The Royal Pursuit (4 page)

“
More often than not, you
believe in me more than I believe in myself. I don’t know what I’d
do without you.”

“
Oh, you’d be fine. You’re
tough.”

“
Hardly. If I seem tough,
it’s only on the outside.” She turned her attention back to the
crystal ball. “If I’m going to do this, I’d better get it over
with. Contact the Augurs,” she told the ball.

Hathor stepped back so that he
wouldn’t interfere with their view of her. The crystal ball only
worked well as a communicator if one person was close to
it.

“
What is the leader’s
name?” she asked Hathor.

“
Gaius.”

She repeated the name to herself as
she waited for the image of the Augur to show up in the crystal
ball.

The Augur’s image shouldn’t have
shocked her but it did. After dealing with various aliens who
looked different from her, except for the Olympians and some human
Razians, she hadn’t expected the Augur to be human. He had short
black hair, gray eyes, and pale white skin.

“
Leader Gaius?” she
asked.

“
Yes. But you may refer to
me as Gaius. Titles don’t impress us on Aug,” he warmly
answered.

Again, she was startled. This time, it
was his apparent easy-going manner that made her wonder what type
of aliens these Augurs were. How could they be so uncompromising
while seeming to be so flexible in their speech?

Pushing aside her questions, she said,
“I am Queen Ann from planet Raz. You have asked to come here
tomorrow to speak with me.”

He nodded. “Yes. That is
true.”

She glanced at Hathor, who smiled his
encouragement. Ignoring her racing heart, she said, “I’m afraid we
are going to have to reschedule that meeting.”

“
Why?”

“
I have an emergency to
tend to. I just found out about it an hour ago.”

“
I know.”

She blinked. Did these Augurs excel in
shocking people? It was as if he was one step ahead of
her.

“
You must go,” he
continued. “This matter with the Olympians is
important.”

“
Oh…ah…” She struggled to
find her voice.

How did he know about the Olympians?
She had just found out an hour ago. Surely, news didn’t travel that
fast across the galaxies. Palers didn’t have anything to do with
Augurs, so they wouldn’t have notified them.

“
We will still be meeting
your husband, the king,” Gaius spoke. “So there is no need to
cancel.”

“
Well…I…” She forced
herself to stop and take a deep breath. “You see, he is going with
me. He is my protector.”

“
No. He will not
go.”

“
But he always accompanies
me whenever I need to take care of important business. I can
arrange it so that Athen can meet with you. Athen has been trained
in these matters and is fully capable of speaking on Raz’s behalf
in my or the king’s absence.”

“
This is an extremely
important meeting, and we must meet with the king tomorrow. No
other person will be acceptable.”

She took a minute to absorb his words.
Her mind raced through all the arguments she could use, but one
answer kept flashing over every one of them: they do not lie. If
they didn’t lie, then they did have to meet with Hathor and it did
have to be tomorrow.

“
Can I ask why you insist
on coming tomorrow?” she ventured, although she already knew what
he would say.

“
I’m sorry. I cannot comply
with that request. We must talk with him tomorrow.”

She closed her eyes. She took a moment
to gather her composure. His tone was friendly but firm. He was
very clear on his intentions. If she refused his terms, then he
would never meet with them. She hated what she was about to do. She
knew Hathor wouldn’t like it, but deep down, she knew she must do
what Gaius wanted. She opened her eyes.

“
Alright,” she softly
answered.

Behind her, she could hear Hathor’s
gasp.

Gaius smiled at her. “You made the
right choice. We will be arriving at noon. You know what time that
is.”

“
That’s an Earth time,” she
replied, confused.

“
Correct. You will let the
king know what time that is in Razian time. I look forward to
meeting him tomorrow.”

She said good-bye and closed her
communication. The crystal ball returned to its clear
state.

“
How could you do that?”
Hathor demanded, coming over to her.

“
I didn’t want to,” she
said.

“
Then don’t. You’re the
queen. You can do anything you want.”

“
It’s not that simple. I
have responsibilities. I can’t let my personal feelings interfere
with what’s best for Raz.”

“
Are you kidding me? You
don’t need the Augurs. Raz doesn’t need them. We’ve been fine
without them and we’ll continue to be fine without
them.”

“
How do we know that we
don’t need them?”

He shook his head, his arms crossed.
“I don’t like it.”

“
I don’t either.” She put
her hands on his arms, looking at him.

He turned his head, his body stiff. He
refused to look at her.

She sighed. “I want you with me when I
leave for Lone, but,” she quickly added when she saw him start to
respond, “something tells me to listen to the Augurs. There’s a
good reason you have to be here. I have no idea what that might be,
but I have to do what I feel is right.”

“
Maybe I’ll go
anyway.”

For the first time since she became
queen, she was going to have to tell him something she never
thought she’d say. “I’m the queen, and you have to obey me.” She
said it as kindly as she could, even knowing it would still come
out harshly.

He stepped away from her so she
couldn’t touch him anymore. “Fine.”

When his eyes met hers, she didn’t say
anything. A cold shiver raced up her spine.

“
May I leave or do I have
to stay here?” he snapped.

Her faced flushed as her own anger
surfaced. “I don’t care what you do.”

“
Good. Since I have the
queen’s permission, I will gladly leave.” He stiffly bowed and left
the room.

She sat down on one of the oak chairs,
her hands shaking. They had had their fights before, but she
couldn’t remember seeing him so upset. She did the right thing in
insisting he stay to meet the Augurs. She had to keep telling
herself that because she was beginning to wonder why it had made
perfect sense to agree to Gaius’ terms when she was talking to
him.

***

Alpha Head I

Planet: Pale

“
Queen Ann asked for our
help, and I told her we would be glad to assist her to planet
Lone,” Leader Paff concluded. He’d just finished explaining
Olympia’s crisis to First Commander Zak and Second Commander Jaz,
who sat across from him in his office.

“
If there are only
thirty-seven Nicals,” Jaz began, “then we don’t need to send an
army of Palers.”

“
Perhaps two Palers will be
enough for the task,” Zak added. “Since their numbers are so low, I
am wondering if they are a new species or not.”

Paff shrugged. “I don’t know anything
about them. I did a quick search for them in our database, but they
aren’t listed anywhere.”

“
It would appear that they
are new in existence,” Jaz said.

“
It does appear that way,
doesn’t it?” Zak replied.

“
But…?” Paff
asked.

“
What troubles me is why a
new species would be interested in immortality,” Zak
said.

Jaz raised an eyebrow. “Interesting
observation. It could be that they are dying out. We weren’t so far
from facing Paler extinction on this planet under Omin’s
rule.”

Paff nodded. “One thing is for sure.
We shouldn’t attack them until we find out what their motives are.
If they are trying to survive, then it would be wrong to destroy
them. However, we cannot condemn the Olympians to death. There must
be a compromise we can reach. Jaz, would you mind going on this
mission with your husband, Guard Falon? You two are best suited for
it.”

“
It will be an honor to
work with Queen Ann again,” she replied. “We will leave as soon as
we can get the needed supplies ready.”

“
And I will work on getting
you a proper spaceship,” Zak added.

“
Good,” Paff said. “If at
any time, you need assistance, you can call me on this
telecommunicator.” He handed the device to her. “Let me know when
you’re ready to leave, and I’ll notify Queen Ann.”

With a nod, she left, Zak following
behind.

***

Location: Austere Complex

Planet: Lone

Ruler Dour ordered Tan and Xan to
bring in Sando. The other thirty-three Nicals watched in both dread
and anticipation as Tan and Xan brought Sando into the poorly lit
room.

Optima wrung her hands. Sando was her
brother, and she desperately wanted to see him live. She winced at
his pale complexion, clammy skin, and shaky breathing. The virus
was quickly weakening his blood and would soon turn it into powder.
It was the same virus that wiped out most of their civilization
over the course of two years.

Dour took their stone out of the sack
and glanced at Optima. “Where should I put it?”

She cleared her throat. “Try his
chest.” At least, it seemed logical personal contact with the stone
would heal Sando from the viral infection.

Optima watched as Dour followed her
instructions. Her tension rose when Sando remained the same as he
had been. Maybe their plan had failed. Maybe nothing was in the
stone after all. She looked away. She couldn’t bear to watch
anymore. If her brother was going to die, it was too painful to
watch.

Several gasps brought her attention
back to Sando’s body. She put her hands to her mouth as tears
filled her eyes. A glowing blue light swept from the stone and
covered his body. His shaky breathing calmed and his body fought
off the virus.

It was working!

“
We did it! We’re going to
live!” Xan exclaimed. “Optima’s plan has saved us.”

The Nicals congratulated
her.

She barely heard them. All she knew
was that her brother was going to live. She ran over to him and
touched his hand.

His eyelids fluttered open. “Optima,”
he whispered, still weak from being ill for ten days.

“
I know.” She laughed and
squeezed his hand. “You don’t have to say it.” She knew he wanted
to thank her. She wiped the tears from her eyes. “It’s over. The
horrible virus is gone forever. We will live as the Olympians do
now.”

He squeezed her hand to show his
gratitude.

“
Rest. We have plenty of
time to talk later,” she said.

Time. What a wonderful word. With
their newfound immortality, the concept of time no longer
frightened them.

Chapter
Four

Palace Gardens

Planet: Raz

Once Hathor had time to settle down, he
found Athen inspecting the gardens. “I need to ask you for a
favor,” Hathor said.

Athen jerked. “Nice of you to sneak up
on me like that.” He made a mark on the paper that was attached to
his clipboard. “What is it?”

“
I have to be here to meet
with the Augurs tomorrow, so I was wondering if you would accompany
the queen to Lone.”

Athen didn’t hide his surprise. “Don’t
you always go with her on these trips?”

“
She has decided I have to
be here instead.”

“
You obviously have a
problem with that,” he commented.

“
It doesn’t matter what I
want. It’s her will that prevails. My opinion doesn’t matter. But I
won’t let her go without someone there to protect her. The Palers
are great and will do a good job, but they aren’t familiar with the
Book of Spells.”

“
She is the queen. Her
powers are greater than anything the book can provide.”

“
She needs all the
protection she can get. I’m not going to put her at greater risk if
I can avoid it.”

Athen sighed sympathetically. “Her job
is made for risk. You can’t always be there to protect her. There
are times when she will have to confront danger by
herself.”

He frowned. He didn’t want to hear
this.

“
I will go with her, as
long as she agrees to it,” Athen complied. “I can’t force her to
take me.”

“
Yes, I am well aware we
must all obey her.” He crossed his arms.

“
It’s none of my business
what happened between you two, but considering the fact that she is
going to Lone and will probably have to engage in combat, is it
really wise to let her go without telling her you love
her?”