The Changeling Princess

by Jackie Shirley

  “You are really special to me, Janis,” he said as our laughter subsided.

  “You’re special to me, too, but let’s remember why we’re here. We’ve got a job to do.”

  “Yeah, I know. What do you say we find someplace to eat?”

  “You talked me into it, but I bet the food won’t be as good as Zanza’s.”

  We walked down the street until we came to a place with a big sign out front that read “EATS.” We walked in the front door and looked around. It looked like an old English Pub and it was extremely noisy. A large sign on the wall advertised the menu.

  Two Ale -half Ohm

  Ale with dragon ribs or breasts - berries taters and bread - One Ohm

  The patrons were mostly Torks with a few scattered Rens. There were no Demons, so I figured they had their own eating places. We found an empty table and were greeted by a woman taking orders. I knew she was a Ren because of her friendly smile.

  “What you have?” she asked.

  “I’ll have the dragon breasts with red berries,” I said.

  “I’ll have the same,” said Wade.

  “Fine, you pay two ohms.”

  I handed over the coins and watched as the barmaid rushed toward the back of the pub. “Looking at the clientele in this place, I don’t blame the barmaids for collecting in advance.”

  “Ale is beer, isn’t it?” Wade asked.

  “Yes, and it’s probably going to be quite strong.”

  “I hope the ale is cold.”

  “They probably have a basement to keep everything cool, but I doubt that it’ll be cold.”

  I looked around the room and saw that many of the Torks had swords and shields. One woman who’d had too much to drink jumped on the top of her table, waving her sword in the air. “What woman in room foolish enough to fight Alga,” she yelled.

  No one answered, so she jumped off the table and challenged every woman in the room. When she got to our table, she looked at me with scorn. “You have face of woman and body of child. Why you carry sword and shield?”

  I could hear Wade’s thoughts. Don’t pay any attention to this overgrown loudmouth.

  Don’t worry, Wade, all she wants is a little attention.

  I stood up and bowed to the woman. “We are strangers who had traveled a great distance to Castle Town. It is an honor to be in the presence of a mighty warrior. I am looking forward to watching you in the games. I know you will be victorious.”

  The woman’s unpleasant expression turned to a smile. “Alga pleased you recognize champion when you see one.” Alga was still smiling as she turned and walked away.

  “That was smart,” said Wade. “You buttered her up by appealing to her arrogance.”

  “Alga likes to brag about herself, so I figured she’d be a sucker for sweet talk. Don’t look now, but the barmaid is headed our way with two huge beer mugs.”

  “Food almost ready,” she said as she placed the beer mugs on our table.

  I looked at Wade. “You go first.”

  Wade took a sip and smiled. “It’s pretty good, but it’d be a lot better if it were ice cold.”

  I kept a straight face as I focused my cold energy beam on Wade’s mug. Wade took another sip and smiled. “Wow! This is really good stuff. Let’s try not to get drunk.”

  I chilled my mug and took a sip. I didn’t like beer, but the ale wasn’t that bad. If I’d had a choice, I would have had a chocolate malt.

  Wade was grinning as he tipped his mug to me. “Do you realize that we’re not old enough to drink back in Charlotte?”

  “I hadn’t thought of it, but it is a funny thought. We were both giggling by the time we got half way through our mug of ale.”

  The food arrived and we did our usual thing of making pigs out of ourselves. The food wasn’t as good as Zanza had fixed, but it was still delicious. I couldn’t get over how tasty the strawberries were. Maybe it was the lack of chemicals is the soil? I only knew the strawberries on this world tasted like they were grown in heaven.

  “I’m stuffed,” Wade said as he sat back and patted his stomach.

  “Me, too, the food was really good. Do you think we should leave the barmaid a tip?”

  “Sure, why not. I wouldn’t leave it on the table though. Someone might steal it.”

  “That makes sense. I’ll hand it to the barmaid to play it safe.”

  Wade and I were ready to leave, so I motioned to the barmaid. “You want more?” she asked.

  “No, I just wanted to give you a tip.” I handed the barmaid an ohm.

  “This for me,” she said as she stared at the gold coin. “No one ever give Malda money before.”

  Wade spoke up. “Don’t the patrons of this bar tip you for good service?”

  “I never heard of ‘tip’ before.”

  I closed Malda’s hand over the gold coin. “Well now you have. This is our gift to you for being so nice to us.”

  Malda looked like she’d just won the lottery as she rushed back into the kitchen. Maybe word would get around and more people would take up tipping

  We continued our walk down the cobblestone street to see where it would take us. We came to a turn in the road and spotted a large herd of cattle grazing in a far-off pasture. I was curious why there was no beef on the pub’s menu. I stopped a Tork and questioned him.

  “Who are the cattle for? We just came from an eats place and they don’t serve beef.”

  “Beef cattle for Demons. You eat beef, Demons take you away. Never see again.”

  I thanked the Tork and we continued on our way. “I guess that means we’ll have to forget about steak on this planet.”

  “It appears that way. Let’s see what else we can discover before we turn in for the night.”

  * * *

  Some of the roadside attractions looked like carnival joints. The only difference was that you won gold coins instead of prizes. Like most carnival games, they didn’t have to cheat because the odds were heavily stacked against the player.

  We stopped and watched a knife throwing game in which the board was covered with targets about the size of a quarter. The biggest payoff was the dime sized target in the center of the board. That tiny little target paid 50 ohms if you were lucky enough to hit it.

  You were given three knives and the price to play was one half ohm. This game reminded me of the carnival dart games were contestants tried to break the balloons.

  “This game looks easy,” said Wade.

  “Of course it looks easy, that’s how they draw the suckers in. I bet they won’t let you use your own knife to play this game.”

  “Are you saying the knives they hand out aren’t balanced?”

  “That’s right. It works on the same principle as using worn out darts that you can’t throw straight. You can still get lucky, but the odds are stacked against you.”

  We watched for about fifteen minutes and never saw anyone hit a target that paid more than one ohm. This game was a real money maker for the owner.

  “I can do this,” I heard a young Ren tell his wife. “I best knife thrower in our entire village.”

  “We have little money left, Jaga,” said the wife. “We need money to buy food for trip home. You must think of Lotta. Is bad to spend family money.”

  Lotta was a very young girl and very sweet. I grabbed Wade’s arm and we moved closer to the young couple.

  Jaga ignored his wife and paid the owner one half ohm. Jaga came close to the money targets, but he came up empty. “One more time,” he pleaded. “I come close.”

  “No,” said his wife. “We be hungry on return to village.”

  I stepped in and introduced myself. “My name is Janis and I have an idea you will like. I will pay the owner the one half ohm and we will split the winnings.”

  “That good deal,” said the wife. “We cannot lose.”

  “That’s right, but I want Lotta to throw the knives. I think she is lucky today.”

  Lotta looked nervous as she picked up a k
nife and stared at the targets on the board. “Lotta, I want you to aim for the circle on the left side of the board with number 25.”

  Lotta did as she was told and threw the knife at the target. I focused my power of telekinesis and guided the knife directly into the center of the target. The crowd roared and so did I. The owner smiled as he counted out 25 gold coins and handed them to Jaga. It was good for business if one of the suckers got lucky once in a while.

  “Okay, Lotta. Now I want you to aim for the circle on the right side of the board with the number 25.”

  I focused my telekinesis and the knife landed directly in center of the circle. The crowd roared again. The owner frowned instead of smiling as he paid Jaga another 25 ohm.

  “Okay, Lotta, now I want you to concentrate on that tiny circle in the center of the board with the number 50 written on it.”

  Lotta threw her third knife and it landed directly in the center of the circle. The crowd cheered and Lotta was laughing out loud. The owner looked like death warmed over as he counted out fifty gold coins and closed down the game. He didn’t have enough gold coins to continue if someone else got lucky.

  The wife whispered in my ear. “I know you are magic woman. Thank you for helping family.” The wife handed me a pouch with fifty ohms, my portion of the winnings.

  I got down on one knee and spoke to Lotta. “You did real good, Lotta. You’re parents are proud of you.”

  “I hear mother say you magic woman. You nice magic woman.”

  Maybe I’m a magic woman who believes in helping people.” I slipped my bag with the fifty gold coins into Lotta’s hand. “Give these coins to your parents when you get home. It will be your gift to show them how much you love them.”

  “Now we can buy farm land. I never forget you.” Lotta threw her arms around me and hugged me.”

  I felt a tear forming in my eye. I would never forget Lotta either.

  CHAPTER 54

  We found a deserted area at the edge of town and bedded down for the night. This was one of the things I really liked about my telekinesis skills. I could make a force field any size I wanted and make our mattresses as soft as we wanted.

  Wade made a covering with microscopic holes so he could still breathe the fresh air. “Who knows what kind of bugs they have on this planet,” he said. “I’m not taking any chances.”

  I knelt down and kissed Wade on the cheek. “If you’re not here in the morning, I’ll know the bugs carried you away in the middle of the night.”

  Wade turned on his side. “If you morph into a big bug tomorrow morning to scare me, I’ll never forgive you.”

  I kissed Wade on the cheek again. “Wade, I would never do anything like that.” I got to thinking about the bugs and made a cover for my bed too. I wasn’t afraid, I was just being cautious.

  I awoke the next morning to the sound of a creaky carriage. I looked up to see the death cart collecting the bodies of dead people. I thought it was really strange that there were no graveyards in Castle Town. I found out later that it was customary for Torks to leave dead family members on to the street to be feed to the dragons. The Rens didn’t do this. They held a ceremony for the dead and then cremated the bodies. The only way a Ren ended up in the death cart was if he was homeless and had no family.

  We found a roadside cart selling fruit and we decided this was going to be our breakfast. I didn’t think dragon breasts were proper food so early in the morning.

  We ate strawberries, plums and pears until we couldn’t eat another bite. We also loaded up on apples so we’d have a snack for later. “The farmers on this planet must have super soil,” said Wade.

  “I thought the same thing the first time I tasted the strawberries. I guess every universe has its pluses and minuses.”

  We wondered around the streets until it was time for the games. When we arrived at the stadium, I couldn’t believe the length of the line at the front gate. Using Earth’s measure for time, the games were held about twice a year and were a big draw for the surrounding villagers. I had no idea what to expect, but I was sure that Wade and I were going to get our money’s worth.

  “No one in line is carrying a shield,” I told Wade. “I think we should get rid of ours.”

  “Good idea, you can always make more.”

  We found a deserted spot and I dissolved the shields. When we got back in line, we were just a couple of smiling faces that blended in with the crowd.

  The stadium housed an arena that was similar to those built for the ancient Roman games. I estimated that the tiered seats held about ten thousand spectators. The stadium wasn’t huge, but the population of Castle Town was nowhere the population of Rome.

  We sat for over an hour until Gorbra, the ruler of Castle Town entered the stadium area. He was a huge Demon, dressed in a white Roman toga and wore sandals. Gorbra carried a gold plated staff with an emerald the size of a baseball attached to the top end of the staff. My senses were on fire because the emerald was a small piece of the green crystal we’d been sent to find. We’d have to be patient until we found out how Gorbra used the crystal.

  Gorbra held the staff over his head and the crowd roared. The next thing I saw was a huge bear entering the arena. The bear stood about 11 feet tall on his hind legs and weighted at least a thousand pounds. The big brown bear looked like a Kodiak bear except its jaw was shorter.

  The crowd roared again as a giant Demon entered the arena. The Demon was about twelve foot tall and weighed as much as the bear. The crowd began a slow chant. “Zadum, Zadum, Zadum, Zadum.”

  Zadum tossed his sword and shield to the ground and walked toward the bear. I figured Zadum’s specialty was fighting wild animals.

  Zadum circled the bear, being very careful to avoid the huge claws that could hurt him. Finally, Zadum rushed the bear and wrapped his arms around the bear’s upper body. In what appeared to be a vicious bear hug, Zadum broke the bears back and watched it fall to the ground. The crowd roared, but I didn’t see the sport in killing an animal.

  Zadum walked up to Gorbra, who tossed a bag of gold coins into the arena. The crowd roared again and Zadum left the arena. I had a feeling that things were going to get a lot more gory before the afternoon was over.

  “Here come the women warriors,” Wade said as the contestants entered the arena. I counted forty women, lining up before Gorbra with their swords in the air. Everyone cheered as the women split into two groups and faced each other.

  It was a fight to the death, so it was going to be an extremely bloody competition. There was no fanfare of horns or drums to start the competition. Gorbra simply struck a large gong and the women came out fighting.

  As soon as a contestant was killed, her opponent stepped back and watched the dead woman being dragged out of the arena. An early kill meant you had time to rest up before you fought your next opponent.

  When the competitors were down to twenty fighters, they squared off into two groups and the entire process started over again. After an hour and a half, the five remaining women were declared the winners.

  Alga, the woman from the “Eats” had made it all the way to the last ten fighters. She was a skilled swordsman, but she became overconfident. When Alga had her opponent on her knees, the woman threw dirt in Alga’s eyes and delivered a death with a swift thrust of her sword. I felt sorry for Alga, but I was in no position to judge how other people lived their lives. If she had lived in my reality, Alga might have been an Olympic champion. What a terrible waste.

  The women’s contestants walked to Gorbra’s end of the arena and raised their swords over their heads. The crowd roared as Gorbra tossed five bags of gold into the arena. The women stepped aside and watched as the men contestants entered the arena. The second phase of the contest was about to begin.

  I marveled at the fighting skills of the contestants. Fighting with swords was as natural to these warriors as kids throwing baseballs in my world.

  The second phase of the contest lasted for two hours. The remaining
five contestants walked to Gorbra’s end of the arena and raised their swords over their heads. As with the women contestants, the crowd roared as Gorbra tossed five bags of gold into the arena.

  To my surprise, the women contestants joined the men until they were standing in a single row. Gorbra left his throne and walked into the arena. I didn’t have the slighted idea what was going on. “The contestants receive Demon award,” said the man sitting next to me. “This is greatest award of all.”

  Wade and I watched as Gorbra stood in front of the first male contestant. Gorbra rapped the butt end of his staff on the ground and we watched as the emerald crystal glowed brighter and brighter. Within a matter of seconds, the bright green light from the crystal completely engulfed the contestant. I felt as if I were witnessing a Warlock ritual as the man grew to a height of seven feet tall. His features became grotesque and his mouth was filled with razor sharp teeth. The man was no longer a Tork, he was a Demon.

  “I can’t believe the power of the crystal,” said Wade. “We’ve never run into anything like this before.”

  I agreed with Wade, but I wanted to know more about the Demons. “What happens to these demons now?” I asked the man seated next to me.

  “They become part of Demon army. Demons have short lifespan, need to be replaced.”

  “What a racket,” I told Wade. “Gorbra make a profit by charging admission to the games and he picks up Demons to replenish his army.”

  I wasn’t sure what happened when the women were converted to Demons. They looked identical to the men, so I used my energy beam and scanned a Demon standing guard near our entrance.

  “The Demons are gender-neutral,” I told Wade. “There’s no such thing as a man or women.”

  “That explains why they can’t have children and have to be replaced. It also means that Demons do not evolve.”

  “That’s right,” I said in disgust. “The origin of Demons is probably directly related to the crystal that landed on this planet thousands of years ago. If I had to guess, I’d say the crystal brings out the dark side of a person.”

  “Like Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.”

  “Exactly, but evil Dr. Hyde may only be temporary if the subject is separated from the crystal for a long period of time. There may be some kind of a constant rejuvenation process involved for them to remain a Demon. ”