Storm Princess Read online

  I then let Set help me into my gardener clothes and assured her that the male topside, who had great manners, would help me when I reached the plateau.

  I said goodbye to her and closed the door. I walked in the heavy boots upward. I finally stopped and took off the boots and pulled out a soft bag and put them into the bag to carry them with me. I had thought to hide them but thought it would make more sense to have them with me if I was questioned.

  I took the normal way to reach the landing area, back down the hallway and then the first elevator that answered my handprint. The system of the panels that responded to hand prints wasn't really reacting to the palm alone. It was reacting to smells, DNA oils, and then it acknowledged the swirls of the prints involved with the palm. The palm didn't have to touch the panel, just wave close enough for the snifter to be happy.

  The panels were so smart that at your home door it would recognize if you were sick; or if the hand was attached to a recently dead person or even if it had been detached. Help was sent immediately.

  I leaned against the outside clear panel and watched with my usual amazement as I descended level after level. I reminded myself to study more about this great city when I returned to my room. But right now I was free and just looking around.

  I had to step back as when the mover reached the bottom it was the clear front that opened. I was now facing a busy, active, exciting work area with hundreds, maybe even thousands of individuals.

  There was a certain amount of organization to the chaos facing me. I found I was forced to move out as several people smiled and waved that they wanted to use the lift to go upward.

  I returned the small smiles and tried to look like I belonged here as I stepped out onto the base rock of the landing zone of the city. I slung my shoe bag over one shoulder and joined the crowd. I wasn't sure what I was looking for because I was just looking.

  I saw colors on uniforms and this led me to realize that there was a purpose to acknowledge a person's position or job by his work clothes. There were some in groups, like the black and green trimmed military personnel.

  I could also see two or three individuals of the same outfits walking or talking together. Suddenly I saw a person in the gardener colors, a mixture of pale green and soft browns, moving ahead and I just decided to follow him. Like Coro, this male was a large person who walked with confidence.

  Some others nodded at him as he passed. So gardeners were held in high esteem. I realized I was getting the same attention. No one was looking at either of us with any special attention. It was just that when we did meet directly with someone, they acknowledge us with pride.

  It was the same attitude they gave to the military. Well, I was learning so much just walking here. I smelled food and understood my friend ahead was going into an open dining area. I had eaten a large breakfast, so I just moved to one side that led me to the side of the wall of the big cave.

  From this point, I could see where there were so many levels and across the areas in the big space was spread large beams. Scattered up in the darkness was also thin strong wires needed to hold or pass from side to side. Most were lost above the lights from the floor work areas and didn't reflect the glow from the different levels.

  Suddenly, I was aware that up very high on a dangerously thin wire was a shadow that had moved. I leaned back against the wall to rest my body and watch that one dark lump that didn't belong up so high above the work. For a reason I didn't understand, the rock behind me seeped into me, seeming to give me support on the inside, not the outside.

  Having hidden under my father's desk for hours, I had learned the name of patience. I tilted my head down to only let me see the shadow through my lashes. I knew if he felt my eyes on him, he would be gone and I wouldn't know what he was up to, watching from his hiding place.

  It was almost a full-time click before I saw the shadow move. I didn't move, enjoying this game too much. This was a real Assassin I was watching.

  I felt my heart beating heavy in my chest, as I tried to move in the direction I figured the above shadow was moving, without being obvious.

  The black ghost would disappear and then reappear, as it moved across the beams above the floating lights in this work area. I would lose him, but then I would catch a new shadow over near the back wall where I was heading.

  I ran into workers who would apologize to me. I would quickly disengage myself and travel further along the wall. I had lost him and decided my game was over. I leaned against the wood of a work area and thought about going over to that dining area. Would they just give out food without question?

  Suddenly, all the light in front of me was blocked by a large figure leaning into me to trap me from moving. The Assassin had found me.

  It is strange, for all the years of living in disgust of my father, and hating the military that followed his orders without question, I had never felt fear until this moment. I don't suppose I could have described it until I felt my mouth go dry and my lungs refuse to work. My heart pounded and I squeezed my thighs to keep the piss inside my body.

  "You are without your guide, Princess." His voice was near my ear as his long body pressed me helplessly against the wood.

  I stammered a couple of noises, yet didn't get out any intelligent words. At last, he eased back a step, still keeping me trapped.

  "You see Princess, how dangerous it can be to walk free? Anyone can accost you."

  At last, my voice was of use as a touch of anger surfaced. "Are there many persons being accosted on this rock floor, Assassin? Especially with you watching from above?"

  He laughed, the Assassin laughed. One of the most feared individuals in our universe was standing in front of me and he laughed. "Princess, there is only one other that sees me above the lights. How did you find me?"

  I shifted my feet without shoes, looking down and then up. "The mountain told me."

  There was silence between us. Around us, there were still a lot of clamors as workers and residents moved back and forth. I knew that deep within his hood he was looking at me. I knew he was thinking and trying to read me. I shrugged, as I had not lied. I felt the mountain, cool and strong against my feet.

  Without moving the Assassin spoke to someone behind him. "Your mountain speaks to someone else. Now isn't that an interesting puzzle."

  At last, he moved to one side and I looked first into the green fractured eyes and then down at the rock floor we were standing on. Where had he come from? Had the Assassin called the Heir in some manner that I didn't hear?

  "Are you well, Princess?" The Royal Heir did not approach as the Assassin stepped aside, but now I was thrown by two strange and exciting voices. One was a husky whisper and the other was almost a song. I wasn't sure I was going to make it through this little excursion of mine upright. I refused to faint again; it just was not my style.

  I was grateful that they both seemed to think I needed some space. They kept me shielded from those walking by, but they did step back. I had nowhere to look as my choices were to look at a killer or to look at a male who was breaking my heart. I looked sideways and could see where the wood was attached to the edge of the rock cave. Between what I felt in my feet and the peace from that dark rock, I began to relax.

  I heard a sigh from the Heir. "You are right my friend, the planet is helping someone else. Princess, when did you first feel your tie to my planet?"

  I knew without a doubt that any question he asked me, I would answer truthfully and completely.

  "Sire, my first robes from my planet required I exit my ship without shoes. As soon as my feet touched the rock floor of the landing area I felt I was home."

  I knew both males were looking down at my bare feet.

  “So, now you walk around this city without shoes. You have visited topside and plan to go up again. You sit and watch the storms. Why are you walking down here without your assigned guide, even though your father had a spy hidden among my workers?”

  I had no choice, I had to look at th
e male who held my heart and not lie. "I need freedom. My father never allowed me freedom. I agreed to this arrangement in order to escape my father's prisons. I came down here without Marshall Bower in order to get a taste of freedom and the people of this planet." I wouldn't tell him of my new prison.

  The Heir looked around, then at the Assassin as he spoke. "This is a problem. I understand your need for freedom. I must also protect you as I won't have a war with your father if you are attacked due to something we don't understand. I will instruct Marshall Bower to allow you to see more of the city. Unfortunately, you will have to understand that you father is still bearing influence on us until I decide how much I will allow and what I will do about his interference with my future wife and my planet. Perhaps your father has misunderstood us. He would not be the first off-worlder who has misjudged us."

  With this statement, he turned and I was surprised to see several military personnel behind him at a distance. He motioned to one who approached.

  "Please escort the Princess safely to her apartment."

  With that, my strange exercise was over. I didn't mind too much, as I had a lot to think about and maybe something to see in my dreams.

  Chapter Eleven

  I was bored and wanted to talk to Joo again. I discussed this with Set and found a way through the systems within the city where I could send a message to Joo and request a meeting.

  Joo replied it would have to be on her lunch break as Commander Sachim had some special troop maneuvers initiated.

  Set helped me pick out the standard soft brown pants and a long shirt that I was beginning to want to wear all the time. These were very comfortable clothes that allowed my body to move, yet covered me completely.

  I also decided I had a new fashion for my hair. I had Set help me put it into one long braid. Set gave me a small cap I put on my head and soft slippers that I folded and put in one of my pockets. She also handed me soft gloves without any explanation, so I also just put them into a pocket.

  I still had a couple of times before leaving for lunch with Joo, so I sat in my favorite spot on pillows in front of the view of the wild beautiful ocean below. I pulled up one large screen with a dark back to it and started GigasVnee History and then I was stumped. Where did I want to start?

  I looked out the window to think and watched one of the large fishing vessels. It moved slowly on the surface and then began to slide down into the depths of the water. As I looked on in fascination, I could see the long sleek outline of the boat as it moved below the tossing waves.

  What amazed me about the ship was the fact that two or three large water animals soon joined it. They were swimming along beside it, playing in the swirls underwater. The animals almost acted as guides. I had to wonder, if there had developed a symbiotic relationship between the fishermen and the large water animals?

  My nosy side would have to wait on all of that, as I needed to know more about the people here and now—for example, the son and Heir. I started with the two males who had formed something that everyone on this side of the universe called the Twinned Dissnue. There were also some who called them a dangerous weapon to be feared by everyone.

  I learned that over the eons of known history and even spoken before written down, it was told that when it was needed, a pair of unusual twins were born with unusual talents.

  I learned that it was not so strange for twins to be born in the universe. The same-sex twins from the same zygote that share one hundred percent of their genetic material and are called identical twins are born on most worlds.

  On most worlds, the identical twins births were one in one thousand births. Some worlds were more and some less. I was only looking for the identical twins.

  The unusual transformation to something called the Twinned Dissnue only happened to a pair of identical twins on the planet of GigasVnee. It did not happen to all the identical twins that had been born on this planet over its history. There was no exact date of when the first twins joining that produced an unusual brilliant two-person mind that can transform whatever it touches or creates.

  The first time in history where the Twinned Dissnue appeared there was a division on this world and fighting was taking place among its own people. Two brilliant twin sons of a fighting tribe on one side married a young daughter of another fighting tribe.

  The hope was that the marriage would combine the two tribes to allow them to fight off some of the others and help protect one of the larger caves that had many families. The uncommon marriage had a surprising change on the twins.

  Within the full turn of the large moon, the twins had changed and led the entire planet to peace. They left their bride with a child and went on to discover what their purpose was in the universe. That was the story of the first so I looked for the story of the last that produced the Heir.

  It seemed that by the time the two twins Bleak and Leant had been born, most of this part of the universe had known about the enigma called the Twinned Dissnue. Now I understood Quilliam's fathers, as they were feared and hated by so many.

  Studying the facts and reading between the lines, I could see where the business and trade worlds went to great efforts to keep these two intellectually gifted males separated. One was in the Federated Military and often served on projects far across the active sectors.

  The other was a scientist on a space satellite that was just far enough away from their home planet to prevent him from visiting it. I smiled as I realized all the efforts of these greedy lords had been set aside by fate.

  On a planet that was not to be visited, was a female who was a catalyst. Who would have thought that a female that was on the world that was on an unsanctioned planet would end up Queen of the richest planet in the active universe?

  This normal but smart female gave birth to a son and produced the next Twinned Dissnue. All of it happened just in time to stop a large barricade of greedy rulers of governments and consortiums from taking over the planet. They wanted its product of the Threads of Targent. Small threads that gave out long lasting power.

  Now the twins had done as those before them, they had saved their planet and put the fear of the gods into all that approached the storm planet. Then they impregnated the female they married, sat her on the throne and disappeared. They left an Heir with a race that adored him and power to run spaceships across the quadrant. None of his people were without food or medical help. They had as much education as they chose, and were free to work at whatever type of job they might enjoy.

  I sat back for a moment and thought about what an amazing universe I found myself in and thanked my father for sending me off as a prize. I guess it didn't matter if others decided to take advantage of you if you could turn the situation around.

  It was time to have lunch with a female who also had changed her destiny.

  Chapter Twelve

  Lunch with Joo turned out to be very different than what I expected. I had wanted to spend the time picking her brain and learning about her. Instead, it turned out to be a tradeoff of information.

  It was strange that two females from such different lives and two dissimilar worlds could be so alike. Joo explained to me her natural distrust of anyone, especially males. She told me about her rich wild jungle world, where you lived as you learned and everyone was free.

  She told me about the slavers and how she had not believed the rescuers, starting with Commander Sachim. I told her how I had not believed my father no matter what he told me.

  She told me about the strange marriage and love rituals her people went through. A male had to be strong enough to protect his mate and future children, so he had to conquer her. With her deep training for years as a warrior, any female on her planet was not easy to conquer.

  Many of the females were equal or better to the males. She would only give herself to a male who could be stronger than her in some way. Joo explained to me that sometimes a smaller male found devious ways to trick a female to falling into a trap in order to hold and keep her as
his own.

  There were cases on her world where the female ended up the protector of the family, as the male was working as a scientist or healer.

  I told her about the fact that among the females that I had contact with under my father's control, their role was useless. They spread their legs or bore male babies or were useless. I knew they disappeared in time and had never taken the time to find what had happened to them. I did know about the father having the head's taken from the last couple of his wives who couldn't produce male heirs.

  On the other hand, the father was in the habit of removing the heads of many, from counselors who displeased him to even a General who had not given him good results. I shared with her about the fact that males disappeared when they smiled at me too much.

  At last, I got to my real question. "Joo, what do you do if you love someone who doesn't love you?"

  There was a deep silence in the little room that Joo had set aside for their meeting. Up until this moment the room and their conversation had been comfortable. Now Joo looked at me with a cool demeanor.

  "You cannot tie yourself to someone or something you can't have. It would break something inside you." Joo said these words without looking at me.

  She pushed back and stood. "A person that loves the unattainable has been conquered by their own desires and has nothing to look to the future for. I am sorry if you are referring to yourself and I can't help you if you're talking about your own problems. Look within and find what you need to settle with your desires."

  She left me in the little room with a lunch that neither of us had eaten.

  * * * *

  I was up top with my gardener. After that talk with Joo, I had to do something to clear my mind and keep me from destroying things. I had so hoped that Joo would give me some words of wisdom. All she gave me was animal manure.

  I needed the clean smell of Coro and his planting area to get rid of the missed lunch and the ugly observations of the military female.

  Marshall Bower was right outside the door of Joo's lunchroom and at my request got me quickly to my suite. I was surprised when he took me to an inside lift that took us up to our floor without interruption. There was something to learn about this cavern city every day.