Being of the Field

by Traci Harding

  ‘Shit!’ Lucian wasn’t in a position to resist.

  He had no way of knowing whether Zeven had successfully rescued Taren from the Phemorians. Or whether the Phemorians had noted they were missing two Valoureans. If they were in deep space, far from a large light source, or in the night shadow of a planet, AMIE could hide from the approaching craft, and her surface would reflect only the blackness of the space surrounding. But this close to the twin system, the light reflected off AMIE’s surface and she was exposed to naked sight.

  ‘I guess we look at this as an opportunity to be updated,’ Lucian advised Leal through the communicator.

  ‘But they will execute Ringbalin if they discover he was responsible for killing their Valoureans,’ Kassa said, worried.

  Lucian held up a hand to calm Kassa while he finished talking to Leal. ‘Advise the Phemorians that I agree to meet with the queen to negotiate terms for the surrender of my crew and vessel. Tell them I have some information that her majesty will find most interesting.’

  ‘Will do, Captain,’ Leal confirmed.

  ‘But the Queen of Phemoria never meets with a man,’ Kassa pointed out.

  ‘Qusay-Sabah Clarona never leaves Phemoria either,’ Lucian pointed out in return, as they awaited a response from Leal. ‘This seems to be a day of firsts all round.’

  ‘Speaking of firsts, how are you feeling?’ Kassa queried at last.

  ‘My sight is a bit strange,’ Lucian complained, so Kassa pulled out her pocket torch to check his eyes. ‘It’s a bit blurry, then it comes sharply into focus—’

  ‘That will be the balancing act going on between your two physical eyes and your third-eye vision,’ Kassa theorised. ‘Like a camera lens adjusting to objects in the foreground and background, your sight is now adjusting to see objects in the physical realm as well as objects in the etheric world.’

  That explanation seemed fair enough to Lucian. ‘How is Kalayna faring?’

  ‘She’s fine…’ Kassa hesitantly began, ‘although she had quite a crush on you when she came to see me last night.’

  I thought you were in love with the princess? Amie chimed in.

  ‘It was just something in the air,’ Lucian said defensively. ‘I’m sure she’s all better now. What I’m more interested to know is if the air had any effect on her psychic skills.’

  ‘She hasn’t come back to me with anything, but I believe Aurora is fairly cross with Kalayna so she might be a little preoccupied!’

  ‘Captain,’ Leal’s voice interrupted. ‘Her majesty wishes to see our botanist as well.’

  ‘They suspect,’ Kassa concluded, worried for their crewmate.

  ‘I’ll go.’ Ringbalin made his presence known, having heard the latest news as he arrived at the door. ‘I heard the Phemorians have found us and I want to surrender myself to them.’

  ‘No, Balin,’ Kassa appealed. ‘Your intentions are honourable, but the Phemorians will not judge you fairly.’

  ‘I judged those Valoureans rather harshly, so possibly it would be fair,’ Balin said somewhat sharply.

  Only Lucian perceived Ringbalin’s dead lover as she followed him into the room, half her head missing from her death wound. Kassa noticed the captain wince in surprise and suspected that Ringbalin had a ghost of his own in tow.

  ‘It doesn’t matter what spin you put on it,’ Ringbalin stated. ‘I killed those women.’

  ‘Confirm that request, Leal.’ Lucian forced out the words, having no time to debate the issue. ‘I will fly us across to the Phemorian craft.’

  ‘Confirmed, captain,’ Leal replied slowly, sounding none too happy about it.

  ‘Thank you, captain,’ Ringbalin said. ‘I am grateful for your understanding.’

  Don’t wish yourself dead to come after me, Ayliscia’s ghost cried out to Balin.

  ‘My understanding is that you might have a death wish due to your recent loss,’ Lucian told Ringbalin on Ayliscia’s behalf and Ringbalin was taken aback by the captain’s insight.

  Ayliscia’s ghost looked at Lucian, amazed and excited. You see me, Captain Gervaise?

  Lucian served Ayliscia with a slight nod as Ringbalin responded. ‘I do not plan to do anything heroic or stupid, if that is your concern.’

  ‘No, my concern is losing you,’ the captain replied. ‘AMIE would not be here without you. We need you alive and in Module C if the project is to continue.’

  ‘I’ll be sure and look you up when I get out of prison,’ Ringbalin replied, ignoring the captain’s warm sentiments.

  ‘You’re not going to prison,’ Lucian said emphatically. ‘Not if I can help it.’

  ‘I murdered two people!’ Ringbalin snapped.

  ‘In self-defence,’ Kassa argued.

  ‘No!’ he roared. ‘I meant it…I wanted it…’ Ringbalin began shaking violently as tears overwhelmed him. ‘They didn’t stand a chance.’ He collapsed to his knees, clawing at his chest. ‘I just want to rip my heart out.’

  Ringbalin keeled forward, weeping, and Kassa dropped to her knees beside him, reaching out her hand. Ringbalin immediately warned her to stop right there. ‘To touch me is to expose yourself to my pain and I would not wish that on my worst enemy.’

  It was my fault that he was driven to kill. He is the gentlest of souls, captain. Don’t let my people take him. Ayliscia looked on, helpless to prevent his pain. You might be able to make a trade for his life, said the tall mutilated spirit as she approached Lucian, with this information…the queen’s viceroy, Jalila Lamas, is Khalid Mansur’s lover.

  Lucian’s jaw dropped at the implications, but it was his dead wife who protested.

  I knew there was someone! Amie was infuriated to learn who she’d been tossed aside for. I suppose they plan to rule the universe together…Phemoria and Sermetica anyway.

  Ayliscia chose to ignore Amie. You must warn the queen.

  When Lucian had entered bio-containment to spend time with the tundrell from Oceane, he’d been expecting enlightenment, but not quite this much at once. ‘Perhaps I should go alone?’

  ‘Yes,’ Kassa said, relieved.

  ‘No,’ Ringbalin interrupted, pulling himself together. ‘I must go. My higher self advised me to follow my conscience. Yes, thinking about Ayliscia makes me want to die so I can be with her, but I will not do anything to bring death upon myself, I swear it.’

  ‘Balin, you don’t have to die to be with Ayliscia…’ The captain ventured to expose his new talent for the sake of easing his comrade’s pain. ‘She is standing right beside you.’

  ‘What?’ Balin was wonderstruck and looked at the captain, puzzled and intrigued.

  As the captain nodded to confirm the truth of his words, his eyes drifted to one side of Balin to indicate where Ayliscia was and Ringbalin calmed himself. ‘She has given me some information that we might use to aid your cause with the Phemorians.’

  ‘Really?’ Ringbalin wiped the tears from his face, not wanting his dead lover to see him so distressed. ‘She can hear me?’

  ‘Oh, yes,’ Lucian assured him and Kassa quietly withdrew some distance to give Balin a little privacy.

  Tell him I shall love him always and will stay with him until he finds love again, Ayliscia requested of the captain.

  Lucian, although he felt a little awkward playing the messenger, passed on her message as requested.

  ‘Then we shall be together forever,’ Ringbalin vowed, ‘for I shall never love another as I love you.’ He bowed his head as tears threatened to overwhelm him once more.

  Ayliscia shook her head to disagree and leaned close to kiss her lover’s head. As soon as she appeared to make contact with him, Balin drew a deep breath of surprise.

  ‘It’s true,’ he said, and looked at the captain in amazement. ‘She is here, I can sense her!’ Ringbalin laughed with happiness through his tears.

  ‘I wouldn’t lie to you about something like that,’ Lucian assured him.

  ‘I didn’t think you would, aptain, but—’ Ringbalin
gasped as he realised the answer to the question he was about to ask. ‘You’ve been in bio-containment with my tundrell.’

  Lucian nodded.

  Ringbalin forced a smile and thought how brave Lucian was, to expose himself to social ostracism for the sake of love.

  ‘So, as Ayliscia cannot bear to see you fall into the hands of the Valoureans,’ Lucian posed, trying for a humorous tone to dispel the awkward mood, ‘let us go see if the Phemorians will strike a deal.’

  Ringbalin gave a determined nod and Ayliscia smiled, satisfied that they had turned her lover’s death wish around.

  As the captain and Ringbalin exited their shuttle on the Phemorian vessel, the men were immediately taken into custody by Valoureans.

  ‘How dare you request an audience with her majesty?’ a tall luscious blonde, who appeared as deadly as she was beautiful, hissed at Lucian.

  ‘Then with whom am I to negotiate?’ he asked politely.

  ‘We ask the questions,’ she barked, motioning for her soldiers to take hold of the men.

  ‘I’ll come freely,’ Ringbalin said, knowing it was not safe to touch him. ‘You shouldn’t—’

  ‘We also give the orders, short guy,’ the blonde shouted and two Valoureans took hold of him, one on either side.

  Lucian heard the soldiers who were dragging Ringbalin along start to sniffle and he couldn’t help but smile.

  The blonde in charge got fed up and turned about to find both her warriors weeping. ‘What are you two whimpering about?’

  ‘I don’t know,’ explained the warrior to Ringbalin’s left. ‘All of a sudden, I feel so incredibly sad, and sorry for him.’ She looked at her prisoner.

  ‘Uh-huh,’ confirmed the soldier to Ringbalin’s right.

  ‘I’ll do it,’ and the blonde took hold of Ringbalin, who could only sigh, knowing a warning would be a waste of breath.

  Before they’d made it to wherever they were going all six guards with them were in tears.

  ‘We don’t have to take him to the captain,’ the blonde in charge suggested. ‘We could hide him somewhere.’

  ‘Yes,’ they all agreed.

  ‘No!’ Ringbalin suggested. ‘My captain needs to see the queen.’

  ‘Impossible,’ they all said.

  ‘Then, please, take us to your captain,’ Lucian requested. The warriors looked to Ringbalin, not prepared to act until he gave the nod.

  ‘Please, ladies,’ Ringbalin begged them. ‘Our business is most pressing.’

  Reluctantly, the Valoureans complied, wiping tears from their faces as they led them away.

  ‘Do you think you can pacify their captain so easily?’ Lucian asked in an aside to Balin.

  Ringbalin shrugged. ‘Probably, but that would rather defeat the purpose of me confessing my crime, don’t you think?’

  In the large ornate council chamber there was only one throne-like chair, which was presently unoccupied. The captain of the Valoureans stood before the throne, hands on hips, her face hidden behind her war mask, which depicted the face of an angry woman. Under normal circumstances the mask would have had Lucian’s full attention, but above the head of the masked woman was a ball of seething red energy within which Lucian could see tortured women screaming. It was extremely disturbing to watch and totally distracting.

  The two men were forced to kneel before the captain of the ship.

  ‘By request of the Queen of Phemoria, the honourable Qusay-Sabah Clarona, you must surrender your craft and return with us to Phemoria, Captain Gervaise.’

  ‘This sounds like an arrest,’ Lucian noted. ‘On what charges are we being held?’

  ‘Your crew are wanted for questioning in regard to the disappearance of two Valoureans—’

  ‘Who shot down my project’s marine biologist, Dr Portus, in cold blood…those Valoureans?’ Lucian said angrily, turning the charge around and their host appeared surprised by the news.

  ‘Agent Portus is dead?’

  ‘Shot in the back by her own people,’ Ringbalin said, emotion filling his voice. ‘Why? She loved her people, her queen—’

  ‘She loved you, did she not?’ the captain of the guard asked, cutting him short.

  ‘Not nearly as much as I loved her,’ he replied, allowing his tears to flow freely down his cheeks.

  The guards who had touched Ringbalin were sympathetic to his cause and sighed, still caught up in his pain.

  Lucian became dizzy, and was forced to close his eyes as he felt a huge wave of energy hit him. Before his equilibrium had even returned, he felt the illumination of something very powerful indeed. He opened his eyes to perceive three beings of light enter the room, passing straight through the wall to do so.

  Looks like we are just in time, said one of the lofty beings whose form rather reminded Lucian of Zeven. The being looked at the female guards all pining after Ringbalin. Still breaking hearts I see, Armaros.

  Lucian was doubly shocked to note that the spirit so addressed, Armaros, was very like Ringbalin.

  Well, for this incarnation it was infectious, Armaros replied with good humour.

  Let’s focus on getting her majesty severed from the influence of that cursed thought-form, shall we. The third being turned his attention to the masked warrior and the seething mass above her head became agitated.

  In the third being, Lucian saw himself, and recollected Ringbalin’s assertion about the sentient spirits he spoke with during his emotional blackout.

  The crown is the amulet that binds her to the entity. Any idea how we might get her to remove it, Lucian’s twin being posed to the others.

  I think I can come up with something. Armaros approached Ringbalin. I could do a walk-in.

  Lucian’s sentinel shook his head. Only as a last resort. We are not supposed to directly interfere.

  Alarm bells were going off in Lucian’s head. If these beings spoke the truth, then this was not the captain of the Phemorian guard they were addressing, but the Queen of Phemoria herself. Lucian couldn’t see the crown on her head to which the beings referred, concealed as it was by the mask.

  ‘You killed to avenge your lover,’ their masked hostess accused Ringbalin as she neared him.

  ‘No,’ he told her honestly. ‘It is not my nature to destroy, not for any reason.’

  ‘You are male,’ she retorted, ‘and therefore a born killer and a liar.’

  ‘I cannot lie,’ Ringbalin humbly replied in his defence, not wanting to contradict the warrioress directly. ‘It is a physical impossibility for me to lie to anyone who is touching me, for my feelings have resonance.’ He motioned to the guards who had brought him into the room, who all had tears in their eyes.

  All three beings of light appeared to be inspired by Ringbalin’s manner of responding. This could be promising, Armoros said, delighted with his charge. Yes, be honest, he encouraged.

  ‘Then you could still be lying, for I am not touching you,’ the masked woman pointed out.

  ‘Nor do you want to whilst questioning me about the death of Ayliscia Portus,’ Ringbalin advised, ‘as the pain I felt from that loss was enough to kill two Valoureans.’

  ‘So you admit it,’ the woman said, her contempt evident, while the seething mass above her churned in agitation.

  ‘I admit that seeing her head shot off before my eyes incensed me,’ he said, his tears welling anew. ‘Can you understand the pain of realising that the most precious thing in your life, someone you cared for more than yourself, someone you’d nurtured and loved beyond life, has been taken from you in a heartbeat in the cruellest way imaginable?’

  Lucian held his breath as the woman in the mask stared down upon Ringbalin’s tear-stained face. The mass above her head became alarmed and began hissing at her, displeased.

  He lies, the evil thought-form insisted. You know better than to trust a man.

  The masked warrioress crouched before the botanist and held out her hand. ‘Convince me.’

  No! screeched the thought-form in panic.


  ‘Majesty!’ Several guards made a move to prevent their queen making physical contact, but Qusay-Sabah Clarona held up a hand to prevent their advance. Her cover now blown, she removed her mask.

  ‘Your majesty,’ Ringbalin bowed, having never met royalty before. ‘I had no idea…’

  ‘Give me your hand,’ she ordered.

  ‘Let me, majesty,’ the blonde guard volunteered. ‘If his emotions have already slain two Valoureans then—’

  The queen gestured for silence. ‘Shall you be the man who finally slays the Queen of Phemoria?’ she asked Ringbalin, her hand still upturned and awaiting his contact.

  ‘Not I, majesty.’

  As Ringbalin placed his hand upon the queen’s, the seething entity above her began howling in pain. Lucian found the noise harrowing to the core.

  After only a moment, the queen was forced to close her eyes as Ringbalin’s feelings bombarded her. She choked in an attempt to prevent her tears welling, but she could not stop the rising flood of emotion.

  I know you see me.

  Lucian was distracted from the churning red force exploding with grief above the heart-warming scene to find his spirit self staring him in the face.

  Remove the crown from the queen’s head,if you wish to save the woman you love.

  Lucian was flabbergasted by the request. The guards would kill him without question for such a stunt.

  As long as she wears the curse of her foremothers she will be blinded to the truth and will do you no favours.

  Did this mean that she would favour his cause if he assaulted her? Lucian wondered.

  There is no point having psychic power if you do not use it! His spirit self became impatient. You’ve been dying to burst out of your comfort zone for months, and now is the time…take control, captain!

  Lucian was the closest person to the queen; he could accomplish the mission given him. He looked at the angry thought-form whose restless ghosts had stilled and were staring at him awaiting his move. Was the mass aware of the spirit beings instructing him, or was it detecting his intention to dethrone it?

  In that moment Lucian heard his own heart beating and his world seemed to slip into slow motion.