Dreamscape 1-5

DREAMSCAPE - PART ONE
CHAPTER FIVE - THE DARSIAN PRINCE
by SHIN-CHAN

*******

It was a dark night. The twin crescents of the moons cast little light across the landscape, and the stars were bright shining diamonds in a velvety black sky. Uncaring of this, a cloaked figure stood in the shadow of a tree, staring up at the outer wall of the palace. The soft, muffled sound of footfalls reached him, coming from the wall, and he watched closer. A moment later, a guard appeared. Silently the figure watched as the guard walked along the battlement, his footsteps fading as he disappeared from sight. With a quick look around his surroundings, the cloaked figure ran the twenty-five yards to the outer wall. With studious intent he studied the ground at his feet as he counted out his steps. Twenty-one, twenty-two, twenty-three . . . At twenty-five he stopped. At his feet was a small cluster of three stones, glowing a milky-white in the darkness. Moonstones. A smile played across the figure's face. He gently ran his fingers along the wall, and pushed against one of the blocks. After a brief hesitation, it sank into the wall. Inside, a low grumble could be heard. The figure looked around, afraid that someone might have heard the noise. Nothing. He pressed harder, and a crack appeared three feet away in the wall. He removed his hand and walked over to the crack. He pushed, and the wall opened. A moment later, he was inside the wall, the door closing behind him, and the block returning to normal.

The guard passed by again five minutes later. He had not noticed a thing.

*******

The morning dawn was a beautiful affair that day in Darsia. Beautiful, full of promises and colors, just as the poets glossed about in their airy narratives. Prince Ryo, as usual, had slept through it. Now he was hurrying to the council chambers, pulling on his ceremonial robe as he did so. Running besides him was a giant white tiger.

<If you had awakened at dawn, as you should have done, you would be ready now,> a voice chided him.

"I know, I know!" Thankfully the corridors were relatively empty, reducing the chances of running into anyone in his haste. He paused at a crossway and quickly pulled on his slippers, hopping from one foot to the other as he did so. "This is so ridiculous! Why do I have to be there?"

<They are discussing who shall be your future bride. Do you not want to be there?>

Ryo started running down the hall again. "That is the whole problem Yaku! I -don't- want to get married!"

<Your coronation is next year. You need to have a future queen picked out by then.>

"But I don't want to be king either! Being a prince is bad enough, but a king . . . " Ryo shuddered and came to a stop outside a plain oaken door, the servants' entrance to the council chamber. Going to the proper entrance would take an additional five minutes, and he was late enough as it was. He quickly straightened out his robes, and ran his fingers through his hair, not that that did much for it. "Well, lets get this over with." With a great sigh of deep suffering, Ryo opened the door and stepped inside.

'This is going to be a looong day,' Yaku sighed.

*******

"And the Lady Kara of Damas has many fine traits that would make her worthy of being your bride . . . " droned the Dragon Priest. So far he had listed off twelve young ladies of the land, listing their lineage, schooling, parental wealth and a host of other, useless bits of information. What did he care if a girl could sing like the nightingale? Or knew how to hold herself during court? What did it matter if she looked good in red silk and fire jewels? If he had to marry, he wanted to marry a person, not a paragon of queenly virtue. He wanted, was this asking a bit much? a girl who had a bit of sense and a mind, and knew how and wasn't afraid of using them. So far, out of all the ladies mentioned, none of them had those qualities.

Of course, not marrying was even better. The day did not get any better.

"The Barron of Fiash has a lovely daughter who will reach her fifteenth year come next solstice . . . " the priest droned an hour later.

Ryo moaned silently to himself. Did everyone in the country have an unmarried daughter to toss at him? Fiash? That was on the border of Kiyymos, was it not? He hadn't even known there was a barony out there. He slouched further into the throne and glanced at Yaku. The tiger looked to be asleep, laying comfortably in the light cast through the window.

'Probably fell asleep out of sheer boredom.' He too would have fallen asleep, except that his mother kept looking at him to see what his reaction was to each girl mentioned. The thought of what she would do if he fell asleep was more than enough incentive to keep him wide awake. He glanced back at the tiger, envious of him. Yaku was gone.

Ryo sat up and looked around the room. Yaku was standing at the window, looking out into the gardens.

<Anything interesting?>

<No,> the tiger responded. <Not unless you consider that you have a young Lyrian lady sneaking through your shrubbery interesting.>

Ryo's eyebrows jumped. <What?>

The tiger turned to him. <As I said. A young lady of the island people is sneaking through the gardens. Quite successfully too. She has managed to slip past three guards unnoticed while I watched. You may want to do something about that,> Byakuen finished critically.

<The lady?>

Yaku sighed. <That too. I ~was~ referring to the guards. If a young lady could sneak in, only the Dragons know what else could.>

<True, true. So, where is she heading now?>

<Off to the far side of the gardens, toward the Moon Garden.>

<I see . . . > Tiger blue eyes glittered in anticipation. This could not have happened at a better time! A diversion! The young lady must have been sent by the Dragons themselves to save him from this boring discussion. Gracefully Ryo got to his feet. "I am sorry my lords, gracious lady," he inclined his head to the advisors, the priest and his mother, "but something has come up that I must attend to."

"Ryo . . . "

Ryo stepped down from the divan and shook his head. "No mother, this is important. We can continue this important meeting . . . tomorrow, after noon would be a good time. Thank you. Byakuen, come."

The tiger lifted his paws off of the windowsill and followed the prince as he left the room.

<You know how much that irritates them.>

"Yes, I do. But this is more important, finding a bride . . . "

<Which you do not wish to find.>

Ryo smiled at his friends comment, but continued as though uninterrupted. " . . . is not nearly as important as what is happening in my garden."

Yaku sighed again. <Oh your highness . . . > he said with great disappointment.

*******

Arial jumped down from the tree as soon as the guard passed. Whoever had heard of posting guards ~inside~ the palace gardens? What was the purpose? Were the flowers in so much danger that they needed constant watch? She giggled to herself at the image. But really, all fancy set aside, the guards were quite heavy here in the palace. Shin had expected as much. She still thought she could have been more useful if she had stayed with him, but he had insisted on one of them staying outside in case of an emergency. And as he was the one who knew where he was going and what he was doing, she had to stay.

She quickly looked around, she had the strangest sense of being watched but could not see anybody, and then quickly slipped into the next garden.

"Oh!" It was beautiful! Arial slowly walked into the garden, here eyes open wide. A moon garden. She hadn't seen one since she had left Lyrin. The Sea Palace had one set up, in honor of the Sea Dragon. This one was on the same scale, and looked so much like the Lyrian garden that it sent pangs of homesickness through her.

"Incredible," she whispered as she started to wander along the path deeper into the garden, feeling as though she was at home again. All that was missing was the scent of brine and the song of the sea. This garden looked to be an exact mirror of the one in Lyrin. She turned left. If she was right and this was like the garden at home, this path would lead to a marble bench next to a small fountain of moonstone. She continued on, and then stopped. There it was, the fountain and the bench. Just like home. "This is not to be believed. Wait until I tell Shin, he will be so amazed at this."

"At what?" a rich voice asked.

"Kyaaa!" Arial spun around. Standing twenty paces behind her was a young man in rich red silk robes. Next to him was the hugest white tiger Arial had ever seen, ever. He was giving her an amused look, his blue eyes dancing at catching her unawares. The tiger was giving her a searching look. Calmly he sat, his tail curling around him.

"Hello, young miss." Ryo inclined his head, trying not to laugh at her surprised look. He had not had so much fun for a long while.

"H-hello . . . " Arial inclined her head as well, all the while looking for escape routs. Silly silly her, gawking around and getting caught like this. At lest it was a member of the court and not a guard. From what she had heard in the city, the guards were more inclined of late to shed blood first, and then ask questions later.

"Where are you from?" Ryo asked. "I do not recall any guests from Lyrin staying on the palace grounds."

"I, uhhh . . . " Arial did not think fast enough, and said the first thing that came to mind, "came in from the city."

"I see." And he did. She must have snuck in on a dare. How charmingly refreshing. When was the last time he had encountered a young lady who showed so much incentive? She must stay and visit with him.

"I really must be going, I am so sorry for interrupting your walk." Arial inclined her head again, and slowly started to back away.

Ryo held up a hand. "No, please wait."

"I cannot, sorry." Arial spun around and started to run. 'Shin is going to be so upset when he hears of this!' he would never let her live it down, being caught like this.

"Yaku!"

Arial quickly went around a bush of late blooming white lilacs. She had an advantage in the layout, so much like the garden she had roamed in as a child, but outrunning a tiger was admittedly hard to do. She quickly leaped over a small hedge and bolted for the fence. 'Once I am over that . . .' she leaped, landing on the fence. "Great!" she spat and looked down. And down. The far wall of the moon garden overlooked the city. And as the palace was situated on a cliff overlooking the city, it was indeed quite the view. And quite the jump. Talk about bad luck.

"Now, if you would be so kind to come down from there, we can finish our discussion."

Arial looked down. Looking up at her was the young man. He was sitting on the tiger, as though it were a horse. The young man frowned, and dismounted.

"Better yet, do not move. However did you ever get up there?" Ryo looked around. She must have climbed a tree, the wall was a good ten feet tall. He walked under her. "If you jump, I will catch you."

Arial nearly fell off of the fence at the offer. "What?"

"Jump, and I will catch you. You do not want to get hurt coming down." She looked at him indecisively for a moment, then nodded. She took a deep breath, then stepped off of the fence. He caught her with no problems.

He sat her down on the ground and stepped back. "You should be more careful, if you had gone over the other side, it would have been quite a fall."

"And then some," she finished. "Ahmmmm . . . " nervously she nibbled on her bottom lip.

"I do believe we should go on to introductions, since we have been so familiar." Ryo stepped back several more paces and bowed expansively to her. "Ryo D'Sanada at your service."

"D'Sanada?" Arial squeaked in near horror. D'Sanada? That would mean . . . he could not be . . . but who else . . . "Your Highness?"

"Yes, Miss. And you are . . . "

Arial quickly curtsied. "Arial Lri Ryushi. Of Thian L'Asthri."

"The greater isle of Lyrin? You are quite a way from home, and quite far inland as well."

"Yes."

Ryo was about to ask another question when Byakuen interrupted.

<The guards approach. I suggest getting the lady out of sight before they arrive.>

<A wise idea, my friend.> He looked to Arial. "The guards are coming. It would be advisable for you to be out of sight when they approach. After they are gone . . . " Ryo gave the young Lyrian a searching look. "I do believe that we are going to have to do something about your appearance. You cannot run around the grounds dresses like that, too many questions will be asked." Both Arial and Byakuen gave him a look of mixed puzzlement and caution at that. What was he thinking?

In the distance they both heard voices. "Here," Ryo quickly had Arial hide behind a bush. "Do not move until they are gone. Yaku, keep an eye on her."

< . . . yes . . . > the great tiger sighed.

' . . . great!' Arial hissed to herself. She stepped around the bush and sat on the grass, the tiger positioning himself so he could watch both her and his prince. Arial gave the tiger a sullen look, and sighed.

The tiger mirrored it. Both drew upon the waning reserves of their patience, and waited.

*******

Deep withing the bowels of the palace, Prince Seiji and Prince Shu were sitting in the dungeon. Sharing a cell across the corridor was Adrin and Ellery. They had been here for nearly a week, having been imprisoned on the very day they had came to seek an audience with Prince Ryo. No charges were formally made, and no explanation given.

"We cannot stay here much longer Seiji," Shu growled. "I say we break out and make our leave of Darsia."

Seiji shook his head. "To do so would call the entire guard upon us. We must wait. We will be released. This is all a misunderstanding."

"We have been here for five days Seiji. I think they knew exactly what they were doing. Our countries do not know where we are, and ~they~ know exactly who we are. We are going to be used as hostages against our countries, I know it! We cannot stay here any longer!"

"Prince Shu is correct," a soft voice came from the door. "Relations between Trans and Darsia are shaky enough as it is without the Transian prince being held captive."

Seiji and Shu looked to each other. Who was outside the door? The voice seemed very familiar . . .

"I must say though," the voice continued, "that I am very disappointed with the two of you. Less than twenty-four hours after letting the four of you out on your own, and you land yourselves in the palace dungeon." A soft metallic scratching noise came from the door, and a well oiled click as the lock gave. The door swung open, and a familiar face wearing a Darsian palace guard uniform looked in at them. "Arial was not very impressed when she heard of this," Shin informed them as he motioned for them to exit. The two princes were more than happy to comply. "I do have to add, that she was not very surprised either."

"Please," Shu moaned as he and Seiji watched as Shin poked around the lock of the other door with two lengths of wire. "Spare us the tirade. We really do not want to hear it."

"Of that I am sure," Shin murmured as the second lock gave. He pulled the door open and motioned to Adrin and Ellery to exit. "We must get you four out of the city, as soon as possible." Shin walked over to a bundle that had been lying unnoticed by the wall. He opened it, and started sorting through lengths of cloth. "First off, your cloths. Strip them off."

Seiji gave Shin a highly offended look. "I beg your pardon!"

"My Lord," Shin said in a soft voice. "Your cloths mark you instantly. To leave the palace, you must look no different from anyone else. To wear your native clothing will be the same as waiving a flag proudly proclaiming 'Here I am.'." He tossed a bundle of cloth at Lord Seiji, and a second at Prince Shu. "You will both dress as Darsian nobles, Adrin, Ellery, courtiers." He tossed them a bundle each. One outfit remained. "I will also dress as a noble, as I know the way out." He gave them all long looks. They were just staring at him. "Come now, hurry. We are on limited time. We do not want to be in the palace when the evening guards come on duty. Sneaking out of here at night will be twice as difficult! And we still have to fetch Arial before we leave."

Shu had started to unfasten his collar. "Arial is in on this as well?"

"Yes," Shin quickly pulled off his tunic, noting that the other three had started changing as well. It was a good thing that they were the only prisoners in the dungeon, or the alarm would have already gone off due to their gawking about. "She is keeping an eye on the grounds. If needed, she is to provide a diversion."

"The child?" Lord Seiji exclaimed. Shin gave him a pained look.

"Yes My Lord. Arial."

*******

'I cannot believe this!' Arial looked at herself in the mirror. Prince Ryo had brought her into the palace, and had dressed her as one of the ladies of the court! It was unbelievable! She picked up her skirts and twirled in front of the mirror. The dress she was wearing was in the current style that was so popular in Darsia. A tight fitting low-cut bodice flaring out at the waist into a full skirt reaching the floor. The skirt was puffed out with numerous petticoats, enough to put sails on a three-mast ship in her assessment. The sleeves were three-quarter length, tight fitting to the elbow, and then flaring out to hang from her arms in a white froth of delicate lace. While pink had never been her favorite of colors, this dusky rose silk did look rather nice. The lace though, Arial thought as she held up an arm and looked at it critically, was a bit much. As for the neckline, she ran a finger around it, and futilely tugged at it, it showed most of what a proper lady kept decently hidden. And, of course, it was as liberally decorated with lace as the long hanging sleeves were. A young ladies dress, but still!

A soft knock came at the door. "Are you presentable, Lady Arial?"

That bothered her as well, the way he kept calling her 'Lady'. It was not a title she was use to being called. She had protested, he had said it was quite necessary. The tiger had rolled his eyes. "Yes, you may enter."

The door swung open, and Prince Ryo swung in. He closed the door behind him and then looked at her. "My . . . " he breathed, then smiled. "Quite the young lady. Now all that needs attention is your hair." Arial blinked at him as he approached, then she looked at the box he held out to her. "Put these on, this whole charade will be pointless unless you are completely outfitted."

The box was a jewelry box. Inside was a pair of pink pearl earrings with matching neckless and hair combs. Arial knew exactly how valuable such pearls were, and balked at taking them.

"These are . . . I cannot take them!"

"Sure you can," Ryo said, taking the single strand of pearls out and holding them up against her neck in a highly familiar gesture. The single teardrop pearl hung right below her collarbone. Perfect. "These were a year turning gift to my mother from an old friend. She never looks at them, let alone wears them. And they fit you perfectly."

"I cannot wear such things from a near stranger!" Arial exclaimed. Apparently he had no idea why pink pearls were worn, but then, it was a Lyrian custom. "It is not proper!" Exceedingly not proper!

"Ah, but you see, you are not a near stranger. You are my distant cousin from Aloris on the coast. My father had several cousins from there, most of whom have never been to Pasa. No one will know differently."

This was insane, Arial thought. The prince of Darsia had apparently been out in the sun a bit to long. "Why are you doing this?" she asked softly. "Dressing me up and pretending that I am your cousin?" She was starting to get a bit scared. She had never encountered someone like this before.

Ryo gave her a long look. "Because this is something different," he said softly. "Because this is the most fun I have had in a long while. You have no idea how boring and tedious it is to be a prince," he told her frankly. "To fool the court, and have someone new to talk to is worth this effort."

<I think you have totally lost it.>

Ryo glanced behind him at the tiger, who had entered the room unseen and was now watching them.

"I do not recall asking you your opinion, Yaku."

<You will get it regardless. You are aware that the lady probably thinks you are crazy.>

"Really?" He turned to Arial, who was watching him with wide eyes. "And do you?"

"Do I . . . what?"

"Think I am crazy?"

Arial nodded. 'Without a doubt,' she whispered silently to herself. "You are getting there rather quickly, Your Highness" she said instead.

With a sigh, Ryo turned to Byakuen. "Could you please reassure her Yaku, that my intentions are entirely honorable, and that she is in no danger."

<The prince is a bit spoilt and indulgent,> a voice said in Arial's mind. Her eyes grew wide in wonder. <If you seriously think he is getting out of hand, please say so.>

Ryo turned to the tiger. "Byakuen!" he protested, giving the tiger a pained look. Arial giggled in response, and reached for the neckless.

"If this means so much to you," she said, "I guess I can play along. But I have friends that I am to meet in the gardens. I cannot be late."

"Friends of yours, in the gardens as well?" Arial nodded and Ryo gave her a wide grin of anticipation. "I would be honored to meet them."

Byakuen moaned and hung his head. Today was indeed going to be a very long day.

(to be continued . . . )