105 – Exploring The Party, Rox gets in a fight

  Steven went down to the first floor and continued his looking around. He soon found that the lower floor had no balconies that were not also docks, and that this floor in general was designated for the juveniles and teens that were not of sufficient discipline, or interested in joining the adults above.

  Roxanne wandered the second floor, pausing in one room to help herself to the buffet. She found herself making small talk with a few other locals, but most were apparently loath to approach her until she sat. Then she was set upon by a token few who took it upon themselves to interrogate and then properly introduce this elfin interloper.

  Rox did not have long to converse, before being taken from the third floor up to the forth floor and introduced around there. She was soon passed about a dance floor, and learning the local dance moves. As they went, she was able to learn little that was truly helpful.

  Caspian got to the top floor and strolled briskly down the hall, checking the rooms for a balcony, and then went out onto the first one he found, looking over the river. He paused and then seeing no one around he closed his eyes, and relaxed as best he could. Then he turned to his magic sense. The entire fortress was weighing heavily on him, but there was also a brooding malevolence pushing against his awareness. Caspian reset his senses, partially by remembering and concentrating on a ditty from his youth. Quickly it was as if a fog lifted, partially. The old magic that was virtually innate to the fortress was still there and dominating his magic senses, but it was now more bearable. The malevolence was also reduced to a peripheral level.

  Reinforced, Caspian turned and went back inside. As the bulk of the party had not yet reached this level in force, the room buffets were not yet stocked. But he found a staging table outside this levels kitchen annex and helped himself to the meat, fruit, bread, and other foods being prepared.

  Caspian then proceeded to explore the available area. This floor had more dancing rooms than the other floors below, with the bands still warming up. To his surprise, in one smaller sitting room Caspian found a few merchants that he knew from elsewhere, and was able to strike up conversation with them. To no surprise, they had no real understanding of the why's of this particular ball, and were availing themselves of the opportunity to socialize with some they might not otherwise have opportunity to, and perhaps arrange some new business. Finally Caspian excused himself and moved on, working his way down through the floors seeking for anyone worth listening to.

  Karen had her senses going sorting through the static and noise of the various minds to find 'Steven' and his wife. As well, she was partially shrouding herself from the other society matrons, who would no doubt try to bring Karen into their circles and hook her up with some man. Her clean range of pickup was the floor she was on, and either the one below or above; there were enough minds beginning to fill the rooms that to try to scan three floors at the same time was too much. So she moved quickly along the second floor first, with scant attention to the kids’ floor below and more attention to the merchants on the floor above.  Getting around the whole of the palace wing, Karen climbed up two levels and started back the way she had come. She thought she picked up Steven on the lower floor but was not paying enough attention to get a good reading, and was not going to break character by backtracking right now.

  This forth level had more diplomats and socialites to interact with, or avoid. The top level was developing a good mix of everyone, as the primary dance floors were on that level. Karen would have to scan that level on its own. Now she focused on everyone on this floor. She got partway around and got a solid reading on a non-local half-elf female. Karen entered the room and looked around. Sure enough there was the tall female with a white mowhawk that Karen had followed on the streets. She was on the dance floor being passed from partner to partner, as a reel was played. Karen took a glass of drink from passing tray for camouflage and sat at a side table to watch, and wait for an opportune moment.

  Roxanne worked along the buffet, taking a break from the dancing to have a bite to eat while considering how to make the talk go to the subject of the reason for the ball. She had kept up with her dance partners, and realized that most of the locals probably recognized her as a juvenile elf, and therefore maritally unattached. As she looked the fruit tray over, she realized that the fresh stuff was all melons, with a few other candied and preserved fruits from other seasons. This struck her as she was looking for the strawberries and blueberries to go with her melon.

  “Traveling through or settling?”

  Rox looked at the man next to her. He wore white over off-white robes, and tingled of magic. He was tall enough she could elbow his nose without raising her arm. His accenting was not quite local.

  “Passing through. We were conducting business and learned of the ball, and came to see.”

  “Oh, then you have some time?”

  “Not much. This has been entertaining, though we don't know quite what it is for.”

  “I sense magic about you. Do you cast?”

  Roxanne was feeling that something was wrong with this situation and she needed to get out of it. Behind her, the orchestra started a new dance number and the floor filled with moving bodies.

  “I have access to some casting. Why do you ask?”

  “I have long had curiosity about elves and their use of magic.”

  “Then perhaps you ought to visit one of our cities, rather than troll about for someone to bother.”

  With that Rox took her plate and stepped away from the buffet and toward a table, where a few ladies were sitting.

  A hand took hold of her arm, almost gently, and tried to turn Rox toward another empty table. The man asked “Will you join me for a bit more conversation?”

  Rox felt his hand wander over to her hip and rump.

  Across the room, Karen senses told her that this man did not have the best of intentions toward the half-elf. Then she saw him put his had to her rump. Karen stood up and started around the perimeter of the room to go intervene.

  Rox grabbed his wrist and pulled it away, squeezing the bones together. “Touch me again, and you loose the hand.”

  Before she let go, he tried to cast a spell. She felt a heavier magic pop and fizzle the spell of this man. Rox turned the rest of the way, smashing her stoneware plate into the man's startled face, and twisted her other hand away from his arm. The plate fell to the floor and clattered, but the room was noisy enough that the sound was unnoticed by most. She stepped away and back to put space between them. He followed, and lunged after her, grabbing her arm again. Rox felt him try to cast a spell again, and again his spell was crushed by a heavier spell.

  Karen peripherally felt the enchantments of the castle thrum, then settle a second time. Suddenly there were two guards with pole arms standing and visible at each of the two sets of doors to this room. Karen briefly wondered if they had been there all along, but somehow shrouded.

  ‘Grenade’ began echoing through Rox’s mind, as she tried to get him to let go. She brought her martial arts to bear, and knocked his hands off her, but he was quickly trying to get his hands on her somewhere, even the arms she was using to deflect him. He was also still trying to subdue her using a spell, as they grappled. She could not understand the words, but could sense the direction of the magic. It was not the same that had failed twice. This would try to affect her will.

  “Shields,” was all she got out as he finished.

  “Come with me.” His spell wrapped around hers and they sparked and spat, trying to drive each other to nothing.

  Roxanne was not waiting. She yanked on his wrist with one hand and punched him in his sternum with the other, through the magic between them. He fell to his knees stunned, letting go of her. His spell fizzed to nothing.

  Rox again tried to leave. He tripped her before she got from him. He then started clawing and crawling up her leg to stand while trying to physically restrain her. He pulled her over in the process. Later she would wonder why he did not try to magically restrain her, or teleport again with her. His hand got to her knee, when she kicked him again with her free leg. But he wrapped this up before she could pull away.

  Roxanne had enough of his groping her. “Shields.” Again her magic shields came on at full intensity, using the floor for a locus. “Grenade.”

  She focused her attention and idea on the base of his skull. ‘This is a dangerous way to practice magic,’ she had been told. ‘The idea you have had better be clear, or it could go awry.’ Roxanne had a clear idea. In moments his neck exploded, becoming so much vaporized tissue. His body stayed put, but went totally limp and fell over. His head came to a pulpy stop under the table next to them. Somewhere near by a woman shrieked in instant hysterics.

  Roxanne let her shields dissipate and pushed the body off her legs. Her ears rang, her thighs were numb from the concussion, but she was in one piece.

  She picked herself up, as she heard his voice.

  “That hurt. Very clever.”

  She turned as he stood up from reaching under the table and put his head to his neck, his neck still reintegrating itself, his head inflating back to shape as he held it in place. He then began to cast a new spell. Roxanne felt her hair start to stand on end and crackle.

  ‘Energy is energy’ and ‘Lightening rod’ flashed through her mind. As her opponent set up to cast a lightening bolt at her. Rox reached into her sash and through the illusion of the gown and grabbed her staff, activating the ends. She planted one end on the ground and tilted the staff toward her opponent. The bolt let loose as she got set. The thunder was deafening, and almost a physical force, knocking several people between and around them down. Her staff glowed white for a moment, but all the energy was directed into the floor. There was now a small burned spot where Rox had planted her staff, and she had some tingling in her hands. But she was still standing.

  Rox pulled the end of the staff off the ground, deactivated the length and pointed the staff at the wizard, letting loose with a barrage of magic darts, like a machine gun.

  She pinned him to the wall with this, then turned toward the doors again. He tried to grapple her from behind as she crossed the room to leave, but only got the butt end of her staff in his belly for his troubles. He collapsed on himself as she came back around with the other end, catching him just under his jaw. His neck gave an awful popping sound as his head whipped back, and he rolled onto his back, his body going limp again. His jaw was a mess, and this time he did not get back up. Evidently his spell was either exhausted, or only covered dismemberment and not internal damage.

  The fight had made a mess of this part of the room, right in front of the buffet. Once the guards had become aware of the fight, they had closed the doors they stood at and waited for it to finish. Likewise Karen had stood aside and pulled a few non attentive bystanders out of the way, and set up a spot of cover.

  Roxanne decided not to stick around for the cleaning bill as guards started to come at her. She moved for an exit, staff in hand when a brown haired woman in a light tan gown pulled Rox into a knot of people on the dance floor. “Come with me, if you want to get out. And put the staff away.”

115 – Changes have been made

  As they sat around the fire and ate, Karen realized that there was one subject that had not yet been addressed. When she had thought about it earlier in the day she had looked over the inventory in the cart. Now at a lull in the conversation she addressed this. “Once you get your kids back, where are they going to sleep? Your tents are only big enough for yourself. Unless you are going to squeeze your kids into your tent, they or you will have to sleep outside. Do you have enough blankets for that?”

  Caspian kept eating his stew, staying out of the conversation. The tent he used was large enough for him to occupy with a little extra space. The kids using it and him sleeping outside as Karen did would not be a big issue. But what kids the age of Alex or Diana would want to sleep with an opposite sex sibling?

  Rox and Steven looked at each other. The unspoken conversation was that neither one had really thought about this question.

  Steven turned to Karen. “Is there a village or town along our way, where we could get something?”

  Rox added to the ideas. “Or are we going to have to pick some up when we get the kids?”

  Karen though for a moment. “There are towns and villages along the road, but I did not plan to go by one. This path is favored by the cave-dwellers for overall lack of locals along it. But most crossroads have someone with goods near by. I think there is a farm-village between where we join The Ring Road and where we turn back off of it. We can check there.”

  Steven nodded and looked at Rox. “Sounds ok. Worst comes to worst, we can wrap in our coats and cloaks, and the kids in our blankets. Maybe set the cargo tarp up as a tent against the cart.”

  “How about picking up something when we get the kids?”

  “I don’t know,” Steven answered. “If the locals are wiling to just give Diana and Alex back they may send some supplies, but I am not planning on it. I just hope we don’t end up in a long running fight.”

  Rox considered this, but had not answer.

  Journal of Steven Caplan: Day 142

  Sometimes you need someone from outside to point out the obvious flaws in your plan. We should have got blankets and a second or larger tent while in Skarg. Now we have to see if there is some other place or way to deal with this issue.

  They came to the Ring Road highway just before midmorning. Karen instructed a right turn, to head south. The road was wide enough to drive three large wagons abreast with room to spare, as the highways in the north were. Once they though about it up north, the Caplan’s were not surprised about most of the traffic staying to the relative right side of the road, probably for the same historic reason that most traffic on earth traveled on the right. As they walked they had again paired off, and rotated marching positions randomly. Soon Steven walked next to Rox behind the cart and horse. Karen led the cart for the moment, with Caspian beside to her right, his staff marking time. They went on past two left turns. Karen mentioned that these roads led into the mountains in to their direct east. One to a mining and lumbering area. The other went into a city over the first summit that was known for making musical instruments.

  A train of a half dozen carts passed going in the other direction. Karen did not sense anything to impress her about it. Caspian and Rox did not sense any active magic. The train moved on. Karen picked up a few stray thoughts about the two couples traveling together, the humans and the elves. Karen almost turned to correct that, then though better of it, and walked on.

  At the turn off they wanted, Karen paused, bringing the cart to a stop. It was a less used road that the last two. She turned to Rox and Steven.

  “This is the road to where we want to go. I was not certain where or if there is a village in this area. I think there is one a bit further south. I suppose we should have asked the train that passed us. That that is behind us now. So, do we divert and go south, or go ahead and up the road?”

  Rox and Steven had discussed this some as they walked this morning.

  Steven spoke for them. “Let’s go south, at least until lunch, or a hill where we can survey the area if such exists. If we don’t find anything by then, then we turn back and go up the road.”

  So they went.

  Cresting the second subtle rise as they went they quickly found a large cleared area where the forest had been removed for a small community of orderly several farms on one side of the road and pasture land on the other. At the center was a small crossroad and market with a church, a tavern and inn, and two storehouses all built in dug-out pattern for the lower lever, with the framed timber construction similar to Skarg above. They stopped at the tavern where Caspian held the lead for the cart as Karen and the Caplan’s went in. Once inside Karen’s senses pricked. She reflexively passively scanned over the locals as she led to the bar and the proprietor, a few of the patrons sitting a bit apart did not seam quite right. Karen took the lead and inquired about purchasing some blankets. As she did, she cast her senses about listening to what each person though about what was happening.

  The proprietor looked at the local woman and the two tall strangers, and then led them across the street into one of the storehouses.

  Karen paused with Caspian as she went out. “There are a handful of shady characters in there. The locals don’t like them. Be on alert.”

  The storehouse was a cooling house filled with harvested vegetables stored for the winter. That was in the back. In the front were a few shelves of domestic goods. Rox and Steven quickly picked out four thick blankets of good size. There were no tents, nor was there any heavy fabric for making a tent available. Karen and Rox unfolded the blankets and checked them for vermin, then refolded each one; the blankets would do. Steven paid as the last one was being folded. Karen then quickly purchased a few pounds of assorted vegetables which she paid for, and they went back outside.

  Caspian had led the cart around to near the door and they quickly added their purchases into the existing stores and secured the tarp over all, as the weather looked threatening.

  They went back quickly and were back at the turnoff within in time to think about stopping for lunch. They all decided to walk a little and look for a good clearing to pause in, or a good tree to stand under as the weather was beginning to change. Rox could sense almost sense the energy of the area shifting as the storm front approached from the southwest.

  Karen led them east up the road. Her senses shortly told her that eight bandits were now stalking them. Karen wondered briefly why she had not picked them up sooner, and then chided herself for staying in the city among so many minds too long. It led her to automatically dampen her range of senses, simply to keep from hearing so many minds.

  Karen reached out to the three with her. Psionic to psionic this was easy, it was not really telepathy as thinking loud. Now she thought loud to three non-talented minds.

  -There are eight bandits moving to surround us. Be ready.-         

  Caspian jerked his head in her direction. She sensed Steven and Rox start looking around, slightly, as they continued walking normally.

  Karen expanded her range and felt a lot more minds going about their daily business of hunting and gathering and playing. She focused her senses on the eight bandits, but did not want to show off. Neither did she want to show her full capability. If she wanted, she could zap all eight within moments, and then be asleep from before dinner to after breakfast tomorrow. That would not be good.

  -Two for each of us, one with a bow, one with a sack. Take your two, then help whomever needs it. Ten steps, or so-

  Karen walked forward, and then the men jumped out of hiding beside the road. Some were behind scrub, some were under dirty and camouflaged blankets. For a moment four bandits with sacks tried to attack four travelers.

  Rox turned and kicked her sack man mid stride, doubling him over. Steven forearm blocked his across the man’s shoulders and upended him, while turning him into a shield. Caspian raised his hand, and the man felt himself hit by solid wall of force and thrown back. Karen let her man get close, dropped the horses lead, and then chopped the man in the throat, and grabbed his tunic.

  The archer facing Rox let fly, and hit a magic shield. A force grabbed him and pulled him from his tree stand at twice his height to the ground, hard. Steven used his human shield to catch the arrow shot at him, and then still carrying the human shield with an arrow stuck from its back charged at his attacker, who was only half again the archer’s height off the ground. Steven threw his shield against the tree trunk, careful not to drive the arrow further in, and grabbed the archers legs out from under him, dropping him from the limb, and to the ground, breaking the bow as he hit the ground. The archer facing Caspian had his own partner hit him and they flew past two more trees before hitting the ground. Karen held her human shield in place, pulling her stiletto from her left wrist sheath, and threw it at the archer, harder than a normal person could. That archer then fell from his perch.

  The four paused and looked around, and all were still standing.

  Karen let her man fall. She walked the two dozen or so yards into the woods and retrieved her knife, wiping it on the man’s shirt and sheathed it. The horses had started at the four bandits, but were already moving on, as Caspian led them. The Caplan’s were looking around, trying to decide what to do with their bandits.

  “Leave them. If they can get back home, they might decide to take up a more honest trade.” Karen said this as Rox stepped over the man she had possibly sterilized with her foot.

  Steven had left his injured men at the base of their tree.

  Karen’s psi-sweep showed that both of Caspian’s were dead, the one Rox had pulled down was unconscious, with assorted broken bones. Maybe half of the eight would live. She stepped over her bagman as he tried to gasp through a crushed throat, and bled around an arrow in his back.

  Steven took Rox’s arm and led her off, neither wanting to watch or see any more. Karen followed.

136 – Meet the Queen

  Rox and Diana watched the troops break up and Steven and Alex taken in a different direction. Rox had quietly placed a spell on her things and Diana’s things during the week, which allowed her to sense their location, regardless of the intervening space. Something told her not to worry about doing likewise with Steven or Alex’s things. Now as they entered the fortress, she started gathering mana to herself. The two of them were in just underwear and blankets and still chained in their cages, and taken through a series of arches and passages between the buildings of the fortress. At a certain point, the troopers were met by a cadre of palace guards, who replaced them, and the troopers left.

  These guards/porters bore them through the fortress to its heart, and a large grove of fruit trees dominated by one huge tree in the middle. This tree was tall enough to probably be taller than the buildings around it, and quite large around with several large branches reaching out from the central trunk. As they passed the smaller trees, Rox wished she could shield Diana from the sight. Men and women were hanging from the trees, crucified naked even in the cold. It looked like there were people crucified all over the higher branches of the big tree, and the group was heading right for it.

  The group stopped in a clearing at the base of the tree. Its foliage dominated the clearing, and stretched up as high as the fortress around it starting about two heights of a person above the ground. Bodies of assorted people were not just impaled to it as with the other trees. On this one, it looked like branches were growing through the bodies attached to it. Branches engulfing the bodies, and growing out through them. And the people were somehow kept alive as this tree transmuted their substance into its own.

  The guards set the cages on the ground, and then prostrated themselves.

  Rox watched as the bottom of the tree began to shift around. Diana shrieked in surprise and disgust. A new shape was exposed and broke away from the base of the tree. Humanoid female, but only just; she stepped away from the tree as it withdrew from around her.

  Roxanne has learned some little of the following from the Elves, and now heard Karen’s voice in her mind telling her that the Queen is pure evil, and given her soul over to corrupting power. A creature from the infernal regions looking vaguely like a tree has been magically produced, and she merges her body into it. In return, it draws her seed out of her and mixes it with the seed of the men it feeds on; it will eventually bear fruit after its own kind, but only in the abyss. She and the King were once lovers. Now they are incompatible, to his disgruntlement.

  The Queen is the only person who can detach from the tree. The other men and women are being slowly consumed by the creature. As it draws energy and matter from the trapped bodies of its victims through its roots and branches, it transfers some of the energy to sustain the woman. She is also a magic user. She draws and channels mana right through this creature. To defeat her will require killing it.

  At seeing the Queen, Rox wondered why some of the women in this world couldn’t be bothered to wear enough to keep warm at the beach; particularly in the winter.

  She was taller than most men were. Because of the transformation worked on her, her body was covered by brownish thorny bark. Segmented plates of bark covered her head. She had six limbs at her shoulders. Two normal arms, two longer arms with small wings that ended with two-foot long claws, and two larger visually impressive but otherwise impractical wings. She also had a tail that swished back and forth as she walked, balancing against the upper body mass. Her feet were digitigrades such that she walked on the balls, and had spurs on her heals resembling a bird. She reminded Rox of Kali, but more malevolent.

  Taking no notice of the group, she stepped away from the tree's embrace and crossed the clearing, to a man attached to another tree. She took hold of the man as a mother would a baby, and pulled him off the tree that held him, using the clawed arms to cut the cords that bound him. He collapsed into her arms. She carried him to the large tree and held him against it. He weekly tried to fight as she held him there. Then he seamed to levitate as the tree took hold of him with multitudes of tiny tentacles, and carried him up into its heights. Then he stopped, and was held fast to the tree as tentacles like roots wrapped around his arms and legs. More tentacles clumped together to form a kind of seat and covered him to part way up his belly. The larger roots split to smaller roots that then dug into his body and limbs, connecting him to the tree.

  Rox knew right then that neither she nor Diana would be allowed to live to become part of that tree.

  The woman watched as the man was placed and wrapped up. She then turned to the guards.

  “Rise. Have them stand forth.” An unexpectedly rich voice issued forth.

  The guards stood, and opened the cages and dragged Rox and Diana out of them. The blankets were taken and put back into the cages. Both were a bit wobbly after having sat or crouched for most of a week. Hunger had them sufficiently week as not to resist. Diana wanted to move to her mother, but two guards held her still by her ankle chains. Two guards flanked Rox, and the rest carried the wooden cages away.

  For a moment Rox just concentrated on staying upright on cramping legs. She quietly continued gathering mana to her, to be ready for whatever happened.

  The Queen approached, wings folding to her back. As she moved about, Rox could see that she had several tubes that seamed to project from her back, and wrap around to enter her chest, and moved as breathing tubes. Two over the woman’s shoulders and across the top of her breasts then in past her sternum. The next set came around under her arms and then under her breasts. The last two followed the lower curve of her ribcage before going in. Strangling her was out of the question.

  She looked Rox over, but gave most of her scrutiny to Diana, going to one knee to look her over. As the Queen’s attention shifted, Rox felt some magical pressure diminish.

  “So. This is the one chosen by fate to kill me, whom I can not kill. And how is that, little half breed?”

  Diana said nothing. She just tried to look away, at anything that was not profanely offensive to look at. She ended up looking at the ground.

  The Queen stood and then looked Rox over. The magic pressure increased.

  “Prudence says I should kill you now. Surely you know something of the various prophecies by now. Your daughter and son will be great leaders in whatever cause they espouse. It would be a shame to deny that. The prophecy about me gives me a choice. If I kill you, I can send her back to the witch. Let you live, and you will always seek her back under your wing until she is able to defend herself. It’s entirely personal. For the cause and all.”

  At that she turned away.

  “Bind the child to that tree. Bind the adult to the rings on the floor.”

  She stepped back and turned away, as the guards moved Rox to the center of the clearing and carried Diana to a tree. She continued thinking aloud.

  “After all I must give the child cause to hate me enough to counter me.”

  Rox was halted in the middle. The chains attached to rings on the ground, shortened to only let her to kneel. Her guards then backed away, waiting for their next commands. Rox turned as best she could to look at Diana, but the way she was bound would not let her turn far enough to see her.

  Rox turned away, and fought to clear her mind. This was the moment her feelings had been leading her to, when she must either take control of her life, or have it taken from her. Slowly her thoughts stilled as she drew on the mana she was accumulating, and her perception of the world changed.

  The chains still hung from her body, but did not restrain it. Her arms were still in bonds, but no longer restrained. She was still unclothed, but only bereaved of covering against the weather. She was still in the fortress, but no longer a prisoner. She was a still a woman, but so much more, Wife and mother, fighter and mage. She carried no weapon, but those were only tools, she was what made them dangerous. Rox felt a subtle shift in things around her, as her senses cleared and expanded.

  Suddenly she knew what the tree really was. And how to destroy it was obvious. She focused on maintaining her perceptions, and focused on existence. On what is, what was about to happen, and what she would need to accomplish the next task.

  The Queen felt the resonance of what Rox was doing and realized she had to move fast. She turned and charged, spreading her wings free of her stabbing arms, and centered these on Rox’s chest, to pierce the heart, beside the left breast. She was a moment too late.

  Rox twisted as the Queen came, and let the woman stab through the chain that secured her left arm. As this snapped free, the woman’s wing caught Rox across her shoulders, and they both went down, Rox wrenching her legs a bit. Rox smashed her closed fist against the back of the woman’s head, stunning her. The guards moved to act, as Rox spoke a word of power.

  This time she spoke it in English, her native tongue. “Bulldozer Torus.”

  Suddenly an irresistible force was pushing anything not tied down except for Diana away from her in a circle. The guards that had the misfortune to be between a tree and the wall of force were crushed to goo, while those attached to the trees were unharmed. The Queen was pushed against another tree, and pined there, for several seconds. The remaining guards once they could, decided that center stage of a magic fight was not where they wanted to be, and fled.

  Rox then tested the rings, and found them solid. She spoke another word, and the ground around the rings liquefied, and she pulled them free as she stood. But her right arm was still restrained behind her back.

  Then there was a focus of attention on her and a flood of pain as a foot of organic blade was protruding from her chest. Rox could not speak to form anything, as she gasped for air. Then she was lifting into the air, and thrown at the huge tree.

  Rox crashed into it, bleeding to death. She had scant seconds. But it may as well have been an eternity. For Rox knew who she was. Death was not an obstacle. Just an inconvenience, to be avoided until her work was done. And it was not yet done.

  Then her body stopped working.

137 – And kill her dead

  The Queen advanced on the apparently dead body intent on dismembering it. She picked up the lifeless form by the throat, chains dangling with the right arm still restrained behind the back. She drove her claws back through the hole, and added her tail to the mess. She jerked hard, and the corpse was torn in three large pieces, and allowed to fall to the ground.

  Diana screamed.

  The Queen, covered in blood, turned and walked over to her. “It’s not our time yet. But we will fight soon enough.”

  She unhooked Diana’s chains from the tree, to drag Diana out of the grove. Diana was fixated on the dismembered body that moments ago had been her mother.

  Then both of them felt the gathering of magic. The Queen tried to focus on it, but could not find a focal point. She picked up Diana and turned, spreading her wings as she ran toward the doors of the fortress to get Diana out. The doors closed as she got to them, barring that way. The Queen tossed Diana down, and drove a claw through her, but Diana wasn’t there the moment she let go. The empty chains and manacles clanged on the ground. The Queen, still unable to focus on the source of magic, turned back for her tree. Wings wide she ran as fast as she could.

  As she entered the clearing, she skidded to a stop. The dismembered body was not the only thing there. Roxanne was standing there very much alive, and fully dressed, with an arrow knocked in her bow and aimed at the Queen. Rox let go, and it was the woman’s turn to be impaled by a two-foot shaft.

  The Queen being unable to easily push it through her chest left the metal arrow there for a moment, then spoke a word and pulled it out, growling in pain as she did so. The barbed arrowhead brought shreds of wet flesh with it out of her chest.

  While the Queen was busy Rox handed her bow to Diana who stood behind her. She then got out her staff, activating both ends. Diana took the bow aside, and stood behind a tree.

  Rox twirled the staff a bit in display. “Come, vile creature. Let’s dance.”

  The Queen was not anxious to engage, as she did not know what was going on. She had dismembered this woman. Who had then apparently pulled off a magic trick that not even the most powerful that she had heard of could easily do. Now she invited her to a hand fight. The woman spread her wings and arms, and let the bark covering her tighten, to sharpness.

  Rox watched as the Queen’s covering became dangerous to the touch and the woman went into a battle crouch, wings and tail wide for balance. Rox was not really interested in a hand fight, but had needed to get the Queen to focus that way. Suddenly she pointed her staff, and shot a blast of energy which caught the woman full in the chest, sending her flying backward, crashing through the limbs of several trees.

  Diana had the bow ready then, and brought it back.

  Rox took it, turned and shot the aluminum arrow almost straight up, into the top of the tree. The silver line tied to it playing out behind. Rox then took the staff back and turned to catch the charge of the woman. The Queen carried Rox back into the cavity she had come out of. Diana scampered away, taking the end of the line with her.

  The Queen held Rox against the tree as its tentacles stretched to take hold of her.

  Rox smiled. She twisted the staff in two, the Queen suddenly pushed against the Rox in a bizarre hug. Rox whispered a phrase in the local language into the woman’s ear that horrified the woman. That phrase was never spoken at close quarters unless some serious shielding was in place.

  Diana watched the base of the tree explode in a ball of fire that blew out a quarter of it. Many of the people attached to the tree screamed in pain, feeling the pain of the tree.

  The Queen picked herself up from the wreckage of another tree near the edge of the grove, and looked through a trench of broken limbs at the center tree. It still fed her power, and maintained her form undamaged, but it was also hurt. Then it called her attention to what Diana was doing.

  The girl had drawn a small bi-level octagram, and was sitting in it, chanting.

  The Queen charged at her, determined to stop her, the prophecy be thwarted.

  Rox blind-sided her, pummeling her with both ends of the now divided staff. The Queen tried to get away, but Rox had the upper hand for the moment.

  Then Diana had her spell finished and a little cloud of rain appeared at her eye level, and rained itself out to nothing. Diana smiled, and turned to her bag, to finally put some clothes on.

  Rox was not paying attention to Diana, just to the Queen, and determined to keep her from the tree and from Diana. She would pummel her this way and that, then dodge like a professional boxer. She was too close for the Queen to effectively lash her with tail or stabbing wing claws, but they were still punishing each other. Then the first rumbles of thunder started.

  The Queen, still distracted by Rox, had no time to spend on Diana. But the tree did and it knew what she was up to.

  Diana finished getting dressed, and then got the tinderbox out. She opened this up, and put it in the center of the octagram. She then got out the paper Karen had Rox write the words on. Carefully she read them, but nothing happened. So she did it the old fashioned way. She got out the matches and used these to light the tinder. Then she read the spell again. Again nothing. Diana was untrained at sensing magic or mana, so she could not tell that the tree itself was blocking the mana from her. Rox was too distracted to do anything. Finally in her frustration, Diana just stuck the end of the silver cord into the dying fire. A thunderclap sounded nearby.

  Rox and the Queen were dodging around trees trying to get a clear shot at each other. Rox was scraped up and had several gouges, but was still very much in the fight. The only apparent damage she had been able to do was the rapidly healing arrow wound, and lots of broken thorns. Otherwise she may as well have been hitting the woman with a feather. Time to change strategy.

  Rox stopped chasing around, and went for the tree again, reassembling her staff. She had used up the offensive spells in it for the moment. Time to go for the unexpected.

  Rox charged across the clearing and to the cavity, which still smoldered. She paused long enough to check Diana’s progression. It was plain that something was wrong, but she was not sure what. Then the Queen came charging. Rox hoped for the best, and improvised a spell, focusing on the outcome she wanted. Then she ducked.

  The Queen had come charging with her stabbing claws outstretched, and again missed Rox. Instead she drove them into the tree. She could feel its pain at this, but would soon act to relieve it. She was also feeling upset. It had never taken so long to kill anyone before. As she tried to pull loose, she found she couldn’t. Some kind of magic was holding her claws in the tree. The tree pushed and she pulled, but they would not come out. They turned their attention to the magic, to unravel it.

  Rox crawled away, careful of the Queen’s tail and its stinger, and over to Diana. She knew she only had moments. Rox looked over everything.

  “The magic fire isn’t starting.”

  Rox sensed around, and could not feel any magic. She stepped a few steps away, and felt it. Then back to Diana. Nothing. Great. More thunder sounded in the distance.

  “There’s a shell around your circle. It’s blocking the magic.”

  Quickly Rox scratched a circle, and drew a blank. But Diana knew what to do. She joined her circle to the one her mother had drawn, and said a phrase in elfin tongue. That quick the shell was breached and bypassed.

  “Cast the fire again,” Rox instructed.

  As Diana started to say it again, the Queen broke free of the tree.

  “Now the two of you die.”

  The woman started casting a spell, as Rox, nearly drained, again drew a blank. So she just stepped into it, and rammed the end of her staff into the sternum of the woman. But she was stopped by a shield, the backlash of the impact throwing her staff away into the trees behind her. But it made the Queen pause briefly. The woman had almost completed her spell when Rox felt all the hair on her body start to stand on end. She dropped to the ground, and covered her ears just in time. Diana had finished her spell first.

  The sound had a physical impact as lightening ripped through the tree going up, energizing the silver cord, and the magic fire. The fire leapt up the silver, turning briefly into that material that will destroy the earthly form of something from the infernal regions. A second bolt of lightening struck the tree from above before the first had fully faded, and ripped through the trunk blowing it to large chunks, killing many of the living not yet consumed. The burning silver being energized further exploded and drove the animating evil within the tree from the mortal plane.

  A tangible shock wave swept through the grove, ripping the closest trees out of the ground, and breaking up the farther ones.

  The two lightening bolts and the flight of the evil from the tree stripped the Queen of most of her power. The concussion blew her across the clearing again; this time when she landed she was out cold.

  Diana got up, her ears ringing and nose bleeding. She went over to her mother, and both crouched together as their heads cleared. Diana’s nose bleed stopped as quickly as it started. “I did it.”

  Both looked around. Then they spotted the Queen in a heap of wreckage. She was still very much alive. Large chunks of assorted trees were still falling as were parts of the fortress.

  Rox looked at the woman. “Alex’s silver blade may be the only thing we have to kill her.”

  “But I’m supposed to kill her, mom.”

  “I know. But except for this tree, you have never killed anything larger than a bug. Not even a fish. I’d rather you did not start killing. Let’s go find your dad and brother. Get your stuff.”

  Rox found her staff, and used it for a cane, leaning on it while catching her breath. She slid to the ground as she did. It had only been a few minutes since she had cheated death by substitution, and the resulting battle had taken a lot out of her. This on top of the last several days.

  Diana had Rox’s bags on with the bow and quiver over her shoulder. Diana helped Rox back to her feet, and they turned away from the Queen, and started to the doors into the fortress. Mother leaned on daughter.

  They were most of the way to the doors when the Queen screamed and charged, having recovered enough to continue the fight. Both turned, but Diana acted first, putting the heels of her hands together a yelling a pseudo-Hawaiian word. A ball of energy flew from her hands blowing the woman into a tree, burning through the body in the process and impaling her on a broken branch. Whether by magic or by physical damage this finished her for good.

  Diana had collapsed after channeling so much energy, and Rox held her up, and they made their way into the fortress, not looking back.

  “No more Gohan and Vegita for you, kiddo.”

  “Mom, how did we know to do all that?”

  “You can thank Karen, if we ever see her again.”

138 – Lunch with a King

  Steven and Alex were carried into the fortress away from the group Rox and Diana were in. Steven was not yet concerned with Rox and Diana. So long as they were together, he felt they would come out all right. Steven and Alex’s procession went up a large stair way, down a hall, and around and up several smaller stairs ways. Finally they were brought into a private banquet hall. From his last time in the palace, Steven figured they were in a non-public wing.

  This was a medium sized hall with windows on one side; rows of tables were arranged around the room. The cage did not allow much detailed examination of the room. The procession entered on the short end of a long room, and turned to the left and proceeded around the outside perimeter of the room under the tall windows. As they turned, Steven was able to get a look at Alex. He was visibly scared, but not panicked. As he looked at the trophies on the inner walls Steven realized that the styles were too diverse to have all come from local smiths. They had come from conquered armies. Steven wondered where his and his son’s swords might go, if they stayed. He then wondered just how this was going to turn out.

  Their cages were marched around the hall and the tables and stopped at the corner of the row. There was a man in rich dress standing to receive them. The cages were set down. The litter with all their stuff was put down on a side table in front of the man.

  The man looked the litter over. He drew Alex’s sword from the pile, and set it aside, apparently recognizing its general origin. He then drew Steven’s sword out, and unsheathed it. He tested it, feeling its weight and balance. He then turned it over in his hand admiring the blade and the hilt. For all of its history, so far as Steven knew it, it was a very plain sword; purely functional and sharp.

  He put the sword down on the pile and stepped away. He ordered Steven and Alex’s pants pulled from the pile and given to them as he moved to the chair at the head of the table, where a steward helped to seat him.

  Two guards each pulled Steven and Alex out of the cages, took the blankets, unbound their arms, and handed them each a pair of trousers. One ankle at a time was unbound then rebound as they put the pants on. Steven then tried to move to his son’s side, but was held to his place. Despite being bound and separated, Steven still felt upbeat.

  The cages were taken beside the fire place on the inner wall and dismantled, the component wood stacked for the fire.

  The man watched Steven and Alex. “I am the king of this country. Please sit down.”

  The King had been toying with some food after sitting down. He motioned Steven and Alex to some spots on the side as more food was brought in. The tables were arranged in two concentric U’s. The King sat to the center of the outer base.

  Stewards took up place near an entrance across the room from Steven. The remaining guards scattered, with two flanking Steven and Alex holding on to the chains as they sat down; Alex moved to Steven’s right, away from the King. They were close enough to converse, with slightly loud projected voices, and so the King did as he commenced to eat.

  “After you retrieved your children, why did you come here?”

  Steven smelled the meat. It did not smell foul, so he took some and a roll and made a sandwich of it. Alex followed suit.

  Steven then spoke. “We figured that your troops would continue to pursue us. So we decided to cut the pursuit short and come see you in person.”

  The three ate for a moment.

  “What do you hope to accomplish?”

  “This prophecy we learned about, that told of all this. We hoped to speed its end. And end all the silly chasing around. We came to stop you and yours.”

  They continued eating.

  Just then, Roxanne and Diana’s stuff flashed and disappeared from the litter. The flash got the attention of all in the room.

  The King looked at the two guards by the main door. “Send to see what is going on down there.”

  One of the guards left the room. Steven and Alex looked at each other as the guard ran by.

  “Mom’s causing trouble again.”

  “I dare say she is.”

  They ate and finished their sandwiches. There was not anything else to do until they could get to their swords.

  A guard came back, running, and slid to a stop near the end of the table by that entrance. “The mother and the Queen fight.” A nearby explosion punctuated the report.

  Alex smiled again. “Mom’s causing trouble.”

  The King smiled at Alex’s boldness then turned back to the guard. “The Queen can take care of herself. But have guards ready to enter the Arbor should she loose.”

  The guard saluted and left as fast as he came.

  The King looked at Steven. “If the Queen wins, you will be joining her. Your son will stay here and be taught all he needs to. If your wife wins, she will be brought before us.”

  Steven thought about this. Then decided that now was as good a time as any. He grabbed the chains and yanked them out of his captor’s hands. He stood and used the chains to thrash the guard to his left, and moved for his sword. None of the guards moved to stop him save the one by the litter. Steven lowered his shoulder into him and smashed him into the wall. Steven then had his own sword in hand and turned to face any comers. There were several arrows ready, but all waited.

  Only the King moved, having yelled for his men to stay as they were. He stood from the table, and drew his sword from where it had been put down. He then pointed to the guard that Steven had not attacked. “You. Unbind his chains, and take them away.”

  Steven was not sure of this, but let it happen. He then scooped up his shirt and pulled it on. He shifted hands with his sword, not wanting to set it down. He stepped back to the table, and tossed down a drink. It was a weak wine. It cleared his mouth, and deadened his thirst.

  Steven was now as ready as he was going to get a chance to be. He turned to face the King, who had come to the head of the isle between the table and the wall.

  “It had been a while since I have been on the battle field, or a dueling pitch. I could have my guards shoot you down now, but that would not be personally satisfying.”

  They saluted each other as they stood. Thunder rumbled in the distance. Both men took that as the cue to close the distance and commence, their movements punctuated by the ring of their swords. Both realized that they wielded the wrong swords for actual fencing, and so moved toward a style more fit for their weapons.

  Steven was quickly aware that this man had more skill and experience. Steven was younger and thus better shape, but that was dulled by 6 days in a cramped cage with barely any water or food. He gave ground, as he got warmed up. Then he realized that he did not have to win. Just stay alive until Alex could get into this.

  The King was simply enjoying the challenge, though he quickly realized his advantage. And that for what ever reason the magic of his equipment was not running. So much more the challenge.

  Steven relaxed as best he could and watched his opponent, working to get to the level of perception where he could see the moves start. Once he got there it did not make things easier, just less strenuous to defend against. Fighting with broad swords was going to wear both men out. Not that they really fenced with them; it was more like knocking the other person’s sword aside and see whether you could then hurt him. Steven knew he needed help, and Alex was all he was going to get. He stepped in and body checked the king against the wall, then ran for the pile of stuff. He knocked the guard there a second time, and took the top off another’s helmet while knocking that one’s sword aside.

  He grabbed the hilt of Alex’s sword and pulled it from the pile swinging the whole pile aside and right into the King, using the sheathed sword for a club to knock the man over. One of the packs came open, spilling its contents. More thunder sounded. Closer this time.

  Steven went to the table, clubbing one of Alex’s guards away, and stabbing the other causing his retreat. He put the sheathed sword down in front of Alex, and vaulted the table. “Cut the chains with your sword, and join me.”

  Steven then backed away down the isle, as the King had vaulted the table and was coming after him. They continued their duel with more vigor. The guards tried to move to aid their Liege, but he ordered them to stop and stand away.

  Alex drew his sword and ducked under the table. He turned to the bindings on his ankles, and cut the leather straps. One of the guards tried to drag him out by his chains, but only got just the chains and bindings. He tried to reach in after Alex, and got his hand sliced for it. Free of his restraints, Alex finished crossing under the table. As he started to get to his feet he felt the hair on his body start to rise, and he dropped to the floor covering his ears.

  Two loud successive crashes of thunder shattered all the glass in the windows and on the table.

  All in the room were staggered by the crashes, including Steven and the King. No glass fell off the table, or went beyond it from the windows, leaving Steven and the King a clear isle to fight in. Somehow the two had turned around and Steven was backing toward Alex. There were more than just guards in the hall now as ministers and bureaucrats had come to watch. Alex wanted to do something, but hide under a table was all he could think to do. As his dad and the King got back to where he was another crash of thunder went through the hall but this one sounded different than the rest.

  Steven and the King went past, and Alex waited where he was for a moment. He then tried to grab the King’s legs, as Steven tried a lunge. Steven missed. The King just shook Alex off and into some chairs.

  Neither man spoke, neither needing to. They stood with swords ready for a moment, breathing hard. Then they continued, swords ringing. Both starting to get through the others defenses and show nicks and cuts. Their swords were not in the best of shape either; broad swords were battlefield weapons, not dueling pitch weapons. Whenever Steven tried to choke up and on his sword, or otherwise close the range, the King was able to defend against it, risking Steven’s fingers. Alex got up from the chairs, holding his sword at an instinctive ready and followed the King.

  Steven was at the cross isle of the tables when he saw Alex peripherally, then had to change his attention as a change came over Alex’s face. He looked more serious and solemn than ever before. Suddenly Steven was more concerned over Alex than he was of this King.

  The King saw the diversion of Steven’s attention and was about to take advantage of it, when he suddenly felt he better see what would divert Steven’s attention. He deflected Steven’s sword wide away, and used the momentum to spin on one foot to see behind him. It was only the boy with his sword.