Amaranth: A Merith Kingdom Novel - Chapter 6

They arrived at Tortoise Lake and Magnus slows to a trot along the tall grassy banks. Two tigers are seated on the outer shore of the Tortoise Lake by the drawbridge gate of Eagleview Castle. Raja walked out to greet them as Aslan sat watching the area.

“How may we help you?” Raja asked.

“We are here to talk to Avras. It’s about the state of the kingdom.”

“He is not expecting you.”

“Yes, I know. We just discovered something that may need his attention.”

“Follow me,” Raja motioned for them to follow behind him.

They went into the castle. “Stay here,” Raja told them, and he disappeared down a hallway.

A few minutes later Raja returns with Avras. “What do you think needs my attention Odulore?”

“Did you know that Amaranth and Crumazz are working to take over the kingdom?”

“No, I did not. We stay to ourselves. How and when did this happen?”

“Just a couple of days ago. Crumazz had the dragons come get Amaranth. My father left me a letter telling me all about it including that they are siblings, even though they were not raised together and no one knew about it.”

Avras looked puzzled at them. He took a few minutes to think to himself, Are these guys right? I cannot have this happen. If this happens, then my peace and quiet will be gone. Plus, Crumazz will be cruel to my felines.

“Ok, so what do you want me to do?” He asked Odulore.

“I am thinking that they will be coming for me first. We are going to have extra powers at the Rissingshire Castle. We are talking with everyone at all the castles in Maerith Kingdom. What we don’t know is if they are going to recruit from other kingdoms.”

At this point a dozen tigers and panthers had gathered around them. They all sat and listened to what was going on. Soon the tops of the castle courtyard was filled with winged lions.

“As you can see I have quite a large tribe of felines. We will help with what we can. I will need to have some here guarding this castle while we are helping you. I will let Arietta know what’s going on when she gets back with some of the snow leopards.”

“Thank you. I will send Ash and Oldirrim when we need assistance.”

Odulore got back on Magnus and left the castle. Raja followed them out to the front and joined Aslan.

In the middle of the Calegan Forest they met up with a group of pixies. “Odulore, we met up with Zolya. She said that we can have some of their elves can help us. She will send them when she gets word from us,” Tamon told them.

“Great! Now we need to gather everyone together. I told Avras that we would send out the owls to let them know when to send their felines.”

Evatius came galloping to them. “We have help from Xodius and their hares. We need to let them know when to come.”

“I told Avras that we would send out the owls. So, if we have them notify everyone, that will work. Let’s go talk in the dining hall.”

They all headed out of the forest and through the Demack Grassland when there were lightning bolts that flashed over the forest that came from the direction of the Miserth Castle. Everyone picked up the pace.

When they arrived inside the castle they were greeted by Ash and Oldirrim. “We are getting help from Staedan and the owls,” Ash blurted out.

“Great, let’s go into the dining hall,” Odulore replied.

Zizor greeted them as they entered the room, “Welcome everyone! I don’t have dinner prepared yet.”

“That’s ok, we are just here to discuss our strategy,” Odulore informed him.

They sat down at the table and Odulore rolled out a map of the castle. “Ok, here’s what we have to work with. We’ll line the winged lions on the right. Then along the left we’ll have the owls. The hares and elves will be lined up around the outside right by the base of the castle. We have the Pegasuses that can help with covering the middle air of the castle area. I will also go outside the kingdom to Azohr, he has griffins and gargoyles that can assist.”

Zizor spoke up, “Don’t forget that you have goblins here. They can help as well.”

“This is perfect. I now need to go read up on the spells and potions that I need for this fight.”

Odulore got up and headed off to his father’s room. He sat down at the desk with his father’s book of spells. At first, he just sat there staring at the pages and not reading them. His thoughts wandered off, How could I be so wrong about Amaranth? How could she so easily go to the other side? We could have ruled the kingdom together. I do not like going up against her. Although with her evil mother, maybe it was just inevitable. Plus, her evil brother is not going to make this easy.

Zyrsit flew in and landed on the book right in front of him, “Hey, what are you thinking?”

“What? Oh, yeah, what am I thinking? I don’t know. I am just confused by this whole thing. I don’t understand why she went so easily.”

Glurx came in and stood in front of the desk, “Look, you have to get her out of your brain. She’s gone to the evil side and there’s nothing you can do about it. The dragons tricked you into thinking she was not willing, but obviously, that was wrong. Get your head in the present time and figure out how you are going to keep her in her place. Do you have a spell you use to keep her and Crumazz in the Crystal Crypt and they can’t get out?”

He looked at the book and moved Zyrsit to the side. What happened to be on that page? Flarello Viralerous, a spell that creates a spell blocking barrier. “Hey, I can use this to protect our castle. Father was right, I do need to look through this book.”

He turned the page and the next spell was Ignitim Serpite and this one would cause those to be trapped in wherever they are at. “I found it!” He hollared out.

“What did you find?” Zyrsit asked him after almost falling off the desk from being startled.

“I found the spell that I could use to trap them in the Crystal Crypt. I need to figure out how to trap them both in there though. That will be difficult. I need to read more up on this spell.”

He turned the pages and read what was on the page.

Ignitim Serpite–Trap someone in an object such as a castle or crypt. This is to be used sparingly. This spell cannot be undone until those trapped die or the caster of the spell dies. There is no exit. There is no visible blockage that can be removed. This is an invisible wall that keeps those inside in and outside out.

You will need to be within 25 feet of the object. It will take effect immediately.

There is no way to dig under the force field either. As they dig down, the force field goes with it. If there is water, it will trap the water way in the trapped zone. At the edge of the force field, it will go to the bottom of the water.

Odulore thought to himself, This is what Qrizor used on Zaleria. She lived for many years in the Crystal Crypt. So, this should work on Amaranth. Will this work? I hope so. I need it to. Although, I’d love to just trap Crumazz and try to get her over to my side of things. Maybe I can trap him at Miserth Castle.

Narella came prancing in and jumped up on the desk. “Well, what are we doing? I heard about how to protect the castle, but you know that will not deter them for long and you can’t keep all those guards forever,” She told him.

“That’s what I am trying to figure out. The part that has me torn though is that Amaranth went to the evil side. I just don’t understand it.”

Glurx offered his opinion, “I don’t think you should worry about trying to turn her from evil. Just worry about them not taking over this castle. You are over the Maerith Kingdom right now, and we do not want that to change, especially with them. They come from two evil parents. You cannot honestly expect that either of them won’t become evil. Crumazz has already proved that he is evil. Good grief, he had the dragons do his dirty work. He kidnapped his own sister or at least he made it appear that way.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s just that we spent so much time together. I just can’t imagine her being evil enough to want to take over the kingdom without me.”

“My boy, you are thinking with your heart instead of your head. Quit it! You won’t be any good if you don’t,” Glurx ordered him and walked out of the room.

Continue Reading - Chapter 7