Royals

A short story about a short portion in a characters life.

Crystal Kingdom

Shoe Rivers age:13

Lightning Dragon Castle

“Did you make sure your brother ate?” I turned my head to my father as he stood in the doorway of my room. I had just finished putting together my sandle’s that Tori had woven for me when he interrupted. I stood up and my hand automatically searched for my sword. Though I couldn’t use Matthias just yet, it was too big but I was still going through sword training anyway.

“I did, he went to play with the servants after that.” I answered dryly. I moved passed him, taking Matthias with me as I quickly ran down the halls. Tori said she’d wait for me in the courtyard so I expected to see the girl there. I smiled when I spotted her blonde hair near the pond. I jumped eagerly a tiny bit of electricity escaping my mouth as I stopped at her side. Poking her shoulder she turned towards me.

“Shoe! See, I told you they’d fit nice.” Tori clapped her hands together as she smiled. Mentioning my sandals she had made. I looked at the delicately woven pieces of string and grinned. They did it nicely, not to mention they were a lot more comfy than what my father had given me yesterday.

“It’s the best present Tori! You’d think the whole castle’s forgotten I turn thirteen today!” I grinned as I held Matthias in front of me. “One day I’ll be able to hold Matthias properly and use him to protect this kingdom!” Tori tilted her head still with a soft smile.

“You get so attached to that sword you gave it a name and gender - that cannot be healthy Shoe.” she teased as I let Matthias hang at my side. I looked at it for a moment, tapping a finger against the hilt. Tori noticed the change in mood it seemed as she pushed on my shoulder.

“Why don’t we see what Maxie is doing?” She asked as I turned up my nose and snorted.

“You just wanna go see your boyfriendddd.” I hissed for a moment as Tori tugged on the back of my long black hair. I winced a bit as she pulled me behind her.

“Not fair!” she smirked, “It’s not like I chose who I’m with, it’s the same for you - you’re with that prince!” Tori rarely got angry but I sort of liked it when she did. So I smiled rubbing the back of my head.

“Yeah, but you’ve met Maxie and we hang out with him a lot - I’ve never even met prince emil. I doubt I’ll ever truly get along with him anyway!” I groaned mildly. “We’re only thirteen we shouldn’t be worrying about who we’re going to marry or anything like that.” I waved my hands in the air, dropping Matthias onto the floor as Tori quickly grabbed the sword.

“You don’t get this back until the end of the day. Come on Maxie’s probably got more exciting things planned for your birthday anyway!” Tori’s eyes gleamed as I glared at her for a moment. Mumbling under my breath I finally gave in and followed her as we headed towards the dark dragon block of the castle. Two large buildings that made up Maxie and his family. It was on the opposite side of where the light dragon buildings were, with the lightning dragon building in the middle. Almost like a little town.

Maxie was waiting out front, with his father in front of him. I hid behind Tori slightly, Maxie’s father was a large man taller than even my father. He had thick black hair and intense blue eyes not to mention he looked like a monster with all that muscle under him. I didn’t really speak much with him but as the current Dark Dragon of the castle he still scared me.

“Hello mister Farwalker.” Tori greeted the taller man no problem. The young girl having her hands behind her back as I simply peeked out for a moment.

“Hello Tori - are you accompanying princess Shoe today? I hear you turned thirteen.” I peeked my head out to look at him. He was smiling, but my hair was still on end. I shyly looked at the ground.

“Y-yeah.” I muttered as Tori tapped my arm lightly. She pushed my forward and I kept eye contact with the ground. Feeling Maxie’s father’s hand on my head I flinched slightly but he only ruffled my hair.

“Happy birthday scamp - have fun okay.” He told me as he let go and continued back towards the main castle. I watched him carefully until I couldn’t see him anymore, finally able to get a breath as Maxie stood to my side.

“He says your dad and him are going for some important business. Some trouble in the city or something. I was going to show you the city today Shoe but King Cullen said no.” Maxie seemed to be really sad about that. I tugged his arm and grinned.

“It’s nothing Maxie, I don’t think he’ll ever let me out of the castle. Once I’m Queen that’s when everything changes…. I mean I don’t have much of a choice so I might as well make the most of that!” I yelled as Maxie looked at me nervously with his index fingers poking together. I looked as Tori crossed her hands, still holding Matthias.

“Why don’t we play hide and seek with Matthias?” Tori suggested waving my prized possession in the air. I instantly felt a bit of irritation but of course I couldn’t say anything to Tori.

“Not fair!” I complained as Tori smirked.

“What you can’t even draw it yet, what’s the point of keeping it around for this longgg.”  I hissed for a moment.

“Tori you know why.” I complained again as I charged up on her but the taller girl kept the sword out of my reach. I looked at Maxie smiling as he laughed a bit uncomfortably, I stopped trying to grab Matthias for a moment. Standing as I went quiet then it clicked my head. “Maxie you haven’t seen Lorelei yet have you? He’s already three he’s getting huge!” I jumped up and down a little.

“That’s your little brother right? No, I’m not usually allowed in the main castle.” He commented as his eyes seemed to gleam. Maxie had wanted to meet Lorelei since he was born - but because of Lorelei’s weak health not to mention how much my father doted over him Maxie hadn’t been allowed to see him.

“Well I don’t think they’ll mind as long as me and Tori are with you, let’s go.” I gave him a thumbs up, grabbing his hand as Tori sighed. Following us back to the main castle. I stepped into the front door and moved to the right down the hallway to the main room. Where a couple of servants were moving around.

“Hey where’s Lorelei?” I asked to one as the young man turned to look at me. He pointed towards the next room. Where a small table sat, Lorelei was with one of the female servants. She was letting him play with a box where he was setting them in the correct shapes. I quietly stepped inside with Tori and Maxie followed. I watched Tori set Matthias against the wall probably so that it was away from her hand while she interacted with Lorelei.

“Hey Lorelei, this is Maxie.” I tugged Maxie closer as I watched Lorelei look at me.

“Big sis! Hi Maxie, I’m Lorelei.” My little brother said happily as the servant smiled at the three of us. “Toree Toree, look at what I drew.” Lorelei picked up a piece of paper next to him and showed us a crudely drawn picture from chalk. It looked to be Tori and me in the courtyard. I often saw Lorelei watching us from the window when me and Tori hung around. So it was no surprise, though of course they were just a pair of stick figures.

Tori placed a hand carefully on his head as she smiled gently at the boy. “It looks great Lorelei I’m very proud of you.” I smiled as I sighed and placed my hand on my hips. Watching as Maxie then stepped forward and started to talk with Tori and Lorelei. I actually took the chance then to slip out of the room moving towards the kitchen. I followed my fathers scent curious as to if he had left yet.

“Are you looking for your father?” I turned around and saw Resturance standing there. The light dragon, he was younger than Maxie’s dad but certainly an adult. He looked angry his arms crossed as I swallowed. He was my current teacher in sword play. “You won’t find him here, he went out with Yuu to check out the city - you should have been with me today you’re missing your rounds.” I flinched for a moment.

“But it’s my BIRTHDAY today Resturance!” I complained as I placed my hands together. “And Tori stole Matthias for the day anyway.” he snorted for a moment.

“That’s not an excuse, and you can’t use Matthias yet anyway you don’t have enough strength and it was your father’s sword. Just because he can’t use it anymore doesn’t mean that it’s automatically yours. You have to wait until you fully develop your lightning powers.” His tone was serious as I simply glared at him. I didn’t want to do anything today I wanted it to be relaxing and that was that. I had a hard enough time with my dad yelling at me. He only normally let up on my birthdays or around them anyway. I went to walk away but he caught me by the edge of my shirt. “Shoe.” he breathed I felt his anger but then he started to calm down taking a moment to sigh.

“What?” I hissed through my teeth.

“You are the princess of this kingdom, not to mention the inheritance of the lightning dragon’s powers. If you don’t train properly every day you’re health will be worse than your fathers. Do you know that? It puts strain on your lungs - one day it’ll kill you.” I tensed at the mentioning of that. I turned around and growled at him.

“Why do I have to hear this?” I yelled, my eyes felt heavy for a moment. “It’s not fair, don’t I get a say in what I want? Why does fate have to decide everything for us!” I found myself with a lack of breath for a moment. I caught from the edge of my eye Maxie and Tori watching me from the doorway to the other room. Maxie’s looked terrified for a moment and Tori’s eyes glossed over with worry. My mood dropped as I looked at Resturance. “I don’t want to die.” I clutched my hands together.

“Then get strong…. Get so strong that you won’t have to depend on anyone. Get strong enough to control what is coming to you… because Shoe - fate does not decide where you land. You do, and you can choose to get stronger.” I felt heat start up in my stomach as Tori stepped forward.

“Me and Maxie will be with you every step of the way.” Tori said as I looked at her. “Think of it that way… don’t let us down.” she put an emphasis on us and I took in a sharp breath. Exactly, we were royals and I wouldn’t let us be pulled down by cliche’s of our families. We would be the best royals that the Crystal Kingdom had ever seen.

Author's Note

So this is a spin off one shot from my series the lightning dragons wish. Which originally I was going to stop writing, but my friend and I picked it back up again! So look forward to more chapters of that. I'm excited for it xD I know it's stupid to upload fanfiction here but whatever.

This is a bit about Shoe's past the age in which she is stated at the top. It's been a long time since I tried to write younger characters and I don't hang around much children so I hope Lorelei is at least semi realistic for a three year old.

Reviews

[T.S. Sky]

This is a cool write. I like it.