“This house will have no powers but will have an advisory function. The Representatives will have licence to speak freely without fear of persecution. Her majesty Queen Kerina states she grants this boon to a Zeninan slave who has done great service to the state of Zenina. He has asked his name unspoken for fear of embarrassing his mistress. Her majesty Queen Kerina further states it is her wish all her people whether free or slave should have the right to bring their thoughts and problems to her and her advisors. She believes it should be the right of all Zeninans to speak and think freely without fear of retaliation.”
The cheers that greeted this statement were scattered but when Kerina rose to present Marina with a coronet made of small ruby florettes, the award to the “Heroine of the Games” the crowd rose once more to cheer Marina. Marina wondered when it would happen.
“Zadina is still here, I must have misunderstood; surely she won’t blow herself up?”
The firework display started to the basic thumping rhythm of a non-Zeninan dance band, belting out some primitive music. Powerful rockets burst high above lighting up the night sky, spraying out silver snowflakes and starbursts of crimson edged with sparkling gold dust which faded into jade coloured smoke. Fountains of tiny sparks in three shades of blues crackled from the earth, set off in exact sequences as the blue showers faded, the beginning of the line began again with showers of shades of pink and scarlet, repeating with greens and purple. The fireworks were truly beautiful, but few of those remaining in the now depleted Royal Enclosure were enjoying them.
Two little girls came up the steps each bearing a huge bouquet. More rockets lit up the sky bursting each into a letter of purple stars spelling out Kerina’s name, each letter bursting with a shower of golden sparks. The first little girl a cute little Ruby with her hair in two looped plaits handed her bouquet to Princess Marina. Marina looked once more at Zadina, she had not moved for a long time but her face still smiled its cat like smile. “She’s already gone,” thought Marina. As green stars of light now broke high above to spell out her name in the night sky, Marina realised the truth. “It’s just a sending, she’s taken her body away and left just a shell made of her thoughts.”
The second child, a sweet Gold was handing her bouquet to Queen Kerina who bent to thank her.
Marina turned and looked at the child for the first time, Orina.
“Oh no, not Orina! No, Zadina would choose Orina.”
Kerina caught Marina’s thoughts as Marina started to take off the leather strap but her fingers fumbled the buckles and seemed so slow. Kerina suddenly realised the importance of Marina’s gift and took off the bangle and slipped it onto Orina’s arm.
“Run child, run!” screamed Kerina as she threw herself onto the bouquet.
Marina threw her body between the queen and the children as the bouquet exploded with a deafening crack. Kerina flew apart in a spray of blue blood, bone chips, brains and guts. Jazina standing not far away behind the queen fell screaming to the floor, splattered with the gore and bone fragments of her former queen. Padavaneev did not have time to scream. His head separated from his body with a fountain of red blood and hit the force shield and bounced back into the devastation that remained of the Royal Enclosure.
Three soldiers from the royal guard died from the masonry around the queen flying upwards and smashing into them. Marina stood for a few seconds before crumpling into her mother’s remains; the force of the explosion rendered her unconscious. The leather strap hung loosely from her wrist. She looked undamaged by the blast apart from the gore she lay in. Letinza came forward ushering the children away. Kerina was not a pretty sight. She would go and see to Marina when she had got them away from that dreadful sight.
Then the second blast went off and Marina unconscious on what was left of her mother’s body took the full impact. Letinza ordered the stadium cleared and Zadina’s arrest. All still alive had seen her sending fade in the impact of the explosion. She was damned; there was no doubt of her duplicity. Marina’s torso and head lay mangled upon the bloody hole that had once been her mother.
Marina’s last thought before the first explosion as she tried to block the impact from the little girls had been peculiar. It was almost as if Queen Kerina was linked with her in her mind. For one split second they were in accord. Time seemed to float unendingly. There was no need for goodbyes; they had gone past all that. Just the true sweet love of mother and daughter remained and a perfect understanding of each other. The last thing she saw before she slipped from consciousness was the face of Colonel Heneran Bromarsh staring at her in shock and horror. She thought abstractedly to herself that a soldier should be inured to such sights.
She herself felt no horror at the destruction of her mother, but perhaps she really had no heart. She felt nothing as the second explosion blew her body apart. Vlama led Bromarsh away for he could not take in what had happened. Seeing Kerina disintegrate before him was bad enough, but what was left of her no longer resembled a human being. Certainly it did not resemble the passionate woman who had held him in her arms. Then Marina shattered like a porcelain doll. So much promise, unfulfilled. What a pointless death. He felt like he had lost his whole family in one blow. What would become of him now? He shuddered as he thought of Zadina; she was not a woman he could easily forget. How she would enjoy her revenge.
Letinza looked down at what was left of Marina; she could not believe it possible that she could live. Still she had her orders. She placed all the pieces she could find lovingly into a body box and transported it to Vellina. Vellina would want to mourn Marina. One of her guards picking through the debris picked up Neman’s delicate necklace drenched in blue gore. It appeared intact and was put to one side to be cleaned and perhaps returned.
Chapter Fifty-Eight - Distant Mourning
On a Zeninan battle-ship half way from the boundary of Zeninan space; Father Francis Debenden sat talking or at least thinking with some of the crew. Marina had threatened the entire crew with flogging if any one of them touched as much as a hair of his head, so he was reasonably safe. Father Debenden had hung onto his helmet and the effects of its first revelations were still bearing fruit. Suddenly there was a loud cry in his mind, the loudest thought he had ever heard. Everyone around him sat up.
One of them said aloud. “It’s the little girl, something’s the matter!”
Another said, “Probably just a nightmare.”
Father Debenden was up and running. He ran to Jessina’s room understanding for the first time how loud her mind voice could be. He sat down on her bed and held the crying child.
“What’s the matter?” he asked in her mind not knowing he was not talking aloud. She told him simply.
“Marina is dead, Marina is dying. She said I could stay, that I’d be Gold. I wanted to stay, but there’s mother and Floren. I couldn’t stay without telling them. Now Marina’s not there to go back to. I didn’t even remember to thank her. All I could think of was how I wanted to stay in Zenina and I knew I must go home to mother. I was going home to mother to tell her I wanted to stay in Zenina, I wanted to go back. I knew she wouldn’t stop me, but I had to tell her myself. Now I can’t go back, how can I when Marina is dead?”
Father Debenden gave her what comfort he could, knowing there was little he could say that would help.
“I’ll pray for Princess Marina. She was a very special person, I heard so much about what she could do. Perhaps she hasn’t died. Perhaps she’ll survive. We must have faith, faith in God and faith in Princess Marina.”
Not for one second did he doubt her knowledge, something dreadful had happened to Marina and he knew now why the Zeninans all loved Jessina so much. She was still so very young but her mind was so open and rounded. She was such a loving child so much less self-centred than Floren. Floren who had been going through the junior crew members on the battleship, as if determined to have them all before he reached Alpha. Floren would know the price of everything but the value of nothing. The more he knew of Floren’s mind the m
ore he disliked the boy.
Jessina did not love her brother any less knowing how flawed he was. Even knowing her love was largely one-sided had not lessened her feelings of love and responsibility for him. Father Debenden found it touching. Jessina had a great capacity for love. She loved Marina dearly, but she loved her mother too. She had been torn between staying and using her mind as it wanted to be used and her love for her family. Father Debenden knew Jessina had made the right decision. It had been the hardest of the three choices to make.
To go home and tell them she was returning to Zenina. Rather than stay and feel guilty about her parents or go and feel resentment for having to stay. He wished he could say he might have made the same decision in her shoes but feared he would have thought first of himself and stayed. He would help Jessina tell her parents if Marina lived but it would be better not to say too much until he could find out if she survived.
Jessina finally cried herself out and exhausted fell into a fretful sleep. Father Debenden left her to sleep and sought out the Ship’s Captain who held the Army rank of Major. She listened to Father Debenden’s tale with concern.
“I’ve heard no news from Hemithea but I’ll contact base at once and discover what has happened.”
She did not belittle the little girl’s vision. She knew too much about such things to deny their occurrence and Jessina was too powerful a telepath to be ignored. It was possible she had kept a link partly open even at this distance or Marina had left one thought lingering with her to hold on to her for as long as she could.
***
Orders should Marina be injured or be unable to work for some period had been handed over in a sealed packet and put into the safe in the Deputy Director of the Zeninan Internal Security’s office. Vellina had a similar sealed packet. Fenzela and Vellina opened their packets and went about following Marina’s final orders to them.
Glossary of Names of People, Places and terms
AdelzaMajor, Senior Flying Instructor of Zeninan Space Academy
AedonSmall town in Zenina
AlangaRuby nurse to Carina’s children
AlphaPlanet close to star of that name – free port
AmzaZeninan in exile, grandmother to Xanbela
Antanasee Verdang
AntangSilver son of Carina, twin to Harminda, brother to Orina
AnthananIslands on Zenina close to Neman’s Palace
AreskPlanet, member of the Federated Planets
BagnaWoman murdered by arson
BanzayanPlanet in Zigan Confederation
BaraneevSex gymnastics star, slave to Plavina
BareenumPlanet in Zeninan Empire, ruled by polygamous males
Barzadsee Ga’Barzad
BazinaQueen six previous to Kerina, first of the Bazinian dynasty also name of Kerina’s mother.
Bazinian Dynasty of which Kerina is seventh Queen, Plavina eighth, Zadina ninth and Marina is tenth
Bazinan Dynasty
Queen
Number
Duration
Bazina
The first I
71 years (1)
Plavina
The second II
11 years (2)
Cavina
The first I
44 years (3)
Marina
The sixth VI
43 years (4)
Nerina
The second II
27 years (5)
Bazina
The second II
32 years (6)
Kerina
The first I
60 years (7)
Plavina
The third III
Less than a year (8)
Dalzina (not in direct line)
The first I
Less than a year (9)
Zadina
The first I
Less than 2 years (10)
Marina
The seventh VII
That would be telling (11)
BelabezaGreen Captain, Army Catering Corp, late head cook at the Golden Palace
BellatrixPlanet in Zeninan Empire
BellatrudeCity on Bellatrix
Bellazasee Callabam
BengarTown in Blengaria
BlazenaSilver Games Organiser, Merchant and Fertility Cultist
Blengaria(n)Planet and Empire where Bromarsh first became a mercenary, rebellious vassal planet to Markaba
BlueLower Intelligence scale colour above that of Green
BonaDaughter of Chilka aged eight at beginning book
BondagnuTown on Bellatrix
BordiaArea of Blengarian Empire which had been rebellious
BoucharyKurgian double distilled alcohol with a spicy mint flavour
BremusaSmall town in Hemithea
BrenzaGreen bouncer at Jazna’s brothel
BromarshMajor Heneran Bromarsh, formerly of the Markaban Army
Children Kendan, (also known by surname Hulavan) Janavime, Tekela, Sondron and Ruka, Vinana by Antana and Herina by Marina (surrogate birth)
Wives Chloxena, Josie, Lady Antana
BrenderberryZeninan red fruit grows in clusters like red currants
BuolianMarket town in countryside of Kochab
BurgPirate afflicted with space leprosy, previously owned by Xenzia
CCCPneumonia like disease that caused an epidemic in Alpha
CallabamFamily name of Floren and Jessina
Ceckil Callabam Floren and Jessina’s Father
Belaza Callabam Floren and Jessina’s Mother
CalazaOne of Charles’s former owners (before Jazna) killed by Dalzina
CalzinaFertility Cultist, Keeper of the Queen’s Bedchamber, former owner of Father O’Flaherty, mother of Serengia, aunt of Nog, (in Consort High Priestess)
CantansunKarella Cantansun, fiancée of Tippy blue
CarinaMarina’s pelozia team mate. Dead Mother of Orina
CavalzaBlue friend of Charles works for Zeninan Security
CharlesSilver, Zigan Slave owned by Marina, son of Thorina
ChilkaMajor, principal of the Zeninan Imperial Army Catering Institute, Marina’s best friend
Chirius Colony Planet, member of the Federated Planets
ChloxenaFirst wife of Major Heneran Bromarsh
ClevanPirate afflicted with space leprosy
ConvalPlanet in the Markaban Union
Council Members at time of beginning of Champion of Zenina
Name
Title
Interest
Faction
Kerina
Queen
Gold
Zeninan Empire
Marina
Marina
VP Princess
Gold
Security / Army
Marina
Calzina
General
Gold
Army
Army / F Cult
Vlama
Lt. Col
Silver
Army
Marina
Folada
Admiral
Silver
Navy
Marina
Klivina
Duchess
Gold
Arts
Undecided
Vellina
Princess
Gold
Medicine
Marina
Plavina
Princess
Gold
Judiciary
Marina
Zadina
Princess High Priestess
Gold
Fertility
Cult
Fertility Cult
Irzina
Police Chief
Gold
Police
Fertility Cult
Serengia
Scientist
Platinum
Science
Marina
Dalla
Chancellor
Blue
Finance
Ma
rina
Dalzina
Foreign Secretary
Gold
Foreign & Empire
Dalzina
Lamaza
Chief Planner
Mercury
Planning
Dalzina
Gepa
Ruby Represen-tative
Ruby
Ruby Interests
Dalzina
Xanda
Mayor of Hemithea
Green
Trade & Industry
Dalzina
Blazena
Games organizer
Silver
Sports/ Trade
Fertility Cult
Perlza
Farmers’ representative
Blue
Agriculture
Fertility Cult
Rusenza
Merchant
Green
Trade
Dalzina
Querella
Ecologist
EBONY
Pollution Control
Unclear
CozilashKurgian Reptiles
CucatSilver slave belonging to Klivina
DallaBlue Chancellor
DalzinaMarina’s cousin and enemy, sister to Kapalina
DebendenFather Francis Catholic Priest of Earth blood
DegummeRiver in Kochab
DeminaZeninan Fertility Goddess
Derinoean Islands in the Tumuldic Ocean on Zenina
Desenza Hemithean brothel Keeper, owner of Gaz and Bloo
DinessaPlanet in the Zeninan Empire, mostly male dominated
DinkaRuby brain damaged orderly
DivakSon of Queen Kerina, brother to Marina and Plavina
DiteAbbreviated form of Hermaphrodite
DlucSlave alternate that might be used for Games
DutkyBlue slave
EarthMember of the Federated Planets
EbonyColour with specialist talents and temperamental natures
EdolzaSuccessful Athlete seeking Security career