Beyond Orion Read online

  What did you learn?

  I dreamed last night of ships from three other planets on their way.

  Do the councilors know? Marcus asked.

  I don’t know. That’s what I want to find out. I wouldn’t put it past them to have invited them as well. I hoped I was wrong, but I couldn’t trust the Grand Council to make wise decisions regarding other planets. The fact they hadn’t realized the seriousness of having Nexleen visit didn’t give me confidence in their ability to discern anything important about other planets. How had my father managed with them? I would have to see about getting them replaced with people I could trust as soon as possible.

  We need to stress to them the importance of consulting us before making decisions of this magnitude.

  Marcus nodded. You will have to cut them some slack. They have been running the planet these last few months without interference from the king, or even Shander lately. Perhaps they are just used to it by now.

  That doesn’t mean they should continue. Ultimately, the king or queen is responsible for the planet of Rommader. If the council messes up, it won’t be them taking the blame. I eased the tightness of my fists, knowing I’d left half-moon marks in my palms. Arriving at the council in such a state wouldn’t make things easy. I had to get in control of my emotions.

  ****

  We stood in the center of the council chambers as if we were petitioning for help and favors. I hated feeling so out of control. Marcus squeezed my hand and looked up at Speaker Plurz.

  “When were you going to tell us you had sent invitations to each planet in our galaxy?” Marcus asked. “You know Amira is the one in charge of arrangements for her father’s memorial. You should have let her know who to expect.”

  “It is common courtesy to invite each neighbor to send their condolences,” Jonah said from his seat just to the right of the two thrones. They’d added the second one after my return. At least they were acknowledging there were two monarchs.

  “Exactly,” I said, “send condolences. But the way you worded the correspondence must have made everyone think they could come to Rommader in person. Most places have thankfully decided the journey would be unnecessary, and too costly, but we have three planets sending delegates. Not to mention Nexleen, who is already here.”

  Jonah looked at me with furrowed brows. “You should be flattered your father was well respected. Not many kings have had delegates from other planets attend their services.”

  “I understand my father did much for these planets. I know they all appreciated him. But there is still no reason for you to have invited them in this stressful time.”

  “Are you saying you aren’t up to the challenge of ruling?” Jonah looked down on me from his perch.

  Marcus stood up straight next to me. I could feel the indignation through the oath bond. “That is not what she said, and you know it. Speaker Plurz, you are overstepping your authority. It was not your place to invite them. It wasn’t even your place to send word. Most planets don’t send word of the death of a ruler until the heir or replacement has been well established. Think of the effects this could have on us. How many of our neighbors would have no qualms in coming to exploit us during this time of transition?”

  Jonah crossed his arms over his belly and leaned back. “You are too worried. There will be no issues. Kas has always been a close ally, Dempka has too many problems of their own to bother with our issues, and Oshan wouldn’t do anything to upset the balance established. Besides, Nexleen was already on their way before news of the king’s death could be announced. Had the other planets not been informed of King Chark’s passing, and discovered Nexleen was the only ones notified, we would have had a bigger mess.”

  I couldn’t believe Jonah’s careless attitude. Kas only allied itself with us because we were a stronger military power and because we had stopped Oshan from interfering with their government three generations ago. Father always said Kas resented relying on us for help. Oshan looked for any way to exploit planets in turmoil. Dempka was in an ongoing civil war. They had a class system with an inordinate number of peasants and few wealthy. Those who had power didn’t manage to hold it long. I couldn’t understand why they would run the risk of coming here when their own world was so messed up.

  “What else have you neglected to mention to us?” I asked.

  “What do you mean?” Jonah asked.

  “How long have you known they were coming? When did you send the invitations?” I asked.

  “They were sent the day after King Chark’s passing. We got the responses from Dempka and Oshan last night. Kas confirmed this morning.”

  “Who else has responded? What were the exact words?” I wanted to accuse him of purposely lying to me. Of keeping things hidden until they would distract me from something else. I only knew of the imminent arrival of these visitors from the other planets because of my Vision. I knew he wasn’t pleased with me being home, but would he really damage our world to make things difficult for me?

  “No one else is coming. I will send you a summary of the responses.”

  “Please send me the actual responses,” I said.

  “That can be arranged.” Jonah made a note on his tablet.

  “If they will be here in two days, why didn’t you inform us sooner? Why didn’t you tell me you had invited others when we spoke about Nexleen’s arrival?”

  Jonah frowned down at me from his seat at the speaker’s desk. “It was on the agenda for today’s meeting.”

  I bit back the scream I wanted to let loose on him. “You should have informed me when you sent the invitation. I need more than a few days to prepare for guests of this magnitude.”

  “Then I suggest you get things organized for their welcoming party.” Jonah didn’t even look up from his tablet. “Now if you’ll excuse us, we will continue with the agenda. You are welcome to stay or go as you please.”

  Marcus leaned over and whispered in my ear. “If you would like, I can stay and see what is discussed. You can carry on with your plans.” The feel of his warm breath on my skin made it difficult to understand his words. Why hadn’t he just used telepathy? Was he purposely trying to confuse me?

  I viewed my list of things to do and knew it would be important to get started right away. “Thank you, Marcus. I believe I will do that.” As I stood to leave, only half of the Grand Council acknowledged my movement with the proper protocol. It was a far cry from when my father had ruled. But being gone had undermined my authority more than I realized. I would have to work hard to get the council to see me as the true queen.

  My two guards stepped out from the side of the door and took their positions in front and behind me as I walked to my office. They stationed themselves outside my door after doing a thorough check of the room. I couldn’t help thinking of Jai and how he had checked every room before I entered it. A sigh escaped me as I imagined him and Holly having fun on Earth. It would soon be time for Holly to start school again. Jai could easily enroll if he wanted to. I was so curious what they would do.

  I shook my head and tried to focus on the present. A stack of papers sat neatly on the center of my desk, my father’s old desk. Marcus had graciously given it to me to use and had ordered a second one to be crafted and placed next to it. We had to adjust a few things, but the room was large enough to accommodate both, and keep the couch Marcus had grown so fond of.

  I went through the letters. Some were from friends and people I was sure I could trust, some requests from people and groups I didn’t know, and some from the council. I sat on the small chair I had replaced my father’s with and opened the first letter.

  Vibrations shook the desk. I slapped my hand down on the papers that bounced around and then reached for the small lamp at the side, catching it before it fell to the ground. I laid it on its side then held on to the desk as the room continued to shake. The picture of the council fell off the wall and hit the couch before bouncing to the floor. Various other items fell off their perches on the mant
le and off Marcus’s desk. As the rumbling continued, more pictures fell from the wall.

  A boom from out the window shattered the glass window to my left. Shards of glass hit my head. I crouched, trying to avoid the flying pieces. Was I being attacked? Had something hit the palace? Were the other planets here early? The ground continued to rumble and I hoped it was just an earthquake. I ducked under the desk, pulling the chair in to hide me and tried to convince myself not to panic. I waited for another blast. The door flung open, followed by the pounding of boots.

  “Queen Amira!”

  “Where is she?”

  I peeked out from my hiding spot to see Lance and Cory looking for me. I pushed the chair back out and emerged from under the desk. “I’m here.”

  “What happened?” Lance asked.

  “Are you all right?” Cory rushed over to me. “You’re bleeding.” He pulled out a communicator and called for a Healer.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  “It felt like an earthquake. But I don’t know why the window shattered. I heard a boom, and breaking glass everywhere. I wouldn’t doubt most of the windows in the palace are the same,” Lance said.

  I pushed Cory’s hands away as he tried to check me for more injuries. “I’m not hurt. Some of the glass got me, but I’m fine. Leave it for the Healers.”

  At the sound of more footsteps running towards us, the two guards took position in front of me. I had to peek past them to see Ryad appear first, followed closely by a Healer, and then by Marcus and his guards.

  Pandemonium broke out when they saw the blood on my face and clothes. “It’s not bad!” I tried to calm them all down and pushed Ryad and Marcus away as well. “Let the Healer do his job. Give him room.” Marcus pulled back at my command, but Ryad took longer to listen. “I’m fine. Head wounds bleed more than others. I’m not hurt.”

  Ryad relaxed visibly at my words. I smiled at his response and felt a flash of irritation from Marcus.

  The Healer put his hands on my head, checking the extent of my injuries. I hissed when his hand found a particularly tender spot. He pulled on something and I gasped. He dropped a shard of glass about the size of my thumbnail onto the table top, and then pressed on the wound. I could feel his healing powers as it knitted the skin together. He found another piece about half the size of the first and placed it next to it on the table and continued to heal the cuts on my scalp.

  I tried to ignore the ministrations of the Healer and focus on the questions shouted around me.

  “What happened?” Ryad asked.

  “Was it an attack?” Marcus asked.

  “Was it an earthquake?” a guard asked.

  “How much damage?” Cory asked.

  “Do we need to take her to the safe house, Captain Ryad?” Lance spoke.

  I held my hand up and was pleasantly surprised when they stopped talking. I looked at one of the bodyguards that had come with Ryad. “Get me reports on damage.”

  He nodded and took off running.

  I turned to an aide who had come in to help. “Where are the Nexleen?”

  “They are in their quarters, I believe.”

  “Find out how they are and report back here,” I said. She bowed and left as well. I moved to the window; the crunch of glass under my shoes almost sounded beautiful. Ryad tried to stop me, but I waved him away. I had to assess the damage. Black smoke billowed up in three different areas. Bright flames danced in a field near the palace grounds. I looked up, searching for any indication of an attack. There was nothing but clear blue sky.

  Sirens and shouts for help pierced the air, but the city seemed to be mostly well and I took comfort in knowing the resources were there to put out the fires and repair damage.

  As far as I could tell, there was not mass destruction. The earthquake had been strong, but not devastating.

  “Had there been any indication we would experience an earthquake?” I asked. “Get in touch with the geologists and find out if this was expected.” Another aide rushed off. I turned to Marcus. “Have there been earthquakes recently?” Why did I have a vision of the visitors from other planets, but nothing about this earthquake?

  “No. Nothing for years.”

  I turned back into the room and paced the floor. An aide quickly cleaned up the glass and set the room to rights. The scientists had gotten adept at predicting earthquakes. This was highly irregular to not have any warning of one. Small tremors had always preceded a quake like this in years past, and there had been time to prepare for them. Something had to have caused this.

  I looked at the Pacell Mountain range directly in line of sight from my window. I turned to another aide. “Has there been an increase of mining?”

  “I would have to check the requests for permission.” He opened his tablet and started looking for information.

  Marcus cleared his throat. “I approved a request for a new mine right before you returned.”

  I whirled on him. “Where?”

  “In the Pacell Mountains.”

  “No one is supposed to mine there. The Pacell and Fuhan Mountains are off-limits. Why did you not mention this at the council meeting?”

  “There was nothing anywhere to indicate no mining was allowed on those mountains. I checked. They had all the paperwork. Everything had been thoroughly researched. They had all the impact surveys and tests done to indicate everything would be fine.”

  “My father had declared that land off-limits.” Concern for what this could mean filled my thoughts. “There should never have been a request for it. The council should have known not to even allow the surveys to be completed. This was not supposed to happen. What were they mining for?”

  Marcus’s face reddened, but he took a deep breath and spoke calmly. “You think the mining in the mountains had something to do with this quake?”

  “I can’t say for sure, but it is highly probable. The Pacells are near a fault line.” With all of the aides and guards in the room, I didn’t dare tell him the true reason for no mining to be done on those mountains or to apologize for snapping at him. Though there had been enough niamon ore to create some Traveling medallions in the first place, it wasn’t enough for a good supply. Delilah had found indications there was a large vein of it deep within the Fuhan Mountains, but without lots of drilling and basically destroying the mountain and damaging the water source that supplied most of Rommader’s clean water, the niamon could not be retrieved.

  What they had thought was a large vein of niamon in the Pacells years ago turned out to be something similar, but not pure enough to develop into the medallions. The experiments using this false ore ended badly.

  Father believed it important to preserve our way of life more than advance teleportation. I looked at one of the few remaining pictures on the wall that hid my father’s vault holding the new formula for the Traveling medallions.

  Teleportation and Space Travel like I had experienced would be a huge draw to anyone. And the legal status of a mountain would not stop them from going after it. Maybe it was time to tell Marcus about the formula and the secret files once the chaos from this earthquake calmed down.

  ****

  The reports coming in were enough to give me some measure of comfort. The Nexleen were well and had reportedly enjoyed the quake, having never experienced something like that on their planet. The city was being taken care of by those crews and departments who were assigned to it. There had been a few serious injuries, but no fatalities, and a woman in the palace had gone into labor and delivered a healthy baby boy soon after the quake.

  The reports from the geologists indicated this quake was not natural and had been caused by something we did, but they couldn’t be sure of the exact root of it without further study. Mining had been done, but none of the mining companies would admit to having done it. It was highly irregular for a mining boss to lie about where they were digging, but every one of them adamantly denied any activity the day of the quake. I declared a stay on all mining activities until
the geologists could determine the ground was stable enough to continue operations.

  I was relieved no one questioned me on my decision. Marcus stood by me and lent his considerable influence and comfort to the people as we spoke to them after the quake.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Niamon

  “We are not going to serve that at the banquet tonight. The Dempka diplomat gave it to us as a wedding gift,” Marcus said.

  I rubbed the bridge of my nose, tired of this argument. “They will expect it to be displayed prominently to show their kindness to our people. If we keep it for ourselves, relations between our two worlds will be even more strained than they currently are.”

  “But this dovskey is so valuable.”

  “That’s the reason they gave it to us. It will be served with the second course. And the message will spread through the guests that it came from Dempka. Then someone else will notice the gifts from Kas, Oshan, and Nexleen. They will be talked of as well. This banquet is not to socialize. This is to display their wealth, prosperity, and power. And if we don’t provide a platform for it, it would be as if we slighted them all.”

  Marcus studied me from his spot on the couch. “How do you know all this?”

  “I was raised to be the queen.”

  He seemed to consider that for a moment.

  “Are we settled on this?” I asked.

  “On the banquet, yes.” He pushed himself off the couch and stretched before continuing. “But about the mining ban, I’ve still got some issues.”

  I waited silently, trying to keep my demeanor calm. I knew my father’s reasons for banning mining projects there. I agreed with them wholeheartedly, but once I explained them to Marcus, would he agree?

  What would he think of the possibility of unlimited Travel? I still wasn’t sure what to think of it myself. The possibilities were endless, but could we really afford to make something with no limitations?

  I had debated on keeping the information about the niamon to myself but thought better of it. If I expected to rule alongside him, I had to be completely honest. I just hoped he would see things my way.