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 8

Thelma hadn't found any glowing Kisprians on the night of Gabrielle's dancing debut but after several days of dancing, he first discovered two men and soon after on the same night, a woman. While the queen continued to dance, Thelma tracked down the men and woman and quietly confirmed that they were indeed from Kispri. The small group anxiously waited for the dance to end so they could begin a private little celebration.

Paying for food and drink was made easy with all of the money that the dancing queen made. She easily made enough to pay for her stage rental and new clothes with plenty left over. She also splurged and got some oil for her beloved sword. She took great satisfaction in oiling the two-handed monster, humming a Prizzarian lullaby as she worked. Thelma wisely kept his comments to himself at such times.

The two women kept in touch with the men, Durgan and Thor, who were lucky to bump into each other early on in their magical exile from Kispri. They stayed together in a small apartment and managed to muddle through until they learned the language and slowly moved up the economic ladder. It was difficult but they were both motivated, and they helped push each other.

Durgan was a little shorter and about ten years older than Gabrielle, with black hair and dark skin. He fit in well with the residents of Marzelle. It helped that he was fairly intelligent. He picked up the language slowly but surely, though his magic talent reduced the need for language. He only needed to learn enough words to sell his art. His talent was weak stone shaping, allowing him to create figurines and small statues that he sold for a tidy profit. His costs were next to nothing because he just grabbed his materials for free from the surrounding rocky terrain.

Thor was the strong silent type, perfect for him because he didn't pick up new languages very easily. He actually pretended to be deaf, pointing to his ears and shrugging and grunting. Seeing how strong he was, he was soon given manual labor jobs for the city. The townsfolk were quite kind and helped him with finances and lodging until he fell into a comfortable routine.

Once the two men met, Thor relied heavily on Durgan, but Thor still made himself useful. He could carry some of the larger stones, being taller and much younger and stronger than his partner. With his fair skin and light brown hair, he didn't blend in very well but that had made it fairly easy for Durgan to recognize him as being from Kispri. Durgan started speaking their common language to confirm his suspicion and the two of them stuck together to make the best of things ever since. Thor's talent allowed him to create a light breeze, something that wouldn't let him earn much of a living. It only made the hot nights slightly more bearable so it was lucky that Durgan found him.

That left the young woman, Dalene. Her short, slender build, dark brown hair and brown eyes made her look enough like a native to fit in. She had a little trouble with the language at first but she was able to take advantage of her magic talent to gain a foothold in the town. She could make small objects glow with a soft but fairly bright light without giving off any heat. The objects could glow for most of the night before they faded back to normal.

Dalene had been a victim of Farrott's magic so the despicable man could extort as many valuables as he could carry from her family. She was teleported to the outskirts of town and scoped out the market right away after realizing that she couldn't understand the local language. She wandered around until she found a kindly looking older woman sitting in a short, wooden chair under the tarp of an outdoor stall. The woman squinted and struggled to string small beads on a thin metal wire. The stall had no walls since they'd block any welcome breeze. There was only a tarp for shade, and with bright sunlight shining in from all directions, it was too bright for the woman to easily work with such small, finely detailed materials.

The determined Kisprian approached the woman and stood in front of her to block some of the bright light. She wore a dark green dress with a long skirt and rolled up long sleeves, looking quite out of place for the hot climate. The older woman gave her a curious look and spoke a few words, thinking she might have a customer, but it didn't yet occur to her what the young woman was trying to accomplish.

Dalene couldn't understand the woman of course, so she pointed to her ear and shook her head. The old woman looked a little confused and Dalene just smiled and looked around for a suitable object to demonstrate her talent. She ended up finding a fist-sized stone on the ground and made it glow with her magic before gently laying it in the folds of the woman's long, billowy orange skirt.

The older woman's eyes went wide with surprise, but it wasn't long before the two women traded names by speaking them and pointing at themselves. The woman, Olya, borrowed an unused chair from a neighboring stall and the two women sat closely together, facing each other to block much of the bright sunlight. Dalene helped string beads while Olya continued her own work and patiently taught her new business partner some of the language.

The glowing rock still sat in Olya's lap but she didn't really need it until the sun dipped below the roof line of a nearby building. They took advantage of the magic light to create two more necklaces each before Dalene's stomach gurgled noisily, reminding both women to eat.

The young Kisprian pointed to the stone and moved her open hand over her eyes to show that it might be a good idea to hide the glowing stone. The two women stood up with Olya slipping the stone in a large pouch that she tied on her belt. Then the older woman gently tugged on Dalene's sleeve and said, "Come," to teach yet another new word. They were virtually inseparable ever since.

The two men did well enough together, but when they relayed the story of how they came to be on Agrin, they both voiced a strong hatred for Farrott. They missed their friends and families and cursed the day they ran into the despised little man.

Dalene was just as strong in her hatred of Farrott and she voiced more than a little displeasure. She was single but she had her eye on a man that she hoped to one day marry. All of her hopes and dreams died the day she was teleported to Agrin.

Thelma kept quiet while his victims expressed their hatred for his former self. He amazed himself too, as he thought about how different he was becoming. He actually felt sympathy for his victims, and he even began to think of himself as a woman. It had happened so gradually that it snuck up on him, but he had to admit, it was inevitable. He'd stopped counting how long he'd been a woman after he reached his tenth day. It was silly because he wasn't going to turn back into a man, especially on Agrin, without magic. So he began the slow path to acceptance of his, now her, new gender. One thing she couldn't quite admit yet though, was that it was actually a good thing. Her life continued to improve in leaps and bounds.

'I wonder if Gabrielle did it on purpose,' Thelma thought. 'I wonder if she made me fat so I would be more willing to accept myself once I slimmed down. It's strange because I'm starting to take some pride in my appearance. I was such an ugly little man, ugly in so many ways. Gabrielle actually paid me a kindness that I'm not sure I can ever repay. I don't think I can ever make up for all the bad things I've done. Helping to get them back to Kispri won't make up for all the time lost with their friends and families. How could I have been so bad?!'

"I'm so sorry!" Thelma blurted out, startling the three victims but not surprising Gabrielle.

The queen added a few words for damage control, just in case. "Don't mind Thelma. She shouts a lot. She's very emotional. What she meant to say was that we're all victims of Farrott's magic and we'd like to get home if at all possible." Gabrielle tried very hard not to smirk at Thelma.

They all nodded and Dalene spoke up. "Do you think it's possible? To get home I mean."

"My mate got home from this world, and I'm working on a plan that could work. I'm not going to give up and you're all welcome to join Thelma and me."

If it was possible to get back to Kispri, the three of them would jump at the chance. They eagerly agreed to help in any way they could. In the meantime, they'd all keep to their normal routines.

~o~O~o~

"That went fairly well," Gabrielle said as she walked with Thelma back to their apartment.

"Whatever."

"Oh, come now. I watched you when Dalene told her story. You almost cried."

"I did not!"

"Thelma...."

"Okay. Maybe I got a little emotional. It's this body that done it." She blushed. Though she started to accept being a woman, she still didn't like to admit it out loud.

Gabrielle could tell Thelma's change in gender still wasn't a welcome subject so she took pity on her companion.

"That skirt is looking a little loose on you again. I think it needs to be taken in another size."

"It's not that loose, is it?" Thelma stuck her fingers between her sides and the top of the skirt to see how much give there was. She'd already dropped two sizes and couldn't believe she was close to dropping a third. Her exercise and diet were really paying off.

"Sure it is. And you know what that means."

"I'm losing weight?"

"Honestly, Thelma. Don't you remember my promise? Don't you want to go on another astral voyage?"

~o~O~o~

Two slender, curvy astral bodies flew over the northern part of Roggzer with Gabrielle searching for evidence of a road or path leading north out of the city. She wasn't having much luck. There were only three roads leading out of the large city. The south road she knew well. It led to the hot springs that she enjoyed with Marie the night before her mate slipped through the portal back to Kispri. The other two roads led directly east and west.

'How very linear of them,' the queen thought.

'What?' Thelma overheard the thought as usual. That was the normal mode of communication while they were in astral form.

'Nothing. Why don't you try flying lower and see if you can move through walls to check out some of the shops. Look for a detailed map of the area with any sort of path leading north. I once had a map of the area but it wasn't detailed enough to be helpful for areas north of the city.'

'Why? What are you going to do?'

'I was thinking of scouting north on my own.'

'What?! Don't leave me!' Thelma whined.

'Mother Moon! Give me strength!'

'I'm sorry! I'm... afraid. Okay. I admit it. I'm afraid to be left alone.'

'Yes, Thelma. That's rather obvious. But I didn't want to bore you. I haven't found anything interesting to fly over outside of the city.'

'But I'm getting a little bored with the city. This is our third trip, fourth if you count my first sample trip. Couldn't you use another pair of eyes for scouting?'

'I think you'd actually be more help looking for maps of the area. I've seen one but it's been a long time. I was hoping there'd be a road to a certain northern site that I saw on the map.'

'Well, please don't leave me. Let me help look. Please?'

'Okay, Thelma. But I'm going to be traveling very fast. No time for sight seeing. I really need to find some working technology.'

Gabrielle took her companion's silence for agreement and the two of them soon flew north.

~o~O~o~

The two astral women flew next to each other, fairly high above the ground. Gabrielle wanted Thelma to fly farther apart to cover more ground but the other woman was too afraid. They each ended up concentrating on opposite sides of their flight path.

'Hey! I see glowing!' Thelma said, pointing left.

'What? Where? Oh! I see it too. It must not be magic then.'

They slowed down and flew over a glowing pit but they couldn't get very close to it before they both felt uncomfortable.

'It kind of feels hot,' Thelma remarked, 'but not hot in a normal way. It doesn't make sense.'

'I wonder if it's an example of technology gone bad. These people used to be masters of their technology but I can see why they abandoned it if it can do things like this. Look around at the surrounding plant life.'

Thelma looked around and shrugged. 'There isn't really much around here,' she said.

'Exactly. And what there is looks stunted or just wrong somehow. Let's get out of here.'

They didn't find any technology that night. They continued north and flew over several more hot spots before Gabrielle decided she needed to get to Kispri. She led Thelma back to bed in Marzelle and hurried off to her homeworld.

~o~O~o~

"Hello again Ribbles," Gabrielle said after solidifying her astral body. She picked up Marie's toy rabbit from a dresser and stroked its fur after she slipped on her robe. "You seem to be lost. Shouldn't you be in bed?"

"The bed is taken," Marie's voice came from behind her, startling her.

The queen whirled around. "Marie! Don't do that!"

Marie giggled. "Sorry. I wanted to get a bit of a head start so I decided to ambush you."

The queen sighed. "Now I'm sorry. I have a lot to report and I'm late already. I did some scouting for technology with Lady Thelma."

Marie started with a pout but couldn't help chuckling a little when she heard Thelma's unofficial title. "Okay, Gabi. You win. This time. Let's go."

The little black-haired beauty led the way back to the empty meeting room and stopped.

"I told everyone that I'd wait for you and let them know when you arrived," Marie said.

"And they trusted you?!" Gabrielle was shocked.

"Gabi!"

"Sorry! But they know how much we love each other... how tempted we are to...."

"Have sex? It's okay, Gabi. Everybody does it. It's nothing to be ashamed of. It's not dirty!"

"You are so lucky to come from a more tolerant culture. I confess we're a bit uptight about such things, more so than I like."

"You can't even say the word, Gabi. Come on. Say it for me."

"Marie!"

"Say it, Gabi! Please?" The petite woman pouted and the queen's heart melted.

"Sex." She whispered it but Marie declared victory and celebrated by jumping up on the spare throne so she could easily reach her mate's lips and steal a quick kiss.

"You are so bad," the queen said with a smile.

"You mean I'm so good, don't you?"

"So good at being bad."

Marie smirked and jumped down to go fetch the others. She called over her shoulder as she left the room. "Please have a seat in your spare throne, your Majesty. I'll be right back with your favorite royal subjects."

~o~O~o~

Muriel, Beth, Heloise and Marie took their usual places and the queen gave a quick summary of Thelma's weight loss progress, followed by a longer discussion of her scouting trip. They already knew about finding three of Thelma's teleportation victims from a previous astral visit.

Marie added what little she knew about the glowing hot spots, calling them dead zones. Nothing much grew there and the few people who made it back after checking them out got sick and died soon after returning. It was not a nice area.

"I never traveled to the north," Marie told the group. "Almost everyone avoids the dead zones now. You would too if you'd seen some of the people who came back after visiting them. I didn't actually see them but I heard they died a horrible death. It gives me the shivers just thinking about it."

"You are so girly," Heloise said. "Are you sure you were ever a man?"

Marie just answered by sticking her tongue out at the blonde handmaiden and they both laughed.

"Okay," Muriel interrupted the fun. "How big are these dead zones? Is it possible to go around them without any danger?"

Marie stopped to think before slowly speaking. "I'm not really sure. I suppose you might be able to find a guide. I know some people still risk going north since most everyone avoids the area. There are always adventure seekers or those who think they can find some way of making money."

"That sounds good to me," Muriel said.

"Oh, Gabi! Please be careful," Marie said with a tear rolling down one cheek.

Heloise rolled her eyes at Marie's sudden emotional display and Beth countered that by sighing at her mate.

"I'll be careful, Marie," the queen assured her. "But first I have to get everyone to Roggzer so we can find more of our people as well as a guide. It'll still be at least another few weeks at the rate Thelma is losing weight."

Muriel gave Gabrielle a pointed look that didn't go unnoticed. Then the advisor made a subtle brushing away motion towards the others.

"Would you please excuse Muriel and me?" the queen asked the others. "I want to talk to her about some boring politics."

"I'll be in our bedchambers," Marie said, giving her mate a loving smile. Nothing more needed to be said, especially with Marie swaying her hips as she slowly walked away. Gabrielle couldn't help but stare at her mate's derriere until the small woman left the room.

"Come on, Heloise," Beth said. "I'll make you some hot cocoa."

"Okay. Fine. But I'd rather stay and listen. I'm sure it's more bad news."

"We aren't invited so let's not be rude."

Heloise rolled her eyes.

"I can see someone is asking for the dungeon tickle treatment," Beth teased.

The blonde blushed furiously and hurried her mate along to keep her from saying any more.

"Okay," the queen said, trying not to chuckle at her handmaidens. "They're gone. Now let's have the bad news. I'm sure Heloise had it right. I can tell by that look in your eye."

"I'll get right to it then," Muriel said. "I've heard some reports of marauders in the area. They're nothing we can't handle — only small groups so far. They have to get drunk to get up enough courage to cause trouble so they obviously still fear you. But it won't be long before more try if none of the men are changed into women."

"How much time do you think we have? Have you had any of your visions?"

Muriel sighed. She did get glimpses of the future that all too often came true. It was her magic talent and it wasn't a good one. It wasn't reliable and she couldn't control it. Most of her visions were depressing too, and they seemed to be several weeks to several years in the future. That was good at least. It gave them more time to prevent the darkness from happening.

"Only one. It's been recurring and driving me crazy." The old woman looked a little disturbed so the queen waited patiently with a sympathetic look.

"You wouldn't believe it, your Majesty. It's... crazy."

"Please, Muriel. When we're alone, call me Gabi, or Gabrielle if you insist on being formal."

"Right. Sorry. You've told me before. This vision really has me rattled."

"I can see that. Go ahead then. It'll be better if you share it with me. Perhaps we can work out what it means together."

Muriel recounted the vision. It started with thousands of rainbows, something out of a fairy's dream. The rainbows smeared on the window of a great iron ship that the queen and several other Kisprians were riding in. One of those Kisprians included a fairy. That was unusual in itself. No fairy had been seen around the queendom for dozens of season cycles.

The iron ship sailed through the void between worlds at an impossible pace and made it to Kispri just in time to see hundreds of men marching to the outer castle wall. It looked like Gabrielle would be able to stop the men but just before the flying ship landed, it seemed to explode.

"That's all I got. As usual, it was very depressing."

"And crazy," Gabrielle said in a quiet voice. "You sure got that right. Are you sure the ship exploded though?"

"I saw lots of light shooting out from it. I don't know what else could it be but an explosion."

The queen frowned, still trying to make sense of it.

"There was one more odd thing I suddenly remember now," Muriel said.

"Oh?"

"The light was a lavender color."

"That is an odd color for an explosion," the queen said.

~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.