Chapter 13:

Aurelia

      We got to back to the academy, the chiefs were waiting at the front of the grand hall.

‘we’re back and we brought a gift for you, commander Brittany’ stella said with a mischievous smile

‘and what might that be princess Stella-Maris’ another chief replied

‘don’t address me by my full name I’ve made it clear countless times, it’s Stella’ stella replied

‘cut it out stella, you should have out grown that by now, they are allowed to address us however they want you know’ Andrew said walking past her

‘that is for you, prince Andrew, not for me. As I was saying, throw him out already, he is not going to stay in the carriage all day’ stella yelled at the guards who stood by the carriage, they bowed to her and dragged the man out, Brittany smiled on seeing him

‘I haven’t seen you in a long time, where have you been hiding’ commander Brittany said with a smile coming closer

‘you have not changed a bit, you are a commander now, impressive Brittany, you look beautiful as usual, but…’ he got shut up by Lucas punching him on the jaw and gripped him by his hair

‘gosh I’ve been wanting to do that, listen up, I’m only going to say this once, you’re in our territory now, my territory, no one compliments the ladies except me, got it’ the man smiled and Lucas punched him again which sent him bleeding to the floor

‘clean that up’ he said to a guard and walked away, Zac smiled and followed him

‘Your grace’ commander Brittany called, Lucas stopped and turned around to meet a smirking Brittany

‘what exactly do you mean by except you’

‘what you think I mean’ he replied coldly and kept walking with Zac patting his back, I smiled

‘I told you you’d fall for him immediately you see him’ stella said, I rolled my eyes and walked away

‘I didn’t fall for him Stella’

‘whatever’ Stella sang and walked away, I sighed and followed her.

   The archery competition was to start in an hour, I rode on Majesty into the woods to practice one last time before the competition. While packing up my arrows,

‘I see you’re getting ready for today’s contest’ I turned around to see prince Zachary on his black horse, I curtsied to him

‘yeah, I just thought I’d warm up a little, I felt rusty’

‘really. You were quite amazing earlier today, I must say, your shots were pretty good for a first year’ he said getting down from his horse

‘I’ve heard that a lot’

‘you remind me of queen Merida’ I froze hearing that name, I reminded him of my mother, we were related of course I’d have her traits.

‘I’ll take that as a compliment, so thanks’ he smiled

‘so, if you win today, how would you feel’

‘well, I dunno, good, fulfilled I guess. I’m competing against final years and if I do win then yeah, I can finally say I’ve accomplished something you know’ he smiled again

‘I remember as a boy, my father brought me to the academy to see my future here, I watched the archery and swords fighting competition, they were quite thrilling and I wanted to be there, participating like them’

‘you’re in the competition aren’t you’

‘I’m supposed to, but I’m just going to watch from a distance this time and let new persons try’ I laughed at that

‘Prince Zachary, it’s almost time for the competition and you need to get ready’ a guard said riding his horse to where we stood

‘I guess it’s goodbye for now, I’ll be seeing you on the field’ I bowed to him as he got on his horse and rode off with the royal guard behind him. I packed up my bows, I had to go get ready to win this.

Zachary

‘so, the queens would be here today’ luke began

‘how sure are you that our plan would work’

‘trust me brother, I am always right’ I rolled my eyes at that

‘what if she doesn’t win this’

‘is there a better archer than she is in the academy?’

‘I quite admire your positivity but…’

‘enough with the doubts already Zac, the plan is simple, she wins, Merida sees her, commends us in front of her majesty and our naughtiness wipes off, easy. Aurelia is going to win, I will make sure of that, whatever way it takes, so trust me’ luke said. I didn’t like the way he said that

‘when you say whatever way, what are you planning?’

‘something to our advantage, I always get what I want but I doubt I’d need any of that because she’s winning without our help, we have 10 more minutes to go’

‘I don’t like your attitude’

‘get used to it brother’

‘imagine it doesn’t shake my mother’ I said as we got to the open field

‘then we opt to plan B’

‘which is?’

‘I do not know yet’ I rolled my eyes, Lucas and his plans, I just hoped this worked because we really needed Mother to see us as changed boys…no, men.

‘mother would be here soon, I thought you were participating’ Penelope said coming to stand beside luke and i

‘I was, but I decided to let new faces try at least’ she scoffed

‘or you’re scared the first year would kick your ass’

‘you fascinate me everyday sister, I am a champion and if you need a reminder of that I would be damn pleased to help’

‘there is a clear difference between shooting an arrow and crossing swords’

‘meaning’

‘whatever it means to you. Your highness’ she curtsied and walked away

‘she annoys me too so don’t nag please’ luke said

‘that is supposed to be my line’ I whispered

‘it’s beginning, you’ll make us miss the opening and yes mother is here finally, and there is her majesty, we should go say hi don’t you think your highness’

‘stop talking’

‘warriors, commanders, invited guests, I welcome you to our annual archery competition. First, we wish to commend our extremely brave warriors who dealt with the Japanese invasion of last night, that really showed that indeed they are serious and ready for the war, without further delay, let the competition begin. Starting first are the first years, please take your positions and let’s begin’

‘Queen Merida is here’ I said to Luke

‘we should go say hi shouldn’t we’ I nodded and we went over to where the royals sat

‘your majesty’ I said with a bow, she turned around and smiled seeing luke and i

‘prince Zachary, Lord Lucas, it is delightful to see you both, I just spoke to your mothers, you haven’t seen them have you’

‘haven’t spoken to them you mean’ luke said, she smiled

‘well perhaps you should, they would be extremely glad to see you, and about the girl you told me about, I would still love to see her perform’

‘of course your majesty, I never go back on my promise, she is on the field at the moment, the purple haired’ the queen smiled and looked towards the participants, she gasped immediately Aurelia shot, luke and I smiled

‘who did you say she is Lord Lucas?’ she said, her voice was etchy

‘Aurelia your majesty, she’s quite impressive isn’t she’

‘indeed. I request a private meeting with her, In the meantime, could you find my children, I would love to see them’

‘yes your majesty’ luke replied and we bowed and left

‘I cannot wait to see mother’s face’

‘did you notice anything about the queen’

‘yeah, she was surprised Aurelia could shoot that way’

‘not that, it was like something was wrong somewhere’

‘you’re always observe things, nothing is wrong’

Bethany;

 Mother was here, why? I didn’t invite her and I know neither Andrew nor Caleb would invite her so how. I found my brothers and told them mother was here and they were as surprised as I was and also shocked to hear she had requested our presence which she rarely does but we honored it and met her in one of the offices. We bowed as we entered

‘I am surprised to see you here mother, I thought you resigned from archery’ Andrew began

‘it doesn’t mean I can’t watch children shoot’

‘what are you doing here, your visit is uncalled for, we are fine here’ that was Caleb, she sighed

‘yes I know, sometimes I’m up to no good and it would bless you today to know my visit to the academy has nothing to do with you guys, I didn’t expect to see you but something caught my eyes today’

‘and what might that be’ her facials changed

‘I want to know the whereabouts of princess Fauna and answer me truthfully’ Andrew laughed

‘and what made you think we would know, that is your business to attend to not ours’ mother looked at me, I stared at her, one thing about mother was that she read emotions, she could tell if you were lying or not.

‘answer me Bethany, I know you have seen something, no one knows fauna except you and I’

‘mother, if Fauna were here under a disguise I would have known at once, Fauna isn’t that stupid’ mother smiled again, she had seen her, she knew Fauna was here

‘can you leave us boys, I need to talk with your sister’ oh no. few minutes after, Aurelia walked in shock on her face, who planned this.

‘hello darling’ fauna maintained a brave face and curtsied

‘your majesty’

‘are we going to do this the hard way’

‘I don’t quite understand your majesty’

‘really now dearest. Okay then, remove the wig this instant Fauna’

‘mother how could you go accusing an innocent girl of being Fauna, don’t you know your own daughter anymore’

‘you know me darling Bethany, I can do anything for what I want’ mother growled standing up and pulling the wig from her, she faced me with a smile ‘I know my own anywhere and nice shot today sweetheart, you made mommy proud’ she said before slapping Fauna

‘Mother enough, please’

‘did you know about this Bethany’

‘no mother, she didn’t, I hid from her and Andrew and Caleb, I knew they’d recognize me’

‘do you know what you have done. Princess Fauna, Hildegard, Leigh-Anne Archibald, I asked you, do you know what you have done, what irresponsible act you have committed, of course not, you take everything for granted, you take your future for granted, how dare you defile me’

‘mother please, calm down’

‘there is nothing to be calm about, you are coming home with me today and you will never step your feet out of the castle walls ever again if that would teach you a lesson’

‘mother you cannot do that’ I cried

‘watch me’ she said and pulled my sister away. This wasn’t right, she couldn’t take fauna away at this time, we needed her, the empire needed her.

‘Zachary and Lucas invited her here to see the best at archery so she could make a good remark to the queen of England on their behalf’ Caleb bursted in saying

‘where is mother?’

‘gone. Back to Scotland, and I have work to do’

‘that’s a relief, there is training after the competition. Aurelia won beating princess Louise with 2 points’

‘yay for them’ I said and walked away

‘don’t you need to rescue a princess from a tower’ I turned around to see Leona

‘she got her’

‘and what are you going to do about it, the army needs her, without her the plan won’t work, she made the plan how exactly are we to follow it if she isn’t here’ I thought for a while

‘remember what you said, she needs to fight as princess fauna, that is what is going to happen’

‘what do you mean Bethany?’

‘I’m going back home, we need princess Fauna here not Aurelia and I’m going to get her back.’ I said and walked away. Mother couldn’t win, not this time.