Siblings of Corona-B3:Life On the Road

Chapter 15

"You know, two years ago, I’d call fighting jackal monsters on the back of a speeding carriage whilst a rhinoceros chases the people I love absolutely bonkers. Now I call it Tuesday," Eugene said as they walked towards the Great Tree.  Rapunzel laid her head on his shoulder.

Cassandra walked past them towards Adira and Quirin.  "Adira! Who was that man that attacked us? And don’t give us any of your cryptic runaround talk." She crossed her arms.

"His name is Hector, and I don’t think I appreciate your tone."

"Adira," Quirin began.

"Oh!" Cassandra scoffed sarcastically. "I’m sorry I gave you the impression I care about the things you appreciate."

"All right, all right." Rapunzel cut in. "Let's not argue.  Who is Hector?"

Adore sighed. "He’s a member of the Brotherhood, a group of warriors sworn to keep any and all away from the Dark Kingdom."

"Dark Kingdom? That’s where we’re headed," Varian asked.

"How many are there in this Brotherhood?"

"Four," Quirin said.

"But none of the brothers is as dangerous or sadistic as Hector. And this is his domain… Apparently. The Great Tree."

"If we knew he was here, we would have warned you," Quirin added.

"And how do you know so much about all of this?" Cassandra set her hands on her hips.

"Let’s just say some of us in the Brotherhood disagree on a couple of things," Adira said as she and Quirin took off their gloves, revealing the symbols on their hands.

"So, you're not actually brother and sister?" Rapunzel asked.

"Well, not much differently than you, Blue Stripe, and Short Hair are siblings.  We may not be related by blood, but we are siblings regardless."

"All right, so we have to get through a crazy rhino guy’s house to get to this Dark Kingdom?" Eugene asked.

"Guys, we barely got away from this Hector with our lives, and now we’re going to trust her and go through his home turf?" Cassandra pointed out. "I don’t like it."

"Well, like it or not, it’s our only choice," Adira said.  "We can lead you through and maybe we can talk some sense into our brother."

"Cass, let's put it to a vote.  Will that make you feel better?" Rapunzel asked.  "Those in favor of letting Adira and Quirin join for the Great Tree, raise your hand."

Eugene, Lance and Rapunzel raised their hands.  Varian hesitated, but he did as well.  Andrew merely set a hand on Cassandra's shoulder rather than voting, but she knew that he would have voted in agreement had she not expressed her point of view.

"It looks like the vote was out numbered, Cass.  Is that ok?" Rapunzel said hopefully.

"Fine…" Cassandra said with a sigh.  "Let's go."

"What is this place?" Rapunzel gasped in awe as they entered a room inside the tree.

"All these, the paintings…" Cassandra mumbled.

Varian lifted one of the pieces of the scroll and the sun and moon painting aligned.  "Someone was studying the Sundrop and the Moonstone in here."

"What does it mean?" Lance asked

"No one knows for certain," Quirin said. "Many spent their lives trying to translate these words." He gently set a hand on the wall.  "If Ulla were here, she'd be rambling about all the possibilities..." He chuckled.