A Riddle Unveiled by Owl Girl Blue (mini ebook reader .TXT) 📕

I will continue on the road now. I wish you all the luck at the castle” Anaïs states with-out hesitation and picks up the papers form the queen’s hand to continue down the road she must head.
 
 
As the night begins to fall black she unsaddles her mare and strips down into clothing that she is able to swim in. Anaïs and her mare move smoothly as if not to disturb the water as they stride into the warmth of the water and mud combined. As the sensation runs through her blood Anaïs and her mare truly become one as they whirl from side to side of the clear as glass water with many little creatures of all shapes and sizes, colours and tones part for the horse and rider who will continue through.  By the means of mankind both horse and rider emerge from the water’s edge like they did not even enter the water itself. Anaïs and her mare appear to be untouched by the water, with only tiny droplets of the shimmering crystal like water speckles skid down their bodies.
As the glistening flames of the open camp fire were lively and extravagant the black mare with the most beautiful markings ever seen and well-presented body slept closely to the open flames not even filching at the heat of the fire. Anaïs would have trouble sleeping that night wondering about what would occur in the castle and how Stephan and her Majesty would be holding up but most importantly the direct orders of the mission waiting ahead. Would these next few months become longer or will they fly by like all the other missions and orders have to be adjusted, will she change them. “I will read the letter tomorrow” Anaïs whispers to her mare. 

 

 

Chapter 2

 

Twang…

An arrow embedded itself in a tall oak tree. “Damn that was so close” came the mutter of the crown prince Claude as the speckled deer he had been hunting made it’s get-away. Why could he never get his archery skills as refined as his swordsman-ship. Using a sword would have been so much easier had the deer not been so far away, and well apart from the fact that he would never be able to come close enough to use his sword.
“Sigh” So much was expected of him, it just wasn’t fair. “Oh Claude don’t get so worked up about it, you only started learning last month. No-one can be expected to hit the target every time after only one month of training. Don’t forget I started learning when I was 6 and I’m still not perfect!” came the tender voice of Claude’s eldest cousin Arobyn. Claude just turned to his cousin looked at him and said “dearest Arobyn, your advice is so correct for a normal man but I am the crown prince, son of the king of Aqua, it’s not the same” and his handsome face echoed the sadness he felt held tight in his massive heart.
“We should head back soon so we can prepare for the royal banquet tonight, you know what your father will say if we’re late” it was Arobyn again, he was always correct, always one step ahead of Claude and this annoyed him. Once when Claude was young he had tried to outsmart his cousin and Arobyn had figured out what he was doing after only one word and had fought back. In the end he had definitely both outsmarted and confused his 6 year old cousin so much that he had tears in his eyes. Everyone but Claude had thought this had been the most hilarious thing and had laughed so hard they were holding their stomachs as they rolled around giggling, chuckling or full on laughing their heads right off!
 
 
 All this had gone through Claude’s head in under a second and Arobyn had noticed nothing so pretending that nothing had ever taken place in his head Claude replied “as usual dearest cousin you are of course most definitely correct, we must leave at once” and Arobyn signalled for the guards to bring forward the two stallions for the cousins to mount. In seconds the nifty Arobyn was atop his mini white stallion which Claude had personally nicknamed Minnie! It took Claude longer to heft his muscular body atop his towering dappled stallion. “Last one to the castle is a rotten egg” called Arobyn as he galloped off on Minnie. Claude smiled; this was more his style and his stallion Speckie took off catching and taking over Arobyn and Minnie in less than a second.
Now it was Arobyn’s turn to feel annoyed and insignificant. By the time Arobyn reached the castle stables Speckie was already unsaddled and away and Claude no-where to be seen. “Where is that devil” he shook his head and frowned. He started off toward his chambers to begin preparing for the royal banquet which was to take place that night. He was partway to his rooms when out of a cupboard popped his youngest cousin Belle, “If you’re looking for Claudie he went that way” she giggled using the pet name she often called her oldest brother, “he was laughing, and I thought it was hilarious” she giggled. Arobyn smiled and shook his head and headed in the direction of which Belle had indicated her brother had gone.
 
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Claude was rushing; the banquet began in half an hour and he hadn’t decided what to wear yet. “Servant” he called. “I need assistance” and immediately a team of servants rushed in. “Your majesty?” questioned a young female. “I need an outfit for the banquet quick-smart” he said feeling bad for the girl who had to rush around after him, “well your majesty you have your royal crowning outfit, your birthday outfit or your royal finery, it is up to you to choose” spoke the servant as she pulled out the garments that she had spoken of. Claude smiled as he saw his three best garments laid out before him. His eyes scanned past the first two and stopped at the last one, his royal finery including his spectacular red cloak, his long silver suit and crimson tie, it also included his stunning silver crown embedded with sapphires as a representation of his kingdom.
The young servant girl saw him smiling at his royal finery and spoke. “It seems you choose the royal finery your majesty, am I correct?” she asked. “Oh yes thank you, your help is much appreciated, you are dismissed” he smiled as she walked away, oh how he loved that servant. It seemed nothing in his life could ever go correct Rosemary- the servant girl –was the love of his life but was so far out of reach, his father would kill him before he gave permission for his son the crown prince to marry a lowly servant such as Rosemary. It was not fair at all; Claude would rather be a peasant because peasants didn’t have such high expectations as he did and they could love and marry who-ever they wished to. Many people wished to be royal but Claude wished the exact opposite, being royalty was no-where near as fun as everyone thought it to be.
 
§§§§§
 
The banquet was loud and boisterous like the usual Aqua feast but at the same time had a very different feel to it. Claude had a slight suspicion that it might have been because of the extra royalty present. Suddenly the great hall came to an astonishing silence as in walked the King and Queen of Aqua with the King and Queen of Naturae just behind them. Claude’s father the King then spoke, his booming voice echoing around the great hall like a bush fire on a hot and windy day. “Let the dance begin!”
As Crown Prince it was Claude’s job to welcome all the guests but not in the usual way, his father had told Claude to dance with all the females and introduce himself to all the men. So his quest began and off whirled Claude to dance with the first lady he saw. This lucky lady happened to be the youngest Princess of Naturae Poltura. As he danced with this young and free-willed princess he supposed that she would grow up to be one of Elementa’s finest women. Even now she was beautiful in her own special way. As the night went on he often looked over seeing her long billowing black hair and sparkling green eyes and couldn’t stop staring.
After spinning around the dance floor with what felt like hundreds of women four hours had passed and the Queen of Naturae was finally out of people to dance with so Claude struck this as an opportunity. All night he had wanted to find more out about this mysterious Queen and now was his first opportunity, he just couldn’t miss this. He spun towards the beautiful queen whose black hair was piled high on top of her tan face. Her eyes were so similar to her daughters but in a way they were more intense, wiser and stronger than Polura’s eyes.
His dance with the Queen of Naturae was the best dance he had had all night. Her whole body glowed with wisdom and strength but at the same time with freedom, her ruling wasn’t at all like his parents. For his father being the king had made him lose his freedom while it seemed that she had gained more. The Naturae kingdom was one surrounded by a veil of mystery and was hidden from all the rest of Elementa; this gave it a separate feel like it was a whole different continent.

Then suddenly the dance was over and she disappeared, all he had felt went away with her. The king of Aqua got up from his seat on the sapphire blue throne, and pronounced that “food will be served shortly” and as he was saying that hundreds of servants rushed from the back of the great hall carrying with them a gigantic wooden table impacted with images of great oceans and lakes. Once the table was perfectly positioned in the centre of the great wall the servants rushed out again. They were soon back carrying crystal trays piled high with food of all shapes, sizes and colours. The servants brought out more food until the table had absolutely no room left for more food. The King declared the start of the meal and everyone rushed to get a taste of Aqua’s famous feast food, the legends held up. The food was spectacular!

 

 

Chapter 3