“What actions? Did you do something of which I am unaware? I seem to recall you were always where I ordered and though as scared as the rest of us, you never ran from your post and fought well.” I took her and looking at her, continued, “You did well and are becoming a valuable asset to our Company. I’m glad I allowed you to join and am proud of you!” Then, as she blushed and tried to turn away, I kissed her. Yes, an extra few days on the road, hopefully a clean bed in an inn would be a pleasant way to relax on the road.
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END
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THE RETURN OF LYSSANDRA
INTRODUCTION
Haven was a mix of cultures. Unlike Drakonis where everyone was required to conform to local language and customs, or America where people isolated themselves into urban enclaves that reflected their nation of origin, here, people mixed freely and the Haven culture and language was a mixture of whomever arrived and asked to stay plus the occasional Adventurer looking for a job or a safe place to spend their loot with a few tourists who wanted to get away from the rat race for awhile. Thus Haven consisted of Amazons who wanted a life with men or just a better selection that they got in Russia, Aliens who wanted to visit Earth and avoid the government vivisection labs, Adventurers who had given up the sword or needed a vacation, refugees from war-torn or dictatorial regimes and whatever else existed across the various parallel dimensions that most people did not know existed. Today there were maybe a few hundred people in town and half again that many on the tenant farms. All human races and even a few aliens like the Minotaur, Kaz, who came here looking for a place to get away from the constant fighting for position of his native people mixed freely, or else! But there were also a half dozen heads on pikes now. All had been former trouble-makers who thought that Haven was ripe for picking. Jason’s justice may not be liked but no one who was piked caused any more trouble. And with people like Magda who were very psychic on his payroll, no crime went long without an arrest and confession and even less time for sentencing and execution. Lawyers were unknown on Haven and Jason liked it that way. He liked to refer to himself as an ‘evil overlord’ but so long as you lived in peace with your neighbors, avoided harming the environment and did nothing to threaten his family, Jason gave people the freedom to do anything they wished and the freedom to live any way they wanted, freedom that no longer existed on any Earthly nation, if it ever did. Here, Jason had only one rule, “Harm None!” And that meant physical harm, not some imagined harm to god or church or society. Although straight himself, and somewhat homophobic because of his youth as a galley slave, Jason didn’t care if you were gay and wanted to marry a half dozen of your closest boy-friends, he would only ask “Are you all consenting and adults?” if the answer was yes, you could marry and live in peace. And the one Priest who ranted about ‘Sodom and Gomorrah’ when the marriage was performed soon found himself tied to a pole, flogged until his back was a bloody mess, and then tossed off Haven with any followers who felt their Priest had been given a raw deal. The message was clear. Jason may be a dictator, but he was a benevolent dictator and the people who moved here liked the freedom and got along with each other… or else.
Life there was simple and required long hours and hard work for little pay but although everyone was poor by most modern countries standards, no one went hungry or homeless. Everyone was fed, housed, healthy and employed. Jason made certain of that believing that poverty bred crime and no poverty meant no crime. And almost no one wore weapons. There were no laws about this and new immigrants often carried anything they wished and owned from a knife to a bazooka but they soon learned that the place was safe and even in the poorest area, a woman could walk naked down an alley at midnight carrying a handful of cash and be safe. The last woman who reported a rape found herself brought before Jason an hour after the attack to face her attacker. The man confessed, under duress the people said, but his guilt was proven and he was castrated in public then tied to a shark pole while his property was given to his victim and the attacker’s family exiled from Haven for neglect. Here, Jason felt that a family was as responsible as was the criminal. That was years ago and the story got better with each re-telling. Jason believed that killing one person and bragging about it, making it sound worse than it was, made his reputation the stronger than if he murdered a million in secret. So life here was good and far more people asked to immigrate than he accepted. The fact that few chose to leave proved that he was right.
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CONSPIRACY
Magda was a gypsy, probably. People on Haven did what Cassie referred to as ‘cos-play’ where people with more imagination than life dressed in costumes and pretended to be their favorite hero at the SF/Fantasy conventions. Diane and Jason had met her years ago and she owed them a favor so when she arrived on Haven begging asylum, Jason had given her a house and protected her from the men who came looking for her. She probably did cheat them like they claimed but Jason had a choice, kill them and wait for their relatives to arrive seeking revenge or send them away and wait for their return with reinforcements or… He had bought the men off. They left happy, his home was safe and it only cost him a few silver coins that he wouldn’t miss considering that his storeroom was build of gold bullion from Ophir, plastered and painted to hide their true material. He did, however, tell Magda that while on Haven, she had to be honest or else. Since Jason had a habit of sticking the heads of his enemies on pikes on the beach or tying those who angered him to a pole in the surf for the sharks, she readily agreed and even meant it, probably. It was his island and he ruled with an iron fist. Anyone who disliked his rules or ways was free to leave and Jason would gladly buy them out and pay for their passage back to their original home. But here, Haven, was exactly what the name implied. A place for him and his family to live in safety and peace and he ensured that safety by killing anyone he saw as a threat. Psychotically killing them, that is. Cassie knew that her father was nuttier than a fruit-cake but she benefited so why worry.
***
Cassie wore shorts and shirt with a big floppy hat and lots of sun-screen, her sister, Donna, wore a loose dress and sandals because the humidity made a cool breeze up her skirt feel nice. The rest of the locals wore almost whatever they wanted. With no dress-code at all, you could see everything from total nudity to a formal outfit worn by someone 500 years ago and people took advantage to dress-up or undress in fashions their original homes would have outlawed as indecent. Jason just stared or laughed as the mood took him. Since Magda made her living selling fortunes and spells, she dressed like what people wanted a gypsy to look like. Once the two girls entered her office, they sat and waited. All businesses on Haven were essentially the same, you either had a stall in the market and a hut on a nearby family-farm or you worked out of your home, there simply was no large industry on the island. Magda’s shop, like most, was on the ground floor facing the street then behind or above, the living spaces. She couldn’t afford a two-story home so lived in the back room with a garden in the back. Almost everyone had a garden in the back yard so manure-collectors strolled the streets collecting & selling .. shit to the townies. Horses dropped a fair share in the streets and Jason wanted it removed asap.
Magda made her grand entrance then when she saw who it was, relaxed and removed her scarf and hoop earrings. “Tea, my dears?” With no real customers she could relax.
Cassie jumped in as the tea was poured. “Magda, we are here on a mission. And you get paid this time but confidentiality is vital.” Silver coins were placed before her. “Dad is a pain right now. Ever since those Orange’s abducted us, he’s been underfoot and driving us crazy so we need to get rid of him for a few weeks. Nothing really dangerous, just a casual adventure that he can’t turn down and will relax him and let us have some time to ourselves.”
“Father needs to learn that
we are safe if he leaves us alone.” Donna, the eldest added as she began to sip her tea. “He is so scared that we will die like Kore did that he never leaves us alone. We can’t breathe.” Jason had given up Adventuring when he started to have children. After loosing Kore and his first two in Ireland, thanks to the British police who believed that killing his family would be a good warning (they were wrong), he chose to settle down with a nine-to-five job he hated until the kids were grown. Then when he returned to the Glory Road, aliens had abducted his kids and he had hired interstellar mercs to rescue them. Hence, Haven! A, hopefully, safe place.
Cass jumped in, “Our father needs to return to his former life. Not forever, just to go away occasionally, do what he does best, adventure, then return with big presents and stories to tell. We are not like Diane and Fiona. We don’t adventure with him but we want him to be the man he once was. So we are happy to be his daughters, to send him off with a kiss and lunch, then run the place, wait and worry until he returns home.”
Donna added, “I was thinking of an old friend dropping by with a job he cannot refuse. Nothing too dangerous from our viewpoint but interesting and exciting and something that proves that we will be safe alone occasionally. Men need a life outside their homes and we need time away from our father.”
Magda looked at the money then at the women, both adults, one barely so. They weren’t friends, more like business associates who respected each other’s abilities and trusted each other’s integrity, so long as none of them pushed too far. The money was good and even if Jason found out, he’d not be angry, unless the girls were hurt while he was away. Then she’d wish Hell had broken free. “How do you plan to ensure your own safety while he is gone? In his eyes, that is.”
“I’m sending a message to Slezdi and Svezdi to visit with some friends. We can finally meet our Amazon sister, play with Slezdi’s kids and she can relax and the Amazons she brings with her are the best possible bodyguards.”
“Then I will do what I can. I cannot promise what will happen other than what you have asked. But what people get from me is rarely what they want.”
“That, Magda, is all we can ask. And if it works out well, a nice big bonus for you.” Donna added another silver coin. They then finished their tea said their goodbyes and left.
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LYSSANDRA
The next couple days were a mixture of emotions for the girls. Haven wasn’t their home, America was. To them, Haven was like Ireland, a vacation. Still, they were mildly concerned with the absence of their father who had gone exploring up the nearby river, alone. They weren’t much afraid of him being killed, he was probably the best in the universe at staying alive. But he was clumsy at times and did stupid things. Like he was terrified at heights and yet insisted on climbing cliffs without ropes to prove that he could overcome his fears. He could swim and never wore a life-jacket on his boats no matter what the weather despite his insistence that his daughters do exactly what he refused to do. For them, life was easy, the air smelled of salt, the water was pure even in the river that flowed through town and no one had locks on their doors. Life here was safe, and dull. Too dull for Cassie who liked night-clubbing though Donna could be happy anywhere with a good book. They were also relieved that they could go swimming without him worrying that they’d drown, climb the extinct volcano without him fearing they’d fall. The two girls even stayed up late, shared a bottle of wine and did girl things that they’d normally have to avoid or hide because of their father always hanging around.
***
The third day a runner arrived from town. Why they used runners the girls never understood for the town was less than a half-mile away across the river. You could see the thing from the house. All she had to do was ring the bell and the townspeople would hear and come running. But Jason liked runners and until he was willing to put in something better like radios or telephones or the internet, this is what they lived with.
The man knelt and bowed to the two, failure to show proper respect to Jason’s daughters was dangerous, and when they insisted that he rise for neither had been royalty back in America despite their father’s Irish Titles and this made them uncomfortable, he said, “Ladies, there is a woman in town seeking for His Grace. She is an older woman from through the Stargate but still handsome and refuses to tell her business other than it is important and personal and concerns Jason Obrien. She also dresses as a man, carries a sword and looks like she can use it.”
The two looked at each other then asked where she was. Then they whispered among themselves, “I really hope that this isn’t that danger father fears but the adventure we are paying for. Let’s go there where we will be surrounded by friends.” Then looking up Cassie told him, “Go find Diane and tell her the same message and ask her to meet us for we need her advice. Then tell that woman that we will meet with her to discuss the matter. We will be over shortly.” The runner left and making certain that they both looked decent, they walked to the bridge and into town, taking their time. They discussed the identity of this woman but Jason had known so many in his 200 years of life that it could be anyone he knew or didn’t know. Realizing that your father was centuries old and had a life that no one in the US could dream about was something they were still getting used to. For all they knew, it may even be a messenger from another Amazon tribe seeking a place to live and Amazons were infamous for not caring if the men they chose to father their children were married or not which caused troubles at times.
They met Diane in the street and spent a few minutes trying to decide what was happening. Diane was armed and had a couple men with bows ready just in case. Then they went inside and found the tavern-keep who pointed out the stranger at a table sitting alone. It wasn’t difficult to locate her even without the aid for strangers here were not common enough to hide. The woman was easily in her forties, attractive with those high cheekbones that Jason liked. Her body was athletic but smaller in the chest than he preferred though she wore the blouse and vest common with women from the older centuries of Europe. And her hair was brown with some gray. She looked around constantly as if she expected trouble so Diane had her men move to convenient positions, positions the strange woman noted as she loosened her sword.
Diane then led her friends to the table and said, “I understand you are looking for Jason Obrien. Why?”
She replied in Latin, “I don’t understand you. I speak Latin, Slavic, Serbian, Arabic and Turkish. Can you speak any of these?” She looked the women over carefully then put her sword away and placed her hands on the table top and began to shake.
Diane and the others sat and Diane explained to her friends, “I think she is one of Jason’s former lovers. She has that look about her. See how she stares at us like she’s a wife about to learn her husband has another life?” Then to the woman in Arabic, “I am Diane, this is Cassie and Donna. We are… close to Jason. Now who are you!”
The woman looked into her drink then whispered, “My name is Lyssandra Kosovonova. I was .. also close to Jason in Kosovo. We had a falling out and I’ve been looking for him since.”
“You aren’t that old. Lyssandra left Jason more than a hundred years ago his time. And that was the 15th century over 500 years ago.”
She snapped up and said, “A hundred years? He can live that long? How old must he be now? For me it has been less than a year.” She sighed again, then continued, “Did he tell you about Felix? Yes, he would. He complains a lot about his past women. I’ve been hunting Felix and finally found him after he killed the rest of our Company. I need Jason to help me kill him. To stop him before…” She looked at the three again. “Yes, you are his type, blonde hair, large breasts. How long have you been with him? And these other two?’
Diane spoke to the girls in English to keep the conversation private. “This is Lyssandra, the whore from Kosovo that your father married. But I think Jason got the story wrong. Maybe
Jason was bitter and you know how he sees things his way but look at her. She doesn’t look like a woman who hates him and wants him dead. She looks like she really cares and just got a lot of bad news suddenly.”
Diane motioned for the Keep to bring more drink then, ignoring the question, she asked, “I’ve heard Jason’s side of the story almost ten years ago but he had almost a century to run things through his head and turn them his way. Tell us your side, but slowly so I can translate it for his daughter’s.”
She finished her drink then took another and started. “I first saw Jason in Kosovo. My coven had been captured by the catholics who were taking us back to Arabel to be burned. Jason saved us. When we learned he was asking around for us, I was told to watch him. Why me? Because when I was being beaten to death by a soldier, he saved me and nursed me back to health. I wasn’t what you would call a good woman back then. Maybe I’m still not one. But I tried to rob him and when he caught me instead of killing me, he laughed and told me that if I was going to knife a man, I should learn how to hold a knife. He took the knife away from me and showed me how to hold it and then he threw me out without punishment.
“I thought about that then returned and offered to pay him to teach me how to defend myself. He didn’t want money or sex but let me work for him as I learned. I guess I fell in love with him then because I gave up my… profession and tried to find an honest job but couldn’t. When he learned I was living in an alley because I couldn’t pay rent, he let me stay in his room and got my belongings back then a job and a room of my own. But I never left and we became… lovers and more than lovers. We were married by the laws of my Coven.”
She opened her locket and showed them the miniature paintings of the two of them and continued. “I tried, I really tried to love him but I didn’t know how. No man had ever been good to me. They took from me then cast me out so I kept waiting for Jason to do the same. And he never did. He loved me and was faithful to me and I fought by his side and… I cheated on him. I don’t know why. Part of it was that I like women and needed a woman’s soft touch sometimes. Part of it was that somehow I was afraid that he’d hurt me emotionally and if I did it first, it wouldn’t hurt me so bad. I knew it was wrong. But I couldn’t stop. I was so afraid. Then we were sent to find Merrick. He was a rebel Serbian general who was trying to take over the country. Jason and Felix were the two captains sent to stop him and we did but we lost a lot of good men and women. Then Felix turned traitor. In the night he freed Merrick and together they captured us. They nailed Jason and his men to a wall so they’d have to watch. Me, and the other women they tied to stakes and they raped us to death. Jason had to watch dozens of men rape me over and over.”
Lyssandra & The Return of Lyssandra Page 8