"Alan, you've gotta get the keys!" I said, shaking him awake. I understood Lady Claudia's patience thing (after all, she'd been in here a while now), but I was starting to get claustrophobic. "Get up!"
"Come on, baby, we just did it 5 minutes ago...!" he murmured sleepily.
"Alan!" I snapped. "This is Daina, not Naomi. Get up!"
Alan's eyes opened to look at me as if to say "oh, puh-leez!" "You tell me it's just you, then you want me up, too? I think you're really overestimating your appeal..."
I grabbed him by the nose and pulled him up to loud protest. "Get up right now," I said slowly, "and get the keys to this damn cell!"
"Alright, alright!" he howled, holding his nose and looking at me. He looked at me for a moment, then let his nose go to add, "Y'know, sometimes you're so like Naomi, it's almost...sexy." He raised an eyebrow at me and I glared at him. "Just kiddin', jeez!" he laughed, phasing through the doorway.
There was a brief silence outside, then I heard him say, "Uh, I got good news and bad news."
"Bad news?" I asked.
"Yuh, the keys ain't here," her replied.
I winced. "Good news?"
"I can find 'em, no problem. That guy Marten's probably got them. Be back in a bit." Alan must have left then, because we didn't hear anymore.
I turned to Lady Claudia. "I'm having difficulty waiting here," I said seriously, feeling kind of sheepish.
"Many things are gained by patience," she said softly.
"Like?" I asked.
"Extra thinking time, which inevitably leads to better insight," said she. "If you really think about it, your friend can't help us with those keys."
"Why not?"
"Because he is obviously some sort of ghost or apparition. Even if he himself can phase through walls, he can't take those keys with him."
I thought for a moment. "Well, then he just...comes in through the wall using the...saying, uh..." I thought frantically, but couldn't seem to remember how we'd come in!
"Don't remember?" she asked.
"No!" I said, surprised.
"Never mind, neither do I," she replied. "Let's just hope your friend does."
"Good news and bad news again," he said, phasing through the door again moments later.
"I know, you forgot how to open the wall," I said wryly.
"No, I didn't," said Alan, quietly indignant.
"You didn't?"
"Of course not. I said the words and pushed and the thing wouldn't open."
"Words?" I echoed.
"The magic words the guy said before. Don't you remember?"
"No, I don't!" I protested, turning to Lady Claudia. "Why is that?"
"It's as I feared," she replied with a sigh. "I don't know any other explanation. Your friend isn't magic at all, am I right?"
"No he's just..."
"A ghost, but he's obviously human, otherwise he'd be affected, too," she finished. I frowned at her, completely confused. "It's our magic, Daina. Think about it. If you were going to keep fairies and sprites prisoner, you would want to make sure they couldn't use any magic to get out. However, you'd also want to make sure you could use magic to keep anyone else from getting in to rescue them. That's why we don't remember how to get out and your friend can't help. There's probably some spell on the place to keep us from even remembering how to use our powers half the time, but since it is magic powered, your friend can't break the spell."
"Oh, I get it," I nodded grimly, sitting on the floor. "That wall that we moved to get in works on magic, too, so Alan can't make it work and we can't use magic to make it work."
Lady Claudia sighed. "Only someone who could null magic could even get through here and then they'd have to consciously think about doing it, or they'd be just as trapped as we are."
I looked up at that, suddenly remembering that I had just the person. If Alan could get Jerry and Naomi back here, Jerry'd have us out in no time. That was if Jerry had been found, something I was really counting on just then. "Alan," I said. "You're our only hope."
"Real-ly?" he said folding his arms slyly.
"Alan, if you don't help us, you're stuck here, too," I retorted.
"Yeah, right. Who's cruisin' the castle right through the walls, here, me or you?"
"That's not the point, stupid. If you don't help us, the only thing outside this castle is NATURE, buddy." He visibly cringed and I played this for all it was worth. "Yeah, NATURE, man. Trees and bugs and animals and birds singin' and stuff. Not only that, but Naomi's out there and between you and her and a REALLY good time, there's nothing but NATURE! As far as the eye can see! There's lions and tigers and bears..."
"Al-RIGHT!" he snapped. "Shut uuuu-up!" He glared at me and I stood to face him with a broad grin.
"Alan doesn't like the woods very much," I said to Claudia, still maintaining my gaze with Alan.
"What do you want from me?" he grumbled.
"Go find your woman and..."
"Aw, sheez, that's easy. I thought you wanted me to, like, donate blood or something," he snorted, turning to go.
"Shut up and let me finish!" I snapped.
"You do want me to donate blood?" he said, paling slightly.
"Alan!"
"Okay, okay, find Naomi and then what?"
"Find her and hopefully Jerry. By now she's...well, she's probably still looking for him, but get her here, anyway and in a hurry. You gotta stay with her so she doesn't get trapped in here and forget the, uh..." I started snapping my fingers, trying to recall the way out of here.
"Magic words to get in the door?" Alan suggested.
"Yeah, those. Go now," I said, and he did. "And hurry!"
Lady Claudia turned to me after he'd gone and said, "You have a wonderful ability to lead, you know. When I'm gone, this country's going to need that."
I looked at her in surprise, then said, "You're gonna get saved just like me, Lady Claudia. Alan'll find Naomi; they've been together too long for them not to hear each other."
She smiled at me, the way a mother smiles at a small child who has tried desperately to explain how he or she is going to take care of the whole family by selling lemonade. "I know he will," she said.
She sounded so sure of her position that I decided not to talk about it anymore. After all, most prophesies have some sort of life loss involved in them; who was to say that life wasn't one of us?
Meanwhile, Naomi and
Prince Alan were racing back to the castle. For the Prince, there was no actual
hurry, but keeping up with Naomi required speed.
"Slow down!"
he demanded. "My horse and I can't navigate this underbrush the way you
do."
Naomi wheeled around
to hover in front of him. "So ditch the horse!" she said irritably.
"A good monarch
never leaves his steed," he said, solemnly intoning another of Trammell's
teachings.
"You're not a monarch, you're Jerry Walker and
you're a complete..." The Prince had set his face into a look of general
irritation as she'd spoken, but before she could finish her statement, he was
acting on it. Suddenly, he grabbed her, trapping her in one hand.
"Hey!" she yelled, struggling to get free. "What the hell are
you doing!"
"Getting your
attention," he said simply.
"Let go'a me, or
I'll..." she began.
"Do nothing
because you've already proven you can't do any magic this close to me." At
that, Naomi began struggling in a furious rage, but the Prince waited patiently
for her to tire out before he continued. "Now, let's get something
straight right here. I may not have all my memory, but I do have my pride. I
also have no recollection of your purpose
on this planet, and since I know enough to head to Haile, you are expendable, as far as I'm concerned."
Naomi, who'd been
glaring darkly at him, suddenly looked up at him with a certain anxiety.
"I am not expendable!" she said.
"Then start acting like you're not," he
replied. "Deal?" She responded sulkily under her breath, so he
squeezed her enough to make breathing uncomfortable.
"Ow, o-kay, deal!" she said hurriedly. He
gave her a warning look before opening his hand flat again. She sprawled out
across his palm, gasping. "Damn, you drive a hard bargain," she said.
"A good
monarch" he began.
"Always does,
yeh, I know already, spare me the words of wisdom," she replied, holding a
hand up to stop him. "Let's just go." She stretched out a little,
then flew a short distance and changed back to human size. "I'll
walk," she said to him, "just try to keep up."
She didn't even have
time to turn around before she was grabbed from behind. She gave a short
screech of surprise, then elbowed her attacker in the stomach and stomped
across his instep. She turned to grab this hooded attacker by the cloak and
raised her fist to hit it squarely in the face. As she did, the person (whose
face was hidden by the cloak's hood) raises their hands up and produced a shiny
black rod about 7 inches long. Naomi dropped to her knees as a crushing pain
coursed through her, seemingly from the wand itself.
The attacker made a
move as if to use more magic on her, but Prince Alan, who'd been caught unaware
at first, raised his sword and swung at the attacker. It hit the wand solidly,
but glanced off, causing no damage to the wand except to have it flung clear of
the attacker's hand. The attacker stood in surprise for a second, then grabbed
Naomi by the hair and began to drag her toward the spot the wand had fallen.
Prince Alan moved in to attack, but was stopped by another yell from beside
him. A ghostly figure rushed past him, becoming more solid and tangible just as
it ran into the attacker, taking them all to the ground. Prince Alan watched
the trio tumble to the ground, Naomi falling slightly clear of the other two.
Seeing that it would be impossible to engage his sword without killing the
wrong person, he went to Naomi's side and knelt beside her. She grimaced somewhat, so he took her hand in
his, hoping that whatever hidden ability he had to hinder magic would help her
some. Almost immediately, Naomi's face changed. "Are you alright?" he
asked.
She nodded briefly,
sitting up and looking as though she was in perfect shape. In fact, to prove
that very fact, she turned over to the two combatants who'd knocked her to the
ground and shoved her savior to the side. She straddled her attacker (who was
obviously better off using magic than his fists) and, yanking his hood back,
prepared to hit him again. At that second, the attacker reached to his side and
grabbed his wand.
Alan gasped just as
Naomi thrust her fist down at the man, who disappeared. Her hand connected with
the ground painfully and she howled in agony. "Did you see that! That was Marten from the castle!" he said. Then, as an aside to her, he
said, "Ya ought not'a do that with your hand, babe. Do like I did and hit
him in the nose real good. Hittin' the ground hurts."
"I'm aware,
Alan!" she said, in a strained voice, then she added, "I had him,
y'know!"
"Yes, you did,
baby, until he put that magic on you," Alan agreed.
Naomi grimaced at him,
but said nothing. He did, after all, have a point. She walked off a little
distance to heal her hand. As she did, Alan put a hand to his ear, as if trying
to hear something, and said:
"What's that you say, Naomi? Thank you, love of my life, for
rescuing me, even though I like to rescue myself and allow you no opportunity
to play the man's role?" He pretended to be listening again and added,
"What, now? You say you can't believe I came all the way out here
into NATURE, no less, just to find
you? Well, gosh, hon, it was really
nothing any sex god wouldn't have done for his intoxicatingly beautiful love goddess on any given day!"
Alan folded his arms and gave Naomi a look that said "Well?".
Both Naomi and the
prince stood stunned, but only one of them fell into Alan's arms with a giggle.
The prince gave Alan a look of pure respect. "My God, man," he said,
"If this is your woman, I have the utmost respect for you. That's the
first time I've seen her nonconfrontational, let alone quiet."
"It's a
gift," Alan replied, mouthing the words so Naomi couldn't see.
"So how did you
know where we were?" Naomi asked, pulling away from him. "And what
possessed you to come out into the woods looking for me?"
"I heard you
call," he said simply.
"But I never
called you," she replied.
"Yeah, you did. I
heard you. You actually did it a couple of times. And I just..."
"I never once
said your name...not out loud, anyway," she frowned. They exchanged
glances for a moment, then shook their heads, silently agreeing that the moment
was best left alone.
"And where've you
been?" Alan said to the prince.
"Excuse me?"
the prince frowned.
"Oh, Alan, meet
Prince Alan," said Naomi.
"Huh?" Alan
said, as the prince proffered his hand. "I thought he was..."
"Jerry's got
amnesia," said Naomi. "Somebody's had him playing king over in
Eliah."
"Just like
Daina?" Alan said.
"Yeah, except he
didn't know about us until a little while ago."
"Well, we gotta
get back to Haile. Daina and that lady we were looking for are in this dungeon
and it's Marten's fault, so we gotta get back to help 'em," Alan said.
"And all 12 of you are gone now?" I asked incredulously. "Every rainbow kid I ever made is now...dead or presumed so?"
"No," said Lady Claudia, "and, technically, there was 13 of us." She frowned at the dungeon walls as she thought. "Susan is still around, unless she's off looking for Andrew and I'm still here."
"But I don't remember a thirteenth kid in that story," I frowned.
"Oh, of course you do!" she said. "Thomas! Don't you remember? He was one of us, but he never had a partner, the way John had me and Susan had Andrew."
"Oh, yeah, Thomas!" I said, remembering the skinny little creep from junior high I'd patterned the kid after. All the kids in the story were after friends or enemies of mine in school and Marten Thomas had been no exception. I hadn't made him evil; he'd basically just been that way in school--a scheming, conniving genius with a knack for creating coups (hence, my ousting as chess club president and his susequent takeover). If he was anything like his namesake, he'd have no trouble taking over Eliah and destroying all those in his way. "He's probably the one who's been getting rid of all these people."
"Yes, but in both cities?" Lady Claudia said. "How could he be in both places at the same time?"
"I
don't know, but if he is doing some sort of double whammy on Eliah and Haile,
we'd better hope that Jerry's still okay?" I sighed. Okay enough to come get us the hell outta here!, I thought...