The Black Shard (9 page)

Werrien looked up to the ship's deck and saw his father, King Warren, the captain of the ship, looking down at them. "It's time for us to board."

Werrien and Kristina reached the main deck of
THE KRISTINA,
where a dozen or so gnomes and dwarfs were busy getting her ship­shape for the journey to Tezerel. Some of the crew stopped to greet the teens, and one elderly gnome man, wearing an eye patch, stood out in particular. "Ahoy, my dear Kristina. What a pleasure it is to finally meet you," he said in a gruff yet friendly voice, his good-natured red face beaming as he went down on one knee and bowed to her.

"The name's Kurdeen, and if there's anything you need, you can find me in the galley. And if you don't need anything, well, I hope you'll visit anyway." He winked at Kristina with his good eye.

Kristina smiled warmly at the gnome. "Thanks for the welcome, Mr. Kurdeen," she said.

Kurdeen shook his head and chuckled. "No, no, none of that formality stuff. You call me Kurdeen, or Kurdy for short, if that's easier for ya."

"All right, then—Kurdy," Kristina said, feeling a little more chipper than a few minutes earlier.

Davina and Hester were standing by the foremast, watching Heerzek and Sepel do a final check on the sails. Hester eyed Kristina on the deck being greeted by the crew and she shook her head, disapprovingly. Then she whispered something to Davina, and the both of them turned their backs toward Kristina.

"Want to see where you'll be staying?" Werrien said to Kristina.

"Sure," Kristina said. She followed Werrien toward the bow of the ship where there was an opening in the deck floor. They climbed down a ladder to the next lower deck, and then continued down a narrow wood-paneled hall until they came to the end, where there were four doors, each labeled with a golden name plate, except for the one directly ahead of them. The first door on the left read
King Warren & Queen Lafinia.
Across the hall, on the left-hand side, the first door read
Guest,
and beside it, another door read
Prince Werrien.

The ship rolled over a wave, and Kristina fell forward toward Werrien. He quickly steadied her.

"Okay ... I can see that you're falling for me, but do you have to do it so abruptly?" he said facetiously. He noticed Kristina's cheeks flooding red and he smiled at her. "Don't worry; you'll get your sea legs soon enough," he added.

"I hope so," Kristina said, feeling embarrassed for being so clumsy.

Werrien opened the unlabeled door, and they stepped inside a cabin. "Sorry it's so small, but it's at least a little bigger than mine. And the plaque for the door, is still in the process of being made," he said.

Kristina's stomach suddenly warmed. The cabin was so cozy and inviting, with curved walls made of dark cherry wood, and with portholes, one on each side, to look out at the sea. On the right-hand side was a vanity made out of the same cherry wood, and with a beautiful, gold-framed mirror. Straight ahead of Kristina was a bed covered with a ruby-red silk comforter. Underneath the comforter were ivory-colored silk sheets, and on top of the comforter were ivory silk pillows with ruby-red fringe around them. In the center of the two pillows was a smaller, round, ruby-red pillow with the name
Kristina
embroidered in ivory thread across it. Kristina grabbed this pillow and hugged it. Then she turned to face Werrien, who was leaning against the wall, taking in her bewilderment.

"This cabin was made up especially for me?" she asked, looking delighted and uncertain at the same time.

"Now how would you come up with an idea like that?" Werrien said with an austere expression on his face.

Kristina's face paled. "Come on Werrien—be serious," she said.

"I thought I was acting serious. At least I gave it my best shot."

Kristina smiled and shook her head. "I said
be
serious not
act
serious."

"Oh ... okay. Of course it was made up just for you," Werrien said. "The ship is named after you. I think it would only make sense that you had your own cabin on it."

"This is really great!" Kristina said excitedly. She sat on the edge of the bed and ran her hands over the ever-so-smooth comforter. Then she lay down on the bed and for a moment stared up at the ceiling, thinking how lucky she was. She sat back up and stared at the wall ahead of her, where there hung five small painted portraits, three men and two women, encased in gold frames.

The women's portraits were each paired, side-by-side, with one of the men, leaving the third man's portrait on the wall by itself. Kristina recognized one pair to be King Warren and Queen Lafinia, but she didn't recognize the other pair and the solitary man. "Who are these three portraits of?" she asked, pointing to them.

"The couple beside my parents is King Sirus and Queen Navesa, and the other man is Prince Raspue," Werrien said.

King Sirus had medium-brown, wavy hair, gray-blue eyes, and a slender face with high cheekbones. He looked to be in his early thirties, and the expression on his face was serious. Queen Navesa's portrait was not in very good condition; the paint was faded and chipping in certain areas, making it hard to see exactly what she looked like, but from what Kristina could tell, she had ash-blonde hair and green eyes. Her expression was also serious and somewhat sad. Prince Raspue looked to be in his forties, with olive-toned skin and dark brown, sunken eyes.

"Where do King Sirus and Queen Navesa rule?" Kristina asked.

"Nowhere," Werrien said.

"So ... then what are they king and queen of?"

"They're not anymore. Queen Navesa disappeared, and no one knows where. Then soon after she went missing, King Sirus was found dead in his bed."

Kristina turned to face Werrien. "Are you joking, because if you are it's not funny?" she said.

"It's no joke," Werrien said.

Hearing this caused a shiver to run down Kristina's spine.

“H
ow did King Sirus die?" Kristina asked.

"Poison," Werrien said quickly, and he sat down on the edge of the bed beside her.

"Who poisoned him?"

"My parents are pretty certain that he did it to himself."

"Did it have something to do with his wife's disappearing?"

"Yes. I think it was all to do with her." Werrien sighed. "It was said that he loved her more than life itself."

Kristina couldn't help but stare into Werrien's eyes, entranced by his words:
'He loved her more than life itself.'

Feeling slightly awkward, Werrien broke eye contact and stood up. "I should go check on the crew," he said, starting for the door. But Kristina reached out and touched his hand.

"Please, tell me a little more about the kings and queens, and what happened in the past," she said, taking her hand back again.

For a moment Werrien didn't answer but stood still. Then slowly, he turned around and said, "I suppose that I have a little time to spare." He sat down again and went on. "Like I said before, the man in the portrait—the one not paired with a woman—is Prince Raspue. He was Sentiz's husband."

Kristina looked surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah, really," Werrien said. "Many years ago, the two of them ruled Jalmara—a faraway land northeast of Bernovem. At that time, my parents were the rulers of Tezerel, which is west of Bernovem, and Sirus and Navesa were the rulers of Bernovem." Werrien cracked an uncertain smile. "You may find this hard to believe, but back then, my parents, along with Sirus and Navesa, were very good friends with Sentiz and Raspue."

"That is hard to believe, at least that they were friends with Sentiz."

"Three times a year, all of them would get together in Bernovem to discuss their kingdoms, as well as celebrate special occasions. All the royals loved Bernovem because of its lush green forests, tall mountains, and rugged coastline. Bernovem was also the only land to have the Rainbow Tree. Whenever it was time for my parents and Sentiz and Raspue go back home to their lands, Sentiz would always try to coax Raspue into staying longer in Bernovem."

"Why?" Kristina asked curiously.

"I assume it was because she loved how the people of Bernovem treated her—with great honor and respect."

"I'm guessing that they didn't know her very well."

"You guessed right—she was never in Bernovem long enough for them to get to know her very well. The short time that she did spend here, she made sure that she was on her best behavior, especially when she was in the public eye."

Kristina's eyebrows rose. "She must've been quite the charmer."

"You could say that, but I think 'bewitcher' suits her better. Anyhow, Raspue and Sentiz would have great arguments because she always wanted to stay longer in Bernovem, but Raspue, being loyal to his own land, knew his people needed him, and for that reason he didn't want to be away too long. He would always end up convincing his reluctant queen that they needed to go back home to rule their own land."

"Didn't Sentiz like her own land?"

"No, apparently she couldn't stand it."

"Do you know why?"

"It became too cold, and her people began to die off." Werrien lay down on the bed, and Kristina lay down beside him, and both stared up at the ceiling in silence.

"Go on," Kristina urged him.

"Jalmara, once had four seasons—spring, summer, autumn, and winter—but one particular year, for some unknown reason, all the seasons except winter, disappeared. The weather became unbearably cold, and a great majority of the people began to die. It was during this same time that Navesa disappeared from Bernovem, and not long after her disappearance, Sirus was found dead in his bed."

"So, are you certain that he killed himself?"

"Yes, my father said that his death was confirmed a suicide, and my father thought Sirus did it because he didn't want to live without Navesa."

Kristina sat up and looked somberly at the portraits again. "Did Sirus and Navesa have children?"

Werrien thought for a moment and then replied, "Actually, yes—they had a baby boy, but unfortunately, while still a very young infant, he died. I was at his burial, and I remember it being a very sad day."

"How did he die?" she asked cautiously.

"They said it was some sort of rare disease."

"I wonder where Navesa is now, or if she's even still alive."

"To this day, no one knows. Bernovem was left without a ruler, and when Sentiz received this news, inside sources said she wasn't in the least bit unhappy. On the contrary, she seemed delighted. Soon after Sirus's death, there were rumors that Sentiz wanted to become the new ruler of Bernovem."

"But what about her own land?" Kristina lay back down on the bed.

"She figured Raspue could rule it himself."

"So, did Sentiz become the next ruler of Bernovem?"

"She didn't realize that Bernovem's people would vote to see who their next ruler would be."

Intrigued with their conversation, Kristina turned on her side to face Werrien. "Who were the candidates?" she asked.

Werrien was still on his back staring up at the ceiling. "It was between my parents and King Raspue and Queen Sentiz. Both couples already had lands of their own, so the people of Bernovem voted to determine which of the two couples would be the new king and queen to rule over two lands."

"Stop right there!" Kristina said eagerly. "I want to guess who won the vote."

Werrien suddenly turned on his side to face her, his face now only a foot away from hers. "Okay, go ahead," he said.

Kristina suddenly found herself speechless, totally captivated by his eyes staring into hers. In her entire life she had never been so close to a boy, and this wasn't just any boy; this was a prince—a prince so handsome that it was hard for her to look at him, yet at the same time hard to take her eyes off of him. He began to move his head closer to hers.

Oh, my gosh—he wants to kiss me, and even though I really want him to, I'm not ready for this.
She quickly turned on her back again to stare up at the ceiling, leaving the cabin to fill with an awkward silence. She immediately felt very stupid and regretful.
Wow! Could I be a duller tool? I just forfeited my first—and who knows, maybe my last—chance of being kissed by Werrien,
she thought bleakly. "Your dad and mom of course won the vote," she suddenly said, answering Werrien's last question.