Eye on Orion

by Laura D. Bastian

  “Not likely.” I sat up slowly, dizzy from the movement. Looking out the window didn't brighten my mood or hopes. I didn't know for sure, but I would say we were at the Salt Flats.

  “What are you doing now?” I asked.

  “Waiting for you to wake up. Unfortunately, I can’t Travel with an unconscious companion.”

  “You tried?”

  “Yes. There was no way for you to hold the medallion the proper way. You have been out so long I was afraid you reacted too strongly to the Tamire. I never thought it would knock you out completely.”

  “What was that?” I still felt groggy.

  “Tamire? It's a fabulous little plant extract that makes someone a little disoriented at first, but then very susceptible to suggestion. I merely wanted to suggest you come with me without argument. Instead you passed out.”

  He looked at me with disappointment on his face.

  I shrugged. I wasn't going to apologize.

  “Of course, I've never tried it on anyone full force in the face like that. I usually spray it on their food or in a drink, but I didn't have time to wait. You caused me great difficulty, trying to get you to my car while carrying you unconscious,” he said with a pout.

  The clock on the dash showed seven forty-nine. My parents should be home from work. What did they think when they didn't find me there? The appearance of the house would throw my mother into a panic. Hopefully they’d called the police.

  But then what? They wouldn't know where to find me. They didn't know of Shander or anything out of the ordinary about Jai or Amira. I hadn't even told them Amira and her parents were gone.

  Shander closed the atlas and tossed it on the passenger seat. “The medallion is buzzing right now. This is the best spot to Travel without problems from Earth's magnetic field.” He turned to look at me, draping his arm over the back of his seat.

  “Are you ready to return home?”

  “I’m not going with you. I don't have my medallion.”

  “I am already aware of that. I took the liberty of searching you for it.”

  I cringed at the idea he'd mauled me while I was unconscious.

  “So you have to take me back to get it if you want me to come with you.”

  I ran through my options. If he took me back home, I could make a huge scene and get someone to call the police. Hopefully, Curtis would be home buffing his car and would help me.

  “No need, Princess.” He reached into his shirtfront, pulled out a black leather chord, and held up a second medallion. “I have a spare.” He flashed his perfect smile again.

  I couldn't take my eyes off the black circle.

  “I knew it was a good idea to take them both.” He smiled as he rubbed the circle between his thumb and forefinger. “I initially took it to prevent anyone from attempting to stop me, but look at this fortunate coincidence we have here.”

  I shuddered at the thought of going anywhere with him. Closing my eyes, I brought my knees up, rested my head on them, and crossed my arms around my legs.

  I had no idea how to get out of this. I raised my head again and looked out the window. There was a road twenty yards away. We weren't on it. Even if I felt up to running, I doubted I could get far before he caught me. There was no way to stop him from taking me to Rommader.

  If I could even get there.

  Maybe when he Traveled, I could return to my house. I knew how to get there. I should be able to find it easily. He would leave without me.

  But then what would he do to Amira when he got there?

  “Come.” He opened the door and stepped out, then opened mine and beckoned me to join him.

  I moved slowly, feeling nauseated. “I can’t. I’m gonna puke.”

  Shander looked at me with a strange expression on his face. “Nonsense. Come now.” He reached in and grabbed me by the arm then pulled me out. I staggered to my feet, and the motion hit my stomach.

  I hunched over and vomited, missing his shoes by less than an inch. Shander jumped back and cursed.

  “Watch it.”

  “I told you. I don’t feel good.” I sat back down on the seat in the car with my feet out on the hot ground. I placed my head in my hands. If I moved too quickly, dizziness overcame me.

  “Perhaps we should wait until it passes.”

  “Ya think?”

  “Get in,” he said. I slowly pulled my feet in the car and leaned my head against the back of the seat. He closed the door and returned to the front seat then turned the air conditioning on full blast. He pulled forward a few yards as if wanting to get away from my vomit.

  To calm myself, I focused my attention on trying to find Jai. I relaxed and searched where I remembered feeling him before, but I couldn't quite pinpoint him. I kept slipping right past his presence. The drug Shander made me breathe probably interfered with my connection.

  A headache returned as I kept searching for him. I couldn't keep ahold of him for longer than a second at a time. Panic overwhelmed me every time I slipped past him.

  I was too angry at the whole situation to cry: angry at Amira for coming here in the first place, at Jai for leaving me and going to Scotland, at myself for answering the door. But most of all, I was angry at the man sitting quietly, if a little impatiently, in the front seat.

  “I hate you,” I muttered, surprised I’d actually said it loud enough to hear.

  “Oh, I assumed as much,” he answered with little concern. “It is too bad you have to be the daughter of the king, isn't it.”

  “I’m not the princess,” I said again. “I’m from here. My name is Holly, not Amira.”

  “I can always call you that as a pet name once we are married, if you prefer.”

  I shook my head in disgust and he chuckled. “Ah, my dear, the whole issue of replacing a sitting king is too complicated. It is much easier to just marry you. And then if you get in my way, or irritate me too much, it will be easy to dispose of you.”

  He was so matter-of-fact about it that my newly empty stomach clenched in fear. He was ruthless. He knew what he wanted and wasn’t afraid to do what he must to get it.

  I couldn't let him take me with him, and I was desperate to find a way to stop him from returning to Rommader. He shouldn't be allowed anywhere near power. I began talking to distract him while working on a plan.

  “I have a headache. That stuff you gave me made me sick. I don't think I'll be fit to Travel for some time.”

  “What?” He sounded irritated.

  “You wouldn't want me to be confused when it comes time to Travel. Like you said, who knows where I might end up?”

  “I can't believe you reacted this way to it.” He pulled a small, purple, glass spray bottle out of his pants pocket. “It always worked at home. While trying to find where you took off to, I did everything to convince the scientists to give me information. They didn't like me much, so I couldn't get far.” He frowned as if remembering something unpleasant. “I'm not used to being denied what I want. They are too loyal to your worthless father.”

  “How did you get them to help you?”

  He looked down at the bottle in his hands. “My usual methods weren’t enough. It did, however, lead me to this beautiful stuff.”

  He held it up to the light. The bottle wasn't purple, but clear. The liquid inside it was deep lavender with an interesting consistency. Not quite watery, but not thick either. It shimmered in the evening sunlight.

  “Using this on the scientists, they gave the information I wanted to an assistant of mine. He made a Traveling medallion. I used the Tamire to persuade him to come retrieve you.”

  So that's what happened with Ryad. Perhaps his change of loyalty was genuine and not a trick to take her back to Shander. Amira would be relieved to know he hadn’t done it of his own free will.

  “After more than a week with no return of that useless assistant, I decided to take matters into my own hands and come after you myself. I hope he got lost somewhere in space, because if I ever find him again, he
will be killed.”

  “I hope you never find him,” I whispered sincerely.

  “Aaaahhh!” Shander hit the steering wheel with his fist. “I am extremely tired of waiting.” He turned and scowled at me. I tried my best to look pitiful. I didn’t think I’d need to act too much. I was sure I looked awful.

  “So what information did the scientists give you when you came here? How did you know where to find me?” I wanted to keep him talking. I had to give myself more time to come up with a plan.

  “I went to your father, gave him some Tamire, and forced him to tell me his plans for bringing you home. He told me about the spare medallions with only a little hesitation. He informed me about Ramal and how to locate him, how to Travel here, and how to get back.”

  “What did you do to Ramal?”

  “He didn't give me a chance to say anything. He recognized me and attempted to resist. I put an end to it rather quickly. Unfortunately I wasn't able to use any of this on him.” He swirled the liquid in the bottle around. “When he first saw me, he resisted strongly. By the time I subdued him, he was beyond the power of suggestion. I looked through his paperwork and took his portable phone and medallion with me. I did a bit of research, but it wasn't too hard with all the information you can get through computers here.”

  “So you left him dead?” I asked, feeling tears form, even though I didn't know Ramal at all.

  “I'm sure it didn't take him long to expire. Don't you think it's better for him to die here trying to protect you, than go home and face a trial when I am in power? This way is much more humane.”

  “Being beaten to death is humane? You don't deserve to be in power. Rommader will be destroyed under your rule.”

  “Not destroyed.” He shook his head. “Improved.”

  “You deceive yourself. Someday, someone will stop you.”

  “Not likely. I have a talent to get people to do what I want and make them think it is what they want as well. I'll be unstoppable once I get enough people behind me.” He smiled, and his eyes glinted wickedly.

  “So why do you need me? Why haven't you taken over?”

  “It will be much smoother to do it following the law of the land. If I took over by force, rebels would want to take it back from me. If it’s done under the law, I won't have to worry about people who thought I did it wrong. Tweaking the law is easier than overthrowing it completely.

  “Besides, my talent doesn't work on large populations all at once, and there are a few people who aren't as susceptible to my charms. Those who have strong wills don't seem to be affected by it. As you, yourself, are proof.” He looked me over skeptically. “Plus, who wouldn't want a woman such as yourself as their queen?”

  “Yuck. You are a creepy old man.”

  Shander chuckled. “It seems your spirit has returned. I believe it is time to try again.”

  I looked at the clock. It was almost eight thirty. I didn’t feel nauseated right now so I doubted I’d be able to get out of trying the same way as before, but I had to stall somehow.

  “I won't go with you,” I protested again.

  “You will.”

  He pulled the leather chord off his neck and reached into the back seat. I slapped his hands as he put it around my neck, but he just chuckled. I contemplated grabbing the bottle of Tamire out of the breast pocket where he'd slipped it, but thought it might be better to try that outside.

  “Now don't give me any more trouble, and we can have a much more pleasant experience when we get back home. If you cause me difficulty here, I will cause you much more difficulty there. If you want your father to retain whatever health he has, then don't force my hand.”

  “Fine!” I huffed.

  He got out of the front seat and opened my door. The heat shocked me after the cold air conditioning of the car. I moved slowly because my head still felt funny, but my stomach was undeniably better. The heat on my bare feet was excruciating. I stepped back, trying to put my feet in the sliver of shade the car cast. It amazed me how the temperature could get this hot here in the summer, even with the white salt crust reflecting the heat. Much hotter than in town a few hours away.

  I fell against the door as I stood there pretending to have difficulty with my muscles.

  “Why you are reacting so badly to the Tamire? No one has ever done this before.”

  “Maybe it works differently here on Earth,” I suggested.

  “That could be it,” he agreed.

  “I need more time to recover. I feel extra dizzy.” I held my head with one hand and placed the other hand on my stomach, trying to make him think I still felt sick.

  I closed my eyes and searched for Jai again. When I found him I concentrated and stayed focused on him for as long as I could. It felt like holding onto a slippery rope as someone pulled it from me. My headache increased, and I complained about it too.

  “We must Travel soon.” He looked up into the empty sky. “I’ve been gone too long.”

  “I can’t remember exactly how to get there,” I mumbled.

  “You only have to remember where you came from,” he sighed.

  “But my head is hurting too much, I can't concentrate on anything. I need to sit down.” I sat back in the car and put my head between my knees. I looked at the salty ground below me. Smooth, bubbled-up bumps reminded me of reptile skin, except where it was broken in places by my footprints.

  “This waiting is very annoying,” he snapped.

  “Well then, you shouldn't have drugged me, now should you?” I snapped back.

  “Would you have preferred a more humane treatment?” he asked.

  I looked up at him. He had one eyebrow raised.

  “No.” I put my head between my knees again, muffling my words. “I think the heat is making it worse,” I lied.

  “Then get back inside the car and I'll turn on the air conditioning again.”

  “We should wait until dark when it is cooler out there before we try this again,” I suggested.

  He grunted as he closed his door and started the car.

  “You know, I'm beginning to think it would have been much easier to just overdose your father on the drug I've been giving him.”

  “You have been drugging him?” I asked.

  “Yes,” he nodded casually. “I can't believe how well he's held on. It has been an unfortunate thing for me with the Healers. They have been able to help him fight the effects of the poison. They can't cure him completely because they don't know what exactly is wrong with him. This poison is undetectable, but they are able to help just enough that he is holding on.

  “If he would die and get it over with, then the people would be happy to have me be the ruler while they waited for you to return. Then I could have either let you stay here forever because no one would send for you, or I could have sent someone to dispose of you. I'd be the ruler, since there would be no one as qualified as I am to take over.”

  “You will pay for this. One way or another, I will make you pay for what you are doing to everyone on Rommader,” I said quietly, but he only chuckled softly and leaned his head against the headrest to wait.

  I lay down on the back seat, finding it much more comfortable now that I could use my arms as a pillow. I closed my eyes and started imagining ways that someone would rescue me.

  It was always Jai who came to save me. Each new idea was more unlikely than the previous one, but it did calm me down as I waited for the inevitable.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Traveling

  When dark finally came, Shander opened his door to test the temperature. It was cooler, so he made me try it again.

  I sat up slowly, aware the dizziness was lessening. I still tried to act as unwell as possible, but he noticed the difference.

  “It looks like you are feeling better now. You are not as pale as before.”

  “I still have a terrible headache.” It was true. I did have a headache from trying to concentrate on finding Jai. He kept slipping away from me.
r />   “I'm sure you'll be able to concentrate long enough to focus your attention on the medallion and remember your way back home.”

  “Are you sure I'll be able to do it? Who knows where I'll end up? You will have yourself to blame because of your impatience.”

  “I could do this without you,” he threatened.

  “Of course you could,” I shrugged. “But like you said, doing it with me will make it easier on you.”

  He threw his arms in the air, huffed and took a few steps away from me.

  I reveled in the fact I irritated him. I felt so angry at him for what he'd done to me, not to mention Amira, her father, their planet, and, of course, Jai. I wanted to give him as much grief as I could.

  “Why don't you walk around a little to see if the fresh air will clear your head? Maybe you'll be able to burn off the remaining effects of the Tamire.”

  “Fine,” I mumbled.

  I slowly started moving around. After a minute or so, I lay down on the still warm ground, and looked up into the darkening sky.

  “What are you doing?” he demanded.

  “I'm resting. I’m too dizzy to keep walking. Lying down helps me clear my head.”

  I could see a few constellations already. I looked up and found the big dipper and the pole star. That helped me calm down and center myself. I would Travel back to my house, but I was still concerned with what he would do when he got back to Rommader.

  I didn't know how to stop him. I thought about trying to get the bottle of Tamire out of his pocket and spraying him. If it made him pass out, then I could drive back home and get the police. If it only made him susceptible to my suggestions I'd tell him to Travel to the sun or some uninhabitable planet he could die on.

  But just when I'd decided to do that, I noticed the bottle was no longer in his shirt pocket. I could see a bulge in his pants pocket. Great, there goes that idea.

  As I stared at the sky, an idea began to sprout. I hoped it would work.

  “Since my head hurts, I haven't been able to figure out exactly what to do to get back home.”

  “You just remember the journey backward.”