Ashes of the Realm: Book 04 - The Return of the Realm (23 page)

• • •

The pride leader had sprinted more than forty miles toward the glow on the horizon. The small two legged creatures had returned to his domain and he felt an equal measure of anger and fear. He knew he could die this night but was left no choice but to defend his territory. Failing to do so would lead to him being replaced by the pride. The thousand warriors following him felt his emotions and worried. They were too young to remember the burning of the scouts, but they had heard the legends. The burning beings had come back. The bright fire growing in size in front of them was done by one of them. Ordinarily they feared no creature, but the leader was fearful. His bravery was without question and if he was worried…they felt it as well.

The thousand cats arrived and joined the six hundred waiting for them. They spread out and moved into the forest toward the clearing. They would have it surrounded in just a few more moments. The Northern Mountain Cats were longer than two hundred feet but they moved through the forest silently and arrived just outside the clearing.

• • •

Trey stood up and faced the forest. The approaching line of cats froze and stopped their advance. Trey looked directly at the place where the Pride Leader was standing in the brush and thought, “You and your warriors will die if you come any closer and I really don’t want to see that happen.”

Trey extended his arm toward a Giant Ging Tree more than two hundred yards away that was sloping slightly down the hill. He fired an intense white beam and the giant tree was cut eight feet off the ground and the eight hundred foot tall tree crashed down into the clearing.

“I can use this weapon to burn every one of you faster than you can move. Do you understand?”

The pride leader watched the beam cut the Giant Ging and saw that it burned through the trunk with no resistance. He did not doubt the creature could probably do what he said but he could not allow this invasion. He looked at his warriors and saw so many of his kittens and family members waiting for his orders. He struggled with what to do. Then he heard the being say something that stopped him in his tracks.

“I am here to bring you a gift. I’ve been brought here to help you achieve your destiny and now is the time for you to become what you are created to be.”

The Leaders rudimentary intelligence understood the message but couldn’t grasp it. The Leader looked at his senior warriors and they were also confused. He looked back at the two beings and saw the hide they were wearing disappear. Before he could think about what that meant, he saw the two beings grab each other as a blue flash rushed out and enveloped him. Every cat on the entire planet fell to the ground unconscious.

Cassie remained in Trey’s arms and saw the Cats lying on the ground. “What just happened?”

“Something remarkable, my love; give them a moment.”

The pride leader felt consciousness return and after several tries, stumbled to his feet. He looked around and saw his warriors struggling to stand and looked at the two small creatures in the clearing. It wondered what happened.

“You have been released. Your minds are now clear and your intelligence has been increased as a result of the barriers being removed.”

The pride leader heard the thought and understood it. He looked around and could hear the thoughts of his warriors clearly. He looked back at the small being and said, “I’m not sure what you’re trying to communicate.”

“You are a creature made by the Creative Force that made all life. You are a special species and have a role in our destiny. Your minds have been deliberately stunted and your intelligence limited. You and your families needed to be released, so that your minds could reach their full capabilities. You are now telepathic and can communicate with your thoughts; you will learn how to use this gift in time.”

“Why did you do this?”

“I didn’t know I had come here for this purpose until I arrived. I was drawn here without knowing why. However, I will be leaving in a moment but I will return to discuss this with you at a later time.”

The pride leader stared at the two small beings and they disappeared. He looked at his advisors and one of them said, “They have a way to move through space.”

The huge cat looked up at the stars and heard music. The other cats around the planet all looked up together at the sky and heard the message. They slowly lowered their bodies to the ground and began purring. Even the young kittens understood what was being said.

T
he Juliette Robbins arrived in Earths solar system and Cassandra contacted the President of the Central Government. “Good Morning, Madam President.”

“Good morning, Cassandra, what brings you here?”

“I have a couple of tourists that want to visit for a few days. I wanted to clear it through you before I send them down in a shuttle.”

“Do I need to provide security?”

“Please put this on a private channel?”

President Karen Coronado leaned over and looked back at her display, “Our conversation is now private.”

“I have two members of the Royal Family that desire to visit without being announced. They will not be recognized but this is an unofficial visit and I would appreciate you not letting the word get out they’re here.”

“Anyone I know, Cassandra?”

“Probably, but can you help us with this?”

Karen smiled at the display and said, “Where would they like to land?”

“They’ll be arriving in a small speeder and will come in over Central City’s space port. They’ll probably land somewhere in the city after they pass the control tower.”

Karen looked over and then said, “Set their transponder to the code I just sent you. The Port will sign them in as they pass. What name will they be using?”

“Anglo Ashford.”

Karen smiled again and said, “Done. Tell them I hope they enjoy their visit.”

“Will do.”

Cassandra looked at Tag and Danielle and shook her head, “I don’t know how anyone will recognize you. With that dirty blonde hair with black roots and those yellow stained teeth, you certainly won’t be taken for the Queen.”

Danielle laughed, “I’ve done this before.”

“Tag, that fake belly is amazing. With your short hair, and beard stubble, you should also be fine.”

“Like she said, we’ve had practice.”

“Well, good luck. Do you need us to come back for you?”

“No, the speeder has teleportation capability. We’ll just leave from here. Where are you going?”

Cassandra got a far-away-look and said, “Back to the past.”

Danielle smiled, “So are we. Good luck to you as well.”

Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Tag and Danielle teleported to the landing bay and boarded the speeder. They moved out and the Juliette Robbins disappeared.

• • •

Tag and Danielle looked down on Mars and the vast settlements. Earth had been moved to another solar system during the war with the Captors, but the last request of Misty Nicole had been to move it back to its original solar system. The realm had even been able to find a moon in another galaxy that was almost a twin of the one that had been destroyed. Misty had said, “We just don’t feel right without the planets we know. We want to go home.”

Danielle said, “Misty was a remarkable woman.”

Tag smiled, “Indeed she was. Where do you want to go first?”

“Central City; let’s see if where I met you is still there.”

Tag slowly shook his head, “That was thousands of years ago. It’s probably long gone.”

“It won’t hurt to see.”

Tag shrugged and teleported in to the planet. As they entered the atmosphere Tag said, “How long has it been since we came here?”

“More than several thousand years; why do you ask?”

“Central City doesn’t appear to have grown much from when we lived here.”

Danielle nodded, “With literally billions of planets available to colonize, population pressures disappeared after the Eight Legs Invasion. When you couple it with the desire of most planets to have humans as part of their populations, I don’t find it surprising at all.”

Tag nodded, “You’re probably right. Ok, we’ve flown by the Space Port and had our transponder registered. The school is about four minutes away. Hold on.”

The speeder dropped out of the traffic lanes and moved toward the four thousand feet tall buildings below. It came over the top of a long row of the high rises and Tag saw a patch of green in the middle of the giant structures. “Tag focused on the ground and saw a small building in the middle of a green park with trees and sidewalks running through it. He looked at Danielle and said, “According to my board, that is the former sight of our high school.”

“Take us down.”

Tag brought the speeder in and they were both shocked. The building in the middle of the park was the same building where they went to school. Tag landed on the street and saw a line of security agents more than three hundred yards away surrounding the school. They stepped out of the speeder and a young man walked up with a device in his hand, “I see that you have the approved transponder for today. Please follow me, Mr. and Mrs. Ashford, and I’ll open the building for you.”

Tag looked at Danielle and shrugged. They followed the man across the grounds and he used a key to unlock the side door to the school. Tag looked and saw the bushes he had hid behind so long ago. Danielle looked at the young man and he said, “After you came and took Tommy and Wes, this site was named a historical monument. It has been maintained in its original state and is the most visited place on Earth. President Coronado thought that you might come here so she ordered all visitations stopped to clean the facility and to restore some of the area that’s showing wear. There’s really nothing wrong with the building but she assumed you wanted some privacy. If I can be of any further service, I’ll be waiting by my vehicle.”

Tag said, “What is your name?”

The young man smiled and took off his hat revealing his bright red hair, “Eric McAnn. One of my distant relatives was a close friend of yours, Your Grace.”

Tag went over and gave the young man a hug, “He would be very proud of you. I miss him every day.”

The young man hugged him back and said, “Thank you. He wrote a lot about the relationship you and he had. He loved you a lot.”

Danielle took Tag’s hand and they stepped through the side door and went thousands of years into the past.

• • •

Tag said as they entered, “Notice how the door opens inward; when the inspector arrived to investigate the theft of Leila’s test I hid behind this door and threw a rock at that locker to distract him and escape.

As they walked down the hall Danielle said, “This is the room where you were interrogated by the truth field. We were sitting in those two chairs when I asked you to take me out. Remember?”

Tag smiled, “Like it was yesterday. This is the classroom of Bert Graham where I stole the test.” They walked down the hall and entered the lunchroom. They looked at each other and without saying a word walked across the room and sat down at a table near the far wall. Tag put his arm around Danielle and she snuggled close to him. “Eric asked me out first.”

“Yes, but he didn’t get you to go.”

“No, he didn’t. After shaking your hand, I had eyes for only you my love. I can still feel the shock after all these centuries.”

They sat there in silence and held each other for an hour. Finally Tag said, “This is why we’re fighting.”

“So that others can find the love we were given.”

Tag nodded, “I miss all those that are no longer here but I know in my heart that we have lived this long to struggle for peace.”

“You’re right. I’ve seen enough. Let’s go home.”

As they walked toward the exit Tag looked up and laughed out loud.

“What’s so funny?”

“That guy, Bill Clinton; you know; the one with the funny hair. His picture is still here.”

Danielle shook her head, “The more things change…”

“That’s the truth.”

“Seeing it is what I’m good at.”

“You are the best!”

Just before they opened the door to leave Danielle put her arms around Tag’s neck and kissed him. She felt it all the way down to her toes. Tag held the kiss for a long moment and said, “We need to hurry and get home.”

Danielle laughed as they left the building.

“Did you enjoy your visit?”

“Yes, we did Eric. Thank President Coronado for us; we’re leaving now.”

“I hope you don’t mind that we recorded you entering the building. The people of Earth never get to see you and that recording will brighten their day.”

Danielle stared at Eric, looked at Tag, then turned and said, “Follow me.” She took Tag’s hand and pulled him to the speeder. She put some clear liquid in her mouth and gargled. The yellow stains disappeared from her teeth. He pulled a device from the speeder and pointed at her hair and the dye disintegrated. Tag took off the false stomach and put it in the speeder.

“What are you doing?”

“You’ll see.”

Tag and Danielle walked up to the line of security agents and saw a large crowd gathered. There had to be more than a thousand people and half of them were school age children. Danielle walked up to the major in charge of the agents and said, “Major, please allow these people through your line.”

The Major looked at Eric and he smiled and then nodded. Eric yelled, “Those of you who are here with passes to visit the memorial and had your trip canceled, please step through the line.”

The visitors that were gathered taking pictures of the building from a distance looked at each other and began walking forward. Eric got on his com and said, “We need back up. Now!”

As the people walked through the line of security agents, they looked up and saw a thousand troop carriers arrive overhead and armored warriors began dropping around the school. One of the children started crying and Danielle rushed up and picked the little girl up. The crowd looked at her and it took a few moments before they recognized the most famous face in the universe. Danielle looked out at the crowd and said in a loud voice, “My husband and I are going to take you on a tour of the school where we first met. We are going to share our memories with you and we truly hope to make this visit memorable.”