by Henry Vogel
Copyright © 2015 by Henry Vogel
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photographic, or otherwise, without the prior written consent of the publisher.
Published in the United States of America by Rampant Loon Press, an imprint of Rampant Loon Media LLC, P.O. Box 111, Lake Elmo, Minnesota 55042. “Rampant Loon Press” and the Rampant Loon colophon are trademarks of Rampant Loon Media LLC.
www.rampantloonmedia.com
Cover artwork: Aaron Bradford Starr
ISBN: 978-1-938834-45-5 (ebook)
ISBN: 978-1-938834-46-2 (print)
First publication: October 2015
CONTENTS
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Chapter Thirty-One
Chapter Thirty-Two
Chapter Thirty-Three
Chapter Thirty-Four
Chapter Thirty-Five
Chapter Thirty-Six
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Chapter Forty
Chapter Forty-One
Chapter Forty-Two
Chapter Forty-Three
Chapter Forty-Four
Chapter Forty-Five
Chapter Forty-Six
Chapter Forty-Seven
Chapter Forty-Eight
Chapter Forty-Nine
Chapter Fifty
Chapter Fifty-One
Chapter Fifty-Two
Chapter Fifty-Three
Chapter Fifty-Four
Chapter Fifty-Five
Chapter Fifty-Six
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Chapter Fifty-Eight
Chapter Fifty-Nine
Chapter Sixty
Chapter Sixty-One
Chapter Sixty-Two
Chapter Sixty-Three
Chapter Sixty-Four
Chapter Sixty-Five
Chapter Sixty-Six
Chapter Sixty-Seven
Chapter Sixty-Eight
Chapter Sixty-Nine
Chapter Seventy
Chapter Seventy-One
CHAPTER ONE
The nights in Morda had just started turning cool and fall was fast becoming my favorite season. Though the purple and gold leaves were glorious to behold, fall’s status rose because Callan and I had taken to reclining out on the balcony and gazing at the stars.
And by recline, I mean we lay in each other's arms. Absolutely nothing drives away the night’s chill like a beautiful woman sharing her warmth with you. Trust me on this.
“Have you figured out which star you came from, David?” Callan’s soft, warm breath tickled my neck.
“It’s slow going without the instruments I usually rely on. The astronomers at the Royal College get amazing results with their telescopes and, with their help, I’m narrowing it down.” I pointed to a cluster of stars right above us, far away from the bright planetary ring. “I’m pretty sure it’s one of those stars. The first thing a scout should do after exiting a wormhole is to take astronomical readings and determine exactly where he is. Of course, I was too busy dodging asteroids after popping out in the middle of the planetary ring to have time for that.”
“You were just in a hurry to get down to the ground and rescue me from the trogs.” Callan snuggled in even closer, though I would have sworn that was impossible. “And stop me from marrying Prince Rupor.”
Remembering my frantic efforts to stay alive within the planetary ring, I said, “Plus saving you from having Raoul as a brother-in-law. So sure, let’s go with that.”
“Our children, when we have them, will hear my version of the story. It’s much more romantic.” Callan gave a contented sigh. “When I was a little girl, I’d have been beside myself with excitement if someone told me a story like ours. I can’t wait to see the excitement shining in little eyes as they hear about their heroic father.”
“Well I can’t wait until they hear how their brave and brilliant mother concocted the plan to save the city of Faroon and defeat the trog army.” I pulled back and looked into Callan’s eyes. “You were going to include that part, weren’t you?”
“When it comes time to tell the story, perhaps we should tell it together. That way we can make sure the whole story gets told.”
“As always, your wish is my command, Your Highness!”
We were silent for a few seconds, gazing into the heavens and lost in our own thoughts. Then Callan pointed toward the planetary ring. “Look at that, David!”
I looked where she pointed. Strange lights flared and vanished within the ring. Then bright trails blazed through the upper atmosphere as tiny asteroids fell from the heavens and burned up in the atmosphere.
“I thought I’d seen every sight the ring has to offer, but I’ve never seen anything like those flashing lights before,” Callan said. “It’s beautiful! Do you have any idea what it is?”
A knot of excitement and apprehension formed in my gut. I knew exactly what we were seeing.
“It’s a spaceship blasting its way out of the ring!”
I whooped and pulled Callan into a kiss. “My emergency drone must have reached the wormhole and gotten through to the Federation Navy!”
Callan propped her chin on one hand. “What is an emergency drone?”
“I never told you about launching the drone?” When Callan shook her head, I continued, “A drone is an unmanned spaceship that carries a message. In my case, the drone carried the coordinates of the wormhole to this system as well as the initial sensor readings when I exited the wormhole. The drone launched from my scout ship, but my sensors couldn’t track it through all the asteroids. I hoped it flew into the wormhole safely, but had just about given up that hope.”
“Then the drone flew out the other side of the wormhole and waited for someone to find it?” Callan puzzled through the idea. “So it’s a lot like a message in a bottle?”
“That’s sort of right, if the bottle could set sail for the nearest port. When the drone got through the wormhole, it would have flown back to the nearest Scout base.”
“How does the drone know the way to the base if there’s no one flying it?”
“It’s complicated.” How could I explain astrogation and autopilots to Callan? “Let me think a bit about the best way to explain it to you.”
“Martin already understands, though.” Callan waved her hand toward the flashes in the ring. “Whoever is on that ship already understands. And just about everyone in your part of the galaxy understands.” Her next words were so soft I almost didn’t hear them. “But I don’t understand.”
“That’s not yo
ur fault, Callan. You just don’t have the background for it and I’m not sure I can do a good job explaining it.”
Callan laid her head on my chest and I felt a splash of warm liquid. Was that a tear?
Cupping her chin, I lifted Callan’s head so I could look into her eyes. A second tear spilled from her eye and rolled down her cheek.
“Hey, why are you crying?” What had I said to make her suddenly sad?
“When that spaceship lands, the whole galaxy will be open to you again. Why would you stay on my backward planet when you could go back to exploring the stars?”
“Callan, why would I leave you just to explore a bunch of stars? I’ll stay here because this is your planet! I’ll stay here because you are here!” I pulled her close and kissed her. “It’s going to take a lot more than a sleek spaceship to lure me away from the life we’ve made together! And even if I am lured away, I’ll miss you terribly and come home as soon as humanly possible.”
Callan gazed into my eyes for a second. I willed the truth of my words to reflect in them. With a sigh, she snuggled even closer to me. “You do realize you’re in serious hot water with me?”
I felt a jolt of alarm “You don’t believe what I just told you?”
“I believe it.” This time I could hear the smirk in her voice. “But if you think you’re leaving me behind when you fly off to the stars, you’ve got another think coming.”
“My deepest apologies, dearest. Of course I’ll take you with me. If nothing else, I’d love to introduce you to my parents.”
“And your little sister, Sandra?” Callan prompted. “From your stories about her, I’m certain she and I will become good friends.”
“Yeah, sure, I’ll introduce you to my little sister, too.” I kept my tone light, but I hadn’t seen my family in over two years. They must be worried about me and I missed them terribly.
“Now, shouldn’t you be rushing off to tell Martin about the spaceship?” Callan asked.
“Not yet. We can’t do anything until it breaks atmosphere, anyway.” I stood up, pulled Callan up beside me, and looked toward our bedroom. “So, a while back you said something about children?”
Callan laughed, soft and sultry. “Well, if you insist…”
Bright light flared above us as an explosion lit the ring and the flashes stopped. An asteroid must have hit the spaceship!
CHAPTER TWO
As the explosion faded away, a new red trail blazed to life in the upper atmosphere. I assumed it was wreckage or asteroid fragments and expected the trail to streak towards the ground. Instead, the angle of descent lessened and the red trail diminished as the object slowed. It was under intelligent control.
I jumped to my feet. “Some of the ship’s crew must have survived that explosion! They’re bound to have wounded among them — and there will probably be more when they hit the ground. We’ve got to gather a search and rescue team to find and help them.”
Callan and I watched the red trail moving across the sky. “It looks like it’s going to come down in the lands between Mordan and Tarteg. David, go alert Martin and Tristan and whoever else you want to have with us on this rescue mission. I’ll speak to Mom and Daddy and make arrangements for a naval escort.”
With a nod and a quick kiss for Callan, I ran off to find Milo. Milo didn’t have any skills we’d need on the team — though he’d more than earned the right to join us if he wanted to do so — but Milo has a knack for knowing where everyone is at any given moment. When I found him, I was not surprised to find several young ladies-in-waiting vying for his attention. Not bad for an orphan who’d grown up on the streets of Faroon.
I bowed politely to the girls. “Please pardon my interruption, ladies, but I must speak with Milo for a moment.”
The girls’ eyes widened. They knew Milo had saved my life more than once, but apparently they never expected me to come to him. I guess it is more common for royalty to summon people, but I was in a hurry and still wasn’t comfortable with the whole ‘royal’ thing.
Adopting a serious expression, Milo stood. “Of course, Prince Consort. Ladies, would you please excuse me?”
A chorus of yeses followed as Milo and I stepped just out of earshot. Once the girls could no longer see his face, Milo grinned broadly. “Thank you, David. You’ve given my reputation a bump upwards!”
“What are friends for?” I asked. “And mentioning friends, do you know where I can find Martin?”
“Sure. At this hour on a Thursday you’ll find him at the Drum and Fife on Waterford Street.”
“For a former raider, Martin is awfully predictable.” I shook my head in mock disapproval. “Is palace life making him soft?”
“Soft in the head, maybe. Or, more accurately, the heart,” Milo replied.
“Martin has a girlfriend?”
“He usually has three.” Milo grinned. “The pages are all in awe of his prowess with the fairer sex.”
“Usually? That’s not the case anymore?”
“Not since he met Megan, it isn’t. She’s very pretty.”
“Does she work at the Drum and Fife?” I asked.
“Sort of. Megan’s a very talented musician, too. She sings there every Thursday,” Milo said. “She’s at the Broken Barrel on Tuesdays, so that’s where Martin goes every Tuesday.”
“Well, I hope Martin will forgive me for pulling him away from his lady love.”
“What’s up, David?”
In a few short sentences, I brought Milo up-to-date on the crashing spaceship. “I hate to pull you away from your young ladies, too, but I need you to round up Tristan and Nist. Tristan should gather any medical supplies he thinks he’ll need and Nist should start preparing the Pauline for flight.”
Milo offered apologies to his female admirers as I struck out for the Drum and Fife. Two guards fell in behind me as I left the palace, something I was still getting used to. Waterford Street was but a few blocks away. The guards and I covered the distance in under ten minutes.
I opened the tavern door to find a sea of angry patrons blocking my way. Over their heads I saw the object of their rage. A defiant red-headed woman — Megan, I assumed — clasped a guitar to her chest and glared at the crowd. Sword drawn, Martin stood between the mob and the musician.
CHAPTER THREE
I wanted to call on some of that royal authority I didn’t like using to calm things down, but I couldn’t be heard over the crowd noise. I had to find a way to get to the stage and hope some of the crowd recognized me. I had no other hope for getting their attention. My guards were still nervously assessing the situation when I did the one thing I knew they didn’t want me to do. I plunged into the crowd and began worming my way toward the stage.
I had gone but a few yards when someone in the crowd threw a bottle at the stage. Martin swept the bottle aside with his sword, otherwise it would have smashed into the woman’s head. A crowd shouting and waving fists in the air could be calmed. A mob shoving and throwing bottles was a different matter.
Boost!
About to shove through the crowd, I suddenly remembered how, years ago, Martin had leapt over a line of Tartegian guards in the trading post cellar. I leapt into the air, hoping to fly over the crowd. It didn’t work so well. With people packed around me, I couldn’t jump as high as I needed, nor as far forward. Finding myself about to come down in the crowd, I tucked and pushed off from a couple of sturdy shoulders. I completed a flip and landed next to Martin.
Raising my arms, I yelled for quiet. The mob fell silent and I dropped Boost.
“What is the meaning of this?” I demanded. “How dare you attack this woman? You’re acting like a lawless gang of Beloran tunnel rats!”
A big man back in the crowd hollered, “Come down here and say that to my face, pretty boy! Ain’t no way you’d say that to us if you knew anything ‘bout tunnel rats.”
I guess they didn’t recognize me. “I know exactly what I’m saying, since I’ve been into the tunnels of Beloran and fa
ced the tunnel rats.”
The big man barked, “Ha! Only one Mordanian man has been into those tunnels and lived to tell about it!”
I looked at the man, my eyebrows raised in inquiry. “And?”
The crowd looked at me, blank expressions on their faces.
“Take your time,” Martin added helpfully. “It’ll come to you.”
My guards pushed their way to the front of the crowd, pained expressions directed my way. At sight of their green and gold uniforms, one man’s face cleared.
“That man is David Rice, the Prince Consort!”
Heads bobbed in agreement, even the big man who’d challenged me.
“Now that we’ve cleared that up, I’ll return to my question.” I glared out at the crowd. “What is the meaning of this demonstration?”
A voice from the crowd called, “She provoked us!” A chorus of voices added “Yeah!” and “Right!”
“One woman armed with nothing but a guitar provoked such a violent demonstration? How?” When no one answered, I looked to Martin. “Would you care to fill me in?”
“The crowd asked to hear new songs, ones they’d never heard before. She toured Tarteg before coming here, so Megan chose to sing some songs currently popular there,” he said. “She led off with Rupor’s Lament.”
“Never heard of it.”
“I’m not surprised, David. It’s about Callan and Rupor and is strongly slanted to the Tartegian point of view. The song questions the prince consort’s motives, his honor, and his off-world origins.” Megan snorted at this, causing Martin to give me a half smile. “But the real trouble started when the song called Princess Callan a rather rude name. It...ah...rhymes with rich.”
Even this cautious approach to the word brought mutters from the crowd. Megan chose to make it worse by saying, “From everything I’ve been told, the song doesn’t go far enough!”
I stepped between Megan and the crowd just in case another bottle was thrown. “Martin, can you please shut her up? We’ve got vastly more important matters to deal with than Megan’s thoughtless song choices!”
“No one shuts me-”
Martin clamped his left hand over Megan’s mouth, wrapped his right arm around her waist, then picked her up. “What’s going on?”