by Melanie Ray
"Nice blue selection, you actually had a professional decorator here," Ezra said as she noticed Yed seemed to be forlorn. He had reached their destination, but something was hurting him. He was hiding it, but she'd known him for way too long. "Yed? What's wrong?"
"Nothing." Yed stepped away from the crib. "In the basement is plenty of food. You can go outside and relax if you want while I'm gone. I've got to go to the Waryes Kingdom."
"Now?" Ezra watched as he headed out quickly. "To the Waryes Kingdom? Yed, wait!" She watched as he dashed out the door. He must have heard her, but he ignored her. To go to the Waryes Kingdom? The enemies kingdom. She looked back toward Tiger and Carress. Safety, but he took off so fast like he couldn't bear to be there.
Rescuing her when it was so dangerous, not staying with Xiam and Iri, stealing a car and now off to their most deadliest enemies kingdom? Yed was her Protector. Yed was her friend, and at times feelings were something more. However, Xiam...
"By Pagnia, Yed, if you don't answer, I will take that car back to Fallensworth!" She stood staring at the door, and waited for him to come back. Her feet were tapping when he appeared at the door again. "Yeducavich. I've been remarkably patient with your unexplained behavior. I stayed with you after Xiam and Iri stayed, I went along with you when you stole that poor woman's car, but you get us to safety and immediately take off to the Waryes Kingdom? I'm tired, I'm confused, and if you don't talk to me then I will leave."
Yed shoveled his feet around while his eyes drifted anywhere but on her. "I can't tell you. You'll never believe me."
"I know that the Yed I know has been missing since I was first taken. Your eyes tell a different story to me. I know you better than you think." Ezra moved up toward him. "Something more than a bump on the noggin' happened between my capture and my rescue. Something large and-and terrible. Tell me."
"You'll never believe me," Yed repeated, "and I'm wastin' time. I've got to go."
"You're running away, not running to." Ezra caught his glare as he crossed his arms. "You sent us to the safest place around, according to you, but I saw you in the nursery. Your eyes went wild Yed, and you left. In what should be a peaceful room you felt anything but. Why?" She grabbed his arm gently. "Yed, please, tell me. I will believe you."
"You only think so," Yed scoffed. "I need to go. I've got more to do, I haven't gone back yet."
"Did you time travel?" Ezra watched him raise his eyebrows at her. "Your eyes, your mannerisms, even your voice. Those changes don’t happen overnight. The way you stare at me, it's not the same, and it's like you don't actually belong here."
"Ezra, you are so aggravating. You always were aggravating." Yed glanced at her once before looking toward the staircase. "Xiam thought I was crazy, anyone would think that." He looked out the door once. He wasn't supposed to say anything extra she didn't need to know, but Ezra wouldn't let up. "I'm from eighty years in the future, from a time when I didn't save you. It was Xiam, Muin and I who took off to Earth. We went crazy, and we didn't remember everything until we were brought back." He backed away from the door, slowly approaching the upstairs. "You were sent to the Waryes Kingdom with Iri, where you lived brainwashed as waryes. I found my family too, including my father. I even found the children surviving in the remains of the Warno Kingdom." He touched the handle at the bottom of the staircase. "I got everyone out, went back to Earth but the waryes followed. You." He paused. "I found the machine, and I'm correcting some things."
"Really?" Ezra approached him from behind.
"I'm not the Yed you know. After seeing decades of everything turning to shit, I've changed. So." He headed to the door. "I am going to the Waryes Kingdom to make contact and get the Protectors out. I have little time left, so I'm going to try and save a few more lives." He looked back at her, but her head was hanging to the ground. "You are safe here; this is the only place in the future that is untouched by the grime of the waryes. For the babies sakes, you need to stay. Your real Yed in this time will be returning soon. Tell him to read a note in his pants, and to never jump into a time machine. And you, don't ever leave for Earth. Even with me, I mean it. I am dead serious."
"Wait." Ezra couldn't make him turn back again. She looked up the staircase herself. Eighty years in the future.
She walked up the staircase. Eighty years. What had he seen? He had been there, he had to have been if he knew it was untouched by the waryes. He must have gone up the steps like she was now. She turned toward the nursery and looked inside. Eighty years. Imagine seeing the babies cribs eighty years in the future. All that time lost. Her eyes watered as she thought of it. The babies as children, raised in such an awful world. Surviving in such a world without Yed? No, wait, he said I was in the Waryes Kingdom. Oh no. They didn't have her or Yed, raised on their own and to the hands of fate. She stepped over to look at Tiger sleeping. Comfortable and relaxed, he was sucking his thumb with his head turned to the right. His tail was uncovered, hanging out of the sheets. She tucked it back in along with a quick tuck on the side again. Yed had such strange expressions with Tiger even more so than Carress. She had held him most of the way. Had something even more upsetting transpired with their boy than Yed let on? He stopped on me too, for a second. Saying 'you'. He's hiding something that happened to me.
Being here in the safety house didn't feel good to him, it was opening up fresh wounds. Even as he spoke, he had acted like she would never believe him. Like she and the children didn't even belong with him and the real Yed would 'be back'. Well, eighty years or not. Tragic future or not. He was Protector Yeducavich, and he was still her friend.
Chapter 62
TANGLED MEMORIES
The waryes would be at their weakest right now, their terrorizing army still returning. Yed wasn't going to march straight into the kingdom, he only needed to take out one waryes for his purpose. As he snagged an unconscious Sleeks cellphone, he dialed the only number he knew in that Kingdom. "Hello, yeah, I'm looking for Danva. Oh, who am I? Oh, no one big, just the kid you abandoned centuries ago. Mind helping me through these gates?"
After the short disbelieving conversation, it wasn't long before Yed was brought through the gates.
"I don't believe it. I can't believe it, Yeducavich. Are you serious?" Danva kept poking and prodding him for more information, but he wouldn't share anymore.
Yed kept himself under control around him. The last time he saw his father, he was pinned beneath Bibble’s shelves. He needed to concentrate on the basics, and that included not stopping to talk about all the details needed to perform the impossible. The word time travel would have to suffice. Keeping emotions out of the situation, he crossed his arms and spoke. "You left me for centuries, Danva. That takes considerable forgiveness, so can the questions and help me. You're programming the Protectors, I know you are. You need to deprogram them." Yed rubbed his chin. "Is there a way you can have the program only last for so long? Like say, five days or so? So they all get out of the Kingdom at once."
"Well, yes, but to do so I would be putting your mother and sister at risk." Danva shook his head. "I would have to get them out of the kingdom, or the king will go after them."
"It's worth the risk. You can't be scared this time around to take them out. You're saying screw you to the whole Warno Kingdom if you are taking away the Protectors only for two warnos. Sorry, but the majority outweighs the minority. They can stay at my safe house, then we'll redistribute across the kingdom to improve safety." Yed patted his fathers' shoulder. "You owe it to your true kingdom. How soon can you pull this off?"
"There are some other scientists who will help, but I cannot get them all. About two months for what I will handle. That's only a couple hundred." Danva crossed his arms. "That is not enough to retaliate with."
"No, not to retaliate, but it might help save more than one life." Yed headed towards the door. "Tell them to head over to the wall and walk alongside it. I'll find them."
"Are you going back to your safe house then?" Danva as
ked. "You could see your mom and sister here."
"No, I've still got time so I am going to rescue the new king. Maybe he'll take more after his father if he gets away from here sooner," Yed said. "Good to see you, dad."
"Rescue Regwallis? Yed, no, it's too dangerous, Yed!"
Regwallis fidgeted with the collar around his neck. He missed his mommy and daddy so much. They both stopped moving, but it was when his daddy stopped moving that things became unbearable. The waryes meanies stole the crown from his head and sent him to the Waryes Kingdom. He was always half scared they would tire of him and hurt him too, but so far the waryes king was delighted. Regwallis now wore a funny hat on his head with different pieces spiraling outward, and he wore bells at the end of them as well as on the tips of his toes. The crown his father gave him, hung carelessly over the side of the throne. The worst part was when he had to play. When someone came into the room he was supposed to spin in a circle and laugh, and whenever the king asked him a question he was supposed to answer 'because we were weak', no matter what the question was.
As a female walked through the doors, he spun in a circle and laughed. Then he sat down on the ground, next to the king again.
"Fine morning, wouldn't you say?" King Fayu addressed the female. "I'll have the guards make you a breakfast before you shove off. What do you think she'll have Regwallis?"
"Because we're weak," Regwallis said.
"I agree, sounds good." King Fayu snapped his finger. "She can get her own. I'll see you in a few days." He leaned back in his throne and smiled at Regwallis. "Lovely day, isn't it kid?"
"Because we're weak," Regwallis said.
"That's right, gorgeous day. Great future." He yawned. "Only thing is when we're not fighting, it's boring. The kingdom was so alive during that last attack; another one might help out the atmosphere. What do you think?"
"Because we're-," Regwallis didn't finish his last statement as he heard the king shout. He watched the king grab his ear, which was bleeding for some reason. Turning to the right to see what caused the commotion, he saw it clear as day. A Protector who had a waryes weapon in his other hand. When he turned around halfway, the ferocity in his eyes was unimaginable. It looked as if the psycho was ready to kill him. As the Protector's gaze changed direction he knew the outrage wasn't toward him, but the king.
"You." King Fayu growled as he grabbed his ear. "Are you beyond stupid, this is a form of suicide."
"You aren't taking over without a fight," the Protector said his voice thick with rage. "I've seen what you'll do, and you're going to pay."
"Oh, you've seen the future?" King Fayu took his hand from his ear. "Another one of you pests."
The Protector was on guard, but his eyes widened, probably surprised by the king's comment. "You're from the future?"
"How do you think I live for so long? I'll live for hundreds more because I made the ultimate sacrifice of one." King Fayu stood up. "I had seen the future too, and I apparently didn't like it from my end. So go off and write a poem, or go become king like Sheward did. You can even fight me if you want, but it doesn't matter. I always win. Any last words?"
The Protector didn't say another word as he turned around completely. In his right hand, the warno crown was clutched tight. Regwallis remembered seeing a small flash from the sunlight bounce off a jewel before being captured. He didn't say a word as they ran out of the kingdom. The Protector moved swiftly, but at times no one was following him until the guards announced in the area he was to be captured. It was like he was invisible, a citizen. He didn't stop running with him until he was well outside the gates and any chance of future attacks.
Regwallis had no idea where he was since he had been flung on the Protectors back the whole time. Even now, looking around he still didn't know the area.
"King Regwallis. I believe this is yours."
Regwallis watched as the Protector bowed down to him and presented him his father's crown. He took it but didn't place it on his head. "It doesn't fit."
"You are young, your highness. It will fit perfectly one day." The Protector helped him put the crown on nonetheless, even if it was lopsided. "Until then, you should still wear it as it's your given birth right. You are now the Warno King." Regwallis watched as the strange hat he had been wearing was thrown to the ground with impudence. "King Fayu will never control you again; your destiny is not in his hands." He stood back up. "Nor was or is mine." His eyes reminded Regwallis of a waryes, and he had second thoughts about him being a Protector. However, they softened up again toward him. "Come Majesty, we have things to discuss."
Yed walked through the forest, hand in hand with the small, new king. He explained how his father and mother's lack of movement meant they were no longer existing on that plane, but Regwallis seemed to understand that he would never see them again. He explained what was happening in the Warno Kingdom, and he kept getting nods. More likely nods of 'I don't get it, but I'll nod anyway' virtues. He walked quietly towards the safe house the rest of the way, thinking to himself. The future had been different until Fayu had screwed with it. His future, his future on Earth was never meant to be. Would he have lived well on Pagnia, living out the rest of his days? Would he have ever met the Cattrals? His family, would they have been taken away? Did he have that life stolen from him because someone decided to mess with time?
The words Fayu said too, why did he say 'apparently'? Did he not remember everything anymore, like when Yed's own memories were getting tangled in the future? The warnos had won, somehow. How wasn't clear, but Fayu had lost enough to travel through time. Fate had not dealt Yed unlucky cards, Fayu did. I was never supposed to live this life. I was never supposed to live on Earth. There had been others too. Most likely the warnos they had sent back before giving up, and King Sheward, had he been from the future? And was he kidding when he said poem? Even the chilling words, ultimate sacrifice of one. What was the ultimate sacrifice of one?
He decided to forget all about theories and fate, they were making his head hurt. All that mattered was the here and now. Sheward was gone, and all the others that opposed Fayu didn't make a difference. He walked to the wall, pressed in the code and brought the new king to his safe domain. When they walked in, Ezra was a little taken back by the prince's arrival. She bowed politely. "Prince Regwallis."
"It is King Regwallis now," Yed reminded her. "The former king and queen are now gone."
"Oh. Yes." Ezra bowed once more. "I'm sorry for your loss. May I help you with anything?"
"He'll be fine. Take a seat your Majesty. We need to have a talk." Yed gestured to a couch. He ignored Ezra's presence as he sat down next to Regwallis. "Do you know if the former king had any plans for twin babies?"
Regwallis stopped looking at him, looked at Ezra, then looked at the bells on his toes. "I am not allowed to speak of royal manners with commoners."
"So you do know something?" Yed blinked and with a grin urged him on. "You are the last one left, King Regwallis. You can tell me."
"No, I can't. You're not part of the royal family. Daddy always said 'only royalty'."
"You still aren't getting it. My life was turned upside down ever since your father pulled that stunt. I have wanted to know for a long time what the heck he was doing."
"My kingdom doesn't exist Protector, I am not old enough to understand the adult world royalty working way yet." Regwallis stood up. "I will still obey my daddy though, even if I never get to talk to him again."
"Yed, I think you should give our new king a break." Ezra held her hand out to the boy. "Are you hungry? Yed, do we have any other shoes?"
"Our lives were changed drastically because of something the king thought was important," Yed said. "I want to know before I go back, this is my last chance to know. Maybe it might even help."
"No," Regwallis shouted and covered his ears. "Daddy always said, 'only royalty! Only royalty!' I did an oath! I won't tell you, never ever!" He started to cry and wiped his hands across his face.
&nbs
p; Yed stared at the king. "This is no way for a king to act, Sire."
"Yeducavich." Ezra stared at him right back. "He is only a child, look at him. He isn't ready to be any kind of king, it's obvious. Don't force him."
"If I don't, he will let the waryes run over everything. I've seen it happen, he trembles. King Sheward would never tremble." Yed looked over at Regwallis. "Your father would be disappointed in your actions."
"Yed!" Ezra shouted at him. "I swear, I don't even know you anymore."
"You don't. I'm not your Yed, I'm from the future," Yed said as he watched Ezra head away. He flinched slightly as he heard the echo of what was probably the nursery door upstairs slamming.
Chapter 63
GOOD LUCK
Ezra slammed the door with all her might. She hadn't been this mad at her Protector since before he saved her and Muin the first time. She looked over toward the cribs at each of her children and brought them out to the floor. They weren't old enough to crawl yet, but they were building their neck strength and could play in the small gym that she laid out earlier. She tried to concentrate and encourage her babies to interact with the gym. Placing judgment on a child so soon after his family's demise. She remembered the loneliness of being left out in the cold when her family was gone. If it hadn't been for the love of the Cattrals, she didn't know how she'd handle it.
Now, this boy had an even harder time because he had to rule a kingdom, and he didn't know the first thing about doing it. He had no one by his side, except some Protector pumping him for information his father had told him not to tell anyone. Ezra looked from Tigeravich and Carressela. If it hadn't been for the Cattral family. Ezra came back downstairs, with the babies in her hands. She stopped by the couch and set them down to play. Yed, of course, never bothered watching them. He was still staring at the king. "Regwallis, would you like to play with the babies?"