Here's another chapter for you guys! Hope you like it! I hope you like it so much that you review! ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;) ;)
When Rhonwen arrived in the library it was close to empty. Only Melody was there so far; the rest had yet to arrive. Melody looked up when she entered and the two shared a sympathetic glance.
"What should we do?" Melody asked grimly.
"Not yet," replied Rhonwen, "We have to wait for the others."
So the two of them sat in silence as they waited for their companions. One by one their friends arrived, each remaining silent and waiting with them until the last one, Dianna, arrived and shut the door behind her. She went over to the loveseat that she and Edward had been sitting in before and where he waited for her now. Red started the conversation.
"Ok," she said, still managing to be lovably obnoxious despite her quiet tone of voice, "Today was a disaster. Are we all in agreement?"
Everyone nodded and smiled grimy at Red's welcome sarcasm.
"The question is what we should do about it," said Augustine, looking to each of the people in the room, "Before Ahmed and the others came in we were talking about finding the witch. Dianna mentioned the book that the witch was in, the Odyssey?"
He looked to Dianna and she nodded.
"If that is the witch," continued Augustine, "Then we might have a way to track her down, just like we were talking about. After all, the book will probably tell us where to find her. Then we can track her down and kill her, so Emile will be free from the curse. If he becomes human again it might help to settle the problems raised between our countries today in the meeting."
"Oh, I hope so!" whispered Dianna, "My mother and Queen Aurora are good friends, and she's angry with Edward's father for taking King Vincent's side. When we got back to our suite she mentioned that she might break off my engagement to Edward!"
"She was probably just venting her own distress, dearest beloved darling," soothed Edward, although he looked alarmed as well.
"Yes, that's probably true," said Augustine, "And my mother would not like to hear of anything like that. But you all see my point. Something has to happen, someone has to fix the problem, or our kingdoms could end up ending alliances over this. I know that my kingdom's relationship with Agrabah is already in a bad way, even without all the stress added by people taking sides over the curse. If it's the same witch in the book then we could hunt her down, and that would be one less problem for our kingdoms."
"So, I'll find that book and we'll see if it could be the same witch," Rhonwen said, feeling good to be doing something to help Emile.
"Also," said Red pensively, "We have to consider that we're not just helping Emile or settling argument between our kingdoms. From what we know she could have been the same witch who married my grandfather and poisoned my mother. If she's still out there, she's still a threat to any one of us, or the people we represent."
"Red," Augustine began, his brow furrowing, "I thought Queen Grimhilde died. Wasn't she crushed by a boulder?"
"How do you know that?" Red asked, looking at him strangely, "Never mind, I don't want to know how much of my family history you've memorized."
Here Red paused for a moment to glare at Augustine, and then continued in making her point.
"Obviously, you haven't studied your history recently," she said, "Yes, Grimhilde was seen falling down into the chasm, and the boulder looked like it landed on her, but when they went back to search for the body there wasn't a trace. She had vanished into thin air. Not surprising, when you consider the spell books and ingredients that were found in the secret passage. She was a witch, and there's no mistake about it."
"And it is a bit strange that she looked so much like a witch that we've all heard about," added Melody.
"And that a witch of a similar description cursed someone in the nearby kingdom somewhat close to the date of her first appearance," said Edward, "And, come to think of it, my grandfather also married a witch who placed a curse on my father's intended bride to keep her throne. She also disguised herself as an old hag to catch her prey off guard. She didn't match the description of the witch exactly though, as she had brown hair and eyes."
"How hard would it be to change your eye and hair color if you could change your entire appearance?" asked Melody.
"Exactly my point, dear lady," replied Edward.
"What's to say that the book that Dianna read is true?" asked Akram, still skeptical that the witch could be the same one who affected them all, "No offence to Dianna."
"I know it is," replied Melody simply, "My Grandfather is in it. He's mentioned things that happened in it in his stories. I think one of them was about the witch, I just can't remember her name."
Akram looked curiously at Melody for a moment and let the subject drop. No use arguing that the book was untrue when she obviously had firsthand experience with the book's characters. And it seemed that Rhonwen had found the book Dianna had mentioned.
"Got it!" she called over to them, climbing down the ladder.
She brought the book back over to them and together, with Dianna's guidance, the young royals began to read through the section that mentioned the witch. It turned out that her name was not Grimhilde, but Circe. Grimhilde must have been an alias. She definitely matched the description of both of the witches though, tall and said to have long blond hair, captivating green eyes, and a penchant for turning men into beasts of all sorts. She was also described as vain. But the book said that she lived on an island, so how could she be the wandering witch that had, theoretically, been plaguing the kingdoms? To this, Red supplied an answer.
"It's been a really long time since this book was written," she said, thinking, "I know if I lived on an island alone that wasn't on any maps and rarely got visitors, I'd get pretty bored."
"Yes, Red, but you're not a witch," replied Augustine.
"Are you so very sure of that?" asked Red mock indignantly, "And besides, immortals get bored too, don't they Mel?"
"I suppose so," said Melody, smiling, "My Grandfather does like to play games and watch shows that are put on by his subjects. I think immortals get bored."
"Well, there you have it!" said Red, triumphant again, "She could be the witch!"
"Could be," said Akram, voicing everyone's doubts, "Could be is all we have though. We don't even know that the three were the same witch; much less that she was this witch. And how would we get to her island?"
"My Grandfather could help with that," Melody said excitedly, "He knows every island and landmark in the sea. And since they're both immortals I bet he knows a lot about her. Maybe he can tell us something which would prove or disprove that she's the one."
"But that would mean we'd have to take a trip to the sea," said Rhonwen, "And that would be a really long journey. We'd have to take money, supplies, maps…that's a lot of preparation for something that may not pan out. When would we go?"
"We'd have to go before negotiations end," said Augustine, "That way our parents will have to stay here and perhaps they can settle some of their differences while we're gone."
"Plus, if we wait for them to end it would be harder to go together," added Melody.
"And someone might make a rash decision if the negotiations go badly," said Dianna in a frightened way, "I'm not really a person who enjoys this kind of thing, but if it would stop Edward and I from being separated, I'll go."
Edward smiled at Dianna here and looked back to the group.
"I'll also come along happily," he said.
"I have to come, if we're going to talk to my grandfather," said Melody, "He won't come to the surface for any of you."
"I'm coming," said Augustine, "I know how much a curse can weigh on someone, so if I can help Emile get rid of his, I'll do it willingly."
"Don't think you're leaving me behind," said Red enthusiastically, "I've been waiting for something interesting like this to happen to me since I was five!"
"Well, if you're all going I might as well come along," said Akram sarcastically.
"I guess it unanimous then," said Rhonwen, "Only one problem."
"What's that?" Red asked.
"We can't just go and do this without Emile," she said, and everyone nodded in agreement.
"Rhoni, take us to the West Wing," Melody said, smiling.
Emile, still awake despite all efforts to the contrary, paced back and forth, thinking about the talk that his mother promised for tomorrow afternoon. He felt overwhelmed by the thought that anything he said would be labeled as rebellious or stubborn by his father, and that there was no way the issue could be settled. Even his mother, a remarkable debater, was no miracle worker, and his father was the most stubborn man he had ever met. There was no way that he could change his father's mind, or even make him understand his point of view. He was about to try going to sleep again when he heard footsteps in the corridor, coming towards his room. They were soft steps, like someone walking on tip toe, but there was no mistaking them. And there were a lot of them. Carefully he walked over to the door and opened it a crack to see outside.
What he saw surprised him greatly. All of his friends were making their way down the hallway to his room. Even Dianna was coming, and he had gotten the impression that she was scared of him. He opened the door and gestured to them to hurry inside. Closing it behind them, he turned to ask what had gotten into them.
"What are you all doing here?" he said softly.
"We have a plan," Rhonwen said, her eyes twinkling mischievously.
Emile knew that if anyone found them here he could get into even more trouble. Then again, with his secret blown wide open, he didn't know if it was against the rules anymore. Besides that, how could he possibly be in more trouble? And he wanted to see what was making Rhonwen's eyes sparkle like that.
"Ok," he said, after a moment's hesitation, "Tell me what's going on."
Rhonwen and the others related the plan to him, going through it step by step with him just as they had amongst each other. The plan really began to take form, however, when everyone counted the money they had brought with them, which, of course, amounted to more than enough for light travel, and started to think of how they would get supplies. Emile told them that he would take care of the supplies and horses. They agreed that he was the best one to set everything up as he knew his way around the castle and could sneak away the things they needed without being noticed. And finally, they decided to leave the very next day immediately after negotiations, after Emile emphatically agreed that he could get everything ready by then. They said goodbye, planning to meet again tomorrow behind the garden wall, where Emile would be waiting for them with horses and supplies ready. Then they each headed back to their own rooms, careful not to wake their parents, and spent the rest to the night thinking about the great adventure lying before them.
The next day Emile was as busy as he could ever be. Here he took two bags of flour, there a large bag of dried beef; he snagged a case of traveling cordial while the kitchen staff wasn't looking, and took a mule from the barn along with the number of horses which would be needed for all of them to ride. For himself he took one of the shire horses that his mother kept, as they were the only one's large enough to carry his weight dependably for any distance. Then he took the small caravan out the front gates one at a time and around the wall to the back, where the garden was.
This is what took him the better part of the morning, as there were a great many horses, he had to move them carefully to avoid detection, and the mule was somewhat unhappy with being moved from its normal routine. He tied the horses to some of the nearby trees and waited, glad that he had donned his travel clothes before he came out as he now realized that he couldn't leave the horses alone in the woods with the wolves that inhabited them. He even remembered his journal, which he packed in the pocket of his cloak. He took it out and began to write while he waited for the others to arrive.
I already wrote about what happened yesterday and the meeting my father and mother planned to settle the problem. But now something completely different is going to take place instead. I'm going on a journey, along with the others that I met and befriended yesterday. It was their idea initially, that we go out to find the witch and destroy her before she does any harm to anyone else. I just can't believe I'm actually doing it. I've never even been outside the castle walls before! How am I going to manage this journey when every step would be on strange ground? It's beyond me! But I've decided to go, and even though there's a considerable amount of fear for me in seeing the vast unknown, I will not back away from the plan now.
We're going to be traveling through Melody's kingdom, the quickest way to the sea. The journey to the ocean alone will take days, and we can be sure that we will be followed eventually when our parents discover all of us missing. But perhaps that is a good thing. From what the others described of the emergency meeting my father called to explain my sudden appearance, the relations between our kingdoms are being strained. Maybe if they were forced to band together to chase after us, they'll learn to set aside their differences. Or maybe they'd just kill each other. I really have to stop being so pessimistic.
But quarreling kingdoms and political stress is not the real reason I decided to go. And neither is finding the witch and being freed from my spell. I mean, yes, that would be wonderful, but I just couldn't say no to the others, not with all of them offering so much to help me. Each of them agreed to come even before they told me anything about this mission, and I can't help feeling that I would be letting them down if I said no. And it doesn't help that Rhonwen is the one who asked me to come. She made that innocent, hopeful face and I couldn't just say no to that! Besides, so far all we have planned is a trip to the ocean to see what Poseidon says about Circe. It might lead to nothing at all, besides a trip across the Southern Kingdom and the chance to get to know everyone a little better.
I hope that my parents understand why I have to do this. I can't just sit around doing nothing anymore and hope that the situation will fix itself. I know my father won't like it at first, but maybe if Mother understands she can get it through to him. She has always had better luck explaining things to him than I have. I left a note to them in my room, telling them that I had gone to find the witch and that I had to make the journey alone. That shouldn't really tell them where I'm headed, because the information we have is new to them as far as we know.
I know that I can't be the only one who's thought about killing the witch; my father has mentioned that desire frequently. But my father doesn't read very much, besides when my mother is reading with him, and they don't tend to read books like the Odyssey together. They read fairy tales and romances. I'm sure my mother has read it, but if she had associated Circe with the witch who cursed my father then she would have told someone about it by now. They'll have to get a group of tracking dogs to follow us, and that will slow them down greatly. I'm just hoping that this won't be the final straw for the alliance of our kingdoms.
I hear rustling in the garden now, I think it's Rhonwen. We all discussed last night that she would come out first and I'd help her over the wall, then we could use her hair as rope to help the others. As soon as she sounds the whistle I'm going to have to stop writing about the journey and actually begin it. That scares me, I'm not ashamed to admit that, but the thought that I'm finally doing something active about getting rid of this curse is comforting. That and I have to protect my friends. There's the whistle, gotta go. And so it all begins…
I figured I'd let Emile write the big suspenseful ending this time, since he's got so much invested in the adventure. ^_^
Review, tell me what you all think! I'm dying to know!