by Celeste Raye
Josephine managed to nod and whisper, "You came for me. I didn't expect that."
He replied, "I will always come for you. Never doubt it." She fell asleep, and he went to beg mercy from King Siefer for his mistakes and the loss of so many brave men.
Chapter 16
Josephine
Josephine had fought so hard to keep from screaming. She did not wish to lure Urim to his death. But, the pain of the lashes was so severe she couldn't hold back. The fifth strike left her ready to die. She had given up all hope of rescue. In her delirious state, she heard the clashing of swords. She believed it to be another dream. Wrapped in the warmth of strong arms, she had let herself go. If this was death, she welcomed it.
She came to rest on a cloud. It felt so good for a while, and then it began to burn her. Terrible pain made her squirm. Urim's voice spoke soothing words. What was he doing here in death? Had the battle resumed and he been killed? Cold wetness made her shiver. Through her closed eyelids, she saw light. Urim was speaking again. He told her of Milisaria and moons. He pleaded with her to wake up. For him, she would try to conquer even death. She gained enough strength to open her eyes and there he was. She wasn't dead! The cloud was just a soft bed. Thirst overcame her, and she begged for water. Its coolness released her throat, and she spoke. Just a few words and she was gone once more.
Strangers surrounded her. She groaned in pain as they lifted her from the bed. A woman spoke, "I know it hurts to move, but you must be taken to our lab and cared for. If we don't hurry, you might lose your leg." Josephine was a nurse. She understood what that meant. The infection was deep, possibly in her bones. No wonder the pain was so great.
Urim
King Siefer had been notified that the ship would be arriving. A message had been sent by Urim as soon as they had left the planet. The king had warriors ready to unload the injured as well as the deceased. He noticed the damage to the spaceship and realized that Urim had been faced with weapons of unimaginable power. He would require a full report, but the knights needed care first.
Alexis and Rixi were preparing the lab and adjacent rooms for the incoming wounded. Valeri would board the ship and evaluate each man, so the worst could be given help first. Ohber and Nabvan were there to make sure each knight, living or dead, was given the honor of being carried upon the shoulders of their fellow knights. The villagers were hard at work building funeral pyres. Distraught families surrounded the ship waiting for their loved ones to appear. News of the war had spread quickly, although no details had been reported.
Urim insisted on being the first to leave the ship. If there was to be anger from the king, the commander, or the villagers, he would take the brunt of it. It was a surprise to encounter only concern. He had fully expected to be pelted with rocks and arrested. Instead, he was greeted kindly by the king and Nabvan. When he started to explain what had happened on the faraway planet, they silenced him. King Siefer said, "The explanations can wait. We will have a meeting in a few hours. Go to the lab and let Alexis or Rixi check your wounds. Your sister is doing quite well in her training. Today, she is anxious to see you. Show her you are alive." Nabvan gave him a hearty slap on the back and turned his attention to the disembarking warriors.
Urim hugged his sister tightly. He had never thought he would see her again. It felt so wonderful to be home where he could stop being a commander and just be a simple knight. Rixi cleansed his wounds and pronounced them to be healing well. She sent him to shower and rest. The badly wounded were arriving, and she had no time to talk.
Urim headed down the hall. He saw Josephine being carried in and tried to speak to her. He was pushed aside and told, "Not now. She requires immediate attention." He had to watch her disappear from his sight. Others were taking over her care, and he was no longer needed. It hurt his heart to be blocked from sitting with her. He would have to take the time and ready himself for the meeting. King Siefer might be willing to forgive him, but what about the council?
Josephine
The sharp stab of needles woke Josephine from restless slumber. Her injured leg was becoming numb. Three female faces stared down at her. Only one was familiar. "Valeri, what's happening?" she whispered.
Valeri gently stroked her forehead and explained, "We have to cut away some dead tissue from the wound. It won't be much, but we have to do it to stop the spread. I know you understand. Would you like to be put under for it?"
Josephine shook her head. She would rather be aware of how much they were taking. "Where is Urim?"
A young Milisarian female spoke up. "He has been treated and sent to shower and rest. I do not think he wanted to leave you, but we gave him no choice."
"What's going to happen to him? Will he be punished for the war or made a hero?"
Alexis replied, "It is up to the king and the council. There will be a meeting later today. You must not worry. Urim can take care of himself. Would you like your head raised so you can guide us? Valeri said you are a nurse."
"No, I will put my trust in you. I have had enough of dealing with wounds for now." Josephine closed her eyes against the sight of flesh being cut from her infected leg.
To distract Josephine from the situation, Valeri said, "I remember you from the lab. You were very good with the aliens, especially after they had been neglected. What were you doing on that uninhabited planet?"
"I have been torturing myself for my part in the experiments for the last six years. I searched long and hard for a way to redeem myself. I wanted to help aliens, so when I heard that the Pura had asked Earth for a medical technician, I applied," Josephine explained.
"But my brother sent word that the nurses were pardoned. You weren't really involved in the capture or torture of the aliens. You were hired to take care of them without the knowledge of how they got there. You should never have felt guilty,” Valeri answered.
Josephine argued, "I should have realized what was happening and I should have listened to the aliens. You did. They were people to you, not creatures to be fed and then ignored. You opened my eyes to the truth. I thank you for that, but I shouldn't have been so self-centered to start with."
Valeri replied, "Truthfully, I think I noticed so quickly because my father was involved, I actually saw the experiments, and I was attracted to Ohber. You were kind of on the sidelines, so don't beat yourself up anymore."
"Urim said that Ohber is your mate now and that you have three children. That's so wonderful. I'm glad to hear you're both doing well. He was in terrible shape when you helped him escape. Do you think he can forgive me or will he hate me for not defending him and the others?" Josephine asked.
Alexis said, "I can answer that. Ohber is one of the most forgiving men I have ever met. He doesn't hold grudges. He was angry for a while after he returned, but never at the nurses. He blamed Reginald and the government people he was working for." She wrapped the final piece of bandage around the wound. "There, your leg is done. You'll be on massive doses of antibiotics for weeks; however, I think we can save your leg. Urim did a good job with what he had to work with. He must have spent many hours cleaning out the infection repeatedly. He really cares about you."
"I care about him too, more than I thought possible. We seem to have a connection. It's odd that two such very different people, not even the same species, can feel so right together."
"It's not so strange at all," Queen Destiney said as she entered the lab. "Everyone in this room has felt that connection. I have it with Siefer. Alexis has it with Nabvan, and Valeri with Ohber. All the best Milisarian men seem to bond with human females." She grinned and added, "I think it means they are extremely intelligent."
Alexis and Valeri laughed at the joke. Valeri said, "Josephine, I want you to meet Queen Destiney. She is our resident comedian. We have to laugh since she helps rule the world."
"Very funny, Valeri!" The queen addressed Josephine, "Don't mind her. She likes to give me a hard time. When I heard there was yet another human woman on Milisaria, I just had to
see it for myself. If this keeps up, we will outnumber the knights someday. Is there anything I can do for you?"
Josephine asked, "Can you get King Siefer to let me stay here or stop him from punishing Urim?”
The queen winced and replied, "Sorry, both of those are beyond my control. I can put in a good word with my husband, but the council has an equal say in those matters. Don't you want to go home?"
"I love my parents, but they will do fine without me. It's time to depend on myself. Earth is special to me, yet it's where I made so many mistakes. Going back might keep me from forgiving myself. So, no, I don't want to go home."
Queen Destiney answered, "Then you need to submit a request to the king and his council for refugee status. New rules and guidelines were put in a few years ago because so many planets are now a part of Milisaria and many species want to live in the capital. Yours will be a special case since you don't come from any of those planets. There will be a meeting where they will most likely ask you a lot of questions. Be honest, and you'll do fine."
"Don't worry. We'll help you with it," Alexis stated. "Rixi will be a help too. She wants to be a nurse and can learn a lot from you. Right, Rixi?"
"Sure, and I want my brother to be happy. If you are sent away, I think he would have a difficult time getting over it,” Rixi replied. "He was very upset earlier. I could tell that you are important to him."
Josephine replied, "He's very special. Do you think I would be allowed to speak on his behalf? He was very torn about the war. I'm sure he would rather have found another way to keep the planet, but the only way to prevent the war was to leave it to the Pura. He was just defending Milisaria's property."
"They won't allow you into his trial. You're not a citizen. King Siefer and the council are all knights. They know the dilemma Urim faced. He won't be punished for the war itself. It's risking the knights' lives to rescue you that must be answered for," Queen Destiney stated.
Chapter 17
Urim
Clean and dressed in his knight's uniform, Urim was ready and waiting to face the king and council. He paced in front of the council's chambers too nervous to sit. Finally, a young warrior in training came to usher him inside. The faces of the group appeared stern and forbidding.
King Siefer called the court to attention and addressed Urim, “You are here to answer questions about the war between the knights in your command and a species you have referred to as the Pura. We have never dealt with this species; although records show they have communicated with a world we do have dealings with: Earth. The records call them a reclusive race and describe them as delicate and childlike. Is this true?"
Urim answered, "They are indeed delicate and childlike in appearance. They are a bluish-white, have large innocent-seeming eyes, and speak only with their minds. The human female, Josephine, called their way of communicating telepathy. However, their appearance is deceiving."
A councilman asked, "In what way were you deceived? Are they poisonous, extremely strong, brutal, or did they control your mind with this telepathy?"
"The Pura are not strong, and they did not control my mind, but they are brutal. At least their leader was. Their intelligence is beyond any I have encountered. The Pura do not fight with their own bodies. They control an army with computers,” Urim explained.
The king retorted, "Explain what you mean, I have never seen an army that could be controlled by computers."
Urim collected his thoughts and began, “Our first encounter was with huge machines that were terraforming the planet. They were controlled by handheld computers. The Pura used them to run over our equipment. I tried to stop them by knocking the controllers from the Puras' hands. My sword accidentally cut the creatures. Their leader, Ixia, brought out five gigantic battlebots, metal machines that contained weaponry, to protect them and supposedly frighten us off the planet. While we were devising a way to defeat them and trying to negotiate with the Pura, Ixia sent for a more effective army. I was warned by the human. A spacecraft dropped one thousand mechanical armored men, known as androids. They were armed with long-range weapons. Some of the weapons were guns, but others were called lasers. These shot out a beam of light that could slice through a warrior. You will see such wounds on the knights as well as the human's back. These mechanical men did not bleed, feel pain, or suffer from dehydration or starvation, nor did they require rest. Even beheaded, they continued to fight. "
The councilman asked, "These were controlled by computers? Can you draw us a picture of these mechanical men and the weapon?"
"I can draw the androids, and I can show you the weapons. We have many on board the ship. We took them off the severed arms of the army to use in rescuing Josephine. Without them, we would have perished," Urim added.
The council ordered guards to board the ship and bring back the weapons for their inspection. Then they said, "It is this human that we must speak of now. You had already conceded the loss of the planet and lost many knights, yet you risked the rest of the warriors to rescue this woman. Why do something so foolish? It is against all of your training."
Urim replied, "Josephine risked her own life more than once to warn us of the Pura leader's treacherous plans. He imprisoned her to keep her from doing it again. She escaped and sought protection from me. I gave it to her gladly. In turn, she cared for our wounded. She was taken from our ship, while under my protection. She was to be executed for treason by the Pura. Though Ixia told her this, she went willingly to save the lives of wounded knights. My conscious would not let me leave her behind. I was going alone. I told the knights to leave without me. They refused."
King Siefer asked, "Do you care for this woman? Is she so important to you that you would risk your life for hers?"
"Yes, I care for her, and I would risk anything to protect her. But, we also owed her for all the times she risked hers to bring us information. The knights will testify to that, just ask them."
The king smiled, "We already have. It seems they do not want you punished or Josephine harmed. However, we cannot let this event go without some form of penalty. You will return to training for a refresher course. There will be no command assignments for you in the next year. You will not be allowed to see Josephine until after she has been questioned and her status as a refugee has been confirmed. We have been given notice by the queen that Josephine will be applying for asylum on Milisaria very soon. If you or she break the rules and see one another, you could both be exiled. Is that understood?"
"Yes, King Siefer. I understand the consequences."
Josephine
Josephine was healing quickly. Alexis and Valeri kept her wound clean and after a week pronounced it free from infection. Her leg had returned to its normal color. Now, only her heart ached. Queen Destiney had relayed the results of Urim's trial to her. She felt it so unfair to not be allowed to see Urim. Alexis, Valeri, Rixi, and even Queen Destiney visited with her often. They were kind and good company, but strangers. It was Urim she longed for. She had made her request to be processed as a refugee and was waiting to be granted a meeting with the council. The faster she got through the questioning, the sooner she would get to be with Urim.
Valeri brought good news. Josephine would be granted a council meeting that very afternoon. If it went well, she would be given her own quarters near the lab. The rooms were small, but private. Valeri also brought her some clothing. It was a skintight bodysuit that resembled the style of the one she had worn on the uninhabited planet. This one, however, was made from a soft, breathable fabric of sky blue rather than rubber. It had no oxygen tube attached. She helped Josephine wash her hair and curl it. It had grown since leaving Earth and hung in red waves past her hips. The suit clung to every curve, enhancing the muscles she had gained on her expedition.
Valeri explained, "We want you to look feminine and irresistible to the council. It will make them see why Urim went back to save you and harder for them to refuse you asylum. What man can resist a beautiful woman?"
"I hope you're right. Can I see Urim after this?" Josephine asked.
Valeri sighed, "No, not yet. The questioning is only the beginning. The council and the king will discuss what they learn from you, give you an assignment, watch how well you perform it and how you get along with others, then decide whether you will be an asset to Milisaria. It will be a while before you and Urim can be reunited. If you try to see him, it will not only jeopardize your chance of getting refugee status. It could get you both exiled. Don't forget that. He's been warned as well."
Josephine answered, "Fine, I'll be patient. It's not like I've been locked in a dungeon. Everyone is very kind to me. I'm ready for the questions. Let's just hope the answers don't make anyone mad."
She was able to walk, though slowly and with a limp, alongside Valeri to the council chambers. The hallways in the capital that circled downward floor after floor reminded her of those in the Milisarian spaceship. She supposed the ships had been built to resemble the capital on purpose. It would give reassurance to those far from home. The huge open area at the bottom was filled with Milisarians, young and old, having a meal. Valeri explained, "This is where everyone usually eats, although you can bring food to your quarters. We like to mingle and visit with friends. This space is also used for announcements, city meetings, and elections. It is the preferred gathering place. You'll be able to make friends here after your meeting."
The guard at the council room doors greeted them and ushered them inside immediately. King Siefer stood tall before the councilmen's table and said, "Welcome, Josephine. Do not be nervous. We are quite nice once you get to know us. Valeri may stay if it makes you more comfortable."
"I would appreciate it. You're an intimidating bunch of men," Josephine replied.
