Chapter 34

"What do you want?" I stepped backwards slowly to separate myself from them. Cavan stepped closer, and I shuffled backwards quickly. He stopped coming towards me. "It's a misunderstanding."

"What is?" I asked, not really paying attention. I was desperately brainstorming on how to barge through the throng of Guards and head out the door.

"That Jaques is Demetrius."

I stared at him. Did he really believe that I cared who Demetrius was at the moment? I had taken in the situation pretty well. He had said Demetrius 'is' his brother, which meant that Demetrius was alive. Right now, I didn't care who Demetrius was; I just wanted to escape. But of course, I didn't tell him that. "That's nice," I said slowly in order to give me more time to formulate a plan to escape.

"You don't believe me."

"You're Demetrius' brother. Demetrius is alive. Sure, I believe you." I was very close to the windows now.

He shook his head. "That hadn't come out the way I had wanted it to."

"What? You deny that Demetrius is alive?"

"He is, but."

That was all I needed to hear. "Tell you what, Cavan, you guys clear this room now, or I swear, I'll fling myself out the windows, and no one gets any powers." There was alarm on his face. "Don't!" And immediately, half of the Guards started towards me.

I shouted loudly, "One more step, and you can say goodbye."

They all froze in their steps. I felt a beat of perspiration trickling down my spine. For a moment there, I thought I was really going to have to do it.

"Your Majesty," Cavan began urgently, "we're not after your powers."

I just said firmly, "Clear the room. Now. Or you're going to be really sorry."

He didn't hesitate. He gave some sort of motion and all of them filed out the doors. But I noticed that he himself didn't move to leave. Jaques shut the door. He didn't leave either. "When I said to clear the room, I'd meant all of you."

It was Jaques who spoke. " I'm harmless. My powers have been spent from the traveling."

"So have mine," I retorted. "And you certainly can overpower me with your strength." And then I indicated to Cavan and said, "And him, he still has his powers. So the two of you are going to have to leave."

"Your Majesty," Jaques asked reasonably, "who is supposed to reveal the truth to you if we all leave?"

"Take your lies with you, Jaques. I don't want to hear it. You promised. You said you weren't evil." I was beginning to sound desperate. They didn't seem about to leave. Maybe they had guessed that I was bluffing about throwing myself through the glass, and were calling my bluff.

"And I am not," he said. "But I had promised that I would reveal the truth to you."

"There is no truth," I snapped. "You said so yourself that Demetrius had been killed. And now, he's alive?"

"Destroyed," he said.

I blinked. "What?"

"I said he had been destroyed. I never said he had been killed."

I couldn't remember. "You can say whatever you like now."

"Demetrius is being kept in the South Tower. Yes, he is alive, but his powers had been destroyed, as I had told you when we were with the humans a few days ago."

I let that sink in. Then, I pointed at Cavan, and said accusingly, "You're his brother."

Cavan nodded. "I am. But I was never on the same cause as he was. I fought alongside your father."

"And I'm supposed to just accept that? You hid all these from me. What's to say that you didn't fight with your brother against my father, and then when you guys had finally won the war, you overpowered your brother and stole the throne from him?"

He looked surprised. "That is very good thinking. But it's not true."

"Yeah?" I said challenging. Cavan spoke quickly. "The war had happened as Jaques had told you. Your father stripped Demetrius of his powers after his capture. But Demetrius was after all your father's nephew, which was why the King spared his life. He was locked up in the South Tower, where he still is today. As to my status as King, I was only ruling in your stead until your return. Your father had designated me to do so."

"That doesn't explain why all these were kept from me," I pointed out. "Or was it because you were too comfortable with being King, that you and the others," I jerked my head towards Jaques, "collaborated to snatch the throne?"

"There was never such a notion," he immediately denied. Then he said more slowly, "There are valid reasons as to why all these were kept from you, but they are a ."

Awkward?

He continued. "There were two items your father passed to me before his death. These items are usually passed down only to the named heir, but because you were absent, your father handed it to me. One of the items was a box containing the Extirpation Spell. Another was a scroll, containing a prophecy."

"You know it. The spell," I said accusingly.

"I don't know it. Only the heir which your father had named would have the power to unlock the box."

"You're saying you don't know it."

"I don't," he simply replied.

I gave him a glowering look to tell him what I thought of his reply.

He either didn't care what I thought, or he didn't notice, because he just continued, "It's the prophecy that we have to speak with you about." He took out a scroll, and stretched it towards me. "You should read this."

I stared at the parchment between his fingers. Was this a trick to get me to go closer towards them? But then the parchment suddenly floated out from his fingers and came towards me. It hovered in the air in front of me. I lifted my fingers to take it. My curiosity was piqued.

It read in a neat hand: There shall come a dark day when one, who has never known our powers, come to realize full power of immensity, and with it, ambition, wickedness and greed. Be warned, for shall this one rule, restlessness and evilness as such unseen throughout history shall be unleashed upon the lands, returning all of the lands to the period of the Dark Ages. Borne in a period of strife, the Dark One's heart shall echo its birth, coming down upon the lands with such vengeance and hatred, no Kingdom shall be left unscathed. Beware then, those in power, and that of nearest kith, for the vengeance of your blood shall be the treasure this one seeks.

I looked up. "I don't understand. What has this got to do with anything?"

Jaques said quietly, "We thought the one mentioned, was you."

"What do you mean?" I started to ask, and then belatedly, it dawned on me. I said dumbly, "You mean...you think that I'm the person the prophecy is speaking about?"

Cavan answered. "You have never known your powers, having been sent away at such a young age. And you were borne amongst us during the battle. The prophecy mentioned that the person is someone borne in a time of strife, and one who has never known our powers, and yet when he does, gains immense powers. Even you, Cousin, would have to agree that all these are very much that of your situation."

Okay, I was just beginning to realize that my position was just as shaky as before, if not worse. Yep, so now the Guards were the good guys. Everything should be well, , now they thought I was the bad guy-the evil person who was going to try to take over the whole world. That didn't help my cause, did it? Now the Guards were probably still going to harm me, probably have my powers stripped, because they thought I was going to turn into some devilish monster the moment my powers were fulfilled.

"Look, we don't have to get all worked up over this," I started blabbering. " I mean, whoever wrote this thing is probably dead for so long. Who knows if it's even true? I mean, see how yellow with age this scroll has gone." I laughed nervously, and rattled on faster. "So why not we just forget the prophecy ever existed? Or better still, I'll just return to the human world."

"Your Majesty," Cavan interrupted loudly, causing me to almost jump out of my skin, and to realize that he had been trying to say something for quite some time now, while I was blabbering away. "We no longer believe that you are the one mentioned."

I was trying to form reasons as to why I could not be the one, when what Cavan said finally sunk in. I should have been relieved. And I was, for about less than one second, and then I was just angry. Furiously angry. "But you thought that I was before," I said acerbically. "How could you? I'm supposed to be the daughter of your Uncle! The daughter of the benevolent King who you were telling me about!"

Cavan sighed. "You were brought up away from us. We did not know you. And the prophecy matched the conditions of your return so profoundly, I decided to take precautions."

"And when did you begin suspecting that it might have been me?" I asked.

"About a year before your return," was the answer. I said icily, "So all of you were plotting against me even before my return."

Cavan seemed abashed. "It had just been a suspicion. And precautions were taken, that was all."

"I don't understand. If you truly believed I was evil, why even bother to bring me back? If I were never found, wouldn't all these have been settled?"

"As I said, Cousin, it was just a suspicion. We had to bring your return to ascertain the truth."

"And even after knowing me all this time, it was only now that you've ascertained that I'm not some evil creature who would take over the world?" I asked with my voice raised.

He shifted uncomfortably. "The prophecy had said that it is only when the person yields absolute power that he becomes wicked, which was why we did not dare to judge too quickly."

"Was why you guys were in a rush for me to regain my powers? To see if I would become a monster overnight," I asked, my voice soft. I was in disbelief.

He flushed. "Yes."

But it was all beginning to make sense now. All the secrecy, the rush for me to regain my powers, and even as to why Cavan would hide his status from me. After all, the prophecy had mentioned that the person would want to take vengeance of those in power and of kin to me, and all that pointed to Cavan-he was my cousin and he used to be the King. And there was even a good reason why I would want to take vengeance upon him. After all, he was the brother of Demetrius, wasn't he? No doubt, Cavan believed I would take the chance to kill off Demetrius too. But I wouldn't. I mean, I wouldn't, right?

The prophecy also explained plainly why Jaques had seemed so reluctant to reveal to me that he carried Demetrius' powers, too. After all, if Jaques carried Demetrius' powers together with his, it would mean that Jaques was very powerful. Certainly more powerful than the others. And the prophecy did say that all in power should beware of me.

I asked slowly, "So what makes you no longer believe that I would be this evil being once my full powers are fulfilled. After all, up until now, I haven't really regained my full powers, have I?" Okay, it was a death question. They already didn't believe it was me, so I should have just left it alone. But, I just had to know.

"You haven't. But your discovery of our lies and your running away has forced us to come to a decision earlier. And none of us believe that you could ever become this person mentioned in the prophecy, which is why we have decided to tell you the truth."

"And if you guys believed that I was? Then what?" I raised my voice at the last. It was hitting me that they were plotting against me, their supposed queen.

Cavan said truthfully, "We hadn't thought much about that."

I folded my arms, the piece of parchment still in one hand. "So is that all there is to the lies? Or are there more? What of Ajax?"

The two of them looked surprised. It was Jaques who asked, "You know of him?"

"Yes, I read the letter on your desk on that day I'd mistakenly materialized into your room. And I'd also heard him and the two of you talking on the day I was trying to escape. He called you "Your Majesty". Or at least, I had thought it was you he was calling. But it was actually Cavan, wasn't it?"

The two of them seemed speechless from what I'd revealed. Finally Jaques said, "You were in my room on the day of your escape?"

"I said I was, didn't I?" Then I turned to Cavan and asked in a dangerously low tone, "Now what I would like to know is why you were addressed as "Your Majesty" when you're no longer King."

"You still believe that I have intentions on the throne, Cousin?" he asked.

"I didn't say that. I was just asking why you were addressed as "Your Majesty" when you had already stepped down as King."

"I assure you, Cousin, that I have no intention to remain seated on the throne. Ajax is of you, which is why he continues to address me so, despite my corrections to him."

I inhaled deeply to calm myself down. "So how many of them are there that are actually disbelieving of me?"

"Only the one," he rushed to say.

"Doesn't that count as treachery?" My tone of voice could have cut through glass.

He frowned. "But Ajax is not one of us."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"He is not a fairy, but a nymph."

I was ready to explode. "So how many other people did you reveal your suspicions to, Cavan? The whole world perhaps? Maybe the Reddings and Waterlings know of this too, so all of them could overthrow me and give over the throne to you?"

He was immediately flustered. "No, of course not. I had only told Jaques. Ajax is a good friend of mine, and your father's. I'd only gotten him involved because he would be a more neutral party to judge. It wasn't until the day you were crowned that we shared our suspicions with the rest of the Guards."

I calmed down then. "So it was only on my coronation that the others knew of it?"

Jaques nodded affirmatively.

Something occurred to me. "Was that what all the tension amongst you guys were about?"

"Apart from the spell, yes, it was. " Jaques agreed.

I narrowed my eyes at him. "So I take it that you believed I was the one mentioned in the prophecy, and the others didn't. Thus, the tension."

He looked into my eyes sincerely when he said, "They were very reluctant to go along. Cavan and I had to force them to. But it doesn't mean that I thought you were the one, Your Majesty. It was only done out of necessity for the future of the Kingdom."

I didn't know what it was about his gaze, but my heart started picking up pace. I looked away from him. I couldn't believe myself. Here he was, accusing me of being some evil creature, and I was feeling warm and dizzy looking into his eyes. I really was going to have to check up on the existence of a love potion.

Cavan broke my thoughts. "You have to understand the importance of this prophecy, Cousin. The event was foreseen by King Dolas and he'd penned it to forewarn other rulers after him of his sight. It was with this prophecy in mind that the Extirpation spell had been made. This is the spell the ruler uses to pass on his powers to his heir too. It was thought that if the ruler of the Kingdom had built up sufficient powers, the event could be averted."

"Except that if I was the one," I said wryly, "I would be the one to inherit the pre-made medicine to it all. And that would have been too ironic, wouldn't it?"

"Perhaps," Cavan said thoughtfully. "But the existence of this prophecy is safely guarded, and usually only known to the ruler of the Kingdom for obvious purpose."

I understood. After all, if other creatures of the land knew that it would be one of the fairies who would lay ill upon the entire lands one day, what was to say that they wouldn't rally together and kill off every single fairy to prevent the event spoken from ever coming true?

"So," I said, a little awkwardly. Everything had finally come to light, and I wasn't certain what we should do now. Did we shake hands in truce? Or pretend the matter was just some nasty joke? And then I remembered the parchment still in my hand, and I went over to Cavan to return it to him.

"Here," I said, as I held it out to him.

He shook his head. "You keep it. It was supposed to be in your care." And then he took out, from his pocket, a wooden box. It was plain and very small, just about the size of my palm. He handed it to me.

I knew what it contained. The Extirpation spell.

I took it from his hands, understanding the full gesture of the trust it entailed.

Chapter 35 I stood at the windows of my chambers and stared out into the starlit night. I had pushed open a few windows so that a warm breeze drifted through, gently caressing my skin. A week had passed since my return. And it was back to living the normal days of being Queen, which basically meant that I was busy all day long. Because of my power loss from returning to the human realm, I was back to drinking the bitter Dalow again.

Once more, I was back in training, to hone the use of my powers. Odd, you'd think, that I would need training again. After all, I had learned just about everything I needed to know. But the problem was, the Guards had lied to me about our powers before, too. Apparently, because they were afraid that when I did become the evil being prophesized, I would start using my powers indiscriminately, and maybe, I don't know, wipe out a few dozens of people with it, they had lied to me that the use of our powers was limited, so that I would be restricted to the amount of evil I could carry out on the lands.

But that was a lie. It was true that most normal fairies' powers were limited to being able to carry out very small tasks only, but it wasn't so for me, the Queen. In fact, it wasn't even so for the Royal Guards themselves, who were picked out mainly because of their elevated powers. That made sense, seeing as how Jaques had turned the bedposts and an entire room silver once. It was silly of me not to have questioned that before. With this new knowledge of my power in mind, I'd asked Lucius again if it actually could just be possible that a pumpkin could be turned into a carriage and rats, into horses.

Lucius had replied seriously that he didn't think it possible. But then he had added, "But I do not have the degree of your powers. Maybe you could. But I would not try sitting in that carriage even if you did achieve it. It would probably be more of illusion than anything else."

Yes, so Lucius and I had made up. It had been extremely awkward to have to face him again, at first. I didn't know which was more embarrassing. The fact that I had blown up at him, or that I had "apologized" for it, and then froze him. I'd apologized several times again since then. But he always cut off my apology good-naturedly, and starts out his own apologies for the many lies he had told me during our previous lessons, which, trust me, were a great deal many.

But I'd decided that since the lies the Guards had made had really just been for the good of the Kingdom, I couldn't possibly blame any of them, could I? Oh well, of course, as the days passed, and the number of lies they'd admitted to making continued to pile up, I'd gone to Cavan and got into a big fit over it. But since then, I had started to take everything in stride. And when one of them abashedly admits to a lie they had told me, I would just raise a brow, and that would be it.

But I was also just beginning to realize the enormity of power that I held within me. I still had some way to go before I truly gained all the powers that were bound to me, but the amount of things I could accomplish with just the mere powers I had with me now were astounding. I had also found out that my ability to freeze other with a mere touch was no work of power that any normal fairy could perform. It was a show of immense power. And I would have to admit that I actually enjoyed the surge of such power through my veins. So much so, that I was becoming slightly worried. As the saying went, "Power corrupts. And absolute power, corrupts absolutely". I was beginning to worry that maybe, just maybe, the prophecy was indeed speaking of me. Already, I was becoming dazzled by the power I held. What would I become when all my powers were finally realized?

My gaze wandered guiltily over to my bed, of which, under the mattress, the wooden box laid. I hadn't opened it. I wouldn't be able to anyway, not until my full powers were fulfilled. But I wasn't too sure that when that day finally came, I ought to ever open it. But would the temptation become too great then?

Better not to think of it.

I turned away from the sight of my bed to return my gaze to the night. A huge sigh filled me.

There was a knock on the door. I didn't turn around, but just said, "Enter."

I heard the door open and shut, and steady footsteps coming towards me. Somehow, without turning around, I knew who it was. I could feel his penetrating gaze on my back, and it made my breathing pick up.

He didn't stop behind me, but instead slipped up beside me. "What's on your mind, Your Majesty?"

"How do you know something is on my mind?" I asked, still not turning to look at him.

"I could tell," he replied, "when you sighed 'Enter.'

I laughed and turned to look at him. His face held a tiny smile. But his eyes told me that he wanted to hear my answer.

"I was just thinking about my family," I told him. I turned away from him to look back at the sky. "I can never return again, can I?"

It was a rhetorical question. I didn't expect him to answer, and he didn't. The warm breeze blew. Funny how I missed the cool breeze of Chicago when I was here, yet missed the warm breeze of the Kingdom while I was there. And funny how I could feel so at home in the Kingdom, and yet, miss home. I thought about each of my family member briefly. My mother's smile, my father's eyes, my brother's comforting hugs, and my sister's enthusiasm for everything. I really missed them. All there was left to comfort me was that at least this time I had left behind a note. It didn't say where I went, but I had at least told them not to worry for me, and that I really loved them.

"I'm sorry, Your Majesty," Jaques finally said.

"Carrie," I told him.

It was funny how, of all the Guards, Jaques was one of the last I did tell to call me by name. Because when he said, "Carrie" obligingly, I felt a sense of thrill run up my spine.

I turned to face him.

Our eyes met for a long second, before we finally leaned in, and kissed.

THE END