fandomania | The Adventure continues...

Please click and view our eggs and hatchingling. I do the same for you. Thanks.

Our eggs:

Our hatchlings:

“$%^&*" cursed Tru. “Are you positive? I cannot believe that she would become involved with someone as evil as Count Torfen.”

“I cannot say for absolute certain. I have not done this often enough to say for sure.. I hope for her sake that I am wrong. That is why I didn't mention it to the men. I didn't want to get her into trouble if I was wrong.”

Tru sighed. “There is nothing we can do right now. If she is involved and she is caught, she will have to pay for her sins. If she isn't caught, I will send her back to Shiangkau whether she wants to go or not. If she is innocent, I will send her back to Shiangkau anyway. I feel somewhat responsible because I brought her here, but she is an adult. She is, ultimately, responsible for her own actions.”

I could tell Tru was very conflicted about Su Wei. I didn't know what words would help him. I just put my arms around him and held him, silently letting him know that I supported him and was there for him.

Tru got up and then helped me up. “Come, let us go to bed. We will find out how things have gone in the morning and can plan better then.”

I managed to get some sleep that night, but looking at Tru in the morning, I don't think that he did. When I woke up in the morning, Tru was already out of bed and working in his office. From the tiredness on his face, I could tell that he had been sleepless.

“Dearest! What are you doing up so early?” Tru inquired. “We had such a late night last night. You need your rest.”

“Tell that to the baby,” I remarked. “He has been active for the past hour and pressing so on my bladder. I had to get up, no matter how much I wanted to stay in bed.”

Tru took me in his arms and then placed his hands on my belly. “Yes. The baby does seem very active. I can feel ... him? You are sure it will be a boy?”

I nodded. “Pretty sure. I could be wrong, but I doubt that I am. If I am right, I would like to name him Donal. If I am wrong, then I would like to name her Helene.”

“Both are fine names... Anyway, I am about to send a messenger to Haral to find out what he has heard about last night. Captain Quinton will be going soon to visit friends who are city constables, hopefully to hear what happened last night. I don't sitting here not knowing what happened. But I cannot seem too interested, or they might wonder why.”

Several hours later, Tru's messenger returned in the company of Haral.

I had just started my lesson with Orlando in the sitting room of our suite, when Haral walked in with Tru.

“Good morning, my dear sister,” greeted Haral. “You are looking well rested, considering all the things that went on last night.”

“Thank you, Haral! You flatter me.” I retorted. “Have you heard anything about what happened last night?”

“Yes, some,” he replied. “I was summoned by his Majesty last night, to help him pray for his son.” Haral sighed. “His Majesty is in quite a state of denial over Torfen. I wish I could make him see that not recognizing the problem could be fatal to him and to the state of the country. My priests have been hearing talk about rebellion if he doesn't stop protecting Torfen and start protecting the innocent, young girls. Everyone on his Council have been telling him the same thing but he won't listen. He doesn't believe that anyone would actually rebel against their king.

“Anyway, as I said, I was with his Majesty when the Captain of the City Guards and the Captain General of the Royal Army came to report about the incident last night. The City Guards managed to find the spot you told them about, but Torfen and several of his women had already left. It was a majority of his cult who were either killed or arrested when the Guards rescued the two girls.”

“The girls were found alive? That is such good news.” I replied.

“Well yes and no,” continued Haral. “They both are alive, but they both were raped numerous times. The one girl, Sasha, has many wounds as well as mental scars to overcome. The second girl, Albra, was rescued before they started to cut her, as they did Sasha. But she will also have mental scars to overcome.

“I don't know if the Mayor told you this, but Albra is his granddaughter. It is ironic that he should become so fast acting over this matter when his own flesh and blood is involved. The previous incident could have ended better, if he had not procrastinated so much. But that is politics and politicians for you.

“I have to commend you, my dear Patra, on your willingness to help. I know how much doing magic weakens you. You are a credit to this family and to the world. Not many would make the sacrifice as you did.”

“Thank you, Haral, but I could not have refused. Not when children's lives were at stake.”

“Now, there is a huge manhunt out for Torfen and the rest of his cult. The populace suspect that the reason that no one finds him is because the king is protecting him, that the Royal Army is only searching for him enough to make it seem as if they are trying. I don't think that is so. I thing General Toma is really trying, but with few leads, he has little chance of succeeding.”

In thinking about Torfen, I suddenly had a vision of him. I was in the back room of an inn. It didn't seem to be a nice in. It was very run down. He was with several men and they were having sex with Su Wei. Each was using her using a different orifice. She didn't seem to be held against her will, but rather, she seemed to be enjoying herself completely and encouraging them to continue what they were doing.

When the vision ended, I blinked and started to realize that all the men were staring at me.

“You had another vision, didn't you?” asked Orlando, looking perplexed.

“Yes,” I replied. I then went on to describe what I saw.

Tru cursed, and said, “I don't understand her. I just don't understand her.”

Haral looked thoughtful. “Before you had these visions when you asked you asked your crown to help you. Just now you did this without it. I am amazed. How did you do this?”

“I don't know.”

Orlando looked serious. “It is almost as if your crown is not just a tool to give you power, but also a teaching tool to help you learn. There is almost nothing in any texts, scrolls or histories about your crown and how or who created it. Anything is possible.”

“But rather than just sitting here and chattering,” Tru said angrily, “we should be going out and trying to find this inn and capturing Torfen.”

“Yes, brother, you are correct,” replied Haral. “I will go and inform the City Guards. It will help them direct their search.”

“I am going to go to the house where Su Wei has been living and seeing what her maids have to say.”

“Tru! You shouldn't go alone!” I cried.

“My dearest girl, I don't plan to. I will take Izshaq, if you don't mind. And Captain Quinton and several guards. Izshaq and I are probably the only two people in Alfaria who can defeat her in a fight. Together, we will make sure that she cannot win. If I am able to, I will have her smuggled out of the country and back to Shiangkau, even though she deserves to pay for her bad judgment. I don't want to be, or the family to be, connected to her in any way. That could lead to some very ugly difficulties.”

With that, Tru came over to me and kissed me goodbye. Minutes later, both brothers and the others left the compound to go on their separate missions.