New Dawn
Chapter 10

Ausanne'sbirthday proved to be a huge affair. Maicee woke up to the clattering of wheelson cobblestones and the shouting of voices. Looking from his chamber window, hecould see that preparations must have been going on all night. Stalls hadsprung up around the castle, selling everything from souvenirs to mead. Alreadycooks were spitting huge joints of meat and damping down fires to begin thecooking process. The spacious marketplace had been turned into a carnival foryoung and old alike, with games of chance and lucky dips and all kinds ofmysterious tents. Maicee reminded himself to stay away from the fortunetellers. The last thing he needed right now was a prediction that would worryhim on the journey to come.

He breathedin the early morning air, tinged with the scent of smoke and the salt of thesea. He thought about going out now but decided against it. He had work to dofirst. Ordering breakfast to be brought to his chamber, he began the series ofslow exercises that Kabi had recommended for early mornings. After the eventsthat had taken place on the Orion, hewas more determined than ever to get this unarmed combat thing right, andthere'd be no festivities for him until he'd run each and every one of hispractice drills perfectly.

Foreveryone else, though, the princess's birthday was a holiday. People hadtravelled from far and wide to get a glimpse of their future ruler, and thepalace was determined not to disappoint them. Servants hurried back and forth,harried and sweating, trying to provide for the needs of the thousands ofsubjects who had made their way to the country's capital. The royal kitchenprovided sumptuous tables of food, laid out to entice anyone who visited thenormally private gardens of the princess. After lunch, the princess herselfspent hours rolling slowly through the gardens in an open-topped carriage withgold-rimmed wheels, greeting those who had come to give her birthday wishes.

It was along and exhausting day for everyone, but as the second sun began to sink, thepalace musicians began to tune their instruments. The festival was far fromover; there was still the costume ball to come. A particularly loud trumpetjarred Maicee out of sleep. Dammit. He'd lain down for a brief nap afterpouring all his energies into his exercises and had only now woken. He barelyhad time to throw his costume on, doubting Kabi's choice but silently thankinghim that at least he didn't need to bother tying his hair back into a queue.Flying down the stairs, he made it to the ballroom just in time to see theprincess strike a large golden gong, marking the beginning of the party. He wasstill panting from his flight down the stairs, and it took him a moment torealise that all eyes in the room were on him.

“You lookbeautiful,” said a mischievous voice.

He felthimself blushing furiously as the occupants of the ballroom erupted intoexcited chatter, and he inwardly cursed his uncle.

“Thankyou,” he said, turning to see Ausanne, who was robed in the ancient traditionalcostume of Romeo. “Er ... you look very dashing too,” he said, surprised at herchoice of costume.

Ausannegrinned at him. “Let me guess,” she said, arching an eyebrow. “Kabi choose yourcostume for you.”

Maiceenodded. “You too?”

“He said itwould keep those irritating boys away from me, but now I think that my unclemay have been playing a small joke on us, don't you think?”

Maiceelooked down at the long dress he wore, the classic deep rose and red thatsignified his role as Juliet. “Yes,” he said slowly. “I think he may well havebeen.”

Dammit. Hewas going to kill Kabi when he got his hands on him. This was more than a joke—thiswas dangerous.

“May I havethis dance?” said a male voice.

Stillblushing, Maicee turned and saw the King bowing solemnly in his direction.Dammit again!

“I, er,well, I don't dance very well, um, sir,” he managed to stutter.

“Not atall,” scoffed Ausanne. “She dances very well.”

Maicee feltthe princess push him lightly towards the King, and feeling that he had nochoice, he gave a small curtsey and accepted the King's hand. As soon as hetouched the hand of his father, he felt happiness well up inside him. He almosthad to bite back tears of joy as the King led him to the dance floor.

“You looklike my wife did when she was your age,” the King bent and whispered intoMaicee's ear as they swayed together in the middle of the floor.

Maiceeswallowed hard. He wanted so much to call the man Father that it was difficultto control himself. The only thing that stopped him was the vow he'd made toKabi.

“She boreme two daughters,” continued the King. “The elder one was lost because of myweakness. I was, and am, so terribly sorry for not being able to protect her.”

His eyeswere sharp, and suddenly Maicee had the feeling that something was being sharedhere. Something strange—it was almost as though they were communicatingtelepathically, that they were both on the same wavelength, dancing around thesame subject.

“I amsure,” responded Maicee, “that were your daughter here, she would be pleased tohear that she has such a loving father.” He spoke carefully, enunciating thewords slowly.

The Kingstopped dancing as the music slowed and looked deep into Maicee's eyes beforesmiling and nodding. “I certainly hope so,” he said quietly. “And I thank youfor this dance. It was most enjoyable.”

And then hewas gone, and Maicee was left with that weird feeling, almost as if eachunderstood but neither could speak. Then Ausanne's hand pulled at his sleeve.

“Come on,”she said.

She led himto a quiet corner.

“Did hediscern that you are a man?” she asked, excited at the trick she had pulled onher father.

Maiceeshook his head, still puzzled by what had passed between himself and the King.

Ausannerolled her eyes. “He must be getting senile. I was sure he'd be able to tell.”

He wasabout to chide her for teasing her father when they were interrupted by adashing young man.

“Goodevening, my princess,” he said, bowing deeply. “You must introduce me to yourlovely friend.”

Theprincess rolled her eyes again. “She's my Juliet,” she said, emphasising theword ‘my’ a bit too strongly for Maicee's tastes.

She pulledMaicee away from the superficial smiles of the man, hooking her arm into hisand tugging him towards the quiet of a secluded balcony.

“That wasCount Qurami,” she said. “Ignore him; he's an irritating little insect.”

In thequiet of the darkness, the party nothing more than a hum behind them, Maiceefelt awkward. I shouldn't be here likethis with Ausanne, he thought. It wasn't fair. Wasn't fair to either ofthem.

He clearedhis throat. “Happy birthday, Princess,” he said, wondering how he was going toescape the balcony.

“Thank you.”Ausanne smiled.

And beforehe could move, she'd put her arms around him and was hugging him. And when shedrew back, she didn't let go but stared up at him with wide eyes, a half-smileon her lips as her face drew closer and closer.

“Princess,the King demands your presence,” said a voice. “It is time to cut the cake.”

Ausannecursed silently. “I shall attend him,” she called back. “Some other time?” Shesmiled ruefully at Maicee, then turned to leave the balcony.

But by thetime she had cut the cake, made a speech, listened to the people sing tocongratulate her, and done all the other ceremonial things that she wassupposed to do, there was no sign of Maicee at all. He'd simply disappeared.Ausanne retired, disappointed with the way her evening had turned out.

The lateafternoon sun was dancing, golden and orange, on the small waves of theharbour. On the deck of the Freedom,General Tongku was making a final round of inspection, carefully preparing thefive-man team he'd assembled for their presentation to the King. The rest ofthe crew stood idly around the ship's decks, enjoying the warmth of the sun andrevelling in the last few moments of calm and relaxation that they'd be likelyto have in the near future.

Benho hadmanaged to tear himself away from Sa-li, who was gossiping with her crew mates,and he earnestly whispered something to Lucia. The captain was noddingcontinuously, as though to reassure the man, a mask of irritation beginning toform as Benho just went on talking. Benho was saved from the captain’simpending wrath by a shouted order from the General. The men on deck came toattention as the King slowly boarded the ship.

He seems sad, Maicee thought. Preoccupied. Though he guessed that being a ruler brought enoughtroubles of its own, without having to deal with emergencies such as the datadisk Kabi had brought to Britannia.

“All isready, Your Majesty,” barked Tongku, saluting.

The Kingnodded and surveyed the short line of men in front of him. They were young,though not so young as to be inexperienced, and all looked serious, eyesforward, hands and arms straining to maintain their salutes.

“Standdown,” the King said.

The menrelaxed, lowering their arms, and Maicee thought he heard more than one sigh ofrelief.

“You havebeen briefed,” the King said, looking once more up and down the row of men. “Ihave no need to tell you what it is that you are doing here. But this is animportant mission. I would like, therefore, to remind you that the fate ofArcheonis lies on your shoulders.” He paused, letting the weight of his wordssink in. “Bring us good tidings when we meet again,” he added quietly.

Maiceewatched as the King nodded once more, then turned away from his troops to replaceKabi.

“I see thecaptain and her crew will be joining you,” he said to his brother-in-law.“Anyone else?”

“OnlyMaicee, Your Majesty,” said Kabi with a shrug.

The Kingsighed. “I suppose it is for the best.”

Kabibeckoned to Maicee, who approached the King.

“I hope youhave enjoyed your stay here, Doctor,” the King said politely. “We hope to seeyou again, should time permit.”

“Thank you,sire,” said Maicee. “Um ...” He didn't know if it was protocol for him toquestion the King, but it wasn't like he had much choice. He needed to know.“I, er, don't see Princess Ausanne.” He could feel himself blushing.

The Kingsmiled. “She does not like goodbyes. Separation has always been hard for her.”

Maiceenodded, not sure if he was disappointed or relieved that he wasn't going tohave to see the princess again before they left.

“Oh, thatreminds me.” The King patted his robe, finally digging into a pocket andretrieving a small voice recorder. “She did ask me to give you this.”

He acceptedthe recorder and bowed. “Many thanks.”

The Kingsmiled. “It is I who should be thanking you,” he said, though Maicee wasn'texactly sure why. “Godspeed.”

And then hewas gone, striding down the deck to discuss last-minute arrangements with theGeneral.

Maiceelooked at the small recorder in his hands, tossing it from one hand to theother thoughtfully. Looking around the deck, he could see that most of the crewwere busy making final preparations to leave, and he decided that he had timeto see what the princess had to say. Slipping away, he scrambled up a smallladder that spat him out through a hatch close to the medical bay. Once he wassure that Falorni was not lurking in any of the cupboards, he settled himselfdown on one of the beds and pressed the button on the recorder.

“Hello ...hello ... testing,” said the princess's voice, a little crackly but immediatelyidentifiable.

“It isworking fine, you know,” came another voice, squeaky and high this time.

“I know,Niku, I know,” said the princess in irritation.

There was apause, and Maicee guessed that the princess was trying to gather her thoughtsbefore speaking. Sure enough, a second or so later, her voice came back.

“Hi,Maicee. You, er, must have been disappointed that I didn't come to the harbour.But in order to make it up to you, I have arranged that two hours after launch,you shall receive a surprise gift from me.”

Maicee'sbrow furrowed as he wondered what the princess could have sent him. Therecording paused again, a couple more seconds of silence, before Niku's tinyvoice came back.

“That'sall?” asked the furry creature. “That's all you have to say? I would havethought that you had more to tell him.”

Maiceeheard the princess sigh and say: “I do, but I don't know how to say it.”

Niku'schirruping laugh came through the speaker. “Why don't you just say I lov—”

And therecording abruptly ended.

Maicee sankback on the bed with a groan. This was what he'd been afraid of. Actually, ifhe was being honest, this was what he’d already known was happening but wasn'tsure how to stop. Now, though, there was nothing for it. Should he see theprincess again, he was going to have to have a very uncomfortable conversationwith her. At least, he thought, I’m not likely to see Ausanne for theforeseeable future. That was some small condolence.

The lasthatches on the Freedom slammed shutwith loud, metallic clangs. Dusk had fallen over the harbour, the soft glow ofthe second sun glinting off the tips of the waves. Maicee felt the deck underhis feet vibrate for a moment as the powerful engines of the ship draggedthemselves to life, revving before settling down into their normal quiet hum.The Freedom's navigation officershone a single green beam of light towards the harbour master's watchtower. Areturning green light flashed three times.

“Anchorsaway,” said Lucia's cool, calm voice over the ship's speaker system, alertingeveryone on board that the vessel was about to launch.

There was aquick jerk as the Freedom's enginesthrust her away from the harbour wall, then very slowly the battle cruiserbegan to edge out into the centre of the harbour's waters and then towards thelarge gap in the harbour wall where the dark, deep sea began.

MajorUlsa'hi, the leader of the five-man team put together by the General, stoodwith Kabi and Lucia, a map unrolled on the crates in front of them, discussingstrategy. Maicee did his best to contribute, or at least look interested, butfound himself growing rapidly bored. He was disturbed by Ausanne's voicerecording.

He pacedaround the deck of the ship, trying to burn off the nervous energy he wasfilled with, as Ausanne's two-hour deadline rapidly ticked down. The Freedom had crossed the threshold of theharbour and was now in open sea, and the ship rocked slightly, the movementsoothing.

Exactly twohours after launch, Maicee's com beeped. He pressed the icon to answer withoutthinking, and a tiny voice whispered out of the speaker.

“Hello, canyou hear me?”

His faceflushed, and he quickly put his face closer to his wrist to avoid theconversation’s being overheard. “Yes, Ausanne, I hear you.”

And thensuddenly it dawned on him. There was no way for Ausanne to contact him on theshort-wave wrist com. No way at all. Unless ...

He turnedback towards the bridge and saw her, her white robe billowing in the breeze,the fabric clinging in all the right places. Almost tripping, he hurriedtowards her, his first thought to get her hidden where no one else could seeher.

“Surprise!”she said as he got closer.

“How didyou get on board?” he asked, trying to figure out where he could hide the womanso that she wouldn't be caught. It was a stupid question—she'd obviouslysmuggled herself here. She was a stowaway, and the punishment for stowaways wasnot pleasant. Not pleasant at all. He groaned as he imagined Lucia trying tokeel-haul the princess, dropping her over one side of the ship on a rope andpulling until Her Royal Highness had gone under the vessel and appeared on theother side.

“Did anyonesee you?” he hissed.

“I haven'tmet anyone yet.” The princess shrugged, smiling inwardly as she guessed exactlywhat Maicee was thinking. Then she took pity on him and decided to put him outof his misery. “It doesn't matter, though. Lucia has agreed to let me comealong.”

“She didwhat?!” Maicee cried in alarm, his voice ringing around the open deck. “She didwhat?” he repeated, more quietly. “Doesn't she know that this is going to bedangerous?” He couldn't believe that the captain would be so irresponsible. Orthat he was going to be stuck on a ship with Ausanne for the next few weeks.Then he thought of salvation. “Kabi should know about this,” he told theprincess, defiantly. “He'll send you back ashore immediately.”

“I wouldn'tbe so sure about that,” Ausanne said with a grin.

“Welcomeaboard,” said Kabi from behind Maicee. He'd heard the commotion and guessedwhat had happened. He hadn't thought it fair to surprise Maicee, but theprincess had insisted. “Don't just stand there like sheep; come onto thebridge.”

Maiceestood, his mouth agape. Kabi had known about this? Once more, he made a vow tokill his irritating uncle. Or at least give him a good beating, as soon as hisunarmed combat skills were good enough, that was. Ausanne shot Maicee atriumphant look as she skipped over to hug Kabi.

The Freedom sailed on. She left the seas ofBritannia far behind, entering international waters. They travelled for dayswithout encountering any sign of another ship. On and on they sailed, the seastretching out, endless and blue, in front of them. The weather was fair, thewinds good, and the sun hot. They entered the Lawless Sea three days afterleaving the harbour of Britannia's capital, and Maicee felt a quiver ofapprehension. But not for nothing was Lucia the most-feared pirate captain onArcheonis. Seeing the distinctive profile of the Freedom, most ships gave them a wide berth. No one, it seemed, waslooking for trouble.

The oneyoung, inexperienced captain who did attempt to engage them soon found himselfabandoned on a life raft with half his crew, his ship settling in the soft sandat the bottom of the blue abyss.

Maiceebusied himself with training. He was more determined than ever to master thecombat skills that he was now sure he needed. And not just for defence. He wasalso still determined to give Kabi a reason not to try to trick him again. Kabihad cut his unarmed combat training down to just half a day.

“You'veimproved,” he said, nodding in satisfaction. “You must have been practising.”

Maiceegrinned, happy at the compliment and even happier at the thought of having afew spare hours a day in which to relax. But Kabi soon burst that bubble. Fromthat moment, whilst his mornings were still filled with unarmed combattraining, his afternoons were spent practising armed combat. Archery, boltblasting, swordplay. Both Kabi and Lucia trained him incessantly. Though he wasadept at most armed exercises, certainly preferring them to unarmed practice,he was particularly fond of swordplay. So much so that he chose himself anelegant rapier from the Freedom'sweapon cabinet.

“Excellent,”Kabi told him one afternoon.

Maicee hadmanaged to stay undefeated for a full half-hour of sword combat with his uncle.

Kabi bowedat his student and bade him to come to the railing of the deck. Leaning on thesalt-hardened wood, he looked at the young man and smiled. It was time.

“You haveproven yourself to be adequately versed in close-combat fighting,” he began.“And now we shall go on to learn of the GOD power.”

Maiceewrinkled his nose. “Huh?”

“And maybewe shall improve your vocabulary as well,” said Kabi, dryly.

“Sorry,”said Maicee. “I mean, I don't understand. What's the GOD power?”

“That iswhat we shall learn about next.”

Maiceesighed. He hated it when Kabi spoke in riddles. But looking up, he saw that theolder man's eyes were dancing and understood that he was being teased. So hestayed silent, refusing to rise to the bait.

“Fine,”said Kabi after a few moments. “The GOD power is what you used when youdisarmed the bomb on board the Freedom.It utilises your psychic force to manipulate the molecules in yoursurroundings. And the first thing that you shall learn is that GOD stands forGene of Destruction. As with any gene, this was passed down to you, in thiscase by your mother, giving you your powers.”

Maicee bithis lip and stared down into the depths of the sea. He was torn. His entiremedical education told him that none of what Kabi said could be true, that noneof what Kabi did could be possible. And yet he'd witnessed it with his owneyes. No, more—he'd personally exhibited the same strange powers when disarmingLean's bomb.

Kabi sawthe look on Maicee's face and decided that maybe he should go with a morescientific approach.

“Look, fromyour understanding of genetics, humans have forty-six chromosomes, two of whichare sex chromosomes. Correct?”

Maiceenodded, more comfortable in these familiar surroundings.

“Centuriesago,” went on Kabi. “a group of scientists designed and then artificiallycreated a gene that, in very basic terms, allows humans to wield super powers,for want of a better phrase. They termed this gene GOD and incorporated it intothe twenty-first chromosome during the fertilisation process. When equippedwith this gene, the holder can produce psychic forces that manipulate his orher surroundings by changing molecular structure. And in some cases may evenproduce nuclear forces.”

The youngman considered this. Couched in his own kind of language, what Kabi was sayingdid actually make sense. If he accepted that gene modification was possible,which it obviously was, then he supposed he could accept what he was beingtold.

“Sit down,”Kabi said, pulling two wooden crates closer. “Let me explain a little further.”

Maicee didas he was told, curious now as to what was to come.

“Yourmother and I, along with eleven others, were the creations of Project GOD,”Kabi began. “The goal of this project was to create super-humans, or as theproject code-named them, Archangels. We were created in test tubes, where ourgenetic code was altered to contain the Gene of Destruction. More than that,though, each of us was given a pair of the genes, not just one. This not onlyallowed us to possess what you would call super-human powers, but it alsoimbued us with a form of immortality. Once our powers are fully activated, weenjoy eternal youth, more or less, though the gene cannot, of course, preventdeath by injury or in battle.”

Again,Maicee considered what he was being told. Yes, it sounded unbelievable; butthen, so did many things when he first heard them. He decided to leave hisscepticism behind for a moment.

“Is thatwhy Magi Lords have magical powers?” he asked curiously.

“Yes andno,” said Kabi. “Magi Lords are the offspring of Archangels, just as you are.That means that they carry only half the required pair of genes. A Magi Lordhas some power, but he will age, though far more slowly than the normal person,and his powers are limited.”

“I'm thesame as a Magi Lord, then?” Maicee asked, crossing his legs on top of the cratehe was sitting on.

“Notexactly,” said Kabi. “I have done some testing, and it seems that you aresomewhat of a mutation. You seem to have inherited both copies of the relevantgene from your mother—an error in the fertilisation process, as I'm sure you'reaware, that is perfectly possible.”

Maiceenodded.

“Because ofthat, it seems that you have more of the potential of an Archangel than of aMagi Lord. Though as yet, I'm not exactly certain how far the comparison goes,how strong your powers will be.”

This wasjust sinking in when soft footsteps sounded on the deck.

“Princess,”said Kabi, getting up and giving her a half-hearted bow. “I shall leave you twoalone.” He leaned closer to Maicee. “We shall discuss more of this later,” hesaid.

He left,and Ausanne, giving Maicee a grin, hopped up onto the crate beside him. “Funtraining?” she asked.

“Mmmm. Icould use a little rest, though,” said Maicee, hoping she would take the hint.

He'd beenavoiding her, not wanting to have to speak with her in the way he knew he must.But now he'd been cornered. His heart was thudding, and he knew that he had tosay what he had to say, but still, it was hard.

Ausannegave him another smile and shuffled a little closer, her arm warm against his. It’s now or never, he thought.

He gave ashort cough, then said: “Princess Ausanne ... there, well, there is somethingthat I must tell you.”

“And whatis that?” asked Ausanne, her eyebrow arched provocatively, her face edgingcloser to Maicee's.

“I ... you ...”he stuttered. Then he took a breath. Justspit it out, he scolded himself. “I mean, we cannot be lovers. I, I do loveyou, just, well, more as a brother-sister relationship, if you see what I mean.”

He let his voicetrail off, hoping against hope that she wasn't going to be too angry. Buthoping was futile. The princess jumped down from the crate.

“Do I looklike I'm in love with you?” she demanded.

Maicee knewbetter than to answer that question.

“As you maybe aware, I am a princess, one of royal blood, the future ruler of my country.I have no say in my marriage; that will be decided by my father. And when I domarry, it will be to a man of noble blood,” she said haughtily. “Not to a ... a... pirate like you.”

She gavehim a brisk incline of her head, then stalked off back towards the inside ofthe ship. But Maicee had seen the emotion in her eyes. He knew that he'dhumiliated her, that he'd hurt her dreadfully. He sighed. But what could he do?Maybe the long voyage would be enough to calm her feelings a little. Maybe oneday she would forgive him.

“No, no,”said Kabi, irritated. “Don't force your mind. Let it travel slowly.”

Maiceegritted his teeth and tried again.

They weresitting in a quiet corner of the deck, cross-legged as though meditating.Focus, Kabi had told him, was the key to channelling his psychic energy. Theonly thing he needed to do was to shut out all outside noises and thoughts fromhis head. That, however, was easier said than done. The harder Maicee tried notto think about Ausanne, the more he thought about her and how hurt she must befeeling. It was like saying ‘Don't think of apples’ and then expecting him notto think about apples. He sighed.

“Again,”said Kabi.

Okay, thistime he had it. He took a deep breath and concentrated on letting his thoughtsslip out of his mind. To his surprise, it began to work. Images, ideas, wordsstarted to slip away from him, and he felt the place of focus tantalisinglyclose. His mind now was feeling light, free, and empty of troubles and worries.His eyes were closed, but he began to see the flickering outline of hissurroundings in varying hues of colour. He reached out towards the place offocus, drawn to it.

“You are afast learner,” commented Kabi.

Through hisclosed eyelids, Maicee saw Kabi place a glass of water on the deck betweenthem.

“This isthe next stage,” he said quietly. “Find that place of focus, feel the power,then let that power flow down, through you, and into the water inside thisglass. Just let things move naturally. Do what feels right.”

Obediently,Maicee manipulated his mind to do as he'd been asked. And slowly, ice crystalsbegan to form on the surface of the water. And then the water completelysolidified, expanding outwards until the glass container smashed, causingMaicee to lose his concentration and open his eyes.

“As Iexpected,” said Kabi, looking at the shards on the deck. “Your natural powerlies in ice.” He smiled at Maicee. “Your mother's power was water; my specialityis earth.” He nodded as though satisfied that his guess had been correct. “Thatwill be all for today, I think,” he said, standing up.

Maicee sat,exhausted, on the deck. He felt so drained, it was all he could do to keep hiseyes open.

“Don'tforget to clean that glass up,” Kabi shouted over his shoulder.

Maiceegroaned and began to move.

And so, forthe next few days, Kabi trained Maicee in focussing his psychic force. AndAusanne avoided Maicee like the plague. It was, Maicee feared, going to be a very,very long voyage.