The abbot tapped the large black chest in front of him.

“This is the Royal Weapon Chest.”

Luisa looked down at the huge scarred black box. It stood at odds with the rest of the room, it must be ancient.  Luisa thought back to when she had put her hand on it before and the strange sensation she had felt under her fingertips.

The Abbot continued, “It can only be opened by you Princess.  The time has come for you to open it.  To be a true Sovereign you need a weapon befitting the role.  That has always been our tradition.” 

“But how do I open it? It is locked from the inside,” she said.

“I do not know.  It is a secret that is passed down the royal line.”  He smiled apologetically at Luisa.

Oh great.

The reassurance Luisa had felt just before evaporated, replaced by a bubbling sense of panic. 

There was no way I can do this.  Open a chest locked from the inside?

She didn’t have a clue what she was doing.  But she pushed off the bed and crouched down next to the great box and extended her hand letting it rest on the chest.  She felt the chest, like a gentle hum on a blade of grass; it came in gentle waves.

There was a rhythm to it.

There was sudden bang at the door.  Luisa’s hand shot back. Finn entered carrying in Clearwater by the scruff of neck.

“Princess, Abbot.” He nodded sternly at both of them “I am afraid I found Miss Clearwater with her ear pinned against the door.”

“I’m really sorry,” squeaked Clearwater hanging by her scruff.

The abbot shook his head in disappointment and cracked his stick on the floor. Luisa stood up,

“Actually, I wanted Clearwater here.  Finn put her down.”

Finn did so and Clearwater quickly pounced over the bed behind Luisa and fiercely rubbed the back of her neck.

“Finn come in and close the door, I don’t want you two fighting.”

Finn’s furry brow furrowed,  he looked at the abbot who raised his eyebrows and shook his head seemingly equally confounded by Luisa’s lack of discipline with her handmaiden.

Luisa, ignoring both of them turned her attention back on the chest. She sucked in some air and tried to settle her mind. 

“You can do it Princess,” said Clearwater. 

Luisa sat cross-legged in front of the chest. 

I can  do this.  If my aunt could  do it, so can I. 

She gently put both hands on the chest and again, felt for the pulse.  It was like a slow heartbeat.  She breathed in deeply and closed her eyes. What should she do?

“Open.” She thought, “No that’s not right “Open ancient royal weapon treasure box thingy” Damn.

Nothing happened.  She concentrated instead on letting her mind clear.  The beat helped actually, she just focused on it, her own breathing slowed as she relaxed, just following the beat, her brain began to cloud and she felt a gentle falling sensation inside, the teasing pull of nodding off.  She could feel her own heartbeat.  She let herself go further down, as she felt her body listen to the pulse of the box through her hands.  She let it guide her, it like she was floating downwards. As she continued her descent she could feel it so clearly.  The pulse of the box was in the background now.  She had followed it and it had taken her here. It was like floating down and landing on a giant petal.  She felt her own heartbeat slow, it slowed and slowed, until it was like a faint drum, clear but controlled.  She felt warm and safe.  She felt far, so far away from everything.  She couldn’t even remember where she was.  It didn’t matter though.  This was nice. The pulse was still in the background, its vibration passed through her pleasantly.  She could feel some movement in her physical body.  But that was so far away and it didn’t really matter.  Nothing really mattered.  The pulse was wonderful. She should always do this she thought.  Just stay here and enjoy this warmth and this happiness.  She could now feel both the pulse and her heartbeat clearly.  They were almost in time.  Both felt good, but she had an idea. She began to pull them together,

Lets bring these two wonderful things together .

And slowly with great care matched her heart with the pulse.  For one beat it felt incredible.  Like being bounced and soaring through the air, flying upwards, free and weightless. 

But everything was blown to pieces with an ear shattering sound, a sound that ripped Luisa’s world apart and propelled her back into her conscious body.  As loud as a cannon it was a thundering; click.

Luisa opened her eyes to find her face resting on the box, her mouth open and a bit of drool hanging out the side.  She blinked and looked around in a bit of a daze.  Finn, Clearwater and the abbot were all looming above her. 

“I’m all right,” She said quickly, wiping her mouth with her sleeve.

She sat back and looked at the great trunk.  It was no longer sealed.  There was small space under its heavy lid.

It was open.

Luisa rubbed her eyes. 

I did it! I did it? I actually did it!

She had done it.  She had found its secret and opened the frikking-ancient-royal-blooming-weapons-chest.

The abbot had tears streaming down his face. Finn punched the air and quite uncharacteristically picked up Clearwater and pulled her round in whirl.

“She did it!”

Clearwater let out a squeal.

“Princess I knew you could do it!”

“Yeah,” said Luisa slightly shakily. 

It was like falling asleep, but being awake at the same time. 

Finn had put Clearwater down, and recovering his composure squeezed the abbot’s shoulder warmly.

“You were right Abbot, well done Luisa.”

The abbot’s shining eyes were dancing.

“Finn, if you would be so kind to open the Chest of Royal Weapons.”

Finn pulled back on the large lid.  It took him some strength but it flipped wide open.

Luisa stood and peered in.  The inlay was of blue satin. Each gleaming silver weapon was set in its allotted place. It looked incredible, despite a few outlined spots being empty. Luisa looked over the beautiful weapons that lay inside.  They were like nothing she had yet seen in Cataindar.  There was an axe, several swords of varying lengths, a silver and wood bow, a round shield and at the very bottom of the case lay a two-handed, six-foot long broadsword. Each weapon was charged with stones of dewin.  Luisa cast her eyes over the collection and her attention fell on one sword.  It was just over two foot long.  Simple and silver, with a fine black grip and a hilt that had an elegant black dewin stone inlaid in its centre.  The handle was covered in catain runes, and the corners of each side of the handle curved upwards into sharp little points.  The blade was slightly thicker in its centre, in which nestled another tiny dewin stone, then the blade’s width tapered down, ending in a sharp, deadly point.

Oh my goodness, yes.

She immediately picked it up. 

This is awesome.

She held  the blade in front of her, it was heavy, but reassuringly so and fitted snugly in her hand.  She couldn’t help but smile.   She heard the abbot, Finn and Clearwater all exhale.

The abbot, leaning heavily on his stick slowly went down to his knees.  Finn and Clearwater followed suit, falling to their knees and bowing their heads.  The abbot spoke,

“Princess.  We are your subjects. We are your followers.  You are the one to lead us. You will take us to our destiny, we shall follow you and give our lives to you.”

Luisa let the sword drop down. 

“Thank you abbot, and Finn and Clearwater.  Stand up, all of you, please. There is really no need for that... thank you.  I didn’t think I was the right person to be here.  Part of me still doesn’t I guess.  But it doesn’t matter, because I’m going to do my best, do my very best for you all.  Try and make you proud of me, and try and help Cataindar if I can.”

Clearwater helped the abbot to his feet.  Finn smiled broadly at Luisa.

“I have a feeling Princess that you are going to enjoy your next swordsmanship lesson, just slightly more than the one before.”

Luisa had to stifle a giggle. 

“I think, Mr. Finn that I just might.”

 --

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