AKLESH (Under Strange Skies) (28 page)

He’d forgotten the little girl who would bite on her fingers when she was tense or thinking. That child had long since given way to the elegant lady that sat in front of him, but he coveted the memory of her innocence, not yet weighed down by the worries of an entire universe.

She looked up after a moment of contemplation.

“Nothing else?” she asked again.

“He said nothing about where he was going, my lady,” Janphor replied. “Come to think of it, he was quite rude about it actually.”

“If only we had some clue,” she said, returning to her nails to calm her anxiety.

“Why does this trouble you so?” asked the servant innocently.

Although the prince had been gone for almost two months, which was even a long time for him, his running off was hardly anything new.

Janphor shuddered at what trouble the heir might be getting himself into at that moment.

Gweni suddenly grabbed his arm rather forcefully, which was also very unlike her.

“Because,” she whispered intently, “he is not off on one of his tears. He is not off on some wild holiday. I tell you this in the strictest confidence. He is missing and he’s in danger. Can you not remember anything that might help me…

us…find him!”

Janphor was surprised by the princess’s aggression.

“If you are that certain, why have you not taken this up with your parents?”

She let go of his arm and slid back into her original position on the sofa, a little embarrassed by her own outburst. As of recently she’d had to be secretive with her own family. Her heart sank to have been keeping things from Janphor. Still, if he knew too much, his life would be in danger as well. She phrased what she said next very carefully.

“The depth of this goes further than you can imagine. There are those that would prefer Gar to simply stay ‘lost,’ and if they knew I was trying to actively find him, it would end up becoming…

complicated.”

The implications of what she said was not lost on the attendant. He’d been around politics long enough to know when strings were being pulled, and it was apparent his mistress was now hanging by one.

“Oh, Gweni,” he said sadly, using a name he had not used in years. “What have you done?” A single tear slid down her cheek before she quickly wiped it away.

“Nothing that I’m not more than willing to try and undo,” she said resolutely.

The princess had shown to him in less than a half an hour sides of her personality he had never seen before and was very certain he didn’t like.

One thing was clear: she was scared and in over her head. It would take a power much greater than herself to make that happen. He might owe allegiance to the crown and government, but he was devoted to the Orestes children. If they were in need or in trouble, he would always be the first one by their side and their welfare was his paramount concern above all else.

He gently took her hand into his own three fingered ones and gave it a reassuring squeeze.

“We will fix whatever it is. I promise, dear one.

We will find your brother and he will be brought home safely.”

The princess seemed a little reassured by his words.

She felt as if she was little again and Janny was calming her after a bad dream. It was a nice feeling. The use of the word ‘we’ had given her heart. For once in these long months, she didn’t feel absolutely alone. There was now someone else on her side.

Janphor scoured his memory one last time, searching for details he might have overlooked. He remembered the prince waving him off and recalled the shuttle doors closing. And he remembered seeing the prince punch in the planetary access code. At this thought his eyes brightened.

“I may have something, your highness,” he said.

She looked at him eagerly. “It isn’t much, but I know the first number of the planetary access code he used was zero. That’s all I could see before the cockpit hatch closed.”

Her eyes brightened and she happily leaned over and kissed him on his scaly forehead, almost knocking off his hat. “You’re brilliant, Janny!

Brilliant!” She then went back to the portable infoscreen and searched for the information she needed. He watched as she assessed the data that was presented to her.

“There are only 170 planets that have a planetary access code that start with zero!” she exclaimed triumphantly.

“That’s good?” he asked.

“Yes, that’s very good -- 170 and planets are easier to scan than the thousands in the monarchy.” She handed him the list on the screen in her hand and he looked them over. The idea seemed a little ridiculous.

“Half of these planets are almost entirely peopled by pure humans. If he’s on one of these, it will be like trying to find a star without using an access portal.”

“Then we’ll start by searching the ones with non-humanoid life-forms. That will narrow our search as well,” she explained.

“What makes you think he’d be on any of those planets, your majesty,” his tone was worried.

“Some of them barely contain any civilized life.”

“Call it a hunch,” she said.

“You intend on searching all of these planets? It could take weeks to get through them, and your results would be mixed at best. And if he’s on a human-occupied system, there will be no hope at all.”

“I’m not going to search those planets. Janny,” she said. “You are. My movements are most certainly being watched, but you can move about freely. Or if necessary, you can move about
as
me.” The shape shifter scoffed at her idea of impersonating anyone in the royal family, which was illegal to say the least. “At any rate, you will have more success than if I tried to venture out on my own.

Please? Will you do this for me? For Gar?” The look on her face was one of desperation. The servant might be her last chance.

Janphor sighed. “What about my duties here at the palace? Surely, I’ll be missed.”

“You’ll hardly be missed,” she said. “If you travel via the royal access portal, I will ensure you have clearance to go anywhere you need. No one will question you. We’ll say you’ve taken a leave of absence. Make sure you do the search in another form. I’ll give you a small contingent of soldiers I trust. They will protect you should things get treacherous. Even if you check only a few planets a day we should eventually have some idea.

Something will turn up, I know it.”

The princess seemed quite happy with her plan, although the attendant had some doubt.

“I’ll make the arrangements. You’ll leave first thing tomorrow,” she said, getting up. After a few steps she turned around and faced the wonderful creature who was her and Gar’s friend.

“Thank you, Janny. Having you on my side means everything to me.”

He nodded to her. “I will always be your devoted servant, your majesty.”

Although the Aklesh planet was not his home, the young prince Orestes was starting to fit in among the strange inhabitants.

Weeks had turned into months and the summer season was drawing to an end. The tribe was gearing up for the wet and cold season, and much needed to be done.

For Gar it had been a great distraction fixing the hovervac and riding it.

The vehicle lacked in comparison to what he considered the real thing, but it was something to fill the void left in his soul that had once been occupied by the thrill of actual space travel. It was also a favorite pastime, too, of Kai, Cho, the twins or any other young Aklesh who had heard about the vehicle and was brave enough to ask to go for a ride on it.

The project had initially been meant to kept him from being underfoot among the Aklesh. They had required time to grow accustomed to his presence, especially the elder tribe members, who were unaccustomed to change. With the younger people in the tribe, Gar found his presence more readily accepted.

Kai himself was actually learning how to maneuver the hovervac and showed a propensity for flying. None of the others were brave enough; the daunting technology alone frightened them.

Although the hovervac itself was not forbidden, the occasional test drives were kept discrete, simply to avoid the disapproval of elders in the community. Gar was very aware that as comfortable as he might be with the Aklesh, he was still a guest and had to obey their customs and rules.

The idea had crossed his mind recently that being a guest was becoming a permanent state and was wary of how long it would be before his welcome wore out.

Putting aside the hovervac, Gar took it upon himself to find some other way to be useful to the tribe.

He also found the physical aspect of working among the warriors, or whomever he decided to apprentice himself with that day, was very rewarding.

Physical training was mandatory on Orestus for the entire populace, but it involved machines that did almost all the work for you. On the Aklesh planet, the work belonged entirely to the individual, and he could see the results as they showed on their bodies almost immediately.

His legs had gotten infinitely stronger from having to traverse the many stairways, but now his upper body was filling out due to the extra manual labor. Although it was nothing compared to the robust men and women he was surrounded by, it was more impressive than many on Orestus.

And he was doing manual labor! He knew if his sister could see him, she would be shock. After she got done laughing, of course.

The prince had tried his hand at fishing, with limited success. Since he had no particular love for the squid-like creatures that were so plentiful that time of year, his enthusiasm for the job quickly waned.

Hunting also proved to be -- well, interesting. Although Tyro had been patient in showing him how to use a spear, even standing behind him and guiding him through it several times, it was not something that Gar showed any real talent for.

In the end, though, Gar refrained from taking part in Tyro’s hunting group since he knew very well that his presence would only slow them down. Tyro had been amused by his interest but held no grudge for them same reason. They both figured it was better to let the hunters be hunters, but the gesture of trying to understand them and their culture had not gone unnoticed.

Gar had also taken part in various crafts -- like weaving, basket making and food preparations.

Frankly, there wasn’t much else to do. There was no information feed, infoscreens or anything of the kind on the planet. The prince found to his surprise that he could live quite well without the technology he had always thought so vital to life on Orestus.

During this time Kai had been a constant presence.

He had been Gar’s tutor on some occasions and other times simply been company.

After a while his broken arm had been deemed as ‘well mended’ by the Healer, enough for him to join his hunting group again. This made him very happy, but kept him away from the keep and Gar from time to time.

Still they were enjoying each other’s company, as was observed by many in the tribe.

They also continued with the exercises the healer had given them and told her how they were progressing. She informed them that she had hope for an answer to their unique problem soon.

Their sleeping arrangements had been working out as well, although there were a few hiccups at the beginning.

It sort of instinctually happened that Gar took the cot and Kai brought the fur sleeping mat in from outside. The problem came when they both went to bed. Kai had gone to sleep first, enjoying the fact that he had free use of his hut again and could sleep when he wanted to and not wait for Gar, who tended to stay up and look at the stars.

When Gar decided to retire for the night, he came into the hut and saw Kai stretched out on the floor, sleeping peacefully on the mat – and in a completely natural state.

For some reason the free nature of the tribal people about their bodies had made the prince more guarded about his own. He was very aware of the difference in his appearance and would make an excuse to look somewhere else should he be surprised by sudden nudity among the Aklesh.

In the bathing area he stayed deep in the water and only went down there when he knew there were few people around to witness. Kai had been sensitive to this, but in the excitement of sleeping in the hut again and out from the elements, he had probably forgotten.

And there was the other problem that arose from it, which was worse.

Gar stood in the doorway with the familiar rush of heat filling his body as he stared at the unaware Kai, whose muscular body looked beautifully lit in the glow of the small cooking fire that was reduced to embers. The prince realized that the precious privacy he had been enjoying was gone and that the nude, muscular distraction in the hut was not helping the problem any.

He’d been away from home for months. It had been the longest time he had been without certain companionship since having reached adulthood.

The more he was around Kai, the more he wanted him.

Gar also noticed that though Kai was asleep, the young tribesman was sensing his pent up desire and it was beginning to manifest visually.