Chapter 6 - Abethia and the underground peoples

In the previous chapter, Lanna, Declan and Marnordir found themselves at the entrance to Abethia, the land of the underground peoples. I take up the pen again to tell you the rest of our Grand Story.
“Where do you two think you're going?" asked Kallan Marnordir coldly. “Let us through, wizard!" cried Lanna. “Have you gone mad?" snapped Marnordir. “What possessed you to run away like that?” “And what possessed you to follow her?” “All your mother's guards, Lanna, are looking for you!” “I'm going to”... “You!" shouted Marnordir to Declan, interrupting Lanna. “You managed to track her, in the water, her element, and you found her and what do you do?” “You're throwing yourself into the lion's den with her!” “What's wrong with you?” “Well”... began Declan. “I haven't finished yet!” “Do you think I haven't understood what you're about to do?” “You want to reach Sayosia's capital via Abethia.” “What do you think you can do to Kel-Nazir on your own?” “This is no small mission for the Alliance!” “This is the capital of the Empire, overprotected by soldiers on the lookout for traitors like you!” “I forbid you to go!” “Who do you think you are, Marnordir?” “You have no rights over us!” “If Declan wants to obey you, that's his choice, but I'm going to avenge my brother!” “There's nothing you can do about these monsters, little girl!” “We have magic, but the Emperor is far more dangerous. He has reached the Black Threshold, the limit of the deepest and most harmful evil.” “Why do you think I didn't get rid of that crazy Maximilien before!” “He no longer has a soul.” “How do you kill someone who doesn't really exist anymore?” “All the more reason!” “If he's reached the Threshold of I don't know what, we've got to get rid of him!” “He kills children just to catch you, dragons be damned!” “Who knows what else he's capable of!” “Why should I wait?” “In five days, he'll start killing again, so there's no time to lose!”
By the time they entered Abethia, they had left the water and Lanna was no longer at her best. The two men eventually caught up with her. Just as the three of them were starting to argue again, a small, high-pitched voice interrupted them: “You are entering the territory of Abethia, please announce yourself to the queen!” A light appeared at the end of the tunnel where they were standing. Intrigued, they advanced to the light, where they discovered a giant toad in armor hiding a door. The toad was as big as Declan. He held a torch in one hand and an axe in the other. “You are entering the territory of Abethia, please announce yourself to the queen!” he repeated in his high-pitched voice.

“And you're the queen?” asked Declan huffily. “With pleasure," Marnordir replied to the toad, "take us to Her Majesty.” “And if you'll excuse the cheeky youngster, he's not really that bad, is he, Declan?” “Cheeky youngster?" asked Declan in an even worse mood. “Hush!” “You're going to get us into trouble!” says Marnordir in a low voice. “We're obliged to present ourselves to the Queen now, and she, and she alone, will decide which way we leave Abethia.” “For all I know, she could escort us thousands of leagues from here without us seeing a way out!” “We're forced to follow protocol, the Queen is quick to punish bad manners, and we'll never have time to get out before Maximilien's ultimatum ends if we get angry with the Kingdom of Abethia.” “Because of you, Lanna, we have no choice but to get out on Kel-Nazir's side, there's no time to go anywhere else because of these endless tunnels!” “But don't dream!” “I won't let you do anything rash.” “I hope you're both happy!” “Both of you?” “But she's the one who ran into the tunnel!” The toad had opened the door and ducked into another tunnel. “Shh!" repeated Marnordir. “Let's go, we mustn't lose him, otherwise we'll be wandering these underground tunnels for eternity, as few people can find their way back to the surface.” “That's why there are so many skeletons in the corners, many of whom perished looking for the way out.” Lanna and Declan looked down in disgust. “So that's the sound under our feet," says Lanna. “Past all the dragons!" Declan shouted indignantly. “Another DursTor!” “Why do we always go to places like this?” “Shhh!”
Marnordir took the same route as the toad. Lanna and Declan followed. “Why can't we hear you anymore, Princess?” “I'm thinking.” “Oh, no!” “What's up?” “No!" snapped Declan. “You're not going to run off again!” “You heard the old man, we're going to get lost in these tunnels if we don't follow the right path, and in this case, you don't know the right path!” “I've got a good sense of direction, even underground!” “Don't even think about it!” “I'll report you to the old man, and you saw how easily he found us!” “He'll be chasing you and I'll be there to watch him drive the train!” “We'll just have to see!” “Now that we're moving forward, we have to follow them.”
They caught up with Marnordir and walked in silence behind the giant toad. They walked through several tunnels for what seemed like hours. Declan soon began a fruitless conversation, which he kept going on his own, in the hope of preventing Lanna from concentrating too much on an escape plan. “What's the matter with you, Marnordir?” “You've never yapped so much about nothing!” “Spit it out, what's going on?” “I have no idea what you're talking about”... “The throne room!" the toad suddenly shouted in his high-pitched voice, stopping abruptly in front of a large, ornate door. The other three stood completely still. “Where did this door come from?" whispered Lanna to whoever wanted to answer.
The toad opened the door and announced: “Visitors for Her Majesty Queen Circa of Abethia!” Behind him, Lanna, Declan and Marnordir discovered a large room at the end of which Circa, queen bee of Abethia, was entertaining herself by throwing rotten mushrooms at a band of troubadours. She barely sat upright on her throne when she spotted the three visitors. “Who comes to disturb my boredom?” “Step forward!” Our three protagonists entered the room and went to kneel before Circa. “Kallan!” “Is that you?” “Welcome to my kingdom, dear friend!" exclaimed the queen as Marnordir rose to place a kiss on her hand. “How happy I am to see you again!” “What are you doing in my hive? “And who are your friends?”
The troubadours who had stopped playing looked at the newcomers with eyes full of curiosity and excitement. "At last, some new faces in the underworld!" they thought. The Queen noticed and dismissed them. “Bzzz, bzzz!” “Off you go!” The troubadours reluctantly went out, but once outside, the door opened and a dozen eyes appeared in the opening.
“We'll organize a banquet for you and your friends, my dear Kallan!” “Give me some news from the surface and I'll tell you a good story!” Everyone was soon seated in front of a mountain of food. They feasted with laughter and good humor, except for Lanna who remained pensive and barely touched the food. When they were full and ready to go to sleep, the queen spoke up. “Kallan, as you know, there are rules in my kingdom, and although I hold you in high esteem, you must abide by them.” “We haven't come to cause trouble, I promise you, we just want to join Kel-Nazir.” “We'll abide by the rules of the Kingdom of Abethia, you can be sure of that!” “All right then, since we're in agreement, I'll tell you what you need to do to reach the capital of the Empire.” “The tradition here is for visitors to take up a challenge before leaving.” Marnordir frowned and Declan took notice. “Here's my challenge to you: I'm going to tell you the story of Abethia's creation, and when I've finished, you'll have to tell me whether it's true or false.” Marnordir turned pale. “What is it?" whispered Declan. “It's easy enough for once.” “Nothing is ever easy," replied Marnordir. “What do you think?" continued Queen Circa. “You have a 50/50 chance of success.” “Is my story true or false?” “So be it!" replied Marnordir, glumly. “You've always been a smart man, Kallan.” “Now listen carefully, all three of you!”
And after a burst of laughter, the queen began to tell them a story: “Once upon a time, there were nine brothers and sisters, born on the same day, at the same time. Each was given a unique gift at birth that set them apart from the others. They were so special that the Ages themselves bent over their cradles. Thus touched by grace were the bee, which was given the color yellow by the Ages as a symbol of its extraordinary gifts, the ladybug, which was given the color red, the dragonfly, blue, the praying mantis, green, the butterfly, pink, the beetle, purple, the caterpillar, orange, the fly, black and, finally, the spider, which was given the color white. As they grew, the Nine, pampered by the Ages, rose like little stars in the heavens and shared their marvelous powers with the world. And so they grew up, vigilant and benevolent. Until the day their father, the king, died. Councils were then convened and delegations sent to appoint the king's successor. None of the Nine wanted to rule without their brothers and sisters. The Ages had decided that they would be nine, they had been born at the same time and no one would rule alone. Unfortunately, the traditionalists revolted and cried sacrilege, demanding that only one rule and not all nine. The most virulent of the detractors, Duke Daphnis Nerii, led an aggressive campaign among the people against the Nine and their unbreakable union, which he felt was an affront to the traditions of their culture. Duke Daphnis Nerii was motivated by perversion and selfishness, and harbored secret hopes of reigning over the beautiful Kingdom under Heavens. The Nine, however, would not budge. Then, one day, he had an idea. He tried to corrupt each of the siblings and eventually found the ideal prey. The Nine weren't all weak, but one of them, the bee, had a taste for plots and power, and fell prey to Duke Daphnis Nerii. He offered her honey and treasures and convinced her to get rid of her brothers and sisters. In this way, after some time, one of the Nine died. Then soon another. Then another. And so on, until only two of the nine children were left alive: the bee and the butterfly. The duel was violent and bloody.”

The queen paused, catching her breath theatrically before continuing, her gaze feverish: “I'll let you guess who won their place on the throne... Those were the days, but all things must come to an end! To add insult to injury, the Duke cast a spell on the bee, sending it underground with the vermin as punishment for its despicable behavior! Then he took over the Kingdom under Heavens, and the bee, in the underworld, was forgotten by the kingdoms above. The latter worked hard to create her hive and succeeded in obtaining her beautiful kingdom. It wasn't all plain sailing, with many denouncing the bee's murders, but the bee held back the fury with an iron fist and managed to build a magnificent country beneath the earth. After all, it was only the scenery that changed”... Queen Circa took a deep breath and continued: “And so my story ends. Is this how the Kingdom of Abethia was created, yes or no? You tell me! But you should know that if your answer is incorrect, you will leave here by the door of my choice, which may be very far from your destination... If you leave! Mordreide will accompany you to the small yellow lounge where you can deliberate.” The queen leaned over and shouted: “Mordreide!” A giant toad, slightly smaller than the first, rushed at the Queen's guests, who silently rose to their feet and followed it to the famous yellow lounge. As soon as they were alone, Marnordir spoke with a serious air. “We're in trouble!” “Why?" asked Declan. “We know the answer. We all know that this story is true. I even think the Duke is still alive.” “No!" exclaimed Marnordir. “What's the matter with you?” “We can't give our answer”... “Why?” “Of course we can, everyone knows what happened. There's even a nursery rhyme about the wicked bee.” “I think it goes something like, "beware, bzzz, bzzz, when night comes, bzzz, bzzz, for the bee is watching, bzzz, bzzz, to take your life”... “Stop singing!" interrupted Marnordir. “We can't answer the Queen, because if we give the wrong answer we'll be far from Abethia and by the time we reach Kel-Nazir, Maximilien's week will be over and he'll be killing again. And if we give the right answer, Queen Circa will hang us high!” “If the story of Abethia's creation is common knowledge, it's also common knowledge that anyone who accuses the queen of fratricide in her kingdom is guilty of high treason and is executed!” “Didn't you hear his verse about the iron fist?” “Hmm! “So what do we do?" asked Declan. “Lanna, do you have any ideas?” Lanna didn't answer. “Lanna”... The two men turned around, Lanna had disappeared. “By all the Dragons!" exclaimed Declan. “She's gone again.”
They hurried out of the yellow salon and saw Lanna entering the throne room. They ran after her, but when they entered the room, she was already standing in front of the queen. “Your Majesty," says Lanna, "we're ready to answer your questions.” Declan and Marnordir rushed to her side. “What are you doing?" whispered Marnordir to Lanna. Lanna continued without paying him any attention. “This story about the creation of Abethia is true, and the famous bee is you.” The Queen smiles. “We also know it's a trap," continued Lanna, "and that we can't accuse you, but I think you've told us this story for a reason.” “So, here's the deal I propose: let us out at Kel-Nazir at once, and in exchange, we'll deliver Duke Daphnis Nerii to you in the flesh.” “You're crazy, since when do we do that sort of thing?" whispered Declan. “How do I know you won't vanish into thin air once you're out there?" asked the Queen, skeptically. “I'll make a blood pact with you.” “No!” shouted Marnordir. Without waiting, Lanna drew a small knife from her belt and slashed her palm. She stepped in front of the queen, holding out a bloody hand. “This could be the chance of a lifetime to get your revenge”... Stunned at first by Lanna's reckless behavior, the queen was soon won over by the idea. “It's a deal!” she says.

The queen slashed her hand in turn and grabbed Lanna's hand. At the touch of their palms, their blood froze and a small red dust enveloped their handshake before disappearing. Both satisfied, they smiled at each other and let go of each other's hands. Their palms were unmarked and the blood had evaporated. The magic of the blood pact had healed their flesh. The Queen called back her underling. “Mordreide!” “Take our guests to the southern exit of Kel-Nazir.” Then she stood up and turned to Marnordir. “It was a pleasure to meet you again, Kallan!” “We'll meet again when you deliver that scoundrel Duke to me!” And without a word to the others, she left. Declan still hadn't taken the measure of what had happened and was watching Lanna, who had set off behind Mordreide. Marnordir nudged him. “Let's go.” They followed Lanna and Mordreide. Once inside the endless tunnels of Abethia, Marnordir let his anger explode. “How could you do this? Do you know what a blood pact entails?” “Of course I know, I'm not a child anymore!” “Well, it doesn't show! We might have expected this kind of suicidal behavior from Declan, but not from you!” “Hey!" exclaimed Declan, offended. “Oh, don't play the offended! You know as well as I do that it's true.” Declan couldn't think of anything to say.
Lanna continued forward without listening to their comments. She was determined and nothing was too much trouble to avenge the death of her little brother.
After many hours of walking, the three of them left Abethia as they had entered it: through a gaping hole drilled in the Moonga soil...