Chapter Five: Princess
Sorry 'bout the wait, I'm having a bit of writer's block here, like I mentioned in Return Through our children. Okay, before you get confused, let me shed some light on things before you get started. At the beginning of this chapter, we follow a couple of men who live in Amorad. This continues on for most of the chapter until the very end. Just tellin' ya' before you got confused!
"Your Highness!" A young man tore down the long corridor, a small metal device in his hand. "Your Highness! I think we've found her, sir! She's coming to us!" He stopped right in front of a group of stairs, leading up to the King of Amorad. "Are you sure?" the King asked in a low, husky tone. "One cannot jump to conclusions at such an early time..."
"I am sure, Your Majesty! She is the one! She is the Princess of Amorad! Daughter of Mar and Amorad herself! We've found her!" The now panting young man bent over to rest his hands on his knees. Slowly, the King stood from the throne that he had been sitting in the whole time.
His long white hair dangled in front of his face, signaling great age with the help of his slightly shorter grey beard. A blood red cape was draped carelessly around his shoulders along with straps that held up the bronze breast plate of his armor. He wore grey pants and the same color bronze foot guards clad his feet, making him look like the fiercest man alive.
"Let me see that," he demanded, snatching the device from the boy's hands. As he inspected the screen, he scratched his chin and smiled. "I can't see, my age is doing me worse and worse every day!"
"Oh, not to worry, sir! I'll fix that!" The King handed the screen back to him and he ran across the large room to an even larger one. "I'll just plug this in here..." With a great flash of light, the humongous screen came to life, giving the large man a better look at this so called "princess". "Hmm, yes, yes. She looks like the princess, and yet..." He tilted his head to the side. "She does not look royal, that's for sure. More like...hm. Well, we must bring her here! A full day of interrogation must take place! If she is truly the Princess of Amorad, then she would know it better than anyone."
"Wonderful idea, Your Majesty! But who shall we send out to find her?" Again the tall man scratched his chin. "Let me think..." He knew that most of his troops were out training the more inferior, so they were definetly out of the question. None of the people of Amorad would go. But the boy... "I've got it!" he said, his booming voice echoing through his palace. "Really, who shall go?"
"You, my boy! You are far more agile than any of my men! What do you say?"
"But, Sire! I have never been on a mission for the city! I'm not even supposed to leave our city walls!"
"Not to worry, young lad. This is your chance to prove yourself! Now, Krishna is it? Have you ever failed to do your duties?"
"Well, not yet, sir. But I-"
"Then what do you have to worry about? If you fail, then someone will come for you. I promise..." Krishna lowered his head and thought about the King's proposal. What if she doesn't come with me? What if something happens to her? I can't do this! But the King is counting on me. And if I let the King down...I don't even want to think about it! I will. I will get that princess! "I accept!"
"Atta' boy! Now, go prepare your things and be ready to set out in the early morning..."
On his way home, Krishna thought about the journey ahead. I must get the Princess back here safely, no matter what it takes! Hormones began to carry his thoughts elsewhere... The Princess is rather lovely, if I do say so myself...No! I can't fall in love with her! If she really IS the Princess, and they take her into the Palace, it will just break my heart. So whatever I do, I can't get attached to her. Just go out, and bring her back... But what if she gets attached to me? What doI say to a girl who loves me, but I don't love her back? What am I saying. A Princess would never fall in love with a boy like me...
With a heavy heart, he crawled into the hammock in his room and rolled over. Now, what shall I say when I finally meet her? 'Princess! You've finally come! Follow me, I will take you home!' No, we don't even know if she's really the Princess yet. 'Hello, I'm Krishna. Are you looking to go to Amorad?' That could work. Butthere's still a chance that she's reallythe Princess of Amorad.That's no greeting for royalty! Hm, but it's better than the first one, so I'd better stick with it. While Krishna played with his greetings, the King of Amorad was busy studying the Princess himself...
"Her eyes, they resemble her mother's, and so does her hair. But her frail body hardly resembles any of her parents. Wait, what's this? A sword? Could it be? She must have the warrior's spirit! Much like Mar that is...Oh, what to do!" He stared at the screen longer and longer as he tried to uncover the mystery. "Well, Krishna is going after her tomorrow, but we have to figure out where she is exactly..." The King drew a map from the golden topped table in front of him. "Let's see here, this tells me that she is about fifty miles west of Amorad. That would put her..." He stopped and marked a small place on the map. "Right here!"
The mark was placed not far from Spargus, which was probably where she was headed at the time. If she was harmed, the whole city might go under. "Oh, I can't even think about it. Ever since the very day we saw that rift gate open, we've done nothing but search. And now...all has been found..."
"Today's the big day, Krishna!" The whole entire city stood outside the walls of Amorad, anxious to see the young hero fufill his destiny: bring the Princess of Amorad where she belongs. "I hope you're ready!"
"Most certainly! I will bring her back safe and sound!"
"Good! Now, here's a map, and that mark right there is where she was last spotted. Chances are she's headed for Spargus right now, so go there before you search the premises."
"Yes, sir!"
"Go now, Krishna. Go and find the Princess!" So he did. Krishna adjusted the pack dangling from his shoulder and trudged onward in the direction of Spargus...
"Jak, are you sure we're going the right way?" Jordan jogged to his side and stared up at him in wonder. "I'm sure of it. If you don't believe me, check out your map..." She nodded and did exactly that. "How much longer," asked Keira impatiently. "If we don't get there soon, we'll starve to death!"
"I know, Keir, but we have to hang on," he replied, putting his arm around her comfortingly. Tess, sitting on Jordan's shoulder, patted her head. "So, where are we?"
"We're here!" She pointed over the sand dune in front of them. Without another word, the entire group rushed to the top. There on the other side stood Spargus. "We made it!" cheered Daxter, hugging Tess, who hugged him back willingly. "Let's not waste time, let's go!"
"Wait!" cried Christina, catching Jordan by the arm. "We have to disguise ourselves!"
"Aw, that's right. But with what?" Everyone paused and looked around. Nothing. "Hmmm, maybe they've forgotten about us. You can't live in the past forever..." Leaving without disguising themselves, they sped up to reach Spargus. In less than thirty minutes, they arrived at the gate.
"Let me go in first," insisted Jak, pushing the others behind him. Jordan didn't care. "Hey! I said get back here!"
"No you didn't. You said 'Let me go first.' Well, everyone knows that ladies go first..." Under her breath, Christina mumbled, "It doesn't count for tomboys..."
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY?"
"Uh, nothin!" squealed Christina, cowering behind Keira's back. "I dare you to say it again!" she yelled, her hand slowly moving down to her shin. Christina let out another cry. "No, please! I'm sorry!"
"SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT FOR ALL THOSE TIMES I WAS BEATEN! SORRY DOESN'T CUT IT FOR ALL THOSE TIMES I WAS TORMENTED BY YOU! HOW COULD YOU SAY THAT NOW?" Jak was slightly taken aback by her sudden outburst. "Jordan! Calm down, you're getting a little-"
"Feisty?" she asked, turning her head quickly to glare at Daxter, who, along with Tess, hid behind Keira with Christina. "I can't help that I can defend myself!" she said sarcastically. "You try it sometime..."
"Jordan, I know how you feel. I was locked up in a prison for two years being experimented with Dark Eco. Trust me, you don't know what THAT'S like!"
"Are you saying I don't know what torture is?"
"Maybe."
"Damn it! I never knew my parents! And you, you got to meet yours at least!"
"HE DIDN'T KNOW THAT I WAS HIS SON BEFORE HE DIED!"
"BUT HE KILLED THE ONLY THING THAT KEPT ME FROM SLAVERY. TWO YEARS? HA! TRY EIGHT!" Tess peeked around Keira's leg to find that Jordan and Jak were only a hair's width apart, the young girl on her toes to look the man in the eyes. "Jordan, I'm sorry your parents were killed, but you have to get over it!"
"GET OVER IT? YOU HAD A FRIENDS AND SOMEONE WHO TREATED YOU LIKE FAMILY IN YOUR PRESCHOOL STAGE! YOUR FATHER TOOK THAT AWAY FROM ME AT THAT POINT! Hmph..." Without warning, she made to hit Jak square in the jaw, and made it. He staggered backwards about two or three steps, but quickly recovered to catch her next move. Jak threw her to the ground, leaving her panting with rage. "You've got anger issues..."
"No, I've got ALL of the issues! No family. No fri-..." She stopped mid-sentence when she saw Tess on Keira's shoulder. Getting up off the ground, she sighed. "You go to Spargus if you want, but I'M going to Amorad..."
"Jordan, wait!" the she-Ottsel cried, jumping from one shoulder to the next just to reach her. "Please! You'll die out there! You at least need to get some food and water!"
"I don't need those, remember?" She leaned over towards Jak and raised her voice. "I was trained not to eat for days!" He only crossed his arms and looked away. Without another word, she dropped Tess and took off, opposite direction of Spargus. "JORDAN!" But she never looked back. She just kept running toward the place that she would call home...