Quest for Cydonia

Bored out of his mind, Bob found himself slowly wandering around the grounds of Prince Gerard’s castle.

‘He’ll soon be King Gerard,’ he corrected himself. Their ruler had announced just that morning that he was engaged, but he wouldn’t say to whom. Bob was feeling a little annoyed that Gerard wouldn’t tell his secret to his most trusted friends, let alone his younger brother. He would only tell his adviser.

Bob looked at the gardeners tending to the towering, leafy trees and exotic flowers. He almost smirked to himself. Most people would have wondered how it was that plants managed to take root on a cloud. He knew better, though. Everything in Cydonia thrived on magic, even the plants. It may have been unusual, but it almost never rained, and that suited him just fine.

He passed several windows on the back wall of the castle. He recognized most of them as pointless rooms. Guest rooms that were never used, an entertaining room, a parlor…all useless to their leader. Servants were busying themselves everywhere trying to keep the castle grounds spotless, but Bob was far above all that being the son of a Duke. It wouldn’t be much longer before he held that title himself.

A sweet sound drifted into his ears, but it was so faint that he could hardly tell what it was. Curious, he followed the sound. As he got closer, he could tell it was singing and was able to understand a few words. The voice clearly belonged to a girl.

The sound drew him to a window, out of which a young girl was leaning. She had to be quite a bit younger than him, looking as if she was only just old enough for marriage. She had brown hair that curled slightly at the ends, and she clearly hadn’t noticed him. He stepped towards her, feet making no sound on the cloud’s soft, silvery vapors.

“Hello,” he said with a smile, looking at the girl. She was dressed in fine clothes, but he didn’t recognize her. This seemed strange to him; he was certain he knew every person of the upper class in Cydonia. “If you don’t mind me asking, who are you? I haven’t seen you around here before.”

“I might ask the same of you, sir, but I realize that I am not familiar with this area.” Her voice sounded strange, with an accent he had never heard before. Also, she had spoken like a lady, not a spoiled brat unused to a royal lifestyle. She paused, and then continued. “I am Princess Orchid of Luna, kind sir, and I am being held here against my will. Now might I ask the favor of your name?”

Bob quietly gasped. What was Gerard thinking? Did he want to start a war with Luna after that political mess all those years ago? Even if he needed to marry her to fulfill the-

“Sir?” she asked again, sounding slightly worried. Bob shook his head to clear it.

“Apologies, milady. Allow me to introduce myself. I am Robert Bryar, son of the Duke of Cydonia.” He took her hand and kissed it, acting in the proper gentlemanly fashion. She was attractive, to say the least.

Suddenly a servant came rushing towards him.

“Master Robert! Master Robert!” cried a young, high-pitched voice. “Master Raymond requests to see you at once!” Bob saw that the voice belonged to a stable boy, waving around a grooming brush in his filthy hands. His mop of blonde hair was flapping about wildly. He sighed flatly and turned back to face Orchid.

“Until we meet again then, milady,” he said, kissing her hand again. She smiled.

“Until we meet again.”

Orchid smiled as the man walked away, following the small boy’s bouncing stride with ease. The smile quickly dropped from her face as she wondered how she might escape or at least help whoever was coming to rescue her. She had no doubt that her father would have sent someone by now. She continued staring out the window and occasionally singing to herself; none of the servants complained about it.

The sun set once again, changing the cloud into a rainbow of beautiful colors. It was early evening and she had seen no one but servants since Robert left. Was it too bold to think that she might escape on her own?

As she thought about it, she realized she could not even get into the castle grounds. Escape was rendered impossible. There didn’t appear to be any need for her to fear for her life, though; the servants she had seen were mostly friendly.

She thought of Sir Dominic, whom her father had most likely sent to her rescue alongside Sir Christopher and Sir Matthew. Secretly she adored him, but any dreams of marriage were implausible. It was her duty as a princess to at least marry someone of noble blood. Lately, she had seen much of Prince Kerth of Terra. It would only be weeks before her father deemed her of marrying age and a line of suitors would follow her everywhere, something she was definitely not looking forward to.

Normally, she would not have been allowed to be alone in the presence of any male other than her father; she grew more uncomfortable every time that man visited her, afraid he would try something.

There was a knock at her door. Since she could not open the door herself, it was more to let her know that someone was about to enter. She was expecting a maid of some sort. Instead, it was the stable boy she had seen earlier. He had a letter with him. She saw her name printed neatly on the front.

“For you, your highness,” he said, holding it out to her. She took it from his grubby hand.

“How did you get this?” she asked him. He smiled.

“It came here from the kingdom with a shipment for the castle. I was told to give it to you somehow and not let anyone know!” He beamed and stuck out his chest with pride before speaking again. “They said they wanted a reply. I’ll come get it from you tomorrow.” He turned to leave the room.

“Might I ask your name before you go?” Orchid questioned. He smiled, his messy blonde hair falling behind his ears.

“Certainly, miss. My name is Sampson.” He bowed, in a similar fashion to how Robert had, but much more clumsily.

“Thank you Sampson. When I am rescued, you will no doubt be rewarded. You will make a fine knight one day,” said Orchid with a smile. The door closed quietly behind him. She tore open the letter, stashing the envelope under the bed.
Dearest Orchid,

I hope that someone in Cydonia has the decency to give this to you, otherwise my messenger will surely be taken as well. I have sent the kingdom’s three finest knights to rescue you, but please do not do anything that will put you in further danger. I hope that you are well and being treated as you should.

I should have told you this years ago, but I hesitated to do so because I thought that it might upset a girl of such delicate disposition as you. When you were born, there was a great celebration to which everyone of royal blood was invited, except one family. Those from Cydonia I had declined to invite because of recent conflict between us. They had threatened to invade our kingdom if we did not turn over our right to rule.

But King Cruor came anyway. He insisted that there was an engagement between you and his eldest son, Prince Gerard. We agreed to it, providing that there was no battle between our kingdoms. I made the blood vow; I admit now that it was foolish of me, but I cannot change the past.

Cydonian soldiers came to snatch you from the cradle, right there at the celebration. They were stopped, of course. I canceled the engagement and banished Cydonian royalty from Luna forever, though Cruor refused to admit that the soldiers were his.

It seems that Prince Gerard has decided to fulfill the vow on his deceased father’s behalf. I warn you now, agree to nothing unless he presses a blade to your neck.

Please reply, or I will assume the worst.

Father

Orchid nearly burst into tears. A blood vow? How could he without taking his daughter’s opinion into account? She hastily wrote a reply on the back of the letter, carefully avoiding the issue. She stashed it under her bed and settled in to wait until Sampson returned.
-
“Good work, Sampson,” said Gerard, patting the little boy’s ruffled blonde hair and taking the scrap of paper from him. It was all a hoax. Just to see if she was going to do anything irrational. He explained everything that her father had not told her, with the exception of why he was going to fulfill the blood vow.

The stable boy was rather ingenious, though. One would not suspect an innocent-looking child. He dismissed the boy and sat on his throne to read the reply.
Dearest father,

I am well. It seems that I can not make an attempt to escape, as I would fall from the cloud. Please hurry, because I would rather not have to marry my kidnapper.

‘So she is not as stupid as she looks,’ thought Gerard as he refolded the letter. At least he could rest assured that she wouldn’t attempt to escape. She didn’t seem to have noticed anything wrong with the letter; there was no bitterness in her reply. At the same time, however, she hadn’t mentioned anything about being scared. Either way, he had not made her give away any Lunian secrets. The letter had been absolutely useless, so he presumed that he would have to do it the hard way.
-
Orchid sat in her room, thinking about the letter. She had noticed right away that it was strange how quickly the letter had come; she had only been gone a day when it arrived, and even Luna’s fastest messenger could not have reached her that quickly. Her father also never signed himself as father, merely Papa. It was suspicious to say the least. She was glad she had only written a short reply, not mentioning Robert or any of her kingdom’s secrets. It was late afternoon now, and there was no one anywhere near her window. There was a knock at the door, but she ignored it and simply sighed.

Instead of a maid as she had expected, the man with black hair that had helped kidnap her stood in the doorway.

“Forgive me for the intrusion, princess, but we need to talk,” he said, not sounding sorry at all. He shut the door behind him and leaned back against it. Orchid felt uncomfortable and sat as far away from him as she could.

“You must be Prince Gerard, whom I have heard so much about,” she said curtly, hatred dripping from every word.

“Ah, her highness has a brain in her head, unlike so many princesses I have met,” he responded with an air of surprise. He moved closer to her, his eyes fixated on hers. There was something in his eyes that scared her, a look she had not seen before. She quickly looked away. “Cut the formalities. I want to know exactly what Garith told you about the power of the kingdom.”

Orchid was appalled by his manner of speaking, but she decided to ‘drop the formalities’ as well.

“Nothing,” she said firmly, putting on her most innocent look. Unfortunately, she had never been a very good liar.

“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re terrible at acting?” Gerard snarled. “What did he tell you?” Orchid could see that he was getting angry, but she could not betray the kingdom’s secrets.

“Nothing!” she cried. Gerard smirked for a second; this would be the fun part. Before she could protest, he easily picked her up and dangled her out of the window. She whimpered involuntarily, internally cursing herself for leaving the window open.

“Right. Last chance. Are you going to tell me, or will I have to let you fall?” he asked in a deceptively calm voice. She nodded, eyes firmly fixated on the cloud just millimeters below her feet, doing anything to avoid looking into his cold eyes.