Moiraland vol. 2: Moiraland, #2

By Richard R Lockwood

In volume 2 Moira has taken control of Ireland and made it the most powerful nation in Europe. Her obvious divinity and mysterious powers make resistance at home and abroad futile. To keep the initiative she stages dramatic scenes with figures from mythology. Toby Maguire is caught in the middle of all these impossible things that keep happening. He has risen to a powerful position by her favor, but can't stop wondering what is really happening. Moira protects herself with art and distractions, just as any powerful woman would. Does Toby really want to know what is happening? Or would that lead to a likely fall from her favor?

"Moiraland" immerses you in an intricate tapestry of history, mythology, technological power, flavored with the sheer joy of defying the limits. Witness the birth of a world where the past, present, and future, intertwine in fanciful and entertaining harmony.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Richard R Lockwood
• Release date: Jun 28, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215042243

Richard R Lockwood

Was born in Miami FL. Worked for the University of Florida until I retired. Been married to the lovely Cecelia for 40 years now, proof that I'm a lucky guy. Now living on the Nature Coast in Citrus County. Enjoy all kind of wildlife, especially reptiles and insects, so I'm pretty sure I'm in the right place. When I'm not writing I enjoy wood carving. Both of the heads beside me in the picture are cedar from the Chassahowitzka Forrest. I also love to walk my dog Bark Anthony. Probably need to go do that now. A Chronology of the Twins Alternate Universe novels and some thoughts and rationales - https://www.ricklockwood.net/Chronology.html My Books on Books 2 Read - https://books2read.com/ap/RaZ9Br/Richard-R-Lockwood  

Book preview

Moiraland

Volume Two

1

––––––––

Dorothy sniffed at the wasps when she returned to the station later that night. She joined the two men seated on the Governor’s balcony and sharing a bottle of wine. They don’t have an air buffer, my poor lad will freeze, and no, I won’t explain what an air buffer is, the name says it all. You’ll need good warm jackets and boots, a helmet and goggles would also make sense.

Alright, agreed Toby.

Smart of you to let me pamper you so.

I hope to be as smart as my lady some day.

Oh, stop. Did you boys enjoy the show? she asked, looking at Pat.

Most assuredly, my lady, Pat replied, determined to be polite, especially after such a recent reminder of who held divine powers in this world. I am amazed and impressed, not the least of all by your generosity with Donahue. There can’t be many goddesses that would allow someone to outshine them like that.

Dorothy brushed it off, Moira is the only goddess in this world. I’m a star performer, that’s all.

A very generous star performer, Pat insisted.

When I was young, I was just as you say, very jealous of others taking attention from me on the stage. Now my pleasure is to create them, and set my little stars among the heavens.

Well, my lad Toby already thought a lot of himself.

Toby snorted and raised his glass at the touch.

He might have reasons to do so. What did you think of Zefira?

A pretty trap, my lady. As a widow, she’s safe from suitors for the moment, I hope.

That’s up to her. The Queen will give her six measures, and probably a few more as a wedding present, if she remarries, of course.

Good to know, my lady. I have several single officers in my company, I’ll mention it to them.

You fight the hook so nicely, Sir Entirely.

Pat raised his own glass to acknowledge the hit and they all laughed. Toby thought about that conversation quite a bit over the next few days. Setting us up in the heavens, our own little stars, is that what the Lasses are doing? Or something more? Or is it all an enormous trick? Yes, yes, and yes?

Pat left on the expedition to Batavia with Admiral Tromp, half Dutch sailors and half Irish airmen. They took six cargo balloons with a sleeping wagon apiece, plus another two courier balloons for guards and messaging.

New people arrived every day in Moiraland, Toby noticed that most of them stayed. After discussing it with Dorothy he opened up another section of the station as a hotel and she announced regular hotel rates would be charged after the end of the month. Joost Bankert offered to supply a veteran hotel keeper and Herr Goens became the manager of the Station Hotel. Tradesmen, carpenters, and other craftsmen, began to arrive and scout their own places.

A score of Scots arrived by their own balloon, led by Captain Patrick Graham, who allowed his friends to call him Black Pate. He didn’t talk much, which suited Toby, but he was courteous and knew his mission required him to cooperate with Moiraland.

My lord Montrose is na eager to leave Scotland, he told Toby over a glass of light wine in his office.

I wasn’t eager to leave Ireland, replied Toby. I’m glad I did.

Aye, it’s a new world for certain, Governor, especially when you can look at it from above.

True. I’d like to send along a few men with you, just to get a look at your station, if you don’t mind.

Will they fly your huge wasps?

No, those aren’t good for long flights.

Just as well. Sir Arthur told us there may be people around, probably fewer than you have here, but none of them need ta see giant insects, any more than we Scots needed ta see the Devil.

I haven’t had any problem with the natives here. Maybe they’ll object later when it gets crowded, but that may be centuries away.

He also told me you’d have new weapons for us.

Toby had been briefed by Sir Arthur about giving them rifles. He stood and drained his glass, The armory is this way, Captain.

Before they left Toby also gave each of the Scot officers a calling coin. Three courier balloons went with them under the command of Sergeant Muir.

Toby’s father told him an agreement had been reached with the Spanish government. In exchange for a cargo balloon route from Cadiz to Havana to Lima Peru, King Phillip would allow his Irish officers to resign from his service if they pleased. Ensign Airdin MacCullough promptly resigned his commission on the Our Lady of Davina and accepted a lieutenant’s position with Toby in Moiraland. He would be the main point of contact with any future Spanish visitors, and for the next few weeks he would be the junior lieutenant on an expedition down to Lima to scout the coast and start spreading the word that Moiraland was open for business. Spanish laborers began arriving to unload the galleon, now docked at the Spaniards own assigned section 27, and Toby’s office was graced with a few nice decorations as thanks from Captain Oquendo for his hospitality.

It’s good to be the Governor, he thought.

On the other hand Zefira O’Reilly stayed, though her uncle Colonel O’Reilly returned to Ireland to attend to politicking for the new Commons, which would be meeting for the first time as an independent Irish government. She was not shy, but she was not a happy woman either. He saw her taking the air ferry, accompanied by her maid and a guard, or traveling with Dorothy to look at measures. She was the first of several widows or young heiresses traveling out to see what Moiraland could offer. Toby kept a polite distance, but he had to admit that Zefira was the prettiest of the bunch, and therefore the most dangerous.

Princess Sifna returned from Westland. She reported the Scots were settling in, though Toby knew that from Sergeant Muir. The princess announced that she was ready to build his castle, did Toby want to pick from a standard model or did he want something wild and silly? They spent an hour discussing plans and models, details he should know as Governor. Toby had more familiarity with the Sampo catalog now, he could study it from his desk in his office, he had no difficulty choosing a simple white three tower plan surrounded by a stout wall and topped by blue roofs, situated on his western coast where he could watch the sun set upon the Asgard Mountains.

You’ve got a nice central location, Governor, Sifna informed him. Would you mind if I put in another Sampo there? It would make it easier to deliver buildings to other parts of Moiraland, and I’d give you a free building each month that I work from there in payment.

Toby smiled and tried to make sense of that for a moment. The Queen owns every bit of land around me, but if that was what Sifna wanted... I’d be pleased to help you, Princess. A free building? Treehouses?

If that’s what you want.

Sure, line them up on my eastern shore about a mile apart, if you don’t mind.

I’ll get started here, then in a few days I’ll go back to Ireland and see what Mother has done to the place.

You and your mother are a great blessing, Princess.

We’ve put you to work, haven’t we?

You know you’re doing a hundred times as much work as any of us, Princess.

I am, aren’t I? Gotta fly!

2

Toby arranged for his other officers to get wasps of their own. Dorothy showed him how to key the wasp to his own hand on a barely noticeable palm pattern below the creature's left eye. He began touring the bay and sound each morning after sparring practice, varying his route each time and looking for anything within 50 miles of the station that might need governing. Moira City on the southern tip of the island had apparently become a discarded plan, or maybe it was just put off by the Princess while she worked on Dorothy’s Seattle. She proceeded to plant her new Sampo in the center of Toby’s barony and the next day began growing towers and treehouses.

That morning he came upon Zefira O’Reilly, out for a stroll on the deck with her maid, apparently stopped by chance near his wasp.

Good morning, my lady, he said, politely but wary.

Good morning Governor. Are you out to sort out the whales again?

Toby looked into her face but saw no sign she was joking. The whales trust me, my lady, because I keep their secrets.

An interesting reply, Governor. I will spend the rest of the day wondering how that situation must have come about.

Please don’t worry about us, my lady, I’m sure you have cares enough already.

My cares seem smaller here, Governor.

It is a beautiful land, my lady. I hope you are enjoying your stay.

I am, very much so, except for one thing. I miss my horses. Is it similar, riding a monster wasp?

Not much, my lady. It is sometimes terrifying, but then when you are up in the clouds, you feel ... one of the blessed, and then you land, and are once again among the mundane.

I’m not asking you to take me for a ride, Governor. I’m sure I would feel far more terrified than blessed. I just wondered.

Toby smiled politely, it was clear she was coming out of her mourning and taking an interest in life again. Change the subject to a more businesslike topic, or leave? He found he didn’t mind talking to her and she was obviously intelligent, Have you made your choice among the measures, my lady?

Lady Dorothy told me we might get an appointment with you tomorrow to sign documents. I have all day to change my mind if I wish.

She usually lets me know things like that at breakfast.

Might I ask you a personal question, Baron Maguire?

I can’t promise to answer it.

Does it bother you to have a lady who is so busy?

I can’t say that it ever has bothered me, my lady. When she is here, she treats me so well, it is easy to remember her when she is not here.

She is certainly an unusual woman. Will you wed?

No, Dorothy cannot have children.

That might be a blessing, Governor. I had a daughter, she died of typhus last year.

My condolences, my lady. I shall pray that your time of woes is ended.

"Thank you, Governor, and I’ve taken up too much of your time. Please forgive me."

You will be a citizen of Moiraland, my lady. Your concerns are my concerns. If you’ll excuse me?

Of course, sir.

The wasp raises a wind when it takes off. I would not want it to lessen your dignity.

She almost smiled a bit at that, a half smile, he decided as he mounted the wasp. He watched her step back several paces, then checked himself over before raising the altitude control, any hooks in me? but thought he was so far free.

3

At breakfast the next morning as usual they discussed their plans for the day. Dorothy asked him to attend a meeting with Madame O’Reilly after lunch to sign documents.

Alright.

What do you think of her, Toby?

What? What makes you think I think of her?

A defensive answer, my lad. You should have had something ready; ‘A sad lady’, or ‘I like blonds’.

My education continues, my lady.

Back to my question. The Queen thinks a lot of her. She’d like to get a dozen beautiful daughters from her for the next generation of Irish boys.

The Queen does have some interesting plans, my lady.

True. Would it be a good time for me to mention, the Queen likes big strong handsome men, but she doesn’t sleep with them?

What? I don’t understand.

Sifna’s father was a Finnish god, Ilmarinen. The Queen is half divine, I doubt if a mortal man could quicken her womb. Sifna is one quarter divine from her mother, and half from her father, so she’s more divine than her mother. Odd, isn’t it?

I believe, my lady, we need a new definition for that word, odd.

Perhaps. So, to get back to you, and a dozen daughters, with maybe a few boys mixed in to cause trouble, I’m not putting any pressure on you, my lad.

It doesn’t seem that way from this side of our conversation, my lady.

If you’re happy the way things are, fine. You can stay Governor and Baron, no question, and you may even keep me, since I like our arrangement. But if you’d like to become Earl of the whole Kitsap Peninsula, minus the little speck of it you gave to Sir Patrick...

You would put the weight of a whole peninsula on me, my lady? If I might ask, this applies to Madame O’Reilly? Or may I pick some other bride?

Feel free to look for another beautiful widow who stands high in the Queen’s favor.

And if I like blonds?

You’re so sweet, of course you can keep me, no matter if you’re wed or not, I don’t mind things like that.

You gave her time to make up her mind.

Of course, and as I said, if you don’t think it’s a good idea, I’m fine with the way things are.

Then this offer... comes from the Queen?

That it does.

I feel the need for some air.

Fly, my lad.

4

Toby made a couple of 20 mile circles around the station before he felt like talking to anyone, then visited with a small Danish ship making its way down the coast from Alaska. He and its captain both had some French, the Dane also had a dark sense of humor that suited Toby’s mood.

He was feeling better when he arrived back at the station for lunch. Donall told him that several cargo balloons had been sighted on the Display over the Pacific approaching from the west; they'd probably arrive in a couple hours.

Fine, Pat and I can raise a glass to our doom. He smiled at himself for that and determined to be polite and cheerful to everyone. Despite Dorothy’s assurances, he felt it could all come crashing down upon him far too easily. No time to be making mistakes, and if a wife is the price, well, my father paid it and that turned out well for me. My turn, but I won’t be praying for a dozen daughters!

Zefira arrived promptly at One, accompanied by her maid Abigail and guard. Good day, Governor, my lady Dorothy, her reserve was back, though she gave them a tight smile before taking her seat across the desk.

Good morning Madame O’Reilly, said Dorothy while Toby sat back. As we agreed, you’re settling your Irish claims for six Measures in Moiraland down in the southern agricultural area. Still in favor of it?

"Aye, my lady. It is generous of the Queen to help me