Bookland Two - Chapter 2 - The Forbidden Castle - written by Sandie May Joyce. What's happening to Julius while growing in a farm...
Chapter Two
The Forbidden Castle
Growing up as a child who was different to others had made Julius more aware of everything that went on around him. Farmer Haan was a simple man of meager needs. His daily life included in rising at the break of dawn and feeding the farm animals, while his wife Beatrice made breakfast for everyone. Sometimes, Julius’s mother, Athena, would be the one who made breakfast. When everyone would finish eating, they would all go out into the field to work.
Farmer Haan had many fields, some were crops of wheat fields, some were corn fields, and some were vegetable and fruit fields. There were several barn animals that helped with the farming while the other animals, such as cows, pigs, and chickens would grace. Farmer Haan was known for harvesting special produce, most of which he was required to offer to the palace for the King and Queen to distribute among the many castles in the kingdom.
Harvest was the happiest time of the year. Farmer Haan would lead everyone out into the field to cut the ripened wheat and corn, and the many other vegetables. Then they would load them on to horse-drawn carriages for transportation to the palace. They would also save some behind for their own consumption.
Haan and Beatrice had one son. His name was Igor. He was about the same age as Julius, and both lads had grown together side by side and had become best friends. Whenever one was in trouble, the other would always come to the others aid. There were many instances when Julius was a baby, his cries were heard by the palace’s officials who were searching for catface babies that as they entered Farmer Haan’s lodging, they could only find baby Igor there, for Julius and mother Athena were both hiding in a secret partition of the house, away from sight.
In time, Igor learned to protect his friend Julius whenever he got into trouble: Like the time Julius had convinced him to go to the forbidden castle that was inhabited by many catface people. Julius’s mother, Athena, had made both of them promise never to go near the palace or any of the castles. She told the two boys that these places were dangerous and that the guards would capture them both and would lock them away because of Julius’s facial features.
Julius was very unhappy after he had made the promise to his mother, for he knew that in his heart that he dreamed of going inside the palace or perhaps going inside one of those forbidden castles to see what they were like. He was especially drawn to the palace, he always dreamed of himself being a king, walking through the palace in his magnificent rich clothing. Sometimes he would also dream of himself being a palace guard, wearing armor and going to war to fight for his kingdom. Julius had decided at a very young age that he would not be satisfied just being a peasant boy for the rest of his life. He wished he could be a knight, at least, to the kingdom.
Perhaps being a warrior, equipped with his own sword and be trained on the many fighting skills isn’t such a bad idea at all, Julius would often think to himself.
Julius would often daydream, especially during his lunch breaks while working in the fields.
On any given day, Julius and Igor would sit atop the hills to have their lunch. Julius would look longingly towards the palace and the castles at a distance.
“Look at those castles, Igor,” Julius would say, “Aren’t they magnificent? One of these days you and me are going to own one of them, I promise you that.” That was the first time Julius had made a promise to Igor and himself.
“Too bad! Everyone isn’t allowed to go to that one over there!” He pointed to his right.
Julius followed Igor’s direction and noticed that he was referring to the castle that sits by itself at the far end.
“Oh? Why is that?” Julius asked.
“Well, I really don’t know much about that; but someone told me that the people in that castle are mostly prisoners that were captured many years ago. The castle is actually a large prison itself. It wouldn’t be of much fun living in there.”
“But what have those people done? Why were they put into a large prison?” Julius asked in bewilderment.
“I don’t know! But from what I’ve heard, those people had been in there for a long time, and, like you, they were all catface people,” Igor explained.
“That is ridiculous! This gives me even more of a reason to go there now. I can’t be satisfied unless I know the real reason of why we aren’t allowed to be there. Whenever I asked mother why she never gave me a straight answer. She only said those places are dangerous, and that was the only of the reason that she could give me,” said Julius once again, feeling that he was being treated very unfairly.
“Oh! But I also heard that if you need to go inside that castle, you will need to request a pass from the Queen, and you must show the pass to the guards at the entrance before you enter. That is why I’m telling you that castle is a forbidden place. No one is allowed to exit the castle either by themselves. They are all being watched by the human guards at the entrance, though some of the catface people had become guards too themselves,” Igor continued.
Julius did not respond further. For the rest of the lunchtime, he was very quiet and ate in silence. He was actually deep in thoughts. He wondered why his mother would not allow him to go near the palace and the castles.
Another strange thing is that his mother would never allow him to go outside whenever the King and the Queen pass by. In his entire young life, he had never met the King and the Queen face to face. Whenever he worked in the fields, he was to wear a mask with a full human face to avoid being captured. Igor, on the other hand, was a lot luckier than him. He was allowed to roam everywhere, even to see the King and the Queen whenever they would pass by.
This is unfair! He thought. Igor and I are about the same age, We are both 10 years old now! Why can’t I see the King and the Queen too? If for any safety reasons, I could at least wear my human mask when I meet them. Why is mother putting all these restrictions on me?
Julius’s rebellious young blood was now boiling inside him. He went home with a heavy heart that evening. When he saw his mother he asked his mother once again for permission to go to the palace, but once again his mother made him promise he would never to go near the palace and all those castles. This time, Julius noticed that his mother had tightened her forehead until lines of wrinkles appeared while answering his queries.
Mother seemed rather worried about something today, but what was it? and why? Julius wondered.
So, on this moonless night, Julius and Igor had decided to find out the truth. Both lads had sneaked out of their lodgings into the night and now found themselves in front of the forbidden castle. Julius was excited! He wanted to just walk inside the castle. Lucky for him, Igor had stopped him at the gate, reminding him that they didn’t have the pass to go through.
As they looked up they saw some catface guards at the top of the castle walls, overseeing the surrounding areas. Julius and Igor noticed a small round window near the top of the wall. Perhaps they could climb up the tree to reach there, they both thought. The small window seemed to be large enough for both of them to squeeze through.
Both Julius and Igor climbed up a tree to reach the window. As they climbed inside, they found themselves in a large storage room that held many types of weapons. Some were spears that they saw the guards using. The tips are very sharp, these are meant to fight and defend, Julius thought. Others were swords and knives. Amongst them, Julius found a leather belt that bore two sharp weapons. He took the weapons out of the leather pouches and noticed that the tips were beautifully crafted with a kind of transparent clear type of stone. The two stone tips glowed in Julius’s hands. Julius immediately fell in love with the stones. He put them back into the pouches on the belt and put the belt around his waist. Igor was also very excited. What place is this? There are so many weapons and so many types of them. If only I knew how to use them. What would mother Beatrice and mother Athena think of all this? Igor wondered.
As Julius and Igor secretly walked through the forbidden castle, they were greatly surprised at the number of the catface people there. Immediately Julius felt a sense of belonging. He sensed that he was somehow related to these people. For the first time in his life, he no longer was ashamed of his face. He thought of what if they knew he and Igor were there? What would they do to them? Would they be kind to him and treat him and Igor as one of their own people? He thought about Igor. What would they do to him if they found him? Igor, the human-faced friend, who has been with him for all his life, he would never think of separating with Igor, for the past 10 years they both grew up in the farm like two brothers and worked together side by side everyday.
They followed the many corridors of the castle. There were many twists and turns, some led to other rooms of the castle where they peeked in and found some tiny people. They were adults but they were no taller than four feet tall. Both Julius and Igor hid in the castle until almost the break of dawn.
Suddenly a large bell rang out a very loud noise, and everyone in the castle seemed to be awakening at the same time.
Julius was anxious now, he wanted to go home but they both had got lost in the castle and came to an open space large courtyard area. Everyone seemed to be there - the human face guards, the catface people, as well as a few tiny people. What followed was a sight that neither Julius nor Igor could ever forget. They were both hiding in a safe place, but they peeked out to find that one of the elders, whose name was Sky, seemed to have been the leader of this tribe. He wore a satin-like blue outfit with extra protection on the shoulders and the stomach areas. Around the neck and shoulders area was draped with a red cape. He wore a pair of black boots that rise to just underneath his knees. He had long white hair and beard.
Sky sat on a chair, high on a platform, overseeing the tribe of catface people practicing on their fighting skills. First, they practiced by using the spears, then the swords, and then some other weapons. Both Julius and Igor were fascinated by the way they jumped around in the open area. They all could jump very high, and they raised their feet to kick in swift motions. Some flew around the courtyard with movements that were as fast as lightning. What a sight for both farm boys to see!
At a distance across the courtyard was the gate entrance, which was now heavily guarded, Julius was anxious to go home, since it was now dawn, and his mother Beatrice must be making breakfast and she would soon expect to see everyone there at the breakfast table to eat before starting off the day to the fields. How, though, could they go over to the other side without being noticed by the tribe?
Julius was also concerned that his mother would soon be looking for them, and if she couldn’t find them she would really be worried.
Julius and Igor tried to sneak across the courtyard. They went to the tiny men’s room, changed into their clothing, and were both surprised that the clothes actually fit! Julius felt really good wearing his new outfit for it made him feel like a warrior! He looked across at Igor, and he too, now looked so much more powerful.
They both walked out to the courtyard. For a moment, no one had even noticed them, and they were very happy with their disguises. Soon enough, they were spotted by one of the guards as they were trying to walk out at the entrance.
The guard held both of them by the collars, and said, “Well, well, look what we’ve got here! We’ve got some company this morning.”
Both Julius and Igor were frightened, they struggled and kicked the guard in an attempt to free themselves, but it was in vain. Another guard came to aid and held them by the collars as well. The two guards would not let them go.
“Who are you? Where have you two boys come from?”
“Now Julius and Igor were both frightened and they were crying. They pleaded with the guards to let them go, but instead the guards took them to the training leader, Sky.
Old man Sky seemed rather surprised to see two young boys. He looked them over from head to toe, stroking his white beard at the same time. He looked as though he was in deep thoughts. Down from the platform he came and stood in front of the two boys and commanded, “State your names boys!”
“Julius, Sir!” Julius replied.
“Hmm….Where have you two come from?”
“My friend Igor, and I were just wandering in the area last night, and we got lost and came upon this place. It's the truth, we didn’t mean any harm, Sir.”
“We are Farmer Haan’s helpers. We work in the fields. Please let us go home, Sir, for we are supposed to be working in the fields very soon!" said Igor, who was now almost in tears.
“They’re lying! I’ve never heard of Farmer Hann hiring such young boys to work in the fields!” One of the guards yelled out.
“Haan’s my father, Sir!” Igor explained to the old man.
“and you?” The old man turned his head to look at Julius, his eyes widened with surprise. He could not remember seeing someone with a catface as young as Julius. It must have been a decade that they were looking for a catface baby, the search was later called off after it was convinced that there were no more catface babies alive. But where had this one come from? How could they have missed him? Who was this boy’s mother?
“I’m a friend of Igor’s, I’m just there to have fun, Sir.”
“I have never heard of Farmer Haan having two boys with him, especially one with a catface. They are both lying! I say just take them to the Queen and let her find out the truth!” One of the guards was shouting now, “Anyone who comes in here without a pass is to be brought to the palace for prosecution!”
When Julius heard of the name “palace” his heart skipped a beat. That was where he had wanted to go for the longest time - but not to be brought over there for prosecution! What will happen to Igor and him? What will his mother think? And what’s going to happen to Farmer Haan? They must be looking for both of them now. His mother must be really worried!
“No!” The old man replied, “We all know that if we brought these two boys to the Queen, it would only show that we are lacking security in this place. It would only show her that we cannot even guard our own castle against two young boys. What will she think of us then? I will not be surprised that if we brought these two boys over, we would be the ones who got prosecuted, not them!” Old man Sky seemed to have a good reason for letting Julius and Igor off the hook.
“Well, but we shouldn’t let them go either!” The guard shouted again. This human guard seemed to be objecting to everything the old man said. Later Julius and Igor would learn that his name was Blayde.
Blayde was a human face guard. He had curly short dark hair, a dark mustache and beard. He had a well-built body with strong arms and legs. He was one of the Queen's trusted men. The Queen often relied upon him to report to the palace anything that was happening in the castle. Therefore, Blayde's rank was much higher than Skys, who was responsible only for training warriors. Every few days Blayde would take a trip to the palace in a horse-drawn carriage, and by the time he would come back, the carriage would be loaded with food and supplies. He was to report to the Queen if anyone here was sick or have died so that the Queen would find a replacement for the dead. Blayde would also oversee everyone’s consumption of food and clothing; he would then determine the type of work each should do according to their abilities and body strength. Blayde held a position which was more powerful than Sky, but he knew Sky was a much better warrior than he. Sky was one of palace’s former advisory as well, and Blayde was to act respectful toward Sky, but he never did. Because he was assigned important duties by the Queen so Blayde would often act as though he was the one to make the important decisions in any matters. When circumstance called for a decision to be made, Blayde would often try to have his decision overrides Skys. Like right now, he was trying to determine Julius’ and Igor’s fates.
“So, you think we should let these two boys go? They sneaked into the castle and then stole our stuff. So in your opinion, we should let them go?”
“But they are only little boys! We will find the proper punishment for them,” said Sky.
“Guards! Take these two to the Cookery for now, and give them something to do to make themselves useful, until we decide what to do with them,” Blayde went ahead to make the decision for everyone already.
Julius and Igor followed the guards to the Cookery, where they learned it was actually a place where many of the catface people cooked. There were several large pots sitting atop several largely-built fires, and there were slaughtered animals that were on sticks and men were rolling them on a stick atop the fires. On one side of the room were stacks of bags of wheat; baskets that were full of vegetables and fruits. One thing for certain was that the castle had a wealth of food supply.
Julius and Igor were not asked to change back to their own clothing, so they walked around the place as if they too were belonging there. But they were both very anxious and worried, for they knew well that by now everyone in the farm would be out looking for them. What would Mother Athena and Mother Beatrice do? Would they cry? Suddenly, Julius was overcome by a rush of guilt.
“C’mon boys! Don’t just stand there! Get moving!” a voice spoke. Julius and Igor turned around to see a tiny man there, holding a stack of pottery to be cleaned.
“Now you two help with the cleaning dishes, in time, we will teach you how to clean animals, and then how to cook them,” the tiny man continued to speak without really looking at them.
“How long are we supposed to stay in here?” Igor asked.
“Oh, I don’t know. I have been here for ages already. No one is allowed to go outside of this castle,” said the tiny man.
“So you mean we are prisoners of this place now?”
“I suppose so,” answered the tiny man with a big sigh, “What have you boys done? What brought you two here?” He looked at the two boys sympathetically for the first time.
Julius went on to tell this tiny man the same story they have told old man Sky this morning.
“Well, that's just too bad! You cannot go out again once you’ve come in here, not unless you have the Queen’s permission. She does come around here, but not very often. Perhaps the next time she comes you two can make a plea to be set free. However, don’t keep your hopes up too high, for she is a wicked queen. No one likes her around here.
“Oh? What about King Atgar? Can’t we make the request through him?” Igor asked the tiny man.
“Ha! Don’t talk to me about our King! He’s sick and feeble now. He can’t do much about anything. He’s letting this Dragon Queen rule our kingdom. Somebody should knock on his head to see if there’s really anything there,” said the tiny man.
A guard appeared at the Cookery entrance and yelled, “Hey there! Anything to eat yet?”
The tiny man immediately turned away from Julius and Igor and began walking away from them.
“By the way, my name is Owen if you two boys need me! Just clean those dishes for now,” he said as he walked away, leaving the two boys to begin their chores.
Thanks, Regis, Jane and Danny! This story is going to be much longer than I had originally projected it for. There are still a lot more to this story and this is just the beginning. I have chapter 3 written from a long time ago, I just need to tune it up by editing it some more before I post it.
Thank you all for your comment!
Sandie
Reviewed by Danny Underwood
8/24/2018
I guess Julius' royal blood has never left him. It is hard to control a kid who is growing up and being deprived of something that he had always been wishing for. Something in Julius' blood tells him that the kingdom ought to have belonged to him. I hope the two boys are safe and nothing bad will happen to them. Can't wait any longer for the next chapter. Great story and well-told!
Born of their seeds, kingdom will rise against kingdom, one will hold great mysteries, one will turn the tide and one will not be bound. War is fought, not only on the field but also within the mind. Nothing is what it seems take nothing for granted.
War is fought, not only on the field, but also within the mind.
Nothing is what it seems, take nothing for granted.
The 10 Mariard Volumes have surfaced. The gifted are fighting for you. Do you have the right to become an entity? Take the cha
Chapter Two
