Hiding in Plain Sight – Part Two of Seven.

Jessica and Luke are siblings who have experienced a whole world of pain and hurt in their short lives. When it seems that, for once, things are finally beginning to improve, a local drug gang invades their existence, and their world threatens to crumble down around their ears. Read on to see how they and their friends fight back.

Chapter Four.

The next morning, Mike and Tina left for the café as usual. Luke and Jess spent a quiet, restless day keeping a low profile. Several times the house phone rang, and they ignored it, twice people came to the door ringing the bell, and again they were ignored. Both were too worried for the other to do much more than to cuddle and watch mindless television.

During the morning Tina left the café to Mike and the two Saturday girls who came in to work to cover Jess, who’s usual day off was Saturday so she could spend time with Luke. Tina returned laden down with a new wheeled suitcase which she quietly placed in the boot of the car, refusing to tell Mike what she’d bought.

The café always closed early on Saturday afternoon, so they were both home not long after three o’clock. They had barely got in the house before a couple approached the front door and rang the bell. Making sure Jess and Luke were still safely ensconced upstairs, Mike answered the door.

“Mr Smith?” asked the man.

“Yes!”

“Ah good, I am Detective Sergeant Jones, this is Detective Constable Wright, I wonder if we may ask you to spare us a few moments of your time?” Both officers showed their warrant cards.

“What’s this about?” asked Mike.

“Who is it, Mike?” asked Tina as she emerged from the kitchen wiping her hands on a towel.

“It’s the police love.”

“The police? What do they want with us?”

“I was just wondering that myself Tina!”

“May we come in for a moment? Just to ensure some privacy!” asked the policewoman.

“Yes, I don’t see why not, please, come in.” said Mike as he stepped back and Tina showed them into the front room.

“We won’t keep you long, we know you are just home from work. I wonder if you know where we could find Miss Jessica Carter or her brother Luke?” asked DS Jones.

“No, we haven’t seen her since yesterday, today is her usual day off!” answered Tina.

“So you have no idea where either of them are?” asked DC Wright, glancing upwards as she asked the question.

“No, we haven’t seen either of them today, have we Mike?” answered Tina truthfully, as both Jess and Luke were still in bed when they’d left for work.

“Nope, not me, not heard hide nor hair of either of them since yesterday, why are you looking for them? Are they in some kind of trouble?” asked Mike.

“No, neither of them are in any trouble, we just want to speak to Miss Carter about her boyfriend Matthew Gibson.”

“Him! He’s trouble if you ask me!” stated Mike.

“Why do you say that Mr. Smith?” asked DS Jones.

“I don’t know really, he is just too shifty, he’s never looked me in the eye, he seems to be a control freak, especially where Jess is concerned, I know Luke is scared of him. Matthew is just the sort of character that makes you want to not waste any time and dislike him from the outset, but, Jess is besotted with him, so I keep my opinions to myself!” replied an obviously annoyed Mike.

“Are you looking for Matthew too?” asked Tina.

The two police officers glanced at each other, then DS Jones said “We know where Mr Gibson is at the moment, he’s in the mortuary. We understand from our informers that Matthew may well have been siphoning drugs and funds from his employers, and it seems they took exception! We recovered significant amounts of drugs and some cash from the property Matthew shared with Miss Carter, and we just need to ask her some questions.”

“Well, she was upset when I last spoke to her, but she didn’t say where she was or if she was going to go away!” said Tina to the officers.

“Well, we won’t disturb you any longer. If you do hear from Miss Carter, please ask her to speak to us on this number, or, if she prefers, to pop into the station and ask for either of us if you would!” and both officers proffered business cards with their contact details.

“Certainly!” said Mike taking the cards, and with that both officers left, but not without DC Wright glancing up the stairs again as she left.

“Well, that calls for a cuppa if nothing else!” said Tina heading back to the kitchen, “Mike, be a love and fetch me the suitcase from the boot of the car please!” Mike shrugged and headed back into the garage to comply with his wife’s instructions.

“You can come downstairs now, you two!” added Tina as she closed the slats of the kitchen blind, “We need to have a talk!”

Jess sat quietly weeping for Matthew. Despite the chaos he’d brought into their lives, particularly over the last few days, she still felt something for the man, but he’d placed her care of Luke into jeopardy, and she’d never forgive him for that. Luke just sat in stunned silence. His life, which apart from these three people around him now, especially his sister, had been pretty miserable anyway, now, everything was up in the air and the dread of being forcibly parted from Jess was tearing him apart.

“Listen up everyone, I have a plan to deal with the current situation!” stated Tina with authority. “You two are probably free and clear as far as the police are concerned, but we can’t be one hundred percent sure, maybe even Matthew’s drug lords may not be too interested in you now either, but who knows what they are thinking for definite. They will assume that the police have recovered the drugs and money that he’s stolen from them. No, the real problem, as I see it is Social Services. And who knows how they’ll react, so it’s best not to find out by giving them chance to speak with either of you at the moment, so, you need to disappear for a while, Jessica and Luke Carter need to vanish off the face of the planet!”

“But! What! How?” spluttered Jess as Luke just stared at Tina.

“Where will we go, we don’t know anyone else but you, I wouldn’t know where to go or what to do once we got there?” exclaimed Jess.

“Yes you do!” stated Tina with authority, “You will go to stay with Karen up in Aberdeen.

“No!” said Jess with some vehemence, “I have dragged you two into this mess, I am not asking my best and only friend to get involved too!”

“No, you don’t have to ask Karen for help Jess, I knew you wouldn’t want to ask for her assistance, so I asked her for you! She’s expecting you the day after tomorrow!”

“WHAT! But! But!” spluttered Jess, “I can’t Tina, I simply can’t involve Karen in my mess!”

“I’ll give you that Jess, but Jessica and Luke Carter have disappeared so anyone looking for a brother and sister by those names will be unlucky, as they’ll be nowhere in sight!”

“I don’t understand? What do you mean Tina?” asked Luke.

“Well sweetheart, you will both need a disguise!” replied Tina “This will really, really need you to be bold and brave Luke, as your disguise will require you to become someone completely different, so different it will probably feel really strange, especially to start with, but, perhaps not so bad after what we were speaking about yesterday!” Tina looked intently at Luke whose face coloured a deep red and he could only stare at the floor. “Jessica is going to change from being your sister to your mommy, and you, my dear, sweet Luke, are going to change from a brother to a daughter!”

A wild-eyed Luke stared at Tina, “You, want, me, to be a girl?” he whispered.

“No! Definitely not! I am not asking Luke to pretend to be a girl!” thundered Jess rising to her feet and staring at Tina.

“SIT DOWN JESS, please, sit down!” said Tina quietly, Jess slumped into her chair looking for all the world more like a petulant teenager than a would be mother.

“Think about it Jess, you need to disappear, at least for a while, and this way no one will suspect who you truly are. You just need to change your make-up a little and alter your clothing to an older style, change your hair colouring and we can pass you off as a young mother in her late twenties, who just happens to have a young child, teen pregnancies happen you know!”

“Yes, I can understand that part of your plan, but you can’t think of passing Luke off as a twelve-year-old girl of all things, where will we get clothes? what do we use for money?”

“Well Jess, money isn’t a problem, you see, the money the police recovered wasn’t everything that was originally under your floorboards!” said an embarrassed looking Mike. “I took the liberty of, err, liberating some of it for your use and to repay you for all the damage and stress those hooligans put you through! I took the view it is better to seek forgiveness rather than ask for permission, so in my coat pockets when we left your flat yesterday, I had hidden some cash, money that Matthew stole from who knows who!”

“No Mike, it’s drug money!” said Jess.

“I know love, but if you don’t use it for the pair of you to get back on your feet, should the drug gangs keep it, or the government get their greedy hands on it? Take it Jess, put it to a far better use than it was intended, you need it love, you need it!” said Mike quietly.

“The money is one thing, but I can’t ask Luke to become a girl, no matter what the reasons!” said a tearful Jess.

“Jess, you have always told me you’d do anything to keep us together, absolutely anything, did you mean that?” asked Luke looking intently into his sisters eyes.

“Oh Luke, sweetheart!” replied Jess, “You know you mean everything to me, and yes, I’ll do absolutely anything to keep you with me, you know that don’t you?”

“Yes Jess, I’ve always known it, so Jess, will you become my Mommy?” said Luke quietly. “Because I can be your daughter! I will do absolutely anything to keep us together too, including becoming a girl if needs be, as long as you will still love me?”

“Come here you!” said Jess as she opened her arms to hug Luke, looking across at Tina, she asked “I suppose you have a good reason for suggesting this level of subterfuge?”

“Well, it occurred to me yesterday when I was helping Luke get out of his stained clothes after the milk shake incident, I was struck by how small, slight and generally underdeveloped Luke is. And like I was suggesting last night, he reminds me of Karen when she was little. Then, when I was talking to Luke, he let little things slip, and he told me how much he hates his body, as his outside doesn’t match his inside! Isn’t that right Luke?” Tina asked as she held his hand, Luke could only nod. “Then when I was thinking through my idea’s last night it struck me as the perfect disguise, we can pass Luke off as a young girl quite easily, especially after what I’d observed yesterday in cleaning all that milk shake from his body.”

“I don’t know how to be a girl!” whispered Luke.

“No, you are right, you don’t Luke, but Jess does, and so does Karen, and if I think far enough back, even I can just about remember!” said Tina smiling.

“But what do we do about clothes, we need to get away before we can go shopping!” exclaimed Jess, Mike smiled as a lightbulb went off in his head!

“Already been sorted!” said Tina, “I popped out and bought you both the bare essentials today, only enough for a few days, but enough to get you started, it’s all in that case over there! Any more objections?” she asked to no-one in particular. No-one had!

Jess took Luke’s chin in her hand and raised his face to look at her. “What do you mean Luke, your inside doesn’t match your outside?” she asked tenderly.

Luke’s eyes filled with tears as he stared at his sister, he simply shook his head from side to side.

“Come on Luke, you can tell me, and no matter what you say, I will always love you and be at your side, you know that right?”

With a big sigh Luke closed his eyes and started talking. “Ever since I can remember, I have always felt that I was in the wrong body. I should have been a girl. My only friends are girls, the boys hate me because I’m different, they like to make me cry and tease me all the time. I don’t understand them, but I do understand girls much better. I used to pray every night for God to correct His mistake and make me a girl, but He never did, But then I used to pray for Him to heal mom, but He didn’t answer that prayer either!” Luke then broke down as sobs wracked his body.

“Oh Luke, why didn’t you ever say anything?” asked an equally distraught Jessica as she hugged him tightly.

“Oh Jess, how could I, I was going to tell mom, but then she got ill because I’m a freak, I thought I could tell her when she got better, but she never did, because I’m a freak, and, it was my fault she got ill and died, then, afterwards, you were so busy fighting to keep us together, how could I risk that you would think I’m a freak too and stop loving me!” replied Luke in between his sobs as he gasped for air.

“Oh sweetheart, I will love you always, no matter what!” replied Jess, equally distraught as she hugged Luke tightly to her chest. “Never, ever, be afraid to tell me anything, do you understand me, you are all the family I have! You are not a freak, none of this is your fault, not Mom getting ill or Matthew being an evil man, I need you by my side! Always! Now then sweetheart!” as she held his shoulders and pushed him away from her slightly, “Does my daughter have a name?”

“Luke looked at his sister’s face, “Lisa!” he whispered, “My real name is Lisa!”

“Well Lisa, I am pleased to meet you, I hope you will be a good girl for your mommy!” smiled Jess.

“Oh Mom!” exclaimed Lisa as she hugged Jess tightly, “I will always be a good girl for you, I promise!”

An emotional Mike and Tina looked on at these two youngsters, two individuals who had already faced major distress in their short lives, pain etched in both their expressions.

“We need a new name for you too Jess, and a surname for you both to be known as!” said Tina quietly.

“I will use moms middle name of Carrie, and how about her maiden name of Brown?” asked an emotional Jess, as she rested her face on top of her new daughters head, tears cascading down her cheeks.

“I think that will work fine, don’t you Mike?” asked Tina.

Mike didn’t trust himself to speak properly given his emotions, and simply nodded his agreement.

“Lisa and Carrie Brown have a lot to do tomorrow, so I suggest an early night for us all.” Said Tina, “Given how our emotions are all over the place, a good night’s sleep will do us all a world of good. Tomorrow, we perfect your disguises, and check to see if I have forgotten anything you will need. Then on Monday, you will need to be a New Street Station to catch the 14:07 to Aberdeen, arriving at 21:13 where Karen will meet up with you!”

Lisa just looked up at her new mom, Carrie just nodded at Tina “I think you are quite right, I for one could do with some rest, how about you young lady? Lisa just nodded. “Come on then, we both could do with our beauty sleep!”

Lisa broke free of Carrie’s embrace and approached Tina and Mike.

“Thank you for looking out for us and thank you for not throwing me out of your house!” she said as she embraced them both. Mike lifted Lisa up into his firm embrace, “Listen you, don’t you ever doubt our love for you and Carrie. We loved Luke as a grandson, we will now love Lisa as our granddaughter! Now, if only you had chosen the name Leia, I could have called you Princess Leia Skywalker, Luke’s beautiful sister!” said Mike smilingly, Lisa giggled, a sound that had been noticeably absent since yesterday.

“Oh grandad, you are so silly!” replied Lisa, resting her forehead against Mike’s.

Mike’s eye’s gave up the fight with gravity and tears rolled down his cheeks at Lisa’s use of that term of endearment, a term that Mike didn’t expect. He pulled Carrie to his side. “No matter what the future holds for you both, know that Tina and I are always here for you, and we love you both, no matter what!”

Tina joined the group hug.

“Go on you two, off to bed, lots to do tomorrow, lots to do!” The youngsters headed upstairs hand in hand.

Tina hugged her husband, “You know something Michael Arthur Smith? You are a big softy under that brusque exterior, I love you, always have, always will! Now, lock up and let’s get to bed ourselves!”

Within fifteen minutes, the house was secure and in darkness, but, down the street a nondescript car was parked up in shadows cast from the streetlights, and the glow from a barely dark summers sky. Inside, the bright red end of a cigarette being drawn on was the only sign that there were any occupants. It was going to be a long night for the observer.

Chapter Five.

The next day was a busy one within the Smith household and it started just gone seven o’clock. The first task was to change the long dirty blond hair that Lisa had the day before, to a reddish ginger colour, which, along with a trim changed Lisa’s appearance more than she ever thought possible. She was mesmerised by her reflection and kept pushing the base of her hair in amazement.

“I think we’ve created a monster!” quipped Tina to Carrie, whose own hair had been changed from a light brown to a rich mahogany colour, with a shorter bob cut.

“Lisa, come and try on these jeans!” added Carrie. Lisa showed no sign of having heard Carrie’s request. Carrie walked up behind Lisa and placed her hands on her new daughter’s shoulders. “Earth to Lisa!” smiled Carrie.

“Huh! Did you say something?” asked Lisa looking up into her new mother’s reflection.

“Yes sweetheart, I asked you to come and try these new jeans on that Granny bought you yesterday! But I take it you like what you see?”
Lisa looked back at her reflection but only nodded.

“What are you thinking sweetheart?” asked Carrie.

Lisa continues to examine her reflection, “I, I never imagined I could look, so, that I could look so, so!” her voice failed her at this point!

“That you could look so different? That you could look so beautiful?” asked Carrie, “Because you look so very beautiful, you look just like mom when she was your age!”

“Do you think so?” asked an excited Lisa as she turned to face Carrie, “Do you really think I am beautiful and that I look like mom?”

“Yes Lisa! Yes, I do, and if mom could see you now, well, she would be so very proud of you and she would tell you how beautiful you are and how much she loved you too!”

Lisa enveloped Carrie in a big hug, “Thank you Carrie!” She whispered, “She would say you are beautiful too!” and reaching up on her tip toes Lisa kissed Carrie’s cheek.

With a big smile Lisa said “Well come on Mom, let’s see if these clothes Granny bought for me yesterday fit me okay!”

Tina smiled at the pair of them, “Okay young lady, strip, and let’s get you kitted out for your new life!”

Within minutes Lisa was standing in front of Tina and Lisa in a pair of pale blue satin panties and a matching A cup bra, which she more than filled. After having the shoulder straps correctly adjusted, Lisa was swaying from side to side admiring herself in the full-length mirror. Carrie glanced across at Tina and nodded, noticing for the first time, just how feminine Lisa’s body was becoming.

“Are you alright sweetheart?” asked Carrie, “You look a little pale!” Lisa was once again lost in her own little world!

“I think we’ve definitely created a monster!” exclaimed Tina full of smiles.

“I think you are right Tina, come on Lisa, you can’t go out in just your undies now, can you? Come and try this blouse on then these jeans!” laughed Carrie. “I asked if you are feeling okay, you look a little paler than normal?”

“Ok Mommy, I’m coming!”

“I asked if you feel okay?”

“Sorry Mommy yes, I feel a little sick, and my tummy aches a bit, it does every now and then, but I’m alright, just scared I suppose!”

“I’m not surprised Lisa, anyway, come here and let’s get you into some outdoor clothes!”

Within moments Lisa was stood in front of Carrie and Tina wearing a white embroidered anglaise blouse with short puff sleeves and a snug pair of pale blue jeans with heavy embroidery at each pocket and around the base of each leg. On her feet were black penny loafers with a one-inch heel. On her left wrist she wore a slim watch with a silver bracelet on her other arm, around her neck was a heart shaped locket.

“Wow Lisa, you look so grown up, although you could do with your ears being pierced!” remarked Carrie.

“Well Lisa, if you trust me, I can pierce your ears now, I used to do all my friends when I was younger, it doesn’t really hurt, and the sooner you have them done the sooner you can wear more ornate earrings like other girls your age!” stated Tina.

Lisa looked at her mom, and seeing her nodded agreement said “Okay Granny, I trust you! Let’s do it!”

Twenty minutes later, using the old traditional method of an ice cube to numb her ear lobes, and by using a large needle and a potato behind her lobes, Lisa now proudly displayed two piercings in each ear with a gold stud in the upper hole and a sleeper loop in the lower. To say she was pleased was a massive understatement.

Half an hour later and Lisa had tried on all the clothing Tina had bought for her disguise. She was now wearing a pale blue sun dress that came to just below her knees. She had open toed sandals on her feet with two-inch heels. Again, she was lost in her reflection from her red toenails to her ponytail perched on the top of her head, she was stunned by the girl in the mirror.

“I always dreamt of how I would look, but I never thought I would get the chance to be the real me! I am sorry that our lives have been wrecked by Matthew, but I am also really pleased.” Lisa almost whispered, then turning to look at Tina and Carrie. “You won’t stop loving me will you, because I am a little freak?” she asked with her lower lip quivering and the start of tears in her eyes! “I couldn’t live with myself if you stopped loving me!”

Carrie picked her new daughter up and stared into her face. “Lisa Brown, I don’t want you to ever, ever use that term to describe yourself again, do you hear me?” She asked with a proper mother tone in her voice. “I WILL ALWAYS, ALWAYS LOVE YOU, DO YOU UNDERSTAND MISSY, YOU ARE MY PRECIOUS DAUGHTER, AT LEAST FOR THE TIME BEING, OKAY? Understand?”

Lisa nodded resting her head on Carries shoulder, “Thank you Mom, even if this is only for a short time, I will be a good girl for you, I promise!”

“Well sweetheart.” Said Carrie speaking to the top of Lisa’s head. “You might be my daughter for a while, who knows how long, but perhaps, if you want to that is, once this all blows over, we will become sisters, Okay Lisa?”

Lisa’s head shot up to look in Carrie’s eyes. “Do you think so? You promise? Because, I have always, always thought of us as sisters, even if no-one else thought so, but I would give everything I have to always, always be your sister.”

“I promise, that no matter what it takes, you will always be either my daughter or my sister, if that is what you want, if that is who you are. To be honest, I can’t really think of you as anything else than a female. The difference in you is like night and day, so Lisa Brown, are you happy?”

Lisa nodded and kissed Carrie, as Carrie put Lisa back on the floor. Lisa brushed her dress skirts back into place, a completely subconscious action, which both Carrie and Tina noticed and smiled at each other.

Tina turned Lisa to face her. “You, young lady are most definitely not a freak, and like Carrie has said, I don’t ever, ever want to hear you refer to yourself by any other negative, derogatory term either. You are you, and you are a young girl on the cusp of becoming a young woman, you are pretty, you are beautiful, and you are loved! So, no more feeling that you are not worthy of our love, Okay? Carrie loves you, I love you, your Grandfather loves you and Karen can’t wait to meet her new niece as she loves you too! Now Missy, we won’t have this conversation again! Right? There is nothing to fear in being true to yourself, our love is never ending, well, unless you become a Birmingham City supporter, your grandfather might draw the line at that, you know how he is about his beloved Aston Villa?”

Mike came into the kitchen looking a bit hot and bothered after being out cutting both the front and rear lawns. “What might I draw the line at?” he asked smiling.

Carrie answered “If our Lisa became a Blues supporter!”

“Wash your mouth out with soap and water woman!” he chuckled, “I’ll have no swearing in this house, a “Scum” supporter!” Never!” with that he pretended to shiver and then burst out laughing. It was then that he took a close look at Lisa and how she had changed during the morning’s beauty treatments.

He beamed a big smile, “Wow, look at you, looking all grown up! Come here, give me a hug and a kiss!” So saying he bent at the waist and made a kissy face at Lisa and pretended to reach out for her. She squealed, and laughing out loud ran and hid behind her mom.
“Eww Granddad, you are all sweaty, and smelly!” giggled Lisa.

“Stop it Mike, you blooming idiot! You’ll get Lisa’s nice new clothes all dirty!” stated Tina as she playfully smacked him up the side of his head.

Mike exchanged a knowing glance with Lisa and Carrie.

Carrie turned to her daughter and said “I’ll tell you what Lisa, why don’t you go and watch one of your Loony Tunes® DVD’s while we get this case sorted! And don’t get your dress all creased, Okay?”

“Yes Mother!” came the reply, with a mock sigh as Lisa skipped into the front room.

As the well known sounds of the introduction tune was heard coming from the living room, Mike spoke quietly to Tina and Carrie.
“We have company, just down the street is a large silver car with a bloke in it who, although he is trying not to show it, he seems very interested in this house, I’m pretty sure there was a car parked there last night too when we saw the police officers to the door. So, I reckon whoever is in the car is more likely to be friends of Matthew’s than the “Old Bill!”

“Oh Mike! What am I going to do?” exclaimed a slightly panicked Carrie. “I have to protect Lisa at all costs!”

“Don’t you worry about it Carrie, leave it to me! I promise you nothing will happen to either of you, I expect they are just keeping an eye on us in the hope that Jess and/or Luke show up on our doorstep, and we all know that’s not going to happen don’t we!”

“But how are we going to get to the station tomorrow?” asked a less than convinced Carrie.

“You leave that to us Carrie, leave it to us!” said Tina as she hugged Carrie, “And you Michael Arthur Smith, go and have a shower and change your dirty clothes!”

“Blimey! In trouble again, Yes Boss! Right away Boss! Three bags full Boss!” laughed Mike as he dodged a swipe from Tina and headed off to the bathroom. As he passed the front room, he looked in to see Lisa sat on the sofa, her legs drawn up under her skirts in a typically feminine pose he’d observed so often from his wife and daughter. How could they all have not been aware of the conflict within Lisa? But, he promised himself that no-one, absolutely no-one, was going to hurt his girls. He had places to be and people to see, but first he needed a shower!

As Carrie and Lisa sorted the case out, Carrie stopped what she was doing and said to Tina “What am I going to do for identification? Someone, somewhere is going to ask us to prove who we are and we won’t be able to!”

“Don’t worry about that love, I heard Mike on the phone first thing this morning, he has contacts from his time in the Para’s, I don’t know what he has asked or who he has asked, but it is in hand, so don’t worry, okay?” Carrie nodded. But still looked concerned.

Chapter Six.

Mike came downstairs after his shower and as he passed the front room door, he looked in to find Lisa slumped over the arm of the sofa fast asleep. He quietly went into the room and taking the T.V. remote control from her unresponsive hand, he turned everything off, dropped a small blanket over her sleeping form and stealthily leaving the room he pulled the door to behind him and entered the kitchen hoping someone had made a pot of tea.

“She’s spark out on the sofa, so I turned everything off and covered her up, poor little sod must be knackered!” he said with tenderness in his voice.

“She has to be stressed beyond belief” said Carrie slumping into a chair.

“She’s tougher than you think Carrie!” responded Tina. “I had chance to have a long deep chat with her Friday, she eventually laid her soul out to me, which is why I knew this disguise, or this new reality would work so well! She loves you deeply and would do anything for you Carrie, but she was a tortured soul, almost at breaking point, and that was before Matthew managed to make such a mess of everything, yet she kept it together for your love, she would walk through broken glass bare foot to show her love for you. It’s not going to be easy on either of you, but she has an iron will, she has had to pretend to be something she wasn’t for all these years, now, she has the chance to be herself, and show her love for you with every breath she takes. She’ll just need your guidance, your support, your experience and your love, that’s all she needs. I think you’ll find she knows more about how to be a girl than any of us expect. She’s been enviously studying her friends for years, now she’s the chance to put all that observation she’s soaked up into practice. I think you’ll find that Luke really has gone for good, not that he ever really existed, and Lisa is here to stay, with little apparent effort.”

“I know” replied Carrie, “I just can’t believe I never noticed before, that this what was causing her so much anguish. I knew she’d had problems at school, but I didn’t realise the extent until I met her at the school gates Friday. The taunting was beyond hurtful, I feel I have really let her down all this time!”

“It’s easy to be wise after the event, but the main thing is you are supporting her now, beyond her wildest dreams I bet.” Said Mike quietly taking hold of Carrie’s hand. “You now know what makes her tick, that’s half the battle, knowing what you are facing. You are a good girl Carrie, she couldn’t ask for a better role model and someone to aspire to emulating!” said Mike tenderly. “Now to business, we’ll give her an hour or so to sleep, then we need to smuggle the two of you out, I’ve got to get some passport type photos of the pair of you, so we’ll pop over to Merry Hill Shopping Centre and get lost in the crowds a little, then we can openly bring you back to the house to confuse our friends across the street, and make tomorrows expedition that bit easier!”

Carrie looked at Mike, “What do you need photographs of us for?”

“Ah, that my dear is on a need-to-know basis, and you don’t need to know, yet anyway!” replied Mike winking at her. Carrie could only sit moving her mouth silently up and down imitating a goldfish. “Be careful dear, you might catch a fly!” laughed Mike as he pushed her jaw closed.

The three of them continued to discuss tactics, for the rest of the day and tomorrow. Eventually Mike looked at his watch, “I think it’s time that Sleeping Beauty was woken up, we need to get weaving!”

Carrie rose and went into the front room, Lisa was still soundly asleep, a smile playing across her face as she contentedly sucked her right thumb. It was such a beautiful vision it took Carrie’s breath away, as she stood there with her hand over her heart, she felt Tina standing next to her.

“Oh my God!” Tina exhaled, quietly. “Just look at her, have you ever seen anything so beautiful?”

Carrie nodded her agreement. “She used to suck her thumb when she was a little girl, but she stopped when she started school and that’s when her depression started”

“Did you hear yourself then Carrie?” asked Tina.

“What do you mean?”

“You said she used to suck her thumb when she was a little girl!”

“I did, didn’t I, is it really that easy for us to accept her transformation, to think of her always being a little girl, my little girl?” said Carrie rhetorically.

“Yes sweetheart, I think it is, whatever she’s dreaming about she obviously happy, a happy little girl!”

Mike came up and putting his left hand on Carrie’s shoulder and his right on Tina’s. “What are you two whispering about?” he asked as he finally looked at the figure asleep on the sofa.

“Bloody Hell!” he muttered. “She looks like one of those old Pears® soap adverts doesn’t she! Such innocence, such beauty, she deserves to be a happy child, and by God that’s what she’s going to be, happy, contented and safe! And I promise you both now that the two of you will indeed be happy, contented and most of all safe, or my names not Michael Arthur Smith!”

Tina turned and kissed her husband, who was just absently smiling at the vision before him.

“I’ll wake her up or we’ll be here all afternoon!” said Carrie as entered the room and knelt before her daughter. “Lisa, come on Lisa, wake up sweetheart!” as she gently shook Lisa’s knee. “Come on Lisa we need to get moving!”

Lisa extracted her thumb from her mouth, dribble slid gently down her chin as she stretched uttering soft moans as she slowly opened her eyes to see her sister staring at her lovingly with Mike and Tina in the background. Then she noticed the T.V. was silent, no futile efforts of Wile E Coyote® trying to catch the Road Runner®!

“I was watching that” Lisa said as she sat up and gently tubbed her eyes with the back of her hands.

“I know, but you’ve been asleep for almost an hour and a half, we need you to get up now as we have to pop out for a short while, so I need you to go to the loo, and wash your face too, Okay?”

“Yes Mommy”

Lisa made her way to the bathroom; did everything she needed to do and came back downstairs to find the three adults waiting for her. Mike knelt so he was eye to eye with her.

“Ok Lisa, what I want you to do is get back into the car, and as you and Carrie did yesterday, I want you to hide under a blanket until I tell you it’s ok to sit up. There’s nothing to worry about, we’re just popping over to Merry Hill to get some photos of you both, then we’ll come back here. But then, I don’t want you to hide, what I need you to do is to act a bit younger than you really are, be like it’s a really exciting day and you are just so happy with life, can you do that Lisa?”

“Ok Granddad, if that’s what you want me to do, then I shall be your adorable little Granddaughter!”

“That’s a good girl, ok ladies, let’s get you all in the car.”

Carrie and Lisa slid into the backseat and Tina and Mike gently covered them with a blanket. Lisa couldn’t help the small giggle that escaped her lips.

“What’s so funny?” whispered Carrie.

“Nothing really, I just realised that I was so busy concentrating on what Granddad was saying, I completely forgot I was wearing a dress to go outside for the first time in my life!”

“Are you ok with that Lisa, are you scared?” asked Carrie.

Lisa thought for a moment “Not really Mom, it’s something I have wanted to do my whole life, so it feels more special than scary, at least it does at the moment, it might be different when we get to the shopping centre, but I just keep thinking of my reflection in this dress and even I can’t recognise the old me anymore, so if I can’t, then no one else probably won’t either. You will stay close to me though won’t you?” she said squeezing Carries hand, seeking reassurance.

“Of course I will sweetheart, you hold my hand all the time okay? And if you need to pop to the loo, don’t forget to sit like a good girl.”

“Yes Mommy, I’ll hold your hand tightly, and I always sit on the loo, it’s always felt the right thing to do, so I always have!”

“That’s my girl, another thing, if Grandma or I need the loo, us girls always go together, so you’ll come with us too, we’ll just leave your Grandfather with the bags!”

Okay Mommy!”

At that moment they felt Mike getting into the driving seat of the car as Tina opened the up and over garage door. After starting the vehicle and reversing out of the garage Mike climbed out of the vehicle as he went to close the garage, before going into the house, setting the alarm and locking the front door then he re-entered the car. While he was doing that Tina had got into the passenger seat and whispering. asked her two rear passengers if they were Okay? Receiving positive replies, she nonchalantly looked about her under the pretence of checking her nail polish. The heavy-set individual in the car hiding down the street had suddenly become more agitated and seemed to be preparing to move off himself.

Tina whispered, “Okay girls, stay where you are, we have company but there’s nothing to worry about. We’ll tell you when it’s safe to sit up.”

Fortunately, it was a mild day so it didn’t get too hot and uncomfortable under the blanket. Mike drove past the partly hidden car, and under the pretence of having an earnest discussion with Tina, he quickly studied the driver. As they got several hundred yards down their street, the mysterious car pulled out and the driver hurried to catch them up, trying to not be too obvious he was following them, but failing miserably, especially to someone who had honed specialist offensive and defensive driving techniques whilst in the armed forces.

“The blokes a complete muppet” remarked Mike, “He might as well have flashing blue lights and a siren on his motor, talk about sticking out like a sore thumb!”

“Is everything alright Mike?” asked Carrie.

“Yes, no worries girls! We have the one tail at the moment, but as far as I can tell no-one else is interested in us, so just stay where you are and it’ll all be Okay!”

As they approached the main shopping area, Tina suddenly said to Mike, “I’ve just thought of something that’ll add to our ruse, pull up just by the toy store, I won’t be long!”

“Your wish is my command Madam!” said Mike jokingly. As he pulled into the parking space Tina quickly exited the car and entered the store. Mike casually watching their follower, who’d parked up a few spaces away. As the car was warming up a little, Mike opened both front windows to allow a through breeze and cracked both rear windows an inch or two. “That should help keep the temperature down girls, just make sure you’re well covered by the blanket, our friend is coming up for a looksee, so stay still and keep quiet!”

Carrie made sure that the tartan blanket was completely covering both her and Lisa.

Mike had a rock station gently playing on the radio. Their tail nonchalantly walked past the car trying to surreptitiously’ look inside. He wondered up to the toy store and after perusing the store window, he must have observed Tina approaching a till as he started to walk back to his own vehicle. As he got near to Mike’s vehicle he nodded as if acknowledging an acquaintance.

Mike returning his nod spoke “All right mate?” The standard local greeting.

“Yeah, not bad ta, nice motor, always wanted one of these, what’s the mileage like?” he asked as he half approached Mike’s window sneaking glances at the interior.

“Not bad, get about thirty eight miles to the gallon if it’s driven carefully, but if you go belting up the motorway you can almost watch the tank contents needle going down.

The supposedly clever tail realised that the wife had just returned to the vehicle and climbed into the passenger seat.

“I’ve got a lovely doll for our Lisa, it’s been so long since we’ve seen them I do hope she hasn’t got this particular one, I’ve got her a load of outfits and accessories to go with it too, I can’t wait to see them” said Tina as she made a big show of putting the large bag in its distinctive plastic bag onto the rear seat. The tail, after hearing this exchange made his way back to his own vehicle ready to commence following the couple. He pulled out thinking what idiots this couple were and how come these would be “Middle Class” losers always had the same tartan blankets to protect their rear seats, what stupidity.

He carefully followed Mike into the queue for the main multi-storey car park, it was obviously full as they were only allowing one car in for each vehicle that left. This might be a problem he thought. But luckily, three cars left almost simultaneously, so Mike, the tail and a third car all entered at the same time. As Mike slowly made his way up through the floors, he noticed a car on the main deck just pulling out allowing him to quickly reverse into the spot. His tail was now flummoxed, how was he going to keep a close eye on these two, then as he stayed where he was, trying to decide what to do, the car behind blasted his horn. The follower gave the universal sign of two fingers. The driver of the third motor vehicle climbed out of his four by four, it was obvious that he was a determined body builder, as he was a huge mass of muscles and well over six foot two inches. The tail decided that discretion was better than valour and quickly drove off to find a parking spot. He tried to keep an eye on his target’s vehicle, but it quickly became lost in the mass of parked cars. The tail ended up parked on the roof level and was rushing to get to the lifts to descend to the shopping level, when his shoulder was gripped in an iron like clamp, as he turned round, he realised it was the man mountain who snarled at him.

“I would be carful who you wave two fingers at mate if I were you, I don’t like being told to fu*k off by little wankers like you, right mate?”

“Yeah sorry pal, won’t happen again!”

“Make sure it doesn’t, I might not be so reasonable next time, got it?”

With that the man mountain strolled off with that very wide stiff legged stance usually seen in overly muscled individuals. The “tail” was now in a real quandary, he needed to quickly get down to the shopping arena, but he didn’t want to get to closely involved with that huge bloke, it could be detrimental to his health. Glancing around, he spotted a staircase at the other end of the parking deck, so he set off for the stairs at a run, rushing down the stairs as fast as his legs could carry him. He crashed through doors, frantically looking around for the couple he was following, with them nowhere in sight he started frantically pushing his way through the crowds, his eyes darting from left to right.

My apologies, this is the chapter three of seven I should have posted!

Jessica and Luke are siblings who have experienced a whole world of pain and hurt in their short lives. When it seems that, for once, things are finally beginning to improve, a local drug gang invades their existence, and their world threatens to crumble down around their ears. Read on to see how they and their friends fight back.

Chapter Seven.

Whilst the confrontation was occurring up on the top floor, Mike and Tina quickly ushered Carrie and Lisa from the back of the car, having given them their instructions of where to meet and how to act. Carrie headed off, dressed in a conservative two-piece maroon skirt suit with a soft pink camisole top under her jacket and three-inch black heels. In her right hand she towed a battered wheeled suitcase, while in the other hand she held onto Lisa who was skipping along beside her. They disappeared into the crowds of shoppers thronging the retail area. They slowed their walk down and window shopped as they worked their way to the central arena with its large hanging clock, there, they sat quietly waiting for phase two of Mike’s plan to kick into gear.

After allowing Carrie and Lisa about a five-minute head start, Mike and Tina set off to follow in the girls’ footsteps. Tina was carrying the present she’d already purchased from the toy store. Hand in hand they meandered through the precinct, acting like any other couple out for a casual Sunday afternoon’s shopping. Mike would keep glancing at his watch and surreptitiously glancing around. Bending down seeming to indicate to something to Tina in an ornament shops window, pointing at some Royal Doulton® figurines, he whispered in Tina’s ear.

“Okay love, time to go meet the girls, our friend has finally caught up to us, he looks like he run a marathon, so I guess he’s not having a good day! Let’s keep him confused and off balance. Time to meet up, so get your tears of happiness ready! Okay?”

“I’m more than ready Mike, the next five to ten minutes will make or break our plan, so get your emotions ready to overload too!”

“Okay boss!” said Mike kissing his wife’s cheek. With that they set of for the rendezvous.

Meanwhile, on the benches, sat waiting for Mike and Tina to appear, Carrie was still holding Lisa’s hand.

“You all ready kiddo?”

“Yes Mommy!”

“Good girl, don’t forget you haven’t seen your Grandparents in absolutely ages, so go over the top with your greetings!”

“Yes Mom, I am a bit scared though!”

“There’s nothing to be scared about sweetheart, just be yourself, let your instincts guide your actions, you’ll do fine! Now, your Grandparents should come along at any moment. In fact, I think I can see your Granddad’s head just coming into view, so get ready!”
Moments later Carrie leapt to her feet and started frantically waving. Mike smiled and pointed towards Carrie and Lisa, Tina broke out into a big smile, and Mike stooped forward with his arms outstretched wide. Lisa took off from Carries side, and with skirts flying launched herself into Mike’s arms, who enveloped her in a huge hug and lifting her clear off her feet, and spun her around and around, as Lisa squealed her greetings showering kisses onto Mike’s face. Tina and Carrie were also in a tight embrace, rocking each other from side to side. Then, moments later, they’d swapped partners, with more hugs and kisses being exchanged. The tearful group returned to the benches where Carrie had abandoned their suitcase, they all sat and caught up with each other.

Their somewhat sweaty and still out of breath, follower took advantage of an empty seat behind them and casually sat down to surreptitiously listen in to what was being said. Tina was sat in the middle with Lisa on her lap giving her a tight hug with her left arm, to her right, under her arm was Carrie with Mike to her left.

“It is so good to see you both again, you don’t know how much we’ve missed you both!” said Mike.

“We’ve really missed you both haven’t we sweetheart?” murmured Carrie.

“Uh-uh!” sniffled Lisa, “I’ve missed you guys so much!” she said as she leant back into Tina’s embrace.

“We’ve missed you too sweetheart, and here’s a present for you, as I know you lost all your toys and belongings in the fire, go on darling, open it.” Tina handed a bashful Lisa the carrier bag she’s been carrying. Lisa sat up on Tina’s lap and taking the bag from her Granny’s hands she peered into the large bag.

“Oh Granny, it’s Elsa!!” Lisa frantically tore the bag off the box, peering through the plastic panels, a huge smile almost creasing her face into two halves. “How did you know, she’s my favourite film character, and I love the song to bits!”

“You should hear sing along to it Mom.” Said Carrie to Tina.

“Can you sing it for me Lisa do you think?” asked Tina.

Lisa sat up, and with a bit of an embarrassed expression, started to quietly sing, looking down at the floor, then with her eye’s closed, she increased in volume

“The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation
And it looks like I'm the queen
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried
Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well, now they know
Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore
Let it go, let it go
Turn away and slam the door
I don't care what they're going to say
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway
It's funny how some distance makes everything seem small
And the fears that once controlled me can't get to me at all
It's time to see what I can do
To test the limits and break through
No right, no wrong, no rules for me
I'm free
Let it go, let it go
I am one with the wind and sky
Let it go, let it go
You'll never see me cry
Here I stand and here I'll stay
Let the storm rage on
My power flurries through the air into the ground
My soul is spiralling in frozen fractals all around
And one thought crystallizes like an icy blast
I'm never goin' back, the past is in the past
Let it go, let it go
And I'll rise like the break of dawn
Let it go, let it go
That perfect girl is gone
Here I stand in the light of day
Let the storm rage on
The cold never bothered me anyway ®”

When Lisa finished the song, she was stunned when she opened her eye’s to find a sizeable crowd had gathered around her and they all broke out into spontaneous applause. Lisa’s faced coloured a bright red and she buried her face in Tina’s neck.

“Come on sweetheart, stand up and take a bow!” said Carrie taking her hand. Reluctantly Lisa stood and made a half curtsey to the crowd who’d either been recording the little girl’s performance on their phones or just standing their open mouthed. Many came up to her and said how well she sang, and they hoped she would continue to sing as she had a special gift.

Even their follower had recorded part of Lisa’s performance. He’d gone off to a quieter part of the mall, and reported into his boss man.
“Hi boss, it’s me, . . . yeah, yeah I followed ‘em to the Merry Hill, . . . , yeah, yeah, they’ve met with their daughter and grandkid who’s just given a performance of that snow song. . . .no, not that one, . . . it’s called “let it go” I think, . . . yeah boss I got some of it filmed on me phone, hold on, I’ll send you the clip, half a mo’ . . . . . there, you got it? . . . . yeah, she is good in’t she? . . . . . . . . yeah, I’ll keep watching, but there’s definitely no trace of the bitch or ‘er brother, . . . nah, I’m positive, . . . . yeah I’ll keep an eye on ‘em, . . . Okay boss, speak wiv yer later!” with that he sauntered off keeping a watchful eye on the family gathering as they walked through the crowds. What he didn’t realise was that Steve and Geoff were keeping a close eye on his antics, as well as Mike being fully aware of his whereabouts.

“I’ve never heard you sing so well Lisa, why didn’t you sing like it before?” asked Carrie.

“I used to sing like that when I was on my own, I sang it once with Carole and Stacy at school in the playground, but all the boys laughed and teased me for ages!” whispered Lisa with a sorrowful downcast expression, “Then, I only sang on my own at home. But one day, HE came home and I didn’t hear him come in, HE laughed at me, and after smacking the back of my head a few times, he said he didn’t want to hear me singing like a girl ever again or he’d tell you and you’d be disgusted with me and throw me out of the house! So, I have just sung along in my head!” said Lisa now in floods of tears.

Carrie hugged Lisa tightly, “Oh Lisa sweetheart, I am so, so sorry, but promise me that you will keep singing, you have a real talent, and you know I love you more than anything or anyone else, don’t you?”

Lisa nodded, with her head downcast but peering up into Carrie’s eyes “You promise?”

“Yes Lisa, I promise, I will always, always love and protect you, cross my heart!” Lisa threw her arms around Carrie’s neck and hugged her tightly.

Mike and Tina had heard the quiet exchange.

“If that bastard wasn’t already dead, I’d kill him myself!” muttered Tina, tears in her eyes.

“Only after I’d smacked him around a good bit first and made him really suffer!” growled Mike.

Lisa who had overheard this exchange suddenly shot upright and looked from Mike to Tina and back again before looking into Carries eyes, then she whispered “Of course, HE’s dead?”

Carrie put her finger to Lisa’s lips, “Shhh! Yes, that’s right but we can’t talk about it here, okay?”

Lisa nodded, then putting her mouth to Carrie’s ear “I’m sorry Carrie, I know you loved him, but I am glad he’s dead! The way he was treating you was getting worse and worse, but I couldn’t stop him! But he can’t hurt you anymore now can he?”

Both of them had tears in their eyes, “No Lisa he can’t hurt either of us anymore, we just need to get away for a while and let the dust settle! Anyway, lets get you to the ladies and wash both of our faces, we have to get some photos, and we can’t have them taken with red eye’s, or me looking like a panda now can we?”

Lisa giggled, “Perhaps you should get some waterproof mascara?”

“That’s not a bad idea, come on, let’s pop into Boots’ the Chemist® and see what we can find shall we?”

“Carrie, do you, . . . err, . . do you think, . . . that, . . . I, err, . . that I could wear some make up too?” asked an embarrassed Lisa.

“Oh sweetheart, you are a bit young to be worrying about make-up yet!” replied Carrie, “We’ll have a look around and we’ll see, okay?”

Lisa nodded a bit dejectedly.

“What’s up?” asked Tina.

“Lisa was asking about make-up, because we got talking about water-proof mascara and I told her she was a bit young yet!” replied Carrie.

Tina stooped down to Lisa’s level and said “Your Mommy’s right really, but we’ll have a look in Boots®’ and see what we can find! Okay?” and as she stood she gave Lisa a big wink. Then turning to Mike she said, “You might as well stay here Mike, we’re just nipping into Boots®’ then we’ll be popping in the ladies, we won’t be long!”

“Famous last words!” muttered Mike as he returned to his seat.

Chapter Eight.

Meanwhile Tina, Carrie and Lisa entered Boots®’ and made for the cosmetics counter where beautiful but heavily made up ladies were busy trying to interest passing customers in their wares. Carrie found a few age-appropriate cosmetics for herself, which she placed into the shopping basket she was carrying.

“Can I help you at all?” asked one of the white coated assistants.

“No thank you” answered Carrie.

“Lisa here is looking at all the cosmetics, desperate to be able to wear them herself!” added Tina who’d a firm hold on Lisa’s hand.

The beautician lent down to Lisa’s level, “You are already beautiful sweetheart” Your Mommy and Nanny are right, you don’t really need any artificial help yet, but, if your Mommy says it’s Okay, you can come and sit in my chair and I can make you look like you aren’t wearing any make-up, but make you look a little more beautiful, we’ve all been where you are now, desperate to be more grown up, and get our hands on cosmetics or more grown up clothes! So, what is your name beautiful?”

“Lisa!”

The woman stood up and turning her attention on Carrie she said “Well what do you think Lisa’s Mom, is it ok if I work on her for a few minutes, if you don’t like it, I will clean it all off, no worries, no inducement to purchase anything, it will give me something to do for a few minutes, and let your daughter get a glimpse into her future, even though she’s really beautiful as she is!”

Carrie looked from the woman to the bashful but hopeful expression on Lisa’s face.

“Go on then, but nothing to heavy please, she’s only twelve!”

“Don’t worry Mrs ?”

“Brown, Carrie Brown, this is my daughter Lisa and that’s her Granny, Tina.” Replied Carrie.

“Wonderful, wonderful, right Lisa you come over here and let’s get you on my stool, now, let’s get this cape over your pretty dress, my you’re stunning. You’ll have the boys all asking you for a date before you even know it. Right, my name is Diana! Am I right in thinking that was you I heard singing “Let it go” a little earlier?” Lisa nodded bashfully. “Wow, not only beautiful but exceptionally talented too!” Lisa giggled in embarrassment. Diana then shook Carrie and Tina’s hands and then went into her spiel to the slowly gathering little crowd around her workstation.

“Right Lisa, there’s not much I can do to enhance your natural beauty, but we’ll see what I can show you Okay? We’ll start with this headband to keep the rest of your hair off your face while I work, I love your ponytail like that by the way. Okay, the first thing to do is to cleanse your face, so I’ll just spread some cleanser, . . . Like that! . . . Now we wait for a moment or two” Diana then quickly spoke to several of the other beauticians working at other brands stalls before returning to Lisa’s side. ”There now, we’ll clean it all off with a cotton wool ball, . . . See, look how much dirt was trapped in your pores, . . Now just some gentle moisturiser to keep your skin hydrated. . . Excellent, . . . now Lisa, how does that feel?”

Lisa stretched her face and a beaming smile spread across her expression. “Wow, it feels wonderful!”

“That’s exactly what I was hoping you’d say! Now comes the fun part!” then Diana looked at Carrie, “Is it Okay if I just neaten up her eyebrows a little bit, just to remove a few strays?”

Carrie nodded, “Not too thin though please, if Lisa want’s them done that is?”

Lisa excitedly nodded her head. Diana smiled at Lisa.

“Okay sweetheart, this will sting a little, but us girls have to suffer a little for our beauty don’t we, so, are you sure?”

“Yes please!” replied an excited Lisa.

“Okay Lisa, I am just going to tilt the chair back a little, so no worries Okay? So, close your eyes for me and keep them closed” said Diana as she tilted the chair back, then placing some carefully shaped sticky cloth strips under each of Lisa eyebrows she quickly pulled them free leaving Lisa to jump a little. “That’s the worst bit Lisa, now just one or two stragglers to pull out, . . . Okay sweetheart?” Lisa nodded even though she had tiny tears in the corners of both eyes. Moments later Diana put her tweezers down and dabbed both of Lisa’s eyes with a little cleaning pad, then she sat her up once more. Lisa looked across at both Tina and Carrie who both smiled back at her and nodded their pleasure.

“Now Lisa, let’s get to the fun part, shall we?” asked Diana. Lisa beamed a huge smile and nodded excitedly.

Diana went into her presentation spiel to the small crowd that had gathered around her. She reiterated that Lisa was really a little young for make-up and needed minimal enhancement, but there were always little things that could be done here and there. She demonstrated several looks, and at the end of each one Carrie took several pictures on her phone, especially when Diana spun Lisa around in the chair to view her reflection in the mirrors. Finally, Diana used an eyebrow pencil to emphasise Lisa’s brows, a little pale brown eyeshadow in the creases of her lids, a darker shade on her lids, the merest touch of a very fine mascara, a gentle brush of blush and a pale pink lipstick that almost matched her natural lip colour. This time when Lisa saw how she looked she was speechless, then she turned in the chair and gave Diana a huge hug.

“Thank you so much Diana, I always dreamed of what I’d look like with some make-up on, now I know, thank you, thank you!” With that Lisa returned her glance to the mirror.

“Thank you, Diana.” Said Carrie, “She’s had a rough few days, but I think you have her given a real boost!” With that Carrie clasped both of Diana’s hands within her own, then headed off to remove the cape from Lisa’s shoulders and they both approached the mirror a bit more closely.

“Oh Mom, thank you for letting me try some make-up!” Lisa spoke to Carries reflection.

“You are welcome sweetheart, I thought you were pretty before, but, wow, you are a stunner!”

Lisa turned to hug Carrie, “I might be pretty but you are beautiful, and, when I grow up, I hope I can be as beautiful as you!”

Carrie returned the hug. “Thank you, Lisa, I love you!” And they gently swung from side to side.

While they were talking to each other, Tina approached Diana.

“I think you have made a little girl very happy today, can you give me one of everything you used on her please Diana, she deserves a little treat I think!”

“Of course Tina, no problems, she seems a lovely child, so pretty and polite, not like some of the would be divas that come in demanding this and that and expecting something for nothing, often their mothers are even worse!” Diana glanced over her shoulder at Lisa and Carrie still hugging each other, “They seem very close, that is beautiful in of itself!”

“Yes Diana, they are extremely close, Carrie is just escaping from an abusive relationship, and both of them are a bit traumatised by events of the recent past, that’s why today has been a real treat for both of them!” Tina picked up Carrie’s basket from where she’d left it “Can you ring me up for these while you are at it please?”

“Of course Tina.”

Carrie and Lisa dragged themselves away from the mirror and joined Tina whist Diana was working the till. Tina handed her card over, punched in her PIN number and Diana gave her the receipt and the bag containing their purchases.

“There you go Tina, if you ever need anything else just ask for me, here’s my card! You can always contact me and book an appointment in advance if needs be, you too Carrie, you have a very special daughter there!”

“Thanks Diana, you’ve been brilliant, I’m sure we’ll be back at some stage!” replied Carrie.

Diana stooped down to look at a beaming Lisa, “And as for you Lisa, the beautiful little songbird, you stand there for just a moment longer please!” Diana then grabbed a bag and going to the rear cupboards started pulling various small boxes from here and there, and after going to several of her colleagues returned to stand in front of Lisa with several bags bulging with boxes whist several of the other white coated ladies crowded in the background.

“Here you are sweetheart, in these bags you will find several different products from most of the different manufacturers we promote, we usually give out a few samples to our favourite customers, and you, young lady, are definitely one of our most favourite customers, plus there’s some items that are getting close to their sell by date, but as long as you keep them sealed and in a cool drawer they’ll be fine and be things for you to practice with, and if she’s really nice to you, you could always lend to your Mom!” She winked at Lisa who was furiously blushing and giggling. “Although strictly speaking you shouldn’t share make-up, especially eye make-up, but a mother and daughter should be ok. There is also a list of good YouTube sites that do excellent tutorials, but, please, don’t go bonkers with it if you are going outside, and promise me you will get into a good night-time beauty regimen, and cleanse, then moisturise every night before bed?”
“Yes Diana, thank you so much, you don’t know how much this means to me and how much fun this has been!” said Lisa hugging her once again as Carrie took the bags from Lisa to free off her hands.

Lisa rushed from woman to woman, thanking each of them in turn, and giving them a hug.

Carrie hugged Diana, “Thank you Diana, you’ve done a wonderful job, but I think I shall have a real problem getting her to remove her make-up before bed tonight!”

Diana chuckled, “I’m sure you will Carrie, I remember my own daughter when she first started wanting to wear make-up, the excitement of growing up! I am sure you’ll cope, at least there is so much help and advice on the internet these days, not like when I started experimenting a lifetime ago! But she has a real talent with her voice, most of us rushed to the shop entrance just to see what angel was singing so clearly and beautifully. The emotion she put into the words made the hairs on my neck quiver, and it wasn’t only me she affected in such a manner either, that talent needs to be nurtured, that’s partly why so many of my colleagues wanted to provide a few samples, she made our day. Dealing with the public can really wear you down!”

“You don’t have to tell me Diana, I was a waitress until recently, you get some lovely people, and you get a lot of people who drive you up the wall!” responded Carrie with a smile.

“Exactly” laughed Diana, “Please come back, I’d love to see how she grows up in the years to come! And you look after yourself, you be happy too Okay?” she hugged Carrie tightly, who silently nodded on her shoulder.

Lisa returned to Carrie and Tina still wearing her extra-ordinary smile. “

Right sweetheart, let’s go find your grandfather, he’ll be thinking we’ve emigrated.” Said Tina, and after saying their goodbyes and waving to the other beauticians made their way back to the benches by the clock.

“Wakey wakey Mike!” said Tina kicking his leg.

“Huh!” mumbled Mike rousing himself from his nap, “Do I know you? You look vaguely familiar?” he teased his wife.

“Come on you daft sod, let’s get going before you start moaning about how long we’ve been!” teased Tina back.

Mike looked at the three of them laden down by more bags for him to carry. He then gave Lisa a very theatrical frown, “Excuse me young lady, can I help you at all, you look a little familiar, but I’m not sure I recognise you!”

Lisa, who was holding Carries hand securely then gave Mike a bashful smile, “Oh Granddad, it’s me, Lisa!” then she giggled an embarrassed giggle!

“No! Not my little girl Lisa surely, you are to grown up to be my little Lisa!”

Lisa slapped his arm, laughing loudly, “Oh Granddad, stop teasing, you know it’s me!”

Mike leant over and gave her a peck on the cheek, “Yes sweetheart, I know it’s you alright; it’s just you look even more beautiful than when I last saw you, and I didn’t think it was possible to improve on perfection, but they have! You wouldn’t believe the number of people who came up to me to say how much they enjoyed your impromptu a Capela singing, and who were you? They wanted to be able to say they’d heard you perform before you were famous!”

“Wow!” muttered Lisa, “Really?”

“Yes Lisa, really, anyway, now you are looking beyond beautiful, let’s go get your photos taken, Granddad has places to go and people to see!”

With that they retraced their steps popping into a photographers shop to get portraits of Carrie and Lisa taken, both separately and together as well as a group shot of the four of them.

As they made their way back to the car, Tina was admiring the group portrait, “I have just the frame for that, it will look lovely on the mantelpiece!”

Their tail, after carefully watching them enter their car and pull away to join the queue to leave the car park, scurried off to the stairs to rush to his own vehicle so he could tail them back to the house. As he rushed up the stairs, crashing through the stairway door and smacked right into the body builder he met earlier in the day.

“You again?” the man mountain rumbled, “I did warn you to keep out of my way and stop pissing me off did I not?”

The tail could only silently nod, he was used to being the alpha male in most situations, “S, . sorry mate, I didn’t see you there!”

“I noticed!” by now he’d got hold of the tail’s shirt in his left fist, then he pulled his right fist back and rammed it into the tail’s stomach winding him completely, “Last warning mate, do not piss me off again, or I might get really annoyed. Got it?” with that he dropped the tail to the floor and walked off. While the tail was desperately trying to suck air back into his lungs, he failed to notice the body builder and Geoff cross paths and exchange a high five, nor did he see the two hundred pounds that was passed to the man mountain in the process. By the time the tail had recovered enough to get to his car, Mike, Tina, Carrie and Lisa were three quarters of the way home.

Mike pulled up in front of the house rather than going onto the driveway. After disembarking from the vehicle and extricating the suitcase and all the shopping Mike kissed his three girls Goodbye and drove off.

“Where’s Granddad going?” asked Lisa.

“I’m not sure sweetheart; he said he might be a while so not to wait up for him, but he’d be as quick as he could be!” replied Tina.

“Oh, okay!” answered a dubious Lisa.

Chapter Nine.

As the three off them slowly walked up the drive, a car drew up at the kerb in front of the house.

“Excuse me Mrs Smith!” called out the driver as he pushed the car door open, “May we have another moment of your time?”

Tina turned to the man, “Of course, Detective Sergeant Jones, isn’t it?”

“Yes Mrs Smith, and my colleague Detective Constable Wright, you may remember her from our visit yesterday?”

“Of course, won’t you please follow us in? Carrie dear, could you open up for me please?”

“Yes Mom, come on Lisa, grab those bags off your Granny while she talks to the nice Police Officers!”

“Yes Mommy!” Lisa took the bags from Tina and hurried to catch up with Carrie.

“Oh blast!” muttered Carrie, “Sorry Mom, but I’ve left my keys in my other handbag in the house, can I borrow your keys please?”

“Of course, let me dig them out of my bag! . . . Here they are!” and she handed them to Carrie having caught up with her and Lisa.

Carrie opened up and disabled the alarm, which she knew was the same code as the café. She went through into the kitchen, “I’ll put the kettle on, would either of you like a tea or a coffee?” she called out.

Tina led Lisa into the front room as the Police Officers followed them into the house closing the door behind them.

“Tea would be lovely please.” called DC Wright, “White and no sugars please, for both of us thanks.”

“Please have a seat.” Tina said pointing to the sofa as she sat in an armchair opposite pulling Lisa onto the arm of the chair, “This is my Granddaughter Lisa, we’ve just been shopping!”

“Hello Lisa, I see you’ve been to that large toy shop up in Merry Hill, have you something nice?” asked DC Wright.

“Yes, my Granny and Granddad bought me an Elsa doll and loads of things to go with her too!” replied Lisa hesitantly.

“Ooh, my niece loves Elsa too, can you show me?” asked the Policewoman.

“Okay!” replied Lisa as she struggled to get the box out of the carrier bag.

“Here, let me help you with that!” offered DC Wright as she held her arms out to Lisa and the carrier bag. “Oh, look, you haven’t had chance to even open it yet! Do you want me to help, or do you want your Mommy to do it for you?”

Lisa looked enquiringly across to Tina, and seeing her nod said, “That’s Okay, you can help me if you like!”

“Okay Lisa, why don’t you sit here in between Eddie and I, my name is Lorna by the way, so you call me that while we work out how to open this and get Elsa out of the box, there’s always that many different fixings and bits of wire it can take ages to remove everything!”

And for the next few minutes they both worked to extricate the doll and all the accessories from the box, a little banter and a few chuckles passed between them as they worked.

Just then Carrie entered the room with four mugs of tea and a glass of juice for Lisa. “The teas are all the same, so, please help yourself, there’s some chocolate digestives to if you would like one!” she said.

“Thanks!” said DS Jones, “We’ve been on the go all day, so this is really welcome! I don’t think we’ve been introduced, I’m Detective Sergeant Edward Jones, and this is Detective Constable Lorna Wright.”

“Hi, I’m Carrie Brown and this is my daughter Lisa.”

“Okay, but I thought you just had the one daughter Mrs Smith, by the name of, now let me see.” With that DS Jones pulled his notebook from his inside jacket pocket, “Let’s see, ah, here it is, that’s it, yes, isn’t your daughter’s name Karen?”

Both Tina and Carrie’s complexion flushed whilst Lisa stopped interacting with Lorna and sat rock solid with a frightened expression on her face.

Tina recovered first, “That’s correct officer, our daughter Karen lives in Aberdeen these days, Carrie was our foster child who we unofficially adopted, and we’ve always considered both her and Lisa as our own flesh and blood! They’ve been spending a few days with us, Carrie is escaping from an abusive partner, so they left with little, if anything to their name. They’ll be leaving us tomorrow for a little holiday, and then we’ll see what will happen next!”

“Okay, so you are Carrie ?” as DS Jones.

“Brown, Carrie Brown!”

“So do you know Jessica Carter, or her brother Luke?” he asked.

“Only vaguely, why?”

“Do you know a Mr Matthew Gibson?” at this Carrie went as pale as a ghost, and Lisa started to tremble.

“It’s ok sweetheart!” said Lorna putting her arm around Lisa’s shoulder, “He can’t hurt you anymore!” with that Lisa wailed and throwing off Lorna’s arm threw herself across the room into Carrie’s arms, “I’m sorry Mommy, I’m so, so sorry, please, please, don’t let them take me away!” she wept uncontrollably into Carrie’s shoulder oblivious to movement around her.

“Shhh, sweetheart, we aren’t here to take you away, we just want to speak to you both, that’s all, come sit over by me and we can finish unpacking Elsa and all her bits and bobs, Okay?” with that Lorna led a still sobbing and tearful Lisa back to the sofa.

“Right, so I take it I am really speaking to Jessica and Luke Carter?” asked DS Jones, Carie could only nod.

Tina spoke up, “They have both been through hell and back, particularly over the last few days, Luke has always been transgendered and both of them have been threatened and terrorised by Matthew and his contacts. They’ve had cars parked outside of their flat and now this house is being watched by those thugs! We were even followed to the Merry Hill, so they needed disguises and to disappear for a while! Knowing them both as well as I do, I came up with the idea of changing them from sister and her brother to a mother and her daughter. They needed to be kept safe from those mongrels of Matthew’s, plus Social Services, as we felt sure they’d want to take Luke into care, and none of us were having that, so Carrie and Lisa were born, and they’re going away for a while until this blows over and we can work out what to do next!”

“I can fully understand your concerns over Matthew’s contacts, they’re not pleasant individuals, although we have two of them in custody at the moment, they claim to have fallen down the stairs, you wouldn’t happen to know anything about that, would you Miss Carter?”

Carrie shook her head, “No, but when I last left the flat there were two men being attended to by paramedics, but I don’t know who they were or what happened to them!”

DS Jones smiled, “Well, whoever phoned for the ambulance did us a real favour, as perhaps that individual “helped” them before, during or after their little accident, and may also have been responsible for the thugs’ getaway vehicle suffering four flat tyres! That car has been a veritable goldmine of evidence, and our two friends are singing like canaries’!”

“Now, can I ask where Mr Smith is at the moment?”

Tina answered, “I’m not exactly sure where, but he often goes to play cards and swap stories with a few of his old army friends, he said he may be a while and not to wait up for him!”

“No worries, I don’t need to speak with him just at the moment, so if you prefer, I will use your new names of Carrie and Lisa, but don’t worry, I shan’t be writing down your names, I’m just interested in what you can tell me, about Matthew, his habits, his friends and acquaintances and what has happened to the two of you these last few days, the more information you can provide, anonymously, the stronger our case!”

Lorna who’d had her arm around Lisa as she’d slowly regained control of her emotions lifted Lisa’s face with her finger, “I think you are a very brave young lady, with a wonderful voice, and looked even more stunning after your make over!”

“You, you were there?” asked an amazed Lisa.

“That’s right, we knew those gentlemen were watching this house for some reason, so we were watching them, you have been under covert surveillance the whole time you were out shopping, although you did confuse us a little with your sudden appearance in the shopping precinct!” she smiled at Lisa, then looking across at Tina she added, “Your husband has obviously had excellent training, and you have equally good protective instincts!”

Tina smiled, “These two girls may not be of my own flesh and blood, but they are my babies, and God help anyone who threatens them! I will drop on them like a ton of bricks with all my teeth and claws bared, whoever they may be! No-one, and I mean no-one hurts them while I am around, then, my husband will have something to say in the matter too!”

“Anyway, back to basics, can you start at the beginning Carrie, and tell me how you met Matthew, everything that happened up until his disappearance, then, what has happened between them and now. If you don’t mind, can I use an old-fashioned Dictaphone® to record what you are saying, we shall transcribe the relevant sections and then we both give you our solemn word the recording will be wiped clear and the tape itself destroyed.” Asked DS Jones.

Over the next three hours and two further cuppa’s both Carrie and Lisa described in great detail everything they could remember, descriptions, the few names they knew, the addresses Luke had been sent to, the frequency of the visits and Matthew’s hurrying from the flat, the suspected hidey hole by the bed, Tina added a few bit of information relating to dubious café customers, before the events of the last few days were described.

“Thank you so much for that, this is going to enable us to get somewhat further up the gangs’ hierarchy than just taking a few foot soldiers off the streets. It will take us a while to get our case laid out and arrests made. I take it you two still intend to disappear tomorrow?” asked the Policeman of Carrie.

“Yes, I want to get Lisa well away from here, not only from the gang and it’s henchmen, but I am terrified that Social Services will say I’m not a fit parent and take her into care, it would be a disaster for her, and I would never forgive myself for breaking my promise to her and our mother not to look after her. I gave up my degree course to become Lisa’s guardian, I was in my last year of studies with just my final exams to take when our mother died, if I lost her now, then all these years of struggle and the sacrifice I made would have been in vain. I had a tremendous battle to become Lisa’s carer and I will not be beaten now, plus, I had no idea if you thought I was involved in whatever Matthew was up to. It is so obvious now, but at the time I loved him and didn’t realise what he was doing, I feel so stupid, Mum and Dad didn’t like him from the outset but said nothing out of concern for myself and Lisa, they were afraid I’d get all bratty and fall out with them!” with that she put her face in her hands and quietly wept.

They were all interrupted by a quiet snore from Lisa. She’s been sat next to Lorna but had slumped back on the sofa and gently fallen asleep, her head slumped on her chest, obviously shattered by the questions but also from the emotional distress she’s been under. All four adults smiled in her direction.

“I think on that note we shall call a halt to today.” Said DS Jones, “If you could tell me how you intend to leave the area, I’d like to make sure you are not followed by any of our “Friends”, then, if we need to speak to you again, we’ll contact you via your Mom and Dad!”

Carrie and Tina shared enquiring glances of each other, and shrugging Carrie said “Before I tell you, do you promise none of this information will be shared with Social Services, if they try to come after Lisa it will destroy her, and I’m not risking that for you or anyone else for that matter.

“I promise you Carrie, that neither I, nor Lorna, I mean DC Wright will breathe a word about you, your whereabouts, or anything else to do with you to anyone, not our superiors, the barristers, and definitely not Social Services. You are right, some of their actions are debatable, as equally can be some of their inactions, which have caused us both sleepless nights in the past. It is obvious that the two of you, no, make that, the four of you share a really special bond, she’s safe, she’s loved, well cared for, so I have no hesitation in keeping quiet. Both of you, get away, relax and enjoy life for a while free of all the stresses of here! No doubt your parents will keep you aware of developments, but if I can give you one piece of advice Carrie, investigate finishing your degree, if you were that close to qualifying, then a few months of extra study before taking your exams will be worth it for the two of you, tell me, what were you studying?”

“I was going to be a Math’s teacher and was on course for a first class degree, I’d even got my first years probationary teaching post lined up when mom died and everything skidded to a halt.”

“Well Carrie, definitely investigate retaking part of your course, the Government are offering Golden handshakes for teachers in certain subjects, one of which is for Mathematics, so look into it, wherever you are in the short term, Okay?”

“Yes, I will, I need to be able to provide a steady environment for Lisa, she’s going to have a lot to deal with as it is, so I will look into it, I promise!” Then she told the officers where and when they’d be leaving Birmingham, and loosely where they were going.

“Thanks Carrie for trusting us. Tomorrow, should you see any familiar faces, just ignore them okay, at least until we are sure you are safe!”

Both officers stood to leave, Lisa murmured something in her sleep, Lorna kissed her own fingertips and lightly touched them to Lisa’s forehead who murmured again. “She’s adorable!” and they all left the front room.

At the front door both officers shook hands with Tina and Carrie, then Lorna and Carrie hugged. “We’ll be in touch!”

Back in the front room, Lisa slumped sideways and curling herself into a ball, continued to dream.

Jessica and Luke are siblings who have experienced a whole world of pain and hurt in their short lives. When it seems that, for once, things are finally beginning to improve, a local drug gang invades their existence, and their world threatens to crumble down around their ears. Read on to see how they and their friends fight back.

A story by Iona Laing

My apologies one again, I accidentally posted this episode as part three as opposed to part four.

Chapter Ten.

Once Lisa had been reassured that she wasn’t going to be separated from Carrie and had had something to eat she reluctantly agreed to allow her Mom to supervise the removal of her make-up and to perform her night-time beauty regimen as advised by Diana at Boots’® earlier in the day. Lisa wearing a long pink nylon nightgown looked into the mirror at their joint reflections.

“Mommy?”

“Yes Lisa?”

“Do you think? . . .”

“What do I think?”

“Well, . . . If we have time tomorrow, . . . Before we go to get on the train, . . . If you think? , . . . Well, . . . Could you,? . . “

Carrie took Lisa face in her hands, “If you don’t hurry up, you’ll still be asking this question tomorrow, and then the answer will definitely be no! So just come out with it and ask me about your make-up!”

“Okay! . . . Wait, how did you know I was going to ask you if I could wear some make-up tomorrow? All the other girls in my class wear a little, even though we’re not supposed to wear any to school!” asked a truly astonished Lisa.

“You are silly, I was a little girl once too, you know, and I was desperate to wear make-up too, I nearly drove mom mental! I kept asking her over, and over, and over again!” Carie smiled at Lisa. “So the answer young lady is yes! But only if you go straight to bed now and fall asleep quickly, plus, mind you, no whinging in the morning when I wake you up, or no deal! Fair enough? And do you realise what you just said?”

”Err . . . If I could wear make-up?” Lisa asked hesitantly,

“You said all the OTHER girls in your class wear make-up, you think of yourself as just another little girl don’t you?” smiled Carrie.

“I did, didn’t I, but then, I have always felt like a girl, in my head, in my heart, and in my soul! But, . . . You will still love me won’t you, your love is so important to me Jess, I will be Luke if that’s what you want me to be!” said Lisa not able to look Carrie in the face.

“Oh Lisa, Lisa, you know as well as I do, that Luke is gone forever don’t you. I love Lisa, she means the world to me, I always, always want Lisa in my life. You just have to be your real self, and be happy, okay?”

Lisa threw her arms around Carries neck, “Oh thank you, thank you, you’re the best!”

Carrie swatted Lisa’s backside, “Flattery will get you no-where, now scoot, into bed, and don’t forget to take Elsa with you!” Giggling her head off Lisa shot into the bedroom, bounced across the bed she shared with Carrie, and with Elsa snuggled under her arm, pulled the bedclothes up and screwing her eyes shut pretended to be asleep. She then twitched, her knees shooting up to her abdomen, “Oww!” she exclaimed.

Carrie quickly sat at her side, “What’s up sweetheart, sore tummy again?” she asked.

“Yeah, just a shooting pain, it’s gone now.” Said Lisa.

“I’ll tell you what, when I sometimes get a sore tummy, I find a hot water bottle helps, shall I go get you one?”

“Yes please Mommy, if you don’t mind!”

Carrie went to the kitchen, “Tina, you wouldn’t have a hot water bottle handy would you? Lisa’s tum just gave her a twinge!”

“Sure Carrie, I have one of those new-fangled ones you heat up in the micro-wave, let me get it out for you.” After placing the inner bag in to warm up “She’s complaining a lot about her tummy at the moment, isn’t she?”

“She is, and I am worried, I saw her body today, really saw it, I saw her body for the first time in a long time, and I’m frightened Tina, she looks much more a girl than a boy, I can’t believe I missed it, I’d take her to the Doctor’s now, but I want to get her away from Matt’s thugs more than anything else, so I shall have to get her to an appointment up in Scotland as the first thing I do!”

“Yes Carrie, you will, I think there’s more going on with Lisa than any of us have realised, more even than Lisa herself. You might have a bit of luck there though, Karen’s partner Ruth is a Paediatrician at the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital. Perhaps she can have an initial look at her for you, and give you some professional advice!” Just then the microwave pinged, and Tina handed the grain filled bag for Carrie to place in its outer cover before she took it up to Lisa.

“Here you go sweetheart, you cuddle that as well as Elsa, and get some sleep, okay, real sleep mind, Lisa! Not that pretend version!” laughed Carrie as she smoothed the bedclothes out, kissed Lisa’s forehead and added “Goodnight, Sweetheart, sleep tight!”

“You too Mommy!”

Carrie switched off the light and headed back downstairs, just as she heard Mike driving into the garage. She headed into the kitchen and put the kettle on as Mike was always ready for a cuppa. After giving both women a welcoming kiss, he sat at the kitchen table and listened to the tale of the events that took place after he’d left them that afternoon.

Chapter Eleven.

“So where did you go Mike?” asked Tina as she laid her hand atop his.

“Well, the less you know the better, but, our two girls will need some identification, and not some crappy versions run off by some pimply Herbert with a laptop, a printer and a laminator, but something that will stand up to relatively close scrutiny! So that my dears, is what I have been arranging. Through my past employment I have various contacts, many dubious I know, but, who will, for a price, provide a bespoke custom-made service. It will take some time to provide, but the wheels have been set in motion, and just for now, here are your new details!” With that he took a folded piece of A4 paper from his jacket pocket and slid it across to Carrie, who took it, unfolded it and started to read out loud.

“Carrie Jenna Brown, Date Of Birth 22nd January 1997, Lisa Kirsty Brown, Date Of Birth 25th May 2015.”

Tina’s hands shot to her mouth as tears flooded her eyes, “Oh Mike!”

Carrie looked confused from one to the other, “What!”

Tina took her hand and after wiping it on her skirt took Carrie’s hand in hers. “A couple of years after Karen was born I had another child. The labour was prolonged and the baby, another daughter, got into severe distress. She was born via caesarean, but she only survived for a few hours and we were advised that I could never have any more children. We named her Jenna Kirsty!” With that she flew into Mike’s arms, sobbing!

A tearful Mike looked across at Carrie, “I had to come up with middle names really quickly, and I knew your birthday was the same day and month as Jenna was born, so the idea took, so I hope you don’t mind but I used Jenna Kirsty for the two of yours middle names, it seemed a good way to remember her, I used both your real birthdates, I just made you two years older and Lisa two years younger, which means you gave birth when you were eighteen. Our Lisa is such a slight, small, innocent soul, I thought she wouldn’t mind reliving part of her childhood as the girl she was always meant to be, if necessary?”

“Oh Mike, thank you, thank you so much for this honour! Both of us will be proud to commemorate Jenna Kirsty in this way, and I for one would not be surprised that when Lisa changes her name legally, that she will want to keep the new middle name you have bestowed on her!” With that Carrie hugged both Tina and Mike as they all cried.

Carrie and Tina returned to their seats, both looked at the sheet of paper with other details specified, new National Insurance numbers, places of birth, previous addresses, parents’ names, their dates of birth etc.

“Mike, how on earth am I going to pay for all this, let alone our train fares and board and lodging up in Aberdeen? I know you “Confiscated” money from those thugs Friday and you found Matthew’s drug money, but surely there’s not enough to cover all this, what am I going to do?” said an increasingly tearful Carrie.

“Hey now you! None of that, now shush!” said Mike sliding into the seat next to Carrie. “Money is not a problem, not in the slightest, now stop worrying!”

“But!” splutter Carrie.

“No buts either young lady!” Mike said hugging her tightly. “I have been busy in more ways than one, first off, the confiscated money liberated from the thugs amounted to Four Thousand, Six Hundred and Eighty Pounds, so your fares, your shopping, living expenses and so on are covered for the immediate future. So when you get to Aberdeen, Karen and her partner are going to take you shopping for new wardrobes, so bugger the expense, go mad and treat yourselves, you can afford it!”

“But Mike, “It’s drug money!”” whispered Carrie.

“Yes sweetheart, it is, it comes from misery, but there is no way to return it to those who got involved in the drug scene probably as users first, then pushers afterwards! Even if you did, they’d probably spend it on more drugs from another supplier! So, turn it into happy money, put it to a really good use, spend it on yourself and Lisa, you look upon it as wages if you like, wages earned by falling for that scumbag Matthew, and the fear that you and especially Lisa endured!”

Carrie stared down at her hands as if contemplating her decision before silently nodding her head, “Yes Mike, you are right, I don’t really have a choice do I, not until I can find another job anyway!”

“No you don’t, but before you go looking for another job, you are going to investigate getting your degree, and both of us are determined on that, that is what you are going to do, just like that copper suggested, there’s two good universities in Aberdeen so take advantage of them, or perhaps you’ll be able to come back here and enrol somewhere, but, you, young lady are going to qualify, no more waitressing! Make use of your brain, for the both of you, you owe it as much to Lisa as you do to yourself. Plus the sacrifices your mom made to get you to university in the first place deserve to be honoured!”

“But Mike, almost Five Gand won’t last that long!” Carrie responded.

“No, you’re right, but, there’s more than almost Five Grand! You see Carrie, when I took the liberty of going through Matthews hidden reserves, I told you he’d been a naughty boy and had obviously been siphoning proceeds of the drug trade from his bosses, which is why it has all hit the fan this week in all likelihood. What I didn’t tell you was just how naughty he’d been. I was only able to do a quick calculation based on the size of the bags of cash he’d hidden under your floorboards. So I took the liberty of removing just over a third of his takings, then I left the rest and all his drugs behind for the boys in blue to find. The drug lords will already probably know how much money in drugs and cash were seized Friday, and I doubt very much if they know exactly how much he’d skimmed from them, but based on what I brought home he must have stolen almost Three Hundred Thousand Pounds, plus who knows how much in actual drugs. Anyway, the long and the short of it is that early this morning I did a rough counting up of the money I brought home with me Friday, and there is something in the region of One Hundred and Ten Grand!”

“One hundred and Ten Grand?” repeated both Tina and Carrie, both equally stunned.

“That’s right, now obviously we can’t just open a bank account and drop One Hundred and Ten Grand in it! We’ll have different Police and other authorities down on us like a ton of bricks. So, once you have some actual I.D., you’ll go to one of the big banks in Aberdeen, and open an account, then once that’s gone through, Tina and I can start making random deposits on your behalf, so you needn’t worry about money for a year or two ,at the very least, longer if you are careful. So, no excuse not to finish your education, plus Lisa is going to have needs that money will help accelerate, you literally have the bank of “Mom and Dad” behind you!”

Carrie threw her arms around Mike’s neck, “Okay Mike, you have me convinced, but, won’t your contact want a lot of money for all his efforts to provide us with new I.D.?”

“Yes he’ll need paying, his normal fee is somewhere around Twenty Grand or so, but, when I explained to him who it was for, family, and why, well, I won’t tell you exactly what he said, but his language was more than a trifle blue, so he said he’s do it at cost, which was somewhere around Five Grand. Then, the strangest thing happened, he looked at Lisa’s photo, and he got all pensive and gently ran his thumb over her face, and had genuine tears in his eyes. A real hard bloke turned to jelly in front of me. It transpires that him and his wife fell out big time over something or other when he was serving with “The Regiment”, anyway, when he returned to his base in Hereford after a mission in Iraq, he found she’s upped and left him, taking their daughter with her and he’s seen hide nor hair of either of them since. It seems our Lisa looks a lot like his daughter did the last time he saw her, so he’s doing it purely for the cost of the materials, so a case of decent red wine, and Two Grand. I’ll settle up with him once he’s got the items we need!”

“Thank you, Mike, thank you, and please, thank your friend for me next time you see him!”

“I will do Carrie, right, once you get up to our Karen’s go and buy yourself a small, decent car, for cash, and register it at Karens’ address, then, once you have the registration document back from Swansea’s Driver Vehicle Licensing Authority which will take a week or so, plus an insurance certificate, you can open your bank account as you’ll have some I.D. with proof of address on it. I’ll give you about Fifteen Grand or so to take with you tomorrow, so that should tide you over in the short term. But, if you find yourself running short for any reason, just give us a bell and we’ll send you a registered envelope with additional funds in it, so don’t fret right, everything will work out, okay?”

“Okay, Mike, you certainly seem to have all this worked out in advance, I wouldn’t have had a clue what to do!”

“That’s alright sweetheart, I suggest you go and get some sleep, tomorrow is going to be a long day!”

“Thank you both!” said Carrie rising to her feet and giving them both a kiss, “I don’t know what Lisa or I would have done without your help and support, I am so, so sorry to have dragged you into all this mess!”

“Hey!” said Mike as he placed his arm around Carrie’s waist, “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about, I am sorry Matthew invaded your lives, which I am almost sure he did, so you two would provide him with a bit of a smoke screen in the local community! To be honest, I have enjoyed the cloak and dagger stuff! Just like old times! But, neither of us will ever forgive him for what he’s dragged you into. So, no self-recriminations, you are human, you were lonely, stressed and he offered you support and love, or as you thought anyway! So, no looking back, just look forward Carrie love, and everything will sort itself out, you’ll see!”

“Okay, goodnight both!” and Carrie headed off to bed. Twenty minutes later Tina and Mike also retired.

Across the street a different member of the drug gang settled in to keep watch on the Smith household. He wasn’t looking forward to a long and cold night.

Chapter Twelve.

An hour later Tina was disturbed by blue flashing lights just down the street. She nudged Mike awake and after looking out the window, he quickly put on his dressing gown and slippers and hurried downstairs and out the front door, telling Tina to stay where she was.

He made his way down the street to find a policeman rolling on the floor with a sizeable man who was desperately trying to avoid being handcuffed. Pushing his way through a small group of numbskull bystanders, one or two more interested in filming events than helping out, Mike dropped on the bloke he was sure was observing his home, he was sick of the interference, so he drove his elbow into the thugs shoulder before he grabbed the crooks arm, ramming it up his back, almost to the point of dislocation, before he whispered in the blokes ear,

“Carry on mate, I’m quite happy to break your bleeding arm unless you pack it in, you’ve interrupted my kip, so I’m royally pissed off, so up it’s up to you, you have to the count of three to stop struggling!”

“One!”

“Nuck you!” muttered the thug.

“Two!”

“Gerroff! Bastard!”

“Please yourself!”

“Three!”

With a wrench, out popped the thugs shoulder joint! Screams from the thug woke other residents as lights popped on up and down the street and most front doors opened, as more residents came out to investigate what was going on.

“I did warn you mate!” then loudly, so others could hear, “Oh dear pal, have you hurt yourself, you shouldn’t have resisted the officer, here let me help you!”

With a quick twist Mike relocated the joint he had so recently dislocated. The mans screams stopped to be replaced by whimpers as he moaned to himself as he was quickly cuffed, the somewhat out of breath Policeman reported into his radio that the situation was now under control, sirens could be heard approaching from several directions as the officer had obviously activated his “Officer under attack” alarm. Within moments several Police cars and a van were in the street, blue lights flashing everywhere.

The dishevelled copper reached across offering his hand to Mike, “Thanks mate, he had me worried for a moment or two there!”

“No worries, I can’t just stand by and watch unlike some, or even to be happy to film events on their phones, bloody morons, I was in the Para’s, and I have a few moves still, So what was going on?”

“I don’t really know, we’d had a report from someone out walking their dog of some bloke sat in a car looking like he was watching a house, he got snarky when I started asking questions as to why he was here chain smoking, then it all kicked off when I requested back-up, then just when I was getting a bit out of breath, you arrived!”

“Glad to be of help, names Smith, Mike Smith!”

“Thanks again Mike, I’m PC Chris Bradley, could you do me another favour, my Sergeant is going to want a short statement from you if you don’t mind, so could you hang around for a moment or two.”

“No worries Chris, Okay if I just pop in the house to put something a bit warmer on, it’s a bit nippy to be out just in me jammies!”

“Sure Mike, no problem, which house are you from?”

Mike pointed across the street. As he entered the front door Tina was at the bottom of the stairs.

“Are you Ok Mike? What’s going on?”

“I’m fine love, I’m just going to slip something a bit warmer on as I have to give a statement. It seems our drug gang friends are still interested in this house, the Police were checking reports of a stranger watching from the shadows, and he wasn’t too keen on answering questions, then it all kicked off, until I persuaded him it was in his best interests to co-operate! He took a little convincing, but once I put his shoulder out of joint, he saw the error of his ways!”

“Oh Mike, you didn’t?”

“It’s alright, I put it back for him!” replied Mike smirking pulling a tracksuit and a heavy jacket on over his pyjamas, “Do me a favour love and keep warm, I shall want to cuddle my little hot water bottle in the none too distant future!”

“Mike!” Tina muttered as she slapped his upper arm in a playful manner. “You’re enjoying all this aren’t you?”

“You know, I think I am, anyway, go woman, warm me bed, I won’t be long, I’ve got my keys!”

Mike rushed back downstairs and out the front door which he locked behind him. Carrie joined Tina at the top of the stairs where she whispered.

“What’s going on Tina?”

“I’m not sure love, I think we had someone watching the house, and they’ve been arrested. Mike helped out and he’s just got to give a quick statement that’s all!”

“He’s alright though isn’t he?” Carrie asked a bit more alarmed.

“Yes love, he’s fine, he’ll be back before you know it, so go back to bed, there’s nothing to worry about, I’ll tell you what, I’ll get him to pop his head around your door to let you know he’s back, okay?”

“Promise?”

“Yes Carrie, now back to bed before you disturb Lisa! Go on, scoot!”

“Yes Mom!” replied Carrie with a quick kiss before going back to her room. Tina climbed back into her bed and picked up her Kindle® to carry on reading until Mike got back. Meanwhile out on the street, Mike approached the Officer he’d assisted.

“Hi Chris, that’s me back, more suitably attired!”

“Thanks Mike, this is my Sergeant, Pete Davis, this is Mike Smith, the man who helped me out just in the nick of time!”

“Many thanks Mike, I’m Pete Davis, so, can we have a chat about events tonight, well, this morning really?”

“Yeah no problem, do you want to do it here in the street? In your car Or do you want to come in for a brew?” The two policemen looked at each other, consulted their watches and said that a cuppa would be very welcome. Once the thug had been ensconced in the back of the Police van and taken to the local station for questioning. A further officer was going to wait with the suspects car for it to be recovered for further analysis, the street returned to its usual peaceful state.

Tina heard the front door open and quiet voices entering the kitchen, so quickly donning her dressing gown she hurried downstairs. Thrusting her head around the door, “Here, let me do that, I’ll make the tea!” So for the second time that day Officers of the law were entertained in Mike and Tina’s house.

After introductions had been made, Pete got down to obtaining a short statement as to Mike’s involvement with that mornings ruckus. As to the question of why a well-known member of the local drug gang was watching houses in their street, Mike explained about how one of their waitresses boyfriend had been involved in drugs distribution, unbeknownst to them all. About his sudden disappearance, and the threats made against Jessica and her brother Luke, and their subsequent disappearance too! They gave them the contact details of the two Officers they’d already spoken too.

“That great, thanks for all that both!” said Pete closing his notebook. “Now we can go and bend our friends’ ear, with a bit more information than he’ll think we have!”

“I’m sure Eddie and Lorna will want to speak to him too later today, I think his day has just got significantly worse!” added Chris. “No doubt his phone, the contents of the car and other odds and sods will all add to the case we’re building against these individuals! We’ve been after them for a long time now, they seem to have imploded with internal conflicts, which is giving us a great chance to take them down!”

“I hope so!” said Tina hugging her mug.

“Yeah, but sadly, you get rid of this lot, and someone else will move in and establish a new supply chain before you can blink!” said Chris sadly.

“Still, we better get ourselves down the station and bend our friends’ ear, thanks again Mike, we all really appreciate your help this morning, it’s not often a member of the public will step forward to help Police Officers in the execution of their duties, especially one so well qualified as yourself. I’m sure you will be contacted by someone higher up than us, have you ever about taking up a position with the force, full time or even as a “Special”, you’d be a real asset! Think about it! However, if you do hear from Jess or Luke, I’m sure you have Eddie and Lorna’s contact details!” said Pete as he quietly walked to the front door. He motioned with his eyes upstairs.

“It’s okay, our daughter and granddaughter have been staying with us for a few days and they’re asleep upstairs!” whispered Tina.

“That’s nice, I hope we’ve not disturbed them with all the racket outside and our voices in your kitchen, thanks again!” said Chris “Hope you can get back to sleep after this disturbance!”

“After all my years in the forces, I can drop off to sleep at the drop of a hat, you learned that skill quite quickly as you never knew when you’d get the chance for another forty winks!” smiled Mike. The after handshakes all round, the Officers left to continue their night shift.

“Right, you, upstairs! Pop into Carrie and reassure her you are okay, if she is still awake, which I bet she is! But you disturb Lisa, I’ll batter you myself, Michael, do I make myself clear?”

“Yes Mistress!” said Mike, giving Tina a mock salute as if he was the Genii from Aladdin’s lamp!”

Tina smacked his head playfully anyway, “I’ll just put the mugs in soak, make sure everything is off and secure, and I’ll be right up!”

As Mike got to the top of the stairs, Carrie quietly opened her bedroom door and pulled Mike into an intense hug. “Are you okay Mike?”

“Yes love, I’m fine! I promise!”

“I’m so sorry Mike, I’ve!”

Mike placed his fore finger over Carrie’s lips. “Shush, not another word, none of this, absolutely none of it is your fault, do you hear me, so if I hear one more apology, I shall be really annoyed Carrie. Do you understand?”

“Yes Dad, you know Mike, my mother would never tell me anything about my biological father, or Lisa’s if it comes to that, I think she was ashamed of her behaviour at times, but, I want you to know both you and Tina have been more than a Mom and Dad to the pair of us, we’ll always love our birth Mom, don’t get me wrong, but ever since I first met you through Karen at school, I have always thought of you as my Dad, and I know Lisa adores you as her Grandfather!”

Mike almost crushed her in a hug, “That, Carrie or Jessica, is the best thing you could have said, and is more than enough thanks than I deserve, now go to bed, you’ve a busy day today, besides I don’t want to get an earful off Tina if I disturb Lisa!”

The bedroom door opened a little further, a half asleep Lisa appeared rubbing her right eye with the back of her hand, “Wass, goin on? Is it time to gerrup?”

“No sweetheart, it’s early yet, come on, let’s get you back into bed before we get your Grandfather in trouble with your Granny for waking you up!”

Carrie kissed Mike’s cheek before leading a zombified Lisa back to bed as Mike pulled the door too behind them gently.

Tina quickly made her way up the stairs, “Michael Arthur Smith!” she hissed, “After all my warnings, did you disturb Lisa?”

“No Mam, not me, I was whispering to Carrie and she stumbled out on her own, but I bet she’s asleep again by now as she was never really awake in the first place!” Whispered Mike holding both hands up palms outwards in show of surrender, “Blimey woman! You’re worse than any Regimental Sergeant Major I ever came across, and that’s saying something!”

Tina pushed past him and entered their bedroom first before turning to stare down Mike, “Wait a moment, when you retired you were the R.S.M.!”

Mike closed the door, and looking at Tina sheepishly, “Exactly, I rest my case, now come on, let’s get some sleep!”

Jessica and Luke are siblings who have experienced a whole world of pain and hurt in their short lives. When it seems that, for once, things are finally beginning to improve, a local drug gang invades their existence, and their world threatens to crumble down around their ears. Read on to see how they and their friends fight back.

Chapter Thirteen.

That Monday morning was all rush in the Smith household. Lis and Carrie each had a rolling suitcase with their new belongings, Lisa was also carrying her Elsa doll along with a backpack Tina had picked up for during her shopping expedition on Saturday. She was dressed in her pale blue jeans, white sneakers, her white embroidered anglaise blouse with a blue cardigan and denim jacket. Carrie was dressed almost identically only she had a sizeable black handbag draped across her chest, with all her essentials in it.

As she had been promised the day before, Lisa had been allowed to wear a little make-up, which really excited her, as did the prospect of making her very first journey by train, however, all four of them of them could not ignore the elephant in the room, their impending separation. Lisa became quieter and quieter, she spent a good chunk of her time sat on Mike’s lap and leaning into his chest as they both sat silently watching cartoons, Mikes arm clamped protectively around her, talking to her quietly from time to time.

After an early lunch of sandwiches and fruit that none of them felt much like eating, Tina said, “Come on them, everyone, none of us are looking forward to this much, but we need to get moving, trying to find a parking spot near Birmingham New Street is not easy at the best of times. I have pre-booked and pre-paid for your tickets and reserved your seats.” So saying she handed some printouts to Carrie.

“You’ll be travelling first class, that way you’ll have your cases directly behind your seats, and a bit more room to move around.”

Mike then said, “Right, here are two new Apple iPhone®, this one is yours Carrie, and this one is for you Lisa.” Carrie looked questioningly at Mike with an eyebrow cocked, whereas Lisa, who’d never had a mobile phone just wore a wide-eyed smile.

“For me? She asked looking into Mike’s face, “It’s all for me?” Mike nodded, “Look Carrie, a phone, a phone of my own!”

“Yes Lisa, I can see, a nice pretty pink cover too, here, let me put it into you backpack for you, you can have a look at it properly later and read the instructions, and keep the charger safe!”

As Carrie was loading up Lisa, Tina was placing the same things into Carries handbag. Mike looked at Carrie.

“I take it you haven’t turned on your own old mobile phone since I told you to turn it off Friday afternoon!”

“No Mike!”

“Good girl, give me your old phone please!”

Carrie took her new bag from Tina and after rummaging around in its depths, she handed him hew old, battered handset.

“Thanks love!” with surprising dexterity he soon had the unit out of its case, with its cracked screen, and popping open the back had removed the battery. “I don’t want to take the risk of some-one working out how to follow you via modern technology. You both have consecutive telephone numbers, the only contacts you have are each other obviously, Tina, Karen and myself. That’s all you should need in the short term, just be careful who you add for the time being, refuse all in-coming calls from numbers you don’t know, and to be fair, even from numbers you do recognise for the time being! No both of you have the latest bells and whistles, internet, music etc. etc. So, we expect regular WhatsApp® messages and face video calls okay!”

Both nodded, Carrie more glassy eyed than Lisa who was more excited than anything else about having her own mobile phone.

With that, they left the house for the journey into central Birmingham, Mike glanced across at Tina.

“It looks like we’re still of interest to someone, there’s a red estate, three cars back, two blokes, they’ve been following us for a while, I don’t think they’re the boys in blue, as they would be more likely to use cameras and technology, so presumably they’re our druggie friends. Anyway, just be aware of who is around you, especially once we get near the station!”

Tina nodded her acknowledgement.

They were fortunate to come across an empty parking bay at the bottom of Hill Street. All four of them exited the car and made their way through the crowds and onto the main station entranceway, the large information board constantly being upgraded with the various arrivals and departures taking place across the almost twenty platforms in use. After obtaining platform access tickets, Mike and Tina escorted Carrie and Lisa down onto platform eight just as their train drew in, it’s electric motors gently humming as it drew to a halt. By luck, the first-class carriage was positioned almost opposite where they stood. It didn’t take long to get Carrie and Lisa settled into their seats.

“Now girls, don’t forget you have to change trains in Edinburgh, and you get to ride across the Forth Rail Bridge, one of the greatest Victorian structures made anywhere in the world. You can phone us anytime you like, and Karen will be waiting for you in Aberdeen, so enjoy yourselves, and all being well, we’ll come and visit you in a few weeks’ time. Now, come here, give your Granny a big hug and a kiss and do as your Mommy tells you, okay?” said Tina to Lisa.

Mike was giving Carrie an all-encompassing hug.

“Take care of yourself, you hear me, and don’t forget everything we’ve told you, finish your education, look after our princess and stay safe, we’ll be in touch, and we’re only ever a phone call away!”

Both Lisa and Carrie were speechless with tears. Tina and Mike returned to the platform and walked with the train as it slowly gathered speed to start it’s journey to Edinburgh, Soon the dark confines of the station and its access tunnels was left behind as the train rapidly gathered speed. Once they’d dried each other’s tears, Lisa was drawn to the view from the window. As she had her face pressed to the glass, she jumped back with a squeal as an express travelling in the opposite direction thundered past, so close it seemed they were almost touching.

Carrie laughed, “That made you jump didn’t it!”

“I never realise they travelled so fast and so close!” giggled Lisa.

“If I remember correctly, we’ll be travelling at up to One Hundred and Twenty-Five mile an hour at times!”

“Wow!!” murmured a still excited Lisa as she absorbed all the sights, sounds and sensations of her very first ever train journey, Carrie smiled protectively and kissed the top of her daughter’s head as she placed her arm over her shoulder.

Chapter Fourteen.

Meanwhile, Mike and Tina had done a little shopping in “The Palisades” precinct that was part of the station complex before heading back to their car. As they got closer, they realised a large man was leaning against the wall adjacent to their vehicle casually looking up and down the street. As they got closer, he pushed himself upright and stood right in Mikes face.

“You Mike Smith?” he asked.

“Might be, who wants to know?”

“Never mind who wants to know!” the thug intoned, “We want to speak to that bitch who works for you and her brother!”

Mike stepped forward into the man’s personal space, “Funny, I don’t have a bitch working for me, so I’ll thank you to mind your language in front of the Mrs!”

“Look mate, we only want to speak to her about her poxy boyfriend Matthew!” the thug tried to intimidate Mike by stepping forward, but Mike didn’t budge. So the thug tried to make his point by jabbing his forefinger into Mike’s chest “Listen, (prod) Tosser, (prod), We, (prod) Wanna, (prod) SQUEAL!!!!!!!”

With lightening movements, before the thug even knew what was happening, Mike had a firm grip on the thugs’ finger he’d been prodding Mike with, “Now, you listen to me, mate, I don’t like being interrupted by scum like you, but especially when I am out for a nice day off with my wife!” With a loud crack and another scream the thugs’ finger was broken, but Mike continued to bend it until the thug was on his knees pleading for release.

“Now, why don’t you just fu*k off, leave me and my Mrs alone, before I get really annoyed!” hissed Mike.

The thug was trying to get Mike to release his damaged hand by using his other hand to release Mike’s grip. Mike passed the bags he’d been carrying over to Tina.

“Can you hold these for me love? I just need to have another quiet word with matey here!” After he’d passed the bags over, he grabbed the thumb of the thugs second hand, and in seconds had that bent back at almost impossible angle too!

“Now, mate, this is the last time I’m going to say this, I don’t like Matthew, I don’t know where Matthew is, I don’t care where Matthew is, I don’t know what your beef is with Matthew, nor do I care, all I care about is my wife, my family and my friends. Now, if I hear you coming anywhere near my family or my friends ever again, me and my friends will unleash a whole world of pain and trouble on Matthew, his friends, you, your friends and anyone else who we deem worthy of our actions. Now, have I made myself clear? Your lot upset my waitress who now is not involved with that low life Matthew, which I made clear to some of your colleagues. She never wants to see him again, so, when you do find him, you can tell him that if I ever see him anywhere near her, her brother, me, my wife, my premises or my friends ever again, he will be partaking of hospital food, through a straw! Understand?

The thug frantically nods his head.

“Speak up, I can’t hear you!”

“Yes, I’ll pass your message on! Now lemme go!”

Mike released the thugs’ hands, who struggling to his feet, nursing his hands tries to stagger away, issuing a stream of vile invective as he did so, he banged his elbow against the window of a car parked a little further down Hill Street. The door was pushed open and the thug collapsed into the passenger seat and after whoever was inside had slammed the door shut, the car roared away down the road.

From a recess between two buildings DS Jones, appeared and walked up to Mike and Tina.

“That was well done Mike, we know both those two idiots and will keep an eye on them. Nice the way you repeatedly said that you didn’t know Mr Gibson was dead, so we’ll have to see if they take the hint or not! We will be keeping you, your wife and your premises under covert observation until we know whether or not they had lost interest in Jessica and Luke. It does appear that the disguises have worked a treat, DC Wright is on the train keeping an eye on Carrie and Lisa to ensure they are not being followed. Anyway, thanks again, and I’ll be in touch in due course.” After shaking both their hands he sauntered off.

Mike and Tina got settled into the car.

“Are you okay Mike, and do you think Carrie and Lisa are safe?”

Mike leaned over and gave his wife a quick kiss.

“I am fine Tina, honestly, although these idiots are beginning to seriously piss me off, but yes, I do think Carrie and Lisa are safe, let’s go home I could murder a brew!”

Chapter Fifteen.

With that they drove home to a quiet and desolate house, neither of them realised just how much Carrie and Lisa had filled their lives over the last few days, they would both miss the youngsters more than they knew.

Sometime later, on a speeding northbound train Lisa awoke from a snooze rubbing her chest and moaning as she rubbed her stomach too. Carrie sat her up and looked at her daughter closely, before putting the back of her hand on Lisa’s forehead.

“Mmm, you feel a bit warm; you look a bit pale too, are you alright love?”

“Yes Mom, I’m okay, just my chest is really itching, and my tummy is a bit sore and I feel a bit sick! I must be tired, and worried about you!”

“Oh Lisa, you don’t have to worry about me, I’m here with you aren’t I, let’s sit you up and get you distracted! Do you want me to get Elsa’s extra bits and pieces from your backpack for you to play with, it’ll pass the time!”

“Okay Mommy, sounds like a good idea!”

So, the two of them spent some quality time together, playing with Elsa and admiring the spectacular countryside and cities they passed through. Around an hour before they were due to arrive at Edinburgh Waverly Railway Station, a tall woman with long blond hair and clear spectacles stopped alongside the end of their table and spoke to Carrie.

“Excuse me, do you mind if I sit here for a while, only there aren’t too many free seats available, and I couldn’t help but notice you and your daughter playing together so nicely whilst you pass the time.

“No of course not, please, make yourself comfy! I’m Carrie and this is my daughter Lisa!” the stranger placed her handbag, a small attaché case and a large carrier from a well-known toy store on the seat before sliding in after her luggage. The two women shook hands while Lisa looked coyly on, trying to work something out that was gnawing away at the back of her mind.

The stranger looked across at Lisa.

“I see another young lady with a love of Frozen®. I have a niece who has all the dolls, and her bedroom walls are covered in posters or Elsa, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf! I think I like Olaf the best. I met a girl yesterday who loves Elsa! And this young lady had the most tremendous voice when she sang the “let it go!” song!”

Carrie had already worked out who this stranger was, Lisa looked closely at the stranger, then at Carries smiling face, then back at the stranger! She knew the voice, but from where?

“As I say I think I like Olaf’s the best, he’s so funny!”

Lisa leant forward and peered at the woman, before realisation hit her as to who it was. The stranger put her fingers to her lips to signify silence.

“Yes Lisa, it’s me, your fiend Lorna, fancy us bumping into each other on the train!”

“Hello Lorna!” whispered Lisa.

“It’s nice to see you again Lorna.” Said Carrie quietly, “I didn’t expect to see you for a while, and I like the new look!”

Lorna pulled at her long blond hair that was so different to the short dark brown bob she’s worn yesterday.

“It’s useful to have few different looks in my line of work, makes it easier to merge in the background! How are you both doing?”

“We’re fine thanks Lorna, relieved to be on our way, although Lisa here is feeling a bit under the weather!”

“I’m not surprised you’re feeling a bit out of sorts Lisa, stress does funny things to different people, and that’s amongst us adults, to such a youngster as yourself it must be even more disturbing. But I’m sure once things settle down, you’ll be as right as rain!”

“Thank you Lorna, I hope so!” whispered Lisa.

“Anyway young lady, You remember Eddie from yesterday?” Lisa nodded. “Well, we both thought you had been incredibly brave, so we wanted to buy you something nice as a present for all the help you have been to us, so before I got on the train, I picked you out a few more toys from us to help start your collection. Here you go sweetheart, accept these from Eddie and I with all our love and think of us when you play with them!”

As Lorna said this, she handed the carrier across to Lisa.

“Thank you, Lorna, thank you, can I look in at what’s in the bag?”

Lorna laughed, “Of course darling, they’re yours!”

Lisa opened the bag and looking in, her eye’s got as big as saucers,

“Oh wow, look Mom, Anna, Kristoff and Olaf! Wow, thank you, thank you so much! I don’t know what to say!”

Lisa clambered across the table and threw her arms around Lorna’s neck and rocked her from side to side in a tight hug!

“Aren’t you a lucky girl Lisa!” added an equally dumbstruck Carrie.

“Well, we knew she had little to her name given the way events unfolded, and we thought she deserved something nice and special, to try and make up for some of the trouble that’s come her way of late, well, both of you really.”

“Thanks Lorna! You’ve no idea what a boost it’ll give her!”

As the two women spoke quietly about events, Lisa, after looking at the bag with her new character dolls within it started digging through her backpack before kneeling on the seat and tugging at Carrie’s sleeve.

“What’s up sweetheart?”

Lisa held her new phone out in front of her, Carrie looked at her at little confused.

“Would it be ok if I asked Lorna to put her details in my new phone, just so I have another number in my contacts, then I could message her from time to time, because I really, . . . I really, . . . I really think I’d like to be a police lady just like her when I grow up, so, . . . so I could help others like she has helped us, unless I become a singer, or a teacher like you are going to be!”

Carrie explained to Lorna that this was Lisa’s first phone and how Mike had bought the two of them new phones just in case someone tried to trace Carrie via her old handset. Carrie was torn about what to do for the best and glanced across at Lorna.

“I tell you what, Lisa, if it’s okay with your Mommy, I will give you my personal mobile phone number rather than my official one, that way we can swap WhatsApp messages, or even video Chat from time to time. I would be honoured if you chose to become a Police Officer like me in the future, I think you would make a very good one too!” Carrie nodded her agreement, and Lorna quickly entered her details.

“Just remember Lisa, I might be busy and won’t always be able to answer, straightaway, but I promise I will reply at some stage, okay?”

“I understand, thankyou Lorna, I promise not to be a nuisance!” replied a very pleased Lisa.

“Right ladies, I am going to disappear now. I will be on your next train, but you may not recognise me but don’t worry, I’ll be keeping an eye on you, but I am almost certain your disguises are perfect, enjoy your stay but we will meet up again at some point, your information has been crucial to our investigations. And don’t forget to message me Lisa, okay?”

Lisa nodded and after quick hugs all around, Lorna disappeared down the carriage. It was soon time to gather their belongings together and work out which platform they needed for their next train onto Aberdeen. They had almost an hour to waste, sat on a platform bench before a train from Aberdeen drew into Edinburgh, ready to retrace its journey North back to the Granite City. The thrill of travelling slowly across the Forth Bridge was something that would stay with them both for quite some time.

After almost eight hours since they had left Birmingham, the two exhausted travellers climbed from the train in Aberdeen, stretching their legs and stopping to find the platform exit, so they could meet up with Karen and her partner Ruth.

Jessica and Luke are siblings who have experienced a whole world of pain and hurt in their short lives. When it seems that, for once, things are finally beginning to improve, a local drug gang invades their existence, and their world threatens to crumble down around their ears. Read on to see how they and their friends fight back.

Chapter Sixteen.

Carrie and Lisa dragged their wheeled suitcases behind them, thankful that they didn’t have to physically carry them as they had enough to cope with, what with their packs and bags, plus the new toys Lorna had given Lisa. Although they looked around, they didn’t see Lorna again that day. They trudged through the platform exit before shouts and someone was observed waving frantically. A younger, taller version of Tina rushed up to them and with squeals of delight clasped both arms around Carrie and rocked from side.

“Oh Carrie, Carrie, it’s great to see you again, it’s been too long, it really has!”

Then turning to Lisa this human dynamo, grabbed hold of her squeezing her tightly!”

“Oh Lisa, last time I saw you, you were just a tiny tot, look at you, you are so, so pretty, just like your mother! Here, give me your bags, you must both be shattered after all this travel. Come on, this way, Ruth is in the car!

Still chattering away ten to the dozen Karen led them from the station through to large shopping complex at Union Square. Karen who had a firm grip on Lisa’s hand led them to a top of the range Toyota RAV4 hybrid vehicle. As they approached the car a tall slim woman climbed out of the driver’s seat as the rear door automatically rose to allow access to the boot space.

After quick introductions, all four climbed into the vehicle and they made their way out of the city. Lisa was amazed at the size and number of ships in the harbour opposite the shopping area. Karen turned to her and explained that they were oil support vessels that were normally far out in the North Sea servicing the oil rigs, they here huge and had masses of extremely bright lights all over them.

Before Lisa knew it, they were parking up outside some really nice apartment buildings on Riverside Drive overlooking the River Dee. By this time, Lisa was that tired and being still bothered by a sore tummy she went to bed cuddling Elsa and a hot water bottle. The three adults talked way into the night, catching up on recent events and but more importantly, what to do about Lisa.

The following morning, Lisa wandered through to the kitchen, Carrie and Karen were sat at the table talking quietly.

“Morning Lisa, how are you feeling this morning? You look very pale still!” asked Carrie finding it difficult to hide her concern, “Come here Love, let me feel your forehead.” After running her hand over Lisa’s forehead, she said “You’re still running a temperature!”

“I sill have a tummy ache, and I feel a bit sick still, I thought when we got here, and we were safe from “Them!” I would be better, why I aren’t I better?”

“I don’t know Lisa, but I want you to let your Auntie Ruth check you over when she gets back from work okay sweetie!”

“But Mom!” Lisa then spoke quietly, “She’ll know all about me!” Lisa nestled into Carrie with tears forming in her eyes.

Carrie hugged Lisa to her chest and rubbed her back.

“Oh sweetheart, she already knows, Tina spoke to her and Karen all about you, remember? She wasn’t trying to embarrass you in any way, but we are all worried about you! For one, things are changing on your body that we didn’t expect, it looks like you are starting to develop breasts, doesn’t it? Secondly, certain things we would have expected to see, like hair on your legs and other things you don’t want, haven’t appeared. Plus, your tummy aches and your pale colouring worry me, I am worried, Your Grandparents are both worried, Auntie Karen is worried, Auntie Lorna is worried, and Auntie Ruth is worried too! So, your Auntie Ruth’s popping out on her lunchbreak to give you an initial look over and she’s going to take some of your blood back to the hospital with her to get tested, then tonight, she’s going to check you over a bit more closely. But I will be with you all the time, Okay?”

“Not needles!” spluttered Lisa.

“Yes love, just a very tiny one, to get some blood, it doesn’t really hurt if you don’t watch!” said Karen softly, “Then once that’s over, I’m going to take you into Aberdeen to some of the big shops and we’ll get you and Carrie, your Mom sorry, Get you both lots of nice new pretty clothes, probably some toys and things to pretty up your bedroom, because even though you are sharing with your Mom, you deserve to have lots of pretty things about you, you both do!, all pretty girls do”

Lisa looked from Carrie to Karen and back to Carrie.

“Err, okay, I think, but Auntie Ruth, she won’t hurt me will she?”

“No sweetheart, besides, you are Lisa aren’t you?” asked Carrie even though she already knew the answer.

“Well, duh, of course I am, I have always been Lisa!” was the response she received, which is exactly what she expected.

“Well, Lisa, at some point we were going to have to see a Doctor, to make sure you grow up to be Lisa don’t we?” replied Carrie.

“Well, yes, . . .I know, . . . I just didn’t expect it to be now, I, . . I’m scared, . .”

“What are you scared about?”

“Telling other people about me, and them telling me I am a freak!” said Lisa, tears streaming down her face.

“They won’t tell you you’re a freak I promise! I’ve already told you; you are not a freak and not to ever call yourself that again haven’t I!” responded Carrie.

“Yes, but, . . . but, . . . “

“But what love?” asked a concerned Karen.

“What if, . . what if they say, . . . they say they won’t let me become Lisa, but that, I, . . I have, . . I have to be him?” Lisa wailed into Carrie’s shoulder.

“Hush Lisa, come on hush!” Carrie took Lisa’s face into her hands and looked intently into her eyes, “I hereby promise you, that you will grow up to become a fine young woman called Lisa, okay, cross my heart!”

Lisa’s tear laden eyes stared at Carrie.

“Well, go on then!”

“Go on what then?” asked a confused Carrie.

“Cross your heart!” smiled Lisa.

Carrie took her right hand removed it from Lisa’s cheek, extended her forefinger, licked the tip and made the crossing sign over her heart.
“I, Carrie Jenna Brown do hereby solemnly promise that Lisa Kirsty Brown will grow up to be a lovely young woman, that everyone she meets will love her to bits, I, Carrie Jenna Brown do give her my pledge that I will do all it takes to make this a reality! Now, do you believe me?”

Lisa nodded through her tears.

At the moment a tear-streaked Karen’s phone beep to signify an incoming message.

“That’s Ruth just saying she’s leaving the hospital and she’ll be here in ten minutes; can we make sure Lisa is up, and that the kettle is on for a cup of tea!”

“Are you okay Karen?” asked a concerned Carrie.

Karen nodded as she entered the open plan kitchen and set the kettle to boil.

“Yeah, I’m okay thanks, it’s just hearing your new middle names rekindled some memories for me!”

Carrie rose and crossed over to her best friend and taking her in a tight hug whispered, “It’s okay love, Mike needed to pick us new middle names at short notice, and we are both honoured to have your dear sisters names as part of our names, aren’t we Lisa?” Lisa rushed over and hugged Karen’s waist.

“Yes Auntie Karen, I never thought of a new middle name, just my first one! I feel special to share my name with your sister and I’m so sorry she didn’t get to grow up!” said Lisa looking up at Karen.

“Thanks both, that means a lot to me!” they all continued to share a hug until the kettle clicked off, “I’ll make a pot of tea, Ruth may want more than one mug, she’s a demon for her tea!”

Chapter Seventeen.

Meanwhile, some four hundred and twenty-five miles or so South, outside a certain café in Birmingham, a top of the range black Range Rover drew to a halt. The front seat passenger leapt out and rushed to open the rear door. The passenger on door duty was a stocky, well-built man, but due to his right hand forefinger being heavily strapped to adjacent fingers, he struggled to open the door smoothly.

Mike glancing up from the café counter recognised this man from the altercation in Hill Street the day before. Mike glanced across to Steve and Geoff who were in their usual spot in the back of the café to ensure they were alert, as were another two customers at an adjacent table, also ex colleagues from Mike’s from their time serving in H.M. Forces, both with Military Intelligence, which most service personnel classed as the ultimate “oxymoron”.

From the rear of the Range Rover stepped a smartly dressed businessman. He was about five feet ten inches tall wore an obviously expensively tailored suit and shiny handmade shoes. He looked out of place in the district he currently found himself in and wrinkled his nose with distaste at these surroundings, however, he waited for another rear seat passenger to come round the rear of the car and open the café door before he entered the premises, making a beeline for Mike.

Tina had been about to leave the kitchen with an order before she noticed Mike’s body language and retraced her steps slightly. Placing the plates she’d been carrying down under heater lamps; she returned to enter the body of the café to stand at the end of the counter.

The smartly dressed individual approached Mike with a sickly false smile plastered to his face.

“Mr Smith? Mr Michael Smith?” and he extended his hand.

Mike stared at this individual and ignored the proffered hand.

“Mr Jessop, Mr Raymond Jessop!”

Clearly taken aback, the café visitor withdrew his hand slowly, trying to out stare Mike.

“Well, I see you have done your homework Michael, do you mind if I call you Michael or Mike?” he asked through gritted teeth.

“Actually, I do object to your use of my first name, I reserve that honour for my friends and family, and I certainly don’t class you or the thugs working for you as friends or family, so, if you want to speak to me, you can call me Mr Smith, or Sir, I don’t mind which!” replied Mike with a smirk.

Raymond Jessop, looked like someone had slapped him, his face coloured and the fake smile was replaced with a sneer.

“I don’t think you know who you are dealing with MR SMITH!”

“Well Ray, you don’t mind me calling you Ray, do you Ray? Have you ever heard of Sun Tzu?”

An increasingly annoyed and confused Ray couldn’t believe someone, especially a troublesome café owner was showing him such disrespect. The thug who had opened the café door started to step towards the counter to teach some manners to this oldish man despite the damage he’d inflicted on his colleague the day before. Ray lifted his hand to stop the approaching employee.

“Well Mr Smith, in answer to your question, if I know Sun Tzu, was it you said? Unless he owns the restaurant down the road, I can’t say I am aware of the gentleman, and yes, I find your use of my name offensive!”

“Well Ray, I am glad I offend you, because I find everything about you offensive. For your information Ray, Sun Tzu was a Chinese General. He wrote the first handbook on war back in two hundred- and fifty-years B.C. The most famous part of the book has held true for all the years since and simply states “Know your enemy!” Ray. I know you as my enemy Ray, I know your address in Edgbaston Ray, I know your wife is called Suzanne and what car she drives Ray. I know your two daughters’ names are Tamsin and Trinia and where they go to school Ray. I know where your drugs business is run from, all three addresses! What else do you want me to tell you about yourself Ray? How about the dodgy nightclub near the town hall?”

Ray stood there dumbfounded with the colour draining from his face.

“Now, Ray, you threatened me, threatened my family and you threatened my staff! Now Raymond, my friends and I know you and your associates are nothing but parasitical scum! You will regret the day you were born if you are not careful. Don’t let my greying hair fool you Ray, I have had that much specialist training, as have my many friends, that not only will we ruin your day, but I can ensure that the “Old Bill” will wonder where you and your associates have disappeared to! Not only that, but they also won’t find any remains of any of you either. So, Ray, you threatened me and mine, and that was a big, big mistake, I have resources you can only dream of, don’t mistake my present occupation for someone you can just roll over or stamp on! I have many more friends in this city in both high and low places and they are primed to take your crummy operation apart bit by bit. Now Ray, a Second World War R.A.F. Air Marshall by the name of Sir Arthus “Bomber” Harris said of the Nazi’s that they’d “Sown the wind” by bombing Britain but they were going the “Reap the whirlwind!” and Germany was flattened. The same applies to you. Now, unless you are going to order a meal, and I can’t guarantee that my waitress won’t spit in your food!”

“Oh, I can guarantee with one hundred percent certainty that I WILL spit in his food!” piped up Tina as she walked up to Mike’s side.

“So Ray, there are many, many people who have the same information on you that I have just specified, anything, and I mean anything happens to one of us, then Ray, the authorities will mop up any pieces we leave behind! You have a lovely family Ray, let’s keep it that way shall we? Now Ray, our specials are on the board behind me if you are interested, if not, bog off back into the hole you crawled from, and let me get back to serving genuine customers! Oh, by the way Ray, I have no idea where Matthew Gibson is, just thought I’d mention that in case your moronic friends forgot to mention it to you!”

Ray just didn’t know what to say or how to respond. He looked from Mike to Tina then back to Mike before spinning on his heel and storming out of the door without waiting for his henchman to open it for him. He pushed the man with the damaged hand out of his way too, and after all three men were back in the car, it made a swift get away from the kerb and headed towards the city centre.

The two thickset men who’d been sat by Geoff and Steve quickly left the café after giving Mike a wink, and climbing in their car they headed off in the same direction as Ray.

Chapter Eighteen.

Back North in Aberdeen. Karen stirred the teapot. As she placed a cosy over the pot keys were heard to engage with the front door and as it swung open a cheery voice called out “It’s only me, hope the kettle’s boiled!”

“What did I tell you!” said a smiling Karen rolling her wet eyes, “It’s boiled, so hold your horses, I’m just brewing a pot full of tea!

“Oh goody, I hope there’s some biscuits to go with it, especially chocolate covered ones!” Answered Ruth as she entered the kitchen giving Karen a kiss, and a bit of a funny look as she placed a plastic tray with various implements within its recesses on the counter. As she sterilised her hands “Oh good, my victim is awake!” she smiled at Lisa as she made her eyebrows go up and down repeatedly. Lisa just giggled at her antics.

“Sorry I haven’t much time, I had a bit of a break and I wanted to get a good look at our Lisa this morning!” said Ruth as she crouched on her heels looking Lisa in the eyes. “Come over here in the daylight Lisa, let me have a close look at you, if that’s okay?” Lisa nodded. Ruth, taking her by the hand led her in front of the sofa where a shaft of sunlight streaked across the room. Ruth sat on the sofa and placed Lisa in front of her as she began her scrutiny. Carrie followed them into the seating area placing Ruth’s tray on the coffee table before taking a seat at the other end of the sofa so she could observe Lisa’s examination and offer encouragement.

“Hmm, you are a pasty little thing, aren’t you?” Ruth stated rhetorically, Lisa’s eye’s shot across to glance at Carrie before Ruth spoke again.

“Is it ok if I take your temperature Lisa? I just have a gizmo to stick in your ear, it’ll only take a second!” Lisa nodded her acquiescence. Ruth noted the results on a scrap of paper.

“Now I have another machine that’ll take your blood pressure, it just squeezes your arm, it doesn’t hurt, and it takes a few seconds too!

Okay?” Lisa nodded again. “Brilliant, sit next to me here on the sofa, just a cuff to go on your arm!” The test ran and Ruth made more notes on her paper. “Hmmm, tell you what, let me test your other arm just to see if that has more blood in it? Okay?” The second test ran and again Ruth frowned before folding the cuff and putting the machine away and taking more notes.

“Okay Lisa, stand up for me again please!” as Lisa returned in front of Ruth, Ruth yelled “Oi, slave, where’s me tea? Honestly Lisa, you could die of thirst around here!” Lisa giggled, “Now that’s a lovely sound!

“Here mistress, here’s your tea, hot, milk, two sugars and a dose of poison, just as you like it!” said Karen winking at Lisa as she placed Ruth’s tea on the coffee table.

“Thanks love, you’re a life saver, as always!” and taking a big slurp of her tea, Ruth returned her attention to Lisa, and examining the whites of her eyes, and felt all around her neck and looked in her ears.

“I have to be nice to the domestic help around here Lisa, or I wouldn’t get any choccy biscuits, wait a minute, (Shouting) Oi, I haven’t got any choccy biscuits!!! You just can’t get reliable staff these days, you don’t fancy the job do you Lisa, or perhaps you could see about giving your Auntie Karen some training!” Ruth winked at Lisa again. Karen came back, made a pretence of slamming her plate on the table causing the biscuits to slide around and stuck her tongue out at Ruth, before she too winked at Lisa, who giggled yet again.

Ruth looked directly at Lisa, “Now sweetheart, I need to have a look at the rest of you so I am going to need you to take off your nighty for me, now, we can do it here or you and Carrie can come into your bedroom, it’s up to you, wherever you’ll feel most comfortable!”
Lisa looked across at Carrie who shrugged at her. “No, it’s okay, we can do it here if you like!”

“As long as you are happy, mind you, I am glad you chose here, I can have another slurp of my tea, and another biscuit, I might even be able to get me top up, with a bit of luck!” smirked Ruth.

“You hold your horses, I’ll leave the room so I am not embarrassing Lisa!” stated Karen.

“That’s okay Auntie, you can stay, you’re bound to see me undressed at some stage, I don’t mind, besides, I think Auntie Ruth is really thirsty!”

“Aww, I’ve always wanted to be an Auntie!” said Ruth hugging Lisa tightly, “I saw a photo frame once and it said “Auntie, Like a Mum, Only Cooler! Brilliant, absolutely brilliant! Here, let me help you off with your nighty!” Ruth grabbed the hem and lifted the garment clear of Lisa’s body and began her visual examination. She couldn’t help the frown that crossed her face, albeit fleetingly. “Okay, turn away from me please, sweetie!” She ran her fingertips over Lisa’s hips tracing their outline.

“Okay face me again Lisa and hold your arms up high for me please. Okay, arms down please! Hmmm! Right Lisa, if I move my fat bum out of your way, do you think you can lie on your back on the sofa for me please?

“Okay Auntie, but, I don’t think you have a fat bum!”

“Aww, me and you young lady are already best friends!” said Ruth giving Lisa a one-armed hug.

“Creep!” called Karen from the kitchen. Ruth pulled her tongue out at her! Lisa giggled.

Ruth knelt alongside Lisa as she lay with her with her head pointing towards Carrie. “Okay sweetie, I am now going to press and feel different parts of your body. I won’t hurt you, but I will admit my hands may be a bit cold.” Ruth began palpating Lisa’s chests. “Okay, Lisa, has your chest always been as big as this, do your nipples itch at all?”

“My nipples itch all the time, and sometimes, when they get banged, they hurt for a little bit! But they have started getting bigger lately, I just thought it was because I really, really want to grow up as Lisa”

“I know sweetie, I know, you want to be Lisa! When did you notice them growing do you think?”

Lisa scrunched up her face in concentration. “Since before Christmas I think, but much more so recently! Some, . . some of the boys at my school, they have, . . . . they have always picked on me, . . . but, . . . but it got worse once one of them noticed I was growing, they . . . they called me even nastier names than usual, and they’d squeeze my chest and make me really hurt, until some of the other girls, they, . . they chased them off!” tears leaked from both Lisa’s eyes into her ears, Tears escaped Carrie’s and Karen’s eye too! Ruth brushed some stray hair from Lisa’s forehead.

“I’m sorry you had to go through that sweetheart, children, some of them anyway, can be positively evil little b . . . ! They can be spiteful, let’s hope you don’t have to face that sort of behaviour again eh! So you’ve noticed changes for about eight or nine months roughly? Lisa nodded.

Carrie looked horror struck. “Oh Lisa, why didn’t you tell me? I could have taken you to the doctors!” she said rubbing Lisa’s forehead.

“You were always so busy and so tired, you might have told Matt and he would have teased me even more, besides, . . . !”

“Besides? Besides what Sweetheart?”

“I liked that they were growing, and I didn’t want the doctors to give me medicine to stop them growing, I wanted them!”

“Okay sweetie, we’ll talk about this later, but I want to have a feel of your tummy, is that okay with you?” Ruth asked, Lisa nodded.

Ruth worked her way around Lisa’s abdomen, watching Lisa’s facial expression as she did so.

“So, your face tells me your tummy is still sore there, and there, yes?” Lisa nodded as she bit down on her lower lip. “Is it sore every day? Does it go away for a while, then start up again? Tell me what it’s like Lisa, the more information the better!” Lisa went on to describe how she’d have pains for a few days, then everything would be fine for a week or two, then it would start up again, when pressed she couldn’t be more specific than that.

“That’s excellent information Lisa, that’s really, really useful! Now, this might be embarrassing for you, but I do this every single day, okay! Is it okay with you if I pull down your panties a little and have a look at your front bottom?” Again, Lisa nodded.

“Hmmm, okay Lisa, almost finished! I want you to lie on your side, facing me and then if I help you off with your panties, I want you to pull your top leg up to your chest and place both hands around it and hold it there, I won’t touch you, I just want a look at things, okay?” asked Ruth tenderly. Again, Lisa nodded.

After seeing what she could see, a frown again crossed Ruth’s face.

“That’s brilliant sweetie, one last thing to do and then that’s us done. Then you can get ready to go shopping! Come on, sit-up and let me help you get dressed. She slid Lisa’s panties back up her legs and dropped her nighty back over her head.

“Right young lady, I am afraid I am going to have to take some blood, I promise it sounds worse than it actually is, after all, I sent my fangs out to get them extra sharpened!” she said with a mock horror tune on her lips. Lisa just frowned at her. “Honestly, It will be over and done with before you know it!”

“Do I have to?” asked a more than pensive Lisa.

“I’m sorry Lisa, but yes, I need just a bit of your blood, let me show you what’s involved, shall I?” Lisa nodded and Ruth showed her the paraphernalia, the butterfly needle, the fine tubing and different coloured test-tubes. “I want you to sit on your Mom’s lap, then I want you to talk to her and Auntie Karen, then, before you know it, it all be done with and then, look out shops, Lisa’s coming!” Ruth was washing her hands with sterilising solution again before grabbing a pair of sterile gloves.

Lisa climbed onto Carrie’s lap and Karen knelt alongside her, but the opposite side to Ruth. The tourniquet was tightened around Lisa’s upper arm and with a nod from Ruth the process of distracting Lisa began. Carrie held Lisa’s hand tightly and Karen spoke.

“Your Granny was saying that when you went to Merry Hill, you sang the “Frozen” theme tune, and loads of people stopped their shopping to listen to you and gave you a big round of applause! Do you think you could sing some of that for me and Ruthie?”

“Ruthie?” asked Lisa.

“Yes, Ruthie, I know most nick-names shorten people’s names, but this one makes her name a bit longer, I use it when her head is getting bigger, I had a friend at school who was called Ian as his parents didn’t want a name that could be shortened, but everyone just called him E!, anyway, could you sing “Let it go!” for us!”

Lisa closed her eyes and started quietly singing, slowly increasing in volume.

“The snow glows white on the mountain tonight
Not a footprint to be seen
A kingdom of isolation
And it looks like I'm the queen
The wind is howling like this swirling storm inside
Couldn't keep it in, heaven knows I tried
Don't let them in, don't let them see
Be the good girl you always have to be
Conceal, don't feel, don't let them know
Well, now they know
Let it go, let it go
Can't hold it back anymore!”

“There we are Lisa, all done! You know I was almost tempted to keep taking more blood just to keep listening to your sweet voice, you’re beautiful and talented!” said Ruth kissing Lisa on the forehead as she pressed a ball of cotton wool into the crook of Lisa’s arm.

“How many of those tubes did you fill?” asked a stunned Lisa.

“Just six!” replied Ruth.

“Six?” asked a stunned Lisa.

Yes sweetie, I need to run a few unusual tests, so I needed to take a little more than I planned. Now, I want your Auntie Karen to pour you a nice big mug of her lovely tea, with two sugars and at least two of my favourite chocolate biscuits before you get up and move around. But while you are sat here, I want you to go on YouTube® and watch “The Blood Donor sketch by a man called Tony Hancock!®” it is brilliant! Mind you, I shall be asking you questions tonight, okay little lady?”

“Yes Auntie Ruthie!”

“Now, I know this is a daft question, but would you like a plain old boring sticking plaster on your arm or one with the “Frozen®” characters on it?”

Lisa rested her head on her fist and just looked at Ruth.

“Plain it is then, . . . not!” just before Lisa protested.

Chapter Nineteen.

The three adults entered the kitchen where Karen was sorting Lisa’s mug of tea, Ruth noted Carrie’s concerned expression as she filled in name details on the test-tube labels. What’s her date of birth, and her real one in case I need it? Somethings going on with our young lady, I have my suspicions, which is why I have taken extra samples, and I hate to do the whole Doctor keeping secrets from patients bit, but, I want to be sure of certain things before I say anything, If I race back to the hospital now I can get a rush on these tests and possibly get some results back today. Make sure she’s taken on plenty of fluids and get some Calpol® from any chemists, that’ll help her pain. Anyway, must dash, see you both later! Enjoy the shopping, Lisa!” and with that Ruth swept out of the flat.

Karen took a small tray over to Lisa, who was engrossed in the video clip.

“Right Lisa, pause that for a moment, drink loads of this tea, it’s got extra milk in it, then I want you to have three of Auntie Ruth’s biscuits, then finish the tea off and watch the end of the video. We’ll go shopping soon, okay?”

“Okay Auntie Karen!”

As Karen stood, she noticed Carrie had gone into the bedroom she shared with Lisa and was sat slumped on the bed, with her shoulders shaking with silent sobs escaping her body.

“Hey, hey, we’ll have none of that here Carrie! This is so strange, it is really tempting to call you Jess, but oddly I can only think of Lisa as Lisa! Now, tell me, what’s got you so upset, other than a scumbag boyfriend, drugs gangs and being uprooted in such drastic fashion!”

“Oh Karen, what an awful, awful big sister, legal guardian, whatever you want to call me, I am! I have failed Lisa big time!” Carrie glanced back over her shoulder at Lisa chuckling away at Tony Hancock’s antics. “She deserves someone better than me to look after her, I have done a really shitty job so far, everything I have tried to do has just fallen apart big time, look at her, a little soul that has already undergone so much crap, what with our Mom dying, abuse from Matt, threats from drug lords for crying out loud! Then, oh Karen, you should have heard the abuse she took on the last day of school from some of the boys, although some of the girls were supportive, but your Mom had a better idea of what was going on with her than I did, I had no idea of the physical changes she’s faced, until Saturday anyway, two bloody days ago! Some Mother I am to that child, I am a pathetic parent!”

Karen stood then quietly closed the bedroom door before returning to sit on the bed facing Carrie.

“Right Jessica, pin your ears back, because I think Lisa will be joining us any time now. You, Jess, have been the one constant in that child’s life. Who gave up her dreams of a teaching career to care for her sibling when, sadly, their mother died? Who has worked her fingers to the bone to provide a roof over her siblings’ head? Who took on Social Services when they tried to take her sibling from her? Who fought them tooth and nail and won the right to adopt her sibling? A sibling who has clung to her like a limpet, not because she was the only constant in that child’s life, but because that child felt the love of their older sister! Who has earned the undying admiration of their sibling? You Jess, you have so far exceeded that child’s dreams, it is untrue how much she looks up to you! Mom told me that, that child was prepared to do anything to keep you safe from those evil bastards who Matt dragged you towards! Have you sunk down to their level? No! You, Jess, you don’t see how much you have achieved in spite of everything life has thrown at you! That child thinks you walk on water and that the sun shines out of your backside! And it’s not blind adoration, Lisa loves you with every fibre of her being. You are her ideal role model! You are her rock! You are all that, that child needs Jess, yes you have to be Carrie, but you are you, pure and simple, and it is the inner core of your being that Lisa loves, isn’t that so love?”

Carrie spun on the bed to face the door which had been quietly opened, to see a tear-streaked Lisa staring at her.

“Mom, and I know you are really my sister! But you have been like my Mom for a long, long time, even before our actual Mom died, she was too unwell to care for me properly, and that wasn’t her fault, she was too ill. But you Jessie, Carrie, Mom, you have always been there for me, and I will never, ever forget that! You are such a special person, everyone else sees it, so it’s about time you did too! I could never get a better Mom ever. I am so sorry I didn’t tell you how I felt, or what was happening to me, both at school or with my body, but I may only be twelve, or ten perhaps at the moment! But I could see what Matt was doing to you, he was abusing you, perhaps not hitting you as such, but he was in your head, controlling you, trying to make you do things that weren’t really you! But he couldn’t really make you be what he wanted you to be, a slave to him, and I worked out why that was, it’s because you loved me, even more than him, and that’s why he was trying to get me more and more involved in his so called business deals, he wanted to use me to control you, he wasn’t a nice person and I am glad he can’t get to you anymore!”

“Come here you!” said Carrie with her arms open wide before scooping Lisa into a tight hug. “When did you get to be so smart, eh?”

“That’s easy Mom, I tried to copy you! I love you Jess, I love you Carrie, and I love you Mom, and I always will!”

Karen hugged the two of them, “So now that’s all sorted, let’s get ourselves ready to hit the shops, shall we girls?”

Carrie lifted Lisa to her feet and said, “Okay, madam, before you can go shopping, someone needs a shower, so scoot!” With a chuckle Lisa rushed into the ensuite and started to get ready for the day’s adventures.

Three quarters of an hour later they were all aboard Karen’s four by four as they headed to the big shopping complex in Union Square. Shops from the likes of Primark for cheap essentials, then some of the more upmarket boutiques provided more quality clothing, a visit to Pandora® started a collection of charm bracelets that jangled from their wrists, along with other jewellery items. A visit to a nail bar, where they all now sported acrylic extensions on their fingers, with their toes painted the same colour! Lisa opting for a pale frosted pink with metal flakes to which were added on image of Elsa® on her forefingers, Anna® on the index fingers then Kristoff® and finally Olaf® on her pinkie fingers. On each thumb was adorned with a giant snowflake, all the images protected with a high gloss topcoat. Lisa was also treated to a more feminine trim than Tina had been able to give her, they’d also stopped in the Marks and Spencer® café for a drink, a toasted sandwich and some cake, although Lisa still wasn’t too hungry!

After they had dumped all their bags and packages into the back of the car Karen said “Come on, one last shop, then we’ll get a fruit smoothie before heading home to get something for our tea’s, then you can give your Auntie Ruth a fashion show, okay love? We’ll go down to Hobbycraft®, get you a few toys, games and some crafty type things to do, okay?”

“Okay, Auntie Karen, but, I am really tired, I have had a great day shopping though, so thank you!” said Lisa quietly.

“I tell you what sweetie, jump in the car and we’ll skip the smoothie, nip down into Hobbycraft® then get you home for a snooze before Ruthie gets home!”

“Okay Auntie!” Within minutes they were trailing around the store picking up, paints, pencils, colouring books and a myriad of other arts and crafts materials including a large Frozen® jigsaw puzzle. Suddenly Lisa raced ahead

“Oh wow, we have to buy this please! Can we? Oh please, I must buy this!”

“What are you wittering on about Lisa?” asked a smiling Carrie.

“It’s this photo frame, look Mom, it’s exactly what Auntie Ruth was talking about this morning, look it says “Aunties, like Mom’s only cooler!” please can I get it for Auntie Karen and Auntie Ruth, please!”

Carrie laughed, pleased to see Lisa so animated about something. “Of course you can sweetheart, chuck it in the basket, I’ll go and pay for this little lot, you go with your Auntie Karen and wait for me in the car!”

“Okay, Mom!” and grabbing hold of Karen’s hand Lisa made her weary way to the car. Just as Karen had opened the rear door for Lisa to climb aboard, Karen’s phone started ringing, after she’s extricated from her handbag she said to Lisa, “Oh it’s just Ruthie, you sit there with the door open and as soon as she’s finished gabbing to me and your mom’s here, we’ll get you home! Karen walked off a little way and then turned and focused her attention on Lisa as she spoke hurriedly to Ruth on the phone.

Moments later Carrie came out of the shop laden with several bags, which she placed in the back of the car through the rear hatchway which Karen had opened for her while she continued to speak to Ruth. Just as the rear door was automatically closing, Carrie went to check that her little girl was securely fastened into her seat, when she realised that Lisa was slumped forward, completely unconscious, an ear-splitting scream rent the car park and Karen sprinted around the vehicle.

Fortunately, an ambulance and its crew were just preparing to leave the shopping precinct after answering a hoax call. After being flagged down by a passerby, they raced to the scene of the commotion. After a quick examination they quickly placed Lisa and Carrie in the rear of their vehicle before, with lights flashing and sirens blaring, they raced through the traffic to the Royal Aberdeen Children’s Hospital. Awaiting their arrival was Ruth and her colleagues.

After being consoled by shop staff and passers-by, a distraught Karen made the lonely trip to catch up with Lisa. A quick call to Mike and Tina let them know what was happening. It was going to be a long, long night!

Jessica and Luke are siblings who have experienced a whole world of pain and hurt in their short lives. When it seems that, for once, things are finally beginning to improve, a local drug gang invades their existence, and their world threatens to crumble down around their ears. Read on to see how they and their friends fight back.

Chapter Twenty.

Two hours later, a red eyed Karen was doing her best to console a sobbing Carrie as they impatiently waited in a side room.

“Oh Karen, why won’t they let me in to see her? What’s taking them so long? Oh my God Karen, I can’t lose her too, I can’t, I promised Mom I’d care for her, and I can’t even get that right! Oh my God, she looked awful! I need to be with her Karen!” with that great wracking sobs shock Carrie to her core.

“I don’t know what’s going on Carrie, but I’m sure that they’ll tell us what’s going on as soon as they can! Lisa’s in good hands; that’s the main thing!” At that very moment Ruth and a stocky man entered the waiting room along with a tall nurse, all were wearing the ubiquitous scrubs, although these were covered with various cartoon characters which were used to help soothe anxious child patients.

Ruth spoke first “Okay Carrie, this is my colleague Dr Keith Goodman, and this is one of the nurses who have been looking after Lisa, Christine Rhodes, Now, the good news is that we’ve got her stabilised, but she needs emergency surgery, and the sooner the better, but I’ll let Keith explain the details, okay?” Carrie could only nod.

“Hi Carrie, I’m the consultant urologist and plastic surgeon and I’ve been called in as Lisa is going to need some fairly extensive and invasive surgery, but I promise we’ll take really good care of her for you. Now, fortunately for us, and Lisa, Ruth started all these diagnostic tests on her this morning and since we’ve had Lisa here, we’ve given her a CT scan to see what we are dealing with. To cut to the chase because time is important here, your Lisa has, in reality, always been your Lisa, in spite of physical evidence to the contrary!”

Carrie gave him a confused look, “What do you mean?”

“Lisa is a genetic female, her chromosomes are XX, she’s unfortunately suffering from a birth defect that has masked her true sex. We don’t know the reason butwe can sort out later. She has the same internal organs as you, however, she lacks the exit point that a normal female body utilises to secrete body wastes once a month when undergoing her period!” explained Keith.

“A period, she’s been having periods!” asked a stunned Karen.

“Yes, that’s why she’s been developing all the secondary sex indicators of a female, breast development, widening of her hips, arms developing the normal bend to allow her to walk without constantly banging her hips and so on! Plus the regular bouts of tummy ache. Unfortunately, we think either her uterus or vagina has ruptured and she’s bleeding internally! We need to operate to repair the damage. The sooner we start the better. We’ve got her on Intravenous Anti-Biotics as she’s got a major infection plus, she’s lost a lot of blood so she’s also receiving a blood transfusion. I need you to sign consent forms for the surgery. We won’t know exactly what we are dealing with until we get in there, and she will probably need further surgery at a later date to give her a more normal female appearance, the main thing at the moment is to stop the bleeding, and save not only her reproductive system, but fundamentally she has a life threatening condition! So Carrie, I know this is all coming at you quickly and from so many different directions, but I need you to sign these consent forms!” Carrie stared at him slack jawed, she glanced across at Ruth who silently nodded.

Carrie suddenly seemed temporarily rejuvenated. “Okay, where do I sign? When are you going to operate? Can I see her please, I need to see her!”

Keith pushed his clipboard across to Carrie, “Just sign where the cross is, print your name and date it.”, which Carrie did before looking up at him.

“Thanks Carrie, we’ll go, and we’ll start the surgery as soon as we’ve scrubbed up! If you go now with Christine, she’ll let you see Lisa and give her a kiss, she’ll pop back from time to time to keep you updated, but I promise you we’ll do all we can for your daughter! Okay, we’ve got to dash but I’ll come and speak to you later, try not to worry, stupid advice I know, but try!”

Christine led Carrie by the hand down the corridor and into a small preparation area, where, laid on a gurney was the small, pale and ill looking body of a young child. Her hair was under a cap, both arms were extended with I.V.’s in place, one clear, the other a pack of blood, in her mouth was a plastic tube that was helping her to breath.

“Oh Lisa, Lisa!” sobbed Carrie rushing to her side and repeatedly kissing her forehead. Christine gently pulled Carrie away, Karen lent over Lisa, and spoke quietly into Lisa’s ear. “You get better young lady, you hear me!” and she too kissed her. Christine gently led the two of them back to the waiting room, “Okay both, take a seat, I know you are both stressed beyond belief, but she has the best Doctor’s and Surgeons working on her, I’ll go and make you some tea, I’ll be back shortly!”

Carrie and Karen hugged each other and broke their hearts on each other’s shoulders, it was going to be a really long tense night and a fraught few days!

Chapter Twenty-one.

Heathrow airport was thronged with people as per usual. The queue of would-be passengers at the Japan Airlines check-in desks were dense but seemed to be moving fairly quickly. Only thirty minutes before his flight would be called. Plenty of time to check in his two wheeled cases, and then a quick waltz through security and he’d be in the First Class passengers executive lounge enjoying his first G&T. Yeah, not long now and he could relax, he could do with a holiday, it had been a couple of months since his last break with his wife and their two girls.

Now that’s a bit of luck, they’re opening up another check-in desk. He pushed his way in front of a half dozen other would be passengers, to bad for them, you snooze you loose! He could really murder that G&T! He handed across his ticket and passport.

“Good afternoon Mr Jessop, are you well today?”

“I’m fine thank-you!”

“Good, good, where are you flying to today?”

“I’m off to Tokyo!”

“That’s nice, are you going for long?”

“I’m not sure yet, I haven’t quite made up my mind!”

“Okay Sir, how many items of luggage do you have with you today?”

“Just these two cases and my carry-on bag with my laptop.”

“That’s fine sir, could you place the first case on my scales please, did you pack them yourself, and do they contain any of these items not allowed within the aircraft hold?!

After answering the questions, he hefted his first case on the conveyor. The check-in girl punched a few buttons and printed off a long label which she threaded through the suitcase handle. His first suitcase disappeared, and the process was repeated a second time.

“Right sir, here is your ticket, boarding pass and your passport, thank you for choosing Japan Airlines and enjoy your flight.

“Thanks!”

Within minutes he was through security unable to keep his smirk from his face. He approached the bar and after attracting the barman’s attention ordered a double G&T. Finding a seat with a view across the aircraft apron, he settled in to await his flight.

As he looked into the ice in his glass he couldn’t help his mind wandering through the thoughts crowding his brain! At least he could not be extradited back to the U.K. from Japan.

‘He was going to miss Suzanne, a little anyway, truth be told she’s been spending less and less time with him as their girls had grown.

Yes, he’d miss his daughters Tamsin and Trinia, but he doubted they’d miss him too much, they were too wrapped up with their damn ponies and all the gymkhana’s they attended nearly every week.’

‘Yes, Suzanne had a been quite the catch, he knew he was her “bit of rough!” and the pre-nuptial agreement her parents had made him sign had hacked him off at the time, but unknowingly they’d bankrolled the establishment of his import export business. Yes, the house was in her name only as her parents were determined t protect their daughters’ assets from his grubby council house hands, but he’d his own assets now.’

‘Suzanne didn’t want to know what he did, she didn’t care much either. She’d got her girls; he’d bought her nice presents. He wondered how many days it would take her to realise he wasn’t around. He was pulling away from his business empire earlier than he’d anticipated, but it couldn’t be helped!’

‘It was all the moron Gibson’s fault, he got greedy, far too greedy, and steps had to be taken. He knew that a certain amount of skimming of the profits occurred, but Matthew Gibson became far to much of a problem and an example had to be made. If only he could have liquidated that waitress, and her brother like he’d planned! How was he to know that she knew people even more devious and as despicable as himself. How the hell did that café owner know so much about him, his family and his operation?’

‘Still, what did that matter now, he’d enough cash with him to make a new start in Japan, or even to disappear from there to places far, far away. With his Swiss bank account details safely on his laptop, he was set for many, many lifetimes. Yes, let the good times start!’

‘He’d left well trained replacements behind to ensure that his operations continued to operate smoothly. They’s also ensure he’d receive his dividend from the proceeds, yes, life was good, not bad for a poorly educated kid from a run-down council estate on Pool Farm, Birmingham!’

‘I wonder if I have time for another drink?’

He ordered a second G&T from a passing attendant, a minute or two later the server was just returning with his drink on a tray when he appeared to stumble and tipped the whole lot in Jessop’s lap!

“Oh sir, I am so, so very sorry, I don’t know what happened, please, let me dry you off!”

“Get away from me you idiot!” stormed Jessop, “I’ll get you sacked for this, you clumsy oaf!”

“Please sir, not the sack! Please sir, come with me and we can get you quickly dried up for your flight, it won’t take us but a few moments.”

“II better not miss my flight, I’ll have your guts for garters, go on, lead on!”

Jessop followed the still profusely apologising server through a door to the side of the bar and down a short corridor into a small room. As the server allowed Jessop to enter before him, a door in the opposite wall opened and in walked a man, a woman and a heavily armed Policeman. Jessop turned to try to flee only to see that the server was aiming a Tazer at him with a second armed Policeman behind him. Jessop’s shoulders sagged.

The first Policeman spoke.

Mr Jessop, I am Detective Sergeant Jones and this is Detective Constable Wright, we are with West Midlands Police. So, Raymond Jessop you are now under arrest. I am about to formally issue you your caution, Raymond Jessop, You do not have to say anything. But it may harm your defence if you do not mention when questioned something which you later rely on in court. Anything you do say may be given in evidence. Do you understand?”

Jessop nodded.

“Sorry sir, I need you to formally answer rather than just nodding your head, so, do you understand the caution and your rights?

“Yes, I understand.”

Moment’s later the two suitcases Jessop had recently checked-in, were wheeled into the room.

“I take it these are your cases Mr Jessop?” asked DS Jones. Jessop simply nodded.

“Okay sir, can you give me the keys and tell me the combination to the locks!”

Jessop just stared at the Policeman.

“Look Ray, you can either tell me the details and hand over the keys or I’ll get them cut open, it makes no difference to me, but who knows how a little co-operation may be viewed!”.

“I expect the combinations are things like birth dates, should I try his daughter’s birthdays?” asked DC Wright.

“Oh okay, okay, here’s the keys!” and he tossed them on the table, “And yes, the combinations are my daughter’s birthdays!”

Moments later, both suitcases were open on the table, both packed tightly with bundles of Twenty and Fifty pound notes.
“There has to be several millions of pounds in there?” asked a stunned DS Jones. Jessop nodded.

“There is almost Fifteen million in cash, plus another Two Hundred Thousand in the computer carry on!” Jessop answered hollowly.

“No doubt our analysts will find even more hidden in various offshore accounts?” stated DS Jones, Jessop ignored the question.

“Oh, by the way, Mike says “Hi”” added DS Jones with a wink. Jessop just stared at him open mouthed.

Meanwhile at a whole host of address across the Midlands, Police raids were being executed including Jessop's home address, the three distribution hubs his empire had used and at the homes of those well up in the hierarchy and even lowly pushers. It was one of the busiest and most successful days in the fight against the drug scourge.

The embarrassment of having Police Officers scouring through her home and generally upsetting her daughters drove Suzanne Jessop straight to her families solicitors where she instigated immediate divorce proceedings against Ray with the aim of preventing him from having contact with their daughters ever again!”

Chapter Twenty-two.

Almost four days later.

A strange pungent, disinfectant smell rankled in her nostrils,

“Where am I, never mind, I need, . . more, . . . sleep!”

Later muffled voices disturbed her snooze,

“Don’t they know how, . . . tired, . . . I, . . . am, . .I . need, . . . sleep . . Oi!, . . Keep . . .the . . noise . . . down!”

Twelve hours later machinery continued to keep its monotonous vigil!

“Why can’t someone stop that beeping, . . . someone, . .please, . . turn that microwave timer off, . . . . I need, . . . sleep!”

Different people rotated the wait by the patient’s bedside!

“Who is shining that bright light in my eyes, . . . . go away, . . . leave me alone, . . . sleep! . . .need . . more sleep!”

More clattering and the low murmur of voices.

“My tummy is sore, that blooming microwave beeper is still going, someone turn it off, please!”

“Lisa, come on sweetie, I need you to open your eyes for me love, come on Lisa, open those lovely eyes, look at your Auntie Ruth!”

“I can’t open . . my eye’s, . . why is my tummy . . . so sore? . . . Need more sleep! . . . . So tired!”

“Come on Lisa, please, sweetheart, open your eyes for Mommy, please Lisa, open your eyes just a little, or, can you squeeze my hand love, can you my dear sweet Lisa, come on, my lovely, you can do it, squeeze my hand!”

“Mommy? She sounds strange? . . . If I squeeze her hand, maybe she’ll shut up and let me have some more sleep, . . .so, . . . so tired, . . . why is my tummy sore? . . . . Oh yeah, . . . . squeeze her hand, . . . which hand do I squeeze? . . . .Oh bother, . . . . I’ll squeeze them both, . . . . then I need, . . . need to sleep!”

Squeeze! Squeeze!

“She did it, she squeezed my hand, she squeezed my hand!” Exclaimed Carrie almost dancing in her seat.

“She squeezed mine too! Oh thank God, thank God!” wept Karen

“Lisa, Lisa sweetie, it’s Ruthie your favourite Auntie, come on sweetie, let me see those lovely eyes of yours, come on Lisa, look at me, then you can have another wee sleep!”

“I’ve squeezed their hands, . . . now I have to open my eyes? . . . . Stroll on! . . . . Don’t they know how tired I am? . . . . Got to sleep some more! . . . Let’s see if I can open my eye’s! . . . Hmmm, . . . . This is harder than I remember” . . . Let’s see, . . . . try and open my right eye first, . . wow, . . . that’s bright!”

Oh, good girl Lisa, good girl! Do you think you can open the other eye for me too please, Come on Lisa!”

“That’s Auntie Ruth,. . . I know . . . Auntie Ruth,. . . . let’s see if I can open . . my . . . other . . . eye?”

“Oh well done Lisa, now can you open them both for me at the same time sweetheart?”

“There’s no pleasing . . some people! . . Open your eye, . . . . open the . . other! . . Squeeze a . . hand! , , , I am not going to get any . . sleep, am I? . . . I suppose I better . . . open my eyes again, . . . . and . . . . tell Auntie Ruth I’m tired, . . . I’m thirsty too, come to think of it! . . . . Oh well, let’s open . . my eyes! My tummy . . hurts . . really . . bad”

“Well hello sweetheart, good of you to join us, how are you feeling?”

“Throat . . . sore! Thirsty! Tummy . . . sore! . . . Tired! . . . Tummy!” rasped Lisa.

“Ok sweetie, here, have a suck on this ice chip!”

“OH, . . . . nice! More please!”

“You can have some more in a moment or two, do you know where you are?”

“If she doesn’t know . . where I am? . . How am I supposed to know/”

“In bed?”

Ruth laughed, “Well okay Lisa, you are in bed, do you know where this particular bed is?”

“This is like being . . on a quiz show!, . . . We’re not at the shops still . . are we? . . . No! . . wait,. . . . that beeping noise, . . . . . there’s a lot of machinery here!”

“Hospital? . . No! . . . Noooo! . . . . Not hospital!”

“Shush sweetie!” murmured Carrie, “Shush! Everything is fine, in fact everything is better than fine now you have woken up!”

Lisa frowned “Oh Mom, . . I’m sorry, . . . I’m sorry!”

Carrie quickly hugged Lisa, “Hey! Hey! None of that, you were ill and needed to come to the hospital, let Auntie Ruth tell you what’s happened, okay!”

Lisa nodded, then decided that movement hurt too much and rasped “Thirsty!”

Ruth gave her another couple of ice chips, then sat on the bed, “We had to bring you to the hospital Lisa, you were very poorly, but you’ll feel better soon, I promise! Are you in any pain anywhere?”

“Just my . . tummy! Throat’s . .sore . . . too!” Lisa answered.

Ruth fiddled about with the drip going into Lisa’s arm, “There you go sweetie, you should feel easier shortly, do you want some more ice?”

“Please, . . . Mmmm, . . .Nice, . . . . Hungry, . . . . Tired!”

“Okay Lisa, you are a very lucky girl, but you just have to rest for a wee while, would you like some ice cream!”

“Mmmmm, . . . nice . . hospital, . . . love . . . ice . . . . cream!” and with that Lisa simply went back to sleep.

The adults gathered at the foot of Lisa’s bed, Ruth spoke to the other two.

“That’s an excellent sign, all her observations point to her turning a corner, her pulse is steady, not so thready and her temperature is finally coming down at last, which is the most significant positive indicator. We’ll let her sleep for an hour more, then we’ll wake her up again and she can have that ice cream. It’ll help her thirst, her throat and give her some energy. Then, we’ll need to start getting her to eat a little and keep her awake for longer periods!” Then placing a hand on Carrie’s shoulder and the other on Karen’s she added “I think we can all relax a little now, our little girl will be home before we know it!”

“Thank you Ruth.” Said Carrie putting her hand on top of Ruths’ “You’ve all been so brilliant, I can’t tell you how relieved I feel at the moment, just to see her awake and talking, I thought I was going to lose her!”

“She had us all worried Carrie, it’s been a rough few days, but she’s a fighter, she may be all sugar and spice to look at, but she’s a determined individual. Children are amazing, it’s why I specialised in Paediatric Medicine. They’ll burble along, then they’ll crash on you, but they often bounce back from situations that would knock you or I for a loop. She’s a way to go yet, but you’ll get to take her home soon.”

“Now, after she’s had her ice-cream, she’ll have a good sleep, so I want the pair of you to go home, have a shower and a sleep yourselves, you are both shattered, and you are going to need your energy. We won’t explain what has happened to her until she’s more with it and you are both here and can talk to her at length and answer her questions! Now, do I need to write you a prescription to obey Doctor’s orders, or will I need to call security later?”

Carrie and Karen exchanged nods, “Okay Doctor Ruthie, you win, when will you come home?” asked Karen. “Soon, I promise!” I’ll wait until you’re back and Keith’s on duty, I want to see her out of I.C.U. first and in a sideward.”

In the end it was almost two hours later before Lisa was woken again. Karen decided to pop to a local supermarket that stocked Rizza’s Ice Cream. This is an old established manufacturer in Huntly, a small town in deepest Aberdeenshire, which she swore made the best ice-cream anywhere. Returning with three small tubs, one of vanilla, one of chocolate and the other of chocolate mint chip, Lisa was roused.

“Lisa, sweetie, come on Lisa, wake-up, I’ve got some ice cream for you!”

“What! . . . Wake up again! . . . I have only just got to sleep! . . . Wait, Ice-cream, . . .Come on, eye’s, open!”

“Want . . ice-cream . . . please!” murmured Lisa.

“Hello sleepy head, how are you feeling? Asked Carrie smiling at her daughter.

“I’m tired, . . . my tummy is sore, . . . I’m thirsty, . . . did you say you have ice-cream?” Ruth reached across and fiddled with the I.V. again.

“We’ve got your three different flavours sweetheart! I have vanilla, Auntie Karen’s holding some chocolate and Auntie Ruth has chocolate mint chip, so which do you want to try!” she smiled at a somewhat dozy Lisa.

“Well duh! . . . All of them! . . . please!” To chuckles all around, Carrie managed to get several small spoonful’s of each flavour into Lisa before she fell asleep once more. One of the nurses wrote Lisa’s names on the tubs and said she’d place them in their small canteen freezer and get more into her next time Lisa woke.

“Right you two, home, shower, bed, sleep!” ordered Ruth. As the two women kissed her, they turned to go home and walked straight into Tina and Mike at the door to the I.C.U. “What, what are you two doing here?” spluttered Carrie. Karen smiled knoowingly.

A tearful Tina had Carrie enveloped in a bear hug, “We trained up Steve and Geoff to take care of the café, then once we got the all clear from the Police that we wouldn’t be followed, we flew up to be with our family!”

“Yes, it’s been an interesting day, we flew from Birmingham to Edinburgh under assumed names, from there to Manchester, and then up to Aberdeen, just to ensure we weren’t followed! Although, to be fair, I think the druggies have other worries from what we understand, the Police have cracked the whole lot wide open and have been making arrests left, right and centre, people at the top of the food chain too.” Said Mike.

“Oh my God, Lisa is going to be so pleased to see you, well, once she can keep her eyes open for any length of time that is. Thank you, oh, thank you Mom, and you Dad!” said Carrie throwing an arm around Mike’s neck.

“Our girls needed us, all of them needed us! So we came as soon as it was safe to do so, now, more importantly, how’s our little girl?”
After receiving the latest update, Mike looked at both Carrie and Karen,

“If you don’t mind me saying you two look like sh… er….very tired!” As he wilted under Tina’s glare.

“Actually girls, you both look shattered, go home, we’re here now and will watch our little lady for you, and as for you Ruth, you look worse than they do!” Tina stated with her hands on her hips. “We’ve booked into the local Premier Inn, and have hired a car so we’re sorted, go home, please!”

Then a male voice joined the conversation.

“Yes Ruth, give me your handover, and you go home too!” said Keith, “I’ll have things covered here.”

Thirty minutes later the three young women went home, realising just how tired they were.

Two hours later the nurse brought the three ice-cream tubs to Tina to tempt Lisa awake.

“Lisa baby, come on, wake up sweetie, I’ve got some ice-cream for you!”

“Wake up! . . . I’ve only just got to sleep, . . . I wish they’d make their minds up! . . . . . . . Mmm, . . . .Ice-cream! . . . . Wait whose voice was that?”

Lisa, come on Lisa, Wakey wakey! This ice-cream will all melt if you don’t wake up, come on, open your eyes for me!”

“That’s my Nanny’s voice, . . . can’t be, . . can it?”

“Nanny! . . . . Am I . . . Am I back in Birmingham?”

“No Lisa, you are in Aberdeen still!”

“Is Granddad coming too”

“Who do you think is over here holding your ice-cream sweetheart?” asked Mike.

“Granddad!”

“We thought we would come and see you, as we missed you so much, now which ice-cream do you want sweetie?” said Tina tenderly.

“Can I have some of each one please Nanny?”

“Of course you can Lisa, let me just open them up, and keep your grandfather from eating them, you know what a greedy guts he can be?”

For the first time in many days Lisa giggled.

Chapter Twenty-three.

It took most of the summer for Lisa to recover her health and most of her stamina although that was still a work in progress when she started at a local school in August Three weeks in hospital recovering from lifesaving surgery will take it out of you.

The small conference where it was explained to Lisa that she had always really been a girl and that she’d an unfortunate birth defect that had been fairly easily rectified but she just needed another “clean-up” surgery was a double-edged sword. Whilst the thought of more surgery filled her with a certain amount of dread. The realisation that she would finally completely look just like the girl she’d always dreamed of won out hands down. The news that there was no reason she couldn’t be a mother, if that is what she wanted to do in the future left her wide eyed and open mouthed and so very, very pleased.

Both her and Carrie decided to remain in Aberdeen. They had help, to make their new identities properly official. Both retaining their new names and ages. Carrie was able to transfer her university credits to Aberdeen, where, with a certain amount of revision training she passed her final exams with flying colours and achieved her ambition of teaching mathematics at a school in Aberdeen City.

Lisa enjoyed reliving part of her childhood as the girl she’s always known herself to be. Her first sleepover as part of a group of happy young teenaged girls was a rite of passage, she’d never dreamed of being able to fulfil.

Karen and Ruth married two years later, Carrie was chief bridesmaid to them both which made for interesting dress shopping expeditions. Lisa was beyond happy to be bridesmaid to them both too. They waited the two years to enable Lisa to be fully healed from her second, cosmetic surgery, also performed by Keith and Ruth. The following year Carrie and Keith married, with Lisa as chief bridesmaid.

Mike and Tina eventually sold up, selling the café to Steve and Geoff, before then selling their home and moving up to spend a long and happy retirement being with their girls. Mike never did volunteer with the Police Special Constable, preferring the quiet life Tina was looking forward to a proper retirement, rather than the first time he’d retired after leaving the “Paras”

As for the drug syndicate, after a very long and protracted trial, various individuals were sentenced to numerous terms of anything from three to twenty-five years in prison. “Confiscation of Proceeds” orders amounting several millions of pounds have been made and are being processed. No-one was ever charged with Matthew Gibson’s murder, but Police are quietly confident that his murderer is actually behind bars.

Suzanne successfully divorced Ray, he lost all contact with his daughters.

As for Lisa, well, what is there to say, she was determined to live her life to the full, even if she did eventually become an Aunt to her Mom’s two children, almost a parody of a certain Country and Western comedy song. She was happy, she made real friends, she sang in choirs and Amateur Dramatic groups. Did she pursue singing professionally or join the Police, or become a teacher? Well, that’s for me to know, and you to imagine!!!!

I forgot to add at the beginning of this story the usual disclaimers. All the individuals and events mentioned within these chapters are totally fictitious and any resemblance to any people historical or living is purely co-incidental. The places, trains etc. are all from the real world, especially Rizza’s ice-cream!

Many thanks to everyone who has taken the time to follow this story, especially despite my efforts to confuse readers by posting sections out of order. The number of reads and the comments have been incredible. I am trying to learn the craft of writing tales without grammatical errors, tense errors, spelling errors and errors in general which I hope have not proved too distracting, although the proper way to post linked story segments seems beyond me. Nonetheless, on to my next idea! Thanks again. Iona x

Chapter One.

The klaxons and fire alarms were blasting out their ear-splitting warnings. The exploration shuttle craft Oslo was being rocked from side to side by a multitude of nearby explosions. Access panels were swinging open haphazardly with the violent motion being experienced, wiring was breaking apart and short circuits were adding smoke and fumes to the atmosphere being breathed by the crew of ten as they struggled to maintain their balance and carry out their duties.

“Prepare to abandon ship!” barked out Ramon Suarez, the Oslo’s commanding officer.

Another explosion rattled the shuttle. The whole attack had come completely out of the blue. The Oslo had been part of a two-ship mission to survey one of three rocky planets orbiting a binary star system in the Struve constellation. For almost two weeks, everything had been routine, with nice, peaceful, mundane duty shifts, surveying and recording their findings. The crew well drilled in their various roles, but now, all was utter chaos.

The blasts were coming ever closer, as the missile assaults continued to slowly overwhelm the shuttles mainly automated self defence systems.

Karin looked across at her husband.

“Ramon, do you think we should at least send some of the crew to safety, the Bergen has reported that they are poised to recover our escape pods.”

At that moment a huge explosion hit the underside of the Oslo, the onboard systems reported a major hull breach to add to their problems.

Ramon glanced at the information monitors that were flashing their warnings. The proximity sensors were indicating an even larger wave of missiles on interception courses, even as he struggled to increase their orbit away from the surface of the planet they’d been observing. Decision made; he pushed the abandon ship activation button.

“Abandon ship, abandon ship” rang throughout the damaged shuttle, flashing amber beacons now added their strobe effect to the mass of sparks, smoke and warning lights illuminating the interior of the doomed vessel.

Just as they had rehearsed many times through incessant practice drills, never expecting to use the escape pods, the other eight crewmembers raced to the compartments that offered safety. Moving as best they could, they struggled to their assigned craft and within thirty seconds the shuttle reported all eight individuals had launched vertically away from the shuttle in two pods.

“That’s it Ramon, they are all safely away and the Bergen is actively tracking the pods.”

“Okay Karin, there’s nothing else we can do, let’s get out of here!”

Ramon grabbed his wife’s hand, and they made their way into the control cabins escape pod. As they both made it safely through the hatchway, Ramon smacked the large red button with his fist to start the launch process. With an audible hiss the hatch slid shut and both Karin and Ramon were rammed to the floor as the escape pod rocketed away from the doomed shuttle.

Ramon and Karin, still holding hands exchanged relieved glances. Then, as they began to relax a little, a huge blast hit the pod, throwing them around the interior, not that either of them knew that, as unconsciousness had claimed them both.

The Shuttle Bergen picked up the signal of the third pod to be launched by their sister spacecraft. Within seconds a huge explosion enveloped the nose of the Oslo, and the pod disappeared.

All had been so quiet, so peaceful, so mundane. Not so any longer!

Down on the surface of the planet being surveyed, military leaders watched with morbid glee, revelling in the devastation their missile and rocket attack had wreaked on the body that had been observed orbiting high above them.

Masonville was an increasingly industrialised nation, slowly trying to exert their greater power over their more rural and peaceful neighbours. The country had become a republic some one hundred and fifty annuals or so ago. The military had gradually increased their presence in the upper echelons of Government and had gradually imposed a martial approach to Masonville’s civilisation, constantly broadcasting speeches and propaganda extolling bigger efforts in the mines and factories, accompanied with stirring music to encourage the population to greater efforts.

So, the ruling elite considered the recovery of the debris from the orbiting object as of utmost importance to their development as the pre-eminent nation on Villiar. However, what they hadn’t factored into their calculations, were the huge explosions that destroyed the object and sent debris far from the expected point at which their forces could easily recover the ores that fell to the ground.

The leader of this nation, President Signi slammed his binoculars onto the guardrail of the palace balcony from which he planned to observe this latest coup. It was obvious that he was seething.

“General Brandr, fetch me the brains behind this fiasco, NOW, man, NOW!”

The general quickly muttered something to one of his aides, who scurried from the balcony. President Signi paced backwards and forwards across the balcony becoming more and more angry as each minute passed.

“Where are they General? What is keeping them?” the president snarled.

“I am not sure Mr. President; I am sure the people responsible will be here shortly!”

Almost on cue, a group of four people were shepherded into the president’s presence.

“Just what do you have to say for yourselves? What the hell happened?” the president bawled at the leader of the group, a tall thin man who was sweating profusely, having been dragged from his laboratory where he and his colleagues had been frantically scanning their monitors and instruments.

“I’m sorry Mr President . . .” he started to mutter.

You’re sorry, YOU’RE SORRY!” the president snapped, “I don’t want your apologies man, I want your explanations for this unmitigated disaster, AND I WANT IT NOW!” so saying he smashed his fist onto the balustrade.

The scientist’s leader pulled on his shirt collar, his large, pointed Adam’s apple frantically bobbing up and down on his neck as he sought to placate his irate leader.

“Right, erm! I’m sorry Mr President but . . .” the scientist’s leader started to say again.

“WRONG ANSWER!” hollered the president. “GET HIM OUT OF MY SIGHT! He continued to rant. This individual was grabbed by two guards and dragged protesting from the balcony.

“RIGHT YOU!” and he jabbed his finger at one of the three remaining scientists, “You want to tell me what just happened up there?” as he jabbed his arm in the air.

This time, a younger man stepped forward with his clipboard firmly gripped in his quaking fist.

“Well Mr President, we think the most likely explanation for the huge explosions must have been due to the object containing fuel or explosive substances within its core. This suggests it was likely hollow, possibly naturally hollow, or maybe, an artificial object, maybe containing life forms of some sort! As you know Mr President, we expected to be able to break the object up, topple it from its orbit and send the fragments to land within our nation!”

“Hollow, you say?” asked the president from under his darkly furrowed brows, his attitude calming somewhat as he rubbed his chin.
“We think so Mr President, but you must understand, we are still analysing our results, so these are purely our early conjectures!”

The president walked up and down tapping his lips, deep in thought, “What is your name?”

The spokesman looked decidedly off colour as he replied. “Hallr Mr President, Hallr!”

“Well Mr Hallr, I suggest you go back to your instruments, and you had better work out exactly WHAT went wrong, WHERE my debris is going to land, AND you have two hora to get back in front of me and give me the answers I NEED, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME?”
Hallr nervously nodded his head.

“Yes Mr President, we’ll go right away, reassess the information we have, and I will report back to you within two hora!”

“Make sure you do Mr Hallr, make sure you do! Now, get out!

With that the three scientists beat a hasty retreat. The president stalked off the balcony himself and returned behind his desk, looking up at those still in his presence.

“General Brandr, I want you to mobilise your patrols to follow the likely trajectory of those fragments falling to the ground. I want every man under your command to be out there scouring the country for the ores or whatever it was that blew up, I particularly want the larger fragments, and I don’t care how far they have to travel to collect them, do you understand General?”

“Yes Mr President, although from what I could tell, it’s likely that some fragments may well land within Granaria, or even Vinaria!”

“General, I couldn’t care less WHERE they land, whether they land within OUR territories, OR, onto our near neighbours. I want those fragments! I don’t care who gets in the way of our troops! They are authorised to use all the tools at their disposal, and if anyone objects, ANYONE AT ALL, then eliminate them! In fact, general, make sure there are no witnesses left to relate what they see!”

The general snapped to attention, saluted the president and promptly marched from the office to issue his orders and to send off the recovery patrols that were all awaiting their orders.

Chapter Two.

Meanwhile, on the balcony of the palace in Willowton, the capital city of Granaria, Queen Adred;-

Granaria was a larger country in land area than Masonville, but was a mainly agrarian culture, particularly successful in producing grains, both for its own consumption but also for export. The country was run by a monarchy, with a predominantly female population. It seemed that the many wars of attrition they’d fought against Masonville had significantly affected the number of males born per one hundred births to around twenty percent, Granaria scientists also suspected the chemicals used to provide sufficient fertilisers to nourish their crops may be having an impact too, although the research was in its infancy. However, these issues were not currently uppermost in the Queen’s thoughts.

“Now, what are Masonville up to this time?” the Queen asked rhetorically.

“If only I knew mother, if only I knew!” Aryn responded as she shaded her eyes and continued to watch the falling spectacle taking place above their heads.

“Well, if I know one thing, Masonville are up to no good, and we’ll be feeling the brunt of their deviousness before too much more time has passed!” the Queen replied tersely.

Princess Aryn glanced at her mother.

“I think it best if we organise our forces to investigate any of the debris that seems to be heading our way, as well as preparing to disabuse any of Masonville’s population who may want to invade our territory and retrieve this material currently cascading towards both our nations!”

The Queen glanced up at the sky again.

“That’s a good idea Aryn, get the rapid response unit onto the road as quickly as possible. It looks as if most of the smaller fragments are heading towards the south of the capital but some of the larger fragments are coming down to the north, I want you, Aryn, to concentrate on the larger elements, as I expect those will be the ones of most interest to our friends across the border. Where is Caryn?”

“Here mother” answered the Queens younger daughter as she strode onto the balcony, casting her eyes upwards as she did so. “I was in the palace grounds checking the readiness of our units given the spectacle going on over our heads, I estimate they can be on the road within a quarter of an hora, once we decide where we are going!”

“Thank you Caryn, that’s good to know we can get underway so quickly, although I know it is what you have both trained your forces for!” replied the Queen.

“Now what is that?” pondered Princess Aryn as she quickly raised the binoculars back to her eyes. “That red object that has just emerged into view from within all that smoke looks a bit like a parachute to me!” She handed the binoculars onto her sister.

“I think you are right Aryn, if that fragment is worth fitting with a parachute, then the contents must be fragile and worth preserving. So, does that indicate life and/or delicate machinery?” pondered Caryn who passed the optical device across to her mother.

The Queen studied the sky above the palace intently.

“Whatever is in that fragment must be special as a second parachute has just been deployed which makes that object our main priority, I want you both to take the majority of your teams and get to the landing point of that fragment as quickly as possible. I want you to go prepared to face interference from Masonville! So, even if it delays you a little while I want you to go fully prepared, not only to recover what you can, but to also fend off incursions from our neighbours, and girls, be careful, very careful, I don’t want anyone hurt. You head off as quickly as possible and I’ll despatch some back-up forces in case of trouble, now, come and give your old mum a hug and then get going!”

All three women came together in a group cuddle and the Queen kissed each of her daughters’ foreheads and they then departed from their mother to grab their ready bags and go get their expedition on the road.

At the same time that the Princesses and their forces were speeding north, Prime Minister Pellinore joined her sister, the Queen on the palace balcony.

“Well Adred, what do you think is going on?”

The Queen glanced across at her younger sister.

“To be honest, I don’t really have a clue, although we’ve made some educated guesses, do you have any intelligence from your sources?”

Pellinore took the proffered binoculars and surveyed the skies above them.

“We don’t have anything concrete, although the level of radio traffic has increased dramatically within the Masonville military, especially traffic emanating from the headquarters to units close to our border. That can’t be good news for us, no matter what is going on!”

“That’s just brilliant Pellinore, any idea what they are saying specifically?” asked the Queen.

“They have introduced a new code which our experts are working on as we speak, the more internal messages which we have deciphered have given orders for every particle which lands, to be taken to their central headquarters as a matter of priority!” replied Pellinore.

“I don’t suppose the coded messages say much different, just that they are to be more vigorous in their efforts to retrieve these fragments!” mused the Queen.

“I expect you are correct Adred, I know the measures you have already taken, I spoke briefly to Aryn and Caryn as they were heading out, but sadly I think we need to mobilise all our forces, including the Civil Defence units to help where needed and to back-up the frontline units should Masonville become even more belligerent in the coming hora and days, at least until we know what we are dealing with!”

“Yes, Pellinore, I think we are in for some turbulent times in the immediate future, lets head down to the command post and see what the latest intelligence has for us!” and with that the two sisters headed into the palace’s interior.

“I’m hoping their skills will not be needed but I have despatched my two girls Ayne and Urna with the main convoy just in case specialised medical care is needed by anybody as a result of this mission.”

“Great idea Pellinore, let’s hope they have a wasted journey, but, somehow, I doubt it!” added the Queen as they both continued to the communication centre buried deep within the palace.

Chapter Three.

In the sky above the two, wary countries, the huge clouds of smoke and flame gradually dispersed as the high winds in the atmosphere rapidly blew the evidence away. Meanwhile the heavier objects started to rain down on the land mass known as Villiar to its inhabitants.

Roughly half the, albeit smaller debris landed on Masonville, but the object with the parachutes attached, drifted further and further westward into Granaria.

In the palace in Masonville, which was the name of both the country and its capital, President Signi paced to and fro, becoming increasingly agitated.

Following a knock on his office’s door General Brandr strode purposefully into the room followed by a very nervous Hallr and his two equally apprehensive colleagues.

“HALLR, you’re late man, LATE, you’ve kept me waiting an extra ten munt!

“Sorry Mr President Sir, but we received some last-minute information which we thought best to bring with us.” Replied Hallr.

“Well man, out with it, out with it!” barked President Signi.

“Well S,s,s, Sir” stuttered Hallr, “Our latest information seems to confirm.”

“Seems? SEEMS?” the President yelled, “What do you mean seems? Don’t you know for definite man? You are not inspiring me with confidence Hallr, perhaps you are not up to this role and I should replace you too!” snarled the President.

“No Sir, I know what happened, well, according to our latest information anyway” replied Hallr mopping the sweat from his brow, “Perhaps I could show you some photographs we have just received from one of our monitoring telescopes!”

As he said this, he spread a series of photographs across the President’s desk, the images showed a rectangular object being subjected to a series of close proximity explosions, before the next displayed the target starting to disintegrate. The final image displayed a sizeable chunk of the target breaking off as a huge mushroom cloud of flames obliterates the rest of the objects.

Hallr cleared his throat and started his explanation.

“As you will be aware Mr President, our intention was to shock what we assumed to be a solid object with close proximity explosions against its trailing edge, thereby causing it to start tumbling out of orbit and come to ground within the territory of Masonville!”

“You assumed it was solid, did you not check?” snarled the President.

“I’m sorry Sir, but we had no way to check whether it was solid or not, nor could we expect it to explode in the manner it did, causing the debris field to be much larger than predicted!” answered Hallr.

“So do you know where most of this object is expected to land?” demanded the ever-impatient President.

“Yes Sir, it err, um, er, it seems from the data we have managed to assemble that some will land within Masonville as intended, the larger chunks will likely land in Southern Granaria. But the section with parachutes attached is expected to land to the north of Granaria’s capital!”

The President’s face grew more and more red and his shirt collar seemed to be in danger of choking him.

“Parachutes? What parachutes? Why wasn’t I told anything about a section of this object coming to land by parachute?”

“I’m sorry sir, I thought you already knew about the parachutes!” mumbled a scared Hallr.

“Brandr, get this sorry excuse of a technical advisor out of my sight!” stormed President Signi, as he repeatedly prodded Hallr in the chest.

“Sir, Yes Sir!” responded General Brandr as he signalled two guards to begin to remove the quivering Hallr from the President’s office.

“Please, wait a moment Mr. President, let me explain fully!” exclaimed Hallr.

“I can’t stand incompetence!” grumbled President Signi “Right, YOU! What’s your name?” he demanded as he pointed at one of Hallr’s colleagues.

“I am Alfvin Sir!” replied the technician.

“Well Alfvin, do YOU know where this parachute section is going to land?”

“To be honest Sir, not exactly!” Alfvin could sense the dangerous ground he was on, “But as Hallr was about to explain, more data was coming in from our observatories all the time Sir, but we didn’t want to delay our meeting with you any further Sir, so I am sure we will have a better idea any moment now!” added Alfvin.

The President stared at his three technical advisors, as Hallr was being held at the doorway, the President glared at the men.

“You have one hora to gather better, more reliable information gentlemen and present it here in front of me, do you hear, ONE hora, not a munt longer, now, get out!”

Chapter Four.

Meanwhile. In Granaria several convoys were despatched to different areas of the country, with the largest and most modern actively pursuing the object that was being brought gently to the ground by its two parachutes.

Within fifteen munts the rescue mission left the palace barracks in a small convoy of fourteen vehicles and six motorbikes. Five four-wheel drive personnel vehicles each containing six individuals, also in the convoy was one of the latest radio vehicles, two ambulances, two winch equipped heavy rescue and two crane vehicles apiece, plus two flatbed lorries for returning any wreckage that could be gathered for further analysis, all the lorries were six axle all-wheel drive.

As the convoy raced down the road in pursuit of the canister suspended under the parachutes, the motorbike outriders did their best to clear the road of non-essential traffic. Local emergency vehicles tacked onto the end of the convoy as they were overtaken, before long the convoy in hot pursuit of the canister consisted of almost forty vehicles of various ages and capabilities. At the front of the procession, the modern palace vehicles set a fast and steady pace of almost thirty toils an hora which, for a convoy of that size, was impressive, especially given the relatively poor roads and the fact that the internal combustion engine had only been introduced from Masonville as little as sixty annuals earlier and was still a relatively new technology. Most of the population who tended to work the land, relied predominantly on draught animals of various types.

Princess Aryn, in the lead vehicle was busy watching the descending canister and trying to determine where it was likely to land. As it became ever lower in the sky, it appeared as if it was going to land up in the hills near the market town of Riventon. Aryn after consulting her maps of the area indicated that the convoy was to head east and begin the climb into the foothills of the mountain range that separated Granaria from their aggressive neighbours in Masonville.

As the quality of the local roads worsened and became ever steeper, the speed of the convoy steadily reduced. Meanwhile, the cannister, with its attached parachutes eventually disappeared behind the hills. After eventually cresting yet another ridge of one of the many valleys that ran north to south, the red and white parachutes indicated the landing point of the piece of debris to which they were attached. The problem being that the valley floor looked to be extremely boggy with bullrushes, marsh grasses and stagnant pools being evident everywhere.

Aryn brought the convoy to a halt and surveyed the ground to see how she was going to get across the terrain. To her eyes it seemed they were going to experience extreme difficulty just getting to the object on foot with little to no chance of gaining vehicular access.

As she was stood in the lead vehicle trying to decide her next action, Caryn walked up to her with one of her civil defence personnel at her side.

“How’s it looking Aryn?” asked Caryn.

“Literally sticky, very, very sticky, it looks to be a mass of mud, and who knows how liquid or how deep it’s going to be, but we have to get across somehow or try to get at the wreckage from the other side of the valley!” answered Aryn.

“Well, Aryn, I may have the answer to your problem here” said Caryn pointing to the young woman at her side. “This young lady is a member of the palace civil defence corps, her name is Lrna, she grew up around here and knows the land well, come on Lrna tell my sister what you told me!”

Lrna bobbed a sort of dainty half curtsy and a half formal salute to the Princess Aryn, Lrna was obviously a little nervous and somewhat overawed to be in such company.

“If it pleases your Highness, I may be able to help you get across the valley floor to that thing over there!” Lrna said pointing across the valley.

“If you can Lrna, that would be brilliant, what can you tell me, and how do you know a way across that mass of mud?” asked Aryn.
Lrna fiddled with the hem of her uniform jacket she looked up to Aryn who was still stood in the footwell of the vehicle

“If it pleases your Highness, my sister Ayleah and I grew up here and in the next valley as our parents tended the flocks of bleskins that were brought up here to feed on the summer grasses and vegetation, so we learned where was safe to walk and where not to, I am sure we can get you and all your people across to that object and back again safely.”

“That’s excellent to hear Lrna, but please, just refer to me as Princess, or Princess Aryn if you want to speak to me and my sister or cousins are standing nearby, no needed to be quite so formal! So, where do we need to go from here, do we walk, or do we have to travel further down the valley first?”

“I’m sorry!” stuttered Lrna, “If we travel about another toil down this track, we will be almost opposite where that thing appears to be sitting, and I can lead you across the valley. Then if it would help, my sister Ayleah can take the vehicles about another toil or so further down the track and get them across the valley from there! They should then be able to travel up the side of the stream to get up to that thing, assuming you would need some or all the vehicles over there as well! The only problem is, is that will be dark in ten to twenty munts, and it would be too risky to try and navigate our way across the valley floor in complete darkness, it may well be safer to await the dawn!”

An almost speechless Aryn looked down at a shy young woman who had knowledge that was to her, almost priceless.

“Where is your sister Lrna?” asked an astonished Aryn,

“My sister is driving one of the ambulances Princess!”

“So, she’s here, now?” asked a stunned Aryn, “Oh!! Listen to me asking stupid and pointless questions, if she’s driving one of the ambulances, of course she’s here!” she chuckled.

“Ok, Caryn, can you get the transport part of this mission organised and get Ayleah to get as many vehicles as possible, across there as soon as maybe, preferably the heavy vehicles first as I think they’ll be more important than the personnel vehicles!”

“I’ll get right on it Aryn” with that Caryn headed back down the convoy to find Ayleah.

“Now Lrna, climb aboard and let’s get further down the track as soon as we can!” With that Aryn reached down with her hand to assist Lrna onto the vehicle.

With that the convoy once again got under way and a short while later Lrna indicated they should stop and the element of the mission that was to proceed on foot should gather together, ready for Lrna to lead then across the morass in the morning.

“Princess, this is probably a good place for us to camp tonight before we work our way across the bogs in the morning!” advised Lrna. “If you will allow me to speak to everyone who is to follow me before we set off in the morning and I will explain how we are going to get across” asked a bashful Lrna.

“Of course, Lrna, you are the expert here, so you tell us all what to do and if you see any of us, and I do mean any of us going astray, you stop us and tell us off, you’re the boss here!” replied Aryn.

The vehicles that were to head further down the valley before being driven back up the far side of the mountain stream were marshalled into place at the front of the convoy.

Lrna was stood on the bonnet of the lead vehicle almost incandescent with embarrassment.

“Can you all hear me because this is important!” seeing nods or affirmations that she could be heard, Lrna continued with her speech. “This ground is very boggy, but we can get across without too much trouble if everyone concentrates on where they are walking. If you look at the grasses carefully you can see where some of it is shorter and a slightly paler colour. Just under that shorter grass is a layer of stones, and it’s those stones we will be walking on, so watch where I walk, I will try and flatten the grass as I go, so just walk in the footsteps of the person in front of you and walk in single file. Now, if you should trip and fall into the mud, do not struggle and try not to panic! Try and lie on your back and we will pull you out, do not attempt to stand up, because you will sink deeper into the mud and make it that much harder to rescue you. This is safe if you all pay attention!”

Aryn looked around at the twenty-five people standing in a semi-circle around Lrna and herself.

“Any questions?” Aryn looked at her guide, “Ok Lrna, thank you, let’s all get some sleep, I want to head off at first light, but I will have you repeat your little talk in the morning. But no fires tonight I am afraid, I am not sure that we are alone in these mountains, so be quiet too if you please!”

The convoy spent a quiet, cold, sleepless night and as soon as the brightening of the sky to the East heralded the onset of another day, the heavy vehicles being led by Caryn with Ayleah as her guide set off further down the valley. After a quick breakfast Lrna reiterated her instructions to the personnel who would be following her on foot across the marsh.

After her short speech Lrna hoisted her backpack onto her shoulders and proceeded to almost shuffle her way across the valley floor ensuring she trod down a track for the others to follow. After around fifteen munts they were approximately one third of the way across the valley, Lrna kept glancing back over her shoulder to see all was well, the whole procession seemed to be evenly strung out but with no apparent difficulties.

“So Lrna, how long did you live up here?” asked Aryn who was immediately behind her guide.

“Well princess, my mother says I was born up here, then I came up here every summer for the next sixteen annuals, sadly my father died the following winter and my mother didn’t want the same life for Ayleah and myself, so, when they were recruiting for the civil defence force my mother sent us both to the capital to apply and luckily because of our fitness and upbringing we were both fortunate enough to be chosen, and that was five annuals ago. Our mother sold most of our parents’ flocks although she kept a small number of animals and as far as I know she still spends most of her summers up here, I suppose old habits die hard and it gives her a purpose in life.”

“You mean you haven’t seen her recently?” asked an astonished Aryn.

“No princess, although myself and Ayleah know our letters we can read and write, my mother never learned and because my sister and I have been so busy we haven’t had chance to come back and visit, anyway, we could never be sure exactly where our Mum was going to be!”

“I had no idea people’s lives could be difficult even in this day and age!” For a short while silence descended on the procession, when Aryn happened to glance up and exclaimed.

“Wait a moment Lrna, who is (SPLASH).”

And that is the moment her highness, the Princess Aryn fell in the bog!

Chapter Five.

A spluttering Princess was unceremoniously dragged up by her backpack and dumped back on the track by the sheer strength of Lrna.
“Wow is that cold or what!” exclaimed a sodden Aryn once she got her breath back and had exhaled the water she’d inhaled. “Thank you so much Lrna, wow, I don’t want to go back in there again and serves me right for not paying attention to what I was doing!”

The Princess Urna who was the younger daughter of Prime Minister Pellinore and was deputy Chief Medical Officer to Granaria’s population had been six people behind Aryn, and she’d managed to squeeze past those in front of her to get to her cousin’s side.
“Well, that was stupid Aryn you daft beggar, are you all right?” she asked.

“I’m fine thanks Urna, although I could do without the compliments thank you very much” replied Aryn with a bit of a smirk at her cousins teasing. “Mind you, I am blooming cold and more than a bit wet to say the least!”

“Well, what do you expect after falling in, and Lrna warned you to pay attention to where you were going!” replied Urna, “So what caused you to lose track of the track, literally?” she added as she extricated a blanket from her pack to wrap around her cousin.

“Well, because I am taller than most, I could see over those tall rushes and realised someone was walking towards us, and I was halfway through asking Lrna who it could be, when someone took the firm ground from under my foot and then I was base over apex and getting up, close and personal to the bog, too close and too personal, it tastes worse than it smells!” answered Aryn snuggling into the blanket.

“Well, next time stop walking and ask your question!” said Urna slapping her cousins back handing her some fresh water to rinse her mouth out with. “Come on, ups a daisy, let’s get you on your feet and moving a bit to try and warm you up, but for crying out loud, STAY ON THE TRACK!”

Aryn looked at a scared looking Lrna,

“Don’t look so worried Lrna, it was entirely my own stupid fault, and I can’t say thank you enough for pulling me out before I even realised where I was, anyway, as I was asking before I was so rudely interrupted, someone is walking towards us, and I wondered who you thought it could be?”

“Well princess, the only person I can think of is my mother or another shepherd, but until I can see over these rushes, I can’t be sure” replied Lrna.

“Ok then Lrna, lead on but let’s be careful until we can be sure of who it is” Aryn spoke to Captain Rith Shearaj who was the leader of the militia detachment, who, along with a few of the individuals immediately behind her and the Princess came to an advanced level of alertness, “Let’s be ready for all eventualities and keep your firearms ready at hand!” commanded Aryn.

The procession carried on in Lrna’s footsteps with Aryn slowly regaining some of the warmth she had lost in her dunking.

“Hold up Lrna!” hissed Aryn who was close to her shoulder, “I just saw a grey-haired individual coming this way, let’s wait for them here, just step aside a touch if you can!”

“Yes Princess” answered Lrna. Behind Aryn the Captain and a couple of her military personnel moved forward readying their rifles as they closed up on their Princess’s back.

A munt or two later.

“Mum!” shrieked Lrna as she moved forward to embrace the woman approaching them along the track.

“Lrna, oh Lrna, come here girl!” called the woman, all that could be heard were muffled sobs as the two hugged and the older woman swung the younger around. As they parted slightly, the newcomer looked at her daughter closely.

“Well I must say sweetheart you do look well, but what are you doing all the way up here? I sent you and your sister away from the valleys to have a better life than I had, and yet here you are! But I am so glad to see you lass, tell me, how is your sister?” asked Lrna’s mum and as she looked over her daughter’s shoulder at the front of the procession.

“But first off Lrna, who are your friends, what are you doing here and is that the daft beggar who fell in the bog!”

“Oh shush mum, shush, that is the Princess Aryn, she caught sight of you and you distracted her!”

“Oh no!” exclaimed the mortified woman who quickly bowed low, “Forgive me Princess, I had no idea who you were, I meant no disrespect, I never dreamt to see a Princess all the way up here, let alone one who has fallen in the mire, I am so sorry for my insult!” spluttered a deeply embarrassed and somewhat frighted Lrna’s mum.

Aryn carefully trod forward and clasped the older woman’s hands in hers

“Do not worry Lrna’s mum, I think the description of me being a daft beggar is quite apt given the circumstances, you have a very special daughter here in Lrna, and hopefully in a short while you will be reunited with your other daughter, Ayleah?” said a smiling Aryn.

“She is, at this moment, bringing some of our vehicles up the valley to that object over there. I am so glad to be able to at least reunite your family, even if it is only for a short while! And you will be introduced to a further three Princesses, so you see, we don’t just live in isolation in the palace!”

Aryn then turned to Lrna, “Now, if you please young lady, will you be so kind as to introduce me formally to your mother, as I cannot keep calling her Lrna and Ayleah’s mum now, can I?” she smilingly asked.

Oh, forgive me Highness, please meet my mother Rusan, mother this is the Princess Aryn!” responded a mortified Lrna.

“I am very pleased to meet you Rusan.” said Aryn.

“I am honoured and thrilled to meet a real live, if somewhat cold and wet Princess!” said Rusan, “I hope my girls have been doing well in your service and have performed their duties to the best of their abilities!”

“Well Rusan, I can’t say I know either of your girls all that well, but I am so impressed with what I have learned of them so far, and for this young lady here, I owe her my life, and for them to be chosen as part of this expedition, tells me that they are both highly thought of. But, if you don’t mind, could we get moving and talk on firmer ground as I am beginning to freeze my cheeks off, and not necessarily the ones on my face either!” Aryn answered with a smile, whilst stamping her feet on the spot.

“Of course Highness, forgive an old woman’s excitement of unexpectedly meeting one of her daughters, if you follow Lrna, I will go ahead and get a fire going up close to that object on the hillside” and with that Rusan turned tail and quickly disappeared from sight.

“Lead on Lrna, let’s get moving so I can start my circulation going!” said Aryn with slightly chattering teeth.

“Yes Princess, we can make better time as we can now follow my mother’s trail” with that Lrna moved off at a much quicker pace.
Within another twenty munts the whole file was stood looking at the cylindrical and blackened object with the huge flimsy parachutes trailed up the hillside. Small fires were smouldering in the scrub that the object had landed on, and these were quickly extinguished by water from the stream and by individuals stamping on other, smaller, more distant fires.

While Aryn warmed herself by the larger fire Rusan had going, the rest of Aryn’s team were carefully investigating the cylinder.
“Aryn” called Princess Ayne who was Prime Minister Pellinore’s eldest daughter and the Chief Medical Officer for Granaria who’d been at the tail end of the procession across the marsh.

“It looks like there’s a door here on the side of the cylinder, or at least it looks like there is an impression in the metal of about the right size, there are some markings I can’t read, but there is what looks a lot like a window, although it is blackened, there is also what looks like a lever recessed into the side here, do you want us to try and see if we can open it or do you want to wait until the vehicles get here?”

“Well, we came all this way to see what has been going on, and there may be help we can provide, still, if you move out the way, I’ll come and open it or at least try!” answered Aryn walking towards the capsule.

“No you won’t!” stated Ayne with some vehemence, “You are too important to our nation, I will try and open it, it is part of my search and rescue training, I have a mask here, you don’t! So back away cousin, and everyone else too, leave this to me until I tell you otherwise!”
Ayne donned her protective facemask and after making sure everyone else had moved clear, attempted to move the handle. Despite her best efforts she could not get it to budge.

At that moment the first of the rescue vehicles arrived on scene with Ayleah standing on the nose of the lead vehicles indicating where it was safe to park. Following a short discussion, an iron tube was brought forward and placed over the lever and Ayne tried again to move it, but with the same result, nothing! As Ayne and a couple of the rescue crew were examining the cylinder again, one of them squinted down close to the apparent doorway,

“Excuse me, Princess Ayne, look, does this look like scorched writing, or symbols of some kind?” asked crew man Reafer.

Ayne looked closely to where he was indicating, and squinting and moving her head, she muttered “It certainly looks like it doesn’t it, have you a rag we can used to try and wash some of the soot off!” Ayne asked.

“Certainly Princess, here Yarg” Reafer said throwing a piece of cloth to his assistant, “Wet this in the stream if you please and throw it back up here”.

Yarg caught the cloth, dipped into the icy cold stream and she threw it back up to Reafer.

“Right let’s see if this gives us any clue as to how to open this door!” Reafer started to rub on the cylinder and, slowly at first, the definite outline of a red hand appeared from under the sooty exterior, but no further symbols or access panels could be discerned. At this point it was decided to wait until they could get the capsule back to the palace compound before any further determined efforts were taken to try and open it.

Meanwhile, examination of the wreckage in the area was being conducted. Chief Engineer Drows was clambering all over the hillside but was paying particular attention to the capsule. Aryn walked over to her, “How’s it going Chief?” she asked.

“Well Princess, other than the capsule and its parachutes there is not much in the way of other debris, I’ve got teams scouring the hillsides for any oddments that may have come down in the vicinity, and we’re organising a small pile here for us to load up later, I’ve also got a team doing their best to detach the parachutes from the capsule, then we’ll fold them up and get them secured ready to take back with us!”

“That’s great!” nodded Aryn, “Don’t open the canister, we don’t quite understand who or what we are dealing with at the moment, so the less speculation we start the better!” she added.

“I understand Princess!” replied the Chief.

While this discussion was taking place, Rusan approached Princess Aryn.

“Excuse me Highness, but it seems that most, if not all of you will be spending a second night here, as the sun will soon set, and it is not too easy to navigate the marshes during the horas of darkness, so, I was wondering if you would do me the honour of letting me celebrate being reunited with my daughters, along with meeting you, your sister, your cousins and the rest of your crew members by offering to cook one of my bleskins?” she asked. Rusan continued “I am not sure what, if any, rations you managed to bring with you, but I am sure some hot food will be more than welcome to you and your team!”

A bleskin was like a cross between a large sheep and a goat but with six legs, it was a very sure-footed creature both up in the mountains as well as out on the marsh and bogs and was farmed for its fleece as well as it milk and meat.

“Well Rusan, that is extremely kind of you to offer to feed us all, even though we have brought emergency supplies with us. Please let us at least, pay for the value of your beast!” replied Aryn.

“No highness, being unexpectedly reunited with my two girls is a priceless gift to me, I insist that you let me celebrate this reunion.” answered a very happy Rusan.

So it was that while the engineers determined a way to safely load the capsule onto one of the transport lorries, Rusan, her daughters, along with the units cook prepared a meal of roasted and boiled bleskin with a casserole of the vegetables the convoy had brought with them, flavoured with herbs from the immediate surroundings. Preparations and plans were made for loading the wreckage first thing the next morning and everyone gathered together to enjoy the first real hot meal many of them had had in two days.

After the meal people were sitting staring into the embers of the fire or talking quietly amongst themselves, At that moment a frantic scrambling descent was heard coming down the scree slope from above their sheltered position and a Captain Rith Shearaj ran into the camp.

“Good evening Rith, what can I do for you?” asked Aryn.

“Quickly highness, I need you to follow me to our forward observation point up on the Eastern ridge, I think we are going to have company sometime soon! It looks like may be an incursion patrol from Masonville heading our way, we’ve been observing faint lights pointing skywards from time to time, and they are definitely coming towards the next valley to us, or possibly even this one, it’s hard to tell for sure. I have ordered all lights extinguished and to maintain darkness for the rest of the night, or until we can be sure of what or who we are dealing with!”

“Ok Rith, lead on!” responded Aryn. “Hold just a moment, Caryn, can you get on the radio, speak with the Queen, and tell her we are probably going to need reinforcements as soon as she can get them here, I have an awful feeling our neighbours are about to incur her wrath, so if she can despatch at least two companies of the militia to us immediately it will be a good idea. Tell her where we are and for them to observe blackout conditions, especially the nearer they get to us! And make sure all lights are extinguished down here in the camp while you are at it!””

“I’ll get right on it Aryn!” replied Caryn as she ran off to the radio vehicle to make contact with the palace.

“Right, lead on Rith, let’s see what we are dealing with!” so saying she strode off across the stream and disappeared into the gathering gloom.

Meanwhile the camp extinguished all sources of illumination, including dousing the fire that had so recently provided them with a meal and a source of heat up in the chilly air of the mountains. All engines were also switched off, with the radio vehicle and both ambulances having extra batteries.

Chapter Six.

Aryn lay close to the top of the valley ridge carefully observing the faint lights slowly increasing in intensity from across the adjacent valley. Speaking very quietly to Captain Shearaj, Aryn whispered, “Do we know what is over there Rith?”

“Yes princess, the answer is not a lot really. There’s three valleys between us and the border with Masonville, we do have an observation post up there but, as far as I am aware, we have not had any advance notice of this incursion, if that is what we are indeed facing. There are a few narrow tracks that lead off into the mountains, there’s a handful of isolated shepherds huts that are in use during the summer, but most are probably deserted by now as we are at the tail end of that season. The first snows have already fallen and what small passes that there are up there into Masonville, must be close to being impassable. This seems like a major effort by our so-called friends and neighbours to get at whatever it is we have had literally drop in our lap!” whispered back the captain.

At that moment, the sound of straining engines could just be heard pulsing from the far side of the intervening valley. A sudden bright beam of light swept the sky before being quickly extinguished. As the Princess and the Captain continued to scan the horizon and the mountains beyond, they became aware of someone approaching them from the camp behind them.

“Captain, Captain Shearaj, are you here?” enquired a disembodied voice, “Over here Signalman Kenia!”

A scrambling across the scree was heard as the signalman approached the Princess and the Captain. “Captain Ma’am!” reported the signalman. “I think you are better reporting to the Princess first Kenia!” ordered the captain.

“Sorry princess!” apologised Kenia “I didn’t know you were this far forward; Princess Caryn sends her regards and reports that she has spoken with Queen Adred and her advisors. The Queen has already despatched two companies of militia to our position some horas ago and she reports that they should be near to our location just before dawn. Given Princess Caryn’s reports and the increased volume of military radio traffic from our border with Masonville, the Queen is going to despatch at least another two units in the next hora and as many more as can be mobilised within the next few horas!”

“That’s excellent news Signalman!” responded Aryn. “Go back to the camp and inform them that I want the camp to observe a total blackout, and silent operation. I want all militia to be sent up to us on the ridge.”

“Yes Princess” replied the Signalman as he turned to head back down to the camp. “Signalman, wait a moment!” hissed Aryn “When you get back to camp, send Chief Engineer Drows up to me if you would, tell her it’s urgent I speak with her!”

“Yes Princess!” the Signalman nodded as this time he headed back down the slope.

While they were waiting for the reinforcements from the camp to arrive, Aryn and Captain Shearaj observed the ridge across the valley. The moon Atos would soon rise, and being a full moon, it would help the observers determine if anything was happening opposite them. Within twenty munts all the available militia that Aryn had brought with her were spread across the near side of the valley ridge. Captain Shearaj had gone from outpost to outpost stressing the need for silence and lack of movement, with one lookout close to a rock outcrop or a boulder and keeping within its shadow, with their partner just below the ridge ready to transfer messages back and forth.

Atos broke the horizon behind the observers and climbed into the sky casting a dull red glow across the landscape. Aryn scanned the horizon with her binoculars, she was tired, stiff and her body was sore from where the rocks and pebbles dug into her flesh. Then, just as she was thinking of moving into a slightly more comfortable position, some four toils away her keen sight just happened to be focused on a section of ridge as a body, bent double, appeared. The individual stealthily broke the ridgeline and started a careful descent down into the valley opposite her position, moments later, another followed, then another.

Aryn whispered “Captain?” before she could say anything else Captain Shearaj replied.

“Yes Princess, I see them too!” she whispered to the messenger out of sight behind and below her “Mith, go from post to post and inform everyone that we have armed opposition heading our way, make sure everyone is alert, and Mith?”

“Yes Ma’am?” whispered back Mith, “Not a sound, not a pebble or twig to be broken, understand?” carried on Captain Shearaj.

“Yes Ma’am, I understand, not a sound!”

With that messenger Mith disappeared into the gloom. Aryn continued to scan the horizon, as far as she could tell there were three five-man patrols starting to head down the opposite valley side towards its floor. As far as she could tell, this valley was similar to the one they were in, steep sides, but with a wide boggy floor, with untold depths of mud and slime awaiting the unwary. There were no more vehicle noises or lights to be seen, just the occasional noise of falling rocks and scree as one of the oncoming individuals slipped down the slope.

Aryn felt a gentle tugging at her foot. She rolled deeper into the shadow cast by the boulder to her left and slowly looked down behind her. There crouched down was Chief Engineer Drows.

“Stay there Chief, I’ll come to you!” Aryn whispered. She slithered down the slope glad for the chance to get some movement into her stiff limbs, “Ahh, that’s better!” she whispered.

“What can I do for you Princess?” asked the engineer.

“Have you had a chance to examine that cylindrical object in any detail?” Aryn asked.

“Yes Princess I have” replied the Chief.

“Do you think we have any chance of loading it onto one of our lorries and taking it back to the palace with us?” asked Aryn.

“Yes Princess, although it is quite large, it seems relatively light. I think if we can dig out the bank a little just below where it has come to rest, we should be able to reverse two of the winch lorries up to either side of it, then if I can get a flat-bed lorry immediately below it, with a bit of luck we should be able to drag it directly onto the deck of the lorry. There are two possible snags, one, will we be able to dig out the bank below the cylinder? and two, will we have enough chains to hold it securely in place while we work our way down the riverbank and then across the bog.”

“Ok!” replied Aryn pulling on her lower lip. “Assuming everything goes to plan, what sort of timescale are we talking about to achieve all that and to get the cylinder across the valley and onto the track opposite?”

Engineer Drows stared off into the distance, “Well princess, it’s a very difficult question to answer! How long is a piece of string?”

“Yes Chief, I understand all that, but all I want is some idea of how long we may have to hold off our friends across the valley, who, I assume, want this object for their own needs!” At that moment a loud splash was heard, followed by whispered swearing of some sort. “Sounds like our friends have found the mud!” smirked Aryn, pleased that she hadn’t been the only one to have fallen into the mire.

“Well Princess, best guess scenario, say an hora and a half to dig out the bank, the same to load and secure the cylinder, it took us around a couple of horas to cross the valley and travel upstream, so say double that to go back with the load safely on the truck. We are talking a good day’s work at least, and that’s assuming we don’t hit any snags during the whole process!”

“That’s fine Chief, that gives me some idea how long we could be stuck up here with our backsides in the line of fire!” With that Aryn stared off into the distance for a short while. She then looked back at the Chief, “Here’s what I want you to do, go back and quietly get your equipment ready and if you can, as noiselessly as possible, start scraping away at the bank, then as soon as you have enough light to work safely by, set to and no matter what you hear from up here keep hard at it! I want that cylinder and everything else you can safely gather onto our lorries and heading back to the palace as soon as is possible, but, worst case scenario, do you have any explosives with you, and if you do, do you have enough to destroy that object, even if it is already on one of our vehicles?”

The Chief glanced at her Princess, “Yes Highness, I have some explosives, but who knows how much it would take to destroy it, but I can certainly make a mess of it if nothing else!”

“Well Chief, I hope it doesn’t come to that, but can you ensure if I give the command, you can indeed destroy some of it at least?” asked Aryn.

“Of course Princess!” answered the Chief, “We have gathered the parachutes, and some other odd bits of wreckage, so we should be able to leave here with some of what we came to rescue, even if we have to destroy the main item itself! I take it, we have company from Masonville heading our way?” she asked the princess.

“That’s correct Chief, that’s correct! So, the quicker you are away the happier all of us up here will be!” replied Aryn.

“Well, if you will excuse me Princess, I have work to see to!” replied the Chief as she quietly and quickly disappeared down the valley side.

Aryn worked her way back up to the side of the boulder at the valley lip and settled back in to keep watch alongside Captain Shearaj. “Anything new happened Rith?” asked Aryn.

“Not apart from one of the enemy patrol leaders falling face first into the marsh, no!”

“I heard him when I was talking to the Chief!” gently chuckled Aryn. “Nice to know someone else is cold, wet, and miserable!” she whispered.

“I thought that little snippet would cheer you up somewhat, what is even better news is that I think he was in the process of extending the aerial of a mobile radio set when he fell in, when they pulled him out, it didn’t look as if he had the unit with him, nor his rifle!” reported the captain. “They have sent someone to go back up the slope, presumably to report back to a senior officer, but I could be wrong, it’s hard to make out what is going on in this light! Whoever they sent back up the slope is making heavy going about it, he’s taking three steps up but sliding two back down, so I hope they aren’t in any rush for a report, as it’ll be daylight before he gets over the ridge at this rate!” she added with a smile evident in her voice.

With that comment, a loud crack rang out from across the valley and a large flare arced into the night sky, everything was thrown into stark relief, colours returned to the landscape, shadows became darker, blacker and more intense, before slowly, as it was caught in the gentle breeze, the flare descended under its parachute and drifted down the valley before falling into the all-encompassing mire and, with a loud hiss, the light was extinguished.

Moments later, the shot rang out, followed by a loud ricochet as the bullet bounced of a boulder further up the valley. “Hold your fire!” was the hissed command from Captain Shearaj passed from outpost to outpost. Moments later the loud bleating of a bleskin that had been rudely awakened was observed hurtling across the scree.

“At least we were able to see where their patrols had got to under the flares light, very decent of them to help us out like that was it not Captain?” mused Aryn.

“It certainly was Princess, I can only assume the report from the patrol leader was overdue, and some rear numbskull of an officer got nervous and wanted to know what was going on! Whatever the reason, we know we have fourteen men, at the marsh’s edge with no clue how to get across to this side of the valley, and, with a bit of luck, the rapidly escaping bleskin has convinced them that they are, at least for the moment, unobserved!” remarked the captain. And with that, both sides settled in for the night and the coming of the dawn.

The gradual lightening of the eastern sky signalled the start of another day. Across the valley the gloom suggested that the three patrols seemed to have amalgamated, and were slowly, inch by inch working their way across the valley floor towards their unseen observers. It was now clear from the camouflage patters on the uniforms on the personnel coming their way, that they were indeed from Masonville.
“Princess, look behind you!” hissed captain Shearaj. As Aryn turned and looked over her shoulder, she saw the welcome sight of reinforcements rapidly making their way along the track across the valley to her rear. What was equally pleasing was the two figures heading on their way across the marshes along the invisible paths only they seemed to know to meet with the reinforcements. Aryn determined them to be the shepherdess Rusan and her daughter Lrna.

At the same moment, engines roared into life, the sounds of activity rolled up the valley sides as the engineers got to work. The crane and winch trucks reversed into position to begin recovery of the capsule. The extraction of the object was under way in full earnestness.
Glancing back into the opposing valley, the fourteen-man patrol had disappeared from view as they must have dropped to their knees, although, judging by the splashing, more than one had fallen into the bog. Up on the opposing ridge, at least a handful of heads popped into view, obviously scanning for any sign of Granaria’s forces.

At that moment the crack of artillery broke out from the Masonville forces on their reverse ridge, although the shells seemed to be pretty aimless. What was even more surprising was the answering roar of heavier calibre field artillery from the next valley behind Aryn, the shells landing on and behind the ridges opposite.

It was a short length duel and slowly the Masonville artillery fell silent, and the approaching patrol had turned tail and was trying to get back across the bog as quickly as possible to begin the climb back up to their comrades. With the passage of time, only eleven individuals could be made out to be undertaking the climb up the opposite valley wall, this meant they had probably abandoned three more of their colleagues to their fate within the morass.

Aryn breathed out a huge sigh of relief. “Well Captain, I think we can relax a little as we have help at last, keep the troops hidden, no need to advertise our presence, I am going down to the camp to see how things are going and meet our relief column! I will send up people to relieve your folk as soon as they get here, but pass on my heartfelt thanks to all your soldiers, but I will speak to them later, after a decent rest and a hot drink!”

“I will do Princess, speak to you later!” with that Captain Shearaj headed off across the hillside whilst Aryn headed down to the camp.

Aryn had not descended too far before she was summoned back to the ridge edge. “What’s up Captain?” she puffed as she regained her breath.

“Look across the valley Princess, they are waving a flag of truce!”

Aryn carefully got her binoculars out and warily looked across the opposite valley. There, waving too and fro was the red and white checker flag signifying a truce and a desire to speak. Aryn slid down to the side of Captain Shearaj.

“Ok Captain, wave our flag to signify our willingness to speak, then as soon as some of their leaders make themselves known we shall go and see what our friends want, but I want your forces on full alert in case there is any skullduggery intended by the Masonville troops.
As Captain Shearaj went to arrange for their truce flag to be waved, the first of the reinforcements arrived at the top of the valley side.
“Good morning Princess, I hear you have had an interesting night?” remarked the leader of the fresh troops, Colonel Samth Wiams.
“Morning Colonel, your timely arrival is extremely welcome, as was that short barrage, it certainly gave our Masonville friends something to think about!” replied Aryn.

“You’re welcome, Princess, we had a spotter aircraft up very early this morning and they just happened to see where the barrage was launched from, so we had a reasonable idea of where they were set up!” replied Colonel Wiams.

At that moment Captain Shearaj returned to report that five individuals were starting to walk down the opposite valley side under the flag of truce, all appeared unarmed as was the accepted custom.

“Come ladies, let’s go see what Masonville thinks they are up to?” stated Princess Aryn.

“I don’t think so Princess, with all due respect, you should not go down to meet with them, it is far too risky, if your mother knew I had willingly allowed you to place yourself into such danger, she would have my guts for garters, and, she would be livid with you for taking unnecessary risks! Highness, do us both a favour and stay here! Leave these negotiations to Captain Shearaj and myself!” stated the Colonel with some firmness.

Before allowing Princess Aryn to dispute the Colonel’s assertions the Colonel looked around and barked out “Shearaj, keep a close eye on our friends, hold your positions and don’t fire unless you see a blatant act of aggression, Sergeant Murhy, Corporal Mith, Private Plike and Signalman Aiten, you are all with me, leave your sidearms here, but Aiten bring the radio, leave it tuned into our standard frequency with the set live so the Princess can listen in to what our friends have to say!”

“Yes Ma’am!” answered Aiten. “Right folks, follow me, keep your eyes open!” and with that the deputation rose above the ridge and descended to the valley floor.

Part Three by Iona Laing.

Chapter Seven.

Aboard the exploration fleet flagship The Vasco da Gama, Admiral Maurice Suarez was in a video monitor conference interview with the survivors of the shuttle Oslo. All of whom had returned to The Roald Amundsen via the shuttle Bergen. The eight survivors were all still stunned and shook up, not fully understanding exactly what had befallen their shuttle and particularly their two missing comrades.

“So, let me get this clear, you are sure this was a targeted attack by multiple missiles Ensign Richards?”

“Absolutely sir!” replied Julia Richards, “Your son and Karin were on monitoring duty when they observed multiple aircraft taking to the air, followed shortly by many land-based rockets being launched along with missiles or rockets being unleashed from the aircraft!”

“We have a recording of the events up to shortly before we were given the order to abandon the shuttle sir, we can relay the recording to you now if you wish to observe the attack being launched!” added Ensign Garrett.

“Please do Ensign,” responded the Admiral.

At which point he turned away from the monitor screen to observe a viewscreen on his flight desk. Several minutes later he looked up at the eight survivors.

“None of you observed any indication of such capabilities or evidence that the inhabitants of this planet were aware of your existence?”

“None of us observed this many aircraft airborne on our previous fly overs. There was always some activity which seemed to be training of some description,” added Ensign Richards.

“None of us have any idea as to how or why they targeted us sir!” added Crewman Peter Carter.

“None whatsoever sir,” added Crewman Ash Mistry.

“None of our logs recorded evidence of us being tracked, but obviously we were!” added Ensign Richards sadly.

“Thank you for your reports, now who can tell me what happened to the escape pod which should have contained my son and his wife?” asked the Admiral sadly.

“As we left the flight deck after Ramon gave the order to abandon the shuttle, we grabbed the evidence logs we had recorded to date and headed to our pod. Ramon and Karin were monitoring the self defence systems, but just as our hatch closed, I saw Karin dragging Ramon away from the flight deck to their escape pod and that’s as much as I know sir!” reported an emotional Kelly Garrett.

“Thank you for that information, Ensign!” whispered the Admiral, “Did anyone else see anything in addition to that report?” he asked the rest of the Oslo’s crew. A series of “No sirs!” was the sad response.

“Excuse me sir,” spoke out Captain Rowe of the base ship The Roald Amundsen, “Upon hearing the abandon shuttle order had been issued we managed to get a camera on the shuttle just as the attack was developing which will be available for you to view on your monitor, any moment now!”

The survivors turned to view the screens to their side as the attacks and subsequent explosions played out in front of the shocked faces. The Admiral watched the recording play, visibly wincing when the major secondary explosion enveloped the final escape pod to leave the shuttle. He stood there with a pale face, pinching the bridge of his nose. He looked to his side and asked for Captain Brian Little to report to his ready room. He then looked up at the survivors.

“Thank you all for your reports, I know this must be distressing to you, go get some rest! You have all had an awful day, and as soon as we have some information on the whereabouts and condition of Ramon and Karin, we will let you all know!”

“Excuse me sir!” said Captain Rowe, “We have just been able to identify the deployment of a parachute from within the debris trail, and it seems highly likely it’s an escape pod parachute!” so saying he gave the order to play the recording. A happier group of survivors looked from one to the other, and a father looked to have a little more hope in his expression too.

“Thank you, Captain! That looks a little more promising, I will get back to you shortly as to our next action!”

“Yes sir, I shall await your further orders!” and the screens went dark.

There was a sharp knock on the door of Admiral Suarez’s ready room. “Enter!” he responded.

“Admiral, you sent for me?” asked Captain Little.

“Yes Brian, have a seat for a moment please!” The Admiral sat at his desk and leaning back he placed his feet on the desktop and wearily interlocked his fingers behind his head. “I assume you have seen the recordings?” Maurice Suarez asked his friend and second in command.

“Yes Maurice, I have just seen them up on the bridge, including the deployment of the parachute, which is a promising development!”

“That it is Brian, that it is!” responded the Admiral. “But I think we may have a major potential problem Brian, a problem with the shuttle craft.”

“I came to the same conclusion Maurice, whoever launched that attack, knew exactly where the Oslo was, and, as far as we can tell, none of the civilisations are supposed to be that technologically sophisticated and the shuttles are supposed to be invisible to those on the ground!”

“That’s what worries me Brian, I want you to issue a recall to all currently deployed shuttles, all missions are to be suspended immediately until we can get some idea of what went wrong today!”

“I’ll get right on it Maurice, I have already issued instructions to the engineers to go over those shuttles still on board, and we’ll inspect those others in our fleet as they return to their parent craft. We’ll get to the bottom of this as quickly as we can! Plus, we have some hope now that perhaps Ramon and Karin survived the attack, let’s hope they landed among friends!” he smiled at his longtime friend and commanding officer.

“I hope so Brian, I really hope!” replied the Admiral.

The next day Maurice was sitting at his desk repeatedly watching the deployment of the parachute from the mass of still exploding, burning debris. He was deep in thought, what had gone wrong? Where had this destructive capability come from? Were his son and the woman he had quickly come to consider his daughter still alive, and if so, were they safe. He was bracing himself to contact his wife to tell her he still had no further news of their family members. The memory of his prior call the previous day was still deeply etched in his mind. Being unable to comfort the love of his life as she dissolved into tears tore at his soul. Great wracking sobs affecting her ability to speak coherently as she asked him repeatedly why, and why wasn’t he down there on the planet actively looking for their family already and to hell with the order to limit contact with less advanced races and civilisations, she wanted her only child and his wife back safe in her arms.

As he reached across the desk about to punch up the communication system to speak with his wife a glowing shimmer appeared in front of his desk.

“Maurice, don’t call Ava just yet, I need to speak to you first!”

As he jumped to his feet he stuttered, “Err, Ma'am!” As he looked on at the light shimmer as it resolved to reveal a short, late middle-aged woman with an ageless smile on her face.

“We need to speak!” she said as she sat in front of his desk. Maurice slumped into his chair, and for the first time since he’d heard and seen the evidence of the attack, he had some hope growing in his heart.

Chapter Eight.

Up in the mountains above Riventon., The two opposing truce factions faced off across a narrow part of the valley floor. Colonel Wiams stepped forward, as far as the bog allowed her too anyway. She called across the valley.

“I am Colonel Samth Wiams, I represent Granaria’s rulers and our people, just who are you, what do you want and by what rights do you dare to invade the sovereign lands of Granaria?”

A chuckle wafted across the landscape, “Colonel Wiams is it, well, I am General Laffe, and I have the honour to represent our glorious leader, President Signi, and we are here to recover our rightful property."

“I’m sorry General, did I hear you say your property? I can assure you that there is none of your property over here, you must have erroneous information!” answered Colonel Wiams.

“Colonel, I really don’t have time to waste words with you, especially with you being a mere woman! The longer you delay us, the harder and longer our journey back to the glorious nation of Masonville will be, due to the accumulation of snow up in the passes, now, kindly step aside, go back to your kitchens and let us reclaim our rightful property,” answered a testy General.

“To be honest General I am less concerned about your travel difficulties than you getting yourself and your troops out of Granaria. So, turn around and go home. I repeat there is nothing of yours anywhere around here, so please General go home!”

“Colonel, I am losing patience with your attitude, whether you like it or not I have my orders, orders relayed to me personally from our glorious leader and I intend to fulfil those orders to the letter! And, neither you nor your pathetic forces will prevent me from performing my duty, now, get out of my way before you regret crossing me and my men. If you antagonise me much more Colonel, my men will have to consider taking you and all your friends back to Masonville with us and put you to more appropriate employment for persons of your gender, entertaining me and my men!” the General barked back in return to general laughter from those around him.

“Well, General, I don’t really care who gave you your orders, but I have mine, which means that I want you to turn around and go home, I repeat, there is nothing for you here nor do I appreciate your threats to my forces!” snarled the Colonel.

“Is that so Colonel, well, we shall have to see won’t we!” with that the General turned his back to the Colonel and whispered something to his Aide. Moments later a soldier started to wave a couple of small flags at someone back up on the ridge that the Masonville deputation had descended from. The General turned to face the Granaria deputation.

“Colonel, you have exceeded the limits of my patience, so Madam I suggest you return to your pitiful excuse of a Militia, return to your base then let your betters go about our business as authorised by our glorious leader!”

“Are you threatening me General, and while under a flag of truce? A truce you requested!” stormed the Colonel.

“It is more of a promise Colonel, get out of my way or suffer the consequences, I have asked you nicely, now I am ordering you to move!” sneered the General.

At that moment a file of around thirty troops crested the ridge from the Masonville camp and headed down towards the marsh dragging a bloodied civilian with them, all were heavily armed.

At the same time, the drone of several engines could be heard rapidly approaching.

Moments later two twin engine aircraft came into view from behind the Masonville forces and made a bee line for the Granaria deputation, sweeping down the valley with their forward-facing machine guns chattering away at the Colonel and her group, who promptly scattered.

As the aircraft flew ever closer, the sound of several heavy calibre machine guns was heard from the Granaria forces on their ridge. The front aircraft of the pair, seemed to dip and then began to rear up at an increasingly severe angle, its engines screaming, before stalling out and dropping to the ground to its right. Here it exploded in a huge searing ball of flame and debris right on top of the Masonville General and his deputation.

The second aircraft veered to the left to avoid the first and started to desperately gain height, before it too was raked by machine gun fire. Its port engine started to emit thick black smoke before bursting into flames. The heavily damaged aircraft started losing altitude as it turned for home and barely clearing the ridge and leaving a thick trail of oily smoke it disappeared from view. Moments later a distant rumble was heard, and it seemed likely that the second aircraft had crashed too, as a pall of smoke climbed into the sky.

The Granaria deputation slowly regained their feet as they regrouped.

“Anyone hurt?” asked the Colonel. On finding none of them had been injured, although the radio unit was smashed, the five of them looked across the valley to where the acrid smoke was drifting across the land. The pungent smell of burning materials could not mask the sickly aroma of burning flesh. The patrol that had started down the valley side prior to the aerial attack were seen to be desperately making their way back up the slope, but not before one of them was seen to shoot the civilian in their possession, who fell, unmoving, on the ground.

“Come on, I think that concludes the negotiations for the moment!” said a subdued Colonel Wiams, “Let’s get back to our forces as I need to change out of these wet smelly clothes, that bog is not a nice place to seek cover!” said a sodden Colonel as she led her deputation back up the slope.

The Granaria forces deployed on the ridge, maintained a close watch on events across the valley, where, once the Masonville forces disappeared from view, nothing more was seen, although several engines could be heard slowly receding into the distance. Apart from the continuing crackling from the burning aircraft and occasional bangs from exploding ordinance, peace and quiet gradually descended over the hills.

Back down in the camp a hive of activity had seen an access ramp dug out below the canister and one of the flat bed lorries had been reversed into position immediately below it. On either side of this vehicle, the two winch lorries had been positioned, with cables attached to the canister. This was gently pulled onto the lorry due to transport it back to the palace.

Once loaded, the cannister was secured by chains and the whole thing covered by a timber framework which was, in turn, covered by several tarpaulins. All this activity took most of the day and, with daylight failing, a council of war was held.

“Well Princess, I think it prudent to remain here for another night!” stated Colonel Wiams, “I think it will not be advisable to attempt to travel back down the valley to the crossing point established yesterday, especially with such a valuable cargo, but I also think we need to know for certain what our friends from Masonville are up to!”

“Sadly Colonel, I think you are correct, what do you think Chief?” Princess Aryn said asked as she turned to Chief Engineer Drows.

“Well Princess, I think from a logistical perspective, to try and manoeuvre our cargo down the valley will take longer than we have available daylight horas left. Although our load is securely attached to the transport vehicle, it is more than a little top heavy and to attempt such a precarious trip in the dark will probably end in disaster, either we’d tip over or break something vital on the lorry. At the same time, we really need to know what Masonville’s next move is going to be, as we are, potentially, quite exposed here, in more ways than one!”

All the other leaders of this mission, the Princesses Caryn, Ayne and Urna all agreed that to attempt to move their cargo was too risky given how little of the day was left, although none of them were particularly happy at the thought of yet another night isolated in the hills.
The Princess paced back and forth for a minute or two in deep thought, she stopped and looking at Captain Shearaj she said “Captain, can you get someone to find either Rusan, Lrna or Ayleah as I think we are going to need their specialist knowledge a great deal more than we already have!”

Captain Shearaj smiled at the Princess and answered, “No need to send for them, they’re heading our way as we speak.”

Princess turned and smiled at the approaching group of three women.

“Ladies, thanks for anticipating my request and presenting yourselves practically at the same time I realised I needed your expertise once again.”

All three women bowed to the Princess.

“It is our honour to offer our services to Your Highness, it was obvious you were holding a council of war and that you may have use of our specialist knowledge.,” stated Rusan.

“Yes ladies, you can once again really help us out. Ayleah, can you, with the Chief here go back over our route that we’ll have to take tomorrow with our vehicles, I want you both to check for hidden rocks or soft areas that could cause problems for our extra heavy loads. Lrna, I know the original foot track we established yesterday to get over here is well trodden and fairly obvious to those who will need to get back across the valley tomorrow, do you think you could find a second or even a third track for us, so if we need to get out of here in a rush we have more than one option, and is there any way to disguise the tracks across the bogs? Finally, Rusan, my request to you will be the most distasteful, and, it is a request not an order! Do you think you could get some of our troops across the adjacent valley, we need to check on what is going on with Masonville’s forces, there may well be scenes of carnage over there that you may find disturbing?”

Rusan looked at the Princess in the eye and replied “I thank you for your consideration, Princess, but you needn’t worry about my sensitivities, I have seen my share of death and destruction over the years, not necessarily in such a brutal manner but it is a hard existence at time’s up in these hills. I will be honoured to lead your forces across the valley. Whilst it won’t be really possible to remove evidence of our routes back across the bogs, it may be better for Lrna to lay some false trails that start across the valley floor but just end in deep pools, it won’t take long for nature to hide the trails anyway as the grasses and reeds will be dying off soon as winter sets in. When do you want me to go across the next valley? I can be ready in a matter of moments!”

“Captain, how soon do you want to head off?” asked the Princess.

“I expect I can have a patrol ready in five munts or so Princess.”

“Thank you, Captain.,” nodded the Princess. “Now Rusan, once you have got our troops across the valley, I don’t want you to go any further than the other side of the marsh, we don’t know what we are going to find, and I don’t want you placed in any further danger than necessary!” Rusan nodded acceptance.

“Captain, we need to know what our friends are doing, are they digging in, are they trying to outflank us or have they retreated?”

“Excuse me Princess, but I can not only guide your forces across the marsh over there, but I can show then some bleskin trackways that will enable them to approach that ridge from the side, rather than struggling up the loose scree slopes that predominate up there, it’ll be quicker and quieter, so safer for them all!” offered Rusan.

Aryn looked from Rusan to Captain Shearaj then back at Rusan with an arched eyebrow as she thought over Rusan’s offer.

“As much as I don’t like it Rusan, your proposition is sensible, I will take up your offer. Captain, I am charging you with Rusan’s safety, I want her exposed to as little danger as possible.” replied the Princess.

“Caryn, can you speak to the palace and let them know what has happened here today, and what our plans are, keep your reports short and make sure you use our most secure codes, Ayne, Urna, can you both check on everyone, see if any are especially fatigued or suffering from the cold more than others. See if we have a way of getting everyone at least a warm drink, perhaps from the forces in our rear, it will be easier for them to hide our fires from unfriendly eyes, but it will have to be another dark night I am afraid, no need to advertise our whereabouts. Come, everyone time marches on let’s get busy, you all know what we need to do!”

A small section of the engineers with Ayleah in their midst started to descend the valley looking to ease the journey for the next day whilst Lrna established a second and then a third route across the valley floor as well as laying a handful of false trails. Rusan, with Captain Shearaj and a patrol of ten militia, ascended to the ridge before disappearing from sight.

An hora had passed and the drone of an aircraft high in the sky warned everyone to what appeared to be a Masonville reconnaissance aircraft, before it quickly headed back to its base. Later, as dusk was settling in, a single shot was heard to echo around the hills, but no-one knew where it came from or what it meant.

It took several horas before all the tasks were completed, and it was totally dark before Rusan, Captain Shearaj and the patrol returned to the camp, all were ashen faced and angry beyond description. Both Princesses Aryn and Caryn waited for the patrol to make its report. Ayleah and Lrna went to console their mother Rusan who was now in tears and sobbing her heart out.

The captain wearily came to attention before the Princesses and Colonel Wiams. “It seems that Masonville’s forces have withdrawn back towards their own lands. They obviously left in a hurry as they have left a lot of equipment behind, specifically several vehicles and artillery pieces that our own artillery damaged or destroyed yesterday. We counted over twenty dead individuals, left where they fell. Unfortunately, they’d come across a family of three shepherds that were known to Rusan, a husband, his wife and their teenaged daughter. The husband was the hostage we saw shot earlier, the wife and the daughter were discovered by their tent. The wife was dead she’d been shot, but the girl was being raped by a lone Masonville soldier, when he saw us approach, he slit the girls throat and charged at us! Before any of us could react, Rusan’s knife whistled closely past my ear and embedded itself in this man’s throat! We think he, or others had also raped the wife, we found no trace of anyone else up there. We did what we could for the two females, but with your permission, we all want to go back tomorrow morning to fetch them, and the man, and take them down to Riventon with us for a decent funeral. We had a quick look at the crash site, and apart from fragmented bodies there was nothing to be found, although at least two soldiers were seen who likely drowned when they fell in the marsh yesterday.”

Rusan looked up at the Princesses, “They were a lovely family, Trnk, Srah and their daughter Jaz were heading home from their last season of Bleskin herding, Jaz had just been accepted into your Civil Defence Force, she’d wanted to follow in the footsteps of Lrna and Ayleah, it was all she’d spoken about for years, she had to wait until she was old enough and now, because of that animal she’ll never be able to live her dream! My knife was too quick an end for him! We have our unique ways of justice for certain criminals up here, and we would have made him suffer, sadly, it was not to be,” and sobbing she was led away by her equally distraught daughters.

“I’ve never seen such accuracy with a knife Highness, but Rusan is right, it was too good for that scum!” spat Captain Shearaj. “He was completely out of control, I don’t know if he was drunk and evil, brutalised and evil or just plain evil, whatever it was he is not going to attack anyone else, the strategic value such a prisoner and the information he may have held for us cannot be underestimated but sometimes natural justice trumps all! Two thirds of my patrol are female, and fine troops they make, I could not bear for them to suffer such a fate as befell those poor innocents!”

“We are all tired Captain, your militia have been under tremendous pressure for days now, if I had been there, I may well have killed him myself!” said a dejected Princess Aryn. “Let’s get you all some food and a place to sleep, we’ve a lot to achieve tomorrow, and it’ll be dawn before we know it!”

The camp settled down to a cold dark night in the hills. Sentries kept a watch for any signs of should Masonville’s forces, reappear but nothing was seen or heard from them, just the bleating of bleskins as they searched out some food whilst keeping an eye on all these humans who had so rudely disturbed their peace and quiet.

Chapter Nine.

It was another long, cold and dark night. The sentries patrolled the camp vicinity, and the lookout posts were replaced with fresh individuals on a regular basis so that everyone got a chance for some rest. An hora before dawn Captain Shearaj and Rusan led a second expedition to traverse the adjacent valley to recover the three bodies for repatriation to their family in Riventon.

As soon as it was light enough, the heavily loaded lorry with the winch vehicles in company started their tortuous journey down the mountain streambed and made their way carefully across the marsh by the route that had been used on the original journey to the crash site.

It took the best part of the day to make it onto the mountain road that led down to Riventon and eventually to the capital of Willowton. The ambulances awaited the return of the recovery patrol so they could transport the three bodies back to their home. It was late in the day when the recovery personnel were seen cresting the ridge, they were carrying the three stretchers with their sad loads. What really surprised those awaiting their return was the sight of a soldier being dragged along with his arms bound behind his back, dressed in the uniform of Masonville. As the dead shepherds were respectfully loaded onto an ambulance, the vehicle headed downstream to follow the canister that had caused so much trouble in the first place.

Captain Shearaj approached Princess Aryn and came to attention.

“Princess, as you have seen we have brought those poor unfortunate shepherds down off the mountain. As we were making our way back across the marsh, Rusan heard what she originally thought was a young bleskin mired in the muck bleating for its mother. What she actually found was this Masonville soldier, stuck up to his chest in the mud, quietly sobbing. It took us quite an effort to rescue him although several of my force were quite prepared to leave him there, especially in light of what our primary mission was today! However, we pulled him out and brought him down to await his fate at your pleasure.”

Aryn looked at the muddied, smelly and bedraggled specimen in front of her. His head hung down and he was visibly shivering. He was a small individual, barely five foot tall and probably no more than one hundred and twenty pounds wringing wet, which he was.

“What’s your name soldier?” snapped Aryn, he offered no response.

“I asked you what your name is soldier, I won’t ask you again!”

“Strin” came the muffled reply.

“Look at me when you speak to me soldier! Do they not teach you respect in Masonville? For the last time, what is your name?”

He looked up at the imposing figure of Princess Aryn, bright green eyes looked at her although one eye was almost closed with a purple bruise on his cheek, his dirty yellow hair plastered to his forehead, and he bore a haunted, scared expression.

“Strin your highness, A,a,a Art Strin” he spoke barely above a whisper before dropping his head once again, his teeth chattering. He looked to be no more than sixteen at the most, certainly nothing like the tall well-built Masonville troops most of the onlookers were more used to seeing.

“Well Art Strin, what shall we do with you? I have a good mind to execute you for the crime of invading my country, the murder of that innocent family and the rape of the females, it’ll save me an awful lot of trouble, get him out of my sight!” snarled Aryn.

A loud wail escaped the lips of Strin and he fell to his knees. “Please Highness, p . . ,p . . ,please d . ,d . ,don’t hurt me, I . . , I . . ,I didn’t want to come here, I . . , I . . , didn’t hurt those people and I certainly didn’t rape the women, I couldn’t, I . , I . . , wouldn’t, I’ll tell you everything I know, I . . ,I . . ,I . . . promise Highness, I’ll tell you the truth, honest I will, but please, don’t hurt me, I ask for . . , for . . , sanc . . , err, sanc . . , sanctuary and protection from Masonville’s leaders, p . . . ,p . . ,please Highness,.” and he continued to wail and cry.

The assembled group exchanged glances as they looked at this example of their enemy, an enemy who seemed so different to that expected. Something was seriously wrong here.

Aryn sighed. “Stand up Strin, no one here will hurt you, now, come on, stand up!”

Strin struggled to regain his feet and eventually two of the patrol members grabbed an arm each and hauled him upright. He glanced furtively at those around him, especially at Princess Aryn who was obviously in charge and more so at Rusan who was slowly approaching the group. He started to shuffle backwards, his bare feet scraping on the rough tussocky grass. Blood evident in amongst the mud and filth covering his feet and legs. His obviously too large uniform tunic hung from his frame, with no sign of any trousers.

“You must be cold Strin, let’s get you something dry to wear, are you hungry or thirsty Art.” asked Aryn.

“Y . . y . . yes Highness, I am c . . c . . cold so very cold and hungry and thirsty, are, are you going to p . . ,p . . poison me?” he asked fearfully.

Aryn gave a subdued sigh, “No Strin, we are not going to poison you, we are not that evil no matter what you have been told or how your countrymen have provoked us with their behaviour! Right Captain, take our friend here and strip him of that filthy uniform, get him cleaned up as best as you can and get him something warm and dry to wear. Ayne, once he’s clean can you see about dressing the wounds on his feet, I doubt all that mud and filth is doing him any good! Then we can get him a snack and a drink!”

“Noooo!!!!” wailed Art, “It’s fine Highness, I can change my own clothes and wash myself if you will just loose my arms, I promise not to cause you any problems, honest, I’ll, I’ll be a good g . . ,g . . , I’ll be a good soldier, p . ., p . . ,p . . ,please, honest, Highness!!” and even more tears fought to follow the tracks of others down his cheeks.

Before anyone else could respond Rusan stood in front of Strin and put a hand on each of his shoulders.

“Shhh Art, now shush, shush Art, it’s okay, no one here will hurt you! If I ask you an important question, do you promise to tell me the truth? Look at me Art, I want the truth, it’ll be best to tell us the honest truth now, rather than you be discovered in a lie later, do you understand Art, the truth, . . Right?”

Art looked intently into Rusan’s eye’s; his eyes darting from one to the other as he stared intently into her face after chewing on his lower lip, he nodded to Rusan he whispered,

“Yes, the honest truth, I will tell you the truth I promise!”

Rusan looked around at all these important people she’d suddenly found herself amongst, they were far more important than herself she knew, but she had more life experience than most of them. They were mainly youngsters, plus, she was a Mum. They were all studying her intently wondering what had driven this simple shepherdess to place herself at the centre of this discussion.

“Right Art, you can tell me, the truth mind!” Rusan said levelly, “Ready? Are you a girl, Art?”

Gasps escaped more than one of the group surrounding this vignette. Fresh sobs and tears escaped from Art who had screwed his eyes tightly shut. Without saying a word, Art nodded his head.

“Y . . y. . ,yes, I am a girl, please, please don’t hurt me, please, I’ll be a g . ., g . . good girl, I promise I will, I will!!” the rest was lost in a loud gut-wrenching wail as she threw her head backwards tears streaming down the sides of her head, leaving fresh tracks through the mud that coated her head, the tears pooling in her ears.

“Oh sweetheart, shush, it’s okay, come here!” said Rusan as she stepped forward, her arms open wide as Art collapsed into this simple woman’s embrace. As Rusan rocked this girl from side to side, someone cut the bonds that had bound her arms behind her back. Art held onto Rusan as if her life depended on this woman’s embrace. Someone else wrapped the pair of them in a blanket. As slowly the wails and sobs subsided, Rusan held this girl away from her slightly.

“Shush sweetheart, you are safe here, now, what is your real name?”

Barely able to control her breathing enough to speak clearly, the girl looked up into Rusan’s kind eyes, “M, m, m, my n,. n, name is Jena, Jena Kryty, H, h,h, . honest!”

“That’s all right Jena, such a pretty name.” said Rusan who looked at Aryn for unasked permission to care for this distraught and fragile young girl. Aryn nodded her ascent. “Right Jena, will you come with me and let us get you clean, dry, something to eat and drink and your wounds treated and then you can rest. After that, when you are ready you can tell me your story, will that be fine with you sweetheart!”

Jena nodded her head, so tired, so shattered, her body heaving with silent sobs.

With that Rusan, Jena along with Ayne and Urna went to the stream to begin the process of caring for this young individual who had caused so much consternation in such a short space of time.

Chapter Ten.

An hora later Rusan approached Princess Aryn, Colonel Wiams, Captain Shearaj and Chief Engineer Drows who were all in earnest discussions about the following days agenda. Aryn, pointing to the seat next to her, passed Rusan a warm drink. Rusan was beyond upset, she was angry and incensed too.

“What have you discovered so far about our guest?” asked Aryn.

“Not the full story yet, but my Goddess, Princess, those Masonville animals must be stopped. Jena is fourteen, at least she thinks she is!”

“Doesn’t she know for certain?” asked Colonel Wiams.

“Not for definite, she’s an orphan, so birthdays were not celebrated, or even remarked upon.” Rusan gave vent to a great sob. “Oh Princess, you should see the state of her body! The scars, burn marks, she’s been lashed or whipped from her knees to her neck, some of the wounds are infected and your cousins are treating them at the moment! That poor wee mite, it seems she’s been raped repeatedly and continually for at least the last eighteen to twenty-four months.

Aryn spilt her drink and sat up straight looking at Rusan with a stunned expression on her face.

“Oh, Goddess, Nno!” exclaimed Captain Shearaj.

Rusan nodded sadly. “I couldn’t get the full gist of what she was trying to tell me; she’s shattered poor soul! She could barely string two words together at times, I think your cousins have now given her something to make her sleep so they can better assess her wounds. The best I can come up with is that she got into trouble with the authorities, I think she was involved in some civil unrest. She was caught, tried, sentenced all within a matter of horas, she was then sold to a Masonville soldier by the name of Art Strin!”

“So that’s where she got the name from!” muttered the Princess.

“Yes Highness!” nodded Rusan, “And, he may well have been the soldier we caught raping Srah and Jaz. She was his lackey, his cook, his cleaner, he treated her as his chattel! Raped her almost every night and was not averse to selling her favours to his fellow soldiers. She thinks she’s been pregnant at least twice, but each time she was kicked and beaten to induce a miscarriage, so she remained “ripe” as they termed it, for continued sexual relations! The bastards!” spat Rusan, as tears slid down her face. With a weary sigh Rusan added “There is a lot more to that girls story Highness, and we’ll have to wait until she’s a bit more rested, but I have a horrible, sickly feeling that she’s not the only girl who has been exposed to such brutal, degrading treatment!”

At that moment Princess Ayne was seen leaving the ambulance that housed Jena, Princess Urna and a couple of female militias acting as both orderlies and guards. She looked as drawn and upset as Rusan had when she first approached Aryn.

“How is she, Ayne?” asked Aryn as she passed her cousin a warm drink from the container at her feet.

“A mess, to be honest Aryn, a real mess!” Ayne growled. “I have never seen so much evidence of abuse on a single person, it amounts to torture inflicted by a sadist! How that girl’s will to live has survived such a prolonged catalogue of degradation I don’t know, I’m not sure I could have endured what she seems to have suffered. Someone, somewhere must be held to account!” She sat with her head slumped forward before looking up somewhat glassy eyed. “We’ve given her something to make her sleep, we’ve cleaned her wounds as best we can, but we need to get her back to the capital immediately. We can only do so much out here in the back of an ambulance. We’ll probably keep her well sedated for the next day or two, and hope her body can begin to repair itself, but I worry about her mind, she’s been through so much for one so young. Even though she’s asleep, she’s quite agitated and seems to be asking for you Rusan, she seems to have fixated on you!”

“Then, with your permission Highness, I will return to her side, she’s touched a nerve with me too, probably because of Jaz, and she reminds me so much of my girls I suppose!”

“Of course, Rusan, even though she’s technically our enemy, I will never forget her fear filled eyes and the wails she emitted, but we’re planning to take her back to the capital with us tomorrow, can you come with us? We already owe you a great debt of thanks and I’m sure my mother will love to exchange anecdotes with you about the problems of raising two girls! But I think Jena needs you at this point in her life, probably more than anything else we can do for her, you are important for her and probably her sanity!”

Rusan was already standing, “As much as I want to be there for the funerals of my friends, I feel a tie to that girl. I cannot abandon her in her hour of need, the requirements of the living outweigh those of the dead! Plus, it will give me a chance to spend a bit more time with my girls, so yes Highness, I will attend to Jena, not that an old shepherdess like me can do much to care for her, but I’ll be at her side for as long as she needs me!”

Aryn stood and embracing Rusan she said quietly, “You are an amazing woman Rusan, thank you for everything you have done for Granaria, you will need a great deal of physical and mental stamina to be the help that our young friend will need in the coming days, weeks and months!”

“Ayne also stood back up and hugged Rusan, “Yes, thank you Rusan. You can always sleep in the cot next to Jena, we can slide it right next to hers for tonight if needs be, then you can sit inthe ambulance with her tomorrow!”

A tearful Rusan just nodded to both these young women, then with a strangled, “Good night, all!” she left the group and climbed into the back of the ambulance.

As they all settled back down to finish their drinks Caryn came from the radio truck and sat next to her sister.

“I have just finished messaging the palace. The Queen sends her regards to you all and looks forward to your return to the capital and will rest easier once we are all safely back in the palace compound and can make our reports in person. She suggests that our cargo is disguised as best we can, and to time our return to the capital to be in the hours of darkness. Our intelligence service thinks it’s highly likely that Masonville has operatives keeping an eye on the capital and the palace in particular. If we time our arrival to the wee small hours, the roads will be quiet, and any observers will be that much easier to spot. If we can confirm our approach time, she will ensure that we have the roads closed off to ensure we can get our cargo into the palace compound as safely and as quickly as possible! Less chance of Masonville interfering, and less chance of injuries to our own people should the enemy mount an attack!”

“Sounds sensible Highness!” said the Colonel. “I’d rather keep as low a profile as we can, the rumours will no doubt spread whether we like it or not, but the fewer eyewitnesses to our convoy the better!”

“Definitely, Highness!” agreed the Chief “Plus, we’re going to have to travel sedately anyway, just to ensure we get back to base without any mishaps. As you have seen, it looks like we have an extra-long box body on the back of the lorry, and with the number of tarpaulins covering it no- one can look in and see what we have on board. But we’ll need to be extra vigilant the closer we get back to the palace compound. I think if we format the convoy, so it looks that our precious cargo is, well, anything but precious, then so much the better. We all know the steadier the pace of the lead vehicles the easier it is on those further down the convoy. That way we can ensure we are closed-up with minimal distance between each vehicle, the more concentrated our convoy, the better our response will be should anyone be foolish enough to mess with us. In theory! Plus, the less time it’ll take us all to pass any trouble spots!” she added with a half-smile.

“Agreed, I think you’ve all made sensible points and they’re the same ones I had thought of myself! Right, everyone, let’s try and get some sleep, it’ll be dawn before we know it!” said Aryn.

Some three horas later the original convoy had been marshalled into position and had already cleared the crest of the valley that had witnessed so much tension and been adjacent to so much death and destruction. About a third of way back from the lead vehicle was a nondescript lorry that bore a slightly larger than usual cargo. Three vehicles further back was marshalled an ambulance containing a sleeping Jena who had briefly woken a couple of times, and who, once she was sure Rusan was by her side, settled back into restless sleep, with awful images stampeding through her dreams. In the centre of the convoy was the second ambulance in a position of honour, carrying as it did the mortal remains of the innocent shepherding family, ready to transport them home. As the original convoy headed back towards civilisation, the reinforcements sent by the Queen were tacked onto the tail end of the consist.

As they reached the junction where the road diverged, one way to Willowton, the other to Riventon. People working in the fields were amazed as the approaching cloud of dust, slowly resolved itself into a seemingly endless array of vehicles. All sorts of rumours had been circulating as the passage of a vast array of traffic had been seen heading up into the high country over the previous days, now, it seemed that all those vehicles were returning to the capital, just what was going on?

What was also apparent were the small flotillas of Granaria’s aircraft, circling high overhead keeping a constant vigil on the road convoy. At least twice that day, single engine, canvas biplanes aircraft were seen to chase off sleeker and faster aircraft that seemed to belong to Masonville.

At least no-one paid any particular attention to an innocuous lorry with an extraordinary cargo securely fastened to its deck and completely hidden from view.

Two horas after the last inn had evicted its final drinker, the convoy drew up on the approaches to the capital city. The convoy was quickly and quietly reformatted into three columns rather than single file as had been necessary on the smaller country roads. The centre row consisted of the larger vehicles, the flatbed trucks, the winch vehicles, the ambulance and troop trucks towing the artillery pieces that had proved so essential during the exchanges with the Masonville forces up in the mountains. On either side of these were ranged the smaller troop-carrying vehicles and the motorcycle outriders. No matter how tired they were, every member of the convoy was at full readiness, firearms at the ready, all hoping and praying that they would soon be safely ensconced within the barracks and catching up on much needed sleep.

At the shining of a series of bright lamps facing back down the convoy from the lead vehicles, the procession started the final leg of their journey to the palace, would there be any interference from representatives paid by foreign powers? Well, they’d soon find out.

Chapter Eleven.

The streets were quiet and relatively deserted as the convoy made its way towards the palace.

The rumble of so many engines inevitably drew people from their beds to twitch open their curtains to see what was going on. Most thought it was the various forces returning to their bases after manoeuvres up in the hills. Whilst others wondered if the happenings in the sky of a few days ago had anything to do with events passing their windows. The convoy made its way to the centre of the capital and the palace without interruption, as they drew closer and closer to their base, so more of the junctions were closed off to prevent any late-night traffic impeding its journey.

The further into the centre of the city they travelled, the buildings they passed slowly changed from those of a residential nature to those of a more commercial status. Shops, stores, offices and those of an industrial nature, although these were relatively few and far between. The closer the convoy got to the palace, so the tension increased as they would have to cross an open square with taller buildings around its perimeter.
The plan called for the escort vehicles to fan out across the square leaving the heavier vehicles to enter the palace gates unimpeded, traversing to its rear compound and the garages. The troops deployed around the edge of the square tried their best to scan doorways, windows and rooftops for any signs of a threat, whilst others deployed on the roof of the palace did their best to spot any signs of a hazard, not easy to do in the dead of night and the moon Atos obscured by clouds.

With the lead heavy vehicles almost halfway across the square, a red signal lamp was observed frantically flashing from the palace roof. The heavy vehicles accelerated to attain the relative safety of the palace grounds. Princess Aryn ordered her vehicle to pull to the side of the roadway by the palace gates as the loud crack of a high-powered firearm was heard and a bullet slammed into the bonnet of her vehicle and a cloud of steam hissed from the shattered radiator.

Next was heard the almost simultaneous firing of two mortars and flares arced their way into the sky illuminating the square in their stark, bright white light. Meanwhile the princess was struggling to get back to her feet, only to be held firmly down by her bodyguards. Other bullets were fired and struck several trucks including the lead lorry and one of the escort soldiers tumbled from the vehicle landing on the roadway.

Moments later the “Brrrr” of a heavy calibre machine gun was heard being fired from the palace roof, striking the roof of a large store halfway down the lefthand side of the square, a second burst shattered several of the upper story windows of the same building.

Almost immediately several escort vehicles screeched to a halt in front of the store, within moments the front doors were blasted open and windows were shattered, with members of Granaria’s armed forces streaming inside. Several bursts of gunfire were heard from the interior, before a soldier appeared waving his arm to signify the coast was clear and there was no longer a threat, from that building at least. All the while this was happening, the centre column of the convoy continued to race through the palace gates and to the relative safety of the rear compound.

Just as Princess Aryn was being allowed to rise to her feet, three bodies were dragged from the store and arrayed on the pavement outside its doors. The princess was unceremoniously escorted towards one of the troop carry lorries about to enter the palace gates and she was hastily shoved in the back despite her protestations.

At this point flames were seen to gain a larger hold on the top floor of the store, and, as the last heavy vehicle reached the security of the palace, the two flares slowly burned themselves out and the square was once more enveloped in darkness. A third flare was quickly fired skywards to assist the security teams combing the square for any further threat.

The body of the shot Granaria trooper was placed onto a stretcher before being loaded onto a personnel vehicle and driven into the palace.

The local fire service, whose main station was also situated in the square were quickly on the scene of the burning store, which despite their best efforts was soon fiercely ablaze with thick smoke enveloping the square as it lazily drifted in the breeze. All they were able to do was prevent the spread of the fire to adjacent structures, even though some were scorched by the heat.

The bodies of the three snipers were thrown onto the back of an empty flatbed truck and escorted into the palace.

Crowds of civilian onlookers were held back at all the entranceways to the square, until all the buildings could be checked to ensure no further threats to life and property were hidden from view. It wasn’t until daylight that security was relaxed, and life returned to something approaching normality.

Within the palace itself some semblance of order was maintained as investigations were undertaken into who, if anyone was hurt, what damage had been inflicted and that the extraordinary item was still safe and secure and under rigid armed guard to prevent further attacks.

Amongst those escorted into the body of the palace itself were the three princesses, the shepherd Rusan and her charge Jena who was still clinging to her like a limpet.

Later that morning a roll call established that everyone of the forces despatched to recover the artifacts was safe and accounted for, with the exception of the shot soldier, Trooper Eily Rast, who had died from a single bullet that had pierced her heart. A feeling of relief that no-one else had been hurt was tempered with the anger felt at the loss of a beloved comrade, especially within sight of the palace gates and safety.

Meanwhile Queen Adred and Prime Minister Pellinore received a full debrief from those in charge of the recovery mission. They both felt rising anger at the audacity of Masonville and its leaders, and deep concern of the events of the last seventy-two horas. Princess Aryn didn’t think she’d ever seen her mother so angry. However, that view was soon to change!

Chapter Twelve.

In the main receiving room of the palace, two heavy doors swung open and a herald banged his mace on the floor. “All stand, all observe Her Royal Majesty Queen Adred the Fourth, Queen of Granaria, all observe The Duchess Pellinore, Prime Minister of Granaria, all who seek audience please make themselves known to Her Majesties Chamberlain!” thundered the Chamberlain, Dalno Glessa.

“Yes, yes, I have been kept waiting for too long” said a tall thin man in the dress uniform of a General of Masonville’s’ Armed Forces as he strode forward pushing several of his aides out of his way as he approached the Queen.

Immediately four guards unsheathed their swords and amassed themselves in front of the General.

“My apologies your Highness, I meant no offence!” smirked the General. “I have grown impatient whilst awaiting an audience, perhaps you did not get my request for an urgent meeting?” he stated with an emphasis on the “Urgent!”.

The Queen sat on her throne with her sister by her right hand.

“Am I to understand the Ambassador asked for an urgent audience Duchess?” the Queen asked her sister.

“Not so much asked, your Majesty, he demanded is the wording he used!”

“I thought that’s what you said,” responded the Queen, glaring at the Ambassador.

“Perhaps the Duchess didn’t fully grasp the urgency with which I made my request!” sneered the Ambassador.

“So, you are accusing my sister of failing to pass on your request, or perhaps you are accusing her of stupidity?” snarled the Queen.

“No! No your Majesty, I meant no such inference, it is just I had been instructed to seek an audience with your Majesty as a matter of urgency!” replied the Ambassador toning down his attitude a little.

“Well sir, for your information, I did receive your request, and I am here, but I will have you and your masters understand that I will attend to your requests for an audience when it is convenient to me, my ministers and my nation, I AM NOT HERE AT YOUR BECK AND CALL! DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!” thundered the Queen.

“Majesty, I came on an issue of great-”

“I ASKED IF YOU UNDERSTOOD ME?” snarled the Queen, “Because Sir, if you cannot grasp that principal, perhaps you should return to your master and be relieved of your duties if they are beyond your level of comprehension!” the Queen interrupted.

Looking very red in the face the Ambassador lowered his head,

“My apologies your Majesty, I meant no offence!”

“I should hope not sir!” the Queen replied with a hard edge to her voice. “Now sir, what do you want. I have many demands on my time, so quickly man, quickly!” she ordered.

The Ambassador coughed into his hand.

“If it please your Majesty, certain items belonging to the nation of Masonville and its exalted leaders have inadvertently landed on your country and we seek their return immediately. We will of course pay for any damage caused and all recovery costs!”

The Queen sat back on her throne and stared at the Ambassador.

“Your property you say?”

“Yes, your Majesty, our property!” he answered feeling he was over the initial antagonism evident at the start of the meeting.

“And what property are we talking about exactly?” pressed the Queen.

“Oh nothing of any note your Majesty, just some insignificant items that would be of no interest to yourselves!” answered Masonville’s’ representative feeling increasing confidence.

“So, you are telling me you are going to pay Granaria good money to recover property of yours, items that have little or no value?”

“That is correct your Majesty, we just do not wish to litter your country with our rubbish!”

The Queen turned to her sister.

“Duchess, have we had reports of anything from a foreign nation landing within our realm?”

“Well, your Majesty!” replied Pellinore, “Perhaps the gentleman is referring to the remains of two aircraft, several lorries, at least three artillery pieces and the mortal remains of just over thirty of Masonville’s military!”

“Well, there you go sir, it seems your masters were worried for no reason, we will return the mortal remains, at cost, when you can provide us with details of exactly who and what your leader is referring too, AND, A VERY GOOD REASON AS TO WHAT THEY WERE ALL DOING ON SOVEREIGN GRANARIAN TERRITORY, YOU CAN LIASE WITH MY CHANCELLOR! This concludes our audience, and I am sure you have plenty of other important demands on your time!”

The Ambassador spluttered.

“Your Majesty I must protest, we know other items belonging to Masonville have landed in your countryside! Items other than those you have just referred too!”

The Queen stared at him as she visibly grew more and more irate by his arrogance.

“So sir! You are accusing my minister of lying are you, and I would recommend you think very carefully about your answer!” she glowered at him.

“No, of course not your Majesty, I meant no such disrespect!”

“I should hope not sir!”

“Perhaps your minister is lacking the latest information!” he answered trying to extricate himself from the hole he had dug. “I am sure my master would be more than happy to help Granaria’s limited resources in recovering our property.”

“Let me get this right sir, you are now accusing us of incompetence and offering to invade a Sovereign Neighbour, in violation of several treaties that both nations have signed and ratified over the years,.” The Queen said raising the pitch of her voice.

“No, No your Majesty, I am merely offering to help expedite this apparent misunderstanding between our nations!” said the Ambassador, “I meant no disrespect!”

“You keep saying that sir, but you keep making the same mistake, perhaps this task is above your competence!” responded the Queen.

“I am merely passing on the message my masters insist I deliver, we will have the return of our ALL our property as soon as possible, whilst maintaining the good relations our two nations share!” reiterated the Ambassador.

“Is that so?” said the queen thoughtfully!

“Of course, your Majesty!” smiled back Masonville’s representative.

“Well sir, I suggest you return to that embassy of yours and speak again with your masters. I have several questions that I want answering immediately, One, ask them, why they committed an act of aggression by sending an armed force into Granaria’s lands! Two, why they cold-bloodedly murdered four of our soldiers who were manning an observation post on our own territory? Three, why they cold-bloodedly murdered a hill shepherd and his family including raping his wife and teenaged daughter? Four, why they attacked our deputation, who were supposedly under the protection of a flag of truce, a truce requested by your forces? Five, why were armed individuals situated within a business owned by an individual from Masonville who proceeded to launch an attack within the very square outside my palace killing another of my troops. And finally, six, do they require the return of the bodies of at least thirty members of their own armed forces left in the hills? Do you think you can remember all that sir, or shall we write you a list?” the Queen demanded thumping the arm of her thrown with each point she made.

“I, err, I, err! I have no knowledge of anything you have just mentioned your Majesty, I am sure there has been a misunderstanding somewhere!” spluttered the Ambassador.

“Yes sir, there has been an almighty misunderstanding somewhere along the lines, one of which is what made your masters think you were a worthy Ambassador to this court!” stated the Queen with a hard edge in her voice.

“My masters will not be happy with your response your Majesty, I am sure they will withdraw any trade we have with you until such time as we have the return of ALL our property and assets, we shall cease export of all machinery!” the Ambassador answered with a sneer.

“Well sir!” said the Queen rising to her feet, “Before I gain the impression that you are threatening me within my own Court, within MY OWN palace, I suggest you leave and you may tell your masters that they may eat their machinery as, of this moment, Granaria ceases all exports of grain and other foodstuffs to Masonville, so, Master at Arms, show this gentleman the door and ensure he leaves this palace, I am sick of the sight of his face, so I suggest he goes before he displeases me any further!”

The master at arms along with four soldiers stepped forward with their swords drawn,

“This way sir! We wouldn’t want you to fall down the outside steps, now would we sir!”

And the spluttering and indignant Ambassador along with his aides were led from the throne room, with his increasingly irate voice fading into the distance.

The Queen swept from the throne room and quickly arrived at her private sitting room. Pellinore sat opposite her,

“Well, that didn’t quite go as I expected!” she said to the elder sister.

“Nor me really, I was already more than ready to give him a piece of my mind with the news we had received from the area of the crash site. But the arrogance of the man just asked to be treated with the same disrespect they have shown this country!” the Queen replied taking a sip of the cup of tea she’d just been given by one of her ladies in waiting.

They both sat quietly musing over the last few hours events.

“Right!” said the Queen sitting forward. “Pellinore, will you ensure that our security is in place, I don’t think we’ve heard the last from Masonville or its representatives, I want that artifact brought into the loading dock of the palace where we can keep a close eye on things until we can investigate more fully what we have in our possession. I am also interested in that young girl who was taken prisoner, I want to know what she knows about events within Masonville!”

“Yes, Adred, I shall get right on it, I’ll speak to you later!”

With that Pellinore left the room and the Queen, who remained sat in deep contemplation at all the recent events.

by Iona Laing.

Chapter Thirteen.

That afternoon the Queen entered the palace infirmary. Glancing round she saw her nieces Ayne and Urna both fussing around a small figure asleep in one of the beds. Sitting alongside the bed was an older, grey-haired woman, who was holding the hand of the prone figure, this woman also appeared to be asleep.

The Princess Urna approached the Queen.

“Hello Aunt, I take it you have come in to see Jena?” she whispered. “And our current new recruit, Rusan?”

“Yes Urna, but I see both are asleep, please, don’t wake them on my account. How is Jena?”

“Not good Aunt, not good at all, it’s almost like whilst she was struggling to survive at the hands of her captors, her will to live knew no bounds, now? Well, now that she feels some degree of safety, well, she feels she’s relatively safe, so it is as if her survival instincts have reached the end of their tether and her body has relaxed, and now, well now her injuries and infections are taking hold and gaining the upper hand! We are doing what we can, but she’s touch and go at the moment and I really fear for her survival. She doesn’t want to eat, we can hardly get her to drink much either!”

It was at this point that Rusan woke with a start, as she became aware of a new visitor to the infirmary. She stood straightening her simple shepherdess dress around her and walked to the foot of the bed occupied by Jena, and looked at either of the two princesses to introduce her, although she had a very good idea who this new woman was.

The Princess Ayne nodded to her aunt, “Your Majesty, may I introduce Rusan, whom I am sure you have already heard so much about, Rusan, may I present Her Majesty, the Queen Adred!”

Rusan did her best to perform a curtsy, something she’d never thought she’d have to do in her life, let alone to the Queen in person.

“Your Majesty, I am deeply honoured!”

“Rise Rusan, relax please. I have heard so much about you from my daughter, my nieces and my senior officials! We must have a chat a little later, especially about the difficulties in raising strong willed daughters!”

They both exchanged rueful smiles!

“However, I take it this is the child Jena?”

“Yes your Majesty, I would indeed be deeply honoured to talk with you later! But this is indeed our Jena, a fragile waif! Such an abused wee soul! She has suffered so much in her short, hard life, and now, just when she’s within touching distance of some sort of normality, her body is giving in to all the abuse and torment she has suffered. She’s riven with nightmares, things no-one should have to experience, I am not sure what is going to happen to her, she, she’s losing her spark! It seems she’s overwhelmed now! She won’t eat or even drink much; she’s almost giving up, or her mind has reached breaking point and is shutting down, I don’t know what a poor shepherdess like me can do, I have little education and have learned what I know purely through experience of life, but Jena seems to need me, and I will not let her down, and I will do all in my power, such that it is, to help her heal, but your Majesty, she’s a long tough fight in front of her!”

The Queen put her hand on Rusan’s shoulder.

“Book learning and practical training count for part of a person’s education, but we both know that without common sense, all a person’s knowledge can be wasted. You strike me as a really well grounded woman, someone who is probably the most important element in Jena’s ongoing treatment and recovery at the moment. She obviously feels a deep connection with you from what I have been told, and I witnessed it myself just as you were both asleep holding hands, you are her anchor in this current storm, it’s up to my nieces to provide medical assistance to help her recover!”

Just then Jena stirred, it seemed she’d missed her connection to Rusan.

“Rusan! . . . Rusan, . . . . where are you?” her hand waving around in the air.

Rusan rushed back to the young woman’s side.

“It’s okay Jena, I’m here, I’m here, shush now, here’s my hand sweetheart, see there’s nothing to be afraid of, you just need to get better. However, Jena, you have a very, very important visitor!”

“Oh Rusan, I am sore, . . . . .I hurt, and I am so, . . . . so very tired!”

“I know Jena, I know, but I am here with you like I said I would be, but the Queen of Granaria has come to see you, in person, she doesn’t do that to just anybody, see, she’s stood by the foot of your bed!”

Jena’s eyes roamed around the room before she focused on the figure stood next to the Princesses Ayne and Urna.

“I am sorry . . . your Majesty, . . . but it seems . . I . . . I cannot stand in your presence . . . at the moment, . . . . I am a little tired!”

The Queen sat in the chair on the opposite side of the bed to that occupied by Rusan and looked at this small individual, bruises evident on her face and arms along with various cuts and scratches.

“Well young lady, you have been through some rough times haven’t you?” She said, taking Jena’s other hand. “But as Rusan says, you are safe here, I promise you that! You just need to get better, then you and I can have a long chat about your life, life in Masonville and how you may be able to assist us to help others! Others who like you were sentenced to such abject misery, I am sure you want to help others don’t you?”

“Yes, . . yes your Majesty, I would really like to help others like me but, what can I do?”

Well, young Jena, first I need you to show that determination you had to survive what you were subjected to, I need you to show me that inner spark you have, that shear cussedness that nothing nor anyone is going to stop you from getting better, we all know you have it, and you need it now more than ever to get better. Rusan is here by your side, and will it be acceptable if I visit you again tomorrow?”

Jena lay there speechless, then all she could do was to nod her head.

“Good!” responded the Queen. “I expect you to do exactly as you are told, that’s a Royal command mind! “She smiled at Jena. “You hear me? You are to eat, even though you may not feel like it, but you need to fuel your body, and that means eating but even more importantly, drinking, do you hear me young lady, you need to drink lots to help flush out all the nasty bugs that are invading your body?”

Jena softly nods, “Yes, your Majesty, . . . I will try, . . . I promise!”

“That’s good Jena, now if you wake up and fancy something special to eat or drink, no matter what time of the night or day, you ask and someone will fetch it from the kitchens for you. Even if you want, hmm, let’s see, I know, a slice of drizzly cake, and a glass of warm milk at two in the morning, ask, okay young lady? You understand me, I’m the Queen, and I can get a bit bossy!” Smiled the Queen down at Jena.

“Yes your Majesty, I promise to try, but, err, your Majesty, can I ask a question please?”

The Queen stroked Jena’s cheek.

“Of course Jena”

“Erm, I just wondered, what is drizzly cake?”

“Oh dear me, how stupid of me, okay Jena, I will get you and Rusan a slice each of drizzly cake and a glass of milk brought up immediately, just try and keep Ayne or Urna from eating too much of it themselves!” With that the Queen winked at Jena and kissed her forehead. Drizzly cake is a soft sweet cake that has lots of different colours and flavours of toppings spread over the top here. The kitchens here make the best drizzly cake I have ever tasted, I am sure you will love it, so I expect you to tell me what you think of it when I see you tomorrow.

“Now, I’ll come back to see you tomorrow, but I expect you to be doing much better, don’t forget, eat something and drink lots, what sort of command is that?”

“A Royal Command your Majesty, I . . will . . try, . . yes your Majesty I, . . will, . . try!” replied Jena yawning, “Excuse me your . . . Majesty, . . . I . . . am tired!”

Queen Adred just smiled at their patient, then brushed some hair from the girls brow, kissed her forehead again and then she rose and walked off talking to Rusan, Ayne and Urna before leaving the infirmary to pay a quick visit to the loading dock to inspect the artifact which was being held under close guard.

Rusan returned to her chair alongside Jena, who settled down once she had her guardian’s hand in hers. Some twenty munts later, both Jena and Rusan sampled drizzly cake for the first time in their lives, neither could stop the smiles that were glued to their faces, even if the younger of the two was asleep before she’s had the chance to sample too much of this incredible delight. She did however drink most of the milk before passing out which was a good start.

Chapter Fourteen.

Two days later the ambassador of Masonville sent a message to the Court of the Queen seeking an audience at her Majesties earliest convenience. In due course a deputation was admitted to the throne room to await the arrival of the Queen.

In the main receiving room doors swung open and a herald banged his mace on the floor.

“All stand! All observe Her Royal Majesty Queen Adred the Fourth, Queen of Granaria, all observe The Duchess Pellinore, Prime Minister of Granaria, all who seek audience please make themselves known to Her Majesties Chamberlain!” thundered Chamberlain Glessa.

A small broad-shouldered man approached the Queen and made a marked, obsequious bow to the Queen.

“Your Majesty, may I introduce myself as the new Ambassador to your court, I have the honour to represent the country of Masonville, and its glorious leader President Signi. I am Major-General Clercq, at your service!” and again he made a deep bow towards the Queen.

“Welcome to my court and to my country Major-General, but I am confused, where is the gentleman I spoke to a few days ago, Ambassador Marchal, I was under the impression he was your nation's representative!?” asked the Queen.

“I am afraid Ambassador Marchal proved to us he was not up to the task entrusted to him, so he has returned to Masonville to ahh, to receive further, err, education, yes, further education!” the new Ambassador said with a sinister smile. “I assure your Highness, Ambassador Marchal will not be a further embarrassment to either of our nations, yours nor mine! Allow me to present my credentials.” With this he handed a scroll over to the Chamberlain who, in turn, handed them over to the Prime Minister who then handed them on to the Queen who quickly perused the document before handing it back.

“Well Ambassador, welcome to Granaria, now sir, do you have any further business for consideration now you have presented your credentials for our approval?”

“Well, your Majesty!” The ambassador smiled, “I wonder if you have determined yet, where our property that inadvertently landed within your realm resides? We, that is the nation of Masonville! We humbly seek the return of our property! It consists of various scientific experiments”

“Well Ambassador Clercq, I am unaware of any property belonging to Masonville landing within our realm! Do you know of anything Prime Minister?” asked the Queen as she turned to her sister.

Pellinore answered “No your Majesty, I have not heard anything as to property of any nature belonging to Masonville landing within your realm, well, nothing, apart from various items of military hardware that are still up in the foothills above Riventon that is, perhaps it is that to which the Ambassador refers?”

“Of course, how forgetful of me! I assume you wish to recover the debris along with the bodies of your armed forces personnel! Individuals who made an armed incursion into our realm, murdering EIGHT of MY subjects in the process! PERHAPS the Ambassador wishes to explain to MY satisfaction! WHAT was the intent of these individuals? WHO sent them into my nation’s territory? And just WHO authorised the use of such unnecessary force? CARE YOU TO EXPLAIN, CAN you explain that Ambassador?” said the Queen in a level but increasingly steely voice.

“I assure your Majesty, that the incursion was purely an oversight due to an overzealous local commander, an incident, we of the nation of Masonville and obviously our leader, President Signi, deeply regret and assure you it won’t happen again, we have, removed, those responsible, and I am authorised to offer full compensation to the families who were wronged, and in such a careless manner!” answered the Ambassador.

“Well sir, YOU WILL indeed recompense those affected, and as much as any financial settlement will do little to ease their grief, I tell you now Ambassador Clercq, that any financial recompense does not absolve those of Masonville who authorised these attacks from blame and we will do all in our power to see those behind these cowardly attacks brought to justice, do I make myself clear Mr. Ambassador?”

He mutely nodded.

“So, you are telling me that all this death and destruction was due to an overzealous local commander?”

He Nodded once more, the colour rising in his cheeks.

“A local commander by the name of General Laffe, was not the general your immediate superior at one point?”

This time he made no acknowledgement of any description, but all the colour drained from his face.

“I have asked you several direct questions Mr. Ambassador, . . . YOU WILL ANSWER ME WITH THE RESPECT DUE TO MY RANK AND TITLE WITHIN THIS SOVERIEGN NATION OF GRANARIA SIR, YOU COME HERE WITH YOUR FRANKLY REPETITIVE AND BORING DEMANDS, SO, . . Mr Ambassador, . . and for how long you remain welcome here in my court is growing more debatable by the minute, SO, DO I NEED TO REPEAT MY QUESTIONS? AND JUST TO CLARIFY THE POSITION WITH REGARDS TO GENERAL LAFFE, YOU WILL FIND IT DIFFICULT TO REMOVE HIM FROM HIS CURRENT POSITION, AS HIS MORTAL REMAINS ARE AMONGST THOSE SPREAD ALL OVER THE HILLS ABOVE RIVENTON!

“My apologies your Majesty, I will need to pass your comments to my superiors!”

“See that you do sir! Now, do you wish us to repatriate the bodies of your citizens?”

“No your Majesty, please dispose of the remains as your authorities see fit.” He answered off handedly.

“Well sir, we SHALL see to their disposal, and we will do so with MORE care and consideration than it seems their own country seems to see fit!” retorted an annoyed Queen as she rose to her feet and moved to leave the throne room.

“BUT your Majesty! A moment more of your time if you please, we consider those individuals as traitors to Masonville, and as such we owe them no further responsibly! Although, we will, of course recompense your nation, as it sees fit to deal with them!” the Ambassador replied almost babbling, “But it isn’t that particular property of ours you mentioned that we are specifically interested in, I assume you are aware of that incident in the skies above Masonville, some five days ago?” asked Ambassador Clercq.

“Naturally we observed the phenomenon, we assumed it to be the explosion of a meteorite or some other such item, or some aspect of weather behaviour, we have not witnessed before!”

“Well Majesty, I can say it was an experiment of ours, the detritus of which was never intended to land within your territories. We wondered if the convoy that returned in the early morning, the other day, did in fact bear some of our property?”

“WELL Ambassador, I can confirm that the vehicles to which you refer, were part of an exercise of ours, an expedition that came under attack by your forces! BUT, then I expect you KNEW that already did you not? However, I can assure you, and the leaders of Masonville, that none of the vehicles carried any property of yours, of any description! Other items of a military nature, along with various pieces of hardware, well, we left all that for recovery at some later date!” replied an annoyed Queen “Along with the bodies of your loyal subjects, individuals that you have now so glibly abandoned to our mercies!”

“I am sorry to labour the point your Majesty, but perhaps some of our property was “inadvertently” collected as your expedition returned to base, I am authorised to offer our expertise from within the embassy to help identify any of our items, if that would help at all!” offered the Ambassador.

“YOUR EXPERTISE you say? Well sir, I take it that it was your EXPERTISE that led to our forces to come under attack within sight of the palace here, within our own capital, likely, once again due to your EXPERTISE, perhaps you could explain THAT to my satisfaction!” demanded the Queen.

“I assure your Majesty, that Masonville had no direct involvement in any perceived attack on your convoy! Of course, we cannot be held responsible for any freelance undertakings of individuals, of possible Masonville origin, particularly within your capital!”

“PERCIEVED! PERCEIVED!! Well sir, I suggest you join us for the military funeral this afternoon, the funeral of our loyal trooper, a young lady murdered by a PERCEIVED SNIPER, THE BODY OF WHICH LIES IN OUR MORGUE ALONG WITH TWO OTHER BODIES OF YOUR TROOPS! A SNIPER WE FORCIBLY REMOVED FROM A BUILDING CONTROLLED BY A MASONVILLE INDIVIDUAL, I see SIR, you have about the same level of comprehension your predecessor displayed, although you couch your language in a slightly more civil tone, but let me say this once again, JUST so we understand each other fully, WE DO NOT, repeat, DO NOT, have any of the property as you call it, that belongs to Masonville, of Masonville or from Masonville, OTHER THAN THAT PREVIOUSLY SPEIFIED, now sir, are YOU clear, or do I need to send a communication to your masters asking for YET another replacement Ambassador, because sir, you are sorely trying my patience?”

“Yes, your Majesty, forgive my impertinence, I meant no insult, I shall, with your permission, retire to my embassy and seek further guidance from my superiors!” replied a clearly annoyed Ambassador.

“Yes!” replied the Queen, “You do that, I think it best you retire forthwith, I assume both of us have better things to do than to keep repeating ourselves! Master at Arms, escort these gentlemen from my throne room” so saying, the Queen swept from the room leaving the representatives of Masonville to stalk from the palace.

Once in the corridor, the Queen stopped and quietly said to Pellinore, “Come on, I enjoyed wiping the smile off that supercilious man’s face, I need a cup of tea, let’s go and see how Jena is this morning, hopefully she will be able to tell us more about herself and what is happening within Masonville at the moment, I really want to know what is going on, from a grass roots source, rather than these jumped up Jackanapes!” saying this they swept upstairs to see how their guest was doing.

Chapter Fifteen.

As Queen Adred and Prime Minister Pellinore were climbing the stairs, the Princess’s Aryn, Caryn and Ayne were rushing down the stairs is a state of high excitement.

“How did your audience with the Masonville Ambassador go Mother?” asked Caryn who was the first of the three youngsters down the stairs.

“Oh, about as well as you’d expect, glad to see you are back Caryn, how did the funeral go?”

Caryn’s face fell a little. “About as well as you’d expect Mother, the fact that I was there was much appreciated, as was Ayleah’s presence! We were both accorded special status, as were all of our escort truth be told. There is a great deal of anger within Riventon and the surrounding communities! Let’s just say that they would dearly love to get their hands on anyone from Masonville at the moment, especially such arrogant representatives as the Ambassador!”

“Anyway, Mother, we’ve just been summoned to the loading dock, there’s been some developments with the artifact, so we’re just heading down to discover what is going on! Do you want to come and look for yourself? Or shall we report our findings to you later?” asked Aryn.

“I think I want to see for myself what all the excitement is about! Those Masonville idiots have me all annoyed and I want to see what has brought our world to the brink of yet another conflict, then, I really need to speak to our friend Jena, to get a grip on the grass roots feelings within Masonville.” replied the Queen.

Five munts later the five women entered the loading dock area of the palace. The artifact was now stood upright on what appeared to be its base. A wooden scaffolding encircled the item, with several technicians busy examining the markings and other panels and dents contained within the structure. The most obvious being the bright glowing green outline of a hand.

Chief Engineer Drows approached the royal group and spoke directly to the Queen.

“Your Majesty Thank you for coming so promptly! As you can see, we now have the artifact in its correct orientation or we think it’s proper alignment and we’ve screened it off from the rest of the loading dock. Plus, we’ve restricted access to essential personnel only. However, about fifteen munts ago, the logo near what appears to be an access panel started glowing with a red light, this changed to a flashing amber hue and has just recently changed to the steady green image you can see now. We didn’t do anything further and we are awaiting your instructions!”

“Thanks Chief!” said the Queen as she turned to Ayne.

“I think, if you have your safety equipment to hand Ayne, it would be best if you approach the artifact, to see what we have going on here!”

“Yes Aunt, I have all my equipment with me ready for just such an eventuality, so if you’ll all step back a little bit, the Chief and I will see if we gain access and finally determine what exactly we are dealing with here!”

Both the Chief and Ayne donned their safety masks and gloves before climbing the scaffold to approach the green emblem. Chief placed her gloved hand over the green outline, but nothing happened.

The access lever would still not budge, even an inch.

After what was an obviously heated discussion up on the scaffold, Ayne was observed to remove the glove on her right hand before placing her hand over the illuminated emblem. No sooner had she done this than it started to flash and with an imperceptible hiss, a panel slid inwards an inch or two before disappearing upwards with a clunk, into the artifact.

Princess Ayne replaced her glove before carefully stepping inside the now open doorway and disappeared from view, pursued moments later by Chief Drows.

Moments later Ayne reappeared in the doorway, removing her mask as she did so, waving the other’s forwards.

“We have two survivors in here! We need stretchers immediately and they need to be up in the infirmary as quickly as possible!”

With that, Ayne disappeared back into the interior, whilst several of her medical staff ran forward, two bearing stretchers.

A few munts later both stretcher cases were carefully extricated and disappeared into the depths of the palace. Signalling the Queen and her entourage forward Ayne handed them over to the care of Chief Drows before she herself rushed into the Palace to follow the stretcher cases and her sister Urna.

“Well, Chief, what have you discovered so far?” asked the Queen.

“Well your Majesty, as you can see there are seats for up to four individuals, even though we only found the two occupants. There appear to be door controls over there, and this must be a control desk of some description, but I have no idea what any of it means or how it works, as of yet! There appears to be some sort of internal power supply, hear that hum? Plus, the control desk is illuminated as well as the hidden lights up near the ceiling! It’s going to take us some time to decipher, what it all means! It does seem that parts of this machine are damaged, especially by fire, as you can see by the smoke streaks up the inside of that side wall. This is going to be quite a conundrum, at least until our two guests wake up and speak to us!”

“Well, at least we have a slightly better idea of what we are dealing with than we did ten munts ago!” replied the Queen “I think we’ll leave you to your investigations, in the meantime, I think we’ll head off up to the infirmary and see how our latest guests are doing! But I don’t need to reiterate Chief, that this is a highly restricted area, after your initial examination, and lets not experiment with this technology, as it seems so very different to our own. It will probably be a good idea to reseal the access panel until our friends just taken to the infirmary can provide us with more detailed information.”

“Yes your Majesty, I’ll see if I can get a few photographs and leave things at that for the time being, no matter how tempting it is to see what some of the controls do, last thing we need is this canister getting out of control, I don’t want to cause further problems than those we already face! I’ll see if I can reseal the hatch for the time being, so that everything will be as those two individuals left things before landing up in the hills!”

“Thanks chief, please bring the photographs to my quarters as soon as you can, if I am not there we’ll more than likely be up in the infirmary!”

“Of course your Majesty, I hope I’ll to see you shortly!”

With that Queen Adred, Prime Minister Pellinore and the Princesses Aryn and Caryn went back into the palace, heading for the infirmary. This day was proving to be even more interesting than any of them expected first thing this morning.

Part Six by Iona Laing.

Chapter Sixteen.

The doors to the far end of The Infirmary were thrust open, and two stretchers were brought into the room and gently placed onto beds at the opposite end to where Jena and Rusan were situated. Screens were quickly erected around both beds and quiet commands could be heard being given.

At the other end of the room Rusan was doing her best to calm an increasingly distraught Jena.

“It’s okay Jena, there’s nothing to be worried about. It seems a couple of folks have had an accident or other sort of mishap. You’ve nothing to worry about here, . . . come-on, . . . have some more of this rich broth, it’ll do you a power of good, and if you have some space after that, I’ll pop down to the kitchen and see if I can’t get you some nice cake or biscuits!”

“I’m sorry Rusan, . . . I . . . I don’t think I could drink any more of this broth, it is delicious!” Replied a weary Jena, “! don’t think I’ve ever had anything that has had such flavour, although, I have a vague memory of my Momma making something similar for my sister and me before she died!!”

Rusan stopped with the spoon mid-way between the dish and Jena.

“You have a sister Jena? I didn’t know that?”

Jena stopped moving or talking but held her hands to her mouth, a stunned expression etched on her face! Then with tears in her eyes she looked at Rusan.

“I . . I have a sister, . . . a younger sister! . . . Or . . . at least I did have a sister, . . . two or three years ago!” she whispered through her tears.

Rusan placed the broth bowl on the table over the bed, and, scooting her chair to be beside Jena put both arms around her shoulders.

“Okay Jena, that’s quite the revelation, . . do you want to tell me about her?”

Jena simply stared straight ahead, before slowly looking at Rusan, she nodded her head and was about to start telling her tale when the doors to the infirmary opened, and the Queen, her sister Pellinore and the Princesses Aryn, Caryn all entered and, after looking over the two new arrivals, they all walked down the ward towards Jena and Rusan. Rusan stood by the side of the bed, clad now in a nurses uniform, rather than the rough shepherdess garb she had been wearing.

Urna walked down the room and stepped forward checking over Jena quickly, before smiling down at her.

“I am so pleased “Nurse” Rusan is being able to persuade you at eat a little today, and I see you have been drinking a lot more too!” Urna said, obviously pleased with the slight upturn in her patient’s condition. “You have done well with the broth for lunch too!”

“She has done really well!” replied Rusan, “My other clothes were too worn, dirty and/or too warm for such surroundings, so I was kindly loaned this fine outfit! I was trying to talk Jena into having another couple of spoonful’s of the broth, when, your two new patients arrived, which threw us off our stroke a little, . Jena said she’d never had such tasty food since her mother had made her and her sister some, many years ago! I was just about to listen to her tale when you all arrived.”

“You have a sister?” asked the Queen.

“Yes, . . yes your Majesty, I have a younger sister, she must be eight or nine now I suppose, always assuming she is still alive!” As she said this Jena’s eyes slowly filled with tears which gently dripped down her cheeks.

“Oh Child, try not to worry so, if you tell us your story, we will see what we can do!” said Queen Adred as she sat at the other side to Rusan and took one of Jena’s hands in her own. The Princesses Aryn and Caryn sat on the bed either side of the girl whilst Urna went to get one of her staff to organise tea, cake and biscuits for them all as she drew a chair to the side of Jena’s bed, and, with a deep breath and her eyes screwed shut Jena began to tell her tale.

Chapter Seventeen.

“My earliest memory is of my mother Sleal and I living in a small coastal village, my father Treed was a fisherman and was away for long periods of time. But my Mum and Dad loved each other, and we were happy. My Daddy would carve the most beautiful dolls heads and little animals for me while he was away at sea. Some out of wood and some out of ivory or bones he got from somewhere. My Mummy would get paints to decorate the dolls and animals. Then with scraps of cloth, she would make the dolls bodies and their clothes, they were so very beautiful.”

“The man who owned the boat my daddy worked on was called Zelch, he didn’t go to sea that often but when Daddy was away Zelch kept coming to our house, and he always seemed to pester my Mummy. I remember that my Daddy hit Zelch once and I heard Daddy tell him to keep away from us. Daddy said he was only going to do one last trip to sea as, he’d promised his best friend Polk, he’d do this voyage for him, and then he was finished with the sea, and was going to go work in a wood factory.”

Jena opened her eye’s and looked around at her audience, her lashes wet with tears.

“Daddy went off to sea and we never saw him again. Polk later told us that he’d heard Daddy and Zelch arguing, then, the next morning they found my Daddy’s body tangled in the nets they’d got over the side of the boat, he’d drowned. Mummy became sadder and sadder; she was worried about how we were going to buy food and pay our rent. Eventually, Zelch kept coming around to our house more and more often and I saw him giving my Mummy money. It was for food and such stuff Mummy said. Then eventually Zelch moved in with us, he said I had to call him Daddy from now on! I told him I didn’t like him; he wasn’t my Daddy, and I would never, ever, call him Daddy!”

“He hit me and said I was an ungrateful brat, and he’d get the better of me. He said I had to leave school as he wouldn’t pay to educate some other man’s bastard child! Anyway, I tried to keep out of his way, I did cleaning jobs or looked after younger children, anything to earn a few coppers so I didn’t have to rely on Zelch for anything. With the help of some of the older women and their daughters I taught myself my letters and my numbers. When Zelch found out he hit my Mummy and me, he tore all my books and pictures to shreds. Then, he threw all my toys and dolls that my Mummy and Daddy had made me on to the fire, he said they were more use keeping the house warm and cooking our food than being stuck on shelves in my room!”

Jena gave a half smirk!”

“He didn’t get everything though; he didn’t get my necklace!”

From under her nightgown, she pulled out a leather thong, to which was attached several small exquisite figures, amongst them a fairy, a mermaid and a kitten.

“My Daddy made me these when I was a baby, they were painted by my Mummy at some point, but it’s all worn off now!”

All her audience looked with wonder at these examples of rustic art, they were scratched and chipped to be sure, but even after all the intervening years of hard use, there was no denying the skill and dexterity that had been utilised in their manufacture. After everyone had had a close look at her prized possessions, Jena tucked them back under the collar of her gown and laid back in her pillows. She closed her eyes.

“It was only a year or so later that my Mummy had another baby. She had a girl who she named Jinz. She was a beautiful baby and I helped Mummy to care for her and she grew up to look a lot like Mummy and me. Where my Mummy and I had long straight blond hair, Jinz had bright blond curly hair, Zelch had curly hair!”

“As Jinz grew older she spent more and more time with me. We really loved each other, even though she was six or seven years younger than me, we were really close, and the more we loved each other, the more Zelch picked on me and he hit me a lot, I didn’t want him to hurt Jinz, so, the more he picked on me the less chance there was of him hurting her.”

“Then, one day, he came in my room and told me I was a useless bitch, and it was about time I repaid his kindness! He pushed me onto my bed and tried to push my legs apart and his, . . his, . . thing got really big!” Jena released a big sob, and Rusan went to hug her tighter, but Jena shook her head no!

“When, he couldn’t get my legs to open, he grabbed my head, wrenched my jaw open and shoved his thing into my mouth! . . . It smelt awful and the taste was . . . was even worse, and he laughed, . . he laughed at me, told me I was a worthless c**t and like my mommy this was all I was good for! So, I relaxed my body, and so did he!” Jena half smirked. “Biggest mistake he ever made! Because I bit . . . and I bit . . . .AND I BIT!!!! . . . He was screaming, just like a little girl!

The more he hit me, the harder I bit! Eventually I spit the end of his thing out of my mouth! The blood was everywhere, and I laughed at him, then . . . then he hit me with a bottle on the side of my head and I passed out!”

Jena looked at her stunned audience with a bit of a self-satisfied smile.

“He won’t try to rape any other women . . . or girls, . . not anymore!”

“Oh Jena, Jena, what happened next, can you tell us?” asked Rusan. Jena nodded.

“Could I have something to drink do you think first please?”

“Of course you can sweetie!” answered a clearly stunned Queen. “Here, this is a warmish, really sweet herbal tea, it’ll do you some good, and give you some much needed energy too, now drink up!” as the Queen pressed the cup to Jean’s lips. After drinking almost all the mug of tea, Jena closed her eyes once again and eventually recommenced her tale.

“The next thing I remember was waking up in the back of some sort of prisoner wagon. There was a sullen crowd around the vehicle, my Mummy was banging on the door with one hand demanding my release with Jinz in her other arm. Then in the background, a screaming Zelch could be heard being taken to a hospital, I think. Then as I watched one of the guards brought his rifle down hard on my Mummy’s head and she dropped to the floor, I am sure she died, one of our neighbours, Layce picked my sister up and held her tightly, and giving me a half smile, a half grimace and a nod, I saw her taking my sister into her house, some of our other neighbours picked my mother up and they disappeared into the silent crowd, that’s the last time I saw either one of them, I am sure my Mummy is dead but hopefully, my sister is living with our neighbour Layce, at least I hope she is, she was a nice woman was Layce.”

A deep silence permeated the infirmary, the depth of hurt, pain and suffering this frail girl had lived through was far beyond anything that her audience had any understanding of.

“What happened to you Jena, how did you end up in the clutches of that animal Strin?” Asked Princess Aryn quietly.

Jena lay there with a desperately sad smile on her face, with tears rolling down her cheeks.

“Before I was properly awake, and knew where I was, I found myself in a courtroom. They asked me if I had bitten Zelch, and I said “Yes, but!” That was the last thing they let me say! For an unprovoked attack on an upstanding member of society and for his permanent disfigurement and the loss of a vital appendage or words to that effect, I was given life in prison with no parole for the first twenty-five years. Even then it would require Zelch to give his agreement. So, I was sent to a high security orphanage cum youth prison. Well, with nothing to lose, I joined the underground network aiming to dismantle everything that the bigwigs in Masonville’s government stand for. Because I could read and write and not many of my fellow inmates could, I started giving lessons. Most of my fellow detainees had life stories just as horrific as mine! The vast majority are desperate for change, they are sick of Signi and his yes men. Then, just as I thought I was doing something useful, some way to commemorate my parents love of me and to maybe give my sister a better life than mine, I was sold into slavery!”

Jena needed another drink as she was rapidly running out of energy.

“It was then that my nightmare took on a whole new dimension! I was sold to Art Strin, Zelch’s older, more sadistic brother! The first thing he did was to get some of his fellow soldiers to hold me down while he raped me, then, after sticking his thing in my bottom, he told me I was going to suck him clean, and if he so much as felt a tooth scraping his skin, he would get the smiths pliers and he’d pull all my teeth out, one by one!

For the last two years or so, most of them have raped me practically every day! They . . . they even killed my, . . my BABIES!”

With that, the wails that screamed from the very depths of Jena’s soul rent the air, and she was inconsolable until Urna gave her a sedative injection. She slowly relaxed and sleep overwhelmed her tired body and shattered mind.

None of the audience that had listened to this tale of degradation and misery knew what to say. Most were hugging another woman, desperate for comfort and cognizant that every one of them needed that reassurance in return.

Queen Adred looked across at Rusan with a grim determined look on her face.

“We’ll be back to see her soon Rusan, give her our love when she comes round. But I want to see what background information you can get from her! I would like to know her family name, the name of her village, the name of her father’s boat, anything and everything you can get her to remember, I want to see if we can put that poor soul’s life back together in some way. I want to talk to her about how Masonville’s elite are hanging onto power and is there any way for us to help upset their applecart!”

Just as the Queen was about to move from Jena’s bed a herald approached.

“Excuse me your Majesty, I have an important message from the Chamberlain, it seems that Masonville’s ambassador is in the throne room, demanding an urgent audience with yourself!”

“Is he now, well how fortuitous, I think I am in exactly the right frame of mind to talk to him too! Tell Chamberlain Glessa I shall attend the ambassador at my earliest convenience!” with that message received, the herald went to report to the chamberlain.

“Come ladies, I suggest we retire to recover our sensibilities and lets discuss tactics to deal with that lowlife, sorry, ambassador! Let’s keep him dangling for a while, we’ll let him stew, the more annoyed he gets, the more rash he’ll get, the more information he’ll let slip, the better for us and, by the sound of it, the ordinary people of Masonville.

They stopped to obtain the latest update on the two survivors before they left the infirmary some time later.

Chapter Eighteen.

In the main receiving room of the palace, two heavy doors swung open and a herald banged his mace on the floor.

“All stand, all observe Her Royal Majesty Queen Adred the Fourth, Queen of Granaria, all observe The Duchess Pellinore, Prime Minister of Granaria, All acknowledge the Princesses Aryn and Caryn, all who seek audience please make themselves known to Her Majesties Chamberlain!” proclaimed Chamberlain Glessa.

The new ambassador rushed up to the Queen. Her escort quickly drew their swords and, at sword point, pushed him back down the steps of the dais, steps that he’d almost mounted.

The Queen made a great display of seating herself on her throne and carefully arranged her robes, removing imaginary pieces of fluff and smoothing her skirts, before looking up at the ambassador.

“Well, Major-General Clercq, I see you have about the same level of manners as your predecessor and that you yourself displayed at your last audience. You seem to have little respect for the title and authority I have here in MY PALACE!! OR THE ROLE OF AN ABASSADOR, NOW SIR, I am within a hairsbreadth of demanding your expulsion from my realm and your immediate replacement! NOW! DO I MAKEMYSELF CLEAR Major-General Clercq,. You Sir are skating on very thin ice, displease me or my court again and I will not be responsible for the consequences. NOW SIR, WHAT DO YOU WANT?”

“My apologies your Majesty, I apologise for my exuberance, it is just I have spent nearly all day waiting for an audience with your Majesty, on a matter of great importance to both our nations!”

“Is that so ambassador? Do you propose that I should organise the rule of my nation at the beck and call of someone like yourself?”

“Of course not your Majesty, I naturally assumed that given the urgent meetings our nations have been party to over the last few days, that you would wish to resolve these matters at the earliest opportunity!” spluttered the ambassador.

The queen stared at him for several seconds, before fixing him with an icy expression that superbly hid her rising anger with this man, the Queen was not someone to play cards against, not if you expected to win!

“I really have no idea to what you refer Mr. Ambassador. You asked if we had any of your property, both you and your predecessor were told we had none of your belongings other than bodies and wrecked military equipment, none of which you expressed the slightest interest in, so, that’s the end of the matter, is it not?” Stated the Queen, daring him to contradict her!

“Actually your Majesty, if I may show you some photographs, recently placed into my possession, they clearly show some of your forces removing some items from the foothills above Riventon!”

The Chamberlain accepted the photos from the ambassador, and after giving them careful scrutiny, examining each one several times, he passed them to Prime Minister Pellinore, who also gave them a detailed examination, before she, in turn handed them onto the Princesses Aryn and then eventually into Princess Caryn’s hands. Caryn moved across the dais before the photos slipped from her hands and were scattered all over the floor.

“Sorry Mother, I am so clumsy, I shall gather them up, it’ll take but a moment!” Caryn then made a real performance of recovering the photographs before she handed them over to the Queen.

All the while these interactions were taking place, the ambassador was becoming ever increasingly angry and short tempered. The queen quickly scanned the images before she turned to her sister.

“I’m sorry Prime Minister, do any of your staff have a magnifying glass to hand, I find my eyes get tired this late in the day, and I do want to understand the point the ambassador is trying to make here, so I would like to take a closer look at these photographs!”

“I am not sure any of my staff actually carry such an aid with them your Majesty, but I am sure we have one in the office somewhere, just a moment your Majesty!”

Pellinore turned to an aide.

“Lady Dilss, could you go fetch us a magnifying glass if you please?”

“Of course Prime Minister, I shall return shortly!” said the aide as she turned and left the room.

A great cry of frustration was practically yelled by Major-General Clercq, as he spun on one foot in a complete circle, his face was almost scarlet with apoplexy.

“This is beyond an insult to the great nation of Masonville and its glorious leader President Signi."

He was busy wringing his hands together his voice was almost a screech!

“Do you women have any idea of just who you are dealing with? You should stick to what you are meant to do! Provide us our next generation and look to your husbands needs, not this feeble charade you have just enacted! You think you are so clever, you are just weak, pathetic, females, women playing at running a country, I WILL HAVE OUR PROPERTY, AND I WILL, . . HAVE, . . IT, . . NOW!!”

Queen Adred stood up from her throne and smirked at the ambassador who was now suddenly feeling a little less confident of himself.

“Chamberlain Glessa, summon the Master at Arms and her escort if you would be so kind!”

Major-General Clercq’s right arm reached for his sidearm, but before he had completed half the move, Princess Aryn had taken his thumb and bending it backwards forced him onto his knees. She then deftly flicked his firearm to her sister who trained it on his head from a distance of two feet. Clercq’s own escort stood on in mute amazement with the speed of developments.

The Queen looked down on the ambassador in disgust.

“Well Major-General Clercq, I think if Masonville wants to continue this dialogue, then they had best send a new ambassador to my court! As you Sir, are now no longer welcome in my presence, my palace, my capital nor anywhere else within the realm of Granaria. It is only my decision to honour your diplomatic immunity that halts me from having you taken outside and shot for an attempted attack upon the ruler of this great nation of OURS. A nation that does not wage war on its own populace, especially the women and children of its people. So, Sir, you are banished from this realm, and you are to be escorted to the main border between our nations as a matter of urgency. Inform your leaders I am sick and tired of the spurious claims of property rights that have seemed to consume you and your predecessor! The next ambassador had better have a healthier understanding of their role in ensuring the smooth relations between both Granaria and Masonville, smooth relations both people’s deserve. BECAUSE, SIR, YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO YOUR NATION, AND TO THE ROLE OF AMBASSADOR, A ROLE ENACTED ALL OVER THE MANY COUNTRIES THAT CONSTITUE VILLARIA IN AN HONOURABLE MANNER, I WILL NOT BE THREATENED BY IMBECILES SUCH AS YOU! Now, Master at arms, escort this individual and his aides from this room, after disarming them of course, directly to the border post, I don’t care how you remove them, locked in a refuse cart for all I care, but they are to be evicted from Granaria forthwith, and immediately they have crossed the border, all diplomatic privileges are to be rescinded and withdrawn, and, should any of these five individuals attempt to re-enter Granaria at any point in the future, you have my permission to shoot them on sight!”

“Understood your Majesty!”

Princess Aryn with an extra backwards jerk, released Major-General Clercq’s thumb and he sullenly and slowly regained his feet. Visibly wincing as he tried to ease the pain in his hand.

Glowering at all these pathetic women, he looked at each one before he held out his left hand for the firearm he’d so recently and easily been relieved of! The weapon that was now in the possession of Princess Caryn.

“My revolver Princess, if you’d be so kind?”

Caryn looked at the Major-General, then at the weapon in her hand and chuckling;

“I don’t think so Sir, no-one threatens any of us, especially my Mother, this has been confiscated, so I think it best you get out before I use it!”

“But, . . . But . . .That . . . That is a treasured family heirloom!” spluttered Clercq.

“You are really not that bright are you? The Queen has granted you your life, and you still want to argue about the fine detail! I suggest you get out while you can, under your own power, because us pathetic women are quite prepared to drag you out of here by what remains of your hair and sling you into whatever vehicle can be found at such short notice!” Spoke the Princess Aryn levelly, “Because sir, had I been in my mothers’ position, you would be smoking your last cigarette and diplomatic niceties be damned! The more I learn about your precious president and the manner you rule your populace, the more I am revolted by you and your ilk! So get out and get out now!”

Still bemoaning his situation, the Major-General was removed from the throne room along with his four aides.

Each man was surrounded by four guards, each one kept several strides apart from the others.

Just as the final aide was leaving the room he started to limp, the limp seeming to get worse and increasing the distance from him and the rest of the deputation.

He then stopped completely and bending over, grabbed his calf and collapsed squealing to the floor complaining he’d severe cramp. With a furtive glance ensuring his colleagues had left the vicinity and were being dragged down the corridor, surrounded by their armed guards, he quickly rose onto both knees, ripping his epaulettes from his tunic, along with his other indications of rank and cried out in a quiet but determined voice, ensuring that his argumentative colleagues didn’t overhear his next statement.

“Please your Majesty, please, as a matter of urgency I claim asylum, please your Majesty, I cannot and will not return to Masonville, I throw myself on your mercy. They!” with a backward furtive glance at his former colleagues who were no longer in sight. “They, they make me ashamed and sick to my stomach to be a part of that whole corrupt government! So please, I ask you for asylum, and in return I will tell you everything I know about President Signi and his evil empire! An empire that doesn’t know it is on borrowed time as the ordinary populace, its people, they are close to open revolt! It is a powder keg and it is about to explode, it could be a blood bath, I need to do something to help my fellow citizens”

That put a sudden stop to all the discussions that were taking place on or around the dais.

Queen Adred stared at the young man on his knees, who’d unexpectedly thrown everything into a bit of a state of confusion. She then looked at Aryn.

“Princess Aryn, summon four of your troopers, let’s take our friend here down to the cells. Then we can find out, safely, for all of us, just what is going on here. I want to know what has prompted this apparent change of heart, and the sooner the better!”

Ten munts later Adred and Pellinore were sat in the private lounge where they often talked through the day’s events while drinking tea.

“Well Adred, THAT, was a hell of a day!”

“That my dear Pellinore, is one of the most profound understatements I think I have ever heard you utter, since, since we were children!”

And with that they both stared into the fire, each deeply lost in their thoughts!