Vision Of Escaflowne Fan Fiction ❯ When Escaflowne Rescued Trilladen ❯ A King's Despair ( Chapter 2 )

CHAPTER TWO

Support freedom

A KING'S DESPAIR

Allen could hear Van's voice in the distance. He was calling out to Hitomi. Regret etched lines into Allen's normally smooth and handsome face. He knew he would have to disappoint his friend, for the light beam did not carry Hitomi, but an urchin and a knight.

"Van over here! We're over here!" Allen yelled out. In moments the thundering hooves of Van's stead pounded on the ground to halt before Allen.

"Allen! What are you doing here? Where's Hitomi? I saw the light and it can only mean one thing!" Van was nearly shouting in his excitement.

"No, it isn't Hitomi. I came across the valley of Vren, past of the mountainous regions of Asturia to land just outside Fanelia's capital with someone else, not Hitomi. I'm sorry, my friend." Allen replied quickly.

Van dismounted and nearly fell to his knees from the let down. "I thought she was returning to me." His voice choked out.

Allen knelt down beside his friend to help him up. Van shrugged him away just as Allen suspected he would. There was still that stubborn streak of his. Allen felt relief because it meant that Van's spirit was still intact.

Van remained low to the ground until his breathing came in a normal rhythm. His mind was confused, not quite willing to accept that he wouldn't be seeing Hitomi. With resolved his hoisted himself up. He would have to wait for another day, another week, longer. For the first time since the Great War ended, he felt his spirits flag.

"Who is that huddle on the ground?" Van finally asked. Allen had watched the range of emotions dance across Van's face and mirrored some of them in his heart. He understood Van's longing to see Hitomi all too well.

"You mean Sleeping Beauty over there, don't you?" Allen asked.

"Who is he?" Van repeated the question.

Allen became hesitant. "It's a long story. Help me get him to the castle and I will tell you on the way." Van nodded and the two picked the quietly sleeping boy off of the ground and carefully placed him stomach down onto the back of Van's stead. Both were surprised that the boy didn't even stir.

"I used to sleep like that, many rotations ago." Van mused. "So tell me who" he is."

"I found him much like this beside a river bank in the valley of Vren where I run an outpost. He was exhausted and malnourished. He was covered in filth and I didn't know if he would make it. He recovered well, though. He's pretty strong, like the healer said. He claims to be "Prince Edward" of Trilladen."

"Trilladen?!" the king exclaimed. "His ordeals must have taken away his mind."

"That's what I thought, at first. But he has a pendant just like Hitomi's. And he knows how to use it. That how we got here." Allen said seriously.

Van reached into his waist shirt and pulled out the pendant that Hitomi left him. Allen reached over to the young sleeper and exposed the same kind of pendant around his neck. Van felt almost angered that there could be another pendant like his.

"So you don't know if you believe his story now or not. Is that what you are trying to tell me?" Van asked.

"I wouldn't have thought it possible, but after everything we have gone through trying to rescue Gaea from Zaibach's lust for the power of Atlantis, and now being transported like this, I don't know what to think. One thing is for sure, I intent to find out. The boy kept insisting that we are all in danger and need to prepare for a terrible war." Allen explained.

"My people have been through too much as it is. Another war is not what we need right now. We have barely begun to rebuild. We only completed the castle by putting the seized Guymelefs from Zaibach to use in the reconstruction. Whole families are still sleeping out in the open. We haven't had time to retrain new Samurai. All of Fanelia is vulnerable. As soon as this boy wakes up, we must interrogate him. I just can't believe it though. Trilladen! "

They slowly made their way back to the castle, drawing a crowd of curious onlookers as they reached the city gates.

***********************

Prince Edward was exhausted from his efforts of evoking the transportation beam. He had slept for nearly a day. When he awoke to find himself in a strange room, in a strange but comfortable bed, he knew he had to find out where Allen was. He had no time to lose. Mugwa would strike as soon as possible. He pulled himself out of the warm bed sheets and nimbly placed his feet on the floor. He wandered out of the room silently hoping to gain his bearings peacefully. As soon as he stepped outside the room though he was stopped abruptly by a mountain of a man.

"Halt in the name of King Van. You are his prisoner!" Beefy arms wrapped around the young boy like a vise grip and he was pushed along the corridor as if he were the most dangerous criminal of all Gaea.

The boy stumbled along, irritated and anxious. He kept his opinions to himself though. The gargantuan thug brought him into a large open spaced chamber where five people were mulling about a young man with a proud stubborn look about him. Edward immediately shouted out him at first sight.

"You have a rude primitive grunt manhandling a crown prince of Trilladen! I would hope that you would correct such a breach in propriety! " Edward shouted at Van.

Van smiled as he studied the boy. This "Prince Edward" was small, had jet black hair, dark purple eyes that sparkled with fire, a defiant chin and facial features that were somewhat effeminate, belying how young this boy must be. He decided to humor the child.

"My humblest apologies, your highness." With a subtle glance and nod to the walking mountain, the boy was released. Immediately he turned around and kicked the poor unsuspecting oaf in the chins. The giant yelped like a pup and charge after the boy who quickly dodged him by hiding behind the king.

"Enough!" Barked Van. "Young Prince, you are a guest in my castle, behave accordingly. I am here to help you, but I will not have my guards insulted." Van admonished.

"I am indeed a prince and if that is how you treat a royal guest, than you are too barbaric to be a help to me. I must be on my way. I have much work to do." Insisted Prince Edward.

"It has not been established that your claim is valid. However, if you will be patient with us we shall afford you the same courtesy." Said Van tersely.

Prince Edward turned to look at the other people and spotted Allen. He looked pleadingly at Allen. Then he turned toward Van again assuming a regal posture. "Very well, I will tolerate your manners as long as I have your word that you will help me."

"You already have my word." Van stated.

Prince Edward explained, "Our high priest of the temple, Mugwa, has become evil and corrupt. He has discovered how to awaken an ancient power, an immortal dragon. This dragon is no ordinary dragon either. He has magical powers that can be used to enslave all of Gaea. The dragon itself ifs not evil, but can be used for either good or evil by the one who rouses him. Mugwa has ignored all of the ancient laws and has desecrated the temple by opening up ancient scrolls. He has been studying them for the past twenty years, gaining strength from archaic knowledge from the Elders past who escaped the fate of Atlantis. In their wisdom they sealed up the scrolls of knowledge because they knew the temptation was too great, such power would make even the most valiant drunk with the lust for power."

"Mugwa has fallen victim to such a cursed state. He plans to rule all of Gaea and reopen the portals between the Mystic Moon and Gaea. Once that is accomplished he will have both new and old technology to conquer time and space! He must be stopped at all costs!" Prince Edward continued.

"We have always been a peaceful people. Never was there a need to make instruments of war. We cannot defend ourselves because we never have needed to. Mugwa is an anomaly to our kind. If he is successful, the will be no joy, no future, no hope, only despair." Prince Edward finished his speech in a tremulous voice.

"How will he accomplish this?" Asked Allen.

Prince Edward shifted his weight from one foot to the next as if he were dread to say what he must next. He took a deep breath and looked Van squarely in the eyes. "Human sacrifice is involved. A virgin woman child of royal blood must be killed through a ritual. Many of our own pure hearted priests died finding this out. Once this was discovered though, my father bade me leave our island and cross the vast waters of violence and into the ruined kingdom a Zaibach.

"When I transported there I was met by terrible adversity. I lost all contact with my father, even though I still have the energyst pendant. I could not hear his thoughts and I don't know if he can hear mine. Something is blocking it. I fear that Mugwa has a hand in this. It would make sense. He has access to sacred knowledge that lay hidden for over a millennium." Prince Edward explained.

"No one knows the extent of knowledge the scrolls possess. Our ancient Elders felt it was best to preserve such potent knowledge, but never to use it until mankind had matured enough. They had secured this knowledge in scrolls that were sealed from being opened. They did this eons ago and erased all traces of it from our history. Then they made a blood pact to wrap the scrolls in secrecy from future generations.

"When the time was right, the temple itself would slowly begin the process of unlocking the mysteries. We had for the past five generations been blessed with revelations and all was well until our island was discovered by two outsiders, one from Zaibach and one from Asturia. We did not understand the serious implications of this until it was too late.

"By that time a descendant of Atlantis had been transported to our island from the Mystic Moon. The only survivor of Atlantis besides the righteous of Trilladen was one member of the royal family, and a blood relation to me, though distant. We found out too late that ingrained in the dormant memory of this young woman was the key to unlocking the scrolls prematurely. And since we have always had to the ability to travel through time, it is inevitable that Mugwa will capture this royal descendant and bring about his plan." Prince Edward ended his explanation to a stunned audience.

The silence in the large chamber was sobering. Everyone believed this boy and everyone felt a serious foreboding sensation in the pit of their stomachs. The only one who felt real terror was Van. Somehow, this devastating news was connected to Hitomi. He could hardly breath as realized that for the past four months his connection to Hitomi had become week, even though he had worn the pendant around his neck since she left for the Mystic Moon. Mugwa must've done something to effect Hitomi's pendant as well.

"I am going to have to ask everyone except Allen, Merle, and Prince Edward to leave us." Van ordered.

Everyone left the room quietly, their heads bowed by the burden of their concerns. No one was willing to sound the cry of war so soon after the devastation of this past Great War. Too many lives had been lost. The air was heavy and so was everyone's heart.

When only the four of them remained Van spoke again. "Your Highness, let me see your pendant." Prince Edward pulled his pendant from out of his waist shirt. Slowly Van did the same. Once the Prince realized that Van had a similar pendant, his face drained of all color.

"Where did you get that?!" He whispered hoarsely.

"From my beloved Hitomi who is back on the Mystic Moon." Van replied gravely.

"But that's impossible! The descendant I spoke of appeared on our island before my mother was even born!" The prince said.

"I believe that the woman you speak of was Hitomi's grandmother. She has since passed away, but Hitomi was here and helped us defeat the Zaibach invasion with her strange power to see into the future and the past. She left this for me to have when she returned to the Mystic Moon. What I am about to tell you had been my cherished secret alone. I have been able to communicate with Hitomi through..."

"Your thoughts!" the prince interrupted.

"Yes, until just recently!" replied the young king.

"Then we haven't a moment to lose. If there is a living descendant of the royal house of Atlantis alive on the Mystic Moon then Mugwa doesn't need to make the great effort to travel back in time. He can open the portal and abduct her as soon as he discovers her, and believe me, he will! And then he'll sacrifice her!"

Van's blood ran cold. Allen felt his heart stop. Merle was both in grief over her unrequited love for Van and her fear for Hitomi. Before anyone could react Allen spoke. "Then we can't let that happen. We must make plans and warn the people and kill this Mugwa!"

Van responded, "But we will have to tread carefully. The people will be informed when the time is right. We have to hold to secrecy until we know how to defeat our enemy. We must not fail. Hitomi's life and everything we know and love lies in the balance!"

Allen stated matter-of-factly, "We have to go to the island of Trilladen and capture the scrolls!"

For the first time Merle spoke, "Great! When do we leave?"

In unison all three males said, "You are not coming with us!"

But Merle had some ideas of her own. No one was going to leave her behind. It sounded dangerous and Van would need her. So she meekly replied, "All right. I'll stay behind if you think it best."

She bowed her head and walked out of the room slowly. Van felt relief to see her leave, but once she was out of sight, she bolted for her room to pack. Her mind was racing with her plan of deception.