Chapter 12

Finally, everything is coming together

It was finally the day; I gave the queen my report of everything I knew. The court nodded in approval of my proposal and we got everything ready. Tamillia was coming also, after she begged the queen to let her tag along. She would be the one riding my horse.

“So, were going to meet pirates” the old man joked. The duke and I seemed to have gotten close, although I could not tell you why. It gave me a strange feeling knowing they were all on my side with this. Ari smiled and pushed me aside, placing her fingers of her lips.

“Will we return?” she whispered. I looked back behind her, we were out of sight of the others and I sighed.

“I don’t know” I replied with all the truth I knew. Her smile vanished and she rested her head against my chest.

“In case we don’t make it back” she rose her head up and moved her way to my lips. I placed my hands on her shoulder and stopped her.

“We’ll make it back, and then you can” I smiled to her, she gave me a weak smile herself and sighed.

“And if we don’t?”

“If I thought we weren’t going to make it back I wouldn’t have agreed to let you come along” I lend in closer to her. She reached her hands up and we hugged one another. Quickly, once realizing my mistake pulled her back from me. “I do apologize. We really should head back” I let her guide the way back and we saddled the horses.

Once we were off and out of the castle gates, Reno tugged on my shoulder. “What will the pirates do when they see you?” her eyes filled with tears.

“Let’s hope they don’t hold grudges like the king of Bonto” she nodded and I turned back to watch the others. Ari was on her own horse, which made me laugh a little. The entire court seemed to be enjoying themselves, Ari in particular. I sat back on the horse with Tamillia, fully aware of what was to come. I began to wonder if I was really ahead of Bonto’s king like I thought. Or was Alys just as informative as Tamillia. “Tamillia” I asked, she turned her head slightly but made sure to stay straight.

“What is it?” her voice was filled with irritation, although I couldn’t figure out why.

“Does Alys know what you know?”

“It’s hard to say, I want to say yes, although I really can’t remember” I nodded, even though I knew that was a lie. The volcano was a ride five days away; we spent most of it on the road. However, none of it was really eventful.

 

 

“There it is” Zane pointed to the large mountain in front of us, where the so called pirates lay dormant like the volcano. We tied the horses in place, all heads turned to me for direction.

“Well?” my father turned to me and the so did the rest of the court.

“Its thousands of feet under” I explained. “Left of Maerilin is a tower” everyone began to look around the mountain. There was no tower to be seen anywhere.

“Maerilin is a small dragon, but it’s not really a dragon” Tamillia whispered to me. “If Alys is looking for it, she has already made it to the gates”

“How can you tell?” we were sitting on two rocks, Reno sat in the middle. The rest of the court began to search for the tower, but with little luck.

“Because, the tower and Maerilin are gone” I turned to her, Reno did the same.

“So, now what?” my voice sounded of disappointment, my mind was filled with defeat.

“Like this world, dragons do not exist in my world. There is a shrine that was centered in the village I grew up in; it was guarded by Maerilin who was said to be a dragon god. He guarded a tower, but that was in my world and Karil said that he buried it here” Tamillia looked to the dirt covered grass and sighed. I put my hand up and she shot her eyes up again.

“None of the letters said he buried the treasure here” I grew a huge smile; one I didn’t think was humanly possible, and began to jump with my success.

“So it’s… Where?” I turned to her, placed my hands on her shoulders and kept my smile.

“The gate, it’s referring to the bridge between your world and my world. The key and the maps will open it; the tower and Maerilin guard the treasure. Don’t you get it?” I became so over joyed in my thrills that I got the attention of the others.

“What is it?” the duke placed his hands over my shoulders to get me to calm down. I turned to him and let out a slight laugh.

“I know where the treasure is” Zane stepped forward and applauded me, so did father.

“Where then?” I gave Tamillia a stare and pointed to the sky. The court starred, and starred, and starred.

“The sky?” suddenly the Duke asked. They began to laugh at me. I shook my head to them, waiting for an ok from Tamillia.

“You can tell them” she replied with complete understanding of what I was getting at.

“The treasure is located in another dimension” I began; they stopped laughing and watched me. “The gate is referring to Tamillia’s home world. The tower is there also, we just need to find the gate”

Suddenly, the duke burst into laughter. The others did the same, Zane stepped forward. “What he says is true” they stopped and starred.

“I come from another dimension completely different from this one” Tamillia explained. The others shook it off in disbelief.

“This was a waste of time” they began to turn around, even Ari showed an expression of regret and pity for me. I grabbed Zane’s sword and held it up, they all turned in gasp of my actions. “What do you plan to do with that?” they demanded. I threw the blade into my skin; it cut threw my skin and bruised me.

“This will show you the truth” Tamillia stood up; I urged them to come closer and look. Her magic showed; she held her hands above the wound. My skin began to come back together from the cut and all was left was the bruise. They gasped while Tamillia looked up to Ari. She stepped forward and bowed to the queen, holding her chest to her heart.

“I promised to be loyal to you my queen, and I will continue to carry out my duties as your physician” she stood up and watched Ari’s surprised eyes.

“Other worlds really exist?” they all looked at her as if she were some witch, however, her loyalty to the kingdom was too much to be over looked. Soon, the blood on my arm was gone and they agreed on my theory. We began to look for the gate, Tamillia led the way.

Once we made our way further into the jungle, we came closer to the pirate territory. And just like that, we were ambushed by the pirates. All of which seemed to remember me very well. “Look who it is boys” the captain walked up to me, past the rest of the paralyzed court members. “Aris Torium” the captain’s voice was shallow as he watched me. I smiled and tipped my head to him.

“Last time we's saws you yous were running for dear life” they laughed, the court members watched.

“So what brings a thief like you into our territory?” he spit his words into my face, I gave him a sly smile.

“I’m looking for a gate” he backed up from me and watched my eyes.

“What’s in it for us?” his breath smelled of the salty sea. I laughed at him, slightly, and took my footing back on the ground.

“Ari” I turned to the terrified girl standing behind me, she nodded.

“You can have some of the treasure?” the pirates became wide eyed. Knowing what was next, I drew Zane’s sword from his belt and held it between me and the captain.

“Smart boy aren’t ye?” he laughed; I put the sword down and returned with a smile. “Consider it a deal, who’s to say we won’t take it all?”

“There’s told to be 4 kingdoms worth of gold where were going” his gaze deepened as I told him, one thought was money and jewels to every pirate.

“4 kingdom, ye say?” he scratched his beard and the other pirates shouted with pure enjoyment.

“Didn’t Alys say there were 12 kingdoms?” Ari asked from behind me, she was whispering and could not be heard by the cheering pirates.

“4 kingdoms worth is all they’ll be looking for” I replied. I wasn’t planning on bringing them along with me to the next world, but I would give them as Ari promised.

The pirates began to lead the way now; the captain chopped the vines in front of us. Revealing more of the path, we finally made it to a large golden gate. “Is this what ye’s looking for?” the salty captain asked. We looked at it in amazement. This was the gate that would lead us to our treasure.

“The gate to heaven” Reno called it, I watched, as did Tamillia, as she approached it. The court was stunned, it stood high. The gold wrapped around itself and formed an arched at the top. We nodded to the pirates and they cheered with satisfaction. Zane took out the maps he hid within his jacket and looked at each of them.

“So, how are we going to do this?” Zane asked, Tamillia stepped forward and took the maps from him. She walked up to each of the short pillars that stood just above my waist and placed each map down.

“This is the gate, once all the maps are in and the key is turned it will open to my world” she looked at me; I pulled the key out of my pocket and walked up to the key hole. Once Tamillia set each of the maps down, I inserted the key and turned it.

Wind knocked us back as the gate opened up, a stair case was revealed as the ground shook and rumbled. Everyone, pirates and court members alike watched with the same expression that marveled over the gate. Tamillia stepped forward and placed her hand on my shoulder, quickly she turned around to face the court and the pirates.

“This is the gate to Ariliks” she yelled, and the pirates cheered her on. This was the gate to another world, the court settled down and one by one we passed through the golden gate.

Author's Note

This will be the last chapter for a while.