by P. S. Power
“Hey. How are things going? I haven’t seen you in a bit.” She looked at him like that was a big deal to her, even if she had other people to talk with. Tyler, and Samantha.
“Things are starting. I need to make some calls, and see who wants to go to Jupiter. Unless you want to do it for me? Here…” He passed over his new handheld, which was a bit thinner than the ones made on Harmony. That was because Tyler was better at making the pieces for things to go on than whoever did it there. Instead of demurring, or acting like she didn’t know what to do, the new magical girl winked at him, and took the thing away.
“Right. Let me see… Who first?”
That was a great question, so, thinking about it, he nodded a bit, and sipped his cold drink.
“Queen Constance, of Noram?”
Instead of shifting her fingers around, the screen just moved in her hand by magic, and the correct palace in Noram was contacted. After a bit, surprisingly enough, King Richard’s face showed up, smiling slightly, if looking upside down from where Dareg was sitting, still drinking and wondering what the new girl was going to say.
The deep voiced man spoke, sounding relatively pleasant.
“Hello? King Richard Cordes here…”
“Hello! I’m calling for Dareg Canton? The Jupiter mission and party is back on, and he wants to make certain that you and your wife, Queen Constance, know that you’re invited? He wanted to make certain that you both know how sorry he is about that small disruption to the schedule.” It was more than he’d told her to say, or than she asked about, but it seemed to get the right response from the man.
“Really? Well, that’s all good to hear. Is he… Doing well? We’ve all been worried about him. No one knows where he’s been… I take it that you do? I’m sorry, I don’t think I caught your name, miss?”
The attractive woman smiled then, and instead of telling the man that she didn’t have a name, she just seemed pleased to be asked.
“Eva. Dare is here on Mars, with me. The trip is planned to leave from here in four days? You can use the transport pod at…” She stopped, looked away, and then nodded. “You have one in Queen Tiera’s network? Also one in the alternative line? Either of those can be used to cross link to here. Alternately, you can use the one at the main port, there. If you come to Mars Two, we can meet at the restaurant? Samantha’s.”
The large man, instead of asking how she knew all of that stuff, which had to seem fishy, stood up, and walked away from the screen. The thing went dead, which was rude, for him. Normally there would be a good five minutes of the polite King saying goodbye, and promising to see him soon.
Rather than look displeased, Eva, his new friend and daughter, stood up, and looked at the front of the place. It took a while, but ten minutes later six people walked into the room. One of them was the nine-foot-tall giant ruler of Noram, and another was the smaller Queen of that same place. There were four guards as well, dressed in black and purple clothing that looked official and very nicely created. Everyone there was dressed in magic, and seemed more nicely put together than Dare was. He was in plain brown, like a school student.
Everyone in the place bowed, even before he stood up to do the same, not having really thought that anyone would be walking into Samantha’s with him. As soon as he stood up, Constance practically ran at him, her arms spread for a hug. King Richard didn’t do that, but he did smile.
“Well met. Sorry for being so abrupt, but we didn’t want you to escape before we could come to see you.” He smiled and bowed, going deeper than Dareg had ever seen him do before. “I misspoke, of course. I meant get away. We aren’t here to arrest you, since by our laws you’re completely innocent. As far as I’ve been advised you are by all laws. This is merely a friendly visit. How have you been?”
Dareg patted the Queen on the back a few times, and moved back. They’d decided not to sleep together, for Tor’s peace of mind. Given they were kind of biologically related, that made sense, even if the rules had changed as far as naming things went.
“Not that well. That isn’t a great excuse to not get things done though. Anyway, you know how to find the place here now? You can come on the trip with us? If you want we can set up a pod, so you can come and go directly from the ship. Though I think that actually taking the twenty-minute trip from here to there adds a bit of ceremony to the whole thing. I’m not that great at pageantry, so that might not be enough.”
Constant smiled at him, and moved back over by her husband, then she looked at Eva and over at Samantha, of whom there were three in the room.
“You have most interesting friends here.”
Dareg nodded.
“Samantha and Eva. There are a lot of both of them, and they can look different, but don’t be confused, they’re only two other people here right now. Um… Magical beings. Like the Tam-Comps? Except that they have bodies, and can move around on their own.” That might not make sense to everyone there, but they all seemed to get the basic idea. At least that was the sense from them all.
The King smiled and locked eyes with first Eva and then Samantha.
“Truly? Amazing! I’ve spoken to Samantha before, of course. The one with Timon Baker?”
One of the women moved forward a bit, but moved to stand next to Dareg, instead of approaching the ruler. It was fairly polite, considering everything.
“That’s right. Nice to meet you, all of you, in person. Would you like anything to eat, or drink?”
The answer to that was actually no, though it was the head guard that put his foot down, if very politely.
“We can’t impose. Actually, if it wouldn’t be rude, would it be all right for us to leave? This location, while I’m sure is safe enough, hasn’t been searched or checked yet. That’s not good practice.”
It made sense, even though the Queen glared at the man a bit, as if he were being rude.
Dareg nodded.
“Good point. It really is pretty safe here, so far, but I hear that they let killers in, so you might want to be careful.” He didn’t smile, and the words sound dismal enough that the older Royal Guard bowed, deeply.
“I meant no offense, of course. In truth, I wouldn’t think to insult anyone over any of the deaths that have come at your hand. It isn’t a stain on reputation for a warrior to act as such.” Then he stood up, which meant something in particular.
That the guard really didn’t think that insult was being given. To him, it wasn’t a factor, so he’d apologized, just in case, but didn’t make too big of a matter of it. If they’d been in Noram, he probably wouldn’t even have done that much.
“No offense taken. I’m just in a bad mood. I blame the lack of coffee myself. Not that I can’t get it here, I just haven’t had any yet today.” Not that he drank it regularly, but it sounded better than blaming his own lack of inner mettle.
One of the other guards, who was big, muscular and a bit familiar seeming, nodded a little bit, but didn’t comment on the whole thing. Samantha, one of the other ones, simply moved to the wall and walked over with a warm cup of the stuff, in a rather nice china cup.
He took the thing and set it on the table he’d been at with Eva.
“I should let you all get back. Feel free to come and visit however. We don’t get a lot of new people through here yet.” He was a bit lonely, of course, but that wasn’t totally due to the lack of people. In the main it was that however. Having the girls there helped however, he didn’t doubt.
They all bowed to one another, and then left, with everyone walking them to the pod, before Eva picked up the handheld again, and looked at Dareg as soon as the others were gone away.
Without asking, she brought up Collette Sorvee, who answered almost instantly, and seemed cheerful enough about things.
“Good evening! May I help you?”
Eva smiled and nodded at the other woman.
“Yes, I think so? I’m Eva. A friend of Dareg Canton? He asked me to set up the Jupiter party with you? We have a crew for the
ship and a time, that being in four days. Leaving from Mars, but you can get here from there. Is that workable for you?” She covered a lot of different things, but it was clear that at least she and Dorgal would be able to come. She wasn’t certain about Marco Sorvee, since he worked in Austra, which meant making a new set of plans, since the old schedule had changed.
Eva didn’t take notes, but seemed perfectly real, otherwise. Like she was a regular person, if one that was very well made up, or possibly immortal. The fact was that the magic she was built out of would fade in about twenty years, unless replaced. Though even making a single copy of her would renew that, so she was technically going to be very long lived, as long as Dareg didn’t die to soon.
Maybe even then, if one of the others would do the work for her. It was something to keep in mind that way.
He sat and watched the new woman work, as Samantha brought him food. It was a very nice meal that was in several different courses, as if he were at the palace, instead of sitting in a room where he was the only one that could eat food. It was very nice however, and no one asked for him to speak to them. Probably given the idea that he was someplace else. It took a few hours, but finally Eva connected with Hess, which was interesting.
The main point was that the magical woman wasn’t asking him who to get in touch with, just going through things in the same way that he would have. Using knowledge that had probably come from him when she was created. It explained her natural charm and nearly total disregard for polite social conventions half the time. It was a bit annoying, when it wasn’t him doing it. Cuter when she did however, so others probably would have an easier time of things with her that way.
“Ambassador Hess? We haven’t met yet. I’m Eva… Wait, let me…” A blue glowing star appeared on her left cheek, moving a little bit as she spoke. As if it was inside her skin and alive. “Can you see that?”
“I can! I feared that I’d been forgotten, over the last weeks. It is good to hear from someone there. May I ask as to how things are going? We heard of the last attack, where Dareg had to fight that scion of darkness, and then there was nothing. Is… He well?”
The words got him to wince, since of course the Ysidril would assume that Dare doing anything violent would have a good, or at least real, reason. They just didn’t really have the concept, so assumed the same of others. Even if their own kind were being killed by them. Murder wasn’t a thing in their world. Even when they saw it happening in front of them. The idea was hard for Dare to get his head around, but the aliens were simply different that way.
Eva just nodded, explaining clearly, but without a lot of effort going toward making it understandable to the alien man.
“It was different than that, and Dareg has been depressed over his actions. Are you available to come to Mars? Or… Actually, would it be all right if we came to you? We have some magics for you. Neesa as well, if that meets your schedules? We can do that whenever works for you, naturally.”
Hess clasped his lower hands, his mouth opening wide to show all of his many rows of pointed teeth.
“We are on world ship two. It…Might be best for us to meet in space however? I’ll set that up, and cause my craft to glow a brilliant copper color? A square? Or perhaps a cube. That is the mark of Dareg Canton, is it not? Copper. He used a circle, but that would be too similar to some other craft around here.”
He blinked, but Eva smiled, and nodded.
“Yes. In an hour, or do you need more time than that?”
“Oh, that sounds fine! Neesa is with me. Thank you for being in touch, Eva. I look forward to meeting you in person?”
“Me too! See you in a bit.”
Dareg looked at the girl, and realized that he’d created a monster.
A chipper, pretty and obviously intelligent being that cared very little about asking for permission to do anything. Samantha was better that way. Kind and gentle, as well as slightly deferential, compared to Eva. In short, his new creation was too much like him to be comfortable. Instead of fighting about the whole thing, he just got up, and started toward his room, where he did, indeed, have a lot of things to deliver to the Ysidril.
Eva moved along with him, and after a moment, one of the Samantha’s joined them, as if invited.
“May I go along as well? I’ve never met an alien before.”
He grinned then, and nodded.
“Sure? We might as well all go.” He was willing to bring Tyler too, but his intelligence was limited enough that it wouldn’t mean a lot to him. Not unless someone wanted some tiles made for some reason. It didn’t take a lot of time to grab the right cases, given that they’d been left packed up. There were four of them that were needed, and they were kind of large, though nice looking things.
Samantha grabbed the control amulets, and put them around her neck, so that the boxes would follow her, and moved carefully out the front door of Dare’s place. It took a bit of help, pushing things around, but Eva and Dareg managed it for her, meaning that ten minutes later they were at the port, and climbing into his ship. It took time to get things done, and he had to run the jump, which made sense to him. Even if it was clear that either woman could have operated the vessel just as well. Just like they could work a food unit, or a transport pod. He’d designed them to be tied into the jump ships as well.
The only thing he hadn’t been able to work out was how to let them create magic. They were made from it, which meant they couldn’t really produce more. Use it, but that was all. Which didn’t make them less than most people, so hopefully that failure on his part wouldn’t leave them feeling bad about themselves.
They sat, one on either side of him, seeming excited, like they were getting a special treat. They both even stood up and went to the main viewing window when he brought them to the incoming fleet, finding the copper glowing cube shaped vehicle in one try. Dareg had the larger ship, and made it Ysidril green, so that it would be marked as being for them, and looked at Eva as she called over to them, getting the man himself.
“Hello! We’re here. Would you like to come over?”
The whole exchange was too happy, but went smoothly enough that twenty minutes later several beings were loading out of the other jump ship. There were at least ten of them, that being the number of beings that were visible. Three of them were four armed and scaled beings, which made sense, given that the tiny one stood right next to Neesa. The markings on the clothing marked ye as being Erath, he thought.
He waved, which got a happy smile back.
“Dareg! We brought others. From the Allies? They heard of your announcement to us and wish to make certain they are not left out?” The tiny Ysidril seemed pleased enough, and so did the small beings in their silver jumpsuits. The machine people.
The silver haired Forten tried to attack him instantly, of course. Leaving one of them, Leslie Camp, who had the brown hair and eyes of leadership for that kind of being, screaming at them.
“No! What are you doing?”
One of the men, who was sturdy looking and muscular, tried to tackle Dareg, brandishing a weapon that fired a fast moving projectile of some kind. Unlike the ones that he’d made, it just flew out in a straight line, the blur headed toward Erath.
Who didn’t have a shield on, for some reason. The others did, except the Forten. Even the machine people, for some reason.
His body blocked by a flying Forten warrior, he scrambled to try and find a way to stop the thing that was flying at his little friend. There was nothing that he could do however. He was too far away, and the projectile was much too fast. Thankfully Samantha could, moving at much greater speeds than most would have managed, she leaped into the path of the thing, not armoring first, absorbing the force of the thing with her shoulder. She wasn’t harmed by it, naturally, being made of shield material. That left Dare free to slap down the attackers.
It took a bit of doing, since they tended to not stay down, but he was much faster than they were now, and that made a pretty large differe
nce. He also had a good shield on, and they didn’t. Then he had to stand there, as the men were left unconscious on the floor.
Dareg smiled, and picked one of the men up, slinging him over his shoulder, and waving at the other one on the floor. Eva got the basic plan, and did the same, easily.
After that, he looked at Leslie Camp, and winked.
“We’re taking these two hostage. Kidnapping them. Like I did the other Forten warrior who tried to stop me? Lynd, I think his name is? I hear that the pictures here made it seem like he killed the healer, Kieran Tag? Interesting. He was working to stop me, of course, not understanding that one of the Adversaries was there with us. It worked out for me, since he accidently hit the man with his weapon. Much like this fellow almost did with Erath there? Except that ye is just a bit adventurous, not an enemy. We’ll return them, as soon as Yarl and his people open talks with me. I know that I’m in trouble here, for the death, but we’re at war right now, so this kind of thing needs to stop.”
The brown haired woman nodded, looking disgusted with her own people.
“I’ll pass that along. The record doesn’t show what you described with Tag, however…”
He shrugged.
“So I hear. It’s interesting, but things can, and do, look different at times than they actually happen. Here…” The two men were placed in a box that he formed in the wall. It wouldn’t be that hard for them to escape, if they knew how to do it. The fact was, the Forten just didn’t know that much about how to get things like that done, Dare didn’t think.
Smiling, as if nothing had happened, he waved to Eva, who had a glowing blue star on her cheek, and Samantha who made a copper circle appear, one with a gold center.
“My daughters. Eva and Samantha Canton. Disregard the fact that they look older than I do. This Lady is Leslie Camp. We have Hess, Neesa, and Erath of the Ysidril here. These people are…” Dareg didn’t know the names, but one of them moved forward, looking like a rather attractive woman that reminded him of Lyone. There was a sense of great age to her, if not the look of it. She actually seemed more youthful than the other woman did. Much like the girls did with him.
