Chapter Twenty Eight
Tarya sat on one of the few chairs in the little room nursing her head. Had she known what a hangover was, this is what it would have felt like. Doone kept insisting she drink more stale ale.
"Sorry Captain, I guess this makes things more complicated," she said. Picard sighed; his will had deserted him a while ago.
"To be honest, we are where we are now. I don't think anything we now do could make things better or worse, I'm just glad everyone is here and well. I'm sure you did what you needed to do. We'll have to deal with the repercussions later." Her look wasn't so convincing, she probably needn't have been so absolute, but there was no time and she did not have any intention of entertaining that man any longer.
"Don't fancy killing Duke Dontor while you're on a spree do you?" Offered Seldor, trying to lighten the mood. She thought for a moment.
"No, but now we are aware of your situation, I'm sure the good folk of the south would love to bolster your resistance. If we can finally rid our orb of all maniacal dictating autocrats, I don't see how that could be a bad thing."
"Any help the south can offer us would be much appreciated." Damyus responded with the utmost respect, realising the weight of her position.
"Aye," said Doone, "and then I can show you what true ale tastes like", he said finishing a bottle of what he'd now termed stale.
"Now to the matter of getting you lot out of here," remarked Seldor.
"Damyus and Darien, as two thirds of the ruling body, you technically now make up the majority. What would you say if we were able to destroy the barrier around your land?" Wondered Tarya.
"That is a good point," added Riker, "if we can get the permission of the ruling body, technically we will not be violating the prime directive." Deanna could sense a wave of relief wash through Picard.
"Yes, it would be good if something could go our way in the eyes of my superiors." The father and son didn't need to confer at all.
"Captain, that barrier is just another means of control over our people. If you could, we would be most grateful. Any civil unrest that results will be on our heads, not yours. We've been sitting and waiting for opportunities to come our way for far too long now. If you can offer us one, we will gladly take it. It would also make our effort to get you out of here, all the more worth it." Picard understood exactly what Damyus was saying.
"Great, we need to look to heading back to the beach then," instructed Picard.
"We will need to move as stealthily and swiftly as possible, it won't be long before they will find the rest of Malcus, Dontor will have everyman and his beast out hunting for us. The sooner you get out of here the better."
"Take us only so far," suggested Picard. "Point us only in the right direction, your involvement in our escape needn't be known."
"Indeed, good idea" said Damyus, "infact Seldor, you remain here, remain underground until this blows over. Darien can direct them to the beach and I will return and see if I can delay or mislead Dontor. You are too important to the resistance to lose or be implicated further. It won't be hard to convince Dontor that an enraged Tarya found and freed her friends. He may not know what you are capable of yet, I'm sure none of us are, but I'm guessing he will be soon."
"That will place a massive target on her head."
"I'm afraid it's too late for that Doone."
"He's right Doone. I've already killed and I can handle it. We need to protect the resistance and our guests. This is our problem to resolve." He wasn't happy but knew it was the only option.
"Let's get a move on then," said Picard assertively and they left for higher ground.
"Picard to Enterprise."
"Enterprise here Captain."
"We are all back together; we are now attempting to return to the beach. We have permission from their ruling body to destroy the barrier surrounding the northern land."
"How is that possible?" Asked an almost relieved Nechayev.
"May I Captain?" Picard nodded affirmatively at the request.
"Enterprise, this is Damyus, I am a member of the Higher Counted, as your Captain already explained it is the ruling body in the north. Whilst not a unanimous decision, the majority vote was positive for the barrier to be eliminated, it's the only sure way to free your people and we would like for it to be removed if possible."
"Very well Damyus, we hope to be able to do so," she replied as Picard nodded to Damyus, very appreciatively.
"Admiral, from what I've worked out it should take us an hour or so to get there. We will make contact again as soon as we are there."
"Very good, Nechayev out." She sat in the Captain's chair contemplating the conversation.
"That means we will no longer be violating the Prime Directive," offered Worf. Nechayev remembered her earlier conversation with Le Forge.
"Yes Lieutenant, that will certainly help the situation⦠Worf, I want you to be prepared, just in case it is warranted. I've an eerie feeling about this. Prepare a security detail; I say security, more a small regiment. Have them ready to beam to the surface if required and hopefully, only to show a display of force." Worf couldn't help but let out a small smile, this was the sort of thing he lived for.
"Aye Admiral."
"Nechayev to Le Forge."
"Le Forge here."
"We will be destroying the barrier by request of the northern authorities. Make sure you are ready to fire."
"Aye Ma'am."
"I wish you all the luck in destroying the barrier and getting out of here Captain, Tarya. I will do my best to slow any hunt down." Damyus acknowledged them both as the respective leaders.
"Thank you Damyus, and I wish you the best in your future endeavours." Replied Picard, Tarya merely exchanged a respective nod which he reciprocated.
"I too will remain here, remember the key and if you could return it to Darien, that would be much appreciated, these things aren't easy to come by, especially when they are meant to be a secret key to a little known, emergency escape route from town."
"That we will do Seldor, you have my word," responded Picard. Beverley and Deanna both gave him a big hug.
"Thank you for rescuing us. You literally saved our lives." He blushed as they thanked him, they were still scantily clad and he could feel the warmth of their bodies against his skin.
"You are most welcome, I would have hated for any harm to come to you, now get out of here before it turns sour."
"The south will be in touch," added Doone as they left.
"Thank you friend," he replied quietly as he watched them follow Darien into an abandoned warehouse.
Darien manoeuvred them over the rubble in the derelict building. Towards the back in what one could only describe as an old cold storage room, was a panelled back wall. Between Riker, Picard, Doone and Darien, they managed to pry the panel off to reveal a black stone wall with a barely noticeable lock near the centre. Darien turned the key Picard had made sure to give him in the lock. A series of clicking and rotating cogs could be heard. It whirred for such a long time they were beginning to wonder whether or not it would work. Finally, the wall fell controllably backwards and became the first step on a staircase that plummeted into pitch black.
Tarya released some equanime, and the silly, revealing and most impractical dress she wore was replaced by far more suitable attire for adventure, even battle. Her sword was sheathed and she even wore a breastplate. On it was etched an image of one of the Smokey creatures they had seen in the south, this one in particular looked very majestic and it had elven points remaining on its antlers, it was clear some had been irreparably damaged.
"Did you do that using equanime alone?" Darien queried, whilst looking on in complete awe as she transformed into something he'd only heard of in legends. Legends of ancient battles between the north and south described a woman just like this. He now recognised her as the Black Haired Enchantress they were warned of in their childhood stories. One of the many stories that helped instil the need to maintain authority over their women. She had led the south into and out of many victorious battles against the north.
"Not exactly," she said, "though it could not be done without it. We've spent millennia studying equanime and how we can use it. It has many uses under the scopes of alchemy and sorcery and thanks to Lyden, I've spent the last few days searching my memory banks for old spells and enchantments. I've managed to find quite a few, should we need them. He remained in silent awe for a moment.
"You led the ancient battles between the north and the south, didn't you?" She did not reply; everyone was curious to know now.
"Yes she did," Doone finally spilled. "I was there two I'll have you know lad, I just spent more of the time running round trying not to get killed mind you."
"Oh stop it Doone, you were invaluable and you know it," Tarya added, not happy with his constant self-deprecating attitude.
"Says miss 'noble' here," he quipped back. She merely nodded in despair as she removed a small amount of what appeared to be stones from a pouch around her belt. With a few small words whispered over her palm, they began to glow a bright white light and shot into the air, encircling the group.
"Come on she said, maybe now we'll have a chance of not plummeting down this flight of stairs to our deaths." Everyone was amazed by these small illuminated stones, but every time anyone tried to touch one, it shot out of reach, they eventually began to descend the stairs.
"You know," said Darien, "you are known as the Black Haired Enchantress in our folklore. We grew up with stories of how wicked you were and how you led men to ruin and death." She couldn't help but laugh, neither could Doone, Picard and Riker exchanged sarcastically worried glances.
"Oh dear Smokey," she said, "I suppose you could say the death part is accurate, many folk have lost their lives under my direction, though so too have brave and noble women. I wouldn't have a clue as to what you meant by ruin though."
"Ahem, it was said you lured men to their death with your looks and used your sexuality to disarm them, leaving many a fool the subject of your wicked desire⦠I can't remember which particular poem that was from, but it is mentioned in quite a few different texts.
"Well, wow, I wouldn't even know where to begin there. I can assure you that is just pure fantasy. To be honest, I've no real sex drive at all, least of all a desire to lure anyone in such a way. I couldn't think of anything more boring and tedious. I'm more of a just remove the head type, as you've seen."
"That's good to know... I think," responded Darien.
"Is it?" Was all she said as they finally reached the end of a long tunnel that had been at the end of the staircase.
"Well, this is where I should probably leave you too," exclaimed Darien. Follow this last passage, at the end it will open into a small cave which opens into the frazzled forest. Follow the stream to a bed of rocks. When you climb onto them you will see the beach in the distance. He turned to Tarya. "It has been a complete privilege and honour to meet you, you are only partially as the legend describes, much to my relief." He turned to Picard. "It's been an honour to meet you and your people too Captain, I hope when our problems are resolved we can meet under far more favourable terms, who knows, possibly even as a united world, or orb," he added and he turned to acknowledge Doone too.
"It's been truly enlightening Darien," responded Tarya. "I hope our people can make this work and your people can finally experience true freedom." His eyes began to water at the hope of that last statement.
"And we very much look forward to that day," added Picard. "Thank you for all your help. It has been invaluable."
With that Darien watched as his new friends and childhood nightmare walked off into the distance. He felt as though everything he had been taught and known as truth had been shattered to pieces. His hope to instil truth and freedom now burned brighter than ever.
