"What, pray tell, shall you do if I refused to do as you say? I brought the dead to your realm. I keep you in power. And it has always been I who protected you and your realm. Now you wish to remove me, because I enjoyed my duty? I return this blade to you, brother. The next time we meet again, I shall have another blade, for which shall I use to sever your head from your shoulders. Excerpt from Temple to Festiciol's sacred text, 'Conversations From Beyond'. Crown or Tiara Chapter 9 By Shinieris

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Crown or Tiara
Chapter 9

"What, pray tell, shall you do if I refused to do as you say? I brought the dead to your realm. I keep you in power. And it has always been I who protected you and your realm. Now you wish to remove me, because I enjoyed my duty? I return this blade to you, brother. The next time we meet again, I shall have another blade, for which shall I use to sever your head from your shoulders.

Excerpt from Temple to Festiciol's sacred text, 'Conversations From Beyond'

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"Feska!" the prince called out as he held his sword tight in a battle posture. He rushed forward, sword in hand, torch in the other, and rounded the corner, only to see his sister holding the mantle around her body.

She was trembling, looking ahead with her head slightly bowed. The prince looked ahead, saw nothing in the darkness and turned back towards his sister. She was still trembling and looking at the same direction. Some chattering noises made the prince look back at the direction then prince was looking and then he heard it again. He looked down and saw two large rats, as large as housecats looking at them with teeth bared.

The first rat jumped at the prince, who quickly raised his sword and cut it into pieces in three swift slashes. The other took advantage of the distraction and went for the prince's leg. The prince in respond kicked the huge rat away before it could sink its teeth into his leg. The rat hit the wall hard, but like all rats, it was apparently very tough, and bounced easily. Before it even reached the floor, the prince dispatched the creature with one quick slash, beheading the monstrous creature before it could make its next move on them.

"Are you okay?" the prince said as he tested the rats' bodies with the tip of his sword.

"Yes," the princess said, finally finding her voice, "What are those things?"

"Mutated rats, most likely. Or rats that simply ate lots. I'd prefer if the former is true," the prince said while he cleaned the sword's blade on the creature's fur.

"Mutated rats? Why would you prefer that? Aren't they more dangerous?" the princess said, while at the same time shuddering from the memory of watching a mutated fire-breathing volcano phoenix dropping its burning faeces on the town of Racken in Baretha. She recalled how the alchemist of Baretha launch bottles after bottles of Frostroam potions to bring the mutated phoenix down.

"Because mutated rats can grow that big in a few years," the prince then turned his head towards the princess, "While evolved rats require generations of evolution, which means that there may be a lot more of them."

"You're saying there are more of them around?" the princess said as she quickly crossed the short distance between them so she could hide behind him.

"It's a possibility. But I must admit, little sister..."

"What?" she asked as she looked up to his face.

"You've grown. I mean, I can't believe your handmaiden would allow you such risque panties. I've only seen those in Lestraux," the prince said as he pulled at the side of the baby blue silk lace panties before letting it go, making a loud smacking sound.

The princess blushed brightly while smacking her brother's head. "Pervert!" she pushed him hard, causing the prince to fall. "Pervert!!!" she screamed at the top of her lungs as she started kicking the fallen prince.

"Ouch, ow, ow, stop!" the prince said as he was kicked by the enraged princess.

"You... haven't... changed... a bit!" she punctuated each words with a kick on his stomach.

"Alright, alright! Ow!" the prince fended another kick.

The princess huffed as she stood still, watching the prince rise. "Want more?" said the princess.

"Please no. By Rorvik, if you're a dragon, you would be ferocious," the prince said as he brushed dirt and grime from his clean white cotton shirt.

The princess crossed her arms and said haughtily, "Well, serves you right, pervert."

"If I didn't know better, I'd have thought it was Frid who kicked me. It kind of stings. Now I know why he was so soft, he kicked like a girl."

The princess abruptly kicked the prince again, and again, and again.

*****

"I think we're lost, Mikhal," the princess said as she noticed the exact same intersection as the one they just passed through no more than 10 minutes before.

"Nonsense, we're not lost," the prince argued.

"Then what do you call this? Circling around?"

"We're merely surveying our surrounding. We're explorers after all," the prince said as he noted the mark he made on the wall about 20 minutes ago.

"Explorer my butt. We've been seeing this bullseye on the wall for - wait, did you say something?" the princess said as she narrowed her eyes with suspicion.

"Only in my head," the prince mumbled.

"You said my butt is nice!"

"I said no such thing! I-" came the sound of something heavy falling on the ground.

"Like your nice butt."

"See! You're trying to deny it!"

"That's not-"

"Nice butt you have..."

The princess looked at the prince, perplexed. "I heard you, but I didn't see your lips moving."

"That's because it wasn't me, my dear sister."

"Then who-" she was interrupted by heavy footsteps from behind. She cautiously looked behind.

A nine foot-tall giant slouched from the darkness behind her. "Nice butt you have," said the thin, coarse-looking creature, "Gimrok play with nice butt," he said while dragging a heavy-looking club apparently made of rock.

"Ahhhh!!!" both the prince and the princess screamed and sprinted away from the giant, went right at the junction with the blue, green and yellow bullseye and straight, until they could go straight anymore. As the sound of heavy footsteps got closer, the prince grabbed the princess's hand and pulled her into a narrow passage to their left. The creature then took the other passage, to the right and went farther and farther away. They breathed a sigh of relief.

"Why is it not chasing us anymore? And what in Elanara's grace is that monster?"

"Cave troll. Seen some of them in Veggida. They're more elusive here in Granvayle."

"But..." the princess breathed deeply, "... I thought trolls are supposed to be as tall as a two-story house?"

"You're talking about forest trolls," the prince said as he spied around the corner,"I read in a book that the H'loren elves used them as assault troops the the War of Contested Forest. Made a whole lot of mess on our army."

"Still, why did it stop chasing us?" the princess said, her chest now flat without its augmenting corset, rose and fell with every breath.

"Hypnosis, I believe," the prince muttered as he spied around the corner again. This time, he spotted the troll running towards them, before running right into the passage he just went into earlier.

"Hyp-what?" the princess asked after she was sure the troll wouldn't hear her.

"That's how the people of Menshaw called it. I think it's called 'portrait curse' in Granvayl."

"Portrait curse?"

"Have you read a book titled 'The Curse of Grandfather's Portrait' by Athol Avers-Sinar?"

"The book about the string of murders in the house of Avers, the family of the former Count of Illisia?"

"So you have read it?" the prince asked.

"Only the prologue. That book was way too scary! I read it when I was 12 and mother had to sleep with me for the whole week because I kept having nightmares. Even after that, I still wouldn't dare to sleep alone. Lady Frenia had to sleep with me for weeks after that."

"Nightmares of demons creeping out from the shadows under the bed, behind the dresser, and under the desk? And it made you run to a brightly-lit place so the bright light repulsed the evil demons?"

"How'd you know that? Yes, I ran to the kitchen that time."

"I knew because I also did the same thing. Different was, I ran to my study, lighted all the lamps, sat on the chain in the middle of the room and refused to sleep until daybreak, of which I ended up sleeping on the balcony."

"Seriously?" the princess asked, to which the prince nodded, "And here I thought that you've always been a tough hunk," the princess giggled as she punched her brother lightly on the arm.

"Oh give me a break, little sister. I was a child back then. Nobody was born as a dragonslayer, not even your beloved prince," he gave her a sly grin.

"Beloved prince?" her heart skipped a beat, "Wha-what are you talking about?"

"Oh, you know. You can't lie to me, Feska," the prince said as his grin widened.

"No-no, I don't know what you're talking about."

"Really? Then I suppose Prince Melthis will be sorely disappointed."

"What's he got to do with this?"

"Please, stop acting like you don't know anything. It's the crown prince's duty to arrange the marriage of his sisters, you know?"

"You're marrying me to him? Elanara's breath! He's handsome, I'll give you that, but not that handsome," she said, alarmed.

"No, not him. Though from the looks you gave him when you were trying to fool me, I certainly can't imagine that you'd fancy his brother-"

"Wait, what?" the princess said, cutting him off, "I fancy his brother? I haven't even met his brother!"

"But he said you already agreed, that he will be your brother?" the prince said, while looking confused.

"No! That was-" she was interrupted by a blood-curdling shriek from behind her.

"DIE!!!" a ghostly apparition appeared, gliding slowly towards them, "All shall serve Lortus!"

"Just one?" the prince unsheathed his sword and gently stepped forward, shielding his sister, "Come then, my enchanted blade Aidelich shall make short work of you!"

"All shall serve Lortus!" came another voice, similar, yet not the same as the first as another apparition glided out of the darkness.

"Lortus is supreme!" said another voice, as another one appeared.

"Glory to Lortus!" came another voice, from the passage to the left.

"Don't they know that Lortus is dead?" the princess asked.

"LORTUS!" came the unified cry of the spectres, as if in recognition of their god's name being spoken.

"I guess as the God of Eternal Life, Lortus didn't prepare a memo for when he died," her brother remarked drily.

"LORTUS!" they cried again.

"If they do that again, I'm going to scream," the princess said in annoyance.

"All shall serve Lortus," came more voices from behind them.

"We're surrounded," the prince commented, "I guess even in death, Lortus is-"

"LORTUS!"

"Okay, that does it!" the princess growled as she took out two tiny vials, the size of her thumbs from the fold of her belt. She placed the vials, filled with an amber-colored liquid between her palms and she put her palms together, as if in prayer. Moments later, she took one vial in each grasp, and shook it cautiously but roughly.

One. She shook it once.

Two. She shook it once again.

Three. She shook it again as the prince gasped when he saw the liquid in the vials started to glow bright gold. Then she took a step forward as she threw both vials to the spectres in front of her in one quick move. So strongly she threw the vials that even after it broke onto the stone floor, some of the liquid continued to jump for another foot from the broken vials.

Its effect was instantaneous. The moment the vials hit the spectres, their features became distorted, as if the vial was stretching their ethereal bodies. When the vials finally broke on the floor, the liquid evaporated in a violent tendril of golden light that snatched at the spectres' ethereal bodies nearby and wrapped itself around them.

With every second the spectrers were wrapped in the golden tendril, the more invisible they became, until in the end, they were crushed by the golden tendrils which vanished with them. The few spectres that was too far to be snatched was quickly cut into twos by the prince's sword Aidelich, as both the prince and princess ran forward, past the crowd of spectres that was still in the grip of the golden tendrils.

When they were far enough from the spectres, they stopped to relax and catch their breath.

"Do you always carry Fae Fyre with you?" the prince asked as he recovered.

"Always," the princess said, still breathing heavily, "A single drop gives me the courage to stand in front of a crowd. And believe me, I had to do that a lot."

"How did you know it would work on those ghosts then?"

"I didn't. I just thought that since Fae Fyre work on the spirit. It would work on them."

"Well, another thing. How many of those do you carry?"

"Four, why?"

"And you just used two to open the way forward?" the prince chuckled.

"Yes, I - Oh dear Elanara! Give me back my Fae Fyre!" the princess cried as she started running back to the spectres.

The prince grabbed her around the waist before she managed to take one step towards the spectres. "Hold it," he said, trying to maintain his hold on his struggling sister, "Now that you have actually paved the step forward, let's just see how far we can go."

"I only have 2 vials left, Mikhal. If we encounter any spectres in front, we may never be able to go back. Our lives will be sucked by those undead creatures," the princess argued once she stopped stuggling.

"Then don't use it," the prince helped the princess get back on her feet,

"I can deal with one or two, even four, at the same time, and if there's too many of them, we'll just run."

The princess looked up at her brother's face and said, "We're going forward whether I want to or not, aren't we?"

"Most definitely. What other potions do you carry?"

*****

A pair of eyes stood watching in the dark shadows of the Queen Mother's bedchamber. It hid when servants came in and emerged as they left. It was there when the favored princess spoke to the Queen Mother about her brothers. It was there when the princess cried herself to sleep. It had been there for weeks. It knew everything now and nobody even noticed its presence.

The creature cracked a grin, showing its yellowing pointy teeth. "Tilia my child," he said in a voice rough and throaty, "Look at you now, all weak and helpless, betrayed by your own closest confidants," he came closer to the bed, his long arm rose and from his hand, emerged a dagger made of red steel.

He swung the dagger by the pommel, as if unsure where to let it drop, "I could take your life now, but I will not. Seeing you suffering this way pains whatever heart I still have," he laughed in a laugh that none could hear, "If only you followed my advice, your husband would still be alive. Those steps you took to not become me, were admirable, if not foolish. Of course, I can cure you right here, right now, but that would be intervention," he laughed that unheard laugh again, "However..."

The dagger retreated back into the dark figure's hand at the same time the window closest opened outward, blowing cold winds into the room. "I'd like to see what will happen next. That princess is pretty amusing. I commend you on such a beautiful craftmanship. Well made, well made, my child." With those parting words the figure leaped out of the window, bringing with it the darker shadows in the bedchamber, and disappeared into the night.

At that time, if anyone nearby had the ability to perceive a voice unheard by the ears, they would have heard the Queen Mother's still conscious mind screaming, "You stay away from my daughter!"

*Just in case I was away during christmas. Merry Christmas everyone! Oh and please give me your comments and feedback. Ta!