1 CHAPTER 1

The sound of swords clashing with each other was ringing in my ears louder and louder as each second passed . Beneath the sounds of the clashing swords were the sounds of men and women crying as swords and arrows impaled them .

The war was almost at its end and fatigue was reaching out to me . I could hear the pace of my heartbeat increasing as each second passed. The voices surrounding me were getting louder yet unclear .

I wiped the blood off my face as I turned around tearing apart flesh , my sword impaling a soldier through his heart . Pain was evident on his face as blood trickled down his mouth . I took back my sword as his body fell to the ground .

I turned around hearing a familiar voice . A soldier quite tanned and hardly taller than me ran upto me .

" Tilda I suggest you leave for the castle right now ". She spoke.

" Not the time Emlyn. " I responded as I impaled my sword through another soldier . The smell of blood was heavy in the air . The metallic smell making me scrunch my nose.

"You are tired , Tilda . You should leave . The rest of us will handle this." Spoke Emlyn as she continued fighting , sweat dripping through her forehead. " There are not a lot of men standing. Trust me . We'll handle this " She spoke again as we fought , our backs facing each other . " I am not leaving and that is the end of my decision , soldier. " I spoke emphasizing on the 'soldier' .

"Well , ' princess ' Matilda . I can't help but to say that you must leave for the castle and that is an order from your father." She spoke as she came in front of me , a smirk on her face .

I looked at her , defeat clearly written in my face . " Why does he want me to get back ? " I asked as I continued fighting . He never really asks me to get back to the castle before a war finishes.

"He wants to tell something very important to you . He has not told me what he wants to talk to you about . " She spoke as a sigh soon left her mouth . She was tired , I could see it .

" Well then I guess I'll be heading back . " I spoke and was soon surrounded by men and women for my protection , who immediately cleared a path .

I mounted on my white horse that was brought to me and soon rode back to the castle.

' The War ' had started over a hundred years ago when one of the first kings announced a war on another for power. Soon the rest of the kings followed as they got more hungry for power and status. More wars were announced. Soon , the number of betrayals happening among kings and queens increased.

Peace treaties were written as well as broke . Kings fought either to get more land or to keep the land they have safe . Only a few kingdoms were still standing and Constance is one of them. It's mine and the rest of the members of the royal family's job to keep it that way .

I got off my horse as I reached the castle stable .

"All of you can leave now" . I spoke and soon left the soldiers to help complete the war . I washed off a huge amount of blood and

walked into the castle , soon accompanied with maids to help me with removing my armor . I walked into the throne hall , the maids following behind me as soldiers standing in the hall saluted me .

I took in the hall , observing each and every nook and cranny . The hall was grandly decorated just like all the other rooms in castle . A humongous chandelier with blinding lights hung from the ceiling . The huge windows that were there on the left side of the hall were kept closed and the only light entering the room was from the chandelier and the torches that were lit up. The right wall of the hall had family portraits hung , one of them being mine.

The castle had a theme of royal blue , red and gold . The walls were blue and had an outline of red and gold. The huge windows had stained glasses. The castle was painted white on the outside which was topped off with gold outlines.

I looked at the four royal thrones that sat. One for the king , one for the queen , one for the first child and the last for me. Mother happens to be with her parents at the Cadel Kingdom . Her brother now rules the kingdom along with his wife .

"Do you know where father is ?" I asked one of the maids who were standing beside me.

"I think , his highness is in his room , princess." One of the maids spoke.

" Please , call me by my name , Lucinda . This is not the first time I am telling you this. " I plead .

"I am sorry Matilda . I know how it irritates you , it just slips out of my mouth at times . " She responded. I responded back with a smile .

"Could you tell him that I will meet him after I freshen up . The smell is seriously getting to me. " I asked Lucinda.

"Ofcourse Tilda , I will go tell him, while Jessica and Jennifer help you ." She spoke .

" Thank you ." I replied as I turned around to go to my room , with Jessica and Jennifer right behind me.

I looked at my helmet that was in my hand , it was caked with blood , just like the rest of my armor. Since I had cleaned the soles of my shoes and a big amount of blood on my armor just before I entered the castle , thankfully , the red carpets were free of blood. Last time , when brother had arrived from a war and had made the carpets bloody , mother got angry and asked him to clean it himself and that she would not ask any of the maids to help him clean .

Mother is a very neat person and even though she is not here , she will somehow hear it if we leave this place a mess. Maids in this palace do not have a lot of work to complete when compared to a majority of the kingdoms. Mother taught us to do our things alone . While the rest of the princesses and princes get their bed made and room completely dust proof by maids , its us who clean our rooms , maids do come in our room , but that is to check how good we clean our rooms and then to report that to mother. They also come to check if there is any threat to our safety. Unless we are busy , mother also happens to make us at times wash our plates. I am not really angry at it for her now , since I feel like what she asked us to do was just the basics , but when we were small the princes and the princesses of the other kingdoms used to make fun of us a lot they would call me the maid princess and my brother Oliver , the maid prince.

The walls were lit up with candles hanging from them. I walked through the heavily lit passage with the maids , as I thought about the last time I walked through this passage. Due to constant wars , me and my brother would have to leave the castle and at times would only return after three or four months.We would have to live in tents during wars. Due to the torches lit up almost all the time , the castle was always warm inside , but never too warm .

~

After washing up , I walked towards father's room and as always , he was sitting on the

bed .

I noticed he was in deep thought about something , hesitantly I knocked on his door , that was left half open. He looked up .

" Father, you called me? " I asked . " Ah yes " , he spoke.

" Come in " , he spoke again . I walked inside , his room was pretty lavish , but messy . He didn't really care about how clean his room was unless mother was present . A number of papers were scattered on his table , some of them I noticed were maps . His scale and pens were scattered here and there as well.

" Why did you call me , father ? "I asked him.

He spoke up , " Tilda , I think I found out a way to stop the war . Last day I was going through the books in the library and it was written in one of the books , that there were kingdoms way before the 'first kings' were present .

" WHAT ? " I blurted out , disbelief written clearly on my face . " Father , have you been unwell ? " I asked him , doubting that the pressure of being a king was getting to him . The ' first kings ' were ' the' first kings and they started the war.

"Child, just because I said something that you can't believe, doesn't mean that I am sick." He spoke up , a frown on his face which clearly stated that he didn't like me calling him sick.

" I know it could be a bit tough for you to believe, but dear I meant everything that I said. There were kingdoms present before the first kings and these kingdoms were ruled by demons and the first kings were their slaves . The first kings later wished to rule and asked the demons if they could rule for a day or two . According to the book I read , there were only three demons, which I believe could mean there were only three kingdoms . One of the demons actually allowed one of his slaves , one of the first kings to rule his land for three days . The first king liked the feeling of ruling a kingdom. He later somehow tricked the demon into making him believe that the first king would only sit as the face of the kingdom , while the demon could sit behind with less pressure , but still decide how everything would be done. He later befriended the rest of the first kings without the demons knowing and they plotted a plan to overthrow the demons . The first king then also befriended a witch , who helped him in his plot to overthrow the demons and soon they did overthrow the demons , but one of the demons cursed the first king and later the first kings started fighting with each other , which started 'the War'.

Some of the first kings were murdered . The witch's husband happened to end up murdered as well , due to this she cursed the kings , and then gave one of the demons a way to escape his fate , that is , to be stuck in the Red caves , until a person comes to see him directly and asks him for help , the moment he is asked for help , he will be freed . The moment he escapes a deal is made. " A deal with the demon " , in which the demon agrees to help the person but gets to ask something for himself as well . " He finished speaking.

"Ok..." I spoke . A sigh left my mouth as I got ready to speak . " Father , don't believe just any book that you read , most of them are not real and I am a hundred percent sure that what you just said is not real as well.... Maybe , it is real. Even if it is real , why would you call me back from a war , just to hear this. Couldn't you have waited for three to four days? "

Father breathed out and held his head.

" Tilda..." , he started . " We are currently getting threatened by more that twenty kingdoms at once . You have to trust me with what I am saying . Within four to five months we will be attacked by all these kingdoms together . The lives of our people are threatened . I have been searching more about this demon for a while . Whatever I told to you was all from a book my grandfather wrote . We are not strong enough to face twenty kingdoms at the same time and still stand. " Father stopped speaking.

The room got quiet , I could see tears forming in my father's eyes . Father was a king who deeply cared for his people . He grew up playing with the common children , many of them his friends even now .

" Does mother know of this ?" I asked him.

" Yes " , he answered . "Does she know of the story ?" I asked again . "No" , he replied again.

" What do you want me to do with this story ? Why didn't you tell mother instead , or Oliver ? " I asked him.

" Your mother already has a lot on her mind . I don't want to add anything on top of it . Your brother is needed here ." He spoke .

"What do you mean by Oliver is ' needed ' here , father?". I asked him , emphasizing on the 'needed' . Why would he say that ? I am needed here as well.

He started speaking . "We are coming to that part . Oliver , being the first born is more known . If he is not seen here in the kingdom , people will question his absence more compared to your absence. If he suddenly leave for the Cadel Kingdom it will start sparks . People would ask , why you would not go to the Cadel Kingdom. "

" I am going to mother's place ? " I questioned .

"Well , yes , but no . " He replied . " I want you to go to the Red caves , but I won't force you . If you choose to go visit the caves , me , your mother and Oliver will make it look like you are going to the Cadel Kingdom. "

" Father are you listening to what you are saying ? You want me to go to some cave that you read about in the last few days . Do you even know where it is ?"

" Where do you think I went for a whole month , paradise ???? " He blurted out.

" Child I was searching more about this and guess what , two demons have already been released .Apparently the witch gave other modes of escape for the other demons as well . I also visited my parents , who gave me these maps . " He spoke , pointing his finger at the maps lying on the wooden table .

I looked at the table , the flame of the lit up candle , giving the maps a golden glow . I could see that there was some kind of markings as well as latitudes and longitudes on them .

I looked back at my father , his eyes met my eyes .

" I will go ".

"Tilda are you a hundred percent sure ?"

" I am , but I need you train the soldiers harder . Tell , Oliver to personally train them along with the trainers and how are you going to make it look like I went to mother's place?"

" I will tell him and don't worry me and your brother will handle it. I will send some of the soldiers along with you . You can take the Blue Moon ."

"The caves are in the sea ?" I asked , wide eyed. Blue Moon is the greatest ship we have ever owned . I remembered how he would not even let us touch the ship when we were small . He used to talk about how amazing the Blue Moon was .

" No , but you will have to travel through the sea , if you need to get to the caves ." He replied to me . Still awestruck on the fact that I will get to sail on the Blue Moon I didn't bother to listen to the rest that he had to say .

"... the maps ? Hey , are you listening?" He spoke , noticing that I was staring blankly at the maps . Hearing the sudden change of tone in father's voice I looked at him.

" Sorry, got lost " I apologized.

" So , you know how to read maps ? " He asked sarcastically , a small smile evident on his face .

" Yes , I do. " I replied , returning a smile.

" But are you ready to be a captain? "

" I am going to be the captain ? " I cried out in happiness.

"Well yes , unless you don't- "

"I will be captain , but I don't need the soldiers though . I will have Emlyn instead ." I interrupted , a huge smile on my face .

"Just you two ?" He questioned .

"Yup . The soldiers will be here training."

"Well , if that's what you want and you're sure about it . I'm not going against it . Think more about it though ." He spoke , looking at me in worry .

" We will leave day after tomorrow. I will go inform Emlyn . " I spoke and soon ran out of the king's room , excited to let my best friend know of the new adventure we are going to be part of .

Tomorrow is going to be a busy day and guess who is going to make a deal with a demon ? Me !!