S2, Chapter 8 In fact its cold as hell

Mars. Twilight. Abandoned ruins of a defunct royal Chateau. 

They had hidden out in the ruins of a once grand chateau for royal retreats. But according to Ziggy, her host, there had been no visits in over one hundred and thirty years. They hid among the ruins comfortably and he seemed to have been there for some time. She set up her own sleeping quarters and had no other choice but to trust the man who had saved her at the last moment. Yet what he had to say astounded her and was so obviously truth she could not deny it.

Once inside the chateau and once he was satisfied that it was secure he spoke to her and she had no choice but to believe. They faced each other over a fire pit.

“My name is Ziggy and I have been waiting for you for over a century.”

She stared at him with wary eyes. “You. . .know me?”

“I know you very well child,” he smiled and before she could react he embraced her. “I was there the day you left here.”

“I am Martian?” She pushed away from him after accepting his embrace for a few moments.

He shook his head and began gathering wood for a fire together. “You were born on a planet that went nova eons ago. Do you remember anything of this?”

She shook her head. “Am I supposed to?”

He sighed and blew the fire into life. Once that was done he went about setting up for making food. He did not stop once to look at her. “Its no wonder you do not. You received no proper education on your blood. Every time a Rider was awakened they were educated on their past and the present they had come into.”

“Have I. . been awakened before?” She whispered as if afraid to believe it.

“Oh many times,” he grinned. “ King Lazuras gave you his blood in the attempt to bring you out of hibernation. But he lost his war before you could help it.”

“Then the King? Is he. . . . Is he my father?”

“Your father?” He asked.

“If he gave me his blood to bring me to life, I call him my father.”

He was silent as he brought out hidden shanks of meat and set them over the flames. His two toned eyes were thoughtful.

“Yes, he was your father of this life. He and his Queen gave their blood to you.”

“I have a mother?” She was excited at the thought.

He shook his head. “She died long ago, like the ones who birthed you.”

“And the King? Where is he?”

“Dead as well.”

She sank to her heels and sat on them. “I came here looking for them. . They. . .one of them called to me.”

He looked to her then, his two tone eyes bore into her from across the fire.

“They are gone but I was there when you opened your eyes. Do you not remember me at all?”

She shook her head, her eyes misted with tears.

He tilted his head. “I remember you. Your eyes were blue and your hair was white. Earth changed you.”

“Fire changed me,” she whispered and wiped tears away from her cheeks. “I awoke in fire on earth.”

“Time may have passed but I know your face. I could never forget.”

“What happened? Why was I sent away?”

“We had lost the war,” he sighed. “The Queen was dead, the King and I came here. His laboratory was here where he hid you. An awakening can last for months. The Barons had overrun the capitol so we fled here and sent you off in a rocket that the King had preserved.”

“Preserved?”

“Long ago other Starriders forbid Martian travel to Earth, they burned blueprints, destroyed every craft and murdered all technicians with space travel knowledge. Their knowledge purge sparked the Martian Civil Wars.”

“Did not the King start them?”

“Oh good heavens no,” he shook his head and poked at the seared meat. “No The last king inherited these wars from other Kings and Queens before him. They believed he would settle them and so they went into hibernation soon after his awakening. They were all destroyed by the Spyders. Cast out of the saftey of the ice while they slept and the sands stunk of rotting bodies for years. But he saved the very last Starrider besides himself.”

She stared at him with a face in awe. “I am the last?”

“Well besides me.” He grinned and laughed. It was an airy sound that she enjoyed listening to. “I am a lesser Starrider you see. Stewards of sorts.”

“What did you do afterwards?”'

“I ran and became someone else. It was the only way.”

She nodded, “I can understand.”

They ate that night together and she relayed to him her plight on earth. How she had enlisted the Kilmister to bring her back over five years before hand. Ziggy laughed at how he turned his mission to capture her into a mission to assist her, but did not elaborate. She felt like she was living a dream.

Even as they spent the weeks together and she learned of Martian Civil wars and the tyranny of the Barons, she felt that he only told her parts of whole stories and histories. As if there were things he hid from her still, she felt he knew more about Kilmister than he let on.

“So the Barons were the lead Spyders who overthrew the Starriders?” She asked.

He nodded. "Long ago, very long ago, humans from earth lived here first. They made it livable and one day they found the Starriders drifting through space on an ice asteroid. The humans brought the Riders to Mars and eventually some interbred, creating what are now called Spyders. But the Starriders became their overlords, that's what they have always done you see, rule planets.”

“What was wrong with them?”

“They found the secret to immortality in the stars. Instant freeze in ice caps on planets much like Mars and Earth. Only so many Kings and Queens ruled for only a few decades at a time. They would awaken the next one and then go to sleep for however long it took to get back round to them in the line of secession.”

“Were they not just?”

“It was not that they were not just, they were a greatly diverse group of aliens. But not everyone of the mortal Spyders liked this cycle of immortal rulers.”

Star shifted in place, it was as she did on Earth. Keep herself immortal, but she did it to protect the people against the BOC. Besides, she had shared her immortality with victors of tournaments. She was satisfied with her peace of mind, but in awe of just how alike she was to the others who had perished.

*********************************************************************************

As time went on she asked many question and received partial answers. She could not, however, bring herself to ask him why Zardos was so happy about being on Mars. She didn't want him to think her insane but during her stay Zardos posted by any window and stared out over the sea of sand surrounding them. She stared at the city and was silent. She hardly paid attention to Star and it made the woman nervous. She came and went as she always did but with increasing absences.

After a day or two he returned from the city with a jar of red, clay like substance.

 “A ruckus has been raised about the sighting of a woman with gold hair. Gold and white hair,” Ziggy had explained, “were tell tale signs the Barons told people to watch for on her bounty. We must dye yours.”

She stroked her lush golden hair. She treasured it, prized it. The thought of dying it never occurred to her. But she remembered her first days when she wandered about the city and saw that all hair was dyed various shades of silvers, reds, or black. If she wanted to stay she had to, she nodded and sat down at his feet.

He revealed more of her past. “You had white hair when you left, but the Barons countered this should you ever return. Everyone was forced to register their names into city logs and dye their hair various colors that the Barons chose, their colors.”

She listened more than she spoke, taking it all in as best she could. However, as he dyed her hair she had to ask one question that had been killing her since the day she arrived.

"What do you know of the two princesses in the Silver Spires?"

His movements through her hair stopped. "The princesses of Earth."

She did not face him but her eyes welled with tears. "Are they well? Are they cared for?"

"They are. As best to anyone's knowledge."

"How far is their prison from here?"

"Too far to go on foot. We would need horses and I cannot obtain them without being chased as a thief."

She fell silent. They were on this planet, as she always imagined, and she could not save them. Feeling worse than helpless, a feeling that had no name, she did not ask about them further. Only to know that they were alive was good enough for her. 

                                                                           **

Ziggy had made trips back into the city, Star had gone with him but was wary of journeying to the center of the maze. The guards were actively looking for her and she was the highest bounty paid fugitive on all of the planet. She had never known this and so had never suspected what she was going to jump into. But she went as far as she dared with Ziggy and he showed her what he safely could.

When Star herself knew that she had outstayed her welcome. Ziggy reminded her that Mars time was longer than Earth. By the best of their combined understanding, she came to the shocking surprise that she had been gone well over three solid months from the Throne on Earth. While only being in Mars for weeks. 

They made plans to set off back to the location of the Rainbow bridge where they would jump back into it and shut it off from her side. They would go through a narrow gorge to skirt around the city to avoid any tolls or checkpoints. It was too dangerous to go through the dunes, people got lost all the time he said.

So they would go beneath the city and run from there. She didn't know what she had expected, but this was too much for her to take on alone. She would need to take her knowledge back to Earth and try to figure out how to approach it. Returning to Mars was a dangerous subject, while returning to Earth knowing what she did now was even more so. She huffed against the cold encroaching winds that blew into the ruined abode she hid in.

Maybe it was indeed for the best that she return to a place where she, at least, had some political standing. It unnerved her to think that if she was caught here she would undoubtedly be put to the sword. But on Earth it could get just as bad. As she gazed at the dunes, her hair a dark dyed shade of red now, she took in the last sights before she was to go home.

“Are you ready?” He asked behind her.

She nodded and they started into the twilight. Through the darkness of the desert they silently made way to the gorge. Star didn't know where to go, but Ziggy did. He took her by the city but they avoided the sights of the guard towers. Into the gorge they went and all was silent in the night, she actually believed they would make it. It was a crawl as they heard talking and saw guards above them. Ziggy felt his heart drop, he hadn't expected this. They never came this way so far from the city at night.

He led her along, he had to get her out of here. But to his dismay he heard footsteps behind them. He turned and saw a Spyder Soldier.

The Spyder struck a torch. “I knew it was you. No one else would be on her trail as closely as a Spyder.”

“Run Star,” Ziggy told her while withdrawing a large scimitar. “Run through the city, lose them there.”

“I will not leave without you,” she said firmly.

The guard then threw the torch overhead and when it landed it lit the gorge walls on fire. They had been oiled. It was not a fire meant to kill them but to alert others. He grinned.

“Go now!” He shoved her to go around the Spyder.

As she looked at him, really looked at him, it suddenly struck her. Right in the head. He was the one she had seen. He was the Martian of her visions, sitting in the red dunes holding out his hands. But he shoved her away just as she understood and had no choice but to make sure his efforts were not in vain.

The Spyder let her past. “You won't last long,” he said to her.

She dashed away to find a path to the city. Ziggy faced the Spyder and they dove into a well trained flurry of sword fighting. Their fight went on, clashing swords and flying sparks. When they stopped both were panting for breath and the Spyder was surprised. With the walls of the canyon on fire they were melting in their leather armor.

“You are still well honed for being such an old man,” the guard jibbed. “Your fugitive friend won't hide for long in there.”

“You have no idea what she is capable of.” He glared at the other man. “How did you know we would come this way?”

“A hunch. I saw you two escape the city so I followed you.”

“You've been watching the chateau?”

“Aye, for some weeks. Nearly lost your trail honestly.” He chuckled. “But I found you on one of your little trips to the city.”

“You let us sit for weeks. Why not make a grab for us when you could?”

They flung themselves into parries and blows once more. Sparks upon sparks rained at their feet. The fire was starting to create its own draft and it sucked through the gorge, making the men sway. They stopped again, panting for breath.

“I knew you would dash for it out in the open. You never came into the city, even then I'd lose you. I figured you two were smart. You could see me coming miles away during the day, you would have even been able to slip away if I came with an army. But here at night is where I waited.” He laughed at his own cleverness. “I knew, I just knew you two would sneak around, whatever you're after.”

“Laugh while you can,” Ziggy said. “It will be your last.”

As if he had merely been playing with the Spyder, he danced forward and cut his leg out from under him. The scimitar then found its way cleaving into his chest. He was stunned and choked on his own blood, Ziggy faced the oncoming set of soldiers who were coming to back up their partner. But they would arrive too late for their comrade and just in time to battle the man of the sands.

                                                                           **

Tears streamed from her eyes as she dashed through the fire lit streets of the city. She had found him! She had spent days and nights with him! And he had slipped through her fingers! She now had to run back to the portal and go home, alone. It was too dangerous here and she knew that now. They could stay no longer and she had to leave him behind!

Somehow, someone along the way had gotten clever and had ruined everything! She had no idea if anyone followed her but her progression through edge of the city slowed as the crowds thickened. Men and women in red and silver capes rallied through the streets and under bridges and through tunnels. They chanted about growing their hair free, they chanted about being free to believe to learn their history. Their torches cast the city in orange light and they moved forward.

As she stood on the edge of a fountain a set of three soldiers entered the square. She saw them and one saw her and they knew. He pointed to her and the other two looked at her as well. They began pushing and shoving through the crowds with hard aggression and some of the protesters shouted their upset.

Star fell into their ranks and crossed the square. She got to another large, square fountain and jumped up by a light post. Light reflected off the water and she stared about at the surrounding crowds. So many people! This would not end well, Star knew it, she had seen it before.

Suddenly she heard breaking doors and windows in some unseen alleys, ahead of the crowd a building was lit on fire. As the building roared into flame, she took the moment as the crowd began running forward in a heavy surge, to flee. Any guards after her were occupied now.

Into the darkness she melted and not a soul came to stop her. She looked back as she left the city and crested the first dune. Behind her was a large plume of fire in the outskirts of the city. Not one, but two of them burning tall and bright.

She turned away, leaving a world on fire as she had on earth and ran through the night time desert of Mars. The dark sky had just begun to turn the slightest lighter shade of night time blue to signal that dawn was hours away but coming. She came upon the black shapes of the ruins in which one could feel and hear the hum of the rainbow bridge. She had no fire or light to see by but could make out their shapes.

Once inside she knew to walk straight forward. Even in the dark she followed the hum of the Bridge as she got closer and felt the false wall that hid the portal. Once between the false walls she saw a faint blue glow and followed it.

Her lips were dry and her lungs bursting. Her throat parched and her water long since gone in the sandy dunes she came from. She beheld the blue flow of the bridge as it sensed her near and prepared itself for her. Praying to any gods she knew that no one followed her she went to jump into the fire-

A hand grabbed her! He pulled her back around the false wall and in the glow of the portal he knocked her hood back. She saw his face, angry and young.

His eyes! They were silver like Kilmisters! Swirling like mercury. 

She couldn't tell his hair color in the light. He stared into her face, taking in her details and pulled on her to leave the ruins but she punched him in the head and he yowled loudly. He turned and smacked her across the face in return.

 She had a dagger that bit him in the dark and drew blood on his forearm. He grabbed her wrist, slammed it against the wall and she dropped the dagger. But she was quick to retrieve it with her free hand and stabbed him in the hand in turn. He yanked it back, screaming. The dagger flew into the darkness behind him during their scuffle. She turned away but as she did he grabbed a handful of her flying hair!

He twisted a good grip on it and pulled so hard that strands were coming off in his grip. Her hair was strong in the rope he held and without the dagger to cut it she had no choice but to pull away from him. The clump came away in his grip, blood came from her skalp. She screamed and kicked him with her boot before rolling away and flinging herself into the portal and whirring off to earth.

There was no way He, Garot, was going to leave Mars and go into the portal everyone thought was defunct. It was against the law to even come to this place. He may not know her name, but he had her hair, he stumbled out of the ruins with something to show the Barons. Klyde had been killed in battle and he had run after her into the dunes, to this horrid place of legend.

He had seen her face and if she was who he thought she was, he was shocked that he had seen her alive. He looked at the hair as the sun began to rise and saw dye coming off on his sweaty palm.

                                                                     **

When she came out, Kilmister was more than surprised. Star fell out of the portal and into the cold room below him. He sat in a hanging swing seat above. She fell and sprawled out on the floor, her head was dripping a solid line of blood and she got on her hands and knees, gasping violently for air.

He watched her adjust to earthen atmosphere and when she could breath she looked around for him.

“Water!” She shouted. “Water please!”

He lowered the swing and rushed a flask to her lips. He knelt beside her and was able to see that her bleeding spot was a missing clump of hair. Someone had attacked her and she got away. He went to the main power lever and hauled it down. The whirring of the Bridge ceased and the earth was eerily still.

Kilmister went back to her side. “Breath, breath heavy. I remember what it was like, adjusting to earthen air.”

She gasped for a few moments until her shoulders shook and her gave out low raspy bellows. A laugh.

“Martian air is....is kinder to....adjust.” She coughed and drank more water.

Kilmister smiled. “You'll have to tell me what it's like.”

She looked up at him with a sharp twist of her head and reached into her pocket. She produced a silver coin and gave it to him. His smile died and his silver eyes widened.

“You know them?” She rasped.

They met eyes and he nodded. "They sent me to kill you."

She felt a dizzy spell come over her head and fell to the floor before they could speak of it further. . . .

S2 Chapter 7 Caught in the Middle

Holy Wood, Ao'o, 2020 AC/DC, Day.

Her mother had been gone two months! Months and not a word! Last they heard of her she had ridden off to settle land disputes and a fire and had done so. But of course, the treaties lasted a short while. not on the fault of lords and ladies of the land but simply because the pagan tribes that had no kings or queens were always at war.

Dawn did not bother with them. But Richi was busy in the throne room at that moment, reading letters and corespondents form afar. Dawn picked her nails with a wooden pick and acted nonchalant. Rosie was in classes and Dawn had little else to do on this day, instead she was watching her Uncle. maybe he knew something of her mother, though she doubted it.

He also didn't seem aware of Dawn's discoveries. He didn't seem to know a damned thing about the Silver eyed man her mother was so infatuated with. Her dark blue eyes stared at her uncle as he sighed over this paper and that.  No doubt he was reading over the bills her mother accumulated. But still he didn't seem so bothered, just annoyed.

Just as she was judging him he spoke out loud.

"Again! Just as you mother settles one dispute there is a siege at Darkness Castle."

As she was the only one else present she knew he was trying to include her in subjects of the lands.

"That's a little farther north."

He looked up and from across the hall said, "You are not as interested in far lands as your mother."

"Why should I be? Allies yes, but there is nothing for me there."

He seemed to think about that statement. It rang a bell in him.

She toyed with him. "What's that look for?"

"She does love the Sabbath lands. . . ."

"Glad I'm not the only one who noticed," Dawn said, a grin teasing her voice but not her lips.

"But still, she knows the importance of taking care of ones allies. As the epicenter of the known world its nearly our duty. If and when you inherit the throne, you will be forced to care for countries beyond our boarders"

She scoffed. "We shall see."

"Speaking of which," he trailed off while reading a letter. His eyes skimmed over words but each syllable only seemed to make him more dismal. "This is not good. They are not prepared for such a siege." He put the letter down in his lap and looked at the floor in thought. "My diplomats are holed up in the Sabbath Lands."

"What are you going to do? Go yourself?" Dawn laughed, she saw a plan building. "We need you here, send someone else."

He sighed and ran a hand through his thick black hair. "At the moment there is no one else." His gaze wandered at dates on papers. "This was dated not long ago, this one reports that the siege is imminent," he held up another. "This one is an account from an outside source."

She sat up from her  slouch. "I can go."

"No no, I will. Its an isolated place and I know the young Prince, Ozzie. Better than you do so it will be easier for me to deal with this."

She shrugged at his truth. "If you insist."

He looked up at her. "I will leave you in charge of the estate managers until I return."

"You need not worry Uncle, I won't cause damage. I will not take with force what is mine by birth." She grinned wolfishly. "Not like I'm in any hurry to become Queen."

                                                                              *

As she watched Richi leave the castle for an extended trip to the Sabbath Lands. He had given a great sigh and then made the necessary arrangements to make her Queen Regent until his return and after a short time preparing he was gone. Dawn was beyond overjoyed with herself. She assured her uncle that she would refrain from making any major decrees or actions until he returned.

The first day she received nothing to do. She merely sat on the throne with glee and dwelled on thoughts of what she could do. She didn't have much time. She summoned two men to her side, great warriors and bards. Loyal as long as she had known them.

They stood before her on the second day of her Regency, they were in her chambers as she wished no one to know what she was doing.

"Sir Kyle, Sir Jables. You two have been called to help me."

"But of course," Kyle said. "In what way do you need our services?"

"I need you two to do a bit of dirty work for me."

Jables looked uncertain for a moment. "Ok are you sure? Because we aren't Dirty Deeds men you know." When he received a blank stare he went on. "You know, its cool! Forget I asked, whatever it is! You got it." he smiled.

She presented two large bags of coin on her table. "Thrice this much awaits you if you trap my uncle at Ozzie's castle. Set fire to the grounds, inflame the riots, I don't care just cause havoc and keep him there."

The looked at each other, then the gold, then they nodded.

And they both said! "OK."

She provided them with horse, food and funds and sent them away.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

Four months after Star's disappearance. . . .


Dawn circled her coveted throne. What was hers by birthright as the only surviving child of the last Lizard King. When she came of age she began hearing whispers of her two elder sisters and how they vanished into the night before she was born. Around this time her father also disappeared and it wasn’t until after Dawn was born that the BOC kidnapped her and imprisoned her mother. 

Her eyes concentrated on the thing her father seemingly never wanted. Dawn however, wanted this, she wanted what her father left her, what her sisters gave her, what her mother had shed blood for. But due to some witch’s prophecy about a bastard king, Star refused Dawn rulership, believing that death would follow her crowning if she sat on an Earthen throne. Foolish loon.

“My Lady!” A messenger approached with a guard by his side. 

Dawn was alone in the throne room, after she had tricked Richi into leaving Holy Wood she happily took command. By order of succession, with the Warden of Holy Wood gone and the Queen gone, it fell on the Princess to assume leadership. With their prolonged departures backing her reasoning, she had begun preparations for her coronation as Queen.

“We have received word from the Sabbath Lands.” He held out a rolled piece of paper. It had a red seal with Richi’s stamp on it, unbroken. 

Dawn nodded in dismissal and while the messenger left the guard remained. He saluted her and relayed more.

“Dee Astoria of the BOC wishes to have an audience with you my lady.” He announced.

She thought it over and then nodded. “Send him in.”

He bowed his head and left the room. Dawn swept to the throne and took a seat, slow sitting down. She savored the feel of control. Dee was no doubt coming to speak to her about the nobles. He among the BOC mingled in the courts, Dawn considered him a spy and if he was she wanted to keep an eye on him. He was the only member of the BOC her mother trusted, which shocked Dawn considering their past. 

No doubt he came to tell her how unrest and uneasy floated through the courts of nobles. Dawn knew it, it had been a challenge these last few months, gaining their support. She had tried to attend more manager and nobility council meetings, and tried to appear interested. She tried to make it look like she had curbed her rambunctious behavior.

As she waited for Dee to enter she unraveled her uncle's message. It was spotted with blood, she doubted it was Richi’s. Most likely another messenger’s. 

“Dawn, the clan war has cut us off. Cannot get out, will seek shelter with the Prince of Darkeness Castle until the war subsides. Please send an extraction! -Richi.”

She grinned, she had no intention of sending help. It was no secret that those lands were sometimes blockaded for months during their clan wars. The longer he was kept away from Holy Wood, the longer she was able to gain control. She heard the approach of softly padded feet and looked up. Dee Astoria, tall and narrow faced, with his platinum hair tied back. There was something Dawn could never trust about him, something she saw that her mother did not. But she didn’t know what it was she saw exactly. 

“Hello Princess,” he bowed his head. “I heard Lord Richi has been away over a month now and came to see. How fares the throne in your uncle’s absence?”

Straight to the point, at least he knew that Dawn would waste no pleasantries with him. “It fares well. It is, after all, my inheritance.” She gave him a look of faux confusion.  "Everyone seems concerned about my business in his absence."

Dee eyed the rolled up parchment in her hand. She tightened her grip.

"Some of the nobles say it odd that you plan to crown yourself when neither are proven dead."

"Given the circumstances, I believe it a logical course of action. Did you come here to speak secession?" She kept it as civil as she could manage. 

He was taken slightly by surprise. “I came to extend my alliance as I did to your mother. I believe we may help each other.”


“Oh?”

“I come with information, whispers and statements committed by nobles. They are uneasy about your rumored
ascension.”

“Tis no rumor. They will grow to accept it.”

“I hope you are right. Many wish that Princess Rosie takes your mother’s place.”


Dawn smirked. “My daughter is next after me. She is much too kind for the heavy ideals of monarchy. She will come after me I can assure them of that.”


“They wish it now.”


“Do you?” 


“Of course not, I wish whoever sits on the throne to be a capable leader and of the right blood.” He came closer and smiled respectfully. 


“Does he think we are friends?” She thought to herself. Out loud she said. “With my uncle gone the responsibility of Holy Wood falls upon me and I will take it up. Whether the nobles want me or not is of no consequence as I AM the king’s only living daughter.”

Something like a twitch in Dee’s eye made her narrow her own and raise an inquisitive eyebrow. But he concealed whatever he was thinking. 


“They are used to Star’s rule, they will be hard pressed to accept you. You are after all, an excellent and noted war strategist. But this is not the Underground nor a battlefield, you are the queen apparent. However, if there is a revolt you will not be what you were born to be.”

“Is that so?” She asked with an even tone. 

“Indeed it is. You must play a different face within the courts of these nobles. Many of them are immortal like your mother and yourself. They are used to her soft hand, threatened by the loyalty she evokes in the common people.”

“I have loyalty. I do not worry over the opinion of those who were not born from the last Lizard King of Holy Wood.”

“I knew you would say that.” He grinned as if he was friendly with her. “Many opt to free the Sabbath lands as it is now known that they have been cut off and your uncle seems to have become part of the clan battle.”

“It is unfortunate that he is stuck behind the blockade. But now is not the time to worry about lifting a blockade. It is my understanding that this happens often, that they are out of direct control of Holy Wood and they were my Mother’s allies. She was the one always riding to their defense. But I am not my mother, I will clean up whatever is left of the dispute but I decide to let them battle it amongst themselves. Their land wars do not concern me.” 

Dee, seeing that she was a harder challenge than he first thought decided he needed to regroup his thoughts and plans. He smiled and nodded. 

“Any news of your mother’s return? People do wonder.”

She felt that their conversation was nearing an end, thank the gods. “There is no news forthcoming. I sent my men, the Tenac, to go search for answers but they not yet returned. In such an instance I have decided to commence with my coronation and a wedding on the same day.”

“Oh? A wedding you say?” He seemed keenly interested.

She nodded. “The Wizard, Sir James, is to be made my husband and King.”

“The first wizard to become king of Holy Wood, my my what a shock.”


“It is no secret that we are lovers. If I can assume that you worry he will take power over me, I can assure you he will not. King in title only. It is MY throne and I will be the ruling Queen.” 


“I will convey your thoughts.” He said, he was about to say more but she interrupted.


“Be sure that you do and give them the honest telling of what I said here today.” Her test upon him to see just what he did with knowledge. “And ready the people for my coronation and wedding.”


“As you wish,” he said as he bowed. He turned and left with a parting smile that Dawn took to be sly and friendly. Falsely so.


As he left she called for a guard. When he appeared she stood and looked out of a window behind the throne. 


“If two men by the names Kyle and Jables should come to my gates alert me immediately.”


He nodded. “Yes my lady.”


“That is all,” she dismissed him. 


With him gone she sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose between her fingers. She meandered to the records room. The day before this one she had sat in there surrounded by account Managers and dealers, hounding her about her mother’s strange spending habits. They were not drowning in debt but it made the managers go wild with confusion. She heard them prattle on about the mage called Geez, where she she had witnessed Star speak to the mystery man. Whoever the Silvered Eyed one was, Dawn had no clue. She had no idea why her mother would imprison him with war criminals and then release him. But it was important and there were other reasons Dawn had for implanting herself on the throne so forcefully. 


With no one in the room she struck a candle and let it burn before holding Richi’s message over it. It ignited in flame and she wished her uncle the best of luck. Her abandoning him was not because she harbored him ill will, they were alike in many ways. She wanted to be Queen and she would do it while he was away. So long as no one else read his message and need for an extraction from the Sabbath Lands, no one would go do it. Which means he would be detained there until the land dispute ended and by that time she hoped to be married and queen. 

“Mama?” She heard a voice from behind her int he hall. It was Rosie. 

 The child had come seeking the princess. Dawn smiled and turned to face her. 

Rosie could see that a piece of paper was burning but did not ask why. “May said Dee was here.”


“He was.” Dawn walked to them and took their hand, they walked through sandstone halls side by side.  As different as fall and spring. “He is gone from the castle, though not from the village. Don’t ever trust him Rosie, never trust a BOC member.”

“But nana does.”


“Your grandmother had a different past with them. But you and I are not nana.”

“Ok,” they said. “When are nana and Richi going to return.”


“I do not know my sweet.” It was the truth. “But we have reason to celebrate. I am going to be married to the Wizard and will be crowning myself queen.”


Rosie looked up in excitement. “You are?!”


“I am!”


“What about my father?”


Dawn’s thoughts halted. Apollonio was a prince from a far away land who was once fostered under Star while a plague ravaged his homelands. They married in a small ceremony that while it was no secret, it was unsanctioned by the Queen and she was not present. Thus she had no knowledge of it until Dawn showed signs of pregnancy. When Rosie was two years old, Dawn had another child by him but the Prince was summoned back to his homelands and they had not heard word from him or his father since then.


“We are no longer married sweet child. With no knowledge of his lands or well being, I had to move on. But I am getting married once more to a man I love deeply.”

Rosie nodded. The men in her family seemed to be cursed in some way. Her brother, her father, her grandpa, even Angus. The demon her nana had summoned. She walked alongside her mother as they went to prepare for the double ceremony. 

S1 Chapter 12, Dying to Meet you, Part II

The Highhills......earliest rays of dawn....

Dawn was riding to the Highhills, places of woods and misty rocky hills. that bordered the Dragoons and Sabbath lands. The people here were splintered in many different clans and factions, but the ones she sought were the GeordieMen. The cleverest of warriors who didn't take no for an answer, or anyone's bullshit for that matter. She had actually met a few Geordiemen years ago in a village market somewhere. Wanderers far from home.

But now so was she.

The army was behind her, the wrong army. It had been weeks of fighting, nearing a third month's worth, and Dawn's army had broken some line within the forests of Holy Wood and the Eastern freelands, many Spyders had fled or been killed. Dawn herself didn't take prisoners, not many anyhow. Star and Richi had staked their holdings on the boarder of Holy Wood and surrounding touching lands, and were succeeding in fending off the attackers, but they had recently closed in in the forests. They choked a pathway around the main force and somehow, of course somehow, Star managed to break off Spyder contact with the lands they had claimed. Forcing the largest fraction of their army up a narrow crag in the earth that went north by north east.

That is where she was now. In the heat of this chase, and the battle that started their running, she had taken off with nothing but her horse and she carried, trailing after the enemy. She couldn't turn back for risk of losing them in the rocky gorge, and so could not break pace and could not lose sight of them. In this place, one day lost was an army lost forever. She knew they were trying to get to the Hills, those misty hills where Clansmen lived. If the Spyders got there before she did, they would slaughter the natives and hide out for the winter fast approaching.

The hills were pitted with caves that went deep into the earth, and the winters grew harsh. If the enemy made it to the caves, Dawn and her army would be barred all winter, and the Spyders would be free to take every advantage and flee to the East before she could catch them. But she gained ground on the Spyders, though her horse was ragged and so was she, she went on, she had to find the GeordieMen, to tell them, to recruit them. For their lives and her peoples'.

She missed her child, who was all the way by the sea with her nursemaid. Dawn had been shaken by the death of her childhood nanny, Tilda. Her mother seemed indifferent, until her Bon was murdered. True while Dawn hated him, she didn't wish for either of them to go through such violence. While she prayed to pagan gods to protect her child, she also worried for her now war crazed mother. The loon was going mad, Richi said she was not sleeping well, and was mostly silent. This was a bad combination that hopefully changed if they won.

She shook her head to wake herself, tired from the journey and the exertion she had endured to get this far ahead. Behind her the Spyders were happily setting up camp for the evening. She glared at them, wishing that she had Rosie's potential power to harness and command the earth. Rosie would never use her powers for such violence, but Dawn would have gladly used them to stop this from ever having to happen. A big hole in the earth would have sufficed.

Her own powers over the sun were too vast and wild for her to control safely.

She was in the foothills when the lavender tint of pre-dawn crept into the sky above and around her. Below, the camps were surprisingly out of sight in the canyon below. This would only prove her point, or make her look insane. These clansmen were so secluded that she doubted their knowledge of the outside world was up to date. Would all of this even matter if the clan she found in these foothills wasn't even the Geordiemen? The Spyders would stay in that canyon for days, probably sending spies to scout these areas....she had that much time over them at least. Maybe.

If the Georidemen weren't in this area, if they exceeded her reach, she doubted she would win. She laughed in her throat as she could almost hear her mother's voice in her head, telling her to never doubt her own power. She was Lizard Blooded, she would win if she tried.

“Its when you stop trying that you really lose.” Dawn's voice echoed as she recited the words with a sarcastic tone, mimicking her mother's. “Loon. . . “

Her horse suddenly stopped, panting hard. Its breath rising and freezing int the chilly morning air. Dawn shivered. The winders of ice were upon them, snow would be falling within the month. By then the Spyders would be right at home with the bodies of the dead left to the storm.

There was noise on the crag above her. Her sword was drawn and pointed at the hills above her. In one fluid motioned honed to even faster speeds during this current war. But she saw no one near. She sheathed her sword, dismounted, and retrieved the blade quietly once again. She led the animal by the reigns carefully, and came around a mound of rock that blocked the paths above. When she saw a man some ways above, on a path she now saw open up before her, she stopped.

That face she knew only from paintings, from dreams, from looking in the mirror. In leather brown pants, a flowing white shirt, with soft brown hair in even softer curls, was her father, standing above her, looking down with an lazy, expectant look. He turned without a word, throwing a leather jacket over his shoulder and walked up the rocks and boulders, leaving her behind.

“Father! Father wait!” She shouted. She left her horse and began scrambling up the hillside path. The sky was beginning to grow a lighter shade of lavender by the time she straightened up and stopped in the middle of the a dirt switch back with a wide turn, as if for a small cart or wagon. She stopped and spun round on the spot. Her father was nowhere in sight.

But another man was. He was dressed in a green kilt and a moss black long sleeved tunic. He wore leather boots that rode up to his knees, fur lined the edges and insides. His eyes were dark, made darker by the large, grey wool shawl he had wrapped around his torso. His face was handsome, hinted with a tad touch of being plain. His curly hair was a light brown and the wild expanse was kept tightly under a dark grey cap.

She wasted only a moment's worth of inspecting him before she realized that other, similarly looking and clad men stood in places behind him on the hillside. She herself was void of any identifying marks or colors. Her armor was a dark, grey color that she had lost parts to some time ago. She now had her platemail tied to her horse behind her, and it looked like nothing extravagant. Her horse was tired, drooping, beginning to thin. Her self wrapped in a large black cloak, her long hair was meant to be kept in a netted cap but of course it broke free around her face and sprouted from her head like wild vines. Her cheeks reddened by the cold winds, her skin dusty from the road. She looked like a traveler, but her eyes bore into their in such a way that they conveyed power.

“I am Dawn of the Lizard Blood!” She used her more common titles. “Princess of Holy Wood, daughter of Queen Star Dust and the Last Lizard King.” Her father was more widely known as such. “I come seeking the leader of the GeordieMen. I have traveled far to see him.”

The one nearest her took a moment to listen and think. He nodded. “Well comma long then, you certainly found who you were lookin for. I'll take you to the Jasper.”

She hurried to catch up to him and the others dissipated into the rocks it seemed. She left her horse but it plodded forward on the path, instinctively following her. She was relieved that these were, apparently, the GeordieMen.

“Wait the who?” She stumbled but was quick to recover.

“The Jasper, the leader, chief!.”

“Oh,” she remembered it. “What is his name?”

“Ya came lookin for em but ya don't know his na'iem?”

“Well no,” she admitted. “We know little of you, if I hadn't crossed two of your people before in Holy Wood, I wouldn't have known to come here.”

He suddenly stopped and turned to face her. “Why do you come 'ere?”

She stopped gratefully. “Because a war is coming your way wild man. A new clan called the Spyders have started war and is below in That canyon.” She pointed, he looked.

“I see nothin.”

“They're hidden down inside.”

“ 'Ow many?”

“Five thousand? Eight thousand? Does it matter? How many of You are there?”

“Ah, enough to take em.” He moved on.

“I hope so.”

“Naaaah,” he drawled.

“You don't believe me?”

“Hardly even know who you are.”

“And I don't even know who I'm asking for help here, so we're just going to have to get over that shit and trust each other. Got it?!”

He shook his head and laughed. “I like yeh! You're alright as far as princesses go and all.”

She gave him a “hmpf”, an act committed in doubt that he had even met Real princesses who could trace their blood back thousands of years.

When they reached what was the encampment it was half in the caves of the hills and half out in the open. Dawn cringed at the exposed targets, there was no fighting here yet, but these people would be in harm's way when it did come. She was taken through the camp, people watching and whispering in her wake. She was from the Southern Kingdom called Holy Wood, they all knew her Lady Mother. The man who led her took her into the caves and led her through more throngs of people.

Dawn counted that they could match and maybe hold the Spyder army with the men she saw present, but numbers is all these men had to their advantage. She had her doubts about them being able to hold their own on the battle field with such skill and defense powers. There were warrior men and women here, but the Princess didn't see them as being able to take on a trained and well provisioned army.

They passed a fire ring with an old white haired woman sitting near it, her back to a tent post. As Dawn passed she reached out and grabbed her arm. The Princess tugged out of reflex but the woman held firm.

“I see a son rising. The Queen of darkness shall have one, but the Queen of light will have two. One born of memories past, one born of a hopeful new future. Born of dark and light, this second son shall take what was due to the first for the first shall have no inheritance.

Dawn glared at her. “You ramble woman. Of Whom do you speak?”

“The Queen of Mars.

“There is no such person.”

“There will be....”

She was silent for only a moment, recalling that her mother's prophecy predicted none of her mother's daughters shall rule on Earth.

“This second son will give rise to a new era. An era long desired. Balance, once corrupted, will return. When no sons were born to rule, now let them come forth to take their places as rightful Kings of the thrones they are due.”

“Eh , don't mind 'er, crazy that one.” Her guide warned her.

They went on and were quickly led into thew largest tent. Inside was a man dressed as the others. But he was far shorter. He stood his full height but Dawn's reach was nearing six feet tall, he had to be just over five feet. By the way the ornate wooden chair sat in one corner, nearest the fire pits, she guessed this was His tent and he was their Jasper.

“Look, I don't know how to approach you as the leader, the Jasper, if that is who you are,” she was harshly direct. “But I need to speak to the Jasper here, its life or death for you and your people.”

“And who ar' you?” He asked, a smirk tainted his mouth.

“I am Princess Dawn Abithia Morrison, daughter of the Star Queen and Lizard King. I come your way because a war ravages the lands beyond your hills, and those who which to enslave you and use your caves for themselves are not far away.”

“She was sayi' 'ow there is an army in the Canyon, the one below us. Says we can't see em but they hide within.”

The Jasper looked from his man to the Princess. “How do we know you're tellin the truth woman?”

“Why would I lie about this? If you don't believe me, then fine. Go ahead and I'll leave you all here and you'll be slaughtered in your sleep. Our kingdoms are not familiar with each other, true. You have no reason to trust anything I say.”

“And If I act crazy like and do?” The Jasper asked.

“Then I will prepare your men for battle, and it doesn't even have to be a battle. Its a defense. They have you out weaponed, my mother's army comes from the south-”

“How do we know that's not a trick?” Someone asked.

Their leader raised a hand to silence whoever it was. “Silence ye!”

“ My mother's army comes to crush those who would destroy you!” She shouted. “I came to help you, despite our lack of knowledge of each other. If these Syders get passed you, they will hide in the hills you call home and desecrate them. If I am wrong, there will be no defense, no fighting. If I am not. . . .”

The Jasper stared at her, looked to the fire and then nodded. “I've 'erad of ye. All of ye. Yer whole family. If you tellin' the truth, and we win this defense of yers, I want to see yer castle.”

She grinned, “You'd be the first.” She held out her hand. “Dawn of Holy Wood.”

He held his and drew a black stone blade, its glossy surface cut across his palm with ease and he didn't flinch. “Brian of the Geordiemen Hills.” He slid his blade across her flesh and they grasped hands.

Their bloody palms connected and she smiled.

"Show meh to the canyon now Princess," Brian said. "I wish teh see what yer ravin' about."

"Come with me and I'll show you more than the army, I'll show you how to win," she replied with a smile. 

   >>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<

Star and Richi rode up behind their army, through the ruins of the Spyder camp. Any Spyder soldier was killed, any officer taken prisoner for questioning. As she and Dawn had discussed, she would not receive  word if all went well with her daughter's mission, she would have to carry out her attack on the Spyders no matter Dawn's outcome. But when Star came, the hills the Spyders would travel through lit with fire. Balls of fire were launched from hastily constructed trebuchets. They had successfully held the Spyders at bay, all too easily it appeared, giving the Queen enough time to bring her army in and over run the enemy.

The defeated Spyders ran to the hills to the east, to the high, rocky mountains already piled with snow and covered in stormy clouds. They would face a death by frost that way. Star did not pursue them, the mountains were the biggest in the lands, bigger than the Dragoons. They ran thousands of miles in either direction and no one had crossed them for thousands of years. No one ever came back if they lived.

Suddenly a large group of the so called Geordiemen came forward. The group split and Star and Richi paused. The men made a path from the Lady and her Companion to Dawn and her companion. A gruff looking man far shorter than she. Star was instantly intrigued. She dismounted and couldn't reach Dawn fast enough o embrace her.

“Oh my child, I am so relieved.”

“Oh Mother, you shouldn't have been so worried.”

“How could I not be?! You ran off to find a group of clansmen we know nothing about. And managed to get them to fight with us I see.”

Dawn stood proudly to her mother's side. “Mother, I present theJasper of the clan himself, Brian.”

The man tipped his hat. “My day Queen.”

Star smiled without understanding, “Um, greetings Jasper Brian.”

He reached out a hand tied in a blood stained cloth and took her gauntless hand and pressed his lips to the top of her hand. She was sure she felt the tip of his tongue lash out to perversely touch her sweat covered skin. She saw him lick his bottom lick ever so subtlety. Her heart ached for another man but she accepted his greeting.

“My day is their way of addressing royalty Mother.”

“I see,” her smile deepened in understanding. “You made quick work of this, for that I am grateful to you Brian.”

“And I to yer kin Star One,” he replied. “I hope that jour'ney to yer castle will not be too long. I've never been to another kingdom's castle befor'.”

Star had to take in his words. “Ah yes, the journey to Ao'o, should not take long at all. I will be most pleased and honored to have you as a guest.”

“Ah good. Since I'll be taking place as Lord Brian I'd like to see this place. Now excuse meh, I ned to make arrangements.”

Her dutiful cousin leaped into action.“I shall go with you, we must speak of our kingdoms and come to understanding each other. I am Lord Richi of Blackmour, advisory to the Queen and Lord of the Courts.”

When they were gone, Star spun to around to face Dawn. “He's coming with us?” She asked with a stony voice.

Dawn smiled,” Of course Mother, as a reward for helping us. I wasn't going to give him nothing.”

“We did not discuss this.”

“You're not angry I'm bringing our ally to the courts are you?”

“No. . .Of course not.”

“Oh and I also gave him the Power Band as well, which is what will make him status of Lord in the court.”

At this Star bristled. “You WHAT!?”

“It came up in conversation,” Dawn went to a nearby wagon filled with medic women and water barrels. She thankfully received a deep bowl of water to rise her face in. “After procuring his alliance, he wanted to know if this entitled him to a wife, to which he was two. I said it may. He then asked how to become a lord of the courts, to become more involved in the Kingdoms. I said that Lords were either of noble birth such as he, or leaders of Greater bands of musical men.”

“How did the Power Band come into this I wonder?”

“He heard tale of a mighty band form the Far Far south, and wanted to know if there were many bands like that in Holy Wood” she took a long drink. “I said that band was now without a frontman, to which he said his own band had just bisdanned. I said Perfect!” She splashed her face. “He said he become more than our temporary allies, he would bend his knee to you if it meant he was placed with the Power Band, thus making him a Lord of our court.”

“Dawn how could you!? I can't just give up Bon's place to a stranger,” she eyed him walking with Richi. “A handsome stranger, but strange all the same! How can you demand this of me?!”

“Because without him you would have lost this battle. Had he not heeded my warnings when I must have sounded insane, all this would not have come to be.” She grabbed a towel from the medical supplies and went to a tent that was being constructed for the commanding officers, which included her. Star followed to bag.

Before she could, Dawn was right behind her. “He is dead mother. I am sorry it happened but he is gone and you must accept it. Brian will ease the pain felt by the people who loved Bon. Somebody has to be this way and I will take the burden. Now do not deny our newest ally the rewards he was promised. It'll make you look bad.”

Star turned and left the tent as her daughter began dismantling her chainmaille and armor plates. Though it pained her to give up the Power Band to this, Brian, she would have to. He was the reason they had fortified the small hill paths that would have be free for trespassers otherwise.

The show of fire as they lit the hills a'flame. The balls of red that rained down on the Spyder camp in the night, without warning. Fire is what greeted the queen when she arrived, fire and chaos. She nearly had to wait for the flames to go down before she could go through the camp. It wasn't as spectacularly drenched in blood as she had hoped, but those fleeing would never last. With a bittersweet victory she walked through the devastated Spyder camp, the words of the Kilmister echoing through her head.

“We come from the same place.”

The Spyders seemed to know and hold onto a part of the Martian culture they hailed from. She was envious. They knew more of their home than she did. If what the Kilmister said, if what her dreams really meant were true, then she was no earthling and these enemies she destroyed were her people.

Still, she wanted to return to Ao'o now. With her daughter, her cousin and reunite with her granddchild. She wanted a bath, a bowl of dates to eat, wine to drink, and a joint on her lips.  Her blood craze has vanished when the Spyders broke and ran. She was feeling the tired ache of war in her body.

She wanted to go home. . . .

S1 Chapter 9, All could see that the answer had been found

HolyWood, Ao'o Castle, Day.

“Dearest Cousin Star,” Richi's letter said. “SUCESS ! I have found the missing Prince and he has agreed to help the Dragoon council repair the damaged Throne and Courts. You MUST travel right away and meet him! This Currier is leaving now so I cannot explain more. Be swift! -Richi.”

She grinned and was used to his frantic words. Still now she was able to leave the kingdom and not only had Dawn returned, but Rosie as well. Mother had retrieved daughter, and grandmother had been relieved of her trial. The courts had sent a letter right before Richi's telling her that the jury had found innocence in her favor and she was free to come and go from Holy Wood as she wished.

“TILDA!” She shouted excitedly as she shuffled through letters.

A middle aged, attractive woman came into the room, her head of household. This woman handled the castle only after Richi himself, and she arranged for the Queen's planned comings and goings. Her long brown hair was tied in a braid that reached down her back. She came swiftly.

“Yes my Queen?” She had also once worked for the pirate Queen, Anne.

“I am to make the journey to the Dragoon Mountains. Rosie and Dawn will stay here, and you will serve over my daughter in matters of estate.” She lit a joint and breathed in, then offered it to Tilda who shook her head politely.

“When is your departure?”

“Day after tomorrow. Enough to spend with Rosie again before I leave, enough to tell Dawn how things will run whilst both Richi and myself are gone.”

“When do I expect your return?”

Star thought for a moment, “Two, maybe three weeks to get there with my small procession and band of guards, a week there, two weeks back. Mark me to return on the seventh week after I leave. If I am gone longer than six weeks, then you should send someone to come looking.”

Tilda nodded. “As you wish my queen.” She departed, needing all she had to know to prepare.

Star rather liked the stern woman. Stern she may appear, the Queen knew she harbored a soft spot for Rosie, Tilda had been the midwife for Dawn with both children, she had missed Rosie and was more than relieved to have her back home. . . .

Shaking the creeping sadness form her brain, the Queen went to the balcony and looked down to see her offspring entering the castle with their small envoy of traveling guards. The Jones man, sent from the old King, sat on his white horse with the flag of his King. Star waved politely and he smiled in response, dipping his head in a curt bow. He kicked his horse and went to the stable to rest his horse before leaving quickly after.

She turned inside and began rummaging through her things. There was a list in her head to check off before she left and she wanted to hurry like her cousin urged her to. With Dawn in better spirits, and the princess in waiting home, the Queen was free from worry or thought of distraction. Eventually, she knew that either she would wander off to find her family, or they would come to her. No matter how, she had to tell them that she was leaving just as they were returning.

^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^**^*^*^*^*^*^

Dragoon Mountains. AC/DC 2020

Her travels were met with great response from the common folk, and hardly any response from the alleged highwaymen. Then again, upon Tilda's insistence, Star took more than her planned two guards. She took six instead and was sure it would suffice. Still, despite her lack of opposition on the road, she could feel their eyes from the woods. Whether it was Spyders or thieves, she had recently heard of a new gang in the area, the Motley Ones....annoying young men who robbed women of their lust and men of their money.

As she was led to the tavern where the local celebrations were to be held she watched the many emerging and reconnecting nobles come out of the dark, rocky surroundings. In a manner of speaking of course. She sat at the bar and ordered a drink, her eyes scanning the dignitaries. After so long in civil disputes over succession, the newest Court system was proving strong and durable. Whoever the new king was he must have mind for politics.

Richi was not in the crowd, nor would he be for some time. Light in the Black was on stage and he was their leader, they would lead the festive atmosphere that night. She would be content to watch and wait to meet the new King. She looked about curiously, whoever he was she was sure she would have met with him by now. Of course she only just arrived some hours before, shown to her rooms while Richi and the King, simply called His Highness.....As if to further the angst of not knowing his name or being formerly introduced......while he and her cousin hid from her.

She raised an eyebrow and took a sip of alcohol, called Deamon Whiskey in this part of the land. This was all her rotten cousin's doing, she was still mad at him, while he sounded to be having a grand time. She was nearing contempt when the lights were darkened in the back of the room and attention was drawn to the stage. When the curtains came up, they were heralded by a familiar voice and a familiar sound of guitar.

It was Sir Padvia! And Richi. . She put the vague pieces together and realized that when the man said he was leaving, he was actually going with her cousin that night. But where was the King of the Dragoons?! He should be here, this was in HIS honor! It made little sense.. . . .or did it?

The whole night she listened and waited. Waiting was an attribute forced upon her during the BOC rebellion, she would wait and sip her whiskey. When they finally came from the stage she began making her way to the Knight who had saved her, but he seemed to have eyes elsewhere and dove to another crowd opposite her. He embraced a young woman who seemed enamored with him to a near fault. Young love, Star knew it when she saw it.

It was Richi who shook her out of the moment. He came to her side and she turned to him. He was smiling, his smiles always made her belly warm, Blackmoore happiness was infectious.

“Cousin!” She said excitedly. “Oh that was spectacular! The Olde Gods of Sound bless you!”

He grinned haughtily, “They bless the Dragoons! Their presence is heavy here.”

She grinned. “Light in the Black sounds successful.” She added with a squeeze,” Dear Cousin.”

Their bands were not just musical acts, they were politicians. Their power to influence and relate to the many common people at once was through the music they sang. This was how movements were inspired, how warriors were gathered. This was how they strengthened weakened lands and peoples, how they acted as ambassadors and brought influence and prosperity. Music.

“We have been! The King has been found and order has been restored. This has been more successful than I first expected.” His eyes lit with a fire she rarely saw and he threw back a shot.

“You are quiet good at restoring the rightful rulers to their thrones. Where is this King you speak so fondly of? Was he here?”

“He is!” He pointed to the man she knew across the room. “I made him singer of Light in the Black and when he came with me from Holy Wood, the courts recognized him as the SON of that heir that ran away.”

“You mean you didn't find THE heir?”

“No, better. He had a son while young and that son, the NEW heir, has returned to us as Padvia.”

She turned to stare at him. “He was on stage the entire time.” Saying it it more to herself.

When Star won the rebellion, she shared immortality with the lands, some wanted it, some did not. In most of her time as Queen of Holy Wood, she had had little contact with the North most kingdom. They were a race of shorter men and women, but with voices of power that moved mountains. She was familiar with the story of the lost heir, of the aged King having three sons. He was old when they were born, and continued to rule and live long after, watching one son die and one have another son.

Putting the fractured stories together she saw the image of the lone Dragoon Prince who had come to her aid during the Rebellion. After that she lost contact with them, they shut her out in grief at the death of the King's first son. She could picture a young boy running away from a grief stricken family who then placed all future responsibility on him without his consent while his remaining uncle and his father fought over the right of succession. She sighed inwardly, succession was such a nasty business but one that held countries together with the choice of rulers and leaders, a battle she fought endlessly.

She recalled the Prince talking about his nephew once or twice, how he himself had no sons and his youngest brother did. No doubt that was the boy who ran away, some sixteen years old. Star wondered if he ran away with a young girl who carried his bastard, or eventually found one. Maybe so, maybe so....She realized she was deep in inner thought and her vision came back into focus, centering on Richi. He was talking to her, and didn't seem to notice that she had gone silent.

She nodded, seemingly appropriately and mumbled a response. He was satisfied and drank heavily. Her cousin had found the heir apparent and made him King. She had met him, by some fate, the night before he left. She felt a strange brew twist in her gut, as if she would rely on this budding friendship in some future conflict. As if hearing her thoughts, the Knight himself turned and began coming towards her cousin. His eyes lit when he saw her standing next to Richi and when he came to stand before her they both mirrored the others smile in reunion.

“Your highness,” he bowed in respect.

“Oh no need for that King Padvia.” She smiled.

“King, is still a new title,” he said. “One I still am not used to.”

Star noticed that he and the woman by his side held hands tightly.

“Do not be so modest Padvia!” Richi said encouragingly. “He is doing splendidly, as if born to.”

Padvia laughed and kissed his woman who he then introduced. Star barely heard her name, a rude act, but she was honed on the sound of Dio's voice. It would all she ever had of him. Somehow, it reminded her of the man she had tasted, wanted, and craved, but could never have. His, not Padvia's, voice all she possessed of him. While it drew on her sadness, she hid it away and smiled and laughed. She welcomed her new ally, and established a new pact with a new king of a rebuilt Kingdom.

This pact was established as the festivities grew during the night. Star and Richi drank with Padvia and his newly engaged, queen to be. Richi was going to leave two members of Light in the Black with the Dragoons for a year, to help the new King establish himself on the throne. They were to help him learn his place as King, to assist the new court members in all matters of adjustment. Rebuilding a kingdom was a tedious project, one that both Star and her cousin were familiar with. Star drank away any doubt, any hint of sorrow, she rejoiced with the Dragoon peoples at a new era of leadership. With both the other sons of legend dead, it all lay with Padvia to right the wrong his father committed and take up his blood rite.

With a woman to love by his side, Star had little doubt he would fail.

************^^^^^^^^^***********

Hotel in Holy Wood. Sunrise.

Star came out onto the balcony in Holy Wood, the girl she left behind laid out happily on the bed behind her. In the hotel over looking the city. After a week long stay in the Dragoons, they returned to the Wood together, leaving Padvia to become a king. After which, Star threw another wild celebration in honor of the success of Richi. She had swooped up with a group of revelers and awoke in the hotel room with a girl in bed next to her.

She overlooked her kingdom and drew on a joint between her lips. She breathed in deeply, feeling the burn of the joint in her lungs and welcomed it. Her mind whirled with thoughts and a hang over as she took in the glorious view of her kingdom laid out before her. The smoke drifted before her face and the ind took it away, the selfish wind. For some divine reason, she recalled the feelings evoked from seeing Padvia with another woman. Not a feeling of betrayal, but a reminder that as Queen, as Star Dust, mother of the Lizard Children, Wife to the dead Lizard King, Ruler of the central kingdom, warrior queen, the lead instigator in the counter movement to the BOC rebellion, giver of immortality.

And she alone could not have the one man she truly wanted.

BANG!

The door was broken down and swung off its hinges as it crashed against the wall and to the floor. A horde of policemen entered, she knew who sent them. She smiled, shook her head, and raised her hands to the air as the girl screamed from the bed and was taken into protective custody. When Star turned around she saw the one who led the pigs.

“Well, well well Mr  Tam.” She contained her laughter while mocking him. “Good to see you again!”

He didn't return her smile as he rudely turned her to face away as he put cuffs on her. “You are under arrest your highness,” he added her title sarcastically.

She let her laugh go and it only irritated him.

“Care to read me your charges Officer Tam?”

“That's Officer Sativ- I mean Bay,  to you!”

She didn't fight him as he led her away, reading the charges of sexual conduct with an underage girl...again. Star couldn't help but wonder if all these charges were perpetrated by the BOC just to spite her and she expected to be alerted of a second trial. But there was no trial, no hint at one, she was meant with another bail, high according to her social status.

 No doubt, that while the girl was found in her hotel room, there was very very little evidence that they had actually conducted sexual acts together. With that uncertainty, certainly they had no standing charges.  Tam took her to the court house to be detained......of course to his anger and fury, there was a bail posted per her own laws.....to which her daughter came to pay and release her.

Tam watched as the woman left and he vowed justice.......

“Fuck Mother,” she said angrily as they descended the steps to the court house. “Again? You only just got off the last case. If it weren't for the bail you'd be rotting away by now.”

“You know its funny, I actually do not remember last night.”

“Again?”

“Yes. I remember the girl's sweet mouth but I don't remember our supposed tryst in the night.”

“You really need to stop with  all the drugs.”

“You wouldn't.”

“Because I'm not Queen.”

“And nor shall you be.”

“Based on the advice of a gods forsaken witch.”

They entered into the horse drawn carriage and her daughter sat there in a pout.

“Once again we find ourselves in an all too familiar predicament Mother.” She sat there with a frown on her face and a joint between her fingers. “Can you at least stop having sex with teenagers in hotels and the manor.”

“Take them to the castle?”

“I don't care, just stop getting caught. Or better yet....STOP FUCKING TEEN AGED GIRLS!”

Star chuckled. “It's a hard habit to break when they won't stop knocking on my hotel doors.”

“Can't you get laid by adults? Can't you resist breaking your own laws?”

“I do, to both. That girl in the hotel was actually legally an adult.”

“And how do you know that if you don't remember shit from last night?”

“As I was detained I overheard an officer tell our friend Tam that this time, the girl was actually eighteen, just turned last week. Again though, in the midst of celebration-”

“You what? Couldn't tell she was so young? I don't think that will hold up in court again.”

“It's what got me free this time and prevents another trial. Obviously they're watching.”

“They always watch.”

“It is peculiar how frequently these accusations have appeared lately.”

“How do you mean?” Dawn looked out the window and blew smoke through her nose.

“It has been nearly fifty years since the Rebellion. Fifty years and in the last few alone, I have been accused of making love to teenagers more than ever before. Someone is watching closely and pulling strings in the most ironic sense.”

Dawn nodded. “True. Now that you bring it up, it is odd and it makes sense. What will you do about it? About them?”

Star shrugged and lit another joint. “I haven't a clue. Oh! That's right!” She rapped her knuckles on the wall of the carriage. “Driver!” She shouted. “Take me to 25^th Arcadia Avenue!”

“The art studio?”

“I promised an artist friend- you remember Baron?- that I would pose for his class today. I nearly forgot.”

“Pose?”

“Nude of course. Art is an important factor in culture, I will not deny my subjects an appearance of a life time from their immortal Queen in an attempt to capture her agelessness. That's what he told his class.”

“Oh Gods mother,” Dawn rubbed her temples in the act of a head ache.

For a moment they were quiet. The only sound was the bustle of the city, the people on the streets, the horse hooves clacking, the cars calmly passing through the village. The issue of making Dawn Queen was one they had fought over for years. Star had her reasons, which she vaguely told her child.

“You know why I refuse you.” The Queen said.

“A stupid fortune told by a witch.”

“She said-”

“That the throne would be disrupted by forces already in motion. You would put a bastard king on the throne and your children would rule red sands of the father unknown-whatever that fucking means. Should a Queen follow after you, so shall death. It's all bullshit Mother.”

The blonde sighed and tried to move on the conversation.. “You would like your bastard brother, I just know you would.” 

“He is not my brother, he is a demon you summoned.”

“If that's the case, then I think now is the best time to bring up Rosie.”

Dawn eyed her insane parent. “What do you mean?”

“She is of marrying age you know.”

“Oh no, don't you dare.”

“If you refuse to have Angus be your brother, then I will marry him to Rosie, make him an official member of the our royal family.” she smiled at the thought.

“First he's my brother, then he's my daughter's fiance. Rosie will NOT marry a demon who you try to portray as my brother, you crazy bat.”

Star laughed. “You will like him.”

“If he comes with that fool who torments you no I will not.”

That shut her mother right up. In fact Star abruptly tapped on the roof of the carriage and promptly exited. Dawn did not care, like her uncle she nearly despised the man who her mother loved in all passion. This man alone made Star cry in broken heartedness when he would enter and leave her life for carnal trysts, as if he didn't care about her feelings. Coming and going of his own will, and her mother allowed it, which brought on waves of tormented abuse and sadness. It made Dawn and Richi furious that Star let him do it, exposing to the world the one weakness she had no control over. The man Dawn so hated was the one factor uncontrolled in their rule.

The Princess hoped that making Star hurt over him would also prompt her to hate him and drive her away from the man. For the last forty years this sonofabitch had come and gone under cover of darkness, visiting and loving her in the night only to leave with the sunrise. Dawn hadn't even seen him in person. Richi had, and had alerted the guards, against the Queen's wishes, that should the man been seen he was to be killed or captured on sight. The Princess would deal with the bout of depression his death would bring on her mother when the time came, she was prepared for it.

**********^^^^^^^^^^^^^^********

Holy Wood seaside, twilight.

Star had a secluded cottage that was hers alone. Her husband had it constructed for her on their wedding day. Her own hide away. A gift to ease the tension of their arranged marriage. It was placed in a wooded bluff, above the sea below. It was a peninsula of Holy Wood land that touched the sea, for two miles in either direction, this was Holy Wood land many did not see.

The Queen went there now, under veil of night. She rode a black horse, and went alone, she knew he was there. She had seen his face in the crowds of people in the village. She hadn't seen him since her curse in the Black Castle, and she knew that if she went to the seaside he would follow. As he did now, she being the only one keen enough to hear him. She smiled when she thought that he Let her know he was there.

She got off her horse and released the saddle, letting it crash to the ground. She didn't care. Up the cobblestone pathway, in the moonlight, the sound of the waves beyond the cottage were loud. She could hear her heartbeat over the waves as she went up the path, and heard the rustle of bushes behind her. She stopped and smiled in the dark.

He couldn't stay away any longer. He couldn't deny what he wanted any longer. HE couldn't deny her what she wanted. At least for that night....

He knew her family hated him for what he had done to her over and over again. They thought him a heartless man after nothing but carnal pleasures from her. A man who took advantage of the mightiest queen in the lands and made her cry. He was not heartless, if they only knew the price he had once been paid to end her life. If they only knew that he had given up a wife, a life, and a comfortable payment by letting her live that night.

He wanted to visit her before he left to retrieve the Power Band form the Southern island. Where her bastard demon boy was gaining talent. Soon, Bon was to join the Boy and be the singer of their “Power Band”, replacing his associate who lead them now.

He forgot about everything the moment she got down from her horse. He watched her under the moonlight as she shoved her velvet trousers down her legs and stepped away from them. The belt around her waist held her billowy white shirt in order and she let that fall. It was only the white shirt glowing in the night. She was bare under that lone chemise and he moved forward to wrap her in his strong arms and take her down into the grass.

The soft seaside grass was their bed and while her horse grazed the nearby field, she screamed in pleasure at the lightest of touch. He was no better off in control, she made him wither and moan with the barest of kisses against his skin. He was the one begging her for more, and she gave all she could. It still wasn't enough. Years of pent up, unsatisfying, emotional longing was released between the two of them in those moments on the grass. They were caught up in the most innocent of emotions; love.

They moved in doors and proceeded to make love again as the waves crashed and sea mist sprayed on the rocks outside the large window that faced the open sea. The ocean was black, and the night deep by the time Bon fell asleep on the floor next to her. Hardly a word had been spoken between them other than demands for passion. Star however, could not sleep, no matter how spent or how tired she was.

She sat next to him, stroking his shoulder length hair, watching him sleep with complete peace on his face. They both knew no peace. She doubted they ever would, her only hope that both would live through the next year, and the year after that. Immortal to time they were, not so to swords and poison. If he were to die, she didn't know if she could live on. If she couldn't have him by her side, she would have him alive and well in the world they lived in.

“I want to keep you Bon, but recently I was forced to know that I can never have you. I wish Angus was our son, at least then I would have a piece of you and a piece of me in the physical form. If I cant have all you, why not just a piece?”

Bon sighed in sleep.

She went on. “On my wedding day the witch came to me. She said that The throne would be disrupted by forces already in motion, under my rule fate will be undecided for all. I would put a bastard king on the throne for the first time, and my other children would rule red sands of the father unknown. My daughters will not take what was meant for them, if a queen should follow my stead, so shall death. I've kept my girl away from that tale, to protect her. I created Angus to force the prophecy.”

She kissed his head, “I had hoped to instill him on the throne. I made him with you in mind, and I wish he was ours more than anything. Instead, Angus is to by the corner stone that brings you and I together in the eyes of the public at last. He will be the foundation of the Tour to Peace, a tour that I have seen visions of. It will change our world, and I don't fear change. But I do not see the end of the Tour and what lies beyond, I can only see the formation and you and I standing side by side as we embark.” Her voice dropped lower, “Something, or someone, does not want me to see the future, no matter that it comes soon. . . “

He breathed deep and it made her tilt her mouth in a sad grin. She leaned down and kissed him. For moments more the queen tried to sleep, staring at her lover, willing him to stay. Though when they awoke, she knew that one of them would leave and one would stay. He was due to leave, and she was due to be at the castle. What she didn't know, besides the future, is that Bon was listening. He was adept at spying, and pretending to be asleep. His kind were called Dirty Deeds Men, it was their nature to be deceptive.

During the night he grabbed her and when he heard her begin to snore, he took his turn to watch her. He had heard all she said, it had woken him up. He wanted nothing more than to stay with her, for longer than a night at a time. He had to leave though, he must, it was for the betterment of her life, of his, of the world's. If he didn't lead the Power Band from the Great Southern Island, he doubted they would make it to Holy Wood. His fellow Dirty Deeds Man who watched the Boy while Bon was not South was a good fighter, but a poor leader.

No, Bon could not allow anyone other than himself or Prince Malcome to befriend and harbor Angus, the boy meant too much to her and himself. He was Star's only son, in some sense of the word. Her lover felt protective, near fatherly, when the red devil was involved, his one connection to her. The one person she had created that he could openly be known to associate with. Without someone knowing the connection and trying to kill one or both of them. Not to mention, the Power Band members were mere children, all of them having been born in the last twenty years alone, while He was much older than that.

When the Rebellion ended and situations became clear, both Bon and Star knew the complications of their relationship. How it could not be in the public sense, in legal senses it was too complicated. He hated how it was more complicated than it had to be. But then again, so was immortality and ruling a kingdom of mortals and immortals alike. He may appear evil by seducing her time and time again, but her giving in hurt him as it did her.

If she only knew what he thought about. . . .He wanted to tell her, but it would only further ruin the beauty they had just shared. No, they would not break the spell, they would let the sunrise do that.