| To Saralinda: Part 1 |
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To Saralinda: Part 3 |
Lion maneuvers are about to commence. Somehow I get volunteered to play the part of moving target while the other four lions try to nail me. Black Lion seems particularly intent on pounding me through the ground.
We finish after two hours of solid practice, then we head back to the castle. Allura greets Keith at the entrance to the control room with a digital notepad in her hands. She hands it over to Keith. Then they have a brief exchange, she adds one final comment, looks pointedly in my direction, back at Keith, smiles and walks away. Keith turns and gives me the sort of look that would tear a gaping hole in my chest if it had any power behind it. He tucks the notepad in his pocket and begins to walk away. I hurry to catch up with him.
“Something up, Cap’n?”
He gives a casual shrug. “Just frustrated, I guess. The party begins at seven, and here I am with no clue as to what to get her for a gift this time around.”
Oh, this is going to be too easy.
“Need a suggestion? She was telling me about something special she wanted from a certain person...”
Keith narrows his eyes at me. “Yes, I heard all about this ‘something special’. She said she was expecting a kiss from someone who was very important to her, and then she looked over at you.”
I blink at Keith in surprise. Allura, what are you doing to me? I’m on your side...!
“Doesn’t mean that person is me. How do you know it isn’t you?”
“Well, Lance, I’d like to think that theory has merit. But we’ve both seen who gets a kiss on the cheek on a regular basis for a job well done, and it isn’t me. I also couldn’t help but notice the silent transaction you had with her this morning at the breakfast table.”
I open my mouth to protest, but he holds up a hand to stop me.
“I went to math class, Lance. I know how to add two and two. But it’s all right, I can deal with it. You’re one of my best friends. I won’t let this come between us. And I’m sorry for being so petty at lion practice this morning.”
Uh-oh. This is not good. Not what I was expecting at all. I reach up and rub the back of my head for a moment. Keith’s expression is unreadable as he studies me. I take a deep breath and puff it out again.
“Keith, you are wrong. Dead wrong. Let me tell you a little story about a girl named Saralinda.”
He looks skeptical now, but he still nods. “Go ahead.”
I tell him the whole thing, start to finish. About Allura watching from the window, about her birthday wish, about the doll. About everything except the bet. His expression turns solemn and remains that way for the entire tale. When I finish he stares at me for a long time without speaking.
“A kiss, from me. That’s all she wants, a kiss from me.” He shakes his head in disbelief and pauses again for a moment, lost in thought. “All right, I can do that.”
Yes! My fortune has suddenly taken a turn for the better. Then he crushes all my hopes of victory with his next statement.
“But first, I have to find that doll.”
“You what?”
“I have to find Saralinda. I have to give her back to the Princess. That’s the only way I can do it.”
“Keith, that doll is probably buried beneath the castle under tons of rubble, who knows where? You are not going to find it.”
“Coran looked after the Princess while they were living underground. He would know where the original shelter was located. That’ll give me the starting point to begin searching at.”
“And how do you expect to find that doll in a day?”
Keith shrugs. “Maybe I won’t find her in a day. Maybe I won’t find her in a week or a month, even. But I will find her. Saralinda was a gift to Allura once, and she will be again.”
“Can’t you just kiss her tonight and look for the doll later?”
Keith shakes his head. “It’s what she represents, Lance. That’s why I have to do it this way.”
Great, just great. He has to make things complicated...
“All right, Cap’n. If it’s that important to you, I’ll help you search for the doll.”
He beams and pats my shoulder. “Thanks, old buddy. That’s great! I’m going to go talk to Coran. See what you can scrape up for blueprints of the original castle, and meet me in the sitting room in an hour.”
“You got it, Cap’n.”
Keith strides away with a look of purpose on his face. Wonder if I should just go get fitted for that tuxedo now.
The Royal Scribe climbs his little stepladder to reach the shelves above him.
“Well, as I had said earlier, the original castle was a typical multi-level stone structure with standard towers and battlements, all in the Tal-Concorde layout. Simple and compact, yet very elegant.
“She only built seventy-two castles during the peak of her career, despite the fact that she was in such great demand. She was a meticulous builder, and always took the needs of her client into account. Why, the very structure of the stones was made to fall away without interference should the new castle be required, which it was in due time.”
He stretches out on tiptoe, his fingertips barely brushing the rolled up papers just out of his reach. “Oh, blast. Not tall enough. Could you be so kind as to come over and grab these for me?”
“Sure.” I hop out of the chair and wait for him to get back down. The moment I climb onto the ladder I realize that part of his caution isn’t just the rigors of age. Three steps up the thing gets so wobbly it almost topples me right back off. I have to play birdie with my arms for a moment to regain my balance.
“Whoopsie, watch that first step, young man.”
I flash him a quick grin and grab the blueprints down from the shelf. It’ll be easier to just jump the couple of steps to the floor, so I do. He begins to fold up the ladder.
“Need to replace that one of these days,” he mutters to himself as he rests it in the corner.
What was your first clue, Pops?
“Now then, the blueprints.” He gathers up an inkwell and a few small paperweights to hold the corners down as I unroll the plans. He puffs at the layer of dust coating them, and we both wind up in a coughing fit.
“Mercy me,” he declares, waving his hand in front of him.
Some kind soul must have known I was going to get into a mess like this some day in a bet with Allura and was good enough to secure the blueprints with the underground level on the top of the pile. I prop up on an elbow and begin to study the layout. The old man adjusts his glasses, removes them to clean off the dust he blew everywhere, replaces them on his nose.
“Here is the underground level where the shelters were built.” He traces his finger around the northeast quadrant. “The Royal family had their residences in this entire area, but King Alfor make accommodations for many of his servants to stay there as well so he could make room for more of the common folk in the other three quadrants if need be. I would think these chambers are the ones which were converted into the Queen’s rooms here, and she would have kept little Allura in that area as well.”
“I need to borrow these blueprints to have them converted into a three-dimensional map. May I do that?”
“Oh, certainly. Don’t see why you can’t. Nothing wrong with research for historical purposes. Good to have a record of the castle as it once was.”
I nod and roll up the plans. “Did you live in the first castle before it was destroyed?”
He grins at me. “Yes indeedy do. I was a gunner for the castle defense in those days. We had the old-fashioned slug-throwing artillery when I was your age. None of this high-tech laser business you kids play with now. Zarkon’s fighters didn’t fly so well back then. Used to knock ‘em out of the sky like picking off bush grouse with a slingshot.”
I grin back at him. “Cool.”
“You spend a little more time when you bring those back. I’ll tell you about the war.”
“I think I’ll have to do that.”
“See you then.”
Out in the hall I check my watch. I’m over half an hour late to meet with Keith. I sprint for the sitting room.
| To Saralinda: Part 1 |
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To Saralinda: Part 3 |