Happily Ever After... The Wizard's Game

Chapter Four

Wizzy laid there stunned from the fall. He was unable to move or talk as he stared up at the beautiful princess in her light purple gown she wasn't much older than him. He felt tongued tied as he laid there on the ground.
The young princess hovered over him her soft brown curls getting in her face, "Are you alright?" She asked him again, "You took a mighty fall, do you need me to fetch the royal doctor? What were you doing up on the wall anyways?" She bombarded him with questions.
"Ohh." He groaned as he slowly sat up feeling sore, he looked around realizing he had fallen from the wall right onto the royal grounds. The castle loomed just ahead behind the grove of apple trees they were by. He jumped to his feet feeling embarrassed, "I'm, I'm sorry for intruding." He mumbled quickly remembering what his father said how royalty and commoners don't mix. He felt frightened, what if she told the king and he had him thrown into the dungeon.
The girl laughed her voice sounded like sweet music, "It's alright, it's not every day I met a boy in the royal gardens." She smiled, then her eyes grew wide, "Forgive me, where are my manners? I am Princess Emiliana of Writhen, but please call me Emili."
"Emili." He barely whispered awestruck even her name sounded pretty.
She giggled, "Yes, and you are?"
"Oh, I'm Wizzy of... Just Wizzy." He said feeling embarrassed.
"Wizzy, what an unusual name." She picked up her light purple umbrella to block the sun from her soft smooth skin.
"My... my mother gave it to me." He said quietly wishing he could remember his mother who died some time ago. 
"Well tell her it's a great name, and it's lovely to met you." Emili said.
"I can't..... She died." Wizzy said sadly.
Emili's one hand flew to her chest, "Oh, I'm so, so very sorry Wizzy!"
"It's alright, it was a long time ago." Wizzy looked up at the great stone castle that seemed to reach up into the clouds. Emiliana followed his gaze. "So you really live here in a castle? It's incredible." He said as they walked alone in the royal garden.
"Yes, it's alright, I'll rather be out here in the garden." Emili plucked a pink flower from a bush and held it to her nose as she took a deep breath, "Mmm it smells heavenly." She looked up at Wizzy, "Where are you from?"
"A little town away from here across the prairie a little bit called Nyctophilia."
"Oh how lovely, I've never been outside of Writhen, except to go to other kingdoms for parties or balls. What is it like?" Emili asked taking a seat on a white marble bench that was in the royal garden.
Wizzy was surprised that a princess who lived a life of luxury in a castle would want to know about his small town. He tried thinking of something interesting that would impress the young girl, but couldn't think of anything. "Oh you know, it's pass the prairie so it gets hot, and it's in the sun all day, there's hardly any shade. There's a school there...." He said as he took a seat next to the princess.
"Oh how fun! I wish I could go to the main school in town, but father insisted that a princess needs her own private tutor." Emili sighed in frustration, "But tell me how your school is like do you have many friends?"
Wizzy shook his head, "No, hardly any." Wizzy said thinking of the boys who picked on him and pushed him around.
"Me neither." Emili said feeling sorry for the young boy she's just met, "I have a brother who's older, but he is learning to take over the kingdom some day for father, and mother is too busy running the servants in the castle. I wish I had a sister or a friend to talk to."
Wizzy puzzled over an idea that came into his head, it was absurd, but maybe possibly it could be something. "Well I come to Writhen often with my father to deliver his chess sets, we could be friends and I could come visit whenever I can." As soon as Wizzy said that Princess Emili's face lit up into a huge smile.
"I would love that Wizzy!" She exclaimed brightly.
He smiled returning the smile, then he remember his father back at Dimitri's furniture shop. His father would be wondering what's keeping him. "I best be going, my father is expecting me.
Emili stood up with him as they walked together back to the stone wall where Wizzy had fallen.
"Are you sure you're alright?" She asked.
He nodded, then with a big jump he grasped onto the edge of the wall and used all his strength to pull himself up on to the wall. He looked down at the Emili who looked up at him.
"Don't forget about me." She said softly looking up at him.
He didn't tell her, but he doubt he ever would forget about her. "I will, I promise." He said, then with one swoosh he jumped down to the other side of the wall and out of site. He ran as fast as he could down the cobblestone streets back to Dimitri shop. Wizzy was just going by an ally when someone stuck their foot out causing Wizzy to tumble to the hard ground. He winced touching his eyebrow which felt wet and cool. His hand came back with a little bit of blood on it. He stood up to face whoever had tripped him.
Out of the shadows of the alley emerged Dimitri's son Dominic who was Wizzy's age. Dominic was tall, taller than Wizzy even and Wizzy was tall for his age. Dominic had a Adam's apple that jolted out of his neck making him look a lot like a bullfrog in Wizzy's opinion. "Where are you running off to?" Dominic sneered.
Wizzy admitted Dominic and him had never really been close, but he didn't have any beef with the boy. "Nothing, Dominic, I'm just heading back to your father's shop to see if my father is ready."
"How come you weren't unloading your father's stupid chess sets?"
Wizzy felt his hands clinch into fists, his father's chess sets weren't stupid, his father worked hard on them and made them beautiful! But he wasn't going to stoop down to Dominic's level, "I did help unload the boxes, then my father gave me permission to go into town." He held his head a bit higher, "And I met the princess we're going to be friends."
Dominic snorted, "You liar, the princess wouldn't associate herself with someone as such a dirty commoner as you." Dominic laughed in his face.
Feeling angry Wizzy wanted to hit Dominic in his smug face. Taking a deep breath he thought of how Dominic looked like an ugly bullfrog and that brought a smile to his face and took his anger away. Instead he simply smiled at Dominic and turned he made his way to Dimitri's Furniture Store.
His father was waiting for him in their wooden wagon when Wizzy finally got back. Without a word he climbed up onto the driver's bench beside his father. His father placed a hand on his shoulder and looked at Wizzy's face, "What happened?" He asked noticing the cut above Wizzy's eyebrow.
"I... I feel off a stone wall." Wizzy said fibbing when he saw Dimitri standing in the door way. He didn't want to call his son out for what he did and then have Dominic's dad not believe him and stop selling his father's chess sets.
"Thank you for your business Dimitri." His father said with a wave of his hand.
"Sure thing, I'll see you in a month with another delivery." Dimitri said as he took a broom and started sweeping the front of the shop.
Wizzy's father click his tongue and the horses started to slowly pull them out of Writhen.  Wizzy looked back at Dimitri's shop till it disappeared around the corner. Then he focused his gaze on the stone castle and thought about him meeting Emiliana. He liked talking to her, she was bright and happy, he hadn't asked her how old she was, but she had to be no older than him. He couldn't wait to see her again. Maybe he could even come up with an excuse to come see her sooner than a month.
"Father?" Wizzy asked once they were out of Writhen. "Why do you sell your chess sets to Dimitri? How come you don't open up your own shop to sell stuff? You'll probably make more money off them if you did."
"Oh Wizzy, it's not that simple. Shops costs money, then there's the up keep of it all and drawling customers and new people in. It's also respect, people have to respect your work and think you have some value to want to buy your products. Dimitri has that respect with the people. People look up to him and they love his furniture. He can sell many things, me I only know how to make chess sets and well.... Once you have one chess set why would you want to buy another?"
"So learn how to make other stuff, you fix roofs and houses for people in Nyctophilia." Wizzy said as his father drove the horses through the narrow dirt road prairie grass and wild flowers grew all around. "Maybe you could start by fixing up our house." Wizzy suggested.
"And what's wrong with our house?" His father asked sharply.
"Nothing father, just it's been worn down as long as I can remember, and maybe if you fix it up and I can help after school then maybe it'll look nice."
"Nothing can look as nice as when you mother died." He said quietly looking off in the distance.
Wizzy felt his heart jump, his father hardly ever talked about his mother, "Father, how did mother die?" He always wanted to know but his father always put it down, or changed the topic saying it was too painful to talk about.
His father looked over at him, "A monster, a monster killed your mother."

                                                                                                             ***

Hayden, Elowen and me walked along the dirt path. Wild flowers and grass grew all around attracting butterflies of every colors that danced from flower to flower. Since Hayden knew where we were going I let him led us and I walked a little bit behind him with Elowen.
I thought about the young child, who had never left Kalopsia except for the one time she traveled with me to Rollick. So this was only her second trip outside of the kingdom.
Elowen watched the many colorful butterflies amazed. She turned to me and excitedly put her thumbs together and flapped her hands together like a butterfly.
I smiled, "That's right, they're butterflies."
She grinned and putting her arms out to the side she ran far ahead down the path flapping her arms pretending to be a butterfly. I laughed glad that Elowen still was able to act like a child and have fun at times. I was worried when I first knew her and she was a servant girl that she did so much hard work like a grown woman would do and that she didn't get the chance to still be the young child that she was.
Hayden watched Elowen run ahead flapping her wings, "She sure is a spirited one isn't she?"
"Yes, she sure is." I agreed smiling.
He glanced back at me then up at the small girl, "Tell me Amaya, how come you're so fond of this girl?"
"She's one of the youngest servants at Kalopsia, and I don't know, there's just something about her that I was drawn to when I first came." I smiled remembering back on the day, "She made me feel welcome right away, and was great company when Dylan was away on business trips to neighboring kingdoms."
"How long has she been a servant at Kalopsia with her parents?" Hayden asked curiously.
"I have no idea, longer than I've been Queen that's for sure, and no parents." I paused thinking about it, "In fact that's the weird thing, when I went back home to front my father with what he did we went through the Enchanted Forest of Heartbreak and I saw Elowen's greatest heartbreak. It was her parents they hollered for her, they were clearly upset, but Elowen..... She didn't remember them or the memory at all."
Hayden frowned, "That doesn't make any sense."
"I know, it's like her memories are gone."
"Just like how The Great Wizard took mine." Hayden said slowly.
I nodded and we both grew silent each thinking our own thoughts.
"Maybe if we when we ask the Great Wizard about my memories we can also ask for Elowen's. Maybe the Great Wizard knows what happened."
"Of course, the Great Wizard has to know he knows everything." I said matter of factly.
Hayden cleared his throat, "So you went back home uh? How was that like?"
"Yes, I just felt like I needed to go and face my father." I explained to Hayden how I broke into my own home, planted my favorite flower and a dead mouse on my father's desk. That way he would know it's from me and how I lured him down to the dungeon to the exact cell he locked me in when he framed me for mother's death.
He chuckled, "I can't believe you actually broke in, and locked him in his own dungeon." He laughed, "Brilliant."
I smiled, "I learned from the best." we both shared a smile. Feeling embarrassed I broke the smile and looked ahead down the path at Elowen who was further away than I would like, "Not so far, Elowen!" I hollered up to the girl who nodded and waited for us to catch up.
I brushed my hair back, "How did you break into Rollick anyways when you came to kidnap me?"
Hayden shrugged, "It wasn't that hard. I climbed up the wall surrounding the city of Rollick because I knew I couldn't just walk out of the city with you without raising questions. Then I left the rope hanging down, and made my way mostly through back allies to the castle. From there I spotted a wagon pulling food up to the castle so I jumped on the back when the driver wasn't looking. After that I hid down in his wagon, and waited for the right opportunity to sneak into the servant entrance. I knew you were locked in a dungeon because that's what the Great Wizard told me, so then I just had to look for the staircases that lead down to it, and avoid the guards, and servants."
"A lot of work just to steal a princess." I said with a smile. "Thank you."
He looked over at me confused, "For what?"
"For rescuing me from there, if it wasn't for you my father would have had my head cut off for a treason that I didn't commit. So thank you."
He smiled, "I'm sure you could have talked your way out of being beheaded, after all you do talk a lot for a princess in five inch heels." He said using my nickname that annoyed me so much on our first adventure.
My heart jumped to my throat and I felt all warm inside. Oh how I missed his nickname! It had drove me so crazy at first, but after he died and I couldn't hear his voice I had grown to miss it. I quickly pushed the old feelings that came up aside, I couldn't loose focus of why were were on an adventure. It was to get Hayden's memories back that's all, besides I was married to King Dylan there was nothing else to it. What Hayden and I had was in the past, it couldn't be my future even though once upon a time he was all I wanted. Oh boy, what have I gotten myself into agreeing to go on an adventure with him? Our first adventure together his heart couldn't handle to fall in love with me, but now I had to make sure that my heart didn't fall for him.