The Eclipse of Power (3 page)

He seemed to be nicer to me after that experience and has
even played a few video games with me. He always kicked the tar out of me in
Call of Duty. I just thought he tolerated me. Nice to know he actually cared.

We spent the rest of the day preparing for our departure; it
was to be the next morning. I was very excited and kept pestering Ash for
details about the city. “Ash come on! You have to have more to say about your
own home planet! What do you do for fun there? What was your favorite
restaurant before you left? Do you guys have amusement parks? Oh! Can we check
out the forest surrounding the Capital?” I realized I annoyed him when he
actually walked out of the room and said nothing to me.

“Ash, when we get back, do you think I can contact DeeDee
and let her know that I am ok? She looked awful! I am sure she looked so bad
because I am missing and no one is able to find anything about me. I just
disappeared. She is practically a sister to me. We grew up together and have
done everything together.” I had tears pooling in my eyes just thinking about
how awful she looked, and how it was all my fault. I felt so guilty.

“B, I am sorry but you know you can’t contact her. She can’t
know about any of this. Do you want her to be transformed and abandon her
family as well?” Ash was right, of course.

DeeDee was very close to her family. I was too. Mine died
when I was young and her parents took me in. DeeDee and I were already best
friends, but when my parents died in a car crash, DeeDee’s mom and dad didn’t
hesitate to get custody of me. I missed them a lot, all of them. Even DeeDee’s
younger brothers, who were a real pain in my backside!

Pools of tears started to fall down my face and I quickly tried
to swipe them away. I was looking out the window and didn’t think that Ash saw.

“Maybe we can somehow get a message to her that you are in
some sort of protective custody. No promises, but we might be able to let her
know you are safe.” If Ash hadn’t been driving at that moment, I would have
reached over and hugged him to death! That was exactly what I needed to hear.

When we arrived at the portal, there were four warriors
still standing guard. Ash said that everyone would take shifts until high command
said otherwise. They were also working on getting some more warriors for us to
replace the ones who died in battle protecting the portal.

Toren and Cash were among the guards; looked like they came
to wish us a safe trip. “Ash, don’t worry about anything here. We have it all
under control. You just be sure to check in on Lancer and keep B’Lana safe.”

“Toren, do you have any suggestions for places to go while I
am on your home world? Ash won’t talk about sightseeing with me, party pooper!”
I smiled and nudged Ash’s shoulder to let him know I was teasing him. I knew
this was a very stressful time. We had no idea what the city was going to look
like and he was really worried.

“Ash, you have to show her Sendryl Falls, she will love that
place! It is far enough outside the city that it should be safe and unharmed.
B’Lana in addition to water falls, there is a big park full of animals. Some of
them are sentient beings as well. So be careful you don’t bring back a talking
monkey or something.” Cash laughed as he told me about the falls and the park
around it. It sounded so wonderful! I wished I would have packed a swimsuit. I
wondered if I could buy one there.

“Ash, what am I to do about money? I only have US Dollars. I
don’t even know what currency you guys use.” I sure hoped that he had plenty of
Sendryl currency because I felt a shopping trip coming on.

“Oh no, I know that look. I am not taking you shopping. You
can forget it!”

Both Toren and Cash busted up laughing. Cash offered to have
his sister take me shopping. He kept a bank account over there and said I was
welcome to take as much as I needed.

“Cash, you really shouldn’t have said that. You have no idea
how much B’Lana loves to shop. Be advised that you might be broke when she
leaves.” Now it was Ash’s turn to laugh.

“Ok, Ok, Ash I won’t drain Cash dry. He is very nice to
offer his money and to contact his sister for me. Cash, I would be honored if
your sister would take me shopping. I am sure she would be a much better
shopping partner than Ash. Although, you should have seen Ash when he was
getting a pedicure, he really enjoyed it.” Now it was my turn to tease him.
That’ll teach him to make fun of my shopping habits!

“Alright, we need to get going before the General starts to
worry. Toren you know how to reach me if you need anything. B’Lana hold my hand
while we walk through, it can be a bit disconcerting the first time through.”

We walked through the portal, it was a quick trip. Almost
like crossing the threshold of a door, but one with a long entrance and funky
lights going off; it was a lot like walking into a fun house. I also felt like
I had vertigo or something. I was very glad that Ash held my hand, as I almost toppled
sideways as we walked out of the portal into Sendryl.

I stood there looking around and my mouth just fell open as
I turned slowly around taking in all of the city as well as the sky. It was
sunset for them and they had two moons that were both already climbing into the
night sky.

The city looked like something from a sci-fi book cover:
there were tall buildings that glimmered from the stars shining down on them.
And in the distance I could see the tops of trees.
Those trees must be
seriously tall to be able to see them above the skyscrapers!

And I had a strange feeling, like my skin was buzzing with
caffeine or something. I couldn’t really describe the feeling, but it was like
the air was alive and clinging to my skin.

“Wow… Ok now I understand why you didn’t tell me anything
about the planet. This is too beautiful to describe.” I just stood there in awe
of the beauty of their sky.

Even though we were in the city, their sky was full of
stars. It was a view that we could only see if we were in the desert back home
on Earth. I couldn’t believe all of the twinkling stars. And one of the moons
was almost planet sized. It was just gorgeous and I couldn’t understand why
none of the guys had ever told me about this.

“I hope we are going to be here for a few days, there are so
many things I want to see while we are here.” I turned my head and saw the
General approach us.

“Ash and B’Lana, so good to see you both again. I was so
happy to hear that neither of you were hurt during the attack. I worried for
you especially B’Lana. I know you have the heart of a warrior but you still
have not had much training. While you are here you should see our master
trainers. Maybe they can help you learn more: set up a training schedule for
you.” The General was being very generous and a bit too nice. I had a strange
feeling that something wasn’t right.

“Come, let’s get you settled. Our religious leader who is
housing Lancer has offered to house you both as well. That is a very high honor
that most Sennafae have never experienced. I trust you both will be on your
best behavior. And sleep in your own beds.” My eyes opened wide with shock when
he said that, as did Ash’s.

“Yes, I heard about you sharing a bed after the explosion in
the tunnels that left both Ash and Lancer injured. I was led to believe it was
strictly platonic. But while you are here on Sendryl you will not be allowed to
do such a thing. Please keep in mind that you are staying in the equivalent of
the Pope’s house. You wouldn’t disgrace your Pope would you?”

“Sir, I’m not Catholic. I grew up Baptist so I would never
be in the Pope’s house. But I wouldn’t share a bed with any man who isn’t my
husband, except in extreme cases. Like the one after the explosion. You have my
word that I will not share a bed with Ash while we are here, no matter what.” I
hated pledging that, but I knew I would never be able to do that while in the
fae religious leader’s house, especially with Lancer there. I was so excited to
see Lancer again. I hoped he was looking forward to seeing me as well.

“If you both will follow me, I have a car waiting down the
road. Oh don’t bother with the luggage.” He motioned with his arm for one of
his guards to take our bags. And we all walked towards the parking lot with his
car.

I am not sure what I was expecting for a fae car, but I
wasn’t expecting a Cadillac Escalade. I thought they would have manufactured
their own cars. And that portal we went through was not nearly big enough to
fit a car through.

“Excuse me General, how did you get a Cadillac Escalade here
from Earth? It’s way too big for the portal. Don’t you manufacture your own
vehicles?”  I looked around to the cars in the lot and most looked familiar to
me. Only a couple I didn’t recognize.

“We have a few portals closer to Detroit and also one in Germany,
which are large enough to bring vehicles through. Not many people here own
vehicles so we found it much more economical to just buy them from Earth. We do
manufacture one clean energy vehicle that some choose to buy here. But most
Sennafae use public transport. All of our farmers have trucks from Earth. We do
make our own farm equipment as well as trailers to pull behind the trucks. The
trailers are mostly custom made for the products our farmers haul.” The General
kept talking about agriculture this and agriculture that, but I started tuning
him out when I saw the large buildings on the other side of the parking lot.

The city was very large. It looked to be larger than LA.
Maybe LA plus a couple of the surrounding cities. There were several hills that
surrounded the city center, and houses and business took up all of the space on
those hills, so that there were very few trees left on the hills. But the
buildings were much more colorful and artistic than the standard Earth ones.
They had various designs, one building looked similar to the Walt Disney
Concert Hall. It had many angles on the building that did not touch, but it
flowed beautifully. From this angle it almost looked like a flower.

As we drove closer to the city center I could see the
destruction from the bombs. “General, can you tell us about what happened here
during the bombing?” I couldn’t take my eyes off the road. There was rubble
everywhere, we even had to drive up on a yard in order to get past some fallen
debris, that looked like it was once a condo.

“It was early in the morning, right after rush hour. Most
Sennafae and Rippers were at work. Children were at school. Then three bombs
went off, one right after the other. Turns out they had them on timers so they
would do that. There was not even two minutes between each blast.

“The bombs were in the shopping centers around the city. One
was next to the courthouse and jail, the jail is going to have to be torn down
and rebuilt as there was too much structural damage. The courthouse was closed
for a few days but will open up tomorrow morning. Lancer’s trial is to start up
again the day after tomorrow. His counsel wanted to meet with you both tomorrow
to go over your testimony.” We were now driving past the jail; it looked like
they had already started to demolish the building. Not much was left standing,
but there was rubble everywhere.

I had a very eerie feeling that something was not right. The
hair on the back of my neck was standing up and I looked around to see if I
could find out what it was that made me feel so strange. There was no one in
sight. Not one single person was out in this area.
Was I being watched?

“General, why isn’t there anyone around here? Isn’t it a bit
odd for no one to be out right now? It’s still early, isn’t it?” I couldn’t
understand where all the people went.

“It’s dinner time, so most will be home eating with their
families. But there should be a few people out and about. This is normally a
busy area. But with the bombing a lot of businesses have closed. Look at the
buildings, nothing is open. The damage is pretty extensive.” The General
pointed to a four story office building that looked to have lost one side and the
rest of it was sloping, almost as if it is just waiting to topple over, like a
stack of building blocks.

Just as we heard the noise of another car, our vehicle was
rammed and we were pushed into the building that was about to topple over.

Thankfully, the building fell towards the other side and we
only had a small amount of debris fall down on to the SUV. Our driver backed
up, but had a tough time getting over the fallen debris. Most of it was
concrete or pieces of steel. We had a tough SUV, but it could only drive over
so much.

“Stay in the car, you are safer here. Troy, grab the guns
from the back and fire at the other vehicle once it gets closer.” The General
was directing his troops as the truck that rammed us turned around and was
coming back for more.

“Ash, is this normal? I can’t believe you have this type of
activity here in your capital city.” I was shocked. My eyes were wide and my mouth
hung open as the warriors in my vehicle were preparing to shoot at the oncoming
truck.

When I grabbed Ash’s arm, he told me, “No, I have never
experienced something like this here, or even heard about such a situation. Our
capital hasn’t been attacked since the peace accords were signed. The only
attacks in the past have been small skirmishes directed towards the political
parties. Mostly... I guess things have changed. The rippers have really upped
their attacks on us all.”

As the other truck came close enough, our warriors started
firing on it. The truck hit a large piece of concrete from the building’s
rubble and flipped over. Just then we saw a group of rippers coming towards us.
Some looked like fae,
“Ash, how is it that there are fae warriors helping
the rippers attack us?”

“Ok, everyone out of the car, grab all of the weapons and
start firing now. Isaac cover me while I get B’Lana situated. We need to get
out of here and keep B’Lana safe. They are coming for her.” The General was
directing the three warriors and Ash. While he kept me behind him for safety.

“B, those males who look like fae are actually the
Sendryl version of rippers. I told you they look a lot like us until they go to
Earth. Stay close to either the General or me, but be sure to grab several
weapons and defend yourself if necessary.”
Ash mind spoke to me as he
grabbed a few extra weapons to hand me.

I grabbed what looked like a Glock as it fit nicely in my
hand and was the only gun I trained with back on Earth. Then I put two fighting
knives on my belt along with a pouch full of a dozen throwing knives. I was
surprised they stocked the SUV with throwing knives, but also grateful as that
was the weapon I did the best with when training. Now I had a real life
situation where I could put my training to the test.