Cry For Tomorrow

by Dianna Hunter

  Ben gave a quick, suspicious glare to the guards and slowed his pace to walk with me. He wrapped one arm around my waist and pulled me close, giving the casual observer the opinion that we might be lovers.

  “Something is very wrong,” he whispered in my ear. “Stay on guard and be ready to get out of here if they try to unarm or confine us in any way.”

  I leaned into him and tilted my head in a barely detectable nod.

  The guards led us through a maze of windowless tunnels and stairwells and up three levels before we were ushered into a large, garishly decorated chamber. The room was poorly lit, with only flickering clusters of candles and two small windows fixed high in the outside wall for light.

  The first thing I noticed, when my eyes finally adjusted to the dimness, was the large, ornate throne standing on a high dais to the right-hand side of the room—a throne that was conspicuously unoccupied. The throne and a narrow, chest-high cabinet were the only furniture.

  Ben nudged my side and nodded in the direction of one of the guards stationed about the outer edges of the room. “Wonder if they’re here for the sake of the missing occupant of the throne or for the protection of that?” he whispered in my ear.

  I didn’t answer, but I did turn my attention to the cabinet, wondering what might be concealed beneath the dark blue cloth draped over it. I was reaching with my mind, trying to find a hint of what it was, when the commander snapped at us to follow him.

  “This way, please.” He led us toward a wall of billowing curtains of the usual royal blue and a nearly invisible doorway behind the throne. Nodding at the two guards positioned in the shadows at each side, he told them, “Prince Rainor and his guests are expected.”

  The nearer guard nodded and drew the drapes aside while the other reached to throw open the door.

  Nodding in acknowledgement of something that was obviously customary, Rainor turned to the frogg hopping along at his heels. Pointing one finger at him, he ordered, “Stay here, Ralph.”

  After the dim, poorly lit halls and throne room, the chamber we entered was brilliant. Tiny silver and gold-tinted glow-globes had been strung together and hung in curtains over the plain polished coral of the inner wall and tinkled softly with the movement of the air in the room as we passed. Obviously part of one of the many turrets we had observed from the air, the outer wall of the room had been constructed of giant glow-globes instead of coral. The light gathered and magnified by the curvature of the globes produced an effect that was almost welcoming.

  Unfortunately, all the soft light and billowing curtains in two worlds could not have made the image of the creature holding court at the center of the room welcoming.

  Stretched out across a large lounge was a woman that must have been at least seven feet tall and every bit of a thousand pounds. Like Misty, this woman also had grey-green hair that cascaded down her shoulders and back in thick waves, but there the resemblance stopped. Her body was covered by a gown of green gauze that did little to conceal her ponderous breasts, rolls of belly fat and thighs and arms as thick as tree trunks covered in more rolls of pale green fat. A thick, fleshy crest of blood-red parted her hair and ran down the center of her back to the tip of the long, thin tail that she had curled across her lap. Though not beautiful by any standards, the woman’s figure and carriage was impressive. The clusters of red, weeping sores on one side of her face and along her forearms was the thing that made me shiver.

  “Rainor! It’s about time you returned. I have been anxiously awaiting your report for several months now. Why have you not been to see me in such a long time?” the woman hissed at him through lips that were thick and painted deep blood-red. Her small, porcine eyes darted from him and back to us while her long, blue tongue lapped at the corners of her wide mouth greedily.

  “My Lady, you are surely aware that I have been trying to gain an audience with you for several months now,” Rainor replied firmly as he stepped closer to her.

  “Paah! That is of no consequence! You are here now and I wish to hear more about these people you have brought to me!” She waved one hand impatiently at him. “And what is this Lady business! You are my brother and heir; you will call me by my given name, as always!”

  “Yes, of course, Selena.” Rainor managed to force a thin smile on his lips.

  A movement to one side of the lounge caught my attention and drew it away from the Source. It took a moment to fully focus my eyes on the group of creatures standing in attendance. My eyes went first to the silent and stern-faced servants, each with quick, darting eyes that watched every move of the dozen or more young children scattered across the room or laying on the cushions at the base of the lounge. These children were quite similar in appearance to Misty’s little girls, except for the expressions on their small faces. These were not the happy carefree children I had seen playing in the village. These children were silent and watchful and there was fear in their eyes and the way they never made sudden movements. Even the baby in a cradle on the floor did not coo or cry.

  “I see that there has been another addition to your brood, Selena,” Rainor noted with a nod at the baby.

  “Yes, yes,” she frowned and screwed her face into a petulant pout. “It is another male. I had its sire deported to one of the outer islands. Such a useless creature,” she grumbled in annoyance. “Please, everyone take a seat so that I do not have to look up at you.” Her eyes noted the dog crouched quietly at my feet and frowned but she did not comment on it.

  “Female children are preferred by the royal family,” Rainor informed us as we each settled on one of the large cushions arrayed before the lounge. “When Her Majesty, the Source,” Rainor bowed his head in mock curtsy, “must finally abdicate the throne it will pass to her youngest, and only, living brother, and from me the title will pass back to the female child she has designated as my heir. Because of our short lives on under-world, this has been our way.” Rainor stroked the soft green locks of one of the little girls that had come to sit at his feet. “Since mates rarely find favor with Selena for long, most of the children here have different sires.”

  A quick inventory of the children scattered across the room confirmed Rainor’s story. There appeared to be three sets of twins, two of which were girls, but the rest bore very little resemblance to each other except the tendency to have grey-green hair.

  The baby in the cradle whimpered and was instantly scooped-up by a large breasted nanny that appeared like a ghost from the curtains behind the lounge and disappeared again with the infant.

  “So much trouble for another male,” grumbled Selena, “I cannot waste my time to nurse it.” She immediately forgot the child and focused her attention on Rainor’s companions.

  “Now Rain, please, do not keep me in suspense any longer.” The fat mouth stretched in a caricature of a smile. “Which one is it? This handsome ‘noid male?” She licked her lips in anticipation as she ogled Ben’s large muscular figure. Her eyes went to the three girls, “But no, the powerful ones are always the females. I am right, am I not?” she chuckled gleefully.

  “Selena, please, let me introduce my companions before we begin this discussion,” Rainor dared to chastise her. “This is Ben O’Malley. He is here as an ambassador of the over-world’s most powerful president.” He nodded at the agent, who had taken up a position at the outer edge of the cushions. “And these are Jake, Jennie, Kelly and Halie. They are the psis who have so kindly consented to accompany me to discuss our need and whether they will be able to help us or not.”

  Totally ignoring the men in the room, Selena’s sly eyes darted from one of us females to the other, plainly trying to determine which was the more powerful.

  “Enough!” Losing patience with the game, she lurched forward and to her feet. “Tell me now! Which of these little bitches is the one I have been waiting for?”

  The outburst sent the children scattering for the corners of the room and Rainor flying to his feet to place himself between me and the Source. Ben had my a
rm and had already dragged me from my seat and several feet further away from the mad woman rising from the piles of cushions like a whale breaching the ocean waves. Dusty took more immediate action to stop the impending danger.

  The dog’s quick reflexes had her flying from the floor where she had been crouched to snap at the feet of the creature that was already in our midst.

  “Ha! Ha! Ha!” The giantess reared back and laughed triumphantly. “So it is this one!” She kicked at the dog but did not take her rabid gaze from my face. “She is the one you both moved to protect from me. The other two mean nothing!”

  Startled by the suddenness of her move, I could only blink my eyes in surprise. It was true, not only Rainor had moved to protect me, but Ben as well. Both men had completely ignored Jennie and Kelly as they tried to keep me out of the Source’s reach.

  “Dusty, enough!” I called the dog. This woman was plainly very dangerous and volatile I did not want anything as foolish as a barking dog to set her off again. With a frown, I stepped from between the two men and put a restraining hand on Dusty’s collar. When she stopped fidgeting, I nudged Kelly with my elbow.

  Kelly quickly slid her hand under the dog’s collar and pulled her close, which freed me to protect me or anyone else that might need it. The feeling of danger emanating from the powerful woman in the center of the room was so great that I could feel the electrical energy vibrating through my own body, building in response to the threat. I wasn’t sure whether I should try to suppress my reaction or encourage it.

  With a sharp glance at the two men who were trying to keep me in the background, I stepped forward and faced the ruler. “How about if we all stop playing games here and you start explaining to me exactly what it is that you want me to do for you?” I did not like the way things felt, and I wanted answers now, and then I wanted to get the hell out of this place as fast as I could.

  “Very good. I hate whiners!” Nodding her head in satisfaction, Selena beckoned with one hand for us to follow her as she strode past us and out of the chamber.

  I exchanged concerned glances with Jake and Jennie before we all followed the rolling mountain of flesh into the throne room. The Source waited until the last of us had joined her before whipping the satin cover from the cabinet.

  The cabinet was an exquisite work of craftsmanship, carved from a solid piece of ebony-colored wood and polished to the point that you could have seen the color of your eyes in it. Selena reached into a pocket on one side of her gown and withdrew a small, golden key.

  “Here, you will do the honors, Rain.” She dropped the key into his hand.

  For a moment, I thought he was going to refuse, but then he nodded. Without looking back, he stepped up to the cabinet and inserted the small skeleton key into the lock and turned it.

  The grate of the key against the metal mechanism within the lock made me shiver and my fingers twitch in anticipation. Raising the lid, Rainor pressed a lever that caused the top two feet of all four sides to drop, revealing a small pedestal wrapped in blue satin. Sitting on the top of the pedestal was the most beautiful jewel I had ever imagined. The jewel was astonishing enough to draw gasps even from Rainor.

  “Selena, it is beyond description!” raved Rainor. “I admit that I was truly beginning to doubt its existence.” He dropped the key into her waiting hand before taking a step closer to examine the sparkling blue gem. The size of a basketball, its surface had been cut so that it gathered what light there was in the room and reflected it back a million times over in the hundreds of tiny facets of its surface.

  “Yes, brother!” Selena looked like she wanted to dance. “Stare into its depths and you will see that this is truly the answer we have been seeking!” She dropped the key into a small pocket on the side of her gown so that she could clap her hands together.

  Curious, I dared to step up to the pedestal and put both hands to the gem’s smooth surface. I was surprised when the center of the jewel began to glow. In fact, the whole thing was rapidly growing warmer under my hands, and I did a mental reprimand, should have toned down the psi-energy before I touched the damned thing.

  “What is that?” I gasped and tilted my head, listening to the faint melody that was rising from the stone. “Is it singing?” The jewel was vibrating in time to a song that my ears couldn’t quite make out.

  “I can hear it, too,” Kelly whispered in amazement.

  “Ha! I knew it!” Selena lunged, seizing my other wrist in the powerful grip of one of her fat hands. Eyes gleaming triumphantly, she crowed, “See! It is just as I expected! Already the harmonics are building within the core!” Still gripping my wrist, she spun about and shouted at one of the guards standing in the shadows. “Bring me the Chancellor immediately!”

  I jerked my hand out of Selena’s grip and stepped away from the gem. “What’s going on, Rainor? What is she talking about?” I rubbed my bruised wrist with a hand that was still tingling from the heat and vibrations emanating from the stone.

  “I’m not really sure.” Rainor shook his head and stepped into his sister’s path. “Selena, I think you’d better explain yourself.”

  The Source laughed in his face and sneered, “Be careful, little brother, your position is no longer assured in this realm. If this stone can be brought to perform as promised, I will not need a successor for a very long time.” The sound from her mouth was of amusement, but murder was in the red-rimmed eyes locked on Rainor.

  A very human looking man wearing a short robe of dark blue over black slacks and shirt chose that moment to burst into the room.

  “My Lady!” He managed to curtsy and place his own body between Rainor’s and Selena’s and still appear to be subservient in doing so. “Please keep foremost in your mind that the stone is still unproven and the Prince has done nothing to interfere in the presentation of the icon. Perhaps he will be just as pleased as Your Excellency that he will not be forced to take the throne from you.”

  Lowering heavy black lashes to conceal her flashing eyes, Selena took a step back and bumped into Kelly, nearly knocking her to the floor. She glared at the child a moment before returning her angry gaze to her brother.

  “Yes, yes, of course,” she conceded. “There has not been time for Rainor to be apprised of the unique qualities of the gem.”

  “Chancellor, so kind of you to join us.” Rainor bowed his head at the man and made a visible effort to compose himself. “Chancellor Harris came to us from the over-world two years ago and has chosen to remain as my sister’s advisor ever since.” His voice was flat and devoid of emotion as he went on with the introductions.

  Throughout the introductions, the Chancellor calmly returned our curious gazes. A slender, angular man of medium height, his most exceptional feature was his lack of any that would have made him stand out in a crowd or someone’s mind. The perfect man to infiltrate any crowd or group, for who would have remembered him?

  Ben did.

  “So Harris, there was speculation as to what happened to you. Word was that you’d gone rogue.” Ben fixed steely eyes on the one-time agent. “Looks like you’ve decided to throw in with the other side now”

  “O’Malley, I thought that was you,” Harris returned in a harsh voice. “I wasn’t sure when I first set eyes on you, but then you do have a certain talent for changing your appearance.” Harris paced a few feet away and turned back to face the agent. “And to answer your questions, yes, I was sent here, on orders, to assist and advise, wherever and however I could to bring about a smooth transition when this merging happens, and happen it will.” He smiled his assurance at the Source, who was intently watching him. “The Lady has devised a perfect plan to bring about a fast and effective merging. The only thing lacking has been the telekinetic energy of a mentally competent psi of the right talent.” He turned his attention back to the group of young people. “I am assuming that Prince Rainor has finally located one that is strong enough to activate the gem?”

  I’d been watching Ben’s face for some
hint of his feelings about this turn of events, but it had remained closed and emotionless.

  “Well, now that we are all here, why don’t you bring us up to speed on this plan you and the lady have come up with?” Ben circled around to get a better look at the rogue agent’s face. “You see, the last time I was advised, I was told that there was a delivery of energy crystals being transported through one of the rifts. These crystals were meant to be placed in the hands of the hundreds of psis the agencies have been collecting. The plan was for them to use the crystals, in conjunction with those already in place on under-world, to magnify the energy they project and draw the two worlds together slowly to prevent a rupture.”

  I’d turned my attention to the Source and her Chancellor, studying their faces while Ben was speaking, and realized that they must both be totally ignorant of the possible talents psis such as they’d been seeking were likely to possess. Both of their auras radiated uncontrolled glows of deceit and deception.

  “Now, perhaps I’ve been misinformed,” Ben went on, “but I was led to believe that releasing the amount of energy contained within a crystal of that size, all at one time, would cause a rupture in the curtain.”

  When he stopped speaking, all eyes returned to Selena and Harris, waiting for their reply, but when none seemed forthcoming Rainor moved from his sister’s side, aligning himself with his traveling companions. “I also would like a good explanation for this change in your plans, Selena,” he demanded. “What happened to the psis you already had?”

  The Source visibly puffed up, her face suffusing with deep green as her rage built. “You will address me as Her Excellency from now on!” she rumbled into his face. “I do not owe you or anyone else an explanation for my actions! The fate of those miscreants falls upon their own heads!” As her rage built, the hair on Selena’s head came alive. Like a nest of tiny serpents, the thick green strands rose from her head, sparking with electricity. “These freaks, as you call them, were all weak. Many fell prey to the ghouls before ever reaching the palace. And of the survivors, not even one of those we had so graciously been sheltering possessed enough energy to trigger the jewel! It is my opinion that the over-world has not delivered on their bargain and has failed to meet its obligations.”