by M. Garnet
I looked around at the three of us sitting and sipping tea as a war was raging on our world. My assumption was correct, that Coro had living quarters deep in the cave where he husbanded the living things of the storm planet.
We had tea from leaves of special plants. We had hearty roots that tasted good cooked in many different manners. There were even meats from animals in the one section that he used to cull out and also breed.
He had large sections of water collectors and, of course, he had Threads for all the power he needed. We might be limited to clothes, needing to wash and reuse the ones we came in, but bathing was unlimited.
Sleeping and living quarters were a little tight, but a Princess couldn't really complain being in close contact with two handsome males, both promising to protect me and Set with their lives.
Bower had a private military com. He had to step outside in order to make contact. He told his commander that he had the Princess safe, but he refused to disclose their location.
He told me I could go with him and listen; he also said he didn't want to have any secrets. I went once and after that, I just showed him my trust.
As for Set, she had fallen in her own wonderland. She paid no attention to the shaking of the mountain and ignored the storm. What she had was rooms and rooms of long aisles of dirt and plants of all types.
She collected flowers to bring to me daily and roots and greens for Coro to cook. Coro made a mistake and taught her what greens the small furry animals loved to eat. She soon had four-legged little bright-eyed creatures following her everywhere.
Set was always barefoot and in minimum clothes, needing a bath. Her arms dirty up to her elbows and her feet dirty up to her knees; I always smiled, as I pointed frequently to the bathing area.
It was night again and the thunder of hits from the war had finally stopped. The storm had not slowed down with wind and rain tearing across the plateau. I walked all the way to the front entrance to look through the protective field. Even in the blackness of storm and night, I could still see some movement.
Every now and then there were plants or insects that glowed as they moved in the heavy gale. Streaks of blue and purple would flash by, so different than the bands of destruction and had been part of the explosive lines from the sky.
I turned away to be against the chest of Bower. His trained reflexes let him gather me in his arms to prevent us both from falling.
I looked up into his green eyes. They were different from the ones that haunted my dreams, yet they were interesting. He felt strong and warm and different from all the other males I had slightly touched.
The other males I had felt close up against were guards and soldiers and their contact was impersonal and only brief. Bower's was something that seemed real and alive and I knew he was feeling me against him.
I pushed against him. I needed the heat my body built as I threw out all that the tutors had said and learned everything new. There was a smell of this male that was clean and strong, musky. It caused me to clinch my thighs.
It also woke me up. That was the area that was where I could also get pregnant. I went up for one more tongue-tasting kiss and then stepped back. Bower let me move, but I could tell he was reluctant as he kept his hands on my body for as long as possible.
I looked down at his strong body and saw the bulge in his pants and knew he wanted me at this moment. Did I wonder if taking a lover would ease my loss of my heart or just build up my inner pain? I would only know if I tried and I couldn't try until I solved my fertility problem.
I left Bower standing there and went back to the area where we slept. Coro had divided his home with braided curtains to give Set and me some privacy for our sleeping mats. As we continued to hear the flashes hit this world, I wasn't about to complain. We had food, a dry place to hide and an abundance of food.
It was early the next sunrise when Bower came in with a recording he had taken from his com unit.
"Princess, you need to hear this."
All of us quickly leaned against the table as he played what was a general announcement.
"Attention. We are a new affiliation from across the edge of this sector. We have acquired the armament from the Questes Consortium and other weaker worlds to add to our strength. Your only relief is to surrender. To show your acceptance, you will tender your King Quilliam Devi GemC'him and Princess Mikla Questes. They will not be harmed. They will remain our guests to assure peace on your planet. This announcement will be repeated. You have until Tar Two Hundred Thirty-Two, your planet date day time."
Bower picked up his com unit. "They are playing this over and over on special air born speakers. Commander Sachim has tried to block the speakers and the storms had picked up a few, destroying some of them. None of the speakers have penetrated any of the city caves though word has come through that some have tried and burnt up on the shields."
I straightened up. "Wait, have they asked for the Threads?"
Bower looked over at Coro. "Why else would they attack us?"
There was silence as I thought about what was happening. This wasn't my father. It was someone strong enough and getting stronger, who was moving through our sector.
"Bower, did this entity take my father as hostage?"
I followed Bower to the outer door as he stepped into the storm. It was the only place where his personal com unit would work.
I waited beside him, breathing in the water and heavy winds of the storm, finding some ease from something so strong created by nature.
He waited until someone answered the question I had asked him and he again assured whoever was on the other end that the Princess was safe. He indicated for me to move back inside.
I smiled as he wiped water from his face and the com unit. "Well, what did they say about the King of Questes?"
"They took the King of that grouping as a so-called guest. It seems to be a pattern. But they don't seem to know that our King is not here. That means like you, he is still safe out in space."
We began to walk back where I could smell food cooking. Coro and Set were fixing a meal. I still had questions. "Did they tell you about Loralei? Is she safe?"
Bower laughed. "She is in the hands of the most dangerous killer in our known sector. The Assassin will keep her protected."
As we came in the eating area I had to ask what was on my mind. "If the people knew where I am at, would they hand me over?"
Coro slammed down the bowl he was carrying. "We are of this planet. No, we would resist to the last one before we would give in to an off world demand." He carefully straightened the bowl and a few more items on the table and then looked at me. "There might be some who were not born here that would try to turn you over. They would find that they would be taken to Commander Sachim's troops to be held for protection from our people. We don't take traitors easy on our storm planet."
The meal was somber with only a couple of candles to cast low light on the table. Set's eyes were large as she ate and looked around at the three adults. I often forget that Set is still a child and I now saw the fear on her face. The fear was not from the strange burst from above; it was from the unusual words of those who wanted to protect her.
Unlike Set, I had learned at an early age not to look for anyone to give me protection. I knew I was on my own and couldn't do anything to help my younger sisters. We siblings were separated early, as I was the special first born. That fact made my younger sisters hate me and look for any excuse to report any error I made.
I didn't make errors, I did damage. If I was going to get punished, it wasn't going to be for some dumb error.
I had learned so much about defending myself and doing damage that I now decided I would help Marshall Bower as we hid from whoever was making war on our sector.
Chapter Twenty-Two
I was standing at the entrance again when I felt Bower move up behind me. "They are just out for war. They have no idea who we are. They get just enough information from a few that they capture. They don't even know about th
e Threads."
I felt Bower's hand on my upper arm. I leaned back against him and he didn't move away. My guide was getting braver and I found relief in his presence.
I heard Bower as he spoke near my ear. "Then why do they take hostages?"
"To learn about us and to give some fear as they move forward." I turned quickly, my breasts against his chest.
Right in the middle of our conversation we both quit breathing for a moment. There was a heat I could feel from him that traveled down throughout my body. I have missed this feeling my entire life—someone to care for me and me alone. The worst part was that it was not right, against everything that had laws on this planet and my own nature. I pulled back before I shed another tear.
My life was not one I would wish on anyone. I had an evil father, a mother who loved no one, a husband who loved someone else, and I loved my husband. Now the one male that I had consciousness of as a real person, I had a barrier due to my own body. Yes, I had a life as a Princess married to a King; that I would not wish on any being in the universe.
I needed to find something else to distract my mind because I refused to stand and feel sorry for myself. It was my life in this sorry mess and I would find a better use for it.
"Marshall Bower, where do you think the King is?"
My guide stepped back and looked at me with a puzzled look on his face. "I think at the present time he is out in space where they can't find him. He is just watching to see how they react to the fact that they can't capture this planet."
I nodded. "And what about his two fathers? Are they beyond us, watching, or on another plane of existence and not aware what threat is happening to their beloved world that birthed them?"
Bower was now leaning back against one of the wooden plant beds. I knew I was throwing questions to him that he found too heavy to think about without support.
"Princess, the planet and its people are unique and very strong. It has never lost a war and never been conquered. Our people and the planet will not allow off-worlders to control us. Through the Threads we have unlimited power to keep the shields up and no one will be able to enter our cities. The storms will keep anyone from dropping down on the top side and establishing a hold."
I turned away from him and looked out through the heavy shield at the storm and could see the streaks of the blasts coming down again from above. There had to be a quantity of ships surrounding the planet so that they could bombard GigasVnee from all sides.
"You know, Marshall Bower, I think we need something to get the attention of either the King or the Twins. We can't wait until this warrior race decides to do something drastic when they can't get GigasVnee to surrender."
"Wait." Bower stood up in his agitation. "We don't know what they have done with planets or governments that didn't surrender."
I held out my hands. "Exactly. Where is the information on those planets that resisted? Can you contact Commander Sachim and see if he can get any information on the path this warrior group has traveled and how the planets left behind have fared. Start with the Questes Consortium planets. That will give a start of the directions."
Bower looked out through the screen at the wind and rain that we couldn't even see beyond more than a few feet. The storm was the harshest I had ever witnessed on any planet I had visited. I saw a streak of a blast come down and swing sideways before it struck something. Yes, the planet was fighting back.
Bower used the palm panel to leave. One section of the shield softened to allow him to step out. He stayed along the face of the rock and called through on his com unit. I heard nothing so I just watched the storm as dark swirls of cloud moved within my sight on the top of the plateau.
When Bower returned, shaking water from his hair, he closed the entire opening to the heavier shield, protecting the cave from any storm flung items the planet could produce.
"I'm to call them back. The Commander was shocked, but liked the idea and wanted some time to study the path of the intruders. Let's go back and relax and later in this daylight I will call him back to see if they have some answers."
I went to spend some time with Coro in the dim fungus area. I learned about the fact that a lot of the fungus, especially those that grew upright from the ground, had connecting roots. So they were not one individual limb like a new tree or bush. No, wait, they were like a tree, hidden under the ground, long thin fingers that would put up and send a growth above ground. Over and over as the fingers underground grew and expanded, it would put up more above ground as it grew to get additional elements to add to its needed health.
Coro smiled as he carefully harvested some of the fungi. "You know, Mistress, there are places on this planet where these growths are the biggest living being on this planet as they cover miles of the top of a mountain. They hide carefully under all the bushes and trees, living on the old leaves and dead bark that slowly feeds them."
Coro turned to me, holding up a hand that held a rich brown and tan cup attached to a stem. "Animals eat them and some of them die and add to the land to make everything rich. This one makes great rich soup or gravy."
So the time passed fast, as I learned which fungus made good food and the ones that added to medicines and some that were poison if one was not careful.
We took our harvest and went to the area that Coro had set up as a cooking place and made a large pot of soup. We started with some butter chunks that he had in a cooling room. We stirred the chopped fungus into the butter and added the spicy dried leaves until the smell was so good Set was soon with us.
We next added frozen milk chunks and then a lot of leftover foods from previous meals. Coro never threw anything out. Sometimes he decided some things needed to go into feeding plants, but he never threw any foodstuffs out. Before he was done he added some seeds and he just let the whole pot simmer for a while and the scent permeated the entire living quarters.
At last, after we all were starving, he pulled out flat bread, laid butter on the table and brought out the wine. With our bowls full we were eating the best meal I had tasted, no matter even fixed by some Royal Chef. Coro had added a salad of fresh leaves. What could be better?
Well, peace could be better.
Chapter Twenty-Three
Bower came in through the opening and this time I held out a rag to use as a towel. The rain had blown through and under every crease in his weather clothes. Although my nosy side needed to find out what the Commander had told him about the direction of the invaders.
Coro was behind me holding out a hot drink. Bower waited until he got out of his outer clothes before taking the rag and wiping his head. Gratefully, he took the hot cup and held it in one hand. I realized that hand hadn’t been covered by a glove as it held the com unit to his ear. The heat from the cup was probably feeling pretty good to his wet fingers.
I put nosy on stop mode and motioned Bower to go back to the eating area. Coro and I followed him. There we all sat around the table and we listened as he did his report.
He looked at me as he started to talk. “Princess, the Questes Consortium was the sixth planet or group government that this un-named invader attacked. Five surrendered and one has been left as asteroid debris.”
Coro looked up, eyes wide in shock. “They destroyed a whole planet?”
Bower nodded. “We don’t have details, but we know there are some ways to cause a planet to break apart. We can only hope there were no people left on it when it was turned into small rocky pieces orbiting the same sun. There were messages for help sent out to the Federated Military. They were the ones who found the wreckage.
The word is that they can’t get the right authority to follow up on the invaders. The council is so disorganized by the invaders it is affecting the Fed.” He stopped to drink some from the warm cup.
“The Commander was able to get some clear tracking on the invaders as they came to our sector of the universe. It seems that they dropped in at an angle from the center of our galaxy, toward our sector. Their destinatio
n is random.”
There was silence as I was thinking and I realized everyone else at the table was doing the same thing. I looked at Bower as he fiddled with an eating knife. “Bower, how big is their armada?”
“That’s the strange part. There are three strange red ships of unknown design. Staying with them are four more of unknown designs. They have picked up two more ships from the next planet and two from Questes Consortium. They only took two more ships.”
I counted in my head. “Only thirteen ships and that is a small group to be so aggressive. What are they looking for? Why are they here? Are they here because they destroyed their last destination or were kicked out of it?”
“Princess,” Bower looked at me, “think of your father. They are here just for war.”
“Bower, I want you to turn me over to them.” Well, that first brought silence and then a lot of shouting. I just let the words fill the air and sat, staring at the beautiful curls of the wood of the table.
Finally, everyone ran out of words and breath and emotions. I looked up and met Coro’s eyes.
“You have a plan, Mistress, or did you eat the wrong fungus?”
I smiled, but decided to go ahead and lay out my plan and not mention that it was driven by my nosy. My nosy wanted to see the aliens that had come from so far away.
“If a really important individual from GigasVnee is taken prisoner by these warriors, the King will return to save that person. If the King is involved in a dangerous war, his fathers will return to protect him and enact a war these invaders have never thought possible.”
Bower stood up. “Your idea is possible, but so much could go wrong. I don’t think we should rush into this.”
I stood up also. “What, you want to wait and find out what they used to blow apart that one planet?”
Well, that brought out a difference silence. I heard Set gasp, but the two males sat back down. I could tell by the fact that they were trying very hard not to show any emotions, that they were trying to think of any other solution or something to talk me out of my outrageous idea.
