“But Father…!”
“That’s enough, Elizabeth.” The King spoke sternly. “You are my only daughter, and today I almost lost you. I cannot allow such a thing to happen again.”
“But Father, this is cruel! I’m being punished for something that was not even my fault! It’s not fair!”
“I said that’s enough! I will not allow my only daughter to put herself in harm’s way again. Until this uprising is put to rest, you are to remain within the castle walls at all times, and that is final.”
Elizabeth groaned in exasperation. “Fine! If that’s the way you’re going to be, I’ll just go to my room, and stay there!”
She turned and stomped angrily out of the main hall, slamming the door behind her. She took the stairs up to her room, went inside and locked the door.
For the rest of the afternoon, Elizabeth just sat brooding in her room. When the chambermaid came by to clean the room, Elizabeth refused to let her in. Some servants came by later asking her to come out, but she still wouldn’t open the door.
Stupid Father, she thought. He just wants to make me a prisoner in my own home. I’m not a child. He can’t keep me here forever…
Suddenly, she heard a strange noise outside her window. It sounded like a rodent scurrying up a tree.
“Psst! Hey, Princess,” a familiar voice whispered.
Elizabeth got up and ran to the window. She looked out and saw Deejay clinging to the wall like a spider.
“Sir Deejay!” she said, delighted. “You’ve returned so soon!”
He climbed up to where she was and sat in the window sill.
“Well, I couldn’t help it,” he said with a smile. “I just couldn’t wait to see you again. Come on, let’s you and me get out of here and have some fun.”
“I want to, but Father won’t let me leave the castle.”
“Hey, he ain’t the boss of me. And he shouldn’t be the boss of you, either. C’mon, let’s just sneak away together, all romantic-like.”
“But what if he finds out? We could both be in a great deal of trouble.”
“Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. I can take you somewhere he’ll never find us.” Deejay held out his hand. “C’mon, forget you dad. Let’s live a little. What do you say?”
Elizabeth smiled and took his hand. “I say, yes. Let’s go.”
The portal appeared above the Citadel, opening downwards. Slowly, the Scyphozoan floated down through the portal. The white spherical craft hovered leisurely down to the landing area on the roof and nestled into its sunken-in landing pad. Once it had settled in place, the upper half of the craft opened and tilted back, revealing the cockpit.
Inside, Deejay was seated in the pilot seat. He climbed down out of the craft, then turned and helped Elizabeth out. She looked around in awe. From the top of the Citadel, they could see across the desert for miles around.
“Amazing…” she said. To the east, there was nothing but rolling sand dunes as far as she could see. Across the south and southwest, the sand was broken occasionally by large stone outcroppings, growing into a long mountain range on the horizon. Elizabeth took a step forward and looked down. Just southwest of the Citadel, she could see the city of Esperanza, a tightly-packed group of buildings arranged in a semi-circular pattern.
“Not bad, right?” Deejay asked with a smile. “I know, it’s a little on the barren side right now...”
“No, not at all. It’s beautiful. The view from here is breathtaking.”
“Yeah, I know. Of course, that might just be because of the altitude. Anyway, come on. Let’s go inside.”
He took her hand and hurried her to the elevator. They both got in, and Deejay pressed the button for his room. They only had to wait a few moments before the doors opened again on Deejay’s room.
It certainly wasn’t the sort of room Elizabeth had expected to find in the Citadel. The room had a simple tiled floor, relatively little furniture, and plain white walls adorned with a few posters torn out of various magazines. The room looked a lot like a college dorm room, although it was somewhat larger. Plus, Deejay kept it cleaner than any college dorm in existence, though that isn’t saying much.
“Please, come in, milady,” Deejay said politely, leading Elizabeth into the room. “Welcome to my humble abode. I know, it’s nothing special, but it suits me well enough.”
She giggled. “Yes, I suppose it does. It has a sort of simple, somewhat bohemian charm. Not unlike yourself.”
Deejay laughed. “Oh, you flatter me, milady. Please, have a seat.” He gestured to his bed.
Elizabeth sat down on the bed, and Deejay seated himself right next to her.
“Now, we’ll need to keep quiet for a little while,” he said, keeping his voice relatively low. “At least until my brother goes out for a while. He hates it when I bring home friends without telling him.”
The doors to the elevator opened, and Ty stepped into the room with a smirk. “Someone mention me?”
“Gah!” Deejay’s jaw dropped. “Ty? Dammit, how do you do that?”
“Plot convenience,” Ty said flatly. “So, you’re having guests behind my back? For shame, Deejay.”
“Aw, man! How’d you know I was back? I was being so careful, too.”
“I could hear the ship landing. That ceiling in the boardroom is isn't soundproof, you know.” Ty turned to Elizabeth. “Nice to see you again, Highness. I don’t think we were properly introduced last time. I’m Tyler, resident and co-owner of the Citadel.”
“Pleased to make your acquaintance, sir.” She stood up and curtseyed.
Ty laughed and looked back at Deejay. “So… how about you tell me why you’re suddenly disobeying me and sneaking Princess Elizabeth into the Citadel without my permission? And let me tell you, if this story doesn’t involve slaying a dragon or winning some kind of medieval jousting tournament, I will be seriously disappointed.”
“Well…” Deejay started. “I just wanted to see her again, and I knew there was no way I could just walk right into the castle and visit her…so…”
Ty rolled his eyes. His dark glasses prevented anyone from seeing them, but his facial expression made his exasperation easy to recognize. He’d heard this same sort of story from Deejay more times than he cared to remember.
“So,” Ty said, “as long as you were already ignoring our rules and messing around with a royal family’s affairs, you thought, ‘what the hell? I might as well make a day of it and kidnap the princess.’”
“No, no. You’ve got it all wrong. She wanted to get out of that castle.”
“Does her father know where she is?”
“Well… not exactly.”
“Then in his eyes, she’s basically been kidnapped. Congratulations,” Ty said, applauding sarcastically. “You’ve just pissed in the afternoon tea of the King of Zalaria. What are you gonna do next?”
“Ty, you’re making too much of this. It’s not that big a deal. She hasn’t even been gone that long. How big a difference could it make?”
“Butterfly effect, Deejay. Butterfly effect. Now, you’re going to return her to the castle right away and make damn sure they have no idea she was ever missing. Is that clear?”
Deejay looked back at the princess with disappointment. Just then, his eyes lit up. “Oh, wait!” he said, turning back to Ty. “I just remembered, the Scyphozoan’s energy reserves are still drained after that long trip we took last week. They’re recharging now, but it won’t be ready to take off again until tomorrow at the earliest.” He raised his hand high in the air and made a rock-on gesture. “Hah! Looks like Elizabeth is gonna have to spend the night with me after all!”
“Hmm… yeah, I guess you’re right.” Ty frowned. “We can’t risk damaging the ship by taking it on a trip when it’s low on energy.” He turned back to Elizabeth. “I’m sorry to bother you, Your Highness, but it looks like you’ll have to stay here in the Citadel until tomorrow.”
“Oh, no, it’s no bother” she said. “I’m sure Father won’t miss me until tomorrow. I would be happy to stay with Sir Deejay for the night.”
Deejay smirked and put his arm around her. “Heh, she calls me ‘sir.’ It’s so cute, ain’t it?”
“Oh, my dear princess,” Ty said, smirking as well. “I wouldn’t dream of making a distinguished guest such as yourself share such a small room. I have a much larger, fully furnished guest room a few stories below us for just this sort of occasion. You can stay there for the night. I’m sure you’ll find it to your liking.”
“Oh, well thank you, Sir Tyler,” she said. “That sounds wonderful.”
“Ty…” Deejay’s smirk disappeared. “You’re as cold as ice, man.”
“Well, I guess I should show you to your room,” Ty said to Elizabeth. “If you’ll kindly follow me…”
Ty walked to the elevator, and Lady Elizabeth followed him. As they got on the elevator and the doors closed, Deejay folded his arms and stared angrily at the floor. Ty returned by himself a minute later, and Deejay scowled at him.
“What’s your problem, Ty?! What’s with the cock-block?!” he snapped.
“To reiterate,” Ty replied, “my problem is that you’ve got a brain that would dwarf Einstein, but you still think with your Johnson. If you abduct someone from another world, it disrupts the lives of the people living there. You know that.”
“Yeah, but-”
“And this time, it’s a princess? Look, it’s bad enough if you’re trying to seduce just any girl you got from another world, but a princess? What if her father finds out somehow? I’ve seen Fredrick’s politics before. He may be pretty benevolent, but he’s not a forgiving man, especially when it comes to his family. He’ll tear the countryside apart looking for her. Are you prepared to deal with a possible war breaking out just because you wanted to get laid?”
Deejay looked down at the floor, feeling slightly guilty. “…Well, I…”
“The bottom line is this: the girl goes home tomorrow. For the rest of the time she’s here, you don’t lay a hand on her. Do I make myself clear?”
Deejay glared at Ty, but said nothing. Ty crossed his arms and glared right back at him. Feeling defeated, Deejay looked back down at the floor.
“…Yeah, okay,” he said.
“Alright. Now, I’ve got some more work to do. Try to stay out of trouble for the rest of the night.”
Deejay sighed and picked up a comic book off his desk. “Okay, I get it already. We’re the same age, for cryin’ out loud. Do you really have to talk to me like I’m a little kid?”
“You know, you wouldn’t think so.”
Ty turned and headed back to the elevator. Deejay stuck his tongue out at him as he left, then lay down on his bed and started reading the comic book.
It wouldn’t surprise anyone that knew her that Elizabeth had agreed to sneak away from home with Deejay. She’d always been the curious type. Of course, you know what they say about curiosity.
Lady Elizabeth was certainly pleased with the room Ty had given her. With the king size bed and private bathroom, it was almost nicer than her room at home. However, she still wanted to see more of this mysterious place she’d been taken to. Leaving the castle at all was a rare treat for her. Leaving her home country, even her home planet entirely, was far too exciting for her to just sit in a guest room all night.
Sometime after Ty left, she decided to go investigate the elevator they’d entered the room through. In her land, they had no such devices, so she wanted to see how it worked. She pressed the button as she’d seen him do, and the doors opened a few moments later. She stepped inside and looked at the panel on the wall of the elevator.
There was a sort of rough map of the citadel outlining various floors, and to the side, a long column of rectangular buttons, each with a little line drawn to the map to indicate which button corresponded to which floor. One button near the bottom was glowing. It pointed to a room on the map labeled ‘GUEST’, so she guessed that must be where she currently was. Elizabeth saw several other floors that sounded familiar. There was the one at the very top labeled ‘ROOF’, and there were rooms for ‘TY’ and ‘DJ’.
One she didn’t recognize was labeled ‘Malus.’ She decided to press the button for that floor and see what was there. The elevator lurched a bit, and then smoothed out as it glided upward. When it reached the appropriate floor, the elevator eased to a stop and the doors opened.
The room before her was another dorm-like room, similar to Deejay’s. The furniture was all on one side of the room, though, and the other side was dominated by an enormous flat-screen television, which currently had a videogame playing on its screen; some sort of first-person shooter.
In front of the screen, holding a videogame controller, Malus sat cross-legged on the floor. Elizabeth was shocked to see him. His crimson red hair and contrasting icy blue eyes were more than a little unsettling. However, those things were minor details. The first thing she noticed about him was the set of enormous leathery bat-like wings protruding from his back. Elizabeth started to walk slowly into the room, but stopped abruptly when he spoke.
“Who is it?” he asked. He sounded irritated, though that was kind of his permanent tone.
When she didn’t respond right away, Malus turned briefly to look at her. Meeting his gaze, Elizabeth was suddenly very afraid; too afraid to speak. Malus groaned and turned back to his game.
“Great,” he said, still sounding annoyed. “I take it you are another of Deejay’s companions. So, what is it you want?” Elizabeth was still afraid to speak. “Come on, speak up! What is it?”
“Who… who are you?” she asked timidly.
“I am Malus, of course. You saw the name on the map, didn’t you?”
“…Are you a friend of Sir Deejay?”
“He is my half-brother. I tolerate him, but that is about as far as our friendship goes.”
Malus stretched his wings, startling Elizabeth a bit.
“What on earth…?” she started to say, but stopped herself.
“What was that?”
“A-are… are you...?”
“Am I a demon?” He scoffed. “Half-demon, yes. Though I do not appreciate that term. It is an insult to my integrity, my intelligence, and especially my power.”
He tried to sound nonchalant, but from the look in his eyes, he was probably a little insulted by the question. This only served to make Elizabeth more nervous. The room became awkwardly silent for a moment, aside from the occasional sound of gunshots from the television.
“Well, did you want something or not?” Malus asked. “I’m rather busy, as you can see.”
“Um… n-no, sir. I’m sorry to have disturbed you.”
She timidly backed into the elevator again, and the doors closed once she was inside. She wasn’t entirely sure what had just happened, but she decided she didn’t want to anger him any further. She considered going back to her room, but then changed her mind. Though she had been a little shaken up, the experience further fueled her curiosity about this strange place.
Toward the bottom of the elevator map, another room caught Elizabeth’s eye. It was the last button on the list, and on the map, it bore the label ‘J.’ Curious, she pressed the button, and the elevator started moving down. This time, though, the ride seemed to take significantly longer. About thirty seconds later, the doors opened.
The room beyond was so dark that Elizabeth couldn’t see a thing. Cautiously, she stepped into the room, and the elevator closed behind her. With the light from the elevator gone, it was even darker, but her eyes slowly started to adjust. The room seemed to be quite empty. She began walking forward, looking around as she went. It was at least as large as her guest room, but there was no furniture, and no doors or windows. There was nothing but dark stone walls, stone ceiling, and a stone floor that echoed slightly as she walked.
What is this place? she thought to herself. A dungeon?
As she made her way further into the room, a light fixture on the ceiling suddenly flickered on above her. The soft red light from the stained bulb only made it slightly easier to see.
That was when she saw him. Near the far wall of the room, she saw someone sitting by himself in the dark, his head bowed in silence. She inched slowly forward.
“Hello?” she said softly.
As she got closer, she could see him more clearly. His long black hair hung down in his face, hiding his eyes. He appeared to be wearing a surgical mask, which hid the rest of his face. His plain white shirt and pants were wrinkled and soiled, as though he’d been wearing them for a long time.
Those stains… she thought. Is that blood?
She stopped as he slowly raised his head and looked at her. She looked curiously into his eyes as his hair fell out of the way. His right eye was brown, but his left eye was blood red. Both eyes looked over-dilated and out of focus. They almost didn’t look alive. Elizabeth suddenly felt very uneasy, but she wasn’t afraid exactly. He didn’t look intimidating. In fact, to her, he looked dreadfully sad.
“I see you’ve met Jay,” Ty said, appearing behind her. Elizabeth jumped in surprise at Ty’s voice, then relaxed as she realized who it was. She turned to face him. “Sorry if I scared you. I have kind of a habit of sidling up on people.”
“Yes, I’ve noticed,” she agreed, though she wasn’t completely sure what ‘sidling’ meant.
“What are you doing down here? Taking a tour? You could’ve asked me, you know.”
“Sir Tyler, what is the meaning of this?” she asked, gesturing to Jay. “Why is this man confined to this room? What crime has he committed?”
“No crime. At least, nothing he’s been prosecuted for.”
“Then why is he being kept here? It’s cruel!”
Ty shook his head. “You’ve got it wrong, Highness. I don’t keep him here. He chooses to stay down here.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I tried giving him a real room, but he wasn’t happy with it. He never really is. The closest I’ve ever seen to him being happy is when he’s down here by himself. I don’t know, I guess he likes the peace and quiet.”
Elizabeth turned back to Jay. She gazed curiously into his eyes again. He stared back silently.
“You… like being here?” she asked slowly.
Jay continued to stare back. Elizabeth started to take another step forward, but Jay turned away a bit, and she stopped.
“He must like you,” Ty said.
“Why do you say that?” Elizabeth asked him.
“He’s usually not too good with new people. No one gets this close to him except me, Deejay or Malus. The last guy who barged in here uninvited was met with a… rather rude welcome.”
“What?” She looked confused. “What do you mean?”
“You didn’t think that blood on Jay’s shirt was his, did you?”
Elizabeth started to slowly back away as Jay looked at her again.
“We should probably go,” Ty said. “We’ve bothered him long enough already. Come on.”
Ty led Elizabeth to the elevator, and then back to her room. After Ty left, she decided she wasn’t going to do any more wandering for the rest of the night.
As planned, Ty and Deejay returned Elizabeth to her room at the castle early the next morning. With the Scyphozoan’s cloaking system, no one even noticed them flying up to her bedroom window and dropping her off. She and Deejay shared another goodbye kiss, and then he and Ty turned the ship around and headed for home.
When Elizabeth came downstairs to see her father, he said he was happy to see her out of her room finally. He didn’t seem to even realize she’d been gone. Apparently, everyone thought she had stayed locked in her room all night. Elizabeth decided to make amends with her father and told him that she didn’t mind staying home if it was for her own safety. She couldn’t say so, but her experience at the Citadel sort of scared her straight.
Still, she couldn’t help but think that she’d like to see Deejay again someday. Knowing him, she probably wouldn’t have to wait for too long.
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