Departure and Discovery

The caravan was packed with all the necessities a prince could ever need. Aurora had even commissioned one of the Royal carriages to be fitted with wheels for long range travel. "You will enjoy the mountains," the Empress said to Alaron. "Despite the name, Oblivion is actually a lovely place."

Alaron climbed up into the carriage. "Thank you for your well wishes, Your Majesty," he said coolly.

"Remember to meet with Duchess Ashleigh. She is of the highest nobility. Please give her my regards." Aurora reminded him.

"Are you sure I should not join you? I could be packed and ready to go within the hour." Mairwen's voice was hopeful.

Alaron's austere expression softened. He gave her a smile. "You will be better off without me, sister. I need some time to think. Maybe you should ask Their Majesties if you can take your own adventure," he added meaningfully.

Mairwen tried not to cry. This was the first time she would be separated from her twin. It was like half of herself was being torn away. "You will be back in time for the birthday party?"

Alaron nodded. "I would not miss it." The prince's trip was only scheduled to last a week and the party was just over a fortnight away.

"Safe journey, my son," Devrim said goodbye.

Alaron's indifference returned, and he would not meet the man's gaze. "Glory to the Empress," he said blandly. With that, the carriage left.

As they left the city and turned toward the mountains, Alaron called a halt. "We will not be heading toward the Oblivion today. Instead we will be going to the coast."

"But your highness!" The coachmen objected.

"Drive!" The prince pointed to where he wanted the group to go. He ducked his head back into the carriage.

"Very good, Your Highness, you sounded like a true ruler," Cafer, who was wearing Warin's face, said. The gnome sat comfortably across from the prince and settled in for the long ride. "I only hope that this Xander is as against the Empress as you believe."

"Oh he is, I am sure of it. And since you say that the gnomes will not help, this may be the only hope for a quick coup. If I had my way, the Empress would be out of power right this instant." Alaron balled his fists. The anger inside him would have resolved and forgiveness would have been possible if Cafer did not fan the flames of hatred.

The gnome nodded at the Alaron's words. "Aurora took your throne and made a fool of you. You have every right to be upset. Do not worry. She will be gone soon enough. Just be patient."

"I hate being patient…"

———————-

Aurora's necklace glowed as she walked down the hallway to the Storehouse. Devrim walked beside her. "This part always bothers me. I still remember when the hall tried to swallow us whole."

"It was trying to scare us off not eat us. What would a hallway want with humans for food?" Aurora brushed off his concern.

They were going to the Storehouse because of the Council meeting earlier that day. Birger had given all his findings on the Semblance Stone, which, in short, was nothing. "I am sorry, Your Majesty, there is nothing in the Royal Library about any object by that name."

"Hm, Brinn did not know anything about it either," Aurora mused.

"Could His Highness have been…mistaken on the name?" Ezer asked. Everyone knew what he was really asking. Did Alaron lie?

"Until I know otherwise, we have to work on the assumption that Alaron gave the correct name," Devrim answered. Both he and his wife doubted their son on many things, but this was not one of them.

"I will use my own resource to see what I can find," the Empress had said. The resource she meant was the Storehouse, which was their last resort. The information here was precious. Entering the room, the necklace's light broke into a thousand pieces and lit the lamps along the walls.

"That never gets old," Aurora said delightedly. In the middle of the room, the podium stood empty. The Empress walked to it. "Greetings Storehouse!"

The woman had developed a habit of talking to the room when she visited. If it understood her, it might have feelings. She did not want to be rude. "You know it cannot talk," Dervim reminded her with a grin. Her little quirks amused him.

The Empress ignored him. "Could I please have information about the Semblance Stone?" She asked the Storehouse. The room was silent, which was unusual.

"Maybe it did not hear you." Devrim tried to think of a reason for the odd behavior. The room was always quick to show off its skills.

"Or maybe Ezer was right and it does not exist." Aurora said. She decided to try again. "Please may I have information about the Semblance Stone?"

The room trembled and groaned. Again nothing appeared. "Something is wrong." Devrim stated the obvious.

"Is this because Cafer took the Stone?" Aurora asked. A sound like a whimper echoed through the halls. "We want to bring the stone back to you, but we need to know what it is."

The lights flickered unsteadily. On the podium a paper appeared. Aurora went to remove it, but found it was stuck tight. The Storehouse was making it clear: it would help, but it would not let anything else be removed. The Empress and Emperor studied the scroll. It was a set of pictures with ancient writing above them.

"I do not suppose you have something written in human-speak, do you?" Aurora asked. The room remained silent. "Very well."

The scroll had four pictures in sequence. The first was a figure holding a golden bracelet that contained a stone in the center. In the second, the figure was holding the blade of a sword against a second figure's head. Aurora furrowed her brow. Without the writing for help, it was unclear exactly what was happening.

In the third picture, the original figure held his hands together and lines emanated from the bracelet. In the fourth picture, there were two identical figures standing side by side.

"I do not think it is a weapon of war," Devrim said as he studied the document beside Aurora.

"Agreed." Aurora ran her fingers along the second identical figure. "Perhaps a multiplication object?"

Devrim shook his head, "Cafer is too proud for there to be more than one of him. And I cannot imagine him risking everything if he did not want to use the object himself. He's far too selfish."

"Good point."

"The name Semblance Stone suggests that something will look like something else. What if it cloaks the user like the elves do? Then they can appear to be someone else." Devrim pointed toward the last picture.

"Devrim, you are brilliant!" Aurora kissed her husband.

"Well… I try," the man stammered.

"If what you say is correct, Cafer could be anyone. We need to close rank, make passwords for important places and use Gandr or Brinn's nose to sniff out imposters." Aurora was already thinking about all the things they needed to do.

Devrim quickly jumped to her line of thinking. "We should probably call Alaron back from his trip. He can go the mountains another time."

"Good idea. He could not have gone too far."

She would soon find out just how wrong she was.