I took her hand, and she yanked me upon the step. The step then began to move. It spiraled around the tree. With each rotation, it gained speed.
Halfway up the tree, I lost my balance. I felt my heart fall out of my chest. My arms waved in the air as I felt the edge of the step travel from my arch to the ball of my feet. Suddenly, I felt a yank at my shirt.
"It's like taking care of a baby." Ethel mummers.
"Thanks, Ethel." I look at her, but she adverts her glare.
"I've changed my mind. You may call me Miss. Abbot until I determine otherwise." She held onto my arm. Her eyes burned a hole through me.
I could see the cogs turning in her head. She was debating letting me fall. She wanted to push me. Her motives were deeply hidden, but it was obvious that she was unable to take out her anger on who she wanted. I was merely her punching bag, and she was enjoying every hit.
For now, I planned on letting her savor every hit. I could take punch after punch until I could find the root of her sourness. I will be the bigger person.
With a jolting halt, she let me go. The step led to a series of rope bridges. Each bridge led to a series of buildings. Some were pairs of two, and others were big taking up the entire area. Each of the smaller ones had curtains in the windows.
"Each bridge connects to a different family. They're all houses. The small houses are around two thousand square feet. They have two rooms on the bottom and build to be three or four stories. We don't have much room on the treetops, so we build upwards. The large buildings that are two stories are stores, churches, and other social buildings. Those that are four stories are part of the schools, and the three-story ones are homes of the magical." She told me as she began walking forward.
"Can everyone be magical?" I ask as I stumble after her.
"Blair, you are so stupid. Everyone in the forest kingdom is granted magic at birth. Each person is trained from the age of six to twenty in the art. Most use it to benefit their daily life. Most people learn what they desire then get out." She sneers." To quote our Lord, 'If one succeeds at basic magic by the age of ten then he can attend classes to become a healer. If he succeeds both at healing and in general magic, then he can take advanced classes to become part of my court.' It's not easy."
By the ending sound of her last word, I had caught up to her. "Can I learn?" She began walking faster.
"We must get you to the Lord." Her words were flavorless.
The buildings soon gained stones and bricks, but the majority of the building was still wooden. The largest building was in the heart of the canopy. It stretched out on multiple trees. Branches gathered underneath it to give it support. It was a mostly white stone with trees painted onto the sides. The upper floor was wooden however It was a large square with a porch in the front. A tower stuck out of the right side of a sloping roof. The entire roof was high on the left side and fell steeply on the right.
"The lord's manor. The original lord let his magic flow freely while designing the home." She said as she approached the front door. It was a simple plain barn door.
With another blinding flash of green, a man appeared in a rocking chair. He was playing chess with himself. He stood up and bowed.
He was tall and thin. He wore a suit of dark green. His pants had cream stripes on the side that were tucked into silver boots that fell just a few inches below his knee. The front of the boot curved into a spike that covered his knee. He wore a high collar jacket with silver buttons that trailed down the throat. The sleeves were cream, and a cream belt was wrapped around his waist.
"Prince Blair, I am Lord Falstaff Love of the Forest Lands. I assume Misstress Abbot has treated you well?" His voice is as crude as hers. It's rather velvety, a voice that most girls would drool over.
"Yes, she has," I respond to him quietly.
"You are dismissed." He nods to Miss. Abbot. "Have you been informed of why you have been brought here?" He says as he opens the door for me.
The door leads into a parlor. The lights are lowly radiating from the china lamps. A marble table sat in the middle of horsehair couches and chairs. On the table was a series of books and a chess match going on without any players.
"I do enjoy a good strategy game, do you play?" He asks me as he sinks into a blue chair.
"I'm afraid not, I prefer to stick my nose into a good book," I say as I take a seat in a chair next to him. A small round marble-topped table separates the two of us. The lamp resting upon it begins to glow slightly more.
"So let's get down to business." He sighs as he leans forward onto his knees. "Your mother had faked her death in order to fulfil her duties as the queen of our realms, but her sickness is real. It grows. Our healers cannot cure her, but she has five years left because they were able to slow it down. Without their work, she would have days left."
"What does this have to do with me? I thought she had to adopt another person. Couldn't they take over?" I ask and his face tenses.
"The tradition was formed because for eight generations the king and queen had been cursed to where children could not be born into their bloodline. Of course, to avoid war, the ruler could not choose a child from their previous kingdom. However, your mother picked an Ocean child. It is permitted since she is from the Mountains. The past five generations have been from the mountains. Christain was to be the next in line. The people, of the Prairie and Forest, did not want him. We knew there was a rightful heir alive. The Queen refused to give her name. Our magic had discovered that you were the rightful heir. This was about a year ago."
He got up and stood by a bookcase. He picked one up and set it on the table between us.
"Christian had become furious, so he ran off. He now leads those in the caves. Horrid people. They practice dark things indeed. I fear that the younger prince will lead them to the Grand City to take the throne." He walked behind me. "That's why you're here. You must learn the arts from all the realms in order to bear the power that the royals gain. It's also a great thing that your father is my son, so you're a forest citizen."
He set his hand on my shoulder. "Take the book."
I picked it up and the pages began to turn. The page it landed on had an image. There were my mother and father.