Chapter Twenty-two - Motion
The four young people were escorted back to the castle. The fighting had died down and it looked like the enemy had the situation well under control. Gina remembered her life in the castle. She remembered her life in the future. She remembered how peaceful life in the future had been. However, the dreams were over, and she would just have to handle whatever was going to happen to her now. The old man was dead, whatever his plan was, it failed.
Carla was not happy. She loved being in the future. She loved being the one who was able to soak in a warm bath. She loved having a cell phone and watching movies. She loved being the object of desire rather than the one being overlooked. All that was gone now. She had to deal with what her life would become. Gina had ruined it for them all.
Mark felt helpless. He was always confident in the King’s army’s ability to defend the castle, but it seems that confidence was misplaced. Not only did the kingdom fall, but he personally failed in his own mission to protect the princess. There was no way he could protect her now. He could see now that being a knight was a foolish pursuit. He wondered what he should do with himself now.
Toby enjoyed life in the future as much as Carla did. The thing he liked best was that the day-to-day struggle of living was so much better in the future. In the future he could be noticed and make something of himself. It was a lot harder to do that kind of thing here.
The four were taken in front of a man who was also dressed in armor. The man who had given the order in the cave came before this man and waited to be noticed.
“Report” the new man ordered.
“We found the old man. When we got there, he was alive but there was a flash of light and after that he was dead. It looked like he had been stabbed with a knife, but after a careful search of the surrounding terrain, no knife was found. These four children were in the cave with the old man.” After the knight gave his report, he pointed to the four young people to indicate who he was referring to in his report.
The man in charge looked over the four young people. The first person he noticed was Mark. He thought Mark looked like a well-built machine that might be a good addition to his army with the right training.
Carla looked like a common villager, yet there was something different about her. He was aware that there was still one member of the royal family missing and he thought Carla might be the one. She had a look about her that suggested that she was used to getting her way. Had the man met her before she had been to the future, he would have come to a different conclusion.
Toby also looked like a common villager. Someone who was accustomed to hard labor. He could be useful in any number of different ways.
Finally, he noticed Gina. She was dressed like someone who had privilege, but that could just be a trick. She could have been ordered to switch clothes with the real princess in order to hide her identity.
“Do any of you know who the old man was?” The man in charge asked.
“He was the King’s magician.” Carla answered all of them.
“Did you all see the flash of light before the old man died?” He followed up.
“Yes” Carla answered again.
“Do the rest of you know how to speak?” The man asked.
“Yes” The rest of them said at once.
“Did you all see the flash of light before the old man died?” He asked again with a bit less patience in his voice.
“Yes.” They all answered again at the same time. All of them except Carla, who had already answered the question and she wasn’t going to answer it again. The man in charge noticed this and determined that Carla was the one who was in charge of this little group. So, he started directing questions at her specifically.
“The old man was killed by some kind of magic.” The man continued, “Do any of you practice magic?”
“No” Carla answered.
“Did any of you see someone stab the old man?” He followed up.
“No” Carla answered again. The man believed her answers.
“Then there is someone else here who knows how to use magic and if they were not present where the old man died, they had to do it from a distance. Any man capable of that is dangerous.” The man concluded.
“Take this one.” The man said pointing to Carla, “take her to the castle and give her a room, make sure she is tended to and gets anything she wants. I want to speak to her later in private.” The knight who was in charge in the cavern obeys and escorts Carla away. Carla wasn’t sure what to think about this. She certainly didn’t want to serve others anymore, but she also didn’t feel comfortable being served herself. She could also guess what ‘in private’ meant and if her suspicions were right, that was something she was not looking forward to. Still, being waited on was a lot better than rotting in a prison cell, so there was that.
“Take this one.” The man went on, pointing to Mark, “to the captain of the guard for training. He will make a fine addition to our army someday.” Mark was not happy about that. He knew now that it was a fool who fought someone else’s battles. Still, he couldn’t refuse an order. He also didn’t like the thought of this man touching Carla. The thought made his blood boil. Still, he did as he was told. Another knight escorted Mark away from the group. That just left Toby and Gina to deal with.
“You two, “pointing to Gina and Toby, “are free to go. Go back to your lives. I promise you; life will be better now that your oppressors have been dealt with. You might think this is a sad day, but you will look back on this day with fondness when you see how much better your life is going to get.”
Gina didn’t want to think of herself as an oppressor. She wanted to challenge the man’s opinion, but she controlled herself. She was afraid that if she did that, the man would realize who she was and she would be executed. She wasn’t sure why the man didn’t suspect who she was, but she wasn’t going to tempt fate by mouthing off. Gina had nowhere to go. She might have been a princess by birth but now she was an orphan by circumstance. She would have to rely on the kindness of the people who before were so afraid of her wrath. Would a common person reveal her identity to the new authority? She didn’t know the answer to that question.
What she did know was that she only had herself to blame. She could have stayed in the future and had a wonderful normal life. Instead, she chose to be a fugitive in her own kingdom.
“What am I going to do now?” Gina wondered out loud.
“What do you mean?” Toby asked.
“My subjects hate me. They don’t have to fear me anymore. How will I survive?” Gina explained.
“I guess you’ll just have to learn how to be normal.” Toby answered, “I’ll teach you; you can stay with me.” Toby put his arm around Gina and escorted her to his home.