Return of the Queen

A warrior queen with an unusual talent is magically marooned on another planet and tries to use another type of magic, the magic of technology, to get home.

This story has a little of everything — action, adventure, drama, tragedy, romance and comedy. It also happens to be the sequel to The Distant Queen, but I wrote this story to stand on its own. I wrote The Distant Queen several years ago and it's not my best work. I didn't want anyone to have to read my earlier story to know what's going on in this one.

NOTE: Comments have been disabled for this story. If you do read it, please consider clicking the Good Story! button, and if you feel moved to comment, private messages are always welcome.

This is a complete story of twenty chapters and I'll post two chapters every weekend.

Return of the Queen
by Terry Volkirch

CHAPTER 2

After devising a plan, the two of them slowly made their way through the crowded, dusty streets to their destination. Clay tiled roof tops shimmered with the late morning heat and several dogs tried to keep cool by sprawling out in the shade on the long, narrow stone slabs that surrounded several of the buildings. The temperature continued to rise, and it had a lot farther to go before it peaked for the day.

Gabrielle stripped off as much as she could of her battle leather outfit, but still felt a little uncomfortably warm. That was nothing compared to how Farrott felt though, especially after the subject of a new name came up again.

"Thelma?!" Farrott whined as he wiped the sweat from his brow.

"Just... shut up. Trust me. It's perfect for you."

"Okay. Fine! I'll keep it for now, but when we leave this town, I'm going back to my real name."

"No, you're not," the queen said, shaking her head.

"Why not?!"

Gabrielle patiently explained that there were other victims of Farrott's talent, some of whom might recognize the name of the man that sent them away. It didn't matter that his gender had changed because they might also know of her talent that could turn him into a woman. They'd put two and two together and figure it out, and they might get violent. With no means to defend herself, the large woman would most likely be killed.

"Is that what you want? "Do you really want to die?"

The former man blushed, looking at the ground near his feet. "No," he muttered.

"Oh," Gabrielle stopped and softened her tone. "I think I understand."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"It's really not so bad being a woman. You'll see... Thelma."

Farrott, now Thelma, blushed again. The idea of having a feminine name really did bother him. He hadn't fully accepted his new gender. There was still so much to get used to.

Gabrielle resumed walking, ahead as usual, and focused on getting to the inn, and their plan.

Thelma quietly muttered to himself and followed.

~o~O~o~

A tall, strong young woman could be seen approaching the Sneezing Niggler Inn, along with someone behind her. Mindel could see the second person was another woman, much shorter but easily broad enough to be visible. He didn't care about her though. He just wanted to feast his eyes on the leader. He could look at her all day. She was a vision, even though she looked like she could gut him like a hagfish without breaking a sweat. Being an older man, he was used to looking and not touching so he'd be satisfied with a bit of leering.

"Welcome, tall one," the man said, his eyes veering down to her chest as she approached. "My name is Mindel. Are you looking for a place to stay?"

He tucked his thumbs into the side pockets of his black leather vest and smiled, revealing several missing teeth. The teeth he did have were small and stained yellow from years of neglect. His best features were his dark mustache, his large, expressive brown eyes and his light gray pants in a thin fabric that billowed around his legs.

Gabrielle and Marie had been together on Agrin long enough for the queen to learn much of the local language from Marie, just as Marie had since learned much of Gabrielle's language. And it had been nearly a season since Marie had teleported to Kispri. The queen had spent much of her time since then learning more of the language, even quite a few written words. So she'd understood Mindel when he spoke. She'd just started to reply to him but Thelma had stopped her by tapping her on the shoulder from behind while whispering a single word in their native language.

"Innkeeper," he told the queen.

The tall woman whirled around and slapped Thelma's hand away.

"I think I could figure that out on my own," she snapped. "He asked if I wanted a place to stay."

"Oh! I didn't know what he said. I'm just trying to help!"

"Please! Stop shouting!"

The innkeeper interrupted the little spat with a deep, throaty laugh.

"Are you here as entertainers?" he asked. "You're quite funny. What's that gibberish you speak? It sounds like what one of my tenants speaks."

Gabrielle turned back to face the man. "Do you mean Farrott?"

"I think that's his name. He often pointed at himself and said that after we first met, but he doesn't seem to speak our language. The town elders took pity on him, thinking him to be feebleminded. They set him up to live here. They pay his room and board and I put him to work in exchange for a little spending money."

The queen didn't quite know how to respond to that at first. She imagined all sorts of horrible things he might have done for the little bit of money he had, even going as far as stealing from old beggars. But truth isn't always stranger than fiction. Sometimes it's a whole lot funnier.

Gabrielle snickered a few times before erupting with laughter. Her short, large companion had struck her as stupid but being kept as the village idiot was too much.

Neither Thelma nor Mindel had a clue as to what was so funny. All they could do was stare and scratch their heads.

Turning back and forth to see the perplexed looks on their faces just fueled the tall woman's laughter until tears rolled down her face.

Thelma finally moved to one side until he had a clear view of the innkeeper. He recognized the voice but wanted to see if the man had something stuck in his teeth or something.

When he noticed the other woman peeking around Gabrielle, Mindel forced himself to look away from the laughing beauty and his eyes went wide. The short woman was incredibly fat, but her pale skin, green eyes and short, thick red hair grabbed his attention. Farrott had the same hair and eye color but the innkeeper had never before seen such physical attributes on a woman. Everyone else in town, and every traveler he'd ever seen had much darker skin and darker features. Even the tall, laughing woman had a dark tan — after spending weeks in the hot summer sun on Agrin — and brown hair. Only her height, full curves and green eyes were unusual enough to catch his eye.

'If only you took better care of yourself,' he thought, his eyes lingering on the large woman's huge breasts. 'You'd capture the heart of every man in town.'

Thelma recognized the look he was receiving from Mindel, and he gasped. He didn't think any man could look at such a large woman with any amount of lust. He blushed and hid back behind his companion, hoping she stopped laughing soon so they could see about reclaiming his room.

Gabrielle slowly laughed herself out, oblivious to the exchange between Thelma and the innkeeper. She stifled a few last giggles and tried to continue with the plan.

"I'm very sorry about my outburst," she told the man. "I've had a very bad morning and was desperate for a little humor."

"It's quite alright. I won't begrudge two beautiful women a little self-indulgence."

"Excuse me?"

"Please," he said, brushing the ends of his large mustache with his thumb and index finger. "Never mind. You came here to speak with me. Please continue." His dark brown eyes sparkled with good humor so the tall woman simply shrugged and spoke.

"Yes, my name is Gabrielle," she told him. "I came to speak to you about Farrott. He had to go back to the city of Roggzer."

"Really? So that's where he came from," he said as he continued to brush his mustache with his hand. "Okay. Is that all?"

"Well, he told us we could have his room for the next ten days since it's already paid for. I hope that isn't a problem. Thelma here," she pointed behind her with her thumb, "is Farrott's sister and we both need a place to stay."

"His sister?" Mindel stopped brushing his mustache and narrowed his eyes, pretending to be suspicious. "I didn't notice a family resemblance," he added, hoping to have a good reason to give her a good, long look. She might be overweight but he wanted to ogle her large breasts and the flimsy garment used to restrain them. The poor, lonely old man could easily spend the next several weeks daydreaming of burying his face in her cleavage.

"Oh! Well there is a resemblance," Gabrielle said, moving aside and pulling Thelma closer for inspection. They'd both planned for just such a reaction, and they were confident that Thelma had enough features in common with her former male self to pass herself off as a sister. "See," the tall woman continued, facing the large woman. "She has the same small chin, same nose, same look to her eyes. Her eye and hair color are the same and she has the same fair complexion. You must know how rare that is around here."

"Quite right," he said with a huge grin on his face, though his eyes weren't on Thelma's face. Instead, he stared shamelessly at the large woman's boobs and practically drooled.

Thelma first looked up at the sky out of embarrassment when he was first dragged closer to Mindel, and Gabrielle was too busy looking at Thelma as she pointed out the woman's features. They didn't see the man's fascination with Thelma's breasts right away. When they did both turn to look at him, they happened to do it slowly at the same time, and they shuddered when they saw the look in his eye.

"Oh!" he exclaimed. "Please. Forgive one of this lonely old man's few self-indulgences." He looked down at his feet with a feigned expression of sadness.

"It's okay," Gabrielle said. She just wanted to get to the room and relax. They could worry about the dirty old man later. "So then, is it okay if we stay in Farrott's room?"

"Sure!" he said. "You two lovely ladies can stay as long as you like, in whichever room you like." Then he waggled his big, bushy eyebrows at them.

Both women blushed. Thelma didn't understand one word he said, but the way he said it and the suggestive waggling of his eyebrows spoke volumes.

"Thank you, Mindel," Gabrielle said, and quickly turned to her companion to speak in her native tongue. "Okay, Thelma. Let's go to the room now and freshen up. Shall we?"

The large woman just nodded and walked ahead to lead her tall companion to the room.

Mindel watched them go and briefly wondered how they knew where the room was located.

"Such strange and beautiful creatures," he said to himself. "Just how I like them."

~o~O~o~

Thelma nervously fumbled with the loose door handle to his room, making it worse by hurrying. He'd never been so embarrassed in his life.

"I knew it!" Thelma shouted. "I just knew it!"

"What are you going on about now?"

"Did you see the way the innkeeper looked at me?"

"Huh?"

"Oh. Right. You were too busy laughing as I recall."

Gabrielle giggled as she dropped her remaining possessions on the floor.

"It's not funny!"

"I'm sorry. Yes, I couldn't help but notice that dirty old man leering at your breasts. It was annoying and rude." The tall woman said.

"Well... yeah. Of course. But what do you expect. I'm dressed like a whore. Why wouldn't he look at me? He probably wondered how much I charged."

Gabrielle laughed.

"Don't laugh! It's true."

"Well, dear Thelma. I can tell you that he looked me over quite closely too. I didn't like where his eyes lingered but that's something we women have to put up with."

The former man hung his head and sighed. Once again, he felt like he had his new gender thrown in his face. He was hot, sweaty, hungry and thirsty. He couldn't imagine being more uncomfortable, but then he gets reminded that he's a woman.

"Come on. Don't be like that," the queen soothed. "You'll feel like a new woman after a bath and some cool well water."

Thelma sighed and looked down at his sweaty clothes.

"What am I going to do about these skimpy clothes? They're all sweaty and dirty. It feels disgusting."

Gabrielle almost teased her about sounding like a woman but she thought better of it.

"Right. We really need to get you a better wardrobe. With ten days of rent already paid, it'll be a little easier, but we're still going to have to work."

"Work?"

"Yes, work. You can resume the duties you had before and I'll see what I can find."

"You mean I have to go back to sweeping and cleaning?" Thelma squawked.

"What else can you do? You don't speak the language."

The large woman looked dejected. He'd hoped for something better but the queen was right.

"Just don't bend over a lot in those clothes if you can help it," Gabrielle said with a wink.

"Why...." Thelma got a flashback of Mindel staring at him and answered his own question. He blushed and quickly turned his back to hide it.

He walked over to a wooden table in the far corner of the room and poured some water from a large clay urn into a little mug. He drained the mug and repeated the task several times before tipping up the urn and drinking directly from it. After drinking his fill, he gently set the urn back down on the table, picked up the drinking mug and threw it at the stone wall. The mug shattered along with his brave facade, and he slumped down on the floor, crying and muttering the same thing, over and over. "Why me?"

The queen rushed over and knelt down to hug the large woman.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

Thelma stopped muttering and just bawled.

"There there," Gabrielle said. "I'm here for you. I'll help you. I promise."

~o~O~o~

The former man felt better after a good cry, though he mentally chastised himself for breaking down, especially since it was the second time that day. He hadn't cried since he was a boy.

The other woman's promise helped his mood too. He'd had no problem breaking promises in the past, but he felt sure that a queen would keep hers.

The tall woman quickly and gracefully got up off the floor and offered a helping hand to her companion, but the large woman stubbornly tried getting up herself.

After rolling around for several minutes in a futile struggle to stand, Thelma finally gave in and accepted help getting up, and he had to suppress the urge to cry again. Luckily, a loud rumbling sound distracted him.

"What was that?" he said, his eyes wide with fear.

Gabrielle coughed to disguise a laugh, and she had to turn away to hide a grin.

"I'm fairly sure it was your stomach," the queen said, moving towards the door. "We haven't eaten all day."

"Oh. Right," Thelma said, feeling stupid. He wasn't too enthusiastic about the idea of eating. He'd already fought off several hunger pangs that day, thinking he'd starve himself thin as quickly as possible.

"I'm quite hungry myself, so I'll go down and get us something. You just stay here and I'll bring it up. Is that okay?"

"Sure. Whatever."

The former man looked around the room for a place to sit and ended up on the bed. The chair didn't look sturdy enough to support his weight. He sat on the edge of the bed and closed his eyes, willing himself not to cry again.

~o~O~o~

Gabrielle was pleased with herself. She came back with quite a load, managing to carry another urn of water and a large basket containing two drinking cups, a loaf of bread and an assortment of fresh fruits and vegetables. She almost shouted excitedly when she walked into the room, but she caught herself just in time when she saw Thelma asleep, lying on her back on the bed with her feet hanging over the edge.

"Poor woman," the tall woman said quietly to herself, slowly shaking her head. "She's been through a lot, and she still has a long way to go."

~o~O~o~

Thelma woke sometime later thanks to his noisy stomach demanding food. He looked to one side and saw his companion, sitting in a chair, watching him with a pleasant smile on her face.

"Have a good sleep?" she chirped.

"What are you so happy about?" Thelma snapped.

"My my. Aren't you grumpy? Are you always so cheerful after waking up?"

"Ha ha," Thelma retorted.

"I got more water and a little food."

He stayed on his back and stared at the ceiling. "I'm not hungry," he said quietly, and was loudly contradicted by a gurgling noise.

"We both know that's not true," Gabrielle said. "Please. Eat something. It's not healthy to starve yourself."

"I'm sure I won't waste away anytime soon. Don't worry about me."

The queen got up and moved to look Thelma directly in the eye. "You lose weight more slowly when you starve yourself. Please eat."

The stubborn former man closed his eyes. "I don't care."

The tall woman lightly but firmly slapped Thelma on the cheek and the large woman's eyes snapped open.

"Ow! What was that for?"

"That was for being stupid. Eat!"

"But it'll take forever to lose all this fat! I don't wanna eat!"

"I'm serious. Starving yourself is unhealthy. Your body needs food to keep going. You'll need your strength if you're going to work."

"I don't wanna work!"

"Eat!"

"No!"

Gabrielle sat back down in the chair, fuming. She couldn't force Thelma to eat, but she fantasized about trying. Why couldn't that woman understand that she needed to eat? Perhaps it was time to try something different.

"If you're not going to help yourself, then I might as well leave."

"Fine! Go back on your promise!" the large woman shouted.

"I can't babysit you, Thelma. You're an adult and you need to act like one. If you're not going to cooperate, then I can go back on my promise."

Thelma didn't say anything. He just sniffled a little. The "tough love" act was working.

"I'm going out now. I'm going to scout around for work, price some materials to make you some new clothes and then treat myself to a long, hot bath at the town baths. I've eaten what I wanted. You can have the rest ... or not. Do as you like. I'll be back later ... much later."

"I thought you weren't going to help me? Why bother making me any clothes?"

"I said I'd help you, and I will, to a point. I'll make or buy you some clothes, but if you keep acting like a child, that's as far as I'll go."

"Fine. Go then."

Thelma sounded listless, and Gabrielle almost didn't go, but she didn't know how else to motivate the stubborn woman. Even a warrior queen couldn't do everything herself.

~o~O~o~

"I'm back!"

Gabrielle practically danced into the room wearing a clean, long tunic in her royal colors of dark gray with a single wide diagonal stripe of lavender. She also had on her one pair of dark gray leggings, all washed and ready to go. It felt good to get out of her dirty green and brown battle leathers.

Thelma lay on his back on the bed and briefly raised his head a little to answer. "Whatever."

The queen looked around and noticed some of the food had been nibbled. 'Good,' she thought, smiling. 'Any progress is better than none.'

"I'm sorry I took so long, but I figured you'd be a little shy and want to wait until dark to go for your bath."

"Whatever," Thelma said quietly. He knew he desperately needed a bath, but he didn't think he could force himself to take one.

"I did some serious thinking while I was out," Gabrielle set a couple of cloth sacks on the floor and sat on the bed, finding herself in a rare chatty mood. "And I came up with a plan, a couple plans actually."

Thelma moaned.

"Hey! Don't be like that." The queen playfully slapped her companion on the arm and Thelma flinched.

"Oh! I'm sorry."

Being away on her own for so long improved Gabrielle's mood immensely, and she forgot how sensitive her companion could be. But she plowed on ahead and described a diet and exercise plan to get Thelma in shape. The tall woman would be cheerleader, coach and trainer all in one. She was determined to help.

"And you have to eat right to have the energy to exercise," she lectured.

The former man moaned again. He saw the truth in what was said, but he also knew it meant a lot of hard work, something he wasn't looking forward to.

"Oh, you!" Gabrielle smiled. "So many people have that reaction, but after they work out long enough, they quickly find themselves with more energy, and they feel good about themselves. With me behind you, you'll get nothing but encouragement and you'll feel better in no time. You'll see. We can't fail!"

'Rah rah rah,' thought Thelma. 'I'm in cheerleading hell.' But he did appreciate the attention at least.

He felt scared and alone while the queen was out, something that was hard for him to admit. He'd never had to rely on anyone other than himself before coming to Agrin. Getting help from anyone, especially the one woman who he'd hated so much and for so long, bothered him. But he had to get over it. He had to get over a lot of things.

Being a woman changed everything, especially since he couldn't get around very well and couldn't speak the language. Recent memories of being leered at still made him shiver with fear and revulsion, and they led to other unpleasant thoughts. He thought about his intention to rape and kill a young woman just before unintentionally zapping himself to another world, and for the first time in his adult life, he felt shame.

It didn't help that he lost his magic talent, even though it seemed to be ineffective on Agrin. The important thing was that he thought he could use it if he had to. He lost his manhood and talent, and with them, he lost virtually all of his confidence.

'But I'm still a man inside, where it counts,' he thought. 'Right?'

He wasn't sure of anything anymore.

"Hey!" Gabrielle broke through the gloom surrounding the other woman. "Are you listening?"

"Yeah. Sure," Thelma said while struggling to sit up. "Go, team."

"Huh?"

"It's a school thing."

"You were in school?" The queen said, letting it slip without thinking.

"For a little while, before I had to drop out and make some money to feed myself," the former man said.

"Oh. I'm sorry."

Amazingly, Thelma let it go and changed the subject. He suddenly remembered something that happened earlier in the day that had him curious.

"It's okay. But can you tell me something?"

"Of course."

"Why did you laugh so hard when you first spoke to the innkeeper?"

That question caught Gabrielle by surprise, and she measured her words carefully.

"I don't think now is a good time to discuss it. Perhaps later, when you're able to look back and laugh about all of this."

"You're kidding, right?"

The tall woman answered with a warm smile. "Things will get better. Trust me."

~o~O~o~

If Thelma had thought about it, he'd realize things had already gotten better for him, for the most part.

When he first came to Agrin as a man, he had only the clothes on his back. His only lucky break was that he'd magically transported himself near the small town where he'd been staying ever since.

It frustrated him not being able to speak the local language, and he wandered around, hoping to find someone who spoke his language. At the very least, he thought he'd find a town official who had the translator magic talent, not knowing that no one else on Agrin had magic talents.

He spent several days sneaking water from wooden barrels and slowly starving, but he stubbornly stayed near the town square, speaking to every new face that he saw pass by. He figured he'd fare much better in town than in the wilderness, and he was right.

Someone finally realized that the strange little man who spoke gibberish to everyone he met was desperately poor, and that person took pity on him by alerting the town elders.

Late one evening, the elders found Farrott huddling in a sheltered doorway, muttering to himself. They thought him to be an idiot so they set him up with an allowance for food and a place to stay. They communicated with him by smiling and placing a friendly hand on his shoulder to show him that everything would be okay.

Farrott wasn't used to compassion, so he didn't recognize it. He didn't understand why he had a place to stay and free food, but he breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps a small part of him was even thankful, but that didn't matter. He couldn't properly thank anyone since he didn't speak the language.

Mindel, the innkeeper at the inn where Farrott stayed, tried teaching the strange man to speak properly, but he didn't have much success and didn't have the patience to keep at it. The two men ended up with a crude sign language. Farrott would point at something he'd want and Mindel would give it to him, within reason. The innkeeper also gave him easy cleaning jobs around the inn, and that's how it went for the past couple weeks.

Farrott -- now Thelma -- had been incredibly lucky, even though he didn't feel that way. Many of his victims wished him dead but the universe didn't seem to agree. Instead, he got a second chance with a very different life.

~o~O~o~

Gabrielle surprised her companion with her next plan. She pulled a large robe out of one of the bags she'd brought back with her and said she bought it and some inexpensive thread. To save money, she even talked a kindly old shopkeeper into letting her borrow a dull needle so she wouldn't have to buy one.

"The robe is clean," she said. "You can wear it on the way back from your bath."

"Uh... right," Thelma said, looking a little scared.

"Don't worry. I'll go with you, and I'll wash that outfit," the queen said, pointing at her companion, "while I'm waiting. We'll save money that way."

"What about extra cloth? What are you going to sew with the needle and thread?"

"I have two tunics but I can do without a second one. I'll use the cloth from a tunic to add to your skimpy clothes. Then we'll both have two decent outfits, one for day wear and the other to wear after taking a bath and washing our day wear. It's warm enough outside that we can dry our wet clothes over night."

Gabrielle smiled proudly.

Thelma was impressed. "You thought of everything."

"I tried to. Now please. Let's get you and those clothes to the bath house!"

"Oh! Right," the large woman said, lifting his right arm to sniff his arm pit and wrinkling his nose. "I stink."

The queen frowned and shook her head. "That's not very ladylike, Thelma."

"That's because I'm not a lady!"

'You will be... when I'm through with you,' Gabrielle thought, and smiled.

In a way, Farrott the man had died. He was now a woman, and the queen wouldn't give up on turning him into a lady, someone who would make a fine addition to her queendom.

~o~O~o~

 © 2012 by Terry Volkirch. This work may not be replicated in whole or in part by any means electronic or otherwise without the express consent of the Author (copyright holder). All Rights Reserved. This is a work of Fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional and any resemblance to real people or incidents past, present or future is purely coincidental.