FLASHBACK

In the four years they have been living in the tower, Mal and his mother turned their room completely their own. Though the layout saw little changes, not much of it is visible under the mountains of plain fabric. New furniture spilling out supplies and clothing, bundles of dyed thread hanging from the wall, the room is a near maze-like with carefully laid out paths to navigate through. Mal works the spinning wheel, humming lightly in tune to his mother’s metonomic pace at the loom. Phellious sits beside him on a stool eating an apple and tapping his foot to the melody. Then he leans into Mal’s ear and whispers something, making Mal giggle. The swift sliding of wood across taunt thread stops. Mother raises an eyebrow at them. “Boys. Do I need to separate you two again?”

Phellious drops the grin and bows his head. “I apologize, Miss Marova.”

Mother resumes her work with quick, expert hands. “If we don’t finish your outfit in time for your birthday, the one Mal chose to take charge of, well, what would the king think of his reputation?”

This time Phellious goes a little pink in the cheeks. “I’ll behave, Ma'am.”

Mal slows down his spinning to give Phellious a slight jab to his side. He winks before addressing his mother. “He was telling me about the apples from the garden. The cook said if we picked a few for her she’d make us an apple pie.”

Mother’s eyebrow twitches but doesn’t stop her hands. “An apple pie, you say?”

Mal similarly continues his spinning, his tone nonchalant. “I’m ahead in my work, so I hoped to pick them today, before they’re overripe.”

His mother takes a step back to get a better perspective of her work, then looks to the window to measure the sunlight. “Well, we have been at it all morning. A break wouldn’t be a bad idea.”

Phellious is quick to take the opportunity. He clears his throat and does his best to maintain a leveled voice. “If he can go with me now, we can have the pie ready for dinner.”

The two boys gulp under her scrutinizing eyes but then she breaks character and laughs. “Alright. He can go apple picking. I’ll use the peace and quiet to finish this.”

Mal and Phellious grin at one another and dash to the door. Phellious grabs Mal’s hood for him and dons it on him before Phellious dons on his own. The two then hurry down the stairs. Phellious throws back his head and his laugh echoes. “To use your own mother’s weakness!”

“Now it’s your turn to convince the cook to make us an apple pie.”

“Easy. She adores me!”

They reach the bottom of the staircase where Mal shakes his head. “To be so adored.”

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“But you are.” Phellious comes around Mal to find his cheek hidden by the hood and gives him a peck. “By me,” he says with a grin, and without giving Mal a chance to retort, moves past him to hold the door open. Mal tugs down his hood lower to hide his giddy smile, not willing to give Phellious the satisfaction of his reaction.

The two exit the castle, eyes constantly looking around any corner to avoid any people in their path. They snicker and tease one another the entire way, Mal suddenly pushing Phellious out into the open and then running away giggling when Phellious chases him.

At the edge of the well curated garden are a few apple trees in a curve that work as a boundary, a vast meadow and pond beyond them. But all they see is the juicy red apples weighing down the branches. Mal picks those on the ground and Phellious climbs the short trunk for the ones just out of reach. They pile them on Phellious’ brown cape and once the pile is large enough they take a break and sit by the roots of a tree. Sweet juice dribbles down Mal’s chin and he salivates for the pie they’ll be eating later. Phellious, on the other hand, stares ahead, lost in his thoughts with his half eaten apple on his lap.

A cool breeze brushes past them and birds tweet above them. Mal tosses the core into the open and soon a rabbit appears to finish off the rest. Mal hugs his knees and watches it, content with the quiet, the peace.

“I heard we might lose the apple grove to the shades.”

Mal turns to Phellious at his soft, doleful voice. Right, the shades. Despite their tranquility in this garden of the royal family, the shades run rampant beyond their safe little world. And they are approaching.

“Are they that close?”

Phellious nods and tosses what’s left of his apple to the rabbit. “The town at the edge of the canyon has been abandoned already. The shades are getting desperate. With less and less magic they’re going for any town they find.” His honey eyes focus on the rabbit bite into the apple. “It’s getting harder to hold them back.”

Mal holds his knees tighter, his nails digging into his pants until they’re white. “What if they’re coming for me? For Mother?”

“I won’t let them.” Warm hands grasp Mal’s and he looks up at Phellious kneeling over him. His usual teasing and carefree expression is serious and Mal finally sees the little details, dark undereyes, tight shoulders. And yet Phellious’ confidence doesn’t waver. “They will never breach the castle. Even if the witch that created them is dead, we can still find a way to kill them. We know they seek magic and feed off misery. Maybe we can lure them away into a trap. Father says we don’t have enough magic roses to build a big enough border but…”

“Have you told your father about your ideas?”

Phellious scoffs and slumps back down against the tree trunk. “He keeps brushing me away, saying he’s busy with planning and meetings. But the longer we wait the more people will suffer.” He leans his head back. “For my kingdom, for the people that give me everything, I have to give back. I have to protect everyone.”

Mal knows when Phellious has something to say. He can see the gears spinning in Phellious’ head and waits patiently for him to share. Phellious bites his lip and then slowly starts to reveal what is on his mind. “Father keeps a few magical items locked in his study. I went through it and found a strong sleeping potion. It’s supposed to work on anything so it has to have an effect on the shades. If they can be lured away and tricked into taking it…”

Phellious meet’s Mal’s eyes. “If the two of us worked together…”

Impossible. If knights and magickers were unable to stop the shades, how will they? But Mal’s fear and uncertainty diminishes at Phelliou’s courage. Mal reaches for it and squeezes Phellious’ hand. “We can save the kingdom,” he finishes.

Phellious nods. “I have a plan…”

END OF ACT I