Chapter 14 - Compassion is the Key
Max watched as Jessica struggled against the Count’s iron grip.
She looked so sad and helpless standing there.
A flood of emotions overwhelmed him. He hadn’t seen Jessica in long time, but he had thought about her everyday. He missed her a lot. And now, to see her in such a sorry state, a prisoner and hostage, no less, because of him - well, it broke his heart.
As the Count dragged one sharp fingernail across Jessica’s throat, the young prince realized that he didn’t have a choice.
The Count was serious. He meant business.
So Max changed into the wind again and untangled the Queen rapidly.
Queen Arbora stretched her roots. “Ah! Much better!”
Max landed in front of her.
The ball was back in her court. Once again, she had the upper hand.
Max tried to move toward the Count and Jessica, but the Queen wagged a finger at him.
“Nuh uh, Max. None of that. Or else I tell the good Count to execute your precious friend.”
So Max froze on the spot.
The Count trailed his sharp fingernail across Jessica’s throat again. This time, he drew blood.
Jessica let out a tiny whimper.
The Queen headed toward the door, gesturing to the Count. “Let’s do it.”
The Queen grabbed onto Jessica with a root while Count opened a secret concealed contraption in the wall and pulled out a large glass tube.
Max had never seen something like the glass tube before.
The Count opened the tube and then the Queen shoved Jessica into it.
The opening then shut and soon, from above, white liquid began to leak into it.
Jessica pounded on the glass door and shouted, but her words were muffled.
Max could not hear what she was saying.
Satisfied with the situation, the Queen nodded. “OK, Max. This is what’s going to happen. I’m going to leave now or your little friend here is going to drown in ghost blood. You have two options: you can either stop me or you can save your friend. As you can see, you do not have time to do both. And know that once I’m gone, you’ll have a really hard time tracking me down. In fact, you’ll probably never be able to find me again. I’ll take my piece of the puzzle with me and Purgatorio will be independent forever. The Empire will never be whole again and you will never be Emperor.”
Max felt ill. He felt like throwing up.
He knew what the consequences would be if the Empire was never whole again. Not only would he lose the confidence of his subjects, millions of innocent people in the Natural World would die, since the disunity and fragmentation of the Occultorian Empire meant that supernatural beings would spill into the Natural World, eating and killing all residents there.
He felt a tightness in his chest and he was sure it had nothing to do with the poltergeist’s poison.
He now had a terrible dilemma on his hands.
It was a choice between love and duty.
There was no clear choice.
Logic clearly dictated one option but Max’s gut feeling yearned for the other.
What should he do?
Should he stop the Queen and reconquer Province 1: Purgatorio, but allow Jessica to drown? He couldn’t bear the thought of being the cause of Jessica’s death.
On the other hand, should he save Jessica but allow the Queen to escape, possibly forever? If so, he wouldn’t be able to live up to his father’s good name. He wouldn’t be able to face his people back in the Imperial Capital. He would be a terrible Emperor if he couldn’t subjugate an unruly subject such as the Queen. And then, since he wasn’t able to subdue the Queen, the other nobles would find him weak and unworthy to be their Emperor and reject him.
His duty as the future Emperor demanded that he stop the Queen and his duty as Jessica’s friend demanded that he save her.
He was in the horns of a dilemma. And he didn’t know what to do.
As the white ghost blood gushed out of the faucet and splashed onto Jessica, Max knew that he didn’t have much time left.
The Queen smiled. “Bye bye, little Maxie.”
She turned to her lackey. “Come on, Wai Da. Let’s go.”
The Count smirked.
Then, he and the Queen turned around and started to leave the room.
Soon, the white ghost blood was up to Jessica’s waist.
She pounded on the glass and shrieked.
Max hurried up to the glass and placed his hand on the opening, but he couldn’t find a door.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t figure out how to open it.
He glanced around desperately.
The Queen and the Count were leaving. Eddie was unconscious. The only conscious being left in the room was the cat, who looked absolutely clueless.
Max turned to Ariel. “What do I do?”
She shook her head. “I can’t help you with this, Max. Only you can solve this problem.”
Max turned back to the departing queen.
“You won!” he shouted after her. “Why are you doing this to me? Let Jessica out!”
“Because it’s fun,” the Queen shouted back, without turning around. There was plenty of glee in her voice.
Max turned back to Jessica, who was now panicking.
He knew it was all up to him now.
Think, he told himself. Think! You can do this!
As the footsteps of the Queen echoed in the hallway, Max left Jessica and turned toward the door.
He made it all the way out the door when he heard Jessica bang on the glass.
He turned around.
What am I doing? he thought. Of course, I should save Jessica!
So he bolted back toward Jessica, only to hear the shrill laughter of the Queen.
Hearing it reminded him of his duty as ruler of Occultoria, so he turned around and raced back toward the door.
Jessica pounded on the glass again.
He turned around and stared into her pretty face.
We’re going to Paris together one day, he thought. How could I abandon her in her hour of need? What kind of friend would I be?
So he dashed back toward the rapidly-filling tube. The liquid was now up to Jessica’s neck.
But when he heard the faint laughter of the Queen, his legs took on a mind of their own, carrying him back toward the door.
The Queen!
No, Jessica!
The Queen!
No, Jessica!
The Queen!
No, Jessica!
This thought process continued for the next little while. Each time, he decided on one choice, he dashed toward the respective physical location. And so, back and forth he went.
He was racked with indecision.
He felt so frustrated he could explode.
Throwing up his arms, he let out a loud frustrated wail.
“What do you want from mmmmmmmeeeeeeeee????!!!!!!” he yelled to no one in particular.
And then, as thought she was there in the room with him, he heard his mother’s voice clearly in his head.
“Be yourself, my dear. That’s the key to victory. And then everything will be alright.”
It was the last thing she had said to him.
And suddenly, everything was crystal clear. He had to be himself. And compassion was a large part of himself.
It was the only way.
He threw one last look at the door and then looked at Jessica.
“Screw this,” he said aloud. “I choose Jessica!”
He decided that Jessica was more important to him. For one, her problem was more immediate. For another, he cared more about her than about being Emperor. If he was never Emperor of Occultoria, it wouldn’t be a big deal, but if he lost Jessica, he would be inconsolable.
Besides, he could always capture the Queen later.
Jessica was now completely submerged in the liquid.
His heart pounding, Max did
the only thing he could think of.
He raised his Glove of Vulcan and blasted hot flames onto the tube.
The tube eventually heated up to a critical level and then exploded.
Soaked in dripping hot ghost blood, Jessica fell onto the floor, coughing and sputtering.
Max immediately knelt down and held her in his arms. “Are you OK?”
She looked at him with gratitude. “Did I cost you your throne?”
He shrugged. “Whatever. It’s no big deal. I’m just glad you’re OK.”
She looked weak and tired, but alright.
As they stared at each other, the two of them heard a sharp intake of breath behind them.
Max turned around.
The Queen was standing there, flanked by her loyal Count.
Max was confused. What was the Queen doing back here? Was she back to kill the two of them?
He immediately got up and raised his Glove. “Don’t come any closer.”
The Queen began dabbing her eyes with her roots. “Seeing you two. The kind of love and compassionate there. It just reminds me of my first love. My John....he did the same for me and saved me once.”
Her voice was cracking as she was speaking. She looked seriously overcome by emotion.
The Queen just confirmed for Max that she did indeed have emotions and feelings and sentiments. And inadvertently, he had brought them out in her when he chose Jessica instead of going after the Queen.
The Queen then did something very unexpected.
She began to sob.
She wailed loudly, her cries echoing throughout the vast throne room.
Max stood there, not knowing what to do.
He exchanged puzzled glances with Jessica.
Soon, the Queen stopped crying and approached him. “You see, Your Imperial Majesty, this had all been a test for you.”
Max raised an eyebrow. She had just called him Your Imperial Majesty. Nobody had ever called him that before, not even the archbishop. That style was reserved for the Emperor, not the Crown Prince. The style for the Crown Prince was Your Imperial Highness. Did this mean that the Queen was finally submitting to him and recognizing him as Emperor?
“And you passed that test with flying colors,” she continued.
“What do you mean?” asked Max. “I was only being myself and doing what comes naturally.”
The Queen’s eyes lit up. She raised one root. “That’s exactly it!” she cried excitedly. “You’ve moved and touched me by being yourself and showing your compassion. I wanted to see what kind of leader you are and now, you’ve proven yourself as a leader of compassion, the most important quality in a leader, in my opinion. If you had come after me instead of saving your friend, you would have failed the test.”
Then, the Queen did something that was even more unexpected.
She knelt down before him and bowed her head. “I now recognize you as my liege lord, my Emperor. I swear undying fealty before you and pledge to serve you until the last of my days.”
Max’s mouth dropped open. He had won!
She reached a root out to hand something to him.
It was her piece of the Imperial Puzzle.
Max stood there, flabbergasted but happy.
He took the puzzle piece and put it in his pocket.
“You may rise, my lady,” he said.
He was overjoyed that he had won without physical violence as the reason. His act of kindness had moved and touched her. His mother was right. Being himself did indeed work.
The Queen rose. “And I must apologize for almost killing your friend there. I now realize the errors of my ways.”
Max nodded. He didn’t really want to forgive her, because Jessica had nearly died, but the right thing to do was to forgive. As Emperor now, he had to be magnanimous.
Queen Arbora went on, “You inspire me to be a better being, sire. I don’t want to take revenge on men anymore. I now recall that compassion is better.”
As she said that, she began to change into her human self. Shedding her tree-like appearance, she became a beautiful blond woman dressed in the style of a Puritan New Englander.
She smiled. “Why, what do we have here? Inner beauty allowed me to change back into my former outer beauty. And it’s all thanks to you.”
Still facing Max, she began to walk backwards with her head bowed. “I’ll leave you two alone now. I’ll see you at the coronation banquet and the new opening of the House of Lords and Ladies. I have to swear fealty to you formally there.”
Max said, “See you at the coronation banquet.”
The Queen halted abruptly. She pointed at Jessica and said, “Sano!”
Gold dust sprayed onto her.
The Queen said, “Your friend will be fine, sire.”
Then, she left the room.
Still in shock, he couldn’t believe that he had won. So much had happened in the last hour that he needed to stop to catch his breath.
So he was now the new Emperor of Occultoria. The archbishop had said that Max just needed to reconquer Purgatorio to be crowned Emperor. He now ruled over two out of ten provinces of the Occultorian Empire. That was only 20%. But it was enough for him to be declared the Emperor.
Max was giddy.
From the wet floor, Jessica coughed.
Max rushed over to her side.
She looked up at him, her face full of love. “Look how that turned out.”
Max beamed. “Yeah, it turned out good.”
He helped her up. “I think I have some explaining to do. You see, I’m the heir to the Empire of Occultoria, a part of the Supernatural World. And now, I’m the Emperor.”
She grinned. “Yeah, I gathered that much.”
He thought she looked so pretty standing there, even while covered in white ghost blood.
He said, “Come live with me in my Imperial Palace. We can have so much fun together.”
She smiled. “We’ll see. Let’s get out of here first.”
He looked behind him.
Eddie had just woken up.
Ariel was busying licking and cleaning herself.
“Let’s go!” Max shouted at them, a bit annoyed that they had both been so useless.