Slipping back into her undergarments, she tried it on and looked at herself in the highly polished piece of metal set into the wall beside the hearth.
The dress was so low cut in the front and back that the American would be unable to wear her bra underneath. Sighing, she took off the lovely dress and then picked up the soft pelt and lay back down on the bed watching the sky turn from its bluish to green through the open stain glass doors.
As the sun set over the horizon, a knock at the door signaled the arrival of her escort. Taking off her bra, Alitta slipped into the dress. “Just a minute.” she called out while buttoning it up.
Looking at her reflection, she pushed back some stray hairs before opening the door. Sergeant Ambly was waiting with a four guard escort.
“Very punctual.” She complimented him as he came to attention before her. “As you were.” She quoted from one of the many war movies she had seen with her dad before her teenage years.
“May I say that you look quite stunning your Highness. Radiant even, like an angel.” he shot back beaming. “Why thank you Sergeant, you may.” Alitta replied with a smile as she stepped out into the hallway.
The other guards came to attention and the princess took the offered arm of her escort allowing him to guide her away. Four guards fell in, two in front and two behind them and the other two remained standing guard outside of her quarters.
The castle was full of people now and they moved out of the Kings Guards way as they cleared a pathway up to the throne room doors for her. Alitta heard whispers behind her after they’d bowed and curtsied as she passed.
At the doors to the main hall, Sergeant Ambly stepped away as a man dressed in a red coat with white breeches walked into the room. His bald head shone in the numerous candles burning in the chandeliers hanging above them.
He held a wooden stick capped with a metal ball which he wrapped on the floor to silence the festivities. “The Princess Alitta Vasquez of the Eastern Tribes. Great Grand Daughter to the Great Mother Guia, Spirit Guide and of the first bloodline of the Eastern Kings.”
All who had not previously ceased to talk did so now as all eyes fell on her. Alitta felt as if the lump in her throat would choke her as Guia had not even hinted at her own blood lineage.
Holding her head high and remembering to smile, the princess glided through the throng gathered down the open path that had parted like Moses parting the Red Sea. All in attendance bowed or curtsied to the visiting Royal.
Whispers started as she passed slowly turning into a small roar until she stood before Paul and the Court Barrister rapped his staff of office several times on the marble floor for silence.
The king stood up and bowed to her expecting the same only he began to turn red when she only nodded back. Alitta was showing her own contempt and superiority at being held captive in front of Paul’s court.
Dressed in a medium blue jacket with gold buttons that reminded her of an officer of a sailing vessel from the 1800’s, he indicated an open chair at the head table beside his.
The princess acknowledged him with another nod and he sat down unhappily forcing another fake smile to his face. She sat down as regal as a Queen after he kissed her hand and gawked at the considerable cleavage that the dress exposed.
“Remind me to thank the Royal Seamstress.” He remarked to the chuckles of his nobles around him. They quickly died out as the princess looked at each one of them in turn forcing their eyes to look down in respect.
Minstrels began to play again and conversations resumed in the Great Hall though many of them now were directed at the new royal visitor.
“Some Flame Lizard? It tastes like chicken.” Paul offered with a smile as he held out a platter of red colored meat for her. The princess daintily took some with a fork that sat beside an antique white plate trimmed in gold.
Pouring them both a goblet of wine which was also made of gold, the king began to tell her all about his new kingdom. Alitta politely took a sip only to find out that the brew was exceptionally unique and extraordinarily good. It reminded her of raspberry champagne yet had a subtle flavor of orange and tangy mango.
The drink was both refreshing and sweet all in one and didn’t hit her until later on sneaking up like the mudslide drinks she’d had on a cruise ship once.
She was no lightweight when it came to drinking, but the Ponju as Paul called it, was kicking her butt. The princess tasted the Fire Lizard meat only to find out that it indeed did taste like chicken with just a hint of smoky bacon flavor.
Some bread went down next to try and help absorb some of the alcohol she had partaken of. Her head was lite and airy making it increasingly difficult to follow the conversation as Paul continued to give his speech about joining their two kingdoms. “...as in the end it only makes sense to unite all of the tribes as they were in olden times. There is no need to have either civilization perish while the other thrives.”
Alitta giggled at one of his own slurred words making the King pause in his ranting as she only nodded trying to be polite. “Here, let me show you.” Paul said as he stood up practically half falling against the table.
This brought forth more laughter from the princess and then again as she almost fell over as well and he had to catch her. Leading Alitta to the side of the room, he showed her a large black table where maps sat rolled up beside stacks of papers.
“This one.” Paul said unrolling a map and putting heavy objects down on its edges keeping it from rolling up. “You see, right here.” the king said planting a finger on a section for her to view.
Looking through blurry eyes, the princess did as she was bid staring in unbelief at his grand scheme for the continent. The great forest was replaced by fields for food and her peoples lands assimilated.
“What about the cliffs?” she asked a bit more sober now as his evilly hatched plan made her realize Paul’s true intents. “Oh that. It’s where I’m going to build my summer palace…our summer palace after we are wedded.” he said kissing her shoulder clumsily.
Alitta shrugged him off now fully alert as she peered at the map getting her full bearings about this land that she had come to for the first time.
“Is this map accurate?” “Of course. I helped survey the lands according to mile increments.” he replied as he tried to kiss her bare neck. “And these X’s?” she questioned about the cliffs again.
“Oh, just some pesky birds to get rid of so that I can mine the ore there, but don’t worry about that. I’ve developed a crude form of pitch that will burn them right out.” Paul said lunging for her.
He pushed her back into the table with his full weight tightly pinning her against it. “You are so beautiful.” he said with his words more slurred then before. “Mother was right about you. You will make a good Queen and bear me many sons. Oh mother, what have I done to you?” Paul’s tearful cry confessing his crime as he looked at her half exposed chest debating whether to undo or rip off her dress.
The king never saw it coming as Alitta clunked him with a rock from the desk that had been holding a corner of the map down. Paul fell face first between her breasts knocked out cold.
Rolling him off of her, the princess stood up and looked intently at the map as her attacker snored from the floor below. Using a smaller map, the paleontologist sketched out the big one with a quill and ink well.
Folding it up, Alitta tucked it under her dress into her shorts pocket before exiting the war room. The guards outside came to attention then peered through the open door.
“The King had a bit too much to drink and has passed out unable to perform.” She told them adjusting the top of her dress as if it had been pulled down. Both men smiled and then nodded thinking that she had worn Paul out.
They called for two others and the four guards carried him back to his chambers to sleep it off. The princess spent the next two hours talking to those still sober enough to be awake feeling out how the new nobility felt about their tyrannical king.
Finally she l
eft the feast escorted by Sgt Ambly and his guards. “Thank you Sgt Ambly.” “My pleasure Princess.” was his response. His smile faded as he noticed the bruise on Alitta’s arm where the king had grabbed hold of her.
Playing the victim, she dropped her eyes as if in shame as he wished her goodnight. After the door was closed, she let out a fake sob and then listened as he told the two guards at the door that no one got in without the princess’s permission. She could tell by the strain in his voice that he was angered though powerless to do anything.
Alitta fell into a fitful sleep waking several times during the night. Looking out her glass doors, she saw a flicker of light dancing down below. Opening them, Alitta shivered as a cold blast of wind rolled over her as she looked at grave yard. The briskness momentarily took her breath away invigorating her out of any further effects of the Ponju.
Again a flicker of light dodged between the piles of rubble only to dissolve at the kings mausoleum. Slipping out of the dress and changing into her own top, Alitta climbed out and over her terraces wrought iron fence down a conifer tree to the ground below.
Carefully she snuck through the garden and then the war bird stables nearly running into a sleepy stable boy who had gotten up to see what the commotion was all about as one of the mighty birds squawked loudly. Alitta put her hand on the bird’s beak to sooth and quiet it, but it only acted up every time that she went to leave.
“It’s you.” A small voice said startled as the stable boy bowed low not daring to rise until she told him to. “As you were, please.” she begged. The boy then stood up but wouldn’t look her in the eyes.
“You keep these stables very well.” “Thank you your Majesty.” was his reply bowing low again. “Call me Alitta.” “Princess Alitta. It just wouldn’t be proper to call such a beautiful Noble like you any less.” he told her blushing.
“I need to get to the other side of the gardens, but…” she said pointing to the war bird. “Yes my lady. Let me take care of it.” the stable boy said bobbing his head before scampering off. He soon returned with what appeared to be a lute of some kind.
Sitting on a bale of hay, the boy began to deftly pluck at its strings as his voice softly sung a lullaby to the unruly charges. After a few minutes, the large birds calmed down and the stable boy nodded for her to go as he continued to play and sing. Alitta put her hand on his shoulder giving it a squeeze before moving on through the stables and into the gardens.
It took her another twenty minutes or so to reach the middle where the pond reached in towards the palace. Skirting its edges, she continued to go northwest until she exited into the rubble strewn field.
Alitta went over to the crypt and put her hand on its door only to find that it was unlocked. Carefully she opened the door surprised at the ease with which that it opened. Four strong hands reached out and grabbed her as the heavy door closed and locked sealing her within the tomb.
*****
Franchesca helped to make the poultice as Guia gave instructions as to its content and uses. She had been doing so ever since the Brazilians awakening after arrival here. Franchesca was amazed as she watched her own wound heal up before her very own eyes. Now, a month after her arrival and she was concocting the miracle cure for the coming war.
It was a medicine written about in ancient texts but had been scoffed at by modern science as impossible. Franchesca would not have believed it either lest she had witnessed it firsthand.
Guia must have known this and that was why she had sliced open her hand in the first place.
Meanwhile, Sojurn worked hard in preparing every able body in the arts of war so that defenses of their homeland would be possible.
Franchesca paused to watch him as the sun had begun to ride high in the sky. “He’s very handsome.” Guia said noticing her gaze. “Yes.” the new comers answered as she got back to filling the clay jars with the healing salve still bubbling away in the caldron over the red hot coals.
“Your son is as well.” the Shaman said laying a gentle hand on her shoulder. “Yes, he is.” Franchesca said pausing in her work once more. “But he’s not half the man as your great grandson.”
“I am truly sorry for what must come to pass.” Guia told her compassionately. Tears ran down the younger woman’s cheeks as she nodded. “It is what needs to be done and should have a long time ago. He chose his own destructive path.” her steely words said as she held her head high and looked at her mentor.
*****
Alitta would have let out a scream except that the strong hand clamped over her mouth prevented it. She struggled in vein but could not break the grip that bound her.
The mausoleum door had been closed and bolted from the inside. The casket here was moved aside and a stone lifted up to reveal a set of stairs descending into the ground.
She was carried down the stone carved steps until they ended at a tunnel entrance. Several in fact and it was the third one which was now followed after she was put down and told to move and not say a word.
“Who are you? Where are you taking me?” Alitta asked but no response was forthcoming from the dark clad men in front and behind her.
One held a torch leading the small party and so the American followed unable to escape, for now. If she did, then Alitta would have to figure out how to unlock the crypt door.
The tunnel ran straight for several hundred meters before dipping down subtly at first and then so steeply that if the floor had been wet she wouldn’t have been able to keep her footing.
They party past side tunnels all along the way that led to who knew where. Alitta thought about ducting into one of them and running for freedom, but she could be lost down here for weeks before escaping.
Finally the passage leveled out and ended at the edge of a large cavern. Torches burned at intervals along the walls revealing a small village of wooden huts built against a rock wall off to the right that ran straight up. To the left a tidal pool lapped at the rocks providing some heat from the sea.
The prisoner was pushed from behind not realizing that she had stopped to gaze. A medium sized vessel bobbed up and down in the water sheltered in this hidden cove.
She took in all of her surroundings amazed at what had been built so far underground. It reminded the princess of the Mesa Verde ruins in Colorado built by the Puebloans, the Manitou Springs built by the Anasazi or Motezuma Castle built by the Sinaquas in Arizona.
A fresh water underground stream filtered in from the top of the cavern dropping two hundred feet into a large pool that’s overflow went into the sea.
Children played there and stopped to watch the outsider pass on by. Alitta gave them a warm smile as she followed her guards along now with no intention of escape.
They stopped before what looked like one side of a pyramid similar to those in South America in both height and construction. “Up.” The leader commanded pushing her forward as the rest dared not step foot on the structure carved into the very rock.
Nearing the top, Alitta could see four zchandlers set around an alter that had a stone throne atop it. A beautiful woman sat there dressed in a teal colored dress adorned with necklaces, bracelets and rings of gold. Her hair was the color of black obsidian, curly and long reaching past her bare shoulders.
Fierce blue eyes took stock of Alitta as she stood before the ruler while her guard dropped to his knees touching his forehead to the stone in respect.
Out of respect, Alitta curtsied bowing her head in reverence as well casting her eyes to her feet. She then stood there with arms crossed over her chest waiting.
“Why have you brought her here?’ the queen demanded of the guard who had shot Alitta a dirty look for not kneeling down. “You know the rules! Take her away and execute her at once.”
Alitta was stunned almost to the point of being speechless. As she was about to give an indignant response, a voice from behind her called out to the queen on her behalf.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you your Highness.” “Who are you to
question my judgment Ambly?” she demanded back looking down at him. “A thousand pardons my Queen Josefina.” The sergeant said bowing low as he made the top of the stairs.
Nodding to Alitta with a wink of encouragement, the soldier bowed to the American before approaching closer to stand before the beauty sitting on the throne.
“Well Sergeant Giglimoc, I’m waiting and my patience for your continued defiance is wearing thin.” he queen said annoyed. Alitta could see the sting that the insult calling him a half-breed had.
Placing a hand on his arm, he looked up into her eyes and he seemed to gain strength from her mere presence. Standing tall holding his head high, Sergeant Ambly began to tell the queen everything he knew and had heard from other members of their resistance.
“…and the King has openly welcomed her as royalty so there can be no question about her heritage.” He finally concluded then stood there awaiting his judgment.
Intense eyes stared at them from the throne as the sergeant’s words were weighed.
“It is unfathomable that Guia would lie and she certainly wouldn’t have sent you here to your death.” came the queens responce looking at Alitta. “She can’t possibly be a spy either, so…” both could see the wheels turning in the queens head as she sat forward staring even more intently at the fairer skinned foreigner before her. “Can it possibly be?” Queen Josefina asked of the air around her.
Standing up, she descended the throne until she stood face to face with the American. Sergeant Ambly moved aside and dropped to the floor as the queen held out her hand circling Alitta looking her over while talking to no one in particular.
Then Josefina finally stood looking into the younger woman’s eyes as if looking beyond her physical presence. She never saw it coming but reacted as a fast punch came at her chest.
Blocking it, the American jumped back arms ready to defend herself as she’d seen in the movies a dozen times or more. Alitta looked at the queen as if she were mad as a burst of laughter came forth from the older woman.
Dinosaur Dreams (Indian Trail's Book 1) Page 8