The first thing Bart did when the door closed was look at Charlotte. She must’ve had the same reaction as him because she was already looking at him when their eyes met. With all the revelations about this new world and his role in it, Bart never stopped to think that he would actually start training. He definitely didn’t think about Charlotte’s role in all of this.
“So, I remember my mom telling me you were from this world too,” Bart said. Charlotte looked away for a few seconds before responding.
“Yeah, about that,” she said. “I’ve talked to my dad and he confessed everything. He told me that I was born in Zathya, just like you. Then he continued to tell me that my mom might be alive.” She paused and looked down at her hands. Bart knew what was going on. Charlotte had been told her mother died a long time ago. She always pictured her mom in some idolized way, yet now, in light of all these truths coming forward, she must be afraid, angry, and excited all at once. The possibility that her mom is alive was more than enough information for her to bear.
“I see,” Bart said trying to find the words to comfort her.
“My whole life Bart,” Charlotte started to say. “My whole life my dad said she was dead. Now he tells me that she might be alive and we might see her. It’s too much. Too much for one person to take on.” Bart wished he could help her. He wished he could find the right words to say, to encourage her but he knew he would be no help. He just found out his dad was dead. That devastated him and he never really knew the guy. Yet here Charlotte was, with the opportunity to see her mom. It must be just as tough. “Well, you should probably rest,” Charlotte said. “She said you need to, and besides we need to be well prepared for training.” Bart nodded in agreement and lied down next to his mom. He didn’t want to do anything but make her better now and if that meant resting and training then that’s what he would do.
“Charlotte,” Bart screamed as he awoke from his nap. He didn’t see his mom anywhere and that frightened him. Charlotte was passed out on the floor and she jumped up when her named was called.
“What, what is it?” she asked clearly confused.
“Where is my mom?” Charlotte looked angry.
“Bart, come on,” she said. “They came and took her. Victoria told you they were leaving tonight.”
“Why didn’t anyone wake me up?”
“Because you needed your rest remember? You’ll see her tomorrow anyway.” Bart remembered what Victoria said and felt bad now for causing a scene. He stood up and stretched. He took a step and then remembered his knee and hesitated, but this time there was no pain. He looked down at his knee and realized the scar was gone as well.
“Charlotte my knee,” he exclaimed. Charlotte just gave him an evil look and then stood to stretch.
“Oh hooray for Bart,” she said. “My knee is all better so let me ruin Charlottes great dreams!” Bart smiled at her.
“Sorry,” he said.
“No it’s fine I like being suddenly awoken by my name being screamed for small reasons. It’s such a fantastic way to end my peaceful rest.” The sarcastic tone wasn’t lost on Bart as Charlotte rolled her eyes at him. He knew she was a little irritated. “Ah, whatever. We should probably go find Victoria anyway, it’s almost nine.” Charlotte started towards the door and but Bart didn’t move. When she realized he wasn’t following she looked back and found him staring out the window. “What’s wrong?”
“Do we really want to do this?” he asked quietly. “I mean our whole lives have been here. Why should we leave? Plus I’m in no rush to be slaughtered like a wild pig by these thugs from before.” Bart could tell Charlotte knew what he meant by the way she was looking at him. Yet, even with her support he felt nervous. Yes, obviously things would change and Bart was always up for an adventure but in this moment he wasn’t quite sure he was ready for change. A change this big and dangerous wasn’t something that he wanted to jump right into.
“Well your mom just left so do we really have a choice? Besides you were the one who always talked about adventure. Now is your chance to go on one.” Bart looked down at the floor and then back up at Charlotte. It was like she was reading his mind but she was right. His mom was already gone and leaving her alone in another world was out of the question but Bart wasn’t sure if he could handle it. It felt like tons of pressure had just been heaped on his shoulders. The fact that he was the heir to the throne was only the tip of the iceberg. “Look,” Charlotte said finally, seeing that Bart was troubled. “Whatever is going on, don’t worry about it. This is something that we both didn’t ask for. But it’s here now. Let’s embrace it. Come on, when have we ever backed down from a challenge?” Bart managed a smile and walked towards Charlotte.
“You’re right Char, but still. I don’t know if I want to be King of a whole different world. I’ve never been the ruler of anything before! You were the class president when we were younger, you’d be better than me. What if the people hate me? What if they try and assassinate me? I could end up like Abe Lincoln or Kennedy.” Bart could tell that Charlotte could sense a little fear in him by the way she was looking at him. “I mean, I’m not saying I’m scared or anything, it’s just you know, a lot to handle.” Charlotte smirked.
“Okay fine, how about this. We should still get trained and see your mom through this, make sure she’s all right and everything. I will find out if my mom is alive. That will give me closure. Then if you really don’t want to stay we can leave. They have survived just fine without us so they won’t miss us that much anyway.” This sounded like a great idea to Bart. All he had to do was get his mom through this tough time and then he would be home free. No need to stay and ruin an entire civilization by “playing” King.
“Deal,” he said quickly. The two of them did their handshake and then walked out into the hall. They made their way to the end of the hall but before they went down the steps Charlotte stopped Bart.
“Abe Lincoln or Kennedy though?” she asked with a confused look on her face. “That’s really what you went with?” Bart shrugged and flashed a smile and they continued down the steps. Bart hadn’t seen the entire building, only the upstairs. He hadn’t realized how huge it was on the inside. What was even more shocking was the fact that the outside looked so run down and old. The inside was the opposite. Bart wasn’t entirely sure how it made any sense. The outside wasn’t nearly as big. At the bottom of the steps there was another hallway but to his immediate left there was a doorway that led into a huge room. He walked in, against Charlotte’s wishes, and was taken aback by what he saw. There was a giant chandelier high above him, golden with light filling the room. A large table sat in the middle with an even twelve chairs surrounding it. The floor was wooden but there was a carpet under the table that stretched to the back wall near a huge fireplace. Above the fireplace was a giant picture. The windows were huge as well and the moon was clearly visible.
“Char, look at that,” Bart said as he walked over to the fireplace. He recognized a few people right off the back in the photo. His mom was standing to the far left with his Uncle Caleb right behind her. His uncle was holding a kid on his shoulders and they were both smiling. Next to his mom was a guy he didn’t know but next to that guy was the woman Victoria. Her white hair made her stand out amongst the group. He didn’t recognize anyone else. “Who are these other people? I’ve never seen any of them before.”
“Well I know the one next to Victoria is her twin brother Jester. He went with your mom earlier. I don’t know any of the other six.” Bart looked at Jester and didn’t really see the resemblance between him in Victoria. Jester was a little taller and he had short black hair.
“I wonder why her hair is white and his isn’t,” Bart said, still studying the picture. He continued to look at each person but he kept finding himself coming back to the guy standing in the middle of the photo sitting in a chair. He had medium length gray and black hair and the same colored goatee. He had a nice grin on his face. His eyes made him look so wise and Bart couldn’t help but wonder who this man was. “Who is this guy in the chair?” he asked. Charlotte shrugged.
“That is Demetrius Anaclime, our master of wielding,” said a voice from behind them. It startled the two young teens and both spun around as if they were caught spray-painting the walls behind the school. “No worries, no worries,” Victoria said with a smile. “You’re allowed to wander around, you aren’t in jail.” Bart felt like a fool for even being startled. She wasn’t an enemy or anything and she had been nothing but nice to him and Charlotte. He figured the reasoning was because he was so used to being caught doing things he wasn’t supposed to. He would have to get used to being allowed more freedom, especially if he became king. Then again, he had no plans to stay after he rescued his mom so that didn’t really matter. “Anyway, Demetrius is somewhat of a leader for us. He has been training a number of us for a long time now, ever since his grandfather, Turin Anaclime, passed away.”
“Wait,” said Bart. “What is a master of wielding and who is Turin Ana- so and so?” Victoria just laughed as Charlotte jabbed Bart in the arm while mouthing the word, “rude”.
“It’s okay Charlotte, it’s a reasonable question. From what Caleb has told us, you know nothing of our world and our people so it is understandable that you might have a few questions.”
“A few questions, more like a few hundred,” Bart whispered under his breath to Charlotte. She gave him a nudge.
“The master of wielding is the head wielder in Zathya. He is the grand teacher and a very powerful wielder. The master of wielding before him selects him and he never relinquishes his title until he dies. It’s a lifetime job that is only passed at the end of one’s life to the one chosen. If no one is chosen before his or her death then the King or Queen will choose.”
“Whoa, wait, so this Demetrius guy is all powerful?” Bart asked. “Why can’t he just end the war himself?”
“While he is extremely powerful, to end the entire war against such powerful opponents as the Prince and his henchmen is a lot easier said than done. However, he is doing a good job of keeping it under control. He has so many people at his disposal; wielders who are nearly as strong as he is.”
“And with all that power, they still can’t win?” Charlotte looked at Bart with glaring eyes as he continued to ask insensitive questions.
“The Prince and his men are much more powerful than you may know,” Victoria said with a smile. “Yet, we came close with the help of the knights.” Bart heard knights, which was really interesting to him. When he thought of knights, he thought of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Guys riding around on horses performing tons of chivalric acts in the name of Arthur.
“Knights?” Charlotte asked as Bart continued to picture them in his head with giant swords and shining armor.
“Knights in Zathya are not what you would expect. Yes they have weapons such as swords and bows and arrows but they are also masterful wielders, particularly in one area. They are also sworn to protect the King or Queen and they answer to only them or the master of wielding.”
“So you mean to tell me that we have these all powerful knights that are even stronger than this master Demetrius and with all of them we can’t take out a guy in a suit and his two henchmen?” Victoria pointed to the picture at the three men standing on the far right of the group.
“These men are the last of the knights. They are all extremely powerful but I wouldn’t say they are stronger than Demetrius. Besides they have been in hiding since Alexander died.” The name caught Bart’s full attention.
“Alexander,” he said softly.
“Yes,” Victoria said before he could continue. “When your father was killed, these three men were with him, which makes it nearly impossible to imagine how they could have lost this fight. Unless,” but she trailed off before finishing her sentence.
“Unless what?” Bart asked. Bart had never really been angry about his father dying except for when he was yelling at his mother. For some reason however, he felt his anger rising. There was no answer for a few seconds and then another voice responded.
“Unless the other man that was there, Angelo Yessiah, betrayed them,” Jonah said as he walked into the room. “We haven’t seen any of them since Alexander’s death and we know the knights didn’t do it because they have at least contacted us.”
“That’s enough Jonah, we shouldn’t say these things, especially since we have no proof,” Victoria said trying to cut him off.
“We have all the proof we need. The knights said someone set them up and the only other person that was there that isn’t dead was Angelo.” Bart and Charlotte just looked on as the two silently argued over whether or not it was a good idea to talk about. Finally Bart had had enough and spoke up.
“Which one is he?” Bart asked turning towards the portrait and then back to the others.
“He isn’t in this picture,” said Jonah. “He was conveniently absent the day this was taken.”
“Okay then, so why hasn’t anyone gone after this Angelo guy if they know he is responsible?” Victoria looked at him, as did Jonah.
“As Victoria said earlier, we do not have enough proof in the eyes of the queen to waste resources looking for him. Besides, we had more pressing things to worry about, such as finding you and making sure that Angelo hasn’t spilled any more secrets.”
“Wait a second,” Bart said. “You just said in the queen’s eyes. If there is already a queen why do you need me?” Charlotte for once didn’t roll her eyes. Instead, she looked at Victoria for an answer. Bart looked back and forth between Victoria and Jonah but neither offered an answer. “There has to be a reason,” he said.
“Bartholomew,” Victoria said. “You are the last remaining heir from the original King’s bloodline. You are the rightful heir to the throne of Zathya. Only under your rule can we reunite all of Zathya and end this war. Once your father died, he left that burden to you.” Bart felt like he couldn’t swallow. He knew this was a big deal but now, just when he thought the pressure couldn’t rise, it began to mount. Not to mention he felt some kind of obligation to find this Angelo character and bring him to justice for basically handing his father over on a silver platter.
“I see,” he said quietly as he turned back towards the picture. His eyes immediately went to the last remaining face that wasn’t familiar to him only this time he didn’t have to ask who it was. He recognized the eyes and the stern face. There was no smile on his face. His hair was long and black and his beard was very grizzly. Bart had been told who everyone else was except this one man next to his mother. Somehow, he didn’t need to wonder anymore who he was. He knew who this man was. He knew that the man standing there with those dark brown eyes was his father Alexander Thyasis.
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