Chapter 27-Rise of the Blue Knight

King Louis had barely finished speaking, when the stately calm of the throne room was broken by the rapid and urgent peeling of a loud bell!

Shibu saw the confusion cross the King's face, but it lasted only a moment. Then the monarch moved.

"Guards, To me!" King Louis called out. "What is that alarm?"

The question seemed to pass from guard to guard within the throne room, until two of the guards opened the big doors ever so slightly, and then stepped out of the ceremonial room.

One of the pair returned after a moment, and ran across the room quickly, barely stopping to bow before the Throne!

"Your Majesty! Maxim has escaped custody, using some sort of vile potion hidden upon his person." The guard reported quickly. "He reappeared in the company of three score armed bandits. They now press an attack upon the castle's keep!"

"Chamberlain, make certain the citizens here are safe!" the King ordered.

"Yes, Sire!" One of the well dressed attendants to the King replied. The attendant stepped forward and spoke sternly to the crowd waiting to see the King.

"Your attention Please!" The Chamberlain called out. "For Security reasons, The General Audience is concluded for today. Please leave now, as quickly and quietly as you can. You will be seen by King Louis tomorrow at this time, Please go now."

Shibu watched as the crowd of disappointed people turned from the orderly line they were in, and shuffle slowly toward another,smaller set of wooden doors which opened on the other side of the Throne room.

Four of the largest royal guards framed the open door, as the Chamberlain spoke up again. "Please use the far doors, ladies and gentleman. You will be safer in the interior passages during the emergency."

Some of the citizens were replaced by a new squad of guards, who marched into the throne room as the citizens walked quickly into the offered passageway.

Once the throne room was clear of the line of people, the guards closed and bolted the wooden doors and fell back into formation with the other armored men.

They posted themselves in a phalanx, forming a solid block of pointed steel within the throne room.

Shibu felt safer when he noticed that their commander was also a familiar face!

"Theo!" Shibu called out in the direction of the block of guards.

Shibu wanted to snatch the call itself from the air. He realized that Theo could make no reply, as the Officer was now on duty, and also before the King! But beneath the rounded helmet, Theo did manage a quick smile, and a confident wink in Shibu's direction!

"Your Majesty?" Shibu asked, looking toward the Throne.

The King answered by holding up his hand for a moment, silencing Shibu as he spoke next.

"Guards! Once our people are safe, seal and bar the doors, and admit no one unless I command it!" the King ordered.

"At your command, Sire!" one of the armored guards called back obediently.

Shibu heard the massive doors close at last with a hollow sound that echoed thru the long crystal room. At almost the same time, two gleaming steel bars slid across the width of both marble doors. It looked imposing and solid enough to stop a dragon.

But Shibu was still worried, and it showed in his face as he glanced again at the King.

"Your highness, Maxim wants me. Let me go find him." Shibu said.

"Stand your ground, Little Brother!" The exclamation came from Master Chang, who was standing close at Shibu's side. "You are the best defense for the King now." Chang told Shibu, speaking quickly.

"Me?" Shibu exclaimed. "What can I do that the soldiers can't?"

"More than you know, Little brother. Be still now. Clear your mind, close your eyes, and think of no one except Maxim." Chang Told Shibu seriously.

"Guards!" King Louis shouted. "Rally to me!" Eight of the biggest armored men Shibu had ever seen rushed toward the throne. Three men stood on each side, Theo now stood poised for battle directly in front of the throne and one more guard fell in behind where the King sat.

As the throne room became unnaturally quiet, Shibu's senses told him more than his eyes could.

Felice and Cici were behind him, and that made Shibu feel more calm and allowed him to focus as Chang instructed.

Shibu's vision of the Throne Room was washed in a soft blue light. There came a moment when Shibu could feel everyone within the marble hall. Each of them were vividly outlined in the same blue energy Shibu had seen come to his eyes before.

But then, Shibu took notice of a strange spot that shimmered slightly within the soft blue field before his eyes. This flicker had no familiar shape to it, but there was enough of a change in the blue light for Shibu to both sense and see the tiny spot clearly.

Before Shibu could speak a word of warning, the regal hall was filled with the echo of another voice, not his own.

"Your loyal guards will not save you this time, Pretender!"

The disembodied voice seemed to come from everywhere within the room.

Shibu felt himself tense up like someone pulling on a cord to tighten the knot already inside him.

"You call me Pretender, you Charlatan?" The King replied, speaking aloud, so that all could hear him and know that he had not gone mad, but rather become angry.

"You are the liar, Louis of Bonta. You speak of the siege of Bonta. Tell your fine friends what really happened there." Maxim's voice challenged with its own tone of anger.

"What would you know of those days?" Louis shot back, as quickly as any archer.

"I remember an Elder Prince lost, and how an unfit younger prince took up a mantle not his to take, You Thief!" Maxim hissed as if a giant snake now filled the throne room.

"You speak Treason, against your King!" Louis answered.

"One man's truth is another Man's treason, Tyrant." Maxim answered.

King Louis could almost feel many eyes upon him as he spoke next.

"My Older Brother gave up his life defending Bonta!"

"Your Older Brother died taking an arrow meant for you. Isn't that so, Coward?"

"Yes." King Louis replied, his voice suddenly sounding old and frail. "That much is the Truth." The monarch admitted.

"Prince Karl was my half-brother. After he died, you sent our side of the family away, so you could claim the throne." Maxim spoke with both anger and hurt in his voice.

"Here, you Lie, Maxim de la Fer." Master Chang spoke up.

"The survivors of the siege elected Louis as the New King, because of his bravery and giving heart." The Sage explained in defense of the King.

"Your kin wanted only to loot what was left of Bonta, and take all that had not been destroyed for themselves.' Master Chang concluded.

"Master Chang isn't the only one who remembers, You Rotter! I was there as well, remember?" The surprising interjection came from Theo, even as the loyal guard stood stalwart, directly in front of the throne, and his old friend.

"Your side of the family was the taking kind, that's sure." Theo began. "Since you want so much of the truth to come out, why not tell all of us what happened to what was left of Bonta's gold reserve after the siege?" Theo asked bluntly. "Vanished it did, as I recall."

Theo paused and then continued in a slower, and thicker voice as memories returned to him.

"I was a young boot then, and one of the few soldiers we had left. I was posted to the treasury, with two of my best friends. Someone attacked us with a spell that night, and I was the only one left alive, as the gold was taken." Theo recalled. "His Majesty pardoned me, and kept me around. As I recall it, we didn't see anymore of your kinfolks after that there awful night." Theo revealed."But that there was yesterday in my book. Good King Louis reigns here, and you are a usurper, Says I." Theo continued defiantly. "If you want to harm His Majesty, you'll come through me, or die trying, You traitor!" Theo fell silent and snapped to a defensive pose in front of the King.

"So much talk, so little blood." Maxim echoed in a menacing tone. "Aren't thrones always a matter of blood, somehow?"

Maxim asked. "Perhaps we had better see some, and then we can decide if your blood is blue, or just as red as any other Commoner."

At the mention of blood, Shibu felt something change, deep down inside him. Maxim meant killing, and that was a thought Shibu could not bear.

Shibu closed his eyes, As Master Chang instructed, and thought of Maxim. His world went from marble white to Blue, the same color as his eyes. Then, Shibu saw a silver smudge at the corner of the room!

"Master Chang, Maxim is here." Shibu said calmly but seriously.

"In here, Now?" King Louis asked, slightly disbelieving in tone. "Then he's used a spell of some sort?"

Shibu saw the silver flicker move again. In a twinkling, it appeared on the other side of the room!

"Yes, Your Majesty. He's moving around the room. He knows we can't see him or catch him." Shibu reported dutifully.

"Quicksilver Potion, Louis." Felice spoke up urgently. "Speed that grants practical invisibility."

"Likely another potion stolen with false paperwork." Cici put in quickly.

"As sharp as an arrow from Cra's own quiver, my attractive Ranger!"

Maxim's disembodied voice echoed off of the marble floors and the crystal walls of the regal room, lending his voice a darker air of malevolence.

"Shibu, your family is as unique as you yourself." Maxim continued. "We Grant you a boon, as the rightful sovereign of Bonta. Swear Loyalty to my throne, and your family will have statue equal to your own." Maxim said. "Surely you know as well as I do that none of these miserable common Bontarians has the will, or the skill to deny you anything that you can find the strength to take for yourself, Shibu! Swear loyalty to me, and the entire World of the Twelve will be laid at your feet, as well as at mine."

"If I am as powerful as you say, why do I need you?" Shibu interjected.

"You have the skills, My boy, I have the wisdom to see they are properly employed." Maxim answered. "Why stop with his pathetic Kingdom? Brackmar, Pandala? Who could stop our rule? They are but beads on a string before someone with our combined skills. Yours is the power, Shibu, but mime is the vision to see it used as befits someone of your station."

Shibu didn't lower his hands as he answered back. "I see now that you're an evil man." Shibu shot back, as quick as an arrow drawn from his own quiver. "Like all evil people, you have made one mistake." Shibu snapped with a bit of his own venom in his voice.

"And just what mistake might that be, young one?" Count Maxim questioned, allowing just a bit of his own ego to show for the first time.

"These common Bontarians of whom you speak." Shibu began slowly. "They are not your people, but they are mine," Shibu explained. "They are my family, and I will not rule them." Shibu continued with resolution. "But I will defend them, That is my promise." Shibu replied simply.

"Come now, Shibu." Maxim replied cooly. "You are superior to these people in every way. Surely, your own mind must tell you that they are already beaten." Maxim retorted. You, and Felice both know the power of the potions my troops hold. That Old Man and his tin plated guards have no chance against the powers that you know so well."

Maxim made no reply. Instead, he allowed fear amplified by silence to work for him. The disgraced Royal understood that even in the moment of silence, Shibu's keen mind was working, as was his own.

"This battle was over before it began, Shibu, and you have helped to make it so. Because I admire your skill, and your strength, I give you one last chance. Join me, Eliotrope."

"No."

"Join me, or die."

"I would rather die than see my Family enslaved, tyrant."

"As you will, Shibu. What a senseless way for a race to die." Maxim replied, his voice as cold as his heart.

"Fight me, Count, and we will see whom or what dies this day." Shibu said with unexpected formality. His words cast a challenge to single combat as old as the castle around them.

"You need to be taught a lesson you never learned from your books, Blue Boy!" Maxim hissed. "How to bow before your betters."

"My Teacher is a Sage, not a villain like you." Shibu retorted. Enough talk! Defend yourself, and let history choose which one of us is right."

"Very well, Shibu." Maxim replied sounding a bit more tired, and even a bit sorry. "Sometimes Kings must rule by example. Let your downfall, and the extinction of your race be my first example of what waits for those who oppose me!"

"You black-hearted monster!" King Louis spoke out in a firm and angry voice. "It is you who forgets his station and those who are your betters. Fight me if you would claim my throne!"

"Your moment will come, pretender." Maxim answered. "I intend to crush the life and snatch away your heart from you as surely as I am now invisible. You shall endure the vision of all here, killed by my own hand before your moment comes. Your last sight in life will be the unbearable sadness of seeing all that you love crumble into dust at the foot of your insignificant throne." Maxim replied. "The first moment of my reign will be the moment I cut your beating heart from your decrepit body and show it to you before it is crushed beneath my heel."

"Guards, Arrest this snake." King Louis ordered, sounding annoyed.

"No, Majesty!" Shibu snapped. "Maxim is counting on you to move your guards!"

"Hold!" the King barked at his guards just as they began to move. The guards snapped back to their places, and held fast.

"Majesty, only one of us can catch this usurper." Chang spoke up.

"Make him visible, and I'll pin him like a butterfly in a collection!" Cici replied. "Then I'll go up to the battlements and pin down a few of his friends."

"No, my shining Cra.' Chang answered quickly. "Even your eye is not fast enough." Chang added. "Shibu is the one."

"Tell me how!" Shibu shouted, excited by the moment but frustrated at the same time by not knowing exactly what he might do.

"Portals, young one." Chang replied cryptically.

Shibu heard the new word, and his mind snapped back to falling from the tree, what seemed so long ago.

The Blue openings!

Shibu understood, at long last!

He thrust out an arm that ended in a flat palm, pointed at the silver smudge that still lingered on the opposite side of the room.

Part of the blue light that Shibu could see seemed to come alive around him as he moved his hand barely enough to be seen.

Before Shibu could think about it, there was an opening in the air near the corner of the room. It was made of a blue circle of the same light Shibu could see!

Shibu lowered his arm, and suddenly there was another opening beneath his feet, and he was falling thru it as fast as he could imagine!

Instantly, he was on the other side of the throne room, within arms reach of the silver smudge! Shibu made a lunging grab as he seemed to slip out of the portal and almost hover in mid-air.

But the silver apparition seemed to melt away as Shibu landed face down on the throne room floor, all the way across the room.

"Shibu!" Felice shouted, as her boy was slow to get up from the polished marble floor.

"Calm down!" Master Chang snapped. "Up, Shibu!" The sage commanded sharply. "Use your strength, and apply your skills!" Chang told his distant apprentice. "Hold nothing back, Shibu!"

Shibu slapped a palm down on the solid floor. He lifted up from the floor, holding himself up on one arm. He tucked and rolled forward, his favorite Boufball move, and was standing up again before anyone in the room could breathe again.

"That's my Little Brother! You're a Ranger! Now get that slimy thief!" Cici shouted out loud, rooting like a cheerleader at a match!

Shibu was up on his toes now, running faster than even Cici could believe! Shibu let out a short, ragged shout, and thrust out his palm four tines in rapid succession.

Four moves, four Portals, in a tight circle around what seemed to be another open space, closer to the Throne this time.

Shibu leapt forward and up, seeming to fly into the first of the four portals in the middle of the room!

The next sound to fill the room sounded like four "claps" as if someone were banging two blocks of wood together. Shibu's wooden soled shoes had found their mark, as Shibu kicked, as hard and as fast as he could!

The last two of these sounds were followed by a sharp hiss of air, followed by the softer sound of someone falling to the floor!

This time, it wasn't Shibu!

A moment later, Shibu did appear from the forth portal in the circle, and drop toward the floor. But the way the boy fell this time, everyone could tell that Shibu landed standing upright on something.

Something no one could see until the crumpled figure of Count Maxim seemed to flicker quickly and then become fully visible!

Shibu landed with his full weight on Maxim's chest, and Maxim spewed a huge breath of air, followed by a small fountain of vomit!

Shibu drew back another kick, aimed at Maxim's chin.

"Shibu, Enough! He is finished, now and forever!" Chang said more slowly, stripping the violence from the moment.

Shibu nodded tightly, and made a point of stepping heavily off of Maxim's chest, but not before cleaning up his shoes, using Maxim's black cape!

"Take him." Was all Shibu said out loud before he dropped to his knees. He was still for just a moment, but then began to waver, and drop toward the floor himself!

Cici dashed into a Ranger's run, and a side slide across the polished floor. Before Shibu's head could collide with the cold marble, Shibu's head was resting in Cici's lap!

"Easy, Little Brother, You won..again." Cici told Shibu in a gentle whisper as the Cra stroked his forehead tenderly.

Felice zipped over to both of them with the speed of a hornet, her brushes at the ready.

"Guards!" King Louis ordered. "Clean up that garbage, and be sure to throw him all the way out of Bonta. If he returns, you may dispose of this garbage, permanently!"

"Permit me, Sire." replied a familiar voice.

It belonged to a wide, dark wall of Canine, now wearing metal armor and a helmet.

"Just the Canine we need, Fel!" King Louis spoke up with a smile. "Come take this garbage out." Louis instructed. 'I don't want to make you feel lowly or demeaned, My fine Canine."

"Not a worry Sire." Fel replied. "I know this one, and all of his tricks. He won't escape me. But he will wish that he could, I promise." Fel replied with a toothy canine smile.

"Suits me!" replied King Louis."

Fel clanked over to his fallen former Master, and lifted the fallen Noble up like a sack of wheat, draping Maxim across his shoulders.

Fel looked down just in time to see Shibu's blue eyes flutter open.

"Hello, Blue Eyes. I thought you might be in trouble, but I suppose not." Fel said. As he spoke, Fel extended the flat of one padded paw down toward Shibu.

Shibu had no voice, but his palm brushed across Fel's padded paw gently, leaving behind a trace of soft blue light.

Shibu smiled at his friend, and then contentedly fell asleep in Cici's lap!