Chapter 18; Arin in Dagaz Prison
The hospital ship, in order to save its patient’s lives had surrendered. A quick thinking Med-Tech had seen the last person tubed in before the yacht had exploded. She cut away and destroyed Arin’s uniform and dressed him in the uniform of a dead yeoman. She then dressed his burned face and head, wrapping him completely in bandages.
She knew that a full beard would be grown by the time he was out of them. And, as a Taurian, he would be expected to want long hair and a full, uncut beard even in prison.
They were lucky. The slaughter order had been rescinded only recently in order to minimize the backlash from conquered territories. They were sent to Dagaz Prison. As patients, they didn’t meet the commander for two months.
Siri stayed with her Emperor, teaching him to act like a Taurian, to walk stooped the way they did. Since Taurians rarely spoke to non-believers, it was easy to pass him off that way. In that special time, in that awful place, they found a love that none could ask more of. They were always together and later, when a doctor was captured and she was no longer needed in the sick bay, she stayed with her man day and night. Somehow, she found extra food and water, got them a blanket and just took the best care she could.
At nights, Siri would lie close holding her man. She was not concerned that he had been and might again be the Emperor. She thought back to her girl hood days on Taurus. Her mother had told her stories of Taurian Pride. These stories she now told to Arin so that he could become a Taurian for the guards. The stories fascinated Arin. Here was a major religious sect within his Empire he knew nothing about!
She encouraged him to begin to act like a Taurian Priest, moving among his “Flock” as he called them. Using this ruse, he was able to talk to the other prisoners, getting to know many of them, learning about their cultures and especially hearing their complaints against the old Empire. Still, he was surprised and humbled to find that these people were still totally for the Crown and against the Admiralty. Such loyalty deserved a reward. Arin vowed that, if he lived to rule again, he would show the people that the new Empire would be worthy of their loyalty.
As the years went on, these people came to look upon this “priest” as a leader for many things. Arin learned more about real leadership under these conditions than he had ever learned in all the years of being the royal heir or sitting on the Jeweled Throne. He gained their respect as they gained his, and his whole view of life was enriched through this experience.
Siri watched this transformation. She thought back on the day they had first met. She had been a new Med-Tech, assigned to the Palace Infirmary. Arin had been brought in to the clinic, having been injured from a sporting event. He had continued to play and had led his side to victory. She saw how much pain he was in now and thought how brave he must be.
She had fallen deeply in love with Arin at that time even though she knew that he would never even know she was alive. Her father had taught her to be brave and honorable. Her father’s Taurian beliefs had created a certain core belief in her. Arin showed her more each day that he also knew what living well was about. It comforted her just to be near him.
She had pulled so many of her father’s strings to get assigned to the Royal Hospital Ship in hopes that she would occasionally get to see her beloved. It was this act of faith that had put her into position to save her Emperor. She had been standing by the jump tube when Arin’s burned body had materialized. Arin’s burned hands had no fingerprints. She had altered comp documents to assign his vitals to a Taurian holy man that she had known to be destroyed on the Yacht.
She had never seen herself as a hero. She could not ever see herself as his wife. Two years later, they were wed in a quiet Taurian way by permission of the Prison Warden. All those years of dreaming had finally paid off, and she was the happiest woman in the galaxy.
From their first meeting, Siri had believed that he would grow to be the leader he had become. Now, her happiness was all the greater that other people had come to know it too. He had always had the capacity to be strong, but with this new knowledge and confidence in his people, he was becoming the strongest of all leaders. These hardships shared had forged him into becoming a man like his grandfather. It was said that Zintar’s men would follow him through the gates of old Hades.
Nothing matched the memory of the look on his face when she told him what the witch dancer had told her in the chow line the morning before.
“You are Siri, the Taurian?”
“Yes Mother.” Like most people, Siri was always differential to the Witch Dancers.
“Does your pregnancy make you ill?”
“My what..”
“My dear, you carry the Prince within you.”
“Ohhh…!” Siri fainted. The Witch Dancer covered her head and shuffled off into the crown as Arin rushed to see what was wrong with Siri. He picked her up and carried her to their tent in the corner of the yard.
Siri came to with Arin’s face in hers.
“What is the matter, dear?”
All Siri could do was grab his neck and cry. She was afraid to tell him what the old woman had said. After all, she thought, What did she mean to him? He was the Emperor, and she was a peasant. She just made him hold her as she cried.
“Calm down, my darling. What has upset you so?”
“It…it is nothing.”
“Oh…? You talk to some old woman, pass out in the chow line, and you expect me to believe that it is nothing?”
“Well, maybe there is something. I am afraid to tell you. You have so many problems already.”
“I have no problems where you are concerned, my dearest. You have saved my life. You are my life. Whatever it is, we will handle it together.”
“She told me that I carry your prince.”
He grabbed her and spun her around with a whoop. Then, thinking about her condition, he set her down on the blankets gently. “I, Arin, do here by vow to get us out of this place so that we can care for our family together.”
Siri nestled there in his arms. Family, she thought, that was the best thing he could ever have said. What a silly girl I have been.
“You love me then?” Arin said quietly.
“Since the first time I saw you at the Palace as a boy.”
Arin smiled grimly, “I remember…My father disapproved and had you reassigned. Then you found me in the Hospital Barge. You nursed me, protected me, and taught me to be a man.”
“No, Sire. You were already a man. You just weren’t a very good Emperor. Even that you have learned on your own. I have marveled at your skills as I have watched them grow here in this awful place.”
“This awful place is where I found my true love.”
“You romantic devil, kiss me.”
“I promise that we will get out of this place. I never want to be any where that does not include you and our precious babe. Sleep now, my heart. I will get our rations.”
Chasing the Jewelled Throne Page 18
