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.

Chapter 9 (of 11) has more temptation and excitement than you can shake a stick at -- and there are still two chapters left!

WARNING: Extreme cliffhanger. Readers who are sensitive to cliffhangers should wait until chapter 10 is posted on Monday.

Chapter 9

With less than two days to go to reach their goal, the two women stumbled across a much appreciated and much needed treat near midday. They found a natural hot spring. At least they thought it was natural. It didn't matter though. The water was hot and clean and they needed a good soak. They made it to the Weeping River several days ago and got a proper bath then but they hadn't done much since then. Wiping themselves with wet rags and splashing water on their faces was a poor substitute for a bath.

The only problem was getting into the water. With the obvious physical attraction they shared, nudity was still awkward for the two women. They were afraid of starting something. Marie was shamed by her manly behavior during the mogron incident and Gabi desperately tried to remain focused on her mission to get home. It was only the lure of the hot water and decent size of the pool that finally overcame their hesitation.

The long and narrow pool appeared to be carved out of solid red granite by a small waterfall at one end and the depth gradually decreased towards the opposite end where the water ran out. If the two hadn't been so travel weary, they might have noticed the perfect contours and straight edges, but it didn't matter. They'd take a bath anyway.

The waterfall was scalding hot so they migrated a little past the middle section where the depth was perfect for sitting and tested the water temperature with their bare feet. It seemed tolerable.

They both dropped their packs together near the edge of the pool and Marie began to slowly undress while Gabi turned and walked towards the shallow end. The tall woman waded across to the other side of the pool and undressed directly across from her friend. Both women faced away from the pool, and both slowly backed into the water. With their modesty intact, they sunk down to sit on the bottom and had a good soak.

Being much shorter, Marie had to sit farther up the slope in the shallower water, but the two women were within a couple arm lengths away, close enough to be very aware of each other. They had to distract themselves by turning to watch the waterfall, mesmerizing themselves with the sound and spray of the flowing water.

The hot water did wonders to relax the two women, though it didn't help relieve the stiffness and soreness of Gabi's shoulders. Her pack hadn't lost any weight during the journey. When it came time for washing, it was all the tall, strong woman could do to keep from complaining like a baby. She'd always had her handmaidens to help her whenever she'd pushed her body too far.

Marie reached over to her pack for two bars of soap and gingerly handed one to her friend, and the two of them slowly began to wash themselves. Gabi washed her arms, legs and front easily enough, but she couldn't reach behind herself to properly wash her back. With the sweat and grime of several days of marching still on her back, she really wanted a proper scrub.

The small brunette remained oblivious to her friend's problem for a short time. She wasn't sore at all and she amazed herself with her flexibility, easily reaching behind her back to give herself a thorough cleaning. By chance though, she caught a brief glimpse of Gabi. She saw her friend struggling and chewed her lower lip. Once she looked, Marie couldn't pull her eyes away, and she couldn't stop herself. She slid down the slope of the pool and brushed the tall woman's arm out of the way.

"What?!" Gabi yelped. "What are you doing?"

"I'm washing your back. It's a dirty job but someone has to do it. You obviously can't."

"But ...," the tall woman stopped when she felt Marie's hands on her back.

The short brunette scrubbed hard and then began rubbing when she felt the tension in the muscles. She not only washed Gabi's back, she massaged it as well, and her friend didn't complain. The sore woman went back to watching the waterfall.

When the massage ended and the small woman moved on to wash the clothes, Gabi breathed a sigh of relief. The danger had passed. Nothing more happened between them.

As had become habit, Marie washed Gabi's clothes as well as her own. She felt it was the least she could do to make up for what she felt was an unfair distribution of pack weight. She'd built up a lot of leg muscle but would never have nearly as much strength as her tall friend. The small woman sighed and left the clothes to dry on the hot stone while she crawled in for another soak.

Before getting out for the last time, they washed their hair. Then they rolled out on opposite sides and drip dried before dressing. It was two much cleaner and much happier women who resumed their journey that day.

* * *

It seemed that the more Gabi learned of the language, the more Marie spoke to take advantage of her friend's larger vocabulary. The small woman really seemed to like talking, which was fine really since Gabi loved to listen to her. They talked about more and more subjects and the language barrier melted away.

"Have you always been so talkative?" Gabi teased.

That shut the small woman up. She looked up at her friend and stuck out her tongue, not saying another word for an unbelievable five minutes or so.

That's when it finally hit Gabi. The warrior queen was in love. For the first time in her life, she was in love, and it hurt.

Other than the awkward but brief meltdown a little over a week ago, Marie could do no wrong. The woman was so beautiful and so feminine, she took Gabrielle's breath away. They were both obviously attracted to each other, and under different circumstances their love would flourish, but here on Agrin there was a problem.

The mission to get home suddenly took a distant second in priority, but it brought up an important point. If or when she finds a way home, would Marie come with her? She'd been working so hard to get home, it didn't seem fair to expect her friend to voluntarily leave. So far, the subject of coming with her hadn't been mentioned. It was only natural that she assumed the worse.

Gabi decided that she'd do everything she could to prepare the small woman for life without her, just in case. If Marie wanted to stay, she needed to be able to defend herself.

* * *

They made better progress than they thought they would so they decided to camp early. If they pushed it, they might make it to the portal by sunset but neither of them thought it a good idea. The prospect of meeting a giant warrior in the dark sent shivers down their spines. If it was magical, it might be able to see in the dark, giving it an even bigger advantage than it already had.

Gabi took advantage of the daylight they had left and followed through on the promise to herself, giving Marie some fighting lessons. She taught the small warrior woman how to use a smaller, weaker body to its full advantage.

"Look for and strike at the specific weak points of your opponent with your dagger. Go for the hands, feet and any exposed skin."

Marie thought the timing of the lessons was odd and detected a strange sense of urgency. Tomorrow would be an important day, and a potentially deadly one, but just how much could she learn in the few hours of daylight they had left? She respected Gabi's determination and skill so she focused entirely on technique, even though she'd much rather just talk and stare into her friend's beautiful green eyes.

The warrior queen crammed so much information into the training. It was almost too much. She taught how to get in close to take away an opponent's greater reach and strength. She taught pressure points and vulnerable spots like the eyes and hollow of the throat. She threw everything she knew at the small woman, and when they finally finished, the last rays of the sun were nearly gone from the tops of the highest hills.

Marie called up two nigglers and cooked them over a small camp fire, while Gabi dug for root nuts. The two women were very hungry after training so hard for so long.

As they sat and ate, the small woman mentally reviewed her lessons, trying to ignore Gabi's intense eyes boring their way into her soul. She felt confident she could adjust her fighting style well enough to handle most battles. She was still very coordinated and knew all of the advantages and disadvantages of various other styles so she could counter them. She just needed practice.

When it got dark enough that the fire was the only significant source of light, their thoughts turned to all of the issues that had yet to be resolved. Tomorrow loomed large over them so they began to talk, starting with a question from Marie.

"Why did you turn me into a woman?"

That was a fair question, but it never had an easy answer. Gabi just shrugged and said it just happened in the heat of the battle. She didn't actually force it, though she could've if she wanted.

Marie seemed to be satisfied by the answer so she went back to eating. Then it was Gabi's turn.

"What was in your note?"

That question had an easy answer, but it wasn't easy to say. The small woman took her time, going over the sequence of events of leaving her house to her brother. The memories were still raw emotional wounds and Gabi kicked herself for inadvertently reopening those wounds, but the tall woman thought she might at least be able to offer some comfort now that she spoke the same language.

When Marie had finished, she felt better. Talking about it helped lighten her mood for some odd reason. She even felt a little playful, joking about getting in a little hand-to-hand combat practice before bedtime. She said she wanted a rematch to make up for their first sword fight.

Gabi didn't take the bait at first, but her attitude changed when her small friend persisted.

"Come on. I bet you only changed me into a woman because you were losing the sword fight."

It was true. They both knew it to be true, thought it might have been better to have left it unspoken.

The warrior queen couldn't help feeling challenged, and she never backed down from a challenge. With a brief display of mock anger, she dragged Marie away from the camp fire and had her pinned on her back in seconds. She sat lightly on Marie's stomach and held the woman's wrists as she smiled down at her.

The small woman squirmed and kicked, giving it her best but she couldn't free herself.

"You win," she finally said, a little short of breath. Then, with a sparkle in her eye, she added. "Now take your prize."

Gabrielle didn't have to be told twice. She scooped up Marie and carried the small woman over to their bed rolls. Taking care to stack all the padding for maximum comfort, she set her companion down and proceeded to show her some of the benefits of being a woman.

* * *

Two hours later, by the light of both moons that had since risen, two very satisfied women snuggled together to share body heat in the cool evening air. After all the right strokes, both women had screamed with passion and declared their love for each other several times.

Gabi never did get up the nerve to ask if Marie would come home with her. For now, she settled for enjoying the moment and hoping that their evening of bliss meant as much to her loving companion as it did to her. She drifted off to sleep, satisfied that Marie would be dreaming of this night for a long time.

* * *

"You're very late," Muriel remarked when her queen finally appeared.

Gabrielle blushed and muttered something about having a lot to do and not enough time to do it all, but said no more on the subject. She preferred not to tell her old friend anything about her relationship until it was clear where Marie would end up.

"Yes, I'm sure you've been busy. How close are you to the portal?"

"We're about half a sun rotation away."

"That bodes well," the mystic said. "You realize that the queendom conference is only three full rotations away, right?"

Gabrielle nodded. She'd kept up on everything she needed to know. She took her job as queen very seriously. If everything went well tomorrow, she'd be back both in body and spirit for the conference, and she'd be bringing a surprise.

The queen smiled when she thought of Marie, but still said nothing to Muriel.

"Okay then," the old woman added. "There's nothing much to do at the moment. Beth and Heloise have exhausted themselves by now and are likely fast asleep."

The status of her handmaidens caused Gabrielle's smile to broaden, confirming what the wise old woman suspected. Wisdom was one benefit to growing older.

"We've got time. Would you like to tell me about your relationship now?"

The tall woman blushed yet again but nodded. She'd told her old friend a lot about Marie, including the incident with the mogron, but she hadn't said anything about being attracted to the small, beautiful woman. She'd had trouble confessing it to herself, let alone anyone else. It didn't matter though. Muriel figured it out anyway. Her friend's wise ways never ceased to amaze her.

They sat in the familiar hall, with the queen in her favorite chair as usual, and after talking for over a dozen candlemarks, it was time for the queen to return. She felt the familiar pull of her waking body.

"I'm happy for you," Muriel told her. "Take care of Marie, and take care of yourself."

"I will," Gabrielle smiled. "I'll see you tomorrow, hopefully in the flesh." Then she faded out.

* * *

"Morning, Lover," Marie purred, using a term of endearment that she'd taught Gabi the night before.

The two women had slept together and were covered by Gabi's extra tunics to hold off the chill night air -- thanks to Marie. They shared a long, loving kiss and cuddled a little until Gabi could shake off her grogginess.

Though the temptation was great to resume their lovemaking, the pair got up to attend to more pressing needs and got ready to leave. They had a portal to get to.

* * *

They knew they were close when they came upon the ruins of dozens of buildings. The complex of buildings housed the people and machines needed to maintain the portal, and also included a large underground power source that still hummed with power.

Just as the map promised, the portal came into view at the summit of a large hill. The portal was a small white cubic building with an open archway on each side. An instrument panel and view screen stood adjacent to one corner and on the opposite corner stood the guardian warrior.

The silver colored guardian was just as large as the diagrams showed, and just as fearsome. It was also still alive. They knew it because it turned its head to look down at them with its two large blue eyes.

The two women had to suppress the urge to flee for their lives. They only just managed to hold their ground when it was clear that the guardian warrior wasn't going to move towards them.

"Got a plan?" Marie asked.

Gabi hushed her friend. With all the magic she'd experienced, it wouldn't surprise her if the guardian could hear everything they said, even from so far away. She silently took her lover's hand and they walked back the way they came.

When they'd found a secluded spot near a noisy stream, the tall woman finally spoke.

"I was afraid of this. Magic isn't usually very powerful back on my world. Here, it looks like it's rarer but much more concentrated."

Marie wasn't sure what to say to that, not having had much experience with magic. She contented herself to use her eyes to encourage her mate to continue.

"I'm very sure we're not authorized to use the portal so we're going to have to be a little sneaky about it."

The queen was well acquainted with the art of stealth. She could sneak up on even the most alert animals in her queendom. That guardian still might pose too great a challenge though. She'd need a distraction, and she hated herself for suggesting it but she'd have to depend on Marie for the distraction.

They made up some code phrases and silent signals to communicate with each other. Then they left their packs by the stream and put their plan into action. It wasn't a perfect plan but they came up with a few alternatives. They felt ready for anything.

Marie started the show by fashioning a sling and using rocks to attract the guardian's attention. She didn't try to hit the guardian. She just tried to make noise and lure it away. She ducked down behind a low wall to keep from being seen and slung one rock after another at some debris at the base of the hill where the portal stood.

Step one of the plan worked. The guardian took the bait and moved to investigate the noise, allowing Gabi to move closer to her goal.

There was only one flaw in the plan. The guardian heard the whipping sound of the sling as the ancient weapon released its payload. It heard both the rock and the sling and stopped to try to resolve the confusion.

The guardian warrior was actually a giant robot with limited artificial intelligence. It didn't normally have to solve such dilemmas as there used to be human guards to help with security. Now it was alone and it had to make a decision.

So far, it followed the sound of the rocks, but it was able to finally realize that the sling was the source of the rocks. That led it to begin formulating a dangerous path change -- dangerous for Marie that is.

* * *

While Marie continued her part of the plan with reckless abandon, Gabi quickly made her way up the back of the large hill with the portal. Once near the summit, she slowly edged her way towards the instrument panel. She knew the panel was the key to operating the portal.

Marie had read portions of the magic book to her friend over the past two weeks, and it turned out there was a section on how to operate the portal. The whole book covered everything about the device. A traveler used the instrument panel and the view screen to select a world and walked into the portal. When they exited the portal again, they'd be on the selected world. The only hard part was selecting the world.

From what the two of them could figure out from the text and diagrams, potential worlds are selected first by distance and then by star color. The remaining criteria were breathable air, water and life forms. Water and life forms made sense, but apparently some worlds had air that people couldn't breathe. Neither of the two women knew enough about air to understand that statement but they'd be careful about it.

Gabi memorized the symbols for water, breathable air and various types of life forms. The rest was easy. Considering that Farrott -- the man who sent her to Agrin -- was a weakling scum, her Sister Sun had to be one of the closest stars, and she knew the color. She only had to check the symbols for air, water and signs of life to make sure she had the right world.

Taking one last look around, she didn't see the guardian anywhere. That left her free to approach the panel.

Selecting the closest stars, she then looked for yellow ones. There was only one so she selected it and checked the view screen. The screen showed two worlds, one with water, breathable air and abundant life. The second world was dead. It had water but no breathable air or life. The choice was clear. She'd found Kispri!

She almost swooned when she thought about going back. Everything seemed too easy, too good to be true. All she had to do was hit a big blue button and walk into the portal. She was going home! Then a loud scream for help interrupted her daydreaming. In her desperation to get home, she'd almost forgotten one very important thing: Marie.

Gabi immediately ran down the hill in the direction of the scream to face the guardian warrior. She had to find it before it hurt her true love. She just had to because she was afraid of what she might do if she wasn't in time.

* * *

Marie heard the guardian before she saw it. Then she felt the vibration of its foot steps, and she ran. She ran blindly down the hill and hid behind some rocks by the stream, hoping her gasps for breath weren't as loud as they sounded. The vibration continued to get stronger.

The frightened woman willed herself to breathe more slowly, and she became a statue, refusing to give herself away. She refused to die, refused to lose the love of her life. Then the vibration stopped.

She knew better than to peek. She could practically feel its eyes scanning the area, though it wasn't making any sound at the moment. Closing her eyes helped her focus on her breathing, and she became one with the rock. She was a rock. She was a stone statue.

* * *

The robot used all of its sensors but couldn't find the source of the flying rocks. It computed a 97 percent chance that the two humans it had detected earlier were the source of the flying rocks so it scanned for any evidence of humans, and it found something.

There were many indentations in the ground that matched human footwear, but that didn't help much. It didn't have any tracking software. That only left it one alternative.

The huge machine began to lift some of the larger boulders that lined the nearby stream. As it lifted each one, it looked under it for humans, and when it didn't find any, it easily tossed the boulder across the stream. After it finished clearing the stream of boulders, if it didn't find any humans, it would return to the portal. If it did find humans, it would check them for authorization and only allow them entry to the portal if they were authorized. That's how it was programmed: Look for humans and check for authorization.

A second set of instructions were added later and went as follows: If any humans weren't authorized, it would throw them as far away as it could to show that they weren't welcome. The instructions were generated from its own limited understanding and were actually just as buggy as its first set. It had been too long since the robot had any maintenance.

After more than half of the targeted boulders had been tossed over the stream, the robot was almost surprised to find a human. It had computed only a 7 percent chance of finding a human after tossing the previous boulder. It looked down and saw a human female. She looked asleep but it queried her for authorization anyway.

As soon as Marie heard the mechanical monstrosity ask for authorization, she lost all rational thought and screamed for help. Then she launched herself into the stream and swam for her life. On some subconscious level, she must have known she couldn't outrun the guardian, so instead, she swam underwater. It didn't really make sense but it was a good thing she did.

The robot couldn't track the woman in the stream. To it, she simply disappeared, so it went back to searching under boulders. It figured that the disappearing woman must be authorized to use the portal and had somehow done so from a distance. That was the best explanation its artificial intelligence software could come up with.

* * *

When Gabi arrived near where she heard the scream, she saw the guardian casually throwing boulders, but she refused to believe Marie had been killed. She didn't see a body anyway. The distraught woman hadn't planned for this latest development so she scrapped her plan and did what came naturally. She screamed and threw a rock at the guardian. Her aim was true and the rock bounced off the top of its head, giving her the desired result. She had its attention. The stupid thing stood up straight, asked for authorization and waited but Gabi was already running away.

It was lucky that they hadn't traveled far that day to get to the portal. The tall woman had plenty of energy. She led the portal guardian on a merry chase, but she couldn't run forever. She grew tired and actually considered stopping to try her sword when she saw Marie.

Her beautiful mate was full of surprises that day. The small brunette was over by the portal, dripping wet.

"Blue two!" Gabi screamed as she ran, giving the secret code phrase to activate the portal and enter it. She used a code phrase in case the robot understood and went back to the portal instead of continuing its chase.

"No!" Marie screamed back. "Not without you!"

The warrior queen cringed. Her true love had just given herself away.

Sure enough, the robot abruptly changed direction and headed back towards the portal. It detected unauthorized access.

"Go!" Gabi screamed frantically. "Go now! I'll be right behind you!" She lied, knowing she was too tired to outpace the guardian.

Marie squeaked when she saw the guardian warrior charging up the hill. She hit the blue button and the portal began to glow and hum with power. The humming could be felt more than heard and it made the small woman's skin crawl. Still, she took one more look at the rapidly approaching guardian and lunged for the portal, entering it just in time.

Unfortunately, Marie took too long, allowing the guardian to get too close. It couldn't stop itself in time and it crashed into the portal building, setting off a stupendous explosion. The explosion ripped the top off the hill and hit Gabi with tremendous force. The warrior queen flew backwards several body lengths, landing hard on the soft dirt. Thanks to her magic armor, she'd live, but she'd be very sore for a long time.

The guardian robot was destroyed along with the portal. Marie had escaped the world of Agrin but Gabi was still its prisoner, and would continue to be one for a long, long time.