Chapter 7: Exploration
Within minutes of his investigation, Quincy found cyborg pieces, map blueprints of the future Camineet, discarded armor, his father's crest (most likely dropped during the visit), knives, Rolz' identification key (most likely stolen by Quincy), and monomate galore. Despite his new discoveries, however, the prince was unable to find any hints as to the whereabouts of the magicians.
Disappointed and weary from his search, the prince set out to locate the pilot and his cyborg. Looking around, he noticed that the construction site seemed a little less active than before. Although there were still people working, the sound was not as noisy as before. Curious, the prince decided to find out where the rest of the workers went. Pulling out his newly found map blueprint, the prince searched for a place that seemed suspicious.
"Ladea's Palace?" The prince read from the blueprint, "I think I'll look there first. Good thing it's near here." And with that, he set off toward the palace.
Unlike the rest of Camineet, Ladea's Palace was completely contructed. It loomed over the steel skeletons of the other buildings in the area, and glowed bright green from the interior lighting. Beside the lighting, there was no light to be found. It shouldn't be dark yet, though, thought Quincy, there's some sort of aura around this place that I've never experienced before.
The prince began walking toward the palace beyond his control. "No, no, no, not good. I'll be caught in no time!" the prince said to himself as he approached the entrance. In desperation, the prince pulled out one of his knives and stabbed his right leg, causing him to stumble onto the ground. His head fell short of the entrance, but just close enough for him to see the activity inside.
Men in robes stood in a circle chanting in unison. In the center of the circle was one of the workers, curled up in a ball surrounded with magic. One of the robed men stepped up.
"We couldn't help but notice that you were reporting our activity to your friends in Algol," the robed man said. "Unfortunately, we cannot have you doing that anymore. Do you understand? This is a crime worthy of death." At the word 'death', the rest of the crowd stepped up and chanted another spell. The circle of magic surrounding the victim grew brighter and the chants grew louder until everything went white. When the prince regained his vision, the man on the ground was stone. The circle of spellcasters then crushed the stone with magic until there was only dust left. Quincy's eyes grew wide and immediately, he began scrambling to his feet to make an escape. Before he left earshot, though, the prince heard another of the robed men say, "Bring the next spy!!!"
The circle broke and another of the workers was thrown onto the ground. The chanting began again. Mustering up all of the strength he had left in his leg, Quincy charged back at the palace. Before the newest victim became fully engulfed in magic, the prince threw one of his knives at one of the robed figures, breaking his concentration. All of the robed men looked in Quincy's direction and began rushing at him. The prince swiftly dodged them all with his eyes fixed on the imprisoned workers. Suddenly, the pain from his right leg paralyzed him, and the prince fell and tumbled in front of his targets.
One of the workers dragged the prince toward them, and Quincy pulled out his other knife and cut them free. "Get out of here," the prince commanded. The men shook their heads violently.
"You are our prince," one of the workers said, " We won't let you fight alone. Honestly, I'd rather you not fight at all, but I know you won't allow that." The others braced themselves for battle, holding tools in a manner similar to that of weapons. The prince looked at each of their faces and saw that they would not be convinced otherwise. Reluctantly, he agreed. "But I have to get the first swing," the prince added.
All at once, the men charged at the magicians. Quincy reclaimed the knife he threw and joined them, biting his lower lip to suppress the pain of his leg. The magicians cast numerous elemental spells, eliminating worker after worker with ease. The agile prince dodged every attack against him and fought back, immobilizing a few of the magicians. However, when he realized that there were no more men fighting alongside him, he made a dash toward the entrance of the palace.
"Don't let him escape!!" Shouted one of the robed men, pointing toward Quincy. However, the prince outran and dodged every attempt at capture and hid in one of the undeveloped buildings.
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The Algol star rose over the construction site, waking the prince from his slumber. He looked down at his right leg, which had stopped bleeding, but was swelling at the site of the wound. Tearing off the bottom of his pants' right leg, the prince made a bandage for himself. When he felt that he was ready, the prince leaped off of the bar of steel he was sleeping on and continued his journey to the spaceport, where he hoped that Searren was waiting for him.
Quincy limped on until what seemed like noontime. An unexpected growl from his stomach startled him, then he regained his composure and set his attention to finding food. Scouting out his surroundings, the prince soon learned that there was no life on the artificial planet except for the meals that were imported for the workers.
The workers, Quincy remembered, none of them survived. Those magicians are no joke. His stomach growled a second time. Frustrated, the prince looked up to the sky in hopes for a solution.
Right on cue, a shuttle flew overhead. Quincy followed its direction and eventually found his way back to the spaceport. Just as he had hoped, Searren was waiting for him and caught Quincy just as he fainted.
When the prince came to, he found that he was in Rolz' office in the spaceport.
"Are you okay, your Highness?" Rolz looked at the prince with concern. Quincy noticed that he was holding a fan.
"I'm fine. I think it was from the blood loss. Speaking of which," the prince sat up with a wince, "I found a group of magicians terrorizing some of your workers last night. Are you sure you don't know anything about this, Rolz?"
"Your Highness, I assure you that I had no knowledge of this, but now that I have more information, it will be addressed. Now stop moving -- you'll open your wound-- and let's get you onto the shuttle. You need medical attention." The pilot escorted Searren and Quincy onto the shuttle and bid them farewell. As the shuttle lifted off, Quincy said to his companion, "Something doesn't seem right, Searren. Usually Rolz is on top of things like that since he used to be my bodyguard. It's not like him to let something like menacing magicians cause this much damage."
The cyborg nodded. "He never called you 'Your Highness'."
The shuttle landed, and the duo was greeted by Freyna.
"Hello, Quincy," the android curtsied. "Before you say anything, I want to tell you that your mother was forwarded to Esper Mansion for recovery. She is in good hands now. That is where I am taking you now, so I'll hear what you have to say on the way to Dezolis."
Slightly confused by his greeting, the prince furrowed his brow. "Umm...Question?"
"That is the third planet in Algol, prince," Searren explained.
"But there's only two planets, right?"
"There was three, but Palm was destroyed thousands of years ago," Freyna answered.
"Oh, yeah, we're from Palm, and we lived in the Alisa III because Palm was destroyed. I remember now," The prince laughed.
"Yes, sir, Quincy! And where we're going, you're going to have to bundle up, so I have some warmer clothes on the Landeel for you." Freyna chuckled when she saw Quincy's displeased expression. "What's wrong? You don't like the cold?"
"I don't like wearing excessive clothing." Quincy grumbled.
"You are such an interesting character, prince!" the android exclaimed as they boarded the large space shuttle. Freyna climbed to the front as the pilot and started up the shuttle. "Prince, when you are ready, you can tell me your story."
The prince cocked his head. "I never said that I had a story."
The android looked back at the prince with a smile. "Quincy, one of your legs is bandaged up. Surely, you must have a good story!"
After looking at his leg and contemplating, the prince shared his magician experience with the small android.
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