THE VROL TRILOGY (30 page)

She was sweating like a pig, and had
done all of her practice in battle form, necessitating a break for
nourishment, as her levels were nearly depleted. As she walked into
the dining hall she saw Max and Draagh sitting at a table to the
side of the room, but instead of greeting them, as was her fashion,
she simply ignored the two and took a seat further on in the
expansive chamber, laying her katana on the table top, off to the
side. With three giant plates of steaming hot meat set before her,
she dug in, eating voraciously, and not even noticing when Draagh
had sat down by her side.

"My dear girl!" he said in a rather
loud and almost obnoxious voice, "why not come sit with us? I
believe your young colleague has a great deal to tell you regarding
today's lessons."

"Naw, that's Ok, Pops. Gotta get back
out and train some more," she matter-of-factly replied.

Draagh paused for a moment, but
continued to look at her with a kind gaze.

"Very well, then. I am sure you have
much to accomplish, but may I ask something of you?"

Jennie looked up from the meat-loaded
plates with innocent, but uninterested eyes, her lower face covered
in the meat's succulent juices, which dripped down her chin and
onto her tunic. With a large chunk of flank steak hanging from the
corner of her mouth, she looked at her teacher and nodded in the
affirmative.

"Would you loan me your sword - your
katana, for the rest of the day? I would like to study it a bit.
You see, I find that particular weapon to be quite fascinating
and-"

Before he could finish his
request, she slid the blade in its
saya
, or sheath, over to him on the
table, and then dug her face back into her plate of food, slurping
and chewing with less table manners than even the least-educated of
lycan soldiers.

Draagh stood up, and after thanking her
most graciously, walked back over to Max, with the girl's sword in
his hand.

"Hey Draagh, why do you
have her sword? Did you put her on
battle-girl time-out
?" Max asked,
with just a touch of sarcasm to his voice.

Draagh took a moment to decipher Max's
use of archaic English, and chuckled lightly, saying, "Oh no, not
at all. She is being a good girl, though she is a bit upset - yes,
that much is certain. Did the two of you have an argument, perhaps
last night after you left the main hall?"

Max looked at him and shook his head
while saying, "Nope. I just said goodnight and went to
bed."

Draagh knew this to be partially true,
as he had witnessed through Socrates - who was hidden in the trees
during their battle with the vampires - the aftermath of the fight,
including Max's attempt to kiss her. Draagh gave his grandson a
warm gaze, and sat down next to him.

"My boy, one must be patient with the
fairer sex, and especially so with lycan females. There is a spark
between the two of you, but it will not set any embers ablaze if
forced, much like when one blows too hard on kindling for the fire.
The potential flame simply extinguishes."

Max gave him a deadpan look, and after
a brief pause said, "Ok, whatever. Sounds about right to
me."

Leaving Jennie in peace, the two
returned to the main hall, where Max was allowed to use the staff
on his own, but only to slip within the castle itself. Outside
locations were not allowed. As Max used Draagh's staff he would not
be depleting his own magical skills readout line, and thus not
suffer a timeout. Draagh did this to allow Max a bit of controlled
freedom and ample practice, and also so he could be alone and
examine Jennie's impressive katana, which was made many years prior
by Ohiro's grandfather, on what remained of the Japanese main
island. As he set about studying the sword, he got a twinkle in his
eye and started to manipulate the fearsome weapon with detailed,
unspoken cantuses.

Meanwhile, Max was using his
grandfather's staff in a most devious fashion, popping in and out
of various rooms throughout the castle, and even unwittingly
slipped into the small quarters of a post pubescent lycan male who
was, at that very moment, discovering the mechanics of his
manhood.

"Oops, sorry, bro! Been there, done
that!" Max exclaimed, as the frightened youth jumped behind a
wardrobe partition and tried to cover his exposed parts.

Feeling a bit awkward after having been
painfully reminded of his own journey of self-discovery, Max
decided to stop invading the privacy of others, and to bring it out
into the open. He slipped into the training grounds, tamping the
staff on the earthen pitch and making small concussion waves and
popping sounds as he slipped around Jennie's manic efforts at
self-improvement; this time without her katana, and only her wand
and gauntlet.

The field trainers watched with great
amusement as Max appeared and disappeared, while Jennie scrambled
over obstacles and shot balls of fire at the annoying young
lycan/mage. She nearly hit him on more than one occasion, so he
upped the ante by interfering with her path, using conjured laser
blasts, and although they were harmless, they did cause her some
level of distraction.

As they went on it seemed like she was
enjoying the enhanced level of difficulty more and more. Finally,
they were both worn out, and as the training hours had come to an
end, Max went over to where she was sitting and dropped down next
to her.

"Excellent!" shouted Max,
having some imagery of a late-20
^th
century
movie he had frequently watched as a child pop into his head - the
story about two teenaged friends who were provided with a time
machine, and assigned with the simple task of researching history
so that they could pass their final exam and not be separated into
different schools.

"Hey Jennie, did you ever watch any old
movies, like from Earth?"

She looked at him, her curiosity
aroused, and asked, "You mean when people performed? Before the
industry was completely computerized?"

Max nodded, as he smiled, feeling glad
that she wasn't ignoring him anymore. "Yeah, back then."

By the
mid-21
^st
century, computers were doing all of the work for
entertainment, and Hollywood film actors, as they were called, had
gone the way of the dinosaur. On Azul, the only actors that existed
were people who performed live, in front of audiences, and then
only did so out of a love for the art, as they were required to
memorize long lines and display great skill in portraying their
characters without having the luxury of being able to stop and
start over again. Needless to say, it wasn't something one did for
a career, as no one could ever earn enough pesos, francs or dollars
to make it worth their while.

"Yeah, I saw a few. Hard to believe
people were paid incredible amounts for doing that,
huh?"

Max laughed and said, "There was this
movie about these two idiots, Bill and Ted, and they had a
time-"

"Oh I saw that one!" she interrupted,
excitedly. "They kidnapped figures from throughout history for
their report! It was pretty funny. Come to think of it, can we go
back in time, once you learn 4D slipping, and maybe train with
Genghis Khan?"

They both burst out laughing,
practically rolling on the ground on which they were
seated.

"You know, you're getting scary-good.
No vampire is going to last long around you - especially smelling
like that. Speaking of stink, I wonder what cannibals fight
like?"

Jennie looked over, knowing that her
natural perfume was less than desirable at the moment, and gained a
slight grin.

"Yeah Gunnarsson, I've been wondering
the same thing. You think maybe Draagh could set us up with a
sampler?"

Max thought for a second, and then
said, "Hey, let's go ask him. Stand up!"

The two young officers rose from their
seated positions on the grass, where he slammed the staff to the
ground, slipping them to the main hall, surprising Draagh, who was
seated at his table. It was a complete mess, covered with
manuscripts, books, candles and some archaic-looking devices, most
with magical qualities. As soon as the pop sounded that designated
their arrival, Draagh started waving his hand out in front of his
nose.

"My hall smells of the ripest of
lycans. Dear Jennie, I do so hope you have fit a bath into your
busy schedule", he called out.

"Hey Draagh," Jennie asked, with a
hopeful look on her face, "Can we go kill some
cannibals?"

Draagh looked at her aghast, and
replied, "Oh my dear, no, Jennie. Why would you want to do
that?"

"Well," added Max, "they're the enemy,
right?"

Draagh gave them a sad, pitying
expression and said, "What has befallen them is not their fault,
and as long as we can keep them from harming others and adding to
their population we do not kill them. It is quite tragic, as they
lose a good deal of reason when they are infected. We only kill
when attacked, and never, ever out of pleasure or for
sport."

Jennie looked at the old mage, and had
an expression of complete understanding. Max also wore a face of
remorse for having even considered it, as he delicately placed
Draagh's staff on the table next to Primulus. Draagh then stood and
took his staff in his hand.

"I must meet with Krynos over matters
of the utmost urgency. Shall we meet for dinner? It is Donus'
birthday today, and it is sure to be quite a
celebration."

Both of them looked at Draagh as their
eyes lit up, with Jennie quickly responding, saying, "Ok, that
sounds great - but hey! Where's my katana?"

Draagh looked back briefly as he went
to exit the main hall, saying, "Oh, I haven't finished with it yet.
May I return it to you in the morning?"

"Ok, that's cool. Thanks!" replied the
beautiful, but sweaty and malodorous lycan girl.

Suddenly, Max ran over to his departing
grandfather, saying, "Draagh, just a minute," and then whispered
something in the old mage's ear. Draagh got a slight grin and
nodded, turning away and continuing his exit from the
room.

With an extremely inquisitive look on
her face, Jennie asked Max, "Hey Gunnarsson, what was that
about?"

"Oh, you'll see," he said with a
devilish grin.

Chapter 19 - Let's Dance

Both Max and Jennie returned to their
respective quarters to clean up for the party. Jennie spent and
substantial amount of time scrubbing down in the shower, as she had
spent the majority of the day in battle form, and that tended to
create a strong scent. Max also showered, but was able to spend
time going over some manuscripts, before visiting with his
grandfather so he could pick up what was a very special
request.

About an hour before Donus'
birthday celebration was about to begin, Jennie heard a knocking on
her door. Max's scent was in the corridor, and, dressed only in a
plush towel, she opened the portal to see what it was he wanted. To
her surprise, Max was standing in the hallway in an all-white,
commander's ceremonial uniform from Azul Military, with another
uniform draped over his arm. She almost gasped when she saw him,
having never seen him dressed like that before. She had always seen
him as his usual unkempt self - nerdy and down to business, or in
ill-fitting battle armor. But this time he was
dressed to the nines
, as they used
to say. Although unwilling to admit it, she found him rather
attractive, and also felt that the uniform made him look much
manlier than usual.

"Jennie, I assume you didn't bring your
dress whites either?" he asked, fully expecting a negative
response, to which she slowly shook her head with a little smile,
still visually scanning the young commander up and down.

"Ok then," he said, "take this and get
dressed," handing her the uniform and officer's slouch hat he had
earlier asked Draagh to conjure. "We'll show these puppies what
real uniforms look like." He then gave her a quick wink and burst
off back to his room.

Jennie shut the door, turned around and
softly fell back against the dark wood of the portal, staring off
with a look of wonderment on her face as she slowly slid downwards
into a seated position, her supple legs bent in front.

"Wow," she whispered breathlessly,
"he's kinda hot. Damn."

Donus' party was already in
full swing by the time the two offworlders entered. It was the
lycan commander's 123
^rd
birthday,
and as such, he was considered quite young for his leadership
position. Draagh was seated at the high table with Krynos, and
although Donus had a seat of honor with them, he preferred to
remain on the main floor with his soldiers and compatriots. They
were playing a game that comprised of smashing each other in the
face with large legs of roasted moose, while maintaining their
balance on precariously stacked wooden blocks.

"Lycan Jenga, "joked Max, referring to
an ancient Earth game of stacking, and then removing small, wooden
blocks. Jennie had no idea what Jenga was, so she returned a
quizzical expression as the two stepped into the hall. Suddenly,
the entire party came to a near stand-still, as almost everyone
looked up to the main entrance stairs to watch two figures descend
to the main floor, dressed in the most impressive white they had
ever seen. As they walked the main thoroughfare between the rows of
tables, lycans - soldiers, administrators and their spouses -
watched the two, who were basically aliens, majestically enter side
by side with their heads held high and hats held at their sides.
Whispers began throughout the crowd, and even Krynos looked on with
great admiration, never having expected these two to show up in
such fine garb.