When Sandy woke up the next morning, she checked the spot next to her on the bed and saw a letter on Gavin’s pillow. Curious, she read it.
I hope last night was as good for you as it was for me.
She rolled her eyes but couldn’t resist chuckling. Considering how often he suggested sex, she wasn’t surprised.
Turning her attention back to his letter, she read, I wanted to be here when you woke up, but I had some pressing matters to tend to. I won’t bore you with the details. Only know that I miss you and look forward to seeing you at breakfast.
She slipped out of bed to get ready for the day. Once Noel helped her into her morning dress, she strolled down the hallway. The day promised to be another sunny one. Her eyebrows furrowed as she inspected the flurry of activity along the castle walls. Something was up. Frowning, she hurried down the nearest steps and followed the direction of the commotion. It was coming from the throne room.
Several guards stopped talking as soon as they saw her approach the room. One stepped in front of her, “I’ll announce your presence before you enter.”
“Why?” She glanced from him to the guard who came over to her. “I thought I was the queen.”
“You are, my lady,” he replied, “but the king needs to give consent before you can enter the throne room when visitors are present. It’s one of the laws in this kingdom.”
“That’s a ridiculous law,” she replied, frowning. “Especially since I’m the author of this story.”
“It’s the way things are. The king is the primary authority in this land. You’re second. We swore an oath to obey the king’s laws.”
Though she didn’t care much for the law, she relented. “Fine. Tell him I demand to go in there.”
The other guard nodded and entered the room. She tried to peer around him to see who was in there, but the other guard blocked her from seeing anything.
“You’re amazingly loyal to the king,” she noted.
“He saved my son from a village burning. I’ve been his guard ever since,” he replied.
She sighed. “Let me guess. The village burning was in the original version of this story, the one I wrote to show how evil he was?”
“When he undid that part of the story, I got my only son back,” he said.
“I see.”
She had to hand it to Gavin. He knew how to rally a groundswell of support with a single “delete” key on the keyboard. It was a surprisingly efficient and smart move on his part. It eliminated all the damage he’d done when she was in control of the story, thereby making him the hero.
The other guard came out of the throne room. “The king says you may enter.”
“Yipee,” she replied, not hiding her sarcasm.
Apparently, being the author wasn’t a big deal, even though it was because of her that these characters existed. She followed the guard into the room where a group of guards with three knights talked to Gavin.
Gavin glanced at her from where he sat on his throne and stood, motioning to her. “As you can see, your queen is doing well.”
The knights turned to face her and she recognized the gold swords and rose on their armor. They were from her kingdom. It was strange to see them in person, though they looked exactly as she pictured them.
“Queen Goldenvalor,” one of them said as they bowed before her. “Forgive our delay. We came as soon as we heard of your abduction, but King Petros detained us in battle.”
“Why would King Petros do that? We’re not at war with him.” Her gaze went to Gavin who shrugged.
“He thought we brought you to this world,” the knight told her. “Once he learned we didn’t, he made amends but we lost several good men in the battle.”
“That’s unfortunate,” she whispered, wondering which of her loyal men died unnecessarily.
“Those deaths can be undone,” Gavin said, stepping down from his throne.
“But that would change the story as it’s going right now,” she replied.
“She’s right,” one of Gavin’s guards replied. “It will change the story. Nothing can be changed unless we erase everything else that has happened since the queen’s arrival to this world.”
“Can’t we do the same things we did leading up to this point, minus the thing with King Petros?” Gavin asked. “It shouldn’t be too hard to delete one scene.”
“We can’t do that,” Sandy told Gavin. “Every time you change one thing in a story, other things are altered and it’s hard to say what the outcome will be. We might or might not be standing here discussing this in a different version of the story. The changes can be minor or big, but it’s hard to tell how or when until you revise the story.”
Gavin frowned. “That means there’s no bringing back the men?”
“I’m afraid so,” Sandy began, “unless you want to take the chance the story won’t go in your favor, as it has up to this point. King Petros might come here instead of going to my kingdom. There’s no telling what he’ll choose. The choices everyone in this story had made is based on freewill because I’m no longer writing it.”
“Interesting.”
Yes, it was and it also meant if they deleted King Petro’s attack in her kingdom, she might not get a chance to know Gavin, to learn that he was a good man. And she didn’t want to take that chance. With a sigh, she turned her attention to her knights. “Did you come to tell me about King Petros?”
“No, my lady,” the head knight said. “We came to inquire after your wellbeing and,” he glanced at Gavin, “need be, to rescue you.”
“I appreciate your concern and your loyalty, Sir Landry, but I am here by choice,” she said, ignoring the smile on Gavin’s face. If he was cocky before, she doubted anything would stop his ego now. “Our kingdom is now joined to this one.”
Her knights nodded and bowed, first to her, then to Gavin. “Then we swear our allegiance to you both.”
“Do you know where King Petros is?” Gavin asked the knights.
“No. As soon as he realized we didn’t have our queen, he left,” one of the knights replied.
“Did you see which direction he went?”
“What is this about?” Sandy asked. If she remembered right, Gavin was unusually interested in King Petros.
He glanced at her. “I’m not sure yet.” Turning to the knights, he asked, “Will you stay for a couple of days to refresh yourself before you head home?”
“We’d be honored.” The knights looked at Sandy. “We’re glad you’re doing well.”
She smiled and inclined her head. “Thank you.”
Gavin turned to his guards. “Escort our visitors to their quarters.”
When she and Gavin were alone, she asked him, “What’s going on?”
“Your knights are being shown to their rooms,” he replied as he reached for her and gave her a wicked smile. “Did you miss me?”
She groaned. “Why do you avoid so many of my questions?”
“I don’t avoid your questions.”
He leaned forward to kiss her, but she moved to the side. “Gavin!”
“You can’t deny me a kiss, not after the way you got me hot and bothered last night.”
“I didn’t leave you unsatisfied.”
“Okay, that’s true. But I’d still like a kiss from my beautiful wife.”
She blocked him before he could kiss her. “And I’d like to know what’s going on. You’ve been asking me about King Petros. Then I find out he killed a couple of my knights while trying to locate me. Why is he so interested in what happened to me?”
“I don’t have all the answers,” he finally said.
“What do you know?”
“Nothing, really. I’m trying to piece everything together.” When she sighed, he held her hands and placed them on his chest. “I can’t tell you anything until I’m sure of what’s going on. It would help if I can learn more about him. Do you know anything else, anything at all?”
She shrugged. “When I started writing, this world had four major kingdoms and I had to give each four rulers a name. King Petros was a filler. I devoted no more than a couple paragraphs to him. I was more interested in his kingdom.”
“That doesn’t help.”
“Well, it’s all I had in mind for him. He wasn’t even a secondary character.”
“But you thought he might be in a second book, didn’t you?”
“I didn’t outline the book or anything but yeah, if I wrote a second book, he’d be the villain in it.”
“So he’s the bad guy.”
She let go of his hands and gave him a gentle poke in the chest. “And he might not be a bad guy considering how awful you were supposed to be.”
Though he chuckled, she sensed a hint of apprehension in his expression. “Yeah, maybe. At any rate, I don’t want you to worry. We’ll see to it that your knights are comfortable and can send a good word back to your people now that they know you’re fine.” He kissed her. “By the way, thanks for telling them you want to be here.”
“It’s the least I can do since I’m sharing your bed.”
This time when he chuckled, his mood was brighter. “I don’t know about you, but I’m hungry. Care to join me for breakfast.”
“It’d be my pleasure.” She accepted his arm and he led her out of the room.
***
“You’re not going to stay longer?” Sandy asked as Gavin turned to leave the courtyard during sword practice later that day.
He placed his sword in the sheath. “I’m done practicing for today, but you should stay and continue.”
“Why?”
“Because you should hone your skills. You’re not too bad.”
She rolled her eyes. “Thanks.”
“I meant it as a compliment.” He placed his hands on her arms and kissed her. “Considering you knew nothing about handling a sword when you first came here, you do very well. But, you need more practice.”
She glanced at the sword in her hands and nodded. “Alright, though it’s a shame we’ve been married for such a short time, and you’re already running off to be away from me.”
Amused, he gave her another kiss. “I’m not running off to get away from you. I just want to check on your knights and make sure they’re comfortable.”
“Shouldn’t I do that? I’m their queen.”
“And now I’m their king. Just have fun playing with the sword and I’ll be back soon.”
“Playing with the sword?” she asked, her tone giving away her disbelief. “You think I’m out here to play?”
“‘Playing’ is the wrong word.” He had no intention of ever letting her onto the battlefield, but there was no need to tell her that. “Practice. I meant you should practice.”
Though she didn’t look convinced, she relented. “Okay. I’ll stay here and practice, not play.”
“I’ll be back soon.”
He hurried into the castle and motioned to the guard waiting for him. “Are the knights in the planning room?”
“Yes, my lord,” the guard replied as they strode down the hall. “They’re expecting you.”
“Good.”
He glanced over his shoulder. Sandy hadn’t followed him. The last thing he needed was to put her in harm’s way. When he reached the planning room, the guard opened the door and let him in. The guards standing in the room shut the door to ensure their privacy.
The knights rose from their chairs and bowed.
“Thanks for meeting me here,” he said as he retrieved King Petros’ letter and the map of their world. “I don’t want the queen or anyone else getting word of what we’re going to discuss.” He examined everyone in the room. “Agreed?”
“Yes, my lord,” they replied.
He placed the map on the table and gestured for his four guards to approach the table so everyone could read the letter. “What do you make of this?”
“I read it as a threat,” Sir Raleigh, one of Sandy’s knights, said.
“Yes, I take it that way, too,” Gavin agreed. “But there’s something else of interest. He mentioned that by bringing the author into the story, the plans he’s been working on for the past year might be compromised. Do any of you know what he means by that?” He glanced at the three knights.
“Well,” Sir Raleigh slowly began, “he mentioned something about capturing a magician with great power.”
“What would he want with a magician?” Sir Handel, his guard, asked.
“Magic,” Gavin thoughtfully replied. “Unlimited magic at his disposal. But even magic has its limits.”
“What limits?” Sir Handel asked.
“He can’t force someone to do his will. They must choose to do what he wants. And since my sword can pierce through magic, he’s potentially vulnerable if I were to fight him.” With a sigh, Gavin rubbed the back of his neck. There was something they were missing. He was sure of it. “What do you know about him?”
“Not much. His character was never developed in the book.”
“But he attacked you and your men? Without any provocation?”
“I don’t know if I’d say it was without provocation. He thought we kidnapped the author.”
“But why would he care?” Gavin asked. “She hadn’t done anything with him in the book. What could he have to gain or lose from it? Did he say anything that would give us a clue into his motivation?”
Sir Raleigh glanced at the other knights and one said, “He kept saying something about no one standing in the way of his destiny.”
Gavin considered his words and realized by taking Sandy into the story and changing it, he possibly changed how the second book might have played out. Maybe that’s what bothered King Petros. It made sense if that was the case. “But why did he assume you kidnapped her?”
With another glance at the other knights, Sir Raleigh said, “My knights and I had met prior to the author writing the final scene of this story. In this meeting, we agreed that it might have been hasty on her part to kill you off.”
“We were aware that you didn’t want to be the villain and thought it was unfair that she didn’t consider an alternative ending for the story,” another knight added.
“If the author won’t listen to one character,” Sir Raleigh began, “then what hope do the rest of us have? Nothing went against our wishes in this story, but we didn’t want to take our chances if she wrote a second book.”
“Somehow the fact that she’s here is preventing King Petros from doing something,” Gavin thoughtfully replied. “I suspect he needs her back in her world.”
“Can having the author in this story stop any of us from doing something?” Sir Handel spoke up.
“I didn’t think so but apparently it can,” Gavin said, turning his attention to the map. “He was last seen in Crystaline.” He pointed to Sandy’s kingdom.
“Yes.” Sir Raleigh placed his finger at the valley and moved it to the castle. “He went in this direction. This area of the valley is the weakest part of the land because the floods last year devastated it. Most people left to seek a new life elsewhere.”
Gavin nodded. Any intelligent warrior would choose the path of least resistance. “And he brought an army with him?”
“Yes,” Sir Raleigh replied. “Ten thousand men were with him.”
“Not to be insensitive to your loss, but you held up well if all you lost were three men.”
“It’s because the author strengthened us through a rigorous exercise routine.”
That was to her advantage, Gavin thought. He examined the forest surrounding his land and wondered which way King Petros would likely come through. Since his forest was enchanted, he stood a good chance of delaying him, but he doubted King Petros would give up until he arrived.
“Sir Handel,” Gavin began, “ask the magician if he can detect any weaknesses in the forest. We’ll want to focus our efforts in those areas.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Gavin placed his hands on his hips and sighed. “There’s not much else we can do right now except wait and watch for any sign of suspicious activity.”
“Agreed, my lord.”
He looked at Sir Raleigh and the other two knights. “Will you assist when the time comes to go to battle?”
“Yes, my lord,” Sir Raleigh replied and the other two nodded their consent.
Good. He’d secured Sandy’s warriors for battle. “Oh, and one last thing. We don’t need to tell the author about this. I don’t want to worry her.”
“Understood.”
Satisfied, Gavin dismissed the group.