by D. D. Chant
“Are you alright?”
She reached out to touch her hand briefly.
“I’m not hurt, don’t worry.”
Astra slanted a look towards her sister, but the light was too weak to make out anything more than a faint outline.
“I wasn’t really talking about that,” she responded softly.
For a few minutes Leda said nothing.
“It was necessary. I’m not sorry.”
“I didn’t ask you if you if you were sorry, I asked you if you were alright.”
Leda’s outline shifted a little, maybe to grip both hands together.
“I’m fine.” Her voice was heavy with finality, and for some time they trudged on in silence.
“You saved me back there, Leda. Thank you.” Astra’s voice was very soft.
After a moment or two she felt Leda’s long fingers wrap around her hand.
“I was going to say the same thing.” Bitterness had crept into Leda’s voice. Astra knew that she wasn’t as unaffected as she was trying to appear.
“Where are we going?” asked Petta suddenly.
“I don’t know, Pet,” responded Astra, glad of the interruption. Her throat ached with emotion, with worry for Leda.
“From the looks of it, I don’t think Cead knows either.” Leda muttered. “He’s just trying to get us as far away from the crash as pos…”
Before she could finish her sentence Astra gripped her hand tightly, forcing her to stop.
“Can you hear that?”
Leda tilted her head to one side, listening intently. The sound was faint at first, a distant rumble growing louder with every second.
“The Una.” Ceadron shook his head. “It’s too soon, we’re not far enough away from the crash site.”
Uri turned to Astra.
“What should we do?”
Her throat went dry. Why were they asking her? She hadn't lived among her people for sixteen years, she had no idea how to handle this imposible position. She'd been asking herself all day what they should do when this moment was reached, and she still had no answer.
Out of the corner of her eye she saw Ceadron bend to pick up a fallen tree limb.
If they tried to fight they would all die. Astra moved forwards, catching her brother's arm.
“This is one thing you can’t fight your way out of, Cead.”
Ceadron shook her hand off.
“I’m not about to let them hurt any of you.”
“Ceadron listen: we’ve come here seeking shelter, you can’t fight them!”
Ceadron saw the truth of her statement, and dropped the makeshift club regretfully.
“Then what do we do?”
“We surrender.”
For a moment Ceadron stood undecided. Astra knew it was a gamble and so did he, but at the same time they both knew it was the only way.
“Fine. Everyone on your knees and put your hands behind your head,” he commanded, easing Balak onto the leaf strewn floor. “Try not to move when they get here. They’re going to be jumpy, and we don’t want them accidentally shooting us.”
Astra nodded, and started to pull out the pins that held her hair confined.
“What are you doing?” asked Leda from her position on the floor.
“Una women wear their hair long and loose,” she explained quickly, sinking to her knees beside her sister.
“It will tell them that I am Una… or at the very least it will make them pause long enough for me to talk to them.”
Even as she spoke the roar of engines became deafening. Soldiers burst through the trees, catching the group huddled on the floor in the glare of their lights. Soldiers surrounded them, standing silhouetted by the headlights, and for a tense few moments no one spoke.
“They don’t look like the soldiers that the Tula usually send over the border, do they?” asked a disembodied voice of his companion.
His question went unanswered, and Astra heard the snap of twigs as someone moved onto the circle of light cast by the vehicles.
“My name is Captain Shin Uel Ne Phoenix, who are you?”
His voice was firm but reasonable, no trace of anger marring its smoothness. Astra looked up into the bright lights, and couldn’t make out anything but the shape of the man standing in front of her.
He was of average height, and he held himself well, with the tension of a coiled spring. A soldiers bearing, one that had been born into the position he held. His voice was cultured, respectful even, showing consideration for the women before him and her father’s years.
She took a deep breath, pushing every thought from her head, and summoned up a half remembered composure that belonged to another life.
“I am Aya Uel Ne Singh, third daughter of Jaym Uel Ne Singh, Headman to the people of New Athens.”
Astra heard a ripple of disbelief from the soldiers, and indicated the others still kneeling on the floor.
“This is the Tula family who cared for me after my capture, who have now brought me home.”
Someone snorted, and a second man entered the light.
“What made you think you would be welcome, Aya Uel Ne Singh? You are a disgrace to the Una people, a woman no longer fit to bear your family’s name.”
Shin Uel Ne Phoenix held up a hand, silencing the man beside him.
“I suggest you be silent, Aoi, or you may find that Kai will make it his business to assist you in restraining your unruly tongue.”
The soldier stiffened, and bowed slightly.
“As you wish, Senior.”
Astra was surprised by his defence of her. She had known that her return would be met with hate. Ladron had made it his business to make sure that her people saw her as the traitor she was.
Yet Shin Uel Ne Phoenix had defended her.
She frowned a little, trying to work out why he would show her such kindness. Also, who was the ‘Kai’ that Shin Uel Ne Phoenix had spoken of, and why would he be annoyed to have her spoken of abusively?
-----
Shin turned back to the group still huddled at his feet.
Kai was going to be livid when he found out. It was bad enough for her to return, but bringing her Tula keepers with her was unforgivable. Kai would murder her, especially if she stood before him as she was now, dressed in Tula clothes, without a trace of fear or repentance on her face.
Shin sighed. He would have recognised her anywhere. Apart from the intercepted news items, she looked very much like her sisters Jia Li and Li Lin. She had the same colouring, but her build was different; shorter and not so slender.
He didn’t want to deal with this.
He really didn’t want to deal with it.
Did he have to?
He sighed wearily, thinking of Rem and Kai. Shaking his head he turned to the soldier who had so stupidly shown insolence to a daughter of one of the Head Families.
“Aoi, go back to the camp and bring back a truck.” He looked down at Aya. “Dam’sel, I will take you to Una City. The Headmen are the ones who will decide on what is to be done.”
“And my family?” asked the woman, once more indicating those on the floor.
Shin stiffened involuntarily.
Heaven help her if she claimed kinship with her Tula keepers before Kai and Rem. He took her arm, leading her a little to one side.
“It would be best, Dam’sel, if you let me send them back across the borderlands to their own people,” he counselled quietly.
She looked up at him for several seconds before answering.
“I wish them to come with me.”
“Better to let them go back, Dam’sel.” Shin lowered his voice yet further. “You stand on uncertain ground. It is possible that the Headmen will convict your – friends – as spies, and then they will face death.”
“If they return to the Tula Strongholds they will be executed for allowing me to escape,” responded the woman coolly. “As surprising as it may be to you, they stand a better chance with me.”
Shin saw her
determination and knew he would not persuade her to change her mind. He sighed again. He could not force her. He shouldn't even have given her the option of freeing her Tula keepers and sending them back across the borderlands. To have done so was tantamount to treason, and he could see from Aoi's shocked face that he had overheard.
Aoi was probably wondering why he would risk his position for her like that. He didn’t understand that it hadn’t been for her, but for Kai and Rem.
He could only be sorry she had not had the sense to take him up on the offer.
“Aoi, fetch the truck.” Shin looked down at the young woman before him. “I will allow them to accompany you, I only hope you know what it is that you are doing, Dam’sel.”
She bowed elegantly, as though it had never crossed her mind that he would disobey her request. He wondered if she realised that any other man would have killed the Tula that accompanied her as a matter of course.
“Thank you, Senior.”
Shin grunted irritably, and took another look at the people huddled at his feet. There was another woman, a young girl in her mid to late teens, a teenage lad, and four men. One of the men was greying, another Shin had no hesitation in classing as a highly trained soldier, and two others who sagged incapacitated on the ground.
Rem’s sister watched him calmly as he looked over her friends. She made no move to stop him as he dropped to a knee, and studied one of the sick men. He was leaning against the older girl’s shoulder; pale and with a rash that spread up his neck and splodgily across his face. A purple and blue bruise blackened one eye, closing it slightly.
“Are they alright?” asked Shin.
The woman nodded.
“A little shook up from the landing, Senior.”
He tilted the man’s head back, and the woman holding him upright glared.
“He has some sort of rash.”
“An unfortunate reaction to medication that he was given.”
Shin nodded and stood again.
“Who are they?”
She ran a hand down the front of her jacket and indicated the older man.
“My stepfather, Uri Va Dic Toban, my stepbrothers Ceadron, Benji, Balak and Penn, and my stepsisters Leda and Petta.”
Shin continued to stare at them thoughtfully for some minutes before he eventually spoke.
“Take a piece of advice, Dam’sel?” Shin turned and fixed her with serious eyes. “Do not claim your Tula keepers as family before anyone else, you run the risk of being charged with treason for such words.”
She said nothing but her outrage was plain to Shin, and he shook his head.
“I knew you wouldn’t listen.” He made to move away but found his hand caught in a frenzied grip. The youngest girl had shuffled forward a little, cowering before him on bent knees.
“Please, Senior, you won’t take Astra away from us will you?” The girl’s words were choked, and tears welled up from large eyes to spill over her cheeks and mix with the dirt on her face.
Shin recoiled from the panic and misery in her eyes, sickened by the knowledge that he had scared her enough to make her cry, to make her beg. As he watched she raised a hand, rubbing her knuckles against her cheeks causing wet smudges in the dust on her face.
She was too young to be caught up in this. Too young, too pretty, and far too vulnerable to be pleading for her own, or anyone else’s, life. Suddenly he was tired of the whole situation.
“Please, please don’t!”
Rem’s sister moved forward to gather the trembling girl into her arms, but the girl resisted, holding her off. She gazed up at him, waiting for an answer.
“Don’t cry, Dam’sel. You will travel to Una City with your...” Shin struggled within himself, searching for the right word. “With Dam’sel Aya.”
She gulped and crumpled against Dam’sel Aya.
“Thank you, Senior.”
Shin raised his eyebrows as the Una expression of respect left her lips.
“You learn quickly.”
She sniffed, and he could see her trying to control the tremors that wracked her body.
“I don’t understand.”
“How did you know to call me ‘Senior’?”
“Why are you so surprised? Astra is Una, obviously she would teach us your customs.”
The sound of an approaching vehicle broke in on her words, and he glanced over his shoulder at the ever nearing truck.
“Aoi.”
“Yes, Senior?”
“I will escort, Dam'sel Aya and her…” Shin broke off trying to decide how to frame the rest of his sentence. “…and her friends to Una City. You will take command here.”
Aoi looked both surprised and doubtful, but he bowed and moved to open the front door of the truck. Shin climbed in and Aoi shut the door behind him. From his seat in the front of the truck, Shin watched Aya Uel Ne Singh.
The situation was going to get messy.
More than that it would get ugly, and as far as he could see everyone would get hurt.
He cursed softly. Rem and Kai were going to be dragged back into the hole of despair that they had only ever partially emerged from.
It was all her fault.
He looked again to where Aya Uel Ne Singh rested trustingly against the Tula man she had claimed as her father. He took in the way the man held her hands in one of his and kissed her forehead before resting his cheek against her hair.
He was Tula. Surely he could be no different to the rest of his kind and must hate everything Una. Yet he stood holding a Una woman in his arms, cradling her as gently as if she had truly been his daughter, with the unconditional love of a doting father.
What would Kai’s reaction be if he ever saw that affection?
Probably anger.
Shin could understand it, but looking at Astra and her foster-family, he could also understand her.
They had been kind to her, loved her even. It was only natural that she would love them back.
He shook his head. It was easy for him to be understanding; she wasn’t his responsibility and he hadn’t suffered years of slights and ostracism because of her. It was easy to be merciful on behalf of someone else.
Shin closed his eyes and leant his head back against the headrest, wishing, not for the first time in his life, that he could run from the fight before him.
-----
Astra swallowed convulsively, she had been so scared that Shin Uel Ne Phoenix would notice something different about Ben. Her horror when his eyes had fixed on Ben, and he dropped to his knee beside him, had been so strong she’d thought she was going to be sick.
She felt a pang of unease.
What if he’d recognised Ben from the news reels? As precarious as her Tula family's position was, Ben’s was even worse. What would they do if they found out the truth of who Ben was?
Use him.
With Ben as their prisoner the Una could disrupt the peace treaty being negotiated between the Tula and The Free Nation.
Her musings were interrupted by the second soldier.
He waited until Astra moved past him, ready to enter the vehicle, and then he spoke.
“I hope you are fond of a warm climate, Dam'sel,” he smirked. “Because you are about to enter hell.”
Astra ignored the grim satisfaction in his voice, and took her seat calmly. She would encounter much of that kind of behaviour in the future; it was ridiculous to be affected by it.
The door slammed shut and she took a deep, steadying breath. They were still alive and there was a chance that all would be well.
Her Una family would hate her for this, but then she'd known that before she came. To them she was a traitor, and her step-family were their enemies.
She sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head back against the hard wearing cloth of the headrest.
What was she going to do?
How was she going to secure the safety of her foster-family?
For some misguided reason they seemed to believe that her people wou
ld welcome her back. She knew better. She understood that to the Una she was shameful, a woman who had not only lived with, but also worked with, the enemy.
She smiled faintly, thinking of Ben and Senator Burton’s skeleton in the cupboard.
Ben.
She shifted nervously.
The Headmen must not find out who he really was. She shivered, knowing what would happen if they ever found out the truth. Ben would become a prisoner, a pawn to be used against his father and his people.
No one knew better than her what that felt like. Her stomach heaved at the memories the thought evoked. She knew that, no matter what came to pass, she could never let that happen to him. From here on in Ben Burton was Benji Va Dic Toban, and Tula.
Astra opened her eyes and studied Ben where he sat across from her. They had left his jacket in their haste to leave the house. Without it his trousers and shirt looked the same as any Tula man might wear.
However, his tie was wrong.
She frowned. Men from The Free Nation wore a long piece of material that wrapped around their neck and fell to their waist with a knot at the throat. Tula men wore a silver band of cloth around the neck of their shirts.
She leaned forward a little to catch Leda’s attention, and surreptitiously indicated that her sister should remove the tie. Leda caught her meaning at once and pulled the loose tie free.
Astra studied Ben carefully. The bruising on his face would fade eventually, but she thought that if they oiled his hair as Tula men did, and slicked it back, it would disguise his looks enough. Also the oil would darken his fair hair to a rich brown. It was unfortunate that his eyes were blue, not the golden brown that characterised the Va Dic Toban family.
If anyone made any comment about the dissimilarity between Ben and the rest of his ‘family’ they could always say that he favoured his mother.
Astra sent up a brief prayer of thanks that that no one would ever know that Bella Va Dic Toban had been a dark haired, brown eyed woman.
She bit her lip.
What if pretending Ben was a Va Dic Toban did him more harm than good? She was by no means certain that the Headmen would allow her to live, let alone her foster-family. What if she was handing him a death sentence?
