Night Terrors

10

Shuriki always slept late. Esteban was up at dawn most of the time. He didn't sleep in unless he was ill. Staying in bed until noon for no reason other than because he could was a first for him. Shuriki had no complaints when she woke up to find him beside her with an arm draped over her as if protecting her even as he slept.

She yawned and nuzzled his chest. The sound of the door opening and closing made her lift her head. She looked over to see Isabel scampering toward the bed.

"I woke up and you were gone," Isa said quietly. "I don't like being alone. May I sleep next to you?"

"Oh, darling...of course you can."

Shuriki helped her get up onto the bed and wrapped her in a tiny portion of the huge blanket. Isabel curled up into a ball tucking herself into Shuriki's side while the woman crooned softly and snuggled with her.

Esteban opened his eyes long enough to see what was going on. He gave them a sleepy smile before closing his eyes and going back to sleep.

"Is primo Esteban okay?" Isa asked.

Shuriki could tell the little princess was fighting her own need to rest. "He's fine, darling, though I think it'd be best if you start calling him 'Papá' from now on."

Isa yawned. "Si, Mamá. "

They remained like that for most of the morning. No one on the palace staff was willing to enter the queen's solar or its apartments for fear of her ire. The only time they went into the queen's private chambers was if or when she called for food or drink. Even then they were very careful to carry out whatever task she'd set for them with as much speed as they could muster. Quick and quiet, they told themselves and one another. Not one of them dared to say a word about seeing the queen naked in the chancellor's bed or that the princess had taken to calling them her padres as if King Raul, Queen Lucia, and the rest of the royal family had never existed.

Gabe and Rico sat in their bunks as other guards told them of the goings-on in the palace, how Shuriki was permitting the Carnaval parade to take place and that she was planning a celebration for the "Crowned Princess" Isabel's birthday.

"This is starting to freak me out," Rico said. "Since when is Shuriki into fiestas or desfiles?"

"I don't know," Gabe admitted, "but we're sitting ducks in this garrison. She knows we'll never be loyal to her and the only reason we haven't defected to another kingdom is because she still has Isa and Esteban under her control. There's no way we're leaving them behind with that witch."

"We may not have a choice," Rico sighed. "El canciller and la princesa are acting as if they want to be with her. You think she has them under some sort of spell?"

Gabe shrugged. "Could be, but spells require the use of a wand, and I haven't seen her using one. Shuriki's wand was broken after Elena and the Enchancian royal family helped encourage Avalor's citizens to oust her."

"Is there anything you can do, Mateo?" Rico asked, turning to where Mateo and Naomi were seated on one of the spare bunks across from them.

Mateo gave them an apologetic look. "I'm looking, but none of my books have any useful information on how to deal with the type of creature you're describing. If Shuriki is as old as I think, then her kind either pre-dated the Maruvians or were residing elsewhere in the EverRealm at the time Maru was a civilization, which would explain why we don't have much knowledge of them or their existence."

"Wait...maybe we're going about this the wrong way," Naomi murmured.

Everyone shifted their gazes from Mateo over to her.

"What do you mean?" Mateo asked.

"Shuriki's not from Avalor," Ms. Turner reminded them. "If there's information on her, it's going to be in the Northern Islands, since that's where she was born and raised."

"She's right," de Alva realized. "I need to get to the Northern Islands."

Rico shook his head. "Northern Islanders don't like foreigners and they have strict rules about who can have access to their historical halls and sorceric libraries."

Naomi motioned to herself. "I can pass for a Northern Islander."

Gabe frowned. "Mateo can't."

"What about a shapeshifting potion?" she suggested.

"That could work," Mateo concurred. "I was working on one before Shuriki came back and retook the throne. I had a test vial prepared. I just need to get it out of my workshop."

"What if it doesn't work or the potion fades?" Gabe asked.

"No problem. I can always make more. It's hidden in a box of ingredients I set in the left corner of the top shelf of the cabinet across from my work table."

"Think you can get to it if we sneak you and Naomi into the palace?"

"I can try."

"Shift change starts at sundown," Gabe declared. "We'll do it then."

"We should prepare a distraction just in case Shuriki catches on that something's up," Rico suggested.

Gabe nodded. "Let's talk to Andreas and Miguel. They aren't too happy about the witch being back. I think they'll help if we tell them what's been going on and about our plan."

All four turned to where Lieutenants Leon and Sosa sat playing a game of cards. Rico rolled his eyes when one of the lieutenants asked the other a ridiculous question and got an equally ridiculous - wrong - answer. "They're definitely not the sharpest blades in the armory."

Gabe facepalmed. "No, but you work with what you got, so they'll just have to do." He plastered on a fake smile and headed over to the gullible guardsmen.

Gabe hated the idea of sacrificing other's lives, but if doing so helped Mateo find a way to rid Avalor of that witch once and for all, then he had to do it. There were no other options at the moment. Their key to defeating an enemy of Shuriki's caliber lay hidden somewhere in the Northern Islands. They had to find it no matter the cost.

For the good of Avalor, he told himself.

He'd also promised Elena he'd look out for her baby sister and cousin, and he was going to keep that vow, even if it killed him. Which, at the rate he was going, it probably would.

Gabe had figured as much early on after joining Elena's royal guard. He'd already come to terms with it. Better to die as a hero than sit on the sidelines watching others suffer under the rule of a vicious, vindictive, inhuman tyrant.