Sword in the Shadows Chapter One

A young woman threw the grand doors into the throne room of Vendra,
made of impenetrable oak. Her tall, slim body stood out against the
dark colored doors and poorly lit chamber, the sleeveless golden yellow
dress she was wearing swaying. Her curly black hair, normally down, was
tied into a tight bun. While her cheeks were flushed a light pink, her
green eyes flared.

"When I was in the garden, I saw a tree move of its own accord!" She
continued to tromp forward, clenching her fists, not in anger, but
fear.

A dark colored man standing next to the throne spun around and faced
the woman as she came beside him.

"Princess Miranda, I am Tacyn. I was just telling your father about the
moving shadows around the kingdom. You have just had an encounter with
one of them," he told her, holding his hands tight and rubbing them in
anxiety.

"How long has this been going on without my knowledge, Tacyn?" asked a
man with graying hair under his crown.

"Several months King Jilhal. The reports had been scattered and, up
till not too long ago, hardly anything was known about them. It was
though that people were spinning tales to scar each other. Recently, we
have found that?"

"Where have these reports been coming from?" interrupted Miranda.

"Starting out in the Biew Lowlands, they have very slowly worked their
way to Vendra," Tacyn told them, "It is very unusual."

"Yes, it is, I will have to discuss with my council on this matter. You
will also be needed, so I will send someone for you. Until then, you
are dismissed. Mir, come with me."

Miranda followed her father behind the throne to a gold lion statue
next to a tapestry. As King Jilhal tapped, the statue's back left paw,
the wall and tapestry opened to reveal a passageway.

"Luminas," King Jilhal whispered into his hands as they entered the
passageway and the wall went down. A small glowing orb appeared in King
Jilhal's hands and floated ahead of them.

Miranda and King Jilhal walked to the end of the hallway and stopped.
In a small crevice was a silver sword; a ruby was set in its black
handle.

"Excalibur," Miranda spoke as she walked toward the sword, "What do
you know about these shadows? Why are they coming here?"

Excalibur produced a bright blue glow, as if it desired to show
something, but could not. The glow faded until the only aura left was
coming from the orb.

"What will happen if we do not have Excalibur to guide us?"

"I do not know Mir, but we must be prepared for whatever might be
coming."

"How can we be prepared for something we know next to nothing about?"
asked Miranda as they stopped at the beginning of the passageway.

King Jilhal pressed the lightest colored stone on the wall, and it
lifted up along with the tapestry.

"I do not know, but we will find a way," King Jilhal said as they
walked out of the dimly lit throne room and into a sun filled
hallway.

"My lord and Princess Miranda, how nice to see both of you," a man a
couple years Miranda's senior said after he lightly kissed her
hand.

"Do you not have matters that need taking care of High Member Vladmir?"
Miranda pulled her hand out of Vladmir's grasp.

"None that I know of, unless I am mistaken my lady."

"I have something for you to do now High Member. I want you to find as
many of the ten council members that are currently in the palace. Tell
them that I am calling an emergency meeting the throne room." King
Jilhal told Vladmir

"Yes my lord. Would you do me the honor of coming along with me
Princess Miranda?"

"You have lived in this palace for as long as I have High Member, I do
not think you will get lost," Miranda coldly said.

"Miranda, go with him. I will see you at the meeting, and you are
expected to come to this one," King Jilhal sternly told his
daughter.

"Yes father, I will not try to get out of this council meeting,"
Miranda said as she curtsied to her father, hiding a sly smile on her
face.

"Even if I have lived here for as long as you Princess, you know the
palace better than I do," Vladmir told Miranda. He looked behind at
King Jilhal's retreating figure, and then quickly took Miranda's hand
as they walked away from the throne room.

"Where are you going to look for the council members?"

"Since it is beginning to cool down a bit, it would be a good idea to
look in the southern gardens. Or would look for them elsewhere
Princess?"

"I guess that would be as good as place as any to look for the council
members," Miranda said as she slipped her hand out of Vladmir's.

"Would you like to stop in your bedroom to grab something to put around
your shoulders Princess? I would not want you getting sick because of
me," Vladmir said as he took Miranda's hand, again.

"I will be fine, do not worry about me. Can you please let go of my
hand?" Miranda said, giving up on politely hinting to Vladmir to let go
of her hand.

"Yes, of course Princess," stammered Vladmir," I did not mean to offend
you in any way.

"Do not let it happen again High Member," said Miranda as she pushed
open a door marked South Gardens, "The only reason I came with you is
because my father wanted me to."

"I do not thing that is the only reason Princess," Vladmir said as they
walked into the gardens," No matter how much you try to deny it."

"Are you trying to accuse me of actually liking you Vladmir! I have
never heard so much untruth ever!" Miranda yelled.

"Princess Miranda, and High Member Vladmir, what brings you two out
here?" asked a short woman with brown hair as she stood up from the
bench she was sitting on.

"King Jilhal is calling an emergency council meeting and we are trying
to round up all the council members, Member Sandra. Do you know where
they are?" asked Vladmir.

"I know that most of them are in the garden, bur Randol is on guard
duty. Would you like me to go get them?"

"Yes, that would be kind of you to do that. Please tell them that the
meeting is to held in the throne room," Miranda told her before Vladmir
could say anything.

"Yes my lady," Sandra said as she hurried off.

"Now that I have taken care of what your father wanted me to do, we
should probably go back to the throne room."

Miranda walked out of the garden without Vladmir noticing that she
had. After a couple minutes had passed, he finally realized that she
had already left and ran out of the gardens to catch up with her.

"Princess Miranda! Wait for me!" Vladmir yelled down the hallway.

"If you are looking for the princess, she went through the door over
there," a guard said as he pointed to a door next to Vladmir," It goes
directly to the throne room."

"I could have figured that out without your help," Vladmir snapped as
he opened the door.

* * *

"I see that you found your way back to the throne room without my
help," Miranda said as Vladmir walked into the throne room.

"I did not need you to accompany me after all Princess."

"I sent you out not long ago to find council members." King Jilhal
began to slowly walk toward Vladmir, with orbs lighting his way. "Were
they all in the same place at the same time?"

"No my lord, I found Member Sandra in the Southern Gardens. She told me
that she would find the rest of the council members, except for Member
Randol, and bring them back here."

"Why can Member Randol not attend this meeting?"

"My lord, he is on guard duty."

"Yes, of course." There was a large rap at the main doors. "That must
be the council."

The doors opened and in walked a small boy followed by the council
members. After all had gotten in, the boy turned and left.

"My lord, it has been a while since there has been a need for an
emergency meeting. For what reason are we gathered?" asked a mousy
woman.

"Surely you have heard of the moving shadows, Member Landra? They have
been more frequently as of late." Miranda walked toward the council,
her shoes clacking against the stone floor.

"My lord," the young boy reentered the room, " the messenger
Tacyn."

"I would offer you a seat," King Jilhal said as he gestured around the
room, "but we have none."

"I will be fine just standing King Jilhal," Tacyn said as the boy shut
the door.

"What has Excalibur shown of these shadows, my lord?"

"Excalibur has shown nothing, we need to find out what to do before
this problem becomes any worse," King Jilhal said.

"We could send the guards to kill off the moving shadows."

"How would we know if they were trying to kill a moving shadow or a
real shadow?"

"If the shadow moved on its own, then they would know."

"What if they only can be killed at a certain time or by a certain
weapon?"

"No one will know unless someone tries."

"Silence!" King Jilhal boomed, "Nothing will get done if the only thing
happening is arguing."

"King Jilhal is right," Vladmir said, "the only way we can something
done is if we take turns."

"I will go first and tell you about my encounter with these moving
shadows." Miranda walked to the throne and faced the council.

"I was in the garden with a large lake, and passed by the oldest willow
tree. The tree's shadow moved when it had no reason to. After that, I
ran to the throne room."

"Do you have anything to add Tacyn?" King Jilhal asked.

"Many people claim to see the shadows morph into different forms. They
mostly take the shape of animals, but have been known to take a human
form."

"As you can see, we have little information about these shadows. There
needs to be more reliable facts before we decide what actions we will
take against them," said Vladmir.

"Excellent idea High Member Vladmir, I shall take along a group to get
some more information. Who will go with me?"

"Landra, and I will go King Jilhal, and Randol if he is asked," Sandra
said.

"High Member Vladmir, you will be staying behind. Princess Miranda will
need some guidance, she will rule until my return."

"Yes, my lord."

Miranda came beside her father and whispered," How will I know what is
the right decision father?"

"Ruling is in your blood, you will know what to do when the time comes.
You will not be making decisions alone, High Member Vladmir will help
you. Remember, you will be ruler one day, it will be a leaning
experience."

"This meeting is over. All that are going with me should pack and meet
me in the stables."

Miranda waited until everyone had left, and began to walk out. In front
of the oak doors, waiting for her, stood Vladmir.

"You know that I will get lost, so why do you wait for me?"

"I wish to speak with you, princess."

"About what, High Member."

"Call me Vladmir please. We cannot talk here there will be no one in
the rose gardens this close to nightfall. Let us go there to
talk."

"Fine however, not too long. I do not know about you, but I sleep
during the night," Miranda said as they walked out of the throne
room.

"There is a faster way than walking through the palace, princess."
Vladmir took Miranda's hand and led her to a door marked Rose
Garden.

"Someone could get lost if most of the doors were not marker, could
they not Princess?"

"High Member, one could still get lost even with the signs."

"Vladmir took Miranda through the twisting passage, she was getting
more lost with every turn they took. Finally, Vladmir opened a door and
they stepped out into the fading sunlight.

"Can you tell me what you could not before?" Miranda sat on a granite
bench decorated with a dragon around its feet.

"I feel that there is a reason why these shadows are moving toward
Vendra. Those shadows have been sent to get something."

"What do you think that is?" Miranda tried not to laugh at what he was
suggesting.

"Excalibur, its power has already been blocked."

"It is an impossible task to steal Excalibur, everyone who has tried to
has failed. Do you really think some shadows could do that?"

"That sword is one of the few things in Vendra worth stealing, what
else could they be moving here for?"

"We do not know if there is an actual pattern; it is not even know what
these shadows are for sure. So until more is known about them, I would
advise you not to jump to such conclusions High Member." Miranda stood
to leave," I will see you in the morning."

Standing in the garden, Vladmir watched Miranda walk away. Making sure
that no one saw him, he slipped through a nearby door.