Nikki vs Rikky

Chapter 18 - The Princess

The cold air whipped Nikky like thorns. Her heart raced. She fell and fell until there was a loud thud. A huge ball of dust rose into the air forming into a huge grey dark cloud. It hovered above her like a ghost waiting to swallow its prey.

When Nikky didn’t move, the massive cloud twirled and formed several long tentacles.

They sprouted like branches and crept down slowly waiting for the last breath to leave her. Just then there was a slight twitch under Nikky’s eyelids and the dark cloud evaporated immediately. Nikky gaped and sucked in as much as she could.

She was alive.

She raised herself and saw she had landed on a cushioned surface. Then out of the darkness she saw bright lights just a stone’s throw away. A palace or was it an illusion again? Still puzzled, she got up and walked towards the palace.

The gate was unguarded and a sense of being here before engulfed her. Was it a trap again? She thought for a moment and decided against entering through the main gate.

Nikky surveyed the palace and noticed that a window was open. With a little difficulty, Nikky crept inside and found herself in a room stacked with barrels and wooden containers. The smell was sweet. Nikky swiftly went to the door and opened it just a fraction so that she could look through the gap. What she saw completely took her breath away.

The adjoining room was filled with little people that she had followed earlier. They were sitting in neat rows, springing balloons, ribbons and toys out of thin air. Nikky’s eyes widened. She had never seen such a thing before. The little people were creating things with no resources and after finishing, the things vanished in a snap.

‘This is not happening.’ A shrill voice suddenly echoed in the room and the little people froze in their spots. ‘Make them faster. They should last longer than just a few seconds.’

‘My lady, Capricia, excuse me for interrupting, but the carnival for the girl who arrived yesterday lasted for a long time,’ one of them said.

‘Capricia,’ Nikky said slowly staring at the creature that had entered the room.

Capricia looked just like the little people, only a little bigger in size, and with a ridiculous amount of jewelry covering her from top to toe. She wore a golden robe adorned with glittering flowers and carried a ball made of what looked like wires, which she kept pressing continuously Two attendants followed her holding the edge of her robes to keep it from sweeping the floor.

‘Don’t be a fool,’ Capricia screamed. ‘It only lasted a few seconds. The girl didn’t realize it because we ran it in a loop. We need the treats to last longer.’

She took a deep breath and continued, ‘We aren’t getting any closer in reading the mind of this girl from Logicoh as well, and so we need to find success with this other girl.’

‘She is Nikky, my lady,’ one of them said. ‘I sold a bottle of water to her yesterday.’ Nikky looked at the little creature in bewilderment. Aw, surely this creature with no eyeballs didn’t serve her water yesterday, Nikky muttered to herself.

‘Nikky,’ Capricia chuckled. ‘Whimsica did a good job, didn’t she? What did it call herself?’ Capricia snapped her fingers rapidly. ‘Ah, Rikky!’ And then her tone changed to a more serious one.

‘Are you keeping track of this girl, Nikky? Where is she roaming today?’

‘She was mostly seen near the apple tree, my lady,’ one of the little people said, producing a Christmas tree in the air.

‘And once we saw her around the cave,’ the creature continued as the tree illuminated in sparkling colours.

‘Cave?’ Capricia shouted in fury. ‘You fools! You should have kept track of her. She could meet those three so-called wise men from Logicoh.’ Capricia pressed her wire-ball in rage. She made a bauble out of the Christmas tree. Then with a flick, steered the tree on the head of the little creature who gave her the news. The creature squeaked and lay unconscious.

‘You,’ Capricia snapped, pointing at a little creature, ‘I want you to go to the cave first thing in the morning. It will be futile going now as we are powerless after dusk.’ Then with a loud thump she turned around and headed out of the room furiously.

Nikky’s heart pounded like a hammer in her chest. She prayed that the three men reached the mirror hill before the little people and then refocused on her mission to find the princess.

How will I get out of the room without being noticed? She thought looking around the room. There were only two exits. She could either go out of the window and try some other window or take a chance and run past the adjoining room. She looked through the small gap on the door, her mind working on full throttle.

The little people had their backs facing her, sitting in a tidy row that reminded Nikky of her classroom. She finally decided that it was time to take the chance. She was about to break into a run when she noticed one of the little people had turned around. Nikky hid behind the door as quickly as she could, gasping. She had a glimpse at those hollow eyes again.

Was it the same creature that had seen her when she was following them? Could they actually see? She didn’t want to get caught now. Heart beating fast, Nikky peered at the room again. The creature had turned back.

Quickly, Nikky sprinted across the room that was occupied by the little people and entered another room. It was empty. ‘Gosh, where could the princess be?’ she thought. The only way to find out was to search all the rooms. She tried the next one and then the next. No luck.

Nikky entered a narrow hallway that led to a staircase which curled upwards to the first floor. She climbed swiftly and looked down a long empty corridor with doors on one side and windows on the other. She tiptoed through the hallway and checked the rooms one by one.

Finally, in the fifth room, she found the princess lying intoxicated on the bed. She had dark brown hair and was thin.

The princess was not alone. Two little people, one thin and the other broad, were sitting next to her. The broad one was jotting down something on a notepad, while the thin one was standing with a pocket flask in its hand. Nikky sneaked into the room and hid behind a curtain.

‘I think we added a tad more Capsica potion to her drink,’ the thin one said, gazing at the small bottle fixed between its thumb and index finger. The other one stopped scribbling and looked bemused as well.

‘I can barely understand her.’

‘I don’t think this potion is doing her any good.’

‘It was supposed to make her thoughts clearer. Instead, it is making her speech fuzzier. Capricia is not going to be happy about it.’

‘We should let her sleep for now.’

The broad little creature hastily got up and stuffed the notes into its bag, as the other creature dumped the potion bottle into his blazer pocket. Nikky caught a glimpse of the greenish-blue potion and was now beginning to understand their procedure.

Trap children, fool them for some days and then bring them to the palace to be experimented upon. The imagination factory! She shivered at the very thought.

‘We need more children for the study,’ one said to the other as they strode towards the door. ‘I heard we have another girl coming soon and we need a boy as well.’

And they left the room.