The young man's head
hurt when he awoke. He was lucky, he realized, to be lying on a comfortable bed
instead of the floor, he thought, but, that didn't help much. It didn't tell
him where he was or whose Arabian Nights looking bed he was in or how he'd even
gotten there.
It also didn't tell
him who he was, something he'd just begun to wonder.
He was mulling this
over when the door to his room opened. A older man
walked in wearing all white and strode over to him. "You're awake,"
the man commented. "Excellent. How do you feel?"
"Greatly
pained," the younger man replied, holding his head as he sat up.
"Where am I?"
"Your official
stateroom, Prince Alan," came the reply.
"Prince Alan?" frowned
the younger man.
"Yes," the
man frowned back. "Don't you remember who you are?"
"I know my name
is Alan, but that's because you told me. I still don't know where I am or what
I did before that or even who you are." came the reply.
A ghost of a smile
seemed to pass across the man face. "Prince
Alan," he corrected. "I am Trammel, Royal Advisor to the King of
Haile. This is the
"I am?"
"Indeed. That
jewel around your neck is your only proof of this fact," came the reply. "Only six men have ever had such a
medallion and all are, or were rightful rulers of this kingdom."
For the first time,
the young man, whom could now think of himself as
Prince Alan was aware of the heavy deep purple amethyst set into the gold
medallion around his neck. It was about three inches in diameter and set so
that the jewel protruded from both sides of the medallion like a thick purple
glass in the center of a wide golden frame. Even this obviously noteworthy
jewel struck nothing in his memory.
"What
do you mean, were the rightful
rulers? And this only living heir thing..." he asked finally,
remembering the man's comment.
"They are all
dead, m'lord. King Andrew when to search for those kings that had disappeared
before him and King Jonathan, ruler of Eliah went with him, as a show of good
faith from his kingdom. Apparently, King Andrew met with foul play. King
Jonathan was never found, but there are those who believe him to be responsible
for the death of our king."
"Am I King
Andrew's son, then?" Prince Alan asked. "I mean, why do I have this
medallion?"
"You are not, to
the best of my knowledge, any relation to the late King, but everyone knows
that the transfer of those medallions is sacred," Trammel replied.
"No common thief could just remove that medallion from its rightful owner;
it must be willingly given to them. If you were not meant to rule Haile, the
medallion would not have let itself be placed around your neck."
Again, the prince
grasped the medallion in his hand, then closed his eyes tightly, trying
desperately to recall
any information he could. "I wish I could remember all this," he
sighed.
"Don't try to,
m'lord," said Trammel. "You've obviously been through a harrowing
experience which may have caused you some serious trauma. Your ascension to the
throne can wait. As advisor to King Andrew, I intend to continue to render my
services to you as long as need be, if you wish."
"Please,"
the prince agreed with a sigh. "In fact, be king for me I can't do this. I
don't even know who I am right now; I can't possibly run a kingdom." He moved to remove the medallion from around
his neck, but it suddenly grew more dense, making it
impossible to lift, let alone remove. He let it go and it immediately became
lighter.
"You see?"
said Trammel, "If you were not destined to become king, the magic of the
medallion would not have attached itself to you. The city of
"Accident?"
"Yes, the castle
guard found you lying in a gully not far from here. Apparently, you were headed
for the castle and fell, hitting your head. As I was saying, your accident may
have affected you memory, but it will return in time, upon which time you can
rightfully ascend the throne. I will act as liaison between you and the
people..."
"The people...!
Jeez, it really is a whole kingdom." Prince Alan exclaimed.
Trammel frowned.
"Indeed, my prince. But I will help you and you will be fine. But, this is
far too much information for you to digest right now," he said, moving as
if to go. "Your health is delicate right now and your kingdom needs you in
the peak of health as soon as possible. Let me leave you to your own
thoughts." He turned to go, then paused.
"You were obviously born to rule, sir," Trammel said, turning back to
the prince. "I have had much experience with many kings, so I do not make
that comment lightly. It is a singular trait which you posses that will not
fail you in the future."
"Like my memory
has?" muttered Prince Alan, but Trammel left without hearing him. The
prince took a deep breath. Prince Alan, he thought. Then why is the name Jerry
floating around in my head like some sort of question...?
Jerry? Jerry, come on, man, answer me!, I thought desperately. I'd been calling mentally to him for nearly an hour and still gotten no response. My head, which had previously felt as thought it had repeatedly been banged against a brick wall, now felt like the whole build had fallen on it. A growing sense of panic was filling me that I couldn't control.
This was happening with good reason, too, since my last real memory had been of magic government men chasing us. I remembered hurtling toward the ground off the second floor balcony at Vista Ridge Mall with Jerry clutching at my arms and a sudden impact, but everything in between that last point and my waking up here had been a blur. The room I was in was nice--regal, even--but as far as I was concerned, it was a well decorated prison. The doors were locked, the windows non-existent and my patience ever diminishing.
I had even tried magically to escape, even to the point of shrinking myself to sprite size to crawl under the door, but even the crack under the door was too small for me to squeeze through.
"I'm a sweet lit-tle bird in a gil-ded cage," I hummed. "Tweety's my name, but I don't know my age..." I'm humming cartoon songs, I thought, stopping abruptly. "That's it!" I said aloud. "Look, God, if you ever cared about me, ever, ever, you'll give me some kind of sign that I'm gonna be okay." I took a deep breath and waited, realizing my sanity was actually slipping away from me. Of course, what did I expect after being locked in a room for over an hour with a major headache, no clue as to what was going to happen to me, no one to talk to, not a mental word from my best (but apparently still alive) friend and nothing to do except listen to the increasingly panicked sound of my own breathing???
"Auuuuuuugh! Let me outta here before I completely go to the mental ZOO!!!" I screamed, jumping up and pounding on the door with my fists, then throwing myself backwards on the bed again and flailing violently.
As if on cue, the huge oaken door opened and a man walked into the room dressed solely in black. I immediately stopped my fit, then looked from him to the ceiling in surprise. "Nice touch," I said softly. "A bit late, but..."
"Good morning, m'lady," the man bowed. "I'm glad to see you've risen with your normal vigor today."
M'lady?, I
thought. Ooo, something tells me I'm not
in
"That depends on your questions, Lady Daina," said the man.
"You know me," I said.
"Everyone knows of you, m'lady," said the man.
"This is a start," I said. "I must be in my head. Who are you?" I shot at him.
"Marten, Royal Advisor to King Jonathan of Eliah," the man bowed.
"Eliah is not familiar, King Jonathan doesn't ring a bell..." I thought aloud. "Where is Eliah?"
"It
is hidden here in the
"Okay, now we must be talking about a fairy city," I pondered and Marten nodded. "Was I brought here?"
"Yes, after we found you lying in a gully outside the city."
"What happened to Jerry?"
Marten shook his head in confusion. "I do not know of whom you speak," he replied. "Only you were found, no one else." I was silent for a moment trying to think and Marten continued. "But we could not have found you at a more opportune time, m'lady. Our king and queen both have disappeared. King Jonathan set out with King Andrew of Haile on a quest together, yet neither returned. Our Queen Claudia disappeared soon thereafter and we fear the people of Haile have abducted them both."
"The people of Haile kidnapped their own king, too?" I asked, confused.
"That is not our concern," said Marten, "Our problem is with our missing rulers, not theirs. We need your assistance in locating them, m'lady. Perhaps you could even quell the people's fears and rule (temporarily, of course) in the absence of our monarchs. I'm sure, were they here, they would approve."
"If they were here, dude, they'd be ruling without my help," I reminded Marten. He shrugged, but remained silent. Well, something weird's obviously going on here, I thought to myself. I better stay and see what the deal is and find Jerry again. It did occur to me that no one in my head would know where I was, but I shrugged that worry off rather quickly. Christine would soon be worried about me and, since I was obviously still in my own subconscious realm, she'd know exactly how to reach me. In fact, I thought, she's probably worrying about where I am right now...
"Yessssss!"
Christine whooped, pumping a clenched fist as if in victory. "We got the
whole place to ourselves! We can do anything!"
Naomi frowned at her
irritably. "Somehow, I had hoped the phrase 'Daina's missing' would have
affected you a little less enthusiastically," she replied.
"She'll be back,
she always is," Christine shrugged, sobering up a little.
"That is not the point, kid; the point is
"Good
point," Chris frowned. "Okay, so what should we do?"
"We should assume
the obvious first; that she's done something or involved herself
in something way over her head and she needs our help." Naomi said.
"Yeah, but how
sure are we of that, really?" Chris asked.
Naomi snorted.
"Please," said she. "This is Daina we're talking about."
Christine smirked. "Oh, sorry. Lost my head," she replied. "Then what?"
"And then you go
find her," shrugged Naomi.
"Me?" said
Christine incredulously. "If I want her, I know how to reach her. You're
the one assuming this whole danger thing. You
go find her." Naomi was about to respond when Chris added, "Or you
could always stay here and run Daina's body, including driving her car and all
that while I go look for her."
Naomi paused, thinking
this option over, then finally shot Christine a conceding glare.
"Fine," she said, "but if I'm right, you're gonna look pretty
stupid for not saving Daina."
"If she needs saving," Chris added.
"Right,"
said Naomi, turning to head for the Link door.
"Where're you
going?" Christine asked.
"To get
Alan," Naomi said, as if this was a foregone conclusion. "You think
I'm gonna travel without my necessities?" Christine rolled her eyes as
Naomi set off at a jog through the Link.