Arnica

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Arnica Page 31

by I. Christie

Horiku informed her, landed in a flip behind JG.

 

  Jac's eyes were on the men with the bows and arrows. Many a time he had to run from hunters because of his antics. Now was the time to put all that practice to use.

  JG drew her sword out of its sheathe, just as bows were notched. "Jac, will you be okay?" she asked softly.

  "Oh, yeah. I'm used to this. I'm pretty fast at duck and roll, if you get my drift," he laughed.

  JG laughed too. "My, my, us three against ten. Not good for them." She caught the first arrow with her blade and was kept busy knocking away others. She was beginning to tire when Jac, who disappeared sometime during the first wave of arrows, was behind the group with a sling shot. JG had to keep her eye on her attackers but she noticed many of them were not getting up after Jac's shots. Someone must have realized this too because a few broke ranks, leaving four in front and three behind them. Horiku 374

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  gave a cluck noise and sprinted to the three facing her and JG took on the four, knocking them down. She was running down one of the others that was charging Jac who was reloading his sling shot, but Nameer beat her to him.

  "So, what do we do with these men?" JG asked. She tied the last one up and from Nameer's grunt, it was the group he asked her to apprehend.

  "There is a monastery, a day from here. The monks will take care of them,"

  Horiku told her smiling. She could see a difference in the energy around JG.

 

  JG jumped up and stood still as a warm feeling encompassed her. She breathed in deeply, tears forming in her eyes.

  Horiku bowed her head.

  JG watched as a solid form appeared before them. It looked as real as if she were really before her.

  "I am really here," the child queen laughed delighted. "You call it teleporting."

  She turned to Nameer who was purring and looked like he was smiling, his canines shinning in the sun. "Your mother will be proud of you Nameer, as I am of you. May your lands be plentiful and your hunts glorious."

  Nameer gave Zohra a glance. :I thank you for what you have done for us: It will not be forgotten: With that, the great leopard leaped over a rock and disappeared into the new growth of fauna.

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  Queen M'Lu turned to Jac who was staring at her with his mouth opened and tears falling from his eyes. The Queen smiled at him tenderly. "You are a gifted artist, Jac and if you are willing, I know a master craftsman who is looking for a student."

  Jac nodded, still unable to speak.

  "Speak to the monk, Gemuba. She will give you the introduction you will need to Master Craftsman Sea. A friend I hold dear will also be on the island. S'Bo. He is a very wise man to speak with if you so desire. I miss his council. You both will enjoy each other's company."

  Jac nodded. He had heard of the elder S'Bo. His father held him in distain, which probably meant the elder would be an interesting person to befriend. He swallowed and croaked out something and then tried again. "Are you…are you the queen?"

  "I am Queen M'Lu. I beg your pardon for not introducing myself sooner. I have been informed that your antics at the university have gotten you expelled again. It is time to put those behaviors aside young Caladia, and go about your business."

  Jac nodded, feeling remorseful. "I…I understand my Queen. I will always be your servant," he finished.

  "You shall never be anyone's servant young Jac. You are too full of your own ideas," she laughed playfully. "You need to focus on your art. You have the heart for it."

  From Jac she moved her attention to Jina Gari.

  "Thank you for asking your people to repair this damage." The Queen looked around nodding at what she saw. "It will be nourished and consciousness will be brought into it. She turned to her young Kiuzi warrior. "Horiku, you have done well on your 376

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  mission. Commander O'Malley is proud of you also. I have one more job to ask of you before you return home. Jina Gari needs to be escorted to Ilo. Could you see that she gets there by the half moon? Her bondmate will be waiting for her."

  JG could feel her heart beating frantically as she thought of seeing Alexandra again. The Queen smiled. "You will have time for your dance," she hinted.

  JG looked at her startled. "Dance?"

  "Yes. The time has come for you to perform it, before you become separated again." The Queen raised her hand and blessed the two women and Jac whose eyes were still glistening. She turned to the group of men that could not see her nor hear her and said a prayer for them. "The monks will assist them in leaving Arnica."

  JG was excited and as soon as the Queen left she was pushing the men to march down the path to the main road. They passed many vehicles and for a moment she was worried they were going to get hit, but Horiku and Jac seemed unconcerned and kept them to the side of the road where they were not bothered. Jac looked like he was walking on air a smile broad across his face. JG brushed her fingers over her heart that felt the Queen's love filling her to the point she thought she would burst out in colors. JG

  shook her head. Now where did that come from. Ahh. As she looked around she laughed.

  She was seeing not just images overlapping images, but colors. Everything had colors. It came and went but it was stabilizing so she could see it longer. Jac's colors were soft pinks and blues, and then greens and pink again.

  "Horiku."

  Horiku dropped back to her side.

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  "Is there a stream near the monastery?"

  "Yes."

  "Good." She sighed. She missed the Sha'Kar.

  Their arrival was expected. A group of monks and warriors met them. From how Horiku's posture changed, JG suspected it was an honor for her to meet them. They greeted Horiku as an equal, which seemed to take Horiku by surprise.

  Their prisoners were taken off their hands. Jac gave JG a hug, and left her to compose himself. He seemed to be on the verge of crying since meeting the Queen.

  While Horiku went to take care of some business, JG went to find Jac. She found him sitting in a garden, swinging his legs nervously as he stared unseeing at a fountain.

  "Hey, Jac. You excited about your future?" she asked, taking the seat the Jac offered her.

  "I have met the Queen," he whispered. "Never in this life had I thought I could meet the Queen." He paused as he tried to pull himself together. "I was never good at anything, just getting into trouble my father said. And he was right. To be able to see Queen M'Lu of Allint, and to be sponsored by her is…"

  "A great honor," JG supplied. "And I would guess, it means you're sort of Drosuan."

  "Yes!"

  "I don't think you were that bad of a boy, Jac. I think you were somewhere you didn't want to be, and couldn't figure out how to get to where you wanted to be."

  He leaned toward her. "But I saw, felt and spoke to the Queen and she to me!" He took a deep breath and sobbed in his hands. Finally he raised his tear stained face. "I have always dreamed of creating art that would be shown in the Queen's Hall. I can't share this with my family because they are…they would not understand. Nor my friends."

  JG smiled at the young man. "I understand," she told him softly. "So, it's time to make new friends and adopt a new family."

  He nodded and returned his stare into the fountain. She got up and went for a walk in the gardens. She closed her eyes for a moment to identify the ache that was vaguely familiar.

 

 

  It was late at night, but JG wanted to go to a stream bed and see if she could feel her friend the Sha'Kar. She was worried. Everyone seemed to be asleep, but JG. She left her pallet and let herself out of the building. Where she was going she did not know. She let her feelings guide her
. There were no busy thoughts distracting her only an intense awareness and a sense of danger. Something was wrong with the Sha'Kar. She could feel this in the air about her. She slid down an embankment and just as she touched a rock to regain her balance, she knew she was deceived. Before her was the metrasoldier leader that she had seen once and before she could react she was knocked out.

  Chapter 19

  Alexandra paced. She had felt a joyous communication with Jina Gari earlier and then only moments ago something had slammed into her senses. JG was her first thought.

  She was sitting in the monastery near a fountain waiting for Gi when it happened. She reached out to touch her lover and there was a darkness that made her want to heave the contents of her stomach. It was nothing like what the colonists had created. This was…the absence of love.

  Gi and others were quickly at her side as she tried to stand from the shock.

  "What…what is happening with Gari?" she asked frantically. Just as she got that out she realized she was escalating the wrong feelings. Steadying herself, she focused on her lover.

  "An island," she whispered. She was being carried. Then she was pushed out and away. Her eyes opened.

  "It is where the Black Alliance has their headquarters," one of the Kiuzi guards informed them. "They have machines that block out any of our touches. They have one of your off-world soldiers helping them."

  "What would they want with Jina Gari? She's not from here. What can she offer them?" She rubbed her head, entangling her fingers in the long curly hair. "Maybe they want to leave this planet and they think she's their way off," she concluded.

  Kaili Maipuga nodded. "They are getting desperate. However, if they wish to leave, they merely have to ask and we would supply them a ship with plenty of supplies."

  "Do they know this?"

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  Kaili Maipuga nodded again. "We have told them this. They have looked over the ships; however, they do not have weapons. Therefore they will not take them."

  "Ahh. They do have a point there. There are raiders and pirates out there. A ship not equipped with anything to protect…"

  "They have equipment that will protect them from others…the ship can move unseen. They wish to be raiders and pirates with the ability to conceal themselves and then attack others." Gi informed her dryly.

  "So…what now?" she looked at Kaili Maipuga.

  "We prepare to go to war," he smiled smugly. "But not a war that you are familiar with.

  A short warrior with braids wrapped on top of her head looking like a hat, stepped into the room. "The ship is ready, Kaili Maipuga."

  "Good. Everyone. We go now."

  Alexandra's stomach dropped a few times as the ship lifted swiftly and swooped down ten minutes later, too soon for her to have recovered the first lift. Eagerly Alexandra clambered off the plane. Her first step on the ground was a jolt that she was sure sent bolts of electricity through her hair ends. Kaili Maipuga paused at her side, waiting for her to adjust. The Queen had assured Kaili Maipuga that the off-worlder would be able to withstand the higher vibration of the palace. Since the attack on the palace its energy was raised, preventing anyone or anything to enter into its space unchallenged.

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  Alexandra spotted someone official looking standing near a garden, which by her stance, looked like the queen; however, someone crossed in front of her and both disappeared back into the garden. Alexandra looked up at Kaili Maipuga.

  "Queen Mother," he informed her softly.

  They were accompanied by ten Kiuzi warriors that had accompanied Kaili Maipuga, but at the palace entrance, they went no further. Another group of warriors, also Kiuzi, but dressed differently escorted them further into the palace halls. Alexandra looked right and left, studying the paintings of many different species she did not recognize as well as those she did. A centaur greeted them at another door. His beard was clipped and braided with beads while his long hair was loose with the exception of the two long braids at the sides of his face.

  "Kaili Maipuga," the centaur spoke in a deep voice. "It is a pleasure to see you and to be the one to show you to the Queen's office."

  Kaili Maipuga turned to Alexandra, "May I present Lt. Commander Lady Alexandra Harriet Montran, to the esteemed secretary of Queen M'Lu, Count Victoresque."

  The centaur bowed his head as he waved them forward, to another hall. "I am truly blessed to be meeting two important guests of the Queens."

  The door opened as they neared, and a preoccupied Dwarf moved passed them without looking, muttering to himself as he read over some lines.

  "That is the Queen's storyteller. He has been recently given the position and has proved to be a very earnest student of the trade. It helps that his voice is very 382

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  compelling," the centaur laughed at this, and then explained. "He was telling a story about a young boy and his sister that had met up with something that to them was just a voice from a rock. He had everyone, including the Kiuzi guards, raptly listening to him recount a tale that many of us have heard all our lives." He chuckled again. "It is worth listening to it again with someone that has the gift." He pushed opened another door after rapping it two times.

  Queen M'Lu was standing over a desk with her hands clasped behind her back, studying something. There were three others in the room. Alexandra knew the moment she walked in the room, if she even tried to raise her hand, it would be slowed or stopped if it was considered a threat. Her eyes moved to the young woman near a window. Both studied each other while the Queen finished up with the elf scribe. He bowed to everyone and smiling happily left the room.

  Alexandra pulled her eyes from the young woman and studied the white haired youth that was watching her with a smile on his face. It was as if she did something that was amusing.

  "Usually, no one can feel my sister's touch. So Ji'am finds this interesting, especially since you are not from Arnica. Welcome, Lady Alexandra. This is my sister and Guardian of the crown of Allint, C'Lea. Ji'am is Sacred Jester…ah. You understand."

  She nodded pleased.

  Alexandra felt out of place among those she saw physically as children. Kaili Maipuga and her were the oldest in the room. Yet, she knew full well that the power in the room could probably implode a planet if directed right.

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  "Yes, that is a fair assumption. However, we are merely guides using subtle and gentle methods." She frowned for a moment. "Kaili Maipuga you know what I am asking but I am asking with an expectation for you to answer with all honesty."

  Kaili Maipuga nodded. He turned to Alexandra. "The blank energy you felt, when you attempted to touch your lifemate, it has engulfed the Queen Mother. We do not wish to banish it from her because she is holding it for a reason. Since we can't communicate with her we have surmised after a time of debate, that we cannot banish it or harm it in any way. It is also what those that have seized your lifemate worship. They wish to use her as its vessel."

  Alexandra's eyes opened wide. "Oh," she said softly."

  "Exactly. As with all that is happening over the entire planet," Queen M'Lu continued. "Our lessons are becoming more intense and in greater number as Itachi nears the flash point. A Sha'Kar had accompanied you and your bondmate. They are no longer with you because they feel the quickening."

  "It is like a rush after you have performed a good kata," a voice spoke from behind Alexandra. She turned to see a tall Micas waiting to be waved in.

  "Commander O'Malley!" Queen M'Lu greeted happily. "You have finished your chore?"

  "Yes, my Queen. They are on a ship waiting for it to power up. It will take a few days to get under way."

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  "Lady Alexandra, this is Commander O'Malley. Head of the Queen's Kiuzi guard.<
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  A handy soldier to have around if you should go walking in forests when warned not to,"

  Kaili Maipuga joked. Commander O'Malley blushed and shook his head ruefully.

  "I will be sure to heed my clan's shaman next time."

  The group laughed.

  "So, what shall we do?" Kaili Maipuga asked.

  The Queen gestured around the table for them to take seats. "This will take a while so let's get comfortable and share ideas."

  For a long wearying time they were tossing ideas back and forth about how to get the 'ogre' out of the Queen Mother and neutralize it so it would not take possession of Alexandra's lover. Alexandra had her chin resting in her hand not thinking about anything. She was tired from racking her brains for ideas and since she did not know that much about Arnica, she was limited in her suggestions. She tapped her chin in thought as she remembered a conversation she had with the Sha'Kar while she was recovering from her stay in the sleep module. Her eyes blinked up at those around the table. She gulped.

  "Sorry, I was…ahh, remembering a conversation I had with the Sha'Kar." She cleared her throat and took a quick sip of water.

  "Please, tell us," Kaili Maipuga encouraged.

  "The Sha'Kar was telling me a story of a lost soul that traveled the galaxy looking for a place to rest. It didn't mean to stop at this one place because the energy was wrong and it was repulsed with the life that was on the planet but something had sucked it down and imprisoned it in a small container. It was furious and the more it was unable to leave, 385

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  the angrier it became." She looked around at the others, wondering if they would pick up on the similarities.

  "So, how does this end?" Ji'am asked.

  "I woke up. It was in a dream. But I recall what it hated most of its confinement was boredom." She rubbed her forehead, worried about JG.

  "So, what was suggested?"

  "That was my challenge. The Sha'Kar asked me how I would release something that had become so angry that it could not separate its jailer with its rescuer. My quick answer was break the container and run. But now…" she hesitated as she let her thoughts work out why she instinctually chose this story to recount. "There are many levels to this problem. First of all, for an entity such as this to go from one environment to another, willingly, it needs to be interested and compelled. It also must feel safe and be able to not feel unreasonably contained, until it can safely be released. And the second thing is, why was it lost in the first place? It will need a guide to assist in finding its way back to where it needs to be."

 

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