Chapter One
Princess Rilara had always been interested in trains. She'd always liked them, even though she'd only known about them from the delegations that came from the Earth colonies occasionally. In fact the only reason she and her family were on the Orient Express was because she begged her father to be able see one just once, for her eighth birthday.
So that was how she came to be on the Orient Express that day, and she was doing everything she could to explore the entire thing, just so she could remember how wonderful it was. But she didn't know that forces were converging to harm her, because her parents, King Pelleran and Queen Halessa, had kept the threats a secret from her, not that they believed anything would happen to their little girl.
Rilara moved to the side of the carriage, and looked through the window as the stars sped past her. She marvelled at how bright and beautiful they were, and wished she could see them up close, but she knew she'd never be allowed to travel anywhere on her own until she was grown up, and even then, she realised she'd probably never leave Peladon at all, except for diplomatic missions.
"Rilara, dear, you'll fog the window if you stay there breathing on it," her mother admonished, "and then you won't be able to see the stars any more, will you?"
Rilara glanced at her mother and sighed. "But I can wipe the fog away, mama," she protested, wiping the window with her sleeve, where it had already began to cloud over. "See?"
Queen Halessa frowned. "And get your clothes dirty?"
"But I won't get them dirty, mama, it's just my breath!"
"No more nonsense, Rilara. Now come away from the window, your father will be here soon, and you want to look your best for him, don't you?"
Rilara grinned. She loved her father with all her heart, and she liked getting dressed nicely for him... but she liked making trouble even more. "Yes, mama," she replied, tearing herself away from the window. "How long until he gets back?"
Queen Halessa smiled. "Not long, my dear," she said, taking her daughter by the hand, "but you need to get yourself cleaned up before he arrives, and you know how long that takes when you're in a good mood!"
"More time than when I'm in a bad mood!" Rilara exclaimed, with a laugh. "Come on, mama, race you to the bathing area!"
Without waiting for her mother to reply, Rilara broke into a run, laughing and giggling as she went, knowing her mother would never catch her, or even attempt to catch her, since it was a little difficult to chase after a little girl when you were several months pregnant. But still, it brought joy to Halessa's heart to know that her little girl was having so much fun, as she should when it was her birthday.
"Is she being a little rascal again?" a voice asked behind her, and Halessa smiled when she recognised it. "Because I'll have to talk to her about the proper protocol for acting in public, and we both know that won't do at all."
"Pelleran," Halessa said with a sigh, "she's only a girl, and there'll be plenty of time to instil the proper protocols when she's older."
King Pelleran laughed, a rich, deep throated, sound, then walked over to his wife and embraced her, patting her round stomach affectionately. "I agree," he replied. "There's plenty of time for her to learn, when she's older. Now, I must let her be a little girl, before she becomes a big sister."
"You're here early," Halessa observed. "You weren't supposed to be here for another hour or so."
"Our plans came together quite quickly," Pelleran countered. "So there was no reason to waste any more time, and I was eager to get here and spend some time with my growing family. Is there a problem with that?"
Halessa shook her head. "I just wish you gave us some warning, Pel," she admonished. "I could've had Rilara ready to meet you earlier."
"Don't worry, Hallie," Pelleran soothed, running his fingers through his wife's dark hair, and for a moment, he imagined the pair of them as the lovestruck teenagers they'd been back on Peladon what seemed like a lifetime ago. He could still see the young girl he fell in love with, but now he loved her even more, now that she'd grown into a beautiful young woman, into a wife and mother, and soon to become a mother again.
"Pel?"
Pelleran shook his head, as Halessa's voice drew him out of his daydream. "Mmm?"
"Have you heard anything more about..." she trailed off, unable to bring herself to say the words. She glanced back at the door, where Rilara had raced through not moments before. "About the..."
"About the threats?" asked Pelleran, finishing her thought for her. "Have there been anything else about them?" He shook his head. "There hasn't, and I don't want to talk about them any more. It's not good for you, or for the baby."
"But someone wants to hurt her, Pel," Halessa protested. "Someone wants to take her away from us!"
"We haven't any enemies, Hallie, so there's no reason to worry any more, and I don't want to talk about it!"
"But Pel -"
"No buts. There's no reason to talk about that any more."
Halessa looked at her husband angrily, then drew away. "All right, I shan't talk about it any more, if that's what you want, but it won't stop me fearing for my... our... child's life." She looked down at her stomach and rubbed it tenderly. "For any of our children's lives."
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The Seventh Obelisk had been stowed carefully away with the rest of the heavier cargo, posing an ominous figure amongst the wooden boxes and crates packed around it. A man, wearing a fine linen three piece suit, stood nearby, staring at his acquisition was a careful interest. he had spent a long time looking for the Obelisk, and now that he had it, he wasn't about to let it out of his sight.
This was Dr. Percival Winthrop.
He approached the Obelisk, marvelling at the hieroglyphs carefully chiseled into the stone. It was still more or less intact, as if someone, or something, had kept it well preserved until he found it.
"Still looking at your baby?" a voice asked jovially from behind him, making him jump. "Because that's all you've ever done since we got here."
"I'm not the only one who's been looking, Neville," said Percival, flashing him a wide smile. "Don't think I haven't caught you sneaking away to take another peek yourself."
Neville laughed. "Ah, you caught me there. So what if I have?" he sniffed. "It's my discovery too, you know."
"I never said it wasn't, Neville. Can't have me hog all the glory, now can we?"
Neville thrust his hands into the pockets of his trousers, then joined Percival in admiring the Obelisk. "It's in rather good nick, don't you think, Percy?"
Percival nodded. "It certainly is, Neville... and don't call me Percy."
"Why not?"
"Because only my mother, and certain women of good character, are sllowed to call me Percy. That's why not."
Neville goggled. "You can't be serious?"
"I am serious," Percival replied, but the expression on his face told him otherwise. He let out a hearty laugh. "Of course I'm not serious, Nev, and I'm surprised you ever thought I was!"
"Sometimes it's hard to tell with you, Percy."
Percival stood abruptly, and turned to leave. "I feel like going to the dining car, Nev. Care to join me?"
Neville looked at him carefully, then glanced at the Obelisk. There was another reason he wanted to examine the stone monument, but didn't want to alert his friend to that fact. "No," he said slowly. "I think I'm going to stay here with our baby for a while longer. Make sure it's not getting jostled about by the other cargo too much. I'll be with you later though."
Percival frowned, but accepted this, for the time being, and then left the carriage.
Neville waited a few minutes, until he was sure he was well and truely alone, then turned to the Obelisk once again. He looked at it almost reverantly, then started to push away the boxes and crates immediately in front of it, opening up a space where he could stand before the Obelisk more freely. He knelt in the empty space, then touched the hieroglyphs with his hand, brushing his fingers lovingly across the surface of the stone. "We're alone now, my dear," he murmured softly, as the image of a beautiful young woman appeared before him. "And the child is here, ready for you to take control, whenever you want her."
The image of the young woman smiled. "You have done well, my darling," she purred, her voice soft. "And once I am free, you will get your promised reward."
Thoughts of great treasure danced through Neville's head, riches beyond his wildest dreams. There was much that he wanted, and much that the young woman had promised him, and now it was close, tantisingly so, and he wouldn't stop until his job was complete.
He'd met the young woman in a dream, and initally believed that was all she was, but the more she appeared to him, and the more she promised him, the more real she became. Everything he'd done had been under her instructions, with the promise of a reward at the very end, once the young woman had a form of flesh and bone once more.
She'd specifically requested the body of a child, so she could grow and learn, instead of a fully grown adult, who could fight back the possession. Which child didn't matter, at least not until Neville had found out that the young Princess of Peladon would be on the same voyage of the Orient Express as the obelisk.
"You won't hurt the child, will you?" he asked, concern flashing across his face briefly. "She will remain unharmed?"
The young woman's image smiled again. "She will be fine," she assured the older man, her pristine white teeth gleaming as she smiled wider. "No harm will come to her, and none ever will. I will merely be sharing her body, not taking it as my own."
Now, Neville did not know this at the time, but what the young woman told him was a lie. In fact everything she told him from the very beginning was a lie. There was no treasure, and no great reward - not for him, at any rate. The young woman was playing with him, playing on the human pechant for greed, something that some humans still had yet to leave behind.
"Oh, of course," he replied, feeling slightly, but not completely, relieved. The thought of the threats that the young woman had made him send still plagued him, and he wasn't entirely sure that he should trust her, but then one look at her beautiful face, and hearing her delicate voice, placed him back under her spell. Between her beauty, and the promised reward, there was no way he could resist her, no matter how hard he tried. Not that he ever wanted to.
"You should return to your friend," the young woman prompted. "He'll be wondering where you are, and what you're up to, and we wouldn't want him to get suspicious, would we?"
Neville shook his head. "No, we wouldn't," he agreed mechanically, reaching out to the image and gesturing like he was caressing its cheek. "I should go." He rose stiffly, then gave the image a slight bow, then turned on his heel and left the room.
The image of the young woman smiled cruelly as she watched her willing puppet make his exit. "Soon, I will have life, and form, again," she said to no one in particular. "And when I do, everyone will know the name of Sutekh's consort... and fear it."
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Something wasn't right, thought Queen Hallessa. She could feel it the moment that she and Rilara had boarded the train. Even the baby could feel it, she noted as the child attempted to fitfully kick its way out of her.
Why were they doing nothing? Why weren't they doing everything they could to protect her daughter?
'Are you okay, mama?' Rilara asked quietly, as her mother helped her dry her hair.
'I'm all right, Rilara, nothing to get worried about.'
Rilara nodded, accepting this, but she still wasn't so sure. Her mother had been unusually quiet since her father had joined them. Was there something going on that she didn't know about? And if there was, then did it have something to do with her? Is that what was making her mother so sad?
Once Hallessa was finished, Rilara stood, and turned to face her, then put her arms around her mother's waist as far as she could. 'I love you, mama,' she murmured. 'Don't be sad.'
Hallessa smiled, touched by her little daughter's gesture. 'What makes you think I'm sad, sweet one?' she asked.
'I don't know,' Rilara replied honestly. 'But you feel like you are. So I thought giving you a hug would make you feel better. Did it work?'
'Yes, my sweet one, it worked.'
'Then you're not going to be sad anymore?'
Hallessa shook her head. 'No, I'm not going to be sad anymore.' She stood, then took her little daughter by the hand. 'Now, shall we go and visit you father? He's come all this way to see you, and we wouldn't want to keep him waiting, now do we?'
Rilara laughed. 'No, mama.'
'Then let's go, and you can show him the new dresses you have for your birthday dinner.'
Rilara's eyes lit up. She loved the new dresses that her mother had made for her, because they were made from special fabric. Each dress could be made identical, or different, on command. Innocent enough on its own, but in the hands of a Princess... But the trouble a simple dress would cause was the furthest thing on anyone's minds, not when there was a birthday dinner, which would soon have a few uninvited guests, to worry about.
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