It had taken them two and a half days to travel from the scene of the attack to Hamilton with the wagon transporting the still unconscious Syr Shen, the prisoner and the body of Leonard Kondo. The weather had remained quite cool, which was fortunate, the body had not yet begun to smell.
As they entered the gate, a guard stopped them. "Princess," he said, "The king has instructed us to inform you when you returned that we have an unexpected visitor in the city. He did not want you go be surprised when you got home." She looked down at him from the horse, "Well, who is the visitor? Why all the drama?" He hesitated, "The visitors are a delegation from Taylorton, lead by Baron Levi Holister himself. They got here yesterday." Her left eyebrow raised and she cocked her head. "Really? Holister here? It doesn't make sense. Where is this delegation now?" The guard nodded, "They have been given a suite in the Royal Otania. I will phone ahead and let the king know your party has returned."
She turned to the soldiers in the wagon behind her. "Take the wagon to the hospital immediately. See that they give this man the best care they can. He has top priority over any other emergency with my authorization. Have the prisoner's wounds redressed while you are there. When that is done bring the body and the prisoner back to the Royal Otania and wait out back." The driver saluted, "Yes Major." The wagon started down the road toward the hospital as quickly as the driver could get the tired horses to move.
Keika looked at Valerie, "Any ideas what this could be about?" she asked. Val returned her gaze, "I've been thinking about that. The only thing I can come up with is that he is here to try to dodge responsibility for the attacks and blame it on someone else. He knows we could quash him like a bug if he really pissed us off." Keika gasped, "You're right! That's the only thing that makes sense. The worm!" She started getting fired up all over again. "The bastard! Let's get home to put a stop to these lies!" They started down the avenue at a gallop toward the Royal Otania.
Standing outside of the entrance, waiting on them, was Edmund. The girls dismounted and handed the reins of their horses over to the grooms. Keika then ran to embrace her brother with Valerie trailing. She hugged him hard. "Edmund!" she exclaimed, "It is so good to see you! Our duties have kept us on different sides of the kingdom for too many months. How is my big brother?" "I am well, thanks Cricket." he said, kissing her forehead, "It is good to see you also!? I understand that you are just returning from an encounter with the enemy on the roads. Rumors are already spreading like wildfire about how you took out an entire army of raiders single handedly." She laughed, "Well, it was hardly an army and I had some very able assistance from The Blond Beheader and Wonder Dog Manfred here." He laughed and turned to look at Valerie, "The Blond Behe......" The laughter fell off of his face.
"Hi, Val." he stammered. He seemed surprised and in an instant, he became oddly awkward and unsure of himself...which was nothing like Edmund. Keika, her brother still in her arms, looked back toward Valerie. She had forgotten that Val had taken an unusual amount of time getting ready to leave camp this morning and had applied makeup and brushed her hair a lot. It was just after mid-day and she was now under the influence of her co-conspirator...the golden sun. She looked radiant, beautiful. Her long blond hair had become iridescent spun gold again and her flawless skin and figure were dazzling in the white battle suit, but there was something more. The last few months had been hard ones and, like Keika, she had matured quickly in response. That maturing showed in her face, her stance, her presence. She no longer was just Keika's little friend. She was more woman than girl. Keika looked at her brother again. His bright black eyes were wide open.... like a deer in the lights. Valerie had just blown him away. Keika laughed and said "...and I think she just claimed another head!" Edmund looked back at her, "What did you say, what are you laughing at?" "Oh, nothing." she winked. He released her from his hug, his eyes returning immediately to Valerie.
YOU ARE READING
Firefly Light
Science FictionIn the not too distant future mankind's world has collapsed. The population of, what had been over 7 billion, has been reduced to a tiny fraction of that number. Nature has reclaimed most of what man had built. Time has been turned back to before th...
