The Lost Crown

A Prayer To Eperna

Chase grumbled as he led the way down the stairs to the dormitory.  Walliam had his bag with his few possessions in it.  When he got to his old room in the dormitory he found his old clothes.  He felt his heart sink as he entered the double room where he was to spend his last night in the academy.  It was over.

He couldn’t eat, and he didn’t want to go near the other students.  He dreaded what Warren would have to say.

“I didn’t steal that crown,” Walliam told Chase.

Chase sat on a lumpy couch that had seen better days, in the corner of the room where they were to spend the night.  He scowled at Walliam.  “You just don’t know how to stay out of trouble,” he said.  “I told you not to get involved with them, didn’t I?  The Crown Prince was here and he told them to get rid of you.  What crown are you talking about, though?”

“Swyvern stole a bunch of things from the royal treasury.  I saw him, Chase.  I dreamed I was in the hidden world and I saw him go into the palace and take things.  Gold and other things.  And a crown.”

Chase’s face was a mask.  “You’re crazy,” he finally said.  

There was a noise and the door to their room opened.  Master Harknull stood there in a dingy gray robe, his hair mussed.  He looked lost in thought and for an instant he looked like he didn’t know why he was there.  His focus turned to Walliam.  “I’m here to ensure that you stay put,” the Magian said.  “I’m putting a seal on this door, after I close it.  If either of you open it we will all hear it and you will be sent out of here immediately, young man.”

He didn’t make eye contact with Walliam and then he stepped back and closed the door.  Walliam could feel the tingle on the back of his neck as the Magian used the power.

Chase’s face went dark again.  “Great, I’m a prisoner, too.”

“I’m serious, Chase,” Walliam said.  “When I was on my way here I went through one of the doorways in the cabinet in Sundjahar and I overheard someone talking to Swyvern about stealing the crown, and something called the orb.  I kept having dreams where I was in the palace and I saw Swyvern as he took things from the treasury.  I know where he hid them, too.”

Chase stared at him.  “You don’t get it, do you?”

Walliam thought about what he had been told to do when he had seen Annabeth.  He was supposed to get the crown and keep it safe.  What if Swyvern moved it?  The thought entered his mind like a worm and began to dig its way into his thoughts until he could think of nothing else.

“Why would Swyvern steal a crown?” Chase asked.

Walliam sighed.  “I don’t know.  The man he was talking to said that they were supposed to keep it safe from the Magian known as Galen.”

Chase’s eyes went dull.  “I know Galen.  He’s been gone for almost a year.  He’s one of the Magians who wander, looking for secrets, like Planchiko.”

Walliam’s face brightened as he heard the name of the other Magian.  “How can I tell Planchiko?” he said.  “He’d believe me!”

Chase sighed and lay back on his bed.  “Go to sleep.  It’s over.  Hopefully the King won’t want to do something to you if the crown is really missing.”

“It is!”  Walliam said.  “Isn’t there any way to convince you?  I think this is really important.  I think the man Swyvern was talking to wants to do something bad with the crown.  I think that’s why Penelope was killed.  She skryed out an omen and in the omen there was a crown and --” he stopped.  “Oh what’s the use.  You don’t care.  You’ll just keep hiding from everything.  Where’s your sense of adventure!”

Chase looked up from where he was lying and gave Walliam a level look.  “Listen.  I’m not getting expelled from here too.  Shut up about it!  Go to sleep.”  He sat up and blew out the lantern by his bed.  

After a long moment Walliam blew out the lantern by his bed and lay down in the darkness.  Hopelessness and despair seeped into him.  He was ashamed to feel a tear trickle down the side of his face.  He sat up in the dark and looked around.  There were no windows in the room and the darkness was complete.  He could not even make out the bed across the room where Chase was snoring.

After a while he thought of Eperna and he felt his despair deepen.  He was going to fail in his mission.  He was going to disappoint one of the gods.  He was doomed.  He whispered a prayer.  “Eperna, mother of the trees and daughter of the sky, please hear my prayer.  You know that I love you with all my heart and will do anything that I can to do what you have asked me, but at this moment I am trapped.  I fear that the crown will be taken and I will not be able to find it and I beg for your mercy and your help.  Forgive someone as weak as me and if you see it within your power, please help me figure out how to escape this room so that I may do what you have asked me.”

After he had finished he looked at the darkness around him.  He waited and listened, but after a long time he felt like he really had failed the goddess.  He wished he had the power to create a doorway and then he would be able to get out and go retrieve the crown.  But he knew he did not have the ability.  He had never felt so wretched as he did that moment as he lay down in defeat to try and sleep.