Chapter 10

Zane has discovered Tamillia's secret, on top of that, Alys is alive.

I finally woke to arguing, I knew I wasn’t dead. However, the shouting gave me a bit of an uneasy feeling. “What do you except?” Zane was hollering; I turned over to face him. He was screaming at Tamillia who had a straight face.

“I’m telling you how it is” she grabbed his hand that was placed firmly on her shoulder and pushed it off. I sat up and watched them in a fight. Zane stood up and screamed something else that wasn’t very audible to me. Suddenly, they changed their attention to me. Zane helped me sit up and I lend against him.

“Can you believe her?” he asked me, I sighed.

“I knew about her healing magic” I replied, the blood made my clothes stiff and I reeked.

“It’s not magic” Tamillia sat up and pointed at me, her index finger touched my nose. I was so weak I didn’t even bother trying to push her away from me.

“Yeah, whatever, she’s from another dimension, it’s a long story” I took a breath and stood up. They both watched me, but made sure to keep tabs on each other. We were perfectly settled in the middle of nowhere, but right next to the river which I had been thrown into.

“Ok, so she has magical powers and you’re ok with that?” Zane watched me as I walked over to the river and washed my face of blood.

“It shocked me at first too” I replied, after remembering the day we met. However, after meeting Reno nothing surprised me. Zane sighed and sat back, starring up at the sky.

“So, there’s a whole nether world?” he turned to Tamillia.

“That’s right”

“And they have powers too?”

“That is also right”

“What kind of powers?” he began to pry and clearly Tamillia was getting irritated.

“Powers are usually inherited by family members. As for me, I received them from my grandfather” I looked back at her.

“Not everyone has powers?” I asked. She shook her head.

“Not everyone, why?” I turned to the direction of Bonto and sighed. Suddenly, I remembered something from a while back.

“Is it possible that Karil is from your world?” I asked. She shrugged, and then put her finger to head to think.

“It’s possible, he knew about the dragon” Tamillia said at last. Zane shook his head and stood up.

“So, this treasure you’re after. What did you get from Bonto?” he lends in and I saw his reflection in the water.

“I got these” I showed him the four maps I had stolen from the king. He marveled at them; however they were a little damp. Zane took the maps from me and took them back to where he was sitting.

“What good are these?” he asked. I followed him back to his spot and sat next to him.

“In Karil’s letter to Alys, he explains that in order to find his treasure you need seven maps that show the location in which they are found. Also a key and a gift” I began to remember that Alys was alive and well back at the king’s castle in Bonto.

“So, there are four here” Zane began.

“And I already found seven” I continued.

“That leaves just one more to find” Tamillia finished.

“We should head back to the castle and let the queen know” Zane stood up, the pain in my chest was great and pulled me back down to the Earth. Tamillia helped me up and I got on her horse. Zane led the way back to the castle. I rested on Tamillia during our bumpy trip back.

Once we arrived at the castle, Zane helped me into my room and I reviewed proper treatment. To start, I got out of my blood soaked clothing and rested in the comfort of my room. An old physician came into my room to check for broken bones. “You have several fractures and your shoulder is defiantly fractured” he said. I laughed; my father gave me a stern look.

“Will he be alright?” Ari asked. The physician nodded and she gave a sigh of relief. He began to exam my other wounds; the sword wound that left me close to death was one that gave him the most puzzled look.

Once he left I laid back down into the comfort of the bed sheets. My father sat next to me, the other court members found it necessary to also bother me. I felt very uneasy; I hadn’t seen Reno since I sent her off to go get Tamillia. Suddenly, I felt a tug on my shirt, it was Reno. I smiled and closed my eyes.

“What happened in Bonto?” the old man, who was always on my case, asked. I turned over, hoping he would leave.

“Zane and Tamillia gave their report but that’s all we know” Ari added. I turned over to them and sat up resting on the bed frame.

“I didn’t come anywhere close to getting in the treasury” I replied.

“That’s hardly our concern right now” the man said. This gave me slight relief that they wouldn’t make me go back there.

“I dread going to Bonto. The king there hates my guts” I admitted, they passed along confused looks.

“Why is that?”

“While he was still a prince we became friends” I paused “I didn’t tell him I was a thief and that I was just using him to get into his father’s treasury. I guess he’s held that grudge for years now” Ari laughed at me.

“He gave you all those wounds just for that?” the court gave her a disrespecting look and she settled down.

“It wasn’t just that…” I trailed off; there was no way I was going to tell anyone what happened. Reno hugged me from behind and let out a cry. Eventually, the rest of the court got up to leave. Ari stayed behind and watched me. “What is it?”

“I was curious” she simply replied. I let out an uneasy laugh.

“I betrayed him many times over, but I once left him for dead. I was supposed to help, kind of like what happened all those years ago with the girl I met” her face went blank as she remembered the story with Reno. “Actually, I left a lot of people for dead, the girl was the only one I truly wanted to save” a tear strolled down Ari’s face, and she smiled.

“So that’s what it was, I won’t pry anymore” she got up to leave, I sighed as she left and turned over to Reno.

“Glad you’re alive” she said silently, I laughed a little to her and she smiled at me.

“Alys is alive” I said, the smile across Reno’s face went dead.

“Alys? The girl from the prison?” she remembered the story I shared, and the letters written to her from Karil.

“That’s right; I didn’t think she would be alive. Let alone in a place like that” I rested my shaking hand on Reno’s and pulled the blanket over my face. “Tomorrow, we need to find the last map and the gift. The mystery is coming to a close, and maybe I’ll find my mother’s long lost treasure” she smiled and crawled in next to me.

Reno fell asleep; I listened to the sound of crickets outside and went deep into thought. Alys was alive, but why with them? I closed my eyes and faced the balcony. I was finally going to find the truth and solve this mystery once and for all.