Tarragon left the room. He wanted to give out his orders in private. He left the Robot unit in the dirty room with the corpse of the old man who had begged them for death. He completely forgot about them.
The robots were surprised, The Malkin Auror was right. They had never given up on meeting the wise Auror's. But when they met the Malkin Auror yesterday he knew about their mission.
They were walking through a slum. They had no direction anymore, and had exhausted all their leads. They were still bringing in "Results" that their dad Frederick had set up for them. But now they had no more results of people who wanted death. A furry hand reached out and grabbed one of them by the hand.
There was a blind old Malkin sitting at the edge of a cardboard box.
"You are not on the side you wish to be on. You wish to be on the side of light. But the hidden princess will soon be in danger. Heed my words. To get on the side of light that you wish to be on, you must protect the purple princess. This man," the malkin pointed behind him, "will go with you. He desires his own end. He will get his desire if he goes with you. Follow the fake king to protect the purple princess."
"Why should we listen to you?" Greg, the leader asked.
"I am an auror," the malkin said. "You are not robots. You have an aura. I can read it. I know what you want. I see the path that you must take. I can point you to it, but I cannot give you a map. Nor can I lead you down the path. You must take it on your own."
"If you're an auror, why are you here?" Dawn asked.
"Child of the morning," the auror looked at her. "If I were not here at this time. I would not have found you, and I would not have granted this man his desire. The princess has a purple aura. The color purple will lead you to her. Protect her to get what you desire."
Listening to the auror had led them here. Now they had to figure out a way to follow the king.
…
…
Violetta's purple hair shined in the light of the workshop as she leaned over a panel on her small rocket. She could feel her dad's eyes behind her. She finished attaching the last wire and looked up at her dad annoyed as she closed the panel. She walked over to the other end to finish the wiring on the next panel. Amistad followed her again.
"Why are you following me?" Violetta looked at her dad annoyed.
"It's time for lunch," Amistad said. "Let's get something to eat."
Araminty stayed behind and worked on the rocket's wiring while they went to go eat.
In the dining room the father daughter pair ate in silence. She was still dreading the conversation that her father had said he wanted to have with her. She knew he kept secrets. She knew that whatever he wanted to share with her now could potentially be a life changing. She wasn't ready. She didn't want her life to change. He hadn't given her any verbal clues about the conversation. But there was a charge in the air. The energy all around them spoke of change that was to come. She didn't want this change. But it was all her fault.
Violetta was almost done eating when her father looked at the clock again and said, "Your mother still isn't back yet."
Violetta looked at the clock. It had been three hours since her mother went shopping. This wasn't unusual. Since she was a young girl her mother would say that she was just going to the store, but she would be gone at least half a day and come back with a vehicle full to the brim of the things she bought. The mall was open twenty four hours a day, eight days a week.
Her mom would probably come back in a couple of hours.
"Violetta," her father called her. Instinctively she looked up. He took her look as an acknowledgement that he could finally have his talk with her. "This book," Amistad held it up for her to see, "is indeed an ancient text. The Eitri language isn't used anymore for various reasons. But this book is as new as it is old."
Violetta had no idea where this was going. She looked at her dad confused. He continued, "This book holds many secrets. Secrets that are only to be known by the royal family. You know that my brother is not supposed to be the one on the throne. He doesn't have royal blood. The royal bloodline is from my mother. Tarragon is not the true king."
Violetta nodded. She knew this much already.
"But the curator has seen the document that came from this book. I'm sorry Vio. This is my fault. I didn't think he would see it so soon. I thought we would have more time. I should have prepared you more." Amistad looked at the clock again. "The curator is not the type of person who can keep this information to himself. It's likely that Tarragon has already heard of the Noblis family name. I'm worried about your mother. She isn't back yet."
"She's shopping," Violetta said. Secretly she was worried too. But she didn't want to show it, or believe her worry.
"She went out for milk," Amistad said. "And she isn't answering my calls."
"You called her?" Violetta asked.
"I'm worried that Tarragon might have her already," he confessed.
"She's shopping," Violetta reiterated. She couldn't believe anything bad could happen to her mother. She wouldn't believe it. She refused. She walked out of the kitchen.
"Violetta I know what I'm talking about," Amistad said as he followed her.
Violetta was about to walk into the workshop when she remembered that she left her favorite wire cutters in her room. She turned bumping into her father before moving passed him to start to climb the stairs.
A large bang came from the top floor. Violetta was pushed off the stairs by a blast of air. And dust and debri filled the air. Amistad caught her in his arms as she flew down.
Her ears were ringing with the sound of tinnitus. What exploded? She felt her father helping her up. He rushed her toward the workshop room.
As he pushed her into the room she saw his twin robot fighting someone.
He closed the door behind him. She looked at her dad. Blood was dripping down the right side of his face. He must have hit his head when he caught her.
He pushed his book to her. The book he hadn't let go of for one moment since he saw Violetta's copied document. He grabbed her hand and held his on the other side. Their palms would have been pressed together if the book had not been between them.
"I pass this knowledge to you," Amistad vowed. "The knowledge within is yours. Do withit what you will."
A bright light shined in between their palms and the book. It stung, but Violetta couldn't move away from the pain.
"Read it," Amistad demanded. Violetta opened the book-
A blast happened behind them again. Amistad pushed Violetta to safety taking the brunt of the blast. He fell to the floor.
Violetta rushed to her father. No. This couldn't happen. No. No. No. This wasn't happening! She turned her father to face her. He opened his eyes.
"Can you read it?" he asked.
Violetta opened the book again.
When she opened it, words moved and pictures appeared on the book, it was indeed new technology on an ancient script. "I can," she said. She looked down at her father. He suddenly looked relieved. "I love you," he said as he breathed his last.