"So uh…Sorry to spring it out like that. I know it's a little fast." "Your cute. Its fine. No matter when or where, I would have said yes anyway. You're an interesting Lad." "Thanks I think." "Mom will not stop loving up to you when she finds out. That is the thing you have to worry about." I looked at her nervous. "You will save me, won't you?" "Haha the great and powerful Cace scared of a little old witch?" "Don't worry. I'll do my best to keep mom at bay." "So uh this isn't going to be a happy conversation but, do you know a man named Krioff?" "Yes why? He grew up with my mom." "I see. Well it looks like he will be back next year. According to my mom he murdered my father. He was going to kill my mother but jumped in front of her and killed her." "Sigh. I don't think he did it on his own accord. I must have been on someone's orders. He wouldn't do that on his own. He also could have been threatened." "I see. Its strange. That is what uncle Leo said as well." "Yes he would. He also grew up with him. Your uncle Leo and my mom grew up together. Your father liked to pretend he was Leo and trick Krioff." "Haha yeah I could see uncle Leo do that. Did your mom tell you what my dad was like?" "Not really no. But if you want to know, ask Leo. HE was his brother after all." "Yeah good idea. Thanks Hazel." Then we walked back to the castle.
"We're back everybody!" Then everyone looked at me strange. "Uh did somebody die?" I looked at Hazel. She looked like she knew something was up too. Then Sean said something. "I think its best if your uncle the king tells you. He is waiting in his office." "O-Ok sure." I guess I had to go alone. Since Hazel didn't come with me.
"Uncle? Why does everyone look at me like someone died?" "Haha don't worry no one died. What has happened is worrisome though." "Ok so what is it? Should I be worried?" "Well listen to what I have to tell you and see for yourself if you should worry." He took a deep breath. Then said, "It's the orphanage you grew up in." That is when I stood up. "What happened?! Are the kids ok? Is everyone there ok?" "Relax young lad. Everyone there is fine." I was relieved until he said the next thing. "Well the kids, Will, and Liam are fine." "What do you mean? What happened to old man Riley?!" "All we know is that he was kidnapped. We don't know who or where they took him." I held my hand to my head. I took a deep breath then said, "Uncle. Permission to go to my old orphanage?" "Permission granted. Until you find out what happened, you are to stay there and protect them." "Yes sir. Thank you uncle." I left in a hurry and I heard Hazel's voice call me.
"What are you going to do Cace?" "Well I was to told to stay there as long as I needed to figure this out. So I will be staying at my old orphanage awhile." "OK I'll be going with you in the carriage then I will go back with them. I'll visit you from time to time to make sure you are still alive." She joked. "Ok well thanks." I packed my stuff in a hurry and we left.
It was a tiring ride so I fell asleep halfway there. When we got there Hazel woke me up with a kiss on the cheek. "Are we there?" "Yeah we are here. Looks like Liam is waiting for you." Then I got up tidied up, grabbed my bag and ran too him with Hazel. "Liam! Are all the kids here?! Did any of them get hurt!" "Relax. Kids are fine. So am I and Will. Will had a little scratch but fine." "Ok good. Oh this is Hazel. She is my betrothed." "Nice to meet you Liam. I'm Hazel Starr. Yes my family is famous I know. Now may we come in?" "Yes. Sorry yes. Please come in both of you." When the kids saw me they all gathered in. "Woah everyone. Relax everything is going to be ok! Everyone this is Hazel. She is a witch. If its ok with you, can you watch the kids?" "Yeah of course. I gotta few tricks up my sleeve." "Ok cool. Everyone be nice! Hazel is going to watch you all while we are in a meeting to help save old man Riley ok?!" They all agreed then Me and Will went into old man Riley's office.
"So what exactly happened? The only thing I heard is the old man was kidnapped." "Well we don't know who it was. They were cloaked in dark blue clothes with their eyes revealed." "Ok what color were their eyes?" "The one that took Riley had purple eyes." "I see. Let me send a letter to uncle and see if he knows who that gang is. Now what about the kids?" "Did any of them see anything else?" Then there was a knock on the door. (Knock Knock) "Come in!" Then one of the teenage boys came in. "Cace." "Yes what is it Tian?" "I saw the mans face." "Please come in then." "Ok what did he look like Tian?" "He had curly blonde hair and purple eyes. He was white. He had a scar on one of his eyes. I know this because he said something in my ear. He said, tell Cace that if he doesn't come to the cave in the forest by midnight tonight, then the old man is dead." "I see did he say which cave?" "He said you would know." "I see. I think I might know. There is only one person I know with curly blonde hair. I'm going to have Hazel stay here while I go. Although she might come anyway. Great. Will you too be ok with the kids?" "Yeah we will be fine. Don't worry." "Ok good. Well I better tell Hazel what's up."
I told Hazel what was going on and she said, "You're damn right I'm going with you. An extra hand with the knights." "Yeah lets let the others know. "You there. Knight. I want you to stay here and protect them in case they attack here ok?" "Yes your highness." Then I went back to the castle and we went straight to the forest.
After awhile we got to the cave where my mother left me and my sister beside to protect us. I looked around, then I heard some twigs snap. My chest started hurting but I didn't want anyone to know so I am pushing through it. we turned around and saw the man that Tian described. "I thought it was you Sora." "You were right. It was me. So lets have a little chat. You girl can stay right there." "Its ok Hazel. You stay here with the knight." "Be Careful Cace." "I will."
"What is this all about Sora? Why did you scare everyone?" "You know I did that all the time in the orphanage. It was my thing. I used to do it to old man Tyrus as well. Now there is something you need to know. I was there when you were born. As you know I am 18 now. I was 2 years old. You don't know this but I am actually your big brother. Well half brother. We have the same mother. My father left mom when he found out she was pregnant." "How do you know you are my brother?" "Here I'll show you. Yes I have the power to show you my memories." I nodded then he put his hand on my head. I was in his memories of when he was 2 years old.
(Inside the memory)
"Sora honey! Stay with your daddy ok?" "Yes mother!" Then I saw mother running a different direction. That's when I heard mom screaming. The vision changed to her giving birth. My sister was born first then me. Mom didn't have time to recover when they had to run. They wrapped us in the blankets they had to keep themselves warm. Then I saw mom running to the cave where I was told she left us. "Stay here and keep your brother and sister safe ok?!" "Mommy!" "Mommy will find you one day ok?" Then he started crying. He was mature for his age so he was looking after us.
It was a few minutes later I saw Sora being kidnapped. I was shocked. I forgot it was a dream and yelled for him. "Sora! No!" He was kicking and screaming. Then us babies where on our own. That was the end of the memory.
"No. Why? What happened to you? How did you end up in the orphanage then?" "Well the people who took me in the first place didn't think I was mature enough so they took me to the orphanage until they thought I was old enough then took me back in. Yeah the dark blue people. "I see you got the scar from the battle back then." "Yeah I did." "Oh crap. I better hurry up here. Uh take the old man and punch me like we were fighting ok?" "Yeah sure." Then I punched him, and he pretended to be knocked out. The other ran out of there with me. Then we got to the carriage and left.
We got back to the orphanage and told everyone we were back. The kids ran over to the old man and surrounded him. "I'm ok kids. I'm ok. Just a few scratches." He hugged most of the kids. "Ok well. I better head back to the castle. I have something I need to tell my uncle about." "Yes of course. Thanks for helping me out Cace." "It's the least I can do for all you have done for us. Now everyone! Be good to Riley ok? Don't give him too much of a hard time!" They all laughed and saw me and Hazel off.
My chest was just slightly hurting now just not as bad. Hazel noticed I was grabbing my chest. "You alright there Cace?" "Huh yeah fine. I just got a little too excited when we were in the woods. It was a big pain there. Now is just a small pain. I'll be fine." A knight heard. "You should have told us Cace. We have your medicine." "I'm fine. It wasn't bad enough to pass out ok? If I can't calm down enough to where I am dizzy than that's when I need it."
When we got back to the castle and I yelled for my uncle Leo. "Where is the King?! I need to speak with him now!" "Yes right away prince." Said one of the butlers. Hazel told me to calm down and take deep breaths to calm down. I tried taking deep breaths like she said. She rubbed my back to help me through. I sat down on a couch while I was waiting for uncle. "There you go. Keep breathing till you calm down." "I'm good now. Thanks Hazel." "Hey what are you thanking me for? We are going to be family soon enough." I smiled at her and took one last deep breath. Then uncle walked in.
"Hello Cace. I heard you needed to talk?" "Yes. Hazel needs to hear this as well." Then we followed him to his office and I spoke first. "Its about my half brother Sora. Did you know about him?" "Right down to the point huh? Well yeah I did. Lets get your mom down here." He called for someone to get mom, and she was down here within 10 minutes.
"Mom!" I hugged her tight. "Hey Cace. Are you ok?" "Yeah I'm fine." She hugged me back. Once I was calm again I repeated what I said. "Mom I met Sora. He was in a gang in dark blue outfits." "I see. I'm glad he is alive and well." "Who is his birth father?" "Uh let me sit down. I will tell you about Sora." "When I had Sora I was 17 years old. He was a man I barely knew. Then we fell in love. I met him when I was 16. We were together for awhile and said we didn't want any kids in the future. Then one day things got out of hand, and I got pregnant with Sora. I waited a month then I told Sora's father. He wasn't so happy about it. Sigh. He said some bad things I won't repeat. Then he said he didn't want anything to do with me unless I killed the child or gave him up when it was born. I didn't want to do any of that, so he really did leave me. I don't know where he is anymore. Then a year later I met your father Cace. He was a sweet man. Took better care of me than sora's father. He treated me like a queen. Little did I know he was a prince. He didn't care if I had another child with another man. I was running from my village. Then he took me to his home and I became queen. I didn't rule long before we had to be on the run again. Then a year later we had you and your sister. He said he would accept Sora if we could have a child of our own. I agreed. Not long after we talked about it, I ended up pregnant with you and your sister. Sora was so happy he was going to have siblings. He was already trying to protect you in my belly." "Mom Sora. Showed me a vision of what happened back then. His earliest memories of when we were babies. He remembers when you gave birth to us." "I see. I was hoping he didn't. Well if I do meet him one time I would love to see him again." "Actually mom. I have a way to get ahold of him. I'll write him a letter and have him meet us in the forest somewhere. Oh then I can have you meet my animal friends." "That would be wonderful son." "Mom what was Sora's fathers name?" "Yeah about that. I didn't know it then but it was your fathers friend, and the one who killed him Krioff." "OH about that. He will be back next year. Uncle and I have some business with him. He lives in the Star palace." "I see. Well tell him I say hi." "I don't think I want to see him after what happened back then." "Hey mom don't worry about it. Its fine." "Thanks sweetie. Sigh. How I wish I could have seen the 3 of you grow up." "I grew up with Sora growing up. Until he was adopted. That's good." "Ok that's enough. Your mother has things to do." "If there is anything else you need to know Cace. Let me know ok?" "Yeah I will. Thanks mom." Then she left and it was just us 3.
"Well that went well. Uncle what did you think of Sora when you met him?" "Oh he was the sweetest most energetic little guy. He was smart for his age. He was really attached to me. When they had to leave on the run, he had a rough time." "Yeah I bet. If he was attached to you." "Ok enough about Sora. How are you doing Cace?" "Me? I'm fine now. Just had a little panic attack after I found out. Hazel helped me through it." "That's good. Thank you Hazel. You two really care for each other huh?" "Yeah we do." I said blushing. "Hazel how have you been doing? Your mom told me you haven't cast spells to cause trouble as much anymore." "Yeah well. I knew if I was going to marry into a royal family I had to stop causing too much trouble. I still do once in awhile." "Yeah she told me that." "Now Here is what I want you both to do. Rest. Please. I know Cace doesn't know how to do it, so I told the guards to lock the windows and make sure you don't come out of your room for at least an hour." I rolled my eyes. "Fine." "Good. You have been looking pale for awhile." "I have noticed. I just thought it was because of his sickness. I didn't think he was tired. I'll look for that in the future. Thank you Leo." "Ok you too. Rooms please. I will check on you in an hour for myself." So we did just that.