***
When they landed, it was night in Georgia. They had flown over the Atlantic Ocean, halfway across the world to Europe.
The duke had transformed back into his human form and was waiting by the griffin, ready to help the young prince disembark.
He helped Max and Ariel got off the griffin.
Then, the duke pointed to the cave. “Your Imperial Highness, this is Krubera-Voronja Cave, the deepest cave in the world. It is one of your provinces, of which I am the leader.”
Max stared at the cavern. Surrounded by lush green grass, a hole stuck out at the top of a small hill.
At the bottom of the hill, two unformed guards holding spears bowed as the group approached.
The duke turned to the young prince.“I’ll give you a tour and then maybe you could find some troops that would be willing to join you in your mission to reconquer Purgatorio.”
Max had scarcely begun to walk up the hill when there was a tap on his shoulder.
“Hello, Your Imperial Majesty,” said a familiar voice.
Max turned around.
There was his Lord Chancellor, Sir Walter Grandebouche, standing behind him, smiling with that big mouth of his.
“Hello, Sir Walter,” said Max. “Where did you come from?”
“I’m just here to escort Your Imperial Highness and to help out.”
Max gave his Lord Chancellor a friendly smile and then turned around.
And that was when something shocking happened.
Quick as a flash of lightning, the Lord Chancellor took out a dagger from his cloak and tried to stab Max.
Max had an instinctual feeling that something wasn’t right so he turned back around. Seeing what was happening, he dodged just in time.
What’s happening? Max wondered, eyes wide.
“Shoot!” shouted Sir Walter.
He tried to stab the prince again, but Max kept dodging.
By this point, Max’s entire entourage had been alerted to the assassination attempt.
Realizing this, the Lord Chancellor flew into the air, over the hill.
Max watched in horror and disbelief as the man continued to try to kill him.
Something was flung straight at him. It landed directly in front of him, making him pause. More and more objects were soon hurled at Max.
His heart rate accelerating, he scanned the ground to see what they were.
Snakes.
Long, slithering coal-black snakes with their tongues darting out.
One reared its ugly head and hissed at him.
Venom leaked out of its mouth.
Ariel shouted, “Poison!”
Max stepped back and glanced up. Sir Walter was shooting snakes from a bow, lauching them like arrows.
What happened next passed in a flurry of confused voices and dazed scrambling.
“Protect the Crown Prince!” the duke shouted.
After stabbing the snakes, the guards formed a tight circle around the young prince as the duke stood in front.
Max peered into the distance.
There was a lighthouse at the top of the hill and its light shone on the face of the assassin, whose huge mouth took over half his face.
Max could not believe that he had just been betrayed by his own Lord Chancellor. The man was supposed to be a member of his inner circle, his Imperial Council, for the love of God!
The assassin flung one more poisonous snake at Max, but the duke shot up into the air and blocked it.
“Stop!” the duke shouted at the assailant.
Then, Max saw something that chilled him to the bone.
The light moved to reveal a bunch of long white strings attached to Sir Walter’s back.
Like a puppet, the Lord Chancellor was being controlled by a dark murky figure who was standing on a ledge of a mountain far off in the distance.
Maybe whoever sent the message in the sky warning me to give up my throne is also controlling the Lord Chancellor, Max thought.
Leaping onto his shoulder, Ariel whispered, “The Lord Chancellor himself. I would never have guessed he would turn on you. But you know, with his big mouth, and he would flatter you and you wouldn’t suspect him of any wrongdoing.”
“He is so fired,” said Max.
When the Lord Chancellor had run out of snakes to use as arrows, the puppeteer master yanked on the strings and Sir Walter sailed through the air, toward the puppeteer. Then, they both disappeared.
“Who’s that figure?” Max asked, pointing into the distant mountain.
“No idea,” said Ariel. “But whoever it is, they can get you anywhere in the Supernatural World. You’re target to assassinations anywhere here. The only way to be safe is to return to the Natural World.”
Max was shaken up, but he was not a coward. He had come all this way to reclaim his throne and to know his family and his people.
Max shook his head vigorously. “I will not leave my people. They need me.”
The guards parted and the duke entered the circle. “I am so sorry, Sire. I did not foresee that assassination attempt.”
“Who was it?” asked Max.
“I didn’t see who was controlling your Lord Chancellor from the mountaintop.”
Max remembered that the Lord Chancellor was the one who said that he would die for Max.
Treacherous court politics, he thought.
He realized that court politics was a very dangerous game indeed. No wonder his parents sent him away to the safety of the Natural World.
The duke pointed toward the cave. “Now, we must hurry into the cave. Who knows if there are other assassins out here?”
So the whole group set out for the hill, only to stop unexpectedly when the duke suddenly halted.
“What’s the matter?” asked Max.
“Your Imperial Highness will have to wait a little while. It appears that the entrance to my province has been sealed off,” replied the duke.
He pointed at the cave.
Max peered at the entrance.
Right above the entrance, a purplish-green substance was twirling and swirling through the air, like smoke floating above a bonfire.
Putting a gloved hand to his face, the duke looked at the young prince. “Someone has cast a spell sealing the entrance to my province.”
Max scanned the area. Apart from the group, no one else was there.
Things are going stranger and stranger, he thought.
Still on Max’s shoulders, Ariel whispered, “Someone doesn’t want you to tour the province to raise troops.”
“But who?” asked Max. “The duke? The Lord Chancellor? Or that mysterious puppet master?”
“It’s definitely not the duke,” replied the fat cat. “He is the leader of the only region that has remained loyal to you. Don’t forget that he jumped up and blocked the last poisonous snake shot at you.”
Max decided the cat was right. “But then who?”
“Probably someone who doesn’t want you to raise troops to reconquer Purgatorio,” answered the cat. “My guess? The Queen of Purgatorio herself.”
The duke interrupted their quiet conversation. “If Your Imperial Highness will just wait a little while, I will have the entrance unblocked shortly.”
They waited for half an hour longer as the duke tried spell after spell, only to realize that it was futile.
Ariel whispered, “Every minute we wait here, the Queen of Purgatory grows stronger. Don’t forget the consequences: if you don’t reunite the whole Empire, the balance between the Supernatural and Natural Worlds will be upset and more and more supernatural beings will spill into the Natural World.”
Max thought about Jessica, one of the few people he cared about in the Natural World.
He definitely didn’t want her to be harmed.
Max examined the duke, who looked positively exhausted. Bags were forming under his eyes.
“Your Grace,” said Max. “We have to get going now. Purgatorio is waiting....”
“
No, please,” said the duke. “Just give me a few more minutes.”
He muttered a charm and casted one more spell, but it hit the magically-sealed entrance and bounced right off.
The duke slumped to the ground, huffing and puffing. “Just one more minute, Sire....”
Ariel whispered to Max, “You are his liege lord, Max. Your word is law. Stay firm. We have to get out of here. Now. We don’t have another minute to lose.”
Max was reminded that the weight of the world was now on his shoulders. The longer he allowed the provinces to remain independent, the more the balance between the two worlds will be upset. It was all up to him to save the world.
“Your Grace is most kind,” Max said. “But we really need to leave.”
Ariel whispered, “Cordially invite him to the coronation and enthronement banquet you’ll be having when you reconquer Purgatorio.”
Max said to the duke, “But you are totally invited to my coronation and enthronement banquet.”
Amid the protests of the exhausted duke, Max and Ariel got back on his griffin and away they flew.
***