CHAPTER TWO—CALDER FEV’ROSK

Panyan liquor and the ear of a good friend: that was the only cure for it. But a king does not exactly blend into his surroundings, so patronizing the local tavern was quite out. Which was precisely why Waelden and I were sprawled out on divans in the guest quarters of the spire, half-drunk flagons in our fists.

“Perhaps it was a mistake,” Waelden was murmuring, “how I treated Vanixa. Perhaps I should have honored our bond. Who knows if Sara Yve will ever return to Qetesh anyway, at which point I will be without a wife from now until…well, until I die.”

“There is no sense in pitying yourself, Waelden,” I said, forcing myself to sit upright, and drinking deeply of the draught in my hand. “What is done, is done.”

“Just so.” Waelden rubbed at his eyes with his thumb and index finger, then stretched his arms over his head and sat up. “And in any case,” he went on, “who I marry is of little consequence.”

He was looking at me pointedly, and I scratched absently at my temple, along the ridge of my brow until my nails met my horns. I must have known what he meant, but I refused to acknowledge it. Nevertheless, he pressed on: “Calder, your kingdom needs a Queen.”

“My Kingdom has a Queen,” I spat back, which served only to illicit a long-suffering sigh from my longtime friend and advisor. “My Kingdom has a Queen.” As though repeating it made it truer.

“No, your Kingdom had a Queen, and now it has a melancholic monarch with no heir.”

“Yes, a fitting monarch for a failing people,” I said, without considering the impact of my words. “A child has not been born to this tribe since…” I could not remember when. But it had been decades, and Waelden knew it.

“But we need a leader, Calder,” he went on, the plea in his eyes, “who will set the example for us all. Someone who will—”

“What, overcome the limitations of biology?” I rose to my feet and began to pace like a caged animal, back and forth, in front of the divan. “What would you have me do, old friend? Simply will a child into being? Would that I had that power, believe you me.”

“No,” he said, “but I would have you take another wife.”

I stared at him for a long stretch of silence, finally giving a slow shake of my head. “I am already married.”

“Yes, but she’s gone, Calder.”

“Gone,” I said, “not dead.”

“Semantics.”

“No,” I insisted, “no, it means I am still very much a married man. Married to a woman I adore, mind you.”

“Unlike me, you mean.”

“You said it,” I said, rather ungallant, “not I.”

Waelden sniffed and hooked his flagon to the leather belt about his waist. “I love you, Calder,” he said, his tone low and level, “as my friend, as my king. But you do not have the luxury of all this sadness.”

“I—”

“You do not.” He came over to me then and gripped me by the shoulders. “You have a people to lead. Decisions to make. Your Queen has come through for you in every way she promised: the Echelon have refilled our coffers, repaid the debt just as she promised they would. She, single-handedly, brought you back to us. She did that—and you know it. That strange, human creature was a blessing to this tribe. I mean that, sincerely. I do. She brought you back to us, made you take up the mantle of your great mother before you, and now we can finally, finally begin to thrive.” He let go of me then and looked me dead in the eye. The haze of our drinking had, it seemed, completely worn off and he was serious and sober as stone. “But none of that will matter if you fall back into the sadness that took you from us the first time.”

I swallowed hard and had to look away. “I do not know if I can lead without her at my side.”

“You can,” he insisted, “and you will. Otherwise her presence in your life meant nothing at all.”

I exhaled a bated breath and nodded, seeing the sense through the heavy clouds of my dejection. “She said she would come back.”

“And she may yet. But you do not know when that will be. And so, you continue with your life. You lead your people, you find yourself a new Queen, and you celebrate the great love that brought you back to your throne.”

I nodded. He was right. I gripped him by the elbow and looked into his face. “Thank you, old friend.”

He pursed his lips into a smile, and I could see the lines around his eyes. His skin looked like wax paper, crumpled and aging, and I wondered if I looked so in the unforgiving light of the spire. “That is what I am here for, your highness.” He gently let himself out of my grip and headed for the door. “And with that, I will leave you. You do, after all, have a kingdom to run.”

~ * ~

I thought that Waelden had made a series of excellent points, so I allowed him to set up what he claimed to be an “introductory dinner”, but which was actually a parade of Europax women who all wanted to be Queen. Before we ate, he brought them in one at a time, and they curtsied low and told me about themselves. There were a dozen of them, all shapes, colors, and sizes. All beautiful, in their own right, some with charms to suggest them, some without. But none of them had her face.

I sat on my throne, the chair next to mine as empty as I felt, and leaned with my elbow on the arm rest, my face in my hand, as they marched in and out. Waelden would come in and introduce them by name, excuse himself, and gives us a few minutes to get acquainted. They would flirt, they would flatter, and they would leave. None of them caught my eye or my attention in the slightest.

Until the last one.

“Your highness,” Waelden said, leading the eleventh or twelfth girl into the throne room. She was shorter than the others, with a solid build, and long limbs. Her hair was a mass intricate black braids, and she had eyes black as night. She was stunning—and she was human. She wore traditional Qeteshi garb in bright yellows and oranges, draped in front, with a mass of gold bangles that sounded like wind chimes as she walked. She bowed low when she was in front of me.

“Your highness,” she said, in impeccable Qeteshi. “It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

“Likewise—what is your name, my lady?”

“Anesh,” she said.

“You are human.”

“Yes.”

“And new to our village?”

“That is correct, sire.” She smiled, and her teeth where pearl white.

I furrowed my brow as I considered her. She was a beauty, but she was not the beauty on which I had my heart set. But her presence here gave me the spark of an idea, and I followed it like a desperate man. “Tell me, how did you come to be a part of our tribe?”

“I was placed in another Qeteshi settlement,” she said, clasping her hands gently in front of her. She had such an easy grace—she put my mind at ease, even only to hear her speak. “I lived there for several months with the mate to whom I had been assigned, but he unfortunately fell ill and died.”

“I am so sorry for your loss, my lady,” I said, sitting up a little straighter.

“Thank you, your highness,” she said, bowing her head. “I was in mourning for several months, but when the Echelon arrived in our village a few days ago—”

“The Echelon was in your village?” I interrupted, perking up.

“Yes, sire. They were there answering a distress signal sent by another one of the human girls who ended up there. I’m not entirely certain as to her circumstances, but she led us all to believe that she was not there by choice. In any event, I appealed to the ambassador when they arrived, told them of my situation, and they indicated that they would send me to another settlement, where I could seek a new mate. I gratefully took their offer and arrived here several days ago. I think they knew, sire, that you were without a mate yourself, for I was not assigned anyone here, but left to make the choice for myself. Before I do so, I thought it would be prudent to make the King’s acquaintance.”

She smiled again, teasing and light, and I could not help but smile back at her.

“My lady Anesh,” I said, rising to my feet. “Would you do me the great honor of dining with me?”

“It would be my pleasure, your highness.” I joined her and offered her my arm, and we walked together toward the door of the throne room, our feet echoing against the walls of the spire.

“I should tell you,” I said quietly, “that my heart belongs to another.”

“Oh?” and her tone was not without disappointment. I do not blame her: who, in her situation, would not want to be a Queen?

“Yes. But she has left with the Echelon, and I am desperate to get her back.”

“I see.”

“Do you think,” I began, opening the door for her, “that the Echelon is still orbiting the planet?”

“That,” she said, “I do not know. But the rover that brought me across Qetesh is fitted with a communications system. Would you like me to try to send a message to the Atria?”

“It can reach that far?” I asked, as we wended our way through the halls of the spire to the great dining room.

“Only if the Atria is within reach. It could be literal light years away by now.”

When we walked into the dining hall, Waelden seemed please that I had chosen someone, and we all ate with a lifted spirit. I let him, and the rest of my people, believe that I was on the road to finding myself a new Queen—if it was a help to them as they went about their daily lives, I could see no harm in it. And if truth be told, Anesh was the only lady I had met that I would even have considered sparing a second glance, so if my plans to get my Lorelei back to me were to fail, then she would be an acceptable companion. But then, I thought, it would do the lady a great disservice, to wed her, bed her, and keep her as my own when my heart belonged so starkly to another.

No. The lady, I believed, would help me. And if she helped me, she would be free to choose a mate amongst my people and live here in a place of honor. At my side, should our mission fail, and if she so chose.

“Welcome to the lady Anesh!” Waelden said, holding a goblet of Panyan liquor high into the air. The others followed suit, though I saw some sour expressions on the faces of the some of the Europax ladies who had come through the throne room.

I was distracted throughout the course of the meal, thinking only that I may be able to find out, if nothing else, exactly where in the vast galaxy my lady was. Or at least get a message to her, beg her to come back. And maybe, just maybe, I could find my way back to her.

When the meal was concluded, the sun had set and the Winternight had set in, so we could not go out of doors to explore the rover that had brought Anesh across the continent. “Were you by yourself?” I asked as I walked with her to the guest quarters.

“I was, yes,” she said. “But I was fine—they had provided me with a lot of supplies, and there was space to sleep in the rover. All things considered, it was not the worst way to travel.”

“I see.”

“The rover runs on solar power,” she continued, “so I would allow it to charge up during the day, I would eat, bathe, relax in the sun, and then I would do the bulk of my driving after sunset.” The hour was late, and we were nearing her door, but I still had so many questions.

“How long did it take?” I asked. “All told. To get from the other settlement to here?”

“Fourteen days, I think. Give or take a few,” she said. “Fortunately, you are on the same continent, so it was only a matter of crossing land. The third settlement, as far as I am aware, is across a body of water.” I nodded my head, feeling slightly awkward as we lingered outside of her bedroom door. She looked up at me from behind a forest of thick black lashes and said, “Would you like to come in, sire?”

I cleared my throat. “No, thank you, my lady Anesh.” I felt the heat rise into my face and took a few strange steps back. “But please, allow me to join you to break our fast tomorrow morning, and then you can take me to the rover. Will you?”

“As your highness pleases,” she said, and opened the door to the room in which she was staying. “Good night, sire.”

“Good night, my lady.”

~ * ~

The next day was bright and clear, the daylight shining down, stark and pure, as the lady Anesh led me to where she kept her rover. “It isn’t mine,” she corrected me as she led me away from the spire, in the opposite direction of the center ring of the town. “I imagine the Echelon will retrieve it eventually, but they have not yet done so.”

She was wearing Qeteshi garb in green and blue, little glittering beads sewn into the front, and I was reminded of Lorelei’s clothes, that we had gotten together in the marketplace. The memory was a pang in the hollow of my chest, and it made me unsteady on my feet. But I followed Anesh with long strides to her quick ones, my horned shadow lurking in path like the image of a monster on the chase.

“This way,” she said, gesturing to the left. She’d left it in an embankment of Panyan trees, hidden by their broad leaves. It was a strange little vehicle, too small for me to comfortably sit in, but large enough for one or two humans. It was made of beveled metal in grey and silver, with black accents and symbols painted on the side, symbols I did not recognize.

“What are those?” I asked of the symbols.

“Numbers,” she explained. “Federation Vessel R-8599451. The Echelon numbers all of their machines like that, from the smallest escape pod to the largest space station.”

“What is Federation?” I asked. There was not an exact translation into Qeteshi.

“The Federation is the intergalactic governing body. They oversee the Echelon.”

“Someone oversees the Echelon?”

“Certainly. Somebody oversees everybody.”

“But then who oversees the Federation?”

Anesh smiled at me as she opened the door to the rover and climbed into the driver’s seat. “That, your highness,” she said, “is a question for the ages. Who, indeed? Who watches the government?” She canted her head to the side, considering me levelly. “Who watches you, sire? You are the government here. Who watches you?”

“The people,” I offered. And she gave a nod of her head.

“Just so.”

She powered the machine on, and I peered inside through the open door to watch what she was doing. It seemed to be an arbitrarily arranged series of knobs and lights and buttons and dials, a screen in full color at the front of the console where she could take control. When it powered on, it greeted her in a language I did not understand, and she spoke back to it in that language, and the picture on the console seemed to change somewhat.

“What did you say?” I asked. “What did it say?”

She was grinning even as she manipulated the controls. “It was welcoming me, it asked me what I wanted to do, and I asked it to draw up the coordinates of the Atria.”

“And has it? Is it near?”

“It’s still scanning,” she said. “Give it a moment.”

I waited silently for the length of several heartbeats. “And now?”

She chuckled low in her throat and reached out to place a hand on my arm. “A moment, sire.”

I felt certain she could feel my heartbeat through my skin, but she said nothing of it. Then, after what felt like centuries, we heard a small ping.

“There,” she said, pointing to the screen. “We have found it.”