A LOCKET OF HAIR

We were three days out of Glasgow when the airship pirates appeared.

The expedition had embarked on a clipper ship, complete with sails and a Terramagica engine powering a screw propeller, a recent invention allowing the ship to travel even in stormy weather. Which we could see coming in the black clouds gathering on the horizon.

The ship was registered to neither Scotland or the British Empire. Instead, it belonged to the Union of the Northern States of America. The Confederate States had just gone to war with the Republic of Texas, and privateers from both sides were attacking ships without regard as to nation, except for those of the Union. Since neither side wanted to give the Union an excuse to intervene, any ship flying the stars and stripes was considered safe.

I stood at the side rail with Myste’s locket in my hand, the salt wind brisk on my face as Je’kyll, who had been invited to join the expedition by Mr. Stephens and had accepted, walked up beside me. “Jonathan, I wanted to let you know the captain just got word over the Terramagica messaging system about Naamah. She was murdered two nights ago in a failed abduction attempt on you.”

I stared at him in shock. “What happened?”

“Exactly what she predicted. Bella and two humans, pretending to be passengers, boarded the train Naamah and your illusion had gotten onto in Edinburgh, and one of the men grabbed your illusion around the waist while the other drew a gun and threatened to shoot anyone who intervened. Bella activated another teleportation device as the illusion broke apart and dissolved, which drove her into a rage. She ordered the man to shoot Naamah as the blue rings began circling them, and he killed her as the three of them disappeared.”

“How is my grandfather taking it?”

Je’kyll sighed. “Not well. From what I could get out of him, the two of them had been secret lovers while serving together in the army of the East India Trading Company, and he never got over the captain forcing them apart. I doubt we will see much of him until we reach Campeche City.”

My grandfather and I had always been close, and I was trying to wrap my thoughts around a secret Eldarion lover he had never mentioned as I went over the attack in my head. “Why all the deception? I mean, anyone who saw Bella will immediately remember her and the two men with her as well. Why not just teleport in, grab me, and nip back out again? That would have been easier.”

“Because it isn’t possible,” a female voice replied behind me. Je’kyll and I both turned around as Dame Kerry, a short Koncava dressed in leather armor with steel rings sewn onto the thick hide, both torso and legs, joined us at the rail. Her skin and hair were nut brown as were all the Koncava, with drilled out gold coins and semi-precious gems woven into her hair’s tight braids. “As I heard it,” she went on, “an Aethyr teleportation device can only take you back to a specific location.”

“It also burns out after one use, Ja,” her companion said as he took his place beside her. Rune was a white haired, human male about thirty, over six feet tall and heavily muscled.

He also wore the same armor she did. “We know this for sure, because me and Kerry fought together in the Ragnarök Games the Olde Norse Empire holds every four years, and everyone fighting gets one to use if he or she can’t make it out of the labyrinth on their own.” A note of pride entered his voice. “The monsters were tough that year and we were the only ones who made it through to the other side. The rest used their amulets to escape.”

Dame Kerry snorted. “There was only one way I was leaving that labyrinth: through the monsters, and out the opposite side.”

Rune nodded. “Ja, you betcha. Anyway, when the marshals explained how the amulets worked, they explained how teleporting works as well. An Eldarion’s got to be able to see where they’re going or they’re liable to end up as part of the scenery, and even small jumps take a good bit of energy. But if you connect one to a pentagram an Eldarion’s drawn, when you activate the amulet it takes you right there before burning up, don’t ya know.”

“So they use the one time devices when they need fast passage,” Dame Kerry said. “They told us only high level Eldarion crafters can make them, and charge a righteous amount of gold per item.”

“Unless the crafter is part of this Bella’s group,” Je’kyll remarked.

“Could be. I do know it takes months to make just one of them, and two in as many days is a big investment.” Dame Kerry gave me a knowing look. “Someone wants you bad.”

I shrugged with a lot more bravado than I felt. “At least I know I am safe, now.”

“Ja, don’t be so sure,” Rune said. “Sooner or later this crazy cult group or some other is going to catch up to you and start the whole thing all over again.”

I exhaled sharply, turning around as I looked up at the stars just beginning to come out. “They would not be, if my grandfather had not insisted on making our family traditions a public spectacle. My father was against it. When he saw my red birthmark for the first time, he said he was glad the time had finally come to forget the whole ‘descended from kings’ nonsense. ‘We are English now’, he told the family, ‘and the sooner we put this folly to bed, the better’.”

Je’kyll said, “Your grandfather obviously felt otherwise.”

“He thought the family would risk losing our identity, lose our sense of honor, and become just another industrialist group trying to make money on the backs of the poor.” I sighed. “I agreed with him and still do, I guess.”

“The big half-blood told me you were fanatical about doing the Lion dance right,” Rune said. “He said you practiced it so much you could do it in your sleep.”

“I still do, in my dreams.” Naked, on a stage with the crowd laughing and jeering at me, but I felt no reason to share that part of it as I shrugged. “However, if I had known that performing the Lion Dance all over England would call attention to myself from lunatics, I would have told my grandfather no.”

“Hey,” Dame Kerry said, “don’t get your knickers in a twist. The past is past; what you need to do now is concentrate on the present, which means me and Rune are going to guard you from lunatics while we’re all in the Yucatan, along with helping keep everyone else safe as we were originally contracted to do.”

I gave her a wary look. “That is terribly generous of you.”

Rune laughed. “The day Kerry does anything out of the goodness of her heart is the day the Man on the Moon comes down and buys us all drinks. We’ve already negotiated terms from your grandfather, Ja”

Dame Kerry elbowed him in the ribs. “I would’ve done it even if Shabaka hadn’t been generous.” She looked at me. “The half-breed, Goro, told me you’re crazy to play War Chess when you go back to school, right?”

“The University of Londinium’s War Chess coach told me he is saving a pawn position for me when I begin next year.”

She nodded. “They play a form of War Chess down in one arena of the East-end Pits, except we used blunted steel instead of,” she sneered, “civilized shock sticks.” Her voice returned to normal. “So I understand how the game’s played.” Her eyes met mine. “Ever hear of the Pits?”

“Only rumors. They are supposed to be part of the underground tunnels and chambers deep underneath Londinium, that were ancient when the Roman general Arturo and the Eldarion Merlyn founded the city. There are several arenas like the coliseum in Old Town, except they are below even the sewers, and the gladiators fight without rules. Decent people never go near the Pits.”

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Rune chuckled. “Ja, you keep thinking that.”

“Decent females don’t,” Dame Kerry said. “Males, though, that’s another story. Anyway, life’s a lot like War Chess. You’ve got people who are pieces on the board, and people who’re the ones moving those pieces where they want.” She hooked a thumb at her own chest. “I’ll never be more than a piece, but you? Even if whatever you’ve got in your blood hadn’t been spiked by that cultist, you’re destined for great things. I want to get in with you now, while you’re still young, and see that destiny fulfilled.”

I was taken aback as Je’kyll said, “Are you not limiting yourself by such talk? In life, there are many different types of playing fields, and you could be the one directing the pieces, if that is so important.”

Dame Kerry gave him a sour look. “Stare hard at my eyes and tell me if I’m wrong.”

Je’kyll and I both leaned in close. Normally, Koncava eyes are brown, but hers were a muddy blue. “You have a human father,” Je’kyll said in a quiet voice.

She gave him a hard smile. “I believe you know my mum, Dame Quilp.”

Je’kyll’s eyes widened. “That… creature, is your mother?” Seeing my puzzled expression, he said, “My brothers own a five story building on the East-end that our father left them. Dame Quilp rents space on the bottom two floors for her establishment.”

“A brothel, and a den for opium and Whitesnake. I left home when you were still hanging from your mum’s teat, but me and your brother Igor belong to an exclusive club consisting of two members.”

“The Dame Quilp mutual loathing society?”

Dame Kerry gave him a broad wink before turning towards me. “Do you understand now why I’ll always be a piece and not a player?”

“Because of who you are?”

She nodded. “I’ve had to fight for everything all my life but you haven’t. That’s why you need me,” pointing with the first two fingers of her right hand towards her eyes. “I see things in people you’ll miss, spot threats and take them out before you’ll even be aware they’re coming at you. Someday, and I feel deep in these bones it’ll be sooner rather than later, you’re gonna figure out exactly what you’ve got in your blood and use that power to your advantage.”

“What if this power turns out to be a curse, instead? What if I am destined to hurt or even kill those I love, as in the old stories my great aunt Mariasha used to tell me? What if-”

Dame Kerry held up her stubby fingered hand. “You’re getting yer knickers in a twist again. I want to give you something of mine that proves I mean exactly what I say.” Reaching under the collar of her armor, she pulled out a black leather pouch and opened it up. “Here.” Reaching inside, she pulled out a lock of nut brown hair in a circle, with gold coins and semi-precious gems woven into the braid, and handed it over to me.

“That locket with the picture of the shagtail you’ve been mooning over,” she said as I accepted the lock of hair, “is nothing but an illusion. A half-breed Eldarion girl’s a butterfly: pretty to watch under a man’s hand, but flitting away from him to land on someone else when the mood strikes her.” She tugged on the ring of hair in my hand. “This is real. Once you’ve got a half-breed Koncava at your side, you can walk down any alley in Londinium, any corridor of power, any spider haunted labyrinth, and know someone’s got your back. Never forget that.”

She would have gone on except the ship’s bell began tolling. “You lubbers might want to get below,” a passing crewman said as he rushed by us. “The storm’s coming up on us fast.”

Dame Kerry winced. “Puking wonderful. I finally get my stomach settled and now this.”

Rune chuckled. “Go below and get yourself settled in. I’ll find you a bucket.” Still grumbling, she headed for the passenger’s hatch and the stairs leading down into the hold as Rune lingered. “Sorry about Kerry. Once she gets an idea in her head, she worries it like a dog with a bone, don’t ya know.”

“Why is she so obsessed?” I asked him. “I mean, Dame Kerry knows absolutely nothing about me. It makes no sense.”

“We both know more about you than you might think, Ja. You’re unique in the world and people talk.” I shrugged, not having thought about that before, as he went on. “As far as attaching herself… Ja, and me as well, since we’re sword-bonded, the reason’s simple: Kerry’s getting old. She’ll never admit weakness, but Ragnarök almost killed her, and she’s realizing we need to find a patron before too much longer.”

I gave Rune a skeptical look. “And she thinks that patron would be me?”

“As you said, she gets obsessed, don’t ya know.” He put his hand on my shoulder for a moment. “Look, we’re already contracted to guard you until we get back to England, so put the lock of hair somewhere safe so it doesn’t get lost or stolen and when we get back, let’s see how we all feel.”

I glanced down at the ring of hair then back at his face. “I have heard that to shave a Koncava’s braided beard is the worst, most mortal insult anyone can do to him, and since females braid their hair in the same way, it would likely mean the same thing.”

“People have died because of it, Ja.”

I nodded. “I have also heard that Koncava’s make and give hair rings like this only in the most serious of circumstances, like marriage.”

“Ja, that’s true, but for other reasons as well.” He patted the front of his armor near the collar. “Kerry gave me a hair ring when we sword-bonded.” I opened my mouth to protest, but stopped when he held out both hands. “I know it’s a lot to throw on you at once. Just wait and see what happens, Ja?”

Je’kyll said, “Shabaka may have something to say about this as well.”

“Ja, you betcha,” Rune replied with a shrug. “Yet, Jonathan’s got to make the final choice. See you down below.” He gave us a jaunty wave and headed for the passenger hold.

I watched him leave in a growing feeling of disbelief and anger. “What am I supposed to do with this,” I asked as I held out the ring of hair. “Find a pouch like theirs and keep it close to my heart? Throw it into the sea?”

Je’kyll’s hand gently closed on mine. “Never that.”

I exhaled. “I know, foolish beyond words. Yet, so is this idea of having a half-blood Koncava I know nothing about, permanently at my side. To be frank, I would much rather have you than her any day.”

He gave me a wry smile. “It is a rare thing for a half-blood Orku to get such an endorsement from anyone, let alone an upper class human, so for that I thank you. However, to be frank as you just said, Dame Kerry would be the better choice, given her capacity for violence. I fear I would make you a poor guardian.”

“Better a poor guardian than one loyal to gold. My father hammered into us, time and time again, that Koncavas are only loyal to others of their race, and if you trust one, she will sell you out the first time someone offers a better price.”

His expression became thoughtful. “I see. Jonathan, just because a thing may be true for some people, it does not mean it will be true for all. You are right in that most Koncava only trust other members of their race, yet the Koncava, Professor Magnus Redstone of the University of Edinburgh, is the godfather of Myste Bannon.”

I stared at him in surprise. “Are you serious?”

“Absolutely. Ambassador Bannon’s Eldarion wife Starshine has been friends with Professor Magnus for a decade or more. You are young, and in time you will realize people are often more complex than you think.” He hesitated. “In the case of Dame Kerry, though, something else may be at play as well. All the races are so radically different that only human males can have mixed race offspring, who are always sterile, with the Eldarion and Koncava only producing girls, and the Orku and Ogres only having boys.”

“Why is that?”

“Professor Alar believes it has something to do with the ability to channel magical energy, but in truth no one knows. However, what is known is that the mixing of the two races can, at times, cause mental instability in the half-blooded person.”

My eyes widened. “You mean Dame Kerry is touched by madness?”

Je’kyll made a calming gesture with his hands. “I am only saying there is a possibility. With her obsession, and history of violence, it may be best to follow Rune’s advice to accept her and see where things go.”

I considered the ring of hair in my hand for a moment. Then tucked it into my trouser pocket. “If grandfather has actually contracted with her, then I have little choice. But I will say this: I am not, ‘Getting on the east bound train when I want to go west’, as my mother puts it.” Je’kyll inclined his head in agreement as I gave him a keen look. “Forget her for a moment. You were there when Naamah told my grandfather what was wrong with me. What did she say?”

My hopes sank as Je’kyll looked away. “Shabaka made me swear to say nothing until he has told you himself.”

“I am not a child who needs protecting,” I said as my eyes narrowed.

“I agree,” he replied, “and intellectually your grandfather understands this as well. In his heart, though, he still sees you as the child he pushed into showing your family’s heritage for the world to see, inadvertently exposing you dangers no one expected-”

A thunderous boom came from behind us as a rocket streaked past the ship like a meteor and exploded.

Evolutionary scientists believe that most, if not all, of the intelligent races came from a common ancestor many thousands of years ago. However, due to the evolutionary changes in the different races, along with the influence of Aethyr and Terramagica energies in Eldarions and the Koncava, not only are the odds against a couple having a half-blood child, but there are peculiar natural laws which normally cannot be broken.

For example, under normal conditions, no human female has ever gotten pregnant by a male of another race and only human males can get another race’s female in a family way. Meaning all half-blood children are always part human. Eldarions and Koncava always produce girls, while Ogres and Orku always produce boys. There is only one documented case of a Gnome half-blood girl (likely because of the difficulty of such a small person giving birth).

It is possible to violate these natural laws, of course, but only at a terrible cost…