Lost Royalty

By Skye Ballantyne

The fate of the entire kingdom rested on the shoulders of a witch, an ever-annoying crow, a reclusive orphan, a stolen princess, and the biggest klutz and worst thief in the world - what could possibly go wrong?

• Language: English
• Publisher: NA
• Release date: Mar 5, 2020
• ISBN: 9798869337719

Book preview

Lost Royalty

By Skye Ballantyne

Dedicated to:

Jenny Earl

Thank you for supporting me - and no, this one isn’t based on real life either :).

Book One:

Crumbling Statue

Chapter 1

The little town of Wesington was abuzz with the news. The king was going to ride through the little village! He was going to honor the village with his presence. This was the biggest news in Wesington’s history.

Wesington was a small, little village on the outskirts of the kingdom and therefore was more or less forgotten about by the bigger and more prominent villages in the kingdom.

Sometimes, even their own monarchy forgot that Wesington was under their rule. This often led to the people of Wesington more often than not having to fend for themselves when it came to finding solutions and surviving.

No member of royalty had ever shown them the least bit of interest before. No one was willing to go out of their way. So, the fact that a monarch was finally going to show them attention was more than a little shocking.

While excitement about the coming arrival rang through the town, there was an undercurrent of doubt that the king would actually carry through on his promise.

The people of the small village leaned into the excitement, trying to forget about their doubts, and step into the belief that the king would carry through on his promise.

The villagers banded together and worked to make this an affair that would be remembered forever. After all, this was probably going to be the first, last, and only visit the villagers would ever have.

The villagers wanted to make this the grandest affair the king had ever seen. They wanted the monarch’s visit to Wesington not only to be memorable for the villagers themselves, but for hte king as well. Maybe, with this visit, the king would take a shine to Wesington, and thereby, the kingdom would finally remember Wesington.

This would be a festival to remember. That was for sure. However, it wasn’t only the festival that was bound to put Wesington on the mpa. After the king’s visit, Wesington would never be forgotten about again.

Chapter 2

In a small shack on the outskirts of the little town, a small group huddled by a small fire in the fireplace.

It was a warm night, and yet, the small group that gathered, continued to wear their cloaks and kept their hoods up in an attempt to hide their faces from anyone who happened upon them.

The group of seven had realized that the king’s ride through the village would give them the perfect opportunity to kill him and put his twin brother on the throne instead.

The king’s twin was a mere three seconds younger than the king, and was a more qualified person to be on the throne.

The king was under the thumb of his advisors. He was too easily swayed into doing whatever they wanted him to do, which was more often than not, only good for the advisor, and not good for the kingdom, and especially not good for Wesington. The king’s twin, however, had no such issues.

The twin was the only member of royalty that seemed to remember the village. He knew what the people needed. He had his ear to the pulse of his kingdom and would create rules and regulations and would rule for the needs of his people, rather than for the needs of his advisors, or himself. The twin would allow their voices be heard.

It was the king’s twin that had convinced his brother to ride through Wesington. He had paved the way, unwittingly, for the band to kill the king.

Coralynn, Bessie whispered.

She glanced toward the darkened windows as she cautiously spoke the name of a member of the group.

Bessie was always nervous that someone would rat them out, always wary of speaking where people could overhear them. She was the reason the group was as small as it was. In fact, Bessie would rather like it smaller, but they couldn’t make do with any less, so she would have to deal with the large number in they group.

As the carriage passes by the old weeping willow, Bessie explained to Coralynn, You will be ‘run over’ by the carriage. Then, while everyone is distracted with you, we, she looked around at the other people in the group, Will attack.

Coralynn nodded her head in understanding. This next part of her plan was her favorite part. This would be her time to shine. She was thrilled that Bessie trusted her enough to give her such a part to play. It was an honor that Coralynn would take to her grave.

In all the craziness of the attack, you will kill the king, Bessie continued, Take this dagger.

She drew out a long, plain dagger. It was nothing more than a simple hunting knife, but both Bessie and Coralynn handled it with great care, as if it was the most prized possession in the world.

And plunge it into his heart, Bessie said.

The dagger looked much like one that could be found on any villager, but it’s destiny made it the most important knife in the world. Coralynn handled it with the reverence of holding Excalibur itself.

With awed silence, she slipped the knife into a sheath at her side where it would stay until it was time for it to do its duty.

Chapter 3

The village had decorated the town with flowers and streamers. A maypole stood in the center of town with dancers skipping about it merrily. Above their heads, men and women walked on the tight ropes, defying gravity with every step they took as they juggled balls, torches, and pins. The walkers seemed to dance through the air as if the clouds themselves were holding them up, and not a nearly invisible rope.

Down on the ground, jugglers and fire dancers wowed the audiences around them and jesters cracked their jokes, eliciting applause from the audience.

It was simple for Coralynn to mix with the group of festival goers. Trying to avoid detection, she made her way through the crowd, ignoring the carts that were offering refreshments and made her way to what she believed was the truest art form of the festival. The fire dancers.

It was said that they could literally talk to fire. The way they made fire dance and spin proved that they could command it. Fire seemed to obey the dancers like an obedient servant.

Away from the bustle of the rest of the festivities, the fire dancers played with their friend. Hidden in semi-darkness, the fire dancers brought out a side of fire that very few were lucky enough to even see, and even fewer people were able to elicit. Coralynn watched in amazement as fire-y lions roared past her and flowers bloomed only to burn away to ash.

Maybe once the king was dead and his twin brother was safely on the throne, and she had finally made a name for herself, she would take up the art of fire dancing. For who could have more power, than those who could control the most untamable of elements?

She was so lost in the glory of the thought of all that power that the trumpets announcing the king caused her to jump into the air. She nearly burned herself with the fire that was dancing around her.

The trumpets caused everyone to drop what they were doing. The fire dancers extinguished their friends. The tight rope walkers jumped from the sky. Everyone raced to the main road, creating a small path for the royal carriage to pass by. They threw confetti as they cheered and waved hands and handkerchiefs.

While everyone else was straining toward the carriage, nearly crushing each other in their attempts to see the king, Coralynn and the other six co-conspirators made their way to the outskirts of town.

Chapter 4

The soldiers began to relax as they made their way out of town. The most dangerous part of their journey was over, at least, that’s what they thought.

Little did they know that they had reached the most dangerous and deadly part of their journey. The part that could end it all.

Coralynn kept her eye on the carriage. She waited for the opportune moment to rush out in front of the carriage and appear to be hit.

It was important that she go out at just hte right moment. Too soon and they would stop and she couldn’t pretend to be hit. Too late and she would actually get hit. Timing was crucial. One little mistake and it could ruin everything.

Coralynn was just about to jump out, when she felt herself being pushed into the path of the carriage instead.

Her breath caught. It wasn’t time. It wasn’t supposed to happen like this. The carriage was going to hit her. There was no escaping it.

The weight of the carriage crushed Coralynn’s leg. Her anguished screams echoed through the outskirts of town. There was nothing fake about her agonized screams.

The carriage stopped, and the king opened the door and stepped out, putting his hands to his ears as he tried to block out the roar of Coralynn’s pain.

What happened? Orion, the king, asked.

Your carriage ran over my leg, Coralynn groaned.

She gritted her teeth to fight off the pain. Her face had gone a chalky white as she tried to fight off the blackness creeping into the edges of her vision. She couldn’t pass out. Not now. She had things to do, and the last thing she needed was to pass out.

Orion’s head guard stepped aside as Orion descended from his carriage. He looked very much like a gawky teenager.

Her leg was badly crushed adn would probably have to be amputated. It ran the risk of an infection that could possibly end her life as well. For sure, if it wasn’t taken care of and done so quickly, he rlife would surely be lost, not just her leg.

We’ll get you to my physician, Orion said.

He was trying to keep his voice from quivering, but he was failing epically at it. It quivered terribly. He was a far cry from the comforting presence that he was trying to present.

His five o’clock shadow of a mustache did little to draw attention away from the sheer size of his ears. His unfortunate haircut made his ears look like they stuck out further from his head than they actually did. In fact, his whole look made him look very much like a teenage boy who was failing miserably to get through puberty. He was not at all the kind of person anyone would want as their voice of reason in a crisis.

Gingerly, he slipped his arms underneath Coralynn’s body and gently placed her in his carriage. Once she was properly situated and as comfortable as she could be with a crushed leg, Orion made his way to the other side. He had just made it around the back of the carriage when a knife whizzed past one of his big ears, barly missing his head.

Your Majesty! the head of the king’s guard shouted.

He raced to the king’s side.

Get down!

The guard pushed the king down, covering the king’s body with his own.

In a hail storm of arrows, knives, and other weapons, the guard pushed Orion into the carriage and sent the horses racing at a breakneck pace away from the danger.

As the horses raced away from the attack, Coralynn was bounced around inside of the carriage. The jostling motion caused an iron hot pain to shoot through her leg, and throughout the rest of her body.

She tried to keep herself from crying out, but she found herself falling far from her mark and her screams continued to echo throughout the carriage, causing Orion’s head to ache.

As she tried to bite back the pain in her leg and keep it steady despite the craziness of the horse, she shot daggers at the king with her eyes. His carriage wasn’t supposed to actually crush her leg. It was only supposed to be a ruse. It was supposed to get the guards to stop and give Coralynn’s team a chance to kill the king, but his carriage hadn’t stopped and had actually crushed her leg.

With an incapacitated leg, she wouldn’t be able to get away from the guards when she killed the king. There wa sno way she was going to go to jail for this crime against the crown. She was going ot have to wait things out. She would have to find another way to kill him. One where they couldn’t possibly place the blame on her or an attack that they had no proof she was a part of, other than having the bad luck of getting hit.

As the danger passed, the carriage began to slow, giving Orion the time and ability to stare at the girl in his carriage. He hadn’t noticed it before, but she was better dressed than most of the villagers, causing him to wonder who she was and what she was doing in such an insignificant village as Wesington.

Her auburn hair fell in her face, nearly covering the distortion the pain was causing. His heart panged at the sight. A burning sense of guilt flooded over him as he realized he had been the cause of that pain.

The king and his entourage quickly made their way to the nearest castle for sanctuary for the rest of the night. As they came to a stop outside the castle doors, Orion swooped Coralynn into his arms.

As he hurried toward a nearby bedroom, Coralynn stared at him. Never in a million years would she have believed that this was how things would work out. She would have never anticipated that Orion would be carrying her broken body into a bed in his castle.

He wasn’t quite like she had anticipated either. She had thought, if anything, he would simply have his guards take over while he ‘supervised’. She was oddly impressed that he had taken some kind of initiative of his own, and had decided to carry her by himself.

Although gawky in appearance, he was stronger than he appeared. Yet, his touch was just as gentle as his looks would make one think. He laid her down on the bed in a room where a physician was already waiting to attend to her injuries.

Chapter 5

The physician was a small, dimply, old man. His hands were shaking as he examined his charge. The sight of him gave Coralynn very little confidence in his abilities to fix her leg.

Coralynn bit back her opinions. She hoped that, at the very least, this small shaking man could give her something for her pain, if not actually fix her leg. Maybe he would surprise her just like Orion had.

I’m afraid it doesn’t look good, the physician said.

He removed his glasses and rubbed his tired eyes.

You must either have your leg amputated or make a journey to Winifred’s cottage and see if she has anything that can salvage that leg.

Winifred.

The village - well actually, the kingdom - witch. She lived on the edge of Lexicona.

Adults would warn their children about Winifred. They warned them to nver wander too close to the cottage or Winifred would turn them into a toad or make them into some kind of potion. Winifred was a last ditch effort. Having her neame brought up didn’t bode well for her chances.

Winifred’s involvement wouldn’t come cheap, but it was Coralynn’s only chance to salvage her leg. She would rather put her life in hte hands of the witch than the shaky man that they called a doctor.

I wish to take my chances with Winifred, Coralynn stated.

Are you sure?

Orion’s forehead scrunched in concern over Coralynn’s decision. He too had heard the ruors and the tales of Winifred. After a lifetime of being warned away from her, to go out in search for hte woman caused Orion no small amount of fear.

We have options for a different leg, Orion said.

He was frantically racking his brain to come up with an option that would keep them away from Winifred.

It will be a challenge, but we can make it work.

I don’t want a fake leg. I want to keep my leg. My own leg. I want to go to Winifred’s!

Coralynn wasn’t about to back down now. That wasn’t her style. She stared Orion down. She didn’t blink, staring as if daring him to continue to deny her request.

Frustration boiled up inside of her as they continued to stare each other down. How could these numbskulls not understand that she wanted to keep her real leg? How could they not understand that she wouldn’t put her trust in a shaky flake to amputate her leg? She would rather have a chance at life than go the route of almost certain death. It wasn’t that hard of a concept to grasp, at least not if people weren’t total idiots.

She wasn’t about to let the fear of simple rumors rob her from her chance at keeping both her life and her leg. She was going to make her way to Winifred with or without their help, that was all there was to it.

After staring at her for several minutes, Orion finally nodded his head reluctantly. If that was what she wanted he would take her to Winifred. After all, it was his fault that she was in this position.

Get the carriage ready. We depart at dawn, he ordered.

As the sun pushed against the horizon, the small entourage was readied. Orion’s heart stung and he had to fight back a grimace as he watched them place Coralynn in the contraption that would take her to Winifred’s.

Coralynn’s face was still as white as a sheet and she was continually biting her lip to keep away the pain. He could see her trying to keep back the tears from welling up in her eyes, but he still noticed how her eyes were glistening with tears she was