In front of the Magi carriage, Tina could see Queen Vivian sitting with her back toward Tina. The eldest Queen sat alone in the Carriage. She thought she spotted the Warrior Queen in front of Queen Vivian’s carriage, but Tina wasn’t for sure.

  Tina turned in her seat and looked behind the White Hall Carriage, seeing several more carriages lined up. All of the carriages gave off the air of nobility. It could be have the way they looked with the fancy ribbons. However, she had a feeling it was something else. She frowned as she watched the rest of the Court slowly climbed into the various carriages.

  The carriages were arranged into columns. Tina spotted Lord Godric Lionheart stepping into a carriage at the front of the second column. From her seat, it looked like his carriage was next to the High Queen’s carriage. He sat down and disappeared from her sight. She glanced back at the Castle and saw Lord Salazar moving through the crowd as they parted like the Red Sea for Moses and the escaping Hebrews from their Egyptian former masters.

  Salazar’s red eyes darted to over to Tina’s, meeting her gaze straight on. She gasped as she tried to move her gaze somewhere else then his eyes. She saw his lips twitched in an amused smirk. The horses pulling the White Hall Carriage danced nervously as the Vampire Lord walked between them and the Magi Carriage. He didn’t say anything, but he tilted his head at her. He walked to a Carriage on the far side of the Courtyard and climbed into it.

  She sighed. She didn’t want to be caught in his mystical gaze again or lure - whatever it was. She turned to the carriage in front of the White Hall and frowned. The crest was a black dragon with a red background. She didn’t recognized the crest itself, but she did take noticed of Lady Morgana sitting in the carriage.

  “Hey, Rose,” Tina started, turning to her cousin, who sat between Jacob and Remus in the carriage. “I’m curious. Why is the White Hall Carriage right behind what appears to be the Pendragon Carriage?”

  Rosemary smiled at Tina and replied, “After King Arthur’s death in the year 535, our common ancestor, Godric of House White Hall, Head of the Family, Third of his name, Knight of Camelot, The 9th Knight of the Round Table, managed to be chosen by the Holy Sword, the following day after our Great King death’s.” The way she rattled off the information made Tina thought she was forced to commit the information to memory in the exact wording.

  Rosemary continued, “King Godric ruled from the end of June 535 until 545 when he died of natural causes, but we know now it was a part of the Curse. However, during his lifetime, he managed to keep the peace that King Arthur created and sought to keep the peace between the various non-human cultures and the human cultures, often through political alliances, treaties, and even agreed to marry off several of his daughters off to the Kings of the following tribes, some of them were non-human: The Yuanti tribe that lives in the catacombs under Camelot, The Ninja Tribe of the Dead End Forest, The Dwarf Tribe in the Mountains, and the Silver Elf Tribe of the Moonlight Forest.” Rosemary paused.

  Tina’s jaw dropped slightly. That was a lot of information to remember. She truly believed that Rosemary had been taught to memorized that. Rosemary went on, “I do believe there was at least two more Kingdoms, at least one of them were non-human, that King Godric married his sons off too. If I remember correctly, they were the Storm Magi Tribe in the Far East and the Dragonborn Tribe in the Far West of our great island.”

  Tina blinked before she asked in stun tone, “So, Yuanti, Dwarfs, Elfs, and Dragonborns exists?”

  Rosemary nodded, continued, “I don’t remember the princes and the princesses names or titles at this moment.” She froze. Her face transformed into horror. She lunged forward at Tina and grabbed one of her hands with both of hers. “Please, Tina, please, don’t tell Lady Freya I said that. She would make me go through the lesson over King Godric’s family again and again until I could commit it to memory.”

  “Well,” Tina started off, “That should be something you don’t have to worry about.” She glanced around the carriage, seeing some of the remaining folks disappearing into the carriages or hopping on top of horses. “I don’t plan on seeing Lady Freya anytime soon, if ever.” Tina knew that would spark a line of questions from Rosemary and Remus, maybe even Jacob, so she changed the subject back to the one they were having, “Anyway, did the White Hall Family have anymore Kings or a High Queen?”

  Rosemary sighed and nodded, “There was King James, he was the 15th King of Camelot. He ruled from August 638 to August 648. Nothing much happened during his reign, but he did renew several treaties and married off two of his daughters. I think one was married into a Sea Kingdom, along the coast line, while the other one had to renew the Treaty we have with the Ninja Village. Our first High Queen was High Queen Mary. She married King Ernest Of House Hugo in 715 and sat on the throne for 5 years before her husband died of natural causes in 720, leaving her to raise three children by herself. She didn’t remarry, but she stayed in Camelot to raise her three children and help guide the new High Queen through the transition and gave advice to the new King.” She paused with a thoughtful expression. “There was King Erza. He ruled in 1217 until 1227, dieing of natural causes. His rule was peaceful and prosperous, overall. I think he did have to renew the treaties and face some court related issues.”

  “Let’s not forget about King Hunter,” Remus cut in with a mile wide grin, “He was chosen by the Holy Sword in 1590 and ruled until 1600. He created alliances with the Mer-folk by marrying off one of his daughters to their High Prince, re-new the various treaties our family had with the non-humans that King Godric created by marrying off daughters, sons, nieces, and nephews close to the family, and started advance Camelot’s technology and various sciences toward the end of his reign. The only son he didn’t marry off was his eldest. King Hunter thought his son would be chosen by the Holy Sword to rule after him, but Grand Duke Victor of House Beckett was chosen.”

  Rosemary nodded and finished, “There hasn’t been a White Hall King since then.”

  “Wow,” Tina whispered. That was a lot of information dumped on to her. She mentally counted, “So there has been 4 White Hall Kings?”

  “Yeah,” Rosemary confirmed.

  “And Usually when there was a White Hall King, he made sure the treaties and alliances were either made or re-newed,” Tina stated.

  “Yeah,” Remus, this time, replied.

  “And there hadn’t been a White Hall King in 400 years?” Tina asked.

  “Yup,” Jacob answered, “Are you done?”

  Tina shot him a look before she stated, “I only asked those question to make sure I understood some of the family history.”

  “It’s alright,” Rosemary grinned. “I would prefer you to ask us the questions” she mentioned between herself and Remus, “Then ask the wrong person and get some bad information.” She lend forward. “After all, there is a reason why the White Hall family isn’t the most favored family around right now.”

  Tina frowned at that and opened her mouth to ask why when Remus muttered a curse word loud enough for Tina turn her head to look at him. She saw he was staring forward and directed her gaze that way. Her eyes widened and spun in her seat. The Pendragon Carriage was several feet a head of the White Hall Carriage. The Coachman, on the raise seat in front of Tina, flickered the reins and the carriage moved forward with a jerk. Tina let out a small gasp as her heart raced in her chest.

  The clock tower sounded out the hour. It echoed through the silent courtyard and the town. The last toll ran out as the White Hall Carriage passed the carriage with Lord Godric and went through one of the archways. The wheel made a thump-thump-thump as they rolled over the wooden bridge.

  Tina spotted two rows of courtly dressed men on far side of the bridge. They held long funnels. The men raised one end to their faces as the White Hall Carriage approached. Flags unfolded, revealing the Drake Family Crest, floating in the salty sea breeze.

  “Oh, no,” Rosemary muttered loudly.

  “Cover your ears!” Remus warned.

  Tina half turned her head to ask Remus why when the first, long, loud, note blared from the long funnels. She went cross-eyed as she almost slapped her hands over her ears. She knew what the funnels were. Old fashion trumpets. The sound died away, slowly, and she heard the court announcer cried out in a loud solemn tone the former King’s name, and bloodline before he went on to announce High Queen Kalliope as her carriage rolled by him.

  Tina turned her attention to the town. A sense of wonder overcame her as she, for the first time as she could remember, rode in an open carriage into the city. She immediately recognized the first area the carriage entered as the one she had walked through the other night. There was a small bakery on the right hand side of the guard tower at the far end of the bridge she had spotted during her midnight walk and she remembered riding by it when she first arrived at the castle.

  Far in front of the parade line, Tina managed to spot the glass casket with the King laying inside, on view for the rest of the Kingdom. That sight somber her. This wasn’t a joy ride through the kingdom. It was a funeral parade.

  The only royal funeral parade she had witness was King Charles when he passed away nearly decade ago. For some reason, her mom and grandma decided to take their vacation and dragged Tina and Natasha to London, England to witness the entire ceremony. They didn’t give an actually reason behind it other then, the typical answer from a parent to a child, ‘You will understand when you are older’.

  Tina frowned as she remembered her mother commenting about the ceremony. It was something about how different it was from ‘home’ and how Belladonna would have flipped her hat if she had seen this, claiming it wasn’t steeped in tradition and didn’t show the proper respect the King deserved. Tina blinked in surprise as it clicked. Belladonna. The single name her mother had said off handily and the knowledge she had gained over the last day or so, her mother had to be referring to the Former High Queen Belladonna. She glanced past the Pendragon Carriage at the Black Carriage. She couldn’t believe it. It was another piece of the puzzle.

  From the edges of her vision, she saw the citizens of Camelot standing long the edges of the parade route as the ones leading the parade made a left hand turn. Tina managed to spot a sign with the road’s name - King St before the White Hall Carriage rolled by it. She had to remember to school her expression into a natural expression. She didn’t want to come across as a tourist, especially during the mourning of the Kingdom. It would be insensitive. That didn’t stop the sense of wonder and adventure from growing in her gut.

  She took a deep breath to calm herself and straightened her back as the White Hall Carriage silently followed the Pendragon Carriage down King Street before they traveled down a street called Mayflower. Tina briefly wondered if it was named after the ship that brought the settlers to the New World from England. She fought against the urge to frown at the thought. There was a chance it was a reference to the ship in question, but Tina doubted it unless there was some settlers that managed to slip through the void between the worlds and found themselves in Camelot’s countryside like she did.

  However, those thoughts drifted out of Tina’s mind as she gazed at the various buildings on either side of the streets. It was amazing to see them. She could tell which ones were inspired by the various time periods from their design. Sanji, the Head Cook, had suggested that there were more Outsiders in the kingdom. He might have not known much about the immigration of the Outsiders and how they ended up in the Legendary Kingdom. However, he seemed held a wealth of information. She hoped she could talk to him more if she returned back to Camelot.

  Riding down Mayflower Rd, a small clothing shop with a large bay window showed off dresses from the 1950’s, from Tina’s guesstimate, caught her attention. One of the dresses was a mid-calf length black dress. A sign sat in the bay window, proclaiming a sale on any of the black dresses and other mourning outfits. It was an interesting site to see. Right next to the store was a hat store. Tina wondered if it was an old fashion hatter or not. She remembered something about the hatter from the medieval ages used mercury for some reason and most of them went mad. She resisted the urge to giggle as an image of a Mad Hatter from children’s book then later a movie appeared in her mind.

  It wasn’t long before the parade started down a familiar looking road and Tina made the connection of the entrance she had used a couple days before hand to enter the lower city. She spotted the stables she saw when she first entered the lower city.

  The White Hall Carriage rolled past it and followed the Pendragon Carriage as it rolled past the street Tina had used to get to the Castle. Tina tried not to look like a tourist as she spotted the strange book store she had paused by during her midnight walk. The bay window no longer display the strange stone tablets, now displaying regular books. She managed to caught the subject of the books. All about the previous King. Perhaps, she had been seeing things. She might swing by there before she left the kingdom and try to get one of the books or better, one of the strange stone tablets.

  Tina felt eyes on her as the Carriages rolled by the citizens of the lower classes. She glanced toward her right as they past an alleyway. A glint of the half hidden sun reflected off of something around head height on a man. She spotted him. Her heart leaped into her throat. Her eyes widened. Her lips parted. The blood pounded in her veins. Her mouth went dry.

  In the mouth of the alleyway, Ralph stood alone. His arms crossed over his chest. His silver hair was covered by a black cloth. He didn’t wear his ninja uniform, but a simple black outfit, making him blend in with the rest of the crowd. He did wear the head band with the metal piece stitched to the cloth band, informing everyone who know what the symbol meant where he was from. That what was gave him away. He gave her a smirk and a small wave from his right hand. He didn’t move from his position. He watched them. The White Hall Carriage rolled on.

  A hand landed on Tina’s right shoulder. She jumped. A soft squeak gasped from her. Her left hand flew to the hand on her shoulder and grabbed it tightly. A hiss of pain reached her ears. It sounded like a female note. Tina glanced over her shoulder and saw the hand belong to Rosemary. The red head woman let go of her cousin’s hand.

  “I’m sorry, Rose,” Tina said, “I didn’t know it was you.”

  “It’s alright,” Rosemary waved off the apology, “You got a strong grip.”

  Tina’s lips flickered in a tight smile. She glanced at Remus. He stared at her with a hard, but curiosity gaze. She shot a look at Jacob. He watched her with a raised eyebrow. She ignored both of the men and turned back, facing forward. Her mind immediately went to the problem.

  Ralph and his team finally arrived in Camelot. Tina had to admit to herself, she had been wondering how long it would take for them to catch up to her. She snorted, softly. It only took them four days to catch up to her. She thought they were professionals. She planned to rub that fact in his face the next time they had the time to chat. She pushed what she would say to his face out of her mind and focus on what she knew of Team Ralph.

  First fact, there were four members: Ralph, Kikyo, Waya, and Abasi.

  Second thing she knew, they were hired by Lady Freya to bring her back to the White Hall Estate.

  Third fact, they were ninja, deadly Assassins with an unique energy that allow them to perform magical feats like blowing fireballs from their mouths or turning the ground to mud. They were trained to kidnap, kill, and possible recuse people. They were hired to do various jobs.

  Tina had spotted Ralph, the leader of the team. A feeling of unease settled in her stomach. It left the question - where the rest of the team? She still didn’t know their skill set.

  Her eyes darted over the crowd as the Carriage round a bend onto a street Tina didn’t explore the other night on her midnight walk as she looked for the other members of Ralph’s team. She glanced over her shoulder. She didn’t spot Ralph. It didn’t mean that he wasn’t following the carriage. It just mean that he was able to blend in with the crowd better then she could see him.

  She took a deep breath, held it for a long moment then exhaled. She turned her gaze forward, still searching for the rest of Ralph’s team. She tried to find a street sign, but she couldn’t find one. She turned her eyes to peer over the tall wall to see the forest slowly fading away to open, darken sky.

  There was a crack of lightening in the distance followed by the sound of booming thunder. A breeze blew, bring with it the scent of rain and salty ocean air. Tina could have sworn something light gray between the ocean and the dark clouds. It might have been rain, coming down in sheets.

  Tina turned forward. She kept an eye on the crowd, the various alleyways, and sometime peeked at the roof tops. However, her attention was pulled to the right side of the street as she spotted women wearing some of the shortest dresses she had seen in Camelot. The front bottom of the dress barely covered the hips , but the back lower half of the dress floated down to the women’s calves while the top of the dresses covered half of the breasts. The dresses didn’t have sleeves or shoulders.

  The women stood in clusters, on the porches of the inns and houses that appeared to be gambles houses. They stared, emotionless, at the parade as the parade went by. Their eyes were dull and almost lifeless. Some of them glared at the parade.

  It clicked in Tina’s mind. The parade traveled through the red light district. That was something Tina was not expecting. She almost laughed. Most of the time or at least in the United States, parades didn’t go through the Red Light district part of the town. In fact, in the past couple years, Sex Work became a legal profession. Tina couldn’t walk down the side walk while she was at college without a few men coming up to her, asking her what her rate was. It was a great shock when Tina first attend college, but she eventually got used to and carried a pocket knife.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  In the past, sex work was illegal and often a front of the sex slave trade and much darker dealings. Tina wondered if they - the guards and other law enforcement agencies - had the same problem in Camelot.

  Before the parade rolled by the last of the inns and gamble houses, Tina thought she spotted a woman with light red skin color. The skin color reminded Tina of someone out in the sun for a long time, but this red was different. It was a deeper shade of red. Her black hair blossomed up over the back of her head before it fell down over her shoulders. However, it was pushed out of Tina’s mind when the Carriage through an archway and the wall suddenly curved to the left. The parade followed the wall for several feet until the wall disappeared into the sea.

  Tina blinked in surprise as she gazed out over the gray sea. The ocean’s surface was choppy. A flash of lightening zap down and met the ocean’s surface. She knew the water sizzled with the electrical energy, even though she didn’t hear it. Apparently, Thor was warming up, still or was being kind enough to hold off the storm until the parade was over.

  The wind blew. This time, it brought the stink of rotten fish. Tina wrinkled her nose. She didn’t travel this way the other night. She tried to remember the reason for that. Perhaps the gate was down, blocking her path to this part of town.

  Tina’s gaze drifted over the docks, spotting one of the largest ships she had seen in person. The size of this ship reminded her of some of the smaller US battleships in what remain of the Navy. On the top of the mast, a flag flapped in the wind. She managed to spot the symbol on it. It was a large wooden cross.

  ‘So, that’s the ship the Pope, the Bishops, and the Templars arrived on,’ Tina thought. She thought she spotted a few of the Templars roaming over the deck, possible keeping an eye out of any sort of trouble. There were several smaller ships in port, but none of them caught Tina’s attention like the Christian ship did.

  Tina turned her head in time to see a reflected flash of lightening off of a metal plate. It came from a nearby rooftop. Her gaze went up and spotted another member of Team Ralph. She frowned, trying to remember this ninja’s name.

  He sat on the edge of the roof. His legs swung back and forth, nonchalantly. He didn’t bother to change out of his ninja uniform like Ralph did. He sent her a grin before he sent her a wave. He didn’t move from his spot, but Ralph appeared behind him.

  The silver haired ninja knelt beside the second ninja and drew him into a conversation. Both watched Tina.

  Tina turned her attention to the Pendragon Carriage. Her heart thundered in her chest. Her chest heaved as she tried to control the raising panic. She closed her eyes and focused on her breathing. She knew the game they were playing. Psychology warfare.

  Her heart rate slowly returned to normal as she leveled out her breathing. Feeling raindrops hitting her exposed skin, she opened her eyes as the Carriage rolled through another archway, entering the Northern part of the city. Her eyes widened in shock as she saw the streets, the nearby buildings, and the people. It was a different of night and day between the Southern part of the City and the Northern part.

  The Streets were slowly turning to mud from the rain. Tina spotted small trenches on the edge of the streets, leading toward the docks. She guessed what was those were used for. Human waste. Unless these people used the streets to get rid of human waste. She shuddered. Either way, Tina wasn’t going to get out of the carriage unless she had no other choice.

  The crowd standing on either side of the street reminded Tina of the homeless people that lived in the parks back in Vermont. Men, women, children - nearly all of them wore ripped clothing that was discolored from being wore everyday. Their faces were covered by dirt, but their eyes glowed with emotion. Tina could easy identify greed for the brightly rich decorated carriages and people who rode in them.

  Several of the men leered at Tina and she knew she wasn’t the only one they leered at. She heard Rosemary muttered a soft pray and shifted closer to one of their cousins for protection. Another emotion she recognized was anger. She figured the anger came from the fact the carriage riders were rich and appeared to everything their hearts’ desired while these people wondered if they were going to have their next meal soon or not.

  The buildings behind the crowd were in various stages of disrepair. Tina spotted a sign hanging from a rope. It had faded words of some sort of Inn. Another building nearby was large 4 story building. There was no sign indicating what the building was, but Tina spotted several kids at the windows, peering down at the parade. Some of them pointed at the carriages before they lend toward another kid and said something.

  Tina brought her gaze back down and spotted the last ninja - his name was Waya? - standing on the edge of the crowd with a hand on a small boy’s shoulder. She met his gaze as her heart threatened to leap from her chest. He sent her a smirk. She narrowed her eyes.

  He pushed the small boy out in the street, right in the middle of the White Hall Carriage. Rosemary screamed from fright. It seemed to be louder to Tina due to how quite the town was. It echoed, loudly. Tina tensed up. Her heart leaped into her throat.

  Tina moved before she realized she did, leaping from the carriage, over the coachman, over the horses. The horses reared back, their hooves kicking the air. Tina landed in front of them, crunching over the boy. She grabbed the boy’s upper arms and hauled him up to his feet. She glanced toward the last ninja - Waya, she remembered his name.

  He waited on the edge of the crowd. He held a knife in one hand. He still had the confident smirk on his lips. Tina wanted nothing more than to wipe it off, but she had to get the boy to safety. She narrowed her eyes in a menacing glare.

  “Tina, the horses!” Rosemary cried out. Tina wrapped her right arm around the boy’s middle and hurried out of the way as the horses’ hooves came back down, sending mud everywhere. She felt the boy’s hands on her lower arm as she sped on the side of the carriage, keeping the carriage between herself and Waya until she reached the step to climb into the carriage. She just had hope Remus would be enough to keep Waya from launching an attack.

  “Get into the carriage,” Tina ordered the boy, holding him up to the platform of the carriage. The boy grabbed the edge of the carriage and climbed up. He quickly sat down on the front seat and gave her a wide eyed expression. She climbed up after him. She sat down next to him and threw her cloak around him as the rain started to come down harder. Tina looked at the coachman who had turned around, waiting for orders. She snapped, “Go!” she internally winced. She probably shouldn’t have used that tone. She spoke again, using a softer tone, “We can’t stop the parade.”

  The coachman nodded with a ‘Yes, ma’am’ before he took the reins up and got the horses moving after the Pendragon Carriage. Tina glanced past the coachman to see Lady Morgana and Merlin standing up in their carriage. From the distance between the two carriages, Tina couldn’t see their expressions, but she could sense their worry and amazement. However, their carriage didn’t stop.

  Tina turned to gaze at Waya and blinked as Ralph and the other male ninja grabbed Waya’s arms and pulled him away from the front of the crowd, going to one of the alleys.

  “What’s going on, here?” Genesis’ voice caught her attention. Tina turned to face him and opened her mouth to explained, but she lost her voice when she heard.

  “Afternoon, General Apple!” the boy half hidden in Tina’s cloak chirped. She gasped, choked on her spit and coughed in response as Genesis’ face fell and he let out a groan. She glanced down at the boy’s amused grin and looked up at Genesis in time to see him to close his eyes and brought a hand up before he pinched the bridge of his nose.

  “General Apple?” Remus whispered loud enough for the rest of the family to hear. Rosemary giggled softly. Jacob snorted. Tina smirked. “Ammo!” Remus whisper-yelled.

  Tina glanced over her shoulder at Remus, meeting his eyes. They grinned at each other, brightly. One of them was planning to how to the unique nickname against him.

  “What are you doing with my cousin, Luke?” Genesis asked. His eyes flicked between Tina and Luke.

  “She’s your cousin!” the boy named Luke cried out in surprise and looked up at Tina, “She is too pretty to be your cousin, Apple Head.” Genesis narrowed his eyes at Luke. “She saved me. A bad man took me away from my brothers and threw me in the middle of the road. She jumped out of this carriage like you do when you are after me and my brothers and got me out of the way of the horses.” Luke explained. “She’s cooler then you are.”

  Tina giggled in a mixture of amusement and embarrassment. She looked at the boy and hugged him to her side. She announced, “I think I like you, little one.”

  “I’m glad someone does. Him and his brothers have been giving me trouble for the last couple years,” Genesis grumbled, giving the boy a glare. Luke responded by looking away and tried to look innocent. “Anyway, Lady Valentina, if you are keeping him with you for the rest of the parade, keep him out of trouble.” He steered his horse around and called out over his shoulder, “We will talk later.” He rode away.

  The coachman flicked the reins for the horses. The horses reacted and hurried to catch up to the rest of the parade. Tina stared after him and commented, “Well, I think I may be in trouble.”

  “I’m always in trouble, according to Apple Head,” Luke stated in an understanding tone. Tina saw the cute confused look he sent her as she started to giggle uncontrollable with Rosemary, Remus, and Jacob.

  “What were you thinking!” Ralph fought to keep his voice down as he tossed Waya against a brick wall. They were several streets away from the Funeral parade route. He turned to Waya with a death glare. “You could have caused an international issue for our village and the House of White Hall!”

  Abasi placed a hand on Ralph’s shoulder and said, “He didn’t. Be glad for that.”

  Ralph turned on Abasi, eyes flashing with anger, hissing, “If this dumbass managed to get caught by Belladonna, we wouldn’t be able to help him in anyway. In fact, he would have been marked as M.I.A.” He snarled. “Right now, we don’t have a treaty or any sort of alliance with the Ruling Family of Camelot.”

  Ralph never failed a mission since he had become a Ninja. He didn’t plan on failing it now. Not with so much riding on the success of this mission. If his team couldn’t take Valentina to the White Hall Estate, they could take her to the Hidden Bark Village and arrange the meeting with Lady Freya. The mission would be still a success. They just had to make sure Lady Freya and Valentina had a meeting. It was proving harder and harder to do with the time line Lady Freya had set. The old lady of the White Hall House never explained why she had to meet Valentina.

  “Don’t we have a treaty with the White Hall House,” Waya asked, confused. He reached up and wiped off his face, but it didn’t help. The rain was coming down hard.

  “Right now,” Ralph raised an eyebrow, questioning. Waya nodded. Abasi stared at Ralph. “Yes, we do have a treaty with the White Hall House, but it is on the verge of expiring.” The leader of Team Ralph sighed. “If we managed to return Lady Valentina to the White Hall Estate, Lady Freya would talk Lord Bardock into renewing the Treaty.”

  “Why do we need a treaty with the White Hall Family, in the first place,” Abasi asked. He cocked his head to the side.

  Ralph glanced at him and let out a sigh as his shoulders slump, “I keep forgetting you came from a civilian family.” He took a deep breath and explained, “Back during the early days of Avalon, our founding families didn’t have any allies when they found out they managed to wonder into Avalon. One by one, they reached out to the various Kingdoms, but most of them were turn away or killed for being dishonorable warriors by the various Knights of the Kingdoms.”

  Ralph paused, thinking about to his historical lesson with his own teacher and current Lord of the Hidden Bark Village, Master Raizen, during one of his missions before he went on, explaining, “When Lord Shikaku Vinsmoke saved Bridgette of the White Hall House and escorted her back Camelot, this very castle walls we are in now, he discovered she was one of the daughters of King Godric and he was rewarded by given a title. Lord Shikaku rejected the title, but the King still wanted to reward Lord Shikaku so they reached an agreement, later, it became a treaty between the White Hall House and the Bark Village when Lord Shikaku and the daughter of the Lord became husband and wife, thus sealing the treaty in a scared bond.”

  Abasi’s jaw dropped. A long moment, he voiced, “I knew Lord Shikaku married a civilian and got resources to grow the Bark Village, but I wasn’t aware he married a Princess of Camelot.” Ralph nodded. “Now, that the treaty is on the verge of expiring, how does it get renewed?”

  “The same way it was sealed,” Ralph said, “Marriage.”

  Waya paled, realizing what could have happened. “So, in other words, I could have jeopardized the Treaty.” Ralph nodded. “Shit.”

  The trio stood there in silence as they thought about what it meant. Since the Bark Village entered an alliance with the White Hall House, the Ancient and Noble House helped the Bark Village through various troubling times, sending various supplies the Village may have asked for over the years. If that treaty didn’t renew, it meant the next time the Bark Village experienced troubling times, they would have to make due, alone, and hope for the best when they were vulnerable. Lightening flashed before the thunder broke the silence.

  “Has Lord Raizen announced who will be getting married to up hold the treaty?” Abasi asked.

  “No,” Ralph replied, “When I last spoke to him, Lord Raizen didn’t know who will be handed to us for the renewal of the Treaty.” He glanced toward the Funeral Parade. “It could be Lady Valentina.” The three of them shared a glance.

  “If it is her,” Waya started, “We have made a great impression.”

  Abasi hummed. Ralph nodded, “But it could be easily one of her brothers - Genesis, Victor, Vincent.”

  “Wait,” Abasi said, turning to Ralph with a surprise look on his face, “What do you mean it could be General Genesis?”

  “He is unmarried,” Ralph commented, “But it would mean he would have to live in the Bark Village.”

  “I doubt that will happen,” Abasi stated, “He is too important to the safety of Camelot to be forced to move to the Bark Village.”

  Waya whipped his forehead with an sharp exhale, “Thank the gods for that.” Ralph sent him a questioning look as did Abasi. “Can you two imagine if he was forced to live in the Bark Village? There would be a riot among our female ninja to see who would be marrying him.”

  Ralph cracked an amused grin. Abasi laughed softly.

  “I really hope he doesn’t come to the Bark Village,” Abasi said, “I know my chances of finding a wife are slim, but with him there, I wouldn’t have a chance in hell to get married.”

  “I hear you,” Ralph agreed. “However, in the past, it has been a female member of the White Hall House, either a distinct cousin like Lady Rosemary or a direct daughter like Lady Valentina or one of her younger sisters, Lady Natalie or Lady Natasha.”

  “Lovely. I really fucked up,” Waya stated.

  “Yes, you did, my friend,” Ralph nodded. They stood, listening to the storm and watched the funeral parade flow past the mouth of the alley.

  Miserable, Tina huddled deeper into her cloak and pulled Luke closer to her side. The rain had soaked through her cloak and her dress. She shivered, slightly, as a breeze played with the edges of her cloak. Luke let out a moan and snuggled as he close as he could get to her, resting his head on her chest.

  Lightening flashed over head. Thunder boomed as the bright light faded away. She couldn’t wait until the parade was over. It meant she could change out of the water clothes and get warmed up. She hoped she didn’t get sick from this event.

  An small arm slipped around her waist. Tina blinked before she looked down. Luke had the side of his face pressed against the side of her stomach, just above her hip. A flash of guilt went through her. When she had saved him, it was a reflective instinct. Now, she felt like she had to come up with a plan. She knew one thing before she let him go - the poor boy was going to get a bath and get a hot meal.

  Maybe she could try talk him into spending the night in the Armstrong Suite to make sure he doesn’t get sick. If she couldn’t get him to stay, maybe she could at least send him with a few hot meals for his family, assuming he has one. She glanced toward the front of the parade where she got glimpses of Genesis riding one of the Military horses.

  The Pendragon Carriage rolled into the Court yard of The Crypt of the Rulers as the Ruling Family left their carriages and walked toward the rows of logs. Tina watched the High Queen strolled, her head held high to the first row.

  At her side, the Prince walked at her side until they reached the front row and stood on the High Queen’s left. The rest of the Queens and their escorts filled the first couple rows. Behind the Ruling Family section, ten columns of logs spread out over the crypt grounds.

  The Pendragon Carriage rolled to a stop and an attendant stepped forward. He held up a hand and Lady Morgana grabbed it as she stepped out of the carriage, closet to the Crypt. Merlin climbed out through the other side. The Coachman of the Pendragon Carriage flicked the reins and the carriage rolled out of the way.

  Tina took a deep breath to calm her nerves as the White Hall Carriage moved forward. She scouted in to a half turn to face the side she was going to climb out of and waited. The Carriage stopped. She patted on Luke’s shoulder. He hopped up from the seat and jumped from the platform, landing on in a crunch, spraying mud. He turned to her, giving her a grin of child like glee.

  Feeling exasperate, Tina could only sigh and shook her head in amusement. She grabbed her wet skirt in one hand and grabbed the hand the attendant offer to her before she climbed out of the carriage. She sunk into the soak ground an inch or two. She gave the attendant a small smile and a nod of thanks before she threw the cloak around the boy. She kept him by her side as she guided him forward. She glanced at Genesis who jerked his head, indicating she should come over to him or at least to the log him and his horse stood by.

  “Our seat is over by Genesis,” Remus said, just loud enough for Tina to hear him. She nodded in understanding. She strolled to the front log on the left hand side. She noticed Lady Morgana and Merlin claimed the log on the right hand side, talking softly to each other. Lady Morgana looked up at Tina. The red head didn’t meet the mage’s eyes. She didn’t want to take the chance of the Lady of Pendragon House having the ability to read her mind.

  Tina ignored the Magi’s gazes as she went in front of the log and walked down the log before she sat down, a few feet away from the edge where Genesis sat on the back of his horse. She adjusted her skirt and cloak before she pulled Luke into the space between her and Remus. The rest of the White Hall family settled down on the log as more carriages into the crypt courtyard and emptied. She spotted the glass casket sitting in front of the crypt. Inside the casket, the former King Uther laid there with the appearance to be sleeping, despite the face his skin color was a pale gray hue.

  She wondered, briefly, if he was em-bombed or not. If he wasn’t, how on earth did he have the appearance of someone sleeping? She glanced toward the other side of the courtyard for a second when the answer came to her. Magic. Either Merlin or Morgana had used magic to preserve Uther’s appearance.

  The Crypt courtyard was silent as the rest of the church filled up the logs. Tina gazed around, slowly. The High Queen stared ahead with a stoic expression while the Prince’s face was hard as stone, but his eyes were red rimmed. Tina couldn’t see the other Queen’s expressions, but she figured their faces were similar to the Prince’s. She pushed it out of her mind.

  Tina returned her gaze to the entrance of the Crypt. Her eyes widened. Her lips parted. She stared as inside the mouth of the Crypt, white blurred shadows moved. One of the white shadows appeared to be standing in the doorway, preventing the other white shadows from exiting the crypt. She tired to ignore them. If she acknowledged them, they might not leave her alone.

  She wondered why they hadn’t moved on, yet. They must have known they weren’t part of the living anymore. She glanced up at the doorway. The doorway was covered with white shadows. They danced around like they were trying to see who was about to join them. How many were stuck there? She frowned, thinking about what she had learned.

  Lucky, it wasn’t long before the Pope to stand up from the front log where he sat with the High Queen and the Prince and made his way forward. Shock went through Tina as she watched him. She didn’t even know he was there. She had thought he would have stayed at the Castle since he led the service last night. The old Christian leader spoke, going through the last rights for a Christian burial.

  As soon as the Pope was done with the burial rights, the Prince stood up from the log and walked forward. He was followed by several knights. Tina recognized Tristan as one of them. They formed a line on either side of the coffin and picked it up by the side pole. They walked as one to the doorway of the Crypt as thunder boomed overheard followed by the flashed of lightening.

  Tina raised her eyes to the darken skies. It was an easy mistake to think it was the middle of the night instead mid-afternoon. She looked at the door way for the Crypt and her lips parted in awe.

  The lead white figure had moved. He or at least Tina thought the figure was a he, stepped out of the door way of the Crypt and faced the casket with an expected look.

  Tina gasped, softly. Luke stiffened next to her as her arm tightened around him.

  Raising up from the glass covered casket, the previous King looked around with a confused look. He floated as the casket moved out from under him as the pallbearers slowly entered the Crypt. He turned to the First white figure.

  Tina strained her ears to hear what was being said through the storm.

  “Welcome, brother-king,” The white Figure announced.

  “What happened?” King Uther asked.

  “You were killed by the Curse placed upon the Holy Sword, many years ago,” the Figure explained, “I am Arthur of House Pendragon.” He swept out an arm toward the Crypt. “Go, Uther of House Drake, join your brothers in this accursed damnation.”

  Tina couldn’t see the former king’s expression, but she managed to hear what he asked next. “Are we bared from entering the Kingdom of Heaven?”

  “We are bared from moving on, no matter what God we had prayed to during our lifetime,” Arthur answered, “Until the Curse is removed from the Holy Sword, we are stuck here, waiting our loved ones grow old and die, waiting for the prophecy to be fulfilled by the Ruler who will be able to break the Curse.”

  Uther’s slumped and he walked through the doorway. Arthur stood outside of the doorway, waiting. He stared at the crowd, but Tina felt his gaze on her.

  “I know you heard me, child,” he voiced, “Remember your destiny. Remember who you were before Merlin casted that spell upon you. It is your time to led my Kingdom in prosperity and forge it how you see fit, little one. Your enemies will be great in number. Both close to home and afar. One day, you will either join us or set us free. It will be your choice. Be warned - The Death Mage has not perished yet. She will come for the Holy Sword. You will do what she has desired to do since my Battle Mage placed the Choosing spell on the Holy Sword. Best of Luck, Child.”

  Arthur turned and disappeared through the entrance. No one moved as they waited for the Prince and the rest of the pallbearers to reemerge from the depths of the Crypt.

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