Muralea

Chapter 08

*Bam*

Was the sound of a pile of books hitting the table

‘Thank you Ines’ Kyros told the help

‘What are all these for?’ I asked nervously

‘You of course, I need you to be done with them by the end of this week’

‘The Week!?’ I buried my head in my hands

‘No slouching and elbows off the table’

‘Ow’ he used a long ruler to slap my back and pushed my elbows off the table

‘As a future king, you must keep a proper posture, don’t slouch you’re not hunched’

‘Ok’ I said fixing my posture ‘like this’

‘Could be better, with lots of practice it will become second nature to you. Well that’s all for today, good work’ he said before leaving

I sighed a sigh of relief that I could take a break

‘Would you like me to take them to your study?’

‘I have a study?’ she nodded ‘alright yes please’

‘If you’ll kindly go to the dining area, your lunch is being served’ she said before leaving

I was able to remember the way to the room. I ate my lunch, took an apple and began to explore a little. I wondered deeper into the castle to a place where the walls were brick stones, no plasters, painting or wallpapers. It gave the place a very gloomy look but still I ventured deeper curious as to what they keep here. I came across two guards.

‘Your highness!’ they bowed ‘to what do we owe this visit?’

‘I was just roaming around, what is this place?’

‘This is the prisoner’s cell your highness’

Immediately my mind went to the girl from the other day. ‘Hmm’ I said un thought ‘but they don’t look all that strong’ I banged on one ‘I bet I could get out of this myself’

‘No, no these are for normal people. We have 5 different cell level depending on the magical ability of the person’

‘Very well then, I’ll love to seen one of them, say a level 3 cell?’ they looked at each other ‘I mean I need to know this much if I’m going to be your king, I don’t even need the two of you just one is enough to escort me

‘Very well your highness, I shall accompany you’ one of them spoke and lead me there

‘Welcome to a level 3 cell, you can see the differences between this and the other room…’

He proceeded in telling me about its features and other stuff that I don’t remember but I kept my eyes open looking for the girl that bumped into me. I found her in one of the cells with her arms wrapped around her legs, drawing her knees to her chest with chains round her wrists and ankles.

‘Hey, guard’ he stopped talking and turned his attention to me ‘I think I can manage on my own form here’

‘But I can’t leave you alone this is a very dangerous place filled with even more dangerous people.

‘They are in their cage are they not? And if this is the top of the line security you say it is then I should be completely fine… right?’

‘I suppose’

‘That settles it then, go back to work’ he turned around unsure if that was the right decision but he left me anyways

‘Hey’ I said when I approached the cell. She slowly raised her head and was surprised when she saw the person calling for her attention

‘Wow, it’s the future king’

‘What’s your name?’

‘What does it matter? You’re still going to kill me anyways’

‘No one is going to kill you’

‘Then why are you here?’

‘I don’t even know myself, it’s just I saw how they treated you and wanted to make sure you’re alright’

‘Wow, since when does a king care about his prisoners?’

‘I’m not king yet’ I said chuckling

‘But you will be’

‘Why are you guys doing this? All this war and killing, what will you gain from it?’

‘Don’t ask me I just got caught in the crossfire’ I gave a little confused face ‘my dad can be very persuasive’ she shrugged

'A father that persuades their own daughter to fight in a war must be a horrible one'

'I am his only child, it was to be expected'

‘Prince Emilio!’ Agatha called my name as she entered ‘you’re training with Clan leader Xanthe started about 5 minutes ago what are you doing?’

‘Well… I was-‘ she cut me off by grabbing my hand and pulling me to where Xanthe was waiting for me

‘Ah, there you are young prince. I was beginning to think you ran off on me’

‘Sorry’

‘It’s alright, you’re here now we can get started, I’ll be teaching you control. Now I heard you have an interesting power. Can you show me?’

‘I don’t really know how to, it just happened’

‘Can you explain your power to me? what does it do?’

‘I think anything I touch gets destroyed but I don’t know if it has a limitation to what I can do’

‘Alright when did you first use it’

‘About two days ago when the Nyx attacked, I was able to protect myself with it’

'Can you elaborate?'

'He tried to get me with his sword but when it made contact with my hand it broke' she nodded in understanding 'and then I did grab his hand and punched him in the face, his skin crumbled'

‘That must have hurt and what was going through your head at the moment’

‘I guess I was angry, he broke into the kingdom, hurt my friend and wanted to kill me too’

‘Hmm, and after that? Did you ever use the power again?’

‘There was a second time it came out unexpectedly, in training earlier today, it destroyed the flooring’

‘Your power is corresponding in accordance with your emotions. When it happened a second time, what were you feeling?’

‘Anger too'

‘I thought so’

‘So does this mean I’m only able to use it when I’m angry?’

‘Depends, other emotions might still set it off. You need to be able to control it another way' she thought for a while, ok come with me'

She led me to an open space and sat me down

'Cover your eyes and concentrate'

I did exactly as she did and was concentrating for like two minutes before declaring defeat

'This isn't working'

'Try again, close your eyes and try to imagine your power, feel it manifesting through your fingers' the pulled out my hands and let it hang in the air 'concentrate, forget about all the surrounding sounds focus on only my voice, clear your mind of all thoughts and just focus on visualization'

I did exactly as she said and focused as hard as I could only focusing on the feel on my fingers, i felt a tingling sensation on the tip of my fingers, then something solid press against them and then it was gone in an instant. I opened my eyes to see splinters on the floor and a surprised Xanthe

'This is very interesting' she smiled

I looked at my hands, she pressed a ply wood against my fingers, the part that touched my right hand was blown away while the part touching my left hand was still intact.

**

After my training session with Xanthe, I had to learn history with Agatha.

'And that was what contributed into making Muralea what it is today. Are you listening?'

'Yeah' I said absently flipping the pages

'Alright pop quiz, who was the first to sign a treaty with Muralea?'

'Um... It was the flynn kingdom or something'

'Fyn Kingdom! You need to take this more seriously, as boring as learning history is, these are all important things you'll need to know before your coronation'

'Coronation? Nobody told me about a coronation'

'It has to be made known to the entire kingdom that we have a crown prince, and some of our allies will be in attendance'

'So I'm going to be presented in front of the entire kingdom?' she nodded 'Maybe I'm not cut out for this after all'

'Nonsense you will do great have some faith in yourself'

'Public interactions have never been my forte. I have a horrible stage fright'

'Well, with enough exposure I'm sure you'll get used to it' I let out a defeated sigh

'Quit worrying so much, you'll do great now let's get back to the lesson'