Royalty

The man in front of me was old, a long grey beard and even greyer hair showed that as well as the wrinkled skin on his hands. He was wearing a purple robe of some sort with golden design weaving through the fabric. He had a metal band around his head, golden in colour with gems all around it, both purple and red. He had kind eyes, deep chestnut brown that sparkled in the sun light. He was almost smiling, a smirk playing at his lips as he looked around the courtyard, from me to the man behind me and the small child at his feet.

"Well now what happened here?" I couldn't speak.

"That thing is a monster." The man behind me growled, though his voice was quieter than before. Respectful.

I realised, jarringly, that the man before me must be this king they had spoken of before. The other soldier, the one that had gone to fetch said king was stood behind him. His eyes scanning the yard as well though they settled on me with a wariness and mistrust that the kings did not.

"A monster? No, no I think you are mistaken. I see nought but a child." The twinkle in his eyes glinted at me. I could feel the man behind me move again, shifting from one foot to the other with an agitation that meant he was ready to pounce once more.

"It attacked me!"

"That's a lie!" Alexander's voice bellowed from the side, his previous anger not forgotten it seemed. "You charged her, and she reacted. Your majesty I-"

"It's a monster!" The man was back to yelling again. I could practically hear the way he clenched his fist. "It's a demon! It deserves to die!" Murmurs of agreement could be heard throughout the gathered crowd, Jacks voice ringing through clearer, perhaps because I had a name for his.

The old man raised his hand and silence descended across the whisperers. He had their attention, their obedience. Oddly, in a smaller corner of my mind I wondered how he had gathered such obedience. Was it his title that gained him such? Or was it something else. Was he like the master? Cruel and merciless, with no forgiveness for those who broke his rules or spoke badly to him. I shook myself mentally. No, this man didn't seem the type, his eyes to soft and kind to hold the darkness necessary to complete such tasks.

"My I ask your name my child?" He was looking at me again, his hand still raised to silence the others. I swallowed.

"Malia." I kept my voice quiet.

"I don't see much demon in you." He said smiling. I smiled back and then someone grabbed my hair lifting me up and straining my neck to show the mark that stood against my skin.

"It has the mark of a monster!" the angry man growled

It would be easy to break his hold… and his arm. My fingers twitched to reach up and grab his wrist, using my strength to turn with enough speed to completely twist the elbow out of place. Carrying on I could pull the arm out of its socket and have it pinned, painfully, behind his back before anyone could reach us. Or have it ripped completely out of his shoulder.

The idea was compelling.

"Let her go!" It wasn't the old man or even Alexander who had spoken. It was a feminine voice, speaking from behind the older man.

I carefully moved my head, so I could see the speaker, making sure not to move to fast in-case it scared the man currently still holding my hair. She was beautiful. Silver hair cascading down her chestnut brown skin in waves. Her brown eyes were the same as the elder mans, sparking with the same mirth, though now they switched from mad to worried in quick succession as her gaze went over me and then the man behind me. Her face was kind, like the kings, her skin younger. She looked young but something in her stance, in the aura she gave off made me think of someone wise. Someone who knew more than their appearance showed. In a battle that sort of look was dangerous but here it was intriguing. She was wearing a light blue dress that flowed down her frame like a waterfall. On her head was another band of metal, smaller than the mans but silver in colour and with one purple gem in the front.

"Let her go now." Her voice was melodic but full of authority.

"Princess Elise you don't-" The man tried to argue but the unsheathing of a sword occurred behind us and he stiffened.

"Do what the Princess orders or I will run you through." It was Alexander, his gruff voice full of promise to act out his threat.

I was instantly released and as I moved I noticed the sword, point first, that was positioned in the middle of the angry man's back. Alexander pushed slightly, and the man raised his hands, fear flashing across his face.

"Are you alright?" I turned back and saw the woman, Princess Elise she'd been called, was watching me. I nodded, reaching up to brush my hand across Marcus's crystal. Her gaze followed my movement and she frowned, her eyes on the crystal for a second before they widened, and she looked at the older man.

"You are right to be alarmed daughter but fear not I do not think our little friend here has come to hurt us." The older man, the king said his gravelly voice still as kind as before. "Tell me my child, what brings you to our city?"

I could feel the man behind me shift but I tried to shut him out. If they were right and this King was the one who would decide if my brother's crystal could be buried here, I couldn't have killing one of his people as a blemish on our first meeting.

No matter how much I wanted to.

"Here goes nothing brother." I thought before taking a deep breath.

"I want to bury this here." I touched the crystal again, hanging safely around my neck and, like his daughter, his old eyes followed my hand with interest.

"And what is that object to you? It must be very special for you to enter my city so directly?" He was watching me carefully, as though trying to tell by just my non-verbal response to that question if I was here for the right reasons.

"Marcus wanted me to. I promised." He eye brow raised slightly but otherwise he made no movement at the name.

"Marcus?" Something about hearing someone else say his name so softly made my breath hitch.

The master said his name of course. He had given us our names to begin with, but it was always with either anger or disdain leaking through the syllables. Even when Marcus had been burned, when he'd watched in silence as I'd lain my brother on the pyre on top of the large mountain that was so close to the where those who had killed him once lived. Before we'd levelled their city. Before he'd been hurt. He had stood there silently as I came back to his side, my eyes never leaving my brothers still face.

He raised a hand and the spark flew out towards the dry wood. A movement that normally sent me reeling, flinching backwards in the hope of avoiding whatever punishment he wished to dole out. Nothing good came when the sparks flew from his hands. But this time I didn't. The fire licked its way out of the branches and up onto my brothers' body but I didn't even move. I just stared at the corpse that used to be my brother. His eyes were closed, and I remembered the jolt that had gone through me at the thought that I would never see those same eyes staring back at me. The one thing that I had always been so certain of, that before that day I would have never imagined changed was that I would always find those eyes. That those sapphire copies of my own orbs would always look back at me if I looked hard enough. As the fire licked up his hair I realised what they would soon be. Like all the rest of him they would succumb to the fire and become dust. Ashes. The master didn't move either but after the fire had fully engulfed the body his hand rested on my shoulder. I didn't flinch.

"You are the last and the strongest." I didn't turn to look at him, I doubted he was looking at me anyway. "Marcus was weak. But you… you are strong. One day we shall show the world just how strong you are."

He had left me alone after that and it was only then I let myself grieve. To feel the emotions that had ripped through me as he spoke my brother's name with such disdain and hatred. He thought he was a mistake. Weak. Because he had been killed and I had somehow survived.

I'd had wounds just like him but mine had healed. Healed just like any others and so here I stood by my brothers burning body and I had never been angrier. Why was I the one to live? Why must I carry on, alone, and keep killing and destroying until the world burned? The anger built, and I let it. Let it burn away the grief until it consumed me, and I stood by the fire with black eyes and black writing and for a moment I could hide inside the darkness. It's funny how much it became a blanket for the first week of his death. Allowing the darkness to consume me with ease, faster than before until I was sat there silently with it coursing through my veins and the master would see me and smile. He had always wanted us to be nothing but animals, something he could control, and I had given him that.

Perhaps I would again when this was all over.

When the promise was fulfilled, I would have little to lose but my own sanity after all.

"Marcus is my brother." The Princess's eyebrows shot up, shock perhaps at the thought of a 'demon' as I'd been called having any siblings.

"Ah the boy." I looked to the King. He was looking sorrowful but not shocked.

"Yes."

"I am sorry for your loss child… to lose a loved one is a terrible thing." My eyes widened as the Princess looked from him to me and back.

"Father?" She was confused, her eyebrows knitted together as brown eyes searched her father's face.

"Come… we have much to discuss." He turned, motioning for me to follow him into the castle.

"Sir!" It was the other guard. The one who had gone to fetch the King in the first place. "With all due respect sir you can't take her in there it's too closed in. She could be dangerous!"

The King chuckled, and his eyes twinkled with mischief as he looked to the soldier.

"Oh, there is no doubt that she is dangerous. Oh yes. But believe me Sir Pallius you or your men could do little to stop her destroying this city." The man, Pallius eyes widened in shock. "That being said you should get out of those cuff my dear," His eyes were on me again, a smile playing at his lips. "They make a dreadfully annoying noise."

I looked down at the shackles around my wrists and then back at him. He was smiling, a challenging tilt of his eyebrow the only thing I needed to make up my mind, because he was right. I could destroy this city easily, bring it crashing to the ground with screams and flailing limbs. And the shackles were rather annoying. I shifted slightly, opening my arms wide as the metal broke apart, the chain shattering much like the sword had before. I reached my fingers under the metal cuff around my wrist and easily peeled it off, the screeching sound of it being snapped being copied as I did the other wrist. As I looked back up from my task I saw the King was smiling even wider now, the Princess looked shocked, but she was holding her expression together well. The man Pallius was staring at me, wide eyed and slack jawed as he stared at my feet where the metal of the shackles now lay. I heard a soft chuckle and turned to see Alexander was looking at the floor as well, a key in his hands.

"You could have just let me undo them." He chuckled again, and I smiled as he caught my eye.

"Sorry." He shook his head still chuckling and I turned away from him.

As I stepped towards the King I expected an attack to come out of the silent crowd like it had before… but nothing did. I made it to the steps the King was stood on, his gaze following my short walk closely.

"That will be all General." He said looking towards Pallius for a moment before he looked to his daughter. "Come Eli, there is much to discuss."

He began to walk and after a moment's hesitation I followed. His daughter walked by his side but she didn't speak, didn't even whisper to ask where we were going as we stepped towards the doors and then, with a bow from the guards, we moved through them.

It was beautiful.

The walls were a light blue, lighter than the Princess Elise's dress. A deep mahogany floor went from the entrance and through what seemed the entire castle. The walls were covered in beautiful paintings, more beautiful than those Marcus had found in a book once, and they went from floor to ceiling with sculptures of white marble every few metres. Looking into rooms I saw; large vases, crates of different creatures, books piled so high they reached the roof, there was the smell of fire, the smattering of other people's speech and so much more. The ceiling had hanging metal chains with candles dotted around circular metal parts on the end, chandeliers my brain supplied from a fading memory of a random page I'd read over Marcus's shoulder once.

"I assume this is the first time you've been inside such a place?" The soft voice jolted me back and I snapped my head to look at the young woman.

She had moved to walk beside me now, watching me with curiosity as I looked around at everything we passed. I nodded, looking back at one of the pictures that was hanging on the wall.

It was breath taking. The image consisted of a sunset behind a rocky peak, nothing I hadn't seen before when we travelled but this was so different. The image beckoned to those who saw it with a sort of pain I couldn't place. The mountain range, the only thing in the painting was surrounded in such a way by the light of the dying the sun it was almost as though the entire earth was alight with flame. A golden halo of fire that seemed to burst through the image and into the space around it. I couldn't tear my eyes away. As, even with such a passionate display I couldn't stop the feeling of emptiness that consumed me as my gaze lingered. I didn't know the emotions name, didn't know what sort of feeling that was meant to be inside me as I stared but it made me feel… alone. Scared and alone and surrounded by fire.

Princess Elise stepped up to me, her voice breaking through the haze that had somehow begun to surround me.

"That was a gift from the High Mage to my father some years ago. A peace treaty they had made." At my blank look she smiled softly. "The High Mage is a leader of the Maji. They normally live in the mountains and are made up of lots of magic users from almost everywhere in the kingdom. They are normally human though. Those who have magic or the ability to use it go there when they are young so that they can train to control their abilities. Most stay, though some leave the Maji when they have learnt the control they need."

"Control?" I cocked my head to the side, watching her now instead.

"Yes. Magic is dangerous when it is uncontrollable. Some have the ability to be able to control it from birth, but some do not. Tthey need to learn, or it will destroy not only them but the people around them. It is something everyone agrees upon and the families nearly always keep in contact with those who go to learn."

"The master has magic." I muttered out loud. She frowned, a crinkle appearing in between her eyebrows as her eyes flashed with both confusion and a slight amount of panic.

"Who is –"

"Come you must be hungry." We looked away from each other towards the old man that now stood further away, his old eyes watching us with a smile on his lips.

He was holding open a door and ushered us through. The room was large, beautiful like the rest with an overly large and long table in the centre. A roaring fire lit up the space behind the centre of the table and I almost smiled at the flames, the only thing I really understood in the entire room. Fire was simple after all. Whatever form it took it burnt. No matter who wielded it or where it was found its sole purpose was destruction and, in a place I knew nothing about, it was comforting.

"Sit please." The man said, watching me from his position in the doorway. I padded across the floor, my bare feet making almost no noise on the wood below.

"Are your feet cold?" Princess Elise asked.

"No." I said not bothering to turn around as I brushed my hand across the dark wood of the chairs.

These ones more were more elegant than the one that the master had. They were beautiful, dark wood, maybe mahogany with a twisting design on the back. Small symbols carved into the side looked so natural I could almost believe the tree it had come from had been born with the same markings. A scraping sound caught my attention and I noticed Princess Elise was pulling her chair out, watching me with a fascination I had never seen before. Her eyes were intrigued but soft, as though she was watching me for the simple pleasure of seeing but with no hint of expectation.

"Why don't you sit." She didn't say it like a question but more of a statement, a request for me to join her whilst not expecting my compliance.

I sat down, ignoring the voice in my head that yelled that the master would be so angry that I was sitting in his chair, because this wasn't his chair, and this wasn't his home. This was the old man's home, who was now sitting down with the help of another man who had appeared by his side. This man wasn't dressed like a guard. He was wearing a white shirt with black trousers and black shoes. He had white gloves on and seemed to be holding a rag in his hand as he carefully helped the old man down.

"Thank you, Caius. Please tell the chef we have a guest joining us for lunch." The man bowed, a small bob as he turned on his heel and left through a different door than we had entered. "You must have a lot of question little one." His eyes were on me again.

"Who are you?" he chuckled at my question.

"Forgive me I didn't introduce myself before. My name is Galen Thorul. I am the King of this city and the surrounding kingdom." Galen smiled at me again. "How about you ask us a question and then we ask you?" I nodded, that seemed fair.

"What is your name?" He asked.

"Malia." He nodded. "Why do they bow to you?" Princess Elise smiled as Galen chuckled again.

"I suppose out of respect. I am their King, my daughter is their Princess, they respect us and so in turn they bow. It is the way things have always been." I frowned and turned to Princess Elise.

"Your name is not Princess Elise?" She smiled, a twinkle in her eye as she shook her head.

"My name is Elise. My title is Princess, but you can just call me Elise, at least whilst it is just us." I nodded.

"That was two questions little one." Galen said, and I flickered my eyes to him again, "I believe that means I get two as well hmm?" I agreed, and he smiled again. "How old are you Malia?"

I blinked.

The silence stretched on.

"What's your age?" Elise tried.

"I don't know." There was nothing else I could say but, I could tell my answer left them both confused, maybe even worried. The way Galen frowned, and the confused look Elise sent to her father made it seem as though it was strange for someone to not know their age. "I am not a child but I… I don't know."

This answer did not seem to bring them any comfort.

"Where do you live?" Elise asked.

"The woods." Her eyebrows raised in shock and Galen's frown deepened. I didn't understand why that would be upsetting to them. Perhaps they didn't want a monster living so close… for some reason the thought that these two people would be afraid of me being so close was saddening.

"The woods… how strange…" Galen muttered.

"Why is it strange?" He smiled at me again, but the frown never quite left his face.

"It is strange because we have searched those woods a thousand times, but we have never found you or the others you live with."

"There aren't any others." I said, shaking my head as I did so. "It's just me and the master."

"You mentioned another, a boy, Marcus?" Elise was speaking softly again, as though she already knew the answer to the question that she asked. "Does he not live with you?"

"He died." She winced, an apology slipping from her lips in a split second of me answering.

"The crystal you carry is this boy's, correct?" Galen was looking at me again, his eyes sparkling with something I didn't understand.

"Yes."

I frowned this time. I had killed enough humans to know that a beating heart sat in their chest, not a crystal, so how would he know of the crystals meaning? I had asked to bury it here but this man had seemed to know that me having it meant that Marcus was already dead.

"I am sorry for your loss. I assume its power is now gone?" Now I was even more confused.

"How do you know?" He sighed, suddenly looking much older than I had noticed before.

He took a deep breath, opened his mouth and then the doors burst open.

I jumped, moving on instinct as I grabbed one of the sharp objects in front of me. I leapt up, throwing the object as I did so, hearing a yell from my side as the small trident whipped through the air. I heard the thud as it made contact, the pain filled yelp as it drove itself into soft flesh with ease. The knife was blunt, but I twisted, preparing to throw it before a hand caught my arm. My eyes snapped to the face of the one who had grabbed me. Elise looked shocked and worried; her hand soft against my skin as she reached forwards with her other hand to take the knife from my grip.

"It's okay." She whispered softly, and I blinked, confused onto how she could be so calm when we were being attacked. "No one's going to hurt you."

I looked to the attackers and froze. A young man was holding his shoulder, the small trident I had thrown embedded deep into the flesh. A younger woman was hiding behind a silver tray, her entire frame shaking as she trembled on the floor. The man was being helped by another, older man, who was stemming the bleeding that came from his wound with a white rag.

None of them had weapons or wore armour but that didn't mean they weren't dangerous. I had no such things either, but I could easily kill everyone here. There was no guarantee that these people weren't the same.

"Next time don't barge in on the family." The old man muttered as the younger one grumbled.

"She threw a fork at me!" The man spat before yelping as the older one brushed against the small trident, no fork.

"You're lucky my boy." Galen said, his voice full of humour, "She could have aimed for your head." The girl whimpered, and Elise got up moving over to her as I stood there in silence, the knife still in my hand but held much looser than before.

"It's alright. You aren't hurt, are you?" She asked, and the girl shook her head wildly before making a strange squeaking noise and bowing like I'd seen the others do. "Don't worry about that now. Are you sure you are okay?" The girl nodded again, still shaking, face red as she looked down.

"Y-yes your majesty. I-I'm fine." She squeaked out. Her voice was higher than mine, higher than Elise's. She stood taller than I did though, when positioned next to the silver haired woman. Her eyes were bright green, with blonde hair in one single braid down her back, a plain black dress with a white sash across the middle. She was pretty, but she didn't hold the same power that Elise did. Where Elise seemed to radiate with power, showing how dangerous she could be if things were different, this other girl radiated fear, weakness.

She wasn't a danger to me.

"We have your food sire." The older man said moving so he could start pushing the cart forwards, ignoring the grumbles of the young man still leaning on the door.

"Thank you, Lyon. Please leave them here and then take Henrick to the infirmary." The old man nodded bowing and I watched the young girl come forwards, her eyes watching me terrified as she tried to help give out the trays.

I watched her put one of the strange metal trays in front of where Elise had sat but now she was staring at me, her whole body shaking, tray in hand and I realised she wanted to put one in front of me as well. I stepped back, making room in front of me for her to place it down without me being too close. Of course, distance would do nothing to stop my attack but my actions made her less tense and I saw Elise smile in my direction. She seemed to approve of my actions towards the girl and I felt myself smile at her as well, a strange feeling considering I was not used to smiling at anyone but Marcus.

"Have you ever eaten a sandwich before?" Galen was smiling at me again and I shook my head, looking to the triangular food in his hand. "It's a marvellous food I assure you though not as good as others I must admit. Please try some. These have a pork meat in the middle."

I looked at the food on the tray in front of me and then slowly reached for one, sniffing at it as I moved it to my face. I saw Elise smile at me and I cocked my head to the side confused. She just motioned for me to take a bite. It was definitely good but strange. The master fed us but we didn't really need to eat all that much. We had water and what we caught in the forest so I'd eaten meat before, even though this tasted different than what I normally consumed, but the white fluffy stuff on either side was odd.

"What is this?" I asked touching the white stuff and Elise's eyebrows shot up but still she answered me.

"It's bread." Bread? What a weird name.

"You are definitely a marvel my dear." Galen's eyes seemed to shine with an unknown emotion, and I frowned confused.

"How do you know so much about me?" He smiled again, but this time it didn't reach his eyes and the shine was gone.

In that instant he seemed older. Much older. I could see the lines in his face, the way his body seemed to be holding up some invisible weight. His eyes seemed hard, haunted, as though he'd seen things that would go with him forever, things that still played with his mind in the darkness. It was strange to me. He had been so light and happy a moment ago and now I could see a past soldier in him. A fighter. Someone strong… someone who would make a great leader.

Maybe that's why he was King.

"My dear I know of you because I remember the day you were created."

I didn't move.

I didn't even blink.

I knew I'd been created. The master had made both me and Marcus but he had never spoken of others being there when we had come to be. Was this another master? Someone who had given us life?

Galen sighed and motioned for the others to leave. They bowed again, the girl giving Elise the tiniest smile as she hurried after the others, leaving us alone once more in the large room. He touched a ring on his hand, watching it as he spoke.

"I assume you know you were created by the man you call master." I nodded. "That man's name is-"

"Don't!" Elise jumped at my outburst, but Galen just smiled again, soft and understanding.

"He can do no harm here my dear. As will be explained your master is not willing to attack this place as of yet."

I wanted to believe him. I did. But I'd seen the damage the master could do. Watched him burn cities to ashes, rip families to shreds, felt as he punished us again and again. I doubted a wall would stop his attack. I doubted anything could.

"I swear to you no harm can come to you inside these walls." I didn't believe him, but I nodded all the same. There was no need to worry them. To tell them that they were doomed to slow and painful deaths should the master decide to come through these walls.

Galen's eyes returned to his ring.

"The man you call master is named Marcenou. It is time you learned his story as well as your own."