by Dale Furse
Nell asked, ‘How do they know that the rebels won’t attack the palace? They have already proven themselves against the royals. Maybe they don’t see the palace or the royal family as untouchable anymore.’
Orenda said, ‘Worow is in regular contact with the leader of the revolution. The United Council agrees Compore can be trusted to speak the truth. He was a leading general in the royal military before joining the revolution and his respect for his previous station is still his guiding principle. He won’t harm the royals, and his only demand is that Grarlon be accepted as an equal in the United Council.’
‘Are they going to agree to his demand?’ Nell wanted to know.
‘They are discussing it,’ the prince said.
‘Don’t they need Kandar and Dar-tern here to cast a vote?’
‘That is the common thought amongst us at the present moment. Worow will try to convince Compore to let the missing councillors return to cast their vote.’
‘I hope he does then,’ Nell said.
***
During the next few weeks, the prince kept in constant contact with the United Council and assured Nell he would tell her the minute anything changed in the situation. She had no choice but to wait. She would change her stance at the first sign of her father being in danger, however.
As Christmas came and went, Dar-Seldra began to brighten. She loved decorating, cooking and entertaining.
Once trading commenced, Nell spent most of her time in the corridors with Sam, Mekie, and Kale. The glint of excitement had returned to Dar-Seldra’s eyes even though she and Tanat had to keep their partnering ceremony secret. When not working, she was immersed in the ceremony’s preparations with Lesel and Tish. The portrait of the happy couple took all of Tish’s time and she wouldn’t let anyone see it unfinished.
And soon it was already the twelfth of January and Nell was getting increasingly worried about her father and Kandar. She wanted to be alone, so she went for a long walk through the trading corridors, but even the many colourful aliens and their incessant but friendly calls for her to look closer at their merchandise didn’t take away the gnawing feeling that the cold war between Compore’s insurgents and the Royal family had gone on too long. Something in her being told her the cold war was soon to become a hot, bloody war. But how soon, she had no way of knowing.
It was mid afternoon by the time Nell returned home. As she walked into the living area, everyone began singing Happy Birthday. Lesel held a round birthday cake that had been decorated just like any Earth birthday cake Nell had seen and eighteen fiery, purple candles nearly hid the creamy icing on top. It took Nell a moment to take in the scene before she realised it was her birthday. Everyone was there, Lesel, Dar-Seldra, Mekie, Sam and his parents, Tish, Kale and Tanat. She couldn’t believe she had forgotten, and laughingly thanked all of them. Sam had explained what an eighteenth birthday meant in Australia and the best Australian wines had been brought back from Earth especially for her. Carl had also arranged for icy, cold beer for those who didn’t like wine. Nell was glad to indulge in the festivity, hoping it would take her mind off her worries, but without her father there to celebrate with her, Nell could never be completely happy.
***
Annet’s strength increased every day, and she and Carl were soon joining Sam, Nell and Mekie on their outings into the corridors. They were at first overwhelmed by the many different species, but soon became used to them. Carl even bartered and joked with the traders as they made their way through the throngs. Not that he bought anything from them. With Australian money not being a viable currency, both he and Annet refused to accept money from Dar-Seldra or Tanat. Their shopping was from the lists Dar-Seldra made. Carl wasn’t happy when he found out Sam was accepting money from Tanat, but once Sam explained he earned it by teaching Tanat guitar, his father had no choice but to back off.
On the last trading day, Nell, Sam and Mekie met up with Annet and Carl at the same café Nell had visited the first time she was in the corridors. Carl sat at a long table outside and waved them over, but Annet was at the bar talking amicably with an amber-skinned Corl woman. Anyone would think Annet had lived around all sorts of strange beings all her life. Her adopted mother threw her a wave and Nell smiled. Of course, she would. She always took people as they came and never judged anyone, least of all for how they looked.
Annet’s parents were killed in a car accident when she was ten. With no surviving relatives on her Danish mother’s side and her part-aboriginal father’s family so far away, she spent some weeks in a foster home until her only relatives could be contacted. As soon as they found out about her, they made their way to Sydney and collected her.
She had found herself a white, city girl, living with her aboriginal grandmother and a myriad of other family in Far North Queensland. She had to become resilient to cope with life in an aboriginal community and all that went with that – culture shock, new people and customs, a whole new way of living.
***
Fellder, the Corl nurse, and Dar-Seldra’s friend, arrived that evening. She solidified in the middle of the living room with a large carved box. Tanat jumped up to help her with it.
‘No,’ she said, her pink skin deepening a shade. ‘Ah … this is not for you.’ She turned to Dar-Seldra. ‘I wasn’t expecting to see Tanat here.’
Nell and Mekie exchanged glances. Nell shrugged.
‘He was just about to leave, weren’t you, darling,’ Dar-Seldra said, as she elegantly rose to her feet.
‘I was?’ he said, his face blank.
‘Yes, darling. Remember? Carl is expecting you at Tish’s house.’
‘That’s right.’ He frowned as he eyed Fellder. ‘Tish did say to join the Fredericks there if I wasn’t doing anything tonight. However, it wasn’t a formal invitation.’ He sat back into his chair.
‘Yes. It was. You should go now.’ She kissed him on the cheek.
Tanat raised his arms as if surrendering. ‘I know when I’m not wanted.’ He grasped her shoulders as he stood up and kissed her full on the mouth. She squirmed, but he wouldn’t let her get away. Pulling back, he raised an eyebrow, and said, ‘I hope you’re going to tell me why when I return.’
As soon as the door closed behind him, Fellder put the box on the sofa. As soon as she looked at Dar-Seldra again, they both burst into laughter.
Catching her breath, Fellder said, ‘He didn’t guess, did he?’
‘No.’
Nell pulled Mekie up off the armchair. ‘Excuse me, people, but we don’t know anything.’
Fellder patted her box. ‘I have the dress.’
Mekie pounced on the box. ‘Let me open it,’ Mekie said, but Nell’s hands were already there.
Nell threw her cousin’s hand off. ‘No. I want to.’
Fellder pulled them both away by their arms. ‘I think that is for Dar-Seldra to decide, don’t you?’
‘I guess,’ Nell said.
Mekie nodded and stepped back to allow room for her mother to get closer.
‘Thank you, girls,’ said Dar-Seldra. ‘But Fellder might like some tea first.’
‘Yes, please,’ Fellder said.
They went to the kitchen, leaving Nell and Mekie alone with the box.
Nell perched on the arm of the sofa and Mekie followed suit, sitting on the arm of the opposite sofa. They sat silently, staring down at Dar-Seldra’s dress’s container between them.
Unable to stand it any longer, Nell said, ‘Want to sneak a peek?’
‘What? You mean, open it?’
‘Yes, dummy. How else are we going to see inside?’
‘I don’t know,’ Mekie said, pulling back. ‘Mother wouldn’t like it.’ She gazed at the thing in question. ‘Oh, I do want to see it though.’ Glancing at the closed kitchen door, she added, ‘How long do you think they will be?’
Nell grinned. Her cousin wanted to see it as much as she did. ‘Awhile. They have to make more tea. Tish finished off the last pot before she left and I guess th
ey’ll talk a bit.’
Wringing her hands, Mekie said, ‘Okay, but you–’
Orenda appeared on top of the box. Nell nearly fell back off the arm of the sofa. As she balanced herself, she caught the anguish in the enchanter’s eyes. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘I need you to come with me, Nell.’
‘Why? What’s happened? Is it Dad?’
‘No. Eph is in trouble. He’s surrounded by rebels.’ Her usual sapphire eyes had darkened to royal blue.
Nell stood up. ‘Let’s go.’
‘Wait,’ Mekie said before Orenda could take Nell. ‘You can’t just go without a word.’
Orenda took Nell’s hand, and Nell said, ‘I can.’ She and Orenda disappeared into the strange vortex that would take them to Ephry.
Within seconds, they appeared in the sky below Prince Ephry. He was in the middle of four circling Grarls who bombarded him with spell after spell of blistering fireballs. He blocked with his own molten orbs, but from the scorches on his shoulders and his weakened state, he had missed a few.
One of the spell-binders redirected his attack toward Nell and Orenda. ‘Intruders. Cover yourselves.’ he shouted.
Another one said, ‘Leave them. Get the prince first.’
The other three glanced at Orenda and Nell but continued their controlled assault on the prince.
‘Head for Eph,’ Orenda squeaked, and, in less than a wink, she appeared beside Ephry and joined his battle.
With wings and talons ready, electricity vibrated through Nell’s body. She manipulated the energy with her mind, drew it to the tips of her fingers and cast a quick shot of current of deadly energy sparks at the closest rebel. He fell out of formation, but had righted himself by the time Nell had winged to the prince. ‘Blast,’ she growled. The rebels regrouped and concentrated their assault Ephry and Orenda again.
The air sizzled with bursts of orange heat.
Another blast of fire hit the prince’s side. He fell forward but stayed aloft. Orenda’s face scrunched up in her effort to stay the attack. One of the insurgents blocked Orenda’s bolts of deadly light while the other three kept up their onslaught against the prince.
‘Dive, Eph. Dive,’ Nell screamed, but she was too late. A blast hit Ephry, and he fell.
Orenda cried out and rocketed toward her prince.
In the same half-second, the assailants directed their attack on Orenda. Nell darted after the enchanter.
‘Get both of them,’ one of the Grarls yelled.
Nell grabbed Orenda’s shoulders by her claws and flung her up out of the track of the tumultuous blasts of power. She halted her angry friend at eye level and joined with her mind, screaming, ‘Follow my lead.’
The insurgents split into two teams of two, each flying in different directions to assail Nell and her friend front and back. Orenda didn’t argue with Nell. She manoeuvred her small body until her back pressed against Nell’s back. Orenda was skinny enough that Nell still had limited use of her wings. They had enough movement to keep her in the air.
‘Two each,’ Nell said. She grinned at the Grarls. Dunces. They shouldn’t have stayed so close together. Hardening her heart towards the Grarls, she threw most of her powerful light shards at her opposition, the remainder she used to block the only two shots they had time to throw at her. One Grarl fell to the ground.
She became aware of Orenda’s small body quivering against her back. Shit. She’d been so involved in her battle she didn’t realise her friend was in trouble. She spun around. It only took a millisecond to realise Orenda was losing her dogfight fast. Nell’s remaining opponent headed for his comrades. Nell scooted in front of Orenda and pushed her shoulder back to make contact with her. ‘Work with me,’ Nell roared at her, making it evident there was no alternative.
When she placed her tiny hand around the bump formed from Nell’s left wing breaking through behind her arm, Nell smiled. Uniting her power with Orenda’s, she smashed the three Grarls as they came together once more. For the first time, Nell was aware of her mind drawing chemicals from deep within the planet and fuelling their ignition with her internal heat. She fired off a blinding ball of fire. The assailants held their arms up to block the shot but it detonated against their hands, blackening their entire bodies. The Grarls fell to what Nell only then recognised as desert sand. ‘Ha.’ She grinned. ‘That’s how I do it.’
Scanning the area, she lowered Orenda to the ground a small distance from where the Grarls smouldered. They were in a desert all right. Dunes undulated to the horizon in every direction.
The sand was hot under her talons and she knew it would be almost unbearable under bare feet, so she kept her Wintar form. Orenda groaned. Nell squatted next to her. ‘Please be all right.’
Orenda sat up and held her forehead. ‘Ooh, my head is throbbing, but I’ll be fine. Ouch. This sand is baking me.’ Hovering above the desert floor, she quickly surveyed the area. ‘Ephry,’ she said. ‘Where is Ephry?’
Nell closed her eyes and immediately opened them again. ‘This way,’ she said, and flew over the nearest sand dune.
Prince Ephry lay motionless in the depression his body had made on impact. Nell gasped. The rebels must have shot him to the ground like a missile.
Orenda checked to see if he was alive. ‘His breathing is laboured,’ she said, feeling all over his body.
Nell wondered if he had a single bone still intact. ‘Will he be okay?’ she said, landing beside Orenda.
‘I don’t know,’ the Grarl cried, resting her head gently against the prince’s still one.
Nell stepped over the prince and knelt at his side. ‘What about CPR?’ she said, placing her hands on his chest.
‘No!’ shouted a voice behind Nell.
She spun around. An Eldorap. ‘Deesc?’ she asked.
‘Yes. Let me look at him.’
She moved out of the way.
Deesc squatted down and passed his white, lean hands over the prince’s body without touching him. ‘Every bone in his chest is broken, but I don’t think any have punctured his lungs.’
Orenda moved back, sat up, and stared at Deesc with wet eyes. ‘He can’t breathe. I need to get him to a healer.’
Deesc nodded. ‘You can’t take him to anyone here, Orenda. You’ll have to take him to Corl.’
Orenda held the prince’s head and disappeared.
Facing Nell, Deesc shook his head and his empty orbs filled with soft brown eyes. ‘You do get yourself into trouble, child.’
‘Orenda and the prince needed me,’ she huffed. ‘And stop calling me a child.’ She stood facing him with her hands on her hips. ‘Do I look like a child?’
His eyes twinkled as they raked over her body and he whistled. ‘You most certainly do not.’ He stepped so close that their bodies almost touched. ‘But you do act like one more times than not. The way you drop your bottom lip for instance.’
Nell sucked her protruding bottom lip in, bit it and wheeled around ready to leave him there braying like a donkey. ‘Ugh.’ She didn’t know where Orenda had taken her. Was she even on Corl? She turned back to Deesc. ‘Where are we, you dork.’
‘Grarlon.’
‘Grarlon? Why would Orenda and the prince go to Grarlon?’
‘I know it’s hard to believe, child, but I don’t know everything.’
Nell made a face at him. Smart arse. ‘Why didn’t Orenda take me with them to Corl?’
‘She might have thought I would.’
‘Well, might you?’
‘Are you asking me to?’
If he didn’t stop laughing at her, she would hit him. Biting back a retort, she looked at the cloudless blue sky.
‘I’d suggest if you are going to ask, child, that you do it before more rebels arrive.’
He was right. Huh. He was probably old as the hills. Maybe that was why he kept calling her a child. Kandar did sometimes and she never took it as insult from him so why did she get so angry with Deesc? Restraining herself, she said, ‘Fin
e. Will you take me to Corl?’
He stepped forward and wrapped his arms around her. Drawing her close, he whispered, ‘Now, this is much more comfortable, isn’t it?’
They entered the vortex before Nell could respond.
Like the time she had travelled with the grey Corl, Nadar, Deesc had slowed down his wormhole. Closing her eyes so she wouldn’t have to look at him was a big mistake. The warmth of his body radiated through her and she rested against him as if she had no control. ‘Move away from him,’ her mind screamed, but her body ignored her brain’s protests. Again, she screamed silently, ‘Stop it!’ Not knowing whether she screamed at him or herself, she snapped her eyes open.
His now chocolate-brown eyes looked directly into her heart…her soul. Nell’s body stilled as she stared into those eyes consuming her and she wished with all her being for the return of his empty black eyes. She wanted to reach their destination, get away from his closeness. Couldn’t he go any faster? She didn’t know whether she felt or heard the amused chuckle low in his throat, but it jolted her back to reality.
‘Get away from me,’ she hissed.
Deesc laughed aloud. His black eyes returned, he loosened his grip on her and, sliding his hand down her arm, he held her hand and sighed. ‘You are right, of course, child. We need to hasten our journey.’
As they sped up, she thought about how Nadar had controlled his wormhole’s speed, but he needed time to dislodge her before he arrived at his destination. Deesc, on the other hand, had slowed their rate for entirely different purposes. The last thing he wanted was to remove her. She glanced at him. He was the alienist alien Nell had ever seen. How could she have let him affect her like that? She didn’t even know what he really looked like. Probably much the same as he did as an Eldorap. At that moment, though, he wasn’t even really Humanoid and had none of the usual Human parts. Ugh. Only another Eldorap could tell the difference between males and females just by looking at them. She shook her head. It was just wrong.
