****
The following day, at precisely four in the afternoon, everyone gathered in the massive living room on the ground floor, ready to be transported to the home of Sarah’s sister, Annie. One at a time, Sarah took each of their arms and teleported them over eight hundred miles southwest to Sacramento, California. There was a time, Sarah reflected, that numerous jumps of this magnitude would have depleted her resources. But since returning Steve’s parents to Phoenix close to a year ago, she had been secretly building up her stamina, teleporting herself whenever she could. At last count, she could take upwards of about ten to twelve jumps of varying distance before she started feeling the effects of her drained jhorun.
Annie’s house had a split floor plan, with several guest rooms located in the southern wing of her home. The guest room that Steve and Sarah typically used whenever they visited was her teleportation point. Annie usually kept the door to this room closed for those occasions when Sarah teleported in as she was fairly certain not everyone would be as understanding as she was when it came to people appearing out of thin air.
Knocking politely on the closed door, they waited until Annie announced they should come on in. Sarah had just twisted the handle and pushed the door open when an over-enthusiastic Peanut barreled by Mikal, heading straight for the lady whom she knew was an extended member of her pack. This particular pack member, Peanut knew, had a free hand when it came to little morsels of food that “accidentally” found their way to the floor.
“Peanut! How’re you doing, pretty girl?” Excited barks echoed down the hallway. “Does Peanut want a yummy treat? Here you go. Hi guys!” Annie said brightly, beaming at her sister and brother-in-law as they entered her living room.
Tristan gave her a small bow. “Lady Annie. A pleasure to see ye again.”
“Hello Tristan! Having a good day today?”
“Very pleasurable, indeed.”
“Good day, Annie!”
Smiling warmly at the small boy before her, Annie gave the young prince a hug. “And how are you today, Mikal?”
“Very good, thanks!”
“I hear you’re a big fan of video games now, is that right?”
Mikal grinned. His new favorite pastime was jamming to a good tune on the wildly popular Rock Group platform on Steve’s online video game console. Long considering himself master of the guitar, Steve found himself being seriously challenged as the young prince proved himself to be a worthy adversary. Those nimble little fingers could seriously fly across the fret buttons!
“I enjoy the music games,” Mikal answered, looking over at Steve. He raised an eyebrow. “There will come a time when ye will rue the day ye ever challenged me on expert.”
“In your dreams, squirt.”
“It just so happens that I rented a game system for the night, as well as a certain game.”
Mikal’s face lit up. “Really?”
Steve’s expression mirrored the boy’s. “Which one?”
“Rock Group, of course. I can’t wait to see the two of you play it!”
“Fantastic!”
“Race you to the couch, kiddo!”
“So Tristan,” Annie said, after the dishes had been washed and the kitchen restored to order, “have you heard anything more about how things are going in R’Tal? Any more from that kingdom that’s been causing problems?”
Tilting his head back, Tristan finished his goblet of sparkling cider. Like Annie, he had a fondness for the bubbling concoction. Gently placing the empty glass back on the table, he sighed.
“I have heard no news at all, and that troubles me greatly.”
“Wouldn’t that be good news?”
“Our network of spies typically informs us about troop movement, news of interest in Ylani, and so on. Of this, we have not had word of anything for nigh four months.”
Steve and Sarah both leaned forward. This was news to them.
“No news, no nothing? What are they up to?”
“No one knows,” Tristan confessed, “the lack of news is quite alarming. Our last check-in revealed nothing.”
Sarah rose. “Would anyone care for something to drink? Mikal? Tristan? How about you, sweetie?”
“I would like some water, please,” Mikal called from the couch, busily hammering away at a fast paced 80’s song. Tristan also asked for a glass.
“Who brought the neon lights?” Annie suddenly asked.
Steve, watching Mikal work his way through a 80s set list, glanced over at his sister-in-law.
“What was that?”
Annie pointed over to her darkened game room. Since there weren’t any lights turned on in that room it was very easy to see the green glow. “Something is giving off light over there. Is it a cell phone?”
Steve walked over to the pool table, staring down at the source of light. It was his Mythra sword. Tristan had persuaded him to bring it along. Come to think of it, the quiet tutor was always insisting he bring the mystical sword with him. He’d have to ask Tristan about that. The sword was sheathed, but the strap had come undone, and perhaps a quarter inch of the blade was exposed. Because of that, he could see that the green blade was glowing. As far as he could remember, the sword hadn’t ever done that before! Then again, he rarely had the exquisite sword unsheathed.
As soon as Steve’s hand closed around the hilt, he heard voices, voices that he knew no one else would be able to hear. Closing his eyes to concentrate on the faint murmurings in his head, Steve could pick out Rhenyon’s voice shouting orders to his men. The sense of urgency was unmistakable. He could hear frantic shouts, the sounds of people struggling, but it was all so very faint! What was going on? Suddenly several phrases leapt out from the others:
…must get her back! …attack upon royal blood unacceptable…
“Uh, oh. I think we have a problem,” Steve whispered, more to himself than to anyone. Remaining motionless, he closed his eyes and continued to strain his senses, waiting to see if the voices said anything else.
Alarmed, Tristan stood. “What is it, Sir Steve?”
Steve opened his eyes and shot a look at Tristan, nodding his head in Mikal’s direction.
“Lady Annie, would ye be so kind as to take young Mikal and Peanut for a walk please?”
“O-kaaay. Come on, Mikal, grab Peanut. I have her leash.”
Stomach rife with unease, Mikal nodded. Whenever the grownups wanted to talk amongst themselves it usually meant something bad had happened.
“What is it, Sir Steve?” Tristan repeated, after the front door closed behind Annie.
“I just heard Rhenyon’s voice. He said something about having to get her back, and that an attack upon royal blood was unacceptable.”
“’Get her back’?” Tristan repeated, starting to pace. “Wizards be damned. The only other way to force his majesty’s hand, with his son out of harm’s way, would be to target the queen. It sounds as though she’s been abducted.”
Sarah clapped her hands over her mouth. “We have to do something!”
“Our job is protecting the prince,” Steve pointed out. “Don’t you think the castle can handle this type of thing?”
“This is Mikal’s mother we’re talking about.”
“I know she is. What do you suggest? That we head back to Lentari? We need to keep Mikal safe. That’s the whole point of him being here.” Steve looked at Tristan. “Don’t you think that the king can deal with this without our help?”
Tristan was still pacing. “If the queen was truly taken hostage, then they might be able to force his majesty to acquiesce to their demands. And I can guarantee that they will not be pleasant.”
“I just don’t understand how someone would be able to infiltrate the castle’s defenses!” Steve protested. “Rhenyon is captain of the royal guards. How could anyone manage to get the queen out of his sight?”
“The fact remains that someone did. The queen is missing. Am I
right to understand that this probably just happened?”
“I’d say so.”
“Then we’d have the element of surprise,” Sarah remarked. “A teleporter and a fire thrower to the rescue? Tristan, is that what you’re thinking?”
“What about Mikal?” Steve wanted to know.
Sensing a commotion nearby, the trio glanced at the front door, which had just opened; the young corgi was struggling to pull Mikal back inside the house.
“What about me?” Mikal asked, returning from his brief walk with Annie. “What has happened? Tell me, please!”
Steve looked at Sarah. Your call.
Nodding, Sarah knelt down in front of the scared little boy.
“Okay, Mikal, here’s the truth. We believe that your mother has been kidnapped. As near as we can determine, it just happened, perhaps a few minutes ago.”
“How do ye know?”
Steve held out Mythrin. “Rhenyon and I were given special swords crafted by the dwarves. Apparently they can facilitate contact between the holder of the swords. I didn’t even know they could do that, but nevertheless, I hear him. Up here,” he added, tapping his head.
“Are ye going to save my mother?”
“We’re trying to figure out what to do.”
Mikal shuddered, embracing Sarah. “Please, ye must save her!”
Peanut wriggled her way into their embrace, whining in apparent empathy. Since achieving adult size, Peanut had become twenty-seven pounds of solid muscle, and could, Steve was certain, squirm her way into an air-tight chamber.
Sarah looked down at the young boy in her arms, then over to her husband, who nodded. The look they shared had just decided their next course of action. Annie, noting the firm resolve that had just appeared over both her sister and her brother-in-law, raised a hand. Sarah glanced over.
“What is it?”
“I have a question. If the two of you return to Mikal’s home world, then I would assume that he’ll be left here, right?”
“Both Mikal and Tristan stay put,” Steve confirmed.
“In Coeur d’Alene?”
“Yes, they’ll be safe there.”
“By themselves? You’re going to leave two foreigners in our world to fend for themselves for who knows how long?”
“What would you suggest?”
Without a word, Annie pulled out her cell and made a call.
“Mary, hi, it’s Annie. Listen, I have a huge family emergency. I have to leave town for at least a week, maybe two. I have tons of PTO, so I should be covered. Are you okay with that? Great, I really appreciate it. Thank you so much.”
Annie hung up the phone and looked at her surprised sister. “Let me pack some things. You get to call mom.”
Dumbfounded, Sarah could only nod.
An hour later, everyone had assembled in the sitting room on the top floor of the manor, facing the two massive carved doors.
“I’ve always wanted to see how this thing works,” Annie confessed, staring at the huge relief spanning both doors.
Steve walked up, decked out in his protective leather armor. Deciding his ceremonial armor would be too cumbersome, he had instead elected to wear the much lighter leather armor given to him by the Council of Dwarves on the eve of their battle with the guur. His green-bladed sword, Mythrin, was already strapped to his back, with the nohrstaf nestled in its new holder that had been added to the sword’s scabbard. Sarah appeared moments later, also choosing to wear the light armor she had received from the dwarves. She had given herself a good laugh as she had (briefly) visualized herself rescuing the queen in her dress-armor. Facing her husband, she pulled out both crystal keys, holding one in each hand.
“Which one? Purple or green?”
Strapping one of his magically enhanced gauntlets to his right arm, Steve glanced up. “Not the green one. Damn thing dumped us in the middle of the forest last time. The purple one should take us straight to the castle.”
“Purple it is.” She turned to her sister. “Here, take this.” Quickly glancing at Tristan and Mikal to verify neither was watching her, she passed her sister the green key. “I don’t want either of them to be tempted by this thing.”
“How long do you think you will you be?” Annie asked, tucking the crystal key safely into her inside jacket pocket.
“We’ll try to make it back as quickly as possible.”
“You two be careful. Don’t worry about us. I’ll hold down the fort here.”
“Thanks, Annie.” Sarah gave her sister a hug. “We really owe you one.”
****
Continued on in Bakkian Chronicles, Book II – Insurrection
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