“Yeah! That’s exactly what I mean! I mean, don’t get me wrong, this stuff’s great. But where I’m from, we can’t exactly just live off of fruit. We need protein, carbohydrates, calcium, fat...all sorts.”
“There are other foods.”
“Like meat!” Morcees intervened, arousing surreptitious cackles from Borcees.
Crystaline’s face hardened.
“No, not meat. That’s just barbaric. We don’t eat meat here.”
Morcees scoffed.
“You might not, but some of us manage it.”
“Heartless delinquent fools like you, yes. As for the law abiding citizens of Urasha, we do not consume meat.”
“At all?” Zach had stopped chewing his food. The man looked genuinely surprised.
“At all.” Crystaline confirmed, as if it were no biggie. “I mean don’t get me wrong, we get what we need. We have sources of food other than fruit. Certain fruits contain more nutrients than others. Other foods have the proteins, the whatever-you-call-its. The energy you need.”
“And will we encounter any of that stuff? Out here?”
“Yes,” Crystaline promised, turning tenderly to her brother. “There is bruc out here isn’t there, Crystos?!”
Crystos appeared reluctant to accept his invite into the conversation. However, the prince agreed with his sister, taking the step to explain the bruc a little further.
“Yes, bruc is plentiful if you know how to find it. It’s a very resourceful food. One of the only foods which contains all of the nutrients we need.”
“What does it taste like?” Inquired Zach.
“You’ll find out.” Crystos answered him.
For a further few moments, all was silent around the fire, as the remaining pieces of fruit were demolished. James found his eyes flitting constantly over to the princess. Crystaline looked beautiful tonight, with her golden irises glinting away against that purple flame. As he thought of the princess, of her knowledge, her experience, her elation at just being here in this forest, a question hit the young space warrior.
“So you’ve been here before? In this forest?”
Crystaline’s eyes gazed upon James’ own. It were as if James’ question had caught Crystaline a little off guard.
“Yes, I’ve been here before. We all have.”
“And is that how you guys produce your food? Or gather it?”
Crystaline shook her head, readying herself to answer James’ question. Surprisingly, Phil beat her to it.
“No, James, the Urashan people have farms in the city. They grow what they need.”
James looked back over to Crystaline, waiting for her to add to Phil’s brief answer. James received no sound. Instead he perceived Crystaline’s stare, her cold piercing death stare aimed right into a seemingly unaware Phil, as he continued to babble on.
“It’s like us, we have farms, don’t we? We don’t need to take a trek into the wilderness every time we need a bit of food. We produce our own.”
James’ eyes flickered over to Crystaline again. If looks could kill, seriously. Phil would be dead right now, murdered by the Urashan princess’ frostbiting glare. It was only when Phil finally stopped talking that Crystaline removed her eyes away from him, giving her own explanation to James’ question.
“Before we were born, our Ancestors gathered what they could. They would come out here regularly to forage around for any source of food which they could find. Any source that wasn’t a living creature of course. With all the food which had been gathered, our people were able to create a large farm within the city. A farm which now provides us with all the food and water we need.” Crystaline paused, glowering at Phil. “However,” she continued, “occasionally, some of our people will still come out here into these wild lands to look for new sources of food, or other materials which could prove beneficial to our kind. So, Phil, your explanation was not entirely correct. My people do still come out here to gather food or other useful materials.”
“How many times have you been out here?” James asked, trying to ease the palpable tension.
Crystaline’s gaze moved to James, assessing him coldly.
“I’ve been out here enough times to know what’s what.”
James looked up above him, pointing to the patches of sky above.
“And space, have you ever been up there?”
Crystaline slowly shook her head left and right, not breaking her icy questioning stare. No, she had not been to space before.
“Would you like to go?” James inquired further, not feeling intimidated by Crystaline’s stalking eyes.
Crystaline took a few seconds to answer James’ question, as if discreetly mulling over how best to cover up her real thoughts. As she whispered out her response, the princess looked straight through James’ pupils, her face rigid and impassive.
“Why would I want to go to space?”
James shook his head disbelievingly.
“Why wouldn’t you?” He rhetorically challenged her. “I mean, there is so much to see and learn. It’s what I live and breathe for, what I’ve spent my whole life working towards.” James paused, looking down at the pile of burning foliage. What he was thinking of brought him pain, longing. However, James was not one to keep his thoughts to himself. No matter how painful they might be. He smiled tenderly, thinking of his mother.
“You know, a very wise woman reminded me of something recently. She explained how humans once were, none of us believing in the possibility of space travel, or even life on other planets. In one single day, that all changed; the Universe taught us to believe in the impossible. How can you not want to explore such an incredible place? One that’s filled with such endless possibilities?”
Crystaline was still staring at James intently. Only this time, the princess’ eyes had broken away from her face’s rigidity, beginning to show such a turbulent storm of emotions deep inside her.
James delicately continued, forgetting about all of the other listening ears around him. This was for Crystaline.
“Thinking about all those endless possibilities gets me wondering. What if the one’s we’ve loved and lost are still out there? Looking down on us somewhere? Or even living a whole new life in some new realm elsewhere. Nothing is impossible, is it?”
At that moment, Crystaline’s breath hitched, no longer able keep her emotions restrained. The princess began to breathe heavily, her mind floundering desperately for an escape route from this conversation. Eventually, her lips parted, forcing out her shaky words.
“It’s getting late. I need to show you all how to secure your furleaves.”
***
Securing the furleaves had been no hard task. James had helped to gather up what long green vines he could, and then he had used two of the vines to secure his own selected furleave. As far as the young space warrior was concerned, he was good to go, ready to at least try and attempt some sleep.
As he lay with his back on the furleave, James could still feel the thing swaying underneath his weight. Unfortunately, the furleaves were all clumped together in one big cluster, and James could see Phil swaying uncomfortably on his furleave at the corner of his eye. Sleeping literally right next to Phil was certainly less than ideal. At least Morcees and Borcees weren’t too close.
James sighed, staring at the vibrant scene all around him. The air was so dark, embellished by the many multi-coloured plants all around him. The fire was still crackling away, though its warmth could not be felt from this leaf.
James thought of that meal around the fire, of the conversation which had taken place. The Urashan princess was a character to say the least. Her complexity was second to none. Crystaline had definitely wanted out of the conversation as soon as it had reached a certain level of depth. Yet at the very same time, James knew, he knew that his words had somehow reached her. He thought of Crystaline’s mother, or the lack of the woman who had given birth to the princess and her brother. Where was the queen? James could only assume the very wor
st: that Crystaline’s mother was no longer alive. The young space warrior felt his throat constricting. He couldn’t work out if the pain was associated with his own loss of his father, or if it was out of sheer empathy for Crystaline and her brother.
James placed his palm over his chest, noting the absence of his father’s green jewel. This forest was so tranquil, so serene right now, a complete juxtaposition of what he was feeling inside.
A few more moments of silence passed, and then James heard it, the sudden snapping noise emanating from right beside him. The noise was soon replaced by groaning, Zach’s groaning as he lay on the floor, covered by his fallen furleave.
Just as James raised, Phil raised too.
“Zach, are you okay?” Phil whispered.
“My leaf!” Zach moaned, throwing off his furleave and inspecting the new grazes on his arms.
James heard Crystaline sighing as she left her own furleave to inspect Zach’s. Morcees and Borcees would not stop cackling.
“What’s going on?” Crystaline whispered.
“My leaf...it broke!”
Crystaline inspected both the furleave and the trees it had fallen off of.
“You idiot, you only used two vines, didn’t you?”
Zach gulped,
“That’s all I thought was needed?”
“No, you needed two for the top of your furleave, and then two for the bottom. You needed four vines.”
James gulped, the realisation suddenly hitting him. He had only used two vines as well, one for each end, oops. Quickly, James scanned the forest floor underneath his furleave, desperately looking for any sign of any vines. He did not want to make a fool of himself just as Zach had. To James’ relief, he spotted one vine just an arm’s stretch away. One plant would give the furleave that extra bit of support that it would need, surely? Surreptitiously, James lay belly down on his leaf, extending his arm out to reach for the vine. He’d got it! Now he just had to fasten it without Crystaline noticing. Luckily the princess was still preoccupied with Zach.
“Where am I gonna sleep now?” Zach whined, “I have no furleave.”
“Yes you do.” Crystaline raised to her feet, pointing to an empty furleave nearby. “This is the only spare furleave we have, so try not to break this one too, okay?”
As Crystaline searched the camping space for four more vines to secure Zach’s furleave, James used this time as an opportunity to strengthen his very own leaf. How had he been so stupid? As James tied the vine to the top end of his furleave, he remembered how his mind had been preoccupied, still thinking of the conversation he’d just had with Crystaline around the fire. He’d not taken in the princess’ instructions anywhere near as thoroughly as he’d thought. Never mind, all was good now. James’ furleave was secure, or secure enough at least.
The princess soon returned to Zach, armed with four more vines. Deftly, she secured Zach’s new furleave.
“There,” she whispered. “That should do the trick. Just relax instead of tossing and turning around every five minutes, okay?!”
As Zach clambered onto his replacement furleave, Crystaline turned to James, raising her left eyebrow wryly.
“And don’t worry, Zach, you weren’t the only one,” she continued, raising her voice so that James could hear her. “Let’s just hope that three vines should be enough shall we, James?”
Crap! James winced. How did she know? Did the princess have eyes on the back of her head? Maybe that wasn’t such an impossibility. Crystaline was an alien after all. For some reason, that thought alone was slightly unsettling. James didn’t know why.
As the young space warrior lay back down on his furleave, he heard Zach shyly thanking the princess, and then all was quiet, everything back to that dreamy serenity.
James placed his hand across his chest once again, thinking of one person in particular: Lottie.
***
Lottie lay alone and awake on top of her room’s huge round bed. She hadn’t even bothered to get undressed yet. Instead, she just lay there on her back, thinking about James and the others. Were they all okay? Was James okay?
Lottie gently caressed the bright green jewel of the necklace which James had lent her. It felt warm, warm where it had been resting gently on her chest. Lottie clasped the green jewel in her hand, embracing its warmth. The warmth reminded her of James. Her best friend, the warmest, most kindest person she had ever met in her entire life. Lottie sighed; oh how she missed him! Oh how she missed the others: Phil, Zach, home.
Lottie wanted off this planet. She did not trust the Urashans at all. The female space warrior promised herself that she would keep an eye on the Urashans, ensuring that they fixed the Earthship. Lottie had a feeling that she would uncover something menacingly sinister. Lottie was an intuitive woman, her impulses rarely wrong.
Chapter 10
The forest was so dense, with the plants and the nettles too closely compacted together. James was fighting his way through the foliage, ignoring the sears and the scratches from the wild plants. James had no room, no room to just scratch that wretched little itch on his arm. Recognising the paralysing immobility in his body, and the heavy feeling in his head, James forced his eyes awake.
The young space warrior had somehow managed to manoeuvre his way onto his stomach throughout the night. The furleave was soft, yes, but boy did that thing itch!
James sat upright, allowing the strength and the alertness to return to his body. It was amazing that he’d managed to sleep at all. He’d remembered just lying there awake for most of the night, wondering when the forest would lighten in preparation for the new day.
As James studied the brighter looking forest, and the dimmer (still glowing) plants, he concluded that the fresh morning had arrived at last. He looked up at the orange furnace of the sun, as it poured its delicate little rays of light into the forest. Unlike yesterday, the sun had broken free from the thick heavy shroud of clouds, giving the forest a brighter appearance.
James got off of his furleave, noticing a wet haired Crystaline crouched alone by the flickering purple flame. Tentatively, he wondered over to the princess, noticing her holding what looked like a comb, hand carved by herself. As he knelt down beside Crystaline he smiled with a mixture of wryness and bashfulness.
“Your own handiwork?” He asked her, nodding his head to gesture to the rigid looking comb.
Crystaline’s face was impassive, her lips pouted firmly together as her eyes studied James’. Slowly, she nodded, parting her rouge lips at last.
“I got bored waiting for you all to wake up.”
James grinned even further, admiring the view of this stunning princess sat opposite him. She’d obviously just washed in the river. Her skin looked white, pure, fresh. Her hair was wet, neatly combed back into shape as it draped past her shoulders.
“It’s pretty impressive,” he praised her. “Though I bet you’d still manage to look sublime no matter how messy your hair got.”
Crystaline’s eyebrows crinkled, and James realised that cheesy little compliments were going to get him absolutely nowhere with the princess. Embarrassed, he changed the subject.
“So er, did you manage to get much sleep last night? You’re up pretty early.”
Crystaline just shook her head, her eyes stalking into James’, and her pout fully returned.
“I didn’t get much sleep either,” James nervously continued, wincing as reminders of his earlier nightmares came flooding back into his brain.
“Though, I’m not sure if that’s such a bad thing with me. I haven’t been dreaming very well lately.”
“Well I envy those who can sleep.” Crystaline whispered.
“Even those who have nightmares?”
As James studied the face of Crystaline, he noticed that look again. He watched as her lips parted, and her eyes grew stormy, as if desperately trying to contain such a hurricane of turbulent emotions within her. Then she rose onto her feet, speaking with that same bitterly cold aloofness.
As James’ mouth gaped open, he watched as Crystaline walked away from him, forcing the conversation to meet its abrupt end.
***
Wanting to escape from the awkward atmosphere, and the rest of his teammates, James had decided to take a leaf out of Crystaline’s book, straying slightly from the camp to wash in the nearby river.
As he knelt down over the stream, James just could not get Crystaline out of his head. Life being the actual nightmare, that was such a morbid thing to say, but not something which the young space warrior could not relate to. James knew all too well how painful life could be. As thoughts of his father bombarded both his mind and his body, James dunked his head into the fresh river water. Feeling the waves of purification cleansing both his mind and his face. That was good, he needed more.
Hoping that there were no harmful creatures in the stream, and that no one else would walk in on him, James stripped off his clothes until he was stood, completely naked before the scintillating river in front of him. Without hesitation, the young space warrior jumped into the river, the water reaching his shoulders. The liquid was cold, refreshingly cold, cleansing his entire body as he submerged himself in and out of the pool. This was the best wash he’d had in days.
As he popped his head out of the water, James gave his hair a little flick, eyeing the forest all around him, grinning at the surreal beauty of the place. He was lucky really, to be here, exploring the Universe. Very few humans got the chance.
Gently, James cupped his mouth around the skin of the water, sucking up its valuable nutrients. This drink would go down well with some of that fruit. Feeling suddenly hungry, James scanned the trees and the dimly glowing plants all around him, searching for any sign of the fruity good stuff. As his eyes wondered over to the two luminous, green star-shaped plants, James noticed a fruit bearing tree next to the rightmost plant. He grinned, swiping his arms through the water until he reached the shore. Dripping wet, James pulled his muscular body out of the river, wondering how he would dry himself. He studied his pile of clothes on the ground, and concluded that his grey t-shirt would make the best towel. The young space warrior picked the shirt up, and gently began to dab it all over his body
Diversion To Urasha (Space Era Book 1) Page 11
