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.

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Here it is! Here's the last chapter. With this, the story is complete. I hope you enjoy.

Return of the Queen
by Terry Volkirch

CHAPTER 20

Fire burned along the sharper edges of the ship as it slipped through the upper atmosphere at dozens of times the speed of sound. It looked like a giant fireball, impressive enough to stop the barbarians in their tracks if they'd had the inclination to look slightly above the eastern horizon. The barbarians didn't look east though. They only had eyes for the south city wall and what waited for them beyond. Some just wanted the gold. Some just wanted the women. Most wanted both.

The barbarian leader had some great difficulty and a fair amount of stress assembling his army. Only through blood, sweat and alcohol could he pull it off. That and his relatively high intelligence. He bullied and mentored as necessary to get everyone into place and ready for the attack. He just needed to give the order, right after he took a brief moment to stroke his own ego.

'Did a great job, I did,' he thought. 'This is gonna be the best battle in history. I'll be a legend!'

Even if he did pull it off, historians wouldn't give him more than a footnote in any text book. There was no grand change of ownership of any significant tracts of land. There was no defeat of any large nation or monstrous villain. It was just a simple, desperate pillage and plunder operation. It might be impressive for barbarians to achieve, but it wouldn't impress anyone else. It would just upset a lot of people in one city. That didn't stop the leader though.

When he was done, he did his little superstitious pre-battle ritual of throwing a perfectly good drumstick of meat over his right shoulder with his left hand. Then he opened his mouth to sound the call to battle... but he was interrupted.

Loud screams erupted from his right. They sounded like his men at first, but ended up sounding more like his mother when she was angry at his father. He turned to his right and saw the cause. A huge iron monster trailing wisps of black smoke appeared, looking like something from his worst nightmare. It flew low at them, shooting out lavender rays of light that exploded around groups of his men, turning them into women.

"Impossible," he muttered. Then, with more force, he shouted, "Impossible!!"

But it wasn't impossible. The ship's fore weapons had been converted to emit a copy of Gabrielle's magic. The magic shot out and turned any men it hit into women, just as the queen had done so many times.

"Forward!" the leader shouted. He was never one to give up, and actually, he was fairly good at improvising. The attack would go ahead, just not quite how it was originally planned.

The leader and his advanced force continued ahead with about a third of his men following. Another third had begun to run away in the opposite direction and the remaining men had already been changed into women. The new women sat on the ground with stunned looks on their faces, their armor too large and their weapons too heavy to effectively wield for the majority of them.

The ship slowed and gave chase to the deserters, making sure each and every one of them were turned into women, just as Gabrielle had requested. Then the great ship slowly turned and moved up from behind the attacking force, focusing the lavender beam to pick them off one-by-one without the leader realizing it, again just as Gabrielle requested.

The queen sat on the bridge appraising the battle displayed before her on the ship's view screen. She didn't smile yet, but she liked what she saw. It was a good day to feminize.

~o~O~o~

The two most important women in Gabrielle's life still stood at the window in her sitting room when the ship flew into view. Marie didn't miss the queen's grand entrance. But she missed most of what followed as she hurried to join the battle. Muriel gave a half-hearted attempt to stop her but soon turned back to the window to enjoy the show.

'There's the iron ship and there's the lavender explosion,' the older woman thought, 'just like in my vision. Welcome home, your Majesty.'

Marie continued running until she got to the inner castle wall, where guards stopped her from opening the inner gate. One of them didn't know about Marie's talent though. The guard tried to use her magic talent to put Marie to sleep but the small woman's talent reflected the magic back and put the guard to sleep instead. In the confusion, the small determined woman slipped past the remaining guards and ran through the city.

By the time she made it to the south gate in the outer wall, she was breathing quite hard. With all of the activity at the gate, she knew she didn't have a chance of getting out so she grabbed the first bit of rope she found, ran up the stairs to the top of the wall and quickly tied one end of the rope to a merlon on the crenelated wall. She rappelled down the other side before anyone could stop her. They weren't expecting anyone trying to get out of the city.

~o~O~o~

Gabrielle had begun to get impatient. There were still a lot of men remaining. It would take too long to pick them off one-by-one and if the ship changed them all at once, the leader would change too. Gabrielle didn't like that. She wanted the leader for herself.

Mister Wizard set the magic to approximate what the men would look like as their own sister. There was no conscious attempt to control the gender change any more than that. Gabrielle did the same thing whenever she changed large groups at one time. But she had something special planned for the leader. She had one final score to settle.

"Set the ship down," Gabrielle said. "I want to talk to them."

"You could use the ship's sound system instead," the computer offered.

"Oh! You mean like Trillian did back on Agrin, the night she scared Fritz?"

"Correct."

The computer set up a microphone and the queen spoke into it. Her amplified voice rang out, freezing the men's blood cold.

"Hold, men! I, Queen Gabrielle, command you to stop. Move aside and reveal your leader to me."

The men stopped and turned but they all just muttered in confusion.

"Don't stop now!" the leader yelled. "Follow me to women, gold and glory!"

At first, none of the men budged. But then a few started parting to give a clear line of sight to the leader, with more and more following their lead. They divided into two groups of men with the leader alone between them.

"Okay, Mister Wizard," Gabrielle said. "How many men are in the left group?"

"One hundred thirty seven."

"And how many men are in the right group?"

"One hundred sixty eight."

The smaller group bunched closer together, limited by how far they could move by a cliff that overlooked the river valley. The slightly larger group had no such restriction so they were quite widely spaced. The queen didn't think she could change them all at the same time. She wanted a record but she contented herself with the potential for a new personal best. The ship could have the honors of an absolute record. She wanted to make sure they were all changed as quickly as possible, just in case. Her queendom was more important than setting records.

She rubbed her hands together when she was finally ready to proceed. "When I use my magic talent, you zap the group on the right. I'll get the group on the left. And, like I requested, I get the leader."

"As you wish, Gabi."

The queen hurried out in her battle leathers with her trusty two-handed sword. She ran to within about thirty paces of the men before she stopped and called forth her magic.

"Now, Mister Wizard!" she shouted as she zapped the group on the left. The ship took the other group as agreed and all but one man now appeared as a woman. A few stood but as before, but the majority flopped to the ground on their butts with stunned looks on their faces.

Then it was time for the leader.

The last man standing had a scowl that could scare even the meanest dog away from its last meal. He didn't think he'd be fast enough but he wasn't about to go out without a fight. He just started to call forth his magic when a scream interrupted him.

"Gabi!! Gabi!! You're back!!"

It was Marie, running between the leader and the larger group of new women. She distracted both Gabrielle and the leader, causing him to wonder what was going on. But it didn't take him long to recover. Just after Marie reached her mate, his scowl returned.

"You and your little slut ain't gonna stop me!" the leader blustered. He took advantage of Marie interfering with the queen and called forth his magic, shooting out a large fireball that was aimed directly at Gabrielle and Marie.

Gabrielle's reflexes almost kicked in. She was ready to dive for cover but Marie stopped her by fiercely clinging to her mate.

"No!" the small woman shouted. The fireball approached but it warped and swirled around the two women without harming them. Then it slowly started rebounding, picking up speed as it sailed back at the leader. Marie's magic talent saved them.

The leader stood frozen in the path of his own deadly creation. "Impossible," he muttered, over and over.

The fireball began to dissipate as it flew, but it was still very dangerous by the time it hit him. Without any form of protection, since he never needed it before, he was hit and burned very badly by his own magic. He collapsed with his hair still burning and mercifully lost consciousness.

Gabrielle took action immediately, slipping from her mate's grasp and turning to shout back at the ship. "Get a metal doctor out here at once! I'm not losing him!"

Marie was confused until Gabrielle explained her plans for the barbarian leader. They spoke as they trailed behind the metal doctor that carried the badly burned man back into the ship.

~o~O~o~

The leader lived, thanks to the advanced medical capabilities in the ship's sick bay. He looked terrible but he'd recover. A metal doctor used more of its magical technology to start a new, healthy layer of skin. The man just needed some drug induced rest while he sloughed off his outer layer of badly burned skin.

Gabrielle and Marie stood by the man's bed, looking at him for a short time, with Marie finally voicing what her mate was already thinking.

"Do you really have to change him, Gabi? He doesn't have any more men to lead. He won't be getting into any more trouble."

The queen nodded agreement. "I'm still upset about what he did but yes, I think he's rendered harmless enough. I'm sure many of the new women won't be accepting Prizzaria as their new home. They'll likely end up back at their old homes and this one man won't be able to force himself on them. They'd kill him in his sleep if he did."

Marie cringed.

"Actually," Gabrielle continued, "I think it's more likely that they'll improve his manners. If he wants to get anywhere with any of them, he'll have to be on his best behavior."

"Ew!" the small woman gasped. "How could they even think of bedding him?!"

"Marie. Marie. Marie. You know how my talent works. Some of the new women will likely be attracted to men, and many will want children. Who else will they have to get them pregnant? I guess there might be boys and older men where they came from but this unlikely specimen is the only real alternative for the near future."

"Dang. I hate the idea of continuing his bloodline but I guess it can't be helped."

Gabrielle laughed. "I wonder if we can get some more help from Mister Wizard for that," she said.

"Mister Wizard?"

"Yes?" the computer answered, not realizing that the question wasn't addressed to it.

Marie's eyes went wide. "Who said that?" she squeaked.

The queen smiled but otherwise kept her amusement to herself. She introduced her mate to the computer and talked a little about how they met before the computer reminded them they had a question.

"Right," Gabi said. "Can you tell if this man is able to sire children?"

"Scanning…. Yes. His viable sperm count exceeds average levels for Agrin men."

Marie wrinkled her nose. "Gabi, I know we talked about getting pregnant but you can't mean to use him, can you?"

"Oh, please. You know me better than that. I'm just taking advantage of some things that I've learned about technology." The queen turned to the computer display behind the bed. "Is it possible to change this man so that he can only sire girls?"

The small woman looked a little confused.

"Scanning…. Yes. I can reduce his chances of conceiving a male child to negligible levels. Would you like me to proceed?"

"Oh, yes," the queen said. "Please proceed."

"Working…."

"Gabi?" Marie said. "Are you serious? Mister Wizard can really do things like that?"

Her mate nodded. "He copied my magic talent. He had to… scan me to do that but it didn't take him long to figure it out. I figured that if he can do that much, as well as heal normally fatal injuries, he could affect fertility."

"But what if he does only have girls? He'll eventually get old and die. Then what will they do?"

"Like I said before, they'll likely have young boys back home. There will always be men somewhere in any case. Men and women will always find each other and keep their bloodlines going. They'll just have an excess of women for a long, long time, and that can only improve their behavior."

Marie nodded and then remembered something important. "Oh! Gabi! It just finally occurred to me. If Mister Wizard can heal, we can use his help. There were dozens of badly burned guards from the earlier attack."

The queen chastised herself more than her mate. She should've thought of that herself. She immediately sent two metal doctors back to the castle with Marie. Then she turned to leave. She still had other passengers on board to deal with. They were all home and should be packing up their few possessions and getting ready to leave the ship. She also had hundreds of new women to help. But before she left the sick bay, the computer brought up yet another interesting subject.

"Gabi?"

"Yes, Mister Wizard?"

"Did I hear correctly? Did your mate say you wished to conceive children?"

"Oh. Yes, of course we do. But that can wait. I have a lot to do." She turned to leave again but froze when she heard the computer's next words.

"I can impregnate you," it said. "I can impregnate you both."

~o~O~o~

With the last of the Kisprians except for Trillian and the queen off the ship, Gabrielle paced anxiously in sick bay, waiting for her mate. She'd tasked Danelle with finding Marie and sending her back to the ship as fast as possible. She didn't have long to wait.

"What is it, Gabi? What's wrong?" the small woman managed to get out between gasps of breath.

"Nothing's wrong. I just found out that we're going to have a baby."

"What?!"

The queen patiently explained how not only can they both get pregnant, their children would be related to both of them. Mister Wizard could mix their bloodlines. And not only that, the development of the unborn baby could be accelerated into the second trimester. Women of Agrin used to take advantage of their advanced technology to skip past the unpleasant symptoms of the first and last trimester. Skipping ahead meant that the queen wouldn't have to contradict the rumors of her pregnancy. She could remain queen without anyone questioning her honesty! She was overjoyed. The only limitation with mixing their DNA was that they could only bear girls but that wasn't really an issue with either women.

"This is wonderful!" Marie gushed as she watched Gabrielle lying on the bed next to the barbarian leader. The queen's womb slowly swelled and within less than a candle mark, she was halfway into her second trimester. And after that, it was Marie's turn.

"Are you sure about this?" Gabi asked her mate as she slowly got up off the bed.

Marie slowly nodded, looking a little nervous but determined. She helped Gabrielle up and looked with awe at her mate's abdomen.

"And you don't mind starting at the first trimester? Too many people have seen you and know you're not pregnant. We can't have you showing."

Again, Marie nodded. She laid down on the same bed that Gabrielle just vacated and closed her eyes. "Do it," she said, setting her jaw. There was no going back.

Gabi pressed her hands lightly against her womb and smiled down on her mate. She was so happy and proud of her brave little flower.

~o~O~o~

The two pregnant women left the ship with Marie quite excited.

"I don't feel any different," the small woman said. Are you sure it worked?"

"You felt our baby kick in my womb, Marie. You know it's real."

"Oh! But what about when you were outside earlier? What if someone saw you when you weren't pregnant?"

"Don't worry, Marie. I was dressed in my bulky battle leathers, and I was too far away with lots of… women in between. Let's not talk about that any more. Please?"

"But what about…?"

Gabrielle held up a hand. "No more questions, my Love. It's time to help these women." She pointed to the hundreds of confused women still sitting on the ground in a daze. Many of the earliest victims had wandered back to their tents but the only conversation in the area took place between the two pregnant women.

~o~O~o~

As predicted, several dozen of the new women wouldn't have anything to do with Prizzaria. They packed up their tents and trudged back south to their homelands. The queen managed to get them to accept a little help in the form of some food and clothing but the barbarian women held their heads up proudly and moved on.

The leader would heal within a few days and be sent on his way. The women were warned about him but they knew they had the advantage. They'd keep him in his place.

The rest of the barbarian women wisely accepted the queen's hospitality. They'd be given temporary housing, food and clothing until they discovered the new magic talents that came with their change in sex. And once they found their talents, they'd be helped to get a job. Some were afraid, many were angry but nearly all of them were at least happy to still be alive. They'd find their niche in Prizzaria and eventually accept their new lives, even if they didn't accept their womanhood.

After packing away their tents and helping to clean up their encampment, they entered the outer wall of the city and were welcomed with open arms. It surprised them to be accepted when they had such ill intentions and many of them were overcome with emotion, the tears rolling down their smooth cheeks. It was a good start.

~o~O~o~

With all of the activity going on, one small person had been overlooked. She made her presence known by mid afternoon though.

"Attention, Queen Gabrielle! Attention, Queen Gabrielle!" a voice from the ship called. "Your presence is requested in the iron ship." The voice was loud enough that it shook the front wooden gate and scared many of the citizens of the city.

The queen hurried back to the ship. She'd left the barbarian leader in the care of Mister Wizard in the ship but she'd forgotten all about Trillian. She was a little annoyed that she had yet to see Muriel but at least she had her mate shadowing her.

"What is it, Trillian?" she shouted as soon as the main door closed behind her and Marie.

"Your Majesty," Trillian said, appearing out of thin air. Invisibility was yet another of her magic talents. "I humbly request that I be allowed to remain in the ship and study its magic. I've been listening in on all of your conversations with Mister Wizard and I am in awe. Please allow me to stay."

Marie was speechless — more from seeing a tiny flying woman appear out of thin air than anything else — and even Gabrielle was shocked. The queen never expected such a request. She thought Trillian would disappear back to her home without even saying good bye. "What about your mate?" she managed to ask.

"Ah, yes. I would also like to request that Burdock can join me here. I plan to sneak back to my home and bring him here, with your gracious permission."

The queen had to think about it for a moment. She didn't think it would be a good idea to let everyone have free access to the ship. Some tours might be a good idea but not unlimited access. But then she remembered that the ship wasn't really hers. She was as much a passenger as everyone else.

"Mister Wizard?"

"Yes, Gabi?"

"What do you think of Trillian's request? What do you think of the idea of staying here?"

"Trillian's request is acceptable. I find her existence to be interesting. I'll help her to understand technology in exchange for studying her, if she agrees."

The queen looked at the fae, who vigorously nodded her head.

"It looks like it's a deal then," Gabi said. "And I guess that means you don't mind staying. You didn't exactly say. You don't plan on taking Trillian and her mate back to Agrin, do you?"

"No, Gabi. Trillian has expressed her negative view of Agrin. I believe it to be in everyone's best interest if I remain here in any case. The people of Agrin couldn't handle technology. They weren't ready for it and it almost destroyed them. Here, I believe I can help explore the possibility of mixing magic and technology. Perhaps that would be best for humans, and if so, at some later date I can go back to Agrin and help them develop both magic and technology.

"I believe that to be a wise decision, Mister Wizard. I welcome the iron ship and your presence in it. May we have a long and beautiful friendship."

"Thank you, good Queen Gabi."

Marie cheered then. She didn't really understand what was going on but she was caught up in the grand moment.

Gabrielle laughed good-naturedly at her mate. Trillian just cocked her head.

"Is this your mate that you talked about, your Majesty?" the fae asked. "Another former man?"

The tall woman made introductions and Marie bounced a little on the balls of her feet. She was so excited to meet the tiny flying woman.

Trillian raised an eyebrow but kept her doubt about Marie being born a man to herself.

~o~O~o~

Everyone was accounted for and taken care of, including Julian — he'd wandered back outside the city wall and finally got the queen to grant his life-long wish. Gabrielle's fellow shipmates would take care of the children and themselves but there was still a lot left to do. The queen remembered her armor and sword that was buried by the barbarian men and left to retrieve them. She did ask Mister Wizard if he could help but digging was one task he wasn't suited for. That was just as well for Gabrielle. She realized that she felt it her duty to dig them up. She wanted to dig them up. She hadn't had enough true physical exercise for too long. She wanted to make sure she could collapse for a good night's sleep after all the excitement.

Being hindered by her pregnancy didn't occur to her but she compensated nicely once she forcefully chased away all those who offered help. She took her time, wearing a comfortable, slightly over-sized forest green tunic and dark gray leggings, humming as she worked. It only took her three hours of slow digging in the fairly loose dirt, with several short breaks for water and a little to eat. She dug off to one side to create a ramp down to the bottom so she could get out, otherwise it wouldn't have taken her quite so long. Pregnant warrior queens weren't known for being delicate.

She let others clean up her battle gear with instructions for setting up a special cabinet and plaque, explaining that she wanted the gear on display for its part in preventing the barbarians from attacking the city. The guards looked a little confused and she realized she needed to give a short speech very soon, once she got back into the city.

For the moment, she was too tired from the digging and let Marie take her by the arm back into the city. She didn't make it very far past the outer gate though.

"Your Majesty!" shouted an older woman in a long black dress. She slowly walked forward until she was only a few paces from the queen before she continued.

"Welcome home, your Majesty." Her eyes dropped to Gabrielle's abdomen and nearly bugged out of her head when she realized that a pillow couldn't possibly be stuffed under the queen's thin tunic. "Great Sister Sun!" she shouted, before quickly recovering her composure. "How could you dig for so long in your condition?" she admonished.

"I'm fine, Muriel," the queen answered. "And I believe I have a victory speech to give, just as soon as I clean myself up and get a little rest."

The citizens cheered as they watched their beloved queen slowly walk back to her castle.

~o~O~o~

Gabrielle sat on her spare throne with quill and paper, having just finished her speech. She could explain away her wild battle the day before by saying she had discovered a new type of magic that she'd soon be sharing with others as she had time. And the iron ship was just part of a secret mission she was on to aid her in her defense of the city. It was all true, even if it wasn't exactly the whole truth. She'd give her speech and she'd keep her queendom. The barbarian men were no longer a threat. Prizzaria would thrive.

The walk back to the castle was interesting. Gabrielle quietly explained her pregnancy as well as some of the other wonders of the great iron ship. And Muriel told the queen about Misty, the only casualty of yesterday's battle. The pair made plans to give the guard a grand memorial service, something that Gabrielle would mention in her speech. But the speech could wait a candle mark or so. That just left one small task for the queen, one that she could finish thanks to Durgan's thoughtful delivery of a certain item from the ship.

"Thanks, Durgan."

"Thank you, Gabrielle. It was a wild ride, almost worth being stuck on that other world for so long."

"Well, at least Farrott won't be sending anyone else there ever again."

"What? Did you take care of him then?"

"In a manner of speaking."

Durgan gave her a stern look.

"Yes, Durgan. I changed Farrott into a woman."

"When? How? You were marooned along with the rest of us. I don't get it."

"Thelma was Farrott," Gabrielle said, smiling.

"What?! That's crazy."

"I'm trusting you with keeping quiet about the details of our little adventure so I might as well tell you the whole story. You've been a lot of help and you deserve to get the whole story."

Durgan just nodded and listened with amazement as Gabrielle told him about Marie's talent and how it caused Farrott's talent to backfire, sending the man to the same world they just left. Gabrielle hunted him down and tried to get him to send her home but his magic talent only seemed to work one way. He couldn't send her home and she didn't want to take the chance that his talent might still be able to somehow threaten the people of that other world so she changed him into a woman. That woman was Thelma. She explained how she felt honor bound to help Thelma and the rest is history.

"She paid her dues, Durgan. She suffered from her change and with her new magic talent, she helped find you and the others so we could all get back home together. She's a completely different person now, so I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive her."

Durgan thought a moment and then surprised the queen with a hearty laugh. "I forgive her," he said after he finished laughing.

"Excellent. Then I guess it's good bye, Durgan. May the goddesses smile upon you."

"Good bye, your Majesty. Rule well."

The two of them hugged and when they separated, Durgan had a puzzled look on his face.

"You really are pregnant?" he asked.

"Yes… half way through my second trimester thanks to a little magic."

Durgan just shook his head and smiled. Then he was gone. Gabrielle stood there for a short time and then remembered Durgan's delivery.

She sent for Marie and had her stand with her eyes closed and her arms out. Then she gently set Marie's family sword on her mate's arms.

The small woman opened her eyes and squealed with joy before smothering Gabi with kisses.

"Yes," Gabrielle said. "Marcus actually gave me the sword. I asked for it when I noticed it was hanging, unused, on his wall. I thought we might be able to give it a better home."

"Oh, Gabi. It's wonderful. Thank you!"

"You're quite welcome, my Love."

Marie smiled and then decided it was time for another surprise. "Now it's your turn," she said. "Sit down and I"ll be right back."

She left the room and soon returned holding a steaming mug. She walked over to her mate and handed her the mug.

Gabi held the mug in one hand while absently rubbing her abdomen with her other hand. She raised the mug to her mouth and took a small sip, her eyes half closed with pleasure.

"We're together at last," the queen muttered.

"What? Do you mean me or the hot chocolate?" Marie teased.

"Both, and more. We have two wee ones on the way after all. I'm talking to my wee one as much as I am you."

"Can they hear us? Marie asked, her eyes wide.

"Of course."

"Oh!" Marie paused a short time before asking, "What should I say to mine?"

"Well, when you're farther along, tell her how much you love her. Send her your love. Even if they can't understand the words, I like to think they can feel the love."

Marie stared at her mate in wonder for a short time before saying, "I love you, Gabi."

"I love you too, Marie."

"Oh, and Gabi?"

"Yes?"

"Welcome home."

* The end *

 © 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.