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 5

"Hey! That's mine!" Thelma cried after Gabrielle grabbed the last roll.

"Sorry. You're too slow. Besides, I need this more than you do."

Thelma glowered but got even by grabbing the queen's cup and guzzling the last of the juice in it.

"Thelma!"

"But I'm hungry!" He prolonged the last syllable, making Gabrielle wince.

"I'm not staying in this town and you're going to have to get in much better shape so you can travel with me."

"Why do I have to go?"

"Because I'm responsible for you and I'm not leaving you alone until I'm sure you can fend for yourself. That's going to take some time, even after you get in shape."

"That's stupid. I've been doing fine here."

"That was before you became a woman. You'll find your life will be quite different now, especially after you get into shape. Trust me on that."

"But I don't wanna leave!"

"I'll build a cart, strap you to it and wheel you away if I have to, but you're coming with me. Now will you please shut up so I can think?"

Thelma sulked but didn't say anything. He didn't have to speak. His stomach made more than enough noise to make up for the lack of conversation. The hunger pangs got bad enough that he actually considered scrounging for scraps off the other tables.

"Is that your stomach?" Gabrielle finally asked.

"Yes! It's driving me crazy. How will I ever lose weight if this keeps up?"

The queen thought for a moment about that. She knew that exercise could help suppress the appetite, and drinking lots of water after exercise would fill a person up without adding permanent weight. She'd also have to see about finding things to eat that were lean yet filling. It might be challenging, but not impossible.

'I just hope my magic didn't somehow make her perpetually hungry to keep her fat.'

"Okay, Thelma. The evening meal is over. It's time for a walk."

"But that'll just make me hungrier!"

"If you're good, I'll let you have a cluster of mung fruit afterwards," said Gabrielle. 'And lots of water,' she thought.

~o~O~o~

The two women walked on the outskirts of town, away from heavy foot traffic. They followed narrow roads lined with bricks and obvious cart paths over the baked, reddish-brown dirt. The orange sun loomed very low in the sky but the oppressive heat and dust still made the exercise uncomfortable.

They went as fast as Thelma could handle without a rest, which made for a very slow pace. Gabrielle wasn't concerned though. It wasn't much exercise for her.

"Is that the best you can do?" the queen said. She meant well. She hoped to help motivate her large companion into working harder.

"Easy... for you... to say," Thelma gasped. He wanted to say more. He wanted to complain. But he was too out of breath.

Gabrielle noticed. 'Nice,' she thought. 'It's much more peaceful this way.'

Thelma continued trudging along with her tall companion walking easily beside him. He really hated being so out of shape. Even getting up in the morning was a workout.

Sweating was the worst part. Every little action made him sweat, even getting out of bed. By the end of the day, his clothes were damp and smelly. He'd always been such a fastidious little man, but he found his preferred lifestyle to be impossible with his new body. He hated his body!

"Rest... please," he gasped. He was mentally as well as physically exhausted.

"Okay. Okay. We'll rest. But only until you get your breath back."

Thelma frowned but nodded. He really did want to lose the weight. He just hoped it was possible.

He felt enslaved by his stomach. Every sight, odor and even mention of food made it gurgle. The greedy thing was never satisfied. He tried to hold out but his hands betrayed him and he reached for every little morsel he could.

It didn't help that Gabrielle had left him alone all day. He expected her to come back for the mid day meal and ration their money and the food they bought with it. He couldn't depend on himself to do it.

'At least I gave her my money to hold for me from now on,' he thought. 'I won't be able to buy too much food again.'

Table scraps still tempted him though. His stomach and weak will would find ways to torture him.

"Okay!" Gabrielle said suddenly. "Break's over. Let's get back to it. We still have another lap around the town to do before bath time."

Thelma groaned as the two of them started walking again.

"We'll have none of that. This is good for you."

"Hey," he decided to speak before he got out of breath again. "I just had a thought."

"Oh?"

"You told me we had to stick together. That's fine. It makes sense. But why do you have to leave? We have it good here."

"Ah, yes," Gabrielle said quietly. "You don't know. How could you?"

For once in his life, Thelma decided to be patient and wait for an answer, if one was forthcoming. He needed to save his breath anyway as he'd soon be huffing and puffing again.

The queen thought about not divulging her reasons for leaving town, but she realized that Thelma had a right to know. If she insisted on staying together, everything she did would affect both of them. Besides, treating Thelma with a little respect might pay off eventually. She had to try something to start her companion down the path to becoming a lady.

"Do you realize how much men hate my queendom?"

"Uh...," Thelma stammered, wondering if that was a trick question. "Yeah. I hate it."

"Oh! Right. I should've known. Okay then," the queen continued. "You sent me here, but what if I found a way to get home, even if for only a limited time and in a limited way?"

"Huh?"

"Okay. I can see I'm being too subtle. Let's just say I found a strange way to visit home while I'm asleep -- emphasis on the word visit. I can visit but I can't stay. Okay?"

Thelma nodded.

"The only problem is, my magic talent doesn't work when I'm back on Kispri. Do you know what men would do to my queendom if they realized I was no longer a threat to their manhood?"

Thelma's eyes went wide. He'd never put all the facts together until that moment.

Just after he'd sent Gabrielle to another world, he thought he had it made. He wouldn't mention that he had the help of a little boy's camouflage talent -- a boy that he'd kidnapped. He'd only say that he caught her by surprise on one of her secret walks outside her castle, and he used his talent to send her away. He thought he'd be a hero for ridding the land of the queen that could change men into women. Things didn't turn out that way however.

At the first town he came to, a place that knew him well, they'd treated him just as roughly as ever. They'd sent out all of the town enforcers, ensuring that he couldn't send them all away before they killed him, so he fled.

As he stumbled along a cart path in the middle of nowhere, he soon figured out his mistake. It had been far too short a time for everyone to know that the queen had been sent away. He had to lay low and wait for the news to spread. Once that happened, he could step in and take credit for it. They'd have to believe him because no one else could do what he did.

So he waited. He waited a very long time. But by all accounts, the queen still ruled. It didn't make sense.

At first he thought the queen had been replaced by an imposter, and he hoped that people would soon realize it. But as the weeks rolled by, it became apparent that whoever it was, seemed to be genuine. If that was the case, it would be the first time anyone had come back after he sent them away. Impossible! Yet nothing else made sense.

"You understand now, don't you?" Gabrielle asked after seeing the knowing look on her companion's face.

Thelma slowly nodded.

"Then you realize why I have to leave this town. There's strange but powerful magic on this world and I have to find some of it to get home."

Again, Thelma nodded, and though he found himself breathing very heavily from his walk, he had to ask a quick question. "How?"

"Ah. That would take awhile to explain. But I guess we don't have much else to do for the moment."

Gabrielle told Thelma all about the great city of Roggzer, where she happened upon a bookstore and purchased a map that led to a magic portal with a ferocious giant guardian. She patiently explained that the portal was destroyed by the guardian before she could use it, but if another portal or some other great magic could be found, she could possibly get home.

Thelma grunted to show he was listening and the queen continued.

She also talked about astral projection and how she could solidify her astral body. She could do almost everything back home that she could do with her physical body, with two important exceptions. She could only do it for a limited time while she slept and she couldn't use her gender changing talent while in astral form. It was also worth noting that she normally projected home only when she had a safe place to sleep for the night, otherwise she felt it necessary to stand guard over her physical body.

Since her time back home was limited, she didn't have a full schedule, and rumors began to circulate. People wondered why their queen rarely appeared in public. She rarely showed up for battle practice and she never went hunting. Something must be wrong, and they were right.

She knew she couldn't get away with her deception forever. She just hoped she had a little more time, especially since she had to help Thelma. And after talking about her nightly travels and vulnerability, she hoped Thelma wouldn't take advantage of it. She showed the other woman trust, again, in the hopes of getting better behavior in return.

"Wow," Thelma gasped. It was all he could get out for the moment. But he'd be sure to bring up the subject after they both had their bath later that evening. Astral projection sounded truly amazing.

~o~O~o~

A string of small bathing huts lined the bank of a large stream that cascaded down a series of large rocks and small cliffs near the southern edge of town. A different owner operated each hut to offer a unique cleaning experience, most of which were private.

A few of the huts had a quick lather and rinse system that men favored. Those huts sprayed water from above after a customer used the soap. Women preferred true baths in a large clay or stone basin. The baths offered a steady supply of hot water, various soaps and soft cleaning utensils, and some of the fancier baths included being surrounded by lit candles and a musician, female of course, to play mood music.

Once again, the sheer variety of bathing experiences amazed Gabrielle. Back on Kispri, people such as her handmaiden, Beth, would use their magic talent to heat water for various purposes, including baths. There would be some standard soap and a standard wash rag, and that about covered bathing on Kispri.

She wished she could try some of the fancier baths, but they cost too much. In fact, she considered all of the private baths to be a luxury. They all required a fee, and for the time being, she couldn't justify spending money on anything except food and clothing. Sometimes budgets were a royal pain.

That left the free public bath huts that stood downstream from all of the other huts. There were three public baths, all operated by town officials. Neither Gabrielle nor Thelma liked them, even though all of the bath huts released waste water off to the side to keep the water clean downstream. The problem wasn't with the water cleanliness. The problem stemmed from the fact that the public baths were so popular. They contained several basins and allowed several people to bathe at the same time and within sight of each other. Men and older boys were kept separate from women and girls, but it still bothered the two women from Kispri. They weren't accustomed to bathing publicly.

So they did what they could to minimize their embarrassment. That meant going late, with Gabrielle insisting on going after Thelma instead of at the same time.

Thelma had been lucky the first night of being a woman. No one else occupied the public bath hut he entered. He took his bath and slowly shuffled back to his room. He wasn't so lucky that second night.

The two of them stood just outside the public bath entrance holding their towels and clean clothes. Thelma started to enter but he froze.

"What's wrong?" Gabrielle asked.

"There's someone in there!" he hissed.

"So? Just go inside and get it over with."

"Not with a woman in there. No way."

"Oh, Thelma. Please. Go take your bath."

"No!"

The urge to shout back nearly overpowered the disciplined queen and she had to pause a short time to think. She couldn't force Thelma to bathe. The large woman was too heavy to push around. Threats would work, except using them too often might reduce their effectiveness since she wouldn't allow herself to follow through on them. Reasoning was definitely out of the question too, so that only left one option.

"Fine then. Move out of the way. I'll go first this time, but only because we don't have much time before the baths close for the night."

"Good! Go!"

Thelma wore a smug grin and Gabrielle couldn't help herself. She slapped the large woman hard in the face.

Thelma held a hand to his stinging cheek and meekly moved away from the entrance. Tears started forming in his eyes.

"I'm sorry, but you asked for that. You won't always get your way and you'll eventually have to fit in as a woman. Think about that while I take my bath."

With that, the queen went inside, leaving her troubled companion.

Thelma leaned back against the wall of the hut, blushing with shame as he thought about his bad behavior. From there he could hear everything that went on in the bath, and he found that his lesson hadn't ended.

"There isn't much soap left," Gabrielle called out. "But I'll try to leave you some. You should've gone first." Then the queen started speaking the strange language of Agrin to talk to the other bather, an old woman by the sound of it.

'Taking a bath with an old woman wouldn't be so bad,' Thelma thought, and he resolved to go first next time, no matter what.

~o~O~o~

Back in their room, the two women settled down to get ready for bed. A gentle breeze and light conversation made the heat more bearable so they chatted.

Thelma got his bath, by himself, but he didn't bring up the subject of baths again that night. Neither did Gabrielle. Both women laid back on their beds and stared up at the ceiling in the dark to discuss more important things.

"How did you find me?" Thelma asked. "Did you use astral projection?"

"Very good. Yes, I did."

"I'm not a complete idiot, you know."

"I'm sorry, Thelma. Most people have never heard of astral projection. They either wouldn't believe it or wouldn't understand it."

"It is... different."

"Yes, well, getting back to your first question. I used it to find you. But I had help."

Gabrielle told the story of pulling Marie's astral body out to track down Thelma as her former male self. Since Marie had met Thelma as a man, she could recognize and eventually find him. It took three weeks after he was found before Gabrielle made her way to their current location, the town of Marzelle, and there they both were, sharing a room together. If anyone had told the queen how the two of them would end up together, she would've said they were crazy.

Both women had a nervous laugh.

Thelma lapsed into silence for a short time, thinking about how nice astral travel sounded. Floating weightless all around the universe certainly beat walking and sweating buckets. But then he keyed in on something else.

"Who's Marie and where did I meet her?" he wondered aloud. "I don't remember anyone by that name."

Gabrielle knew of course, but she held her tongue, something that kept getting harder to do the longer stayed with her annoying companion. She'd relaxed her body and her guard along with it, carelessly giving away the part of the story about Marie.

As a man, Thelma had intended to rape Marie, something that any woman would find very hard, if not impossible, to forgive. The queen couldn't forgive. Not yet anyway. So rather than say anymore and say or do something she'd regret, she kept quiet.

Another awkward silence passed before Thelma got back to his previous thought.

"Gabrielle?"

"Yes?"

"Do you suppose... sometime... maybe... you could take me on an astral trip?"

That question caught the queen by surprise.

"I don't know. I'm not sure that would be a good idea."

"Why not?"

Gabrielle didn't dare give her all the reasons. It would take too long and she'd probably end up wringing the large woman's neck before she finished. In the end, she decided to give only one, hoping it would be good enough.

"Well... to be fair, you need to give me a good reason. I've been working hard to help you but you've been making things very difficult for me."

"Oh."

Gabrielle could tell that Thelma was sulking. She could hear it in the woman's voice.

"That doesn't mean I won't ever take you. I just want something in return."

"Like what?"

Asking for some good behavior might be too much to expect, but there was a more immediate goal that was well within reason.

"I'll take you on a short astral journey each time your skirt needs tailoring to a smaller size. How's that?"

"Promise?"

"I promise."

Trading astral travel for weight loss seemed fair enough to Thelma. He could use the incentive to continue the torture of Gabrielle's workout schedule. The skin on his thighs and upper arms burned from the rubbing and chafing he got when he walked. Every step was agony.

"At least it takes my mind off food," he said quietly to himself, without taking any comfort in the thought.

He'd hoped to go with Gabrielle that night. He'd desperately wanted to be free of his body, wanted to float weightlessly with none of the messy fuss and pain of the physical world. The rejection had almost killed his spirit. If he hadn't been so afraid of death, he'd have....

Thoughts of suicide popped into his head and he suddenly cried.

"Oh, Thelma." The queen couldn't help but notice Thelma's sudden change in mood.

Gabrielle got up off her bedding on the floor and laid on the bed next to the depressed woman, offering what comfort she could. The heat made hugging uncomfortable, so she lightly touched Thelma's forearm and rubbed her hair a little.

She wanted to hold firm. Giving in went against her principles of fair play as well as her dislike for the unpleasant woman. If she gave in, things might never get better! Still, a little something called compassion demanded to be added to the mix, and it melted her heart.

"Okay. Okay. Hush now. I'll give you a sample tonight. Cry yourself out. It'll help you sleep. Then I'll join you and take you for a quick trip to Roggzer."

Thelma gave a deep, shuddering sniff and managed to calm down enough to speak. "Really?" he asked in a small voice.

"Yes. Now let's get some sleep. I have a lot of astral traveling to do tonight."

The large woman trembled, fighting a rush of emotions. And as he sifted through them, he came upon something unfamiliar, something that bubbled up and forced its way out.

"Gabrielle?"

"Yes?"

"Uh... thanks."

"You're welcome," the surprised queen said, returning to her bed on the floor. "Good night, Thelma."

"Yeah. Whatever."

He tried to stay in character, but the former man rediscovered something he hadn't experienced since early childhood. He felt gratitude. It made him feel good about himself for the first time since he could remember, and it made him smile as he drifted off to sleep.

~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.