The King of Diamonds - A Letter: Part Three

     “Your Majesty, are you hurt?” she asked solicitously as she kneeled before me.

     “Please, stand up,” I rapidly told her. “I am unhurt. May I inquire as to who you are?”

     “Eleanor the Shadow, at your service,” she answered. I was already impressed with Eleanor; she had stopped the Kacheek much quicker than I could ever do, and she certainly had an air of loyalty about her. When I said nothing, for I was pondering what to do next, she moved to the Kacheek and began to circle him with the same level of curiosity as I had experienced when he first entered my room.

     “What colour do you think he is painted?” I asked her. It was the most obvious, and the most pressing question to ask. Eleanor didn’t answer immediately, and I could tell she too was busy trying to crack this mystery.

     “I suppose it is a variant of the Fire colour... no, perhaps a mutation.” She reached for a small bottle in her bag, uncorked it, and took a brief swig. I could see the vignette, and I immediately recognised it as an Elixir of Intellect; I wanted to ask her what purpose she had for drinking such an elixir, but she caught me looking from the corner of her eye, and hastily stowed it away. “Sir, if I dare to make a request, we should move the Kacheek into the dungeons. I have many questions to ask, and undoubtedly, so will Mixin when he awakes.”

     I blinked; “You know Mixin?”

     She smiled, amused. “Of course I do – he’s my husband. Sir, if there is anything else that I can do –”

     “Why, yes!” I cried. I had already been in her company long enough to learn that she was skilled in magic, and I explained to her Captain Trueheart’s request. I watched her countenance, yet it did not move; she reminded me of Louise in every way.

     “Very well, sir,” she told me. “I shall do as you wish.” She read out loud from a Rainbow Scroll, and I watched the rainbow wrap around both Eleanor and the Kacheek; in a flash, I was once again alone in my room.

     I could barely sleep that night, and the following morning, once again, I held a private meeting, with only Louise, Eleanor and Mixin present. When I finished telling my tale, I continued, “Mixin, I want you to interrogate the Kacheek, see what information you can gain from him. Eleanor, you have your task; Captain Trueheart and Princess Safara will return tomorrow morning, and we must have the fake diamonds ready by then.”

     I disbanded the meeting, half-assured, half-agonised. There was a certain amount of pressure to complete that crate of fake diamonds, and although Eleanor was a fine magician, one could never tell how well she would perform the task. I spent the rest of the morning pacing my bedroom, and was forced to stop only when I grew too dizzy and disorientated. Louise continued to sit patiently by me, and I could feel her friendly glare following me around the room.

     I received sparse news from Mixin at noon; the only progress was that the Kacheek had told them his colour was Magma. In hindsight, I could do nothing with that piece of news, but had it happened recently, I would have known he was from Moltara. Then, Mixin said something to me which astonished me at how uncharacteristic the sudden declaration was.

     “My lord, it seems that this Kacheek may have been after Captain Trueheart, and not your good self; I feel it is necessary to dispatch letters to the other countries, so that they too can be warned of what I suspect may be our common enemy.”

     “Mixin, this is a surprise,” said Louise. She was always faster to react than me, a better thinker on her feet, and certainly more composed. “It seems odd that you have established this Kacheek as an enemy to every other country, and not just us. Why, what if he is not?”

     “My lady, there can surely be no harm if we send the letters, for it is entirely at the monarchs’ discretion whether they choose to heed our warning or not.”

     At that moment, I made my mind up faster than I ever had done; perhaps my benevolence also spurred on this quick decision, for I was at an agreement with Mixin, and the letters were dispatched within the hour. I would soon discover that they did heed our warning, but at the time, my attentions were divided when Eleanor came seeking for me at three o’clock.

     She had completed the necessary spells to make my fake diamonds, and when she presented a prototype to me, I was beyond myself; it was exactly like a real diamond! I lifted it eagerly to the window, and watched the light filter through the perfectly curved ridges, and come out as a rainbow glistening on the ground like a kaleidoscope; it excelled any previous attempts, it was perfect.

     With my approval, Eleanor went to create a whole crate’s worth of enormous fake diamonds. She did not reappear for the remainder of the day, unlike Mixin, who returned at eight to proclaim more news. The Kacheek had spoken of a land called Moltara, which resided on the other side of Neopia; that was the only answer he was prepared to give, and from Mixin’s account, he was sneering, proud with himself as he dropped the news, and warned that Moltara would succeed and take over Neopia. Mixin’s early hunch had been right.

     I went to bed a little easier that night, but my heart was violently beating; tomorrow morning, I would see Captain Trueheart’s ship return full sail with the other monarchs on board, and we would progress onwards to Maraqua. It became a daunting thought, for Louise, Mixin and Eleanor would all remain behind – I would be alone, with only one of my closest companions with me.

     It was fair to say that I grew a tad too attached to Louise in the early hours of next day. Mixin had informed me that Captain Trueheart would set sail at nine, and that Eleanor was currently loading the crate of diamonds onto his ship; I had two and a half hours to spend with Louise, and they were perhaps my most precious hours. The end was drawing near, I would return to Meridell either victorious or in a coffin, and at nine, that would possibly be the last time I embraced my beautiful, darling angel. I tried not to think pessimistically, but the two and a half hours passed too quickly, and cruelly drew me away from my Queen. I knew Meridell was in safe hands (for she would be ruling temporarily whilst I was gone), yet it was the warm embrace, and the sweet disposition that I could not bear to let go just yet.

     When I first boarded the ship, Captain Trueheart sent me into his cabin, where the other monarchs were waiting. As I turned the door handle, a rush of emotions overpowered me; I was excited, intrigued, yet wanting to retreat; these were Neopians who were currently mid-way between being my enemies and my allies. They were Neopians who had also been searching for the Diamond, had threatened war against my country, and had only agreed to work together because we were all under threat from Moltara.

     I had nothing to fear when I was inside the cabin; we were all on the same boat, metaphorically and literally. I recognised Princess Safara immediately, as she was stood closest to me; behind her were King Algor and Queen Matilda, who would later be the King and Queen of Clubs. Next to them, and looking rather ill, was Queen Valerie, later the Queen of Hearts; from what I learnt, she had been suffering from Neo Flu since war had been declared, and she had only just begun to recover. Standing behind her was King Coltzan II, or the King of Spades; he proudly held himself, and his manner was, to me, displeasing. I have always hated those who deem themselves more worthy than others, so you can imagine my displeasure when I saw Queen Katarina also holding herself in equal measures of pride, if not even more than King Coltzan II. Next to her, in a smudge more retreating manner was Prince Consort Lucas, or the King of Hearts; and on the floor, busy playing some kind of friendly wrestling game, were the Zomutt, Warf, Buzzer and Snuffly.

     Princess Safara was the first to acknowledge my entrance; King Algor, Queen Matilda, Queen Valerie and Prince Consort Lucas also greeted me, but King Coltzan II and Queen Katarina said nothing, so I too said nothing to them. Conversation was, at the time, limited, for Captain Trueheart soon returned to the cabin as the ship rocked over the growing waves; twice, I felt I had to excuse myself in order to be sick over the side of the ship, and my stomach never really recovered when the ship finally anchored over Maraqua. This was Maraqua before the whirlpool destroyed the original city, and I have since figured that we must have stopped over the Ye Olde Fishing Vortex.

     Nobody said anything as Captain Trueheart opened the door again, but we were all nervous, whether we showed it or not; everyone on board knew about Moltara, and having given it some thought, it only made sense that Moltarans had threatened Captain Trueheart.

     We were met with a startling sight; another ship had been anchored not too far from us, and the crew on board were the kidnapped crew – I remember seeing Captain Trueheart dash wildly across the ship in a frenzy I never thought he would be capable of feeling. I never saw his face, mainly because I was stood behind him, and also because a thought had occurred to me at the same time.

     “Where’s the Diamond?” I said in a susurration to Princess Safara.

     “You’ll see,” was her only answer. Her terse answer came as a new ship sailed into view from the other side of Neopia.

     Nobody had seen such a ship before; a great trail of grey-white smoke followed the gold and crimson ship, and on board were dozens of Magma-coloured Neopians, all wearing clothing with brass gears stitched onto them. It is an ordinary sight now, but I watched with great amazement at the time; and then, my eye fell on Lady Meryl.

     The Royal Girl Poogle was the only Moltaran on board not painted Magma, but she had no need to; had she been an ally of ours, I would have hated her even more than I do towards King Coltzan II and Queen Katarina. She was much vainer, and certainly clever, as we were to find out.

     “Captain Trueheart!” she had bellowed as her ship came to a halt. “I have returned your crew to you as promised. I now request the Everlasting Diamond.”

     “The Diamond is in there,” Captain Trueheart shouted as he pointed at the crate. It had been attached to the stern, and the ropes responsible for holding it in place looked ready to snap. The crate was simply too heavy to dangle over the edge, and had required a lot of effort on the ropes’ part to stop it from breaking too early. “First, madam, I request to know your name.”

     “I am Lady Meryl, considered the rightful Queen of Moltara,” she answered. She shifted her grip on her staff slightly, and for a moment, the Moltarans on board froze, somewhat in terror, before they resumed bustling around. I was curious, I wanted to know more; there was clearly something about that staff, and I daresay, I supposed I was not the only one curious. Everybody seemed focused on it, even Captain Trueheart. “What are you doing keeping the Everlasting Diamond in that crate?”

     “I used its power, and I split it into ten Diamonds, each with equal measures of power.”

     “Out of all the powers you could have used, why did you fragment the Diamond?”

     “I made a ‘deal’ with my fellow monarchs. They won’t have any of your greedy nonsense either. If you want the Diamond, you are taking a tenth of the bargain, or you leave right now.”

     I watched Lady Meryl’s eyes narrow, and at that moment, I was suddenly scared that our plan was about to fail. “What if I refuse?”

     “Then we all say goodbye to the Diamond!”

     “Like you would dare drop it into the–”

     I heard the ropes snap, and the ship’s overall weight was lightened as the crate began to tumble into Maraqua below. Lady Meryl was initially shocked, until something caught her eye, because she waved her staff, and the crate was suspended. Captain Trueheart immediately spun around, and for the first time, I saw real terror on his face; none of us had been prepared for the possibility that she could use magic. I was scared, more scared than I ever had been; if I had known how adept Princess Safara was with the Diamond, I would perhaps have been more comfortable, for it seemed that only the gem could help us now.

     We could do nothing as the crate flew through the air like an over-heavy Frisbee, and landed with a loud thump. The box suddenly collapsed, and out spilled our fake diamonds. I could barely breathe; I felt my knees weaken, and I wanted to flee into the cabin like a coward. My temperament then certainly was one of a coward’s; I felt Princess Safara’s hand secretly grab mine, and I felt encouraged. She knew I was weaker when it came to situations like these, and she had always been braver than me; I knew she was trying to support me, reassure me, in the most non-verbal way possible, and it reminded me of how much I trusted her. I felt safer with her hand in mine, and my cowardly heart was eased.

     Lady Meryl must have known the crate had contained fakes, because she was looking extremely satisfied with herself as the diamonds were lifted into the air once more. Her lips were forming into a sneer; “Very clever, Captain, but you cannot fool me! Who would want to surrender the Everlasting Diamond, the most powerful source of magic in the world?”

     She plopped the diamonds into the sea, and all of us were suddenly lifted into the air, suspended by the force that was magic. I was in the biggest state of unrest; I was frantically waving my arms and legs, my heart was beating abnormally fast, sweat was running down my face, and I was desperately trying to claw onto something, anything that could provide me with some stability. I was afraid, I didn’t like being at the mercy of an enemy like Lady Meryl; I glanced at Princess Safara, and I briefly marvelled at her nonchalant look; if only I could be as composed as her!

     “Madam – m’lady – there is no need for this!” Captain Trueheart was crying as he too tried to remain calm.

     “Hand over the Everlasting Diamond, Captain, and nobody will be hurt.”

     “...Never! The Everlasting Diamond will stay with us.”

     The time had come, and in a flash, I saw Glittery Faerie Dust being thrown into the air; it flew in a magnificent arc towards its most hated enemy, at the Poogle that was trying to lead a Moltaran uprising, at the Poogle who had tried to order my death, yet failed. She waved her staff, casting a spell that would stop the dust – except it couldn’t. No amount of magic could save her from the power of the Everlasting Diamond, hurling closer towards her –

     The dust smashed into the ship, and an immediately thick layer of purple fog shielded our vision. I could hear her scream, followed by a splash and many yells from the Moltaran Neopians. I was suddenly dropped back onto the ship, and when I got up, there was a thudding pain in my jaw from the suddenness of the move.

     The fog continued to linger for some time, and we all stayed silent (I was forced to because of my jaw); a cool breeze picked up, and as it ebbed past us, it took the fog with it. Moltara’s ship was gone, presumably sunk, and with it went the Everlasting Diamond. The only trace that Lady Meryl had been there was a single bobbing crown being pushed away by the waves, before it too was engulfed and devoured by the sea, sinking slowly to the bottom of Maraqua, never to re-appear.

     Nobody said a word as we returned to Krawk Island; the experience had somehow bonded us, drew us together in a more intimate fashion than we had expected. There was something satisfying about knowing where the Everlasting Diamond was (even if we don’t know the specific spot); it would eventually be buried deep in the seabed, never to be found again. I was partly in joy when I heard that Maraqua had been destroyed in the whirlpool; I was confident that it had taken the Everlasting Diamond with it, and buried it in an even further and remote location than before.

     Over the subsequent years, I kept in touch with King Algor, Queen Matilda, Captain Trueheart, Prince Consort Lucas, and Princess Safara. Neopia Central no longer had a monarchy when the latter returned to bring the news, but whether she was a Princess or not, the title never really affected our friendship; to me, she will always be a Princess. Louise continues until this day to be my loving Queen, even though we have long since abdicated for Skarl and Hagan to rule; as for Eleanor and Mixin, a little bird tells me that they are still in the Kings’ service.

     Here, I shall affectionately end my tale, for I have nought else to say. I can only hope, good sir, that your sagaciousness sees fit to publish this letter.

     Yours faithfully,

     Edward, King of Diamonds

The End