by Melanie Ray
"Great. Oh I feel so much better now," X said sarcastically.
"At least she is still alive," Zaria frowned. "I thought that would make you feel a bit better."
"What? Knowing she's gone on without me? Probably found someone else? Maybe even had kids?" X yelled, "Yeah, sure, that makes me feel tons better."
"She doesn't have biological kids," Zaria said firmly. "She hasn't gone any further than Ezra has. Alright?"
"So..." X looked respectably at Zaria. "She's still single?"
"She's single, and she's fine," Zaria said, "and if Yed can work a miracle, we can get her back one day."
X slowly started to smile. "Iri."
"That's better," Zaria grinned as he looked over at Muin. "Alright, now tell me everything you do remember." Muin nodded but looked over at X.
X just winked at her, "I'm fine. Go talk to him. I know you've missed him, even if you don't know it."
"Come on," Zaria urged her. "Please?"
"Knock knock?"
Yed didn't turn his head until he saw who was at the door. "Your Majesty."
"Ah, you don't have to say that," King Regwallis smiled. "I thought I told you that once already? I'm not used to that much respect."
Yed went back to looking at some papers on top of the blueprints. "Collapsing kingdom or not, you are officially the king, and I am bound to refer to you in a high manner."
Yed glanced back as he watched the King study him. "With that manner, you look remarkably familiar. I don't think I recognized it at first," King Regwallis said. "You were at the castle many decades ago weren't you?"
"I was posted there, Sire," Yed answered
"Yeah, poor you." King Regwallis chuckled. "Gosh I was so small back then. Always getting into trouble," he sighed. "It was different back then, before the war." He cleared his throat. "So, you really were a Protector?"
"Yes, Sire." Yed said, "Is there anything I can do for you?"
"Not much. Everyone's a bit curious as to how you were doing," King Regwallis said, "and since you were a Protector, I figured you wouldn't try and throw me out if I came up here and bugged you."
"Oh," Yed nodded his head and looked at his papers again. "I'm studying the layout of the Waryes Kingdom."
"It's Pink, the Pink Kingdom. We are the Ring Kingdom," King Regwallis corrected him. "The words of the past, warno and waryes, they are seen as-"
"Offensive. Belittling. Our words are being turned against us, and I'll not be a part of that," Yed said, grit in his voice. "I'm not a Ring, I'm a warno and they aren't Pinks, they are bloodthirsty waryes."
"Okay, well I'm not going to argue with a Protector," King Regwallis said. "Anyhow, the enemies kingdom is enormous."
"It is, but this is vital information that may come in handy," Yed said.
"Oh. Okay, well then, one more thing?" King Regwallis smiled. "Life sucks but can you try and smile?" Yed gave a slight crease up on his mouth and then it went back to its serious expression. "Yikes." King Regwallis whistled. "You know, I remember Protectors a bit, and I could have sworn you were allowed to smile."
Yed didn't know what to say to that.
"Maybe I'm wrong though, I was a kid the last time I met one. Either way, you don't have to be silent or alone. You’re the last Protector, I don't care if you start spray painting everything and hang from the ceiling." Yed looked at him a bit confused. He didn't act like the former king at all. King Regwallis seemed to read his mind. "I told you, there's no difference between me and the average guy. I don't have any power, and I'm nothing like my dad." He seemed to grow quiet. "King Sheward. He was a real king." Yed's face said otherwise, but Regwallis frowned. "He didn't have any choice about what happened. We were warnos, not pushovers." He seemed lost in thought for a second. "We were warnos."
Yed seemed to understand. "King Sheward was a fine king to the end, Sire. I would never think otherwise of your father."
"Yeah, but he was an ass." King Regwallis chuckled losing his seriousness. "That's what my mom always called him. Eh, I don't know. He was a decent dad considering he was running a real kingdom."
Yed gestured toward the top of King Regwallis' head. "Sorry to intrude your Majesty, but what did happen to the crown?"
"The crown." King Regwallis shrugged his shoulders. "I wore it for two seconds after everything." He seemed to shake something off. "I don't know, the Pinks took it. It's probably broken, haven't thought much of it."
"I see," Yed nodded. "I'm sorry about what happened, Sire." He stared into space. "Waryes. They take our kingdom, our families, our lives, the decency of our name...they couldn't even leave the kingdom's damn crown." King Regwallis stepped back slightly. "Is there anything else, your Majesty?" Yed growled, trying to sound polite.
"Nope. Curiosity's taken care of," King Regwallis smiled. "Hope you come down soon though. At your own pace, of course," he added as he turned away.
KING FAYU GROWLED AS he held his fingers. Until they knew the code, they couldn't escape to this other place called Dallas. Not only that, he lost the stubborn woman he thought would make a fitting wife. So close. If they could study the old technology their ancestors had, they could easily make more transporters. The last encounter with the last transporter was so dangerous and gruesome though, they had even destroyed all the plans. Still. They had no coordinates, and it would be a game of complete chance to figure out what planet was a great one to take over. He was trying to make contacts to obtain spaceships, but time was running out. His attention became distracted from his current thoughts as he saw his guards walk in with one of his spies. "What the hell?" The spy had come in with crutches and his arm was in a sling. "What happened?" King Fayu demanded as he came over to the spy. "Who did this?"
"A Ring," The spy groaned.
"A Ring?" The king said with scorn. "You couldn't take out a Ring?"
"This was a special Ring, he wasn't an Ancient," The spy insisted. "No one knew about me for the longest time. They were even letting me tag along. He didn't even seem to know I was a spy either until he came back from walking around."
"Walking around. He figured it out by walking around?" King Fayu frowned.
"No, he just seemed to get his memories back. He lost his memories earlier. He, that girl and her brother." The spy continued, "I've been watching them carefully, but it must have hit him all at once. He started making everyone sing the original anthem and I didn't know the words." He growled, "I wanted to fight him back, but he wasn't a regular pushover. Look at what he did to me."
A guard started to chuckle, "Beat up by a Ring. How pathetic."
"I told you, he wasn't regular," The spy insisted. "He was a Protector!"
"He was a what?" King Fayu said. "Ridiculous, we got rid of all of them."
"Not that one, he is the one who left and lost his memories," The spy said. "Then he regained them and beat the heck out of me."
"Hmmm. He must have been a bit mad about what happened," King Fayu chuckled. The guards laughed too.
"I'm serious, this guy was good," the spy yelled.
"Fine," The king waved it off. "So there's one Protector that survived. So what, what could just one do?" He laughed, "It doesn't matter. We'll figure a way off this planet before it's too late." He shook his head like he knew an inside joke. "All the halfies will think all their dreams came true when we leave," he laughed. "Then bam! Idiots don't even know about it."
The spy frowned and said, "What about the Protector Yeducavich Smilliat though?"
"Oh quit," The king groaned. "He won, go lick your wounds somewhere else. I'm not going to send anyone out after one stupid Ring. I already have a ton trying to capture the woman, and she is with him anyhow." He went over to his throne and picked up a book, "might as well search for a backup."
He beat me up though! Overkill. It wasn't fair, everyone's just laughing at me. The spy growled as he watched the king ignore him as he looked through his book. "Converted Rings?"
"Yes you idiot, if I can't find her I still
need someone," King Fayu said. "Now mind your business, life's too short for you to be killed right now." His expression changed. "I could always sick the Protector on you." The guards laughed again while the spy growled.
"Why not try Ezraponia Cattral then," the spy said, "she's still single and I heard she was a real knockout."
"Where'd you hear that from?" The king started flipping to the C's, "and why are you being so helpful?" He stared at his spy suspiciously.
"They just talked about her a lot," the spy insisted.
"Yeah, right. Probably the Protectors sister or something," One of the guards laughed.
"Oh, still trying to get revenge, wussy?" The king sighed. "Well, I'll remember the name, but I'm not choosing my future wife based on your grievances. Now get out of here already," He gestured toward his guards, "and make a note to dock his pay. Really, getting beaten up by a Ring."
"He was a Protector though," The spy insisted, but the guards took him away, still chuckling.
Really. How powerful could one Protector be?
Chapter 43
ONE MORE SCREW YOU
Tiger's sister, Carress, looked around at the end of the trail. The two of them were staring at the wall that separated the two kingdoms. They had followed the footprints but all traces of them seemed to vanish. “I don’t get it. Did they go over the wall, Tiger?”
“This wall separates our kingdom from the Pinks,” Tiger said. “They could have all climbed over, but I don’t know why they would.”
“We’ve tried to figure it out too, Cooey said as she came out from behind a tree. Zar stuck his head out of the other side.
“Maybe they went over to try and make peace?” Carress asked her brother.
“Fat chance,” Tiger said. “Most likely they were kidnapped. Well, the day wouldn’t be complete if something off the wall didn’t happen. Let’s go near the Pink Kingdom.”
“Are you nuts?” Cooey came out from behind the tree. “Why would anyone ever want to visit that place?”
“There are easier ways to commit suicide if you’re desperate,” Zar joked. “You can’t go there, it’s dangerous.”
“We have to get near it.” Tiger groaned and scratched behind his left ear. “Guess it’s time to visit home.”
“Wait,” Cooey called out to them but Carress and Tiger already took off. “Ugh, Zar?”
Zar groaned. “Either that or stay waiting forever for nothing. Wait up.”
“I don’t want to tell him, you tell him.”
“Are you crazy? You’re the one who fell asleep on duty.”
“Nuh uh, he’ll hurt me!”
“Fine, X,” M-Win pointed at her brother and said, “you go up and tell him. You know him the best right now, and you remember too.” X looked nonplussed at her. He crossed his arms and mouthed 'make me'. Oh, she'd make him. “X, I'm warning you, grow up.”
“It’s Xiamipoc Vallencio,” X corrected her, “and if Yeducavich Smilliat stuck someone else on it, then he didn’t care enough to step away from the blue prints. I don’t care if he knows or not, Tigeravich and Carressella have done fine without him.”
“But he's not...oh nevermind." M-Win stuck her chin in the air. Why should she be the least surprised?
“Well, it looks like the problem solved itself,” Zaria said to her as Yed headed downstairs. “How are things?”
“Zaria.” The manner was scolding as he ruffled a few pieces of paper. A gummy residue, like that of gum, seemed to be sticking on Yed's fingers. Zaria's hand stuck to the paper trying to help while Yed tried to get his hands off the gooey paper without ripping them. “These are important, you shouldn’t have let them get gooey,” Yed said as he rubbed his fingers together, probably to get the stickiness off.
“That’s not my fault, that’s my contacts fault,” Zaria insisted, “he handed them to me all sticky like that."
“I need to know,” Yed said, his demeanor hadn't changed as he pointed to the papers, “who handed you these papers?”
M-Win looked out the corner of her eye at Zaria. He seemed unsteady for such a simple question. After taking a deep breath Zaria answered, saying Yed's name.
“I didn’t hand you any papers,” Yed said, “so quit joking.”
“Not you," Zaria said, "Yeducavich Smilliat Senior handed me those papers.”
A cold tension could be felt by everyone in the room. An ominous strange feeling seemed to fill the air as Yed stared at Zaria.
“M...my father?” Yed seemed to have some trouble with his throat. “My father’s long dead, he never came back to me. No one would keep him on the other side, he wasn’t female, they would have killed him. Do not joke with me!” M-Win watched, half expecting him to strange Zaria. “Who gave you these papers?” Zaria stared back. His expression was not full of fear nor was it filled with shame about playing a dirty joke. There was no way he was lying. Yed stared at the ground and moved his left leg slightly. “When?”
“Several years ago,” Zaria said. “He’s hiding out in the Pink Kingdom.” Yed took several seconds of silence before he tucked the papers back away and went back upstairs. “Okay, that didn’t help matters.” Zaria said to M-Win. “I guess you are up after all, but I think he’s going to take it a little worse now.”
“Thanks, I really needed something extra bad for that prick before I told him this,” M-Win groaned. She grabbed the railing and trudged up the stairs with a stomp. X would not get over whatever happened between their sister and Yed, and Yed refused to even talk to her. Having the honor of telling him this news was not something she wanted. She walked all the way up the steps and approached the room Yed had chosen for his studies. She gently knocked on the door, but there was no answer.“Yed? I’ve got some important news to tell you.” M-win called out as she knocked again. She heard some papers shuffling around and a squeak of a chair.
“What,” Yed said as he answered the door. “What’s so important, Muinela?”
“How about a smile first?” M-Win asked. “Come on Wye, you can’t stay like this. Don't let your personality dominate.”
“I am myself, who else would I be?” Yed said as he was preparing to shut the door, but she had snuck past his underarm.
“You need to snap out of this,” M-Win insisted. “This 'all serious side' has got to stop, it's not you. Come on, bro.”
“Muinela, I am not your brother.” Yed's voice didn't change. “I’ve already told you that.”
“You are too,” she smiled. “We’ve spent over what, eighty years together on Earth? Yeah, that's right dude, my memories are all coming back of Earth." She pointed her finger at him. "I remember those old days now. I remember hanging out at Double Yella. Remember that? I remember Iago too, the one place we really felt at home on that planet until we started going nuts. If all of that doesn’t make us brother and sister nothing does. Come on Wye, just a little smile? I know you're in there.”
"I am incredibly busy with something that needs a fleet of one hundred Protectors, not one, so hurry it up. What is the important news?" Yed didn't want to deal with her longer than he had to.
“Yed, please?” She tried a more mild approach with him. “I know you’re sad about stuff that happened, but all of it’s history. This whole personality, it’s not you. I know that's true, so knock it off.”
“Go away, I am extremely busy,” Yed almost growled at her. “Leave female.”
“Oh yeah? I bet you wouldn’t be busy if that sister of mine sashayed her little butt through that door,” M-Win smiled as she looked behind him. “According to Zaria, you two were quite a pair. Like a really close pair,” she laughed.
Yed said, “I’m a Protector, it doesn’t matter.”
“Sure, yeah right." M-Win said with doubt. “If there was ever anyone interested in you, you'd forget all that bull. You're not this Protector anymore."
“The guy you knew on Earth doesn’t exist,” Yed said. “It was just nothing but my sanity going out of control with no inhibitors.”
“I’m not forgetting,” Yed shouted back. “If I had the ability to forget, I would choose to forget how much of a barbaric human I had been.”
“Oh, hum.” M-Win put her hand over her mouth in boredom and pretended to yawn. “You enjoyed being on Earth as Wye. Fess up and quit lying to yourself.”
“It was false,” Yed sat back down in the seat. “I have never been like that before Earth.”
“Yeah, and I think I know why," M-Win accused him. “Your life here sucked, even when you were a kid. I think when you lost your memories, you kind of couldn’t hate yourself anymore.”
“Hate myself anymore?” Yed couldn’t believe the words she used. “I don’t hate myself!”
“Well, you were a lot funner when you didn’t remember. Why's that, Wye?” M-Win pressed.
“Quit it, Muinela.” Yed went back to looking at the papers. “I am not in the mood.”
“Yeah, I guess you are a little pissed off at your dad. Still, it’s no excuse to keep this charade up. Besides," M-Win paused an extra moment, "about your kids?"
“Look, I need to work on this first,” Yed said. “I’ll deal with the kid situation when I have to, right now I need to concentrate on these blueprints.”
“Oh. Alright, did you want us to fetch them then?” M-Win asked innocently. “I hadn’t exactly lied when I said I had important news.”
Yed’s head literally dropped to his desk. “Oh great. What?”
“The kids showed up,” M-Win confessed. “Turns out the guy on duty accidentally slept for about an hour. When he woke up, he found four pairs of small footprints.”
"Footprints? Small footprints? Oh, this is ridiculous,” Yed grabbed his jacket. “What part of ‘stay awake and watch out’ is so hard to accomplish? Huh?” He zipped up his jacket, “I’ll find them by myself.”
“You’re leaving?” M-Win asked in surprise as she saw him take off.