by Juliet Sem
Keestu laughed at the thought. "That's an excellent idea, Gontu. That's exactly what I'm going to do. In fact, I think it will be more delicious revenge if I specify it will be going to a charity that specifically serves commoner women." She got serious after a few moments. "Do you think I should give some of it to Tenget, as part of his compensation?"
"I'm not sure," Gontu admitted. "Fernuin and therefore all of Vulo will be paying a yearly stipend to him for the rest of his life according to the Autocrat and Autocress, and the palace already pays Tenget for his service. I don't doubt that he'll receive a bonus for putting your life ahead of his own and paying the price with part of his physical body. I understand that you want to show your appreciation for what he did, but that's something you should ask your father before making such an announcement."
They arrived at the palace, and during the flitter's descent, Keestu saw what looked like a hundred extra guards patrolling the area. "How many guards they are adding to your Sandarian squads?" Gontu shook his head. "Getting around the planets we're going to visit may be an issue if there are many more people keeping an eye on you."
"After what happened, I'd rather have more people around me than fewer," Keestu said. "More says that they really don't want anything else to go wrong during my visit to their planets, as I'm put in mind of the four squads that are always following my father around at home."
"When you put it that way," Gontu said, "I have to agree that more would appear to be better, but the logistics of food, lodging, and travel arrangements for larger groups means no more impromptu stops at taverns, which would be overwhelmed and unable to serve everyone, and not letting the troops sample the local foods and delaying their meals because of it wouldn't be good for morale."
Keestu looked at the guards Major Anjo had assigned to ride with her in every transport. They were very large, all at least two meters in height, and she supposed they ate a lot. "Well, they'll have to send out for more raw ingredients no matter where we go, as these guys look like they can really put it away."
Major Anjo smirked at her comment and nodded in agreement, but maintained a respectful silence.
Their flitter settled to the ground near the hangar that housed the royal liners. Keestu looked out to see sixteen heavily armed men waiting for her. Keestu realized there were two from every planet but Vulo by looking at their colors.
"Well, they aren't going too overboard," she commented. "Sending just one from each planet doesn't match a single Sandarian squad's numbers, and if I had said Vuloans would be okay to come along, there would be nearly an equal number of Autocracy guards as the number of Sandarians assigned to me by Admiral Kurzon. It's a good compromise, don't you think?"
"Yes, not too many, and not too few," Gontu agreed. "With their numbers plus the local forces on every planet you'll be visiting, you should have no problems with security unless there is a major uprising."
Gontu turned to Major Anjo and instructed him. "If I'm incapacitated, Major, you're the next in line to defend Princess Keestu. You are to allow Rue to stay close to her side at all times, as Rue has been taught hand to hand combat and has already proven she knows how to serve as the final line of distraction between Princess Keestu and an enemy."
Keestu was confused. "I thought Admiral Kurzon put Major Anjo in charge of my security?"
"As your personal body guard, I have been given authority over Major Anjo and his squads by King Ismer, since I have specialized training in regards to defending a single target rather than Major Anjo's training in handling attacks by groups on groups. To be more specific, since it's been so long since I've been in active service myself, I will defer to Major Anjo in regards to handling everything unless it comes down to myself, him, and Rue standing between you and an enemy."
Keestu looked at Major Anjo, who nodded agreement. Keestu looked more closely at him and saw no sign of disappointment on his face.
Turning back to Gontu, Keestu asked, "Will you also be commanding the Autocracy's people, then?"
Gontu shook his head. "If it comes down to a fire fight with a large group, the Autocracy's people will be their given orders by their leaders in their own languages, and Major Anjo will order ours while I look to your personal safety. Otherwise, yes, I can issue orders to every guard accompanying us and expect it to be carried out. I discussed it with Prató Béjan this morning before you got up, as he was acting with the authority of the Autocrat and Autocress in settling the final details about your guards before we left Phaet."
They exited the flitter and waited for the rest of the Sandarian contingent to arrive before they boarded Phaet's Manashin.
Keestu was shown to a luxurious suite in the most protected part of the ship, which she shared with Gontu, Rue, and after some discussion between Gontu and the Autocracy contingent's leader, one of her guards from Phaet, and four of her Sandarian guards. There were enough acceleration couches in the adjoining anteroom for an entire squad, while the others took up stations in cabins throughout the ship.
After they exited Phaet's system and settled in for their long flight to the outer reaches of the Autocracy, Gontu left for further discussions with the Autocracy guard's leader. When he returned, he reported to Keestu. "The Autocracy contingent has been ordered to be the first line of defense for you. This means they will always take up the outermost positions in relation to your location. If anything gets past them, it's up to Second Squad, then First Squad, then me, then Anjo, then Rue to protect you before you must fight for yourself again. However, from what I heard from the Autocracy's group's leader, who is from Phaet and is a distant cousin of Béjan, it'll be more necessary to keep you from being mobbed by admirers. You know that video of you taking out that Vuloan has been transmitted to all the planets in the Autocracy? Apparently, every ship leaving Phaet received that video from the incoming Vuloan ship and virtually all of them messaged that they would pass it on at any ports they went to, so there are many more people displeased with Prató Fernuin's methods than we thought. They had to actively discourage many Vuloan nobles visiting on Phaet from entering the palace grounds that were volunteering to be in your honor guard, even going so far as to offer to be an unarmed escort to prove they were there only to protect you."
Keestu groaned. "Oh, no."
"No, that's good. Being a celebrity visitor has its advantages. The rest of the planets are more likely to push through a trade agreement if Fernuin continues to be as unpopular as he is--the others will vote for it because you did what they couldn't in making Fernuin back down and look bad during a confrontation with a woman.
"I received a report from Enforcer just prior to our exit from the Phaet system. The message that you sent to King Ismer has been received with great relief by all Sandar and is being forwarded throughout the Union. In addition, a proper royal wardrobe is being prepared and sent from Sandar and should meet you on Eknor."
Keestu looked down at her gray Sandarian military uniform, which had been washed and pressed while she slept on Phaet. "Eknor? Where is that in the schedule?" Keestu's head was swimming from the information she'd been given in the past few hours.
"Next up after Umanya," he reassured her.
"So we have reverted to the originally planned schedule? The one the Autocrat and Autocress had in mind before Fernuin insisted I go to Vulo first?"
"Yes, you'll be going to the planet furthest away from the entrance to the Autocracy star cluster and making your way back to Phaet, skipping Vulo on the way back. After this trip, it will reduce your travel time between planets, so it should be less tiring."
They arrived on Umanya as the sun was rising, landing on a large flat plain surrounded with waving fields of grain in various stages of ripening, and Keestu was informed it was the main continent's major trade item. Prató Thasin was at the spaceport to meet her himself, his naturally orange-red hair clashing with his clothing, which was dark purple with a medium red stripe. Keestu noted with some dismay as they exited the spaceport in a flitter that
crowds were lining the streets here, cheering her transport as she passed.
Thasin grinned at her, saying, "Fernuin is notorious throughout the Autocracy for his decrees limiting the rights of women. It's barbaric, and the majority of the populace here on Umanya applauds your actions."
He went on to explain that the half circle planetary symbol on his breast was indicative of Umanya's reputation as one of the bread baskets of the Autocracy, representing a round loaf of bread seen from the side. Umanya had a favorable axial tilt that gave it a long growing season that combined with the broad plains surrounded by high mountains that drew in plentiful rains to the main continent's most popular growing areas so that those areas sometimes had three harvests in a single year. Thasin was pale and freckled despite the plentiful sun Umanya received, and he used a strong sunblock to avoid burning.
Keestu enjoyed her stay on Umanya, especially when she sampled its breads, which were much more appealing than the bread served by Fernuin's house. She was reluctant to leave when her time there was over.
She was happy to see her wardrobe when she arrived on Eknor, wearing a black skirt and jacket with a white collared shirt decorated with lace jabot and cuffs to her first formal dinner there, as one of Eknor's colors was black. Praté Herini was a gracious hostess, though she was a giant of a woman, standing two meters tall, though her image was softened by her long black hair, wide dark brown eyes and equally dark brown skin that showed her laugh lines to good effect. Eknor's symbol of an annulus was in reference to the famed large ringed moon that orbited the planet, which made it a popular tourist destination. Keestu was shown the delights of several resorts, some along Eknor's oceans and some in the mountains, and she felt greatly refreshed upon leaving, as though she had been on vacation rather than an official visit.
Thetron was the next planet; a rocky formerly extensively volcanic planet whose main continent abounded in vertically built towns that were sheltering in its many steep cliff faces and known throughout the Autocracy for its bounty of large gems and precious metals. Keestu was amazed when Gépar, the Prató of Thetron, presented her with a palm-sized ruby. Gépar was shorter than the other Autocracy rulers she had met so far, even Fernuin of Vulo. He had dark brown skin, black hair, and was neither truly black like the inhabitants of Weegai nor did he have the look of the brown-skinned humans that lived on Uriel and Kielra. Like Herini of Eknor, he had a ready smile and waved away her stammered thanks with reassurance that this size ruby was a common find on his world.
Keestu learned the colors of Thetron were red and gold, chosen for the rubies and gold that were the most commonly found precious items on Thetron and in its three large asteroid belts, and the symbol of Thetron was octagram consisting of two squares at forty-five degree angles to each other as it most closely resembled a cut gem. His wife, Praté Duréna, wore a choker made of gold and rubies as her noble clothing lacked a high collar. It was the only jewelry that Keestu had seen on a ruling noble at a formal function thus far. She noted how the gems and gold glowed next to Duréna's dark brown skin.
Keestu wasn't certain what to expect when arriving on Multana early morning on Challenge Day. However, Prató Sartik was there to greet her, along with his challenger, Praten Atrilin, a female noble who'd held the position for the past three months. They were both black skinned with dark brown eyes, though Keestu thought their overall skin tone was lighter than that of the residents of Weegai. She was escorted to an arena and seated with others who had been invited to witness the fight. Keestu was expecting a swift brutal fight, as the altercations she'd seen firsthand were over quite quickly. However, the sinuous cat-like movements of the Prató and Praten fascinated her as they circled each other with empty hands, testing for any sign of weakness as Atrilin had chosen weaponless combat. Atrilin lunged forward suddenly, feinting with her fists as her leg came up to kick. Sartik ducked under her fists, and seeing her leg lashing out, managed to block it by grabbing her leg and yanking Atrilin off balance. Atrilin tumbled to the ground, rolling away to avoid Sartik's stomping foot. She quickly regained her feet, and they circled each other again before Sartik initiated an engagement, a series of quick punches punctuated by lunges designed to make Atrilin lose her balance. Atrilin whirled outside his reach instead, coming in from the side to deliver a solid punch to Sartik's face, and Keestu winced as she saw blood fly as his lip was cut on his teeth. Rather than turning his head to spit, he kept his eyes on his opponent, who didn't smile at that little victory; her attention was too focused on winning. Seeing his eyes come unfocused for a moment as he shook his head to clear it, Atrilin charged Sartik, thinking her punch had the salient effect she sought, only to realize too late that it was a ruse. Her entire body weight lunging forward combined with Sartik's superior strength so that the uppercut he delivered to her jaw knocked her unconscious. Sartik considerately caught her falling body, easing her limp form down to the ground. Keestu heard him murmur to her unconscious form, "Not this time, my dear."
When she awoke, Atrilin exhibited signs of a concussion, so Sartik summoned the medics, waiting until they had arrived before leaving her.
After making certain Atrilin had received no lasting harm, Sartik started guiding Keestu on her tour of Multana. One of the three capital planets of the Autocracy, it boasted not only a large distribution operation of goods to and from the other capital planets, it also was a formerly active volcanic planet, though the main continent's slopes were made fertile by volcanic ash rather than the ground with gems, making it easy for Multana to grow valuable trade crops like javene, which had been imported decades earlier by the Rillul and now flourished in the wilds as well as in carefully tended plantations. Multana's colors were therefore black and red for the fertile soil that came from volcanic lava, with an astroid representing a stylized volcanic ash plume rising and spreading into the sky as its symbol.
Laringo was next on her tour, and Keestu enjoyed the company of Prató Zanó and his spouse Prató Éran. She learned Laringo was famous not only for its many sweet fruits and vegetables, but also served as a popular vacation spot, as Laringo's nighttime summer sky was dominated by a view of a bright planetary nebula that boasted green colored gas clouds. During its winter season, it had nighttime views of many of the bright stars on the edge of the cluster, so Laringo's colors were green for the nebula's gas and silver for its view of the bright stars, and its symbol was a star pentagon. Laringo had no moons, but the view of the nebula so thrilled Keestu that she was reluctant to leave.
She was newly dazzled by the night skies of Hetindi, whose colors were black for the night sky and silver for the three moons that circled the planet. Appropriately, the symbol for Hetindi was a crescent, as one of the three moons was always in crescent phase at any given time. Hetindi also was the birthplace of the satin plant used to make noble clothing, and it still produced the majority of the Autocracy's satin fabrics. Keestu enjoyed her tour of the weaving factories, since Prató Laron's family boasted several generations of weavers, who all had the same unusual bright blond colored hair that really stood out against their black clothing.
Keestu's last stop before returning to Phaet was Naelia, which had a bright blue nitrogen rich atmosphere and whose main continent boasted deep green fields of grains, as Naelia was another major grain producer for the Autocracy and was at the beginning of its growing season. Its planetary colors were medium blue and dark green, and its symbol was an oval, representing the top view of a hand-shaped bread loaf. Two of the blue giants on the edge of the Autocracy cluster were visible in the daytime sky, appearing as bright blue jewels in the deeper blue sky. Praté Enfré was a large blonde woman with a square face and light blue eyes. She was shorter than Herini of Eknor, but more muscular. Her bulky arms had several fresh bruises, and she had a livid still-healing scar that ran from just below the jaw to halfway down her neck. Seeing Keestu's gaze fixed on it, the Praté gave her a grin and pointed to Keestu's now healed jaw, a reference to her fight on Vulo. "Got it in a fight fo
ur challenges ago, like you did that nasty bruise on your face, only mine was a formal challenge, where I chose the arena, and my challenger chose the weapons. We don't usually use weapons this close to the tourney, trying to avoid debilitating wounds that need a lot of healing time, but my challenger knew I had the best of her in a test of strength, so she chose spears." Enfré frowned then. "Pity about her leg. She was a good Praten. Her place has been taken by Ípon, who is a good enough Praton, but he fancies himself to become Autocrat, so we've been fighting ever since Simi had to drop rank due to her wound. Darn thing went and got infected on her, and she had to drop rank due to being unable to meet challenge."
This surprised Keestu. "So if you can't or won't fight, you automatically lose your position?"
"Of course," Enfré said. "It's only fair that if you have to be able and willing to fight to earn your position that you be willing and able to fight to keep it. Not everyone gets challenged every month. There are practically no monthly challenges after about the tenth rank. However, challenges increase at all levels beginning several years before each Tourney, as those with a real chance at winning must either fight their way to the top, or maintain it against all comers. I imagine all Pratés and Pratós were challenged today and will be next month as well, since it will be the last challenge before the tourney."
Chapter twenty-two
Twelve days before the tourney, Keestu returned to Phaet to find that Enfré was wrong. Dinus had not challenged his father, and had been challenged by his sister, Hatari, who had beaten him for the first time. Their bruises were well healed by now, but Hatari had a fresh scar on her lip where it had been torn open during her fight with Dinus almost a month before. Keestu thought it was strange to see Dinus wearing the hexagonal household rank insignia rather than the circular Praton badge he had always worn before. He was eyeing his sister at dinner, alternately smiling and frowning at her as he toyed with his food, and Keestu tried to distract him.