The Maze of Magic

Surprise and Reconciliation

The weight of the girl on my shoulder was starting to make it cramp. Thankfully, our group of three, Octavia, Anahura, and me, were almost to the castle.

After about five more blocks and 10 minutes, the three of us reached the main palace gate.

We stopped there and the gatekeeper asked our business. We told him we had the lost magess and he quickly let us in. He directed us to go to the queen's office and she would tell us where to go after that.

I had been to the castle before and knew most of it really well so I led the way.

The queen's office was all the way on the other side of the castle, over-looking the royal gardens, so we had to walk for about five minutes before Octavia knocked on the dark oak door.

Only a few seconds after Octavia replaced her fist to her side, a female, alto-sounding, voice came from inside the room. "Enter," the voice said.

Octavia turned the knob and pushed the door open. When the door opened completely, I saw a face I had been dreading seeing all day, set against a beautiful bronze wall with silver buttresses holding lit torches on the wall.

The queen stood up when she saw me and came around her desk. Her eyes were shimmering with joy.

"My son," she whispered, voice sounding sort of tearful, then she noticed the girl on my shoulder. "You can set her there," she said, pointing to one of two chairs on the opposite side of the desk as her seat.

I gently set Anahura on the chair that was indicated. When I straightened up again, I looked over at the queen. She had brunette hair and dark brown, almost black, eyes, just like me, not to mention she was short.

"Hello, mother," I said, before the queen came over to me and hugged me tight around my waist.

"How are you, my son?" she asked me, letting me go and looking up at me.

"Good, mom," I responded.

My mother looked over at Octavia with her intense brown eyes. "Who's this?" she asked, suspiciously.

"My partner at the academy, Octavia Terbron."

"She's pretty."

I looked at Octavia, "Yeah, she is." I noticed an unsuspecting blush jump into Octavia's cheeks as she noticed I just complimented her.

I looked back at my mother, "Anyways," I said, "Where do we need to take Anahura?"

"One second," she responded, "I need to call Tethros to lead you there."

"Who's Tethros?" Octavia asked.

"Mom's head servant."

My mom had walked around her desk and was pulling on a string that was presumably connected to a bell somewhere and from there, a speaker in the kitchen area, marked as the queen's office.

About five minutes later, a tall, young, and handsome man entered the room.

He bowed to my mother and turned to me. "It is good to see you again, Master James."

"Same to you, Tethros."

"Follow me and I shall show you where the girl's room is," Tethros said.

"Thank you," I said, picking up a still sedated and sleeping Anahura and placing her back over my slightly less cramped shoulder.

Octavia left the room before me and held the door open so I could walk out of the office.

I walked out and Octavia let the door close behind me. She then caught up to me and, together, we followed Tethros down to the end of the hall, down another corridor, up a flight of stairs, and through a door  at the top of the stairs that led into the East tower.

The whole tower was like a house, with all the amenities of one and it kinda gave me a Rapunzel feel with the tower being so high above the ground and having just one, glass less, arched window on the far side of the room.

Tethros led me through a door on the opposite side of the tower than the window. Past the door was an elegant room. The room was shaped like a half circle and  had a huge canopy bed on the middle of the far, curved, wall that was blanketed with royal blue comforters and pure white pillows. The walls of the room were a deep reddish-brown color but were obviously made of stone. On the flat wall in the room was a mahogany wood desk that had stationary equipment, well-organized in cups and folders on the desktop.

Tethros told me to lay Anahura on the bed. I followed his instructions.

"Now what?" I asked.

"Now, we leave, I'll take care of her when she wakes up."

Tethros led me out of the room and I closed the door behind me. Octavia was out in the main room, standing at ease with her feet slightly apart, arms clasped behind her back, and staring at really nothing since there was no commander for Octavia to point her attention to.

"At attention!" I barked. Octavia, with the respect required in the military having been drilled into her head since birth, jumped into a more upright position, with her chest out, her shoulders back, her chin pointed slightly upwards, and a blank look on her face.

I started laughing at her, "I mean, I knew I was a good leader, but that you, the rebellious "snake" listened to me, that is just a new level of leadership." I said, still laughing, "Thanks for the ego boost, Tave."

She snapped out of the attentive position and stalked over to me. "Why, you dirty little…" she looked ready to punch me but the playboy part of my brain decided it would be a good idea to kiss her. It was just a little peck on the lips, but a kiss nonetheless.

I stepped away from her and saw the blush, barely concealed on her dazzling and pale white face.

Octavia reached up and gently touched my dark brown cheek. I thought she was going to caress it but just as I came to this conclusion, she pulled her hand back, and slapped my face, hard.

"Ow," I whined, rubbing my throbbing cheek, "What was that for?"

"Are you daft, you i***t? If I wanted you to kiss me, I would have started it,"  she said to me, before turning to Tethros and saying, "Can we get our reward for finding the magess so we can leave this wretched place?"

Tethros just nodded at her and started to walk out of the tower.

Octavia and I fell into tow behind him and were led back to my mother���s office. Tethros opened the door for us and waved his hand for us to enter.

"Hello," my mother said to Octavia and me in a cheerful voice, "Is the magess settled in?"

"She's still asleep, but yes, she is in her new chambers," Thetros responded.

"Perfect," she said to the head servant, "go get me two pouches, full to the brim with coins, bring them here, go attend to Anahura, and have Jessamy attend to Mitzi. When both girls are bathed and fed, bring them here, with the non-mag cuffs on their wrists."

Tethros nodded and departed to get the coins. Octavia sat in one of the chairs opposite my mother and I sat in the other chair.

"Now, I have a task for the city's two newest Cadmars."

"But we're still in training," Octavia said.

"Not anymore, you two were the top of your class from what I can tell, so I'm expediting your graduation to right now. Congratulations."

I saw Octavia's jaw drop out of the corner of my eye and I was speechless.

Octavia was the first to recover, saying, "W-what is your task?" I had  never heard my confident best friend stutter before and her voice was unsure when she asked the queen her question.

"I want you two to train our young magesses for the challenge in which they will have to participate."

"What is this challenge," I asked, finally recovered.

"They will be competing with each other for the right to inherit my crown when I die."

"I mean, I understand that I can't be king because the law says the ruler must be a magic possessing female, and I don't want to be anyways, but why these girls, and why now?" I questioned my mother.

"My son, I have become sick. I am dying and need to be able to train the heir to my crown in the ways of royal life. As for your question, 'Why these girls,' these two girls were the ones who showed the most promising magical ability, based on their parentage."

"Who are their parents?" Octavia asked.

"Wait a minute to answer that mum. I have a question of my own," I said, anger seeping into the edges of my voice, "Why would you not tell me, your own son, that you were sick?!"

"Because you needed to concentrate on your training. And do not raise your voice at me."

"Training?!" I said "Oh, you mean training to be a merciless killer and mindless servant? Training to give up my freedom forever?" I stood up and slammed my hands on my mother's desk before turning around and getting ready to walk out of the elegant office.

"Sit down and listen to me," my mother magicked me to listen to her, imbuing her voice with just enough power to make me listen to her.

"You know I hate when you do that."

"Yes, I do," she said, "now, shut your mouth and listen to me, or I will magic you again."

I reluctantly stopped talking and listened to what my mother had to say.

"Now, to answer your question, Miss Terbron, Mitzi's parents are Lord and Lady Namani. They are a powerful duo of magic bearing people who go around helping other people. Anahura's mother was Amara Lincoln, widow of Dain Lincoln, she was also a powerful magess, who probably had more power in just her than Mitzi's parents have combined. Unfortunately, Amara was killed yesterday when I sent an honor guard to retrieve Anahura for this challenge."

"So, Anahura is an orphan and Mitzi is a lady?" I asked, puzzled. "How did you even discover Anahura?"

"Well, her father was Lord Dain, my most trusted advisor," my mother responded, "and I was very close to her mother. I was actually there when Anahura was born."

"Isn't there any other candidates for the crown?" Octavia asked.

"No, these girls meet some very specific requirements, not just the parentage."

"What are the rest of the requirements?" I inquired.

"I cannot tell you that, let's just say that they greatly diminish the number of candidates I have for the challenge.

Just then, there was a knock on the door.

"Enter!" my mother said. The door opened and in walked Tethros followed by a tall girl with golden-blonde hair, forest green eyes, and tan-hued skin. She was dressed in a floor length gown, the same color of her eyes, with green mesh sleeves and no gemstones adorning the dress except for a band around her waist. She had no gloves, instead opting for a gold bracelet with citrine gemstones set into it, on  and a matching necklace and earrings..

Behind Mitzi and Tethros was Anahura, wearing a navy blue, knee-length dress with black rhinestone studded hems. Anahura had midnight black gloves that had sapphire rhinestone studded hems, and her jewelry was a mix of sapphires and diamonds, set in silver.  The darkness of Anahura's dress made her eyes stand out more and her pale skin look more pale. She looked like an elf from a fairy tale, beautiful, graceful, and mysterious.

My jaw dropped and I just stared. Octavia hit me on the back of my head. Then she looked over at the group standing in the doorway and investigated the girls. She looked over Anahura first and when she looked at Mitzi, she inhaled a sharp breath.

Turning back to my mom, Octavia said, "What did you say Mitzi's parents' names were?"

"Mila and Jason Namani," the queen responded, puzzled. "Why?"

"Because that," Octavia pointed to Mitzi, "is my adoptive sister."