“Excellent. Natalia will help show you the basics. She’ll still need to allocate her time primarily with training Anders in the sword, but when she’s not instructing him, she’ll work with you.”
“Thank you,” Maija said still grinning.
“Now that we’ve got that settled, let’s have a look at this journal,” Ivan said, pulling the leather book out of his pocket.
“What’s this about a journal?” Anders asked.
Zahara also perked up, looking up from the spot on the floor where she had splayed out, clearly having enjoyed the sheep.
“It’s Merglan’s journal,” Maija said, her eyes widening as she spoke the words.
“What?” Anders asked sharing Maija’s wide-eyed expression. “What other surprises are you going to offer us tonight?”
Zahara rose to her feet and trotted over to the edge of the table.
“Our parents had hidden this in their house. It appears to be Merglan’s personal journal,” Maija said.
Natalia nodded as Anders and Zahara looked at them in disbelief.
“And now it’s time for us to take a look at what secrets he’s written down,” Ivan said, placing the book on the table.
He turned to the second page and began reading out loud. It started with a personal entry from his days of living in the king’s castle. He wrote mostly about his friend William and the games they had played that day. After reading aloud several similar entries, the group heard a creak at the training facility’s front door followed by a pattering of footsteps echoing into the dining hall. Ivan closed the journal and tucked it under the table out of sight as they all turned to see who’d entered the facilities. Nadir walked swiftly past the entrance to the dining hall, glancing at them as he passed the doorway. They heard him turn suddenly and step back into view. He entered the hall.
As he approached their table, Ivan asked, “Nadir, it’s good to see you. Care to join us for dinner? We’re just finishing up, but you’re more than welcome to have a bowl of vegetable gumbo.”
“Thank you for the offer, but that’s not why I’m here. My father has requested your presence, at once. There’s news of Merglan.”
Ivan rose immediately, answering, “Take me to him.”
Once Ivan and Nadir were well out of earshot, Anders looked to Natalia and Maija, “Should we keep reading?”
The sisters’ heads bobbed in unison.
This story isn’t very fascinating. Are all humans intrigued by these writings? Zahara asked, lying back down next to the table.
This isn’t a story, it’s a journal. We’re hoping to gain some insight or advantage by understanding Merglan better before we have to confront him, Anders said.
But why does it have to be so dull? she asked.
“Should we even be reading through this without Ivan?” Natalia asked. “We decided to search through the readings as a group, so if the person reading misses something, the others can point it out.”
“Ivan can catch up when he returns, or we can reread the passage if it’s important enough,” Maija suggested.
“Good enough for me,” Anders said reaching over and lifting the journal from Ivan’s chair. He opened to where they’d left off and began to read aloud.
Despite their droopy eyes, the four stayed up late into the night reading Merglan’s journal. The writing continued much as before, with Merglan as a boy playing in the castle with the king’s son, Prince William. He often mentioned how he wanted to rule alongside his best friend someday.
As they delved further into the journal, Anders was surprised to discover some striking similarities between his and Merglan’s childhoods. Merglan grew up without a mother, just as Anders had. At least Merglan never mentioned his mother, or having her around in his life, so Anders thought it safe to assume she wasn’t there. Despite the presence of Merglan’s father, it sounded as though Merglan felt his father didn’t take much notice of his existence. In fact, Merglan often spoke in his writing as though he had no parents.
More striking still was the fact that Merglan, too, was fascinated with competing in the Grandwood Games, which was a relatively recent event in Kartania’s history. On its own, this wasn’t such a compelling similarity between the two, but the fact that Merglan actually competed when he was only seventeen years old couldn’t, in Anders’ mind, be ignored. The prince had his father write a letter and send it with Merglan when he traveled to the games, compelling the judges to let him compete. The similarity became eerie when Anders read that Merglan had sustained an injury during the mountain race that forced him to withdraw before completing the course. He was disqualified just as Anders had been when he was pushed off a steep edge on the trail by another contestant. Anders had broken a leg in his fall. The anger with which Merglan described the event echoed Anders’ feelings at the time. It wasn’t necessarily rooted in the truth, as he hadn’t seen who’d done it, but Merglan suspected a contestant from the Rollo Islands had pushed him off the trail because when he last glanced over his shoulder, a Rolloan was close on his heels.
Anders closed the journal after reading Merglan’s rantings about those he suspected as having had a hand in making sure he didn’t win the games at such a young age.
“This guy has some serious issues,” Natalia said as Anders closed the journal.
“Well, I guess you’d have to end up as crazed as he has,” Maija said.
“Yeah, what a nut,” Anders said, recalling how he’d felt after the games when he’d been forced off the trail by an opponent, ruining his chance to be the youngest person to win. The words Merglan wrote after that experience struck a chord in Anders, but he hid his feelings so Natalia and Maija wouldn’t notice.
“We should read more tomorrow, with Ivan here. He might be able to point out something in the story that we don’t know about. He was, after all, in this fight from the beginning,” Natalia said.
“So, you two are staying here, too?” Anders asked, changing the subject to distract the dark wanderings of his mind. He wanted to spend more time with Maija and hoped they wouldn’t be returning to their parents’ home.
“Yes,” Natalia said. “We have a lot of work to do if we’re going to train two of you now.”
Anders turned as they heard Ivan open the door. He entered the dining hall and said, “What are you all still doing up? We have a big day of training tomorrow. Come on, I’ll show you to your sleeping quarters.”
They joined Ivan, Natalia extinguishing the torches as they left the hall. Ivan pointed to a large door near the base of the stairs, “Zahara, this is where the dragons’ chambers are. You can have your pick of the rooms. They’re all somewhat similar, but in my opinion, the third door on the left is the best.”
Thanks, she said and pushed her way through the doors, her tail the last of her to disappear from view.
Ivan led them next up the stairs to the second floor. “This is where we’ll be sleeping. Just as with the dragons’ chambers, these are all very similar.”
Natalia immediately pushed her way through them and walked to the end of the hallway, claiming the last bedroom on the right for herself. Ivan followed, taking the room opposite Natalia.
Anders stood in the darkened hallway with Maija; at last, they were together alone. He felt her hand reaching for his as their fingers entwined. Anders turned to face her. He placed his free hand around to the small of her back, gently pulling her in close. He placed his forehead against hers and could feel her warmth all around him. Simultaneously they tilted their heads slightly to the side and locked their lips, kissing with the vitality and yearning of having been apart for months. Anders took his hand from her grip and ran it along the curvature of her body as she wrapped her arms around him. Maija pulled him into her and they stumbled, thudding against one of the wooden doors in the hallway.
Hearing the noise, Natalia poked her head out and looked down the hallway. Upon seeing the two losing themselves in each other’s embrace, she shouted, “Come on, you two! Get a room!” She slammed the door behind her.
