Forced

by Daniella Wright

  I slapped Lyle on the back as I arrived in front of the coach that Princess Reah was in. He was already starting to drift off to sleep and he startled awake as was his usual routine. He was a character.

  I knocked on the coach and a moment later I heard the stirrings of the Princess. I often tried to imagine what she was doing to get ready every morning and how she did it so quickly. It usually took her no more than three minutes after I knocked to come out from the coach looking fantastic and beautiful as always. Her charms were lost on me, but I could still tell that she was much more beautiful and radiant than most of the women on this planet. I imagined she was expected to be so, being Princess and all.

  She nodded to me as she came out of the coach. “Good morning, Cahn,” she said to me.

  “Good morning, Princess,” I grunted. My human voice did not often work well first thing in the morning.

  As she stepped out into the early morning light the rays of the bright, yellow sun lit up her auburn hair giving it a peaceful glow that engulfed her entire face. She truly looked a vision right then.

  I wondered what it was like to really love a human. I had seen people in love, the way they looked at one another, the way they acted with each other, the way they genuinely seemed to need each other and it was fascinating to observe. The most interesting thing was the physical expressions of these emotions they shared with each other. The kissing, the caressing, the holding of one another—it was all so bizarre to me. As far as I could remember no one on my planet had ever done those things and I wasn’t sure if I would ever really be able to feel like that, especially with a human. Or maybe I would feel that way and I would only be able to feel that way with a human. I just wasn’t sure. It was another mystery to me in the world I didn’t really belong in.

  I watched as the Princess was served breakfast on a table that was set up for her as it was every morning. The rest of us would wait until she was done and we might each get a few servings of oatmeal. There would be more food later on for lunch or dinner after the hunter’s in the group (myself included) secured a deer or a pig that we might stumble onto. Perhaps in the next town there might be some fresh fruit that would be given to the Princess. It had been a while since we had some good fruit.

  After her breakfast, the princess got back in her coach and the group loaded up everything as we made our trek to the next town of Nordstern, on the Eastern Province of the Kingdom. After that, we would begin the journey back to the castle. It was tough to believe it had been so many years since the Princess had been back to see her family, but it was mostly at her father's behest. With the war waging on against the Other World it was really not safe for Princess Reah to be there. She was a target. If they ever overpowered the Kingdom’s soldiers and stormed the castle then they would kill everyone there. That was the plan.

  The King had wondered about sending his youngest daughter Princess Tannin, but she was too young when they'd left. She was barely thirteen. She was too young to spend years traveling the country. She would have been a young woman of nineteen now, though.

  We arrived at Nordstern and were immediately greeted by a crowd of hungry, tired people. They looked dirty and impoverished. They were lacking in resources even more than I thought they would be. The Other World had cut off the trade routes to supply most of the major cities and even a lot of the small villages like Nordstern so they were left with almost no food. The Other World sent soldiers in periodically to raid whatever these poor people were able to scrape together. It was disgusting.

  But it was the way of the Universe. I wanted to look at these people with disdain, as was the nature of my race but somewhere inside it just did not feel right that the Other World was doing this. They were wrong. But somehow I found myself siding with The Other World at times. It was almost as if my first thought was to be with them and to plunder these towns and to make sure the humans had nothing. The people in these villages were not a direct threat and they would be useful slaves when the war was finally won by the Other World, otherwise they would have just been slaughtered. That was business as far as I was concerned. That was the way it was all over the galaxy. Some were strong and some were not.

  But lately I had been having a change of heart and I felt guilty about feeling this way. I was starting to feel really sorry for these poor, innocent people.

  “The end is in sight,” Princess Reah said as the people gathered around. Lyle, Charles, and I did our best to keep the people at bay so they did not harm the Princess in their zeal. “I know the war has been long and the Other World continues their onslaught of pain and hate, but we are about to make major breakthroughs. We have secret weapons that will ensure our survival as a nation and as a species!”

  The people erupted in cheers as I had seen the others do in the other towns we visited where the Princess told the same type of speech day after day. It was very monotonous and it was also a total lie. The war was in no way close to being over any more than it had been a thousand years ago. But the people wanted hope and she was determined to give them that hope over and over again. That was her job and that was what she had done for the past six years making the rounds from town to town.

  We had finally received word last week that the King wanted Reah to return home at once. No one knew why. Maybe he really did have something new up his sleeve. I could only speculate.

  As Reah was leaving the stage I saw him out of the corner of my eye. It happened so fast I barely had time to react but I caught a glimpse of the weapon as a person from the crowd suddenly jumped out at her. He had somehow gotten beyond the gates that had been put up and even Lyle who was supposed to be watching for this unlikely event.

  My alien reflexes kicked in and I was suddenly in front of the man. He had a dagger in his hand and the look of a maniac in his eyes. I knew his intentions. I could hear his heart elevated and the madness in his voice. He had lost all control.

  “Liar! It’s all lies!” The man screamed as he lunged forward with the knife.

  I swiftly grabbed his wrist snapping it harder than I meant to under the guidance of my adrenaline and the man’s scream turned into a plea for help at the pain he was suddenly in. The knife dropped from his hand and he quickly fell to the ground.

  Princess Rhea leaped behind me out of danger. I could smell the poor girl's fear. Human fear used to smell delicious to me and now it turned my stomach. What was happening to me? I was becoming one of them. Was that even possible? Perhaps spending too much time in one form was becoming irreversible.

  The man was squirming and trying to get up and lunge for his knife with the other hand. I stepped on his hand and delivered a hard punch to his face. His eyes rolled up in his head as he passed out.

  Lyle picked him up and carried him to the side setting him on the ground to sleep it off.

  “Are you alright?” I asked the Princess. Her face was in shock, but suddenly she looked up at me and I saw something different in her eyes. She smiled at me slyly. I had never seen that look on her face before. It was… hungry.

  “I’m just fine, Cahn,” she said.

  I nodded and pretended that I did not see this look of… what I can only describe as desire. Why was she looking at me that way? Was it just an after effect of her life being in danger and me saving it? I wasn’t sure. I decided to ignore it.

  But the others would not let me. They had seen it perfectly clear, and they were all too quick to point out the human emotions I did not understand but pretended to.

  “Wow, she wants you buddy boy!” Lyle said after we were on our way. The Princess’ coach was out in front and we were on our horses trotting slowly behind. It would be another day’s trip to the castle and we were planning to ride about another two hours before setting up camp for the night.

  “What are you talking about? Your big imagination running out of control again?” I joked back.

  "No, but I saw the way she was looking at you like you were a piece of fine steak."

  “I think she was j
ust in shock over almost being stabbed to death by some crazy,” I replied.

  “Wow, you are so clueless. She would have to bite you to get your attention.”

  I looked at him confused, but with a smile on my face. Why would anyone bite someone else? I just laughed it off as was my way when I encountered something I did not understand about human behavior.

  That night going to sleep I did begin to wonder if Lyle was right in his assessment. Was I just too blind to see that Reah’s feelings for me might have changed? Perhaps they were right, and I had to admit I had felt it and seen it but I was determined to let it drop. It was not to be. it would have been unprofessional and I did not believe in cluttering my life with things that were cumbersome. She would have to understand that nothing was going to happen with us. It would not be the first time. I have rejected women countless times in my life. It always left them and other’s dumbfounded, but I have chosen to ignore that aspect of human life. I was born alone and I’ll die alone.

  I drifted off to sleep believing that she would understand. She had to.

  CHAPTER 2

  I had a dream that night. In that dream I remembered more about who I was and what my purpose in this world really was. It had eluded me for so long. I'd had other dreams but they had never made any real sense until that night and to this day I am not sure why.

  I remembered being brought into a human family when I was young. I was actually an adult, but as a human, I had started out small. I was probably no more than six in human years. It was so odd to possess the knowledge of a being who was almost a hundred years old at that time, but at the same time be limited in speech, thought, and emotions to those of a small child. It was an odd feeling. I possessed thoughts and ideas far beyond a child’s but even if I wanted to I was not able to express them to any more than my new body’s abilities. It was several years before the two caught up with each other and by then I was already deep into training.

  The Kingdom had identified me early as someone who would make an excellent soldier. So I, along with several other children in my village, was taken by the Kingdom to their training camps. There we were subjected to brutal beatings and discipline. It was not done out of anger, sadism, or a lust for power. These men truly believed that they were getting us ready for the fight that lay ahead of us and they were right.

  I remember that I was different. As a child of six human years I was able to run faster, fight harder, react faster, than anyone else my age. I was actually beating teenagers who had been training for years in swordplay by the time I was eight years old. I was able to move faster than they were and I was actually stronger. The leaders were impressed at my abilities, but as I grew older I realized that my abilities were starting to become far advanced above the best adult soldiers. I knew that I would be found out and that I would be killed instantly if anyone found out that I came from the Other World.

  The Other World. I was one of them. This revelation in the dream made all the sense in the world suddenly. I was from the Other World and I was being trained as a human soldier to fight The Other World.

  What was going on? Why was I here? Why was I not fighting with my own kind? Why was I serving the humans?

  Somehow I consciously moved deeper into my mind and further into the dream. I began to slowly remember. I was remembering everything. What was going on…?

  I saw a vision of my planet and my family. I saw the pack that I was in. I was the youngest of several brothers. Allele, Brax, and Causk, were all older than me. I was named Cahn after my great grandfather who had passed on. It was believed by my race that family members were reincarnated as new family members. I was named Cahn out of respect for him.

  Suddenly, while watching this image of my family preparing for something my parents became alarmed and agitated. They told us all that we had to go. It was time. I didn’t know what it was time for, but I saw myself being separated from my brothers. My mother led me to a private area and told me to get into the pod. It was almost too small, but I crammed myself into it. She told me to never forget the mission.

  “What are you talking about? I want to fight. You need me!” I screamed.

  “We do need you,” she said. “That is why you must go. The prophecies have foreseen this.”

  Before I could say anything else the pod’s lid closed on me and it lifted off the ground swiftly heading towards the outer belt of the solar system.

  That was the last I remembered before I woke up as a human in the middle of a field somewhere. I knew that I was no longer home; I was on an alien planet and I was not sure right off where I was, but the sky was blue, the grass was green, and there was one huge yellow sun.

  And I did not remember where I had come from. Somehow it was all gone. But over time I began to have visions and then full-fledged dreams of another world, another race of beings. It did not make any sense.

  But I knew immediately that I was not human. I found myself changing back into my old being on several occasions when I was in distress. The first time was when I was attacked in the open by a lion that was roaming free. I stumbled upon it accidentally within the first few days as I was heading to find some others on the planet that seemed to be inhospitable.

  And there it was as I came over the hill. It was huge, but it looked like food. I was starving and beginning to die of thirst. I had never experienced a hunger or a thirst such as this before. I used to only need food every couple of weeks, but now it was a constant thing.

  The lion looked at me and I recognized the murder in its eyes. The beast leaped at me rearing back with its vicious claws. I did not feel fear, only curiosity as my body responded. I moved much quicker than this animal and I had destroyed it before it knew what was coming.

  It was then that I noticed that my one of my hands was not like the other. Instead of this fleshy, pale, excuse of a claw that was now my human hand, I saw a red, long fingered claw in its place. I closed my eyes and looked at it again, the flesh of the lion hanging from my long, sharp claws.

  I concentrated on bringing the other hand back and it began to change. I did not know I could do this but it just felt right. And within seconds I had two human hands again. It was the first time that the realization hit me that I was not who I appeared to be.

  The next day I entered the village and was shocked to see that everyone there looked similar to my new form. I did not show anyone who I really was or tell them where I came from. I could hardly remember myself and it just seemed that it was much better if they all thought I was a boy who had lost his parents.

  I was taken in by a nice family, the Carters. And within a few months I had been identified as having strong athletic and fighting skills. So the Kingdom took me and trained me; the Carters could not have said no if they'd wanted to.

  But I enjoyed every second of it. Through the training I was treated almost as a number, a disposable soldier, which is what we all were trained to be. It was estimated that most of us would die in battle and I was ok with that because I was not sure that I could die a human death. After a few years in the Kingdom's Army, I was given the job of bodyguard to the Princess. I missed the action of the fight sometimes, but I did what was asked of me. No one else would have turned it down and I felt it would have raised some suspicion if I had done so.

  I awoke that night from the dream covered in sweat. Everything was starting to make sense now. Why had it taken me so long to remember? Was I one of the Other World? Why was I fighting for the humans? Why was I sent here?

  My mother. She said it was part of the plan and that I had a place in the war. Did my family die? Were they slaughtered in that last battle? Was I sent away because of the danger or was I really part of a plan? There were so many answers I just did not have. I had so many questions.

  I was burning up so I stepped out of my tent and decided to take a walk around to get some fresh air. The cool night air felt great against my skin, the wetness drying against me. I inhaled several breaths enjoying the freshness of the air.
I loved the wide open country away from the clutter and the pollutants of the villages and towns. But tomorrow I would kiss all that goodbye as we made our way back to the castle to the heart of the Kingdom.

  “Can’t sleep?”

  The voice startled me momentarily as I jerked my head towards the intruding sound.

  It was Reah. She was standing there and for the first time I noticed that she did strike a rather striking figure surrounded by the darkness of the night.

  “Yea,” I replied. “I’m surprised to see you out here.”

  “Yea, I guess I couldn’t sleep either. I ‘m still a bit rattled over what happened. All of these years and nothing like that has ever happened before,” she said. I could smell the fear on her breath echoing the terror in her voice. But she hid it well.

  “I can understand that,” I said even though I couldn’t. “But there is a first time for everything. Maybe that is why your father has asked us back on such a hasty return.”

  “Yea, that’s what I’ve been wondering. Maybe the people are finally getting restless and realizing that his war may never be truly over.”

  “Well, all you can do is hope that most do not share this wacko’s world view. Right?”

  “I guess,” she said.

  “Well, goodnight,” I replied starting to head back.

  “Wait,” she said. She was walking closer to me now. I could feel something different in the air and I knew it was bad news.

  “I wanted to thank you for doing what you did,” she said.

  “I was just doing my job, Princess.”

  “Well, I have seen you going above the call of duty on more than one occasion,” she said. “I just wanted you to know how much I appreciated it.”

  She was stroking my arm gingerly and before I knew what was happening she was leaning forward to kiss me.

  I reacted by stepping back quickly out of the range of the kiss. The Princess was very confused.