by Maia Starr
I felt guilt inside of me as I listened to her, and I tried to fight it. Why could I not go back to the cold way I treated her when I first met her? She had changed me. I hated her for that. Because it would be hard to watch her being sold to the commander, or anyone else. Yet I got what I wanted. I was going to become a general. It was exactly what I wanted to happen, and yet I did not want it to happen at all.
"Get dressed. I want to show you something," I said to her.
"You do? What?" she asked me.
"Just get dressed, but do not wear the muslin dress and sandals. Wear the boots and work clothes I brought you," I said to her. She nodded her head and disappeared to her room. When she came out, she was wearing fitted cloth around her legs that tucked into her boots. The top was fitted and long, and then I put a cloak and hood over her.
Moments later, we were standing in the middle of the Icannis fields. "This is beautiful. What is this? There's so much of it," she said as she ran her hands across the plants. She looked up at the sky and basked in the sun. She had a smile on her face, and I liked seeing that sense of wonder back inside of her. It was the least that I could give her after what I had done to her.
"This is what the Icannet juice is made from. It is called Icannis, and since you enjoy being outside so much, I thought you would enjoy this."
"Yes, I do!" she said with a big smile. But there was another reason that I brought her here, but I did not want to tell her just yet. I wanted her to enjoy the outdoors and the plants for as long as we could. I let her skip around and touch and smell the plants. She asked me so many questions about how they grew and how the Icannet was made from them. She was happy again but I finally had to tell her.
"Silver, I want you to listen carefully to me," I said to her as I pulled her close to me.
"Yes, Korin,"she said.
"You see that structure over there, the white one?" I said, pointing to a far off white structure at the end of the city.
"Yes, I see it," she said.
"I have had a report that no one else has seen except for me and one other warrior. We believe that the building is a living space for a rebel. This rebel is one that arranges transportation for those Kalazaron that wish to join them at the Blue Mountains."
"Why are you telling me this?" she asked.
"If you were to run away again, run there. Tell them that you want to join the rebel cause and serve as a human slave at the base. They will take you to the Blue Mountains. I do not know what will happen to you there as we have little knowledge of what goes on. However, you will be safer there than with the commander, I know that."
"How? How could I run away?" she asked.
"Just as you did before, when I caught you. Only this time I will not catch you; I will say that you ran away in the middle of the night without my knowledge. If it comes to that. If it comes to the point where the commander is going to gain possession of you, I want you to run there, do you understand?"
Her eyes grew wide and tears began to fall down her cheeks as she nodded her head yes. I knew it terrified her. It should. She would be alone on a strange planet.
"When you run away, run here to the fields. It would be easier for you to come to the field and then run all the way down toward that structure under the cover of the tall plants. Do not try to run through the city; you will be captured. Humans do not go unnoticed. Especially after you have been tagged; it will show whose property you are on your arm, and you will be swiftly returned to them. Use this field. Are you listening to me?" I asked her as I shook her shoulders. It was very important that she understood what I was saying.
"Yes, use the tall plants of the field as cover to make it to that structure, just as I used the tall grass to escape you when we were together in the wild," she said to me.
As soon as she said that, I longed for that day. I longed to be with her in the wild and have no one try to take us apart. I wiped the tears from her face and said, "Let us think of that no more. For now, enjoy this time outside. Take it all in," I said as I pressed my lips against hers and kissed her. I laid her down in the plants and coupled with her, perhaps for the last time.
Chapter 7
SILVER BROOKS
I was relieved when Korin returned from his meeting with the master as I thought that Lukah would be sending me to the commander as soon as possible. So when he returned that he had no news about me, I was so relieved. But I was soon to find out that Korin wanted to be rid of me. He took me to the growing fields of the Icannis plants and I was very happy. I loved being outside and in the green and blue spaces. The plants were tall and it reminded me of our time in the wild. I was having a fun experience when Korin scared me with a new plan.
"Silver, I want you to listen carefully to me," he said to me as he pulled me close to him and looked directly into my eyes. The blue of his eyes were always startling to me no matter how many times I saw them. I longed to run my fingers though his hair just as I had when he took my virginity the night before.
"Yes, Korin," I said, hoping that he would kiss me again.
"You see that structure over there, the white one?" he said pointing to a far off white structure down at the end of the field.
"Yes, I see it," I said as I looked in that direction, but I was not ready for what he had to say next.
"I have had a report that no one else has seen except for me and one other warrior. We believe that the building is a living space for a rebel. This rebel is one that arranges transportation for those Kalazaron that wish to join them at the Blue Mountains."
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, already knowing the answer, and I did not want to hear it.
"If you were to run away again, run there. Tell them that you want to join the rebel cause and serve as a human slave at the base. They will take you to the Blue Mountains. I do not know what will happen to you there, as we have little knowledge of what goes on. However, you will be safer there than with the commander, I know that,” he said as he searched my eyes making sure that I was understanding what he was saying.
He wanted to be rid of me. He knew that the commander was coming for me and he wanted me to run away on my own, without him. It was not so long ago that I tried to be captured by the rebels myself in order to run away from him, the sergeant, and now the thought of running away alone brought extreme fear and sadness upon me.
"How? How could I run away?" I asked beginning to panic. I knew that I could not run away without him. I was not as strong as I was when we were out in the wild. Something had changed in me.
"Just as you did before, when I caught you. Only this time I will not catch you; I will say that you ran away in the middle of the night without my knowledge. If it comes to that. If it comes to the point where the commander is going to gain possession of you, I want you to run there, do you understand?"
My eyes grew wide and tears began to fall down my cheeks as I nodded my head yes. I understood more than he knew that I did. He was ready to be rid of me, but now he was attached enough to me to not want me to be with the commander. Still, he was not going to fight to keep me. He would rather that I ran away to be the rebels.
"When you run away, run here to the fields. It would be easier for you to come to the field and then run all the way down toward that structure under the cover of the tall plants. Do not try to run through the city; you will be captured. Humans do not go unnoticed. Especially after you have been tagged; it will show whose property you are on your arm, and you will be swiftly returned to them. Use this field. Are you listening to me?" he asked me as he shook my shoulders like a ragdoll.
"Yes, use the tall plants of the field as cover to make it to that structure, just as I used the tall grass to escape you when we were together in the wild," I said to him, hoping to make him think about that time together.
"Let us think of that no more. For now, enjoy this time outside. Take it all in," he said as he pressed his lips against mine and kissed me. I kissed him back fiercely. I did not want to leave him,
but if he was fearful enough to bring me here, that meant our time together was limited and I did not want to waste it. He laid me down in the plants and undressed me. Then we made love, and I looked up at the wonderful blue sky and the plants towering over us as we did so.
When we returned to Korin’s home, we were in for a dark surprise. Commander Yun was waiting outside the door. Korin growled at him as he saw him.
“What are you doing here, Commander Yun?”
“I have come to collect what is now mine,” he sneered.
“The human female slave is mine until the arrangements have been made for transfer of ownership to you after the master has granted it,” Korin said as he stepped in front of me.
“And it has. In the last hour, Lukah approached her father to speed up the process and she contacted me. She seemed very pissed off, and I can see why,” he said as he noticed Korin being so possessive of me.
“I don’t believe it,” Korin said.
“Check your projection,” the commander said.
Korin took out a small tool and projected an image on the wall. There was a document with writing on it that I could not read, but by Korin’s reaction, it seemed to be true that the commander had bought me.
“Hand it over, Sergeant…or should I say General? The master told me how you traded the human female slave over in exchange for being made general, so congratulations on that.”
I gasped as I heard this remark. Was it true? Could Korin be so cold? I knew that he could. He was cold when I first met him only days before, so why would he change now? I was hurt and felt sick as I realized that I was being handed over to the commander so that Korin could rise in the ranks.
“She is mine,” the commander said as he lunged toward me.
Korin stepped between us and he pushed him hard against the wall, then he punched at his stomach as he shouted at me, “Run, Silver! Run!”
My eyes grew wide in panic as I realized that it was all happening right now, in this moment. The commander pushed Korin back and reached for me, grabbing my cloak. I screamed and Korin pulled him off of me.
“Run!” he shouted again as he loosened the commander’s grip on me and punched him once more. I ran away from the door as fast as I could and I could not believe that the runaway plan that Korin had told me only moments before was now really happening.
As I came into view of Kalazaron, I walked fast with the cloak on me. Human slaves did walk in the market alone in order to purchase goods and I was trying to blend in with them until I made it to the edge of the Icannis fields. I hoped that Korin would be all right. I had no way of knowing if he would win that fight as they were both brutal warriors.
I finally made it to the fields and ran into the tall plants deep in them. Then once I had made it in, I walked slowly in the direction of the structure that Korin had pointed out. But I was scared to go. I found myself where I had started, crawling on all fours trying to escape a place, only now it was more frightening than before.
I sat in the field near the structure, not wanting to move just yet. Was I really ready to hand myself over the rebels? What if there was another warrior there just like the commander? Then I would be in the same, troubled situation, only Korin would be nowhere around. I knew right then in that moment that I loved him. I was willing to give up my freedom for him. Freedom was the one thing I had been seeking since before I left Merton Loy, and now I was willing to give it up for this alien warrior with blond hair and blue eyes.
“General,” I whispered to myself as I remembered what Commander Yun had said. He said that Korin had exchanged me in order to become a General. Could that be true? It had to be true. Why would the commander make that up? He had already gained possession of me. I began to cry hard as I lay down on my side. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.
Chapter 8
GENERAL KORIN HAFAH
I fought the commander long and hard. We were of equal match, and with no one around to break us up, we hit each other blow after blow. He hit me on the chin and I fell onto my back. He jumped on top of me and landed hard on my body, knocking the wind out of me. He had me pinned against the ground as he punched me with his right and then his left across the head over and over. Suddenly, he was winning.
I felt myself go into a hazy existence as he pummeled me. I thought this was it. He had won. He would take Silver from me and do unspeakable things to her. I had failed her. I only hoped that she could make it to the rebel base before he could get her. Then a flash of Silver’s face came into my mind. Her skin was delicate and her green eyes were stunning.
Then her smiling face change to horror as the commander grew near her. I saw her the way I saw her on the moon base of Tyla Wen when he was attacking her. Her eyes were full of fear. The way she cowered in the corner of the bed after he had left. I was suddenly filled with an enormous amount of rage and pushed the commander off of me by pushing him off to the side as I rolled over.
Now, I was on top of him giving him blow after blow to the head just as he had done to me. I pictured him hurting my sweet Silver, and it gave me the energy to want to destroy him. He kicked me and pushed me off of him and I stumbled backwards onto my feet. He stood up and let out a growl as he charged toward me. I dashed out of the way and he hit the wall like a clumsy fool. This only made him angrier, but not as angry as I was picturing him doing awful things to my human female. I would not allow that to happen; I would die trying if I had to.
"Stop running from me! Stand up and fight me like a true Kalazaron warrior would!" he sneered at me. I stood tall in front of him and he swung at me and I dodged out of the way and punched him back in his ribs. He punched me again and I’d had enough. I needed to go after Silver, and there was no time to lose.
I punched the commander hard one last time and it knocked him out cold as he fell against the wall. He was bloody and so was I. Cuts and welts on my body were covered in my blood and his.
“What the hell are you doing, Korin?!” Lukah shouted at me as she ran up to me.
“He attacked me,” I said.
She narrowed her eyes at me in hate and said, “Where is the human female slave?”
“I do not know; I have not seen her today. I assume that she is inside with my servant doing house slave work. The commander here came to fetch her and I was ready to hand her over, but he has a mouth on him and I have a heated temper.”
“I do not believe you. I had my father sell the human female slave to the commander today. Hand her over to him now. It is done. And you are now general. Get rid of her and we can continue to be together,” Lukah said as she crossed her arms over her chest.
“Yes, as soon as he wakes up, but if he continues with his insults, I will continue with my punches,” I said. I was trying to give Silver as much time as I could to hide in the fields and get away from the city toward the rebel base. I walked with Lukah as she began to search my home.
“Where is the human female?!” she shouted.
“I do not know. Perhaps she went to the market. I was not expecting her to be purchased today so I did not demand that she stay here. I will go and bring her back here to the commander,” I said as I began to walk out the door.
“Stop, Korin!” she shouted. “You are going to help her escape. I can tell when you are lying. How dare you! How dare you do this to me. You know the embarrassment you will cause me if everyone finds out that my betrothed ran off with a human female slave instead of being with me. It will ruin me! If you go to her, I will have my father order for both of your captures and your extermination. Is that clear?” she shouted.
Her words were clear and I moved over to her and got in her face. “Do it, Lukah. I have never loved you. You are a dark-hearted, spoiled bitch. You care only about yourself. I will be glad to know that you have become one that Kalazaron laugh at after knowing that I picked a human female slave over you. You do not compare at all to her. She is everything, and you are nothing. Is that clear?” I said to her, but I did not wait for her t
o answer.
I walked away from her and out of her life. I walked away knowing that I could never go back. I had done it. I had given up everything that I had worked so hard for my entire life, and now that I was granted general, I gave it all up for the human female slave known as Silver Brooks. I could not believe it, yet here I was.
Minutes later, I was in the fields making my way toward the structure. As I grew closer to the structure, I saw an indentation in the tall plants. This is how I found her the first time when she was hiding in the tall grass when we were in the wilds. I knew it was her, but why was she waiting.
I found her asleep as the night began to fall. “Wake up, Silver,” I said as I nudged her.
She awoke and said, “Korin? Is it really you? Or is one of the projections you told me of?” she asked.
