"Farewell, my Prince."
"Farewell, my Queen."
"My prince, I was never your queen. I was but a
bridge, between your beloved Elizabetha and her
reborn soul."
The door closed behind Raven. "Jarred, take us..."
She never finished the sentence as once again my
partner was unconscious. I knew I should have never
let her out of the ship alone. With Jade being so
persistent though about going, I knew if I didn't watch
over her that she would leave. With Jade, as with her
mother, there was no try, only do.
Jade was definitely unhappy, and so was I, for that
matter. Raven was nearly bled out and had pushed her
body to a new low. Her mind was quickly slipping
beyond my reach. "How, Why?" I spieked.
"Had to stop the virus." She managed to send that
before she was completely out of reach.
We reached home only about an hour after we had
left. "Allison, get home. Your mother has done it
again." I sent to her. She was home in a flash. Jarred
was carrying her into the pit when Christian arrived.
He was getting ready to come unglued on the kids
when Jarred spoke up. "Chris, listen to me before you
lose it. You have to understand why. Let Allison work,
and come with me."
Jade was about to join us when Jarred looked at her
and said no, he needs to understand in his own way. I
went along, knowing that the pin on Allison's lab coat
would do its job. Jarred had a small suitcase waiting in
Ship's antechamber for Chris.
"You will need this, and remember what Mom
taught all us kids in Sumerian." he told his stepfather.
"Yes, she taught you the phrase 'blood calls to
blood'. It means that whoever says that is safe and
could be trusted."
"You are going to need it. I will be setting you
down outside an office. The man you want to speak
with is named Chancellor Vlad Tepes Drakul. He has
the answers you seek." Jarred worked Ship's controls,
and in a few seconds, Chris and I exited Ship, and
walked into the Chancellor's office. There was
minimum security.
I saw something that I was not expecting- a very
pudgy Aurora carrying a snow white kitten in her
mouth. She walked up to Chris and handed him the
kitten. "His name is Samiel, and he is all mine!" she
told Chris with fierce pride.
We walked into the office that was Madeline's.
"My name is Christian Somers. I come with a
message." he told Madeline. She looked at him a little
warily. She had not seen me.
"Blood calls to Blood" he said without flaw, in
Sumerian. The look of surprise was evident on her
face.
"I will notify the Chancellor immediately." She
went to the old Rom language. "Father, there is a man
here, and he knows Mother's code." she said into the
intercom.
"Send him in, Magda." If he knows she sent him...
We were escorted into his office. I was still not
allowing Vlad to see me. My name is Chancellor
Drakul. How may I be of assistance to you?"
"Greetings, Chancellor Drakul. My name is
Christian Raphael Somers. I believe you know my
wife. Her name is Raven."
'She was called Anya here.' I sent to Chris.
"I believe you called her Anya."
Vlad's face then took on a look of sheer panic.
"How is she? Is she all right?"
I don't think Chris had ever seen this kind of
reaction from a stranger. 'They have a daughter,
Chris. She taught him how to love. She also made his
wedding tomorrow possible. He genuinely loves her,
and so does his bride.' I told Chris.
"She is recovering." was all Chris could say. We
were not sure if she would even survive what she had
done.
There was another phone call then, and after a few
moments Vlad hung up. "We must go quickly, and
you, Mr. Somers, must come too." he said.
Madeleine entered the room carrying a basket
under her arm. Aurora's nose poked out. "It's Jade.
She is still bleeding, and Thomas is frantic." she said
audibly.
I hopped onto Chris's shoulder. "Everyone take
hold of each other's hands." I spoke. They did it more
out of shock than training. This world has an overflow
of mana and no mages, thank Oberon.
I took them back to Vlad's castle. "Chris, follow
me, and quickly!" How Jarred had known to stick a
couple of bottles in the bag, I will never know. We
headed up the stairs to the room that Raven had given
birth to Madeleine in.
Jade was in there, along with Thomas and Ming.
She was bleeding heavily. I used a little of my magic to
slow it down. 'Chris, in the bag there are bottles.' He
was over to her bedside. Thomas could only stare. He
opened the bag. In it were two bottles, with a note that
read 'For Jade'. The hand writing was Amy's. The
bottles were ornately carved Mithral- that meant only
one person- Chucky.
Chris gently lifted Jade's head. "Sweety, you need
to drink this." he said softly. He uncorked the bottle
and let her take a few sips. She grabbed the bottle a
tanked it. Only, about a minute after she finished the
bottle, she began to have a seizure, then passed out.
As we watched, she healed back to how she had
looked prior to the pregnancy. Thomas could only sit
there in amazement. He took the other bottle and
uncorked it. He then placed a single drop on his tongue.
He let out a gasp and handed the bottle to Vlad. "Hold
on to this- it could save lives!" he gasped.
It was then that we realized his hair was standing
on end- every hair on his body was standing on end.
We started to laugh and that woke Jade. "Daddy, why
are you here?" she asked Chris in Sumerian.
"To let the Chancellor know that your mother is all
right."
We would spend three weeks there. The first after
the wedding was spent with Jade, Ming, May and baby
Yeun. I felt Chris' sorrow when he realized that May
would never speak. She had been born with no vocal
cords. She had also not yet learned to mind speak. Jade
had resorted to teaching her sign language to
communicate. She understood perfectly well, but her
voice was silent, and that was painful to witness.
The rest of the time was spent with Vlad and Ingrid.
Chris and Vlad would get to know one another. It was
strange to watch them. They had so much in common,
and now that they were together, it was even more
evident. Both served in political positions that they
were uncomfortable with, not for themselves but for
their people. Both also agreed that when it came to
telling Raven no, you can't do what was impossible.
Chris found out that Raven had come earlier to the
world with little Vlad, who was now twenty. She had
stayed long enough to help them, then engineered
Ingrid meeting Vlad. They found out about the
tampering when Carlos found a small inconsistency
with the paperwork, along with two very beautifully
done forgeries. That allowed them to trace back five
years earlier to when Raven had been there.
We also had talked for an extended period of time
with Jade, finding out that she had returned to this
world nearly eleven years earlier with Ming. The guild
was told, in no uncertain terms, to butt out. Apparantly,
the Primals and Shivara told the guild that Jade had
carte blanche when it came to world hopping. She was
only doing good here, that they needed to leave her
alone OR ELSE! Had been attached to that.
My guess is that only Ming and Jade know about
the primal still visiting her. They need her here, and the
guild has no understanding that Jade is still a unique
commodity in the universe.
We all agreed that Raven most likely would return
to let them know she was fine. We all also agreed that
trying to stop her was a futile gesture. Well, one more
for the Raven Fan Club. How many men truly had the
bad habit of falling completely in love with her now?
Andrew, Vlad, Chris, Steven, myself, we were all
powerless.