Powerful
Chapter 1
The problems all started back when I was barely seven
years old.
That
was when Mother and Father began to speak only in whispers, and their grown-up
friend, Nodah, stopped coming to play with my brother, Elion, and me. I was much too young to understand why
everything had suddenly changed; all I knew was that I hated the sick feeling
that sat in my stomach whenever I was inside the castle. The few times I asked why everything
was so strange, Mother shushed me with her usual, “Not now, Kylanore,” and sent
me outside.
As
King and Queen of the Northwest Kingdom of Tykra, Mother and Father had always
kept to themselves and out of the critical eye of the public, primarily the
ever-watchful Council of Four who maintained balance between the Four
Kingdoms. I never would’ve noticed
things had actually changed, except Eli began to copy their reclusive
behaviors.
Before
my injury, we were almost inseparable.
Even though he was four years older, he was my best friend. He was my only friend. Mother and Father were always busy with
the matters of the Kingdom, and that didn’t include much time for their
children. That left Crown Prince
Elion with no distractions except a little sister. As soon as I could walk, he’d lead me like a shepherd with
the gentle prod of his words, “Come along, Kyla!” Due to our closeness, we knew everything about each
other. On Eli’s eighth birthday, I
was the only one there with him when his powers came. We were not expecting them to come, but he was so
excited. He was so proud of the
fact that his powers came two years early, and Mother and Father were more
excited than I had ever seen them before.
After
that, our relationship deepened as I would spend hours watching him moving
earth and air, creating water and fire.
It was mesmerizing. He had
such skill for it. I could only
hope I could be like him when I got old enough. He promised to teach me everything he knew when I got my
powers, but after my injury he retreated to his room to practice and we didn’t
really talk anymore.
It
was the month before my seventh birthday.
Eli was outside practicing, and I snuck out to watch. I don’t really remember what happened. A blast of light. Searing heat. Intense numbness.
Eli screaming. Then I was
awake and Eli was there, squeezing my left hand so hard it hurt and promising
to protect me from anything like that happening again.
All
the wraps and salves came off my right hand on my birthday, revealing a
splotchy pink and white scar from my fingers to my shoulder. It didn’t hurt anymore, really. The hardest part was relearning how to
write and draw using my left hand, but that was the least of my worries.
At
the innocent age of barely seven and with a fresh, life-altering injury, I
assumed the world revolved around me.
Until Eli vanished. That
morning, I walked out of my bedroom to see my parents sitting at the breakfast
table like any other morning, except Father was reading and Mother was
crying. Eli’s chair was empty. I sat on Mother’s lap for the first
time since I was a toddler, and we wept together over the disappearance of
Crown Prince Elion. After that
first day, I just felt hollow. His
absence became like my scar; it was there and it sometimes throbbed emptily,
but I learned to live with it. I
think the reason it didn’t hurt when they took Mother and Father away was
because by that point I couldn’t feel anything anymore.
I
don’t really think about the day the soldiers stormed in and dragged off King
Zael and Queen Rona, scaring off all the servants and leaving me alone in the
castle. I was hiding in the corner
of Eli’s bedroom when Captain Gavick of the Council Guard returned and gently
picked me up and carried me out.
He took me to a big room with a bed, table, and a warm fireplace. He wrapped me in a blanket and brought
me paper to draw on. He also made
sure I had food and clean clothes, and plaited my long blonde hair so it stayed
out of my face while I drew. At
the end of the second day, Mother and Father came in to see me. They kissed me more times than I could
remember being kissed before.
Father held me on his lap while Mother sang until I fell asleep. The next morning they were gone.
Captain
Gavick was still there, and he asked me a lot of questions about Mother and
Father. I answered what I could,
but the questions were very confusing.
He also asked when I saw Nodah for the last time, but I couldn’t remember. I interrupted him and asked him where
Eli was because I missed him.
Captain Gavick explained that Mother and Father had done some very bad
things, and when people do bad things they need to be punished so they learn to
do good things. He added that Eli
had done some bad things too, and if I ever saw my brother again, I needed to
tell the guards. Then he asked if
I had done any bad things with Mother and Father. I said I couldn’t remember.
Then
I was taken into another large room and placed in a too big chair in front of
the Council. They asked me a lot
of the same questions that Captain Gavick asked earlier. They were very angry and they yelled at
each other a lot. Eventually
Captain Gavick came and took me back to the room with the fireplace where I was
left alone for three days except when I was brought food and clean clothes.
On
the third day, I heard shouting outside the door. Uncle Xy, Father’s only brother, stormed in and took me away
in a carriage. As we traveled, he
explained that Father was no longer allowed to be King, and since I was too
young to take the throne, he would rule until I came of age. Confused, I asked why I would be Queen
when Eli was the Crown Prince.
Aunt Liah smoothed back my hair and told me not to think about Elion
anymore, but instead I got to live with my cousins and it would be lots of fun.
I
did not like my cousins. They were
loud and mean. Tenio was almost as
big as Eli was, but Eli never purposefully hurt me. Nio would wrap one arm around my neck and pull me down to
the ground where he’d sit on my chest until I promised he could be King Nio of
Tykra, or until one of the servants shooed him away, telling him to be more
careful with the delicate Crown Princess Kylanore.
Jadie
was too little and no fun at all.
She just screamed and took whatever I was holding. I couldn’t go anywhere near her or
she’d pull my hair or pinch any skin she could grasp. Because of her young age, she was constantly surrounded by a
swarm of nursemaids who cooed over her to keep her happy. For some reason they never scolded her
when she did something wrong.
Brinlea
was probably the worst. At the age
of almost eight, she was much older than me and therefore claimed
authority. She was so bossy. Only once I tried to argue with her and
I quickly learned not to. After I
told her to shut her mouth by order of the Future Queen, Aunt Liah slapped me
across the mouth and sent me to my room.
That was when I started to keep to my room, where I could be alone.
It
was around that time that Nio began to show off his powers, and I realized how
truly astounding Eli’s powers were.
Nio was very good with water, and when I dared to ask why he couldn’t
control fire, my cousins all laughed at me. Aunt Liah laughed airily with a hand on my shoulder and
explained that Tykrans couldn’t control fire because that element belonged to
the Laetons of the Southeast Kingdom, and it was silly to think someone could
have more than one power. All
thoughts of any powers but water should be banished from my head. After that conversation, I began to
wear long sleeves at all times.
On
my ninth birthday, my powers came.
I could control the water around me. Aunt Liah and Uncle Xy were surprised and relieved. Not wanting to get taken away like
Mother and Father, I hid my powers over fire, earth, and air. I would practice with water, usually in
my room, and I ignored the urge to use my other powers. The scariest thing was how sick my
powers made me. Eli never got sick
when he used his powers. I ignored
it for a little while, but after a few months it got much worse. I was bouncing a water ball, a very
simple trick, when nausea overcame me and I vomited very un-Crown Princess like
all over my dress and the floor. After
changing, I snuck to the east wing of the Castle where the Castle nurses
resided. I found the nurse who
helped with my arm and asked why this was happening. She just brushed it off as a psychological condition from my
injury and told me not to think about it anymore, so I didn’t.
Six
years passed without thoughts of Eli, my parents, or my other powers. I still hadn’t fully adjusted to life
with my cousins, and I definitely wasn’t used to my powers. I was avoiding Brinlea’s obnoxious
demands to go through my closet because she would look much better in my
dresses than I did, and I had to go the long way around to get to my bedroom. As I was walking through the back hall,
I overheard Aunt Liah and Uncle Xy arguing about my parents. Aunt Liah insisted I needed to know the
truth, just in case the worst happened.
I didn’t know what the worst that could happen was. Uncle Xy claimed the truth would create
more problems than my ignorance.
I
hadn’t meant to eavesdrop, but I was so confused so I paused against the stone
wall across from the slightly ajar door.
Feeling guilty about listening in, I crept away, but not without
creaking the floor. Uncle Xy
spotted me through the crack and called me inside with a sigh. I sat in one of the large, plush
chairs, while my aunt and uncle remained standing. Despite the fact that my feet rested solidly on the floor, I
felt like the tiny child riding in a carriage back to the Castle without my
parents because of the way they looked down on me. The same concern was written on their faces as the day they
took me.
Uncle
Xy left the explanation to Aunt Liah.
Apparently Nodah Doil was an evil and powerful alchemist who worked with
Zael and Rona to change the way things had always been. Wanting to upset the balance between
the four kingdoms, they hired Nodah to concoct some sort of potion that Rona
took while pregnant with Elion.
That was how he came to possess power over fire, earth, and air in
addition to water. It was kept a
secret until rumors of my injuries brought around the scrutinous eyes of the
Council and Eli’s powers were uncovered.
Fearful of my potential, I was put on trial but was cleared to be placed
back in line for the throne.
Mother, Father, and Nodah were arrested.
Unsure
how to respond, I asked about Eli for the first time since that carriage
ride. Aunt Liah confirmed that
Elion remained a fugitive, but added that he had been missing for far too long
so it was unlikely he was still alive.
Uncle
Xy then added that an opportunity had been presented to them to help me as
Crown Princess of Tykra. The
Council extended an invitation for me to attend Floures, the elite school for
the royal and wealthy of all Four Kingdoms. In the very heart of Central City, the only place where any
of the Four Kingdoms interacted, the school was where you went to learn how to
mix magic with economics, politics, religion, law, and other administrative
positions that kept each Kingdom together. As Crown Princess, I would attend classes on each major
topic for each of the Kingdoms with the other potential political leaders of
the other Kingdoms, to ensure an educated leadership when I would be crowned at
the age of twenty. My education
would take three years, so I would enter the school at the age of
seventeen. Unfortunately, as they
were also in line for the throne, Nio and Brinlea would accompany me.
The
time passed quickly and without incident, and the three of us set off to
Central City. It was my first time
outside of the Castle since Captain Gavick carried me out, and it was my first
time back in Central City since my parents were hauled away ten years ago. I had no desire to ever come back here,
but this was where everyone insisted I needed to be.
We were each assigned rooming,
a strict schedule, and I was charged with a handmaid who kept silent as she
helped me move into my new room.
While she unpacked my luggage, I stared out the window at the moonlight
reflecting off the silver walls of the Council Chamber Building. I was sure this room had been set aside
just for me. They were watching. This “opportunity” did not come by
chance. It was an order to ensure
I was not like Eli.
How
very strange it was to be here, around all these people who avoided eye contact
and conversation with me rather than those who sat on me or demanded things
from me. Apparently this was how a
future Queen was to be treated. It
made my scars throb.
I
knew a little about the politics of Tykra, and I had never attended class on
magic before. In fact, I rarely
used my powers anymore because they made me sick. I knew how to control water, but only weakly because I
stopped practicing. It had been
years since I had attempted fire, earth, or air. I had never been around so many people before; I could only
hope that my inexperience would keep the secrets hidden.
For
the first time since Eli left, I felt something. I felt fear.
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