by Max Jager
"Well I see that you made a new friend Bria," came the female voice behind him. As Matt turned, Bria introduced her mother.
"Matt, this is my mother, mother, this is Matt Grainger." He turned to face the queen as he took a deep bow,
"Your highness, I'm pleased to meet you." She smiled, replying with,
"You're that boy who came in with those androids and the Loridian trading representative aren't you?" Keeping his eyes focused on the floor, Bria's mother added,
"Relax, I don't bite, but I appreciate the gesture, thank you." Then she said,
"My husband and I have been talking with the androids Amber and Gandric; they tell us that all of you are planning on traveling around the galaxy seeking adventure." Matt looked at her and thought,
"This is news to me, I thought we were more or less going to Z'ha'dum."
"Well all I know," he said, "Was that Gandric wanted to visit a few planets in order to drum up business for the androids on Xandrus."
The queen smiled at him replying,
"Would you mind sitting next to my husband and me, we'd like to discuss something with you and your friends."
"But mother," blurted out the princess.
"I asked him to sit next to me, here at this table." The queen gave her daughter a look that spoke,
"Don't argue with me young lady!"
"Well I'm sure he will be see him tomorrow, didn't you say something about asking him along on one of your hikes?"
"Yes mother," came the reply,
"Well there you go," replied the queen, then turning to Matt, she added,
"Follow me young man, and we'll get you seated."
As he began to follow the queen, Matt turned to look back at the princess who wore a disgusted look on her face, but there wasn't she could do about the situation. He ended up sitting next to king Valsung and across from queen Elliha, with Amber, and Gandric next to her.
The king greeted him and then began to comment on the spread before them,
"I hope you brought an appetite young man, we certainly have plenty to eat."
Matt scanned the table looking for anything familiar. We, there was a large platter with what looked like pulled pork piled on it. He spotted another platter with what looked like a large trout on it. The queen caught him looking things over and decided that Matt needed a "tour guide."
Pointing to the pulled pork, she said,
"That is barbecued sharma, that is tulira fish, and that salad is made from tak mal and bani fruit."
He started out with small portions, but before long he was really chowing down.
That sharma sure was good but he couldn't believe that anyone outside of earth and the United States knew about good barbecue. On top of the food there was ale. All Matt knew was that this stuff certainly was far better than any beer he'd ever tried back at home.
Up to this point, the king had been talking with Gandric, but then turned his attention to Matt.
"It's my understanding that you, Gandric and Amber are planning on a tour of the galaxy?"
"Well like I told your wife," replied Matt, "Gandric is trying to get business for his people on Xandrus, I and my friend who is back on Denedra are just along for the ride."
"Who is this friend of yours?" Asked the queen,
"Her name is Kaitlyn Parkinson; right now the fairies and pixies are helping her sort out some of her personal problems."
"Well I'll get right to the point," said the king. "I don't know how much Bria has told you her mother and I have been looking for a way to expose her to other races and cultures, as well as becoming familiar with some of the places we trade with."
"Let me guess," replied Matt, "You want us to take your daughter?"
"We would be happy to cover her expenses," added the queen.
"How does Bria feel about this?" Asked Matt.
"We haven't really discussed it," replied the king, "Perhaps you could discuss it with her while on your hike tomorrow."
"What the hell is this?" he thought to himself, "Too chicken to talk to their own daughter?" Matt then thought of several things he'd like to say to the king but he liked his head where it was. Instead he replied,
"I take it you have trouble talking to Bria your highness?" From the kings reaction Matt could see he had hit the nail on the head.
"Don't feel bad sir," he offered, "I have the same problem with my folks, in fact I couldn't tell them I was leaving to their faces, but just left a note."
"So basically you left home without telling them?" Asked the queen.
Matt frowned,
"Pretty much."
"Well regardless of how I feel," he added,
"Amber is the captain; she has final say on things of that matter."
"We already did," said the king, Amber then spoke up.
"I have no problem with this, and neither does Gandric. However what about Kaitlyn?"
"I can't say for sure, but since Bria is a girl, it will be two against one, and if she doesn't like it I'll have a talk with her, or if worst came to worst, she could just stay on Denedra with her pixies unicorns and fairies."
"Isn't that being rather harsh?" Asked the queen.
"Maybe," replied Matt, "But Kaitlyn is only along as a guest, but I'm not going to worry about it right now."
For the rest of the dinner, Matt listened to the royal couple talk about Doradus, and their desire for their daughter to get out and see the "world."
"I've got a question though," said Matt, "What if Bria decides she likes the bright lights and big cities, this sort of thing happens all the time back on earth."
"I suppose that would be her choice," replied the king, "However Bria has been well grounded in responsibility, and Doradian traditions, we are not especially worried. Oh by the way, I will make sure all of you have a letter of introduction, and establish a line of credit. I'm not sure you're aware that anyplace you travel that has any sort of Loridian trading post, office, or presence, you can draw on established funds. It's also possible to get messages and correspondence back to us, we can do the same if you're in a given location long enough."
"Well that's certainly nice to know," replied Matt, Well I'll approach her about it tomorrow, or at some point on our hike. One more thing your highness, I have several things I'd like to take with me tomorrow, Amber is leaving early, and I'd like to get out to the ship and grab my stuff."
"Say no more young man, see my house Carl over there, tell him what you need to get out to the ship and he'll fix you up with transportation." The last item on the menu was dessert; in this case it was kipping pie. He thought it was cherry pie at first, but the berries were actually like larger blackberries. Whatever they were he could have pigged out on a whole pie. When he went to see the house Carl, Matt was feeling very overstuffed, and more than a little lightheaded from all the ale he'd been drinking. The house Carl fixed him up with a centaur, who, compared to the others, was rather talkative.
"So what do you think of Doradus?"
"All these mountains and general landscape remind me of home," replied Matt.
"Well I certainly hope this transport ship deal goes through, I'd like to go to Denedra and have a look around, oh by the way, my name is Girren Athod, I'm the royal messenger."
"So you know your way around Doradus pretty well?" Inquired Matt. Girren stopped and turned to look at Matt,
"I hope that was just a figure of speech?"
"Sorry," he replied. "I've been invited by the princess and some of her friends to go on some sort of hike tomorrow. First of all, I don't really know how far they walk, or if there are any dangerous animals that might attack us. On Denedra I had to kill several of these creatures that looked like a cross between a pig and a dog, got anything like that here?"
"Well let's see," replied Girren, "Well there are large birds we call Cheebirds that have been known to attack people, but not all the time, I had some come after me once, but I had a calling horn which I blew, to frighten them off. Then we have drike
s which have short yellowish fur and sharp teeth. Those you have to watch out for, especially at higher altitudes, but they have been known to attack farmers, and mining crews. We also have what are called boloth's. They grow to the size of a young centaur, but they are very shaggy, and have a large head."
"Do people hunt them?" Asked Matt.
"Absolutely not, they are protected, mainly because they look too much like us at a distance, and even though they cannot speak, we centaur's share a sort of kinship with them."
"But aren't you part of the Ladhas?" Asked Matt.
"Of course, the boloth are native to this planet, but for some strange reason, we share many similarities. While we're on the subject, I hear tell you are from the planet where the Aos sí ended up, but that they are all gone."
"Fraid so," replied Matt, they exist only in our mythology and legends."
Then it's safe to assume that you don't have anything resembling us," said Girren.
"Well, we have what are called horses, but they are like these boloth's but not shaggy. People have been riding them for thousands of years, they don't have human bodies like you guys," he replied.
"Interesting," replied the centaur, "Well here we are, I'll wait while you get what you need."
Matt entered the Nora-Lee, grabbing his shotgun, and AR, along with ammunition, his backpack, some of the freeze-dried food, along with a change of clothes. With all the extra gear on, Girren had to stand next to some rocks so Matt could climb up on them to get on the centaur's back. He knew the extra weight had to be uncomfortable, but Girren said nothing. As they rode back to the palace, Matt stared up at Denedra glowing in the night sky thinking of Kaitlyn and what she was doing right now.
"You know," said Girren, "Until telescopes were developed, and then later when the traders came we always wondered if the Aedoc had somehow found their way to Denedra, well now we know."
He dropped Matt off at the palace entrance closest to the guestrooms; Matt thanked him and started trudging down the hall listening to the sounds of music and laughter from the party that must still be going on. As he walked, Matt had the feeling that he was being watched, but looking around, he saw no one, opening the door to his room, he quickly entered, and locked the door.
Chapter 20
Titan Stand Chapter 20
The moment Matt's head hit the pillow he was out, and it wasn't until he woke with someone yelling in his ear.
"GET UP MATT! WE HAVE TO GET GOING."
At first he thought he was on the Nora-Lee and there was something wrong. Jumping out of bed still in the clothes he'd worn the night before, he saw an angry Bria glaring at him.
"Get the "Jank"up, what's the matter with you?" Matt also became aware of four more young dwarves standing around smirking at him.
"Bria! Is that you? Is there a fire or something?" The next thing he knew hands were grabbing him and he was being picked up. When he plunged into ice cold water reality smacked him across the face. Coming up out of the cold water he started swearing and flailing his arms.
"Ailof, you and Gnam get him dried off and dressed Bjoin Aurjalf and I are moving out try and catch up with us."
"Lemmie go, lemmie go, I can get dressed by myself," exclaimed Matt
"Well get a move on," said one of the dwarves, "Bria in a foul mood anyway, you don't want to anger her any more than she already is." He quickly got into his "cammie's" tee-shirt and jacket. For the most part his backpack was already packed, so it was just a matter of stuffing some more ammo, a couple MRE's an extra knife into it. While he was doing all this, he kept up a dialog with the two male dwarves who introduced themselves as Gnam and Ailof, friends of Bria.
"What's the matter with her?" Asked Matt, "Is she always this "PO'ed"
"She's mad because you told her you would be ready bright and early, the sun's been up for close to an hour."
"Funny" he thought, "I don't remember telling her that, but she seems to think I did, better just keep my mouth shut."
As they started out the door, he grabbed his AR and pump shotgun,
"What are those things?" the dwarves asked,
"Protection!" was all he would say. With a lot of jogging, they caught up with the females just as the city street met the country road.
"Well are you ready to join us?" Snapped Bria, Matt jumped in front of her and shot back.
"Hey look I don't know what your problem is but no one said anything about this being a "death" march, I thought it was going to be fun. If you're going to start this thing in a damn big huff, than I'm outta here!"
Bria stood her ground and continued to glare at him,
"Why did my mother want you to sit with her and father last night?"
"Oh boy, here we go," he thought, "Because they wanted to ask me something but now that I see your true colors you can just forget it, hopefully Amber hasn't left yet, maybe she'll let me tag along."
"Forget it off worlder," replied Bria, her tone of voice now mellowed.
"They left a long time ago, all right, you win, I'm sorry, I had no right to do that, let's just get going. In case you want to know why I'm in such a hurry it's because I want to make Skeerdor pass before dark." Matt shrugged and said no more, falling in with the group. For dwarves, they moved right along. Each wore what looked like khaki colored rucksacks and carried stout walking sticks, of which Gnam made mention.
"Since you don't have a walking stick we'll cut you one once we reach the forest."
The group pushed on for the rest of the morning, Bria remained silent, leaving the "tour guide" duties up to Gnam and Ailof. She chatted amiably enough with Aurjalf and Bjoin, but remained moody towards Matt.
Other than asking about his weapons, Gnam and Ailof didn't say much to him; however they spent a lot of time making wisecracks about people they knew, and the passing scene. Matt spent a lot of time thinking about Bria and her attitude.
"Do I really want to put up with her every day especially in the cramped confines of the Nora-Lee? I mean, Kaitlyn can be a pain at times, but she's got a good sense of humor and she stays focused." Later that afternoon they stooped to take a break. So far he was doing pretty good, he wasn't used to carrying a backpack this far, but he'd packed it right, and with a waist belt it wasn't bothering him too much. Matt was munching on a trail bar when Bria suddenly plopped down next to him,
"Whatcha got there?" She asked.
"A trail bar," opening one of the packs side pockets he took one out and gave it to her.
"What's this?" She exclaimed, turning the wrapped snack over in her hands.
"It's called a wrapper Bria; don't you people eat stuff that's wrapped?"
"Umm not like this," came her reply. He took the bar and tore off the foil wrapper handing the snack back to her. Stuffing the wrapper into his pocket he grimaced and said,
"Just eat it OK." Bria began to eat indicating that it was good,
"What are these things made of?" She asked.
"I'll tell you later," replied Matt, "Now was there something you wanted?"
"I'm sorry for being such a bitch but you sitting with my folks and sleeping in when I specifically told you we would be leaving early just pissed me off, I'm sorry. By the way, what was it my parents wanted to talk to you about?"
"So that's why she's trying to make up to me," he thought.
"Well Bria, in a nutshell your parents want to get rid of you, and they want to dump you on all of us aboard the Nora-Lee. At the time I was kinda for it, but now that I've had a chance to see your true colors I don't think so."
The news seemed to stun her, after a moment she stood up and whispered something in Gnam's ear, then she spoke with her girlfriends before taking off across a nearby meadow.
"Where the hell is she going?" Asked Matt, Gnam frowned,
"Well I guess this hike's over, come on, there's a little village not far from here, we can catch a ride back to Brookliyah from there."
"What's her problem?" He asked, "Was it something I said?"
<
br /> "I don't know what you said to her," said Ailof, "But she's damn mad." The two females joined them as they headed towards the settlement. They too wondered what Bria was so pissed about, Matt then entered a discussion about her uncontrolled temper.
"So does she start throwing stuff around?" He asked.
"Not usually," replied Bjoin, she's just spoiled. So what was it you said that set her off?" She asked.
