Lumina

1 ~ Coming of Age

Maizie

Howling from metallic jaws of castle bells echoed through stone cold castle walls. Maizie shot up in her bed, eyes wide with terror at the first thought registering through each piercing ring. She knew what frantic bells meant under midnight's cloak.

They're coming for me!

Flung out of bed at the thundering of soldiers down the halls. They came in the middle of the night- she thought they would at least allow her to see the sun rise.

No, she trembled, It's too soon for this! I'm not ready to-

"Princess!" She heard guards burst into her foyer, the only room between the hall and her bed chamber.

Garbed in a thin silk nightgown, Maizie frowned at her petite body. Weak and without any ability to protect herself. She scoured the room until fearful eyes landed on a poker hanging beside the cooled fireplace. If she made a running lunge, she might have enough time to grab it. But then she had no idea what to do with a weapon.

At least she would have one.

The best education afforded to her in the land and never had she so much as touched a blade larger than a kitchen knife.

She remained frozen in the middle of the granite floor, effectively useless.

The second set of doors were thrown open and an overwhelming amount of bodies stuffed into her room. The princess squared her shoulders. Stared down the palace guards.

"How dare you-" she tried to reprimand but the bells drowned her voice out.

The Guard Captain stepped forward, left hand placed over the sheathed sword at his waist. A large man of balding yellow hair, his voice held no room for remorse. "A dangerous convict has escaped. Our orders are to escort you to immediate safety."

Maizie had to hold her breath for fear of a sob escaping. So it wasn't time yet. She swallowed her relief and raised her voice to call over the bells, "How? The prisoners are not kept at Biswich castle."

There was a pause, long enough that the princess began to wonder if this guard was going to answer at all.

She could see the words building on his tongue, though.

"What?" She demanded.

"To more thoroughly gather information, certain prisoners are- that is- temporarily held outside of the main prisons," he answered delicately.

"I see." Maizie didn't need to ask what he meant and set her shoulders. "Lead on."

Minutes later the princess stood huddled with an assortment of castle staff and guards- most of which she hardly recognized- in a small hidden room just under the kitchen. Built purely as a safe room, functionality came first. So even though it was warded to be sound proof and completely undetectable from the outside, comfort had not been taken into account beyond soft flooring.

It was stuffy and without air flow except that stirred by the breath from each body. Despite being tucked behind a secret latched door of the main kitchen pantry and down a short set of stairs, Maizie could smell no hint of the foods stored just on the other side. In fact, she couldn't hear anything from the other side either. A convenience, if the wards also hadn't cut off even the slightest breeze from the outside to help with the growing smell of body odor inside.

Otherwise, the wards were astonishing. Wisps of magic inlaid into objects for a set purpose. Even more impressive, depending on the strength of the user's magic, one could last decades. A couple of Biswich castle's defensive wards that had been placed by a Lumina hundreds of years prior were even still effective.