Part 41

I arrived home yesterday to find the front yard swarming with soldiers. Lucky started to whimper, so I picked him up and held him close, murmuring in his ear that I wouldn’t let anybody hurt him. Then I waited for somebody to tell me what I had already guessed: that once again I was being exiled.

Greg appeared and explained that everyone had been making repairs to my house. He had wanted to surprise me. Only then did I notice that the soldiers weren’t armed with swords, they were carrying hammers and other tools. Tears of relief rolled down my cheeks.

After the soldiers left, I told Greg what Troglid had said and what I had thought he meant. Greg reminded me that he had promised he would always protect me. I longed to ask him what he would do if forced to choose between his duty to Queen Sophia and his promise to me, but didn’t.

Instead, I told Greg about Artist Myke and begged him not to be angry with me for not telling him sooner. When I noticed his jaw had tightened, I reminded him that we hadn’t seen each other for several days. Greg didn’t answer, but his jaw relaxed and the only thing he was still holding tight was me.

This morning I was determined to stay out of trouble and avoid any chance encounters with Artist Myke. Quinn had mentioned something about looking for tiles for the Castle’s door. It was unlikely that Artist Myke would come looking for my help if he saw that I was in the company of one very active little boy and not one, but two, squabbits.

But before we began our search, I needed to approve the expansion of the Orchards. And I needed to convince Lucky that spending time with Mr Vanderkins was better than spending time exiled or locked in a dungeon.

Quinn wanted to search Dawnshadow Lake, Rosetum Gardens, and Apricus Plaza. It was very unlikely we would encounter Artist Myke at either Rosetum Gardens or Apricus Plaza. He’d have to take the Wingferry to get there and surely Seth would have noticed him.

We didn’t cross paths with Artist Myke at any of the three locations, but we did find what looked like a door tile in each area. Closer examination of the tiles revealed that only one of them was a match for the Castle’s door.

When we returned to Landsong Village, I was surprised to find Prince Edric waiting for me. He had heard about the missing relics and while out adventuring, he had found one of them. He wanted me to have it as a gift for saving his life. The Prince had placed the relic in a brown bag but had lost the bag somewhere on his way to Town Hall.

Prince Edric suggested that I accompany him to look for the bag since I am more familiar with the area. At the Fairy Dragon Nest, we found a bag that looked like Prince Edric’s, but he said it wasn’t his. And there was no relic inside that bag.

We went to Dawnshadow Lake next. I had been there with Quinn this morning and hadn’t seen any bag. Somebody must have passed through there after we had left, because we found another brown bag. But this one didn’t belong to the prince, either.

At Rosetum Gardens we found yet another brown bag. Prince Edric remarked that this particular style of bag seems to be everywhere, and wondered if it was trending because he used it. Don’t know about the bag, but losing relics and other things has been trending in the kingdom for as long as I’ve lived here.

Finally the prince remembered that he must have left his bag at the Central Station when he stopped to rest. I was concerned that I wouldn’t be home in time to fix a nice dinner for Greg, who had promised that nothing would prevent him from seeing me tonight.

On the way to the Central Station, we met Artist Myke! He told us his princess had lost her favorite hat, but he thought he could recreate it because he had the perfect base for it. However, he thought he had left it at the Central Station on his last trip to Gobholme.

I wondered if his princess was relate to Prince Edric, perhaps she was his sister, but neither Artist Myke nor the prince acted as if they knew each. Artist Myke gave me his ticket stub and asked me to have a look around for the hat base, which I agreed to do. I was going there anyway, and better that I go there without him.

We found yet another brown bag at Central Station and this one belonged to Prince Edric. Inside it was a shard from the Faire Vibrancy relic. The prince apologized for all the trouble we had finding it and said he hoped we would meet again. I just smiled and thought to myself "but not too soon."

I also found the hat base that Artist Myke had left behind. When our paths again crossed, he started babbling about his beautiful princess and how the exquisite hat will frame her blonde, no black, no make that brown, hair. I really didn’t care what color her hair was, I just wanted Artist Myke to go away.

Which is why I agreed to ‘help’ him recreate the princess’s favorite hat. When I finished, he thanked me and said goodbye. The goodbye sounded rather final. I hoped that it meant he was leaving the kingdom.

It was rather late when Lucky and I finally returned to Fair of Light. We stopped to place the relic fragment in the pedestal, and then went to the Orchards to buy some stew for dinner. The Forester said the same thing he always says when I’ve agreed to help expand the Orchards, that it’s time that he gave back to everybody as I have helped him. Then he charged me for the stew.


 

Part 43

This morning was a repeat of yesterday morning. Greg was waiting for me at Town Hall. With him was another upset princess. This one had red hair and a shrill voice. Her parents must have a sense of humor because her name is Princess Melody.

Greg had not discovered anything about Artist Myke on his visit to Gobholme yesterday. He had shown a sketch I had made to everybody he met, but nobody remembered seeing Artist Myke. And he’s not a character easy to forget. Even Prince Edric doesn’t dress as flamboyantly.

After listening to Melody’s complaint, it was obvious why so few people have seen Artist Myke. He had stolen her magic cloak, which grants invisibility to whoever wears it. The princess proclaimed since he had stolen her cloak, he’d be impossible to find. Nevertheless, she expected us to find him and her cloak. The princess added that there had been reports of suspicious noises in the Rose Garden and suggested we start our search for Artist Myke there.

Of course there was no sign of Artist Myke at the Rose Garden, but we did find the princess’s cloak. I would have liked to try it on to see what it would be like to be invisible, but Greg would have been furious. During the entire walk to the Rose Garden he had been muttering under his breath about how stupid women are and how they like nothing better than to waste a man’s time. I had assumed he was talking about Princess Melody and Princess Emilia. I didn’t want to give him a reason to add my name to the list.

Princess Melody was glad to get her cloak back but wondered how Artist Myke managed to steal it. In an accusing tone of voice, she announced that he must have known ahead of time about its invisibility properties. Angrily I pointed that he couldn’t have learned about her cloak from me. Until this morning I was unaware of her or its existence. The princess glared at me and left in a huff.

Greg sighed and told me I should be more tactful when speaking to royalty. Before I could say anything tactless in reply to him, Linea and Blessilda arrived at Town Hall. They had heard about the Artist Myke problem and wanted to offer their assistance.  Well, Blessilda wanted to help. All Linea did was point out that Artist Myke is nothing but a common thief who has become a menace to the kingdom by targeting princesses from foreign lands.

Blessilda’s plan was to lure Artist Myke to a spot where he could be arrested, but she would need to brew a potion first. And before she could brew a potion, somebody, meaning me, would need to fetch the ingredients. While I did that, Blessilda and Greg discussed just where Artist Myke should be ambushed.

When I returned, Blessilda went off to brew a love potion that would make Artist Myke believe there’s another princess in the vicinity. Greg filled me in on the plan. Linea and I were to go to the Rose Garden and wait for Artist Myke to appear and then escort him to the meeting place where Greg and some of his men would be waiting. Just how Blessilda was going to get Artist Myke to drink the potion was not explained.

Before long, Myke did appear babbling about the true royal beauty he thinks he’s found and the overpowering attraction that was luring him to the garden meeting place. He was very surprised to discover his ‘princess’ was actually Blessilda. And even more surprised when Greg appeared and announced that he was under arrest.

As the soldiers escorted Artist Myke to the Castle’s dungeon, Linea said something about this incident being a reminded to us that just because Dreadmyre has been banished from the Skyward Kingdom, it doesn’t mean evil no longer exists.

I received another reminder about the existence of evil. As we were leaving the gazebo in the Rose Garden, I caught a glimpse of the cloaked stranger.