The Distant Queen

by Terry Volkirch

This story is mainly about a romance between two young women who are from two different worlds. It's a fantasy story with some adventure but there are no mythical creatures and there isn't a lot of magic. It's really a sweet and tender romantic comedy with a mostly happy ending.

This story updates Monday, Wednesday and Friday until finished. Chapters 1 through 6 are complete, the plot is sketched out and the last page is written. All that's left to do is connect the dots. :)

Chapter 2

A warm breeze replaced the cold darkness and new sounds and smells flooded the queen's senses, even before she opened her eyes. She was in a new land now, and as her eyes adjusted to the light, what she saw confirmed it.

Her familiar yellow-white Sister Sun was gone and Mother Moon was nowhere to be seen. Instead, a new star shone with a soft orange light and two small moons hung low on the horizon.

That was enough for her. She didn't need any more evidence to know she was royally screwed. Falling to her knees, she allowed herself a brief cry for her loss. Then she got up and got on with her life. She never had trouble making the best of a bad situation and now was certainly not the time to change her ways.

The first order of business was to take care of the four-leaf clover in her hand. She'd picked the little lucky charm just before being transported. It didn't seem to offer good luck up to now but perhaps it would help from this point on. If nothing else, it was a link back to the forest that she held so dear.

The tall woman sighed and began searching her wide leather belt for a container in which to keep the clover. The belt had several pockets and a few pouches hanging from it but she wanted something sturdy that would offer more protection. When nothing presented itself, she pulled out a knife and went hunting for a piece of wood. Always resourceful, if she couldn't find what she needed, she'd try to make it.

Looking around, she saw nothing but hilly terrain with numerous boulders, small cliffs and rocky soil. Plant life consisted mostly of various grasses with a few stands of trees that grew along the bank of a nearby stream. As she headed over to bank of the large stream, she briefly noted that she wouldn't have to worry about thirst and began examining the trees.

So far, the flora of her prison -- because it was a prison to her, a very large prison -- didn't appear to be all that different from her beloved forest. She tested the strength of several different types of trees and shrubs and found a suitable source of wood for her project in no time.

Grabbing and snapping a sturdy branch provided the rough material she needed. All that was left to do was to carve it into a shallow box with a tightly fitting lid. Gabrielle found woodcarving to be very relaxing, and it was just what she needed to give her time to think.

Finding food, water and shelter was obviously a high priority activity when lost in the wilderness. She felt she could handle that much. It was the next step that concerned her. She needed a plan to find her way home. All the normal rules of following streams and looking for familiar landmarks no longer applied. Magic got her here and only magic could get her home.

Whittling away the time had her finishing her woodcraft project far too quickly. With her precious symbol of home safely tucked away, she still had to decide where to go. There was no clear direction as there were no signs of civilization anywhere. She couldn't even find an animal trail to follow.

Knowing general geography, she remembered that moving in the direction of Sister Sun at mid rotation led to warmer climates, and moving in the opposite direction led to colder climates. The current temperature felt comfortable so moving towards sunset or sunrise seemed like a good course of action. That only left two choices, but so far she hadn't paid attention to the path of the alien star in the sky. Her path was still unclear.

Then her astronomy lessons came to mind, making her grateful for her education. She broke off a stick, jabbed it vertically into the ground and marked the current position of the top of the stick's shadow to make a simple sundial. Now all she had to do was wait.

Since food would become an issue soon enough, the stranded queen thought it prudent to hunt and forage a little while she waited for the sundial's shadow to move. The stream looked like a promising source of protein so she started there.

Poison was always a possibility so she made sure to be wary of everything, starting by making a few new tools. Taking a knife to a few branches, she fashioned a crude forked spear and small club and moved to the bank of the stream to look for her next meal.

A short span of time later, the queen had speared several small fish and then carved a couple of pointed sticks to skewer the fish for cooking. It looked like both the flora and fauna weren't so different from that of her land. That should make survival easier and hopefully give her more time for hunting magic rather than food.

After using flint and iron along with the wood chips from her carving to start a little fire, she cooked and sampled her first meal, and sighed. The fish was tasty but the company was lacking. It would be the first time in nearly a cycle since she'd eaten alone and she was not happy.

If she was the vindictive type, she'd imagine torturing the person responsible for her predicament, but she'd rather not waste her time. As it was, she wasn't sure who had done the foul deed. She'd heard of a man who had the power to send people away. He'd been banished from his kingdom, partly because of his power and partly because of his readiness to use it. It had to be him. If she ever saw him again, she'd know what she'd like to do, and imagining his reaction gave her a much needed smile.

* * *

Back in the Queendom of Prizzaria, during the same rotation that saw the loss of its queen, all was calm, save for a few worried souls. Muriel sat in the Gabrielle's favorite chair, muttering profanity while the queen's two trusted handmaidens frantically paced back and forth on the beautiful hardwood floor.

"Where is she?" The two young women whined in unison. "She should be back by now."

Muriel ignored them and continued muttering. What she feared most had come to pass. The queen was gone.

The mystic woman searched through her memories of her dark visions, looking for some small clue that she might have missed that would lead to finding Gabrielle. If she'd learned one thing in her long life, every problem had a solution, no matter how stupid, how expensive or how long it took. Nothing was impossible.

Unfortunately, another phrase came to mind: There's a first time for everything. That sudden thought bothered her enough that she roused herself up from the chair to take action. She had to start doing something to keep herself from dwelling on the problem and falling into despair.

The two handmaidens stopped their pacing and looked towards the frowning old woman, waiting for her to speak.

"Right. Feeling sorry for ourselves isn't going to help, and this queendom isn't going to run itself."

The two young women nodded in agreement.

"Heloise?"

"Yes, my Lady?"

"First of all, stop the formality. We don't have time for such nonsense. I want you to go to the royal healer and ask him to begin making a healing potion. Tell him it's for the queen."

"But ...," the young blonde began, only to be cut off.

"I know!" Muriel blurted out. "She's not here. I want to stall. We'll say the queen has taken ill and is not to be disturbed. That'll buy us some time to think of a long-term solution. Now go!"

Beth, the other handmaiden, couldn't help crying when she heard the plan. The dark-skinned brunette was a very intelligent but sensitive young woman. She thought through the plan to its logical conclusion and imagined ahead to the announcement of the death of the queen. That's exactly why Heloise was chosen to go to the healer.

Muriel stayed behind to comfort Beth and yet also hoped for reassurance from the intelligent handmaiden. Together, they ran through several other possibilities, but nothing else worked as well as illness and death to cover for the queen's absence. A missing body wasn't a problem since magic could be used to explain virtually anything.

Of course they could come out right away and admit that Queen Gabrielle is missing, but that might be too disruptive. There would be inquiries into the disappearance and fighting over who would be the next queen. Telling the truth could throw the queendom into chaos and embolden the enemies of Prizzaria. No, their best hope would be to stall as long as possible. They needed more time if they were to have a chance at making the transition go more smoothly.

* * *

Progress seemed slow in spite of setting a quick pace towards the setting sun. Every turn of the stream, every boulder looked just like the last. Gabrielle had decided to move towards sunset since that was also the direction in which the stream flowed. The water would lead to larger sources of water, which would be a more likely environment for some sort of civilization and magic.

Pleased with her decision, she'd started off optimistically enough, but darkness was coming all too quickly. It was time to find shelter for the night. The tall woman found a reasonable approximation of a cave between three large boulders. It was defensible and small enough to block or at least hamper any large nocturnal predators. The list of potential dangers was far too long in such a strange, unknown place.

As she sat by her campfire, she wondered about the other victims of the man who sent her away. Do they all come to the exact same spot? That wasn't likely since she didn't see any signs of others when she arrived. So they must either be spread throughout this land or possibly scattered among other equally distant lands. The second option would be unfortunate because it would be nice to find other people from her land, people who should be able to describe the man who sent them here so she could do something about him when she got home. They might even team up to find a way home. That was an exciting thought.

After an all too short span of time, fatigue interrupted her musing so she put out the fire and spared a quick look up. The moons had set leaving a clear sky filled with bright stars, and the unrecognizable patterns of stars again confirmed the alien location. She was definitely a long, long way from home.

With a last heavy sigh, she crawled into her shelter and quickly fell asleep.

* * *

Thankfully, Queen Gabrielle was well organized. For the most part, the queendom truly could run on its own. Only the odd dispute required her attention. It was the love of her subjects that would cause the most trouble. They wouldn't accept just anyone to take her place.

Gabrielle's intimidating but calming presence and her magic talent brought security to the queendom. Her youth also made her popular. At 25 cycles, she was by far the youngest woman to ever ascend the throne. The queendom would've been stable for decades as long as nothing happened to her.

Muriel cursed again as she sorted through the list of possible replacements. Was there no one suitable to take the queen's place?

"What about Ingrid?" asked Heloise, who stood behind where Muriel sat and looked over the old woman's shoulder.

"Ingrid?! Are you mad? That woman is a terror. Her battle lust would have us at war ... forever. How did she even get on the list? Who put her on it?"

"I did," confessed Beth, who sat across from Muriel. "She has such a commanding presence," continued the handmaiden with a dreamy look in her big brown eyes.

Heloise just shook her head at her mate. She knew it was Ingrid's blonde hair that got Beth's attention. Her passionate mate had an excessive fondness for blondes.

Muriel sighed and scratched out Ingrid's name. Then she looked at the next name.

"Okay," Muriel frowned. "Who put Sarah on the list?"

"That would be me," said Heloise. "I thought we could use a little more femininity. We have so many warriors, and they're all so messy and ... violent."

'Why me?' thought Muriel. She saw the pattern. Both handmaidens meant well but they were far too easily swayed by superficial features. They hadn't a clue what it took to run a queendom.

"I hope you understand," said Muriel. "If Sarah ran the queendom, we'd be overrun with men, both good and bad."

"Not necessarily," pouted Heloise.

"Oh come on! She's man-crazy! She'd welcome them all with open arms." Then she almost added, "and open legs," but somehow restrained herself.

Heloise continued to pout and moved over to sit next to Beth.

"Look," said the frustrated mystic. "I know you two mean well, but we need to consider all angles."

"Then why don't you ask some of the officers?" asked Beth. "They're far wiser than us when it comes to such matters."

"Good question. For one thing, a lot of the officers are on the list. They'd be biased. I'm also not sure who to trust to keep the queen's disappearance a secret. So far, it's just us three who know."

The handmaidens sighed. Muriel was right, but it was just so much responsibility.

"I still need your opinions though, whatever you two might think. I can pick someone who will do a good job, but I might not pick someone who'd be popular. We really need a queen with both style and substance."

"Like Gabrielle," both handmaidens said in unison.

"Like Gabrielle," Muriel muttered, as she went back to looking over the list.

Just thinking about their beloved queen brought up so many emotions. The two young women loved her deeply and missed her terribly. They were also bored. They had no one to wait on. They only had each other.

The loving couple reached over to hold hands and stare longingly at each other while they waited to critique the next candidate for queen. They each knew what the other was thinking, but they dared not act on their impulses for the moment. They took their responsibility seriously.

Eventually, after most of the candles had sputtered and gone out, only one name was left on the list. It was briefly considered and then scratched out like all the rest. Finding a replacement for Gabrielle seemed hopeless.

The tired old woman rubbed her eyes and looked up to see the two young woman fast asleep, with the shorter Beth leaning her head on Heloise's shoulder. Even a cynical mystic couldn't help but smile at the sight. It made her think of happier times, long before her dark visions. 'If only Gabrielle were here,' she thought, and sadly shook her head.

The ever practical and determined Muriel refused to give up though. She started to get up to look for more candles but was knocked back in her seat by a very surprising vision. She thought it was a vision anyway. It was an impossible sight so it had to be a vision, didn't it?

"Ladies!" hissed Muriel. "Wake up! Please ... wake up!"

Two groggy young women opened their eyes and gasped. There, standing between themselves and the older woman seated across from them, was Gabrielle, dressed in her battle leathers.

"Gabrielle?" both handmaidens asked in a small voice before shouting. "Gabrielle!"

The vision had been facing Muriel but now it turned to address the two women, who sprang off the couch to hug it. Imagine their suprise when they went flying through it and landed in Muriel's lap.

The vision turned and smiled at the three women all tangled up in the same large padded chair. Apparently, the vision had a sense of humor.

"Is it truly you, Gabrielle?" Muriel asked when she'd gotten free of the handmaidens and stood up.

The vision sadly nodded.

"How? What? Where?" the old woman began, but couldn't seem to decide between the half dozen questions popping up in her mind.

The vision leaned to the side to look around Muriel and see the handmaidens squeezed tightly together in the chair. They were crying a mixture of happy and sad tears. It should've been a happy reunion but something was definitely wrong and they knew it.

Muriel knew it too, and guessed what was going on. It was magic. It had to be.

Once in a blue moon, someone would be blessed -- or cursed -- with a second magic talent. It didn't always manifest right away but when it did, the results were nearly always strange. Apparently, the queen's stressful event triggered a second talent, lying dormant within her, that allowed her to create a ghostly duplicate of herself. She'd never needed it before but she did now.

The old mystic knew what this meant. The queendom needed its queen and Gabrielle answered the call a second time. The tall warrior woman was truly a perfect queen.

"Can you speak?" Muriel finally asked.

The vision shook its head.

"Well it's obvious you can hear us. That's something at least."

The old woman circled the vision, giving it a very good look.

"You appear solid ... not like a ghost. That's a relief. It just might work."

The vision raised an eyebrow, not understanding what was going on, but the handmaidens knew.

"Yeah!" they both shouted. "No more names!"

"No more names," agreed Muriel.