by Emerson Fray
Chapter 6
The only time Ren had ever rebelled in her life was when she’d gone against her father’s wishes and enrolled in ParTech University. It didn’t take much; she’d filled out the application form, had an interview, and was accepted, all while Maks was away on duty. He didn’t find out she’d joined until she was already a semester into her program. That was a time when her anxiety was at it’s worst, and she hadn’t thought she would experience something like that again. How wrong she was.
Ever since she’d come to Novae her anxiety had flared constantly. Maybe that was why she was having such a hard time deciding if she really wanted to see the ruins. If Sheridan and Kian were with her, would it be so dangerous to trek through rebel territory? She clenched her hands into fists, peering into the forests around her. Garret had assured her that she would be fine taking a walk in the garden, but was she really? The tall pines could easily hide another attacker. With her heart beginning to beat too hard, she returned her eyes to the words in front of her.
“What is that book about?” Abetha asked, her voice distant. Ren looked back up, finding Abetha had finally sat down across from her. They had already been there twenty minutes at least. Sheridan had yet to sit, and remained on her feet beside a pillar. Every few minutes Ren would check on her, and catch her about to lean on it. But no matter how many times she asked, Sheridan refused to sit. It seemed to be more about showing weakness than staying on guard.
“It’s about the wars back on Earth,” answered Ren. She didn’t say that it was only the first volume in a series of over twenty, or mention just how many wars Earth had had. Why was she suddenly ashamed of her planet? She’d never been before. Maybe it was because Abetha and everyone on Novae seemed so innocent. There was so much they didn’t know and didn’t have in their past.
“That does not sound like an entertaining read,” Abetha said.
“It’s not so much for entertainment, but for learning,” Ren replied, snapping the book shut. “One of my professors always said that if we study the past we could make the future better. I wouldn’t mind a future without war.”
Abetha nodded. “War is when nations fight, correct?”
Ren paused. Did they not even know the word? “Has Novae never had a war? The villages never fought or anything?”
Abetha thought a moment. “Not that I can recall. There have been arguments—but they were easily settled.” She shrugged. “Is the King afraid of a war?”
Ren wasn’t sure “afraid” was a word she would ever use to describe Maks’s feelings, but maybe he was, in a way. He wanted to be prepared for the worst because he’d seen it before. “He wants to make sure everyone is safe.”
Before she could say anything, Abetha quickly stood and looked over Ren’s shoulder. Ren followed her gaze to find Kian making his way through the maze towards them. His cape flowed behind him in the wind, and she thought he looked more like royalty than she or Elian did.
“Good afternoon, Princess,” Kian said with a small smile.
“Hi,” Ren replied. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard about what happened in Mahendra,” he said. “I wanted to make sure you were doing all right.” His eyes drifted towards Sheridan but he didn’t say anything about her directly.
“I’m fine,” Ren answered, “thanks to Sheridan.” She gestured to her Sotarian, and as she did so Sheridan came around the pillar to show Kian her full size. She was still a bit shorter than Kian, but her glare at him showed just how threatening she could be.
“Sotarians are excellent at what they do,” Kian said. Ren liked how he never faltered around Sheridan as the others did, but it seemed more that he thought Sheridan was below him. It was hard for Ren to warm up to a person that so clearly thought himself above, well, everyone. If he thought she was kind for letting Abetha sit down, how did he treat his servants? “May I sit?”
“Oh, sure,” Ren said, setting her feet onto the ground. Kian gathered his cape to one side and sat beside her, taking a moment to admire the stained glass ceiling.
“It’s quite brilliantly crafted, isn’t it?” he asked.
Ren looked up. “I suppose so.”
“It was hand made years ago by a glass-smith in a neighbouring village,” Kian went on, “his son still makes things, I hear.”
“Back home everything is made out of the galaxy,” Ren told him, “I think by machines. It must be hard to make things by hand.” Ren could barely remember the last time she’d made herself a cup of coffee on Earth, let alone anything as intricate as the glass above them.
“That sort of ruins the ending, don’t you think?” Kian questioned, drawing her attention away from the glass. “Having to work makes things worth while.”
“Of course.” Ren paused. “No offence, but did you come here for a reason?” It didn’t feel like he was checking up on her as he claimed. She opened a book and kept her finger between the pages to ensure she didn’t lose her place, hoping Kian might take the hint that she was busy. Was this another one of Garret’s attempts? Or maybe Kai’s?
“I just wanted to come by and see how you were,” he said. “Rebels rarely come so close to the capitol—I imagine they were there for Maks, and tried to take you instead.”
Ren swallowed her fear. “Well, they didn’t do a very good job.”
“No, they didn’t,” agreed Kian. He cleared his throat and quickly moved on, “but now—”
“Abetha, there’s a lizard beside you,” Ren interrupted. She set her book down and stood, ready to inspect the creature. Its spiked head was like nothing Ren had seen on Earth—most of the reptiles were long gone, even in the sanctuary.
Abetha turned her head, eyes widening as she saw the small beast. It flicked its tongue at her, and she shrieked as it opened its jaws wide. Ren jumped forward from the bench, surprising both Kian and Sheridan, and stuck her hand between it and Abetha. It’s teeth sunk into her skin, drawing blood.
“Ow!” she shouted. As soon as it had bitten her the lizard dashed into the bushes, it’s one defence used. The roses rattled with its movement as it escaped into the forest. “I think I scared it.”
Ren stood, looking over her wound to find the bite wasn’t too deep. When she wiped at the blood Abetha shrieked again, making Ren jump. “Is it back?”
“You’ve been bitten!” Abetha cried, frantically waving her hands in the air. Ren thought Abetha looked like some sort of ridiculous character she would watch on the holograms, but Abetha’s panic was very real. She began trying to calm the girl down.
“I’m fine,” Ren said, “it’s nothing.”
“That is not nothing,” Kian said, standing. “That was,”—he turned to Sheridan—“why did you do nothing?”
“I didn’t expect her to jump in front,” Sheridan growled. She approached Ren, blocking Ren’s view of Kian as she took Ren’s hand. Her eyes searched the wound as if looking for a splinter to pull out. Ren stepped back.
“I said I was fine,” Ren repeated. “Why are you all acting like I just had my hand cut offle?” She blinked lazily. Offle? “Off,” she corrected.
Ren shook her head, beginning to feel dizzy. Her tongue felt heavy, and as she tried to walk away from everyone she found herself falling backwards, her legs giving out beneath her weight.
Sheridan came into view, upside down and brow furrowed. “I can’t feel anything,” Ren said, taking her time to find the right words. It was getting too hard to think.
“She’s been poisoned,” Kian declared, “it must have only been a baby. I’ll call for a medic from the capital.”
Lifting Ren into her arms, the last thing Ren remembered was seeing Sheridan take her away from the shining glass overhead and towards a darkening sky.
Ren awoke surrounded by bright colours and firelight. Her vision was blurred and the bright blobs were the only things she could focus on until a dark figure came into view. Sh
eridan leaned over her and pushed her hair back with a rough hand.
“How are you feeling?” Sheridan asked. Ren could feel her weight as she sat on the bed, the mattress dipping down far enough to make Ren slide a little. Her eyelids fluttered closed as she tried to remember what had happened.
All she could do was shake her head.
“The doctor said you’ll be fine,” Sheridan mentioned. “You should rest.”
There was a knock at the door, and Sheridan quickly stood. She remained beside Ren’s bed as two more figures came into the room. One voice she recognized as Elian’s. “Is she awake?”
“Yes,” Sheridan replied.
Soon Elian was blocking her view, a mixture of worry and anger in his eyes. “Aren’t you around to make sure she doesn’t get hurt?” he asked, never looking away from Ren. He sat beside her as Sheridan had, but didn’t move the bed nearly as much.
Sheridan never replied, maybe thinking the same thing. Ren’s chest began to hurt, and she could already feel the anxiety tightening around her throat. Were they really mad at Sheridan for a random reptile biting her?
“Maybe we need a different Sotarian,” Maks said. Ren would always know his voice, delirious or not.
“No,” she croaked, shaking her head again. “I like Sheridan.” Despite how impossible a person she seemed to be. There was just something about her that Ren didn’t want to let go of, not yet. She knew she hadn’t met the true Sheridan yet, and the small glimpses she got during their time together was something she enjoyed. The confidence, the strength—there was more to Sheridan than that. The way she watched Elian’s machines with such wonder, it was almost childlike. And how she would always flick her hair over her shoulder and make a small noise under her breath whenever Abetha said something funny. And how, strangely, Ren really did feel just a bit safer with her around.
When Ren found the strength to lean up, Elian tried to push her back down. She swatted his hands away and lifted herself enough to see the entire room. Flowers covered every surface, some with cards and others with small boxes wrapped in ribbon. She only looked at it a moment before facing Maks.
“What happened wasn’t because of a rebel,” Ren said, focusing as hard as she could to choose the right words. She felt something was missing. “Where’s Abetha?”
“Mahendra,” Elian said. “Garret sort of fired her.”
“Well get her back here,” Ren ordered, her anxiety giving way to anger, “and tell Garret he has no right to decide who I surround myself with.” She glared at Maks. “And neither do you.”
Maks cocked an eyebrow but nodded. Ren thought he might have approved of the way she handled things, and she knew he wasn’t one to ignore a selfless act. “I’ll tell an officer to Transport her immediately,” he said, and left the room.
Elian’s lips were tight across his face, but he raised his eyebrows to silently ask, “What happened to my pushover sister?”
“I’m not in the mood to deal with Garret,” she sneered, earning her a smile from both Sheridan and Elian. “And Sheridan isn’t at fault. I was the one that jumped up to stop the lizard from biting Abetha.” She thought a moment, looking out to the dark sky. “What time is it?”
“About four in the morning,” Elian revealed. “You’ve been out a while. Anyway—”
“Four?” Ren repeated. “How was I out so long? And what was that—thing that bit me?”
“It was a naravindae,” Sheridan answered. “Their bite kills within seconds.” She sounded impressed.
Ren was too struck by that statement that she didn’t notice the glimmer of excitement in Elian’s eyes. He jumped onto the bed, swatting her knees beneath the comforter to get her to move. She pulled them to her chest, swatting him back.
“Guess what though?” he asked. “You’ll love this—it’s awesome.”
“I lived? She said, hoping this wasn’t some form of purgatory.” Sheridan tilted her head at Ren, eyes narrowed. Narration was probably a little different here on Novae.
“No,” Elian said, “well, yes, you did. But I mean you lived because of the Monarchy.”
“The scow doctor saved me,” Ren guessed.
“Dr. Weir saved you,” Elian told her.
Ren paused, and Elian waited for her to catch on. “Our pediatrician from Earth saved me?”
“Yeah, yeah! Remember all those needles we had to take when we were kids? Well it turns out that Mom and Dad were right when they said it would keep us safe.”
Ren furrowed her brow and rubbed at her eyes. “You’re saying we were vaccinated for the poison of a naravindae?”
“Exactly!” Elian clapped his hands. “The Novaeans think we’re magic now since you didn’t die right away.”
“How do they—Abetha,” Ren concluded. She let out a long breath.
“She let is slip that you saved her,” Elian said, “they’ve been sending flowers ever since. I guess that’s what their culture does when someone’s sick.”
“It’s what ours used to do, too,” Ren told him. But she wasn’t up for giving another history lesson, and found herself distracted by the foreign beauties around her. She took a deep breath through her nose, smelling the sweet fragrance of hundreds of flowers.
“If we were vaccinated for the poison, we should make sure that everyone else gets it, too,” Ren said. “Is Maks planning on getting medicine here?”
Elian inhaled sharply through his nose. “No idea.”
“You haven’t been with Maks since we got here?” Ren asked.
He shrugged. “I’ve been hanging out in the capital, or working on my little projects.” He gave her an exaggerated wink. “Haven’t really seen Dad much honestly, so I don’t know what he’s been doing. I think he’s mostly been stuck with Garret doing PR in the villages.”
That sounded like a personal hell for Maks, yet Ren didn’t feel too bad for him. If it kept him distracted from growing his army, then maybe it was a good thing. But that meant he wasn’t about to work on getting medicines here for the Novaeans. “Sheridan,” she said, “what kind of doctors do you have here?”
“Our medics are very skilled in using herbs as ailments,” she replied.
“No cure for the common cold though,” sighed Elian.
“But they don’t have anything for naravindae bites?” Ren questioned.
Sheridan shook her head. “Nobody had ever lived long enough.”
Then that’s my priority, Ren thought. She would ensure that every person on Novae would be vaccinated for everything known to the Monarchy and more. How many people had died because they were bitten by a naravindae? It made Ren’s heart sink knowing how simple the solution was.
She stared at a nearby candle, wondering if the Monarchy would be willing to send such large quantities of medicine to Novae. If they wanted the people to continue being grateful to them, they would have to.
A bright white light shone in the hallway telling Ren that someone had just Transported, and suddenly Abetha rushed into the room. She shouted, “You’re alive!”
She stopped beside Ren’s bed, hands in the air as she tried to understand why Ren was still alive. Soon apologies and thanks came streaming from her mouth, and Ren had to interrupt. “Calm down! I’m fine.”
“You-You were so brave,” Abetha said. “To stop a naravindae from biting me, by taking the bite yourself. You are a hero.”
“I’m not a hero,” Ren said. “But you’re welcome.” Ren glanced at the number of flowers around her. “How many people did you tell?”
“I told my parents,” she explained, “and they mentioned it to a few others. Many found it unbelievable that you would do something like that for someone like me. I am your servant—I should have been the one—”
“You’re not my servant,” Ren said, her voice sounding more powerful than she thought she was capable of. “And I’m going to make sure that everyone on Novae gets the same medicine as
me.”
Abetha’s eyes were wide, her mouth hanging open slightly. “You would do that?”
Ren nodded.
Elian laughed. “Look at you, acting like a true Prince—”
She stared him down. “Don’t call me that.”
