History

They walked into an enormous room, the walls bedecked with paintings of various historical Saiyans. The whole place was swarming with people, mostly secretaries running around holding sheaves of paper and soldiers standing in tight groups talking to each other in whispers. Tommo bypassed them all and headed into a hallway on the right. They went through several more rooms, each magnificently decorated, each full of people. The Starservants hurried behind her, getting knocked into several times. They climbed several staircases and walked what seemed like miles of corridor until they found themselves walking through empty rooms, only occasionally passing someone. Finally, when the tired Starservants felt they could walk no longer, Tommo approached a huge wooden door.

Somewhere behind the door, a man with a loud voice and a thick Permiat accent was talking.

'So obviously I asked him who the mother was, and- you're not going to believe this-'

Tommo pushed the heavy door open. Two men were standing by a window talking. Auba recognised the tall man straight away, even though she'd never seen him before in her life. It was the King. He looked just like he did in the newspapers and on the back of the coins, his hair reaching for the sky, a slight smile on his face. He was looking out the window with a receptive expression, his hands laced together, nodding as the other man spoke. Just as they entered he glanced over at her and Auba felt as if she'd been stabbed in the heart.

'He said Cochise was the mother!' exclaimed other man, a thickset Saiyan with a red headband. 'Can you believe that! And I told him, but she's been dead for-' then he looked around at the three of them. He had burning eyes and a large scar on his left cheek. Auba thought she had seen him somewhere before.

'Tommo!' he called. 'You said you were going home!'

'Hello, Tommo,' the King said lightly.

'I was,' Tommo muttered. 'But these two Starservants want to speak to King Vegeta about something very important.' The man with the scar stared at Auba and Tuss with a slightly hostile look, but King Vegeta raised one eyebrow slightly and he walked over towards them.

'This wouldn't be about the Field of Ash and Bones, by any chance?' he asked softly. The two Starservants gaped at each other and nodded.

'You're here about the footprints as well?' Auba groaned inside. He already knew what they had come to tell him. But Tuss spoke up, his hands shaking slightly.

'Starservant Auba here said she saw someone walking on the Field of Ash and Bone, sir,' he said. The King looked at Auba again.

'When?' he asked urgently. She stared at him, swallowing nervously.

'Yesterday,' she whispered. 'Sir.' King Vegeta nodded, frowning.

'You didn't, by any chance, see what this person looked like?' he asked.

'No, sir,' she muttered. She clenched one hand into a fist. This was important. She had to stop being so nervous. 'I saw him from a distance. I don't even know if it was a man. I tried to catch up with him, but he had already gone away. Then I went back to the Field of Ash and Bones and there were two rows…'

'Two rows of footprints, leading right to the centre,' the scarred man interrupted. 'I saw them. Nearly fell right out of the sky.'

'I can't believe someone did this,' King Vegeta said, half to himself. 'I mean- it's just unbelievable.'

'Yes!' Auba exclaimed. 'That's how I feel about it, too!' The King turned and squinted at her. Then he said,

'Actually, before you two came I was just about to find a book I can consult on this. I'll just go and get it now.' He disappeared through a small door at the back of the room.

'So this is why you were here?' Tommo demanded, turning to Bardock. 'The Field of Ash and Bone was desecrated and you didn't tell me?' Bardock shrugged.

'I only passed you in the corridor, didn't I? I had to get here first. I didn't have time to run around telling everybody…'

'I'm not everybody, Bardock,' Tommo scowled. Auba remembered where she'd seen the man before. Bardock. He lived at Stiglitz-Bolstein with Lady Tommo, though they weren't married. There was something else about him Auba felt she ought to remember, but whatever it was, it escaped her.

'Yeah, well,' Bardock was saying. 'You know now, don't you?' Tommo appeared to be preparing a sharp retort when King Vegeta re-emerged, carrying a heavy book. It had a dusty grey cover that might have once been black and thick, yellowing pages. He placed it down on a small table at Auba looked at the cover, feeling the hairs on the back of her neck rise. There was nothing but a white ring on the dark cover. This was the Book of the Hollow Moon, the famed occult text she had heard so much about.

The other three turned and looked at it with great interest. In fact, Bardock stared at it like King Vegeta had just placed an especially enticing chocolate cake on the table, his eyes wide with lust. Suddenly Auba remembered where she had heard of him before. Of course- he was the Psychic Distortionist.

'All right,' King Vegeta said, sitting down next to the little table and pressing his palms together. 'I'm going to use this book to find out why this person could have desecrated the Field of Ash and Bone, what they were hoping to gain. Then it'll be easier to find out who they are.' He raised his left hand over the cover. Immediately the four of them crowded around for a better look.

The King looked up at them reproachfully. 'You mustn't look at this book,' he said. 'Even I'm not supposed to look at it except in an emergency. In fact, I think I'm going to have to ask you all to go and stand facing that wall, covering your eyes. Especially you, Bardock. I know you'd love to get a look at this.'

'What?' Bardock yelled in outrage. 'Don't you trust me?'

'Of course I trust you, Bardock,' the King said smoothly. 'I trust you to go and stand beside the far wall. Now.' Grudgingly, the scarred man walked to the other side of the room, the others following him. Auba faced the blue-veined, white stone and placed both palms over her face, as if she was in mourning. Even she felt disappointed that the Book of the Hollow Moon was being opened and she could read it. The reflection of a light flickered on the wall for a few minutes and there was a pause.

'You can come back over now,' King Vegeta said. Auba took her hands from her eyes and spun around. The book was lying open, and she stared at the exposed page before she could stop herself. She couldn't make out any words, but there was a picture- a picture of what seemed to be a warped tree.