Appeal

Auba turned back to the Field itself. She would go over to the edge, inspect it for damage, see if the criminal had left any clues. For he or she was a criminal, Auba told herself. She was sure there were applicable laws against entering the Field of Ash and Bone.

Auba stood on the grassy bank and saw straight away that the stranger had left one memento of his visit. Footprints- a long row of deep footprints in the ash, leading straight to the centre of the field. Auba cursed whoever had done this under her breath. Looking closer, she realised there were four rows of footprints, two heading towards the centre, two away from it. This person must have made two journeys. Briefly, Auba considered whether she should follow the footprints to see if the person had interfered with the centre of the field in any way, but she decided against it. Not even a Starservant could cross this place.

Auba sighed and looked back across to the tower on the horizon. What was she to do now? Her training had been rather sketchy on the subject of what to do if someone actually crossed the field, probably because no one had ever expected that to happen. She supposed she must find the culprit, and bring him to the law. They would punish him. Auba was sure it was a him by now. She could see him now, squat and lantern-jawed, his face twisted with greed and stupidity. Perhaps he'd been after the ancient fragments of King Vegeta the First's crown, which were said to scatter the field. Auba shuddered at his greed. Then she turned northeast and began to walk. The nearest Starservant was only twenty miles from here.

The nearest Starservant was a young man with large glasses and a worried expression named Tuss. When Auba described to him what had happened, he sat staring at her, open-mouthed, for nearly five minutes. Then he got her to repeat the whole thing, and when it had all sunk in he sat with his head in his hands. Auba watched him for a while and then asked,

'What do you think we should do now?'

'Do?' he said. 'I don't know.'

'Neither do I,' Auba said gloomily.

'You say you didn't recognise this person?'

'I only saw them from a distance,'

'We'll have to talk to the King,' said Tuss. 'Maybe he'll be able to find them.'

'Yes,' Auba said. 'There are laws, aren't there?' The two Starservants nodded thoughtfully. The law was not something they had anything to do with in the course of their daily lives. Saiyans are generally ruled by unwritten codes and local leaders, and central government had little control of most people's lives, but for serious indiscretions there was always the threat of the law. With any luck, this evildoer would be punished. It was not really the usual practice on the planet Vegeta to report all crimes directly to the King, but these Starservants were somewhat isolated from society.

'I'll set of tomorrow morning,' said Auba. 'I don't feel like going all the way to Perelandra today.'

'I'll go with you,' Tuss promised.

The next day the two Starservants met at sunrise, rent a cart to the seafront and rode in a boat to Perelandra. The trip was exhausting and Tuss unfortunately got seasick on the way, but their outrage at what had happened kept them going. They walked to the great city of Mondborg, with its towering white buildings and rows of Red Blossom trees. The palace was easy to find- it was on a wooded hill in the centre of the city, towering over all the other buildings, enormous, yet celestial and delicate.

Auba and Tuss reluctantly approached one of the burly guards by the gate.

'We need to speak to the King,' Auba said.

'Really?' the guard grunted, rolling his eyes slightly. 'And who are you?'

'I'm Auba Peppercorn, and this is Tuss Skaya,' she said.

'No,' the guard groaned. 'I mean, who are you? What do you do?'

'We're Starservants,' Tuss said, stepping forwards. 'We need to speak to the King. It's a matter of great importance.'

'Yeah, I'll bet,' the guard smirked. 'Tell me; just what is this matter of grave importance?'

'The Field of Ash and Bone,' Auba said urgently. 'Someone's interfered with the Field of Ash and Bone.'

'The what, now?' asked the guard, squinting. Auba and Tuss stared in horror.

'You know, the Field of Ash and Bone,' Tuss said desperately. 'It's in the Tersee district. No one's allowed to go there. It's an enormous field, covered with…'

'Ash and Bone?' asked the guard.

'Yes! It's all dead. No animals will cross there. No plants grow there. It's the most sacred place on the planet.'

'I've never heard of it,' the guard said. The two Starservants stared in horror. The guard's counterpart, a slightly taller man, leaned over from the other side of the gate.

'The Dead Place, Zaron!' he yelled. 'They're talking about the Dead Place! Don't you remember? Those priest people who came to visit were talking about it just last week. Where King Vegeta the First…'

'Oh, yes, the Dead Place,' Zaron said. 'Why didn't you just say so in the first place? I mean, the Field of Ash and Bone? The Dead Place is a much better name. So what were you saying about the Dead Place?'

'Someone walked across it,' Auba said. 'I saw them with my own eyes.'

'So?' Zaron asked.

'Nobody's allowed to walk on it, idiot!' yelled the other guard, leaning across.

'Shut up!' Zaron snarled. 'I knew that. So someone walked across it. And now I guess this guy's going to be cursed.'

'He might be,' Auba said, increasingly angry at the man's flippancy. 'We don't know. No one's ever crossed the Field of Ash and Bone before, as far as I know.'

'How did you find out about this, anyway?' Zaron asked.

'I saw him,' Auba said. 'I'm the guardian of the Field of Ash and Bone.'

'Did a good job of that one, didn't you?' Zaron said lightly. Auba bristled.

'Leave her alone!' Tuss said. 'You don't seem to understand. This is really, really important. Who knows what damage this person could have wreaked? We need to talk to the King.

'Alright,' Zaron said. Tuss stood up straighter, starting to smile. 'You can go in and talk to the King. Tell him this story about someone messing around with the Field of Ass and Bone, and then after that, you know what? You can tell him that the sky is falling.' Zaron burst out laughing then, smacking his hand against the stone of the wall. The other guard chuckled into his hands. But Tuss and Auba stood before the gates, looking furious.

'I don't believe this,' Auba said. 'You're acting like this whole thing's a joke.' Just at that moment a woman with hair that fell in spikes to her knees walked down the path and out of the gates. She looked quizzically at Zaron and his colleague, still laughing, and at Auba and Tuss, and asked,

'What's going on here?'

'Lady Tommo?' asked Tuss, looking closely at her.

'Yes,' she said. 'What are you Starservants doing here? What does he think is so funny?'

'Lady,' Auba said quickly. 'We need to speak to the King urgently. The Field of Ash and Bone- I mean the Dead Place- has been desecrated.'

'What?' Tommo said, her heavily outlined eyes widening. 'The Field of Ash and Bone desecrated? Who by?' The guards seemed to be calming down now that they could see her taking it seriously. Zaron straightened up, looking embarrassed.

'I don't know,' Auba said. 'I only saw him walking away. It looked like a man.'

'What did he do?' asked Tommo.

'Walked on the Field of Ash and Bone,' Auba replied.

'And?'

'That's it, as far as we know,'

'But I thought you said the Field had been desecrated!' Tommo said irritably.

'Even to walk on it is desecration, Lady,' Tuss said in outrage.

'Yes, I know that,' Tommo sighed. 'But I really don't think that's reason enough to personally approach the King.' She glanced up at the high white walls with a gloomy expression.

'We know he's busy,' said Tuss. 'But this is important.'

'Yeah, we know it's important,' Zaron chipped in. 'You said so. About a million times.'

'Oh, shut up,' Tommo snapped. 'Look, you two Starservants- what did you say your names were?'

'They're Auba and Tuss,' Zaron butted in again.

'Auba and Tuss, just ignore these idiots,' the guards cried out in protest. 'I'll take you to the King. He's interested in the Goddess and that kind of thing. He'll probably listen to you.' She turned on the heel of one of her heavy, metal studded boots and hurried up the path that lead to the palace.

The two Starservants hesitated a few moments, and then raced up the hill after her. The road through the palace gardens was steep and narrow, and the air was heavy with the scent of Red Blossoms. Tommo walked swiftly and Auba in particular struggled to keep up with her. It took them nearly twenty minutes to reach the magnificent set of steps that led to the palace. Tommo walked up these like she had every right in the world to be here. Tuss and Auba nervously stuck behind her and the bored-looking guard at the door let her in with barely a nod of his head.