Miami Days and Truscan by Gail Roughton Read Free Book Online

Truscan.”
    “Oh, Truscan’s easy. ’Sides, Dal’s English is really good. He’s mostly been with my two boys growing up and they’re pretty much bi-lingual. Crayton’s fourteen and Cretor’s twelve. The three of ’em, they spend a lot of time together.”
    “If Dal and your boys speak English so well, why didn’t Dalph ever learn?”
    “Dalph’s always had a lot on his plate, Tess. From a very young age. And no, I ain’t gonna tell you about all of it. That’s for him.”
    “Then I hope Truscan’s as easy as you say it is or we’re going to have a lot of long, awkward silences. When do I meet them? The boys?”
    “When Dalph gets back. They’re out with him.”
    “On patrol? Boys?”
    Johnny stood up and paced restlessly. “No, Tess. Not boys. Truscans. Truscan nobility, Truscan royalty. Kiera, she’s—well, she’s actually Dalph’s aunt. Half-aunt. His father’s half-sister. My boys, sure I think about how they’d live back on Earth, how much I’d have loved for them to grow up with Little League in the summer and football in the fall. Wouldn’t even mind the gray hairs they’d give me learning how to drive, talking on the phone half the night, and hitting me up for an advance on their allowance. But that was my world. This is their world, a hard world, a dark world, a Truscan world. We have to do the best we can to teach ’em what they need to know because they are the next guardians, the next—”
    “They’re the next Round Table. Aren’t they?”
    Johnny sat back down and smiled ruefully. “I guess that was a little dramatic, huh?”
    “No. No, from what I’ve seen so far, I think it was probably the literal truth. But I’m sorry they don’t seem to have had much time to be little boys.”
    “They’ll like you,” Johnny said, pulling me to my feet and resuming my tour of the garden. “And you’ll like them, too. They’ll be back in a few days, and you can meet ’em.”
    I looked around the garden, bathed in the reddish glow of Trusca’s full moon.
    “Is this your idea, Johnny? Does Dalph always follow your suggestions?”
    I thought he was going to choke. “Lord, if you knew how funny that was, darlin’! Dalph don’t take nobody’s suggestions. He had this script already written last night, ’fore you woke up from his sleeping pill. The one that got you on Pegasus.”
    “I see,” I said slowly. I must be careful; I was obviously underestimating the man, merely because I spoke another language and was from a different culture. I must not assume that made me the superior in intelligence. Randalph of Trusca must indeed run his brain in constant high gear, viewing every possibility, determining the highest efficiency of operation, overseeing every detail. Even down to my new clothes. I must use the next few days. And wait for his return.
     

Chapter Six
     
    Four days later, in mid-morning, I heard the trumpets, the shouts, the roars.
    “Trusca vite!”
    Trusca comes. He was back. I had spent the last four days roaming the Rata, Johnny or Kiera always at my side. I was building a base for the Truscan language, which was actually reminiscent of Latin, which had never been my strong suit. I’d had a couple of courses in college, and its rules had long since departed from my memory, but Truscan used much the same format. One base word, different endings, different meanings.
    I was conversant with the inner workings of the Rata, and I was beginning to place names with faces. And that was about it, I thought ruefully. Not much to brag about. And now, Dalph had returned, bringing with him my new charges. Well, at least we’d be able to talk to each other.
    Kiera swept into my room.
    “I have much to see to today. There will be a large feast tonight. And my McKay, he must be with Dalph. You will be able to entertain yourself, no?”
    “I’ll manage,” I said. “I’ll just stroll around—”
    “No. You must not.”
    “I beg your pardon?”
    “You must not wander