Chapter 11
One week later, I invited Iderra and Patera to join me for lunch. At the end of our meal, I told them what I was going to do. "As soon as this meal is over. I'm going to take a trip deep into Sorea, to try to find the man Patera mentioned, the one that drove my father from Adah some twenty odd years ago."
"I assume you mean a metaphysical trip and not a literal trip," Iderra said.
"You think that's wise?" Patera said. "If this man is as powerful as you think, he could trap you there, or whatever part of you travels when you use your powers."
"I don't think this man is evil. My father is the evil one."
"Even so, what if he doesn't want you poking your nose into his land. Evil or not, he might not let you return to us."
"How are you going to tell him what you want when you can't talk to him?" Iderra asked.
"I've been working on that."
"On making your image talk?"
"Yes."
"What if he thinks you're working with your father?" Patera said. "You do look an awful lot like him."
"I don't think he can do anything to her if her body is here," Iderra said. "If he had that kind of power, he wouldn't have had to go into Adah to drive her father out."
"Just in case," I said. "I want the two of you to keep an eye on me. If I haven't returned by nightfall, I want you to bring me back."
"How are we supposed to do that?" Patera asked.
"It could be as simple as pinching her on the arm," Iderra said. "Something physical. To pull her out of whatever realm she's in when she's using her powers."
Patera shook his head. "I don't like it. I promised your dying mother that I would defend you with the last breath in my body. But I can't bloody well defend you when you go where I can't follow."
"You managed to follow me to this part of the world. If part of me gets trapped in Sorea, I have no doubt that you'll find a way to follow me there. That's why mother made you a captain. And why I've made you one of my advisers."
"Bah," Patera said. "You made me your adviser because you needed a doddering old fool to replace the doddering old fool that just died. You got that from your mother. She liked to surround herself with doddering old fools."
Iderra grinned. "It gives us hope, that one day we too will become doddering old fools."
"Anyone that'd poke their nose into Sorea, whether it's their physical nose, or their metaphysical nose, is already a fool."
We finished lunch and moved to the drawing room. I sat in a chair, closed my eyes, and pictured the man Patera described, tall and bald, with black eyes, broad shoulders, and narrow hips. A second later, I saw him, sitting on a throne made of white marble. I immediately made my presence as small as I could, smaller than a flea, more like a speck on a flea.
He looked exactly like Patera had described him. He wore sandals, a white wraparound silk skirt that reached the ankles, and no shirt. His head was completely bald, even lacking eyebrows. His face was wrinkled now, looking like that of an old man rather than a middle-aged man.
Some young children were performing a play. Judging by the way the King of Sorea was laughing, it was a humorous play. I couldn't understand the language they were speaking, so I wasn't sure what the children were saying.
His throne room was larger and more ornate than mine here in Vassa. It was made entirely out of white marble, with a white marble floor, and white marble columns supporting a white marble ceiling. There were marble walls on three sides. The fourth side opened to a courtyard. Oil lamps shaped like teapots lit the room. They had been carved directly out of the sides of the marble blocks that became the columns. It was early evening in that part of the world, so flames flickered out of their spouts, adding a warm yellow glow to the place.
I waited until the children's play was over. I'm not sure what it was about, other than it involved a lot of pratfalls. They didn't burn an Adan princess in effigy, so I took that as a good sign.
Once the children left the room and the king was alone, I allowed my image to appear in front of him, looking exactly like I looked now, wearing a forest green velvet gown with a matching green silk ribbon tying my hair back in a ponytail.
I allowed my image to solidify, trusting, that I had finally figured out how my father was able to make his image speak. To see someone, I had to picture them in my mind. To let them see me, I had to picture myself standing before them. Talking worked the same way. Just hearing the words in my mind wasn't enough. I needed to hear the words in my mind then imagine them coming out of my image's mouth.
"I'm Lila Marie Haran." I said the words in my mind, then imaged each word coming out of my image's mouth. "Heir hopeful to the throne of Adah. I come seeking your help against a common enemy, Corbett Barr."
The King of Sorea did something totally unexpected. He rose out of his throne, dropped to one knee, and bowed his head.
"I am Kelce Manalac," he said, speaking my native tongue of Adan. The same tongue I used to speak to him. "And I have been expecting you, Your Majesty."
"Why does the King of Sorea kneel before me?"
"I am not the King of Sorea." Kelce Manalac raised his head, but he didn't stand. "I am merely its overseer. As you can see, I wear no crown."
"You drove Corbett Barr from power. That would make you the new king."
"Sorea has but one ruling family, Your Majesty. I am not a member of that family."
"But you did drive Corbett Barr from power."
"No, Your Majesty. I did not drive Corbett Barr from power. The Crown of Sorrows drove him from power."
"I don't understand."
"Our first king feared that many of his descendants would be corrupted by their power, so he created the Crown of Sorrows. It was the Crown of Sorrows that drove Corbett Barr from Sorea, and then from your homeland of Adah."
"Tell me about this Crown of Sorrows."
"Just before he died, the first King of Sorea placed a curse on his crown. The curse causes the crown's wearer to experience all the sorrow he's caused others since he last wore the crown. That's why it's called the Crown of Sorrows.
"Corbett Barr turned out to be a selfish king, raising taxes to support a lavish lifestyle. Not surprisingly, wearing his crown caused him much discomfort, so much discomfort that he left the country, fleeing to a land where he wouldn't have to wear his crown. If he has returned to your land, then his powers have grown considerably, for our seers have not detected his return."
"He's not in Adah," I said. "He's in the unknown lands, in a country called Dunre. He resides in a castle on the Western Sea, as far from your country as one can get."
"I don't understand how this concerns us. Or you for that matter, Your Majesty."
"It concerns me because I'm also in the unknown lands, in a country called Vassa."
"You're not in Adah?" That news seemed to surprise Kelce Manalac.
"No. Your seers couldn't tell you that?"
"Our seers cannot look for someone they have never seen. You of all people should know that, Your Majesty."
"Now they can," I said.
"Their powers do not reach to the other side of the desert. Even Corbett Barr does not possess such ability, and he is the most powerful seer I have ever met." Kelce Manalac paused for a second. "Until today."
"When Corbett Barr first arrived in Adah, he tried to manipulate my mother into invading Sorea. Why did he do that?"
"The only why to break the curse on the Crown of Sorrows is to burn the remains of the man that placed the curse upon the crown."
"Sorea's first king."
"Yes."
"Corbett Barr is trying to take over the world," I said. "The half of the world I'm in. I was hoping you could help me stop him."
"I am but a humble servant of Sorea. I possess no power that could defeat one such as Corbett Barr."
"You drove him from Adah."
"When our seers discovered that he was planning on using Adah's armies to invade Sorea, I paid a visit to your m
other's palace and demanded that he don his crown. The curse compels him to don his crown when one of his subjects asks him to, so he was compelled to put on his crown. Once again, he felt the pain his actions had caused others. Rather than change his selfish ways, he chose to flee to a place where I couldn't reach him."
"There's no where left for him to flee," I said. "He lives in a castle on the Western Sea, as far from Sorea as one can get."
"You're wondering what would happen if someone were to ask him to don his crown."
"If he still has his crown with him."
"He still has it," Kelce Manalac said. "Once you don the Crown of Sorrows, you cannot give it up. It is with you until you die."
"What would happen if he wore the crown?"
"It's been decades since he last wore it. As such, he would experience a lot of sorrow in a very short time, probably more than the human heart could take."
"In other words: wearing the Crown of Sorrows will kill him."
Kelce Manalac nodded. "I believe so."
"He's been trying to kill me since I arrived in this part of the world. My first night here, assassins burst into the inn I was staying at. A short while later, pirates attacked and burned the ship they thought I was on. A short while after that, a man who was supposed to be an ally tried to kill me. I don't suppose you can tell me why?"
"You are his daughter, one of his subjects. Which means you have the power to compel him to don his crown."
"Do I have to be standing in front of him or can I talk to him like this?"
Kelce Manalac smiled. "There is only one way to find out."
"Have you ever heard of a higher being called the Prince of the Air?"
Kelce Manalac shook his head. "I am sorry, I have not."
That meant Corbett Barr made his deal with the Prince of the Air after arriving in this part of the world. The Prince of the Air probably told my father that he could extend his life and help him recapture his throne, help him break the curse on the Crown of Sorrows. In return, he intended to use my father to make people worship him as a god.
"I thank you for your time, Kelce Manalac, Overseer of Sorea," I said, curtsying. "You have been most helpful."
Kelce Manalac bowed his head, then rose to his feet and pointed to the marble throne behind him. "If you succeed, you will come and claim your throne?"
He caught me off-guard with that question. That wasn't my throne, anymore than Sorea was my country. I couldn't even speak their language. Then there was the Crown of Sorrows. There was no way I was going to wear a crown that had a curse on it. My lust for power wasn't that great.
"I can't answer that question," I said. "Right now, I'm just trying to survive. Not to mention protect those that I love."
"Our seers have been monitoring your homeland. They tell me that your sister, Bedonna, wants to invade us."
"I'm aware of that."
"Our seers claim your sister plans on building an army so massive that we won't be able to stop it."
"She'll meet opposition. We've never successfully invaded your country. Many of the generals will oppose her for that very reason."
"If she has her way, many lives will be lost. On both sides."
"I know."
"You're the only one that can prevent another war between our two countries."
"My father wants to conquer this half of the world. My sister wants to conquer that half. Problem is, I can only deal with one of them at a time. Since my father is closer, I'll deal with him first. Once I've dealt with him, I'll worry about Bedonna." Assuming I lived that long.
Kelce Manalac bowed his head. "I will pray for your welfare, Your Majesty."
I let my image fade away. I opened my eyes, to find myself back in my drawing room. Idy and Patera were still on the divan facing my chair.
"Well?" they said in unison.
"His name is Kelce Manalac," I said. "He's the Overseer of Sorea."
"Overseer?" Patera said. "Don't you mean king?"
"Corbett Barr is still the King of Sorea, and will be until he dies. At that point, his heir will inherit the throne. Assuming I'm still alive and wish to claim it." Iderra stared at me for a few seconds, then started to laugh. Which prompted me to ask the obvious question. "What's so funny?"
"When mother died, I headed east, toward Sorea, and you headed west, toward a father that wants to kill you. If we had been smart, I would've headed in this direction, where no one knew who I was, and you would've headed for Sorea, where you would've been welcomed with open arms."
When she put it that way, it was kind of funny.
"Did you learn how to defeat your father?" Patera asked. Clearly he didn't share Idy's sense of humor, but then few people did.
"I did." I went on to explain what I saw and learned.
When I finished telling them about my encounter with Kelce Manalac, Iderra spoke. "So all you need to do is get close to your father, at which point you can compel him to don his crown."
I nodded. "Once he's wearing his crown the curse will do the rest."
"You're sure this Crown of Sorrows will kill him?" a skeptical Patera said.
"Kelce Manalac thinks it will."
"And if you were to don your father's crown, you'd be under the same curse?"
"That's not going to be a problem," I said. "I have no intention of claiming my father's crown."
"You might not have a choice," Iderra said.
"What makes you say that?"
"Bedonna wants to go down in history as the first Queen of Adah to conquer the unconquerable Sorea. Without you leading them, without your powers, Sorea could fall."
"They've done okay without my father on the throne. I suspect they'll do okay without me."
"They did okay without your father on the throne because mother was the Queen of Adah and she hated war. We both know that Bedonna isn't mother. As much as we want to avoid it. I fear that one day, fate is going to force one of us to square off against our big sister."
Patera looked at me. "What's our next move?"
"Our next move is to take the Queen Catlett up river and warn the high sage that he's about to be invaded."
"And if he won't listen?"
"Then he and his kingdom will die."