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Chapter Three:

The Ultimate Weapon of Mass Destruction

All the lands of Mythopia had been informed of the to be Kaneboro attack. From the most distant to the nearest. From the poorest to the richest. Even the hidden ones. The Pert Kingdom {Christine gave the prince her warning.}, the Trickster Land {Matt found it. That’s where he comes from. I think. No wonder he’s so annoying.}, the Crystal Kingdom, the Emerald Kingdom {Lance informed both of those kingdoms. They were next to each other after all.}, the Sapphire Reign {Cecilia convinced the prime minister.}, the Forcena Kingdom {Avi got there in no time.}, the Minute Dynasty {Tian is from there. Ninjas, a lot of them, live there too.}, the Centre Kingdom {Somehow they got the news. I think it was from Joanna, the fairy seer.}, and the Trak Kingdom {Matt again.}.

Lance brought back bitter news from the Crystal Kingdom. He was accompanied by a boy in his upper teens.

“The Diamond Goblet is missing from the Crystal Kingdom. I have here Terrence, who has decided to search for it,” Lance said. “

“And the wee folk and the others from the Minute Dynasty are sending people here to blockade the entrance to Mythopia,” Tian added.

“Same goes for the rest of us,” Avi replied. She shrugged.

“Where’s Christine?” Matt asked.

“Dawmien Province,” Cecilia answered. “She’s looking for Duke Dan. Why? I have no clue.”

“What’s so special about the Diamond Goblet?” I asked, curious to know.

Terrence answered, “Well, it has magical powers that...”

I groaned immediately as it hit me before he finished the sentence. “It can’t be.”

“What?” Lance asked.

“That wizard dude from Kaneboro?” Tian supplied.

I nodded. “That would be a good place to start.”

“Well?” Terrence looked at me.

I stared at him. Nicely disguised he was, but not so cleverly so that I couldn’t tell. He was not a boy, but a girl. Her name, I did not know. I didn’t recognize her.

Suddenly, Genia came running up to me. Christine was behind her. So were Arthur, Jennifer, Susan, and Vincent. Then came Josh, Stephanie......... and Blade?

“Ray’s gone!” Genia gasped.

“He’s nowhere to be found or in sight,” Jennifer added.

“And it’s not their fault.” Vincent pointed at Christine, Blade, Stephanie, and Josh.

“They had no part in it,” Arthur stated.

“True,” Susan mumbled.

“What do you mean by Ray being gone?” I asked angrily.

“The only thing left of poor Ray is a scorch mark in the grass,” Jennifer cried.

“Can you show us where it is?” Matt asked with concern.

Genia nodded. She, Arthur, Jennifer, Susan, and Vincent led the way into a grove of trees. A few staffs were lying on the ground. So, they had been practicing.

The scorch mark was in the center of the grove of trees. It spelled out something. I was too close to see. In order to see it clearly, one had to be in the air.

“Genia,” I called out. Everyone looked at me. “Genia, fly up into the air and tell me what you see in the scorch mark.”

Genia nodded. I could tell that she was confused. Matt was the only one that caught on. Everyone else was puzzled.

“What do you see, Genia?” Matt asked.

Genia squinted. “A large ‘S’ and a little ‘K’?” Genia answered.

“Okay?” Tian said.

“What does that mean?” Lance asked.

“Well, it obviously has a meaning,” Cecilia concluded.

“It’s a mark,” Matt stated.

“Of what?” Christine asked.

“Tis the mark of a certain wizard in the underworld of Kaneboro,” a calm lyrical voice replied.

We all turned and looked for the source of the voice. It came from a figure wearing a brown hooded cloak with yellow trimmings and a blue dress underneath. She pushed back her hood and revealed her dark brown hair and purple eyes.

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“Her code name is Musica. She’s from the Forcena Kingdom,” Matt hissed.    

“She’s one of us too?” I gasped.

Matt nodded. “Another missionary. Probably has a reason unlike us.”

“How do you know all this?”

Matt didn’t answer. He was watching the young lady carefully.

The young lady curtsied and explained herself. “My name is Midori. I am a minstrel of the Forcena Kingdom. I was just passing by when I overheard your discussion.”

“Passed by? Fat chance,” Matt muttered.

“What does the ‘S’ stand for?” Christine asked.

“Steve or Sandrake. I know that the wizard is also an alchemist. Since Sandrake is dead, Steve would be the name,” Midori answered.

“And the ‘K’?” Lance asked.

“Kaneboro,” Matt replied flatly.

“Who asked you?” Christine demanded.

“Who asked me?” Matt scratched his head. “Well, hmm.....”

I sighed. “Please don’t.....”

“Yah!” Christine kicked Matt hard.

“Oof! Oww! That hurt!”

“Serves you right!”

“Don’t they ever stop?” Genia asked.

“You’ll just wish,” Stephanie replied. “I don’t think they’ll ever understand. They’ll fight through eternity.”

“Probably a matter of heart,” Blade added.

“How would ya know?” Josh asked.

“Uh, well, it’s just a feeling,” Blade answered. Josh looked at him unconvincingly.

“How did you and Josh come to meet Blade?” I asked Stephanie.

“Well, we were on our way to Joanna the fairy,” Stephanie started.

“When he caught up with us,” Josh finished.

“Oh, and we did learn something from Joanna. She told us it was going to be a short but bloody and gory war, hopefully. She also kept on telling us to destroy a ruby,” Stephanie explained. “And here’s some healing powder to heal someone’s sprained ankle. Joanna said Vincent, I believe?”

“Yeah,” Josh replied. “How do ya know Blade, Tammy, anyway?”

“Well,” I said as I took the powder from Stephanie’s hands. “I’ve met him before. I used to be one of his teachers at the institution which he graduated from. I was sent to teach there for awhile.”

“Uh, Miss Tarot?” Blade gasped.

“Glad you remember, Blade. That’s not my real name though. My name is Tammy,” I replied.

“Uh, why didn’t you use your real name?” Blade asked.

“I had my reasons then,” I answered.

Blade nodded. “I understand. I won’t ask anymore questions.”

We watched Christine and Matt. They were now fiercely exchanging blows.

I sighed. “Vincent!”

Vincent didn’t hear me.

“Call him Vinnie,” Jennifer suggested. “That’s what we always call him.”

“Hey, Vinnie!” Arthur yelled.

“What?” Vincent shouted.

“Get over here!”

“Right away!” Vincent ran toward us swiftly despite his bad ankle.

“He’s a track runner,” Jennifer explained. “A running sport in our world.”

I nodded. “Vincent, take off your shoes and show me your ankle.”

Vincent hesitated.

“Just do it, Vinnie,” Arthur hissed.

Vincent took off one of his boots and exposed his ankle. I rubbed the powder that Stephanie had given me onto his ankle.

“What are you doing?” Vincent sputtered.

“Feel better?” I asked.

Vincent flexed his formerly sprained ankle. He had a surprised expression on his face. “What did you do?”

“It’s healed. Your ankle is no longer sprained,” I told him.

“Oh, thank you.”

Then, we all turned our attention back to Matt and Christine and the rest of that crisis. Josh had joined them. Matt and the dwarf were arguing hotly. Christine was a little off to the side looking depressed.

“Why?” Josh demanded. “How?”

“Because, because....”

Josh cut Matt off. “Why?”

“Why what?” Matt asked naively.

“Why did ya do it?”

“Oh, that? Well....”

“How?” 

“It’s simple. All you do is add a gold coin, a silver coin, a bronze coin, a copper coin, and two platinum coins.”

“What?”

“It’s easy. One plus one plus one plus one plus two equals or adds up to six. Duh!”

“Hey, shut up! I’m not as...”

“Stupid,” Christine cut in.

“As....”

“Smart,” Matt protested.

“As ya,” Josh finished.

“Now, they’re at it,” Blade softly said. “Josh and the elf.”

“His name is Matt,” I replied. I went on to tell Blade about everyone else. I had no idea what they had been arguing about.

***

After a long discussion with many interruptions from either Josh and Matt arguing or Christine and Matt fighting, we made our decision. Stephanie did protest a little too. She, Josh, Blade, Genia, Tian, Cecilia, Lance, and Avi would stay in Mythopia and wait for the troops from the various kingdoms coming to the Dark Caves. They would help organize the troops and defense lines.

Arthur, Jennifer, Vincent, and Susan insisted on going because Ray was their friend. Actually, Jennifer was Ray’s sister. Midori had been instructed by the guardian to help us. Terrence and Christine were stubborn. They intractably followed us when we left, so we had to accept them into our group. Matt and I weren’t so happy about the new arrangements. I had hoped to keep Matt and Christine separated. This wasn’t going to work out.

While traveling through the Kaneberon terrain, we talked and conversed amongst ourselves in small groups. Arthur, Susan, Vincent, and Jennifer discussed things. I could only wonder what they spoke about. Terrence and Christine were fascinated by each other. Matt, Midori, and I were worried.

“Rhea thought we weren’t good enough for this?” Matt mused.

“No. You weren’t assigned,” Midori replied.

“Well, I wonder what Joanna meant when she told Stephanie and Josh to destroy the ruby,” I said.

“Yeah, I know. What ruby?” Matt asked.

“I’ll bet it has something to do with Steve,” Midori answered.

“Great,” Matt murmured. “Just terrific!”

“Steve is worse then Sandrake,” Midori said.

“Yeah, we heard,” I replied. “He experiments with animals.”

“Midori, maybe you can charm him with your Lyre of Harmony,” Matt suggested.

“Heh. Very amusing,.” Midori sighed. “You could wish that.”

“I heard that the Dagger of Fate has no effect on him,” I said.

“He has immunity to it,” Midori added.

“So Kat wouldn’t be much help,” Matt concluded.

“She’s not here,” I stated.

“That’s true,” Midori agreed.

“Duh,” Matt grumbled.

I left Midori and Matt to talk.

***

“So you know too?” Jennifer asked.

“Yeah,” Arthur answered.

“The instruction booklet said so,” Susan added.

“But isn’t the mission finished?” Vincent asked.

“I guess not. I think we have to be together. That would include dear Ray,” Arthur answered.

“I wonder how much time we’ve wasted in our world,” Jennifer remarked.

“I wonder too.” Vincent stretched his arms and yawned. “We’ve been here for about a week.”

“Yep,” Arthur replied. “It’s sort of strange getting sucked into a computer game.”

“Only this isn’t one,” Jennifer added.

“What do you mean?” Susan asked.

“Mythopia and Kaneboro are real worlds. The situation is real. As we’ve read in the instruction booklet of the game, Kaneboro is trying to dominate Mythopia. It always is. So, now, since we’ve found out that Kaneboro is going to be attacking Mythopia, Mythopia is declaring war on Kaneboro,” Jennifer explained.

“Yikes, I can’t believe this,” Vincent mumbled.

“So what ever happens to us here affects us in our own world,” Arthur said.

“Precisely,” Jennifer agreed. “Well, probably.”

“We have to help Ray,” Vincent declared.

“We figured that out some time ago, Vinnie. Aren’t you a little slow?” Arthur remarked.

“Definitely. We must help Ray.” Susan looked at her companions. “If we don’t do something fast, he might not exist anymore.”

***

“We have some things in common,” Terrence said.

“Really?” Christine looked away.

“I ran away from home. So did you,” Terrence answered.

“Uh huh,” Christine grumbled.

“I’m going to tell you something that no one besides me knows,” Terrence replied.

“What makes you think that you can trust me?” Christine asked.

“You understand the situation I’m in,” Terrence answered.

“I do?”

“Look, I’m not really a ...”

“Boy,” I cut in.

Christine and Terrence stared at me.

“What?” Christine was shocked. “That was what you were going to tell me?”

“How did you know?” Terrence asked.

“I can tell,” I answered.

“Does anyone else know?” Terrence inquired.

“Not that I know of,” I replied.

“You’d better explain yourself,” Christine said.

“That was what I was going to do. Okay. I am Princess Tracy from the Crystal Kingdom...”

I groaned. “Another one.”

“What?” Christine asked.

“There’s three princesses involved in this now. You, Stephanie, and now, Tracy,” I answered.

“Is that bad?” Tracy asked.

I looked at her. “Well, it depends.....”

***

Matt plowed us all over suddenly. He cocked his ears. I did the same. Giving credit to my acute sense of hearing, I heard noises of metal, weapons, and voices.

“Is that...” Jennifer started.

Matt nodded. “That’s the army not separated into battalions.”

“It’s huge!” Vincent exclaimed. “They’re abound!”

“Duh,” Arthur commented.

“Duck,” I hissed. Everyone obeyed.

Two sentries walked by, not noticing us. We all listened carefully to their conversation.

“Mythopia won’t stand a chance this time,” one of the sentries said.

“Yeah,” the other sentry agreed. “At least not with the son of the greatest warlock of all leading us.”

“And I also heard that some of our enemy’s scouts got wind of when we’re attacking. They’re going to be surprised.”

“We are two days ahead of the original schedule after all.”

“And the booster cannon. It’s in the main tent with the general. No one can get past that. It’s a marvelous and dangerous weapon.”

“Yep.”

“Say, I wonder how and where the warlock’s son comes out with those strange contraptions and creatures of his.”

“He’s an alchemist and a warlock. What do you expect?”

“Well, I really...”

The sentries’ voices were now out of our hearing range. We were also out of their hearing range.

“Shoot!” Matt kicked the ground.

“They’re attacking two days earlier!” Jennifer cried.

“Great,” I groaned. “Instead of an abeyance, we have an earlier date.”

“Someone has to warn the Mythopians,” Arthur declared.

We all nodded.

“Who will do it?” Susan asked.

“I will,” Matt stated.

I immediately saw a smirk tug at Christine’s mouth. Christine tried to hold it back, but couldn’t. It appeared a moment later.

“Still trying to be Sir Noble Knight, weirdo?” Christine jeered.

Matt grinned. “Maybe.” He slapped Christine’s back. “Yep. And I won’t even try to deny it.”

Christine glared at Matt, rubbing her back at the same time. “Pathetic elf.”

We watched Matt jog nonchalantly away. He seemed so relaxed and not caring. He was also being alert at the same time though. Well, hopefully.

“I wouldn’t be sorry if he got killed,” Christine remarked.

“I can see why.” Arthur nodded grimly.

“Lighten up, Christine,” I told the warrior princess.

“Come on,” Tracy urged. “We’ve have to get a move on it.”

***

It was dusk, and the sun had just set. A lonely figure was slipping around looking for something. It was Matt, the elfin knight. He tiptoed and sneaked into the Kaneboro army’s camps. From what he had studied in his training as something else besides a knight, Matt realized and concluded the formation of the camps. He walked silently through the camp and suddenly tripped. Matt fell flat on his face. He noticed a trip wire near his feet.

Rough hands grabbed Matt and forced him onto his knees. Matt found himself staring into the face of a green skinned and gray eyed soldier. A black skinned soldier was standing nearby.

“This one might be a spy,” the black skinned soldier said.

“No, can’t be. Mythopian spies aren’t as foolish as this one. And they all wear specific types of clothing. This one’s wearing something different,” the green skinned soldier replied.

“Tie him up, private. We’ll put him in the prisoner of war tent. That place is pitted with traps anyway,” the black skinned soldier ordered.

“Yes sir.” The green skinned and gray eyed soldier dragged Matt to a large dark tent. There, Matt was tied tightly with black and red rope and placed in a cramped position. There were no spells cast on the rope.

“Don’t even bother trying to get out of here. There’s too many traps,” the soldier warned Matt.

“Whoever said that I was going to?” Matt shot back.

“Hmm....better keep you quiet.” The soldier gagged Matt with a cloth and left.

After waiting until everyone was asleep {It was pretty easy since all the soldiers of Kaneboro snored loudly.}, Matt undid the knots in the rope easily. They were knots that he knew all too well. He discarded the rope in a hole in the dirt in the ground. Then, he covered the hole by filling it with dirt. He ripped the gag out of his mouth and sighed.

Matt stretched and then proceeded to sneak out of the tent carefully. He headed for the main tent where the booster cannon was hidden. The way to the main tent was long and tedious.  

When Matt reached the main tent, he noticed that it was huge. Typical, he thought. The booster cannon was supposed to be tremendous. Matt tiptoed inside the main tent was used a special technique that few could use and get to work named night vision to see in the dark tent. Matt quickly ran past the general’s tent room. He spotted a large gray iron bulk. It was the booster cannon. No doubt about it.

Matt approached the cannon and checked for alarms. There were none. He lifted a tab on the cannon. Inside were glowing red and black wires. There was on orange wire. Matt snapped that wire. He also disabled the knickknack that allowed the cannon to shoot. He caused massive damage to the internal structure on the cannon so that it was beyond repair while the external skeleton looked fine. I’d say it was a stroke of luck that he actually pulled the right wire.

Good, Matt thought. The booster cannon would delay the army. Now to warn the Mythopians about the attack. Hmm, he could pull a prank on Josh. Maybe. If Josh was able to be found. Possibly. Depending on the situation.