Queens of Fate

Chapter 2. Golden Sun

          The girl behind the sofa remained silent and watched suspiciously as Sarah stepped over to James and helped him wrap the towel tightly around his cut hand.

          I know her.

          Where do I know her?

         William stood up, “Who are you?”

         She stared at him intensely, then narrowed her eyes, talking very slowly “Are you Children of Halen or Children of Orashi?”

         'Halen's Children'. Why is that familiar? Where do I know that from?

         “You aren't making any sense. Now tell us who you are, or--”

         William had started to walk around the sofa, and she looked over to him in panic, holding out one hand and crying, “Stop!”

         William stopped, his hands going up to his throat. He rose up onto his toes, and then off the ground completely, kicking his legs beneath him.

         “What are you doing! Let him go!” Sarah shouted, rushing to grab William and pull him down.

         “I said to stay back!”

         The girl held out her other arm, Sarah gasped like someone had punched her in the stomach, and toppled over.

         The girl looked at James savagely, “Are you Children of Halen or Orashi? Answer me now or they both die!”

         “I don't know what you're talking about! Who are Halen and Orashi?”

         James looked back and forth at his friends. William was now hanging nearly a foot off the ground, and Sarah was bent in half on the floor, clutching her stomach and coughing. Across the room, from behind the back of the sofa, the red headed girl's face was a mixture of anger and confusion, and then wide-eyed shock as her she looked down to James' right hand.

          He didn't feel it until that instant, but his fingers had reflexively closed around the lined grip of the handgun that a few seconds ago hadn't been there.

         She gritted her teeth. “That's not yours!”

         William dropped to the floor and immediately James couldn't breathe. He could suddenly see a disembodied, slimy, green hand wrap around his neck and felt his feet leave the floor.

         “Where did you get it?” She demanded, and Sarah screamed suddenly.

         “I don't know.” He whispered hoarsely, lifting the revolver in a trembling hand to point it at her. “Let Sarah go.”

         The girl's eyes softened, and she looked up unto Jame's face, looking for something.

         “It's you,” she whispered.

         Then her arms dropped. James fell to the floor. Sarah started to breath deeply in relief, like a heavy weight had just been taken off of her chest. William was finally starting to push himself up.

         He quickly pointed the revolver at her again. I recognize her now. She's the girl from the dream. The redhead.

         “Who are you?”

         “Don't you remember? I've waited so long. I'm...”

         She stopped, her eyes narrowing again, when she saw William and Sarah standing up next to James. The gun slowly disappeared between his fingers.

         When the gun was completely gone, the girl stood up and bowed. She was wearing nothing but an emerald necklace

         “My name is Luna, Master. I don't know where I am, and I'm sorry I attacked you and your friends. I was very afraid. Please forgive Luna. She is in your service.”

************

          Marthus woke up to see Yi's emotionless black eyes looking down at him.

         “The Golden Sun is safe, Captain. However, you must find the spy as soon as possible.”

         The lurching, unnatural vibrations of flying through the air were replaced by the gentle roll of a peaceful sea. Around him were a dozen others, lying unconscious. Most of those standing were robed figures, watching with a detached interest as a couple of bandaged people moved about the unconscious bodies, pouring water into their mouths and trying to attend to their wounds. One of them was Alison.

         “Where are the rest? The crew was sixty-three.”

         “In the sea. Scattered to the winds. I don't know. It's not important. There are still fifteen, plus The Eye. That is enough.”

         The Eye. That's what the bastards call themselves. Everyone else is just a star moving through their horoscopes.

         Marthus sat up, his head spinning. Sea mist and the smell of fish struck him in the face. The wooden ship, aside from a few scorch marks, was in remarkable shape.

         “How do we know one of your Eyes isn't the spy?”

         “You and your ship still exist, Captain. That is how we know. Find the spy, and the Eye will prepare for another journey to the Blue Moon.”

         Yi stood up, and went to stand next to the other robed figures.

*******


         “Let me see if I understand this clearly.”

         Luna sat and patiently listened to William. The black Metallica t-shirt and jeans were much too big for her. They needed a belt to stay up and the pants legs had to be rolled up about seven inches. She had allowed Sarah to tie her hands behind her back.

         William paced back and forth in front of her, “You don't remember anything about where you are from, or how you got here. Is that right?”

         “Yes, Mast -- William. Luna does not remember anything. It's all so strange.” She looked at James before continuing.

         “And dreamlike.”

         Sarah stared at her in disgust, “You don't really expect us to believe that do you? You tried to kill us. If Jame's hadn't threatened you with that...” Sarah stopped. That gun hadn't been there, and then it was there. And she had watched it slowly disappear again.

         “Luna is sorry she attacked you. It was all so much like waking up from a dream. I don't even remember who I was accusing you of being.”

         “Halen's children.” James stared at the floor, remembering the name from his dream. “I had a dream about them.” He looked up, “And about you.”

          “Well, that makes everything clear then.” William said conclusively.

         Sarah looked incredulous, “No, it doesn't!”

         “Yes it does.” William corrected, “She's the 'beautiful girl' that Jame's wished for yesterday. The girl from his dreams.” He looked Luna up and down. “Not bad, actually.”

         “You have to be joking. That was just a stupid superstition you picked up in a library book!”

         Even if that was true, she's not the girl I was talking about.

         William held his hand up dramatically, looking at the ceiling, “There are stranger things in heaven and in earth than are dreamed of in your --“

         “Don't quote Shakespeare at me! She's dangerous!” Sarah looked at James, who was still staring at the carpeted floor, “You need to call the police.”

         William laughed, “And tell them what?” He held his hand up to his ear to mime a telephone, “Yeah, is this 911? This naked chick just appeared in my living room and tried to kill us with her magic powers. Could you send a squad car around?”

         “What's a squad car?” Luna asked innocently, and Sarah turned to her, a disgusted look on her face, “Don't play stupid with me. William's an idiot--”

         “Hey!”

         “--but don't think James or I buy your ridiculous 'I don't remember, please don't hurt me' story for a second.”

         “I believe her.” James said, standing up and walking over to the redheaded girl in the recliner.

         Sarah looked at him, stunned for a second, and then rolled her eyes in disbelief.

         “James, girlfriends don't just fall out of the sky and try to kill you. It was just a stupid card game.”

         James blushed, but clenched his fists and said angrily. “That's not why!”

         Sarah recoiled in shock at the anger in his voice, and then crossed her arms, “Okay. Why do you believe her?”

         “I've been having these dreams. They're really vivid, but I can't remember them now. Except that it was about 'Halen's Children', and it was about her.” He paused to think. “And someone else. I just don't remember. But it sounds exactly like what she is describing. And then there is the gun. And that creature.”

         Sarah looked at William, then at James, then at Luna, who was listening with a frightened look on her face. She stomped back over to where she was sitting and grabbed her book, “I don't believe this. I can't believe this.”

         “Now that everyone is in agreement that Luna is trustworthy.” William spoke slowly, walking towards the window and staring into the night, “We should return to the really important topic of the night.” He turned around to face them, his face grave, “What is the name of our paint ball team?”

         Sarah looked shell shocked.

         “Don't you think there are more important things right now?”

         “More important than paint ball?” William frowned, “Never. Now that we have a four man team--” He indicated Luna.

         “No!”

         He continued “--now that we have a four man team, it is all the more critical that we have a good name. I have a number of ideas but --”

         “The Golden Sun.”

         “What?”

         They all turned to look at Luna.

         “Your alliance should be called The Golden Sun.” she repeated herself, watching Jame's very closely.

         Like the ship.

         “I like it.” William declared after a few moments thought. “James?”

         James nodded, looking at Luna.

         Sarah opened her book and sighed, “Whatever. I've always known one day I would have to save you two from your own stupidity. I guess this is it.”

         “I'll untie her.” James said, and untied the extension cord around Luna's wrists while Sarah watched with a hostile look.

         William looked at his watch, “It's half past one in the morning. The tournament is at ten. So. . .we should be going Sarah.”

         “And where will magic girl go?” Sarah asked.

         William shrugged, “She's James' girlfriend. She can sleep with him.”

         “Sleep with her? Like, in the same bed?” James blurted out before he could stop himself, and blushed. He couldn't resist looking her up and down, the memory of when she had first stood up behind the couch in the nude very fresh and vivid. Luna met his eyes and smiled, and he felt his face burn and stared at the floor.

         Sarah rolled her eyes, “She tried to kill us, James. I don't think crawling into bed with her is such a great idea.”

         “That was just a misunderstanding.” William explained, “James' trusts her, don't you James?”

         James looked at William, then at Luna, who was still smiling at him and squeezed his hand. I didn't realize I was holding her hand.

         “Do you trust Luna?” She asked.

         His jaw dropped and he nodded dumbly, “Um. . .yeah. Of course.”

         Sarah groaned, “I don't believe how pathetic you are, James! A girl tries to kill you, and all she has to do is bat her lashes and you're reduced to babbling.” She noticed them holding hands, and stomped over to Luna, yanking her hand away from James.

         “I'll come along on to your stupid tournament because someone who doesn't have their brain in their pants needs to be there. But I'm not leaving her with James alone.”

         “You're just jealous.” William observed calmly.

         Sarah stopped, clenching her fists (one of which was still holding Luna's wrist).

         “I won't even answer that, William. We're going to tie this girl back up, and we're going to keep watch over her.”

         “All night?” William asked.

         “You think I'm going to be able to sleep with you two watching her?”

         “And you don't want any Mountain Dew?”

         “No.” She sat down. “Do you have any coffee, James?”

*****


          James looked out from the mountain top at the clouds below him, his breath freezing in front of his face. There was nothing above him but pitch darkness. Approaching him from the left was a figure in a hooded green robe. He didn't feel safe, and strapped to his hip was the revolver, which he drew and pointed at the figure, knowing exactly what to say, just like he had said it a thousand times before.

         “Are you a Child of Halen or a Child of Orashi?”

         The figure stopped and lowered its hood, “Neither, Golden Sun.” It was Luna.

         This is a dream.

         “I won't speak to you in front of those two, William and Sarah, Master. The Children are everywhere, and I don't trust them.”

         “They're my best friends. Who are you, Luna?”

         “I'm the Eye of the Golden Sun, Luna, one of the three.”

         “That doesn't make any sense to me.”

         “There isn't any time for that. Do not trust your two friends, Master. Look.” She pointed at the sky, and the darkness fell away like a curtain dropping to the floor, revealing thousands of stars and two bright, full moons: one red and the other blue. She was pointing at the red.

         “Orashi's Moon will pass through the Constellation of the Sun in a matter of days. Then, Orashi and his Children will know about you.” She looked at him. “They are already beginning to notice you. You know that.”

         James thought of the staring gargoyle. “The monster with one eye. That was one of Orashi's Children?”

         Luna nodded, “Yes Master.”

         “It was hideous.” He remembered it, clawing through the stone like dirt. “Are there more?”

         “It was a scout. A watcher. There are worse things waiting to move as soon as Orashi wakes up. Much, much worse things.” She looked towards the horizon. “It's almost morning.”

         She looked at him, and moved closer, “Trust no one, James. I've waited seven hundred years to find you. I didn't wait that long to see my love killed by the Children again.”

         She looked up at him, her eyes watering, and moved against him.

         “Soon..” she whispered, her lips rising up to...

*********

         “You don't say? Fifty dollars?”

         Sarah and William both woke up when James' mother opened the door, talking loudly with his grandmother, who could not hear very clearly anymore.

         “Yeah, yeah. I won fifty dollars when they took us to the bingo parlor last week. I think I nearly broke my hip when I was going up to show them my bingo card; I was so excited!”

         “Oh.” James' mother saw Sarah sitting up on the couch, and William wiping the drool off his chin, “Hi you guys.”

         “Hi, Mrs. Harrelson.” William answered groggily and stretched.

         “I can't believe James made you two sleep out here. We have an extra bedroom that Sarah could've slept in. And that couch folds out.” She looked at the dozen coffee mugs and two empty potato chip bags sitting on the table. “Such a mess too. I ought to wring his neck.” She turned and raised her voice to the elderly woman walking slowly and gingerly into the living room, “Mother, why don't you go tell James I'm going to wring his neck for leaving such a mess.” Mrs. Harrelson turned back to the two teenagers and winked.

         William nodded and winked back happily, but Sarah sat up like a bolt, eyes wide, looking all around her, including behind the couch.

         “Where's James?” She turned to William, “Where's Luna?”

         “AYYYYIIE!!”

         James' grandmother cried and closed the door to his room again quickly.

         “Oh my god! She killed him!” Sarah's mind filled with dozens of terrible images. What would they find in James' room? Would his throat be snapped, like William's surely would have been if James hadn't found that bizarre gun? Would his guts be all over the floor, like Sarah felt her's would have been? Or something even more gruesome. She looked at William, who was turning to look at the old woman with only mild interest.

         She stumbled to her feet, feeling sick, and rushed towards the door. Oh my god! If he's dead, it's my fault how could I have fallen asleep. Please be alright...

         “Mother!” Mrs. Harrelson cried, “Whats come over you?”

         “James is in bed with a woman!”

         You idiot.

         This gained William's attention and he rushed for the door to James' room. His grandmother was standing in front of the door, looking shocked, and blocking William and Sarah from looking inside. It also gained Mrs. Harrelson's undivided attention, as she walked quickly over to the door and tried to open it.

         “No! It's not decent!” The old woman insisted.

         “That's my son in there!” “That's my friend!”

          The door swung open.

         James' clothes, both those he had been wearing and those Luna had been wearing, were strewn all over the floor. James was laying on his back, still asleep, his glasses hanging crooked on his nose. His feet were sticking out from underneath the sheets with white socks on them. Also sticking out from under the sheets was Luna's feet, and she was curled up next to him.

         “Way to go, James!”

         “I don't believe it.” his mother spoke to herself.

         I can't believe I was worried about you, you, pervert! thought Sarah.

***********

         James woke up to the sight of his grandmother, outside the door with a scandalized look on her face, his best friend grinning ear to ear, his mother simply looking shocked, and Sarah looking at him, as she so often did, like she had just witnessed him kicking a small, defenseless puppy.

         For the first few moments after waking up, he didn't understand why everyone looked this way. And then he felt the stir beside him, and the brushing of bare skin against his and knew exactly why. His mind was instantly torn two different ways. In the one way, he could feel every detail of Luna's skin up against his. He was especially aware of her right breast pressed softly against his chest. In the other, opposite way, he was especially aware of his best friends, his mother, and his grandmother, all staring at him, naked, in bed with a naked woman, and he simply wanted to disappear.

         Luna stirred again, and looked up at him. She kissed him softly on the lips, ignoring his wide, disbelieving eyes and limp sliding into the covers.

         “Last night was wonderful, Master.”

         She looked up at all the people standing in the doorway, her eyes meeting Sarah's hate-filled ones. She smiled brightly.

         “Good morning.”

         She slipped out of the bed, unashamed, and began to dress, and finally the door closed.

         James sat up, racking his brain. We were in the living room, drinking coffee. William was trying to 'teach' Luna how to play paint ball, then. . .then what?

         “What happened last night, Luna?” He looked at her, just as she was pulling his Metallica t-shirt over herself, and looked back down at the sheets, trying to drive the image of her body from his mind so he could think.

         “You don't remember? I feel sorry for you, Master James.”

         He clenched his fists, “D--Don't play games. What happened?”

         She had finished dressing, and bent down over him, her face inches from his, “What do you remember?”

         “Nothing! Just--I had a dream of you!”

         She smiled, and kissed him on the lips again.“Yes. It was dreamy.”

         Her eyes turned serious, “You should dress. And think fondly of the dream. We don't have much more time.”

***

         They stepped outside together to the living room, fully clothed. James had never felt so afraid of what he faced out there in his life, but Luna seemed to have returned to the same eerie calm that she had kept through most of the previous evening (after she had been subdued, of course).

         Sitting at the dining room table was his mother and grandmother. His grandmother still looked like she had just seen a the scene of some grisly murder. His mother was drinking coffee with a blank expression on her face. William was sitting on the couch trying to hold his chuckling laughter.

         Sarah was sitting in the recliner, her legs crossed Indian-style, very forcefully pretending to read her book.

         “So, James. Would you care to introduce us to your. . .friend?” his mother asked with a very forced, neutral tone.

         Before he could answer, and it would have taken him ages to get out anything coherent anyways, Luna bowed deeply, “Good morning, Mistress. My name is Luna,and I am pleased to be in your service.”

         James looked at his mother, then at Luna. Mistress?

         “Mistress?” She looked uncomfortably at James, who looked uncomfortably at William for help, who stopped laughing long enough to stand up and come over to his friend's side.

         “You'll have to excuse Luna, Mrs. Harrelson. She's a foreigner.”

         Luna smiled at James' mother, who did not smile back.

         “Really? Where are you from Luna?”

         “Japan.” James said the first country that popped into his head, and regretted it immediately when William gave him a funny look. He could swear he could hear Sarah's facade shatter for just a second as she muttered, “Japan.” mockingly.

         “She doesn't look very Japanese.” And she didn't. Aside from being short, Luna was as unJapanese as they came, with her head full of bright red hair and bright green eyes.

         “She's an albino. Japanese albinos have red hair and green eyes. I read about it in Scientific America. It's very interesting and rare.” William said with a straight face that James couldn't match. Sarah started to laugh bitterly.

         “It's true. Luna is a Jafanese alrino.” Luna tried to agree, but mispronouncing the two words she had never heard before.

         James nodded desperately, trying to hide his face.

         She looked unconvinced, but said, “It's not important --”

         She started to motion for them to sit down and talk, her world having changed a lot since she left the previous morning, but William interrupted her.

         “You know, that's great, Ma'am. But we really have to be going. It's almost 9:30, and we are supposed to be competing in a paint ball tournament today. It's very important.”

         “Yeah!” James agreed quickly, anxious for any excuse to leave.

         “Oh yes. I'm just your mother. I don't need to meet the women you bring home.”

         “Thanks, bye!” William said, pulling James and Luna towards the door, “C'mon Sarah, we're going.”

         Sarah stood up, reading her book.

         “Sarah!” James' mother called after her, and she stopped.

         “I've known you for years. Should I be worried?” She looked worried. The conversation hadn't exactly gone how she expected.

         “You should be scared to death. I sure am.” And she walked out the door. It was the last time Mrs. Harrelson saw her, or William, or her son.