Chapter 10: Cleaning up the mess

When I got there, I saw that Peter was just about to leave. I landed right next to him and put little Jacob down next to me. I put Jacob down and said to Peter, "Don't worry. You don't have to go to the castle right now. We'll go back later or tomorrow. Donavan is gone. I got rid of him for good." "Okay." He replied. He looked down at little Jacob and asked, "Who is that?" "I'll explain later. Let's just go back inside the castle and start cleaning everything up." I replied. "Okay. Should I go and get Sam?" He asked. "No. Just let him continue guarding James until we get things cleaned up here. First I'm going to need you to help me find anyone that might still be alive." I replied. "Okay. I was able to find a few servants that were able to hide from Donovan while he was ravaging the place. They haven't told me what they saw yet, but they said when they heard our voices, they were sure that it was us and came out of hiding. Should I ask them what happened?" Said Peter. "No, not yet. Just get them to help you clean up for now. There might be some more servants that will come out of hiding and if they do then just tell them that I killed Donovan and we need help cleaning this entire place up. If they have any questions, then just tell them to come to me later when we are done cleaning everything. If they want to tell you what happened, then just tell them to tell you later. Just make sure they know that it's important that I want this all cleaned up. By the way, did your crystal balls scan everything yet? I know you said it would take a while, but I want to know how much of this mess they were able to scan." I told him. "They didn't scan everything yet, but they have scanned a lot so far. I suggest we clean up after what they've already scanned over." Peter replied. "Good idea." I said. Little Jacob looked up at me and asked, "Who is Sam and how is he guarding?" I looked down at him and said, "Sam is a friend of mine. He is king of another kingdom. But for now, I need you to sit at that table over there. Okay?" I pointed at a table a few yards away in one of the other rooms that didn't have any bodies in them. "Okay." He replied. Then he walked over to where the table was. I turned to Peter and said, "Peter there is something important. I need you to look for Nana and Ettoire. I want you to make sure that they are okay. Make sure that they are still alive. You know how important they are to me. Make sure you let me know as soon as you find them if they are alive or not." "Okay. I will." Replied Peter. "Lead the way. Just show me where to start cleaning. I don't know how much your crystal balls have scanned yet, so as we are cleaning, I'm going to need you to tell me where to start and where to stop. I don't want to clean up anything that the crystal balls haven't scanned yet." "Okay." Peter replied. He turned to the servants and said, "Go get a few big barrels and boxes to put these bodies in." He turned to me and said, "This way." Then he started walking over to a pile of bodies and we started picking them up and putting them in a line to make it easier to put in the barrels and boxes. It took us as few days to finish cleaning up the bodies and putting them in the burial pit that the servants were able to dig up. They dug one up about a half a mile from the back of the castle. We didn't have time to put them in individual pits of their own because we had to make sure we could get everything else we needed done. Plus, the bodies were starting to smell. Even with the help of Peter's magic we couldn't get it done as fast as we wanted to, or in the manner that we traditionally do it in. We did manage to put them in some sort of order. We put my Cousin's army first, which made them on the bottom of the pit. Then my servants' last, which made them on top. There were far more soldiers killed then servants. I respect my cousin and her army, but I respected my servants more. I knew them better. They were more part of my family since most of them were here when I came back that one day from almost running away so many years ago. I was still confused as to what happened that day I came back. Still wondering what had happened to make things change so much? Everything was different. The castle was brand new, unchanged, as if nothing had even happened to it or anything around it. Even the people that were there when I left were gone. The whole castle was replaced with a brand-new staff of servants. It was if I ran away and had been gone for years when it was only for a few hours. That was one of the things I was determined to find out. To find out what had changed and why no one had told me what had made things that way. Unless they didn't know what happened themselves. They all acted as if nothing had changed and it had been the way it was for years. But with King James dead, I couldn't ask him. I thought of asking his second son Jacob, but he was too young to know anything and have any memories of what happened. He must have only been a few years old at the time it had happened. Unless his father told him. He was still relatively young. He still might remember. But He might have experienced it and have been told it was a dream or have had a spell put on him to forget. But even if he was told it was all a dream, he could know it was real if I ask him about it because it would confirm to him that it was all real. So many things could happen. There are so many scenarios. But I had to try and give it a shot. That is something I need to take care of. But right now, there are other things I need to take care of. This is something that I can do later. At least I have a better chance of finding out what happened. Well, at least an easier option to help. There were so many bodies everywhere. I saw that it was going to take a while to clean it all up and get things back to what it was before. At that moment I heard my name being called. But it wasn't Peter, Sam, Little Jacob or any of the servants. I heard it again and that's when I knew who it was. It was Nana and Ettoire. They came out from hiding and called my name once they saw me. I was so excited to see that they were both still alive. We ran towards each other. As soon as we got in arm's length, we hugged each other and started crying.

"I'm so happy that the both of you are still alive." I said crying with tears of happiness. "So are we." Nana said still hugging me. Ettoire, Nana and I unlocked from the hug as she continued, "It was horrible. There was so much chaos everywhere. Donovan went crazy out of nowhere and started destroying everything and killing everyone that he saw. We called on your cousin to come help and she flew over here with some of her army, but they couldn't stop him. He was too much for them. They managed to hold him off long enough for me, Ettoire and some of the servants to get away alive. As soon as we heard your voice, we thought it was one of his tricks, but we waited to make sure and we're happy we did. "Well you don't have to worry any more. He's gone. I was able to kill him. He won't be bothering anyone any longer." I told them. "Oh, thank goodness." Said Ettoire. I looked around for Peter and saw that he was in the dining hall. I looked back at Nana and Ettoire. "Come on. Let's go get you both something to eat." I told them. They both smiled and followed me where Peter was. We walked up to Peter then I said, "Peter? Do you know how to cook?" He stopped what he was doing saw Nana and Ettoire and with a smile he said, "Nana. Ettoire, you're alive. What good news this is." "Yes. It is very good news Peter. Very good news indeed." I said with a smile. "Now, do you know how to cook?" I asked him again. He turned to me with a confused look on his face and said, "Yes. Why? Are you hungry?" "A little bit but I can see that this is going to take a while so I was wondering if you can fix Nana, Ettoire and the little boy, Jacob, some dinner? I don't want to send him to bed without something to eat. Plus, Nana and Ettore should get something nice to eat after what happened. Would it be too much trouble to do that?" I asked. "Of course, not Saya. I understand. I'll make them something." He replied. "Thank you. Once you're done fixing them something, can you send Jacob up to the small room a few doors down from yours before you come back and continue cleaning?" I asked. "Yeah. I'll do that." He said. "Thank you, Peter. Don't rush it. I don't want the kid to think there is anything to worry about. He's already seen a lot. I don't want his mental state getting any worse. I'm not sure if he's scared. And if he is then I don't want it getting any worse." I told Peter. "I understand. I'm right on it. I'll go and get him and take them all to the kitchen. I'll do my best to make James feel as much at home as possible." He replied. Then he turned to Nana and Ettoire. "Nana, Ettoire. You can fallow me." He continued with a smile. Then he started walking over to little Jacob and took them all to the kitchen to fix them something and then send little Jacob to bed. Then I started cleaning the area that Peter was in. I could hear the echoing of their voices in the hallways as they were walking towards the kitchen. "Hello there little one." Peter said. "What was your name again? It seemed to have slipped my mind." He continued. "Jacob. My name is Jacob." He replied. "Ah okay. Well Jacob, let's get you something to eat. Then afterwards I will show you to your room where you will be staying." Said Peter. "Staying?" I heard him say with happiness in his voice. "You mean I get to stay here?" "Yes. You can stay here for as long as you like. It's safe here." Peter replied. "I even get my own room?" Little Jacob asked. Peter laughed and said, "Yes, a room of your very own." "I've never had my own room before. I've always had to share my own room with someone." Said little Jacob. "Well, here you get one. By the way, this is Nana and Ettoire. They are nice people and I think you'll like them a lot." He said. "Oh, Hello. I'm Jacob." He said with a shy tone. "Hello Jacob." Said Nana. "Hello there." Said Ettoire as his voice faded as they were walking closer to the kitchen. A little while later I went up to Jacob's room and I sat on the edge of his bed. He was sitting on a chair next to his window eating a sandwich. He seemed to like his room and be amazed at it. As he was eating, he was looking around at the decorations and things around him. He finished the last few bites of his food and then came and sat next to me and said, "Sayaka. Why did Donovan kill my father and Marishka? Did they do something wrong? Was it something I did?" I lowered my head and said, "No. You did nothing wrong. It has nothing to do with you. But I don't know why Donovan did that to your father or Marishka." I looked back at him and continued. "But look, things will get better. I'm planning to make my kingdom a better place and you are welcome to be a part of it if you want to." "Well, so far you haven't given me a reason not to want to be a part of it. I want to stay. Plus, you saved me. I know there was nothing you could do to save my father and Marishka. You managed to save me and that counts for something." He replied. I smiled and said, "That is true. Thank you." "Thank you for saving me." He said with a smile. Then Jacob walked over to the window, opened it up and walked out to the balcony. He looked around and seemed to like what he saw. "I love the way the moonlight hits your castle gardens. There is so much land here to explore. It almost seems like your castle is bigger than mine. Tomorrow can we go out and play Sayaka? I love exploring." "Maybe. If we have time. But I doubt that will happen because there is still a lot to clean up. Plus, there are other things that I have to do as well." I replied. I got up and went outside to the balcony. I looked down and saw a couple of stable boys trying to help clean up some of the mess. "Hmm. It seems that some of the servants survived. Thanks goodness." I thought to myself. Little Jacob looked up at me and asked, "Is there something wrong?" I looked at him and replied, "No, I just had a few thoughts about something. Think nothing of it. You must go to bed. If you want to go explore, you're going to need sleep. When you get up tomorrow just go to the kitchen and fix yourself breakfast or lunch, whichever comes first. There is no time limit for when you must wake up tomorrow. If you don't wake up too late in the day, of course. Sleeping too much isn't always good for you. You don't have to help us. If anything, it would be better if you stayed out of our way. When you go exploring, stay within the gates to stay safe, just in case. Try to stay within the castle property. It's quite big. It's a bit hard to find the edge but if you do find it, stay within the walls so you don't get lost or get hurt." I told him. "Okay. That will be exciting. But will we be able to play?" He asked. "Yes. But I can't promise when. Now go to bed." I told him, ending with a smile. "Okay." He replied. He walked over to the bed. A moment later he walked back and said, "Sayaka?" I turned around, looked at him and said, "Yes? What is it Jacob?" "You should add a maze. That would be fun." You know, one made of grass and concrete." He said. "I don't like mazes all that much. They are too confusing and pointless to have. They take up too much space. It is a waste of time and money to build anyway. I'd rather not do that. Time and money are something I don't like to waste." I told him. He had a look of disappointment in his face when I told him that. "Oh. Oh well. It still would have been fun to have one, even if it was a small one." He said. "Well, even if we started building one, big or small, it would have taken awhile to build. By the time it would be done you probably would not want to play in it anymore. You would be much older." I said. "Well if it was a small one it would probably only take a few months or a year. I can wait that long." He said hoping that would convince me. I smiled. "It would take much longer than that to build a small one. If you wanted one to take only a few months or a year, then it would only be a few walls and very easy to figure out and that is no fun and practically useless. Again, it would be a waste of time and money. Either way, I'm not going to have one built. Now go to bed." I told him. Disappointment came across his face again. "Okay. Well at least I still have something to do." He replied. Then he walked over to his bed and got under the covers. After a few minutes of watching the stable boys cleaning up some of the mess, I felt a small vibration on the floor. Almost like a very small earthquake. It seemed like it was only affecting the room Jacob and I were in because nothing seemed to be happening over where the stable boys were. I walked back into the room and, to my surprise; Jacob's bed was floating in midair. I looked all around to see if I could find anything or anyone making this happen, but I didn't sense of smell anyone else in the room. It was just James and me. Suddenly, I got an image of someone in my head. It was an image of Queen Marishka being carried out of Jacob's room in the other castle by Donovan. I realized that it was a memory. It was Jacob's memory. That's when I realized that Jacob had accidently shared his memory of what happened to his father with me while he was sleeping. I knew that this was a side effect he had gotten when I healed him. He was dreaming about what had happened and it was making him share the memories with me and be able to give him the power to make objects float. Right away, I went into his subconscious and made him go into a better dream state. The bed slowly floated back down to the ground. It made me wonder if he knew that he could do that. I could control it, so I wasn't worried about it. It was something that I would worry about later. "Hopefully I don't have to worry about this, and something happen, and it is too late. Either way, there are things I need to get done. I just hope nothing else gets in my way." I thought to myself. Then I walked out of the room and closed the door. The next morning, I walked down stairs to see how much had gotten done. I walked around and it seemed that everything was clean. The bodies were gone, and the blood was cleaned up. Everything that was damaged from the fight was fixed. I went out to the gardens and the stable boys I saw the night before were planting flowers. I walked to the kitchen and I saw Peter, sitting on the island, cleaning up some crumbs he dropped from fixing himself something to eat. He saw me walk in and smiled. "Ah Sayaka. Good morning. I figured you would be up early. As you can see, everything is cleaned up. Here, have the soup and sandwich I made you for breakfast." He said as he pointed to the food to the right of him. I walked up to him with a bit of a groggy look on my face. I sat across from him. And started eating. "So. What is the body count?" I asked him. He was silent. He took a deep breath then sat back in his chair and crossed his arms then said, "It's not good. You won't like it." "What is it?" I interrupted. He took a smaller breath and was silent for a few seconds. "About 998." He replied. I looked down at my food. "That's bad but it's not that much compared to what it could have been. That's only a quarter of Haruka's army. At least she was smart enough not to risk half, if not all her men. And even if she was, the ones that are still alive were smart enough to retreat. Hopefully." I said. Then I thought for a moment. I looked up at Peter and said, "Wait. How much of that number where servants?" "About 150." He replied. "Oh okay. Well that's bad for us. That's nearly all my staff. At least they're in a better place. We don't need that many people working here anyway. If we need more, we will hire more. For now, we will work with what little we have." I said back to him.

"Anyway. I need to check on Sam and James in the dungeon." I said taking the last bite of my soup. "I already did that. Everything is fine down there. I even brought them some food too. All James seems to be doing is sitting there." Peter replied. I sat back in my seat. "Good. I want to introduce his little brother to him at some point. I don't think he knows he has a half-brother." I said. "Are you sure that's a good idea?" Peter asked. "It might be. It might not. Either way, it's something I want to do. It might benefit us in some way. And they both deserve to know they have a family still alive." I replied. I finished my soup and sandwich up, cleaned up my mess and then headed to the dungeon to where Prince James was. I know he is the king of another kingdom, but I was just so use to calling him Prince James. When I got down there, I saw that Sam was sitting on a wooden chair with pillows crimped into it that he had gotten from the castle library and was covered up in a blanket from his room. His legs were propped up on a small table that was the as high as my knees. He was laying there asleep. I picked his legs up and moved them a bit to the side then let them fall to the floor. He immediately woke up and jumped up from the chair and stood on the floor. "Huh? What?" He said as he was looking around the room for a few seconds. "How long was I asleep for?" He asked without noticing that I was there. "About an hour or two." James responded. "What? Oh. Well it does feel like I got a full night's sleep though." He said rubbing the back of his neck with is eyes closed then stretching his arms out and yawning. Then, as soon as he opened his eyes, he jumped a bit from being surprised from seeing me in front of him with my arms crossed and having an angry look at him. "Well, I'm glad that you feel like you've had a good night's rest Sam. You need all the strength you can get from all the guarding you've been doing. After all, it is hard work looking after someone in a dungeon for hours on end." James let out a small laugh. Sam turned around and looked back at James and said, "Oh, shut up." Then James let out another small laugh and said, "It's not me you need to worry about." Then Sam looked at him with a sarcastic squint of his eyes as I said, "He's not too far off from telling the truth." Then Sam turned around and looked back at me with a worried look on his face. "You need to be guarding him. Why is it that you fell asleep while watching him?" I asked him with my arms still crossed and the same angry look on my face. He waited a few seconds before he responded back to me. "Well, I guess I was tired of just sitting here not doing anything and I fell asleep without realizing it." "Not doing anything? You're guarding a prisoner. How is that not doing anything?" I asked him. He put his hands to his side and bowed down a little bit. "I'm sorry your majesty. You're right. It won't happen again." He said. Then stood up right again. "It better not." I responded. I then looked at James in the small room he was being held in and walked towards the door. I was about a foot from the door. I looked through the almost narrow, glassless window of the door and saw James siting on the bed in the room. "So how have you been feeling since you've been down here?" I asked him. He looked at me and said with a smile, "Right at home." Then he looked down to the floor. "Good. I'm happy to hear it." I said sarcastically. "There is someone I want you to meet." I continued. "Really? Who is it?" He said still looking at the ground. "He's family. I think you'll like him. He's almost just like you." I said back to him. "Oh really? Well I'm always happy to know my family is growing. And I always love meeting new people." He said sarcastically. "Good. Then you won't mind meeting your little brother." I said back to him. His head jerked up with surprise. "Little brother?" He said with a confused yet shocked look on his face. "Yes. It seems your father had another son and decided not to tell you about it. He doesn't know you exist yet either. I plan on introducing the two of you soon and letting the both of you getting to know each other." I told him. He looked towards me and said, "You're lying, just to get to me." "I bet you wish I was, but I'm not. He's your little brother. Well, Half-brother. You both are going to get to know each other whether you like it or not. I am going to send him down here later so you can both have some quality family time together. You need some nice bonding time to get to know each other. You never know, you might like his company. You might even find out some more secrets your dad kept from you. You will probably find out some info about your dear old dad that you never knew because if he kept this big of a secret from you then who knows what else he didn't tell you. Don't worry; he doesn't know you're his brother. He doesn't even know he has an older brother yet. I plan on telling him once we come down here and I introduce you to him. You two might just get along and like each other, or not. I don't really care either way." I told him. He said nothing but was getting angrier as I continued to talk. He didn't like hearing this information. He was very skeptical about it. He knew his father was a bad person and has kept secrets from him, but he didn't think he would keep something like this from him.

I smiled and started to walk back up the stairs. He ran up to the door and slammed his body against the wood. He put his face up to the window and started banging his fists on the door. "Sayaka!! Sayaka, wait!! Come back!!" I ignored his calls and continued to walk up the stairs, ignoring his calls out to me wanting me to come back down and tell him more. As I kept walking up, I yelled out to Sam and said, "Sam! Shut him up and keep him quiet." "Yes, your majesty! He yelled back. "Quiet down peasant." I heard him say to Prince James. "How dare you call me peasant?" He yelled back. "Sayaka!! Come back down here!!" He continued to yell. "Silence!" Sam yelled back. I walked into the kitchen with little Jacob eating a croissant and a ham sandwich. I smiled and said, "I have someone I want you to meet. You might like him." He looked up at me as I walked closer and said, "Really? Who is it?" He asked me. "Well, I can't be sure if you'll like him or not, that's really up to you, but I still want the both of you to meet. It's the prisoner down in the dungeon." I said. "Okay. When do I meet him?" He asked me with his mouth full of food. "Right now." I told him. "Come. Take your food with you and we'll start walking over there. He's a very interesting person." I continued. He picked up the sandwich and croissant and continued to gobble down the food as we walked towards the dungeon. By the time we reached the midway point of the stairway, he was done with his food. James wasn't yelling or calling out my name anymore. Sam was sitting on the chair. Little Jacob was following behind me. "It seems that you were able to calm him down. That didn't take long." I said to Sam as we were walking down the last few stairs. Sam stood up. "Yes. It only took a few lashes with the whip to get him to quiet down but it worked. I can say he doesn't really like lashings very much. It made him quite down nice and quick." Sam replied. "Good." I said as I reached the last step.

I walked up to the door and saw James lying on the bed. He had a few markings on his face and some others in the visible areas on his body that his clothes weren't covering up. "Get up. I want you to meet someone." I said to him. He continued to lay there on the bed and not say a word. "I know it hurts and I'm sorry that he did that to you, but it was needed. I need you to get up. This is important. You need to meet him. Please get up James." I continued. James got up and walked over to the door. I moved out of the way so he could see little Jacob. Little Jacob looked up and saw James through the window on the door. "Hello." James said holding his hands in front of his stomach not knowing what else to say. "Hello." Said little Jacob replied to him. "So why is it so important that we meet?" Little Jacob asked. "Well, it's because we're related. You're my little brother. Our father didn't tell either of us that he had another family. As you can see, I am the oldest and the first family he had before he turned bad and abandoned me and my mother. He tried to kill Queen Sayaka because she is a vampire but also because he was mad that he didn't get to be with her mother. He even killed her family when she was little." Jacob replied. "That doesn't really sound like my dad at all. He was nice to me and my Mom. He saved me from getting killed by a vampire. Did he really do all of that?" Asked little Jacob. "Yes. He did. He was nice to me and my mom for many years too. But the thing is, is that he was in love with Sayaka's Mom. But she didn't want him. She was in love with her husband, Sayaka's dad. She didn't want to leave him for my dad. That made him angry. So, he killed them both. He felt that if he couldn't be with her then no one would be. Before he killed them, they were able to hide Sayaka away so she wouldn't see the same fate. When she came back to the castle many years later and he saw that she was alive he tried to kill her. But that didn't work. Many things happened the night she returned, and many more things happened since then. I guess one thing is that he was able to start another family with someone." James paused for a moment then continued. "The more I think about it the more it makes sense why he didn't tell me he had another child." Why's that?" Little Jacob asked. "Well, my dad and I were not on the best of terms with each other since the night Sayaka returned." James paused then looked up at me. "I was in love with Sayaka and my dad didn't like that." He looked back down at little Jacob. "When he found out, he tried to kill me too. He tried to stop us from being together. He even tried to convince her to be with him instead. He tried to kill me too. All just because he wanted her mother and didn't get her. After so many years, he was still upset about it. He wanted to start a family with Sayaka, but she refused and wanted to stay with me. Many things happened." "Wow. I'm sorry the both of you had to go through so many troubles. I wonder why he ended up starting a new family with my mom instead. So, I am your little brother? Your half-brother?" Little Jacob asked. "Yes. You are. So, you believe me?" James asked. "Well yes. If there is no reason for you to lie, then I believe you. Plus, Saya didn't stop you so you must be telling the truth." Replied little Jacob. After that it seemed that the both wanted to become close and want to get to know each other more. I let James out of the dungeon on the condition that he does chores around the castle, takes care of little Jacob and he teaches him about their family and whatever else he needs to know to grow up and live a normal life, and to stay out of my way when I'm doing whatever it is that I need to do. He agreed and I let him out. He knew that if he didn't abide by my rules then there would be many consequences for him to face.