Chapter 9

Everyone gathered around in the courtyard where Leah tested me. Speaking of Leah, where did she run off to? At that moment she came out of nowhere. She saw me staring and looked the other way.

The captain came out soon after we were all here. He gave instructions and told everyone where to go.

After everyone had left to their posts, he walked over to me.

"Niko, was it?" He asked

I nodded

"You're going to help guard the gates. Don't let anyone who is not supposed to be here enter. You will be able to see the castle when we are guarding the king." And with that, he left.

I guess he doesn't trust me enough to linger around the castle unsupervised. Speaking of supervisor, Xavier and Ezra had left to their own posts. I am completely lost here.

I walked off on my own to try and look for the front gates on my own.

I'm walking. I'm turning. A hole?

I made it out in the garden and near the castle wall. I look down and I see a hole that went under the wall.

Oh, the dirt is moving.

I stand next to the hole as a hand pops out of it. A girl with golden hair that shines in the sunlight pops out of the hole. She stands up and wipes off the dirt from her dress and shakes off the dirt from her hair. She started walking towards the castle when she spotted me.

She jumps in the air like a frightened cat and freezes. If we were out in the wild, she would be the first to die. Just saying.

"Uh...hi" she greeted me

I bowed my head politely.

"So...I-um. Please don't tell anyone about this" she pleaded

She's an intruder?

She kept speaking but I wasn't following. She talks too fast.

"I just wanted to meet the king" she cried

Is that all?

I grabbed her hand and took her to the castle. I didn't feel any negative auras around her. Actually, they were really kind and caring. I would gladly take her to meet the king.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. This won't happen again! Don't take me prisoner." She cried out

I ignored her words and kept walking. She tried pulling away but my strength was too much. She nearly pulled her arm out of its socket once.

I walk around the castle to find where the king would be. I eventually made it to a place filled with books. I could sense the king's aura there. It was peaceful but empowering. It stands out.

I opened the door and saw the king reading a book with some tea next to him.

He looks up in shock.

"H-how did you find this place?" He asked

I gently guided the girl, who was frozen in place, in front of me.

The king looks over at her.

"And you are…?"

"M-Mable Hence"

The king put his book down and walked over towards us.

Mable took a deep breath and continued, "I wanted to talk about the food supply law that you enforced a month ago."

"What food supply law?" The king asked

"A nobleman came to us and said that sixty percent of our crops will go towards the nobles. If we do not obligate, we will be taken into the king's guards prison and killed off. About half of our village has been taken into your custody and the rest of us are nearly starving to death."

The king looked more and more confused as Mable kept talking.

"I have never enforced such a disgusting law. I have also never taken anyone prisoner who did not deserve to." The king said

He walked out of the room and made a gesture with his hands for us to follow. After we got a few feet away from the door, he turns back and made a lowering motion with his hand. An invisible curtain covered the door.

"Amazing! An invisibility cloak. I can't even see the door!" Mable said

But it's still there...whatever.

We walked down into a busy room filled with people running around with papers. One guy noticed the king and ran towards us.

"Thank goodness you are here sire! We have lots of paperwork we need to get done." He told the king

We walk deeper into the room and Mable points towards a guy.

"That's him. He's the one who told us about the law!" She yelled

The guy looks at us. As soon as his eyes found Mable, they widened. He sees that she is with the king and he yells "T-that girl is not to be here! She is trespassing!"

Everyone starts panicking but the king settles them down.

"She is with me. This girl has informed me about a fraud law that has thrown her hometown into starvation. Half of the people there are also missing. Do you know anything about this?" The king asked the nobleman

The nobleman is flustered and startes telling lies "She is tricking you! She is a greedy witch. She just wants more food for herself!"

The lies kept going and honestly? I was getting annoyed.

I used my telepathy to sneak my way into his mind and decided to have some fun in there.

I got rid of his fear of punishment, greed, and other fun stuff that makes people lie. After I finished, the truth came out.

"I told the townspeople of Ale, that they were to give more than half of their crops to the nobleman every two weeks. This has been going on for a month."

The king was surprised that the man was telling the truth but kept asking questions.

"Where are the people you took captive?"

The man bowed his head and said "I am not sure where they are at now. A group of people told us about this plan and in return, told us to take prisoners. I don't know what for but they are long gone and I don't know where they went."

The king sighed and told the guards to take him to a prison where they will continue the questioning.

He turned back to the girl and told her to wait outside so that a guard could escort her back home.

The king pulled me aside and said "I have a feeling that you did something to the man to make him tell the truth"

I nodded

"You also let a girl in without permission."

I nodded

"I'm guessing that you wouldn't have let her in if you knew she had bad intentions though"

Again, I nodded

He looked down at me.

"Not bad for your first day"

I smiled gently.

I've read some where that smiling proves to the other person that you are thankful. Or something like that.