The Royal Palace Pt. 1

My body shuddered from the cone of cold air that blew through the mouth of the house-sized golden portal yawning in front of me. While seasons changed at the Royal Academy, temperatures were always kept in moderation through hundreds of magical stones that surrounded the grounds and created a, for lack of a better term, weather barrier. With it, the coldest winds were never more than a nipping breeze and the brightest days were never hotter than a comfortable spring afternoon. For the past two years I had lived in the vivarium of the Royal Academy, rarely venturing out unless I was making a shady deal with material merchants in the back alleys of the nearby town.

It's freezing over there! Isn't it still mid-fall? It feels more like the dead of winter! If it weren't for Lady Venna warning us to dress warm…

I nuzzled my face into the blue wool scarf wrapped around my neck and tried to brush away the wild strands of hair clinging around my eyes, but because I had made the foolish choice to wear mittens, I only managed to poke myself in the eye.

"Let me help you," she whispered fighting back a grin and pulling her fur lined leather glove off. "You look ridiculous."

Her bare fingers were warm against my forehead, the tips gliding across my skin as she drew my hair behind my reddening ear like a curtain. Her hand lingered, turning my wind-bitten cheeks redder than before and the howling wind faded under the sound of my racing heart.

"You look—"

The sound of Yssa loudly clearing her throat on the other side of Remmi cut Remmi off and she snatched her hand back, look away from me as she slipped her glove on. Glancing past Remmi, I could see Yssa's cold blue eyes glaring at me, freezing my heart in place. Unlike me, who was wrapped in a thick blue jacket, scarf, mittens, and hat, Yssa wore only her regular robe and hat. Her yellow danced loosely behind her in the wind and, as usual, she was a statuesque picture of conventional beauty. Even with the cold her fair skin refused to redden and if time had stopped, I would have been convinced she was a sculpture of the Goddess of Magic, Baehla, herself.

But that was the problem. The Yssa I knew was too warm, too compassionate, too animated to look like a statue. Now, she was more apathetic than Remmi, and more curt than Lady Venna. We'd barely spoken over the past week and each time I'd managed to trap her so we could talk, she shoved her way past me. It was enough to make me scream, and after my last failed attempt, I actually had, which caused a panic in several nearby classrooms of students convinced another dragon had attacked.

"Give her time," Remmi whispered before pulling her golden wool scarf over her mouth and nose. Like me, she was wearing a thick jacket that matched her red robes, though she forgoed the a hat. Instead, her long black hair was wrapped into a tight bun that was pinned to the back of her head by a glossy black hair pin that seemed to be shivering.

"I just wish she'd talk to me," I mumbled back. "I know she looks fine, but somethings wrong and I wish she would just talk to me!"

Remmi shrugged and tugged me to follow through Lady Venna's portal with the rest of our entourage, which consisted of Lady Venna, myself, Remmi, Yssa, two professors I didn't recognize and a handful of older students wearing brown leather armor and shining metal breastplates standard for those in the knight curriculum.

What are they doing here? Of course, they're probably looking at me and thinking the same thing. Not only do people already hate me for being friends with Yssa and Remmi, now there's a rumor spreading that I was somehow responsible for the dragon attack. And why is that guy grinning at Yssa that way?

The shift from pristinely laid brick to cobblestone nearly made me stumble out of the portal, though I managed to regain my balance, unlike several of the knights-in-trainings who were crumbled on the ground like tossed newspaper. A part of me wanted to laugh, especially at the knight who eying Yssa, but I understood their pain. Though convenient, the mechanics of portal travel put a significant amount of strain on the body, especially for those unaccustomed to it.

In the simplest sense, when a person moves through a portal the person is magically accelerated to the exit point of the portal. This acceleration puts a strain on the body that the traveler feels upon reaching their destination with the effect multiplying based on the distance covered. Thankfully the discomfort only lasts a few seconds and is normally negligible as most mages, Remmi and Yssa included, do not have enough Aethik to travel further than a mile. But given that the Huinon, the Royal Capital was over two hundred miles away…

"You lot! On your feet before you dishonor Lady Venna!" one of the professors who looked ready to keel over himself barked at the collapsed knights-in-training.

"Give them a moment," Lady Venna sighed, scowling at the knight that had eyed Yssa as he lay hunched over, tossing his lunch up onto the street. "And next time, pick students who are actually capable of making the journey."

"O-of course, Headmistress! I'll add portal travel to the knights' curriculum when we return." Nodding in silent approval, Lady Venna stood and waited for the knights-in-training to collect themselves, only moving to adjust her puffy white overcoat that made her look like a snowball ready to get blown down the street at any moment.

When we finally arrived in front of the royal palace, I was surprised at how mundane it looked. While the silver-steel fence and gate that surrounded the palace were impressive, the buildings beyond seemed lackluster compared to the Royal Academy's. The largest building beyond the cast iron gate I could see was barely taller than the Grand Sorcerer's Cathedral and that was simply because the building sported narrow triangular roofs instead of a dome. Even the other building scattered around the grounds were no larger than my boarding house and the grounds seemed half the size, though the latter made sense given the palace sat at the epicenter of the city.

"I thought it'd be… more impressive."

"Then keep your thoughts to yourself, Alva," Lady Venna said. "While I might tolerate your disrespectful behavior, I promise you that will not be the case past these gates."

Saliva caught in my throat as I tried to swallow and I nodded, wishing I could hide my head in my coat like a turtle. It seemed like anything I did was enough to vex the Headmistress and I wondered why they'd even bothered to bring me.

"Now then, Captain Humphrey should be… ah, there he is."

"Lady Venna!" a portly, older looking knight with a perfectly trimmed grey beard and mustache called, his royal blue cloak flapping in the wind behind him as he ran up to us. His face was a shade of light red, though I wasn't sure if that was from the cold or from running in the full suit of polished silver plate armor he was wearing. "I apologize for not being here to greet you upon your arrival."

"No apologies needed, Captain. Several of my students needed a moment to collect themselves anyway."

A dark scowl flashed on the captain's face as he looked over the knights-in-training, but it passed as quickly as it appeared. "I see. Well I've prepared the escorts you've requested. Will you be needing one for yourself?"

"I will be fine," Lady Venna said, giving the captain a polite smile I didn't know the grouchy old woman was capable of making. "I know where His Majesty is waiting for me."

"Splendid. Then just leave these youngsters to me." A slight twinkle glittered in the veteran knight's brown eye and Lady Venna nodded as she passed through the gate being held open for her.

"Now then," Captain Humphrey said, clearing his throat and looking at the professors. "I will be escorting you and these pathetic excuses for knights. As for you three…" The old man's eyes looked Yssa, Remmi, and me up and down, though his inspection seemed mostly targeted at me. "You three will be escorted by the Vice Captain." 

"ESTHER!"

*Author's Note*

I'll try to put another chapter out next week, but between starting the Novelous contest and a trip I have planned, I won't make any promises. If I don't, I'll definitely have an update the following week.