The Tourney

by Juliet Sem

  An excited murmur went through the squad, who were suddenly grinning at Keestu, who groaned. There went her cover. She frantically motioned for Admiral Kurzon to stand.

  "It's okay," Gontu quickly reassured her. "The Autocracy knows who you are now."

  A lander roared overhead, landing by the Vuloan vessels. Keestu watched Pulon exit, closely followed by Fernuin. Keestu saw a moment of surprise on his sour face, which he controlled with effort as he lumbered towards them. She heard Admiral Kurzon murmuring quietly into his pocket com behind her then switched her focus entirely to Fernuin. The haughty look on his face as he raked her figure with his eyes made her temper flare.

  He barked something to the Vuloans, who had lowered their weapons at his arrival, and they swung back towards Keestu, bringing their rifles to bear once again.

  "Stop this!" Keestu had had enough of these threats. She drew herself up to her full height, and looked down on the much shorter Fernuin.

  "So you're alive after all," he snapped at her, "And you have much to answer for. You will come with me now."

  "I'll do no such thing," Keestu said. "I'm leaving Vulo with my people and hope I never have the displeasure of setting foot on it again as long as you and your thugs control it."

  "My thugs? How little you know, girl."

  Her anger piqued, Keestu snapped back at him. "My title is Crown Princess of Sandar, Fernuin," Keestu returned the insult by not using his title. "You will do well to remember that."

  "A title you did nothing to earn, as if a woman could rule."

  "Is that why you had your guards attack us? Because you can't stand the idea of a woman ruling a planet? If we are so insignificant, then why did you send a dozen men to attack three men and two young women, all of us unarmed?"

  "I did not send them," Fernuin admitted. "They acted on their own. But they apparently had the right idea; I would have thought your experience had at least taught you manners, huda."

  "Manners? So you think it's acceptable to attack an unarmed woman with a stun staff when her back is turned?"

  "Your back isn't turned now," Fernuin said, turning to the guard who had stunned her, motioning him forward. He gestured to another guard holding a stun staff, held his hand out for it, and then tossed it at Keestu, who caught it by reflex.

  The Sandarians behind her bristled at this, but the now infuriated Keestu motioned to them, and they subsided, moving back to form a large ring around Keestu and the man who had stunned her.

  Keestu deliberately stretched, keeping one hand gingerly on the staff, as if she was unsure how to handle it.

  At Fernuin's signal, the man who had stunned her charged, raising his staff overhead in a club-like fashion. Keestu realized he hadn't had much training in staff fighting and stood her ground as if she was at a loss as to how to react to his attack. When it was too late for him to veer off, Keestu whipped her staff up into the proper grip, sidestepped, ducked her attacker's awkward swing, and brought her staff around to crack him smartly in both knees. The man let out a startled scream of pain as he flipped to the ground, losing his weapon as he rolled around, clutching at his legs.

  Keestu, knowing that Autocracy fights weren't considered over as long as both combatants could climb to their feet, clumsily activated the staff and stunned the man to unconsciousness.

  She turned back to Fernuin, whose face was suffused with surprise and continued anger. Pulon, Keestu noted, now eyed her with surprised respect. He suppressed a grin though he nodded to her behind his father's back.

  Keestu hefted the staff and threw it at Fernuin, fast and hard enough that he had to dodge it or be hit.

  "You shouldn't underestimate women," she told him as she turned to leave, "Especially Sandarian women."

  She walked away without further comment. She moved first to the squad of Sandarian guards and heard the Admiral bark orders for them to cover her exit and that of the Jewel's crew as she made her way towards that ship.

  "Your Highness, perhaps you should leave Vulo on the Enforcer?" Gontu had gone suddenly formal, probably for the benefit of Fernuin's people, who were still listening.

  "No," she said, "That would leave the Jewel unprotected. They dare not attack her with me on board, or it will mean war, and that misogynist knows it, and as Enforcer can defend herself, I must take the Jewel."

  "She's right," Admiral Kurzon said, after getting on his pocket com again and issuing several terse orders. "However, they could try and board to initiate a hostage situation. My best squad will go with you on the Jewel to prevent that from happening."

  Another squad exited the Enforcer and hurried towards them. Kurzon turned to Keestu. "As head of the Sandarian military, I must return to the Enforcer so she can guard the Jewel. I will make a full report to you once we return to Phaet. I've already sent a message to Sandar that you have been found alive, Your Highness. Know that I have every confidence in Major Anjo and this squad," he said, pointing to a man with a red edged collar on his gray uniform. He bowed formally to her before jogging away from her to join the squad that had come from the Enforcer, who took up positions to cover those of the squad around Keestu so they could board the Jewel with her. At Kurzon's barked order, the new squad shouldered their weapons and accompanied Keestu as she wearily trudged up the boarding ramp, knowing they would be protected by Enforcer's weapons until the Jewel was sealed.

  Chapter twenty

  Once on the Jewel, Keestu was ushered not to the bridge, but to the small onboard infirmary. Two burly men from the Enforcer's squad with heavy packs came into the room with her, shooing Captain Nebo and first mate Paxi out. Keestu saw the white stylized heart insignias on their collars that identified them as them medics and sighed. They were probably under orders to do a full medical exam on her.

  She motioned to her bodyguard. "Gontu, if you don't mind? And please tell Captain Nebo I say it's okay to leave without clearance from ground control and have him relay the same message to Enforcer in case Kurzon needs royal permission to leave against ground control's wishes if needed."

  He smiled at her and nodded, leaving Rue alone in the infirmary with Keestu and the medics. Rue shut the door behind Gontu.

  Keestu took off her shirt, laying face down on the table to show the small of her back to the medics first. They gently poking her largest bruises before administering a steroid and pain killing shot to help with any remaining inflammation in her wounds, and Keestu sighed with relief as her backache was finally soothed. As she rolled onto her back, she noted several fresh bruises on her torso, caused by her tumble when she was stunned, but they were minor. However, she was reassured when a hand scanner was moved across her and the medic nodded. "You took no evident damage to the internal organs that I can see," he reassured her, "And there are no broken bones."

  Keestu removed the pouch from her belt and handed it to Rue. "Tips I received from serving drinks and dinner in an ally's tavern," she explained. "One of the pendants is quite lovely. And don't lose that paper inside, either; keep it safe for me."

  She removed her shoes and filthy socks, kicking them out of the way as she removed her pants so the medics could examine her legs. Other than some fresh bruises and a couple of raw spots on her feet that hadn't quite formed blisters, Keestu's lower body was in much better shape than her upper. The medics gave her a loading dose of antibiotics as a precaution after looking at the scrapes her right leg had sustained from the submerged boulder.

  Finally satisfied, the medics quietly left the room.

  "I'm sorry you were so worried about me, Rue. I worried about all of you, too," Keestu said. "I didn't know if any of you were alive or dead."

  Keestu wearily got up from the examining table and moved towards the infirmary's bathroom. "I need a proper shower. Is my luggage on board?"

  "No, zom it," Rue realized. "It was transferred to the Enforcer for safe keeping!"

  "Well, find me something to wear, will you? At least some clean socks."

  Keestu pulled the pin
s out of her hair, shaking out residual grass and dirt as she turned the shower on and finished undressing. She showered quickly, knowing that she hadn't much time to clean herself up before they had to secure for jump.

  She was toweling herself off when Rue knocked on the door.

  "One of the guard is not too much larger than you, so I got his spare set of clothing, brand new issue, never worn. It's the best I can do until we get back to Phaet, since Paxi is much shorter than you, and I'm a couple of inches taller than you; the pants would drag and be a safety hazard, and Major Anjo insists that you wear proper fitting clothing until we get you to a more secure planet."

  Keestu wrapped the towel around herself and grinned at her handmaiden as she opened the door to receive the clothing. It was standard military gray with a plain collar, the clothing of an enlisted private. She looked askance at the male underpants, until Rue pointed out that hers had a large tear in the buttocks.

  Rue had borrowed Paxi's brush and comb, which she handed to Keestu after she had redressed. The space gray military clothing was a bit loose, and she had to cinch the waist as far as it could be done, but it was clean and not nearly as annoying visually as the discarded Vuloan outfit.

  However, Keestu stuffed it into the garbage chute reluctantly. She would never wear it again, and while she hated the too bright colors, the hours of careful tailoring and hand stitching done by the Vuloan Dunnes on her behalf made her reluctant to throw it out.

  She toweled her hair once again and hurried to the bridge. Once there, she belted herself in and continued to work on her hair, brushing it out carefully and braiding it. She noted that several guards were belted in at strategic locations around the bridge, while the others were deployed throughout the ship to protect all the passages leading to the bridge.

  "Now," she said, once she was finished. "Can someone tell me what happened?"

  "The guards that jumped us were after Shariel," Gontu informed her. "Apparently, Fernuin is unpopular enough that many nobles actively work against him. The rumor we heard after you were swept away by the river is that his family didn't die of a fever--he poisoned them. There is also suspicion surrounding how he rose to the position of Prató in the first place. He was a minor noble living in the deepest boondocks of Vulo, then suddenly he's the Prató, with no one alive who could dispute his claim of having won a challenge against everyone between himself and his sister, the former Praté."

  "Why Shariel?"

  "She apparently made too many demands for extra tithes of food from the local taverns, thousands of calories a day of the most valuable food items, which was never credited to their establishments, and that along with her lack of ambition and slovenly appearance did nothing to endear her to the local nobles who already resented Fernuin's mysterious and sudden rise to rule."

  "So when they saw us in the alley, they thought we were with her? What did they think, we were eating out of the garbage, too?"

  Gontu's face screwed up with remembered disgust. "Apparently not, but they thought to capture us and ransom us for the recording of Fernuin's fight for the position of Prató, which is rumored not to have happened, since there are conveniently no living witnesses to the fight that dethroned the previous Praté. The other nobles in the tavern did call for help, but it arrived a few minutes after that man had pushed you into the river. They rescued us from the revolting nobles who were trying to load us all onto a transport to somewhere. The man who pushed you into the river is dead now, executed by Fernuin for his 'crimes against Vulo'. All the men who attacked us are dead."

  Keestu frowned. "And nothing was said about the attempted murder of a visiting foreign royal or the maiming of one of her staff?"

  "Of course not," Gontu said. "That's not a matter that concerns Fernuin; only retaining control of Vulo by any means interests him. I think he only assisted in our search for you because the Autocrat and Autocress ordered it, as it would have meant war with the Union if they did not cooperate in our search for you."

  "So you told them who I am?"

  "Yes. We had no choice once you'd vanished, as we had to get priority clearance for the Enforcer to fly straight here from the Hub."

  "So much for my covert mission," Keestu sighed. "That attack ruined it. I just hope it didn't ruin any chances we have of a trade agreement. I assume we are on our way to Phaet so we can go back to Autocracy Station and then home?"

  "On the contrary," Gontu told her. "The Autocrat and Autocress said they would like to speak with the real Crown Princess of Sandar should we find you alive. We all knew the longer we went without finding a body, the more likely it was you survived. How did you survive? How did you escape the area?"

  "Well," Keestu said, "Give me a console and a vid chip so I can make a report home to prove it's really me, and you can hear my side of the story."

  Keestu made her recording with everyone on the bridge listening in. Leaving out specific names, Keestu described being rescued by a former Vuloan noble and taken to his home, how he and the others who lived near him had helped her plan to escape Vulo, her trek to Spaceport City, where she secured passage via barter on a ship scheduled to leave Vulo, but when the video cameras showed her the Sandarian ships on landing pads on the other side of the large complex, she left the Autocracy ship to rejoin her own people, resulting in an unpleasant confrontation with the ruler of Vulo who made a small attempt to prevent her from leaving.

  That done, she turned back to Gontu. "Now tell me why Admiral Kurzon was sent to the Autocracy to help you find me."

  "Prince Korin wanted to come as Sandar's Union Senator, but since Nahtua just gave birth to twin boys, he couldn't leave her. Princess Shina knows how to negotiate because of her vast experience with trade, but once word of Fernuin's hatred of women was reported, King Ismer barred her from coming, as were Queen Mewa and Prince Skomer. He didn't want to give Fernuin a chance to grab any other royal hostages, as it was our suspicion that he'd had you pulled from the river and whisked away so he could try and force trade concessions from us, though he didn't know your rank at the time this whole incident happened."

  "Skomer wanted to come?" Keestu grinned in surprise, wincing as the motion hurt her much abused jaw.

  "He wanted King Ismer to send him along with the entire Sandarian fleet," Gontu informed her as he motioned to one of the medics who had taken up station on the bridge, giving him a military hand sign as he spoke to Keestu. The man pulled out an instant ice pack, activated it, wrapped it in an ice pack sleeve, and handed it to Keestu.

  "It's swelling because you hit that side of your face when you were stunned," Gontu explained as he motioned to her jaw, and Keestu gingerly placed the pack against her aching face.

  "All in all, I think this incident will only help our standing in the eyes of the Autocracy, as I think you've proven yourself in the eyes of the ruling class. After all, you escaped an ambush and would have escaped the planet undetected had you not chosen to leave the outbound ship."

  They were at the Vuloan ring system now, and Keestu listened as the Jewel demanded priority passage to Phaet on the order of the Autocrat and Autocress. The answer came back immediately, "You are cleared for immediate passage to Phaet, Sandar's Jewel. Enter the ring when you are ready, and please tell the Crown Princess for most of us, that we are sorry for her unpleasant experiences on Vulo."

  "I will pass your message to the Crown Princess myself, Vulo Ring Control," Captain Nebo responded, looking surprised. He gave orders to enter the ring, and the screen dissolved into chaos as they exited the system with Enforcer scheduled to exit twenty minutes behind them.

  Once they were safely away from Vulo, Keestu relaxed. She went to the cabin she shared with Rue and laid down for a nap, exhausted by the day's events. She woke up several hours later to the news that they had arrived back at Phaet.

  Keestu felt better after her nap, able to rest more fully now that she was back in safer surroundings. She went into her cabin's tiny bathroom, splashed water on her face, an
d checked her braid to make sure it was still presentable. Other than her military clothing, lack of makeup, and large bruise on her jaw, she thought she looked presentable.

  She returned to the bridge for their landing on Phaet.

  She wasn't sure what to expect upon her return to Phaet. She stepped off the Jewel to find the Enforcer had gotten clearance to land before them and had sent a second squad to escort Keestu to the Autocracy's palace along with the squad that had shadowed her every move on the Jewel. She wondered what was going to be said about all they weaponry they carried, but figured she would cross that bridge when she got to it.

  She spied Dinus standing off to one side, and beside him a man who must be his father Béjan, the Prató of Phaet. They had with them a large escort, but all their weapons were slung to their backs, indicating the peaceful nature of their presence.

  Keestu motioned to her guards and walked forward to meet the Prató of Phaet alone.

  "Pleased to meet you Prató Béjan," she said, bobbing her head respectfully to the man.

  "So it is you who are the Crown Princess of Sandar?"

  "Yes, Prató, I am Crown Princess Keestu, daughter of King Ismer Ranell, and heir to his throne."

  "Why did you let yourself be considered a handmaiden?"

  "When Praton Dinus mistook my handmaiden for me, King Ismer felt it was prudent for me to travel incognito, for we didn't know much about your people at that time."

  "So is it true what they are saying?"

  "Saying what, Prató?"

  "That you were challenged by one of Prató Fernuin's lackeys and bested him hand-to-hand combat, and then threw a stun staff at Fernuin?"

  Keestu tried to keep a straight face, but failed to do so on seeing the amused expression on his face, and returned Béjan's wide grin though the motion cause pain to shoot through her jaw. "Yes, Prató, I did. Prató Fernuin didn't believe me capable of fighting as I'm a woman and given the condition I was in when I reached Spaceport City, and he ordered the man to attack me after he perceived I was insulting him."