by V. M. Sang
Once out in the countryside, Torren suggested a race. The two young men galloped across the hillside neck and neck, until eventually they reached the point designated as the winning post—a large dead oak tree. The prince just won by a neck and laughingly dismounted to walk his sweating horse in circles to cool her down. Pettic followed suit and the old camaraderie Pettic and the real Torren had felt almost returned.
Was this truly the usurper? Could Prince Torren have somehow escaped and returned? Pettic frowned, but then he remembered. The king had given Torren a dressing down about his behaviour so he was probably trying to be more like the real prince.
After walking their horses to cool them down, they set off back to the city at a walk. On the way, Torren began to ask Pettic about the business he had been on in the week he was away. So like was this Torren to the original in looks, and now he was behaving more like a normal human being that Pettic almost told him of his excursion to the world of Terra and only just stopped himself.
He thought quickly and told his companion that he had been looking at a bull he was thinking of buying to improve the stock at his castle. They rode along discussing the merits of various animals.
This was not something Torren had ever discussed with him. The Prince had no experience of raising stock and could not talk about it. This young man in Torren's likeness had obviously been on a farm for quite some part of his life. Pettic actually enjoyed the ride back to the city, to his surprise.
When they returned to their apartments Torren told Pettic that he would expect him at dinner with the rest of the family that evening. Pettic, he said, had been a part of the family for many years and had always eaten with them, and he expected no difference now. Pettic smiled and said he would be there.
That evening, when they had finished eating, the king summoned Pettic to his private office. There he sat down behind his desk and began to speak severely.
'I had a complaint about your conduct just before you went away,' said the king. 'It was to your rooms that two innocent young ladies came for a game of cards with you and Prince Torren. I understand that you suggested a game of strip poker. I also understand that the young ladies objected, but you insisted, even threatening them if they did not comply, saying you would use your influence with the Crown Prince to somehow make their lives a misery.'
Pettic opened his mouth to speak and say it was Torren who made the suggestion and the threats, but decided it would avail him nothing. The king continued.
'Then, as I understand it, half naked, the young ladies fled the apartment leaving you and Torren almost fully clothed. They had never played poker before and the pair of you were, if not experts, then certainly not novices. Yes, I know about your trips to the guardhouse when you were younger.'
The king stood and began to pace the room.
'This behaviour is not to be tolerated. Yes, Torren could have stopped this, but he didn't. He went along, and he has been duly punished, but as the ringleader you must bear the greater share of the blame, and therefore the punishment. I'm surprised at you, Pettic. I would not have put you down as a young man to take advantage of young girls. I'm banishing you to your castle until further notice.
That is the worst misdemeanour, but there is another thing. Your dog. That wolfhound attacked my son. According to Torren he has been growling at him for some time now. Torren says he can't understand it because the animal knows him well and usually greets him almost as enthusiastically as he greets you. He has obviously become a dangerous animal. It sometimes happens. I order him to be put down.'
King Horraic sat down.
'Do you have anything to say for yourself?' he asked.
Pettic looked at the king wide-eyed. He could not say anything against the prince. The king would not believe him, and as for Cledo, well, it was true that the wolfhound had been growling at Torren and had attacked him. What was more, his dog was innocent, but there was nothing he could say to prove it. The order of the king was more potent than the threat made by Torric. Pettic had no doubt he would carry out his orders as soon as possible.
'When am I to go, your majesty,' Pettic asked in a quiet voice.
'Pack up your things tonight and leave first thing tomorrow. I will sort out the destruction of your dog. Now leave us.'
Pettic left the king's office and turned towards his rooms. He had until the next morning and he had to see Lucenra. Her rooms were on the next corridor to his. He knocked on her door. After a few minutes one of her ladies opened it.
'Oh, Earl Pettic,' she exclaimed. 'I'll go and tell her Highness you're here. Please wait in the antechamber.'
The apartment was bigger than Pettic's, as befitted a princess. She had an antechamber for guests to wait in until she could see them, and also a dining room as well as a drawing room. Her maid had a room to herself and the garderobe was in Lucenra's rooms too so she did not have to leave to relieve herself, unlike Pettic who used the one at the end of the corridor.
After a few minutes Lucenra appeared.
'Come into my drawing room, Pettic. We need to discuss what to do next.'
'I'm afraid there's a problem, Lucenra,' said Pettic. 'I've been banished until further notice. Tomorrow morning I'm to go to my castle.'
Lucenra looked at Pettic incredulously. 'Why?' she said. 'You've done nothing to warrant that.'
'It seems Torren put the blame on me for the incident with the two girls. He said it was all my idea. Then he told the king that Cledo had attacked him, and the king has ordered him to be put down.'
'That's terrible, Pettic. Didn't you tell my father the truth?'
'How could I? Your father obviously believed Torren's story. He would have thought that I was making it up to save myself. That would have only made it worse.'
Lucenra stood up and walked to the window. It was quite dark now and the lights from the palace glistened on the snow where it had not been trampled into mud by the people going about their business. She pulled the curtains together and turned.
'What are we going to do about getting the next artefact?'
'I don't know, ' replied Pettic. 'I can't come back here to go through the stones without risking arrest. Can you find someone else you trust to take on the quest?'
'Not really. I don't think we should tell anyone else. The fewer people who know about this the better. More people in the know will increase the risk of Torren finding out what we're up to.'
'Then I'll have to come back then. If I get here after dark and go straight to the stones it should be safe enough. No one goes there at night.'
'What about Cledo?'
'I'll take him with me. If your father looks for him and can't find him he'll suspect I've taken him, but it'll be too late. I can't let him kill Cledo. He's innocent of any wrongdoing.'
They agreed Pettic would return under cover of darkness at the next full moon. and go straight to the standing stones to pass into, hopefully, another world.
Aeris
Chapter 10
Pettic's parents were pleased to see him when he returned to them. He helped them as much as he could while he was there. He was pleased to see that his father's letter had been accurate and his mother was not worried at all about having charge of a number of servants. In all truth, the housekeeper helped her more than a little until she got used to issuing orders for things she used to do herself.
The farming side of running the estate was also going well under his father, who was delighted to have so many hands to help. Having farmed himself, his father was much more knowledgeable than the previous earl and they appreciated being able to talk about what they were doing with him.
Pettic's brother, Derkil, however, pestered him endlessly about when he could go to court. The sixteen year old thought even living in the luxury of Pettic's castle was nothing compared to the luxury of the court.
Pettic became weary of it when the time came for him to leave. He told his brother he would send for him as soon as he could, but that he was not returning t
o the palace just yet. He had an errand to perform for the Princess Lucenra. No, he did not know just how long it would take. It may be days, but it equally may be many months. He refrained from saying that it could even be years.
Pettic considered leaving Cledo behind at his castle, but in the end he decided to take the dog. The king may have been looking for the animal and he would quickly have come to the conclusion that Pettic had spirited him away to the castle. Also, the dog was company. He had been lucky in the realm of Terra inasmuch as he had found a companion and friend, but who knew if that would happen again.
Pettic left his family and made his way to the capital city. He travelled at night whenever possible so as to not be seen and recognised. He also took by-roads whenever possible and arrived at the standing stones on the night of the full moon, as planned.
As he approached the stones and entered into the circle. A figure stepped out from next to one of them. Cledo bounded over to it and gave an enthusiastic greeting and Pettic realized it was Lucenra.
'What are you doing here?' he exclaimed.
'I can't let you go off to realms unknown without saying goodbye to you. Who knows how long it will be before you return? And I've missed seeing you around the palace.'
I've missed seeing you, too, Lucenra. I'm glad you came here to see me off, just like last time. I only hope the time is similar, or not much longer than the visit to Terra.'
He glanced at the stones and saw the moon rising towards them.
'It looks as though it's nearly time. I must go.'
The princess, as she did before, stood on tiptoe and kissed him on the cheek.
'Good luck,' she whispered, and stepped back to watch as Pettic and Cledo stepped through the arch and into the rays of the full moon.
'See you whenever,' he said as he stepped into the mist that once more swirled around him.
He emerged into a bright light and found himself walking through an arch into a beautiful garden. Pettic looked up and saw what appeared to be a glass dome above him through which the sun shone in an impossibly blue sky. He frowned, wondering why the dome was there.
He saw a man with a long black cloak hurrying towards him and stopped to wait until he arrived. As the man got nearer, Pettic saw, to his surprise, that the person approaching was not wearing anything other than the cloak.
'Who are you?' demanded the man when he got near enough. 'How have you managed to get into the Royal Gardens?' Which city are you from? You aren't from here or I'd know you.'
Pettic wrinkled his brow not knowing how to answer these questions.
'You'd better come with me. We can't have just anyone entering here. And we need to find out how you got in.'
Pettic thought he'd better answer the man's questions as best he could.
'I'm from another dimension,' he said. 'I walked between some standing stones at full moon and it brought me here to this garden.'
The man snorted. 'A likely story. Come with me and we'll see what the boss has to say.'
Pettic followed the man to a large ornate building at the far end of a long lawn. He took Pettic round the side and entered a door. This led into a room with a long table down the centre with papers scattered over it. A large man sat at the far end reading some of the papers.
Pettic and his captor stood waiting for several minutes until the large man cast his small eyes over the pair.
'What have you brought me now?' he snapped.
'Found him in the garden, sir. Just walked through the archway into the rose garden.'
'Well, why haven't you taken him straight to the prison? He's obviously one of the groundlings, although how he got up here I'd like to know.'
The man stood up and walked round the table. Pettic noticed that he too wore a long cloak and nothing else, but his cloak was a bronze colour.
'Well, how did you get here?' demanded the man, who was obviously in charge.
'I'm from another dimension. I stepped into an arch in some standing stones when the full moon was shining through and found myself here.'
The large man snorted as he walked round Pettic.
'A likely story. Another dimension indeed. Everyone knows it's not possible to travel to other dimensions.' He reached out his hand and grabbed Pettic's arm. As he did so there was a growl from Cledo and he pulled it back quickly, but not before Pettic had noticed that what he had thought of as a cloak was attached at hand and ankle and seemed to be some kind of membrane.
'Raise your arms,' the man demanded.
Pettic lifted his arms to the sides.
'See, sir,' said his captor. 'No membrane. He must be a groundling. And he's wearing clothes. Only the groundlings wear clothes.'
The other man looked sharply at the man in black.
'Sir,' he added as an afterthought.
'So it would seem. What's this creature next to him that seems so fierce?'
'It's called a 'dog',' Pettic replied.
'What's it for?'
'He's a companion, a guard and a friend. He also helps me when I'm hunting.'
'Take him away. He can do for the next time Her Majesty wants to be entertained.'
Pettic found himself being led away towards another building. Here the guard thrust him into a small room with bars at the door and window.
He sat down on a bench that ran along one side of the cell, for cell it was. Stroking Cledo, he sighed.
'A nice pickle we're in, boy. I wonder what the entertainment for Her Majesty might be? Since it seems to involve prisoners I doubt it's anything good for us.'
Cledo whined in answer and settled down at Pettic's feet.
Hours passed. No one came near. Pettic talked to his dog, glad for the company.
'Somehow we need to get out of here. We need to find the gem in this place. I surmise that it's somewhere near here, but my earring isn't indicating it's close.'
He stood and walked to the door of the cell, then back to the seat. Cledo pricked up his ears, listening to his master.
'On Terra and Ignis we arrived somewhere I could get to the gem, so I think the same would apply here.'
He continued to think. He decided they must have arrived on Aeris. It couldn't be Aqua as there was little or no sign of water. The membranes that seemed to grow from the arms of the residents implied they could, if not fly, at least they could glide.
Several days went by. They fed Pettic, and after a few questions about what Cledo would eat, they gave the dog food as well.
'They don't mean us to die of starvation, Cledo,' Pettic told his companion. 'At least they're giving us adequate food and drink. It's not bad for prison food either.'
The guards changed daily. One did the day shift and another the night. Pettic noticed the night guard slept much of his watch, only waking periodically to check on Pettic.
The day guard seemed a little more talkative than the other, and Pettic asked him what was going to happen to him.
'Well,' mused the guard, who said his name was Gramno, 'I expect they'll take you to the court and try you. Depending on what happens, there are several outcomes.
'You could be cast from the city, and as you've no means of gliding, you'd fall to the ground and be killed.'
'What do you mean, “Fall to the ground?” '
'It's a long drop. We could fly higher if they want to make sure you die, or they could fly lower if they just want you to be crippled.'
Pettic's mind was whirling. He was beginning to understand what was going on here.
'Are you telling me this city can move up and down through the air?'
The guard looked startled. 'Well yes, of course. And travel around too. Where've you been that you don't know that? Every little schoolkid, and even those younger than that know the cities fly.'
Pettic sighed. 'I've told you. I'm not from Aeris. I come from another dimension. My world is called Fusionem and is, like, an amalgamation of the other four dimensions, Terra, Ignis, Aeris and Aqua. That's why I don't know anything about your world.
'
Gramno laughed, 'A fertile imagination, you have. I like you, in spite of you being a groundling.'
'Please explain what a groundling is. People keep on saying that I'm one, and it seems to be something bad, but no one has said exactly what one is.'
'You're still keeping it up then, that you're from this Fusionem place? OK, then, I'll humour you.' He dragged his chair closer to the bars and sat on it
'A groundling is a person born without the membrane. They're not allowed to live in the cities but are banished to the ground below. Here they grow our food and make whatever goods we in the cities need.'
'Why are they banished?'
'How should I know? They're deemed unworthy to live here, or even to enter the cities. They creep on the ground below and serve we who live in the cities. That's all I can tell you.'
Pettic had a thousand and one questions he wanted to ask, but Gramno turned away.
Several days passed before Pettic heard anything and then Gramno took him to a large room where a guard thrust him unceremoniously into a cage at one side of the room. Seats filled back of the room and these were filling with people.
All had the same membranes as the people he had already seen, but there were different colours. There were no black ones in the crowd but there were red, grey, white, and a few silver, gold and copper as well as a scattering of bronze. Everyone seemed to have hair the same colour as their membranes. The silver and gold occupied the seats at the front and the copper and bronze behind. The others were at the back.
A door at the side opposite the cage opened and three people entered, two men and a woman. Each had silver membranes and silvery hair. They took their seats at a table on a platform. Another person entered and sat at a desk just below the platform. She lifted a gavel and thumped it on the desk.
'All rise for Her Highness, the Princess Eloraine,' she said, fitting her actions to her words.
Everyone in the court, for Pettic deduced that he was here for his trial, rose and looked towards the door. It opened and the princess entered, flanked by four black-membraned guards.