Anansi's Web

We rode further into the city. I got off of my griffin, stepping on white cobblestone sidewalks like fresh versions of the ruins in the mountains. There was a small platform right ahead of us, in front of a long stream on which boats were taking off, full of tourists. I think they’re called canals. There was a map beside it, full of streams that ran throughout the kingdom like veins.

To the far right there was a humongous tree being swarmed by tourists in a small park. It had a gnarled navy blue trunk, and shadowy black leaves that shivered in the wind. Tourist shops were raised all around, and people on the streets were handing out maps, and trinkets. I took a deep breath, and took in the air of the kingdom. The smell reminded me of Sraff, but it had the scent of water that had been sitting in the sun. The light from the sky glazed everything around, making this kingdom look divine.

I’m from Othal, and we definitely had our share of tourists, but we’re pretty calm. Neptia was known to be loud, and unapologetic. I kept my hands in my pockets, walking in small steps as we made our way through the city on foot with three griffins following. I didn’t think much of it at the time.

“So how do we get to the castle?” Cara asked.

“I wrote down the instructions, but I lost them on the train. If I remember correctly there was a certain stream we had to take. I’ll ask someone”

We approached one man who was saying his goodbyes to some other tourists with petrified looks on their faces. When he saw us he began rambling about the benefits of shadow magic, but Ember stopped him to ask for directions. I wanted to ask her what shadow magic was later.

“Tourists go to the First gate, right here, and ask for the way to the castle. It takes them up lily’s canal, and to the king’s gate, where they can tour the castle from the front gates. Are you sure you don’t want any shadow magic candles? They are very good for bringing energy.” He said, waving a red candle stick in our face, engraved with runes of some kind.

Ember thanked him, but declined as she urged us with her, to the gate to the first canal. There was a fair line to get on the stream now that I was paying closer attention, but there were a few boats, and they were pretty big. Still, it would take a while for us to get a ride.

I finally realized that we still had the griffins with us, and that they wouldn’t fit into the tourist boat. I told Ember, and she decided to take the griffins to a small forest outside of the kingdom, and tie them up. Cara and I would hold our place in line.

After a while of standing, and chatting with Cara, I heard a familiar voice. I looked around, and I found someone that I knew. She had dark skin, and silky black hair that went down to her back. She moved on clumsy legs, and when I called her she turned, her eyes wide from behind her glasses, they got even wider when they saw me.

“Hey Angelo! What are you doing here; I thought you were in Sraff.” She said, walking up to me, with her arms outstretched.

I hugged her and this prompted a confused grunt from Cara. “I was in Sraff, but I decided to come here. You got a problem with that?”

Ria smiled, “Not at all. Ugh, I haven’t seen one of my friends in so long; all I’ve been seeing is family everywhere I turn! it’s getting old. How are you?”

“I’m good, just waiting for the boat. What are you doing at the entrance to the kingdom?”

“My mom wanted to get pictures of the family at each gate or something. I’ve been at every corner of the city already though.”

“I got it. Have you been having fun?”

“Yeah, I’m good for the most part. This place is almost too much sometimes, it’s crazy. The rumors are true.”

Ria and I talked about the best places to be in the kingdom until Ember came back. I introduced everyone, and said good bye to Ria. She left almost reluctantly, and I kind of wanted to go with her.

“You have some cool friends.” Cara said, with her arms crossed.

“You included.” I said which earned a smile from Cara.

We finally got a chance to get onto the boat, and when we did, we rocked back, and forth. The water burbled, and sloshed against the side of the tourist boat, and the low hum of an engine vibrated in the air around us. The sun lounged on our heads, warming out faces, and the wind blew throughout the kingdom, making me feel like I’m setting out on a brand new adventure.

The boat took off, and a speaker came over an intercom, and began to talk. He made jokes, and spoke about what we were seeing around us, but I wasn’t listening to him that much. I was busy just looking around at my surroundings. The buildings were made of brick, and some were painted white. The place really felt old, but new at the same time.

The boat was moving relatively slow, so that we could soak in our surroundings, but I really just wanted to get to the castle. I wondered how Ember could get us inside to actually talk to the king, and queen of Neptia. I looked around at all of the people, trying to make the time go faster. Someone who really caught my eye, sitting close to me, was a short woman in a plain blue dress. She had on a large wooden chest, and had a few suitcases on top. Her eyes were red, and they burned through the thick shadow of her wide brimmed hat. Her skin was tan, and her ears were slightly pointed, with golden rings hanging from them. The bottom half of her face wasn’t visible because of some kind of pink scarf that she wore. I wondered why she was dressed so strange in this summer heat.

After thirty minutes, the boat stopped moving after passing under a bridge, and floating by building after building. Everyone began to get off. There was a sign at the end of the wooden platform that read kings gate.

A path led up into a garden that must lead to the Neptia castle, but there were iron gates preventing entrance into the garden. More tourist shops were littered around, along with street vendors begging for attention.

“How are we going to get into see the king, and queen?” I asked Ember and Cara when we were all together on the wooden platform.

“I’ll just tell some guards who we are, and they should let us in. I think there are guards…I don’t see any.”

“You are trying to get into the castle?” purred a strange voice.

I looked around to find the short woman that I saw earlier standing next to us, her chest and cases piled next to her.

“Uh, who wants to know?” I asked.

“No one. But, if you were going to the castle, I would have something to give you.” The woman reached into a suitcase, and revealed a collection of colorful stones; each one almost seemed to glow. I noticed some stones that looked similar to the ones in my dreams. The woman’s shoulder length black hair shone when the sun hit it like plastic.

The woman took out a large colorful stone that changed colors as the light shifted. “Here, if you see the queen, tell her his name is Alex.”

Ember took the stone, and slipped it in her pocket. I watched the woman suspiciously, trying to see what she was up too.

“Who are you?” Ember asked.

“Call me the Imp queen. I can control the wind spirits through shadow magic. If you ever need an Imp removed, I’m the one to do it, but…I’m moving to Amedia soon. I got into something messy over here, and I need to get out. The queen and I know each other though, and this is an important gift that I need to give her, but they might not let me into the castle. Promise me you’ll give it to her.”

Ember nodded without further question. Despite potential protests sitting on my tongue I kept quiet, watching the strange lady carry all of her things away from us. After a few seconds she was lost in the crowd of almost equally strange people.

“So what was that about?” Cara asked.

“Nothing you two should worry about.” Ember began. “I don’t know her, but based on her ears, eyes, and skin tone she was a Menosir. They’re mysterious people, and that stone had some magical properties, but it isn’t harmful. I’ll ask the queen about it. C’mon, let’s find some guards.”

Cara and I shrugged, following Ember forward. We followed the gate, until we found a guard. The guard was a stern faced man, standing rigid in front of the black Iron Gate.

“My name is Ember Ordena; I asked to see the queen a few days ago. Could you please let us in?”

The man repeated Ember’s story into a black walkie-talkie, and after a muffled response, he waved for someone inside of the gate to open it. He waved us in as the gate screeched inward to let us inside Neptias front yard.

The front garden was really beautiful. A white marble fountain sat in the center, with entangled swans sitting in the center, spewing sparkling water from their beaks. Surrounding the swans were small cherubs, pouring water into the wide pool with small buckets.

The path through the garden was made of paved white stone, and surrounding us were several colorful flowers, all fighting for our devotion at once, catching our attention at every corner. Small white dandelion seeds slowly cascaded to the ground from the sky, blown by the mild breeze. Butterflies occasionally passed us by to land on a colorful flower, and rest their wings.

I turned around, and watched every tourist from outside of the gates watch us as we walked further into the garden, and to Neptias castle, which was visible in the distance. I felt a bit self-conscious as I walked, but I tried to block those thoughts out.

When we finally made it to the front porch, there were two men in sharp suits standing there, waiting for us it seems. They pushed open the large doors, and when I looked inside I scratched my head.

The inside of the castle I had expected to be just as grand as the outside, but it looked like an office building. They had boring grey carpets, and white tiled ceilings with boring light fixtures. I walked further into the building, following Ember, and that was really all that there was except for the wooden receptionist’s desk in the center, and the cubicles off to the side. It smelled like cheap air freshener, and dust.

The woman at the desk gave us a quick little smile a few seconds late of our entrance. She had sleek black glasses on, and her brown hair was pulled back into a pony tail. “Hello, welcome to the current castle of Neptia how may I help you?” She asked in a very cookie cutter receptionist voice.

“Hello, we are here to see the king and queen, my name is Ember Ordena.”

The woman looked through some papers on her desk, and then checked her computer. “Yes, I see you here. The queen had you scheduled for this morning, but she isn’t doing anything right now, so she and the king can probably see you. I’ll call, and ask.”

I took a breath of relief, and so did Cara. I leaned in next to her, and said, “I thought there’d be….more here. It’s so boring.”

She nodded, “Yeah, I mean it’s like they don’t know where they are. This is the craziest kingdom in Zirea, maybe even the world.”

A guy’s voice said, “The king and queen have intended to keep the castle as they see fit. This is a work place, nothing more and nothing less.”

Startled, I turned around, and saw the man from the door standing there. He had grey-brown hair, and a pointed nose. His suit was unnaturally clean, and he had this air of superiority around him that made me a little uncomfortable.

“Oh.” Cara murmured.

“Alright, the queen is available at the moment, but it will be a fair walk to get to her, I’ll give the instructions to the worker behind you, and he will be your guide.” The desk woman said.

The man behind me circled around Cara, and went up to the woman at the desk. She gave him several seconds of instructions, and he just nodded, with a slightly disinterested look.

The man moved away from the desk and began walking off to the right. Ember followed him, and I followed her. I wondered if he was just having a bad day and wasn’t talking. If we’re good enough to see the queen then should be respected, not shunned. We didn’t look ragged anymore, we actually looked pretty okay. I wanted to speak with his manager.

We walked through hallways, and cut through rooms, and took elevators up until we finally got in front of a red door at the end of a long hallway. By the time we stopped, I was almost panting with exhaustion, and I wanted to quit, and go straight back home. Sadly I had gotten used to the air freshener smell, and I started to see if I could tell what scent each room was. This hallway was apple cinnamon.

“Here you are.” The man said. He walked off back the way we came. So…how are we going to get back? Terra knows I didn’t memorize all those twists, and turns.

Ember knocked on the red door, and after a moment it opened, revealing a short old woman with thin brown hair. Her face was tight, like she was annoyed, but the strangest part were her eyes. One eye was perfectly normal, it was green like a sour apple, but the other eye was completely black, and it reflected the lights, so the pupil seemed to be an orb of yellowish light. I couldn’t find myself looking away from it.

“Hello ma’am.” Ember said.

“Hello, you must be Ember, and I suppose these two…children are with you?”

“Yes ma’am.”

The queen nodded, and moved out of the way to let us in.

The room was small, and pretty much the same as the other rooms, but there were only two cubicles, and one wall was a window, which overlooked from the garden all the way to halfway down the stream that brought us up here. It was a little disorienting to see.

A taller man sat in a spinning chair that was facing us. He looked old, and he wore a simple suit. He had a thick brown mustache though, and just like the queens eye, I couldn’t look away from the thing, it was huge, and unsettling.

“Hello, and welcome to my kingdom.” The man said, getting up, and shaking each of our hands.

“We hear you have important news, please have a seat and share whenever you’re ready.” The queen said as she led us to some seats around a brown coffee table with a small plant sitting in the center.

Cara, Ember, and I sat on one side, while the king and queen of Neptia sat on the other side of the table. I felt nervous, but not as nervous as I probably should have felt. I have been through so much I didn’t feel like there was much that could scare me, even though I got really scared sometimes. I looked directly at the old couple, ready to talk.

Ember proceeded to tell the king, and queen about our journey ever since she was attacked at her shop all the way to now, as we sat in front of them. They were quiet for a little bit after Ember explained. The king eventually got up, and began typing. “I’m going to write what you said down so we can have it on file. I need you three to stay here, and read it to see if I got anything wrong.”

While the king did that, Ember asked the queen if she had any questions. “No, but I do have some answers to some of the things that you described if you would like to know.”

“Yes, please” I blurted out. When the queen looked at me with that eye, I shrank back into my seat.

“Well, the man you described is not a general of any kind of army, Fervan calls people like him directors. I don’t know much about them, but thanks to you we know they might be kind of like scouts. As for the war, it obviously is happening, but we are winning for the most part.”

I looked out of the huge window. The secret war is real, the queen of a kingdom just said so, even though I didn’t want it to be true.

“How are you keeping it a secret if we are asking for soldiers? The family has to know something is going on.” I said quietly.

“People join the MOD all the time, no one questions it child. But most nosy people think the MOD now are on patrol in case of a war, and they think we’re asking for more soldiers to fill each surrounding island. The Calathea islands surround us, and act as a barrier from, well basically the outside world. They stretch so far they completely protect that half of our country. There have been questions of why we ask for so many soldiers, and why they’re dying, but those are recent, and few.”

“So people have to know about the war eventually.” Cara said.

“But not now.” The queen replied curtly.

“How did the war start?” I asked.

The queen’s mouth pursed. “It’s complicated, but to put it simply: we were suspicious of Fervan, and concerned that they might start a war. We sent a spy, and Fervan found out. They killed the spy, and declared war.”

I swallowed, and kept looking out of the window. The world was strange. Suspicions and discoveries could lead to people dying. It led to me being forced to leave my parents alone to actually risk my life to be safe. I wondered if this happened before, with some other war. I kept my arms close to my body. I didn’t feel so safe anymore.

When I looked over at Ember, she seemed stoic, and detached, like she took a trip into her mind to calculate some things. Cara shifted around in her seat, making awkward noises in the otherwise silent room.

“What I really want to know now is what the director is after. He can’t just be a scout if he’s out attacking people.” The queen murmured.

“He got the emerald tablet, at least, one of them. He’s going to try and open it, and he’s chasing us to keep us quiet, but of course that’s not going to work now. Since you two already know.” Ember said.

The queen seemed to be working through a few emotions. When one had finally settled on her face, it was concern. “What were you doing with the emerald tablet anyway?”

“The queen of Othal gave me the emerald tablets only for a little while until she knew she could keep them in a safe underground. No one would expect the tablets to be with a little magic shop keeper, but somehow he found out. I would wonder how, but I doubt that’s important.”

“What connection do you have with the queen of Othal?”

“I knew the king when we were in collage, and I still visited him when he was king, and with her.” Ember said.

I wanted to know how she met the king of Othal before he was king. If they went to collage together then she must have gone to a super fancy collage. The old people she lived with must have been rich.

“Alright, I’m finished. Could you look this over, and tell me if I got it accurate?” The king said from his chair.

When Ember was done telling him some corrections in our story I scooted next to Cara on the couch. “This is weird.” I said.

“Pfft, I know. I didn’t know Ember was so connected. Now we know the rulers of Neptia, and basically have connections with the rulers of Othal. Ugh, my head is spinning.”

“I know what you mean.” I said, sitting back in the couch, with my hand shifting through my hair. “This is stressful.”

We sat there quietly. The queen was listening to Embers story just as intently as the king was as she re described some parts for him.

As Ember talked about the part when we were stranded in the mountains, the king made a comment about how he soon plans to evacuate the mountains, and how he doesn’t want anyone living there because it’s dangerous, but I think Vince can handle it.

Rulers have control over a certain amount of land outside of their kingdom, and usually it’s marked on maps. The entire country is overseen by a president though. Othal controls the west, and Neptia controls the east, though luckily the entire east isn’t nearly as crazy as the kingdom is. It’s a lot of work to have a limited amount of power over half of a country, but they have a lot of helpers, like princes, and their court who help them make decisions.

“Alright, this information will be very helpful; we’ll get Othal on the line immediately to share this news with them. You have been a huge help, and I would like to thank you.” The king said.

“Thank you, but do you mind if we ask a favor?”

“Not at all, I can do anything you like.” The king said with a smile.

“Do you have a room for us here? We don’t exactly have a place to go, and a hotel would be spending some unnecessary money.”

“Of course, there are a few rooms on this side of the castle; we’ll have someone show you the way. It’ll be close to the entrance so you can get out, and in without walking through this maze.”

We laughed as he called someone to show us to a room on the guest hall. Outside the sun was starting to get lower in the sky, as afternoon slid into the place of morning. I rubbed my eyes, and took in a deep breath. I was ready to sleep, and for this day to end.