A/N: so i don't know if I should still continue publishing this story here. I've already finished a couple of chapters but I'm getting a little unsure now. oh well, maybe I'll just continue while I'm still undecided, ne?
'How did it go?' Maddy entered the chamber where she left Chloe and Gem earlier. She spent almost two hours roaming the castle, admiring the paintings of grand ships and mermaid sculptures that lined the hallways.
Chloe looked up from her seat and gave her a tired smile. She felt a little sorry for the girl. Being a queen is a tough job but being the mediator of the six lands which seem to be in constant conflict is much more complicated. They've only known each other for weeks but Maddy already felt a deep connection with Chloe as if they have been friends for years. Sisters, even.
'Everything went well. Gem is a very understanding and open-minded monarch. She does not want war. I knew we would not have any problem with her.'
She nodded. 'So what is the plan?'
'She will be joining us to our journey. As her other knights. We will be leaving after a week. She just wanted to arrange some things first. Unlike you and me, she does not have a royal advisor. The role actually belongs to Xerxes but since he is a knight and will be going with us, she has to look for a competent person to temporarily rule over her kingdom.'
'She will be going with us? I thought we only visited the place to try and borrow her amulet.'
'That was the original plan. But she proposed that we have a better chance of convincing the other queens to help us if they see three reigning monarchs together. The remaining kingdoms are not so easy to talk to, Maddy. We need all the help we can get to pull them to our side.'
Maddy nodded in understanding. She is well aware of the statuses of the other empires and their stand when it comes to war. Of the six independent kingdoms, Nemea and Vesi are the ones most inclined to peace, not being the realms that have huge knowledge and experience when it comes to warfare. The remaining four, however, are known to fight for power and dominance. She unconsciously shook her head to try to remove her anxiety of facing the remaining four.
Gem decided to gracefully enter the chambers in the same moment, carrying a small box in her hands. It was around six inches in length and four in width and its lid is encrusted with aquamarine and turquoise crystals.
'I've brought the amulet,' the young monarch said in her soft voice, carefully placing the box in the table and opening it just as slowly. Nestled in silver and green velvet plush is a pair of drop style earrings. Two small turquoise stones acted as the base and attached to them are strips of silver about half an inch each that seemed to glitter as if they are made from dust from the stars. They looked so dainty that Maddy thought they will crumble right in her very hands if she tries to touch them.
'They are beautiful,' Chloe whispered in a voice full of awe.
'Yes. I never wore them. They looked so dainty,' Gem answered a smile on her voice as her hand hovered over the jewelry.
'Shall we give it a try?' Maddy asked, already pulling the locket from the long chain around her neck. Chloe nodded and pulled out her pocket watch.
Taking their cue, Gem lifted the pair and held it to the light. A ray from the dying sun hit the silver strips and was refracted by a tiny and shiny silver stone piece embedded on one of them. Maddy looked very closely and saw that the strips of soft metal are engraved with very fine lines that merge together to form the image of a falcon perched on a branch. The falcon on one of the pairs has the silver piece as one of its eyes.
Gem held out the piece and gave it to Chloe. The Priestess placed the three parts together in the table for a moment as if trying to figure out how they will fit. She removed the cover of her pocket watch and just like before, fitted Maddy's oval pendant on it which was answered by the same flash of light that they saw the first time they tried it. Chloe's pocket watch cover served as the circular base while Maddy's oval pendant acted as the plate where the scales and directions would have been. In the middle of the pendant is a hole just a little below the gold piece which serves as the eye of the hummingbird embossed on the locket surface.
'When I was a child, I always asked my mother if I can borrow this. I discovered that this pair is one of the strangest earrings I saw. I tried to put it on once but the backing of the one, suddenly fell when I was about to put it on,' Gem reached out for the earring meant for the left ear, removed the stud and slightly wiggled the silver post. It came of cleanly. Maddy and Chloe looked at her in surprise, scared that she has broken it. She only laughed at them though in her dainty way.
'That was also my reaction when that happened. I rushed to my mother, crying, and told her I have been a very bad girl because I broke her earrings. She merely laughed at me and said it was supposed to be that way. She said I will understand it when I'm old enough. Here, why don't you try it,' she offered the piece she was holding to Chloe.
Chloe reached for the earring silently and looked at the body of the compass on the table. After a few moments of trying to figure it out, she slowly lowered it, the turquoise stone sliding perfectly into the hole below the gold piece in Maddy's locket. Maddy leaned over to see how the other earring will fit and Chloe answered her by tapping at the turquoise stone now dislodged on the middle of her locket's surface.
A very small hole was on the middle of the blue stone, just large enough for the other silver post of the other pair of earring. She watched in amazement as the Priestess lowered down the other part of the pair, the thin metal post sliding smoothly into the hole. A flash of white and green light filled the room and a warm feeling of connection flowed through her veins again. For a moment, Maddy can see Chloe from Gem's eyes and she heard the gasps of the other two from Chloe's ears. It was a strange feeling. More powerful than the connection she and Chloe shared when they tried assembling the compass in her palace before. It felt as if all three of them can see, hear, and smell from each other's bodies.
She looked at Gem who also looked back at her in utter surprise and amazement. Chloe grinned at them from the table. From the looks of the two, she knew that the young rulers also felt the connection.
'What was that?' Gem asked in an almost breathless voice.
'The sagittum stella,' Chloe answered simply.
Maddy looked at the small piece now assembled in the table in front of them. Gem's earrings served as the compass' hands.
'It looks like a real...an almost real compass now…' she said in amazement.
Chloe looked down at the piece in front of her and nodded. 'Yes. Almost. Now we have to start on the real work.'
She and Gem looked at the Priestess in a questioning way. Surely they have been making a lot of progress already and won't need to do much anymore, right? The compass looks like an almost functional thing now with its base, face, and hands assembled.
Chloe, seeming to have read their minds, tapped the blank face of the equipment.
'Now, now, my friends, a compass is not complete without the four directions, right?'
It was the fourth day of Chloe and her party's stay in Gem's palace and so far, everything is going smoothly. Everyone in the castle was warm to the two visiting monarchs and they even let them wear their traditional garb while they are there. Even the Priestess who has been worried almost every day for the past weeks temporarily forgot about her problems and the fate of their world as she shared hearty laughs and clever conversations with her new friends.
Despite of being a cheerful and peaceful kingdom, however, Chloe felt that Gem is dealing with her own struggles at the moment. She has caught her more than a couple of times staring into space with a small crease on her forehead. She wanted to ask what was wrong but thinking it is still too soon to pry, decided against it. She will give her time and wait for the other ruler to open up to her. Whatever it is, she is confident that the young queen will be able to settle it. She may look soft and delicate but she has proven her competency and knowledge in the many times they've sat together and planned.
Chloe was currently walking towards her room after a lazy stroll in the expansive garden when she heard angry voices from one of the shadowy alcoves of the hallway. She sped up her steps, not wanting to eavesdrop but immediately stopped when she heard the mention of their titles.
'The Priestess and Golden Queen came to our kingdom and we are about to go on a journey with them in a few days! What more evidence is needed to convince you about the weight of the situation?' a heated voice berated. Chloe pressed herself against a pillar, her green and silver dress and dark hair immediately swallowed by the shadows.
'I know what is happening. I am just not silly enough to let it eat me up from the inside unlike you and the others,' another voice, this time lower and more seething than the other hissed back. 'I know where my loyalties lie.'
'Really? Because that is not what your actions have showed the past few months. We've been worried. She has been worried. Don't try to make things harder for her. Stay by her side and be a good man,' the other one countered almost as heatedly.
Chloe heard the soft rustling of clothes and knew that the boy has grabbed the robes of the last speaker. She heard the soft thump of a body forcefully shoved to the wall.
'Don't. Tell me. What to do,' she heard the one with the lower voice growl menacingly. Goosebumps erupted on her forearms at the venom in his voice.
'I don't have to. I know deep inside you won't be able to resist her power. You don't have a choice,' the boy who seems to be the younger one answered in a cold tone with an almost air of indifference. Chloe struggled to hear more, her heartbeats the only ones echoing in the silence that prevailed the two arguing parties.
'I may not be able to resist hers, yes, but at least you cannot resist mine either,' the voice of the boy who was growling in anger just a while ago was replaced by a chilling triumphant tone. 'Go to sleep. And don't wake up until I say so.'
She then heard the soft sound of a body hitting the stone floor. She moved farther into the shadows as the other boy walked away towards her direction. Black hair and that stance. It was Lui, one of Gem's knights. She held her breath as he passed, unaware of her presence in the dark. Once he has rounded the corner, she ran towards the other boy who was left sprawled on the floor.
She kneeled in front of him and saw that it was Daniel, Gem's friendly and warm guardian. His eyes were closed, his breathing even. Chloe shook him.
'Daniel? Daniel, are you okay?' she shook him again, rougher this time. 'Wake up!' What is wrong with him? She helplessly thought.
'Priestess? Is everything alright?' she nearly jumped a foot from her kneeling position at the sound of the voice behind her. She whipped around to see Chad on the hallway, peering at her worriedly.
'Daniel! Something is wrong with him,' she half screamed in panic.
Chad, who did not immediately see the other boy with Chloe covering the prone figure immediately dashed to her side. He checked the pulse on the other boy's neck.
'He is in a very deep slumber,' he simply said.
'What happened to him?'
He simply tried to lift Daniel up, draping the sleeping boy's hand over his shoulder. 'Let us bring him to his room. Then I will explain everything,' he murmured, a grave expression on his face.
Chloe gaped after him and wordlessly followed the young man after a while.