The Royal Pursuit

by Ruth Ann Nordin

  She bent down and scooped up dirt from the ground. She rubbed the dirt into her hair, on her face and all over her body. Then she tore her clothes to make it look as if she had been in a fight. Finally, she took the gun and shot herself in the arm. That was the hardest part to do since she knew it would be painful. She screamed as the sharp pain ripped through her. It was only a flesh wound, but it stung like fire.

  “No! Don’t!” She yelled as loud as she could, hoping the others would believe she was trying to prevent Ann’s escape.

  She heard the concerned voices of her companions. They were running to help her. She threw the gun as far as she could into the trees in the other direction and fell to the ground. She rolled over some sharp tree roots and groaned.

  By the time two male Nicals reached her, they found her, crying and badly injured. She grabbed her bloody arm to her chest. Her hair was yellow from fear that they might discover the truth.

  “She overtook me,” she sobbed. “I’m so sorry. Please forgive me.”

  One of the Nicals took her in his arms and held her. “We’ll help you. Don’t be scared,” he gently assured her.

  “Which way did she go?” the man in white demanded, his face red with anger.

  She forced herself to speak through her hysterical tears. “I don’t know. It all happened so fast.”

  “Shh… Don’t talk. We’ll get you to the Austere Complex,” the other Nical said. “The stone we have will heal you.”

  “Who cares about her? We need to get the queen!” the man snapped. “We can’t let her get away.”

  “Optima is the only one who is well-traveled in these woods,” the Nical holding her said. “We’ll never find the Queen without her.”

  The man grunted. “A lot of good she did us just now. Thanks to her, I’m in serious trouble.”

  Optima didn’t have time to dwell on his words. She was in too much pain to care.

  The Nical picked her up and carried her to the group. She leaned against his chest and felt herself drift into unconsciousness.

  Chapter Eight

  Ann and Hathor’s Bedroom

  Planet: Raz

  Exactly at sunrise, a loud knocking on his bedroom door woke Hathor from his sleep. Was Ann in trouble? He rushed to get out of bed but only succeeded in falling to the floor. He quickly jumped up and opened the door. To his surprise, a servant—instead of the Great Magician—was standing in the doorway.

  “Forgive me for waking you up, King Hathor, but the Augurs are insistent you arrive to the Grand Oak Room to continue your meeting with them,” she said.

  He blinked the sleep out of his eyes. “I’ll be there as soon as I get dressed.”

  She nodded. “I will notify them at once.”

  He shut the door as she left. He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled. He didn’t appreciate being scared like that. Maybe he should have been thankful the Augurs were simply giving him orders again. It was better than finding out Ann was in serious trouble.

  He got dressed in a blue silk suit and slipped the chain with the emerald that Ann had given him around his neck. It was all he had to feel close to her.

  By the time he arrived at the Grand Oak Room, the Augurs had already eaten their breakfasts and were waiting for him to show up. They didn’t seem to be in a hurry to finish the meeting. They simply greeted him and asked if he’d had a good night’s sleep.

  “No,” he honestly said.

  He wasn’t going to pretend he was fine with their lengthy stay. He wished they would complete the book and go back to their planet so he could join Ann on Lone.

  “Soon,” Gaius replied, as if he read his mind. Gaius took out the large book and turned it to the page where they had left off the evening before. “We will now discuss the rules regarding proper dress on our planet.”

  Hathor refrained from rolling his eyes. They probably had rules on how many times he would be allowed to breathe in an hour. He reminded himself he was doing this for Ann and took the book.

  “Upon your arrival on Aug, you can expect us to be dressed in our proper black uniforms,” Hathor read. “This is to show you respect. Likewise, we require you to dress in your best clothes. If you do not honor us this way, we may be forced to review the conditions of our alliance.”

  “We assume that if you do not dress in your best clothes, then you do not care to be our allies,” Gaius explained before Hathor could read the next rule. “Clothes are much more than what we wear. They are a nonverbal message to the person you meet. They reveal whether or not you are with someone you wish to communicate with.”

  “Oh.” Then I should have torn holes in my outfit this morning, and you would have been on your way back to Aug by now, Hathor thought.

  “Excuse me, King Hathor. I must speak with you at once,” the Great Magician said.

  Hathor glanced up in time to see the old man approaching him. He hadn’t even heard the magician enter the room.

  “Wait,” Gaius interjected. “We will tell him,” Gaius told the magician.

  The magician frowned. “But this is crucial. Hathor needs to know at once.”

  “Yes. We are well aware of the situation,” the Augur assured him.

  “What is it?” Hathor demanded, rising to his feet. It had to be about Ann. She was in trouble.

  “No, you aren’t aware of the situation,” the magician argued, his irritation showing. “I was just notified of it.”

  “Amanda will be born,” Gaius said.

  Hathor frowned. Amanda? Who was Amanda?

  The magician’s eyes suddenly showed understanding. “Then you know that Queen Ann-”

  “Yes, although she doesn’t know yet. We will inform Hathor as soon as we discuss more pressing matters first. Everything must be done in proper order,” Gaius told him.

  The magician nodded. “As you wish.”

  Hathor watched, stunned, as the magician turned around and left the room. He had never known the old man to back down so easily.

  Gaius closed the book and handed it to Amalia. “You have passed our test, King Hathor. We gladly ally ourselves with Raz.”

  “But the book…? The magician…?” Hathor fumbled for the right words but couldn’t decide on what to say.

  “The book was a decoy,” Gaius explained. “It was a test to see if you were sincere in your intention to be our allies. We cannot have allies who will back out of a tough situation.”

  “So, all those rules aren’t really rules?”

  “No, they are not. We are dogmatic about a few things, but we would never expect our allies to follow all of those meaningless rules. They were made up a long time ago to test the sincerity of those who sought out our friendship. You would be surprised at how many people claim to wish an alliance with us but fail to follow through their part of the agreement. We learned long ago to protect ourselves.”

  “Alright,” Hathor slowly said, his head beginning to clear.

  “We chose this time to come to you for a very important reason,” Gaius continued. “I know you think you had to go with the queen to Lone, but the truth is you were meant to stay behind.”

  Amalia handed Gaius a mirror, four inches wide and six inches long, surrounded by a silver frame, which had three black buttons on it.

  Gaius pressed a button and handed it to Hathor who cautiously took it.

  “This is a mirror into the future,” Gaius said. “We saw your future in it. You would have died if you had gone with her when she left.”

  Hathor’s jaw dropped. How could he possibly know such a thing?

  “Look for yourself.” He motioned to the mirror.

  Hathor numbly turned to the instrument in his hands. He saw a still picture of him next to Ann on Lone, surrounded by trees. Behind them were Jaz and Falon. In the middle of the screen were the words “Start” and “Stop.”

  “Press ‘Start’,” Gaius said, though it wasn’t really necessary.

  Hathor did as instructed, and to his amazement, the picture turned int
o a video. The only time he had seen anything like this was when he was on Earth with Ann when she took him to a movie theater.

  On the device in front of him, he and Ann walked through the forest, talking about where the Nicals were likely to be hiding. Behind them Jaz and Falon grew silent. Startled at the change, they looked back and noticed their friends had their guns drawn out and ready to use.

  “Do you sense anything?” he whispered to Ann.

  She shook her head. “Do you?”

  “No.” He took out the Book of Spells and flipped through it.

  Suddenly a group of five Nicals jumped out from behind the trees. He barely had time to run over to Ann when two people jumped on her. He dropped the book and grabbed one of the Nicals. Ann struggled against the Nical, who knocked her to the ground.

  Hathor watched in horror as a web-like net snatched Jaz’s and Falon’s guns out of their hands. As they struggled against their attackers, a man dressed in white came up behind Hathor and struck him in the side of the head with his white cane. Startled, he let go of the Nical and whirled to face the man.

  The other Nical went back to Ann, who struggled to get away from a crystal his companion was trying to put up to her forehead. Hathor frowned. What was the crystal for?

  “This is where you die,” Gaius softly spoke, interrupting Hathor’s thoughts.

  Hathor fought the man who wore white. He managed to grab his cane from him. Hathor raised the cane to hit the two Nicals who were chaining Ann’s hands together.

  “That was your mistake,” Gaius unnecessarily said. “You should have taken care of this man.” He pointed to the man wearing white.

  The man in white grabbed the Paler gun from the web-like net and shot Hathor in the back. His aim was direct and succeeded in penetrating Hathor’s heart.

  Ann struggled to get away from her attackers, but their chains held her in place. Hathor tried to speak, but blood came out of his mouth. The man in white took his cane back and pushed Hathor so he fell to the ground.

  “Hathor!” Ann yelled. She pushed against her attackers. “Let me go to him!”

  “Hold her,” the man in white said. “Bloodshed is a necessary evil in wartime.”

  The Nicals seemed hesitant but obeyed him.

  The man in white bent down to check Hathor’s pulse on his neck. He stood up and shrugged. “It looks like we’ll be taking three captives instead of four.”

  “No!” She made another attempt to get out of the chains, but her efforts were in vain. “I won’t leave without him!”

  The man walked up to her and grinned, as if he enjoyed her pain. “You have to. He’s dead.”

  She refused to walk, so they had to carry her away, crying out Hathor’s name and struggling to get out of their arms.

  “He deserves a proper burial,” Jaz insisted, her usual calm demeanor replaced with anger. “Otherwise, it is a disgrace to him and to her.”

  The man shrugged. “Of what concern is that to me?” He tapped the three Nicals on the shoulders with his cane. “Take them.”

  “We’ll come back for him,” Falon told Jaz. “He’ll have his burial.”

  Hathor pressed “Stop,” unable to watch anymore. He quickly blinked his tears away.

  “So, you can understand why you had to stay here?” Gaius softly asked.

  Hathor nodded and handed the mirror back to Gaius.

  “Raz may need Ann to survive, but Ann needs you. You shouldn’t underestimate your influence around here. You’re the reason she will reach her potential,” Gaius said.

  Hathor had no idea what to say to that, so he opted to keep quiet.

  “All of them are still alive,” Gaius continued. “Ann, Athen, Jaz, and Falon have just been captured. That is why the magician came in when he did. Raz is in trouble, and he was warned.”

  “No,” Hathor replied with a shake of his head. “Raz only informs the Great Magician the queen is in trouble if there’s no heir. Katherine’s here.”

  “It’s not Katherine Raz is concerned about.”

  “That would only be true if there’s another heir.” He grew silent as another possibly came to mind.

  “Yes.” Gaius nodded. “Ann doesn’t know it yet, but she is pregnant with the next queen. That is the queen Raz wants.”

  Hathor felt as if the wind had been knocked out of him. If he had known Ann was pregnant, he never would have let her go to Lone.

  “Ann is currently safe, but the man wearing white will kill her as soon as he finds out about her pregnancy, which is why Raz contacted the magician.”

  “Why will he kill her?”

  “Because Queen Amanda will destroy his future plans. We have seen her accomplish it, and he has seen it, too. She will perform more for the benefit of Raz than Katherine would, which is why Raz wants her to be the heir. You must go to Ann. Time is quickly running out before he will discover her pregnancy.”

  Hathor was still in shock as his mind raced through everything he had just learned.

  “A Nical will take sympathy on Ann and release her into the wilderness,” Gaius continued. “Ann will be running around many trees, so the emerald she gave you will not be able to track down her exact location. The emerald is good but it is not perfect. You will go to where she had been at the moment you use it. We have a ruby that will allow you to follow her. It will glow when you are on the correct path.”

  Gaius handed him the ruby.

  “The man in white will hunt her down, and he will find her. You will have to get to her first,” Gaius went on. “It is safe for you to go now.”

  “I-I guess I should thank you,” Hathor stammered.

  “We will meet you. Once you find Ann, go to the lake. It is the only lake on Lone. The path along the way is marked with lilacs. Those are the only lilacs on the planet.”

  “Which direction do I go when I see these flowers?”

  “Either direction will lead you to the lake. They loop around each other. At this lake you will find different fish. The gold fish will transform you and Ann into merpeople when you eat them. As merpeople, you will be able to swim and breathe under water. Go to the bottom of the lake. That is where you’ll find a door. It is the only thing down there. After you go through the door, we will meet up with you.”

  “What is this all about? Why do we need to go to a door?”

  “I wish I could explain more, but time is running out. Now that Ann has just been released into the wilderness, she doesn’t have much time before the man in white finds her. We will try to explain what we can when we meet you.”

  Something in Gaius’ tone told Hathor he must obey him. He touched the emerald and vanished from the room.

  Gaius turned to the other Augurs. “It has begun,” he whispered. “We can only hope Queen Ann will be successful.”

  The other Augurs voiced their agreement.

  Chapter Nine

  Atlantis

  Planet: Earth

  “Congratulations to a woman who’s about to become famous,” Captain Reed said. He raised his glass of wine. “Don’t let the fame go to your head.”

  The group laughed as they clicked their glasses. They stood around the small table in the kitchen.

  Stacey appreciated his kind words. “I still can’t believe it’s really here! I feel as if I’ll wake up at any moment and find out it’s all been a dream.”

  “The data we picked up today will discredit your dream theory,” Mark replied.

  She couldn’t wait to go out there again. She wanted to explore every inch of the city. She knew it would be impossible to sleep that night. She was too excited, but she had to rest so she’d have the energy she’d need to check out more of the lost city tomorrow.

  Stephen motioned for her and Kent to join him in the room where they kept their video and computer equipment. “I wanted you two to be the first ones to see the digital photos I took. I’ve already emailed them to Reed’s boss.”

  “The one whose identity is unknown,” she said thoughtf
ully. “Why won’t he reveal himself?”

  “Maybe he’s shy?”

  “Or maybe he’s a wealthy man who doesn’t want others to know about his charitable deeds?” Kent guessed.

  “Anyway, these pictures are awesome,” Stephen said. He moved the LCD monitor so that it was in their viewing range and let the pictures speak for themselves.

  Stacey studied the pictures with great enthusiasm. The beauty and majesty of the city was breathtaking despite the centuries it spent on the bottom of the ocean floor. After a good ten minutes of looking at the pictures, she began to notice a pattern emerging from them. The same six people kept showing up on the paintings they had found in the three buildings they had explored earlier that day. There were three men and three women.

  She brought up a picture with the six people together. The women wore delicate gold crowns on their heads and long white dresses with white sandals. The men wore thicker gold crowns and black formal shirts and pants and black boots.

  “Have you two noticed that these six people have their pictures in every building we went to today?” she asked.

  Kent blinked. “I hadn’t noticed.”

  “You’re right!” Stephen quickly clicked through the pictures on the computer. “These must have been the leaders of Atlantis.”

  “Why are the men dressed in black and the women dressed in white?” Kent asked. “The buildings have rooms full of color.”

  “Maybe they wanted to balance each other out,” Stacey said. “There are three women and three men. Then there are three white outfits and three black outfits. Maybe it symbolized equality between them while maintaining a position of opposites. White versus black. Men versus women. But they each wear crowns, so they are equal, though opposing forces.”

  “Wow.” Stephen whistled. “That is quite the analysis from a couple of pictures.”

  “Get used to it. She’s brilliant,” Kent proudly replied.

  “It’s just a guess. I could be wrong,” she said.

  “Even if you are, it beats anything I could come up with,” Stephen replied.