I was starting to get discouraged. I had really felt like something mysterious was going to be uncovered here and the only mystery I had discovered the answer to was how to find my room without getting lost every night. Presently, I was in this selfsame room trying to think. Who could effectively steal 3 kings and queens and get away with it? And even if I had an idea of who might have such an opportunity (which I did), how was I to prove my theory?
A knock at the door roused me and I went to open it. No one stood on the other side and I frowned.
"Hello?" I called out, then shrugged. I closed the door and turned, finding myself nose to nose with Naomi, who was defying gravity by standing on the ceiling.
"Hi," she said, grinning.
"HAHHHHHH...!" I screamed trying to grab at her. Suddenly, in mid-panic, a hand clamped over my mouth and an arm pulled me off the ground and backwards into a body considerably taller than mine.
"Don't scream," came a voice. "And don't be assaultin' my woman." I whimpered in response, having been frightened out of my wits for the second time.
"We're glad to see you, too, Dee," said Naomi, adjusting herself so she was facing me right side up, but still slightly above ground. "Where ya been?"
I rolled my eyes backwards at Alan, who still had me in a one armed bear hug and muzzle, then glared at Naomi, who understood immediately.
"Oh, right," she said. "Alan, let her talk."
"Do I have to?" he asked. "I like her quiet."
"Al-lannn," Naomi said warningly.
"Y'know, you take things far too seriously," he smiled at her. "Promise not to scream again?" he asked me. I began struggling and cursing vehemently in his grasp and he sighed. "Okay, Plan B. Get the gag out of my left pocket."
"I brought some handcuffs, too," added Naomi eagerly, digging through her bag of holding.
I couldn't have gotten more silent if I had died on the spot.
"Oh, wait, somebody's changed her mind," Alan said with a chuckle.
Naomi looked up at me with her maddening grin, then said, "Okay, then." Alan set me down and I immediately shrugged him off.
"Git off me, man, git off!" I muttered. "Bust a cap in yer wanna-be gangbangin' ass, boy..."
"So,
what's the scoop, here,
"I was just about to ask you the same thing," I said. "What are you doing here?"
"Tracking you," she said, then added, touching me on the shoulder, "Found you. You're it."
"Very funny. Why are you here?"
"Well, we..." Naomi began.
"You," Alan corrected.
"I thought you might need some help. We hadn't heard from you in a while and that's not like you."
"I don't need any..." I began, then stopped. Suddenly, I had the most perfect idea. "Oh, wait," I said, a slow smile spread across my face. "I think I do need you. In fact, you couldn't have shown up at a better time."
Alan and Naomi exchanged glances. "Okay, that's it. We're outta here," said Naomi, turning to go.
"C-ya!" added Alan, following her.
"No, wait!" I said, throwing my body in front of the door. "I need you here! You can't go. I refuse to let you out this door!"
Naomi and Alan shrugged at me, then she reached down on the floor by the door and picked up a small backpack. "S'okay," she laughed. "We came in the window."
"The win...well, who knocked on the door?"
Naomi casually blew on her nails, opened her hand toward the door. The same knocking sound came from it and she said, "Uh, like that?"
"Yeah, like that," I replied, discouraged.
"Oh, okay," she said. "See ya."
"No, wait, come on, now, I need you really and it's nothing big, either," I whined, running over to them and grabbing them by the arms. "It's just simple reconnaissance, that's all."
Naomi frowned, but Alan said, "She mean spying," and she immediately brightened.
"On who?" she asked eagerly.
"Two places," I said. "Here and another castle." I explained the story behind the cities of Haile and Eliah and Naomi nodded in understanding.
"Okay," said she, "if one of us has to stay, it should be Alan."
Alan and I exchanged wary glances, then looked back at her. "Why him?" I asked.
"Yeah, why me?"
"Because your other castle is north of here through dense woods. I could tell by the paths we passed," she replied. She gave Alan a look, which him immediately turned away from. "My sweetie's a little nature-shy," she added.
"I'm not...I just...don't like...green leafy things," he replied.
"And small crawly things and furry creeping in the dark things and almost any-thing's..."
"Point made," I said, holding up a hand. "Alan stays. But he can't be walking around me, everybody will see him." Naomi and I must have been on the same track when I said that, because we immediately gave him our best scheming grins.
"That's true," he began, "people here are a lot shorter and winged, so..." He finally noticed us looking at him. "What?"
"Have you ever thought of really looking like a ghost?" I suggested.
"Like how?" he asked warily.
"Like invisibly," Naomi replied.
"Oh, jeez!" he sighed. "I can do that without your help!" Suddenly he disappeared and we blinked in surprise.
"Where'd he go?" I asked.
"Alan?" Naomi called, then suddenly, she jumped up with a yelp. "Get your hand off my...!" she began, then she stopped and began to smile lazily. "Oh, well, you can keep your hand there..." she said, in a much more relaxed tone.
I watched her look as though she was about to find her g-spot for a moment, then waved a hand. "Uh, excuse me?" I said irritably. "Can we save this for the bedroom or wherever y'all normally get freaky?
"Your room," said Naomi, not paying attention.
"Bitch...!" I began.
"Just kidding," she laughed and Alan laughed with her.
"So, is this good enough?" came his voice from behind her.
"Good 'nough," I shrugged. "Can you do that for a while?"
"24-7," he replied.
"Cool! Then I'll tell you what I want you to do in a minute." I turned to Naomi and said, "Now here's what I want you to do..."
"You want me to
sanction what?"
"The invasion of Haile, m'lord," repeated
Trammell. "For purposes of investigation only."
Prince Alan sat up in
his throne and frowned heavily at Trammell. Up until this point, he'd felt
pretty comfortable with the idea that Trammell was his go-between for himself
and the people of Haile. After hearing this, however,
he wasn't so sure. "Do you think that's really necessary?" the Prince
asked.
"It's not so much
what I feel as what the people feel," said Trammell. "They've been
denied knowledge of their kin's murderer long enough."
"We don't know
that the king was murdered," the Prince protested.
"Well, we don't
know otherwise. And since the last person to have seen the king was probably
King Jonathan, it is imperative that he is found and brought to justice.
Otherwise," Trammell added, "the people of Haile
might be inclined to blame you instead."
"Me?"
"You do have the
royal medallion, m'lord," Trammell said gently.
"It is feasible, although certainly unfounded, that you could have taken
the medallion after ambushing the king." So stunned was Prince Alan that
he could not even answer. "Of course, no one really believes that, m'lord. The important thing is that we find out what really
did happen. Since the two cities have been at odds, it will be necessary to
take our armed forces in to persuade the Eliahans to
produce their king. If not, we will be forced to take action."
"I need to think
this over, Trammell," said the Prince tiredly.
"Very well,"
said Trammell, bowing out. But before he left, he added, "Do not forget, m'lord, that kings must do what is necessary for the good
of their kingdom, not for themselves. That is the legacy that King Andrew would
have wanted you to carry on." He walked out of the throne room just as
Lady Susan walked in. The two nodded to each other, then
Lady Susan came over to the Prince, who rose and bowed to her.
"Oh, sit down, I
hate that chivarly stuff," she said, waving off
his gesture. He sat with a smile, thinking how much he appreciated her down to
earth attitude. "So, what was that about?" she asked the Prince goodnaturedly.
"Oh, well,
Tram...I mean, I'm thinking about taking our army over to Eliah
and ferretting out King Jonathan," said the
Prince.
"What for?"
she replied, all humor leaving her face.
"So we can find
out what happened," Prince Alan said. "Obviously, he was the last one
seen with the King. Now that we need him, he's disappeared off the face of the
planet. I'd say that sounds kind of suspicious."
"How do you know
that he and the King didn't meet the same fate?" Lady Susan asked
seriously, sitting down next to him.
"I don't,"
the Prince said. "But we have to start somewhere. The people want justice
and if there's even the slightest possiblity that
King Jonathan killed King Andrew...
"Jonathan would
never do that!" Lady Susan cried out.
Prince Alan was taken
aback. Never had he heard the Lady Susan speak so passionately about anything
before. Certainly, she had given him arguments and had been defensive, but now
she actually looked as if she might cry, something he'd never seen. He was
tempted to put his arm around her or simply back down and allow her time to
cool off, but Trammell had warned him about being soft-hearted when the
situation demanded a leadership position. He took a deep breath.
"That may
be," he said, "but my first duty is to my people, not him. King
Jonathan is our only suspect. If justice is to be done, then someone will have
to find him and ask him what he knows."
"Bringing an
entire army down upon an entire city does not constititute
justice!" Lady Susan retorted.
"It's merely a
show of force, m'lady. If King Jonathan is hiding
within the city, a show of our might would be just the thing to bring him out
of hiding. I believe King Andrew would have done the same under such
circumstances."
"Oh,
King Andrew my ass! This is Trammell talking and you know it! My brother
was a hot headed idiot before..."
"How can you say
such things about...!" began the Prince.
"Let me
finish!" Lady Susan snapped. "He was an idiot, and his temper was
definitely a hard emotion to deal with, especially when he became convinced of
something. But he learned with age and experience to reason things out before
he acted and because of this, Trammell and he were continually at odds. He
wanted King Andrew to attack Eliah so bad, but he
forgot how close Jonathan and Andrew were. They were the best of friends, which
was why they both went to find Benjamin to ask him about the
prophesy. Trammell was probably glad to hear something had happened to
them."
"What
prophesy?" the Prince asked, sitting down. "You never told me about
any prophesy!"
"Yes, I
did," said Lady Susan wryly. "Benjamin had this prophesy that all the
leaders were gonna die or something and, so far,
that's happened. Anybody who's accepted leadership of either Haile or Eliah has disappeared or
had something happen to them. That's the reason why we knew you were the new
king; because Andrew had said if anything ever happened to him, that his
medallion would go to the person he knew was best suited to lead."
"Great!" the
Prince snapped. "So it's a prophesy, now! Some wacko with a curse is out pickin' off kings. Yeah, I'm real thrilled that I got this job now, thanks a lot!"
Lady Susan sighed.
"Look, I know you're upset, but..."
"Upset? Why
should I be upset? I'm just slated to have some sort of fatal accident, that's
all. I'm fine! No wonder you didn't want the job."
"Alright, look,
damn you, I did not decline
leadership of my country because I was afraid to die!" she said angrily. "I knew I didn't have the
strength of character needed to lead a people effectively, alright? I can
barely think for myself, let alone for a city of thousands. I didn't want to
hurt the city with my inept rule! Even my brother the hothead didn't want to be
king, but Trammell begged him to save the city from ruin. So don't you dare whine to me about what I won't
give up for this city because I have already
given this damn city my brother and everyone
I ever cared about!" Lady Susan whirled around
and stormed over to the bay window to stare stonily out at the grounds below.
Prince Alan sat and
stared in surprise, then hung his head in shame. Here he had been threatening
to attack the last thing Lady Susan held dear and whining about his own worries
when she had taken on the weight and burden of not only her own grief, but the
troubles and strife between both cities. He'd never felt so guilty in his life.
"I'm sorry,"
he said at last.
Lady Susan turned
around and her face had softened considerably. "Prince Alan," she
said, "I don't know what reasons Andrew had for giving his medallion to
you, but they must have been good. If you truly wish to be king of Haile, then you can't let your rational thought and reason
be swayed by mobs of citizens or even your counsel. Do what you know in you
heart to be the right thing. That, ultimately, is the legacy my brother would
have wanted to leave behind." Lady Susan walked over to him,
then put a hand on his cheek with a wistful smile. "Y'know,
you really remind me a lot of Andy," she said softly.
With that, she turned
to leave. Before she could, Prince Alan rose.
"Lady
Susan?"
"Yes?" she
replied, turning to face him.
"Do you..."
Here, he paused. "Do you think I could have...caused harm to King
Andrew?"
Lady Susan gave him a
condescending smile. "If you had it in you to do that, Eliah
would already have been laid to waste by your hand by now."
She left and the
Prince sat heavily on his throne, stroking his mustache pensively. He had a lot
to think about.