The Royal Pursuit (12 page)

“
Behave, Razian, or I’ll
see to it that your queen dies,” the man warned, his voice
cold.

Athen was ready to attack again, and
the Palers were unsuccessfully struggling to get out of their
chains. Optima glanced at Dour, uncertain of the proper course of
action now that he knew the truth of the queen’s escape.

Dour took her cue. “Now is not the
time to engage in combat. We can save that for later,” he
said.

She nodded with her companions,
understanding his hidden message. They weren’t strong enough to
defeat the man yet. They needed to make a plan.

“
Optima and I will go,”
Dour said. “Athen will be our captive. Surely, the queen will be
concerned about him and want to save him.”

The man smiled in appreciation. “You
speak wise words. Get up,” he ordered Athen, who grudgingly obeyed
him.

“
Let me go, too,” Sando
requested.

“
No, that is not
necessary,” the man said.

“
Please. Three are better
than two. There is strength in numbers,” he protested.

“
I said no. Don’t bother me
anymore.”

Optima gently touched her brother’s
arm, grateful for his concern. “I’ll be alright. Dour is with
me.”

Sando frowned. “You’re all I have
left.”

Her hair turned blue as she recalled
his wife and unborn child who had died due to the virus. Their
parents and other relatives died shortly after that. She brushed
her tears away at the reminder.

“
Come, Optima,” Dour softly
said. “I will take care of you.”

“
What do you want us to
do?” Xan asked Dour.

“
Xan, you will stand in my
place as ruler while I am away,” Dour instructed. “If you must act,
do so. Otherwise, wait for my return.”

Xan agreed.

Chapter
Ten

In the Wilderness

Planet: Lone

Hathor ran up the side of the hill, his
steps carefully tracking where Ann had been an hour earlier. She
hadn’t gone up the hill in a straight line. Her movements had been
irregular, as if she purposely went in zigzags. He figured she’d
been trying to lose her captors, which also made it more difficult
for him to find her. If it hadn’t been for the ruby the Augurs had
given him, finding her would have been impossible.

The shadows from the trees created a
dark environment, despite the bright moonlight beaming down from
the sky. He hoped she wasn’t too scared. He knew she didn’t enjoy
being by herself in these circumstances, especially at
night.

His mind was still reeling from the
realization that she was pregnant with the next queen. They had
talked about having another child, but it had taken them a couple
months of trying before she conceived in the past. This time she
conceived the first month they were trying. He shook his head. It
would be right away this time, he thought in irritation. If he had
expected she might even be pregnant, he would have gone in her
place to Lone. Razian law allowed for the king to act on the
queen’s behalf when she was pregnant since it was the planet’s
first priority to ensure the survival of the beings living on
it.

If he’d had the Book of Spells, he
could’ve sent her back to Raz and meet the Augurs by himself in the
lake that they mentioned to him. Since he didn’t have the book and
since she’d lost her magic, he would have to take her with him. He
felt better knowing that at least he would be with her.

He’d never realized how much he meant
to her. Oh, he knew she loved him, but watching her reaction to his
death made him aware of just how much she needed him, and that
realization made him love her even more. Such a love was uncommon
for the king to receive.

He passed a hollow log. From the glow
of the ruby, he knew she had been there. He didn’t bother to stop
at it. The glow was faint. He grimaced. She must have been
exhausted if she’d stopped there. He didn’t imagine she would stay
there for long, considering the insects he saw crawling around it.
She hated bugs.

He continued to follow her trail.
Looking ahead of him, it suddenly became clear she was going to the
cave near the top of the hill. It was the one spot where the view
wasn’t hindered by trees. Encouraged, he lifted the ruby and
pointed it at the cave. It glowed brightly in the
darkness.

“
Thank goodness,” he
whispered.

She was still there, and better yet,
she was alive. He quickened his step and ran as fast as he could
through the obstacle of tree roots that seemed to jump out from the
ground. By the time he reached the entrance of the cave, he was out
of breath.

“
Ann? Ann, where are you?”
he asked.

“
Hathor?” someone
whispered.

He held the ruby up to the source of
the voice. He smiled when it glowed. “Yes. It’s me.”

He didn’t bother waiting for her
response. He ran over to her and took her in his arms. “Are you
hurt?” he asked.

“
No. Not really. I just
have some scrapes from falling on the ground,” she replied, her
voice shaky.

He kissed her. He could taste her
tears. She had been crying. He tightened his hold on her, his heart
constricting at the thought of what she must have gone through out
here by herself in unfamiliar territory.

She returned his kiss, returning his
passion. She pressed him close to her as he kissed her neck. Their
lovemaking was intense and powerful. Afterwards, they clung to each
other, silently grateful that they were together again.

When Ann finally spoke, she told him
everything that had happened since she left Raz. He tensed as she
related the Nicals’ capture of her, Athen, Jaz, and Falon. He
recalled how things would have turned out if he had been with them.
He wouldn’t be here holding her now. He stroked her cheek,
remembering how she had cried over his death.

She continued her version of events,
discussing how the female Nical had set her free. “I don’t know why
she let me go,” she concluded. “All I can think of is that she took
pity on me because that man wishes to kill me. For some reason, he
doesn’t want our child to be born.”

“
The Augurs told me about
your pregnancy,” he interrupted. “Her name will be Amanda, and she
is destined to be the next queen. Apparently, she will do something
in her reign that will destroy what the man wearing white is trying
to accomplish. The Augurs can see the future through a special
mirror,” he quickly explained. “They said the man who instigated
your kidnapping has seen Amanda defeat him.”

“
I don’t like finding out
about the future before it happens.” She shivered. “It gives me a
creepy feeling. I guess it shouldn’t. I mean, it’s good that Amanda
wins.”

“
The Augurs saw my future,
too, which is why they insisted I stay behind.” He paused. “They
didn’t want me to come here until it was safe for me to do so. They
even had me read through this boring thousand-page book to keep me
on Raz.”

She lifted her head off of his chest
and looked at him. “What happened to you?”

“
I would have died,” he
softly replied.

She quietly laid her head back on his
chest as she absorbed the information. One of her tears fell on his
chest.

“
There’s no reason to cry,”
he soothed, hugging her. “I’m here. The Augurs may have been
obnoxious, but it was for my own good. Apparently, when they are
uncompromising, it’s for a good reason. They just don’t like to
divulge that reason until the timing is right.”

They remained quiet for a few moments,
listening to the animals and insects roaming outside the cave. He
wondered why none of them entered the cave. He glanced around at
the crystals lining the cave’s walls. Perhaps the crystals had
something to do with it.

“
Did the Augurs say who the
man wearing white is?” Ann asked.

He frowned. “No. I assumed that they
didn’t know him, but now that you mention it, it does sound like
they do.”

“
You don’t think they set
up a trap for us? I mean, they told you to find me as soon as I
escaped.”

“
I trust them. The man in
white is probably their enemy. They must know who he
is.”

“
The Nicals don’t know who
he is either. He just appeared out of nowhere and promised to
protect them. Optima doesn’t believe him, but the others seem to.
Does he even have a name?”

“
If he does, I don’t know
it.”

“
Well, we should call him
something. Referring to him as ‘the man in white’ can get pretty
long.”

He grinned at her comment. “Do you
have any ideas?”

“
Pallid. It means
white.”

“
Pallid it is
then.”

She sat up, smiling. “Well, I feel
safe now that you’re with me. But I am getting chilly. It’s cold at
night on this planet.”

“
Do you want me to make a
fire?”

“
Actually, a fire might
capture Pallid’s attention. I have a better suggestion.” Then she
wiggled her eyebrows at him.

He smiled. He enjoyed it when she
initiated their lovemaking. He didn’t hesitate to fulfill her
wish.

***

Atlantis

Planet: Earth

Stacey gazed in awe at the building in
front of her. She and her group were standing in front of the
majestic arc, which loomed before them. The arc was the center of
life on Atlantis, and its very presence demanded respect. She
couldn’t imagine what it must have been like when people flowed
around it, but one thing was for sure: it must have been a busy
place.

The arc, much like the other
buildings, was made of a material that created the rainbow effect
whenever light hit it. They could enter through two entrances, one
on each side of the arc. While Captain Reed and Mark chose one
entrance, she and the others went into the other
entrance.

“
Look. It’s the same six
people we saw in the other buildings,” she noted as she ran to one
of the walls inside the lobby. “Oh good! Their names are carved
into the gold frame.”

Stephen took out his camera and took
pictures.

Kent read the names aloud. “Zeus,
Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter.” He sighed. “It’s too
bad I don’t recognize more than their names. If I knew how to read
their language, I could tell what they had written under their
names.”

“
We should look around and
take pictures of everything that has words on it,” she said. “Then
we can try to figure out their language. It would be wonderful to
read what they wrote. We could learn so much more from their
culture that way.”

Stephen rushed to obey her as he ran
around the room and took pictures of anything containing words on
it.

“
This is a beautiful
building,” Kent commented.

The ivory walls seemed to go on
forever. The only ceiling they saw was at the top of the arc. A
gold staircase wound its way around the walls until it reached the
top of the building.

“
Do you think this is real
gold?” she wondered as she touched the staircase.

“
I think it is,” Kent said,
“but Mark will tell us for sure. He has the equipment to do
that.”

Many doors lined the walls, where
rooms waited for people to enter them.

She continued her examination of the
lobby. Like the other buildings, this room contained plush sofas
and chairs with a circular table in the center of the room. The
sofas were yellow, and the chairs were light green.

She walked over to one of the sofas
and touched the fabric and shook her head. “All the furniture we’ve
seen here looks brand new. Everything in this city looks as if it
was made yesterday. You would never know this place has been in the
ocean for centuries.”

“
It almost seems like this
city is waiting for someone to return to it,” Kent wryly
commented.

“
If we could duplicate this
material, we’d make a fortune selling it,” Stephen said, walking
over to them.

“
There isn’t even a speck
of algae anywhere,” she added. “This is really the most enchanting
place I’ve ever seen.”

Kent nodded his agreement.

“
Let’s check out one of the
rooms along the staircase,” she suggested.

They followed her up the stairs to the
first room.

She peered in the window beside the
door. She couldn’t see anything. “These windows are tinted so you
can’t see inside the room.”

Kent turned the gold doorknob of the
ivory door. “It’s not locked.”

Excited, she eagerly followed him into
the room, Stephen close behind her. The room was simpler than she’d
anticipated. Two plush purple chairs sat in front of an ivory
rectangular desk. Behind the desk was another purple
chair.

The furniture was trimmed in gold. The
carpet was soft and matched the chairs. The walls were ivory. On
one wall, she saw pictures of the same six people. On the wall
behind the desk was a different individual. She studied the ugly
man who appeared to be sad. Below his picture was the name
“Hephaestus.” She wondered what made him so miserable.