"Somehow, I don't think you're telling us everything." The sneering Tonu guard leaned in, his yellow teeth discomfortingly close to Colzu's face. The Kyrii leaned as far back as he could in his chair.

"You really want to know everything?" Colzu quipped. "How about we start with 'your breath stinks'?"

The guard roared and slammed his staff onto the table. "That's enough insolence from you, ruffian! Now, tell us all you know about the theft that took place in the palace."

"I keep telling you," the Kyrii replied in an exasperated tone. "I don't rob palaces. Ummagine stands and pottery vendors are good enough for me, thank you. A lowly urchin such as myself wouldn't know what went on in Princess Amira's treasury."

"Lies!" the Tonu shouted. "You were caught sneaking around that area at the time of the crime! You have no alibi for when the treasure went missing!"

"Then I must have been set up," Colzu calmly replied.

The guard's sneer had returned. "Yes, I'm sure it's very likely that an urchin such as yourself, who is satisfied swiping food from fruit stands instead of robbing magnificent palaces, would somehow be 'tricked' into being in one during a robbery,” he said sarcastically.

Colzu shrugged.

The guard leaned in close again. "Listen very carefully, you little rogue. Princess Amira is very angry about the theft. If you don't confess your crime and tell us who your cohorts were, it will be that much worse for you in the end, as you will have to bear their punishment as well as your own. And, rest assured, we here at the palace do not punish such trespasses lightly..."

The sound of a creaking door broke the silence. From the back of the dark room, he could hear footsteps crossing the stone floor. A beautiful Aisha in a magically flowing gown entered the pool of light that was bathing Colzu and the Tonu guard.

“Is this the thief who stole my treasure?!” Her voice was delicate but precise, like a knife cutting through the air. Her accent was heavy, but every word flowed from her lips like a poem.

“We believe so,” said the Tonu in a rough voice. He stood up straighter now that he was in the presence of the princess.

“I heard he was a tough one to crack. Has he confessed yet?” she asked, staring at Colzu with complete and utter disdain. She leaned in closer to him, studying his every emotion. Her eyes squinted as she searched for a clue.

“Did you steal my treasure?” she asked abruptly, getting right to the point.

“No!” Colzu shot back. The princess seemed to have her mind settled. She walked around the room and paced across the floor in front of him.

“At the scene of the crime, we found something. Does this mean anything to you?” she demanded, pulling an item from the depths of her pocket. At first Colzu couldn’t see what it was in the dimly lit room. The princess walked further into the light, and in her hand he could see, shining in the light, a brooch. It was a golden scarab with red rubies for the eyes and a green emerald delicately carved into the letter G. On the back was a pin that one could use to fasten it to a shirt. The sight of the pin sent shivers down Colzu’s spine. He stared, mesmerised at the sight it.

“I said, do you know what this is?!” the princess shouted, her voice crashing through his thoughts.

“Yes, I do, and I think I know who stole your treasure”…

"So, you admit it! It was you!" growled the Tonu guard, not bothering to leave out the hint of disgust in his tone.

"No, no! I told you, I didn't steal anything from the Palace. Now, if you'd please let me continue," said Colzu, shooting the guard a look of equal distaste. "As I was saying... I do a little bit of harmless stealing, and I just so happened to be doing some well... 'business' in Sakhmet when I came across a stranger. He was dressed in all-black robes that shadowed his face in such a way that it was impossible to tell exactly what species of Neopet he was..." Colzu shuddered at the memory of the intimidating stranger.

"Go on..." said the beautiful princess in her most patient, soothing voice. She never would have admitted it, but she liked something about this strange Kyrii's witty charm.

"Well, that," said Colzu, gesturing toward the scarab, "was pinned to his scarf. I remember it so clearly. He began to walk toward me, and he lifted a gloved paw and grasped my shoulder."

The princess was now watching Colzu closely, mesmerised by his intriguing story.

Colzu continued, with the event so clear in his mind that it sent shivers all through him, from the bottoms of his paws to the tips of his ears. "He grasped my shoulder so tightly and firmly that it felt more like a bite." The Kyrii could almost feel the hand on him. "And he said to me, in a raspy low voice, 'I have a job for you.' He was about to tell me exactly what he wanted me to do, when all of a sudden, commotion broke out at the Fruit Machine, where a young Usul had just won a Halloween Paint Brush. The crowd went kind of crazy... and well, in the rush of things, I lost sight of him..."

"And...?" said the Princess expectantly.

"Well, there's one more thing..."

"So?" the guard demanded, nonplussed. "Do you have what he gave you?"

Colzu hesitated, glancing at the princess for support, and nodded. "Yeah. Would you like to see them?"

The guard's disgust was almost tangible. "Of course we'd like to see it, brainless urchin! Today, if you don't mind."

Just then, Princess Amira turned to the Tonu. "Guard?"

He instantly ceased glowering and stood to attention. "Your Majesty?"

She smiled sweetly. "Would you please leave us alone?"

Glancing warily at his prime suspect, the guard warned, "He's a hardened criminal, Princess. It simply isn't safe for you to be alone with him."

Amira's smile lost its sugar. In fact, Colzu wasn't sure he could call it a smile at all. Looked more like a glare.

"Guard, I'm asking you to leave," she said in a tone that made it clear that she wasn't asking at all, but commanding.

The guard nodded reluctantly, offered Colzu a parting sneer, and left.

"Now," said the Princess, smiling gently once again, "may I see those items - the brooch and the note?"

Colzu offered a grateful grin and, reaching under his vest, pulled out a small tan bag. Handing it to Amira, he explained, "The note didn't say anything much, just to come to the treasury area. I figured I didn't have anything to lose, so I-" he broke off suddenly, watching as the Princess's face paled. "Is anything wrong?"

Amira had palmed the brooch and was staring at the short note. Colzu noted with some shock a horrified expression in her eyes. In a voice trembling with fear, she whispered, "I know this writing..."

"Yes," replied the princess, shading a glance at the Kyrii, still bound in the uncomfortable chair, his arms twisted at an agonisingly painful angle by her careless guards. For a moment, she almost wanted to unbind him and let him go. After all, he seemed harmless enough. What could he possibly do to affect her? ...But no, she could not possibly. That was what he wanted her to do. His oily charm and amiable manner were all part of the act. He had probably been trained to con people by some old thief in a faraway land. In other words, he was completely unreliable.

Bolstering herself, she took in a deep lungful of air from the sticky atmosphere of the room and cleared her mind of all doubts about Colzu. She would not fall for the oldest trick in the book, because, after all, she was the princess, and the princess had a responsibility to be strong and wise in her judgments. Her kingdom was depending on her, and she could not let it down. She would not unbind the thief, but she could talk to him, and she would tell him the truth. After all, she owed it to him.

"I knew him once," she narrated curtly, and began to pace from one end of the room to the other, back and forth, back and forth. "Long, long ago; I don't remember that much of him, only his name, his mannerisms, and the thing he did to this castle that I will never forget..."

Colzu had sat, transfixed, as the princess narrated her tale, but the spell was abruptly broken when the large wooden doors the guards had left through not that long ago burst open with an ear-splitting thud, separating from each other to house the entry of a weedy, stick-like Yurble, all dressed in a flowing palace robe. His form hardly bore even a faint whiff of similarity to the normal, chubby form of an average Yurble. From his crumpled forehead, sprinkled copiously with wrinkles of worry, and his deep, audible panting, Colzu recognized his worry.

"What seems to be the problem, Remus?" And changed her air completely in a sudden whirl of her robes as the servant faced her; the air of power and authority pulsing from her now was almost so plain you could see it.

Remus wagged a finger in the immediate direction of the door, attempting frantically to catch his breath and begin speaking. "Outside," he managed eventually. "The sky, its gone purple, my princess. They’re all panicking, and I- I can’t control them!"

In his chair, Colzu raised a skeptical eyebrow and began to wonder if this Yurble was one to be avoided. Still, though, it was well known to his peers that Colzu had always maintained an open mind. So, curiously, he planted his feet firmly on the ground, leaned over to support the weight of the chair, and shuffled slowly to the slit-shaped castle window, step by sluggish step.

When he eventually got there, he noted to his amazement that Remus was not actually mad. The sky was, indeed, purple. Slack-jawed, he turned back to the princess. "What on Neopia is going on here?"

Amira said nothing for a while, but stared into space. The jigsaw was still forming in her mind, but she could see at least half of it now, and what she knew safely told her that the Kyrii thief was innocent. "You will be unbound shortly," she managed eventually. "I need your assistance badly in this time of crisis, and it would be of utmost help if you were to come along and help me. After all, this is your destiny just as much as mine... That's only if you agree, of course."

Colzu nodded silently from the window.

"Remus," commanded the princess, gesturing toward the Kyrii's ropes. "If you will..."

"I must think..." Amira gazed into space, frowning. Colzu watched her warily; the past few days had been rather too exciting for his taste. Common street urchins did not usually associate with princesses.

"Come with me."

Colzu was startled out of his thoughts by Princess Amira's curt request. More of a command, really; it was clear the princess was used to giving orders. Amira turned and swept toward the door, trailing an unmistakable air of power in her wake. Colzu stumbled after her, his legs numb and clumsy after being tied for so long.

"Princess, where are we going?" he gasped as Amira shoved the door open and began to walk down the stone corridor at a surprisingly fast clip. "And destiny? I'm a beggar's son!"

"Destiny is for everyone," Amira told him, some amusement colouring her rich tones. Then her voice turned worried again. "I knew it would come soon; the curse must be lifted, after all."

"Curse?" Colzu stumbled along behind her, struggling to comprehend. The soft flowery scent that hung about the princess didn't help to clear his befuddled mind, either.

"Yes. I told you that I would never forget what he did to this castle, didn't I? My father wouldn't employ him as Head Mage as he requested: he was very young, my father doubted his reliability, and he had a different responsibility, one he neglected." Amira glanced back over her shoulder and Colzu felt a slight chill go up his back. Somehow, the story sounded ominous. "He was my brother."

Colzu couldn't help the gasp that escaped. That dark, mysterious stranger, brother to Amira? Although, come to think, he did have a commanding air.

"...He was to be king, but he didn't want to, so he ran off, planning to become a magician," Amira continued. "When he returned, asking for the position of Head Mage, my father was furious, and so was my brother, who inherited his temper-" Amira, several feet ahead of Colzu, turned a corner and her words were cut short with a gasp of amazement.

"Princess Amira?!" Colzu's thief senses were screaming at him as he started to run...

The chair that had teased the corner of his vision didn't come as fast as he'd expected; instead it floated almost leisurely toward Amira. Because of this, it didn't hit his shoulder like he had intended it to, but instead tangled up his legs so that he crash landed in a very undignified and painful heap. The breath knocked out of him, he lay motionless for a moment, fighting for air and trying to assimilate the impossible sight that lay before him.

Or perhaps he should say floated before him. Whoever had done this appeared to have summoned the furniture from several rooms, and brought the lot of it floating merrily down the hall to meet the approaching Princess. One of the objects in question, namely the chair that had leveled him, seemed to have simply been drifting up to Amira like a curious Spardel puppy.

A soft, steady clapping and a low chuckle added insult to injury as he twisted free of the chair and staggered to his throbbing feet. "Nicely done, young urchin." Capricious, sparkling eyes turned toward the Princess. "I was not aware that you were hiring court jesters from among the commoners." An elegant, perfectly trimmed eyebrow lifted. "Your standards for such choices seem to be looser than those of someone we both know. Or should I say, knew."

"Not nearly loose enough to accept my father's murderer as anything higher than the cleaner of the dungeon's toilets! And should you ever rise to that level, you should call me merciful," Amira spat, cold, imperious fury emanating from her. And underscoring that, like a ghost of the past dimly superimposed over the present, was the clear, simple rage of a child bereft of her father.

The Eyrie mage bowed. He held no wand, no seemingly undecipherable scroll, nothing that Colzu would normally have associated with magic. Just his own manicured paws, and a hallful of floating furniture. "King Coltzan's death was a most unfortunate necessity. But perhaps I can hope that my sister shall show more sense?"

"I doubt it," Amira said coldly, frigid rage possessing her beautiful eyes. High and icy she seemed, fierce and fair, slender and powerful like a sword unsheathed under moonlight.

If she was a blade, then her brother was a bow from which arrows flew. "I'd feared not. It's such a shame," he said airily, as if mildly dismayed by the rain that had cancelled a picnic. "But you mistake my position. I need no one's consent. However, it would be more convenient were I not to have to fight you. So..." his paw strayed into a pocket, and Amira tensed with the knowledge of what must be there... "perhaps this will persuade you."

His eyes turned toward a window and the violet sky beyond, and his groping paw drew forth...

"You recognize it, I assume, sweet sister?"

Amira forced herself to again meet her brother's eyes, veiling any signs of fear. "That means nothing to me, Gelrin," she said coolly.

"You stuck that pin on me!" Colzu blurted, trying to assert his way into the situation.

Gelrin let out a wicked laugh. "Oh, no, you funny thing, not this brooch. This one is far too valuable. I believe I gave you one like this." The mage lightly stroked the back of his scarab, and from beneath the princess's robes a matching brooch floated like the furniture, suspended from a chain. “It was a farewell gift for my charming sister. It cheers me to see you still wear it, my dear.”

“It is a curse,” Amira spat. “And I would take it off if I could.”

Gelrin narrowed his eyes. “But you can’t. You never will! It’s my irremovable mark - once you have it you can never be free.”

“Bu-” started Colzu, but Amira silenced him with a swift look. But I was able to remove mine, Colzu thought in confusion. Hot sands, it FELL off! “Why now?” he asked instead, then, more delicately, “I mean, you are obviously more powerful than any of us could ever wish to be. Why did you wait until now to take power?”

“Because I couldn’t,” Gelrin snapped, then calmed. “No, Amira is, after all, my sister - she has some cunning. These brooches, the one you and she wear, are indeed ‘cursed.’ As long as I have this one, I control you. But Amira - she knew she could not remove the brooch or my spell, so she had her lesser men alter it. I needed one more thing to master her brooch, something I could only get in one place...”

It dawned on Colzu, then. “Your highness,” he said slowly, “It wasn’t gold or a jewel that was stolen from your treasury, was it?”

“No,” laughed the Eyrie. He held up a small crystal bottle in his free hand. “I thank you, young Kyrii, for your assistance. As mighty as I am, I could not enter the treasury and get my key to the kingdom without alerting Amira immediately.”

“So... I am the thief?” Colzu gasped. He had been lost in thought, and had come around near the treasury, or so he had assumed. But no - that space in his memory had been while he was under the evil mage’s control, and he had woken up after the brooch fell off!

“No,” Amira said harshly. “It was only your hand committed the crime. Gelrin is guilty, and it is he who will face the punishment.”

“Not today!” boomed the mage. He held his glowing-eyed scarab high. “Now I have all I need! Now, my sweet little sister, you are truly mine, now Sakhmet is mine!”

“No!” shouted Amira and Colzu together, but too late. Gelrin traced the poisonous G on the back of his brooch. Immediately Amira began screaming; she fell to her knees, clutching her head.

“Princess Amira,” shouted Colzu, reaching for her, but froze. The princess had stopped screaming. She looked up at him, and the Kyrii drew back in horror. Her alluring copper eyes now glowed a noxious purple, matching the toxic sky.

“What?” the Kyrii gasped.

“WHAT?” Gelrin burst. “Why are you not affected?”

Colzu turned and ran, ducking under an ornately carved floating table in the process. He had to find help, but he was afraid to wonder just how many people in the palace had golden scarab brooches hidden under their robes...

Years of experience in leaping and dodging over, around and under stalls, buildings and bystanders came into desperate play as Colzu darted among the furniture, which suddenly took on a life of its own, ceasing to float tranquilly and beginning to swerve and crash about, threatening to crush anything that failed to get out of its path. Behind him, a frightened yelp was abruptly cut off, and without looking back Colzu knew that the guard who had confronted him earlier had had a run-in with something bigger than he was and come out second best. Whether he was dead or merely knocked out the Kyrii didn't know, and didn't care to hang around and find out.

"Help!" The pained cry nearly brought Colzu to a halt, and daring the enormous risk of a backward glance he saw Amira's purple gaze glaring fiercely after him, untouched by any hint of the terror that had nearly checked his forward rush.

Clever son of a sand hydra, he thought, turning his eyes back to the path ahead of him just in time to evade a flying bookshelf that would have ended his flight as effectively as a sword through the chest. That Eyrie may have been royalty, but he obviously rivaled or even surpassed Colzu in street smarts.

Finally bursting free of the wood-and-upholstery swarm that clogged the hall, he began to race at random among the corridors. Several times he nearly approached a passing official or servant, but always the sight of the malignant glow in their eyes saved him, sending him speeding along another route. Gelrin had been alarmingly thorough in his preparations; Colzu wasn't certain what methods he had used, but however he had done it, the entire palace seemed to be under his command. Everyone he saw was affected, although a couple seemed, with no real success, to be fighting it.

Everyone, that is, except for him. Why was he different? He strongly suspected Gelrin would stop at nothing to find out. Amazing, to find that there was something the two of them agreed-

Trapped! With mind-crippling suddenness that single word that every thief dreaded above all others sprang into his head, silencing every other thought. Ignorant of the palace's interior layout, he had turned a wrong corner and found himself lurching to a halt on a balcony, which had been artfully positioned to offer a sweeping panorama of the golden horizon, the soaring now-purple sky, and the city that sprawled away beneath him. Way too far beneath him.

Breathing heavily, his leaden heart pounding like a sodden weight, Colzu whirled around to see Princess Amira and no less than five guards come to a halt at the entrance to the balcony...

"There's no more running, now," Amira pointed out, her tone icy and filled with venom only Gelrin could put there, as she made her slow way toward him. "You might as well surrender now and make it easy - easier - on yourself." Her eyes glinted with maliciousness; Colzu knew he was doomed with only that gesture to go by.

His gaze flicked to the door which was barred by possessed guards. Blast them all, he thought angrily. Approaching footsteps behind them told Colzu that Gelrin himself would be joining them shortly. Clenching his fist and letting it go, his gaze traveled from the door, down to it. On the way there, it fell upon the brooch that had been pinned on him. The brooch that should have added him as another pawn in Gelrin's army.

So why hadn't it? Odd time to be thinking about it, but nonetheless Colzu did. There had to be a reason...

The Kyrii thief felt comprehension filling his head.

Why hadn't he seen it before? It was so obvious. All this time, he had thought he had been out of Gelrin's control when the brooch fell off. That wasn't it at all. The gap in his memory had not ended when the brooch fell off - he remembered that - but when Gelrin had acquired the crystal he used to control Princess Amira...

The Kyrii cracked a smile across his face; it felt like it had been too long since one had appeared there. It was risky, and perhaps even stupid, but it was his best shot.

The possessed princess and her guards suddenly stopped, a few feet from the now smug looking Kyrii thief. A victorious laughter seemed to fill the entire area. "My, my, little urchin. Seems you've got yourself in a little corner." Gelrin grinned with assurance.

"As if," Colzu said as insultingly as possible. It was hard to stay calm; knowing his doom was looming over him. "I've got this under control."

"Control? Ha! You want to see control?" The Eyrie flicked his paw in just the slightest motion and one guard began to advance on Colzu.

It took every bit of energy from Colzu not to flinch. He simply looked down at his paw, uninterested.

“Arrogant thief!” Suddenly all the guards and Amira herself stepped forward. Colzu could not hold back his fear this time. “That’s more like it!”

“That’s it, isn’t it?” Colzu sneered. The army of purple eyes stopped. “Why you can’t control me!”

“Hmm! How could you possibly know? Some one as low as you could not have obtained knowledge so quickly especially compared to someone as powerful and great as myself!” Gelrin stood majestically, glaring into the eyes of the Kyrii.

“I suppose... but if you knew, I should think I would still be under your control. That’s the problem, though, I’m not!” Colzu defiantly crossed his arms.

“A problem, indeed...” The mage grinned, “Perhaps I should fix it...”

“Fear! That’s why you refused inherit the kingdom, you wanted your people to fear you!” the Kyrii spat out as quickly, trying to buy more time. He wasn’t sure, but Gelrin still had not noticed Colzu was slowly inching closer to the mage... just a littler further, then....

“Wrong! I wanted power and now I have it! So, tell me why the brooch doesn’t affect you and I may spare you a painful ending.”

“All right,” Colzu looked into Princess Amira’s eyes and found they were still a venomous purple. “The crystal.”

Gelrin pulled the crystal bottle out and gazed at it against the purple sky, “So simple-” Whatever the Eyrie was thinking at that moment, it was interrupted by the body of a young Kyrii thief knocking him into the ground. The bottle flew from his paws. Colzu sprang up, desperately searching for it, but the expedition was cut short as the mage grabbed his ankles. They both struggled for several minutes, attempting to fight one another off.

“Guards!” Two voices resounded as one in the confusion of the calamity.

Gelrin sneered as he tried to gather himself.

Amira glared in a radiantly beautiful way, as her brother remained oblivious to his sister’s reawakening.

“Guards,” Amira said calmly, “Please arrest my dear brother.” Although very baffled, the guards did as they were told and approached Gelrin.

“How-?” Gelrin snarled in anger. Princess Amira raised her paw revealing the crystal bottle. “You think you’ve won? I still control this palace! Guards!” A moment passed. “Guards! Obey me!!”

“You don’t have control any more.” Colzu was still spiraled out on the floor, but he managed to expose the brooch cupped in his paw. He smirked. The Eyrie, in a rage, raced toward him, but the guards managed a paw on Gelrin before he could get very far.

“You-” He struggled against the guards.

“Put him in the dungeon and ask Neju to place her spells on it, we would not my dear brother to disappear after he so graciously visited,” Princess Amira commanded coldly.

“I’ll get out, sister. I am more powerful and I know this palace. I don’t need a brooch to do magic.”

“Oh? I think not. Neju is a mage now. She was taught by the faeries, you know. Remember how you teased her when we were little? I think she’ll be so happy to see you.” Princess Amria smiled sweetly as her brother was led away; his face had turned white.

“Princess Amira?” Colzu asked, not wishing to spoil her moment of triumph. She turned to him, kindly acknowledging his presence with open ears. “Who is Neju?”

Her smile broadened. “A childhood friend. Neju wanted nothing more to be Head Mage and Gelrin never would let her believe she could. Now she is. Funny, she would have never gone searching for Faerieland if Gelrin had not teased her.” Amira chuckled a little. “You really saved us all. Thank you so much, Kyrii thief.” She bowed.

“You can call me Colzu.” He grinned, but then stopped. “Princess Amira, how did you get a hold of the crystal? Weren’t you under the control of the curse?”

“Luck, I suppose. I just opened my eyes and there it was in my hands.” The princess stood taller and more beautifully than ever, knowing that Sakhmet was once again safe.

The End