The Cursed Kingdoms

“Suze!” I heard a voice call my name.

I looked up and saw Andy shouting from his bedroom window.

“Andy?!” I called back.

“Come up here quickly!” he shouted.

I could hear panic in his voice. “I’m coming.”

“Who is that?” Mark asked.

“That’s Andy, my brother,” I explained. “I have to go. It was very nice meeting you.”

I turned and went through the garden and into the palace. I ran upstairs and past corridors until I reached Andy’s room. I opened the door and gasped. The room was a wreck. There were clothes everywhere. There were pieces of wood from wardrobes and bit of fabric from the curtains. It was like a bomb site.

“What happened?!” I exclaimed in shock!

“I don’t know, I swear I do not know,” Andy said. “I went to go and get breakfast. I was half-way to the dining hall when I realised that I left dad’s watch in here. I always wear it and I came here to get it back. When I opened the door I saw these dark shadows and there this wind and they disappeared. The room was a complete mess.”

“They were obviously looking for something,” I said. “Is anything missing?”

“No,” Andy said.

The door opened and Will, Natalie and Paul walked in.

I quickly explained what happened to them.

“The book,” Will said.

“What?” I asked.

“The book that you had. ‘The Cursed Kingdoms’ book. That’s what they wanted,” Will explained.

“But, I have the book,” I said.

“Have you checked your room?” Paul asked, startled.

I ran from the room and everyone followed. When I opened the door I saw that my room was completely trashed too.

“Is the book still here?” Natalie asked.

I ran to the rug at the foot of my bed and shoved it aside. I pulled up a loose floorboard and took out a box. I quickly opened it and to my relief I saw it was still there.

Andy sighed thankfully.

“Thank the Gods,” Paul said.

“We’ll give you two other rooms and we’ll find a room for Paul too,” Will said to me and Andy solemnly.

“Let’s go have some food,” Natalie said.

We all filed out and went to the dining hall to have some breakfast. We all discussed where we were going to go search for more warriors.

“When should we leave?” I asked.

“In a few days’ time. We have checked for warriors in the castle, including our army and we have found nothing,” Will explained.

“We will need to take some soldiers with us but not too many. We need to keep a low profile and too many people in a party may look suspicious,” Natalie said.

Everyone had finished their food and we were making our way to pick a few soldiers to come with us on our journey.

“We need to make sure we pick the correct soldiers. Ones that are brave, courageous and will keep quiet about what we are doing,” Paul suggested.

“Yes,” I agreed.

“How many should we take?” Andy asked as we entered the fighting arena. There were many more soldiers there practising all different types of skills.

“Two,” Natalie said.

Will moved into the box where the royals and their guests sit and all the soldiers stopped their training and focused on him.

“Soldiers, could I have your attention please. I have an announcement,” Will spoke loudly and with authority. “As most of you know we have found the Priestess of Kai.” As Will said this Natalie pushed me forward and stood slightly behind him. He introduced me to the soldiers and I smiled at them. “We have a quest we need to venture on and we are here to find soldiers that can accompany us. I will just warn you that the venture it dangerous and may be challenging in more than one way. The soldiers we choose have to be dedicated, hard-working and unafraid.”