Neopia City
Crescent finished the book she had been reading, a novel about a girl trying to stop an evil enchanter from taking over her kingdom, and checked the time. It was eleven o'clock. Crescent yawned; the long day was catching up with her.
She placed her book on the computer desk and glanced at the screen saver, which showed the Aisha from NeoQuest II fighting with one of the monsters. Crescent gazed at it for a few seconds, trying to remember something, and then snapped her fingers and turned toward the stairs with new energy.
About halfway up them, she ran into Celiath's twin Stelakar. "Have you seen Celiath?" the purple Eyrie asked.
Crescent sighed. "I was just about to ask you that question. I asked her to try to find Kimtaya's history project, and I haven't seen her since."
Stelakar developed a pensive expression. "I think that Celiath might have gone to the attic. Kimtaya might not think to look for the project there, since you do have all these dangerous things in there."
Dangerous things. "Oh, no." Crescent ran up the stairs to the second floor and then to the attic. She opened the door and noticed that the light was on. "Celiath was here," she called to Stelakar. Crescent stepped into the room, looking carefully for any disturbances. Then she spotted a key and grimaced. "It fits," Crescent muttered, shaking her head. "It just fits."
"What does?" Stelakar asked.
Crescent indicated the key, unwilling to touch it. "Celiath showed me a sketch she made from NeoQuest II of a keyring, and mentioned there was a new addition. She would have picked it up, and it would have taken her somewhere else."
"Where?"
"I don't know," Crescent said. "I've never been foolish enough to try! And no, Stelakar, you can't go through. It would take you somewhere else. Celiath has to find the key under her own power in order to get back…and she might have to go through great danger. I do not want you to be in danger like that. Promise me you won't go looking for her."
Stelakar looked upset, but the expression on her face soon turned to obedience. "All right. I promise."
Crescent sighed and looked at one of the boxes, hoping she could find something to bring Celiath back from wherever the key had sent her. Stelakar probably wouldn't keep her promise, so she would have to get Kimtaya or Elenqui to keep an eye on her. Crescent, meanwhile, had to look through these boxes, find the object if it existed…She yawned and fell asleep.
A few minutes later
Stelakar fell back on the bed and closed her eyes, but they opened again as soon as she closed them. That seemed a little bit strange to her, since it had been a long day and it was late at night. Then again, she hadn't changed clothes and her brain could just be on overload. It did that sometimes, most often when she was trying to write a paper for her English class. Stelakar couldn't pick out any of the thoughts that were troubling her, though.
Finally, she managed to find one. She wanted to know where Celiath had gone, needed to find her twin. She had promised Crescent that she wouldn't go looking for Celiath, though. Stelakar rose out of her bed and switched on the lamp anyway, staring at the empty bed across from hers. She couldn't stay in here with that empty bed facing her, looking at the way that the books on the shelf were in immaculate order and the desk was clearly organized in a way that Stelakar's lacked.
Where had she gone? Stelakar wasn't sure whether what she was about to do was right, but she didn't care. She walked over to Celiath's nightstand and picked out the diary with a turquoise cover. Stelakar carefully pulled the ribbon out of the book and read from the pages of the diary:
8th of Celebrating
"Something quite surprising about the sunrise, that it brings in a day seemingly no different than any other, yet so many things happen from sunrise to sunrise that none of them seem the same."
Just another day. I've been staying up late playing NeoQuest II, so my hand is getting tired from clicking on the mouse so much. I haven't been taking any notes, since no one really noteworthy has appeared in Al Mikai yet. There's no sign of Irefen. I would have willingly stayed up and looked for her all night, but Crescent insisted that I go to bed. There's something different about Irefen from the rest of the game, something really intriguing about her and the city of Al Mikai…
It was a day like any other. I've been helping Kimtaya get some last research in on her Lost Cities project, since the Faerieland library is so huge. It took a lot of work to find the seventh Lost City—most people say that there are only six and that the seventh is so far lost in time that no one will ever know about it. But I found it referenced in an old book in the library, called A History of Larkani, Cairhel, and Kilinti. It never refers to the Castle on the Sea as one of the Lost Cities, but it has to be, and it doesn't match the description of any of the others.
I have to say, it reminds me of Al Mikai a little, or perhaps Al Kandri. But I'm too sleepy to write about it, and my hand's getting tired.
~ Celiath
That was yesterday's entry, and apparently Celiath hadn't had time to enter one for today before she had disappeared. It was connected to Kimtaya's project, Stelakar thought she could assume. What if the book gave her a hint? Where would this book be? Had the seventh Lost City, this Castle on the Sea, had anything to do with her sister's disappearance?
"Strange and bizarre," the Eyrie said, rising. Now she knew she wouldn't be able to sleep at all. She would have to go to the attic. Stelakar only paused for a moment, remembering that Crescent was up there, before continuing anyway. Her head told her she shouldn't, but her body was independent of that. She switched off the lamp and closed the door of the room.
No one was there. Stelakar assumed it was a lucky thing that Crescent hadn't gotten around to sending Kimtaya or Elenqui to look for her yet. She quickly went down the hall and up to the attic, opening the door quietly as she saw Crescent was asleep. There was a book resting on the floor, the history text that Celiath had mentioned in her diary. Stelakar took a step toward it and noticed a small key embossed in the cover of the book, underneath the title. Somehow it seemed a little odd to Stelakar, yet perfectly normal.
She opened the cover of the book, somehow selecting the exact place where the key was embossed to put her hand, and started to read the title page when it suddenly blurred. When Stelakar was able to see the page again, it was marked A Discourse on Magical Theory: Volume Three.
"What?" Where was this?
Castle of Lord Tirokan, Thora Mountain
Lord Tirokan rose from his seat to greet Briata, who looked even more prim than usual. "Cousin!" he shouted, giving Briata a large hug. "What brings you here?"
Briata slipped out of the hug, knowing it for flattery. "I seek your signature on a document for the search and arrest of one Celiath Mianre'll," she said shortly.
Tirokan turned around, interested. "What has she done, other than had the misfortune to turn up here from her own kingdom?"
Briata pursed her lips. "She appeared in my house and replaced my daughter Tikanie. I tried to take her to authorities in the marketplace, but she somehow managed to leave before then. I want to find her so that I know why she is here. I believe that she may have ties to the Yin Kador. She was certainly very evasive when I questioned her."
Tirokan tried not to sigh. "What did you ask her?"
"Oh, only for her name and how she arrived in my library. I have the right to know those things." Now Briata had a defensive look. "Cousin, if you do not do everything in your power to apprehend her, it can be interpreted that you are aiding the Yin Kador. That is treason, my lord."
"All right," Tirokan said. Sometimes he felt that he had no control over Thora Mountain and that Briata had all of it. But did it matter? He was not suited to rule this place, and Briata obviously wanted it.
Briata, smiling, handed him the paper, which he signed in blue ink: Lord Tirokan Dequiela of Thora Mountain. He gave it back to Briata.
"Thank you, my lord," Briata said, that large, false smile still on her face. She turned around and left, the document in her hand.
Aboard the River Blessing on the Rylrinmar
Celiath stood on the deck, oblivious to all the other passengers and the members of the crew that were also on the deck. She faced north and gazed at a Koi catching fish in the river and the farm that was on the north bank. There were a few small, wispy clouds in the sky, and Celiath spotted a few little groves of trees on the plains, outside the area that looked like the farm. It looked like a beautiful place, though Celiath would have admired it more if it resembled Neopia in any way.
She turned and glanced south. Celiath noticed the plains and tiny groves of trees looked just the same as they did on the north bank, except for a road that led southwest. Someone was riding a Uni south on that road, towards another place. The road, Celiath thought, probably leads to Thora Mountain if you go the other way.
Saemine…Now that was odd. Part of Celiath insisted it was just an ordinary name and that there were hundreds of people in Larkani named Saemine. But the resemblance to NeoQuest II was really odd. Even stranger, that wasn't the only one. Damreith would correspond to Duke Alenem's servant Damath. And then Larkani was Lemirka. If Larkani is Lemirka, this is a kingdom doomed. A kingdom doomed! Is that why I'm here? She shivered, knowing that she was certainly not the ideal person to save a kingdom.
She turned her head to her left, facing east, but saw nothing but the river winding through the plains and the ship itself. Something was a little odd about it, though. Celiath snapped her fingers suddenly. Why is it called Thora Mountain when there are no mountains?
Though it was certainly odd, Celiath shrugged it off. Perhaps it was just a peculiarity of the language. There were such things in Neopia, too.
Then she turned her head west, in the direction she was going. They were going to Ral Mirean, where there would be answers. Of course, there would probably be much more danger in the capital city, and Celiath would have a difficult time disguising her identity.
I wonder if anyone from home has noticed that I'm gone? Celiath thought. What can Crescent do? She probably knows what the key does and has some idea of how to fix it. But just in case she doesn't, I have to try to fix things myself.
"If only I knew more about the Yi…them," Celiath muttered, checking her hair. "Then maybe I could unravel things…"
She read through the pages about NeoQuest II that she had brought up to the deck with her, hoping to stay familiar with the story even if she never returned to finish the game. Though the story did not enchant her as much as it had when she first wrote the notes, it kept Celiath occupied for a short period of time as she paged east and then south through the world of NeoQuest II.
Celiath had reached the point of the story that usually enthralled her, when she was speaking to the god Rimor. Suddenly, she noticed that she had reached the final page of her notes. That's not possible. There was at least one page, both sides, of Rimor. Then I wrote for the trip west and took a few notes when I was fighting the guardians on Al Kandri. After that, I went into Al Mikai and Irefen.
She rose, gathered her notes together, and headed down to her cabin on the ship. Her pack was lying on the bed, and she picked it up and looked through it. Celiath's old clothes fell out first, as well as the coins Damreith had given her and the sketch of the NeoQuest keyring. There were no more papers, though. It was as if she had never played past Rimor.
Why would someone be interested in my notes? Celiath wondered. And why those pages? I think they concerned the area around Brearis, the Puzzle, and Al Mikai, specifically Erala. Then there was Irefen, who was talking about how I saved her and about…I don't remember his name, but he was the evil one. Mostanio.
Suddenly, an interesting question popped to Celiath's mind. Was NeoQuest II real? If so, was she playing the game in real life?
That's impossible, Celiath decided immediately. Really? Eerie, but it seems true. All those cities correspond to cities here. The people, too.
Celiath shook herself. Even though it seemed true and it seemed to fit, that didn't mean that it did. She had to assume that Larkani had nothing to do with Lemirka and that Saemine was just a coincidence.
A few cabins over
Yialun, a red Lenny dressed in black, perused a page of writings. "I cannot read this word," he said sharply. "In fact, I cannot read half this page. Would you attempt to translate this sentence into something intelligible for me."
The purple Techo who had misdirected Celiath in Thora Mountain looked at it. "That says…'He was turning Caeridyl against Lemirka and Lemirka in on itself.'" He stared at the page, wondering what it said too.
The Lenny read a couple more lines. "It breaks off here." He then turned to the purple Techo. "Why did you think this was important? I see no significance in it whatsoever. It resembles a tale from a storybook I read as a child."
"Master," the Techo said, "you told me to try and find out as much as I could about anyone else on the scene. I did as you instructed me and inspected her bag, then took some of the papers. Hopefully, the agent will miss their presence."
Yialun shook his head in mock disgust. "Of course she will not miss their presence. That bag was a decoy, you dolt! She carried outlandish clothing, a few coins, and this gibberish. Her real supplies must have been somewhere else. The ways of enchanters are many. Remember that. And before you ask me another stupid question, she must be more than a healer. There are enchantments to hide those things. Now get out of my sight, but make sure to stay out of the agent's way. She will certainly recognize you."
The Techo simply stared for a moment.
"Go." The Lenny raised a wing at the Techo threateningly, who scurried out of the room and closed the door.
Alone, he glanced at the notes again. It was certainly odd that the name of the fallen ruler resembled the name of the ruler of Larkani, Queen Fierrey. Yialun wanted the thief to think that the notes were completely insignificant. Secrets had their way of being passed to the enemy if too many people knew, and this enemy could pluck a secret from someone's head with the same effort as pulling out a hair. Yialun could protect himself from this, since he was an enchanter himself, but no one else that he trusted knew.
Who had written these notes? Maybe he or she could help him, assuming that Riensi didn't find their author first. Yialun breathed in through clenched teeth at the thought of the magician. If Riensi found the author, persuaded him or her to his bent of thinking, Larkani would surely crack along the fault line he had begun to create. While the Queen and her friends contemplated declaring war on Cairhel, they had been ignoring the Yin Kador, the real threat in the kingdom. The eastern influence in the council was growing, so they had finally been able to persuade Queen Fierrey to exile the Yin Kador from the island. When Yialun returned to Ral Mirean, perhaps the council would grow closer to restoring order. He could certainly use the help of the mysterious author, though.
These notes told a story, he thought, looking up from them. What if he told the story in the court of Ral Mirean? That would surely draw in the author.
Ista Kaderyi
The castle was visible from out the window when Riensi viewed it from the magical telescope. It first focused in on one of the banners in Larkani, flapping in the wind that was always there on the blasted island. Riensi hadn't always thought of Ista Mirean as a blasted island. After all, that would make Ista Kaderyi just as horrible, since it was in the same chain of islands. That development had just started that autumn when Queen Fierrey had exiled him.
It was all Yialun's fault, of course. Everything had been all right before he had come down the Rylrinmar from the east with all those so-called enlightened ideas. One of those so-called enlightened ideas being that a society like the Yin Kador was dangerous. It couldn't be dangerous! There had to be some way to regulate the use of magic in Larkani! Yialun was another one of those eastern magicians from Gisend or wherever who wasn't Yin Kador. Being the leader of the society, it scared Riensi at least a little. True, he argued that the Yin Kador played a vital role in Larkani, and they did, but it was nice to have all the magicians in the kingdom under his thumb.
The spotted Aisha moved the telescope slightly, focusing in on a starry Shoyru who was standing at the top of the tower. Riensi briefly looked away from the telescope and pulled back the sleeve of his tunic, revealing a gold charm bracelet. His paw went to an intricately crafted ear, and red violet sparks appeared around the paw and the charm. Then he dropped the bracelet and looked back through the telescope.
"Kierre. How go things?"
"Not well," the voice of the Shoyru came back. Riensi still had a few friends in Ral Mirean, and he tried to contact them regularly to see what was happening there and try to sway events his own way. Since Kierre was on the Queen's council, she was the friend Riensi contacted the most. "You've been calling more and more often. Are you nervous about something?"
That was not a question Riensi wanted to answer. "I've been calling more often because things have been getting worse."
"What about those two…"
Would the woman get off the subject? "The meeting was this morning, correct. What happened?"
"Debate over going to war with Cairhel. Yialun was gone, but that second of his, Celumio, more than made up for it. I really think they know what you're up to, Riensi."
"What gives you that impression?" Obviously they didn't know. Well, maybe they knew what Riensi was claiming to be up to.
"Well, um, they're just putting forward any argument to head off a settlement, anything to stop the Queen from saying anything definite."
"You have any allies in the council?"
"I think maybe Thiell agrees with me. You remember her—speckled Pteri, a bit of a snob because she's a Cantalla, but she's got her fair share of influence. She usually seems to be arguing with me."
"Thanks." Riensi took his eye away from the telescope, though he didn't de-activate the ear charm just yet. He soon took away the spell, though, since Kierre wasn't saying anything and it was a waste of energy. Talking to her was getting very tiresome, since every day she was asking more questions. They were friends, but not that close. Riensi hadn't even told any of his friends what his real plans were. To all intents and purposes, he had created the summoning spell to bring in two people with the ability to save the kingdom. And no one else would know otherwise, not even the two he was going to use. Assuming they ever showed up!