The Elfish King

chapter 8

time passed really fast from thinking of a solution. I couldn't find anything yet so I got out of the chair and walked around for a bit in the cottage. Scarla looked at me crazy for a moment, then smiled when she saw me pacing around the dining room like a maniac. I think I made her dizzy at some point so I tried to slow down my pacing so she won't pass out.

"Alright what's going on?"Scarla asked a bit bothered.

"I can't find a way to get the people to be on my side. I was thinking of saying a speech, yet, I don't have enough time to write it and practice it. so, I won't," I said stilling pacing.

"well, if you can't tell them, how about you just show them, "Scarla suggested.

"But how?" I asked.

Scarla got up from the chair in the living room, stopped me in my tracks of pacing back and forth in the dining room, then grabbed my shoulders to keep me still.

"Stop pacing, it is obviously not helping you," she sighed grinning. when she saw I was staying still, she let me go from her grasp." maybe you should do something that you enjoy doing that helps you think more than pacing in the dining room to make me feel dizzy," Scarla said grinning a bit.

I sighed." alright, I guess you're right, I shouldn't be pacing around the dining room, it never helps me figure out solutions to problems." suddenly it came to my thought about the one thing I do for enjoyment."  you know what though, I do know what will," I said smiling."do you have any other food in your cabinets other than oatmeal?" I asked going to the sink to wash my hands.

"as I said when we were in the forest, I only really eat oatmeal," Scarla said.

"I thought you were joking about eating oatmeal for all three meals of the day but I guess I will have to go shopping for the ingredients I need," I said checking the cabinets only seeing oatmeal.

"We don't have much time for that, plus with Kevon is on the hunt to find you, so I don't think it is a good idea for you to go out in public and show your face,"scarla said.

"you bring up a good point, but for the recipe, I am thinking of, I'm am going to need to go shopping since you don't seem to have the ingredients, especially the cooking potion I use for a lot of my cooking." I opened the refrigerator and saw the basics stuff you would have in the fridge like eggs, milk, and a couple of fruits.." hmmm....well it seems I'm going to have to improvise for this recipe," I said shrugging my shoulders.

"I can help you, you know, like with the cooking potion, I can make that and if you need some different ingredients for the recipe then I could probably find a spell to create some ingredients for you," Scarla said.

"Really?" I asked.

"I mean, yeah, remember when I told you I tried to cook with the spells because I didn't like cooking the old-fashioned way," scarla said.

"oh yeah I remember, you couldn't really get the hang of it, so you just stopped and started to eat oatmeal," I said, walking over to the dining room table.

"yeah, I have a lot of cookbooks upstairs, however, the only thing is that they are all full of cooking spells not old-fashioned cookbooks as you like," scarla said.

"well, that's fine, they are almost the same except they have the spells in them," I said.

"oh Alright then, I guess I will go ahead search for a spell for the ingredients and see what kind of books I have upstairs," scarla said heading up the stairs.

"Alright but before you head up can I put some music on?" I asked.

"oh yeah, here," scarla rushed over into the living room and pulling out a record player and a box of records. the record player seemed a bit old but it seemed nice, it was the colors, black and brown. scarla had put it down on a little table, then opened the box of records and picked one out. when I listened to it, I never heard it before, and it wasn't something I was used to hearing.

"Sorry if this song isn't really what you are used to, but it's a song that I listen to in the evening and I thought maybe you will like it," scarla said.

"no it's okay, I actually kind of like the song, what is called?" I asked.

"umm it really doesn’t have a name but the cast says it's called reality," scarla said.

"oh that a cool name for a song," I said.

"Yeah, Well I should get going upstairs to get these cookbooks you need, so you can get started on the cooking. I will also, make that cooking potion and get the ingredients for you," scarla said, heading up the stairs.

I sat back in In my chair at the dining room table for a little bit to listen to the music, after a couple of moments passed, I had gotten up to think about what pots and pans I will have to use. I had gotten out the pots and pans I was going to use for the fruit salad with a possibility of noodles as well.  about half an hour passed when scarla came down the stairs with a handful of cookbooks and a little potion bottle says it was the cooking option on the bottle.

"hey, I found some cooking books they can use, and here's the cooking potion apparently I have some leftover from the last time I tried cooking it's all good it not expired it still has another decade or so until it's not good." scarla said a bit out of breath.

when I saw her come down the stairs struggling a bit, I had gotten up from the dining room table after getting a lot of pots and pans out and I started to head up to Scarla As she seemed to have a hard time carrying all the books. I took about half of the cookbooks she had in her arm and then I also grabbed the cooking potion out of her hands.

"thank you, "scarla said taking a deep breath.

"yeah no problem," I said heading back to the dining room table with the cookbooks and the cooking potion.

scarla followed me soon after me as soon as she caught her breath.

"you know I have thought about what kind of recipe we should do," I said awkwardly.

"so you are telling me I have gone up the stairs for nothing," scarla said a bit aggravated.

"yeah I'm sorry," I said.

"well I guess this was a waste of time to get the books from upstairs," scarla said, rolling her eyes." so what is this idea you have thought of?" scarla said closing the cookbook.

"what if we make a mix of fruits and vegetables and then you can cast a spell for some bread ingredients, with some soy sauce noodles," I proposed.

"that seems like a delicious let's get started," scarla said.

on that note I and scarla went to work, we first cleaned up the cookbooks, then started to cook the fruit and vegetable mix with some garlic bread on the side and soy sauce noodles as well. Scarla cast a lot of spells for vegetables and fruits such as broccoli, bananas, apples, tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, and so much more. scarla also did a spell to get a couple of loaves of bread. I toasted some pieces of bread and some pieces of bread I cooked on the pan with vegetable oil, garlic, and butter to make the garlic bread. scarla helped me make the soy sauce noodles by cooking them in the pot ad putting the seasonings in the pot. we were starting to finish up cooking the garlic bread that was on the stove, and putting on jelling and butter on the toast we had made. scarla wanted to have toast as well for dinner so we made some toast. I went on ahead and started to mix up the vegetables and fruit in a bowl after scarla cut them all up for me with one of her blades, then  I put them on the stove in a pot with a little bit of oil in a little bit of water. after that, I added the cooking potion in the spout that was on the stove so it won't take too long to cook. the noodles we have just about done as well. After everything was cut up and cooked, Scarla and I decided to go ahead and start cleaning up the kitchen a little bit more and start making up plates at the dining room table to get ready for dinner. It was actually pretty early to have dinner because it was only 5:30 pm, usually, I have dinner around 7:00 pm or later.

"so How do you like cooking the old fashion way, so far?" I asked while washing some of the dishes.

"It's actually not that hard as I thought. I never thought the old-fashioned way is better than the new way with the spells however it did take a bit longer than the spells are but since you use the cooking potion it went a bit faster than I thought. cooking this way makes it a little bit easier to understand than reading difficult spells and trying to say them right. I think you have convinced me to start cooking old-fashioned,"scarla said drying up the dishes and putting them away.

I smiled."Well, I'm happy to convince you to start cooking old-fashioned. besides I still have to figure out the one thing I have been avoiding this whole time," I said.

"well first don't get too happy about it cause I still want to give cooking with spells another go, secondly you avoiding the problem doesn’t help it just makes it worse. I thought cooking would help you figure it out but it was obviously a waste of time," scarla said.

"I mean it wasn't a complete waste we have dinner, and you have decided to give cooking without spells another go," I said.

"I guess you have a point but still Kevon is after us and we need to get a plan," scarla said.

I shrugged."well I guess we are going into this blindly, I don't think I can live another day without lira or my mom around me to make me feel like I belong in this society called a kingdom," I said. letting out the water in the sink.

"it is your kingdom technically and you have a chance to change it if you really want to, but it all your choice I am just here to back you up in the fight s because you can not fight," scarla said smiling.

"what do you mean I can't fight?" I said a bit offended.

"I'm just saying when I saw you fighting Kevon at your house with a bat you were pretty terrible," scarla said starting to giggle a little.

"well excuse me if I tried to defend myself after getting stabbed," I said making up the plates of food for me and scarla.

"haha, well at least you survived, but you know, it would be something to have people cheer you on then maybe you would have done better in your fight with Kevon, "scarla said washing her hands.

I placed Scarla's plate and my plate at the dining room table with silverware and napkins for us. I also grabbed some cups and seen she had some juice in the refrigerator. I went on ahead and sat down in my place at the dining room table so did scarla when she was finished washing her hands. we both said our prayers to ourselves and then started to eat. As I ate my food, I started to think about what Scarla had just said about people cheering me on about me fighting, then it hit me, it was an idea a bit crazy of an idea but an idea that might just work to get my mom and lira back. After taking a couple more bites into the delicious fruit, vegetable mix, toast, soy sauce noodles, and garlic bread.

"I think I know how to get the people's attention long enough to convince them to be on the outside to help me get the throne and get my mom and lira back but I know I am Definitely going to your help scarla," I said.

Scarla looked up at me a bit embarrassed from her plate full of food. she was practically stuffing her face with the noodles and toast. I waited for a moment so she can chew and swallow.it was the most awkward silence I have ever had. when she finished chewing her food she wiped her mouth with the napkin.

" also shyne don't ever tell anyone how I just stuffed all that food in the mouth or it will be the end of you." scarla scolding me.

"Ummm....yeah sure," I said smiling.

"well then, let's get to work with planning, we don't have all day," scarla said smiling.

After that,scarla and I cleaned up the kitchen a final time so we can get planning. as soon as we finished cleaning off the dining room table and cleaned off the countertops, and finished the dishes, scarla pulled out a piece of paper and we sat at the dining room table.

"so what is this idea you have?" Scarla said.

"what if I fight Kevon in front of the people, show them who they think they should follow to be the king. let them decide who should rule," I said.

"that seems like a great idea, letting the people decide is good for the people to let them have a voice and a say in what going to happen, however, there is one thing holding you back which is you can't fight," scarla said.

"well that's where I thought you could probably help me," I said.

"hmmm...I am okay at sword but I am better with magic and teaching someone how to handle a sword in less than 24 hours is practically impossible but I wish could. besides, Kevon is a person who would rather fight with a sword than magic. so, you are going to need a good swordsman to teach you how to use a sword properly." scarla said.

I thought for a moment about what she said. she had a huge point about me not knowing how to use a sword properly. I never was taught how to use a sword to fight because that was always what my siblings did. At that point, it had hit me.

"my siblings are apart of the guard they could probably teach me how to use a sword properly to fight Kevon," I said.

"Yeah, that's smart, letting your siblings come here, the only place your safe. Doing that would possibly expose you to Kevon, and giving him a chance to killing your whole family," scarla sighed." look I'm just saying that we need to think more realistically on this before we. make the wrong decision, " scarla said.

"yeah but this is realistic, I mean do you know someone that you trust to teach me how to wield a sword in less than 24 hours?" I asked.

"....no, I don't but that's not a reason for us to be letting people over that may put this whole idea in jeopardy. besides, how are your brothers and sister are going to teach you while there home or working at the palace."scarla said getting annoyed.

"Oh shoot," I said facepalming my face with my hands." they were supposed to be home today this afternoon to see me off until they go to battle," I said.

"oh well, that's not good, they might be caught by Kevon and his guards, at your house, after all, Kevon is trying to find you and kill you, so if you go back to that house now you are going to get killed," scarla said.

I banged on the table so hard with my hands balled up in a fist,  it shook the table a little.

"argh, this isn't happening to my siblings too," I said gritting my teeth." we are going back to my house to warn my siblings," I said.

I called a bird and wrote a bird message to Kai, Bryan, and Neia.

shyne: hey guys I don't know if you are together or not but I need you to know that I love you and I want you guys to be safe, I know this is weird since you may have heard about Kevon after me or something like that in the papers. but I am safe so don't worry too much about me, I'm sorry that mom and I aren't home I have gotten in a bit of trouble that I need to face with your help. if you are captured, tell Kevon I am coming for you guys and then after I save you I am coming after him.

"wait, shyne, don't send that message to them, they might track the bird to you," scarla said in a bit of panic.

"calm down, they can't track birds because after I send them they don't fly back to me, they fly away after they get the message to the person. besides this way of contacting people is so old that people have forgotten this way of contacting people exist. everyone now and days use magical Technologies like MagBook and instafic to talk to each other" I said.

"yeah that is a good point but they can still track where the bird has been sent from," scarla said.

"well I need to send this message, even if they don't message me back and I may have to wing the fight with Kevon I still need to let them know I'm alive," I said.

I went on ahead and sent the message to them. I felt scared and a bit nervous because if Scarla was right about the message being away from Kevon to get to me and kill my family and putting them in more danger than they deserve then I was going to regret it but I knew that I needed to let them know that I was okay and I will be coming for them. after I sent it I walked to the window. I looked out at the sky, filled with bright beautiful stars. I smiled when I thought about Lira. suddenly it faded when the memory of her being left behind and defenseless came to mind.

"hey look I don't understand, the love you feel for your family and friend Lira but I do know that if you want to get the kingdom on our side and if you want them back, you are going to have to fight Kevon with or without swordsmanship because he is coming for us," scarla stood next to me with her hand on my shoulder.

I sighed."yeah and it seems I might have to fight him sooner than I thought. Is there a spell to give me some strength or boost of power to help me fight Kevon?" I asked.

"Since you don't have any element powers all the spells I have in mind for advancing won't work," scarla said.

"well, I guess I'm going to wing it," I said grinning a bit." come on I want to fight him tomorrow and I'm going to need help with a couple of basics in potions for defense," I said.

"now that's something I can help you with," scarla said.

we headed into the kitchen to look over some potions that can help me when suddenly a bird messager came through the window. It landed on my shoulder and the message appeared. I looked at scarla and she gave me a look of "don't read it, it could be a trap," but I went ahead and read it.

Jason: hey I don't know if you are going to get this but I wanted to let you know that they are guards at your house. it also looks like one of your siblings is in custody. but I wanted to know if w are meeting today for the tutoring or we have to reschedule?

when I read the message I stayed quiet because I didn't have anything to say.

"who is it?"scarla asked.

"It was Jason, he wants to know if I can make the tutoring session?" I said.

"are you serious?" scarla asked.

"yep, he is as shallow as I thought, "I said.

"let me see the message,"scarla said.

I moved toward her so she can see the message for herself.

"that guy is as selfish as the demons," scarla said, shaking her head in annoyance.

"well I guess I should say no since I'm am going to be the king of landmendale," I said.

"yeah makes sense but let me ask you this, do you think he can help you with the mission?" scarla asked.

I thought for a moment about what Jason could do to help us. I knew Jason did fencing the sport and I knew for a while he wanted to be a warrior but I never thought me and him might actually work together on something again.

"do you think he has value in this?" I asked.

It took scarla a moment to respond but she eventually did."Honestly, I think he is one of the most arrogant, selfish people I know, but he has skill in swordsmanship and he can definitely teach you the basics of wielding a sword," scarla said.

"well I guess he could help me fight Kevon a bit better than I did the first time," I said.

"Alright so message him to tell him we are going to need his help," scarla said.

"already on it but I do wish my sibling were here because they would know how to plan this better," I said, with dampening spirits.

At that moment I had gotten another message from my siblings. I saw the bird come in and land on my shoulder and told me a message from Neia that's why my heart dropped and when my face glowed up in happiness but then I thought it could also be a warning or death threat from Kevon.

"who is this message from?" scarla asked.

"it's from Neia my older sister," I said.

Neia: Shyne I'm so happy you messaged me, I thought something had happened to you since you weren't home .the house is practically flooding with guards so I and kai are staying at a hotel for the night. I also have something to tell you when I see you. however, I wanted to know what is happening? but more importantly where are you? please message me back.

"she isn't with the guards and neither was kai my other older brother, thank god but she is really worried about me though. Now I have to message her back to let him know where I am. maybe she can help us, "I said cheerfully.

"can I read it?" scarla asked.

I moved toward her so she can read it, then when she was done she seemed to have a different facial expression.

"I don't know shyne, I think you shouldn't tell them where you are. the more people who know where you are, the more we are at risk of getting caught and more chance for them to get hurt," scarla skeptically.

"look I understand that you are not used to having people in your life but this is my family we are talking about. they are all that I have left. since you sided with me you are apart of our team," I said strongly.

a couple of moments passed as I stood there looking at scarla. she seemed disgusted by the idea but tried to have a straight serious face about the situation.

"Alright fine, let them know they can come over here tonight, but let me say this there will be people who you think you can trust but then betray but never let your guard down enough to let them hurt you and when it comes to your soft spots protect it with your life," scarla said storming out the room upstairs.

I watched her Sprint up the stairs. When she was out of sight I went ahead and started to write the messages to Jason, kai, and neia. I thought about Bryan but Neia said didn't say anything about him. at that moment I remembered how are they going to get here when they don't know where we are. so I ran up the stairs for scarla.

"hey scarla, I need your help!" I yelled.

I looked around in the hallway and saw pictures of kingdoms and landscapes. I saw an open room door so I went in.

"hey, scarla are you in here?" I called out.

when I went in I saw books everywhere, candles lit all around the room. I didn't know how to be Reacting when I saw it. a mirror that was on the wall as big as the door, it felt like it was calling me to come closer to it.

"hey I'm out here, why are you in my spell room?" scarla asked confused.

"Ohh, there you are I was looking for you," I said.

"I'm here, so get out of my spell room and come on," scarla said, firmly.

when I rushed out of the room I noticed she had put on a baggy sweatshirt and sunglasses, which she had worn in school.

"hey, why all of a sudden the change of outfit?" I asked.

" cause I can," scarla said coldly.

my face froze in shock by the meanness but I tried to push it down. we both headed down the stairs.

"What did you need me for?" scarla asked.

"what do you mean?" I said.

"you said upstairs you were looking for me, "scarla said.

"oh yeah I wanted to ask you how will they find this place if I don't really know exactly where here is," I said.

"don't worry I will go get them," scarla said.

"wait what do you mean you will get them?" I asked confused.

"you will see," scarla said going out the door.

At that moment she was outside walking in the forest in the dark. I followed her before I lost her.

"hey scarla wait up," I yelled running toward her.

scarla kept walking like she didn't hear me. when I finally caught up to her, she didn't seem like herself.

"Hey what's wrong?" I asked.

"you are what's wrong," scarla said coldly, rolling her eyes, and trying to walk away.

"what do you mean? cause I know you don't like the fact that my family is coming over to your house and everything but I really think they can help us defeat Kevon and his father. so why can't you believe me when I tell you that?" I said.

"shyne, you know I don't like too many people but you are one of the people I do like to be around. I know that it has been a short time of knowing you closely but for a while now I have been getting to know you from a distance and that just tells me you are special and a worthy friend. I just don't want to feel crowded otherwise doing this for you will definitely get Kevon's attention especially the bird messages you have been sending and receiving," scarla said.

"look, I didn't mean to disrupt your life and I know this will get his attention but if he wanted to do something he would have been here already to fight me and kill me. I just say that my brother kai has great strategizing skills to help us actually plan out what we need to do to get Lira and my mom back home," I said.

"Alright, whatever," scarla said.

when we got to the end of the forest and back to the open field of grass. scarla took a deep breath and cast a spell. suddenly, I start to see a portal emerge from the ground, with different kinds of symbols I think I've seen them in a textbook before but it was a huge portal with purple streaks. Then I start to see forms of human bodies, I focused harder, then I started to see them more clearly and I start to see my brother Kai, and Neia comes out from the portal. I started to smile, I headed over to them but before long as I headed over to them I had seen scarla losing her balance to keep the portal open. That was when I realized she's doing way too much for me and I realized she's sacrificing a lot of energy. Then I saw Jason come from the portal as well and that's when the portal stopped and Scarla fell to the ground. I ran over to her, hoping that she was ok. the last time she opened a portal for just two people, she was out for a whole night but now that she's opening another portal longer for more than three people I hoped she survived. my siblings seemed to be confused about where they were, but when they saw me they all smiled when they saw me rushing towards Scarla they followed after me to help me out if needed. When Jason first came he seemed confused as well but once he saw everyone rushing over to Scarla he followed after us.