SIAN HAD JUST FINISHED TYING a belt around her waist when someone knocked on the door. Cat went to answer it and Sian checked her reflection again. The light blue dress made her blonde hair and blue eyes appear brighter. Pleased, she smiled at the reflection.'WE'RE TO FOLLOW THIS MAN to the Great Hall,' I said when the others came to stand beside me.'For breakfast and then to meet with the Lady Elena,' the page explained. 'And you can bring your dog. I will bring some food for your cat to your room.'Again we passed through a maze of corridors, and I marvelled at the workmanship of the castle, wishing I had time to admire it.We heard voices as we neared the Great Hall and two guards opened the enormous doors for us.ALEK FELT ODDLY NERVOUS AT the thought of seeing Cat and he couldn't understand why. It had only been overnight. Elena had arranged for an extra seat next to each of the men. Having the space beside him made him feel lopsided and every courtier in the room had s
'WHEN YOU FOUR ARRIVED IN our world,' Elena arched an eyebrow at us. 'You each threw off a massive power surge. Something I haven't seen in quite a while. As you might have noticed, there are people in this world who are gifted. They have special abilities and anyone with these abilities will have sensed your arrival too. Even more so after the incident on the griffons.'Abilities? And what did she mean by power surge? All we'd done was freak out when we thought Sian was in serious danger. I interrupted her. 'Elena, I'm sorry, but I don't think we understand what you're talking about.'The Sorceress looked surprised.'Are you saying we have abilities?''Yes. You must have. To have given off such an energy wave is absolute proof.''But we didn't do anything,' Sian said, looking like the rest of us, very confused.'Yeah, all we did was pass out,' Kassie said. 'That doesn't sound like an impressive gift to me. Passing out when something scary happens.'I agreed, 'Totally useless.'
SIAN WATCHED CAT FLUSH AND spoke up, hoping to give her a few moments to compose herself. 'What is it you want with us then, Elena? Or was it solely to keep us out of the way of those who would take our abilities?''I would like the opportunity to train you all to use your powers. If you do have the abilities that I suspect you do then you would be very valuable allies,' Elena said frankly.'How do we know you're the good guys?' Loi asked. 'We could be allying with the wrong side.'Elena let out an exasperated sigh. 'Here is the offer I make you. I will train you and provide for you. You will have free reign to explore as you like and ask what you like. All I ask is that you give it at least one month before you make any final decisions as to what you are going to do.''Why one month?' queried Kassie.'Because it will take a month to develop your abilities to a level that will be of any use to you. Hopefully to a level that will allow you to defend yourselves if necessary,' Elena
WE STARED AT ELENA, OUR expressions a mixture of shock and horror.'Are we meant to be excited about this?' Kassie looked understandably dubious. 'We may have super powers and if we do a family of nutters is going to hunt us down and suck us dry?' Her voice increased an octave.Sian stared icily at Elena. 'Well put, Kass.'Loi and I gave the Sorceress similar unimpressed looks.Elena appeared a little stunned by our not so rapturous response and stared at us in shock before exclaiming, 'No, NO! That is not what's going to happen at all. There are a couple of reasons, please let me explain. Do you know how the late King died?'Loi, Sian, and I shook our heads but Kassie spoke up.'Yes. Well, I think I do. Rumal told me it was in a fight, and his first griffon, Ofelaan, died in it too.''Yes, but there is more to it than that. The late Queen Ariadwen, Alek's mother, died not long after she gave birth to him. We thought at the time that it was an unfortunate complication from the b
SIAN WALKED AROUND THE ROOM, stopping at the huge portraits of King Nikias and Queen Ariadwen. The King had been a handsome man with dark hair and blue eyes, though not as blue as Alek's. The Queen had strawberry blonde hair and had been a beauty. Alek didn't appear to take after either of his parents in particular. Cat wandered over with Loi and Kassie and they all silently studied the portraits.The guard glanced at the paintings then shook his head. 'It was a real tragedy losing the King like that. Especially for the Prince.'Sian glanced at Cat, reflecting on what Elena had told them.'How did the Prince handle it?' Cat tentatively asked.With a sad sigh the guard shook his head again.'Not well. Not well at all. The Archduchess immediately declared herself Regent as was expected, but the Prince withdrew. He spent most of the time with his griffon. It's only in recent years that he's been back in the public eye. Now of course, he's head of the Griffon Guard and has refused the
ALEK WINCED AT THE TONE of Cat's voice and closed his eyes for a moment. Damn it! He'd meant to mention it to her. A little voice in his head sang outyou're lying.Alek opened his eyes. Cat still bowed low and now the other three girls joined her. An exasperated sigh escaped his lips and the four of them looked up, eyes alight with mischief, while his so-called friends gave him I-told-you-so looks as they stood back.ALEK STEPPED TOWARD ME SO I straightened up and widened my eyes into a look of vapid idolization. Alek stopped short at the expression and his eyes narrowed.He snapped, 'Cat, I'm sorry. I should have told you.'Matching his tone, I replied. 'Yes, you should have,' and returned the annoyed look. The others in the room drifted off with mumbled words, leaving us glaring at each other. 'REALLY, WHAT DID YOU THINK I would do,' I demanded, feeling my annoyance grow. 'Fawn over you because of your title? I'm a kiwi, Alek. Titles have little meaning to us.'Alek looked c
ALEK FORCED A SMILE WHILE answering the usual inane questions the women here loved to ask. Out of the corner of his eye he noticed Cat watching in amusement. Right then, he thought, let's include you. 'May I introduce Catherine to you both.' He gave them a charming smile and indicated Cat. 'Catherine, may I introduce the Countess Stranson and her good friend Lady Kelanor. Catherine is here with her friends at the Archduchess' invitation.'While Lady Kelanor looked impressed and gave Cat a tentative smile, the Countess shot Cat a barely veiled look of contempt. 'Are you one of the women the Griffon Guard rescued?'I RETURNED A BLAND SMILE while maintaining strong eye contact. The brunettesorry, the Countessflinched, which felt mildly satisfying. Let's see if we can turn her green with envy, I thought, resisting a smirk and instead put on my best dumb blonde smile; learned from Sian of course.'Yes, we were exceptionally lucky. Alek and the others arrived just in the knick of time.'
WE PACKED UP THE LEFTOVERS and Alek took a different route back into the castle to show me the Armoury. Not knowing what to expect, I stepped through the door and stared in amazement at the display of weapons in the room. To begin with the room must have been as big as the ballroom. It had huge rows of shelving stocked full of items. On Earth it would have been a red-necked, gun-toting male's dream come true, except of course, no guns. Instead there were rows of crossbows, long bows, bows I didn't know the names of, and swords of every length and manner imaginable. I made my way around the room and felt a shudder of disgust at the sight of heavy maces that hung from racks. I paused in front of a shelf covered in light, delicate looking daggers and moved closer for a better look.'Careful,' Alek warned. He reached past me to pick one up.'These are exceptionally sharp and can even cut through dragon scales. The blade is made of a rock that's only found within active volcanoes.'But