Reincarnated as a Dark Elf

  Chapter 9

  Chapter title: Dealing with one crisis after another and making it up along the way

  “It’s been a week since my little entry into the Royal Libraries restricted section and nothing has happened” Grace thought.

  Grace was walking in the Palace corridor. She had to raise the hems of her blue dress in order to walk faster back to her room. She wasn’t happy.

  She had been at a party for young noble girls of the kingdom ages five to ten. It was meant to bring together young noble girls to make friends, play, gossip, size each other up, all along with their mothers or other female guardians.

  Grace had to go with her adopted mother the Queen named after the Law-Giver and her grandmother Dowager Queen Hedy.

  It was a two-hour nightmare for Grace. She had to smile, act like the dutiful daughter and call the Queen mother during the whole party. Despite knowing that she could never replace mama Kerone. The Queen was a good person which Grace noticed by how she regarded others with kindness not just her children or the two adopted Dark-Elf sisters the royals took in.

  At the party itself. It was obvious the Queen and the Former-Queen were both well-respected. The Former Queen had been a competent ruler while she ruled the kingdom and her daughter the current Queen was as competent as her mother had been.

  Everyone just ignored Grace or looked down their noses at her. Both noble women and their daughters alike. They were very cruel to Grace.

  Especially one Ingrid Meyer, the five year old sister of Egon and Wentz Meyer. And a bit of a pampered princess. That little red head had every noble daughter her age wrapped around her finger. She gossiped viciously about Grace when she thought no one would hear her. And likely inspired some of her little friends to try and prank her and make it look like a harmless accident.

  Grace caught on to all of this thanks to her very sensitive Dark Elf hearing. And thwarted all attempts to prank her. It wasn’t hard to make it look like she was unaware. She wanted to leave after the first attempt. But promised she would act the part of the dutiful daughter or step-daughter to the queen.

  So for two-hours Grace tried to talk to the other noble daughters only to get fearful or searching stares as if they were sizing up a monster. Anytime she played a game the girls would stack the odds against her and make her lose. And if she won they would be sore losers and accuse Grace of cheating.

  When the two-hours were up the party began to wind down and Grace made the excuse that she wasn’t feeling well and excused herself. And was glad to get away from those little monsters.

  Now she was going through the Palace corridors with the hems of her blue dress up going very fast. And feeling very unhappy. She wanted to retreat into her room and stay there for the next few years. But she had other things to do.

  Grace made it to her room, went through the door and closed it behind her. She sighs. “Well I’m free of the obligation of socializing with those little monsters masquerading as little girls” Grace said sarcastically aloud. No one was present.

  She grabbed a more casual outfit. A nice bright green dress that she didn’t have to wear with a corset and it allowed a good deal of freedom of movement. Then she ducked behind a wooden screen and began putting it on, after taking off her other dress.

  “If I had a choice, I wouldn’t associate with them ever again, they were all just plain awful” Grace remarked in English.

  Once she dressed herself Grace took a deep breath “Okay it’s time to focus on my real mission, find evidence of Lady Bergen and prove that she’s the Swallow” she said after emerging from the wooden screen.

  A knock at the door came. “Who is it?” Grace asked.

  “It’s Enkida” came from a familiar voice. Then in came the five year old little Blond Wolf-Girl who served as a maid-in-training.

  Blond hair, wolf tail, and ears shining in the sun coming from a nearby window just like wheat “Oh yes Enkida’s an adorable child” Grace thought.

  “Why are you here?” Grace asked.

  “The Queen and the Former Queen asked me to find you and say to you that they were sorry that you didn’t have a good time today. You ran off before they could tell you that” Enkida said. She was speaking almost normally now.

  “Of course they noticed I wasn’t happy” Grace started to think “And they likely asked Enkida to find me because she’s the only one in the Palace that can find me without fail due to her great nose” she also thought.

  “Also they told me to tell you the Royal Secretary wanted to speak to you after the party ended” Enkida relayed.

  Grace sighed again, “Well I guess it can’t wait,” she said. “Wait, do you even know where it is?” Grace asked.

  “Yes mama Rowena showed me” Enkida answered.

  “Lead on” Grace said reluctantly

  Enkida then began to lead Grace towards where the Royal Secretaries office was. As they went through the corridors they spoke to each other.

  “You're actually getting better at talking Enkida you sound almost like a normal child” Grace complemented.

  “Thank you, but I am a child,” Enkida remarked, looking a little confused.

  “Yes, of course you are,” Grace said, sounding embarrassed at that little slip up.

  “Did you dress yourself princess?” Enkida asked, looking a little concerned.

  Grace smiled a little embarrassed again. “I’m sorry Enkida. I know part of your job is to help me dress and undress and I understand that you take your job seriously but every now and then I would like to do it myself just so I don’t completely forget” she explained.

  “Yes of course,” Enkida remarked.

  Grace could tell the little girl didn’t get it. Neither did some passersby as they passed in the corridors.

  Soon they came to the door to the Royal Secretary’s office. Knocking on the door. They soon entered.

  Inside was an office full of shelves with either scrolls or books on them on either side of a fairly wide room. A nice blue carpet was on the floor. At the front of the room were portraits of Carrahe’s current Monarch’s Heather II the Law-Giver’s namesake and her husband King Oskar. Under them was a desk with neatly stacked papers on each side. A few chairs were stacked neatly close by, to one side of the room.

  Sitting at the desk was a large muscular man with long white hair, a white mustache, a monocle in one eye. He had a dignified air about him and he was dressed in a nice dark suit expected in a medieval society.

  This man was Lord Jochim Lodbrook. He looked more like a butler than a Royal Secretary.

  Standing next to him as his wife Marguerite who was a large muscular woman. She wore a nice outfit with graying hair. She had somewhat of a dignified air about her. She carried a stack of papers to her husband. But when her husband’s back was turned she gave him a look of dislike.

  Grace had known the both of them for sometime. She had met them a few times. She could always get a good read on Marguerite but her husband was another story. His face was a perfect mask.

  “Your Highness please come in” Lord Lodbrook greeted politely. He spoke with the dignity expected of a nobleman.

  Doing as he asked, Grace stepped in front of the massive looking desk. It reminded her that she was still a child in this life.

  “Dear, please provide a chair for the Princess and help her into it” Lord Lodbrook asked.

  “Yes my dear” Marguerite replied without emotion.

  “For someone who doesn’t like your husband you sure hide it well, except from me” Grace thought.

  “Pardon this intrusion Princess” Marguerite said politely as she picked Grace up and put her on a large overgrown chair that had been placed in front of the desk.

  “I can’t wait to grow up again so I won’t have to go through things like that” Grace thought.

  “Thank you” Grace said to Marguerite while politely smiling at her then she looked at Lord Lodbrook with Enkida standing next to Grace’s chair observing silently.

  “Lord Lodbrook, why did you ask me to come here?” Grace asked. She could barely see the Royal Secretaries head sitting in that chair.

  “Princess, since becoming an official member of the Von Kurtz Royal Family and being part Dark Elf, news of your sudden ascension had made it around to much of the known world and many kingdoms have expressed their opinions on the matter” Lord Lodbrook replied.

  Grace had a sinking feeling about all of this. “I’m sorry if my sudden ascension has caused problems for you all” she said with a sorry look on her face.

  “It’s nothing our mighty military forces or clever diplomats can’t handle. Well for those who are openly hostile to Dark Elves. No, this is about something else” Lord Lodbrook assured.

  He guested to Marguerite and she sat down, a small table in front of Grace’s chair. On it was a short but square wooden box that was wide. Inside was velvet cloth with many portraits of young boys Grace’s age.

  “This is about choosing your future husband,” Lord Lorbrook announced.

  The look of shock on Grace’s face was more than evident. “Oh crap, I forgot, I’m living in a medieval society now, where arranged marriages between royalty, nobles, and even some commoners was a regular thing. Oh I feel sick” Grace thought.

  “Lord Lodbrook, I’m only five years old. I think I’m a little too young to be thinking of marriage” Grace pointed out.

  “Well yes, ordinarily this wouldn’t occur until you were nine or ten years of age but it seemed that these marriage rules are being ignored and they’ve somehow many have assumed you are of marrying age” Lord Lodbrook explained.

  “Of course, I’m an exotic piece of meat to them, how often would it be to get an exotic woman to be your wife and your exotic brood mare” Grace thought sarcastically and unhappily. Anger and despair was welling up in her little body.

  “So these are the portraits of sons of noble families and royal families in Carrahe or are they from the known world” Grace asked feeling as if she was being tortured.

  “These are the portraits from Royals and Nobles deemed acceptable to myself and the Queen and King. Many are from outside the kingdom” Lord Lodbrook explained.

  “I really don’t want to be here right now. I would run out of this office if I had the chance” Grace thought.

  “I understand that this is difficult for you at your young age to choose below the minimum age to become engaged” Lord Lodbrook began trying to sound soothing “But diplomatic pressures from abroad have been so great that our hands have been forced and we wish to avoid many future difficulties” he pointed out.

  “So much for your mighty military forces and clever diplomats” Grace through ruefully. “I just remembered that medieval societies have no concept of childhood. They thought that many children were just mini-adults. But it was nice that Lord Lodbrook and my adopted parents were trying to be considerate of me. Still I wish I didn’t have to go through this” she thought.

  Grace sighed out of resignation “So who are the candidates” she asked with the greatest reluctance.

  Lord Lodbrook then spent the next few minutes reading off the names and titles of all the boys on the portraits and who their parents were. Many sounded impressive. Many did not.

  Grace felt like she was grouping through the world’s scariest tunnel through pitch black and very worried that it branched off in many different directions. But most terrified of all meeting some idiot on the other end of the tunnel or someone that would do nothing but make her miserable. She knew it was a real possibility.

  At the end of it Grace felt so tortured and in pain.

  “And finally” Lord Lodbrook said “We have Prince Gilgamesh and his half brother Prince Zelmesh of the same age from the kingdom of Urmaria under the Ali-Baba dynasty” he said too. “Do you know anything about the kingdom, your highness?” he asked.

  “Urmaria is a kingdom to the far south. It has a few very long rivers running through desert terrain creating flood plains, it also has several mountains sandwiched between that offer valuable minerals and the founder of the kingdom was originally a great thief who eventually became a great and powerful King. In short Urmaria is considered one of the great kingdoms of the world” Grace said in a brief attempt to distract herself from this torturous moment.

  “Well, well, it’s so rare to find someone as young as your highness to be so well-read” Lord Lodbrook complimented. Then he got serious again. “Please note that in six weeks time Crown Princess Hilda will turn twenty and can no longer delay marriage and will promptly marry Sir Karl.”

  “Which means I have six weeks to fulfill Aries' command to bring Hilda and Thane together and Karl and Heidi together” Grace thought.

  Lord Lordbrook continued “And in attendance at this marriage ceremony will be the rulers and nobles of many kingdoms from around the world in which their children will be in tow and many of them will be your husband candidates, and it will be observed how well you get along with each one of them upon meeting them” he explained.

  “And will I immediately get engaged to the boy I get along with the most?” Grace asked unsteadily.

  “No, they will become a special friend and the two of you will meet a few times a year and correspond regularly until you read the age of ten and you become engaged and when you turn fourteen you can marry and start a family or delay marriage until you turn twenty years of age and start a family then, I should note many members of the royal family have done the latter before” Lord Lodbrook explained.

  “How very well-thought out did you plan this over tea and cakes” Grace thought sarcastically and morosely. “But still many members of the Carrahe Royal family delayed marriage until they were older. I need to look further into that and do some asking around. I guess I should thank the Law-Giver for giving the family the rule that allowed royals to delay marriage till twenty: she thought.

  She wanted to leave. Enkida who had silently stood next to her master’s and friend’s chair until now walked up to the square wooden box with the portraits in them. She could sense Grace’s unease or she got curious about the box.

  “Oh cute portraits,” Enkida said, eyeing them.

  “Oh these things” Grace remarked glad for any distraction and she picked up the portraits of Young Prince’s Gilgamesh and Zelmesh. “Well Enkida you can have Prince Gilgamesh and I’ll take Prince Zelmesh and everyone will be oh so happy” she said with a mischievous smile.

  And handed the portrait of Gilgamesh to Enkida with one hand and kept the portrait of Zelmesh in her other hand.

  Enkida cheered “Oh thank you I’ll treasure him always, princess” she said sounding so happy. And walked off.

  “YOUR ROYAL HIGHNESS” Lord Lodbrook almost roared but instantly recovered his composure.

  “That’s a first, I had no idea his mask could be cracked” Grace thought.

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  Lord Lodbrook cleared his throat “That wouldn’t be appropriate your servant is from unknown origins” he said.

  Grace felt a small twang of regret. Then she noticed Enkida was being chased around by Marguerite trying to get the portrait back.

  “I’m sorry Lord Lodbrook, I know that was in poor taste” Grace apologized.

  “It certainly was,” Lord Lodbroof said, sounding only slightly perturbed.

  “I can’t tell him what I really think. A lot of trouble might happen if I don’t go through with all of this” Grace thought. Then she looked at the portrait of Young Prince Zelmesh in her hand “You're certainly a cute boy Prince Zelmesh and whatever girl ends up marrying you and becomes your baby mama will certainly be very lucky indeed. It just won’t be me. Nope, never, never” Grace thought. Then put the portrait back in the wooden box.

  “Princess Help, your servant is too agile for me” Marguerite begged.

  Enkida had jumped on top of a shelf looking at the portrait of Prince Gilgamesh and growling at the Royal Secretaries wife.

  Grace got off the chair. Being a small five year old girl it was a short jump to the ground. Then she walked over to where Enkida’s bookshelf was.

  “Enkida, I command you to hand back that portrait now. It’s only a portrait not the prince himself” Grace ordered.

  It was only then that Enkida did as she was told and the little Wolf-Girl returned the portrait of the Urmarian Prince.

  “If the two of you don’t mind we will be excusing ourselves” Grace said as she curtseyed.

  Both Princess and Servant then left before anything else could happen. And closed the door.

  Grace then ran off. Enkida stayed close behind her. She didn’t care if anyone saw them. Her run ended in a deserted corridor.

  The Half-Dark-Elf Carrahe-ian Princess had an unpleasant look on her face as she shed tears and breathed hard as she put both hands on the wall and looked as if she was hanging off said wall for a moment.

  “Oh god that was awful, I need to think of a way out of this situation” Grace said in English.

  “Are you alright Princess? What language were you just speaking” Enkida asked, looking very concerned.

  Grace looked really embarrassed and stood upright as a result “It’s nothing never mind” she deflected.

  She looked at Enkida and briefly put her hands on her shoulders. “I envy you Enkida” Grace said with a suddenly bright smile.

  “Why?” Enkida asked, looking confused.

  “Just because,” Grace replied.

  “Oh yes Enkida, when you grow-up you’ll be a most beautiful and exotic looking woman that boys will only swoon over and you will have the pick of anyone of them, while I will be married to a buffoon or idiot who will be making my life miserable. So of course, I’m envious. You get to choose” Grace thought while trying not to cry.

  “Okay, it’s time to move on,” Grace said.

  “Where?” Enkida asked.

  “I feel a little bad getting Enkida to play lookout for me. But no one else was available and I just had to promise her a treat for doing it and not telling anyone. All she knows is that I’m going to Lady Bergen’s office. She doesn’t know I’m breaking in. At least she’ll have plausible deniability in case she’s caught. I just hope it does some good just in case” Grace inner monologue.

  She went down the corridor that ended in a dead end. Plenty of light was shown from some nearby windows. A single door was at the end. It led to Lady Bergen’s office. She wasn’t there. So Grace was free to break-in and find evidence of her Spider-Temple ties.

  She was wearing the hood and cape she wore when she broke into the Royal Libraries restricted section. She was invisible as she picked the lock of Lady Bergen’s door.

  Beforehand she used Hawker’s vision and a few scanning spells to help detect traps and any potential surprises Several traps were discovered inside the room and one on the door itself.

  Grace stopped picking the look once she discovered the trap. “That’s troublesome” she thought “Lady Bergen you sure know how to set a trap” she also thought.

  Chanting a spell all the traps were temporarily deactivated. She could disable the traps it would only say to Lady Bergen that someone had broken in. The traps in this place were slightly more troublesome than in the restricted section of the royal library. And that was really saying something.

  Lady Bergen must be hiding something.

  “I’d say I have five minutes to look around before my spell wears off and the traps spring provided I linger here afterwards. If not, no one will know I was here” Grace remarked under her breath as she stepped inside.

  Lady Bergen’s office slash living quarters had a bed, dresser, sofa, chairs, table, scattered around. Two book shelves filled with books, scrolls, and magical specimens were to one side. It also had ingredients for spells and potions sitting on it. A cauldron sat at the center of the room. The floor was covered in blue carpet. Sunlight shown through a window in the back. Books were scattered around. The room itself was square shaped and fairly wide. It also had a lived in feel to it.

  After getting inside Grace used Quick Step to get from place to place. Always careful to avoid the room’s traps. They might be deactivated but that was no excuse to be reckless.

  She found nothing out of the ordinary. “Where would you keep your secrets, Lady Bergen” Grace thought.

  Looking under the bed Grace found a trunk and used her memory sphere’s to drag it out from under the bed. It would’ve been too heavy otherwise. She tried to look in the trunk but it was locked.

  Suspecting a trap she used her trap detecting spell and sure enough a special trap spell was on the trunk lock.

  Grace began to chant the same spell she used to deactivate the trap on the door but suddenly stopped herself at the last minute “Wait, what if there's a spell in place that detects attempts to deactivate magical trapspell on this thing. I’m going to need the key to this thing” Grace thought.

  She used her memory sphere’s to push the trunk back under the bed. And made it look like it wasn’t out.

  Then Grace went over to the desk in the room and scanned for any magical traps inside. None were found. She also scanned for anything unusual. Nothing was found.

  So Grace opened up the desk. Inside were things that were well-worn. Paper, writing instruments, and some magical items and so forth.

  At the bottom of the lowest drawer Grace found a false bottom and opened it up after removing the items on top of it. She found what looked like a locked diary and what appeared to be an unfinished note. Opening the note Grace saw something that made her blood run cold.

  “Lady Bergen, you’re a traitor to the royal family, my family, but the Ashe too” Grace angrily remarked under her breath.

  On the note was the symbol of the Ashe, a pyramid with its bottom curved upwards. She read the note quietly.

  “To the Dowager Queen: I understand your desire to give your granddaughter the opportunity to grieve for the loss of her parents but I must remind you that the plans for our hideout that Prince Haakon was safeguarding are still missing and his daughter the princess might possess a clue at to it’s where abouts she must be asked soon or I fear that we might have to abandon our headquarters. I fear that—” that was the end of the note.

  “Is this for real” Grace thought “Those hideout plans are in the magical storage space my dad left me. I found them not long after his passing. I might have some leverage with the Ashe to get them to help me flush out the Golem and the Swallow into the open, but I don’t know, this could be a plant meant to trick potential thieves like me, I can’t tell for sure right now, I can only speculate for the time being” she inner monologue.

  Then she focused on the diary, it was leather bound with a lock in front attached to a belt that went around the diary to keep it secure.

  Grace scanned with her trap detection spell and sure enough “This thing is booby trapped” she thought “If I try to pick the lock or cut the belt with a memory sphere dagger the trap will likely spring on me. I need the key for this. (Sigh) I feel like someone’s little sister trying to read an older sister’s diary so she can humiliate them by learning their deepest darkest secrets” Grace inner monologue.

  “Time to go,” she thought.

  So she put the diary and the unfinished note back and returned the false bottom as it was while putting all the items back on top just as Grace remembered them.

  Closing the desk Grace left Lady Bergen’s office just in time. After closing the door Grace’s deactivate trap spell wore off.

  Turning around and to her shock saw Enkida standing right in front of her which caused her to yelp in fear and shock. She fell backwards onto the ground. She pulled down her hood and she became visible.

  “So there you are,” Enkida remarked. She wagged her tail happily like a dog that was happy with what she accomplished.

  “Enkida what are you doing here? I told you to wait further in the hallway” Grace asked.

  “I’m sorry princess” Enkida started “But I just remembered that Lenny said she and Lady Bergen were going to the Lava Grotto under the Royal Palace today” she said.

  Alarm bells went off in Grace’s head “Do you know when” she asked the beastmen child with some anger in her voice.

  “Ahh, very soon,” Enkida said unsteadily.

  “Not good, I need to be quick,” Grace thought. She picked up the folds of her dress and began walking furiously.

  Enkida could sense something was a miss “Is something wrong” the beastmen child asked.

  Grace suddenly stopped followed by Enkida. “Lady Bergen knows who my birth parents are in this world and she was there when I retold how they died, if she’s the Swallow why hasn’t she had me snatched up yet? I’m sure the Golem would love to get his hands on me if he knew about me, maybe the Spider-Temple is waiting for me to do something but I’m a child in this world what would they expect me to do, (Sigh) I’m thinking too much into this” Grace inner monologue.

  Then Grace looked into the face of her very concerned servant and friend. “Since coming to me I’ve insisted Enkida learn how to fight as well as read and write and she’s learned well. But she’s still a small child not a fully-grown adult, not yet, I need a full grown bodyguard now, and one that can’t be bribed or coerced. I really need the right one, but that’s for later” she thought.

  Then she realized that Enkida had been talking to her the whole time. “Are you alright?” Enkida asked after asking so many times.

  Grace gave her friend and servant a smile “You’re a good person Kida, thank you for being concerned for me” she said.

  “Your weird princess, please stop being weird, you’re scaring me” Enkida asked looking worried and confused.

  “I’m sorry” Grace apologized after a chuckle. “Now come along we have to ask for something” she said “Also don’t tell anyone we were here and that is an order from your master” she also ordered Enkida.

  “Yes Princess,” Enkida replied.

  And they both left the corridor.

  “Well I had to get into a little bit of a spoiled princess act but also a bit of a charming princess act at the same time but I got my way which was no small miracle under the circumstances” Grace thought as she walked with Enkida and Captain Thane towards the entrance of the underground lava grotto.

  Grace and Enkida had both dressed into more sensible clothes. Shorts and shirts and sensible shoes and socks. Both girls had their hair tied back. Both looked ready for exploring.

  As did Captain Thane who was wearing dark pants and a white shirt. He was carrying several things needed for alchemists to collect ingredients as well as his sword.

  At the entrance of the Lava Grotto which was a barred door in front of what looked like a cave entrance. Two well-armed guards stood in front of it barring Lady Bergen from entering with Lenny and what looked like a little boy at Lenny’s, Grace’s, and Enkida’s age.

  Lady Bergen seemed frustrated “I’m telling you to let us through, we have permission to enter” she said to the guards.

  “I’m sorry m’lady but we were told to hold you here” one of the guards replied.

  “But if we don’t get in soon we’ll miss the event” Lady Bergen said sounding a little desperate.

  “Hello,” Grace said, drawing everyone’s attention. She waved at them.

  “Appologies Lady Bergen but Princess Grace insisted on coming with you today” Captain Thane explained.

  Lady Bergen looked at Grace with some anger on her face “Sorry to spring this on you suddenly we’ll stay out of your way as much as possible” Grace said with a bright smile.

  “You’re not going to do anything to my friend you bitch or to me whatever you have in store down there in the lava grotto. I won’t let you get away with it. I had to leverage what royal authority I possess to make this happen in the short amount of time I had, but so be it” Grace inner monologue.

  “What do you need in the lava grotto, your highness?” Lady Bergen asked suspiciously.

  “Orange Lava Stones” Grace replied “Since becoming his apprentice Master Yengis’s apprentice he’s been asking me to go and gather many different ingredients for his experiments and to fill any job commissions he’s received, orange lava stones are one of the ingredients he’s asked me to get” Grace explained.

  “Not quite a lie, Master Yengis did actually ask me to gather the orange lava stones but he gave me till the end of the week to get them. But he’ll be glad I got them early and when asked I’ll just say I wanted to show some initiative. Which is not a lie either. It’s the perfect cover. On a side note: I hope Enkida’s nose proves helpful” Grace inner monologue.

  “Come on master it should be fine, the princess and my step-sister can see the event with the three of us” Lenny implied and gestured to herself, Lady Bergen, and the little boy.

  Grace noticed him “Hello who are you?” she asked the little boy.

  Lady Bergen then spoke “Princess Grace, allow me to introduce my son Roland” she introduced.

  The little boy came forward and bowed respectfully “I am Roland Vaso, grandson of the current Duke and Duchess of Adolphus and son of Sir Adolphus one of the Kingdom’s Finest Dragon knights” Roland introduced.

  The boy had brown hair and blue eyes. He was wearing a white tunic shirt, and brown pants and practical shoes meant for traveling places like the Lava Grotto. Mother and son were both dressed for travel through the lava grotto. It was all practical clothes for them. Although Lady Bergen had her magical staff with her.

  Grace stood in front of Roland and courtseyed respectfully “I’m Grace Von Kurtz 5th Princess of Carrahe adopted daughter of its current rulers” she introduced.

  Then she offered her hand. Roland took it. She also looked at the boy’s face and successfully gauged a large number of details about him.

  “He’s intelligent, he carries himself like a nobleman’s son” Grace thought at first then but then she noticed “No, it’s a facade, he’s unhappy and angry, probably over the unique situation with his parents not being able to marry all because his mother is of humble origins and worked her way up without any notable accomplishments, being unable to marry the man she loved. Medieval societies are so obsessed with status and this one is no exception” Grace monologue.

  Then she noticed something “Hey what’s in Lord Roland’s pocket. It’s going to be trouble, I know it” she thought.

  She turned quickly to everyone and said “I promise you this will be my last royal command today, But I want you to give me and the boy a minute alone starting now, please excuse us” she left grabbing Roland’s hand before anyone could respond.

  After getting to a couple of nearby trees and scanning what was in Roland’s pocket. Grace judged that they were far enough away from the others and let go of his hand.

  “What’s this all about Princess?” Roland asked.

  “Hand it over” Grace said smiling brightly but sounding like she wouldn’t suffer foolishness.

  “Hand over what” Roland replied, trying to play dumb.

  “I know what you have in your pocket and don’t pretend otherwise, young man” Grace said firmly. She had the look of a scolding mother.

  “You're not my mother,” Roland said a little petulantly.

  “No, but I am one of the people that will be affected by what you’re going to do” Grace pointed out. Then she put out her hand. Roland was reluctant. “Do you want to defy a member of the royal family?” Grace asked, reminded him.

  With reluctance he handed it over. He handed over a smooth black stone or that’s what it appeared to be.

  Grace scowled. “A Black Fire Stone, the second this hit the lava it would’ve caused several small explosions that would make it look like the lava grotto was trying to erupt even though that isn’t the case, were you trying to kill us?” she scolded him.

  Roland looked like he had been caught doing something very wrong. Which was exactly the case. He looked very sorry as Grace spent a minute scolding him.

  But at the end “I’m going to do you a favor and not tell your mother about the Black Firestone but in return you’re going to tell me why you did this” Grace said.

  “I don’t know, my father and grandparents are fighting over my mother and they’ve been ignoring me” Roland explained.

  “Your grandparents probably want your father to marry a woman of much greater prestige and pass you off as her child, do I have that right?” Grace asked.

  “Yes and my fathers been fighting it, he says he wants us all to be a family living together” Roland replied.

  Grace felt some sympathy for the poor boy. He just wanted some attention to come his way. He also probably has been scorned because he was worn out of wed-lock or that’s what she surmised.

  Grace smiled “I envy you Master Roland” she said putting her hands on his shoulders briefly.

  “For what” Roland asked looking a little freaked out.

  “You still have your birth parents and they obviously care about you, be glad that they’re still alive and with you” Grace counseled.

  “Who are you?” Roland asked, sounding bewildered.

  “I’m Grace Von Kurtz the 5th Princess of Carrahe and the one that gave you some sage advice” Grace quickly and proudly replied.

  Roland didn’t seem to know what to make of that reply.

  “C’mon let’s rejoin the others” Grace suggested. She had long since put the Black Firestone in the MSS for safekeeping and without Roland noticing.

  The two children rejoined the others. They were waiting at the entrance to the lava grotto.

  “What were you and the Princess talking about?” Lady Bergen asked out of curiosity.

  “We were talking about family” came Roland’s reply.

  Soon enough two adults and four children went through the door to the underground lava grotto.

  Down, down into the depths of the earth they descended. It was a long endless set of stone stairs they walked on. The children’s feet were soon hurting as they went down. Some of them complained. But most of them talked about misc things.

  Grace listened in on Roland who was talking about himself to Lenny. Lenny seemed very interested. Which caused Grace to grimace.

  “Right now I’m studying to be a monk,” Roland said to Lenny.

  “A Monk” Grace said, smiling with stars in her eyes. She looked excited.

  Roland had a look of shock on his face not believing that this was the same girl that had scolded him early.

  “Do you do martial arts, punches, karate chops and kicks among ways of using your body as a living weapon?” Grace asked excitedly.

  “What’s with the princess?” Roland asked.

  “Just answer her the Princess will stop pestering you if you do” Lenny replied with an air that said she had seen this before.

  Roland then resigned himself “It’s mostly studying religious scripture about the Dragon God Graal and analyzing his wisdom and exploits and so forth” he explained.

  “Ahhhh, that’s so boring,” Grace remarked, sounding disappointed.

  Roland looked a little taken aback. He must’ve felt that disappointing Grace might’ve been bad.

  “How, if I do really well in my studies, I could be approved to become a fighting monk. I’ve heard they do plenty of martial arts and other things” Roland pointed out.

  “Yay,” Grace said, bouncing back.

  “You should really go for it,” Lenny encouraged with a smile.

  Roland seemed even more taken aback by this and looked a little nervous. “I don’t know, becoming a monk was largely my grandparents' idea; they wanted me to learn to be useful to my family,” Roland said.

  “If that’s not what you want to do, then you should go and do what you want” Lenny said to him.

  Roland seemed to appreciate it because he smiled.

  “So what do you want to do?” Lenny asked.

  “I don’t know” Roland replied “For now though I’m going to have to keep studying to be a monk. I really don’t want my grandparents angry with me, that's for certain” he said.

  Lenny looked at Roland with a small look of disappointment on her face. “I see” was all she said.

  Their descent into the underground lava grotto went on for a while.