by C. Swallow
I almost pause at this but decide to feign bravery instead.
"But if we are Star Cursed–" Traegr cuts me off by weaving my hair around his fist and pulling my head back sharply.
"What if you aren't?" He says, "What if you've been lying this whole time? I wouldn't put it below you or her."
"How could we end up on another planet across the universe? I have no memories of this place besides random feelings and words from a language I swear I've never heard before!" I snarl at him. I was tempted to spit in his face, but I was weary he could potentially hurt both of us.
"Celeste, darling," Traegr abruptly lets me go, grabbing Celeste's arm he rises her to her feet as well, "You asked me what happened to me on that spaceship, do you really want to know how I got these scars? How about you tell me, I'm sure you remember," Celeste closes her eyes and shakes her head.
"I don't," she whispers, "I don't have any idea. They are burns, that much is obvious."
"Yes!" Traegr releases her arm, turns abruptly and paces to the nearest window, hands clasped behind his straight back. Celeste and I automatically come to stand by one another, shoulders and arms brushing, "Oh yes..." he mutters, "That's correct," he slowly turns to face us and the moonlight through the window illuminates his scarred body, his damaged but still hauntingly handsome face, "Why don't you make an intelligent guess at to what happened to me, either of you, have a go. If you stop lying and tell me the truth maybe I won't decide to hold your escape against you all forever – perhaps we can return to what we all use to have. The old times. Nothing but pleasure, every day, every night and freedom to let instincts rule."
Celeste and I go silent, considering his words but not sure how to answer. This was news. Interesting news.
"Um..." I start, thinking fast, "If it was an educated guess, well... obviously if you are superior I doubt you tripped head first into your own fireplace," I begin and I see his cheek twitch in anger so I hurry along, "You were caught in a fire. You say we escaped. If we escaped to Earth, we had to get there on a space ship. You must have seen us go at the last minute, so you chased after us, and the flames from the take off burned you half alive."
There is a tense silence and I notice Celeste has looked up once more, fresh tears rolling from her eyes.
"And who was in control of the take off?" Traegr asks, monotone. I hold my breath – kicking myself. I had made a simple guess. it was just a possible scenario – but had I just told the truth? Again? First I speak their language on impulse from memories I thought didn't exist, and now I was guessing the truth.
"It was just a g –" I'm about to blurt out a defence.
But Celeste caves in.
She opens her mouth and she speaks one of the memories she had kept from me – one she sure as hell shouldn't have just admitted to Traegr himself.
"It was me," her head falls into her hands as she sobs her admission.
I see something snap in Traegr's eyes.
I find myself raising my hand before he even takes one threatening step forward. I feel my pull on the Kiyr water intensify until I see streams of it hurtling out of the steaming pool. The water smashes right into Traegr.
The force is hard enough it knock him off his feet and he falls awkwardly near the chair, the back of his head crashes through the arm rest – shattering the wood and he lies, wet, in a puddle on the floor, knocked out cold.
I stare at my hand briefly and I wonder where that power came from but soon admit to myself it was always there in the first place.
I turn to see Celeste gasping for air as she succumbs to a panic attack, I run up to her and quickly rub away her tears before grabbing her face as gently but as firmly as possible in my hands so she has to focus in on me.
"Listen," I hiss, "Pull yourself together, you're going to need the breath to run."
"Where?" she asks.
"You know exactly where," I run to the window and pull it up and open, looking out at a tree of the forest that grew close to the window, a massive branch as big as a trunk.
I turn to Celeste and I see her nod at me, if a little shakily.
"You first," I stand back and quickly usher her forward, "hurry," I hiss as she climbs onto the branch and starts softly making her way along the exotic smooth wood with delicate foot steps.
I follow.
This would be our first escape attempt since returning to Kiyr.
S~16~C
Quietly climbing down the tree, Celeste and I hit the floor of the forest with soft thuds. I spend one moment glancing over at the slave quarters, which is alive with activity of girls being brought back. Already captured.
"No," I whisper under my breath. They would be punished in our absence.
"I thought you said we needed to run," Celeste interrupts my thought process urgently and I turn to see her still red eyes and exhausted face. I didn't want Traegr to hurt her or me.
"Let's move it, if you remember anything about this forest, please, now is a good time to speak up," I grab her arm and pull her along with me until we are running side by side.
"As far away from the slave quarters as possible," Celeste redirects me and every time we hear anything that might be the Others, we pause until we are certain we are alone.
For at least an hour we run, miraculously not disturbed by any of the Others. We slow to a walk when the black forest sparkles to life just ahead, with glowing flowers and glittering bugs.
"Beautiful," I whisper under my breath as Celeste and I approach in awe of the glowing forest. We find it near a tiny trickle of water, a stream from a nearby creek.
"I'm so dehydrated," Celeste rasps dryly and she starts following the trickle towards the bigger stream it originated from. The trees slope down towards the tiny creek and we drink our fill, pressing out knees into the soft mud at the banks as we lean down and greedily slurp up the H2O.
"So lucky," I gasp out, using the water to clear the sweat from my brow also, "We are so lucky we escaped."
There is a feminine chuckle from above us and Celeste and I nearly jump out of our skins as we scramble to our feet and spot a girl on the other side of the creek, resting against a thick tree trunk.
I narrow my eyes and see the long straight brown hair and the cocky smile.
"Kaelyn," I gasp out, "You made it too?"
"We all did," she says proudly, beckoning Celeste and I closer.
"All of you?" Celeste asks, confused as we both jump over the small creek to stand by Kaelyn who jumps to her feet and grabs the nearest tree branch. She pulls her self up onto the thick branch and rests on it from above us, swinging her feet.
"Correct," Kaelyn nods, "My girls and I escaped."
"More tried to escape afterwards, but they didn't make it. They were caught," I explain and Kaelyn raises her eyebrows mockingly.
"Well, they should have thought about agreeing to be those idiot's little lap bitches before realising that was a terrible mistake," Kaelyn says cruelly, clapping her hands together twice, more girls appear from the shadows silently.
Celeste and I both look on in surprise as we are steadily surrounded. Kaelyn had formed a squad of rebels already it seemed and they were impressively co-ordinated.
"What is this?" Celeste asks suspiciously as we are literally trapped in by the other girls.
"It's time to swear allegiance to the Seraphine Rebellion Squadron. You must swear fealty to me, I'm the leader," Kaelyn smiles with her authority and no one questions her otherwise, "Our mission is to stay the hell away from those alien assholes and survive in the forest without them."
"Where did you learn the name, Seraphine?" I ask and Kaelyn shrugs.
"I just made it up, sounded cool," she snaps, "Why does it matter? Do you swear fealty to me and the group or not? It's easy, you just have to say yes."
"Yes," Celeste mutters, giving in and then looking at me hopefully for my compliance.
"Okay – I mean, yes," I nod, not sure what else to say. I had two choices either way, go back to the
Others or try and stay safe and strong with the girls. The Seraphine Rebellion Squadron sounded far more appealing at the moment. Even if I didn't fully appreciate Kaelyn's attitude to leadership. She liked the attention and the power – but would she make a good leader?
"Good," she climbs to her feet on the tree branch and stands above all of us as she announces with hands on her hips, "Everyone find a spot in the trees and fall asleep, we search for food and water and more shelter at dawn."
Without hesitation the girls move off, Celeste seems eager to do so but I remain below Kaelyn.
"You have a problem with an order?" she jokes casually, "All I said was to go sleep – don't look so offended, princess."
"I'm not offended," I snap, "I'm frustrated. You said you made up the name Seraphine but I don't think you did. I think the name is in your memory from when we use to live here."
"So you are telling me we are originally from here? I thought so, but can you confirm it?" Kaelyn jumps to the ground so she is level with us and waits for my answer with raised brows. Celeste raises her chin, still nervous but ready to answer.
"I cast a spell for everyone to lose their memory before we escaped Kiyr but half my memory remains and all your memories will soon come back. At least most of them will," Celeste explains.
"I thank you, then, Celeste," Kaelyn nods at her, pretending to curtsy, lifting a pretend skirt, "For your help in erasing those men's stupid faces from our memories while we had freedom on Earth. And Sapphire? Perhaps Seraphine did mean something more to me, back in the day," with that, Kaelyn turns on her heel and walks off muttering to herself and laughing.
"Hmm..." Celeste hums to herself, "Not the answer I was expecting."
"Me neither, she's an odd one..." I mutter to Celeste, "At least she has leadership skills it seems. The girls listen to her."
Celeste pauses and glances at me briefly, looking concerned.
"They use to listen to you," she states and I also hesitate but eventually shrug.
"I'm exhausted, let's find a tree and hopefully sleep comes easy," I suggest, shaking my head of fast thoughts. I didn't want my mind to start racing now.
I had too many thoughts to think about but sleep was more important so I could think clearly in the morning. Celeste and I quietly find a tree back in the glowing section of the forest. We both climb a thick trunk and find a branch each. They weren't like trees on Earth. These Kiyr trees had hollows in the branches like they were made for sleeping in.
"Goodnight, Sapphire, and thank you too," Celeste whispers from around the bend of the tree, "You saved us today – you saved me from Traegr's wrath."
"I wasn't sure what he would do," I respond, curling up on my side, closing my eyes, "Good night, Celeste!" Soon all I hear is the sounds of the forest. Squeaking, buzzing bugs and the wind rustling the leaves. It helps calm my mind, despite my need for answers.
My last thoughts before I give into sleep are persistent in my mind and they influence my dreams to come.
If Seraphine use to be the leader of the resistance, where was she now? And If I was listened to by the girls back in the day, who was I in relation to her?
And what the hell did Traegr's words mean?
...perhaps we can return to what we all use to have. The old times. Nothing but pleasure, every day, every night and freedom to let instincts rule...
S~17~C
The next day Kaelyn wakes us up just before the sun rises and we all agree to scout for a better hiding spot, one with food, water and shelter close at hand. Celeste and I stick together as usual although the group of girls do not separate completely. We space out by ten metres or so while we search through the forest which was slowly getting thicker and thicker.
We all agree to stick by the stream for water and eventually the landscape becomes more rocky and we have to watch our steps. It was unnatural and weird to have so many rocks scattered over the forest floor like they had been hailed down out of the sky, but this wasn't Earth.
There were also white flowers everywhere, popping up between the rocks. They sparkled and some gleamed almost transparent like diamonds. Even between the rocks, in the dirt, were tiny micro diamonds scattered all over.
The rest of the forest, although vibrant in rainbow colours, was nothing like this section of the forest. All the chatter ceases as we reach down and run our hands through the glittering dirt or pick off a gleaming flower to admire it's beauty.
The sun has nearly reached the middle of the sky. Grey clouds are also swarming in, giving the air a slight chill. It is at this point that we make an even more startling discovery.
As I'm being careful stepping over the smooth and sometimes jagged rocks, stepping carefully between the gaps and trying not to trip, I hit something invisible ahead of me. I lose my balance and I'm not the only one.
I slip, falling backwards as do the majority of girls walking close by.
I just narrowly avoid slipping onto a jagged rock near my head and I let out a breath of relief as I slowly get back to my feet. I hear soft laughter ahead of me and see Celeste, who is further ahead, looking back grinning.
"Well aren't you clumsy," she jokes and I look over at the other girls that tripped and try to walk forward again – this time with ease.
"That wasn't a coincidence," I state, many of the other girls muttering the same thing. Celeste just shrugs and as we walk on, we abruptly find the rocks end and we get to jump down onto soft, clear green earth, less trees and more space.
We hear Kaelyn's signature whistle, designated as the meeting signal and we all turn to meet her in the middle.
The girls look tired and hungry by the time we all congregate together.
"Did anyone else hit an invisible wall back there?" Kaelyn asks and many of us nod, "Ok, that's weird but we got through a second time so... right, look, I think we better have a break. I don't think we've been followed yet. I need half of us to find shelter in this place, the other half you better find some fruit or berries or something, we're all starving."
"Sounds good to me, I think it'll rain soon so we better get some cover," I pipe in and everyone wholeheartedly agrees. Kaelyn splits us off down the middle and Celeste and I are on the side to explore the area for good shelter.
As we quietly begin to explore, it isn't long before one girl calls us all over and we congregate to look on in awe at her discovery.
Out in the centre of an open space was the stone remains of pillars, covered in vines. There were three steps covered in moss that led to a flat stone tiled ground between the pillars.
We all hurry up the steps, no one speaking, just looking.
Within the pillars of the temple-like structure, at the back of the over grown tiled floor is a wall of rock. It was at least ten metres high and ten wide. It was completely over grown with vines and moss.
The top of the pillars was open, these were only the remains of something great.
"The roof use to be filled in with natural branches," Celeste says.
The girls hear her speak and turn to face her.
"You remember?" Kaelyn is with us and comes up with wonder in her eyes, "What else do you remember?"
"Earth," Celeste whispers, "I helped build this place."
"How?" Kaelyn presses on and it's not long before Celeste raises her arms above her head and stares hard at the surrounding forest.
"I think – I think like this," Celeste replies and for a moment nothing happens.
Abruptly, however, the ground literally shakes as trees bend over, some groaning with the pressure as branches stretch, multiple snapping and trunks bursting in half.
"Look out!" I point to a falling trunk and we all run out of the way as one massive tree falls as if in slow motion, but then gains speed as it fully breaks from it's roots and crashes down into the middle of the temple.
I've pulled Celeste back with me, her arms now by her sides and shock on her face.
"What the hell was that?" Kaelyn snarls from the other side of the huge f
elled tree.
"Sorry," Celeste apologises, trembling as she looks at her hands.
"It's okay, you said you belonged in the forest, just like I belong with water, remember?" I try to reassure her, to help her make sense of what happened.
"Sapphire!" Kaeyln calls out, climbing over the trunk she grabs my attention and points to the stone wall, "Look! Seraphine!"
"Holy crap," I mutter, noticing the whole stone wall is now free of vines. Half the roof is covered in twining branches and vines mingling together. Celeste had drawn the forest inwards, creating a semi-complete roof with gaps in places and the felled tree down the middle of the temple.
Now that the stone wall was clear of vines there was a very faint, but huge, outline of the word Seraphine and one other word below it, Obsidian.
Seraphine Obsidian.
Another name to add to the list.
"Seraphine was real," Kaelyn calls out excitedly, pumping her fist into the air, "You girls were right!" She grins as she looks to Celeste and I.
The other girls are still confused about the whole forest bending to Celeste's will as Kaelyn comes bounding over to us, jumping with new found energy.
"This is amazing," she says, "The Seraphine Rebellion Squadron has a home, this temple. This can be – was and now is again – our headquarters!"
"You seem pretty sure about that," I state, but not disagreeing with her.
"This is our haven, clearly the men have no idea where this is," Kaelyn states like its obvious.
"Come over here!" One of the girls has gone directly up to the wall and is reading something else under the huge letters above.
We all run over, eager to see what else there is.
In a different language there is a long etched sentence into the stone.
"What the hell does that say?" Kaelyn wonders, while my mind races and I slowly form the answer in my head.
"No idea," Celeste shrugs and everyone agrees.
"How the hell did you do that?" The girl who found the extra writing turns to Celeste and points at the ceiling, "You moved the forest."