Chapter Four

A Trinidad Home Coming

 

I waited patiently on the other side of the portal for the men to come through. They started to come through in groups since the hole was big enough, and they took a look around in wonder, at the green hills and tall green pines where the forest began a half a mile away. I picked this meadow because we rarely used it, letting nature have its way. The fields were filled with flowers that bloomed brightly. Colors of yellow and purple dotted the grassy ground for miles. Mostly, lilacs and pansies with some dandelions mixed in here and there. At the edge of the field was patchouli under the protection of the leaves of the great trees that edged the huge meadow.

Rock looked around and took in the sights, as did the Dai’ Khans of Kla’ din. This was a historical first for Trinidad to have visitors from two other planets at the same time. I looked around proudly at my world, feeling like a mother showing off a new baby.

“I thought you said it wasn’t completely solid yet Cat?” Rock asked, stamping the ground.

“I am here now in physical form, so therefore, it will be completely physical as well. It’s a metaphysical thing. Once I am gone again, it will stay more solid. The more often I do this, the more it will be solid and stay this way.” I breathed in the fresh air and sent out hellos to everyone within calling distance of me.

“It is beautiful and full of life, Meshama. We are honored to be here,” Ja’ Monel said. His smile was back and I was happy to see it.

Ja’ Kelo and Ja’ Callum just kept looking around, watching birds fly through the skies and listening to the ocean surf off in the distance.

“Ok, now please stay relaxed. This is really the fastest way we have here to get you all to the castle of Trinidad. We’ll have to ride big, huge dragons, but they are dear friends of mine.”

I called out to Cornelia and asked her to bring a small wing of dragons with her to carry people for me.

‘I come,’ she answered.

I looked up at the skyline in the direction of the castle and watched for the black dot to appear.

When I saw it coming, I warned everyone, “Look, there is my friend. She comes.” I had never seen her move so fast through the air before. She sped towards us like a bullet, in her hurry to get to me.

I heard gasps around me, but I couldn’t take my eyes off of my dragon friend. She was huge, long and lean. She was black from her snout to the tip of her tail, with large wings already pulling in and back-winging to slow her descent to the ground, as close as she could get to me. She blew out fire from her nose, letting me know how excited she was and ambled over, the ground shaking under her great weight.

“Um, Cat,” Rock sounded nervous.

“Don’t worry, she just wants a hug.” And I ran to meet her, catching her around her large neck as much as I could and holding her close. She purred at the contact and smoke puffed out of her nostrils.

“Hello, dear friend. I have missed you so much.” My throat clogged up as I fought hard not to start crying. I had missed my people so much and my world.

Soft gurgles of dragon laughter rumbled through her throat. She shrunk down to the size of a large horse so I could hug her better. More gasps and a long ‘whoa’ erupted behind me.

Wiping aside the few tears I couldn’t stop, I took a deep breath to introduce her to the men. “Everyone, this is my dragon friend Cornelia, First Dragon of the First clan of Dragons of Trinidad. I am her rider, when I am home.”

The Dai’ Khans bowed their heads; the soldiers didn’t quite know what to do. Some just nodded their heads. Rock was brave enough to say hello.

“Cornelia, these are the Dai’ Khans of Kla’ din, the world we just came from. Ja’ Callum, Ja’ Monel and Ja’ Kelo. They are sorcerer-rulers of their world. These men are Captain Vincent O’Hara, Sergeant Mark Logan of Special Forces on Earth. Their call signs are Rock and Wizard and we usually use the call signs on a mission. The men behind them are Alpha 53^rd Recon Marines, real bad asses in their own right, also of Earth. One of them is wounded, so we need a gentle dragon to carry him.”

She snuffed, but in my mind she answered telepathically, ‘I will have my young daughter come carry the wounded one. She flies smoothly and is even tempered.’ She ambled closer to the Dai’ Khans, slowly lowering her snout to their chests. She started with Ja’ Callum, who looked at me with a question in his eyes.

“She wants to catch your scent to say hello,” I told him.

She proceeded to sniff each man one by one. ‘No evil here, Princess. I will call the others.’ She was as paranoid over the safety of Trinidad as I was.

I told the men, “She welcomes all here with respect. She calls other dragons to carry us to my castle.”

‘How long will you stay with us, Princess?’ She sounded wistful.

I answered out loud, “Not long, I am afraid. Only a few short hours.” Her head slumped down for a moment in sadness and then raised back up again. She knew my duty.

Ja’ Monel caught the exchange. “She talks to you?”

“Yes, she is telepathic. All of my people are,” I explained to Ja’ Monel.

The Dai’ Khans eyes grew wide over that declaration.

“Oh, shit,” one of the marines blurted out, before he could stop himself. I scanned the skies and twenty five dragons were coming down through the skyline to land in the field with Cornelia.

I laughed, “Sheesh, Cornelia we didn’t need that many.”

‘They miss you too, and couldn’t wait back at the dragon caves, since you won’t be here long enough to visit them there,’ she answered, with no rebuff in her mind-tone.

The dragon caves were near the castle within the mountain. Trinidad’s castle rested at the foot of Dragon Mount.

As they landed, I greeted them all by name, walking among them, touching one on the neck, rubbing a snout here and there. One took a playful nip and I batted him away. Grange was always rowdy. He was big, green and sleek with two long twisting golden horns. He was showing off for our visitors.

“Rock, you should ride Grange here, if you’re feeling adventurous?” I teased him.

“Normally, things don’t confront me, Cat, but this… I’ll ride something nice and quiet if you have one of those?” He looked hopeful.

I laughed again, and told the men to go ahead and choose their mount. I showed them where to hold on once they were on, and how to tuck their heads into the dragon’s neck for takeoff. No dragon will move until he or she feels their rider was tucked into their neck properly.

With Cornelia’s and Ja’ Callum’s help, we got Corporal Malcolm onto her daughter.

“You might want to WILL straps on him, Princess. He feels very weak to me,” Cornelia cautioned.

I looked at the man sitting on Jovan and with my mind, I WILLED riding straps on him and around the dragon’s body so he wouldn’t fall off in flight. When everyone looked settled and ready to go, I gave the signal for lift off.

Cornelia grew big enough to carry me and be flight worthy. Once she was large enough, she heaved into the air. I had Cornelia sweep around, so I could see if everyone got off the ground all right. They did well, as warriors and soldiers tend to do; adapt and overcome in any situation. We headed off to the West for the castle of Trinidad.

It was only a fifteen minute ride going at a normal pace. If the dragons didn’t have us on them, they could have shot like bullets through the skies and been there in mere minutes. Cornelia took us right to the front gate of my castle. It had seven tall towers, with the main tower being my personal quarters that Shamus shared with me when I was there.

Each tower was occupied with a wizard who stood guard duty when my world is under threat, or using the labs for their experiments, which sometimes caused explosions. I didn’t care what damage they did, so long as they repaired what was damaged and no one was hurt. For the truly dangerous experiments, they were taken to a small desert island five hundred miles away.

If one looked out to the East, they would see the coastline and hear the surf pounding the sands and rocks below. There was a long whitish path that led from this point all the way down to the sea. Before entering the castle proper, there were steel gates with twisted molded metal that spelled out ‘Trinidad’ in an arch. There was a straight path to the castle with lawns and trees on either side, with long flower beds that the fairies loved to play in.

I waited for everyone to dismount and waved to the dragons, thanking them for the ride. Cornelia made herself small again, so she could walk with me into the courtyard of my castle. Once I stepped through the gates, the air was filled with fairies of every color and description; all waving and shouting in their tiny voices.

“Hello, Princess.”

“Welcome home, Princess.”

“Who are the men, Princess?”

The greetings went on and on. I just waited for the deluge to slow down, waving at them and shouting back hello’s to them. My winged cats came out wanting their turn at the greetings, as well as the Chinese Unicorns and Pegasus’. I had regular unicorns, Cornish unicorns, gnomes, pixies, small elves and many other tribes of beings filling the courtyard to its capacity and beyond. I might have to start thinking of enlarging the place if this kept up.

The looks on the men’s faces were priceless. They were rubber necking to beat the band, trying to assimilate everything they were hearing and seeing.

“Wow, Cat, it’s like a fantasy world come true here. They all belong to you?” Wizard couldn’t keep his eyes off the Pegasus’. It seemed he liked them the best.

“Yes, most were born and raised here. The Elders of their tribes came to me for protection or asked to serve me years ago, so I had to create this world for them. This way, they would have a home for their young. Could you imagine having all this in an apartment on Earth?”

He shook his head.

“Well, most people wouldn’t be able to see them, but being astrally gifted, it made things tricky for me. And crowded. So, violà, Trinidad.” I waved all around.

“Come on, let’s get this soldier inside and settled. One of my other wizards will see to him quickly.” I urged everyone along.

We finally got up the steps and into the ballroom of the castle. I led them to a smaller room where we had couches and tables all around and put the tired soldier down on one of the couches.

I looked up into the crowd. “Oh, there you are, Skylord. Can you come help him? I am worn out from creating the portal.”

Skylord was a very tall man with ebony skin. Although he was bald, he still wore the traditional wizards head gear with jewels encrusted along the seams, as well as the wizard robes. Even his three inch black leather belt was embossed with jewels.

I had always thought it was a wizard union requirement or something. I had yet to see any of them just wear jeans and a tee shirt.

“Right away, Your Highness,” he responded, with his deep rumble of a voice, moving silently to see to the wounded soldier.

Looking at the men, I said, “If I introduced you to everyone here, we could be at it for days. Let me just get some refreshments going for you.” I waved them to take seat anywhere they pleased and scanned the masses again. “If we could have some coffee, tea and some fruit drinks. Also, some sandwiches and snack trays… I would appreciate it.”

I didn’t bother asking for a specific person or being to do it. I knew someone would hop to it and we would be served quickly. They liked the fact that I had visitors and would take advantage of showing off.

“Oh, Princess, you’ve comes home. The Trixie misses you, she does. Please say you are here for long, long time. No more go off to bad world and leaves us, please say it is so.” She was fluttering around my head so excitedly, she couldn’t stay still long enough for me to catch her eyes.

“I am afraid I can’t stay Trixie. I am sorry. And Earth isn’t bad; it’s just a hard world.”

“Bad, if it makes you sad, and it does. The Trixie knows it does. Makes you cry, it’s bad there. Stays here, we will makes you happy,” she implored.

“You all always make me happy to be home. But, if I don’t stop the bad guys on Earth, their troubles could soon be ours. I told you this years ago, Trixie,” I slightly admonished her.

“I knows it, I knows it, but Princess, so much has happened here. Look. Look.”

And many small beings popped into the room. Tiny mothers with even smaller babies. All looking pleased to show me their young.

I oohed and awhed, telling each mother her babe or babes was beautiful. “Wow, have you all been busy while I was gone?” I was a tad jealous because I ached badly for another small babe of my own. I loved being a mother. Some of these fairies and pixies had twins; I was promised in a dream that I would have twins with my mates the next time I got pregnant.

She looked upset. “Yes, many, many babes. Many, many not names yets, Princess. Must have names to belong, you knows this.”

I could see that I’ve been slacking on my duties here. “I am sorry, Trixie. I will leave an astral self behind for as long as it takes to name every new babe here. She’ll write it down in the book of names in my quarters, so I will know what was done.” I took a deep breath and pushed a part of my soul out - an astral subtle body, who can stay and do what needs to be done, then come back and reintegrate with me later.

“Not as goods as all of yous here, but it will do, Princess,” she said sadly.

“Someday, soon, I will be able to come home. We’ll party for months when that happens, all right?” I promised her.

She brightened up. “Oooh, a party, the Trixie loves a party. I still remembers the last one. Cravens falls in the pool. He was so cutes. Cutesy baby. Cutesy baby.” Her tinkling laughter filled the room.

No one could resist smiling at the sound. Even I had to smile, though I remembered the last time I was here was when Craven was barely two years old. It had been that long since I had been able to visit my world, astrally. Being here physically, for the first time, I would not let sad thoughts mar this happy event.

Drinks and food came, all were served. Ja’ Callum tasted his drink said, “This is good, Meshama. We appreciate your hospitality. Your world is full of wonder.”

Ja’ Monel nodded in agreement. “There are so many beings here we have never read about, even in our oldest records.”

“Yeah. You made a believer out of me, Cat, but getting the General to believe all this, and not have me in for a psych evaluation, is going to be the trick,” Rock grinned at me.

“Isn’t there a portal on Earth you could take the General through to show him, Cat?” Wizard asked.

“No, not yet,” I shook my head. ”I haven’t found a source of power large enough to create one. I was looking for a node big enough to try it, but we always seem to be so busy there.”

Rock looked confused. “A node?”

“Yes, a pool of ley-line energy. You should have read up on this in your books I gave you to study for the arts,” I scolded him again.

Skylord was done with the wounded soldier and came over to me. “You need blood Princess. You can feed while you are here in physical form and it will actually do you good,” and he bared his wrist to me.

He recited the ritual words and I bit into his vein. I licked the wound closed when I was finished, finally feeling much better.

Ja’ Callum looked disappointed and said, “You could have asked us for blood, Meshama. We would have fed you. It is our duty now to see to your needs.”

Skylord’s black eyebrows went up into his forehead.

“Don’t ask,” I grumbled.

He placed his hand under my chin and tilted my head up to catch my eyes. “If you break oath, you could lose us, Princess. Lose even Trinidad,” Skylord reminded me.

“I haven’t broken oath, the bonds are still clean. It’s something I will deal with when I return to Earth.”

“Good. I knew we could count on you.” Walking away, I could hear him say under his breath, “This ought to be interesting.”

I turned back to Ja’ Callum. “If I drink from you before you have that sit down with my mates, that could be bad.”

Ja’ Callum understood and nodded his head, appeased with the explanation.

“My astral part will take care of everything that needs to be done here. Meanwhile, we still have Kla’ din to protect and Earth to defend against the black covens and hostile portals.” I turned back to the Dai’ Khans. “Now you have met my dragons. With a wizard to guide them, they are unstoppable and not susceptible to vampyre bites. Is this now acceptable to place them in your world while you visit Earth?”

They did the inner telepathy meeting again and it was Ja’ Monel who spoke for them. “Yes, with your oath that they are only there to protect, not to take over.” He gave a half grin, “Just to be safe, Meshama.”

I nodded. “I agree, it’s always good to be cautious, no matter what.”

Wizard jumped up. “Why don’t you have your dragons fight with us on missions?”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Could you imagine what people on Earth would do to my dragons? They would hunt them again. Just look to our legends for validity on that. I won’t risk them unless it is absolutely necessary. Besides, you have our whole Coven in your pocket. We are bad-ass enough without dragon might. It would be overkill in most cases, anyway.”

He looked glum, remembering the legends of old, and knights hunting the dragons. No wonder they were so eager to go, in the last Great Shift. They were one of the few Greater Magickal Races that were glad to go without a fuss. It was safer elsewhere for their continuous well being. They were still deciding if they would ever come back during this shift and I couldn’t blame them. Though not all dragons were as mine; some were really vicious. I hope those evil tempered beast never returned to Earth, but for very different reasons.

“Skylord, why don’t you ask which wizard would like to go to Kla’ din and guide a contingent of dragons in defense. Whoever goes might want to take a few fairies for messengers. Get volunteers; it is not without risk. They have a nasty tribe of vampyre called The Draugrall. Their bite can be infectious. They are also using astral doorways to pop into their world for ruby-like stones and females.”

“I’ll see to it, Princess.” He left the room to gather the volunteers.

“Are there no regular-type of people here, Cat?” Rock asked.

I smiled at him, shaking my head. “No, only family members have been allowed to come here, so far.”

Ja’ Callum again tilted his head. “Then, we are doubly honored to be here, Meshama.”

Trixie started to buzz around Rock’s head. “Did you gets them warrior? Did you gets whats The Trixie lefts to yous?”

Rock looked completely baffled and turned to me for help.

I asked her, “What are you talking about Trixie?’

She snapped her wings, showing her agitation. “The flowers. The yellows. The Trixie was being nice, nice to the warrior.”

Then Rock’s eyes lit up in recognition. “You mean the yellow flowers on my desk? Those were from you? Yes, I got them, thank you.” His eyes narrowed, “Are you the one moving my stuff around in my office?”

She flitted happily. “The Trixie did it, the Trixie did it. You don’t have things in place right, soldier-warrior. Desk is not how the Princess would say ‘feung shway’. Or is it ‘feng shey’?” She snapped her wings again. “I don’t care whats it calls it, it was wrong, wrong energy.”

I started giggling, trying to smoother it. Then I couldn’t resist and burst out laughing, holding my stomach. “She likes you, Rock. She has a crush on you. She is moving your furniture.”

Wizard started laughing too. “You wanna’ bet, Cat?”

Even the Dai’ Khans got what was going on and laughed with us. Trixie didn’t quite figure out we were laughing at her and I didn’t clue her in. She was sweet, but get her mad and look out - pixing time. And, she could be dangerous for all her smallness, being half the size of a full grown fairy.

Rock cleared his throat. “Well, yeah, thanks for the flowers Trixie, but can you please not move things around on my desk? It makes it harder for me to get my work done.”

She floated in front of him then nodded her little head. “Fine, fine, the Trixie wonts move your furnitures in your office. Wheres is your home? The Trixie can fix. You cants be at the base alls the time warrior. You must haves home nests, yes?” She flitted to his hair and started petting it, making it shiny with pixie dust. I covered my mouth with my hand. Rock’s eyes begged me to help. He must have known not to piss a pixie off.

“Trixie, honey, he hasn’t had time for finding a home nest. We are still trying to settle in Corpus Christi. For now, just let him get his work done, ok?” I said sweetly to her.

She giggled at the shiny she made in his hair. “The Trixie understands. The Trixie could goes looks for a homes nest for him, so he can goes be warrior with yous.”

I got my serious face on, for Rock’s sake. “Trixie, you know you can’t show yourself on Earth, so how would you go get a home nest for Rock? You would have to talk to people and they can be mean sometimes, not understanding someone who is…is…well, different and unique; special and pretty like you are.”

She preened under the pleasant words I was using. All true too, but no way could I let her loose on Earth side. Before the day was out, she would wind up pixing the whole damn city in a fit of temper.

I continued to help bail out Rock, seeing his look of alarm. “Besides, I am sure the Captain can find his own home nest, by himself, when he is ready. Right now, he thinks of nothing but his work and job as a soldier, which is exactly what he should be doing.”

She moved away from Rock, snapping her wings again. “Oh, pooh, wars and fightings, he’ll never gets a homes nest.”

I nodded sagely. “It might not be for a long, long time. But if he doesn’t fight, he won’t have a world to get himself a home nest on, so he is stuck for the time being.”

She was agitated, stomping her little feet in the air. “The Trixie wills not give ups.” She popped out of the room.

“Thank you, Cat,” Rock blew a sigh a relief, brushing the pixie dust out of his hair.

I clucked my tongue, “Don’t thank me; she is not done yet, my friend. Good luck with this.”

Snorting with laughter, Wizard asked, “How could you guys even get together, you hound dog? Fifty says she gets mad and dumps him.”

I laughed. “With enough power, she could make herself to be our size. Never underestimate a pixie. And getting mad and just dumping him would be the best we could hope for, then. A jilted pixie can make things fall off.” I arched my eyes at Rock.

He turned a bit green and looked at Wizard. “Don’t you dare encourage her, Wizard.” Wizard just gave an evil laugh.

Skylord had come back into the room, letting me know things were ready to go and Stormlord would go with us. He was a tall lanky wizard that could make the rains come in a deluge with just a snap of his fingers. Together, they had rounded up over sixty dragons for the protection of Kla’ din. The Dai’ Khans had told me that once we were on their world again, they would warn the Dai’kins and the guards they would leave in charge.

I had also suggested they keep their cowls off of their faces when entering Earth world, since it looked too close to the turbans the enemy we fought all the time wore. They understood the necessity of trying to fit into another culture and of ways to make things easier.

I didn’t even ask them to give up their scimitars, though I did make them bags they could carry them in, so the nice people on the other side didn’t freak out. They thought this was a good compromise and agreed to it when they found out we would be doing the same thing.

As we walked back outside through the courtyard, Trixie came zooming out. “The Trixie goes with you. Say it is so. The mean Shamus wonts lets me goes. You have fairies coming along, yous needs the Trixie too,” her lip was pouting.

“Trixie, sweetie, you need to help my astral self that I am leaving behind. Who but you, could show part of me what I have been slacking on. You could get her finished so much faster with your help.” OK, I was laying it on thick, but I shuddered at the thought of her following into a world that vampyres attacked in. “Besides, the fairies aren’t coming with me. They’ll be staying in Kla’ din unless a message needs to come here or go to Earth.”

This appeased her and she nodded sadly. “True, true, the other sides of princess lady could use The Trixie for faster works.” She then perked up. “I’ll brings the princess lady selfs to yous when shes is done.” With that decree, she flitted off before I could talk her out of it. Tricky Trixie!

Stormlord chuckled. “That pixy is a handful. She’s got her cap set and she won’t be denied.”

Rock started looking a bit green again. I laughed as I climbed upon Cornelia. “Buck up, soldier. You have faced worse than an enamored pixy.”

He gave me his eyebrow trick and climbed atop a dragon, settling himself in for takeoff. Everyone got on much quicker this time and we jolted into the skies of Trinidad once more.

We flew straight through the portal on dragon backs, since it was wide enough for their wingspans, and headed to the other portal that would lead to Earth. The suns had set some time ago. Antonio would not be pleased with my lateness. As we neared the other portal, the dragons landed as close to the gate as we could get. The energy of this world was enough for the dragons to stay quite solid and the look on Romeo’s face was hilarious. My sister, too, looked a bit taken aback, but composed herself faster than Romeo did. His hand was tight on his SOCOM.

I walked up to her and gave her a hug in greeting, then turning around, I addressed the Dai’ Khans. “This is my sister, Ama Ja’ Cassie,” giving her the title they would have given her themselves.

Her eyebrows rose into her hair line over the introduction and tapped into my head on our private path. ‘Sister, what have you done now?’ as she watched the Dai’ Khans kneel and bow in respect.

Laughing, “Screwed the pooch, I’m afraid,” I said aloud. I might as well get as much enjoyment out of this as I could. The hard part hadn’t even begun. On a private path I told her, ‘Tell them arise or we could be here all day.’

“Arise and greetings to the Dai’ Khans of this world. It is an honor to meet with you,” she said graciously. She had always been better at this sort of thing than I was.

“An honor for us to meet the sister of our Meshallima Ama Ja’ Catrina. This world has been blessed many times since your arrival,” Ja’ Callum answered her.

‘Oh, sister, you’ve really got yourself into hot water this time, haven’t you? How could you?’ She sounded displeased with me now, as she should be. Ignoring her for the moment, I said, “This is Sergeant Theodore Watson of Special Forces, otherwise known as Romeo.”

They greeted each other, though Romeo was still flabbergasted over the dragons roaming around us.

‘Sister,’ she hissed in my head. I knew what she wanted to know.

I shrugged my shoulders. ‘Shit happened. Most was out of my control. I cleaned up the best I could. Most things are now known and there is now a portal from this world to Trinidad.’

I heard her deep intake of breath over this news. ‘That was the great workings I felt happen earlier today? I knew it was you, but I couldn’t figure out what, exactly, you were doing.’ She sighed, ‘Well, that explains the dragons.’ She shook her head. ‘If you can sit ever again in this lifetime, I will be surprised.’ Oh, great. Her, too? Shit!

The Dai’ Khans had done an information download to Stormlord, so he would know the geographical layout of this planet and where to place the dragons, where the vampyres would mostly likely hit, if they came at all while we were gone. I was hoping once I removed myself from this world, they would go back to their periodical raiding. Stormlord and the dragons took off with Cornelia in the lead, after giving me a dragon hug. She made me promise to take a long ride on her when I came back through the portal. I was happy to, since I wanted to see more of this world soon. If I could sit on her back by that time, that is.

We waited for the men to get back into their street clothes and loaded their black bags with their gear and weapons. I took a look around and saw I couldn’t delay any longer and we walked through Earth’s portal.