Fevrea's+Gate

The army of Cvetonia has always been made of the strongest men and women in our land, and the personal guard of the royals are made of the strongest of the strong. Along with strength they must be brave and stoic. So when it is told that the personal guard of Princess Fevrea were found outside the doors of the library, pale-faced and a few shaky, you may understand the significance.

No one dare to enter. They had before, but the Princess had driven them out. So the guards had taken a new post, just outside the doors.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Standing for hours had solidified their nerves, but with every loud sound coming from within the room there was was a corresponding flinch on the faces of each guard. A young man, with verdant skin, stood from where he had been sitting, watching the proceedings for about an hour. Stepping towards the door, he waited for the guards to recognize him and move aside, which they did with great relief.

Opening the doors, the first sight he saw was that of books strewn every which way. The second was Crown Princess Fevrea, Heir Apparent to the Throne of Cvetonia, slumped against a wall, pouting and glaring at a book.

Chuckling, he spoke. “Are you done scaring your guards, Rea?”

Doing the only thing she could in her position, she shifted her glare off of the offending book to the man leaning nonchalantly against the doorframe. “After two years, you’d think that they wouldn’t be afraid of me.”

“Ah, well, they haven’t had as much practice as some, and it is not like you give them much chance to, as you always lose them as often as you can.” Walking towards her, he was careful not to step on the books, not even wanting to guess how old some were, he crouched next to her. “What has gotten you up in a fuss now? Did Artem call you a word you didn’t understand again?”

“Hey,” She pointed at him, “Even you, Bala, didn’t know what risible was, how was I to know he was calling my cooking funny.” Her pout returned. “It is not my fault I confused the salt with sugar, and you really liked my cookies.”

“Rea, I don’t mind eating dirt. You shouldn’t trust my tastes. And don’t think I didn’t notice you hadn’t answered my first question.” He gave her a pointed look.

“I’m looking for something, I thought it would be in the library, but I can’t find it. And no you can’t help me. It is for a friend.” She bowed her head and fingered the letter she had in her lap. Growing frustrated she crumpled it and threw it against the wall. “How can I find it. Cvetonia is over 69 square miles, and he wants me to find something that, as far as I can tell, DOESN’T EXIST!” She jumped up, knocking Bala to the ground with her suddenness, and started pacing. “Really, I can’t believe him, he sends that letter and expects me find the...” She trailed off, then quickly scrambled over to the crushed letter and flattened it out. Scanning it she let out a triumphant yip. “Legend! Quick, Bala, what is another word for an Archway?” She turned and searched through the books on the floor and picked one specific one out. Sitting cross legged, she flipped page after page.

Having adjusted to her weird mood he slowly thought and started speaking. “Entrance, Door, Portal, Gate, Opening...” He trailed off, her head had snapped up at gate.

“Yes, I knew it! Wonderful, your bookish brain finally came in handy Mr. Strongwood!” She stood and walked over to table which held paper and fountain pens. Fevrea scribbled out a few lines, blew on the ink to help it dry, then folded it. “Can you give this to Artem, I need him to command the Defense Force for a while. I don’t know how long exactly, but it will be a little bit.” She handed him the note then ran out the doors.

Bala was left standing in the trashed library holding a note. Before he could help it he was laughing. It was a typical Fevrea thing to do.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Having only to stop in her room to grab her rucksack, Fevrea was ready to go ten minutes after she figured the letter out. The only thing stopping her was the six armed guards standing in front of the stable doors.

“Really? Now is the time you stop being scared of me? Move aside. I am needed.” As she spoke, she was belting on her swords, one on each hilt. A rapier and a short sword. After fastening on her baldric and checking the daggers there, she finally looked up. Seeing that her orders hadn’t been followed, she glared. “Did you not understand? Move!”

It was the smallest, a young man named Rive who answered. “We can’t, your highness. You are going somewhere with no intention of bringing your guard. The King said that if you left again, without us, we would be to blame and be permanently demoted.”

With a growl the honorable princess punched a wall.

She paced for a moment then, screamed. “FATHER!!” After breathing a few deep breaths she spoke again. “Fine, come along but if I tell you to wait, you must. Saddle your horses, we are going to Mount Siviet.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Though having taken longer than Fevrea had planned, there was still two hours until sunset when the convoy reached the ruins near the peak of the mountain.

“Finally! We are near the summit. Come, let us ascend.” She gave a light tap, encouraging her horse towards the thin trail that snaked up, seemingly towards the sky. Without warning her mount reared up and almost unseated her. Holding onto the reins tightly, she calmed and settled the horse. After slowly dismounting, Fevrea tried to walk towards the path, the lead still held in her hands, but the horse would not move any closer towards the peak. Turning she saw that this plight was one of all her guards. Giving a resigned sigh, she unfastened her pack and shouldered it. “Stay here. The horses will not move any further. I will be back.”

Before she could take a step, a voice called to her, “But Princess...”

“But what?!” She asked, slightly exasperated. “What is going to happen to me on top of a mountain? I highly doubt the Paustians have a camp there and you are blocking the only way up. Plus I am not a weak little child and I know when the odds are stacked against me, I will call for help if needed. If that is all.” She met each and every one of their eyes. “Good.”

Adjusting her pack, Fevrea started up the path.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Walking, that was all she had been doing for hours. Climbing and climbing Mount Siviet. There seemed to be no end. And though there was sweat pouring down her face and her legs felt like they would collapse at any moment, Fevrea continued on, determined to reach the top.

It was then that she noticed a flicker from the corner of her eye. Whipping around, drawing her short sword, she put the specter in her line of sight.

It was a female, one who had once had dark hair. She wore a long tunic and a pair of pants. She was laughing, her mouth open and her head thrown back. “You should see the look on your face. So funny!” It took the woman a few moments to gain control over herself. She looked at Fevrea again, this time with only a smile on her face. “Well, are you coming?” And with that she walked off the path and into a bush. That which hadn’t been there for the entire time Fevrea had been walking.

Looking around, Fevrea sighed and sheathed her sword. “Hold on... I’m coming.” Walking through the bushes, which wasn’t as easy as the woman had made it, was made evident as she tripped and tumbled into a clearing.

The clearing was flat and only marred by a stone arch that stood, framing the setting sun. Fevrea narrowed her eyes, “How long was I walking? The sun is just hitting the ocean now!”

“Not that long, maybe twenty minutes.” The mysterious woman smiled again. “Sorry, Fevrea, but I needed to see if you would give up. Congratulations for not, by the way.”

“Sorry!? I was walking for hours. And who are you?” Fevrea was pacing. And stomping. And kicking stones.

“My friends call me Ettie.” Her face was serene and peaceful, the exact opposite of the young woman across from her.

“Alright, Ettie, now why are you playing with me.”

“You wanted to find something. I am trying to help you, but first you must see what has happened here.” And without appearing to move, she was suddenly in front of the princess. “Look, see, and understand.” Eyes which had been grey and milky before were now a deep piercing yellow.

Fevrea was dizzy, the world was moving fast, too fast to be normal. There were images running past her eyes, whch speed forward. Ettie and a young boy coming ashore of a small mountainous island. A small meeting of older Calvek including the woman. Ettie walking up the mountain, followed by the young boy. Then it was just Ettie, kneeling in the center of the clearing, green lights swirling around her, and the ground rumbling. Unseen by Ettie, but noticed by Fevrea, was the arch. The area inside the arch was sparkling like a dew drop filled spiders web. It was hypnotizing, but she was broken from her reverie by the web disappearing. Shifting her gaze once more to Ettie she saw why, the green swirls were gone and there on the ground was Ettie. Dead.

The boy came up to her, tears streaming down his face. He took off the pendant that hung around Ettie’s neck and walked opposite the arch. Digging a hole, he buried it.

It was with that final image that Fevrea woke from her dream state. She looked around for the ghost. Finding her standing near where the necklace had been buried, Fevrea rose and stood next to her. “You’re Cvet aren’t you?” The words were soft but the meaning behind them was hard.

Cvet nodded. “My son, Peirsyn had to bring my body down the mountain by himself. He was twelve and he had to be a man too early.”

Fevrea waited a few moments, lost in the solemn silence. “That is the gate I am looking for isn’t it?” Without waiting for confirmation she turned and walked for it. “How does it work? Do you know?” All Cvet did was nod. “Can you tell me?” Another nod. “Well?!”

This demand made Cvet laugh. “The Arch is not sentient. It will only open for those of with a key. You need to find your key, Frevrea, find Cvetonia’s hidden key.” And with that and a laugh she faded from view.

“Aww, come on, that is not fair, you cannot get all mystical now. I don’t even have Bala to give me synonyms.” She started pacing. Thinking over the images she was shown, she remembered the pendent. “It can’t be that easy...” With a hopeful smile she ran to the place where Cvet had been standing and began digging. It took a few holes but she soon had the necklace in her hands.

It was a Nuumite gem, the rarest of all in Cvetonia, placed in an archaic setting with a long, silver chain. Using the last of her water, she cleaned off the years of dirt and dried it. Walking to the arch she closed her eyes and stuck her fist, holding the pendent, through it. And... nothing happened. Fevrea opened her eyes and pouted. “Of course it wasn’t that easy.”

She tried many different ways to get through the gate. She tried jumping, hopping, skipping. She tried to throw the gem through then leaping after. She tried hanging the gem on the arch then walking through it. Finally she sat, staring at the stone monstrosity. “Stupid Arch!” Tired of holding the necklace she put the chain around her neck. As soon as it had fallen onto her collar bone. She heard a slight crackle then there was a soft ringing.

Looking up she saw the spiders web again, only this time it was brighter.

“All I had to do was put it on?! Really?” Unsheathing her short sword, Fevrea took a deep breath and ran through the gate.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Shooting out of the gate, Fevrea immediately fell to her knees. “Whoa, that’s a rush!” Standing she heard a subtle cough and looked up. “Oops... Did I do it wrong, or am I supposed to be here? Because there were no instructions and trust me, it was really hard to get that thing going.” As she spoke she gestured with her sword causing a few wary eyes to follow it. Then suddenly it pointed at the Fox. “Hey, you, wow, first, you got a bit old. Second, couldn’t you have put in a better clue in that letter? It took me forever to figure it out! And third...” she finally took a better look around her and noticed the opulent hall. “Where am I?”