Heather's Prophecy

Chapter 3

“Oh and your last forecast? They used it. And naturally, the mission is a complete success. They can’t praise you enough and you are the talk of the town in there, Heather. They are dying to know who you really are and what you look like. Most of them are convinced that you are an old man!” she said as she ate a piece of a chocolate bar.

I sighed in boredom, “Yeah, yeah. As if I will show my face to them. What if someone fell in love with me? The horror!” I touched my face with my two hands and imitated Lenna exaggeratedly.

She laughed so hard that the other customers looked at us curiously. Lenna’s beautiful face is red in happiness and she is pounding her hand at the table.

“Oh my God. Is this the end of the world? You showed humor! The cyborg war lady joked! I have to confess now before the stars fall down from the skies!” Lenna said as she used the tissue paper to wipe her tears.

I shook my head and smiled, Lenna is the only person I can show my true self to. The other girls hated me, the boys wanted to make fun of me and the old people is envious of my brain. She is a breath of fresh air whenever we meet like this once in a blue moon.

Lenna wheezed slowly as she recovered from her laughter, “If only you could be like this to everyone then you can have a normal life instead of hiding in your room and making predictions. Lady Nostradamus is that you?”

I make faces on her and suggested that we should shop for clothes.

We head to the downtown sale mall and picked up some clothes. If there is one thing, we have alike except for working in the military and having the same lineage, it is our lack of sense of style and taste. What we deemed as comfortable and economical, no matter how ugly and out of date the clothes are, we buy it.

We are in the middle of shopping when a pink luxury car suddenly appeared in front of the door. Out came a girl with blonde hair and purple eyes. Contact lens and exploding bust and butt line that is sure to be a surgical miracle, in red super micro mini skirt and plunging neckline.

“Creusa…” Lenna whispered as she bowed her head.

I also bowed my head as the “crown countess” walked pass us. It is customary to our monarchial country to bow our head down to the royalties. I can see the loathing in Lenna’s eyes as she glared at the back of Creusa as she ridicules the cheap clothes and dresses at the mall.

I decided to ask Lenna to have a snack with me at a nearby fast-food chain to calm her nerves.

“You see Heather. I don’t really mind if someone used my title as long as he or she deserves the role, I couldn’t care less. But seeing her waste the treasury of our dukedom to boost her boost less body makes me sad and angry.” I am sure my dad will be angry if he is alive now.

I patted her back and nodded, “We can’t do anything my sister. We may have the blood but we don’t have the right and power to make a change. All we can do is pray that someone can do something for us.”

Lenna nodded and wiped her tears. She forced her beautiful face to smile at me but she burst out in tears again. I hugged her and say soothing words. She may be strong on the outside but she really gets sad when it comes to her lineage. Especially when she sees the news that tells how her aunt and cousin lives in the life luxury while her citizens are living in poverty.

We sometimes go to the depressed areas of Fournier and visit the house of the poor there. They are warm and welcoming to us and were very happy when we organized a small Christmas party for them. We used our own saving to finance our party and everyone was happy when they received food for Christmas and New Year.

Since Lady Matilde became the ruler of the Dukedom of Fournier, the gap between the poor and the rich became wide. The once average family suddenly fell to poor status because of unjust taxes. Lenna felt sad and tried to do her best for her people even if they don’t know who she is. There are however, a few close calls when someone remarks that Lenna and the late duke have the same eyes, but other than that, nobody knows who we really are and they see us as a concerned citizen of other dukedoms.

“I think we should head home now Heather, I still have some battle strategy to finish for this weekend or my head officer will scrub me. Thanks for everything Heather, I don’t know what will I do without you sister.” Lenna said as she embraced me when we are in a train terminal.

“Don’t mention it. After all we, the exiled crown countesses must stick together,” I said.

She laughed and hugged me tighter.

-0-

TO:

IMPERIAL SCANDINAVIAN ROYAL ARMY

KALININGRAD HEADQUARTERS

COMMANDING OFFICER

MILITARY FORECAST CASE 2103

THE IMPERIAL AERIAL CAVALRY OF THE EMPEROR IS COMPOSED OF HUNDREDS UPON HUNDREDS OF STATE-OF-THE-ART AIRCRAFTS AND BOMBERS. HOWEVER, USING ONLY TWO AIRCRAFT CARRIERS AS THE STAGING GROUNDS FOR THE ATTACK IS NOT ENOUGH. JUDGING FROM THE DATA THE HEADQUARTERS HAD SENT TO THE FORECASTER, THE SIZE OF THE TARGET IS ALMOST A TEN-KILOMETER-WIDE VILLAGE FULL OF TERRORIST BOMB STORAGE AND LAND MINES. EACH AIRCRAFT CARRIER CAN ONLY HOUSE TWENTY-FOUR AIRCRAFTS AT ANY GIVEN TIME, GIVING ONLY FOURTY EIGHT GRAND TOTAL OF AIRCRAFTS UNDER THE EMPEROR’S CONTROL AT THE SAID MISSION. IT IS SUGGESTED THAT THE NUMBER OF JOUTUNHEIM CLASS AIRCRAFT CARRIERS BE DOUBLED FROM TWO TO FOUR AND MUST BE ESCORTED BY TWO THOR CLASS MAIN BATTLESHIPS AND SIX GARM CLASS SUBMARINES FOR ANTI DEPTH BATTLE. THE RATE OF SUCCESS OF THE MISSION INCREASES FROM FIFTY-SEVEN PERCY TO ROUGHLY NINETY SEVEN POINT SIXTY FIVE PERCENT.

THE SAID STATEMENT ABOVE HOWEVER, CAN BE DISMISSED AS USELESS AND INNACURATE BY THE COMMANDING OFFICER. THIS MILITARY FORECAST WAS MADE BY REQUEST OF THE HEADQUARTERS. THE FORECASTER IS NOT LIABLE FOR ANY SHORTCOMMINGS AND LOSSES AS THE FINAL DECISION IS ALWAYS IN THE HANDS OF THE EXPERIENCED COMMANDER.

FORECASTED BY:

H. F. TRASKA

OFFICER, RESERVE INTELLIGENCE BEAUREU

That was the forecast I sent last Thursday to the headquarters, sadly, they didn’t follow my forecast…

“It is confirmed that one of the Joutunheim class aircraft carrier of the empire was sunk at the Atlantic sea yesterday after the victorious battle over the Iraqi terrorist infested village.” The reporter said as I watched the t.v late at night

“There has been no casualties as the crew evacuated before the second torpedo hit the hull of the ship. The aircrafts flew to the nearby allied British airfield for emergency landing. The Emperor is dismayed by the fact that he lost such expensive ship at the cost of a small victory. It is rumored that the outcome was supposed to be avoided if the headquarters followed a military forecaster suggesting to use escort ships to protect the carriers instead of the meddling of the deputy duchess of Fournier, Lady Matilde who insisted on sending two ships instead. That’s it for the news, now let’s turn to weather report by Caty Briant…”

I turned off the T.V and threw the remote at the sofa. This is one of those times when I felt angered over the fact that all my forecasts are just there for second opinions or suggestions rather than the main order. If only they followed my strategy, the loss of such an important ship may be altered…

Well at least I can get paid. Come to think of it, that fake duchess meddled again and she thought she is doing some good instead of messing everything every time she put her grimy hands on the military missions, she knew nothing about.

DUHchess of Idiocy indeed. Or so others called her.