Outlaw Seal

by Kate Sheperd

  "Are you arguing with me?" the supervisor demanded in a deep, guttural voice. Just his tone sent shivers down Lilith's back, but the threat was far more frightening.

  "No, sir. I just…" Lilith began, but decided that an explanation would get her into more trouble, rather than doing her any good. "No sir. I'm sorry, sir," she said softly. "What should I do with the tractor?"

  "I'll put it back in the docking area. Master wants you back at the manor immediately," the supervisor said. "Now shoo! Get along! We don't have all day!" he ordered, and Lilith quickly got down from the huge tractor and started running towards the manor. It was over a mile away, and she was dying of thirst, but she knew if she was seen strolling casually, there would be trouble.

  When she got to the manor, she was panting and wheezing from not having enough to drink, but her master quickly saw her and went over to her. "I was wondering why you were taking so long. Get in line with the others," he growled, his unnerving yellow eyes piercing right through her. She didn't argue, and simply went over to the lineup, though she was unsure of whether or not to stand with the breeders. A kick to her backside, pushing her that way, informed her quite quickly that she was to stand with them.

  Lilith's blood ran cold as she stood with the line of breeders. She wasn't nineteen yet, and that was the age that was appointed to be ripe for child rearing. Before nineteen, there were more medical complications than were worth dealing with, in the opinion of most of the slavers at least. Therefore, typically girls didn't stand in this line until that time, but now she was here, before her time. It made her shiver, and curse her blasted luck. Her supervisors or master must have misplaced her records, or misremembered them, or there must have been some mistake. Still, Lilith only worried about that in the back of her head. The more pressing concern was getting water.

  "Listen up, all of you!" the master of the farm, Lord Slorn, began to address the general crown. "The Vorox prince has come today to pick house slaves for his castle, and he came here because I keep only the best of the best. If any of you, and I mean any stinking [S49]one of you, gives him any other impression, then consider yourself dead! My reputation is on the line here, and if I lose that, then you lose your stinking life, and so does every one of your friends and family!" he said, his voice booming. The Prince of Vorox must have been quite an influential figure to get Slorn in this sort of a mood, but still Lilith couldn't focus on that more than her parched throat. It felt as though tumbleweeds had taken up residence and were roaming around. All she wanted in this world was a tall glass of cold water, though at this point she would have taken any liquid capable of slaking her thirst.

  Slorn went on about more threats, though Lilith didn't focus any of her attention on his rambling. She just started looking around the room for water. Surely there would be a little somewhere? Even if it was just near a plant, or even if it was a bucket put under a leaky spot in the roof. At this point, she wasn't even going to bother worrying about whether or not the water was clean. She was dying for some liquid.

  Though Lilith didn't see any water in the room, she did notice that everyone--except for her, it seemed--was dressed in their finest clothes. Some people without finer things even looked like they had been given something to wear for the occasion.

  No sooner did Lilith realize this than did a strong, somewhat slimy hand of a Jabber grab her arm and pull her off to the side, quite unceremoniously. She wasn't offered an explanation, and she didn't ask for one. Being a slave all her life made her rather accepting of whatever sort of injustice met her.

  Once the Jabber stopped hauling her around, she found herself in a dressing room with some nice, sparsely embroidered clothes. The fabric was similar to linen, but it was clean. More than she could say about her current clothes, at least.

  The Jabber unceremoniously took a wet rag and wiped the worst of the dirt from her. What Lilith wouldn't have done to take that rag and wring the water out. Her throat was like a desert. But she refrained and got herself dressed in a clean, white, linen outfit that was decorated with gold-hued embroideries, a much nicer thing than would typically be given to a field hand, but she had to be presentable if she was going to be chosen by royalty.

  After she was dressed, she looked around for the rag, but it was nowhere in sight, and in no time she was being led back to the lineup.

  "Stand straight, no slouching!" the Jabber that had her go change into the clean outfit ordered. Lilith hadn't been slouching per se, more looking for a drink, but she followed his orders and stood tall, though her wandering eyes couldn't be contained.

  Luckily, she wasn't standing dumbly for long. A tall, dark, handsome figure walked into the room within minutes. He stood at about seven and a half feet tall, with long and flowing purplish-black hair. His skin was pale, making him somewhat unnerving to look at, but he was surprisingly human. The only differences that she could see were his claw-like nails, his bright purple eyes, and his height.

  The prince was adorned in a long black cape with purple accents and a black suit. In his hand, he held a goblet of something--she couldn't tell what. Despite not knowing what was in the goblet, it became the sole focus of her attention.

  "Announcing the famed Prince of Vorox, Draci," said Lord Slorn, doing a very uncharacteristic bow as the tall, pale man walked in.

  The prince surveyed the room briefly, then looked in his goblet and swirled the contents briefly before taking a sip. Lilith wanted it so badly, but she didn't move from her spot.

  Slowly, and deliberately, Draci began moving around the room, surveying all the children with a discerning eye. He picked a lot of the more delicate and refined-looking boys, presumably for butlers. For the women, he seemed to favor those with black hair and smooth skin, as every one that he picked fit that category.

  When he moved over to the line of breeders, Lilith stiffened and stared forward intensely, not wanting him to pick her. She was afraid of his deliberate, slow, purposeful manner. Something was unnerving about it compared to the brash, loud, and violent manner of the Jabbers. Perhaps the Jabbers weren't objectively any better than this man, but they were at the very least more familiar than this man.

  While staring forward intensely, she eventually did see Draci pass by her, and she relaxed after a few moments, when he moved on farther down the line. Now relaxed, she glanced around, and she saw his goblet on the table near her! He had actually put it down!

  Lilith couldn't believe her luck, but she didn't wait to wake up from this dream. She carefully took a cursory glance around. The Jabbers didn't seem to be too focused on her section of the slaves in the lineup. Their focus seemed to be wherever the prince was at the time, and because he was a bit farther down the line, she could carefully slip out of place for a moment.

  Though she knew if she was caught there would be serious repercussions, at this point she felt truly desperate to get some liquid in her. So, she took the goblet in her hands and quickly chugged down enough of the contents to sate her for the moment, then put it down and was about to turn and hurry back to her place.

  As she turned, however, she bumped into none other than the prince. He was tall and imposing, and just seeing those intense purple eyes look down upon her made her shiver in fear.

  "Insolent little wench!" Lord Slorn shouted in a terrible grating voice, and doubtless he would have continued berating her, except the prince put up his hand to silence him.

  "Do not screech in my presence. I came here to see your stock, not to be serenaded by a banshee," the prince said coolly, turning to glare at Lord Slorn. He quickly bit his tongue, but Lilith could see how angry he was. She felt as if she had been issued the death sentence already, as that was certainly coming.

  "I…I'm sorry. I was so thirsty," Lilith said quietly.

  "Go stand with the others," Draci said, but Lilith wasn't sure if she was saved or if he would just have his own punishment for her back at his castle. Perhaps he was a sadist who liked to torture people? It wouldn't have surprised her,
especially considering he was royalty.

  Still, Lilith could only choose between this stranger who might spare her or certain death. Granted, she knew the Jabbers would give her a quick and painless death, but she couldn't deny herself the chance to be saved. So, even if she was walking towards a terrible, torturous end, that sliver of hope encouraged her to take the chance.

  Once she was in the line, Slorn exploded, yelling loudly at her. "Get back in your place, you insolent child! You…you!"

  "I ordered her there, Slorn," the prince said shortly. Though Lilith could plainly tell that Slorn was containing an explosion within him, the toadish alien said nothing more, and neither did Lilith.

  The rest of the assembly went on without a hitch, and Lilith followed the group that was led by the prince to his ship, after he paid for the twenty-some slaves he had picked from the group he'd perused.

  Strangely enough--or at least Lilith thought it strange--there were no guards that followed the slaves or prodded them onwards. Instead, the prince seemed to just have faith that all of the slaves would follow without faltering.

  Though Lilith thought it odd, she followed the prince without a second thought. Everyone in the procession knew that if they failed to stay with the prince, they would be executed on the farm. Perhaps the prince's confidence that they would follow wasn't so odd after all.

  Once on the carrier ship, she milled in with the rest of the crowd, and all the older women who had been picked, who were at least over nineteen, knew the drill. Slorn prepared his slaves with meticulous attention to detail--something he was famous for. Therefore, all the older girls directed the younger ones to follow them into the human transport area, which was easy enough to find by following the signs.

  Lilith was prepared to follow the older girls, considering they actually knew what they were doing, but she stopped herself when she felt a sense of unease come over her. She couldn't account for the cause exactly, but she could feel the hairs on the back of her neck stand straight up, and her skin began to break out in gooseflesh. She froze momentarily before she looked up to see that the prince was staring straight at her.

  For a moment, Lilith was completely at a loss, unable to make any coherent thought stick in her mind. As he started to walk towards her, however, she felt instantly afraid. She was worried he wanted to punish her for stealing, yet her feet wouldn't heed her mind and run away.

  It wouldn't do any good, even if they did heed. He would just chase me down, Lilith reasoned to herself. Her thoughts didn't get much further than that, however. Draci was upon her now.

  "I would like to have a word with you, Miss Lilith," Draci said, his voice taking on a strange tone, which Lilith couldn't quite account for. She didn't know what to make of it exactly. His words were spoken in a near whisper, with more affectation that usual. She couldn't help but worry that something unsavory was waiting for her in whatever private quarters Draci wished to speak to her in. "Miss Lilith?" Draci asked, a bit more forceful this time.

  "Yes, sir," Lilith said, responding better to the harsher tone, as that was something that she understood a bit more easily.

  "Come," he ordered, and led her to a room with a small table, a food dispensary, and a hot drink maker. He motioned for her to sit, and while she did, he pressed a few buttons on the hot drink maker and gave Lilith a cocoa-like drink, and he himself had something that was as black as his sable clothes.

  Lilith didn't know what to do with the drink, so she just looked at Draci with her big, curious green eyes. She was like a well-trained dog; she wouldn't have her treat without permission.

  "Drink up, Miss Lilith," Draci said, and took a drink of his coffee. His purple eyes followed her movements carefully as he watched her take a sip of the drink, and he relaxed when he saw the smile spread across her lips. "I hope you will not continue to be so afraid of me."

  "Sorry, sir," Lilith responded automatically, putting the cup down. She wasn't really sorry, but she supposed that was the correct response to have. when Draci looked at her and narrowed those intense eyes of his,, she realized that it wasn't the right answer.

  "That isn't a very reassuring answer for the question I posed to you. Now, I know you aren't stupid. That much I can tell. So, listen to what I say: I hope you won't continue to be so afraid of me," Draci repeated, his tone laced with a tinge of annoyance.

  Lilith took the time to listen, instead of responding on instinct like she did last time, but she was a bit at a loss for an appropriate response. Even still, she felt like she had to give an answer.

  "You're right, it wasn't a reassuring answer. But it's the only answer I know for your statement[S50]," Lilith replied, being a bit more honest, and slightly more candid this time around.

  "And why is it the only answer that you can give?" Draci asked, taking a sip of his drink.

  "Well, if someone held your life in their hands, and could destroy it at any moment, how easily would you find yourself not being afraid of them at all?" Lilith replied.

  Draci didn't say anything to that for a moment, and Lilith was worried she might have gone a bit too far. After a few minutes passed with Draci gracefully sipping his drink and pondering the issue, he spoke again.

  "I suppose you may have a point there. But nevertheless, you will annoy me if you're afraid of me," Draci replied.

  "Annoy you?" Lilith replied, surprised to hear Draci's rather childish response to her perfectly valid reasoning.

  "That is what I said," Draci replied. "And I mean it. If you continue to be afraid of me, you'll only annoy me. That would give me more of a reason to send you back to Slorn, thereby greatly disadvantaging yourself."

  "That only makes me more afraid!" Lilith said, not biting her tongue quite in time to prevent the little outburst.

  Draci laughed at that. "There! That's what I want. Someone with a little guts."

  "Guts?" Lilith asked. Perhaps she was asking too many questions, but the Jabbers never asked her to have guts before. All she was required to do was demurely follow the orders that she was given.

  "That's it," Draci replied. "Now, drink up. I know how thirsty you get," he encouraged.

  Lilith looked at him, trying to understand what he meant by that. "Are you talking about how I stole your wine?" she asked.

  "Yes. That was quite the performance. You humans must get thirsty rather desperately if you would step out of line and risk your life for a sip of wine," Draci replied.

  "I had been working in the fields for hours, and the temperature was just terrible. Then I had to run from the fields to the castle, get dressed, and all without any water at all. I thought I was going to die," Lilith responded, feeling a bit indignant about Draci's comment. Anyone would have been bold in her situation.

  "So, the Jabbers don't give their servants water, I take it?" Draci asked, interested in this development.

  "They did. I just drank too much earlier in the day, when it was hotter," Lilith replied. "But Jabbers don't give us enough water. They lost two girls last year to heat stroke, and one this year. Humans sweat, so we need more water," Lilith explained.

  "Fascinating," Draci replied.

  "People dying is fascinating?" Lilith asked, a bit appalled by that response, though she tried to keep her tone civil, so she didn't make her master upset at her right from the onset. Biting her tongue was hard now that she had forced herself to let loose a bit as she talked to Draci.

  "Perhaps I chose the wrong time to interject, but I meant that the incompetence of the Jabbers to keep their slaves’ basic needs met is fascinating, since they have a reputation for raising the best human slaves in this quadrant of the galaxy. Maybe standards aren't too high," Draci mused and drank some more from his mug.

  The nonchalance with which Draci talked about death was somewhat disturbing, but Lilith didn't say anything against it. She just drank her hot chocolate in silence.

  "You bear a resemblance to my mother, Lilith," Draci said, seemingly out of nowhere.

  "I see," Lili
th replied quietly, avoiding Draci's purple eyes by looking into her cocoa.

  "When I saw you drinking from my goblet, I knew in that moment that Slorn would have had you hung up from a pole in the middle of his compound to set an example for the others. I didn't want that to happen to you," Draci said.

  Lilith was at a loss for words there. She could honestly say that she'd never been paid such a kindness before. Yet the very fact that she hadn't been paid a kindness of that magnitude before made her uneasy. What was Draci's motivation for saving her? There was no way it was simply because she resembled his mother.

  "Perhaps I've inundated you with a bit more conversation that you're comfortable with. Why don't you go sit with her[S51] fellows, and we shall talk again once we reach Roza," Draci offered.

  Lilith nodded at that, finished off her drink, then stood. Before leaving, she bowed and then hurried off to the human transport section.

  Chapter Two

  Upon their arrival on Roza, everyone was escorted by some guards that were of Draci's race, though none of them were quite so tall or striking as the prince was. The guards escorted her, along with her fellow slaves, into the castle. By the time they arrived, Draci had already sent his guards with orders as to who would be roomed where, as mandated by what job he expected them to perform for him.

  The castle itself was a sight to behold. The material, though Lilith hadn't seen the likes of it anywhere before, was some type of rock. Its surface was almost glassy, and it sparkled in the rays of the sun, yet it was as black as night. There were the occasional deep purple gemstones adorning the surface, and it simply looked magnificent.

  Everyone gave their names to the guards upon entering the castle, and groups were organized, then led down one of the corridors of the magnificent castle, which was adorned with beautiful paintings, intricate woven patterns, armor, gems, and anything else that was wonderful to behold.

  Lilith was at the back of the procession of people, so she had plenty of leisure time to enjoy the scenery. However, when she got to the front of the line, two orange-eyed and pale men looked down at her, waiting for her to give her name.