Chapter Eight; You Will Be Found
The entire Jamaa army was glaring at me as I sobbed into the wooden floorboards that built the small shack. Before anyone could mutter a word, that annoying little tiger decided to seize my moment of weakness to free Liza.
“Get the king.” Liza muttered lowly, holding onto the little tiger’s arm for support. Let them call for backup. At least they know I’m the threat.
In moments, an arctic wolf with short, brown, frizzy hair and a black and blue tuxedo appeared in the doorway. Our green eyes connected for a moment before I broke the eye contact. He pulled out his sword looped into his belt slowly, still staring at me.
“It can’t be. No. You couldn’t be.” The king muttered, taking a few steps backward. He looked at Liza, who was nodding slowly. Tears began to fill her eyes.
“What?” I asked, backing up. This guy was freaking me out. I had to stand my ground. This could be my moment. My chance. I summoned my power, an energy orb forming on my small paw.
“It must be. You look so much like her. Hatchi- that’s her, right?” The king asked, taking a few steps towards me. How did he know my mother? I nodded, raising my paw high in the air. He put his sword down onto the ground, urging the army to back down. They did just that.
“Your mother and I had met a long time ago. She would sneak into the castle almost every night just to spend time with me. We were friends- best friends. But we fell in love. So deep, I had lost all sight in my arranged marriage in the upcoming year. I loved Hatchi. So much.
“But one day, she had shown her true self to my family at a gathering. I invited her to dinner to convince my parents to cancel the marriage. She got so offended and mad that she almost killed my parents. Hatch told me she never loved me, that she had just used me to try to claim Jamaa for her father, and ran off. I never saw her again. She was so angry with me that entire day. I didn’t know why. But it must’ve been you.” The king was a few feet away from me, and I was so into the story, I didn’t even mind. When he finished with his final statement, my mind went blank. I couldn’t feel any part of my body. I was weakened. I fell to the floor, and detransformed.
“But it must’ve been you.”
“No.” I muttered quietly, backing up.
“You’re just trying to trick me. You know I’m a threat. You know I’m the destroyer who can easily destroy your entire kingdom. You can’t fool me.” I yelled, forming my power back to my paw. I might’ve been too weak to transform again, but I still had my powers.
“Listen! This bracelet,” the king began, pulling out a small bracelet that had a black and purple jewel on it from his pocket, “was a gift from your mother. She gave it to me the day before she ran off. She’s your mother. And I’m your father, child. What’s your name?”
“No!” I yelled. I couldn’t believe it.
“Mother said my father tried to kill me when I was born!” I retorted.
“I never knew you existed, honey. She never told me.”
“She- she wouldn’t lie.” I muttered.
“She used me. All this time-my entire life-wasted. Was this truly my path? Or was this the path that my mother set down for me?”
“Mariah. My name’s Mariah.” I whispered, tears streaming down my face.
“You’re truly a beautiful child, Mariah. Say, how old are you? Around twelve, I’d say. You’re a few months older than my children, I presume.” The king said. I nodded. I was speechless. My mother, who’s the phantom princess- Second in line for the throne- fell in love with my father, who’s the king of Jamaa. How ironic is that one?
“I-I think I’m going to trust you this time.” I said lowly, wiping my stray tears away.
“I’m glad. Now I’m going to get you somewhere safe in the castle.” The king told me, starting to guide me out of the shack.
“That’s very kind of you, Your Majesty. But I need to go out there and face my mother once and for all. This is my mistake, and I need to be the one to fix it.”
“It’s Xavier. And maybe one day, it’ll be dad. But that’s besides the point right now. Let the army handle this.”
“But sir you don’t understand! She’s more powerful than you could ever dream of. She’s dangerous. Your army will die out there. Please. Just let me do this.”
“Alright. Be safe.” Xavier bent down, awkwardly hugged me, and walked out to a carriage. I blinked a few times, trying to see if this was truly reality. But it was. My father was the King of Jamaa. That was going to take some getting used to. I pushed those thoughts out of my mind. There was a task at hand:
To stop my mother from destroying Jamaa.
I hope you guys enjoyed CHAPTER EIGHT! That was a huge plot point! Mariah’s father is none other than King Xavier himself! The emotions of Mariah finding out the truth were pretty difficult to write, but I managed to get something out there XD. Jam On!
-Cuteypie