Rikke froze entirely.   Tarlmissa was the light of his life.   The product of a tryst, she was all he had.   And she was so young!   Then he snapped to himself.   He must go!   Maybe the runner was wrong!   Maybe it was not as bad as feared.   Maybe the physicians had --   His desperate thoughts were interrupted by Charianna.

   "Take me with you!" she insisted calmly, strongly.

   Rikke was about to tell her to go away.   That he had no time for her tricks.   But then he quickly reconsidered.   "Why?" He asked.   "Can you truly do something?"

   "Your daughter was watching a duel and one of the men tripped and stabbed her near the heart.   Your doctors will be able to do nothing for her.   Only I can heal her."

   The man hearing Charianna describe the nature of the wound looked up in astonishment at her.   Directing his attention to Rikke he said, "How does this savage know this?"

   Rikke was tempted to draw his sword and run the man through on the spot.   But he desisted for several reasons.   If he did the man wouldn't be able to confirm that Charianna had told the truth (if she'd done so -- however she'd managed that!) and it would be unfair to the man since he could not possibly know of Rikke's feeling for Charianna.   And then there was the matter of owing the man for bringing the news.   So instead he settled for asking severely, "Is this truly the case?"   The man nodded somberly, quickly.   Then he turned to Charianna and asked, "How did you know this?   You have been with me all along!   Did someone tell you of this before we met?"

   Charianna patiently answered, "They could have, since this happened yesterday early.   And it has now been a day and a half, being as it is nearing nightfall.   But do you imagine that you would have a spy in your court that would escape notice if they looked like my people?   And why would any of your people care enough for us to be a turncoat?"

   There were possible holes in Charianna's argument, but Rikke decided he didn't have the time to press it.   Instead he turned to the man for further confirmation.   The man indeed confirmed that it had happened early the day before.   Rikke decided that he would trust her -- for now.   He would take her with him since he didn't want to lose sight of her anyway.   And he would give her a chance to see what she could do.   What did he have to lose?   If it turned out that she was telling the truth, well, then that was all to the good.   But if this was all some elaborate ruse then she would pay.   No matter how attracted to her he was.   Not wanting to waste a second longer, he said, "Are you ready?"

   Charianna didn't answer him directly.   Instead she said, "It's like I told you.   There is a real power, a power that is beyond me and you and a power that you can't possibly imagine -- at least not as you are."

   Rikke didn't want to hear anymore.   Each second that passed his daughter's life was slipping away.   It was imperative that he get there -- as soon as possible!   Then if Charianna was telling him the truth that would be different.   So he told Melmar to get his troops together quickly and to have them bring an extra horse for Charianna.   Melmar quickly complied, sending the messenger to the barracks where the troops had been staying.   When the party was all assembled, Rikke took the lead and, setting a pace that the others kept up with, rode out of town as fast as he could go.

   The trip back to the fort went by in a blur.   When they'd pulled up into the fort's courtyard, to change horses, Melmar hollered out, "I'm going no further!" and, turning his back on the party, he headed towards his quarters.   Rikke shrugged.   He no longer needed the man and was in no mood to waste time arguing with him.   Instead, he mounted his fresh horse and took off towards his capital city with Charianna and the troop following him.   They had only been riding for an hour when Rikke noticed something strange about his horse.   Could it be possible?   He reined to a halt, turned in his saddle to look at Charianna who was riding slightly behind him and asked, "Are you doing this?"

   Charianna gave Rikke a straightforward look, "Well, you could say that.   Although I prefer to think that it is because I am tapped into the PQ.   And that really means the PQ is doing it!"

   Rikke ignored Charianna's explanation for a moment as he rechecked what he was pretty sure what he'd just seen.   Yes!   NONE of the horses were breathing hard, although, having set a ground eating pace for this long, they all should be breathing really deep by now.   Nor were any of them showing any signs of lathering!   It was as if the horses were just as fresh as if they had started out just a few moments ago!

   Suddenly Rikke felt ill.   First her disappearing trick, then the trick with her clothes and now the horses!   It was all too much!   And Rikke feared that the operative word here was trick!   Had he fallen into the hands of a master trickster and ilusionist?   It certainly seemed so.   Everything he'd seen so far was patently impossible!   And yet Rikke didn't want to believe that the whole thing was a trick.   For two reasons.   He didn't want to believe that he was that gullible and impressionable.   And if Charianna's powers were real and he denied that he might be costing his daughter her life!   And yet, how could he believe?   BUT there was more than that; more than his fear that he was in the hands of a master trickster.   WHY would she care about his daughter's life?   Rikke agonized with the whole thing until he realized he had only one choice.  He'd have to go on with this and see what happened.   And if it WAS all a trick, Charianna had some hidden agenda after all and Charianna could not heal Tarlmissa then Charianna would pay with her life!   No matter what powers she claimed!

   It was at this point that some of the men began muttering about witchcraft.   Desperate to get going, Rikke called for quiet and got it.   Addressing his men, he quickly asked "Do any of you want to be responsible for my daughter's death?   It's just --Charianna, what did you call it again?"    "PQ. Potentiality Quantum," Charianna quickly supplied.

   "See?   It's just PQ." Rikke said, much more confidently than he felt.   And it's going to save Tarlmissa!   So are you still with me?"

   That put a stop to the burgeoning rebellion.   Every man facing him was as fond of Tarlmissa as Rikke was!   Now only a couple of questions remained.   Was it trick/illusion or did Charianna REALLY have some kind of power?   And if she did have some of power, would they get there in time?   Rikke knew two things for sure.   If the horses gave out before they reached the capital then that would prove it was all a trick.   And he knew that he didn't want them too.   Because if they did then it would prove Charianna a lair and his daughter would most likely die.

   The rest of the long ride to his daughter's side was nightmarish.   Rikke kept expecting the horses to drop dead at any moment from exhaustion.   But they kept going as if they had just stepped from a restful night in the stables.   In an sad way that was not reassuring.   Because Rikke did not know what he was going to do about Charianna after he saw whether or not she could continue and heal his daughter.

   At last the captial came into sight.   The horses were still fresh after a ride that should have killed them.   Rikke breathed a guarded sigh of relief.   Now if they had just made it in time!

   They went riding through the capital like the very hounds of Hell were on their heels, scattering people out of their way, and made it to the front door of his palace.   There Rikke, heedless of what his troops did, jumped from his horse and went running into the palace, with Charianna hot on his heels.   As he ran through the palace he screamed the names of his head court physician and his Major Domo.

   As Rikke and Charianna neared the quarters where Tarlmissa usually stayed, the head court physician and the Major Domo, having heard Rikke screaming, came out into the hall to meet them.   Seeing Charianna coming up behind Rikke, both men froze in their tracks.   They looked at each other and the head court physician gestured that the Major Domo should speak.

   Bolbart, the Major Domo, despite the situation, always a master of his manners, bowed deferentially to Rikke and then said in a very diplomatic tone, "Sire!   Hail!   Is it wise, you think, to bring one such as her into the palace?"

   Rikke, not sure that Tarlmissa WAS in her quarters, despite the possibly telling presence of the two men, curtly replied, "Never mind her!   I take full responsibility for her presence.   Is my daughter in her quarters?"

   Looking at Charianna askance despite Rikke's word, Bolbart replied, "Yes, sire! Thank the providences that you have returned in time!   Tarlmissa still lives."

   Rikke turned to Haldad, the physician, "Will she continue to live?" was all he trusted himself to say.

   Haldad also bowed deferentially. "I cannot say for sure, Sire.   But I would think not." Then he closed his eyes in pain, a tear leaking out from under the closed right eyelid.   He absently brushed it away.

   Without another word to either of them, Rikke brushed past them and entered his daughter's quarters.   Charianna quickly followed him, as if were she to linger even a second the men would prevent her.   But they just stood there -- as if they could not bear to re-enter the death chamber -- and stared after her receding form, shaking their heads sadly.   Just before she was out of earshot, Charianna heard Haldad say, "Perhaps grief has driven our Lord mad that he would bring a savage healer into the palace, for aught that one of her superstitious ilk can do!" Charianna just grinned grimly to herself and then joined Rikke at the bedside.

   It was bad.   Charianna immediately saw that.   The wound was no longer bleeding and hadn't been for some time.   But despite the bandages Charianna and Rikke could see that the fever of bad infection had set in.   The skin showing around the bandages was green, shading to a grayish black.   The girl, a petite red head, about four and a half feet tall and apparently about 14, was on the doorstep of death.

   Rikke's grief was overwhelming.   He threw himself on his knees beside the girl's bed and began sobbing loudly as he gently carressed her.   Charianna didn't want to seem callous, but she could not allow herself to get swept up in that emotion.   The whole thing was probable illusion anyway.   So to distance herself from what would soon not be and to compose herself, she looked inside herself for a few moments.

   When Charianna opened her eyes the room hadn't changed.   It was still the lavish, frilly, room of a wealthy young woman, filled with all the things that wealth could afford.   And yet the room WAS different.   Tarlmissa had gasped, convulsed a bit and then died.   Rikke looked at Tarlmissa in disbelief and then at Charianna in rage.   He rose to his feet and drew his sword.   He advanced on Charianna.

   Before he could carry through on something that he would regret forever, Charianna made a motion with her hand and the sword flew across the room.   Looking at Rikke with a smile filled with great sadness, she said, "What are you doing?   I told you that I would save her.   Why won't you believe me?"

   Rikke looked at her and then the sword in disbelief for several long moments, making no move to retrieve the sword.   Suddenly he put his face in his hands and began sobbing again.   Charianna was tempted for a moment to go to him and comfort him.   But then she realized that the best thing to do would be to go to Tarlmissa instead.   So she did.   Stopping at the bedside, she leaned over and took Tarlmissa by the hand.   "Child, arise!" Charianna said sweetly.

   Rikke raised his face from his hands to stare wonderingly at Charianna.   "What are you doing?   Are you mocking me?"

   Charianna made no answer.   She just turned and smiled at Rikke serenely.   Rikke looked at her like she had gone mad.   But a noise from the bed drew his attention away.

   Tarlmissa was moving around in the bed!   And Rikke knew there was no mistake.   She had stopped breathing and had lost her pulse.   He had checked frantically to make sure that he wasn't somehow mistaken.   Then Tarlmissa set up in the bed, smiled at Rikke with her deep blue eyes and said, "Papa!   You came!   I was hurt real bad, but I am OK now.   I went somewhere and had a dream and then I came back!   Oh, papa, I am so glad you came! And I am so very sorry for being a bad girl and going where I shouldn't!"

   Fearful that it was all a dream somehow, Rikke approached his daughter's bed, knelt by the bed and held her at arms length while he inspected her, saw that there was not even a sign of a wound anymore and turned to Charianna, "How can this be?"   Not waiting for Charianna's answer he fiercely hugged Tarlmissa, saying "No!   It's OK! You are not a bad girl! And you can go anywhere you want.   Anywhere at all!"

   Charianna, who moved a step or two away, said to Rikke's back when he had gone silent and was just hugging Tarlmissa, "I told you about real power, you know.   And I know that you thought me a trickster.   What do you say now?"

   Rikke released Tarlmissa, who sat there in bed staring wide eyed at Charianna.   He stood up, took a step towards Charianna and then stopped as if he was afraid to approach her after all.   Staying where he was, he said, with a mixture of joy and fear, "It's true.   I don't know how you read my mind, but it's true.   I did doubt you.   But if you were me, wouldn't you doubt too?"

   Charianna gave him a forgiving smile.   "I'm just happy that your daughter is OK.   It would not be good for one as young as she is to leave this world so soon.   I remember others that left this world way too soon --" Charianna looked like she was suddenly going to cry.   Visibly, she got hold of herself.   "But that is not the main issue here.   What I want to know now is this: Will you help me change the world?"

   Rikke just stared at here for several very long moments.

****************************************************************************

   "I hate to interrupt here, Perki," I said, but I have a question and a comment to make here.

   Yeah, Doc?" Perki said, with a forgiving twinkle in her eyes, "What is it?"

   "Well, I know you said that you were not a writer.   You've been doing pretty good despite that, but you haven't made one thing clear to the readers.   I mean, Weslee and I, here, are following it since we can see it, but -- what is the power structure here?   You've been talking about the the HC and -- also the emperor.   On the one hand you make the Buhroots society sound like a completely militaristic one, but that doesn't gibe with the more civilian government that you describe Rikke being part of.   Would you care to clear that up?" I replied, being a bit facetious in my pendantic manner.   "Oh.   And my comment is this: You've got enough material here to write a book with.   How come you didn't?   Well I guess that is a question too --" I ended in a bit of confusion.

   Weslee, hearing his name mentioned, perked up.   He'd been watching the next scene with a certain amount of glee, in fact he'd "dressed" for the occasion.   His olive drab T shirt now spotted the following logo: Join the Buhroot and see perfidy in it's finest hour!   Now he turned to Perki and said, with a mischevious grin, "Can I be a spy, can I, huh?   Can I?"

   Perki laughed at his antics.   "Oh, Weslee!   You already are!   In fact you're the best kind!   No one will ever know you were here!"

   Weslee looked uncertain, as if he wasn't sure that Perki was complimenting him or condemming him to a life of anonymmity.   Then he shrugged and went back to watching the events unfold.

   Perki turned back to me, with a more sober look on her face. "It's simple really.   There are two levels of power here.   The civilian government, led by the emperor, is the number one power.   That's the one the nobles and every high civilian answers to and owes allegiance to. &nsbp The HC is simply the arm of the government that does the dirty work the emperor doesn't want to have to do.   Make no mistake, though.   He has plenty of power.   He has a ring of spies and other "intelligence" types around him that are really assassins, who are fantically devoted to the emperor and who keep the HC in tight control.   I think that pretty much describes that.   "Oh, wait! Rikke being a little further down in the heirarchy, has to answer to both the HC and the emperor.   That's probably where the confusion comes in!   Now as to the question/comment about me having enough material here to write a book.   Well, yeah, I could, but you see, I just don't want to spend that much time remembering this hurtful mess.   It's bad enough telling it in short story form!   But it DOES need to be told.   Just quickly, that's all."

   I found I had to agree.   It WAS bad enough in this short form.   Perki went back to it.

***************************************************************************

   Rikke never could quite believe.   But that was OK.   Tarlmissa could.   And Rikke had the contacts.   So, together, the three of them WOULD change the world.

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