Banned from Her Castle

Wamana raised her foot again and slammed it down hard on Velexa's head! The sound of the impact bounced off the walls of the study.

"How dare you? Daughter of a despicable and irritating bitch! How dare you mention my name?" Wamana glared at her angrily.

Ever since Velexa's mother, Velina and Wamana were young mages, they were best friends who did everything together and shared everything together.

That was until Femendric, the heir to the Beuntemix Kingdom entered the picture and Velina suddenly stopped sharing her things.

In a fit of blind jealousy, Wamana disappeared for long time, only to reappear as a dark mage, three months ago with her young daughter, Harmonica who was Velexa's age. And as accepting and kindhearted as Velina was, she welcomed her best friend back into her life with open arms.

The guards carried the King and Queen away while Velexa endlessly begged Wamana to spare them, squirming under her foot, gasping for air whilst enduring the onslaught of pain from all angles. Her brain threatened to split open and her limbs felt weak.

Wamana relished the sight before her but she still didn't let up her torment.

"Your mother deserves this for stealing the love of my life away from me! It was impossible to steal Femendric back, I never understood what he saw in Velina..." Her eyes were distant, like she was recalling a past memory.

"Since that is the case, I shall steal her precious kingdom which she loves dearly, her crown and you..., I have no use for you. You can rot in hell for all I care you vermin." She kicked her hard on the head!

"But before you rot in hell, I must get that crest from you. How dare you claim it before I even got here you swine?" Wamana pressed Velexa's head some more on the floor to enuciate her words. Anger and indignation written all over her face.

Suddenly, a dark chuckle escaped from under her foot and Wamana was taken aback. Was that laughter she heard?

Velexa's body suddenly shone with a brilliant white light and Wamana stepped back from her in fear, nearly stumbling. Velexa was glowing like a ghost.

She lifted her head gently from the floor, lifting her body with it. The intense pain she was feeling before, which threatened to split her skull in two was now numb. All she could feel was a mild tingling sensation.

"You entered our lives with a false facade and lied to us, that's fine."

The brilliant white light gently faded and white lines, like the outline of the broken traces on a patched broken vase appeared on Velexa's arms, and legs.

"You put Mother and Father to eternal slumber, unforgivable."

Velexa raised her eyes, looking Wamana dead in the eyes. Her once innocent and vibrant navy blue eyes were gone, now replaced by an eerie, lifeless pale blue ones.

There were broken streaks of white lines littered across her face. It looked like her face was previously about to burst open but, were firmly held in place by those lines.

"And now you covet my throne? You must not love your life anymore."

As she said those words, her lifeless pale blue eyes stared at Wamana, piercing into the deepest parts of her soul. Wamana stumbled and fell limp to the ground in genuine fear for her life.

The wind around Velexa kicked up, swirling around the study, this time more intensely than before. The large Mahogany doors of the study suddenly shut with an intense thud from the sheer force of the wind!

"You shall not have my crown!"

With her words, the shutters were flapping furiously, the leaves rose up from outside and filled the study, performing a harsh dance, cutting like a knife, scratching any surface it encountered in its path.

Everyone and everything in the castle suddenly started floating, everyone except Velexa.

The pale blue of Velexa's eyes were gleaming and suddenly, Wamana found it hard to breathe despite the wind that was overflowing in abundance around them.

Velexa was carefully extracting the air from Wamana's lungs. She didn't realise what she was doing, her mind was blank but she felt one thing with certainty, anger.

The royal crest was responding to Velexa's emotions, the power flowing through her, taking over her to vent her anger on the person responsible for her despair.

Wamana tried casting spells to stop the onslaught of the wind, she tried to breathe again but all her spells fell with the strong wind.

She tried to reach into Velexa's mind, through the memory loss spell to check if it was repelled but all she could see was wind, white and whisps of red - the colour of anger.

If the memory loss spell was repelled, it would explain Velexa's sudden outburst. And if it worked, she should be the one in control, not Velexa.

The current situation looked more like Velexa was in a trance, like the spell worked but at the same time didn't. She couldn't make sense of the situation.

Just when Wamana thought she was going to die from suffocation, the doors of the study were literally blown away by a heavy wind, different from that controlled by Velexa.

The Council of Elmin, in their full number entered the study, unfazed by Velexa's wind and stood in-between Velexa and Wamana. There were three members in the Council.

Wamana was temporarily freed from suffocating, her laboured coughed ringing out in the study.

With their entrance, Velexa suddenly went still and the wind that swirled incessantly suddenly ceased! Everything in the castle fell to the ground at the same time! The sound was deafening.

Wamana, despite just regaining her breathing at that moment didn't lose a second, she suddenly cast a wide control spell on the Council.

On a normal day, the Council would have easily repelled the spell or at most, it would be ineffective but today, it was different.

The transfer of Crests from one ruler to another momentarily weakens the bond between the ruler and the council, making them succeptible to control spells.

This is usually not a problem for the new ruler as it was easy to strengthen the bond and cancel the spell with the power of the crest.

However

Right now, Velexa did not have the complete powers of a ruler as her 10 year old body was still too young to bear the full weight of the elemental power of her crest and it's authority.

That wasn't all. Her memory and mind were fragmented, thanks to the memory loss spell.

The memory loss spell Wamana cast was a powerful one. A spell strong enough to make one and idiot for the rest of their lives.

Velexa's mental strength, coupled with a strong desire to cling to her memory, get revenge for her family, and keep the throne her father passed to her, activated a quarter of the royal crest's power.

Her fragile body could not withstand the power of the royal crest. The effect of which is the broken lines that appeared on her body, her pale blue eyes and her fragmented memory. Even now, she was in a precarious state.

Before the Council of Elmin entered, she was moving on pure adrenaline and emotions, but now that a familiar presence appeared, one recognized by the royal crest, she felt a sense of peace and calmed down. A peace she would soon come to regret.

"Mother, did you succeed? Please tell me you did. I cannot suffer in vain. I was flung mercilessly by the wind just now. My butt hurts!" A childish voice whined as it stepped into the study.

"Harmonica darling, be quiet now, go back to your room. Mother is still busy." Wamana said to her 10yr old daughter to stood beside her. Her daughter was eyeing Velexa in envy.

"Hmph! There's no room to go back to when everything in the castle has been toupled by the mighty wind just now. Who is responsible for this? Don't tell me she's the one?"

"If you keep disturbing my concentration, I will fling you out of this room myself! If I fail here you'll live your royal fantasies in jail. If you want to be a princess, be quiet and watch."

"Hmph!" Harmonica crossed her little arms on her chest and watched the show.

The Council resisted greatly but Wamana was finally able to temporarily bring them under her mind control.

Velexa was still. The only thing that showed she was still alive were her piercing pale blue eyes. Her mind was spinning and her vision was hazy.

"Good, now that you listen only to me, have this treasonous swine hung for the crime of harming the King and Queen!"

"No!... The Princess... would never do... such a thing!" Eliera, the commander of the military held her head as she resisted the order.

"A strong one I see?" Wamana smiled evily as she walked gently to Eliera. "But your Queen commands it."

"I gave no such command." Came the weak voice of Velexa. She was gradually loosing consciousness but her words were enough to snap the Council out of the mind control spell of Wamana.

Wamana glared at Velexa angrily and Harmonica, Wamana's daughter lunged for Velexa. She wanted to drag her out of the study. She sensed she was interfering with her mother's spell.

Eliera easily lifted Harmonica with one hand before she reached Velexa, "You dare?"

"No, you dare? How dare you touch my daughter?" Wamana recast her mind control spell, and this time, it was stronger than the last one. "Unhand her this instant!"

Eliera subconsciously released Harmonica, her eyes green from the spell. Harmonica scurried away in fear and hid behind Wamana, glaring daggers at Eliera.

"Council of Elim..." Velexa's weak voice spoke up again, her consciousness on its last whisps.

The Council returned to their senses again at Velexa's voice. This time their reflexes were faster as they now got a vague idea of what was happening. The witch was messing with them with all kinds of spells and she did something to the Royal Family.

Elion, the strategist in the Council quickly spoke up before the mind control spell was cast again, "Princess Velexa is innocent of any and every crime Wamana the Dark Mage and her companions, or anyone for that matter will ever want to level on her..."

Before he could finish, he was under Wamana's spell again but his words had already echoed and could not be taken back, except by the man himself or the Queen should she decide to overrule it.

The Council is blessed by the royal seal. If for some reason the ruler is absent or incapacitated, their word is seen as the word of the ruler.

It doesn't matter that the command was not given before knights or the people, it only matters that they pronounce it. Because of the royal seal, everyone in the kingdom would obey it.

Therefore, Elion's words just now was already a decree.

Wamana was at her wits end with the little girl who kept interfering with her well thought out plan. And she was already at her limit.

She only had enough power to cast one last spell. If she doesn't get the Council under her control with the last spell, all her work so far would be for naught. Thus, with a powerful and equally irritated voice, she commanded,

"Council of Elim, heed my command. I banish Princess Velexa Claixux Kln to the Braxen wastelands far South of Beautamix Kingdom, to Crimxson Academy, never to return to Beautamix Kingdom or the castle ever again, for as long as she lives!"

The Council, still under the heavy spell chorused, "Princess Velexa Claixux Kln is hereby banished to the Braxen wastelands, to Crimxson Academy, never to return to Beautamix Kingdom or the castle ever again."

"...please... protect... my kingdom..., my people and... my parents till I return." Velexa completed her order and she fainted.

With her last words, the Council snapped back to their senses once more and before Wamana could complete her final spell, Eliera slammed her hard on the wall with her wind powers! The sound of dislocated bones bounced off the walls of the castle.

However, a part of Wamana's spell was already cast.

Therefore, Wamana only had half control over the Council and it was more than enough for her to rule. But not enough to ensure full allegiance and eliminate all threats to her rule.