Amaranth: A Maerith Kingdom Novel - Chapter 8

Glurx was walking through the courtyard when Oizu landed with Amaranth on his back.

“What are you doing here?” He asked her.

“I need to speak with Odulore immediately.”

Ash and Oldirrim flew out from a room to greet her. “You are here?” Ash asked with a confused tone.

“Yes, I just told Glurx that I need to speak with Odulore immediately.”

A few moments later Odulore appeared in the courtyard. Standing there with his arms folded and an inquiring look on his face, he asked her, “Well, here I am. What do you need to speak to me about so urgently?”

“I know you may not believe me, but let me finish before you say anything. Crumazz had Gairrulit capture me. My mother is dead. He knew that there was a plan for her and Qrizor to take over the kingdom by force. So, he had me sit in her room and read through her journal. What he did not know was that she did not trust him, and she made that very clear to me in her journal. Then she told me that I had to make a decision. I had to choose Crumazz and Qrizor or you and Trodus. She did not know that your father was gone. With making this decision she gave me a couple of potions that helped me to get here safely. I do not know if Qrizor is alive or not. I have not seen or heard from him. I can tell you that Crumazz is now dead. We took care of that right before coming here. My decision is to not be against you. I would love to rule the kingdom, but with you. I think with your father’s spells and my mother’s potions we can make a great pair that can protect Maerith Kingdom for many years to come. What do you think?”

He did not immediately answer her. He looked at her, then at Oizu, and then over to the owls and Glurx. “Why should I believe you? We used the crystal ball and it looked like you were pretty comfortable.”

“I am not surprised that you don’t believe me. I can explain that you most likely saw me when I was reading her journal. I can also tell you that even though I was caged up Crumazz was not about to let me leave on my own. I went to the entrance, and he’d be there checking to see what I was doing.

Mother gave me a potion to immobilize him and then one for death. They both worked very well,” She tried to explain.

“So, you want to believe that your mother had you kill Crumazz and she told you in her journal?” He looked at her with confusion. “Why would she have you kill him? Did she explain to you about the family tree? Your family tree?”

Amaranth shook her head no, “No she did explain anything about the family tree. All I know is that she was my mother, but I was raised by your family.”

“Let’s go into the dining hall. There we can all sit and I can explain some things.” He motioned for them to follow him.

On their way to the dining hall Odulore stopped into his father’s room and grabbed his book of spells with the letter inside.

When they got into the dining hall Zizor was waiting for them. He ran up Amaranth and gave her a huge hug. “I knew you would be back!” He kept saying excitedly.

“Put her down Zizor,” Glurx told him.

They all sat down at the dining table with Odulore across the table from Amaranth. He placed his father’s book of spells in between them. “You see, my father left me a letter in addition to his book of spells. In his letter he explained to me your family tree. Let me first assure you that we are not related.” He snickered and smiled at her. She smiled back, but didn’t say anything.

He took the letter out of the book and read part of it to her. “I will read you part of the letter. I think you will find it interesting.

Amaranth’s mother is Zaleria and Qrizor is Crumazz’s father. The part that you didn’t know before was that Zaleria and Qrizor were married and Crumazz’s mother is also Zaleria. So, yes, Amaranth and Crumazz are siblings. This makes them very dangerous. I do not believe that they know. They raised them separately and did not speak of their marriage. They are full siblings and very close in age.

Qrizor wanted to rule the kingdom by himself and did not want the hassle of being married. He took Crumazz to live in Miserth Castle, and he left Zaleria in the Crystal Crypt to raise Amaranth on her own. However, she decided that she did not want Amaranth and dropped her off here for us to raise her.

Why would she leave her here? She knew that your mother would never turn away an abandoned child, no matter whose it was. We never would have thought that you two would be attracted to each other. We tried to raise you as siblings.

Zaleria was an evil witch and has descended from a long line of evil witches. Just as Qrizor has descended from a long line of evil warlocks. You put the two together and you end up with children that will be evil as well.

When Zaleria was in the Crystal Crypt the only thing she couldn’t do was leave because Qrizor had put a spell on it that kept her there. When Zaleria or Qrizor pass, the spell will be lifted from the crypt.

If the dragons have come for Amaranth, then one or the other or both has happened. When they come for her, they will make it appear that she is kidnapped. However, they will be putting her in place to take over where her mother left off, especially is Qrizor is gone. Please do not go after her. I hope that you have already asked this of the crystal ball.

So, with that knowledge. What do you want me to believe?”

Amaranth sat there taking it all in. She looked up at him. Her eyes looked hurt. They were not her normal brightness. They had tears in the corners. One tear escaped and fell down beside her nose, and landed on the top of her lip. She gave a big sigh. Still not saying anything and not moving from her seat. Her mind began to wander, My mother gave me up. My father is Qrizor? My brother was Crumazz? So, she had me kill my brother, her son and did not bother to tell me who he was. How can I trust what she has to say? What about Qrizor? Is he dead? Is he alive? Why didn’t he want me? What do I say? What do I do? Where do I go?

She opened her mouth but nothing came out for a few moments. “I don’t know what to say. I had no idea. Your parents did not tell me who both of my parents were. I only knew of my mother. My mother did not tell me who my father was nor who my brother was. Why would she want him killed? I just thought that he was evil and I did it for my own survival. Now what?”

They all sat there for a few more moments. Evatius came trotting in. He looked around the room and shook his head. “Ok, what in the world is going on here? Why is SHE here?”

He stood at the end of the table waiting for an answer. Everyone looked up at him, but it was still silence. “Well?”

Finally the silence broke, “I just read the letter from my father to Amaranth after she told us that her mother left her a letter that told her to kill Crumazz. So, Crumazz is dead. She appears to feel totally betrayed and doesn’t know what to think or do.”

Slowly more animals and creatures joined them in the dining hall. As they came in, they did not make a noise. It was eerily silent. The hall was filled with every seat taken by an animal, witch, wizard or creature.

In the doorway Avras appeared and immediately went to be next to Odulore. “No need to explain. I have it figured out. The two of you have a lot to figure out. The good news is that we are less one evil wizard. The next question that we need to figure out the answer to is, is Qrizor still alive? Then which side will Amaranth choose? Will she go with Qrizor, who is her father or will she stay with us and live in peace and harmony?”

Amaranth looked up him and she stood up, “I have been betrayed by my biological family. I can forgive Trodus for not telling me about my father. It was not his place to. He did way more for me than my own family. I cannot go against him and his wishes. If we find that Qrizor is alive, I will not go with him. I will be against him. I like the life of peace and harmony. How can I go with him? He abandoned me. My mother abandoned me and then set me up to kill my own brother. Although, that’s not exactly a bad thing. The only one that we may have trouble with is Gairrulit the black dragon. He was loyal to Crumazz. We have not seen him and don’t know if he knows that Crumazz is dead or not.” She sat back down.

“I am glad to hear this. We can work with this. Now we have to visit Miserth Castle to see if Qrizor is alive or not. Also, we need to purge all the evil from Crystal Crypt. There are many tunnels and rooms to that place. We may be better off getting the good ones out and then trapping the rest of it.” Avras told them.

There was a great eruption of cheers in the dining hall. Odulore spoke up, “Now I know everyone is happy that Crumazz is gone. This does take care of one of the evil wizards. However, we need to make sure that his father is gone. Then Maerith Kingdom will be rid of evil.”

Zizor disappeared into the kitchen and then returned with goblins, and they had carts of food that they passed out to everyone. Soon the noises were only of everyone eating. The goblins took the plates as they were cleared of food. Back to the kitchen they went to get everything cleaned up.

Everyone exited the dining hall and went their own ways. That is, except for Amaranth. She went with Odulore back to his father’s room. They sat down at the chairs that surrounded the fireplace. Zyrsit lit the fireplace for them.

There was a calm throughout the castle and the Maerith Kingdom.

Continue Reading - Chapter 9