SEASON 2. Chapter 1, Five years gone. . . .

Castle Ao'o, sunset. . . .2026 AC/DC

Brian leaned across the drinking gals and men, and kissed Star's hand as she reached out to him. She meant to shove him for a jest he made, but he kissed her hand instead. In the past five years, the two had become good friends. The Geordimen leader became a member of Holy Wood Courts and was faring well among them, backed by the Royals in command. The Power Band, which he received as a reward for aiding them in the Battle, had toured-without the Queen- on and off for the last few years and had recently taken a pause. The Younge Boys and their two guards returned to the Great Southern Island, Star already missed her Angus.... Brian was about to return to his Hills, back to his people.

When He leaned away, Star's smile began to fade. While he was a good man, a good kisser, how he took control of the Power Band is what made her heart sink.....these five years passed were not enough to stem the ache in her heart. Dawn laughed particularly loudly at a joke someone made or from the weed, Star didn't know. She broke out of her revelry to remember her fallen lover.

It disturbed her. How it happened, too fast and without a parting word. As if the Gods mocked her, his body seemed to get up and run away. . . . she hadn't seen him, nor any word on his body, since that day.

The Battle of Fields.

No Spyder prisoners captured that day remained alive now, all put to the death under Dawn's insistence. When none were willing to share any information on their escaped comrades, the Princess deemed them useless and her mother let her do as she wished with them. Star had too much else on her mind. That, and if what Kilmister said was true....she didn't want to be near the Spyders any longer, especially in death.

With the sunrise tomorrow, both Star and Brian, leaders of separate kingdoms, would travel away to the northeast. . . . .

_-_-_-_-_-_-_

Ao'o, sunrise......

Richi was holding the reigns to Star's grey mare. She was saddled and yawning into her palm. He grinned and shook his head. As she had many times, she didn't give a detailed explanation as to why she felt the need to leave. To visit the Sabbath Lands, her mystic friend Geez lived there, his massive fields of Herb supplied the entire span of kingdoms.

Yet he suspected her visit was about more than her herbal supply. She had changed since the Battle of Fields, Richi noticed, but he said nothing as he saw her off into the day, off to travel to the Sabbath Lands without guards. Under cover of a dark cloak and no royal flags or colors. He couldn't stop her, she would go if she truly desired to. Meanwhile, he was to stay and rule in her stead, as always.

As she blew him a kiss and departed, Brian tipping his hat in respect to the Lord as he passed, Richi shook his head again and said his good bye.

He turned back to the castle and walked up the steps, side glancing at the limo parked in the extended stables. Why she didn't drive the way with two guards made him frustrated, she claimed that the gas supply was short, and deemed the vehicle to be used for short distant travel. He went on, thinking about how best to placate his niece, Dawn. Every time Star left the castle, she left Richi in charge, never hr daughter. Besides the Wizard, it was the worst of their arguments. Due to a witch's tongue, Star refused to let her Princess rule as was her birthright.

The Queen believed in the tale, that only a bastard king may follow her. If a girl child sat after her, only death would she rule. He went inside and asked to see his niece, but was told she had just departed herself through the kitchens. She did this often, slipping away into the kingdom to avoid looking at the throne she so wanted. This left her own child Rosie, alone in her rooms as she was want to do. Dawn had an Underground society to run and act as judge and sheriff. Richi sighed at his dysfunctional family and made way to speak to the Managers, the collection of stewards and nobles who helped run Holy Wood.

They waited in the throne room to inform him on political matters their Queen sometimes overlooked; successions in families, population census, movements in other kingdoms and the BOC city state. Thus his day began as temporary overseer until his cousin's return. He had little time to worry about Dawn's feelings and where she went, he knew she needed no guard to save her.

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Sabbath Lands, the herb fields of Geez. Nightfall, a four days later...

The journey was not as long as she expected and the part between her and Brian came swiftly. She said her good bye, fared him well, and he left with gold and seeds to feed his people. She went on further to the east, to the land that lay before the Mountains of the Unknown, into which the Spyders had fled during their last war. Ever since which, the account of Highwaymen had reclined, it made her wonder. She crested a hill and was met with a slight overcast sky, the mist and clouds hovered in this valley often, casting it in a cool shadow.

In this part of the lands, was where her mage friend Geez dwelled, and she gazed upon his harvest of the summer. He had apprentices and workers helping him pull in the bundles of buds on their thick stems. He was instructing them when she rode up, and when she dismounted he turned and smiled in greeting.

“Ah your highness!” He said. “You made it safely I see!”

She embraced him, “Aye I did. Not a highwayman in sight this time. Though what IS in sight is your glorious harvest.”

They watched the workers mill about the fields. “Yes, soon to make way across the Kingdoms. Demand has increased, and this is a good crop. Here,” he stood next to a wagon being loaded and plucked a small, but heavily budded branch, of herb and nodded towards the holding barn where everything was to be stored for the trimming and distribution. “Come this way, we can smoke and talk of things.” The tone of his voice suddenly lowered.

Once in the barn he shut the door and ordered everyone to leave so they may converse in private. But one man in the loft, stacking stalks, did not move. Geez did not seem fazed.

They sat in two wooden chairs and he set the herb he brought with them under magnifying glass, lit by a fire. The heat concentrated on the plant and began to dry it quickly. While they waited he turned to Her and clasped his hands in his lap.

“Now that we have the place to ourselves, let us speak the truth of your visit. Why don't You join us up there?” He called to the man above.

Star heard the flick of a lighter and could smell burning cigarette. She watched the man descend and come to their gathering. It was Kilmister. His silver eyes bore into her behind the smoke of his cig and he nodded respectfully as he sat. Geez poked the drying herb and found it not dry enough.

“Queen, I believe you know this man. I believe you came here for him.”

She nodded. “I did. No offense to visiting you of course.”

“I understand,” the Mage said.

The two looked at each other, the two off-worlders.

“SO,” Star spoke first. “How goes progress? You said you wished me to come to the Sabbath lands.”

He nodded. “You shouldn't go back ya know.”

“But you build the Bridge in any case.”

“My freedom was for the bridge, I build it, and you decide who goes through. But it is unwise to go yaself.”

“Why?”

“You are a wanted thing.”

She pondered his words in silence.

Geez touched the herb again and found it to his liking. He began crumbling it between his fingers and onto a small piece of paper. He rolled it quickly and Kilmister handed him his ornate lighter.

“Be careful your highness,” the mage said suddenly. “When this man came to me for assistance I took him in and when he said you demanded the bridge be rebuilt, I was shocked. But it sounded like something you would want.”

“You've been helping him?” She asked.

“He could not do it without a bit of alchemy, and a touch of Sabbath magic.”

“True that bit.” Kilmister said, and drew on his cig. “It was destroyed with magic, and a bridge of this power IS magic. On both Mars And Earth, the shuttle technology, hundreds of years old, was lost. All scripture was burned by the leaders of the Divide. ” The Divide being the separation of Mars from Earth. “Not many other ways to get there and back besides that.”

“Then how did you get here?”

“The same reason you got me rebuild the bridge, those who sent me had one last shuttle, no one except me could bring it back to life. It was lost in my landing.”

Star was silent and then turned her look to Geez. “I trust you enough, with this do not betray me.”

“Fear not,” he assured her as he inhaled the burning herb. He gave her the joint. “I give you this in confidence.”

She took it and inhaled. “A pact of silence.”

Geez nodded.

“Is the Bridge near here?” She asked. “Stories always vary.”

“What do you think brought him this way?” The Mage asked with a hint of a laugh in his voice.

Suddenly her honey eyes darted to the Kilmister, staring at him intently. “Was it tempting for you? With the Spyder Army just miles from here, even running through here.”

He blew smoke between them. “No. If I was ever tempted to rejoin them, you would be dead.”

She silenced and her jaw clenched. She drew on the joint and let the smoke go. . . . .

-_-__-_-_-_-_-__

On the Road to the Sabbath Lands, earlier that same day. . . .

Dawn HAD gone to the Underground. She had stayed for a while, but her thoughts went to her mother. She had been very vague on her reason to visit the Sabbath Lands, usually she proclaimed dramatically why she was going somewhere, but when Brian said he was leaving back to the Geordiemen Hills, her mother promptly stood up and announced she would travel with him.

“The royal procession must prepare,” Richi began.

But Star interjected rudely. “No no, none of that now. Just myself, alone thank you.”

That made Richi suspect her, Dawn saw it. “No guard? No colors? No procession?”

“You act like I haven't before! Silly man,” she patronized him. “I'm just visiting Geez and I'll return within the week.”

Dawn shook her head at the memory. That made her leave her underground city, in the tunnels that used to be sewers, before she came and reformed them. Cleaned them, housed the homeless and street kids, and gave shelter to “gangs” of trouble makers. Built her own web of networks and spies.

 She left after just arriving, and silently traveled behind her mother and the Jasper.

What surprised the Princess most was that, while Star snuggled close to him at night by the fire, or kissed his cheek, or embraced him like a lover, they did not intertwine on the journey. This seemed odd behavior for her normally nymphomaniac mother. It made the princess realize that with this new behavior, her mother had not been arrested for fornicating with underage girls in the last five years. Odd.

She suspected it had to with Bon's death, that vile man. He tormented her mother even in death. Yes, she had replaced him in the Power Band with Brian, and part of her had hoped he would ease her pain. . .but apparently, he hadn't entirely. Still her mother functioned better than she did when the war broke out. Richi had to break her out of a drinking binge over the man's body. Pycho she was.

When they parted ways, Dawn had to watch from afar to not alert her mother of her following. She knew these lands even better than her. Trailing close until Star went into Sabbath Lands, and into the fields of Geez. There, Dawn could not follow so closely. Under cover of the night that fell, she quietly scaled a thick tree and hid in the boughs. She watched the barn into she had seen Star enter. The Princess would wait, though it would kill her to wait she would. The lanterns were lit outside the doors and the workers in the fields all dispersed.

It was some time before the Mother left, two men leaving with her. One Dawn recognized as Geez, the Mage who grew these crops. The other, she did not recognize. She was smart enough to know that whatever they had spoken of had to do with Him, or else He wouldn't have been there. Star would not let some stranger man into a private meeting with the Mage so easily. Yes, that was Dawn's target. She saw her mother saddle and then settled into her tree for the night.

Let her mother travel ahead, possibly stay at the Mob Stone Castle where she fancied a young budding Prince of Darkness. No doubt she thought Dawn in the Underground. She would skirt her mother while she holed up in Mob Stone and ride for the Underground throne she made for herself. That Loon was up to something and Dawn would find out.

As if trying to marry off Rosie to that Devil Angus after the war, wasn't bad enough! To solidify the ties between Power Band and Silver Knights, she had said, the Nerve! The Sun Princess would not allow it and that is what made her return to the Underground in the first place.This had happened often. Star had attempted several times to arrange a marriage between Rosie and Angus, Dawn saw it now as a cover story, to distract her from the truth. But she knew now the truth.....She would have to find out who the Stranger Man really was what her Mother wanted with him. 

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 11, Dying to Meet you. Part 1

 1 year later. . . .

2021 AC/DC Holy Wood. Castle Ao'o.

There was much excitement in the kingdoms. In Holy Wood a procession of bands was making way all over the Sunset drive, filling taverns and bars with music and people. People were prospering, thriving, happy, joyful. Star stood on the balcony smiling down at the incoming convoy, her lover at the forefront. Bon was here and it was all she could think about, finally being able to propose a union between their bands, and maybe eventually a marriage between her and Bon which would now be seen as appropriate.. All had come to be a year later, just as she set it up and predicted. A new band had risen from the Great Southern Island consisting of the Prince Malcom, his body guards Cliff and Philipe, their leader Bon Mantle, and Malcom's foster brother, a boy with red skin named Angus.

The five of them had formed the Power Band, and powerful they were. They left nothing but prosperity in their wake and everywhere they went the people and societies thrived and built themselves. As Star had planned and secretly funded, the potential for great peace had come in the form of this band that she had helped create. They had successfully brought peace to the Great Island they came from, now they came up from the Gold Fields to the south, and the Kingdom by the Sea had praised them. They were now coming to Holy Wood, the foremost thriving kingdom in the known world.

Star had asked them to make an appearance in her court, to publicly propose a full swinging tour that would untie that kingdoms and bring a new era of peace and thinking. This would make them the most powerful and influential force in the world. Nothing would stand in their way.

In the great hall of Ao'o Castle, Star sat with Dawn on her right had, and Rosie on her left. They were dressed in their finest velvets to receive these visitors, Rosie kept fidgeting, Dawn glared at the eldest of the Power Band as they entered. Star was soaring on the inside, her heart leapt in her throat, bursting with pride at the view of her demon son and lover walking side by side as if father and son. Angus was no more aware of who Star was in relation to himself and was staring at the place in wonder and devilish delight. When he saw Rosie he grinned, his smile full of teeth. The girl tilted her head in curiosity.

Richi was to the direct right side of Star, sitting in a comfortable ornate chair. The Blackmoore was angered at Bon's presence, no matter how happy it made Star. He shared Dawn's contempt at the sight of the arrogant looking man they detested. This was the only way he could have ever approached the Queen in public and the Blackmoore lord could feel the connection between his cousin and the man of filth, they were drowned in blissful happiness.

 Star herself was dressed in a wine red velvet dress was clung to her and trailed a foot behind her. She wore an epaulette of copper on her shoulders and rings of gold on her fingers, a small gold bell chimed with each subtle move of her head and her soft pink lips were hard pressed to remain in a smile that wouldn't give her away.

When the Power Band came to show their respects to the ruling queen, she did the same when Prince Malcom was formally introduced as the only true royal member.

“In attendance is Prince Malcom Younge, son of King Aberneil Younge, and his fostered brother his Lordship, Angus Younge.”

Star nodded her head once, her gold crown moving with her. “Prince Malcom, Lord Angus. Sirs Philipe, Cliff and Bon.” She grinned. “It is a cause for celebration that you visit today. News of your success and of your help towards those in need are told strongly here. As you are aware, since my rule implanted in 1980 AC/DC, Holy Wood has thrived and proven thriving in its people. Wherever you go, poverty ends, where ever I look poverty ends.”

“I have seen this in our time here your highness,” Bon spoke with a grin on his face. “Your lands are beautiful and full and rich, a reflection of their queen.”

Star felt Richi tense beside her. Dee stood among the crowd as well, the only BOC member in attendance. He watched and while he smiled, he was silent.

“Oh Sir Bon you flatter me. In the face of such rich success I propose a tour.”

“A tour you say?” Malcom asked. He, too, excited at the idea of uniting the Great Southern island with the rest of the world. Spreading a combination of powerful influence.

“Why yes dear, Prince Younge,” she directed her attention to him and rose from her throne. “Your Power Band and my Neon Knights combined will accomplish more than we could do on our own. My adviser, Lord Blackmoore's band Light in the Black shall also march. I ask you to join us and begin a crusade to end poverty and war, to bring about a new era of peace and enlightenment. A call to criminals to lay down their crime and wayward lives and to join us for a revolution of the mind.”

“You have the Power Band!” Malcom announced. “We will gladly unite to bring about a new era.”

Star descended the steps, Richi followed and she went to Malcom, just a boy of eighteen, Angus forever frozen as a sixteen year old boy. She held up a hand and the first prince pressed his palm to hers. Richi pulled a red ribbon out of his pocket, a ceremonial ribbon to symbolize unification, and wrapped it around their hands. When he was done he turned to the crowds.

“Let it be known that we three bands shall lead a march to the other kingdoms! We will invite the others to the south to join us! We invite YOU the people to join us! The tour for Peace begins with all of us!”

Whatever else he said was drowned out in noise as the people burst into celebration. Yes there had been peace in the time of Star's rule as queen, but there had always been conflict. Kingdoms isolated and thought abandoned, people still living without. This was to a rekindling of all the kingdoms to come to come alive. To join together and be free in every sense. This was a call to rise up and care for all in need, a way to boost economies of all sorts. This was going to change their worlds more than it was changed in 1979. More than it changed in 1980.

While the commoners in attendance left to spread the word and call everyone to join them, Dee slipped away into the crowds. Dawn was the only one who watched him leave his place. She followed him while her mother continued to make love sick gaga eyes at Bon in public. She went to the servants hall she saw him last and hurried quietly, the sounds of the people in the great hall still echoing. She heard silence ahead and in a panic she began running faster.

When she emerged into the nearest courtyard, she scanned the open area, seeing no one there. But when she stepped forward she saw a body in the grass. A woman's body.

“GUARDS!” She called as she dove to tend to the woman she knew. “GUARDS COME QUICK!”

Even though they came and helped her take the injured to the nearest healer in the castle, she knew it was too late.....Tilda was dead. A single stab to the heart had ended her life, why or by who Dawn didn't know and not a single guard had been present to see anyone. Dee was still gone and while the Princess wanted to believe he had done it, there was absolutely no proof that he had. There were no witnesses, no weapon, and Tilda was dead.

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It was late into the next day, as the entire city and all of Star's managers of affairs got the tour in order, when she was alerted of Tilda's murder. Dawn brought her to the crypts, where the woman was already laid out for burial and mourning. But she had no family, and only May was there to acknowledge her passing. Rosie had been told that Tilda had died in her sleep, the girl was shaken by the sudden death, but in the wake of the Tour her sadness was distracted. Star however stood shoulder to shoulder with Dawn and May, staring at the woman's body.

“I cannot stop the tour,” she said.

Dawn frowned. “I didn't think you would, despite the dishonor to Tilda.”

“Its not that,” Star whispered. “I loved her, she helped me raise you and Rosie. I owed her and this is the thanks I give? I understand your anger but the tour must continue, one in order to spite Tilda's killer, and two because she would want us to continue. It will free the lands and hopefully encourage them to separate from the BOC. For all my power and liberation the people still look tot hem for help in situations they offer assistance to. This tour could end the rule of the BOC, Tilda knew that.”

“We will not go after the killer? We know who it was.”

“He did not murder her, he could not have.”

“He is of the BOC, you know he did.”

“Did anyone see it?”

“No.”

“They will laugh at you without any evidence. There is nothing we can do.”

Dawn sighed. “I know.” She turned and left. . . .

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It wasn't long before the royal family once again was in the great hall, drinking and merry making before the tour was set to launch. The platform where the thrones usually sat was cleared of the chairs and instead was littered with divans and large pillows tossed about. The queen reclined on a chair while Bon sat next to her, they flirted outrageously, whispering of being loved dearly. Angus entertained a horde of girls by playing guitar for them. Everyone else was spread throughout the hall, mingling and drinking. Feasting and dancing. Dawn wandered the hall, drinking, smoking, May was not among them, she was with Rosie in her chambers. Rosie was not fond of large gatherings like this.

Richi was surrounded by people as well, his band mates, women, other dignitaries. He shared Dawn's belief that a member of the BOC murdered Tilda, it unsettled them both. They also knew that the tour would commence. When infuriated him most was the sight of Star with Bon. After he had broken her heart for forty years, she gives him a band and then invites him to her castle. Now they sat side by side as if lovingly collaborating on their tour, and it made Richi huff in frustration.

In the middle of their celebrations a guard came running through the large hall doors, his armor clanking loudly and drawing everyone's attention. He held a piece of parchment in his hand and came to the steps below the gathering. Star, while prone to folly, knew that he had grave news, even more upsetting than her friend's death. She stood, Bon watched. Richi leaned forward, dawn followed her mothers suit and stood next to her.

“Speak!” Star said.

The guard nodded and unrolled the scroll. “To QUEEN OF HOLY WOOD. This note is to remind you that we are not dead and our forces have amassed to new heights. We await you outside your castle, in the open fields to the east, myself and my two delegates. We have gained the strength necessary to come and demand you pay heed to us and our power. Should you fail to speak with us, and listen to our demands, war will come down upon you. Awaiting your presence, signed, the King of the Spyders.”

There was silence.

Star burst into a grin. “Who sent this?”

“The messenger outside said he is to show you to the field where they wait.”

“Then by all means, let us meet.” She said as she swept away to dress for the hint of battle.

Dawn and Richi followed her, Bon followed against their wishes but Star demanded he come. The Princess whispered furiously with her mother, this did not feel right. Something was wrong. Star waved her concerns away as jitters of a negotiation. Dawn huffed at her mother's ignorance but followed her to dress for travel all the same. 

Princess and Lord Blackmoore, dressed in leather shin, arm and body gear. Star was dressed similarly with thigh high leather boots and a long necked, tight fitted chemise with the sleeves split open and leather guards from her wrists to elbows. Bon was given his choice of armor since they had come without, and donned a pair of metal shin guards and a long sleeved leather jacket, he declined any sort of chainmail since war was not yet eminent.

When done with their quick travel preparations, they met at the stables and Star called a small fraction of her army to come with her to investigate. The messenger boy was a Spyder, he wore the vivid red and silver colors and held a flag pole flying the silver Spyder on a red background. Star told him to led them and he did without further conversation. She had to admit that he was indeed in better condition that she expected, the last time she encountered the Spyder's, they were mere rag tag warriors without armor to call their own. It appeared they had improved since then.

Richi and Dawn trailed behind Star and Bon who sat abreast on their horses. The messenger was well ahead of them to avoid any speaking situations and this made Star lean in close to Bon.

“This is unusual.”

“What do you think they want?”

“To stop us. If we unite the people, they will be cast out and free for me to round up and deal with.”

“Another attempt at rebellion.” He said.

She smiled. “But it isn't as frighting this time, with you beside me.” She looked and smiled at him. “I had hoped we would set on a march for peace, and not to investigate if war is here.”

“We will tour. We will speak to the king and he might even join us.”

“Oh I doubt that,” she laughed. “But yes, we go to speak. I'm so happy you're here.”

“You said that already,” he laughed.

“Because I am,” she whispered. “I would rather be marching North rather than east, but with you by my side I fear nothing.”

He took her hand and kissed the back of it. She did likewise and he gave her hand a squeeze. They had been unable to share an intimate moment since his arrival two days prior. The Queen was beginning to regret it. This was a scene from her vision of the tour, them dressed as they were, atop horses on a dirt path. She saw no more after that and was waiting to see what lay beyond.

Their conversation died the moment the crested a hill and saw the camp. There at least one thousand soldiers present and their camps were abandoned as they all stood in neat uniform rows behind three leaders. The King and his two delegates. Star was not prepared for this and the moment she saw that her one hundred men was a vast miscalculation she motioned for Dawn to come forward. She watched the other army carefully, the situation had suddenly become grave.

“Ride to Ao'o, gather more, one thousand at least more. Begin preparations to possibly evacuate the city. Go to the old King. This is not a meeting, this I a negotiation and threat of war.” She looked into her daughter's eyes.

Dawn stared at her mother, the encampment and then nodded and turned to ride back for Ao'o. She did not question Star then, as to why she did not send Richi. She wanted to ensure that Rosie was far from the castle if War struck, and they would need more warriors. One thousand men was hardly an army, but it was all the BOC had had when they overthrew Star with in the beginning. She ran hard and didn't look back.

Star kicked her horse forward, Bon and Richi following by her sides. She motioned for Bon to come close and he did, Richi glared at the army ahead. Now was not the time for her to be flirting and it angered him. They went slowly plodding along.

“I'll never forget the day we met,” she said.

Richi glared at him. Star smiled.

“How could anyone forget?”He said.

“I think of it almost every night when you are away.” She was quiet. “I wish for that night over and over.”

“We will live it again.” He ensured her.

“I hope so,” she whispered.

The Spyders moved forward when the others stopped and approached the Holy Wood Queen. They all shared bright red hair, dyed of course to sport their war colors. A bright red band of paint was spread across their faces like a mask. The King wore a silver crown with large rubies inset along the band, he was young, too young.

When the two parties met they were mere yards away from the nearest soldier, either Spyder or Holy Woodian. The King spoke first.

“I am Xander of the Spyders.”

“I am Star Dust of Holy Wood.”

His lips peeled over yellowed teeth and a sick smile. "I have been Dying to meet you Queen. We are no longer the petty warrior thieves you knew. We are now a thriving community of people, taking over lands far to the east that you yourself abandoned.”

“I do not deny living space to those who need it. Enemy or otherwise.”

“That is not why I brought you here.”

“And why did you King of the Spyders?” She asked sarcastically, clearing mocking him.

“To inform you that we are powerful now. More than the thread bare people you knew, we have amassed our own kingdom and fortunes and riches and we have built an army and we have gathered land and we continue to build.”

“You seem familiar. . .” she said then, as if ignoring him. “Have I imprisoned you before?”

“We met once, on the fields of war in 1979.”

“Oh yes, when everyone who wanted to fight leapt into war.” She seemed puzzled. “But why do you wish war on me? It was the BOC I was fighting, not you.”

“Because you are of Holy Wood! Your former kings imprisoned my forefathers! You have ignored us as a force of might for far too long!”

“Because you attack my people! Surrounding lands! You encourage crime and pillaging!”

“Is that not what you plan now with your tour? To eradicate us?”

“Of course not! In fact you may join us! Lay down your grievances and join us King of the Spyders. Join us. Do you have another sponsor perhaps? Allies of your own?”

“If you only knew,” he grinned wickedly. “We drank the water of life you gave your people, we are more than mere decedents, we are the last of the Spyders who were wrongfully imprisoned. And by who? A king who knew a Spyder was the rightful heir of Holy Wood.”

“Now that is where you fail to make sense,” Richi said. “The case you refer to took place nearly two centuries ago. It was a fight over two legitimate children for the Throne on Earth, and the one whose mother was Martian was denied the throne while the earthling mother was given the throne.”

The King smiled, "Time hides many secrets Blackmoore Lord."

Star went pale. If he only knew. . . . “He is right. I cannot attest to what my husband's ancestors did to your forefathers, but we can fix it right now.”

Xander's eyes darkened. “I am afraid it is too late to offer an alliance. You have been bested your highness.”

She raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean bested? By who? Speak clearly or you will never be a proper king at all!”

“You will address me as KING Xander the first of the Spyders!”

They fell into a fit of yelling at each other, Star hurtling insults and Xander using sarcastic allusions to double meanings. In the throngs of red, one among them crept silently, seemingly unnoticed by those around him until he reached the edge of the crow closest to the dignitaries. Bon watched the woman and Spyder argue, Richi did as well....But it was Bon who heard the crunch of dirt, being a Dirty Deeds Man his senses could detect what was otherwise silent. It was a trait of the Dirty Men faction. He turned in time to see the crowd part and without explanation he shoved Star out of the saddle with a violent push and grabbed a knife out of his shin guard.

As the dagger flew and struck the “king's” eye, another blade flashed in the sunlight. It wouldn't kill Xander. . .at the same time he reacted, there was a sudden movement in the crowd of uniformed stanced Spyder soldiers, and it happened quicker than anyone else could react. A Spyder pushed through the crowd and flung an object at the Queen.

In the same moment that Bon had shoved her and threw his blade, another was released from the hands of an assassin for hire. As the King screamed and was taken away from the stand off, arrows flew, war cries were screamed, the war began. With an arm raised the slaughter was started.

Richi ducked and jumped down from his horse, hiding behind it as he protected the Queen.

“SHEILD WWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLL!” He screamed.

As the wall formed he looked down and crouched low to pick up his cousin, but she did not see him. He followed her gaze and saw Bon across from them, his hand in hers, a knife protruding from his chest. In the midst of colliding enemy lines, Richi picked her up and guards picked up Bon. They found shelter a mile away from the front line and a healer, sent by Dawn had quickly arrived with a small battalion of battle ready men. Dawn came with nightfall and led the battle as the people she had brought sent up a temporary base. As the tent was constructed and a table unloaded, Bon was being dressed by a healer, a magic healer from the Sabbath lands. A gift from that Kingdom to Star's.

With nothing else for it he grabbed the dagger and the moment it was free, covered it with a heavy cloth he pressed down. This changed nothing. The healer said his chants, laid a hand over the chest and the wound glowed a soft blue...but when the glow dimmed it was apparent that they were too late. He shook his head and said another chant while placing coins over the man's eyes.

“NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Star screamed so loud that moment that her voice broke.

She fell to the ground and Richi was overwhelmed.

“Get her out of here!” he shouted as he drew his sword.

The tent was so close to the front lines that this was his holding point and he had to get her away to safety until she was dressed in her armor ready to fight, but with the death of her love right before her eyes he wasn't sure she was able to fight. The guards and healers took her away, but she fought them. Not willing to leave unless Bon's body went with her. They took her and the dead man to a tavern in a nearby evacuated village while Dawn and Richi battled on the front line. They were not far from the Castle Ao'o and Dawn had called for more and more reinforcements to come even after she had ridden out with her militia.

Eventually they held the line and more soldiers came to fight. Far into the night and the next day there was fighting. Dawn and Richi pulled out long enough to establish where they stood. Star was still holed up in the tavern and was said to be drinking copious amounts of rum. Dawn relayed to Richi that everyone incapable of fighting was being evacuated to the Kingdom by the Sea and he was willingly taking them in, Rosie and May included. The Princess then broke off from her uncle to go send word to the other kingdoms. This was not their fight but it would maybe become theirs if Holy Wood should lose, they should be prepared.

Richi agreed. With morale falling low at the sudden attack and Star's safety uncertain, the soldiers needed to know that their queen was well. They needed to know they were not fighting a losing battle....Even though it appeared as such. Over the course of the next few days, it became apparent that the Spyder's had also rebuilt their military and military tactics. Every time the Holy Woodians entered the forest to pursue them, the men were overwhelmed and scattered, sent running from the forests. It wasn't long before both Richi and Dawn concluded that the Spyder's had a significant army spread through the lands usually uninhabited, under one command it seemed.

The forests were thick, the hills rocky and full of caves. The Spyders had planned for this and it was evident in the way they moved and nearly expected their battle plans. After a large squad of soldiers was lost in an ambush, Dawn pulled back their forces and Richi went in search of Star.

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A tavern in the village of Tull, 2021 AC/DC, sunrise. . . . .

Stardust sat at the bar, Richi and a band of five soldiers stood behind her. The Blackmoore lord behind her was dressed in his battle worn armor. Their leader was getting wasted at a bar as the kingdom was at war. With the death of her lover Bon, the Queen was ill.

“My Lady, there is a war at hand the enemy is attacking from the east. We need your guidance in this time.” Her cousin said.

She sucked down another rum shot and tapped the glass in thought before pouring more. She drank and ignored those in attendance. The other soldiers didn't know what to make of it. Richi set his helmet down and stared at his Queen and cousin.

“Leave us,” he commanded his men. They did as told. He grabbed the shot from her hand before it touched her lips and threw it on the ground. She looked at him with an irritated smirk. “Wake up,” he growled at her.

She wasn't deterred. She pushed another shot to him, “Here have a drink on me,” she suddenly burst into laughter that dribbled into tears. “Hes upstairs, and there's no pulse.”

She spoke of her lover Bon. Just as their two powerbands were about to embark on a massive tour across the kingdoms, Bon had been assassinated before her very eyes. He had died after they fled the battle field and she held onto his body in the hopes he wasn't dead.

But he died long before being brought here, and she did everything in her willpower to deny it. She was drowning out her sorrow like she did after the Great war of 1979. After her husband vanished....she turned to heavy drinking in that short time before being exiled and separated from her newly born baby.

Richi was there to break her out of her drunken dream. “We need our Queen! Your daughter needs you, your granddaughter needs you.” He put his hand over the glass she was about to drink from. “Bon would want you to keep fighting. He didn't come all this way, he didn't follow you for more than thirty years to see you give up all because he died.”

She grinned at him and shoved his hand away. “Now that I will drink to. Bon was a persistent man.” She downed the double shot without a flicker of disgust. “And his persistence got him dead.”

Richi laughed. “You know nothing of Bon you foolish woman.”

She raised her glass and smashed in on his armor breast plate.

“Don't you say that Richi!” She screamed.

“You know you must go on! When we have a victory he will be cremated as the bravest of men are. He would want you to fight and we must go NOW!”

“Don't you dare touch him!” She branched a dagger at him, freed from its hidden sheath in her sleeve. I will keep his body forever if I have to!”

“You would defy his honor and keep him in a glass coffin if it meant you could keep him for yourself.”

“You're damn right I would and I'll drink to that right now!' She drank again and slammed the next glass to the floor. “

There was a sudden ruckus on the floor above them and the sound of smashing glass. Stardust leapt to the stairs when the glass shattered above and Richi trailed closely behind her. Her heart pounded in terror at what she would find and she ran down the hall to his room. The door was slammed open so hard that it fell off on hinge. She flew inside to find his body gone and the window smashed.

She stood there in stoic, sobering silence and Richi stood alongside her.

“Is this your doing?” She asked Richi.

He shook his head. “No. I. . . I have no explanation.”

Both body and dagger were gone from this room. She went to the window and saw that the glass was broken outwards, there was no glass inside the room. There was no godly, earthly, physical way that Bon should have moved. He had been dead, she had felt no pulse, he was dead. Now he was gone, once again gone. With the realization that she would be unable to keep his body, she gave up and came out of her depression.

She nodded, facing the rising sun. “Let us win this war then.”

to be continued. . . .  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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.

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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.