Jhudora's Revenge: Part Four

      Veritas looked at her pet with grief-filled eyes. “You have to go, don’t you?”

      Vendette just sighed and looked at her compassionately. “You know I do. But this time it didn’t tell me that I couldn’t take anybody with me. I’ll try to get Edna to come.”

      Veritas smiled meekly. “Good idea. Think now would be a bad time to go see her?”

      Vendette looked up at the antique clock that the entire family was proud of. “No, I think that it should be find now. You need to stay here and take care of yourself. I’ll come back, I promise.”

      Seeing the look of mild horror and sadness in his owner’s eyes, Vendette repeated himself. “I’ll come back, and I’ll have Innocenza and Edna with me.”

      Veritas said nothing as her Darigan pet ran up to his room, grabbed his weapons from his last encounter with Jhudora, and ran out to gather some help. She just stared at the door for a few minutes before retreating to her own room and lying on her bed, doing nothing.

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      After Jhudora sent the note to Vendette, being sure that he recognized the handwriting, she went to Innocenza’s cell and nearly literally dragged the poor Aisha out.

      Jhudora was planning on putting Innocenza into a cell that was closer to the entrance to her lair, but on the way there, she passed one of her many paintings of Addieana. It was her way of always reminding herself that she had failed to capture the royal Aisha. Jhudora was bombarded with emotions in seconds. She had always known that the Aisha looked familiar.

      Jhudora whirled around to face Innocenza. Jhudora growled and muttered something. Instantly, Innocenza started to change. She was still a royal pet, but her skin changed from a pink to a pale blue. Her eyes took on a dark blue hue and her dress changed slightly. Innocenza didn’t realize that she looked different, but Jhudora did.

      Jhudora hissed through clenched teeth. “YOU!! YOU WERE THE ONE THAT CAUSED ME SO MUCH MISERY!!!!!”

      Innocenza didn’t know what was going on, but she didn’t have time to think about it either. She saw herself looking in a mirror, and above the mirror was a painting of the young Addieana, before she had vanished. It didn’t take Innocenza long to have at least a vague guess of what had happened.

      But once again, her thoughts were cut short by a change. She was back in a dungeon cell, but Jhudora was gone.

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      “Edna, it’s me, Vendette. Please come out!”

      Vendette growled in frustration when Edna didn’t come to the door. He didn’t want to barge in on her, but clearly she couldn’t hear him. Having no other options, Vendette opened the door and walked in, still yelling.

      Soon, he heard yelling in return. “Lousy kids! I’m not giving out any quests right know. Come back later, on second thought, don’t come back later, don’t come back ever again!”

      Vendette chuckled when he realized that Edna had said that to him long ago when he first entered her home without knocking.

      Edna finally came into view and stopped yelling when she realized that it was Vendette. She muttered something, but Vendette didn’t know what.

      Vendette couldn’t help commenting. “This time I knocked. Oh, and is that a new door?”

      Vendette looked behind him and glanced at the now metal door.

      Edna just gave him a small glare before she spoke again. “Well, this is all very familiar. What’s going on that you had to interrupt me?”

      Vendette nearly shoved the note into Edna’s face. “This.”

      After reading it, Edna just raised an eyebrow. “Wow, talk about déjà vu. This is oddly familiar, isn’t it?”

      Vendette nodded. “Yes. But I’d like to take you with me. Can’t you make yourself invisible or something?”

      Edna thought about it. “I suppose so. You sure an old geezer like me can keep up?”

      Vendette rolled his eyes. “Just start packing, I’ll need your help.”

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      Glitzern was once again annoyed to see Jhudora outside her home, but knowing what had just occurred, she thought that it would be a good idea to bring Cascata, Zelena, and Sereena with her.

      Jhudora just glared at the light faeries as they left their miniature castle and walked out toward the gate.

      Jhudora ignored Cascata, Zelena, and Sereena when she spoke to Glitzern. “I think that you’ll be delighted to know that I not only have found Innocenza, but also Addieana. I see that your attempts to hide her from me were in vain after all. And very soon, Vendette will deliver himself to me on a silver platter!”

      Glitzern just looked at Jhudora, showing no emotion other than boredom. “Anything else? If you don’t mind, I have more important matters to attend to.”

      Glitzern then walked off, being trailed by the other council members.

      Jhudora, furious that she had been ignored like she had been, hastened away, leaving Glitzern to wonder about her true intentions for Addieana.

      Glitzern, however, was far more worried than she let on. She had underestimated Jhudora’s ability to find just one of many royal Aishas. It was not that Glitzern was unaware of Jhudora’s power. It was more of the fact that Jhudora must have stumbled upon Innocenza by pure chance, and that somehow she had realized that Innocenza was really Addieana.

     ~*~*~*~*~*~

      Jhudora strode into Innocenza’s cell. “Hello, dear. It’s time that we had a talk. I’m sure that your parents would be very interested to know where you are right now.”

      Innocenza raised an eyebrow. “My parents? What are you talking about? Who is that Aisha that I look like? What is going on?”

      Jhudora’s biting tone quickly silenced Innocenza. “I’ll answer only the questions that I feel will leave you the most miserable. You are a Princess, Innocenza. You were hidden from me because I vowed to destroy you. I still will. But first, of course, I need your parents to extend to me a few huge land masses that I may control. The Aisha that you look like, and are, is Princess Addieana. You are the sole heir to the throne. What throne? The one that rules over you and your peasant ‘family.’ What’s going on? I’ll leave you to figure that out on your own. Sleep well, Aisha. It’ll be the last time that you do so. I can guarantee that much. From tomorrow on, you’ll have nightmares of all sorts. I hope that you enjoy your own terror, child.”

      With those final words, Jhudora whirled around and quickly walked through the halls, making sure that Innocenza could hear every step. Jhudora realized that every step was another thought hitting, overtaking, and eventually haunting the Aisha.

     Jhudora wandered to her library, unsure of her next move.

     Sarah and Daisy had preoccupied themselves tearing to shreds one of their toys.

     Jhudora whistled to them, which startled the two gruslens, who then sat at Jhudora’s feet.

     “I have a special job for you two. Daisy, you are to go to Addieana’s cell and just stare at her. It will mess with her mind, which is something that I believe will work to our advantage.”

     The purple gruslen cocked her head at an angle, then huffed and followed Jhudora’s orders.

     “Now for you, Sarah. I need you to spy on Vendette and Edna as they travel here. They should be about ready to leave now. If they do anything suspicious or odd, you know how to contact me.”

     The green gruslen stretched and waited for Jhudora to transport her to Edna’s tower.

     Jhudora began muttering to herself. “What should I do about Addieana. I need to get her parents to surrender their throne to me... Oh, this is all getting so complicated. Innocenza is Vendette’s brother. I need to get my revenge on the both of them. Innocenza is Addieana, whom I have vowed to destroy, after I get control of her crown. Glitzern has preoccupied herself protecting Addieana. Ok, I’ve got that all settled now. Now what should my next move be... I think I’ll just wait for Vendette and Edna to see what they have planned. It’s really funny that they think that I don’t know that Edna’s coming. It would almost be cute if it weren’t so pitiful and pathetic.”

     Jhudora snapped her fingers and before her appeared to pets. One was a baby Aisha and the other was a darigan Grarrl.

     “You two have a job to do. Just like you did it with Innocenza, but now we need to do it to her parents.”

     "Her human owner?”

     “No, her parents. Is the name ‘Addieana’ familiar to you? That’s who she is. I’ve finally captured her, and I need to get her parents as well. Leverage is such a wonderful thing. Try to get them one at a time. Two at once if you must. If for some reason you can’t get either of them, make it quiet clear that their daughter has been captured and that she will be safe if I get control over the islands.”

To be continued...