“It doesn’t make any sense,” said Beral III. “He could not have been so without honor if he was held in such confidence by Barrat and his descendants. Why would he wish to see the house he served so well for so long fall?”
Bellasaris sighed and said, “No, it doesn’t make sense for one as young as you, but I’ve seen this before. People begin to see their way of life, their ideals, everything beginning to change and they become resolved to resist by any means necessary. This was the same with the Mavie. Queen Mavie did things that even she didn’t believe she was capable of when she saw her society changing in a way she didn’t like…and she paid for it later. But I believe there is more to this tale. I would like to question Jawara further on the matter when he arrives.”
“Why isn’t he here now with our daughter?” said Talos.
Bellasaris and Cato chuckled. “You forget my lord,” said Bellasaris, “he has an army to command and new allies to incorporate. He can’t just teleport over here like us and leave his forces behind at this delicate stage.”
“His brothers are there,” said the empress. “He could leave them in command and come on ahead.”
“The western tribes from beyond the mountains will not follow them,” said Cato, “especially the queens. Besides…” Cato gave Bellasaris a mischievous grin, “he has his hands full in other ways. It’s a good thing he has big hands!” Cato then roared with laughter and Bellasaris gave him a look.
Talos shook his head and couldn’t help chuckling himself, but Beral III had the same look of irritation on her face as Bellasaris.
“I know my daughter has inherited certain traits that are insistent in the women of our family,” said the empress, mindful of her own impressive proportions, “but-”
“That’s not what my lord means,” said Bellasaris. “Well…it is, but…”
“But what?” said the empress. Talos too was now curious.
“Lord Jawara or Prince Jawara had to make certain promises for some of the western rulers to join him in marching on Barrat,” said Cato. “Miko has three new sisters with which she must share. Frankly, I’m surprised the boy had the strength to fight with Stragg at all, much less so well. Hah!”
Beral sighed. She had been fortunate, but her daughters were not so lucky where keeping an exclusive hold on their men went. “When will Prince Jawara arrive?” she said dryly.
“He’s beginning to sound more like ‘King’ Jawara to me,” said Talos grinning. The bulk of the Barratians follow him now, not his brothers. And the tribes of the west have rallied to his call. He is now kin to three royal houses of the western tribes. That doesn’t sound like someone who’ll be anyone’s vassal.” Cato grinned and nodded. The empress and Bellasaris however looked a little green.
“Ye…Yes,” said the empress, “but when will he arrive?”
“With such a large host to manage without sophisticated transports and only horses, domesticated Ceerius and such, I’d say four days” said Bellasaris, maybe three.”
“Well, it’s late,” said Talos. “I’m a bit tired, so if you don’t mind, Ill retire now.” Talos extended his hand to Beral, but she declined.
“I’ll be along, my lord. I wish to talk to Queen Bellasaris and High Lord Cato some more.”
“Actually, it’s past the fourth hour,” said Cato with a chuckle. “I for one have talked enough. We should all get some rest. There is much to do and all must be ready for King…Prince Jawara’s arrival, no?”
“I quite agree,” said Bellasaris smiling and kissing Cato on the cheek. “But I too wish to converse with our descendant some more. Indeed, Jawara’s arrival, legitimizing and formal wedding is something that I’m eager to discuss. Where it will be, who we’ll invite, you know. I’m quite excited!”
Talos and Cato looked at each other and grinned. Human or mutant, women were much the same everywhere. They excused themselves and retired.
Once the two men were gone the empress looked at Bellasaris and mentally said, “Typical men, they actually bought that. You were so convincing.”
“What do you mean?” said Bellasaris chuckling. “We are going to talk about just that.”
Beral’s eyes widened. Could the old lady really be okay with what was happening or was it that she doubted its possibility? “Honored ancestor, my man is right. This is bad! We can’t plan a wedding now.”
“On the contrary,” said Bellasaris, “this is the best time to plan a wedding. The public legitimizing and wedding will be in Illyria in our old capital, Ramia, not Illia. Yes, FAR away from the Barratian Mountains and the western tribes. We’ll get his ass there and see to it that he stays.”
“How?” said Beral. “If he is truly intent on being his own master and is that well-loved by his people he’ll never stay willingly. Hah! He may not agree at all. The boy is clearly nobody’s fool.”
“It is a delicate situation, true,” said Bellasaris sipping her wine, “but the boy has honor. I have already manipulated him by it to some degree. He WILL come to Ramia. Also, by our pact with the late King Roc, he belongs to us anyway because of his brother’s slight against our family for the sake of that human girl…and his carrying off your daughter by force. This was agreed to by his father himself and witnessed by many. Indeed, some were Barratians, the king’s own daughter among them.”
“Prince Jawara may not be obligated to honor his late father’s wishes, honored ancestor,” said the empress.”
“I agree,” said Bellasaris, “but his forcibly carrying Princess Miko away was still a serious offense and one he has sworn to correct.”
“He was in the grips of ‘The Hunger’ and ‘The Bonding’,” said Beral. “Besides…my daughter is now his mate willingly.”
“Yes…now,” chuckled Bellasaris.
“She had already chosen him and was in heat already when he came for her,” smiled the empress.
“I know,” Bellasaris chuckled.
“But she was in denial and fled,” said Beral grinning. “In fact, she was resisting and he had to fight his way out of the building with her kicking over his shoulder.”
“Which means she was taken by force,” said Bellasaris.
“You know that technically he wasn’t REALLY responsible for his actions while in the fever,” said the empress chuckling.
“No,” said Bellasaris. “But he was in control when he arrived at her chambers and had planned to fake an attack on the princess in advance. True, we know his reasons for this feigned attack. But, despite his noble intentions, it was consciously planned before ‘The Hunger’ overwhelmed him.”
Beral grinned. The legends of Bellasaris’s cunning did not exaggerate and she was right. By all the laws of Bellasaria, Jawara could be held at least partially responsible for his deeds by reason of prior intent.
“He will not be bound easily to us, but it can be done,” said Beral III with pleasure.
“Exactly,” laughed Bellasaris. “He is in our web and we WILL have him. His exceptional talents and genetics will belong to our house…and the empire. Best of all, he has even opened the way to rulers beyond the rim of our domains now. Bound by unions to their daughters, they will become kin to us by marriage. The empire will grow exponentially from this.”
“But first we move on Dinos,” said Beral III. “I will send word that scanners be brought in to detect any signatures of advanced weaponry. Whatever killing toys Elder Terrence may have he’s still no match for a fully equipped imperial strike force. If nothing is detected in Dinos we’ll take the city the old fashioned way, by spear and sword. But at the hint of a single forbidden weapon I’ll take out their defenses with airstrikes!”
“The warriors sent will not be happy,” said Bellasaris shaking her head. “Although well-trained with such weapons and military tech, they don’t relish using them. Nor have most of them ever had to.”
“This will be the wor
k of soldiers,” said Beral III, “not warriors. Personally, I’d rather not force mutants to use such disgraceful tools, and would send humans instead. Butchery and weapons that kill from cowardly distance appeal to them. But I dare not.”
Bellasaris nodded.
Not far away two other mutants were also in private conversation. High Lord Talos and former High Lord Cato, each in their own living quarters mentally chuckled amongst themselves.
“Really, Great Ancestor,” said Talos, “did they actually think we didn’t know they’re plotting to keep Lord Jawara from becoming ‘King’ Jawara? I swear, in their own way they’re as bad as the people who caused all the trouble to begin with.”
Cato sighed and replied, “It has always been an issue with the women about men having such high positions. They fear domination. This I understand. You were not even a thought when the humans were our masters. It was bad for everyone naturally, but the humans used the women like dogs. Then later, after we overthrew the humans, a mutant made himself a king and brutalized the women of his defeated enemies most shamefully. It could be rightly said that it was his actions that had women like Mavie so terrified of men being free and equal in society.”
“Tarrack was an Earthborn mutant,” said Talos. “They are notoriously odd. Many can be reeducated, but many others are too far gone to be corrected.”
“Yes,” said Cato nodding, “that is true. Off to Akkadia I say, and good riddance.”
“So,” said Talos, “what are we going to do about our scheming wives?”
“Nothing,” said Cato. “The boy will either prove himself up to the challenge of subtle cunning as well as direct action…or not. Besides, the women are right. The empire could use a guy like that and his children would bind the western tribes and Barrat to us more firmly than treaty or conquest.”
“And if he IS skillful enough to avoid those two’s trap?” said Talos.
“He is family,” said Cato. “He will not be an unpleasant neighbor. From what I’ve heard of him, the women have nothing to fear. In fact, I see great reform here if the Barratians do name him king. Now, if I know my wife, she’ll be in a certain type of mood once she’s believed she has finished her perfect plans. I’ll probably be seeing you later in the afternoon, heh!”
“I can relate,” laughed Talos. “Well, good night, Great Ancestor.”
******
Bain Island, Earth Realm
President Chambers arrived at the capital city of Meta-Megalopolis and was greeted by the administrator of the city Gloria Hong, her husband Unis Hong and Luther Jeffries. With Luther was a young Bellasarian aid. At least, the President assumed she was young; with these people you could never tell. President Chambers looked at Lady Hong and chuckled. She looked nothing like a “Hong”. Gloria Hong was a short woman with blond hair and blue eyes. She was very fair skinned and had full lips. Her figure was curvy, but not overly developed. She didn’t look Asian at all and neither did her husband who looked Latino.
Lady Hong cocked her head and said, “What is so humorous?”
“I’m sorry, Lady Administrator,” said President Chambers, “but you don’t look like someone named ‘Hong’ would normally look in my country. You look like Scarlet Johansson!”
“Who is that?” asked the Bellasarian woman.
“An American actress who was very popular a long time ago,” said Chambers.
The Bellasarian woman snapped her fingers and quickly a small pad-sized computer was produced and she said, “Searching, Scarlet Johansson.” Immediately several images appeared of the woman at various ages, hair color and in various roles. She enlarged a photo of the actress in her twenties with blond hair. Lady Gloria looked at the photo and smiled, clearly she was not displeased with the comparison.
“You do look like her,” said her husband. “Well…when she was young.”
Administrator Hong then looked at the American President and said, “Come, Lady President. Actually, I am a true Bainian. My direct ancestor was one of the original mutant children brought here and enslaved. We have lived on Bain from the beginning till today. When other Bellasarians began to leave the island for the mutant world, leaving this island to the new mutant immigrants from the outside, we remained…along with others who couldn’t bear to leave our home. After all, we fought hard for it and built these mighty cities. This is where the bones of our ancestors are buried or their ashes scattered. Still, we were pleased when the island was brought back to the Bellasarian realm. There are many of my kin who now live elsewhere in the empire, but there will always be a Hong Family on Bain.” Then the administrator grinned and said, “I think this image will be what you might expect to go with the Hong name. It was taken from the old genealogy records the humans kept to prevent excessive inbreeding among their slaves.” Administrator Hong then said, “Display Hong Family direct line.” Immediately, images of various mutants of many races and mixtures of races appeared on the small computer. “Clan matriarch,” said Hong. The other images disappeared and a picture of a Chinese girl of about four years old with pigtails and a wide grin appeared on the computer’s screen.
President Chambers smiled and said, “Yes, that is definitely what comes to mind in America when you hear the name Hong.”
The president then looked at the grinning and happy little girl in the picture and couldn’t conceal her sadness as she thought about what ultimately must have happened to that child. Administrator Hong noted her change of expression and correctly guessed its reason.
“It was a long time ago,” she said gently, handing the computer pad back to her aide and taking the president’s arm. “Come, you’ll have lunch with me and we’ll talk.”
******
It was late afternoon and President Chambers was shown to her accommodations and soon Mr. Jeffries was informing her of what was occurring on Bellasaria.
“I know that there is a war raging on Bellasaria,” said Chambers. “Administrator Hong has told me the reason, but this war seems to have gone well beyond the usual Bellasarian practices of war and has become real war. In your last report you say you witnessed troop movements and even was at the scene of the taking of an enemy city.”
“I tell you,” said Luther, “a Bellasarian army, a real one, not the war parties that raid in mock battles for captives and fun, is a sight to behold. ”
“Oh,” said President Chambers, “well give me the details.”
“I’ve seen the influences of many Earth cultures in their armor,” said Luther. “The most recognizable is Japanese and European, but some other influences can be seen too. And banners! Banners bearing the insignia of hundreds of nations, tribes and clans as far as the eyes can see! Beautiful! Magnificent!”
“I trust you have some pictures or actual footage to show us?” said the president. “We’d like to see for ourselves.”
“Oh, yes Lady President!” said Luther quickly. He produced his phone and the scenes were downloaded onto the president’s laptop. She was amazed.
“Wow,” said Beverly. “That is impressive.”
“It can’t compare to actually seeing it in person,” said Luther.
“No doubt, no doubt,” said Beverly. “Are those siege engines I’m seeing, battering-rams and siege-towers? With all their advanced military technology they’re really going to use this to attack an enemy city?! They really don’t use modern weaponry, even in serious conflicts like this?”
“No, ma’am,” said Luther. “But…”
“What?” said Chambers.
“Well,” said Luther, “during a duel between King Roc’s illegitimate son, Jawara, and the usurper king, one of the usurper’s men jumped in and pulled a gun.”
“What?” said the president. “So, Jawara is dead?”
“No,” said Luther. “The usurper seems to have had more honor than anyone gave him credit for. He jumped between the gun and Jawara as th
e bastard pulled the trigger. He’s dead. As for the trigger man, he teleported out of there just in the nick of time.”
“If that’s the case,” said President Chambers, “why are they still fighting?”
“Because the rat with the gun was the one behind Stragg,” said Luther. “He was pulling the usurper’s strings all along. And now because of that pistol he used the entire nature of the game has changed.”
“What do you mean,” said President Chambers.
“See for yourself,” said Luther forward winding the footage. Chambers and her staff witness airships made solely for war landing in hastily cleared areas of the city. Men and women in gear clearly not made to turn spears and arrows began dropping in from hovering transports. Their armaments and other equipment were of a type not entirely unknown on Earth, albeit more advanced, but which until now, had NEVER been seen on Bellasaria by the president or any other Earth dignitaries.
“All that because of a single pistol?” said Chambers in disbelief.
“Yes, ma’am,” said Luther, “and a teleport device. The thing is, nothing like this has happened before…ever. Also, someone had to have supplied the culprit with the weapon. As you know, the Barratians have been denied certain technology and not just anyone has access to firearms. There is a real fear that this bastard may have other weapons of a forbidden sort and even Bellasarian traitors aiding him.”
“Look at that tech!” exclaimed one of Chambers aides. “With that weaponry they could invade and take over the U.S. Hell, the entire planet. If we had it, no one would dare to threaten us!”
“If we had it, it would only be a matter of time before everyone had it!” snapped Luther. “Just like the bow and arrow and the Atom Bomb! And that is why they’ll make sure we never have it!”
“Going native on us, Luther?” said one of the president’s aides.
“No,” replied Luther, “I’m only saying that we and the world are better off without one more danger to worry about. Or do you like the idea of terrorists with teleportation devices, stealth armor and plasma weapons? Or maybe you like the idea of a rival nation being able to teleport whole armies into our major cities at will? I know, I know, you’re thinking that we would be the only ones with this technology. Think again! Like I said, the bow was a secret weapon once.”
The Mutant World Page 51
