At that moment, there seemed to be a soft, yet slightly jarring movement within the ship. A chiming sound rang through the room. Sarita grinned widely as my stomach lurched.
“We have landed,” she said lightly. She had rarely shown emotion in the two short hours that I had known her, but at this moment, she was obviously excited to get me onto the chopping block and wash her hands clean of me. My hands shook slightly. Clara took my hand within one of her own. I looked at her, and she smiled at me kindly. I wondered, and not for the first time, if I could trust her.
“I was nervous, too,” she said. “It will all turn out right. I’m sure of it.” I nodded and took a deep breath. Sarita handed me a long, thick cloak made of blue satin and lined with a thick, warm white pelt. I snuggled into it, wondering what type of animal the fur had come from—it seemed like polar bear? Those couldn’t exist on another planet, could they? I shook the thought away. Fear made me cold, and the cloak was warm and luxurious. I followed Clara and Sarita down the dim hallways of the ship. There was a tiny, arched doorway at the very end, opened to reveal a bright, white landscape. As we grew nearer, I realized that what I saw was snow.
The glare of the sun was bright on the snow. And I squinted as we exited the ship, making our way down a mithrim gangplank. An icy wind came across the plain, and it stung the exposed flesh of my face. I pulled the cloak tighter about me. Far away, I saw a great, white lumbering shape. I pointed.
“What is that?” I asked.
“One of the Kamani,” Clara explained. “A bear-shifter. Your cloak is made from the skin of one.” I felt sickened by the thought—the creature, despite its large size, moved with a breathtaking elegance.
“Are there no other animals? I mean, didn’t you say they were people?”
“They are lesser, I said,” Sarita said firmly. She pulled her own cloak tight about her. I turned to my left to see a massive castle, gleaming against the snow, made of pure white mithrim. Its towers were high and spindly, like a castle in a fairytale, but this building was awful in its brilliance. A castle of ice and ghosts, I thought. Sarita smiled proudly, as though she owned the castle. The sun glinted off her headdress.
“It’s called Argaram Castle,” she said proudly, looking at me.
“It’s… beautiful,” I replied for lack of anything better to say.
Upon entering, I saw them everywhere. The Ak-hal, I thought to myself. We were in a wide courtyard, walled in by mithrim. The stones of the courtyard were of a sky blue, porous stone. Bushes grew along the walls. The strange flowers that adorned my dress grew on them. I wondered at how this was possible—it was bitter cold.
The Ak-hal stood in groups. I noticed some of their bright, fearsome eyes glancing over at our small group. They were dressed in tawny-colored fitted pants, with white tunics and cloaks with the pelts of the Kamani. How many Kamani had died at their hands? I listened to them speaking to one another. I realized with a jolt that I understood their strange, musical tongue.
“I understand them…” I mumbled in shock.
“While you were in stasis, you were taught the language of the Ak-hal,” Sarita said. “You have also been taught their ways and customs. It’s dormant now, but as you require it, it will come to you.”
“Can I speak the Kamani tongue?”
“Why would you need to know that?” Sarita scoffed with a laugh as we entered the main fortress, and walked down a blank mithrim hallway. From time to time, a window was set in the wall, like a bright jewel. The heels of my boots made barely a sound as we walked across the floor, made of the same porous stone as the courtyard. Inside, it was warm, although I couldn’t see a heat source nor vent. Many human women passed us, walking in groups of two or three. They kept their heads down, their gaze fixed upon the ground. Suddenly, my own head snapped downward, my eyes fixed on the ground before me.
“You see?” Sarita asked me, looking at me sideways as her head was tilted downward, “It comes to you as it’s required.” It felt as though my own body betrayed me.
“Where are we going?” I asked, wanting to change the subject.
“You are to be presented to the unmated of the Ak-hal,” she explained. Clara was strangely silent. We reached the end of the hallway, opening into a cavernous room, lit by a large fireplace at one end, and many large taper candles set in sconces along the walls.
I was unsure as to whether the Ak-hal wanted to be medieval or high tech. They seemed to be somewhere in the middle, utilizing medieval customs and etiquette, while employing extremely developed technological items. At the side of the room directly across from the fireplace, there was a large dais, on which sat two chairs. One was large and ornate, sculpted from mithrim, while the other was small, simple, and made of a bronze material. The room glowed with a warm, orange-red light. I looked upward to find that an abundance of red lanterns hung from the ceiling, accompanied by streamers and bunches of the haunting blue flowers, so that the plainness of the mithrim was obscured entirely.
All about us, women dressed in colorful dresses were grouped. Some looked pale, worried, while others seemed untouched. It appeared that I wasn’t the only newcomer. There were no Ak-hal to be seen. I turned to Sarita to ask her about this.
“How many of us have they taken?”
“You sound so accusatory,” she remarked, not deigning to look at me as she said this.
“They took us. Against our will,” I snapped. She looked at me and the emptiness of her gaze was terrifying.
“Someday, you will learn to thank them.”
“I doubt that,” I whispered. She looked away from me, her chin raising proudly.
“This is where I leave you,” she said with a cold smile and walked toward the dais. I looked around me. Clara had disappeared, and I hadn’t noticed. My heart fluttered nervously, and I looked back toward where Sarita had disappeared into the crowd. She was gracefully ascending the mithrim steps of the dais. She walked confidently, sitting down in the simpler bronze chair. She looked down over the crowd, as though she were queen. She is, I realized as I beheld her unreadable gaze. She looked at me from across the room. How I was so important as to have been waited upon by the queen, I didn’t know. I stood alone, mystified and frightened.
An Ak-hal dressed in crimson entered through a door beside the dais, his tawny breeches almost a golden color. His boots were tall, shiny black leather. He had a long, crimson train, edged in what looked like Kamani pelt. He had long, pale hair and vibrantly blue eyes. His features were perfect—nose straight, cheekbones prominent. His chin was sharp, and his eyebrows were high and arched. He wore a crown, golden, and spindly like Argaram Castle. He took Sarita’s hand without looking at her. The two of them made a fearsome pair with their twin blank gazes and erect postures. I presumed, correctly, that this was their king.
“Welcome, newcomers,” the king said. “By now, you are familiar with our custom. You have been chosen for your beauty among women of your race. You have all the attributes that the Ak-hal prize the most: looks, intelligence, and a calm demeanor. You have two weeks to find your mate among the Ak-hal. If, by the end of two weeks, you haven’t been mated, you will be executed.” There was a cold stone in the pit of my stomach. His voice was affectless, flat. “The unmated Ak-hal shall enter now.” As if a signal had been given, the Ak-hal entered through another door beside the dais, on Sarita’s left. They entered in military fashion, in lines of three, with frightening precision.
To me, they all looked the same, with small, ornamental differences. They marched in on silent feet. They wore their hair long. Some, like the king, had pale, almost silvery-blond hair. Others had raven black hair. They had that strange, inhuman beauty to them—their features were perfect, as though carven from stone. Suddenly, my body moved—betraying me again. I moved in unison with the others. We all moved into formation—three lines, mirroring that of the Ak-hal.
We stood, facing them, almost a mirror image. My face was arranged without emotion
. I didn’t look to my sides, but I knew that all the other women beside me looked the same. I was in the front line, facing the Ak-hal. I wondered, for the first time, why the only race that they abducted were those of the human race. Out of the whole universe, how were we so unlucky as to draw their attention?
Suddenly, music started, my arm lifted, hand raised gracefully to accept the hand of the Ak-hal facing me. I looked from side to side. I could see no musicians. Other women moved around me to meet the lines of the Ak-hal. Everyone was in motion, as though choreographed. My posture was straight. I looked blankly into the bright eyes of the Ak-hal holding my hand in his. He didn’t smile. I had once seen a video of a machine kept in a museum—they had been all the rage in the 1700s. They moved mechanically, with a strange amount of grace. They were known as automatons, and they could draw pictures with strange flourishes. He moved just like that machine. His hand went to my waist, a slight pressure. I felt nervous, unsure. My body knew what to do, but I had no idea what I should be feeling. How would I know that I had been chosen as a mate?
At an embellishment of the music, the Ak-hal placed his other hand on my waist, lifting me in time to the music. My skirts swirled gracefully. I would never have been able to do this on my own. The innate training that had occurred while I was in stasis was contrary to my true nature. My body had gone renegade from my mind, in a flurry of confusion. I could smell the skin of the Ak-hal; it was masculine, clean. His hair was worn short. I couldn’t see what it looked like, exactly. My heart hammered nervously in my chest. I wanted to look up and study his face, but my gaze remained trained downward, my eyes staring at his chest.
With another trill in the music, I felt myself twirled about, and deposited in the arms of another Ak-hal, this one blond. His scent was so similar to that of the other. He had a crimson sash that crossed his chest. It was all that I could see. The dance seemed to go on for ages, and at irregular-seeming intervals, I found myself with a different Ak-hal partner. Other than the music, silence reigned throughout the hall, aside from the sound of the steps, something akin to a waltz, if I had learned anything from Disney movies.
I was unsure as to whether this was part of the Ak-hal mating process. If I had to guess, it was. I had read enough Austen to know that dancing was considered to be a significant step. As I thought about it, even in my own time, dancing was still a part of the process, even if it had degraded to nothing more than one person grinding up against another.
The music ended as abruptly as it had begun. I found myself staring at the chest of a raven-haired Ak-hal, a deep emerald-green sash worn over his tunic. He clasped my hand within his own, his other coming away from my waist.
“Is it over?” I whispered, finding myself speaking the musical tongue of the Ak-hal.
“Yes,” he responded. “Did you enjoy it?”
“Oh, yes,” I responded, although, in my mind, I screamed in the negative. This whole situation was bizarre and laced with poison. My life hung dangerously in the balance, and I knew not how to sway it in my own favor.
“Are you thirsty?” he asked me, tucking my hand gently into his bent arm. I found that I was able to look him in the face. Was he allowing it? Was there some mental manipulation occurring here?
“Quite,” I responded delicately. He smiled, although it didn’t reach his eyes. They glittered coldly. He led me to the side of the room, along which there was a banquet table, laden with food and drink. I looked upon the excess. Enormous roasted birds, bigger than a turkey, approximately the size of an ostrich. Elegantly decorated cakes, lush with icing. There were what appeared to be cut fruits, but their colors were far more vibrant than those of Earth. I could identify none. No one ate. If anything was taken, it was a beverage. Towers of champagne flutes, filled with liquids in many shades of gold, rose, and platinum. It almost appeared undrinkable. I wondered if they were poison.
“What is your name?” he asked me.
“Shay,” I replied, but found myself unable to ask his. With his free hand, he plucked two champagne flutes from the table, both filled with a rose-colored liquid. I took the one that he handed me. “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome,” he responded with cold formality. I took a sip from the champagne flute—it was cool and sweet, slightly carbonated. It had a bite—it was some sort of alcohol. It burned my throat as I swallowed.
We approached another woman-Ak-hal pair. She had blonde, ringleted hair beneath her headdress. Her face was pale, frightened, her blue eyes looking from side to side. I gave her a small smile, trying to impart some comfort to her, but found myself switched off to the Ak-hal who had been holding her arm. I watched, confused, as the Ak-hal who’d had me walked off with the frightened woman. She looked at his chest, confused. I glanced toward the one who now held my arm. His grip was tight. I felt that I understood why the other woman had been frightened—he seemed rough.
I stood beside him silently, waiting for him to speak. He sniffed, inhaling deeply, as though smelling me. I clutched my glass nervously. He exhaled sharply, grunting. I shook with fear. Where the other Ak-hal seemed to hide their monster side, this one seemed to ooze with danger. I could feel him ready to shake off his humanoid shell and burst forth with fiery abandon. A deep rumble thundered through his core. I fought to keep my breathing under control as I felt him willing me to look at him. Slowly, I complied, my gaze raising to meet his bright crimson eyes. Two twin wheels of flame in his perfect, Italian renaissance-sculpture face. I fought to contain my terror.
“Shay,” Sarita’s voice came from behind me, and I whirled to see her in relief. She stood behind me, smiling a little. Her hands were clasped before her. “Come with me. Rakharo, there are others.” I found myself released from Rakharo’s vicious grasp. My glass, which had been clasped in my hands, was taken from me. Sarita placed her small hand on my arm, guiding me toward the dais. The king stood beside it, speaking in low tones to another Ak-hal, this one with Sarita’s caramel-toned skin and dark hair, and the king’s bright green eyes. He was half human half Ak-hal, I realized as he glanced at me. His face had a more human expression to it, yet it maintained the coldness of the Ak-hal. His red-brown, glowing eyes glittered with the same danger of the king. I then realized why I had been “acclimated” by the queen. I had been chosen for her son.
“Moranen,” Sarita said, warmness seeping into her voice as she addressed her son. “This is Shay.” He bowed low, taking my hand and kissing it.
“My mother has told me about you,” he said. It came out without any effect. “She has chosen well.” My stomach dropped as I glanced at Sarita. She smiled coldly.
“What?” I wanted, desperately, to glare openly at her, queen or not.
“When I saw you, at the party,” she explained, “talking to that hideous, odious man, with such grace, I knew that you were destined for my son.” I realized that I had seen her. She had been watching me talk to Greg at the party. She shrugged. The king took her hand, and they disappeared into the crowd, leaving me on my own with Moranen. He looked at me, hungrily.
“You no longer have to worry,” he assured me, taking my hand and tucking it into the crook of his arm. “We will be mated at the end of two weeks. And then we can spend all eternity together.” My stomach roiled sickly.
He led me out of the cavernous hall, and into a courtyard. Above us, the night sky was ink black, and the stars were small and luminous. I wondered if one of them was Earth—where the grandchildren of everyone that I had ever known were living out their lives, blissfully unaware of the horrors that existed in the universe. I exhaled, my breath a cloud in front of my face, and I shivered in the cold, despite my thick cloak.
The courtyard was tiny, and the hedges of blue flowers were thick. In the center, water spilled from a fountain. At its center was the carving of a woman, her hand holding an urn, which poured out a continuous stream of water. Standing, entwined around her was carven the shape of a dragon, its body long and sinuous, its triangular-shape
d head gazing down at her downturned face. I reached out a hand.
“How is it possible for the water to flow?” I asked. The air was freezing. Moranen smiled.
“It’s heated,” he said, as though I were a child. “Feel it.” I sat on the stone lip of the fountain and dipped my hand into the pool, feeling the heat of the water. It burned my skin.
“And the flowers?” I asked.
“What about them?”
“How do they grow?” I looked at them. “On Earth, when it’s this cold, nothing can grow.”
“It’s never warm here,” he replied. “It’s always what you call winter. We are too far from our sun. Things must grow here, to support life. Their chlorophyll moves very swiftly, to circulate it through their systems.”
“The Ak-hal didn’t make it, then?”
“No. The plants were here before us.” He studied them, his head cocked to one side. “It does look like something that we would make, though. They are… beautiful.” That word again. It seemed that they knew nor had any other adjectives.
“Do the Ak-hal make things that are only beautiful?” I asked.
“Yes,” he replied evenly. “There is nothing that we make that is ugly. What would be the point?” I thought of their use of the Kamani’s pelts. That was ugly, but in moral, not in look. I got the feeling morality was a concept that would be foreign to Moranen. He placed a hand on my cheek, and I looked up at him. He looked at me, possessively, and a confident grin spread across his face, that cold look in his eyes—it was psychopathic in nature. It chilled my blood even more than the climate.
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