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In the top tower by the window in the kingdom of Steholeah sat Siakanora, the 15 year old princess, reciting a spell she had just learned that morning from Master Jerkins. Out of the corner of her eye she saw a burst of light out in the hills. In the blink of an eye, a maid hurried into her dormitory.
"Hello Ratata" said Siakanora.
"Hello Your Majesty" said the maid bowing. "I have come by order of thy father to tell thee that the Askellens have attacked another house and are planning to do it again, unless"
"Unless?" asked Siaka.
"Huh? Oh! Unless we give them the whole country they'll continue the destruction."
"Pathetic!" said Siaka. "What's the use of having a burnt down country?"
"I don't know" answered the maid.
That night Siaka had a dream of a knight in white and gold armor, head bowed low, approaching the King, Siaka's father. When the night took of his helmet, she saw her own face... the knight was Siakanora! She awoke with a start. "Was that just a dream or was it a vision?"
~Chapter 2~
"Hey, watch it!" "Take that, and that!" Siaka was dueling with Master Jenkins when Ratala the maid came shrieking out of the courtyard door, uttering something Siaka could not catch.
"...laying in bed" Ratata mumbled again. Siaka stroked Ratala's curly brown hair while looking into her deep blue eyes and asked what she was grieving over, and then she guessed.
"Your father is lying in bed, dead!"
For a few seconds Siaka looked as though she was not bothered, but then she wailed. "Let the wind take my life away and the flood wash away my body!"
"Ye must shush and c-c-c-come" said the maid. "Come to the brother, all rests upon him." So Siaka followered her to the throne room where here brother was sitting on the throne like he was a god.
"Dost thou think that thee can rule a country when the winds of Cathienorkasica are against you?"
"Nay little sister, the winds are not against me, but against the Askellens" said he.
"Thee is mistaken" said Siakanora, "You must fight in your father's place, ye lousy prince!" Or I will thought Siaka in her most secretive way as she strode out the big arched oak doors. She headed to the tower closest to the moon where there was a cupboard holding, she supposed, armor. As she opened the door a shimmer of white and gold met her eye; it was the very suit from her dream, and the shield had no crest upon it, except gold and emeralds. "By the Blue Tulip!" she said, shaking her head. "It's beautiful!"
Suddenly she heard the thump thump thump of footsteps below her. There was no barrel to hide behind and the cabinet was too small. "Oh no! Oh! Ummmmmm...." A hand grasped her arm and pulled her down into a trap door, then closed it above her. She shook with fear. Her captor was dressed in a long black cloak and a hood that covered his face, and brown boots that went up to his knee.
"Dost thouh knowest who I am?" asked the man. Her answer was "ummuppie.." "Of course you dont," said he. "My name is Roan, Roan of Aeallon. I shall take off my hood if ye will keep my life hidden, understand?"
"Yes I will" Siaka mumbled. She somehow trusted him, even though he had pulled her into a hidden room no one else knew about, but all the same she trusted him. "Thee said thee would take off thy hood" said Siaka.
"Oh, of course!" said Roan.
As Siaka watched she saw that he was not an old crumpled willow, but a strong boy of about 16, with black hair that fell to his shoulders and wise brown eyes. Siaka wished she had a ribbon to tie up her very long straight black hair into a bun.
"Ye have a right to wear the armor, but what use are ye putting it to?" asked Roan.
"MY brother won't fight in my father's palce, so I will," said Siaka.
"Siakanora, the little tiger, dost thou know how to duel?" asked Roan.
"The 'little tiger' knows some, but not a lot..." said Siaka.
"Then come," replied Roan.
After about one month Siaka was able to fight off Master Jenkins easily, but not Roan. "Good, good! Watch the sword... haaa! Get the down!" Roan had pinned her with his shield so that she could not move. "I think thee is ready to take thy father's place" said Roan.
"Wha... what?" said Siaka.
"Yes, thee must!" said Roan.
Siaka thought about her mother who had died five years ago, when Siaka was 10. Suddenly she felt a surge of power and was able to pin Roan down with her own shield. "Then ye must come with me," said Siaka.
"Fine, all settled," said Roan. "To Askell!"
~Chapter 3~
They headed west to the kingdom of Askell that lay beyond the mountains. In three and twenty days time they reached Nortaman's Fort at the edge of the country. Many eyes peeped out from doors and windows to look at them, but they never encountered anyone until the reached the stables where a man was eating a muffin and sharpening his knife. "What choo doin' ere?" said the man wearing a look of doubt. He did not wait for an answer but saw the gold inlaid armor of Siaka's and without stopping to think that she could easily chop off his head in one swipe, he lunged for her. He tried to take off her helmet but she had grabbed his elbows and flipped him into a barrel of apples.
"Come, let us get out of here," said Roan.
Soon after they met an old hag with rotted teeth. "At least! Someone has come to rescue me!" said the hag.
"Rescue you?" said Roan.
"Yes!" said the hag.
"Why?" asked Siaka. But before she could answer, Siaka started to run, with Roan at her heels.
"Because I like it!" said the hag.
There were two more stables left, with two beautiful horses in them. Siaka took a beautiful black mare that had a colt, a palomino, and Roan took a leathery brown stallion.
It took one more day to reach the castle, and there they saw a group of kids teasing a bull by waving a stick in the bull's face. Roan felt Siaka twitch at this foray in her homeland. When she was a child they used to play like that until Siaka's best friend broke her arm.
Siaka looked up at the towering castle before her with wide eyes. "I'd rather not go in there if that's okay with you" said Siaka. It was an old and rotten castle that had thorn bushes all around the edge. For some reason a pig came whizzing out the window of a tower but lucky it landed in a pond where an old man was yelling at a baker who said he would not get out of the water until pigs flew. At that second the pig splashed by his left shoulder making him jump (six feet) out of the pond.
"Seems like the future has come quite quickly for thee" said the old man laughing. Siaka started to giggle furiously but stopped when Roan elbowed her because she was laughing like a girl.
It seemed to take days years to climb the spiral staircase that led to the throne room. When they finally reached it a man with a black crown with diamonds inlaid in it sat there. He wore a long velvet robe of gray, and big brown boots that went up to his knees. "I've been expecting you" he said. "You are Siakanora of Steloatch, and you are Roan of Aeaollan. Dost thou think that thee can outwit my army?" he asked, turning to Siakanora. "I shall give thee the chance of winning victory for your kingdom" said he.
"Fine!" answered Siaka.
~Chapter 4~
That night Siaka slept on the cold hard floor of the north tower. In the morning a duel was announced where Siaka would duel a man named Napeton Eank. Siaka's sword was longer and sharper than Eank's, and she had a Second. (If you get hurt or even die, there is a "second" to replace you, and her second was Roan.)
The king's duke planned the duel, draping thousands of banners with a white dragon with red eyes all over the stands. Siaka's first blow knocked Eank right off his horse and into the mud. The king, who was getting desperate, announced that there would be a sword duel. Siaka easily knocked Eank out. Siaka had rightfully won her kingdom, but the king insisted that there would be a wizard's duel. This time, Siaka had to face a girl of about 20. She had white hair which she kept wrapped around her head. Siaka was excused to take her armor off for this because it slowed her down.
The girl had gray eyes and looked at Siaka coldly. The girl smirked and said the incantation: "Folonigetie!" and turned herself into a tiger with a yellowish tinge and the same gray eyes.
Siaka disappeared. She hadn't really disappeared, she had whispered "Mosquitonoeat!" and insect wings had popped out of her back and she buzzed all around the girl's ear. The girl changed back into human form, asked Siaka to do the same and said that there would not be any make-believe creatures. (Dragons still existed as well as unicorns!)
Siaka did a spell that is called "Uniconoife". She grew a long yellow beard and a large bump rose on her forehead which grew into a horn, her hair went from pitch black to snow white, her feet became hooves and her voice turned into a tone of silvery bells. The girl knew that nothing real could beat a unicorn so she mixed several spells at once and then Siaka's hooves left the ground in a hurl of wind, water, and fire. She opened her eys to see a part dragon, swan and fish. Siaka leaped to her feet and hid behind a rock and whispered "butterlynoie". A little caterpillar crawled up over the side of a rock, then up a tree where it made a cocoon and almost immediately became a monarch butterfly. It flew around and around her opponent's head making her back up and stumble into the pond. Siaka smiled and with a pop that of delicious popcorn turned back into a human. She had won! There were men who were open mouthed at the fact that a girl barely sixteen had knocked their toughest and biggest knight and his horse into the mud.
For some reason someone was clapping, then he was joined by another, and another until everyone was clapping. Siaka waited for the applause to die away, and when it did she spoke as loud as she could without shrieking and said "Now everyone, I really enjoyed coming to Askell for this, but I think I'll enjoy getting back home even more." Roan worked his way down from the stands to kiss her on the cheek. She bent down to adjust her stockings. Roan squinted around at the crowd, at the same time a small child looked at him. Their eyes met. The child started jumping up and down and pointed to her left. He looked and was surprised by what he saw: the king had come down from his seat at the top of the stands and was fitting an arrow to his bow. With a jolt of fear Roan realized it was pointed directly at Siaka's heart.
Roan picked up a stone and threw it at the king. It hit him on the arm, directing the arrow Roan. It sped through the air and struck him in his side.
Siaka heard his yell and turned to see her good friend and teacher crumbled into a bloody ball on the ground. She turned to see the king standing over her, an ax raised above his head ready to bring down on her. Siaka picked up the arrow Roan had pulled out and thrust it into the king's foot. He screamed in pain but recovered quickly. He drew his sword and pointed it at her throat, but the blow never came. The king screamed and Siaka looked up.
A sixty foot dragon had leapt out of the sky and gobbled up the king. Siaka stared frozen for a moment, then got up and ran. Everyone was running to a nearby cottage that stood near the stands. Only when everyone was truly crammed inside so that no one could move an inch did they hear a vioce that made the earth shake.
"WE ARE LOOKING FOR THE PRINCESS SIAKALANORA AND THE PRINCE ROAN. WE MEAN NO HARM." People began pushing Siaka and Roan out the door. They found themselves facing three large dragons, one of which had eaten the king. "ARE YOU THE PEOPLE WE HAVE ASKED FOR?" asked a green dragon.
"Ye-yes" Siaka struggled to say.
"ONE OF YOU IS HURT, WHICH IS IT?" asked the blue dragon.
"YOUR SENSES ARE DULL ORAN, IT IS THE MAN, AND HE'S BEEN POISONED AS WELL" said the largest and red dragon.
"WE CAN CURE THAT EASILY" said the gren dragon.
"JUST THIS ONCE, THIS ONCE THEN FRALICK" said the other. Fralick came and forced a dragon tear down Roan's throat and immediately the color came back to Roan's face. Oran explained that the dragons had come to take Siaka and Roan home. They climbed on to the backs of the dragons.
"AND NOW, HOME!" said Oran, as the dragons rose into the air.
I hope to write a sequel, but until then...
THE END!