by I. T. Lucas
She was only joking, but Edna didn’t like it one bit.
Rufsur was hers, and all the other females had better stay away from him or suffer the consequences. She would show them what a real tigress was all about.
“Edna?” Bridget put a hand on her arm. “Is everything okay? Ingrid was just teasing.”
“I know.” Edna forced a smile. “I was wondering if we have enough seats on the bus to accommodate everyone. There will be a lot of luggage to check.”
“There are enough seats,” William said.
Now that the subject had been changed, her temporary spike of ire subsided, and she could think straight once more. “I don’t expect any trouble, but I counted only six Guardians sitting in the back. Is that enough?”
“Those are not the only ones,” Bridget said. “After we pick up Kalugal and his party at the airport, we are driving them to a meetup point where six additional Guardians will be waiting for us. They will help speed up the process of putting everyone and their luggage through the scanners. It’s not like we can do that in the airport’s parking lot.”
That was the problem with Kalugal and his men flying commercial. Things would have been easier if they had arrived at the clan’s airstrip. But since the group was so large, that would have required three trips of the clan’s two jets.
Kalugal had chartered a plane, and his party was going to disembark at one of the airport’s warehouses instead of its main building, but it still wasn’t going to be private enough for what they needed to do.
In fact, Edna was starting to doubt the wisdom of putting the scanners on the bus. They should have taken the party to a city warehouse and done everything there.
“I’m surprised that Kian assigned only twelve Guardians to the task. I guess he is becoming less paranoid about Kalugal and his men.”
Bridget shook her head. “We didn’t want to overdo it. The idea is to make them feel welcome while at the same time not compromise on security. We have to check them for trackers and weapons, but we want to do that in a way that will not leave a bad taste in their mouths. That’s why we split the Guardians into two groups. When Kalugal and his men board the bus, they will only see six men, and when we stop at the meetup point, I will explain that the additional Guardians are there just to speed up the process.”
59
Rufsur
As soon as the plane landed, Rufsur pulled out his phone and texted Edna. We are on the ground, taxiing in.
I’m waiting for you outside the warehouse.
Her return text put a smile on his face. She hadn’t told him that she was coming along with Bridget and William to meet him at the airport, and it was the most pleasant surprise.
To avoid attracting attention, their chartered flight was not landing at a proper terminal, but next to a warehouse, and the other advantage of that was that once the door opened, it would take him only a couple of minutes to reach her.
One, if he ran.
He texted back. That’s a nice surprise. Last-minute decision?
I couldn’t wait to hold you in my arms.
Same here. I don’t have any checked-in luggage, so I’m going to be out fast. Get ready for some intense smooching.
I’m not alone. Bridget and William are here, along with several Guardians.
I don’t care. I need to kiss you.
One kiss.
It will have to sustain me until we get home.
He turned around to look at Kalugal. “Do you mind if I go ahead? Edna is waiting for me on the bus, and I don’t have any checked-in baggage.”
Jacki smiled. “Of course.”
Kalugal just nodded.
As soon as the plane came to a full stop, Rufsur unbuckled, pulled out his carry-on and his garment bag from the overhead compartment, and stood in front of the door.
It seemed as if time stood still until the flight attendant finally opened the way. Lifting his carry-on, Rufsur shot through the opening like a heat-seeking missile and ran down the gangway into the warehouse. Through the large open door, he could see Edna. She stood in front of the bus, wearing a pretty skirt and a big smile on her beautiful face.
Rufsur ran even faster, dropped his luggage on the ground, and scooped Edna into his arms. “I missed you, my delight.” He took her lips in a crushing kiss.
For a long moment, she let him have his way with her, but then pushed on his chest. “Later, my love. We have an audience.”
Reluctantly, Rufsur let go and lifted his eyes to look at the smiling faces of several Guardians and William. “Hello, everyone. I’m overjoyed to meet you all, but don’t expect kisses. Those are reserved only for my lady.”
“Where is the rest of your party?” William asked.
“On their way. I was in a bit of a rush. Are you going to cuff me?”
“Not yet.” Bridget stepped out of the bus. “First, we are going to run everyone and their luggage through scanners. After we clear you, William will put cuffs on everyone.”
“Come.” Edna tugged on his hand. “Let’s grab a seat before the rest of your party arrives.”
He leaned to whisper in her ear, “Can we go all the way to the back and make out?”
Edna laughed. “No, we can’t.” She stretched on her toes and whispered back. “I’m still a judge and a council member. I can’t act like a horny teenager.”
“That’s a shame.” He followed her onto the bus. “You know what they say. Youth is wasted on the young. But since we are forever young, why not act it, right?” He sat down next to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. “By the way, I love the new look. Sophisticated and yet easy-going, soft and feminine but not frilly. You look beautiful.”
A rosy blush coloring her cheeks, Edna adjusted her long skirt. “I’m glad you like it.”
“Did you throw out your old suits?”
She laughed. “Not yet. I was waiting for you to help me clean my closet.”
That was odd. But what did he know about what couples in a committed relationship did together? Perhaps cleaning out closets symbolized something? He would have to google it.
Edna tilted her head. “No response?”
“Frankly, I don’t know what to say. I’ll gladly do that as well as clean whatever else you need around the house, but is that something new couples do?”
“Of course. It’s an ancient ritual,” Edna said with a straight face.
A few rows back someone chuckled.
She burst out laughing. “No, not really. But since you hate those suits so much, I figured that you’d enjoy putting them into a donation box.”
“Oh, I will. And after we clear some space in your closet, I can think of a few things that we can do in there.”
Edna rolled her eyes. “You have such a one-track mind.”
“Me?” Assuming an innocent expression, he pointed at his chest. “I meant ironing and reorganizing your new wardrobe. What did you think I was talking about?”
60
Kalugal
Kalugal hadn’t been surprised when the bus had stopped at a secluded spot, where six additional Guardians had been waiting for them.
Everyone was friendly and polite, but it wasn’t pleasant to see his men go through the scanners, along with every piece of luggage they’d brought with them. Their phones were collected and put into a case that William had brought with him, and in exchange, they were given clan-issue phones and cuffs on their wrists.
The experience was humiliating, but since Kalugal would have done the same if the roles were reversed, he tried to keep his composure and hide his irritation.
“You and Jacki are last.” Bridget smiled at him apologetically.
He nodded. “Let’s get it over with.”
Once it was done and he and Jacki were cleared, everyone boarded the bus, except for the additional Guardians, who’d come to speed up the process.
“Next stop the village,” Kian’s butler said.
“Are you excited?” Jacki leaned her head on his sh
oulder. “We are going to meet Annani and Alena again, and Sari for the first time.”
The reminder that he was going to meet his fourth cousin managed to improve his sour mood. Kalugal was curious about Sari. Was she like Kian? A grouchy leader carrying the heavy burden of her position, or was she mellow and easy-going like her eldest sister Alena? He was quite sure that she wasn’t flamboyant like Amanda, but who knew? Perhaps Sari had a little of every one of her siblings.
He nodded. “I’m looking forward to meeting the family again. I just wish we didn’t have to go through the humiliating scanning and searching every time we come for a visit. It gets tiresome.”
“I agree. But if we lived in the village, we wouldn’t have to go through this.”
“You know why that’s not possible.”
Jacki smiled. “It’s difficult, but it’s not impossible. For every problem there is a solution.” She lifted a finger. “I have a better one. A difficult problem is a splendid opportunity for creative thinking.”
He lifted her hand to his lips and kissed it. “Proverbs by Jacki?”
“I’m sure someone already said it.”
“I’m not sure at all. Write it down.”
“I will.” She pulled out her clan-issue phone and opened the notes application. “I know what will happen now. I will keep thinking about new ones to add to the list. Do you have any?”
“Not off the top of my head. I’ll let you know if I come up with something.”
He had a few, but none of them were positive, so there was no point in adding them to Jacki’s list.
When the bus’s windows turned opaque, several of the men commented on the cool technology, which prompted Atzil to once again tell everyone his impressions from the village.
Listening to him, one would think that he was describing Wonderland.
The village was a nice place, but it was nothing special. The houses were small, their backyards were a joke, and the amenities were adequate but pretty basic. If he voiced his opinion, though, Jacki would accuse him of being a snob, but he was used to better than that. Perhaps the clan wasn’t as rich as he’d thought it was?
Maybe that was all Kian could afford to build for his people?
The gated community Kalugal was planning for his men and their future mates would be much fancier than that, and he wasn’t thinking just about his and Jacki’s house. Everything would be on a grander scale.
Closing his eyes, he imagined inviting Kian and others from the clan to the upscale community he was going to build, and putting them through similar security checks. That would be sweet.
Except, Kalugal didn’t plan to keep his village hidden. To the humans, it would look like just another upscale gated community. But he had no problem with Kian and his people knowing where it was. He wouldn’t need to check them for trackers or search their luggage.
Perhaps that would be even more satisfying. Instead of the paranoid attitude Kian displayed, Kalugal could feel superior by being a magnanimous host.
As the bus stopped for a couple of moments and then started rolling again, Kalugal didn’t need to see out the windows to realize that they had entered the tunnel. The sound of the engine reverberated off the walls, and the cabin cooled down significantly.
The windows cleared as soon as they entered the parking garage, and he saw Kian, Turner, and several Guardians waiting for them.
“We have a welcoming committee,” Rufsur said as the bus came to a full stop.
The door opened, and Kian climbed the steps. “Good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to the village.”
61
Rufsur
Rufsur stood next to Kalugal and Jacki on the village’s central lawn and looked up at the podium, where Annani seemed to be floating above the floorboards in all her godly glory.
Even though the sun was still out, the goddess’s glow was clearly visible, which made him wonder whether she could control its brightness.
Edna and the other council members stood on one side of the podium, and Annani’s four children stood on the other. He would have liked to take a better look at Sari, but he found it impossible to take his eyes off the glowing goddess.
Surrounding Kalugal, Jacki, and Rufsur in a tight circle, his men gaped at the small glowing figure. The next ring, which was comprised of predominantly female clan members, gaped at the men. The outer circle, which looked to be comprised of every other clan member, looked on with curiosity.
He couldn’t be sure whether the entire local clan was there, but it seemed so.
They had either come in force to pay tribute to their goddess, or the arrival of Kalugal and his men was an even bigger deal to them than Rufsur had expected.
“Welcome.” Annani raised her arms in the air. “This is a historic moment for our people. For the first time in over five thousand years, we join in celebration with joy and goodwill in our hearts and minds. There will be no violence between us, no strife, no subterfuge, not even angry words. As we prepare to celebrate the union of my dear nephew Kalugal and his lovely bride Jacqueline, we become one big happy family.”
Rufsur was no stranger to the power of compulsion, but what he’d experienced with Kalugal, or even Navuh, was nothing compared to the goddess’s power.
He felt it reverberating through his body, embedding the goddess’s commands in every molecule and nerve. For the first time, Rufsur understood what he imagined religious fervor felt like.
At that moment, he would have given his life to please the goddess, would have done her bidding with no hesitation and felt grateful for the privilege of serving her.
She owned him, and he wanted to be owned by her. He wanted to belong to her tribe, to partake in the wave of tremendous love and warmth she generated. It surrounded everyone on the lawn, caressing and embracing him and his group with the same tenderness as her own people.
Like every other member of the Brotherhood, before escaping the island, he’d been forced to recite devotions to Navuh five times a day, and the experience had been quite powerful. With thousands of warriors prostrating themselves with their foreheads on the ground and repeating the same lines three times in a row in their strong voices, it had been impossible to remain unaffected.
And yet, there was no comparison.
The difference between Annani and Navuh couldn’t have been more stark. She was love, while he was hatred. She was light, while he was darkness. She was worthy of worship, while he was only worthy of fear.
As a tear slid down Rufsur’s cheek, he quickly wiped it away, pretending that something had gotten into his eye.
Except, no one was paying him any attention. Everyone’s eyes were glued to the goddess, and their reverent expressions probably mirrored his.
Evidently, during Richard’s induction ceremony, Annani had used only a small fraction of her power to conduct her test. What she had just done was on an entirely different scale.
Perhaps what was fueling her power was the conviction he heard in her voice. The goddess wanted her people and Kalugal’s to join and coexist in peace and harmony.
The goddess lowered her arms and smiled at the assembled crowd. “May the Fates smile favorably upon you and grant each of you a true-love mate.”
The goddess floated down from the podium, and Kian took her place.
“My speech is going to be even shorter. Welcome to our village. The buffet tables are to your right. After dinner Ingrid, together with several of our Guardians, will show you to the homes you’ve been assigned. Enjoy.”
As soft music started playing through the loudspeakers, Rufsur let out a long breath and turned to Kalugal and Jacki. “Are you okay?”
Jacki arched a brow. “Why wouldn’t I be? That was a very nice welcome speech.”
Kalugal shook his head. “You didn’t even feel it?”
“Feel what?”
“The goddess’s compulsion. It was so strong that I was sure it got to you too.”
Jacki’s eyes widened. “Did she just compel e
veryone here to be nice to each other?”
Rufsur and Kalugal both nodded.
“Awesome.” Jacki grinned. “That takes care of everyone’s suspiciousness and paranoia and mistrust. What a brilliant idea.”
Kalugal grimaced. “Now I know how it feels.” He rubbed his chest. “Does my compulsion do that to you?”
Rufsur clapped his back. “Not even close, but it does the job nonetheless. Are you upset?”
“I can’t be even if I wanted to. The goddess just compelled me to feel nothing but joy and goodwill toward my extended family.” He smiled. “But since she compelled her people to feel the same toward us, I wouldn’t be upset even if I could.”
Phinas wandered over with a goofy expression on his face, looking as if he was drunk. “I know that I’m supposed to be upset over what has just happened, but I can’t.” He wrapped his arm around Rufsur’s shoulders. “It’s nice to have a big family.”
Jacki shook her head. “I hate to spoil the mood of brotherly love, but since I’m the only one unaffected, I have to say this. It’s true that Annani’s compulsion couldn’t discriminate between her people and us, and right now everyone other than the immunes is under her spell. But if she wishes, the goddess could remove the compulsion from her people while we are not around.”
“That’s true.” Rufsur smoothed a hand over his chin. “But I think she wanted to affect everyone, including her son. Annani wants us to unite and thinks that it’s in everyone’s best interest. That conviction was what powered her compulsion. When she tested her ability on us during Richard’s ceremony, her compulsion felt no stronger than Kalugal’s. This time it felt like my DNA was getting rewritten.”
62
Edna
Annani stepped down from the podium and winked at Edna. “I believe that I have just made your job a lot easier.”