Chapter 19 - Protecting the Estate
When the message arrived for the High King, Aldiv read the contents and turned pale. He took it to the space monitoring room where he knew his master was, and using his authority, he interrupted a high-level video conference between Governor Xyron who was still on the second continent, Governor Reslic who was on his flagship the Jacen Tyr and Tymoros himself.
Tymoros read the message and fear tore at him. Despite evidence to the contrary and knowing how capable his children were…he couldn’t help the reaction. He feared losing them. He sent Aldiv off with instructions and then tersely read the message to his fellow Governors.
Reslic turned from the conference screen and issued brusque orders to his crew. Xyron asked, “How far have they progressed with their plan, Ty?”
“They are ahead of their estimate,” Tymoros murmured. “I believe they are being guided by the Guardians to keep ahead of the Aeronite advances. One of them might have been near Amik, but if so – where are Jonko and Keleb? Surely if either of my children or their friends had been hurt, Tymos would have said so and arranged help through the prearranged channels.”
“He may not have done so if his friends were dead,” Reslic said tersely. “I have the fleet ships scanning their last reported positions and the area around Amik.”
“It sounds like a trap,” Xyron warned. “The Aeronites had a try at capturing me, but I was ready for them. They think they now have me running in circles but I am learning things about their technology that I am sure they do not expect. Some of the weapons here, I have seen before. Missionaries from the outer systems have collected them when they helped fight off invaders.”
“Must I expect the others?” Tymoros asked, not mentioning the Ciriot by name.
“You should, Ty,” Reslic warned. “We as the leaders are prime targets for them. From the little we know, they will want to find valuables and we are the keys to finding such things.”
“Can you contact Tymos?” Xyron asked.
“It has been necessary to minimise contact,” Tymoros admitted. “Even secure frequencies are vulnerable. The signals can be traced even if the message is not understood. I will try to reach his mind. If he is not concentrating, I may succeed.”
Tymoros relaxed back into his chair and focussed his mind in an attempt to send a mental message further than he had tried before.
“Tymos? Kryslie?”
The mental replies came together – muted by distance but as clear as if they were speaking to him.
“Report your position.”
Tymos gave his first, “I am between Falvon and Eltoria, Father.”
Kryslie spoke immediately afterward, “I am on the third continent – near the southern delta.”
Both asked, “Father. What is wrong? We are both fine.”
Tymoros did not reply immediately. Finally, he sent, “I believe the aliens are trying to draw me away from the Estate. I had a message from the council of Amik that you were there, needing my help.”
“Father, it is an obvious trap,” Kryslie warned.
“Do they want you, or are they trying to get to the Estate?” Tymos asked.
“I have not become senile since you both graduated,” Tymoros sent back, his mental tone hard. It did not hide his intention. “You know who it must be in Amik.”
“Yes, Father,” Tymos admitted, speaking for himself and Kryslie. It was no use telling him that Jordan and Vila were irredeemably alienated. They were children Tymoros had sired and thought to have died through no deliberate or accidental error of his own. He would not, could not, order their death without trying to redeem them.
Tymos sensed that his father was torn by conflicting duties. “Father, Keleb and I cannot leave here yet – what we are doing requires constant concentration,” he sent. He feared for his father, and for his little brother and foster mother. Others on the Estate would also be at risk, but Warlord Kellex wanted Llaimos, Kryslie and himself.
Kryslie sent, “Jonko and I are not finished here either, but what we have started will continue without us, though more slowly. Do you want us to return?”
“Yes,” was the simple answer. “Xyron is needed where he is, studying the alien technology. Jono is with the fleet. I think they know that I am the only Governor here and dare not infiltrate while I am.”
“Father, it may take me a while to return,” Kryslie considered. “There is no way to set up a relay of long range beams from here.”
“I will have Jono set one from the Jacen Tyr,” Tymoros immediately countered. “He is in orbit above Amik.”
“We are ready, father,” Kryslie confirmed.
Kryslie broke Jonko’s concentration as soon as she received her father’s mental call.
“Trouble, Jon,” she said, and was only peripherally aware of Jonko spinning around and asking, “Where?”
He seemed to sense that Kryslie’s mind was elsewhere, and he continued to scan the area around them. He spotted the pale mauve terminus of the long-range beam against the waving corn, but not against the bright sunlight above it.
“We’re going to the Jacen Tyr,” Kryslie told him as she drew out her transmitter.
Jonko copied her action. He didn’t have time to ask her why, only to step into the beam and transmit. He bowed to Governor Reslic the instant he arrived on the ship’s bridge and listened as Kryslie received more information.
“We have lost contact with Amik. From here, we cannot see any sign of an Aeronite attack force. Most of the alien activity is still in the south west, and there they have begun moving north again. They are also bombarding the shields around Dira.”
“We know they have cloaking technology,” Kryslie considered. “They could be hiding their activities near Amik, and using the push down south as a distraction.”
“Or it is a small infiltrating group like they sent to the Estate,” Reslic warned.
“Is that where we are going? Amik?” Jonko asked. His hand began to move to his weapon.
“No, Father is,” Kryslie explained. “He wants me back at the palace. It is likely that the Aeronites will try to infiltrate there when he is in Amik.”
She saw Jonko’s incomprehension. “Father had a message, supposedly from Tymos and I, that we were there and needing his help.”
“Oh,” Jonko exhaled, understanding immediately. “Surely they don’t expect us to fall for that?”
He saw Kryslie shaking her head and heard her voice in his mind. “I’ll explain later, Jon.”
Aloud, Kryslie voiced her concern to Reslic. “It has to be a trap to catch Father.”
“Your father will have Perrin and a troop of guards. He plans to arrive in a different room of the council building, whilst my brother will beam-into the usual chamber,” Reslic assured her, then added. “Your father is neither a fool nor totally unable to defend himself at need. I believe you are aware of that?”
Kryslie did not back away at the implied rebuke. “I know that, Sir, and I know why he is going. However, I do not want him hurt.” She kept meeting Reslic’s gaze for a moment and then asked, “Would you have the beam reset to the Estate please?”
Moments later, Kryslie and Jonko arrived in her father’s sanctum where Tymoros was pacing. Jonko bowed as required in greeting one of the Governors, Kryslie simply went and hugged her foster father.
Tymoros accepted the gesture of empathy but quickly gave her instructions.
“I have begun the first stage of the evacuation. All non-essential personnel are leaving by the beam to go to Dira. They are taking all of the youngest children, those too young for lessons. Llaimos will stay here.”
“Why, Father?” Kryslie asked.
“The enemy are trying to break the defences of Dira. I have no doubt that they know the legends and wish to stop us escaping to there,” Tymoros told her. “The shields on the city and Temple are holding, but we have not been able to weaken the shields enough to transmit to the Temple, nor is it safe to walk there from the city. I will not send Llaimos there and one of us needs to be with him.”
Kryslie accepted her father’s statement and placed a hand on his arm. “I need to know all of what is happening – I have felt the bombs.”
Tymoros placed his hand on top of hers. An intimate moment of mind fusion gave her the all over picture. It was worse than she had imagined – it was a staggering picture of destruction.
Fourteen cities had become the target of the aliens. First, they set fire to the deserted buildings in the outlying towns and villages and the dried stubble in the fields. Then they bombed the cities, which had stayed shielded at first but after a time had suffered partial shield failure due to sabotage by the many still hidden alien spies. Thousands of Tymoreans had already died from assassinations and the bombs. Each of the cities were surrounded and besieged. That was not an immediately desperate problem since all the cities had supplies to last half a year even with the increased population.
It wasn’t just the cities. Kryslie learnt, that after she had left the second continent, the weather there had turned wild. Cyclonic winds were spreading a toxic gas, fire was spreading through the ripening crops, destroying the work she and Jonko had done there. And worse, seeds from the alien plants had spread and were now growing at speed.
Kryslie felt anger rising, but Tymoros patted her hand and said, “They will need food to feed their troops. More and more of their troops are landing with each city they attack. Any animal not already within a protected forest is prey to the new troops.”
Jonko was thinking that it was time to show the Aeronites they were not welcome, but then Kryslie shared with him what she was learning from her father.
In the King’s mind were reports of bitter fighting between Tymorean militia and Aeronite warriors in the cities that had been breached.
“Reslic is sending down trained troops to support the militias, and he has sent troops into the mountains to set up refuges for the mutants, though many will not accept the help. Many there have already died, since much of the mountainous areas are aflame. Wild winds are also spreading the fires there.”
Kryslie dropped her hand and forcefully controlled the urge to go and do something. Tymoros touched her shoulder. “You cannot do everything. For now, I need you here.”
She knew that, and still felt helpless.
“When the aliens did not know where you were and to their knowledge you had not returned, they tried to draw you out. Reva was the first city they attacked. Fortunately, we had time to warn them and for them to raise the shields. Then they bombed the open areas between here and there.”
“So, the aliens have a way of knowing things…from here…. from Zacary?” Kryslie asked. She sensed Jonko moving restlessly.
“It is likely,” Tymoros admitted. “When he seemed readjusted, we let him out of isolation. Not long after that – the attacks began.”
“Could he have found out any sensitive information? Can they know that Governor Reslic is away?” Kryslie asked.
“Servants talk,” Tymoros reminded her. “He may have heard things, but the story here is that you and Tymos took it into your heads to go and fight aliens. Some of the lower, less knowledgeable servants are speculating at my degree of displeasure with you.”
Jonko put aside his other concerns for a moment and suppressed a smirk. If Kellex heard that, he’d think Kryslie and her brother were stupider than they were and not likely to hurry back to the Estate. After the last failed attempt, the aliens have not tried to attack the Estate.
Kryslie considered, for a moment then said, “He probably expects you to be too powerful for Jordan and Vila and wants you out of the way. However, they won’t be expecting me to be here since Vila saw me three days ago on the third continent. So if I disguise the extent of my power…because I don’t need to maintain a store of energy within me…they won’t sense me.”
Kryslie suddenly straightened. “Father, the protection of the Estate is in my hands.”
Tymoros nodded acceptance, pride warring with concern in his expression.
“Father, be careful,” Kryslie spoke impulsively.
“I am not going alone,” he promised her. Beyond him, the unobtrusive Aldiv had a determined expression on his face.
Kryslie glanced at Jonko. “Come on – we’ll go to the office of the Palace Guards first.”
Outside the office, Jonko caught Kryslie’s arm and caused her to pause. “Why are they just letting those aliens do as they please? Why aren’t we doing more to stop them?”
Kryslie sensed his confusion and stopped to explain. “The Aeronites are only allowed to get so far, Jon. The cities are the where we stop and fight. We couldn’t hope to save every little village and every town. If we tried, we would have lost ten times as many people. And it is not the Aeronites that Tym and I must fight. There is another race involved in this war and they have yet to show themselves. Until then, we hide our strength.”
Jonko wanted to ask more questions, but Kryslie took his arm and transmitted.
Captain Arden was standing where he could watch a wall of monitors. He saw Kryslie transmit in and gave her a slight bow. “Princess Kryslie. I have been informed that you are to oversee the protection of the Estate.”
Kryslie sensed that he was doubtful of the wisdom of that. He looked at her dusty clothes and bare feet, but made no comment. However, he accepted the fact, since he knew she was the highest-ranking Royal to be staying on the Estate.
“What is the exact status of the evacuation,” she asked crisply.
Arden answered immediately. “All the youngest children and attendants have left for Dira and are in the place prepared for them. Jonnsen and Marrin are with the fleet – but not on the flagship. Konn, Gann and Deanne are in Dira.”
Jonko, being ignored by Arden, grinned faintly. Konn must hate being sent away with the children. He did see the sense in separating the offspring of the Governors so at least one of their heirs stayed alive. He heard a similar disposition of Xyron’s eldest children, and then saw Arden seeming to wonder why Kryslie was not somewhere safe.
“The non-essential personnel are leaving now – and the other children will begin to leave after their lessons finish for the day. However, as soon as your father gives me the word, the long range beam will be reset to Amik, but will then be reset back to Dira.”
Kryslie had a momentary qualm – what if her father needed to return quickly? Then other ideas occurred to her. What if Jordan or his sister had mastered transmitters? They probably still had the devices taken from some of the captured third scout party. They might even know of and figured out the existence of the long-range beams – after all, they had chosen to be in one of the cities to lure Tymoros to them. Yes…if Kellex could use Zacary to find out things, he might have heard of the concept. He might think Jordan and Vila could force Tymoros to bring them here or that they could come by themselves. They would surely have warriors with them too.
“Arden, have a squad of guards on alert in the beam-in chamber below,” Kryslie instructed. She saw his brows rise in surprise. Jonko caught the disbelief and snapped, “If you recall the aliens that infiltrated here? They had rogue power…”
Arden did recall and he immediately saw the danger and snapped orders through his communicator. It was on a harness over his uniform.
Kryslie let her glance flick over the monitors – the bundle clad servants waiting in the Great Hall of each palace, the younger students at their studies in the small lyceum, the older students in the large lyceum, the range of places all over the Estate.
“The Estate is on yellow alert,” Arden said, noticing Kryslie’s gaze. “The students will stay within the buildings and transmit directly back to their quarters. The gardens are off limits. He went on to detail the status of all parts of the Estate.
“Where is Zacary?” Kryslie asked, suddenly.
“His Majesty directed for him to be returned to the infirmary,” Arden assured her. He used his communicator and asked to talk to a particular guard. He had no reply and his eyes scanned the monitors for a moment before he directed another guard to go and look for the first.
“The little weasel knows how to be unnoticed,” Jonko murmured. “Do you want me to go and find him?”
He saw Kryslie’s eyes going to the monitor showing the nursery where only Tanya, Llaimos, his nurse, Stenn, and four guards remained. They were all in the large day room.
“No, I’d like you to go to the nursery. Llaimos can’t have too many guards.”
Startled, Jonko immediately nodded and transmitted away. Kryslie saw him appear on the monitor, take in the scene and give an ‘okay’ sign via to the camera. Stenn also glanced that way and grinned, realising that she was watching. Then from his position on the floor, he took a weapon from a hidden holster and passed it to Jonko. Llaimos had started to reach for it, but withdrew his hand when Stenn turned and spoke to him.
It gave Kryslie a shock to see how much her brother had grown in the weeks she had been away. Her baby brother was now the size of a five year old and his hair was now thick and red – a match in colour for her own.
The signal to redirect the beam came through the room’s speakers. Alden made the adjustment remotely and redirected it back to Dira when the newly reassigned guards gave the word. The stream of servants arriving and disappearing, began again.
“Shield status,” Kryslie requested then.
Alden glanced at the relevant monitor screen. “All green, Princess Kryslie. That includes the shields on the rock faces of the mesa.”
Kryslie recalled a memory of an attack on the mesa walls. It was part of what she had learnt from the recent mind-meld with her father. The attack had failed to do any damage, but it had been aimed right where the hangar cavern was hidden. The shields covering the entrance went right down to where the rock thrust up from the surrounding flat land - the opening should have been indiscernible.
Everything seemed to be covered. Arden certainly knew his job.
“Can I have a stunner and a personal force screen as well as a communications head set. I am going to patrol, so please advise your guards.”
Arden stopped himself from his immediate instinct to refuse. Instead, he fetched the requested items and said, “Keep in touch and report if you see anything amiss.”
“And if I even sense trouble,” Kryslie assured him. “I want to be outside where I can best sense the Aeronites – at least any that have power. Though I should warn you that it is possible that the Aeronites might send in two that they have made to resemble Tymos and I.”
“Will your brother be coming here?” Arden asked.
“Not yet…” Kryslie told him. She had a premonition that he would though. “If he does, he will be as dusty and sweaty as I am. These travelling clothes are good for hiding dirt. Tell your men that I look like a tramp and no, I am not going to clean up and change just yet.”
Once Kryslie had donned the communicator headset, she checked the charge in the stunner before holstering it in her belt. Arden approved of her precaution and relaxed his concern. He recalled how capable she was – Reslic had said so, and after all Tymos was the eldest male heir of the High King and he was still safely away.