Prince of Gulbrania

by Lauren M. Flauding

  In utter confusion, I scanned the hall and saw my mother and father and a number of their agents and guards engaged in combat with the armed intruders. What is going on? I thought as I stood there, dumbfounded. Then I saw a familiar face.

  Over by the refreshment table, I noticed Boris Haugen, the man who had kidnapped me a month ago, grappling with one of the guards. That’s when everything started to make sense. This was the Jumerum. And of course it was the Jumerum, who else would be attacking us? But I only got to bask in my revelation for a moment before someone shot me in the shoulder. I was propelled backward from the force, and I fell under the table. I groaned as I grabbed the place where the bullet had hit me, but to my surprise, there was no blood, no hole, not even a tear in my suit. The only thing I felt was a little soreness.

  “Frederick! Are you alright?” Alm exclaimed as he slid under the table next to me.

  “I... I think so. I thought I got shot, but...”

  “It’s the Gulbranak,” Alm interjected.

  “What?”

  “The Gulbranak in your suit. It’s bullet proof. Look,” he said, pointing out at the melee, “we all have it.”

  I peered over the table and focused a little closer on the fight. It was pretty easy to see who the Gulbranians were because they were all dressed up. I watched the Jumerum fruitlessly firing their guns at their opponents. The bullets just bounced right off of their clothing. One guard raised his arm to protect his face from a shot. Even my mom, who was fighting expertly in a regal ballgown, was effectively shielded from the Jumerum’s guns.

  “So, are you just going to hide here all night?” Alm asked.

  I stared at him. His eyes were oddly bright. “What do you mean?”

  “This is your fight too, kid.” He smiled at me, then charged back out onto the floor.

  I gulped. It was one thing to practice combat in training, but an entirely different thing to experience it in real life. I wasn’t sure I was ready for this. I considered just staying under the table while everyone else fought. I needed to stay alive for the Gulbranak, right? I rationalized that it would be selfish for me to go out there and risk my life. But then I watched my parents as they relentlessly battled against the Jumerum. I watched everyone else do their part, and I realized that they were doing it for me, for Gulbrania. And for the first time in my life, I felt a sense of pride for my homeland.

  I stood and headed into the battle, attracting the attention of several members of the Jumerum. They all fired their guns at me. One bullet missed, one hit me in the leg, and the rest appeared to be darts, which, luckily, my suit protected against as well. I came up on the side of a large man who was attacking Alm and roundhouse kicked him in the ribs, knocking him to the ground.

  “Yes! That’s what I’m talking about!” Alm shouted. It was the most emotion I’d ever seen him show.

  From there I engaged with a woman with red, spiky hair and a vicious look in her eyes. At first I fought tentatively, feeling weird about attacking a female, but when she head-butted me, I knew that all bets were off. I punched her in the chin while she was trying to stick a dart in me, sending her toppling backwards. I went on, fighting with several other members of the Jumerum, knocking some of them out and getting pretty beat up in the process. I might have been tempted to congratulate myself on my relative success, but I had noticed that some of the Gulbranian agents and guards were hovering close to me, making sure I didn’t get shot or taken. At one point a dart whizzed past my ear and stuck into the neck of a guard on my left, and she promptly passed out.

  Several minutes later, when I couldn’t find anyone else to fight, I looked around and triumphantly realized that all of the Jumerum were either unconscious, incapacitated, or tied up. The Gulbranian guards and agents looked battered, but from what I could tell, they were all alive. The adrenaline that had been coursing through me just moments before seemed to disappear as I collapsed in a nearby chair, feeling exhausted but strangely at ease.

  “Is that all of them?” I heard my dad say from across the room.

  “Yes, your Highness,” Alm responded, “looks like we got the whole organization.”

  My father smiled and I saw my mom sigh in relief as she wiped some blood off of her cheek. The two of them came together and kissed long enough to make me feel really uncomfortable. “We did it, Evelyn,” my father whispered, kissing her lightly again. When they finally broke apart, my dad turned back to Alm. “And how did we fare?”

  “Lila got sedated, Bruce broke his leg and Phineas got shot in the hand, but otherwise, everyone is fine, including,” he added, pointing to me, “the prince.”

  My father joyfully rushed over to me and embraced me, which was a little weird, since he hadn’t shown much affection in the last few weeks.

  “We did it, son!” He exclaimed. “We captured all of the Jumerum! They fell for the trap!”

  I frowned. “Trap? So, wait, you knew they were coming?”

  “Of course!” My father responded unabashedly. “We purposely leaked the information about your presentation gala and decided to hold it up here on land. We knew the Jumerum wouldn’t be able to resist having both of us in one place!”

  I felt my temper rising. “You used me as bait?” I shouted. “You guys went behind my back and planned out this whole thing?” I couldn’t control my anger. It was too much. They had left me in the dark, again.

  “Frederick, it was all completely controlled,” my father explained, waving his hand in the air. “Your were protected the entire time. There were a dozen guards assigned to you, your suit is bulletproof, and there’s even a deflecting mechanism in your collar that redirects bullets away from you.”

  I shook my head. I felt betrayed. Never mind that just a few minutes ago I had been planning to fake my own death and run off to Indiana. This somehow seemed a lot worse. “I just don’t know that I’m ever going to be able to trust you,” I said, leveling a nasty glare at my father.

  He furrowed his eyebrows, looking serious for the first time that night. “Frederick, I’m sorry that we’ve kept so much from you, but now with the Jumerum out of the way, we can turn over a new leaf.”

  I rolled my eyes at him. I wasn’t going to let him get off the hook with promises. I knew he had his reasons for what he did, and they were probably really good reasons, but I was still mad.

  I was about to reply with another snarky comment when the sound of a bullet ripped through the air. I looked around to see where it had come from, but the next moment my father was falling forward and hitting the floor in front of me. There was blood running from the back of his head. I heard my mom screaming.

  I managed to tear my eyes away from the impossible scene in front of me to see a man sitting on the floor across the hall, holding a gun. His legs were tied together. He must have wriggled out of his bonds to reach the weapon.

  “You’ll never kill the Jumerum,” he wheezed with a sickly smile, and then he took aim at me.

  Another gunshot rang out and the man collapsed. Alm ran over to make sure he was dead, then he ran to my father, who was lying still on the floor.

  I fell to my knees, looking between the lifeless form of my dad and my mother, who was crouched down next to him, shaking with sobs. It all felt so surreal. I couldn’t react, couldn’t feel. Had my dad really just been killed?

  A stocky guard approached me. “Your highness, do we have your permission to take your father to the hospital for final preparations?”

  I stared at the guard in confusion. What was he talking about? “I don’t... why are you asking me?”

  “Your father is dead,” my mom managed to choke out. “You’re in charge, Frederick. They report to you now.”

  I felt as if an unknown force was pulling me into the floor. In my silence, the guard spoke again.

  “Do we have your permission to defer to the queen?”

  “Yes,” I whispered, feeling as if someone else was saying it.

  Everything became blurry as several
guards carefully lifted my father’s body and took it from the room, my mother following close behind them.

  The rest of the guards took the dead, unconscious, and bound Jumerum members out of the hall, but I barely saw any of it. I couldn’t process anything, it was too much. I put my hand on my chest in an attempt to steady my breathing, and I felt something in my suit pocket. The zombie powder. I closed my eyes.

  Indiana.

  Kayla.

  None of that mattered anymore.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Kayla

  I lingered in the student government room after school to fill out my application to run for student body president. I figured I would just go for it. I didn’t have much to lose. I finished up and went out into the nearly deserted hallway where I was met with a strange sight. Outside the vice principal’s office, Mrs. Youngblood was talking to my dad. I was surprised that he was in the school. I thought they had better security than to just let ex convicts roam the halls. Mrs. Youngblood looked distressed, and when she saw me, she pointed in my direction and then disappeared into her office. My dad smiled and walked toward me, and it took all my resolve not to run away. I could at least hear him out. I would give him a chance.

  “Hi honey,” he said confidently, making like he was going to give me a hug.

  I backed away and gave him a warning glare.

  “Okay, I get it,” he said, chuckling. “It’s too soon. I spoke with your mother-”

  “I know. She told me,” I said curtly.

  “She said you were willing to talk to me,” he continued, disregarding what I had just said.

  “Yeah. I want some answers,” I responded.

  He shrugged. “Fair enough. Do you want to go to the park by the library?”

  I stared at him. It was freezing outside. But at least that would give me an excuse to cut our conversation short.

  “Sure,” I said. “I’ll meet you there.” There was no way I was going to get in a car with him.

  Ten minutes later, I was pulling my coat close around me as I sat down on a bench that faced a small pond. Next to me, my dad sighed contentedly.

  “I used to bring you here all the time,” he said, looking out at the pond. “We’d feed the geese when they were here in the summertime.”

  I gave a slight nod. I had a faint memory of it, but it wasn’t a pleasant one. All my memories of my father became tainted with bitterness when he betrayed us. There were a few moments of silence, and then my father turned to me.

  “So, how have you been?” He asked.

  I almost laughed. What a loaded question. “I’ve been fine,” I responded. “Mom and I have gotten along just great without you.”

  “You’re both working yourselves to death at that decrepit diner,” he scoffed. “I wouldn’t call that getting along great.”

  “We’re fine,” I asserted.

  “Alright, alright,” he said, putting his hands up. “So how has school been for you? What are your hobbies?”

  I took a deep breath. “Dad, I really don’t want to sit here, in the cold, talking about how the last ten years have been without you,” I said sharply. “What I really want to know, is why you did it? What in the world could have possibly driven you to nearly kill someone?”

  My dad leaned back on the bench and chewed on his lip. “Honestly? Money. Lots of money.”

  I felt sick. “Money? And was that worth abandoning your family and becoming a despicable human being?”

  “No, it was not,” he admitted, looking regretful for the first time. Then he looked at me, his eyes intense. “But you’ve got to understand, Kayla. We were always struggling back then, and when an opportunity came that offered so much possibility, so many ways to turn our lives around, I had to take it. I know I was naive then, but there’s a part of me that still wishes I had completed the job.”

  I swallowed. Okay, so I could recognize that he felt some remorse, but he hadn’t completely changed. At least he was being honest.

  “I’m sorry for the pain I caused you, Kayla, I really am,” he said, his expression darkening. “But now I’ve been offered a second chance to make it up to you.”

  I nodded. He was out of prison, he could make a clean start. “A second chance to start over with your family?”

  “No, to finish the job.”

  “What?” I yelled, jumping off the bench. You caused us so much agony, and you spent ten years in jail, and now you’re just going to go try and kill someone again?”

  “Quiet down!” My father scolded, glancing around. “I’m not going to kill anyone.”

  I shook my head in bewilderment. “Then what is it that you’re going to do?”

  “I’m going to kidnap someone.”

  I was ready to scream. “Oh, and that’s so much better?”

  “Just listen. Back then they were trying to kill the guy, but since then they’ve gotten new information, and they know they need to keep him alive.”

  “Him? And who is ‘they’?”

  “The organization that recruited me in the first place. They’re very prestigious, very moral.”

  “Oh yeah, going around trying to kill people is very ethical,” I scoffed.

  “No really, they are. They’re trying to redistribute a rare metal that this guy and his country are hoarding. If they succeed, it could really change the world.”

  I closed my eyes. This just didn’t ring true. I couldn’t believe I was listening to this.

  “And if we succeed,” my father said meaningfully, I could give you whatever kind of life you want. Wherever you want to go, whoever you want to be, I’d have the resources to make it happen.”

  I stepped back. “What do you mean we?”

  “This is why I wanted to talk to you, honey. I could really use your help. You’d be able to get around easier than I could, provide distractions... of course, I’d make sure that you were completely safe.”

  I started to shake with anger. “Are you kidding me? There is no way I’m going to go help you illegally kidnap the guy you tried to kill before.”

  “Actually, it’s not the same guy,” my father said nonchalantly. “That guy is already dead. It’s his son that they need.”

  “Son?” I said incredulously. “And who is this person?”

  My dad leaned forward. “It’s the crown prince of Gulbrania.”

  “Gulbrania?” I choked out.

  “Yeah, some cheeky teenage boy. He’s probably a spoiled brat.”

  I rubbed my forehead. This was so weird. Gulbrania? What were the odds?

  My dad stood and put his hand on my shoulder. I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn’t even pull away. “Let me know if you change your mind,” he said, slipping a piece of paper into my hand. A phone number. “I could really use your help, and the reward would be life changing.”

  I stared at my father, and I had a sinking feeling as I realized we were alike. We were both driven, ambitious, we liked to be in control. But I could never let myself go that far. He squeezed my shoulder and walked away, leaving me alone by the bench in the empty park. All I wanted to do at that moment was to get as far away from him as possible.

  *****

  I closed my laptop in frustration. I had spent the last hour looking up Gulbrania, trying to find out anything about this mysterious metal, or the royal family, or how I might be able to send a message to them, but I had found virtually nothing. I remembered that Frog had once said they were a very private country, and my futile search definitely proved that point. All I could find was an old picture of a castle on a cliff near the ocean, and a blurry picture of their prince. From what I could tell, he seemed muscular and handsome, but that didn’t much help my cause.

  Ever since my father had asked for my help with his awful task the day before, I had been consumed with finding a way to warn the prince. I knew it was a long shot, but I figured there must be some kind of social media channel or royal security line where I could send them a message of the impending thr
eat. Unfortunately, I couldn’t even find a single article relating to the country, much less somebody’s contact information. It was almost as if the country were made up.

  I fell back on my bed. I should just forget about it, I thought. This had nothing to do with me, this wasn’t my fight. And yet, it was, because my selfish father had told me about it. And now, if he got the job done and kidnapped that guy, I’d always feel this awful guilt that I didn’t do anything about it. And yet, what could I do about it?

  I looked at my phone, thinking about the option I had been avoiding. I could just call Frog, who was conveniently in Gulbrania, and see if he could get a message to the prince, but I really didn’t want to have to go that route. Not only had I decided to leave him alone, but I was also a little afraid that he wouldn’t answer. I rolled my eyes at my own juvenile behavior. If me calling Frog could somehow help the prince not get captured, I needed to just do it. I picked up my phone and pressed the button to call Frog, then waited anxiously, trying to figure out how I was going to explain the situation to him without sounding crazy. My heart sank when I heard it go straight to voicemail.

  “Hey, Frog, this is Kayla. Sorry to bother you, but I just found out that the prince of your country is in danger, and I thought you might be able to warn him somehow.” I shook my head. I sounded so stupid. “Anyway, just please call me when you get this.”

  I ended the call and sighed. I was disappointed that he hadn’t answered, but at least I had done something. I checked the time. I had a volleyball game in 30 minutes, and if I didn’t get going I would be late.

  I got dressed in my uniform and drove over to the school, wondering why I was even bothering to go to the game. Coach Hartwell had benched me for every game so far, and I knew I wouldn’t be playing, but I needed a distraction.

  I halfheartedly went through warm ups with the team then took my place behind the sidelines. I got lost in my thoughts, but about 15 minutes into the game, I heard several gasps from the crowd. I looked up and saw that one of the girls was limping off the court, with the help of two other players.