Happy Good Friday to all those who celebrate Easter. I hope this post finds you all well. I have rather been enjoying my time going over my first draft of Fell Dragon and fixing it here and there. Just started looking at the start of the second book.
As for the next part, we start to learn a little more about the mysterious girl, who has fallen onto a human occupied planet. She is an enigma they need to solve, as they don't know whether this is some kind of plot to destroy one of the last human royal lines that remain.
Still haven't had time to design banners, but I will get to it eventually! Have a picture of my hedgehog until then!
It didn’t take long to find the old seer. He was sitting on a balcony close to the cafeteria for the hospital staff. Doran had to slowly move forward and call out to his father as he approached, fearing that the old man would get startled and fall from the railing he was sitting on.
“As if you could startle me.” Said his father, reading his mind as clearly as if he had been speaking.
He drew a deep breath from the cigarette he was smoking. It surprised Doran a little, as he hadn’t seen his father smoke in years.
“I thought you told mother you quit.” He said as he came to stand next to his father to look over the mountain and forest range that stretched as far as the eye could see.
“I did, and then she died.” He said, and he let twin tendrils snake out of his nose, “I need to think.”
Doran remembered how hard it had been on his father when his mother had died. The old warrior had suddenly come into his powers as a seer, and his wife had been his only rock, then she suddenly passed, leaving him far more broken than what he would ever admit to anyone.
“The girl?”
“The girl.”
Doran stayed with his father as Meedus proceeded to go through two more cigarettes.
“The girl is Natus reborn,” said Meedus softly as he snuffed out his current cigarette.
“Sod off Father.” Swore Doran. “Rebirth is not possible, and anyway, wouldn’t he be ten years old and a boy for that matter.”
“The girl has two different coloured eyes.”
“And has dusty brown hair, not black like Natus.”
“She wields fire and force.”
“She is just that, a she. Don’t put flights of fancy in the Royal’s heads. Natus is dead. He breathed his last in my arms!” Doran slapped the bannister.
Meedus tapped the box of cigarettes against the railing, and one popped out. He took it from the box before indicating that he wanted his son to light it for him. Doran rolled his eyes whilst muttering an incantation under his breath. A tiny flame licked at the end of the cigarette, and Meedus breathed in the fumes once more.
“She isn’t even like us.” started Doran.
Meedus handed a file to Doran. “You are right, she is not like us.”
Doran opened the file, and his eyes grew wide when he saw the results of the blood and clothing samples taken from the girl. Everything was marked unknown except for the blood type. The same blood type as the young Prince had had, the same as the Queen and her other son.
“She may not be like us, but she shares the Queen’s blood.”
“A bastard child?” Doran whispered.
“Unless Natus had a twin that we are all unaware of it's not possible. I have asked for a more in-depth genetic test to be done.”
“If Karesh sees that you have this...”
“Bah, what do I care about the boy and his temper tantrums.” Meedus waved the comment away. “I spoke to the butchers as well. They say anatomically she is identical to us but…”
“But?”
“There are slight differences in her bones, her organs. One said that he counted an extra tooth in her mouth.”
“The girl is what? Maybe fourteen? She should have her last teeth erupting now.”
“She has a full set plus an extra one. They cannot explain it.”
“What does this even mean Father? All you are telling me is that she is a slight variant from what we are, a genetic anomaly, so what?” Doran leaned with his back against the railing.
“Everything changes over time.”
“Oh, don’t you start with your ridiculous theories on time travel again.” Doran squeezed his eyes closed.
“We know change happens over time. That is a fact. We know mutations occur. That is a fact. We also know that mutations happen over time, some more than others. We also know parallel universes exist.”
“On PAPER! In the world of THEORY! No one has actually shown proof of organisms being able to fall in and out of time on a whim.”
“What if it is not on a whim? What if this was purely by accident? Look at her injuries. They are severe. She doesn’t know any of the four main languages. Controls life force with no incantations. This is something we are striving for. Why can you not see the possibility?”
“I wish you had stayed a soldier.” groaned Doran as he waved the file around. “Never mind Karesh, if Myla sees that you have this, she will have your head!”
“Queen Myla loves me.” He said with a grin. “I assure you my life is quite secure.”
Doran noticed a handmaiden approach him hesitantly. He never understood why the Queen referred to them as her handmaidens, they didn’t do anything for her. They ran the labs and hospitals on the planet whilst the males took over all the other jobs on the planet. At first, Doran had thought that was some kind of sexism amongst the Queen’s people but soon realised that the females of this world manifested only one type of life force and that was to heal, learn and teach. The men took on the roles of everything else depending on their own manifestations.
Doran indicated that she could approach him. The woman looked him in the eye and said. “The butchers wish to see you and the Seer.”
“Why would they want to see us?” Inquired Doran.
“The King and Queen are once more in a screaming match, and they want to know what to do with the girl. Sir Doran your advice is always valuable here, and Seer Meedus is...smarter than the rest of you.”
Meedus laughed and killed his partially smoked cigarette. “See? They like me more than the rest of our brethren.”
“Come fair maiden, lead me to the youngster.” Meedus bowed.
The handmaiden actually blushed and silently turned to walk away.
“Coming Doran?” Meedus said out the side of his mouth.
“It’s better than watching you flirt unsuccessfully.”
Three butchers, each wearing those strange bird masks, had remained behind to clean the room they had worked in. Doran would never get used to seeing so much blood from a single person, especially one so small. Two were mopping the floor whilst the third one turned upon their entry.
“Ah, good, we must talk. Come.” He walked between them and back out into the corridor.
“Where is the girl?” asked Meedus.
“She is resting now.” was all the butcher would say as he walked ahead of them. “Which room was it again…?”
“Room sixteen.” said a handmaiden as she walked past. “Only one suited for children after surgery with your god awful, archaic sound machines.”
“A heart rate monitor is not archaic, and if everyone could be healed by your techniques we would not be needed!” snapped the man as he pulled his mask free. “Believe it or not Sister, your ‘healing’ did nothing but apply a band aid to a spewing artery.”
“Sounds severe.” Said Doran.
“We are lucky that the Queen insists on universal donors donating often in case something like this happens.”
“The girl is a universal receiver?”
“No, rare blood.” the man rubbed at tired eyes. “I have only seen it with the Queen’s family before.”
“Does the Queen’s family have another branch to it?” asked Meedus even though he already knew the answer.
“There is the Queen and her son.” came the answer. “This is likely a mutation, pretty much like the child herself.”
“Mutation?” Queried Doran.
“Come, let me show you.” the man continued to walk until he came to room sixteen.
“Is she going to get up and run again?” asked Meedus.
“Not this time. I have, with great reluctance, had her cuffed to the bed.” the butcher looked absolutely defeated. “I cannot risk that she gets up and flees again. Internal stitching is delicate, and if they tear, not even we will be able to stop the internal bleeding. Though I think she will be sleeping for some time after her grand adventure.”
Doran ground his teeth when he heard about the cuffs, but he understood why it was necessary. She had slipped away once before, next time, she may not be so lucky as to be found by the Queen.
“Brother, how is she fairing?”
Another butcher in the room was busy writing notes when they entered. He stopped and looked at them in mild confusion before he said. “She is awake.”
“I gave her enough sedation to keep a…” the larger of the two men stepped forward to see the child straining against her bonds. “Draw her blood now. This is interesting. She must have some kind of hormone that counters the sedative, fascinating.”
Doran caught the child’s eyes, and she stiffened before glaring at him menacing. She didn’t stay still for long for as soon as the smaller butcher stepped forward to draw blood, she spun her head to snap her teeth at him.
“Stop it!” commanded Meedus. “A little compassion goes a long way. If her blood combats the sedative what about possible pain killers?”
Doran noted the huge eyes were not from fear but from agony. Her face was pale and covered in a faint sheen of sweat.
“The old man is right. Something in her blood has prevented both the work of the handmaidens and the butchers.”
“That is really a derogatory name, and we do not appreciate it.” said the slim butcher.
“Mayha, it is fine. Go get a Sister and bring her here. They may not be able to heal her, but they should be able to offer some kind of pain relief.”
“She is not screaming.” Doran stepped forward to note the placement of the bandages. “Surgery to her abdomen and head. She should be unconscious or at the very least screaming.”
“High pain threshold clearly.” the large butcher. “Jarah, by the way, if you do not want to refer to me as a butcher.”
Doran actually found himself blushing before he stepped closer to the girl. She strained against her bonds to get away from him. She clearly remembered what he had done to her.
“She could be mute.” Suggested Mayha as he left the room.
“Even mutes make sounds.” Said Jarah.
“She is not mute. She hears us but likely cannot understand us.” Said Doran. “The Queen was able to establish some kind of communication.”
“Fascinating. Mayha!”
“Yes.” The slim butcher poked his head back into the room.
“Send word to the Queen. If she has a rapport with the child then perhaps we should involve her.”
“The Queen is currently fighting with the King.” Said Doran.
“Send another messenger, I can’t risk your life Mayha.” Jarah looked over the notes which had been written. “Off with you then.”
Finally, Mayha was able to leave. Jarah was humming a tuneless melody as he read the notes. “Looks like she woke as soon as she was cuffed to the bed. Maybe she has a built in defence mechanism where her brain senses the danger and releases a hormone to combat any foreign chemicals in her body. Fascinating.”
“Then how were you able to keep her under whilst in surgery?”
“She was unconscious when we started, we merely kept her that way, but this...this is something I have never seen before. At the very least for her size and weight, she should have been out of it for an hour, not five minutes.” Jarah rolled a chair over to the child and sat down to look at her. “You can hear, yes?”
She growled at him like an animal. Jarah made a note. Then he took the pen he had been taking notes with and poked at her hand. She snatched it away from him. He made another note. Then he looked to the machine, which beeped along with the child’s heart.
“She is clearly in distress, but her heart rate is low.” Jarah made another note. “This is not an ordinary child, gentlemen. This has had training. That would explain the oddities I saw while in surgery. She might be a construct.”
“Bullshit!” Doran exclaimed. “No one has managed a construct successfully. They don’t last longer than six months after birth. This is at least a teenager.”
“I would need to do some more genetic testing to be sure, but I am about eighty percent sure that this child has several genetic markers which wouldn’t be possible without a horrific breeding program or a test tube baby.”
“Not possible.” Said Doran. “Who would keep a successfully construct secret? They would basically be super soldiers from birth. Look at her. Thin, small, and borderline feral.”
Meedus grinned at him, and Doran warned. “Don’t say it.”
“Time travel.” said the old man with some glee in his voice.
“I never thought of that possibility.” Said Jarah as he made a note.
“Don’t note that down! That is garbage, absolute and utter garbage. I would rather believe there is an underground cabal trying to create super soldiers through a breeding program than time travel or a successful construct. No!”
The child watched them in silence but said nothing and uttered no sound. It was clear that she was in pain but she was not going to act on it. Jarah looked at her whilst Doran and Meedus fought. She was closely watching their faces, her eyes darting from one man’s mouth to the other. She didn’t know the language, but she was learning, and by the movement he saw on her lips she was learning fast.
“Gentlemen, let’s take this outside.” He said stoically.
“Why?” demanded Doran.
“Because she is watching the two of you talking and is trying to learn.”
Doran looked back to the girl who now had her eyes trained on his lips. “Is that true?”
He watched her mouth move to form the words he had just said, but no sound came out.
“The Queen thinks that this child may have been a trap to get to Karesh.” Said Meedus. “Perhaps it is best that we do not speak in the same area as her.”
“I will stay and monitor her. I’m curious to see if she will eventually pass out from pain or not.”
“This is why people call you butchers.” Said Doran as he grabbed his father’s arm to pull him from the room. “Be careful Jarah. The roasted reptile bodies in the morgue were her doing.”
Jarah kicked away from the bed with the wheeled chair and sailed out of the room saying. “I think I will do my monitoring from out here.”
Meedus followed by Doran stayed in the room for a few more minutes before he shook his head and muttered. “Time travel. Constructs. What nonsense.”
The three men were discussing the day’s happenings when the Queen made her appearance with her husband that looked defeated. Once again the Queen had won the argument. Aleux would remain her heir.
“Your Majesties.” Meedus bowed, followed by Doran and Jarah.
“I was in mid-argument. Why did a messenger get in the middle of that?” she demanded.
Before Doran could even start to explain, Jarah flew into an explanation of medical terms he had no hope of understanding. The Queen stood and nodded her head with a thoughtful look on her face. Karesh looked bored, he had never bothered to learn anything of his wife’s craft.
“So are you telling me there is a little girl in that room in absolute agony with no pain relief, no one to talk to her, no one to comfort her?” the Queen sounded angry.
“She was learning.” Said Doran softly. “We do not know where she is from or why she is here. If she was used as a trap for King Karesh perhaps it is best to be careful.”
It looked like she wanted to explode, but Karesh put a hand on her wrist. “Love?”
Doran tried to hold back the shock, he hadn’t heard Karesh call Myla that since the birth of their second son.
“I will go in with you. She knows my face as well. I am here.”
Myla nodded her head and then said to the butcher. “Bring me Beatrice and tell her I don’t care how busy she is. I need her.”
“At once, Your Majesty.” Jarah wheeled himself away from the room on his chair.
“Odd fellow.” Said Meedus.
The Queen ignored him and stepped into the room. Her blood boiled when she saw the restraints on the child. The butcher had not mentioned this.
“Be smart about this. She ran last time. It is better.” said Karesh as he stood back.
The moment the Queen stepped into the room the child’s head snapped to look at her. There was distrust at first until she recognised the woman.
“Do you remember me?” Asked the Queen as she tapped her chest and then her head.
Karesh was amazed to see the child relax and nod her head.
“Your head?” the Queen tapped her head, then signed a six. “Still a six?”
The child made to lift her hand to sign but was stopped by the restraint. Then the terror came to her face again before she squeezed her eyes closed. The sob of terror was not missed by either of the royals.
“Can we at least remove the hand restraints?” Myla begged Karesh. “She is terrified and has no idea what is going on.
"Only her hands and I will be close.” He promised.
The Queen stepped forward and slowly lowered herself onto the bed. The child’s eyes snapped open, and she lay very still, not sure of what was going to happen. Steadily the Queen took the child’s right hand and undid the restraint, then held her hand forward to the left hand. The child hesitated at first before slowly offering the limb. Myla looked at the bandaged hand and remembered that a life force arrow had torn through it. She undid the restraint and kissed the hand. The girl snatched her hand back and even the Queen was left confused as to why she had done that. She tapped her head again and signed a six.
The girl, with hands free now, signed a three, tapped the cut on her forehead, then signed a five, for the shaved area above her ear.
“So not better by much.” the Queen looked to Doran, who was in the doorway. “Get me some water. Her lips are chapped. She is dehydrated.”
“At once.” he disappeared.
Myla tapped her left hand and then her belly then shrugged her shoulders. “You never mentioned pain here.”
She opened her hands to show ten. “What do you feel?”
She watched the girl pull her lips to mimic the words, but no sound came out. She looked so confused, so bewildered. She seemed to think this over then tapped her left hand and held up two fingers. She tapped her belly and showed eight fingers, then turned blood red.
“Either you are lying, or you're embarrassed to admit to pain.”
The child wouldn’t look at her, and she laughed. “You are embarrassed! Adorable.”
The child growled under her breath, as if not appreciating the fact that she was being laughed at.
“Myla.” Said Karesh in a warning.
The child fixed him with daggers. Tapped her left hand and then pointed to him.
“I did no such thing!” said Karesh. “It was a soldier!”
She smiled. Karesh was startled. “Did...did she just mock me?”
“I believe she did, and since she doesn’t know our language I am very impressed.” the Queen tapped her chest. “Myla.”
She pointed to her husband. “Karesh.”
Then to the ring attached to a necklace. “Husband.”
“You want her to learn our language now?” asked Karesh.
“How else will she talk?”
The child reached over and lightly poked Myla in the chest, and her lips moved to say her name, but no sound came out.
“Do you even have a voice?”
“She must, someone yelled in my ear when I was thrown clear from the fire.” Said Karesh.
“I need to examine her.” the queen got to her feet.
“Watch out for those teeth. She nearly took a butcher’s finger off earlier.” Doran returned with a plastic cup with water. “Had to find something that wasn’t made of glass.”
He offered the cup to the child who ignored him.
“She does not trust you.” the Queen took the cup and made a theatrical show of drinking from it before giving it to the child.
The child greedily consumed the water, then gave the cup back to the Queen, and signed that she wanted more to drink.
“First, I need to see something.” The Queen gave the cup back to Doran. “I’m going to look at your feet.”
“Oh my god, why!?” demanded Doran before he could stop himself.
“Because Doran a lot can be learned from a person’s life force. I would normally look at the hands, but sadly someone put a hole through one disrupting the flow, so my next option is to look at her feet.”
Karesh noticed how uncomfortable the child looked, and she tried to reach for her feet to protect them. Karesh stepped forward, but Myla stopped him.
“Let her have a small amount of power, Karesh. You know how sensitive your feet are after you use too much life force.” The Queen sat at the end of the bed on a stool and lifted the sheets.
The child let out a squeal, surprising everyone and kicked out then tried to claw away from the Queen. Doran stepped forward and held the child down by sitting on the bed by placing a hand on her back and the back of her head. Karesh looked to where the Queen was sitting back holding her mouth.
“Did she manage to kick you?” He asked, his anger surfacing.
The Queen threw the sheets back and revealed what she had seen. Bruises littered her little feet, evidence of some kind of beating.
“Torture?” asked Karesh.
Doran immediately released the child when she stopped struggling. She lay perfectly still. Her fists grabbed the linen of the bed, and her face buried in the pillow. Her body heaved, but no sounds came from her now.
“Remove the bindings immediately.” Growled Karesh to Doran.
Doran slowly slipped the cloth bindings from the child’s feet. She immediately balled herself up, using her hands to cover her feet.
“Karesh, I need to examine her. Something is very wrong here.” Said Myla, as she tried to touch the foot again, but the child grunted a warning.
“No wonder she was terrified.” Said Doran.
Meedus stumbled forward as a large, Black woman pushed past him. “My Queen I am here.”
The woman took one look at the child in the bed and tutted under her breath. “What is all this then?”
The large woman fixed Doran with a look of distrust and then started tying her greying hair up. “I should have known, if anything goes wrong it is Doran and Karesh that are involved.”
“I AM King you know.” Said Karesh sheepishly.
“And I pulled you screaming from your mother. I care not for titles. Especially when I cleaned snotty noses and shitty behinds.”
“And that is where the Queen gets it.” laughed Meedus. “Afternoon Beatrice.”
Here the older woman smiled broadly. “Meedus, care to explain what the young’uns have been up to?”
Meedus explained the whole story whilst Beatrice looked at the child with growing pity.
“Well if the lizards were her handler, they did not train her well. Let’s see to those feet.” Beatrice came to sit on the bed and grabbed one foot to place it on her lap.
She tutted once more before saying. “She wasn’t tortured. Look here.”
She pointed out a few fresher bruises and cuts, that were on the soles of her feet, which had opened up and were leaking blood. There were also a few healed wounds.
“She has been running for a while.” Said Beatrice as she took the other foot and rolled the child to her back effortlessly. “There are even thorns in this foot. She was found in the clearing? Send soldiers to scour the area. You should find the path she took to get to the headstone.”
The child tried to pull her feet back, and Beatrice raised a single finger to chide her but stopped. “Has she been offered any form of pain killer?”
“They don’t seem to work on her.” Said Doran.
Beatrice’s plump face darkened, and she slowly made eye contact with him. He shuddered when she pointed at him.
“You are torturing her!” she tutted again.
The child successfully pulled her feet from the large woman. She seemed to get ready to jump, but Beatrice grabbed at her middle and forced her to sit next to her. Myla wanted to say something but could not build the courage to do it as Karesh wasn’t the only one who owed his life to this woman.
“She is petrified.” Beatrice ran her hands through the child’s hair. “Naked and tied down? Really? Let me guess...the butcher’s idea.”
“The name is Jarah!” came a voice from outside.
“Alright, little Princess. Tell me where you are from.” Said Beatrice.
The child shook her head and once more held onto her feet.
“Can you really not understand me?” Beatrice placed a hand just under the throat. “Could you try to say something?”
She opened her mouth, and nothing came out. She shut it again and shook her head.
“You have been terribly traumatised, haven’t you?” Beatrice took up the injured hand. “And it didn’t help that you were attacked. Poor little Princess.”
“Stop that.” Said Karesh.
“I will not, Your Majesty, I have no name for her, so I will give her a title.” Beatrice took hold of the child’s face and added. “Shall I sing for you?”
The girl looked at her in confusion.
Beatrice started to sing softly to the child, who suddenly smiled and completely relaxed.
“I sometimes wish I had had that power manifest in me.” Said Jarah as he peered into the room.
Beatrice continued to sing softly, and the child’s eyes started to cloud over before they closed. The large woman sang for a few more minutes before laying the child down.
“That was Natus’ song.” said the Queen softly. “Why sing it to her? You do not repeat songs for anyone, even upon death.”
“It felt right.” Beatrice said softly, as if not to wake the child. “It is those eyes.”
She turned to the Queen. “Do what you must but realise that she is...fragile.”
Beatrice settled herself with the child’s head in her lap whilst Myla took hold of the child’s feet. She tenderly pressed in certain places whilst muttering under her breath. She was busy for some time, so long that Doran and Meedus had gone to collect more chairs so that all could sit. Every time the child stirred Beatrice would sing a few lines, and she would settle back to sleep.
“This life force is not like ours.” said the Queen. “It is yet it isn’t. I don’t understand.”
“An enigma indeed.”
“Meedus can you read her mind?” asked the Queen.
“Your Majesty I have tried. There are no memories except for this morning. The child is either so traumatised she has locked the memories very deep or they have been taken from her. I don’t think she even knows her own name.”
“Mea.” Said Beatrice as she stroked the child’s head. “Enigma.”
“If you name it, you keep it.” Said Karesh.
“Oh no, dear King, I do not have time for a child. Either you take her as a ward of the state or send her to the Lizards if you are sure she came from them.”
“This is insane.” Muttered Doran. “No one is taking in a child when we know nothing about…”
“I’ll take her.” said the Queen softly as she continued to press the feet of the child.
“Look, I know you are brooding for another child, but I cannot allow this.” Said Karesh.
“You cannot ALLOW it?” hissed the Queen. “Just whose planet do you think you are on?”
Karesh backed off with a burning face. “Fine, just do what you want.”
He left the room with Doran hot on his heels. Meedus looked to the now peaceful girl and said softly. “You trust too much, my Queen.”
“Karesh is right.” Said Beatrice. “Myla, you trust too much. The Lizards were here, then she just arrived. Can she be trusted?”
“All I know is that when I look at her my heartache over Natus is gone.” admitted the Queen.
“Very well, my Queen.” Said Beatrice. “She is fighting my sleep incantation. Her entire being is in survival mode. She will try to escape when she wakes. You may need to consider either a guard in the room with her or keeping her cuffed from the bed.”
“Is that necessary? Truly, truly necessary?” asked the Queen.
“If what I heard is true and not just tall tales then yes. Give her food. She is extremely thin. Don’t give water to her straight. She has been running for what looks like days, maybe weeks, adding some kind of electrolyte replacer.” Beatrice placed the child’s head on a pillow and stood up. “We will need to get her to speak, but I am not sure how. No understanding and no tongue to speak of.”
“Perhaps we should have a translator sit with her and go through the most common languages…” Started Myla.
“If she doesn’t know any of the main languages then she is likely to not be from a place that we know of.” Beatrice looked down on the girl. “Why do I see Natus in you, little Princess?”
“You no longer like the name you chose?” Asked Meedus.
“The girl will not remain an enigma forever.” Beatrice smiled. “Come, old man, let’s get her something to eat and drink.”
And that is the end of Part 3. Hope that has enticed you all to come back for the next installment on Tuesday. Thank you to all my loyal readers who stop by and add their thoughts on the story so far. I love the interaction. If any of you want to opt in or out of the list let me know and I will do just that.
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