PART FOURTEEN:
An uncomfortable trip down memory lane:
Methus walked down the straight, long and large palace hallway absentmindedly. It was a familiar premise that he had known for most of his life. More so now more than ever. He had to be cognizant of every nook and cranny in the large kingdom. Like his father before him, he was now responsible for supervising the maintenance of the grand edifice. Arriving at a certain turning bend, he stopped abruptly as he considered taking a completely different but longer route. It made him uneasy whenever he got to that part of the hallway. He never expected that it would have this effect on him. But an effect it had and it was spine-chilling. With all the occupational and mental turmoil he already had going on in and around him at the moment, he would spare himself any more added torture. It was best to leave things in the past where they belonged. He wanted to do just that. What had to be done, had to be done. And what had been done had already been done.
Retracing a few steps back, he decided on the different route afterall. Howbeit the longer one. He had time to spare today. Enough to buy himself some temporary peace of mind. Why stir up internal unrest, if he could physically avoid it. Things would be sorted out and eventually settle back to normal. He was more hopeful though, than he was assured. Someday, he would get back the control he once had around here. There would be no one second guessing or upstaging him. He had expected his dominance back, sooner than it was already taking. But he was willing to wait as long as all clues led to an invariable dead-end. He was so lost in his thought, when he came around the corner. That he almost walked into the young prince. Prince Amil was accompanied by his friend and riding partner Zunid. He was about the same age as the prince and was the second son of one of the counsellors.
"Well, well, hello your highness prince Amil. I did not see you coming." Exclaimed Methus with a little exaggerated enthusiasm.
"Is everything going well with you?" Continued the suddenly animated housekeeper.
"Yes it is Methus, thank you." Replied the young royal who seemed momentarily distracted. "I was just looking for my new extra pair of horse-riding-seat for my friend Zunid."
"Okay then, I can have one of the servants search for it right away." Supplied Methus quickly. "Just you run along and they will bring it to you."
"I am not quite sure anyone will find it." Said the prince giggling.
"Oh not to worry," replied the housekeeper. "There is not a thing lost in this palace, that I cannot locate." He finished with a confident and reassuring smile.
The prince was quiet for a moment. His face downcast as he replied. "I don't think anyone can find it Methus. I had Debeh hide it for me until my birthday." Rather morosely, the young royal continued. "She knew everywhere. Now she is gone, and I don't think we can find it." He finished with a sigh, slumped his shoulders and began to walk away. His friend trailing behind him.
Prince Amil did not look up again or back, as he got to the curve in the hallway that led to his private quarters. Closely followed by his silent but empathizing friend, he walked slowly deep in his mournful thoughts. Maybe the young royal should have looked again. He might have seen the dark expression, that crossed the housekeeper's face.
The Monitors: Use 'em and then kill 'em!
The head monitor drew three parallel lines on the mirror's softly whirring surface. Then he slashed another line right across them. Xitus his fellow and next in command, watched intently as images suddenly began to emerge and converge in clear sequences. "What now?" Asked the second monitor as they both watched the diversion brewing on the palace main lawn. "Is she going to get her heart's desire? Will she interrupt her own exposure?"
"Well now, a lot of futuristic questions. Don't you think?" Began Heinus, as he slightly and briefly turned towards his second in command.
"You already know we are not in control and cannot tell the future. But we sure can disrupt what we suspect and observe it is panning out to be." He turned back to the mirror. "That is with the help of the willing participants of course." The head monitor finished with a shrieking noise and the slant of what was supposed to be his lips.
"So, whose path are we disrupting and whose move are we interrupting?" Asked Xitus, as he moved closer to the mirror's surface and began tapping his claws on it. "Or should I rather be asking, whose side are we on?" It appeared the monitor really wanted to know. Or maybe just for laughs, find out what his partner's response might be.
"Huh, I thought you knew the answer to that," replied Heinus with a chortle accompanied by successive snorts. "We are not on any side. We simply do not care for them. We just use them." This he stated as he continued manipulating images on the mirror. "We get what we want from them. We use them to achieve our means, while they think they are achieving theirs." He was manipulating some images now as he spoke.
"So in other words," submitted the second monitor. Rubbing his upper limbs together, in an emotion similar to glee.
"We make our plans become those of our loyal subjects, so they can bring it to pass." "Exactly!" interjected Heinus with a loud grunt. "We add fuel to their innate and already wicked fire. Then let it burn them to destruction and ashes." The following bellow from both monitors, was ear-drum ripping. At least to a mere human it was.
"On that note then," Xitus managed to slip in amidst their raucous howling. "Who should be our focus now?"
"The main and big guy of course." Stated Heinus flatly. "If he finds out he has been lied to all this while, he will dissolve and destroy everything and person involved. Then our mission dies with them too." He was now looking intently at his partner, as if to emphasize the potency of that scenario. "If he does not hold it together, there is little we can do to maintain our devious course."
"How is that?" This came from the second monitor.
"Knowing the truth of his history now, will expose all our contacts and implants. And if they are exposed they will be of no use to us!"
"There has to be an alternative to that mass revelation. I mean we cannot just let this whole project die out because of a few uncovered under-cover agents." The second monitor was curiously excited now.
"The alternative is he will have to die," stated Heinus coldly.
"The king will have to die?" Xitus repeated.
"I have a problem with that line of action now," started the second monitor with a very serious tone.
"And what could it be exactly, you will miss him when he dies?" Added Heinus cynically.
"Of course not", Xitus felt slighted. "As the one in charge of human relations, I have to start all over again in training and subject positioning. And that might delay our assignment."
"Then confuse the woman's message as she speaks." Began the first monitor. "Let her story become a rambling medley of confusion as the king hears it."
"That may throw him into an emotional quandary and still be a source of delay for us. Telling him a lie would muddle an already sticky situation." finished Xitus with a loud hiss.
"Then have the strange woman turn back, before it is too late." The head monitor was annoyed.
"She won't turn back." Stated Xitus hopelessly. "She is relentless and propelled by a force we cannot manipulate."
"What a sad predicament, for one man to be in." Stated Heinus without feelings, not that the monitor was predisposed to any. "If he finds out our plot, then we have to kill him. If he hears a lie, then he would be thrown into a pursuit that might be worse than death. Seems to me, that there is no hope. He is now welcomed and indoctrinated into our defeatist world." As he said those words, they both suddenly heard a cracking noise coming from the mirror. Turning together, they saw a facial expanse spreading out across the entire surface of the mirror. It over-shadowed and eclipsed the other existing images. As the face stretched and got bigger, the mirror began to move and shake from its surface. Grabbing both sides, the two monitors struggled to keep the rattling object from falling to the ground. Holding the mirror that close, they immediately recognized the face as it came into focus. "That foolish girl again!!" Roared Heinus as he furiously dropped his end of the mirror on the lower limb of his partner.
'Now you see me, now you don't':
The young healer was cleaning a new patient's wound in the adjoining infirmary. When he heard the blood curdling scream. Fearing the worst, he quickly instructed one of his helpers to continue with the treatment aid. He was rinsing the herbal ointment from his hands in the basin on the floor, as he gave a quick crash course. That one was barely learning and had just started to work with the healer. But Bronid was already out the door before he could voice his hesistation and uncertainty. Running, hoping feverently for an aversion of disaster and muttering under his breath. The healer barged into his meeting room frantic and out of breath within seconds. That forceful entrance caused his two sons who had been playing with pebbles on the floor, to jump up in obvious fright. Bronid grabbed them in his arms, until they stopped quivering. Now seeing that they were fine and that the alarm was evidently not about them. He pulled them away from himself and asked; "Where is your mother?"
But the kids only stared at him wide-eyed. They had never seen their father that panicked or visibly shaken before. The healer could understand the dumbfounded look on his sons' faces and their seemingly temporary paralysation. He had been on a fright-filled existence lately. Constantly feeling like he was always on the edge of tragedy since his 'shiny-shoes' episodes. Suspecting that there might be a penance or bounty of some sorts looming over his head, often made him overreact. The slightest suggestion of an incident spun him into panic mode. He often felt that he had already exposed his family to some unimaginable possibilities of danger. And that the loop hole would make them susceptible to future attacks. Albeit from an invisible and dark underworld. Looking at his sons and feeling sure that the shaking caused by his abrupt and forceful entry had subsided. He asked them calmly again: "Where is your mother."
Still unable to speak, the older son pointed towards the door leading to the extended part of the house. A section that the young healer had converted into a temporary infirmary holding place. Or when necessary, a place for his guests to stay over. Turning towards the direction of the boy's index finger indication. Bronid got up and asked the boys to remain exactly where they were, then he stepped out of the room. The extension was only about a 7 feet long distance from the main house. But the only access was through an outside door. Covering the distance in about two long strides, the young healer could already hear his wife sniveling. So he stopped and picked up a farming tool resting against the building's adjoining wall. So glad at the moment, that he had forgotten to stow the tool away from the last time he used it.
Brandishing his only available weapon, he slowly and quietly crept towards the door. Then counting under his breath, he kicked in the creaky wooden door. Managing to send a dozing gecko hanging on the door, flying into the room. His wife who had her back turned to the door, startled and screamed again. As she turned towards him, Bronid could see her eyes were swollen from crying. He walked towards her quickly, asking "What happened?" She only sniffled at his question as she wrung a piece of cloth nervously in her hand. Still not grasping or noticing what the situation might be, the husband persisted with his question. "What happened?! What is the problem?!" He had initially scanned the room for an intruder with his second dramatic entrance in 10 minutes. So he was still confused, as to what the problem might be.
Bronid's wife appeared speechless, like his sons had been earlier. As she simply turned and pointed towards the sleeping cot. The healer who until that moment had been pre-occupied with finding an intruder, never noticed that the cot was now empty. "Where is he?" Asked Bronid incredulously. "I don't know," answered his sobbing wife. "It was empty when I came in."