World's Without End [ART2015]

“There is a time and place for everything, Cap’in Black, everything you desire…” Barley, The First Mate’s voice trailed off at Black’s frown “We’re honest merchant’s…” he began again. The frown deepened. Barley looked down at his pointed boots.

“Peace, Barley? What has it brought us?” The Captain’s tenor voice was filled with sorrow. “The human Kings are gathering against us, they feel our Honored Queen, long may she live, has become too powerful in the world. They have taken our kindness and thrown it back in our faces, they have kidnapped our people and imprisoned them without cause, working them in their dark underground mines until the earth weeps from their cries. They have stolen cargo, our gems and finery, our goodwill returned with greed and scorn. They have committed a thousand acts of war. The Queen stirs. She hears the anguish of her beloved subjects. She will rise and rescue her own.”

Barley nodded sadly. “Aye, Cap’in, that she will. The human’s do not deserve our trade, and most have treated us with less respect than they give to dogs, Sir, it’s true, but…” He thought on the petite human girl with the flow of skirts that skimmed her small shod feet, and how she twirled with delight in his arms, how every port-day she arrived with a twinkle in her eye and mischief in her grin to lead him astray into the Taverns.

Captain Black, (whose name was not really Black - that was the human name he chose) looked at his friend, his First, with sympathy. “Ah, Barley, I can feel your heart breaking from here,” he said kindly. “I will give you a chance to see if she’ll join us before we close the Gate - though she must know what that will mean, you must be clear. Bring her a gift, if you wish, as a promise of your good will and care. Here,” he removed a small gold ring set with pearls from his own finger, “This would make a fine ornament, and I’ve been meaning to give you a bonus for your hard work.”

Captain Black reached into his large purse and pulled out a heavy bag of human doubloons, enough to make the girl’s poor family grateful to see her and her troublesome ways disappear; her feelings for Barley had caused them grief, along with her wild nature. The girl had been beaten for her spiritedness on more than one occasion, apparently. Barley was worth having his happiness, he was, and the gold meant nothing to bonds among such long-time friends as they; three centuries and more.

Barley’s large blue-green eyes grew moist and his throat squeezed around a multitude of emotions. He bowed deeply, brushing at his cheeks with his kerchief, taking the ring and the gold. “I will be back with or without her, Sir, you are too good, Sir, too good.”

“Go.” Barley needed no more encouragement and took off into the night with his light feet barely touching the ground, his blond braid flying behind him and white shirt billowing; he was a handsome lad by both elven and human standards, and as beautiful a soul as could be met.

A green glass orb on his desk began to lighten and fill the room with a pulsing lime green glow. “Ah!,” he exclaimed, the Queen was calling.

He leapt up and kneeled in the light. “My Queen, I am here,” he said aloud. The green light swirled into a spiral, then into a vortex that opened a small portal between the worlds. He bowed his head, not looking at her magnificence until she gave permission.

“Captain Alfwin Adelric of the Noble Family of Ebonshire, how fares your mission?”

Alfwin’s long ears twitched. “My Queen, we are preparing to serve Your Will. Soon, the ships from Bethons and Dormin will arrive at this same port, and we will establish the Portal. Your ships will pour forth at your command, Your Highness.”

“Very good.” There was a hint of a question in the air, and more than a touch of sorrow. “Tell me, Captain, the humans…” He looked up then to gaze on her features, the formality lessened between them by her simple speech. Tatiana, her golden crown shining green in the emerald light, her radiant features and the stormy potential that lay just under the surface of surpassing beauty, knit her pale brow. “Are there none worth saving?”

He looked down at his small pointed feet in their laced black boots, shining in the green light. “My Queen,” he began, searching for words, “We have found great evil and greed here, but it is not all wickedness. The regular people are afraid, and they react badly.” He glanced back at her and saw her bow her head.

“What fools these mortals be, my Captain.” she paused after quoting her favorite human author. “Your compassion, then, would be moved to spare this species?”

He thought bitterly of the treatment of his kind at the hands of imbeciles who had no idea what power they were attempting to chain, he thought of the prisoners working in the mines, of the diplomacy that failed, the arrogance and spite of callous men and the wicked lies of high-born women, of torture and abuse and death. His anger grew. He would, he thought, advise no compassion, except…there was Barley and the lithe young human woman that held his heart.

He thought on his handsome blonde friend, a lower caste Elf who was proud to be First Mate on his ship, and his heart could not be bound to the hatred he wished he could feel. He remembered the ancient history of his own kind, discovered so long ago by the Eternal Queen Tatiana and how they had been, slowly, over three thousand years, brought into the knowledge of civilization, and civility. “Yes, my Queen,” he said, his wrath defeated. “They are not much more savage than my own kind, those millennia ago.”

He felt the smile blossom on her face before he saw it. Glancing up in surprise he saw her glory and his eyes filled for joy. “Captain Alfwin Adelric of Ebonshire, you have passed the test. You are now, in my eyes, Lord Alfwin Adelric of all Ebonshire and the Five Districts, Merchant of the Queen and Captain of the Queen’s Ship, The Celestial Wanderer.”

He gasped and bowed deeply, his forehead touching the polished wooden floor of his beloved ship. “My Queen, I am unworthy!”

“Nay, Lord Alfwin, you are most worthy in my sight, and my eyes are the ones that matter.”

“Thank you, my Queen, I shall not fail you.”

“You shall not,” she said in a tone that implied complete faith. “Continue with our plan, and the greater glory to leaving this species unharmed. I will communicate such to the Generals and the other ships in our command.”

He bowed again, and the light receded. She was gone.


* *

A fair headed man and a will-o-the-wisp girl fled through the streets as a massive light circled and grew in the sky of the Harbor. She nearly fell in awe of it, and was frightened, but held his hand like a vice as they ran. He told her there was nothing to fear, and she hoped he was not lying.

At the harbor, The Celestial Wanderer began to glow and shift, preparing itself to shed the mask of the human world, morphing into its true shape. “Hurry,” Barley cried and they nearly flew up the dock, fighting against the tide of retreating people who thought surely the world was ending.

...

There was a chaos of rough human feet and elbows, twists of fabric, points of weapons, and loud shouts as stalls upended and the tide of unruly flesh streaming from the dock pushed against them in a sweating, stinking mass. Barley’s light feet and fey strength bounced them swiftly up and over limbs and heads, leaping and darting above the fray with his Elizabeth clinging in terror, arms wrapped tightly about his waist. He would not fail her!

They battled and shoved their way until they broke through the remnant of the crowd, dashing to the gangplank and up it as the ship began to vibrate with a deep humming sound. As they sped to the mouth of the ship, it morphed around them, transforming to the sleek lines of a long distance interplanetary craft, Diamond Class and shining iridescent and pearl like from stem to stern. Through the entrance that sealed behind them, and down they went, Elf and human. They laughed joyfully at their narrow escape, finding his well kept cabin and tumbling into a kiss…

* *


There is no surviving historical record to illuminate future generations, to tell of when the Queen’s ships transformed and took to the skies in the year 1599 of their calendar, terrifying all of Europe. A multitude of flying triangles and crosses, strange shapes, filled the bright daylight as people feared the Return of Christ, or the Wrath of their God, and hid in their homes, or ran through the streets hoping to see angels.

The strange air ships put forth great bursts of green, yellow and white light which penetrated even under the earth. Guards underground were shocked to see their prisoners, the strange folk from the distant land who were so good at mining and working, enveloped in light and disappearing, suddenly gone from their underground hell.

Lord Captain Alfwin Adelric stood proudly at the helm of his ship, hands on his hips and feet planted wide. He was holding the portal for the transports to carry his people home along with the two other ships needed for the task. His clothing was now the comfortable shining gold jumpsuit they used for flight, with his new rank gleaming on the shoulder. His bright blue eyes danced with a kind and lively gaze over his crewmen and women as he shouted out his orders.

A joyful “Yes! Lord Captain, My Captain!” echoed over the bridge and down the halls through to the cabins below. He had passed the Queen’s test, and achieved his new rank and responsibility for all to see. The entire ship was ebullient, and their loyalty to him shone out their eyes, made the points of their ears twitch with excitement, and put a new bounce in their step.

None was more loyal, or more proud, than First Mate to the Lord Captain, Barley, whose gratitude extended far beyond the fact of his own newly elevated rank. His love, Elizabeth Belle, her eyes filled with wonder, soaked in her new life with awe and determination; she and many others like her, had been taken up with the ships to learn and become the best of her species, based on the scans of the people’s of the earth, and their relative spiritual and physical vibrations. The Queen was generous in removing those who would be crushed by the weight of the human wicked, giving them an unbounded new life.

When the mission was complete, the ships retreated through the Portal, Queen Tatiana’s massive Mother Ship in view beyond the green swirl of light and waiting for their return.

Captain Alfwin Adelric’s ship was last, the Seal of the Portal, and as they wrapped the energies of the vortex around them to push through to the other side, he wondered if this would be the last they saw of the beautiful blue planet, Earth. But he was a forward thinking man and before him lay the stars, his new dominion, and worlds upon worlds without end…

THE END

a reply to: AboveBoard

It is funny, how very strong the picture is. We're all steered in almost exactly the same direction: Ships and battles for mankind.
Love the phantasy/motherboard twist. Besides that did you know Bethon is a real commune in North-East France, is that on purpose? Also Dormin is an old word for phytohormone. Or did you have more dormant in mind when you picked, it?
Anyhoo S&F, it totally works!

a reply to: Peeple

Thanks, Peeple!

I wasn't thinking those names really meant anything, other than in the parallel reality of the story. Perhaps I was lazy, but I didn't want to get bogged down in maps and distances in real life, so there you have it!

I could also have done the date a little differently, because I think I see a gun in his waistband (didn't see it at the time) and I could have made it more appropriate timing-wise.

Anyway - I so appreciate you reading it!!!

- AB

a reply to: AboveBoard

Thank you for sharing such a wonderful story.

S & F for you my friend!

Loved this tale.

Very well written.

S&F from me too!

CdT

a reply to: grayeagle

Hey greyeagle - thanks for stopping by to read my story!! Always good to see you...

It's not a perfect story, but it has some good elements, I think - thank you for calling it "wonderful."


- AB

a reply to: CirqueDeTruth

Hey Cirque!

Thank you so much for reading it! We both were thinking portals and gates...its a fey thing, I guess...

- AB

a reply to: AboveBoard

I give You Your 6th Flag and Star AB! Nice Job!!