Chapter Eight
The closer they got to the castle, the less of the sky and landscape Justin could see. Standing in its shadow, Justin felt minuscule and insignificant. He hoped Maggie couldn't read his emotions. He had never been good at schooling his features.
When they were 20 feet from the entrance to the walls, Justin heard movement above. "Princess Magdalin, is that you? Who is that with you? Justin looked over at Maggie with a grin on his face. "Magdalin, huh? I like it." Maggie lightly shoved his shoulder, but easily returned the smile. "Well, I don't. I asked my father to tell the guards to call me Maggie, but he refused. He said Maggie was the name of a commoner, and Magdalin was my proper princess name." Justin rubbed his hand across his jaw as though deep in thought. "Well, maybe I should use your proper princess name. "How about it, Magdalin?" Maggie shot him a withering glare. "Don't you dare."
Walking ahead a few steps, Maggie looked up at the guard who had spoken. "Yes, Thomas, it's me. This is Justin White. He is here to talk to the king about the problems we are having with the magical creatures. Can you open up the gate and let us in?"
Thomas stood up straighter at his words. "Right away, your highness. It will take me just a moment." Justin and Maggie stood in companionable silence while they waited for Thomas to open the gate for them. When it opened, and they walked through, Justin got the feeling that Thomas was sizing him up. He also got the feeling that Thomas found him lacking.
Before Justin could let his mind spiral, he was distracted by the large wooden doors that loomed in front of him. He had never in his entire life seen doors that size. They were taller than his house back home and almost as wide. Why did the castle need to have doors that big?
His thoughts must have been etched across his face because Maggie's quiet laughter pulled him out of his thoughts. "It is a bit much, I agree. But this castle has been here for hundreds of years, so I can only assume the monarch who built it was overcompensating for something.
Justin had to cram his fist into his mouth to keep from busting out laughing, but his mirth was clearly visible in his eyes.
When they reached the doors, two guards bowed towards Maggie. Her smile remained on her face, but Justin detected a slight stiffness in her stance that wasn't there before. "Please rise and inform my father that I wish to see him." Maggie's words were formal, but not unkind. As the guards went to open the doors for them, a thought came to Justin.
"If you are not allowed to travel on your own, then how will you tell the king we met?
"I technically didn't leave the castle grounds. About 25 feet past where I found you, the royal land ends. It goes right up to the treeline. While my father doesn't like me to go anywhere alone, if I don't have to, as long as I am on castle grounds, then he really can't say anything. Besides, once he hears that you will help us, he won't even think to ask where you came from.
Justin reached out a hand and laid it on Maggie's forearm, causing her to turn and look at
him fully. "How do I act? What I mean is, what is the proper etiquette to use when meeting a king? I don't want to say or do anything wrong. I don't even know how to address the situation with the mythical creatures. Like, do I bring it up first or should I wait on him?" Justin knew he was babbling, but he suddenly felt overwhelmingly nervous, and, frankly, talking was the only thing keeping him from falling apart.
Maggie didn't look at him with pity, but she genuinely seemed to be taking his questions seriously. "Other than bowing to the king and stating your name, don't say anything until I can lay the groundwork for our meeting. I don't think telling my father that you came from a different world is the best thing to do. He is open-minded, but he isn't that open-minded. However, he will want to know how you will have the information that can help us."
Justin lit up at her words. "Does your world have an education system in place? What I mean is, do you have a way for people to learn more about specific subjects that interest them?"
Understanding dawns on her, and she quickly nods her head. "The school is a good way's distance from here, but we do have one if someone wants to learn the secrets of medicine or how to study the law."
Justin felt his earlier nervousness begin to ease. He always did better when he had a plan of action to work towards. "Do you think your father is aware of all of the fields of study that the school offers? Maggie shook her head without even a pause to consider. "Oh, no, I am certain he does not. The school was established by his grandfather, and since that time, it has been left to function on its own with very little interference from the crown."
"Good, then we will just tell him that there is this new field of study that has just started. A class is being offered about the magical creatures, as you call them, to try to better understand them. Tell your father that it is an experimental class, but the school wants to send its best representative to aid the king and his mages in solving the problems they are facing with the creatures. Tell your father that you met me as I was on my way to meet him and that I am here to offer my services and insight. Do you think that will work?"
Maggie looked at him with wide eyes as though either surprised at his plan or shocked that he came up with it so quickly. It took her a full 10 seconds to respond. "That should work. As long as we don't let father linger too much on the lack of details in your story and focus instead on assuring me that you are going to do your best to solve his problem, then I think he will be more than willing to use whatever expertise you have to help his kingdom." Maggie paused with a look of uncertainty in her eyes before pushing forward. "By the way, what expertise do you have?"
Justin smiled wildly at her, thrilled to be able to tell her that he was, in fact, somewhat of an expert. True, he hadn't completed his degree yet, but he had read a ton of books and had great grades in his classes, so he figured he was safe in expressing that he was an expert.
"In my world, we have schools like you do here, but we actually do offer a lot of classes on mythical creatures and how they live. Of course, since the animals aren't real where I am from, we have gotten much of our understanding of them from how other real animals in our world act and how we assume they would live. So, I might have to account for a learning curve, but I do have a lot of knowledge about just this sort of thing, so in that regard, we are telling your father the absolute truth. I did, in fact, come here from a school. And I am here to help, so we really aren't lying at all."
Before he could say more, a scraping of metal came from inside the castle, and both Maggie and Justin realized that they had been standing in the open doorway talking this whole time. The guard in front of them looked puzzled as to why they hadn't walked inside yet.
"The king will see you now, this way." The seriousness of the moment hit Justin full force as he looked over at Maggie, who took his hand and squeezed it before walking into the dim room.