THE VROL TRILOGY (34 page)

"How did you know I have it?" started
Max, as Jennie shot back, "Oh, a little birdie told me - and
Draagh, can you do something about these rags?"

The old mage waved his hand, his cantus
causing them to reform in an impressive, white leather battle
outfit (and matching boots), albeit with some of the bloodstains
she had earlier acquired. An amazed Max stared at Jennie, who
looked magnificent in white, her dark skin contrasting strikingly
with the supple leather. This all despite the fact that she still
had blood matting her hair. Pulling his gaze away from the
beautiful dega, he gave his attention to his
grandfather.

"Pops, do you have a bead on Johnson's
location?" asked Max, as the mage looked around, with the battle
still going on in the upper levels of the castle.

"No, my boy, and if you cannot detect
his scent that means he has either fled, done quite a splendid job
of hiding himself, or has been killed and eaten. We should hope for
the latter, but I digress. I should like very much to find
Siegfried, as he is the one who betrayed us all."

Then looking at Alea he said plainly,
"My dear, you have created quite a mess, and I am afraid that it is
not myself to whom you must answer."

Alea continued looking at the dungeon
floor. She was so panicked over being told that her husband was
alive that she didn't stop to think it could have been a trap or a
lie. She chose evil, and one who chooses evil never wins in the
end.

"Leave her there," commanded Draagh, "I
shall retrieve her upon my return."

The four searched all over the castle,
but could find neither Siegfried, nor Vladros. They had both fled,
as evil is generally masked cowardice. Many of the lycans returned
to the outside perimeter of the castle via their hastily made
tunnel, but Max made sure that Jennie was out first and then had a
good time 3D slipping four of them, running back through the tunnel
after each slip to get another. As he had done this without the use
of Draagh's staff, his timeout meter was depleted and slowly
creeping back up, keeping him from using any more magic for at
least a minute.

Maintaining defensive positions, as the
sun had already set, they waited until the team had completely
arrived, along with Alea as their prisoner. There were no losses,
although one lycan soldier had suffered a hellcat bite that,
unfortunately, was painfully poisonous.

"I didn't even get to use my sword,"
complained Jennie, with Max giving her a look of complete
disbelief.

"Jennie, you were kidnapped and beaten.
Can't we just go home?"

"Home," she said softly, "I like the
sound of that."

Chapter 22 - Banishment

The castle's great hall was filled with
all the lycans from the Rhönen Dominion, every single one standing
at attention, as Krynos, king of all he surveyed, addressed the
crowd. Directly in front of him was Alea, the traitorous woman who
assisted in Jennie's kidnapping.

The lycan leader gave her gaze of
detest, and then looked out at the crowd, saying, "Brothers and
sisters, as we are a nation of laws and nobility, we must always
adhere to the written rules upon which we live our daily lives. We
have suffered at the hands of betrayal, and with great sadness we
turn our backs on Alea, who was a valued member of our family. In
most cases, these circumstances would result in the instant
execution of the bearer of ill-will. But as Alea did serve the
Dominion well for many years, and also due to the fact that she was
betrayed by her cohorts, believing that her husband, the
greatly-missed Morgus, was alive and held captive by Vladros, I
have determined a modified punishment for our former sister. Alea,
you are herewith banished from the Rhönen Dominion for the rest of
your natural life, to wander the wilderness and perhaps come to
grips with the crimes of which you are convicted. This is the will
of your former king."

Krynos looked at the honor guard that
surrounded Alea and nodded for them to escort the woman out of the
castle. Everyone in attendance maintained stoic expressions, except
for a lycan major named Kangor. A tear rolled down his cheek as he
watched the woman he had known for decades. As she turned to leave,
she gave Draagh a look of anguish, knowing that she had indeed
ruined what was a good life, and had almost destroyed the life of
another. Draagh glanced at her and then looked away. He had many
lovers during his long life, and it was not the first time he had
been betrayed by the fairer sex.

Max and Jennie stood in the crowd and
quietly watched the procession lead the woman out, with Jennie
giving her a glare of contempt.

"You never liked her, did you?" asked
Max.

Jennie looked at him and plainly
stated, "No, I always thought she was a bitch."

Max hid a grin, turning away slightly,
glad that Jennie was safe, but pleased that she appeared to have
admitted a bit of jealousy.

As all departed the great hall, Draagh
approached Max and Jennie, saying, "My children, today is indeed a
sad day, and we must never take delight in the downfall of a
brother or sister."

"Stuff it, Gramps. She was a bitch,"
Jennie growled, before storming off to her chambers.

Max looked at his grandfather and
asked, "What the hell? She really thought she would get her husband
back?"

Draagh gave his grandson a pensive
gaze, and then said, "Yes, my son. We all pine for the love of our
life, and are susceptible to weaknesses of the heart."

Max looked out to where Jennie had
departed.

Yeah, don't I know
it…

###

There was no great celebration that
night, as many in the castle had loved Alea, and her betrayal left
an atmosphere of pain, loss and regret. Draagh, Jennie and Max sat
at their usual table, quietly eating their evening meal, when
Draagh spoke to them, having recovered from his former lover's
deception.

"So my children. Tomorrow
we shall enter into the final phase of your
initial
training. Within the week
you shall both experience your first phase 3, or
death form
transformation, which I heard is
quite…enlightening."

The two students gave him curious
expressions as he continued, "Jennie, now that you have a new toy
with which to play, I expect that you shall be practicing with the
utmost intensity in order to master your skills."

Jennie nodded as she messily chewed on
a hunk of meat. Then, looking at Max, Draagh said, "And you,
my boy, shall learn things of which even the highest of earthly
mages never have knowledge. I suggest we all get a good night's
rest, so that we may continue in the morning."

###

Outside the borders of the Rhönen
Dominion, and further to the north of Vladros' now-destroyed
castle, the fugitive vampire king approached a dilapidated
structure, which was also a castle at one time. He boldly entered
the property with his remaining security team; Siegfried and Ryder
Johnson following close behind. There to greet them at the broken
gate was Korlis, a minor vampire leader, who looked upon his liege
while wearing a crooked sneer that betrayed his status.

"Ah, it seems that you come with your
proverbial tail tucked between your legs. Bit off a bit more than
you were able to chew, my king? Also, may I ask why the majority of
your forces are camped out in the tunnels on my land?"

Vladros look at his subordinate and
hissed, "Take care with your tone, Korlis, and I shall allow you
yet more land on which to hunt, for I have a plan that shall rid us
of the lycan menace once and for all."

"Which plan might that be?" inquired
the smaller, yet equally hideous-looking vampire.

"We assemble the nation and attack the
Rhönen on the full moon," responded Vladros, who broke out into a
great, sinister laugh, his ugly visage accentuated by the waxing
moon that lit the night sky.

###

The following morning Max
awoke excited, and after changing into his training clothes bounded
down to eat his breakfast, fully expecting to find Draagh and
Jennie waiting for him. Looking around the mess hall, he saw no
sight of his friends, so he grabbed his morning meal and dutifully
ate away, replenishing his reserves in preparation for a day of
training. He tried to imagine what he was going to learn, as Draagh
had given a vague reference to
special
things
.

Max finished his food and jumped up
from the table. He decided to go by the training pitch to see if
Jennie was using her new, enhanced katana to blast things to atoms.
Thinking back on everything that had happened since he had left his
home planet, he had no regrets. He had made new friends, met the
grandfather he never knew even existed, and was developing a good,
albeit complex, relationship with a beautiful and noble woman - a
woman who could hold her own in virtually any situation, although
she could use some lessons in table etiquette.

As he entered the pitch
area he was surprised that Jennie wasn't jumping over obstacles and
dealing mass destruction on everything in her path.
Rather, she was seated on the grass chatting with a small
girl
. It seemed she was enjoying her
conversation with the cute young lycan, who appeared to be about 10
years of age, and looked as if she could have been Jennie's
relative, albeit younger and with lighter skin.

He walked up to the two, where he
greeted his counterpart with a typical, "Good morning,
Jennie."

"Hey Gunnarsson. This is Liliana. Isn't
she precious?"

The little girl appeared to
blush and rose to her feet, curtseying in polite
fashion while frantically brushing her hair out of her
eyes
.

"Master Gunnarsson, it is a pleasure to
meet you. Jennie was telling me of your adventures. They sound so…
cool."

Max's eyes grew a bit in surprise,
having heard the young girl use a term that was not part of the
common vernacular of that world.

"Liliana, it's nice to meet you too. I
haven't ever seen you before. Are your parents close
by?"

The child's face turned to perplexed
sadness, as Jennie whispered, "Hey, she's an orphan, like I
was."

Max got an awkward look on his face,
but recouped by saying, "Well then Liliana, you have a great family
here, and we are proud to be part of it, so please call me Max."
This caused the girl's eyes to light up a bit. "So what are you two
lovely ladies up to?"

Jennie reached over and ruffled the
girl's hair a bit, saying, "Oh, just girl-talk. Liliana said she's
going to watch me train and then join me for lunch."

Max looked at both the girls while
saying, "Well, that sounds pretty neat to me! I gotta go. I'm sure
Draagh is waiting for me in the training hall. See ya!"

He had barely finished his last
syllable when he disappeared with a light pop, via a 3D slip to the
training hall, leaving the two girls alone. Liliana stared off into
space with an astounded expression on her little face.

"He is so cool!" she cooed.

"Yeah, I guess he is," said Jennie,
agreeing with her little friend, and feeling a bit of a tickling
sensation in her tummy as she said it.

###

Draagh was seated at his table, various
books and manuscripts laid about, when Max appeared next to him,
preceded by a small popping sound.

"Ah, my son, it seems you are mastering
local slips quite well, quite well indeed, but do they still have
an effect on your timeout meter?"

Max concentrated for a moment,
squinting his left eye as if he was straining to see something.
"The meter does deplete when I use a few in rapid succession, but
this one barely moved the dial."

"Excellent! As you learn further, your
skills shall improve and you will find that you are able to avail
yourself more of these energies with less downtime."

"Sounds good to me," stated Max, and
continuing, said, "So last night you mentioned something about
knowledge that earthly mages don't possess. I'm ready!"

Draagh had a pleasant look on his face,
the light from the flickering candles causing his great, blue eyes
to sparkle.

"My boy, there is so much more to the
science of the universe than you know, and although you will learn
much today, I can dare say that one could spend many lifetimes
mastering it all. So, that being said - let us begin!"

He pulled out a manuscript and showed
it to Max, explaining that not only could a high-level mage
navigate worlds and time via The Hub, but he could also enter into
parallel versions of worlds, of which there were infinite numbers.
This was beneficial (i.e. a deceased person's DNA was required, and
a living doppelganger still existed on an alternate plane), but
also dangerous, as there were many parallel worlds where magic
didn't exist at all, being completely devoid of magic particles, or
nanobots, as Max called them. Further, there were worlds where
magic did indeed exist, but only partially. In these worlds - those
with only partially-functioning nanobots, and those without any at
all, a mage was required to have his staff, which carried with it
sufficient numbers of bots in which to perform cantuses, and even
escape the worlds, getting back to The Hub.