Читать книгу The chronicals of Elderon - B.R. Schlüter - Страница 7

The masked ball

That same evening, my grandparents held a huge masquerade ball and announced the good news, my return to Sunset.

In my room stood five servants who helped me put on my dress and at the same time made my hair into a magnificent hairstyle.

After barely twenty minutes, I was dressed, made up and my hair done.

I wore a purple off-the-shoulder dress, with a short train and gold embellishments. My cape was red-orange and had a star as a brooch, this was our crest, as I learned from Lilly before she had gone to her room to get ready for the ball as well.

My hair was braided at the front of both soaps and tied into a braid at the back of my head. As small decorations, small diamonds in star shape were incorporated into my hair.

I turned several times in front of the mirror, because I could not believe that this was me.

Suddenly there was a knock at the door.

"Yes come in!" I said as I looked at myself again in the mirror.

"Wow, you. Looks. Stunning. Look!" said Lilly, grinning at me.

She was wearing a knee length blue and green dress with a belt at her waist. The belt was made of creepers.

Her hair had been made into an updo and two small strands hung down the front of her face.

"You look dazzling as well! I think this life at court is good for both of us." I said while holding my nose up in an exaggerated manner.

We took our masks and strolled, arms raked into each other, to the ballroom.

Almost all the noble houses and high-ranking ambassadors of the country were invited.

Each time a guest arrived, a guard, with his lance, hammered twice on the floor and read their name and where they came from.

Tong, tong.

"The elders Kira and Maro from the Haunted Woods."

"Well they didn't look old at all, more like in their late 30's, " I just thought to myself.

"Princess Juna, it's such a blessing to have them back with us!" Maro began, but his consort immediately rebuked him. "Now go on for now, you can talk later! There are other gentlemen waiting to take a look at the princess!"

I had to grin a bit at the bleating, now I understood why "elders", they didn't look it, but they acted like an old married couple.

Another tong, tong, snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Queen Apple Bloom, her consort King Garlic and his twin sons Dante and Dandelion from the Kingdom of Blossom".

I really had to stifle my laughter at these names. It might be that this was normal here, that people in the Kingdom of Blossom were named like Vegetables, Fruits and Weeds, but I found it rather amusing. Their clothes reminded me of our orchard back home.

The queen wore a dark green dress, which was decorated with thousands of small flowers, and her crown was made of vines that entwined a ruby in the shape of a rose.

The king and his sons also wore green suits, but they were decorated with fewer flowers. Only on the cufflinks, as well as on the capes, were flowers and jewels set in the shape of flowers.

They bowed briefly and then moved aside to make way for the next to put on their masks.

Tong, tong.

"The High Guardian Paratos accompanied by Queen Spinella, His Royal Highness King Carnelian and his children, Princess Berryl and Princes Tourmaline and Peridot! From the Crystal Castle!"

They too just gave a little curtsy and stood aside.

I wondered why it didn't jingle loudly with every step the royal family took, since their capes were made of millions of tiny crystals.

Otherwise, they were dressed rather plainly, no ostentatious gowns or colors.

I turned to Lilly, who was standing right next to me. "Shh, Lilly."

She leaned down to me. "Yes what is it?"

"Tell me this guardian, isn't he one of the guardians I'm supposed to question about my past?"

"No, he's the guardian of the ancient scriptures and he's responsible for making sure the guardians don't lack for anything." she answered me.

"Too bad, could have been," I said, shrugging my shoulders.

Tong, tong.

"King Farel, Queen Senta and his daughter Princess Morai from the Kingdom of Arktika".

All the guests looked very noble, but the royal family from Arktika was just gorgeous.

Blue clothes, turquoise-blue eyes and snow-white hair.

Tong, tong.

"The druid Parapei and the supreme mage Malia from Draya."

Shortly after hearing that name, I forgot all my good manners, jumped up and ran toward Malia. She just curtsied when I almost ran into her.

All the guests in the hall stared at us indignantly, or confused, at my behavior.

That must have been a strange sight, too, how an elf fell into the arms of a small, brunette magician with bright green eyes. And this during an official performance.

"Hey Juna, why don't you sit back down? We're getting a lot of nasty looks right now." she said, patting my head.

"I don't care what they think about me now! I've missed you terribly."

For a brief moment my life stood still and I just enjoyed being able to hold my "sister" in my arms.

King Matteo acted before any more questions would arise. He stood up and started a speech to draw the attention from me, to himself.

"Honored guests! On behalf of my family, I would like to welcome you all to our home! It has been a very emotional day so far, for our little princess and her current reaction, to the high mage is only understandable, as the two share many memories.

I would like to ask you, therefore, to be a little considerate.

Now, before this ends in an endless rambling from me..." He raised his hand as a sign to the conductor, "...let's start the ball with a classical waltz!"

The orchestra began to play and my grandfather escorted my grandmother onto the dance floor.

All the people spread out in the ballroom and started dancing only I was standing around a bit lost in the room.

Then someone tapped me on the shoulder.

"Princess Juna? May I have this dance?" the person behind me asked me, holding out his hand.

I eyed my counterpart closely.

He was almost half a head taller than me, dark brown, almost black short hair, was muscular and had purple-blue eyes that I immediately lost myself in.

He wore a black suit with a small flame on it. His cape, on the other hand, was dark blue.

"I'd love to." replied I, placing my hand on his.

He led me to the center of the hall, bowed to me and we began to dance an ancient waltz.

At that moment I had been very glad of the dancing lessons, in my youth.

Otherwise I would have made a fool of myself.

After several songs, King Matteo interrupted the dancing and announced that the banquet was now open.

I was not a bit hungry, I was warm.

So I went out to the balcony to get some fresh air and to take off that annoying oversized mask for a moment.

I thought of the mysterious stranger I had just danced with.

He disappeared into the crowd after the king had opened the buffet.

He had not been at the official welcoming ceremony.

"Princess Juna? I have some merrelberry punch for you." a voice sounded behind me.

I turned around and the handsome elf from earlier, was standing in front of me with two glasses of punch.

I hastily tried to put my mask back on, but he pushed my hands down saying, "Princess Juna, why don't you take that thing off, it's much better to look at your beautiful face that way."

"Juna will do," I replied. "And what is your name?" I asked him.

He took off his mask and smiled seductively at me. Then he put down the two glasses, took my hand and gave me a kiss on the hand. "You may call me Shadow."

Meanwhile, he bowed to me again.

We stood together on the balcony and looked at the stars, or rather he looked at the stars, because I could hardly take my eyes off his striking face.

I could have spent hours more here together with him, however, unfortunately, at some point it was time to say goodbye to each other.

"Juna, the evening with you was adorable, but I'm afraid it ends for me now, because I'm not on the guest list." he said, winking at me.

"When will I see you again?" I asked him as he prepared to leave.

"Very soon" was his reply, after which he jumped off the balcony and ran off into the night.

My heart was hammering like crazy and I watched him for a long time until he disappeared into the forest.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder again and I was startled.

I whirled around and saw Lilly and Malia looking at me a bit puzzled.

"What's so interesting to see?" teased Lilly.

Malia's gaze wandered to the two empty glasses next to me and a definite grin spread across her face.

"Well do we know the lucky gentleman you spent half the evening with?" she asked, poking me lightly in the side with her elbow.

Lilly immediately went for it and eagerly tried to guess who it was.

"I bet it was Prince Dandelion. His bright green eyes and that fuzzy blond hair that you just want to reach in."

I rolled my eyes.

"Lilly, just because you find him attractive doesn't mean I'm into the same type of man you are," I just shook my head.

"Then it was definitely Peridot. Dark brown hair and gray blue eyes to melt. Can you call him Perry yet?" asked Malia.

I took a deep breath. "Neither was any of the gentlemen present here." I looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping on us, then continued.

"It was someone who wasn't formally invited. But he was absolutely gorgeous. Charming, handsome, well-toned, and absolutely melt-in-your-mouth gorgeous."

The two of them looked at me like they were about to start drooling.

"And what is this mysterious stranger's name, or should we call him male 'Cinderella' because he breezed in just before midnight?" they both joked.

"His name is Shadow."

Shortly after I said his name, Malia covered my mouth and Lilly slapped her hand over her mouth in horror.

Why were they reacting in such a panic?

I looked back and forth between the two of them in irritation.

After a while of silence, Malia began to whisper to me.

"Shadow is the son of Arakas. The king of Hellfire. He is a nightshade elf ."

My look only grew more questionable.

Since I hadn't had time to read the stories about the kingdoms until now, I didn't know what she was talking about.

"Because of the war that was going on here at the time, after the victory of the Alliance of Light over those of the Alliance of Darkness, all Nightshade Elves were banished. And they are strictly forbidden to enter the soil of our lands without invitation or valid reason," Malia added to her narrative after correctly interpreting my gaze.

She let her hand slip from my mouth and nodded at me meaningfully.

I had better not mention this handsome gentleman to the other guests.

We went back to the company and Shadow moved more and more into the background of my thoughts.

"You really lived in the human world until yesterday?" Princess Morai and Prince Dandelion asked me incredulously.

"Wasn't it dangerous or boring there?" asked Prince Dante, who had joined us.

"It was neither boring nor dangerous. I had a nice house, my own car, and had recently earned my doctorate in mythology. This world here seems more dangerous." I told the princes to the princess.

"What is a car?" asked Princess Morai, pondering what I meant by that.

"A car is comparable to a self-driving carriage or a jorai." answered Malia for me. Now I looked at her a bit skeptically. She grinned and answered promptly. "A Jorai looks like a covered motorcycle, is also only for two people, similar to a Smart car, except the seats are one behind the other."

"Ahhh okay." muttered I to myself.

Prince Dante turned to me.

"Tell me Princess Juna, why do you bother with such a lowly fairy like Lilly Starfly? You might as well have better company with you, after all, your reputation is improving more and more right now as I talk to you."

At the same moment, he grabbed my butt.

I looked at him in disgust and horror.

Bam!

I had lashed out in a split second and slapped him across the face.

"What do you allow yourself to do? You don't know her, nor do you know me! And I don't really care what my standing is here. I know who my friends are and YOU are definitely not one of them! And if you dare to touch me like that again, you can be sure that it won't stay with a simple slap in the face!" I yelled at him.

All eyes were immediately on me, but I didn't care. Nobody had the right to talk about my best friend like that or to touch me. Especially not some pompous poseur of a would-be prince who thought he could get away with anything.

I gave him a nasty look.

He started laughing out loud.

"You have a temper, I like that. Conquering you will be difficult, but I accept the challenge!" he said and smiled at me.

I would have loved to wring his neck.

Lilly and Malia pulled me away and turned the ball into a disco.

Malia got her laptop from her room and Lilly connected her cell phone to it. It didn't take long for the anger about Dante to disappear.

The queens and kings were a bit startled by this loud techno music at first, but even the elders couldn't hold back after a few minutes and started to tap their feet.

To the princesses, Lilly and I showed some of our dance moves from Triangle and the princes also adapted to the rhythm.

The party went on until the wee hours of the morning. Not until well after sunrise, when the staff already started to clean up the hall, the last guests said goodbye.

I was happy about the course of the evening. I was able to make new friends, teach a creep a lesson, and share and explain a bit of 'my' world.

Now, when I was back in my room, my thoughts drifted back to Shadow.

I spoke the name once quietly, to myself.

Shortly after, a small, rolled-up note suddenly appeared on my nightstand. I picked up the note and read the small text, in finely legible handwriting.

"Dearest Juna, the evening with you will remain in my memory forever. Due to the past of my people, I am unfortunately forbidden to meet you again. It was risky, but I had to at least take a look (yesterday) at you, the masked ball was the perfect opportunity, as no one recognized me that way. When we will have the opportunity to meet again I unfortunately don't know, but through the magic that prevails here, at least we can send these messages to each other. Just say my name and you will receive a magical sheet of parchment. Say "Night" and the message will be sent to me.

Kindest regards Shadow."

I had to grin, thinking directly of an ancient way to send text messages or emails.

I rummaged around in my desk drawer until I found a quill pen and a barrel of ink.

"I miss my pens," I muttered quietly to myself.

Alright, ancient mails, so ancient writing utensils too. I sighed and thought of asking Malia, if she could switch between worlds, to please bring me some things.

My heart grew heavy as I thought of "my world."

I wondered what my parents were doing right now.

What had they told my employer?

"Damn! Work?! I need to talk to Malia!" I shouted, clearing the letter aside and running towards the guest wing.

A short time later, I arrived at her room door.

I knocked on her door like a lunatic.

"Malia! Malia, it's me Juna! Please open the door I NEED to talk to you!" I shouted to her.

She opened the door for me and looked at me a bit puzzled.

"What's wrong? I was just about to go to sleep. Is there a fire or what?" she asked me as she yawned for a long time.

"No, there is no fire. But I would have some questions and yes it's urgent because before that I couldn't go to sleep. And an unrested, grumpy princess, isn't a great view, is it?" I told her, leaning casually against the wall.

"Okay, what's so urgent that it can't wait until this afternoon?"

She yawned again. I almost felt guilty for keeping her from sleeping.

"Three things, or rather questions, are on my mind" I began.

"What about my job? I love my job as a teacher and have worked hard and long on my career. What has my employer been told about what I do and where I am? Or has he been told anything at all? Am I fired?" I got scared and anxious at those words because I really liked my job.

"Don't worry, I sent a note to the principal saying that you had to take some time off because our paternal great aunt, passed away and we would now have to take care of her estate. But since this would take some time, as she lived in Australia, he gave you two months off," she said and winked at me.

I was relieved, but two months off?! Wow.

"So what are the other two questions?"

Her question snapped me out of my thoughts.

"Hmm? What? Oh yeah. I came here through a mirror, how do you get back? Can you just go back and forth between worlds like that?" I asked curiously.

This question had been buzzing around in my head since I arrived. How did I get back? Would I even get back home?

"Yes, you do come back. In the Tower of Runes, here in the castle, there is also a portal mirror. You just have to touch the runes, read them, and then touch your reflection to activate the portal. By the way, the mirror that leads to Elderon here is no longer in the Triangle's warehouse, but in your apartment. And yes, I'm in the human world from time to time, why?"

"Could you stop by my place tomorrow and pick up some of my stuff? I'm missing some 'modern' stuff from my apartment." I asked, putting check marks on the word 'modern' with my fingers.

"Yes, I can do that. May I go to sleep now?" she asked, yawning and almost falling asleep standing up.

"Yes, you may. See you later, sleep well and thank you." I gave her a kiss on the cheek and went back to my room to answer Shadow.

"Faithful Shadow,

I found the evening a bit dull at first. But then you dispelled that boredom, with your presence alone.

I wish I knew more about the history of Elderon at the present time, for what exactly happened then I do not know. I will be embarking on a journey to the Keepers in the next few days to get answers to my questions.

As soon as there is something new, I will get back to you.

Love Juna."

I really hoped I could break him of that medieval language, it was atrocious.

I pronounced the word "Night" and the letter briefly burst into blue flames and disappeared.

This effect was impressive.

I took off my dress and lay down in my bed with a smile on my face.