A Life Beyond by Mark Church (ebook reader web TXT) 📕

looking for him!, He's the only reason we are here' Daniel said excitedly at the thought of being reunited with his faithful friend after such a long time.

'Ha-ha...Ok ok my dear boy, let's take that excitement down a little, we have much to talk about first, I promise you that you won't be disappointed. Come on let's get you both inside...now where has that friend of yours gone??' asked the King just as Harvey's head poked round the castle door looking rather distressed,

'Ermmmm, King...I really do need the bathroom now!!, where am I supposed to go, and please hurry!!' Harvey's face was turning a brighter shade of red as he was getting more and more desperate.

'Yes yes my boy, the guard will take you where you need to go and we will all meet in The Great Chamber after you have done whatever it is you are needing to do' The King smiled as they all disappeared off inside the castle doors which creaked and groaned shut behind them, all sorts of locks could be heard clicking into place from inside the doors, the castle was now locked down tight once again.

Deep within the forest below at the place where Harvey was held captive the cloaked figure stood totally still as if deep in thought, it seemed that whatever had been done to Harvey in the cage meant they had some kind of link to his mind, the figure was able to access Harvey's mind and see where he was and slowly manipulate his mind.

'Good...Good. Yesssss, VERY good..' the figure cackled as it seemed as if he had seen something of importance from within Harvey mind.

With that it disappeared off into the dense woods before vanishing out of sight.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chapter Fourteen

The Meeting

 

Inside the castle walls Lillie and Daniel were taken aback by just how big the grounds of the castle were, it seemed to stretch on for miles with plenty of buildings scattered around the edges of the walls bustling with chatter and laughing from within them. Heads could be seen poking out from around most of the doors as the King walked by with the children in tow.

In the middle of the castle grounds stood what looked like an open oval area with seating spread all around it, flags stood proud and flapping in the wind as if watching over what was inside, shouting could be heard from behind the closed gates which stopped anyone entering without permission, Two very large looking guards dressed in armour stood either side of the gates not moving a muscle.

'What's in there?' asked Daniel as they walked past the arena just as a loud roar went up from inside,

'That would be what we call the ‘Proving Grounds’ for our latest batch of new warriors….but that's nothing you need to worry about yet my boy, you see we aren't just a castle that protects this wonderful land we live in but we are providers of what you would call ‘schooling…..’,' Harvey groaned as he thought he had got away from trying to be taught about things he had no interest in, The King stopped, looked straight at Harvey as if to say ‘stop talking’,

'Sorry!!!..' mouthed Harvey who had now gone a nice shade of embarrassed red, The King continued what he was saying to the children who were seemingly very interested for once,

'As I was saying before I was rudely interrupted, every youngling here has to progress through our system to see how their future will turn out. Every person here has a purpose and will either stay here in some capacity, whether it be as a Guard, Warrior or even down to the task of cooking for all the people who live within these walls, depending on their outcome they could end up working down in the town at the bottom of the hill'

'Oh so it's like a city within a city!!' Lillie called out as the King smiled at her understanding of the castle and what goes on here,

'Yes My girl, we like to make everyone feel as valued in here as they would anywhere else but we do believe that every child has to go through the same process as everyone else to realise how important they are to this fine place' The King had a feeling he was getting through to the children now as they took in all that the castle had to offer,

'So if we are to stay here then you want us to go to school??' Asked Lillie as once again Harvey groaned out loud in unhappiness at the thought of having to go back to school.

'Oh fantastic!!, just when I thought we were free from school you go and throw this at me!!' Harvey threw his arms in the air with a distinct lack of respect towards the King and their culture,

'My dear boy...' The King put his hand on Harvey's shoulder and smiled 'This place provides a safe and structured learning for all the younglings to come away with the best possible future they can achieve. It keeps them safe from evil and allows them to learn about our past and what it means to us all, is this such a bad thing?'

'N..No..sir..I guess not' Harvey stared at the floor as the King carried on,

'Well then I hope you appreciate what I have tried to build here since I became King of Erwin!, I would give my last breath protecting this castle and all the people inside it and with the learning they are getting here I hope. No I KNOW they would do the same for each and every person behind these walls and beyond. So please afford me the respect that I deserve otherwise you're stay here will be short lived, do

you understand', Harvey was taken aback by the tone of which the King was talking to him, he started to feel slightly awkward with everyone staring at him, then all of a sudden his whole personality changed, his eyes flickered as if some sort of spell was taking him over,

'Oh I'm so sorry that I might not be able to stay here and learn about whatever rubbish it is we are supposed to be taught, I'm sorry that I'm not Daniel, we can't all be perfect now can we, I'm sorry I'll never be a great warrior and I'm sorry we ever came to this place!!' with that Harvey shrugged his shoulders in anger making the King's arm fall to his side and off he ran towards the nearest open door slamming it behind him as he did so,

'Har….' Daniel shouted in anger at his friend showing a complete lack of respect towards his new found family, he went to set off after him but the King put his hand across Daniel's chest to stop him,

'It's ok my boy, just let him go, I can understand how this must be affecting you all differently' Daniel sighed and stepped back not noticing that the King was deep in thought, his eyes squinting slightly like he knew something didn't feel right, stroking his greying beard as he stood there. Just as he was about to say something the door which Harvey went into swung open with a bang against the wall and a sheepish Harvey walked out looked straight at Daniel and sounding rather embarrassed said,

'Th..that's a storage cupboard…',

'Harvey!!….' Daniel confronted his friend finally 'What's the matter with you??'

'What do you mean?' He answered back

'I can believe how disrespectful you're being to them, It's not the first time either, I'm getting fed up of all this now, It's about time you grew up a little' Daniel prodding Harvey in the chest in anger,

'Owww!!!!...That blooming hurts, why are you doing that!!' Harvey pushed Daniel's hand away from him hoping to reason with him,

'Because of what you've just said you idiot!!, don't you remember?, or are you acting stupid again!' Daniel replied getting angrier by the second at Harvey's seemingly awful lack of memory,

'Eh?? I'm so totally lost mate, I just remember standing in that cupboard thing for some reason, I haven't got any clue what I'm supposed to have said so get off my back OK!!' Harvey pushed Daniel out of the way and stormed off again straight through the same door he had just walked out off. Sheepishly he walked straight out with everyone watching him before Lillie burst out laughing,

'Ha-ha what a plank!!' she snorted as Harvey then looked for the next available door to walk off to, The King had decided that Harvey may need a little help so summoned the closest guard over to him and spoke,

'Please take the boy to the Great Chamber for me, don't let him wander off and for goodness sake DON'T let him touch anything, do you understand!!'

'Yes My King' the guard replied, who then saluted before turning on his heels and ushering Harvey away from the group,

'Wh...Where are you taking me?' Harvey cried as he was led away from his friend's 'Daniel….Helpppp!!!' he shouted back, The King reassured them that he was going to be fine,

'My dear boy don't worry about your rather odd choice of travel companion, I've sent him off ahead and we will be joining him very soon, I want to share something with you and your sister before we meet up, I've told my guards to watch him very closely until we are finished here'.

So Daniel and Lillie followed the King across the castle grounds asking more questions than he had ever heard from anyone before, all the doors scattered around the grounds slammed shut one by one as the King walked past each of them,

'Where are we going now?' asked Daniel as he hurriedly walked after the King who was striding off towards the end of the courtyard straight towards a tall wooden door adorned with the same symbol as the one on Daniel's diary.

'Inside my boy, I have a few...surprises to share with you' The King smiled as the door was pulled open from inside and they stepped through into the unknown.

As the children walked down the castle halls they couldn't help noticing the grand pictures which were hanging on the walls looked remarkably like the ones hanging in the corridors at Longmeads,

'Lillie...are you looking at the paintings on the walls??, I'm sure that one looks like the old headmaster Mr Crumble, it's even got that weird scar he had on his cheek!!' Daniel blurted out as the guards looked at him strangely as he seemed to get excited by what he was seeing, Lillie had noticed something at the end of the hall and shouted back to Daniel,

'I know Daniel!!...this one looks like our first headmaster...you know...the one who opened the school...Mr…..whatshisname?'.

'Fleetch!!…' Daniel said after racking his brain for a minute or so,

'He was the one headmaster that all of the first pupils at the school were the most scared of, he was supposed to have some sort of magic powers, or so the story goes'

'What story? Let me guess it's one of you're stupid made up ones again!!' Lillie tutted as she waited for some sort of made up story that her brother always came up with.

'No honestly it's true, you know Archie Davies in the second year…'

'No..But do go on..' Lillie added

'Well…'Daniel started 'his dad said that HIS dad used to be a pupil at the school and in his class there always seemed to be a lot of his classmates missing from lessons, so one day he got sent to the headmaster's office...knocked on the door but there was no answer, so he opened the door and crept in, still no headmaster, he noticed that there was a secret door open in the corner of his office hidden behind a bookcase with steps going down into the bottom of the school, so...he sneaked down the stairs until he reached a dimly lit room…'.

'Yes…' Lillie now seemingly engrossed in what Daniel was saying

'So, he crept silently into the darkness, feeling his way along the cold stone