THE VROL TRILOGY (72 page)

"The Battle of the Blood!" boomed Krynos, who
still enjoyed making exaggerated accounts of the fight.

"But Draagh, didn't you say that you had no
idea where Marnn's staff was sent?" asked Jennie.

"Correct, my dear, but I surmise, as my staff
rejected Max, it may also reject Michael to the same location, as
he has similar genetics. So, we will need to find Michael, bring
him here, and then have him replicate Max's activities, but this
time while bringing me along. With the slightest bit of luck, we
shall end up where Max was sent. I will then simply save the
coordinates, return here for a recon team and we shall go find our
lost friend and family member."

"I must accompany the recon team,
also!" exclaimed Krynos, which caused everyone to turn and look at
him. "Young Max is one of my most trusted commanders, and I look at
him like I would a son. I am part of the team. I am also the king,
so I can make the rules whenever I like. I believe Max would call
that
jenga
."

Liliana clapped her hands in delight. "We are
to find my father! And I am to help! Oh, this makes me so
happy!"

"Lili, dear, please do not get your hopes up
too much. Your faith is commendable, but we must be realistic,"
cautioned the girl's mother.

"I believe this could result in the desired
outcome," stated Gabriel. "Liliana, you have every right to be
positive. Something I forgot long ago, but recently rediscovered,
is the power of positive thought. Humans have immense latent mental
powers. Perhaps I was overly critical of them due to a subconscious
fear, but my young niece here has awakened some of the hopes I used
to hold dear. Mankind will indeed continue to evolve, and
eventually match us in abilities. In a few million years, of
course."

Bagatelle finished a mouthful of food and
added, "So, if I understand this right, Max's biological father
could potentially do the same thing Max did, and bring you to where
he is?"

"Yes, that is correct, my dear Bagatelle,
quite correct," answered Draagh.

Jennie sat at the table, quietly finishing
her dinner, wearing a hopeful look on her face. In any case, she
was certain that if this failed she would probably never see her
husband again unless he found a way back to her.

"Gabriel and I have some things to discuss
before retiring. We leave early in the morning, so we shall meet
here for breakfast at 0600 hours," Draagh informed his son.

Everyone woke up at dawn, with Liliana being
the first to arrive at the dining hall. She was already eating her
breakfast of eggs, elk sausage and potatoes when her mother
arrived. The first thing Jennie noticed was that Liliana wasn't
wearing her usually school tunic and pants. She was in what
appeared to be precisely fitting, brown leather battle gear.
Something so well-made had to have been procured by Draagh, and
Jennie fully intended on having a talk with him.

"Good morning, Jennie," the little girl said,
"the elk sausage is excellent."

"Lili, where did you get that clothing?"

"From Grandfather, of course! Do you not
think it looks most… cool?"

Jennie looked at her young child and had to
admit that Liliana did look quite impressive. Aside from that, she
was a formidable fighter, and this would be the first time she
would be in a potentially hostile environment. Jennie was
concerned, but not overly worried.

"Yeah, sweetie - you look great. Just don't
let it go to your head, ok? Any sign of danger and I need you to
take cover. Do you understand?" Jennie gave her daughter a stern
look that was meant to be taken seriously. The child nodded her
head and mumbled with a full mouth.

Draagh entered, followed by Bagatelle.
Everyone greeted each other merrily, as they had good feelings
about the day's mission. Liliana gave her Uncle G a kiss on his
cheek, making sure that he saw her new battle leathers, which he
eyed approvingly. She looked at her great-grandfather and smiled,
as he winked back at her. He had created her clothing with special
protective cantuses, making sure she would not be harmed by an
average attack. This could be done to anyone, but it tended to
hamper offensive capabilities, so it was perfect for a little girl
who was not intended to fight in the first place.

"So, now that we are all here, with the
exception of our king and Gabriel, I will begin to brief you all on
today's activities. We are to slip to a location where Gabriel has
stranded his brother."

The entire group gave Draagh an odd stare,
never having expected to hear that come out of the ancient mage's
mouth.

"Yes, I know. You see, Gabriel and Michael
have been quarreling for centuries. But I believe Gabriel has come
to terms with their issues. I can only hope that Michael feels the
same."

Gabriel walked into the dining hall, dressed
in the same desert camouflage clothing he was wearing when he first
met with his father the day prior. Liliana looked him with a bright
expression, and he returned her gaze, showing a bit of surprise at
her attire.

"Liliana, you look like quite the warrior, I
must say," said Gabriel.

The little girl stood up and curtseyed to her
uncle, and then to the rest of the group.

"Thank you, T
í
o, I appreciate your compliment. I
only hope to be of service."

Draagh looked over at Liliana and then
continued, "Welcome, my son. I was just beginning to tell our
friends that it may not be such a - as humans say - piece of cake,
to get Michael to cooperate, if we indeed do find him."

"Father, do not worry. All shall be revealed
when we go to Mija-El."

After finishing their breakfasts, everyone
went to the armory to receive their weapons. Jennie also brought
along her stinger in case it was functional in their destination.
Meeting out in the open, grassy field in front of the castle they
all waited, Gabriel being the last to arrive. When he did show up,
he saw everyone waiting in a group, but Liliana was over at the
edge of the moat, standing innocently.

"Tio! Come say goodbye to my pets!" she
yelled from near the water's edge.

Walking over, only knowing that there was a
moat, he approached Liliana while asking, "Liliana, of which pets
do you speak?"

Before she could utter a single syllable, a
massive great white shark shot up out of the water, landing its
front half on the edge of the moat. Gabriel went into instant
reflex mode, darting forward, grabbing Liliana and pulling her back
before the shark's spray of water even reached them.

"Tio! This is Hermes! My favorite shark! I
need to feed him before we go!"

Liliana pushed herself out of Gabriel's grasp
and gave him a silly look, then popped over to the feeding cage,
where she grabbed a leg of beef and dragged it over to the shark
that was waiting on the water's edge.

"Does Hermes want some yummy bovine
deliciousness? Eh sweetie?" the little girl comically asked, as she
walked up and rubbed the massive shark's nose. Hermes wiggled back
into the water as she then tossed the leg of beef up in the air,
where the deadly fish breached and engulfed it before disappearing
in the waters below.

Gabriel looked at Liliana with astonishment.
He had never thought he would have ever met a human with such
personality - and strength. Everyone else looked at Liliana as
usual, with her mother being the most vocal.

"Lili, sweetie, come on. It's time to go. You
can play with Hermes when we come back, ok?"

"Yes, Jennie! Hermes shall not eat any
servants today as he has been well fed."

She plays with
sharks…wow,
thought Gabriel.

"Everyone, please - gather here," Draagh
shouted as he tried to get everyone into a group. "We shall split
into two groups when we arrive. Gabriel is not certain of Michael's
location, so Krynos and Liliana shall accompany me, with Jennie and
Luigi accompanying Gabriel."

Liliana jumped up to the front, raising her
hand. "I am a mage and have slip capabilities!"

"Liliana, my dear, you do, but only on a
local level, and that will not be necessary. Rather, I prefer that
you come with us so that you might assist your king," said Draagh
with a tone of finality.

"That is fine, Grandfather," responded the
little girl, looking over and smiling at Krynos.

The entire group - Jennie, Draagh, Bagatelle,
Liliana, Gabriel and Krynos - all waited as Gabriel brought up an
infoscreen. Socrates appeared; ready to render assistance if
necessary, but this time it wasn't needed. Gabriel hadn't been to
their target location for nearly 25 years, but the coordinates were
saved in his ghanlo, which resided in a short blade he wore on his
hip. In the past he had used other hosts for it, such as in a staff
like his father currently used.

Gabriel looked at the group; all but him were
dressed down in brown-colored battle leathers, while he was wearing
camouflage fatigues. He thought they looked impressive enough to
basically scare the wits out of anyone where they were going.

"Everyone, our mission is to find my brother,
Michael. He may be going by that name, or his historic name,
Mija-El. He could also be called something completely different.
Draagh and I shall stay in contact with each other, but everyone
listen for either of us on your comm devices."

Liliana looked down at hers with a grin. She
really felt like part of the expedition - she felt important. As
she continued to look at her small badge, she scarcely noticed her
environment change from the front of Krynos' castle to a wooded
campsite filled with tents and camper vans.

Realizing she was somewhere else, she
looked up and saw a large, colorful banner hanging between two
trees that said
Woodstock
Forever
.

Chapter 14 - Back in Sins

Max woke up on the floor again, but suffered
no discomfort from the hard floor. He opened the magic-protected
cubbyhole he had created in his room when he first arrived,
extracting his katana and clothing. After properly dressing, he
went downstairs to find Jessica struggling in the kitchen. He had
nothing more to hide from his friends, as he had revealed most of
his secrets the night before, so he put a hand on the woman's
shoulder and said, "Jess, let me make you some breakfast. Wanna
watch?"

The woman nodded enthusiastically as she saw
Max move his hands around, causing utensils, pans and ingredients
to combine into a perfect breakfast. She stood flabbergasted by the
effortless magical display.

"Wow, Maxie. You
are
the real deal, huh?" she asked rhetorically.
Max just grinned and took her hand that had a healing wristband.
Examining it, he looked at her and said, "You know, Jess, this
little wristband has a couple of other features you may not be
aware of. For instance, did you know that you can now levitate
things with it?"

Jessica looked at him curiously, as she
was unaware of the wristband's potential. Max smiled and continued,
"I want you to point your finger at this wooden spoon. As you do, I
need you to say
graveincantatio
cochleari
and concentrate on the spoon while you lift
your finger up slowly."

Jessica did as Max asked, and was amazed to
see the wooden spoon respond to her verbal command.

"I never knew I could do this!" she squealed.
"Does Pandy also have this ability?"

"Not yet. I have to be honest with you, Jess
- I modified your wristband a bit, but I'll do the same for Pandy
so you two can have some enhanced abilities. Being as Adam thinks
he's the bigshot around here, and now that I'm considering leaving
I'll…"

"What?" she cried as her levitated spoon
dropped to the floor, "You're leaving us? I mean, I know that you
miss your family, but how can leaving here help? Plus I'm a
terrible cook - everyone knows it too. It's been like a gourmet
holiday with you around, Max. Please consider staying - we'll do
anything we can to help you find your family."

"Jessica, don't you see, you ask me to stay,
but you also say you will help me to find my family. Only I can
help myself. I need to find a true mage who might possibly have
access to Socrates, enabling what I explained last night - a 4D
slip across space-time. Without that, I am afraid I will be
stranded here forever. And being as Adam is a total fake and no one
here has actually ever met a real mage, aside from myself, I need
to travel and attempt the find one. I feel a pull to the north, for
some odd reason."

The woman looked down at the ground,
shuffling her feet a bit. "Well," she continued, "could you at
least teach me how to cook? I really do suck at it."

"Of course I can. It's not hard. Really, it's
simply combining the right ingredients and not using rotten
stuff."

Jessica managed a weak smile, which turned
into a big grin. The two worked together to make a nice morning
meal, and then took it all out into the lounge area where Dons and
Pandy were sitting.

"Morning, mate! Hey Jess, that smells quite
nice," said Dons.

"Morning Dons, Pandy. Actually, Jessica
prepared breakfast today."

Both Dons and Pandy tried to hide the dismay
in their faces, but Max quickly followed up.

"We did it together - I have been showing her
some of my recipes."

"Max showed me quite a bit, and I think
you're gonna like it."

"Well, it does smell good, sweetie," said
Pandy, "so I'm sure it's just fine."

Max served everyone bowls of the
morning
guiso
they had
prepared, and Jessica watched carefully as each took bites of their
meals. To her surprise, Dons and Pandy both smiled and annihilated
their breakfasts. Max winked at Jessica and dug into his own bowl,
replenishing his resources that had whittled away overnight. Then,
the three lycans lifted their heads simultaneously, smelling an
unwanted individual. Adam was standing at the doorway, shifting
nervously from foot to foot.