A Royal Fate

Chapter 4: An Unfortunate Meeting

An Unfortunate Meeting

We travelled into the eastern lands of Radeon, and the forests of our youth slowly changed into scrubland and rocky plains. The Devil's Tower was in the center of a circular desert, but near to it on every side was a ring of trade towns collectively called The Foundation. They controlled all trade in the region, mainly because no one wanted to enter the desert to cut the trip shorter. Of all the Federation towns, Gaston was the largest and the closest to our route of travel. I knew we would have trouble in keeping our presence known in Gaston because it had one of the highest guard-to-citizen ratios of the entire kingdom. Roughly half the people in most of the Federation towns were garrison troops there to keep the peace between conflicting merchant clans. That high number of guards would mean that there was a high risk that I would be recognized and we would have to leave in a hurry.

As we came over the last hill and came out of the winding road we had been travelling on, we got our first look of Gaston. The town was spread out across the plains in a rough triangle shape, each point ending in a major trade route to one side or the other of the desert. The desert itself was visible as a cream line about halfway to the horizon. The desert seemed to be hovering on its own heat waves, because it shifted and distorted itself as one looked at it. Having found the town and knowing the desert was close at hand, I steered Snowshoe down and into Gaston. We entered the town without people taking much notice, "So what if two new people came into town," they seemed to think, "wasn't any different than what happened every other day." We were noticed by the guard standing on the street corner, and he did pay attention to us, as was his job. However after checking us over from a distance he looked away without so much as moving his feet.

I breathed a silent sigh of relief, "If he had recognized me right off the bat we would have not been able to get more supplies."

William hear my hushed comment and said, "Yeah, if he had known who you are he would have been down the street and back again faster than a jackrabbit. And he would have brought about a dozen of his friends."

I agreed and steered Snowshoe into one of the street-side tie-off benches. I didn't want to have Snowshoe in a stable in case the guards recognized me and we needed to leave in a hurry. Being in a stable gave too much possibility of being trapped. We dismounted and I removed the double saddle I had bought so William wouldn't have to keep riding bare-back. It also helped to ease Snowshoes discomfort as well, making it easier for her to move while William and I were both on her. I kept the saddle next to the bench so it could be grabbed in a hurry if need be and walked after William so we could resupply on food. More importantly we needed to buy lots of water, because the desert heat would dry us into bacon if we didn't keep hydrated.

We bought enough food and water to last for a week, but made sure we had extra water so there was no way we would run out. As I walked back to Snowshoe with our supplies, I couldn't believe our luck, of over three dozen guards and no one of them had recognized me. Then I bumped into a man as he came out of a tavern, and he nearly made me drop the water bags I was carrying.

"Watch where you are going, you oaf!" I yelled. I then I saw who it was I had run into. The man before me was none other than Sir Fredrick, the Captain of the palace guards, he was sure to recognize me.

I stood still as he dusted himself off and apologized, "I am sorry madam, I didn't seen you and I want to ask your forgiveness if anything was damaged." He looked up at my face, and was apparently about to offer to help in some way when his smile vanished. He looked closer at my eyes and whispered, "Princess?"

I turned to William and made the hand signal that we would use if guards found out who I was. He nodded and without any warning he jumped Sir Fredrick and flattened him on the dusty road. We took off running and had saddled Snowshoe and stowed our bought supplies before Sir Fredrick had even regained his feet. As we raced past him, he yelled in his battlefield bellow, "STOP HER! THE PRINCESS IS ESCAPING!!" His cry grabbed the attention of every guard within earshot. They saw us racing away and galvanized into action. Within moments the entire Gaston guard was hot on our trail. We had a small head-start, but we were riding Snowshoe double, while every guard had his own horse. Sooner or later, they would catch us. I just hoped the foreboding desert would be enough to stop them.

I periodically checked to see if we were still ahead of the guards on our tail, and I could see they would be just about on top of us as we would reach the desert. It was going to be close, and I knew the guards would not stop at simply capturing us. William would most likely be killed on the spot, and I would be put in chains and dragged back to Merida.

As the desert grew ever closer, and the guards that much closer to catching us, I realized that we would cross the desert boundary only seconds before the guards caught us. I urged Snowshoe on to greater speed, and we raced into the desert sands without a second thought. I checked to see if the guards had followed us, but they had stopped at the edge of the sand, just as I had hoped.

The rest of the trek through the desert can be summed up in three words, hot, dry, and long. The heat was unstoppable, both of us were stripped down to the bare minimum of clothing, and poor Snowshoe was a total wreck. We all were dripping sweat, and our water was hot as it went down our throats. It took five, long hours to reach the Devil's Tower, and my locket once again began to lead the way.

We entered the side of the volcano, and wove our way into its very heart. Once we entered the main cavern, we saw the floor was only half-solid, the rest of it was molten magma. The temperature was even greater in the immense cavern than outside in the desert, and I could not see the Soul Saber anywhere.

I called out "I am here to claim the Soul Saber of Fire. What is my test?" The next thing I knew, the room had disappeared in a mist of silver and red. The mist slowly dissipated, revealing my father's bedroom, but unlike the last time I had entered, the bed was not occupied by my father, but by my traitorous uncle. He slept as if without a care in the world, but as I watched the room flash with the lightning from the storm outside, I realized he was not alone in the bed. I crept over to the bedside and peered over the covers. In the bed was me, and I had not been chained or else restrained. Then the covers shifted, and I realize why I wasn't chained or restrained to the bed. My belly bulged in the obvious signs of pregnancy. I recoiled in horror, and then my other self smiled and opened her eyes. I screamed as I saw they were not my own hazel eyes, but black as night. My other self threw back the covers, and walked into the next room. I followed it until I could see what this horror was doing. I turned the corner and nearly fainted. The room had two small children in it, one looked to be about one, and the other was only a few months. Each stared back at me with the same dead black eyes my double had. I tried to turn and run, but something stopped me from moving my feet and glued me to the spot. My double walked up to me and whispered in my ear, "This will be your future, little one, you can't escape it. Let it end here and now before this horrible fate can consume you."

The voice had a quiet resolution to it that made me want to agree, to do anything to stop this horror from ever happening, but then something happened inside me. I didn't feel afraid anymore, the vision I was experiencing wasn't a real future, it was a construct of the Soul Saber to get me to give in, to give up and surrender myself to it. But instead, it had given me greater strength, to do everything in my power to stop this from happening. I looked at my double, and said, "Stuff your ending it here. I'm going to conquer my uncle, and I sure as Hell can conquer YOU! I grabbed my double by the throat, and the vision dissolved, leaving me in the center of the room, now cooled and glowing softly. As I knew would happen, the floor turned molten in the spot below the blade, and rose up to cover the Soul Saber. The molten magma formed a worn and battered scabbard that hung on one's belt. The end-cap and rim-guard were made of ruby, and the blade itself was forged of the blackest obsidian. I looked over to the entrance just in time for William to nearly knock me over in a bear hug that crushed the breath out of me.

When he let go he looked at me with eyes on the brink of crying, "I saw you call out to the sword, and before I could do anything a wall of fire stopped me from moving. The Soul Saber rose out of the floor, and you followed it like you were possessed. It floated around the room until you stood right on the edge of the lava pool. I was scared that it was going to pull you right in, but then you grabbed it and the entire room lost its heat. Like you had sapped it all into yourself."

I hugged him, and after a moment's hesitation, he hugged me back, more tender this time. "I would never try to leave you William." I said, "You mean everything to me and I wouldn't want to do this with anyone else." I looked up into his eyes, "Would you help me out of this place? I don't think I can manage it on my own."

He looked at me with a softened look and said, "It would be my pleasure."