C19 Chapter 19

The King’s secret

Back in Erogat’s workplace, Dana shoved the belt into Gomek’s hand.

“You take that and put it on the table with the other parts. You won’t be affected by the magic coming from the parts – I don’t know how Erogat does that.”

Dana often forgot the he was only a ghost and due to that already existing under the pretext of other laws.

“Sold!”

Gomek shrugged.

“If you say so. It’s just, how do you want to get the suit of armor to the prisoner if you’re already having problems with its magic now?”

“Not sure. Maybe Erogat knows of a solution. Otherwise, I’ll have to bring the parts over there one by one.”

Erogat called Dana over. He was standing in front of the large map of the underworld.

“We have mapped out a significant part of the underworld’s labyrinth, and yet we’re still missing important parts that would help us understand the layout. But this is not our problem now. The last part of the…”

Dana interrupted him.

“The suit of armor. How can I transport it to the prisoner? The magic is so strong, I can feel it all the way over here. How can I protect myself from it?”

“One thing after the other.” Erogat smiled trustfully. “First, the King’s part and then your problem. Do you have a plan yet how to access the locket? Stealing it is not a good idea – maybe ask the King? The piece of jewelry was part of the official gowns after all, and possibly not easy to get away from it. Plus, he’s not exactly all there, if you know what I mean – or at least that’s what you told me once.”

“I already have an idea.” Dana’s eyes started gleaming at the prospect.

“We’ll do the same things we did with the leprechauns. Only that the King will get a duplicate. Too bad that we don’t know the exact way the locket is supposed to look and what powers it possesses. I will have to break into the palace, I believe. Could you create a picture if I sweep the communication crystal over the thing?”

“Why are you even asking…of course I can”, he replied self-assuredly.

“Good, then afterwards we can create a copy and switch them out. It only needs to last until we’re done with our plans. Afterwards, we’ll return the original”, Dana voiced her thoughts. “You really are courageous, stealing from your King…”

The ghost wanted to add something, when Dana already interrupted him:

“Not stealing. I only want to borrow it. Plus, if it works, we all get something out of it.”

Erogat seemed doubtful when he looked at her. “Are you sure? Then go work out a plan to get into the palace. ... Good luck.”

With that he sent off the trio, who returned to the city of the dwarfs.

“Do you have a plan yet how to get the locket?”, Gomek whispered.

They had been sitting on a bench for half a day already, watching the government pyramid.

“Not really. I think we should just visit the prime minister. After all, he permitted me to use his library any time. I guess now would be the time to accept that offer.”

“And what am I going to do in the meantime?” Gomek seemed lost. “I can’t come in with you.” Disappointment colored his voice.

“Relax a little. Tonight, we might have to start our plan already. See you.”

With a sigh, she stood up. “Quickly in, quickly out. Luck is with the courageous ones.”

After she’d talked herself into it a bit, she marched off to meet the Prime Minister. She had no problems getting into the palace. She secretly gazed around. Where were the guards, were there any security measures? To her surprise, there wasn’t anything of the kind, and so she reached the prime minister’s room without being intercepted. She knocked at the door and heard a voice coming from the inside, asking her to come in. Once she’d entered the room, the Prime Minister greeted her happily.

“Hello, Dana. I’m so pleased that you’re coming to see me. How is your quest going? Are you making progress? Tell me a little about what you have experienced. Your father has told us some tales of your travels, but hearing it firsthand is surely more exciting.”

Dana was sitting on hot stones, but still politely recounted some of their most recent adventures. Every now and again, he interrupted her explanations with quick questions. Of course, she took the time to reply to all of them…he was the Prime Minister, after all. At some point, though, they were interrupted by a knock at the door. The Prime Minister had to attend a meeting.

“I’m very sorry, Dana, but I’ve got to go. I would love to hear more stories, but duty calls.” The Prime Minister pushed out of his chair, less than graceful.

“Can I stay a while longer? You told me once I could use your library”, Dana politely requested.

“Of course. You’ll find your way out on your own. But remember, we’re closing the palace at 10 p.m. You’ll have to be gone by then. Afterwards, there’s no way to leave and the guards will surely be mad.”

He turned around and left his office.

“That was great.” Dana glanced at Shari.

“Not only are we alone in this, but we also got half the guard’s schedules…Let’s see what else we can do.”

Dana looked around the room. There was only one other door she hadn’t noticed so far. It led to an adjacent room where she guessed the scripters of the Minister were sitting, and there was also the door that lead out onto the balcony. She opened said door and stepped outside. Again, she was entirely fascinated by the sight that was offered to her.

“This view…”, she mumbled dreamily. “This is where I should have my own place.”

Silently, she stood there, enjoying the panoramic view until Shari came over and pinched her ear.

“Wake up, we’re not here to daydream! Start looking for a way to get into the palace at night.”

Dana woke from her daydream.

“Ok, fine…”, she moaned and then leaned over the railing to figure out how far it was to the ground.

“Too high to climb a rope up here. Flying would be nice.” In that very moment, an idea came to her.

“Shari? Can you transfigure me into an elf…a real one? With wings and stuff?”

“Right now?” Shari looked puzzled, but still moved to change her.

“Not now, silly…later.”

Shari stopped the magic right away.

“Sure, you only need to tell me when and then we’ll do it. Must be funny to see you flying. It’s a lot harder than you think!”, the pixie giggled.

“Then you will need to help me. But…onto other matters now. Fly up to the King’s private rooms and look if there’s some kind of safety measure on the balcony.”

A short time later, Shari returned to report on her findings.

“Forget it, everything is secured by ancient magic. I don’t know where it came from. Nevertheless, we won’t be able to access the King’s rooms by the balcony.” Shari shook her little head in a precise manner.

“No worries. We’ll walk through the throne room, because that door isn’t locked.”

Dana walked back into the room.

“Find out if you can find anything useful we can mark the balcony with. We need to find it again tonight.”

After a quick search, Dana decided to duplicate the rope of the curtains and mount it to the outside of the balcony.

“Shouldn’t you rather put it on the side of the balcony? Otherwise everyone will be able to see it.”

Shari’s objection was legit. Dana moved the rope so that it wasn’t visible right away.

“It’ll disappear again tonight, anyway. Come on, let’s go. Gomek is waiting for us.”

Dana left the building, sure that they had a foolproof plan. And tonight, at midnight, they would put the plan into action. Outside, they met up with Gomek who was waiting impatiently.

“Well, what’s the plan? Do you have one? One that won’t have us ending up in jail?”

Dana quickly outlined her plan to him. Then they made a date to meet up at ten p.m. that night under the palace’s balcony. When Dana and Shari reached the meeting point, Gomek was already sitting on a rock waiting for them.

“Have you been waiting long?”, Dana wondered about his punctuality.

“I got here early. Don’t worry, nobody saw me. I waited until twilight.”

“Ok. Let’s practice patience then … until all the lights are turned off in the palace.”

Dana searched for a comfy spot from which she could keep an eye on the windows. One by one, the lights turned off. It took a long time until everything was dark. Dana added another thirty minutes.

“It’s almost midnight. We should get going. Shari – you should start.”

Dana was immediately transformed into a fairy. For means of trying, Dana flapped her tiny wings. She promptly rose from the ground, made a summersault, and landed in the grass. Shaking herself off, she tried flying again. This try ended painfully in front of a wall. Every time Shari tried to help, Dana thanked her but declined the offer. Gomek had to hold hysterical laughter in.

“Should I tie a string around your tiny foot and lead you like a balloon…?”, he quietly whispered, “or do you want to break the wall down with your head so you don’t need to fly?”

Afterwards, he smiled and whispered into Shari’s ear: “If our creator had wanted us to fly, he probably would have given us wings…”

It was hard for Gomek to contain himself. Dana cursed quietly to herself and uttered wild curses all the time. Gomek awed at her hefty choice of words.

“I wonder where she learned that?”, he mumbled thoughtfully. At some point, she gave up after all. It was a wonder that she hadn’t suffered anything but a few bruises during all her crash landings. Her head bright red, she turned to Shari:

“Fine then…”, she snapped. “help me to get up there without me crashing again. This is starting to get embarrassing.”

Shari cautiously approached her. She had gotten a little scared of Dana’s furious outbreaks.

“Flying isn’t that easy”, the little fairy mumbled. Dana realized that she had chosen the wrong tone.

“I’m sorry, Shari. That won’t happen again”, she sheepishly apologized to the pixie.

Then, she linked her arms with Shari and they flew up to the marked balcony, not exactly elegantly but it worked. Once up on the banister, Shari lifted the spell. Afterwards, Dana, now herself again, quietly opened the door and entered the room. She held her breath and listened for telling noises. Anxious, she moved to the next door, always ready to jump into hiding at any given minute. She cautiously opened the door leading out into the hallway. Everything was quiet. Suddenly, Dana found herself down on the ground, kneeling on all fours.

“It’s better like this…” , Shari thought. “you won’t be easy to spot as a mouse.”

“We didn’t make any plans to do this!”, Dana complained.

“Hopefully there aren’t any cats in the palace, or I will end up as live bait!”, Dana squeaked and sat up in irritation, to clean her small, shivering nose out of instinct.

“I’ll watch out for you!”, Shari mumbled happily, and then she flew off, slowly and cautiously searching the perimeter. Dana, with her short mouse legs, had to hurry to keep up.

Without any incidents, they reached the door that lead to the King’s rooms. Dana simply walked through beneath the door. Shari was too large to do the same. She changed Dana back and waited. After Dana had let her in, they wanted to search the room together when a voice had them cringe in surprise.

“A wonderful evening to you … You found your way in by yourself, marvelous. What can I do for you, Dana?”

Surprised, they turned into the direction where the calm and pleasant voice had come from. The light turned on in one of the corners and they saw someone sitting in the cozy armchair…the King!

“Your Majesty…”, Dana stammered.

At the same time, she wordlessly communicated Shari to explore the King’s conscious. The way he was talking, she wasn’t sure if he was the real thing. He seemed so…different.

Shari reported right away: “Brilliant head and highly intelligent. No sign of being senile.”

“So, did your little friend here tell you that I am indeed the true King?”, the monarch hissed at Dana.

“Uh…yes, but how is that possible…? At our last visit, you were …how can I put this…like your drawbridge didn’t reach all the way across the moat anymore.”

He laughed heartily at Dana’s comment.

“You’re right, it’s one of my maneuvers. In actuality, I don’t feel like being King anymore. Since my wife went home, nothing is fun for me anymore. But please, have a seat.”

He pointed at a second armchair.

“…I made sure to grab drinks and cookies for you.”

Dana sat down in the other armchair.

“Let me guess: You, too, have been waiting for me. It seems to be destiny. Wherever I go, everybody is already awaiting me.”, she thoughtfully pointed out. At the same time, she tried getting comfortable in the large chair.

“I guess that is true…!”, the King replied. “I know why you’re here. More about that later. First, I need to tell you a story. She starts right when the King of Chaos was caught. He was imprisoned. You have already found that jail, and as far as I know the parts of the armor were hidden. My ancestors received the “Necklace of calm and happiness” for safekeeping. Since that very day, the wives of the Kings have worn that necklace. When we put them on, well you saw that for yourself. When my wife left me, I started wearing it myself. She helps me to forget the pain. At one point, one of your people appeared to one of my ancestors and told him this:

…in the nineteenth dynasty, in the sixth cycle of the moon At full moon, a girl will come which will

Demand to receive the locket.

Do not keep it from her…

…and now you’re here. Sadly, we can’t see the full moon. That’s why I have monitored your activities. I believe you have acquired every part of the suit of armor, except for the necklace.”

Dana had listened quietly while Shari had happily polished off the cookies.

“How do you know what I have?”

The King chuckled. “Your father, he is so proud of you. He tells us about your accomplishments non-stop.”

“But there’s one thing I don’t understand. Why is everyone supposed to believe you’re not all there…brain-wise? You have this brilliant mind and you could govern this place without any help.”

The King was quiet for a few minutes to mull it over, before he slowly replied:

“Once a King, always a King…until death. Without my wife, the strength and courage to keep reigning over this place left me. I have good ministers gathered around me, and they do excellent work. And the locket helped me, for more than three hundred years, to play my role of a crazy person.”

“Can’t you step down?” Bewilderment colored Dana’s voice.

“Technically, yes. It’s just that I don’t have offspring. And a dwarf kingdom without a monarch – that’s impossible. The dwarfs need a King, he keeps the society together…even if he’s not all there.” Sadness tinged his voice.

“And now? Are you giving me the necklace?” Dana tried to gracefully avoid the unhappy story of the King.

“There’s a small problem. The necklace is now part of the royal robes. The Prime Minister wouldn’t be pleased if I stopped wearing it. Plus, we want to keep our little secret between us, right?”

“What do you suggest?” Dana looked at him expectantly.

“A duplicate!”, he spontaneously replied.

Dana laughed. “My idea. Let’s get started.”

“That won’t work!”, the King stomped down on her euphoria.

“Take this golden coin into your hand.”

Dana did as she was told and stretched out her hand. The King placed the coin on her palm.

“What now?” Dana didn’t understand what was going on.

“Duplicate the coin!”, he encouraged her.

Dana was now holding two coins.

“Now hand me the duplicated coin back.”

The King had hardly taken the coin into his own hand, when it disappeared with a quiet noise and a sliver of smoke. Dana swallowed.

“What just happened?”, she wanted to know in horror.

“You can duplicate anything, except for noble metal or jewels. As soon as you give it to someone else, the duplicates will disappear. Hasn’t anyone told you that yet?”

“No!”, she sheepishly replied. “Why should they have. We don’t need this stuff on the regular. What do we do now?”

Dana seemed confused.

“What was your original plan?”, the King wished to know.

“Technically, I was supposed to scan the locket with this crystal. Then Erogat would have had an image of it right away. Based on that image, he would have created an exact replica that we would have traded in for the original!”, she explained busily.

“Good idea. Where will you get the jewel?”

“No clue, I can’t double it, as you know.” Dana looked at him unsure of what to do.

“I know what we need to do. I have made arrangements for you to receive a pass for the dwarf mines. In addition, you will get a map so you’ll have an easier time finding the Schacht that, in turn, leads into a cave. You will find an appropriate jewel there.”

He pushed a few papers her way that were stashed on a table nearby.

“How do you know of that place?”, Dana wanted to know now.

He smiled at her. “I haven’t always been King. You know…my father was one of those monarchs who said one could only understand the people if one had worked with them. So he sent me to the mines! – Well, scan the locket with the necklace and create a copy.”

He stood up and walked over to a side table which was home to a small chest. Opening it, he pulled out the necklace and placed it on the table.

Dana’s almost lost her breath. The piece of jewelry, so close to her, let her feel the full power of its magic. She had to contain herself. The King, of course, had realized what was happening.

“Are you ok? … Can I help you? Maybe you should drink something – the cookies are gone, though.”

He smiled and looked around for Shari. She was lying, now that she’d eaten all the cookies, on the King’s bed and slept deeply. Long conversations weren’t her thing.

“No, I’m ok now.”

She used the crystal and immediately asked Erogat if everything had been transmitted fine.

“Wonderfully. Where are you? Not still inside the King’s quarters?” A slight panic tinged his voice.

“I’ll explain everything later. Please try creating a model based on the picture. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She ended the call. The King had listened fascinatedly the entire time.

“I have never seen anything like it, least of all heard of it. That is so much better than ‘weaseling’ all the time. Can I get a crystal like that somewhere?” His eyes were shining with excitement.

“I will ask Erogat for one. So far, we’ve only got to connection. One to Erogat, and one to me, that’s it.”

“Oh, no problem. Maybe there’ll be more of that one day!”, he happily announced.

“How do we get out of the palace now?” Dana stood up.

“I’ll bring you outside, and here…” He handed her a sealed piece of parchment.

“Using this, you can come see me anytime.”

Dana was already at the door when the King addressed her again.

“Didn’t you forget about something…?”

She looked at him questioningly. Smiling, he pointed at the bed, where the little fairy was still fast asleep. Sheepishly, Dana woke her up.

Afterwards, the King accompanied them to the entrance as he had promised.