Strategy
Luna walked the halls of the Lunarian Palace and stopped in front of a portrait of Nyx goddess of the night and mother of the moon. "Such a long time" she told herself as she stared at herself and Artemis in the portrait with Nyx. "Goddess please help us in this hour of need" she prayed when suddenly she heard a noise coming from down the hall "Hello, whose there?" she asked. "It's just me" said Venus "What are you thinking?"
"I was just thinking about Artemis, wondering if he is alright"
"Me too, but he is strong"
"Your right, he'll make it back, where are the others?"
"They are exploring the kitchens to see if there is anything to eat"
"Then let's go we can meet them in the war room"
"Ok"
Solarian Palace…
Beryl poked the bag containing Artemis with a fire poker "Had enough" she asked in a sadistic voice. There was a low pitiful meow coming from the bag and Beryl placed it on the nearby table and undid the strap that held the bag together. Artemis wasn't moving the burn marks on his body already starting to heal, his paws were bound together so he couldn't run off. "I think he's had enough said the voice of the prince from the doorway. "No, he really hasn't" said Beryl with a sadistic smile on her face. "Beryl!" the prince said with authority and at that moment she turned her head to look at the prince "Place this disgusting feline back in its cage, the prince and I have to talk" she ordered on the handmaidens as she walked to the door exiting the dungeons.
"What exactly was that about my love?" she asked in mock sincerity
"You're not going to get what you want by torturing a helpless animal" said Darien
"He is not helpless Darien; he and his companion have been traveling the realm trying to unite our enemies against us"
"Not everyone is your enemy Beryl"
"Yes, they are" she said turning away from him "Most of the kingdoms of light refuse to fight with us against the children of the dark and night, and yet those two insipid felines expect them to stand with them. We have to show them a united front. Which is why I have decided that we should marry as soon as possible"
"I don't recall asking" said Darien in a bored tone
"You didn't" said Beryl turning to face him
"Come now don't you love me?"
"Of course, I do"
"Then what's the problem?"
"There is none"
"Good, because a wedding will show the other kingdoms that we are a united and strong, only then will they bow down to us"
"Fine" said the prince unenthusiastically
Beryl said nothing it didn't matter anyway he was hers and now he always would be. Once their union was complete, they would consummate their marriage and she would bear him an heir, then and only then would the other kingdoms unite with them in bringing down the children of the night. She walked slowly back to her chambers and closed the doors behind her. Soon very soon she would have everything she ever wanted, she would rule the kingdom of the day and night and have her beloved prince in her arms, it was all a matter of time.
Lunarian Gardens…
The Queens corpse still lay against the pillar a reminder of the sacrifice made on the night of the attack. Mercury walked down the garden steps and screamed out into the night, the other guardians heard her screaming and ran out to find her kneeling in front of the queens remains sobbing. Jupiter turned her head to keep from looking at her beloved queen corpse while the others tried to comfort the wailing Mercury. "We'll have to give her a proper funeral" said Jupiter finally facing the others. Saturn walked closer to the bones of the queen and knelt down beside her. The tattered remains of her dress billowing out in the wind. "The hollow winds of our betrayal are starting to sing" said Mercury swallowing a sob. "Come on, let's get back inside" said Mars taking Mercury by one arm while Jupiter held out her hand for her to take. They walked slowly back inside Jupiter looking over her shoulder at the queens remains. They walked in silence back to the war room inside the temple. "What in the gods names possessed you to go out there?" Jupiter chastised "I don't know ok!" screamed Mercury pacing around the table.
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," said Jupiter
"Can we just get back to business" tears rolled down Mercury face as she nodded furiously. "Ok" she said approaching the table and starting the hologram program "Here is what we know, during the fall the sandmen helped attack us…"
"Question is why are they now helping us?" asked Mars
They all turned to Pluto as if she had the answer, she simply smiled and told them of how Prince Diamond "…always had feelings for the princess"
"If that were the case then why help attack us, why keep the princess away" asked Jupiter
"Metaria is behind all of this not Beryl," said Mars
"We all know how the prince coveted the princess' love above all else and Metaria must have held that against him"
"No" said a voice from the entrance "Neptune… Michelle" said Saturn with a smile rushing towards her when she saw she was going to collapse. "Metaria made a promise and broke that promise when Beryl killed his brother"
"Prince Sapphire? How do you know all this?" asked Venus "I saw it in a dream, just before I woke up" she said as Saturn brought her to a nearby chair. "That still doesn't explain…" "I am the seas and were more in tune with the moon than any off you, I guess you can call it a gift from the goddess" she said
"Fair point" conceded the other inner guardians
"So, six down two more to go," said Jupiter
"Once the general is awake, we can take the fight to them"
"No need" said Mars "They will come for us"
"Have you had a vision"
"No, I just know"
"Good then we must strategize," said Mercury
"I thought that's what we were doing," said Venus
Jupiter clapped her hands together as the other's surrounded the table ready to make a plan.
Solarian Palace…
Artemis let out a small meow as he was placed near the fireplace. Another night of torture had brought about no results for Beryl. She walked out into the hallway looking for the prince, she wanted to speak with him about their impending wedding but he was nowhere to be found. "Where is he?" she thought to herself, when a dark portal opened up behind her. "My lady" said the cloaked figure. "What news?" said the lady Beryl "Six out of the eight guardians are awake"
"Damn it, which six?"
"Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn and Neptune"
"So there is only the general left"
"And the guardian of time"
"What will you have us do, my lady, send more men?"
"No"
"Then what?"
"Find the prince and prepare a barge"
"You want to sail the seas with Neptune awake"
"YES!"
"Fine" said the cloaked figure leaving through the dark portal.
"Darien!" she screamed walking through the halls as fast as she could. He was nowhere to be found. All the while Beryl was stalking the halls the prince snuck into the throne room and made his way to the fireplace where Artemis was still stuffed in the rucksack. He grabbed the sack and walked to the double doors looking around for any sign of her. He could still hear her screeches even though she must have been a good mile off in the palace grounds. He walked in the direction off to the gardens making his way to the stables he placed the sack containing Artemis on a peg and found his horse. Once saddled he trotted out as quietly as possible with Artemis in tow and made his way into the woods. Once he felt he was far enough he hopped down from his stallion and turned the sack upside down letting Artemis' limp body fall to the floor letting out a small meow.
"You're letting me go?" he asked in a weak voice
"No" said Prince Darien
"What are you going to do with me?"
"You are going to take me to her"
"Who?"
"The one I dream about"
Lunarian Temple…
"Ok" said Jupiter biting into an apple "So, once the general awakens, we go to Moros and travel through the door of time and into the old kingdom"
"That's the plan," said Venus
"Once we arrive, we look for the princess and take out anyone who stands in our way" said Mars looking over the hologram of Moros.
"What of the sandmen?" asked Jupiter.
"We'll have to be stealthy," said Mercury.
"That's not going to be easy," said Mars
"But if they are truly on our side now, they might let us pass through with no problems"
"But we can't be sure"
"Ok so we go with the stealth approach"
"How do you feel" Jupiter asked Neptune
"Fine, I can feel my strength returning"
"Me too," said Mercury
"Me too," said Mars
"Ok so when do we do this"
"We can't waste time," said Mars
"I know but we have to wait until we are all awake and at full strength, we won't be able to travel until we are all here," said Mercury
"How long until the others are awake" asked Jupiter
"Hard to say"
"Not that hard" said Pluto vanishing from her place next to a pillar.
"Where did she go?"
"You don't think…"
"Come on let's go check," said Jupiter
They all stood and made their way out the door, once they reached the room where the remaining two guardians were, they we're pleasantly surprised when they found Pluto standing tall. "Trista…Pluto, is that really you?" asked Saturn. She just smiled pleasantly and nodded her head in the affirmative. "Great so just one more to go, how long before Uranus is awake?"
"Not that long" said Pluto walking to where a slumbering Uranus' eyes were fluttering.
"She's waking up," said Neptune
"That's great now our armies will be ready for a fight"
"Not if they are suffering the ill effects of the sleeping curse like we were," said Jupiter
"Good point," said Mars
There was a low moan coming from Uranus and suddenly her eyes opened. The other guardians surrounded Uranus "Amara…General can you hear us" said Neptune "Michelle" said the General with a smile.
"Yes, it's me, how do you feel?"
"Like I've been asleep for a thousand years"
The other guardians laughed at her joke. "Can you stand?" asked Jupiter
"I think so, just give me a minute" she said wiggling her toes in front of her. She stood on shaky legs as Neptune and Jupiter each made their way to her side supporting her weight. "Wait" said Mercury "What's wrong" said Venus "Pluto how come you're not feeling the effects of the curse?" asked Mercury
"Trust me I am" said Pluto gesturing for them to make their way back to the war room. "Come on" said Jupiter hoisting Uranus a little more securely around her. They walked in silence back to the war room Jupiter and Neptune placing Uranus on one of the chairs before beginning their explanations of the recent events and of their plan to rescue the princess.
Solarian Woods…
"What are you talking about?" asked Artemis
"I've been dreaming for the last year," said the prince. Artemis looked at him quizzically wondering what he was getting at. "It's dark and there are these ruins and there is a dark haired woman calling out to me" explained the prince "She has the most gorgeous grey eyes I have ever seen, but she looks at me sadly before she disappears and is replaced by an image of Beryl all twisted and ugly and a dark shadow sit behind her laughing menacingly" Just then it clicked to Artemis 'he was dreaming about princess Serena'
"Why?" asked the prince.
"It's her, isn't it?" said Artemis
"What?"
"The Moon Princess"
"Moon Princess?"
"Yes, she is the love of your life"
"Beryl is the love of my life!" said the prince screaming
"No" said Artemis "That is what she wants you to think, Princess Serena is the one"
"Serena?" said the prince testing the weight of her name on his tongue "But she is the enemy" said the prince for emphasis "She wants to destroy our way of life; she wants to take over my kingdom and kill my beloved"
"NO!" said Artemis for emphasis the prince just stared at him in disbelief a war raging inside him. "Listen to me, I will tell you everything, but you must let me go afterwards" the prince acquiesces to his proposal and Artemis began a long take of the prince who fell in love with the moon princess.
Lunarian Stables…
"Are you sure we should be doing this" asked Neptune
"We don't have time to waste," said General Uranus
"What about you, you haven't been awake long enough to have recuperated. Not to mention the armies haven't recuperated yet either"
"I know waking them took its toll on me, but this has to be done" Uranus spoke on the subject of her awakening. Uranus had immediately gotten to work on waking the armies of the moon kingdom her soldiers were weak and in no shape to battle. "I've already informed our third in command of our intentions and that it is his job to guard what remains of the kingdom from any unwanted invasions, let's just hope that none come any time soon" said Uranus
"That's my point you and our men are not in fighting shape yet, I think it best to just take our time and rest"
"It took Jupiter, Mars and Venus days before they were in full strength how much more time do you want to waste before Metaria comes after us with more formidable foes, we need the princess to ascend to the throne and use the crystal to lock away Metaria forever"
"At what cost Amara! You can barely walk let alone ride all the way to Moros, it's at least a half days ride without stopping. We need to rest we need to get our men to rest before we are ready to fight for our lives"
"And if we don't do this we wont have lives to fight for! Now go and get ready we leave at sundown"
"Amara…"
"Don't Michelle, just don't"
"My love you need to see reason"
"Reason what reason! We have been nearly wipe out in one night our people are gods knows where there is no reason… we just have to keep fighting for the night"
"I know, but I am just thinking about us and our people we are no good to them half dead, are we?"
General Uranus shed her very first tears since waking looking deep into the cerulean depths of Neptune's eyes "Your right" she said sobbing.
"It's not your fault you know" said Neptune
"I know, but it sure as hell feels like it"
"Come on we need to eat before we ride"
Lunarian Temple…
The castle halls were filled to the brim with Lunarian soldiers recently awoken from their spell by the General. They were taking shifts eating while others stood guard around the palace. Some soldiers recuperated faster than others. But it cannot be said that they were not ready for a fight, their army was already donning their armor just in case there was an attack even in their weakened state they were ready to defend the children of the night and darkness. Jupiter and Mercury were busy in the war room bringing the senior members of the army up to speed on their plan plus making a plan of attack just in case Metaria and her forces arrived before they could rescue the princess. Venus, Mars and Saturn were tending to the soldier's health while Pluto had already gone to Moros to guard the door of time.
"Here" said Jupiter "We place sentries here and here" said Jupiter pointing to the holographic map of the city. "An attack by sea will be unlikely so we have to assume they come at us on land"
"Assume nothing, if there is an attack out on the sea then the people of Atlantis will take care of it"
"Are you sure my lady" asked one of the soldiers an older looking man.
"Yes Luna is out in the dock talking with some of the members of the Atlantean armies"
"Then we should concentrate our soldiers on the southern routes it's the most direct route to us. Plus it is narrow enough that we could take them out with only a small contingency of men" said the soldier.
"Yes but we can't assume the northern routes or the woods beyond that won't be watched by Metaria's forces so we should place men accordingly" said Jupiter "Just in case bring up the map of the northern woods and scan for any life forms" Mercury did as she was told and began her scan of the area, "This is the route we will have to take in other to reach Moros" said Jupiter "Surely Metaria has a few scouts out there who will be looking for us"
"We can take them" said Mercury
"Yes but we can't draw attention to ourselves and our plan so it will have to be done discretely" said Jupiter
"Since when have you ever worried about being discreet" joked Mercury
"Since the fall"
Mercury face fell then "Sorry" "Not it's okay we need a little levity if we are going to survive this"
"I think you mean when not if"
"When"
Ruins of the old kingdom…
The voices inside her chambers had stopped, Prince Diamond and Rubeus had stepped out for a chat when suddenly it happened. They had not noticed when Princess Serena's eyes started roving under her eyelids and just as quickly as it started, they stopped, and a loud female voice called out to her "Serenity!" when suddenly Serena's eyes popped open and she cried out in agony. Prince Diamond, Rubeus and the lady Esmerulde were taken by surprise by the female scream. All Prince Diamond could do was stare at her door and in a choked whisper said "She's awake"