“Please, Egg,” whispered Meggy.
“I got this.”
The Princess stole a look at Sylvia who shrugged and shook her head. She had no idea what her best friend was going to do.
*****
The three sisters walked up to the throne. The Princess bowed to Violetta then to her mother who, as before, was standing next to the seated Empress. Sylvia followed suit. Egg just stood there looking defiant.
“You asked to see us, your Highness.”
“I did, Princess,” replied the tall alien in a very soft voice.
“How may we serve you?”
“There has been a serious breach of inter-galactic protocol that must be addressed.”
Megg stole a glance at her mother who gave her the slightest head shake . . . meaning she did not know what Violetta had in mind. “I am certain that no offense was meant by whoever you are referring to.”
The Empress responded with a question . . . directed at Sylvia. “Feminion, you visited the Myst Tree at Sighing Whorl. Why?”
“Egg wished to give Prince Ben’Edikk a wedding present by introducing him to the Tree. Since she was asked to meet with you, your Highness, she asked me to escort the Prince.” Obviously, a half-truth would serve better than a lie . . . especially when it is delivered without hemming and hawing.
“I see. And did you ask the Tree for assistance?”
“Assistance?”
“In ridding this world of my presence?”
“Of course not. We never asked for such a thing.” Another half-truth.
“Ben’Edikk, is this true?”
The blue-skinned young man stepped forward. “Indeed, your Highness. The visit was a wedding gift from my good friend Egg and I will take this opportunity to thank her.”
“Very considerate of you. However, I do wonder if there might have been another motive for the visit?”
“Your Highness?”
“The Tree is very powerful and would make a worthy adversary if he chose to engage the Starlight Alliance.”
Before the Prince could reply, Egg said, “He wouldn’t do that.”
The Empress turned her gaze slowly from Ben’Edikk to the girl. “You will not speak until instructed to do so.”
Egg was about to go ballistic forcing Megg to step between her and the Empress. “Forgive my sister. On her world, in her country, there is no royalty or court protocol.”
That apology should have been enough but the Empress surprised everyone with her reply. “Do not make excuses for her insufferable behavior.”
“Hey . . .,” began Egg but that was as far as she got. Violetta touched her collar and a swirl of light materialized over the girl. Egg’s lips were still moving but there was no sound. The Empress had imprisoned Flying Girl in a force field.
There was a gasp from everyone. Rose’Alynnia was furious and refused to accept such behavior. “Your Highness,” she said in a stern voice that bordered on rudeness. “That is not the way we show our displeasure on Aerianna. Please release my sister.”
To you and me, that might seem like a reasonable request. However, the Empress was supreme leader of many worlds and no one would dare give her an ultimatum.
“Not only will I not release her . . . but I will return her to Peekaboo Prime to stand trial for treason. And Rose, you will know your place in this new relationship. There can be only one Empress.”
Rose was about to argue but her husband, Lord Z’kkk, stepped forward to protect his wife. “Your Highness, Eloise is family. She is Rose’s grandchild many generations removed. As a personal favor to me, I ask that you reconsider.”
Again, amongst royalty, such a request was both acceptable and difficult to deny.
But the Empress did. “Not only has this child attempted to enlist the Myst Tree against me, she also sent word to her other sisters warning them of my desire to meet Serenity and Spirit. That, too, is high treason. Lord Z’kkk, regrettably I must deny your request. She will be held prisoner in my ship to await transport back to Peekaboo.” With that, she touched her collar and Egg – still wrapped in her cocoon of energy – dematerialized, as she was teleported to the spaceship orbiting above the planet.
“We are not part of the Starlight Alliance and therefore not subject to your laws. You will release my sister.”
The Empress rose forcing everyone to bow their heads . . . Rose, Sylvia and Megg, however, did not. “Either you will sign the treaty by this time tomorrow or I must assume that you have chosen to make an enemy of the Starlight Alliance. I sincerely hope that is not the case,” she added menacingly. “Should you so choose, Egg will stand trial and be found guilty of high crimes against the Empress. Her punishment would be life imprisonment without the possibility of parole. However, if you come to your senses and see the benefits of joining with me, I would be so moved that I could be persuaded to forgive Egg her transgressions and release her to your care. Her future is yours to decide.” Without making eye contact with anyone, the Empress strode from the room.
*****
Aboard the Seven Orbiting Zynn-Zaz’zia
Spirit had transported all of the sisters aboard the Seven. Before they left. K’ssss and Soo swam out to the deep waters and found Zazzi and Ven’trrr.
“We have to go,” and K’ssss explained what was going on to her husband.
“Promise me you’ll be careful.”
“Of course, my love. I’ll be back as quickly as I can.”
“What about me?”
“Brother, I left all of Serenity’s notes for you to peruse. Perhaps that might keep you occupied for a while.”
“Really? How exciting. I can’t wait to study them.”
“Enjoy.” K’ssss then swam up to Zazzi and kissed him goodbye. Soo looked away – afraid to make eye contact with Ven’trrr. If she did . . . and if he didn’t kiss her . . . she would die. “Wish us luck,” and the overweight genius serpent turned and began to swim away. Soo fell alongside trying her best not to cry.
As the two men watched their ladies go, Zazzi whacked his brother-in-law with his tail. “Ouch. What?”
“You do know she loves you, don’t you?”
“Um . . . really? I know she likes me.”
“You are an idiot. She wants to be your wife, you dragon-brained sea slug.”
“That can’t be right?”
“Great Zynnia’s ghost . . . what she sees in you is beyond me.”
“Any idea what I should I do?”
“What do you think?”
“Um . . . oh. OH.” Ven’trrr turned and swam as fast as he could and caught up to the girls. “Soo”.
The two serpents stopped and turned.
“Yeah?”
“Zazzi said I’m an idiot.”
“Pretty much.”
“Um . . . I don’t know how to do this.”
“To do what? Kiss me?”
“No, no. I know how to do that. I read all about it in a wonderful text written by . . . “
“Just shut up.”
“Sorry. I meant I don’t know how to . . . how to ask you to marry me.”
“What?”
“To marry me . . . I don’t know the right way to propose. There aren’t any good text books on the subject.”
“Good Grief.”
“Brother . . . you just did. It was truly lame but minimally acceptable.”
“Oh. Sorry.”
“Ven’trrr . . . just say it.”
“Soo, will you marry me?”
“Absolutely, you loveable, lame-brain, lunatic. Now, kiss me.”
“I can do that.”
*****
Up on the Seven, the girls took the time to congratulate Soo.
“I’ve got bad news for you, hot breath.”
“What’s that?” asked Bl’azzz.
“You’re going to be my maid-of-honor.”
“Of course I am. Why’s that bad news?”
“Cause you’ll have to get in the water to do it.”
“Sorry.”
“You do that at my wedding and I’m going to pluck your feathers,” and they all laughed.
“BEEP. BEEP. BEEP.”
“What’s that?” asked Serenity.
“That’s the Seven’s warning system. We have company. There are two . . . no three . . . make that four warships just entered orbit.”
“I assume that Violetta found out that Egg gave Soo the message,” said Tee’ka. “She wants what she wants and sent her minions to get it. And, in this case, that means us.”
“Can we outrun them?” asked Bree.
“Doubtful. If we were in deep space, I could easily. But we’re too close to Zynn-Zaz’zia’s star for me to engage the main engines.”
“Spirit, they will threaten to destroy this planet unless we give up,” warned Serenity.
“No,” cried BreeZee. “We can’t let that happen.”
“Anyone got a suggestion,” asked Soo. She looked at Bl’azzz who gave her a ‘don’t ask me’ scrunch.
“They don’t know about my ship. I can cloak it so it is undetectable,” said the newest sister.
“Bree . . . even though you resigned, we need someone to make a decision,” pleaded Spirit. “We don’t have time for a debate.”
Tee’ka walked up to the winged girl and whispered in her ear. “Really?”
“As your Feminion, that is my advice.”
“Okay. We’re going to split up. Tee’ka will go with Serenity in her ship. The rest of us will try to escape. More importantly, we’re going to lead the bad guys away from here.”
Everyone knew what that meant. The Seven and her crew would be captured.
K’ssss agreed in principle with one exception. “Put Spirit on the other ship. We can’t let her fall into the hands of the Empress.”
“Sorry, K’ssss. Sorry, Spirit. But if they don’t capture at least one of the two people they’re looking for, then this won’t work. Serenity, with Tee’s help and with the element of surprise, has the best chance of rescuing us.”
“I agree,” said the Thought Weaver. “However, Serenity, please take Jynxie. Keep her safe. Given the opportunity, she might be able to contribute to your efforts.”
“I saw what she did on Laff’Alott. Come on, Jynx. We have a ship to prepare.”
The Shamie went up to Spirit, stood on her hind legs and licked the girl’s face.
“I’ll miss you, too. Now, behave yourself and do whatever they ask.”
“Grrrrrrr.”
“Good girl.”
Then Jynx did the weirdest thing . . . she morphed into a replica of Serenity. “What’s she doing?” asked Bl’azzz.
“Jynx, dear one, what are you telling us?”
‘Jynx-turned-Serenity’ looked at Spirit, opened her eyes as wide as she could . . . then fell over backwards hitting the floor with a sickening splat. A second or two later, she morphed back into herself.
“Can Shamies go crazy?” asked Soo teasingly. “I think ours just did.”
“Spirit.”
“Yes, Serenity?”
“Jynx is brilliant . . . but I’ll need about an hour.”
No one else had any idea why Jynx had done what she did. “I’ll try. What are you going to do?”
“Make a dead me.”
“What?”
“That’s what Jynx was telling us. I’ll take one of the avatars . . . probably the one of Sylvia . . . and reform the face into mine. I’ll even infuse it with my DNA. Violetta doesn’t know what I look like . . . other than in generalities. So I’ll give the avatar a non-functioning eye and a severed spinal cord . . . the two things she probably knows about. It might fool her . . . at least for a while.”
“Incredibly clever. Jynxie, well done. Come on. Let’s get this ship under way. We’ll see how good the bad guys are . . . at catching us.
*****
An hour and a half later, the bad guys locked on to the Seven. They teleported a handful of arm guards to secure the ship.
“Tell me your names,” demanded the officer in charge.
“I’m Spirit.”
“BreeZee.”
“Bl’azzz.”
“Soo. Soo’nami, actually.”
“K’ssss.”
“Where is . . .,” and he checked a portable computer screen. “Serenity.”
“She is in sick bay.” (That’s what you call the mini-hospital on a ship).
“Is she ill?”
“In a manner of speaking. She is dead.”
“What? How? When?” The poor guy knew the Empress wasn’t going to be pleased.
“A few hours ago. She had suffered grievous injuries years back in an explosion. The effects finally caught up to her. There was nothing to be done.”
“You don’t seem terribly upset,” he asked suspiciously.
“She was not a sister. She wasn’t even a friend. On Laff’Alott, she tried her best to destroy the sisterhood. As far as we’re concerned, it’s good riddance.”
“You’re a nasty one, aren’t you?” He turned to one of his men. “Secure the body. The Empress will want to examine it.” To the sisters he said, “Sit back and enjoy the ride. We’ll be on Aerianna in a few hours. In the meantime, don’t try to be clever and do anything foolish. Understand?”
“Us, clever? Perish the thought.”
Chapter 7 – Parents in Panic
Wind’dancer Village
“I need to go to Aerianna.”
“Why?” Azure asked her husband.
“I want to talk to Queen Rose’Alynnia. I don’t think our daughter is ready to lead an expedition to Paradox. It’s too dangerous and she’s too inexperienced.”
“You’ll break her heart. She may never forgive you.”
“I am willing to lose her love . . . but not her life. If Egg was leading the Sisterhood, then I would keep my fears to myself. After all, Bree is old enough to make her own decisions.”
“Isn’t that contradictory. She wants to go to Paradox.”
“You want her to go?”
“Of course not. But I want you to be able to face our girl and convince her that you were being consistent and logical in your thinking.”
“Hah, those don’t apply to a father’s love for his daughter. Having said that, Egg chose Bree for this mission. How could she ever say no? In a way, it shows Egg’s immaturity. You can’t just put anyone in charge . . . it takes a certain disposition. Bree isn’t ready. Maybe in a few years but not now . . . not if it involves risking her life and those of her sisters.”
Azure walked up to her husband and gave him a kiss. “You are a wonderful father and a wise man. However, I’m going with you. Bree needs to know that this was a joint decision of her parents.”
He returned the kiss. “Thank you. I’ll go place the call.” He was referring to the communication device that Aerianna had given their new friends on Zynn-Zaz’zia. Each village had one. What he didn’t know was that the portal had been closed.
*****
Earth
“Where are they?”
“Sweetheart, you asked me that two minutes ago. And two minutes before that. I don’t know.”
“But you think they’re alright? I told Sylvia’s parents they were.”
Mr. Graystone put his hand on his wife’s shoulder as she peered out the window. “Your mother has my complete trust. And Ezra seems like he can take care of himself. I’m sure they’re fine.”
“Then why haven’t they called?”
That part was worrisome. “I don’t know. Tell you what, I’ll call the Highway Patrol to see if there’ve been any accidents . . . just to make sure. Okay?”
“Please. And I’ll . . .,” but she was interrupted by the nerve-jangling ring of the phone. Considering the circumstances, it sent goose bumps up her arms. “
You answer it.”
“Sure.” He walked over, took a deep breath to calm his own nerves then lifted the receiver. “Hello.”
“Dad, it’s me.”
“Oh, Ash. We thought it was your sister. She was due back today but she hasn’t arrived and we haven’t heard from her or Grammy. Mom will call you right back on her cell so we can keep this line free.”
“That’s why I’m calling.”
“You heard from them?” He couldn’t keep the relief from his voice.
“Not exactly. I got a letter from Grammy . . .”
“I know. She had us mail it. What did it say?”
It was a fairly lengthy letter. What it said was that Egg and Sylvia were taking Grammy and Ezra to Aerianna. Apparently, Ezra was someone she met in the mountains. After only a few days, he was being told the secret of Flying Girl and given a tour of Q’umulus. Grammy believed he was a descendant of Dazzle, which was pretty amazing. He was also someone Grammy had grown very fond of . . . talk about love at first sight. Geez. Anyway, she was telling all this to Ashley in case they were delayed in getting back. She knew her daughter (Ashley’s mother) would be worried especially with the start of school. Grammy wanted Ashley to cover for them. Unfortunately, she failed to mention exactly how she was to do that. “Just use your powers of persuasion,” she had written. Thanks a lot Grammy.
Stalling for time to come up with something plausible, Ashley answered the question with one of her own. “Well, first . . . who is this guy Ezra? Sounds like Grammy has herself a new beau.”
By this time, Mrs. Graystone had picked up the extension. “He’s dreamy, Ash,” she replied momentarily forgetting her worries.
“He wasn’t dreamy,” countered her husband only half-teasing. “Not bad looking for an old man, I’ll give you that.”
Ashley burst out laughing when her mother said, “Don’t listen to him. The man is to die for.”
“Wow. Can’t wait to meet him.”
That brought the conversation back around. “So, did Grammy say anything about what they were up to?”
‘Okay, Ash . . . show time,’ she said to herself. “As a matter of fact, she mentioned that they might be delayed in getting back. She said if she told you that – you both would freak out that the girls were missing a day or two of school.”
Box Set #4: Sisterhood's End: [The 3 book 4th adventure of Egg and the Hameggattic Sisterhood] Page 7
