The Search for the Eoz Potion

27. The Prince

Two Human Robots entered General Drawde's mobile office and stood before him as the transport raced with urgency toward the Prince's castle. Drawde waited quietly but impatiently to receive word of Tellis Oliver's death. Before they spoke, he rose from his chair with a smile already beginning to form.

"Tellis and the Searcher with her have escaped, sir," the soldier announced matter of factly.

"What?" the General demanded.

"They escaped and appear to have headed this way, sir."

General Drawde stood frozen, trying to take in all of this information and figure out how best to present it to the Prince.

"Sir," the other Human Robot who had been guarding his office said to him. "We have arrived at the castle."

The General pressed his fingers firmly to his forehead in frustration as he tried to hold his anxiety inside. He took a few deep breaths to calm himself down, then walked to the front of the transport. He wanted to scream, but instead he calmed himself as best he could by focusing on what, for the moment, remained of his power in Yllop. Before walking out into the tunnel, he instructed all of the Human Robots traveling with him to stay close by his side.

The light from the transport was the only thing allowing them to see the large cavern in front of them. It looked to be hundreds of feet deep and on the other side was nothing but a huge wall of rock. Drawde looked around and wondered what he was supposed to do, where he was supposed to find the Prince. Suddenly, he heard the clanging of chains and the turning of gears. A large piece of the rocks across from him slowly began to descend like a drawbridge. When it was fully extended, it revealed a wide opening to a much bigger tunnel that was lit on either side by rows of torches along the walls.

Two of the Evil Spirit's devils walked slowly across the bridge to meet the general who nervously straightened his body. The Human Robots stood at attention behind him. Drawde took in a deep and nervous breath as he ran through in his head the best case for why he should remain as general.

"The Prince is awaiting you," one of the devil's said with a distant voice when they were finally standing in front of him.

General Drawde was immediately thrown by the statement. He had met with the Prince only once before, or so he thought. It was in Capital City back when he first became general. The person he had met with, however, looked exactly like the devil that was now in front of him.

"You aren't the Prince?" He asked in confusion. The devil stared past him and shook his head as Drawde continued. "We've met before, you and me. We had a meeting in my office. I thought I was meeting with the actual Prince of Yllop."

"The only place in the Garden of Yllop where the Prince goes is his castle," the devil informed him emotionlessly as if he was reading from a script.

Drawde was now realizing the meeting he had had was only with one of the devils sent from the Evil Spirit on behalf of the Prince. He had, in fact, never met the Prince before, and now he began to wonder if he even existed. What would he see when he walked into the castle? What would happen to him when whoever was inside found out that Tellis had escaped again? Or, did he already know? Had the devils told him everything.

Drawde didn't have much time to think about it as the devil put his hand on his shoulder and guided him across the bridge. The General looked over at the hand with disdain but was nervous to shake it away. Instead, he nodded to his soldiers and they immediately began to follow.

"They must wait outside," the devil informed him.

"They're my soldiers," argued Drawde.

The devil finally turned his eyes to meet the General's. As he did, he tightened his grip around Drawde's shoulder. The General fell to one knee as the devil kept his hold. The pain was worse than anything he'd felt before, and the effortlessness with which it was delivered terrified Drawde. Finally, he agreed to the demands and the devil eased his grip. As the General stood back up, he nodded once more to his soldiers and they took positions guarding the castle.

The devils brought Drawde across the bridge into the tunnel. It was more like a cave, but it quickly opened up into more of a castle hallway. The walls were made of stone and were perfectly rectangular. It was as if someone had built a medieval castle into the rocks. The General noticed that there was nothing in the castle that had the Human Robot Army colors or markings on it. It would have seemed to anyone else walking through the castle that the Prince himself was in no way connected to Drawde and his army. He said nothing to the devils about this or anything else. He no longer trusted anything about the Prince and he didn't want to give these devils anything they could use against him. He didn't trust them either.

They turned down a long hallway that dead ended at a large wood door with another devil standing guard.

"The General," one of the devils leading Drawde said to the one who was guarding the door.

Without a word, the devil standing guard took a large key from the pocket of his torn and tattered pants and opened the heavy wood door. It creaked loudly as it revealed a large, dark room. All the General could see was that the back wall was lined with devils standing as if they were part of some kind of royal guard. As he entered, he wished that he had some of his own soldiers with him in case of an emergency. He wished he had a way to get word back to the control center to send the HRA into the castle after him, but they were all on the same side, he reminded himself over and over. There should be no need for that.

One of the devils grabbed a large pole and lit a fire at the end. He reached it about halfway up the walls and began lighting a row of candles that slowly filled the room with light. It was a dim light, but enough to allow the General to see a large red curtain hanging elegantly from a gold rod attached to the ceiling. The curtain billowed down to the stone floor of the castle chamber and was just sheer enough to reveal the outlines of a man sitting upon a large throne on a platform a few steps up off the floor.

"General Drawde, leader of the Prince's Human Robot Army," announced one of the devils, "I present you now to the Prince of the Garden of Yllop."