Chapter Two: Gemini… The Voiceless Princess
Magnus and Maar were taken through the soldiers' secret entrances into the King's palace, then led through a maze of stairwells into private quarters. Gerrek told them that King Spark's banquet would begin at any moment, so they had to get cleaned up for dinner. Magnus felt silly in the fancy new clothes that were given to him. To spite his Elven heritage, he was really quite clumsy and oafish. But silly or no, the deep earthy green color of the clothes seemed to suit him, when he looked in the mirror. Then, a knock came at the door. It was Maar.
"Wow, you clean up pretty good," the Grass Runner said. Maar didn't look like he'd changed clothes, but his clothes did seem cleaner and a little newer. "You don't anything like that scruffy minstrel from this morning."
"Gee, thanks," Magnus said sarcastically. "Now what do you really want?"
"Oh, don't tell me you're still mad about earlier?" Maar asked innocently.
"Mad? Me? Over someone I trusted on a professional level selling me out to Palace guards? Of course not."
"Good," Maar said smiling. "And I did come to tell you that His Highness wants us downstairs."
"Great. I hope he doesn't change his mind and have my head chopped off," Magnus said as he and Maar left the room and walked down the hall.
"Nonsense!" Maar said as he started skipping down the stairwell they came to. "When King Spark was a kid, he idolized your Pop! He wouldn't chop off the head of Sir Parn's only son."
"You'd better be right," Magnus muttered.
Transition
'But I want to see them!' Gem protested when Leaf told her about her planned entrance.
"It's protocol for the ladies of the court to be seated last," Leaf reminded her, "Especially the Princess. Just do it, and don't make a fuss for once."
'Easy for you to say!' Gem thought angrily, 'You can yell and scream and tell everyone to p---- off!'
"Don't get sassy on me," Leaf scolded. She and Gem stared each other down. Then, Gem jerked her head away, and crossed her silk sleeved arms.
'Fine! But if anyone of you goons embarrass me, I'm storming off to my room.'
"Fine by me, Gem," Leaf said with a mischievous grin.
'And no flirting with Magnus, either,' Gem ordered.
"But-!"
'Please,' Gem silently begged her interpreter and friend. This was the first boy Gem had met who was nice to her who wasn't simply trying to get her father's kingdom. She didn't want Leaf's flirting to get in the way of finding a true friend.
"Oh, Gem, I'd never do that," Leaf said gently, reading the Princess's thoughts. "Okay. For you, I wont flirt with Magnus."
'Thanks,' Gem thought, and she went off to wait to be summoned to the dinning hall.
Transition
"Presenting, the Bard Maar, and Magnus, son of Parn," a servant announced as the one set of immense doors opened. Magnus gasped as he got a glimpse of the banqueting hall. It was beyond anything he'd ever dreamt. Not just the beauty of the tapestries and trappings, but the FOOD! Oh, the food was glorious! Magnus hadn't had a guaranteed meal in two years. Now, as he was shown his seat on the right hand side of one of the tables, he couldn't wait to dig in. But though he was raised a peasant, he wasn't ignorant of manners. No one sat or ate until the royal family arrived. But poor Magnus, he didn't know how much longer he could wait to eat. And he wasn't alone.
"D----- these theatrics! I'm starving," the man Gerrek said a few chairs down. Magnus blinked. Gerrek, the rough and tumble soldier from before, was dressed like a high nobleman!
'Princesses disguised as peasants? Nobles dressed like mercenaries? The people of this kingdom must be insane,' Magnus thought.
"I'm with him," Maar said, practically drooling at the spread before them, "I could eat a horse!"
"Then stay away from the stables," came a very deep voice. Magnus looked to the left of the table, and there beside a chair was a Dwarf, dressed in the robes of the Priests of Myree. He had a long white beard and a big stick.
"Greebus!" Maar said, "How are you?"
"I'm doing quite well, considering my hip," Greebus said. "It's acting up again."
"Always the slowest in a chase, and the first to nearly break your legs," Gerrek joked. Magnus just stood there. What was he doing in this place? In these clothes? Why was he sitting at a table with a nobleman and a Priest? He was a musician, not a prince or knight.
Then, with a resounding fanfare of trumpets and pipes, a footman announced, "Presenting Their Royal Majesties, King Spark and the Holy Queen Neese," the footman stepped aside, and from a set of doors carved in Flaim's royal coat of arms, entered the king and queen. Magnus couldn't believe it! The king did indeed carry himself as a warrior of old, just like his mother had told him when was but a child. And the queen… She was radiant. Her lavender hair flowed down her back, the circlet of the Priestesses of Marfa on her brow, and her garments glowing white. The royal couple were followed by two people. One an old man in brown robes who looked on the queen with pride, and the other a woman in a dark violet dress and long hot pink hair. They stood behind the royal couple as they approached their table… Magnus's table. He gulped. He was seated just two chairs away from the King!
Finally, the footman said, "Her Royal Highness, Princess Gemini, and her royal court." A hush fell over the crowd of nobles as Gem stepped into the room. With her father's hair and her mother's beauty, she shined like a jewel. Yet, Magnus saw in here eyes a glint of boredom and sadness. Until she noticed him. When their eyes met, she smiledas she hadthat morning in the streets, when Magnus had invited her to perform with him. His heart felt like it had stopped in his throat. Then, the Princess continued her mini procession to her seat- right next Magnus- followed by a flurry of ladies in waiting, which included the Half Elf, Leaf.
'It's okay,' Gem thought to Magnus. He heard her voice inside his mind. How could such a voice be trapped in the psyche, where no one could hear it? It was atravesty.
'I'm… just a little nervous,' he thought back to her. 'I'm just a country kid at heart. I'm not much on royal protocols, and I'm limited on table manners. For the son of a High Elf, I'm somewhat lacking social graces.'
Gem smiled, and thought to him, 'Don't worry, half the people of this table are too.'
'Then why-?'
'Because if anyone says anything about it, they're thrown in the dungeon,' she joked.
Magnus laughed out loud at this, but got some unwanted attention.
"Mind sharing with us what's so funny?" King Spark said as he motioned for everyone to sit.
"Forgive me your highness," Magnus said, "You're daughter made a really funny joke."
"Ah yes, you have the ability to read minds," King Spark said, "I imagine that would come in handy, especially for a wandering musician."
"Pardon?" Magnus asked.
"How is it that the son of the Great Free Knight of Lodoss came to be a vagrant?" King Spark asked. "Please, you must tell me."
"Well, you se, when I was a boy, my father received a message from his friend Cecil. Apparently, the southern Kingdoms of Kannon and Marmo were being ransacked by foreigners from a distant land. Rumors said that their leader was a Sorcerer Knight, filled with Black Magic, yet immune to the curse on all it's practitioners."
"I remember this quest," King Spark said, "King Kashu also went in search of this Black Wizard Knight. He, like your father, never returned. That was the day I was made king. I had no idea that the Free Knight had also fallen at the hands of this Black Sorcerer."
"That's just it," Magnus said, "We don'treally know ifhe's dead. We only know that he never returned. Something inside me tells me that my father is alive somewhere, and that is why I travel the length of Lodoss, in search of him."
"So, you follow your own quest," King Spark said.
"Yes, but I also do not wish to be pulled into this legacy of war. That is something I have learned from my parent's legacy. I hate war, and violence. I am a pacifist at heart."
"Yet you fight so well, according to my men. You're command of Elven powers and physical strength are quite impressive."
"Thank you, but I try to avoid fighting at all costs."
"You don't know how much it pleases me to hear you say that," Queen Neese said. "I too detest violence and bloodshed, though I do believe there are times when we need great warriors. That is unavoidable."
"But does it have to devastate so much?" Magnus asked. "Does it have to be romanticized? The young men of my village idolized my father, and followed his legend to their deaths. They thought that killing and being killed was a means to be glorified, when it is simply a waste."
"Geez, don't tell me you're a bleeding heart?" Gerrek said with his mouth full of roast fowl. "You're a natural, kid. One in a million."
"If this is true," Greebus said, "Then the gods of War would smile on you. Why not use this gift to serve a king?"
"I don't mind serving a king, as long as it's in the art of music," Magnus said, "But as a soldier, I'm afraid I could never do that."
"I wonder why Gem likes you?" Leaf blurted out. Gem blushed. "She's been begging to be trained as a knight ever since she could walk."
"You don't know how much it pains me to hear you say those words," King Spark said. "When I heard that you were the son of the Free Knight, I had high hopes that I could persuead you to stay and be a soldier in the army of Flaim. You would make such an excellent knight, as valiant as you are. And as caring. We are sorely lacking in those traits that come so easy to you. Our younger soldiers idolize the dead, and seek vain glory as a result."
"That was the plague that my village suffered," Magnus said. " I'm sorry, but if all you want of me is to fight, then I can't stay here." Beside him, Gem's face paled, and her heart sank. She took his arm.
'Please,' she pleaded, 'Isn't there any way you can stay? I can't talk to anyone here except Leaf, and it gets so lonely. '
Magnus considered. It wasn't every day that a princess asked you to stay with her. "Would the King perchance be in need of a minstrel?" Magnus asked.
"We have Maar," King Spark replied.
"You're pulling out all the stops if you're calling me your minstrel," Maar said, propping his feet up on the table. "I am but a humble Bard. But I am willing to serve at the Princess's pleasure."
"How about another interpreter?" asked Leaf. "I sure could use a vacation, and since Magnus is the only other Half Elf around…"
"Very well," King Spark said, "Magnus, I proclaim you Princess Gemini's Interpreter and bodyguard."
"But your Majesty, I am the Princess's caretaker!" insisted Alvanova, standing up sharply.
Queen Neese looked to him, and said kindly, "Alvanova, you have served our family well over these long years, but you must finish your training in the ways of sorcery. You alone can follow my father as the Royal Advisor."
Alva looked as if he was about to object, but then, he sighed, and nodded. "Yes, your Majesty. I accept your decision." and he sat down again.
"Then take care, for rest in my home is always peaceful," King Spark said.
Transition
Later that night, Magnus was restless. He couldn't sleep. He was unaccustomed to such a fine bed. Most nights a tuft of grass was his pillow. He got up, got dressed, and decided to take a walk outside.
The land was his friend. He never liked being cooped up in doors. When he was a child, he would sneak out of his mother's home and run off to the woods to sleep, and there he would dream of his father. Dream that one day, he would come riding up over the hill, and they would be a family again. But now, Magnus knew that if such a dream were to come true, he would need to save his father himself.
As he stared at the pond in front of the Royal Treasure house, he heard soft footsteps coming up behind him. He turned, and found Leaf there.
"Can't sleep either, huh?" she asked him.
"No," Magnus said, Then, he decided to ask the question that had been nagging on his mind for a while. "Why can't Gemini talk?"
"Her family thinks she's mute," Leaf said, sitting on the grass. "She was born this way, her mind blazing with a thousands words, yet her she has no voice to speak them."
"You said they think she's mute," Magnus said. "Does that mean your believe otherwise?"
"She's been examined by the best doctors in all Lodoss, and by the strongest Priests and Priestesses. They're all perplexed. Physically and Spiritually, there's nothing wrong with her- except a short temper and an attitude problem if you ask me."
"What do you think?" Magnus asked her.
"I think," she said. "I think she might be under a spell. When you get to know her after a while, and you peer into her eyes, you begin to see a kind of… lock. Like something doesn't want her to speak. I have hopes that one day the lock will be undone. Then the gateway to her mind will be open, and she'll be able to speak what's in her heart."
As Magnus pondered over these mysteries, he suddenly felt his spine go rigid. His ear were pricking. He sensed danger! He looked up just as a bright ball of red light shot down from nowhere.
"Get down!" he cried, pushing Leaf out of the way, doing somersaults.
"What the-!" Leaf cried, then she got up, and drew her hidden dagger. On the roof of the storehouse stood a man cloaked in black, and festooned in black an red armor.
"Who are you?" demanded Leaf. Magnus looked on, hearing the approaching soldiers.
"No one to be trifled with, She-elf." the figure said. He lifted his hand, and started chanting, "Su nu mei, lac dar, nad vai Diess. Instubey ho no yawll, ar Kardis!" he extended his hand, and swords of red light shot down on them. A few soldiers were struck, and lay either dead or dying, while those who had escaped were sounding the alarm.
Leaf raised he hand, and said, "Spirits of Light, Spirits of Water, shield us and rid us of this dark creature!" the spirits appeared, and charged, but the stranger merely mumbled another incantation, and Spirits of Darkness came and negated the Light and Water. Then, the stranger drew his sword, a spiky, wicked sword that had a dragon's eye embedded in the hilt, and drove it into the roof of the treasure house. The building collapsed in one itself in a cloud of smoke and dust.
When the clouds died away, The stranger was floating in the air, and in his hand was a golden and bejeweled circlet. Then, he recited;
"When sleeping heroes awaken,
When foundations of stone are shaken,
When the voiceless maiden sings,
When the last bell of Midnight rings,
When, for love, the dying thief speaks his last word,
And the warrior's spawn at last takes up the sword.
The Land of Lodoss, cursed from Birth,
Born from the goddesses' mirth
Shall either rise like the Phoenix in flight,
Or descend to Death, under darkest night!"
Then, the dark stranger laughed a wicked laugh that echoed in the hearts of all in the palace. The silence was like the silence of the grave.
Transition
"He took Karla's circlet," King Spark said angrily. He banged his hand on the table, and kept his head down. "Magnus, Leaf, are you sure that's what he said?"
"Yes," Magnus said, "Why's it so important?"
"Because," Queen Neese said, as she sat between her husband and daughter, "I heard those words spoken to me before Gemini was born. You see, after King Kashu disappeared, Spark went to look for him, but I stayed behind. I was already with child, and did not wish to risk anything happening to the growing babe in me. One night, I dreamt that a man, similar to whom you described, came into my rooms, and tried to… to…" The queen closed her eyes, holding back the tears, "But I prayed to Marfa, and he was repelled. Then, before I awoke, he recited the verse you heard tonight. Eight months later, Gemini was born, with no voice."
"What does all this mean?" Gerrek asked.
"It is a prophecy, from long ago," the Sage Slayn, the queen's father, said. "Like the spell for the resurrection of Kardis, this was also made to destroy Lodoss. The priestesses of Kardis created it in the event that their leader could not be called from beyond."
"An event we stopped when I was young," King Spark said. "Neese was the Doorway, and I and my companions risked our lives to save her and Lodoss."
"Now, someone has discovered the prophecy, and plans to make it come true."
"How?" Ryna, the woman with hot pink hair, asked, "It's impossible for all those things to happen all at once."
"It's not intended to," Neese said, "In my studies at the temple of Marfa, I found that the other parts of the prophecy must all happen before the 'voiceless maiden' can sing. There must be an earthquake, a gathering of heroes from legends, a thief dying to save his love, and a warriors' child taking up the sword. Then, after all these things occur, the maiden must sing either the Song of Peace, or the Song of Destruction, and she must finish her song by the last stroke of midnight. Then, Lodoss's final destiny will be one of two things. Either it will be healed, and the curse of Kardis lifted, or the curse will take full effect, and the land laid waste."
"Gemini," Greebus said, "Is the voiceless maiden. We had hoped for a long time that we were wrong, but Leaf's suspicions and Gem's love of music prove that it is true."
"And… you think that I…" Magnus started to say.
"As long as you do not become a warrior or a soldier, the prophecy cannot complete." Neese said. "But I know first hand that some things are predestined."
"But why would he take Karla's circlet?" Maar asked. "That thing doesn't work anymore."
"I fear it may," Slayn said. "And none but she knows the Song of Destruction."
"Then we must simply do one thing," King Spark said, "We must kill this sorcerer, and destroy the circlet."
"But where shall we find him, Majesty?" asked Alva.
"If I am correct, then this being must be the Sorcerer Knight that killed King Kashu, and fought against Sir Parn," King Spark said. "I shall go to Marmo once more and vanquish him."
"Then in that case, I must go with you," Magnus said, "If this is the one who last saw my father, then I have no choice."
"Thank you, Magnus, but you can't come," King Spark said, "You must stay and protect my daughter."
"Ugh! Ugh!" Gem protested. She grabbed hold of her father's arm, and shook her head.
"She's saying that she won't let you get killed," Magnus said, reading her thoughts, "She doesn't want to sit around while you end up like Kashu. She wants to face this knight, too."
"What?" the king asked. "Absolutely not!"
"Let her go," Neese said.
"What? But Neese-"
"Prophecy is prophecy," Neese said. "And if she is strong enough, and brave enough to face this, then there is a chance that she will sing the Song of Peace, and end the curse on Lodoss forever."
"If Gem goes, I go," Leaf said, "She and I have become almost sisters. I can't let her face this by herself."
"And me," Gerrek said, "My primary mission has been to protect the heir to the throne of Flaim, and I intend to follow it."
"I shall accompany them," Greebus said, "They need someone to keep their minds clear."
"That's my job," Ryna said.
"Hey, I'm going too!" declared little Maar. Everyone stared at the Grass Runner. Did he just say that? "This is gonna be one of the biggest epics ever known! I can't miss this!"
"It seems one part of the prophecy has come true already," Slayn said. "Heroes of old have indeed been woken. My lord… Son… perhaps you, Alva, and I should go to Valis, and speak with King Etoh?"
"Yes," King Spark said, "That would be wise." He looked to Neese, who nodded in agreement. She would follow her king. "Then it's settled. Princess Gemini shall lead this group of fighters to the island of Marmo, to face the Black Sorcerer Knight."
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AN: Please please please please please please please PLEASE review!