MaW First Contact Part 2

“Her condition has shtabilized und she schould bee gesund in a vew days.”

“She seemed pretty well over the bay upon arrival. We knew to send for you like the wind.

“What happened to her?”

“Well, it seems that her reserve of demonic energy was completely drained out of her.”

Voices…the first is hearty and strong… West Glilian or Uwhal  . The other two are from the Eastern hills of Glilia.

“Blind me! I pray your not telling me a tall tale.”

Nigel… is that you? I open my eyes to and see the three men standing by my bed. I seem to be in a hospital. What could have possibly happened to cause this turn of events? Wait a moment… Oh I remember, the Sol 3 expedition. Funny, my right arm seems to be heavier than usual. Sorry little Geneva, Mama didn’t know you were sleeping with her. Well, better let the boys know I’m still here.

“Ehem, It is rather rude to talk about a lady, especially when she is in the same room.” Oh yes that certainly  their attention.

“Kelora! Love, how are you feeling?” Oh, Nigel you need not worry. Though I’m glad you do.

“Oh I’m quite alright, darling. Though I feel like I’ve been fed on by leaches and missed a decade of meals.” I also feel like I got kicked by a centaur after giving birth to triplets but ‘too much intel’ as it were.

Nigel looked towards the two doctors and asked them to bring some ‘belly tinder’ for me.

“Vas ist das?” I’m pretty sure most Glilians are familiar with ‘belly tinder’ so that doctor must be an Uwhal.

“He means to get food for the starving Admiral.” Good show, Sir. I’ll see to making you my personal interpreter.

The doctor from Uwhal clicks his feet together and salutes to Nigel. “Jawohl Oberleutenant!” Oh he must be a former infantryman. There both doctors go running out the door. Hmm? Oh the doctor’s commotion must have awoken our little princess. She is rubbing her eyes and stretching out her cute little wings. She is still too young to fly but that doesn’t stop her from trying.

“Mama!” My precious little demon gem stands up on the bed and wraps her little arms around me. “Papa was afraid.” She whispers in my ear.

“Loose lips sink ships…” Nigel mutters from the other side of the bed. He reaches over and holds my hand.

“Thank you for being strong for Papa.” I say to Geneva, giving her a peck on the cheek. She giggles and her tail sways back and forth like a pendulum. Both are obvious indications that she is happy for the praise and as relieved as her father to see I’m all right.

A few minutes pass we can hear a clopping sound coming down the hall. A Holstaur nurse walks in carrying a tray with food. It certainly looks better than the iron rations the army gives out in their mess halls. It probably wouldn’t matter if it looked worse. Too hungry to turn my nose away. I thank her and she leaves to give us some privacy.

Of course… Looks better but tastes the same as army rations. My commission for a good bottle of wine and a reserved table at that lovely café just off of Sister Sushi’s landing! No I take that back. Nigel would never let me give up my commission in the navy.

However, I wouldn’t mind having him as a full course meal. Wait a minute. That is what’s wrong isn’t it? This empty feeling isn’t because I’m hungry. It’s as if I lost my breath but instead it was my demonic energy that has been siphoned away. Only way to get it back is to run Nigel ragged for a few nights. He’ll definitely go full Incubi when I’m through with him.

And of course I let him know as much, even now I’m giving him that look as I eat the food on the tray.

The sound of a knights sabatons comes marching down the hall. I was wondering when she would get here. Sure enough it’s Morrigan and Doris both stopping by to visit.

“Why hello, Dame  Morrigan. How wonderful to see you again. And … Sorry milady, I don’t believe we have been properly introduced.” Oh Nigel, always the gentleman.

“My name is Doris, I was the acting ambassador for [Redacted]” Golems make good confidants because they know to keep their lips sealed. They also censor themselves. Quite convenient!
“Oh it’s alright Lady Doris, I already know most of the details.” I on the other hand, cannot keep secrets from Nigel. He knows all of my weaknesses.

“Well we will all be reading from the same verse shortly. The Palace Guard weren’t far behind us.” Morrigan always sounds a little intimidated when the Kings elite escorts are mentioned. That’s not surprising since that’s how everyone speaks when mentioning them. What is surprising is that even a Dullahan is intimidated by them!

“Then His Majesty is coming to debrief us personally.” I don’t even need to say it. Everyone already knew that. Wait. Nononono NO! The King is coming to see me and all I’m wearing is a damn hospital gown!

Shadow fills the room as an ornately uniformed Manticore flies in front of the window. She is holding a vase of flowers in her paws and her rifle is being held by her tail. Geneva jumps down from the bed and runs over to open the window. Poor thing can’t quite work the latch so her father shows her how it unlocks. Now knowing the proper way to unlock it, she opens the window to let the new visitor in.

The Manticore hands off the flowers to Nigel and then she climbs in and nowaitErika what are you doing. Nein. Non! Halt! Staawp! Not a meeting with the King goes by that the Captain of the Guard doesn’t give me a Manticore hug. Erika thinks of me and Nigel as her siblings. Even though I protest and squirm and try to break away, I really don’t mind her fluffy embrace… But that’s my little secret.

“No this will not do. I will not allow you to go gallivanting on strange worlds!” You wouldn’t stop pouting and whimpering because you couldn’t come along, Erika. Don’t deny it!

“I’m sorry I gave you and Nigel such a worry. And I’m sorry I couldn’t get better intel of the fresh, untapped man hunting grounds for you.” That was the only reason you didn’t lock me up to keep me from going on the mission, after all.

“Oh, this is no problem. This Erika is such a young flower and has plenty of time to grow and… cross pollinate.” A Manticore, a living weapon by any standard, a member of an elite fighting unit that protects the Glilian Royal Family, took up gardening as a hobby and makes flower innuendoes. It doesn’t help that she is named after a flower and has the signature Manticore ’flower bulb’ at the end of her tail.

Although a certain little Lilim thinks auntie Erika’s bulb is more suited for being a swing. Playing with Geneva was good practice for when she’ll finally catch her own prey and get a few Manti’pups of her own.

“Come on, Geneva. Lets go outside and play!” She cradles her rifle and flies out the window. Geneva’s only response is an excited “Weee!” as she holds onto Erika’s tail.

That leaves three out of four members of the expedition and Nigel in the room alone. Playing with Erika was a good excuse to get Geneva out of the room and away from the boring and complicated adult talk.

A Lizard soon made her way to the door and held it open while standing at attention until His Majesty, The Great Lady Ryu’s Son, Prince Hiramatsu Buhei of Zipangu, King Frederick of Glilia, and Honorable Advisor for the Uwhal Union, entered the room.

“Thank you kindly, Noble Dame. You may leave us.” He speaks gently and gives a subtle nod to the Lizard Guardswoman and she closes the door behind her as she makes her exit. King Frederick was a soft spoken man in his early 40s but he was hale and hearty and moved with the same vigor as an excited nekomata.

His Majesty sat down beside the bed as if he lived the live of a humble commoner and insisted that Morrigan and Doris would relax and treat him as an old friend instead of their Monarch. Not so easy since Morrigan never stops treating me like I am royalty.

“I understand you actually made it through the gate. What was it like? Please spare no details.” The man is truly a student, always eager to learn. I sit up and concentrate on everything I tried to take note of as the events unfolded.

“Walking through the rift was just like walking though any threshold, Sire. The time of day was exactly the same as on one side as it was the other. We ended up in a thick patch of trees and made our way towards an opening where we heard a church bell.” His Majesty is looking off into space and nodding as I talk. He sometimes does this in private when he is picturing what someone is saying.

“Using your notes about flags, we determined that the portal lead to the USA and spoke to a man by the name of…Blind me, I can’t remember.” Fortunately I was the only one that fell ill during the expedition. “Morrigan and Doris should be able to fill in the blanks”

“The Damnyankees were not hostile to us though I suspect they were suspicious of what we were doing there. The man identified himself as Moss Rollins and designated himself as a Pastor.” Like I always say, Morrigan has a good head on her shoulders… oh dear that’s too much! Stay focused, this is serious.

“The Admiral hadn’t been there for more than 4 minutes before she started showing symptoms. It started as a headache then gradually turned into a migraine. She found it hard to concentrate. She was completely unconscious within 10 minutes of being on the other side of the rift. I was the last to leave at 14 minutes. I bought this world map. I didn’t have time to barter so I ended up paying well over the asking price.” Doris pulls out the map and unfolds it over the blanket on top of me. The King stands up and leans over the map to look over the entire surface.

“I vaguely remember having many of these… a long, long time ago.” He moves his finger from one spot on the map and to another.  “All the names are in the Common tongue but I do remember a few by their native languages. Here, this is Deutschland. You four, were probably over here. In this part of the United States.” His finger moves to the far side of the map to ‘North America’ and he circles a moderately large portion in the middle.

“And over here, so far East that it becomes West, Is Zipangu’s spiritual sister, Nippon.”

Whatever Doris paid for that map was worth it. That map was a key and it just unlocked knowledge and memories that were locked away in the King’s head for over two decades.