Disclaimer, Here finally is the next chapter in my Impossibles story, I am sorry I have been so slow developing these newest chapters, but I will try to make the time between chapter releases in the future shorter. I don't own the Impossibles they belong to Hanna Barbera/ Warner Brothers and several of the original characters belong to my good friend and talented writer Erin T. Aardvark, who wrote the original story this sequel is based on. I have ownership of some of the OC's as well as some of the locations. I expect no profit besides reviews for my efforts.
Thank you to my good friend, fellow writer and mentor Irual for her continued help and encouragement with the writing of this story.
To recap from the last chapter; Having failed at their bid for power over Prince Ali the Thieves return to their headquarters only to find that their security may have been compromised….
Now, Sit back, read and I hope you all will enjoy this new chapter of "The Return of the Prince." Don't forget to review…
Chapter 13. Rumble in the Tunnel!
Stopping a few yards from the end of the tunnel, Koora turned and gave his torch over to Haroon and in a whisper told his friend and the other thieves,
"Stay where you are and keep silent. I'm going to try to get closer to see who has invaded our headquarters!"
Using his hand to feel along the rock wall, Koora moved slowly and quietly along the path, moving closer to the flickering light ahead.
He was pretty sure he knew who was at the rock door to the inner sanctum of the Thieves Guild's headquarters…but wanted to make sure his suspicions were correct.
The closer he got the more he could see of the figures illuminated in the torchlight….
A tall cloaked figure standing next to a horse, with another cloaked figure sitting on the horse holding the torch.
Meanwhile, back a few yards down the tunnel…
"Abdullah, take the torch, I'm going to help Koora!" Haroon said to the medium sized man standing beside him, handing him the flickering torch.
"But Haroon….Koora said, we should stay here until he gets back, I think…"
However, before he could finish the sentence, Haroon had disappeared into the darkness.
Back down the tunnel, the standing figure was working on opening the stone door.
Koora figured he could quietly retrace his steps back to his companions, then he hard a voice from one of the two figures a couple of yards in front of him….
"Akmed…are you sure coming here was such a good idea? If the authorities find out about this place we'll be trapped without an avenue of escape."
"There is nothing to worry over my love, those stupid infidels know nothing of our headquarters, besides they will be too busy with other matters to come after us."
Koora, now sure who was ahead of him in the tunnel decided he had better retreat back to where he had left the others….
He heard a grinding sound ahead as Akmed succeeded in opening the stone door to the cavern.
Akmed turned reaching up to assist the princess down from the saddle, as Koora started to turn around to go back to his friends…
Suddenly he felt a slight gust of a breeze as something flew past his face at high speed toward Akmed and the Princess…
Koora saw a glint of something thin and metallic fly between Akmed and Sandrina, just missing their out stretched arms and hitting the rock wall behind them making a clanging sound and falling at their feet.
Akmed grabbed Sandrina off the horse quickly, causing her to drop the torch she was holding and shoved her behind him shielding her, then he picked up the fallen torch and drew his scimitar as they turned to look down the path.
Koora turned around in time to be shoved roughly against the rock wall by Haroon, who had followed his friend.
Haroon had heard the princess's voice and had drawn his dagger and thrown it at the leader he believed had betrayed them.
He had also drawn his scimitar and was now running directly at Akmed shouting, "TRAITOR!"
"HAROON, NO, STOP!" shouted Koora.
Nevertheless, as he recovered his balance, it was too late to reach out and grab his friend, the tall lanky Arabian was charging his leader, slicing the air savagely with his scimitar flashing.
Frightened by all the ruckus, the horse Sandrina had been riding reared up turned on its heels and ran at top speed past Haroon and Koora, back down the tunnel nearly running over the rest of thieves who were forced up against the rock walls.
The thieves then regrouped and rushed down the tunnel to join in the fight.
As they reached the cavern near the end of the tunnel, they were stopped by Haroon still slashing away fighting Akmed, he shouted over his shoulder, "NO, stay back, this traitor is MINE!"
Haroon was advancing on Akmed, forcing him and the princess to back into the huge cavern.
Sandrina retreated behind a rock column near the back of the room, while Akmed and Haroon squared off in the center of the large room, surrounded by the other thieves.
Koora was racking his brains trying to figure a way to stop the fight….spying the princess in her hiding place, he circled around staying close to the rock wall and sneaked stealthy up behind her, drawing his dagger….
Grabbing her wrist and roughly forcing her arm behind her back, he pushed her out into the open, then pointing his sharp knife at her stomach, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "STOP!"
This was enough to get the attention of the thieves.
Akmed had just gotten a lucky strike, knocking Haroon's scimitar out of his hand, sending it crashing to the floor and as he prepared to administer the Coup de Grace, the sudden shout caused the two who had been fighting, to turn quickly to face in Koora and Sandrina's direction.
Having a sharp piece of gleaming metal pointed menacingly at her stomach, was enough to keep Sandrina from struggling and also to get the others to stop and listen to reason.
"Koora, what do you think you are doing?" demanded Akmed.
"The ONLY thing I could think of to stop bloodshed. We have to stop fighting amongst ourselves, or this will be the end of the brotherhood!"
"He's a traitor, (shouted Haroon pointing at Akmed) he ran away with HER rather than fight along side his men!"
The others were staring from Koora to Haroon to Akmed, who then said, "I had no intentions of abandoning my men, but I had to get the Princess to safety…"
"You see, I am right, she is more important to him than we are!" Haroon said picking up his sword and brandishing it menacingly.
"It's not as you believe Haroon, at least let Akmed explain." said Koora.
All eyes focused on Akmed at that moment, who drew in a breath, hesitated a moment and then spoke.
"You are all my brothers and what I have done up to this moment is for the good of the Brotherhood, even though some things haven't gone as planned. I wanted to elevate the status of the Thieves Guild, so we could live a better life!"
"Then why would you side with her and support this "WOMAN" in her schemes?" one of the other thieves shouted.
Akmed looked at the man and answered, "Because, she is the key to untold riches…..and she carries within her, my heir, who is also an heir to the royal throne of Khakistan."
There was dead silence in the cavern as the stunned thieves looked at each other, at the Princess and then at Akmed.
Shocked at this revelation, Koora had pulled his knife away from Sandrina's stomach and let go of her wrist, she turned swiftly and slapped him hard across the face, than ran to Akmed who put his arm protectively around her shoulder.
After a few moments the silence was broken by Akmed , "Now that everyone is aware of why we must work together to achieve our ultimate goal, we must now formulate a new plan to take over the palace and rid our selves of the new Sultan and his American protectors."
Suddenly feeling very nauseated at that moment, Sandrina retreated to a tent, set up in one of the far corners of the cavern to rest, while the thieves prepared to discuss plans to invade the royal palace.
Koora put his hand on Akmed's shoulder steering him away from the others to talk to him.
Haroon watched them from a distance, while sharpening his dagger, he was even more determined that Akmed needed to be unseated as leader of the Thieves Guild.
Thinking to himself, 'Now that he is linked to the princess by this child, Akmed will have divided loyalties…..
(A plot was forming in his brain) now "IF" he happened to be caught between the new Sultan's guards and our own Thieves Guild in an armed battle at the palace, he could be mortally wounded by a stray arrow…hmmm.'
And despite his friendship with Koora, it seem to Haroon from his actions, that Koora might be trying to get into Akmed's good graces…. mean while Koora was talking to his brother concerning the princesses delicate condition…
"Brother, you know the laws…what possessed you to enter into this affair with one of royal blood…. knowing that by doing so, you risk your life as well as hers…and that of your unborn child."
"Koora it is not JUST an affair, we are lawfully wed, the marriage was performed by the chaplin at the prison. I arranged for it after finding out about the child and swore the chaplin who married us, to keep our secret."
"Is that why we had to break her out of prison?" asked Koora.
Akmed nodded answering, "Yes I couldn't stand thinking of the authorities finding out or of her being in that cell any longer, after she told me of the child."
At the same time as the confrontation in the tunnel was going on, in town at the hospital, Big D, his agents, Ali and Serina were leaving Coiley and Multi in their room, to get the Prince and his fiancée back to the palace.
Ali had to preside over his late father's funeral in keeping with tradition.
It was not until the group had reached the Impossi-Mobile in the parking lot that FG noticed Shawn was not with them.
"Where's Shawn?" FG said causing everyone to look around.
Phyllis spoke up, "I think I know where she might be…You all head back to the palace and I'll go get her."
She turned and headed back into the hospital, before anyone could argue the point.
Back on the second floor, the door to Multi and Coiley's room slowly opened and a shadowy figure quietly crept in, stopped first at the foot of Coiley's bed, looked at the sleeping blonde Impossible, then moved on to the other bed where Multi lay unconscious.
It was Shawn, who had decided without telling anyone, to go back to the boy's room even though it was past visiting hours.
She just too worried and could not bear to leave the boys alone for the night, especially with Multi in the condition he was in.
She quietly placed a chair at the side of Multi's bed and sat down.
Gently she put her hand onto his forehead, finding that the red headed teen's forehead was warmer to the touch than it should be normally.
At that moment the door started to open…..
Not wanting to be discovered in the room after hours, Shawn ducked down behind the chair thinking it might be a nurse or doctor coming in to check on the boys, and waited nervously…..
"Shawn…Shawn…." a familiar voice whispered "Shawn are you here?"
The redheaded teen recognized the female voice immediately, standing up to see her friend's head poking in the door….
"Phyllis?…what are you doing back up here?"
Phyllis just smirked back at her and replied, "I could ask you the same question…let's get out of here before we get caught."
Shawn looked over at Multi frowning, "I'm worried about Mark…I think he's running a temperature… we aught to get a doctor to check him out."
Phyllis stepped over to Multi's bed and put her hand on the redheaded Impossible's forehead…
"You may be right Shawn, he does feel a bit hot."
A tired sounding voice spoke up.. " Can't a guy get some shuteye round here?"
The girls turned toward the voice…Coiley was sitting up in bed staring at them with an annoyed look on his face.
Before either girl could answer another voice was heard…"You young ladies should not be here!"
The lights came on, causing the three teens to look toward the door.
It was the doctor who had examined both of the boys when they were brought in standing there, arms crossed and a stern look on his face.
Phyllis spoke, "I know it's against your rules for us to be here doctor, but it maybe a good thing we came back. I think you should take a look at Mark, he seems to be running a temperature."
The doctor looked at her and seeing the concern on her face, he stepped over to the side of Multi's bed and took a look at the teen.
Then he gently took Multi's wrist in one hand and checking his watch said after a moment, " His pulse is a bit slow….hummm."
Even though he wouldn't be able to properly gage the unconscious boy's temperature, the doctor determined the teen had a fever by using the same method the girls had, putting his hand onto Multi's forehead.
Looking up at the girls and then over at his other patient, he spoke with a reassuring tone, "He does have a bit of a temperature, but I don't think it is as serious as you might think. His body is simply trying to heal itself, we can keep a check on him thru the night and alter his medications to help, but that's all we can do for now. I suggest you two go get some rest and return in the morning. And you young man, (he gave the same stern look as before to Coiley) get some sleep, so you'll be ready to check out tomorrow!"
With that, the doctor pressed the call button and instructed a nurse to come into the room with some medications to administer to the drip going into Multi's IV.
The nurse arrived as he ushered the girls out of the room and escorted them to the hospital lobby.
He instructed the nurse at the check-in station to phone for a taxi, which arrived 5 minutes later, picked up Phyllis and Shawn and drove them to the Royal Palace.
They arrived 20 minutes later and were admitted thru the gates of the place.
Phyllis paid the cab driver, then she and Shawn headed thru the entrance of the big stone palace, walking into the deserted throne room….
In the catacombs below the throne room, the burial for the late Sultan was just finishing, with the royal ministers, the new Sultan Ali, his bride to be Serina, Big D, Fluey, FG and Multi's little dog Skittles in attendance.
Ali's father's body had been placed in its stone tomb and the ornately carved lid sealed shut.
Ali spoke a special prayer in Khakistani and placed a drop of wax from a red funereal candle Serina had handed to him.
He then used his father's royal signet ring, to seal it just as the late Sultan had done when his Queen was laid to rest nearly 17 years ago.
The funeral ended with everyone in attendance bowing in respect to the late Sultan and exciting the room with the new Sultan and his fiancée leading the way back up the stairs, through the hidden door located behind the royal thrones, into the throne room, where they met up with Phyllis and Shawn.
Big D, Fluey and FG went over to them while Ali was speaking with his ministers with Serina by his side.
"Where were you Ms Smith?" The Chief said to Shawn, who looked at the ground feeling a bit embarrassed.
Before she could answer Phyllis spoke up, " Please don't be too hard on her Big D., she was worried about Multi and Coiley, so she went back to their room. Good thing she checked on him too, because Multi was running a fever and we were pretty worried to find that out."
This news about his band mate was making Fluey a bit anxious to get back to the hospital himself, knowing that his friend wasn't well and even Skittles was whinning a bit scencing the concern for her red-headed master.
Phyllis continued, "The doctor came in while we were there, he said we should wait to visit in the morning and that they would keep an eye on Multi thru the night."
Ali and Serina had joined them in time to hear the last part of the conversation..."We're all tired..(Ali remarked)..Getting some sleep after all we've been thru, is the best action right now."
Everyone had to agree with that logic and so after making plans to go to the hospital after breakfast in the morning, they all retired to their bedrooms to try to get some rest.