Valek did not wait for a response from Richard before terminating the tella transmission.
* * *
An expression of glee spread across Orono’s face quickly as he backed away from the crack in Valek’s door and hurried down the hall. Wait until MaxMion heard the latest news. Valek was expanding the Solance potion to the Earth 4016 planet.
Orono patted his stomach and grabbed the first torch from the wall before descending to the dungeon. He thought of an evening meal of roasted honey henckens and thick slices of bread.
Instead when he reached the lower half of the castle, MaxMion was hunched over parts of the latest human slave brought in. Beside him, on a tin plate, were decaying vegetables and plants he had picked out of the pit. That is where he had recovered his meal. The vegetables were for Orono.
The punch smell of decaying flesh and rubbish made Orono lose his appetite. He had tired of eating the discards from Valek’s table. He longed to eat real, delicious food.
“MaxMion, you will not believe what I have learned,” he said eagerly as he pushed his massive body into the tight room he shared with MaxMion.
MaxMion did not answer or even glance up; he was focused on his meal. Whatever news Orono would wait until after dinner.
Clearing his throat, Orono tried again, “MaxMion, Valek plans to expand Solance sales to Earth 4016.”
MaxMion shook his head anxiously, but did not stray from his meal as he ripped through the blackening flesh of what looked like an arm.
“This is extraordinary, MaxMion.” Orono shifted his weight from one leg to the other. “This could be our escape. Our opportunity to leave this dismal existence.”
MaxMion tore his eyes away from his chunk of meat briefly and gave Orono one final nod of his head, before returning again to his food.
Chapter Ten
The morning sun rose abruptly, or so it felt to Sarah as the rays burst through her window and illuminated the room. The bright room resonated with light.
Hurrying out of bed, Sarah put on her pants and discarded sweater. She plaited her hair into one single braid and left. She softly walked down the spiral staircase, but this time instead of going to the East Hall, she turned right and headed to the Great Hall.
She had decided that she was going to eat with the Minister Knights in the Great Hall, not ostracized like a prisoner.
She was almost to the entranceway, when she sneezed and brought both of her hands to cover her mouth. Seeing the purplish markings on her hands made her gasp. She thought they would have been gone as soon as she woke up. She had completely forgot about them. She could not allow the Ministers to see her markings. She fled back to the East Wing Hall for morning meal.
* * *
Once she was seated at a table in the East Wing Hall, Sarah laughed at her nervousness. A young girl, perhaps seven years-old, came from the kitchen trailed by a woman who looked like an older version of the girl. The girl set the plate and mug, while her mother put baskets of hot, sweet bread and boiled eggs on the table.
Sarah scooted the horrid eggs, with their strange mixed smell of danker beast and charcoal, to the end of her table. She picked up two sweet rolls and gingerly took a bite, savoring the sugary sweetness. The older servant retreated to the kitchen, but the girl did not. Instead she watched Sarah from a short distance away with curious eyes and a dirty mouth.
Around the East Wing Hall were other servants and their families eating morning meals. At the table next to her, a family of six, two adults and four young children ate their morning meals in remarkable silence.
Sarah noticed that they ate from brown, coarse bowls and fat wooden spoons. She watched, mesmerized, they ate a grayish paste-like substance. The youngest boy, no more than three Sarah would guess, grimaced with each spoonful and he would spit some of it out when his mother was not looking.
When the servant woman returned to her table, Sarah asked, “Madam, what is it that family there is eating?”
The servant followed Sarah’s finger to the adjacent table.
“They are eating gosha, Madam.” The servant woman turned back to her and asked, “Would you like a bowl?”
Sarah’s stomach turned over and she said, “No, no thank you.”
Her answer received a weird expression from the servant woman, who made sure this time to grab her daughter’s hand before heading back into the kitchen.
Sarah sighed before continuing to eat her pieces of bread.
“I thought I would find you here,” Zykeiah called from the entranceway drawing stares from various people in the hall. Two Minister Knights in the same week coming to the East Wing Hall was highly unusual.
Sarah looked around to see whom Zykeiah was calling to, and then realized when Zykeiah sat down across from her, that Zykeiah was calling to her.
“Where else would I be?” Sarah responded as she placed both her hands out of view underneath the table.
“I am heading up to Stocklah for a short ride. I wanted to know if you were interested in going with me.”
Zykeiah dropped a sizeable sack to the floor; the sack made a loud crash that once again interrupted the morning meals of those in the East Wing Hall.
“I – I…” Sarah stammered as she tried to think of a way to politely decline.
“Do come, Sarah. It is a beautiful place, besides, you and I have a great deal in common,” Zykeiah smiled.
“Well, this morning, I have—” Sarah began to say.
“Nothing planned. I am not taking ‘no’ for an answer.” She stood abruptly and said, “I will meet you in the stables in one rotation.”
With that, she left and the East Wing Hall became extremely busy, buzzing with whispers.
Sarah stood and left the East Wing Hall shortly after Zykeiah. She headed in the direction toward the Great Hall, but she turned a sharp right toward the central baths.
Once she reached the central baths, she stopped at the outside trough and rinsed the stickiness of breakfast from her hands. She dried them with a large, coarse towel that hung beside the trough. There were few people about in the hallways. Most were probably sleeping in from last night’s celebration.
Next, she continued on to the stables. At the early hour, the servant page was still somewhat asleep in the small front section of the stables. His bed consisted of a grassy mat.
The crisp air did nothing to eliminate the burning and horrid smell of the danker beasts. Sarah held her breath as she waited for Zykeiah. She stretched the sleeves of her sweater until they partial covered her hands. Only the tips of her fingers were visible.
“I thought you might need this,” Zykeiah piped up from behind her, causing her to jump and yank down her sleeves.
Zykeiah handed a wooly coat to Sarah. “Put this on.”
She put it on, making sure to tie the belt tight. The air would be cold—very, very cold—this early in the morning and she wanted to be warm.
Zykeiah wore a thick, insulated coat made from danker beast fur. It had been dyed a flaming pink that matched her leather pants. On her feet, boots of smooth polished leather and her hair had been picked to a glowing, blonde Afro. Moving her tinted glasses down from her eyes, Zykeiah smiled at Sarah and said, “Let us be on our way.”
She chose two small female danker beasts and gave one of the reigns to Sarah. “This one is Majaga. She will be kind to you.”
“How long do you expect us to be away?” Sarah asked as she climbed on to Majaga.
“The better part of the day,” Zykeiah answered as she secured her sack onto the danker beast before climbing on. “I brought food for us to eat later.”
Without further comment, Sarah followed Zykeiah out of the stables and into Veloris’s blistering cold morning.
* * *
General Ogroth’s blurry face failed to stay still on the watery screen of Orono’s tella despite his attempts to correct it. It did not matter; the General’s words came through loud and clear.
“I have spoken to the committee and
the King. We are willing to pay your price of seventy-five silver coins in exchange for what secrets of the Solance you are prepared to sell.”
Orono smiled, making his flabby cheeks struggle and jiggle in the attempt. “I am glad to hear that.”
“Do not be misled, Orono. The information had better be worth it or you will pay us with your life,” General Ogroth threatened with a growl.
“It will be more than worth it,” Orono replied coolly, his smile slipping from his face. He frowned at the watery visual of General Ogroth.
“We will be the judge of that,” General Ogroth grunted again and terminated the transmission.
Orono swore as he left the tight dungeon quarters, being sure to pocket the black glass ball in which he had just spoken to General Ogroth. The plan was not going well. General Ogroth was a menace.
“What did he say?” MaxMion hovered just outside the lower entranceway to the castle.
“They accepted our price,” Orono disclosed confidently as his eyes scanned the shadows for spies… or worse, Valek.
* * *
Katelin followed Amana back into their shared cage. The next group of souls floated past them with dreary faces and sagging shoulders as if they bore the entire planet of Solis on their shoulders.
“Come, sit and rest,” Amana said as she sat down on the sanded smooth, stone bench; the room had little else.
“I am not tired,” Katelin remarked as she continued to stare as the hundreds of souls humbly floated by in remarkable silence. MaxMion stood at the forefront of the mines picking out those who had to work and those that had to die.
“I know. We never get physically tired,” Amana replied.
“So why are we waiting here? Why does he not work us indefinitely?” Katelin asked.
“I believe it is because Valek needs refreshed souls for his Solance. Even though we do not need physical rest, I think we do need to rest our spirits.”
Katelin did not respond, but she came over next to Amana and sat down. She laid her head onto Amana’s shoulders and remained still. Amana could not feel Katelin’s presence, but there was pressure from their souls intermingling.
Amana did not know what the role of being a big sister incurred, because she had always been the little sister to Sarah. She was learning with this new soul, Katelin. The more she learned, the more she realized what a burden she had been to Sarah.
Katelin demanded so much, many answers, protecting and explaining. Amana did as she remembered that Sarah had done for her when they first arrived at the cages. She found herself returning again and again to those memories as she tried to cushion and support Katelin. Despite this, Amana missed being the little sister and longed for her own big sister.
* * *
The area just northeast of the castle, some two hundred paces from the servants’ cottages, sloped slightly as Sarah and Zykeiah made their way up the snaking trail, between cuts in the rock, and narrow passageways.
Neither spoke as the sun continued to rise as the morning melted into mid-day. The trail had been covered with a light, soft layer of snow from the night before. It was quickly melting into water, and the trails of water stretched out like veins across the land.
“It is warmer than it has been,” Sarah commented as she noticed sprigs of growing plants peeking between slushy piles of melting snow.
“The spring season is upon us now. Veloris will remain a frigid planet, despite the warming trend that comes with the spring, but it is nice see plants,” Zykeiah answered.
Zykeiah’s danker beast edged a little farther ahead than Sarah’s did. Obviously, she was leading, for Sarah had no idea where Stocklah lay amongst the forests and mountains.
Sarah was amazed at how much warmer the day was as she rode beside Zykeiah, who had spoken very little. Odd, she thought, for Zykeiah seemed determined to have her go to Stocklah, but now that she was riding along with her, she behaved as if she was not there or like something was on her mind.
“How long were you in the cages?” Sarah asked.
“Too long,” Zykeiah answered quickly. “Look there, a kowletta calf!”
Sarah looked to the east where some grayish shrubs and dense thicket of trees hid all but the black hooves of a kowletta calf. Its tiny hooves made a bright contrast to the white snow that blanketed the area.
“The mother is close by, no doubt,” Zykeiah said. “Hidden.”
The air started to thin as they ascended further north. The danker beasts moaned as they traveled through the dust-like snow. The slope grew steeper as they followed a narrow trail that had been cut through the Northern Forest centuries before.
“I am originally from Saturn Four,” Zykeiah offered to disturb the silence between them.
“How did you become a slave?” Sarah asked. She had known Saturn Four to be a free colony.
“Valek sells Solance to Saturn Four,” Zykeiah explained. “He would steal souls of the poor and sometimes, when Saturn Four could not make the full payment, they would offer the poor to Valek as part of the settlement.”
“How horrid!” Sarah’s own capture from Earth was an act of terror with traps set along the open, grassy fields. Valek’s henchmen raced into the small towns, driving the people from their makeshift homes of cardboard, metal carts and shacks and into the open fields where the soul cages were set.
Valek’s true interest was in the children. Their souls were the most pure; therefore, he had most of the adults killed on the spot, including parents.
“Yes.” Zykeiah turned to look at Sarah. “But no different than any other soul in the cages.”
“You speak the truth,” Sarah said. She could just make out the green treetops a few paces away. “What is that ahead?”
Zykeiah peered ahead, then nodded. “Stocklah.”
As if the mere mention of the name was an indicator, the danker beasts slowed to a crawl and eventually stopped.
“What is the matter with the dankers?” Sarah patted her danker beast on the head and in return, received a fresh expulsion of gas.
“They are tired,” Zykeiah said as she glanced around for a spot to rest. She steered her danker beast to a patch of melting snow under a huge oak tree. Its skeletal limbs reached up toward the sky and tiny hints of green indicated a future blossoming of flowers.
Sarah looked behind her and saw that they had traveled a great distance up the mountain. She could see the entire roof of the castle and some of the surrounding land. The servants traveling from the castle to the quarter seemed tiny, like ants working in the snow.
Climbing down from her danker, Zykeiah gestured to Sarah to do the same. She led her danker beast to the tree and tied the reigns around the thick trunk. She watched as the animal began to graze on the vegetation hidden beneath the snow.
Sarah climbed down from her danker beast and led it over to the tree, where she tied it up with the other. The two beasts ate greedily, not stopping to lick the snowy ice from their nostrils.
The air was definitely warmer, so much warmer that Sarah was damp with perspiration. The sun’s rays beamed down on the rocks and trees and even the snow retreated from the sun’s intensity.
She loosened the belt and opened her coat. She wiped her face with the back of her hand and took in a deep breath of crisp, cool air. The shallow air did not help cool her off, but she felt somewhat refreshed all the same.
“Stocklah is an oasis buried between two mountains,” Zykeiah said as she placed the sack onto her back and started hiking forward up the gradual sloping mountain. “We go on foot from here.”
The two hiked to Stocklah at a brisk pace. Zykeiah led and Sarah followed, albeit further behind. Soon, she was out of breath and wheezing, but Zykeiah did not stop. She was so far ahead that she could not hear Sarah’s complications or moans.
“Are we there yet?” Sarah panted loudly.
“Almost!” Zykeiah called back.
They had been hiking for nearly an hour, when unable to go further without water, Sarah col
lapsed to her knees. Her hands braced her from falling directly on to her face. Her throat burned and a sharp pain stabbed at her side.
“Are you all right?” Zykeiah ran back to the spot where Sarah collapsed.
“No,” Sarah croaked.
“You maybe too hot. Remove your coat,” Zykeiah suggested as she reached for Sarah’s arm. “I promise it will be worth it.”
“No!” Sarah snatched her arm away and immediately got to her feet.
Zykeiah slid her glasses cautiously to the top of her head and peered at Sarah. “Are you sure you are all right?”
“Yes. I was merely winded; let us continue.” Sarah put both hands onto her hips and took several deep breaths. She couldn’t let Zykeiah see the marks on her hands.
Without further comment, Zykeiah replaced her glasses and resumed the hike. Sarah followed.
The snow gradually gave way to healthy, muddy dirt and plants of greens and blues. After they reached the plateau, Zykeiah beckoned to Sarah to come and investigate.
“Come, you can see the Stocklah Oasis from here.”
Zykeiah removed a smaller bag filled with water from her sack. She handed it to Sarah; then removed a second bag for herself.
Sarah guzzled the water, draining the small pouch of its contents with alarming speed. Then she looked around.
Just below where Zykeiah stood was a drop-off of some several hundred paces downward into a valley. Plush greens, blues and other colors Sarah had no words for grew with free abandon. The screeches, songs, and calls of several birds and animals provided a chorus of wild, untamed animalistic music. It was a tropical paradise surrounded by cold, snow-capped mountain peaks.
Directly to her left was a thundering waterfall that appeared to pour right into the oasis as it raced down the steep slope of the mountain and over the plateau and into the valley.
“It is beautiful.” Sarah yelled above the waterfall’s thundering. She finally tore her eyes away, but she found it even more difficult to choose where to look at next. It was fabulous; a totally different world from Solis’s black emptiness and Veloris’s frigid cold.
Zykeiah watched closely as Sarah stood paralyzed by the splendor and beauty of Stocklah. She recalled how she had the same expression of awe when Marion had brought her there for first time.
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