Chapter 31
I was dressed in a tailored vaguely military uniform and being presented before what was the royal courts. My cousin, the Emperor/King of Celene smiled encouragingly at me. Revenal Juris, the Captain, Murphy Zyperia were all behind me and dressed for an occasion.
"What‘s this for?" I hissed out of the corner of my mouth. It was Zip that answered.
"Fetherwyn is making you a Baron in your own right with properties in Sudania and Asterlath, a seat on his Council and with a position in the Royal Forces."
"And all before my SATs," I muttered. "Does this mean I don‘t have to get a job this summer?"
Murphy smacked me on the back of the head and I ducked, said ‗Oww‘. I still had my arm in a cast and under the fancy clothes; I sported an impressive array of black and blues rapidly turning greenish yellow like rotten chicken fat. Gross. Their docs said I‘d heal without any major damage and I suspected that it was partly due to the runoff of energy from the Seillach‘s power. I still hadn‘t called it out; was afraid that the moment I did, the Colonel could drag me back to earth and finish me off. Worse, break me and use me to manipulate the strings to his whims. I tried to think of a way to sneak back without alerting either the guards or the colonel, yet hadn‘t quite figured out the means to do so.
My cousin was pontificating and I paid attention with one ear; was riveted by the sight of their Generals in high-class uniforms of the Dursvan Hierarchy as they massed in the courtyard.
This was turning out to be a very complicated and expansive affair, promised to be a lengthy and tedious coronation. I sighed, plastered a look of intense focus on my face and went inside my head only breaking free when Zip asked if I wanted to dance. Hours had gone past and I must have passed muster as no one was asking if I was catatonic. Nor did they look at me funny as if I‘d been somewhere else. Which I had.
"Hello? Space boy? Are you here?" Zip‘s amused tones interrupted my reverie.
"Duh?"
"Oh, that‘s an intelligent response," she pinched me and I yelped. Several people near us turned and I frowned so ferociously that they dropped their eyes and ignored me.
"What?"
"Where have you been for the last three hours?" she asked. "Certainly not with me, although you were great at faking it. You‘re not in pain, are you? Some of the faces you‘ve been making scared off several men who tried to cut in on my dancing."
"No, sorry," I swallowed. "I‘m tired. Hungry. Are you hungry?"
"There‘s a buffet table set up over by the Red Arch. Shall we?" She pointed and I made a beeline for it, towing her along with me. My obtrusive bodyguards followed. She loaded my plate and explained what each item was and what it might taste like. I told her not to tell me what creature it came from or that it tasted like chicken.
"Chicken?" Her brows furrowed and she widened her eyes. "What‘s chicken?"
"Remind me to introduce you to the Colonel," I said taking round balls that looked like watermelon and tasted like crab. Glancing over her head, I saw that the archway of red stone glistened as if formed of mica. It was very pretty and teased me with a kind of residual memory.
I dropped my plate and stared, to the annoyance of everyone around me and the staff that hurried to clean up the mess. Zip was the first one to ask me what I had seen.
"What is it, Jadewyn?"
"That‘s a Gate." I pointed with a shaking finger.
"It‘s the Red Arch," she said patiently.
"No, it‘s a gate. The Gate to Druz."
Captain K was suddenly behind me. He squeezed my shoulder and spoke into my ear.
"Are you sure?"
"Sure as a pig‘s ass is pork." I looked around the rest of the Great Hall and knew why it was called the Hall of Leave-taking. I found several more hidden gates. Pointed with rising alarm. "These are all gates---to Earth, Dursvana, Elysian, to Sythia, to Mafuthyn." I named places I knew had been lost to the Celene memory for many lifetimes but beckoned me with a force almost beyond my resistance.
"Don‘t say anything to anyone," I spoke out of the corner of my mouth and received astonished stares from the Celene natives. "I don‘t know if I can open them," I explained "Or if it‘s even safe to try.
"How do you think it will activate?" Murphy asked studying the Arch and the Colonnade.
I pulled the two of them by the arms and headed into the crowds, away from the center floor and into a small alcove where no one could approach or overhear us.
"They resonate in my head, Murph," I replied. "It‘s as if they are a box tied with a string.
Pull the loose ends and the whole thing unravels and opens."
"What powers these gates?"
"The power of Chaos and Entropy," I said. "The opposite of what powers the Tree and the Seillach coin. I‘m not bound by it to the Colonel‘s notice." I frowned. "At least, I don‘t think so. Damn, I‘m still hungry." I turned on my heel and went back out to the buffet with single-minded focus. I heard Murphy tell Zip that when food was my subject, all else took a back seat and paled in comparison.