The Royal Pursuit (2 page)

“
These are for you, Mommy.”
Katherine presented several daisies to Ann.

Smiling, she took them. “Thank you,
Katherine. That was very sweet of you.”

Katherine beamed with
pleasure.

As soon as Hathor returned, Ann led
them back to the sandbox where they continued to enjoy the
afternoon.

***

Location: Austere Complex

Planet: Lone

Galaxy: Mythical

The Nicals were humanlike in their
appearance. The main difference between them and humans was that
their straight hair changed color depending on their mood. The
males preferred short hair while the females let their hair grow to
their shoulders. Occasionally, a Nical would shave his hair to mask
his feelings, as was the case of the leader who could not afford to
give his true intentions away to an enemy. This particular leader,
Ruler Dour, was especially careful not to reveal his
emotions.

At the current moment, he sat at the
head of a long rectangular wooden table. The Nicals were simple in
nature. They weren’t into extravagant things. They were content to
surround themselves with the basic necessities.

Though he and his companions sat in
his office, the room displayed nothing that would give his esteemed
status away. The table and wooden chairs were the only furnishings
he had. The black curtains were drawn to block out the sun’s
powerful rays. Other rooms were similar in decoration.

The Austere Complex housed his
companions, the total of which were thirty-six. Other buildings on
Lone had long since been vacated due to the deaths of their fellow
Nicals. At one time, Lone had been a thriving planet. Now it was
desolate, and the thirty-seven Nicals were the only survivors of
the species.

Ruler Dour stood up from his chair,
his expression grim. His brown clothes had patches sewn into them
from where holes had found their way into the wool fabric. He
glanced at his companions who looked as scared as he secretly felt.
Their yellow hair almost glowed in the dark room, which was lit by
one candle.

“
We’re getting weaker every
day,” Dour said. “Soon we won’t even be able to go out in the
daylight. It’s only a matter of time before we die like the others
did.”

“
Permission to speak, Ruler
Dour,” Optima requested, her voice so soft he barely heard
it.

His green eyes met hers. “Granted.
What do you wish to say?”

She stood up. “I have done some
research from the stacks of books we have in the library, and I
think I have the answer we’ve been waiting for.”

Dour’s eyes lit up with interest.
“Please, share your thoughts with us.”

She cleared her throat before she
continued. “There is a planet in the Enchanted Galaxy called
Olympia. The humans there never die and they do not
reproduce.”

Around her, he could feel the
excitement brewing in their hearts.

“
That is the galaxy next to
this one,” Dour said. “The beings on Olympia never die?”

“
That’s correct. They have
a special stone. It’s called the Stone of Immortality, and it keeps
them alive forever.”

“
A stone can keep them
alive?”

She nodded. “The chronicles of
Navier’s travels through the galaxies tell of their departure from
a planet called Earth. When they arrived on Olympia, they put this
stone in their Ivory Palace on top of Mount Olympus. He even drew a
map to the mountain and gave a detailed account on where the gods
and goddesses there keep the stone. It is in Zeus’s bedroom. Zeus
is the head god, so he is the protector of the stone. If we can get
that stone and bring it here, we will inherit their
immortality.”

“
What will happen to them
if they don’t have the stone in their possession?” Xan
asked.

She glanced at the man across the
table from her. “I don’t know. Perhaps they will die.”

They looked at each other
uneasily.

“
Can we make a copy of the
stone?” Dour asked.

Encouraged by the idea, she recalled a
part of Navier’s text. “Navier did theorize that the properties in
the stone could be duplicated if we used the right type of stone.
We need to find a sandstone with a diamond inside of
it.”

“
Where would we find such a
stone?” Xan asked.

“
Navier did not know where
that type of stone could be found. The Olympians had taken theirs
from Earth.”

“
Perhaps we can make a
stone like that,” Dour suggested. “We have lots of sandstones and
diamonds on this planet. All we have to do is find a way to put the
diamond inside the sandstone.”

The companions started talking among
themselves, greatly cheered by this new turn of events.

“
This may be our only
chance to live,” Dour continued. “Grab your hats, sunglasses and
long coats. We must collect what we need to make this
stone.”

Without hesitation, they rushed to
obey him. Finally, after two years of slowly wasting away and
watching their loved ones die, they found something to live
for.

***

Location: Ann and Hathor’s Bedroom in
the Royal Palace

Planet: Raz

Galaxy: Enchanted

That night after Katherine and Matthew
were sound asleep in their bedrooms, Ann sat on the bed and took
off her shoes. It was a treat for her to wear her
sneakers.

“
Did you enjoy your day
off?” Hathor asked as he closed the bedroom door.

She broke out of her thoughts and
looked at him. “What did you say?”

“
Thinking about the
Augurs?” he guessed.

She nodded. “I guess I just don’t get
it. What could they possibly want with Raz?”

“
I don’t know. I will have
to do some research tomorrow and see if I can find anything of
interest.”

“
It’s just as well. We’ll
find out what they want in a couple of days.” She smiled at him.
“Why don’t you come over here?” She patted the spot next to her on
the bed.

He eagerly sat next to her and
grinned. “Do you have something in mind?”

She snuggled up against him. “I think
it would be nice to end this day on a perfect note.”

He wrapped his arms around her and
kissed her.

She found that she enjoyed their
lovemaking more now than she did when they were first married.
Afterwards, they held each other under the bed sheets.

“
Hathor,” she asked after a
couple minutes of silence, “do you ever think your job is too
demanding?”

“
No. Why?”

“
Well, the other day I
couldn’t help but notice you spent most of your time running all
over the palace trying to get things done around here. With serving
me and keeping up alliances with other planets, it seems like a lot
of work. I was thinking that if I got someone to help you, then you
would have some time to rest. You know, you could take up a hobby
or something. Do something for yourself for a change.”

“
Don’t do that.”

She blinked, startled at the worried
tone in his voice.

“
You don’t understand what
you are saying.” He shifted so he was looking at her. “It’s a
disgrace for the king to receive any assistance. Total fulfillment
for the king is to dedicate himself entirely to every aspect of his
job. If you get someone to do a part of my job, then I’ll be a joke
on Raz.”

She blushed, suddenly feeling ashamed
for even bringing it up. She had only wanted to help him. “I won’t
do it,” she quickly assured him.

She felt his body relax.

“
I’m sorry. I didn’t
realize it would be a disgrace.”

He hugged her. “I know. It’s
alright.”

She hugged him back. It seemed that
she would always be learning new things about Razian customs and
rules, no matter how strange they seemed to be.

Chapter
Two

Location: Zeus’ Bedroom in the Ivory
Palace

Planet: Olympia

Galaxy: Enchanted

Two nights later, Optima, Xan, and Dour
snuck into Zeus’ bedroom while he slept. While they were searching
for the stone, Zeus sat up in his bed.

He opened his mouth to yell at them,
but Xan came up from behind and put a rag up to his nose and mouth.
Zeus struggled against the intruder to no avail. The fumes from the
rag penetrated his lungs and before he knew it, he was
unconscious.

Xan breathed a sigh of relief. “That
was a close one,” he whispered. Turning to Dour and Optima, he
urged them to hurry up. “This concoction will only work for thirty
minutes.”

Dour nodded his understanding. “Do you
have the stone we made?”

“
Yes, Ruler. Right here.”
Xan took their stone out of a small brown sack and handed it to
him.

They were careful to keep their voices
low, hoping not to wake any of the other gods or goddesses in the
palace.

“
I found their Stone of
Immortality,” Optima said. She carefully took it out of the white
cabinet with gold trim. She set it on the white marble table in
front of her. “Navier wrote that all we need to do is place the two
stones next to each other and the process of duplication will take
over. It should only take a few seconds.”

They held their breaths expectantly as
Xan laid the stone next to the Stone of Immortality. They knew it
was a theory, but now they were about to see whether or not it had
any validity to it.

Optima clasped her hands together,
hoping for the best and fearing the worst. If this worked, then
their problem would be solved. There would be no more death. If
this failed, their species would be extinct in a matter of
weeks.

A faint purple glow lit up their
stone.

“
Navier said this would
happen!” Xan excitedly replied, his hair turning red.

“
Shh…” Dour warned. “We
must be quiet.”

He nodded and turned back to the
stones.

Optima released her breath. Dour was
right. They had come too far to get caught at this point. The Stone
of Immortality radiated a similar purple shade. Oh please, let this
work, Optima silently thought. A sliver of white light shot from
the gods’ stone to their stone. In the blink of an eye, the stones
resumed their normal appearance.

“
Is that it?” Xan
whispered, his eyes shifting from Dour to Optima.

“
I think so,” she replied.
“Like I said, it’s not supposed to take long.”

A faint sound from another room
interrupted their conversation.

Without a word, Optima put the gods’
stone back into the cabinet while Xan threw their stone back into
the sack. Dour led them out of Zeus’ bedroom window where Tan drove
their only working spaceship to the window. They entered the
spaceship through an open door. Dour shut it before Tan took off to
leave Olympia.

Optima breathed a sigh of relief, her
yellow hair turning back to its usual white color. “Thank goodness.
For a moment there, I thought we were going to get
caught.”

“
In a way, we did. Zeus saw
us,” Dour said.

“
I knew I should have put
that rag up to him sooner.” Xan shook his head. “I can’t believe I
waited so long.” His hair was orange due to his
embarrassment.

“
I don’t think Olympians
are aware of our species,” Dour said. “Tan, are there any probes
searching for us?”

Tan checked the screens in front of
him. “None, Ruler Dour. The Olympians seem to be unaware of our
departure.”

“
Olympians are
self-absorbed by nature. They are only concerned with Raz and, to a
lesser extent, Earth. Any other planet or the life on it is of no
concern to them,” Dour told his three companions. “Zeus, most
likely, will have no idea who we are.”

“
That’s good news,” Xan
replied.

Dour glanced out of one of the windows
as they exited Olympia’s atmosphere. Yes, it looked as if they were
safe.

***

Location: Throne Room in the Royal
Palace

Planet: Raz

The next day, Ann sat on her purple
throne. She wore a dark blue dress made of velvet. Diamonds were
sewn into the fabric, and her hair fell over her shoulders in
gentle waves. Her diamond crown rested on her head. Whenever she
performed her role as queen in the palace, she made sure she
dressed the part.

And on this particular day, she was in
the middle of resolving the conflict between two disgruntled
fairies who wanted the rights to the same group of
sunflowers.

“
My family reached those
sunflowers first,” the golden-haired male fairy said. “We arrived
there a few minutes before his family did.”

“
But we called out that we
had the rights to them before you did,” the other male
golden-haired fairy argued. “The fact that we claimed them first
overrides the time of your arrival.”