Lost Royalty, Kaitlyn Barnett [libby ebook reader txt] 📗

Prologue: Searing Shadows

The mild winds were enough to make the lanterns hanging on the abandoned house clang together. The city streets were full of suicide notes, soaked and torn from the rain. They were all written in the blood of their own bodies, possibly their loved ones during this Dark Era.

Here I enter, walking the streets alone. Nobody else is here except for myself. I hear my heels loudly step on the brick road. It was a scary feeling, I feel like someone could be watching me. Hearing me. A feral survivor could pounce on me any second. It was indeed a scary feeling. I was also shivering from the winds, all I had was my violet purple dress on, riding all the way down to my ankles. It was strapless so I felt really cold that I had nothing to protect my skin. I pushed my long black hair to the sides of my face just in case I was actually caught. I'm sure they wouldn't recognize me from the side. Then I would be safe.

Right?

My thoughts consumed me as I walked to the left of the eerie and dark red brick road. I believe I remember a bar here. It may be abandoned, but I'm sure I could find something in there. It's the closest thing to me without invading anybody's house. I wouldn't even want to know what's in these citizens' houses.

I put my head down as I reach the bar closer. Someone could be inside, so it is best I hide my face. They would know who I am. Fumbling for the front door of the parlor, I eventually get it open with my head still down. I slowly hear it creaking open. The sound is just as eerie as this whole city, in the ruins and gone to hell.

As the door opens, I walk ever so quietly to make sure my heels don't make any type of sound. I was tip-toeing at this point, the heel part barely off the floor. It was uncomfortable but it was the only way to make sure I didn't attract any savage beast of a human or a Guardian. I put my head up, my hair almost covering my blurry vision due to this mad world. I look up to reveal a lightbulb hanging by a thread. It was flickering and dangling, ready to strike someone's noggin at any moment. Hopefully my unluckiness doesn't strike me.

I slowly look around. Tables and chairs were fumbled all over the place, a few blood stains here and there, broken glass. Nothing too too bad if compared to the abandoned houses in which I've viewed.

I look behind the counter to see everything empty. I do, however, see a broken bottle with red liquid next to it. I squint and see that the liquid was certainly not from that bottle. Blood of course.

[I] Creepy just like the rest of this earth.

I look around the whole bar and see nothing to eat or drink. It was either blood, furniture, or pure emptiness. I walk to the front door and lock it shut. Maybe I can just rest here for tonight. It's more silent than everywhere else I been and my legs are about to fail me.

Taking off my heels, I lay on the wooden floor with the royal blue carpet. It was oddly comfortable. But tomorrow I will have to be a bit more brave to find food. It's been 24 hours or so since I've had food. Or I think so, all I can do for fun is count the days left since I have had food or how long I have left on earth in general. I close my eyes and shiver. I wish to pull the carpet over me, but I'm sure there's blood stains under there. With that, I doze off and I was about to fall into a deep sleep.

Let all my troubles go away for a little while.

My dreams felt like it was dominating over me. It felt nice. I can feel okay for a little bit.

Let us sleep now.

Right as I was about to enter dreamland, I hear a noise. It sounded like footsteps. I immediately open my eyes and sit up. My heart started racing due to nervousness. Who could have gotten in? How especially?

I didn't know whether to run or hide so I sat there, viewing the shadow.

The footsteps grew closer, the person, the creature, was next to me. The darkness away from the light was shielding me.

[I] Please, go away.

"Who's there?" A familiar voice asks.

I know that voice it's--

Before I could process what was happening, I scooted to the very back. Oh, how could I escape? I felt like crying. But I did everything to stay still. I felt something like a boot nudge me. Before the holder of the boots could react, I ran to the left away from him.

Away from the guard.

 

Chapter One: Palace of The Royal Guardians

 

Three months earlier...

Another beautiful day at the Palace of The Royal Guardians. Currently, my royalty family and I were sitting at the table. It had a beautiful white and red tablecloth and the best chairs in the city. Our maid, Evelyn, had just finished our breakfast. A crepe with a special-made omelette, only accessible to those living in high royalty.

My father had just sat at the table, his long gray beard seemingly unbrushed like usual, his beautiful brown eyes were droopy. This doesn't happen often. He sat at the table anyway, his hands clasped together, his forehead resting on them.

"Father? Would you like to go back to sleep?" I ask. After a moment, he shakes his head, barely. I frown a bit and nod to myself. Mother didn't say anything, just staring down at her plate, slowly eating.

"Are you okay, too, Mother?" Asks me. She looks up happily and smiles brightly like she always does. "Ah yes! Of course, I'm thinking about the Guards' orders, where they are to go and when they are to return."

I nod in agreement as that is hard work! The ruling is difficult, myself is a bit scared to rule one day.

We eat in mostly bare silence, nothing awkward. Evelyn comes around, picking up everyone's plates. Before she comes to pick up mine, I feel her tap on my chair three times. That is our code word for "Come learn Crushah." Crushah is the official language of Iprellis. It can only be spoken by royalty, as it is a hard language to learn and most riches have prefixes of this language. Mother made that rule when she ruled 20 years ago. Half the people of the city could speak it, but half now could not or they were just uninterested.

However, Mother said I could not speak or learn it until I become Queen myself. She says it is a language not to just be spoken alone without seriousness. She would not want me to hear the Guards speaking in Crushah, for it is business orders. I never heard them speaking it, but rules are rules and I'm sure my mother is only trying to protect me.

"Mother, may I be excused? I want to go to my room and have Evelyn teach me more about the history of royalty." I say. She glances at me then at Evelyn.

"You haven't finished?" Mother asks, squinting her eyes at me. I shake my head no, with a reassuring smile.

"All right, but remember, tell me what you learned when you are finished, yes?" I nod to her recommendation.

I get off the chair and Evelyn and I walk upstairs. I absolutely hate lying to Mother, but I feel like I should learn early, and she can be too strict at times. I'm mostly used to this feeling, but I can still feel the guilt deep down. When we get upstairs, we take a left to the very end of the hall. I open the bronze door of mine and it opens, revealing my room. It had white walls with the best pink bed with fabric and silk of the city. It had my dresser drawers made of pure wood and it had my bronze bookcase, which I cherished. Books are important to this city, luckily every citizen can have them.

I sit on my bed, and our maid goes to the bookshelf, pushing books out of the way, revealing what we call Shoriga Na Haagrin. It is The Secret Book. It is brown with blue text on it. It reads, "Palace History" in English. In reality, the majority of the book is in Crushah.

Evelyn sits in the bronze chair next to me and we flip to page 675 of 900. This chapter entails royalty words and phrases in Crushah. In Crushah, there are royalty words that only high-class use. It is a bit like morse code for the wealthy.

"Are you ready?" Says Evelyn. I nod and she reads out the first sentence normally, thanks to the thick walls in my room.

"Tysui sa nam aagari hyuti liugar cysporoa naa bagosha hyunmar." She reads the first sentence. I tap my chin, thinking.

"This is where we will learn about the phrases of the Kingdom?" I say after a few seconds.

"This is the portion, hyuti liugar, where we will learn about the phrases of the Kingdom."

"Ah! That is correct, I could not think of the correct words." I said. She laughs and reassures me that it is okay.

We go over the whole chapter of 12 pages, which takes about 1 and a half hours. Crushash is really exciting to me and I cannot wait to speak it when I rule over Iprellis. Overall, the lesson of this chapter was not hard at all, I just forget that two words can mean one.

"Good job!" Evelyn said. "Now, 90% of the story is completed."

I cheer, clapping my hands together. "So exciting!"

She smiles at my joy. "Now, go tell your mother that we learned: In the year 1510, the City of Akamane was ruled by those of Delzen Hollow for about 50 years, before the official founder, Akamana Hyuca, took it over." She explained more about the history about the City of Akamane, now called Iprellis. It was renamed by Mother, with our surname Iprellanan. She thought it was better and would listen to nobody else. I guess it made sense for diversity.

"Yes! Thank you so much, Evelyn!" I say, skipping out of the room. I go around to find Mother and I see her on the third floor, walking into a Guard's room.

"Mother," I say a bit loud. She turns around, her hand still on the knob of his door. She smiles at me and claps her hands together as I tell her about the history of Iprellis.

"Yes! You are so smart! The next time you see Evelyn, tell her that she can have a slice of the rich chocolate cake tonight at dessert!"

I smile and go back to my room, jumping on the bed then sitting. It is all really exciting. I recite in my head what was learned:
Tyuraa maaji nah koiuli. Rich cake only.

Qucara iiu naha wuia baro. Guards are to slay.

Guyari haaga