Chapter 73

When the Coellum soldiers encountered Princess Lillian maneuvering the Merlain streets with thre strangers, she was quickly separated and protected from them.  Her skin was a pale yellow and her hair was a frizz.  Had it not been for the strong resemblance her eyes, cheeks, and jawline had with her father, she might have been overlooked.

Lillian was given the best medical care possible given what a wartime outpost clinic could offer.  Left to her own, it would have taken a many days and careful attention for her to regain the strength and glow that would make her immediately recognizable throughout the seven realms.  However, under the careful scrutiny of trained medics and intentional medication, she was turning back into her old self much quicker.

By the time Commander Talon Voss came by to check on his royal, Lillian was sitting upright, holding down food, and learning what she could about the army’s progress.

“It’s good to see you again, Your Royal Highness,” Voss bowed as Lillian made eye contact with him.  His formidable frame and the cramped recovery room made the bow look more dangerous than it should have.  “I’m afraid that when we raided the prison and termination center and found you missing, I feared the worst.”

Lillian smiled at her field commander, “Yes, Commander, I would imagine that was quite a shock, but as you see, I was well taken care of.  Also, please give my appreciation to whoever is in charge of my care.  I’ve not felt this good in an age.”

“May it stay that way forever, my Princess,” Voss bowed again.

“Yes, well, now that the niceties are out of the way, where are my companions?  Are they being well taken care of, too?”

Voss smiled and, with a motion, asked if he could have a seat.  Lillian gestured to the chair, and as Voss sat, he relaxed much of his formality.  “You’ve always had a habit of picking up strays, haven’t you?”

Lillian’s forehead wrinkled. “I don’t,” she scolded.

“Yes.  I forgot.  It wasn’t you who brought so many animals to the palace that the King had to designate land as a sanctuary for them.  It wasn’t you who always had some new friend from school over for dinner or on long family trips.  It isn’t you that everyone you meet believes that you are their finest companion.”

“I don’t remember you complaining at the time.”

“I don’t remember being given the chance.”

“Do you wish I hadn’t introduced you to your wife?”

“All I’m saying is, you have a habit of picking strays.”

“Hmm,” Lillian considered, “I’ll make sure to tell Auriea you think she’s a stray.”

“I’ll not have you making mischief in my marriage,” Voss closed his eyes, took in a long breath, and then gave Lillian a caring look.  “You’ve given Dad quite the scare.”

“Yes,” she said with a hint of regret, “but I had to.”

“You couldn’t leave the fighting to me, you mean.”

“Don’t start.  It’s not like I didn’t ask permission.”

“So, what happened?”

Lillian laughed, “There’s so much.”

“And it appears I have time.”

Lillian told her story from the beginning, from when she left the royal palace’s comfort and joined the elite spy brigade to when she’d been found on Merlain.  “I could see the writing on the wall,” she said, “Dol was mad at Dad and had already taken over four other realms.  It seemed only a matter of time that we would fall, too, under the weight of it all, so I had to join.  It was all fine until we came across the code for the Processing Unit.”  She told of how Saw Yatha had captured her ship, threatened her ship, and taken her into custody before killing everyone else aboard.

“Yes,” Voss said.  “We knew you weren’t dead, but we couldn’t track you.”

“Saw Yatha is more clever than we gave him credit for.  But not too clever,” she flashed her eyebrows and told Voss of her first escape from the Merlain prison, her flight into a different dimension, how Saw had recaptured her before she escaped into the pocket of a youth named Monterey Jack Danvers.”

“How’d you accomplish that?”

Lillian flashed her eyebrows again.

“The orb trick?”

Lillian smiled.

“No wonder your health is so bad,” Voss shook his head.

“I was careful,” Lillian said.

“Clearly,” Voss said, shaking his head.

“You’d have done the same.”

“No.  I don’t use party tricks to fight battles.”

Lillian shrugged.  “It was fun.”

Voss rolled his eyes.  “It depletes you.”

She continued telling her brother about Monterey and Lucy, being picked up by criminals who almost sold her back to Saw.  “They were told I was some exotic gem that would make them wildly rich,” she said.  Then, she detailed how she eventually ended up in the possession of Evan Gold.

“You would like him.  He was so loyal.  I think he would have sacrificed everything to protect me from Yatha.  But Saw shot his wife, Katherine.  I realized my adventuring was causing more harm than good, so I gave myself up.”

Voss nodded.  He thought for a long moment before asking, “So, how did the Gold’s end up here?”

“Like I said, there’s a lot.”

“I’ve never known you to lie.”

Lillian told of Amnon Saxe and his dream of returning Merlain to its past freedoms and how she’d convinced him to contact Evan through the fetterseal.

“That worked?” Vos asked.

“It must have,” Lillian shrugged.  “So, Amnon, the Golds, and Amnon’s friends worked to free me.  I showed Evan how to use the code to bring down the Processing Unit so our army could break through.  Unfortunately, Amnon and an honorable and very courageous lady named Keetha died in the effort.  All that happened as our troops started to land.  We’ve been running for our lives ever since.”

Voss sat back and contemplated all that his sister had told him.  He rubbed his chin.  “So, those three are good guys?”

“The best.”

“Even the Merlain?”

“Drex?  He is as much a part of the resistance as anyone.  It was because of him we survived as long as we did on the run.”

Voss stood and raked his fingers through his hair.  “What’s the matter?” Lillian asked.

“I have three strangers, each with Merlain markings on their body who had you, the Princess, under their custody for, how long?  A while…”

“I would say care instead of custody.”

“You seem in your right mind.”

“I am,” Lillian said.

Voss paced some more.

“Are you worried that I’m compromised?  That in my weakened state, they gained my trust and loyalty?  And if left unpunished, they will become the germ of a rise of a new Zungher Dol?”

“The thought had crossed my mind.”

Lillian stood and took her brother’s hand.  “I will ignore that you think my mind might not be clear-” Voss began to speak, but Lillian continued, “I will ignore that and say this: You can’t control the future.  If another Dol rises, we deal with that then.  I believe the Golds want to return to their home, so that’s easy enough.  I don’t know what Drex wants, so we can ask, but I seriously doubt it’s a future in politics.  Regardless, these are my strays, and I won’t let you mistreat them.”

Voss looked into the face of his sister and nodded.  “I don’t like it, but I trust you.”  Just then, a breathless soldier stepped into Lillain’s recovery area.  He made a curt bow of his head.

“Your Highness.  Commander.”

“What is it?” Voss barked.

“One of the prisoners has asked for you.”

“Which one?”

“The woman, sir.”

“What does she want?” Voss said, turning to the soldier.

“She says she has knowledge of Saw Yatha for you.”

Voss turned back to his sister.  “She knows something you didn’t tell me?”

Lillian shrugged.

“Let’s hope she’s as honorable as you’ve painted her.”  Voss turned to the soldier.  “The Princess and I will be there shortly.”

The soldier clicked his heels together as he bowed again before running out of the room.

“Your strays have always given me headaches,” Voss said as he offered his arm to Lillian.

“And I have never made fun of your weaknesses,” Lillian winked at her brother.

“It’s so good to have you back.”

“It is, isn’t it?”  Lillian said as the siblings stepped out of the recovery room.