by Dale Furse
Nell thought it would be a better idea to force the Yexers to leave Grarlon.
‘I like your way of thinking,’ Deesc said silently.
‘Thanks,’ Nell said, before speaking aloud. ‘So tell us what you think, Deesc.’
‘I am not here to fight wars,’ he said, fixing his gaze on her. ‘I am here to protect you. We should not interfere with other species.’
‘Now you sound like an Eldorap.’
‘I was raised by Eldoraps. Therefore, I am influenced by their way of thinking.’
‘Well, I was raised as a Human and Humans fight for their freedom. I am also Phib like my father and Wintar like my mother, and I will fight to my death to save all my peoples. Who knows what Varlor has planned? He’s probably intends to rid the universe of the possibility of more Wexkia births.’ She caught Eph, Orenda and Compore in her gaze. ‘Or Grarl.’
Dar-Seldra gasped. ‘Nell’s right. He is on a crusade and he will not stop until he has finished what he started. No Phib, Wintar or Grarl will be safe until he is stopped.’
Nell pushed her chair back with her legs as she stood up. ‘I think I’ll have a little talk with Varlor.’ She shifted into Eldorap form and disappeared before anyone could argue, riding her light to Corl. She hoped she could pick up a trace of where Varlor went from the lab at the restoration.
The moment she arrived in the hall outside her destination, she knew Deesc was there too.
‘Show yourself,’ she said, shifting.
‘Only to you, my love,’ Deesc said. He had that shimmer about him which meant only she could see him.
‘What are you doing here?’ Nell couldn’t believe the anger she felt toward the man she was going to live happily ever after with. Didn’t he care about her father…all the dead Grarls? ‘If you’re not going to help stop Varlor and his army you have no right to interfere. Go back to Eldorapal.’ She spun away from him but not before noting he looked as furious as she felt. Too bad. He could be as angry as he liked. She wanted him gone and by the power in her body at that moment, she could make it happen.
Solid hands grabbed her shoulders so hard her skin complained. He spun her around. ‘Nell. For once, try to see things from my perspective. The Corls have made their decision to follow Varlor and return the Elders to what they believe is their rightful place.’
‘How do you know how many Corls have made that decision. I’m certain that many, many Corls are against Varlor and what he stands for.’
‘But, like me, you do not know the numbers. Compore had the majority of Grarls behind him when he led the revolt against the royal family. It was the consensus to stay out of that war. We are Wexkians and we must respect our power. Therefore, we must adhere to the Eldorapal code. Don’t you see, what you are doing by becoming involved with one side over the other is no different to species like Eldoraps. To them, you are like Compore and Varlor is the king. Whatever happens in this sector will be a source of discussion only. How the other species, and let me tell you, there are many, see the outcome of this conflict is up to them. Each will make their own decisions whether to associate with a side or not.’
‘I can’t stand by and watch Varlor take over everything…kill any more Grarls and probably kill my family too.’
‘I understand that. You are personally involved where my involvement starts and stops with you.’
She threw his hands off her shoulders and reeled away from him. It wasn’t fair. The man was supposed to be her life’s love. Oh sure, he would do everything he could to protect her, but at what expense? The safety…the lives of her family and friends? Yes. He would sacrifice them for her. That was the one thing she could never live with.
Facing him, she said, ‘All right. Do you think your conscious will let you do something for me?’
‘Ask.’
The anger had gone from his eyes but was replaced by the wariness of a horse sensing danger.
‘I don’t want anyone to get hurt,’ she said. ‘I was thinking maybe you could go back to Grarlon and persuade Tanat and everyone else to wait before they try to take the stons. Get them to see we have to rid Grarlon of the Yexers before anything else. If you get Dar-Seldra onside, you have a better chance. Kandar too. He’s against war of any kind.’
‘And you? What do you intend to do?’
She grinned. ‘I’m just going to see if I can make Varlor see reason.’
‘Be careful,’ he said.
‘Varlor can’t hurt me, silly.’
‘Perhaps.’ He wrapped her in his arms. ‘Please be careful just the same.’
The strength of her love for him returned with a jolt and, not hiding her passion, she kissed him with her desire’s full intensity. He returned her fervour and pulled her body into his. Nell lost all sense of time and space, revelling in his touch until he stopped abruptly and pulled away.
‘Now is neither the time nor place, my love,’ he said hoarsely.
As if she’d run to the top of Mount Grief, Nell had to catch her breath before speaking. ‘Okay. Go and stall Tanat, my Wintar warrior,’ she finally said, adding, ‘Oh, and keep an eye on Sam for me, will you? He’s likely to get some silly idea in his head and if he does anything, he’ll involve Kale and Mekie for sure.’
‘I will observe him.’ He kissed the top of her head before disappearing.
Nell frowned. She should have made it clear she expected him to do more than just observe Sam. She expected Deesc to stop him from doing anything stupid. She walked into the destroyed lab, concentrating on Varlor’s life energy.
Faint vibrations from used wormholes lingered from the corner to the left of the door. More than one Corl was nearing. Stepping around and over the broken glass and furniture, she moved into the corner. She found her centre and concentrated on Varlor’s image. A cough from the middle of the room had Nell wheeling around. Varlor.
‘Ah, Wexkian. I’ve been expecting you.’ He glared at her. ‘You are well?’
Nell laughed. ‘Yeah, I’m fine. Didn’t expect that, did you?’ Varlor moved in real time, but a slight quiver around the edges of his form told Nell this was a hologram. She was going to enjoy this. ‘You’ve made way too many mistakes ’cause I’m not the only one who is immune. And we have enough antidotes to heal everyone you infected.’ She figured she’d be forgiven for her slight exaggeration on the numbers. ‘You might as well give yourself up to the newly formed UC now.’
He snarled. ‘No council of any description exists on Corl any longer. I am High Elder of Corl and as such, have full support from my citizens to deport every non-Corl back to their home worlds. You, and every germ like you, are violating Corl’s closed borders.’ His smile dripped malice. ‘However, I am a benevolent leader. Illegal aliens had two weeks from yesterday to vacate. Orders are in place to terminate all remaining aliens on sight after that time.’
Nell spat at his image. ‘You are pure evil.’ Regaining her composure, she snickered, and added, ‘But you’re not too bright, are you. You’ve forgotten about the Grarls. They’re not too happy with you. With them, my friends and I have a force that trounces your pathetic defence.’ Something flitted across his face. A crack in his composure? Ha, she had gotten to him.
‘That will never happen,’ he growled.
‘Oh, Varlor, Varlor, Varlor,’ she sang in her best tut-tut voice. ‘You have misjudged me from the beginning. I was only a baby in my mother’s arms the first time you failed to kill me.’ She shook her head. Now wasn’t the time to show weakness. ‘But now I’m grown, and I’m really tired of being hassled. This is the last time.’ She narrowed her eyes and glared at him as threateningly as she could. ‘I will stop you, and if that means killing you, I will.’ She fisted her hands on her hips.
The growl deep in his throat wasn’t very convincing. His hologram wavered then vanished.
Happy that she had unsettled him, Nell shifted into Eldorap and rode her beam to Grarlon.
Finding all her friends and family in the kitchen once more, she s
at down in her chair. Sam was finishing off a plate that looked like spaghetti bolognaise.
‘What’s in that,’ she said, pointing to the serving plate.
‘Meat,’ Sam said. ‘What did you call it?’ he asked Deesc.
‘Ronk,’ said Deesc, giving Nell a wary look.
‘Yeah, Ronk,’ Sam said.
Mekie paled and turned her head away.
‘Deesc explained the use of meat to us,’ Dar-Seldra said. ‘And although Phibs would never partake, we can’t expect other species to feel the same way.’
‘Yep,’ Sam said with a grin and a wink at Nell. ‘It appears I am more advanced than you lot in some circles.’
‘Oh, Sam, stop it and finish your plate,’ Mekie said without looking his way.
‘Where is Cay-reace?’ asked Nell.
Dar-Seldra answered. ‘He has returned to Corl for more supplies.’
Except for a few glances between Tanat, Kandar and Nadar, none of which Nell could read, the conversation around the table sounded like any other before the troubles.
Nell mind-thought to Deesc. ‘It’s good to see you again,’ she said.
‘And you, my love.’
‘I hope you two are talking niceties,’ said Dar-Seldra.
‘Of course we are,’ Nell said.
‘It doesn’t matter,’ Mekie said. ‘You shouldn’t talk secretly at the table.’
‘Or anywhere else,’ Sam said, eyeing both of them.
Nell could almost hear him whine about not knowing what was going on with her.
Ephry produced large maps of Grarlon. The planet was small by Earth standards, but the terrain was similar—mountains, valleys, lakes, rivers and oceans. The most detailed map showed the land mass, about the size of Alaska, where the royals lived. The giant palace, drawn way out of proportion to the rest of the map sat in the middle. Its brightly colours facade towered above everything else. Thick mountain ranges dotted the whole of the continent and there were lots of rivers and lakes. Nell wondered if they had rain like North Queensland’s wet season, because if they did, everywhere but the mountains would flood.
Tanat was the first to speak. He said to Nell, ‘Prince Ephry and Orenda will wait in the mountain forest closest to the palace while we lure one ston to their location at a time. They will engage the first ston and open the doors of the ship. Although a force field protects the stons from the Grarl’s assaults, Orenda and the Prince could use their combined power to defend against enemy attacks.’
‘You’ve agreed to that?’ Nell asked the prince.
He put his arm around Orenda’s shoulders. ‘We have.’
‘And you’re sure you can block their weapons?’
‘We are reasonably certain of that,’ he said.
‘Really? You’re reasonably certain. Orenda, what are you doing? You’ve just escaped dying once and now you want to have a second go?’
‘It is my duty to protect the citizens of Grarlon,’ she said.
Nell could tell by her breathy voice that she was not completely well. ‘I won’t let you,’ Nell said, standing. Deesc tried to sit her back down. She shot him a warning look and shook him off her arm before continuing her lecture to Orenda. ‘You’re sick and that makes you weak. Eph, why are you letting her do this?’
He blinked. Whether at her menacing tone or the way she had informally said his name, Nell didn’t know. Neither did she care. She sucked her cheeks in and waited for his answer.
‘He didn’t have a choice,’ Orenda said. ‘I bullied him into taking me.’ The love in her eyes as she gazed at the prince was unmistakable. ‘Only the deepest love would have allowed him to go against his training in battle.’
Nell flopped into her chair. She glanced at Sam who gazed at her as if he was trying to find the girl who had grown up with him. She screwed up her face.
He grinned, and said, ‘Yep. I said they were bonkers too, but what could we do? The prince is now ruler of Grarlon and what he says, goes.’
Every face around the table agreed, including Deesc. ‘Great,’ Nell hissed. Think, Nell, think.
‘It sounds like a solid plan to me,’ said Deesc.
Nell said. ‘Yeah, if those two stubborn Grarls can avoid being killed, it might work. But if they die and the others are exposed in their effort to board the ston, they will all die. I can’t live with that possibility. You were supposed to stop Tanat from going after the stons, remember?’
Deesc said. ‘He believes that without the stons, they have no chance against the Yexers. I understand how you feel, my love. I lost everyone I cared about in the pandemic and the hardest people to live without are one’s parents.’
‘Yeah,’ she said, a catch in her voice. ‘But Orenda is like a parent to me. So are Annet and Carl and who knows what will happen to them if we fail here. And now, I can’t even be sure my abilities will help. If the ston can’t be penetrated by Grarls it probably can’t be by me either.’
He squeezed her knee. ‘Nell, Haast has advised me you are as powerful if not more powerful than the Wexkian Elders of old. You, therefore, are now the first new-age Elder of Wexkia.’
‘Huh?’ She hadn’t expected that. ‘Does that mean I’m stronger than you?’
He laughed silently. ‘Yes, my sweet love, you are. However, don’t get ahead of yourself. You have much to learn yet.’
She looked deep inside her core. What he said was true. There was heaps more she could do but tapping that power was the hard part. She had to find a way to use it and she had do it quickly.
Everyone else had been discussing the plans while she and Deesc talked. She hadn’t heard a thing, so she asked, ‘When are you going?’
‘We just discussed that,’ Mekie said. ‘You and Deesc have been talking privately again.’
‘I’m sorry,’ Nell said to everyone at the table. ‘I just had some questions and I didn’t want to keep interrupting.’
Mekie’s expression softened. ‘I know,’ she said. ‘We all do.’
Sam and Kale nodded in agreement. Both put their arms around Mekie’s shoulders.
Nell turned to Tanat. ‘What?’
‘We leave to capture a ston this night,’ he said.
‘Who is ‘we’?’
‘Me, Prince Ephry and Orenda, Nadar, Sam and Kale. Kandar will stay and watch over those remaining.’
Dar-Seldra placed her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes as if she was praying or wishing for something.
‘I’m going with you,’ Nell said.
Dar-Seldra wrenched her head back up, her eyes pleading with Nell.
‘I’m sorry, Dar-Seldra,’ Nell said. ‘But I have to go.’
‘If you’re going then I am too,’ Mekie said.
‘No,’ said Tanat. ‘We can’t stop Nell, but we can stop you. You can throw your tantrums but you will stay here with your mother.’ He stood up, kissed Dar-Seldra’s head and left the room.
Nell bit her cheek. She’d missed that part of the discussion too. Mekie glared at Tanat as if she were trying to fell him with her eyes, but she didn’t say anything. That’s what surprised Nell most of all: Mekie taking orders from Tanat.
The other members of his band said their goodbyes and followed him, Ephry and Orenda floating after them.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
NELL EMERGED FROM HER TRAVEL TUBE INTO the mountain forest and shifted from Eldorap. Invisible, Deesc appeared a second later. The prince and Orenda brought Nadar and Tanat. Kale appeared with a displeased Sam who had begged to travel with Nell. They stayed under the cover of the trees just in case they were wrong that the Yexers wouldn’t go near the forest.
Nell no longer worried about Deesc’s invisible Eldorap form. She understood. She knew too that after her marriage she would have to make the same commitment. The people of Wexkia had no right to interfere in other species turmoils. They were a much too powerful resource. Huh. When did she start thinking like that? How could she have changed in such a short time? She had accepted Deesc’s propos
al of marriage. She was no longer Human, Phib or Wintar. She was Wexkian and she felt like one. But she wasn’t completely Wexkian yet and that commitment would have to wait until she was sure all her family and their families were protected without her help.
Wondering where the planet of Wexkia was, she scanned the heavens. Two of the Corl explorer ships appeared out of the darkness patrolling the skies. One of the Stons broke away from the other ship and made its way slowly to the mountain.
Orenda and the prince rose above the trees. They meant to attract the Ston.
Sifting into Wintar, Nell flew into the canopy of the tree above the rest of the group as Orenda threw a blast of white energy to the ship’s portside. Ephry shot a supporting blast.
The Ston altered direction, bearing down on the Grarls. Nell called out, ‘The other Ston is coming from the west.’
A hot orange beam of light cannoned from the first ston. Laser. The Grarls separated in a blur a split second before the laser cracked in the air between them. In retaliation, the Grarls aimed at the door, sending blast after blast of white energy from their minds through their outstretched hands at the door seals.
The Ston was too slow to evade the blasts. Whoever was flying the thing did manage to move enough that some of the Grarl’s barbs missed the door. But then the pilot had to reposition the ship to realign one of its weapons. By the time the laser aimed, the Grarls were already blasting the portside door’s seals. Nell let out a laugh. The Ston only had one weapon on each side of the ship. For a supposedly super intelligent species, the Corls didn’t have the brains to make their guns able to fire in all directions.
Nell mind-linked with Orenda and increased the strength of their energy blasts. After numerous combined blows, the okfor door wrinkled and with the force of their blasts of energy crumpled inwards. The Ston tipped with the door hole facing the ground. A Corl screamed as he dropped from the opening. Nell broke the connection as the Ston plummeted. The pilot managed to move the ship’s nose up as it hurtled through the trees, breaking and crushing them as it went. The ground rumbled as the ship thudded into a small clearing, coming to a stop against one of the giant tree trunks.