Starlet

35. He's Always Here

I'm in the dungeon. I see a shadow coming and jolt awake. I get up and ready. It's still dark outside.

"Bring me a map of Egypt."

"Yes, ma'am."

I get my hair pulled back and look at the map. "When will we be close to this area?" I know roughly where the blood wine is made and we're traveling the coast. It should be easy to find and fast.

"20 minutes."

"Give me a countdown to that and summon Tre. Also, get a shuttle closer with 15 brains in it."

"Yes, ma'am."

I finish getting ready and go up on deck with my brain.

"10 minutes."

"5 minutes."

"4 minutes."

He could still show up.

"3 minutes."

"2 minutes."

Tre and Mason stand beside me.

"I almost gave up on you."

"1 minute."

"Close enough." I grab the brain and take off over Egypt.

It's still dark, so flying as dragons is perfectly fine. I spot a wine field in the distance and move towards it.

I blow the lock off with an orb and we go in. I open a bottle of wine and take a big drink. Then I spit it everywhere. "No. That's not it. My bad."

We take off again.

15 minutes later, I see another. I land and spit a couple of times. "Damn taste of nasty is stuck in my mouth."

We go up to it and I stare at the sign. Cole Winery.

Mason pushes my shoulder. "You ok?"

"Sure." I get to the door, and it's not even locked. I push it open and a bell dings.

A woman comes out of the back dressed in an old dirty robe of some kind. Her hair is all over the place. She was obviously sleeping. "Good morning. How can I help... My queen." She turns around and screams, "THE QUEEN HAS RETURNED."

About 10 women come out of the back. She must have woken them all up. They are talking and watching me. They formulate in front of me on their knees.

Tre pushes me into a chair. "Rise and speak freely. I am so confused."

The bell dings and Dipak and Marcus are here too.

"How are you here?"

"Your father purchased this winery. He had 5 servants here running it. When the castle fell, a group of us came here. We didn't know where else to go, ma'am."

"There was no word from you. We had no idea if you were alive. They had taken our princess, ma'am."

"Throughout the years, other servants left. They gave up hope that you were still alive. But we remain. We are your loyal servants, ma'am."

"How many of you remain?"

"11 ma'am."

"Wine me please. I need it."

"Of course, ma'am."

I take a drink and relax. "What? ... No." I shake my head. "This is blood wine, Tre. I guess my daddy bought it."

He takes a drink. "Your daddy was a genius."

The servants giggle and nod.

I stand up. "Do you have somewhere they can bathe?"

Dipak nods. "Guest rooms."

"I need a shuttle to move the servants to the castle. Then I need another shuttle to move. How many plants are here?"

"200 ma'am."

"Move 10 plants to the ship. They need to be kept safe. Then I need brains to take over this winery."

"Seeking approval." The brain turns to Tre. "Star is..."

He cuts it off. "Approved."

"Approval has been granted, ma'am."

I laugh and rub my eyes. "You are being moved to their castle. You will be in guest rooms for the day. We will return this evening. I want you to bathe and get something on. You can shop in the village, I guess."

Marcus shakes his head. "Gunner and Alexa know they're coming. Alexa is getting them some stuff together."

"Oh good. Stay in the guest area of the castle. You are not servants of their castle. You are guests. Do not forget that and go roaming around weird places."

"Yes, ma'am."

"Send them each a soap set, comb, sandals, hair tie, dress, breakfast, lunch, and dinner if we run late. Oh, and underwear. Do not forget underwear. These guys get mad when you forget. Go collect your personal items quickly."

"Yes, ma'am." Half of them are trying not to laugh. But they get their stuff and are back in record time.

I scratch my head. "That should be good."

"The shuttle for the servants has arrived, ma'am."

"I'll get you in the shuttle. Follow me." They follow Mason out.

I grab 3 bottles of blood wine and fly back to the ship. Marcus, Dipak, and Tre land with me.

"Let's go to breakfast."

I take my wine from the brain.

Dipak shakes his head. "You are not drinking."

"FINE DAD." I stomp to the dining room. Then I plop down by Leo and glare at everyone.

They come in after a minute. "She didn't even realize it. Do not bring it up." Marcus is talking to Dipak.

I sit the wine down and order what I had yesterday. I almost finish it when Nadine perks up. "What is that?"

"Blood wine."

"For breakfast?"

"Sure." I hand a bottle to the brain. Give everyone a glass."

"Yes, ma'am."

Dipak stands up. "You are not drinking for..."

"IT'S ONLY A LITTLE. IT'S NOT THAT MUCH."

"No."

"YES."

Leo picks me up and carries me into the elevator. The second the door shuts, I start sobbing.

"What is wrong?"

"I want to drink it."

"You can't. It is 8 in the morning."

"YES." My hand finds his hair and I twirl it through my fingers. "IT'S MINE."

"No. Now you need to stop."

I yawn. "But..."

We're in the back of the theater, sleeping on the couch. Lindsay smiles. "We need to switch boats now."

"NO." I slam my head back on his chest.

He stands up and carries me.

I wake up sometime in the next boat ride. Everyone is on the deck now. People are pointing at the water beside the boat. I wiggle down and go see. There's a bunch of fish with huge teeth eating something. Leo goes to the middle of the deck with a crowd of other people. Lindsay and Silvia sit on his lap. That's weird.

I go over to Dipak and Marcus. "What are they doing?"

"They're afraid of the fish."

"Afraid of fish?"

"The teeth."

"I guess that would be a particularly brutal way to die. I'll stay on the boat." I go back and watch the fish.

The girls get carried off the boat. I follow them off and go to talk to a local while they pile in the carriages. There are lots of camels around. Some people are getting on those. I ask the man for a saddle. I really want to ride a camel, but not without a saddle.

He brings me a fully dressed camel out of the barn. Complete with a saddle, chair, and umbrella to keep the sun off me.

"Thank you, sir. I really didn't want to miss this chance."

"My pleasure, sweetie. You enjoy the ride." He helps me on.

Marcus, Dipak, and Tre come over after a minute. Dipak is laughing. "How did we not know this?"

Tre shakes his head and gives me some water.

I smile. "I'm ready now."

My camel follows the other camels. He knows the path well. I don't even have to do anything. The carriages follow behind us. I run up to the front and talk to the man leading the group. He is so kind. We talk about food and wine.

Then we stop for lunch at some shaded tables by a pyramid. I'm really excited about the pyramid.

Dipak walks by and holds his hands out to me. I jump off the top of the camel, and he catches me without missing a step. Then I run over to the tables. We get served food of some kind. I take a bite. "This is not Egyptian."

Tre nods. "It's a simple lunch."

"Do Egyptians not have simple lunches?"

"It's too hard to make Egyptian food in the middle of the desert."

I stare at the i***t and blink a couple of times. "No. It's too hard for you to make Egyptian food in the middle of the desert. Egyptians have been doing it for thousands of years. Pull your head out your ass and talk to them. I'm sure they'll help you figure it out. They are very pleasant people."

Dipak laughs and Marcus starts choking. Mary runs over and smacks him.

"You are wasting a valuable chance to show your guests authentic Egyptian food. Not only that, you're wasting money serving food that's not local to the area. Nobody expects a gourmet meal at a picnic table. It needs to be a good lunch. Nothing more."

"At this point, we will be seeing the pyramid..."

I don't care what anyone says. I jump up and run like hell for the pyramid. I have to see this.

It's stone tunnels. This is amazing. I run at a down angle for a while. Then I make a turn and run up for a bit. Then I fall in a hole. I guess I should have used the ladder. I dust myself off and run up some more. I end up in a leveled out room. There's stuff in it. Some broken vases and jewelry. There are amazing paintings and carvings all over the wall. The writing is done in pictures. I try to figure out what 1 wall says and walk head first into a big stone column.

I shake my head off and spot what looks like a sealed-off tunnel. It's closed by stones that look like the regular wall. I have to get in there.

I run over and pry at the stones. I get a me-sized hole going and there's dirt behind the rocks. I start digging.

Then I get pulled out my Marcus. "You can not dig in here."

I nod fast and jump back in. "IT'S TUNNEL."

He smacks my butt hard and pulls me out. "No. This is not safe. It could cave in on you. I would have no way to get you out. You can not dig in here."

I want to cry, but I want to dig more. "YES TUNNEL." I jump for it.

He grabs me and smacks my butt hard 3 times. "No."

I start sobbing. That hurt.

"Now, are you going to listen?"

I put my arms up and nod. He picks me up and I wrap around him.

"You have to listen. You could get hurt in here. You can't do what you want all the time."

I shake my head and sob into his shoulder.

He carries me out and Dipak comes from another tunnel. "What happened?"

"Someone decided to get her ass beat for not listening."

"What was she doing?" Dipak sounds mad.

"Excavating. And she wouldn't keep her ass out of her tunnel that she made in the side of a wall."

He puts an eyebrow up at me. "You can't do that. It could come down on you."

I cry harder and plop my head on Marcus's shoulder. I'm done with today.

We get outside and Tre is standing there. "What happened?"

"She decided to excavate. Then wouldn't listen."

"Did you sleep last night? She summoned me at like 3 am. She was showered and on the deck ready to go."

Dipak looks at me. "Why didn't you sleep?"

"Probably wanted to find the wine." Marcus rolls his eyes.

"No. That's not it." Dipak takes me and holds me like Marcus was. "What happened?"

I cry so hard. "I was in the dungeon. Jareth was coming."

He hugs me and rubs my back. My eyes close. "Does that happen a lot?"

"He's always here."