Chapter 3

The Ball

The ballroom held five thousand people with room to spare. A glorious dome covered the capacious room. Razza gazed with interest at the artwork and pointed to images of scenes on Azayal planets carefully painted on the dome. The images were carefully crafted so those that were distant looked the same size as those that were nearer. Along the walls stood statues on pedestals of figures in military uniforms. The King, Radon sat with Mergal next to him along with several Earls on a raised platform. Circular tables that could seat ten people were placed throughout the room.

Pardela, the Professor and Princess, split the group into two, putting Jason, Razza, Julia and Perdita at the same table with her and her sister Relaren and her brother Fallis. She suggested as the evening progressed, they change tables at will.

Pardela walked to several nearby tables and chatted with many before returning to her table.

She continued to look around the room at the colorfully dressed crowd. Suddenly her face fell.

“Oh no,” said Pardela, “there is Grefis Trodd. I knew him and his friends well at University. Grefis was in a group they paired us with for several projects. He is a painful and obnoxious character. He is a more sophisticated version of my disgusting brother.”

She looked anxious and held onto Jason’s arm. Jason saw Grefis was looking intently around the room.

“His father is an Earl, and the Earl mismanages his planets, gambles and loses money despite great assets. They are, according to my spies, in financial difficulty. Jason, please look interested in me. You will help keep him away. Grefis attempted to ingratiate himself with my father whenever he visited the palace. My father liked him and that worries me. I don’t want him to think I am interested in him,” said Pardela looking at Grefis and shaking her head. Jason glanced at Razza who was sitting on his other side. She grinned at Jason.

“The dance begins, Jason, the black hole is wide open. Grefis Trodd looks like a nasty piece of work. Pardela you are the trigger for trouble! We have been here for a week and first we have the Ghouls and now another trouble is on its way,” said Razza and laughed.

“What does that mean?” Pardela asked.

Trackrof was listening attentively and turned to Pardela. “Jason’s aunt, your friend Alana, describes him as a black hole for trouble. I have no doubt Jason draws trouble to himself and draws us in and then deals with the issue. So far, we all came out of it a lot better despite times of fighting and terror. We enjoy a brief respite, then we are hit by the next trouble,” said Trackrof grinning broadly. “Grefis Trodd looks like a man who is looking for trouble and Jason is sitting next to the bait. The bait is holding him tightly.”

Nearly everyone sitting at the table was grinning broadly or sniggering.

“And ladies and gentlemen here it comes!” Said Perdita dramatically waved her arm in introduction as she watched Grefis Trodd after he noticed Pardela make a beeline for the table.

Jason watched his approach and shuddered.

“Pardela it is a pleasure and an honor to see you yet again,” said Grefis lifting the left side of his upper lip. “Please do me the honor of accompanying me to the patio where we can speak freely.”

“Grefis, I cannot imagine anything I want to discuss with you. I am happy here with my friends. If there is anything to say, say it here, but I strongly suggest there is nothing to discuss!” Pardela cut him off and turned to Jason.

Grefis remained where he was. He narrowed his eyes pulled his shoulders back and moved a foot closer.

“Pardela, my dear, you know you are close to my heart. I forgive you for our recent disagreement,” said Grefis lifting his chin.

“That boat never sailed Grefis, we were never close and I am otherwise promised. I suggest before you embarrass yourself, you withdraw. Our discussion will go no further,” said Pardela firmly.

“Pardela, my darling, I know you wanted me to commit to you. I now do so. I am from one of the oldest Azayal families. I cannot see your father accepting an outsider, one from another species. I formally propose marriage and I challenge for your hand,” said Grefis with a half-smile. “I await your answer.”

He turned on his heel smirking and slowly walked back to his table. Jason heard an audible intake of breath around the table. Pardela was sitting with her mouth open clutching at Jason’s arm.

“Oh, dang blast it all!” Said Perdita explosively. “My father warned me any involvement with Jason was going to lead to trouble. He and Alana had a long conversation when she described this proposed expedition as high risk high return with a large quantum of trouble in between. It will be trouble with a capital T, Cephus, she told him,” Perdita continued and laughed. “I told him I had prepared for trouble my whole life, I was determined to learn to deal with it effectively. The trouble is before us. I will and we will prevail. I had at least hoped we would get started at university before we faced adversity.

“I studied the regulations. Radon can choose to buy off the suitor, he can accept the challenge on behalf of his daughter or request Jason proves himself.

“Alana warned me Jason is a magnet for wives. She informed me there is a close association between a black hole for trouble and a magnet for wives,” said Pardela. Most at the table laughed loudly.

“Pardela, you look like you attracted trouble and I assume you are angling to be one of Jason’s wives?” Julia asked smiling.

Pardela blushed. Julia raised her eyebrows. Pardela remained silent.

Jason could see Grefis Trodd was looking angrily at their table and he was giving Jason black looks.

“I can only think his family must find themselves in a dire financial position for him to resort to this low act. There is no way Radon will buy him out, it would cost far too much and my father certainly would not accept the challenge on my behalf. It is exceedingly difficult for him to simply reject the proposal. It is not our way. I am going to speak to Radon. A challenge needs to be between equals. The King will know of precedents that will allow for resolution of this dispute.

“We have no relationship. Grefis cannot pretend otherwise. This is purely exploitative behavior of the worst kind. He knows he has a high chance of winning if he fights Jason. My father will be forced to allow him to marry me and Grefis will use my assets and my dowry. The ball is a unique opportunity for him to do as he has done. Jason I’m terribly sorry for getting you in this mess,” said Pardela sadly, “I had simply intended to put off possible suitors.” Pardela blushed again as Razza and Trackrof raised their eyebrows.

“I suspect Grefis planned this little exercise for some time. He knows Radon viewed him favorably. The King simply smiled when I denied any interest. Please excuse me all of you, I want to try and find a way out of this mess,” said Pardela sadly as she stood up and walked to the platform and climbed the stairs to talk to the King.

“My hopes for a relaxed opportunity to study and to learn to fight has gone down the slippery slope. My father used to say, ‘no peace for the wicked’,” said Jason forlornly. “I wonder what happens next. How am I going to pay for babysitting and childcare for twenty-nine million women and their children? Add one more to that and it will be the last straw that breaks the back of the camel.”

“Oh bosh,” said Julia, “I have never heard such nonsense my life. You are coping pretty well and not all of your women are around you at the same time. You are trying to wind us up and it is not going to work!”

“I am sure our professor is going to find some sort of solution. It will undoubtedly involve you fighting that piece of krevil at some stage in the future, but it will be at a time when the fight is fair. I did read the rules and conventions and they don’t allow an unfair fight. They do allow for team competition,” stated Julia before she spoke again. “We are already involved and I suspect there is no way we’re going to be able to avoid the next steps. Everything has a reason and a purpose.”

“I dread the whole process we have to go through. I wanted to come here to study and relax. Now I face this garbage,” said Jason.

“You always try and avoid these things like the plague,” said Julia. “Sometimes you just need to face the problem head on. Few serious problems go away. This is a society that fights and we are here to learn to fight effectively, the Azayal way. Grefis raises the stakes and changes our plans. Stop complaining and wait to find out what we need to do! You have our full support.”

“I agree with Julia,” said Razza. “You knew you were going to come and help me save my parents, but you looked for every possible way of avoiding the inevitable. Jason, I think there are two things you need to learn: you need to accept a problem and deal with it without ducking and diving and also you need to accept there are times that you need to be ruthless and you will hurt others.”

“Earth had weird rules of war and life. Those beliefs infected you. You retain archaic ideas from there that don’t help you at all. You say you want to learn to be effective in the world of the ancients, but won’t change how you think. You agonize incessantly over your war experiences. Yes, you killed civilians in error, but you generalize it to all missions and campaigns and you try desperately to avoid conflict. This is a planet where they have learned to fight ruthlessly and you are going to need to learn to do the same. This is not a society where you can avoid conflict. You might as well accept it,” said Marsin.

“I still see the faces of the dead children we killed. Then we had to face an investigation into whether we committed war crimes,” said Jason.

“In the Coven, in the early years we killed terrorists and their extended families. When we were able to later reach their memories, we killed everyone they knew,” said Heinrich. “The Empire did the same as did the Collective. We used techniques that worked. Your so called humane approaches lead to perpetual carnage.”

“Jason, we have all known you for some time and we see you are still stuck with old ideas,” said Trackrof. “We are living in the unstable seat of power in the palace. Trouble began with the Vizier. It is big trouble. We can’t avoid it. We are in the middle of it. This society is in a god-awful mess and if they don’t get their acts together, they will become a lot weaker and they are going to become ripe for conquest. Clearly the Ghouls have their eye on them for whatever reason and it’s not likely to be a good reason. The king has behaved idiotically for long time under their influence. They have been preparing him to hand over his kingdom. You can’t be preoccupied with the small stuff. Grefis is a symptom of the nature of the society. He will need to be dealt with effectively and efficiently. It does not change the bigger picture of the ills of the Azayal.”