Alan was daydreaming.
Presently, he was
daydreaming in the middle of Jerry's subconscious.
Not that this was new
to him, of course. He daydreamed about a lot of things, like how many bullet
holes it would take to decrease a person's body weight by 20 pounds. It was
just that now that he was openly dating Naomi (and actively, he thought, with a
grin), he spent much less time trying to decide what terrible things to do to
Jerry or anyone in the surrounding area and a lot more time just...thinking.
Partially, this was because Naomi (who was almost constantly on his mind) had a
certain presence, even when she wasn't around, that made his mind drift to
thoughts of her.
She had also explained
that she had a certain semi-coexistence with Daina. Daina could survive without
Naomi, but Naomi was surely dead without Daina, which made all plans to kill
Daina or even bring her dangerously close to discomfort kind of fly out the
proverbial window. And since Jerry had pretty much lost his complete mind the
last time he simply thought she was dead...well, that pretty much cinched
things (although the idea of both of them suffering a great deal was still fun
to toy with, occasionally).
The biggest and most
annoying reason, however, was that he really didn't feel the urge to do anything to anybody nearly as much
as before. There was the long standing idea of getting rid of Jerry and Daina
just so he and Naomi could take over and always be together, but that was
really half-baked, since, again, Naomi would die without Daina.
And, besides, he
thought to himself, what would be the point, really? He'd sort of allied
himself with Jerry to save Stevie from Julie before and that couldn't just be
taken away without some sort of ramifications.
Falling in love, he
was realizing, had essentially given him a conscience and that thought alone
aroused his thought processes even more. Was he actually going soft?
Then he remembered the
negligée Naomi had worn that had taken his breath away the night before and he
was no longer just mentally aroused.
Softness was definitely a problem he didn't mind...handling.
Brown arms slipped
about his waist and he felt a cheek press against his back. "Guess
who?" came her voice. He smiled, then grinned wickedly before saying,
"It must be my
new girlfriend. Hi...Julie."
"Julie???" came Naomi's horrified
screech as she dug her nails into his waist.
Alan gasped, then
began to laugh. "I'm kiddin',
babe, jeez!" he said, grabbing her hands and turning himself around to face
her. She had that violent look on her face that turned him on even more, so in
a more intimate tone, he added, "You know
you're the only one for me."
She searched his face
as if trying to detect any lies. "I better
be," she said, relaxing some.
"That's what I'm sayin'!" he assured her,
kissing her until her knees buckled, then placing her hands back around him and
drawing her close.
"Okay, I think I
believe you," she gasped, disorientedly. "Don't make me have to do
that to you again."
Alan grinned, knowing
he had severely knocked her for a loop. "Right," he said. "Next
time, I'll know better."
"Hey, guess
what?" she asked him, placing her hands on his chest and walking up it
with her fingers. They both watched her progress for a moment.
"What?" Alan
asked, taking a hand and kissing the fingers on it.
"You and I get to
go on a trip together," she said, still not looking directly at him.
"Alone?" he
asked interestedly, progressing up her arm.
"Alone 'til we
find Daina," she replied.
"Which might take
a week or two," Alan murmured, nuzzling her neck with his face.
Naomi giggled and
pushed him away gently. "Now, you know we can't do that."
Alan let out a child's
gasp. "Uh! Why-yyy?"
"Because we have
to find her," Naomi said. Here
was a challenge, he thought. How to get her mind off Daina and still solve the
problem.
"No, we
don't," he said soothingly, running his hands all over her as she tried to
explain.
"Yes, we do,
because...ooo, wait, stop...no, listen she might really need...okay, no, don't
touch me there...I'm serious, she might really...need...our help..."
"No, she
doesn't," said Alan in her ear and Naomi, like her alter ego would've
done, melted in his arms.
"Yeah, you're
probably right," Naomi breathed as he took her and half her clothing to
the floor.
"I'm always
right," he said, then almost in the same sentence, added, "Let's do
it while we're flying again. That was really cool."
"Okay,"
Naomi agreed, wrapping her hands around his neck and pulling off his shirt. He continued
to be all over her as she spoke. "I mean, it's not as if Daina might die
or anything, which, of course, would cause me to disappear right in the middle
of a really passionate moment in midair."
Alan stopped dead in
the tracks his lips were making down Naomi's chest. "What?"
"I said, it's not like Daina might die or
anything while we're knockin' boots in midair," repeated Naomi innocently.
"Please,"
said he. "This is Daina we're
talking about."
"My point
exactly," she smiled.
Alan gave her a blank
look, then hung his head. "Damn!" he sighed.
Naomi raised an
eyebrow with a coy smile. "Oops. Did I ruin the moment?"
"Yes," said Alan flatly, rolling
off her and staring up at the ceiling.
"Did I make my
point?"
"Point made,
hard-on gone," he admitted
wryly.
"Save it for
later," Naomi suggested, kissing his cheek gently.
"Well, the
Hammerman don't keep very well," Alan grumbled.
"Trust me,"
said Naomi, climbing on top of Alan to lay down, "I will find him later if I have to work him out of you." This idea didn't really solve anything,
Alan thought with a grin, but it definitely helped. He hugged Naomi to him,
then was struck with a thought. "Hey, couldn't Jerry go find her?"
Alan suggested.
"That would work,
provided that he's not already with her," Naomi shrugged. "Where is
he?"
Alan paused.
"Come to think of it," he frowned, "he isn't here. He was asleep last time I checked."
"Did he say where
he was going?"
"Nope," Alan
said.
"Where one idiot
goes, others are sure to follow," Naomi grumbled. "Is Stevie
here?"
"Yeah," Alan
replied.
"Okay, he can
stay here and watch Jerry's body," Naomi decided aloud. "We can
probably assume that Jerry's where Daina's at, so now we really have to find
them. And I mean really find them,
not mess around. At least not the whole time", she added coyly.
Alan sighed. He
couldn't have said "no" if he'd wanted to. "Alright, so where do
we start?"
Naomi grinned.
"I'm glad you asked that question", said she, leading him back toward
the Link. "You got a sleeping bag and some bug repellent?"
"Why is it that
everyone but me knows my own name?" the prince muttered to himself as he
strode down the hall. Servants and castle staff greeted him with a bow and a
"good day, Prince Alan" wherever he went. As friendly as this was, it
only served to annoy him presently, since it only reminded him that in the two
days that he'd been here, he'd yet to really know who he was without being
told.
"I don't care!" came an angry voice from
the doorway nearest him. "I can't believe you even had the gall to suggest such a thing!"
Prince Alan stopped dead in his tracks in surprise, then was nearly knocked to
the ground as the owner of the voice came barreling out of the room angrily into
him. The bag the person held flew across the room in the collision, sending
little bottles of powders and liquids everywhere.
"Good grief,
can't you even watch where you're going?!" the person exclaimed, reaching
all around to gather up the bag's contents. It seemed to be a boy of about 13
or fourteen, since his voice was so high. This was irrelevant, however, since
no matter who it was, this child was being disrespectful.
"Me!" the
prince exclaimed in response. "You crashed into me!"
"Then it serves
you right for eavesdropping!" The person stood up to face him and for the
first time, he realized that this was not a small boy, but an extremely short
woman. Her hair was cut short and hung somewhat saucily from beneath her hat in
quite the tomboyish, yet alluring look, but Prince Alan was strangely
unimpressed.
"I wasn't
eavesdropping," he said. "I heard you shouting and it startled me.
Then you came running out..."
"Well, people do
that when they're asked to marry for
the sake of the country." she said, irritably turning back to her work.
"M'sorry," she muttered.
Prince Alan bent down
to help her pick up her bottles. "Apology accepted," he replied.
"Who are you?"
"Susan," she
said, quickly proffering her hand and returning to her task. "I take it you're..."
She looked directly at him for the first time, then blinked in surprise and
grabbed the medallion around his neck to examined it. Finally she smiled wryly
and said, "My fiancee."
"Your what?" the prince echoed.
"Let's find a
private room to talk in, Prince Alan," she said, standing up and taking
his arm. "There's a lot going on here that you may need to know more
about."
Susan led him to his
own room with a certainty that made him sure she'd been there before.
"Have a seat," she told him, closing the door. Baffled, he did as he
was told.
"I take it you're
not new to the castle," he said.
"Not as new as
you, certainly," Susan told him. "I don't spend nearly as much time
here as I used to. I've been doing some research on healing without magic that
keeps me busy. It's called medicine. Some places study that as opposed to
healing."
"I know,"
the Prince nodded.
"Really?"
said Susan, suddenly genuinely interested. "How?"
"I don't remember
how I know," Prince Alan shrugged. "It's just there in my memory."
"I had heard you
were having some difficulty piecing your background together. The medicine I'm
studying talks of such an illness. It's called amnesia. If Trammell truly found
you lying in a ditch, then you could have suffered from a bump on the head and
lost your memory."
"True," the
Prince agreed. "But who are you? You told me there were things I needed to
understand and one of those, I hope, is who you are."
Susun sighed. "I
was actually next in line for this throne." she replied.
"You? Why?"
"Because...because
King Andrew was my brother," she said quickly. Prince Alan could barely
gasp before she went on. "Trammell asked me to come take the throne before
you came along and I refused because I didn't want the responsibility of this
whole city and its desire to war with Eliah. Now, you've come along almost as
mysteriously as the way all the kings before you have disappeared..."
"Disappeared?"
the Prince echoed. "All of them?"
"All of them. And
because of that, Trammell tells me that it might be best for appearances for us
to marry."
"How many kings
were there before me?" the Prince asked.
"Of Haile, 4 and
3 queens. My brother and I came here from Eliah to help rule after King Mark
disappeared. Andrew was already in love with Lady Julie, the King's sister, so
he married her and then she disappeared, too. Andrew went searching for his
friend Benjamin to ask his assistance in finding her and took King Jonathan
with him. They haven't been heard from since." Susan began to pace around.
"I don't want to marry you or rule a kingdom, but I don't wish to see this
place go to pot, either. Something strange is going on and I want to stay
around to figure it out. So, for the time being, let's pretend we've agreed on
this marriage thing and just postpone it as much as possible."
"If you think
that's best," the Prince shrugged. "I haven't even begun to rule yet.
"Trammell's been handling things for me, so..."
"Kinda figured
that," Lady Susan frowned. "I desperately need to know how you got
that medallion."
"I don't
know," said Prince Alan. "I can't remember anything before waking up
here."
"Then we'll work
on that, too," came the reply. "Meanwhile, I'm going to get resettled
so I can get to work. My room's just down the hall from yours if you need
anything."
"Just moral
support and a person like you who knows what's going on all the time," he
said.
Lady Susan smiled,
then turned and left him sitting in his chair smiling after her.
Naomi was having what
could mildly be termed an internal nervous breakdown.
She'd been tracking
Daina's kidnappers for nearly a full day now, losing the trail every so often,
but finding it again by tracing Daina's magical aura. They had stopped to rest
before this moment, but this was the first time they had actually stopped to
sleep. This was a strange and new part of the Deep Forest for Naomi, something
she didn't expect, but had dealt with without batting an eyelash. After all,
she'd tracked Daina and many others before in worse and more dangerous
territory.
The part she wasn't
used to was having Alan with her. Somehow, she had thought his hatred of nature
was just a plain hatred, not a pathological fear. Anyone who could survive the
concrete jungle that Daina called a homeworld couldn't possibly be that phased
by a few trees. But anytime something moved, brushed against him, looked funny,
he jumped, complained, whined...
"Oh, shit, what
was that?" Alan gasped, grabbing her around the waist in panic.
Come to think of it,
Naomi thought, he didn't actually survive his world...he's dead now. She
sighed. At least when they'd been moving, he hadn't been able to hear the
noises and sounds of animals lurking in the bushes.
"Probably a huge
wolf dripping blood and ichor from his fangs," Naomi muttered
sarcastically.
Alan gave her a blank
stare. "You're kidding, right?"
Naomi rolled over to
glare at him. "That's it. That is really
it. That is the final fucking straw.
I am sick and tired of listening to you bitch and complain about these fucking
woods and every little thing that creeps through them. I swear to Bios, if you
do not put a sock in it and either
go to sleep or do it to me so hard that I forget how much I hate you just now,
I'm gonna blow a cauterized hole through your head with this energy
gun." She looked past him for a
moment, then added, "Okay, duck."
"Huh?" Alan
frowned.
"Duck!" she shouted, grabbing his
head and pulling it down. With her other hand she fired a shot past Alan, then
let him up. He turned to look behind him and gasped. There lay a huge wolf with
a smoking hole between its eyes and fangs that looked as though it had just
made a kill prior to the one it'd just been about to make.
"Okay, so it was a wolf," Naomi grumbled,
rolling back over on her pallet as Alan looked at her as if he might weep.
"Shut up about it and go to sleep."