The Seal of Oblivion (7 page)

“That’s where you’re wrong,” Laqiya
said in a matter-of-fact tone. “I don’t even want to pretend be the hero. There
are about ten people trying to drag me into this. I would rather be worrying
about my status and wardrobe to be honest. In fact, I might make a better
villain. I’m selfish, self-centered and hate not getting my way. I just want
Nightshield to leave me alone for a while.”

Laqiya then grabbed the woman’s
hand and removed it from her jacket. “You don’t have to touch me by the way. I
got the point when you said, bourgeois-y.”

The woman glared at her, and Laqiya
resisted the urge to cringe. That might not have been the best way to be nice.
This was probably some test of will that she had to pass, to test her
determination to get what she wanted (not that she really wanted to pass it,
just get the staff piece), and it was likely she had just failed.

To Laqiya’s surprise though, the
woman only laughed.

“Always was the reluctant warrior,”
she muttered putting the book she had been stacking down. She led Laqiya to the
chest again, but this time, she opened the false bottom. It revealed a two foot
long or so gold piece that had roots at the bottom and small thorns all over
it.

“How much do you want for it?”
Laqiya breathed as she looked at it, mesmerized by its beauty and happy to see
it for some reason, like it was an old friend.

“If it’s really yours, I’ll take
nothing for it,” she said. “But you have to pick it up first.”

“Pick it up?” Laqiya asked. “Is
this some kind of booby trap or something?”

“If you’re meant to have it, you’ll
be able to hold it.”

“Is the ground going to open up and
swallow me or something if I’m not or some invisible force will stop me from
touching it?” Laqiya asked.

The woman shrugged and silently
watched Laqiya. Laqiya glanced at the woman one last time, and then hesitantly
took the staff out its case. She held it with her pointer finger and thumb
first. Seeing that nothing happened after a few seconds, she gripped it with
her whole hand. It felt warm. She twirled it in her hands enjoying the effect
it had on the light.

“It’s yours.”

Laqiya stopped playing with the
piece at the abrupt proclamation.

“What?” she asked.

“Take the whole chest. It’s yours,”
the woman said again. If Laqiya didn’t know any better she seemed pleased.

“But wait. That’s it?”

“What do you want me to make you do?
Fight me?”

“No.”

“Then take it,” the woman said.
“Put it back, close it, and take it.”

Laqiya did so and locked the chest,
still dumbfounded even as the woman handed her the key.

“Thanks…” Laqiya said making sure
there were no cracks in the floor or assassins in the shadows. It couldn’t be
so easy. “Thanks uh…”

“Celina,” the woman replied.

Laqiya dragged the chest off the
counter and abruptly dropped one end of it.

“I’d like it if you came back,”
Celina said. “Not many people are bold enough to challenge me like you did and
Nightshield… She just has an attitude problem.”

“Wait a minute,” Laqiya said. “What
did I do? How do you know?”

“I didn’t. And I knew because you
were you, and if you hadn’t been you, you wouldn’t have been able to hold the
staff piece,” Celina said.

“Hold on. What?”

Celina shrugged and continued, “But
really come back anytime.
Just not today.
I’m busy.”

“Yeah, the crowd’s going out the
door.”

Celina stared at her pointedly and
then went back into the back room leaving Laqiya to drag the chest out the
shop.

“Nightshield, Chasity help me out.
This thing is heavy,” she said as she tried to drag it over the threshold of
the door.

Nightshield reared back her head in
surprise as Chasity Pearl asked, “How did you do it?”

“Persistence,” Laqiya muttered. “I
told her I wasn’t leaving.”

“And she just gave it to you?”
Sakura asked bending down to open the chest. “Well let’s see it then.”

“Not here!” said Laqiya.

Sakura called her driver to come
get them and demanded that Laqiya open the chest as soon as they were in the
limo. Laqiya did so and ran her hand over the gold piece in the false top.

“Wow…” Sakura muttered and
hesitantly reached her hand out to run her hand over it also. She hissed and
snatched it back.

“Ow! Laqiya! Did it prick you?” Sakura
asked taking a napkin and wiping the blood.

Blood ran down from the tips of her
fingers, and Laqiya suddenly knew why Celina gave her the staff piece. It
hadn’t hurt her.

“Laqiya,” Isis asked gently.

Laqiya’s reply was a frustrated
whine.

Chapter
Five

Al-Rana
Palace

Laqiya rolled her eyes at the
antics of Nightshield and Chasity Pearl. They were at it again, a normal
occurrence when the two were in the room together for more than two minutes.

“At least I’m not a pet…”

This was getting old quick, Laqiya
thought tapping her fingernails on her desk trying to complete her social
studies homework. It was her worst subject and when she got to it, she needed
complete concentration. When she did that, she was lucky to average a B in that
class, but on this paper, Laqiya predicted a big red D.

“Would you two please stop it?”
Laqiya snapped.

With a final glare at Chasity
Pearl, Nightshield went out the room, probably to sit by the sunny window in
the living room since Laqiya’s mother and sisters were gone.

“Oh screw it.” Laqiya put the paper
in her notebook half done.

“What’s the problem?” Chasity Pearl
asked.

Laqiya rolled her eyes. “Life,” she
said leaving the room herself.

When Laqiya got to the living room
she fell out on the couch and stared at the ceiling. She needed something to
do. It was amazing to live in an international city, and yet here she sat bored
out of her mind. And who could blame her? It was raining. Who wanted to go
out…? But maybe it wasn’t raining at Al-Rana Palace.

“Hey Nightshield,” Laqiya said. “Is
it raining at the palace?”

“More than
likely.
Al-Rana Palace is only like an extension of Earth, not another
world,” Nightshield explained.

“Oh,” Laqiya said sighing. She was
about to give up on the idea until it occurred to her that even with it
raining, there was still probably more to do at the palace than there was in
Roselyn.

Laqiya reached over to grab the
phone.

“What are you doing?”

“It’s a palace. I figure there’s
more to do there than it is sitting around here,” Laqiya said to her. “You want
to come? If you don’t, we might get lost anyway.”

Nightshield laughed. “I’m no
better. I haven’t been in the palace in decades. Besides, what’s the fun of
exploring if at some point you don’t have a clue where you are?”

“Laqiya, where are we going?”
Sakura asked as Laqiya led them to the officially dubbed
rose ring.

“Somewhere special,” Laqiya said.

“This is the park Laqiya. There’s
nothing special about a park. And it’s raining,” Sakura added adjusting her
umbrella.

“You’ll see Sakura,” Isis said.

“For once, I’m with Sakura. Can you
hurry up? It’s freezing,” Adria said trying and failing to rub her hands
together and hold up her umbrella.

Laqiya didn’t answer and made her
way to the edge of the forest that was bordered by rose bushes. She continued
into the forest followed by Isis who winced as the thorns brushed against her
legs. Adria and Sakura remained behind.

Laqiya stopped to look back at
them. “Hurry up.”

“I’m sorry. You must have
forgotten,” Sakura began. “A bloody mess awaits those who dare. How did you and
Isis get past?”

Laqiya grinned. “You’re very
expressive aren’t you?”

Sakura frowned and then her eyes
widened. “You know what kind of ‘bloody’ I meant!”

Adria rolled her eyes. “Can we please
go over the different meanings of words later and get a move on? I have to get
home and finish a report.”

“Believe me. This is much more
interesting than a report. Besides, who wants to do a report in this weather,”
said Laqiya as she continued into the dense part of the forest, coming upon the
briar patch.

“What are you doing?” Adria asked
finally going behind Isis and dragging Sakura behind her.

Laqiya went through the briar
patch, the last things she heard being Sakura’s squeak before arriving at Al-Rana
Lake.

“Laqiya?
Are you okay? The briar patch—” Sakura cut herself short as she gazed at the
place, Adria in a similar state next to her.

“This is Al-Rana Lake,” Laqiya
replied.

Sakura’s eyes rested on the palace
in the distance though. “Wow. It’s huge.”

“It’s bigger than the Taj Mahal,”
Adria added.

“Wait a minute!” Sakura said as she
followed Laqiya across the bridge. “Is it yours?”

Laqiya cringed. “I don’t want it to
be. But Nightshield insists that it is.”

Sakura clapped and began to jump up
and down not caring that she was now getting wet and muddying her shoes. “Can
we go in? Please!”

“Well duh,” Adria said. “At least I
hope Laqiya wouldn’t just drag us here for the sake of it.”

“I need to figure out how to get in
first,” said Laqiya.

“The front entrance to the palace
is always open from what Plainshield told me. She’s there anyway. She’ll
probably end up knowing we’re here,” Isis said.

Laqiya started for the palace, but
stopped, only for a moment, when Sakura said, “We have to walk all the way to
the palace. Isn’t there a faster way?”

Laqiya decided not to even be part
of this debate. She continued to the palace. Dealing with Sakura was a waste of
time. That girl had to be the most impatient, complaining person she had ever
met all because her parents spoiled her rotten. Sakura got what she wanted when
she wanted it. It was the perk of being an only child.

By the time Laqiya was at the
palace, the others still hadn’t caught up to her and she didn’t plan on waiting
either. She ran a hand across the large arched double doors trimmed with gold
that guarded the entrance to the palace. Roses were stenciled in gold into the
white crystal. Adria had been right. This would put the Taj Mahal to shame.

She lightly pushed on the heavy red
wood doors, and as though reacting to her touch, the doors swung open to let
her into the entrance hall. If the outside was magnificent, then Laqiya had no
adjective to describe the beauty of the inside. A chandelier hung right in the
center of the large foyer. The light combined with the crystal walls created a
prism effect the decorated the foyer and the wall and floor. The floor was
smooth, polished, and no doubt expensive marble that looked as though no one
had ever walked on it.

“How much do you think it cost to
do this room alone?” Sakura asked coming in behind her after finally catching
up. She carelessly tossed her umbrella in a corner.

“I don’t think I want to know,”
Laqiya said.

“Where do we go now?” asked Sakura

“Forget exploring. I could sit here
and stare at the foyer all day,” said Adria

“Leave her alone Adria,” Laqiya
said smiling. “You know Sakura has a short attention span.”

“I don’t!”

Laqiya stifled a laugh as she
walked around the foyer. It opened up into two hallways to the left and right,
and near the back the foyer opened up into a hallway, but next to that, a few
feet over in the wall were the stairs.

“Which way do we go?” Laqiya asked.

“Well, those two probably lead to
banquet halls and conference rooms,” Isis said of the two beside them. “The
other hall probably leads to some rooms for entertaining guest and the
upstairs...”

“Well?” Laqiya asked.

“Oh, I know,” Sakura said
enthusiastically. “Eenie, meenie, minie, moe,” She picked the stairway.

Laqiya looked to Isis and Adria. They
shrugged, so Laqiya started up the staircase. It began to curve halfway. Then
it opened into a long wide hall with doors spaced at wide random intervals to
her right and windows on the left. Adjacent to it and at their left was another
hall but it curved and had doors on the left and windows on the right. Laqiya
chose a random hallway and looked out the window into a courtyard below.

“I bet if we had gone down that
other hall downstairs we could have gotten there,” Sakura said breathlessly.

“Is that a garden it leads to?”
Adria asked, pointing to the field that extended from the courtyard.

“No. Looks like a sparing field.”

 
“I wonder if there’s a library in here,”
Laqiya asked coming away from the window and heading down the hallway. “Do you
know where Plainshield spends all her time? Maybe she can help.”

Isis shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.
I’ve never been in here. If anyone knows you should.”

“I’d like it if you didn’t compare
me to someone I don’t remember being,” Laqiya snapped.

Sakura looked between the two
girls. “Did I miss something?”

“They say I’m the reincarnation of
the past White Rose, but I don’t remember it,” Laqiya replied.

“Of course not,” Sakura said as
though the notion were silly. “Reincarnation is just the reuse of the soul, not
the personality.”

“That’s doesn’t make sense,” Isis
said. “Who told you that?”

“My grandmother knows a lot about
this kind of thing and as crazy as she is, she’s usually not wrong,” Sakura
said.

“Let’s try this door,” Adria
suggested from down the hall. At some point during Laqiya’s, Sakura’s, and
Isis’ discussion, she had gotten ahead of them.

Adria was already in the room,
feeling for a light switch by the time they got there. Laqiya went in to help,
bumping into something along the way. Finally feeling what she had been
searching for, she flicked on the light and looked into the now lightened room.

“Wow,” Adria said.

It was a fairly large room, bigger
than the entrance hall, filled weapons, mainly the whip, bow and arrow, and
sword. Mostly everything else was a rendition of the three, including many sets
of Sais and katana, along with chains, spiked balls, and nunchaku. There had to
be at least a thousand weapons in the room and each one looked more deadly than
the next.

“This is amazing,” Adria said
running her hands over a bow and arrow set.

“Be careful with that,” Isis warned
as Adria picked up the set and hooked an arrow.

“Relax,” Adria said taking aim.

“Hey what are you doing?” Laqiya
asked horrified as Adria pointed the arrow in her direction and let it go.

Laqiya moved back against the glass
display case in the middle of the room as the arrow zoomed right by her and
shot into the wall in the hallway.

“That’s a strong arrow,” Sakura
said in awe at the arrow imbedded in the crystal wall.

Laqiya rounded on Adria, amber eyes
aflame. “What were you thinking aiming that thing at me?” she demanded.

“I wasn’t aiming at you.” Adria
pointed to the person that had been behind and beside Laqiya and was now on top
on one of the tall display cases in the corner.

“You think that’s funny,”
Nightshield hissed as she jumped down from the case with her claws outstretched
in front of her ready to slice Adria in half.

Adria randomly grabbed a sword.
“Yeap,” she said.

“You don’t know how to use that.”
Nightshield rolled her eyes. “You’ve probably never touched a sword until now.”

“I’ve never touched a bow and arrow
until a few minutes ago either,” Adria informed and Nightshield almost looked
surprised. “Besides, I don’t need to know how to use it. All need to know is that
it’s a sword, and it’s sharp.”

Laqiya stepped between the two. “I
don’t want to be a witness to murder today or any time. So Adria put the sword
down, Nightshield retract your claws, and let’s move on to a less…”

“…deadly room,” Sakura finished
nervously as she padded lightly out the room with Isis.

 
Laqiya closed the door behind them and for
good measure locked it. Then she asked
Nightshield,
“Is there a library?”

“Two,” Nightshield said. “One is
downstairs and it’s a public library. But there’s a private one on this floor.”

“I thought you said you didn’t know
much about the castle,” Sakura piped up.

“It’s a palace, and I said I didn’t
know my way around it like I used to since memory has escaped me over the
years. But I know basic facts about it, a lot actually,” Nightshield added.

“Hm…I’m surprised those memories
still exist. It has been a long time little kitty and you have really gotten up
there.”

Laqiya laughed. “Chasity stop it.”

“It’s true,” said Chasity Pearl.

Nightshield didn’t even turn around
to address the woman. Instead she continued walking as she said, “Last I
checked you have a few years on me. At least I have nine lives.”

“Had nine lives kitty,” Chasity
Pearl corrected.
“Had.
Which are you on?
The ninth?”

“I think the library’s at the end
of the hall,” Adria said pointing to a pair of redwood arched double doors at
the end of the hall to cease the bickering.

“Probably,” Laqiya said leading the
way.

“What are you two doing here
anyway?” Isis asked Chasity Pearl and Nightshield. “I thought you weren’t
coming.”

“It’s raining outside. Better here
than sitting around waiting for it to stop raining,” Chasity Pearl replied as
they came upon the room.

The door was cracked, and so Laqiya
poked her head in the room first, whistling at the sight. The detail in the
construction and lighting of the library was even more meticulous than the
foyer. The floor looked like water because of the way the light bounced off of
it and as she went down the stairs that led into the main part of the room,
Laqiya had to remind herself it was solid ground. It was so big. Where to go…?

“How do you navigate this place?”
Laqiya asked. “Is there a catalogue or something?”

“Never got around
to putting one in.
But it’s not that hard. It’s categorized by subject,”
Nightshield explained.

“Well, I guess we can all help
there,” Sakura said. “Got any labels anywhere?”

Eventually they did find some paper
to label the sections and organize, but the fact that many of the books weren’t
in English made categorizing difficult. In fact, most of the books were in some
ancient dead Aramaic language. The few that were in English were translations
that Plainshield had done when she was bored over the years.