The first test - the mind
I was getting the strangest feeling of dejavu. I could have sworn I have lived this moment before. It all felt so familiar.
I swam around in the water and admired the sea life around me. Kelpies don't know how lucky they are to be able to communicate with all sea creatures.
I swam to the city gates and one of the guards opened the large black gate for me. The moment I entered the gates, the magical barrier covered me. The barrier prevented the Kelpie kingdom from being engulfed in water. As a result, there was literally a huge piece of land at the bottom of the ocean that remained untouched by any water.
I looked down at the traditional long white dress and gold belt that I was wearing. The dress was dry the moment I stepped inside the city's magical barrier. The gown pooled down at my feet, almost hiding the gold sandals I was wearing. The kelpie king may be a jerk, but his sense of fashion is impressive. The traditional clothes made everyone here look like Greek gods.
Princess Diane, the kelpie king's seventh and youngest daughter came running to me as soon as I entered the gates. She grabbed my hand and we ran up the cobble stone steps. She was running so fast that I hardly had a chance to look at the majestic green castle that glistened with thousands of lights. We ran passed the large pillars inside the castle walls and straight to the top floor where her room is.
She shut the door with force and locked it the moment we got inside. The woman looked like she had been crying. Her light caramel skin looked flushed and her long pink light hair was not in its usual perfect waves cascading down her shoulders like a waterfall. She didn't even have her tiara on. Her hair was messy, and it was clear that she had been running her hands through it, something that is highly frowned upon by her father who always demands perfection.
I've come to think of Diane as a sister. She and I are the same age and although I have not been in this kingdom for long, I can confidently say that she's someone I trust.
When the gold path led Mike and I to the kelpie kingdom, the king almost killed us. He tortured us and didn't believe me when I told him that we found the kingdom because the golden path led us here. It was during the torture that Mike and I found out that the kelpie kingdom is constantly moving and never remains in one place. So, naturally, no magical creature has ever found the kingdom. Well, except for one person, but they all refuse to tell us who has found this kingdom in the past.
It was Diane who scoured the oceans, rivers and dams to find a seer who is a kelpie or at least half kelpie. When she found the seer, she brought her to her dad. The seer explained to King Amenadiel that Mike and I were indeed following the golden path and that he would be punished for torturing us and refusing to let us go.
Fortunately, King Amenadiel still holds seers in high regard. He let us go immediately, got us some healers and invited us to enjoy the best the city has to offer in an effort to make things up to us.
If this were King Amenadiel's only transgression, I wouldn't have had a problem forgiving him. The man is cruel. He married off his six daughters to men he chose to gain influence and power. Two of his daughters even died at the hands of the men he married them off to. He wasn't ashamed of this, and often tells the story of how his daughters stay true to their royal duties even till their death, to anyone who will listen. But that doesn't even seem to make the top ten terrible things that King Amenadiel has done because no matter who I ask, they all freeze in fear when I ask where the queen is.
Princess Diane quickly looked around her room and shut all the windows and closed the curtains.
"He's finally going to do it, Liz. He's marrying me off. The wedding is tomorrow." Her bright pink eyes were glistening with tears and desperately searching for a glimpse of hope.
She and I have been preparing for this day ever since she saved Mike and I from her dad. I just didn't think the day would arrive so soon, but this was good. If the golden path appeared before I could help her, I would not have been able to leave her to face her father alone. I would have been forced to forget about the path and stay or find a way to take her with me. The latter option would have been a last resort because kelpies need to stay close to a water body so that they can return there each night and rejuvenate their strength.
This was a chance to help her and know with some degree of certainty that she was safe.
I sat her down on one of the couches in her large pink bedroom. "It's going to be okay, Danny", I said as I tried calming her down using my nickname for her, "we've planned for this. Do you know who he's marrying you off to?"
"Yea, its Mikah, the son of one of his advisors. He's actually a pretty good guy, but he's not who I want, Liz. I would rather die than go through with this." Her eyes were still hysterically searching mine for hope.
"No one is going to die, Danny. Tell me everything you know about this Mikah. What does he do? What does he like? How is he perceived? What's the best thing he's done? What's the worst things he's done?" I was going through all my questions knowing that somehow, somewhere we would find something to use to stop her wedding.
Danny was answering all my questions. Being a princess and all, she has to know her father's advisors well as well as all their personal details and anything that can be used against them.
The kelpie kingdom is filled with doubt, paranoia and mistrust. King Amenadiel is at the centre of it all and thrives off the chaos he's created amongst his advisors who doubt themselves and one another enough to let him keep getting away with heinous crimes.
Where Danny didn't know the answer to my question or was unsure, she used the kelpie web on her laptop to find answers.
We were reaching a dead end. The man she was being married off to sounded amazing. In fact, he sounded to good to be true, but I wasn't going to give up.
"Let's go through his family tree. I want to look at his family from at least six generations ago." I grabbed Danny's laptop and started searching the man's family tree.
"Bingo!", I said as soon as I saw it. There it was, the one thing that would either save Danny or get her killed by her father.
Danny grabbed the laptop and judging from the reaction on her face she saw it too.
Her lips curled into a smile. "We'll have to talk to the seer first. We can only do it if she decides to go ahead with this."
I closed her laptop and got up from her bed. "I'll go talk to the seer. You go find Mikah. If she agrees, she'll want to talk to him. By this time tomorrow, you will NOT be married."
I gave her a hug and ran to the seer's chamber.
The kelpies live by the words of seers. They've been searching for a seer for a couple of decades since the death of their last one. Since they live completely cut off from other magical creatures, finding a seer has been nearly impossible. This is why when Danny found the seer, the king was more than willing to listen to her and heed her advice.
Before I could even knock on the seer's door, she opened it. She was waiting for me with a big smile on her face.
"Hey Liz!", she said in her chirpy voice. "What's up?"
I proceeded to tell her my plan and waited for her response.
She stayed quiet for what seemed like an eternity and kept tilting her head while thinking about my plan. "You make a valid point, Liz. But I'll have to meet this Mikah person first. I'll only be able to give you my answer afterwards."
"Of course! He should be right outside" I jumped up from my seat and opened the door. Danny and Mikah were standing outside as expected.
Danny let Mikah into the room and then she and I left Mikah and the seer in her chambers. We couldn't help ourselves so we were eavesdropping and trying to listen in on their conversation. So much was at stake.
We heard some laughing and muffled chatter, but couldn't really hear anything meaningful.
An hour later, the door opened and Mikah and the seer walked out of the room. They both had huge smiles on their faces so I really hoped this meant she was on board.
Mikah gave the seer a hug. "It was really nice meeting you." He had a huge grin on his face.
"You too, Mikah", the seer said in her usual chirpy voice.
Mikah left and Danny and I were staring at the seer with the biggest puppy dog eyes.
"I'm in!"
Danny and I jumped up down and hugged each other. Heck, we even hugged the seer.
The three of us went back to Danny's room. It was late, but we still had a few things to finish up.
Danny showed me the veil and dress that's been prepared for the wedding. It was just like the dresses I've seen in the books here.
It's a long sleeve aqua blue silk gown with a thin silver coating that makes it look like the dress is covered in shiny stars. The dress is accompanied by a matching thick aqua blue veil.
Danny spent a good part of the day in that dress and veil while I was running around getting our plan in motion. The seer had to be with Danny and the dress at all times.
**
The big day finally arrived.
I went to check Danny's room, and as is custom, she was already dressed in her whole bridal outfit. The groom had to be the first person to see the bride on the day of the wedding.
I took a walk around the city. People were excited for the wedding, and Jenevive Vivance, the woman who controls most of the news being watched in the kelpie kingdom, was getting her camera crew ready to film the wedding.
Normally, only royal weddings are filmed and require everyone, except the guards, to be in attendance. Jenevive Vivance is the most important news anchor in the kingdom, so naturally, she had to be there.
So much was at stake.