by Pam Uphoff
"Excellent! Damn, I'm sorry you're leaving tonight. But keep practicing that, you've broken your block. And hit the books . . . and we'll see if we can find a good instructor down there . . . "
Tease cleared her throat. "If not, we'll come down periodically to test your progress."
The wink as she turned and walked away was definitely promising.
"This has been a really interesting week." Deim held up a wire and it tied itself into flower-shaped knot.
Imde nodded. "I can't wait to hit the beach and see what I can do on purpose . . . pity classes start the day after tomorrow, it'll be a few days." He walked back to where Isakson was finishing beating up the head of the Black Horse Guards.
I hope I'm not going to get beat up one last time before I head home.
But he wasn't the old man's next target.
***
"He's smiling. Oh God." Rael obeyed the crook of his finger and stepped out to bow to Isakson. Who bowed back and proceeded to try to maim and cripple her for life. She was pretty sure he wasn't trying to kill her. She stuck to blocking with forearms and attacking with kicks and left hand long enough to convince him that her right shoulder and wrist were so sore . . . A fast right to his jaw.
Down he went. She leaped back over the low leg sweep, jumped in for carefully controlled kicks to his head and neck that had the spectators wincing.
Isakson had made it clear that once one was past a certain point in training, nothing was off the board. Just like in a real fight.
She stepped back. In a real fight he'd be dead. Now he rolled to his feet—slower than usual—and bowed to her. She bowed back and retreated.
He shook his head, winced. "You . . . " wince.
:: Spar with Qayg. She needs someone to push her speed. ::
Everyone watched in silent awe, as Isakson headed for the medic station.
A kill win!
It was the first time it had happened to Isakson in Isakson's seven years of instruction here.
Qayg was smiling wryly. "I may not get my flying lesson today, but that was worth the drive down here."
Rael giggled, heard the nervous note in her voice and cleared her throat. "I suckered him into thinking my shoulder and wrist hurt. I'm going to be in trouble as soon as he's back."
"Oh yes. That I am sure of." Qayg stepped out and bowed to her.
***
After several more sessions aimed at forcing her opponents to exceed what they'd thought was their fastest, Rael handed the mat off to Captain Okbe.
"C'mon Qayg, I'll give you some pointers before Isakson gets back. Assuming he hasn't beaten us out there."
As usual, they had spectators.
"I suspect that at least half the guards have given it a try." Rael raised her voice. "Any of you guys have any luck? No? Drat."
"All right. Let me go through this step-by-step. I will skip a couple of the 'discover by hitting the ground' steps that Isakson seems to think are required. So, we've kept the platform to a meter high, so as to not break your neck if you fall off. I regret to say that some hitting of the ground will happen no matter what."
Rael climbed up and demonstrated proper shaping, size, anchoring to ankles . . . the need to stutter a push spell . . . The potential of a pull spell. "And I have a suspicion that the ancient Warriors never just took off from flat ground on windless days."
A growl.
Rael looked over her shoulder. Isakson had stalked—silently—up behind them.
Deep breath. "So let me demonstrate a basic exercise. Form wings. Get ready with the push. Lean into the wind and as you tip, you will feel the lift. Combine it with a good strong push."
She raised her voice, "The focus of the push will be further behind you as you move faster. A fast series of pushes will keep you going . . . and to stop . . . slow the cadence of the push and start moving it closer under you as you drop and . . . "
Rael got her feet down, released the wings, the push, stumbled forward and hit the ground.
Just with her hands, this time.
"I still need a little work with that." She glanced at Isakson. Not all wrapped up . . .
Growl. :: Broken. Jaw and a tooth. He wants me to see a specialist. Bah. ::
"So. Qayg . . . hop up there and let's see your wings."
"You just want to watch me cut myself up playing with shields like that." Qayg climbed up to the low platform and spread her arms.
Shielded. Extended the shields down from her arms . . .
"Don't make them too thin, this isn't a slice. Extend them outward as well. About two meters."
At which point a wind gust blew her back, off the platform . . .
"Hmm, now that total body shield was pretty handy. C'mon back up and this time lean into the wind . . . "
After a single additional pratfall, Qayg managed a short flight and almost graceful landing.
Rael looked over at the watchers. "So. Who's next? I'll try to do five people a day."
Only one broken wrist. She didn't bother counting the scrapes.
Major Eppa had joined Isakson, leaning against the barn wall. He walked out now. Projected his voice. "Minimum requirements—hold a shield and push. Practice—On your own time—and carefully until you can do both at the same time. Then ask for flying lessons. First person who jumps off a roof without Isakson's approval is going to be on muck-out duty for a month after he gets out of the hospital. Second shift? Fifteen minutes until horse and uniform inspection." He lowered his voice. "Rael, will you get Isakson to a hospital and make sure he doesn't kill any doctors?"
Growl.
Rael glanced at her relatives.
"Don't worry, we'll get them to the airport. You deal with Isakson."
Rael grinned. "I know just where he needs to go."
Two narrow-eyed stares.
"The Comet Fall Hospital on Embassy. The Fallen all have these gorgeous teeth. This is an opportunity to observe their dentistry."
Growl. :: My teeth are over two hundred years old. What could they possibly do? ::
Rael giggled. "Exactly. Let's go find out."
Hugs for both Imde and Deim. "Thanks for coming, you two. We've learned a lot about . . . stuff we didn't realize we didn't know. Have a good flight. Remember to practice."
Chapter Eleven
8 Yusef 1404 yp
Embassy World
The doctor was a woman. Drop. Dead. Gorgeous.
Rael winced. Please keep your Arab side under control . . . Rael's thoughts derailed as she took in Isakson's wary expression.
Rael studied the doctor . . . lowered her shields. And found the bottomless depths of controlled power she'd always associated with Xen.
"I'm Doctor Gisele Heath. Welcome to Embassy."
The Goddess of Health and Fertility is working in a hospital? Well . . . where else? But why on Embassy?
A flick of a smile her direction. "I both work and teach here. Lots of sick and injured people here for my students to learn on. But of course I go back home quite often."
Isakson took her extended hand like he was being handed a snake. "I am Isak ibn Isak . . . "
"Isak's son? Oh my, you don't look much like that scrawny little imp, but time does that to us all, doesn't it? Now . . . good heavens! How many times have you broken that jaw? It looks like a jigsaw puzzle." She wasn't actually that young, more matronly as she stared at Isakson's beard.
Isakson leaned away from her. "I'm . . ." :: I'm two hundred years old. I've lost track. And my grandfather Hugo always said you were one of the enemy. ::
"And Hugo too? Well that explains the fighting . . . Hmm, your teeth need work. But let's start with the jaw. Would you like some steel reinforcement? Since you seem to get punched regularly?" Grey swept through her hair and she stooped a bit as she reached for his face.
Judging by his expression, Isakson was more likely to run away than hit her.
Rael slipped out and leaned on the wall, shivering.
And . . . I'm already runn
ing away. I didn't . . . I hadn't thought what they might be like. Holy One! Talk about your Archetypes! The Maiden, the Matron, and the Crone. I wonder if she has any control over it? I should go back in and ask . . .
Rael looked back at the door. Caught a high sweet voice. "I think I'll just mold the bone instead of rebreaking it, and shift the teeth before I heal over the new break . . . Would you prefer artificial teeth or shall I persuade your jaw to grow two new ones?"
Actually I think I'll ask Xen.
I wonder how much control Xen has over how his collective subconscious affects him . . . Maybe he thinks of me trying to kill him in a completely different way than a Oner would. He may blame it on the One, where I know I chose to follow orders.
I chose?
I did . . . didn't I?
***
Xen was chatting with someone in the Disco building lobby . . . He brightened when he spotted her, and the other man turned around to see the source of Xen's distraction.
"Ah! Princess Rael! What a pleasure to actually meet you."
Recognition clicked in. Arg! The Earth Ambassador!
"Mr. Montgomery, the pleasure is mutual." Rael shook his hand and restrained a giggle.
"It must be infuriating to know you were, umm, a tourist attraction for a month."
That deserved a giggle, and bat of eyelashes. "Indeed. And I'll bet not nearly as much fun as having murderous statues on your roof to twig Ambassador Ashe about."
That got a rueful smile. "It was fun the first few times and he took it in good grace. One almost couldn't see the steam coming out his ears. I started feeling a bit guilty about enjoying it."
He shrugged. "And then my people started complaining about them ruining the view. All things considered, it came out as well as it possibly could have, at that point."
Rael sighed. "Yes. However personally embarrassing, it shook up enough people that perhaps we can prevent a repeat of this . . . impulse to war." She glanced out the tall tinted windows. The top of the Earth Embassy building wasn't visible. "You must have a spectacular view down the coast."
"And of the mountains. Would you like to see it?"
"Absolutely." Rael giggled—no subterfuge, the look on Xen's face was priceless—as she took the Ambassador's proffered elbow and walked off with him.
"Won't you join us, Xen?" Mischievous tones in the old man's voice.
"Certainly." He strolled along at the Ambassador's other shoulder. "Are you loosening up your security, or just making an exception for us?"
Montgomery chuckled. "Oh, an exception, but really, our paranoia is both well founded and a waste of time, given the demonstrated ability of the Ones to get a team and their weapons up to our roof. We're quite curious how they managed." He glanced down at Rael. "Can Oners teleport like the Fallen?"
Rael shook her head. "Mind you not for lack of trying. But we don't seem to have the knack of it. Or perhaps, like the gates, we simply don't have the enabling genes."
The Ambassador nodded. "Infuriating, isn't it? We're trying to duplicate the permanent gates either mechanically, or with the tiny number of part-Fallen that have been born on Earth."
Rael raised her eyebrows. "I didn't realize you had any."
"Oh, let's see. Twenty-seven years ago, now. This Pax person—The God of Peace, Xen?"
"A Communist who believed that peace would only come when all nations and worlds were united."
"Ah! So, a total warmonger. That explains a lot. As we've pieced the story together, he teleported our Asian gate anchor to Fascia, then the Amma led his Oner trained troops through the next time Earth opened the gate."
Rael bit her lip and kept quiet.
"That Pax person mentally controlled the gate personnel to keep the gate open long enough to get everyone through, then switched it to an Empty World with an active mining operation, and shifted everyone—well, his Army, his most loyal nobles with all their families and servants—back through it. This took more than a day, and allowed a major killing, raping, and looting spree by his troops as they established a perimeter."
Montgomery shrugged. "We never have found the world they moved to. And they left a bomb to blow up the gate after they left. Some of the raped women got pregnant, and a few decided to carry to term. We haven't, to date, had any luck with them being magic at all."
Xen nodded. "There's a lot less magic in Auralia than in the West, although in Fascia the Oners have been . . . donating magic genes for generations. But from whatever source, surely you've gotten some of the insertions and power genes. Bring them out here and I can work with them, see if they've enough genes to be effective."
Rael sighed. "Finally! A cross dimensional invasion that wasn't the fault of either of us, eh, Ambassador?"
He chuckled. "Well, we believe most of your people went through with them. They apparently intended to just bring in their trained native army to hold the gate area while they switched the gate to One World so your army could join the invasion. Poor fellows. Probably marooned with a population of mostly male Auralian soldiers and the Natives we imported to work the mines. Also probably all male."
Rael couldn't even summon a giggle. "That . . . we really have to stop stupid . . . Arg!"
"Well, with Orde back in control, there's some hope." Xen's voice was mild . . . just a tinge of doubt.
Montgomery led them past the appalled guards and into the lobby.
"We were surprised there was no retaliation—on the personal level—after the attempted judicial murder of your daughter, Xen."
Xen chuckled at that. "I was pleased that their own electorates rejected them. That was a much better message to future . . . idiots . . . than us doing something to them."
"It's hell having to think diplomatically, isn't it?"
"Worse, politically. I may have to admit to having achieved adulthood."
That had Rael giggling.
Xen looked around the lobby. "How did your team get up there?"
"Oh, they climbed the outside. The inside security was just too tight. They were also muttering about the actual construction of the building making it difficult."
One of the collection of people that had started trailing them snorted. "Told you so!"
They were alone on the elevator . . . but not on the roof. Obviously someone had sent people ahead. Rael suspected that the Ambassador was wired. They probably record every interaction he has with outsiders.
"Wow!" She didn't have to fake that. The view was spectacular. Rocky headlands stretched out to sea on both ends of the golden beach and the brilliant tropical blue ocean stretched out to the horizon. "Now I'm going to wish our diplomatic ministry hadn't put their foot down and refused to get into a 'taller building than theirs' contest."
Montgomery chuckled. "Indeed—not that we don't need the space—but just one ridiculously tall building is not the best solution. We're making plans for a second tower, and I'm arguing to keep it at half of this."
Sounds from the street level were faint . . . funny how the bark of dogs carried so well . . . and now louder than normal engine revs.
Xen scowled over the edge. "I told them not to . . . I swear I'm going to do something nasty to people who mistake the square for a racetrack." He turned away and planted his butt on the low parapet. "Unfortunately I probably can't until they hurt someone.
Rael looked over the edge, choked faintly. "They're racing around the fountain? Inside the ring of gates?"
Xen didn't turn around. "Yes. It started with the Oners, then a couple of Earthers brought what they called muscle cars. Last week there was a Purp with this . . . thing that had to be seen to be believed. The first of the month meeting, I'm going to have to ask if there's a civic need for a racetrack and let everyone argue about specs and regulations."
The Ambassador snickered. "Insurance."
"Old Gods! I'd better go break them up . . . "
Xen was halfway back to the elevators when the brakes shrieked.
Rael turned back and looked ove
r the edge. A horse sideways across the hood of a car, its rider sprawled across the top, rolling off. "One! Someone hit a horse . . . and someone is going to get the snot beat out of them . . . " She gulped as the rider picked himself up off the ground and advanced on the driver of the car. Who was getting out, gesturing . . . not in a way she'd interpret as friendly.
That's the Arbolian arch. Still turned into the plaza, instead of out. He came through, right into their path.
The rider's return gesture was accompanied by a flash of steel and a spray of blood . . . and a hand . . .
Xen stared down, then leaned back, eyes half shut . . . He's going to teleport down . . . bet I can beat him.
Shields, out and draped, fasten to ankles, no need to push . . .
"RAEL!"
Weeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!! Bend the knees to level out and twist the wrists for control and aim . . . wobbly . . . get the tail out for proper steering . . .
Below, the Oner driver was clutching his wrist, a crowd of other Oners was forming . . . The closest, the other drivers, were running up, fists clenched . . .
I am going way too fast . . . push ahead of me, push . . . they are all in the way. But what the hell . . . One nice broad push across the whole gang.
They staggered back, half of them fell.
It slowed her nicely and she made her best landing yet. Dismissing the shield and striding forward. "Stop it. Now! The adults have arrived and you children are about to get what you've so royally asked for."
One fellow stepped out sneering . . . hit the ground snoring.
A restless stir through the rest as she turned and knelt by the injured driver. He had the blood flow almost stopped, despite his shocky panting, tears running down his face.
She pulled a shoelace off her sneaker for a tourniquet. Hanky for a pad, pen from the man's pocket and twist . . . throw two quick stun spells back at the other idiots.
She turned to look for the swordsman. He was kneeling beside his horse, while Xen looked at a leg . . . splintered bone showing through the blood. She winced and looked away.