Where Loyalties Lie

Chapter 1

He shook his head at my comment about his dust. "I can't face your dad, I've done something terrible that will cost him and your family their reputation." Tears made their home in water duct, he looked away for a second to compose himself and blinked them away, then back at my drooping features before he continued with his confession. "I've gone to the council about your father's abuse of his power over Trumph and Magic. I'm so sorry, but something needs to be done before the whole planet, along with everyone else, is run out of the galaxy, Di." Zachariah backed away from me and slid down the cold cement wall behind him. He whispered, "I'm sorry." Over and over as his body fell limp on the cold floor, his arms rested on each side of his torso and his legs were stretched out in a v. 

"Zach, it's okay. Really." I knew it wasn't okay though because that meant an uprising was about to occur, along with this stupid war going on. He was like a brother to me and he betrayed me, but I couldn't be mad at him. My heart broke into pieces as a I stared at him, I blinked away the tears that blurred my vision. He was right to go to them after all, my father was no saint and everyone knew it, but no one had the stones to do anything about it; until now.

 I kneeled next to him and leaned my head on his shoulder. "Listen to me, it's going to be okay, I can talk to the council and maybe they won't do anything too awful to us or at least punish him and leave my mother and I out of it." I rubbed his back and hugged him tight against my chest.

"Thanks Di, I hope, for your sake, the council will lessen the punishment. I would hate not having you around to mess with." Zach yawned. "I think I should rest for a bit, I've been out since the sunset last night." He giggled, his words became sluggish and the bags under his eyes were darker than his hair. 

I gave him a hug and helped him off the floor. "Okay, I'll take you to a room my father never bothers to check. And don't you worry, I will take care of this." I had no idea how I was going to do it, but it was worth a shot if it was to save my family.

I lead my friend out of my room and down the hall to the fifth door on the right, the guest quarters where he could lie down and rest for a while. My father stopped at my room every night and didn't bother to check any of the guest rooms for stowaways. I watched him get snuggled into the comforters, headed back to my own room and finished my makeup for the day. My mother told me she had something planned today for my cousins birthday, but wouldn't tell me what it was.

I sat down at my mirror once again, I stared at my purple dust that sprinkled my features. This dust was the physical manifestation of our magic, it also comes in handy when we need to make someone or something forget about our existence. We were a secretive clan, Trumph was known for their elusive use of magic dust which was used for many things; as long as it doesn't run out, we remained as powerful as the moon goddess herself. Gordion however, is one of the most powerful planets in the galaxy, we were born with massive amounts of dust whereas many other planets were born with a small amount and trained to gain more power. Now don't get me wrong, we still trained as well, but not nearly as hard or as often as some other planets farther out.

I tapped a small green sponge on my loose makeup so it was even and not blotchy against the light purple tint of my skin. My mother called for me to hurry to the ballroom. I yelled out my open door, "I will be down in a minute." 

I finished up the last touches to my face and headed down the long corridor towards the grand staircase. I walked slow down the stairs, careful not to mess up my long purple gown. The white lace traced the outside edges and around my waist, the bottom flowed behind me like a birds wings  against the wind. Pink and gray stars dotted the the purple background of the dress, a perfect Galaxy aligned across the surface of the flowing silk.

"What did you need, mom?" I questioned. I looked between my mother, who stood next to the staircase where the railing separated us, and my father, who stood directly in front of me, a cold expression was held on his face.

What could it be this time... I wondered to myself. With my dad, it was always something stupid. One time a field worker touched his fur and he flipped out. He ended up having a family meeting that day because he felt so attacked by the man who just wanted know which way the town square was.

My father glared at me a minute longer as he pondered what he was going to say, like it was going to be some big deal or something. "I want you to follow your friend Zachariah. I have a bad feeling about him ever since his return." He stroked his carrot colored beard, a few particles of tinted dust fell to the floor when he rubbed the thick hair as he thought about the rest of his words carefully. "I have received disturbing information from one of my guards, who had spoken to the carriage driver of Zachariah. They told my guard that he had just returned from the Trumph Magic Council."

I looked at my father and tried to act surprised at this information. "Oh? And why do I have to follow my friend?" My voice shook a bit, but hopefully it was not as noticeable to my father as it was to me. My heart felt like it was being squeezed and wrapped tightly within someone's grasp. I bit the inside of my lip and tried to hold a steady breath, but it was hard to breathe with my father's gaze pinning me to floor.

"It's nothing really, I just have a weird feeling about the boy. I want you to get close to him so you can find out as much as you can. I know you were best friends with the boy before he left for the war, so I would like you to use that relationship to get as much out of him as you can." He waved at a guard near the door behind him, he whispered something to the man dressed in silver metal armor from head-to-toe, the man left when my father was done speaking, he walked away in the direction of the stables. "I have just sent my guard to track the young man down, you may go have your lunch now dear." My father waved for my mother and I to go to the kitchen to finish the set up for lunch.

I can't let him know where Zach is...at least not right now...