Only Arthr Meadow was large enough for the party in which the whole Kingdom was invited. The distance between the Meadow and the palace or the city centre could not be achieved by walking, but with Beastskin's power, everybody managed to get themselves there easily. I went with the King by the turbo-horse carriage.
Short soft green grass cloaked on dark moist earth, and the sky was twilight when I got there. Staffs were putting on Beastskin's creation, yellow and green chemical lights produced in the same manner of fireflies' lighted butt. Of course this product was invented by firefly-Beastskin.
The Arthr Meadow belonged to the insect Beastskin or Arthropod Beastskin tribe. Creep ran up my back hearing this. I was never good with insects and I was not sure how to shake their hands, or whether there would be a hand to shake. It would be quite tricky to hold a thin jointy hairy leg—hand.
Meeting them however, was not that bad. I decided to do curtsy instead of taking their hands which were not what I thought. Everything was pretty much human-like, except the Antennas extending upward on their heads and the eerie polygon insect eyes which had my reflection on every faces of them.
And I finally learnt the use of milk the maid spilt on Leon's cloth earlier today. The drink was in such beautiful grail that I thought it must be for a sacred ceremony of some sort. As it turned out among laughter and jolly, Beast-folk feasted on milk, while insect-folk gorged on fruit juices. It was the healthiest party I had ever seen.
"I love this party. Nobody's forcing me to drink alcohol." I absentmindedly talked to myself thinking of business meetings from my former life that seemed like a long time ago. Shaph heard it with his powerful ears.
"Alcohol kills us Princess." He said.
"And harms human too." I agreed, "This milk is delicious!"
Shaph took me to the cow Beastskins who had a deep understanding of their other half. So they could feed their stock very well and produced top quality milk. I got to meet many more tribes of Beastskin in person and found many mesmerizing ways of life and nature. Well, I did not meet the mermaids or any aquatic Beastskins. King Leonard said they were having a separated party in their underwater world. It was quite a pity.
The celebration went on under the light of the stars for many hours. I stopped eating a long time ago although foods kept appearing on the long table without any sign of abating. At last, I had to excuse myself for if I had to stay one more minute, I would retch at the mere smell of the dishes.
I trudged across mushy grasses carrying my round and tight stomach further to the brink of the Meadow. Big trees started to grow into an immeasurable forest from here on and it looked dark and scary in there. But the air was food-free, cool, and soothing that for a fraction of second, I thought of staying here forever. Of course that could not happen, I could not abandon my home over on the other side of this universe.
"What are you thinking about?" A voice seared through the serene silence. I looked round and saw Fayn.
"Aren't you supposed to be with King Leonard?" I asked.
"I was," replied Fayn, "but I saw you walked off the party. You're not having fun?"
"No, it's fun." I said. "But too much fun is not good for my head. I had more than enough today."
Fayn laughed, "You're strange."
I did not make any comment, only stood relishing the quietness of the night, embracing the peaceful period. I even forgot Fayn was here. If it was not for the swish-swoosh in the dark vertical lines of trees, the emerging of an unshaped shadow, and the appearance of Leonhard, it would have been a wonderful while.
"What's that?!" Leon pointed at the dark lump and crouched down into a leaping, ready-to-fight stance.
It must be disturbed by Leon's notification, the shadow launched itself into the air, shrilling shout accompanied the not-so-graceful motion. Leon and Fayn unsheathed their claws springing themselves at the creature with one light kick and hurdled it lethally down to the ground. It looked kind of like an elephant size mouse.
Leon's knees sank down with the gravity beside the mammoth mouse. He had not a chance to sob when another bone-vibrating yowl shot out of the thicket. Something ruddy which could have been blood was jumping out with the sound. We were very alarmed, I the most, but both my Beastskin friends were in their readiness.
"You!" The red thing could speak! "You deceived me!"
I peered carefully through the dark as the red chunk uncurled itself and—oh, dear, dear...
My heart fell to the floor. It was—
Roseheart.
—and she seemed to be very angry, with me especially.
"You!" the tiny Queen marched on clenching her red lower lip in a row of blood-clotted teeth. "You! You whore-rible woman! Priggish pompous pretending slut! You violated my trust! How could you put on such an innocent act to me?! How dare you make me believe you?! How....urg!...how could you give me so much hope and then burn it all down. I so haaaaaaaaate you!"
She sprayed me with more haranguing languages and bloody red stares. I stood silently accepting it, trivially admiring her talents of using puns, while Fayn and Leon confusingly cut their gazes between me and her. The Beastskin soldiers arrived at the site and joined the confusion too. Roseheart's strategy was way beyond anybody's prediction.
"I'm never ever ever ever ever want to see your bitchface, ever, again! You, shitty faketard—"
Her talent at producing ways to call me was amazing too.
"Stop calling Kara names—" Fayn was the first to broke out of boundary of bafflement and broke in. He growled aggressively just like wolf does.
"I'll come back to you beast!" Roseheart was undaunted in spite of the number of Beastskins surrounded her. She went on inventing names for me.
My guilty mood moved on to tiresome, passed briefly at boredom, traveled onward to consternation and stopped its route at pity for the girl. But Roseheart's road trip of insulting me did not yet end, each new word she could think of seemed to fuel her anger. She swung her arms backward—I thought it was just a prop for her words—as glowing tentacles of light grew in the air, and before I knew it was magic, the neon snakes whipped down fast and furious.
Magic fingers crazed on Fayn's right shoulder and Leon's forearm, but those were the only damage they did. I must have gotten off a massive lot worse if they did not suddenly vanish without reasons before the tip of my nose.
Roseheart's imprecations went with them, she now directed her anger at casting more magic whence nothing seemed to come out.
"What! What!" She spun her head around, green hair flying. "Where's Magic? Why can't I feel it?"
Fayn seized the chance, sprinting and positioning behind her, locking her neck with his phantom claws. Leon and soldiers grabbed on the situation later but as they did, they all aimed their long pointed nails toward the ruthless Queen. King Leonard, General Prince Lionel, and everybody else swamped in at the time, witnessing the freedom and fearless era of the Beastskin.
I did not know what to make of my feelings. I was pitying her before those blazes pierce through her and during her throes. But I only felt those because she seemed so crushed about the real me, while what she had done for all of her life to the Beastskin did not worth one bit of pity. I gave up trying to figure out and kept calm. The girl had died anyway.
Everything was a blur the next day in the Kingdom of Aeca. The final moment of Roseheart disconcerted me so much that I could not really enjoy the even bigger celebration that the Beastskin held after their foe's death. All I wished was to go back to Coronale and go back home.
"Princess Carla," King Leonard spoke during the tenth dessert, "Every living soul in Aeca has all witnessed how much you exercise your benevolence and bravery towards us Beastskin. Never before have we obtained such magnitude of benign attitude and treatment from any human Kings or Queens of other countries. Now I am very shy to ask of you one more favor, I have but to, for you are the only with the remarkable power of the citizen of the Dry World."
"Yes your Majesty?" I said without really giving it much thought because he said it so long.
"Many events have been happening in our Kingdom for the Magic decides to go against us, but there was one with a special volume of horrification." He lowered his voice, "Do you remember the rat?"
"What rat Sir?"
"The one Leonhard slaughtered. Previous to the death of that little terrible girl." He reminded me of some bad memory and the vision became more conspicuous. Yes, Roseheart and the rat.
King Leonard took it from my face that I recognized the rat and said, "We are still in the mist of unknowing to the cause of Magic morass even with the return of you to this world. The hands of our soldiers were full of fighting and capturing mad enlarging animals that we have no more minds to tend to King Fayn's request. Now that you are right here in the middle of Aeca, however; I believe the long craziness will be dissolved. And to assure the freedom of the animals' minds, this I ask of you, to walk around the forest for us."
"Of—of course your Majesty." Not again! How come every Kingdom I go ask me this?! "Wha—what did the Magic do, may I ask, your Majesty? It made the rat mad?"
"True." The King looked wistfully ahead. "It turned the animals demented."
Oh, like you—okay that's rude.
"That rat used to be very friendly." He gave a little sad smile and suddenly replaced with a lordly solemn mood. "Leonhard will accompany you," the King said, "so he could amend his mistake and protect you, but everything probably is fine. It is naught but precaution."
Ambiguity in the King's words left me with uneasiness which doubled the uneasiness existed previously from his request. I looked harriedly at Shaph, trying to catch his eyes. My steward was having so much fun painting his white fur pink and green with other hare Beastskins and dancing under the moon. By the end of the party, everyone was too happy and too tired to listen to me, and I was left spending the night dreading the morning.
The lion family came sending us off the next day. Fayn, who was now the rightful king of Azmera and supposed to go back to his Kingdom as soon as possible, insisted on coming with us. Shaph put on his worry face now that he knew what was going on. So far this was the worst occasion of mine, we were so many leagues away from Coronale and, buried deep inside the forest, I did not know the way back or even way to contact Jes.
"Princess Carla," King Leonard stepped close to me and moved his face down to my ears whispering, "When you finish with the animals, could you—" he rubbed his fangs with lower lips reluctantly, "give us a look too?"
The story from Master Derek and the mad Leon who had no hesitation at tearing me apart recounted in the King's golden eyes. I would have to fix everything before the full moon—wait, I cannot fix a thing, I would have to run then.
The forest (They called it forest although it looked like forest everywhere to me) when we came was one of calm and peaceful. We picked our ways between bushes and trees incessantly scouring the green land with watchful steps for signs of feral animals. Nothing was wrong until noises of broken branches approached us. We thought it was another wild animal, yes, it was another wild animal, wild—like, really wild.
It was a wild boar, wildly rolling and scrambling down at us with its wildly massive size. Maybe because it was moving so fast so at first glance I thought it might be a dinosaur.
"Princess!" Shaph gasped quietly.
"It has doubled the size." said Leon and veered his gaze at me as if to say 'do something.'
I returned him with 'do what?' but he probably did not understand, and sadly, believed in me so devoutly that he showed no sign of wanting to move away from this boar's path. I sprayed my gazes suggestively trying to tell them that we should run before that boar crimped us against the ground.
"Umm—" Nobody gave me attention. They all stared tensely at the boar waiting for me to work magic. Oh crap, I should just as well submit to the faith and at least try before I die.
I sighed and began my fantasy act of arms waving and murmuring meaningless spells which were in fact prays to sooth my soul. My protectors would be able to avoid the collision being Beastskins, but I would certainly have to accept two new holes in my body from that pair of gleaming elongated teeth
"Kara not yet?" Fayn asked urgently and I sighed again.
"Kara?"
"Princess?"
I shut my ears to all the dire urges from my friends and plunged deep into the subconscious of mine. Serenity was all I needed right now.
After a still interlude and slight tremble of the earth, I was attacked by a violent boar—huh? no?—violent joy of Fayn, Leon, and Shaph. When it was unmoving and unclamourous enough to see, the wild boar was kicking its hind legs running away in its original sizes.
"You made it!" Fayn's smile stretched wide across his face.
We trekked all over the land after that and every single animal seemed to be fab and fine. I did not make any remark, but it surely was not my doing. I was just lucky and I should use this luck and go back to Coronale as soon as I finish this job. Shit, I still have to deal with Leon's family.
"At this state the trees in the Ancient forest must be back to normal too." said Fayn as we checked the last area. "I was so shocked back then seeing all the trees dried—"
Just then, something went horribly wrong. And I say, HORRIBLY! Because I glimpsed a gigantic animal creeping past a line of trees just a few yards away. And that animal reminded me of something I wasn't sure I could cope with.
"What's that?" I asked, very squeakily.
Leon saw it too. He did not seem to be frightened, "Nothing, just—"
Oh, hell, NO!
That animal showed it mighty self crawling not altogether slowly toward us. I retracted a step back, but that was not enough—
"It doesn't look right," said Leon calmly, "must still be infected by Magic. Kara—"
While he said these, the monster (I must call it monster!) shrieked (I'd never known it has voice!) and writhed (Yuck!) and lunged forward with its length. My tongue just decided to slip backward and my sense fled downward to my toe. I was riveted with the most horrendous horror of the whole universe.
"Kara?"
"Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa—"
Okay, that went on quite a while and while I was running away from the uncontrollably careening crazy colossal CATERPILLAR! I had no more doubt that this place surely was Wonderland.
Dear god! I could hear its pulpy mass smashed sticks, branches, gravels, and grasses on the ground as I ran. My ears were exceptionally sensitive to keep distance between us. Shaph, Fayn and Leon caught up with me in no time and held me down. What! Not now!
"Calm down Kara." Fayn clasped my shoulders tight, "Just do like you did last time."
I clutched his sleeves digging my nails in, voice quivering. "N—no—no. Y—you —you don't understand. I—I can't!"
"Yes you can." said Leon, joining the force. I glanced terrifyingly and hurriedly behind to check on the worm. They were not going to let me go. Tears started forming at the corners of my eyes and ran in rivulet down my cheeks.
Seeing my expression, they loosened their grips, gasping, and I said, "I'm scared of worms! I can't fight them!" before twisting out of the captive and ran straight onward to the clearer ground, umm, clearer like clear—of the ground.
My foot turned and slipped down the edge. There was only enough time to see Fayn, Leon and Shaph's frightened heads popping out of the shrubs calling my name before something soft and furry smacked my back and I was carried away.
My body bumped up and down facing the bright blue sky that was no longer hidden by thousands of leaves. I was afraid of falling off whatever that was moving under my hurting spine. A waft of freezing wind came across and chilled the exposed-half of me, fulfilling my fear, sweeping me off my bearer which happened to be a real bear—a polar bear?!
My arm scraped and my face slid on something cold and hard. That and the whitewashed scene was all I could remember before the blackout.