Author Archives: CuriousWriter

King Joseph, completely unprompted, was staring fixedly at the portrait on the wall above my mother’s head. It was enormous; the largest portrait in the room, and he could hardly have missed it. “What a magnificent painting,” the King pronounced, still not taking his eyes away it. Even though she knew what he referred to,Continue reading “Chapter 6 – UNFINISHED”

So in the end, and without the intervention of Jesper (whose grand imagination conjured up a scene in which Jacob was appropriately stirred by more of Sir Francis’ rousing speeches), the blander history that inhabits legal documents, chronicles and diary entries informs us when Jacob eventually made his way to the temporary royal court atContinue reading “Chapter 5 (Part 2) – UNFINISHED”

Jacob Tabloh was an odd man. He lived on Heraney Isla, the large island off the Heraney peninsula. Acidic whispers in the royal court at Kemerin had always associated this choice of abode with the Tabloh family’s desperate pining for their island homeland of Sarin, from which they had been banished after the Amalgamation ofContinue reading “Chapter 5 (Part 1)”

For very many years, until I was at least eleven years old, I regarded Crown Princess Katherine of Keperlia as my best friend. There were several reasons behind this, though not all of them did her justice. For one thing, I used to be almost as fascinated by Keperlia as I was by Arvinta. KeperliaContinue reading “Chapter 4”

It is almost impossible to describe the full impact of the shock that the invasion had on the rest of Islandia. Despite its secretive tendencies, the Arvintan royal family had aroused no suspicion in recent years, and Queen Olivia had continued to engage in standard diplomatic engagements and visits right to the point of theContinue reading “Chapter 3 (Part 2)”

Back when I was having drawing lessons, I asked my art teacher, Mr. Lukian, about the effect of the Arvintan portrait, which made the figures of Queen Olivia and Eugenia III seem so different from the evidence of history. “It is artistic license,” he said, as if he were actually teaching me something new. ThisContinue reading “Chapter 3 (part 1)”

A print of the portrait is kept in the cupboard in the schoolroom, one of hundreds of colour prints, and the night before we were due to meet the Arvintans was the first time I had ever removed it from the room. It was half past nine, and Cassandra and I were in our sittingContinue reading “Chapter 2”

I went to Arvinta for the first time when I was six years old. Until then, we had always spent our summers on tours around the varying landscapes of Islandia, becoming accustomed to their languages, cultures, and people. A favourite route, always undertaken on one of the royal yachts, took us along the summery coastlineContinue reading “Chapter 1”