Legacy of Verjaniva

by Musketeer

Chapter 3

She heard the muffled sound of an engine starting outside her house. She hurried to her window that overlooked the expansive front yard driveaway. She saw a convoy of 3 cars driving through the large wooden gates. She knew exactly what this meant. Her mother had left her and the palace alone for now. to do some business with the Jade family and elsewhere.

The Jade family was one of the largest families with the most political influence in Verjaniva. They have a firm grasp of control on the east side of the country. They assume control when the queen was not present.
Octavia hated them. They were what she called: “lucky to be magical”. Without their magic, they would have been commoners like the rest of the poor people in Verjaniva.
But the Jade family wasn't the only one. In the west the Azur family had the exact same. They also did anything they wanted and of course, they were lucky to be magical.

Octavia walked back to the kitchen and made herself a glass of water. She wanted to forget everything. And to drown herself in the darkness of her thoughts. Desperate to get her mind off the current situation, she thought about yesterday.
‘Should I go on with the plan?’ she wondered. It could go horribly wrong. She had never seen the outside world before on her own, so it is a risk. And being in the cold and harsh city of Stellansk is even riskier. ‘Tomorrow.’ she said to herself. For now, she had to entertain herself.

Since Octavia neither went to school or had a homeschool teacher the large bookcase in front of her was her most treasured object. On the many shelves stood countless books with a vast sea of knowledge that has yet to be chartered subjects that you could imagine. Octavia found reading relaxing as it helped her collect her thoughts. She had something to do, and she could learn more about her world with the restrictions and challenges forced upon her by her mother.
Books about the history of Verjaniva she adored the most. Verjaniva’s history was a tragic one, with all the wars it had fought. The most interesting of all (for her at least), was the latest war which happened 4 years ago.

When she was 19, the war broke loose. Verjaniva’s territory stretched itself far beyond the mountain line but their forces were spread too thin. Its neighbor country “Ilva'' saw a chance, and declared war on Verjaniva. It was one of the bloodiest wars ever and resulted in Verjaniva’s defeat. The borders were redrawn and the mountain line laid vertical and went from coast to coast, became the border between the two nordic countries.
She put her book about the war down and jumped into her bed. ‘Tomorrow will be more interesting than today. I just feel it.’ she said to herself before she fell asleep.

The next start of the day was rather dissimilar to all her other days that she had spent in this world. Breakfast, reading, lunch and more reading. Her standard routine of the day.
Then, in the evening she remembered the promise she made to herself last night. She stood up and hurried towards her bedroom.
She forced the doors of her closet open and went through her clothing. ‘A big and warm fur coat that's for sure.’ she mumbled while grabbing the warmest clothes she could find. She laid them all on her bed. ‘This will be good enough, now I can be sure I won’t meet a hypothermic end.’

She cooked herself a quick warm meal and sat down on the couch with the plate in her hands. She had been thinking for a long time about when she should sneak out. ‘You know what? Screw it.’ She put her plate down and marched towards her bedroom. There she dressed up in her warm clothes and looked at the clock.
The old Grandfather clock chimed to signal 10 o’clock. ‘I’ve waited long enough.’ she spoke confidently to herself. ‘It will just be a trip in and out that's it. She slowly opened her window. Her mom always kept one of them open, so she at least had some fresh air. But now, it could be used for something else.

Once outside, she crouched towards the large wall surrounding the palace. The gray, uneven brickwork and sleeping guards made the job of sneaking out much easier. As silent as a cat she landed on the other side of the wall, finally breaking out from the cage that had imprisoned her for her whole life.
Silently she walked towards the road, which would lead her straight to Stellansk.
The walk was surprisingly fast, she noticed. In less than 10 minutes she was already standing in the outskirts of a large city. The large and soot filled prefabs stood in long adjacent rows next to each other, with an alleyway here and there. Her goal was to make it to the city center, explore around and then backtrack to the palace. Simple enough, right?

She walked around the corner and read the dark blue street name sign. ‘Heath lane’ it said in big white letters. Octavia slightly turned her head. And realized that she was being approached by 2 people.
She started walking a little faster. She moved street after street until she was close to the center. She looked back again, but instead of two it was now four. They were still walking after her. She was being chased. She slowly swore under her breath and looked around. The buildings were even taller here than before and stood high over the street. She spotted an alleyway. ‘Come on Octavia, go there and shake them off.’ she thought. She hurried into the alleyway, passing the garbage cans and other stuff. But instead of a city center, she found a wall blocking her path with only a locked door for an escape. She looked back again. There, blocking the entrance stood the four guys. They were laughing.

‘Look here boys.’ One of them yelled. ‘A lost bird, a lost bird that never learned to fly.’
The rest laughed. Octavia stressed out. The alleyway she thought would lead her to the centrum, was a dead end instead. ‘What are you doing here missy?’ another one said.
‘Are you lost?’ ‘We would gladly bring you home, but you have to do something in return.’ The third laughed.
‘Yeye, she will give us our fun even without us doing anything.’ the biggest one smiled. ‘I got something shiny for you, you want it?’ Out of his pocket he pulled a knife, holding it in front of him. ‘Now.’ the third and tiniest of the four yelled. ‘You know what to do now, come with us.’