Warbirds of Mars: Stories of the Fight!

by Неизвестный

  “Oh, wow,” Riley awed, putting out his hand to the tiny woman who would easily fit there.

  “I wouldn’t if I were you. They only pretend to be friendly if they want something from you,” I commented.

  The pixie buzzed at me, grabbing a hunk of my hair and yanking hard before flying away.

  “Ouch! See! See that! Little devil!” I grumbled, holding the aching spot at the back of my head.

  “Serves you right for insulting her,” Mirror pointed out.

  “Insulting her?” I repeated. I removed my gold compact from my pocket, directing my irritate words at the fogged reflection. “I was stating a fact. You’re an enchanted piece of glass who does nothing but state facts. Shouldn’t you be encouraging the same form me.”

  Riley interrupted my argument with the inanimate object by waving a hand excitedly in front of my face. “Hey, Fable. I think your dog found something,”

  Phil whimpered from a few feet away from us. His nose was pointed at the wide trunk of an old oak tree. He pawed at the bark, the rough scratch drowning out his second whimper.

  Riley jogged over the tree with words of praise for my pet. He ran his hands over the bark, feeling at the same places where the dog’s claws had scraped wildly. A side of the tree swung open like a door.

  We both leapt in the air. “How did I do that?”

  The juices within my stomach churned and gurgled unhappily. “You didn’t.” I glanced over both shoulders, checking for eyes watching our every move. “Someone is leading us someplace.”

  Phil galloped into the tree. Riley hesitated. “Do we follow him then?”

  “It’s better then checking every tree in the enchanted forest in hopes of finding a different door,” I answered. “Gentlemen should go first.” My hand swept at the hollow of the oak’s trunk, wondering if that would be the moment when the teenager would come to his senses and demand to be taken home.

  He frowned at me, but did not argue. Riley walked through the dark entrance, brushing spider webs out of the way before I followed.

  We stepped into a round ballroom where gorgeous couples in masks whirled around dizzyingly to an old tune. Our entrance vanished before we could even turn to check for it. I focused on the new chamber laying before us instead.

  The music, a mixture of flute whistles, piano notes, and guitar strums, came from nowhere and everywhere. A long table lay at the center of the room stocked high with sweet cakes and delicacies. Doors lined the walls, seemingly unnoticed to the spinning couples. Their clothes were a mixture of designs, some wore high waist trousers and hoop skirted gowns while others wore 1970s sun dresses and ragged jeans.

  “What is this place?” Riley asked as a couple nearly ran us down in their mesmerizing twirling.

  “One of the many enchantments of the Fae. These people came here looking for adventure, trying to fulfill some romanticized dream.” Pointing to a woman dressed in an unflattering brown cotton dress, I surveyed how her perfect steps moved her with such grace and how her eyes stuck on her jazz era dance partner. I explained to Riley further. “I once worked in a factory with her, back in the late nineteenth century. She couldn’t dance worth anything. But she came here—”

  “How long have some of these people been here?” he asked in awe.

  I stepped out of the way of a short man in a tailed coat and a woman in a Edwardian wedding dress. “Centuries. Some ate the food and can never leave and some are just caught up in the whole thing. They don’t realize that any time has passed.”

  To my surprise, Riley Parker ran up to the woman in the wedding dress, trying to pull her apart from her escort.

  “Stop it! Stop dancing!” he growled.

  I stood off to the side scratching my temple and Phil tilted his ears at the boy in confusion. “What are you dong?”

  The man in the tailed coat spun the wedding dress woman with renewed vigor, forcing Riley to release them. Letting out an annoyed grunt, Riley told me, “Trying to save them.”

  “You can’t do that.”

  The boy climbed on top of the table and started to shout, “Hey! Hey, don’t you all get it? You’re under a spell! Wake up!”

  Phil barked wildly at the boy and tried to grab the Riley’s pant leg with his teeth. I also urged, “Come down from there!”

  “We can save them…”

  “No, we can’t. Now, get down! You’re standing in potato soup and you might kick up some of it.” I felt as if I were yelling at a stubborn five year old.

  His arms flailed in frustration. “You’re worried about the food?”

  With a flick of my hair, I squared off my shoulders and set my hands on my hips. I had forgotten how frustrating looking after mortals could be. “I’m worried about you flinging it around and accidentally swallowing any of it. Now, get down from there before you further embarrass yourself!”

  Hopping back off the table, Riley stayed quiet for a moment, awaiting an explanation from me. When I said nothing in the span of time, he shook his head. “Why not?”

  “Why not?” I meant to repeat him in mocking, yet my words still ran with inquiry.

  “Why can’t we save them?”

  I squinted at him, trying to understand exactly what kind of hamster must have been turning the wheel in his head. “It’s not how things work. Some of them have eaten the food or drunk the wine which means they can never leave Faerie any way. You do either of those things, you’re trapped here forever. And the rest…” I glanced again at the Irish woman I had known. Once, I had worked alongside her, but her name escaped my memory. She had a lazy, alcoholic father, that I remembered, and she daydreamed about being a lady in high society. “Some of these people have convinced themselves that this is it. This is where they belong. Only a strong jolt of true love or an earth shattering moment of self-realization can set them free.”

  “Jolt of true love?” Riley repeated a little mystified.

  Mirror said to him, humming a little with the beat of the music, “Oh yeah. Don’t let anyone fool you. Love is a very powerful thing, even self love in some cases.”

  I looked upward at him, his own eyes locked upon the many entranced couples. “I’m pretty much banking on you really loving your sister in order to get her out of here.”

  His brown eyes moved downward, finding me with a curious light. “I wouldn’t have thought you’d believe in stuff like that.”

  A blush rose within my and shrank from his observations, casting my eyes around the room with desperation. “I’ve seen it. Real love can bring a person back from near death,” I admitted, my voice quiet as if an evil force could hear me.

  The teenage boy’s brown eyes continued to watch me, his smile growing a little with each second. As the awkward silence descended upon us, his knees began to bob ever so slightly. His body started to sway a little and his feet itched to move.

  “Crap, we have to get out of here.” I nodded at Phil who bit Riley softly on the leg through his jeans.

  “Jeez!” Riley jumped up, falling off the table in a such a way that his sneakers nearly twisted him beneath him. His dancing halted immediately as he picked himself up. “What was that for!”

  “You’re starting to get sucked in by music. We need to find your sister, remember,” I explained, then turned in a circle. “I have no idea where to go next. Phil?” The dog lowered his head again, but appeared to have lost the sent.

  Riley asked, “Mirror, do you know which door?”

  “The Council told you to call upon the Puck,” Mirror reminded me, yet I could hear the happiness in her voice at been addressed by a different person.

  Riley noticed my frown deepening. “You do know how to call him, right?” he asked anxiously.

  I stuffed the mirror back into my jeans pocket. “Oh, I know how. It’s just…” The flopping fish in my stomach slapped against my insides, wishing I had better options. “Okay, listen carefully.” I eyed Riley up and down, deciding on what I would need to warn him of. “If he gives you any advice,
don’t take it, especially on dating. Do not shake hands with him! He likes to play practical jokes. If says knock knock, for the love of whatever god you believe in, do not answer! Oh, and do not tell him anything if asks you any personal questions.”

  “Personal like what?”

  “Like if he wants to know your parents’ names or if you’re a virgin or if you like peas- You know what. Just stand over there, Boy Wonder, I’ll do the talking this time.” I waved Riley away.

  He shrugged, taking about four large strides away from me, just barely avoiding a hippy dancing with a construction worker. “How are you going to call him?” the teen asked, looking gawky and dejected in the corner where he stood.

  Clearing my throat, I shouted out, “Hey Robin Goodfellow! Get your butt out here!”

  “That’s it?” Riley asked skeptically.

  “What? You expect me to send him an engraved invitation?”

  A minute passed before a hyper active teenager appeared through the dancing crowd. He ran with an energetic bounce every three steps. His blonde hair flopped around his childish face and almost hid his pointed ears. He wore some sort of skater logo on his shirt and a pair of baggy jeans. He let out a happy yelp as he jumped atop the banquet table, turning somersaults over the dishes and knocking trays of fruit to the floor.

  The faerie joyfully reached out his arms, rushing at me with the intention of a hug. “Fable!”

  My glare darkened. “No touching.”

  “My bad.” He instantly dropped his arms, yet stayed dangerously close with a silly smile.

  A part of me found myself wanting to smile at the sight of him. “Rob, what are you even doing here? I thought you’d be out gallivanting. You know, the last time I called upon you, you never came,” I grunted to the young man.

  “I’m under house arrest. I got into some trouble in Italy over half a century ago and now Queen Titania says I can’t be let back into the mortal world until I’ve thought long and hard about what I’ve done.” Robin Goodfellow grinned at me, obviously proud of his misdeeds.

  “Have you?” I asked skeptically.

  He shrugged, “I don’t know. Maybe. Tell the truth, I can’t entirely remember what I did.”

  Riley Parker called over, pointing at where my dog had vanished amongst the flowing gowns. “I think he’s found something.” Riley pushed his way through the ballroom, following Phil as the dog kept his nose wiggling against the floor.

  “What’s with the kid?” the puck asked with a wink. “Did you finally indulge in a little mortal fun, Fable? I’m so proud.”

  “Don’t be gross,” I quickly corrected. “He’s my new potential protector.”

  The puck’s face instantly melted into revulsion. “Another one? But after what happened with the last one-”

  “Already argued that point,” I sternly told him. “If he agrees to it, I’m stuck with the Boy Wonder over there until the demon is vanquished or Council says otherwise.”

  “Yeesh. Well, good luck with that.”

  I leaned a little against him, pressing my arm against his so the fabric of our clothes rubbed together. As much of a pain in the ass as Rob was, I could not help being endeared by his charms. He had a way of making messes that took years to clean up, yet I never stayed angry at him for long. “Look, we’re trying to find his kid sister. That moron goblin, Donnie, took her. Have you seen any little girls around nine years old brought down here in the last twelve hours or so?”

  Rob’s face fell. “You know the Chaunliness and Titania have an understanding. The queen allows the demon to bring children here to transform into her minions and, in exchange, the Chaunliness keeps Oberon trapped in that enchanted boulder.”

  My mouth dropped open in disbelief. Although I felt like a gossiping biddy, I asked “She still mad about last century?”

  “Yep, although I don’t know why Titania doesn’t give it up? She knows she’ll forgive Oberon eventually,” the puck twittered nonchalantly.

  “He tried to seduce Eleanor Roosevelt,” I pointed out.

  “Does that count? He couldn’t even get to first base,” the puck insisted in defense of the faerie king.

  “He flew through the English countryside in the middle of the day while wearing one of Titania’s gowns,” I added remembering the big drama that had taken place nearly a hundred years earlier.

  The puck shook his hand at Fable with a casual, “Bah! A harmless prank and only a few humans saw him. Besides, pink is his color.”

  “He accidentally shot Archduke Ferdinand and brought about World War I!”

  “Yeah…” Robin Goodfellow trailed off, rubbing his hands together in defeat, “That was bad.” Quickly changing the subject, he clapped his hands together and said, “Okay, looking for Donnie and a nine year old. I think he went that-a-way.” He pointed to the door closest to the head of the table.

  “Do you think he took her to Titainia herself?” I asked, not wanting to deal with the moody faerie queen.

  “No. I’m sure he took the kid to an alter. That’s the fastest way to alter her,” Puck answered. His wiggled his thick blonde eyebrows at me. “Get it? Alter to alter?”

  “I was going to thank you for your help, but not after that joke.” I pointed to the correct door. “Time to go, Parker.” I paused before following. Looking Robin Goodfellow in the eye, I yielded. “Thanks.”

  “Oh, Fable, you been missing me?” he teased with a grin.

  “No. But I did forget how, when you aren’t trying to spirit away milkmaids and sorority girls, you can be a somewhat decent fellow,” I admitted, whispering so Riley Parker could not hear.

  Robin Goodfellow’s bottom lip quivered. “Oh, Fable!” he said in a weepy voice. His arms extended out to me as his eyes welled with crocodile tears. “Permission to come in for a hug.”

  “No.”

  He dropped his arms again and instantly lost the sappy expression. “Fair enough. Well, off you go, you two crazy kids. Have fun trying to undermine my sovereign.”

  Riley and I walked through the door which Puck held open wide for us. Hesitantly, with his head still arched near the floor, Phil walked along side me. We had entered a room lined with tiled walls and carpeted with emerald grass. The door closed slowly behind us.

  “You and he are friends?” Riley asked over his shoulder as we walked into the center of the room.

  “Not really.” I stiffened as I realized the air around us had turned stale and I caught the faint whiff of sulfur.

  “Then why are we trusting him?”

  “We probably shouldn’t have,” I answered.

  The tiles began to tremble, dislodging themselves and cascading back and forth along the walls like a row of dominos. The ground rocked. A mound of earth jutted upward, creating a short plateau just ahead of us. Low growling echoed off the walls, not giving me a chance to location the direction of the source.

  “Yep. Trusting Robin Goodfeellow, not really a great plan. Time to run, Riley Parker. I’m pretty sure we just walked into a rather predictable trap.”

  Unedited sample from Shards of Destiny by Scott P. Vaughn, coming from Quickdraw Books in 2013.

  CHAPTER ONE

  We can discern the end of the Triialon/Shard War almost down to the day just by the activity at the Court of Worlds, because there wasn’t any activity. As soon as the Gods got word that the Triialon Home World had been deserted, Memfis disbanded the Court, and the Gods began to truly rule from the shadows. There was really no one left to

  stop them. And thirty years later, the only ones who might have even had the military or political power to do so were the Coalition… and they had their own problems.

  History of the So-Called ‘Gods’

  —Dr. W. H. Redfield

  Lise ran her fingertips down the material of her uniform. She was loath to wear it. For such an occasion she was certain something more endearing was needed. But formality was formality, and while she may have been brought up under more aesthetic pretenses, she was
still proud to be a member of the Galactic Coalition, even if it meant wearing a uniform to a diplomatic function. She decided on the skirt and officer’s jacket and got them out of her tiny closet.

  She found herself oddly nervous about the coming delegation. It was always nice to be asked to do something that wasn’t so ‘militant’, but Lise didn’t consider herself an expert on relations either. She had been raised an aristocrat, simply another daughter from one of Sparta’s ancient, rich families and the blood-ties that position entailed. All of that had been a long time ago. Entire worlds had died since that time. Her whole world had died since that time. Five years had passed since her seventeenth birthday; the day the Lordillians had first attacked Sparta. Now she was no more than another soldier and officer in a war so much bigger than anything she could have imagined before that day.

  Lise forced aside such terrible thoughts and turned to the mirror in her small quarters. Stepping into the black skirt she watched her shapely legs, making certain there were no runs in the dark stockings, and finally secured it around her curvaceous hips. She slipped the tight, high-necked jacket on over the lace-patterned bra, her ample cleavage threatening to spill over its scandalously cut form. The rationing of war being what it was, she had taken to wearing sports underwear during strike missions or even bridge duty, so she welcomed the chance to feel rich and womanly again in the sexy garments she would have otherwise already frayed holes in, if worn as often as she preferred. Lise finished buttoning the jacket’s gold buttons all the way up to her neck and then, sweeping the long cascade of her raven curls back over her shoulder, she smoothed down its front as she inspected her image in the mirror. Smiling with meager satisfaction, she picked up her bag and turned to shut off the cabin lights.

  Stepping into the cramped corridor, Lise almost collided with admiral Jo’seph. She quickly came to attention, almost outwardly cringing at her luck. The Admiral regained his composure from nearly having been slammed into the corridor plating.

  “Sir,” she said at last.

  The admiral had the good grace to smile after his initial expression of disgust. “Commander Lise.” He signaled her to ease and held his arm out for her to continue on her way. “After you. I assume you are on your way to the Shuttle deck?”