Amaranth: A Maerith Kingdom Novel - Chapter 10

Ash and Oldirrim flew into Glottenham Castle. Staedan was nowhere to be seen. However, Chrono saw them land in the courtyard. He greeted them, “Greetings friends! When do you need assistance?”

“We are here to tell you that at this time, we won’t be needing any assistance. Amaranth is now at Rissingshire Castle. She was able to escape by killing Crumazz. We were also informed that Qrizor is also dead.”

“Great! I will let Staedan and Shelyn know.”

They flew out of the castle and on to the next one. They landed at Grimtol Castle where Xodius was in the garden area of the castle. They were also greeted by the rabbits, Nesquick and Periwinkle.

“How are...” Nesquick asked while Periwinkle interrupted him, “Who are you?”

Ash answered them, “We are Ash and Oldirrim. We come from Rissingshire Castle. Our message is for Xodius. It is good news. We do not need assistance and Crumazz and Qrizor are both dead.”

Xodius got up and walked quickly over to the owls. “What is this you say?” He questioned.

“Your assistance is no longer needed. Amaranth is not looking to take over the kingdom. She is at Rissingshire Castle with Odulore. Both Crumazz and Qrizor are dead. So the kingdom will be in peace for a while longer.”

“I am so grateful. Can you imagine trying to get these two to pay attention? Nesquick and Periwinkle are great companions, but easily distracted.”

“We need to continue spreading the word,” Oldirrim told him.

They flew up and out of the castle. The last castle that they had to visit was Langdale Castle where Drozan and Zolya live with the elves. This castle sits a top the Lavalbourg Gorge.

Head elf, Fenian, greeted them, “Hello my fair owls. How are you? Where do you come from?”

Ash landed next to him and told him, “I am Ash and this is Oldirrim. We come from Rissingshire Castle. Is Drozan here?”

Zolya came out from her sitting room when she heard the voices. “Hi Ash! Hi Oldirrim! How are things at Rissingshire?”

“They are wonderful. We require no assistance. Amaranth is back at Rissingshire and things are good. Plus, Crumazz and his father Qrizor are both dead.”

Drozan joined them in the courtyard, “This is good news. We will have a peaceful kingdom for a while.”

Both owls nod yes and then fly away from the castle and back to Rissingshire.

When they get to Rissingshire there is still a great gathering of animals and mystical forest creatures. Odulore and Amaranth are seated by the fireplace. The owls land next to them. Odulore looked up and asked, “Did you notify everyone?” Both owls nodded yes. “Thank you.”

Amaranth turned her head and looked at Odulore, “We should compare journals. See what they say and how they can both help us. We need to keep the peace of the kingdom.”

“Yes, I agree. However, you do not look like you want to go anywhere that is not in that chair.” He smiled at her.

“True.”

The dragons returned and this time it was three of them and Puggaald. Gairrulit went up to Amaranth, wiping away any creature in his way with his wings. He glared at her, “Did you kill Crumazz?” He demanded.

She stood up and looked him directly in the eyes, “Yes, I did. I had a choice of killing him or turning into my mother. I have no desire to be that evil and trapped in a crypt for a lifetime. No thank you! So, in order to escape, I had to. I know you won’t agree with me, but I did what I had to do.” They stood there staring at each other.

Gairrulit turned and walked away. Then he turned back to her and said, “You are right. I do not agree with you. Crumazz was a great wizard. There was no reason to kill him. You weren’t there long enough to come to that conclusion. I hope you are happy.”

“I am!” She sat back down. Her energy was draining out of her. She had to get re-energized. “I need to get some rest. This is draining.”

“I didn’t do anything with your room. So, you can go back to your own room. I was not completely convinced that you were not coming back. I did take precautions and planned, just in case you were going to the dark side. I’m not stupid.”

She nodded, “I understand and I appreciate that. I will head off to my room. I will see you in the morning.” She got up and walked off to her room.

Avras appeared in the courtyard next to Odulore, “Hey, do you know what you are doing?”

“Can you just enter like everyone else? Do you have to just appear? Sit down and take a load off your feet that you didn’t use.”

“You did not answer my question.” He said as he sat down.

“I know. Yes, I know what I am doing. She may have had the most evil parents on the planet, but she is nothing like them. She was raised in my household with good parents. Also, now she knows that they abandoned her and her mother got her to kill her brother when she did not know it was her brother. Although, I believe that she still would have killed him, but it would have been more difficult.”

“Ok, as long as you realize what you are getting yourself into. I think you are thinking with your heart and not your head.”

“That’s your opinion, and we all have one. I just don’t agree with you.”

He shook his head back and forth in disagreement.

A griffin landed in the courtyard with Azohr holding on to his back. Azohr walked over to Odulore, “I hear there has been some excitement over here in Maerith Kingdom. What kind of trouble have you been up to?”

“No trouble here friend. Excitement, well, that could be. Amaranth was kidnapped by Crumazz or at least the dragon that Crumazz sent to get her. She then ended up killing him so that she could escape. We found out that she and Crumazz were siblings and that they had another sibling, Qbaris. No one had heard of him at all. We will try to figure out who all the siblings are. We believe that Qrizor populated more than Maerith Kingdom with his kids.The amazing part is that so far only Crumazz was evil.”

“You all are crazy busy over here. I heard correctly. So, where is Amaranth?”

“She is here, in her room. She had made her allegiance known.”

Azohr looked at Avras and Avras shook his head back and forth. “I see we have some disagreement here,” Azohr laughed.

“Yes, I disagree with him. He’s not thinking with his head.”

“Well, the sun is setting. So, it’s time to retire for the evening. I will disagree with you another day,” Odulore said, got up and walked out to his room.

Azohr took off with his griffin and Avras disappeared. The animals and mystical forest creatures left the castle.

Continue Reading - Chapter 11