Ashes of the Realm: Book 04 - The Return of the Realm (7 page)

Valerie turned to Danielle and saw her with an expression that showed she was sorry for her. Valerie looked at Twig and took a deep breath, “I’ve been such a fool.”

Danielle said, “You made a mistake that anyone can make in your position.”

Twig said, “Just what was that?”

Danielle turned to Twig and said, “She thought that if someone gave an oath, they would keep it.”

Twig showed her shock at the statement. “How dare you…”

“Were you and the Spiders going to leave the Realm if they didn’t choose to join you?”

Twig stopped in midsentence and looked at Jake. Jake said, “They had planned to leave, but I convinced them to wait for us.”

“But they didn’t wait, Jake. They had already moved their galaxy before you met with us. They swore loyalty to the Realm and left without telling us their decision. Don’t think that telling you of their plan after you discovered it is the same thing as telling the Realm. You didn’t tell the Queen what they were doing. They decided to abandon us when we were going to be attacked by millions of the Duke’s Searchers.” Danielle looked at Twig and asked, “I believe that is where you broke your oath and you knew you were doing it when you made that choice. Tell me I’m wrong.”

Twig said, “The Realm had lost its way. It was going to be attacked.”

“Does an oath mean through good times and bad or just when you think it’s good? You left the Realm then and are still acting independent of the Crown now. You are only doing things that help your galaxy.” Danielle stared at Twig and said, “Your last act of betrayal after you left was to destroy all the teleportation boards in the Searchers. If we had not chosen to go with you, would you have still done that?”

“We could not allow weapons we built to be used to kill.”

“Yet you had no problems when we had to fight the Keepers to defend you. It was alright to kill those that were a threat to you, but not when we were threatened.” Danielle paused and said in a hard voice, “But what you didn’t tell us was that it would have also destroyed the drives in the Realm’s ships and all of the devices that allowed travel among the member planets as well. The planets in the Realm would have been isolated from each other and there would have been a catastrophic economic depression following the destruction of the teleportation devices. Many of our member planets would have faced starvation as a result of your actions. There were nowhere near enough ships to transport the food needed by thousands of planets and rebuilding the null drives would have taken a long time and not allow us to save them. You would have forced the Realm into a civil war for survival.”

Jake turned and looked at Twig. She made no motion. “Twig, is that true?”

“It would have been unfortunate, but we would have been forced to do it. You could have eventually rebuilt the null drives.”

Tag said, “So your sense of what was right and wrong overrode the safety of the Realm which you swore to protect. We could kill keepers but not defend ourselves. Your false, sanctimonious behavior is sickening.”

Danielle looked at Twig and asked the most important question, “Did you know Sprig had the buoys destroyed in the old universe?”

Jake and Valerie were shocked at the revelations and quickly looked at Twig. She lowered her branches and said, “No, I did not. He kept that information from me and the shame of what happened as a result of that act killed him. I sensed something was wrong but he never let me see it.”

“Edison, why didn’t you tell her?”

“Sprig made me promise to tell no one.”

“So your promise to him overrode your oath to Matt and the Realm?”

Edison thought a moment and said, “Yes, I guess it did. After the fact I can see how it appears that way.”

“It doesn’t just appear that way. It was that way. You decided that the Algeans were more like you than the Rulers of the Realm. You found it easy to follow their orders. You also broke the oath your leaders made to us.”

Edison lowered himself to the floor in disagreement but Newton said, “You didn’t tell us either. Don’t make it worse by being deceitful. I am ashamed of what you’ve done. Who gave you that authority?”

Edison looked at Newton and raised himself.

Twig looked at Danielle and said, “So where does that leave us now?”

“I’m going to give you what you want.”

“What?”

“I am going to assign all of the Realm’s Ships to defend your two galaxies.”

Edison said, “All of them?”

“Every one of them but the Kosiev; he can make his own decision.”

“What will you use to defend the Realm?”

“Don’t think I don’t notice that you didn’t include yourselves in that question. In return for giving you all our ships, I require that you move this galaxy to the coordinates that I give you.”

Edison said, “And if we don’t agree?”

Danielle turned on the main display and the hundreds of thousands of ships holding station in the outer system appeared. Danielle said, “Those ships are not using teleportation boards built by Algeans. Every one of them is more powerful than a thousand of our Searchers which will not be used to defend you against them. If you don’t agree, I will have them bomb your galaxies into vapor. No planet will survive.” The Spiders and Twig looked at the huge fleet and Danielle sensed their fear. “However, I won’t have to make that threat, will I?”

The Spiders looked at Danielle and then turned to Twig. “You wouldn’t kill all those innocent worlds we moved.”

“They are not members of the Realm. What about the millions of dead worlds you deserted in our old universe, which are now dead? You had no mercy for them or the seven other universes that died. Don’t think for a moment that I don’t hold all of you, including those planets, responsible for that betrayal.

“They were controlled by the Dukes. They were evil.”

“That’s the worst thing you did, Twig. Those worlds were lied to and were never shown the true history of the Realm. We put those provinces in place with your agreement and approval that it was necessary. The Algeans are also responsible for what happened after we made that choice. Before we did that, they were loyal and totally supportive of the Realm. We caused that situation to happen, but we accepted no responsibility for it. We should have gone and destroyed every ship that supported the Dukes and blasted their planets if necessary. We refused to make the hard decisions to protect our citizens. Instead, we chose to run from our responsibility and even refused to keep an eye on them to protect them afterwards. You are to blame for the deaths of all those trillions when you destroyed those buoys. I’ll not have any problem or remorse showing your galaxies what those worlds had to endure because of your treachery.”

Danielle stood and looked at Twig, “Tag fought you in the first war our two species fought. Admiral Dorg put his life on the line for you. What would Dorg say now, after what you’ve done?” Twig lowered her branches to the floor.

Danielle looked around the room and said, “The Realm is dead. You’ve only verified it today, but we will not turn our backs on the worlds in this galaxy we are sworn to protect like we did in our old universe.” Danielle stood and walked forward and stood in front of Twig and the Spiders, “If you do not do as I’ve asked, we will leave no survivors in either of your galaxies. I am not bound to protect those that are not in the Realm. My husband will lead that attack and he will not lose. Do I make myself clear!?!”

Twig looked at Danielle and saw her thoughts. She looked at Tag and saw his anger as well as his hope that she would refuse. “We will move your galaxy.”

“You have two hours to make the move. I will send the Realm’s ships beyond the outer edge of the Milky Way and they will remain to defend you.”

Twig looked at Edison and he said, “Einstein, Newton, will you make it happen?”

Newton looked at Edison then turned to Danielle, “Your Majesty, may I go with you?”

Danielle looked at Newton and smiled, “You never knew, did you?”

“No, but I can see it now.” He looked at Edison and Twig and said, “Such treachery. You shame me after all the Realm did to save us. It was Matt Gardner that saved us from the Demon’s compulsions and you have dishonored our promise to him. You have brought shame to our species. Our oath was to the Realm, not the Algeans!”

Danielle said, “Newton, you are welcome to stay with us.”

Einstein looked at Newton and then Edison. He walked forward and said, “I gave you my oath more than twenty thousand years ago. I still stand by it, Your Majesty. I cannot leave now and betray it.”

Danielle put her hand on the Spider’s head and said, “You may come as well.”

Edison said, “Please don’t leave me.”

Newton turned and said, “We aren’t leaving you. You left us long ago. And just like the Algeans, you didn’t have the decency to tell us. You made decisions that have affected our entire species. You were not given authority to do that. I am ashamed of you. You are no better than the Demons.” Edison lowered to the floor and remained there.

Twig looked at Danielle and said, “You’re leaving because you think the Demons are returning?”

Danielle walked back to the throne and sat down. She smiled and said, “Twig, do you really believe that I can see the truth.” Twig was silent for a long moment and then leaned forward showing she did. “I don’t think they’re coming back; I know they’re coming back. Now you and Edison can leave and make your plans to deal with their arrival.”

Twig looked at Edison, turned back to Danielle, started to say something, and then lowered her branches and disappeared in a silver screen.

Jake looked at Danielle, “I should have never agreed to leaving; should I?”

“You are a product of your youth, Jake.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“You were not greatly upset when you learned of Gambia’s destruction. You said it was a mercy to those that were suffering and you felt joy at the death of the cruel, upper class merchants. You didn’t have a problem with your enemies being killed even if the innocent had to be sacrificed. The Dukes were your upper class. You found it easy to turn your back on them even though our former citizens were going to suffer as a result.”

Jake lowered his head. What Danielle said next was what broke his heart into little pieces, “Even more than the Algeans or Spiders, you are the one that killed millions of planets and trillions of innocent beings. The buoys were gone but you never even felt a desire to see what your decision had caused. You really didn’t care. How many Robby’s were killed, Jake? How many felt the sadness of losing those they loved more than life? You forgot what real loss was in your anger over the loss of your brother.”

Jake felt weak and collapsed to the floor. Danielle said softly, “We are just as guilty. I should have done something, but I pushed my worries aside thinking you were wiser. I am just as much to blame as you; I should have known that a leader without a heart would never lead the Realm where it needed to go.”

Valerie put her arms around Jake and felt something she had missed for what seemed like an eternity, she felt his heart again… even though it was breaking.

Danielle turned to Newton, “I need you to make the move quickly.”

Newton disappeared and reappeared a minute later, holding a large device in his front two legs. “This is connected to the main dimension drive facility in the center of the Galaxy. I just need the coordinates, Your Majesty.”

Danielle looked at Tag and said into her communicator, “All vessels of the Stars Realm will immediately jump out of the Galaxy and assemble in open space. You will then divide into two fleets and go to the Algean and Dark Galaxy to take up their defense.”

The six million ships didn’t move initially but after ten minutes they all disappeared. Those Searchers understood loyalty and followed the orders of the Queen.

Five minutes later the Milky Way shimmered and disappeared.

• • •

Twig appeared on a large ship parked outside the Milky Way. Edison joined her and they struggled with what to do. “We can’t allow them to go.”

“Edison, we can’t stop them.”

“You could demand the Realm remove Danielle and put you in as Queen. You are still in line of the Royal Succession. We could certainly outvote them.”

“Were you not listening? She knows we were originally going to abandon the Realm without informing the Crown. She sees that act as losing our membership in the Realm. We would not be given a vote. I’m just surprised she left the fleets to defend us.”

“Twig, if someone is going to attack you in Red Armor and I hand you a stick to defend yourself; what have I really done?”

Twig thought a moment, “You’ve made me feel safe long enough to get me killed. Are you saying our ships will not be able to hold off the Demons?”

“I’ve looked at the original recording of the battle with the Demon’s Orange Ships and the energy used by those ships was more than three hundred times greater than what we just installed on the Kosiev. It would probably only take four of their ships to kill all of ours. You were there; don’t you remember?”

“I guess I was hoping our developments since that time gave our ships a chance.”

“Those ships are still billions of years ahead of us technologically. It was the Reg’s ships that defeated them; not our ships. These Searchers stand no chance against them.”

“But I heard her say that she could save the citizens of the Realm.”

Edison thought a moment, “She is obviously not using the Realm’s ships to do it. That’s why she has no problem leaving them behind.”

“You also said the Demons might not be coming. Do you still think that?”

“Danielle said she knows they’re coming. They must be delayed for some reason but if she says they’re coming; they are coming.”

“What do we do?”

“I have absolutely no idea.”

“I need to talk with the other Elders. You go and speak with your Nest Mother and we’ll meet again.”

“Twig, we don’t have much time.”

Twig looked at Edison and felt her fear grow. She thought, oh Sprig, I need you so much. Edison teleported away and she stared at the former location of the Milky Way for a long moment before teleporting to the Galaxy of the Algeans.