The Distant Queen

by Terry Volkirch

This story is mainly about a romance between two young women who are from two different worlds. It's a fantasy story with some adventure but there are no mythical creatures and there isn't a lot of magic. It's really a sweet and tender romantic comedy with a mostly happy ending.

In chapter 3, Gabrielle fights for her breakfast, has a bad hair day and seems to have bad taste in jewelry. In spite of it all, she still manages to make a couple discoveries and learn a couple new useful tricks.

Chapter 3

After explaining the need to keep her as queen, Muriel and the handmaidens chatted away and ideas swirled around inside Gabrielle's mind like a whirlwind, leaving her slightly dizzy.

Her ghostly form hadn't moved from where she stood since arriving and she felt like she could use a change of scenery as well as some peace and quiet. She took a few hesitant steps towards her balcony and stopped. So far, so good. She quickly marched the rest of the way and saw it was just getting dark outside. Then she looked down and found herself looking into the faces of dozens of surprised well-wishers.

The wide balcony overlooked a public square where her subjects often met to trade goods. She used the balcony to address her subjects for special occasions. From it, she gave speeches and made announcements about the state of the queendom. Normally, the public square would be mostly empty by sunset, but such wasn't the case.

Gabrielle stared a short time before she regained her composure and gave a friendly little wave.

Her loyal subjects cheered.

Muriel couldn't help but notice the noise. She came running out and almost ran through Gabrielle.

"Your Majesty!" the old mystic huffed, making sure she was loud enough for the crowd to hear. "Please get back into bed!"

A puzzled Gabrielle turned and walked back inside, leaving Muriel to mentally kick herself and attend to damage control. The old woman had neglected to tell the queen the part of the plan about feigning illness.

"Loyal subjects!" Muriel shouted. "The queen is still not well, but she insisted on seeing you and letting you know that she'll be okay. She thanks your for your concern and asks that you please go home to your families. They need you more than she does."

The crowd cheered again and began to disperse, leaving the old woman to breathe a sigh of relief. She waited for her heart rate to slow and went inside to make sure her queen was fully informed.

* * *

Another few candlemarks later and everything was settled, just in time. Muriel was about to go over the plan again when Gabrielle's leg started twitching violently. The ghostly queen looked down at herself, frowning briefly before her eyes widened. Something was seriously wrong.

The vision of Gabrielle waved frantically and faded out, leaving three concerned women.

"What was that about?" Heloise asked.

"I'm not sure," replied Muriel. "I think something was happening to her body and she had to go back to wherever it was."

"Her body?" Beth asked.

"I'm talking about her physical body. That wasn't her physical body we were seeing."

The old mystic was in her element now. She knew quite a lot about magic. Studying other people's talents helped her better understand her own. She also found magic very interesting in its own right. It was a hobby as well as a calling.

No one knew exactly how magic worked, and it didn't help that it seemed to work differently for different people. For some, the power came from within and flowed out through the hands or some other body part. For others, the power came from the land, with some locations providing more power than others. In still others, it was a combination of internal and external forces. More than a few people had better results when they held certain objects like gold or a large quartz crystal. Some only worked their magic when they were asleep, like Gabrielle did with her new found talent. It was hard to make sense of it but there were patterns if you looked long and hard enough.

Muriel had heard of at least two other people who could do what Gabrielle did just moments ago, and like Gabrielle, both of them had a primary talent. The old woman wondered if the ghostly form truly was magic. Given the pattern, it wouldn't surprise her if everyone had the potential to leave their body in the same manner.

"Astral body," muttered the woman.

"What's that?" Beth asked.

"I was just thinking. Our queen was doing what I've heard called astral projection. We were seeing her astral body. Interesting ...."

Beth just shrugged and walked off to join Heloise to see about supper. In all the excitement, hunger had placed a distant second.

* * *

Gabrielle woke up and gasped. Something pawed at her right leg.

Through the gloomy twilight, the woman could see a huge furry paw with large claws trying to pull her out. She was lucky her armor protected her so well, and even luckier that the creature was too large to squeeze into her small shelter. She'd very likely be dead if she'd slept in the open.

She patted the wooden box with her lucky charm and pulled out her knife, quickly sinking it into the paw.

Whatever controlled that paw let out a ghastly squeal and pulled back for a moment, but the danger wasn't over. The angry beast soon jammed its head forward into the small hole to try its luck using its large, long snout full of sharp teeth.

The queen was impressed ... for a few quick heart beats anyway. Then she pulled her sword and thrust it down the animal's throat and through the back of its neck, dealing a fatal blow.

The large animal was too large and strong to be killed so quickly though. It thrashed about wildly, slamming its head on the rocks before it pulled out and immediately collapsed, gurgling blood and slowly bleeding to death. Just as the sun's first rays brushed its back, the animal took its last breath.

"Breakfast is served," joked the queen before shaking her head and struggling out past the beast to start her morning.

In the light of the strange orange sun, the animal that attacked her wasn't as large as it first appeared. It was more the size and shape of a small bear back home. The concerned woman wondered if it wouldn't be better to take shelter high in the rocks or in a large tree rather than on the ground. She might not be lucky enough to find another convenient arrangement of boulders to sleep under.

No birds or flying creatures of any kind had been seen, so for the next dark rotation, she decided to try sleeping on the ledge of one of the many cliffs that lined the valley. She feared the bear-like animals might be able to climb trees.

With her next evening already planned, she began to skin her kill in preparation for breakfast. She'd cook enough to last her through the sun's rotation and leave the rest. It was waste but she didn't want to attract any scavengers by dragging along extra meat. Sometimes scavengers could be worse than a large cat or bear, as they often traveled in packs. Fighting off a pack of ravenous beasts would not be fun.

One good thing about struggling for survival in the wilderness, it gave one plenty of time to think. While cooking, she thought through the strange dream of her last sleep period. Was she really back in Prizzaria? Everything seemed so real but it had to be a dream, didn't it? There was really no way to tell for sure until she got back home and talked to Muriel and her handmaidens. In the meantime, she just shrugged it off.

After breakfast, Gabrielle didn't break camp right away. She wouldn't normally take a trophy from a kill but she made an exception. She figured the claws and teeth of the animal might come in handy for trading. At the very least they should have some intimidation value.

Being so far from home, she wondered if magic worked differently in the alien land. She had no idea if her magic would work so she figured she could use all the help she could get. Using a small metal pick from her belt, she bored a hole through the thick end of each claw. Next, she strung the claws on a length of twine that she took from the drawstring of one of her pouches and tied the two ends behind her neck.

The tall woman laughed, and wished she had a mirror to see herself. She imagined she looked like a fierce barbarian, with wild hair, dirty face and a bear claw necklace. Then she realized she did have a mirror of sorts, and went to look at her reflection in the stream. There, she saw that her imagination wasn't too far from reality, and her pride had her washing her face and running her fingers through her hair before tying it back into a practical pony tail. She left the necklace alone though.

When her work was done, she renewed her quick pace downstream and hopefully on to civilization. Life in the wilderness held little appeal for someone used to royal treatment.

As before, progress was slow but by the time sunset was near, Gabrielle thought she saw a faint trace of white smoke. It was too far off to get to before dark so she scouted around for a ledge to sleep on instead. The valley had gotten deeper and narrower with many cliffs and rocky outcroppings so it didn't take long to make sleeping arrangements.

Soon enough, the resourceful queen had climbed up to a wide ledge and placed large rocks around its edge to keep her from rolling off while she slept. She also made a bed of grasses, taking care not to include any insects. Then she sat to chew her remaining strips of meat and appreciate her handiwork in the light of the setting sun.

Clearing the mind worked wonders to relax the body, and nearly a full sunlit rotation of marching worked wonders to stave off insomnia. Gabrielle had only a last brief thought before sleep claimed her. If anyone else had been transported to this area, she hoped they'd survived.

* * *

Once again, Gabrielle found herself back in her castle, with Sister Sun about a dozen candlemarks from setting. It was near the same time she'd arrived last time.

The ghostly form looked around her royal bedchamber seeing no one. She walked towards the closed door and reached for the handle to open it and saw her hand pass through it. She couldn't open the door but soon realized that she didn't have to. She could pass through it. That was a new and odd sensation.

She roamed the halls for a short span of time, listening to the sounds of activity on the lower floors and outside. In spite of being in the castle, walking around the top floor left her feeling lonelier than ever. She still didn't believe this could be anything but a dream. It was too good to be true.

When she got to the sitting room, there was faithful Muriel, asleep in Gabrielle's favorite chair.

The ghostly queen momentarily forgot her current state and reached out to gently nudge the old woman awake. Of course her hand passed through the woman. What now? How could she wake her if she couldn't touch her?

She went looking for her handmaidens, ending up just outside their door but stopping short of passing through it. Inside, she could hear the sounds of passion, so she left them alone.

Going back to Muriel was really the only option. Queen Gabrielle was supposed to be ill so she didn't want anyone else to see her. It might seem silly but she figured she may as well play along in her dream.

When she got back to the sitting room, the old mystic was still asleep in the chair, snoring softly. Gabrielle tried touching her again to no effect. She also tried blowing on her and even tried to kiss the old woman's cheek. Nothing worked.

Standing in the middle of the room and watching the candles burn down got old fast. On impulse, the bored queen walked over to a candle stand and tried blowing on a flame to make it flicker. She concentrated with all her might and thought she saw a small effect. It was hard to tell though. It could've been a draft. Castles were known to be drafty.

"You need to transfer more energy to your astral body," Muriel's voice suddenly said behind her.

Gabrielle quickly turned around and smiled. She finally had some company!

The mystic repeated what she said and tried to explain what she meant. It was a slow learning process but after several candlemarks, the ghostly queen finally blew out her first candle.

Muriel celebrated by collapsing in Gabrielle's chair and halfheartedly clapping. The old woman stopped abruptly though when she saw her queen's familiar pout.

"What? Is it because I'm in your chair?" Muriel guessed.

Gabrielle nodded.

"Sorry," the old woman said as she moved to the couch.

The queen moved to her favorite chair and, forgetting she was incorporeal, passed through it to the floor as she tried to sit down.

Muriel laughed. "You've got the floor figured out at least."

Gabrielle stood up and scowled back.

"I'm sorry. Look, you've got to feel for the energy of the chair and hover your body over it, just as you're subconsciously hovering over the floor now. Go on. Give it a try."

The tall figure ever so slowly and carefully, lowered herself into her favorite chair. With a little trial and error, she managed quite well, even managing to squirm and snuggle in it like she was so fond of doing.

"Very nice. Keep practicing and eventually you might be able to transfer enough energy to your astral body that you can solidify it. That would be ideal if our plan is to work."

Gabrielle gave her friend a doubtful look.

"Don't look at me like that. I've studied astral projection. Some of those who do it claim they can solidify their astral bodies. I don't know if you could speak when solid but I wouldn't be surprised if you could. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to speak?"

The queen nodded eagerly.

"Then you could tell me all about what happened to you. This yes or no guessing game is mentally exhausting."

That last comment gave the well-educated queen an idea, one she wished she'd thought of earlier. She got up, quickly walked over to Muriel, and began to trace letters in the air with a fingertip, making Muriel upset with herself too for not thinking of it. Both women had been taught to read and write after all.

Gabrielle slowly spelled out the words, "orange sun" and "two moons", following up with "alien land" when the old woman gave her a puzzled look.

"How did you get there? What happened?"

The words, "man" and "magic", were quickly spelled out as both women began to get the hang of the new form of communication.

"Of course!" Muriel hissed. "Farrott had to be responsible. That little weasel."

Gabrielle shrugged and spelled out, "You know him?" She'd never heard that name before, but then she got excited when she realized it was a way to prove she wasn't dreaming. If another victim could be found who knew Farrott, they could confirm his name.

"Yes, I know the little man. He's a menace who got banished from Ansolia last cycle. He sent too many people away and pissed somebody off. I'm gonna nail that little lump of excrement to the wall when I find him."

"No!" Gabrielle quickly spelled out. "Not U 2."

Muriel knew what she meant and smiled.

"Thanks, but he won't see what hit him. He won't be sending me your way."

Somehow that didn't make the queen feel any better and she shook her head in disbelief. If this was a dream, it certainly was an interesting and emotional one.

"So, my Queen. It must be getting close to sunrise back in that other land. You should think about getting back to your body. Perhaps you could scout around before you get up too. All you have to do is will yourself to go somewhere and you can send your astral body there very, very quickly if not instantly."

Gabrielle tried something new and slowly mouthed the words, "Thank you."

"You're welcome," Muriel smiled. "Now go ... and be careful. I've got lots of plans for you."

The thankful queen waved good-bye and gave her old friend an affectionate smile before fading out.

Once back near her body, she looked around but didn't see much since it was still very dark. On a lark, she willed herself to fly straight up in the air so she could get a better look in the direction of the smoke she saw earlier.

There, far in the distance, the light of hundreds of campfires could be seen, along with dozens of large, dimly lit structures. So it was a civilized land after all. That gave her hope as well as a way to verify she wasn't dreaming. She'd continue marching in that direction and see if there really was a city in this strange new land.