The Daughters of Persephone, A Space Opera Special Edition

by Julia Barrett

  “Sleep well, Issa.”

  “And you, big brother.”

  Issa prepared her own breakfast, kissed her mother and baby brother goodbye, saddled her mare, waved to her father and brother in the paddock, and rode off before sunrise, her headscarf wound tight around her mahogany curls.

  This would be a good day to ride to the lake. Her mare could graze on the thick green grass while she could swim. The snowberry thickets grew heavy on the edges of the lake and Issa carried an extra sack to fill for her mother.

  She’d been told by her da to keep away from the compound until sunset. Some of the buyers would stay late and her mother would serve them a meal during the negotiations.

  Her da’s horses were among the most prized on all of Calen. The line was ancient, descended directly from the horses of Kyr Aram. Their breeding stallions and many of the sturdiest mares had been part of her mother’s marriage portion.

  Issa slid off her horse and tossed her pack onto a nearby rock. She untied her scarf, dropping it on the ground, annoyed as always with the way it made her head sweat and flattened her hair. She unsaddled Lyta, lay the saddle and pad over a fallen tree, and pulled off the bridle. She trusted the mare to stay nearby.

  Issa stretched, loosed her braid and shook out her hair.

  It was so irritating, this wearing of a headscarf. She understood the reason, but there were times when she felt like she just couldn’t breathe with the thing covering her head.

  Grabbing a sack of biscuits and a hunk of cheese from her pack, she carried the food to her favorite sunning rock. There she propped herself against an overhang to eat and read the small book she carried in her weave. It was the story of the Empress Ya and the founding of the First Colony on the planet named for the Great Goddess, Persephone.

  The sun rose higher and Issa grew warm. She pulled her weave away from her chest and set her book aside. She lay back on the rock, resting her head on her pack.

  Completely at ease, secure in the knowledge that her horse would hear anyone coming, Issa drifted off to sleep.

  A soft whinny near her ear woke her. Issa sat up, rubbing her eyes. Her mare stood close, head upright, ears alert. Another horse was coming through the forest. Probably Upo on Mett, sent to check on her.

  Issa noted the position of the sun. She’d been asleep a turn or two, no more. Perhaps the buyers had finished early and her mother wanted her back at the cottage.

  She spotted the horse before she saw his rider. What a magnificent dappled gray, at least seventeen hands at the withers, heavily muscled, his chest deep, powerful. Her mare stomped her foot and whinnied in welcome.

  Issa tightened her weave about her chest and walked forward.

  “He’s a beautiful horse,” she said, without even so much as a glance at the rider. “He’s a Kirrae, isn’t he? Pure Kirrae, I’d say.”

  She raised the back of her hand to the stallion’s nose. The horse inhaled her scent and Issa laughed as he flared his nostrils and snorted. She stroked the velvet hair of his handsome horse face.

  “Most people are afraid of him,” said the rider.

  Issa looked up. A young man, a few years older than Upo, sat on the stallion’s back. She quickly felt for her headscarf, only to remember she’d tossed it away somewhere. She pulled her weave up over her mahogany tresses and stepped away from the stallion.

  “Why do you cover your hair?” The young man dropped with ease from the saddle. He stood with an arm beneath his stallion’s neck.

  “No reason,” mumbled Issa. If her mother found out that she’d gone uncovered, she’d be stuck in the cottage for days.

  “You’re Upo’s sister, aren’t you? The one the old men in the village tell tales about?”

  “Why would they talk about me?” Issa stared at the ground.

  “Your hair, your eyes.” He took a step towards her. “Look up,” he ordered.

  “You have no right to order me to do anything.” Angry now, Issa turned her back to him. She walked to her bridle and lifted it from the tree branch, whistling for Lyta. “You haven’t even given me your name,” she muttered.

  “Kane,” he said. “My name is Kane Tirol and you are Issa Bokinan. The old men call you the Thousand Year Empress.”

  Issa dropped her weave from her hair and stalked towards the tall young man. She poked him in the chest with a hard finger. “Shut up about that, do you hear me? Don’t ever say that unless you want my da and Upo to beat you.” She heard Kane let out a snort. She balled her hand into a fist. “I’ll beat you myself if you say one word, if you tell anyone you saw me.”

  Issa turned to walk back to her mare, but she stopped in her tracks when Kane grabbed a lock of her hair. “Ow,” she yelped. “Let go.”

  “It’s not so strange,” Kane said. “Is this the color of an Empress’s hair? The elders say every Empress has this hair and the gray eyes like yours.”

  Issa turned around and stared into his face. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Despite her anger, she noticed Kane was a handsome young man, with high cheekbones and dark blue eyes. His gold braids hung down to his waist. “Why did you come here? Why did you ride to the lake?”

  Kane dropped her hair. “I grew tired of the dusty paddock and I was hoping to find a good place to run Biri. The mares had him in a lather.”

  “I can show you a place,” said Issa. “If you’ll wait for me to saddle Lyta, I’ll take you there.”

  “Let me,” said Kane.

  “I’m perfectly capable of saddling my own horse.”

  “I’m not insulting you.” Kane laughed. “My da taught me to be considerate. Besides, I like your mare. She’s a pretty blood bay. She’s not for sale, is she?”

  “Seven hells, no! I raised her from a foal. I’ll never part with Lyta.”

  Issa watched Kane saddle her mare. He had a good way with horses. Lyta wasn’t always fond of strangers, but she held still for the young man.

  He’s my mate.

  The thought appeared from out of nowhere. Issa’s eyes narrowed and she took a closer look at him, picturing him filled out, seeing him as a grown man.

  Yes, one day Kane Tirol will be my mate, but he doesn’t know it.

  For now she didn’t have to think about it and they could just ride.

  He cinched up her saddle and held out the stirrup. She mounted. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome, Issa.”

  Kane mounted his stallion and Issa led the way, trotting through the trees until they reached the vast, open grasslands. She turned and grinned at Kane and then she let the mare have her head.

  The two horses thundered across the plain side by side, Issa’s hair streaming behind her, Kane’s waist-length braids bouncing against his back. They galloped for a good ten minutes before Issa pulled up, not wanting to tire Lyta. Kane pulled up as well. He and his stallion walked quietly beside her, the two of them cooling their horses.

  “You mustn’t say anything about seeing me,” said Issa, with a glance at Kane. “You mustn’t tell anyone, especially not my da.”

  The young man nodded.

  “Why did you really ride out today? I know of your father. My da has spoken of him. I have heard how particular he is about his horses. He would want your help choosing the mares and the colts. You came to find me. Why?”

  “The village elders are afraid to come themselves. They worry they will be followed.”

  Issa raised her eyebrows.

  “The Black Frocks have been seeking a girl with mahogany hair and gray eyes. They’ve questioned the village headman and the midwife who birthed every child in the village. Everyone questioned has denied the truth of the matter and claimed whatever the Black Frocks have heard is nothing more than tall tales. But even that is suspect. The Black Frocks do not believe them. The village will be punished.”

  “Punished? How? What will they do to them?”

  “A fine perhaps. Flogging, perhaps the headman, perhaps all the elders.”

  “
Have you given this message to my da and my mother?”

  “No. If I tell them they will pack up and run again. You’ve run before, yes?”

  “Twice before,” Issa said.

  “The village protects the burial site. You know this?”

  “I know.”

  “They pray for you, the elders pray you will remain nearby despite the danger because of the prophecy. They say the Thousand Year Empress will come from Tista Province, the adopted home of the Empress Aja and Kir Aram.”

  “How do you know so much?” asked Issa.

  Kane grinned at her. “I was born and bred here. These stories are in my blood. They are mother’s milk to me.”

  Issa smiled at the young man’s words, but she knew what would happen. “If my da believes our presence will endanger the village, we will move on.”

  “That’s why I came to speak with you. The stories claim Women of the Blood can see the future, and if that’s true, you’ll know whether it’s safe to remain here.” Kane stopped his horse and looked at her, waiting.

  “Do you know how to fight with a sword and a knife?”

  “What kind of answer is that?”

  “Do you?”

  “I’ve been training, yes.”

  “Make certain my brother joins you. See he learns to fight.”

  “What an odd request.”

  “Why? Shouldn’t a boy learn to fight like a man? Upo will need those skills. See that he learns. Talk to him today. Tell him I said he must learn fight, to protect the family. He will agree.”

  “Why don’t you tell him yourself?”

  “Because I will not be here.”

  Kane pulled back on the reins and the stallion started. “What in the seven hells are you rambling about, girl?”

  Issa closed her eyes for just a moment. When she opened them she gave Kane a very deliberate look. “I will be going away.”

  “You can’t just vanish. Your parents will be frantic.”

  “I have to leave, Kane. My presence endangers everyone.” Issa turned her mare’s head and squeezed her thighs against the horse’s flanks. Lyta broke into a lope.

  “Where will you go?” Kane spurred his horse after her.

  “With my sister.”

  “You don’t have a sister. You have two brothers.”

  “Yes,” said Issa. “I do.”

  “Is that what I say to your mother and your da? They’ll turn me over to the village headman to be beaten. Everyone will think I harmed you.”

  “No. Tell no one but Upo. He will understand. Tell him I’ll return.”

  “When?”

  “When I am ready.”

  “Ready for what, Issa Bokinan?”

  Issa didn’t answer. She raced him across the plain.

  They parted ways just above the lake. Kane walked his stallion and the mare back to where Issa had been sitting and he retrieved her scarf from where it lay on the grass. He wadded it up, shoving it in the pouch he carried about his neck. He slipped the book she’d been reading into his saddlebag.

  Lyta is yours, she’d said, climbing off her horse. Take care of her and breed her well. I’ll want a filly from her when I return.

  Then she’d instructed him to repeat the following, “Upo, you are responsible. See no harm comes to it. Go with Kane and learn to be a man. Remember her words—you will fight by my side.”

  She’d added for Kane’s ears only, “You will both fight by my side,” and she’d walked in the direction of the cliffs. At the edge of the forest, Issa had turned and called back to him, “Tell Upo I love them all and I will see them again. I swear it on my life.”

  He’d tried to follow her, but his stallion had stubbornly refused to budge. He’d dismounted and set off on foot to search the cliffs, but he could find no trace of her, so he’d returned to the horses.

  How would he explain this to Upo?

  I’m sorry to tell you that your sister vanished into thin air. I didn’t harm her. I speak the truth. I swear I speak truth.

  If he was lucky Upo would believe him, but only because of her message and because they were friends. Kane wonder what the it was Issa had spoken of.

  He grabbed Lyta’s reins and mounted his stallion. He felt sick with dread at the reaction Issa’s disappearance would trigger. A cloud of suspicion would fall over him and perhaps over Upo, but Kane had no choice. He had to return and give Upo his sister’s message, and Upo would tell his family Issa was gone.

  Book III: Reborn

  “Why have you brought her here, Tem?” Aja paced back and forth in the small birthing barn. “This is not right.”

  “She is raw and untamed. She needs training and I cannot provide it. You know very well I would shape her in my image and she would be useless to her people. The child is arrogant enough. She is in need of humility and control.” Tem laughed. “Those are not attributes I pretend to lay claim to.”

  Aja exchanged a glance with Ennat. “I have avoided meddling in the future,” she said to her youngest sister. “You know how I feel.”

  “And I have respected your wishes for five years,” replied Tem. “But our Blood is not the only Blood to be reborn. We are not the only line with a long memory. The Unholy Ones from the time of the Empress Lystam have resurfaced and they have begun the Blood Ritual, sniffing out remnants of the Royal Blood and sacrificing young girls to their dark god.” She paused and pointed at the sleeping girl. “This one has the potential to stop them, at the very least to rid Calen of them.”

  “They’ve reached Calen?” asked Ennat, distress evident in her voice.

  “Yes. It’s taken them two hundred years, but in that time they’ve spread far. They have established their blasphemous monasteries in many systems.”

  “Eir-Edan?” Aja asked.

  “No, thank the Gods. Eir-Edan has been forgotten in the mists of time. The shields still hold.”

  “Perhaps she should go there,” suggested Aja. “The women on Eir-Edan might be of more help and she will be well protected.”

  “No, it will not do. Sisters, you are the only two who can provide her with the training she requires. This one possesses much power and I will not be able to control her. I have watched over her since her birth and I will not allow her to become the Thousand Year Abomination. As I said, she needs humbling and the wherewithal to control her gifts.”

  “All right, Tem,” Aja said. “I’m willing. Kyr will understand. He won’t like it, but he’ll understand. I do this to save the people of Calen from the Unholy Ones.”

  “And you, Ennat?”

  “Yes, I’ll train her in my ways. I agree.”

  “Thank you, sisters. I will come for her when she’s ready to return. I’ll wake her now.”

  “Tem, what’s her name?” asked Aja.

  “Issa Bokinan. She is your direct descendant, Aja, Blood of your Blood.”

  “Why do I clean stalls?” Issa kicked at the rake. “If I wanted to spend my life cleaning stalls, I could have stayed in my own time.”

  “Because you behave like a child so I treat you like a child,” replied Aja. “When you behave like a Princess of the Royal Blood you will be treated like a Princess of the Royal Blood.”

  “Ah.” Issa grinned as she danced around the stable, the rake her make-believe partner. “So I shall have servants and rose petals in my bath and sweet oils rubbed into my skin and I shall sleep on the softest down…”

  “You’ve read too many fairy tales.” Aja snorted, and a corner of her mouth turned up. “As a Princess of the Royal Blood it is your duty to serve your people. That is your only duty. You sacrifice for your people. If someone is asked to sleep on the ground, it will be you. If someone is required to go without food, it will be you. You will lead men and women into battle and you will shed your blood for them without hesitation. If need be you will die for your people, and because of your sacrifice they will do the same for you. But right now, you must be trained. Your mind must be opened and cleaning stalls is a perfect way to
clear the mind.”

  “And fill the nose with manure,” grumbled Issa, resuming her chore.

  “It will help you remain focused on the here and now. You possess great power, Issa Bokinan. For your own sake you must learn to control that power. Do you know the history of the Thousand Year Empress?”

  “No, well, not really, aside from the Empress Ya.”

  “Ah, are you saying you haven’t heard tell of me? You found my burial site.”

  “Oh, yes, so sorry. I know who you are, of course, Empress Aja, but I forgot you were the Thousand Year…”

  “Yes, like you I am the Thousand Year Empress,” Aja interrupted her. “We carry a great burden. We must choose the correct way from all the paths stretching before us. Either we use our power to help our people or we die insane or we are assassinated. The power can drive us mad. Do you wish to be locked away for your entire life, Issa? Do you wish for death at the hands of those you love most?”

  Issa stopped raking. “No.”

  “That’s why my sister, Tem, brought you to me and to the Lady Ennat. We can teach you to control the gifts you were born with. We will teach you the combat skills you’ll need, and we will teach you to sense the right way from the many paths set before you.

  “When you are ready, Tem will return you to your own time, to your people, for they will have great need of you. I warn you though, I’ll put a bullet to you myself if I believe you to be a threat.”

  “You don’t mean that.”

  “On the contrary,” said Aja, staring into the girl’s gray eyes, “I mean every word. Get back to work. When you finish, you will ride straight to the Lady Ennat’s cottage and groom her mares.”

  Kane poured Upo a pint of cold homebrew. They’d met at his hunting cabin many nights of late. Kane remained hopeful his friend would have word of Issa, just as he knew Upo was counting on him to provide any information that could help protect his family.

  Kane’s scalp itched. He had the strangest feeling something would happen soon, that Issa would return to them, but so far there had been no sign of her.

  “My mother and da and my young brother have taken the herds and gone farther into the mountains,” Upo said.