Cursed: The Legend of Sleeping Beauty

Chapter Seventeen - Prince Arthur

CopyrightⒸ 2019 by B. R. Bailey All Rights Reserved

Everyone had informed her of the events on the day they were Cursed and subsequent attempts of the Royal Court Wizards and Witches to break it, how over the years everyone else had left as hope dimmed and finally disappeared.

None of them believed that she could break the Curse. Many had tried and failed, including those loyal to the Crown, whose loss had truly devastated the Kingdom. Once the Gifted chose to leave, the rest of the Cursed fled in droves. Then the commoners from other cities and villages left, fearing the fate of their country.

Small to begin with, Whitewater had never had a large population. Now it was so small that barely registered with other Courts. No one had tried to take it over with the army that was left, as they were small but fierce, and they knew Merlins Keep was unobtainable.

All Whitewater could offer now was food and land, of which they had plenty. Normally that wasn't enough to entice their neighboring countries, who also had plenty of food and land. Things were changing in Alagil with the attacks of the Dragons and the lecherous drain of supporting Brightstone, which didn't pay for its food anymore.

High Queen Victoria saw to it that her home country received wide portions of the people rations in trade for the Wizards and Witches the Brightstone Royal Court sent to her, in addition to a good deal of gold. Soon the farms of Alagil and the other consigned nations wouldn't be enough to support the War rations and taxes High King Henric requested.

After an entire week of waiting for Prince Arthur to meet with her, Briar Rose found her patience wearing thin. She couldn't afford to waste time sitting around.

"Has Arthur set a time to discuss the matter of the Curse? Surely he went over his schedule by now," Briar Rose asked Sir Leopard, the go-between for the Prince and herself.

"Prince Arthur does not want you needlessly wandering the private areas," Sir Leopard revealed at last. "He stated that he will meet with you after you have completed your assessment of the common areas."

"I completed the assessment yesterday afternoon," she concluded, having suspected that might the case. "I submitted my report to him yesterday afternoon, shortly after lunch."

Sir Leopard nodded, seeming surprised. "I thought that was a request form, my Lady. I did not realize you had worked so quickly. The last Curse Breaker took three weeks to do as you have."

Briar Rose held her neck, knowing that Sir Leopard was wondering if she had missed any section he had shown her without realizing it. In the years of her private study, she had exceeded the speed of her Godmothers Casting, even when the three of them worked together.

She knew that when she turned sixteen she would become even more powerful. A Witch or Wizards true power didn't awaken until then, her Godmothers had informed her. That was why most students didn't get their permit for Magic until they were in their late teens or early twenties.

"You did Cast rather spectacularly," he relented. Having worked closely with Royal Wizards and Witches in the past, he could recall their skills with startling accuracy.

"I shall see him this afternoon to discuss the matter," he stated, jumping off of the desk in the library.

Briar Rose had just finished inspecting the Library the day before and was frustrated with just how little of it she was able to explore. One floor to be exact. One floor out of three.

Merlins Keeper was bugging her about permission to enter areas, including the second and third floor of the library, where spells needed to be repaired. It was hard to ignore the requests when they followed her throughout the entire day.