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He watched them carefully. They looked like they would be
guards or a couple going for a stroll. But who would want to go out this late?
he thought. He watched them disappear behind a building walking toward the castle.
Nick decided to forget about this and went to the bedroom to get some sleep.
* * *
The morning sun poured through the bedroom window. All of them; Keira, Darren,
Nick, and Laura got up at just about the same time. "'Morning everyone," said
Keira before yawning. Laura and Keira being girls headed for the bathroom and
started fixing up their ruffled fur immediately. Darren and Nick simply got
up. Not a care in the world what they looked like! Laura came out of the bathroom
and searched her tiny kitchen for breakfast. "Anything I can do to help?" asked
Keira who had just finished.
"Well, it looks like I should go shopping today.
The food shops go to gather foods from our local gardens first thing in the
morning so we can have a fresh breakfast!" Laura told Keira. A few minutes later
they were walking down the streets of Smellyworld. Keira thought that this would
be quite a nice place to live if it weren't made of dung. The sky was a bit
cloudy, but no storms seemed to be brewing at the time.
They made their way to a small restaurant on
the corner with a great view of the castle. They sat at one of the few large
tables. A kind of salad bar was set up which featured fresh fruits and vegetables
from the gardens. Laura got up and walked to the food bar. She grabbed a basket
and filled it with fruits to bring back to the table. While eating breakfast,
Keira noticed a very handsome red Kougra who would stare at her once and a while.
"Who's that over there?" Keira asked Laura.
She thought that Laura would know, being trapped in here for so long. Laura
looked over her shoulder, then turned back to reply to Keira, "His name is Cedric,
just a local. Would you like to meet him?"
"Er, no. That's okay," said Keira shyly. Cedric
eventually came to meet them - specifically Keira. He came over and took a good
look at all of them. His eyes were deep gold and he had a warm smile.
"Hello, my name is Cedric. May I ask your name,
er, names?" said Cedric who had been looking at Keira, then noticed he was staring.
"You remember me don't you, Cedric?" said Laura.
She began to introduce them, "New here to our land is, Nick, Darren, and Keira."
At Keira's name, he looked like he was about to either scream with joy or run
in horror.
He brought himself together to say, "Well, I
must be off." Then left.
When he left the building Darren said, "That
guy is quite odd. Seemed to like you though Keira." Keira blushed and started
munching on a green apple.
"THE KING!! He has arrived!!!" yelled a blue
Mynci from inside the restaurant. Neopets just dropped what they were doing
and ran out of the building to meet their king. Nick just got glimpse of him
surrounded by guards heading for the town square. They thought they should check
it out, so they got up and ran with the others.
Laura was as eager as the other Neopets. The
crowd gathered around, standing in the front was a tall fire Kougra wearing
a gold necklace with a lifelike flame inside of it. He was talking to the two
guards behind him. "I'll be over there," Nick whispered to his friends. He was
looking toward an open area in the crowd that was near the king. His friends
nodded and he disappeared in the crowd.
The king was finished talking angrily at the
guards and turned back to the crowd. "You there," he said to a white Aisha.
"Come to the front." A very scared looking Aisha came to the front and bowed
in of him. The king smirked and said, "You will do." The confused Aisha just
stared at him.
"Firstly," said the king. "I am no longer King
Victor. I am the great King Doumeh. Whoever calls me otherwise will be… eliminated."
There were whispers floating around the crowd after he said this.
"Now," he said looking upon the Aisha. "Time
to test." The crowd quieted down to watch the 'test'. He brought up his paws
and turned them in a circular motion, forming an electrical purple ball. He
was ready to head it toward the Aisha when, Keira shoved her way through the
crowd. She seemed to know what she was doing. She jumped in front of the shaking
white Aisha. Her body turned to the side.
The king looked shocked. He dropped one of his
paws and the electric ball shot out straight into a near by building, making
a small explosion. The crowd started freaking out - that could have happened
to them! The king didn't even seem to care. Keira was staring straight into
his eyes, his deep, cold, and evil eyes. He smirked then said, "So, you've come
back have you Keira?" Keira had no idea what he was talking about.
"How do you know my name? I've never been here
before," she said.
King Doumeh just laughed. "Can you believe this?
Our own princess doesn't even remember she's been here!" He let out a great
evil laugh. Great suspicion of the princess floated around the crowd…
"… But she was kidnapped…"
"… Two years ago! …"
"… What if the king kidnapped her?"
"… If we do anything the king will have our
heads!"
Keira tried to remember… anything, anything
at all. She searched her mind and found nothing. "I'm not the princess!!" she
yelled. The king just laughed again. The Aisha behind Keira had gone back to
the crowd, and now Nick was coming to get Keira. She was so confused and didn't
know what to do.
* * *
They were back at Laura's house and it was raining now. Keira sat by herself
on the old sofa while drinking some tea Laura had made. Laura, Darren, and Nick
were in the small kitchen talking quietly. "He wasn't himself," said Laura.
She was talking about King Doumeh.
Nick looked over at Keira and said, "Poor girl."
Keira finally said something, "Am I really the
princess?"
"Well…" said Laura. "You do look quite like
her."
Keira walked over to the bar table they were
sitting at. "This won't change our friendship, will it guys?"
"Not a chance," said Darren. Keira smiled as
Darren ruffled up the fur on her head. "You'll be okay," said Darren calmly.
* * *
That evening at sunset, the group went out. The village was unusually quiet.
Nick was teaching Laura some archery while Keira was sneaking about in the city
with Darren. "Hey, I'm going to go roof hopping," said Darren. Keira nodded
and Darren flew up on to the nearest roof. Keira, feeling like spy all by herself
started humming a spy song. She jumped on a single barrel, leapt to a stack
of barrels, and then down to the ground.
She made her way across the street when she
heard something behind her. She turned her whole body only to find it was a
rock falling from one of the barrels she had jumped on. -SMASH- Cedric,
the red Kougra she met earlier, had ran into her. "Oh! Sorry. Keira… princess…"
Keira was looking at him oddly then said, "Um…
hey, you don't need to call me that."
Cedric smiled, "You used to say that when we
were friends,"
"Friends? You mean when I used to live here?"
said Keira.
Cedric nodded, "We were very close. Best friends
I guess you could say… but that was two years ago, do you remember?"
"I don't remember anything about this place,"
she replied. They stared at each other for the longest time until the silence
was broken by cart rolling by full of vegetables. Cedric pawed at her in a playful
way and she pawed back. Moments later they were frolicking around the area playing
like only Kougras would.
"I should get back to my friends," said Keira.
She noticed that they must have been playing around for about an hour now.
"Okay, see you later then," said Cedric smiling.
Keira said goodbye as she trotted away. Once she turned the corner of a building,
a Darigan Eyrie was in her face as she halted to a stop.
"What were you doing?" said Darren. He was hanging
off the roof of a porch they were at.
"Cedric and I were getting to know each other
better. He told me we that we used to be friends," said Keira.
"He told you that you two were 'close'," said
Darren, snickering afterwards.
"You were eavesdropping?"
"Well yeah… I was following you the whole time.
Doing your little spy bit and all."
Keira blushed slightly.
* * *
"How did I get into this?" moaned Darren. They had met up with Nick and Laura
in a small grassy place near the gardens. Nick was teaching Laura archery, like
how to hold the bow straight and aiming for the target. Darren was to hold out
his claw, which was holding a large tree leaf that Laura was supposed to aim
at.
Keira started laughing, she was sitting elegantly
near them on a large boulder stuck in the ground. Nick whispered some tips to
Laura as she steadied the bow. -FLING- The arrow was off. It went slicing
through the leaf very close to Darren's claw. "You're okay Darren!" said Keira
through laughing. Darren was closing his eyes tightly.
"Good! Very good!" said Nick. Laura smiled.
-BOOM- There was an explosion back in the town. A puff of black smoke
filled the air. They heard some Neopets screaming.. The group broke out running
toward town. Once they got there they kept running into other Neopets -- as
it was very dark and smoky. Keira made her way out of the smoke and ended up
near the doors to the city.
She saw a black-cloaked figure with green hair,
walking toward the castle… the opposite direction from the explosion. "A decoy,"
whispered Keira. She quietly followed him. She didn't have time to tell the
others. By the time she found them this guy would have been gone.
To be continued…
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