119Disclaimer: if anything in here reminds you of stories that you have read by different authors, sorry. It's just a coincidence, I don't copy other peoples stuff.
So! On with the show! (and you better review if you want the story to go on, otherwise I will be sad and go post it somewhere else.)
The Prophecy of Time
By TigHan
Chapter 1: Old Riddles
The City of Tierrelle, 1523
Harper had been very small when he first learned the lines of the most well known poem throughout Tierrelle. Throughout his life they had been drilled into his head. Everyday he recited the poem, though without really concentrating on the words. Today was a day like any other. It was the very end of the day and Harper was reciting the poem, although his thoughts were really on the grand party that he would be attending that weekend.
".bring news of an evilness, young and yet still strong and free." The class finished the poem and immediately began to get out of their desks to leave the school. "Remember, your history essays about the building of the Silver Palace are due when you get back from your break!" shouted their teacher over the noise. Harper groaned. History was the last thing he wanted to do on the weekend. All he wanted to do was party, party, party.
"Hey, Harper!" a voice called from across the room. Harper grinned and waved back to his best friend.
"Mike, wait up!" Harper called back. He grabbed his bag from the wall and raced outside to meet his friend. "Are you coming to the party this weekend?" he asked as soon as he got out.
"Of course! I expect we'll see tons of people there from our school. I really hope we won't have to say the poem a thousand times at least - that was what it was like at the last grand party. At least your hosting it this time, Harp. It'll be good, right?" Mike said as they began to walk back to their houses.
"I really hope so. Mom has been so secretive lately that I wonder if the party is the only thing she's got on her mind."
"Don't worry about it! The only thing you should be worrying about this weekend is completing that homework assignment. I'm so worried about it, we haven't covered anything in class!" A girl their height with blonde hair pulled into a ponytail ran up beside them. "Really, Harper, don't you care about your grades?"
Harper and Mike took one look at each other and burst out laughing. "Alex, is homework really the only thing that you are thinking about this weekend? Besides, this project isn't worth our whole 9th year mark!" Harper laughed.
Alex pretended to look hurt. "I thought that maybe I wouldn't be the only one not going to the party."
"YOUR NOT GOING TO THE PARTY?!" Harper and Mike shouted at the same time.
"Well of course not! Not only do we have to do the assignment about the building of the Silver Palace, but we also have to mix that vial of chestnut oil this weekend! Remember, always before a full moon, we have to do that? The full moon is on Wednesday, and I won't have any time to do it this week. You won't either, you know." Alex replied.
"Oh yea. I had forgotten about the chestnut oil. But why won't we have any time this. oh yea. darnit! I don't want to clean up after the party!" Harper said, stamping his foot along the dirt sidewalk.
"According to government regulations, if you have a party or are involved with the hosting of one, you are granted with the responsibility to clean up the whole party space, and any other rooms that are within 200 meters of the room where the party was hosted, with pure chestnut and mahogany oil." Alex recited, as though she was reading straight from The Sun Book of Laws.
Harper and Mike looked at each other and rolled their eyes. "Whatever. Mike, I'll see you later. I'm going to detour to the library. I need the recipe for the chestnut oil, and some books for the Silver Palace project. I won't have any other time this week, and if I don't I might fail the term." He said the last few words with emphasis, looking at Alex with his eyes sparkling. She knew he was mocking her and quickly turned around, onto the path that led to her street.
Harper turned at the next right and looked down the street. It was an old street, filled with the remnants of ancient statues and monuments. He remembered it was called "Rielle Street", which was the name of the town before it was called Tierrelle. It was hardly busy, because the only reason people would come down here was to come to the Old Library. And even that was rare, because now the Old Library was being labeled as 'mysterious' and 'dangerous'. Because of this, a New Library was being built in the Center of the city. Harper didn't think that it was nearly as good as the Old Library, so he always came down to Rielle Street for all of his studying needs. He stopped thinking about all of this as he came to the great mahogany doors of the Old Library.
The doors were each about seven feet tall, and five feet wide. They were built of red mahogany, the finest money had to offer. There were long, thin, golden handles that had small emblems of fire, ice, leaves and thunder. The doors were spelled with those elements, the four Royal elements of Tierrelle. These were to protect the place from threatening weather, and were also a protection to the people within. Nothing could get into those doors without having the proper birthright of Tierrelle, a small silk necklace with a vial of chestnut oil that hung around the neck of every magical citizen in the city.
Harper reached for one of the handles and paused. He could feel the door's magic running through him, testing him to make sure he was not of the wrong Blood. The magic was of a different type, he knew. It was not the regular magic that spelled the doors of the houses in the city shut at night. This magic was ancient, almost older than Tierrelle itself. Tierelle was an ancient city, which began as a monarchy, Harper remembered. As he felt the magic leave him, he opened the door and stepped inside the great library.
He stepped in and immediately felt the different presence in the air. It was different from the rest of the city; maybe it was because it was so old. A middle-aged lady who was wearing a brown cotton frock and half-moon glasses soon interrupted Harper's thoughts. "May I help you?" she asked with a strong accent.
Harper cleared his throat. "Yes. I need the recipe for chestnut oil, and some books about the building of the Silver Palace. Actually you could just show me the sections that they're in, and I can find them myself."
The lady, whose name was Freida by her nametag, studied him curiously. "At your age, do you not already know the recipe for chestnut oil?"
Harper shuffled his feet. "I used to make the chestnut oil with my dad." He said. "But now, my dad is in a magic sleep, waking only to tell bits of an unknown future. He is also an Hyrei, so he hardly wakes up anyways. He used to wake up in time every month to do a vial of chestnut oil with me, but. he is getting older, and is now predicted to only wake up once a year or so. So I need the recipe, because I don't know where his is."
Freida thought deeply. It was a strange and special gift to be put into a magic sleep. It is said that people who wake up from them will know their whole future, up until their death-day. But to be an Hyrei also was even rarer. An Hyrei could tell the past, or future, of any person or place, dead or alive, in their dreams. Although this was an amazing magical talent, they were rarely believed because the dreams were so muddled. Because they were so rare, and there was very little training available to them, an Hyrei was usually asleep, telling tales of unknown places until an important time, such as chestnut oil harvesting. But as they get older, they wake up less often, and sometimes slip into a fatal sleep.
"Fine. You may have the recipe, although it is on my orders not to be giving them out. You better not lose it." Freida replied after a while.
"I wasn't planning on losing it. I will only need it for a day or so." Harper said.
"No. You must keep it. After you are given the recipe, you must keep it always and forever. But don't worry about it, because you can just pass it down to your kids when you grow old. It's just a custom of the library, to never accept any recipes back." Freida said as she skimmed across a small shelf to the left of the door. "Here it is. Take care of it." She said, and turned to walk away.
"Excuse me? Could you please show me where the documents about the building of the Silver Palace are?" Harper asked.
"Oh yes, I forgot. Down along those shelves-" she said, pointing along a long row of dusted bookshelves in the back corner of the library, "you will find what you need." Her eyes sparkled for a minute. "Enjoy your time here, Harper."
Harper nodded. He wasn't surprised that he knew her name. Everyone knew everyone in Tierrelle, even though it was quite a large city. He headed over to where Freida had pointed. It was at the back of the library, where all of the extremely old documents were kept. Along with these, he knew he could also find the building of every other building in the city, as well as information about the last monarch who ruled Ancient Rielle - King Saxton and his daughter Princess Siskel.
Soon, he arrived at the back of the library. It was very dusty here, with cobwebs covering the corners of most of the shelves. There were also holes in the bottoms of the boards, showing where mice made their homes. The books were mostly bound with green and blue leather, with gold stripes running horizontally down the spines. Harper pulled a green and gold bound book and blew off the dust. "The Reign of King Saxton," he read off the cover. This was perfect, he thought. The Silver Palace had been built in King Saxton's reign, even though he had opposed its construction.
There was an oaken bench covered with red velvet nearby the shelf. Harper sat down and began to read the table of contents. "The birth of the king, chapter one. the early years of reign, chapter two. the crowning ceremony, chapter three. hmm interesting, the birth of Siskel, chapter four. oh whatever. I'll just start reading somewhere in the middle." He opened the book to a page with a gold crown inked in beside the lettering, and began to read.
Chapter Eight: The Silver Palace
December, 1342
"King Saxton, I am very pleased that you could meet with us here today." A tall, graceful woman stood up and clasped her hands together. She was wearing a long black robe, with diamonds sewn onto the hems of the loosely woven sleeves. Her blonde hair was pulled back into a bun, with matching diamonds dotting her hairnet. Blue eyes pierced out from underneath long curly lashes. She was standing at the end of a long, deep brown table that was saturated with carvings from end to end.
The king closed the great mahogany doors that he had just come in through and stood at the opposite end of the table. His gray eyes contrasted with the rest of his bright clothing. His red cape lined with gold fur flowed behind him as he walked towards the table where the lady was standing. Although he looked like a kindly person, today his eyes were not sparkling. He spoke coldly. "Why have you summoned me here, witch? Is it to discuss that wretched thing you have been talking about, that tower that you want?"
The lady's eyes became slits. "You know very well what will happen if the palace is not built. As an Hyrei, you even said yourself that a palace would be built in your reign, a palace so great that it would rule over a city much different than our own. And don't give me that astonished look that I know you are an Hyrei - you talk in your sleep. If the tower is not built, it will interrupt the flow of time and cause disruption in the future."
"It is my kingdom. Right now, we do not need such a foolish thing!" The king answered, his face now bright red with fury.
"You shouldn't mess with me. You very well know that I am much more powerful than you."
"Then I will have to call the guards." Saxton began to pull a small whistle- like thing out of his pocket.
"Do not blow the whistle, Saxton! If you do, the library will shatter. Mahogany is not strong enough to hold against the call of a magicked silver lute. If this library shatters, you will lose all the valuable documents you have ever known, as well as all of those that contain the writing of the future. Besides," The witch said, grinning wickedly, "Do you not think that I remembered that you had the lute? Even if the guards were to come, do you think they would be able to get in? Do you think that I would forget to arm myself? No, certainly not. The doors are spelled shut, and will only open to my command, and to someone of the right Blood."
"You are a witch! You - you must have known that I would say no! But then, why would you summon me?" The king spat at the woman's feet.
"Oh, I just wanted to see your face when I told you that all of this has been my fault. I thought that you would want to know, but not that you would have the time to share it with anyone."
"What. what are you talking about?" Saxton asked quietly.
The woman laughed again. "Everything that has happened in this kingdom! The crops, the epidemic, the weather. oh yes, it was all me. It always has been. I am the evilness, Saxton. Young, and yet still strong and free! And you. you are not going to get in my way."
"I refuse to let you do this to my kingdom!" The king raged.
"You have left me no choice. I'm sorry that you have been so stubborn - maybe if you hadn't, the kingdom would be in better shape. Siskel will miss you."
Saxton's eyes grew wide, with a mixture of pain and astonishment. "Don't take it out on Siskel, please! She's only 15, not yet at a ripe age to die!"
The woman laughed, a cruel laugh that didn't echo at all in the dark room. "Did you really think that I was going to kill Siskel? No, Saxton. She is too, important to the kingdom. No. I wasn't planning on killing anyone, not if necessary. It wouldn't do to have a murderer for queen, would it?" She reached into a coin purse that hung at the side of her robe and pulled out a small lime-green vial. She popped the cork off the top and poured two drops into her hands, rubbing them both together.
The king watched in fascination as she began to perform her witchcraft. Before he could realize what he was doing he turned around and ran to the door. "Fool." Came her icy voice. "The doors will not open unless they sense your magic. Where do you think it is now?"
"You may win now, but the People of the Sun will always be protected! Remember the prophecy of -" But the king had no time to finish his sentence. The witch had cast her spell, the green liquid oozing off of her hands and onto his body. The potion rooted itself on his chest, and disappeared. He dropped limp to the floor.
She laughed quietly. "It seems you have forgotten about some of the properties of chestnut oil, Saxton."
Harper slammed the book shut, shaking his head with disbelief and confusion. This book contained so much information - and although it was not what he was looking for, he could not help but feel compelled to read more. But he resisted the urge, using the time instead to pace around the bench. "King Saxton was an Hyrei like dad? But then, why wasn't he always asleep?" He continued to pace until another librarian met his path.
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" The librarian said, brushing off Harper's shirt.
"It's fine, I'm alright. Can I sign this book out, please?" Harper asked. He figured that if he could at least take it home, he would have more time to read.
"Sure. I can sign it out for you right now, since there's a long line up at the main desk. Imagine, three people today!" Harper stifled a chuckle, but there was a smile in the lady's eyes as well. "Come over to my desk, and I'll put it in an oilwrap to keep it dry." The librarian led Harper over to her desk, where she penned a magic mark in the back of the book. After putting the book in the oilwrap she handed it to Harper. "Have a good day." She said, as he started to walk towards the great mahogany doors of the library.
It was raining as Harper began to walk home. He turned right at the corner of Rielle Street and his, Gaetz Avenue. The houses along his street were all the same, except for the paint. The painting on all of the houses was different, because that was what kept the house safe from burglars. There were also certain types of paint that repelled fire, ice, thunder and leaves. This paint was, of course, more expensive, so there were very few houses in Tierrelle that owned it. Quickly he arrived at his house, the dirty reddish colored one that stood at the corner of the street between Mike's house and the road. . Before opening the door, Harper stuck his hand into the small black mailbox beside the door. Then, placing his hand on the door, he quietly whispered "noréva" and it pushed opened.
"Mum I'm home!" Harper shouted, putting the mail into a basket beside the door before his pet griffin could eat it. He walked into the kitchen where his mom was cooking.
"Oh, your home! I was wondering why you were so late." His mom answered, not looking up from her cooking. "I was just preparing the mahogany and chestnut oil for the party this weekend. I'm sorry but you'll have to do the cleaning this time, because your sister is taking the advance magic training course the next day and I would like to go watch her."
Harper sighed. "Can't I come? You said I could last time she took the course, but I had to stay behind to clean the house."
"Well of course you did!" his mother snapped. He recoiled, but quickly recovered. It was not uncommon for people cooking chestnut oil to be different than their usual self. Sometimes you could even ask people questions that they normally wouldn't answer when they were cooking chestnut oil. As soon as his mother saw her son's eyes, she softened. "Sorry, Harper. It's just that. we have to have someone clean the house after the party this weekend, especially because it is so large. And I can't leave your dad at home alone. what if he wakes up?"
Harper nodded. He had temporarily forgotten about his father - he had been too wrapped up in his thoughts about the book. Although it was not likely, in the event that his father woke up he would have to be there for him - incase he had any important news for the family.
"Ok. Well, this weekend's chestnut oil gathering. I'm going to go out and make some, so I'll be back about an hour after dusk." He watched as the clock that told what he was doing moved from "talking to mom" to "making chestnut oil".
"Don't forget to take a vial. Lucky for you, I just cleaned some out last night. You can take this one." His mom replied, abandoning the stove to look in a nearby cupboard. "Here. It's your crystal one, the one your dad gave you on your 13th birthday. Make sure you don't break it! When you come home there will be supper in the oven if I'm not home, which I probably won't be since I have my social group tonight."
Harper took the crystal vial from his mom and put it into his left pocket. "See you later!" he called over his shoulder as he walked out the door and into the brisk night air.