The Last Queen of Lemuria (8 page)

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"Look me in the eyes!"

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"I prefer to keep my own thoughts to myself," frowned Guria, faking outrage.

The magic wand was under her dress, but her father couldn't find it. Does that mean her new spells are stronger than her father's? And he could no longer read her thoughts? Based on this assumption, the Princess's face brightened quite inappropriately.

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"Guria, take the wand out of your sleeve and give it to me," sounded the voice of the King at that instant.

The Princess grimaced and handed the wand over. "No, I need to keep working on my curses. Nothing came of it."

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"You are my beloved and most capable daughter. Why do you want to surpass me?" Asked Gorr, raising one eyebrow. His black eyes looked quizzically at Guria.

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"I just want to become more and more perfect, daddy!"

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"You are already perfection. But if you want to beat me, beware the Great Lord of Groix!"

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"Come on, dad! I was thinking nothing of the sort," answered Guria.

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"Everything you were thinking is written right here," he tapped his daughter's forehead with his finger. "Go read "Lucifer's Legacy," it will be helpful to you," and Gorr left.

Guria snapped her fingers, calling her servant. An ugly woman in a gray chlamys came in to the room.

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"Bring me some dryad herb, Sheila," ordered the Princess.

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"Your Highness, I was almost caught by the guard last time. They'll execute me if they discover I've been collecting the royal herb!" pleaded Sheila.

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"Well, if you don't bring it to me, I'll execute you right now!" called out Guria.

The servant bowed, sobbed and disappeared behind the door.

Guria kicked a chest that was standing against the wall. Today was obviously not her day! Her father saw through her trick in five minutes. There is no more of the royal magic herb... The door creaked open once more. A soft, pimply character in a gold-embroidered caftan came into the room. Guria looked at him and shrugged disdainfully.

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"Hello, sister of mine!" – he said in a quavering voice. He looked at the princess with his oily eyes. "How's life?"

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"Howbout you get out of here, Grino."

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"And what if I don't? What are you gonna do about it?" he laughed, showing his uneven teeth.

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"Go to hell!"  snorted Guria, pushing her smaller brother with all her might. But he stood strong, taking her by the arm and saying,

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You're gonna have to be more careful than that, witch!"

Grino's pimply face soured. Anger swayed in his eyes.

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"You be more careful! You're talking to the future Queen!"

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Get out of here! Let go of my arm, freak!"

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You think you can do whatever you want because your mother is father's favorite wife? You just wait until Gorr dies..."

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"Let go!" Guria tried to leave. But Grino grabbed her and pinned her to the wall.

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"Don't be stubborn, now, Guria!" He whispered, pressing his wet lips to her cheek.  "Sister of mine!"

Having understood that she was outmatched, the Princess sharply softened her demeanor. Grino, having tricked the Princess into resignation, loosened his grip. Just then, Guria kneed him between the legs.

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"Ooooooh! You witch!” howled the Prince, stooping.  "You'll be sorry! I'll lock you and your lanky mother up in the gray tower!"

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"Watch yourself, or I'll turn you into a dung beetle as I should have done a long time ago! Shouted Guria, pushing Grino away and slamming the door behind her. She wiped off her cheek and swore loudly.

How she would relish turning Grino into a reptile! The heir to the throne of Groix! All he can do is snarf down food, sleep, and squeeze the servant-girls! He can't even hurt anything! And that's not even getting into higher magical mastery! But why?! Why must the heir be a man? Far away in the City of the Sun, her sister Yuma was the ruler! Queen Yuma! But she was just Guria- the great heriditary witch Guria Yala Gorr- nothing but a princess. Well, whatever! Soon, justice will be restored!

***

Samir fell to his knees before Kriida.

- "I broke the Memory Ray, Kriida! I am ready to undergo punishment!"

- "You can stand, Samir," the elder gave him her hand, "who exactly?"

- "Queen Yuma."

- "It's nothing to worry about," interrupted the Teacher, "Nastia's a strong girl, she can take it."

- "She's kept her consciousness!"

- "Yes, but I think she will manage," said Kriida. "In any case, we can only wait. Thank God that the others don't suspect anything. They will simply live through that month just as they lived it in the past. Neither Guria, nor Tamil and Greta, nor Aleur will remember a thing. I don't think Nastia will be able to recognize them.

And Kriida gave the sign for the Council to end.

Nervously pacing the Queen's bedchamber, Nastia thought frantically. "Lemuria... The land of the giants. Samir did say that they'd chosen objects from Lemuria... But that's impossible!... And nonetheless, I'm here. I didn't just fall into the past. I'm different. So... Samir returned me to a past life? I chose an object from a past life and landed in Lemuria?  I was once a queen? It can't be!"

Nastia walked up to the mirror once again... and saw the same beautiful lady.

"Unthinkable! If I'm to assume that this is all really happening, there's still one thing. If I was once Queen Yuma, then why don't I remember that? The only thing I remember is the language."

A knock was once again heard at the door.

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"Enter!!”

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"Your Majesty!” Tina bowed. She had already gone out and gotten a new grass braid and attached it to her cap. - "Your majesty! Your brother, prince Doro requests an audience with you." "What should I wear?" "Which dress would please you to wear?"

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"Well, what do you think?"

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"The blue lace one, of course, your majesty! It suits your eyes so well!"

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"The lace one, that's right! Where is it?"

The servant opened a door in the wall next to the bed. Not a minute later, a dress and shoes had appeared before the "queen." Tina bowed her head.

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"Listen, Tina, stop bowing all the time! And stop all this 'your majesty' stuff!" pleaded Nastia.

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"How would you like to be called, your Majesty?"

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"Well... by my  name of course."

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"I'm afraid that is impossible, your Majesty," quivered Tina's voice, "I cannot call you by your name. Only members of the royal family can do that!"

Nastia sighed.

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"Alright. Call me what you normally call me. But stop bowing."

Tina crouched in a bow.

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"Very well, your Majesty. Only, you too, don't be angry, but I would like you to call me 'servant' instead of Tina, like before."

With Tina's help, Nastia wriggled into the pale-blue lace dress. There were small circular mirrors along the seam, just like Tina had, only every little mirror was encircled with pearls. An herb bag with unknown contents hung on her belt. On top of it all, Tina took the crystal flask from the side table, scooped something dark blue out of it, and drew a symbol, a triangle, enclosed in a circle on her chest, between her collarbones. Nastia sat silently, not questioning a thing. After all that, the strange Tina lit the grass braid again.

Tina gave Nastia a silver crown with a large transparent-blue stone in the center.

Nastia involuntarily admired herself.

The door opened, and a ten or eleven year old boy ran into the room.

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"Yuma!"

The boy threw himself at Nastia and hugged her.

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"Hi, Doro!" said Nastia, overcoming her shyness, and patting the boy on the head, having guessed that it was her brother, the Prince.

It must be! He looked as much like his sister as two drops of water look like each other, only his hair was lighter and flowing with beautiful curls. His head was tied with a silver ribbon. He had a little bag on his belt, just like the queen and the servant.

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"Leave us, Tina!" pleaded Nastia. The servant walked away with a bow.

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"Well, how are you doing, Doro?" asked Nastia.

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"I'm doing great, Yuma! I made you a present, let's go see!"

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"A present? Is today my birthday?"

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"No," chuckled Doro, "my present can't wait until your birthday."

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"Ok, well where is it?" Smiled Nastia.

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"Let's go, it's in the courtyard!"

They left the bedroom. The palace corridor, decorated with pink marble, and lit by many oil lamps, was empty. Their footsteps rang loudly off the flat walls and floors. The lamps lit themselves based on when the Queen and her brother were approaching. Spacious halls captured the imagination with their luxurious furniture, filled with a rainbow of light, coming through the stain-glass windows.

-     "What a beautiful palace, Doro!"

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"It's like you're seeing it for the first time!" chuckled the prince.

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"Well, yes, but... I feel like I'm seeing it all again, through new eyes- how can I explain it to you…"

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"No need to explain," snickered Doro, "I know that you're in love! "Greta says that love fills life with different colors!"

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"So I'm in love, huh? Greta?"

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"Sure. She tells me stories about love."

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"Your... servant girl?"

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For crying out loud, Yuma! Greta is my teacher and your friend!"

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"Ah-ha," muttered Nastia in shame, "you know, Doro, I should tell you a secret. I need your help."

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“What happened?"

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"Let's go, first, you show me the present! I'll tell you the secret afterwards." Said Nastia, taking the Prince by the hand. They ran out into the garden.

Nastia noticed that the garden, like the palace, was empty. A pair of servants in blue liveries, but that was all the people they saw on there way.

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"Doro, why isn't there anyone here? Where are all the people?"

The prince looked lovingly at his sister.

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"What's wrong with you? Everyone's working to build the ark."

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"Well where's the present then?"

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"It's right here!" answered Doro, fumbling in some bushes that looked like dwarf trees. He pulled out a silver box with little holes, which looked familiar to Nastia... It looks like... the box from the museum of Shambhala!  Only there, she was holding a huge, heavy box, and here was its smaller copy. When she opened it, Nastia almost dropped the present in her surprise. In the box she saw a… bear cub. She fainted. The chubby, clumsy, koala cub was trembling. He tried to bite Nastia's finger. And it would have been completely normal. If it weren't for the size of the cub. The koala was the size of a spool of thread!!!

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"Doro, who is this?!"

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"Remember, I said I would catch a mapule? This is him! They live in chisa bushes."