Storm Princess Page 4

  Did I put down in this recording that this planet was wealthy? They were where the original Threads of Targent came from. I thought about all the power that was given into the hands of the people of this harsh storm planet and smiled.

  I had spent many turnings within the comfortable quarters, looking at my portion of the ocean. Now it was time to look out at other areas of this mountain and perhaps, see Joo.

  Set helped me dress for going out and Marshall Bower was soon at my door to escort me.

  “Where would you like to go, Princess?”

  I decided to play this slowly. “Oh, I don’t know, could we take the elevator down. I would like to know some of the people who make up this world that I have adopted.”

  Bower and Set were both upset that I preferred to walk barefoot, but I just needed the contact with the mountain. I pretended to just look around, but when I saw the troops training I asked the Marshall to stop the decent.

  With wide eyes I asked, “Is that Commander Sachim?”

  “Yes, Princess. He always takes a moment to look at his troops if he can.”

  “I would like to meet him.” I looked around in a casual manner. As we walked down an inside passageway, I was still amazed at what these people did inside this mountain.

  There was no doubt that it was rock. They didn’t paint it or carve it with designs or hide it behind layers of engravings. Sometimes they polished it to a natural shine and there were niches where lights or statues were sitting. But one never had a doubt that this was living rock.

  Coming out of the stairs we had taken down, I saw that we now were on a much wider hallway. This place was busy with many workers moving back and forth, in groups or alone.

  Except for my arrival, this was my first contact with many individuals. Marshall Bower weaved between floating carts and groups, nodding at someone. I followed close on his heels, still looking around, too much and too many to see. In all of my cloistered life I was not exposed to groups of individuals in this manner. I was taking this all in and storing it to examine at a later time.

  I was bumped a couple of times, but everyone was polite and turned to apologize. I actually was pleased at the casual movement of people around me.

  Now I looked over Bower’s shoulder as he stopped at a wide opening. It was the balcony I had seen from the other side as I rode up in the elevator. It was much larger than I expected.

  The large railing enclosed balcony fit the large male that leaned against one side, talking down to a soldier on the floor below. The small female behind him looked over and approached Bower.

  “The Princess would like to meet the Commander.” Bower stepped aside.

  The large male in the black and green uniform turned with a frown.

  I realized I was bothering a busy military Commander. “I’m sorry; I really would like to talk to your assistant.”

  Everyone looked at me as if I had made a mistake. In fact I must have made some type of social error. “I’m sorry, I am new to this world and I understand your assistant was also not born here.” I stammered as I tried to think of an excuse. “I thought sometime I could talk with her to find out if she could help me with some of my questions. I’m sorry; I should have just sent a message.” I needed to shut up with all the apologies I was repeating.

  I started backing up and I stuck my flapping hands inside my jacket pockets. In one was a large piece of paper that I immediately pulled out.

  The Commander was saying something, but I didn’t hear anything. The paper was a note in my father’s hand. It said that I must contact him immediately.

  “Where did this come from?” I think I must have yelled as I waved the paper. I was backing up, but I had slid sideways so I felt a wall behind me. How could my father reach me here within the mountain? I know I was starting to cry.

  I finally heard a voice that I could understand as Joo. “Step back, I can help her.”

  I felt warm arms reach to me and move me back through the opening and across the wide hallway. My tears were blinding me. Someone had taken the note away from me, but Joo held me as she took me into a quiet room and encouraged me to sit down.

  Within moments she had handed me a warm cloth and was tipping a strong drink to my lips. Both did a lot to stop my tears and let me get past my shudders. I closed my eyes for only a second; reminding myself I was stronger than to let one piece of paper upset me.

  “Now you are better.” Joo’s voice was soft, but from a strong female.

  “Joo, my father gave me a life that I could only survive by being strong. I thought I had escaped him when I agreed to this political marriage. I should have known he was too strong to let me break free by just hiding in a mountain.”

  “No Princess. My lord Sachim is already searching for the spy that slipped you that note. There was a trace on the paper and he already has snifters out.”

  Joo turned around and refilled my drink.

  “Not only that, Princess. The Heir has been notified of your discomfort and is heading here immediately.”

  I felt panic race the blood through my body. “No, please no.”

  Joo tipped the drink to my lips. “He feels an obligation to you. I think we all know there is a problem between you and your father. It was obvious when you asked that all your people be returned alone.”

  At that moment the godlike male I didn’t want to be near stood in the door that had opened automatically. How had he gotten here so fast? I turned away from him and grabbed Joo’s hand.

  The voice that sounded like music to my ears spoke from the doorway as I didn’t look. “Perhaps I would be of better use helping Baloko.”

  “Yes Sire.” Joo held onto me as she spoke, “I will talk to the lady Princess and relay any information she has, once she has relaxed.”

  There was silence for a few moments and then Joo pulled up a chair and sat down in front of me. I know she was waiting for me to explain my actions. Truth was the right way to go at this time.

  “Lady Joo, I have spent some time studying the history of your planet. Your life must have been different from mine, but it did produce the same type of inside individual.”

  Joo was as smart as she looked, as she just sat and waited for me to speak.

  “My father raised me for one purpose, to use me, to gain something of great value from me. I was trained and taught and had it hammered into me that I could only serve my father and our worlds in one way and that was in however my father saw fit.

  I had no freedom, no choices, and no one close. But I learned, I learned from my teachers and I learned from my father. My father told a great number of enemies of this planet that he would send me here as a weapon.”

  I held my breath, waiting to see how Joo would react to what I confessed.

  Joo had a wicked smile. “I think the Heir is smart enough to understand any agreement he enters.”

  “I wonder?” I looked at our hands clasped together. “I agreed to this arrangement. My father, he thought he had a weapon; I thought I had freedom at last.”

  Joo stood up and moved away from me. “Have you gone topside yet?”

  I looked up in surprise. “I don’t understand. With all that’s going all, are you suggesting I go out into the storms?”

  Joo moved around, putting things away and not looking at me. “I can make sure a gardener is available. You only have to walk up from your suite. You will pass the suite of the Queen’s and then the hallway moves upward to open to the topside. Think about it.”

  I looked over at this strong female. “I would like to talk to you again. I have so much to learn and it is important for me to find a way to live here free, if that is possible.”

  “Send word through your Marshall and I will ask Commander Sachim to allow us to meet. He will allow it, so there is no problem unless we are under maneuvers.”

  I would not say I had made a friend in Joo but I did feel a connection.

  “Can you find Marshall Bower for me, please?” My wait wasn’t long
as Bower was right outside the door.

  When I joined him there were several military men in black and green uniforms that surrounded us, as I returned to my suite. Everyone in the hallways quickly moved out of the way and no one could get close to me again. This was the way I was moved through my father’s hallways, always surrounded by his troops.

  Except that the elevator stopped a few floors below mine. The troops departed, nodding at a group dressed the same way. There was friendliness among these males and females yet a feeling of alertness. They were all armed and looking for trouble.

  Marshall Bower waved his hand over the signal that let the elevator move upward until it stopped at the top. I let one hand drag along the rock that made up the side of the hallway.

  Bower waved a hand over the recognition plate and opened one door for me. I stood and looked up the lighted way and indeed there was a gentle slope upward. I could also see a double door further up with two guards on duty.

  “Marshall Bower, is that the suite of the Queen’s?”

  Bower stepped back and followed my pointed finger as he nodded. “She very seldom comes out this way. After the affair of a killer that was captured recently, her son had a special elevator built into her quarters.”

  “So there will be no problem with me going on up the hallway, past my future mother-in-law’s quarters, right?”

  “Please be careful up that way. There is only top side and it is very dangerous in the wrong storm.”

  Bower left me at my door and Set was there, all smiles and too much food available. There were also my window to the ocean, pillows right where I needed them, and my electronic contacts with off world news. Everything here was handled by the Threads—a power source too expensive to be used for such items on other worlds including my father’s.

  Now, I was bored immediately. I went in and looked at what was offered in my wardrobe.

  “May I help you dress for a special occasion, Princess?” Set was actually dancing around and under the many clothes in this large room they called a clothes storage area.

  “Set, have you ever been topside?”

  “Yes, Princess, in protected ships or special outfits. My class has had tours several times. I have also been into the oceans and…” I broke into her long discourse.

  “Set, I am going up right now. What should I wear?”

  “Oh no, Princess. The second moon is swinging in and that will bring the eastern storms.”

  I stopped shifting clothes and looked at the thin bouncing female. “Second moon, you mean this planet as two moons? I have only seen one and it has a strange trajectory.”

  Set was pulling out some heavy dark leathers. “These are needed as well as heavy boots.”

  “Heavy boots, damn, I really should have spent more time studying about this planet. I didn’t know about the second moon. What is this?” I looked at what seemed to be a mask that Set was giving to me with the heavy boots.

  “Sometimes, I am told the wind is too heavy to breath or the dust is too thick. You will need that breather to help you. But it would be best for you just not to go.”

  I was dressed and even had two weapons that Set insisted I take with me. She explained to me that there were animals that would be dangerous if confronted on the topside.

  At last, I was no longer bored.

  Chapter Seven

  I nodded to the guards as I passed the Queen's quarters on my way topside. Beyond her doors, there was a turn and the hallway changed. It got narrower, the carpet no longer covered the floor and the lights were utility styles, covered in protective floating screens.

  Joo was correct, the floor moved upward. I could feel air moving against my face. It was coming from the wide opening at the end of this tunnel. I felt an excitement inside I hadn't experienced since I was a child escaping from my father's guards to go outside whatever compound we were trapped in.

  I looked up at the rough-hewed ceiling and decided this was a carved opening. Had someone chopped their way in or dug their way out? It was very old and worn, so this had been done in history.

  There was metal wrapped around the entire opening and a metal gate of bars, but it was open and against the inside wall. I hung onto the metal as I slowly stepped forward.

  The wind was strong, but not enough to cause me any damage as I walked out onto the plateau. The first thing I saw was the moon and it took my breath away. I had seen moons on almost all of the planets I had visited or been imprisoned on by my father. They were always pretty white globes in the distance that seemed to be the size of a dinner platter or a couple like small saucers.

  This one was like it was going to pull me off the top of the mountain to fall into it. It was so close it filled half the sky with a portion of it dipping below the horizon. I could see details on this moon with my own eyes that would normally take special equipment on other worlds and other moons.

  "This is its perigee. It causes our greatest tides at this point."

  I tore my eyes away to stare at a large male who was also looking over at the moon.

  "Of course, if you aren't used to our world, it is a shock to see it at any time as it seems large. In our old language, it is called SiTar that means big brother. The second moon we call MiTar and that means little brother. The older ones often think of them as Twins."

  I looked at the sky, past the sun on the other side and the clouds forming in the distance. "When do we see the second moon?"

  The male turned to face me and I was surprised to look into another pair of green eyes. Not the glass dangerous ones, but deep green tinted with blue like the sea below. I watched as he smiled and stepped back.

  "Sorry Mistress, I didn't mean to step into your space. I just saw you admiring our moon as if it were your first time."

  A gust of wind shook me, but his large heavy frame did not even react, as his long wide legs were planted into the dirt.

  "I, ah, sorry, I am confused." I had to stop and clear my throat and start over again. "Are you a gardener?"

  "Yes, Mistress. There are many of us devoted to this top of the mountain. Would you like to see what I have accomplished?"

  I felt another gust push against me as I tried to look around. "Is it safe?"

  The big male glanced around with a hearty chuckle. "If you mean the dark clouds out on the sea, the storm is not for us. Come, I am rebuilding in this corner."

  I followed this large proud male who thought of himself as a gardener. I looked around and saw the devastation, but some regrowth. As I stumbled behind the male I wondered about this world I was adopting.

  "Sir, was this caused by storms. Is this plateau stripped all the time?"

  He had reached a short wall of rocks, each carefully set against the next one. "No Mistress, storms do not bother this mountain. This was the result of the war. Those off-worlders in the barricade threw a lot of projectiles at this mountain especially."

  I watched as he reached down behind the rock wall and began to clean off sticky burrs that were holding onto the rocks.

  My need for information now was on a rampage. “They attacked here the most because they knew this was the location of the Royal City. Did their bombs do much inside damage?"

  The gardener was so gentle with the sticky burrs, putting them inside a large clear jar. He handed one to me that immediately attached itself to my hand.

  "No Mistress, the mountain protected us. There was some damage inside on the bottom flight deck when one of the attackers crashed. Now bring the baby you have in your hand and I will show you what we do next, to help our world."

  I followed the big solid male. I thought of the gardeners around my father's compounds. They were round-shouldered, thin and hid from the troopers. There was no pride in their work, only a way to survive and provide food for their families.

  I had a different feeling about this male. He was healthy and strong and definitely not underfed. He was moving us close to a piece of the mountain that rose higher so that we were sheltered. He ap
proached another entrance that was larger and covered with what was called a flexible force field. It could be programmed to allow items or beings to penetrate it and to keep things or beings out.

  He moved through it with a ripple and I hurried to follow. I recognized what I was in immediately. It was a location for raising plants only.

  The rich smell of moisture and soil entered my lungs as I took in deep breaths. I couldn't help myself as I approached a bench full of the dirt and plunged my hands deep into the opulent black soil. The little seed let go of my hand and burrowed along with me, finding a home.

  "Mistress, you are terra."

  I looked at him as I brushed the dirt from my hands. "I don't understand your meaning."

  "I mean you are one with the earth, with the planet. That is a blessing to be able to feel the living world. It is something all gardeners must be or they do not have the calling." He sat his jar near another bench.

  I looked where my seed had buried itself. "I'm sorry, my seed is gone. Can I ask for your name?"

  He reached around me and the clean male smell touched my nose, as he pulled the little seed from the dark dirt. "My parents named me Coro and their last name were Tii with two i's in it to confuse everyone when we all sign."

  He took her seed over to the area where he had set the jug. "Okay little guy, you can grow in this box. When you are a big boy I will let you out to play." I could hear his deep voice as he talked to the seed and I had to smile.

  "You love your work, don't you?" I found a rag to clean dirt from my fingers as I watched his large capable hands put each seed in a special spot and allowed it to burrow down.

  I saw him shrug his wide shoulders as he spoke. "Work is part of living. Why would you spend so much of your life doing something you don't love?"

  Again I thought of the workers within and around my father's compounds. They worked because they were forced and they were almost slaves. I never got close to anyone outside of the compounds except for the one time on the desert world. They did seem content in their life of traveling and they were kind to me immediately. I still have nightmares of the slaughter of all of them, but most of all the small baby goats.