The Royal Pursuit (10 page)

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 into 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.