by Unknown
There was another flash. Everything was still black and white, but now, Solana stood next to Kuri.
She looked at her, then looked in the direction her eyes were focused in.
Like she suspected, a beautiful, slender woman with piercing purple eyes and a purple aura to match stood on the other side of the mass of darkness.
"So you finally found us," Kuri said with a sigh as she placed her flasks aside. "I knew this day would come, but hear me. You will never have her!"
Evelyn chuckled. “It's nice to see you again, Kuri,” she purred. She held the sack of letters on her shoulder and a book in her hand.
“I didn't come for Rexajon's precious little princess. I'll deal with her later. I came for you.” Kuri
roared threateningly and tossed energy blast after energy blast her.
Evelyn chuckled, absorbing each attack effortlessly. Once Kuri stopped to catch her breath, she absorbed Kuri's magic directly from her body. Kuri groaned in exhaustion and collapsed.
Solana's eyes widened in shock. “How did she do that? That's not Wizterian or Miranasian magic...”
Once Kuri could no longer attack, Evelyn sauntered over to her and snapped her fingers. Kuri disappeared instantly. Evelyn smirked and snapped her fingers again.
The sack of letters and a book disappeared from her arms and reappeared on the bookshelf. The bookshelf where Solana would eventually find them.
Evelyn looked at her work with satisfaction. “If you want me, come and get me,” she muttered. She snapped her fingers again and disappeared.
Solana crossed her arms at the new information. The puzzle pieces began to fit together. Evelyn kidnapped Kuri to get their attention to lure them out of hiding. It worked even better than she thought. Now the whole world knew who they were and where to find them.
The spell that prevented them from seeing her in the past-seeking spell was not to disguise her identity. It was to disguise the magic she used, probably to use the same spell with the same element of surprise on Solona and Rexajon.
She frowned in thought. But if that was the case, why did she hide when they visited her home in London? Why had she not attacked now that she knew where to find them?
She used her magic to push herself out of this scene of the past and into the next important one. She watched as a past version of herself excitedly knock on the door of the London townhouse Evelyn called home.
The door opened, revealing a boy that looked to been eleven or twelve. “Can I help you?”
Solana could see what Rexajon previously talked about now. The little boy definitely had the same purple energy signature as Evelyn.
Past Solana's smile fell at the sight of him. “I'm sorry,” she said. “We're looking for someone
named Evelyn Fields. I think we've got the wrong place.”
“Evelyn?” the boy asked. “That's my mum.”
Solana frowned. There was something wrong here. Something they missed before.
She rewound the scene and focused on the boy.
Past Solana spoke again. “I'm sorry,” she said. “We're looking for someone named Evelyn Fields.
I think we've got the wrong place.”
Now she saw it. This child was not breathing. He did not have to, because he was not alive. She narrowed her eyes and used the revelation spell. “Rewoathole.”
The child's facade fell and revealed what truly answered the door. A pile of mud with a picture in the center. She kneeled and picked up the picture to look it over. She sighed. “An ultrasound picture,”
she said softly. “Evelyn was expecting...”
It was so easy to figure out, that even Solana's amateur sleuthing skills were enough to crack the code. Human-esque creatures like Evelyn could never carry a dragon child successfully. The child was doomed from the start. Evelyn poured a lot of her magic into making this golem in her would-be child's image, which is why it shared her magical signature.
Solana sighed and whispered, “Rest in peace,” in Wizterian. She sat the picture back onto the floor, then investigated the rest of the scene.
She looked around. Evelyn was nowhere to be seen. She probably did not anticipate them coming to her house, especially so soon after Kuri's disappearance.
The golem's only mission was to open the door, nothing more. He probably reported to Evelyn when she returned.
The scene continued to play out, the boy's voice echoed and now disembodied. “Evelyn?” the boy's voice asked. “That's my mum.”
“Oh,” Past Solana said. “Your mom?”
“That's right. Well, except she's Evelyn Cross now. She's not home right now, but my dad is. Can I
get him for you?”
Solana sighed. Something told her that the father was a golem fashioned to resemble Rexajon. They could have figured this out days ago, had Rexajon said yes instead of, " No, it's late enough as it is. It was silly of us to even stop by at this hour, especially without notice. Take care.”
“Should I tell her you stopped by, then?”
“No. She doesn't need something like that disrupting her life. Have a good night.” “You too.” The door closed on its own with no boy to close it. “Rexajon...”
“Come, Princess,” he said softly. “We should get back to the hotel. We have an early start tomorrow. We're catching the first train to Stonehenge.”
Solana sighed again. And that's how Evelyn knew where to find them the next day. She probably did a past seeing spell similar to this one once her golem reported that someone stopped by.
She did not need to see any other scenes. She had plenty to figure out what happened from there. More importantly, it solidified her mission. She needed to cultivate the magical poles, now more than ever. Now, instead of a nameless enemy, she had to fight a powerful sorceress skilled in various types of magic that had a personal vendetta against her for something that happened without her knowledge. More importantly, she had to fight a powerful sorceress that was ready and waiting for a fight. She did not know how much longer she was willing to wait before she brought the fight to them.
She broke the spell. Color returned to the room. It was time to go to Laos. She needed to get the last two orbs before she even dreamed of facing Evelyn. Kuri's fight proved it—brute dragon strength would not help. She needed the strength of the Hope of Wizteria. She needed it now.
She traced the outline of the map and it appeared with a flash. It shined brightly with the location of the third magical pole. She knew where it was, now it was just a matter of getting there.
She read about an interesting teleportation spell. She would need to read it again.
Her eyes scanned the floor of the messy room until she found the book she was looking for. The teleportation spell was one of the few spells that Evelyn did not scribble on.
The spell Miranasian, so there were no hand motions or words to remember. There were consequences, though.
She flipped through the book, then read aloud. “Magical energy per mile.” She closed the book.
Miranasian spells were good at sacrificing energy for the sake of ease. She sighed and pulled out her phone for a quick Internet search. “Alright, so, Laos is about 8,000 miles from here. This spell will use up all my energy. I'll have none to spare for transforming or even quick spells. But on the other hand, this spell can get me where I need to go, without a 16 flight next to Rexajon.”
It sounded well worth the risk to her.
She returned to her spot on the floor and closed her eyes. She meditated, absorbing as much energy that she could muster for this spell.
She absorbed so much energy that the heat traveled out of other parts of the house and rushed to her room to be a part of her magic.
It was only a matter of time before Rexajon began to bang on her door. “Solana! What's going on in there?!”
Even if she wanted to answer, she could not. She could not waste precious energy by talking.
Everything needed to go into this spell. Rexajon's banging faded out
of her hearing as her body glowed brightly with power.
Tired of being ignored and terribly worried, Rexajon finally broke down the door. He rushed over to her and touched her shoulder just as she teleported away. They disappeared in a flash.
Chapter Nine
Solana and Rexajon dropped into the ice-cold white rapids of the Mekong River. Rexajon looked around frantically, trying to figure out where the shore was, but it was hard to see in the late of night.
“Princess!” he called for her. “Princess! Let me know you're okay!”
There was no answer, which was enough to send Rexajon in a panic. He dived and searched the dark water for any sign of her.
He caught sight of her limp body drifting off in the current. He swam as fast as he could to her side and managed to grab her shift before the current could pull her too far away.
He powered through the water with his free hand, swimming with all his strength to get to shore safely.
Once his feet touched the ground, he waded and once he was more on land than in water, he turned backward to drag Solana ashore.
Once they were both safe, he collapsed and caught his breath. There were so many things he wanted to say to Solana. The first being questions such as “where did she learn to teleport like that?” and,
“were they in Laos?” He also wanted to yell at her. A lot.
He turned his head in her direction in time to see her come to. She coughed violently, water spurting out of her mouth. She sat up and turned to her side, then coughed some more.
“What...,” Rexajon gasped out between greedy breaths. “What were you thinking?!”
Solana shot a glare in his direction. “I was thinking...,” she paused to cough. “That I needed to get to Laos to save your mother from your crazy ex-girlfriend!”
“We had tickets to come tomorrow!” Rexajon shouted in frustration.
“I found a better way, no thanks to you!” Solana snapped back. “You told me I could only teleport to
places I've been to before!”
Rexajon gestured around them with wild arms. “Look at the cost, Solana!” he yelled. “You're in a place you've never been before, congratulations! But you're out of magic, you have no phone, in the middle of the night—in the middle of nowhere! You are powerful, more powerful than I can ever imagine, but you die as easily as a bug if you rush into things without thinking! There's a difference between knowing how to do something and when to do it! Grow up!”
“Easy for you to say—you had 1500 years to grow up! You have no idea what kind of pressure I'm under at all times! You have no idea what it's like to deal with this!”
Rexajon gave a scoff of disbelief. “You don't think I know? I know!”
“Oh, yeah?” Solana challenged. “When were you promised to someone as an infant?!”
There was silence, save Solana's angry breaths, between them. Solana shook her head in disgust and walked off. She did not know exactly where she was going, she just wanted to get away from him.
No such luck. Rexajon followed closely behind, no letting her stray too far out of sight.
She heard the leaves crunching under his feet behind her and stopped. She let out a frustrated sigh.
“You know this is more dramatic if you don't follow me when I angrily walk away, right?”
Rexajon stopped as well. “I was never going to marry you, Princess. I swear.” Solana said nothing.
She crossed her arms but allowed him to speak.
He accepted her invitation to continue, "I know what kind of pressure you're facing because I faced the same pressure. Every single day, I got the same speech as you. About the prophecy. About destiny.
About how if I did not do my part—take care of you—the entire kingdom would fall. Don't get me wrong. You have it a lot worse. I, at least, got the chance to stay with my mother. But, I didn't know someone else could have it worse than me at the time. I was young. I wanted to be free, and I couldn't because this stupid prophecy hung over my head at all times."
Solana glanced backward. Although she would not admit it, she waited for him to continue. She
wanted to hear the truth. "Evelyn came into my life, and she was a breath of fresh air. She ran away from the life others tried to set up for her. She wanted to learn all kinds of magic, and that was what she was going to do. Her spirit and confidence were contagious. She told me that I did not have to follow any plan anyone else had for me. She told me that we could run away together. And so, we did.
We ran where no magic could hurt us."
“Earth...?”
Rexajon looked at her in surprise, astonished that she was interacting with his story. The surprise faded a moment later. He nodded. “Earth, that's right.”
He continued, “My mother and your father found me almost immediately. Turns out, it's easy to trace someone's magical signature on a magic-less planet.”
“That's how they learned they had to suppress mine,” Solana concluded softly.
Rexajon nodded. “They harassed me for years to get me to come home. I said no every time. I was happy with Evelyn. I was in love. More importantly, I was free of any prophecy or any protocol that anyone had for me. I was being selfish, but I didn't care. My life was finally mine.”
He took a couple of steps until he could ruffle Solana's hair. “And then you were born. And then everything became real. I started to doubt myself, because what if the prophecy was true? What if this, the youngest dragon in the kingdom, was really the key to saving the kingdom, and she failed because of me? Evelyn encouraged me to stay strong. She told me anyone could take my place and watch the infant princess. And then, something else happened.”
“The letter?”
Rexajon nodded again. "I decided to come back to Wizteria because of King Rulland's letter," he admitted. "Because if he was willing to give away the hand of his precious youngest daughter, I knew he was scared. He feared for her life."
Solana finally turned in his direction. He looked down at her and smiled softly at the way the moonlight
highlighted her face. “All those years, I asked myself if I would be okay if Wizteria fell. The answer was always yes. I didn't care either way. The day I read that letter, I asked myself if I could live with myself if you, an innocent baby subject to the same prophecy, died. I got a resounding no as an answer. So, I decided to go back. I told Evelyn such, took a week to get my affairs in order, then went back. I didn't think anything of those letters or our...engagement since.”
Solana smiled a half-smile, then focused back at the problem at hand. "Well, Evelyn has. She thinks you left her because the King gave you a way to become a prince. She's mad. Really mad. Irrationally mad. And I think she's going to take it out on you, me, your mother, and all of Wizteria. Something tells me her patience is growing thin."
Rexajon hummed in understanding. “Hence the rush to get the third orb.” Solana nodded.
Rexajon sighed and threw a backward glance at the river. "Either way, it's way too dark to search for the orb safely. We need to wait until morning."
He materialized a holographic map in his hand. "Come. There's a village close by. We can stay there for the night."
He wrapped a protective arm around her shoulder and guided them out of the dark woods and to the safety of civilization.
* * *
They were both shivering by the time they made it to the village's only bed and breakfast. Rexajon knocked on the door politely, then opened it. “Excuse me,” he said between chattering teeth. “Do you have a free room?”
Solana huffed. “At least try to speak to them in their natural tongue,” she reprimanded him. Rexajon shot her an irritated look. “I don't know their natural tongue,” he muttered back. “Try this spell: Munluoto hibashi.”
He frowned. He...did not know that one. When did Solana's knowledge surpass his? That was
hardly fair. Still, he did as she commanded and recited the spell, “Munluoto hibashi.”
Their lips and ear
s glowed with magic. He shot Solana an impressed glance, then looked at the front desk clerk again. “Do you have a free room?” he repeated in perfect Lao.
“One,” the clerk replied. He took in their wet frames. “Do you need towels, too?”
Solana nodded. “Yes, please,” she said emphatically.
“Okay,” the clerk said. “I'll show you the way.” With that, the clerk led them to the vacant room.
He handed the key to Rexajon, disappeared for a moment, then returned with fresh towels for them.
They thanked him, then he left for good.
Once they were dry and wearing the clothes provided by the bed and breakfast while theirs dried, they laid down. The jet lag told them that it was only noon, but they were rightfully exhausted from the events of the day.
Solana stared at the ceiling but felt her eyelids grow heavy. She yawned.
“Princess?” Rexajon mumbled.
“Yes?”
“You will have the freedom to choose the person lucky enough to marry you. I swear it.”
Solana smiled softly. “Thank you, Rexajon.”
“Although,” Rexajon added sleepily. Solana could tell that he was close to sleep. “I cannot think of anyone worthy of the honor.”
Solana chuckled. She could think of one person. Too bad he was more like a brother to her.
They fell asleep without another word.
Chapter Ten
Solana woke to an excited knock at the door. She groaned and flipped over in the bed, hoping that whoever was on the other side of the door would give up and go away.
No such luck. The rapid knocking continued. She groaned and kicked the covers off. “Coming!”
she shouted in Lao.
She looked over to Rexajon and rolled her eyes. He could sleep like the dead. Lucky him.
She dragged herself out of bed and to the door. She opened it to a crowd of people smiling brightly at her. She looked at them in surprise. She peeked past the door frame to see they filled the entire hallway. She offered them an awkward smile. “H-hello,” she said in Lao.
“Hello, Phaya Naga!” one of the older women in the front of the crowd said, maintaining her bright smile. She pressed her hands together and bowed slightly. “It is time for baci!”
