Alchemist (38 page)

“You were looking
at me the same way you do when one of your experiments does
something interesting.” She observed.

He held up a hand
in supplication. “I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.”

Terry’s smile
broadened. “So what have you two been up to?”

Connor shook his
head. “Not a lot. Me and Faye tried going out for a walk earlier
but everyone kept staring at us. I forgot what it was like being
treated like a hero.”

Rufus nodded in
understanding. “Yes, you don’t miss the stares do you?”

“That’s why I
moved to Earth.”

Terry and Rufus
started laughing, while Connor quietly smirked. Their drinks
arrived and the waiter gave the princess a dip of the head before
slinking away without word.

Nodding in
direction of the waiter’s retreating back she said, “Me too.”

After the laughter
subsided, Connor looked at her and asked, “So what are you going to
do now? Are you coming back to Earth or are you staying here?”

Any humour that
remained in her dried up there and then. She suddenly felt awkward.
It was the decision she had deliberately put off for so long. She
knew her father expected her to stay even though he had never asked
the question; and even though her mind was made, she still felt
nervous telling her oldest friend when asked. Her fingers wrapped
around the flagon of ale before her. “I’m staying.”

Connor gave an
understanding nod but she could see the sadness in his eyes. “I
kind of expected you would.” He said, forcing a smile.

“I’m sorry but
it’s what I want.”

He laughed. “You
make it sound like I’m mad at you. I’m not. I’ve always expected
this would happen one day.”

Terry smiled but
it was fleeting. “What about you? I take it you’re going home.”

“Yeah...” he shook
his head, “This isn’t my home anymore. It hasn’t been for a very
long time...and there’s Jo.”

“What about Faye?
As she decided what she’s doing?”

Connor sighed, his
expression grim. “She said something about returning to Stormfront.
She told me her parents live there now.” He gazed at his drink
sombrely. “It’s half a world away but I can’t say I blame her...not
with everything that’s happened.” He looked back to his old friend.
“I think she just wants to be with her family just now.”

Terry nodded,
understandingly. “I can’t say I blame here.” But Terry knew there
was another reason, though she did not give voice to it. “It’s
going to be weird, you living on Earth and me living here? I’ll
never get to see you.”

“
I don’t
think this is as such a big deal as you believe it is. Your uncle
has the transportation device. Earth is only ever a step over the
other side. If you want to visit, it is easily enough arranged.”
Rufus said.

She shook her
head. “It’s not that Rufus, coming back here is such a huge change.
Back on Earth I was just like everyone else. I had a job, I had
bills to pay. Here I’m a princess again.” She shrugged. “Do not get
me wrong, I am so glad to be home but...maybe my dad’s right, maybe
I have spent too many years living with the humans.” She stared
into her drink. “I think I’m going to miss it...as strange as that
sounds.”

This struck a
chord with Rufus, she could tell. “It is not strange, not at all. I
know exactly what you mean.” He sipped his ale.

Terry looked at
Connor. “When are you going home?”

“I’m hoping
tomorrow but Lyle is being funny about me staying a bit
longer.”

“
If you
really want to go back tomorrow I can make sure it
happens.”

He smiled.
“Thanks. I don’t know yet, I’m not sure about it. I really want to
see Jo but your uncle is desperate for me to stay for the ceremony
on Friday.”

Terry raised an
eyebrow. “What ceremony?”

Connor stared at
her, his mouth full of ale. He suddenly remembered to swallow and
he and Rufus exchanged surprised looks. “You don’t know?” he
asked.

“Know what?”

Connor shifted in
his seat, suddenly appearing very sheepish. “I don’t really think I
should say...”

Her eyes narrowed,
her frustration ebbing. “Tell me.”

He hesitated,
looking to Rufus for help but the Acara found himself also
abandoned by words.

“What ceremony
Connor?”

“You’re
re-inauguration ceremony as heir.” He finally confessed, staring
down at his drink.

Terry slumped
back, turning pale. She looked as if she had been hit over the head
and left dazed. Her brow burrowed and she sat-up. “Why would my dad
put on a ceremony and not tell me?”

Connor shrugged
and Rufus shook his head. They both muttered that they didn’t
know.

“It doesn’t make
any sense! He’s already reinstated me, everyone knows that. Why do
I need a bloody ceremony?”

Connor fumbled his
flagon, searching the dark, frothy drink for an answer. “Maybe he’s
doing it because my country has ended your exile?”

Terry shook her
head. “Dad doesn’t care what they think, he never has. He told me
that he only went to Marrich to negotiate because I wanted to avoid
a war.”

Connor shrugged.
“Look, I don’t know, I really don’t.”

“Maybe he did not
say anything because he was worried about how you would react.”
Rufus suggested. Connor looked away to the bar, unprepared to back
the Acara up.

Terry’s eyes
narrowed. “What do you mean?”

“Well how are you
behaving now? We all know you hate court and fancy ceremonies. He
might have been waiting for the best moment to tell you which may
not have arrived yet.”

Terry seemed to
settle at his words. She looked away for a moment. “I’m sorry, I’m
not angry about the ceremony, I’m just annoyed because he didn’t
tell me. He had all of last night and all of today.” A look of
defeat crossed her face and she slumped back into her seat. “Why is
it no one tells me anything? I’m first in line to the throne, I
live with twenty million people and yet no one tells me anything!”
She laughed slightly. “It’s bloody stupid!”

Connor smiled. “I
know, it is a bit daft.”

Rufus sat down his
flagon. “It could be worse. You know he would have told you
eventually.”

Her smile
broadened. “I know he would have. But still, it is nice to kept in
the loop.” She looked again at Connor. “I don’t why you’re
laughing! You’re definitely staying now if this is going
ahead.”

He shrugged,
unfazed by the threat. “There’s nothing stopping me from using the
portal to fetch Jo and bring her back to watch as well.”

Now Terry and
Rufus burst out laughing.

Connor frowned.
“What?”

“Nothing Connor,
you do that and see how much she screams when she finds herself
surrounded by Alchemists. She’s only ever met two and now you want
her to meet the entire colony!”

He looked stung.
“That’s why I wanted to go see her tomorrow. That way I’ll have
time to speak to her and if she decides to come back with me then,
we’ll have a couple of days for her to have a look around and meet
everyone.”

Terry continued to
laugh. “You think she’d be fine in just four days? You’re sure she
won’t scream the Grand Hall down when she sees everyone there?”

“You don’t even
know if she’s coming yet! And if she doesn’t, neither am I!” He
decided, folding his arms.

“Ok then.” She
giggled, unbothered by the threat. She lifted her flagon and
shrugged. “Dad doesn’t like humans anyway so you’d be doing him a
favour.”

“Alright,
alright!” he quietened down. “In all seriousness though can I
please go home tomorrow?”

Terry forced down
a laugh. The joke had ended. “Yes, of course you can.” She replied
in a respectably tone. “And if you want her to come, you know she
is more than welcome, as are you.”

“Thank you. How
would we let you know if we wanted to come through though? We don’t
have a machine.”

“We’ll arrange a
time for opening it on this end and you can come through and tell
us what’s happening either way.”

Connor sat his
flagon down. “Aye, ok then. Just as long as I don’t walk through
and end up in the middle of nowhere.”

“I’m sure Rufus
and Lyle know what they’re doing.”

“I think I shall
pop back too and return in a couple of days as well. I have not had
the chance to go home properly yet.” His expression soured.
“Unfortunately my house has become rather dusty since I have been
away. I have some cleaning and a lot of mail to open. No doubt many
of them will be bills.”

Connor nudged him.
“You might as well stay here then.”

Terry shook her
head. “No, they’ll find him, especially if it’s Inland
Revenue.”

The three of them
started laughing again, adding to the roar of the revellers. They
drank long into the night.

******

The oak doors to
Fallo’s chambers creaked as Terry pushed against them. To her
surprise the lanterns still burned bright. She had thought at this
late hour her father would have retired to bed. Pushing the door
shut behind her she crossed to the brazier in the heart of the
cave. Giant archways leading to other chambers came into view as
she crossed to the low burning embers. She glanced through them as
best she could but there was no sign of her father.

“Dad?” she called,
her eyes scanning the vaulted ceiling in case he had taken to
sleeping up there in his primeval form. Her kind were excellent
climbers and the ceiling was as easy a bed as the ground. But there
was no sign of him from on high.

She spun around
looking in every direction for a hint of movement. “Dad?” she
called again. One of the tall archways rounded a corner before
emptying out into a full size cave again; her father’s library.
Sometimes he enjoyed a late read. Heading toward the archway, she
called out to her father again.

As she rounded the
corner in the tunnel her father came into view. He sat with his
back to her, in one of his high-backed, wooden chairs. For a moment
she thought he may have fallen asleep reading. But why had he not
heard her when she called? As she drew closer she could see his
slumped limbs hanging over the arms and the base of the chair. A
stab of panic shot through her and she ran to him. “Dad!” she
shouted, rounding the chair.

She sighed with
relief when he looked up at her. “Why didn’t you...” something was
wrong. Fallo remained motionless despite his eyes finding hers. “Oh
my god...” She knelt down next to him and grabbed his hand. “Dad
what’s wrong? What’s happened to you?”

His eyes flicked
passed her.

Terry spun,
bringing her right arm up in an arc as she went. Metal clanged as
her armour met a downward sweeping blade. With a hard shove, she
forced her assailant away.

Ninu staggered
back, her two forearm plates sliding back into their place of
rest.

Terry lowered her
arm – her armour fully fledged now. Her brow furrowed. “Ninu? What
are you doing?” she asked, troubled.

Her cousin stared
at her but said nothing; her face an unreadable mask. She began
stepping slowly to her right. Every instinct in Terry fired,
telling her that she was circling to attack. If any doubt remained
in her mind it was expelled when she caught the flicker in her
cousin’s eyes. But Terry held her position. Her gaze narrowed.
“What have you done?”

Ninu stopped her
advance but angled herself into an offensive stance. She nodded
passed Terry. “I was just speaking to your father about making me
his heir.”

Terry’s eyes
narrowed. “We’ve been through this. You can’t be his heir, you are
not his child.”

Her
expression turned dark. “I know
that
.” She spat bluntly. “But I found out there
was a way. People with that one genetic code that can make them
like you and your dad. I found out that it’s dormant in some
people.” Her eyes flashed. “But I know that you can turn it
on.”

Terry rolled her
eyes. Of all the secrets she guarded the one Ninu had spoken was
one of the most sacred. Terry had never spoken of it to anyone. The
only two people she knew who had knowledge of the process were her
father and Uncle Lyle.

“Who told you
that?”

Ninu’s lips
pressed into a dark smile. “My father, he mentioned it at dinner
last night.”

Terry shrugged.
“So what? You decided to come here and poison my dad and force him
to inject you or something?”

Her eyes
flickered with lust. Lust for power. “No, not him.” They narrowed.
“
You
. He can’t inject me when
he’s paralysed can he? I knew the only way to get you to do it
would be by threatening to kill him.”

Terry’s heard her
father’s nails dig into the arms of his chair. He might have been
immobilised but she knew inside he was seething. And she knew he
wanted to kill her.

The princess
turned her attention back to Ninu. “That was your plan? I have to
be honest it’s a bit crap.”

The armour on
Ninu’s arm rippled into liquid metal, transforming into a long,
arching, death blade. “We’re going to fight and you won’t always be
able to protect him.”

“More like we’re
going to fight and you’re going lose again.”

Her smirk
broadened. “We’ll see.”

Terry shook her
head. “Don’t make me have to kill you. It wouldn’t work anyway, the
injection. It would only work on certain family members. You’re
adopted.”

Ninu swung
her arm back and lunged. But Terry was faster and swung hers upward
in a diagonal sweep. A shower of metal blades ejected along the
length of her arm. The six inch slivers struck home, piercing into
her face, an eye and the gaps between armour. Ninu let out a feral
cry. In an instant Terry was on her. Ninu swung at her with her
other arm which Terry caught with no effort. With a
sickening
crack
she broke it.
Terry winced as another agonising cry escaped her cousin’s mouth,
but it did not deter the princess from her grisly work. Grabbing
her other arm, she twisted that too, breaking Ninu’s wrist. As she
screamed and flailed, Terry caught her swinging broken arm
mid-flight and punched Ninu under the jaw with a gauntleted hand.
The bone gave way to her fist and blood flew from her mouth. Terry
punched her again, this time on the bridge of her nose, bursting it
open. She let go of her cousin as the hit landed, allowing her to
fall backward under the momentum her clenched fist had delivered.
Now on the floor and screaming through her bloodied and ruined
face, Terry kicked her over onto her front with a foot. There was
no care in the move. No love for the traitor. Terry rested her foot
on the back of Ninu’s knee and closed her toes like a vice. Ninu
stiffened, her howls ringing from the heights of the vaulted
library as her leg snapped. A swift kick to the head finally
silenced her.