The Secret of the Stone

It was a little after noon when we finally made our way down the mountain path and continued on the road to Neves. During that time Nayr and the Captain narrowed down three places where Julian most likely was hiding the princess, areas that were rocky, where there wasn’t much vegetation and secluded enough to allow Julian to amass his invasion army without being detected. There was a village a few miles from the border of Neves and there the captain rendezvoused with a patrol from Nevele. The Captain sent a messenger to Nevele from the patrol to warn the kings of Julian’s army and urge them to send search parties to investigate the three sites they suspected Celestia maybe in hopes that we could finally track down Julian before he was able to set his plan into motion.

Late in the afternoon we entered the border of Neves. It was a giant slimy swamp. It was damp, humid and sticky with long thick vines curving down every tree trunk dipping in an out of the rank waters below. The air was filled with the loud buzzing of insects and the forest was crawling with large amphibians. There was an infestation of large salamander like creatures that Cordum assured me were harmless, but I wasn’t so sure. As we travelled deeper into the wetlands of the swamp, it became more closed in. Clouds fur was tainted with slime, the temperature seemed to rise the further we went. My brow was dripping with sweat and Celestia’s boots were caked in mud. The trees were tall and interconnected bulging at the bottom due to their long standing saturation in water. The bark from the huge trees peeled off into large sheets. Sheets big enough to make boats, which came in handy since the water levels were also getting deeper. Census and Nayr peeled off the large sheets and placed them on top of the water. Cordum was tying the boats together with some vines so that we wouldn’t get separated in our makeshift boats. I went over to him to see if there was something I could do to help when I saw him looking around frantically for something.

“Cordum what’s wrong?” I asked him.

“I can’t find my knife,” he said with a hint of frustration. “I have looked everywhere for it.”

“Maybe you left it in the village.”

“I didn’t leave it in the village, my father gave it to me when I joined the military.” He replied. I would never go anywhere without it.” He grumbled some more before picking up a sharp stone to cut the vines. I tried to look through our supplies to see if I could help him find it seeing that it had sentimental value, but it was nowhere to be found.

When the boats were ready, the captain, Cloud and I got on the first boat and Cordum and Nayr rode the second boat. We used smaller pieces of the sheets as oars and rowed our way through the stale waters.

“Captain, do mermaids really live here?” I asked him.

“Mermaids are said to live here though I don’t know of anyone who has seen one in recent times.” He explained. “None of the younger generation of villagers has seen one, though some of the older ones still tell stories about them. They say that they once interacted freely with the villagers but because of a dispute long ago the merpeople prefer to be left alone.”

“What was the dispute about?” I asked curiously.

“No one knows for sure but some say that it had something to do with one of the villagers falling in love with one of the merpeople.”

“That story sure sounds familiar,” I thought aloud, “the’ Little Mermaid’.”

“The little mermaid?” asked Cloud.

“We don’t really have mermaids on earth, they are what we call fairy tales or myths they are mostly depicted as being human from the waist up and fish from the waist down.”

“That’s funny.” Cloud chuckled as he imagined the image of the half man, half fish.

“We have a children’s story about a mermaid, same thing happened really,”I explained. “The mermaid used magic to change her fins into feet so that she could live out of the water and marry a human man.”

“Are you sure, it’s a story?”Cloud suggested. “Maybe you did have mermaids on earth long ago but because no one has seen one in so many years, it’s now a myth.”

“I tell you Cloud, judging from everything I have seen around here lately, anythings is possible.” I laughed.

The sun was setting and we decided to park our boats on the banks of the swamp and set up camp. We found a relatively dry spot on the large twisted roots of one of the giant swamp trees. Nayr somehow managed to get a fire started despite the surrounding dampness and humidity. Evening loomed and I decided to take a nap on my mat before dinner. The roots at the base of the tree were hard and uneven under the mat. I tried to put myself into a comfortable position but it was no use. I started to think about Celestia and that night on the mystic rock. Then I remembered the shiny stone I had found in the woods and that it was still in my pocket. I reached into my pocket to retrieve it when I discovered that it was gone. I grabbed my bag and searched it thoroughly. “That’s funny. It’s got to be here somewhere?” I said aloud.

“What are you looking for, Violet?” Nayr asked. He sat down with a bowl of soup and began to eat. I hadn’t told the others about the dew drop stone I had found.

“I lost something.” I replied, rechecking my pockets.

“Oh, what is it? He asked.” Maybe I have seen it.”

“Oh, it was just a pretty stone I found in the woods.”

“Violet, where is your necklace?” he asked looking down at my empty neck.

“It’s right here.” I said reaching around my neck but it wasn’t there. “It’s gone!” I cried.

“What’s going on?” Census asked as he and Cordum approached us.”

“Violet’s necklace is missing.” said Nayr.

“Oh, no!” I cried. “How am I going to get home now?” Nayr put down his bowl and we began to search through the supplies for the missing necklace.

“It must have slipped off.” I cried as I continued to looking.

“Or, Tem and Josili stole it before they escaped,” said Cordum. Cloud joined us and the others began to search as well.

“No, they wouldn’t do that.” I defended them, but I was only half convinced myself of their innocence.

We searched frantically around the camp hoping by some chance it may still be there. As I searched I couldn’t help but wonder if Tem and Josili really had taken my necklace. Maybe they thought it was a bigger prize than the casing. “No way,” I shook my head. I knew they would never do that or would they? Or maybe things weren’t the way they seemed. Was there someone else in the camp who wasn’t who they claimed to be? I eyed each one of my companions one by one searching for a sign of guilt. First there was Cordum, the captain’s right hand man. He would be in the perfect position to betray us to the enemy or Nayr who was the first to discover that the necklace was missing. Perhaps he was trying to take suspicion off of himself and then again what about Cloud? Was this a ploy that he and Celestia had cooked up in order to keep me from finding a way home until they were sure that Julian was defeated? Most likely it could be the captain himself, maybe he did help Julian capture Celestia and really was leading me into a trap.

“This is crazy!” I thought. There must be some reasonable explanation as to why this is happening. The worst case scenario is that the necklace probably just fell off but there was no way we would ever find it in this thick swamp or even be able to retrace our steps. It would take too much time. I don’t even know when it first disappeared. Despair filled my heart as I pondered what this would mean? How would I get home and what chance was there now to defeat Julian?

“Well, it’s gone,” said the captain after we had searched for a long while without result.

“Don’t worry Violet we’ll think of something,” said Cloud.

“How could I have lost it? It’s all my fault” I cried. I walked over to my mat and sat down and covered my head with my blanket. I felt so angry with myself for losing the necklace. Maybe Cordum was right, the fairies could have been guilty and I let them loose. Nayr brought me some soup but I was too upset to eat. After the others finished eating they went to sleep. I tried to sleep too but I couldn’t, unlike Cordum, Nayr and Census who didn’t seem to mind the thick roots that pierced their backs. I just could not seem to find a tolerable position. I finally moved over to where Cloud was and rested against his soft fur. He didn’t seem to mind. I rested for what seemed like a short while until I was awakened by the sound of a loud crash.

“What was that?” I shrieked as I heard footsteps running across the camp but the fire had burned out and it was too dark to see. The others were also startled and awakened by the noise. Then we heard someone shouting. Cordum finally found a flashlight and when he turned on the light, there was someone standing on the other side of the camp and the light was reflecting off something shiny. Census and I turned on our lights as well and to our surprise, there was Tem and the light was reflecting against his wing.

“Tem?” I said in disbelief. Despite my suspicions about him, I was happy to see him and I ran up and hugged him.

“Hey, Violet!” he smiled.

“What are you doing here?” Census demanded.

“Well, I guess we know what happen to Violets necklace and my knife,” remarked Cordum.

“Tem is not a thief.” I said. “Well technically he is… What I meant was…” I stuttered. Tem gave me a ‘not-helping’ look. “He didn’t take anything, did you?” I turned to face him. I wanted to hear him say it.

“This time, I’m going to make you pay,” shouted Cloud from behind Tem. He was in an attack position ready to pounce on him if he tried to make a run for it. Tem jumped to the other side of me, making me a human shield between him and Cloud.

“Where is your partner in crime? Josili, has got to be around here somewhere,” asked Nayr.

“Look,” said Tem. “We didn’t take your stuff.” He kept a cautious eye on Cloud as he tried to explain,” and if we did, are we such amateurs that we would stick around here to get caught? We followed you, we followed Violet. We wanted to make sure nothing happened to her, and we know who stole the casing,” said Tem.

“You came back for me?” I asked surprised.

“You’re our friend Violet, you believed in us when no one else did and you set us free, we owe you.”I glimpsed around to see Census, Nayr and Cordum all staring at me at the revelation that I had set them free. Cordum shook his head in disbelief and Cloud gave me a look of ’I told you so.’Tem suddenly realized that he had said too much. “Oh, they didn’t know that you let us go.” I shook my head no as Census stepped inbetween us.

“Stay away from him Violet. He can’t be trusted.”He said.

“How many times do I have to tell you? It wasn’t me!” said Tem.

“Census, why don’t you just listen to what he has to say?” I said.

“If you want to know where your necklace is V, you should ask her,” said Josili as she emerged from the thicket. She was holding up a strange animal in one hand by the scruff.

“And what is that?” Cloud asked referring to the tiny white cat like creature with a large fluffy tail almost as big as it was.

“This, my fury friend, is a Coaxcat. She is fairy cat and a skilled thief,” said Josili.

“No doubt a friend of yours.” Cordum added. Josili glared at Cordum before she continued.

“Actually there are no Coaxcat’s in Xis I have never seen one before today. They are extremely rare and somewhat of a legend.”

“Alright,” said Cloud “Where is Violets necklace?” He asked suspiciously.

Josili dropped the cat on the ground. The cat meowed in protest and stood up on two legs. She belligerently paced back and forth with her tail erect, she snobbishly stuck up her nose at Josili.

“Where are the goods, sister?” Josili demanded with her hands on her hips. The cat meowed and shrugged her tiny shoulders innocently.

“So you don’t want to cooperate, well that’s fine.” Josili rolled up her sleeves. “We’ll see how you like it when I turn you into Jurooju.” Josili cracked her knuckles and was about to work her magic when the cat in fear, snapped her fingers and a bag appeared. Josili grabbed the bag and emptied out its contents. The knife and the necklace rolled out and a few other things that we didn’t know were missing but I didn’t see the dewdrop stone.

“Wait!” I said as I picked up my necklace and handed Cordum his knife. “There was something else, there was a stone shaped like a tear drop. Where is it?”

The cat laughed. “You fool.” I eyed the cat.

“You stole the casing before and placed it in my bag!” Tem accused her. He picked the cat up by the scruff. “Admit it!”

“I did no such thing,” said the cat with a huge grin on her face.

“Oh!” Tem held the cat up in the air. “Stop lying! You did it! Tell them?”

“I didn’t!” the cat laughed. “You did it.” I placed a magic clamp on the cat. It adjusted to her size and set her gently on the ground

“Don’t worry about it.” I reassured Tem. “We believe you.” The cat hissed at me.

“I am not so sure about that,” said Census.

It was late and by tomorrow we would enter the center of Neves. After the Captain, Cordum and Cloud threatened to annihilate Tem and Josili at the slightest hint of betrayal and some argument and discussion over what to do with the cat. We finally were able to catch a short nap before we continued on our journey in the morning.

The next morning we packed up our rafts, we made and extra raft for Tem and Josili before we continued deeper into Neves. As we continued the water began to flow faster. The current sent us down stream and we ended up in a large lagoon. We paddled to the center of the lagoon. It was very still and quiet and beautiful, full of many shades of green. There were willow trees on the banks of the river with fragrant flowers and water lilies. There were frogs with large ears that jump from pad to pad and giant fire flies flew close to the water’s edge. There were also giant water plants with stretched out arms. On the other side of the lagoon was a watery passage way and we paddled towards it. A splash in the water caught Tem’s eye.

“Did you see something?” He asked Josili.

“No,” she said. She was too busy taking in the natural beauty. Then there was another splash in the water. Josili looked at the water suspiciously.

“Did you see that?” asked Tem.

“Yes!” said Josili. “Hey you guys! There is something in the water!” She yelled to us.

We all watched the water ready for anything that might come up. Then there was a glow coming from beneath the water and our boats began to shake. We held on tight to the edge of the rafts and tried to steady ourselves to keep from falling overboard. Something was coming up from under us like a submarine, but instead a large squishy platform rose up under our boats and the boats sat on top of it.

Then some other platforms arose all around us and standing on top of them, we were surrounded by about twenty men and women. They had arms and legs but their skin was green and scaly. Their heads where smooth and their hair seemed to attach to their backs like a fin. Their faces where like human faces, their hands webbed like a frog.

“The mermaids!” I exclaimed. They pointed their long staffs at us that glowed at the ends.

“Fairies!” said one of the mermaids. “Be careful.” She said to the others. “They are blood thirsty savages.”

“Hey!” said Tem offended that he and Josili had been singled out.

“Why are you here?” asked one of the mermen.

“We come in peace and wish to see your leader. We have something of the utmost importance to speak with him about,” said Census.

“If you truly come in peace then why are you armed?” The merwoman replied.

“We meant no disrespect,” replied Census. “We are on a long journey.” The merman was not convinced by his answer.

“Take their weapons.” The merman commanded. Five of the mermen jumped across the water onto our platform and began seizing our weapons. Cordum and Nayr were about to fight when Census motioned them to stand down. They placed some glowing bracelets around Tem and Josili’s wrists. One of the mermen saw the necklace around my neck.

“Take that off.” He demanded.

“No,” I replied defiantly. I wasn’t about to let anyone take my necklace, not again.

“You’ve taken our weapons. Are you also petty thieves? Leave the girl alone,” said Census.

The leader came across and looked at the necklace. After examining it closer he snatched it from my neck. Census held me back.

“This is a necklace of power,” he returned to his platform and placed the necklace with the other weapons he had confiscated. All of the platforms that we now saw were large jellyfish began to move through the passageway. The plants that we had seen earlier with their long tentacles began to sway.

“Why did you stop me? We have got to get my necklace back.” I complained to Census.

“Don’t worry we will,” the captain reassured me. “We just have to wait for the right opportunity.”

We continued through the entry way that had tall watery plants on both sides of the channel which led us to a larger lake and the most beautiful castle I had ever seen. It was shaped like a flower vase. It was made out of a light blue crystal with green stones around it like the purple stones of Enos. The lake was filled with mermen and mermaids. The ones in the water had one large fin and the ones on land had fin like feet.

“They must have the ability to change their form,” Nayr observed as we passed by the curious onlookers. By the expression on their faces they were not friendly and were even angry at our arrival. By the castle was a large gate. The guards opened the gate and we entered into the castle. The jellyfish continued deep into the castle until we reached a port. We were instructed to leave the jellyfish and the guards led us down another passageway and there we entered a large throne room with a square pool in the center that ran down the length of the giant throne room. After a short time another blue jellyfish emerged from the center pool. Sitting on top of the fish was a throne made of coral and a beautiful mermaid sat on the throne. She was wearing a white gold crown with one of the green stones in the center of it. She sat in her fish like state with her fin spread out like a fan. She wore a bracelet on each arm made of white gold with one green stone embedded on each side. The captain of the merguard went up and whispered something in her ear. He then stood by her side quietly and awaited her command.

“Who are you?” She asked us in a stern unwelcoming voice.Census stepped out from among us.

“My name is Census of Nevele,” said the captain.

“I have heard of you, but why have you come to Neves?” she asked him.

“Your highness I know that your people prefer isolation from the outside world but we have come here to ask for your help.”

“What kind of help?”She asked.

“Well we came here for two reasons. First you must have heard that the Yar army has trespassed into the kingdom of Enos and the kingdom of Ruof. All of Trea has been betrayed by Julian.”

“I have seen this but we do not interfere with matters that go on in the outside world and we do not want others interfering with us.”She said dryly.

“I understand that, I wouldn’t have come if we didn’t desperately need your held. It’s only a matter of time before Julian sets his eyes on Nevele and Neves. We are trying to stop him before it is too late and we are asking you to join in the resistance against his invasion of our lands.”

“I appreciate that your people have reached out to us Cenus of Nevele but I’m afraid that has not been your policy in the past. We prefer to deal with Julian on our own, I am afraid that our policy stands.”

“I urge you to reconsider your highness Julian is more powerful than any kingdom can overcome on its own, but I respect your sovereignty, and our offer still stands.” The queen knodded at him.

“And why else have you come?”

“We know that one of the parts of the crystal casing, is here in Neves. Allow us to search for it and we will be on our way.”The queen who had seemed cordial enough before now seemed agitated.

“Maybe the casing is here,” said the queen, her fin transformed into green feet and she stood up from her throne. She paced the platform. “And maybe,” She said finally, “you are Yar spies and have come to scout out our kingdom.”

“Not so, my queen,” said Census. “We are enemies of the Yar and have come here in peace.”

She didn’t seem to pay any attention to his response to her accusations but focused her fish eyes on me.

“Is this the princess of Enos? I heard that she was captured when the Yar invaded her kingdom. How clever of you to arrange a decoy.” She glanced at the head guard.

“Unfortunately, Celestia was captured by the Yar. We have been unsuccessful in locating her.” The queen looked disappointed. Census took the opportunity to try to persuade her once more to to join us. “Join us your highness, together we can find Celestia and make sure both our kingdoms remain free.” The queen rubbed her fin across her scaly chin before she replied.

“Census you are trying to deceive me,” she said.” I can see clearly that this is the princess.”

“I am not the princess.” I declared.

“If you are not then why do you wear this power stone of Enos?” She pulled out my necklace and dangled it in the air.

“My necklace!” I cried out. “Give it to me!” I headed toward the throne but two guards stopped me in my tracks.

“Do you take me for a fool?”said the queen angrily. “Aquala! I have heard enough of this.” She said to the guard. “Take our guests to the dungeons.” More guards approached us from the back of the room and surrounded us.

“Your highness your making a mistake,” pleaded Census as we were dragged out of the throne room.

“Your right!” she said. The guards paused when the queen spoke. “Leave the handsome young captain I’m not done with him yet and release the poor little cat. No doubt the savages were going use it for food.” The cat grinned at us as the guards removed her clamp.

“You haven’t heard the last of me,” Tem warned the cat as they led us out of the throne room and the door slammed shut.