Sacred Mountain

Chapter 1: Impending Doom

Poppy reached the top of the stairs and hesitated in front of her mistress's door. She cupped her ear, held it to the wood and listened. No sound within.

Well, at least she's not throwing her shoes any more. Poppy took a deep breath, turned the handle and peaked inside. Dressed only in her petticoat, Princess Annifer sat slumped on her four-poster bed, cheeks flushed, eyes downcast, a vertical crease separating her scrunched eyebrows. The corners of her mouth turned downwards and she stroked the purring black cat in her lap mechanically.

'It might not be that bad . . .' Poppy tried to sound upbeat as she pulled the door closed behind her, picked up the turquoise, sequinned stilettos that lay jettisoned on the floor and returned them to the open wardrobe. Annifer grunted, lifted Sasha off her lap and flopped face down on the quilt.

There was only one thing for it.

'Aaaargh!!!' Poppy let loose a high-pitched battle cry and launched herself onto the Princess's prone form. The cat yowled and scarpered. Annifer yelped and batted her maid with her arms.

'No, Poppy, don't! Aaaargh! Please. . .' but her screams quickly turned to laughter as Poppy tickled her mercilessly, roaring all the time. When the princess of Frailing had laughed herself out of her sulk, Poppy dragged her onto her feet and marched her to the dressing table. Grabbing Annifer by the shoulders, she pushed her down in the seat.

'Oh Goddess!' Annifer whined, 'Am I really going to have to marry that lump?' Her nose wrinkled in disgust.

'I'm telling you, it might not be that bad,' her maid protested, teasing Annifer's bone-handled hairbrush through the dark tangled bird's nest that was the princess's hair.

He's . . um . . .' In the mirror, Annifer saw Poppy's eyes roam the ceiling as she cast around for any redeeming features Annifer's intended, Prince Larnick of Crosstain, might possess. She'd only seen him once before, years ago, at Annifer's sixteenth birthday celebration. 'He's. . . cuddly.'

'You mean fat,' Annifer deadpanned.

'Well,' Poppy tried again, 'he's warm.'

'Sweaty is the word you're looking for.'

Poppy was running out of ideas.

'I hear he likes animals.'

'Poppy! He likes killing animals! Hunting is the only thing in the world he cares about. How on earth will I survive a marriage to someone like him?'

Against her will Annifer had been engaged to Larnick three years ago. Since then, every time King Fenwick, Larnick's father, had invited her to make the journey north to Loska, the frozen capital of Crosstain, to marry her betrothed and take her place in their royal family, she'd found an excuse. At the beginning, she'd argued that her younger brother, Kriston, who'd ascended Frailing's throne at the tender age of ten, needed her help running the country. He'd ruled for three years now and Annifer had to admit he was doing a good job. He didn't need her any more. The next time, when King Fenwick proposed a spring wedding, Annifer had pretended she'd had a terrible cold and couldn't possibly make the long journey.

Later, when he had suggested a summer wedding, Annifer's desperate excuse, I can't come, my cat's pregnant, had been the last straw. Now the king was making veiled threats, implying to Kriston that if their alliance wasn't sealed with a marriage by the end of the year, he would consider Frailing enemy territory and their northern border would be at risk of attack from his troops.

Annifer looked at Poppy's reflection - her furrowed brow, her pressed-together lips - and knew she was desperately trying to think of anything she could say to make it better for her mistress and friend. The princess softened and changed the subject.

'Tell me, have you heard anything from your sister?'

Poppy's eyes widened and her face lit up. Her words spilled out ten to the dozen.

'Yes! A letter came by pigeon this morning. She can't say much because it's all very secret but the Wise Women's village is deep, deep, deep, in the Great Forest and only the Wise Women know how to get there. Nobody else has ever even seen it, ever! And she says it's amazing, they have gardens full of amazing herbs you've never even heard of and she's learning so much about healing and how to make remedies and spells to make the plants grow better and she says the leader of all the Wise Woman is very, very old and she's called the Burned One, but she wouldn't say why – that's another secret.' She wrapped a purple ribbon around Annifer's plait and tied it in a bow. 'And she says when she wakes up every morning there's a whole family of deer sleeping at the bottom of her bed. And you know what?'

Poppy leaned in conspiratorially and whispered in Annifer's ear even though there was no one else about to overhear, 'She says there's even a unicorn that lives in the forest round about. She's seen it twice! And every morning they all sit in silence in a clearing round some stones as the sun rises to welcome in the day. How amazing is that? Well, apart from the silence, of course, I wouldn't like that.' Annifer grinned, while Poppy took an elaborate purple and gold gown out of the wardrobe and held it low for her to step in to. 'And she says the library's amazing. She's in there every day because Gerda says she has to study very hard to get ready for her Croaking which is in a week's time at the full moon . . .'

'Her what?'

'Her Croaking. You know, the ceremony where they make her an official Wise Woman.'

'Her Cloaking, Poppy! It's called a Cloaking Ceremony because that's when they give her the blue Wise Woman's cloak.'

'Yes, that's what I said. And she's happy because Jemima's just arrived all the way from Jamain to be there for the ceremony. I'm not allowed to go though because it's just for Wise Women.'

She laced up the gown, her enthusiasm momentarily dented.

'Never mind, Pops. Daisy'll be back in no time and she'll have so much to tell you when she does.'

'Yes, she will.' Poppy smiled again as she hung a heavy diamond necklace round Annifer's neck. Annifer grimaced at the weight of it but didn't protest.

'You'd better go to dinner or Kriston'll think you've done a runner,' she held the princess's arm as she stepped into a pair of purple velvet slippers.

'I wish!' Annifer kissed her maid on the forehead and disappeared out of the door.

Thank you for reading this chapter.
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This chapter is dedicated to KaeylahM - Sacred Mountain's very first reader.

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