Bartholomew Nelson and the World of Zathya: The Prince and the Heir

“I don’t understand why I am the one that has to do these errands anyway,” said a short black haired Bartholomew Nelson as he stepped out onto the porch where his best friend, Charlotte Cole was waiting. “I mean shouldn’t someone else who is a little bit older take care of this boring stuff? Or maybe someone who cares a little more? I’d rather be over at Mrs. Appleton’s taste testing those pies!” Charlotte rolled her eyes as Bart sat down next to her.

“You know,” she started. “You complain about running these errands for your mom every year when the festival comes around, yet I don’t think we ever actually do them.” Bart stuck his finger to his mouth to gesture for Charlotte to not be so loud. He glanced back in the house to see if his mom was still in the kitchen.

“Regardless,” he said after seeing the coast was clear. “I don’t even really like this festival, so I shouldn’t be involved.” Bart did indeed hate the festival because not only did he have to help his mother with everything, but it always overlapped with his birthday. The festival was the biggest attraction in town, and it happened once a year in the summer. Bart’s birthday was tomorrow so for him, this festival was nothing but a buzz kill.

“You’re involved because the whole occasion is run by your family, duh. Don’t you think because your mom controls everything that you need to help a little bit?” Bart looked at Charlotte knowing she was right, but he didn’t want to admit it. He stood up and started walking towards the fence with Charlotte following.

“Well either way, it’s boring,” Bart finally said when they were far enough away from the house and out on the sidewalk. “I hope my mom doesn’t think I’m staying around here to take over for her. When that time comes, I’m going to be long gone.” Charlotte laughed sarcastically.

“What makes you think you can possibly just up and leave Dorman Falls and not run the festival?” she asked. “You’d be the first in your entire family to do that. No way you’re leaving. You’re destined to be the ruler of festivals one day,” she said with a laugh. Bart smirked and tossed his head back as if to say yeah right. Destiny was supposed to be something that you looked forward to, something exciting. The way Charlotte used it was not how he wanted to hear it. It didn’t matter, though. Charlotte was right. The Nelson family had been running this festival since it was first created by Alvin B. Colville and his cousin, Richard Hans Nelson. Since its inception, the Nelson family has passed down the responsibilities of running the event generation after generation until now, Anna Nelson runs it. She has been for fifteen years, and she has taken it far and above expectations and previous heights. For Bart to bail on his duty as the so called “CEO” of the festival would not only be a family issue but a Dorman Falls issue because living up to the new expectations that have been set by his mom is nothing a non-family member could do.

“Trust me, I won’t be here when the time comes, Char,” Bart said as the two friends rounded a corner. Across the street kids were playing tag, and nearby a group of blonde girls were sitting on a bench talking and giggling.

“Why don’t you tell that to Stacey,” Charlotte said, nodding over at the girls on the bench. Stacey Artsy was sitting in the middle of the two other girls with make-up riddled faces, bright dresses, high heels, and pink finger nails. Bart knew that Charlotte and Stacey didn’t get along. A while back something happened between them and they hadn’t spoken since. Bart always assumed it was because Stacey had changed one summer. She left to visit her Aunt in Miami. When she left, she was a fun loving, adventurous girl, just like Charlotte but when she came back she was a stuck up, materialistic Barbie doll. Stacey no longer enjoyed the adventurous life. She was more into makeup and designer fashion. Charlotte hated things like that and the rest became history.

“I don’t know why you keep thinking I’m going to end up with her,” Bart said as he looked over at Stacey. “We dated when she wasn’t completely crazy. She’s changed now, and she would drive me nuts.” Bart didn’t want Stacey to catch a glimpse of him so he hurried Charlotte around the next corner and down the street.

“Well she definitely still likes you,” Charlotte said with a grimace. “Anyway, enough of this crazy talk; we both know you aren’t going anywhere. Besides, you don’t even do the errands, so why do you act like they’re so bothersome?” Bart shrugged off the question. He didn’t care what anyone thought. He wasn’t going to stay in Dorman Falls forever. His dream was to be an adventurer and live life to the fullest. Giving that up for some festival was out of the question.

They continued up the street for a few minutes and stopped outside of a small white house. The outside looked amazing and well kept. The bushes were trimmed and the grass was perfectly cut. There was an aroma of wet grass in the air, which Bart figured was because the sprinklers just finished watering the yard. The gate and the front door was bright blue. There were tons of flowers in the garden just in front of the porch, and each of them let off an aromatic smell that made it just a little too sweet to breathe in. That, on top of the wet grass, was too much stimulation for one person’s nose to handle. They knocked on the front door and after a few seconds, the door flung open and standing there was a tall man, at least six feet, with glasses. His hair was short like Bart’s except his was brown. He peered down at the two children on his doorstep and then he smiled.

“Hey Uncle Caleb,” Bart said as his Uncle welcomed them inside. Charlotte gave him a hug and followed Bart in. The inside of the house was a complete transformation from the outside. It was as if they stepped into a completely different world. There were papers, countless papers everywhere. Books were stacked in many different places, and one pile by the corner was touching the ceiling. Some books were open on the living room table with scribble marks in the margins. Pens and pencils were scattered all over the floor. The carpet was barely visible.

“Well if it isn’t my two favorite trouble makers,” Caleb said in a casual voice as he closed the door behind them. “Ducking out of your errands again I see.”

“Of course I am! Why don’t you try running around town the day of the biggest Festival of the year and tell me it’s not stressful?” Caleb laughed and headed into the kitchen.

“I am sure your mom only wants to prepare you for the future,” Caleb said. “There is a good lesson in this somewhere; you just have to find it.”

“Well, I’ll find it after I find some of Mrs. Appleton’s pies,” Bart said. Charlotte giggled and Caleb came into the room holding two slices of Mrs. Appleton’s apple pies.

“You always seem to know Mr. Johnson,” said Charlotte in reference to the pies.

“It’s my job to know. What kind of uncle would I be if I didn’t?” They all laughed, and Charlotte and Bart started to eat their slices. Bart’s was gone within seconds, while Charlotte took her time, savoring each bite.

“So when are you going to put that effort from keeping up your garden into cleaning your house Mr. Johnson?” Charlotte said, which caused Bart to laugh.

“I guess you’re right Charlotte,” he said glancing around at the piles and the pencils. “It is quite a mess in here. I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you two some good money to come help me one of these Sundays. How about that?”

“Well that all depends on the price, Uncle C,” Bart said quickly.

“How about just enough so that I don’t tell your mom you’re hiding out here when you’re supposed to be doing your errands?”

“That’s a deal,” Bart said with no hesitation.

“Then I won’t tell a soul; my lips are sealed. But you should really think about helping your mom out, Bart. One day, I’m sure you will be helping a lot more people than just your mom. You’re destined for greatness I can feel it.” Destined. There was the word again. However, once again it wasn’t the way Bart had expected to hear it.

“Being the orchestrator and boss of a festival that everyone loves puts a tremendous amount of pressure on you not to fail is not greatness Uncle C,” Bart responded.

“I’m sure there is more fun in store,” Caleb said as he stood up. “On a different note, your birthday is tomorrow. Are you excited? The big fifteen!” Bart looked at his uncle like he was crazy while Charlotte laughed.

“I guess I’m excited. I mean it’s not really that big of a deal, especially since the festival starts tonight. In this town, the festival is bigger than my birthday.” Uncle Caleb just looked at him for a few seconds and then with a big smile on his face, he began to speak.

“Ah, I doubt that,” he said. “Fifteen is a definitely a huge deal. Trust me things will be different for you, just you wait and see.”

“Sure, Uncle C. Whatever you say,” Bart responded as he looked at Charlotte, who was just now finishing her pie.

“Well for now I must leave you two. I have to make sure some of these errands get done, and it’s already three in the afternoon. So I’ll see you later. You can stay as long as you like: just don’t forget to lock up if you leave.” Bart nodded and with that Caleb left out the front door.

“Your uncle is still the greatest uncle in the world Bart. Can’t imagine what you would do if you couldn’t run to him when you needed to escape your duties.”

“Yeah, he is. And the good thing about it is I don’t have to worry about him not being here when I need him. He’s always here and he always will be. His life is this town, so I can’t see him ever turning away.” Charlotte rolled her eyes as the two friends headed up the stairs. The steps were cluttered with books, papers, and boxes. They had to step over a few piles of clothing in the hallway to get to the end of the hall. When they got there, Bart noticed that his uncle’s office door was ajar.

“Now this is a rare treat,” Bart said as he pushed the door all the way open. Bart’s uncle never leaves his office open. It’s always closed and locked with the key hidden. This must have been a huge mistake. Caleb was probably getting ready to go back in when he heard the knock on the door and then forgot as he fed the two teens.

“I don’t think that he meant to leave it open, Bart, and I’m sure he didn’t mean for you to go snooping around,” Charlotte said as she tugged on his arm to try and stop him from entering.

“Well that’s not my fault is it? Should’ve checked to make sure it was closed.” With that, Bart yanked his arm free and marched right into the office. With no choice but to follow, Charlotte tilted her head back and mouthed the word why as she entered behind him. The office returned Bart and Charlotte back to world of cleanliness. It was extremely neat and the floor was wood instead of carpet. It was much bigger on the inside than Bart had imagined, with three cabinets in three separate corners and a huge desk in the middle of the room. The closet was rather small. Bart walked over to the window and opened the blinds. The sun flooded in, brightening every inch of the room, nearly blinding him. Looking out the window, Bart saw the entire back yard and into a few neighbors’ yards across the alleyway.

“I wonder why he keeps it so clean in here?” Charlotte asked as she browsed through the cabinet closest to the door. “It can’t be that hard to make the rest of the house like this, right?” Bart was too busy trying to break into his uncle’s locked desk to pay attention to what Charlotte was saying.

“This lock is impossible. I need some tools or something to open it.”

“How about we just leave it? I think that would be a better idea.” Bart looked at her with that are you crazy look as he continued to pick at the lock.

“Or you could help me get it off and we can see what my uncle is hiding,” he said as he reached for the scissors on the desk.

“Or I could not and say I did. Besides, why are you assuming that your uncle is hiding anything? It’s not like he is a secret government agent or anything.” Bart ignored her and continued to work on the lock. Charlotte, instead, seemed to be fascinated by the different books she found in the trunk that was in the closet.

“Bart, have you heard of some of these books? There’s one in here called Wielding: The Art of Complete Control. What in the world is wielding?”

“Almost got it,” Bart said, once again impervious to Charlotte’s comments and questions. Charlotte just continued to look at the books. There were tons about “wielding” including The Basics of Wielding, Intro to Mind Wielding, and The Creators of Wielding: The Elder Beings. The same author, Turin Anaclime, wrote all the books.

“Whatever wielding is, this Turin guy must know a lot about it,” Charlotte said as she kept digging. “Wonder if your uncle knows him.”

“Got it,” Bart yelled as the lock popped off and the drawer to the desk slid open. The drawer was full of mysterious items. There were folders marked with numbers and papers as well. There were more books on wielding but written by different authors. “This is a bunch of junk. What a waste of time.” Just then Bart saw something that caught his eye. At the bottom of the drawer were a bunch of photos. The one on top had a woman smiling as she stood on top of a rock. She was holding a bow while a sheath of arrows was on the ground in front of the rock. Her hair was long and black, and her skin was tanned. Bart immediately recognized her.

“Bart isn’t that…”

“My mom,” Bart said before Charlotte could finish. It was fascinating to Bart to see his mom holding a bow, since he knew his mom to be much less of an adventurer and more so a stickler for rules and chores. The only thing she worried about nowadays was the festival. Bart always assumed she was the only Nelson to not want to be an adventurer. Their family had been very interested in exciting exploits, which was how the festival originally started. Richard Nelson and Alvin Colville used to invite family members and close friends to Dorman Falls to not only share their stories of great adventures from the past year but to also engage in fun activities and competitions. Eventually that grew into the festival it was today, with many people coming to not only participate, but to watch.

They continued to search through the photos, and Bart’s mom was in every single one. In one of the photos it was her with another woman. The woman was a little taller than his mom, and her skin was milk chocolate. Bart could tell immediately she was of Indian decent. She was also much younger. She was smiling, but it wasn’t her smile that grabbed Bart’s attention. It was her long white hair. It was beautiful, and Bart couldn’t take his eyes off it. She also had interesting eyes. Bart couldn’t quite make out the color but they seemed to mesmerize him. In another picture, his mom was with a younger guy wearing glasses. Both Bart and Charlotte recognized him as Uncle Caleb.

“Uncle Caleb was pretty in shape back when this was taken, huh?” Charlotte said with a laugh. His arms were toned, much different than what they looked like now. Now his arms had a little flab to them but he was still far from fat. In this photo it looked like he was some kind of fitness instructor. As they continued to search through the photos, they started to notice that all the same people were present. Then they came across a photo that almost made Bart drop all the pictures. His mom was standing there next to a man, tall and muscular, with long black hair pulled back in a ponytail. He had a stern face with sharp features, including a very sharp chin. The two of them were smiling ear to ear while Bart’s mom was holding a baby. The baby was clearly a boy, and he wasn’t happy to be in the picture. His eyes were tightly shut, and his mouth was wide open, probably crying and screaming.

“Bart,” Charlotte said carefully as they stared at the picture. “Aren’t you an only child?” Bart was silent for a few seconds before he answered.

“Yes,” he said as he struggled to find his voice.

“Then that means…”

“Yeah,” Bart interrupted. “That’s me.”