After the initial knock at Ari’s door, followed by several thuds, chaos ensued outside Arinah’s door. Men shouting at each other as they rushed towards the inevitable bloody clash in the castle’s hall outside of Ari’s door. But before the expected sounds of clashing metal or the cries of wounded could tragically pierce the air, there was a sound like a powerful wind rushing behind the door. For a fearful second, Sarinah thought the door was going to be ripped from its hinges as the door groaned its resistance before stopping. Cina stood in front of Sarinah, aiming the crossbow at the entrance to the room, offering whatever protection her body could afford to her queen.

  Warning bells in the northern tower that were blaring of impending danger stopped. The abrupt silence caught Cina holding the crossbow off guard, her finger nervously pressed the trigger, releasing the crossbow bolt. The projectile lodged into the door just above the dresser, blocking the door.

  “Sorry, my queen,” Cina said, frantically attempting to load another bolt. There was a knock on the door.

  “You in there stand down!” a muffled voice was heard through the door.

  “Enter, and you will lie down eternally!” Sarinah shouted back, fiercely.

  The voice spoke up loudly, “What is this song that I hear now? The melody that plays in my soul now. It is like a tune I once heard and teases me into remembering its existence. Am I dreaming? Is my life now a song?”

  Sarinah trembled visibly; she knew these words spoken from the other side of the door. Only she and the man who spoke these words knew of this poem. The words were the poem her husband composed and recited to her the night he proposed to her in the royal gardens.

  “Danyais?! It’s the King!” Sarinah said, darting pass Cina to the door. She grabbed a corner of the dresser blocking the door and began to pull on it. Cina joined on the opposite side of the dresser, pushing it out of the way. Once the door was clear, Cina retreated into the room near Ari’s bed. With sword in hand still, Sarinah opened the door and saw her husband standing there. Danyais’ armor was dirty. He smelled like a mixture of earth, horse, and all around bad. His face was painted in an olive-green tone. There were at least forty of the King’s Guard in the hall. They knelt as they saw their queen standing in the doorway. Tears of relief released from her eyes, traveling down Sarinah’s face; the sword dropped to the stone floor with a clang as she collapsed into her husband’s arms, the adrenaline she was feeling earlier flowed out of her like the waves of sea dragging sand back out into the ocean.

  Danyais, clutching his wife, settled on the floor in an embrace and did not care who was around to witness this tender moment or if they judge it to be unkinglike. He felt his wife’s warm tears on his cheeks.

  “Our sudden arrival. It must have stressed everyone out. I am sorry, Rina,” Danyais said, using the pet name he called her when they were alone. Danyais and his queen sat on the floor, embracing one another. “I am sorry, my rose,” he whispered apologetically into his wife’s ear.

  Clyden watched as the king and queen sat on the floor, embracing each other. He was weary; it had been a long time since he had used his magic. Truth be told, Clyden should not have used any magic at all without Witch Devil, his war glaive in his hands. It is extremely dangerous for any magic user to use magic after abstaining from using it for an extended period of time, but to go nearly thirty years without even touching magic was almost unheard of. It was dangerous for Clyden to use too much magic at once, and if his friend Servan were around, he would have called him “Stupid” at the least. If Clyden did not have all of his years of experience, then he could have faced the real possibility of burning out his magical essence or, worse, dying in the process, maybe even taking the whole city of Dragon Crest in the backlash along with him.

  Clyden wanted to find a place to sit down and wondered if he should just plop down on the floor as the king and queen were doing now. There was no way to push past the mass of guards crowding the hallway near the Princess’s door. He walked towards the pink door painted with flowers. The guardsmen he traveled to Rose Claw with parted for him. Looking into Princess Arinah’s room, he saw a chaise lounge. He wanted to walk over to it and sit his weary body down, but the maid he saw when he first arrived was standing in the room, holding a crossbow. Clyden entered the room slowly, and Cina looked at him cautiously. To Cina, the man walking into the room was a stranger. Cina raised the crossbow, aiming at him.

  “It’s okay,” Clyden said, injecting as much gentleness in his voice as possible. He covered his mouth as if he was about to stifle a yawn, Clyden was uttering one more spell in his hand. It was a quick spell to put someone to sleep. Clyden opened his hand, and multiple colorful tendrils extended from his hand, crossing the space between him and Cina. Only those who had an affinity for working with magic could see the spell. The colored tendrils floated in the air towards Cina. She breathed them in, and the worry was slowly melting away from Cina’s face as the spell took hold. “It is okay,” he said one more time, moving closer to her. Cina looked at him; her eyelids fluttered, and then they closed. Her grip on the crossbow loosened, and it dropped to the floor near the bed. Good thing it didn’t go off. Clyden moved quickly to catch Cina as her knees buckled under her. He held onto Cina and proceeded to lay her on the bed. The state of this woman’s nerves, along with all the people in the castle, was his fault, Clyden scolded himself.

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  Clyden positioned a pillow under Cina’s head and then walked to the chaise lounge, letting out a long sigh as he sat down. From the chair, he looked around the room, taking in the furnishings and decorations. His glance eventually led back out into the corridor. The king and queen were still in their embrace. They were taking turns talking into each other’s ears. The crowd in the hall thinned out as some guards were pulling back, returning to their duties elsewhere. They bowed to Danyais and Sarinah, who did not even notice. Clyden eyed the fireplace, noticing to the left there was a recess in the wall with broken shards of glass laying on the stone floor beneath. A banner lay on the floor near it.

  Clyden was observing the ornate rugs covering the stone floor when he then noticed a little arm sticking out from under the bed. A tiny hand was patting around the ground from left to right before it grasped the loaded crossbow, dragging it under the bed. Clyden berated himself, Dam it! The princess, and we have all forgotten about her. Everyone forgot, except for the maid. It was why Cina stood guard, even though she knew King Danyais and Queen Sarinah were outside the door. Cina would not have stood down until Queen Sarinah or King Danyais told her it was okay if Clyden did not put her to sleep. Clyden stood up and walked closer to the bed, kneeling to the floor before lying down on his stomach. He peered under the bed. Clyden saw a dimly lit girl clutching the crossbow, wavering as she used all the strength in her tiny arms to aim it at him. Tears were in her eyes, but Arinah did not make even a noise. Brave girl. It was like looking at a cornered animal, and Clyden felt a pain of guilt about his contribution to this girl’s tears.

  “Hello,” Clyden said softly. Ari did not answer back. “My name is Clyden. I am a friend of your father’s. He is here outside in the hall. Do you want to see him?” he asked, reaching gingerly for her.

  “Lies! My father said he would be gone for a month, and it has only been twelve days,” Ari said with a royal fierceness, aiming the crossbow with renewed vigor at him.

  “Ah, he was gone, but I brought him back using magic,” Clyden said. Ari looked at him skeptically, obviously not believing a word he said. Looking at the edge of the princess’ bed, Clyden picked at the beadwork on one of the tassels hanging from the bedding. He laid three crystal beads on the ground, making sure Ari could see them. Clyden blew on them with what should have been a simple spell, but he struggled to get to work. He blew again, and this time, the beads glowed brightly. Clyden spoke another spell, and the beads floated from the ground towards Ari in a circular motion. The glowing beads illuminated the area surrounding Ari, and Clyden was able to see her clearly now. Half of Arinah’s body was hidden behind stuffed animals, and her red hair had some webs in it.

  “How did you do that?” Ari asked, her attention transfixed on the glowing beads. She reached for the pearls of light, but as her hand approached them, they dashed away from her playfully like flies being swatted at.

  “It’s magic. Now I have told you who I am. How about you tell me who you are, little one?” Clyden asked gently, with a smile.

  Ari was hesitating, not knowing if she should talk to him. “My mother told me to stay here and be quiet so that I could win the game.”

  “The game?” Clyden asked.

  “Yes, she told me I had to be quiet and hide under the bed,” Ari said.

  “Ah, the hiding game. It is already over, and you won. You played it splendidly,” Clyden said with a beaming smile. Ari’s brow furrowed as she contemplated what Clyden was telling her.

  “My name is Princess Arinah Lizbeth Malve Loudas,” Ari said.

  “Arinah Lizbeth M-Ma-Malve Loudas,” Clyden said, stunned at hearing Lizbeth’s and Malve’s name being spoken aloud after so long. There was a moment of pain, guilt, and anger that coursed through Clyden’s body.

  Ari must have seen Clyden’s emotions on his face as she asked him, “A-A-Are you OK?” The magus sighed before the worries on his face faded, turning back to a smile.

  “I am fine, Arinah Lizbeth Malve Loudas. Your name. It is a beautiful, powerful, and wise name your parents have blessed you with,” Clyden said. He reached his hand out, and she took it. She came out from under the bed. “I knew a Lizbeth once, and she was the smartest person I have ever known. There was literally nothing that you could talk about that she would not be keenly familiar with, or at least I have could never find a topic that she did not know about.”

  “Really?” Ari asked, arching her left eyebrow high in disbelief.

  “Really, really. Magus oath!” Clyden said, holding his hand up solemnly. “What’s more, I also knew a woman named Malve. Not nearly as smart as Lizbeth, but still much smarter than me. She was strong and brave. Both were the most beautiful women I have ever seen,” Clyden said as he picked the webs from her long, red hair. He motioned over his shoulder with his hand, “Your parents are in the hall. Go.”

  Ari looked towards her door, and she could partially see her mother and father sitting on the floor, but she could not see them entirely. The legs of some of the guards were blocking her view. She ran to them, the guards parting to let her through. The Guards were smiling at her, but as Ari got closer, she noticed guards whose faces were partially green, and some were entirely green. When she saw her dad’s face, it was completely green.

  “Mother! You have to kiss, Father! He is turning back into an ogre. The others are going to have to wait in line!” Ari shouted. Ari’s mother laughed uncontrollably as the princess was enveloped by her parents’ embrace.

  ***