“Hello, boys.” The woman leaned against the door in a provocative way. “I see you’ve brought me a new friend. We have plenty of our own chains. She won’t be needing those.” One of the guards scrambled to undo Cierra’s cuffs. The woman flashed him a smile, and held the door open for Cierra. The guards tried to step inside after her, but the woman held up her hand to stop them. “Uh, uh, uh. You know the rules.” Closing the door behind her, the woman faced Cierra. “Welcome to the harem. I’m Esme.”
Cierra looked around the room. Sheer silks were draped from the ceiling. Women frolicked in various stages of undress. She was surprised to see so many different human subspecies, and even nonhuman species. A few women were playing harps and other delicate instruments. The whole scene made her sick to her stomach.
She realized that Esme was still waiting for her to introduce herself. “I’m Cierra.”
“That’s a lovely name. Just between us, sometimes I have to pick new names for the girls when they come in here. There is just something utterly mood killing about a girl named ‘Sludge.’” Esme shivered as if the name haunted her. “I’m the head concubine. Everything you see here is managed personally by me. Come on, I’ll give you the grand tour!” Her delicate fingers plucked a piece of fruit from a passing tray, and handed it to Cierra.
Hungrily, Cierra bit into the fruit. The sweet, sticky juice dripped down her chin. The food helped her gain a little more strength, but it did nothing to change her impression of the place. Cierra felt repulsed by Esme’s bubbly attitude towards the whole arrangement. “How can you act like this is some sort of blessing? Everyone is trapped here.”
“Trapped?” Esme giggled lightheartedly. “It’s good to have a new girl with a sense of humor. No one is trapped here. The emperor protects us, and gives us every luxury you could ever ask for. The icing on the cake is that once you bear him a son, you’ll be allowed to go to the market once a month. The capitol of Castor is named after him, you know. The Pollux marketplace has the best selection of goods on the entire planet. It’s a special treat provided to the mothers of princes. You’ll also get to choose your color.”
Cierra looked at her in confusion. “My color?”
Esme pinched Cierra’s cheek. “You are adorable! You really don’t know? That’s how the princes are marked. Each mother has her own color. The sons that she bears wear her color on their sashes to honor the woman that gave birth to them. The better your son does in combat training, piloting, debating, stuff like that, the more honor he brings you, and the more perks you receive. The higher the quality of son you give to the emperor, the better the emperor takes care of you. He really is a fair and just ruler.”
Cierra swallowed the bile that rose in her throat listening to Esme. “What happens to the girls that don’t bear him sons?”
Esme lowered her eyes. “I don’t like to talk about that.” She immediately put her smile back on. “Still, you shouldn’t have to worry about that. You’re young! You still have plenty of time. This is a happy day! Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be staying.” Esme took Cierra’s hand, and led her down a hall to a beaded curtain draped over a doorway. “This is where you’ll be staying your first few days. You’re pretty, but you’re a little rough around the edges. Not to worry. We have a very skilled team that helps get the new girls prepared for their life here.”
Cierra dodged a pair of girls who were chasing one another with feathers. “What exactly am I expected to do?”
“That’s easy! You are expected to take care of yourself. Your skin should be soft, your hair tangle free, and your body always willing to serve the emperor. I do suggest that you go soak for a bit though. It’ll make it easier for your prep team to scrub off all the dirt and dead skin you have. The pools are over there.” Esme pointed to the far side of the building, before frolicking off to take care of something that had caught her eye. “I’ll be around if you need anything.”
Disgusted, Cierra wandered over to where Esme had said the pools were. She needed a plan. At the moment, the only thing that popped in her mind was getting close enough to the emperor to gut him. The only way she would be allowed to get that close was if she played along with the twisted system the other women had apparently already accepted.
Cierra stood at the edge of the water. An abundance of flower petals were scattered on the undulating surface of the pool. Rolling her eyes, she stripped off her dirty clothes until only her undergarments remained. That was as far as she was willing to go. Cierra pursed her lips, and slipped into the warm water. A woman at the far end of the pool turned to see who had joined her.
All of the color drained from Cierra’s face. “Mari?”
Mari’s eyes narrowed at her sister-in-law. “What are you doing here? Does Remi know you’re here?”
“Remi?” Cierra looked at her in confusion. The mention of her dead husband brought back the sadness that she had almost buried inside of her. “Wait, don’t you know what happened?”
“What do you mean? Do you know if Theo and the boys are doing okay? I left them a note, but obviously all contact with my old life was stopped when I was chosen to join the emperor’s harem. I thought it was an honor to be here, but seeing you here now, makes me doubt how selective the emperor really is.”
Cierra clenched her teeth. She had forgotten just how much Remi’s family had hated her. Theo’s face surfaced in her mind, and she swallowed the venomous reply that was resting on her tongue. “Mari, Relisse was destroyed.”
“What?” Her eyes widened, and then narrowed again. “You’re lying.”
Cierra smacked her palm on top of the water in frustration. “Why would I lie about that? What would that accomplish?”
Mari pursed her lips. “How am I supposed to know how you off worlders think?”
“I hate to break it to you, but here, pretty much everyone is an off worlder. That includes you!”
Mari’s face started to cycle from denial to second guessing herself. “If Relisse was destroyed, I think I would know it. I would have heard something. Wouldn’t I?”
Cierra let out a tedious sigh. “Think about it. Who controls the news here? The emperor puts his spin on everything to make the citizens think he’s this benevolent ruler, but it’s not true!”
“It doesn’t make any sense! Relisse is part of his empire. Pollus would never destroy a planet under his protection.”
“Pollus?” The name made Cierra recoil. “You’re on a first name basis with him?” Mari avoided her eyes. Cierra felt an ember of rage grow into a roaring flame inside of her. “Do you even care if your kids or husband are still alive? Relisse burned before Theo could make it back home. Your children were alone when the planet was engulfed in fire.”
Mari’s face turned ashen, but she refused to cave into Cierra’s words. “Whose fault is it that he was on Carristoux longer than he needed to be? He was running an errand for you. If it wasn’t for you, he would have been home long before the soldiers came by.”
Cierra scoffed. “A lot of good that would have done. Then he would have been just as dead as the rest of the planet. Maybe the question you should really be asking is what kind of a mother leaves behind her two young sons with no one else there to watch over them?”
Mari’s bottom lip quivered. “You’re lying. You have to be lying. They’re not dead. They can’t be. I would know. A mother knows those things.” The panic that filled her eyes was one that Cierra knew well. She had seen the same look on her own face when she had looked in the mirror the first few weeks after Relisse was destroyed.
Cierra immediately felt terrible. “Mari, there were a lot of better ways for me to have told you all of that. As one mother to another, I shouldn’t have been that heartless. What happened wasn’t your fault. You had no way of knowing what was going to happen.”
“I left them there. I left my babies there.” Her eyes were widening with guilt and horror.
Cierra saw that Mari was on the brink of a nervous breakdown. Despite the bad blood betwe
en them, Cierra waded forward, and pulled Mari into a hug. “Shh, you’re going to be okay. I know, okay? I know.”
Mari tried to push her away, but then succumbed to her sister-in-law’s embrace. “Does Theo know about the children?”
“Yes.” Cierra stroked her hair. She could hate Mari again tomorrow. Closing her eyes, Cierra tried to be the person for Mari that she had wished she had had when she had seen Relisse burning.
Mari’s voice was muffled by Cierra’s shoulder. “Does he hate me?”
“No. Of course he doesn’t hate you.” The fact that she was consoling Theo’s wife tore at her. Cierra tried to push down her personal feelings. It didn’t matter how she felt about Theo. Mari was still alive. There was no reason to dwell on something that could never be. Cierra squeezed Mari tighter. “We’re going to rescue you, okay?”
Mari sniffed a little. “We? Is he here? Is Theo here?” A different kind of painful fear filled her eyes behind the tears.
Cierra nodded, and tried to offer a reassuring smile. “Yes. He’s here somewhere. I just don’t know where yet. We were separated when we got here.”
From the corner of her eye, Cierra saw Esme whispering with a servant girl who seemed out of place. Esme nodded, and then walked briskly over to the pool where Cierra and Mari were. Esme cleared her throat. “Mari, you’re being summoned to the preparation room.”
Cierra turned her frustration on the head of the harem. “Can’t you see she’s—”
Mari pulled away before Cierra could finish her sentence. “I’ll be right there.” She waited until Esme went back to her own business before leaning in, and whispering to Cierra. “The guards on level seven are the most susceptible to flirting. Find Theo, and get him out of here, okay?”
Cierra shook her head. “I’m not leaving you here. You’re coming with us.”
Lowering her eyes, Mari’s face was filled with guilt. “It would be better if he never saw me. Just…Just tell him you couldn’t find me. Tell him I was dead. I don’t care what you have to tell him. Just promise me you’ll get him out.”
Cierra managed a silent, confused nod. Even if Mari blamed herself for her the children’s deaths, that was no reason for her to have to endure a lifetime of servitude to the man partially responsible for destroying Relisse and her sons. That was something Cierra wouldn’t even wish on her worst enemy.
Taking a deep breath, Mari slowly walked to the edge of the pool, and climbed out. Cierra couldn’t suppress a gasp. Suddenly, she knew why Mari didn’t want Theo to see her. Mari’s belly was swollen. She was pregnant. By the looks of it, her due date couldn’t be far off. Cierra watched her waddle off to the room Esme had mentioned. Not only was Mari a concubine in the emperor’s harem, she was also carrying his child.
Five
Standing in front of the scientists, Cherish crossed her arms over her chest. “The way I see it, you have two options. You can either choose to stay here with the imperials, or you can join the rebellion against the emperor. It’s up to you. If you want to stay with the imperials, we’re going to knock you out and leave you tied up in the mine. We won’t kill you, but I can’t promise the emperor’s men will show you the same courtesy. They tend to frown upon three stolen Relissarium coated fighter ships. If you join the rebellion, you can put your talents to use for the good of the people. We’re a bit short on time, so choose quickly.”
The two men looked at one another for a second, and then replied in unison. “Rebellion.”
Cherish smiled. “Good choice. Nial, take Pence, and his friend Ferro here, back out the way we came in. Make sure they get on the ship we came in on.”
Nial bowed slightly, and unsealed the door closest to him. He led the two scientists back towards the ship. Jiyeon moved quickly to reseal the door they left through. “I don’t know if that was a smart plan, letting them join us.”
Cherish hauled herself up into the cockpit of the Relissarium painted ship. “Sometimes, you just have to take a chance, and have faith in people. That’s what sets us apart from the emperor and his regime.” Cherish slipped into the pilot’s seat, and secured her harness. “Jiyeon, you’re with me. Arden, your gift is invisibility as well, right?”
Arden looked down his sharp beak at her. “Yes.”
“Good.” Cherish looked around to get familiar with the controls. “You’re coming with us. Makka, and Axim, you two take one of the other ships. Fabois, and Gird, you two take whichever ship is left. Each team has a member with an invisibility gift, make sure you use it. Hubard, can you let Agora and the pilot know that we have alternative transport? There’s no reason for them to wait around after Nial and the scientists are on board. Agora has been keeping up her invisibility for quite some time by now. She has to be getting tired. I would rather them leave now before she taxes herself beyond her abilities. The last thing we need is for one of our ships to appear out of thin air and draw the fleet’s attention before we can even put a dent in their forces.”
Hubard’s voice crackled in her ear. “I’ll give them the all clear. How do you plan on getting out of the dome?”
Cherish accessed the base’s computer system, and triggered the line of code that authorized the dome to open overhead. A countdown chimed over the intercom system. It was counting the seconds until the atmosphere in the dome was compromised. “Oh, you know me. I’m resourceful.” She only had a few seconds to call out one last order before they prepared to take off. Before sealing herself and her small squad into their hijacked warship, Cherish called out to the others. “If you need to talk, use your earpieces. No one is to touch the communication systems inside the fighters. We have no way of knowing if anyone else is on the same frequency these ships are tuned to. Everybody got it?”
A nod from Makka and Fabois showed her that at least one person in each ship had heard her. That was good enough for her. Cherish sealed in the cockpit of the warship, and fired up the engines. The three ships went invisible, thanks to the Yasta gifts of the crew. The air vibrated, as one by one, the fighters lifted up into the air.
Cherish scanned the sky to check for an opening in the imperial fleet that was still drifting over Relisse. From the corner of her eye, she saw the ship they had painted to look like a galactic guard ship appear out of thin air near the edge of the planet’s atmosphere. “Nial, what’s going on up there? What happened to Agora? You guys need to get your cloaking back up.”
Nial’s voice was broken up by bursts of static. “Sh…fainted. We…carrier…Relissar…”
“What?” Cherish held her earpiece firmly in place, trying to make out what he was saying. A sweeping movement caught her attention. “Nial, you guys have company. One of the patrol ships are headed for you. Get Agora to cloak the ship, or you need to get out of there. Now!”
Nial’s words crackled over her earpiece again. “She’s fainted! Agora, wake up. Wake up!” The ship blinked in and out of visibility a few times before it was cloaked again. “She’s back. We’ve got it.”
Cherish’s heart was racing in her chest. “I don’t think you do. They’re still locked on you.” She turned to look at Jiyeon and Arden. “Better hold on.” Cherish sped off into the sky trying to catch up with the patrol ship that was somehow still following their other craft. “Makka, Fabois, you two keep your ships further back. I don’t want anyone getting caught up in the crossfire.”
She watched as the patrol ship let loose a plasma blast aimed at empty space. The shot skimmed the belly of their guard ship. The impact was enough to make them visible for just a split second. Nial yelled over the earpieces. “We’ve been hit! I don’t know how they’re tracking us!”
Cherish heard one of the scientists say something, but she couldn’t make it out. “I’m coming, Nial! What’s he saying?”
Panic and frustration filled Nial’s voice. “Are you kidding me? Well, get it out of there then! If you don’t get that tracker turned off, they’re going to fry us, invisible or not!”
“Tracker?” Cherish p
ushed the engine as fast as it would go. She charged her ship’s blasters, preparing to lock on the patrol ship.
The imperial ship fired once more at what appeared to be thin air. She watched as the guard ship blipped into sight for a nanosecond. They couldn’t take many more hits like that. The ship was flying slower than it should have been. They should have broken free from the atmosphere already. Something was holding them back. Cherish lined up her shot, and took it. Her blast dinged the patrol ship, but didn’t knock it out of commission. Another imperial ship seemed to be coming to the first ship’s aid. Even though she was invisible, using the blaster had blown her cover. The second ship peppered the air directly behind Cherish’s ship. She quickly rolled out of the way, evading the enemy fire.
Nial screamed again. “Just smash it!” The sound of something being destroyed in the background came over the speaker. The patrol ship seemed to falter on its path. Cherish heard Nial let out a shuddering breath of relief. “I think that did it. We should be fine now. We managed to load up a shipping container full of Relissarium. The extra mass was more taxing on Agora, but I think she’s okay now. The imperials put a tracking device in the cargo container. They locked in on the signal. That’s how they found us.”
The first patrol ship had joined the second one, spattering plasma haphazardly across the sky, hoping to hit something. One lucky shot clipped Cherish’s ship before she could roll out of the way. The impact made their invisibility falter for a second. “As glad as I am that you got your situation handled, I have my own to worry about now. Get back to base. Make sure you aren’t followed!” She gritted her teeth, and lined up one of the imperial ships in her sights. “Alright, you. I’m sick of dealing with your attitude!”
Pulling the trigger, Cherish shot down the patrol ship. It sputtered, trying to reignite its engines, but it was no use. The ship plummeted down to the surface of Relisse. There was just enough oxygen left in the air to allow the ship to burst into flame on impact. The second ship turned towards her, aiming to avenge its brother. Cherish aimed again, and let loose another barrage of blasts that tore through the patrol ship’s hull. It spiraled down to the planet below, spilling its passengers on the way. Cherish blinked as she watched them, entranced. The bodies hardly seemed to move against the backdrop of Relisse, even as they accelerated downward. Then, they began to leave trails of plasma as they entered the atmosphere.
The Relissarium Wars Omnibus Page 55
