Queen's Quest

Chapter 3

Chapter Three Queens Quest

"Tell us more about your adventure with the wicked witch Jina," I asked.

"like I told you," she began. "young witches in training are sent to the Cantard for five years with the assumption that what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. After I finished my medical as well as sorcery training, by the way my mother, as well as her mother were all level twenty witches in the guild so obviously I already had a bit of training and experience under my belt. Anyway, when I got there they set me up at the field office where my superiors started me out practicing midwifery and street medicine in one of the nameless villages found out there. Actually, the place had a name, "Groot." An ogre ran the place and I learned quickly that if I was going to be left alone I had to pay him off. I learned that he was addicted to Japote which I supplied to him."

"Isn't that stuff super addictive?" asked Gretchen.

""Oh very," replied Jina, "However I found a supplier who demanded free medical care in return. Thing was, and I surely didn't tell him that since I was doing my internship the care was free anyway, ha!" Jina then took a long sip of wine before resuming her tale.

"The ogre's name was…Surprise! "Groot." Now you've all got an idea of how backward this place was. Anyway it turned out Groot had been enchanted by one of the rogue witches hanging around the village. There were about three of them, I mean these gals were

Bat s**t crazy, when they found out I was there I got spit at called names I don't care to repeat, and threatened with r**e and other dreadful acts of cruelty. I also discovered Groot had been enchanted by one of the witches; she apparently had a thing for ogres beyond that I will say no more. Groot was definitely in her pocket. Well once, I found that out it was a simple matter of un-hexing the poor soul. It also turned out his addiction to Japote was a part of this enchantment."

After more wine, Jina continued with her story.

"Where was I…Oh yeah, Well once I got Groot's mind right and he realized what had happened to him, he immediately took matters into his own hands. I don't know if any of you have ever seen what happens to someone who really pisses off an ogre, believe me it isn't pretty. He literally tore two of them to pieces, the third one, Mynce was her name escaped further into the Cantard well I figured I had to finish what I started so Groot and I took off after her."

"You actually traveled with an ogre?" asked Gravin in wonder. Jina smiled, and replied,

"Sure, they're not so bad when you get to know them, and don't forget, he was a "tame" ogre who had fallen on hard times and got himself bewitched. Besides Groot was so grateful to me for releasing him from the witches spell he became like a devoted servant to me. And it's a good thing too, some of the places we traveled…I'm here to tell you I'd have been dead were he not with me. One time two elves tried to r**e me they had my hands and arms pinned so I couldn't cast a spell on them, Groot came busting through the door kicked one of them in the head took it off right at the neck. Then he hit the other guy in the face with a crashing blow, sent his sweet ass to the Promised Land that's for sure. They also had some pretty decent loot on them as well; since I couldn't take any money for my work I let Groot have anything we found except for a dagger I could tell was enchanted, Groot didn't know, so I just took it."

As I sat, listening to her remarkable story my mental image of Faerie witches was someone who was more serious minded and taciturn, Jina was certainly a refreshing change.

It was getting late so Jina broke off her story until later. As I lay in my bunk, I thought of Jina as well as the others and what interesting stories they might also have. The next "morning" at breakfast while I was savoring my mug of Drowma, movement caught my eye; it was Fashar flittering down on the table.

""Morning Ensign, sleep well?" I thought. Fashar's response like everything he said to me suddenly appeared in my mind,

"You know we pixies don't sleep in the common reference of the term, we merely go into a sort of shut-down mode, a half-sleep if you will, but thank you for asking. Wow, wasn't that a remarkable story Jina was telling, I can't wait to hear the rest of it."

"I am too," I thought. "I can't figure her out, I always thought Faerie witches were more serious minded sullen down to business types, Jina certainly doesn't fit that description does she?"

"Obviously you don't spend much time around us Faerie folk do you?" replied Fashar.

"Umm probably not, why, is there something I'm missing here?"

"Have you ever attended the festival of Heaven Light?"

"I was all set to attend with a friend a few years ago, but something came up and we didn't go, so I guess the answer is no."

"Well," snickered Fashar, "If you had we wouldn't be having this conversation. Seriously though, most of the older ones are Jina is still young yet, life is still a marvel to her, she's a bright young surgeon as well as an up and coming star in the witches guild, I understand she's quite a party girl." I looked down at the tiny figure grinning back at me.

"How do you know so much about her?" I thought. Fashar chuckled,

"One of the other pixies serving aboard the Nessa has a friend who's a member of the witches guild, I like to know who I'm crewed with, some of these ladies don't care for pixies all that much, so I always check."

"Wow," I thought, "I must really be out of the loop, don't think I've ever heard of a pixie witch." Again Fashar laughed.

"There aren't mainly because of our size however there are a few who have…Er, shall we say…Relationships with witches, plus we have certain abilities that come in handy to them from time to time. Have you ever heard of Malcanthet?"

"I think, isn't she supposed to be some sort of "Queen of the Succubi?"

"She IS queen," replied Fashar. I happen to personally know her "right hand," who is a pixie." A snicker then entered my brain,

"Maybe sometime I'll tell you a story or two, but I'll warn you right now, we're talking some serious porn here." Sighing, I thought,

"Thanks Ensign, but I think I'll pass on that one, I get the picture anyway."

The rest of the crew started coming in since I was on duty I couldn't stick around, so I left just as Jina and Gretchen came in. The rest of the "day" was spent in timed reaction drills as well as familiarization with the ships controls. Lieutenant Tormish test fired all our weapons calibrating them against a target drone. Everything was ready and in order, we would drill repeatedly in the days to come always preparing and making ready…No one would be able to glom onto any mistakes made by me or my crew. Finally we could relax enjoy a beer and listen to Jina continue with her story.

She started off explaining her relationship with Groot, as all of us knowing what we did about ogres thought it a bit odd.

"Those witches really put the whammy on his head," explained Jina. "It took a little while, but eventually his mind cleared, I mixed him up a potion that rid him of his japote addiction and he became quite philosophical in a way. One thing for sure, he knew the Cantard. He also had a pretty good idea where Mynce had gone. He figured she was hiding out near Mount Karek located in the Craytak mountains northwest of where we were, so that's where we headed. I won't bore everyone with a description of our journey, I was able to get hold of a used Gyro truck, Groot fixed himself up a seat I bought a gauzy and some camping supplies and away we went. We made pretty good time although once we hit the stone lands and especially the forest of Ithk. Groot had to literally chop down trees to make a path for the gyro truck. At one point it got so bad I was damn near ready to cast a spell and burn the whole damn woods down but Groot didn't think it would be a good idea so we struggled on." Jina drank some more wine, then continued.

"Did you come across any bandits or wild animals while you were traveling through there?" asked Gretchen.

"Well there's a group of…I don't know, I think they were dwarves or something who called themselves "Skaven," running around out there. One of my sisters in the guild told me they were originally refugees from the ogre wars who escaped to the stone lands and eventually made a life of sorts for themselves out there. Anyway, they didn't bother us but I always felt their presence. Eventually we got to Mount Karek only to find a ruined castle. It was really strange, you're wandering the backside of creation and suddenly there's this run down pile of rubble appearing in front of you. It looked like the keep was still in decent shape so we left the gyro truck in a safe spot and climbed up. Well, before I knew it Mynce was on us, she cast a spell on Groot turning him against me so I had to hide from him. I found the remains of a collapsed corridor and crawled in. Using a light spell I found my way through a long passage, I could hear Groot tearing at the stones trying to get at me. As I was making my way through the passage, I felt a very slight breeze coming through the wall, feeling around I located a secret passage, which led to another low passage. To make a long story short, I wandered around in these abandoned passages for what seemed like hours, I found what must have been someone's secret stash of gold so I took some of the gold then cast a web of webbing spells over the room for another time. I finally found a room where Mynce was living."

"I was trying to think of what to do next when she returned. Well at that point, we simply squared off and went to it… To this day I cant remember what really happened, we flew and crashed around the room punching and scratching at each other, She'd cast a spell at me, I'd block it cast one back she's block that, she's turn into an owl, I'd change to a hawk. When you're fighting like that it's just Bang! Bang! Bang! That quick, that fast. That b***h was good; she was starting to wear me out. Then she got me backed into a corner changing to a Kobold with long claws, I had forgotten about that dagger I had found, which was about all I had left. When she came at me, I twisted to one side lashing out at her with my knife. I only got in a nick but it was enough, Wham! Just like that, she reverted to her original shape dead on the floor. Since she was dead the spell she cast on Groot was broken so he calmed down in fact when I found him he was crying, can you imagine that? An ogre crying. Well we looted the place, I split the gold with Groot plus taking a few "witchy" things for myself, I had Groot take her body down into the little room was then with his strength and my spells, we collapsed the passageway sealing her body up forever. Well, when we got back and I reported it they thought I was lying, but I showed them Mince's ring and neck charm. They thought I was some sort of friggin hero or something."

"Well, anyway I had two years cut off my time in the Cantard, Groot got hired by the field office to act as a sort of guide and bodyguard for the other trainees coming out there, but for a time both of us went back to his old village where he opened a little tavern and I finished out my internship before being sent to Barkesh."

"So is he still there?" asked Gravin. Jina shrugged

"As far as I know, I haven't spoken with him in a while, what with his contract work with the guild and his tavern he's doing all right."

Jina must have been reading my mind…Or Fashar's, when she looked at us and replied.

"I know what you all must be thinking, "This woman looks so young how could she be a surgeon spent time in the Cantard and defeated an experienced witch?" Sometimes I ask myself the same question. Defeating Mynce was pure dumb luck…Nothing more, that battle could have turned on a penny. Believe it or not, I wake sometimes from bad dreams and we Faerie aren't supposed to dream. I've discussed this with my sisters, they tell me the dreams will eventually pass, I hope so. Although I'm a witch, I prefer to be known as a healer, a surgeon, that's why I joined the navy. The Cantard was a bad time for me, however I learned, I gained insightful experience, and I think I'm a better person for it, but I love the navy I intend to make a career of it, here I'm regarded as a doctor, Commander Jina, flight surgeon and that's the way I want it to stay." Then she got real quiet and in a low voice said,

"I think one of the main reasons I was chosen for this mission, besides being an excellent surgeon is what I found at that castle. About a month after I reported the incident, some guild higher up's as well as some government people paid me a visit. They grilled me incessantly about what I had found in that place. Among the items I took was a small book, I had assumed it had belonged to Mynce, but apparently not. Without coming right out and saying it they believed that castle dated back to the first recorded records of elves and Faerie folk here on Isseth. They even had Groot lead a small expedition back there. They swore him to absolute secrecy as to what they found there, but before we parted company, he hinted to me whatever they found there really had them shook up, he refused to say more, but I got the idea. Jina took another sip of wine then her face lost all expression.

"I have my own theories about all this, and our ultimate mission, but I'm absolutely convinced our races didn't originate here, I think we came from someplace else and I think the area around Mount Karek was where our people first landed, I also think that story about the "Skaven" Is a bunch of crap as well, they're always trying to separate the dwarves from the Faerie folk as well as you elves but I think we were all a single culture at one time, I also think we all came here together. When I was stationed in Barkesh I asked someone about the Skaven, two days later I had a bunch of dwarves asking me a lot of questions. I was basically told to keep my mouth shut if I knew what was good for me. But shortly before I was chosen for this mission, a very old dwarf came to see me."

"He basically told me the Skaven are the ancestors of all modern day dwarves and that that whole area around Mount Karek holds a lot of secrets. I think this information was sitting on the "back burner" so to speak then when evidence of these new galaxy's turned up in the uncovered Morda computers someone put two and two together we may really be on to something here, I just have this…Feeling."