Elemental Worlds Collection

Chapter 2-1

Dinner was pleasant. Torren, or Dilrong, he supposed he should think of him now, sat at the other end of the table from Pettic, close to the daughter of the Duke of Kroldor. She was a pretty girl and Torren was paying her close attention and turning on the charm. He hardly noticed Pettic, gracing him with a brief nod as he entered the dining room. Cledo growled in the direction of the imposter, and Pettic now realised that the dog could sense, probably by smell, that this was not his friend.

After dinner, as they retired to the Great Hall for the concert, Pettic noticed Torren was no longer with the royal party. The queen turned to him and asked if he knew where her son was. Of course, Pettic did not and he bowed to Queen Phillida and apologised for his friend, telling her he thought he may be along in a few moments.

The prince did not appear, neither did the young lady. Pettic worried a little about the non-appearance of both of them. He knew the real Torren would never compromise a young lady, especially one of the nobility, but this was not the real prince and he had no idea what this person would do, so he worried.

It was two days before he managed to see Princess Lucenra alone. They met walking along the corridor near her apartment and she asked him to come with her. They entered her drawing room, and immediately she asked him what he had found out.

"I followed Torren into the woods," he told her. "There he met a man. I can"t say much about him because he was all muffled up in cloaks and scarves. He did, however, greet Torren by the name of Dilrong. He did a spell on his ring and then said, “Being Crown Prince, and ultimately King will be well worth it.” "

Being Crown Prince, and ultimately King will be well worth itPettic sighed. "I don"t pretend to understand what it was all about, but it seems obvious the person we"re seeing as Torren is, in fact, an imposter made to look like him by sorcery."

The princess looked into Pettic"s blue eyes and her brown ones looked worried.

"I think you"re right in this, Pettic," she responded. "I think it"s time we went back to see Blundo, don"t you?"

She ran her fingers through her brunette hair and she sat down. "If what you say is true, then we must find Torren and expose this pretender. We must also find out who the magician is. Is this Dilrong in charge or does the magician want to gain power through him? Too many questions need answering and we need to think hard. Blundo will help us in this, I know. He always liked Torren the best of all of us, I think, and will want to help free him." She paused and looked up at Pettic. Then she said, almost whispering, "If he"s still alive, that is. This man could have killed him."

"I"d had that thought too, Lucenra," replied Pettic, equally quietly, "but I refuse to even think about that yet."

"By the way," the princess brightened a bit, "Father gave Torren a severe dressing down for missing the concert the other night. He told him it was very rude of him, and he wouldn"t have expected him to act in that way. Of course, the real Torren would never have done so even if he didn"t like the music."

"I think he was with that girl, you know, the daughter of the Duke of Kroldor. He managed to wangle a seat next to her at dinner, and she didn"t appear at the concert either."

"Oh, no! I hope that he hasn"t compromised her virtue. Torren would never have done so, of course, but this Dilrong? Who knows?"

The pair left the room and went to find Blundo. Unfortunately he was not in his tower, and his assistant had no idea as to his whereabouts so they left a message. They both returned to their own apartments to wait for a note saying Blundo had returned and could see them.

Cledo was delighted to see his master return and he jumped around like a puppy until Pettic laughingly told him to go and lie down. Just then, the door opened and there stood Torren.

"I"ve decided I"ve been neglecting you," he told Pettic as he entered uninvited and sat down on one of the chairs. "I think we should have a game of cards. Get yours out. I didn"t bring mine."

Pettic had to remind himself that this was not the prince. Torren would never have entered uninvited, nor spoken to him like that. Pettic felt like a servant and not a friend. Still, he bit his tongue and went to get his cards.

Cledo began growling again as soon as Torren entered and Pettic thrust the dog unceremoniously into his bedroom. When he came back with the cards, Torren had arranged the card table in the centre of the room and placed four chairs round it.

"Are we expecting someone else?" queried Pettic. Torren had said nothing about anyone else coming.

"Yes," replied the other. "It"s always more fun with four. I"ve invited that pretty daughter of the Duke of Kroldor and her friend to join us." He laughed. "I think the girl likes me—what"s her name—I must remember before she arrives. Oh yes. Zoila. I"m hoping I can get to know her much better." Here he winked at Pettic.

much"Oh dear," thought Pettic. "I think he may be thinking about, how did Lucenra put it? “Compromising her virtue.”"

Oh dear,I think he may be thinking about, how did Lucenra put it? “Compromising her virtue.”The girls arrived, obviously flattered to be asked to play cards with the Crown Prince. They giggled as they entered Pettic"s apartment and sat down around the table. Pettic asked what game the girls would like to play and then Zoila took the cards and shuffled them before dealing them out to the others.

Half way through the game, in which Torren insisted they play for real money, a knock sounded on the door. Pettic excused himself and went to answer it. It was Lucenra.

"I"ve just had a note to say that Blundo"s back and can see us whenever we want," she said.

The voice of Torren came from behind . "What do you want to see Blundo about?" he demanded.

"Oh, Torren," Lucenra said, "I didn"t know you were here." She thought quickly and said, "Pettic and I have been having an argument about magic, what it can and can"t do, you know? We went to see Blundo to ask which of us is right."

"Oh, is that all. I wondered if one of you were thinking about taking it up. A bit old though, both of you. I believe you have to start very young and what"s more, have an aptitude for it. Anyway, Pettic can"t come with you now. We"re in the middle of a game and I"m winning."

Pettic shrugged and mouthed "Sorry" to the princess. Then he said aloud, "Why don"t you go and see Blundo? You can tell me what he says about our problem and let me know. I promise I"ll believe every word you say, even if you tell me he said I"m wrong."

With that, he closed the door as the princess walked despondently away and he turned back to the game.

"I know," laughed Torren, "Why don"t we have a game of strip poker?"

The two girls looked worried.

"I don"t know how to play poker," said Zoila.

"Don"t worry," the prince reassured her, "It"s easy. You"ll pick it up in no time."

"I"m not sure about this, Torren," Pettic said. "The girls haven"t played before and are certain to lose."

Torren grinned and winked at Pettic, mouthing "Of course, that"s the idea." Then he said aloud, "Come on, it"ll be great. Just a bit of harmless fun. What"s wrong with that?"

The other three continued to argue until Torren lost his temper.

"I"m the Crown Prince. I"ll be your king some day. You will obey me. I want to play strip poker, so we"ll play strip poker!"

With a sigh they gave in and played the game. Soon the girls were down to their undergarments and nearly crying. Torren called for another hand. He was still fully dressed and Pettic had only lost his jacket and shirt.

"No more, Torren," said Pettic. "Can"t you see the girls are upset?"

"Oh, tosh. They"re only pretending. They"re enjoying showing off their bodies. All females enjoy being looked at and admired, and how I"m admiring these two!"

At this point, Zoila"s friend stood up and gathered her clothes.

"Crown Prince or not, my future monarch or not, I"m not playing any more. I"m going to put my clothes back on and so is Zoila and we"re leaving. I cannot believe that the man we were told is so honourable and gallant would do this to us."

She strode off, pulling Zoila with her into the bedroom.

As soon as she opened the door, a grey streak shot past her and leaped on Torren snarling. Pettic dragged the dog off and sent him back to the bedroom while picking up the prince.

"That animal is dangerous. I"ll have one of the guards sent up here to put him down. In the meantime, he mustn"t be allowed out of your quarters. If I see him around the palace, I"ll have you banished."

Torren strode out of the room, leaving two crying girls and a very angry Pettic.

It was much later in the day that Pettic and Lucenra managed to get to see the court magician. Pettic had been much upset by the threat to his dog, even though he knew intellectually this was not the prince, the imposter was so like him it was hard to put it into context. He was also annoyed and upset by the treatment of the two girls.

He spent a lot of time talking to Lucenra about the earlier events and then a few hours in the stables finding someone to look after his dog, somewhere away from the palace. One of the stable hands agreed in the end and Pettic smuggled the animal out and the lad led the reluctant wolfhound away to his home. The dog had whined as the stablehand led him away, making Pettic feel guilty.

The time arrived to visit the magician in his tower. Pettic and Lucenra climbed the stairs quickly and knocked on the door to Blundo"s rooms. They entered when the magician called out to them.

"Sorry we"re late," Lucenra said. "We were caught up in something. Actually, it has to do with Torren. His behaviour is becoming more bizarre and unpleasant. But first Pettic must tell you what he"s found out."

Pettic began his tale and told about how he had followed Torren to his meeting with the mysterious magician in the woods and what he heard and saw.

Blundo rubbed his chin, thinking, and then said, "It sounds very much as if what you suspect is true. What you saw, is a remaking of the spell on the gem that holds the illusion true. It seems Prince Torren has indeed been abducted or killed and an impostor put in his place. I sincerely hope he hasn"t been killed. We must assume he"s imprisoned somewhere and work on that premise."

Lucenra thought for a few minutes and then said, "Perhaps if we followed the impostor again when he goes off by himself we can find out something about where the real Torren"s imprisoned. We can then tell father and he can send troops to rescue him."

"Woah there," cried Pettic. "What do you mean by "We"? It might be dangerous and if Torren is dead, which heaven forbid, then you"re the heir to the throne. You can"t be put in danger!"