Chapter Nineteen.

The following days were generally quieter than many of those that had followed the initial explosions that had been observed high in the sky. Many fragments had been brought into the palace compound in Willowton ranging in size from a few fractions on an inch up to the canister that had eventually disgorged the two survivors. These two were still currently being cared for within the Palace Infirmary.

Beside them was Jena, a distraught former inmate of the Masonville penal establishment who was still relating her story to Rusan, a shepherdess. Added to these events, the sudden defection of one of the Masonville’s former ambassadors’ aides, who had sought sanctuary within Granaria and the palace was in a constant state of flux. Diplomatic pouches were frantically being transmitted to and fro between Pellinore and Monique Grabeel, the Granaria ambassador in Masonville.

Information was being gathered and collated at an ever-increasing rate.

After an early morning breakfast Queen Adred, her daughters Aryn and Caryn along with the Queen’s sister Pellinore had been summoned to the infirmary. It seemed the two survivors from the capsule were showing signs of regaining consciousness. The four women quietly entered the ward. They acknowledged Rusan who was sat knitting alongside a sleeping Jena.

Pellinore’s daughters Princesses Ayne and Urna approached the deputation.

“I’m glad you have all arrived as it seems as if they are both almost certainly going to be waking up within a short while, they are getting more agitated, they’re both murmuring away, most of which is unintelligible, about the only things we can make out are regular mentions of Karin, Raul, Missiles, and Escape pod, as you can see, they are both quite restless.”

At that moment, one of the survivors slowly opened their eyes and looked around with a certain degree of fear and confusion. Ayne approached the bed and took hold of the patients right hand.

“Shh, don’t worry, everything is fine, you are quite safe! Can you tell me your name?”

The patient frowned and looked around at their audience before fear became the overriding emotion on their face, then shaking their head continued to stare around without speaking a single word, then as they screwed their eye’s tightly shut as if in great pain, they slumped back onto their pillow, deeply unconscious once again.

With promises they’d be kept up to date as to their guests’ conditions, the four women walked down the ward to speak with Rusan. Rusan quickly stood and bobbed a curtsey to the queen and her entourage.

“Good morning Rusan, how is your charge this morning? She seems to have a slightly better colour to her today!” asked Queen Adred.

“Good Morning your Majesty!” replied Rusan. “Jena had a fairly good night last night, so we were both able to get a decent night’s sleep, she’s had a little breakfast but as you can see that wore her out and she’s now sleeping soundly!”

“She does look a lot better than she did when we first saw her in those hills up in the mountains!” stated Aryn, looking down at Jena who’d a smile playing across her face.

“That she does Princess!” answered Rusan who turned to a side table and lifted a rectangular piece of slate to retrieve a slip of paper that was neatly folded underneath.

“Here your Majesty, this paper contains every bit of information that I was able to get Jena to remember. I am unsure how accurate any of this is, it has her date of birth, family details, things like the village she came from, the name of her father’s boat, when she was sentenced and sold, well, as well as she can remember anyway. I got her to write it all out for you, as neat as she could anyway, so if there is anything you can’t understand, you’ll have to come and ask her for clarification!”

Princess Aryn glanced at the list of information.

“No worries Rusan, at first glance this looks not only really legible, but highly comprehensive too! Thank her for me once she wakes up if you would!”

Caryn moved to the side of Rusan and picked up the piece of slate that had originally covered the document in Aryn’s hands.

“What’s this Rusan? I remember one of these from my school lessons!”

Rusan blushed furiously.

“Well highness, that’s exactly what it is, it’s a school slate! You see, although I insisted that my daughters learned to read, write and do their numbers, I, myself, never had the opportunity or the time when I was a girl, then, once I was a working woman and then a mother, well, I thought I would die being illiterate like most of my friends and neighbours. When I was getting Jena to write out her information for you, she realised it was a skill I lacked so, and please don’t laugh, but she’s started teaching me while we are sat here! First it was a way to pass the time, but it seems I have an aptitude for this, so while she sleeps, I practice my letters!”

Caryn looked at the older woman standing before her, who was looking very embarrassed with herself.

“Don’t belittle your efforts Rusan, both your daughters have proved themselves to be very highly intelligent, so I am not surprised that Jena has discovered an aptitude for learning within you. The more people who can read and write the better for us all. You keep at it Rusan, I will ensure you get a supply of proper paper and pens for you to practice with. I will also dig out some simple books for you to read. To start with, although they may be juvenile, they’ll make Jena’s lessons for you more interesting!”

“Thank you, Highness. I have felt a connection with Jena since the first moment we dragged her from the marsh and down into the camp. Even though she’s from Masonville, and technically almost a perpetual enemy, she, and, so it seems, a lot of their population, are just as much victims of oppression as we are victims of their almost constant unbridled aggression! Jena, to me, has become like a third daughter, in fact both Ayleah and Lrna visited me here yesterday, and in a short time it seemed like the four of us had always been a family, in fact, they are both hoping to visit again this afternoon, Jena is like their little sister and they have done her a power of good, probably more than me!”

“Don’t belittle your effect on Jena Rusan!” said Ayne as she joined the group. “Yes, your girls have given Jena a significant psychological boost following their visit yesterday, but Jena looks to you as a mother figure, you have become her anchor in all this upheaval, she’s going to continue to need you as she navigates this next portion of her life!”

As they’d been speaking, Jena’s eye’s fluttered open, and seeing herself surrounded by all these imposing individuals, she initially shrank to the right side of her bed before her hand snaked out to seek Rusan’s hand.

“It’s fine sweetheart, you know everyone here, no-one is going to hurt you, you know that don’t you?”

Jena quickly relaxed but still clung to Rusan’s hand. Queen Adred sat in the chair on the other side of Jena’s bed and sought Jena’s left hand from under the bedclothes.

“Good morning Jena!” the Queen said quietly, “I have to say, you are looking a little better every day, I hear you are giving lessons to Rusan?”

Jena glanced up at the smiling Rusan, before shyly nodding to the Queen.

“I think that is an excellent idea of yours to help Rusan! it must certainly help to pass the time, but hopefully, you’ll soon be able to leave this ward, and then we’ll find you both better quarters here in the palace, while you decide what it is you want to do!”

Jena looked almost horrified and clung even tighter to Rusan’s hand.

“No sweetie, you don’t need to worry, you can stay with Rusan for as long as you both want, so don’t you worry, I promise you that you are perfectly safe here!”

Jena relaxed, smiled at the Queen and nodded.

“Now Caryn has said she’s going to send you up some paper, writing materials and books to help with your lessons, would you like me to sort you out some books for you to read. It may help to pass the time, I know how boring it can be when people make you stay in bed, perhaps we can see about getting you both a small radio to listen to, depending on how much it might disturb our other two patients?”

Ayne smiled at Jena.

“I think both suggestions are excellent idea’s your Majesty! Some books would help ease Jena ease back into a more normal existence, she could even read aloud to Rusan, and a small radio playing some nice music, would help us all to pass the time.”

“Thank you, your Majesty!” said Jena quietly.

“You are welcome, my dear, now, how are her injuries responding to your treatments Ayne?”

“Overall, she’s doing really well your Majesty” replied Ayne, “One or two of her deeper lacerations are still looking nasty, but most are responding well to our treatments, but we need her to continue to eat well, drink plenty of fluids and we’ll let time do the rest! We have to apply regular salves and ointments to her skin, especially to her feet and back, but she’s doing a whole lot better than when we first brought her back to the palace aren’t you, Jena?”

“Yes, thank you Your Majesty, but am I really in the palace?” asked Jena hesitantly, “It’s just, if people were taken into the Palace in Masonville, they were never seen again and no-one knows what happened to them!”

The Queen frowned with displeasure, “Well, Jena, that might be the case in Masonville, but I can tell you that, that sort of treatment of the ordinary population is not something that happens here in Granaria! You have nothing to fear from me or anyone who represents me or my family, You are free to leave whenever you want, but, I hope you’ll stay with us for a while yet and let us help you as much as we can, now, is there anything else we can help you with at the moment?”

Jena shook her head and squeezed the Queens hand with her own.

“That’s excellent, now if you two ladies will excuse us, we have a few other duties to undertake, but we’ll be back to see you soon!”

After everyone had said their goodbyes, the Queen and entourage left the infirmary to see to their other responsibilities. Meanwhile, both of the two survivors slowly, but surely regained longer spells of consciousness. Worryingly neither knew who they were, but it seemed that one had a faint recognition of the other, but both suffered severe and repeated debilitating headaches.

Chapter Twenty.

Whilst the Queen and Prime Minister Pellinore worked on affairs of state, the Princesses Aryn went to the cells to start interviewing the ex Masonville military aide.

Some six hundred toils to the East, a different scene was taking place.

President Signi stomped backwards and forwards across his office. His chin was tucked into his chest, both his arms were behind his back, with his thumbs interlocked, one hand was slapping into the palm of the other. He seemed to reach some internal conclusion and then bellowed through the open doorway.

“Brandr, General Brandr, get in here!”

Almost as if he was outside the door awaiting the summons, which if truth be told, he was, he hurried into the President’s office, escorted by two aides.

“Well Brandr, is Clercq here yet?”

“Yes Mr President, he arrived a matter of munts ago! Shall I summon him for you?”

“Yes Brandr, let’s hear what he has to say for himself, this ought to be interesting!”

General Brandr nodded silently to one of his aides, who hurried from the President’s office. Two munts later a dishevelled Major General Clercq was hurried into the Presidents presence between two of Brandr’s aides, the aroma which clung to his clothing preceded him.

“Right, you three leave us, and close the doors behind you as you leave, both sets!”

At a surreptitious nod from General Brandr, the three aides left the main office, pulling the main doors too behind them as they left, before sliding two padded pocket doors from the door jambs, rendering the President’s office practically soundproof.

“Well, Clercq, so what happened? What have you to say for yourself? And this better be good, Major General, very, very good!” snarled the President.

Major General Clercq cut a very bedraggled figure as he stood to attention in front of the President, who was now seated at his large, heavy hardwood desk. Clercq had obviously not had chance to wash, shave or change his uniform since his expulsion from the court and country of Granaria almost three days previously. As he’d been threatened, he, and three of his four aides had been transported in the back of a locked rubbish cart to the main border post between Masonville and Granaria. From there he’d been transported in the back of a military lorry, practically non-stop until he was now hurried into his Presidents office.

“Mr President Sir, I have been treated most shamefully by those who rule Granaria. They wilfully ignored my rank, and my position as your Ambassador Sir, they purposely embarrassed me and my men. I have never been treated so shamefully, and I demand you seek proper redress from those who have the nerve to claim to be your equal! Those stupid, pathetic bitches, how dare they treat me the way they did! They, they claim to be rulers, rulers of Granaria, and you, you must take appropriate steps to annihilate them and their pox ridden regime, and you must do so at the earliest opportunity!” Clercq was becoming ever more incoherent as the interview went on.

“Well Brigadier Clercq, I asked you what happened?”

“Sorry Mr. President, I think you meant Major General! You said Brigadier!”

“I know exactly what I said Colonel, now, do I have to repeat my question, or are you aiming to become a Lieutenant-Colonel?”

“Sorry Mr President, but I must protest, I have worked hard in your service, I have done everything in my power to protect your position from all sources of attack and intrigue! I have done everything you or General Brandr have asked of me, I worked hard, damned hard to become a Major General”

“Well Lieutenant-Colonel, I know exactly what you did in my service, now sir, unless you want to leave this office as a Major, I suggest you answer my original question, so, sir, for the final time of asking, WHAT happened when you showed Queen Adred the photographs I entrusted to you, and you alone, photographs all you had to do was place in her possession, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED?”

For a moment Clercq’s eyes hardened, before, swallowing his bile he told his President exactly how his audience with that so called Queen had unfolded. As he retold his version of events, his voice slowly rose in pitch and became ever more shrill.

After listening without raising any questions, his elbows on his desk and his fingers steepled in front of him, the President slowly sighed and sat back in his chair.

"So Clercq, you could not perform the task I set you? in spite of the importance of this task being stressed to you by General Brandr, and reiterated by myself, you sir, YOU COULD NOT CONTROL YOUR OWN PETTY VIEWS, THE CONTEMPT AND OPINIONS YOU HOLD OF WOMEN IN GENERAL, YOU SIR, HAVE EMBARRASSED ME, MY OFFICE AND THE NATION OF MASONVILLE!!”

“But!” spluttered Clercq.

“There are no buts!” snapped the President. “General Brandr, get this lowly Private escorted out of my presence, I do not wish to see this miserable specimen ever again, so place him somewhere as befits his skillset, in fact General, he likes throwing shit around so much, get him assigned to an engineer’s platoon, digging toilets, now General, NOW!”

General Brandr opened the double doors and slid apart the sliding soundproof doors. After a quick word with one of the three aides that had been in the President’s office, who couldn’t stop a fleeting smile from crossing his face, he ordered an escort of four soldiers into the room.

“Right Clercq, fall in!”

Clercq stood there speechless and unmoving.

“You, . . you can’t do that to me, I am Major General Clercq, I am a loyal servant of Masonville and its President, I’ll, . . I’ll”

General Brandr nodded his head, and the four soldiers picked up a kicking and screaming Private Clercq and dragged him from the President’s office, his muffled shouts and stream of invective and abuse slowly faded into silence.

“Brandr, I need someone who holds slightly less misogynistic views than Clercq, well, at least someone who does a better job of hiding their true feelings!” Both men smiled at each other, each reading between the lines of what was said! “Who do you suggest as our next ambassador to Granaria, because, I want that wreckage, I want all of it and I want it before someone else can take advantage of whatever secrets it holds. I don’t want to invade Granaria, but if an armed incursion is our only recourse, then so be it, but if we can do this diplomatically, at least initially, which is what that imbecile Clercq was supposed to achieve, so much the better!”

General Brandr considered his next words carefully.

“Well, Mr President, knowing as I do the importance of this task, then, if I may be so bold, perhaps you should send myself, as an interim representative? Let me achieve what our last two ambassadors have so miserably failed to accomplish, which is the complete and peaceful conclusion of these negotiations! Or, at the very least, accurate and precise information as to where an armed incursion needs to concentrate their efforts. As such a high-ranking representative, it would be quite in order for me to take an additional, diplomatic entourage, if you understand me sir?”

President Signi sat in deep thought for a few moments. Brandr’s suggestion made perfect sense, but he also knew that the General was looking to usurp the position of president for himself.

‘Could he trust him? Not as far as he could throw him!’

‘Would a successful result boost Brandr’s ambitious nature? Without doubt!’

‘Could he work to undermine Brandr’s allies within the armed forces whilst he was out of the country? Of Course!’

‘Could he lay the blame for another failure solely at Brandr’s feet? Undoubtedly.’

‘Could he, Signi, survive a successful conclusion of these negotiations without losing out to Brandr? Possibly, but not too easily!’

‘Did he have a real choice in this matter? Not really.’

‘Would Brandr taking his special team of operatives with him make Signi’s task easier at home? Probably not!’

Signi knew he was a good card player, but even so, he knew that Brandr had more than likely read every thought as it crossed his mind.

“Yes General, I think you are right, a special envoy is what is now called for, make the arrangements, get your men and yourself all set to leave at the earliest opportunity, get the necessary documents drawn up and I’ll sign them straight away!”

Brandr saluted, “Yes Sir, I shall make arrangements to leave immediately, I shall also arrange for you to have a reliable and dependable individual in my stead until I return from Granaria!”

“Thank you Brandr, I wish you a successful mission!”

As General Brandr left the office of President Signi, both men wondered about the wisdom of agreeing to the imminent course of events, but the die had been cast, for good or ill, only time would tell who was going to be the beneficiary of the next few days.

Chapter Twenty-One.

Princess Aryn followed the gaoler down the corridor to the cell of the Masonville Aide who had so surprisingly appealed for asylum, she wondered what had driven such a move, no doubt she would soon find out.

The cell door was opened and the individual incarcerated within stood briskly to attention as the Princess entered the room. She motioned for the door to be left ajar but for two sentries to be outside in the corridor if needed.

“As you may know, I am Princess Aryn, please, have a seat, there is no reason for us not to be as comfortable as circumstances allow!”

“Thank you, your Highness. I am Captain, or rather I was, Captain Magni Porarinn, that is, I am Magni Porarinn late of Masonville’s Diplomatic Corps.”

The Princess offered her hand in greeting.

“Well Mr Porarinn I am pleased to meet you. Now, if you will, please tell me your story, what has driven a man of your rank to throw it all away in the manner you have, and I advise you to tell me the absolute truth, because I will be checking details, you should know that not only are there two sentries at the door but there is also a scribe to record our conversation, just so we both know what was said!”

“I understand Princess!”

“Now Mr Porarinn, tell me about yourself, I will try not to interrupt your flow, I know how easy it can be to get sidetracked and lose your chain of thought!”

“Thank you, Princess, but please, call me Magni, it’ll be easier for both of us I think! I have had plenty of time to order my thoughts, and sort my tale in my mind, so, first I will start with my details, I am thirty-three annuals old and have served in the Masonville military in one way or another for the last seventeen annuals. Both my parents are dead as is my sister, so, I am now alone in the world, with no allegiance to anyone, but myself!

But back to the very beginning, my sister was three annuals older than myself, and we had a loving family life in our early days. Our father was a Lieutenant in Masonville’s army, and was killed on active duty some twenty-eight annuals ago, which war, skirmish or whatever, we were never told the exact details, but it left our mother who had been a nurse, to raise us both on her meagre wages as she resurrected her career and the small pension she was awarded for the loss of her husband, the father of her daughter who was eight and myself who was five. We had to move from a nice house to a small flat, close to the hospital where our mother worked.

My sister Asta was charged with looking after me and undertaking a lot of the chores needed to survive, we both grew up quickly, I did any odd jobs I could find to help our meagre finances stretch that bit further. Our mother worked every hora she could, so we didn’t get to see too much of her, and, when she was home, she was tired and slept a lot. So, nothing out of the ordinary really, lots of families had it as hard, or even harder than we did.

Asta sacrificed herself to make sure I was protected as much as possible from the realities of life. I only realised all this much later, when I had grown up myself, mentally, more so than physically, which I am sad to say took much longer than it should have. All I knew was that my father had died in a war against our main enemy Granaria, and I swore that I would honour his memory by following in his footsteps and defend the concepts and ideals that made Masonville the pre-eminent nation in all Villiar, what an idiot I was!”

“Can you stop there for a moment Magni?” asked the Princess. “Trooper Kendra, could you order a flask of tea to be sent down to us if you will, I think we are going to be some time here, so arrange for refreshments for you all too!”

“Yes Princess, thank you Princess!”

“Sorry Magni, please continue!”

“Thank you, Princess. So as you can see I had a relatively sheltered if poor upbringing, a widowed but hard-working mother, a sister barely three annuals my senior who was practically a second mother to me. I was nothing special at school, academically just average, but it turned out I was a gifted athlete, with a speciality of being a great long-distance runner, track and cross country events seem to come easy as I was always extremely fit, mainly because my mother and sister made sure I had the main share of food within our household!

I was encouraged to join the cadet force of the army and was made to feel special and was a bit of a poster boy I suppose for all things Masonville and the doctrines that enabled me to make of myself what I had. From such a disadvantaged background! I now realise I was a propaganda tool, and fools everywhere bought the story, hook, line and sinker, and the biggest fool of the lot was myself!”

A tray with two mugs and a large flask was brought quietly into the room and the Princess poured out the two drinks while Magni continued his story.

“When Asta was nineteen and I was sixteen, our mother caught an infection from one of the wards she worked on and died not long after. Asta told me our mother had complained about the lack of hygiene precautions on the ward she worked on, but no one took any notice, there was always a good supply of women needing jobs, and most were forced to be nurses. Asta had a poor schooling, as she was often forced to care for the star child, i.e. me! And, sad to say, I was told by my teachers and then the army to expect such preferential treatment and to enjoy it as was my birthright, just because I was male!

As I said, I was encouraged to join the army officer cadets, where as a star athlete I was portrayed as an ideal to emulate. I tried to look after Asta, but I was a selfish individual, and only realised too late what life was really like for the ordinary citizen of Masonville, but that’s jumping my story a little. I had to work hard at the academic portion of the military life, it didn’t come easily to me, unlike for some of the others. But if I was struggling with a mathematic problem or a grammar rule, Asta would invariably know the answer, and that was despite her own shoddy education, she was a really clever individual who was wasted by the system, mainly because she had the misfortune to be born female in a misogynistic society. And, sad to say, I didn’t notice it, until it was almost too late.

I worked hard, my face was the face of a system that proved Masonville was the elite nation, and anyone, with the same dedication could rise from humble beginnings, to reach the upper echelons of society. I joined the army proper once I was old enough, at seventeen, and worked my way up from a Second Lieutenant, up to Captain and I was about to be promoted to be a Major in the next few weeks, once this mission as one of Clercq’s aides had been accomplished. But I already knew I had been duped, as have most of the population sad to say!”

“That’s quite an opening statement Magni, do you want to stop here, or take a few moments, to regain your thoughts or take a comfort break?” asked the Princess.

“Actually, a few moments to stretch my legs and, as you put it, have a comfort break is probably a good idea if you don’t mind!”

“Not a problem Magni, it’ll probably be a good idea to have a fresh scribe and a fresh flask of tea, so, shall we aim to start again in fifteen munts?”

“Thank you, Princess, fifteen munts it is!”