Dragon Quest Novel

by Melania Zveja

  "Very well, Victor, you may keep your weapon out if you choose," replied Matthew.

  "Since you have trusted us, we shall trust you. Ron, you keep on your guard to match Victor. The rest of us will put our weapons away," said Suzanne. "Now, shall we discuss matter further inside the cave? I feel that we are exposed out here."

  Matthew agreed and the 11 people went inside the cave. Ron kept his weapons at the ready and an eye on Victor, who did likewise.

  "Victor is not the only one who will not accept your story," said Matthew after everyone other than Ron and Victor had sat down. "It is not lightly that even I accept your story and the rebellion is not filled with people that want the seal on Samanao broken. Many joined only to protest the king's harsh methods but are just as mistrustful of outsiders as he is. They will not believe you without proof."

  "You bring up a good point," admitted Suzanne. "Even we have found this turn of events hard to swallow. And the rebels are not the only ones that need convincing. If we did manage to put this man on the throne and oust the imposter surely there would be many who would see this man as the imposter and believe that the true king was assassinated. That could very well lead to civil war. Your Majesty, is there any way you know of to prove your identity, beyond a doubt?"

  As had happened the last time he had been asked to prove his identity, the man stared off into space. "I told you, I do not know how I even know I am the king!" said the man, despair in his voice. "But I know I am! I know I am…" The man kept repeating that phrase to himself.

  Fearing an outburst, Suzanne quickly consoled the man, "It is alright, Your Majesty, we believe you. But that still leaves us in a pickle."

  "Perhaps we should move on to another topic for now," said Matthew. "Frank tells me that you recognized the names of Simon and Mathias when you were in prison. He also tells me that Simon is kept in the Shrine Jail, a prison for exiles that lies far to the northwest of here, in the Narls Sea. As far as we know, the prison is only known to Samanao. I take that to mean you have met Mathias or one of their comrades?"

  "We met Mathias in a village called Luzami. It is a village of exiles, used by several nations," answered Suzanne. "There is some sort of anti-magic field on the island so nations use it to get rid of scholars and mages. It was Mathias that told us much of what we know of Samanao."

  "How were you able to find Luzami?" asked the kingly man. "It is one of the best-kept secrets among the various rulers of the world. We call it the Lost Island, and for good reason."

  "That would require another story by itself," answered Suzanne. "The short version is that we heard about it from a group of seafarers that spend a lot of time in that region." Suzanne would have elaborated further but knew that associating the four with pirates would not sit well with the king and would probably not sit well with Matthew and his group either.

  "Anti-magic!" shouted Sam suddenly, startling everybody in the cave. "That reminds me! Your Majesty, do you know where the Mirror or Ra is?"

  "But of course!" answered the man, his kingly aura returning to him. He quickly realized what Sam was getting at. "Why did I not think of it before? The Mirror is the answer to all of our problems!"

  "You mentioned the Mirror before," said Suzanne. "What is the Mirror of Ra?"

  A sacred treasure of Samanao," answered the man. "It is kept hidden away from most of the people. The knowledge of its whereabouts is given only to the true ruler of the land. And as the true ruler, only I have this knowledge."

  "Forgive me for asking, Your Majesty, but would this knowledge only be looked on as another coincidence?" asked Thomas. "Even if the people find the Mirror where you say it is someone could always claim that you extracted that knowledge from the true king. Speaking of which, if this Mirror is so important than how is it that the imposter doesn't know about it? Forgive me further for bringing up bad memories, but he tortured you every day for years. Surely, he could have gotten you to give up the location of the Mirror."

  "You would be correct but the stupid brute never asked about the Mirror!" exclaimed the man. "The idiot took far too much pleasure in simply tormenting me and hardly ever tried to make use of its torture. It is likely the beast does not know about the Mirror's power or significance. The Mirror is part of our culture so it is mentioned a lot, especially in the castle. However, since only the true ruler knows where it is, nobody every tests the ruler on its location. The people simply assume the ruler knows where the Mirror is from the moment of his coronation, when that knowledge is passed on from the previous ruler to the next by whisper. And since the Mirror is such a fundamental aspect of our culture, everybody knows what power it contains and so nobody would ever think to mention it. The stupid beast probably heard about the Mirror over and over but never thought to question where it was or what it does. It probably thought it was just some pretty mirror that the people admired, stored in the castle treasury somewhere."

  "But the Mirror of Ra will now be what saves Samanao!" continued the man excitedly. "For the power of the Mirror is the power to reveal the world and all its occupants as it truly is. As one looks into the Mirror one will see past even the most powerful of illusions. We only need the Mirror to prove my identity then! When my reflection is given by the Mirror, you will see me exactly as I am now. When that beast's reflection is seen in the Mirror, you will see the ugly green monster I have told you about."

  "That is wonderful, Your Majesty! How difficult will it be to acquire the Mirror? Is it held in the castle?" asked Suzanne.

  "No," answered the man. "It is in a cave some distance away from the castle; a deep and dangerous cave. That is the unfortunate part. Since we never have needed to use the Mirror and since its location is to be known only by the ruler of Samanao there is nobody to guard or occupy the cave to keep monsters away from it. And since we do not want the Mirror to be found and stolen by some random burglar the cave it is in is deep enough that any such person would be turned away by the monsters within. In this way, the monsters serve as the Mirror's guardians."

  "Then, Your Majesty, let us serve as your swords and shields. Bring us to the cave and we'll help you extract the mirror and save Samanao!" said Matthew.

  "Hold it!" yelled Victor suddenly. "I have had enough of this! Matthew, you cannot possibly mean to extract the sacred Mirror of Ra! To have the knowledge of its whereabouts spread to a group of people who are definitely not the true rulers of this nation!"

  "Does this mean you believe this man is the true king?" asked Matthew.

  "I believe he looks just like him and that whatever foul magic that could be used to duplicate the king's appearance could certainly steal the knowledge of the Mirror from him as well," answered Victor. "I will not profane the Mirror by allowing a group of people, especially outsiders, to the Mirror!"

  "Victor, haven't we already profaned the sacred traditions of Samanao by rebelling against the king?" asked Matthew. "Desperate times call for desperate measures. If this man is an imposter but takes us to the Mirror, the Mirror will work to the rebellion's advantage. Regardless of what happens, the Mirror will help us help the people. Surely you can see that!"

  Victor opened his mouth to protest but then quickly shut it. After some more time thinking finally Victor agreed, "Alright, Matthew, you're right. I will allow this on only one condition: we must be the only ones to go, and without the outsiders! I will not have outsiders know of the Mirror's location. Surely the six of us are more than a match for any monsters in the cave."

  "Though I believe we can use any help we can get, your demand is acceptable to me," replied Matthew. "But what about Suzanne's group? Do you trust us enough to leave His Majesty in our care?"

  "I would hear my comrades' opinions on this matter," said Suzanne.

  "I trust them," said Alice. "They seem to truly have the good of Samanao at heart."

  "I agree," said Ron. "I believe these are virtuous men."

  The three looked to Thomas who gave a sigh with his response, "We have no other
choice that I can see. This could very well be another trick but without trusting them the Mirror will never be found. And without the Mirror, I can see no other outcome but civil war. But I still have a bad feeling about all of this. How do we truly know these are members of the rebellion? Even if they are, how do we know members like Victor won't decide to ambush us while you're away, deciding to get rid of the outsiders?"

  "We will still need your key to get at the imposter," said Matthew. "And we would certainly appreciate your help in infiltrating the castle to expose the imposter to the Mirror. Despite what you might think of Victor, he would never kill you in cold blood. He is simply being cautious and I'm sure we can all respect that."

  "Then certainly we can take some extra precautions, as well," said Suzanne. "How about this: we will leave His Majesty in your care and while you are gone we shall move to another cave. We shall disclose its location to Matthew, and only to Matthew, who will give his word of honor not to disclose our location to anyone else until it is time for him to seek us out again. Is everyone fine with this?"

  Matthew and the kingly man nodded their heads. Thomas was clearly still uneasy with the idea but eventually gave his assent. "Fine. I believe Matthew is a man of honor. I will trust him," he agreed.

  "Then it's settled," said Suzanne. "Matthew, we will leave His Majesty in your hands."

  The four settled on a new location to move to and showed Matthew where they would be. Matthew vowed not to disclose their location until he personally led a group to them. The four moved to another cave in the hills and waited for Matthew to return. Four days later he and the king did return, without the rest of Matthew's group.

  "Oh my goodness," gasped Alice, who had been on watch when they spotted the two. "Guys, come here, they need help!"

  The king looked more or less the same as he had when they had left. He was wearing different clothes and though these new clothes had some tears in them he was otherwise no worse for the wear. On the other hand, Matthew was in much worse shape. His right arm was a bloody pulp with the bone visible in several places. He had severe burns all over his skin. The king had been supporting Matthew as they walked. Thomas and Alice immediately went to work healing Matthew's wounds.

  "What happened?" asked Suzanne.

  "It was the other prisoner, the one called Frank," answered the kingly man. "On the second day of our journey we started hearing some incredibly shrill shrieks in the distance. Every time we heard one of those shrieks, Frank seemed to get more and more agitated. We thought he could not stand the sound, I must admit it was quite annoying."

  "As we neared the cave of the Mirror," continued the man. "There was a particularly loud shriek. It must have been close by. At that shriek, Frank went into a rage. He began grabbing his head and then beating himself until finally he let out a shriek of his own."

  "Brainwashing," said Thomas grimly. "I've read about it. One of the reasons Desmond was so hated was because he was a huge fan of it. You use torture to break a person's mind and turn them into your slave but not even the victim knows it. The shriek must have been a trigger."

  "That must have been why Frank was kept alive," said Ron. "It was clear he'd spent some time there. We should've wondered why he would still be alive when the king is normally so eager to execute his prisoners."

  "We were so busy worrying about the king that we forgot to check on Frank," noted Alice.

  The man continued his story, "We tried to get Frank to be quiet but it was too late. They were upon us in force after that. A bunch of kongs and ugly women riding broomsticks. Before they saw me, the women seemed disappointed. It was clear they were hoping to have found the rebellion's center of operations."

  "Kongs?" asked Alice.

  "A giant turquoise gorilla," answered the man. "We call them kongs. Back to the story, the enemy forgot about the rebellion when they saw me. To Frank's credit, they tried to find out what our mission was. Clearly the brainwashing was still affecting him but he fought against it. He ended up taking his own life rather than tell them anything."

  "The fighting was fierce," continued the man. "Matthew quickly realized that we had no hope of winning. He ordered a retreat. But our pursuers were many. We ended up splitting up to try and shake them. One of the others put on my robe to draw the enemy away from us. They knew it would almost certainly be suicide. In the meantime, Matthew and Victor went with me. They fought their best to protect me. Victor fell in my defense. Matthew gave his body to protect me." The man spoke with heartfelt gratitude in his voice.

  "I'm afraid he's going to be giving more of it," cut in Thomas. "His wounds aren't fresh enough for us to fully heal. We can keep him alive but he's going to lose his arm."

  Thomas was able to get Matthew in stable condition but as he had said, Thomas had to amputate Matthew's arm. The next morning Matthew was able to talk with the group.

  "Why did you come to us?" asked Suzanne. "As a member of the rebellion you must have many people you could go to. People with a warm bed that you could stay with."

  "But I'm not sure who I can trust," replied Matthew. "That's another reason the rebellion has been slow to move. It's not just because we fear we don't have the power to move openly against the king, it's because inside the rebellion is a lot of mistrust and deception. I picked my team because they were the ones they could trust the most. Now that they're gone… I didn't know who I could turn to."

  "So out of all the people in the rebellion, there was nobody else you could trust?" asked Suzanne. "You would trust outsiders above your fellow rebels?"

  "In a way it's because you are outsiders that I trust you," answered Matthew. "Samanao is a mess right now. It's not just the king that is the problem, our people are in disarray. Sometimes it seems like everyone has a scheme; like everyone is just out for themselves now. But you're outsiders; you are apart from all of this. Maybe it was my wounds affecting my mind but I felt that you were the ones I could trust the most."

  "We're honored that you felt that way based off our one meeting," said Suzanne. "So what do we do now? We still need the Mirror."

  "I will give you the Mirror's location," said the kingly man. "In the meantime, I will stay here and look after Matthew."

  "Are you sure about that, Your Majesty?" asked Suzanne. "You want to give the location of one of your nation's most sacred treasures to outsiders? And you won't even accompany us to the cave?"

  "It is as Matthew said, I feel that I can trust you," answered the man, who seemed more like a king than at any time the group had seen him. "And someone has to look after Matthew. He won't be able to travel for a little while in this condition and he certainly cannot go into town. There will be too many questions; it will be too easy for the imposter to figure out who he is and end him. Besides, I have to repay my debt to him."

  Chapter 24: The Mirror of Ra

  "Now I don't mean to make light of our current situation," said Ron when they had arrived at the cave, "but can someone explain to me how we are once again charging into a monster-filled area without a map or directions of any kind? Especially since this time we had a person with a lot of knowledge of this cave?"

  The kingly man had explained before the group left that although Samanaon royalty were told precisely where the cave was they were not given any help in navigating the cave. Samanaon tradition truly did not want the Mirror of Ra to be taken and used at a whim and so if a monarch were to try to remove the Mirror a monster-filled cave would ensure that monarch had very good reason.

  It took the group two days to go from the cave they had been hiding in to the cave holding the Mirror of Ra. The trip took them through the hills surrounding Samanao Castle and to the tall grasslands beyond. Their trip took them to the southeast corner of Samanao. Samanao had large, impassable mountains on most of its border but on the southeast corner was a lake. Going off of the king's directions the group found a small bridge concealed by the water.

  The bridge was underneath the water and designed to blend in wi
th the lake on even the clearest of days so that it would not be randomly found. Since there were few settlements past the hills this further decreased the chances that the bridge would be found. The four waded through the water, which came to about waist height, and eventually came upon a tiny patch of land that had looked inconspicuous from the distance. The land was covered in poisonous marsh which normally would inflict injuries on anybody just from trying to cross. Alice had cast a spell upon the group that caused them to levitate about a foot off the ground, keeping the four from being harmed by the marsh.

  Now the four had made it to the cave where Ron had pointed out that, as usual, the group was going blind into dangerous territory. On the other hand, Alice was undeterred.

  "We'll just have to be the first to map this cave then!" she said cheerfully.

  "Wouldn't that be disrespecting Samanaon custom to map this cave?" asked Ron.

  "I thought about that and the answer is no," answered Alice with a large grin. "Technically, it's against their custom for the king to map out the cave. King Crayton never said anything about other people mapping out the cave."

  "Doesn't that go against the spirit of the law?" asked Ron. "I think the idea is that as little knowledge of the cave is preserved as possible."

  "Well it's not like I plan on selling copies of the map! And we're already breaking their laws by being here!" protested Alice. "But fine Ron! If you want to go through a monster-infested cave without keeping track of where we've been then that's what we'll do!"

  "That won't be necessary," cut in Suzanne, trying to end their argument. "We'll handle this cave the same way we handle every cave."

  The first chamber of the cave was spacious with two hallways coming off of it: one directly in front of the group and one behind the stairway they had taken down, off to the right. The four decided to start off by going directly forward. The hallway took a quick turn to the right and then back to the left. No sooner had they taken the second turn then they found company.