The Project

Chapter 16

The Project Chapter 16

Alex made no commitment one way or another to Deegom concerning the use of his strange and powerful weapon, but on the way back into town, Fergus stopped him.

"Alex, you may want to consider doing nothing more with that unusual weapon of yours, word's bound to spread about it's ability to destroy things more effectively than a bow and arrow. There's going to be considerable interest, as well as the temptation to steal it." Alex looked down at the little man. Without realizing it, he had just introduced modern firearms to a world that knew nothing more deadly than swords, bows and arrows, and possibly spears.

As they were heading back towards town, a centaur came trotting towards them from a side road but this time it was a female one, or as Fergus told him, a kentauride. She was rather good looking, and like the males, wore a short waistcoat, of light green, with a white shirt underneath. She had long black hair, and a light brown body.

"Heyya Drott!" She called out, as soon as she recognized him then came up along side the wagon.

"You two are wanted back at the palace,"

"By whom?" Asked Alex.

"The queen, who do you think?" Came the reply,

"Are we in trouble?" Asked Fergus,

"Not for me to say," replied the kentauride,

"But if I were you, I'd go see the queen right away." She then spoke to Drott.

"We are all going on a ride the day after tomorrow; you and Lamia are more than welcome to join us."

"Where ya ridin to?" Asked Drott.

"Not real sure just yet, probably north of Kerin, you know where the Blacksaddle comes up to the Skeln."

"I know the place," replied Drott, "All right then, count us in, see ya later." With that, the female Centaur galloped off back the way she came.

"Who was that?" Asked Alex,

"That was Bithia, she's one of the royal messengers, guess we'd better get back to the palace right away."

On their way to the palace, they ran into Arna and Garmik.

"Where have you tow been?" Asked Alex,

"We've been in meetings all day with the queen and her prime minister, along with various advisors concerning the transport ships I suggested," explained Garmik.

"Do either of you know where Kelly went?" He asked.

"I believe she is with the sorceress, as well as two or three of the creatures known as fairies," replied Arna, "Other than that, I do not know."

"Well thank you," replied Alex, "We have to see the queen ourselves, I guess I'll see you guys back at the guest house later on," he said."

The gate guards passed them through, telling Drott to go to the west portico entrance. Drott let them off in front of the rather plain looking entrance, then exclaimed,

"See ya around, hope you aren't in too much trouble Ha Ha!" With that, he trotted off.

"D'ya think we are really in that much trouble?" Wondered Alex,

"Who knows?" Replied Fergus, queen Breca is pretty even tempered, well let's go and find out." The house Carl was waiting just inside the door,

"There you two are, queen wants to see you."

"We already know!" Shot back Fergus,

"Follow me," replied the servant.

They were taken to the same room Alex and the others first met the queen. The house Carl knocked lightly with the queen's voice calling,

"Come in!" The queen was sitting at her desk, with Lord Morrone standing on her left.

"Have a seat you two," then Lord Morrone pointed to Alex's AR, and pump shotgun.

"Are those the weapons?" Alex shrugged, certain the axe was about to fall.

"Yes sir,"

"Put them on my desk please," added the queen. He carefully laid them down across her desk, the AR first, then the shotgun below it. Both the queen and her lord looked at them likes they were going to bite them. Both studied them for a few moments, then looked at Alex,

"How do these weapons work?" Asked the lord.

"Well they aren't loaded at the moment," explained Alex,

"If you will permit me, I will demonstrate how this long one works." The queen and lord Morrone looked at each other, then back to Alex.

"Very well, please demonstrate," said the queen. He then showed them how the rifle came apart, the bolt, the bullets it fired, and how they loaded into the magazine. He did the same for the shotgun, and gave them an idea of the sort of damage each could do. When Alex was finished, he said,

"If you have someplace I can further demonstrate how this shoots I'll be happy to do so."

"Perhaps some other time," said the queen. "I received word that you had some magical weapon and that you destroyed several Shadox all at once, but these things don't look particularly magical?"

"No your highness," he quickly replied, they make a lot of noise when I fire them, but I swear there is nothing magical about them." Then taking his multi-tool and a bullet, he twisted off the bullet, and poured the powder into his hand.

"This is called gunpowder your highness, when the firing pin in the bolt here strikes the primer at the end of the cartridge here, it causes this powder to ignite. When that happens, a lot of gas is created, which in turn causes the rifle to extract the spent cartridge, and load the next cartridge." Although he tried to be as through as he could, Alex wasn't sure either of them fully understood how the rifle actually worked. He then did the same for the shotgun, showing them how that worked, but for some reason, they seemed to understand that one a little better. After a number of questions, both the queen and her lord began to understand that these firearms were not magical, but mechanical devices that fired projectiles using a process they didn't quite understand.

"It is quite obvious to us that you possess some rather amazing weapons," stated the queen. "Weapons far superior to anything we now have, and this is what worries us. Were they to fall into the wrong hands, there would be no protection from them, magic notwithstanding. I understand that although they may be common where you come from, for us they are a very grave threat, the fact that you come to us from another world, and that we are talking to your metal friends concerning transport ships only complicates matters. However, I must insist, that you return them to your ship, and secure them in such a way they cannot be stolen, or failing that, rendered inoperative in such a way, no one else could use them, is that understood?"

"Yes your highness," gulped Alex.

"Furthermore, I will send members of my personnel guard, along with you back to your ship where the captain of the guard will verify that these weapons have been properly secured, then they will stand guard over your ship until you leave."

"Your highness," he then asked, "Can you tell me where Kelly is? She left a note but I want to know where she is?" The queen frowned,

"Kelly asked a personal favor of Mullein and I in exchange for her book. It was a very selfless thing she asked, as well as very private. We respect that, rest assured that she is in good hands, and in no danger. When she's ready you will see her again."

"Well that's all I really wanted to know your highness, that she's gone somewhere at her own choice, and is in no danger."

"Very good then," replied the queen, my guards should be waiting for you." Alex and Fergus followed the house Carl back to the door they had come in, where they found a squad of tough looking soldiers mounted on equally looking tough centaurs who carried large swords on sheaths across their backs. Both riders and mounts wore kaki colored uniforms along with helmets that reminded him of the old World War 1 helmets.

Since Drott and his wagon were gone, one of the soldiers addressed Alex,

"Give me your hand, I'll pull you up." Then turning to Fergus, he said,

"No need for you to come Fergus."

"Well I'll see you around Alex," he called out.

Alex rode behind the man as they moved out, trotting smartly down the street.

"So you guys are the queen's personal guard?"

"Yep!" He had hoped to strike up a conversation, but this guy wasn't interested. Alex make two more attempts to talk to the man, but all he got for his effort was,

"You talk too much!" Once they were clear of town, the troop went into a full gallop with Alex hanging on for dear life, he had a feeling they were doing this deliberately as the landing area wasn't that far from town. Finally they reached the large stone walled enclosure where the Karla-Ann was parked. Alex was glad Arna had given him the code to open the ramp door. He wasted no time securing the weapons; however on a hunch he removed the firing pins from his rifle, as well as the one for Kelly, before returning them to their lockers. Grabbing a snack before leaving the ship, he entered the code again to close the door.

"Look guys!" He called out, "My guns are locked up, can we go back to town now?"

The captain of the guard walked over to him, and announced,

"No can do, not until our relief shows up, guess you're stuck here until then."

"Uh when will that be?" he asked.

"Not until midnight, sorry." With nothing else to do Alex wandered around, heading for the stone tower, and brick building at one end of the large yard. Several of the soldiers were already standing around along with their centaur mounts.

"Hey guys, what's happening?" No one said anything at first, trying to ignore him, but out of their own boredom individual soldiers and centaurs began to open up.

"That's a rather interesting concept of fighting," said Alex to a small group,

"Not only does the mounted trooper have a weapon, but so does his mount."

"What's so unusual about that commented one of the centaurs.

"Well," replied Alex, "When they used to have horse cavalry on my planet, only the guy riding the horse had any weapons." This brought on mild interest, as someone asked,

"What are horses?" This totally threw Alex, who struggled to explain.

"Well, err, Uh, horses are just like you uh, centaurs, but they don't have uh, men and women's bodies on them, uh here they look like this." Taking out his pen and a piece of scrap paper, he quickly drew an image of a horse, emphasizing the horse's head and neck. Everyone gasped and even a couple called him a liar.

"Hey I sorry guys, but that's the way they look, naturally they can't talk, and they are not all that smart, sorry, no offense. Centaurs only appear in our ancient mythology." This revelation seemed to cut the centaurs to the quick, but they didn't get especially angry about it.

"So you've never actually seen us before in real life?" Asked one of the centaurs.

"No," replied Alex, but how do you guys work together like you do? Doesn't it bother you to have someone ride on your back?" He asked them.

"Not in the least," was the reply, "We are the queen's personal bodyguard, we're simply the best, we work as a team."

"Interesting, replied Alex, "Does Deneva have an army?"

"Sure, and a navy as well, mostly they spend their time guarding the smaller villages in and around the Witchfire Mountains, chasing Nostra Khan."

"Who's he?"

"He's an Elvin warlord living up in the Witchfires, although he's been seen prowling around parts of the perished lands. There's quite a sizeable bounty on his head, uh last I heard it was around ten thousand weins," replied one of the soldiers.

"Is he that hard to catch?" Asked Alex, everybody laughed, as one of the centaurs replied,

"There's nobody from Deneva stupid enough to go after him, Nostra has this bad habit of kidnapping the families of whoever thinks they can catch him. Believe me; once someone's family is taken by the likes of Kahn, all thoughts of quick wealth quickly disappear. We've even had people come from other worlds to try; they're just never seen again. Right now there's a semi-truce going on, we leave him alone, he leaves us alone."

Then in a hushed tone, one of the troopers said,

"At first, we thought you were someone from one of the off-worlds coming here to try your luck, especially when we heard about that business with the Shadox."

Shaking his head, Alex said,

"I'm no bounty hunter, I've never been in the military, or killed anyone, don't want to kill anyone either. I've done some deer hunting back home, but that's all."

"Well," replied one of the centaur's "I'm sure word's gotten to old Nostra by now, he's got spies everywhere, who I'm sure will be giving him a full report about you very soon if not already."

"Jeezist! Gasped Alex, "That's all I need is a damn bandit hunting me, and I can't even carry any protection with me."

"Well I wouldn't worry too much yet," came the reply, "Nostra's spies will be watching you pretty closely, probably one or two hiding in that woods out there right now. As long as you don't get an interest in visiting the Witchfires, and stick around town, he won't make any moves, but you can bet he's going to be very interested in that strange weapon of yours."

"Well," replied Alex, had I known all you people had here was bows and arrows, knives and swords." Then the captain of the guard who had joined the little discussion said,

"Why do you assume that just because all you see us carrying are weapons like that, that we aren't aware of weapons such as you have?"

"Well… Uh…I dunno…I…"

"Don't think so much friend, often times it can get you into trouble."