Chapter 21: Dara

Prince Montgomery McDoohan introduced Tom to his two wives.

Tom guessed that one was of similar age to Monte, whatever that truly was. The other was younger, but Tom had no idea of her age as she looked younger than him. He knew magical people were impossible to tell the age of.

The women wore a form of pantsuit that had a long, sleeveless tunic over wide-legged pants. The suits were both decorated with fancy embroidered patterns and even had gems on them. They did look odd beside Monte’s bus driver’s uniform.

Tom was introduced to Queen Donatella and her consort, Katherine. He was told that explanations were to come. Tom was pretty sure he was going to get some interesting stories from them. He wanted to know how and why Monte had become his tour guide and how it was that they were all sick.

Tom was delighted they had access to a form of lift near the base of the cliff, so he didn’t have to climb all the way to the top where Monte’s family lived. Apparently, it was the only lift that still worked. It became evident to Tom as the elevator passed the lower levels that he was going to have to be careful where he went inside the honeycombed cliffs.

While the elevator was tall enough to accommodate him, Tom soon learnt that only certain sections of the Queen’s domain had areas that were high enough for him to walk upright in. Crawling or walking bent over everywhere didn’t appeal to him.

Katherine informed Tom that not all their neighbours were Pix, like them. Many centuries before, they had been able to access larger rooms that the taller people could use. Most of the current accommodation had been here when they arrived.

The hardest thing for Tom’s mind to come to terms with was that these people looked nothing like the Pix he had met on Bentley Island. He suspected that cross-breeding had occurred between the Pix and Prol races.

Tom accepted their hospitality and soon found himself in a well-appointed room. It even had a private bathing chamber with a bathing pool big enough for him to stretch out in and submerge himself fully.

Once his accommodation was sorted, Tom was invited to have lunch with the family, all twenty of them, when you include the extended family and their kids. He was glad they had an extension for the dining table and seating large enough to accommodate him. The kids also had their own table, so not everyone was at the main table.

As reserved as Monte and most of the family were, Katherine or rather Kat as they called her, was quite the talker. Of the adults, she was the least affected by the disease and the newest wife. She also hadn’t had any children yet.

After a pleasant lunch, Tom and the three royals settled into what they called the parlour with a drink close enough to black tea that Tom was happy to drink it. With Donatella’s permission, Tom warded the room and added a sound shell for privacy.

Kat was nominated as the storyteller.

Tom asked if they wouldn’t mind telling him more about the planet they were on.

Tom had noticed that it had a greater gravity than Harmony, but it was still less than Earth’s. It wouldn’t take him long to get used to it after being on Harmony for eighteen weeks.

Kat explained that their planet, Dara, didn’t have huge landmasses. The polar regions were the biggest, and they were rather inhospitable for the most part. Even so, the amount of land they had to settle covered nearly twenty-five per cent of the planet’s surface.

The people had been here for over three thousand years, yet they had barely settled a fifth of the islands. As a people, they lived long lives of around a hundred and twenty years, and they didn’t age drastically until their last few years of life.

Those with no Burgis or Prol ancestors could live fifty years longer. Those few with magical items could live twice as long as their race could. Despite their longevity, they had relatively low birth rates when compared to their death rates. Hence the populations didn’t expand very quickly.

When the settlement ships from Keltria landed, they found that the planet had few species of fauna on land, but a wide variety of flora and lots of it formed the forests. Nearly all of the land animals were bred from the stock that had been on the ships, except for some of the insects, small reptiles, and birds.

The planet did have a large variety of native fauna in the sea. Some of the creatures were quite large, and most of them edible.

Tom then asked about the races that had come here.

Katherine explained that they were a matriarchal race like the Genteli who mostly lived in their island group called the High Islands. However, due to the small number of Pix on their ship, they had interbred with the few Prols who had come with them. Nevertheless, they had mostly kept the culture of the Pix people. Prols tended to be introverted.

Some of the islands also had people from the Burgis race. In the past, the Burgis and Prols could breed with the Pix people but not the Genteli. The Pix could reproduce with anyone. The Faeries had also come here with them, and they lived on many of the inhabited islands, even theirs. They were very small and didn’t as a rule cross-breed.

Kat then told Tom that Donatella, as the Queen of Lore Island and the holder of a magical artifact, could have six consorts. Since Monte was the firstborn of his family, he did get to keep his title of Prince. His parents actually lived several weeks travel by sea, on Kau Island. It was to the north of Donatella’s island.

Tom soon learnt that Donatella didn’t have any other consorts at present. Their other wife had died in childbirth some ten years before. The other two males she’d had, both died four months early (their time), from the illness they were infected with some six months ago.

Tom learnt that Dara had a similar structure to that of Harmony as far as six-day weeks and five-week months, but their day was closer to twenty-four hours like Earths, so their year was about fifteen days shorter. They even practised two periods of twelve hours to a day.

Kat told him that she and Donatella had been sick for nearly four months. Males seemed to succumb to the disease faster than females. Also, due to the promiscuous nature of the men, they had spread the illness to others in the city before it was identified. So far, they hadn’t learnt how to cure it.

Kat then told Tom that Queen Montana, who ruled an island to their east, had infected the men when Donatella had refused to trade Monte for one of her four sons. Montana had no daughters, and Monte seemed to produce daughters.

Monte had sired three of them. Two were to the previous wife and one to Donatella. It didn’t hurt that all of his daughters also seemed to have some magical gifts like him and Donatella.

Montana had wanted one of them to bond with one of her sons, but they were still very young as the oldest was only twelve. Monte had not even contemplated having one of the girls marry Montana’s, much older sons, so she made the pitch to have him instead.

“Yes, I felt his magic ability. I suspect it is why he is still alive. So how is it that you became my tour guide and chauffeur, Monte?”

“I was cursed,” he grumbled.

“Please do tell,” Tom asked as he looked at Monte.

Kat fidgeted. “It was my fault. If I had submitted, then we wouldn’t have been infected,” she blurted out.