Acclayne Book 1: The Game Begins
Chapter 9

Methyn eyed his breakfast suspiciously. He had never been a big fanof breakfast; preferring to knock back a large mug of Tea instead.The King was sat at the head of the table and although he wasn’twatching his guests Methyn thought it would be quite rude not to atleast attempt to eat some of the food that had been placed in frontof him; though the King himself seemed more preoccupied with pushinghis food around rather than eating it. The table had been filled withplates and bowls containing all manner of breakfast foods. Methynopted for a slice of buttered toast and a small bowl of muesli. Thechildren, on the other hand, were not quite so restrained. Kaylaerhad piled her plate with more fried meats than would possibly fit inher small stomach, though she intended to try her very best. Malcolmwas sat next to her and picked a little bit of everything. He enjoyedslices of apples, grapes, strawberries and even nibbled on a slice of a long, yellow fruit out of curiosity but wrote it off as a failedexperiment. He had heard tales of the sweet gooey fruit and hadexpected more from it, but instead he found it stuck to the roof ofhis mouth and was covered in unappetising bruises. Cortharen couldkeep their bananas as far as he was concerned.

Methyn rubbed his eyesas he forced another bite of toast down his throat. He had insistedthat he share rooms with the children; if anything happened to themit would be his head on the chopping block, even though this morningit felt like it was. They had behaved themselves for the most part,which he was grateful for, and aside from Kaylaer pushing Malcolm alittle too roughly off the bed and giving him a slight concussion,they got on well enough. So much so they kept him up until some godforsaken hour talking about Kaylaer’s little ‘adventure’earlier that evening. Apparently she had stumbled across some drunkenthugs and had taken them all on herself. She had been doing fine,thank-you-very-much, until some stranger appeared out of the shadowsand helped her take out the last of them. How many there had beenMethyn wasn’t sure as more seemed to appear every time Kaylaerspoke about it.

The hall they were satin was just as grand as the throne room. Daylight shone down on thelong table from the many tall windows that were lined up along oneside of the room. Methyn sat back in his chair; the whole thing waspadded and he felt that if he sat there long enough he wouldundoubtedly fall asleep. The large stone room was quiet apart fromthe sound of the children eating. Even the guards beside the doorwaywere silent and unmoving. Methyn admired their discipline. He wouldhave been less impressed had he known that one of the reasons fortheir stillness was that the Guard on the right; the one who had letthem in the previous night, was more than a little hung over. Havingfinished his shift later than he intended he had met up with one ofhis friends and fellow guard at the Inn around the corner from hishouse. It seemed that his friend had been getting into fights againand looked a little worse for wear so he had bought them the firstfew rounds. The evening had been going well and he was feeling quiterelaxed and happily intoxicated when he had let slip that he had beenhaving a bit of a fling with a married woman. Nothing serious, he hadexplained to his friend, he wasn’t even really that interested.They had a bit of a joke about it at the time; no decent women leftin Corthus, even the married ones were a bit iffy ‘Har Har’. Thatwas of course until it came to light that the married woman inquestion was, as it happened, his friend’s sister. The punch to theface hadn’t been very funny; and it was even less funny now hischeek was swollen and his head was pounding.

The guard on the leftside of the door was barely hung over at all. Nothing like a fightand a broken hand to sober you up.

The quiet in the hallwas broken when the Queen entered;

“GoodMorning everyone I trust that you slept well?” She beamed brightlyat her guests. The King did not look up from his plate to greet hiswife, he felt it wrong to be cheerful under such circumstances. Ifthe silence that greeted her bothered her it wasn’t visible on herface as her cheerful smile stayed firmly in place. “I apologise formy lateness to breakfast but these dresses can be so bothersome toput on.” She gestured to her gown and let out a small rehearsedsounding laugh. She looked immaculate in the floor length, bonedgown. It cinched her in dramatically at the waist before flaring outslightly at the hips. The crimson coloured fabric complemented hermilky complexion. Kaylaer wondered briefly what it must be like to beconstantly on show; to mind your behaviour all of the time, but itwas a passing thought quickly forgotten as she shovelled more friedbacon into her mouth.

The Queen quietly spoketo each of the guards before joining her husband at the head of thetable. They left the room uniformly; one after the other so it wasthe guard with the bruised face that spotted the slender red-headdescending the stairs first. She wore a gown not dissimilar to theQueen’s. It was less regal; the pattern on the fabric not asdetailed, the waist not as cinched, and the skirt not as long but thedeep green colour contrasted beautifully with her hair and themovement of the fabric afforded her a graceful fluidity of movementthat was uncommon among most ladies of the court. It seemed thatthere were some decent women left in Corthus after all.

I had slept too welland woken up with that heavy headed feeling of having slept for toolong. Having someone dress me was an interesting experience; though Ihad had to struggle with my new under-garments myself. I managed todiscover that the young maid sent to help me was named Agatha. Shewas a small, timid thing and if I had to guess her age I would puther somewhere in her mid-teens. But who knew in this place? She couldbe in her forties for all I knew. She had blonde hair which was tiedup into a messy bun and her small hands worked quickly on all of thevarious buttons, laces and attachments on my dress. Though her owndress was somewhat less complex, I could see that she’d done thisbefore. Juney had joined me mid-way through Agatha trying to pull mycorset tight at the back. Somehow she had managed to escape beingdressed and was instead clad in black trousers and a form fittingblack jumper. She laughed when she saw the expression on my face as Istruggled to breathe. Luckily she persuaded Agatha to stop asapparently I would actually be required to move today. Quietly andnow slightly embarrassed, Agatha excused herself. I eyed myself inthe mirror; my red hair hung down over my shoulders; whatever shampoothey had given me this morning had left my hair soft and bouncy. I’dhave to see about taking some back with me. Juney explained that shewouldn’t be coming with me to breakfast but would be joining uslater as she had an errand to run. I noticed that she smirked alittle to herself but didn’t elaborate further. There was somethingabout that little smile that made me uneasy; I had the distinctfeeling that I didn’t want to know what her ‘errand’ was.

So it was with thatthat I found myself descending the grand staircase by myself. I heldthe skirt of my dress up a little ways like I had seen the ladies doin period dramas though I don’t think it made moving in the dressany easier. My legs felt as if they were becoming tangled in thecountless number of petticoats beneath my skirt and I felt that atany moment I was going to fall head first down the stairs. Looking upbriefly I caught the eye of the two guards standing outside what Ipresumed was the dining room door. They were watching me intently andI wondered if I looked absolutely ridiculous trying to walk down thestairs in this get up. I was surprised as I moved; however, that thecorset didn’t restrain me too much and was no worse than the top Ihad arrived in. As I managed the last few steps I cheered silently tomyself; the guards still watching me, I smoothed myself down andtugged a little at my skirt. I wasn’t the most ladylike of womenbut they would just have to get over it. Head held high, yet still alittle self conscious, I walked past them and into the hall. Though Iwas becoming a little wary of her, this would have been a lot easierif Juney had been with me.

Methyn was focused onplaying with the last of his muesli when he heard movement across theroom. He knew who she was the instant he saw her; the long red hair,her slender body structure, even the slope of her nose. She was theimage of her mother, well from what he had seen in books anyway. Shewas a fair bit shorter than he had expected; perhaps even shorterthan himself and he was of an average sort of height for a Corthean.He noticed as she walked towards the table that her movements wereeffortlessly graceful though her slightly shaking hands betrayed hernerves.

“Ah! Good morning mydear, do sit.” The Queen greeted her from her chair next to herhusband. No one made an effort to get up to welcome her. “I wouldlike to introduce Alaina Oakley… Junior. May I say that your outfitthis morning is far more suitable.”

Kaylaer noted that theQueen’s comment wasn’t quite a complement though she could notsee anything wrong with Alaina’s outfit. She wouldn’t have pickedit herself; she was hardly the dress-wearing type. She reasoned thatit made it that more difficult to win the fights she always seemed toget herself into. She also noticed Alaina’s reaction to herintroduction. Was she not aware that she was named after her mother?Apparently not. Weird. Who hadn’t heard of the famous AlainaOakley? If Kaylaer could choose to be like anyone it would be her.She was the strongest, most powerful hero that Corthus had everknown. Well, if she was being honest, probably the only hero Corthushad ever known. Looking at the woman sat in front of her Kaylaercould feel anger rising in her chest. Who was this woman to wear thename Oakley and not even know what it meant? She caught her eye andsmiled at her. Kaylaer grunted in response, bit a large chunk ofsausage off her fork and looked down at her plate. She could feelAlaina still looking at her so she turned to Malcolm, to distractherself, only to replace that he was staring purposefully down at hisplate.

“What’re youwaiting for? It’s hardly going to get up and dance is it?” Shenudged him with her elbow but got no response. “Hey if you eat allyour breakfast you might grow up to be big and strong… like me!Ha!” Still no response; she had come to expect him to go crying toMethyn whenever she teased him but this time she wasn’t gettinganything. It was bloody frustrating. “God, what is wrong with you?”

“Shut up Kaylaer.”he mumbled, his cheeks were beginning to flush red. She wasn’texpecting that response. She looked up and saw Alaina leaning forwardover the table in front of them; her dress revealing more of hercleavage than she probably realised. Kaylaer shook her head andpunched Malcolm gently on the arm but said nothing further.

I studied the twochildren sitting opposite me. The girl who had been glaring at mesince I walked into the room was now busying herself with harassingthe boy next to her. I had originally thought that maybe they werebrother and sister but now that I sat so near to them I could seethat there was no physical likeness there at all. The girl hadblonde; almost white, hair. Even sitting down she was obviously talland sleek whereas the boy sitting next to her was shorter, stocky,and had dark hair and eyes. Judging by the condition of the clothesthat they wore they were also not the King and Queen’s children.

I wondered what kind ofpalace this was, where royalty seemed to pick guests at random, whenI spotted an older man sitting a few chairs away from the children.Most of his breakfast was uneaten but his teacup seemed permanentlyattached to his lips. As the children squabbled quietly I noticedthat his eyes closed in an effort to block them out; clearly he waswith them, though definitely not through choice.

The room was quietapart from the hushed argument between the children. I felt likethere was a weight on the room and the more I thought about it themore uncomfortable I was beginning to feel. Without Juney around thegravity of my current situation was beginning to hit me. I had noidea why I was sitting here; how these people knew who I was; whothese people were let alone where I was geographically. I could feelmy pulse beginning to quicken, my breathing becoming shallow. Ihadn’t had a panic attack since I was nineteen when I woke up hungover and half naked next to my best friend’s brother. Turns out Ihad gotten obscenely drunk, made a pass at him; despite the nowobvious signs that he bats for the other side, and had passed outface down on his lap in their living room. I suspect that thesubsequent vomiting was more to do with the vodka than the panicattack.

Then, as quickly as itstarted, the panic building in my chest vanished. I could almostliterally feel a wave of calm wash over me. I knew that my reasonsfor worrying were valid, and that I probably should be freaking outcompletely, but for some reason I couldn’t work myself up to it. Itwas with that that Juney strode into the room and pulled up a seatnext to me, she spun it around masterfully with one hand andstraddled it back to front. With her next to me my worries seemed tomelt away completely. She grinned at me briefly before turning awayand I couldn’t help but think that the affect she was having on mewas deliberate.

“So, what’s theplan?”

The King said nothingfor a moment; Juney’s brashness and over-familiarity unsettled him.Though he had had the displeasure of meeting with her several timesalready he was still unaccustomed to her behaviour, but then he wasnot in the habit of associating with known criminals.

Juney Cholden camehighly recommended by his own chief of police. Notoriously hard tocatch and contain it was a miracle that they were able to get hold ofher in the first place; let alone get her to agree to work for themon official royal business. It seemed; however, that the incentiveof immunity was quite persuasive. The King himself had been the oneto suggest this but was now beginning to question his decision; whoknew what damage she would do once all of this was over. The Queen,on the other hand, was insistent that if Juney Cholden was the best,then that was who they needed; regardless of her questionable careerchoices. The Princess’ safety, she had reminded him was not amatter to be taken lightly. He rubbed his face with the palm of hishand; he had not needed to be reminded of the gravity of thesituation; his daughter was his only child and he doted on hercompletely. That something might happen to jeopardise her safe returnhome was unthinkable: the King had not slept in weeks. Since thedeath of his younger brother some years ago, his wife and child werethe only family he had left. The only family he could trust at anyrate. He stood slowly to address the room;

“We believe that mybeloved daughter is being held somewhere near to the CortharenPalace, if not inside the Palace itself. It is unclear, as of yetwhether or not this is a scheme concocted by the Royal family orwhether this is even on their radar; so it is best not to speak ofthis to anyone. The less information we can keep from leaking intopublic consciousness the better.” The King was relieved to see thepeople before him nodding in agreement. “We shall arrange for youto rendezvous with a representative of the royal family to discussthe matter three weeks from today,” less reassuring was the look ofpanic that appeared briefly on Methyn’s face when he told them ofthe time restraint, “ yes, the trip will have to be made swiftlyand I appreciate that I am expecting a lot of you but you shall beamply rewarded upon the safe return of my daughter. Now, the exchangeshould be fairly straightforward. Methyn,” he turned to the DeputyHeadmaster, “you shall be put in charge of the ransom. As someoneof your standing in the magical community I trust that we can counton you?”

There was a briefsilence while Methyn was unsure whether or not the question requiredan answer. He gulped loudly and replied in the affirmative.

“After the exchangeis complete I expect you to return as quickly as possible.Understood?” Again the collection of people at his breakfast tablenodded. Relieved, he sat down. His head in his hands again he did notnotice the look of confusion on Alaina’s face, the Queen; however,did.

Having been quiet untilthis point the Queen cleared her throat. “Alaina, dear, Iappreciate that this must all be quite overwhelming for you.” Shepaused briefly, her smile was still firmly in place. “You mustunderstand that you are an integral part of this team. Our preciousStella was taken from us weeks ago. My husband has barely slept sincewe discovered that her carriage had been intercepted on one of herjaunts out of the Palace. It is dreadful to think that someone wouldput someone's life in jeopardy in order to gain financially, butsadly this is the world we live in. I dare say we shall never let thepoor thing out of our sight again.” She turned to her husband as ifexpecting an answer. When no response was given she turned back toAlaina and leaned in ever so slightly. “Stella is quite beloved ofthe people of Corthus, if they were to get wind of her kidnappingthere would be a public outcry. We simply cannot afford for that kindof thing to interfere with her safe return. It is quite well knownthat she does not leave the Palace often, so we should be able toretrieve her with little suspicion…”

“…Um, YourHighness?”

“Yes dear?”

“I’m still notquite sure what this has to do with me. You say I’m integral yet Ihave no specific skills that would be beneficial. I’m a pretty goodjournalist but I don’t think my interviewing skills are going to beof much help…” Alaina was interrupted by a sudden eruption ofgiggles from the Queen.

“Dear you are goingfor appearances alone. You are the daughter of the infamous AlainaOakley; your reputation precedes you.”

“If I may yourHighness; that is my mother’s reputation, I have no trainingwhatsoever.”

“We are hoping thatreputation is all you will need, of course we shall sort you out withall the training you need when you return. You shall prove to bequite the asset to us I am sure.”

The smile that wasfixed to the Queen’s face while she spoke to me was quite unnervingto say the least. She seemed a lot more confident than I in the planand this bothered me. I was the one putting my life in danger; notshe. I turned to Juney for some support but I found her shovellingpancakes into her mouth. I pinched myself under the table, just incase I could wake myself up from this madness. No such luck. Magic,Royalty, kidnapped princesses? When did my life turn into afantasy-drama? Just what was it that my mother did anyway? My fatherhad told me she’d travelled the world in search of adventure beforehe had met her, I suppose I had just always assumed he meant myworld. To replace out that she was a famous Glakyrian warrior was ashock to say the least. I was being sent on this mission as themuscle; on my mother’s merit. I couldn’t say that I wasparticularly confident with the decision; I had problems defendingmyself from spiders. With Juney there for protection and to make upfor my lack of training the least I could do was try: though I didn’thave much choice in the matter it seemed.