Crowns and Kingdoms: Book Six: Eryx

By Norris Bloom

Nikolette is the newly crowned queen of Eryx, but she finds herself in quite a predicament when she received a frightening message from the neighboring kingdom of Goth. Faced with the realization that an invasion from evil King Iodoc is imminent, Queen Nikolette struggles to create a plan to defend her sea kingdom. Will the young Queen Nikolette find a way to secure the shores of Eryx and keep King Iodoc from setting foot upon the sands of her kingdom?

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Nov 15, 2016
• ISBN: 9781483589381

Book preview

EPILOGUE

Long Ago

The Royal Sea Sprite listed and lurched in the ever-increasing waves. It was hard to hear the captain’s voice: Ahoy, men, change course! over the roar of the wind.

Andronikos! Queen Zenais grabbed the king’s arm to steady herself.

Thunder cracked overhead and seconds later a flash of lightning streaked across the dark sky. An enormous wave rolled the ship on its side, pitching everyone on board the wooden ship dangerously close to the churning water. King Andronikos stumbled and nearly dropped his infant daughter Princess Aricia. When the boat righted itself, the king grabbed Queen Zenais’s arm and did his best to steady her as well as himself.

We must take refuge below deck, King Andronikos shouted to his queen, but it was difficult to hear his voice above the raging storm.

Cautiously, the royal family walked below deck to the royal cabin.

I’m frightened, Andronikos. I have never seen such a storm. Perhaps we made a mistake. Maybe we should not have fled Eryx, said Queen Zenais as she sat down on the swaying bed. Once she had steadied herself, King Andronikos placed their baby safely in her mother’s arms.

My queen, you know we had no choice. Judoc would have made sure that we suffered an imminent death. He would never have allowed the royal family of Eryx to live. Escape was our only true option. I only pray that my father is safely hidden away somewhere in the kingdom of Eryx and that we arrive safely on the shores of the kingdom of Goth by morning.

The royal ship lurched once more, causing the wooden boards to creak and moan as they strained to stay intact. The queen clenched her hands until her knuckles turned white.

Try to relax, Zenais. If you lie down, perhaps Princess Aricia will sleep, said the king. The queen leaned back against the pillows piled high on the plush bed. She gazed at the tiny bundle in her arms and studied the sweet, round face with her tiny ears and small, upturned nose. Her baby’s small, green eyes stared back at her, and her little mouth formed a smile for a brief moment.

Everything will be alright. We will make it to shore. The good people of Goth are expecting us and will welcome us with open arms, said King Andronikos.

A crash from above caused Queen Zenais to scream. The princess’s little eyes widened, but the baby didn’t utter a sound. She rarely, if ever, did.

The men above deck were shouting. Cries of afore, a hull, and on her beams end echoed in the royal cabin just as another wave pitched the boat forward. The queen managed to stay wedged in the bed, but King Andronikos landed on his hands and knees. He crawled over the water-logged floor to his writing desk and began searching for something as more shouts sounded from above.

What are you doing? asked Queen Zenais.

Nothing of importance. Nothing for you to worry about.

The king sat down at his desk, dipped a long feather in the inkwell, and began writing on a piece of parchment. The ink splashed and splattered across the desk as the boat pitched him back and forth, but he continued to scrawl on the parchment.

I don’t believe that what you are writing is not important, Queen Zenais said. So I shall ask you again, my king, what are you drafting?

King Andronikos stopped writing and looked up at his wife. I have to tell you the truth—the whole truth.

The king glanced downward to quickly sign the parchment before picking it up. Then he stood up from the desk and walked over to the bed, sitting down next to his wife and daughter. First, I must ask for your forgiveness.

Forgiveness for what? Queen Zenais asked, cradling the princess closer to her as a wave pitched the boat to one side. The king steadied himself by bracing his feet firmly against the cabin wall. Then he held up the parchment and read it aloud.

With much sorrow, I find myself resigned to write my final words and the final words of the royal family of Eryx. It is evident that we seem destined to perish alongside of our sinking ship, The Royal Sea Sprite.

Upon our hasty escape from Judoc’s siege, we now find ourselves in the worst storm this world has ever known. I am afraid my death, and that of the queen and our infant princess, are surely imminent. It is imperative that my father, King Nikandros, the previous ruler of Eryx who went into hiding during the siege, get word that there is one royal remaining. The oldest Princess of Eryx did not die at birth as all were led to believe. Instead, I had her secretly taken to Tarshish for safekeeping. Aegis of Eryx knows where to find her.

May God bless our kingdom,

King Andronikos of Eryx

She didn’t die? My first-born girl, Princess Nikolette, lives? Oh, Andronikos, I am not unhappy with you!

You forgive me for not telling you the truth? I wanted to tell you, but I had to honor the secret pact of the righteous kings. We made an agreement of the utmost importance—to keep at least one of our heirs safe from Judoc.

The only thing I care about at this moment is that it was clearly the right decision. Wasn’t it? asked Queen Zenais as she looked at the rising water on the floorboards.

My queen, I must take a chance with this note and give it to the sea sprites. Surely they will deliver it into the right hands, said King Andronikos.

He rolled the parchment and waded back to his writing desk. The king warmed a piece of blue-green wax over a candle flame and dripped it onto the letter. Then he stamped his aquamarine signet ring in the soft mound, leaving the imprint of the royal seahorse. When the wax seal was dry, the king placed the scroll into an empty bottle and firmly pushed a cork into the top, hoping to plug the hole and make the bottle seaworthy.

I will be right back, King Andronikos said. He kissed the top of the queen’s head and then that of the little princess before making his way back up to the ship’s deck. But he was utterly unprepared for the complete chaos he found there. The wooden deck was awash with water, and the eye of the storm was looming dead ahead. His intuition had been right: The Royal Sea Sprite was sinking. Men were falling into the water and hanging on to pieces of floating debris for dear life. Those that could swim were actually jumping into the violent sea.

King Andronikos grabbed the ship’s rail and pulled himself up to the beautiful seahorse figurehead. He held onto the carved, wooden figure that now barely skimmed the water’s surface. The king mustered up as much strength as he could and threw the bottle. The glass container splashed into the churning sea, but the king smiled when just a few seconds later it surfaced. The cork had held; the bottle would float. King Andronikos watched the bottle bounce and bob along the white caps of the dark water until it disappeared from his view. Then he went back below deck to the royal cabin, where the water now reached his thighs. He waded over to join his queen and princess and gathered his family into his arms.

We must pray that someone finds the bottle and that someday Princess Nikolette will be placed upon the throne of Eryx, said Queen Zenais to her husband just as the boat broached one final time, flipping into a doomed death roll.

Chapter 1

Fifteen years later

NIKOLETTE

Princess Nikolette, the aegis will be here soon. We really must get up. You have got to get ready, Lady Xeno said as the two of us ate figs while reclining on