Homestead: Chapter One

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.