by Jamie Davis
Mona wondered again if Cari had managed to get to safety as Hal believed. She’d expected them to get some word of her whereabouts by now. Hal went out nightly to search for any word of her. Using his thief skills, he snuck into the inn where the Duke’s guard commander had taken up residence. In the colonel’s office there, Hal rummaged through the papers of the occupying force, searching for any report of where his daughter might be.
Mona knew they were going to have to leave soon. They couldn’t remain in Morton Creek forever. They also knew Cari wouldn’t stay in hiding much longer either.
“Sterling, Mona and I are heading back to the house for dinner. You and Maisy can stay here and close up the shop without us, right?” Heath asked.
“Oh, yes sir. We’d be happy to close up the shop together. Isn’t that right, Maisy?”
“Yes, Mr. Heath. We’d love to close up the shop together.”
Mona hid her smile behind one hand and turned away so they didn’t see her grinning. She noticed out of the corner of her eye Heath was grinning, too. He didn’t bother to hide it.
“Good, then close up the shop when it’s time, and walk Maisy home. I’ll have your mother keep some dinner on the new stove.”
“There’s no need for that, Mr. Heath, sir. Sterling can have dinner with my family at my house,” Maisy said.
Sterling grinned from ear to ear at the invitation to stay and have dinner with her family. “Is it all right if I have dinner with Maisy’s family, dad?”
“It’s fine with me. Just make sure you’re home before it gets too late. You know the Colonel has put in place a curfew. You don’t want to be caught out on the streets by any patrols too late.”
“Yes, sir. I’ll be careful, sir.”
Heath nodded his approval. He grabbed his cloak from the hook by the door and he and Mona left the shop. They turned to the right and headed towards the residential district nearby where the Fletcher’s had their home.
When they arrived, Becca was thrilled to see them home early for a change. “For once, I won’t have to keep dinner warming on the stove for the two of you until all hours of the night. I guess Stefan wasn’t able to join us?”
Stefan had been living in one of the taverns near the harbor these past few months while Mona and Hal stayed with the Fletcher’s.
“No, I think he made plans to go out with some of the other young men in town, you remember what it was like,” laughed Mona. “On another note, I want to thank you for letting Heath and I work late so often. A suspicious wife wouldn’t like having her husband spending so much time with another woman,” Mona grinned.
Becca chuckled. “I know my Heath better than that. And, I know you would never be unfaithful to Hal.”
“Fair enough,” Mona said. “What’s for dinner?”
“I’ve got roasted goat and rice pilaf. It’s so much easier to cook over this new model cast-iron stove you helped Heath design. Frankly, for us and for those that have bought one, it’s really changed the way the people of Morgan Creek prepare their dinners.”
“Not a problem,” Mona said. “It was time for you and everyone else here to have developed that sort of stove to use in your kitchens and heat your homes. How’s the new pump design for the well working out?”
“It’s working out very well, indeed. It’s so nice not to have to go out to the backyard to fetch water from the well anymore. Though I think it spoils the children. They should have to do the same type of chores I did when I was their age. Now all they do is crank the handle in the kitchen and water comes out.”
“I feel the same way about how easy it is for kids where I come from, Becca.”
“You’ve told me so much about where you come from. It sounds like a strange and magical place. Perhaps someday we can travel to your world, rather than you travel here.”
“That would be nice, but first I need to figure out how to get us home before I start worrying about bringing anyone else through a gateway back to Earth.”
Hal came in from the backyard. He walked over to the sink to wash his hands and looked over his shoulder at his wife. “Still having trouble with the final piece of the transporter?”
“Yes. I’m having issues with the tuning mechanism. I can generate and store the power needed internally. I just need some way to refocus the gathered energy in such a way as to let me pick the destination, without it, all it will do is open up a random gateway that could lead anywhere. It might be here on Fantasma, it might be somewhere else in the universe. I’m not willing to take in that kind of chance. There has to be a way to focus the energy and select a specific location. Until I get that issue licked, we’re right and truly stuck here.”
“Well, if anyone can figure it out, I know you can, dear.”
“Are you planning on heading out to do more scouting tonight?” Heath asked, stepping up to wash his hands as soon as Hal was finished at the sink.
“Yes, I haven’t been down to check on the latest dispatches in the Colonel’s office for a few nights. It would be good to see what new information has come in.”
“Do be careful, Hal,” Mona said. “I know you’re very good at what you do when you’re out on your little late-night missions. Still, one of these days you’re going to press your luck, and the Colonel is going to realize someone’s been rummaging through his papers while he’s been sleeping.”
“Don’t you know, Mona? Pressing my luck is what I do best.” Hal winked at her as he sat down at the dinner table.
Mona shook her head and rolled her eyes. That set Becca laughing along with Heath. The two couples got along well with each other and had formed a close friendship since meeting after Hal and Mona’s arrival in Morton Creek. It didn’t just have to do with the fact that Becca had acted as a sort of mother figure to Cari when she stayed here the previous year. It was also that they had similar goals when it came to making sure the young princess in Cari’s care made it to her great-grandmother’s side.
Mona was proud of how much Cari had accomplished in her time here. She worried about her daughter’s safety, but she could see how much she did to help the people here in much the same way her father had years before.
“Hal, look again for any sign of what the other contingents of the Duke’s forces are up to. It would be nice to have an idea of which direction they’re headed. We’re going to have to leave here eventually and it would make sense to know where to avoid unfriendly troops.”
“Honestly, Mona, I’ve been waiting to have you finish the transporter. Once that’s done, we can use it to travel to wherever Cari is now or at least to where she’s headed.”
“You mean, you know where she is?”
“I know where the Colonel thinks she is. That’s why I want to head back there tonight. He was expecting a ship to come into the harbor with news of some plan he had in the works. From what I could tell the last time, I think he was hoping to get the Raiders to overthrow their leadership for some reason and return to their pirate ways along these coasts. Based on that plan, I think that’s where Cari is; somewhere in the islands to the east. I’ve been waiting to see what he learns about the plan’s effectiveness.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Mona asked, more than a little perturbed with her husband.
“I didn’t want to worry you. I was going to wait and see what this latest message said before I told you anything about it. All I knew was some speculation based on the few things I’ve been able to read on the Colonel’s desk. There’s nothing concrete to go on yet.”
“Is there any sign that the Duke of Charon’s men might finally leave Morgan Creek?” Heath asked. “It would be nice to settle back into the nice quiet routine we had before they arrived. It’s stifling everyone’s business.”
Hal shook his head. “I’m not sure there’s any way to know for sure, yet. It’s my hope that once Cari starts on the move that they will remove the blockade on the port here and let people come and go from the city. I know Mona and I could slip out if we had to, b
ut I’d rather not be chased across the countryside while I’m looking for my daughter.”
“But, Hal, I don’t think I’ll be able to finish the destination focuser for the transporter with what I have at hand.”
Becca frowned. “I suppose that means you’ll be leaving us one way or the other then?”
Mona nodded. “Yes, I think that is best. We need to get on the road again and start looking for Cari. If she’s in the Cairn Islands, then that’s where we should go. We need to get to her before she starts moving again.”
“You can’t get a ship to the Raider islands here. I assume that means you’re heading to Tandon?” Heath asked.
“Not sure.” Hal scratched his head. “It’ll depend on what that message the Colonel is waiting for says.”
At that moment, the Fletchers’ other children came running into the kitchen and settled down to their spots around the table. The conversation turned to lighter topics, such as the children’s studies here at home. Mona had taken to teaching them basic crafting and science skills. A few of the kids took to it very quickly.
When dinner was finished, and the dishes were cleared and cleaned up, Mona and Hal sat outside the house on the front steps looking at the small homes clustered around them in this quiet and usually peaceful town as dusk fell over Morton Creek. “It’ll be good to get on the road again, Hal.”
“I agree. I’d hoped we’d hear something concrete about Cari to know which way to go. I have to think she’d send word here to her friends in some way to let them know she was all right.”
As they sat watching the sunset over the western headland that encircled the town’s harbor, a bell sounded in the center of town. Soon after, a bell up in the old Baron’s castle began ringing as well. Mona looked at Hal and he shrugged.
Heath and Becca came out onto the stoop behind them. “What’s the bell for?” Heath asked.
“I was going to ask you,” Mona replied. “Has it ever rung for a long time like this before?”
“Not that I can remember. It’s only supposed to ring like that for news of great importance from the capital or an imperial edict to be read publicly at the town’s central square.”
A woman came running up the street. Mona recognized her as one of the Fletchers’ neighbors. It looked like she was crying.
“Yasmine,” Becca called out. “What is wrong?”
“She’s dead, Becca.”
“Who’s dead?”
“The Empress, may she rest in peace. The Empress has died. Soldiers are nailing up public notices all over the city.”
Mona looked at Hal. He now sat rigid, his back ramrod straight as he stared off into the distance. She put an arm around his shoulders. The Empress had been his companion when he was younger, during his earlier adventures in this world. Due to the strange time differential between their worlds, she’d aged eighty years while he’d only aged fifteen. Now she was gone and he sat staring off over the roofs of the homes opposite theirs. He was probably thinking about his memories of the girl he first knew as Kay, the thief, all those years ago.
“Are you alright? Do you want to talk?” Mona asked.
“I’m fine. Kareena lived a long life and ruled her empire well for the most part. I wish she’d lived long enough for us to show her that her great-granddaughter still lived, but there’s nothing I can do about that now. This clinches it, though. We need to move. Things have been set in motion that will make it much harder on Cari, now.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it, Mona. The Empress is dead. That means Timron will be crowned unless we can get the princess there first. Once he’s on the throne, it’ll be difficult to dislodge him. Once Cari finds out, she’ll realize that, too.”
“How long do you think we have? I thought Timron was in hiding somewhere here in the west country.”
“That’s the rumor. It means this whole quest has just become a race to get the next ruler on the throne first. Pack your things, Mona. We’ve got to slip out of the city tonight.”
“Where are we headed and how will we get there?”
“Tandon. As to how we get there, the Colonel is letting the fishing boats out of the harbor to bring in their catch. He has to in order to keep the town from starving while his troops are here. I had Stefan make prior arrangements with one of the fishing captains to run us up the coast to Tandon just in case of a situation like this.”
“I’d better pack up my tools and gear. There are a few things I need from the smithy to continue my work while we travel. Heath, will you accompany me back to the shop? I might need to take a few of your tools with me if that’s alright.”
“Of course, Mona. You can have whatever you need.”
“Good, thank you.” Mona grabbed her cloak. “Hal, I’ll be back before midnight. We’ll gather young Stefan from the inn by the harbor where he’s been hiding out and slip past the curfew patrols. That way we can all be at the harbor before dawn.”
“Perfect. We’ll sail out with the fishing fleet to get the morning’s catch. With luck, we’ll be back in Tandon inside of a week.”
Mona nodded and wondered what Cari was doing as they prepared to set out after her once again.
Chapter 8
Cari ducked under the officer’s saber thrust, snapping her own blade out straight as a steel extension of her left arm. The thin rapier thrusted into his abdomen.
As the officer doubled over, she pulled her blade free and swung in with her other hand plunging her dagger through his neck. She must’ve severed his spine because he collapsed in a heap at her feet.
* * *
3,500 experience awarded
* * *
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the Imperial Marines raise his musket to his shoulder and aim it in her direction. Diving forward, Cari got behind a tree just in time. The bullet took a chunk of bark off the tree right where her head had been seconds before.
Knowing the marine had to reload, Cari charged from behind the tree to take him out. He was fumbling with this ramrod and didn’t see her coming until it was too late.
Within seconds she was on top of him knocking him to the ground and killing him with a single dagger thrust to his chest.
* * *
2,500 experience awarded
* * *
Remaining down on one knee, Cari slowly raised her head above the surrounding brush and scanned the forest, searching for the rest of her party. The attack had come without warning and scattered them as they ran into the trees to escape the ambush.
The naval officers and their marines, who’d disembarked ashore from the Frigate anchored in the cove, had pressed deeper and deeper into the troll’s mountain forests every day. They had not given up the search for the crew of the schooner anchored in the cove beside their ship.
This last attack had pushed deeper than ever before, catching Cari and her friends by surprise as they followed a group of trolls to a safer encampment farther into the mountains.
To her right, she caught movement out of the corner of her eye. About a hundred feet away, Francesca finished off one of the marines with a hacking slash of her saber. Cari called out to her. “Where are Percy and Jaycee?”
Francesca shrugged then pointed a finger over her right shoulder indicating she thought they were somewhere behind her in the forest.
Cari didn’t think that was a good thing. From the sound of the fighting around them, it seemed like the imperial forces, under the control of one of the Duke’s pet naval officers, were all around them now, interspersed through the trees. “Break off contact here, then go find them. You search that way. I’ll back up and search over here.
Francesca nodded and trotted off into the trees. Cari rose to a crouch and started backing up through the brush, keeping low and hidden in the thick bushes beside the trail. There was fighting all around her. She heard the bellows and grunts of her troll companions. To them, this was a desperate fight to protect their homeland and their invited guest
s.
She didn’t smell smoke, which was good. It didn’t appear that the marines had come prepared with fire this time. Even though there were not that many trolls with Cari’s party, they were holding their own and, with their regenerative abilities, they’d be powerful allies.
“Cari?” Helen’s voice sounded from behind her. Cari turned to the left, keeping an eye forward for any incoming attacks. As she worked her way around a rocky outcropping, Cari spotted her first mate behind a tree. Several imperial marines lay dead around where she hid.
“I’m looking for Percy and Jaycee. Have you seen them?”
“No. We got separated when they hit us on the trail. It was all I could do to fight off the ones that had me cornered.”
“Same here,” Cari said. “I saw Percy grab the princess by the arm and run off into the woods away from the attack. I’m worried some of the marines might have swung around to the east, anticipating we’d run away from their initial assault.”
“That’s not good, Cari. What do you want to do?”
“I sent Francesca back in the other direction from here. Why don’t you head off to the left and back through the woods and see if you can find them? I’ll go back and run straight up the middle and see if I can find Chrrrak. He might’ve seen them.”
“Got it. Where shall we meet if I find them?”
“Chrrrak said he was leading us up the trail to a plateau with a large oblong boulder pointed at the sky. He called it ‘the finger.’ Let’s meet up there. Just keep going up the trail until you find it.”
“Alright.” Helen gave Cari a thumbs up gesture and headed off into the woods to the left.
