Quest For A Cure: Chapter 2

NOTE: I’m so sorry this took so long, this series was not meant to take weeks to complete but I’ve been so busy and I just haven’t had the time to complete it. It’s here now, though, and the third and final chapter will be out way sooner. Enjoy!

TW: Alzheimer's, abandonment, sexism

“I’m a what?!” My mouth hung agape. “No, no, I can’t be a prince. That makes no sense! Someone would’ve come for me or my mom would’ve told me or-”
    “Hey, hey, it’s okay, calm down. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for all of this,” the girl said, putting a hand on my shoulder.
    “How am I supposed to calm down?!” I asked, shaking her hand off. “Would you be able to calm down if you just found out you were royalty?!”
    “Dude, chill,” the girl said. “It shouldn’t change anything. Now you just have a little extra help while you’re here, right?”
    I nodded. “I guess that makes sense,” I said. I looked up at the girl. She had short brown hair and green eyes-surprisingly beautiful now that they were so gentle. “We haven't been properly introduced,” I said. “My name is Damian. Damian Khatri.”
    “Pandora Cortez.”
    “Pandora? Like the myth?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Didn’t Pandora doom all of civilization by releasing evil into the world?”
    “She didn’t doom them! She was curious-plus she gave the world hope inside that box as well,” Pandora said. Then, softer, “My mother loved that myth.”
    “I guess that’s one way to look at it,” I shrugged. “Well, do you know where Lazio is? I have to find him.”
    “Why?”
    “Like I said, it’s for my mom,” I said. “She’s sick and there’s no cure in my world that can help her. If this Lazio guy is as great as my dad thinks, he may have something that can help her.”
    Pandora looked down at the ground for a moment, deep in thought. After a minute or so of silence, I asked, “So…?”
    “I’m coming with you,” she said, jumping to her feet.
    “Wait, what? Why?”
    “Are you kidding me? I just found the prince of Desiderare-the son of the lost queen. If I can return you to King Leroy-”
    “Woah, woah, woah, hold up,” I said. “I’m not going to King Leroy. I’m going to Lazio and getting out of here. The quicker I can get home, the better.” I started to walk away, but Pandora grabbed me by the arm.
    “Don’t be stupid. Walking to Lazio will take days. The least we could do is go to the castle and get some extra help in finding him.”
    I thought about it. “We’ll be there and back faster?” I asked.
    “Definitely.”
    “Let’s do it,” I said. “Lead the way.”

    We walked in silence for a long time. The only sound was the wind rustling leaves and the dirt road crunching underneath our feet. I studied Pandora while we walked. She had a slight but strong frame and walked with a limp. Her clothes were torn and threadbare. She had her pinkie finger missing from her left hand. Whenever she caught me observing her, she’d turn to me and glare. I would just shrug and look back toward the road, but my gaze would always eventually drift back to her. I caught her studying me at some point, but I didn’t say anything.
    Eventually, she said, “My friends call me Dora.” It came out of nowhere, and at first I wasn’t even sure that she was talking to me.
    “Am I a friend?”
    “I don’t know, are you?” she asked. I decided that I was. “What’s wrong with your mom, anyways?”
    “She has a disease called Alzheimer’s,” I explained. “It makes you lose short term memories really quickly. And then, later, long term ones.”
“That sounds awful,” Dora said. “Does she remember you.”
“Most of the time. Sometimes on really bad days…” I trailed off. “What about your family? Why do they just let you do all of this stuff?”
    “My dad was never in the picture. I was raised by my mom.”
“What happened to her?”
Dora opened her mouth to reply, then shook her head softly. “C’mon, the castle’s just around this bend.”
    We rounded the corner and I saw the most magnificent sight I had ever seen. A huge marble castle stood atop a hill, glistening in the evening light. Magnificent red banners hung from its walls, waving majestically in the wind.
    “It’s beautiful,” I said. 
    “It really is,” Dora replied. I looked back at her. “C’mon, let’s go meet your dad.”
    We started making out way up the road leading to the castle. Dora passed a tree and glanced at it suspiciously. A poster was nailed into the wood, and it read, Pandora Cortez-Wanted with a picture of Dora’s face. She sighed exasperatedly and tore it down, crumpling it and stuffing it in her pocket. “No one needs to see this,” she murmured. I glanced at her, raising an eyebrow. She met my gaze. “What are you staring at?”
    “Nothing,” I said quickly. “Uh, so, what should we expect? When we get in there, I mean.”
“I should warn you,” Dora began. “If rumors are true, King Leroy and your mom didn’t end on good terms. Most people think that’s why she left-because of something that he did.”
    “That bad?” I asked.
    Dora nodded. “The people were devastated. Rani was the queen of Desiderare before Leroy was in the picture. The people loved her. Then Leroy took over…” Dora trailed off. “Anyways, what I’m saying is try not to bring her up if you don’t have to.”
    “Got it,” I said. We reached a tall set of stairs and started scaling them. 
    A couple of guards walked toward us, their faces serious. “Who are you? What are you doing here?” one asked.
    “I’m-”
    “We’re here to see the king,” Dora interrupted. The guards turned to her, scowling suspiciously. “It’s very important.”
    The guard raised an eyebrow. “Where do I recognize you from?”
    “I’ve been told that I look like Philaine Jefferson,” she said easily. “You know? Black hair, small nose.” I was shocked at how easily she could lie. It was like second nature to her!
    “Huh,” the other guard said. “I do see the resemblance.”
    “Whatever, the king doesn’t allow visitors without a month’s notice.”
    “No! We need to get in!” I exclaimed.
    The guards turned to me. “And why’s that?”
    “This is important,” Dora said.
    “Yes, I’m sure it is,” the guard said. “But I don’t make the rules. Come back in a month and I’ll see what I can do for you.” The guards started to walk away, but Dora lunged forward and grabbed one of their shoulders. As she jerked forward, the poster fell out of her pocket.
    The guard and Dora bent down to pick it up at the same time. The guard reached it first. She straightened out the paper and held it up, her eyes widening in realization. Dora swore under her breath.
    “Detain her,” the guard said.
    Both guards lunged at Dora, but she dodged out of the way. She kicked at one of their faces, but they grabbed onto her leg, pulling her to the floor. She hit the ground with a thud. I tried to reach her, but the guard shoved me away. She tried to scramble away but, sadly, a teenage girl is no match for two well-trained guards, and before I could blink, they were on top of her.
    “Stop!” I yelled. “Stop she’s with me!” I lunged at her again, but the guard’s arm came up and hit me square in the chest, sending me flying across the path.
    “What’s going on out here?!” A voice thundered. The two guards jumped to their feet, holding Dora-who was barely conscious at this point-in between them. 
    A tall, muscular man walked towards them. His long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail and he wore an ornate crown on his head. His dark skin almost glistened as he moved because of the vast amount of gems decorating it. “What is going on here?” he repeated.
    “My king,” one guard started. “We caught the thief Pan-”
    “King Leroy!” I yelled as loudly as I could, painfully pulling myself to my feet. I was suddenly aware of my torn-up clothes and the large cut at my lip. I hastily tried to bow, but it ended up being sad and awkward. “Uh, hi.”
    “Hello,” Leroy said, confusion entering his voice. “What is the meaning of all of this?”
    “My king-”
    “Stop,” Leroy said, holding up a hand to his guard. “Let the boy speak.”
    “Well, I needed to find you and Dora here helped me and your guards found out she was a thief and they attacked us and-”
    “Why did you need to find me?”
    “Well, uh I needed to talk to you,” I said. “You see...uh...I don’t really know how to say this. My name is Damian Khatri. I’m your son. And mom needs your help.”

    Half an hour later, I sat across from my dad at a huge desk in a huge chair wearing huge, new clothing. A large piece of cloth clung to the cut on my lip, making it hard to speak. At my request, Dora sat beside me, her injuries still being tended to. Every so often I’d see her wince or hear her swear under her breath.
    “So,” Leroy said, leaning back in his chair. “How’s Rani?”
    “Uh, she’s really sick.”
    “Oh no that’s awful,” he said. I knew he was being sincere, but something in the tone of his voice made me want to punch him. 
    “Yeah, uh, that’s actually why I’m here. I was-”
    “Wine?” he asked, holding up a large jug.
    “No! I’m only 15!”
    “Good, your mom has trained you well. Never drink underage, I say. It messes up your brain.”
    I really wanted to hit this guy.
    “So, how’d you get here? Did Rani ever mention me?”
    “Uh, no…” I said. “She didn’t.”
    Leroy sighed. “She always was stubborn. And you’d think she’d have gotten over that by now.”
    “Uh, if you don’t mind me asking, what was there to get over?”
    “Oh your mother was always very head-strong. Said it was ‘her kingdom’ and ‘her people’ and that me-the king; the man-shouldn’t be calling the shots,” Leroy chuckled, as if this situation was remotely funny. “Well, she had enough of my invaluable leadership, so she left.” He grew suddenly quiet, looking down at his desk. “She left and she never came back. I didn’t even know she was pregnant.”
    I reached over and patted his shoulder awkwardly. He sniffled into his hand, wiping his eyes. I shot Dora a pleading look, but she just rolled her eyes and said, “Can you help us or what?”
    “H-Help you?” Leroy asked, looking up. “What do you need help with?”
    “Mom-er-Rani is really sick. She has this disease that affects her memory and there’s no cure for it in my world. But, uh, I thought maybe in yours…?”
    “Lazio. He’s the greatest sorcerer in the world. He should be able to help you.”
    “R-Really? That’s great! Can you take us to him?”
    “No, no, I am far too busy running this great kingdom,” Leroy said. “However, I can give you this.” He reached into his desk and dug out a large sheet of parchment. She passed it across the desk to me. There was a red line leading to a small hut, messily scrawled on the map. “Follow the path. That’ll lead you to Lazio. Tell him that Leroy sent you.”
    “Thank you! Thank you so much!” I said, getting to my feet.
    “Well, wait a second, where are you going?” Leroy asked. “We still have the matter of your friend to discuss.” 
Both of us looked over at Dora, who raised an eyebrow. My heart sank. “Please, no. I swear she-”
“She’s pardoned of all of her crimes.”
“I’m...what?” Dora asked, looking as shocked as I felt.
“Pardoned. I’d say that someone who has helped the prince of Desiderare get this far is invaluable-no matter how many crimes they’ve committed.”
“I-Thank you,” Dora said. 
“It’s no problem. Just, try not to steal much else, okay? It’s really not good for your character.”
And...I wanted to punch him again.
Leroy glanced back and forth at our faces. “Now, if that’s all…”
“Thank you so much for your help,” I said. 
“It was my pleasure,” Leroy said. “Good luck on your quest. And, uh, if you do alright, tell Rani that I said hi.”
I gave him a small smile. Leroy was a sexist, arrogant, obnoxious man. But, he meant well, and he really did love my mom. “I will.”
Leroy smiled. “My men will show you to some horses to make the journey more comfortable. I hope it goes well, Damian. I hope it goes well.”
“Me too,” I said. “Me too.”