Forbidden

Chapter Eight - The Guy on the Balcony (part 1)

    It was strange for Lilith to be in the Asterian war room making decisions that usually Gwen and (sometimes) Ace would help advise her in since they knew more about the kingdoms alliance than Lilith did, but she saw it appropriate to tell the next king of Asterin in line how Findara works. It still surprised her that he had never stepped foot into Findara before, then again Ace wasn’t allowed out of the castle up until 4-ish years ago. Lilith slowly began to explain everything to Jack as they waited on Zehra and Leo Percy to get to the war room, Vulpecula was nowhere to be found but Jack knew she would pick up the plan right away if they proceeded without her. She explained the levels of the kingdom, the class system, the Elites, and anything Jack just didn’t know about. “Wow, that’s so corrupted.” Jack said looking at the small model of Findara. He couldn’t believe everything Lilith was telling him. Hana and the other simply observed around the table having somewhat knowledge of the kingdom.

    “Yeah, try living there.” Lilith scoffed just as the doors opened revealing Zehra and Leo Percy.

    “Lilith!” Zehra greeted as she walked up to the Findarian and gave her a hug while Leo Percy introduced himself to Hana. “How have you been? How is Malakai?”

    “I’m doing amazing, but Malakai has been worrying too much lately. You know how he gets when I travel in and out of too many kingdoms throughout the week, but he said thank you for the small cakes again, we loved them!” Lilith said, making Zehra smile.

    “Wait… you know her? The last time you mentioned Lilith you sounded like you didn’t know her.” Jack recalled as Zehra shrugged her shoulders.

    “It’s a rule of Ace’s that we all like to follow, so up until this point I told Zehra to pretend she didn’t know me. Other than that, Zehra and I have known each other for a long time now.” Lilith said.

    “What rule? Why is Findara so secretive about everything? What’s going on in that place?!” Jack asked mildly concerned of what he was already getting into. Jack has talked to people who ran away from kingdoms who ally with Findara, but nothing they say equates to the horrors in Findara. That kingdom was on a whole different league of its own.

    “Jack, calm down bud. You already have too much on your plate, try to process one thing at a time.” Leo Percy stated calmly as Jack nodded his head.

    “The rule of thumb around Ace is to not tell him everything. We don’t know who to trust within the castle, let alone the kingdom, and sometimes if you turn in someone who plays the ‘devil’s advocate’, you can receive financial compensation of 20 gold pieces… which is a lot. That’s why everything is so secretive in Findara.” Lilith responded leaving Jack a little fazed, but he understood.

    “Wait what do you mean by devil’s advocate?” Leo Percy asked as he brought a chair up for Zehra and himself to the table and sat down with the rest of the group.

    “I’m going to state the obvious for a moment, but just hear me out. King Oliver and Prince Ace express both ends of the spectrum. Prince Ace believes that us; lesbians, gays, bisexuals, transgenders, witches, wizards, spirits, and so on, deserves equality and freedom to do what we will like a lot of people in this nation. On the other hand, King Oliver and his millions of followers believe that any of those people are literal devil’s advocates and the only way to save them is burning their bodies to purify them to heaven. So, the devil’s advocate thing goes both literally and metaphorically here.” Lilith answered trying to clarify Findara. “Explaining Findara is not easy at all-”

    “It’s just a Fool’s Paradise.” Jack interrupted piecing everything together. “Wait so Prince Ace has to put up this façade of hating people like us just until he’s king. That’s why Ace doesn’t want you to tell him anything, it’s for your own safety. The less he knows the better. What the living earth, that’s so messed up. Here I thought all Findarians were awful human beings.”

    “That's amazing! Prince Ace is on our side, we can talk to him and figure out a plan to help everyone!” Leo Percy said as everyone agreed except for Lilith, Zehra, and Jack.

    “It’s not that simple Leo Percy. King Oliver will not think twice about going to war with us. Also keep in mind that our allies are not a third as strong as we are. We need months of preparing to do so.” Zehra confronted.

    “Actually, that won’t be the case.” Sellandia said walking in. “Drayde and I have been preparing a group of young witches and wizards that could help out if the day were to come. Hopefully it won’t ever come to the day that you are at war with Findara. Been there, done that… it’s quite terrifying.”

    “Hey I offered you shelter with me but you denied and decided to roam dead man’s land like a dummy.” Drayde said defensively as his lantern brought extra light to the dimly lit room.

    “Dead man’s land is too close to the forest and you know it. Plus, I didn’t trust you then.” Sellandia huffed as she looked over to the group. “Have you all thought of a plan yet?” She asked while taking a seat, Drayde standing behind her.

    “We were just about to, Jack would you like to take over?” Lilith asked as Jack nodded.

    “Well now that I know that our refugees are coming from Findara in two days, I know that I will be playing the biggest distraction. Everyone’s positions will remain the same, so Emily and Sam, you will be waiting here at the kingdom to help them get situated and comfy in their new homes. Zehra you will be my, forgive me for saying it, date to the ball. Leo Percy, you and Eris will continue to be our guards to the ball, however, I need you to go to infiltrate their version of the war room and collect intel on their next war. As for the refugees I assume you, Lilith, is helping guide the refugees out of the kingdom?” Jack asked as Lilith nodded her head. “Great, Drayde could you help us transport them here?”

    “Hmmm, I don’t see why not. Plus, it could help save a night’s trip.” Drayde answered with a smile.

    “Thank you! So, everything remains the same except for those two new positions.” Jack stated as everyone nodded.

    “Erm, Jack I don’t think it’s such a good idea for Leo to go-” “It’s Leo Percy.” Leo Percy corrected Lilith.

    “Right, my bad. I don’t think it’s such a good idea for Leo Percy to go snooping around the castle in the open like that.” Lilith said with a concerning tone.

    “Why not?” Jack asked.

    “The castle has eyes everywhere. Especially Xavier and Gracelyn.” Lilith answered and, in that moment, Sellandia choked on the air itself.

    “Xavier?!” Sellandia exclaimed. Her tone was off, there happiness but regret and fear laced into her shout. “Tall, dark skin, brown hair, heterochromatic eyes?!” She asked in a hurry.

    “You know him?!” Lilith asked as Drayde’s grin turned into a frown.

    “We didn’t just know him, we taught him and loved him.” Drayde said as his hand on Sellandia’s shoulder tightened.

    “He was one of our first students decades ago. I was still new to teaching and Drayde was still new to the dangers of certain kingdoms. Xavier is a very intelligent boy. He can come across as outgoing and caring, but he’s dangerous. For so long I thought I killed him, but hearing he’s still alive makes me happy yet sad at the same time.” Sellandia sighed as she laced her fingers with Drayde.

    “It’s not your fault.” Drayde whispered to her as he kissed the top of her forehead.

    “What do you mean you thought you killed him?” Hana asked.

    “I- You know how you all said I know every level of magic except for necromancy?” Sellandia asked as the younger witches nodded their heads. “Well, that’s not true. I know some necromancy but swore off the practice. I considered Xavier my perfect child for so long. He meant the world to me, although I wasn’t his biological mother. I watched him grow up and taught him everything I know. I think it was when I started to pay attention to the other students, I had all those years ago. I made him feel worthless, like he wasn’t enough. I should have praised him more and told him that I am so proud of him but I didn’t. Eventually he grew jealous and envious. He tried to impress me by learning death manipulation. When he was trying to show me what he had learned, it was the same day the students were learning transportation. As the magical people in the room, you understand how dangerous it is first learning transportation. For my non-magical people in this room, one wrong thought while trying to manifest your body to appear in a different place could lead to life threatening consequences.” Sellandia said as she started to get teary eyed.

    “Xavier was no more than twelve years old at the time, and my patience was running thin with him. I had 28 students to watch over before they accidentally impaled themselves on the trees. I snapped at Xavier; I literally casted a ten-minute banishment spell on him. Who does that?! He was so mad that when he came back, he cast a pain inducing spell on everything around him, including me. I counter the spell by returning it to him but triple fold. He started bleeding all over; his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. It was so bad that he foamed at the mouth and started to seize up from the pain. I didn’t know what to do but watched in fear while all the students hid behind me. I never thought I would hurt one of my own kids before.” Sellandia cried out. “Despite the condition he was in, Xavier placed a phobia illusion spell on the students and I. It took until Drayde found us to disenchant the spell, by then Xavier was gone and up until now I thought he died.”

     “Great, now we have a wizard with mommy issues on Oliver’s side.” A familiar voice said that the door frame. Everyone’s heads shoot over to Vulpecula who leaned against the door frame.

    “Vulpecula!” Leo Percy shouted as he quickly walked over to the lady covered in blood.

    “Sorry I couldn’t clean up. Eris told me about King Harry when I first walked in so I had to see the old man first. As for you Sellandia, I’m sorry to hear about Xavier. I didn’t know that was the heavy weight that kept you down.” Vulpecula sorrowfully said as she placed her sword leaning against the closest shelves to her.

     “Thank you, I just wasn’t expecting to hear his name after so long. I can’t even feel his presence in the atmosphere anymore, he completely blocked me off from his mind. How have you been my dear?” Vulpecula asked, desperately wanting to change the subject. Yet to Lilith, it was so clear as to why Xavier has been cruel to her in all these years since she’s been working in the castle.

    “Same old, same old.” Vulpecula answered while getting rid of her cape and some light armor that protect the major organs of her body.

    “So how do you two know each other?” Emily asked curiously.

    “Easy. I was fighting a spirit and it got me pretty good, like blood spewing everywhere. Then this lady, Sellandia over here, came and helped me out.” Vulpecula stated keeping it short and sweet.

    “You never explain anything.” Zehra groaned as she sat in her chair and threw her head back in annoyance.

    “I like to keep the element of surprise in play.” Vulpecula retorted back. With that the small group bonded for the next two days while planning out what they needed to do in Findara and any extra information they needed. They were pretty open with each other, except for Sellandia, Drayde, and Vulpecula who had already feared they shared too much. The day before the ball, Jack went through everyone’s task again making sure Eris and Vulpecula were included. To ensure Leo Percy’s safety he made sure Vulpecula assisted him with finding Findara’s future plans. According to Lilith, most of King Oliver’s plans are written out on scrolls placed all over a room in one of the southern towers of the kingdom. She tried her best to explain how to get there, but Leo Percy’s and Vulpecula’s constant reassurance of ‘we got it’ kept throwing her to a loop. She was well aware that they could piece together the instruction of how to get to the war room from the ballroom, however, it was their safety Lilith was accounting for. They didn’t understand how much they should not underestimate Findara, but their ignorance kept getting in the way. Lilith made sure to make a mental note to tell Chester to watch over the two.

    The day before the ball approached and Lilith bid everyone a temporary farewell. “Are you sure you don’t want me to teleport you over to Findara?” Drayde asked for the millionth time as he shook the stick a little, making the lantern sway from one side to another as Drayde tried to tempt her.

    “Once again, I’m fine. Plus, I have to say goodbye to Malakai and there’s some potential dates I can ruin too! I could also use the exercise.” Lilith chuckled making Drayde smile.

    “Wait, Lilith!” Hana called out nervously.

    “What’s up?” Lilith asked as she watched the small girl nervously twirl her copper locks around her fingers.

    “If you know him, could you tell Cain I miss him?” Hana mumbled as she scratched her cheek nervously.

    “Ah! So, you’re the mystery girl that he’s been talking about. Rhoma is going to be so mad that she lost 3 silver pieces to Sebastian.” Lilith busted out laughing making Hana’s cheeks turn to a heavier shade of red.

    “H-He talks about me?!” Hana asked as she stumbled over her words.

    “All the time! You have to tell me that story the next time I see you, but I’ll make sure to tell Cain you said so.” Lilith smiled as she gave her temporary farewells to everyone. It was early in the afternoon when Lilith began to make her trip to the Forbidden Forest to see her lover. It seems that summer was finally coming to an end since the temperature outside felt a lot cooler compared to a few days ago when Lilith first met Prince Jack. The wrestling of the trees before a huge gust of wind came along to play with her hair was probably one of Lilith’s favourite little pleasures in life.