The Secret of the Stone

“Now, now Kiki,” Julian spoke gently to the cat as he stroked the nape of her neck. Even when he appeared to be caring there was something in his voice slimy and deceitful. “Dear brother, did you actually think I would allow you get your traitorous hands on the crystal casing?”He began. He jump down with ease from the high platform and landed near the throne. His enhanced agility was no doubt a side effect of the ring and he sat down in Seala’s seat. He crossed his legs and slung his cape around the side of the chair, the cat jumped on him and curled up in his lap. “Jailan you were always a failure and now your failure is complete.”

“I wander how confident you would be without that pretty piece of jewelry you have there.”Jailan asked him. Julian stopped to admire the magic ring.

“At least I am no coward.” He said. “I am not afraid of its power and unlike you I am strong enough to bend it too my will.” Julian smirked.

“Well, will see about that!”Jailan replied.

“You were always a disappointment Jailan. That’s why even though you had the birthright, father always knew that I would make a far better ruler of our people than you could ever be.”Julian scowled.

“You were always jealous of me Julian but you have gone too far this time. You are playing with powers you don’t understand and your untamed ambition has the potential to not only destroy you but the rest of the world as well.” Jailan seeing that his brother could not be reasoned with then turned to the queen. “Queen Seala if you think that making a deal with my brother will keep your kingdom safe you are mistaken. He will not stop until he controls the whole world and that includes Neves.”

“Look for yourself, your highness, he is already making himself comfortable on your throne.” Census whispered to her. Julian yawned as if he was bored.

“Jailan, your words as usual fall on deaf ears,” said Julian. “The queen is smart enough to see she is on the winning side. There is nothing anyone can do to stop me even all the kingdoms of the world.”

“What have you done with Celestia, Julian!”Census demanded.

“Captain Census of Nevele,” Julian chuckled, “it’s been a long time but don’t worry about your princess. She is my honored guest for the time being.” He then turned his attention towards me. “But more importantly who is this young lady you have with you?” I gave him a disgusted look but inside I felt terrified. I didn’t know I would have to face him so soon and I wasn’t prepared.

“Bring her to me,” he instructed the merguard.

“Stay away from her!” Cloud protested as one of the guards pulled me out from the others and took me to the edge of the pool. We boarded a jelly fish that took us to the other side of the pool were we stepped off on the other side and stood at the bottom of the throne.

“Violet is it?” I didn’t answer. “I have been looking forward to meeting you for quite some time.”

“Oh, why is that?” I asked. I hoped he did not notice my knees shaking uncontrollably.

“I have heard so much about you, from Celestia.” He added, but I couldn’t believe that Celestia would tell him anything about me.

“Your lying!” I said as he pulled out my necklace from his pocket.

“It’s the truth. I am sorry to have to tell you this but your so called friends have deceived you.” His voice made my stomach turn. He then came down from the throne and met me at the bottom of the steps.

“What are you talking about?”

“This little trinket was infused with a spell that would not allow you to return home.”He declared.

“I don’t believe you!” I cried. All of a sudden I felt as if I couldn’t breath. “It’s not true.” I said.

“It’s the truth.” He continued. “I realize that my jealous brother has told you nothing but lies about me but that treacherous princess and her heartbroken lover are only using you and I don’t think it’s fair to you.” He shook his head sympathetically.

“Don’t listen to him, Violet,” Cloud cried out.

“Silence!” commanded Julian and one of the guards poked Cloud with his staff as a warning for speaking out of turn. Julian then continued. “I am afraid there is nothing that I can do for your friends, but there is something I would like to do for you Violet.” He came closer to me. “A little favor for my friend Celestia,” He sounded like a snake as his words slid together.

“What do you mean?”I asked him as I tried to keep my voice from trembling.

“You see Violet. When I am finish with this ugly dispute with the kingdoms of Threa I will bring order and peace to this world like never before. I want to be fair to everyone and that means sometimes I have to do hard things.” He sounded regretful. He paused before continuing. “In all fairness, I realize that you would not be standing here with my enemies if you knew the truth. I am going to give you back this necklace.” He said as he held out my necklace in front of me. I tried to take it but he pulled it back.

“If you are such a fair and righteous ruler, why are you trying to force everyone to live under your control? Why did you kidnap Celestia?”I asked him.

“Celestia has commited crimes against my kingdom.”

“That’s a lie!” cried Census. Julian looked up at the Captain.

“I am going to make sure she gets exactly what she deserves.” He then turned to me. “But you, you didn’t deserve to be used as a pawn forced to take part in all this. You don’t belong here, this has nothing to do with you.” He paused again and he turned and looked at me sincerely. “That’s why I am going to help you go home. I have broken the spell on the necklace. Take it!” He tossed the necklace at me, “Leave and don’t come back!” I caught it. I stared at the necklace. I finally had it and now I could go home and forget this whole thing ever happened.

“Take me home!” I cried. The door immediately opened. I headed towards the door as Julian’s words echoed in my mind. But could I ever forget these past few weeks or ever return to life as normal. I turned and looked to the others as I stood there for a moment thinking. I knew what he said was true someone had set me up, someone wanted to make sure that I didn’t get back home without defeating Julian. Maybe it was Celestia or her father, maybe Cloud knew all about it. Now was my chance to take the necklace and forget I ever came to this place. This was not my fight. But what would happen to them, Tem and Josili, Cordom, Nayr, Cloud and even Census? Julian would kill them. But they tricked me, if it had been up to them I was never going to see my mom again. They didn’t really care about me they were just trying to use me to save their precious princess. I held up the necklace. I stood there in silence starring at the necklace wishing it would tell me what to do.

“Are you still here!” said Julian impatiently as he reached the top of the throne and sat down in Seala’s chair. I slipped the necklace over my head and sighed before I gave him my answer.

“I am not going anywhere.” I said quietly. I couldn’t believe the words that came out of my own mouth. “Close the door,” I commanded the necklace and the door closed.

“What did you say?” asked Julian.

“I don’t know if what your saying is true or not but I know a bully when I see one and I don’t trust you so… I am not going anywhere!” Julian’s eyes grew large with contempt.

“Insolent little fool,” said Julian. “You see that Seala? Do you hear that Jailan? This is what happens when you try to be merciful.” He turned to me again.“You miserable little ingrate but its just as well, you will suffer the same fate as your friends.” Julian waved his hand and the merguard took me back across the pool to where the others were standing.

“Violet you did the right thing,” said Cloud when I reached the others.

“Yeah, Violet,” knodded Nayr and Cordum in agreement.

“I am not so sure about that.” I mumbled. “I’m sure you all would have done the same for me.”

“Not Really,” said Josili.

“Yeah, Violet,” complained Tem. “You should have used the necklace to escape and then come back and rescue us.”

“My dear,” Julian said to the queen. “Bring me the casing! Seala came down from the ledge she and Census had been standing on. She picked up a blue box from off its stand and gave it to him” He took the box from her and headed towards the pillars. “I trust you will properly dispose of our uninvited guests.”He gave her one last command.

“Of course,” said the queen bowing her head. “Destroy them!” She gave the order before following Julian up the back staircase.

“As you wish my queen, “said Aquala. As soon as Julian and the queen flew up to the higher platform and disappeared behind the pillars into a back room, the merguards aimed their staffs at us.

“We have got to stop him!” Jailan cried.

“Yes!” said Cordum. “Let’s do it!” Cordum and Nayr headed for the mermen. They started shooting at us and I used my shield to protect us from the electric currents. Cloud was too quick and too agile for the merguards to stun as he mulled several of them over like a bowling ball hitting pins. Nayr wrestled with the mermen and managed to get a staff from one of them. He used the staff to remove the chains from Tem and Josili’s arms. The two fairies then flew high into the air. One of the guards called for reinforcements but the fairies sealed the door with an oozy cement so that no one else could enter the throne room. Tem and Josili and I headed up the staircase to where Census was hovering above us. Tem and Josili held off the incoming guards as I ran up the stairs to the platform. Some of the guards managed to get past Tem and Josili and followed me but Jailan arrived just in time to hold them off as he gnawed and growled at them.

“Violet watch out!” Census warned me as I approached him. One of the mermaids had me in her sights. She all of a sudden grew wings and flew up to the platform where I was standing. First she tried to ram me. I ducked behind a pillar almost falling off the platform. Then the mermaid landed on the platform and tried to shoot at me with her staff but I blocked her shots with my force field. When that didn’t work she tried and all out assault with her staff. She ran towards me holding the staff high in the air as if to club me. What now? I thought. I held out my hand and a purple beam flew out of it. When it hit her, she slammed against the wall and slid across the floor. She was out cold.

“Good Job,” said Census.” Now help me out of here!” I rushed toward the bubble.

“Where is the lever on this thing?” I couldn’t figure out how to get the bubble open.

“The queen used that lever on the wall.” He said. I ran towards the lever and tried to push it down but it wouldn’t budge.

“It’s not working.” I cried. “Hold on”. I said as I turned towards the cage. “Stand on one side!” Census moved to the side. He looked a little nervous as I held my hand in the air. I felt power building up inside of me and I could control it. I felt powerful like the night on the round mysterious rock. I gave the cage two shots and the side blew open. Once Census was sure he was not hit, he ran out of the opening.

“That’s some power you go there!” He said stopping breifly to observe the damage.

“Yeah,” I smiled proudly and then I remembered what we had to do. “Oh, we have to get the casing!”

“Right!” Census agreed.

We ran behind the pillars and up another flight of stairs. We entered the back door and ran to the top of the tower. Julian was there with the queen. The queen was holding the crystal casing and the cat was beside him. The cat spotted us first as we entered the room.

“Watch out!” she purred. Julian and the queen turned around surprised to see us.

“Guards!” called the queen.

“Give us the casing Julian!” said Census as we entered the room.

“How very clever of you,” said Julian calmly. He then began to laugh, “But you made a mistake coming here. There is no way you can’t defeat me. I am much too powerful.”

“We will see about that!” I said powering up my shield with one hand and aiming at him with another. I tried to take him by surprised and fired the purple beam at him. The beam had no effect on him and he seemed to drain my energy back into his ring. He then laughed even louder.

He aimed his tourmaline ring at us and shot out a beam. I put up the force field but I could feel the pressure of the beam heavy upon it.

“I… can’t… hold it anymore.” I struggled to maintain the shield but the beam was too strong. I tried to hold on as long as possible before I lost all power. Census and I fell to the ground as tourmaline ring broke through my shield.

“Violet!” Census said as he held me up.

“I feel so weak.” I said tiredly. I could barely hold my eyes open. Julian continued to laugh as he walked towards us.

“I must admit you gave a good try my dear, but that was only a taste of the rings true power. Maybe”, he thought aloud. “I should take you with me to keep Celestia company.” Then he shook his head at the thought. “No, I am afraid I have had more than enough of the daughters of Enos. So, I’m going to have to kill you.”He added matter of factly.

Census got in front of me to shield me from Julian’s view but it wouldn’t have helped. Julian aimed the ring at us.

“Violet, Census!” Tem cried as he and Josili flew through the entrance with Jailan running in below them.

“You’re too late!”Julian laughed. He then began to glow orange and his cloak flew back from the enormous power that encompassed him. Josili and Tem began to attack him sending beams of light at him. He brushed off their feeble attempts and absorbed their power into the ring tossing to and fro like a drunken magician. He shined like a miniature sun. All of a sudden he looked at us with contempt. His eyes grew large and dilated. We knew he was about to disintegrate us in an instant.

“Well, we tried.” I said as I closed my eyes tight anticipating our impending annihilation and then I heard him groan loudly. I opened my eyes as he staggered forward and I could see he was in pain.

“What happened?” Tem asked as we starred at him surprised that Julian had fallen to the floor. We looked up to see Seala standing behind him. She had stabbed him with her spear. We all looked at her in disbelief. Seala was shaking fearfully as she clutched the spear in her hands. Census approached her and helped her put down the spear.

“Your highness,” said Census. The queen paused and took a deep breath before she picked up the casing from the back table to hand it to Census.

“You were right!” she told him. “He’s a monster he must be …” As she placed the casing in his hands. She all of a sudden screamed. “Ah!” She cried. Census watched the agonizing pain on her face before she fell to the ground. Julian managed to hit her in the back with a powerful beam before he collapsed again. The casing rolled to the floor and Kiki wasted no time to retrieve it. She headed towards it with her catlike agility but Jailan quickly intercepted her and jumped in front of the casing. He growled fiercely at her and the cat high tailed it away in the other direction and Jailan chased her up a mantle.

“Queen Seala!” Census leaned her up against the wall. She could barely lift herself up! With her last bit of strength she picked up the casing from the floor that was near her and placed it in Census’s hand. “Take the casing, hurry. Go! He must not get the casing, your our only hope!” she said before she passed out. Tem and Josili where already lifting us off the ground.

“Jailan get the others,” said Census. Tem carried Census and Josili carried me and we flew out the top window. Julian soon regained consciousness but it was too late. He aimed clumsily at us tearing a hole in the side of the tower. We flew through the air towards the forest. We flew so fast I would have been nauseas if I had not been half unconscious. We could hear Julian curse us as we distanced ourselves from the tower. We could see Cloud running from the palace with Cordum and Nayr on his back and Jailan running beside them. We caught up with them and continued deep into forest. We continued through the forest until we were sure we were far enough away to have a good head start from Julian once he came after us. Nayr and Cordum dismounted Cloud and they put me on his back and we kept on going. We continued on into the woods Tem and Josili flying behind us as we headed towards the boarder of Neves.

After traveling for hours through the swampy forest we finally reached dry land. It was already dark but we kept going until Tem and Josili finally collapsed on the ground.

“Can we take a break!” complained Tem. The others fell to the ground in agreement.

“We will rest here for awhile,” said Census.

“Nayr and I are going to try and find some food,” said Cordum as he slowly picked himself up.

“We are?” said Nayr wearily.

“Come on!” said Cordum. Nayr stood up and followed him and they disappeared into the woods. Census carried me from Clouds back onto a mat.

“Thanks.” I said.

“Just rest,” he said. He put a blanket over me and patted me on the shoulder before walking over to where Jailan stood. Cloud came over and sat down beside me. I turned away from him angrily. I don’t know why I was angry with Cloud. Maybe it was the queer look he gave me when Census helped me to the mat.

“What a day!” He commented. I didn’t say anything. He could sense my mood. “Is everything all right?” He asked.

“Cloud did you know the necklace had a spell on it so I couldn’t get home?” I asked him plainly.

“Oh, come on Violet, you don’t seriously believe Julian do you?”

“His story seems pretty straight to me.” I struggled to sit up. Cloud helped me up by lifting me up by the back of my shirt with his teeth. I pulled away from him. “So was it you or Celestia?”

“Violet I would never do such a thing!” He insisted, “and neither would Celest.”

It didn’t take Nayr and Cordom long to come back with their catch that utterly disgusted Cloud. I too was a little turned off but hunger overtook me. Cloud and the fairies declined the food and went to find edible leaves and berries from the woods that surrounded the camp. After we finished eating, we rested. I was not too tired because I had slept on Clouds back while we travelled. I saw the captain and Jailan discussing something and afterwards Jailan ran off into the woods. The captain walked by my mat on his way to the other side of the camp.

“Is Jailan gone?” I asked.

“I should have known you’d be awake,” said the captain with a sigh. “You should be resting Violet. You will need your strength.”

“I am not tired anymore.” I was actually feeling a lot better after eating the tasteless beast Nayr had prepared. For the flavor it lacked it made up for in energy production and my powers seemed to have regenerated somewhat. “I saw Jailan leave?” I repeated the question.

“He went back to his cave.” Census said as he sat down beside me.

“Oh,” I complained. “he just went back to his cave? I thought he would be coming with us?”

“Me too,” said Census. “But he has been very useful. After I told him what Celestia told you about her whereabouts, he was pretty sure he knew where we could find her.”

“Wow, that’s great!” I exclaimed, but I felt a little bit disappointed at the news. “So now that you know where she is you should go after her. You should go and rescue her!” I suddenly thought about the spell on the necklace. “Rescue your Princess,” I whispered. Census sensed the change in my voice.

“You should be ecstatic, hopefully you won’t have to take on Julian by yourself next time.” He smiled.

“I am, it’s just.” I hesitated as I thought about a next time with Julian and what he had said about Celestia’s betrayal. “Maybe it was Celestia that put a spell on my necklace so that I couldn’t go home.”

“That doesn’t sound like her, I don’t believe she would do it,” he said.

“Who else would do it?” I glared at him. I knew that Census would never believe that his precious little princess would ever try to deceive someone. “Never mind,” I said as I tried to change the subject. “I wander did Queen Seala make it? Who would have ever thought she would help us like she did.”

“Yes, I guess she was helping Julian because she thought that was the only way to protect her people.” He said. “But in the end she realized that we can’t give in to fear.”

“What did you say to her anyway to convince her to change her mind? She said you were right about something?” I asked him.

“Oh, I just reminded her that the people of Threa are strong and will never sit back and do nothing as Julian takes over the planet. We will continue to fight until there is no one left for him to rule over.”

“Well hopefully it won’t come to that.” I said.

“Not with you here Violet,” he said and then he looked worried.“When you got hit by the beam, I wasn’t sure you’d survive, but you did.” He said. He then hesitated before he continued, “you see all this time I didn’t want you on this mission, I was afraid that I would not be able to protect you like I wasn’t able to protect Celest.” I held his hand to reassure him.

“Census what happened to Celest was not your fault. From what I have heard you were nowhere near Enos at the time.”

“I was suppose to go and visit Celestia in Enos earlier but I delayed coming.”

“You couldn’t have known that Julian would attack?

“I guess your right.” I realized that I was still holding his hand and I let him go. “Violet the way you stood up to Julian and stood by us. I was wrong about you.”

“Oh, so I am not the spoiled, irresponsible… Am I forgetting something?”

“Don’t forget stubborn,” he added. I frowned. And you let those fairies loose!” He laughed. I laughed too.

“Well, they were innocent after all?” I reminded him. He paused for a moment before responding.

“I’m glad you’re here, Violet.” He said. He then smiled at me and I smiled back at him. His eyes met mine I tried to look away but I couldn’t help but returned his glance and before I knew it he reached over and kissed me.

The kiss lasted but a second and when reality sunk in we glared at each other uncomfortably. Neither one of us knew what to say. I started to feel even more awkward. He looked like he felt awkward too. I looked around the camp unable to face him. And there was a long awkward silence.

“Yeah! I am getting very sleepy now.” I blurted out since he obviously didn’t have the good sense to make a graceful exit. “See you in the morning.” I still didn’t look at him. I threw the cover over my head and faced the other direction. He paused for a moment as if he was going to say something but instead he just stood up and walked back over to his mat in silence.