A personal trial through love and war...
| Novel Information | January 2004 |
| Title | The Eyes of Ascension |
| Author | April & Schuyler Thorpe |
| Copyright | 2003 |
| Genre | Adult Fantasy |
| Word Count | 50,798 |
| Original Page Number Totals | |
| Single-spaced | N/A |
| Double-spaced | N/A |
| New page totals | |
| Single-spaced | N/A |
| Double-spaced | N/A |
| Rewrites (0) | 2006-07 |
| Original Version | 2003 |
| Completed? | No. WIP |
| **ADULT THEMES! SUGGESTED FOR MATURE READERS ONLY!** |
I
Why do I go through all this? Can’t I just tell them to shut the hell up? I work my butt off to keep him safe and all I get is grief. But I have to forget all this and go to sleep now. I have 4 hours to myself and then it starts all over again–
She was still standing in the corridor, immersed in thought, when one of the guards walked by giving her not even one look. However, all that changed when she didn’t move when he tried to pass her, and yelled at her for being in his way.
But this kind of harassment wasn’t at the forefront of her mind.
No, what grabbed her attention was the laughter coming deep from inside the prince’s room. The slave girls were sure having fun and her getting yelled at was just the icing on the cake.
The woman looked around, but the guard had already left by this time, so she snuck back into the room and grabbed the nearest slave girl by the hair; throwing her at the exit with little exertion on her part, screaming, “Time for you to go!”
This was her favorite thing to do and for right now, it was the only way to get out her aggression--short of strangling them of course.
She never once looked at the girls or any other member of the prince’s royal court. Not even when it was allowed. Too much would be given away. That was the price she paid for the secrets she kept to herself.
At this point, there was nothing she would have liked more than to go to sleep, but now was not the time. She had to clean up the mess the slave girls left behind and make sure that the prince would be sleeping in his bed. The family thought of the prince as handsome and so does the slave girls that visit him some nights.
But I don’t think of him often. Was her thought on the issue of physical attraction, even as she left the bedroom after she had finished her duties and led the waiting slave girls down the same corridor she had traveled earlier to the servants area and into their individual rooms below. Once that was finished, she walked back up, her thoughts now lingering on her own family and wondering if any of them were alive out there--despite all the rumors that had been floating around for years now.
But there was nothing solid.
I can only hope to see them someday. She mused hopefully.
Entering the prince’s lavish bedroom, she walked past his queen-sized canopy bed and towards her own little room--which was essentially the prince’s oversized clothes closet. She pushed aside the draping wooden beads and strode past the endless dressers, racks of hung clothes and shelves filled with the prince’s things. Directly in front of her was a vanity mirror. And to the left of that, there was a small alcove, barely large enough for her to sleep in. It had a simple mat and dresser which housed her night clothes and a false bottom for her family heirlooms and weapons.
Ah, sleep. She thought and that’s what she did: Sleep.
* * *
She was running. But she was running so fast her feet barely touched the ground.
And then happened...the part of her dream where there were noises, then explosions.
Explosions and screaming.
Then she saw her parents and one of them tugging on her and telling her, “be brave, Nanabo will take care of you.”
Then they were gone and she couldn’t remember what they looked like anymore.
Nana would be left crying as a result, because they were now on a transport to where she was born to live out her life from now on as a slave. And she would always remember Nana telling her not to look at anyone, saying, “Your eyes will give all of your secrets away. You can only look at me when no one is near.”
Can I sleep now? She kept asking her. I am sooo very tired...
And the dream would end like that, always like that.
And she would wake up to check on Amadar, because at this point in time, he would be calling out again for her.
“Rya? Rya? Where are you?” He would ask over and over.
“Here I am.” Rya would always answer respectfully. But deep down, she would wonder, Why can’t you sleep through the night? Is it about me, or is it your father’s murder that freaks you out?
But instead, she would go to his bedside and hold him until he went back to sleep--but not before she checked his water for any sign of drug contamination. It was common for her to find more than water put there in the glass.
Because of someone in the Elite Guard of Avaria. She thought.
The guards were not to be trusted.
And neither were those bitches.
Rya checked the glass’s contents and was relieved that Amadar had not yet drunk from it. He was lucky this time around.
The woman dumped the glass down the drain sink next to the bay window and filled it with the water that she had tested earlier.
Then she crawled back to the canopy bed and fell asleep again.
II
As he fell asleep once more, he was privately glad Rya was around to help her out. He felt safe with her around him, because with her near, nothing could go wrong.
And despite this, the nightmares would begin.
And begin they did.
Amadar’s in his father’s room as a young lad, watching someone else search the room, but unfortunately, he can’t see who it is.
Then his father comes in and that person and the man fight. A phase pistol goes off and his father turns to dust.
Where are the guards? The boy wonders, while this altercation is going on. Surely the noise is enough to alert them to the fact that there is trouble and they should be here to put a stop to it.
But they never come.
The boy watches as the man jumps out of the bedroom window and disappears.
Where is Rya going?
“Rya? Rya?” He would call out aimlessly. “Where are you going?”
“Here I am,” she would answer. Then finish by telling him, “Go back to sleep.”
At the same time she said that, Amadar would think, Don’t let go.
Rya watched his eyes close, before closing hers too, thinking, You didn’t drink from the glass earlier, thank the goddess.
Then she fell asleep.
* * *
Rya woke up early in the morning, only to find that she wasn’t where she was supposed to be originally.
Great. She thought with indignation. I woke up wrong and somehow ended up here instead of on my mat.
Checking on him carefully, she found that he was still fast asleep.
Who had thought I would grow up to be his baby-sitter and bodyguard? He’s still a child and soon he will be king and sovereign. And I will still be a babysitter to his wife and children when he has one.
Despite all his attention to detail lately, she had to wonder, How could someone who is so clueless rule an entire empire, and yet be so damned ignorant of the corruption that goes on around him?
That thought didn’t make her feel any better.
Maybe I should get up and worry about this later. She quietly decided and went back to the prince’s closet, to where her sleeping area was.
Stripping down, she got dressed in the first two layers of clothes and filled her energy pack before he even stirred once in bed.
The day hadn’t even gotten started yet, but there was already work to be done: Food to be cooked and tested, clothes to be repaired and more smuggling to be done.
Rya put on more clothes and then opened a hidden panel and sent a message to the outside camp. The woman wanted to find out what was going on that couldn’t otherwise be said.
But she knew that she would not receive an answer, at least not yet.
Proper steps had to be taken in order to keep the wrong people from intercepting and decrypting the message. The woman waited two seconds more and then pressed a hidden switch, turning on the built-in scrambler that was connected to the comm unit.
Now there was no way they could trace her sent message.
Nana had taught her well.
Unfortunately, it was eighty-degrees underneath the layers of clothing she was wearing and apparently, the air-conditioning apparatus woven into her shirt wasn’t enough to keep her cool.
Rya fumed. That meant she would only be able to wear three layers instead of the usual five. This also meant that she would be forced to stay out of the areas already under surveillance.
Today would be difficult, but not impossible.
Shedding the first two layers, she put a reconfigured bio-tech chip into her hair.
She also placed her holographic laser contacts to dull her eyes and make them appear normal. Once this was done, she went to go and wake up the prince.
But that was no easy task as she sometimes found out, and this early morning would be no exception.
“Time to wake up, my master.” She said softly, while in the midst of trying her best to rouse him as gently as possible.
Amadar’s response was to knock her to the ground.
Rya laughed at him after she got back up and then shoved him away.
“What do you want to eat?” She asked, sensing that he was up to something. Of what she didn’t want to know. He thinks he’s a man because women fawn over him like a prized possession. But there are some things even I wouldn’t do for him.
“The usual,” he remarked. “The usual.”
Rya acknowledged his statement with a subservient bow. But she wondered how long it would be before he died, (if that’s what he was doing) by ingesting the same food day in and day out with no variation in his diet whatsoever.
Perhaps when he starts complaining of stomach problems, she thought, he would actually listen to some of my suggestions. And it wasn’t like she hadn’t made some of those suggestions either in the past at some credible risk to herself--knowing the golden rule in which regarded proper slave conduct.
It stated that all slaves were supposed to obey the will of their masters.
Or maybe, she reflected some more as she left his room, he’s trying to impress those slave girls he had in his company last night.
She walked down the bare, light-gray corridor that stretched out like a line for awhile before curving gradually. She followed this same path everyday, simply because of the sake of routine.
Morning routines in her book usually consisted of three things: Waking up the slave girls, preparing the prince’s meal and--if time permitted--some cleaning.
But this was almost always by the prince himself for either public or personal matters, and so cleaning (as it came to be known) rarely got done within a set time parameter; thus Rya was left with much more than she originally started with.
It annoyed and frustrated her sometimes. But what made it even more humiliating was somehow magically there to make some kind off-color comment, which just served to agitate her even more.
But as a slave, she held her tongue, despite all the dark and inhumane thoughts she carried inside her head. There were days when the prince’s behavior was truly in line with the royal blood which flowed through his veins. But in some instances, he was a big pain in the ass--the only testament to his seventeen years of existence
However, Rya was finding herself becoming more and more tolerant of his antics and behavior. She privately wondered (as her trip suddenly ended before a set of large doors. Doors that led to the inner sanctum of the slave girls’ quarters and dining area), what was happening to her sanity.
The first set of doors opened easily enough, no more than a whisper of their passing, or that slight rush of cool area brushing against her ankles, to indicate something had taken place and everything was all right in her stead.
Crossing the smaller, sunken area that was a gathering place for the slave girls, she followed another path that sloped downhill a bit (but not all at once), before coming up to another set of doors.
Rya smiled thinly, wondering just how many times that this particular slave girl enjoyed getting physically roused out of bed. It was a fun tactic that the woman used incessantly over and over, just to keep herself amused.
Opening the door revealed the inside of a dimly lit incense-filled room, a large bed-chamber in front of her, with a wash stand put close enough for personal use. A half-drained pitcher rested on the silken tray table, along with a plate with remains of food still on it.
The woman walked up to the bed chamber and pulled back the transparent veil which separated her and the target of her morning bullying.
To Rya’s credit, the slave girl never stirred from the sudden disturbance of air washing over her partially nude torso.
Too, too, too easy, she thought, and reached down, grabbing a fistful of reddish-brown hair, and promptly hauled her backwards as she went, body arched backwards.
“Good morning, Ilyah,” the woman purred seductively, trying not appear like she was secretly enjoying this flavorful moment. Anything was more preferable than having to face another long and arduous day. But Rya discovered through Nana’s patience and instilled training, she was remarkably adaptable to any given situation or any sudden change in her surroundings.
Still taking in the girl’s obvious stupor, she continued. “I am here to tell you to get your slender carcass up and attend to your prince’s needs.” She informed her.
The slave girl moaned softly, whether it was in protest, or simply because she wasn’t fully awake and comprehensive of the woman’s words.
Rya didn’t see that as too much of a problem. Or maybe she just didn’t care.
There were times, yes, when she wondered why the spoiled brat had to satisfy his seemingly insatiable desires with a bunch of women when one alone would be more than sufficient.
Again, it pointed to his ignorance of the most obvious. Or maybe it was just blind arrogance, or perhaps a combination of both.
And if he kept it up, he would most assuredly die and leave behind a crumbling empire--one filled with dark deceptions and murderous deceits of every unimaginable kinds.
Rya turned her thoughts back to the slave girl and found to her dismay that she was only partially responsive, by the looks of her, with both arms and legs flailing about weakly for purchase in utter futility.
Rya made her attempts laughable to say the least, only because she had her suspended a bit above the edge of her lackluster bed.
“What was that?” She crooned silkily. “I didn’t quite get that.”
Ilyah muttered something unintelligible for a second, and the woman took that both as a reply and as an insult to her personally.
Which made this part of her job sooo much easier.
Rya threw her to the floor, making it appear that she had just cast the slave girl aside like the rag doll that so many times befitted the slave girl’s description.
At least from the other woman’s point of view anyway.
Then she walked over to the girl’s night stand and refilled the porcelain-ceramic pitcher with cold water from the wash basin and went over to where the slave girl was still sprawled and dumped it all over her.
Ilyah gasped in absolute shock and suprise.
“H-how dare you!” She screamed at her. “This is no way to treat the prince’s property!”
Rya’s eyebrows climbed her forehead.
“Really?” She ventured with open contempt of her opponent. “And what makes you think the prince will do? Huh?”
“He’ll have you severely punished.” Ilyah promised venomously.
Instead of quaking with fear like all slaves would, the woman just simply laughed in her face.
When she finished, she said, “I would gladly accept the punishment.” She told the defiant slave girl, Ilyah.
“Why?” She asked, clearly taken aback by the woman’s statement. Everyone knew about the much feared methods of punishment, ranging from the simplest methods of torture to the excruciating pain sticks which were lethal and well equipped from laser whips to neural pain amplifiers. But what was the worst part--and perhaps the most humiliating--was being asked about which method the victim wanted to receive. And if the answer wasn’t ladled in truth, but instead couched with lies, the punisher usually chose something a little more severe to teach the person a lesson in truth and the value of being more honest in the future, on top of the intended punishment.
Rya knew this from personal experience and shared them with Ilyah.
“Because I’ve been punished before, a couple of times in the past, so I’m used to it.” Looking at her, she added, “Now if your through wasting my valuable time, you will get up off your ass and march your butt out this door and wait for the others.”
Ilyah glared daggers at her for a moment, but grudgingly rose to her feet, sopping wet.
Rya went back to the wash basin and threw her a small hand towel--one of the few perks given generously to any willing and obedient slave.
As she watched the slave girl dry herself off in absolute disgust, the woman wondered for a second as to why she didn’t receive the same kind of treatment. Then she was silently reminded of the fact that she was trained to be more than just a bodyguard on top of her usual duties as a typical hand-maiden.
Her sense of worth didn’t allow for any special favors or amenities.
Just a job. And that’s all she was expected to carry out.
Ilyah tossed the hand towel to the floor once she was finished and walked out.
Rya reflected that this was the one girl that she had such a beef with from time to time. And it pleased her to know that she had just paid her back for last night’s little altercation with the guard.
She sighed just a little, feeling much better now.
III
It didn’t surprise the woman--when she went to get the last two slaves from their respective bedrooms--that neither were in their respective quarters; instead content in sharing just one. Triesta wasn’t in her assigned quarters when Rya went to fetch her. No big surprise there, the woman knew from past experiences.
Instead, she was in Maelene’s quarters. And it didn’t take a genius to piece together the truth about what they were doing to each other--gauging from the noises coming from behind the door, the closer she got.
When she opened it, Rya wasn’t the least bit shocked to find the two entwined sensually in each other’s arms, giggling and carrying on like a pair of newborn lovers.
But it was no secret to her just how long they’ve been pleasuring each other.
Rya smiled thinly. “Okay you two. Quit this sexual escapade immediately and get dressed quickly. The prince is waiting for all of you to fulfill his needs and I have some cooking to begin with before any cleaning is to commence. So hurry up.”
Out of the whole group, Triesta and Maelene were the most complient--Ilyah being the worst.
The two exited their shared bedding arrangement and joined the other slave girls gathered in the outside corridor with tense anticipation.
Rya ushered them up the walkway, through the corridor and to the prince’s bed chamber. Opening the door, she quietly announced the slave girls presence and once they were through, she closed the door, but not before hearing Amadar’s voice call out, “Is my meal ready yet?”
“Soon, my prince,” Rya acknowledged automatically. “Very soon.”
“Well make it quick. My stomach hurts and I am hungry.”
The woman nodded quietly, falling into the trained rule of strict obedience without question. Then she walked down the opposite end of the corridor, down another walkway, through a gorgeously resplendid dining hall, into one of many reception areas, and finally entering an equally enormous kitchen. It was brightly lit for all to see, complimented by walls of wooden cabinets, and hung shelves of exquisitely designed dishes with various designs ranging from simple flowers to beautifully, hand-crafted landscapes laser-etched into their surface.
Four main islands with stoves took up station in the center of the kitchen, each with a built-in flue system that ran up to the ceiling in between the crystalline light fixtures. Below the flues hung racks of shiny pots, pans, and a wide assortment of cooking utensils.
At first, she couldn’t tell if anyone was here, since it was early morning. But as soon as the door closed roughly behind her, a head popped up from behind the third island to her immediate far right.
“Yes?” The head demanded of her in the form of a direct question. “Who is it?”
Rya craned her neck a bit to see a rather youthful man behind the island’s prep table, working on preparing a meal of sorts, adding this and that to his growing pile of vegetables, meats, frozen poultry, and so on. But the area was clean of any bacteria by ways of molecular sanitation scrubbers built into the countertops to reduce the chance of contamination down to nearly zero. There was still a one in a million chance someone would catch food poisoning, but the cases were incredibly rare and if such an incident were to happen, it was commonly treated with a medicine tablet in the supply room at the far back, squeezed in between two giant freezers and fridges.
She saw that it was the assistant cook, Darin, and not the old man, Bantos. The woman’s heart quickened just a bit, at seeing him so early in the morning. She wasn’t expecting to run into him again, not after the last time. And she wondered if he remembered that one night, so long ago...
Memories are such a fickle thing, she recalled Nana telling her once. It’s best that you forget such trivial things, lest you become ruled by them.
However, Rya couldn’t help but dwell a little on the memory of them spending a night together, locked in each other’s arms, embracing each other’s overwhelming needs and desires as they came to pass every waking moment.
That night was a special one, because it was that night that saw Darin being consumed by too much drink, forcing Rya to liberate him from his own self destructive tendencies, only to be caught up herself in one too many libations. She soon found herself in a wild stupor that only fragmented memories could best recall.
Memories that had shocked her into being only days after the incident had happened. But instead of becoming angry with herself or Darin for whatever actions befell them both, Rya found herself wishing that it had happened more and more, simply because she had frequently denied herself on more than one occasion of any sexual inhibitions when they came into conflict with her duties.
And her devotion to duty was one of the things that Nana had instilled in her to the fullest. Nothing must detract her from what she had been assigned to do, lest she be cast aside like a common slave girl.
But like any good servant, Rya pulled herself back to the question at hand and found herself answering the man in good stead.
“It is just me, Darin: Rya.” She said in a cheerful tone of voice.
Instant recognition set into the man’s black eyes, causing them to soften just a bit.
“Ah, yes. Rya.” He repeated quietly, leading the woman to wonder if he, too, was recalling that night. It would be too much to ask, because it happened so long ago. Two years as a matter of fact. But it didn’t deny how she sometimes felt about him. “The prince’s most vaunted bodyguard.”
Rya started for a second, wondering if she had heard him right. There was something in his tone that bellied either regret or cold despisement. And she wondered what she had done to deserve such callous treatment.
But no, another part of her analyzed. It’s not that at all. It’s something else.
But what? She thought.
“So what does he want this time?” He asked with ridiculed contempt in his voice.
Rya’s ears perked up and suddenly she knew.
She knew!
It wasn’t long afterwards that Amadar must’ve heard about what happened and decided that instead of punishing her for dereliction of her sworn duties that he would have the assistant cook punished instead.
Suddenly, it made perfect sense: The five days that she didn’t see him. Those screams that she heard in the punishment chambers two days later when she went to attend to a personal matter. And the time when she finally did see him, saw the bruises, cuts, and lacerations on his face and body and wondering how he managed to hurt himself so.
Rya found herself staring into the face of the person that she knew had gotten to know so well and so intimately for one special night, she began to wonder again if he blamed her for what happened to him.
And found herself questioning her own self worth for a second.
“Well?” The man asked, clearly impatient with her just standing there like a dumb shit. “What does he want? If he doesn’t want anything, then why are you here wasting my time? I have more important things to do, than gossiping with the ship’s slave whore.”
That snapped her out of whatever reverie she might’ve been in and a hurt as well as vexed look crossed her lovely features.
“The usual,” she answered tightly. “And don’t stand there and call me a ‘whore’, all right? I have status, you know. And you should respect that.”
Darin didn’t answer at first, but went back to the prep table.
Rya followed him.
“I expect you to say something, Darin.”
The man looked up at her, two years older, and none the wiser, apparently. He still bore some of the finer scars of his punishment and maybe it just served as a not so subtle reminder of his own stupidity.
Or maybe it was because he believed at one time that he could love someone like Rya.
But the woman was right. He had to say something. Say something that would at least make up for all that time he spent being punished for something born from both alcohol and a sense of misguided passion.
She may be the prince’s slave, he saw, but she did have a position that carried a unique status among those of her own kind.
So he would have to respect that. For now.
“Say what?” He answered coldly. “That all is forgiven and no hard feelings?”
Rya reacted like she had gotten slapped in the face for such disrespect.
Again.
He just stood there and blindly insulted her again!
The woman’s eyes burned hot with anger.
“What would you have me say, Darin? I didn’t know that the prince had you punished for what I did that night!”
Darin’s eyes burrowed into hers.
“Are you so sure? Can you honestly stand there and tell me that you did not know?”
Rya nodded. “Yes!” She exclaimed. “I can! Believe me, Darin, if I had known, I would’ve pleaded hand and foot with the prince, if it meant sparing you all that pain and suffering!”
Darin’s hardened expression faltered just a bit. He could see that she was trying to soothe his anger and his own savage guilt of wanting her so badly, that even now, that desire still hadn’t completely burned out of his system.
But he knew better. The numerous scars on his body reminded him of that. Told him better. Never again.
But hopes, dreams, and even the occasional fantasy couldn’t keep him from what his heart still wanted the most.
“Then I forgive you, Rya, for ever doubting, even blaming you for what happened to me.”
Rya nodded, feeling the least bit better, now that they had gotten that out into the open. This was a rift that had kept them apart for two years, neither of them speaking to each other. She had hoped to change that ever since she had learned of what happened to him.
“I too, am sorry for what I did, Darin. It should’ve never happened.”
The man looked at her for a moment, amazed by her own confession.
“Are you taking the blame for me, Rya? Or just the responsibility?” He asked.
Rya blushed a little bit.
“Both, I suppose.”
The assistant cook shook his head in slight amusement.
“It’s so like you to shield others from the truth with a layer of stolid sense of duty. I knew that there was much more going on than Nana led others to believe.”
The woman was taken off guard by this.
“What do you mean? How do you know Nana?”
Darin gave her a secretive smile.
“Let’s just say that I’m not as dumb as I look and leave it at that, okay?”
Rya nodded, letting the subject go for now. There were more important things right now and she needed to get them all done.
Darin started with something else, something other than what he had already prepared.
“The usual, huh?” He murmured, thinking back to what she had originally come for.
Then he shook his head. “That boy’s stomach lining will dissolve long before he does,” he said, a hint of concern laced in his tone, easily replacing whatever air of ridicule he had earlier for her, now that a few things have changed between them.
Things like forgiveness and understanding.
Glancing up at Rya, he inquired, “Doesn’t he realize that spiced hamja and rot will kill his digestive tract?”
Rya found herself wondering the same thing.
“No. I personally do not believe that he does. He thinks it’s absolute weakness to show you’re affected by pain.” The woman deferred with complete confidence.
Darin agreed.
“I’ve been seeing some indications that it’s been affecting him lately.” Then he smiled suddenly, seeing a possible remedy to that immediate problem. “You wouldn’t object to me diluting his food a bit, would you, Rya?”
The woman’s pulse quickened a bit, but she didn’t have a problem. However, the prince might. She kept this bit of information to herself.
“No,” she answered solidly. “I wouldn’t.”
“Good.” The cook said, apparently satisfied with her answer. “Now go to the slave population center and fetch me a food taster immediately.”
Rya was a bit surprised by her former lover’s request.
“Why? We don’t usually need one unless the prince is hosting a special dinner or something.”
Darin nodded. “That’s true, but for appearance purposes, we’ve got to do it anyway. Because if we don’t...”
Rya knew what would happen. The prince would suspect something and that could be bad for one or both of them. But she was also impressed with the man’s brilliant show of logic and went to do as she was told, knowing the difficulty that would lay ahead of her.
The woman retraced her path back to an intersection in the corridor and went left this time instead of the usual right.
However, this time around, she had the bad luck of running into another guard.
She quickly averted her eyes and stepped out of his way as he approached, head bowed subserviently--a clear sign of respect.
Unfortunately for her, the guard in question didn’t go by her this time, however. He stopped a little short of his destination, which was where she had come from.
Staring at her with unbridled distaste, he said, “The prince’s little whore bitch is running around again. And where do you think you’re going so early this morning?”
“To the population center.” Was her quick and timely response, head bowed, eyes averted, despite the safety cushion that the holographic laser contacts provided, she dared not show him her face, especially her eyes. Otherwise, he would clearly see the anger in them.
“I don’t believe you.” Was his gruff response.
Rya didn’t move from her spot as the guard approached her, his thumb playing with the safety catch of his AR-13 pulse rifle.
“Kind sir, I implore you to ask the cook, I beg of you. He will more than gladly verify my claim.”
The guard studied her some more, apparently satisfied with her answer, even if he didn’t believe her right off the bat. But that was his job to be suspicious.
“A food tester, eh?” The guard guessed off hand, his tone ripe with cold amusement.
Rya’s blood boiled. He may find the loss of a young child wholly laughable, but she did not. She did everything in her own way to preserve life. Not destroy it with reckless endangerment.
However, she had a clear head to respond, “Yes, sir.”
A resentful sigh escaped the guards lips.
“As much as I would like to see how this bait and pony show turns out, I have other things to do at the moment.” Rya felt his burning gaze cut deep into her, as if he was trying to dispel any hidden secrets she might be carrying on her person.
“Just be warned,” cautioned the guard, “you will be under surveillance the entire time, until you reach the first guard post at the population center.”
Rya nodded meekly. “Yes sir. I completely understand.” She replied tensely, wanting nothing more than to escape his foul presence. There was really no lost love between them, simply because at one time, he had been one of her punishers. His complete disregard for human compassion made him the ideal torturer on one or two occasions that she could distinctly recall. And only the latter time, she had been punished for flagrant disobedience.
From that one long and drawn out session of sweet pain and agony, she had first hand experience of just how much the man enjoyed his work immensely. But this also made him the perfect soldier for the cause, in this long drawn out civil war which had now consumed her home world of Avaria off and on for the last 15 years.
It was there that she had lost her entire family from a brutal orbital bombardment, which had come at a really bad time. A time where coups and invasions were the order of the day, as each world succumbed to the Empire’s unparalleled brutality.
But if her dreams were of any indication, that might’ve not been the case at all. Since that fateful day, she could not accurately verify this without giving herself totally away. So she stalled for time, serving the handsome prince the best she could until the day came when she would be in an excellent position to reveal the truth, and she was no longer in any danger of being found out prematurely.
“Go.” The guard said, shoving her unexpectedly, while snapping the woman out of her own personal reverie. “And remember what I’ve said.”
IV
She headed down the featureless corridor, making sure to hide the contempt and the fact that the women were completely ignored except for her.
She remembered the food tester that had just died from old age on a nameless planet recently, years after he had been reported dead by her on the ship from a simple case of food poisoning. They haven’t really a need for a food tester this time around, even though the cook asked for one.
But Rya could definitely use this opportunity to get another friend off the ship.
The slaves and her parted company and she got into the elevator--keeping her thoughts on the task at hand as best she could, with all that she had to do in order to complete her pre-assigned tasks for the day.
The cook and the guard will be happy if this one dies today or tomorrow. Even the child would not eat hamja and rot, she thought, as the elevator took her down the ten floors necessary in order to get to the designated slave area where she would hopefully find another child.
Not to kill, but to rescue.
* * *
There was a weird and cruel tradition that only girls and women had to endure. Essentially, it entailed that all baby boys were to be taken as soon as they were born, after gender had been quickly determined.
To where exactly, she didn’t know and unfortunately, neither did the poor mothers until about 10 years ago, did they decide to dress their precious boys as little girls so they would be able to have that slim chance of keeping them.
Because of this drastic change, they were not so easily noticed the first time around--being girls and all.
Funny, she thought, there is a very large army comprised mostly of males on this ship as there were as many female slaves. Technically, male slaves were sent off to fight and die in the wars hence, and the others that were not excepted in the roles of common soldiers, were sent instead to the metal foundries, mines, and shipyards.
Sadly, she knew, it was a condemned sentence, because anyone who was sent didn’t tend to live very long. Very barbaric and very cruel by her standards. There were just five or so male slaves on the entire ship here (that she knew of), because there were women in the military ranks who needed someone, and would not cause them to lose face with their husbands.
When any child slave turned the age of nine, they exhibited certain changes which made it virtually impossible to hide the fact that they were indeed male.
Coincidentally, it so happened to be that time now.
“Just perfect,” she muttered, then stared up at the tiny screen display above her head, mounted flush with the door’s entrance/exit, and watched as the numbers began to do their thing.
But apparently, it wasn’t doing it very fast enough, giving Rya more reason to bitch.
“This elevator is so damned slow!” She whined in exasperation. “There must be a power loss somewhere on this level.” Then she thought, I wonder if anyone would begrudge me a nap? Surely they would understand.
But she dismissed that idea.
“Laziness,” she said to no one in particular. “A great quality if I do say so myself.” A big smile traveled across her face. But at least there are some great jobs that I get to do. So I guess it isn’t all that bad.
But the jobs she had varied, as she was in charge of more than just the prince. She had a special job for two members of the royal family. She was in charge of their male slaves.
And a witness to their “alterations”, as it were.
Documents were forged to conceal just exactly what was done but not enough to arouse any suspicion.
She and the doctor were the only two souls who knew the truth. Unfortunately, the doctor died a long time ago, as a result of an explosion in his lab. Rya missed his company terribly, because he just wasn’t a plain old doctor, he was a cherished friend of her family.
The elevator eventually arrived at its destination and Rya got a surprise.
The person before her was none other than Amadar’s youngest sister, Princess Ceria!
The woman bowed slightly from the waist.
“My lady.” She intoned respectfully, but kept her eyes averted. “I am surprised to see you here at this time of day. Are you lost?”
Ceria shook her head. “No. I was just looking for my slave, and I discovered through a conversation with a guard that he is at the slave area. Would you do me a favor?”
A touch from the girl’s delicate hand got the woman’s attention, and she looked into the pretty girl’s face.
“What do you wish of me, Princess Ceria?” Rya asked.
“Call me Ceria,” the girl requested. “I don’t like being addressed by my given title most of the time anyway--though few know this these days.”
“Why?” The woman wondered, her focus cut in two, between the request she had just made and the curiosity tearing at her own heart.
Ceria gave her an impish smile. “I want to be free of my royal duties and obligations. Do you find that a bit strange coming from someone like me?”
Rya nodded.
“I do.” She answered, leaving the cramped confines of the elevator, and falling in line alongside the young princess. “You’re only 16-years-old.”
“And married to General Horan, who is serving in the ranks of ships in the Galactic Empire’s powerful fleet.”
“On the Roth Garn still, is he not?” The woman recalled from memory.
“The Judicator now, actually.” Ceria corrected gently. “He called me from the bridge of his ship just a little while ago to tell me.”
“Congratulations.” Rya offered neutrally. “Now--if I may--what do you want me to do?”
“I would like for you to go to the slave area and get my slave for me. I’m afraid that I don’t really have the stomach to do it myself--you understand--and I don’t want the guards to do the job, because if they do, he’ll get punished for leaving my side!”
Rya couldn’t help but smile.
“Maki’s done it again, huh?”
Ceria nodded, worried and concerned for the man-slave she had since she could remember.
“Yes. So if you could just hurry...” She trailed off, hopeful and expectant.
“Okay, Ceria.” Then she yawned abruptly. Embarrassed by the unexpected motion, she apologized.
“Sorry. I just couldn’t help it. You’re brother had quite a long night as usual these days, and my sleep regimen was cut in half as a result.”
“That’s okay. I could have someone else do it, if you don’t feel up to the task.”
Rya shook her head, not wanting to hear nothing more of it.
“I’ll make this fast. Besides, I’ve gone a few days before in a row with little sleep, so it doesn’t make much difference to me.”
“It does if you can’t stand on your own two feet.” Ceria responded sharply, not happy with her brother’s antics. “I’ll have to speak with him sometime and have him cut his forays short, on my behalf.”
Rya didn’t like that idea one bit.
“If Amadar finds out, he’ll have me punished!” The woman mourned fearfully.
“No, he won’t.” The woman said with absolute conviction. “Everyone here--slave or noble--should be treated with respect.”
Rya chuckled, the slight tendrils of exhaustion leaving her body and frame of mind. “You are starting to sound more like a politician than a royal princess! Maybe you should run for Empress of the Empire someday!” She suggested playfully.
Ceria inclined her head slightly. “Maybe. Once this civil war is over.”
Rya’s mood sobered a bit. “Perhaps. Well, I better get going.”
“Me too,” the girl returned, and turned around, signaling for the elevator car--and left Rya to her own private devices.
The woman quickly ran down the hall and pushed the massive wooden doors open with a heavy crash!
Everyone stared at her as she came in.
The area was reminiscent of the slave areas in the above areas of the ship-- but much larger here and just as wide, sporting a varying degree of comforts. This particular segment was a fountain courtyard, with a few ramshackle buildings here and there strictly for appearance, though none of them actually functioned as sufficient housing.
This didn’t deter a few members from actually trying though.
A couple of women near her position rose suddenly, their questioning postures giving the woman all the information she needed to know.
Directly in front of her sat a child no more than six or seven-years-old at most--with a pallid expression on his innocent face, as he sat there alongside another woman, whom Rya knew to be the child’s mother.
This was it. She realized to herself, before walking over to the pair in a brisk manner, betraying the sense of urgency she felt in both herself and them, as she approached, while pulling out a pen that would mark the child as her property, and no longer the woman’s own flesh and blood--forcing him to leave the only home that he really knew.
The pen was a special one, not like the others that had been used regularly in the past. This kind of pen could not only determine the sex of the child, but also serve to calm him down, just in case.
The tip glowed brightly, before changing over to pink, which to her, meant that she was a he (despite the clever girlish disguise ‘he’ wore). To an outside observor, the change meant absolutely nothing.
The boy suddenly started to cry, and all his mother could do was comfort him, because she knew in her heart that this was where they would part ways, never to see each other again.
She tried to be brave--from Rya’s vantage point--and she even smiled awkwardly.
“It’s okay, my sweet one. Go with her, and be strong for the both of us. Okay?”
The boy nodded in her arms, still holding her tight, not wanting to let go, but knew the law.
Just as they were saying their goodbyes, someone came up from behind her and asked, “Rya? Are you looking for me?”
Startled, the woman whipped around so fast that she knocked the person in question to the ground.
Getting back up effortlessly on his part, the slightly taller man apologized.
“Sorry mistress, my mistake.” But he knew better than to call her by that name. It wasn’t even allowed, and the man had just stepped over his own boundries for the moment by doing so in public.
A mistake like that would surely land him 50 lashes by the guards nearby. But fortunately, they weren’t paying that much attention to them.
Fortunately.
She thought that he was so brazen to be like that.
Is he crazy? She thought hurriedly. Doesn’t he know that we are still being watched?
But from what she knew personally, the man thrived on risk, a hold over from his days as of a soldier from a far off place. A concerned hero of sorts, now a slave. And sometimes, even that status made him forget where he was.
He’s lucky that he had been given to Ceria. Only because she puts up with a lot of his antics from time to time, even after her father was killed and I had been delegated the task of raising her myself.
Ceria had been married--by tradition--at the age of 15, like her other two sisters, Selena and Jenia, with Selena being the oldest and the same age as Rya--25-years-old.
The young girl was surprisingly tall for her age, coming in at six feet and very slim, having short hair and physically strong--though the billowing dress she wore, hid that fact pretty well. Compared to the other women of her long lineage, Ceria was the shortest and considered plain, even though she was outwardly very attractive to others of the opposite sex.
Despite lacking in some of her attributes, being a royal member gave her the timeless privilege of being whatever kind of person she could be: Arrogant, prissy, snobby, a bitch even, or downright selfish.
But of all her siblings combined, the girl chose early on to be as kind and compassionate as she could, without making it look like she had some kind of terminal disease or something else entirely.
These things were precisely the reason why Rya liked her the best and tried to keep her safe from harm whenever she could--despite her loyalties and sworn allegiance to the future king.
From her past conversation, she knew that Horan was gone a lot, defending the Empire from all sorts of threats, foreign and domestic, and this gave Ceria the opportunity to go exploring often on her own, and she would sometimes go looking for Rya as well--making up plausible excuses as she went along. No one in their right mind would even question the civil liberties from a member of the royal family.
This kind of authority gave the young girl just the cover she needed to send her slaves off to be found by Rya, especially Maki (Makamar).
Kind’ve like a game invented solely by the princess, solely for her own personal pleasure and enjoyment.
The boy’s mother broke into the woman’s reverie by suddenly ordering, “Can you take this child for me?”
Rya realized then that she had been staring too long at Maki, entranced by his devilishly handsome face, and his muscular, lean body, arraigned in the simple garments of a common slave--cotton shirts and polyester pants or shorts, with brown sandals.
She cleared her throat, and turned to address the other woman’s needs. Reflecting on what she had just asked, it became clear that she wasn’t the least bit angry with them despite acting like she was.
Maki patted her butt in encouragement.
“Maki.” She said softly, but loud enough so only that he could hear her.
To the mother, she only said, “Be grateful, she will be in service to your future king.” And then extracted a coin from a hidden pocket deep within the folds of her layered clothing, and tossed it into the center of the fountain directly behind them--purifying the water instantly.
But to the guard watching the whole thing on a hidden monitor--in an undisclosed room--that it was nothing more than a payoff and a major slam to the slave community as a whole.
He remarked to his partner next to him, “The slave whore is a bitch too.” he said. “But at least, she is no liar.” And left the room, feeling deeply satisfied with himself.
Meanwhile, Maki headed out of the courtyard and through the heavy doors while carrying the small child in his arms. At this point, the child chose to doze off, and the tall man was careful enough to hold one of the doors long enough for Rya to follow through.
After closing both, Rya turned to Maki and said, “It was Ceria who asked for me to find you in the first place, and bring you back--though she didn’t specify exactly where.”
“That’s the princess for you,” Maki opinioned, shifting his weight around so that he could carry the child more safely than before. “Always doing something and then forgetting to mention a rendezvous point afterwards. Did she say where she was going?”
“No.” The woman said, finally believing that the reason why she did this was so that she could get the two of them together.
This notion burned bright and hot as embarrassment, because she had been so careful about how she expressed her feelings for someone, since that night with Darin.
All she could think of was just how clever a matchmaker she had been trying to be all this time! Then she wondered if they could both make it to the princess’s bed chamber without running into that guard again.
At least, that’s what she was hoping.
V
That’s it for me! Amadar screamed in silent indignation, staring up at the ceiling in complete boredom, his great reserve of teenage patience wearing thing. All I want is a nice rest and four women to tell me that I’m wonderful.
But that wasn’t to be, especially now. And all because of one person.
Where is Rya anyway? Doesn’t she knew that its almost lunchtime? And the food tester isn’t even here yet! That blasted woman even went so far as to send these girls here to feed me and forgot that the food was supposed to be moving on the plate! She had better stop killing my meals before I get them, because I know its her that’s been doing it lately--only because the cook said it wasn’t him and I should stop eating that crap if I know what’s good for me.
If it were the cook, he would just say so! Even though he’s not very sociable, he doesn’t try to kiss my ass every waking moment like some of my servants do. Maybe that’s why I like him.
Other times, he would have preferred people to suck up to him more often, because it made him feel more important in the eyes of others.
Amadar sighed, feeling that he had spent enough time muddling in his own thoughts, and sent the girls away so that he could take a nap.
But deep down, he still had that lingering thought running around loose inside his head: Where is she?!
* * *
If there was a law that existed only for frustrated elevator passengers, it would definitely be Murphy’s Law for the current two who suddenly became trapped without warning.
Maki pounded on the doors in growing frustration, once he realized that nothing he had done so far would open it. Turning to Rya, he asked, “It’s still stuck! Is there a button that you know of that could attract some of the guards’ attention?”
The dressed up child began to cry and complain a little at this point in time, successfully splitting the woman’s attention in half.
“Are you kidding?” She responded in a critical manner, trying to figure out herself what to do next. There weren’t that many options left open to them all. “Even if there was, I certainly wouldn’t use it...and you don’t want the guards here! Especially here and now!”
The little boy tugged on her arm, desperate to get her attention. It worked.
“What?” She bit out unintentionally.
“Missy lady. I have to go to the bathroom...” The child said in a shy voice.
Hearing this turned the tension down a notch, and gave Rya a chance for a much welcome breather.
Bending down, she asked, “What is your name little one?”
The child considered the woman’s question for a moment, then said, “Um, well, my mommy calls me Lynnix, but everyone else calls me Nix. Can I go now?” The child started dancing around, emphasizing his need to go.
Maki still probed the open panel next to him for any sign of an emergency override or something that could get them out of this mess.
Rya considered the problem for a second, then came up with something that might prove to be useful in a situation like this.
“Well, Nix, let me see, okay?” She ventured with a hint of promise and hope, fumbling through her layers of clothing before her hand came out with a small container which she laid out in a corner of the elevator and pushed a button.
The thing expanded exponentially, until it was the size of a small bucket. Not large, mind you, but sufficient for the problem at hand.
“Go, Nix.” The woman gestured, then turned her back on the child, so that privacy wouldn’t become a vital issue. She consciously scanned the interior of the elevator, but couldn’t find a single monitor or camera.
Abruptly, she turned right and kicked a busted panel into a million pieces, causing Maki’s jaw to drop, as well the child’s, who had finished with any personal business he might’ve had.
The woman turned and dropped a sanitizing/sterilizing coin into the compact container that stood on the floor and then picked it up and dumped its contents into the hole she had just made, then widened it a bit more with a couple of more well placed kicks.
Now it was large enough for them to do something else.
“Follow me, please.” She beckoned to the other two. Then jumped through the hole and disappeared.
“What are you doing?” Maki exclaimed, grabbing the child before he could follow.
A voice punctuated the darkness below.
“Going up in the world of course!” Then there came a wave of laughter, as a glimpse of the container was seen zipping up followed by Rya herself.
This was certainly fun, but she hoped that it wouldn’t be too exciting, fore she had nothing to hold onto, as the air pushed her up slowly.
She wondered if this was normal or if this was the result of the elevator failing.
But this darkness made it impossible for her to gauge her bearings properly. So to fix that problem, she pulled out a small locator and found that she was almost where she needed to be in the first place.
She took hold of the container once she got within range of it--having to half-swim, half-float towards it--and after giving it some further thought, she dropped another coin into it, which changed the water’s properties into a glue-like substance capable of eating right through metal.
Grabbing the container, she hurled the changed substance directly at the wall, and heard a tell-tale hiss as it ate its way through the metal itself.
Taking a bit of coiled rope from deep within her hair, she unfurled it and called out, “Grab this! We are getting out of here!”
Maki snagged the end with one hand, while nearly dropping the boy in the process, but recovered in the nick of time.
Rya reached out and snagged a hold of a jutting partition just above the now damaged site, tied the one end to it, and then effortlessly kicked through the outer wall, her forward momentum carrying her right through the corridor.
Unfortunately, her unexpected trip some unforeseen consequences. One, she completely lost her balance, so in effect she had no way of controlling her final destination.
That wouldn’t have been so bad--and she would’ve accepted it without question--however, her trip had an unexpected obstacle along the way.
* * *
The guard wasn’t happy with the way things had transpired so far today. He expected it to be a doldrums kind of day, with everything going according to a pre-set plan and he would get his way like he always did.
But that didn’t go the way he had planned it. At least, in his mind at any rate.
No, the events from today went like this: I went to see the slave girl like I always do, and when I get there, she wasn’t there. Then on my way out, I just so happen to run right into the prince’s whore servant. And because of that encounter, she makes me spend my entire allotted free time worrying about what she’s up to instead. Then I find out the child of my slut has been taken as a food tester, and now she won’t stop crying!
Those kind of thoughts made the guard wonder just how he was going to be able to take out his frustrations now.
Then he hears something just as he rounds the corner of the passageway.
Boom! Crash! Whack!
The sounds of flesh hitting flesh was indeed a sickening and equally nauseating sound to the outside observer, as the guard was thrown clear across the smooth floor like a hockey puck, before slamming into a retaining wall on the far side.
Rya was in no better shape, as she lay there in a most undignified missionary position, the life and all of her naturally enhanced senses, stunned for the time being.
The woman rolled over onto her back, moaning to herself, feeling very sick herself and utterly dazed.
“What in the name of the 50th Celestial Cluster did I hit?” She complained, finding herself with a bit of a headache.
Sitting up took every bit of her strength. Once her head stopped swimming and she was able to think, did the woman look to see what she had collided with. She had forgotten about the life support systems and the close to zero-gee environment that was kept in the elevator shafts, and what was to happen if she tried any acrobatic stunts while in the process of crossing over one threshold into another.
“Damn,” she muttered. “Am I ever stupid.”
Getting up to her feet, she walked over and turned the guard over, immediately recognizing his face.
“Boy, you certainly get around.” She quipped evilly. Checking him for a pulse, she found that he would be all right.
Patting his cheek gently, she whispered, “Out cold. Must’ve been my lucky day to take you out as the garbage.” Then she walked through the passageway, and rejoined Maki and Nix, whom were busy dusting themselves off.
“Any problems?” The slave-man inquired.
“Nope. Just accidentally knocked out one of the guards after coming through the wall.” Then she pirouetted like a little girl, and beckoned for him to join up with her as quickly as possible.
Maki hoisted the child onto his shoulders and quickly followed.
“Do you always get into this much trouble, or do I even have to ask?”
Rya shrugged innocently, but kept going.
Maki was stunned by the woman’s deliberate disregard for protocol in situations like this.
“And what happens if the other guards come and investigate?”
“They won’t. At least, not for a little while anyway.”
VI
She was a bit surprised that Amadar didn’t ask her one thing about where she had gone, or what she had done. But the woman did the smart thing by not pushing the subject when she came to call on him.
“You’re getting a salad for lunch, my prince. You need a little more variety in your diet if you’re going to survive to make it to your coronation in six months. You can’t serve the Empire if you are dead on your feet.”
Amadar grumbled a bit at that, as Rya came back and brought Nix forward to meet the prince.
“This is your new food taster.” She said, before she turned her attention back to the young man’s bed chamber.
“I will take the slave girls back...?” She began, finding that the area was empty of their young, nubile flesh and energy. She turned back to Amadar with a look of confusion on her face.
“Where are they, my prince?”
Amadar took a seat.
“I sent them away. I don’t need a babysitter, you know.”
Rya glared at Maki, thinking like she already had one.
How old was this guy anyway? She thought. The whole idea of having a slave around her all the time was a bit strange in her book. But in end--she reflected--it was Ceria’s decision.
Amadar began to unbutton his shirt, but finding that he was having some difficulties.
“Can I be of some help, my prince?” Maki inquired, stepping forward a bit. Privately, he thought Amadar was a spoiled brat. If it were up to him, he would take the young lad over his knee and teach him some manners.
But this wasn’t his ship and he no longer had a title of his own.
Someday, he would always muse. Someday...
However, Amadar brushed him off with, “No. You may leave my presence. I will call your mistress and tell her to fetch you. Rya may attend me, if she wishes.”
The woman stepped forward in Maki’s stead, casting an apologetic look in his direction. But from man’s tone, she could tell that he had become more and more agitated with both the stubborn buttons and clasps on his shirt and at Maki in general. The sooner he got the slave out of his hair, the better he would be.
Still fighting the damned garment, the prince went over to the monitor screen and attempted to get a hold of Ceria. But the male slave that answered respectfully told the prince that she was still out at the park and been gone for quite some time.
“If you have Maki,” the slave continued, “he knows the way home.” The screen went dark abruptly, leaving the prince in a state of shock.
Of all his sister’s slaves, the male contingent was a lot ruder than even some of his own family. Ceria had four male slaves, while his other sister, Jenia, had only one, simply because she was off ship most of the time. Selena of course, didn’t cause any problems except for the well known fact that she wholly despised Rya.
Hating her was just a bonus of course.
“Go on home, Maki.” The prince said in a reserved tone. “I’m afraid that with your mistress gone, there will be no one to take you back. I would normally ask one of the guards in a situation, such as this, but I really don’t have that much trust in them these days. Too much backstabbing can happen, you understand.”
Maki bowed. “Of course, my prince. Good day, your highness. Rya.”
Rya accepted his gesture with a nod, then went to help Amadar with his shirt.
* * *
After spending a half hour helping the prince out of his clothes and then getting him some new ones in preparation for lunch, Rya showed the boy to his quarters.
Unlike the slave quarters, the food taster’s sported a bit more in the way of comforts, but still not as much as Amadar’s bedchambers had been.
Nix was amazed for awhile by the decor, forgetting about the life he had led and his mother--for the moment.
Rya let him drink in the sights for a bit longer, much longer that it was normally allowed. Soon, she would tell him all about what to do and where he was really going.
She studied him for a bit, seeing how adorable and sweet he looked all dressed up in girl’s clothing, with a no-care attitude to go with it. This behavior probably had to do with the fact that he was eight years old and still very small. And children in this kind of society weren’t allowed to lead by example unless they came from a prominent family.
Like mine. She thought, recalling back some brief memories of her own child hood--one that had been filled with happiness and then shattered by violence and chaos.
Nix of course had been spared by that, as he had led a sheltered life up till recently. Now he was supposed to die in service of the prince.
Rya wasn’t about to let that happen. Of course the only differences they had was in status. But the things they had in common were all to surreal. Both were slaves to the system of things, and once you had been swallowed up by that, your past was irrelevant.
But thanks to Rya’s secret efforts, she was slowly changing the way things worked. So much so, that hardly anyone noticed. And if they did?
Nothing would change of consequence. Ignorance and arrogance ruled the Galactic Empire these days, and it would stay that way until someone stood up and changed how things operated.
Tyranny and chaos were just simple tools used by the hierarchy of common fools and idiots of the Ruling Council of the Galactic Empire.
Nothing mattered. Not even those who were proclaimed innocent from the beginning.
Rya shook herself free of her own personal thoughts and helped Nix get adjusted to his new surroundings--not that he would need them long at any rate.
* * *
Maki walked along the side corridor wall, mindful of the guards that occasionally dotted his path, but none blocked his way or made it a sticking point to cause a big deal about something.
The man was careful to avoid the left branch when he came up to the previous intersection--only because that was where he and Rya had that run-in with the guard. And besides, the right fork would take him to the park that she still inhabited--spending uncounted hours wandering the nature and holographic preserves.
But the trip there would take awhile and Maki had nothing better to do with his time.
Amadar thanked the messenger for the news he brought and then turned to Rya, who had just returned from the guest quarters located next to the slave area.
“When you go get my lunch ready, be sure to avoid the elevator,” he informed her.
“Why?”
“Broken.” The prince said. “I don’t need for you to die unexpectedly. That would mean I would have to get another slave who would eat more way than I can handle.” He turned away from her, not wanting to elaborate further on the subject. There was need for her to start thinking that he actually enjoyed her company.
But for Rya, she knew better. She already knew that the prince liked her, but to have him admit openly that he didn’t want her to die because of some stupid technological problem, was even more surprising.
The woman saw that admitting this to her was difficult enough, and she had begun to sense some pervading jealously about Maki and her.
Jealously--if left unchecked--could lead to something else. Something that even she didn’t want to face, but knew that sometime down the road, she would have to.
Nobody said that living the life of a slave would be pretty. But being caught in some kind of triangle was just as ugly...if not dangerous.
Wars have begun that way.
* * *
The park was beautiful to Ceria’s eyes as it expanded to almost a quarter-mile in all directions, forming a perfect circle, before being swallowed up by groves of lush green trees.
From where she stood, she could see a sparkling lake, with its small white caps of diamond-sharp perfections playing across its glassy surface, as shown by the gentle breeze.
Then that breeze changed into a strong gust of wind, racing across the lake with growing fervor, charging up the large grassy slopes, before slaloming through the trees gracefully like a playful child--rustling through the leaves, causing them to shake and shiver with almost uncontrolled human pleasure. From Ceria’s perspective, these trees appeared to be enjoying the intimate contact and showed the princess how they felt.
The princess herself began the long walk down the cobblestone path laid down before her, seeing only a few people in the distance on a grassy slope, seemingly enjoying themselves.
From her vantage point, Ceria couldn’t identify who they were, being too far away and all. Even shielding her eyes from the hot sunlight didn’t help dispel the illusion.
Walking a bit closer, she saw that it was a man, a woman, and a child. The closer she got, the easier it was for her to see what they were up to. Not too far off, there was an unfamiliar animal. The creature in question had a small, compact body, standing on four legs, and a tail. The small ears complimented its sharp pointed nose, as it bounded here and there, barking intermittently in utter happiness.
Ceria on the other hand was justifiably curious. This was the first time that she had seen these...people.
In her mind, they didn’t look like your ordinary, run-of-the-mill slaves, not by the way they dressed in those unfamiliar garments, or rather clothing, borrowing a bit on the Old Language.
“Mmm...” She murmured partly to herself. “These simulations were getting better and better every day.”
The man looked up from what he was doing--apparently playing a game with his family, and having an equally curious expression on his face.
“What’s that?” He asked.
The sixteen-year-old just shook her head. “Never mind.” She answered in a brisk tone. “I was just commenting on something that I’ve never seen.”
“What do you mean?” The man’s wife interjected, her strawberry blonde curls bouncing lightly around with the wind. Her light, pale complexion and forest green eyes mirrored an almost human curiosity.
“This.” Ceria indicated with a gesture. “It is nothing like the last time I remembered.”
“How long has it been since you came here?” The woman asked.
The teenager gave that question some thought.
“Three months,” she replied. “It’s been awhile and I have been rather busy.”
The man ran a hand through his thick, curly hair. “Things change. “ He said. “But some things always remain the same.”
“Oh?” Ceria queried. “And what might that be?”
“This.” The man gestured with a sweep of his arm, taking in the whole park, the sunlit sky, and the birds that flew overhead. “Everything that had been created for your personal enjoyment.”
Ceria saw the logic in that statement. The park itself was nothing but a huge recreation--a holographic environment for all members of the Aehan royal family--a powerful military dynasty that stretched back centuries, comparable to only a few in recent memory.
But that still didn’t save them all from the occasional extortion-blackmail/assassination scheme drummed up by some disgruntled citizen within the Empire itself.
But the park simulation itself revealed to the woman that even some things ran differently here, and it was the honest truth. This special kind of program self-evolved on its own accord, preferences allocated to the tastes of its current user. The program added new elements every time, improving on itself, storing what it knew in its massive database--one that dated back more than a thousand years.
“Yes, but if you are part of the program, how could you ever be possibly self-aware of your own existence?”
The man shrugged indifferently. “We are aware of many things, Princess Ceria. Just as you do. But while you are flesh and blood, we are nothing more than transmuted energy and wave patterns, trans-spatial force fields, and data-crystalline bio pixels.”
Ceria was astonished by the man’s response. She had thought that everything was pre-programmed according to the individual person’s desires. Unfortunately, she knew next to nothing of the system’s self-evolving capabilities. In fact, very few members of the Aehan royal family knew.
The young woman wondered privately if her brother--the prince--did, providing that he wasn’t still angry at her for pulling such a blasé stunt.
But then again, she thought with mild amusement, since I am the youngest, I should be rightfully entitled to a few civil liberties.
She thanked the holographic family and continued on with her walk.
The kitchen was a busy place all of a sudden when Rya and Nix returned.
Darin looked up from his food preparations and saw the pair, immediate relief setting in his face.
“Thank the goddess that you’re all right!” He said in a terse voice. “I wasn’t sure if you would make it back at all.”
Rya’s heightened instincts kicked in instantly and she was immediately suspicious of the man.
“What do you mean?” She ventured guardedly.
Darin stared at the woman stupidly for a second, then said, “Why the elevator accident of course. Didn’t you know?”
“Yes,” the woman said, walking around the island and confronting him with Nix in tow. “I was in it. Not exactly a smooth ride. But we all made it just the same.”
“We?”
“Maki, myself, and little Nix here. Who else would you think was in there with us?”
The cook didn’t have an answer for that. At least not for a few seconds anyway.
“Oh. I thought that there were other people traveling with you. I overheard one of the guards talking, and he said that he saw Princess Ceria in your vicinity. I assumed that she might’ve traveled back with you.”
“She didn’t come back with us.” Rya stated.
“Did she say where she was going?”
Rya’s passive expression transformed itself into open annoyance.
“Do I look like one of Princess Ceria’s servants or her slaves?”
Darin shook his head, seeing her point.
Rya forced her temper to cool down. The last thing she needed was another confrontation. That one with the guard was bad enough.
But between Maki and Amadar...?
The woman pulled her thoughts out the gutter, scolding herself for having such thoughts.
“Amadar told me that I could take a break after I bring him some lunch.” She picked up Nix and plunked him on the counter edge of the island and went over to one of the built-in fridges next to the island that Darin currently used to prepare many dishes on.
But after a few minutes of hunting in one and then another few minutes that sat next to it, Rya simply could not find what she was looking for.
“Leftovers?” She asked her former lover with an air of exasperation.
The cook pointed to the large gunny fridge that sat flush with the other exit. Despite its massive dimensions, the woman knew it would have many of the things that were needed to cook and feed members and staff of the Aehan royal family.
Rya opened the door, perusing the side compartments and shelves for a minute or so, then three of the main shelves in front of her--checking the variety of delectable food stuffs.
Delectable maybe to the prince, but to her that was another matter entirely, only because there were only a few things that she dared to eat.
While on that issue, Rya found one of the things that she did like: Sweet stimsticks. The actual name for them was lost, but that’s what she had been calling them. The stimsticks were a fleshy green tube with a natural opening on one end, and closed at the other.
The woman took the opportunity to steal a couple, while snagging a container that was half-filled with homja and the small cup on the side--still full of rot. (A kind of extremely potent hot sauce.)
Tucking both stimsticks under her arm, she opened the container, studying its contents.
It barely moved, given the obvious lack of movement, but she did see a slender tail twitch.
Nothing but tube worms. She thought with disdain and growing concern. The worms were specifically grown and then bred on Harakus Prime’s farming colonies, only to adorn the plates of many of the Galactic Empire’s royal houses.
Rya made a face and then put them back in the fridge along with the rot, closing the door as she went.
Going back to the cooking island, Darin looked up from what he was doing.
“Find them?” He asked.
The woman nodded. “Yes, but can I make a teensy suggestion?”
“Sure.”
“Can we fix Amadar something more...palatable? I don’t wish to see him pain anymore.”
Surprise clouded the other man’s face.
“What do you mean?” He asked.
Rya stared at the floor for a moment, finding herself torn between conflicted feelings and emotions that continuously tore at her soul. It wasn’t proper to feel nothing but blind obedience and devotion for one’s master.
But daring to think otherwise...
It would be considered treasonous.
But Rya couldn’t help what she had been feeling for quite some time.
Even now.
“I’ve seen the effects people show after eating homja and rot has had on their stomachs and digestive tracts. It’s having the same effect on the prince, and I would like to know if it would be possible to begin making changes in his ongoing diet.”
Darin readily agreed on that suggestion. Even he had begun to wonder if the prince was ever going to change his palate. Three years of homja and rot was just asking for trouble, not to imagine the kind of irreparable damage if it continued unabated without some kind of variation in diet.
“Okay. So what do you suggest?”
“Vegetables, rice, and a salad for starters.” She said in an immediate rush off the top of her head. “Better make that two. I’ll be needing one as well.”
“Has the prince been force-feeding you that stuff too?”
Rya shook her head. “I thank the goddess that he hasn’t. Otherwise, prince or not, he’d be dead at my hands.”
“Okay.” Darin answered with a smile of his own, then glanced over at where Nix was still sitting, banging his legs gently against the counter.
“What about him? Do you still wish for me to use him as a food taster anyway?”
“No,” the woman resolved quickly, having another idea for the boy pop into her head. “I’ll be the food tester for today.”
Concern made itself known to her, when Darin replied, “Are you sure you want to do that, given what happened to the last food tester? Are you that eager to throw your life away like that?”
The question was a valid one, knowing that 45% of all foodstuff shipments might’ve been either tainted or in some rare cases--deliberately poisoned.
Rya didn’t seem fazed by the man’s point.
“I have some protection from most known toxins.” She assured the cook. “If I didn’t, I would’ve been dead a long time ago.”
Darin may be a jerk sometimes, but he said next, stunned even her.
“I don’t wish you to.” He confessed openly. “Where would that leave me?”
Rya was speechless.
“W-what do you mean?”
Darin looked worried. “The last bodyguard for the king had been deliberately poisoned by the current military advisor--or so the rumors claim. According to the story, this act was kept secret and buried for a long time. But it forced old Kruper--the last cook before me--to take unprecedented chances as a self-appointed food tester. He eventually died one day from an apparent poisoning.”
Rya was silent as she quietly digested this. Then she asked, “So what happened after that?”
“Substitute cooks were brought in to fill his position that I now hold. But they passed on quickly for various and sometimes unexpected reasons.” He studied her for a moment. “That’s why there has been numerous sacrifices like the little one over there--to insure the safety of any member of the royal house of Aehan.”
I know, Rya reflected silently, but I never liked it. That is the reason for my “other” activity--the art of smuggling, giving boys like Nix here a chance for a better life.
But she never revealed that to anyone, because of the transparent danger to herself.
“You understand all of this, don’t you?” Darin questioned lightly, catching the woman off guard.
Rya recovered a bit, before nodding in her own sullen way; careful to mask her hidden intentions. However, though, there were times when she didn’t like him, even hated him, but as far as she was concerned, she couldn’t even begin to trust him: Their conversations proved that much all right.
“Then help me prepare his meal along with your salad. There is still much to do.”
And much to accomplish, the woman finished in silence.
VII
The dinner table had been decked out in the finest arraignments befitting a young boy of his royal stature. Silken embroider napkins, with gold leaves, ancient china plates, silver/gold utensils, and crystalline goblets. But the placements around the large table were empty of guests.
Amadar sat there for 20 minutes on the south end, waiting for his meal to arrive, and getting impatient. After another five, he was just about to signal one of his servants to go and see what was taking things so long, when Rya came out of the kitchen doors bearing a large tray of food. In her wake, Nix also carried a tray--albeit smaller one--holding drinks. One large crystalline tankard for the prince, and one blood-red garnet one for Rya herself. A bottle of drink was also present on the tray, just in case any of them wanted to refill their glasses.
“Master.” She genuflected slightly, before presenting him with a tray of food. “Your meal is ready. Eat.”
Amadar regarded what had been placed before him with broad curiosity and some visible distaste.
“What in the goddess’s name is this?” He demanded sharply.
Nix made himself useful by giving Rya the crystal tankard and then handing her the other one.
The woman placed the crystal one closer to Amadar’s plate and uncorked the bottle--releasing a pleasant scent of wood-grained alcohol and the sharp tang of mixed berries.
Rya thanked the little “girl” and was just about to pour him a drink when she accidentally tripped over a raised fold in the carpet, causing her to fly forward, spilling a great deal of its contents all over Amadar’s lap, and splashing upwards to the young man’s mid-section, but not all over his food.
Both of them let out a simultaneous curse, but instead of a word of discipline, Amadar broke out in laughter.
“Clumsy oaf!” He barked out, still laughing. “Woman? Did you not know how to properly to serve your lord and master? Or did you just plain forget?”
Rya was in the midst of clamoring to fix the problem by grabbing a silk napkin and trying to clean up the mess that she had made the best she could, without making too obvious about what she was doing to him.
But the young man snatched the napkin from her hands and shooed her away.
“I got it!” He grated with embarrassment. “I got it!”
Rya withdrew with a forced apology, while she watched the young man dab at himself some more, but found that no matter how hard he tried, the stains in his clothes would never come out on their own.
Rya promptly refilled his glass--properly this time--and scuttled over to retrieve her bowl of salad and her own drink.
Amadar could only stare for a moment at what she was having for a second longer, after she had tossed the soiled napkin into a nearby recycler.
“Is that all you are eating?” He inquired.
Rya stared down at her bowl before looking back at the handsome prince.
“Yes, master.”
Amadar shook his head in open disapproval.
“Go get something from Darin, right now. And take the girl with you.”
Rya stared at the young man in disbelief.
“Master?”
“Now!” Amadar thundered, startling both of them with the power of his youthful voice.
Rya left quickly, taking Nix with her.
Amadar stared at her abandoned placement for a moment longer, then smiled.
* * *
Ceria’s trip took her through the forest and onto another section of the park, one that had a path which lined up with large, smooth stone work, all cut into perfect squares.
The second she stepped past one, a soft chime could be heard filtering through the air.
Then a whisper of energies coalesced together, and for the first time in known memory, a lion’s roar was heard.
The young woman stopped to marvel at such a splendid beast, watching it move around like it owned the platform it had been birthed from. Then the lion laid down and simply froze again. Then a neutral voice cut through the air effortlessly as it explained what it was.
“This is a lion. Once part of the region of the planet Earth known as the Serengeti. This proud hunter was cunning as well as quick. The animal’s main source of food was varied, since it was a carnivore, but it liked to prey on either gazelle or zebra the most. The lion’s social structure was highly organized as it chiefly revolved around its pride– a collection of female lionesses, and maybe a couple of males.”
The voice stopped after that, allowing the woman to experience the next holographic-voice exhibit– a whale.
This beautiful creature also came from the sample planet– this Earth.
The whale in question was a humpback, one of the most striking of all creature exhibits she had ever laid eyes on. Its mournful; cry echoed into the air, followed by some pod singing that lingered long after the voice had explained what this creature was.
A sound that tore out the woman’s heart and held it fast.
He whale then leaped through it’s holographic environment– water– then into the air, and came crashing down in what was once called breaching, before vanishing back into its simulated watery environment. Afterwards, the presentation froze.
Earth…she thought. A conquered planet now turned into one of numerous slave colony words around the known universe.
Ceria continued on with her walk.
* * *
The child needed some training and she personally did not have the time, so she decided to let one of the head slaves of Selina train him. He didn’t need much training since she would have him smuggled off the ship in a week or two.
“Accidents happen all the time, and a food tester was the fastest way to die.”
There was also a law that all slaves born were girls, since the method of natural conception had been genetically manipulated for that express purpose. But sometimes, it failed. Having a boy was always punishable by death.
The only exception was that male slaves were born for female royalty. And these slaves were found outside the slave quarters and primarily raised on slave planets outside their solar system. A few were as warriors and soldiers seized in past conflicts and wars.
Rya heard that many died even before they made it onto a transport ship., simply because medical treatment for slaves was increasingly non-existent.
She decided to ask Rel if he would take him under his wing. He was an older slave– about 46-years-old– and very trustworthy, only because he had helped her before, thought it was rumored that the older man was hard at hearing and had to yell in order to be heard. But Rya knew better. Rel was Selina’s second slave, Werk being the first. That young man was very flamboyant and always went with the princess wherever she went on a trip. The male slave was well known for dressing her in an absolutely fabulous manner. So much so, that she was well known for her grace and glamorous clothing.
Tearing herself free from her own personal thoughts, Rya glanced down at Nix, who faithfully stayed close by to her at all times.
“Nix? We are going to visit someone and maybe you can play with Ramón.” Rya said as they closed in on what was only called the Bay. The place was next to Selena’s quarters and had a large pool where Rel liked to relax with Ramón– an animal that tagged along with the man, having– for the sake of argument– the appearance of a very hairy shrub with legs.
Once they got to the doorway, Rya bent down and looked the little boy straight in the eyes.
“Can you hear them, Nix?” She asked quietly.
He nodded his head and smiled. Rya liked him, even though he was dressed to resemble a girl. The stray thought of keeping him for herself passed through her head, but she dismissed it, based on the grounds that Nix had an uncle and a grandmother waiting for him on one of the neighboring planets.
The act of finding them was a simple enough accident. She had come across their whereabouts in one of her past transmissions packets that she had gotten.
Then the sound of an animal barking snagged the woman’s attention back to the present, and she realized that it was Ramón. The shrub had picked up Rya’s smell and came running as fast as its little legs could carry it.
But Rya knew that the only reason why the animal could smell her was because she had sometimes carried food on her person– strictly for the shrub. A treat if you will.
The animal barked some more until Rya heard Rel’s strong voice call out for it to quiet down and come over to him.
The animal whined plaintively from behind the door, torn between its master’s commands and the demands of its appetite.
Rya decided to intervene, not wanting to keep the poor animal in suspense much longer.
“It’s okay, Rel, I’ll take care of this.”
“Okay.” Came the response, as the woman opened the door a crack, seeing a small furry creature trying to poke its miniscule head out, its pointed nose sniffing the air.
“Ramón! Back!” Rya commanded in a firm voice.
The animal’s body gyrations told the woman that it was agitated and excited.
“Baaaack…” She stressed, then bent down and gently pushed the animal-shrub back through the crack, before she opened the door even more.
The animal bounced around on its legs, happy and excited, but didn’t interfere with them coming through the door.
Rya removed something from the inside the folds of her clothing, and tossed it to Ramón whom snatched it out of the air in a whirl of fur and teeth.
The animal-shrub finished its snack and wove to and fro between her legs lovingly, giving the woman more reason to pause and pet the creature.
Ramón purred like a cat, but the second she left its presence, it began barking like a Pomeranian.
Rya had Nix sit on one of the benches, while she approached the massively heated pool. Once she got close enough to it, she could pick out Rel himself. The older man was floating near the center without a care in the world.
Apparently, Selena was gone again (most likely to another state function where they were awarding her husband another combat medal and an increase in rank), leaving Rel in charge of the young woman’s girls, one of them age 2, and the other, age 4.
In a couple of years, they will be sent to school to be trained in the female arts with their sister.
Rya looked for them and found where they were– at the other end of the pool near Rel– but they were simply having too much fun playing in the water to even acknowledge the woman’s presence with a smile, or perhaps a wave or two of the hand.
Rya knelt at the edge of the pool and said, “Rel! Can I talk to you?”
Rel didn’t even bat an eye at her, but kept swimming long enough to say, “Oh, is that you Rya? What are you doing here? Thinking about going for a swim?”
The woman set her chips to a dry suit mode of operation just so the water wouldn‘t ruin her supplies or weapons, before jumping in and creating a large column as a result of her watery entrance.
“Oops!” She muttered when she surfaced and looked around, some of her hair plastered against her skull, the rest floating about like tentacles from a jelly fish. Remembering what she did, Rya began laughing at her own clumsiness, before she started out towards Rel– the cool water a welcome relief in contrast to her hot skin.
But the older man had beaten her to the punch, and gotten out, but helped her out of the pool, laughing and remarking on how silly she could be sometimes.
“What?” The woman retorted. “Why do you say that?”
Rel pointed to the pool and Rya turned and looked. Some of her foodstuffs had come loose after she had hit the water. Some of it floated, while others sank slowly out of sight.
Rya’s face twisted into an expression of unbridled disgust.
Oh yuck! She thought morbidly. There’s no way I’m going to be able to eat that stuff now!
“How could anybody with a right mind, put you in charge of Amadar is beyond me.” The man commented wryly, the laughter still present in his voice. But inwardly he wordlessly added, how could Rya be a slave and be watched as a spy and possible trouble maker also?
Rya growled at herself for her own inapt clumsiness, while drying out her clothes.
“If your so damned concerned about my own welfare, may I trouble you to take the child for a couple of days, to be trained as a helper and food tester?”
Rel didn’t seem to have a problem with that. He was sure that it wouldn‘t constitute as a burden unto him.
“Sure. No problem.” He relented easily. “But be careful. One of the guards has it out for you.”
Rya rolled her eyes at the implied warning.
“That doesn’t surprise me the least bit. All these guards are idiots anyway. They’d soon cause trouble half the time, than to attend to their own respective duties.”
Rel grinned, knowing that he was partially right in one respect. The guards may not be the idealistic trouble makers he had painted them to be, but Rya certainly was– though she wouldn’t admit it openly.
And that suited him just fine. Anything was a welcome change to the tediousness of this sterile lifestyle. But it was something they all were forced to adapt to in order to serve a higher function.
Rya went over to where Nix was, whom happened to be playing with Ramón and the ‘other’ girls. Fortunately, they didn’t know the difference between slaves and royalty. Or failing that, they didn’t really care.
“Nix? You’re going to stay here for a couple of days. Listen to everything Rel has to say, and do as he asks. Okay?”
“So I get to play?” He responded distractedly, before going over to the pool, where the last the of her waterlogged foodstuffs could be sinking out of sight.
Not even a goodbye. She thought with a strangely heavy heart. It didn’t matter to her, but she knew that this would probably be the last time she got to see him so happy.
“Good bye, little one.” She murmured out loud in a soft voice. Then looking over at Rel, she said, “Thank you.”
Then walked quickly out of the Bay.
VIII
Rya left as quickly as possible, simply because of her state of mixed emotions. She traveled down the large corridor, avoiding contact with the guards whenever possible, but she couldn’t escape her own feelings toward the boy.
He was really a special soul in her book, and she would feel great sorrow and remorse if anything were to happen to him– that is, if this plan were to fail.
But given the circumstances, how could it not?
The only danger to Nix was the food taster job itself. If he were to die, it would avail her nothing, but at least the prince would be safe once more from Death’s cold touch.
But Rya wanted the boy to grow up and live a healthy life, like so many of the other slave boys that she had helped off the ship over the course of time.
And she was willing to risk her own life to do it. But only in secret.
Rya stopped close by another corridor junction and took a breather. Then her stomach started to growl.
The woman sighed. Wonderful. She thought. I just knew that one pill wasn’t going to cut it.
Rya knew that she would have to go to the kitchen and avail herself something. But she would have to go to the secondary kitchen, rather than the primary. Darin rarely stepped foot inside the former.
I can get food there. The real stuff that I can eat.
She took the next passageway down the featureless corridor, and quickly found herself in familiar territory, as she passed the main dining hall for the military brass, eliciting a few stares from a few lingering officers as she went, but no one bothered to approach her. Communication filters picked up the present conversation and transmitted it through a microscopic relay unit behind her left ear.
The piece centered around Detra and his most unfortunate accident in an adjoining corridor.
“Did you not hear me? I don’t need any of you subordinates messing with my area. I can handle anything that bitch can dish out!” The soldier candidly said.
“Yah, right,” another interjected smoothly. “So much so that you probably ended up walking smack dab into a wall and got knocked out because of it!”
The rest of the small group of soldiers was heard laughing.
Rya smiled, knowing that she had just drawn a line between her and the rest of the ship’s guard complement. Things would liable to get dicey for a time, but at least, they wouldn’t be looking to be picking a fight with her.
Another twisting corridor, followed by a long, carpeted hallway, with a plethora of signature paintings on both sides, signaled that the woman was closing in on her objecting. Another turn around the bend, and there was the familiar oak doors that gave away the kitchen’s hidden presence.
She opened one door and flicked on the overhead lights, grateful that she could have something to call home herself, since it was her father who had built this kitchenette and had it stocked at all times.
The place was much smaller than the main kitchen, though it had more amenities than the other one– namely cabinets and three fridges full. There was only one small island and a stove for cooking, but Rya was more interested in what one of the far left cabinet’s held.
She opened it up, and found herself looking at pouches of dried fruit. More so than she thought.
The supply and store staff must’ve been in here recently. She thought, taking as many pouches that she can carry on her person and storing them within hidden pockets within the folds of her clothes.
After doing this, she closed the door, and went over to one of the wall-to-wall refrigerators, and opened it to see what she could find.
A large tank of tufra greeted the woman’s eyes and she positively drooled over it. The enriched and spicy drink would come in handy to her, so she went over to the prep table and snagged the first thing she thought would hold enough of the tufra: a gallon-sized pitcher. She filled the thing to the brim, and then closed the door with a slam! And sat back against the prep island and proceeded to drink her fill of it.
Once that was done, the woman belched loud and clear, knowing that no one could hear her, and smiled– the warmth of the tufra in her belly and its lingering essence steadily enveloping her mind and giving her a much needed boost of mental strength and energy.
She would need it. That’s for sure.
She went over to a smaller cabinet and proceeded to down five de-tox packets into her mouth, and then took the remaining supply along with some coins, pills, and anything else that she could carry in her other pouches– things that would get the job done.
Her task completed, she left the kitchenette and headed back to Amadar’s quarters. It was about time to go and get the girls.
But that thought left the woman slightly depressed.
I hope not! I would really love to sleep tonight…she mused quietly.
* * *
“No! Not tonight! I have to get a break from all that! She will just have to go!” Amadar was heard yelling, just as Rya came into the room, and curtsied discretely in the young man’s presence. The slave girl that the guard had brought him cringed visibly at the prince’s hot anger, but did nothing to protest it. It was his right to refuse her services.
The guard appeared positively bothered by the prince’s sudden outburst, but he did nothing to protest it. His job was to routinely bring in a slave girl every night, just as it was Rya’s life-sworn duty to attend to her young master.
He nodded and grabbed the slave girl by the arm and left. But as the two past Rya, the girl glared at Rya with unmistakable jealousy and contempt.
Then Amadar’s voice barked out, “Woman! Draw me a bath!”
Rya nodded and stepped down into the sunken room with a large tub in the center. There was enough room for six people or one big-headed prince. She turned the faucet on and dumped his favorite scented bubble bath oil in, and also took the opportunity to add a couple of coins into the tub, even as he disrobed.
Rya turned away from him, giving him a small measure of privacy. Amadar paused for a moment, anger all but forgotten, and wondered what she was thinking. He wanted to ask her, but felt inexplicably shy for some reason.
Her didn’t know why he felt this way, since he had known her all his life.
Why should now be any different? He thought to himself. So as he slipped into the bathtub, his brain slipped back into a small day dream.
“I bet Maki would know what to do.” Rya said in his day dream, before he broke it off to throw a small towel at her in a playful manner. But Rya’s reflexes were a great deal quicker and she snatched the thing out of the air without looking, but was staring at him curiously.
What was he staring at? She wondered. Looking at his dark skin, she also wondered where he found the time to get a tan.
* * *
Maki thought that Ceria might want to know that Jeniah was looking for her. So he headed to the park where one of the other slaves had indicated she still might be.
The slave was a bit pissed, knowing that this was the reason why the princess spent a lot of time there. All because of that ass of a husband of hers was gone ninety percent of the time.
Most likely, he’s got a few slave girls on the side when Ceria isn’t around. He thought. I’m sure glad that she has found something constructive to do unlike these other spoiled, pampered children on this ship.
Of course, Maki couldn’t really complain. He was also part of a small minority of slaves that had the freedom to come and go as they please.
Even if she sends me on silly trips to uncharted areas of the ship.
A smart child to say the least.
But all this changed when he unexpectedly ran into her as she came running up to him.
“There you are!” Ceria said in a breathless voice. “Where have you been? You shouldn’t keep me worrying about you like this!” A smile ran across her small mouth as she said it.
“Your sister Jeniah has sent me for you,” Maki explained, acting as if she hadn’t said anything but her usual hello.
It took the woman a few moments for the statement to even register on her excited brain.
“What?!” The princess exclaimed in shock and disbelief. “She’s here?”
Jeniah always had a habit of showing up at the strangest times. She was also Amadar’s twin sibling and a complete and total opposite.
Jeniah had jet black hair with curls, and yellow eyes like a cat’s. In fact, her mannerisms at times were so much like a cat’s when she was little, that she bore the nickname “Kitty”. She had no children as of yet, but was planning on having a litter of eight– or so she was heard saying.
Her husband was a Space Marine captain with his own ship, which he and Jeniah lived on. It was because of his impressive combat and battle record that sparked a union between the two. But most these days, an impressive record of accomplishments was usually the fare for the day, and that’s how you got a princess of one royal ship to marry a fine and worthy captain of another ship-of-the-line.
“Yes.” Maki said. “She is.”
The woman stewed over that comment for a moment, and left him right then and there.
“Wait!” Maki called out after her, forcing her to stop dead in her tracks.
“What now, Maki?”
“What do you want me to do?”
Ceria paused and thought that one over.
“Go on ahead and amuse yourself with whatever you want for the time being.”
Maki nodded, watching her go on her own accord, as did he.
* * *
Jeniah went to her brother’s quarters later on that afternoon, under the blind assumption that he might know where Ceria could be. She even knew that Rya had an odd habit of knowing precisely where all the members of the ship’s royal family was at all times, even when she was busy with a task, or playing servant to her brother’s whims and desires. She didn’t want to go so far as to bother her sister– Selena’s– staff, only because they would ignore her summons and rarely were they in their respective quarters at certain times of the day.
But she did catch sight of Maki outside her brother’s quarters and asked him to help her look for Ceria and if he did see her, to bring her to her at once. The reasoning behind her request was so that she could take her sister to her home for a couple of days and she could only bring one other servant with her, but not Maki. The man didn’t have a problem with that and even said so. But deep down he did know the reason behind his remaining behind. Maki was one of the men put into slavery by her husband, and would undoubtedly cause some very large problems like he had before– even if his anger had been justifiably silenced.
Maki left to go find Ceria, leaving Jeniah all by herself.
Jeniah– on the other hand– knocked on Amadar’s closed chambered door and waited patiently for a response. All in all, she reflected to herself, Amadar could have women in there since he didn’t have to marry until he was eighteen and become king. If he was a woman, things would have been very different. She thought of her father were still alive and not had been callously murdered 10 years ago next month, things would have been drastically different and so much easier for all of them in retrospect. But of course things weren’t so easy as she would’ve liked them to be, since most royal families in the Galactic Empire had an average of 15 to 20 mothers, and some of the royal members looked at her strangely when she would tell any one of them that she had only three.
Her father wasn’t poor, he was just choosy. And the women he married, he did so out of love, not for status, financial, or personal gain. Which is why Jeniah always remembered for being such a hopeless romantic at heart.
A sudden crash, a boom, and finally, a bang! broke through the young woman’s personal reverie, before Rya herself answered the door.
“Sorry about that. Busy.” She explained in ways of an apology, before leading her into the front room and left her there, before going back into Amadar’s bed chamber.
“Your sister, Jeniah is here, my lord,” Rya said as she entered the bath area. Then she handed him his robe while keeping the smile she had on her face in check with a strong will of admirable restraint. But the thoughts…the thoughts couldn’t be so easily swayed.
Just in time, she thought. He was beginning to shrivel up like an old prune.
But then she realized that his awkward behavior was due to the fact that he was beginning to sexually mature, and now she knew why she had been evading his advances towards her lately. As charming as he was at times, Amadar still could find it in his heart to go out of his way to still being a royal pain in the ass.
But even Rya didn’t know how long she could evade his advances for very much longer.
Out of the blue, his voice cut through her personal reverie.
“Can you hand me my pants?” He asked her He really didn’t wear clothes that often unless he had company, other than slaves; they just got in the way of all the fun. Rya never noticed. Or maybe she failed to notice.
For a moment, the prince wondered why, as he began to put on his pants, two legs at once, just to be keen.
Rya left the young man’s presence and went back to Jeniah.
“He’ll be out in a moment, my lady. Would you like anything in the meantime?”
“No. No thank you, Rya. Did you know that Maki was outside of here just awhile ago? I sent him to find Princess Ceria.” She could not tell if she cared or not, simply because Rya did not look up at her. Growing up, she was the same way. Even much more than the regular servants.
Except for Amadar.
Maybe that’s why she was here for him. She was still very polite and kind to everyone she met, even when they didn’t deserve it.
Especially Selena– who was a real bitch to her. But in retrospect, the young woman was a bitch to everyone she met.. But in the end, her behavior didn’t matter, not when she got the job done, and was rewarded by getting the sole privilege to marry whomever she wanted– not by traditional betrothal like it had been done in the past.
Rya still dreaded having to listen to her and follow her every order. Her husband– General Traga, was the head of the Salverdo army, while Jeniah was just a captain’s wife.
“Maki…” the woman whispered, wondering what he was up to. All Rya could do was wait until Amadar finished dressing.
* * *
Ceria and Maki walked the long corridor to Amadar’s quarters. But even before they got there, the pair was intercepted by a guard, who asked them to stop.
“Why?” Ceria wanted to know in a curt manner.
The guard looked at Maki and said, “Are you aware that your slave has been roving the ship unescorted?”
Ceria glanced at Maki and then at the guard.
“Yes.” She said without reprisal.
The guard didn’t bat an eye.
“Explain that.”
The woman stared at the guard in frank surprise.
“Why should I explain to you as to what my personal slaves are either up to on their own personal time, or what they do?”
The guard remained unmoved. “We have every reason to believe that he is spying.” He opened up firmly.
“Spying?” The woman scoffed harshly. “What makes you think he’s been doing that?”
The guard produced an e-pad from his person, and flicked on the screen and started scanning down the list of infractions that he had logged down.
“Unauthorized access to sectors G-7, G-3, C-2, and F-4, on Decks 4-8. Specifically prohibited to all slave and servants.”
Ceria’s anger started to build.
“Maki has my full authority to go anywhere he pleases when he is sent on an official errand by any member of my royal family. Or are you going to just stand there and continue to question me?”
The guard’s posture remained unchanged– a clear sign that he was an ass for sure.
“It’s my duty to– ” he began, but never got a chance to finish his sentence, before Ceria silenced him with a jab of a finger, cutting him off.
“It is your duty as a royal guardsman to follow orders and not question the authority of any member of the Aehan royal family! Do I make myself clear???”
The guard finally bowed to the princess’s anger.
“Yes, Princess Ceria. You are clear.”
“Good. Now get the hell out of our way!” She snapped.
The guard stepped aside obediently, watching them go.
He may not like it, but he was a product of an institutionalized system. It was his natural instincts to follow the orders and requests that were handed down to him and those that were a part of the Avarian Elite Guard– an army that--at one time--been forced to fight its own people so long ago.
Turncoats…he thought. The whole lot of them.
IX
Amadar came out of his bed chamber, with both Rya and Jenia waiting patiently for him to grace their presence.
“It’s about time, slow poke,” the princess remarked with an affectionate jab directed to her fraternal twin brother. “I was getting worried, standing here and wondering if you were ever going to come out.” Then she cast a knowing grin in Rya’s direction. “Not with all those slave girls and all.”
The woman’s face turned a slight shade of red, but didn’t say anything to protest the fact. The embarrassment she felt was further exaggerated by Amadar’s laughter as he returned his sister’s jab with a small barb of his own.
“You’re such a sourpuss, sis.” he fired back easily. Their light rivalry was a tradition among the two, even when their father was still alive and their mother was still with them before being spirited away by the coup which claimed their dear father’s life.
“There wasn’t anyone in the bedchamber with me, except for Rya.”
Jenia looked back at her brother’s unofficial bodyguard and hand maiden.
“Really?”
Amadar stared at her sister’s slender back in slight shock.
“Sis, you can be a real pain sometimes, you know that? There is nothing going on between me and my slave girl.”
Unfortunately, Jenia wasn’t convinced. She had seen many times how her brother would look at Rya sometimes. Who wouldn’t take the opportunity to secretly ogle at an attractive, athletic woman?
“It’s not me you have to convince, dear brother of mine. There will come a time when you’ll have to choose the woman you will love and marry, there will be no second or third chance like dad had with mom.”
Amadar was stunned. “What do you mean? I thought it was our family custom to take three husbands or three wives?”
Jenia shrugged.
“It’s not going to be that way anymore. I just came from my ship to fill you in on a few things.”
“Like what? The coronation ceremony? I already know that.”
“No, it’s much more than a simple coronation ceremony.” Jenia teased openly, the suspense building between them.
However funny this was to his sister, Amadar was in no mood for simple mind games now. This was serious.
“What then? What are the other things?”
Jenia’s body posture tensed slightly as her facial expression soured a bit– revealing just how bad things were going, her brief humorous attitude all but evaporated.
“In two days, there will be a planetary coalition gathering for the next war tribunal: Everyone from generals to other members of royal families from every outlying world in the Galactic Empire, along with military advisors and economic advisors.”
“Wow.” Rya muttered softly, thinking that this must be serious if there is that many dignitaries in attendance.
Jenia agreed with her on that sentiment. “Yes, which is why you must attend this meeting, dear brother. It is very important.”
For a second. Amadar felt like he was being accused of not fulfilling his role as the head of the Aehan royal family from Coreasi III.
“Hey!“ He exclaimed rigidly, facing going flush with embarrassment. “You can’t blame me! I was sick the last time with Hygerian flu!”
Rya could attest to that, since she was there taking care of him last year. Fortunately for her, her immune system had been genetically enhanced at an early age so that she was unable to catch the contagious bug.
But three of Amadar’s slave girls– including Ilyah– weren’t so fortunate. They spent a week in quarantine on the medical ship Solace– ordered by Rya herself, since Amadar was too weak to do much else, and released after they were deemed healthy and cleared by the chief medical officer.
“Mmm-hmm.” Jenia’s patronizing voice broke through the woman’s personal thoughts of the past. Her tone clearly indicated that she didn’t believe him. Which was true to some extent. She wasn’t on board when the Hygerian flu epidemic broke on the ship.
But the woman elected to keep quiet however. A wise decision, since she didn’t want to add more fire to the situation by first admitting that it was her fault that she had gotten him sick accidentally, when they had that meeting with an official from the Ocran star system. The man obviously wasn’t feeling well, but she didn’t know the extent of his illness at the time. The person in question was red-faced, sweaty, and had boils on his hands, arms, and neck that did indeed look infected from her stand point. The man assured them both that it was just a mild break out of hives and acne, a latent reaction from his youth, and shouldn’t worry too much.
But the coughing did worry Rya, but held her concern in check, but allowed the mining negotiations to go on despite the man’s outward condition.
Three days after the man left, Amadar fell ill in such a bad way that Rya was convinced that the young prince would die.
When Rya tried to contact the Ocran official, she found out that the man had inadvertently died en route to his home world, an apparent victim of the Hygerian flu.
It was then that the woman ordered the ship to be placed on quarantine status, through the prince’s authority, and had anyone who was in contact with the Ocran to be placed in medical quarantine on the Solace.
Forty-two people, including seven slaves were quarantined. Twelve people died, including one slave.
Rya didn’t leave Amadar’s side for eight days, attending to him, worrying even more when his condition worsened. Rya’s only hope was a rare medicine that she kept on her person, given to her by Nana herself. She told her that it was a one-time use and could not be found again, should the circumstances warrant such an inclusion.
Rya was torn. This medicine was specifically meant for her. But the woman couldn’t ignore the prince’s dire situation. If she didn’t do anything now, he would most assuredly die. And nothing she had on her person besides this, was doing the trick.
So she acted and saved Amadar’s life, knowing that she had put hers in a most unfortunate position.
Rya could only pray and count on her enhanced immune system to do the rest afterwards.
But she never told Amadar the truth, believing that he would take her action as a sure sign that she was treating him more than just a royal member of the Aehan dynasty.
“But I was!” Amadar’s strong voice cut through her day dreaming once again. The woman shook herself free with a chided curse on her lapse in being attentive to the heated discussion at hand.
“Honestly!”
Jenia sighed and then looked at Rya who appeared a bit distracted by what was going on, but at least she chose to remain silent on this issue.
“What is your opinion, Rya?”
The woman blinked in surprise.
“I cannot say for sure, mistress. I was presently engrossed in my own thoughts.”
That response failed to dampen the young woman’s mood. She snorted softly.
“It may be just as well.” Glancing at her brother, she announced, “I’m returning to my ship and I’m taking Ceria with me.”
“Whatever for?” Amadar asked.
Jenia smiled openly at him. “Why should you care? Besides, it’s a girl thing and not meant for the ears of a male, even though that male is of your own flesh and blood and the future reigning monarch of the Galactic Empire.”
“Sounds like you’re discriminating against me, my sweet sister.” Amadar chided gently.
Jenia shrugged.
“See it as you must, dear brother, but it is something that Ceria and I take very seriously.” Looking at Rya, she added, “I would include your servant slave in on this, but I suspect that you two have a great deal to do.”
Amadar hesitated for a moment, seeing the truth in her sister’s words.
But not in the way he saw it.
“True.” He admitted.
This served to raise the young woman’s eyebrows, but she didn’t comment on it.
“Very well,” she said. “I’m leaving. But remember: Two days.” Then she left him and Rya alone.
* * *
Ceria and Maki were only a few minutes away from Jenia’s position, as they continued walking down the long white-silver hall– much different from the gray ones that they had traversed many times– before it dumped them seamlessly into a familiar gray corridor.
“I’m sorry that I strayed from my normal routine, my mistress. But I couldn’t help myself: I was naturally curious about certain areas of the ship.
The young princess understood what her slave-servant was trying to convey to her. It wasn’t blind disobedience after all, contrary to popular belief. Devotion and loyalty. That’s all it was.
“Of course.” She relented easily. “But is this natural curiosity just a by product of your military training in the former Avarian National Guard, or something else?” Like truth for instance?
Maki glanced at her as they turned another corner, then continued on a straight and narrow path.
“As a former soldier in the Avarian National Guard, it was my duty to uphold the principles of my sovereign king and defend my country. There is no greater honor than that. However, since our defeat almost 21 years ago, all that is left is curiosity.. So yes, you are correct in saying that this is a by-product of my training as a soldier.”
“Does spying fall into that category?” Ceria asked.
Maki shook his head , but he couldn’t help but smile.
“A little. To be honest, I spent the first three years learning as much as I could about my captors at first. But after you were born, all my thoughts about escaping and rejoining whatever resistance cell that may have existed vanished, and I was content in remaining in your parents’ employ. I’ve been that way ever since.”
Ceria was quiet.
“I didn’t know.” she murmured. “So all of your roaming around has been done in the name of curiosity and not spying, as that guard accused earlier?”
Maki laughed.
“No! Why would I do such a thing as that? Am your loyal servant and slave. There is nothing to be gained from spying. And just who would gain from my deception anyway even if I did?”
“I don’t know.” Ceria relented. “But I suspect that there would be those in the higher ranks of the Avarian Senatorium who would greatly benefit.”
“Yes, but in order to pass on whatever information I had, I would have to be in league with a particular military advisor or even a senator.” Maki then gestured about him. “But there is nothing here in terms of information. These Castle-class cruisers are already in numerous use. As for the individual members of the Aehan royal family, it wouldn’t gain me any leverage whatsoever. Everyone in the four known quadrants of the M-61 cluster galaxy knows that Prince Amadar– your brother– is going to be king in six months. So there would be no profit there myself.”
“What about the ongoing civil war on your home world of Avaria?” Ceria challenged forthright.
Maki sighed.
“If I were still free and not a slave, it would be different. But since I am not a free man, all I can do is stand on the sidelines and start counting the numerous piles of bodies from both sides of the conflict.”
X
Rya finally got some free time since Amadar decided afterwards to rant and rave about how annoying everyone was and that she needed to not be his shadow during this time.
“Go find something to do.” He said, dismissing her with a wave of his hand, before he picked up her pack and handed it to her. “And take this with you, so that I can reach you at any given time.” He slipped a small comm link into her bag, one that functioned as both a pager and a communicator– if the situation called for it. But it also contacted a locator bug on it, one that Rya seemed to enjoy scrambling when no one was looking.
Turning to the handsome young man, she said, “Remember: I am watching you, sire.” She stared at him intently, so there was no mistake she was messing with his mind as well as telling the truth.
Amadar’s mood darkened slightly.
“You take all the fun out of this!” He protested weakly, but knew full well that she put as much fun into everything she did.
Lifting an eyebrow at that, she smiled playfully before spinning around– acting like she was flying on a wing– and quietly left the room.
* * *
“Two brown cows were sitting on the freeway ramp,” the guard said, reading out loud from a children’s book to the other guards that were clustered about him at the table.
Unfortunately, he had no idea what a cow was or a freeway for that matter. But this was a very old relic, made entirely from synthetic materials and something called “paper”. It was very a very odd treasure and one of the other guards were staring at it with abject puzzlement.
“Wow! That’s neat!” He exclaimed with wonder. “Where did you get that?”
The first guard gazed at his pilfered treasure for a moment.
“Oh, I found it when I was a young boy on a planet called Earth during the few years that my family was stationed there. The book itself was buried underneath a pile of bricks along with some other crap.” He explained in a very proud fashion.
Before his companion could respond, the duty guard of the watch came over to the table and said, “You aren’t shirking your responsibilities are you?” Without waiting for a response, the duty officer ripped the book out of the astonished man’s hands.
Looking at the others that were gathered, he yelled, “Don’t you men have some other things to do?!”
The others nodded shakily, before getting up and scattering in different directions to resume their long abandoned posts or stations.
That left the other guard and his duty watch commander alone.
“Well? What about you?” He inquired hotly. “Don’t you have something more constructive to do, other than around like a dumb shit?”
The guard growled under his breath, thinking of how much of an asshole he really was.
The duty watch commander could care less how others felt about him, whether he was well liked by his subordinates or not.
A job was a job.
“Yes, sir.” Her amended with a huff, fast discovering that he was leaving without his most prized possession.
Snapping a stiff salute, the guard walked off, debating silently on whom the blame should be laid on: the duty watch commander or himself.
* * *
Ceria and Maki reached the door that would lead inside to the princess’s quarters.
“Well, here we are,” she commented with a sigh of relief.
“That’s my cue.” Maki muttered with a wry smile. “I’ll take my leave and return to the slave quarters, mistress.”
Ceria nodded and bade her slave servant farewell, watching him go before stepping through the now open door, which led to her plush quarters.
Once inside, the door behind her closed behind her silently, peacefully, giving the young woman a great measure of the same.
But not for long, she would soon realize. Jenia would probably be here shortly.
Ceria sat on the edge of her bed. That left her to wonder about Maki. Maybe he would run into Rya again.
From what she knew, they got along quite well, and if Amadar didn’t appreciate her, well, she was sure that her own slave servant would.
Then she thought of her own husband, General Tolan, pondering undisturbed if she would ever be continuously in love with him. Make no mistake about it, Toran was a good man, with a good set of ethics, morals, and ideals. Not to mention having a great heart that beat inside his warrior chest. Aside from how attractive he was to her own eyes, the problem wasn’t in their marriage at all. It was the obvious point that he was gone so often and many, many times.
She was always left behind.
Because of this…loneliness, she spent more time with her male slaves to help please her hidden sexual desires (even if they were human beings), they didn’t hold any of the same feelings of true passion, love, and commitment that both her and Tolan held for each other.
Ceria didn’t want any of them to start developing emotional attachments to her while she was with them.
To the young woman, her male slaves were just tools for her to use when it was deemed appropriate.
And as for what they were, men were just well…men.
Ceria sighed, feeling more miserable about herself then anything she could think of.
* * *
Meanwhile, Rya was mildly annoyed with Amadar’s attitude towards her. Oh, don’t get her wrong. She was happy when she left. But after while, she began to reflect on the prince’s behavior and she found herself at this point, emotionally.
“I just need some time by myself without having to worry about what he thinks?” She complained mildly. And more to the point, why did she even care what he thought?
At this time, she seriously considered visiting Ceria’s slave quarters to just do a little bit of hanging out with the male slaves and just forget about what happened…at least for a little while.
But considering her own slave status, they certainly didn’t act like slaves. They had no real chores, and always spoke their minds freely unless of course, they were off ship some where’s else.
That was when their attitudes and postures would subtly change and they would behave like complete, brain-dead idiots, who were– in reality– castrated men-servants.
Maki reflected once that it was really a good disguise.
Rya on the other hand, thought it was a complete waste of time to even think about it. Privately though, she was very happy that those kind of overbearing rules didn’t apply to the female slaves, or even to herself for that matter.
If they did, she would’ve never stayed on the ship. It was bad enough they weren’t going allowed to keep baby boys. The real men (slaves) were all supposed to be useless originally.
She headed down the corridor towards Ceria’s quarters– at least in the general area. Hers was a mile from Amadar’s. But in order to get to Tobia’s and Jerith’s area. She had to go through Ceria’s and then walk down a separate hallway that led to another slaves quarters.
Tobias and Jerithe had their own rooms and their own slaves to delegate chores to unlike Rya, whom had to do everything for Amadar. But Amadar had his own concubines whom lived down below.
But Jenia and Selina had all their slaves near their individual quarters.
But when Amadar finally got married, his concubines would no longer be needed and having them nearby (even if it was one floor below), would be grossly inappropriate.
Twenty minutes later, she reached Tobias’s and Jerithe’s quarters, then knocked on the door loudly. Seconds passed, then a few seconds more after that.
Rya groaned softly. These two could be anywhere in the largest room on this floor alone. Originally, it was meant to house a large portion of the ship’s royal contingent, but they didn’t take into account of their new surroundings.
In a short span of time, Ceria took possession of the area in question and her slaves have it.
The place itself comprised of five inner chambers and a steam room and bathing area in the back, including four emergency exits which could only be accessed by a card key.
Rya herself had only seen three of the rooms since her visits became more of habit than anything else. She eventually nicknamed them the “common rooms”.
After another minute or two passed, Jerithe finally answered the door and said, “Hello, Rya! Come in! Come in! If you’re looking for Maki, you just missed him. It’s just me for right now.”
Rya shook her head as she walked in. “No,” she replied. “I came here to see you. Amadar’s in one of his mood funks and told me to leave for the remainder of the day.”
“Sit down on one of the couches here,” the handsome man said, while pointing to one in particular. It was plush red with silk trapping trailing the edges– the tips barely grazing the floor.
The woman did so, casting a grateful smile in his direction. Jerithe was very attractive for a slave– some were more than others, Rya found out– and tall as well. He stood a good six feet six inches, sporting a silky mane of black hair and earth shattering dark gray-blue eyes. His body was lean and well toned, just like the other male slaves, and wore a navy blue shirt and pants, with slippers gracing his feet, rather than those sandals.
Despite his outward appearance, he was still pretty young to be a dedicated servant to Princess Ceria. But Jerithe made up his minor indiscretion with undying devotion to his mistress.
But in relation to Tobias, Jerithe was his little baby brother.
Tobias was much shorter than him, and a lot more aggressive. Tobias spent most of his time delegating chores to the other servants who lived here. His favorite hobby was cooking. He loved cooking. Unlike most of the slaves here on the ship, both brothers were born here. Tobias was 23 and Jerithe was 22. Their mother was once Amadar’s nursemaid and since she was a loyal servant to the king, she was decreed to be allowed to have sons of her own, despite the gender law.
Nanabo was a very strong woman, but in reality, she was really never a slave.
The former monarch had released her from a life of long term servitude just before he was killed. Nanabo only stayed on because of her love for the royal family, and was very instrumental in Rya’s upbringing and training, as she taught the woman not to show fear and so many other things she would need that were essential to her survival.
She also warned Rya of the dangers that she would face, informing her of certain people in power– stories of whom were willing to do whatever it took to control the Galactic Empire and the royal family.
Even kill for it!
Jerithe studied her for a moment.
“Would you like to go swimming with me?” He asked with a sudden smile, snapping the woman out of her reverie. “You’re suit is still here from the last time, as I recall.”
Rya gave the handsome a puzzled look.
“I actually left a suit…here? I don’t ever remember even wearing one last time.” She laughed and looked at him unflinchingly. “And neither did you!”
Jerithe blushed a bit, the three-month-old memory still fresh in his memory.
“Yes, well, I was feeling a bit adventurous.”
Rya grinned. “You’re weren’t the only one feeling that way.” She teased.
The young man nodded. “So? How about it?”
“Sure.” The woman accepted openly. “I have nothing else to do at the moment.”
* * *
Ceria heard a knock on the door and went to answer the summons, believing that it was Maki. But instead of her slave servant, Jenia was there with a flushed expression on her face.
“Hello, Sis! I was just about to go to my room to pack and wait for you. I had completely forgot you were coming today. Sorry.”
Ceria smiled back and personally wondered if she could still be angry at her for being so forgetful.
Amadar wouldn’t, but sometimes he didn’t even care.
As for Jenia, it was hard to tell exactly how she really felt. That was just her way.
Jenia shook her head, as if to break the change in conversation.
“Well, never mind that, you don’t really need anything. You can go shopping with me for more stuff. Remember, it’s just us girls for a couple of days anyway.” She walked over to her sister’s bed and took a seat. “But we still need to bring one of your servants– to keep up appearances and all.”
That made Ceria pause for a moment. Which servant would she take? She wondered.
They both knew that Maki wasn’t allowed to travel between ships, even though Ceria alone knew of his past. Jenia, Selina, and Amadar did not.
She couldn’t take Jerithe. He was much too rowdy.
That left her only one slave-servant left: Sweet and kind Tobias.
Ceria decided to bring him instead.
“I’m bringing Tobias next in line to Maki. He’s the most deserving of the job. He can cook something in that huge kitchen of yours for me,” she said with a smile.
Her sister grinned. “That will be just fine, dear sister. You’re such a picky eater anyway. Are you sure that he’ll have the necessary time?” She knew from personal experience that he didn’t always do what was expected of him.
But if it was explained to him properly, he would understand the reasoning for it.
Ceria gave her sister a wry look.
“Funny, I could’ve sworn that I heard Rya’s voice.” She commented dryly, then thought, it might be my imagination.
But just in case, she would test that theory to see if Jenia actually heard her.
“Maybe you’re hearing things. I left her with Amadar awhile back. It didn’t look like he was going to let her go anywhere today.”