Part 4

Gruffi climbed into the quick car as did the others and soon they began to race down the track. Up ahead, they could see the turn-off leading to the Sunset Cavern. "All right everyone," Gruffi stated, "Lean to the right!" All the Gummies, except for Tummi, leaned to the right. Tummi leaned to the left.

"The other right, Tummi!" Gruffi yelled.

"Oh," Tummi responded, leaning to the right.

The quick car tilted dangerously to the right, the left wheels spinning uselessly in the air. Gruffi began to fear the car would tip over, but then it jolted safely onto the other track. "Quit leaning," he commanded. The others did as he instructed and soon the quick car was rolling smoothly on all its wheels down the track. Gruffi grabbed a few ropes he had placed in the quick car before taking off and began tying it his and Sunni's (who was sitting next to him) lap.

"What are you doing?" Grammi asked.

"We're going to have a rough stop," he responded, "The end of this tunnel is blocked by dirt and rock. We're going to have to tie these ropes around us so we won't be thrown out of the quick car." He handed a rope to Grammi and Zummi as well as one to Tummi, was sitting with Cubbi. Artie had been sitting on the back of the front seat, but he moved down to the floor where he assumed it would probably be safer. "Make sure to tie it tight," he said. Once everyone was secured, Gruffi glanced back at Zummi. "Now what's this about Gusto being from that city?"

"Uh, yes," Zummi said, "There was one thing in that journal that I didn't mention the first time. There was one other survivor – a young pummi gince, er Gummi prince I mean."

"And that's Gusto?" Sunni asked, her eyes growing wide.

"Why didn't you mention it before?" inquired Grammi.

"Because I thought this young Gummi was, uh, no longer alive," Zummi explained, "Elder saw the sorcerer do something to the boy; a curse of some sort. His last entry in the journal stated that he was going to kill the boy because there was no telling what the curse might do." Zummi fell silent as he thought of what Elder had written.

"But he didn't?" Gruffi prompted.

"No," Zummi said softly, "I didn't realize it until earlier today. I was putting the journal on a high shelf when it fell and I noticed that something was written on a page near the back. It turns out Elder couldn't bring himself to actually hurt anyone, so he decided to run away from the city with the young Gummi. They were on the edge of the ridge when sunset fell. At that time the Sunset Cave began to glow and the boy began to moan. Realizing that the curse was somehow connected to the cave, Elder ran on and in a few minutes they were out of sight of the cave and the boy quieted down. That's when Elder decided to take far away from the city and placed him under a spell – a sort of magical amnesia so he wouldn't remember the town or want to return to it."

"Are you sure it's Gusto?" Grammi asked.

Zummi nodded slowly. "I guess it seems strange that I keep calling him 'the boy' or 'young Gummi', but it's hard to accept that it's Gusto. Still, it has to be. For one, too many things fit together: Gusto's amnesia, the girl in the painting, and Gusto being stranded on an island that was far away from the Sunset Cavern. But that's not the reason I'm sure."

He dropped his head as tears came to his eyes. "Elder's final words in the journal were, "Please forgive me, Prince Augustus."

"Oh my," Grammi said, breathlessly.

"So Gusto's some sort of prince?" Cubbi spoke up.

"I was the first one who actually starting him Gusto," Artie said sadly, "He said Augustus sounded too long and formal for him."

"That makes sense in a way," Gruffi admitted, "I was wondering how Gusto got to that island in the first place – he was too young to be on a boat by himself and, if he wasn't alone, where was everyone else? Plus, the way that there just happen to be paintings on the beach with his name on it. I thought that was way too convenient. It seemed like it was set up."

"I guess it was," Zummi said.

"So what are we going to do?" Sunni asked.

"We've got to try to get Gusto out of that city before the sun sets," Zummi answered.

"And if we can't?" Grammi inquired.

Zummi didn't answer as they sped on towards the city.

*****************

"What are you planning to do with that rock?"

Gusto turned around slowly to face the sorcerer that stood before him. As the sun had been racing through the sky as if to speed up time, Gusto had retreated backwards in his life. He was Prince Augustus and his adult years were still in the distant future. He was the young prince of this very city, yet…

The city was gone. He had been playing near the caves when he saw a huge fireball engulf the town, the fire beast devouring all in one gulp. The city no longer burning; as if the fire had burnt itself out as quickly as it came, but the results was the same. Everything was gone.

He stood beside the pile of rubble that had been the castle – his home knowing that his father, mother, and sister were all gone. And there was nothing he could do. He didn't know why he had picked up the rock at first, as he continued to rub the surface with his fingers. Then, that man had spoken to him.

"What are you planning to do with that rock?" The horrible sorcerer who had caused all the trouble had a beautiful, rich voice that caused Augustus to cringe. A creature so evil did not deserve to have a beautiful voice.

Augustus watched him, trembling from emotion. Normally he was timid, even scared around humans, but now his anger and hurt overcame his being. Not only did the man have a beautiful voice, he was undeniable handsome in human standards. All his features seemed perfectly formed, his light complexion contrasting perfectly with his black wavy hair and dark blue eyes. Prince Augustus stood as tall as he could as he stared at him.

"You want to know what I'm going to use this rock for?" the young prince snarled, "then watch this!" With all his strength, he threw the rock at the sorcerer.

With a casual wave of his long fingered hand, the rock disintegrated before coming in contact with the sorcerer. "So you wish to harm me?" he asked, his tone never wavering, "You would even go as far as kill me? Interesting. And why is that, young Gummi?"

"You killed them!" Augustus cried, tears streaming down his face.

"So angry. You wish to take your vengeance on me – on the world I would wager. We are not so different then, you and I." The sorcerer stepped a few steps toward him. "The only difference is that I have the power to make my wishes a reality, but you do not. Perhaps, I can help you."

Taking a final step, he looked down at Augustus. "To you, young one," he announced, "I give a great gift." He stretched his hand forward and for the first time Augustus became afraid.

*****************

"I see the end of the tunnel!" Gruffi yelled, "Hold on!"

The quick car slammed into the dirt and everyone was flung forward, but thanks to the ropes no one was thrown out of the car. "Is everyone okay?" Grammi asked.

"We're fine," Cubbi said.

"Speak for yourself," Artie complained from beneath Sunni's foot where she had accidentally stepped on him.

"Sorry, Artie," Sunni apologized as she moved her foot.

Gruffi hurriedly untied the rope and rushed to the hole Gusto had dug. Thankfully, Gusto had dug a decent size hole, so that all of them should be able to get through (although it would probably be a tight fit for Tummi). As Gruffi climbed through the hole, he was glad that Gusto hadn't dug one just big enough for himself – Gusto's build was somewhat slimmer than his own, but his hopes fell as soon as he was able to look into the city.

Gusto was standing near the middle of the city with light pulsating around his body. In the distance, the Sunset Cave was glowing with a nearly blinding light, as the setting sun burned red upon the city. Gusto's eyes were open, but he was staring blankly ahead of black lightening bolts of power shot into the ground around him.

"Gusto!" Sunni cried, running towards him before any of the others could stop her.

"Come back!" Gruffi yelled, as he tried to catch up with her.

She reached Gusto first and grabbed his arm to try and pull him away, but he seemed rooted firmly to the spot. Gruffi grabbed Sunni and pulled her back, both them falling to the ground, just before one of the black bolts destroyed where she had been standing, bit of rock and stone cutting at their faces.

"No!" she screamed, struggling against Gruffi's arms, "We have to help him!"

"We can't help if we're dead!" Gruffi responded, holding on to her tightly, "We have to move back!"

Yet, before they could move, black tentacles rose from Gusto's body and wrapped around his form. In a flash of light, where Gusto stood near roared a black dragon with three terrible heads. The heads screamed as the dragon stepped towards Gruffi and Sunni, who had nowhere to run.

"We've got to do something!" Grammi cried, "Zummi, don't you have a spell or something to fix this!"

"I don't think there is a spell to do that," Zummi responded, looking through the few spells he had brought along. Although he knew that it was a curse the sorcerer had placed upon Gusto, he had never anticipated anything like this.

The ebony beast moved closer to Gruffi and Sunni and roared again. "Gusto, it's us!" Sunni yelled, hoping that he could hear her, "It's us! Don't do this!" Yet, the beast didn't seem to even pause.

Zummi finally found a spell he hoped that at least would help. Quickly, he cried out the incantation at the top of his voice, hoping he said the words correctly.

All at once, Gruffi and Sunni were enclosed in a semi-transparent sphere as a brilliant white light shot up from beneath the dragon. The light enclosed the dragon, silencing its final screams. Everyone watched, holding their breath as the light began to fade. The dragon was gone and Gusto was standing in its place. Just as the light vanished, Gusto fell to the ground unconscious and the sphere disappeared around Gruffi and Sunni disappeared. Sunni ran over to check on Gusto while the other stood back in awe.

"Good job, Zummi," Grammi said, softly.

"Thanks," Zummi mumbled softly wondering if it was truly over.

*****************

In the days that followed, a certain amount of peace returned to the Glen. Gusto had regained most of his memories, although he still couldn't remember the day the city was destroyed nor what had happened when he returned, but everyone thought that it was probably for the best. The girl who appeared in the paintings had also been identified – it was Gusto's twin sister who was rightly named Augusta. (Which also explained why Artie assumed Gusto was yelling out his own name in his sleep.) Gusto mourned the loss of his family, but rejoiced that now he could at least remember them.

Cubbi and Sunni seemed to be most intrigued by the fact that Gusto was, or at least had been, a prince. Gusto insisted he was still the same Gummi, but did promise to remind Gruffi of his royal ancestry next time Gruffi complained about him skipping out on a job or task. Both of the younger Gummies found this amusing and said they wanted to be around when he did it.

The only one who was not at ease was Zummi. Although all the others congratulated him on restoring Gusto to his old self, but there was one thing that bothered him.

He hadn't done anything.

The spell he had cast had been a protection spell for Gruffi and Sunni: the sphere that had surrounded them briefly. He had been perfectly honest with Grammi when he had said he didn't know of any spell that could be used against a dragon much less a dragon that had been created by a curse. He had no idea what had caused the light that had stopped the dragon and saved Gusto. There was a chance that Gusto himself had stopped the dragon when he had heard Sunni's cry, but that was highly unlikely. It was also possible that the curse itself was not cast properly – but he didn't think that was the reason either. Yet, what could it be?

Zummi entered his library and immediately noticed something was out of place. The journal was lying on the table once more when he was fairly sure he had put it on the shelf the other day. Slowly, he walked over and picked up the old book, prepared to once more place it upon a shelf when something felt to the floor. He leaned down and picked up what appeared to be a page from the journal. Almost immediately, he recognized Elder's handwriting but a chill ran up his spine. It looked as if this page had been written recently. Taking a deep breath, he read what had been written by Elder's hand:

When the city had been destroyed, no one ever questioned what the sorcerer's motives might have been. It had just been assumed he was some nameless evil, but that is so rarely the case. Actually, he was the only son of the wealthy couple who was very good to him, but they were tragically killed when their carriage went over a steep cliff during a storm. I understand the sorcerer was a teenager at the time of their death, but still took their death very hard. He was already training to be a sorcerer at the time so he began to search for methods to bring his parents back to life. When he found no way to do this, he became angry and vengeful. He blamed the world for their death and sought vengeance against it. That is why he came to take the power of the Sunset Cave.

When Prince Augustus challenged him, he saw that the young Gummi was angry and thought that he too wanted vengeance upon the world. At this point, the sorcerer had gone quite mad and he saw many more similarities then there actually were. That is why he thought the 'curse' was a gift. He was giving Prince Augustus the power to take vengeance upon the world. Shortly after this, the sorcerer was killed in an uprising in a local village.

To take the young Prince's life would have only added to the tragedy – but trying to keep his own past from him was wrong. Yet, now the tragedy has finally ended. The curse is truly over. I searched for a way to save Augustus and I had finally found it and was able to use it. I am only happy that I was finally able to help him. Now, I may truly rest – I have all of eternity to do so.

Elder Gummi

The paper fell from Zummi's hand as he whirled around, catching a glimpse of an old Gummi Sorcerer – not unlike himself, leaving the room. Tears fell from Zummi's eyes as he looked at the open door. "Thank you," he whispered, hoping Elder could hear him. Somehow, he thought he could.

The End

Thanks to all of you who have read my little story. I hope you enjoyed it.