The Strange Adventure of Maria Mercado (15 page)

             
He ran back out and put out an alert to all the other Bostavs to keep an eye out for an Omtar running loose on the grounds. He then ran back upstairs to check on the Royals chambers. It appeared to be untouched and they are still inside on lockdown. There were ten Bostavs posted by the door.  Satisfied with the security, Gadik tried to think of where the prisoners and the Omtar could be hiding.

             
There is only one place that they can stay this long without being discovered
-
the caves underneath the palace.
He knew that it was sealed with both a giant stone on the entrance as well as with magic, but if the intruders possess magic themselves then they must have a way of getting down there and knocking down the shield.

             
Gadik took his spear and hurriedly made his way down then outside. He didn’t bother stopping other Bostavs to accompany him, as they were all busy searching and also preparing for battle. He turned around to the back of the palace and made his way to the underground caves.

***

              Prince Amir and his company arrived on the border of the walls of the palace. They are still hiding by the trees and observing the situation trying to find the best way in. They are currently in the back of the palace, and they need to reach the underground caves. There were Doxpats covering every corner and can sure spot them if they tried to run past them. Prince Amir signaled to his sister. Princes Naia took a small heap of fish from her satchel and tossed it as far as she could. The Doxpats would smell it and would try to grab it to eat. It was hard for them to resist food. Once the giant in front of them rose up to get the fish, the Unknowns ran and made their way past him into an opening on the ground that would lead to the palace caves. They have successfully disappeared by the time the Doxpat came back.

             
Once underground, spotting the entrance to the caves was easy. As they had pre-arranged with the Mestons, the stone of the entrance had been moved a little to allow them to get in.

             
“Ah, brother! I am very glad to see you!” said Prince Amir as soon as he laid eyes on Ankar.

             
“And I, you, brother,” Ankar replied. “You already know of my colleagues Jonas and Reeza.”

             
“Yes indeed. Brave warriors of our cause. I am afraid our reunion will have to be celebrated more at a later time. We have urgent business at hand.”

             
“Yes indeed we do.”

             
“Where is the human girl?”

             
“She is in the chambers upstairs, with one of our allies with her. An Omtar named Meeka.”

             
“An Omtar? Now how in the world did you pull that off Ankar? But nevertheless, we must go now before they are on to us,” he said as he motioned for his companions to move. “You will stay here and ensure that no Bostav follows us. Your services will not go unrewarded Mestons.”

             
Prince Amir and the Unknowns each took a vial of potion from their satchels and drank them. Within seconds their bodies went through spasm and finally, they were able to manipulate their bodies into whatever shape they wanted. They found the crack that Ankar and company had used to get down to the caves and used the same crack to get back up inside the palace.

             
As soon as they were gone, Jonas and Reeza stood on their guard by the stone entrance. Ankar sat down nearby, still drained of energy from the transformations he had gone through. Reeza and Jonas pushed the stone back in its place together. They stood alert inside, and waited.

             
And then they heard it. Someone is trying to move the stone. Slowly, it gave way and soon enough it revealed the presence of a single Bostav. He walked in and saw Reeza and Jonas.

             
“You!” he looked at both of them. “I knew you were in it together.” He poised himself with his spear pointed at them. Jonas and Reeza took their own positions, ready to fight the Bostav. Ankar looked at them both.

             
“Well what are you waiting for?” he said to them. “Destroy him!” he yelled, as Reeza and Jonas both went on to attack Gadik.

***

              Maria felt comforted to be surrounded by others. She had felt so alone when she was kidnapped that she now really appreciates the value of company.
And besides
, she said to herself,
I like this boy.

             
“So, how old are you Jasper?” she asked.

             
“I’m 16. And you?”

             
“I’m 15 but I’ll be turning 16 this year.”

             
“That’s great,” said the boy in a shy voice. “So, what do you think of the kingdom so far?”

             
“Oh I love it! Well besides the fact that I am in the middle of this coming war and whatever decision I make will impact your kingdom,” she laughs. “But really, I do like it. I kind of want to stay.”

             
“You should stay,” Jasper said. “Well, unless of course you prefer your own world. I mean you must have family there.”

             
Maria thought about her family. She does miss them, even her annoying brother. And she misses Jasmine and Neil and Alex and even the drama with Madeline Chin. But as much as she wants to go back home, there is just something appealing about this magical kingdom with its unique species and its palace and the Royals. Now that there is a boy in the picture she finds it even more attractive to stay.

             
As the young boy and girl talk, Martha was looking out through the window. “Oh dear,” she said. “I am afraid that the war is coming soon. There is so much unrest out there right now and oh!” Before she could finish what she was saying, the window was pushed open, knocking her down, and one by one, five figures dressed in black robes made their way in. One of them murmured a spell and the door became instantly covered with a shield. The Bostav that was guarding the door had noticed the change inside and was desperately trying to get in.  “That should hold them off,” said Prince Amir.

             
“Grandma!” Jasper said as he rushed over to help her up.

             
Maria stared at the five figures in horror.
This is really them
, she thought.
They are definitely the Unknowns.

             
“Help her Jasper,” said Martha to her grandson. “I will be fine but you must help her.”

             
Jasper rushed over to grab Maria but he was stopped on his tracks. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Meeka appeared in front of him.

             
“Meeka!” he said. “Where have you been? Come we have to help her!”  He tried to run past him but Meeka grabbed his leg with all four arms, causing him to trip and fall.

             
“I don’t think so Jasper,” he said. “I think we are going to let the Unknowns do what they do best.”

             
“Meeka? What do you mean? Don’t let them get me! You know what they will do!” said a very frightened Maria.

             
“Oh he knows dear girl. But he also has faith in me and in what I can do,” he said. “I don’t believe we have been properly introduced. My name is Prince Amir and these are my brothers and sisters. And with your help, we can be the future of this kingdom.” He turned to his companions and laughed. “We must go now, Maria. Time to meet with our other brothers and sisters so you can choose our destiny.”

             
Two of the Unknowns pick up a struggling Maria and started to drag her between them. The other two muttered a spell that broke open the door, knocking out the Bostav that had been trying to get in. Then Prince Amir once again took the lead, as they walked the hallways en route to the Royals’ chamber.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Gadik found
himself in a stand off with two of the South’s best warriors.  Reeza and Jonas were both looking at him, waiting to make the first move. Finally Reeza went first and the fighting commenced. The skilled Bostav defended himself defiantly against the tirade of attacks by the Mestons. Blows were exchanged between them and Gadik. He put his spear into good use as he took jabs at both of them but they had been trained extremely well and knew exactly how to defend themselves against it. The battle continued, an epic fight that would be told in the future from fathers to sons and their sons after them. Finally, the Bostav knocked out Jonas with a combination of punches and kicks. As he saw his male opponent lying on the floor, Gadik turned his full attention to fighting the female. She was quick and resilient and attacked with no mercy. She managed to knock the spear out of the Bostav’s reach and proceeded with her own combination of hits that left the Bostav lying on the floor. She went to grab the spear and as she was about to pierce him dead on the ground, Jonas knocked her out from behind.

             
“What are you doing Jonas? Think of your son!” said Ankar.

             
“I’ve had enough of you, old man. I would rather not see my son if it means he can live in a world of peace rather than have him in my arms in a ruined kingdom,” Jonas replied and dealt a heavy blow to Ankar’s head, leaving him unconscious. He then turned around to offer a helping hand to the Bostav, but Gadik was already up on his feet.

             
“I thank you for your actions,” he said. “You saved my life.”

             
“I was just doing the right thing. I didn’t kidnap the girl, they did.”

             
“I believe you,” said Gadik. “We must make sure that they are put in the prisons again, this time where they can’t escape.” He turned to Jonas. “How exactly did you three escape the first time anyway?” he asked.

             
“Magic,” Jonas replied. “An Omtar helped us get the keys to unlock our shackles but Reeza had potions on her that enabled us to squeeze through the cracks in the palace walls until we were down here.”

             
“I thought so. And the Omtar?”

             
“He is upstairs, with the human girl. Ankar sent him off with instructions to not leave her alone.”

“We must hurry. She is in terrible danger.” The two of them grabbed the unconscious two and ran up to the prisons to lock them up. Gadik then went to the storage room and grabbed a spear for Jonas. “Do you know how to use this?” he asked.

“Of course,” said Jonas. “Let’s go.”

They ran up the stairs straight to through the hallway until they reached Maria’s chambers. But what they saw was an opened room and the Bostav guard lying dead on the entrance. They walked in and saw Meeka tying up the hands of Jasper and Martha.

“Step away from them,” Gadik said to him. “You traitor, step away.”

Meeka saw them and laughed. Jonas went around the bed to grab him but the Omtar was quick. He jumped out of the window and grabbed the vines and went down to the grounds.

“Let him be for now. We need to find Maria. Help me get them loose,” Gadik said. They proceeded to free Jasper and Martha from the ropes that bound them. “Do you know where the girl is?” Gadik asked them.

“The Unknowns took her, they said they’re going to the Royals chamber,” said Jasper.

“Let’s go,” said Jonas.

“Wait, I’m coming with you,” said Jasper.

“No,” said Gadik. “Stay here with your grandmother.”

“Take him,” Martha said. “He is skilled and he will be of better help to you than to me. I will be fine here, I know my way around.”

Gadik took a moment to consider. “Do you know how to use a spear, boy?”

“Yes, I do.”

Gadik picked up the dead Bostav’s spear and handed it to him. “Keep up,” he said to Jasper.

The three of them ran down through the hallway towards the Royals chamber.

***

Meanwhile, Maria continues to struggle against her abductors. Prince Amir kept walking ahead of them but still managed to notice what was going on.

“Now, now, little girl. Don’t fight it. We don’t want to hurt you. In fact, we just need to talk to you for a minute. Turn here,” he instructed the others as they went down the stairs and deviated their way from the Royals chamber. They were met with Bostavs who are all attempting to rescue Maria but the Unknowns kept using magic to push them away. Eventually they reached the dining hall downstairs.

“Guard the door,” said Prince Amir to two of his comrades. “Now bring the girl here.” He instructed for her to be sat down on a chair in front of him.

“Maria. Do you know why I have brought you here?” he asked.

“Please don’t kill me. I’m still young; please don’t kill me. I haven’t even had my first kiss yet,” Maria begged.

“We are not going to kill you. As I said before, we need you. We need you to pick our side. Now I know you have heard rumors about us but give me a chance to tell our side. Agreed?”

Maria nodded her head.

“Once upon a time, we all lived here, in this grand palace, with our brothers and sisters. I, Prince Amir, as well these loyal companions of mine were all in harmony with every one else. But first let me introduce to you my brother and sisters whom you haven’t had the pleasure to properly meet.” He turned as the other four lined up next to him. “These are Princess Alexis, Princess Naia, Prince Hadis and Princess Kaila. They commonly refer to us as the Unknowns because we have lost our gifts and natural abilities, making us virtual not important and unknown. But nevertheless, we are still princes and princesses of the kingdom and thus we still refer to each other with our given names.

When I was still an official part of the Royals, I had an idea. What if we didn’t confine ourselves to this kingdom? After all, there is a grand, majestic world out there that seems to be so interesting and full of potential. We have seen humans before; the Bostavs, as you probably already know, they were humans at one time. When they decide to join our kingdom they bring with them stories of their past lives and all the adventure and resources that are available out there.  And our father, King Astanfe, raised us with knowledge and history of the human culture for a reason. He said that we could learn from it and avoid the same mistakes and benefit from the examples. So I began thinking, what if we go out? It won’t do any harm to go out and observe them and maybe even learn from them. You are part of an intelligent species Maria. You are blessed with the freedom to choose your own path and do whatever your heart desires.

I brought this idea to my brothers and sisters. Their opinions were divided; some agreed with me yet the others were understandably opposed. We had healthy discussions about the subject for years until finally I realized that it was going nowhere. So I decided to take matters into my own hands and to secretly plan what was supposed to be just an educational trip outside the kingdom.

First I asked the help of my brother and sisters who have agreed with me. And then we proceeded to enlist the help of the Mestons from the South who can help us sneak out into the world. But before our plan can be put into action, one of my other brothers and sisters happen to be using his telepathy and overheard our discussions, and they were determined to stop us.

You see Maria, I did not mean to start a revolt to take over the kingdom but I had no choice. My quest became an obsession to overthrow the others and slowly I dabbled in magic to help me do that.  That’s when someone brought to me the Diamond of Astanfe, the only weapon that is capable of killing us. I wasn’t aware until then of the prophecy set about by my father; and we didn’t really understand the significance of it until after the Great War. We also didn’t know how to properly use the dagger and thus the results being our condition today.

But now that you are here, Maria, things are different. If you decide to join us, then we can continue with our plans to go outside. You can be a princess – a real princess with real control and extraordinary abilities. If you choose to join them, then you will remain as you are – an ordinary little girl in an ordinary little world.  But whatever your decision may be it will not be in fulfillment of the prophecy until it is announced with all 10 of us present. Do you understand, child?”

“Yes.” She thought about being a princess. She can have anything she wants!
But no- not like this, not at the expense of a whole kingdom
. “I will never choose you! You will take over
my
world. My family and friends will be in danger! With your abilities and magic the human world will be thrown into chaos and ruin. Not to mention this kingdom! You are actually willing to destroy the kingdom that your father made just because you want to go out there?”

Prince Amir got up. He nodded to his sisters and two of them went over to Maria’s side and held her down on the chair. They kept her hands on a tight grip. The third sister went over there as well and pulled Maria’s head back, forcing her mouth to open. Their brother, Prince Hadis, came over towards her holding a small bottle of potion on his hand.

“You see Maria, we anticipated the difficulty of getting you to see our side of the story; to get you to agree with us, we needed to devise a whole new strategy. The potion that Prince Hadis is holding, let’s just say that it will make the decision easier for you.” He smiled as Prince Hadis got closer and opened the top of the bottle. Maria continues to struggle but with three of them holding her down, it was impossible for her to break free.

Suddenly, the door opened and Gadik rushed in, followed by Jonas and Jasper. Prince Hadis hurriedly emptied the bottle on Maria’s mouth, forcing her to swallow the potion. Gadik jumped up and knocked Hadis out of the way as Jasper pushed the sisters that were holding Maria down. Jonas went to Prince Amir and held his arms.

“No need for any more violence gentlemen. We will go with you willingly, provided that you take us to our brothers and sisters,” said Prince Amir. “And don’t worry about the girl, she was not hurt.”

Gadik looked at Maria and she appears to be in a daze. “What have you done to her? What was in that bottle?” he demanded.

The Unknowns didn’t reply but just laughed. Frustrated, Gadik took hold of Prince Hadis as other Bostavs came in and grabbed the others. Jasper went over to Maria and was attempting to comfort her but he doesn’t exactly know what to do.

“Stay with her and try to make her throw up what she swallowed,” Gadik said to Jasper. “I will come back after I have transferred them to the Royals chambers.”

Jasper nodded and proceeded to do as he was told. Jonas, Gadik and the other Bostavs escorted the Unknowns out of the room and went upstairs.

***

The Royals remained in their chamber, fully aware of what was happening outside. It seems that the army of Southerners have positioned themselves behind the palace walls. It wasn’t too long before the army of Northerners arrived as well and positioned themselves facing the other tribe. Then the Omtars arrived and joined forces with the Mestons of the North. The Doxpats stood their ground and were the only ones standing between the armies and the palace.

“It seems that the moment has arrived,” said Prince Antaw.

“The girl will be making her decision shortly, when she is here with us,” said Princess Dhalis.

“And our brothers and sisters are being escorted here as we speak,” said Prince Gustav.

“I fear that the girl may be under the influence of their magic,” said Princess Aisha.

“We must have faith in her. If she is indeed the human of the prophecy, then she is a strong one with a pure heart. She can resist their magic; but if they are as strong as we have feared they had become, then only death can break the spell,” said Prince Maalm.

Presently the chamber doors opened and the Unknowns entered, with Jonas, Gadik and a few Bostavs standing guard.

“Ah, at last, brothers and sisters,” said Prince Amir. “We are re-united. I see that you have all been making great use of this room.”

“Whatever your plan is Amir, it will not prevail,” said the Royals in unison.

“All telepathy now? Show offs,” he laughed. “Even that won’t help you win the girl over.” The other Unknowns remained silent but displayed a sinister smile across their faces.

“Bring Maria Mercado in,” said the Royals.

Gadik left to fetch Maria. He is hoping that Jasper has succeeding in helping her get rid of whatever they made her drink. When he got to the room however, he saw that Jasper was still attempting to make her throw up the potion. “Any luck?” he asked.

“No. I think it’s too late,” said Jasper.

“They have asked for her. We need to bring her in the room now,” said Gadik. He helped her up and tried to guide her to walk out but Maria held on to Jasper’s hand. She was looking at him, her eyes pleading for him to come. Jasper walked with them until they reached the chambers.

“She has arrived,” said Princess Dhalis. “Place her in the chair.”