"Daina," came Alan's voice.
I nearly made a puddle on the floor as he suddenly became visible in front of me, but at least this time I didn't scream the way I had when he'd started to talk to me in his ghost forms on previous occasions. "Alan," I said. "Have I not told you to annouce yourself without scaring me?"
"What more do you want from me?" he protested. "I didn't grab you this time and I even waited until you came into your room where nobody's around..."
"Oh, forget it, I'm just never going to get used to you lurking around," I said.
"Too bad," he grinned. "I was starting to like scaring the shit outta you."
I pursed my lips and glared at him. "You-have-some-thing-to-re-port?" I ennunciated.
"Yes," he replied. "Did you know this place has a dungeon?"
"Yes, most castles do," I replied.
"Did you know it had two?" he asked.
"Two?" I echoed.
"One beneath the main one."
"Okay, that's kinda newsworthy..." I began.
"Did you know the actual queen of this castle is locked up in it?"
"What?" I gasped and he nodded. "How'd you find out?"
"Who did you tell me to shadow?"
"Marten...oh, man!" I breathed. "I knew something was up with him! He locked her up and probably did something to the rest of the kings and queens. Good work, Alan! I take back...almost all the bad shit I said about you."
"Almost?"
"Well, trying to kill Joshua is a hard one to get over, dude..." I explained. "Okay, so lead on!"
"This way," he said, walking past me through the door. I opened it and followed him down the hall.
It took nearly forever, but we finally reached the dungeon of the castle. Alan told me the words of the protective spell cast around the secret dungeon, then showed me the release for its entrance and we climbed even further into its depths. It wasn't lit, so I stole a torch from upstairs to see by. We wound down a set of stairs carved into solid rock and I could tell that the rest of this lower dungeon was made the same way. It only had a few rooms in it and Alan led me to the last one. I tried the door, but it was locked.
"Keys?" I asked.
"On your friend Marten," he said. "However..." He became solid again and grabbed a rusted battleaxe from the wall near us.
If I could never say anything good about Alan before, I could definitely give him credit for upper arm and body strength. The door was in splinters within moments. I gave him a brief grin, then crept into the cell.
A woman lay on the floor, looking calm, but haggard. She was obviously older than Alan and I. She had a haunted look about her, so much so that I saw even Alan flinch a little. I couldn't shake the feeling that I knew her, but she spoke before I could ask her from where. "Who are you?" she asked, her tone soft and easy.
"Who are you?" I asked.
"I am Claudia, queen of Haile. I have been imprisoned here by my brother's treacherous advisor, Marten."
"We know," Alan said.
"I...came to...rescue you..." I stammered, my thoughts racing as I could nearly place where I knew her from. Claudia, I thought. That name...!
"Ah, you must be part of the prophesy," she said, smiling. "Benjamin told us about you."
"Me? What prophesy?" I asked.
"The one that speaks of the complete circle the cities of Haile and Eliah must go through. First, the cities separated, each taking a set of kings and queens with them. Then they must lose their leaders and their way, only to find it again with the help of one who knows he does not know and one who does not know she knows. Then the circle will be complete and the two cities shall again live as one under no one's rule, but one's direction. Or something like that," she added, with a shrug. "You would be the one who doesn't know she knows."
"You got that right," I agreed.
A loud noise behind me made me whirl around to find Alan dropping unconscious to the floor and Marten standing with a club behind him. "That prophesy is now completely doomed to fail," he said seriously. "Now all of you shall die and rest assured, I shall bring both cities to their knees before allowing them to reunite under my rule."
"You
can't do that!" I protested. "The city of
Marten laughed. "I run that city as I do this one; through my advising. How do you think you came into power? The same way that fool Prince Alan over in Haile came to power; I kidnapped you both and told you I needed your help. You both fell for it and now, you can both die for it." He pulled out a black wand and pointed it at us and we immediately were transported elsewhere. I wasn't sure, but by the looks of the room, we'd moved to the neighboring cell, whose door was still intact. Alan was with us and still out cold. Outside in the passage, I could hear Marten's steps retreating upward, so I ran to the door and began pounding and yelling.
A hand on my shoulder stopped me. I turned to find Lady Claudia smiling wanly at me. "Save your energy," she told me. "There'll be plenty of time for you to fight him later."
"But we've got to get out of here or we'll die here!" I cried. "Maybe my magic..."
"Won't work because the cell is magically sealed as well," she finished. "Please. Sit down and relax."
I was too baffled by her calm to do anything but what she'd said. I peered at her as I plopped down in confusion. "I...I know you, don't I?" I asked.
"I don't know," she said. "I've met so many people..." She began to thoughtfully play with a pendant around her neck, which I noticed for the first time. It was solid sapphire and in the shape of a diamond. With a gasp, I suddenly realized who this was.
"Claudia!" I breathed. "And John and Andy and Susan and Benji and Jessica..."
"Yes!" she laughed, frowning in wonder at my sudden outburst. "What made you remember all that?"
"You were the Rainbow Fairies, but you weren't really fairies, you were these human kids brought from Earth to rule Nim when you were about..."
"Seven," she said.
"You were me and then Susan was Sara and Jessica was my friend Ursula. I wrote that story in 5th grade...and now you're old! I mean, old-er and all that...not like old old..."
"I see," she said. "I think."
"It
all makes sense now!" I said, thinking aloud. "That guy posing as
your advisor is actually your enemy Thomas in disguise. After you separated the
city of
"Amazing!" said Claudia, "You've pieced this whole scenario together beautifully, even your blame in the whole matter." She gave me a sidelong glance that I almost missed.
"Yeah, I...hey, wait a minute." I paused a moment, then gave her a knowing smile. "Oh, I see what you're doing. I say somethin' stupid but you don't wanna say I said something stupid so you just keep talkin' stuff 'til I realize I said something stupid; I see how it goes." I looked at Lady Claudia and she was quietly laughing. I laughed, too, then added. "You know, I wrote this story about me and now you've grown up to become my mother."
"Is that good?" she asked.
"Yes, it's very soothing, actually. Just don't give me grief about what I do for a living or my choice in men," I said. We both smiled at that. "You believe me, then? About writing about you?"
"Of course. I have no reason to doubt you, do I?" she replied.
"No, I really did!" I nodded.
"Then who my creator is is not for me to judge or say; all I have to do is make sure I'm doing what I should be. Right now, that's waiting for this prophesy to fulfill itself."
"Then I guess I should wake up Alan so he can get us out of here," I said.
"Why him?" said Claudia. "Magic doesn't work here."
"I know, but Alan's a ghost, actually. "He can go right through here, bring us the keys and get us out of here."
"Well, then perhaps you'd better let him wake on his own," said Claudia, shifting her position to lie back on the straw again. "If there's one thing I've learned about prophesies, it's that they can't be hurried.
There was no doubt in
Naomi's mind that she would find Jerry. She was an excellent tracker, and,
besides, with as much trouble as he and Daina tended to find, all Naomi really
had to do was find the the place having the most trouble and Jerry would most
likely be right smack in the middle of it. For that matter, thought Naomi with
a grin, the way I find trouble, I'm liable to stumble right over the boy before
I ever get out of these woods!
Naomi shrugged off
that possibility entirely. Nobody was that lucky. Wherever Jerry was, he was
apparently not able to speak to Daina mentally, as they always had, which meant
that something (or someone) was interfering with his ability to do so. The
likelihood of him being held prisoner or being bothered out here in the open
was extremely faint.
The sound of an
approaching without its rider (Naomi guessed by the sounds) made her stop in
mid-flight and land on the ground behind a tree stump. Fairy hunters usually
traveled at night and Naomi's "magic-in-use" light (as Daina called
it) was the perfect giveaway for a lone sprite. She wasn't extremely worried,
however. She could tell she was in some sort of country ruled by high fairies,
who, as a rule, spent little, if any time noticing lowly sprites. They were as
likely to hunt her as she was to hunt them. She'd also faced much worse before.
In fact, she thought,
stepping out boldly from her hiding place to stand on a bit of deadwood, I am worse! What could possibly happen to
me that I couldn't handle in this world of high prissies?
She peered into the darkness
and was surprised to see Jerry leading a fine horse through the underbrush. No way!!!!, she
thought. She changed herself to human size and waved happily. "Hey Jerry, man, over here! Boy,
am I glad to see..."
To her surprise, Jerry
drew a sword and backed her into a tree faster than she could said the word "you".
Prince Alan eased his
horse through the underbrush beside the road to Haile. He'd made up his mind to
personally investigate the disappearance of King Andrew. Presently, he was on a secret goodwill
mission to Haile; secret because Trammell and his millitant advice would
probably have talked him out of it had he brought it up. He understood, or at
least, knew Trammell's position. Seeing 4 kings disappear had probably made him
extremely protective of all those he had helped to rule and wary of all others.
But Prince Alan had
yet to really believe that the Haileans were as horrible as Trammell
continually made them out to be. Lady
Susan seemed to believe they were decent folk, so why did Trammell feel
otherwise?
The prince had learned
at least one thing from Trammell and that was about his sense of duty and
obligation. His duty was to his people (whether they knew him or not) and that
duty was to find and bring the guilty party in King's Andrew's disappearance to
justice. If that meant finding out what the Haileans knew undercover, then so
be it. Not even the peasant who'd told him where the road awas had recognized
him as the new prince, so it was likely that no one else would, either. When he
reached Haile, he could always show them his crystal and how that would gain
him admittance to their royal castle. And then...well, he wasn't sure, but he
knew it would come to him eventually.
A sudden shout from
ahead of him stopped him dead in his tracks. A figure stood blocking his path.
Knowing he had to at least show force or be killed himself, he shoved the
figure back with one hand and drew his sword with the other. He quickly pointed
it at the figure's throat and said,
"Hold, else I
shall be forced to kill you where you stand!" He was surprised, at closer
inspection, to find that this figure was a dark-skinned female, and even more
surprised at her response:
"What? Jerry, you
brainless pixie, put down that stupid sword before I smack you!" She tried
pushing the sword away, only to find out that not only was it
not moving, it was also sharp. "Owww...jee-zus, Jerry, what the hell are you doing???" she grimaced, nursing her cut hand.
Prince Alan nearly
leapt out of his skin. The name "Jerry" had floated through his mind
almost as often as the word "Daina" and he still had no earthly idea
why. Whatever it was or signified, this woman before him obviously understood.
"What did you call me?" he asked. "The name sounds..."
"Familiar?"
the woman replied sarcastically, still bent over her hand. "That's because
it's yours, you idiot! What's the matter with you, anyway? Back up, I can't do
my magic 'til you're out of range!"
The prince was so deep
in thought that for a moment, he did as he was told without thinking. "Do
I know you?" he asked, stepping back up to hold her at bay again.
"Of course you
know me!"
"Are you
sure?" he frowned, trying to place her face. "You're not from the
castle..."
"Oh, God, don't
make me hurt myself tryin' to hurt you again!" she snapped through
clenched teeth. "Put down that stupid sword or when I do heal myself, I'm
gonna kill you! Now back up; I can't do my magic with you that close!"
"I don't want you
working your magic on me," he replied warily.
"I AM NOT WASTING MY TALENT ON YOU, I AM
TRYING TO KEEP FROM BLEEDING TO DEATH!!!!" she bellowed, thrusting her
hand in his face. "MOVE!"
Prince Alan briefly
considered holding her there (since for some unknown reason, he wanted
desperately to irritate this woman), but thought against it. He did need to
find out what she remembered about himself, so he stifled a smirk and backed
up.
"Thank you!" she gapsed, bending
over her hand again.
"Why can't you do
magic around me?" he asked, watching her heal herself.
"Because," she
growled, "Daina decided it would be a great magic power for you to have,
so now, no sprite and only a little fairy magic works around you without you
wanting it to."
"Oh," he
replied, then added, "Who's Daina?" She gave him a look which he rightly interpreted
as something other than a desire to be helpful. "Alright, alright,"
he said, waiting for her to finish. When she did, he asked again.
"Daina," she
replied, advancing on him, "is the person I'm going to be hiding your
murder from." He stood still and she raised her hands as if trying to use
magic on him. She stopped, realizing her mistake and he calmly held his sword
in ready position. She stepped back and he stepped forward. She did it again
and he followed. They continued this little dance until they backed into a
tree. She finally blew up at him again and he was almost delighted. She was
really rather funny when she was angry.
"Jerry, cut it
out, I'm trying to kill you!" she snapped.
"Now there's a way to motivate
someone!" he laughed.
"That's it, I'm
not talking to you anymore," she said decidedly, turning to leave. He
jammed his sword in the tree next to her and frowned.
"Yes, you
are," he said. She turned to go the other direction and he blocked that
direction with his arm. Suddenly, to his surprise, she disappeared.
"Wha..."
"No, I'm
not!" her smug voice came from behind him. He sighed and turned to lean
against the tree to look at her.
"Who are you and
where did you get this knack for driving people crazy?" he asked her,
half-seriously.
She stared at him hard
for a moment, then stepped toward him and continued to stare. "You really
don't know me, do you?" she asked.
"If I knew,"
he replied, "I wouldn't be asking."
She continued to peer
at him, more curious than angry now. "It's me, Naomi. Daina's
pal. She's in Haile playing Queen of the Week and she told me to come
looking for you." Suddenly, she gasped in realization. "Dude!
You don't, like, have amnesia or something, do you?"
"If you mean the
forgetting disease Lady Susan speaks to me of, yes, I believe I do," said
Prince Alan. "She told me of a place where illnesses were not based in
magic. How did I get this, then?"
"Because you're
from that place, at least we think. Daina's says you're fairy, but I...well,
look, let's get you back to her and we can discuss all that later. Where ya
been, anyway? She says she's been calling you forever!"
"In Eliah,"
he replied. "I have been acting as temporary ruler of the city in King
Andrew's absence."
"She's been doing the same thing! Their rulers did the disappearing act, too. Man," she added, grinning as she switched to sprite form and started back to the castle, "I can't wait to see how this one turns out!"