Maria was thinking of how easy it was to make that decision. It was self-explanatory! Choose to side with the Royals and there would be lasting peace. Choose to side wit the Unknowns and they would destroy what they can in the kingdom and then try to take over the human world. But when the time comes when the Unknowns confront her, she has no doubt that their words would be just as eloquent and convincing. And they would also have the power of magic behind them to try to make her choose their side.
After her meeting with the Royals she was escorted to a room upstairs that looks like a princess’ bedroom. Maria had never felt like royalty before. The nice Mestons brought her a supply of food and water, and Bostavs were standing guard on the door. There is a window that leads to a balcony outside. Maria went out to it. From this vantage point she can see almost the whole kingdom. She recognized the area with the tallest trees where the Omtars live. She can also see the river far away where she was told that the Meston tribes live. She can see the hills where she had been kept in a cave and the hole where Jonas helped her escape.
Jonas! I wonder what happened to him, she thought. She made a mental note to ask the Bostavs about him. After all, if it weren’t for him, that Reeza girl would have kept her there for who knows how long. She continued to look around and absorb the view. She could see some of the palace grounds where there was a steady flow of Bostavs coming and going. They are all so busy and probably have different missions to complete, Maria thought. She looked towards the palace gate and the surrounding walls. There were some Mestons helping the Bostavs with preparations.
Suddenly, from far away, she heard a sound. It was more like a laugh. Who could laugh that hard, she wondered. She kept hearing it and her eyes tried to follow the sound to where it was coming from. She thought it was coming from the area where the Omtars live. But those guys are so small, there’s no way any of them can laugh like that! She continued to listen until she saw what appeared to be a giant standing up.
Oh no! Giants!
Maria’s first impulse was to run back in the room and hide. But her curiosity was peaked and she wanted to see who or what they are and if they were headed into the palace. She could see that another one was slowly getting up.
Oh, the Doxpats! She remembered Meeka’s story about the sleeping creatures. So these were the ones that Meeka didn’t want me to wake up! I don’t blame him; I mean, look at them!
One by one the giants rose until Maria could count 10 of them. And slowly, they started walking. Should I be concerned? Are they friendly? She went back to her room and closed the window. I will just stay here until someone tells me otherwise, she thought.
She went on the bed and sat down. It was so soft and it was exactly what she had dreamt a princess’ bed would be. She took some of the fruits that had been brought to her and started eating. She stared at the ceiling. Wow, it’s made out of gold! In fact, most of the furnishings in the room were made out of gold too, or some other elegant looking material. The bed sheets were made of silk and the robes that were in the closet, the same ones that the Royals were wearing, they look like they were made of silk too. Maria got up and touched the robes and felt how soft they were. She thought that it would do no harm to put one of the robes on, and so she did. Now she really felt like a princess.
She looked down and saw that there was footwear that look like boots yet also looked like socks. They were red like the robes and appeared to be made of the same material She grabbed a pair and she proceeded to take off her shoes and put that pair on. She got up and looked at herself on the mirror on the wall.
All hail Princess Maria, she said to herself. Suddenly, she heard a sound coming from the window and she sharply turned around and gave a surprised gasp.
Coming through the window and staring back at her was her old pal, her little friend, Meeka.
***
When Jasper and his Grandma Martha were re-united, they forgot all about Meeka. The little guy was happy for them, but he needed to get out of there. There was something he had to do. He looked around the room for a way out other than the door. The room looked secure; except for a small, miniscule crack near the window. The window itself cannot be opened; it had been shut since the Great War and the Bostavs constantly checked the security.
He walked over towards the window and looked out. Bostavs were crawling everywhere. They must be preparing for the war, Meeka thought. He looked back and saw that the old lady and the young boy were busy catching up. He looked towards the door to make sure that the Bostav guarding it from the outside wasn’t looking. When the coast was clear, Meeka took a small vial of potion from his belt and drank it. His body went through spasms and he fought hard against making any sounds and succeeded. Soon enough when the potion had completely taken effect, he squeezed through the crack and eventually found himself outside. Nobody seemed to have noticed and he went back to his usual size and appearance.
Meeka slowly climbed down. It was easy to do seeing as there was a considerable amount of vine growing on the palace itself. He kept going until he was on the ground. Slowly, he made his way to the back, carefully hiding in the vines and blending in with it when he saw Bostavs approaching. He made it to the entrance in the back and slowly went down. He navigated the floor, looking for the way downstairs. It was easy to hide here too, seeing as it was full of lumber and wood and other equipment. The best part of being an Omtar was their size – small enough to hide in even the tiniest hiding places. Finally, after taking a few wrong turns, he found the way downstairs to the dungeons and prisons.
It was a little more challenging to walk around here. Meeka thought it best to transform himself into an even smaller creature. He now looks like a spider and he slowly made his way up to the ceiling with his eight legs. Now the Bostavs will for sure not notice his presence. He kept going and found the holding cells. He searched them one by one. He saw a few criminals he knew, Omtars who had committed crimes in the kingdom and are now kept there to serve their sentence. But they were not what he was looking for so the little spider kept moving.
Finally, he arrived on the very end of the floor. There was only one cell left. He went through the wall, in a small hole fit only for spiders, and made his appearance inside. He crawled down towards the people there, three of them – all Southerners – and each in their own personal cell separated only by bars. All three have their hands and feet bound and shackled. Slowly, the little Omtar went to the middle cell where the old man was sitting and transformed himself back to his original size.
“Ah, my friend at last,” said Ankar. “You have come as agreed. I am grateful for that.”
“But of course my old friend,” the little Omtar replied. “Now how do I get you out of here?”
“The keys to the shackles are over there behind the door,” Ankar directed him. “Just grab those if you can. They are a bit big but I am confident that you can handle it.”
Meeka looked towards the keys. He exited the cell, which was easy because it wasn’t built to hold Omtars, and slowly made his way towards it. He had to be careful and make sure that the Bostav don’t notice him. With a bit of difficulty he climbed the wall and reached for the keys. He couldn’t reach them with any of his four arms. He took his sword and hooked the key ring on to it and then reached for it with his hand. He nervously looked down to the floor to see how far of a drop he needs to jump. He then looked at the door just to make sure that he wasn’t being watched and then he let go. He landed on his two feet, with the keys safely in his grasp.
He went over and unlocked the shackles that were holding Ankar in.
“Thank you, now unlock hers,” he said, pointing at Reeza.
Meeka did as he was told. “And him?” he asked.
“Well Jonas, that is up to you. Are you intending to join us or are you going to rot in here and never see your son?”
“I’m with you, Ankar,” said Jonas.
Meeka went over and unlocked his shackles too. Then he used the keys to open the cell doors.
“But how are we going to get out of here?” asked Jonas. “Do you expect us to fight all the Bostavs on our way out?”
“You and Reeza are more than capable of that,” said Ankar. “But we are not going to draw any attention to ourselves as we will for sure only end up back here and with tighter security.” He paused and took out the small vial of potion that he was wearing on his necklace. “We will each have a drop of this; it is a powerful potion supplied to us by our special friends. We will then be able to turn us smaller and can squeeze through the cracks. But there is only a small amount here so the effect won’t last long, but it should be enough to get ourselves down to the caves below.”
He turned to Meeka. “Go, Meeka. You must go and find the girl. Keep her with you at all times until they arrive. When we meet them at the rendezvous, we will send instructions up to you. Go, now, before your potion wears off.”
Meeka turned himself smaller and left the same way that het got in, and went to find Maria. Jonas, Reeza and Ankar all took a sip from the potion and transformed themselves. They made their way down, to the unused caves in the next level.
The Bostav had heard the noises that they made when they were turning themselves smaller. He hurriedly unlocked the door and walked in. he looked around but there were no sign of any of the three prisoners. He went back out into the hallway and yelled: “Sound the alarm! The prisoners have escaped!”
***
“Well that was easier than I thought,” said Gadik to his fellow Bostavs. “If I had known that they were ticklish I wouldn’t have spent time worrying on how to wake them up.”
“That was, convenient,” said the other. “Now you have to talk to them and explain why we woke them up.”
“Yes. But first we must give them food, they must be famished,” said Gadik. The other Bostavs dragged the food that they had hidden in the forest to give to the 10 starving Doxpats. They had fish and grain and jugs of water. They didn’t speak to each other as they ate but continued to gobble up the food until it was almost gone.
“They look like they could use more food,” said the other Bostav to Gadik. “We didn’t have enough. What shall we do?”
“Looks like we might have to feed them fruit,” Gadik said. “But they hate fruit. The again we don’t really have much of a choice.”
The Bostavs went out and gathered fruit from nearby trees and put them on the pile. The Doxpats looked at them and one of them spoke. “We don’t want that,” he said. “We don’t like fruit! We need more fish and grain!”
“We don’t have any left. This is all the food we have,” said Gadik.
“We need more!” said the giant.
“Alright, alright. Can you see the river from here?”
“Yes.”
“You will have to take us there and ask for fish from the Mestons. Will you do that?”
“Okay. I will go,” said the giant that was talking. “The rest of them can stay here. He grabbed Gadik and put him on his shoulders. He made his way to the river and was there in no time. The Mestons of the North appeared to be busy with preparations. There were women and children who were gathered around the shores helping the men fish, cleaning the fish and preparing them for storage. An army of soldiers is marching around and some were moving items to an underground shelter that they had built for emergency purposes. He could see the advanced unit practicing combat and doing their own training in a field nearby.
“Okay put me down and I will speak to their Elders,” said Gadik.
The giant obliged and he went off to look for the Elders in the now growing number of onlookers and bystanders. The Mestons were talking to the giant who had sat down and was playing with some of the children. Gadik found the Elders around the river where they usually converged and proceeded to ask them for more fish or grain for the giants, whatever they can spare. He explained to them the situation and the urgency behind it. The Elders were more than happy to help and pointed him towards one of their storage houses. He motioned for the giant to follow him there and together, with the help of some Mestons, they gathered enough fish from inside and wrapped them inside a big sheet of cloth. The giant then took the cloth and carried it then picked up Gadik and put him back to his shoulders.
“Thank you,” the giant said before making his way back to the other Doxpats.
“Yes, thank you,” said Gadik.
“You are welcome, friends! We are all on the same side here!” said the Mestons, as they turned around and continued with their own preparations for the upcoming war.
But before the giant and Gadik could leave, they heard someone calling after them.
“Wait! Wait!”
Gadik turned around to see two members of the advanced unit running towards them. He asked the giant to put him back down on the ground so he can properly speak to them.
“What can I help you with?” Gadik said to them.
“We are looking for our brother, Jasper. He has been missing for almost two days and last we heard, someone saw him running to the woods. He usually returns time for dinner and he had only been gone overnight a couple of times. We just want to see if you can help us find him.”
“We are on the verge of war, young men. If I can find some Bostavs to spare then I will send them over here to help you find your brother.”
“No we’re not asking that.”
“What then?”
“Our Grandma Martha – she works in the palace, in your kitchen to prepare meals. We had told Jasper before that if he ever lost his way or have discovered something important in the woods and he thinks he is far from home to just go there. We are just wondering if you could check with our grandmother to see if she had any contact with him. He could have found something. A little while ago, he said he found evidence of the Unknowns’ camp. We went there to inspect but the camp seemed abandoned. He could very well have stumbled upon the new camp again. We just hope that they never saw him or found him.”
“There was news of a boy and an Omtar who arrived at the palace to speak with the Royals. I will see if that is him and will send word to you as soon as possible.”
“I don’t believe he knew any Omtars. But nevertheless, thank you. That is all we ask. You have our undying loyalty and we will fight with you in battle!” said the young men.
“And it will be an honor on my part,” said Gadik to them. He turned to the giant and said, “Come, let us go.” He picked him up and put him on his shoulder and with his other hand he took the fish and went on their way.
***
Five figures wearing black are making their way through the forest. Walking in single file, one after another, with their leader, Prince Amir, in the front. They each carried a small sack around their shoulders and back, and a staff on their hands. The staff they held used to be made of pure gold and it was transformed into a dark stone at the same time that their powers and glowing skin were stripped away. Prince Amir longed for the looks that he had lost, the looks that made him stand out as a prince instead of looking like the scum of the earth as he do so today. As they walked they quietly chanted spells; various spells including ones that cover their tracks and ones that kept their way free from any company. No doubt the Royals and the Bostavs know of their intentions to come to the palace; after all it was just the only course of action for them to take. The girl must be there by now and the only way they can ensure her cooperation is if they go there and speak to her directly. They all need to be present when she makes her long awaited decision.
They will not hesitate to use their new potion to the girl. The only dilemma would be getting her to drink it but the Unknowns have a plan for that of course. Some of their trusted conspirators are already in the palace grounds, waiting for their chance to strike. They had taken difficult steps to ensure that they would all be within the palace walls when the time comes.
Getting inside the palace will not prove to be an easy task for the Unknowns. The caves underneath it, which were used by their allies in the
Great War, still exist but are now sealed from the outside. And thus they depend on their allies to find a way to open it.
Sometime during their journey they heard the sound of the Doxpats. They are aware that the sleeping giants have been woken up. This presents but a small problem to Prince Amir; he will be letting his followers take care of them. No matter which side the girl chooses there will be war; if she choose to go with the Royals then the Unknowns and their allies will not be giving up easily, no matter how futile. And if she chooses to go with the Unknowns then the Royals and those who side with them will be doing everything in their power to try to stop them, especially with the threat to the outside world.
Prince Amir led the group with confidence. This time he will not fail. Even if the girl chooses the others, he will still have his revenge. The damage he is about to cause will come as a great price for the kingdom.
It wasn’t long before they could see the palace from a distance. They continued their trek and soon they could see the Bostavs and their helpers preparing the palace walls for an impending attack. Prince Amir got excited with the thought of war. He turned around to look at his brothers and sisters who had been loyal to him from the start and smiled.
Even they do not know what is coming.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
“Meeka! I’m so glad to see you! What are you doing here?” Maria asked excitedly, as she came over to him and picked him up in a great big hug.
“Shhhhhh!” Meeka cautioned. He looked towards the door at the Bostav guard.
“What’s the matter?” Maria dropped her voice down to a whisper. “Why are we being quiet? The Doxpats are awake now you know, there’s no more danger to me waking them up.”
The Strange Adventure of Maria Mercado Page 12