The Scarlet Phoenix and the Prince of Winter

Chapter Seventy Seven

Arhtoldt was a smart man so I was not surprised that he was able to recognize the Crown Prince despite the disguises that he had. But even so, it would have taken a lot of smarts to guess who was coming to see him as we told Calyx that it was just me and my boyfriend named 'Travor Dubstein' who was in to see him. Other people would have not realized it the way he did.

"So, what brings you here, Your Highness? I was under the impression that you no longer needed my lessons since you mastered them all in the shortest amount of time possible. Did you really have something that used to belong to the fabled Snow Gypsies? Or was Calyx just bluffing again as usual?" Artholdt was all smiles to us, but I could sense something different from him. I don't know what it is, but I feel something odd in him. Maybe it is because he is intimidating but I already met him a few times before and this is the first time that I could sense a different vibe in him.

The Crown Prince nodded. "Well, I do have something in here that I need you to check, but I am not sure if I can trust you enough, Artholdt." So Prince Kao can feel it too. And my intuition was right. There was something untrustworthy with this man.

"That is up to you, Your Highness. You are the Crown Prince. I will follow everything that you order me to do. If you tell me to keep this meeting between us a secret then I will keep it as a secret."

But Prince Kao did not look relieved by that. "You will follow my order, but if my father orders you to talk to him about this meeting, I don't see you withholding anything from him... And that is my main problem..."

Artholdt laughed again. He was already an intimidating man by default, but now that he laughed his usual booing laugh it felt like he was someone dangerous that we need to be wary of. I even began questioning if it was right coming here in exchange for the information that he can give us. Artholdt is known to be a friend of the current King, King Luander. So now I understand why the Crown Prince is hesitating now. Artholdt could tell the King our whereabouts. And that would just complicate everything.

"You are really a wise young man," I heard Artholdt say to Prince Kao. "Letting me get hungry first by the initial information that you gave me through my son, and then now you are implying that I might not be able to see the thing that you told my son that you have if there was a chance that I will tell your father about it. Such an advanced suggestive manipulation. That is something that a future King should possess. It will do you a lot of good favors while you serve the country as the King."

"That might be the case, but until I am not the King, I am not sure of your loyalty. I know that you will be forever loyal to my father, and that is why I am offering you a deal."

Aetholdt's eyebrows were raised by it. "And what is the deal that you are offering?"

"It's this; I know how obsessed you are with Aure's history, and I think you will like everything that we have found out so far. Rainha and I will be willing to share the things that we know and the things that we will discover in the future, so you might consider it."

"Hmm, that sounds interesting," said Artholdt who was now scratching his goatee. "You seem to be confident with the information that you have, Your Highness. Does that mean that you have some new information that will rock the world of all scholars and historians? Is that what you have? Because if it is not, then I am afraid that I cannot accept any kind of deal."

"That's right," said the Crown Prince firmly. "But that's just the tip of the iceberg. I have all sorts of information that will keep you busy for a long time. But first of all, I want to know if you are willing to go into a deal with me. I cannot let this get out to everybody else, Atrholdt. This is an important mission."

Calyx's father was quiet for a moment. He closed his eyes as if he was savoring the moment that he had to decide. I know that he likes stuff related to Aure's history, but would that be enough to keep him silent? And would Calyx's father really honor the deal, in case he accepts the Crown Prince's offer? That remains to be seen, but I highly doubt that this man would stay silent once the King asks him what is the matter.

"Accepting your offer is easy as pie, Your Highness," he said to Prince Kao confidently. "I'll just make sure that this encounter between the two of us will not reach your father. However, I can't think of anything that will force me into making a deal with you. As you know I am a man of learning. I have been actively participating in many research and studies, so I know almost everything that one has to know when it comes to our kingdom's history. That's why I don't know if I would really want to do this thing with you, Your Highness. If you could just at least show me this map that you are so confident about---"

"Rainha, show him," the Crown Prince said to me and I nodded. That was what we talked about earlier, that I would show the golden shield that came from the Forresters, so I took the huge rucksack that Steffan owned. Prince Kao borrowed it from him as it was the only bag that we know that can contain the shield. Artholdt was now looking at the rucksack with anticipation as I took out the golden shield from it. And when he saw it, his facial expression changed. He went from a disinterested old man to a rather curious scholar that he once was back when he still taught here at the Fire Academy.

"Is that from the Forresters?" Artholdt asked. "I had heard that they have several treasures best kept in their mansion but I had not been able to persuade them for years to let me see them. Us scholars are somewhat pissed at them for they are gatekeeping important artifacts from the past. That's why we always get off their high horses. But those people are not the friendliest people in the kingdom."

"It is a shield that predates the Eternal Winter," Prince Kao said to him. 'Behind it is a map that is written in an ancient text, so we could really not understand it. Let me show you the map," he added and then the Crown prince took the shield from me and flipped it so that Artholdt will be able to see what was written on its inside. Artholdt was speechless when he finally saw the map on the shield. I know from the look on his face that it blew him away. "We are interested in deciphering such an ancient text because we believe that it tells the location of the Luria, or more known as the Snow Gypsies, who were said to be the followers of the deity of fire and volcanoes--- the Scarlet Phoenix. So, are interested in it?"

"Of course, I am!" said Artholdt excitedly. "I would love to translate what's in it! But as you can see, it would not be as easy as you think. It is written in Plumbish, the ancient text of the early settlers in Plumba."

"So you can't read it?" I asked him and Calyx's father looked at me now as if this was the first time that he noticed me. Well, I am used to this kind of treatment as I am a court servant, but I could not shake off the feeling that he just realized something while looking at me.

"I can, but not entirely. Plumbish has long since died as a language. As the original settlers in Plumba intermarried with the rest of the kingdom, the language kind of died out naturally. The people in Plumba are said to have used the language to communicate with other people across the sea, but that became impossible as soon as the Eternal Winter started. Once the sea became totally frozen, there was no point in using a language that has originated from foreigners anyway."

"Foreigners? You mean Plumbish was a foreign language?" asked the Crown Prince. "But where did it actually come from if it did not originate from Plumba itself?"

Before Artholdt could answer, I presented my own theory without me realizing at first that I was doing it. "I think the language originated from the pirates that used to frequent Plumba. You see, Plumba before the Eternal Winter was a center of commerce, and merchants and pirates came to the coastal town to do business. And as expected, intermarriages happened between the pirates who originally spoke Plumbish and the locals, and that's how the language flourished there. Some of the Snow Gypsies married the pirates too, so they were able to acquire the language including the way to write it. One proof of that is this shield, which was given to a former Snoy Gypsy who happened to marry a pirate who settled on the hills of Plumba facing the sea. It was given to them in case that they need the help of the Snow Gypsies, they will be able to find their location. And that couple is the ancestors of the Forresters."

The two of them were looking at me as if I did something. And it was Calyx's father that asked me the inevitable question first. "Where did you get that information, Rainha?"

I pointed at myself upon the confusion. "M-Me? Ah...I just read it somewhere..."

"You can't read that anywhere, Rainha..." he said. "So who told you these things?"

"Why? Am I not correct?"

Artholdt looked like he wanted to say that I was wrong with my theory, but he meant the other way around. "I don't know how to say this, but what you just said fits everything that I have researched about Plumbish! Of course, this is all guesswork but if you think closely, you are right. The early settlers of Plumba had been in contact with pirates, so that is where they must have gotten the language! And the Snow Gypsies! For such a long time, we have wondered why on earth they used a language that was only found in Plumba, as we could not find any connection between the two. But you just gave us the answer! And somehow, the Forresters are they proof to it! This is amazing, Rainha! Where did you get that information?"

But before I could even reply to his question, Prince Kao was already prepared for what he would say. "Rainha has her resources, and she will tell you everything that she knows if you cooperate with us. So, do we have a deal? Will you help us decipher the code and keep this as a secret from my father?"

Atholdt immediately nodded. "Of course! I wouldn't let this opportunity pass me! Count me in! I promise you that I will never tell your father anything about this! I'm sure he will understand why I will keep it from him once he learns it in another way!"

"Okay. Then the deal is on. So, can you translate to us what the ancient text is saying? We can't read it, of course, and the Forresters don't also know its origins. But Rainha says that it came from the Snow Gypsies and gave it to the Forrester's ancestors who lived in that hill where their mansion is still located. It served both as a memento and a map."

Calyx's father was still looking at me suspiciously, but he was able to hold himself back from asking me too many questions that I would not answer too in the first place. "I don't know where you got that idea that this is a map to a place where the Snow Gypsies lived, but let's see... Let us see if you are correct... I will try to decode this text. Plumbish is kind of tricky, you know... It is a lot different when it's written than spoken. In fact, I suspect that the Snow Gypsies can even speak the language themselves. I just think that they used the text as their mode of writing so that people will not be able to read what they are writing."

"That's what I thought too," I replied. "The Snow Gypsies weren't speaking in a different language. So you might be right about that. But the Scarlet Phoenix does seem to be aware that the text is different from what the other people in the rest of the kingdom were using. She looked concerned when she ordered Ova to give the shield to Nievo---"

"What are you talking about? What is that talk---?"

"Nevermind her, Artholdt. Just tell us what the text says."

Artholdt was now examining the text behind the shield, and I could tell that he was also having a rough time deciphering it. "Well, this looks like a map, alright... But I am not sure. It doesn't feel like it is complete."

Prince Kao and I exchanged worried looks. "What do you mean by that?"

"This writing only looks like a map because some parts of these texts are actually graphics. More like pictographs, you know. They drew something in here that looks like a plain map of someplace. I just hope that I will be able to decode this correctly."

"What can we do to help you?" I asked, but Artholdt did not reply. He was now busy copying the text in one of his notebooks, while Prince Kao kept him company by talking to him about the Snow Gypsies.

"That could be a map to where they took refuge after the Eternal Winter appeared. I could understand what the first paragraph says. It tells us about a 'rocky mountain and two rivers meeting there to become one.' That's what is it all about. However..."

"However?"

"However, I don't know why but they did not even finish this text that is written here. Whoever written this on this shield might have not been able to finish it as it ends with a question. It does not tell about a place at all. Well, not at least directly."

"Then what does it say? Word for word?" asked the Crown Prince who I knew was getting impatient now. So Artholdt had no choice but to tell him what the text literally means. According to his translation, the text was talking about a riddle-like paragraph. It mentioned two rivers that met at a point where the mountains collided, and then at the center of all of this was a stairway to the heavens. For me, it sounded very metaphorical, and that's a problem. For how can we go to a place if the only direction that exists is written in a metaphor? How can we know that we are where we should be?

Prince Kao also realized this and was now asking Artholdt a lot of questions. "You have studied about them, didn't you? About the Snow Gypsies? What do you think? Do you know of a place that fits whatever is that description?"

"Here in Aure, Kajos is the only place I could think of when we talk about mountains colliding, but I don't think that is the place that they are talking about. There are no rivers in Kajos as it is at a very high altitude. So it could be a place outside of Aure, as that could be possible. The Snow Gypsies left Aure sometime ago and only came back after a war. We scholars don't know the exact details about it, but that is why they were called Gypsies. They lived outside of Aure and moved from one place to another. This map could be telling us how to get there in their old home."

I wanted to add that they came back to Aure and they even became part of the council, but I chose not to tell him that as that would shock him more. Besides, it looks like he was actually clueless about what happened to the Snow Gypsies, so I just let him be. Prince Kao seemed to have not enjoyed what Artholdt was telling us, so it would be a matter of time before he gets pissed.

"The last part of the text is the most confusing of all," he said to both me and the Crown Prince with a frown. "It talks about a key to a paradise. And it says that this key should only be kept by the leader... And then it shifts to talking about using someone's blood as payment for the key to work."

"What? I don't understand it," I told him and to be honest, my mind hurt when I heard him tell us that last part of the ancient text. "So it is not complete..." I said. "What a shame... I thought this map would answer everything that we don't have a clue about yet..."

"This is more confusing and misleading than a riddle, so if I were you, I will not rely on this if you want to find that mysterious place where the Snow Gypsies lived."

"Then this will be a lost cause too," I said. "I hope we can understand what it really means. Too bad no one now can understand what it means."

"And too bad that your mother is already gone," said Artholdt to me. "Because if she was alive, I'm sure that she knows about this riddle and how to solve it."