Just Remember - Chapter 6

Chapter 6

Jesse moved on, even though the farmers begged him to live by them.

“I need to go home,” he thought, although he didn't really know where home was.

“You are a prince, the son of the King,” he told himself, so your home is the castle.” But somehow he didn't quite believe that anymore. “Your home is the castle IF you grow up to be like the King,” he reminded himself. “And a real king wouldn't live in a hut, or a cave, or the forest, and a real king wouldn't eat somebody's cow just because he was hungry.”

Without knowing it, Jesse traveled closer and closer to the place where his father's palace stood. One day as he walked over the top of a mountain, he saw far ahead of him the glint of sunshine on the top most spire of the castle.

“I want to go home,” Jesse cried, as tears came into his eyes. “But is that my home? Maybe I'm not really a prince, after all. Maybe I really am just the son of a thief, like Shiz always told me.”

Just then he heard a nasty laugh, and suddenly the wicked wizard was standing right in front of him.

“So, you've finally figured it out,” Shiz laughed. “I've told you from the beginning that you weren't really a prince! Now, maybe, you'll come to your senses and go back to where you belong. You could be great, you know, as the leader of the robbers!”

Jesse looked at Shiz, and felt the sickness in his stomach. But then the castle gleamed behind the wizard, and suddenly Jesse shouted, “No! I am not a robber! I am the son of the King!” The sick feeling in his stomach stopped hurting, and a warm glow began to fill his heart. “I don't belong with robbers, Shiz, and you know it, so stop telling me lies!”

Shiz looked angrily into Jesse's face, then suddenly he disappeared, and a huge, purple black dragon stood in front of Jesse.

“So you don't believe that you are really the son of a thief?” it roared, foul smelling black smoke billowing out of it's mouth. “Well, it doesn't matter, does it? Maybe you were the son of the King, once. But you haven't grown up to be like him, have you? The King doesn't steal, but you did. It doesn't matter who you are, you little wretch! You can never go home to live in the castle now, because you grew up to be nothing but a thief, and I've won!”

Jesse sank down to the ground in shame. Shiz was right. He hadn't grown up to be like the King, after all. A sharp, hard rock poked Jesse in the leg, and he grabbed it with his fist. “If only I hadn't taken that cow!” he moaned as squoze the rock with all his might, taking his anger out on it. “If only I had paid attention to the warning voice in my head.”

Jesse looked up again and saw the dragon growing bigger and more ferocious than ever. It's head rose higher and higher, swaying to and fro. It's beady little eyes glistened above it's long snout. Then he heard a swish of robes, and suddenly Emer was standing in front of him, shielding him from the awful sight of the dragon.

“The prince has not lost,” Emer said in a ringing voice, throwing his arms wide to protect Jesse behind him. “You have lost, Shiz. Jesse has proved himself to be every bit as good and noble and honorable as his father.”

“No!” roared the dragon, swinging his head back and forth to see behind his old enemy. “The boy has failed! He stole the cow. He is a thief, not a prince. I told you he would grow up to be just like the people he lived with. You stupid old man, love is not the most powerful thing in the world. Evil is!” And with a roar of rushing wind, the dragon breathed a great gush of fire out of his huge mouth. Hot, striking flames engulfed Emer in licking tongues of fire.

“No!” cried Jesse. “No!” But it was too late. The fire swallowed Emer whole, and in an instant he was gone.

“No!” screamed Jesse again, shaking with horror as he realized his best friend, his protector, his one true ally was dead.

Shakily he stood up and faced the dragon. “You have not won,” he told Shiz with a voice that rang with courage. “No matter how long you fight, I will never stop fighting back. I am a prince, my father is the King, and I will fight you until the day I die.”

“What for?” laughed Shiz. “You can never live in the castle now. You have lost, prince Jesse. You are nothing like your father. You are just a common, petty thief.”

“Maybe so,” answered Jesse. “Maybe I didn't act like my father when I took that cow, but I know better now, and I will never steal again. If I can't live in the castle, then I will stand out here, but I will never stop fighting you. You are not the strongest wizard, because I am a prince, the son of a king, and in the end, you will lose! Evil is not the strongest thing in the world, love is, and I loved Emer, and I love my father, and I will protect him and his people no matter what you do!”

Almost without thinking, Jesse raised his arm and threw the rock he was holding straight at Shiz. The dragon was tall, his head way up above the prince, but Jesse had grown strong from all his years of hard work, and the rock flew through the air with startling speed. It struck Shiz on the side of the head, just above one beady little eye, and with a howl the dragon fell backward, staggered, then slowly crashed to the ground.

Jesse couldn't believe his eyes. Had he really killed the dragon? Was Shiz really gone?

Suddenly there was a flash of bright, white light, and Emer was back, standing beside Jesse.

“You did it, you brave boy,” Emer praised.

Jesse looked at the dragon in unbelief, then at the wizard in wonder. “But how are you here?” He gasped. “I saw the dragon's fire swallow you whole!”

“Magic,” grinned Emer. “The most powerful magic in the world. Love.”

Suddenly the castle gate opened, and a rush of people streamed out.

“This is the prince,” Emer said loudly to the crowd of people. “Take him inside to the King.”

Jesse was pulled inside the castle and rushed to the thrown room, where his father, the King, waited.

“Your Majesty, this is your son, the prince,” Emer said. “He has come home.”

“Sire,” Jesse looked into the loving eyes of his father, then swallowed. “I am honored to stand here before you, but I am not worthy to be called a prince. I tried to live like you, but I failed.” He hung his head in shame.

The King looked at his son, but before he could say anything, Emer reached an arm around the prince and hugged him.

“Your Majesty,” Emer said with a smile. “This is your son, and he IS a prince. Shiz and I made the rules for the contest, which were that if Jesse grew up to be like you, he could come home. He made a mistake, but he learned from it. I paid the price for that mistake by letting Shiz kill me, but he never understood that love is the most powerful thing in the world, and it's magic is far stronger than his power of evil. Love won the contest, Your Majesty, and Jesse is more than worthy to be your son, he is a prince, and he belongs here in the castle.”

Jesse's father, the King, stood up, smiled, and opened his arms wide to welcome home his son.

The End