Chapter 7: Clear Warning

Meanwhile at the royal place, was Ursula. She was a middle-aged woman and the Guild Captain of the Starry Maidens.

She had a dark hair and wore a flowing robe of white and dark color with a furry collar. She held a staff that had a glowing crystal ontop, and had just walked into the Queen’s chambers behind Helena’s handmaiden.

“My Queen…” Ursula greeted with a slight bow.

Helena smiled responded, “Oh please, Captain, I am still a Starry Maiden,” bowing back courteously.

Ursula returned the smile, and now that greetings were out of the way, she began, “There must have been a reason you brought me here. Let’s get to it quickly as the King awaits me in earnest.”

Helena looked at her handmaiden and asked, “What did you tell Baran?”

“That my Queen wanted to briefly say hello to her former captain whilst she was in her chambers,” the handmaiden answered, lowering her frame slightly with both hands held together.

“Good, good. Now leave us,” the Queen commanded.

“Yes, my Queen,” the handmaiden said, understanding she needed to give them privacy. She turned toward the door and departed.

As soon as the maiden left, Helena began speaking while moving both hands to hold Ursla’s free hand. “My husband has called you to divine the whereabouts of his bastard. He left the castle earlier today, and from what Lucas tells me, Jarius seemed to have punished him for failing to get into the academy again. Whether these are childish tantrums or he truly wants to be gone, I need it to stay that way.” Helena’s voice sounded grim as she continued.

“I’m not sure I understand what you mean, Helena,” the guild captain said carefully.

Helena sighed deeply, then said, “Your readings for the King today should turn up blank and empty.”

Ursula was startled, her eyes bulging for a second as she retracted her hand away from Helena’s soft hold. “You’re asking me to lie to the King?” Before Helena could answer, Ursla continued, her voice rising. “That breaks my very oath to him!”

“Please, Ursula, this is for me, for Helena,” she begged.

“You may have been my favorite at some point, in fact, you still are—but this is where I draw the line!” Ursula said with a stern tone, stomping her staff on the ground.

Then the Queen moved backward without saying a word.

“You very well know that each guild captain is bound by an unbreakable oath to the King. Asking me to do this is asking me to take my chances with death.”

She turned to leave, but before she did, she said, “I won’t tell the King about this, but please, Helena, don’t ever ask me to perform such an act again!” Then she strode out of the room with her dignity intact.

Helena’s handmaiden immediately returned after sensing the tension, wanting to make sure the Queen was well. She began, “My Queen, is there—”

“Leave me be…” Helena said, cutting her short in a cold and somber tone. The maiden immediately bowed again and left the Queen’s presence. Then Helena sat down heavily on her seat, visibly distraught and frustrated.

In her anger, she struck a pillow to her side, sending it flying to the other side of the bed. “Urghhh!” she cried out in frustration.

….

Soon after, Ursla arrived at the Throne Room through the front doors. She walked steadily until she got close enough to make the statutory bow. “Forgive me for being late, Your Grace,” she said.

King Jarius didn’t think too much of it, nor have it bother him really. I mean it was for Aiden, he was disappointed enough and didn’t mind the wait. He simply waved his hand and said, “Aiden left through the city gates today. I need to know where he is so that I can have my men bring him back.”

Ursla bowed again and said, “I can get to it immediately. Is there an item belonging to the Prince that I can use?” She was ready to begin her work.

Jarius, who already knew how Ursla’s divination worked, nodded. “Yes, I already had something prepared.” He gestured to a sad-looking and concerned Grandal, who approached with one of the Prince’s cloth items and handed it to Ursla.

Ursla took the cloth and stepped back, stamping her staff on the ground. A light blue magic circle formed underneath her feet, her eyes began glowing the same ethereal blue, as she let the cloth float before her.

Her magic was Celestial Magic, and among the many abilities it granted her was the power of divination.

Ursla immediately found herself in a dark trance, surrounded by absolute darkness. Then, without warning, the majestic and terrifying form of Thyrak the dragon emerged from the void.

Ursla’s eyes within the trance shuddered with fear and terror as she beheld the great black dragon in all its magnificent power.

The dragon immediately lunged its massive head toward Ursla and roared with such force that the sound itself seemed to push her consciousness out of that dark space.

In the real world, Ursla’s eyes snapped open as she jolted backward, visibly startled. The cloth she had used for the divination fell to the ground. It was as if the dragon had physically sent her back, which was a clear warning.

This shocked both the King and Grandal who watched. Jarius immediately stood from his throne and said urgently, “What happened, Ursla? Did you find him?”

Ursla was lost for words for a moment. There were only three instances where she couldn’t divine someone’s location.

First, if the person was dead. Second, if the person was on the same level as she was, or even stronger; which is why she can’t divine other Guild Captains or the Grand Magus.

And finally, if the person she was trying to divine into, was a Great Existence. The third scenario always manifested in the same fashion as it had moments ago, as the existence would stare back at her in the darkness and directly send her away as a warning.

Hostile beings could even kill her on the spot during such encounters. However, none of this made sense.

She had been attempting to divine Aiden’s location, but instead she was being warned away by the Dragon Thyrak himself.

It was the King’s second, more urgent question that jolted her back to reality. “Ursla! Did you find him?”

She looked back up, pulled away from her troubled thoughts, and said carefully, “My King, I’m sorry, but this is very strange. I am unable to find Aiden.”

Grandal’s face was the first to register the full force of terror and fear that swept through the throne room.

Did Ursula’s failure mean that the Prince was dead? It was the only logical conclusion if the Guild Captain truly couldn’t locate him through her divination magic. The dreadful possibility starts to gnaw at his chest.

The King voiced what Grandal was thinking, his own confusion matching that of the palace healer. “Are you saying that he’s dead?” Jarius asked, with an expression of fury on his face

“No, it’s not that, Your Grace,” Ursla said quickly, though her voice carried an uncertainty that did little to comfort anyone in the room. “I can’t seem to put it into words, especially since it’s the first time this has happened in such a manner.”

She was still clearly confused about what had transpired during her divination, and the admission only deepened the mystery surrounding the missing prince.

Grandal felt a wave of partial relief wash over him, it wasn’t a certain death revelation from the Guild Captain.

However, it still didn’t help matters significantly, as she remained unable to provide any information about the Prince’s whereabouts or condition.

“What happened then?” Jarius demanded, his voice sharp with the need for answers. He leaned forward in his throne, seeking some reasonable explanation for her startled reaction and whatever she had discovered in her trance.

Ursula took one long look at the King, measuring her words carefully before speaking. “Your Grace, please permit me to conduct further findings before I give you a definitive answer.”

King Jarius stared back at her for a long moment. Finally, he sighed deeply and settled back into his throne seat. He shook his head with the weariness of a man who had dealt with far too many complications in one day.

“Give me an answer by tomorrow,” he said with finality, waving his hand to dismiss her from his presence.

Ursla bowed respectfully and then left the throne room hurriedly, her staff clicking against the stone floor with each quick stride.

The sound of her footsteps echoed through the throne room until the heavy doors closed behind her with a resonant thud.

After the throne room doors sealed shut, Grandal walked up to stand before the King and made a proper bow before speaking. “Your Grace, what do we do about the Prince now?”

The King stared at Grandal with a face that was slowly retreating back to its usual expressionless mask. “Aiden will return when he’s done acting like a child,” he said, dismissively.

Even Jarius refused to believe for a single moment that Aiden was truly dead, regardless of how much it might seem to others that he didn’t care about his bastard son.

In his heart, he was convinced that this was merely a reaction to their earlier altercation that day and nothing more.

Grandal bowed once more, recognizing the dismissal in his King’s tone, and quietly left his presence. His footsteps echoed softly through the corridor as he departed, leaving Jarius alone with his thoughts.

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