“What could be the ultimate fantasy on Eden?” Indra mused.
Caligastia just shook his head.
“A night with the Planetary Princess. Make them up and dress them in a gown of rainbows just like Kuko wore. And have the brothel proprietor swear it’s the real Lilith.”
“Oh my,” Caligastia said. “You’re a genius.” He looked at the twins, their horrified faces frozen.
“Girls, girls,” Caligastia said enthusiastically. “You’ll become rich overnight. In just a few years, you’ll be able to buy your freedom, set up your own bordello, and hire or buy your own girls. On top of that, you could still charge top dollar for a wealthy client to have a night with Eden’s Planetary Princess. Better yet, because you’re identical twins, you could get millions if you double up. Oh, what a wonderful future you’re going to have.”
“Okay kids. You’re done here,” Indra said happily. “No more messy blood and guts stuff for you two. Go to your rooms and pack. Already there are shuttles leaving for Castile. If you hurry, you can start your new lives within the hour.”
Patricia looked down, her tears hitting her boots, but Vilecia fixed her attention on Indra. Just as he turned away, she saw anger slice across his dazzling yellow eyes. Vilecia hoped it would be otherwise, but as Indra walked away with his arm over Prince Caligastia’s shoulder, not once did he look back.
Grasping their battle belts for the last time, the twins trudged toward their room, their minds filled with the sickening visions of hour by hour, day after day, fat, drunken, slobbering old men groaning on top of them. Their days of basking in Indra’s attention, sitting on his lap, absorbed in his affections were over. Although Kuko was not as affectionate as Indra, the richness of her love held a type of motherly emotion that none other could bestow.
“Where are you two going?” Rickey called after them.
“Lord Indra has…” Patricia began to speak.
“I know what Lord Indra said,” Reinhardt interrupted.
“How do…”
“Are you trying to insult me?”
“No Rickey, I just…”
“How dare you call me that?” He gave Patricia a quick slap across the face. “From now on, I am either Colonel Reinhardt or Captain of the Guard Reinhardt.”
“I’m sorry sir, Colonel Reinhardt. But I still don’t understand how…”
“Because it’s my job to know what Lord Indra says.” His penetrating eyes scanned from one to the other.
“I’m sorry Colonel Reinhardt,” Vilecia said. “Clearly, there is much we do not understand about your abilities.”
“Clearly,” Reinhardt replied. He stared at them for a moment. “Well?” he asked.
Vilecia and Patricia glanced at each other. Neither of them sure how to respond. He waited another moment, and then sighed. “I asked you, where are you two going?”
“Sir, we are going to our room to pack,” Vilecia said, fully expecting another slap.
“So, now that Lord Indra has told you to pack and catch a shuttle to Castile to work in a whorehouse, you obey him. Whereas for centuries on end, you ignore his instructions. Lord Indra tells you to learn from your mother. Lord Indra tells you to work in a whorehouse. One you ignore, the other you obey.”
He studied them for awhile. “Well? Does this mean you truly prefer fucking to fighting?”
The twins stared at each other. Finally, Patricia spoke. “Thank you Colonel Reinhardt for clearing that up for us. But honestly, we don’t know what to do next.” There was just a touch of hopefulness in her voice. “Please sir. Will you help us?”
“Are you asking me to be your teacher?”
“Yes,” they said together.
“Let’s be a bit more specific about this, okay?” They nodded their heads. Reinhardt clasped his hands behind his back, calmly circling the twins as the battle continued around them. “Up until now, it has been Madame General Kuko Kiena, Lord Indra, and General Castor Mayhew who have been your teachers. All your lives, you have consistently betrayed their teachings, so now they’ve finally given up on you.” By now, he was in front of them again. “Do you agree?”
“Yes, Colonel Reinhardt,” they hesitantly said.
“And now you want me to be your teacher? You want me to turn you into honorable, respectable, trustworthy, self-sacrificing, powerful, fearsome Nazz warriors?”
“Yes, Colonel Reinhardt,” they said together.
He stared at them. Finally, he nodded his head. “I accept your request.” He reached forward and stripped off their rank. They had been second lieutenants forever, only recently attending their first tryouts for first lieutenant. Now they were nothing — not even privates.
“Put your battle belts back on.” He gave his head a slight turn toward two of his guards standing nearby. They immediately approached him. “First Lieutenant Huznoth,” he said to one of the guards. “You are to train Patricia as a Nazz warrior. Captain Rozner,” he turned to the other. “You are to train Vilecia as a Nazz warrior.” He glared at Vilecia, finally speaking without breaking his glare. “First Lieutenant Huznoth. Captain Rozner. I want weekly progress reports.” He turned away and briskly walked toward Indra’s pyramid, where by now Indra had resumed control over the battle.
“You’re with me,” Lieutenant Huznoth said to Patricia. Vilecia and Patricia exchanged quick glances, and then Patricia trotted after her new teacher.
When Vilecia turned back to Captain Rozner, Rozner was glaring at her.
What do you think you’re looking at? Your promotion gone to your… A hard fist hit her stomach. She doubled over in pain. Then a right cross to the side of her face knocked her to the ground.
Vilecia, stunned, quickly jumped to her feet.
“I’ve been wanting to do that for years, you conceited little bitch,” Rozner said.
Vilecia threw a punch, but Rozner easily slipped away. Vilecia, seeing a bone-crushing block coming her way, winced in anticipation, but Rozner only gave her a tap. Vilecia spun and charged Rozner again.
“Stop,” Rozner said as she held up her palm. “I just broke your arm. And not just a little. I just shattered your arm. Now hold it out.”
Vilecia knew this practice drill and obeyed. Rozner quickly wrapped a leather cord around Vilecia’s wrist, pulled her arm back, and tied the other end of the cord to a ring at the back of Vilecia’s battle belt. If Vilecia was unable to connect with anything but air with two good hands, it was pointless to try with just one. Never mind that her buttocks and privates were on fire.
She swallowed her pride. “I yield,” Vilecia said quietly.
“Three things,” Rozner said, putting her face into Vilecia’s, locking onto her with piercing yellow eyes. “First. I don’t like you. Never have. Second. If you ever throw sloppy shit like that at me again, I’ll hurt you for real. The third? Come with me.” Rozner trotted away in the opposite direction of Huznoth and Patricia. Ever since birth, the twins had been inseparable. As Vilecia watched her sister’s back disappear into the crowd, she already felt alone.
Rozner stopped. “Look here,” she said. Vilecia looked down.
“Do you know who this was?” Rozner asked angrily.
“Yes,” Vilecia replied quietly, recognizing the Nazz warrior with an arrow in his back and a terrible, twisted, agonized expression on his face. “That’s Major Vilhem Nezith. Please don’t tell me he died because he was looking at me showing off.”
Rozner just shook her head. “I don’t know if he was looking at you or not. All I know is that I was in love with him.”
Vilecia reflexively grasped Captain Rozner’s hard, calloused hand and squeezed it. “I’m so sorry. He was such a good man.” Vilecia started to squat down beside the dead warrior, but her raw buttocks raged in pain. She winced.
“Pull some slack in your trousers and kneel,” Rozner said.
Vilecia pulled out the back of her trousers and knelt in front of Nezith. She reached forward and stroked his face. “Were you married?” she a
sked.
“No,” Captain Rozner replied quietly.
“If you were in love with him, why not? Any man would be lucky to have you.”
“Well, he didn’t seem to think so.”
“Really?” Vilecia turned to face Rozner. “Why not?”
“He was in love with someone else.”
“Oh no. To me that’s the saddest thing of all,” Vilecia said almost to herself, knowing all about how much Kati was in love with Rickey but in return, he thought of her as a sister. Reflexively, she asked, “Well, who was he in love with?”
Captain Rozner said nothing; she just leaned down and ran her palm over Vilhem’s eyelids to close them.
“No no no. Please don’t say it was me.”
Rozner turned back. She said nothing.
Vilecia hung her head. “Why don’t you just kill me now and get it over with?”
“I can’t,” Captain Rozner said, then sucked in a deep breath. “I’ve received my orders from Colonel Reinhardt. Now follow me.”
Rozner led Vilecia to one of the field hospitals set up in the hall. She held back the flap of the tent and motioned Vilecia to enter. Rozner walked up to the desk where the triage nurse was examining patients and filling out forms.
“She has abrasions across her buttocks and vagina,” Rozner said matter-of-factly. The triage nurse asked a few questions and quickly filled out a form. She gestured to Vilecia, pointing to the form and the name of the doctor who would be tending her, and then pointed to the location of that doctor.
Vilecia followed the nurse’s finger.
“Remove your battle belt,” an elderly doctor commanded politely while reading the form. The doctor looked up and noticed one of Vilecia’s arms tied behind her back. “What’s this? This serves no purpose,” the doctor barked. She untied the leather strap from the ring in the back of the battle belt, then turned Vilecia around and unbuckled it. The doctor recognized her patient as one of the Erin twins but said nothing. She hung the battle belt on a post.
“Untie your sash, pull down your pants, and bend over the table.” The instructions sounded all too familiar, and Vilecia felt a reflex of panic.
Vilecia’s bottom was so on fire, that the cool mist of an analgesic fluid was shocking. The doctor allowed a minute to pass, then sprayed the fluid again. The second application was less startling.
“Take these.” The elderly doctor handed Vilecia a couple pills and a glass of water. “Now, I’m going to touch you and apply an analgesic cream,” she said. Vilecia resumed her bent over position. “Is it okay if I touch you now?”
“Yes,” Vilecia replied, impressed by the doctor’s bedside manner. Other Nazz doctors who had treated her saw a wound, not a person. This doctor’s touch was so gentle; it felt like the cream applied itself.
“I would sure like to get my hands on who did this to you,” the doctor said, mostly to herself. Vilecia squirmed. The doctor stopped the application and allowed Vilecia to settle. “Do you think you could recognize the Cardinals who did this?” she asked.
Vilecia said nothing.
“Were you raped as well?”
“No.”
“Still. This is a special case atrocity. If you can identify who did this to you, I will take care of them.” Vilecia remained silent. The elderly doctor thought she understood. She too had once been young and uncertain. This must be extremely embarrassing for her.
The doctor finished her first layer of a light application of cream. As soon as the pain and inflammation subsided, she would continue with a deeper application. She stood and stretched her back. She glanced at two men who had just walked in, one supporting the other who had an arrow in his upper thigh. I wonder who escorted Erin to the hospital and why they allowed her arm to remain tied behind her back?
The doctor scanned around the room, finally locating the person standing only two beds away speaking to a patient. The doctor recognized her. “Beth. Come over here, please.”
Rozner ignored the doctor.
“Beth? Will you come over here please?”
Rozner looked up and stared at the doctor. The doctor’s elderly face looked familiar. Rozner scanned the doctor’s nameplate: T. Gonboth. Then she saw the five stars in a circle on the doctor’s left lapel and the symbol for senior medical staff on her right.
“Oh crap,” Rozner muttered to herself as she briskly walked over and stood at attention.
“Beth, was it you who escorted Erin?”
“Yes, Dr. General.”
“Then why didn’t you untie her arm?”
Rozner continued to stare straight ahead but said nothing.
Doctor Gonboth allowed a moment to pass. “Beth. This isn’t a complicated question. Once Erin was freed from the Cardinals, why didn’t you untie her arm?”
“Uh…”
“Doctor Gonboth, it wasn’t…” Vilecia started to explain.
“Quiet child,” Doctor Gonboth said, reaching over and smacking her on top of the head. “When I want your opinion, I’ll ask for it.”
“Doctor General. I tied her arm like that,” Rozner said.
Doctor Gonboth crossed her arms across her chest. “Why?”
“Doctor General, it was General Kiena who did this to the twins. She saw how they were…”
“What?” Rozner could feel the anger seethe from Doctor Gonboth’s pores. Rozner opened her mouth to continue, but Doctor Gonboth held up her hand.
She turned to one of her assistants at the station beside her. “Doctor Brack. Please continue to treat Erin.” Then she whispered some instructions to Rozner. With that, Gonboth briskly left the hospital. She would get the entire story from Kiena.
Chapter 74
Even the Eldest and Wisest Leaders Make Mistakes
I am no exception.
—Princess Elizabeth, Commanding General for Norlatiadek’s Sisters of Mercy
Oceania
Josephine’s head hurt. Unfortunately, Skillit was starting to make sense.
“Elizabeth. Just stop for a minute.” Skillit stopped and glared at Josephine. “This would have to had been a carefully conceived and executed play. Are you sure the Pharisees are up to the task? Good acting has never been their forte.”
“Let’s cut over to the beach,” Skillit said, hoping the ocean breeze would clear Josephine’s mind. When they reached the ocean, she spoke again.
“Why do you think it was the Pharisees? If we can accept the individuals who played the role of Karol and Eros were just actors creating a diversion, then why do they have to be the children of Lakshmi?”
“Well, who then?” Josephine stared at her aunt. “It would have had to be a master…”
Josephine abruptly fell silent, shaking her head as things became clear. “Nazz Madame General Kuko Kiena,” she said quietly as she resumed walking.
“Kuko Kiena. The master of deception herself,” Skillit said. “Sending you a little ‘Welcome to Eden’ present.”
“Of anyone I fear, it’s Kiena,” Josephine said with a sigh, stopping again to face Skillit. “She’s ancient, she’s brilliant, and she’s ruthless. She’d slaughter her own children if they failed her.”
“And how many Valkyrie men have died in Kuko’s bed?” Skillit asked.
“Hundreds? Thousands?” Josephine replied. “And not just men. She’s just as good at seducing women as she is men. Don’t forget The Million Hijabs of Ixchel, her grandmaster female assassins. So if you add them up, who knows how many.”
Josephine started walking again. “I bet Castor Mayhew knows that number right off the top of his head. They are always competing with each other, you know — battles won and lost — enemy killed — and I bet the number of successful assassinations is just another thing they keep track of.
“I know one time Kiena incarnated as an Azakamani scientist just so she could drop the first nuclear bomb built on Eden, on her brother’s head. They probably still laugh about that one. Wow, what a terrifying team when they work together. My mom had
me study Generals Kuko Kiena and Castor Mayhew as soon as she heard I wanted to move to Nebadon and join the fight against the Overlords. A few hundred years after I arrived on Edentia, my mom showed up and quizzed me extensively on both of them. She told me Kiena would be my most formidable adversary.
“It wasn’t until I started working with Kahmael and reading the reports first-hand that I actually started to believe her,” Josephine continued. “Every thousand years or so, Kahmael and his staff get invited to a Nazz play. I attended my first right after moving to Edentia and was told in advance that Kuko was in a starring role as well as several support characters. It was spectacular. So realistic. And not just the sets. It was the content. The message. The language touched the heart. Pure poetry. Very moving. Even though I tried very hard, I still had no idea which parts she played until after the play was over and the reception began.
“After seeing her in her second play, she spoke to me. So refined. So alert. So polite. And so beautiful. It took my breath away. Within seconds, my defenses collapsed. And then, do you know what happened?”
Skillit just shook her head no.
“We talked for about half-an-hour. Then she politely, but firmly, just like my mother would have done, chastised me for dropping my defenses. For several minutes, she lectured me on the dangerous forces at play in Satania, and if I wasn’t savvier, I wouldn’t survive very long. She even told me the sequence of steps she took to distract me. Then she became charming again. I couldn’t believe it. I was so touched by the experience, I wrote Uncle Josh a letter about it.”
Josephine shook her head. “A little more than 1,200 years after that play, we were invited to another on Panoptia, right after the Nazz surrendered to Ellanora. After that play, she invited me to have tea with her the following day. I’ve extensively studied Dek culture and particularly like the tea ceremony. I’ve seen it performed by Dek masters many times but none were even close to Kuko. She did it so beautifully, so effortlessly. It was obvious Kuko wasn’t performing at all. This was just the way she served tea.
Lilith: Eden's Planetary Princess (The Michael Archives Book 1) Page 61
