Chapter 4- Chain of Restriction

Novado went up the stairs to the floor right below Luna’s, then Lunar turned to Crescent and Star and told them to go back to her room, and cast a spell of protection over it, then when they had gone up to Lunar’s room Novado went into a room right under Lunar’s, when Lunar entered the room Novado closed the door.

“It’s safe to talk here.  You see the Council placed magic cameras around the palace and the entire kingdom so that they can find out what people are talking about, the only place they don’t put them are inside personal rooms,” said Novado. 

“That’s great and all, but what about Noch.  What happened to him, why did he act like that?” asked Lunar sadly as Novado looked at her.

“Exactly what I told you, he must have done something that the Council didn’t like, so they… changed him,” said Novado. 

“How do I change him back?” asked Lunar concerned. 

Novado didn’t say anything he just looked at her.  “What are you going to tell me it’s impossible?” asked Lunar angrily. 

“There’s no point in getting angry at me,” said Novado plainly as he looked at Lunar. 

“Fine, I won’t get angry at you.  You said that the Council did this,” said Lunar. 

“You can’t, it would be unless, you want to end up like the Prince,” said Novado a little concerned. 

“Why would you care if I ended up like him, that way I would be obedient,” said Lunar annoyed. 

“Because… because my parents told me before they died that if I ever met the Prince or Princess I must protect them…” Said Novado. 

“Well, then what about Noch?” asked Lunar.

Novado looked away from her and said “There’s nothing I can do, the second I heard that you were back I tried to find both of you so that I might warn you about the Council and so that I could teach you both a spell to protect you from their magic.” 

Lunar looked at him with the same cold stare as before and she said “It must be a pity that you found me instead of my brother, if you had protected him then you could have kept the kingdom from being ruled by the Council, after all now Noch is just their puppet.  Am I right?”

Novado looked at her then said “It’s true, I would have preferred to find Noch, but since I found you I might as well teach you the spell.”

Lunar glared at him then said angrily “Why waste your time on me.  You should focus on finding a way to remove the spell from Noch so that you can have your perfect kingdom, and I should just leave, who know maybe I should go back and marry that idiot whose family caused the Dragon Kingdom to fall, it seems like that was actually a good thing.  After all with the Phoenix Kingdom at least there wasn’t a stink’n Council.  And at least with him I would be free to do the things I want, and I wouldn’t have to listen to how unimportant I am.” Ranted Lunar then she headed for the door, but Novado quickly closed it right after she started to open it. 

“What do you want, if I’m so unimportant then why not let me leave, after all like this I’m just a waste of space,” said Lunar angrily as she tried to open the door. 

“No!” Said Novado as he leaned on the door, then he added “I can’t let you go, I promised my parents.” 

Lunar stopped trying to open the door then gave him a cold stare once again.  Novado looked at her then Lunar started to rant again.  “What the hell do you mean you promised your parents, if you want to make them proud then go and find a way to take the spell off of Noch.  But let me leave, after all it’s not like I can be of any help as a girl, even a girl who is the Princess.  I don’t know why I even came to this place, if there is one thing that I regret it’s coming to this stupid place even of it does look amazing, but I must say that meeting you was probably the worst thing that could happen, or who knows maybe it was the best thing that could have happened after all now I know that I want to leave this place no matter what, so thank you for that, but for everything else you are just a pain in the neck.  You say that I’m useless, but you won’t let me leave when I want to, you say that it’s because you promised your parents, but you don’t try to help Noch,” said Lunar angrily as Novado looked away from her.

Then when she was done he looked at her with his fist clenched but said calmly “You talk a lot.”

When Lunar heard that she couldn’t help it she swung at him, but he dodged and grabbed her wrist then he said something the Lunar couldn’t make out, then suddenly a thin silver chain appeared around Lunar’s right wrist, and was attached to Novado’s left wrist. 

“What did you just do a*****e?” asked Lunar as she tried to break the chain. 

“You can’t break that, they will only come off when I want them to,” said Novado.

Then Lunar looked at him angrily and with a fire in her eyes then she went over to him and demanded “Take them off.” 

“Not until you listen and agree to what I say,” said Novado, Lunar didn’t say anything she just looked at him. “I know how to return the Prince to normal, but to do so we would have to find a book known as the Shadow,” said Novado as Lunar looked at him surprised. 

“So where is it?  How do we get it?” asked Lunar impatiently. 

“Well, it is said that it is somewhere in the palace, but no one knows where, that knowledge has been lost since the king and queen died, it was said that the queen was the last one to write an entry in the Shadow, and the way you get it is basically you find it, there are no tests or anything that you have to pass to get it, except for the fact that only a girl of the royal family can take it,” said Novado. 

“Are there any clues as to where it is?” asked Lunar. 

“Well, my parents told me something that they said that the queen told them it goes like this ‘When the moon goes black and a silver ring appears around it, the door will appear in the tower in the sky, and through the shining door the Shadow will appear.’” Said Novado, then he added “But I already checked the tallest tower during the new moon.”

“Well when else does the moon go black?” asked Lunar as if testing him.  Since Novado said nothing Lunar looked at him the said “A lunar eclipse.” 

“Oh yeah,” said Novado.

Then Lunar held the chain and said “Now about these chains.” 

“Hey you know what, I think that there is an eclipse in less than a week,” said Novado ignoring what Lunar just said. 

“That’s great, now about these chains,” said Lunar getting impatient. 

“Ok, so in five more days we can check that out,” said Novado as he continued to ignore Lunar.

 That got Lunar to get really annoyed, and she started tapping her foot, this caused Novado to looked at her then he said with a sinister smile “The chains will come off when the eclipse ends.” Lunar looked at him annoyed, then he added before Lunar could say anything “Just think of it like this, you’re safe.  You have the same protection spell on you that I have on me, and if you’re ever in trouble these chains will protect you.  Also we are the only ones who can see them, and their length it really long, basically you could be on the other side of the kingdom from me and they could still reach.”

“Good, because that’s where I’ll be,” said Lunar as she started to leave, but then felt the chains pulling on her hand, then she looked down at it and saw that it was only a few feet long.

Lunar glared at Novado and he added “However the length depends on how long the caster, or in this case, I, want them to be.” 

“Why the heck, are you trying to get me so angry?” asked Lunar annoyed. 

“I’m not trying to, it’s just that I want you to know,” said Novado with an provoking smile.

Lunar asked, “Well, can you make them longer so that I can go up to my room?” 

“If you say please,” said Novado evilly. 

“You’re such an idiot, why the heck would I say please to you after you’re being such a jerk,” said Lunar annoyed as she started for the door again. 

But she felt herself being pulled back again.  “I’m sorry what was that?” asked Novado. 

“Please would you let me go to my room?” asked Lunar with one of her sickenly sweet smiles. 

“Sure, you see that wasn’t so hard now was it?” asked Novado as the chain grew longer then Lunar left, and slammed the door shut.  When Lunar was out of his room Novado heard her say “Jackass.” 

So Lunar went back up to her room then a little bit after Noch came in and said “Come to dinner, and from now on Novado is going to be your personal guard.  So hurry up get dressed up with the blue dress and come to the dining room,” said Noch plainly then he left. 

Novado was on the other side of the door when Noch came out, and when Noch left he heard Lunar yell “What the hell, why the heck Novado, that stupid idiot, I swear I am so going to get revenge, Noch you will so regret this!” 

Novado couldn’t help but let out a little laugh.  A little later Novado heard Lunar yell “What the hell is this thing!” Then she came out of her room. 

She had on a long silk dark blue dress, it had long sleeves that came down to a point at her hands, and was trimmed with silver, and around her waist there were silver swirls, the top part had light blue velvet designs and the bottom part had black velvet designs, and she had her hair down. 

When Novado saw her he barely recognized her, when she noticed that he was outside her door she quickly went back into her room and shut the door, then she asked through the door “What are you doing here?” 

“Didn’t Noch tell you that I’m your personal guard, Chris and Kris were assigned to a different part of the kingdom,” said Novado with a hint of amusement in his voice. 

“What the hell do you find so funny jackass?” asked Lunar annoyed. 

“Nothing, just I can’t believe that you could look so nice and yet still act the way you do,” said Novado. 

“Hey shut up, for your information I completely hate dresses so quit making fun of me,” said Lunar as she poked her head out of the door. 

“I-it was meant as a compliment,” said Novado as he put his hand over his mouth to cover up a smile. 

“Oh yeah, then what was the ‘yet you still act the way you do’ but suppose to mean?” asked Lunar as she slowly came out. 

“Nothing, by the way should you be in the dining room soon?” asked Novado as he put his hand down. 

“What do I care, the way Noch is acting right now really pisses me off,” said Lunar, then she added “I’m not hungry anyway.” 

Then suddenly her stomach growled and Novado started to laugh “Traitor,” said Lunar as she looked at her stomach, then she looked back at the door and said worried “We did have anything to eat since lunch and that was only a few berries.”

Novado looked back at Lunar’s room, then he said as they started for the dining room “I’ll bring them some food later on.” 

When they got to the dining room Lunar and Noch ate while Novado stood beside Lunar’s chair.  Noch didn’t say anything until they were finished then he said “Tomorrow dress in the clothes that are out on your bed, and stay in your room, the only time you may leave your room is to get food, other than that you stay in your room.” 

“Wh-” Said Lunar annoyed, but then stopped when Novado nudged her chair, then she said with a sickenly sweet smile “Of course, whatever you say your majesty.”

Then Noch got up and left, then Lunar got up and asked annoyed “Why the hell did I have to be nice to him?”

Novado started to walk and Lunar followed waiting for an answer.  “For your safety, besides what good would it have done to get angry at him?” asked Novado. 

“Well, I would have felt better that’s for sure,” said Lunar as she folded her arms and glared at the back of Novado. 

“Would you quite glaring at me.” Asked Novado as they got to Lunar’s room. 

“Fine, whatever,” said Lunar as she went over to the door and opened it then she said trying to be nice, but with a fake smile “Good night.” Then she went in a closed the door softly. 

Novado just stood there then counted down in a whisper “Three, two, one.”

Then when he got to one, he heard Lunar say “Stupid idiot, Noch I’m so going to get you for this, and Novado, Novado too, I’ll make both of them pay.” 

“She’s so predictable, and I just met her,” said Novado with a little smile.

In Lunar’s room she took out a loaf of bread, and some meat that she had taken from the table, and gave that to Crescent and Star, as they ate, Lunar changed out of the blue dress, got a shower in the large bathroom that was connected to her room, then put on her nighttime clothes, she had on a long loose black shirt that went down to a little above her knees, and she had on baggy black pants under that, then she said a spell that caused her hair to dry. 

Suddenly there was a knock on the door, Lunar went over and opened it and on the other side was Novado with some food, “Oh sorry, I didn’t know that you were actually going to bed.  Well anyway here’s some food for the dragon and cat,” said Novado as he went in then put the food down.

Then he was about to leave when Lunar said “Crescent and Star.” 

“Huh?” asked Novado. 

“That’s their names, the dragon is Crescent and the cat is Star,” said Lunar. 

“Oh, so are they both yours?” asked Novado as he closed the door. 

“No, Star lived with Noch, and Crescent lives with me,” said Lunar as Crescent went over to Lunar and rubbed his head on her. 

“You two seem close,” said Novado. 

“Yeah, after the Phoenix Kingdom fell I found Crescent’s egg, and then I started living at the Moon Shrine, then Crescent hatched and we’ve been together ever since,” said Lunar as she rubbed the dragon’s head gently. 

“What about Star and the Prince?” asked Novado. 

“Well, Noch told me that he got Star on his fifth birthday, when she was only a couple weeks old, and she’s been with him ever since, that is until today, today is the first day that she’s been with me and not him,” said Lunar sadly as she looked over at Star who was curled up in a ball on a soft cushioned chair in front of the fire place. 

Crescent went over to her and blew gently on her, she lifted her head then flew over and landed on Crescent’s back, laid down, then started to purr softly.  “I’m really glad that Crescent is here, otherwise I would have no idea how to get Star to feel better,” said Lunar as she looked at Crescent with a soft, peaceful smile.

“Huh, who knew,” said Novado as he looked at Lunar.

She looked at him and asked “What?” 

“No, just who knew that you could have such a peaceful look on your face,” said Novado. 

“You stupid jerk, can you go five minutes without saying something asinine?” asked Lunar annoyed, then she said annoyed then sarcastically “Anyway I need to get to sleep, after all tomorrow is going to be very interesting, you know staying in this room all day.”

“Yeah, if that’s how it actually is I won’t get to see you,” said Novado. 

“Oh, then I can’t wait, tomorrow should be very peaceful, no annoying idiot telling me how stupid or useless I am,” said Lunar as she looked at Novado annoyed. 

Novado looked at her and said annoyed then playfully “Well, it’s going to be just as much fun for me, I won’t have to keep telling you how stupid or useless you are.”  Then he got up and left. 

“Stupid jerk,” said Lunar annoyed as she went to sleep.