Gardenia

They quickly rushed to the main gate of the castle. Harry saw two figures, surrounded by a dozen guards.

Both Medea and her son had dark blue almost black hair and the same facial features, the only difference was their eye colour, Medea’s was a light purple while Keir’s was two shades darker.

Both were quite attractive but something told Harry to be extra cautious of them, after all looks could be deceiving.

Medea’s eyes flashed to Draco as soon as the blonde came into their view.

“Eleanor’s heir, for once the rumors are true.” Her voice was quite deep and there was a soft smile on her face as she examined the blonde from head to toe.

Draco stiffened, “Lady Medea, may I know what you are doing here?”

There was a smirk on her face as she spoke, “The moon ritual will start tonight, I wanted my son to be considered as an heir too.”

There were small gasps and murmurs at those words.

“Achlys had been separated from Gardenia years ago, your son doesn’t have any rights to the throne.”

“Don’t you think that can be fixed quite easily?”

“What do you mean ?” It was one of the women from the court that asked the question, the representative of the Centre.

Medea smirked, “We come in peace, Carina. To swear an oath, establishing Achlys as a fifth territory, just like before.” Her eyes started to glow gold at the next words. “ Achlys, will from now on be part of Gardenia. We will follow it’s rules and customs, to go back on this oath is to declare war. So mote it be.”

A golden glow started to form around her and extended towards Carina but more to Draco.

Carina met Draco's eyes, a conversation seemed to pass between them, both recited together, "Gardenia accepts Achlys as a territory, you will follow our rules and customs. To go back on your word is to declare war. So mote it be."

The golden glow brightened, a bond seemed to form between Medea, Keir, Carina and Draco, before fading.

The onlookers gasped, confusion clear in their faces.

“Achlys is now part of Gardenia, as per the customs, Heir Keir can contest in the three tasks. Isn’t that right?”

They received stiff nods from the people gathered.

“I hope we can rest in the castle then, after all Achlys is a long journey from here.”

Draco clenched his fists but turned to his right were a women in blue robes was standing, Carina.

She gave Draco a short nod then asked the mother and son pair to follow her.

Draco turned to the guards next, “Alert the others of the change.” The guards quickly followed the order. The blonde then turned to them, “My room” He said quietly, turning around and going back to the castle.

“Why didn't you do anything to stop them?” Hermione was the first to break the silence a few minutes after they had reached Draco’s room. Jasper and Casey had gone to Oscar, Tae was sitting on the bed.

Harry sat next to Tae, Hermione and Pansy where in a love seat while Blaise and Ron where on the sofa. Draco was looking out of the window.

It was Tae who answered, “The oath is official, only Medea can cut the ties now. And if she does, then there will be war.”

“War?”

“Achlys has sworn to abide by the Gardenian rules,” Draco answered. “They can’t back out now, it will be seen as a betrayal. Azazel had made a partition, a contract recognizing Achlys as a separate empire. But Medea has sworn an oath, usually it is sworn when an enemy country wants peace and submits on its own.”

“Am I the only one thinking that there is an ulterior move behind this?” Ron asked.

Tae turned to him, “No, there definitely is an ulterior move behind this. I don’t understand what it is though. It’s clear that Keir won’t get the throne even if he passes the first two tasks. The magic chooses the ruler and judging by the rumors on how Achlys had attacked the borders, the people will not be voting for him... So why?”

“Hermione?” The brunette in question turned to Draco. “The book you showed us, where is it?”

“In the library, why?”

“Can you show me where you found it?” Hermione nodded, leading them to the library and the shelf where she found the book.

Draco looked at Tae silently, waving his hands in a circular motion.

The redhead quickly waved his hands, a dome of light surrounded them, wards.

The book’s cover looked old, it was very thick and the title was written in an unfamiliar language.

The blonde opened the book, quickly taking the page that had information on the stone and said softly.

“We should have checked it sooner. It has a strange aura, something hidden.”

The paragraph read,

‘A stone, found in the amethyst mountains, is said to cure anything and anyone as long as they have a drop of life left in them. Though the mountain only opens to a Gardenian royal.”

“That‘s it? Nothing else?”

Draco shook his head. “The rest of the pages are about herbs on healing. The author whoever he was never intended for just any one to find out about the stone’s whereabouts. It’s quite clear from how he had included the detail about the Amethyst mountain and a Gardenian royal. The author knew that it would be needed in the future.”

“What do you mean Dray?”

“The stone the author talks about is the pearl of Gardenia.”

Tae inhaled sharply at that. “How can you be sure?”

The blonde placed his hands on the page, drawing a rune with his fingers. The letters rearranged themselves to form an entirely different sentence.

‘The pearl of Gardenia can only be accessed by a Gardenian royal. The stone of life, it holds powers unknown. Known to heal anything, it has the power to destroy in equal measure. Destroy it!’

“The pearl of Gardenia?”

“But that’s not possible, it was destroyed.” Tae whispered.

“What are you talking about?” Blaise asked with a frown.

Draco answered, “The pearl of Gardenia is a stone that belonged to the first ruler. It was told that the stone had immense power, creation and destruction. The stone could only be used by a royal, but when the crown prince decided to use it for his own gain, it was destroyed.”

“But the book says that it is found in the Amethyst mountain. Or is the stone found there something else?” Harry asked.

“No, the stone the book talks about is definitely the pearl, it’s quite clear from the author’s message. But it also warns us to destroy it, these words were written for someone else to read, someone who knew about the whereabouts of the stone.”

“And that would explain why Keir and Medea are here.” Tae said.

“They want the stone .” Harry realized. “And according to the book you can only access the Amethyst mountain if you are a Gardenian royal. So their plan is not for Keir to become the ruler through the crown but by the help of the power stone.”

Draco nodded. “There‘s a traitor among us. Someone who leaked the theory about the stone to Achlys. There is no other way for them to know it otherwise. This book looks too old and judging by the surprised faces of the scholars when we talked about the stone, they had never heard about this book being published either. Medea is quite knowledgeable, she must have recognized the stone when she got the news.”

“But who?” Tae asked, confusion clear in his voice. “We only discussed about the stone with Jay and Cas. There was no one around.”

“But we did mention about a promising cure to the court room. The spy must have gone through the library, knowing that Hermione and Pansy had found it there. And since the book was here all along, they must have found it.”

“Is there someway to find the traitor?”

Draco shakes his head, biting his lip. “Even if we find them, there wont be much use. We will just have to act faster. It’s clear that Keir will be looking for it too. I think we should leave as soon as the second task ends, instead of waiting for the next day.”

“Midnight?”

Draco hummed in affirmation.

Just then a guard entered the library. “It’s been decided that the first task will take place tomorrow instead of tonight due to the unforeseen circumstances.”

Draco nodded and the guard left.

“You said that the first task consists of a duel. Care to explain more?” Blaise asked. They were back in Draco’s room.

The sun was starting to set.

Pansy had her head on Hermione’s lap. Harry sat next to Draco, while Ron, Blaise and Tae sat on the sofa. The older redhead was the one who answered.

“The heirs each fight the most skilled warriors of a territory. Draco will most probably be fighting the Achlys warriors with his luck.

 There will be three rounds, the fight can be using magic or weapons, it‘s decided by the warriors and not the heir. If you win the first two fights, you don’t have to fight the third. Though you will be out of the competition if you lose two.”

“Sound’s pretty simple.”

“Hmm.. Any weapon can be used in the fight. One heir was killed in a fight a few years ago.”

Harry’s eyes widened a little at that. The tasks were frighteningly similar to the triwizard tournament.

“How regularly does this ritual to choose a heir take place?” Hermione asked.

“It depends on the circumstances, if the ruler is dead or wants to retire, if the citizens are not happy with the rule..” Tae shrugged.

Harry awoke quite early the next day. Not being able to continue sleeping, he went out of his room, walking till he reached the grounds. The sun had barely risen, though he could see a familiar silhouette in the distance.

“You know we should stop meeting like this.. While the others are peacefully sleeping.”

The blonde wasn’t startled by Harry’s sudden appearance. He gave the brunette a small smile in greeting tilting his head to the side, silently asking Harry to follow.

They walked into a garden full of roses. There were other flowers too, lilies, Poppies, Hyacinths and more, but the most prominent were the roses. Blood red against the dark green leaves. It was a beautiful sight.

Harry wanted to admire the sight more, but the blonde continued walking. Harry followed Draco, walking through an archway of white flowers. Harry’s eyes widened at the sight that came next.

It was familiar, after all he had seen and admired the majestic Amethyst mountain through the painting. But after seeing it now, he had to admit that the artist hadn’t given it justice.

A purple mountain sat across the crystal blue lake. Small mountains of the same shade though lighter, surrounding it. The sun’s rays giving it a mystical appearance.

His breath hitched turned to the blonde beside him . Harry had always known that the blonde was handsome, silver blonde hair that flowed down his back, doe eyes a unique shade of silver, blue and grey, porcelain skin and plump lips.

“Beautiful isn’t it?” Draco turned to him with a soft smile.

Harry hummed, still looking at the blonde. The young heir blushed at Harry’s answer, forcefully turning the brunette’s body to the mountain. “I was talking about the mountains you idiot!”

Harry chuckled at the flustered blonde. “It’s beautiful yes..” He never thought that the confident blonde beside him could be flustered so easily. It reminded him of their numerous fights.

The blonde huffed. “You are impossible.” Cheeks still a pretty pink, the blonde turned around walking back to the Palace.

Harry followed, still laughing lightly.

He was quite surprised to see the land that was bare in the morning now being the base to a very large stadium for the first task.

The stadium was in similar structure to a quidditch stadium, though larger to hold the citizens.

It was night time now, the Purple mountains bearing witness to the fights that were due to start in a few minutes.

Just like Tae’s prediction, Draco was to fight the Achlys warriors.

Keir was to fight Felor,

Ethan, the western heir, was to fight Eurus,

June, the eastern heir, was to fight Caren and

Markus, the southern heir was to fight The Centre.

Harry was surprised when Jasper and Casey had told them that they were fighting against the heirs of the western and southern territory respectively. He’d thought that both belonged to the Centre’s warriors.

The speakers soon announced the beginning of the duels, the fights were intense, magically and weapon wise. The fighting ring was a slightly raised circular platform. To win the opponent had to be either thrown out of the ring or had to admit defeat.

 Though Jasper managed to beat Ethan in the first round, the western heir managed to win the next two.

June had won the first two rounds but Markus wasn’t so lucky. He was unfortunately beaten in the first and third rounds.

Next was Draco. The blonde was standing opposite the Achlys warrior, both holding two sword each.

“What the fuck?” Tae gasped suddenly.

“You alright?” Harry asked, turning to his right.

“That blade is soaked in nightshade.” The blade of the Achlys warrior did have a violet glaze on it.

“What?” Hermione asked in disbelief. “Is that allowed? Isn’t it toxic?”

“Nightshade can make you lose consciousness if given in small doses and if anyone else was in Draco’s place, they would just feel a little drowsy if it enters their bloodstream. So I don't think the judges will mind. But it’s poisonous for Draco. ” The redhead had paled alarmingly at the next sentence. "They know who he is."

“I don’t understand.” Pansy frowned.

“Draco’s mother was one of the last to have the blood of the Moon tribe, exceptional healers who were known to do wonders. They were immune to many poisons, their only weakness was nightshade. It can kill them in a few hours if it enters their bloodstream. Someone from Achlys knew of Draco's parentage. But how?”

“Bloody hell.” Ron paled.

“If Draco’s not careful, he might end up dead before the fight’s over. ”

“There’s no cure then?” Harry asked, concern shining in his eyes. Tae observed him for a few minutes, then exhaled shakily.

“There’s one way, but I’m not sure if it will work. Come on.”

The five wizards followed the older man to the entrance to the fighting ring. “This way, if he is indeed injured, we can treat him without wasting time.” He said quietly, eyes on the blonde standing in the ring.

A loud whistle was heard, the first fight had started.