The bud was the only Dragon’s Flower she owned. The small ball of curled petals zapped electricity towards her as she rolled it from the jar into the cup. She’d never used the flower before, never even brought it out for a reading. Her hands tingled with the static force building around the cup.
Dragon’s Flower purged a person’s body and mind. The process was violent and many who drunk the infusion begged for death. Some even killed themselves. Very few survived. Only the strongest. Triena had read the warning on her computer about this flower. Her skin bumped in excitement at the power such a small plant could hold.
He is closer.
If he survived drinking the first two flowers he wouldn’t survive Dragon’s Flower. This time the reading will kill him.
The rabbit sat with his metal ears twitching as if typing out a code.
“I don’t love him anymore. Don’t look at me like that.” Now wasn’t the ideal time for her mind to fray from overwhelming doubt. She considered her life and her penance for failing to become a Queen herself. It was what she wanted and she believed they would welcome her back, even though she used the energy of flowers and not animal parts.
“The skill has spoken.”
You’ve got it all wrong. His ears were now still and upright.
“I’ll lock you away.”
Defeated, he hopped under the workbench squeezing his overweight body under the set of drawers.
Triena poured the hot water into a white teapot, untied her apron and dumped it on the back of the chair then placed the pot and cups on a tray. The white cups rattled in anticipation as she picked up the ornate tray. Soon, he’d be lying dead. She’d contact the Queens, be reinstated and finish her training.
You’ll not cope doing energy readings with animal parts. The rabbit’s thoughts broke through her mental wall. You’re still trying to make amends for taking my ears and you couldn’t even kill me.
Fuck the Queens and get out.
I’m right. That’s why you’re so upset.
Bastard! Triena walked into the front room. The rabbit was right. The old feelings towards Braklen kindled inside her like a building storm, one that could easily get out of control.
“He’s cute. Why the metal ears?” Braklen scratched the rabbit behind those ears. Triena nearly dropped the tray at the sight. She resisted the urge to kick the rabbit.
“Slight mishap. Flowers are more my style.” Guilt pricked at her. The metal ears were her fault. She’d had to improvise at Orberon in outback Space and she’d heard she needed rabbit ears as a means to help her read the Energy when she first arrived. Since her stomach wasn’t strong enough, she’d abandoned the traditional energy readings with their animal organs for flowers.
Carefully she placed the tray down on the table and took each cup and arranged them in the center. She left the tray on the side bench and moved the teapot onto a heat mat next to the cups.
“Ready?” She sat down gracefully trying to remain focused and ignored the features she wished to touch with her hands and lips. As with all customers, she built a protective dome of energy around them. The process of reading rendered her vulnerable in the physical world.
“Yes.” He gave the rabbit one last scratch before sitting up and facing Triena. He flushed when he met her eyes. Their souls began to connect, as part of the reading.
“Choose one cup to represent the past,” said Triena.
“It’s that easy?” He leaned forward to try and look into the cups.
Triena quickly placed a hand on his shoulder. She felt her energy unravel with his begging for the two to meld. “Close your eyes and open your heart.” Her hand vibrated with excitement from touching Braklen. But, she kept herself in the middle of the energy. “Take your time.”
Braklen closed his eyes. Triena extended her energy around him helping him to feel safe. She decided to work out the details of having to work with the energy using animal parts later. As long as she could leave this moon, could go back to Earth to live with the Queens, she’d do what she had to do.
Triena pushed forward the cup containing Wing Leaf. She moved the other two cups to the side and poured hot water over his choice. Wing Leaf. She hoped it would be too strong for him and his body would refuse to release, retain the negative energies that could be enough to kill. Everyone reacted differently to the flowers depending on the personal journey the Energy provided for them.
She leaned forward and focused her energy. The bud held tight as if fighting against the hot water and sat on the bottom as if drowning. She felt the shift within herself. Her energy intensified and this time she entered a different trance, connecting with the essence of the flower.
Dried brown leaves began to unfurl as they absorbed the water. A faded purple petal lifted away from the ball as if welcoming Triena to look inside. Brown tentacles drifted, seeping out into the water, flavoring with an ancient sweetness of heavy plum. The heat in the water lifted the scent upwards into the air, seducing the observers.
“Your past has been tainted with a sweetness blessed by the Queens.” Triena’s voice sounded disconnected, soft and mysterious. “They used your strength and leadership and took you into battle. You were scared. You wanted to curl up and never face the world again.”
She saw the battles he led on different planets, dust, blood and dead bodies. Ships hung in the sky sending fire down to burn those who didn’t believe the Energy Readers, those who had rejected the Queens, and those who stood with the Priests. Battles between ships formed in the energy showing Triena what Braklen had endured. She saw his fear. It ripped at her stomach. As a Peacekeeper he was loyal to the Queens. But, she saw the dark doubt, the size of a wheat seed in his heart.
Triena forced herself to pull out of the trance, a little, but not before reading the love he had for her. Still had, but it was buried under a thick blackness. The love was there, clear between the petals. He’d loved a woman when he was young, but she left him. Braklen’s confusion over the situation pressed on her lungs. She felt her breath increasing, becoming shallower. He still loved her. He wanted to find her, but was too scared. Something had broken the memory, but now the energy worked on him, restoring the fractured pieces.
No. He can’t remember. He will hate me. He will kill me. Like a stab to the gut she realised what she would have to live with if he died. There would be no chance of a relationship with him. Her insides twisted. She needed his memories to stay fragmented.
Triena tried to stop the energy reforming Braklen’s memory, of her, of them, but she couldn’t. The image formed reflecting back a younger version of herself. He can’t remember. No. Stop.
The Energy Field held the image and guided it to Braklen’s mind where it implanted whole back into his mind. No.
A shot of bright light distracted Triena. There was something else. The Queens lied. Back when she was trying to do her initiation, they told her he was aligned with the Priests. Triena could read the patterns of the energy and saw the Queens had lied to her. Suddenly, she lost the flow of energy and felt herself disconnect from the flower. The bloom had spoken. Pieces broke away, now falling into a different pattern.
This is all wrong.
“There’s unfinished business in your past. It’s affecting your path, clouding your future.” The images faded as the message ended.
Her heart thudded and her eyes watered. She was glad the veil concealed her emotions from him. The unfinished business was her. Acidic juices rose to her mouth.
“Drink.” She struggled to gain control. He had gone to war because of her failed attempt on his life. She’d sent him into a time of bloodshed. “Wash away your past so you can go into the future.”
She watched him lift the cup to his lips, tipping the liquid into his mouth. The Wing Leaf would take his mind. She’d seen enough of the knowledge held in the flower to be certain. He had too much horror in his past, enough to send him mad and weaken him so she could finish her task. And that was what she wante
d, for him to die, because that was what she had been told to do. But, now everything was wrong. She couldn’t stop him. She sat stunned as he drank.
“Got any sweetener?” He pulled a face before taking another mouthful.
The rabbit hopped up to her clicking his metal ears in alarm as Braklen continued to drink and she just watched him.
“I hope the others don’t taste this bad. For something that smelled sweet, it tastes like ship fumes.” He wiped his mouth.
Triena waited for the juices of the flower to begin to work in him.
“Not sure about that stuff you were saying.” He looked at her unaffected. “I chose to go to war, you know.”
Confused, Triena sat back in her chair trying to make sense of what was happening, or not happening because Braklen looked as healthy as ever. He wasn’t reacting to such a potent flower or to the horror of his past. That’s not possible. She wouldn’t be able to win a physical fight against Braklen.
“Are we going to continue? Or do you have more to say?”
She looked at him. He wasn’t even sweating. There was no change in him from drinking Wing Leaf. Maybe I’m not meant to kill this man? She felt the rabbit’s energy suggest that she do something else with Braklen.
Triena took the Wing Leaf. Instead of pouring in hot water she looked into the cup searching for more information. The cup trembled from her shaking hands. She slipped back into her energy trance and a new pattern began to unfold. The answers in the energy formed an image in her third eye.
The room exploded in light and the building shook. The newly formed image shattered and she lost the information.
Braklen tried to stand, but collapsed on the floor. Outside, people screamed.
Chapter 2
Triena rushed to the front door and turned the lock, the rabbit behind her. She set the energy shield to high. Now, no one could enter or leave her place. She pulled off the scarf on her head, dropping it on the floor.
She looked out from behind the edge of the thick curtain. The rabbit twitched nervously at her feet. The street normally held those covered by illegal trade, a transient population, booze drinkers and whores. It’d been safe for her here on the edge of civilization.
Why are the Peacekeepers here? She shifted her weight uneasily between her feet. A deep knowing made her feel that it was something more than just illegal trade. Something to do with the Queens. Her stomach tightened. The Queens won the war, but tension rose. She could sense it.
Flames burned turning the street a simmering glow of red. A hoverpod had been set alight in front of Salene’s place. Thick black smoke bellowed from the Peacekeepers’ ship, but it was still intact. Surrounding buildings of metal, wood and solar panels remained standing, but all the windows on the ground and upper levels shattered.
People ran for cover from the street, leaving only the injured and the Peacekeepers, who spread out taking control of the area. She looked back at Braklen. His body convulsed periodically on the carpeted floor.
“Are you to blame?” Another explosion caused her to look outside again. Soldiers cleared the street, using force on the inhabitants by physically pushing them away, then holding up their guns threatening to shoot them. People weren’t staying around to find out why they were there, and ran away to the closest building to hide, many stopping to help those who were injured to get out of the way. Some of the Peacekeepers fired rounds into the air to scare the citizens. The sounds caused Triena to jump.
“I know, I know,” she said to the rabbit. Anger flamed inside her, but she had to keep away even though she wanted to go and see if Salene was all right. Triena knew she couldn’t leave her house since Braklen lay unconscious in her room. Right now, she didn’t dare draw any attention to herself if the Peacekeepers came inside.
“It would help if you had muscles,” she said to the rabbit. He bounced out of the way as she bent down and grabbed Braklen by the feet. You better die soon. A flash of light burned through her eyes and she doubled over in pain. The message from the Energy Field resurfaced. The lies from the Queens seared through her neurons. Doubt held her hand from killing him.
She didn’t have the conviction to stab a knife into his heart. The thought of the act weakened her knees. Besides the test was to kill Braklen with a reading and that process was happening, just slowly. The pain eased and she opened her eyes. Yeah, don’t kill him. That message was for her. She looked at him unconscious and sweating. Might be too late on that one. The flash of light had raised her curiosity. If the Queens could manipulate the energy by changing Braklen’s memory, Triena wanted to find out how. First, she had to survive.
She held his black boots and dragged him out of the front room. “Fuck the Queens, you are heavy.”
Out of breath, she managed to pull him into the bedroom at the back of her place. Not that he would be any safer here. At least he wasn’t in plain sight. She figured the Peacekeepers would have begun searching the surrounding houses looking for Priests and she had work to do. The energy shield protected her home and shop from attack, kept out the thieves, but it couldn’t hide her. An invisibility cloak would be ideal, but she had to be a Peacekeeper to have one. Even then they denied their existence.
She tugged him to the other side of the bed and dropped his feet while she bent over trying to breathe. Braklen remained unconscious on the floor caught in the process of purging his past. “You’re too heavy to lift onto the bed.”
She covered him with a dark woollen blanket. If anyone looked into the room they would hopefully miss him. “Watch over him.”
The rabbit stood next to the body as if on duty.
Scared for her own safety, Triena returned to the front room to tidy up. She tipped the two unused flower buds into separate jars and placed them in a small vial, which she put in the pouch under her belt. She took out the ordinary tea and filled a metal teapot with the black leaves. On a whim, she added some additional leaves, silent and potent, an added security for whatever might be about to happen.
The cup holding the open Wing Leaf lay broken on the floor and she swept up the parts, removing the evidence of a reading. Only Energy Readers were allowed to use the energy. Even though she didn’t use animals, the Peacekeepers would arrest her for reading energy. She had a right to use her skill.
The good thing about trading on an outback moon was that she knew enough secrets of others to be protected, so no one gave her up. She had plenty of dirt on them to cause them to think twice about keeping her skill a secret. Except one. Rangit. He was smarter than most. He supplied her with flowers, but would turn her in for a price. She shivered at the thought. He would, and probably did bribe his way out of prison time.
Triena went to the prep room and drew the curtain over the shelves of flowers. To anyone else they would look harmless enough. It was the best she could do, though she wished she had at least tried to source an invisibility shield. The expense would’ve been worth it.
“Open up.” Her front door rattled.
She ran to the tea room and stopped at the door considering her options. She didn’t want to let them in. The door rattled again.
“Okay, okay.” The last thing she wanted was for them to blast their way in. She’d worked hard over the years to buy this place and she didn’t want it destroyed. Triena turned the shield off and unlocked the door.
A man stood holding small particle gun at her. Triena froze but tried to keep her cool. “Would you like some tea?”
The man stepped aside revealing a woman wearing a long white dress that clung tight to her body. “Come on, Triena, I know you give more than tea. How about one of your famous flower readings.”
Triena blinked a few times, then managed to say the name of her old classmate. “Pernally?”
“Queen, to you.”
Triena bowed her head, pressing her fingernails into her skin. The pain reminded her that this was real, not something unfolding in the Energy Field. She’s one of the 12 Queens now.
“Now, let’s see how your skill has progressed.” Queen Pernally walked into the shop. Two Peacekeepers, in their plain grey uniform of trousers and shirt, followed her and stood behind her as she sat down. “Come on, you don’t have all day.”
Triena tried to stall while she desperately tried to think who might have ratted her out. Rangit? “This will take some time to prepare.”
“No it won’t. Go and bring me three flowers. Your water is hot. My men here can drink ordinary tea while they wait.” Pernally motioned for them to sit at the neighboring table.
“Then let me pour for them.”
Triena’s fingers trembled as she took out a fresh white china teapot from the side cupboard. She didn’t pay any attention to what she was doing, and she sprinkled in an extra helping of dried black tea leaves from the metal canister. She was honored and scared the Queen was here. Maybe this is my time and they’ll take me back. I can teach them about the use of the flowers instead of using animals.
She poured out the tea for the Peacekeepers and handed them each a cup. Pernally nodded and they began drinking the tea.
“Excuse me, I will go and select the flowers.”
“Don’t think you can trick me. I know you are a sweet girl, incapable of killing.”
The warning set Triena’s hairs on end. She hadn’t planned to kill Pernally. She wanted to return and use the skill of the Queens, not be stuck out here in the middle of nowhere. If only I could be sure Braklen was dead, then I could show you I can carry out the Queens’ orders.
Triena knew she didn’t have time to enter a deep trance to make the selection. Pernally’s presence made her feel uncomfortable. Triena would’ve thought she’d be relieved to have such a distinguished guest in her tea room, but she wasn’t. Something niggled at the back of her mind. She’d seen something in the energy just before the explosion, something important, but couldn’t recall what.
She opened the curtain to reveal the shelves and then set out three cups. The rabbit picked up on her stress, which didn’t help, she felt him urging her to hurry. Her hand ran over the jars as she systematically tested them for selection. She held the Queen’s image in her third eye to ensure the flowers were selected for her.
Flower Readings Page 2
