Fate (Inner Space Adventures Book 1)

by J B Forest

  Unlike his friend, Connak noticed very little of the country side as they made their way to Cidrean. His thoughts shifted from concerns about reaching their destination in time to avert the impending troubles to the type of reception they would receive and then back to the dilemma of the root of the problems. He began to feel the onset of a piercing headache and decided to focus only on the one thing they actual had control over, successful completion of the journey. He resigned himself to the fact that there was little he could do about the other issues.

  They seemed to make good progress, the roads were well built and the pace set by Aleesia maximized they progress but did not impose undo pressure on their mounts. It was well after dark when she finally signaled to stop and make camp for the night. They stopped near a cluster of well- developed trees, that surrounded a small stream that paralleled the main road. There were signs that this site was used frequently, evidence of old campfires sat in small clumps throughout the area.

  “We will rest here for a few hours and begin again before the sun rises to maximize our time,” Aleesia stated. “The horses will have plenty of grass and access to the water from the stream if we hobble them just over there.” She pointed to an area where two trees stood just on the edge of the stream, their branches overhanging into the water.

  They collectively decided to eat a simple meal from items in their saddle bags rather than take the time to light a fire and prepare something to eat. The temperature was warm enough that a fire was not needed for comfort. They were all exhausted from the long day’s ride and fell quickly to sleep without any conversation.

  Connak drifted into a deep but fitful sleep. Visions of Unseelie Fae marching alongside troops of an unidentifiable race towards a group of human looking soldiers floated through his subconscious mind. The visions were intermittent and not clearly defined which caused him to toss and turn for several hours. Finally, in the hours just before dawn, the visions dissipated and he went into a deeper sleep. He rested peacefully until Laosx nudged him the next morning.

  He roused himself quickly to prepare for their departure. He was even more confused by his night visions. What were the Unseelie Fae doing with an army in the human realm? Who were those beings that seemed to be under the command of the Fae? Finally, even more unsettling, the humans seemed to be waiting for this army with one of their own. What did this mean and were these things tied to what was happening in the Elven Domain? These questions led to other questions and he had no answer for any of them. The only comfort was that at least now he thought or at least hoped that he had some idea of the nature of their troubles.

  “Are we ready to get started?” asked Aleesia, breaking Connak from his troubling thoughts. He looked and noticed that his traveling companions were waiting on him to mount his horse. “Yes, I’m am ready if everyone else is. I fear that my thoughts were somewhere else, I experienced some disturbing visions during the night and I was trying to make sense of them. Maybe by the time we reach Cidrean, I will have a better understanding of them.” He immediately mounted his horse and motioned for Aleesia to lead the way. His actions discouraged any further discussion of his statement and left both Laosx and Aleesia with questions of their own.

  Aleesia continued to set a quick pace for the travelers. She was grateful that traffic on the road was light. She knew from experience that during certain seasons, it was heavily traveled. The fewer travelers they met along the road minimized their chances of unwanted encounters. She projected that they would begin to approach more heavily populated areas sometime in the late afternoon and hoped that things would go smoothly.

  She noticed that the mood of her traveling companions changed significantly from their initial encounter. She could only assume that the seriousness of their task was a huge burden. Conversation, for all intents and purposes, had ceased. Their pace was brisk but these elves were fit and it should not have affected their ability to hold a conversation if they were so inclined. However, she felt that neither of the Svartans had any desire for light conversation and even less desire to discuss their ominous task.

  She was somewhat disappointed with this turn of events. She admitted to herself that she was looking forward to hearing to banter between the two friends to learn more of their ways and customs. If she were totally honest with herself, she would admit that she really wanted to know more about Laosx. He was witty and quick to make a sharp remark. But she had the impression that his actions were a façade for other characteristics. She had yet to figure out what.

  She had not been impressed by many members of the opposite sex. Most were too eager to impress themselves upon her and as a result dispelled any interest she may have held. This strange Svartan elf was intriguing to her, he was so different. She cautioned herself that she had only known him for a few days so he could be the same as the others. Maybe the fact that he was Svartan was enough to peak her interest. She grew up in an environment where the Svartan were considered something just short of being the enemy. They were not considered friends; and definitely not brothers.

  She roused herself from her musings and refocused on the task. Once she delivered the Svartans to the High Council, her task was completed and she would no longer have any interaction with these emissaries from Svarta. Their progress was better than expected so she decided to err on the side of caution and leave the main road to take a less traveled route into Cidrean.

  Her decision was the right one, they lost only a little time, but more fortunately, there were no other travelers on this road. They reached the gates of Cidrean late in the night. Again, she guided them away from the main gate and entered through a side gate.

  Chapter 11 – Fae Dominion – Seelie Domain

  Tristen could not sleep that night. He tossed and turned in his usually comfortable bed and finally gave up the effort. He crossed the room and reached for a poker to stoke the smoldering fire. The nights were chilly with the change of seasons and the bed chambers in the Seelie palace were notoriously cold. He grabbed a fur cover, wrapped it around his shoulders, picked up his still full mug of wine from the bedside stand and walked over to table where he placed the notes from his earlier discussions with sister.

  His bedchamber was much smaller than Ionoe’s but it served him well. It was spacious enough to hold his prized over-sized bed, a large table, two over-stuffed chairs and a bench for guests. The full-sized fireplace covered one entire wall and a blazing fire kept the room warm. He hung heavy tapestries and furs over the stone wall to provide additional insulation. One tapestry depicted a battle scene from the conflict with the Unseelie princes. The quality of the needlework was exceptional and vividly captured facial expressions. The other tapestry contained the image of a beautiful dark-haired woman in flowing robes walking through a grassy knoll with rolling hills in the background. Very few in the Fae Dominion knew the identity of the woman or the location depicted in the tapestry. The furs were more utilitarian than aesthetic but again, like the tapestry of the woman, the origin of the pelts was a closely held secret.

  Tristen was sure that his sister would be able to convince the Council to agree that swift action was needed to divert the Unseelie plans. They agreed that the Council would hesitate at calling for an all-out offensive but would agree to dispatch scouts to uncover the extent of the problem. Ionoe planned to call a closed session the next morning. It would take a day or two for all the Council members to gather at the palace. There were a handful of diehards who would argue with her on the merits of disturbing the ‘peace’ between the two domains, but his sister had little patience for timidity, particularly when the safety of the entire Fae Dominion was a stake. If the Elves realized that the astral plane was breached from within Fae, they would not distinguish between Seelie and Unseelie when making the judgment for punishment.

  Although the Fae and other races were reluctant to openly recognize the Elven dominance, they truly were the most powerful race in Inner Space. He wondered whether some of that power was diminished with the
breakup of their Grand Council. However, he was not anxious to test that theory. He pulled up a chair and began to focus on his task. He had to work hard to convince Ionoe that the only solution to approaching the Elves involved a trip through the astral plane into the human world. He was not quite as confident that he would be successful in persuading someone from his human line to help intervene with the Elves as he professed to his sister. He remembered that humans in general were a stubborn lot filled with the notion that they were made in God’s imagine and no creatures were more intelligent than them. Very few believed that other intelligent races existed in the universe. The sad fact was that humans were less evolved than most races that inhabited the worlds of Inner Space.

  He had not visited the human world called Earth in several centuries. The conflict with the Unseelie and providing support to Ionoe as she ruled the Fae Dominion took precedence and then the Elven ban on Fae travel through the astral plane was imposed. His initial visits to Earth were sparked by sheer boredom in his youth and his escapades grew more daring once he realized that he was like a god among children with strength, powers, and knowledge that were foreign to the humans.

  He was taken by surprise when he unwittingly fell in love with a human woman. She possessed more knowledge and wisdom than most of her species even though women of her time did not receive formal education. Her beauty was breathtaking and her raven dark hair fell to her hips and sparkled with a luster that reminded him of his home in Fae. He remained on Earth with this woman and married her according to her customs. When she conceived, he decided to remain on Earth with his human family. However, when the child was still young, he was summoned back to the Fae Dominion to assist his father, the King with an invasion from Vampire Kingdom.

  The king of the blood suckers thought that he could conquer the Fae Dominion to increase the breadth of his power. The Fae military which at the time consisted of both Seelie and Unseelie members, defeated the vampires and sent them back to their world. He later heard that their king was forced to abdicate and subsequent rulers have not made aggressive overtures into the Fae Dominion.

  Centuries passed, but the blood bond was strong enough that he always felt a ‘pull’ when his descendants were in danger. Although all Fae were eventually banned from going into the human world, he vowed to never allow his line to die out. As a result, from time to time he ventured through the plane to ensure the perpetuation of his bloodline on Earth. His ventures went unnoticed because of his diligence in covering his tracks. He further ensured that nothing could be traced back to him by minimizing the interaction with humans.

  Very few among the Fae could freely travel through the astral plane to other worlds. Some were born with an innate ability to cross worlds while others such as some of the older mages developed tools to facilitate that travel. This power was abused by some who ventured to other worlds including the human world and began to alter the natural order of things or manipulate the indigenous populations for their own purposes. These abuses, although perpetrated by a minority, were the primary reason for the current ban on Fae travel through the astral plane.

  Tristen and Ionoe were among those who were born with the innate ability to cross worlds and in his youth, Tristen studied with his father’s senior mage who taught him how to harness his power and maximize his abilities. Both Tristen and his sister wore amulets that appeared benign to the casual observer. However, the amulets could be used to open the path to the universe under the right set of circumstances. To his knowledge, the previous night was the first time that his sister ever used her amulet. In fact, centuries had passed since he last used his amulet.

  Using their combined amulets allowed the pair to open a window and watch the development and progress of humankind on Earth through the millennia. It allowed them to select a century along the time line that would offer them the best opportunity for success. Now he just needed to find the right descendant during this era to help him with their task. His first task was to use the amulet again to learn as much as he could about 21st century Earth so that he could blend in with the populace once he crossed into their world.

  Tristen and Ionoe learned that 21st century humans were far less superstitious than their ancestors and they relied heavily on electronic gadgets to accomplish the simplest of tasks. The modes of transportation, clothing, and even the way they spoke was far different from when he last visited their world. By dawn he felt assured that he could blend into the 21st century human world without causing too much notice.

  Absorbing so much information exhausted him. He was finally able to get into bed and fall asleep. He slept until midday. The sounds of activity within the palace roused him from his sleep. Tristen called to have his meal sent to his bedchamber. He did not want to lose time or get entangled with distractions of the court by having his meal in the palace dining hall.

  Tristen barred the door to the chamber to prevent anyone from entering. He needed total privacy to accomplish his next task. He removed an oval mirror from its place on a small table and placed it in the center of the floor. Then he removed the amulet from the wrist band where he always kept it and placed it on the mirror. He sat on the cold stone floor next to the mirror and took some deep breaths to focus and clear his mind. He began a soft chant open the portal to the human world and locate members of his bloodline.

  Once the portal was opened, he ended the chant and fell into a deep meditative state to feel the pull of his bloodline. He confirmed that his descendants had flourished over the centuries. The work that he accomplished in the early morning hours proved helpful in identifying geographical locations in 21st century Earth. His descendants were scattered in several locations. He felt the pull of his blood in Scotland, which seemed to be close to where he began his line, and in Canada and America. These last two locations were sparsely inhabited wildness during his previous travels to the human world.

  He was mildly surprised that the strongest pull came from somewhere in the southern part of America. He had expected to return to Scotland. He continued to concentrate and used the amulet to assist in pinpointing the location of his descendants. He discovered that 21st Earth was much more densely populated than when he spent time in that world. The larger concentrations of people would hopefully prove beneficial to his efforts. His descendants were located in a region of America known as Louisiana, and although the area was populous, he found an area not far away that seemed to have a much larger human presence. It was in a region known as Texas. He made the decision to enter in this area and then travel to Louisiana. His reasons were two-fold. One, he could minimize his chances of detection by arriving in the more populous area. And two, he would use the time needed to travel to his descendants to familiarize himself with the customs and characteristics of 21st century humans.

  He closed the portal, returned the amulet to its home on his wrist, and put the mirror back in its place on the table. He crossed the chamber and opened the windows. It was only then that he realized that evening was approaching. He had spent almost the entire day in his semi-trance state searching for his descendants. He planned to go down to the dining hall for the evening meal but decided to rest for a short while.

  He was awakened by a loud pounding on his door. “Tristen, are you in there?” shouted his sister. When he did not respond quickly enough, she shouted again, “Tristen, open the door!”

  “Okay,” shouted Tristen in response. He sat up and swung his legs off the bed. It took a few seconds to get oriented. He must have fallen into a deep sleep. “I am coming,” he shouted to avoid additional pounding on the door. His head ached liked he had spent the previous night drinking pitchers of wine or something even stronger.

  Ionoe swept into her brother’s bedchamber as soon as she heard him remove the bar. “Tristen, is something wrong? I did not see or hear from you the entire day.”

  “I spent most of the night and day devising a plan of action for my little venture,” he replied. “Have a seat,” he gestured at one of the
plush chairs in the room. “Tell me how things went with the Council.”

  She held up a hand, “first, is something amiss? It is unlike you to miss a meal. When you missed a second meal, I became concerned. No one I spoke to had seen you all day.”

  “I just told you that I was working on a plan of action. I could not sleep after I left your chambers, so I worked until dawn. I slept until midday, had food brought here to my room so that I could continue to work without distraction. I planned to come down to the evening meal but fell asleep from exhaustion instead. Your pounding and shouting awakened me just now.”

  “I apologize for disturbing you; however, I was concerned, especially after our discussion last night.”

  “Admit it Ionoe, you thought I left on my quest without speaking with you first.”

  “That did cross my mind, but I was more concerned for your safety. Besides, leaving without speaking to me is something that the ‘young’ Tristen would do, not the Queen’s counselor,” she smiled.

  Tristen returned his sister’s smile. “You are right, in the past I would have left without giving much thought to devising a plan of action or keeping the Queen informed of my actions. Do you think I am getting wiser in my old age?”