whether it was an inside job?’ the Prince asked.

‘I doubt it was,’ Baron answered, ‘the invaders had lots of time to look around wearing their fake cloaks and could easily find out where Aleron’s apartment was. We don’t have any traitor; the second attack doesn’t show any sign of a traitor either. Both clearly had a huge amount of money and were well prepared but without an inside man.’

‘The fake cloaks must have been very expensive,’ Foren said to me.

‘We four were the only ones who knew about the plan to ride in the meadow,’ the Prince said.

‘You made a quick decision,’ Baron said, ‘even if someone had heard your plan, he wouldn’t have had time to share it with anyone using a pigeon or a courier. The time was short, I’d think about whether anyone observed us instead.’

’Right,’ the Prince said.

‘Veron and I were not attacked,’ Velina said.

‘They want only Alana and you,’ Foren said, ‘they are hunting just the two of you.’

‘Let’s assume that the people who killed the people wearing fake cloaks in the forest and the meadow are our friends,’ I said, ‘what would you say to that?’

‘That you are simply a bait,’ the Prince said matter of factly, ‘They are observing your attackers, the attackers are observing you. Our friends are using you to hunt this insurgent fortune tellers’ group down.’

Velina and I saw from the Prince’s expression that he realized what he had done yesterday, but it was too late.

‘Your majesty,’ Baron said, ‘your fiancée should return to the castle; this is the safest place for her.’

‘No,’ I said, ‘she was almost killed here. She has enemies inside the castle,’ I said and glanced at the Prince.

‘If you are a bait,’ Velina asked, ‘why they did not attack them during the tour or at the inn?’

‘It would have been very conspicuous,’ the Prince said, ‘they realized that someone is hunting them, so they are careful. At the inn everyone is looking for Alana and they want the twins together. I’m sure that they know that you are still alive, so they will keep trying.’

‘Thank you, Gentlemen, Princess Velina,’ I smiled at Velina and stood up.

I took my cloak off and put it on the table.

‘What are you doing, Aleron?’ Baron asked, the Prince didn’t say a word.

‘I’m leaving the castle,’ I said, ‘I’m not serving an unworthy ruler.’

‘Let him go,’ the Prince said to Baron, who had started to stand up.

I left the room; I saddled my horse and rode back to the inn. My sister was sitting in the corner and was reading something. Unless you studied her carefully, she couldn’t be recognized.

‘Aleron,’ she hugged me, ‘I was worried. Is everything all right?’

‘We are leaving,’ I said and went upstairs, she followed me.

‘Where are we going?’ she asked curiously.

‘To the west,’ I said, ‘No one knows us there.’

We were packed, Alana took care of her herbs while she was waiting for me.

‘We need to take the coins from the "guardian of coins",’ she said.

‘That’s right,’ I said as I had forgotten our money, ‘First, we will take the coins and afterwards we will head for the west,’ I said, ‘By tomorrow we should be far enough from here.’

‘You are not going anywhere,’ the Prince’s voice sounded in the door.

‘Your majesty,’ Alana nervously turned and bowed.

‘I’m sorry your majesty,’ I said, ‘but we are leaving. If someone wants to, he can follow us, I don’t care.’

‘It wouldn’t be difficult, Aleron,’ he smiled, ‘your horse is slow, and you don’t watch your back. You are not safe here.’

‘That is why we are leaving,’ I said, ‘Alana, let’s go.’

‘No,’ the Prince said and stood in the door.

‘I’ll happily slap you again,’ I said and stepped up to him, ‘but it will hurt.’

‘If you stay, I’ll help you to find the person who wants to kill you,’ the Prince said, ‘I don’t ask for anything else.’

I knew that his offer was logical, but my sister knew nothing about the prophecies, and she didn’t care what was rational.

‘Aleron,’ she said, ‘I don’t want to stay. I don’t have any reason to do so.’

‘You’ve heard her, your majesty,’ I said, ‘You are not allowed to talk to her, not even go close to her. You should avoid my sister for your safety, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Alana, please hear me out, let me explain,’ the Prince looked behind me.

‘Aleron,’ my sister said, ‘let’s go.’

‘The problem is that he is right,’ I admitted, ‘If we leave now, we will need to flee all the time. Only two of us on our own cannot find everyone, we need to stay for a couple of days,’ I said, Alana trusted me and nodded.

‘Give me your word as a Prince, that you will never come either to the library or to my apartment,’ my sister looked at the Prince calmly, but I saw on her face that her request was painful for her.

‘I give you my word,’ the Prince said, ‘but you must wear a green dress until it ends.’

‘Aleron?’ my sister asked.

‘He is right,’ I said, ‘we should keep up the pretence that your engagement is valid. Only a couple of days, Alana, not more.’

‘I believe you,’ she said to me.

We paid off the innkeeper and went back to the castle. The Prince rode his black stallion without any saddle, he rode him bareback. Probably he had followed me immediately after my departure, to find out where Alana was.

Velina was waiting for us next to the entrance.

‘I need to pay attention next time,’ I said, as I got off my horse.

‘To what?’ she stepped up to me with a smile.

Alana waved to me silently and walked towards our apartment.

‘Your brother simply jumped on his horse to follow me,’ I said.

‘That’s why he let you go,’ she smiled, ‘he wanted you to lead him to Alana, otherwise he would never find you. Did she say anything to him?’ she nodded her head towards my sister.

‘Your brother gave his word that he would never look for her,’ I said, ‘Alana asked nothing more.’

‘I see,’ she said, ‘Our mother has been calling for you,’ Velina said and looked at her brother who petted his horse gently, ‘she wants to see both of you,’ she said.

We walked to the Queen’s apartment the guard opened the door when he spotted the royal siblings walking towards him. We entered the room, Velina sat down on the sofa, the same three people were in the room.

‘Aleron,’ the Queen smiled at me, ‘thank you for coming back, Alana will be safe.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ I said, ‘we will not use your Majesty's hospitality for long, we will stay just as long as absolutely necessary.’

‘I understand that,’ she smiled.

‘Veron,’ the Queen turned to her son, ‘there is no excuse for your behaviour. I told you, not to ruin your life because of a rumour, yet you did. Please don’t look for Alana anymore. We will announce soon that your engagement had been called off.’

‘I don’t want to call it off,’ The Prince said suddenly.

‘I’m afraid that is not your decision anymore,’ she said, ‘Velina told me that you had received the ring back and I heard that Alana’s dresses had been brought back to our tailor.’

‘Yes, both of them are true,’ the Prince said quietly.

‘We have nothing to talk about then. Alana stays here until you find her attackers, she deserves to be safe,’ the Queen said seriously, ‘if Aleron decides to stay here afterwards to serve you, Alana can stay with him, but she doesn’t belong to you anymore. I’d like you to accept it, because you are the only accountable person for this situation,’ the Queen finished her sentence, the Prince nodded.

‘You have given a new chance to Edria,’ Lady Mara said.

‘Maybe she would be a better choice,’ Lord Adon said, ‘Alana deserves someone better. You betrayed your love in one day, Veron,’ he turned to the Prince, ‘I doubt that your feelings were ever true. I’m glad that the royal council didn’t sign your proposal, you don’t deserve Alana.’

‘Can I leave?’ the Prince asked.

‘You can go, my son,’ the Queen said, ‘don’t forget to join us for lunch.’

‘I will join you,’ the Prince said and left the room.

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ the Queen said, I left the room as well.

I walked back to our apartment, my sister was packing her belongings and taking care of her herbs.

‘They need a permanent place,’ she said, ‘I have moved them a lot, recently.’

‘Come, sit down,’ I indicated the sofa in the lobby.

My sister sat next to me; she had already taken her wig off.

‘Please never leave the garden,’ I said, ‘if you want to go to the inn, let me know, I will go with you.’

‘Why are we staying, Aleron?’ she asked.

‘Unfortunately, we require some support to catch our attackers,’ I said.

‘Why do they want to kill us?’ she asked.

‘Because a fortune teller said, that we would take their power,’ I said, ‘I heard it a few days ago,’ I lied.

‘Do they want to kill us because of a prophecy? We haven’t done anything,’ she said.

‘I know. Maybe this is what our parents were trying to conceal from us,’ I said, I wanted to tell her as little as possible.

‘Maybe,’ she said, ‘I’ll change, I asked Maina to let people know that I’m teaching today starting a bit later. You will find me in the library.’

‘Good,’ I said.

Maina opened our door with a green dress in her hand.

‘Her majesty,’ she said, ‘the Queen is asking you to wear this dress. I’ll bring the rest of them back today.’

‘Thank you, Maina,’ my sister smiled at her.

My sister changed and went to the library, I was packing my bags and our swords, when Velina banged on our apartment’s door.

‘Is something wrong?’ I asked her as she was visibly flustered.

‘You need to see this,’ she said quickly, ‘bring Alana as well.’

‘She is in the library,’ I said, Velina left me immediately and headed towards the library.

I picked up my cloak and followed her. When I entered the library, Velina was already inside, but the children hadn’t arrived yet.

‘What is wrong, Velina?’ my sister asked the Princess, ‘you seem to be flustered.’

‘Come to the garden,’ she said, ‘you need to see this, it is important.’

Alana hung a piece of paper on the door saying that she would be back soon before we followed Velina. In front of the entrance, four dirty men stood surrounded by guards. They had shackles round their neck and hands. A very familiar woman was talking with one of the guards next to them, it was Shirela. As soon as she noticed us she came to us and we hugged each other.

‘Engagement present, your majesty,’ Shirela said looking at my sister’s green dress.

‘Shirela,’ my sister smiled at her, ‘I didn’t expect to see you here.’

‘Me neither,’ I smiled, ‘Who are they?’ I asked and stepped closer to the captives.

‘I think you will recognize them,’ Shirela smiled.

I went closer, the four dirty and smelly southern tax collectors stood between the guards. They had shackles round their neck and hands.

‘Well, well,’ I said to them, ‘it seems that the circumstances have changed,’ I chuckled as Alana stepped next to me.

‘I knew that you were not dead,’ the swine said staring at my sister next to me, ‘I imagined you looked just like this.’

The man was filthy, and he had lost some weight during the journey, but he was still disgustingly fat.

‘No, I’m not dead,’ she said and went closer to him, ‘but I can see that you had a pleasant journey.’

Alana was angry, if she had had her swords, she would have killed the swine already.

‘I should have looked for you,’ he said, ‘then you would sleep in my bed instead of the Prince’s.’

I punched his face; he was a perfect candidate to let the steam off that I had recently accumulated. Alana thanked me with a smile, but she was still angry.

‘Who are they?’ I heard the Prince’s voice from behind me, my sister stepped behind me, I turned back.

‘The southern tax collectors, your majesty,’ Shirela said after a bow, ‘They have been arrested and brought here in the name of his majesty, King Darion.’

‘Can you confirm this, Aleron?’ the Prince asked me not looking at my sister.

‘Yes, your majesty, they are the southern tax collectors,’ I said.

‘If I get out, I will know where to find you,’ the swine said staring at my sister with sick desire in his eyes.

‘You will never get out,’ Alana answered him angrily.

I punched his face again, he tried to stay on his feet. The Prince wanted to do the same, but he controlled himself. Alana touched her swords on my belt, I felt that she would draw a sword in seconds. The fear of the past few years was about to break out of her, and her current relationship with the Prince was just an added factor. She wanted to kill the tax collectors, but she would go to the prison for that.

I touched Alana’s wrist gently, the Prince looked at us for a second, but my sister hadn’t seen him, she was focusing on the swine. If someone had seen us, he would have seen that Alana was holding onto me.

‘Don’t you dare talk to my sister anymore,’ I said to the swine, ‘otherwise you will not even get to the prison.’

‘A night with you would be worth a lot, if you had managed to be in the Prince’s bed,’ the man said with sickening desire as he looked at my sister.

The Prince waved to the guards to knock him down, the other three tax collectors had to hold him. At the same time as the Prince waved to the guards, Alana’s hands were moving under my hand. She wanted to pull her swords out of the sheaths, I kept them inside with all my strength. Luckily, I was stronger than she was, we could avoid further problems.

‘Take them to the prison,’ the Prince said, ‘I need to figure out what to do with them.’

The guards led the prisoners, Alana released the sheaths and hugged me from behind.

‘I thought that you were dead,’ Velina said to Shirela.

My sister looked at me surprised; I didn’t know about this either.

‘Why would she be dead?’ I asked.

‘I predicted that as soon as you left the city, I would be killed by the swine,’ Shirela said, ‘and I wrote a letter about this to Velina on the night of the festival. Luckily, my future changed because Shiveron had married me. I was already living in your house when the tax collectors arrived, and the swine scratched my leg a bit. Your uncle let the swine scratch my leg, because he could have arrested all of them as they had attacked a fortune teller,’ she laughed, ‘Initially your uncle would have killed all of them after my death, but as my fate has been changed, theirs has as well. We came together,’ she smiled, ‘some of us on horseback, some of us on foot.’

‘I’m glad that your fate has changed,’ Velina said with a smile.

‘Me too,’ Alana said, ‘but I was not aware of your possible death.’

Velina and Shirela went to the tower, my sister smiled at me and walked back to the library. The Prince watched her for a while, but he didn’t move.

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ the Prince said to me and took a quick look at Alana’s swords on my belt.

‘It was in my interest as well, your majesty,’ I said, he nodded in agreement.

Alana and I spent our lunch break together with Maina before we went to the private room to exercise. My sister needed to get back her strength before the next attack. She gave her all when exercising, she let off steam what had happened with the Prince and the swine. If she had gained her strength back, she would have won the contest.

‘What are you going to do in the afternoon?’ I asked her after the exercise.

‘I’ll be in the library,’ she said, ‘I’ll organize the books.’

‘You should go out in the garden,’ I said, ‘You could spend some time in the servants’ rest area with Maina.’

‘They will look at me strangely,’ she said.

‘You are already used to that,’ I chuckled.

Alana was just changing in her room, when Maina came to our lobby.

‘Alana, I was looking for you everywhere,’ she said, ‘her majesty, the Queen would like to see you immediately.’

‘I’m sorry, I had to help Aleron,’ my sister said, ‘but we can go now.’

‘I’m going as well,’ I said.

I didn’t want to leave my sister alone, no one knew why she had been summoned.

We walked to the Queen’s lobby quickly, the guards opened the door for us without a word. In the lobby Velina and the Prince sat next to the Queen on the sofa, Lady Mara sat in front of them, Lord Adon was not in the room. Brenbar and two other guards stood close to the Queen. Next to the wall, a short man stood who looked tired between two guards with some kind of big blanket in his arms. Alana and I bowed, I stood right behind my sister.

‘You wanted to see me, your majesty,’ my sister said and glanced at the Prince for a second.

‘Yes,’ the Queen smiled and indicated the man with the blanket, ‘This man rode through the guards and he states that you know him.’

Alana looked at the man, he was not familiar to me.

‘I don’t know him, your majesty,’ my sister said.

‘Guards take him out,’ as the Prince stood up, the blanket started to cough in the man’s arms.

‘Wait,’ Alana raised her hand up instinctively, the Queen and Velina smiled broadly, the Prince sat down surprised.

Alana stepped up next to the man, I followed her. In the man’s arm, in the blanket, a small, newborn baby with a cap on lay coughing half awake.

‘You came here and lied because of him, didn’t you?’ My sister asked the man and gently took the baby from him.

‘Yes, hm, miss,’ the man was visibly embarrassed, not knowing what to call my sister.

‘Miss is just fine,’ she smiled, ‘How long has he been coughing for?’

‘Since he was born,’ he said, ‘we have already lost two newborns because of this cough, but I’ll not let this happen again. As my wife had a difficult birth, she couldn’t come, but I decided to bring my son here.’

‘Please, bring Maina and Lord Adon here,’ Alana asked one of the guards, who stood next to the man.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ the guard said and left the room.

‘What is your name?’ Alana asked the man.

‘Kalvan, miss, your majesty,’ the man corrected himself after he had heard what the guard said, ‘We heard about the inn and about you, but as the inn was almost empty, I rode here as fast as I could.’

‘How long have you been riding for?’ Alana asked.

‘For two days, your majesty,’ he said, ‘I didn’t stop to rest, I cannot lose my son.’

‘You summoned me, Alana,’ Maina came in and bowed to everyone.

‘Please go to my table and bring me the second rug from the left which lies in front of a yellow leafed herb.’ my sister said, while she was checking the baby.

‘Yes,’ Maina said, ‘I’ll be back in a second.’

‘You are coughing as well, aren’t you?’ my sister asked the man.

‘Yes, and my wife too,’ he said, ‘but we are not sick.’

‘Did you summon me, Vina?’ Lord Adon opened the door.

‘I didn’t,’ the Queen smiled, ‘she summoned you,’ she indicated my sister.

‘The guard said to me that her majesty wanted to see me, but Alana didn’t come into my mind,’ the man smiled.

‘Lord Adon,’ Alana smiled, ‘the baby has an infection.’

‘Let me see,’ the man took the baby, ‘why did you summon me, if you knew?’

‘I want to be sure as I haven’t seen such an infection in the south, I only saw ones which were similar to this one.’

Lord Adon laid the baby down onto the sofa next to his wife and uncovered him. He started to check him together with Alana. The newborn baby was very small and his skin was covered in spots. Maina brought the rug over, Alana took it from her at the door.

‘There is an infection in your house,’ Alana said while she was making tea from the herbs, ‘your wife needs to come over as soon as possible because your son needs her to recover and you must never return.’

‘My wife cannot ride a horse yet,’ he said.

‘I will go to her then and cure her,’ my sister said decisively.

‘Alana,’ I said, ‘you mustn’t go anywhere.’

‘Alana is right,’ Lord Adon said, ‘the baby is barely alive; he is very sick and he needs his mother who is possibly sick as well.’

Prince Veron leaned over to his mother and whispered something in her ear but Alana didn’t notice.

‘Aleron is right,’ the Queen said, ‘I will send a carriage for the woman.’

‘One of my guards will go on horseback to arrive earlier than the carriage,’ Lord Adon said, ‘I’ll prepare the potion. When the carriage arrives, she should be ready with my guard’s help.’

‘You have to stay here,’ Alana said to the man and gave tea to the baby with a small spoon, ‘how long is it since you last ate?’

The Prince looked at my sister with sincere admiration. She stood with her back to him and didn’t notice.

‘Two days,’ the man said, ‘I fed my son during the journey, but I didn’t have any time to eat.’

‘Your majesty,’ my sister looked at the Queen, ‘I’d like to ask you to allow this man and his family to stay inside the castle until they recover. Aleron and I will cover all costs. They need just a simple room.’

‘They can stay,’ the Queen said nicely, ‘you don’t have to cover their costs.’

‘I’m working hard,’ the man said, ‘I’ll pay for everything.’

‘What is your job?’ Velina asked, but I assumed that she knew.

‘I’m a carver, hm, your majesty,’ he said.

‘I’ll give you a room,’ the Queen said to the man, ‘Velina, please walk them to the western corridor.’

The newborn baby drank the tea and fell asleep, Alana gave him back to his father and bowed to the Queen.

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ my sister smiled.

Velina walked out with the man and the baby, they were followed by two guards and my sister. The Prince didn’t say a word after my sister overrode him, but he visibly admired her.

‘She would have been a wonderful Queen,’ Lady Mara broke the silence.

‘She can be very decisive,’ the Queen chuckled, ‘she overrode Veron,’ she said to Lord Adon with a laugh.

‘Indeed, she did so,’ the Prince smiled, ‘I haven’t seen her being so decisive before.’

‘You didn’t see her at the inn, your majesty,’ I said with a smile.

‘She will be a wonderful wife of a lucky noble,’ Lady Mara said again.

‘I know a very nice boy,’ Lord Adon said, ‘I will introduce him to Alana.’

‘She is still wearing a green dress,’ the Prince said, ‘and it means that our engagement is valid.’

‘I think it is time to announce officially that your engagement has been called off,’ the Queen said seriously, ‘Thank you, Aleron.’

I bowed to the royal family and walked to the garden. The Prince started to become angry and the Queen didn’t want to share any further conversation with me.

My sister was in the garden in the servants’ rest area and she was playing with the board game. Based on everyone’s body language at the beginning everyone was looking at my sister strangely, but afterwards, with Maina’s support they played with her. It seemed that she was enjoying her time spent with them, but she didn’t win. The future Queen showed everyone how friendly and loveable she was. I was on duty, so I stayed in the Prince’s rest area, Velina and Shirela were talking on a bench.

‘Shirela, could you please tell me what happened after our departure?’ I asked curiously.

As Alana was not there, Shirela could share everything.

‘After your departure,’  Shirela said, ‘I took your advice and mentioned to your uncle, that If he asked the question he had wanted to ask for many years, I would not change the topic,’ she smiled, ‘I had nothing to lose, I was ready to die. Your uncle was surprised but he proposed to me and after two days we got married. I already knew that your uncle would have some kind of showdown with the tax collectors, but it was very interesting to see, how my decision made an impact on the future.’

‘You should have done more experiments to see how decisions influence the future,’ Velina said with a laugh.

‘I moved into your house and I knew that the swine would become very angry on his next visit when he realized that you had left.  I knew that he would find out that Alana was alive. I knew that if I told him you had left he would stab me immediately.’

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘Shiveron was waiting for them and told the citizens to pay the correct amount of taxes instead of the high one. When the swine arrived, he was looking for you, and I told him that you had left the city. He got off his horse and tried to stab me, but your uncle’s dagger deflected his sword and my leg got scratched. Your uncle unarmed them in a couple of minutes and took their cloaks off and bound them. He said that they had not deserved the cloaks with the royal coat of arms and next day after capturing them we left the city.’

‘How did you sleep?’ I asked.

‘With a sleeping potion,’ Shirela smiled, ‘the swine’s team came on foot and slept in stables. Alana’s sleeping potion knocked them out so much that they were able to sleep seated and cuffed. Our journey took longer than yours, but we are here now.’

‘Alana left the herbs for our uncle,’ I said, Shirela laughed.

‘Shiveron is sleeping well,’ she laughed, ‘He asked Alana regularly for a potion because if he had requested it only once Alana would have become suspicious.’

‘You have concealed many things from me,’ I said.

‘I told you what you needed to know,’ she said seriously.

‘Where is my uncle?’ I asked.

‘He left me a few days ago, so I don’t know,’ Shirela said.

‘Have you not predicted where he would be?’ I asked.

‘The whole capital is already hidden,’ Shirela said, ‘the tree of fate covered the whole capital. As soon as I entered the gate, I was not able to predict anything. I know, the southern fortune tellers are experiencing the same.’

‘The tree is protecting Aleron’s past and future,’ Velina said, Shirela nodded in agreement.

‘Is something wrong?’ Shirela asked indicating Alana with her head.

‘No,’ I said, ‘you know Alana, she was always a friendly person.’

The Prince came out to play, everyone bowed to him, but he noticed the apple green dress in the distance.

‘Who wants to play with me?’ the Prince asked around, Baron and Foren stood up immediately as did the girl, who wanted to be Baron’s wife.

I didn’t move, I didn’t want to spend more time with the Prince than needed. The Prince didn’t stay in his usual place, he stood on the other side of the table, in order to see my sister. He lost the game badly; he was watching Alana all the time and he had no idea who put what onto the table.

Baron and Foren noticed the distance between Alana and the Prince, but they didn’t say a word.

‘I need to talk to her,’ the Prince said suddenly at the end of the game and started to walk towards my sister. Velina and I followed him quickly.

‘You gave your word,’ I said.

‘I gave my word not to visit her in the library and in her apartment,’ he said, ‘I didn’t give my word not to visit her in the garden.’

My sister noticed that the Prince was approaching her, so she stopped the game and hurried back into the castle while people bowed to her. The Prince stopped halfway.

‘She thinks that I hate her, doesn’t she?’ the Prince asked us.

‘You excluded her from your life in one day and you sent her out of the castle,’ Velina said, ‘how could she understand that? Either you simply hate her, or you went crazy, neither of them is good,’ she laughed.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince turned to me, ‘I need to talk to her; she must hear me out.’

‘No, your majesty,’ I said decisively, ‘I’m just making sure that you won’t be poisoned by her,’ I tried to stay serious, ‘You said, that she was a traitor.’

Velina laughed, the Prince looked at me resentfully.

‘I am beginning to think that the prophecy is about you,’ the Prince said before he walked back to Foren.

13.

The following days and weeks were quiet. Alana avoided the Prince and taught the children in the library. Once a week we rode out to the inn together. The Prince wanted to send additional guards with me, but I thanked him and didn’t accept his offer. My sister spent her nights in our apartment, but sometimes I heard her crying, when I was in my room.

Apart from her students and Maina and me, she hadn’t met with anyone, but she visited the carver’s family every day. She spent much more time with her herbs than usual and probably she had read every book in the library. In the mornings the Prince was not focused on the sword contests and during the daytime he mostly spent his time walking up and down throughout the castle. He visibly missed my sister. The carver’s wife arrived with a carriage, Lord Adon’s guard took care of her during the journey.

‘How is the carver’s baby?’ I asked my sister during dinner one day.

‘He looks much better,’ Alana smiled, ‘his mother’s breastmilk helps him to put weight on, and he is barely coughing. I’m taking care of the family together with Lord Adon.’

‘Did you find out what was wrong with them?’ I asked.

‘When Lord Adon’s guard returned he was coughing as well, Lord Adon said that probably the building materials of their house were harmful to their health. He said, that he heard that about the buildings built in the west.’

‘What will happen with the family?’ I asked.

‘Yesterday Velina found a house for them close to Doran. As soon as they recover, they will move in there. Since yesterday they have been able to walk in the garden, you might meet them,’ she said, ‘Today I was summoned by the Queen,’ she said suddenly.

‘Why?’ I asked.

‘She offered me the option of treating people inside the castle instead of the inn,’ she said, ‘but I didn’t accept it. She didn’t offer this when I had a courtship with the Prince, now accepting this offer would be even less appropriate. I don’t even know why she hasn’t announced the end of our engagement yet.’

‘Maybe because of the invaders,’ I said.

‘Maybe,’ she said.

‘Have you met with Prince Veron?’ I asked curiously.

‘He keeps his word and since I haven’t been in the garden, I haven’t met him,’ she said, but I saw on her face that she wished it was different.

After dinner Alana was reading a book on our sofa, I visited Velina. Our relationship worked well, no one stared at us anymore.

‘I heard that you helped the carver to find a new home,’ I said to her while she was snuggling up to me at night.

‘It was Veron,’ she smiled, ‘he said that he didn’t want Alana to know about it, as she would not believe him. They will receive an empty house that was kept for the guards. Veron admires your sister and he was impressed that Alana had overridden him,’ she laughed.

‘He cannot really admire her as he accused her of poisoning him,’ I said sceptically.

‘He was angry because of the attacks and the prophecy but believe me, he is in love with your sister and he is suffering,’ Velina said, ‘he knows that Alana would never poison him, but he didn’t think and overreacted again, as he always does.’

‘He is not even looking for my sister,’ I said, ‘if he was in love, he would do that.’

‘He gave his word and Alana leaves the library only to visit the baby,’ Velina said, ‘she always visits the baby during your morning exercise or during Veron’s lunchbreak. Veron always knows where she is, he gave an order to the guards to keep an eye on her.’

‘Why is your mother not announcing that their engagement is over?’ I asked, ‘although I said to Alana that I doubt that the attackers would care.’

‘Veron asked her not to do that,’ Velina smiled, ‘and my brother needs to spend every meal with my mother, Lady Mara and Lord Adon in exchange. He has to listen to them criticizing his behaviour during every meal.’

‘Was it also your brother’s idea to give my sister the option of inviting people here instead of the inn?’ – I asked, she nodded with a smile.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘it would be safer for her and half of the city guards wouldn’t have to patrol around the inn when you are there.’

‘I have seen them,’ I said, ‘they said to me that they need to be around because of the crowd.’

‘They need to be around because Veron gave them an order,’ she chuckled.

‘Alana is heartbroken,’ I admitted, ‘she doesn’t say a word about it, but I know her.

‘Maybe they should talk,’ Velina said, ‘Veron is suffering and he is very jealous. He is afraid, that Alana will fall in love with someone at the inn.’

‘My sister is not that type of person,’ I laughed, ‘but your brother deserves to suffer because of jealousy.’

‘He knows that all the criticism he receives during the meals is valid but that doesn’t diminish his jealousy. Sometimes I feel sorry for him because of the way they torture him,’ she laughed.

‘What does your mother think?’ I asked.

‘She genuinely likes your sister, but she understands that Alana doesn’t want to talk to Veron,’ she said, ‘In my opinion she is waiting for some kind of miracle. She is cheering for them and that’s why she is not announcing yet that their engagement has been called off. Probably it would even help, if they exchanged a few words with each other.’

I sighed; this miracle would depend on us.

‘Tomorrow after lunch we will be in the private room to exercise,’ I said, ‘but officially I haven’t told you anything.’

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ Velina snuggled up against me, ‘I love you.’

‘I think I love you too,’ I smiled.

‘It means a lot to me that you think that,’ she laughed.

My sister had already gained her strength back, our exercises were challenging again, but I had improved more in the capital than she had. We had just finished our exercise in the private room when Velina and the Prince opened the door.

‘Excuse me,’ the Prince said, ‘I thought that the room was empty.’

‘It is empty, your majesty,’ my sister said after a bow, ‘We have already finished.’

‘I’m happy to stay and exercise with you, your majesty,’ I said, ‘Alana, are you staying? I think it will be worth watching,’ I smiled.

‘I’ll stay,’ my sister said and sat down on the ground next to Velina.

It was a quick contest, I let the Prince win.

‘Aleron,’ my sister said, ‘you cannot be serious, that was all, and you simply just lost?’

‘His majesty has improved a lot recently,’ I said, ‘you wouldn’t have stood a chance.’

‘We will see about that,’ my sister said angrily and quickly stood up.

The Prince thanked me with a nod, I sat down next to Velina. I knew that my sister would react strongly after my contest with the Prince, she was always proud of her sword using knowledge.

‘If I win, you will have dinner with me,’ the Prince said, while they were walking around each other.

‘I’m sorry, your majesty,’ my sister said, ‘I’m not a betting type of person.’

Alana had just intended to attack, when the Prince threw away his sword.

‘Alana, please forgive me,’ he said, ‘I heard a rumour and I got confused.’

‘What did you hear?’ my sister put her swords down, ‘did I cheat on you with six guards?’

‘That you wanted to poison me,’ the Prince said honestly, but avoiding the truth a little.

‘And you believed it,’ my sister threw one of her wooden swords at the Prince with anger, ‘you must love me very much,’ she said sarcastically, ‘Aleron would never believe this. By the way, I could poison you in at least eight ways. Why do you think that tomorrow I won’t do that?’ Alana asked angrily.

‘Because you love me,’ the Prince said gently, ‘and I’ve been going crazy since you stopped sleeping next to me. I love you and I miss you.’

‘How could you believe such a rumour?’ my sister asked, ‘that is why you didn’t accept the cake or tea. You weren’t even spending a lot of time working, were you?’ the Prince shook his head, ‘You didn’t want me to sleep in your apartment in case I stabbed you. Just saying that I could do that without a problem. If I woke you up during the night again, what would you think? That I wanted to kill you?’

‘Please,’ the Prince asked, ‘just have dinner with me.’

‘No, Veron,’ my sister said, ‘your reaction to some kind of rumour shows what you really think of me. Probably you thought that I was deceiving you and I would poison you. I thought that you were smarter than that Veron, and I’m not even mentioning your feelings. I’m sorry Veron.’

My sister put her dress on and left the room handing her remaining sword over to me.

‘At least she talked to me,’ the Prince smiled.

‘Well,’ Velina laughed, ‘Different people have different ideas about what constitutes success.’

‘You should come over for dinner,’ I invited them, ‘if you are there, she will have to talk to you.’

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ the Prince said, ‘We will be there.’

In the afternoon Alana hid herself in the library, I remembered our childhood, when she stayed within the walls all the time. The Prince was looking forward to the dinner, until then he was riding outside the castle with his personal guards without any real purpose.  When I walked back to our apartment, Maina had just brought dinner for my sister who was wearing a blue dress and reading a book on the sofa.

‘Are you going to join us?’ Alana asked Maina, while I was washing my hands.

‘No, Alana,’ she said, ‘I’m going for a walk.’

‘Good,’ Alana smiled, ‘you deserve it.’

‘Now, that everyone’s future is hidden, he decided to ask me out,’ Maina said not mentioning any name because of me.

‘He shouldn’t have hesitated at all,’ my sister smiled, ‘the important thing is, that he finally asked you out.’

‘Yes,’ Maina smiled, ‘wish me luck.’

‘I’ll do that,’ my sister said.

Maina left us, I put one more place setting on the third side of the table.

‘Is Velina joining us?’ Alana asked me.

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘she is coming soon. She is not bothered that our meal is not from the royal kitchen, but it might be best if you got it from there.’

‘I asked Maina to tell them not to send me anything, as my students are providing me with enough food. We both know that accepting anything from the royal kitchen is not seemly.’

‘Does Maina have a suitor?’ I asked with curiosity.

‘It is just a walk so far, but we will see,’ my sister smiled.

Someone knocked on the door, I opened it, Velina and Prince Veron stood in front of me.

‘I brought my brother with me; I hope that it is not a problem,’ Velina said with a smile.

‘Of course not, your majesty,’ Alana bowed and answered according to the rules of etiquette.

‘You are not wearing a green dress,’ the Prince said looking visibly sad.

‘In my apartment no one sees me,’ my sister said, ‘and we both know that I wear it only to keep up the pretence.’

‘Let’s eat,’ Velina said, I put down one more place setting.

The girls sat in front of each other, the Prince sat next to Alana, just like at the board game many months ago.

‘Did your mother say anything about you eating here?’ I asked in order to start the conversation.

‘No,’ Velina said, ‘but I just sent her a note,’ she smiled.

‘At least I don’t have to listen to them,’ the Prince said, ‘during the meal I I'd rather be slapped again than listening their criticism.’

‘Did the Queen slap you?’ Alana asked surprised.

‘Yes, my precious,’ the Prince said, ‘I mean, Alana,’ he corrected himself.

‘Your slap hurt me more than my mother’s, Aleron,’ the Prince continued.

‘Which one?’ I asked with a smile.

‘The first one,’ he said.

‘How many times did you slap him?’ Velina asked me with a smile.

‘Twice,’ I said.

‘Well done, Aleron,’ my sister smiled.

For a while we ate without talking but the Prince broke the silence.

‘How is the carver and his family?’ the Prince looked at my sister and asked naturally.

Alana looked at the Prince surprised; she didn’t expect such an attentive question from him.

‘Very well, thank you. The baby is putting on weight and he is completely healthy,’ my sister smiled, ‘I released them this morning from the castle and Lord Adon agreed with me. I asked Doran to help them to move, so tonight they will already be sleeping in their new home. Velina was kind and she recommended Kalvan as a carver to a couple of families and he has already got a job.’

‘I’m glad,’ the Prince said.

‘It is very kind of you to help them,’ I said to Velina, but her smile indicated to me that it was not her.

‘It’s the least I can do,’ Velina smiled.

We ate again without a word, my sister stood up and went to her bedroom. She came back with a handful of shredded herbs and sprinkled them onto the Prince’s meal. The Prince glanced at her for a second and he continued eating. Alana used to season my meal this way, I was not sure whether the Prince knew this habit of hers.

‘Do you know, that there are poisons, which do not work immediately, only after some days?’ my sister asked suddenly, ‘The poison can barely be recognized. If I were you, I would eat carefully, your majesty,’ she glanced at the Prince.

‘What do you know about the poison which was applied to the swords and used against you?’ the Prince asked my sister.

‘It is very expensive,’ Alana said, ‘I have never sold any poisons or antidotes, but the poison for weapons is costly and only a few people can make it. That’s what my mother said.’

‘Are you able to make it?’ the Prince asked.

‘You can smell my swords,’ Alana said, ‘or my ampoules, your majesty,’ she visibly felt offended by this assumption.

‘I’m not suspecting you of anything, my precious,’ the Prince said apologetically, ‘I mean, Alana.’

‘You can ask Lord Adon,’ my sister said, ‘He should know who has this knowledge in the capital, I’m not a local person. Are you not thirsty?’ my sister asked the Prince, ‘You haven’t had tea yet.’

‘I’m going to have some now, thank you,’ the Prince said and poured tea for himself.

My sister stood up again but now she came back with three ampoules, and she drank one of them.

‘Drink this,’ Alana handed the ampoules over to Velina and to me, the Prince was eating silently.

‘Alana,’ the Prince looked at my sister, ‘I know that you didn’t poison me, it doesn’t matter what you are handing out.’

‘Are you sure?’ Alana asked, ‘you thought about poisoning a couple of days ago when you were offered a piece of cake.’

‘Because I was stupid,’ the Prince said, ‘and I’m genuinely sorry.’

Alana stood up again and brought a cup of tea to the Prince. The strong bad smell of the tea pervaded the apartment.

‘Drink this,’ Alana gave the cup to the Prince, who drank all of it at once.

‘That was horrible and very smelly,’ the Prince smiled, ‘what was it?’

‘Maybe a poison,’ my sister said, I gently touched her arm.

‘Alana,’ I said, ‘it is enough. What was it?’

‘A simple herbal tea for indigestion,’ my sister said seriously.

Alana sat down and continued her meal, the rest of us had already finished.

‘The dinner was delicious,’ the Prince said.

‘Alana is very good at adding seasoning,’ I smiled.

‘Alana, please come with me for a walk tomorrow,’ the Prince said suddenly looking at my sister, ‘I’m asking just for a walk, nothing else. You haven’t left the library for many weeks.’

‘Are you spying on me?’ my sister asked him.

‘Just a little,’ the Prince smiled, ‘please, just a walk. I’m not asking for anything else, only to hear me out.’

‘I’ll think about it,’ Alana said, ‘you will get your answer tomorrow, after lunch.’

‘Thank you, that is enough for me,’ the Prince smiled, ‘Aleron, tomorrow we need to talk with Lord Adon. They are using lots of poison and someone is making it.’

‘Right, your majesty,’ I said, ‘we need to start somewhere.’

‘I should have thought about it earlier,’ the Prince said.

‘You have,’ Velina teased her brother, ‘but you thought of Alana.’

My sister smiled unwittingly; the Prince glanced at her lovingly although Alana did not notice.

‘Aleron, will you walk me back to my apartment?’ Velina asked as she stood up.

‘Yes, Velina,’ I said, ‘will you be okay?’ I looked at my sister who was collecting the plates.

‘Yes, I will be,’ my sister said, ‘you can go.’

‘I’ll be nearby with the guards,’ I said as I did every evening that I spent with Velina.

‘I know, Aleron, just go,’ she smiled.

The Prince didn’t say a word, but in my opinion, he wished to stay. We left the apartment, Prince Veron turned back at the door.

‘Sleep well, Alana,’ he bowed a little showing his respect towards my sister.

‘Good night, your majesty,’ my sister said and closed her door.

‘Here is the bell,’ the Prince said to the guards indicating the bell on the wall next to them, ‘in case of any problem, one of you ring it, the other one must protect the door. No other guards will come around, you can talk only to each other. If anything happens to her, you will be fired. Am I clear?’ he asked.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ one of the guards said.

We left the guards and walked along the corridor towards the apartments.

‘Do you know that you don’t have to repeat the same sentences every day?’ Velina teased her brother, ‘in the castle everyone knows your orders relating to Alana.’

‘I like to repeat myself,’ the Prince said.

‘I would be less worried if she slept in your apartment,’ I said, as we were walking along the corridor.

‘Me too, Aleron,’ he answered, ‘I hope that she will come with me for a walk tomorrow.’

‘You really trust your charm,’ Velina chuckled.

‘I managed to make her fall in love with me, I need to succeed with the walk,’ the Prince said, ‘I don’t want to give up on her.’

‘I believe you, your majesty,’ I said, ‘that would hurt you more than any of the slaps.’

Next day, after the morning exercise the three of us visited the Queen. The Queen was knitting, Lady Mara was drawing her dog, Lord Adon was reading something. Only two guards were in the room, Brenbar and one of Lord Adon’s guards.

‘Veron, Velina, Aleron,’ the Queen said, ‘we didn’t expect any of you. Is your fiancée all right?’ she asked the Prince.

‘Which one? Edria, the future one or Alana, the current one?’ Lady Mara laughed, ‘Adon,’ she turned to her husband, ‘did you introduce Alana to that young gentleman?’

‘I’m planning to do that tomorrow,’ Lord Adon said.

They were still punishing the Prince, it would probably last until Alana forgave him.

‘I’m never going to get engaged with Edria,’ the Prince said, ‘I have told you a couple of times. I’d like to ask you about the poisons, Lord Adon.’

‘Veron,’ he said, ‘Alana will never poison you.’

‘The poison on the swords that was used against Alana,’ the Prince said, ‘is it very expensive?’

‘Finally, a meaningful question,’ the man smiled, ‘yes, it is, and it is very rare.’

‘Are you able to make it?’ Velina asked.

‘Yes,’ the Lord said, ‘just like Alana.’

‘I’d like to have a list of the people who are able to make it,’ the Prince said.

‘It will not be a long list,’ the Lord said, ‘apart from Alana and me, only two people can make it in the capital. Even if they had an apprentice, they would make Alana’s poison themselves as it takes years to learn it properly and you need to know herbs. I’m not aware of anyone else in the capital.’

‘How many people know about the herbs across Rodon?’ I asked.

‘Not many,’ the Lord said, ‘not more than one person in each province or even less.’

‘Does Alana know everything that you know?’ Velina asked Lord Adon.

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘her mother found some native indigenous plants in the south and I don’t know as much about these herbs as Alana and her mother. One of these herbs from the south cured Kalvan’s family, my herbs gave only symptomatic treatment in previous years to similar infections in the west. I would have never thought that a herb from the south would be needed for a western sickness. Generally everything that I know she does too, but I have more experience and she has a bigger selection. I’ll ask her to show me her herbs from the south,’ the Lord said.

‘It is a good idea,’ his wife answered, ‘she must be in the library.’

‘In the afternoon she will come with me for a walk,’ the Prince said confidently, ‘you won’t need to introduce her to that young gentleman anymore.’

‘We will see about that,’ the Queen said.

‘Can we talk about my topic?’ the Prince asked, ‘Can I have the list?’

Lord Adon wrote down the names and handed the paper over to the Prince.

‘You must be very careful,’ the Lord said, ‘you don’t know anything about poisons and sometimes even touching them can be fatal. Veron, be very careful.’

‘I will be, Lord Adon,’ the Prince said seriously.

The three of us bowed and left the room.

‘You should take Alana with you,’ Velina said, ‘she knows about poisons and she can use a sword as well.’

‘We should,’ I said, ‘but it is too risky.’

‘We will take her,’ the Prince said, ‘I’ll give her a uniform and in her wig she won’t be conspicuous.’

‘Before you execute this plan you need to succeed this afternoon,’ Velina said.

‘I know,’ the Prince sighed.

‘When are you planning to leave, your majesty?’ I asked.

‘After dinner,’ he said, ‘they would not expect us that time. Let’s see whether our fathers are following us or not. This plan is really not known by anyone,’ he said.

‘No, it isn’t,’ I said.

After lunch, my sister changed her dress and put on a green one and sat down on the sofa. On the table only a single flower stood in the vase, she must have received it this morning.  A pleasant scent surrounded her, probably she was waiting for the Prince.

‘It seems to me that you’ll go for a walk,’ I said with a smile.

‘Do you think that it is a good idea?’ she asked.

‘I think he has suffered enough,’ I smiled, ‘or rather both of you have suffered enough. What was on the note attached to the flower?’

‘That he is hoping that I’ll go for a walk,’ she said.

‘You can go,’ I said, ‘Hearing him out does not oblige you to do anything.’

‘I thought the same,’ she said.

The Prince knocked on the door with a single flower in his hand.

‘Your majesty,’ Alana bowed.

‘This is for you,’ the Prince said and handed the flower over, ‘Will you honour me with a walk?’

‘Please wait here, your majesty,’ Alana said and took the flower to put it into the vase.

The Prince waited in the corridor without a word.

‘We can go,’ my sister said with a smile and closed the door behind her.

I hurried to Velina to go with her out in the garden as we were curious about this walk, just like many other people. My sister and the Prince were walking arm in arm on the well-kept road and they were talking quietly. When someone passed them, they accepted the bow with a smile. Surprisingly lots of people rested on the lawns and everyone was watching the walking couple. On our lawn every companion was there with Shirela and councillor Totun, some of the people I didn’t even know.

‘Aleron, what has happened between them?’ Baron asked me and nodded his head towards the couple.

‘My brother heard a rumour that Alana is going to poison him, and he believed it,’ Velina said, ‘He sent her away from the castle, but he realized that he had made a mistake.’

‘Velina and I helped them, because they had suffered enough,’ I said, ‘The Queen was torturing her son as well,’ I chuckled.

‘Alana would never hurt him,’ Baron said.

‘He knows it, but he got scared,’ Velina said, ‘and overreacted as usual.’

‘Tonight, we are going somewhere,’ I said to Baron and Foren, ‘please be prepared for a ride, but his majesty will share the details with you later.’

‘I hope that your brother will appreciate and know how much Alana loves him if she forgives him,’ Shirela stepped up to us, ‘Shiveron would have clipped him around his ears even though he is the heir to the throne.’

‘My mother did so,’ Velina smiled.

‘I know,’ Shirela smiled.

‘So, you know the whole story,’ I said.

‘Some parts are blurred because of you,’ she smiled, ‘but yes, I saw their past.’

Everyone was watching the walking couple, the Queen stood on her balcony to watch them. The Prince was not in a rush, mostly he was talking to make my sister smile sometimes.

‘The private life of the royal family is always very interesting,’ the Princess smiled.

‘What is he saying?’ I asked Velina, ‘is he apologizing repeatedly throughout the walk?’

‘No,’ Velina said, ‘that would be too artificial, and your sister is smarter than that. Veron is telling her everything what he would have shared with her usually, like his horse has a new foal which is as black as his father,’ She laughed.

‘Quite a weak plan,’ I said.

‘Do you think so?’ Velina smiled, ‘at the beginning your sister will smile and laugh and after that Veron can apologize adequately and they will be together again. Their love must overcome your sister's anger and laughter is the best solution for that. That is Veron’s plan.’

‘I think it will work,’ Baron smiled, Shirela nodded in agreement.

The couple turned round and they walked back towards the castle, but still nothing happened. They walked arm in arm just like many months ago at the beginning of their courtship, but sometimes my sister chuckled just like on their first dance evening. The Prince was closer and closer to forgiveness with every step.

The walk took quite long, it was almost sunset.

‘What is delaying your brother about?’ I asked Velina, ‘Alana has already laughed many times and she is visibly waiting for your brother’s apology. She has already forgiven him. Your brother should just kiss her and that’s it. Look around, everyone is waiting for that.’

I looked around, even the gardeners were stealthily paying attention to the couple paid, everyone on the lawns openly stared at them.

‘You are more nervous than Veron,’ the Princess teased me, ‘He will know when the time is right.’

‘It is about my sister’s happiness,’ I said, ‘I don’t want your brother to miss the opportunity.’

‘He won’t,’ Velina smiled and pointed at the couple.

The Prince stopped in a prominent place in the garden and kneeled down again in front of my sister.

‘Did you know what he was planning to say to her?’ I asked Velina.

‘I did,’ she smiled, ‘My precious,’ she imitated her brother’s voice, ‘please honour me with your forgiveness and be my fiancée again. I promise that I will never let you down ever again,’ she chuckled, ‘Veron knows perfectly well that Alana would never humiliate him with a rejection in front of so many people. That is the reason why almost everyone in the castle had heard about this walk.’

‘Did your brother spread the news throughout the castle?’ I asked surprised.

‘Prince Veron is an excellent strategist,’ Baron smiled, ‘he wanted to be sure.’

‘Exactly,’ Velina smiled.

After the Prince’s question my sister nodded and finally, they kissed each other. The Queen covered her mouth with her hand for a moment and afterwards applauded the couple on the balcony, so did everyone in the garden. The Prince put his arm round my sister’s waist and gently patted her bottom while they were walking towards us.  Alana smiled at the Prince; she had forgiven him everything.

‘It is good to see you again, your majesty,’ Baron bowed to my sister.

‘You too, Baron,’ my sister smiled.

‘Are we having dinner together, my precious?’ the Prince asked my sister.

‘Yes Veron,’ my sister said.

The Prince took my sister's hand to raise it to his mouth to give her a kiss on her fingers.

‘When are we leaving your majesty?’ I asked, I didn’t want the couple to forget their plans for this evening.

‘Tonight, we are riding out after dinner,’ the Prince said and turned to Baron and Foren, ‘you, Aleron, Alana and I will ride out tonight after dinner. I want prepared horses, but please give my fiancée and Aleron two fast horses from the royal stable.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ Foren said.

The Prince and my sister dined in the Prince’s apartment, but probably they didn’t spend much of their time eating. When Alana came out of the apartment she looked as if she were already on a journey. She wore my old trousers and shirt and she covered it with her loose green dress. Her wig was in her hand and I carried her swords. We met Baron and Foren in the stable as agreed.

‘Foren,’ the Prince said in the stable, ‘You mustn’t share with anyone what you’ll see now. No one can know about it, not even my mother.’

‘I understand, your majesty,’ Foren said.

Alana put the wig on and put her swords into the sheaths on her belt as she routinely did. The Prince gave his fiancée a small cloak with the royal coat of arms. She couldn’t be recognized, she looked like a short thin guard.

‘Now I understand why I must carry the short swords,’ Foren chuckled, ‘and now it makes sense how you survived the attack, your majesty,’ Foren said to my sister.

‘Yes, Foren,’ the Prince said and sat on his horse.

The Prince rode in front of us on his black stallion, Alana and I had received two young horses instead of ours, Baron and Foren rode behind us. At the first address, an old lady opened the door when we knocked.

‘Your majesty,’ The woman said surprised, ‘How can I help you?’

‘I’m sorry to bother you,’ the Prince said, ‘we are looking for a vital antidote and from what I heard you can help.’

‘Of course, your majesty,’ the old lady said, ‘please come in.’

It was dark inside the small house and there were no herbs. Alana looked around; I saw from the expression on her face that she was looking for something.

‘I’m not making antidotes anymore, your majesty,’ she said, ‘but I have some in stock.’

She took out a box with a lot of ampoules with colourful liquids. Alana indicated an ampoule with blue liquid without a word, the Prince took it.

‘Thank you and I’m sorry for waking you up,’ the Prince said.

‘Thank you for all your efforts,’ Baron said to the woman and handed some coins over.

We left the house, the Prince waited for everyone next to his stallion.

‘It is not her,’ Alana said, ‘the poison needs to be cooked and a distillate is required. You need equipment and space to make this poison. I haven’t seen any sign of any equipment. This antidote is for snakes,’ she showed the blue liquid in the Prince hand, ‘and probably it is old.’

‘How do you know?’ the Prince asked.

‘From its colour,’ my sister smiled, ‘I had time to learn all about potions and poisons inside our house in the south.’

‘Did you recognize all the ampoules?’ the Prince was still impressed by my sister.

‘Yes, Veron,’ she smiled, ‘we should move on.’

‘Let’s go,’ the Prince ordered.

We found the next house easily, which was at the end of a cul-de-sac. There was no sign of candlelight and we could detect a mixture of strange smells from afar. We left the horses at the beginning of the street and we walked to the house carefully.

‘Don’t touch anything,’ Alana said decisively and put her gloves on which she used to take care of some of her herbs.

‘We are going in,’ the Prince said.

The house was dark inside, but we didn’t touch anything, Alana lit some candles on the wall in her gloves. The house had only two rooms apart from this one.

‘What is this?’ Baron indicated the floor.

The floor was covered with a sticky and creamy substance, my boots stuck to it.

‘The house is full of different poisons,’ Alana said.

The three of us went to see the other rooms, Alana and Foren stayed in the first room and my sister checked the vessels. One room was a bedroom with an offensive smell, the other one was a laboratory, but the house was empty.

‘The house is abandoned,’ the Prince said, ‘but it’s not long since they left.’

‘No,’ Alana said, ‘they made some potions today.’

‘They found out that we were coming, they covered the floor with this substance and left,’ Baron said, ‘someone notified them.’

‘We haven’t told anyone our plan,’ the Prince said, ‘neither you nor Alana knew the details.’

We left the house, Alana dumped something onto the floor.

‘In case a child goes inside accidentally,’ she explained to us, ‘he will not be harmed from now on.’

‘That is how a woman who knows about poisons talks,’ the Prince teased her, ‘let’s go,’ he said.

Alana put some powder on our boots after cleaning them with rugs. Foren burned the rugs before our departure. We rode back to the stable, my sister put her green dress on and took her wig off. She gave me her swords and she walked back with Baron and Foren to the castle. Only the Prince and I stayed in the stable, the Prince fed his horse with some carrots.

‘I don’t like this, Aleron,’ he said, ‘only you, Velina and me knew about the plan tonight.’

‘No, your majesty,’ I said, ‘her majesty, the Queen knew about it too.’

‘I need to think,’ the Prince said.

The Prince went to his apartment, I went back to mine. Alana was not in our apartment, but I didn’t even expect her to be here. It was very late, I didn’t visit Velina.

NEXT MORNING, I WAS already in the courtyard with the rest of the guards and Velina was sitting on the balcony, when the Prince and his fiancée arrived visibly sleepy. My sister joined Velina on the balcony, the Prince lost every one of his contests.

‘I’m sorry,’ he smiled, ‘I didn’t sleep much.’

‘No problem, your majesty,’ I said.

Alana left the balcony and stepped up to the Prince, who put his arm round her waist.

‘Foren,’ the Prince said, ‘with her majesty, my fiancée, we have decided that we will hire a teacher. Until the teacher arrives, Alana is teaching, but I’d like my fiancée to have more time for other responsibilities.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ Foren said, ‘I’ll take the appropriate steps.’

‘Thank you, Foren,’ the Prince said.

‘Will the new teacher teach in the library as well?’ Velina joined us and asked.

‘No,’ her brother said, ‘The library will be kept as Alana’s private library and the children require a more brightly lit room anyway.’

‘I will find an unused room for them until the new teacher arrives,’ my sister said.

‘All right, your majesty,’ Baron said.

The Prince and my sister left us, Velina was just smiling.

‘I think they barely slept,’ she chuckled, ‘I was waiting for you yesterday.’

‘I’m sorry, we arrived very late, I didn’t want to bother you,’ I said.

We walked arm in arm towards the castle, as always since the beginning of our courtship.

‘Aleron,’ Velina said, ‘theoretically you should come up with this topic, but our courtship cannot be called a conventional relationship, so I thought that I would mention it.’

‘What topic, Velina?’ I asked.

‘We could give up our apartments and move into a new one together, which has a lobby,’ She said.

‘Like your brother’s apartment?’ I asked, she nodded.

‘What do you think?’ she asked me.

‘Interesting idea,’ I said, ‘do I have to propose to you to get this?’

‘No,’ she said, ‘we simply would have a joint apartment.’

‘Let’s try it,’ I smiled, ‘if it doesn’t work, I will move back to my current apartment.’

‘Thank you, Aleron,’ she smiled.

I went to my apartment to wash and change. Maina knocked on my door.

‘Maina,’ I said, ‘how can I help you?’

‘His majesty is asking you to visit him when you have changed.’

‘Is my sister there?’ I asked, she nodded.

‘I’m on my way,’ I said.

I changed and walked to the Prince’s apartment, I hoped that I was not going at the wrong time. My sister was eating her breakfast in the lobby, the Prince was about to finish getting dressed.

‘You summoned me, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Yes, Aleron, I did,’ he said, ‘I’ll be ready in a couple of seconds and we can go.’

‘Will you be okay, my precious?’ the Prince asked my sister.

‘Yes, Veron, I’m going to the library,’ my sister smiled and stood up.

‘Will you move your belongings here?’ he asked gently.

‘My herbs need a permanent place, Veron,’ my sister said seriously.

‘I swear that you will never leave again,’ the Prince said.

‘After my lessons I will move my belongings back,’ my sister snuggled up to the Prince, ‘thank you for waking me up at dawn,’ she whispered.

‘Any time, my precious,’ he smiled, ‘are we practising together today?’ he asked Alana.

‘Of course, Veron,’ my sister smiled, ‘but it should be really a practice.’

‘It is always a practice,’ the Prince smiled.

The Prince kissed my sister, Velina was coughing loudly as she entered the room.

‘Veron,’ she said, ‘could you please stop it? We have a job to do.’

‘I’m going,’ my sister stepped away from the Prince and left the lobby with her books.

‘You should finish this constant dalliance,’ Velina said, ‘It drives me crazy.’

‘I don’t mind that,‘ he said, ‘and I love her. Let’s go, I want to surprise my mother.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘Apart from us only my mother knew about our plan yesterday.’

We walked to the Queen’s lobby, the three people had just arrived after their breakfast.

‘Mother,’ the Prince said after a bow towards Lord Adon, ‘how and why are you sending messages to our father?’

‘What do you mean, Veron?’ the Queen asked, ‘your father left around a year ago.’

‘He left, but you are somehow sending messages to him,’ the Prince said.

‘I have no idea what you are talking about, Veron,’ the Queen said.

‘What happened yesterday, Veron?’ Lord Adon asked the Prince.

‘Alana forgave me, you don’t have to introduce her to anyone,’ the Prince said proudly, Velina sighed.

‘I genuinely hope, that you appreciate how much this girl loves you,’ Lady Mara said.

‘I do appreciate it,’ the Prince said seriously.

‘Have you found something about the addresses I gave you?’ Lord Adon asked again.

‘We found the house of the poisoner, but it was vacated yesterday during the day,’ he said, ‘just right after that I had asked you for the addresses. Apart from the three of us only the three of you knew about our plan.’

‘I still don’t know what you are talking about,’ the Queen said, ‘I haven’t spoken with your father for a year.’

‘She really hasn’t done so,’ Velina said, ‘I cannot see anything suspicious what they did yesterday.’

‘Are you sure?’ her brother asked.

‘I’m sure,’ Velina said, ‘but I’m also sure that you lied to us, mother,’ she turned to the Queen.

‘Watch your mouth, Velina,’ the Queen said seriously, Brenbar raised his head in the corner.

‘Since the beginning you knew that Aleron had a twin sister and who their parents were,’ Velina continued calmly, ‘yet you lied.’

‘Did they know?’ the Prince was surprised.

‘Yes, they did,’ Velina said, ‘and I think they know Alana’s prophecy and that is why they are sure that she will be a traitor. I cannot actually see that they know, but I feel that I'm right.’

‘Do you know the prophecy?’ the Prince asked nervously.

‘No,’ the Queen answered too quickly.

’We do,’ Lord Adon said calmly, ‘I think Vina, they already know a lot, the twins will not die,’ he said to the Queen, who sighed.

‘So be it,’ the Queen said, ‘before your father left,’ she started to talk, ‘he asked me to invite the sword contest winners about a year after his departure as the twins would definitely be included in the guests. He asked me not to tell them anything about any prophecy to keep them safe from the insurgent group. Velina was right, we had known that you were twins since you were born,’ she said to me, ‘Amina and I were friends just like your fathers. When we heard Alana’s prophecy, all of us were shocked as the firstborn boy being a traitor seemed to be impossible. Alana’s birth was a surprise, no one expected twins. Amina wrote in her letter that Aleron had concealed her the whole time.’

‘It was true,’ the Lord said, ‘the midwife spotted Alana only after Aleron’s birth.’

‘You protected her even in the womb,’ Velina smiled at me, I nodded.

‘What is the exact prophecy?’ the Prince asked nervously.

‘The child you carry under your heart will sit on the throne wearing a crown and from that time prosperity and development will be brought to Rodon for many generations,’ the Queen said, ‘this prophecy is about Alana, but because a boy was predicted as a first-born child, your grandfather, Darion’s father thought that Aleron would knock you off the throne and he called Amina’s child a traitor immediately.’

‘I’m not surprised that you were called a traitor, Aleron,’ the Prince smiled, ‘if a baby boy had been born I would have thought the same.’

‘Many people believed the prophecy,’ the Queen said, ‘your fathers decided that Amina’s family must leave the capital and they told no one where they had moved. When Amina wrote me letters, I always received them, but I didn’t know where they came from. Apart from Darion and councillor Totun no one knew where they were.’

‘After your birth everything became clear,’ the Lord said, ‘the prophecy mentioned Alana as a future Queen.’

‘So, you knew, that she would be my wife,’ the Prince said happily.

‘We knew,’ the Queen smiled, ‘I was very curious about her and based on the letters I thought that she would suit you. I was right, you couldn’t say a word when you met her,’ she chuckled, ‘Amina taught her everything that she would have taught a future Queen.’

‘Why didn't you allow me to decide about getting married?’ the Prince asked.

‘Because you are smart enough to be suspicious if I hadn’t asked about this,’ the Queen smiled, ‘I did what a mother who didn’t know anything about the prophecy would have done.’

‘Why did you not tell me the whole prophecy last time?’ the Prince asked.

‘Because your father made me promise him that I would not say a word for the sake of the twins. Despite the fact that I kept my word, Alana almost died, and I didn’t want to risk any more,’ the Queen said, ‘and I didn’t expect you to go insane.’

‘Next time, I’ll think first,’ the Prince promised.

‘I’m sure you will,’ the Queen smiled.

‘Why have you told me about it now?’ the Prince turned to Lord Adon.

‘Because you already have enough information to keep the twins safe,’ the Lord said, ‘Darion can scold me upon his return,’ he laughed.

‘That’s why you said that I could get engaged to her,’ the Prince said visibly happy, ‘you knew that my father would approve of my proposal.’

‘I thought that the council would vote for you,’ the Lord said, ‘Edria’s father surprised me.’

‘You should have told me that Alana would be my wife,’ the Prince said, ‘If I had known that, I would have courted her differently.’

‘What you did in your former courtships can hardly be called courting,’ the Queen smiled, ‘Alana had to fell in love with you as well.’

‘She really loves me,’ the Prince said.

‘She was able to forgive you, so she must love you very much,’ the Queen said, ‘You are lucky that her mother is not with us.’

‘Why?’ Velina asked curiously, I just smiled.

‘Amina would have not stopped at one slap whether Veron is a Prince or not,’ the Queen said, ‘Amina always stood up for the children and based on her letters she did that especially for the twins.’

‘That is true,’ I said, ‘Alana resembles her in this.’

‘Just like you,’ the Lord smiled.

‘That’s why I never predicted any wife for you, Veron,’ Velina said, ‘Alana is as invisible to me as Aleron.’

‘Does Alana know that she will be my Queen?’ the Prince asked.

‘I doubt it,’ the Queen said, ‘her parents certainly did not tell her.’

‘She hasn’t heard anything from me either,’ I said, ‘if she had known that, based on the southern tax collectors’ behaviour, she would rather have left the country than be your wife, your majesty,’ I said, Velina laughed.

‘She doesn’t know anything,’ Velina said, ‘definitely no one has told her anything.’

‘That is great news,’ the Prince smiled, ‘but it does not explain what happened yesterday.’

‘We didn’t say a word to anyone,’ Lord Adon said.

‘I believe you,’ the Prince said, ‘but in that case, we need to find out what happened as someone notified the poisoner in advance.’

The Prince bowed towards Lord Adon, so did Velina. I bowed to everyone and left the room.

‘We need to discuss everything else in private,’ the Prince said.

‘What is your plan, Veron?’ Velina asked while we were walking along the corridor.

‘We need to catch the spy,’ he said, ‘I have no idea who it could be.’

‘Maybe a servant,’ I said.

‘Maybe,’ he said, ‘Aleron, we will use you and Alana as bait.’

‘I will not allow my sister’s life to be put at risk,’ I said.

‘I’m sorry, but they are hunting both of you, so you need to go together,’ he said.

‘I genuinely hope that your plan will work, your majesty,’ I said, ‘Alana cannot be hurt.’

‘She won’t,’ he said, ‘I’ll think of everything.’

14.

In the following days, the royal siblings and I met in a private room to help Prince Veron to think about the plan. We agreed that Alana was the most important for both of us, but he didn’t say anything concrete.

‘Your majesty,’ I said, ‘We have only been talking theoretically so far, you haven’t told me what to do to catch the spy. If you don’t tell me what you want me to do, we will be on our own with Alana after leaving the castle.’

‘I know,’ he said, ‘but apart from the two of you no one should know about your plan.’

‘If you tell your plan to Veron or anyone,’ Velina said, ‘it will not be visible in his past, but his past would show that he had changed his mind.’

‘I must talk to someone,’ I said, ‘We cannot live on the street.’

‘Whatever you do, you will have at least one day advantage,’ he said, ‘it is a lot. Please don’t forget that inside the castle there is a spy and outside the castle you are observed.’

‘Whoever you talk to or meet, I wouldn’t see that just like the other fortune tellers,’ Velina said, ‘but your decisions are influencing other people’s future, which could make the insurgent group suspicious.’

‘I have to admit that these fortune-teller rules are not easy to follow,’ I smiled.

‘Velina has already got used to explaining the details to me,’ the Prince smiled.

‘The point is,’ Velina said, ‘no one’s past will show that you’ve contacted them. You are able to disappear from the fortune tellers and from everyone.’

‘How will you protect Alana, if you don’t know anything about us?’ I asked him.

‘Trust me,’ the Prince smiled, ‘the city guards are working for me.’

‘Are you sure that we have to tell her?’ I asked, ‘She could stay safe here.’

‘I’m sure, Aleron,’ the Prince said, ‘you know that.’

‘I know,’ I sighed, ‘I will talk to her; we are leaving tonight.’

‘Good,’ he said.

Alana was still teaching, we were waiting for the new teacher, but my sister had already found a big bright room which was an unused lobby. In addition to teaching, she spent more and more time with the Queen to learn about all her future responsibilities.

When she had finished her lessons for today, we visited her in the library, the children had already left her.

‘My precious,’ the Prince gently kissed her, ‘you were sleeping when I left you.’

‘I slept very deeply,’ my sister said, ‘what are you doing here?’

‘We need to talk,’ I said.

‘Is something wrong, Aleron?’ she asked.

We wanted to tell her as little as possible, I had to think through every sentence.

‘We need to catch the people who are hunting us,’ I said, ‘we need to leave the castle, just the two of us.’

‘Otherwise, it will never end,’ she said, ‘if all of you think, that this is the best we can do, we will leave the castle. Where are we going?’

‘I will tell you, as soon as we are outside,’ I said, ‘because of the fortune tellers no one should know about our plans.’

‘When are we coming back?’ she asked.

‘As soon as we catch everyone,’ the Prince said, ‘I love you my precious, but we don’t have any other choice.’

‘I understand,’ my sister sighed, ‘I assume that we are leaving tonight.’

‘Yes, but you have to go as a woman,’ the Prince said, ‘I have made something for you, it is waiting for you on our sofa.’

‘Thank you, Veron,’ my sister smiled, ‘it is very kind of you.’

‘You need to leave tonight,’ the Prince said and kissed my sister’s hand.

‘I’ll go and pack then,’ Alana said, ‘please allow Lord Adon to take care of my herbs, I will leave them in our lobby.’

‘I’ll do that,’ the Prince said, ‘do you want me to help you with the packing?’

‘Yes, please,’ my sister smiled.

The Prince put his hand round my sister’s waist, I hoped that they would spend some time packing.

‘I have some spare time before tonight,’ Velina said, ‘we should pack too,’ she laughed.

‘That’s fine by me,’ I laughed.

We packed our few belongings and ate our early dinner before evening. My sister had received the gift of a blue velvet dress with breeches at the bottom. The belt on the dress was as thick as the length of her short swords and the sheaths were not visible. My sister could hide the swords easily in this belt. I had received a black outfit which was not visible in the dark at all.

‘Why is Alana’s dress not green?’ the Princess asked.

‘Because officially we are taking our hands off from the twins,’ the Prince said, ‘the green dress would make the attackers more careful.’

‘The spy knows that Alana is your betrothed,’ Velina said.

‘Yes, he knows,’ he said, ‘but in a green dress they would be less likely to attack Alana.’

‘I hope that your plans are sound, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ he said.

‘Let’s go,’ I said.

In the stable we saddled the two young mares from the royal stable and left the castle. It was already dark, I wore my casual outfit, Alana wore her blue dress with the thick belt on. The belt didn’t look pretty, but it was very practical. We made a huge circle in the capital and stopped in an abandoned alley.

‘Where are we going, Aleron?’ she asked me until we were waiting in the alley.

I was watching to see whether someone was following us, but I didn’t see anybody.

‘We will split up,’ I said.

I knew that Prince Veron and I disagreed on this, but I wanted my sister to be safe.

‘Did Veron agree with you?’ my sister asked.

‘Yes,’ I lied.

‘I’ll listen to you both then,’ she smiled.

No one followed us, I had doubts about the Prince’s plan, but we went to the inn where Alana had sold her herbs regularly. It was quite late, the inn was already empty, Puron and his mother were about to close the door. We got off our horses and I carried our bags inside. Alana started to talk with Puron next to a table, I went to the innkeeper, who had just put out the candles behind the bar.

‘Where should I go, if I need a safe place?’ I asked her.

‘I have a niece,’ she said, ‘Alana cured her son. You can hide at her place for a few days, I’ll notify her tomorrow.’

‘Alana needs to leave tonight,’ I said quietly, ‘and she needs to change her hideaway every day.’

‘I know a lot of people who are grateful to her,’ she said, ‘I can manage that.’

‘No one must know where she is,’ I said, ‘some of the royal guards cannot be trusted. Apart from me, you shouldn’t tell anyone where she is. Her horse needs to go back to the castle.’

‘What should I do, if something happens to you?’ she asked.

‘In that case you can trust Prince Veron,’ I said, ‘if he looks for her personally, you can reveal to him the whereabouts of my sister, but not to anyone else.’

‘We will keep our mouths shut,’ she said.

‘Thank you,’ I slipped a gold coin through the bar and she passed it back to me again.

‘Your sister will be a wonderful Queen,’ she smiled.

‘Nothing is as important as her safety,’ I said.

‘She will be safe,’ she said, ‘whatever you are up to, you don’t have to worry about her.’

‘Thank you.’

I wanted to mention Baron as a third person who could know about Alana’s whereabouts, but I was not sure that the innkeeper would recognize him.

‘Alana,’ I stepped up to my sister, ‘you must leave now.’

‘Be very careful, Aleron,’ she said to me and hugged me.

The woman said two names to her son, who nodded and opened the door for Alana, and they walked away. I hoped, that this wouldn’t be the last time I saw my sister.

‘Your previous room is empty,’ the woman said and went upstairs to her room.

I went to my room and laid my swords next to me. I fell asleep in my clothes quickly, but I was half awake waiting for the attackers. No one came into my room, no one was hunting for me.

Next morning, I went downstairs to have breakfast, Puron was cleaning the tables, his mother was preparing breakfast. The regulars arrived while I was having my breakfast, lots of people ate here. After breakfast, I went out on to the street in my casual outfit without my cloak, but no one was following me. I walked all day long in the city, I looked around at the market and I hoped that they would try to catch me soon. In the evening I went back to the inn, the regulars had dinner at some of the tables. I ordered my dinner and went upstairs to my room.

At dawn, I was woken up by a noise and touched my swords. I waited until my door was opened quietly. I jumped up; four men stood in front of me. They didn’t wear fake cloaks, they had simple trousers and shirts. Only two of them had poison on their weapons.

‘You sounded like a herd of animals,’ I said.

‘You really are alive,’ one of the men said, ‘leaving the castle was a mistake, because your life will end now.’

‘Where is your sister?’ another man asked while he was looking around the room.

‘You have too many questions,’ I said and attacked the men with poisoned weapons.

They attacked me at the same time, but luckily, I had exercised many times against more than one opponent, my father and my uncle trained Alana and me. I stabbed them one by one, they died immediately, but I wanted to keep the last person alive. When he alone remained, he tried to escape.

‘You are not going anywhere,’ I said and kicked his legs.

The man lay on the ground, I took his sword and quickly bound him.

‘You may talk,’ I said after I had placed him in a seated position, ‘what do you want?’

‘Your sister and you,’ he said, ‘there is a huge amount of blood money on your heads in the neighbouring country.’

‘Even alive?’ I asked.

‘Only if you are dead,’ he said.

‘Who is paying this money?’ I asked.

‘A man, called Morton,’ he said, ‘but I need to take a piece of evidence with me.’

‘Where do you need to take the evidence?’

‘Into the border forest,’ he said.

‘How did you know, that I’m here?’ I asked.

‘Someone spread the news across the camp in the forest that you have been walking in the market, so we took the chance and rode here. We recognized you and saw you entering this inn.’

‘So,’ I said, ‘You are going to wait for me, while I’ll change, and you are going to take me to the camp. I’ll testify to your heroism. If someone asks you about my sister, you must say that she is dead. Am I clear?’ I asked and I put my sword to his throat.

‘It is clear,’ he nodded, ‘but the fortune tellers will see by looking at my past that I didn’t see her.’

‘They won’t,’ I said.

The fortune tellers couldn’t see anything relating to us, tonight will be a mystery for everyone.

The border forest was so enormous, that I wouldn’t have had a chance of finding the camp by myself, I needed the man to lead me there. I put the man down on to Alana’s bed next to the wall and I changed into my black outfit. While I was changing, I stood between him and the door, so that he would not have any chance of escaping. I took his sword and put a dagger into his sheath, I left his sword on Alana’s bed.

Unfortunately, I didn’t have time to move the bodies outside the inn, I would pay the innkeeper after my return.

‘We can go,’ I said, ‘if you make any wrong move you will be dead.’

The man’s hands were bound, and he needed my help to sit on his horse which stood behind the inn. I sat up on my horse and put the end of the rope around my wrist. The man rode in front of me, in the dark I looked like his fugitive.

I was right, the border forest was really enormous. We rode on the trade route and at the side of the neighbouring country we rode into the forest. When I spotted the lights of a possible camp, I pulled the rope on our hands, the man stopped.

‘We will get off here,’ I said, ‘and you will lead me into the camp.’

We got off the horses, the man waited as I stepped up to him and put my arms around him. I hid my right hand with my sword and put a dagger to his hip.

‘Make every move very carefully,’ I said, he nodded.

We walked towards the camp which stood in a huge glade with two big tents and a couple of smaller military tents. The two big tents were guarded by four guards each with fake cloaks. Next to the beacon fires soldiers were walking with fake green-yellow cloaks. We passed a beacon fire, the guards let us go past without stopping us.

‘I caught him,’ The man said to one of the guards proudly.

As we were walking towards one of the tents, more and more people paid attention to us, many people came out of their tents and stared at me. The man stopped in front of one of the guarded tents and sent me in before him. I entered a huge military tent, where a man of our parents’ age was waiting for me.

The man was as tall as Prince Veron, but he was thin rather than masculine and based on his appearance I assumed that he was born in the middle of the country. He wore the same fake cloak which had been worn by Alana’s attackers.

In the tent many huge candlesticks provided light with a mirror, nothing showed me that it was the middle of the night.

On the other side of the tent, a folding cot stood with a small table. In the middle, next to the tent pillar a huge table stood with maps and chairs.

‘Well,’ the man smiled at me when he saw me.

His smile turned me cold.

‘I caught him, mister Morton,’ the man said proudly standing behind me.

‘Why did you bring him here?’ Morton asked the man.

‘I brought him as evidence,’ he said proudly.

‘Very good plan,’ Morton smiled and stepped up to the man.

Morton stabbed the man with a dagger attached to his wrist that his sleeve had covered so far. The two guards in front of the entrance took my swords and daggers and they bound my legs and wrists to the tent pillar.

‘You couldn’t think seriously that your plan would work, boy,’ the man laughed, ‘you were able to kill everyone every time and you thought that I would believe that this wretch was able to unarm you.’

‘I have to be in the camp to kill you,’ I said.

‘Where is your sister?’ the man asked patiently.

‘She is dead,’ I said, ‘your men killed her at the inn.’

‘We will see about that,’ he said, ‘take him away,’ he showed the body to the guards behind me, ‘and call the prophets here.’

‘Yes, sir,’ someone said from behind me and from what I could hear he left the tent.

‘Do you want a drink, boy?’ the man asked me.

‘No,’ I said, ‘you will not poison me so easily.’

The man was laughing while he was checking that I couldn’t free my hands.

‘Until I find your sister, you can stay alive,’ he said.

‘My sister is dead.’

I had said this sentence since my childhood to the tax collectors, I had no trouble saying it again.

‘We will see about that,’ he said.

I could hear the sound of steps approaching and four people came into the tent in black and white velvet robes. All of them wore the symbol of the tree of fate on their belts, but it was painted black and all of them were of our parents’ age. Probably they called themselves prophets as they wanted to differ from the fortune tellers even in their names. There were two women in the group, everyone bowed deeply to Morton, he waved to them to stand up.

‘My first question,’ Morton said, ‘is this the boy who we are looking for?’

‘Yes, sir,’ one of the prophets said confidently not even looking at me.

‘Good,’ the man smiled, ‘where is his sister?’

‘Sir,’ one woman said, ‘you know that we cannot see the future now.’

‘They are twins, you should have the answer in the boy’s past,’ the man said.

The people who called themselves prophets looked at me, stared at me and finally, they glanced at each other. Probably they realized that I’m invisible to them, but they were clearly scared of Morton and they did not dare to tell him the truth about me. They couldn’t talk to each other and they were thinking about what to say to Morton who became more and more impatient with every minute.

‘So?’ Morton asked, ‘what is in the boy’s past? Where is his sister?’

‘I said that she was dead,’ I said to help them, ‘she was killed and poisoned yesterday.’

‘That is true, his sister is dead,’ the confident prophet said.

The rest of the prophets looked at him with sorrow, the man patted the symbol on his belt.

‘That is great,’ Morton smiled, ‘You survived twelve of my people, boy,’ he turned to me.

‘Your people could have been defeated even by children,’ I said.

‘The good thing is that I’m not a child,’ he smiled wickedly.

‘Morton,’ an unknown woman’s voice said from behind me, ‘what is going on here? Everyone is so happy outside as if we had distributed some money.’

‘We have the boy, Lady,’ Morton said and stood to attention.

The short blond-haired woman in a midnight black velvet dress walked in front of me, she limped with her right leg. She was the same height as my sister and although I had never seen her before, she seemed very familiar.

‘Is this the boy?’ she asked and looked me up and down.

‘Yes, Lady,’ the man said.

‘So, I paid that huge amount of money to catch this single boy,’ the woman said.

‘The boy survived all our attacks,’ Morton explained.

‘You should have sent more people,’ the woman said.

‘I was listening to your advisor, which was one of your criteria,’ Morton said, ‘but his sister is dead.’

‘Who was a girl,’ the woman said, ‘I paid a lot for the death of a simple girl.’

The woman was visibly unsatisfied with Morton, during the conversation I tried to free myself, but so far, I was unsuccessful.

‘The girl was a fiancée of the Prince,’ Morton said apologetically, ‘she was a duchess.’

‘I know, who she was,’ the woman said, ‘Don’t forget, that I’m paying you and my advisor is informing you, but it seems that I paid more money than I should. In the end, you didn’t even have a poison.’

‘Because the poisoner vanished. Do you think that I line my own pockets with the coins?’ the man asked indignantly.

‘I hired you not to allow the boy to take the power from the prophets, but he is still here, in the same tent together with my prophets. You were able to kill only a girl, who was never a threat to us,’ the woman said and waved to someone behind me.

Two burly soldiers dressed in black outfits walked in wearing black cloaks and full-face black helmets. They had long swords and daggers on their belts, and they stood behind the woman without a word.

The prophets hid themselves behind the two soldiers, next to the tent wall, I couldn’t decide whether they were afraid of the woman or Morton.

‘Now, that the boy is here,’ the woman smiled, ‘we can finish our work of many years.’

‘Yes, that’s right,’ Morton said, ‘what should we do with the boy?’

‘Based on the blood money it is obvious,’ she said, ‘it was a mistake to bring him here, but I will question him.’

‘Boy,’ the woman stepped up in front of me, ‘what are you doing here?’

‘I walked in,’ I said, ‘this camp was not hidden at all.’

‘Is your sister really dead?’ she asked.

‘Yes, she is. They poisoned and killed her. Her body was taken somewhere but the only person who could tell you where her body is was killed by Morton.’

‘Did you really not ask the man where he hid her body?’ she yelled at Morton.

‘No, Lady, I’m sorry,’ the man said apologetically, ‘I didn’t ask the man who brought the boy here anything.’

‘You are stupid,’ the woman shouted and stepped aside.

The two soldiers dressed in black outfits drew their swords, one of them kept the prophets at bay, the other one attacked Morton.

Outside an emergency horn could be heard, I heard battle noises within moments after that. I tried to free myself, but I didn’t have any sharp object close to me. The soldier who kept the prophets at bay turned to me and took two throwing daggers from his belt. I didn’t have a chance to evade the daggers, so I closed my eyes.

‘Aleron,’ I heard my uncle’s voice, ‘if you have finished resting, your help would be useful.’

I opened my eyes, the voice came from the soldier dressed in a black outfit. I looked at my ropes and the daggers hit the ropes next to my wrist and legs making me free. I caught my sword, which was thrown to me by my uncle.

The prophets were visibly scared, the other soldier was fighting against Morton, the woman stood next to the tent wall, behind my uncle.

I drew my sword and walked towards the woman, but my uncle stopped my move with his sword.

‘Not her, Aleron,’ he said, ‘Help is needed outside.’

‘She paid the attackers,’ I said.

‘Go,’ he ordered, ‘you will understand everything later.’

I turned to the entrance, but my uncle’s voice stopped me, while the other soldier was attacking Morton.

‘Where is Alana?’ my uncle asked me.

I turned back and glanced at the woman. I remembered that my uncle had said before our departure not to trust anyone, so I decided to lie.

‘She is dead. This woman had her killed,’ I said looking at the woman and immediately afterwards I ran out of the tent with my sword in my hand.

I heard the scream from the soldier dressed in a black outfit coming from behind me, but I tried to focus on the battle in the camp outside the tent. The light of the torches indicated to me that people dressed in black were fighting against people with fake clothes. One smaller tent was already burning, I tried to figure out who was on my side.

‘Aleron,’ I heard Foren’s voice next to me, ‘please help me.’

Foren dressed in a black outfit was fighting against a man with a fake cloak, I stepped up behind the enemy and killed him with one clean cut. I was going to ask Foren what was going on, but the people in the camp were superior in numbers and were desperately attacking the people dressed in black. Alana’s skill in using swords would have been useful during the fight, but I was glad that I had hidden her, and she was safe.

People were continuously attacking me when a man with a fake cloak caught my attention. The man was fighting against another man with a fake cloak and he looked like Baron’s father, Brenbar who was one of King Darion’s personal guards. Brenbar had defeated his opponent when I stepped up in front of him.

‘You are the spy,’ I said, and I attacked him, he was just about managing to defend himself.

‘I’m not a spy, Aleron,’ he said and kept defending himself.

‘I have caught the spy,’ I screamed as loud as I could and hoped that the Prince was somewhere close.

I was sure that Foren would never move far away from the Prince, and he should be around. The royal guards were more skilled than the people with fake cloaks. The number of our opponents was decreasing, but I was focusing on Brenbar to keep him at bay because he was defending himself and trying to escape.

Foren noticed us and jumped on Brenbar from behind to push him down to the ground. I jumped on Brenbar too.

The two of us captured him and tied him up. When we had finished, the battle noise had already disappeared, and all the tents were burning. People with fake cloaks either escaped or lay on the ground wounded or dead. Some of the royal guards dressed in black outfits got hurt as well, but I hadn’t seen any dead bodies. Baron and the Prince came up to us, the other guards helped each other.

‘Dad,’ Baron looked at his father in shock as we had placed the tied up Brenbar in a seated position.

‘Son,’ he said, ‘believe me, it’s not what it looks like, I’m not a traitor.’

‘My father trusted you,’ the Prince said angrily to him, ‘the poisoner was able to disappear because of you, because you heard all my plans. You sent me the note, didn’t you?’

‘I did, your majesty,’ Brenbar said quietly.

‘Which note?’ I asked.

‘After you left with Alana, in the morning, I received a note under my door, to bring my best people here and wait for the right moment. We were already here and saw you walking in, but we were waiting. When the first tent had started to burn, we launched an attack,’ the Prince told me, ‘How could you betray my father?’ he turned back to Brenbar and pulled off his fake cloak.

‘I didn’t betray him, your majesty,’ he said.

‘Did you know about this, Baron?’ the Prince asked his friend.

‘No, I didn’t, your majesty,’ Baron said, ‘I had no idea, that my father would be here tonight with the enemy.’

‘Take him away from me,’ the Prince said, ‘I’ll question him later.’

Foren took Brenbar, we started to collect the people. I wanted to go back to the tent where I had been captured when everything went dark around me.

15.

When I woke up, I felt very weak and I was in a bed and someone was wiping my forehead.

‘Lord Adon, it seems that he is about to wake up,’ a familiar woman’s voice said, it was Velina.

‘It is about time,’ I heard the voice of Lord Adon.

‘Where am I?’ I asked.

‘In our joint apartment,’ Velina smiled and hugged me.

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘You were poisoned,’ Lord Adon said, ‘the poison had touched your hand, and hurt you through your skin, but luckily, it was old. Your temperature wasn’t as high as Alana’s, but you were unconscious for a longer time. Your recovery will take as long as Alana’s.’

‘Will I be okay?’ I asked while I was touching my bandaged hand.

‘You will be,’ he said, ‘you received an antidote in time, but the poison must be eliminated from your body,’ he smiled.

‘How long have I been unconscious for?’ I asked.

‘For two days,’ Velina said, ‘we were waiting for you to wake up.’

Lord Adon left the room, his guards took his bag, as always.

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘Veron already had gained a victory, when you fainted,’ she said, ‘he didn’t see any injury on you, but the palm of your hand had a very strange colour and he gave you an antidote from his pocket. Before he went to the forest, Lord Adon gave him an ampoule of antidote to keep inside his shirt, saying that it would be more beneficial than his usual ampoules,’ she laughed.

‘What happened to the woman?’ I asked, ‘and to Morton and the prophets? Where is my uncle?’

‘I don’t know Aleron,’ Velina said seriously, ‘I have no idea what you are talking about. You still have a fever, you need to have some rest.’

‘I don’t have time for that,’ I sat up, ‘I need to talk with your brother.’

I was very dizzy, I could barely see anything, but I needed to stand up and Velina helped me. She stepped up to me to hold me while we were walking out of our apartment. In the corridor two guards took over from Velina, I was far too heavy for her. Velina walked in front of us, the guards followed her with me.

We went to the roundhouse; the shouting could be heard from afar. We stopped at the entrance, Velina was waiting for a quiet moment to open the door.

‘Check the camp again,’ the Prince shouted, ‘we must find something.’

‘We have looked through it already, your majesty,’ Baron’s voice could be heard, ‘there was no female body at all, and no one has seen her.’

‘Did you ask around in the capital?’ the Prince asked.

‘I did, but no one saw her,’ Baron said, ‘the innkeeper admitted that she was there, but she left the inn together with Aleron. In the room, we found only Aleron’s belongings.’

‘What has happened to her horse?’

‘Her majesty, Princess Velina looked at it with a skilled eye and its hoof prints led us to the inn.  A young boy brought the horse back to the castle from the inn, but apart from that, Princess Velina hasn’t found anything interesting.’

‘Did you ask your father?’ the Prince asked with anger.

‘I couldn’t question him, because he has left the prison and I’m not aware where he is,’ Baron said.

‘What?’ the Prince asked, ‘who let him go?’

‘Yesterday an unknown man visited the guards in the prison and handed a paper over to them. His majesty, King Darion signed the document to release my father. I saw the document and it seemed real to me,’ Baron said.

‘Order a search for your father,’ the Prince said, ‘I want everyone in the capital to look for him. I need to know why he betrayed my father.’

‘I will do, your majesty,’ Baron said.

‘There must be some traces of Alana. She couldn’t have just simply vanished,’ the Prince said.

‘I’m sorry your majesty,’ Baron said, ‘For the last few days we have been looking for her without any trace, we should assume that only Aleron is alive and duchess Alana will never turn up out of the blue.’

‘I don’t want to hear that,’ the Prince said.

There was silence for a few seconds and Velina opened the door, the guards helped me to sit down on the closest chair. The Prince was exhausted and unshaven. Baron and the Prince looked at a map of the capital which lay on the table.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince said to me gloomily, ‘I hope you have rested enough.’

‘I could do with more sleep,’ I smiled, ‘what have I missed?’

‘Someone released Brenbar from the prison,’ the Prince said.

‘Who?’ I asked shocked.

‘We don’t know, but supposedly my father signed the document,’ the Prince said.

‘Where are Morton and the woman?’ I asked, ‘what happened with the prophets and with my uncle?’

‘I’m sorry, Aleron,’ the Prince said, ‘after you had collapsed Doran brought you back here, we looked through the tents and bound every enemy who was alive. Every tent had already burned down, we found nothing. Baron has questioned many people in the last few days, but everyone said the same, that Morton and a woman had told them to kill you.’

‘So, my uncle and the woman disappeared,’ I said.

‘Was your uncle with them?’ the Prince was surprised.

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘he set me free. Probably the woman was blackmailing him with something.’

‘I’ll found out what happened,’ the Prince said.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince said hesitantly, ‘there is something else.’

Velina glanced at her brother and shook her head, so did Baron.

‘Aleron can barely stand on his feet,’ Velina said when her brother was just about to talk, ‘he is not ready to hear that.’

‘Hear what?’ I asked, ‘what should I hear?’

‘Alana has gone missing, we cannot find her,’ the Prince said seriously, ‘We are not sure that she is alive, although her body has not been found. The innkeeper said that she disappeared together with you during the night.’

‘Alana is safe,’ I said with a smile, ‘she was not with me at all. I know, your majesty that we agreed that both of us would be baits, but I decided otherwise. Alana is hidden and only you or I can know her whereabouts. I didn’t want her to be found by the people with fake cloaks, so Baron and the other guards were not able to find her either.’

‘We are leaving now,’ the Prince said looking relieved and stood up, ‘by the way, you look terrible,’ he teased me with a smile.

‘You too, your majesty,’ I answered.

‘I’ll let our mother know,’ Velina said happily, ‘she was so worried that she doesn’t have any tears left.’

In the stable Baron and Foren saddled the horses, the Prince rode his stallion bareback and the four of us rode to the inn. because of the condition I was in, my horse just carried me and followed the black stallion. Baron and Foren followed me. We stopped at the inn, as soon as the Prince entered, people at the inn became silent.

‘Your majesty,’ the innkeeper woman stepped up to him and bowed, ‘how can I help you?’

‘As I understand it, you know where my betrothed is,’ the Prince said, ‘you just didn’t say before.’

‘I hoped that her brother wouldn’t forget about her,’ the woman smiled, ‘my son will lead you to her, your majesty.’

‘Thank you,’ the Prince smiled, ‘thank you for not telling anyone where my betrothed was, although this has made the last few days difficult.’

‘I always keep my word, your majesty,’ the woman smiled.

‘Please allow me to reciprocate the favour you have shown to my fiancée,’ the Prince said and waved to Baron.

Baron was just about to hand a small bag with coins over when the woman shook her head.

‘My son would like to serve you as a royal guard, your majesty,’ she said to the Prince.

I looked at the boy, he was of our age and he was less thin than at the time of our arrival when he used to cough a lot, but he was still thin, and he didn’t have any muscles.

‘Please send him tomorrow to the castle and look for this man,’ the Prince indicated Baron, ‘and thank you one more time.’

We followed the boy; Baron left after us and handed a note to the woman. The boy led us into a small cul-de-sac, where we got off the horses to follow him. Puron knocked on a door and a young, ten year old boy opened it. The boy looked at us and shut the door again.

‘Interesting welcome,’ Foren chuckled, the Prince adjusted his clothes, I was glad that I had started to become less dizzy.

The door opened again, a brown-haired, tall woman of Gaina’s age stood at the door.

‘Your majesty,’ she smiled.

‘Welcome,’ the Prince said, ‘As I understand it, my betrothed is here.’

‘You are right your majesty,’ I heard my sister’s voice from behind the door.

Alana came out of the house; she wore a simple brown dress with a belt that hid her swords. She tied her long hair up, and her hands were visibly floury, she could have wiped them quickly.

‘My precious,’ the Prince said overjoyed.

‘Veron, Aleron,’ Alana hugged both of us, ‘both of you look awful.’

‘I have been looking for you for two days without any rest,’ the Prince said, ‘and Aleron was poisoned.’

Alana held my hand for a minute and took the bandage off to look at my hand. Some kind of thick substance covered my hand, Alana put the bandage back.

‘You will be okay,’ she smiled at me.

‘I gave him the antidote,’ the Prince said to Alana proudly, ‘I asked Lord Adon for one potion, just in case,’ I had heard a different story, but I didn’t say a word.

‘Thank you, Veron,’ Alana said to him gently.

I looked around, everyone came out of the neighbouring houses. In my opinion my sister had been in this cul-de-sac since we left each other.

‘Thank you to everyone,’ the Prince said loudly, ‘for taking care of my betrothed while we were catching the attackers who tried to kill her many times.’

Baron and Foren gave coins to the people, everyone accepted gratefully.

‘Shall we go, my precious?’ the Prince asked, and Alana went back to the house for her bag.

A small dog was running towards us and barking, he was just a couple of months old puppy.

‘Who does he belong to?’ Foren asked.

‘He lives on this street,’ my sister said, ‘someone always feeds him, but he doesn’t belong to anyone.’

‘I think he does now,’ the Prince smiled, ‘pick him up.’

Alana picked the dog up, Baron and Foren helped her up onto the Prince’s horse, to sit in front of the Prince and we rode back to the castle.

‘I thought that something had happened to you,’ my sister said to the Prince.

‘Your brother hid you well,’ he smiled, ‘but as he was unconscious, I was not aware of it.’

‘You are unshaved,’ Alana caressed the Prince’s cheek.

‘And you are still beautiful,’ the Prince smiled at her.

We arrived back, the Queen, Velina, Lord Adon and Lady Mara were waiting for us at the entrance. Everyone had been very worried in the last few days, the Queen hid her tears. Everyone hugged my sister, the last few days hadn’t been as difficult for her as for everybody else.

‘I knew that you would be found,’ Velina smiled and hugged my sister.

‘Aleron almost forgot about me,’ my sister said with a smile.

The Prince put his arm round my sister’s waist, and they walked inside the castle carrying the puppy. Velina stepped up to me, I was able to see her clearly.

‘Aleron,’ Lord Adon said, ‘the poison must be eliminated from your body, you should stay in bed for a couple of days.’

‘I will take care of him,’ Velina said with a smile.

She led me into our new, joint apartment, it looked the same as the Prince’s.

‘I had to keep myself busy,’ Velina said while she was helping me to lie down, ‘The servants brought our belongings over. This apartment was on the opposite side of Veron’s, as officially it was mine. It was empty all the time.’

‘Thank you for organizing our move,’ I said, ‘I love you, Velina,’ I closed my eyes.

In the following days, Velina took care of me. I slept a lot, and when I was awake, I had a bad headache, but at least I was able to see clearly.

‘Velina,’ I said when I woke up.

She didn’t answer me because she was not in our room. Until she returned, I kept my eyes closed. She came to the room and she looked very serious.

‘Is something wrong?’ I asked her.

‘I was in the tower,’ she said, ‘I felt that a lot of people had lost the connection with the tree of fate at the same time, but councillor Totun said that everything was all right.’

‘Are you okay?’ I asked, ‘can you see anyone’s past?’

‘You are not the perfect candidate for testing,’ she smiled.

She picked Peg Leg up onto her lap, who lay in the corner on his pillow and stared at him for a while.

‘I’m okay,’ she said, ‘I can see Peg Leg’s past.’

‘So, you don’t have to worry about anything,’ I smiled.

She lay down next to me, I kissed her and told her everything that had happened in the camp and the tent. Since my return, I hadn’t felt well enough to talk to her.

‘I felt that someone had lost a connection with the tree of fate,’ she said, ‘but I had no idea who that could be.’

‘Was the connection lost in one second?’ I asked.

‘The man lied, and the tree took the power from him immediately,’ Velina said.

‘Why does the tree not take the power from the traitors?’ I asked.

‘The tree does not judge what you use its power for, you must follow only a couple of rules, honesty is one of them. If we lie about what we predict with the support of the tree, we will lose our power immediately. Probably these prophets were so scared of this Morton that they did not dare to tell the truth about you. The fact that your fate doesn’t exist cannot be explained,’ she laughed.

‘I have no idea, who that woman was with my uncle and why he guarded her,’ I said.

‘Her description is not familiar to me,’ Velina said, ‘I never saw such a woman around my father.’

‘Do you know anything about Brenbar?’ I asked.

‘My mother was shocked when Veron told her everything about Brenbar,’ Velina said, ‘she has no idea who let him out of the prison with my father’s signature.’

‘Are you certain, that your father signed the document?’ I asked.

‘My mother and councillor Totun said that my father had signed it. Veron has ordered everyone to look for him everywhere, but he is gone.’

‘Does Alana know anything about what happened in the camp?’ I asked.

‘Veron has said very little to her,’ Velina said, ‘she knows that you caught everyone in the camp, but Veron didn’t mention anything about Brenbar or your uncle to her.’

‘We will find him sooner or later,’ I said.

‘Veron is certain about that as well,’ she said.

‘Do you know anything about how my sister is?’ I asked.

‘They have been resting for the last few days, sometimes they were in the garden with the puppy,’ Velina said, ‘upon Alana’s return, Veron sent all the guards for a few days leave. My mother is very happy as well, she is preparing for the wedding,’ she laughed.

‘Thank you for taking care of me,’ I said and sniffed her hair.

‘You’re welcome,’ she smiled, ‘I’m glad that you feel better.’

‘Me too,’ I said and kissed her.

I just had drunk the potion which stood on the nightstand, when someone knocked on our door. I reluctantly put my clothes on and opened the door.

‘Her majesty, the Queen is waiting for both of you in the reception hall,’ our servant said, ‘she would like to see you immediately,’ she looked at my clothes.

‘In the reception hall?’ Velina asked from behind me, our servant nodded.

Velina started to get dressed immediately, so did I.

‘Do you know what she wants?’ I asked.

‘I have no idea,’ she said, ‘but I have a feeling that it is important.’

I dressed smartly, the Prince and Alana came out of their apartment at the same time as us. Velina was right, from our joint apartment’s door I could see their door. The puppy was running after them, but the Prince picked him up so that no-one stood on him. I didn’t know anything about dogs, but I was sure that he would be small when he grew to full size.

‘Velina, do you know what is so important that our mother is waiting for us in the reception hall?’ the Prince asked his sister.

‘I don’t know,’ she said.

We went to the reception hall, where we had met the royal family the first time. Two guards were standing in front of the door, the Prince entered without knocking, all of us followed him.

In the hall, four chairs stood in front of us facing another four chairs. The Queen was seated in the middle facing us and wearing a crown on her head. The crown indicated that she had summoned us regarding an official matter. There was no one else in the room, not even guards, the room was unusually empty. Between the chairs, a small coffee table stood with glasses and with a bowl of candy.

‘Mother,’ the Prince said, ‘you called us,’ he was visibly surprised by the emptiness of the room.

‘Yes, that’s right,’ the Queen said, ‘Alana, my dear, please sit down,‘ the Queen indicated a chair which was facing her.’

‘Thank you, Vina,’ my sister smiled and sat down, so did Velina.

Alana picked the puppy up and put it down on a chair next to her. The puppy fell asleep quickly while my sister was petting him.

‘Someone visited me this morning and I thought that you might want to talk to him,’ the Queen said.

The Queen coughed and Brenbar entered through the door which was the same colour as the walls and stood behind the Queen. The Prince drew his sword and moved towards the man, I followed him.

‘What are you doing here?’ the Prince asked.

‘I’d like to explain everything, your majesty,’ Brenbar said and took a step backwards to show his peaceful intent.

‘Veron,’ the Queen said gently, ‘you wanted to question him; now you can do that.’

‘You are right,’ he said, ‘Brenbar,’ he turned to the man, ‘why did you betray my father?’ the Prince put his sword back into the sheath.

I went back behind the girls; Alana was listening attentively.

‘I didn’t betray him, your majesty,’ Brenbar said, ‘I did everything to follow his commands.’

‘Why have you come back now?’ the Prince asked.

‘Because I had to hand a letter over to her majesty, the Queen.’

‘What was in the letter, mother?’ the Prince turned to his mother.

‘It was only one sentence,’ the Queen smiled, ‘I’m coming home soon,’ she quoted.

‘Our father will come home finally,’ Velina said happily.

‘Tell me the whole story, Brenbar,’ the Prince said calmly, ‘everything from the beginning.’

‘Before his majesty left the castle a year ago, he asked me to guard the Queen,’ Brenbar said, ‘He said that a year later the twins would arrive, and he described to me what the twins would look like.  He asked me to leave a note in the garden under a stone every evening about them after their arrival. He specified the place and the stone in the garden, so I followed his orders. In my letters, I wrote about everything. After the attack against her majesty, duchess Alana, I found a paper under the stone, saying not to wait until evening any more. From that time, I had to write a letter immediately after something had happened to the twins. When I found an order under the stone, I always carried it out.’

‘After the attack, I received an exact description where the camp in the border forest was and his majesty asked me to advise you to go there,’ Brenbar said.

‘That is why we had great luck and we found the place easily,’ the Prince said, the man nodded in agreement.

‘Someone should have found a dagger there and handed it over to you, your majesty, but somehow, we couldn’t find it,’ Brenbar said.

‘We found a dagger,’ the Prince said, ‘Aleron kept it for himself,’ he smiled, ‘go on.’

‘I reported every day about everything,’ Brenbar said.

‘Did you report anything about me?’ the Prince asked hesitantly.

‘I reported about everything which related to Aleron or to her majesty, Alana,’ Brenbar said, ‘in some cases, I mentioned your name in my letters,’ he said.

‘I see,’ the Prince said, ‘go on.’

‘When the twins left the castle, I received a note that I had to slide under your door, your majesty,’ he said, ‘My fake cloak was already waiting for me in my room and I knew that I had to ask for day off from her majesty, the Queen. I asked for a day off and following the instructions I went to the border forest into the camp to wait there. I had to wait until the first tent caught fire and give support to the royal guards afterwards. I saw Aleron arrive, but he didn’t notice me. After the victory I was supposed to go to a meadow inside the forest, but I couldn’t manage that, because Aleron caught me. When you put me into the prison, his majesty, King Darion sent a guard with the document to release me.’

‘Where did you get the fake cloak from?’ the Prince asked.

‘It was in a bag together with one letter,’ Brenbar said.

‘What was the plan with the dagger, that Aleron kept?’ the Prince asked.

‘I don’t know, your majesty,’ Brenbar said.

‘Who did my father send to the prison to release you?’ the Prince said.

‘My old friend,’ he said.

‘What is the name of your old friend?’ the Prince asked, I had a strange feeling.

‘Shiveron, your majesty,’ Brenbar said.

‘Veron,’ Alana said surprised, ‘that’s the name of my uncle.’

‘That’s the name of your uncle?’ the Prince asked, my sister nodded.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince turned to me, ‘do you know anything about this?’

‘I already told you everything, your majesty,’ I said, ‘I don’t know anything else.’

‘I think I can conclude that my father is away because of your prophecy,’ the Prince said to me.

‘It seems so, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Why did my father leave and ask Brenbar to spy on you? If he had stayed, he would have known everything about you,’ the Prince was speaking to himself rather than to me.

‘It is a good question, isn’t it, my son?’ The voice came before we saw the King enter the hall through the back door.

The King was the same height as the Prince, and he had a similar slim but muscular body and dark-blond hair like his son. he had a dark blond beard and brown eyes and the crown on his head indicated that I was right, he was King Darion, the ruler of Rodon. Alana stood up immediately and both of us bowed. My sister didn’t sit back down, the King hadn’t acknowledged her engagement yet.

‘Father,’ the Prince smiled, Velina hurried to her father and both hugged him.

‘I’m proud of you both,’ the King said to his children.

‘Veron, you still tend to overreact to things sometimes,’ the King said after he had sat down next to the Queen, ‘a great ruler cannot afford to do this.’

‘What did Brenbar write to you about me?’ the Prince asked.

‘I even know about your mother slapping you and I agreed with her,’ he laughed, ‘how did you think that I would let anyone into the castle who could be a traitor and might be there to murder you?’

‘I believed the prophecy,’ the Prince said, ‘just like many other people.’

‘No, Veron, you didn’t believe the prophecy,’ the King laughed, ‘you imagined it.’

I saw from the expression on my sister’s face, that she wanted to ask something, but in the presence of a King, she did not dare to say a word.

‘I think, your betrothed would like to ask something,’ the King glanced at Alana, who smiled timidly.

The Prince stood up and stepped up to us, Alana raised her eyebrows questioningly, she did not dare to do more because of the King.

‘Veron,’ my sister asked, ‘what kind of prophecy are you talking about?’

‘It is a prophecy about you being my Queen,’ the Prince smiled, ‘at first, unfortunately, I misunderstood the prophecy.’

‘That’s why you thought that I would poison you, didn’t you?’ Alana asked, the Prince nodded.

‘I understand now, but you should have told me the whole story,’ Alana told him gently.

‘Next time I’ll tell you, I will never let you down ever again,’ he said.

‘Luckily, we have no other prophecy,’ Alana chuckled.

Alana caressed the Prince’s cheek and he took my sister's hand to raise it to his mouth to give her a kiss on her fingers. The King coughed gently as he unwrapped a candy.

‘Father,’ the Prince turned back, ‘I don’t understand why you had to go away.’

‘It is a good question, Veron,’ he smiled, ‘I’m curious about how good a strategist you have become during my absence, I’d like to hear your thoughts.’

‘So be it,’ the Prince said, ‘you left for a year to help Aleron’s father to catch the people who attacked Aleron’s mother many years ago. Aleron’s father and uncle had joined you and Brenbar kept you informed. After Alana’s attack you observed the twins to make sure they didn’t get hurt again.’

‘The answer is not perfect but not bad at all for his age,’ a voice said from behind the back door. I hadn’t heard this voice for a year.

‘Father,’ Alana smiled but she didn’t move.

Our father had entered the room and stepped up to us, we hugged him.

‘Your mother was right when she said the royal green would suit you,’ our father said to Alana, ‘you look beautiful.’

‘Thank you, father,’ Alana hugged our father as tears started to fill her eyes.

‘Aleron,’ my father turned to me, ‘I’m proud of you.’

‘Thank you, father,’ I said.

‘Prince Veron, Princess Velina,’ my father bowed towards the royal siblings, ‘I’m Samon, the father of the twins.’

‘You haven’t bowed to me like this for many years,’ the King laughed.

‘So, you were really together,’ the Prince noted.

‘We were,’ the King said.

‘Did you catch Morton?’ I asked, ‘and that woman?’

‘Which woman, Aleron?’ my sister asked me.

‘There was a woman in the camp who was blackmailing my uncle somehow and for some reason was being guarded by him,’ I said.

‘Aleron,’ Alana told me patiently, ‘how much do I not know?’

‘We kept quiet about one or two little things,’ I said with the smile I used in our childhood when I tricked her.

‘Why do you think that the woman was blackmailing him?’ my father asked as he sat down next to the King facing us.

‘He married Shirela a few months ago, so that woman couldn’t be his girlfriend,’ I said.

‘Aleron is right,’ the Prince said, ‘there is no one in the world, who would guard a woman who had almost had his niece killed unless he was being blackmailed.’

‘Boys,’ the King smiled, ‘you are starting to go over the top.’

The fathers were visibly enjoying themselves, the Prince became impatient. Velina waved to Alana to sit back next to her facing the two fathers, Alana did so.

‘Father,’ the Prince said, ‘could you please tell me what happened to Morton and the woman?’

‘No Veron, I won’t,’ the King said, ‘As a future King you have to be able to figure everything out. I’ll help you in one respect, the prophecy is not about the twins.’

‘Who is it about then?’ I asked.

‘About your family,’ the Prince answered, ‘your father and your uncle caught Morton, the prophets and that woman.’

‘Getting better,’ my father chuckled and took a candy from the bowl.

‘It was you wearing the black full-face helmet and screaming, wasn’t it?’ I asked my father surprised.

‘After you had told my brother without batting an eyelid that my daughter was dead?’ my father asked back,  ‘yes, it was me.’

‘Our uncle told us not to trust anyone,’ I said, ‘I didn’t trust a woman whom I don’t know and who was blackmailing my uncle.’

‘You keep insisting that this was blackmail,’ my father chuckled, ‘no one was blackmailing my brother or me. We wanted to guard the woman.’

‘Why did you want to guard a woman who almost had my sister killed?’ I asked.

‘Your father wanted to be there in case something happened to Alana or you,’ the Prince said.

‘Do you know her advisor who helped Morton?’ I asked.

‘We do,’ my father smiled.

‘Who was it?’ the Prince asked distrustfully.

‘It was me, your majesty,’ my father said to the Prince.

‘You?’ I asked in shock, ‘Alana almost died.’

‘I didn’t take into consideration that you would find someone who you could spend the night with and Brenbar hadn’t mentioned anything about it either,’ he said, ‘I assumed that both of you would be in the apartment.’

‘Did you send the men to attack Alana?’ I asked, he nodded.

‘I’m sorry, little blossom,’ my father turned to my sister, ‘I badly miscalculated the plan.’

‘No problem,’ my sister smiled, ‘but I cannot say that I understand everything. Aleron and Veron have concealed quite a few things from me.’

‘I know everything, and I still don’t understand everything,’ I said.

‘Your father fulfilled the prophecy,’ the Prince said, ‘He knew everything that was happening from Brenbar and led everything from behind the scenes as an advisor. He made sure that the attackers were never too dangerous. While we were waiting at the camp, I also wondered why you had never been attacked by a large number of people.’

‘By the time my son walked in, he had almost become renowned for being able to kill several people on his own and he took care of his sister every time as well,’ my father chuckled, ‘no one knew about Alana’s injury, because you concealed that even in the castle. At my suggestion, Morton wanted to launch a group attack on the inn in the middle of the night, where the twins were, and he collected everyone in the camp,’ my father continued, ‘I hoped that Aleron would use all the knowledge that I had taught him, and he would walk into the camp before the attack. He did so, but Alana’s absence confused us.’

‘Did you send those incompetent people to the inn?’ I asked.

‘It was Shiveron,’ he smiled, ‘he told a few people that you were at the inn and convinced them not to wait for the group attack. Some of them left the camp to catch you.’

‘It was a genius plan,’ the Prince smiled with sincere admiration.

‘Thank you,’ my father said with a smile.

‘And the woman?’ I asked, ‘did you just hire her to have some kind of Lady?’

‘Not long after your birth the Lady looked for one of the prophets and convinced him to accept her money and her help for a showdown with our family. Throughout recent years she has gained the support of all the prophets and hired Morton to be the future King of Rodon,’ my father said.

‘The prophecy was not just about Samon’s family,’ the King said, ‘the insurgent group wanted to overthrow the royal family and rule the Kingdom with a better ruler, like Morton. They treated Samon’s family a threat, as based on the prophecy, they were the only obstacle to their success.’

‘After they attacked Amina, my wife,’ my father said, ‘I knew that we could close the prophecy down only if we led everything.’

‘So, the woman was working for you,’ the Prince said.

‘Instead of for us I’d rather say with us,’ the King said.

‘The story is still not right,’ Velina said, ‘the prophets should have seen in the woman’s past that she was a liar and that she had been hired.’

‘Are you sure, my daughter?’ the King asked his daughter.

‘I’m sure,’ Velina said confidently, ‘I think I have the greatest experience on this topic in this room.’

‘Lady, please come in,’ the King said loudly.

The blond, short-haired woman entered the back door, she wore the same black velvet dress as in the camp, but she was not limping now. Velina spotted the woman and she stood up and stepped behind me instinctively. The woman bowed towards the royal siblings and my sister.

‘Aleron,’ Velina whispered in my ear, ‘this woman is dead.’

The Prince stepped up to us, Alana stood up and stayed behind me so that she could easily reach her swords on my belt.

‘What do you mean by that, Velina?’ her brother asked.

‘If I look at her, I can see her death, but nothing else,’ Velina said, ‘she died many years ago.’

‘That’s why everyone feared her in the tent,’ I said.

‘The fact that Alana’s and your fate doesn’t exist for the fortune tellers is weird and unusual, but she,’ Velina indicated the woman, ‘she is scary. She doesn’t have any past or future, but she has experienced a death. I cannot see anything else apart from that.’

‘What do you mean when you say that our fate does not exist for the fortune tellers?’ Alana asked.

‘I’ll tell you later,’ I told her, she nodded in agreement.

‘If someone thinks of something in the past you will see that, am I right?’ the Prince asked, Velina nodded.

‘What did you do yesterday?’ the Prince asked the woman.

‘I woke up, I had my breakfast,’ the woman said, Velina shook her head.

‘I cannot see anything in her past apart from her death. Over and over again,’ Velina said.

‘Aleron,’ Alana said next to me, ‘she is very familiar to me.’

‘I had the same feeling in the tent too,’ I said, ‘but I have no idea why.’

‘She resembles our mother,’ she said, I realized that Alana was right.

‘We had an aunt,’ I said to the Prince, ‘but she died before our birth, our uncle couldn’t save her.’

‘I remember that you told me that, Aleron,’ he said.

‘Did we have an aunt?’ Alana asked surprised, ‘I’m not going to ask any more questions,’ she chuckled.

‘Veron,’ Alana said to the Prince, ‘there is a potion that is used to make everyone believe that the person is dead. The person drinks one potion and looks dead almost immediately afterwards. Someone needs to administer the other potion quite soon to wake the person up, otherwise the person will die in reality. My mother said that this procedure was very risky because if the person became slightly unwell the second potion would not work, and the person would not wake up.’

‘Have you ever used it, my precious?’ the Prince asked.

‘No Veron, never,’ Alana said, ‘theoretically I can make these potions, but I have never given it to anyone.’

‘Let’s assume, that she received that potion,’ the Prince said, ‘why can’t Velina see anything else apart from her death?’

‘I don’t know Veron how the potion would impact on her past,’ Alana said.

‘I should see her death, but I should see her past before and after her death as well,’ Velina said, ‘If she had received a drop from the sap of the tree of fate she should have been as invisible as the twins. If she was really their aunt, she could get a drop of sap as well.’

‘Are you a relative of the twins?’ the Prince asked the woman.

‘Yes, your majesty,’ the woman smiled, ‘I’m their aunt.’

‘You received some sap after your feigned death, am I right?’ the Prince asked, the woman nodded.

‘You are not limping now,’ I said.

‘No, Aleron, I’m not,’ she smiled, ‘My legs are fine, but limping helped me make myself likeable to the prophets.’

‘Who provided you with the potions?’ the Prince asked.

‘My mother or Lord Adon,’ Alana said.

‘That’s right, your majesty, I received it from Lord Adon,’ she said.

‘Father, please call Lord Adon here,’ the Prince asked his father.

The backdoor opened again, Lord Adon entered together with his wife. My father stood up immediately and offered his place to Lord Adon, Lady Mara sat down next to the Queen. Our uncle and Shirela followed them, Alana and I hugged our uncle.

‘I’m sorry Aleron, that I scared you,’ he said.

‘I’m sorry that I lied,’ I smiled.

‘You almost gave us a heart attack,’ he chuckled, ‘your father almost cried,’ he looked at his brother.

‘If someone else is outside, it would be better to call them in,’ Velina chuckled.

‘No one else is outside,’ Shirela said.

‘Lord Adon,’ Velina turned to Lord Adon, ‘why did she get some sap from the tree? She was not a newborn baby.’

‘After Amina and Samon left the castle and they were safe, my father’s guards were looking for the traitor everywhere and they went to Amina’s sister as an obvious choice,’ the King said, ‘that time we already had some sap and to fabricate her death was an obvious option, but we didn’t have any further plans at that time. We wanted my father to stop annoying Amara,’ she indicated the Lady, ‘While Amara was alive, my father could have got Amina to give up herself by imprisoning her sister. We wanted to avoid that in any way we could,’ the King finished talking.

‘After the twins were safe in the south and Amara was officially dead,’ the Prince said, ‘you simply paid her to be the leader of the insurgent group.’

‘This is still not correct,’ Velina said again, ‘my father and Aleron’s family knew everything. The prophets should have seen the truth in their past.’

‘Only Darion, councillor Totun and I knew about the plan,’ my father said, ‘I involved my brother only after his arrival in the capital.’

When my father mentioned the King by his name, the royal siblings, Alana and I looked at each other as it did not follow the rules of etiquette at all.

‘Look at their faces,’ the King laughed, ‘they think that the word majesty gives respect. No Veron, it is not true.’

‘If my son slaps your son as many times as I did with you, he will realize that,’ my father said with a laugh.

‘Can we change the topic back to Velina’s statement?’ the Prince asked impatiently.

‘Patience, Veron,’ the King smiled.

‘What do you see in my past, your majesty?’ my father asked Velina.

Velina looked at my father who started to talk about his meal yesterday. After a couple of seconds, Velina started to laugh.

‘What do you see, Velina?’ the Prince asked his sister.

‘I see a memory from his childhood where he was building a sandcastle with his brother,’ Velina said, ‘he was talking all the time, but I can only see this memory.’

‘We have learned that since you were born,’ the King said, ‘I learned it from councillor Totun, Samon and his brother learned it from Shirela, who moved to the south at councillor Totun’s request.’

‘Originally the drops of sap were collected for us,’ my father said, ‘for Aleron, Amina, Shiveron and me.’

‘If you had disappeared like that, no one would have found you,’ Velina said.

‘That was the plan,’ the King said, ‘but we had to make a sudden change because of Alana’s prophecy.’

‘Who got the fourth drop of sap?’ the Prince asked.

‘Amina,’ my father said, ‘Shiveron and I had learned to focus on one memory during the years. When the prophets were around, we always had to concentrate, and we let Amara talk,’ he chuckled.

‘Councillor Totun taught me,’ the King said, ‘and when his plan seemed to be working, he sent Shirela to the south.’

‘It is good that you didn’t drink the sap,’ my sister said, ‘I wouldn’t have got any sap.’

‘We wanted to drink it after your birth, but the plan had changed again,’ my father laughed, ‘Amina drank her dose, but I had to persuade her to do so,’ he laughed.

‘You have been planning this whole thing since the twins were born,’ the Prince said, ‘it was a well-planned, perfect plan.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ my father smiled, ‘Since the twins were born, I've been preparing them for the last few months.’

‘If no one has any further questions,’ the King said, ‘we should talk about your engagement, Veron.’

‘I didn’t expect you to be here, father, so I didn’t bring the document with me,’ the Prince said, ‘but I assume that you know about my proposal to the royal council.’

‘I submitted a request to the royal council to let me propose to you,’ the Prince explained to Alana, ‘but unfortunately, they rejected that.’

I saw from the expression on Alana’s face that this gesture pleased her very much.

‘It was very kind of you, Prince Veron,’ my sister said.

‘I had heard about the proposal and the rejection as well,’ the King said.

‘If I bring the document over, will you sign it?’ the Prince asked.

‘Just bring it over, Veron,’ the King smiled.

The Prince hurried out of the room; everyone was waiting in silence.

‘I heard, that you are selling herbs at the inn, Alana,’ the King broke the silence and looked at my sister.

My sister stood up immediately.

‘Yes, I do, your majesty,’ Alana said, ‘It’s the least I can do to help people.’

‘Where did you hide while Aleron was in the camp?’ the King asked.

‘At first with the niece of the innkeeper, but I changed places twice a day,’ Alana said, ‘I was in the same neighbourhood all the time.’

‘We were looking for you but without success,’ my father said, ‘I couldn’t believe that I had made such a big mistake that you died.’

‘Where did you hide together with Brenbar?’ I asked my father.

‘In the border forest,’ he said, ‘we were waiting for Brenbar there, but we found out quite quickly that you had caught him. Afterwards, Shiveron went to the prison to release him.’

The Prince came back with a document in his hand and closed the door behind him.

‘We released the southern tax collectors,’ the King said.

‘Why did you do that?’ the Prince asked, Alana looked at him.

‘Darion promised us many years ago, that we could make the final decision regarding them,’ my uncle smiled, ‘because our relationship with them went back many years.’

‘We were already in the south,’ my father started to talk, ‘and the twins had already been born when we first met with the swine and his gang. We were surprised by the high amount of taxes, and we didn’t expect at all that they would want to take Amina away.’

‘We had enough money, so we paid the tax,’ my uncle said, ‘but Amina was outside, and the swine pulled her hair.’

‘I punched him on his face,’ my father said, ‘and we agreed nicely that if he wanted to continue getting his money, he would never look at my wife again. His obsession with Alana started afterwards, probably because I had forbidden him to look at my wife.’

‘That’s why we spread the rumour that she was dead,’ I said, my father nodded.

‘The swine would have done anything to take Alana with him,’ he said, ‘we didn’t want him to come back unexpectedly.’

‘Why didn’t you just kill him?’ I asked, ‘they wouldn’t have been much of a challenge to you.’

‘Because your whereabouts would have been revealed immediately,’ Shirela said, ‘your uncle asked me about this many times, but as soon as he had killed them, the prophets would have known where you were. Only a few people are guarded by two royal personal guards in the country,’ she chuckled, ‘the death of the four tax collectors would have quickly become widely known.’

‘If all of us had drunk the sap of the tree, killing would have been a clear solution,’ my father said, ‘but we had to adapt to the new situation.’

‘And you just simply released them from the prison?’ my sister asked.

‘I gave them a choice of three options,’ my uncle said, ‘either they stayed in the prison forever and paid the stolen money off or they left the country in the clothes they were wearing or they fought with me. I would use a dagger and they could use their swords and put their lives at stake.’

‘Did they choose to have a fight with you?’ Alana asked, ‘they should have known that they wouldn’t stand a chance.’

‘They hated us so much,’ my father said, ‘that we knew that they would choose the third option. You don’t have to worry about any of them, little blossom,’ he said.

‘Father, you were paying the additional taxes for the southern towns, weren’t you?’ the Prince asked.

‘Yes,’ the King said, ‘every fortune teller gave orders to every citizen, that every citizen should have enough money to pay the tax collectors. The fortune tellers received the coins from me.’

‘Did you bring the document, Veron?’ the King changed the topic.

The Prince handed the document over to his father, who read it.

‘A very well written proposal, Veron, I’m proud of you,’ the King said with a smile.

‘Thank you, father,’ the Prince smiled at Alana confidently, we were sure that he would sign it.

The King grabbed the document and tore it up in one motion. Alana looked at me in shock, the Prince and Velina looked at their father.

‘Why don’t you sign it?’ the Prince asked angrily, ‘you know the prophecy. Alana will be my wife.’

‘I know the prophecy,’ the King said, ‘but do you know anything about this girl?’

‘I do,’ the Prince said, ‘she is the daughter of a personal guard and a teacher. I don’t care about her origin, I love her.’

‘No, my son, Alana is not the person who you think she is,’ the King said.

‘Who is she then?’ the Prince asked, ‘a daughter of a blacksmith and a teacher?’

‘How many bags did you leave with the guardian of coins, Aleron?’ the King turned to me.

‘Four bags, your majesty,’ I said.

‘Where did you get so much money from?’ the Prince asked, ‘you could have collected one bag of gold over the years, but four is too much.’

‘The herbs always paid well,’ Alana said the same as we had heard from our parents.

‘Not so well, my precious,’ the Prince said, ‘who are they, father?’ the Prince asked his father.

‘No one has any idea?’ the King asked with a smile, the Queen sighed quietly.

‘Velina,’ the Prince looked at his sister, ‘do you see anything in anyone’s past?’

Velina was looking at the people in the room and after a while she smiled broadly.

‘For all my faults, I would never let my younger daughter go anywhere without money, considering that I would never see her anymore,’ Lord Adon said sitting next to the King, the four of us were in shock.

‘Was my mother your daughter?’ I asked, Lord Adon nodded.

‘Yes,’ Velina smiled, ‘in my presence they never thought about their daughters. I assume that councillor Totun taught them that as well.’

‘Your assumption is correct,’ Lord Adon smiled.

Alana stepped up to her grandparents and her aunt and hugged the three of them. The girls tried to restrain their emotions.

‘That is the reason that my mother had so many blue dresses,’ Alana smiled, ‘that is the colour of your family, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, little blossom,’ my grandmother smiled, ‘it was blue and yellow, but we haven’t used yellow for many generations.’

‘That’s why your guards have the two blue lines on their cloaks, haven’t they?’ I asked, he nodded.

‘When my daughters officially disappeared, and we moved into the castle for our safety, my guards became members of the royal guards, but the two blue lines indicated, that they belonged to me,’ he said.

‘Why did you not tell me?’ I asked.

‘Morton would have found you much easier,’ my father said, ‘he was looking for a single boy instead of twins and Amara did everything possible to keep him in the dark as long as was needed.’

‘Moreover, Veron would have courted differently, if he had known who Alana was,’ my grandmother said.

‘We are nobles, Alana,’ I said to my sister with a smile, who nodded.

‘Do you know what that means, my precious?’ the Prince turned to my sister, ‘you can marry me without any document, our engagement was valid all the time,’ the Prince took my sister's hand to raise it to his mouth to give her a kiss on her fingers.

‘I know, Veron,’ she smiled, ‘but thank you for submitting the document. It was very kind of you.’

The couple smiled at each other, but the King coughed, and the Prince stepped away from my sister.

‘What happened to the tailor and the poisoner?’ I asked.

‘Both left the country,’ our uncle said, ‘If they had stayed, their act would have been treason.’

‘Why couldn’t we catch anyone?’ the Prince asked.

‘Because you had to make any move only when it was needed,’ my father said, ‘if you had asked the man from the meadow or the poisoner, I would have lost my advantage which would have cost the twins’ lives.’

‘Why did you want me to have the dagger from the forest after Alana’s attack?’ the Prince asked.

‘Because we wanted you to figure out that we were involved in the attacks,’ the King said, ‘so, we waited until you had the dagger. Let’s just say I didn’t think that you would overreact so much to the information about the prophecy, that your mother and Aleron had to give you a slap,’ he smiled, ‘Adon told me the latter.’

‘What happened to the prophets?’ Velina asked.

‘We agreed with councillor Totun,’ my father said, ‘that we would hand them over to him and he would take care of them.’

‘The fortune tellers are not reporting to me, they are reporting to councillor Totun,’ the King said, ‘he is the King of the fortune tellers,’ he laughed.

‘Did this whole plan take place because of four people?’ I asked.

‘You saw only four people,’ my auntie said, ‘but for their sake they never stayed in one place at the same time.’

‘When we had finished our showdown with Morton,’ my father said, ‘we collected all of them and took them to the tower.’

‘And councillor Totun persuaded them to lie and the tree took their powers,’ Velina said, Shirela nodded.

‘Darion, I think everything is clear now to everyone,’ the Queen said.

‘Not yet,’ the King said, ‘Alana, from what I’ve heard you are a great swordswoman.’

Alana glanced at me, I shrugged my shoulders, my father nodded encouragingly.

‘Yes, I am, your majesty,’ Alana said surprised.

‘Just so you know, you have had the right to use swords since your birth. You don’t have the right to carry them because in your mother’s opinion carrying a sword doesn’t suit a woman. Tomorrow I’d like to observe the morning practice, as from now on you can practise openly in the courtyard.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ my sister smiled.

‘You can practise with me in the morning in the courtyard,’ I said, my sister nodded happily.

‘I hope that you will practise with me in private,’ the Prince said to her quietly.

‘Of course, Veron,’ my sister smiled.

My sister and Prince Veron left the room with the puppy, Velina stood up as well.

‘Are they always as sentimental as they were just now?’ the King asked.

‘You could say that yes,’ Velina chuckled.

‘You should have seen your son when Alana introduced herself,’ the Queen chuckled, ‘he forgot to say a word and now he is not capable of focusing on anything when Alana is around.’

‘He lost his annual board game contest,’ Velina laughed, ‘Baron won the competition.’

‘I know all of that from Brenbar, but I would like to watch the morning exercise anyway,’ he smiled.

His majesty invited all of us to dinner in the same dining room where we used to eat during the summer as Prince Veron’s guests. I arrived with Velina, the Prince with my sister. The four of us were sitting with our grandparents facing the royal couple, the rest of my family were sitting between us, where Baron and his friends used to sit.  We sat much closer to each other and the servants had more space to move as well.

‘Until when are you planning to teach, Alana?’ the King asked.

‘Three teachers will arrive tomorrow, Veron and I will choose one together, your majesty,’ Alana said.

‘You will have more time for me, my precious,’ the Prince said, Alana caressed his cheek.

‘Aleron,’ the King turned to me, ‘what are your plans regarding my daughter?’

I hadn’t expected this question, I had no idea what to say.

‘You can propose to her, you are noble,’ my uncle teased me.

‘We don’t have any plans yet,’ Velina said, ‘our relationship is just fine as it is.’

‘Leave my grandson alone,’ Lady Mara said with a smile.

‘Finally, the two families are uniting,’ the Queen said, ‘as we always wished.’

‘If Veron doesn’t ruin it again,’ Lady Mara said, ‘Edria is still waiting for him.’

‘Edria’s father is not a member of the royal council anymore,’ the King said, ‘Samon will take his place.’

‘Why?’ Alana said.

‘My absence revealed some people’s true character,’ the King said.

16.

Next morning, I went to the courtyard early to participate in the training. Far more guards were here than usual and everyone from Velina’s and my family were sitting on the balcony including Velina. My sister and the Prince arrived after me, everyone stared at Alana’s green, feminine shirt and trousers. The Prince smiled at my sister and he went inside the circle.

‘Welcome everyone,’ he said, ‘as all of you know and see, his majesty, King Darion has returned from his journey and with his permission my fiancée, Alana,’ he indicated my sister, ‘will be practising with us as of today.’

The announcement was followed by a slight murmur and by hesitant applause.

‘Everyone, who disarms my fiancée today, will get an additional week off.’

That applause was more robust than the previous one, everyone thought about an easy victory.

Alana walked inside the circle, the Prince handed her short swords over to her and gave her a kiss on her cheek.

‘Who would like to start?’ the Prince asked around, ‘I don’t want a week off,’ he said, everyone laughed at his joke.

‘I’m volunteering, your majesty,’ one guard said.

‘Here you go,’ the Prince said.

My sister showed the same level of skill as her opponent. The two swords confused everyone, and with every round, the guards’ confidence decreased. We had been learning from the best swordsmen in the country since we were toddlers, only the Prince or I would have a chance of beating my sister. The Prince sincerely admired my sister during the exercises. The guards kept trying persistently, Baron knew about Alana’s skill and he didn’t even try to gain a victory and Foren proved to be an easy opponent.

‘Anyone else?’ the Prince asked around when the last volunteer lost.

‘I’d like to try, my son,’ the King stood up on the balcony, so did my father and my uncle.

The King walked to us, took his son’s long wooden sword and walked inside the circle to my sister. My uncle and my father followed him, but they were waiting outside the circle.

‘Little blossom,’ my father said, ‘he has a grey beard, he will be easy to beat.’

‘He is the King,’ Alana whispered a little timidly.

‘My rank doesn’t matter here,’ the King said, ‘if you are better than me, then you are better.’

The King was attacking Alana, my uncle and my father gave her instructions constantly about what to do to beat the King. The King was a great swordsman, but he was a bit worse than his son. He couldn’t do anything against two swords because my sister followed the instructions from the onlookers. My sister kept attacking until she disarmed the King. On the balcony everyone applauded her victory, so did every guard.

‘You were great, my precious,’ the Prince smiled.

‘Alana is a perfect match for you, Veron,’ the King said proudly as he walked out of the circle.

‘Now it is my turn,’ I raised my hand and walked inside the circle.

‘Aleron, as you have some years advantage over the rest of the guards have,’ the Prince said with a smile, ‘if you lose, I’ll take your one day off away.’

Alana and I started our contest, my father and my uncle gave her instructions again. They visibly didn’t want to favour me, but they were enjoying themselves again. My sister was close beating me when she simply threw her swords away.

‘My brother deserves a week off,’ she smiled, the King applauded her, so did everyone else. I hugged her.

‘You were great again, my precious,’ the Prince said to her and took my sister's hand to raise it to his lips to give her a kiss on her fingers, as always, ‘we will meet in the private room this afternoon.’

‘At least once a week,’ the Prince said loudly, ‘I expect everyone to practise with my fiancée if she has time. You can learn a lot from an opponent who uses two swords.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ the answer came from the guards in unison.

‘You taught her well, Samon,’ the King said, ‘using short swords was a good choice.’

‘As a child, she was small and thin,’ our uncle said, ‘anything else would have looked silly in her hands,’ he chuckled.

After the morning exercise everyone went away, I wanted to change and have my breakfast in our joint apartment.

‘Hurry up, Aleron,’ Velina said as I was having my breakfast, ‘the teachers are coming soon.’

‘I didn’t know that we were going,’ I said.

‘I arranged it with Alana and they are waiting for us in the library. I have a feeling that I need to be there.’

‘Because of the tree?’ I asked.

‘I think so,’ she said.

‘How is the tree?’ I asked as I wanted to delay going because I was still hungry.

‘It is waiting,’ Velina said, ‘since you have found Alana, the obscurity hasn’t changed. Councillor Totun said that the tree was waiting for something.’

‘For what?’ I asked, ‘do you want me to touch the tree again?’

‘You don’t have to,’ she smiled, ‘the tree has nothing to show, just wait.’

‘I see,’ I said.

Because Velina looked anxious to go I finished my breakfast and we walked together to the library, where my sister and the Prince were standing on the huge ladder and kissing each other.

‘Could you not find a better place?’ Velina asked.

‘No,’ the Prince said and climbed off the ladder.

‘Alana,’ I said, ‘what if someone else comes in? Did you not think about that?’

‘This is her majesty’s private library, you can only enter if you have permission,’ the Prince said, ‘and there is nothing scandalous in a kiss.’

‘You will be a Queen, Alana,’ I said to my sister reproachfully, ‘you must pay attention to your behaviour.’

‘That is one of the benefits of being a Queen,’ the Prince said, ‘no one can say anything to us. Your sister is infinitely beautiful, and she is always attractive to me,’ Alana looked at him lovingly, ‘and we don’t have to wait for Lord Adon to make the potion for us anymore. No one will know when we are planning to have a child,’ the Prince smiled.

‘We have plenty of time for that, Veron,’ Alana said to him gently, ‘I want to spend time with you first.’

‘Just not in front of everyone,’ I said reproachfully, ‘Alana, we need to talk about the potion as well.’

‘You don’t have to wait for our grandfather anymore, I have already discussed it with Velina,’ my sister said, ‘Lord Adon said to call him grandfather,’ she chuckled.

‘I’ll call him that as well, then,’ I said.

Someone knocked on the door, Tarla led three women into the library. All the women were of our age, one of the women’s parents could have moved from the south to the capital, because she had dark skin and hair, the other women were light skinned, one with blond hair and one with brown hair. They bowed towards the engaged couple and afterwards towards us. Velina and I sat at a desk at the back, the women sat down next to each other, in front of Alana who sat behind her teacher’s desk. Tarla left us, she had been told to wait outside. My sister asked the teachers some questions, the Prince was sitting quietly. He was supporting Alana, but he didn’t know anything about teaching. I was glad that Alana had found a supportive husband.

‘Why are we here?’ I asked Velina quietly, ‘do you predict something will happen?’

Velina signalled to me to stay silent, as she was writing on some paper that she had found on the side of the desk. She was looking at the teachers and writing, but she hid the piece of paper from me. After a while I became very bored, so was the Prince, but he had learned to hide it.

‘Thank you,’ Alana said with a smile and she stood up, so did Prince Veron.

The women stood up, bowed to everyone and left the library. Alana and the Prince walked up to us.

‘What do you think, Veron?’ Alana asked the Prince, he tried very hard to figure out what to say.

‘All of them were great?’ he asked hesitantly, Alana laughed and caressed his cheek.

‘What do you think?’ she asked us.

‘I have written some things down,’ Velina said, ‘but you shouldn’t make a decision based on my feelings.’

‘All right,’ my sister said, ‘I would choose the woman who sat in the middle.’

‘The tall, pretty blond one?’ I asked, my sister nodded.

‘She was the only one who was focusing on teaching children. The others were focusing on working and living inside the castle. She was talking only about the children, the others were talking about the opportunity of teaching inside the castle.’

‘I didn’t know that was important,’ the Prince said surprised.

‘All of them have good experience as a teacher,’ Alana said, ‘Just like you made a decision when you hired Doran and my brother. They were perseverated and hard working to the random exercises when you were mostly not even present. I made a decision based on your strategy, Veron. I learned that from you.’

‘From me?’ the Prince asked surprised, ‘I didn’t know that you were paying so much attention to my decisions.’

‘I always pay attention to you,’ my sister smiled.

‘Enough of this dalliance,’ Velina said, ‘I wrote this down.’

Velina handed the paper over to my sister, who read it aloud.

‘Her students did not like the first candidate because she had punished them a lot and the third one had come to find a lover inside the castle,’ my sister read, ‘the woman who is sitting in the middle will become Baron’s wife.’

‘She will be Baron’s wife?’ the Prince asked, ‘how could you know that if you can’t see the future?’

‘I cannot predict anything at the moment,’ Velina said, ‘but as you know, last year I predicted a wife for Baron, but I didn’t know the woman. Now when I saw her in person, I knew that she was the woman I predicted. I knew, that it wouldn’t be Alana when she arrived, but Veron didn’t believe me at the time.’

‘I believe you now,’ the Prince smiled and put his arm round Alana’s waist.

‘We have a decision then,’ my sister smiled, ‘the new teacher will start next week, the room downstairs will be ready by the end of this week.’

‘Don’t say a word to Baron,’ the Prince said, ‘I want to see how he struggles, as he saw in my case.’

‘We won’t tell him,’ I said, the girls nodded in agreement.

‘The woman doesn’t know anything about Baron,’ Velina said, ‘she doesn’t believe in fortune tellers and she has never visited any of us.’

‘She made a good decision,’ the Prince said, ‘I almost left Alana because of you.’

‘It was only because of you, Veron,’ Alana smiled, ‘you were thinking too much instead of talking to me.’

‘I’ll talk to you next time,’ the Prince said.

‘I know,’ Alana caressed the Prince’s cheek, Velina and I started to cough.

When the classroom was ready, the new teacher, Talina moved into the castle and started to teach. She was given Edria’s apartment on our floor. At the beginning, Alana always joined the classes, to help the children and Talina to get to know each other. In the capital winter had arrived, Alana and I were not used to such cold weather, so Alana didn’t leave the castle for a long time.

Velina was right, Talina caught Baron’s attention from the beginning. She was smart just like my sister, but she accepted Baron’s offer of courtship happily.

After we had found out about our mother’s origin, Alana and I spent time every day with our grandparents and our aunt. We had read every letter that my mother had sent to them, Alana and grandfather Adon exchanged their experiences with herbs.

‘How is it possible that we cannot draw?’ I asked my grandmother when she was drawing Alana in the Queen’s lobby.

‘Amina couldn’t draw,’ she said, ‘when you were children, she sent me some of your drawings, I told her not to force you as you were not talented,’ she chuckled, ‘maybe my great grandchildren will be talented.’

‘I can draw,’ aunt Amara said, ‘but I don’t know anything about herbs.’

‘She is my failure,’ our grandfather laughed, ‘Amina experienced the same with you as I did with Amara,’ he smiled at me.

‘Alana,’ the Queen said, ‘did Veron say anything to you relating to the wedding? I cannot organize that in one day.’

‘No, Vina, he didn’t,’ my sister smiled, ‘he is quiet about this topic.’

‘I will talk to him,’ the Queen said, ‘delaying is unnecessary, Darion would like to retire and become a simple advisor.’

My sister and the Prince’s relationship stayed the same, they were able to stop anywhere for a short kiss. In Velina’s opinion, they did that simply just to annoy everyone. Several times a week, the four of us had dinner together in our apartment or in Alana’s. Maina remained my sister’s servant and she always called Alana by name.

‘Tomorrow I’m going to the inn, Veron,’ Alana said during a dinner together one day.

‘You can go with the usual guards,’ the Prince said, ‘and you should think of inviting people here instead of going to the inn.’

‘I’d like to have a personal guard,’ Alana said, ‘someone who would be right next to me at every social event.’

‘My precious,’ the Prince said, ‘my guards are your guards as well, you can choose Aleron without any problem.’

‘I’d like to choose Puron,’ Alana said, I dropped my spoon, the Prince almost choked on his food.

Puron was the innkeeper’s son, who had somehow learned to use a sword over the last few weeks, but he would barely fit in with the royal guards and he didn’t fit in with the personal guards at all. The Prince kept him inside the castle, he was mainly employed in the dining room.

‘Who, my precious?’ the Prince asked, Velina just smiled.

‘I’d like to choose Puron, Veron,’ Alana said, ‘he is kind and polite.’

‘My precious,’ the Prince said gently, ‘If Velina took a sword in her hand, she would be a better swordsman than Puron. Politeness will not save your life.’

‘He's just tall enough to carry my swords at the perfect height for me. The citizens in the capital like him and we owe his family a debt of gratitude.’

‘So, you want us to guard you just like before, but Puron should carry your swords. Have I understood correctly?’ I asked my sister, she nodded.

‘Now all your guards are carrying short swords on their belts, which doesn’t make sense,’ Alana said, ‘if only Puron carried them, that would be enough.’

‘I’ll talk with my father,’ I said, ‘Puron needs to improve, to be capable to defend at least himself.’

‘If they cannot help him to improve, then no-one will be able to,’ the Prince said, ‘all right, my precious, but please give us a couple of months to improve Puron’s skills.’

‘Thank you, Veron,’ my sister smiled, ‘I’m not in a rush, tomorrow I’ll go to the inn with the same guards.’

‘Do you not ask for any payment for your herbs anymore?’ Velina asked.

‘Sometimes I do,’ Alana said, ‘it depends on the request. In the case of children, I don’t accept any payment, their health is of paramount importance, but if someone asks for a potion because of their licentious lifestyle I always ask for some money.’

‘I would have paid you, my precious,’ the Prince laughed.

‘I know Veron, grandfather told me,’ she smiled, ‘but it doesn’t matter,’ she caressed the Prince’s cheek, ‘you have different local customs here than in the south and I understand that women wanted to be in your bedroom.’

‘Now, only you can be there,’ the Prince kissed my sister.

‘Veron,’ Velina said, ‘this is our apartment, that is enough.’

‘We are leaving, aren’t we, my precious?’ the Prince asked.

‘We can go,’ my sister said, and they left in a couple of seconds.

‘They are worse than they were at the beginning of their engagement,’ Velina said.

‘What will happen about the wedding?’ I asked, ‘everyone is waiting for your brother.’

‘I know,’ she smiled, ‘Our mother is very impatient and Veron loves that.’

‘You know something,’ I stated.

‘I do,’ she said, ‘but you will have to wait until Spring.’

From the next day, Puron started to practise with my uncle, my father and the King in a private room, where sometimes Prince Veron and I went to see how he was improving.

‘Is Puron improving?’ the Prince asked me when one day he entered the room during their training.

When the Prince asked me, my uncle had just unarmed Puron.

‘He doesn’t fit into the guards at all, he has no talent with the sword,’ I said, ‘but compared to how he was, he is improving.’

‘Shiveron, enough,’ the King raised his hand, ‘Boy, tell me what did you do before you became a guard? Did you use any sharp objects?’

‘I used to work at the inn with my mother,’ Puron said, ‘I was working with knives mostly and in my free time I spent my time with wooden daggers.’

‘With wooden daggers?’ the King asked.

‘Yes,’ he said, ‘I had time to carve and I made some wooden daggers with a board for myself.’

My uncle took a dagger from his belt.

‘Throw this dagger into that wooden beam on the other side of the wall,’ he said.

We walked away with the Prince to be as far away as possible. Puron took the dagger and after thinking  briefly he threw the dagger into the edge of the wooden beam.

‘Not bad at all,’ my uncle said, ‘again.’

Puron threw every dagger into the wooden beam and he became better and better with every throw.

‘Well,’ the King said, ‘I think we have a starting point,’ he smiled, ‘you should have told us this earlier, boy.’

‘What is your father’s name, Puron?’ my father asked thoughtfully, ‘as your mother is an innkeeper of a royal inn that answer might be important.’

‘Padan,’ Puron said, the three men started to laugh.

‘We should have started with that question,’ the King said.

‘Did you know his father?’ the Prince asked.

‘He was the worst swordsman in the country,’ the King laughed, ‘but the best dagger thrower. At the beginning, he was one of my father’s guards, and he retired when I began my reign. He wanted to have a family and I offered to make him landlord of the royal inn in the capital.’

‘He taught us how to throw daggers,’ my uncle said, ‘at least now we can reciprocate his teaching and we can teach his son.’

‘Puron must be ready for the wedding,’ the Prince said.

‘He will be, son,’ the King smiled, ‘your mother is quite angry because of this topic.’

‘She may well be,’ the Prince smiled.

‘Your majesty,’ I said, ‘I don’t know anything about the wedding either.’

‘Aleron,’ the Prince patted my shoulder, ‘you were born in the spring, weren’t you?’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said.

‘So, you know everything now,’ he chuckled, ‘but don’t let the cat out of the bag.’

‘I won’t do that,’ I smiled.

Spring came around quickly, Alana and the Prince’s relationship was in perfect harmony just like mine with Velina. Velina was patient and caring, she always listened to me patiently on my difficult days. Baron proposed to Talina and Puron improved to be an excellent dagger thrower. My father and my uncle taught him well and he became Alana’s personal guard. My aunt let her hair grow, she looked very similar to my mother. Alana and the Prince named their white furred dog Royal Doggie to have a simple name like Peg Leg.

The two animals became friends and one of Prince Veron’s servants taught the dog to behave appropriately. The dog was indeed small, he reached only to the lower leg and he slept in Alana’s lobby, he was not allowed to go into the bedroom. Our grandmother’s dog also liked Royal Doggie, but he didn’t like to play a lot.

After that I was informed about the Prince’s wedding plan, Velina involved me in the preparations. Apart from Velina, only the men were aware of the Prince’s plan and the Queen became very impatient.

‘Aleron,’ Velina said to me during a dinner together where everyone from both families was present, ‘You will have a birthday next month, am I right?’

‘Yes, just as my sister has,’ I said.

‘Am I correct in saying that you weren’t born on the same day?’ the Prince asked.

‘Yes, your majesty, I was born before midnight and Alana was born after midnight,’ I said, ‘we have our own birthdays.’

‘My precious,’ the Prince turned to Alana, ‘I’d be honoured, my precious if you could come with me to the main square on a carriage on your birthday to marry me.’

According to tradition the King must always get married in front of the public to gain the people’s blessing. Based on a legend the first King got married under a giant ancient tree and the tree of fate was born from a branch of this ancient tree. The main square was built around this tree and only the King can get married under this tree. Everyone else needs to find another tree when they get married.

‘Veron,’ my sister was touched, ‘that would be the best birthday gift, that I have ever received. I’d be honoured to marry you and be your wife.’

The women were touched, the men were smiling.

‘Veron,’ the Queen said, ‘No one can make a proper dress for Alana in a few weeks. You should have told me earlier; a royal wedding requires a lot of work.’

‘Alana’s dress is almost ready,’ Velina said.

‘I have told you my plans now because the citizens will be informed tomorrow and I wanted to tell you that as well. We need to start the preparations in the capital tomorrow, otherwise you would have still been kept in the dark.’

‘Finally, we will have a great grandchild,’ my grandmother said with a smile.

The period before the wedding became more hectic day by day, the Queen helped Velina, and my sister moved to the other side of the castle in accordance with the royal traditions.

‘Why do I have to pay the price because my sister is getting married?’ I asked Velina as she was packing her belongings.

‘Your sister doesn’t have a mother or a sister with whom she could spend the forthcoming days. As she is my companion, it is my duty to move together with her. Your aunt by herself is not enough company,’ Velina said ‘all my companions are moving, and you cannot enter our corridor.’

‘Good,’ I said sarcastically, ‘will you sneak back sometimes?’ I asked.

‘I won’t Aleron,’ she smiled, ‘you have to manage without me.’

‘Will I see you during the day?’ I asked, she shook her head.

‘We will meet only in company,’ she said, ‘do you not have this tradition in the south?’

‘No, we don’t,’ I said, ‘we don’t live together before the wedding, so this tradition wouldn’t make any sense. After the engagement we can secretly meet each other and that’s it.’

‘I’m curious about how Veron will manage to see your sister,’ she laughed, ‘Alana will be guarded by Lord Adon’s personal guards.’

‘They will not be together at all,’ I said, ‘my father said that they were great guards as well.’

‘I will take a bet that Veron will manage it,’ she laughed.

‘Why is it necessary for people to move?’ I asked, ‘why is it needed?’

‘Based on old rumours my grandfather’s grandfather married a different woman from the one he was supposed originally to marry, because he had changed his mind a couple of weeks before the wedding,’ Velina said, ‘these forthcoming weeks are there so that the couple can change their mind or strengthen their love. Every citizen in the capital does the same, as this is the royal tradition.’

‘My sister’s and your brother’s love do not need to be strengthened,’ I said, ‘where should they dally with each other, in the reception hall?’

‘Don’t give them any ideas,’ Velina said and as a goodbye she pushed me down gently onto the bed.

The girls moved to the other side of the castle, even Baron’s fiancée, Talina went with them. The Prince doubled the guards in that corridor and ordered more bells on the walls. Our grandfather’s guards who had blue lines on their royal cloaks always escorted my sister, they followed her even into the library and they were present at training times as well. The Prince didn’t have any chance to be with my sister in private, my grandfather’s personal guards were excellent guards.

We could spend our spare time in the garden together, but my sister and her fiancée could not even have a walk in private. Velina and I could do that, but Velina made it clear that she enjoyed being missed by me. The days without the girls passed very slowly, the men always spent their mealtimes together.

‘Tonight, stay awake,’ Baron told me a couple of days before the wedding, ‘and wear your uniform.’

‘I’ll do so,’ I smiled.

That night I accepted Baron’s suggestion and I was already dressed as I waited for him.

‘Where are we going?’ I asked, when I opened my door to a quiet knock.

‘Into the nearby forest,’ Baron said, ‘we must take the Prince with us. He doesn’t know anything about what we’re doing, we need to wake him up.’

I was waiting in the corridor; Baron opened the door of the Prince’s apartment. Royal Doggie woke up, but as soon as he recognized a friend, he fell asleep.

‘Wake up, your majesty,’ Baron gently shook the Prince’s shoulders, ‘we need to leave.’

‘Where are we going?’ the Prince asked half-awake.

‘Talina sent me a note that Alana had left the castle,’ Baron said seriously, ‘you must bring her back before anyone becomes aware that she has gone.’

‘What?’ the Prince became alert in a second.

The Prince got dressed in a hurry. Baron was waiting for him with a serious expression on his face, he must have been practising it. Now that our grandfather was taking care of Alana’s herbs, all of them had nice shoots.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince spotted me, ‘did she tell you anything?’

‘I’m sorry, your majesty,’ I said, ‘I have barely had time to talk to her recently.’

‘I hope she is all right,’ he said, ‘I knew that our mother’s idea about this movement was bad,’ he grumbled, ‘I hate traditions about moving to different accommodation.’

‘Pick Royal Doggie up,’ Baron whispered to me, I left after them having picked the dog up together with all the things he needed.

We hurried into the royal stable, Foren was already there saddling the horses, including the Prince’s black stallion. Baron rode at the front, and we followed him into the meadow where the Prince had kissed my sister for the first time. Baron said to us that some of the guards had seen Alana riding in that direction. When we arrived at the meadow, we saw the light of a campfire, which was surrounded by our fathers, my uncle, Brenbar, Puron and Abidon.

‘So, you believed that she had left you,’ the King chuckled, ‘I believed the same about your mother many years ago.’

‘Is everything all right with Alana?’ the Prince asked.

‘As far as we know she is sleeping in her bed,’ my uncle smiled, ‘Lord Adon’s guards are taking care of her.’

‘Abidon,’ the Prince hugged his friend, ‘I didn’t know that you had came back. What happened in the south?’

‘I missed your engagement, I will not miss your wedding, your majesty. In the south everything is all right, I have already reported everything to his majesty.’

‘What are you doing here?’ the Prince asked as we sat down.

‘As is the tradition for every King, you will live here for the next few days until your wedding,’ the King said,  ‘there will be neither luxury nor a soft bed.’

‘Using the word tradition is a bit exaggerated,’ my uncle said to the King, ‘you were the first one, who had this tradition because let’s say, your father was a fool. He would have never allowed anyone to do so.’

‘Yes, that’s right,’ the King chuckled; I was still surprised by the friendly tone between them.

‘What will I eat?’ the Prince asked.

‘Anything that you want,’ my father said, ‘you have a forest and a brook.’

‘But we never hunt just for fun,’ the Prince said.

‘We won’t do that now either,’ the King said, ‘but we are here to help you.’

‘When can I go home?’ the Prince asked.

‘You can spend your last night before the wedding in your apartment,’ the King said, ‘your mother would kill me, if you were hungry and tired on your wedding day.’

‘You were not planning anything similar to this for Alana, were you?’ the Prince asked.

‘Alana didn’t grow up as a noble,’ my father said, ‘spending a few days in a meadow wouldn’t be difficult for her. She knows how to catch and bone a fish.’

‘And we slept a lot in the garden during the heat,’ I said, ‘I think this type of night would be more difficult for the other girls.’

‘From what I have heard,’ the King said, ‘there was a plan about doing something unusual for her as well, but I don’t have any more details.’

Everyone went to sleep with a huge blanket next to the fire, the Prince rolled around a lot, but the King just chuckled at him. Royal Doggie wanted to sleep on the Prince’s blanket, but he came over to me because the Prince was so restless.

In the morning the rising sun woke us up, it was a bit earlier than our usual wake up time, the Prince tried to fall back asleep.

Baron and the rest of the boys of my age were not used to this early awakening, the King simply woke them up. The men brought some bags, but I was certain that they would open them if there was an emergency. Both fathers and my uncle woke up and they packed noisily before they ran into the brook happily shouting. The Prince’s friends were watching them for a while, Puron went into the brook.

‘Come,’ I said to the Prince’s friends, ‘let’s go. I used to bathe in the sea a lot.’

I jumped into the brook, Baron, Foren and Abidon followed me hesitantly, the Prince woke up grumbling. The brook came up to the size of my chest, there were fish swimming around us. Royal Doggie was jumping into the water happily, my father caught him, so that he wouldn’t drift away in the brook.

‘Come, Veron,’ the King shouted to his son, ‘this brook is very nice.’

The Prince stood up and walked into the brook grumbling.

‘It’s cold,’ he grumbled.

‘What did you think it would be like, Veron?’ the King asked, ‘it is a brook,’ he chuckled.

When we had finished bathing, we got dressed in the meadow, the fathers made a fire.

‘What are we going to have for breakfast?’ the Prince asked.

‘Anything that you can catch for yourself,’ the King said.

‘Puron,’ the Prince said, ‘please cook some fish for me.’

‘No, Veron,’ the King said seriously, ‘if you are not willing to solve this on your own, I will send everyone home apart from you. For a few more days still I’m the King.’

‘What is the sense of all this?’ the Prince asked.

‘Veron,’ the King said nicely, ‘in a few days you will become a King which comes with great responsibility.  Trust me, and you will understand how much freedom these few days have given you. Whatever life brings your way, learn from it as much as possible. At the moment it is how to cook fish,’ he chuckled.

‘So be it,’ the Prince said, he obviously trusted his father.

The Prince walked into the brook, all of us followed him. My father and my uncle showed him how to catch a fish. Everyone was observing them, Puron and I caught one fish each, both of us had enough experience to do so.

‘You’ll catch the next fish, Veron,’ my uncle jollied the Prince, who looked at him, ‘Prince Veron,‘ my uncle corrected himself, the King laughed.’

‘You were the same, Darion,’ my father said, ‘do you remember that you resented it when I forgot to bow to you?’

‘I remember,’ the King caught a fish with a laugh, ‘you had just started to court Amina and she was in the room when you entered.’

The Prince raised his hands, a fish was squirming between his hands.

‘Good job, Veron,’ my uncle smiled, ‘Prince Veron,’ he corrected himself again.

‘Never mind,’ the Prince said, ‘with this constant correction, it sounds even worse.’

‘I’m honoured, your majesty,’ my uncle chuckled.

We walked back to the camp, Foren and Baron made a fire.

‘It was not bad at all,’ the Prince smiled, ‘I assume that now I must gut the fish.’

Puron took a knife from his belt which held two short swords and a lot of daggers. He sat down next to the Prince and started to gut his fish. Everyone took a knife and gutted their fish. Puron, my uncle, the fathers and I didn’t have any problems, the rest of the men were copying our moves.

‘You don’t talk a lot, boy,’ the King said to Puron, ‘you are just like your father.’

‘Sitting in front of your majesty is very unusual for me,’ Puron said, ‘Alana was kind and chose me to be her personal guard, but I’m not sure that I fit here.’

‘Alana?’ the King asked with interest.

‘Her majesty forbade me to address her in any way other than Alana,’ Puron said, ‘I’m sorry if it is not polite enough, I don’t know much about the etiquette rules.’

‘It was exactly the same with her servant Maina as well,’ I said.

‘Throw your knife into that tree,’ my uncle indicated a young thin tree close to us.

Puron threw his knife into the tree with one move.

‘You fit here, boy,’ the King smiled, ‘Alana chose her guard well, and as she requested to be called Alana, you should call her Alana. She will be a great Queen, Samon,’ he said to my father.

‘If she had grown up here, she wouldn’t have been such a good Queen,’ my father said.

‘I’m sure about that,’ the King said, ‘Velina’s rebelling and Edria’s scheming personality would have influenced her.’

We roasted the fish which we had hooked on to sticks; the King shared some pieces of bread with us from his bag. Royal Doggie got some pieces of fish, he was not choosy at all and he enjoyed being able to wander around wherever he wanted.

When everyone had finished their meal, my uncle stood up.

‘Take your swords,’ he said, ‘you need to practise. All of you.’

Puron and the King just sat there, Brenbar was exercising with Foren. My uncle and my father had two opponents each. They were able to defeat even two people, but Prince Veron and I fought with determination against my father.

‘You should exercise with Samon and Shiveron every day,’ the King said, ‘you will learn a lot.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ we said in unison.

While we were resting, Puron was practising with my family, after a while the Prince and I joined in.

‘I propose a competition,’ the King said, ‘a dagger throwing competition only between the youngsters. The winner will get his dinner today from the rest of us.’

The six of us were competing against each other, Puron was the best thrower, but he deliberately made mistakes in favour of the Prince.

‘Boy,’ the King said, ‘if you are better than Veron, then you are better. His rank cannot help him.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ Puron said.

The day passed very quickly, we ate more fish and for one meal we had a rabbit, the Prince started to adapt to the situation. We slept the same way as the previous night. Our fathers didn’t have any further plans, they simply enjoyed their time in nature.

‘Are we going back to the castle tomorrow?’ Baron asked during the last dinner, sitting next to the fire.

‘Yes,’ the King said, ‘Veron, I’d like you to keep up this custom with your children and come here sometimes.’

‘I’ll do that, father,’ the Prince said, ‘if I have a son.’

‘You can bring a girl here as well,’ my father said, ‘bring Alana once and you will see.’

‘She would impress you even more,’ I said, ‘my sister is able to build a house from branches. The house was never perfect, but she was at least trying,’ I laughed.

‘How does she know about so many boyish things?’ Abidon asked.

‘We raised them in the same way,’ my uncle said, ‘everything that we taught Aleron we taught Alana as well, and Amina did the same. Alana didn’t have any friends, so she spent her time mainly with Aleron, even though he did something boyish things.’

‘I’ll bring my children here,’ the Prince said with a smile while he was petting Royal Doggie lying next to his legs.

‘Aleron, do you have any plans regarding my daughter?’ the King asked me, ‘Velina is a real rebel, but you have been courting her for quite a while and as I can see, she really loves you.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ I said, ‘but I don’t have any plans yet.’

‘We will wait then until you have a plan,’ the King smiled.

‘My sister would have never been a rebel if she had predicted her feelings towards Aleron,’ the Prince said, ‘she would have adored him silently until Aleron noticed her,’ he chuckled, ‘She would have been a boring sister.’

‘Just like you,’ the King teased his son, ‘but apart from that you would have driven poor Alana crazy with your jealousy.’

‘Maybe we wouldn’t be having this wedding,’ my father said, the fathers laughed.

‘I think councillor Totun knew that Aleron and Velina would have a courtship,’ the King said.

‘Why do you think that?’ the Prince asked.

‘He implied to me many times that the traitor's prophecy would impact on both my children,’ the King said, ‘I mentioned to Velina sometimes, that she would not die alone but she never believed me.’

‘I think councillor Totun could see the future all the time, even during the period of obscurity,’ my father said ‘his advice never indicated that the obscurity of the tree had impacted on him.’

‘I agree,’ the King said.

‘How can someone become the leader of the fortune tellers?’ I asked.

‘The tree of fate chooses the prevailing leader,’ the King said, ‘the tree indicates when the current leader must retire, and the tree chooses the new leader a couple of days after his retirement. When the previous leader retired, the insurgent group was certain, that the new leader would be one of them. At that time, my father almost handed the leadership of the country over to them.’

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘The tree had chosen a young, quiet leader,’ the King said, ‘the tree showed every fortune teller the new leader to avoid any misunderstanding. Councillor Totun introduced himself to me a couple of days before my wedding and the insurgent group left the tower on the next day.’

‘They should have left the tower earlier,’ my uncle said.

‘They could have guessed that you would get married just a few months after the engagement In order to amend all the nonsensical laws that your father had invented.’

‘Probably they believed that I would listen to the new leader,’ the King said, ‘actually, I did so,’ he chuckled.

‘How did the two of you meet?’ the Prince asked curiously looking at our fathers.

‘He beat me up,’ the King laughed and indicated my father, ‘I was younger than you are now,‘ he said, ‘and at nights I used to sneak out of the castle to play board games. My father was a strict man and he only allowed me to do a few things.’

‘He only let you do activities or buy things that the fortune tellers had told him,’ my uncle interrupted the King, who nodded.

‘So,’ the King continued, ‘I took my royal clothes off and borrowed an outfit from my servant. I left the castle to play board games and win some money for the things that my father would not allow me to buy. I thought I was a good strategist and a good player, and I became furious when Samon won all my money. I was certain that he was cheating, and I punched him on the face at the table saying that he was cheating. As a Prince, I learned how to fight, and I wanted to have my money back.’

‘I beat him up very badly that night,’ my father laughed, ‘I was not aware that he was the Prince. We were sons of a blacksmith, who didn’t tolerate either accusations or punches.’

‘So, my grandfather was not a clerk,’ I said, ‘and my mother was not a teacher.’

‘We said that our father was a clerk because you would have been suspicious about how we knew so much about noble customs,’ my father said, ‘and your mother was an excellent teacher. She loved teaching children and she taught many of them around her in her free time.’

‘The next day the Queen came to us and asked us to join her son’s guards,’ my uncle switched the topic back, ‘I hadn’t touched Darion at all, but both of us said yes. Her majesty, the Queen said that we should stay behind her son rather than in front of him,’ he chuckled, ‘The King never found out who had beaten up his son, because the Queen bribed the fortune tellers.’

‘From that time on we sneaked out of the castle together,’ my father said.

‘Samon and Shiveron moved inside the castle,’ the King said, ‘and many years later when I got engaged to Vina, she moved into the castle with her companions, including the mother of the twins. We knew her from the dance evenings because Lord Adon always brought his daughters, but Samon never asked Amina for a dance. He offered to court her only when we were both living inside the castle.’

‘I cannot dance,’ my father chuckled, ‘I would have just ruined my chances with Amina.’

‘You wouldn’t have done that,’ the King said, ‘Amina knew for a long time that you would be her husband just as she knew about her death. She went to a fortune teller when she was very young.’

‘How did she die?’ the Prince asked.

‘Amina was born with heart disease,’ my father said, ‘She weakened over a period of a couple of months and she fell asleep without waking up. Alana did everything to save her, but she was not able to do so. A year before her death we told everything to the twins. I already knew the date of her death when I proposed to her. She was thrilled that the twins were born healthy.’

‘She taught us everything before her time came,’ I said, ‘we were with her on her last day and said goodbye to her, but it upset Alana very much.’

‘I can imagine, ‘the Prince said, ‘Baron, when are you planning to get married?’ the Prince changed the subject.

‘Just after your marriage, your majesty,’ Baron chuckled, ‘we must join you on the tour as well.’

‘Which tour?’ I asked.

‘When the Prince gets married and becomes a King, he must traverse the four provinces with his wife,’ the King said, ‘he is introducing himself to his people and gaining their blessing.’

‘But that journey takes many weeks,’ I said.

‘So, be prepared, Aleron,’ the Prince smiled, ‘you are coming with us as well. We are leaving two days after the wedding.’

‘Why are we waiting for two days?’ I asked, Baron coughed and looked at the Prince.

‘I will spend those two days with my Queen,’ the Prince said, ‘and you will prepare everything for the journey.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ Baron said.

We spent the next day in the meadow, and we rode back to the castle in the afternoon. The Prince understood why his father had organised the trip and had enjoyed himself after all. After our arrival the Prince jumped off his horse and headed towards the green dresses in the garden. We unsaddled the horses and followed him.

‘Don’t you like it, Veron?’ my sister asked.

Alana’s long blond hair had disappeared, she had shoulder-length brown hair, but otherwise, she looked the same as before.

‘You look pretty, my precious,’ the Prince tried to hide his disappointment, but he had difficulty in doing so.

‘I’m sorry, Veron,’ my sister said, ‘I thought that you would like it.’

‘You are beautiful, my precious,’ the Prince cheered up and smiled.

‘Thank you, Veron,’ my sister stepped up to the Prince, but she received only a hand kiss because our grandfather’s guards stood quietly behind her.

‘I don’t like your new hairstyle,’ I said, ‘cutting your hair was a mistake.’

‘We thought that it would be something different from usual,’ Velina said next to me, ‘it was my idea.’

‘Next time keep your ideas to yourself,’ the Prince said to his sister.

The two groups spent the afternoon together in the garden, Velina said to me that they had passed the time with various beauty treatments. Before dinner the groups separated, tomorrow everyone would have a long day.

‘Will I see you tomorrow, my precious?’ the Prince asked Alana.

‘If you want to marry me even with this hairstyle,’ my sister smiled.

‘I would marry you even if you were bald, my precious,’ the Prince said lovingly, ‘I will wait for you next to the carriage.’

‘I’ll be there, Veron,’ Alana caressed the Prince’s cheek, her guards coughed discreetly.

The girls walked into the castle, we stayed outside to play board games.

‘I will kill my sister,’ the Prince said, ‘I liked Alana’s long hair.’

‘Veron,’ the King stepped up to his grumbling son, ‘let me see how much you have improved during my absence.’

‘I have improved a lot,’ the Prince said proudly.

My father, my uncle, the Prince and King Darion stood by the table. The Prince stood in his usual place, my uncle stood in front of him, my father and the King stood next to him facing each other.

‘I’m out of practice, Darion,’ my father smiled.

‘We will see about that,’ the King smiled.

Everybody stayed around the table; we were watching the contest with interest. My father and the King played very well and probably they were in cahoots with each other. The Prince didn’t win, the King gained victory.

‘Samon is my best strategist, Veron,’ the King smiled, ‘you didn’t even have a chance, but you did well.’

‘Thank you, father,’ the Prince smiled.

‘Why did you never teach me to play this board game?’ I asked.

‘In the south, no one knew this game and I was not able to find two people who could play with us and you had to learn a lot of things. Your mother and I decided that not knowing this game would not cause any disadvantage to any of you.’

‘My mother and my uncle could have played with us,’ I said.

‘Shiveron would have been an acceptable player, but your mother,’ he laughed, ‘this was not a game she could play.’

‘There were only a few players in the country who were worse than Amina,’ the King chuckled.

‘Veron,’ the King turned to his son, ‘I’d like to play with you one more time, when Alana is present,‘ he smiled.

‘You have heard about my birthday contest,’ the Prince said, the King smiled.

‘I won’t be distracted any more, I’ll prove it after the trip,’ the Prince said confidently.

‘I can’t wait, son,’ the King smiled.

17.

The wedding day arrived, in the morning, the servants woke everyone up. I received my official uniform which I had to wear. I received an apple green jacket which had a golden stripe on the edge. Two thin blue lines crossed my jacket, indicating my origin. I washed and got dressed slowly after having my breakfast. When I was ready, I went over to the Prince, based on Tarla’s instructions we had to wait together next to the barouches.

‘Aleron,’ the Prince greeted me, when I entered his room, he was just about to finish getting dressed.

The Prince wore a similar jacket to mine, but it was emerald green and he had more golden stripes than I had.

‘Your majesty,’ I smiled, ‘how do you feel today?’

‘Please call Lord Adon and ask him to give me some relaxing tea,’ the Prince said.

‘I don’t suggest you do so,’ I said, ‘before my first night many years ago my sister gave me some. I felt like a drunk person, I can barely remember anything,’ I said, ‘But I must admit that I wasn’t nervous at all,’ I chuckled.

‘I hope that the girl forgave you,’ he chuckled.

‘I visited her a couple of times afterwards,’ I smiled, ‘but I don’t suggest you do so. You will meet Alana soon and everything will be all right.’

‘I believe you, thank you, Aleron,’ he smiled, ‘even for slapping me.’

‘You’re welcome, any time, your majesty,’ I chuckled.

‘When this is over, forget about the title of Prince,’ he said, ‘my father is right, it does not matter, and everyone respects Alana not using her title. Pick Royal Doggie up, he will be with you today.’

‘Yes, Veron,’ I said.

Everyone, who was with us in the meadow, was waiting for us in the corridor. The King looked at his son very proudly.

‘Are you ready, Veron?’ he asked, ‘this will go on your head today,’ he indicated the crown on his head.

‘I’m ready, father,’ the Prince smiled, ‘let’s go.’

We walked outside the castle, the decorated barouches were already waiting, Tarla gave instructions to the people. The staff from the castle stayed in two lines creating an aisle between my sister’s apartment and the barouches. At the end of the line, the Prince and our family were waiting for Alana next to the barouches. The royal family wore emerald green clothes, the personal guards wore apple green coloured uniforms, just like I did. All the girls were already there apart from my sister. My grandparents wore their blue coloured clothes with golden stripes. Baron greeted Talina, Foren his fiancée, my uncle greeted Shirela. I handed Royal Doggie over to my uncle, the dog was barely visible in his hands.

‘You look very nice, your majesty,’ I stepped up to Velina and kissed her hand, ‘but your brother will kill you.’

‘I know,’ she smiled, ‘I will handle him.’

‘Samon, Aleron,’ the Queen said, ‘she is ready, you can walk her out.’

According to tradition, the male family members of the bride had to walk her from the apartment to the barouches giving their blessing for the wedding. The people who stayed in two lines could greet my sister and accept her as their Queen. We walked inside the castle among the impatient people. Children carried branches which represented the luck of the tree of fate. The more branches a couple gets, the happier their marriage will be.

My father knocked on the door, Maina opened it.

‘Is she ready?’ my father asked.

‘Yes, she is ready,’ Maina smiled.

My sister appeared at the door smiling, the dark green beads shone in her blonde hair. Her dress was similar to what she wore on the dance evening. There were no sleeves, her shoulders and arms were uncovered. The bottom of her dress was broader than usual, but she was able to move very elegantly. The dress had a golden striped long trail and a golden belt. The symbol of my family was embroidered on the strap as the blue line would not have been visible on a dark green dress. The symbol of my family was a simple flower which indicated my family’s knowledge about herbs. Alana wore pretty green silk gloves and green jewellery hid the scar on her arm.

‘Didn’t you cut your hair?’ I asked surprised as I hugged her.

‘No,’ she smiled, ‘Velina wanted to tease her brother and she had made me a wig. You should know that I would never cut my hair as I never cut it in the south. Veron loves my hair.’

‘You surprised me as I thought the same,’ I gave her a kiss on her forehead.

‘You look beautiful, little blossom,’ my father said, and he kissed her forehead too.

Alana hugged us and we strolled along the corridor between the people. Everyone bowed slightly, some of them handed the branches over to her. When we reached the entrance, Alana had quite a lot of branches in her hand, so I took them from her.

We arrived at the barouches, everyone bowed to her, apart from Veron and the royal couple.

‘My precious,’ the Prince said with a flicker of happiness in his eyes, ‘you look stunning.’

‘Thank you, Veron,’ my sister smiled.

‘So, you won’t kill me after all?’ Velina whispered at her brother.

‘You slipped through the net,’ the Prince said while he admired my sister.

I helped my sister up onto the barouche, the Prince sat next to her. Just like on Veron’s birthday, Alana and Veron went in the front barouche, the royal family in the second one and my family in the third one including our grandparents and aunt. If anyone hadn’t been aware of my sister’s origin, the people in the third barouche would have indicated that. As a personal guard, I had to travel on my sister’s barouche, next to me, Puron strutted in his uniform very proudly.

‘I missed you, my precious,’ the Prince whispered to my sister as the horses started to walk.

‘I missed you too, Veron,’ my sister said, ‘I hope you don’t mind that I didn’t have my hair cut.’

‘I’m glad,’ the Prince said and gently kissed my sister.

The Queen coughed loudly as this behaviour did not follow the rules of etiquette at all, the King simply chuckled. The barouches passed the iron gate, the main street was closed by guards who stood a couple of meters from each other. Everyone waited behind the guards, they wanted to see the bride and groom. People were shouting congratulations and they were handing over a lot of branches; the guards were collecting them dutifully. Many people were shouting my sister’s name, she smiled and waved happily to everyone.

The main square and the ancient tree were enclosed, and a podium stood under the canopy of the tree, where the couple should stand. The tree had a wide trunk and its branches were full of colourful blooms and blossom providing a perfect background for the wedding. The trunk was quite short, if I had reached up to the branches, I would have been able to touch some of them, but I didn’t try. Councillor Totun was waiting for us smiling in a long golden yellow coat. As leader of the fortune tellers it was his duty to marry the couple. The families got off the second and third barouches and they stood in a half-circle outside the canopy of the tree, facing the applauding crowd. When everyone had taken their positions, the Prince, Puron and I helped Alana to step down. As a family member, I walked next to Velina staying inside the half-circle, the guards were waiting around the barouches. Nobles and members of the royal council would wait for us in the castle because the wedding ceremony must happen in front of the subjects.

The wedding ceremony didn’t take long. After a short inaugural address, councillor Totun put a garland around the couple’s hands which were clasped together. The garland was a symbol of their collective future together. At the end of the ceremony, the couple kissed each other, and were applauded by the people and us. After the ceremony, Queen Vina and King Darion stepped out of the circle and they transferred their crowns onto Veron’s and Alana’s heads. They kissed the couple on the cheek and from now on they were officially retired and Veron and Alana became the King and the Queen of Rodon. King Veron and Queen Alana bowed towards councillor Totun, as did councillor Totun towards the couple. Veron and Alana greeted the leader of the fortune tellers as a royal couple, councillor Totun greeted the new King and Queen. Based on the law of Rodon, the three of them were the same rank.

The young King and Queen walked to the people in the half-circle and they kissed and hugged everyone one by one saying goodbye to them, as after this ceremony they would become a new family.

‘Your majesty,’ I smiled, as Alana stopped in front of me.

‘Aleron,’ she hugged me, ‘thank you for being my brother.’

‘You’re welcome,’ I smiled.

After they had been kissed by the family, Alana and Veron sat back on the barouche, so did everyone else. Just like on Veron’s birthday, the couple distributed coins among the people and we went back to the castle after doing a short circuit of the capital.

‘Your majesty,’ Veron said to my sister gently when they had finished distributing coins.

‘You can call me Alana,’ my sister smiled, Veron kissed her.

The Queen sighed behind us; the people were happy having such a nice Queen. Alana and Veron were given so many branches that we couldn’t carry them in our hands, we put them into my family’s barouche.

We arrived back at the castle, where the members of the royal council were waiting for us in the garden. The garden was already prepared and decorated, the lunch with the nobles would take place in the garden. The tables were adjusted in a rectangular shape, just as it had been during our meals together. Everyone who travelled in a barouche would sit at the same table and the other three tables would be occupied by the nobles and the members of the royal council. The nicely dressed band waited in the corner. The invited guests stayed in two lines just as the people had done in the morning at the castle. While Alana and Veron were walking towards the garden, everyone in the lines bowed slightly, and some of them handed some branches over, but the couple received fewer branches than from the subjects. The families followed the couple and the guards walked around them.

‘Your majesty,’ Edria stepped out of the line and handed a branch over to my sister.

‘Thank you, Edria,’ my sister took the branch, Veron and I eyed the branch suspiciously.

‘Is it poisoned?’ the Prince asked quietly.

‘No,’ Alana smiled, ‘it is just a simple branch. The poison would hurt her too and I would have spotted the poison earlier. I look after my herbs every day.’

The married couple arrived at the table and they expected everyone to remain standing behind their chairs. Alana and Veron sat down, so did everyone else.

‘Thank you to everyone,’ King Darion stood up, ‘for coming and greeting King Veron and Queen Alana.’

The people applauded the couple, Veron’s choice had divided the nobles, especially Edria’s father, who had lost his influence recently.

After the lunch, Alana and Veron stood up and walked inside the rectangle to have the first dance together. Veron waved to the people to join in and I asked Velina for a dance.

‘How long does the lunch take?’ I asked.

‘Until nightfall,’ Velina said, ‘Veron will announce the last dance at nightfall and afterwards they will leave for their apartment.’

‘If it were up to him, he would announce the last dance just now,’ I chuckled, ‘It was a great ceremony,’ I said.

‘Yes, councillor Totun made a very nice garland and the speech was just long enough. Usually he would speak about the couple’s future, but it was impossible because of the obscurity surrounding their future and because of Alana’s invisibility.’

‘Do you know how to make a garland?’ I asked.

‘Every fortune teller can make a garland,’ she said, ‘we teach each other how to do it.’

‘One day, we might receive one,’ I said, she laughed.

‘Did you just propose to me?’ she chuckled, ‘All right I accept. I assume you missed me.’

‘That’s right,’ I said, ‘I hope, that your brother will leave early.’

‘Me too,’ she smiled.

The dance took until nightfall, everyone asked Alana for dance, and Veron asked every woman for a dance, including Edria.

‘Last dance,’ the Prince said at dusk.

The Prince asked his mother for the last dance, Alana danced with our father. Following the rules of etiquette, the last dance should always be danced with the parents.

The song had finished, the Queen and Prince Veron walked towards Alana. My father offered Alana’s hand to the Prince, the Queen took Veron’s hand and put Alana’s hand in the Prince’s hand. With this gesture, both parents expressed their blessing for the wedding. Everyone applauded, the Prince kissed my sister’s hand, the marriage became officially valid.

Velina smiled broadly and looked at Shirela, who nodded in agreement with a smile.

‘What happened?’ I asked.

‘The marriage was sanctioned,’ she said, ‘the tree was waiting for this moment.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘I can predict everything again,’ she said happily, ‘I can see everyone’s future again apart from Alana and you. You will be always invisible, Veron will always stay unmarried,’ she laughed.

The couple walked into the castle together, everyone bowed. The families followed them; the guests left the garden.

‘What can you predict?’ I asked her curiously.

‘Everything,’ she said as she closed our apartment door, ‘but you will be disappointed.’

‘What do you mean by that?’ I asked.

‘We were wrong and Veron was right all time long,’ she said, ‘as usual. The tree never hid the future because of you, we were wrong. You were never the essential person; it was always Alana. The tree predicted her birth and obscured the future because of her prophecy. Veron was right when he thought that Alana was important. Alana is the essential person, and not you,’ she said, ‘I’m sorry, Aleron.’

‘I’m not,’ I smiled, ‘Alana is the essential person for me as well.’

‘If she had touched the tree once, maybe we would have known more information,’ she said, ‘I think the tree protected her even in the womb and that’s why no one knew about her existence until her birth.  I’ll talk with councillor Totun tomorrow.’

‘Please, do so. Do you predict anything about us?’ I asked curiously.

‘I will not tell you that,’ she smiled, ‘but I’ll never have a husband.’

She gently pushed me onto the bed and snuggled up to me. I had missed her a lot, these last few weeks had shown me how much I loved her and that I would like to stay with her forever.

18.

The royal couple spent the next two days in their apartment, Velina took care of Royal Doggie, the guards were preparing for the journey.

‘Have you spoken with councillor Totun?’ I asked Velina, when she came back from the tower.

‘Yes, I have,’ she smiled, ‘and the council unanimously thinks the same as I do. The tree protected the future Queen because of the first prophecy, and we can assume now, that as your parents were betrayed on their wedding day you were called a traitor and had to leave the capital. The tree wanted to protect Alana from the assassins, but it was also important for Alana not to grow up here. Councillor Totun said, that Alana could fulfil her destiny better as a Queen and it was more beneficial for the country. The tree knew about that and influenced your parents. We are only uncertain about one thing, whether the tree planned your parents’ betrayal, or only adapted to that.’

‘The important thing is that the pieces are in place now,’ I smiled, ‘will you take care of Royal Doggie while we are away?’

‘Of course,’ she said, ‘Peg Leg will have company. This journey is unnecessary for him.’

‘I think it is unnecessary for everyone,’ I said.

We planned the journey in the roundhouse with my father and Darion as advisor.

‘Where will we sleep?’ I asked Darion.

‘You can sleep in the same inns as you slept in during your journey,’ my father said, ‘these were royal inns. These inns were built for the royal family’s convenience. These inns are sponsored by the royal treasure-house and are there to accommodate the royal family and any of their deputies. If the royal family or their deputy do not travel, anyone can sleep there, but these inns have more strict rules than the others. Any kind of fight is forbidden, the rooms are safer, and the inn is more easily protected than the other inns.’

‘These inns are mostly managed by retired guards,’ Darion advisor said, ‘just as in the case of Puron’s father.’

‘That’s why we had to sleep there,’ I said.

‘In the other inns if you had been unlucky, you would have been involved in a fight within a day,’ Darion smiled, ‘and the prophets and Morton would have found you much earlier.’

‘Alana can defend herself,’ my father said, ‘but it would have been too risky for a girl even though she was dressed like a boy.’

‘Yes, I must agree,’ I said.

‘We had functional training in the inns,’ my father smiled, ‘when we made the journey to the south many years ago, we couldn’t sleep in the royal inns, because Darion’s father would have found us,’ he said to me, ‘one day I guarded your pregnant mother in our room and Shiveron did some exercises downstairs, the next day we swapped,’ he chuckled.

‘From now on, our days will be boring,’ Darion sighed with a smile.

The two days were enough to prepare everything for the journey. The royal couple would travel in a closed carriage and the guards would ride next to them. Apart from me, Veron’s three personal guards, Puron and Doran had to travel with the couple.

‘Have you had some rest, your majesty?’ I asked my sister when she handed her luggage over to put it onto the carriage.

‘Yes, I had some rest,’ she smiled, Veron stepped up next to her and gently kissed her neck.

‘It will be a long journey,’ he sighed.

‘I will be there with you,’ Alana said to him gently.

Every day of our journey was the same. We stopped in the main square of each city, where people were waiting for the royal couple. The garrison guards secured the cities in advance of our arrival for the safety of the royal couple. Veron and Alana accepted everybody’s congratulations, accepted some branches and distributed coins among the people. Alana spent almost a full day in nearly every city curing the residents with her herbs which made it challenging to keep to the itinerary. The bags, that we carried on the top of the carriage were not full of dresses, they were full of herbs that Alana and grandfather Adon had collected. Veron always accompanied my sister, but he mostly just admired her silently. If my sister found a new and unknown herb, she always asked me to collect one. I didn’t know about herbs, but I knew how to dig them out to keep the roots safe.

In the evening, we always slept in one of the royal inns. Alana and Veron went to their apartment, we guarded the inn. During the royal family’s journey, no other guests were allowed to enter the inns, including the regulars.

After a few weeks of travelling, we arrived at our hometown, Alana was warmly welcomed.

‘Inula,’ Alana hugged our neighbour, who held a newborn baby in her arms, ‘you are a beautiful mother.’

‘Thank you, your majesty,’ she smiled.

‘Will you show me where you lived, my precious?’ Veron asked my sister, my sister indicated the tall stone walls.

‘Our house is behind the walls,’ she smiled, ‘I learned everything behind these walls.’

‘I’m taking care of the house,’ Inula stepped up to us, ‘when I heard that you would be visiting us, I cleaned it, maybe you want to sleep here,’ she smiled.

‘It is very kind of you, Inula, but probably his majesty won’t want to stay.’

‘I’d like to stay,’ Veron said suddenly, ‘only you and me.’

‘Would you like dinner?’ Inula asked.

‘That would be lovely,’ Veron smiled, Inula bowed deeply.

‘Today my Queen and I will spend the night in her home,’ Veron said to his guards, ‘Baron, please check everything around the house while we are in the neighbouring city.’

‘Yes, your majesty,’ Baron said.

Apart from Doran and Baron we all went to Gaina’s city. My sister allowed me to leave them on the main square so that I could check out Gaina’s tavern. The huge iron gate was closed, the tavern was permanently out of service.

‘Can I help you?’ a woman asked behind me, I turned back, it was Gaina.

She was still beautiful, but she had lost her perfect figure.

‘Gaina,’ I smiled, ‘what happened?’

‘Things changed after you left, Aleron,’ she said and hugged me, ‘your sister wasn’t selling her herbs anymore and the girls didn’t accept guests anymore.’

I heard a crying baby from behind Gaina, an older woman stepped out of a bush and handed the crying baby over to Gaina. I started to count the months instinctively, she began to laugh.

‘He is not yours,’ she chuckled, ‘I had to accept some guests without the potion and my son is the result.’

Velina was right, my sister was the main point as Alana’s departure had impacted on many people’s lives here.

‘I’m sorry,’ I said.

‘Don’t be,’ she smiled, ‘I’d never give up on Galon for anything,’ she looked at the baby lovingly.

‘You should move soon to be with your future husband, shouldn’t you?’ I asked.

‘I doubt that he would want me with Galon,’ she said, ‘our fortune teller has been unable to predict anything for the last few months.’

‘I think he can predict things now,’ I smiled, ‘go to the eastern province and start a new life,’ I suggested, ‘no one will look at you strangely there. A young widow from the south certainly can find a job or even a partner in the city where you are destined to go.’

‘You know what, Aleron,’ she smiled, ‘you are right. Galon deserves a clean break and he cannot have that here. I can see that you have a great life.’

‘Yes,’ I said proudly, ‘it turned out that Alana and I are nobles and I have genuinely fallen in love with someone.’

‘I’m glad for you,’ she said, ‘and I wish happiness to your sister, the Queen. She deserves it.’

‘Thank you,’ I said, she hugged me, ‘take care of your son and when he grows up you could send him to the capital.’

‘I’ll do so, Aleron,’ she said and walked away with the baby.

I went back to the main square, my sister and Veron were still accepting everybody’s congratulations. We walked the couple back to our house, Inula had prepared everything in the house. She had already lit some candles and left the dinner on the dining table.

‘Come for us after breakfast,’ Veron said as he pulled out a chair for Alana.

‘We will do so, Veron,’ Baron said.

We went to our garrison to sleep in tents, everyone knew Abidon and greeted him with respect.

‘Who is collecting the taxes now?’ I asked, Abidon indicated four young men.

‘The citizens are not afraid at last,’ he said, ‘For several months I paid a visit to every city and apologized on behalf of his majesty for the abuses. When the citizens finally believed me, I returned to the north. People like these four tax collectors, sometimes they even invite them for dinner, especially if they have a young girl in the family,’ he chuckled.

In the morning we went to my home to collect the royal couple. I entered my house but the noises coming from behind my sister’s closed room door indicated to me that they were not ready to leave yet. I left the house, the rest of the guards were waiting outside.

‘We have to wait,’ I said.

‘We will wait then,’ Baron said, ‘if we cannot keep to the itinerary, we will shorten the breaks.’

Alana and Veron were late. Based on their facial expressions they had had a nice time.

‘Did you like our house, Veron?’ I asked.

‘Yes, very much,’ he said and smiled at my sister.

The journey back to the capital on the east side was just as boring as the journey to the south on the west side had been. The couple were warmly welcomed everywhere, and in the eyes of the citizens, Alana was the perfect Queen. We were not able to keep to the itinerary because Alana spent several days curing people, but Veron didn’t care, nor did we.

It took time to get back to the capital, it took several weeks. All of us let out a sigh of relief when we passed the iron gates. Our families and fiancées came outside to greet us. Veron helped Alana out of the carriage, the families were eyeing her with curiosity.

‘What are you watching us?’ Veron asked, ‘is something wrong?’

‘You were conceived during our journey,’ Darion laughed.

‘It hasn’t happened in our case. There’s no sense in staring at the Queen,’ he said decisively.

Everyone hugged us, Velina almost fell upon my neck.

‘In the afternoon we are going to play games in the garden, Veron,’ Darion smiled as he hugged him, ‘Alana don’t miss it.’

‘I won’t,’ my sister smiled.

The servants helped us to take the luggage off, Alana went to her apartment. We unsaddled the horses; the Prince fed his black stallion with some apples before we went inside the castle.

‘Veron,’ my sister came out of her apartment nervously, ‘something is wrong.’

‘What is wrong, my precious?’ Veron asked.

‘My herbs are missing,’ she said, ‘all of them are gone.’

‘They are just fine, little blossom,’ grandfather said from behind us, ‘all of them are in the garden, I sowed them next to my plants.’

‘Thank you, grandfather,’ my sister smiled, ‘can you show them to me?’

‘Come,’ our grandfather waved to my sister.

Alana passed Veron with a smile and walked outside the castle with her grandfather.

‘She loves you,’ Velina teased her brother, ‘but you are no match for her herbs.’

‘Can you predict anything for me, Velina?’ Veron asked his sister quietly and curiously as he stopped at his apartment’s entrance.

‘Alana asked me not to tell you anything,’ she said, ‘I cannot predict that you are going to have a wife because Alana is invisible.’

‘Will we have children?’ Veron asked quietly.

‘You will have four children,’ Velina smiled, ‘but won’t tell you when, and I’ll deny that I have told you that.’

‘Four children?’ I asked surprised.

‘Yes. As Alana is invisible, I cannot predict any wife for him, but his children are visible to me.’

‘I like four as a number,’ Veron smiled and entered his room.

‘How many children do you predict for us?’ I asked as I closed our apartment door.

‘I promised the Queen, not to say anything,’ she smiled.

‘How many children will we have?’ I asked again.

‘Two,’ she smiled and embraced me, ‘but not yet.’

We walked to the garden to observe the game, the Prince was already playing with the same three people as before. He was paying more attention to my father and he was closer to winning. Everyone was watching them, even Vina.

‘You can beat them, Veron,’ Baron said when no one could put down any piece.

My sister arrived; she was strolling between our grandparents and our aunt adapting to their speed. Royal Doggie was running around them, my grandmother’s dog was following them slowly.

‘My precious,’ the young King smiled at her, ‘I’m going to win.’

‘Be smart, Veron,’ my sister said and kissed his cheek.

She didn’t intend to distract her husband, but Veron lost his attention and gave a wrong piece away to his father.

‘Queen Alana,’ Darion smiled, ‘you shouldn’t be present at some meetings.’

Darion put the last piece down and he won the game again.

‘Why not?’ my sister asked.

‘Because Veron is not able to focus on anything if you are around,’ he chuckled, ‘son, how could you hand this piece over to me?’

‘I wanted you to win,’ Veron smiled, ‘I was trying to be nice to you.’

‘Alana,’ my father said, ‘don’t talk to your husband, we are starting a new round.’

Alana stood outside of Veron’s field of vision and watched the game in silence. Veron was very focused and he gained a victory.

‘Well done, your majesty,’ my father said, ‘Alana, please don’t come into the round house.’

‘I won’t,’ Alana smiled.

The men started a new game with Vina, who played instead of her son. Alana and Velina sat down on a bench, we joined them.

‘Let’s have dinner together,’ Velina said to her brother, he nodded in agreement along with Alana.

At dinner time, our servant brought the dinner, I prepared the place settings, Velina walked up and down.

‘Is something wrong?’ I asked, ‘Walking up and down is your brother’s habit, not yours.’

‘I’m fine,’ she said quickly and sat down.

When my sister and Veron arrived, we sat down to eat our dinner. Velina was very quiet, even her brother glanced at her sometimes.

‘Aleron, Alana, I need to talk to you about something,’ Velina said, my sister put down her knife and fork.

‘Please, go on,’ Alana said.

‘It is about your father,’ she said, ‘over the last couple of months, he has started a relationship with someone, but no one knows about it.’

‘How do you know?’ I asked.

‘I was looking for an archive book in your library, and your father was there, and he wasn’t alone. They didn’t notice me, so I left the library quickly.’

‘Who is the woman?’ I asked, ‘Did you predict her in my father’s future, or did you see her in his past?’

‘The woman is invisible just like the two of you,’ Velina said, Alana started to laugh.

‘Our aunt,’ Alana stated, my fiancée nodded in agreement.

‘Since she let her hair grow, she resembles our mother,’ Alana said, ‘what is wrong with that?’

‘Shirela was talking with Amara,’ Velina said, ‘and Amara is afraid that people will think that she enticed your father.’

‘What do you mean?’ I asked.

‘When your mother went to a fortune teller many years ago, so did Amara,’ Velina said, ‘the fortune teller predicted that your father would be a future husband to both of them, but your father wanted to court your mother and Amara decided to keep silent.’

‘Can you not predict the timeline?’ Alana asked, ‘When the offer of courtship will be made?’

‘If it is not obvious, we cannot predict that,’ Velina said, ‘I don’t know when Maina will get married, I just know to whom. A lot depends on Puron.’

‘Puron will be Maina’s husband?’ Veron asked surprised, I was surprised too.

‘Puron is very shy,’ Alana said with a smile, ‘and he is paying very hesitant compliments, but Maina is waiting for him to invite her for a walk.’

‘What happened to the other man, whom she went for a walk with many months ago?’ I asked.

‘That man didn’t treat her well enough,’ Alana said, ‘and it ended quite soon.’

‘How long have you known about this?’ Veron asked my sister.

‘Since Puron became my personal guard,’ Alana smiled, ‘they liked each other from the beginning but the conversations between them are very awkward and funny.’

‘What are you going to do about your father and Amara?’ Velina asked.

‘I will talk to both of them,’ Alana said, ‘both deserve happiness.’

‘Thank you,’ Velina said, ‘officially I haven’t told you anything.’

‘No, you haven’t,’ Alana said, ‘I had already conjectured that something was going on and I saw them talking together. I hoped that they would talk to us about their relationship, but I was wrong.’

‘I thought that our uncle was in love with Amara,’ I said, Velina shook her head.

‘They were friends,’ she said, ‘your uncle is in love with Shirela since she moved to the south. It took time for Shirela to accept his offer of courtship, but you already know about that,’ she smiled.

19.

Everything went back to everyday life, the royal couple were able to stop anywhere for a short kiss, but Veron was right, no one told them anything. The families were waiting curiously for the announcement about the heir, but Alana and Veron were silent about this topic. Baron and Foren got married one after the other.

‘You have received a letter,’ Velina told me during a dance at Baron’s wedding.

‘Who from?’ I asked as I wasn’t expecting a letter from anyone.

‘From Gaina,’ she smiled, ‘she thanked you for your advice and wanted to let you know that she is living happily in the eastern province with her husband, who is raising her son as his own.’

‘I’m glad,’ I said, ‘I hope that you are not jealous, but I met her on our journey, and we talked for a little while.’

‘No, I’m not,’ she smiled, ‘I know that you love me and that’s the most important thing.’

‘By the way,’ I said, ‘we can get married one day as well.’

‘When would you like to do that?’ she asked.

‘Whenever is suitable for you,’ I said, ‘You said, that children were the only difference between an engagement and a wedding.’

‘All right, Aleron, I will think about it.’

‘Thank you,’ I said.

‘I liked your proposal,’ she chuckled, ‘it suited us.’

‘I agree,’ I chuckled as well.

‘I noticed that your sister was talking to your father,’ Velina indicated my father, who was dancing slowly in the corner with Amara.

‘Yes,’ I said, ‘In her role as Queen she summoned Amara and my father and ordered a public courtship,’ I laughed, ‘my mother died a few years ago, and they both deserve happiness.’

With time, King Veron opened schools in every province at Alana’s suggestion. Alana and Talina hired the teachers in the capital and the teachers moved afterwards to the chosen provinces. Alana asked our grandfather to share his knowledge about most of the herbs with one person from each province and they started trading the dried herbs between the provinces. Allergies and simple sicknesses were cured across the country and everyone could use the potion that I had been using for many years already. Alana’s garden was growing, she took care of both her and our grandfather’s herbs every day. Instead of going to the inn, she cured citizens once a week in the reception hall guarded by Puron and at least one more guard. This guard was mostly my uncle or my father. My father married our aunt at a small ceremony, they were visibly happy together.

‘Alana,’ our grandfather asked at a dinner together, ‘do you have any announcement to make?’

‘I don’t,’ she said, ‘the schools are going well, and the dried herbs arrived in the south. A message by pigeon confirming that.’

‘You have been King for longer than a year, Veron,’ Darion said, ‘you should think about an heir.’

‘I think about it almost every night,’ Veron said, ‘yesterday I was thinking a lot about it,’ he smiled at my sister.

‘Veron,’ his mother said, ‘it is a serious thing. Please don’t just think about it. You have been King for almost two years.’

‘From tonight I’ll not just think about it,’ he smiled again.

‘Talina is expecting a child already,’ Vina said, ‘Velina, can you predict anything?’

‘His majesty, King Veron and Queen Alana officially forbade every fortune teller to share their futures with anyone. I’m sorry, I can’t help you,’ Velina said, ‘by the way, Aleron and I are going to get married.’

‘That’s wonderful,’ Vina said, ‘when?’

‘Tomorrow,’ she said shortly.

‘Tomorrow?’ her mother asked, ‘I cannot organize anything for tomorrow.’

‘You don’t have to,’ Velina said, ‘it will be a simple ceremony in the tower with you and councillor Totun.’

‘Velina,’ Vina said, ‘you are a member of the royal family; you cannot have a small wedding. You must invite a few people.’

‘She doesn’t have to,’ Veron said, ‘we checked on this and the only rule for a member of the royal family who is not the heir to the throne is to accept a wedding garland from the leader of the fortune tellers, who is councillor Totun. She doesn’t have any other obligation.’

‘We are getting married tomorrow next to the tree of fate,’ Velina said, ‘we look forward to seeing you there.’

‘We’ll be there,’ Darion smiled; Vina was visibly angry.

‘I see that you are glad that both your children are rebels,’ Vina said.

‘I’m glad, indeed,’ he smiled, ‘if Veron hadn’t been a rebel, he would have married Edria.’

‘I would never have married Edria,’ Veron said, ‘Alana was always destined to be my Queen,’ he smiled at my sister, I was certain that they would think a lot about a future heir tonight.

My wedding with Velina on the next day went smoothly, only our families and councillor Totun participated.

Velina wore a light green dress with silver stripes and without a trail. I wore the same uniform as I had at Alana’s wedding.

We waited for Velina in the tower, her father and Veron escorted her to me. As the tree was just as small as a few years ago, my family stood behind the tree in a half-circle, councillor Totun and I stood in front of it. After we had kissed each other, everyone congratulated us and we received branches from everyone. As we didn’t have a dance after the ceremony, Vina took my hand, my father took Velina’s and put our hands on top of each other, expressing their blessing.

‘Thank you for coming to my wedding,’ my wife smiled, ‘father, please let the royal council know that I am married.’

‘I’ll do so, Velina,’ Darion smiled.

‘Alana,’ Velina turned to my sister, ‘could you please touch the tree?’

‘I’m not a fortune teller,’ Alana said, ‘Are you certain?’ my sister looked at councillor Totun, he just nodded with a smile.

‘So be it,’ Alana said.

‘This is our branch,’ I indicated the glass coloured branch. The branch had many twigs but didn’t have any buds.

Alana gently and carefully touched the branch, Shirela and Velina closed their eyes, councillor Totun was waiting with a smile. We were waiting in silence for a while.

‘Thank you,’ Velina said as she opened her eyes.

‘You’re welcome,’ Alana said, ‘it was a very nice feeling.’

‘Can you predict anything?’ Veron asked curiously.

‘Nothing special,’ Shirela said, Velina nodded in agreement.

We walked back to the castle; our family went in different directions. Veron and Alana walked towards her library, the parents went to their lobby, we went to our apartment.

‘What can you predict?’ I asked as I closed the door.

‘Everything was confirmed that we thought had happened,’ Velina said, ‘When your parents were betrayed at their wedding, the tree wanted you to be identified as a traitor, to keep your sister safe.’

‘The second prophecy is the tree’s fault then,’ I said.

‘Yes,’ she smiled, ‘if you had stayed here, your sister would have died as a child,’ she said seriously, ‘you would have had a servant who would have betrayed your family in return for some money. The tree and councillor Totun predicted that and sent your parents to the south.’

‘Councillor Totun?’ I asked.

‘Yes,’ she said, ‘he sent your parents to the south and he collected the drops of sap for your family. I think he was the only one who knew about you being twins. It seems that the leader of the fortune tellers has an exceptional relationship with the tree.’

‘My father said the same,’ I said, ‘In that case, I’m glad that we left.’

‘Me too,’ she smiled.

‘Why did you not share that with Veron?’ I asked.

‘What do you think would have happened if I had told Veron there was a possibility that Alana could die?’ she asked, ‘he wants to believe that Alana will live forever.’

‘He would have locked her inside the castle,’ I said, ‘You were right.’

‘Are you certain that you didn’t want a bigger wedding?’ I asked, ‘we can still organize one, if you like.’

‘I’m certain,’ she smiled, ‘I loved our wedding. Neither of us likes a big fuss.’

‘That is true,’ I said, ‘Why are our siblings waiting to have a child?’

‘They are waiting for us,’ Velina smiled.

‘For us?’ I asked.

‘Alana said to me, that many years ago you agreed that you would have a family at the same time and you would die together as you were born together,’ Velina said as she changed her dress, ‘Veron liked that idea and they decided to wait for us to have children.’

‘That’s true,’ I said, ‘will we have children together?’ I asked curiously.

‘Aleron,’ she smiled, ‘why do you care?’

‘I’m curious,’ I said.

‘I won’t tell you that,’ she said, ‘would you be happy to have a child?’

‘You said that we would have two and that they would have four.’

‘When do you want to have these two children?’ she asked as she snuggled up to me in a robe.

‘When you are ready,’ I said, ‘I love you and I’ll love them as well.’

‘I know that you will,’ she smiled as she kissed me.

The heir to the throne was born a year after our wedding and a month before our son’s birth, to the citizens and our families’ immense delight. None of us waited long to have the second child, a year after the birth of our sons, both women gave birth to our second sons.

‘Did you come to an agreement with Alana?’ I asked Velina one day, after she had put our sons down to sleep.

‘No,’ she smiled, ‘they haven’t been using the potion for some time and neither have we.’

‘What will happen about the other two children?’ I asked, ‘Alana said to me that she was not planning to have any more children.’

‘I know about her plan,’ she smiled, ‘but in several years, Veron will forget about drinking the potion. He still feels passionate about your sister,’ she chuckled.

‘That will only make three children,’ I said.

‘There are two of you too, Aleron,’ she smiled, ‘but you already know more than you should.’

Velina was right, the boys were already reading and writing, when Alana announced that she was carrying a baby again. I knew that she could make a potion to end the pregnancy, but she didn’t even think about that, she was delighted. Veron expected twins all time long and he was right, a boy and a girl were born. The girl became the apple of everyone’s eye.  Alana taught everything to our children as did our relatives. The six children and the four of us spent time in the meadow once a month to recharge our batteries after the hectic weekdays. At first, the time spent out doors proved difficult for Velina but she quickly got used to the challenges.

Alana’s and Veron’s love for each other did not change at all, they still annoyed everyone by exchanging kisses in the corridor. I genuinely loved my wife, who never used her fortune telling skills against the children, and she was no longer a rebel.

Eventually, Alana’s and Veron’s oldest son became King, but the six children led the country together, where it became common place for everybody to be able to read and write and to have a basic knowledge about herbs. The provinces became equal, there was no difference in their customs. The lifestyle of the people from the South became less strict and the people in the capital became more low-keyed. Alana made sure that our sons behaved in an appropriate way; the boys took care in every detail of the young Princess.

My sister’s and my fates were invisible to everyone, no one knew anything about our deaths, but we were certain, that neither of us would pass away early.

Just as the prophecy said, Veron, Alana and their descendants brought prosperity to Rodon for many generations. We had to grow up in the south to make it happen, but the tree had led our destiny back here, to where we always belonged.

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