The Prophesy: Book 2 - The Right Hand of Destiny

 

The royal families, including the dwarf king and his four children, were looking outside the castle window at Eloise, at the raging snowstorm.

"The weather seems to have lost its marbles! We are at the end of May, and it's snowing like we were in the middle of winter!" complained Samson.

"True, so true! The only one that seems to be enjoying this is Ian. He goes out in the snow, digs tunnels and caves, and even sleeps outside! All this without a stitch of clothing on himself! I am surprised he hasn't lost a limb due to frostbite!" replied Harold.

"Shouldn't we try to get him to wear something?" asked Annabelle. "After all he will have to, one of these days!"

"Annabelle, have you seen what happens to anything we put on him? It turns to shreds in less time than it takes to say 'there you are!' or 'now, go play!' I have tried everything to convince him clothes are necessary, but he ignores me superbly."

The queen of the Dwarves snickered, and looking at Annabelle, commented: "It is clear this is your first child, Annabelle!"

"What do you mean, Amethyst?"

"I know of quite a few that were as terrible as Ian with clothes."

"Mom!" exclaimed three of her four children, red as beets. The fourth one, the Benjamin, was busy removing his socks and shoes, once again.

"I remember Thorsten stripped nude until he noticed he was equipped differently than his two little sisters!"

"Mom!" replied Thorsten, turning purple under the giggles of his sisters.

"You were quite a show-off, Thorsten. You kept aiming that thing at everything like it was a sword! And you even tried to put out the fire in the living room with it. You ran out of water!"

"Mom!" uttered a now utterly shamed Thorsten, under a cascade of laughter. "You girls better shut up, you would roast your lily bums if you tried!"

"Mom!" cried the eldest sister. "I told you he was peeping at us!"

"Yes, so? You keep walking on me the moment I try to take a bath or a shower! I can't even pee in peace! Fair's fair! Not that you have anything to show for all my efforts!"

"That's not true!" she replied, red as an apple.

"What isn't? That you peep or that you have nothing between the legs?"

"Stop bickering this instant, you three! We are trying to figure what is happening and what to do!"

"But mom, he started it!" replied the youngest sister, Opal.

"I said stop it! One squeak out of you and I'll have you live nude for a month!" replied the Queen, to her children's horror.

"I'll run away before sitting in Thorsten's burn marks! Boys are dirty!" replied Ruby, who got her name from her flaming red hair.

"At least I've stopped peeing in bed!"

"Given you pee everywhere else, that's to be expected!"

"See, mom! I told you I couldn't even pee alone! They always follow me everywhere! They might as well hold it while I do the deed! At least they would be useful, for once!"

"Eww!" piped the two girls, making faces and starting to make puking sounds.

"I have had it! You three get to your room, strip totally naked, and come back here on the double! You will learn to ignore each other's body, and leave each to his privacy when it's needed! I have made a huge mistake by attaching importance to the physical differences between you three! All it has produced is three perverts, trying to peek on each other, and whomever else your dirty little minds have managed to find some way to spy on!"

"Mom!"

"Get moving, or your bums will bear my hand print!"

"Dad!" piped all three in a pleading tone.

"For once, I agree with your mom; it's about time she put her foot down as well! What I've been hearing tells me we made quite a few mistakes raising you, and the worse was focussing it on your sexual differences!"

"But dad! The Wolf princes will see me nude!" whined Thorsten.

"So? Unless your joystick is no bigger than Ian's after a day in the snow, you should have noting to be ashamed of! And even then, son, you have what you have, whatever the size, and no one has the right to make fun of you because of it! But that also means you do not have that right either, young man!"

"But it's smaller than Harp's! He flaunts his like it was a magic wand!"

"I do not, Prince Thorsten! I just do not understand what's all this fuss about nudity! I'm bigger everywhere, Thorsten, not only down there! My manhood fits my body, and probably yours does as well!"

"Prince Harp is right, Thorsten. Look at my size! I am barely as tall as Paschal, and I'm an adult! My equipment is slightly bigger than his, because I am sexually mature and he is not, but I am not ashamed of it at the baths! It fits my body and my status as adult man. Get over your complex, son!"

"Thorsten, I wear clothes out of respect for those who feel uneasy in front of nude people and for social conventions. Namely, I am referring about you and your two sisters, and to a lesser degree your mother. Annabelle, for all her worries about Ian, does not give a damn about nudity. She has been in the military since she was seven, and has seen more than her fair share of nude people, both male and female, to care about my cute butt! All my brothers have seen too much flesh, some cute, and some pretty ugly, to be bothered by it, unless they find someone appealing. And then, we simply say nothing. Being a Prince gives us way too much power to even consider asking about doing anything to anyone not of equal social status. Just in case you might think it's because we are a group of patented snobs, think again! It would be too easy for us to pressure someone into doing something that person does not want to do, or we could fall prey to blackmail. Thorsten, there is a lot of ethics that comes with responsibilities and power. Lack thereof leads to abuse and dictators."

"Are you sure you are only six? You sound like my dad after you blasted me a couple of months ago."

"Maybe because I have more experience and age than this body shows. Sometimes, I feel like I have no childhood, but then I just need to feed into my Collective memories to find I have lived more childhoods than I care to count. I can relive the free life of a young colt, the happy times of a pup in a wolf nest, and, collectively with my brothers, we share our growing period as humans; I can also ask to share childhood experiences with mom and dad, or, indeed, all who want to. I have seen some part of the childhood experiences of just about every one of the Royals. It is both fun and sobering."

"Sobering? Why is that so?"

"Not all childhood experiences are pleasant. You have escaped the tragedy of the diviners; the loss of your siblings to their grip, or the horror of being taken away from your family by these child molesters that claim to be able to foretell what a child will become. You have had pains, but you were not eaten alive, burned alive, died of starvation, or got killed by your own parents because you were the runt of the litter. No life is without its downsides, and I have memories of all of them. Our collective conscience is an incredible source of sagacity, but it is also an unfathomable well of pain and misery. It takes a lot of strength to overcome that and not become sorry for oneself."

The Dwarf King, Diamondcutter, looked at Harp with newfound respect, as he realized what this child was carrying. Then, it dawned on him that every single one of the Royals, from Samson to Ian, accepted that weight with dignity.

"Strength is a weak word, Prince Harp. I would say boundless abnegation and courage, but I suspect you are too modest to use these words to describe your family and yourself," replied Diamondcutter. "I am surprised you have not turned mad or into a hateful and despicable person."

"We do what we must. It is not our doing that we are who we are."

The three children left the room to abide by their mother's punishment, eyes downcast. Thorsten, particularly, seemed to be pensive.

"While they are away, may I ask what is expected of us from our Lords?" wondered the Queen.

"Wife! No less than our best!" replied the king.

"Your wife's quest is legitimate," replied Harold. "We have been rather busy, but I think the time is ripe for a more in depth explanation of what role you and your people will play. Our expert in hieroglyphs, Duke Yamato, has deciphered writing used to inscribe in stone the Prophesy of Kantar, as we decided to name it; amongst these important elements he was able to make sense of, there is one concerning Ian. In that part, and we understand that many parts still are not deciphered, even if he has been working on the Prophesy for a while already, in that part, then, six guardians will protect Ian, creating a hexagon of protection. We have with us four functional sides to the hexagon: Enron, Harp, Paschal and Sitar. We know the nature of the two others: a dwarf boy, and a dragon boy. Here is where you come into play. Harp has detected in Thorsten the signs he will be the fifth boy; but for as yet unknown reason, your son is not ready. It may be that Harp is mistaken, as you do have a younger son; or it may be that he has not grown into his powers yet; or, finally, it may be like other issues; the hexagon may be completed only by following a specific sequence, meaning that Thorsten is not to be integrated into the hexagon's structure until we find the dragon boy. Maybe the Dwarves' Prophesy will shine some light on things, if we can get over the obstacles of the runes. Their writing is both ancient, and, cabbalistic. There are many references to me in them, which validates their value, but that is about all we have managed to get out of them. We would need a normal text written in both these runes and standard writing, or one of the writings we have knowledge of."

"How do you know it talks about you if you do not know the meaning?" asked Diamondcutter.

"Because the symbol that marks the first line, at the bottom left, is an exact replica of my seal of Companion Ironsmith, identical to the placement of each item. Given the complexity of the seal, it cannot be mere coincidence. Yamato and Paschal have been exploring your library stock we teleported under the palace, and have not had much luck so far in finding anything to clarify the meanings of the Runes. Harp has been hard at work as well, exploring the wolf conscience, in the hope of finding in it any indication of meanings, but it seems the writing we have at hand is a special form, a sacred type, which has no match between common language and the writing present."

"The funny thing, dad, is that I am positively sure I created that writing! But every time I try to solve the riddle, I get a terrible headache and I have to back off the task," said Harp. "I wrote that damn thing! I can see myself writing it! But the thing is, I cannot remember the contents and I get more and more frustrated."

"Maybe the secret is not ready to be revealed," piped up Paschal. "Remember our feeling about Kantar. We all agree it is not ready to move. Maybe that is the same thing, a lock of sorts."

"You are probably right, Paschal. But where do we go from here? I am lost as to the next step," intervened Enron. "By the way, Paschal, can you tell me how you managed these two maps? I have never seen something like that before."

"The before and after maps? Oh, in one of my incarnations, just before the Great Cataclysm that ushered the reign of the Atom God, there was something, a tool, that let people view the world from the eyes of a bird flying very high. The image kept obsessing me, so I decided to try that out. Unfortunately, we cannot go out too high, but I still managed to get to about ten thousand feet, for brief periods. Using my eidetic memory, I recorded views, drew them, and then moved to another place. It is a composite picture. I had done the before one some time back, thinking it might be useful, if only to get a general overview of things; maybe there is a pattern we have missed in our quest, or something like that."

"I see! That must have taken a while."

"Indeed it did. The after disaster one was much shorter to do. I quickly noticed the changes were localized on the western coast, so I just updated these sub maps before creating the new composite image. I also learned many things about where we live."

"Like what?"

"Well, I thought clouds were solid. They are not. They are made of droplets of water or ice. I also learned that above ten thousand feet, I was having problem breathing and my ears popped painfully. I created a force field around myself and was able to go a lot higher, but only for a short time, because the temperature was icy, and that's an understatement."

"How much higher?"

"About a hundred thousand feet. But at that range, it becomes difficult to gauge height."

"I'll have to try it."

"Yes, the view from high above is beautiful. At ten thousand feet, you have the impression there is no war, that all is peace and quiet, until you get in a thundercloud that is! I am so waiting on the return of the ducks so I can surprise them in mid-flight!"

As this chat came to a close, the little dwarf girls returned, gingerly holding their hands in front of their genitalia, and red from embarrassment. Thorsten was also coming back, purple from the head to the belly button, an holding his hands in front of him like he was trying to protect the crown jewels. Maybe he was, after all?

Harp looked at the girls first and said, gently, "girls, you have nothing I have not seen already countless times. We bathe at the pool every day, and no one else but you seems to care about it." He then turned a critical eye on Thorsten, and added, "You have nothing less than my brothers, Thorsten. It may be slightly different, but being different makes for cute and sometimes, interesting."

"I do not want to be interesting down there!"

"You say that now, but wait until your hormones kick in, and you might hold a different view!"

"But mom's here!"

"And you think she doesn't know how boys are made, maybe? She washed you before you could do it yourself!"

"There, Prince Harp, I must say I have not done so. It was the nurse's duty. I now realize maybe I missed something important. I have not seen my children grow."

"Mom!" whined the three children.

"I guess you did; I still remember fondly my mom washing me with love and care, how gentle she was. Orcs killed her. I miss her so much; this is one of the reasons I hate orcs so much."

***

A few days later the royals were studying the map Paschal had drawn and Sitar complained, "Paschal, we need a closer view of the Elvin kingdom, a global view with more details, but seen just like this."

"Well, I have one, but what would you like to know?"

"I feel we are missing something, something so big it's like invisible from the ground, but then it is still too small to be visible from that height you selected. It is bigger than a small region, but not big enough to show at the continental scale."

"I see. Let me go get it from my drawing room. It may not contain what you need, Sitar."

"Who knows, I do not even know what to look for."

Paschal popped to his workshop and, a few minutes later, was back with another scroll. The four princes, Harold, Samson, Dunbar and Yamato peered at the map trying to find out what they might have missed.

"Let's review what we know," Harold started, materializing a piece of parchment, a quilt pen, and an inkpot.

"We have five of the six protectors," started Harp, which was dully noted.

"We have a Prophesy," added Dunbar, again being noted.

"We know the Prophesy is about Ian," added Paschal, again getting added to the growing list.

"We also know the Prophesy says he is the Right Hand of Destiny, whatever that means." Yamato reminded them.

"Let's not forget that number six found at the cave. It said six pyramids under water," Sitar added.

"We need the dragon boy, and, as much as I have issues with Thorsten, he too is required," added Harp, looking at the boy who just seemed to ignore them completely, at the other end of the room.

"Nice list we got there, boys, but I still can't join the dots," commented Samson.

"Paschal, have you noticed anything strange about the kingdom while doing that map?"

"Well, there are numerous abandoned river beds; the ancients seemed to love making rivers straight, or turn them to other river basins to feed these huge retention lakes. They have put these dams everywhere so things have changed. They have done a lot of damage to the natural flow of water in the area. And they made sure things lasted, believe me!"

Meanwhile, Thorsten had drifted toward the group at the table and, getting on his toes to see over the tabletop, looked at the parchment.

"What is that?" asked Thorsten as he looked at Paschal's drawing on the table.

"It's a map," replied Sitar.

"What's a map?"

"It shows how the terrain looks from a certain viewpoint, in this case a few hundred miles up."

"This isn't my home, is it?"

"No, Thorsten, this is where we are now."

"I miss my home. I don't like all that open sky above me! I feel nude, vulnerable!"

"Is that why you have been acting up, Thorsten?" feeling miserable about how he had treated the boy now.

"Yes! I want to go home! I hate it here! Each time I look out, I want to dig a hole and get underground!"

The royals looked at each other, stunned. "I should have thought about it," said Francesca, who had been listening in.

"What do you mean?" asked a concerned Amethyst, looking at the healer.

"Your son suffers from agoraphobia. He is afraid of open spaces. He is not the only one amongst your people, my dear. We had to treat just about every single dwarf except the youngest ones. Your son slipped through the cracks and did not get diagnosed nor treated. Life must have been very miserable for him since he got here."

"Is the treatment painful?"

"No, we do a combination hypnosis and desensitization. It works remarkably well, and within a week, Thorsten should be feeling much better."

Harp, wanting to make amends, decided to invite the prince to sit at the table with him and show him the map and point out features.

"Thorsten, come sit with me, please? Let's look at Paschal's map together."

It pained Harp to see the prince hesitate, afraid he would get rebuked again, but after Harp moved to the side indicating a place on the bench, he climbed on it and knelt to look at the map with wide eyes. Harp explained what they could see: the rivers, the mountains, and the lakes, even the glaciers in the mountains.

"So you like this, Thorsten?"

"It's so beautiful! I have the impression of flying over the back of my right hand! I love the colours, the green the blue, the little white dots, the brown."

Silence fell in the room; a dead fly falling would have resounded like a clap of thunder.

"What did you say?" asked Harp, a simple murmur that sounded abnormally loud in the stillness of the room.

"That I loved the colours," repeated, shaking, the prince.

"No, just before that?" asked Harp, even more slowly, shaking so much the bench was beginning to jump on the floor.

 

Figure 8: The Elvin Kingdom Viewed from space

The prince looked at Harp, now scared beyond reason, afraid he had insulted his liege lord and stuttered "I . I have the the impress impress impression of fly flying over a a right ha hand!"

"That's it, Thorsten! Can you show me, no, us, how you see a right hand in there?"

"I'm so dumb! I shouldn't have said a thing! You will all laugh at me!"

Harp couldn't hold it anymore, and he grabbed the prince and kissed him on the mouth, to the utter shock of everyone at the table, but even more so of Thorsten himself!

"Thorsten, oh Thorsten! You are worth your weight in gold! No, I'm being cheap! In orichalque! Now please show us how you see a hand in there!"

The boy pointed at the large lakes visible at the top, and began his explanation.

"These are the five fingers of the hand, and the big lake there is the palm. The rivers are like the veins and arteries I see on top of my right hand, they all converge toward my wrist there."

"And how do you make it the right hand, not the left?"

"These mountains there are like my grandmother's knuckles, all twisted and bumpy while the big lake although it seems to be lower than the fingers, is still above the rest of the area we see there on the right. See, like my hand on the table? Even if I push it hard it still has a a "

"Thickness?"

"Yes a thickness to it. And look at the rivers: they all meet there, to the right, like my big blue one you see on my right hand's top, here." And, indeed, through Thorsten's translucent skin, that had never been exposed to the sun's rays, could be seen every little vein converging to a big one exiting his right hand. In fact, apart from the lakes, his hand seemed to be a map of the streams and rivers of the kingdom!

Everyone took turn hugging Thorsten, much to his embarrassment, especially when it came to Annabelle and his mom! All this cajoling and hugging had a consequence on the nude boy: he got an erection, and his oldest sister, jealous of all the attention couldn't help but point it out, in an effort to humiliate her big brother and mar his big moment of glory.

"Thorsten has a hard-on! Thorsten has a hard-on! ..."

Faster than one would have thought possible the Dwarf king grabbed Ruby, bent her on his knees, and gave her a resounding slap across the bums, that left a very visible hand print.

The shout of surprise and the cry that followed as the slap registered were nothing compared to the flow of obscenities that began to flow out of Ruby's mouth, to the astonishment of her parents. The queen sat there, stunned, unable to say a word, while the Dwarf king became more and more red. As he was getting ready to repeat the spanking, he was surprised to see his eldest girl vanish from his lap to reappear, less than ten seconds later on the floor, blue and sputtering, eyes wider than a deer's, dripping wet with icy water.

"I decided some cooling off was in order, Diamondcutter. I dunked her in the lake for ten seconds. She must have swallowed a couple of cups of water in the process, but not enough to drown," Harp informed them. "I have done it to cool off some hot headed dukes, and for me, princess or duke, there isn't much difference. Both take dumps and smell bad when they do. Anyway, she needed a good mouth wash!"

"I must say you do have an effective way to bring your point across, Prince Harp. Ruby, get off the floor and go get dry. I want you back in five minutes! Get moving!"

The properly chastised princess, looking more like a harpy than anything else, shakily stood up and went to her room under the watchful eyes of her parents. Thorsten kept looking at Harp and the retreating, dripping figure of his sister, his nemesis, which had been causing him so much harm over the years.

"I have been dreaming of that moment for years! Thank you, Prince Harp! These two have been making my life miserable ever since they could talk and that seems forever in my book."

The youngest girl, having witnessed the demise of her older sister, decided to distance herself from her, and to blaze her own path from now on. She had been following her lead for too long, and she now feared the day of retribution might be near. She decided to make herself scarce, and proceeded to escape as the royals returned to the map. Unfortunately for her, she missed the fact that her younger brother had crawled on all fours right in her path and she fell face first on the floor as she stumbled on the baby, immediately triggering a piercing cry and heavy sobbing. That focussed everyone's attention on her, and foiled any attempt at escaping the scrutiny of her parents.

After queen Amethyst retrieved the sniffing baby and that the healer examined him, she turned to her, and asked, on an icy tone that none of her children had heard her use before, "Where were you going Opal? Given what I have learned today, I have my doubts about you as well. Ruby was not alone in most of her dirty tricks at the expense of Thorsten; she had a side-kick, and I would lay my hands in the fire it was you! You better come clean, or else, there will be hell to pay, and hell is not always hot, as Ruby found out!"

"I didn't!" the girl piped up, becoming red.

"Lady Opal, you just lied to your mother!" said Harp.

"I did not!"

"Do you really think I missed the red glow of Mitsuko when you stated your absence of involvement? That sword does not need to be held by one of us to detect lies, princess."

"I hate snitchy blades!"

"Oh, I think the blade tells us that your last statement is true, since it flashed green!"

"Well, how many dirty little secrets would I find if I had access to this blade and some time to spend asking you about all these pranks Thorsten got blamed for, Opal?" asked a severe-looking Diamondcutter.

"Not many," replied the princess, to a series of red flashes of the blade. "You shut up! I'm a princess and you're only some piece of steel! I'll have you melted!"

Paschal stood up and looked at the diminutive princess, who looked at him with unabashed contempt. "Lady Opal, if you do not want to end up in trouble stop telling lies! Truth is a more powerful weapon than any blade, if it is used wisely. You have taken a bad habit of getting out of trouble by lying and putting the blame on Thorsten. That time is over! As for hurting that blade, over my dead body! Have I made myself clear? You are expandable, that blade is not!"

"Are you threatening me?" squeaked the girl, ready to throw a tantrum.

"I am stating a fact. Take it at face value!"

"Opal, remember the dressing down I gave all of you when Thorsten had his fit with Harp? I doubt you have forgotten the warning I gave all of you! It still stands, and it does not go away with time!" Diamondcutter said in a cold voice.

"But he threatened me, dad!"

"As was his right! Not only does Prince Paschal have the right to render justice, but to execute it as well! You were out of line in stating that you wanted the destruction of the Blade of Light, and had you tried to do so or ordered anyone to do it, there is absolutely nothing I could have done or even attempted to do to save your neck, Lady Opal. Amethyst, we have failed more than I thought in raising these children to royal standards. I wonder how long they will stay alive given their own self-destructive tendencies and their repeated disregard for their duties to their liege lords! The princes and their dads may be forgiving, but I am growing short on that account, Opal! Do not try my patience much longer! And when you see Ruby, tell her the same thing, because she better not come here barging like a bull or she will be met by a fury of which even the Gods will be envious! Now get lost to your room, and do not leave it until your mother and I go get you! We have a lot to talk about, with you two girls. By the way, I expect your sister in a minute flat! She better be headed this way when you meet her."

Princess Opal ran out of the room, both worried about the upcoming confrontation and relieved she had escaped further public humiliation. She did not meet her sister on her way to her room, and got to it without meeting even the shadow of a soul. She slammed her door shut and lay on her bed, crying out of fear, frustration and rage.

Thorsten looked at the unfolding drama, and had the good sense to remain serious and not smile in glee. These two were finally getting paid what they had been earning! He remembered all too painfully those tricks these little wrenches had played at his expense, and also the heat of his dad's fury once Harp had left their apartments that other day. He was not going to put his good fortune on the line by showing how good he felt at the two bitches' demise and public humiliation. He was surprised, through, when Harp gently squeezed his hand, and a fugitive smile appeared on the Mage's face. Prince Harp knew how he felt, and understood him. Could it be that he had a friend here? Could Harp be a real friend, not intent on exploiting his status for his own benefit and social status? Then it dawned on him: Harp did not need him to usher his progress, he was already at the apex of society! If benefit could be gained, it was him that would reap it, not Harp. As soon as the thought crossed his mind, Thorsten felt ashamed about himself: there he was, contemplating doing with Harp what others had done with him, a thing he had abhorred and loathed! He vowed to himself to succeed on his own terms, not because he knew Harp or any other of the princes! He also vowed, deep down, to become a true friend to all the princes, irrelevant of their relative position in the powers that governed this world. Again he felt Harp squeeze his hand, and a warm feeling envelop him, travelling from his hand to his entire body, a feeling he had not ever felt before. What could that warm feeling be? Another shock awaited Thorsten as he realized he had nothing to do to be Harp's friend, and indeed all the princes! He had been forgiven, and he felt intense acceptance and love cursing through his entire body, as he began shaking violently under the onslaught of the new and oh so pleasant feelings! He found himself held by all four princes, who kept rubbing his body with care, giving him the most beautiful sensation he had ever experienced! He began sobbing heavily of relief, unashamed to let go of his pain in the accepting embraces of his liege lords. None of the other royals uttered a word, respecting Thorsten's pain and the efforts Enron, Harp, Paschal and Sitar put in helping him overcome the grief of his past.

 

***

It was vespers before someone noticed that princess Ruby had not reported back to king Diamondcutter as ordered. Amethyst went to get her and Opal for dinner, but found Ruby's room empty. She knocked on Opal's door before opening it, finding the little princess asleep on her bed, eyes reddened by tears, and most of the room trashed. Opal had been having a temper tantrum, but away from the watchful eyes of her parents, and the strong hand of her dad. She shook the princess awake, and pointed to the room.

"I want this place cleaned up, and not by servants, Opal. You will have no dinner until I am satisfied at the cleanliness of this room! By the way, I saw the trash you made of your clothes. You will have to live with the consequences: Nude until the change of season, lady! Now, get to work. I want everything that is broken out of this place on the double!"

"I don't even know where to dispose of the trash, mom!"

"Ask where it gets dumped, but let me make this clear: you trashed, you clean! I will be watching you while you do the work, and if I ever see a single person carry any of your stuff, you will have a hiding of which even your dad will be proud! And I will personally inspect every room, desk, cupboard, and closet to verify not a square inch was forgotten! By the way, have you seen Ruby?"

"No, I have not seen her. I did not even hear her in her room, come to think of it. The door was closed, and the walls here are so thick you can't hear anything unless you happen to be at a door or, maybe, a window, but there I have no idea since they are double-glazed and all closed up."

"OK, Opal. Get to work. I'll be watching!"

The queen returned to Ruby's room, and began looking around. At first, nothing caught her attention, but, as she looked at the wardrobe, she noticed the winter clothes the princes had materialised for them when they arrived at the kingdom were missing; further things began to become conspicuous by their absence: boots, a sack that usually contained the princess' toys, and other things. Also missing was her favourite toy, a princess doll that usually thrones on her bed. As a feeling of dread began to envelop the queen, she began frantically to search the bedroom for other indications of what she thought had happened. She found the toys minus the doll, behind the bed frame, against the wall. The queen moved to her daughter's study and noticed a bit of parchment she had at first ignored, bent in four and held in place by a bookshelf stopper. Dread became certitude as she unfolded the paper and began reading the message:

"Since no one loves me, and that Thorsten is getting all the attention he does not deserve, I've decided to go home on my own. Do not try to follow me or find me! I do not want to hear of you anymore! Since I have no family, you have no daughter! Get lost! I hate you all! I prefer being a queen in orc society than a princess who must put up being a vassal to a prince of comedy! May the Atom God burn you all!

Ruby"

The queen ran out of Ruby's room, yelling for her husband to come quickly. A single look at his wife's face told the king of dwarves a tragedy had occurred, and he took his sobbing wife in his arms as he read his daughter's note.

"What do we do?" she asked as she saw her husband's face turn white as a sheet.

"We ask for help, that's what. Let's get to King Harold as fast as we can, and bring that note. However it shames me, I must be honest with my Liege lord. Harp stated it clearly today: honesty is the only course of action for us. Every minute counts if we want to find our daughter alive."

Opal had heard her mother's death yell and followed her in as she searched for Diamondcutter. She felt miserable and ashamed of having played Ruby's games so long, but she also was worried about her older sister. What had taken to her to act that way? What stuck Opal the most was the worry her parents showed, and she realised she had been pretty close to acting out the same impulse Ruby had done: run away! She was ambivalent at the events: in a way, she envied Ruby's guts, but felt it was shameful and stupid.

The dwarves royals quickly returned to the dining hall where the royals met for vespers' agapes, and the king knelt in front of Harold, to his total surprise.

"Your Majesty, it shames me to ask for your help under these circumstances, but as vassal to liege, I must call upon your support and assistance."

The formality of the request took everyone by surprise and brought the room to a sombre calm, unusual at that time of day.

"State your request."

"Read this, and you will understand everything," replied Diamondcutter, shaking as he tended the parchment to Harold.

After a quick read, Harold looked at the king and simply asked: What is it you want of us, Diamondcutter? That we send a search party for her?"

"Yes, if you would! She may be ill-tempered, irresponsible, but she is still my child and I love her deeply."

"So it will be done. Blackie Dog, get a hound to her room and register her scent and distribute it to the wolf conscience! Greywolf, get the wolves on the hunt for her; Bushtail Fox, the same with the foxes. Queen Amethyst, King Diamondcutter, we will do our best. There will be, shortly, a few hundred thousand canines looking for her."

«Can we be of help?» asked one of the horse generals.

«Not really, the snow is too thick for horses, especially after today's four-foot snowfall. Thanks for the offer.»

 

***

Princess Ruby had made her way to her room quickly, and after a quick soak in the hot baths to remove the awful smell and wash her hair, still fuming at the humiliation, she decided she would show them! Since she was not important to them, she would leave and find a place she could dominate. Better be queen of rats than servant to a farm boy! She quickly dressed, but looking outside at the gale, she figured she needed some real clothes, not courtroom ones. She changed to these heavy clothing she had found in her wardrobe one morning, a few days after her arrival at that ugly windy place. One of the humans had taken the time to explain why each one was worn, and how to put them on and in what order. Now she was putting that newly gained knowledge to use to gain her freedom.

After putting the clothes on, she decided to bring with her some of her precious belongings, but how? She spotted her toy bag and quickly emptied its contents behind the bed frame, covering the now discarded toys with a throw-on blanket. She put her favourite toy in the bag's bottom, and decided to let her parents know how she felt and that she did not ever want to see them again. Ruby tore a piece of scroll from her school notebook and quickly jotted down the most hateful missive she could muster. After that, somewhat satisfied at herself, she left her bedroom, closing it gently so as not to be intercepted by that pesky little sister she couldn't stand any more than she could her older brother. Why was she not the first born? At least she could have strangled them before they took so much importance! Just wait until she could be alone with the last one! She would drown him and lay the blame on Thorsten, claiming she had gone to the lavatory while he was to watch on the runt! That would discredit him for good and he would lose his head, making her the heir! It would then be a piece of cake to arrange an accident to the last potential competitor, Opal the follower. She did all she was told, and would simply follow instructions to her death, thought the jubilant Ruby.

Ruby walked out of the palace, and found herself in the inner courtyard. The wind was not too strong yet, but the snow, which had been falling since morning, was already beginning to thicken in some places, making her progress difficult. She passed unnoticed by the guard warming his hands against a hot coal pit and hugging his winter coat. The outer courtyard, a lot bigger, showed the first signs of the true nature of the weather outside. Gusts of wind whitened the visibility and the princess had to hang on to some bushes not to get blown away a couple of times. However, her temper prevented her from admitting defeat even before leaving the place she loathed so much.

The passage to the outside world was a bit trickier. The main door was locked, and only the passage through the guardhouse seemed practical. As luck would have it, a guard was leaving as she approached, and she swiftly slid inside the house as the door was let loose by the leaving guard, who had not seen the diminutive figure in the storm, blinded as he was by a gust of wind-blown snow. The princess quickly crossed the hallway, slowing down as she came to the guardroom's entrance on the side.

The men were busy talking about the disgusting weather, and some were snoring away, while one was busy putting a log in the fireplace and rekindling the fire from the ambers. She quickly made her way by the door, afraid of being seen. Now the outer door stood between her and freedom, but try as she might, she could not push the door open. The clamp locket was out of reach and required too much strength for her anyway. Just as she was about to try again, she heard a bell right above her head, and she hid within the hangers full of clothes near the door. A few minutes passed, and the bell rang again with some impatience, and a soldier came to the door, asked who it was and unlocked the door to let the visitor in. It was another soldier reporting for duty, and the two men exchanged pleasantries while the new arrival registered on the roll scroll. The new soldier took a shovel in the toolbox and got ready to go clean up the front of the door and the levy bridge from the accumulating snow. For a brief moment, he got distracted from his goal by a salacious joke and left the door open to hear the clinch. That was all Princess Ruby had been waiting for. She passed outside and vanished in the blizzard. The guard felt something pass between his legs, but thought it was one of the many cats wanting to go hunt the rats under the drawbridge, so he did not get alarmed. Freedom at last!

Crossing the drawbridge proved more difficult than Princess Ruby thought. The snow was drifting sideways, and even if she was light and did not sink in it, she fell into many holes dug by the passing soldiers' footprints. Finally, she reached the street and began wandering in the huge city, not knowing where to go nor caring. As things would have it, going downhill was a lot easier than going uphill, and she finally found herself on the shores of Lake Eloise, not that she knew what a lake was. She had seen ponds in her cave, but none ever covered with ice, as it was a pleasant warm temperature all the time. She had never even been to the guard door or indeed within the hallway leading to it when she lived in the mines. Her world was and should always have stayed the mines.

The princess began to walk on the icy surface, that shone like an ashy mirror, and was swept regularly by wind-blown snow. Shortly, she found she had no idea where she was going, and the winds were pushing her forward, in whatever direction they had decided to lead her. Suddenly, a violent blast made her fall on her back, and she found herself being swept away across that shiny mirror at a high velocity. She clung to her packsack with all her might, unwilling to let go of her doll, her precious doll. Her race across the ice came to an abrupt end as she entered headfirst in a snow bank. Sputtering she disengaged herself and tried, unsuccessfully, to climb the mound of fluffy snow. Force was it to conclude she needed to walk around it if she wanted to continue. The walk brought her on the other side into another clear patch of ice, which attracted her like a magnet.

As she walked on the ice, she began hearing cracking noises, and wondered what they were, but decided that, since she was a princess on the way to becoming a queen, nature and all life forms must bend to her will. She continued walking further and further off, until, suddenly, she heard a dreadful sound, akin to a ripping. At first she tried to ignore it, but became aware the shiny surface she was on was shaking underfoot. As she looked around she saw a crack open in the mirror, and widen gradually, spreading and cutting her retreat, had she even considered the idea. The ice floe slowly began drifting on one of the many hot spots of Lake Eloise, following the current down to the dam that held the lake's waters.

Woefully unaware of her peril, the princess simply watched the ice move around her and missed many opportunities to jump to safety when the piece of ice she was riding collided with the side of the hole. For her, she was moving, and that was all that mattered. She also missed the fact that each collision reduced her private island by some amount and that it was shrinking dangerously. The cracking sound that had given rise to her personal domain was being heard more and more as she progressed toward the dam, and the movement grew ever more erratic as it got caught in eddies and counter currents.

***

The hound dog sent to Ruby's room quickly identified the whiff of the king, the queen, Opal, and the dominant smell of Ruby. He sent out the signature telepathically to the canines patrolling the palace grounds, the city, and even those around the countryside.

The hound then followed her trace to the door she had taken to leave the palace and transferred the tracking to a wolf that was on patrol outside. It took mere minutes for the wolf to pick the scent and track the princess to the outer courtyard, and then to the guardhouse, howl his head off to get the door opened, dash to the other exit, get it opened and run off in the night. He began following the scent in the sprawling city and came to the lake rapidly.

«Wolf king, I have traced her to the lake. The scent is difficult to follow on water, as the ice moves all the time. What do I do?»

«Hold position, I am sending search parties to patrol the lake.»

In less than thirty minutes, a huge contingent of canines of all types began patrolling the lake ever further off shore. The scent of the princess was there, but the ice movements prevented a straight run along a linear path. Meanwhile other canines patrolled the lakeshore in the hope of finding where the princess might have left the ice shelf.

An hour later, a coyote smelled her passage in a snow bank but after some digging, figured she had only stumbled on it, and was no longer there. But, for once, the smell was strong under the snow and seemed to indicate a direction. He immediately called on all canines to converge on his position to redeploy the search pattern.

This time, the wolves were able to trace the princess with some ease until they met with black water. Where could she be? Greywolf reached the water's edge and looked at the churning water. Cracks could be heard everywhere, opening and closing as the ice moved under the tremendous hydraulic pressure.

«Follow the flow of water along the ice edges. Stay away from the water and keep watch for any sudden ice movements! Blackie Wolf, lead your unit up and try to find a way to get to the other side of the water hole. Be safe! I will get the king here, but given his weight, he needs to stay further off the edge than us.» Greywolf then retreaded a hundred yards and called the king.

«Alpha of the wolf packs! We have followed the trail of the pup to the edge of open water. Either she fell in or she is on moving ice! Can you free yourself and come join us on the lake? I have moved back far enough for you to be safe.»

«I have been getting ready. Here I come.»

Harold teleported to Greywolf's position, and immediately understood the gravity of the situation. He could hear the ice crack loudly and feel the water's rush under his feet.

«What have you done so far about this?»

«I dispatched one group to follow the edge down, and another to go up and find a way around the water to the other side.»

«There is nothing more we can do. Let us hope for the best. I will return to her genitor and inform him of the situation. What do you plan to do?»

«I will catch up with the lead group on this side, along with my pack. The lead group has to go a lot slower so as not to miss any scent."

«Fine. Nice work, Greywolf, and thanks for your efforts.»

«It is my duty, Alpha. Be safe.»

«The same to you and your group.»

Harold returned to the castle and quickly informed Diamondcutter and his wife of the developments. He kept to himself the fact that the chances of finding Ruby alive were diminishing by the minute.

***

Ruby's ride was coming to a close and she did not know it yet. An ice wall, composed of the accumulated ice chunks that had been torn from the lake's ice cover by the combined efforts of water and wind, suddenly appeared in her path. As she was looking behind and not forward, she could not brace herself for the collision and she got violently ejected from her toboggan. She landed on the icy slope, and got knocked out by the impact, before sliding against an ice wall that prevented her from falling in the water. A strap of her bag broke, making the bag an additional burden in a dire situation.

Several hours later, Ruby woke up to realize first, that it was getting dark, and second, that she was wet; and third, that she was shivering uncontrollably. Completely dazed by the shock, covered in contusions, and beginning to suffer from hypothermia, the Princess began crawling along the piles of ice, trying to go somewhere, anywhere.

As she held stubbornly to her backpack, she made her way ever further from the shore, unaware that she was making yet another tactical mistake. For her, everything was identical, and she couldn't even figure what she was walking on or more precisely, crawling on. Her thinking processes, already weakened by her rage and delusions of grandeur, were beginning to suffer from lack of food and hypothermia. Her vision blurred and she began to see things that were not present, such as Thorsten laughing at her misery, that pesky Harp showing off that ugly thing, or his little sister taunting her, like she had done, goading her to do another stupid thing. Her rage took control of what was left of her sanity and she began hitting on the ice blocks, thinking she was punching one or another of her tormentors. The blood she saw on the ice was not hers, but of her dad, her mother, and all those people she so loathed. Each cut fuelled her fury, until, finally, exhausted, she fell face first near the water's edge.

 

***

The howling wind had carried Ruby's fury across to some wolves located downwind, and also her scent. The wolves converged on the edge of the open water, looking at the pile of ice so close yet so far away. A stream of water, passing through the narrow gap, prevented any further progress. But they could smell her so close! Greywolf, unable to find a solution to the problem, called upon his Alpha for counsel. Harold materialized beside him and quickly assessed the situation.

«Is there a way to that pile of ice from the other side?»

«No, Blackie Wolf is confronted with the same problem. This ice is stuck in shallow water and could move any time. We have seen huge blocks of it detach and head for the whirlpool you see there, that is the feed for the dam. It would take only a big block of ice to free it and push it into the churning water, to be crushed by the water.»

«Paschal, you are the engineer around here, along with Harp, could you two pop up and tell me what is happening here?»

The two princes came to their dad's bidding, and looked at the maelstrom.

"This is a forced pressure admission tunnel. The dam itself is only there to raise the water to increase the hydraulic pressure. However, the water level has dropped considerably due to the strong winter we have had, and the lack of rainfall last summer. This is why you see such a powerful whirlpool. The tunnel is very close to the surface, maybe less then thirty feet below. Normally, the water would be high enough to make the whirlpool invisible or only be seen as an eddy. Not that it would be less treacherous for anyone caught in its aspiration."

"What can we do? The wolves say that Ruby is on that ice pile, somewhere."

"I can always fly over, but I cannot guarantee I'll find her, dad. I am no wolf."

"Could we jump on that, teleport across?"

"Dad, it's too unstable. It moves constantly, and you see blocks of ice detach from one side as others come slamming on the rear. Walking there is next to impossible, and you might even worsen the instability as you walk across some piece of ice, thus triggering the one event that would precipitate Ruby to her death. We will not let you risk your life for nothing!"

"Harp is right, dad. But Harp, can we use the triangulation method we used to locate these three boys before moving Thebes or to find the fairies?"

"That is an option, but I can't feel her much, it's like life is slipping away at an alarming rate. Sitar, we need you, now."

Sitar popped beside the three royals, and enquired what he could do for them.

"Join Blackie Wolf on the other side. Try to sense Ruby. Paschal and dad will try to do the same. Paschal, can you move about a hundred yards to our left, near that pile of ice. Dad, stay here. I will crisscross the pack of ice, and try to pinpoint her with your help."

"Ok son, be careful."

"Don't worry, I do not plan to set foot on that mess."

Harp flew above the ice, some twenty feet up, and tried to sense the ever-weakening brain signal from Ruby. Albeit the ice pile up was not big by any standard, its ruggedness and constant shifting made visual inspection difficult, and the royals on the shores, were having more and more difficulty as they tried to keep a point on the dying princess.

Harp spotted a bit of the backpack belt in the middle of the jagged ice field, but he knew it did not give him any indication as to the whereabouts of Ruby. He also saw some blood on the ice, and pieces of clothes seemingly discarded. If Ruby had undressed, she was far worse off than they had anticipated.

The number of blood spots was increasing, but, due to the constant shifting of the ice, did not give a clear indication of the path of the princess. Apparently, at some point she had walked in a circle, but had been unaware of the fact; she seemed to be living in another world, unaware of her surroundings.

As he flew over an ice ridge, Harp spotted a dark object on the ice, and got closer: a backpack with a torn strap, probably the bit he had seen earlier. As he looked around, he saw blood everywhere! Someone had gone completely mad and attacked everything in sight, before sliding down the hill toward the water's edge. As he got closer to the water, he discerned a patch of red; at first, thinking it was another blood mess, he considered ignoring it until he saw part of it swirl in the wind. That was not blood, but hair!

Harp dropped to within inches of the still figure and saw the princess gripping a doll lovingly, apparently looking at her without seeing him.

«I found her!»