This is an excerpt from a story I’m working on, titled In a Kingdom of Crystal.
The story takes place in the kingdom of Eldoria, home to two ruling families: the Hawkes and the Ravennas. The heirs of these two families are preparing to compete in a challenge called the Running of the Crystal, where they will race up Mount Vespara to retrieve a sacred crystal from its peak. Whoever returns with the crystal first will be crowned the new king or queen.
Our narrator, Seraphina, is a teenage servant for the Hawke family, skilled at sneaking around the castle’s secret passageways. Hawke’s heir, Rolen, asks Seraphina to help him prepare for the upcoming challenge. He is unfamiliar with the mountains, and fears disappointing his family if he loses. Ravenna’s heir, Livia, has been exploring the mountains for years, and Rolen thinks she might have useful insights. He begs Seraphina to eavesdrop on Livia, hoping she’ll learn something valuable. Seraphina has her doubts, but agrees to help Rolen.
In this excerpt, Seraphina is on her second expedition to spy on Livia.
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I tapped suspicious-looking stones, pulled on torches, looked behind paintings and statues, and finally located a passageway behind a large suit of armor. Feeling very pleased with myself, I crept into the darkness, which enveloped me like a comforting blanket. Some people were scared of the dark, but I was the opposite—I felt safest in these silent, hidden places.
I made my way through the passage, running my hand along the rough stone beside me. I couldn’t see much, but hoped if I kept following the wall, I’d reach Livia’s chamber eventually. Just as I was gaining confidence, the wall curved abruptly and I realized I’d found a side tunnel. Great. Now what?
I decided to take the side tunnel, but after feeling my way along for several minutes, the passage narrowed and I started to question my choice. I was about to turn back when I heard Lady Ravenna’s voice chirping somewhere nearby. Okay, I guess I’m on the right track. I slowed my pace and listened closely as I continued down the tunnel.
Soon enough, I rounded a corner and heard Livia’s voice drifting through the walls. “Dangers and Deaths in the Silverthorne Mountains? Really? This is the best Mother could find?”
A smile tugged at my lips. It was that same awful book Rolen had just been complaining about. I moved toward her voice and pressed my ear against the wall, wondering if there was someone else in the room or if she was talking to herself.
“Seriously?” Livia chuckled. “‘Old Lord so-and-so died a terrible, gruesome, horrendous death from a rogue avalanche up on Mount Elwood?!’ Enough with the synonyms! We get it—he died. And probably not from an avalanche, since these mountains have never gotten snow. This book is useless.” A loud thud sounded as she presumably tossed the book onto the floor.
Okay, no snow, and don’t trust Dangers and Deaths for any kind of information. Both details might help Rolen, but I needed more. Complain about more books, Livia!
She must have heard my silent plea, because a few moments later, she was musing again.
“Huh,” she said, sounding pleasantly surprised. “This map is actually . . . sort of accurate?”
What book? What book?
She didn’t answer this time. “I’ll keep that one,” Livia said. “It’s not as good as the map I drew, though.”
I perked up. A good map? Drawn by her? That was exactly what Rolen wanted! I glanced around in the darkness and noticed a pinprick of light coming through the wall, low enough that I hadn’t seen it before.
I knelt down and peered through the tiny . . . was it a keyhole? As my face brushed smooth wood instead of stone, my mind flashed back to Livia’s conversation with Breena. She’d mentioned that Cecily came through a secret door—could this be it?
Livia sat at her desk several feet away from my hiding spot, indeed alone. Okay, I guess she was talking to herself. I can respect that. She held the map in front of her, and her long, light braids tumbled over her shoulders as she studied it. Her face was round, slightly childlike, but something in those deep brown eyes made her look intelligent and mature. The corner of her mouth twitched upward for a second, as if she was remembering some private joke.
As I watched, Livia ran her finger across the map, perhaps tracing a line on it. But I couldn’t see the map itself through the tiny keyhole, no matter how many awkward positions I tried to wedge myself into.
Plopping down on the floor of the passageway, I let out a sigh of frustration. I need to get a peek at that map!
I sat there for what felt like an eternity, half-listening to Livia ramble on about another book—Simply and Snappily Silverthorne—the unfortunate name was all I really heard. She’d just tossed it to the ground with Dangers and Deaths when the clock in her room chimed. I scrambled up to peek through the keyhole just in time to see her walk out the door.
My eyes landed on the map, folded up on her desk, and I knew what I had to do. I couldn’t leave without looking at it, and this would just take a second—at least, that was what I tried to tell myself.
I felt around near the keyhole and located a small metal latch on the secret door. After fiddling with it for a minute, I heard a satisfying click, then cracked open the door and crept into Livia’s room.
Was I really doing this?
This was going way beyond eavesdropping. I was a Hawke servant, sneaking into the private chambers of Ravenna’s heir, and if anyone caught me, they’d lock me in the dungeon for sure.
So I just have to be quick. Yes, this was riskier than my normal expeditions, but the principle was the same. I would sneak around, and not get caught. I was the queen of stealth, just like Rolen said. I could do this.
I unfolded Livia’s map and my eyes widened—I’d never seen such a detailed map before. The mountains were drawn so precisely they seemed to rise out of the paper, with intricate paths weaving through the rocks and elaborate notes in the margins. All the tallest mountain peaks were labeled in tidy handwriting, and Mount Vespara—home of the Crystal Cave—was towering above all the others. The cave itself seemed to glow atop the summit, and an extensive note was scrawled nearby:
“This is the Crystal Cave, the destination of every heir since Eldoria’s founding. There are three passageways leading inside, only one of which will reach the heart of the cave. The cave’s magic constantly changes the location of the correct path—proceed carefully!”
Okay, that was useful! I pulled some paper out of my satchel and copied down the note.
I was a decent artist, so I narrowed my eyes at the map and tried to figure out how much I could recreate. It would be much faster if I just took the map, I realized, but I couldn’t do that. It wouldn’t be fair if Rolen had it and Livia didn’t. Of course, spying on Livia wasn’t really fair either, but stealing the map felt worse.
I started on Mount Vespara, carefully tracing each crag and cave. My copy didn’t have the magnificence of Livia’s perfect map, but it would still be useful for the challenge.
I heard footsteps out in the hallway and I jumped, eyes darting around for a place to hide. But I kept drawing; it was probably just someone walking past.
The sound of the footsteps slowed, and I felt my hands tremble as I lifted my pencil to trace another line. Then I heard a key turn in the lock. Panic surging through me, I grabbed my paper and lunged under the heavy wooden desk.
There was a narrow gap between the desk and the floor, and peeking through that, I saw a servant’s skirt and feet entering the room. I tensed up, terrified. I’d never been this close to getting caught. The servant headed over to the other side of the chamber, and I heard the fluffing of pillows and shaking of fabric as she made Livia’s bed. Then she bent down, and I saw her face—it was Breena, the servant Livia had been talking to on my previous mission.
As Breena came back over toward the desk, I held my breath. What if she saw me? What if I got caught?
Breena stopped in front of the books Livia had tossed on the floor, so close I could see the individual stitches on her skirt. “Oh, dear,” she murmured to herself. “Those books I brought up earlier must have fallen off the desk.”
I couldn’t help but smile, despite my perilous situation. Well, they didn’t so much “fall” . . .
But the smirk quickly left my face as Breena knelt beside the desk. She seemed focused on the books she was stacking up, but if she turned her head . . .
I wished I could squeeze my eyes shut—I didn’t want to watch—but I was paralyzed by fear, unable to breathe or move, or even blink. I was a stone statue, but I still worried Breena could hear my racing heart. I couldn’t believe I’d put myself in this situation. Why had I ever thought this was a good idea? My fate rested in the hands of this one Ravenna servant, and if she—
Breena stood back up, placed the books on the desk, and headed out of the room.
I finally let myself take a breath. Thank you, fate.
Even with the danger past, it was several minutes before I felt safe enough to come out of my hiding spot. That had been way too close. The map was lying open on the desk, right where I’d left it, and I was still clutching my paper and pencil, but I couldn’t risk staying any longer. Sorry, Rolen—I was out of here.
I pushed open the secret door and scrambled through, heart beating fast. The passage seemed darker than before, and for once it didn’t calm me—instead, it was cold and unwelcoming.
I hurried through the darkness, too shaken to watch where I was going. It was only when I reached a dead end in the passage that I realized I must have taken a wrong turn, and now I had no clue where I was. This mission was not going as smoothly as the last.
But on the bright side, I wasn’t in the dungeon. I only had to turn around, find my way out of here, and then everything would be fine.
I was about to do just that when I heard a familiar voice from a nearby chamber. I had to listen for a moment to make sure of it, but the deep, gravelly tones were unmistakable. It was Corwin, Rolen’s grouchy old uncle.
What could he possibly be doing up here in the royal residences?
Art: Mountain Landscape by FerdinandLadera on DeviantArt