Heir of Golden Storms

The door to my room opens without a knock. Thalia walks in with a chessboard under her left arm. She closes the door behind her. I glare at her from behind my book.

“Do you not know how to knock?” I ask her. I hate when people barge into rooms without announcing.

“I have told you before, I will not knock,” Thalia says. “Privacy is one of the things that you lose on marriage.”

“We are not married,” I remind her.

“Soon,” she answers.

She sits down on the sofa across from mine. She puts the wooden chessboard on the small table between us and opens the small compartment underneath it where the chess pieces are. I close my book and put it beside me on the sofa.

“What are you doing?” I ask.

“Preparing the chessboard,” Thalia says as if I should not be asking what is obvious. She shows me two pawns, one black and the other white. “You are going to be white because you are from the Court of Miracles and I will be black because I live at the Mountains of Endless Night.”

I hold her hand as she puts a black knight in its place on the board. “No. What are you doing?” She sighs.

“I have seen how you look at King Auden and Zephyrus while they are playing chess,” Thalia says without looking at me. She keeps putting the chess pieces in place. “They never let you play. I thought that this could be our little thing. We could play chess with each other every day.”

I smile as I stare at her and she at the board. She is thoughtful, more thoughtful that I could ever be. When she looks up at me, I stop smiling and help her put the rest of the chess pieces on the board. When we are done, I move my first white pawn.

“Tell me, what else did the forest sprite say?” Thalia asks as she moves her black pawn.

“Not much,” I say as I move another white pawn. “He was keeping an eye for me because a woman in a red dress that I danced with at Easton’s engagement ball told him to.”

“Was she a faerie?” Thalia asks, moving another black piece that I do not pay attention to.

“Think so,” I say. I grab one white knight and move it, jumping through a pawn. “She went with the forest sprite, but she did not look like a sprite. She was not a witch, since she did not rhyme when she spoke, and she had long ears.” I stop for a second. “Where did you learn to play?”

Chess is considered a game of royals that is meant for men to play. Women do not play, or even learn. The reason is that strategists are only men, and since this is a strategy game, women do not tend to play. Seeing Thalia playing makes me think that it is ridicule that chess is for men. She could easily beat anyone in our court.

“My father taught me,” she says. “He said that I needed to play chess since I was going to inherit the Court of Storms. He was not going to make me married someone. He wanted me to become queen and then I could choose whomever I wanted to marry. But then he passed away.”

“Then why are you marrying me?” I ask after some seconds of awkward silence.

“The Court of Storms need money,” Thalia says as she moves her black queen. “We can be independent no longer. The Court of Miracles is the richest court so mother figured that I should marry his son.”

“Oh,” I say under my breath as I move another white pawn.

“Anyway,” she says, returning to the previous conversation, “you said that the woman had a red dress and that she was a faerie, right? Then she must be from the Court of Ashes.”

“That is what I thought,” I say as I move one of my white rooks. I am a little angry at myself to know that she figured out quicker than me that the woman in red could be from the Court of Ashes.

“One of the princes of the Court of Ashes is a friend of mines. Let us find that woman,” she says as she stands up. “I will send him word of your arrival today.”

“Wait, what are you doing?” I say as I move a white bishop. “The game is not over.”

“Is it?” she asks. She takes her black queen, moves it and takes out my white knight. “Checkmate.”

She walks away as I stare at the board. My king has no way out. She could have also made that play two moves ago. She was playing me all along, and I fell for it. I could not help but smile as I lean back on my sofa. If she is going to act like this every day, this marriage is going to be interesting.

***

Caspian climbs the tree as fast as he can. He moves to the lowest branch and, while hugging it, starts moving to the edge. He extends his hand and grabs an apple. He lets himself fall, landing on his two feet.

“What are you doing?” Hesperia asks. She is wearing a dark green casual gown, representing the colors of her court. Her blonde hair is tied in a single braid.

“I am hungry,” Caspian says. He takes a bite from the apple. A piece of it falls on his blue shirt and he brushes it off with his hand. It leaves a small stain but he only shrugs.

“There are apples in the kitchen, you know,” I say.

“Yes, but there is nothing like the thrill of fetching your own food,” Caspian says.

A white carriage, guided by two winged horses, stops in front of us. The door of the carriage opens without no one opening from outside. Thalia steps out from inside it. She is wearing a dark purple gown, simpler than Hesperia’s dark green gown.

“What are you doing here?” I ask her.

“I am going with you,” she answers. Before I could argue, she says, “I am the one who contacted the Court of Ashes. They are expecting me. If you do not want me to go, then I am sorry to tell you that you will not go either.”

“Is she manipulating you?” Hesperia whispers.

“Yes, and I am afraid that she is good at it,” I whisper back. Then I say out loud, “Fine. Let’s go.” I step inside the carriage.

“You look fine,” Hesperia says to Thalia with venom in her words, even though she is smiling. Fine, not beautiful.

“No, I look gorgeous,” Thalia says, smiling too. “Don’t you think so, Rowan?”

“Sure,” I say, and I regret it the second I say it. Hesperia glares at me as she steps in. This is going to be an interesting trip. Caspian steps in and then Thalia.

Hesperia has taken the seat next to me, and Caspian is seated across from me. Thalia is sitting next to Caspian and across from Hesperia. This is not the way I would have liked for them to sit. I would have preferred Thalia next to me and Hesperia across from me. That way Thalia and Hesperia won’t have to speak to each other because ever since the incident with North in Fairdell, I feel tension between Thalia and Hesperia.

“Have I mention that I do not like the Court of Ashes?” Hesperia asks when the carriage is in the air.

“No, why don’t you?” I ask.

“There is not any vegetation,” she says. “Less vegetation means less abundance of insects. Most insects would be underground. My magic is almost useless there.”

“There is vegetation at the Court of Ashes,” Thalia says. She then turns to look at the window. “You just have to search for it.”

“But isn’t the Court of Ashes made of stone and ash? Where would plants grow?” Caspian asks.

“You will be surprised,” Thalia answers leaving us all to wonder.

The journey to the Court of Ashes does not take long. We cross the rest of the Court of Miracles, fly over the Witches’ Forest, and then into the Court of Ashes. If we were not flying, we would have lasted twice as long.

I feel when we leave the Witches’ Forest and arrive to the Court of Ashes. The atmosphere of the Witches’ Forest was warm and wet, while the Court of Ashes’ atmosphere is only warm. There is a smell of faint iron in the air that makes me uncomfortable. It enters my lungs as if it is poisoning me and leaves even more painful. I wonder how faeries can live here.

When we land, I walk out first. The smell of iron is even stronger here than in the sky. It takes me some moments to understand that the dark gray floor made of stones and ashes have some particles of iron. If I was not wearing any shoes, my feet will be burning.

“Are we sure that we are at the Court of Ashes? This looks more like the Court of Mountains,” Caspian says as he looks around.

“Those are not mountains, they are volcanoes,” Thalia answers.

There is indeed no vegetation in the Court of Ashes. The floor is every shade of gray with dust, which is ash, covering every inch. There are hills with rocks on it and peaks that are volcanoes. Houses and buildings are all made of the same stone as the floor, and they are small, tiny houses and buildings that if they hold one table and one bed, it would be full. It forms a city, a gray and depressive city.

There is a house in front of us, bigger than the rest of the buildings. Two rooms can fit inside, or three if they are small. It seems to be the center of the city. It does not have any windows, only one door that is not made of wood or stone, but something black that looks like metal. The door opens and a person followed by four knights is silver armor comes from inside it.

“Lia!” the faerie shouts. He looks younger than Hesperia, Caspian, and me, but the same age as Thalia. His ginger hair is tied up in a perfect bun. He has dark gray eyes, the same color as the stones and ash on the floor.

“Lee!” Thalia says. She jogs towards him as he does the same. They hug and then she steps back, putting her hands on his face. “You have changed! I can feel the recently shaved hairs of your beard!”

“Oh, shut up, Lia!” he mocks.

“I would like you to meet my friend Rowan and his friends, Caspian and Hesperia,” Thalia says as she steps to the side.

“Friend or friend?” he winks.

“Nice to make your acquaintance,” I say as I extend my hand towards him.

“Oh, you must be from the Court of Miracles,” he says as he shakes my hand with his smaller hand.

“Oh, no, he is one of the princes,” Thalia says.

“Look at you Lia, making friends in high places,” the ginger teases. He then turns back to us. “I am Rahlee, prince of the Court of Ashes.” He walks closer to Thalia and whispers, “Who is yours, the boy from Miracles or the one from Depths?”

“Miracles,” Thalia whispers, “I am engaged.”

“What? You didn’t tell me,” he says out loud. “You have to fill me in! Anyway, let’s go inside.”

Rahlee starts to walk, with Thalia’s arm resting on his, toward the house. The knights move to the side, letting them and then us pass. After we pass, the knights begin to follow us. Inside of the house, there is only one room, a living room. It has chairs, tables, and sofas. Paintings of families are on the wall. In one of them, I spot a kid version of Rahlee with chubby cheeks. In the back of the room, there is a set of stairs that head downstairs.

Going through the stairs, I see that there are many floors below the first floor. Hallways with doors, decorative vases on top of stools, elegant pots with colorful flowers, and even windows. Comparing to outside, this place is lively. Before I could look at a window to see the sole purpose of it, Rahlee leads us to the next set of stairs.

Rahlee continues talking with Thalia about how his sister enchanted a stone to start bouncing whenever a storm is coming. He leads them to one of the last floors and to a hall. At the end of the hall, there is a door, bigger than the door upstairs. When the knights open the door, my tongue ties up and I am unable to speak.

We are at an underground city. Bright stones are on the cave’s ceiling, illuminating with different colors. Each building seems to grow into the ceiling and past it. I turn around to see where we came from. We were at a castle that I realize that is the Ash Castle. Its color is light gray with windows that seems to be made of a light blue glass.

Continuing walking, Rahlee leads us to a garden near the castle. There are trees on every corner of the city, but the only grass is on the gardens. He sits down on the floor and Thalia sits next to him. Caspian spots an orange fruit on a tree and he climbs the tree to get it.

“How can these plants get sunlight and rain?” I ask as I sit on the floor. Hesperia sits beside me.

“Do you see those holes on the ceiling?” Rahlee asks as he points above him. In the cave’s ceiling are small holes that looks as if it was made naturally but they must have been made by the faeries of this court. “Water and sunlight come through it. The cave is enchanted so there is no way that lava can come in, not even through those holes.”

That explains why the floor outside is made of stone and ash and why the houses are all the same. Whenever a volcano erupts, it leaves a trail of ash and rocks when it dries. The houses outside are made of the same stones, making the lave impossible to enter. That explains also why they are small. They are just meant to be entrance to their houses underground.

“I am sorry to ask you this, Rowan, but how old are you?” Rahlee asks.

“Seventeen,” I answer without understanding why he is asking me that.

“That is good,” Rahlee says. I raise an eyebrow at Hesperia, but she is not paying attention since butterflies are circling her and landing on her hands and face. “Arranged marriages usually do not end up great. My sister had to marry a twenty-seven years old faerie from the Court of Spring when she was only sixteen.”

I have never thought it that way. I always knew that I was going to marry a princess from another court. I knew that I could not argue with the decisions of the kings and queens. I never even thought that I could have ended up with a princess much older than me or someone who could hate me. I could have ended up with someone worse than Thalia.

“What is this fruit?” Caspian asks. He has taken a bite from the orange fruit that was on the tree.

“Don’t – forget it,” Rahlee says after he sees him taking a bite. “That fruit is spicy. Even the toughest faeries from other courts cry at the smell of it. Imagine what happens when they bite it.”

Caspian spits the piece that he was chewing on the floor. His eyes water and his gills open, trying to suck on the absent water. He throws the orange fruit in the air and runs to a pond near us. He submerges his head on the pond as Rahlee catches the fruit in the air without standing up and takes a bite.

“He is cute,” Rahlee says, smiling at himself.

“Anyway,” Thalia says, trying to ignore Caspian’s event, “we came here because we are searching for someone that we think that is a citizen of the Court of Ashes.”

“What is their name?” Rahlee asks.

“I do not know,” I answer. “I can only describe her. She was about Thalia’s height and looked about my age, if not a little bit older. She came with a forest sprite from the Slumbering Forest, but I have never seen her before that day. She might have a connection to the Court of Miracles, maybe she has a family or friend in my court. She had long blonde hair and blue eyes, lighter than Thalia’s. She came in a red dress, which is your court’s color.”

“Well, father knows everyone in our court,” Rahlee says. “He even has in his office lists of every resident. I could go fetch it and we can search for her.”

Before I can say anything, Caspian drops on the floor, back on the grass. He extends his arms and legs. “I am starving,” he says and then moves to lay on his side and looking at me. “If you would not have made us skip lecture, I would have eaten by now.”

“I can make servants cook up something if you want,” Rahlee says.

“Really?” Caspian says as he sits up, eyes shining with enthusiasm. I asked him if he wanted to eat before leaving to the Court of Ashes and he did not want to. “I would be glad!”

“All right then,” Rahlee says as he stands up. “We will go to the castle and I will search for the person while you eat.”

***

Rahlee took the lists to the dining and even though him, Thalia, Hesperia and I searched while Caspian ate, we did not find anyone. The woman in red is a ghost. There were two families with blond hair at the Court of Ashes and one did not have any blonde women in the family, and the other did not have blue eyes.

Back in the castle, I brush away the need of finding the woman in red. She will appear eventually. Hesperia and Caspian have returned to their houses, and Thalia went to her rooms. I decide to go with the Cursebreaker to the backyard near the stables where hay and wood dummies are hung for practice.

“Ah, little brother, I was going to look for you,” Zephyrus says as he takes his golden helmet off. He was practicing at the field.

That is the thing about faeries, we do not lie but we deceive. Zephyrus was going to look for me, but he did not say when. He thought about it and believed it enough to say it. He could have looked for me now or years from now, but he was going to look for me.

“Have you given much thought about father’s proposition?” Zephyrus asks. Proposition is a nice way of saying that if I gave much thought on killing my future mother-in-law.

“I have given it some thought,” I say.

“And?” Zephyrus asks, rising an eyebrow.

“And I do not think that is a good idea,” I say.

“Do not worry,” he says, putting a hand on my shoulder. I have never seen Zephyrus so closed to me before. “I will do it for you. I always knew that you were a coward anyway.”

He walks away with those last words, leaving me with the desire of answering. Instead, I turn to the nearest dummy and swing my blade, watching its head roll on the floor.