Neil of Tanith - Part 2

"Ne-eil. Oh Ne-eil."

Mumbling a distinct "Mmblmrph," the prince buried his head between two pillows and concentrated on ignoring the muffled words.

"Hey, Neil. I said, HEY NEIL!"

"And a Merry Christmas to you too, sir!" Neil cried, rocketing to a sitting position, eyes wide open.

"Oh, I'm terribly sorry, did I wake you?" A grinning Nelmir emerged from the end of the four-poster bed, navy blue sport coat left unbuttoned stylishly over a white shirt.

"Unghhh..." The prince fell back down onto his comfy, still-warm bedding. "What'd you have to go and do that for? I was asleep, for God's sake."

"I don't know. I guess I just figured that you'd want to be standing on two feet when you meet your wife-to-be today."

"Well, I'd much rather be — what?" For the second time in as many minutes, Neil shot up in bed. "Did you just say ‘today'?"

"Among other things, yes." Nelmir reached over to brush a bit of dust from his newly-shined patent leather loafers.

"‘Today,' as in today?"

"‘Today,' as in three hours, my lord."

"THREE HOURS!?" Managing to take a flying leap from his bed to his dresser without killing himself or anyone else in the process, Neil began a mad dash around the room. "Clothes, I — clothes, and — and hair, and gift, and —" Suddenly he found himself clean and sporting a respectable brownish-orangish-goldish velvet suit, complete with knickers, tunic, and cape.

"Thanks, Nelmir." Crashing into a bedpost on his way to the mirror, he pulled on a pair of dark leather boots and strapped a sheathed sword around his waist. Still bleary-eyed, he inspected his reflection. "OK. Presentable. Now. A gift. Flowers, chocolates, socks. Jewels, money, a key chain. I — oh, blast it all!" Neil collapses into an overstuffed easy chair, feeling helpless. "How the dickens am I supposed to know what to give a girl for a wedding gift?"

"Oh, just off the top of my head...a ring?"

"Dad's already taken care of that."

"Hmmph. King Bryant always seems to think of everything. Well, let me see here..." Nelmir rummaged through his pockets. "Aha!" He produced a small box, which he presented to Neil with a flourish. Upon removing the cover, the prince was astounded to find a delicate necklace of silver filigree shaped into a string of tiny roses. In response to the boy's stunned glance, the wizard shrugged and offered, "Just something I haul around. Like an extra packet of tissues."

"Oh." Neil tucked the gift into his cape. "There. Now I can — no, wait." Stopping in mid-flight, Neil squinted. "I forgot something...I —"

Silently, Nelmir lifted an index finger, which at the moment happened to be suspending

"My crown!" The prince snatched the silver circle and pulled it tight on his head. "I knew that. Really I did."

Rolling his eyes, Nelmir agreed, "Of course, my lord," and watched the boy sprint down the hall.

After tumbling down a flight of stairs and sliding feet-first into an ancient Chinese vase that his mother had bought wholesale at the local sales club before anyone realized that it was real ancient China (and after guiltily turning it around so no one would see the crack), Neil skidded to a halt before the doors of the Great Room. Hey, he thought, it'll take me longer if I shortcut through here — which of course contradicts my hurrying — like I even want to get married — life is so unfair. He pulled open the heavy double doors and entered the room.

Behind him, the doors closed with a muffled click. But Neil didn't notice; he was too busy being awed at the piles and piles of 18th-birthday-gifts stacked neatly on tables labeled with "CLOTHES," "GOLD," "DISHWARE," and the like. There was even a table marked "CROWN CLIPS." The prince shook his head, disgusted — the kingdom was certainly lacking in tact — just because his crown had a tendency to slip over his eyes a little didn't mean it was his fault. Carefully, he picked his way through the room. Mustn't break one of his own gifts, he reminded himself. Mom's going to be ticked off enough with the vase — provided, he added, she ever finds out. Which she won't. So I'm all set. He stepped around a rolled-up tapestry.

Suddenly, the prince stopped, catching his glance on a too-bright glint. He made his way over to a table called "MISCELLANEOUS" and began to dig through a whole slew of unidentifiable objects to get to The Shiny Thing.

Several minutes later, he uncovered it: Nelmir's crystal ball. A shaft of sunshine that fell through the window had caught the crystal's clear interior, which lit up like an artificial torch. When Neil leaned closer, he noticed that, in reality, the sphere was not crystal clear. It was obscured by a multitude of oddly-colored shadows that rotated slowly, shifting to form and reform unfamiliar scenes. The boy could have sworn he heard angels and violins.

Reverently, he lifted the ball from its violet cushion, out of the sun, making the music stop and the smoke disappear. "Cool!" If nothing else, the crystal would make a very interesting dinner-table magic trick. He tried making the music and shadows turn off and on a couple more times, until finally the violins gave a discordant screech, annoyed. "Awww..." A high note pierced the air, dangerously close to ear-shattering. "OK! OK, I'll stop already. Geez, sorry." Grumpily, he dropped the palm-sized crystal into his cape along with the necklace — capes sure were handy — so many pockets and all — comfy too — great for smuggling cracked vases from Ancient China to the dump, Neil noted — and headed outside.