Chasing Stars: Wizards of Arcadia

Sky High

Maia wanted off that god-forsaken rock from the minute it touched the sky.

It was never going to happen, of course. With both her parents dead, the weight of the kingdom fell to her and...that made her valuable. Or at least, that was what Merlin had told her.

She really had nothing more to go on but his word, so trust him she did.

Wanting to keep Camelot—and her father's legacy—alive, he kept her within the castle walls by sending the whole thing up into the sky.

Alone.

Well, not really alone. She had Sir Galahad and the little forest sorceress, Nari to keep her company, but...she still felt lonely. An aching pit in her gut that had her screaming at the sky more often than not, but it was useless. What good would it do her?

Nine hundred years and she still didn't know how the god-forsaken rock was in the sky.

She'd been through every book in the library at least six times, none of them had the answer. Most of the books in Merlin's study were written in a language she still didn't know, but she'd managed to teach herself some basic magic (levitation, conjuration, invisibility, slow time) to the point where she didn't even need to think about it to cast the spells.

She could also brew some pretty basic potions (invisibility again, sleep, regeneration) which led to a lot of sour comments about the kitchen blowing up.

She needed to occupy herself somehow.

But no! The concept of a floating land mass escaped her altogether. She supposed she could blame it on Merlin's magic, but that seemed too...unlikely. If it was running on magic, how did Merlin manage to sustain the connection for so long? And how had it not faltered in even the slightest?

Also, she was sure Merlin had been badly injured at the Battle of Killahead, so he couldn't have even given that much magic in the first place.

"Princess!" Gahalad's voice rumbled from somewhere deep in the castle, jolting her out of her thoughts. "Princess, where are you?"

"Bloody fuzzbuckets," she mumbled, hopping off the library ladder and gathering the skirt of her long gown, quickly heading to the main hall. "Galahad?"

"Here, Your Highness," the tired old man said from beside one of the pillars. "You should know better than to run off. Where were you?"

"Library," she mumbled. "As usual. Is something the matter?"

He nodded to the open sky at the opposite end of the hall, acting as a sort of...big road for something to land on. "I caught glimpse of the wizard's skyboat. I thought it best to inform you in case..."

"Thank you." She rubbed her hands together nervously, before moving to fiddle with her sleeves. "And Nari?"

"Outside somewhere, I presume."

She smoothed down her dress and took a seat on the steps leading up to the throne room, resting her chin on her knuckles. Merlin? Back? It seemed impossible. He hadn't been back in nine hundred years, what made today so special?

Indeed, after a few minutes of waiting, Maia could hear the steady thrum of...something. It was much like the humming of her amulet, but much, much louder.

Not even a second later, something big and boat-shaped crashes into the walk. She covered her head quickly, only waiting until the terrible screeching had stopped before getting up and having a look.

It was a massive boat—presumably the skyboat that Galahad had mentioned—and the very first person to jump down from the high railings sent an excited shiver down her spine. "Merlin?"