Three Wishes: Cairo (17 page)

Redemption would be sweet.

Sure, he had made mistakes but he had learned from them. Perhaps he had miscalculated the loyalty of the human species? He knew now that he certainly had misjudged the mortals who surrounded him in his earlier form. He still could not believe that he had been banished from his own kingdom and forced to claw and fight to survive as nothing but a mere spirit.

For years he had crafted The Plan. While doing so, he always had a nagging feeling that Ameerah would be a problem, yet he had done away with her quite easily. Khayri had never even had an inkling what was running through Alchemy’s mind. He had never seen it coming. For all of his strength and loyalty, he was powerless where Alchemy was concerned. Alchemy still felt a small tinge of guilt when he thought about the young man. Certainly he had surprised the Prince with his betrayal. But now, Khayri was all-powerful. He had taken, but he had also given the young man a chance at immortality. That had to be worth something, didn't it?

Though his time as King had been relatively short, Alchemy had been a natural leader. His council of advisors was both loyal and a bit frightened of him. It was a perfect recipe for getting things done. They knew that he was a civilized leader, yet with one stare, he could put the fear of the gods into anyone who disappointed him. They also knew that he could erase you from this world with a simple sweep of his hand. Nothing breeds more loyalty than a pinch of mortal fear.

In five short years, Alchemy the king had done more than five previous regimes had been able to accomplish. He had wiped out the kingdoms of Borador to the south and Kelsius to the west, thereby tripling the lands of Transjordan. Those battles were short and almost without casualties for their side. A wizard king, who possessed no feelings of remorse and tremendous powers, made for some very easy battles. Once word spread to the neighboring regions, the leaders of those nations became very flexible and accommodating to his desires. It was painfully obvious that their very lives depended on cooperation. He had emissaries from smaller neighbors lining up to negotiate by his mere reputation alone. Most of these leaders realized that having a piece of their kingdom was far superior to simply being dead. Alchemy had always thought of himself as a lion and he was enjoying this rapid ascension to the top of the food chain!

He had been so engrossed in the expansion of his power base, that he was completely blindsided when he was told that an Egyptian delegation was hoping to meet with him personally. "So they have heard of me," he said quietly to himself upon news of the meeting.

Truth be told, ever since Alchemy had been a child and heard stories from his grandfather about the magic and mystery of Egypt, he had always held special admiration for them. His neighbors to the west were an advanced culture that relied more heavily on science and medicine than simply building bigger armies. They not only outmanned their enemies, but outthought them as well. Alchemy never even considered war with Egypt because he was more interested in partnering with them. He was fascinated by their unique history and unexplained power. Of course, he hoped to eventually rule them as well, but he was in no hurry. He had time on his side. He was actually flattered that they had traveled here to meet with him and was genuinely nervous at the chance to sit across a table and converse with their delegation. He normally entered the room a few minutes late after a foreign delegation had arrived as a show of power and self-importance. But he had decided to be humbly seated when the Egyptians were brought in. He would show them respect in the hopes that such a meeting would plant seeds and eventually bear the fruit that would further broaden his influence in the region. His outlook could only improve with new allies at his side.

He almost fell off of his chair when Ameerah, Atiene and Rorgue strolled into the room. Though the look on his face had to be complete and utter shock, Alchemy recovered quickly to present a face of forced happiness.  His mind raced with one hundred different thoughts. How had these three defeated his trap and returned?

They looked like mere shells of their previous selves. All were thinner than he remembered and they all had wind-worn skin from their extended time in the desert. Ameerah had become the woman Alchemy had always imagined, though the years in rugged terrain had robbed her of that child-like innocence around her eyes. Alchemy flinched reflexively in his chair as Ameerah walked directly up to him and looked him square in the eyes. “So you are what is passing as royalty these days?”

“Welcome back to the land of the living. I’m so happy to have you here,” Alchemy said with as much false enthusiasm as he could muster. He certainly hadn’t expected this turn of events, but was recovering from the initial shock of seeing these ghosts from a previous life. He wasn’t frightened or intimidated. With a simple snap of his fingers he could crush these insignificant creatures. It is amazing what a little supernatural power can do for your self-confidence. But he did have appearances to keep up, so he spoke to the servants in the room, “Please make our honored guests comfortable. They likely won't be here for long, but I certainly want them to have a memorable visit.”

Alchemy did take note that his servants didn't even recognize the former princess and two friends of their departed former king. The three seated before him had spent years making their way back. In the interim, he had removed anyone he thought had been too close to the former regime. There was really no mortal that he feared, but having Khayri loyalists serving him could have proven to be bothersome, so it was just easier to eliminate them. And time, like the sands in the desert, is a wonderful eraser.

Immediately, the servants brought food and wine to the table in an effort to make their guests feel like the dignitaries they mistook them to be.

Ameerah was just getting started. “Strange to see you sitting here on a throne of lies while you spit in the face of our memories. How do you live with yourself? Your last moments with Khayri; did you at least have the courage to explain your deceitfulness before you stabbed him in the back?”

Two of the servants openly stared at their leader. They had never heard anyone question this man; let alone outwardly defy him. They immediately caught themselves, thought better of it and began to try and get their work done as quickly as possible so they could escape this room without consequence.

Alchemy winced visibly at her words, but quickly gathered himself and smiled flaccidly before speaking politely to his servants. “Please leave us. That will be all for the evening.”

The servants felt no desire to remain for even a second longer than necessary. They scattered through the various doorways and disappeared.

Alchemy sat upright in his chair. “You will not address me in such a tone, young lady. You never married the Prince and you hold no authority here. Tread lightly, or you might just find yourself down a well with only a few seconds of air.”

“Is that what you did to the real king?” Ameerah said quietly.

“What happened between us is none of your concern. I suggest that the three of you say whatever it is you came to say and then make haste with your departure. You are no longer welcome or remembered. I'll explain that the Egyptians made a sudden appearance to commend our rising tide of power and we'll leave it at that. You also are well aware of the consequences if I am not obeyed.”

“What have you done to Khayri?” asked Ameerah.

“That, my dear is none of your concern. You should simply forget that you knew him, be thankful that I’ve spared your lives and the lives of your families and move on,” Alchemy said with the most reasonable tone of voice he could muster. “If it is power you seek, you’ll have to look elsewhere.”

“Power; is that really what you think? Are you so blinded by ambition that you imagine everyone to be as corrupt as you are?” asked Ameerah. She could not help but be thoroughly disgusted by the being that sat before her. After all, this was Khayri’s most trusted advisor and friend, yet he now dismissed the idea that Khayri had ever been important to anyone.

“Wow, Khayri was right. You are thick,” said Atiene.

“Excuse me?” said Alchemy.

“You know; touched, ignorant, not altogether there? Your camel is missing one of its humps?” Atiene explained. “We're here to find our friend, you fool! Did you really think that some little magic trick would keep us away forever?”

“I will no longer suffer these questions and comments,” smiled Alchemy. “You know exactly what I can do to you, yet you stand here daring me to do it. Out of respect for the Prince, I give you this final warning. Any additional displays of disrespect and you simply disappear.”

“Oh, you mean like your integrity?” smiled Rorgue.

“You went on and on about the vast superiority of the wizards. Yet, when you had the chance to prove that loyalty is the greatest power of all, you instead showed your true colors, Alchemy,” said Ameerah. “You proved to be nothing but a spineless, twisted, magical freak, whose ancestors passed down nothing but yellow cowardice to you. You've permanently sealed your fate as nothing but an embarrassing footnote in history! Do you know why your cloning spell didn't work?”

“Please regale me with your theory on magic. I'd be interested to hear it,” smiled Alchemy, though it was obvious, he was bothered by the tone of ridicule in her question.

“It's like dressing up a horse and trying to convince everyone it's a camel. No magic spell in the world is powerful enough to let a dishonorable jester like you mimic a person of such honor and integrity. Your carnival tricks showed their amateurish true colors,” said Ameerah with a level of pity and disgust that finally found its target. “It is because of beings such as yourself that your race is no longer viable in this world. You are the reason that wizards are mostly an afterthought today.”

Her words obviously triggered it. He could no longer fake the smile or the attitude. It was time to put these dogs down. When he spoke, his voice hissed with contempt, “I think you need to take this final thought with you to your graves:” He rose up tall and menacing before them with a glacier cold stare. “I am King. You are nothing! Remember that I did warn you and you spat it in my face! I'll feel no more guilt for this!” With that, his wand appeared and with a massive explosion of crackling blue electricity and sound, the entire sitting room and everyone in it disappeared from view.

---------------

Startling nothingness…

It was if Alchemy had stepped into the middle of a cottony cloud of vapor.

At first, he just thought that he had misjudged and over emphasized the
push
that he used to bring forth the spell. He thought that his anger might have intensified his magical attack to the point of actually vaporizing everybody and everything in the room. Perhaps this mist was all that remained?  But soon he realized that the smoke hadn't cleared and likely wasn't going to. As he checked his wand, he was terrified to see that his hand was now translucent. His fingers had a light blue glow and his entire field of vision was blurred by eerie 'fuzzy' phosphorescence. He immediately started to panic as he sensed his mind functioning as usual, but no solid body was present to obey its commands. He shouted at the top of his lungs but heard nothing. All senses except for his shadowy vision were no longer functioning. As he blindly moved forward he caught a glimpse of a chair directly in front of him and stumbled awkwardly to miss it. It was only then that he discovered that his leg passed directly through the chair.

He was a ghost. His body had lost its substance. He had been transferred to some sort of netherworld of shimmering translucence.

Everything had changed in an instant. It was almost as if he had cast a spell on himself and winked out of existence. His world was crumbling, but he didn’t panic. To his credit, he immediately began to take stock of his current situation in the hopes of finding a solution. His mind had already begun rapid fire thoughts trying to piece together the answers he sought.

Okay. He no longer had a physical body or even physical gray matter to deal with. There were no limitations there. He wasn’t dead because his mind was working at full capacity and better than it had ever been. He found that he could process information instantly and efficiently, though he sadly realized that there was no physical outcome to his commands. He would think about an action and then remember that he had no actual substantive body to carry it out. Though his hearing was gone, he thought he actually heard a faint sound just out of reach of his mind. He concentrated on that infinitesimal murmur; applying more and more focus to it until he determined that he was actually hearing the thoughts of those in this general vicinity.

“True to their word… it worked.”

“Dead?”

“Where now? Egypt? Khayri?”

“Mother, Kamila?”

There was some small measure of relief when he realized that he was, at least in some small part, still part of the physical world. He had never really left the dining chamber and was currently hearing the thoughts of those still in attendance. Once he could recognize that the faint rumblings he sensed were actual thoughts, the picture in the room began to clarify and he could actually see the faint outlines of his trio of executioners.

Everything had changed, yet with unlimited mental capacity; he was quickly clarifying the situation and gaining new understanding.

He floated closer to Ameerah's face and focused only on that. He then projected his thoughts with as much mental power as he could summon.