Knights of Riona

by KT Webb

  Today our soldiers returned from the portal at the pond. These three long weeks had me in the grips of fear itself; not knowing if they were alive or dead was torture. Not only did they return unscathed, but they brought back news of a civilized and advanced world.

  We have reason to believe our ancestors came from the dimension on the other side. Every other portal we’ve encountered leads to desolation or terror, but the people of Earth are much like us.

  I have logged my report and sent it to King Theophilus. I look forward to my next report.

  Lieutenant Paloni

  I was standing in the quarters of Commander Paloni himself. I knew he had once guarded one of the most important inter-dimensional portals, but I’d no idea which one that was. Godfrey Tower was erected to guard the portal to a place called Earth. The very portal that had now been destroyed by our enemy.

  There was a chance Delia was still alive; Earth didn’t sound like the worst place to be stranded, but it could still be an unforgiving world. I decided then and there, I would do everything in my power to find her and return her to Riona. Until then, I would keep the Bloodstone safe and the kingdom alive.

  “Honey, are you alright? Do you need some help?”

  The unfamiliar male voice called to me from a distance. I tried to shake my head in response, but I didn’t manage to move at all.

  “Taeren? Is that you?”

  “Oh, sweetheart, I don’t know who you’re looking for but my name isn’t Tay-wren. Do you have a cell phone? I can call this Tay-wren for you.”

  I had no idea what the person was talking about. “I need to get back to Godfrey Tower. Have we defeated the Gorum?”

  I heard an odd noise that might have sounded like a bird if it hadn’t been so unnatural. After a series of discordant tones, the man began speaking again, but not to me.

  “Hey, Harv...I’m going to be a little late...I found this girl in the park. She’s just a kid. I think something’s wrong with her. She’s mumbling about a tower and something called a Gore-um. I’m gonna take her to the hospital...Yeah, okay. I’ll be there as soon as I can...Bye.”

  “Mmnnh…” I groaned as I felt arms trying to prop me up.

  “C’mon honey, I’m gonna get you to a doctor. Where’d you get these clothes? Is there a renaissance festival in town?”

  My head was pounding and shivers wracked my body. Perhaps I had fallen ill and dreamt the whole thing. Maybe my parents were still alive and there had never been an attack on the palace. The arms cradling my body behind the knees and shoulders assured me that I was not floating through the crisp air, but the whole thing felt surreal nevertheless.

  “It doesn’t look like you hit your head on anything. Can you hear me? What’s your name, sweetheart?”

  “Delia, Princess of Riona.”

  “Never heard of it. Princess, huh? Delia is a very pretty name. You got a last name?”

  How could this man not have heard of Riona? How can someone live in a place and not know its name? I tried desperately to grasp onto the thoughts and memories that kept flitting across my consciousness. Nothing made sense, but my body was fighting my mind, begging for rest. My head pounded mercilessly as I let my body relax and felt myself slip into nothingness.

  “How is she?”

  “Stable. We’re waiting for the results of the latest CT scan.”

  “Has she regained consciousness at all?”

  “No, sir.”

  “It concerns me that she’s been here this long with no obvious injuries and has yet to regain consciousness.”

  I tried to open my eyes but only managed to allow a tiny sliver of light to penetrate the darkness. The light made my head feel like it was going to explode. I couldn’t force myself to wake, but I was desperate to know who the people were and what they were talking about. I had never heard of a CT scan, but I wanted to know what it had to do with me.

  “Mmmm…” I managed to force a sound out of my body to let them know I was awake.

  A gasp was immediately followed by two hands gripping my own.

  “Delia? Can you hear me, honey?”

  I wanted to tell them I wasn’t deaf. I wanted to insist that they bring Chancellor Tilda to me at once. She would clear this whole thing up; at least, she would if she were still alive. I didn’t even know if Taeren had made it away from the Gorum and Sideon. I sighed deeply.

  “I think she’s getting there, just continue the current course of treatment and let me know when the latest CT results are in.”

  “Yes, doctor.”

  They were saying so many strange things. I had no idea what to think. I wondered if the Sideon had taken me somewhere. I desperately tried to remember what had happened near the tower. I remembered being in the clutches of the filthy Gorum, I remembered Taeren stupidly trying to get them to let me go, but after that everything was blank. It made me feel physically ill just trying to remember. With my stomach turning, I gave in to sleep as it pulled at the corners of my mind.

  “Delia? Can you open your eyes for me? It’s me, Paula, your nurse. You have a visitor.”

  Who could possibly be here to see me? I fought against my body, managing to open my eyes slightly. The harsh light invaded my vision and caused a sharp pain to force its way back into my head.

  “Nurse, alert her doctor that she’s showing signs of waking. If she wakes, he’ll want to order tests immediately.”

  “Yes, sir.” A woman replied.

  I moaned and tried to open my eyes again but the light was too intense. I felt my head drop back against my pillow.

  A faint click to my left might as well have been a thunderclap. “I turned the light off, try again.”

  Cautiously, I pried my eyelids apart. I waited for my eyes to focus on my blurry surroundings. Once everything was in focus, my heart beat wildly. I was in a wholly unfamiliar place. I was lying on a bed in the middle of a sparsely decorated room. A black box hung on the wall directly in front of me; I caught a glimpse of a dull reflection and wondered why a mirror would be so unpolished in a room that seemed pristine.

  The door opened and a woman came in, shutting it behind her. It was only then that I noticed the man sitting in the shadowy corner. A tugging at my right arm caused me to look down. There, stuck in my skin at the crook of my arm was what appeared to be a tiny dagger that had been secured with a small strip of adehesive. Noticing the panic on my face, the woman offered an explanation.

  “That’s just an IV. That tube is delivering fluids to your body.”

  I followed the tube that protruded from what she called an IV until I saw a curious contraption with bags of liquid hanging from it. Drip. Drip. Drip. The liquid seemed to be dripping directly into the tube, flowing from there into my arm.

  Whipping my head back around brought me face to face with an older woman. She wore her graying hair in a braid that began at the crown of her head and continued to her mid-back. Her muted blue clothing was a slight contrast to whitewashed room. I noticed something with small black letters stuck to her chest; Paula. Overall, the woman was nothing special. Her smile was kind and she had clearly defined laugh lines from years of good humor. But nothing about her struck me as interesting aside from the tears forming in her eyes.

  “Hi, I know we haven’t officially met, but my name is Paula. I’m your nurse. This is Doctor Larkin. He’s our resident psychiatrist.”

  Her words didn’t mean much to me. I had no idea what a nurse, doctor, or psychologist were. I looked at the man she had introduced me to; he was just as unremarkable as Paula. The only striking thing about him was the bright purple cloth he wore tied around his neck. It looked very uncomfortable.

  “Hello, Delia. It’s nice to see you awake.” He turned to Paula before continuing, “Please, go call for Doctor Hinkley. He’s going to want to see this.”

  His calm, muted tone sent shivers down my spine. Why was he speaking as though it was unbelievable that I should be awake? I tried to talk, but my voice failed me. My throat wa
s dry. I looked down and noticed my unruly curls cascading past breasts that seemed to have grown overnight. I appeared to be wearing some sort of plain dress. Someone had changed my clothes.

  “Would you like some water?”

  I nodded my head and watched him head to the corner of the room. He turned a knob and water flowed from a silver pipe. I had never seen a water pump inside. This was a very strange place.

  He handed me the glass of water and instructed me to drink slowly. I took a few tentative sips before drinking deeply. It felt like I couldn’t get enough of the cool, clear liquid. With as dry as my mouth was, I must have slept with my mouth open, how embarrassing.

  “Do you remember anything about how you got here?”

  I looked at him suspiciously. I didn’t know if he was trying to get information out of me or if he truly wanted to know how I’d come to be in such an unfamiliar place.

  “It’s okay if you don’t remember. I’ve been told you were pretty distraught when you were found in Central Park. You didn’t appear to have suffered any physical trauma,” he paused as he stared at a silver box with lights in front of him, “It says here that you were found by a nice young man on his morning jog. Do you remember that at all?”

  I shook my head. “The last thing I remember was being tossed through the air by one of the Gorum. Taeren was trying to save me.”

  “Can you tell me about these Gorum?”

  “How could you possibly not know who they are? We’ve been at war with them for years.”

  I watched him write something on the machine. I leaned forward in an attempt to catch a glimpse of his notes, but from where I sat it looked black and empty.

  “You’ll have to forgive me Delia, I’m not familiar with the war you’re referring to. Can you tell me what started it?”

  I sighed. This was a waste of time. Whoever Doctor Larkin was, he wasn’t going to make this easy on me. If he wanted a history lesson, I’d give him one.

  “The Gorum found a portal in their world. It brought them from Goru to Riona. When they saw how beautiful and prosperous our world was, they decided to claim it for their own. The only trouble was, we weren’t willing to give up our home without a fight. We won the first time, but when they returned, they brought the Sideon with them.”

  “Where did they come from?”

  “We don’t know. The Sideon showed up and enlisted the help of the Gorum. They can’t fight, so they found someone to do their dirty work. We don’t know how they found one another.”

  I watched him furiously scribble, wondering why he bothered when nothing was showing up. He looked up to find me studying him and gestured for me to continue.

  “Our army fought against them, and in the process found hundreds of other portals. We discovered that we were not alone in the universe. But, we wanted to protect ourselves from further invasions. My mother, Queen Isadora, ordered guards to protect each portal at all times.”

  “Your mother is the queen?”

  “Yes, please keep up.”

  Dr. Larkin cleared his throat, “My apologies. So, that would make you…”

  “Princess Delia of Riona.”

  “Of course.” More furious scribbling.

  “As I was saying, Queen Isadora and King Theophilus put things in place to ensure that we would only have to face one enemy at a time. The Gorum are very stupid, but they’re very strong. They don’t hold any form of life in high regard, so they are ruthless enemies. Over the years, we thought we were finally beating them. Then came the invasion that led to my parents’ demise.”

  “I’m sorry to interrupt again, but you said your parents died at the hands of the Gorum?”

  I nodded patiently.

  “Do you want to talk about that?”

  An icy hand gripped my stomach. I remembered the scene vividly. The blood draining from my father’s body as it ran through the fingers of the Gorum that held him. The echo of snapping bones as Taeren and I fled the scene.

  “No. I don’t want to talk about it.”

  “How old were you when they died?”

  “Thirteen. It was only a few days ago.”

  His eyebrows grew together. “Do you have a last name? We haven’t been able to locate any other family members for you.”

  “My name is just as I told you, Princess Delia of Riona. I’m not familiar with the term ‘last name’.”

  “I see.”

  Nurse Paula returned with a man in a long white coat. The man was much younger than Paula, and had deep brown eyes that put me in mind of Taeren. The similarities between the two ended there. Where Taeren was young and fit, this man was middle-aged and frumpy. He had a shiny instrument draped around his neck and a tight smile plastered on his face.

  “Hello, I’m Doctor Hinkley. It’s good to see you’ve finally woken up! We’ve been waiting a very long time.”

  “I fail to see how you’ve been waiting so long. I’ve only been here a few days.”

  I was met with silence and forced calm. The way they reacted put me on edge; they were trying too hard to remain neutral. It was obvious.

  “Delia has been telling me about her parents. They both died in a horrible incident.”

  “Oh, that’s too bad dear. Was it a car crash?”

  “What’s a car crash?”

  Doctor Larkin held a hand up to stop Paula from replying. It seemed like there were a lot of things they weren’t telling me, and I didn’t understand why. Did they think I was delicate? Was it because I told them I’m a princess?

  “Can someone please explain to me why you’re all acting as though it’s some miracle that I’ve opened my eyes? I was just fine the other day. I probably just hit my head when the Gorum threw me.”

  The two doctors exchanged a tense look. A silent agreement passed between them before Doctor Larkin took the lead.

  “Delia, when you were found there was no evidence of physical trauma. You were found unconscious in Central Park three years ago. You’ve been laying in this bed since that day.”

  “Three years? That’s impossible.”

  My head started to pound and my ears felt like they were filling with liquid. I could hear my heart beating wildly in my chest. Colors danced at the edge of my vision, slowly consuming the room in front of me. I tried to take a deep breath to calm myself, but I couldn’t. A voice that was meant to soothe me fell flat against my muffled ears.

  “Delia, calm down. Breathe into this.” Paula placed a clear mask over my nose and mouth. The more I breaths I took, the better I felt.

  The panic passed quickly. I looked at the people in my room, unsure if I should ask the next question.

  “Where am I?”

  “Mercy Hospital in New York City,” Dr. Hinkley replied.

  “And where is New York City?”

  “In the United States of America.”

  “Please don’t make this complicated, what world is this? I know I’m not in Riona. Where am I?”

  Paula looked at the doctors; she saw no sign to indicate that she shouldn’t answer me. “You’re on Earth.”

  “I want you to get some rest now. We’ll talk more in the morning. Paula will be back to check on you in a few hours.”

  I nodded absently. Three years—that would make me sixteen. I looked down at my chest again. A three-year age difference would explain the growth of my breasts and the length of my hair. Being in a different world explained why everything was so different. The strange machines and odd names must be native to Earth. But, what did that mean for me? How did I get here?

  I lay my head back on the pillow and closed my eyes. I hoped sleep would come easily, but it didn’t. I don’t know how much time passed as I replayed the last memories I had of Riona. I wondered if Taeren somehow ended up on Earth too; we were both in the clearing. The last thing I remember is being thrown by the Gorum.

  Voices approached the door to my room. I closed my eyes and lay still, waiting for Paula to check on me.

  “I believe she s
uffered some sort of psychotic break. She refused to talk about her parents’ death. I can’t be certain right now, but I think she must have witnessed their murder and her mind created this entirely foreign world to cope with what she saw.” I recognized Dr. Larkin’s voice.

  “The human brain can do amazing things,” Doctor Hinkley replied.

  “It can. No one has reported her missing, and she doesn’t appear to have any other family. I am going to start the paperwork to have her transferred to the psychiatric ward as soon as you clear her to be moved.”

  “It’s too bad, but I support your decision.”

  “Thank you, doctor. My hope is that with the proper therapy and medicinal treatment, she can separate fact from fiction and make a full recovery.”

  Obviously, they thought I was asleep. It was then that I knew the awful truth. I was all alone in an unfamiliar world. No one was looking for me because I didn’t belong on Earth. The doctors thought I had lost my mind. They were going to lock me up until I no longer believed in Riona.

  I couldn’t let that happen. I had to get home, no matter what.

  At sixteen, I became the youngest lieutenant in the Royal Guard. I was recognized for my part in keeping the amulet out of enemy hands, despite my failure at protecting the royal family. At seventeen, I became the youngest Commander of the Royal Guard. It would have been more impressive if I hadn’t been the only one willing to step into the role. Uncertain times had made our men feel less than optimistic about the future of our people, let alone our army.

  At eighteen, I negotiated a treaty with the Gorum that allowed my people to live in peace in the Rionian forest. The peace treaty had been easier than I’d expected it to be. We had expected to be at war with the Sideon. We thought we’d have to fight off the Gorum far more often than we did. Instead, they patrolled the perimeter of the forest, preventing us from leaving. I didn’t understand why we were still alive. Not that I wanted to die, but it seemed strange that the Sideon hadn’t sucked the life out of us, in the absence of the powerful talisman they sought. It almost seemed as though they had no interest in us.