Chapter
1
"Put
that down!"
I
froze at those words. My fingers were stained red, and so, I
imagined, were my lips and teeth. Our eyes locked, her hazel ones
glinting under her furrowed brow. I raised the succulent, red orb.
"This
little thing?" I asked. "Why should I?"
"Because
we've been out here for an hour, and you've eaten more than we've
gathered." She put her hands on her hips, managing to look imposing
despite my ten inch height advantage. Her khaki pants were tucked
into her high boots, and her linen shirt was already soaked with her
sweat. "Being the birthday girl won't protect you from mom's
wrath if we don't bring home enough hariti berries."
"Fine."
I rolled my eyes, and picked a few from the bush I had been working
on before my last snack break. I'd put on my favorite outfit; slick
black pants, a white long sleeved shirt, complete with the most
perfect ribbons on the sleeves and chest, and a white, ruffled waist
skirt. "Remind me why I'm picking berries on my birthday?" I
asked.
"So
mom and dad have enough time to set up your surprise, I'd assume,"
she said with a shrug. "I was just told to keep you out of the
house." She tossed her short, black hair out of her eyes. She'd
cut it recently, shaving one side, and leaving the other side to her
shoulder. Mom was furious, but I loved it. Not that I would ever
admit it to her. Couldn't have her thinking she was cuter than me.
"Well,
I certainly hope it's worth spending the day working instead of
lounging around the house being sung to," I said, picking a prickle
seed from my shirt. I turned back toward the bush, but I could feel
her staring. We seemed to have the same conversation every year
around this time.
"Why
are you being so difficult?" she asked.
"I'm
not."
"Urzsiah,
please," she said. "We've lived together long enough for me to
know when you're in one of your moods." She walked over to me and
put her hand on my shoulder. "This is supposed to be a happy time.
Why does it always put you in such a bad place?"
I
didn't want to answer her. The human fixation with the anniversary
of a person's birth was one of those things that would never make
sense to me, and another reminder that I would never really be a part
of the family.
"I'm
sorry, Noor," I said after a few minutes. "I'll be better."
"I
love you," she said, wrapping her arms around me. "And, you're
my sister, regardless of what color your skin is."
"Please
don't make me cry," I said with a laugh. "I love you, too. More
than you know."
She
touched the area around my eyes, the area where my markings were, and
I flinched. The physical pain had long since faded, but the memory
was every bit as sharp.
"I
wish you could see how beautiful those are," she said with a shake
of her head.
I
wished she could understand how much pain they represented, but that
was a conversation I never intended to have.
We
went back to picking, in silence, thankfully. My unruly purple locks
hung in a damp curtain in front of my face. The blazing sun was a
weight across my shoulders as my arms worked without my input. My
mind wandered. Light years away. The room with the long table, and
the fancy black plates with the delicate, gold scrollwork, piled high
with dish after dish. The trays were so heavy, and I was always so
afraid of dropping them. But, fear gives you strength.
"Urz?"
Noor's voice brought me back to reality, and I sliced my finger
open of one the inch long brambles near the base of the bush.
"What?"
I asked, watching the bead of navy growing on the tip of my finger.
She
didn't answer. Her gaze was on the horizon, and I followed it to
see the end of the world, gliding silently across the cloudless sky.
Their sails caught the sun like insects wings, and the angular,
upright chevron shape of the ships seemed sharp enough to rend the
sky. We had to run.
I
grabbed both baskets in one hand and Noor's wrist in the other, and
took off for the woods on the outskirts of the settlement.
"What
are you doing?" she asked, trying to pull her arm from my hand. "We
have to get home and see what's going on."
"No,"
I said. She tried to dig her heels, but I was stronger than her.
"Urzsiah,
please. You're hurting me," she said. I could tell she was
crying. Scared, too.
I
stopped and turned to her. "I don't have time to explain, but you
have to trust me," I said. I couldn't tell her, or rather, didn't
know how to tell her. They had to be here for me. Why else? This
planet was nothing, had nothing, except me. I wouldn't go back, and
I would die before I let them take Noor.
She
wiped her face with her sleeve. "Okay, Urz," she said, her voice
hoarse. "I'll trust you." She grabbed one of the baskets from
me and started towards the woods.
My
stomach was doing somersaults, and I was fairly certain that my heart
was beating itself apart in my chest. Seeing those ships, and heading
into those woods again was my single greatest nightmare.
It
was much cooler in the woods. The wide leafed trees blocked most of
the sky, so it was easy to pretend, if only for a moment, that we
were just taking a stroll. Not that I would ever choose to wander
this close to the ruins. Noor was getting tired. She had to jog to
keep up with me, and I didn't know how much longer she would last.
We would have to stop.
The
trees began to thin, and the root chocked ground gave way to
rudimentary, weed covered paths. The foliage had overrun the
buildings that once stood, but if I closed my eyes I could tell what
each and every one was. Nujarra's house, where she made clothes for
the whole settlement. The toppled tower where Virozh and his
volunteer force watched for beasts and changing weather patterns. It
had been rough, adapting to living without technology, but it was a
sacrifice gladly made. Not that it mattered in the end.
I
stopped short in the remnants of the village square. "Let's rest
here for a moment," I said.
Noor
sat down heavily in the roots of the massive tree the marked the
center of town and tore into one of the baskets of berries. "I
shouldn't have skipped breakfast," she said between mouthfuls.
"Don't
I always tell you not to skip meals?" I asked. She glared, but
didn't stop eating. "I'm going to climb up and see if I can get
an idea of what they're doing."
There
were hand and foot holds carved into the bark, for all of the
children that once spent their days daring each other to climb high
into its thick branches.
"Urz?"
Noor asked. I was well into the lower branches, so I couldn't see
her anymore, but I imagined her staring up into the impenetrable
green. "Who are they? The people in those ships." I didn't
answer her. "Do they have something to do with what happened to you
family?"
"Yes,"
I said after a long minute. I resumed my climb, hoping to get out of
earshot before she asked anymore questions.
There
was something relaxing about being inside of the massive tree. I
could almost imagine that there would be smiling, gray faces waiting
for me at the bottom, but as I neared the top, and saw more ships
descending, the illusion faded. I doubled my pace.
There
was a platform of sorts at the top, not sturdy enough to hold my
weight, but enough to steady myself. I looked around. I could see the
entirety of the human settlement. Some of the ships were docked, and
the occupants were loading the settlers on at gunpoint.
No.
No!
Why
them? Why not just kill them and get it over with? My stomach lurched
as I noticed a group of settlers breaking free and running toward to
woods. A pair of guards leveled their weapons, sleek rifles designed
to hurt and stop, but not to kill, at the fleeing humans. Arcs of
lightning sped toward them, striking two. The other four made it into
the trees. I hoped Noor had gotten enough rest, because it was time
for us to move again. As I started to climb down, one of the invaders
caught my eye. A chill spread through my limbs. It was him. I never
thought I would see him again, but there he was, taking everything
from me. Again. I didn't know if I wanted to kiss him, or punch
him. Fuck him, or kill him.
I
took a breath and resumed my descent, though my mind wasn't on it.
I fell the last few feet to the ground. Noor jumped with a yelp. A
belly full of hariti berries was apparently enough to send her to
sleep like an overfull toddler.
"Have
a good nap?" I asked, brushing leaves and bark from my clothes and
hair.
She
nodded, then yawned and stretched as she stood. "What did you see?"
she asked, patting down her sleep mussed hair.
"That
we're out of time, and it's worse than I thought," I said. I
grabbed the baskets and started out of the settlement. All vestiges
of drowsiness had left her as she ran to catch up to me.
"Could
you see the farm? Are mom and dad okay?" she asked, notes of panic
creeping into her voice.
"No,
and I don't know," I said without looking back. I hadn't wanted
to go that way through the ruins, but we didn't have the luxury of
taking the long way.
On
the outer edge of the settlement was a house that still stood.
Rudimentary repairs had kept the forest form reclaiming it, but it
had seen better days. Happier days. I sped up as we passed, not
wanting to catch a glimpse of the faded curtains made from an old
wedding dress, or the half-finished carvings in the yard. I kept my
eyes straight, and soon we were clear. Noor was so quiet I had to
keep turning back to make sure she was still there. She looked
exhausted, drained, and her eyes were swollen and red. I felt a stab
of guilt, not that any of this was my fault. I hadn't asked to lose
every home I'd ever known. No, I was the victim. Same as Noor, same
as the others.
There
was a network of caves, on the far side of the forest, which
stretched for miles beneath the mountains. There were enough winding
passages and hidden chambers to shelter us until they left. I hoped
the other settlers were caught before they made it out of the forest.
Better them than us.
The
ground was uneven and rough as we approached the caves. I turned back
to check on Noor just in time to catch her as she slipped on a patch
of scree. She sagged in my arms. So light. I scooped her up and slung
her over my shoulder. Humans were so light I used to wonder how they
stopped themselves from floating away. I remembered, when Noor and
her family had first taken me in, hiding rocks in their clothes and
shoes so they couldn't leave me. I wished I could have done that
then, could have stopped them from being taken.
"Can
you walk?" I asked as we entered the cave.
"Yeah,
I think so," she said. I set her down.
"There's
a sheer rock wall that we have to climb down, and I don't think I
can safely carry you," I said as I tied the remaining basket of
berries to my belt. "I'll go first to light your way, and so I
can catch you. Just in case." She nodded, her eyes on the ground. I
needed to say something to make her feel better, but what words were
adequate? 'Sorry your family and friends are being abducted by
brutal alien slavers,' didn't seem like the best choice. "Noor,"
I said, tilting her chin up. "We're going to be okay." I kissed
the top of her head. A comforting lie was always superior to a
painful truth.
She
smiled. "Yeah," she said. "We will. As long as we're
together, right Urz?"
"Yeah,
of course," I said, pulling her into my arms.
It
was amazing how much affection someone could develop in such a short
amount of time. Ten years. Ten years since she'd found me in that
house in the ruins of what used to be a thriving community. I'm not
sure which of us was more terrified. Neither of us had ever seen a
member of the other species, didn't even know the other existed.
But, she kept coming back, day after day, until I understood enough
of her primitive language to communicate with her. She saved my life.
I don't think I'd ever thanked her for that.
"As
much as I'm enjoying this hug, shouldn't we keep moving?" she
asked, her face buried in my chest.
"Right,"
I pulled away. It was hard not to think of her as a child. She was
only nineteen, after all. I could scarcely remember what I was doing
at that age.
The
back of the caves first chamber looked like a dead end, but there was
a small opening, carved by centuries of dripping water, that I could
just squeeze through.
"It's
really dark," Noor said. "How are we going to find our way down?"
I
dragged a hand across the slick, spongey moss that coated the walls
of the cave. It lit up in a streak of green and blue bioluminescence
that sent bizarre shadows across the cave.
"The
whole way down is covered with this stuff," I said to Noor, who was
staring wide-eyed at the fading glow. "So, if you're quick, it
should be easy for you to follow."
I
cleared the long rotten brush that had placed years ago to hide the
entrance to my secret place, and turned to Noor. She gave me a nod,
and I dropped down into the hole. The darkness of the narrow passage
did a lot to calm my nerves. Humans seemed to fear the dark,
surrounded themselves with light to stave it off, but I loved it. The
flashes of light from the moss were like stars in the void, and part
of me wished I could stay in that cave, making stars on the walls,
and imagining what my life could have been if my family had never
settled on this world. If I'd stayed with him.
I
stumbled when my foot hit the ground. A tiny stream ran through the
center of the lower chamber, and the floor was coated in the glowing
moss. My footsteps were a galaxy behind me. Noor landed less than
gracefully behind me, slipping in the slowly flowing water.
"I'm
fine, by the way," she said. Her voice, harsh and discordant in the
womb of earth, bounced back a hundred times, and I regretted taking
her with me. Just for a moment. Her footsteps echoed as she walked
over to me. I knew what she wanted. "Are you ready to talk?"
"No,"
I said. "But, I don't suppose you'll let me off the hook this
time, huh?"
"Not
a chance," she said, plopping down on the ground near where I was
standing. The moss created a halo of light around her like a piece of
art on display. "Who are they, Urzsiah?"
I
sighed, and the cave sent a litany of sighs back. "I guess I should
start with who I am. Or was. Or may very well be again soon." I sat
down beside the little stream splashed some of the crisp, cool water
on my face. If Noor could have stared any harder, she might have
burned a hole straight through me. "My name is Urzsiah Benaris
Vell, and I was born a slave." I waited for a reaction, some sharp
intake of air, a flood of questions. She just nodded. I could see her
silhouette in the fading glow, her knees hugged to her chest and her
head down. I continued. "My people are called Ezyze, and we come
from millions of light years away. There are two of us: The Voim who
rule, and the Naim who serve. It's been that way since we first
walked upright. They're taller, faster, stronger. My people feel
more. We create. We think." I shifted, and the moss flared to life.
My stomach ached talking about my people. I missed them. Our
language, our food. The songs of our lives. "My parents belonged to
the Vell's, the most influential family in Ezyze space. Maneron
Vell was head while we were there. I can't say that he was a good
man, but there were definitely worse." I paused, and Noor walked
over to me.
"This
must be hard for you to talk about," she said, placing a hand on my
shoulder. "Thank you for sharing all of this with me."
"You
didn't really give me a choice," I said, shifting out of her
reach. My tattoos ached, and I could feel the tears behind my eyes.
They fell, hot and bitter, as the pain rolled through my head.
"Urz,"
Noor said, reaching out to me again.
"Please,
just let me finish," I said, not letting her touch me. I took a
deep breath, trying hard not to let her hear me crying. "Those of
us who served in and around the main house, just over fifty of us,
decided that we'd had enough. It took nearly a full year of
planning, but one night, in the middle of a raging snowstorm, we
fled. We took a ship like the ones you saw today, and we flew as far
and as fast as we could. Someone had a very old star chart that
mentioned this planet, and here we settled." I stopped to catch my
breath and wet my lips. Noor touched my hand, and I wrapped my gray
one around her tiny tan one. Before I could continue, there was a
sound from the cave above. It sounded like the settlers had made it
through the forest. Disappointing. Noor looked at me quizzically, and
I gestured for her to stay put as I stood and made my way to the
bottom of the shaft leading up.
They,
three men and a woman, were whispering, and while I couldn't make
out what they were saying, it was clear they were terrified. A moment
later, a pair of laughs echoed through the cave.
"Master
Vell will have fun breaking these," said a deep voice, speaking the
Voim dialect.
"Indeed.
I hope I'll be able to purchase once," said another. "Though,
I imagine they won't come cheap."
"Until
we find where they come from," said the first. They laughed again.
I
wished they'd hurry up. Take the settlers and leave. The longer
they stayed, the more nervous I got. The hole wasn't easy to spot,
especially in the dark, but it wasn't impossible. I was relieved to
hear the shrill discharge of one of the rifles. The woman was crying.
She sounded like Miriam Elliot, the teacher who instructed the
younger children.
"Leave
us alone," said one of the men. It was John Silas. I knew his voice
well, thanks to all of the nights I'd spent in his bed. I hoped he
didn't try to fight. A few dead was an acceptable loss on missions
like those. Another round of shots, and the sound of bodies hitting
the moist cave floor.
"You
take those two, and I've got these," said the deep voice.
"I
wonder what they're made of," said the other. "Maybe Master
Vell will award us both with one as a bonus for chasing these down."
They shared another laugh as they left the cave.
I
let out the breath I'd been holding and slumped against the wall.
The moss lit up and I noticed Noor standing a few feet away.
"What
were they saying? I could hardly hear," said Noor. She hadn't
heard the others talking, and I wasn't going to inform her. For
once, I was happy for the dullness of human hearing.
"They
were checking for valuables, and I think some of those weird cave
birds startled them."
"So,
they're gone?"
"They're
gone," I said, hoping I was right. "We should stay down here
until morning. They should be gone by then."
She
nodded and sat down by the stream again. "So, how did they find
this place?" Noor asked.
I
shrugged. "I don't know," I said. "They just showed up one
day and took everyone. Except me."
"How
did you avoid them?" she asked.
"I
don't know, Noor," I said, turning away from her.
"How
do you not know? Is that why they're here, to get you?" She was
really getting on my nerves.
"I
don't know, Noor, dammit," I said. My voice filled the air,
echoes being thrown back at me from every angle.
"Screw
you, Urzsiah," she said, getting up and walking to the other side
of the chamber.
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