Memories of Gaia: Seeking Shadows in the Storm
Chapter 2 The king with a plan

Queen Maylee was beside herself with joy as she danced down the red carpeted stairs to the main floor of the castle. She had spent the better half of the morning pouring over several old books she had taken from the library with no intentions of ever returning. But so what? The library was hers and so was the information it held.

She was donning her favorite garment, a shimmering black silk dress with a red dragon on it. The head of the dragon was perched on her right shoulder, the left claw was resting on her left shoulder while the body wrapped around her. It had been a gift from the emperor of Kingyosou, and she adored it. She often told those who would listen that the dragon was giving her a hug. But to most, it appeared the beast was a python, struggling to kill its prey.

Princess Aurory quickly sat on the book she had been enjoying and resumed her usual bratty demeanor. “Ugh, why are you so happy?” She had lost some weight in the past few weeks and was upset that no one had mentioned it.

Queen Maylee paused mid-stride, having not noticed her daughter sitting near the fountain, her body facing the large windows that overlooked the dying garden. “Do you recall the storm that took place last night?”

Princess Aurory sneered as she nodded, her hands holding the seat of the bench to keep the book in place. In truth, she did not remember a thing about the storm as she had slept through it, her snores overpowering the thunder that had shaken the ship.

“Well, I was just going over my notes and it would appear that the brat Valeena is now sixteen!” Queen Maylee twirled in a circle as she said the number. Her arms were spread wide, as a grin crossed her plump face.

Princess Aurory felt a surge of hate pulse through her and she glared at her mother, not speaking. She felt her day was now ruined and she wanted to flee. But the book under her rear kept her planted to the bench, and she followed her mother with her eyes.

“I think I shall celebrate with a cake! OH!” Queen Maylee clapped her plump hands together and giggled which was something she had never done before; the sound was foreign to the Princess.

“I need to find Thanos! HUE!” Queen Maylee shouted, drawing the word out for several seconds as a thin, terrified man rushed towards her. Princess Aurory watched as the man the Queen called ‘Hue’ stood tall, awaiting his orders. His real name had been Earlroy, but the Queen informed him that name was silly and he looked more like a Hue.

“Have I received word from the turd bucket yet?” Queen Maylee asked. Hue knew that the Queen meant her brother, but dared not corrected her. Instead, he shook his head and waited for her to strike.

“Damn.” She said, turning and making her way into the kitchen, confusing both Hue and Princess Aurory.

Hue remained still for several seconds before catching himself and rushing away. The Princess lifted her bottom and removed the book, sour to find the page she was reading had been lost in her haste. She sighed and climbed to her feet, exiting the castle and making her way towards her own little hideaway.

She had been leaving the castle unnoticed for several weeks now; flying away on a Pegasus she had found wandering the edge of Diamond Springs. That was the reason she had lost the weight. The poor creature had had difficulty staying in the air with her plump body on its back.

Princess Aurory had named him Olympus and hid him from her mother for fear she would take him for herself. He was a lovely creature with soft, lavender hair, a short ivory and silver mane with a matching tail. Its wings were the golden color of an autumn sunrise.

Princess Aurory climbed on its back and flew swiftly into the air, leaving her troubles behind her and debating if she would return to the castle this time.

Valeena could taste the bitter metallic flavor of blood in her mouth as she sat up, her head spinning, her mind felt dizzy. Rowan was beside her as she had fallen to the floor sometime during the earthquake, a memory she did not have. All she remembered was the pain that had overtaken her body. Rowan was opening his scarlet eyes as well, startled to see Valeena so close. He sat up, holding his head in his hands and cursing.

There were screams emitting from outside the inn’s wall, along with the sound of chaos. Valeena hoped she would not encounter Kronos once more. The scent of smoke hung heavily in their room. A charred curtain from where the candle sat was all that remained of the fire that had taken place.

“A Reap, I should have known!” It was Akari, her voice dripping with disgust. “That’s why you insisted on wearing that stupid bandana under your wig during our escape.”

Rowan saw the shredded bandana on the floor and felt his heart sink as he realized that his horns had grown back during the night. He shook his head and glared at Akari as he said, “Why do you hate Reaps? Is it my horns?”

Akari crossed her thin arms over her body and glared at him. “Reaps took the land from my poor ancestors! They forced my people to wander the desert! We were lucky to find the tiny oasis we now call home!” Rowan stood up suddenly, wobbling a bit, making a T with his hands.

“Time out! Your people invaded our land! We fought to take it back!” Rowan was saying, doing his best to keep his anger under control. “ We had lived in the desert happily for hundreds of years!”

“Enough!” Aira screamed, jumping to her nimble feet. Valeena was afraid to move as she watched the argument from the floor, her eyes wide. “Each of you stole this world from us! You caused us to retreat to the sky! Yet here I-” Her voiced stopped suddenly. “Akari, what is wrong with your Crystal?”

Akari appeared startled, her hand darting up to cover the yellow spiral crystal on her forehead. She rushed into the bathroom and slammed the door hard, the sound echoing in the room. Valeena had noticed it as well as a lump formed in her heart. She looked to Rowan then Aira as they both watched the bathroom door. Each one was wearing a look of suspicion.

Valeena tried to tell herself it was a trick of the light, makeup, a shadow, anything other than what she knew to be true. Akari’s Crystal was a fake.

“Akari?” Valeena asked softly as she knocked on the bathroom door a few minutes later. The lock disengaged from the door allowing Valeena to view an empty bathroom. She scanned the room to find the bathroom open, the curtains wedge outside.

“She’s gone.” Valeena informed them. Rowan ripped open the bedroom curtain, but saw no sign of her.

Without warning, the door to their room was kicked in violently, breaking in half from the heavy foot of a Caspian soldier. Another soldier in a beige colored uniform rushed into the room, shouting orders at the three other soldiers who had followed behind him.

“You’re coming with us!” The soldier announced, grabbing Valeena’s upper arm roughly and half dragging her out into the street.

The once beautiful city was now in chaos. Fires were burning everywhere as people fought to extinguish them with small wooden buckets overflowing with water. Sand colored houses lay in chunks on the dirt streets. The street itself was cracked, covered in ash and debris. The volcano had erupted last night, leaving its mark on the once vibrant city.

Valeena, Rowan, and Aira were roughly dragged to the castle, a large, square building that had not missed out on the damage. Two of the back towers were gone, having been reduced to piles of stone that now lay on the ground. Half burned trees lined the stairs leading to the stone castle doors.

The soldier roughly walked them down a dark auburn carpeted hallway that had portraits of previous kings and queens hanging on the polished walls. Doors branched off between tall statues of different figures and animals, each carved in marble of either cream or brown. Tapestries of red Griffin’s hung off the ceiling.

The hall ended at a massive staircase. At the top there was an intricately carved stone door that opened to the throne room where the King of Caspian sat on a golden throne, waiting. He was wearing a large, round crown of gold dotted with rubies on his balding head. The top of the crown came to a point with a Griffin standing tall and proud on it.

“Ah, Valeena.” King Caspian said brightly, dismissing the soldier with a flick of his wrist. Valeena could see a lot of Queen Maylee in the King. He was much thinner than her, but he had the same round face and olive colored eyes. He was smiling at Valeena, something the Queen had never done before.

“Sorry I had to use soldiers to bring you here. I didn’t think you’d see me willingly on your own.” The King was saying as he adjusted in his seat, coughing. He was wrong, Valeena thought, rubbing her arm where the soldier had held her far too tightly.

“I require your assistance. You see, my sister has been acting peculiar lately. Not only has word reached me that she has been bombing peaceful cities and took Kingyosou into her procession but I also received this letter from her.” The King reached into his gold colored pocket and produced a letter.

A guard that had been hidden behind the throne took the letter out of his gloved hand and brought it to Valeena, standing tall, waiting for her to finish reading it.

She unfolded the letter to discover it was from Queen Maylee, her emblem a watermark on the thick cream colored stock. Her penmanship was horrible for it appeared childish with several words spelled incorrectly. Valeena knew better than to ask if Princess Aurory wrote it.

“Deer bruther person,

Surrender to me by the next full moon, (there was a poorly

drawn image of a bare rear end with stink lines beside the word)

or your stupid kingdumb will be distroyed.

You have been warned.

Also, do you still have my favrite sword? I can’t seem to find it

anywere. Hmmm. I suppose I’ll check the hall closet again. I bet that cow Valeena took it. (here was a childishly drawn cow with Valeena’s name written next to it)

Sincrely,

Queen Maylee Star

Ps.

Aurory says hello and to sent her more candy.”

One corner of the paper had a foul looking crusty item that was circled with the words, ‘I sneezed’ written under it.

Valeena looked up from the letter and back towards the King to find him shaking his head softly. “Maylee use to pride herself on her intellect spending hours a day studying. She always had to be the best. She valued books, ideas, and was always striving to push herself harder, farther. This, “He waved his hand at the childish letter in disgust, the guard taking it from Valeena’s hand and returning it to the King.“Is not my sister. I fear something terrible has happened to her. At any rate, she needs to be stopped. And that is where you come in.”

Valeena suddenly did not like where the conversation was heading and she instantly regretted making the long journey to see him. The balloon ride felt silly now, and she was ever aware of the aches and pains from it crashing that she fought so hard to ignore.

Aira’s blistered and burned leg flashed in her mind. Valeena felt the tempo of her heart begin to quicken in her chest as icy fingers made their way down her spine. Subconsciously she had begun to shake her head.

King Caspian nodded, raising his thick brows. “Oh yes, my dear. You will assist me in assassinating Queen Maylee.”

Valeena had heard the gasp escaped from her throat as she stared wide eyed at King Caspian, but she was not sure she had made the sound. Her body felt numb, as though her soul had left it and she was watching from above.

“Kill...her… no. I-I cannot!” She shook her lovely head, trying to shake the terrible idea out of her mind. It was absurd! She could never actually kill anyone! Yes, she wanted the Queen stopped, but the thought of killing her had never entered her mind. King Caspian remained still, scrutinizing her as he rubbed his chin slowly.

“Interesting. A woman who treated you so very poorly for years, killed innocent people and is on a mission for world domination doesn’t deserve to live and yet, you wish to spare her.” Valeena could feel a tingling sensation in the back of her head and she was afraid she may lose consciousness as she locked eyes with the King, hating him as much as she hated her mother.

For a brief second, just enough for Valeena to blink, King Caspian was Queen Maylee sitting high on her throne, mocking her. Valeena fought back the urge to vomit.

“Wh-why do you require my assistance? You have several soldiers, your guards, even citizens at your disposal! How could I possibly help you?” Valeena gestured to a soldier standing near the door who jumped back startled, he wanted nothing to do with the King’s plan. He was happy to be a nobody, to come and go as unnoticed as the wind. He was thankful the King’s eyes did not flicker towards him.

The King snapped his fat fingers and a table was quickly pushed in, the wheels squeaking noisily across the smooth marble floor. On top of the table was a highly detailed map of the area surrounding the Star kingdom, including the Evil Forest.

“You may have noticed Rose Grove and Vaughnstein are not on my map. There is no need for them as Rose Grove is no more than a ghost village, everyone having vanished. And Vaughnstein is gone altogether as of last week, crops and all.” King Caspian was saying as he limped over to the table, using a golden cane with a Griffin engraved on the handle to assist him.

“No one gets in or out of the castle save for the Queen, the Princess, and the useless Drake. I have sent several spies to her kingdom to scope out the castle, but it is futile. My men cannot get close enough. Even traveling the vast distance by sea is impossible as the Kraken gets the ships first. By air is also out of the question as there are turrets hidden on the rocks that shoot the crafts down.”

Rowan used one long talon to point to the front city gates, tapping it as he looked at the map. “Why can’t you enter here pretending to be a traveling merchant? Tell them you are selling desserts and the Queen will gladly see you!” He ran his finger through the city and over the bridge, tapping the castle next.

The King huffed, clearly annoyed at the suggestion. “Obviously you know nothing about Star City. Only a fool would dare enter those gates. Now, as I was saying-”

“What’s wrong with the city?” Valeena interrupted quickly, startling the King in the process. He gave a short laugh in response, looking up from the map to lock eyes with Valeena.

“Wait- You’re serious? Have you ever seen the city, my dear?” King Caspian sighed deeply as Valeena shook her head. “The wall is too high. I can barely make out the rooftops from my balcony.” Valeena lied.

The King rolled his eyes as he said, “The city is, well, dead. The people are... not human. It’s suicide to enter the walls of the city. You see, that’s why I need you. You escaped. But how? I know you did not walk out the front door. And you sure as Hell did not fly. So tell me, how did you escape?”

“We escaped by jumping into the ocean and swimming for it.” Aira was saying, as she stepped forward to touch the map. “Here,” she pointed at the underside of the castle where the large sliding glass panel doors sat but were not drawn on the map.

The disappointment was painted heavily on the King’s aging face.“Is that all, Valeena?” King Caspian asked, looking as defeated as a deflated balloon. Valeena did not respond. She was staring at the forest on the map, keeping her knowledge of the tunnel a secret. The King, however, followed her line of vision, sensing she was holding back valuable information.

“Valeena, why don’t you travel to Star City, see what the once beautiful city has now become and then tell me you will not help stop her.”

Valeena could not help but feel confused by his statement. “You just said it was suicide to travel there. Why are you asking me to go?”

The King locked eyes with her, his look of sheer disgust reminding her strongly of his older sister. “You will die one day and if you are not going to help me then I’d rather it be sooner than later. You have until sunrise to make your decision.” With a flick of his wrist, Valeena was grabbed roughly by the arm and drug out of the throne room, the King smashing his fist violently onto the table.

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