Chapter 30

I found the above picture during a google image search of The Stone of Truth and thought it couldn't be more puurfect. LOL

They landed at the Leonardo da Vinci International Airport six hours later having lost an hour as well because of Daylight Savings time. It was just minutes from eleven pm and they still needed to get through customs and grab a taxi across town to get to the Piazza della Bocca della Verità, in the city centre. The Stone of Truth and the entrance to the court of Caits could be found there.

Donnie stood up and began to pace nervously as they taxied down the runway and came to a stop outside of the terminal.

At least by travelling by private jet they could avoid the normal crowds at customs, but they would be cutting it very close and he didn't like it one bit.

Once outside the teens piled into the famous yellow cabs of Roma Italy -- bags and all. Donnie had grabbed the first cab in the long line up of cabs while Kelly to his surprise dove in beside him. When he looked at her funny, she said," What's your problem Sugah? I'm coming with you. No one messes with kittens and gets away with it." She announced vehemently.

Zach and Lauren got in right after them. Their weapons forced them to have to struggle awkwardly into the cab. Lauren had taken the time to spell the scabbard on the boat ride back to Swan Sea and it now hung around Donnie's left shoulder were it would remain until they retrieved the girls.

Donnie shudder when he thought, Mia, Alunda, and Donna were probably terrified.

He hoped with every fiber of his being that they were unharmed.

Donnie's leg shook and vibrated with frustration as they rode across the city until Kelly reached out her hand and clutched his upper thigh firmly in her grasp, "Sugah," she said in an annoyed tone, "If you don't stop doing that I'm going to knock you out for the rest of the ride."

She locked him in her hypnotically stare and he was lost in her beautiful eyes.

He cleared his throat and said nervously, "Sorry Cara, I just worry about the girls."

"Me too sugah, we'll get them back don't worry."

And that was literally the first kind words she had said to him since the 'Nice try' incident in school. He wished he could figure out what that meant. He wanted to ask her now but they had an audience and he knew she wouldn't appreciate it, besides he needed to keep his mind on his cousins and getting them home safely.

Kelly had turned from him the moment she uttered the words of encouragement seeming to regret them and fixed her stare straight out the window to watch the city fly by, but something was telling him she wasn't lost in the scenery. She was deep in thought, but what could she be thinking, he could not fathom.

He shook his head then and thrust Kelly from his mind. He knew he had the scabbard and would be invincible but he was storming into the court of the Caits to face their demented King anything could happen and if he knew anything about his friends he knew that they wouldn't let him go it alone. But they didn't have the scabbard to keep them safe.

If he could just find a way to leave them behind he could be sure that none of them would be hurt or could be used against him. This was his fight. He father had made sure of it. These events were put into motion sixteen years ago when he was born, and today was destined to come sooner rather than later.

The cab pulled to the curb and the cabby turned around in the seat to announce, "This is the stone of Truth," pointing at the church in the old cattle market.

Zach kept giving him American twenty dollar bills until the cabby said, "si it is enough."

They piled out to find the door to the structure locked from the inside. No one was surprised to find it that way. It was nearly midnight after all. It was only minutes away and if they didn't get into the courtyard soon his cousins would bear the consequences.

Thankfully, Lauren strolled passed him and walked right up to the door to mutter a spell that swung the doors wide that made it possible for them to walk right in without missing a beat.

Lauren and Zach stopped meaning to wait for the others, but it was already two minutes to midnight their time had run out.

Kelly must have read his mind because she kept right on going toward the mouth of the frescoe on the North side of the church wall. She turned to him then and said, "Ok sugah, how do we get in."

He shrugged he hadn't thought this far ahead; he had hoped that when he got her the entrance would be obvious, but it wasn't.

When Lauren turned to them she said, "If I tell you what I think is the entrance will you wait for everyone else to get here?"

Donnie gave her a hard stare until she said, "I thought not. Okay it's the mouth of the statue. Stick your hand in."

Donnie looked at his watch before he did it he had one minute left. He prayed she was right, before he shoved his hand wrist watch and all into the mouth of the statue that represented an ancient god.

It worked he was immediately sucked into a court yard. When he came through he came through in his cat form and was followed immediately by Kelly who nearly landed on him, but he dodged out of her way just in time.

They were in a courtyard and before them were several stone steps that entered into an outer courtyard and beyond that stood two double oak doors attached to a stucco wall. He realized that was where he needed to be so he raced for them still in his cat form.

He burst through the outer doors into a deserted foyer. The castle was deadly quiet not a Cait in sight and not a sound to be heard, but then he did hear something -- the soft mews of tiny kittens and he followed the sound with Kelly directly at his heels toward a throne room.

When he walked in he was shocked to find the King waiting alone on his throne. There were only a few of his elite guards that stood stiffly to the back of him. He obviously was not threatened by Donnie or his companions.

The giant silver tabby narrowed his eyes at Donnie and growled menacingly, "Usurper you have come and only a hairsbreadth from the appointed time." The king pointed to a smallish cat carrier at his feet.

Donnie morphed into his human form. Rage course through his veins when he heard his cousins cry mercilessly from inside the carrier. Ten guards and one Giant Cait Sith loomed over the three tiny creatures and he wanted to end them all for the pain his young cousins had had to endure.

All of a sudden his mouth was filled to bursting with Cait Sith teeth and his fingers elongated into claws. And he yowled louder than he'd ever yowled before.

The king's ears flatted against his head and he bellowed, "You dare to challenge me in my own court. Son or no son you will die here today my boy!"

Kelly looked over at Donnie's face with shock written all over hers. That had been what his cousin had told him that fateful day. He had told him that the King was really his father and if the other Caits found out he had begat a halfblood he would lose his throne.

Kelly mouthed son and Donnie just shrugged and said, "Cara you see we both have . . . how you say . . . daddy issues."

Donnie dove for him and the kings personal guard tried to stop him, but Kelly moved as fast as lightening to prevent them from coming anywhere near him. His Cait face split into a wide grin when he realized she was leaving his father to him.

Their large bodies collided in the middle of the throne room floor. The king was stouter than him but what Donnie lacked in bulk he made up for it flexibility and speed. The King was sluggish and soft. Donnie trained five days a week. At least he thought he could beat him that was until he realized the king was just toying with him.

He chuckled through his many teeth as he swiped a big claw across Donnie's throat and it would have been a killing blow if not for the scabbard.

Donnie felt the slice and pain exploded in his neck, but no blood was spilled and the gaping wound quickly closed up. Meanwhile his father looked on in shock and awe. With a look of mortification on his face that his son would not be so easily dispatched.

The coward called his guards then as fear crept across his features. Donnie knew he had the upper hand and it was his time to play. He used his speed and giant claws to rip at his father. Leaving tiny scratched all over his body. All the while King Lorenzo Alfero cried out for help from his elite guard, but they would have their hands full with Kelly and any minute now his other friends would come through the portal to the king's court.

Donnie thought about the time that had gone by and he began to worry that perhaps his friends for some reason couldn't get into the court, but that couldn't be true Kelly had come through just fine, but then he remembered something he hadn't realized he was doing when he went through, he had grabbed Kelly's hand at the last possible second before being transported and she hadn't followed him in he'd actually pulled her through.

Mio Dio! it would be only them.

He knew Kelly was a bad ass of epic proportions, but she wouldn't be able to hold out against ten elite guards forever. And just as he thought it he seemed to have cursed her with his negativity because one of the guards kicked her from behind throwing her off balance and driving her straight into the arms of a waiting grey Persian.

Donnie knew she stood only one chance of getting out of the court alive so he flipped over the front of the King and landed at his back to place his foreclaw at his jugular.

The coward gulped reflexively as Donnie applied pressure to the carotid artery bringing a tiny drop of blood to the surface. The guards grasping the danger to their sovereign leader placed a claw at Kelly throat too. Now it was a deadly game of cat and mouse for all concerned.

"Let her go or the king dies." Donnie announced in Italian to the guards that crowded around his bella donna. Kelly was struggling in her captor's arms with a look on her face that spoke volumes. If she managed to get free the cat that was holding her was done for. Many of the cats that surrounded her showed the telltale signs of getting on the bad side of the Goddess of death.

Unfortunately the guards were not intimidated. Caits are vengeful creatures who now looked like they wanted payback for the injuries she had inflicted and from where he stood he could see that she had inflicted many.

"The guard holding her spoke up and said, "If I let her go and the king lives I am as good as dead anyway. The king will kill me for disobeying him. And if I don't let her go and the kings dies. He will kill me for failing to protect him. So you see no matter the outcome I am dead either way"

"Donnie immediately knew the truth of it. The guards would never release her even if it meant the kings life. He let his shoulders sag in defeat.

When Kelly saw this she demanded, "Donnie Alfero you best not be fixin to do what I think you're doin'!" Kelly recognized the look on his face but her order had come much too late

He had already released the king.

The King snorted derisively and stepped away from him to say coolly and with little feeling, "Kill him, but first tell me what makes you impervious." He commanded, and when Donnie maintained his stony silence, he spoke to his guard, "Kill her too unless he talks."

Donnie nearly leapt out of his skin when he heard those words. "Stop," he commanded, "I will show you."

All of a sudden the king became very interested.

Donnie unstrapped the scabbard from his shoulder and as soon as it left his body it became visible.

The king pounced on it and tore it from his grasp to look at it with a big eyed stare that only cats can give.

He began to chuckle maniacally as he held the scabbard aloft for all his personal guards to see, "With this my enemies will live in fear of my wrath. I shall expand my territory, and I will be the greatest Cait that has ever lived."

Donnie noticed that none of them looked particularly elated by the prospect. The king's reign seemed to be an unhappy one for all concerned.

When his father finished examining the scabbard and trying it out on himself, he announced in an disinterested voice and with a dismissive wave of his paw, "kill them both." And then he walked over to his throne to watch as they were dispatched by his loyal guard.

Just as a giant Cait raised his claw to strike a familiar voice rang out across the large meeting room.

"WAIT!"

His cousin Achilles and Sophia stood at the entryway. Sophia ran for the carrier while Achilles strolled into the throne room like he owned the place.

"He addressed many of the guards by name as he passed them and they bowed their heads reverently to him as he proceeded to the throne. He addressed the guards then saying with contempt, "I see you've met the king's son."

They looked from Achilles to Donnie and then to the king over and over again like they didn't know what to think, until the guard holding Kelly spoke up and said, "He cannot be the king's son. He is obviously two natured."

Donnie didn't know what two natured meant, but he surmised it meant halfblooded, so he said emphatically, "Your king is my father. He has kept me a secret my entire life. If you do not believe me you need only ask Achilles. I have been living with him since my twelfth birthday."

"Your highness is this true?" one of the guards called out from the back of the crowd.

"Enough of these games!" he commanded, "dispatch them both!"

One of the guards spoke to another saying" It must be true he cannot deny it in the court of truth."

Achilles spoke up again and feigning disinterest said, "We cannot get involved the king has challenged a rightful heir, and in doing so we must let the matter be decided in a fight to the death."

Donnie's gut filled with rot. He had never agreed to a battle to the death. And now that the king had the scabbard he couldn't possibly win.

Donnie watched, his mouth agape, as the guards released Kelly and addressed her, "We cannot let you intervene in the contest, but as long as you agree to stay out of the challenge you may stay and watch.

When they took about ten steps back and formed a wide circle around the two, Kelly rubbed her arms and crossed them across her chest to give them an angry stare, but when she looked at him her face lost all signs of anger and took on a look of concern.

Obviously she knew what he knew:

He was screwed . . .

Well boys and girls it looks like it's the end for Donnie.

There is no possible way he can defeat the King now.

Or is there?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.