The Queen Of All Strange Things

25

The crowd in the throne room shrieked as the two of us materialized in front of the podium.

'There she is!' someone cried.

I stared around at the throne room. The council members were all here, ready to spring at the person who was waiting in the middle. I guess he was the commander of the harpy army, but who allowed him to come into the city? I guess someone had to negotiate with the queen and the captain of the royal guard gone. Unicorns had their heads bent down near the entrance and below us pointing their horns at the intruders, ready to attack while two harpies with spears held their ground.

The harpies were dark skinned, wearing police vests and gangster denims and each holding some sort of a weapon. They had feathers instead of hair and their long contour feathers of their supposed wings were attached to their arms making their arms look like a half arm/half wing.

Now, the man who was causing all of the commotion crept me out. He really loved red. His hair was red, more a red tuxedo and red shoes, red jewelry and even a red beard. What could get creepier than that? His face was sharp and pointy with a pointed nose and he was thin as a stick, making him look like a red needle. He was holding a scepter which was surprisingly not red with a large glowing orb floating on the top end.

'Okay,' I said. 'What on Earth is going on here?'

My voice rang louder than I wanted to.

The red man stretched his arms like a celebrity meeting a crowd of fans and said, 'Deities, Seers, unicorns and of course my dear enchanters.... Allow me to introduce myself and I assure you, I bring you no harm.'

'Then what's with the army?' I snapped.

It was well enough that my mom was missing and this guy had to throw in a freak show.

'Forgive me, you highness,' he said bowing down. 'I'm Tealiff Taramen, son of Victor Taramen and the Enchanter of the Winged.'

Gasped echoes within the crown and even I was aghast. Well, at least that explains the harpies.

'Hm,' I said. 'Good to know... so... what can I do for you?'

His smile faltered a bit. But then he started to grin widely again. 'Oh no, my dear... I didn't come here for any requests; I came here in search of the truth!'

'Right,' I muttered. 'Go ahead, I just don't get why you needed a god damn army.'

Andrew who was next to me nudged my elbow. 'Uh, Amethyst, I think he is trying to overthrow you.'

'Huh?' I whispered.

'Am I allowed to speak to the Council?' said Mr. Taramen.

I shrugged. 'Go ahead.'

'Amethyst!' snapped Andrew.

'What? I really don't get what this guy wants!'

Mr. Taramen smiled as he turned to the crowd. 'Ladies and Gentlemen, I'm here on your behalf, even though you think otherwise. I might say, I truly an impressed at the sixteen year old queen we have here after three thousand years of absence of a ruler... but you all should know that being a child does not mean that a person is pure, neither is that person mature.'

Now I was really confused. I raised an eyebrow.

'I really can't believe why you think this person is the reincarnation of the late princess Quara... Since of course, she was never a Horse Enchantress.'

The crowd gasped, again.

This was turning into some annoying drama.

'It's easy to tell,' he said, grinning at me. 'We fellow enchanters can always tell what each other is.'