THE VROL TRILOGY (20 page)

Jennie looked out, scanning
the crowd, as she shoved ample quantities of meat into her mouth
and chewed furiously. She hadn't eaten in an entire a day and was
famished to say the least. As she ate she looked out at the large
room. Numerous lycans attracted her eye, but none captured it, even
though they kept staring at her with hopeful looks of interest.
Lycan women tended to be beautiful to the extreme - in comparison
to normals, and
especially
vampires, but Jennie was above and apart. Max
watched the crowd, but he was thinking of other things, like the
recent revelation that Charles Gunnarsson was not his father. He
loved his parents more than anything, but always knew in his heart
that his resemblance, both physical and spiritual, was with
Clarisa, and not Charles. He was, using a slang term, a
momma's boy
. He wanted
to feel betrayed, but could not, because he had gained a
grandfather - a very special grandfather.

The celebration went on for some hours,
with lycan males dancing on the tables, playing a friendly game
which consisted of taking whatever they could get their hands on
and trying to knock their closest opponent unconscious, all in an
apparent attempt to impress the young dega seated at Krynos' table.
Max watched Draagh, who clapped his hands and laughed with great
amusement, obviously enjoying the spectacle. Not minding the
display of testosterone himself, Max sipped his mead and nibbled
near-raw chunks of venison, while Jennie watched all the competing
males with a mild interest.

At the end of the feast all three were
taken to private quarters, with each having their own room. The
rooms themselves were not huge, but adequate. In fact, both Jennie
and Max found their rooms to be quite nice, as they were accustomed
to military-style housing, which was small in comparison. As he
studied his room he saw that it had a washroom and lavatory
facility. Having come from a highly advanced civilization where
sanitary needs were taken care of by technology, he cringed at the
thought of having an ancient restroom in his quarters. He kept this
in mind and didn't expect much, save for a rancid smell upon
entering his small toilet. However, to his surprise, there was
absolutely no scent whatsoever - it smelled as if it had never been
used before. He later found that, although this new world looked
like Earth of the Middle Ages, it had certain amenities, such as
running water, sanitation and irrigation, that were all made
possible by magic.

While Jennie and Draagh had
passed out almost immediately, Max stood by his window, which
overlooked the Black Forest. Thinking over everything that had
happened to him in the past couple of days, he started to wonder if
he was dead, but then pinched himself and came to the painful
conclusion that it was all very real. So many revelations in such a
short period - he was a lycan
and
a mage, Charles Gunnarsson wasn't his father, and
his bio-dad was what Draagh called the
Taxiarch
- some sort of advanced
being. To top it all off, his grandfather was an immortal
toaster-head with the ability to travel through space and time -
and torch a bowl with his magic fingernail lighter.

The waning moon hung in mid-air, and
all was silent, with the exception of the snoring of the now
sleeping revelers. His new and improved hearing made sure that he
could even count the number of people sleeping within earshot. Max
made a mental note to learn how to tune down his amplified senses
as sleep would not come easily to him that night.

Restless, he snuck out of his room, and
tiptoed down the hallway, coming to Jennie's quarters. He wanted to
see if she was awake, and perhaps pass a bit of time chatting with
her, if she would allow it. She seemed to be warming up to him
throughout the day, but was still rather standoffish. He put an ear
to the door, which he really didn't have to do, and as he couldn't
hear any snoring, tapped the large, oaken portal. No answer. So he
turned the large, iron handle and slowly pushed the door open.
Jennie was in bed, nary making a sound, but what he saw set his
heart on fire.

She was lying on her back, bed sheets
pushed down, with her legs slightly turned to the side, wearing
nothing but a white, military-regulation tank top and light blue
panties. Her perfectly-shaped bosom slowly rose and lowered with
each gentle breath, while she wore a look of complete peace on her
beautiful, sleeping face. He stepped in to get a closer view, and
noticed her black hair, laid out, almost perfectly on her fluffy,
white pillow. He never really paid attention to her hair before, as
it was previously pulled back into a ponytail, but the sight was
like something out of a holo-advert he had seen as a youth.
Standing there and staring at her, he saw her face contort slightly
and her lips start to purse. She was dreaming. She then started to
move around in her bed, lightly kicking a leg out, her head moving
from side to side. Max started to back away, but she sat up with a
bolt; eyes wide open and looking directly at him.

"Gunnarsson! What
the
hell
are you
doing in my quarters?"

Chapter 13 - Training Begins

"Umm, I, uh, heard something. It's this
damned hearing. I couldn't sleep, and I was kinda concerned," Max
stammered, although not very convincingly.

Jennie drew her bed sheets
up over her lower half, well aware that he could see her panties,
and said authoritatively, "Gunnarsson, get out… and don't
ever
come in again
unless I invite you, you goddamned dweeb."

"Sorry," Max said with a meek voice,
and departed her chambers, closing the massive door behind
him.

Pausing in the hallway he
thought to himself,
What the hell was I
thinking? She is way beyond anything I could ever…anything. Aw
shit, I should just forget about it
, and
went back to his room to experience a rather restless
sleep.

Jennie sat on her bed, a light coating
of sweat covering her dark, perfect skin. Before she awoke, she was
having that same dream, where she was running through the woods and
chasing deer. But this time the dream was different - she caught
one - she caught one, and tore at its throat with her teeth. This
resulted in severing the beast's carotid artery and covering
everything in a massive spray of hot, delicious red blood. It was
at that moment that she woke up, only to find the interloper
Gunnarsson in her room. Sitting there, she turned around slightly;
her figure accentuated in the soft moonlight, and looked out
through the window that was above the headboard of her
bed.

"Admiral," she thought out loud, "I
only hope that you made the right decision sending me
here."

Morning came, and came too soon for
Max, but Jennie had rested, as well as Draagh, who never seemed to
have any problem sleeping. All three exited their quarters at the
same time, being able to hear activities in the others' rooms.
Draagh yawned, stretching his arms out a bit, while Jennie gave Max
a look of near-contempt. Noting her facial expression, and then
turning to Max, Draagh started the morning's
conversation.

"Well now, my children. Did we sleep
well? I certainly hope so, as you shall have a busy day. Yes, a
busy day, indeed."

Jennie responded, "I'm hungry. Where's
the mess hall?"

Max added, "Yeah, I need to get
something in my stomach. I didn't sleep very well at
all."

Draagh motioned to the two
for them to follow him down the spacious hallway, where they
encountered a back stairway and descended to an area where women
were bringing plates of food to men who looked like soldiers,
dressed in various types of leather garments, each unique in a
slightly different way than the others. They took their seats at an
unoccupied table, with plates of food set before them before they
even asked - meat (of course), what appeared to be a sort of
porridge, and to Jennie's delight, yerba mate (
mah-tay
), her favorite non-alcoholic
beverage. Max surveyed his morning meal, pleased with its contents,
and first took a sip of his drink.

"Mate! I love mate!" he exclaimed. "We
never had any in the science division, so we always drank coffee,
but when I was young my mom would always prepare some for me on
cold days. I even had an antique bombilla from Earth, but could
only use it on special occasions."

A
bombilla
was a specialized, metal
straw with a bulbous end that had numerous holes in it, in order to
filter the leaves and stems from the mate infusion. Max's bombilla
was priceless, as were most artifacts from Earth.

Surprised, Jennie looked at Max, not
having realized he would have known anything about her beloved
mate.

"Gunnarsson, you drink mate? It's my
favorite thing to drink, well, besides fernet," to which she gave
him an almost friendly smile.

"Oh yeah, my mom was from Mendoza, in
Nueva Argentina, and I was born in Córdoba. It was kind of a
cultural thing."

"No way!" exclaimed Jennie. "I was born
in Buenos Aires, in NA! Are you…. part dego?"

Max looked over at Draagh, who nodded
his head in the affirmative, and then included, on Max's behalf,
"He would be half dego, from his mother's side, but quite a
different being from his father's half."

Then, still looking at Draagh, a most
curious and unexpected thing came out of Max's mouth.

"
Si, como vos sabés más que nosotros
[
yes, as you know more than
us
]."

Jennie looked at Max, completely
stunned. There was more to him than she had previously believed,
but she still thought he was a bit weak and not worthy of much
further attention. He didn't fit her ideal of a man and was a bit
of a peeping tom as far as she was concerned. In any case, they
were to train together, so, with this new revelation that they were
from the same federal state, she decided that she would try to give
him a bit more respect from thereon out - but only a bit more.
Still, she wanted to ask a few more questions, as they dug into
their morning meal.

"So Gunnarsson, what kinds of food do
you like? Is there anything at the top of your list?"

Max looked pensive for a moment, and
then responded, "Well, of course I love beef. That has to be
my favorite, but I also like ancient Peruvian cuisine, like a good
parihuela."

Jennie knew of the Peruvian seafood
soup, and wrinkled her nose a bit, saying, "Ew, I was never much
into shellfish, but I heard that Earth's oceans had better tasting
fish and stuff. Well, at least that's what my grandfather - erm,
father… used to say."

Max grinned and went on eating,
finishing his porridge, and getting up to leave he looked around
for the recycle repository, seeing nothing even remotely close. As
he went to grab his plate an attending lycan female swished it out
of his hands.

"My Lord has finished? We shall care
for your place settings."

Max and Jennie looked at each other
with a bit of surprise, and then Jennie stood up from her seat,
expecting the same treatment, to which none came. Max, seeking to
forge a slightly more amicable relationship with his beautiful
counterpart, called out to the castle servants

"Excuse me, young lady? Jennie here is
a warrior and is to receive the same attention as the rest of
us."

A different attendant rushed over,
apologizing while bowing her head. There weren't many female
soldiers in the Rhönen Dominion, and Jennie planned on changing
that, rather quickly. Draagh got a big grin while looking at Max,
who had a small expression of achievement on his face.

The training grounds were nicely sized
- about the size of a football (soccer) pitch, 120 by 80 meters,
and had what appeared to be workstations of various types. Max and
Jennie were split up into different groups, which disconcerted Max,
but quite pleased Jennie, who preferred fewer distractions than
watching the bumbling scientist stumble around. The two went about
training at various workstations, with Jennie occasionally spying
on Max, just to see how he was doing. To her surprise, he was quite
agile, and easily completed obstacle courses, able to make
incredible leaps over various walls and moats, while landing firmly
on his feet, more like a feline than a canine. Of course, she had
little difficulty at the same time, but was still impressed with
his innate athletic skills.

While Max and Jennie continued
training, the first day being on skills of athleticism, Draagh met
with Krynos in the king's private offices. As they sat, the two
began discussing the purpose of their visit to the Rhönen
Dominion.

"I cannot display enough of my sincere
gratitude for your hospitality, my Lord," said Draagh, "and I am
sure that my two young charges are equally grateful."

Krynos nodded, and then asked, "I would
like to know further what your intentions are, as you had only
mentioned that you were going to bring a couple of younglings in
for training. They are truly from years past?"

"Yes," responded the old
mage, bearing a look of satisfaction, "I had to thread the needle
quite delicately, so to say, in order to get the two into the same
location. You see, as I had mentioned last night, Max
is
my grandson, and such
an offspring rarely, if ever, comes along. He has the potential to
be quite an impressive man, and, given the proper training, will
play a great role in preventing the destruction of his home
world."