The Secret of the Stone
Chapter 18

“Okay, okay!” The Yar captain cried. “Call him off!” He screamed as Cloud brought his face close to his and growled. When he called off the guards, I jumped back on Clouds back as the fairies landed near us.

“Now we have to replace Census, you two take over from here.” I charged them to secure the camp.

“Right,” said Josili. “Tie those tin heads up and take away their weapons.” Josili commanded the people as Cloud and I rushed through the camp and headed toward the dome. When we reached the bottom of the hill where the dome stood, we found them behind a row of barracks. Cordum and Nayr where standing beside the captain and Celestia who were in a tight embrace. I jumped off Cloud and stood at a distance as Cloud ran towards her.

“Celest!” He cried.

“Oh! Cloud.” She turned around and ran towards him and hugged him tightly. I watched them from the side of the barrack. I should have been happy that we had found Celestia. I had long awaited meeting her face to face. Soon we would defeat Julian and I would be one step closer to replaceing out the truth of my mysterious connection to this world and more importantly I was one step closer to going home. It was Celestia after all who sent Cloud to replace me. Without her I would have never known of this strange planet or its people. Then I thought about the spell on the necklace, and how like the people of Enos digging ore for the Yar, they had kidnapped me and forced me to risk my life and work for their cause. Here was the girl with my face. She was the real princess and I was the fake. And now she would resume her rightful place as the princess. She would have the handsome prince, defeat the dark lord and live happily ever after. She would even have Cloud. I never asked to borrow her life and now I would have to give it all back to her again. I found myself wishing for a quick way to escape back through the cave entrance without being noticed.

“Violet!” I heard her say. The sound of her voice brought me back to now, when I realized she was standing behind me. I turned around and faced her. It was as if I was looking into a mirror. Here was the girl with my face but I was happy to see her. She hugged me. “Violet,” she cried. Tears began to run uncontrollably down my face. She held my hand and smiled at me. There was something about her something familiar and ancient. She was truly magnificent. “There is no need to cry,” she said as she wiped the tears from my eyes and her own. “I am so happy to see you.”

“Princess Celestia,” I tried to wipe the remaining tears from my face. “I’m happy that we finally found you.” I said. Some of the people had followed us to the dome and spoke with the Captain and Cordum. Cordum and Census then approached us.

“Your Highness, your people are waiting for you.” Census said. “Their bravery and loyalty have allowed them to defeat the Yar in the name of Enos.” The captain held out his hand to her and she took it. She looked back at me and smiled before they headed to the entrance of the mine to greet the crowd as Cordum and Nayr followed behind them like two best men. I took a deep breath as I took in all that had happened since I arrived on Threa.

“Violet!” Cloud exclaimed. “Isn’t it wonderful! Now that we have found Celestia, nothing can stop us.” He noticed that I did not respond but remained deep in thought. “Aren’t you happy, Violet, soon you’ll be able to go home?”

“Of course,” I said. “It’s just a little weird meeting your twin from another planet.” Cloud looked at me and smiled.

“Let’s go.” He said gently. I jumped on his back and we headed back to the mine entrance. Cloud and I watched from the back as Celestia spoke to the crowd. She thanked her people for their loyalty and ordered those who had been in the military and others who were able and willing to secure the base in the name of Enos. She then ordered a smaller group led by Lofair, who she made captain to travel to Nevele as quickly as possible and bring back reinforcements. The others that remained began to make their way back to a safe haven were those who had escaped from Enos when the Yar invaded were hiding, mostly the elderly, the sick and the injured.

After the base was reorganized, we prepared for our own mission and headed down the road that lead out of the badlands to the east. After interrogating some of the Yar soldiers we found out that the third piece of the casing was in the desert of Eerth. Celestia called me to her and I introduced her to Tem and Josili. She thanked them for their help and asked if she could speak with me alone.

“It seems we have a lot to talk about,” she said as we walked ahead of the others. Cloud walked beside us.

“How do you feel?” I asked her. I knew that Julian had somehow blocked her powers for many weeks and being locked away must have only made things worse.

“Now that I am out of that dome, I feel my powers returning.” She sounded optimistic.” It will only be a matter of time before I will be at full strength again.”

“Cloud says that you are the most powerful woman in all of Threa.” I remarked.

“Well, Cloud speaks highly of you as well.”She smiled.

“I am improving, although I didn’t have a lot of time to work on it.” I said. “And there is so much that I don’t understand.” I wanted to ask her did she put a spell on the necklace to keep me from returning home but I wasn’t sure if I really wanted to know. “Why is it that we look so much alike? How do I have this power?” I asked her.

“Don’t you already know Violet?” She paused.

“No,” I said a little annoyed that she thought I should, but I did.

“You’re my sister,” she said.

“I guess I wanted someone to confirm it,” I sighed. “And Enos is my father?”

“Yes.”

“Well, he did a good job of pretending not to be.” I said sadly.

“It was for your own protection. It was too much for you to worry about the secrets of the past and try to accomplish your mission at the same time.”

“Celestia, it was more than obvious that we were sisters even Julian could see that. He said that I was a daughter of Enos but how, is the question? I wish you had told me the truth.”

“I know that now and I’m sorry. There was just too much to explain and I just felt like I should tell you face to face.”

“Well, I am here now. Tell me.”

“I don’t know a lot about it myself.” She side stepped. “I have not even spoken to my… our father about it. He was away in Nevele when I found out about you.”

“How did you replace out about me?” I asked her.

“Jailan warned me that Julian was going to attack us and I was searching for a way to stop him. Jailan and I visited an wise woman from Tghie and she told me about you. She said that together we could defeat Julian. I knew that the wise woman knew more than she was telling us but I was satisfied with her answers about you for the time being. I asked my friend Cloud to help me replace you and good old Cloud he did.”

“I just can’t believe this, all this time I had a sister that I never knew about.” I paused. “It’s just not fair.”

“No it’s not fair,” she said. “But, I promise you we will replace out the truth.” I then thought about the necklace, I took it off and handed it to her.

“I think that Julian may have placed a spell on it. Is there any way we can replace out for sure.”

Celestia opened her hands and the necklace floated into the air and it began to shine. The others were ahead of us now and had stopped to rest and have lunch. I just so happened to look over at Cordum who was reaching for his bag. Then I saw the two fairies grinning and I remembered the trick they had played on him.

“Oh, No! Celestia, excuse me for one moment.” I said as I rushed over to him. “Cordum! No!” I almost tackled him as I grabbed the bag from him.

“Violet! What are you doing!” He asked confused by my nervous behavior.

“Trust me!” I said as I ran over to a clearing near the woods and shook all of the items out of the bag fearful that the lizard would jump out and startle me. Then I saw it coming out of the bag. I screamed and ran into Cordum who had followed me knocking him to the ground.

“Violet,” said Cordum. “Will you get off of me?” I jumped up still scared that the creature would get me. He stood up and grabbed the bag. “It’s only rope.” He said holding the “creature” in the air. “What is the matter with you?” It was a rope. I didn’t see the lizard thankfully, maybe it had escaped while we were fighting the Yar soldiers or maybe there was no lizard just an elaborate scheme from the fairies to make me look like a fool. I took a sigh of relief. Cordum complained as he picked up his pile of belongings and placed them back into his bag.

“Uh, sorry about that,” I said embarrassed. The others gave me a queer look. Cordum was still grumbling as I slipped away back to where Tem and Josili where sitting on a fallen log giggling and cracking up. “You two are so immature! You had better be glad that Cordum didn’t replace that lizard.” I warned them but they only shook their heads at me in agreement as they tried to keep a straight face but they couldn’t. They burst out into tears and laughter.

“Alright, you guys.” said Nayr. “The soup is ready.” Tem and Josili followed him back to the camp fire. Cordum also came to the fire still mumbling.

“Violet,” the captain approached me. “Have you seen, Celest?”

“She is over there trying to take the spell off my necklace.” I said shortly. I began to walk towards where the others were eating their soup.

“Wait, Violet!” He stopped me. “I never got a chance to tell you thanks. You really did well the way you led the people against the Yar.”

“Well, I guess it runs in the family since Celestia and I are sisters and all.”

“So it’s true.” He said. “You are from Enos.”

“Yep,” I said shortly and turned again towards the camp.

“Violet, I don’t want us to be like this.” He said. I turned back around to face him. “I just want you to know that I never thought of you as a substitute for Celest.”

“You said so yourself. You kissed me because I looked like her.”

“My words were ill chosen. I guess I didn’t want to admit that there was a connection between us.”

“Well, Captain. You can’t date us both!” I glared at him.

“I know that. Violet, the kiss was still a mistake! I have come to care about you, but the truth is I love Celest.” He paused. “But, I would like it if we could be friends especially since you and Celest are sisters now.”

“I could care less about that stupid kiss!” I said. “I really hope you and Celest are very happy together.” I turned around and walked back towards the camp. Census remained there for a moment shaking his head and wandering if the issue had really been resolved. He had forgotten that he had come to the edge of the woods to replace Celest and he was about to head back to the camp when he heard someone approaching from the woods.

“Census,” said Celestia as she walked towards him.

“Celest, I was looking for you.” He ran up to her to hug her, but she did not return the gesture. He could tell by the look on her face that something was on her mind. “What’s wrong?” He smiled at her. Her face remained emotionless. “I am so glad we are finally together again my love and I don’t want us ever to be apart.” He tried to come closer to her but she stepped away. “Celest, I thought you felt the same way?”

“You know, I’ve been thinking, Census.” She said. “So much has happened. I know that everyone expects us to be together but I have spent so many weeks being held captive by Julian and I just found my sister and there are so many unanswered questions… I think that we should… just take a break, you understand?” He shook his head at her.

“You heard me talking to Violet.” He looked up into the star filled sky trying to figure out a way to explain.

“Yes,” she said. “I heard you, I heard everything.” She glared at him.“How could you? You kissed her, my own sister.”

“Celest…I” He began, but he was at a loss for words.

“What is it Census? You have nothing to say for yourself? Every day when I was in that dungeon I thought about you, but you clearly don’t think of me the same way.”

“I never forgot about you…It’s not what you think,” He began as he looked down at the ground careful that he would not say something not well thought out, that would only make things worse, but his silence condemned him.

“I am not going to let you come between me and my sister. If she wants to be with you I won’t stand in the way. A tear fell down his face as she walked back to the camp.

Celestia seemed disturbed when she came back to the camp she was usually very graceful but now seemed irritated as she dropped down on a log and kicked up some dust with her shoe as we ate the soup that Nayr had prepared.

“Are you alright?” Josili asked her.

“I’m fine.” She pretended to smile. “Now, pass me some of that soup Nayr!” She tried to sound normal as she could to hide the pain in her heart. Nayr passed a bowl to her but we could all see she wasn’t as she was before. “Um, it smells delicious,” she said as she glanced back at the curious stares, but I noticed that she didn’t look at me which made me feel uncomfortable.

“Wow, you two really do look alike,” remarked Josili trying to stir up some conversation to lighten the mood. Celestia and I both forced a smile.

“Look they even make the same facial expressions,” said Tem but neither one of us responded. “This is some good soup.”He tried to change the subject when he saw that he was only making things worse.

“But, it tastes a little funny,” Josili remarked staring down with wander into her bowl. “There is no meat in this, is there?”

“There is,” said Nayr. “And, we didn’t even have to catch it. Cordum found a fat blue lizard in his bag this morning.” Tem and Josili’s faces turned a bluish green shade.

“Yuck!” Tem said disgusted as he and Josili spit out the soup on the ground and gagged.

“I am going to be sick!” I complained looking down with disgust at the mystery soup. “You cooked lizard soup and gave it to us to eat!” Nayr shrugged his shoulders and continued on his second helping.

“Gross!” Josili cried. Cloud who had been observing from the back laughed aloud, especially since he had declined the soup. “Serves you two right,” he said.

“That does it!” I tossed my bowl to the side. “Tem!” I cried. “You see what you have done!” I headed towards him.

“Wait! Violet it wasn’t my fault!” He stood up from the log and ran towards the woods as I chased him out of the camp.