The Past Is Prologue: Chapter 22
Choices and Consequences
"I met Princess Isabel when I was a young lad in Hectoria, still only an apprentice wizard. She was so clever and truly kind. She talked even to servants and lowly apprentices, which was certainly not the custom in Hectoria. I asked her once why she would return to Avalor and risk her life to fight Queen Shuriki, and she said, 'My mother died because of Shuriki, and so did countless others. If I have the power to stop others from suffering as I did, how can I not act?' I learned later of course that she wasn't really Princess Isabel Castillo Flores, but to this day I still believe she was speaking the truth when she said that. The Princess Isabel I knew and followed, the one now called pretender, cared so much about Avalor that she would do whatever it took to free her kingdom from tyranny." The Great Bronzino, royal wizard of the Kingdom of Hectoria, A People's History of the Reign of Queen Shuriki, compiled by Professor Catalina de Torres
Mateo was beginning to hate "chiuleti." Less than an hour after Ash had left them, magical fireworks appeared in the sky. Suspecting Fiero of being up to his old tricks, the party had raced to the spot, only to find the unmoving bodies of Carla and her companion. The young royal wizard would never forget the sight of Victor, all color draining from his face, racing to Carla's side while calling out his daughter's name. Carla and David had both, mercifully, simply been asleep. Tearfully Carla had explained how Ash had stolen her tamborita. Victor had turned to Mateo, snarling, "I warned you! I told you not to trust Ash, but you wouldn't listen!"
"You were right. I'm sorry," Mateo had murmured. But when Victor had rounded on Olivia, Mateo intervened. It was his call and his fault alone. Victor had every right to be mad at him – Carla was lucky Ash had only cast a sleep spell and not something worse – but Olivia didn't deserve any of the blame.
Frankly, this new animosity he saw between Victor and Olivia disturbed him. Mateo wasn't at all sure what was causing it. When the Delgados had first been pardoned almost no one trusted them. Olivia had been one of their first friends, and stood up for them if anyone gave them a hard time. Victor, for his part, had developed an amused fondness for Mateo's oldest and youngest apprentice, often helping her out of the sort of magical hijinks that Olivia tended to create. But this was new. The royal wizard knew almost nothing about the time his grandfather and Fiero had been apprentices to the royal wizard serving King Raul's father, but they had once been friends before becoming sworn enemies. Mateo did not want to see that happening between his own apprentices. He had to find a way to prevent it.
That was hardly the only drama going on. Esteban had extended his hand to help up Naomi's brother – Esteban's son – who had scrambled to his feet on his own. The ex-chancellor had said, "If you will allow me to introduce myself, I am Esteban – "
"I know who you are," the sailor had responded tersely. Now they stood awkwardly, not saying anything.
Although he felt bad for Esteban, Mateo couldn't really blame the guy. It must be weird to meet your father for the first time at twenty-three. Mateo's only parent had been his mother, and he couldn't imagine what it would be like to have someone show up and tell him, "I'm your father."
That was hardly the most pressing problem, however. It was pretty clear that Ash was not on their side, and Elena needed to be told what was going on. Beyond that, Mateo wanted to get all three of his apprentices back to the relative safety of Avalor City. He'd failed to protect all of them and felt terrible for it. He had to do better.
"I don't get it," Antonia was saying to Rico. "Why the fireworks?"
"Ash knew we were close enough to see them," the lieutenant mused. "She probably didn't want her daughter going after the traitor Cristóbal Castillo. It was Ash's way of reuniting Carla with her father and making sure she was protected."
Victor overheard and snarled, "She wanted to brag that she had my daughter's tamborita, nothing more. Don't read any more into it."
Privately Mateo thought Rico was most likely right, but knew better than to say that to Victor and Carla at the moment. At least Ash had reunited them with Carla, and she would be returning with them to the palace. In her brutal, treacherous way Ash had accomplished what Mateo had hoped to achieve with reason and logic.
Esteban continued, unsuccessfully, to try to make small talk with David Fisher. Stiffly, the younger man excused himself and approached the Delgados. Mateo internally winced. Not a good idea right now.
Both Carla and Victor stood up, and Carla wiped her eyes. David held out his hand. "Mr. Delgado, I'm David Fi-"
"I don't want to hear it," Victor cut him off.
The young sailor floundered. "Sir, I promise nothing happened between me and your daughter…"
"I said I don't want to hear it," the ex-malvago repeated coldly and turned his back on David. He stalked off a little ways, most likely to cool down. Esteban walked back over to his son, saying, "We really must talk."
Carla joined Mateo and Olivia. "Hey, Mateo. Hey, chica." She took in Olivia's outfit as she hugged the younger girl. "You look so cute!"
"Thanks," Olivia responded. "I was in disguise." She sounded proud of the fact. "I'm sorry your mom betrayed you."
"It's not the first time," Carla shrugged, trying, unsuccessfully to Mateo at least, to sound nonchalant. "I hear she saved you, though."
"Yeah, sorry."
"Don't be sorry. I'm glad she did. Who could I get to clean the lab when it's my turn if you were gone?" Carla bopped Olivia on the nose. The royal wizard was glad to see that at least two of his apprentices were still friends.
Then Carla turned to Mateo. "I'm sure you have a few things you want to say to me."
Want to? No. Need to? Definitely. "We'll talk about it in Avalor City," he said gently. "You've just had a shock." Mateo was never good with scolding any of his apprentices, even when he should, but if absolutely necessary he could take Olivia and Victor to task. His ex-girlfriend was another matter entirely. Even though they'd only been together for a month (following the heady days after Elena's coronation) it never really felt right exercising any real authority over her. He mostly left Carla to her own devices.
"If by 'shock' you mean my mother coming back from the dead to betray me, then yeah," Carla responded bitterly.
"Perhaps we can talk on the voyage back to Avalor City," Esteban was saying to his new-found son.
"I'm not sure we'll all fit on the fishing vessel," David said dubiously.
That's right! There were two boats they had to get back. "Uh, who here can captain a ship?" the royal wizard asked, pretty sure he knew the answer. Only Esteban and David raised their hands.
"Sorry, Esteban," Mateo pointed out, "but you'll both need to sail the two boats home."
"I'm riding with David," Carla announced.
"Sailing," the young fisherman corrected with a smile.
Victor took that moment to push between Carla and David and put an arm around his daughter's shoulders. "I'm going with Carla," he stated. "I'm not letting you out of my sight, mija."
"Well, I guess I'll see both of you back home," Carla said to Mateo and Olivia. "Safe voyage."
"You too," Olivia responded. "And I'm sorry about your mother."
"You should be," Victor muttered. "Since you're her new best friend."
"Papá!" Carla elbowed him in the ribs. "If mamá had not helped Olivia, she might be dead now! Say something nice."
"Fine. Mateo, buen viaje. Olivia, I suppose I'm glad Fiero didn't destroy you." That last was far too grudging for Mateo's comfort.
"Papá!"
"Don't you 'papá' me, Carla. You're the reason we're all in this mess in the first place." He gave her a little shove in the direction of the horses that would take them to the docks. "What were you thinking, running off with some stupid sailor like that?" And then they were at it, quarrelling as only the Delgados could. David, understandably, looked nonplussed as he slowly followed.
"Mateo," Esteban said, "you can't make Davíd sail alone with Victor and Carla…"
The royal wizard understood Esteban's concerns and sighed. "Ixlan?"
"Very well," the Lightening Warrior said impassively. "I will protect the boy and use my diplomacy with Victor. As you can tell from the expression on my face, I hate being diplomatic." She kissed Antonia farewell, and stomped off after them.
"Let's go, folks," Mateo announced. "We're going back to Avalor City. Olivia, you can ride with me." Esteban, Rico, and Antonia were all better riders than he was, but he wanted to make sure his oldest and youngest apprentice got home safely.
And then he would face his most frightening challenge yet – telling Elena that Ash had returned, they'd captured her, and he had let her go.
"You dare show your face here after you have betrayed us?" Fiero roared. Ash was standing in Count Cantú's parlor, having evaded the guards in order to simply knock on the front door. She was alone with Fiero and Cristóbal. The would-be king of Avalor had politely ushered out the count and the boy inventor, but stayed silent after that. He folded his arms and leaned against a wall, watching as the two malvagos confronted each other.
"I never betrayed our king," Ash responded imperturbably. "I simply had a…small errand to run."
"I'd heard that motherhood could turn women soft. A pity. You used to be a powerful malvago," Fiero sneered.
"I still am," Ash snarled. "You might have been, once, but your obsession with the past blinds you from focusing on the future. That child was no threat to you, and destroying her would not have helped our cause. Now if you're quite finished playing 'terrify the moppet' let's get back to the business at hand of conquering Avalor, shall we?"
"I quite agree," Cristóbal said mildly, forcing Fiero to cut off his retort. "While it has been most instructive to discover the weaknesses of both my malvagos, it is time to take back my kingdom." He glared at both wizards. "Fiero, it is time to bring Ash in on her role in our scheme."
"But…you can't seriously trust her!" the malvago protested.
Cristóbal threw back his head and laughed. Oh, how he laughed. Finally he said, "My dear Fiero, I trust absolutely no one. Do you? No, don't answer that. I still need you to pretend to be loyal. Now, tell Ash the plan." His voice brooked no contradiction.
Fiero still looked angry, but he obeyed. "As you command, your grace." He turned to Ash. "Have you ever heard of the Bakunawa?"
"The what?"
"The Bakunawa. An ancient being that lives in the Northern Sea, feeding off the souls of those unlucky enough to cross his path." Fiero chuckled. "It is those souls that will be our prize. You will set sail tomorrow and arrive on the night of the full moon to collect them."
"And this Bakunawa will just hand over these souls for the asking?" Ash asked skeptically. Privately, though, she was frightened. This was dark magic indeed.
Fiero smiled. "The Bakunawa disappears at every full moon. Don't arrive early – or late – and you will have nothing to fear. I will give you a spell to direct these spirits, but only I will have the spell to control them."
"The Northern Isles," Ash mused. "Does this go back to Shuriki, then?"
"My dear Ash," Fiero said mockingly, "Not everything in the Thousand Northern Islands of the thousand stories has to do with the late queen of Avalor. There are many wonders in that part of the Everrealm that are as yet unknown in Avalor."
"And you will be bringing back a splendid wedding gift," Cristobal added.
"A wedding gift? What wedding?" Ash was thoroughly confused now.
"Haven't you heard?" the would-be king of Avalor said. "The Magister of Trade is marrying his predecessor. Rivals to lovers – such a charming tale."
"And of course a wedding provides a perfect cover for entering the palace," Fiero continued.
Cristóbal smiled darkly. "Elenita has no idea what is coming for her."
AN: A story cannot contain a song, of course. But if you would like one, imagine this – classical zafona music, but creepy. Fiero sings the tale of the Bakunawa, complete with 2-D animation of a giant sea serpent eclipsing a boat.