Fake Princess
CHAPTER 1
When they came to tell me, I was in one of the gardens with Devan, trying to understand a map of the three hundred year old palace grounds. We were sitting on a stone bench, the roll of fragile cloth lying between us. However, instead of enjoying the view of the garden, we sat facing the gray fort that separates the northern end of the palace grounds by the Vivaskari street.
“ Can't be there,” Devan said.
“ Look, Diana.”
I raised my head from the map and followed Devan's finger pointing at the wide wall before us. After getting my attention, Devan stood up from the bench and walked up to the wall. He hit the wall with his fist, then grimaced witfully. I rolled my eyeballs.
“ You see?” abugn.
There's nothing here. Are you sure, wise & obstinate princess, has read it correctly?”
I sighed Frustrated. Devan's right. We have been inspecting this part of the fort for over an hour, looking for any cracks or indentations that might signal the presence of a secret door, without fruit.
“ According to the map, we are already in the right place. At least, according to the part I understand.”
I combed my hair with my hands, pulling a few strands of my brown hair loosely around my neck.
“ And it was really upsetting, because I mastered four modern languages very well, knew a little of the other six languages, and quite a lot of ancient languages that I could at least recognize when I read them. But this rune, I can't think of any more precise words to describe that disheveled writing, is really confusing.
However, I have not asked anyone else, not even the librarians who should have kept the map. It's a mystery, which I found with Devan, and we're determined to find out for ourselves.
“ Means it can be various,” continued me.
” Could mean, the opposite of everything you just read. After all, the location of the door of King Ardan should indeed be a secret.”
We've been trying to find the door of King Ardan since the winter blizzard and have been trapping the entire city in the house for days. Although I wouldn't mind sitting around in front of the fireplace of one of the palace halls while reading a book, Devan couldn't stand being cooped up inside. And since I'm his best friend, it's my job to help Devan spend his unlimited energy.
So we spent most of those four snow-covered days exploring the palace which, being over six hundred years old, had enough points of interest to keep us occupied for forty days. Devan's favorite place was the weapon room, where he could observe the weapons of the kings and queens who had died, and where we found a small niche hidden behind the shield belonging to grandfather. Inside that niche was a dagger, no longer than a wrist to the tip of my fingernail. The dagger is plain and, as we assume no one has lost it over the past few hundred years, Devan took it.
However, the most interesting discovery we got while in the library. After browsing through it for two days, I felt a very strong & almost unstoppable desire to read something, anything, and I was already determined to spend at least an hour in the palace library. Devan, although quite capable in the business of bookkeeping & learning.