Legend of Kataria (Draft Version)

Chapter 13

"The lost prince, the heir to the Tapushian throne...is you."

Red's words bounced around his head for several seconds before it clicked. No! No! No! A thousand times no! It was like someone had suddenly flipped on the switch inside his brain and all of the pieces to the puzzle had suddenly fallen into place. The avalanche began small, just little pieces, hints, and clues that Leah had dropped over the years. Tiny things, like the way she'd said something or the scrutinizing looks she'd given him whenever he said something dumb or crazy. Things he'd never thought twice about. Things he should have known weren't right.

She's known who I was since the start. He thought back to the first time they'd met, all those years ago on the soccer field. She'd pretended well. He'd had no idea of the truth.

"You don't have many friends, do you?"

She'd touched him. She'd used her powers to know exactly what he was thinking. He would never have noticed or thought anything of it. It would have meant nothing...had meant nothing...until he learned what she really was and how well she'd played him for years.

"Bush?" Red spoke again gently. "Are you alright? You look like you've seen a ghost."

I have. A ghost of who I thought I was. But there was no way he was going to be able to bring himself to tell anyone that. How could she have lied to me for so long? I thought I knew everything about her. I thought being a Mineben was her greatest secret, but she kept the truth...my real identity...from me. When I asked her about my parents, she pretended to know nothing. It was a lie. It was all a lie.

And my parents are alive.

He couldn't be there. He couldn't be standing there doing nothing. His heart was thudding and his chest constricted with the fear of knowledge, something he'd never experienced until now. "I have to...I have to go..." he mumbled, resting a hand on his reeling head and stumbling away from the gym.

He heard Blue and Red calling after him, begging him to wait, and he felt Pinky's heated glare against his back, but he didn't stop. Adrenaline was coursing through him, forcing him on, out of the gym, down the hall, and out the front door, back into the open and crisp mountain air. He didn't stop to take it in. He hardly even noticed it.

The door slapped shut behind him, alerting him to another's presence, but he ignored it and stomped away toward the stables.

My parents are alive. They are the king and queen of Tapush! I'm the reason Morto destroyed Southpoint. It was me he wanted.

He recalled the king's words, "I come for the prince, but instead, I find the rebellion."

If only they both had known the truth, how very different things might have turned out. Leah might have been spared. She could've had more time to escape instead of letting herself get captured for me.

It was a wrong he could not leave undone.

There was only one way to fix everything. He needed to go to Morto's castle and turn himself in and exchange himself for Leah's safe return. He didn't care how she'd hate him for it. It was the right thing to do. She could hate him for the rest of her life, but he wasn't going to leave her there. No matter what the price.

He vaulted the fencing around the pasture and headed straight toward the barn. The reeking smell of horse and sweat met him as he reached the door and yanked it open. Several snorts and brays met him as he stepped into the dimly lit room, pausing to scan the stables. Over a dozen pairs of large black eyes fell on him and he could feel the restlessness coming from the creatures.