Chapter 26: Warrior Queen

~~ Delta - Aug/02 - (Earth - Feb/2095) ~~

Lee had found herself in a sticky situation.

When Justin went to vault over the box he was standing in front of, he placed both hands on the lid and then halted. They all heard the ‘click, click’. He looked down to find the lid lifting up under his hands.

“No,” screamed Jahn again. “They are my boxes, you can’t have them,” he yelled in frustration and sent an immobilising spell at Justin.

Justin blinked out of the way and reappearing in front of Kim, ready to protect her. She stepped up beside him, wand in hand. Justin had to smile at his fearless sister. He just realised he didn’t have bling anymore and was amazed he had still been able to blink.

The three mages with Jahn stepped back, they gasped and what he had done. It had felt atrocious to all of them. None of them even thought to pull their own wands, having forgetting they had one.

“Jahn, please, you can’t have them all to yourself,” Lee said rationally.

But Jahn wasn’t rational. He aimed his wand at Justin again and started muttering a new spell. But Lee was quicker. She threw a spell deflection shield behind her, to protect Justin and Kim. The bolt of light that left Jahn’s wand hit the shield and bounced back. Jahn ducked barely in time.

Alec wasn’t so lucky, and the spell hit him. Alec grunted, staggered back a step and then slumped to the floor.

Jahn looked at Alex in horror, and he totally lost it. He ran at Lee with his wand extended. He swung it wildly, trying to strike her. Lee had her own wand extended. She deflected the wild blows and forced him back. She didn’t want to hurt him. She already knew none of the boxes in the room were his.

Jahn backed off and huffing loudly at the exertion. When Lee didn’t follow, he shot another spell at her, and it deflected off her wand into the shield and then back. This time, it struck Gemma before she could move out of the way. She too slumped to the floor. Hador dived after her to see if she was all right.

“Jahn,” Lee said forceful, projecting a strong compulsion at him. “This is not how to sort this out. Jahn, do any of the boxes glow for you? Do any of them call to you? Listen, Jahn,” she said harshly, compelling him to listen to her words.

Jahn stopped and looked around the room dazed as her words got through. No, the apprentice boxes were dull. He looked at the wizard’s boxes. He knew which one was the Lords Wizard’s box, but it didn’t call him or glow for him. None of them did, not even the one that Lee had been standing in front of.

“Why, why?” he asked in anguish. “I was the Lord Wizard. Why don’t they want me anymore?” he sobbed. Lee watched him dispassionately. His fall from grace was not a pretty sight to behold.

Then he screwed up his face and said with venom, “I’ll kill those fucking faeries, every last one of them. They took my box away from me.” Lee watched as many emotions went over the old wizard’s face. “What did I ever do to them?” he screamed in abject frustration.

“You betrayed them, Jahn. You didn’t protect the people, so the boxes were denied to you. I am still amazed the mage box accepted you and that it hasn’t since deserted you.”

Jahn looked down as he felt the sudden weight of the medallion as it appeared on his chest, as did the ring on his hand and the diadem on his head. Then they disappeared.

He tried one last time to shoot a spell at Lee before the wand in his hand disappeared. He looked up at Lee in horror, just as Hador’s sword went through his chest.

Hador growled at him, “You bastard, you killed my friend, and you killed my sister. You will kill no more. Justice is served, arsehole.” He then pulled the sword from Jahn and dropped it on the floor. He fell to his knees and gathered his sister’s limp body into his arms as he sobbed.

Lee watched as Jahn’s eyes rolled back and he collapsed to the floor, dead. She then rushed over to the prone woman, “I’m a healer, please, I need to look at her.”

Hador nodded but didn’t release Gemma. Lee put her hands on the young woman and breathed out a sigh of relief. “The stupid numpty designed the spell to disable me, but it hit a mage. She would have eventually died if not released. She should be okay, but it may take her a minute or two to come around, stay with her.”

Lee got up and went to Alec. He, too, had been hit by the same spell. She removed the spell and slumped down with him. She looked up at Justin and realised he and Kim were still trapped behind her shield. She waved her hand at it, and it dispersed.

She lifted the young man’s head into her lap and brushed his hair back off his eyes. Kim came over and sat beside her. She also brushed her fingers through Alec’s hair. “He’s scorching, Lee,” she said. Lee had to smile at her. He was indeed a handsome young man.

“Here, you mind him. I need to check Jahn,” she transferred the man’s head to Kim’s lap and got up to go to Jahn. She wanted to make sure he really was dead. She didn’t want any more trouble from him.

She hadn’t liked the man she knew of as Gerald when she had met him back when she was supposed to go on the first mission to Delta. Now she knew why. He had tried to stop her coming on this mission too.

She now knew that the fact that she had killed his nephew Carl, who had tried to rape her, had been his excuse to exclude her from the expedition. In reality, he had used Carl’s indiscretion to try to keep her from the Lord Wizard’s box.

Justin joined Hador, “I’m sorry your sister got hurt.” He brushed his finger down her lovely cheek. She opened her eyes, and he smiled at her. “Hi, I’m Justin. A pleasure to meet you, pretty lady.”

Gemma felt her heart skip a beat as she looked at the handsome young man bending over her. “Hi handsome, you want to show me what was in that box you opened,” she asked.

Hador and Justin both laughed. They were relieved that Gemma was okay. They both took an arm and helped her up. Justin found his hand wrapped in hers and took her to see his new bling. His old bling had disappeared the moment he had touched the box.

Alec opened his eyes to see an adorable young woman bending over him. “What happened?” he asked, not taking his eyes off her lovely face. He was surprised by the instant attraction he felt.

“The mad wizard tried to hurt Lee, but the spell deflected off the shield back at him. Unfortunately for you, he ducked, but you didn’t,” Kim said. She looked sadly at him and brushed his hair again. “I’m sorry your big friend had to kill him. Jahn hurt the girl with you too, and he didn’t care that he did. So, the mage bling finally deserted him.”

Kim watched as pain flashed in the young man’s eyes. “Yes, I too am sorry he had to die. I tried, but I think it was too late. He never would have been happy if none of the boxes opened for him. Did they?” he asked.

Kim shook her head.

Alec sighed, sad to have lost his lover even though he had known it was inevitable. He wondered if Jahn knew just how sick he was? He doubted a new box would have done him any good.

Alec would later learn the illness Jahn had was called cancer. The cancer had spread to all of Jahn’s organs. It was the corruption of so much of Jahn’s body at the cellular by exotic materials he didn’t know about, was why Alec couldn’t heal him. Jahn was too far gone even for a healer like him.

Kim brushed her fingers back, threw Alec’s golden locks again, liking the feel of its softness. “I’m gunna marry you one day when I’m old enough,” she said with certainty.

Alec looked up and had to smile at the young woman. She was exotically different from his race with her big brown eyes and her pale, creamy-brown skin, but she was surprisingly very similar too. “Am I not a bit old for you?” he asked understanding she was not of marriageable age.

“Nah, but the box said I have to wait until I’m sixteen. That is only two months from now. I reckon by then; you and our other partner will be ready to come to find me.”

“Oh! And who is to be our partner?” he asked, finding this conversation with the beautiful girl a little surreal.

Kim looked thoughtful, “Not sure to be honest. I’ll tell you when I meet them if you don’t find them first, okay.”

“So, I’m to go look for our partner and then come find you in a couple of months? Do I have that correct?” Alec asked, intrigued.

“Yep, but I should be easy to find.”

“Oh, why is that?” he found himself asking surprised he hadn’t already removed himself from her lap. He reached up and touched her face. He felt a shiver go through his whole body. He had never before had a girl affect him, as she did. He felt the desire for her that had headed to other regions of his body intensify.

Kim giggled when she realised the effect, she was having on him. She bent over and dropped a soft kiss on his lips. Alec responded and placed a hand behind her head to deepen the kiss. He shuddered as her tongue caressed his.

Kim gently pulled back and grinned. “See I told you, but you have to behave. It’s illegal for us to do anything yet. That’s why you have to find our partner first. And the reason I’ll be easy for you to find is that I’m to be your apprentice.”

“But I’m only a mage,” he said confused.

“Come on, handsome, let’s get you up,” Kim pushed on his head, and then stood so that she could put a handout to help pull Alec to his feet.

Once steady, he was surprised by how tall Kim was, “Are you related to a Giant?”

“Not that I know of, but my Dad is nearly as tall as my brother Justin over there. Hey, does Gemma like kids?” she asked as she took his hand and walking him over to the boxes.

“Yes, why?” Alec said. He involuntarily squeezed her hand as they walked past Jahn’s body; Kim squeezed his back to reassure him.

“Well, she going to end up with a whole heap of them when she marries Justin and you fix her up.”

“How am I going to fix her up?” he found himself asking amazed and fascinated by what Kim had been telling him so far. He was also somewhat surprised he understood her strange speech. It was like his mind automatically swopped her words to his understanding.

“Well, once you put on your new bling, we will get Lee to teach you how to do it. It will probably take you a while to make your way around all your villages to immunise your people and fix the ladies. You might even find our partner when you do,” she said with confidence.

“You keep saying partner, are they male or female?” Alec asked as they stopped in front of the boxes. Kim shrugged. She decided he would have fun finding out for himself.

“What is my bling?” he found himself asking when she didn’t answer the last question. He also realised he was still holding her hand but didn’t feel like relinquishing it just yet, if ever. She had some power over him, and he found her presence very distracting. His erection was almost painful.

“Which box glows?” she asked. She was well aware of her effect on the man and was pleased that he liked her. Maybe being a girl wasn’t going to be such a bad thing, after all, she decided.

She had liked what Justin had done and guessed that Alec would be a very considerate lover. She now wished she was sixteen so she could find out. She already had to wear a bra if she wasn’t in her jumpsuits. The bloody things had just kept growing since Christmas.

Alec looked at the boxes. “That one,” he found himself saying.

“Hey Lee, can he open his box?”

“It’s his box,” Lee said with a shrug and then grinned at Kim. She could see the glow around the two of them intermingling and guessed they were a pair. She had liked Alec as soon as she touched him. He was a good man, and they made an excellent pair. He would balance Kim’s impulsive nature.

The others all wandered over to watch Alec open his box. “Hang on,” said Lee. “We are getting visitors.”

They turned to see a whole parcel of wizards and mages appear behind them. Lee soon found herself wrapped in Sean’s arms. Then Helen was being transferred to her arms. “Yes sweetie, it’s here,” she said and pointed at the box.

“Hi, everyone,” she said as she addressed the bewildered crowd. “This young man in Alec and he is just about to open his wizard’s box.”

Alec felt very self-conscious. He turned back to the box and then looked at Kim. She smiled gently at him, and he shivered. He turned back to the box, drew in a breath and then placed his hands on the Lid. They all heard the clicks, and his breath rush out. He opened the lid.

Lee looked in with him and Kim, “I’ve got a couple of other items to add to the box. I’ll get them later for you. Hey Gemma, do you want to open yours?”

“What do I do?” Gemma asked Justin.

“Just put your hands on the box like Alec did and say, ‘Open Sesame’,” Justin said and grinned.

“Open Sesame?” Gemma said with disbelief.

The others started chuckling. “Just say ‘open’ Gemma, he is pulling your leg,” Sean said.

Gemma looked down at her legs and then giggled when a distinctly male voice said, “I wouldn’t mind pulling on them legs.”

“Hey,” said Justin turning to the crowd. “Them’s my legs to pull on.”