"Breakfast!" called a short lady who had just walked out of an undersized cottage a stone's throw away. It was Jai Yinn's mother. They spent their meager, yet delicious breakfast of potatoes and eggs discussing how to defeat Gatheo, and his evil henchmen, Thoma and Amot, and free Honisia. Then, they went outside to hitch up the horse cart for the drive to Honisia's capitol city, Thaliasville, recently renamed 'Gatheopolis' by Gatheo.
"So, let's review. What's the plan?" asked Jai Yinn,
"When we can see Thaliasville," began Tony.
"It's been renamed Gatheopolis," corrected Jai Yinn.
"Gatheopolis," Tony began again, "we change into the clown costumes. Then we wish Mumu to Honisia." Mumu was Kat's border collie. "We hide her in the straw, and go into the city. We drive straight up to the front door of King Thalias' Castle, Gatheo's castle," he added hastily, before Jai Yinn could correct him, " and knock out the guards with my key. We wish Mumu invincible and set her loose in the Great Hall. Then we wish away the rest of the guards. While Gatheo, Thoma, and Amot are busy trying to catch Mumu, and they can't because she is invincible, we head over to the Orb of Truth. We figure out how to power it down, we power it down, and the day is saved."
"Sounds easy enough to me," added Kat.
"Let's do it," said Jai Yinn.
So, the three rebels headed west to Thaliasville, now known as Gatheopolis. Everything went according to plan, until it was time to hide Mumu in the hay. They made her invincible and all, but she just wouldn't hide. She kept peeking her head out to see what was going on. They finally settled for just hoping she wouldn't be noticed, but it was not so. Honisians had never seen dogs before, and everyone wanted to come and look at her. An entire throng of people followed them to the front doors of the castle, and they had to wish everyone around them to a ghost town in the East Country. Another thing they hadn't counted on was the army of trolls being so well equipped with the magic that Gatheo had sucked out of Honisia. They couldn't be wished away or knocked out, or anything. So, the gang just told them that they were clowns to perform at the castle. That alibi was the reason they had worn the clown costumes.
Once they got through the doors, they found two, well, creatures that looked like they had been trying to impersonate humans, but had done a really terrible job of it. These beings each had a head with a nose, 2 eyes, 2 ears, and a mouth, but the features of their faces looked like they were straining to break loose of the bleached white skin that held them. They had 2 arms and 2 legs, but they were too long for the body. They both wore crisp, black suits, and had their black hair slicked back. The first one, wearing a nametag saying "Thoma" was tall, thin, and had a look of craftiness and dishonesty about him. The second one, wearing a nametag displaying "Amot" was short and dumpy, and had a look of ignorance and stupidity about him. They were trolls. They offered to take the rebels to King Gatheo in wheezy voices. Tony, Kat, and Jai Yinn had no choice but to follow.
"Your Evilness, there are three jesters that would like to perform for you tonight," announced Thoma in his raspy voice. These things had led the group just outside the doors of the Great Hall.
"Very well then," came the voice from within, "bring them in."
The three were led before the troll Gatheo, and forced to kneel. Gatheo looked very much like Thoma and Amot, but he was much larger, and was wearing Royal Robes, instead of a black suit, and he had a crown on his head so ginormous, it hid what little hair he had. His voice was booming, not wheezy.
"Who is it that comes before me?" asked Gatheo in his roaring voice.
"I am Nehi, and this is Tak and Bobo," answered Tony, quickly and silently wishing that the shadows that were so abundant in this chamber would continually cover their faces. "We are clowns, and have given no performances lately. We hoped you would be willing to pay us to put on a show for you.
Gatheo thought a moment.
"Hmmm," he murmured "Everything seems to be in order. I will see you at eight o'clock tonight. Your show better be good, or else ..." Gatheo didn't finish his sentence, preferring their imaginations to complete it for him.
"Oh, it will be good, Your Inelegance, I promise!" Tony shouted back, as Thoma and Amot led them, rather forcefully, to their quarters.
"This is where you will be staying today," Thoma hissed, as he shut their door to the little cottage on the grounds that he had led them to. Tony heard the lock click. He turned around to look at the room.
It was terribly dismal. There were no windows, and a single, bare bulb that hung from the ceiling was the only source of light in the room. There were three cots, and they looked awfully uncomfortable.
"Well,' said Jai Yinn, "at least there's a roof over our heads.' At that moment, the roof of the cottage caved in.
"Now, that's not right!" he shouted
It was then 2:00. They spent an hour and a half ripping off pieces of the roof, and throwing them out the open top of the shack. At 3:30, the hovel had been cleaned out, but they were faced with a new dilemma.
"Okay, but I don't have any clown skills. What are we gonna do about that?" Kat mused.
"Well, we could wish for clown skills, couldn't we?" asked Tony.
"Oh, yea! I almost forgot about that," said Kat, "Give it a go!"
So Tony did. But nothing happened.
"I was afraid of this, Tony," said a melancholy Jai Yinn. "It seems that what little bit of magic you captured has run out. We'll have to do everything from now on the Earth way."
Tony was devastated. He couldn't believe it. He knew that they could never teach themselves any clown skills before eight o'clock, and even if they could, they would put on a terrible show, and it would be "or else..." He realized that they would have to power down the Orb of Truth before eight o'clock.
There was a knock at their door. Without waiting for a response, the lock clicked, and the evil henchmen strolled in.
"Oh, clowns!" Amot cooed, mockingly. "It is time to go to the palace."
"But it's only 3:40!" protested Kat. "We're not due to perform until 8:00!"
"I didn't say you would be performing."
Thoma and Amot dragged the grumbling performers to a side entrance into the palace, which led them straight into the Great Hall. They were forced to kneel before Gatheo.
"Why, its Nehi, Tak, and Bobo." leered the evil troll. "Why in the world are they here? They're not supposed to put on a show until 8 o'clock. "
"We were wondering the same thing, Your Foulness. These guys..."
"SILENCE, NEHI!" boomed Gatheo. "Or should I say Tony Secola? And his girlfriend Tak, or Kat, whatever you choose..."
"She's not my girlfriend!"
"I'm not his girlfriend" They were both mortified.
"Ahem! And of course, the magnificent trio would be nothing without Bobo, you do know that Jai Yinn, don't you?"
"So, we meet again Gatheo, don't we?"
"Yes, amazing how school time rivals tend to, er, bump into each other, don't you think?"
"School time rivals?" inquired Tony, bewildered.
"Long story," muttered Jai Yinn.
"SILENCE!" roared Gatheo again, clearly very angry this time. "You attempt to bring about my downfall again, don't you Jai Yinn? What you didn't count on was me knowing all about it. I sent that avalanche to the East Country to destroy your key, and it worked, didn't it? I made the roof of the grounds cottage fall in, just to annoy you. And now, most of all, Tony. I made your life miserable. Pam and David Secola are not your real parents. King Thalias, and Queen Emelia are! Or should I say, were. I killed them off when you were just born, and I entrusted my two henchmen, the Secolas, and their son Troy, to take you to earth, where you would suffer under their harsh judgement. You hated your life, until she came along." Gatheo gestured to Kat. "She made you happy, which I must admit, put a tiny dent in my plans. I had hoped for you to kill yourself, but, ah well, I guess 7 can slay you myself. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!" Gatheo pointed his glowing blue scepter at Tony. "What are your last words?"
There was an instant of silence. Then, Tony cried: "Sick-em, Mumu!"
Immediately, a giant ball of flying fur came hurtling through the doors of the Great Hall. Chaos broke out. The guards weren't sure what it was, and, since she was invincible, their weak little charms had no effect on her. Gatheo was scared stiff.
"Get it away from me! Get it away from me!" he screamed in a high pitched voice, as he cowered on his throne.
All of this pandemonium gave Tony a chance to get to the Orb of Truth, which was located in the center of the room, on a great marble pedestal. But when he got there, he didn't know what to do to power it down.
Two voices, a man's and a woman's, rang out over the ruckus.
"Touch it, Tony. Free your homeland.""Touch it?"
"Touch it, Tony. Free your homeland." The voices were getting fainter.
"Touch it, okay," and Tony touched the Orb.
Instantly, everything was silent. The trolls were frozen in mid-fight, but their eyes had swiveled to Tony. He had risen three feet into the air, and even though he had just barely poked the Orb, it was sticking to the tip of his finger like glue. They were both glowing bright, sapphire blue.
Another voice rang out around the Great Hall. It was not a man's, but it wasn't a woman's. It wasn't a child's, and it wasn't and adult's. It wasn't high, and it wasn't low. But it was sweet as honey, and it filled the room like water fills a cup.
"When war ravage this nation, and hate abundant as the trees when life means lamentation and fear adorns the breeze. What force can liberate us? When magic's out of sight.
What power will unenslave us? When misery is might? "
"A riddle," thought Tony. "I should have guessed."
Tony thought, and he thought, but he couldn't think of the answer. A bothersome buzzing began to fill the Great Hall. It got louder and louder, more and more intense. Tony knew his time was running out. Then,
"LOVE!"
The cry came from everywhere and nowhere, as loud as an army, and as quiet as a mouse. It bounced off every surface in the castle, and everything was rapidly brought back to life. Gatheo gasped, and he, Thoma and Amot, and the entire army of trolls instantly vanished. Tony sank to the ground, exhausted, but smiling, and holding the Orb. Kat hugged him, and turned very red in the face. Jai Yinn parted him on the back.
"Nice work, kid, nice work."
A great mob of people swarmed into the castle, and crowded around Tony. Right as he was about to be swept up into the multitude of crazy citizens, he turned back, grabbed Kat's hand, and dragged her in with him.
* * *
So, Tony took up his rightful reign as King of Honisia. Every summer, Kat would come to stay at the Royal Palace. That first summer, she brought him his favorite book, "Adventures in Honisia". He was anxious to see what happened next in the story. He picked up the book, but instead of details of the conclusion of an epic battle, another story had begun right in the middle of the book, where he had left off. The first words were these:
"Leave it to Tony to get his arm broken on the day when McDonalds wants to see about a new advertising scheme. Uggh," Mrs. Pam Secola worked for and ad agency.
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