Amaranth: A Maerith Kingdom Novel - Chapter 9

In Miserth Castle, Dax and Darca the Great Danes were lying on the floor in front of the fireplace. Qbaris came in and flopped in the chair near them. He let out a deep sigh and closed his eyes.

Outside there was a loud bang and the Great Danes jumped up and went out to see what was going on. They found Ash and Oldirrim had flown into the hanging cymbal. Dax went over to them, “You guys ok?”

They shook it off, stood up and nodded yes.

“What are you doing here?”

“We are here to see who is living here,” Ash replied.

Qbaris walked out when he heard voices. “Hey, who are you?”

“I am Ash and this is Oldirrim. We are from Rissingshire Castle. Who are you?”

He chuckled and said, “I am Qbaris. I took over this castle after my father was killed by a dragon.”

“Who was your father?” Oldirrim questioned.

“Qrizor. He was killed by a dragon a few monts ago. This black dragon came in and attacked him. Amazingly, he did not know the dragon was in the area. Then it killed him. Just snapped him in half and then took off with him.” He explained.

“Come in, come in. I don’t get visitors. My father left me his journal, which of course, is incomplete. I have enjoyed the peace and quiet though. So, I really didn’t want to go wandering around. Right after my father died, Crumazz also disappeared. I have no idea where he went. Although, I am not going to bother going looking for him. For me, the longer he stays away, the better.”

The owls looked at each, to the Great Danes and back to Qbaris. Ash shook his head, cleared his throat and then told him, “I am going to share with what we just learned. I don’t know what all you know about your family tree. So, I am not going to fill in all the blanks. I will just give you the highlights. Zaleria is dead. Amaranth was kidnapped and then killed Crumazz so that she could escape. Then we came out here to see who is here.”

“Seriously?! Crumazz is dead! This is great news. I don’t have to worry about him coming back here. I do ask that you let Odulore know that I just want to live here in peace.”

Ash and Oldirrim both nodded and then flew off out of the castle. The Great Danes walked back inside and laid down by the fireplace. Qbaris walked around the courtyard. He thought to himself, I am so glad to hear about Crumazz. It takes a load off my mind. He won’t be bothering me anymore. Although, let me get this straight. Qrizor is dead along with Zaleria and Crumazz. Pretty good, a bunch of evil is gone. The owls didn’t act they knew who I was. Word must not have gotten to Rissingshire Castle about me. No surprise. I never saw my mother. I think father liked that he had her captive. It gave him that sense of power. He never spoke of her. I do know that he went to see her. The question is, how many more siblings are there? Are there more than myself and Crumazz? Does this crazy family end with me?

The owls returned to Rissingshire Castle. They landed in the courtyard where Odulore and Amaranth were sitting outside by the bonfire.

“Ok, so what did you find out?” Odulore asked them.

“Did you know that there is another sibling? There’s a wizard that is living in Miserth Castle by the name of Qbaris. He claims to be Qrizor’s son. We don’t know if he knows that Amaranth is a sibling. We did not go into detail but gave him the highlights that Zaleria and Crumazz were both dead. He was excited to hear that Crumazz is gone. He says that he just wants to be left to live in peace.”

“What? Another brother? Oh, good grief! How many siblings do I have? Are there only the three of us? Do we have siblings outside of Maerith Kingdom? This is just crazy!” Amaranth was greatly agitated.

“The good news is that he appears to want to live in peace and won’t be trying to take over. Although, how many kids did Qrizor have?”

They sat there enjoying the moment of peace and then it hit him, “Owls, you need to go to the other castles and let them know what has happened. Make sure they know that Amaranth is here now, Crumazz is dead along with both his parents and that his sibling, Qbaris is wanting to live in peace and quiet at Miserth Castle.”

The owls took off and headed out to the other castles. This trip would take them much longer with going out to four castles.

Amaranth looked at Odulore and then watched the owls as they flew out of sight. She sighed and then sat back. Her mind raced and then she felt exhausted, just from thinking about everything. Odulore could see that she was stressed and breathing heavily. He motioned for Glurx to come over, “Can you get her some water?” Off he went to get some water for her.

Glurx returned shortly with a glass of water and some lemons floating in it. Those were her favorites. “Thanks. Hey, you remembered I love lemons.” She smiled at him and drank her water.

Tamon appeared next to Amaranth. She flitted around her and landed on the ground in front of her. “Are you friends of pixies?”

“What?”

“Do you like pixies?”

“Oh, yes, of course. The only one I wasn’t a friend of was Crumazz. He was evil and did not want me to be friends with anyone. Now that he is gone, I can be friends with whoever I want to.”

Tamon flew up and stood on Amaranth’s lap. She smiled and then blew kisses at her.

Narella came up to her and curled up by her feet. “OH! That reminds me. I had a cat at the Crystal Crypt. It was a black one named Valora. I think you’d like her. We’ll have to go get her and the other good ones. I want them here, but I do not want to go back there.”

Odulore sat watching her. He didn’t say anything but just watched. His mind was working though. I am glad she is back. I knew she couldn’t be evil. I don’t care who her parents are. This will work. She doesn’t want anything to do with evil. Although, now it appears that she has a new sibling that also does not want evil but peace. This is going to be interesting. Plus, how do we figure out if there are more siblings out there?

As they sat there more and more of the mystical forest creatures came in and surrounded them. The birds were singing and making it a peaceful setting. Amaranth was able to sit back in her chair and close her eyes. She had nothing to worry about. For the time being there was no evil around her.

Irreineot and Frally flew in and landed in the courtyard. They stood in front of Amaranth. She opened her eyes and smiled. “What are you guys doing here?”

Frally stepped forward, “We came here to check on you. Plus...” He spun around to reveal that Valora was on his back. “Plus, we brought you a little friend.”

Amaranth got up and grabbed Valora, “Oh, I am so glad to see you. You really helped me when I was at the Crystal Crypt.”

“I am glad you are ok. We were worried when we figured out that Crumazz was dead,” Irreineot told her. “Plus, Gairrulit is not happy. He’s the one that found Crumazz. We grabbed Valora and took off. I don’t know how Puggaald is doing. We did not see him.”

“You guys need to go back for Puggaald. He helped me with getting rid of Crumazz. Crumazz wanted to take over the kingdom and destroy it,” She told them.

They took off out of the castle.

Continue Reading - Chapter 10