The stars below, p.12
The Stars Below, page 12
part #4 of Vega Jane Series
“Thank you,” said Uma, her gaze still averted.
“So, have you set your wedding date yet?” asked Necro.
This puzzled me because I had always understood that Necro had not approved of this union.
“Not yet,” said Jason with a glance at Uma. “But it will be soon.”
“Splendid,” said Necro. “We will anxiously await that happy time. Until then.” He tipped his hat again and was off once more.
I crossed the street and slowly approached the pair as they remained standing there.
“Hello,” I said.
They both looked at me. “Hello,” said Jason, and Uma nodded and smiled at me.
It was deeply unsettling to me that I knew that both of these beautiful young people were doomed. Jason would be stabbed to death and Uma, in her personal agony, would drown herself. And again, as with Astrea, I was tempted to warn them of what was coming for them. But Jasper’s words came back to me once more, and I held my tongue.
Instead I said, “I heard that man say that you are getting married?”
“Yes,” said Jason, with a shy glance at Uma.
“That’s wonderful. I’m sure you’ll be very happy together.” I had to fight back tears because I knew their marriage would never come to pass.
“Thank you,” said Uma, who was now looking at me strangely. “Do I know you?” she asked.
Not yet, I thought to myself. “No, I’ve just arrived here.”
“Well, it’s not often that one receives well wishes from a stranger. You must have a very kind heart. Perhaps we will see more of you?” she added with an enigmatic smile.
“Perhaps,” I said noncommittally.
“I’m Uma and this is Jason. What is your name?”
“Vega.”
“A curious name, but enchanting,” said Uma. “Do you have family here?”
“I might,” I said evasively. “That man who was just here?”
“Jason’s father,” said Uma, her disgust thinly veiled.
“He seems delighted at your upcoming marriage.”
“Yes, he does seem to be,” replied Jason.
I looked at Uma, who said, “Yet not everything is as it seems.”
I shot Jason a look, but he seemed not to have heard her words.
“Well, good-bye, Vega,” said Uma, who was looking chastened at her remark. “I hope that we meet again.”
As I left them, I looked back and watched as they walked away, hand in hand.
I took my wand from my pocket, tapped it against my leg and said, “Pass-pusay.”
My destination was clearly in mind.
Empyrean.
But not the Empyrean with which I was familiar.
I landed in front of the place. It looked much like it did in my time, though it was obviously much newer. The grounds were sumptuous and inviting. I glimpsed large marble statues set in strategic places, and wondered if they had served as the inspiration for the enchantment of the outside staff at the Empyrean I currently inhabited. The stone-and-wood house sat there looking as unmovable as a star in the sky.
The sky!
I looked up and the sun was shining and the coldness I had felt in the part of town I had just left was gone, replaced with an inviting warmth.
As I peered out from under the cover of the tree line, I started.
A tall woman was striding purposefully along a path on the right side of Empyrean. She turned and headed in my direction.
As she drew closer, I could see who it was.
I stepped clear of the trees and called out to her.
“Hello?”
Alice Adronis stopped walking and looked up.
She was dressed not in chain mail, a warrior ready for battle, but in a long lavender cloak. Her face was strained, and I knew why. The horror of losing a child was printed upon every square inch of it.
My gaze fell to her breast, where I knew her mortal wound would eventually strike her down. It was such a disturbing thought that I had to glance away, shaken.
“Who are you?” she asked, her brows knitted together, her countenance stern and searching. “What are you doing here?”
I looked up as I drew closer to her.
“My name is Vega.”
“But what are you doing here?”
“I seem to have lost my way.” I paused. “Are you Alice Adronis?”
She stiffened but answered, “I am.”
“I’m sorry for your loss.”
She drew her cloak closer around her. “How do you know of it?” It was more a snarl than a statement.
“I saw your husband in town.”
“He told a stranger … about my loss?” she said in disbelief.
“No, please don’t be angry with him. He told Colin Sonnet at his shop. I just happened to be there when he did.”
Alice looked over my shoulder. “I did not know that Gunther had gone to town.”
I stood there feeling immensely awkward.
I took another step forward. “I have traveled far to obtain assistance from Colin to repair a ring of mine.”
“Then you have chosen well. Colin is excellent in the field of curiosities.”
I nodded and looked around. “Your home is truly beautiful.”
Alice drew a bit closer, and I saw her eyes widen when she took me in fully.
“Do I know you?” she asked.
“No,” I said quickly. “Have you lived here long?”
“Empyrean will always be my home.”
Yes, it will, Alice, I thought.
Her features softened and she said, “Are you hungry? Would you like some sustenance?”
“That would be very kind,” I replied.
We headed to the house. The door opened as we approached it.
We passed through and it closed behind us.
I looked around and marveled at the fact that Empyrean had not changed a jot. A tall, portly man dressed in a servant’s livery slipped into the room and said, “Madame Alice, lunch is ready in the dining hall.”
“Thank you, Pillsbury.”
I nearly fell over as I beheld the true form of Pillsbury, before he was conjured permanently into a suit of armor.
I found myself growing sad at the sight of the flesh-and-blood Pillsbury, now a metal carcass still alive eight hundred years later. While I believed that Empyrean was a beautiful home, I didn’t think anyone should have to care for any place for that long.
Alice led me down the passage and into the large dining hall.
A tall, thin white-haired woman with long limbs and enormous blue eyes came in, pushing a serving cart.
“Mrs. Jolly, we have a guest for lunch.”
I was prepared for this and barely flinched as I took in the current Mrs. Jolly and concluded that she indeed had the willowy shape of a broom.
“Right you are, Madame Alice. There is plenty, for I had assumed Master Gunther would be here.”
“He has gone into town,” said Alice. “Though he failed to tell me.”
I said, “He thought you perhaps needed to be alone.”
Alice shot me a hard look that slowly softened. “Well, perhaps he was right.”
The meal was placed before us, and Mrs. Jolly left the room.
We began to eat. I was ravenous, though I noticed that Alice ate only a few bites with absolutely no enthusiasm.
I said, “I have never had a child, but I can only imagine how hard it must be to lose one.”
I saw her hand shake a bit before she answered. “ ’Tis hard. Perhaps the hardest thing I’ve ever faced, and I have confronted many hard things in my life.” She glanced at me. “Where do you come from?”
“A place far from here, but very much like it.”
“You look quite familiar to me,” said Alice. “I noted it outside, and the sense is even stronger inside my home.”
“I suppose we might have met somewhere, sometime,” I replied cautiously. Before she could pursue this line of inquiry, I added, “I saw Necro in town.”
I saw her lips purse and her eyes blaze.
“And what did you think of him?”
“I think I have never seen a more evil bloke in my life.”
She lifted her gaze to mine. “You are wise beyond your years.”
“I saw Astrea Prine in town as well. She seems to understand this. But there are others, her husband for example, who do not.”
Alice sat back and studied me. “For coming from a faraway place, you seem to have a deep understanding of our politics.”
“I have the advantage of being in a similar situation of my own.”
I wanted to tell her this situation was taking place eight hundred years into the future, but I thought that might have been a bit awkward over lunch!
She wiped her mouth with a napkin. “Indeed.”
“I also saw Uma and Jason. They seem very much in love.”
“I daresay they are very much in love.” She hesitated and then continued. “But love cannot conquer all.”
“Truer words were probably never spoken,” I said. I looked around the room. “I can understand your desire to fill such a wonderful place as this with the sounds of happy children. And you will no doubt accomplish that.”
I had never heard of Alice having children, but I had no desire to say that to a woman who had been so cruelly bereaved.
“Thank you. You never told me your surname.”
“No, I didn’t.”
What I did next was perhaps a huge gamble, but for some reason it felt like the right thing to do. Alice had told me about the concept of Empchon or the Fates. She said there was a connectivity between us. Well, I was going to put that theory to the test right now!
I took out my wand and set it on the table.
Alice’s gaze was immediately transfixed by it. That the wand was the Elemental was unmistakable. Then she looked up at me.
Her features were so hard that they appeared to be like the statuary that sat outside the grounds of Empyrean. I had never seen her eyes like that, knuckles of iron that seemed too large to be contained by mere sockets.
“Who are you?” she said in a hushed tone.
I laid my gloved hand over hers. She flinched because she had to know that I wore what had once been her glove. “Someone who will always be your friend, Alice. Always. You will fight your fight. And I will fight mine.”
The next moment I was cursing myself because the mists covered us, and I was back standing in front of Colin’s shop.
It was dark now, and as I opened the door, the bell tinkled.
Colin was behind the counter working on something. As I approached, he held up the ring. “I believe that it will comport with your requirements now.”
“Wonderful,” I said, smiling.
“And what might those requirements be?”
We both turned to see Necro standing there. I had not heard the bell tinkle, yet there he was.
I said, “A ring has many uses, does it not?”
He stepped forward, his disingenuous smile far deadlier than the fanged face of a jabbit.
“Does it? I should think it only has the one, as adornment for the finger.”
I slipped the ring on my hand. “Well, that may show you have much to learn.” I looked at Colin. “I can assume that serendipity has struck once more?”
“Most assuredly, it has.”
“What do I owe you for your services?”
He held up his hands. “It was my pleasure to do so, Vega.”
“I insist that I provide you something in return.”
“I think that you have already done so.”
I glanced at Necro, who was hanging on every word of this exchange.
I nodded at Colin. “I thank you for both your expertise and your comprehension.”
I left the shop and Necro immediately followed.
“You interest me greatly, Vega,” he said.
I winced. I wished that Colin had not used my name in front of the man. I turned to him. “Do I? I wonder why?”
“Perhaps we can have dinner together? I know an excellent place. We can have a discussion.”
“I can’t imagine what we would talk about.”
“Can’t you?”
I smiled. “Actually, I can.”
And then the mists came once more, and the greatest enemy of my life disappeared.
WAS YOUR TRIP successful?” Eon asked as I appeared in front of him.
I twisted my ring around. “Can you see me now?”
“No.”
I returned the ring to its original position.
“Then my trip was successful.”
“What will you do now?” he asked.
“What needs to be done,” I replied.
I tapped my leg, muttered my incantation and a moment later I was standing on the steps of Empyrean.
As I looked it over, I had a new appreciation for the place, having seen it centuries before.
When I opened the door and stepped inside, Pillsbury greeted me. I looked at him too in a different way, having seen him without his armor. With a sudden impulse, I kissed his metal visor. If steel could blush, then Pillsbury just had.
“Mistress Vega? Are … are you all right?”
“I’m smashing, Pillsbury. And I just want you to know how very much I appreciate all that you do here for us.”
He gave a short bow. “It is my true pleasure to serve you,” he said.
When he straightened, he added, “I was unaware that you had gone out.”
“It was sort of a last-minute decision.”
“Do you require anything? Food? Drink?”
I shook my head. “I had something to eat, thank you.”
It was eight centuries ago, but who was counting, I thought as I headed to find Delph.
I finally found him up in Jasper Jane’s old laboratory poring over books.
“What are you doing, Delph?” I asked.
He looked up from a dusty tome. “Trying to find something that will help your dad. Where have you been?”
I sat down next to him on one of the tall stools around Jasper’s worktable.
“I’ve been traveling.”
He shot me a look. “Traveling? Where?”
“Back in time.”
He slammed shut the book. “Vega Jane. Blimey!”
I slowly went through all that I had done while I had been gone, including getting my ring repaired. And all those whom I had met along the way.
As I spoke, poor Delph’s jaw dropped lower and lower until I feared it might smack into the table.
When I finally finished, he gave me such a look of both reproach and wonder that I snapped, “What, Delph?”
“You shouldn’t have gone by yourself,” he readily replied. “We talked about you doing such.”
“But I was going into the past, there was no danger.”
“Like when you were nearly killed on that battlefield where you saw Alice? And you said they could all see you this time. Well, except for Petra.”
“Um, right. Well, I wasn’t hurt this time.”
“Necro, eh?”
“Yes.”
“And you said he looked all, well, normal?”
“Except for his eyes. You could tell in them, Delph, of the evil to come.”
He sat back, looking exhausted just by hearing of my adventure.
“And Astrea when she was young. And Alice and her mate, Gunther. And Uma and Jason.”
He leaned forward and looked curious. “Right. But you said that Necro seemed to want them to get married.”
“I frowned. I was puzzled by that too.”
“And you saw Petra being shunned by others because she was different. Reminds me of somebody.”
“Who?” I asked curiously.
“You, Vega Jane.”
“I’m sure she had great difficulty” was my diplomatic reply, ignoring his comment about me.
“And she overcame it,” he said. “Like you did.”
Okay, enough was bloody well enough. I blurted out, “We took an oath, Delph. Apparently, some of my blood rests in her now, and some of hers was wicked into me. But I’m never going to be best mates with Petra, no matter how much you may want that.”
My words were fierce, and I expected some sharp retort, but Delph simply nodded in agreement.
“I understand that, Vega Jane. And you don’t have to be best mates. You just have to trust each other.”
“I do trust Petra. I’ve trusted her with my life. And she’s done the same with me.”
“Then there’s no problem, is there?” he said matter-of-factly.
I once more started to say something and then realized that Delph had outsmarted me, boxed me in with no way to get out.
“I suppose not,” I said unenthusiastically.
“So with the ring tidied up, what’s your plan?”
“To find John,” I replied.
He nodded. “That is all well and good, Vega Jane. And I know with your mum and dad here that’s uppermost in your thoughts, and finding John would please all of us, especially your mother.”
“But?” I said.
“I’m trying to find a way to cure your dad, and I know that Astrea is looking into it too. But we’re fighting a war.”
I stood and put my hands on my hips. “What are you saying, Delph? Don’t be mealymouthed about it. Just say it.”
“You’re our leader. So you need to lead us.”
I had a reply all ready, but suddenly the words seemed jargoled in my mouth. Still, I had some ammunition I could use in this argument. And I decided to do just that.
“Delph, if the Maladons do have John and are preparing to use him on their side, then we would be far better off with him on our side.”
Delph seemed taken aback by my argument.
“And how will you do that?” he asked, seemingly genuinely curious.
“With the ring I can poke around here and there. I may see or hear something that could help us locate him.”
“Will I be allowed to come along on these little excursions?”
“Why, of course, Delph, perish the thought that I might manage it on my own.”
I grinned to show him that I was not being serious in the least. Well, maybe a bit, but he needn’t know that.
However, Delph did not return my smile. His gaze was downcast.
“What’s wrong, Delph?” I said.
“Nothing.”
