by Seven Steps
“Seems harsh even for a mass murderer,” Eva said.
Arees turned to her. “It would if I were what you say I am. But I am not.”
“Cut the pretenses, Arees,” Eva said. “How much good have you done here? Did you divide the city, or was that done when you came?”
“Many of these things were in place when I arrived,” Arees said.
“Exactly,” Eva said. “So don’t go taking credit where credit is not due. You have done nothing for these people.”
“I have given them hope,” Arees said. “I have brought them together. We have a plan now, a strategy for when the rats and gators attack us. I have set up trade with other groups for medicine and supplies. Before I came here, the other groups thought we were living poison, a contagious disease. They would barely speak to us. Now, they trade with us. They want to ally with us. All because they think I am some sort of holy god who has sanctified this people.” Arees stepped closer to Eva. “I am no god, but I will pretend to be one if it means saving these people’s lives. That is the person that I am, not who you think I was.”
“Did you do this before or after you marched half of them to their death?” Eva asked.
Arees gritted her teeth. “You watch your tongue.”
“No, Arees,” Eva said. “You watch yours. I’m not playing this game. I don’t believe you have changed for an instant. You are still the murdering, conniving—”
“Eva, please,” Lex interrupted, placing a soft hand on her shoulder.
Eva shook it off.
“Arees will answer for what she’s done,” Lex said. “Let’s not antagonize her further about it.”
Eva glared at him, and stomped back toward Arees’ chamber.
Lex frowned after Eva then waved Arees forward. “Please continue.”
Arees clasped her hands in front of her, took a deep breath, and exhaled. “Each morning we start off with breakfast. We have one family of chefs that takes care of all of the cooking. They have been doing it for generations. After that, we move to our jobs. Some are teachers in the school, some work in the mines, some clean, some sew. We do what we can down here to stay busy. After that is lunch, then back to work, then dinner. We take all of our meals together. Then it’s recreation, prayers, and off to bed.”
“Sounds like a pretty set schedule.” Lex said.
“We don’t like being idle here,” Arees said. “We work hard, and we stick together. It keeps us strong.”
Lex smiled. “I like that.”
“A good leader is one who can give structure,” Arees said. “Though many of these things were in place when I arrived, I make sure that they are enforced and that everyone gets their fair share of work and play.”
“I see.” Lex drank in the way Arees’ eyes widened when she spoke. The way her voice grew full with passion and determination. He unabashedly kept his eyes on hers until she blushed, looked away, and cleared her throat.
“Of course, my main focus is uniting the different groups,” Arees said. “I hope one day to build a city strong enough to defend itself.”
“You really care about these people, don’t you?” Lex asked.
Arees stopped walking. “I’m their reason to go on, and they are mine. If I didn’t care about them, I wouldn’t be trying to unite them, to strengthen them. And that is why it is imperative that—”
“Gator in the tunnels!” someone cried.
The tunnel filled with screams. The creatures scattered.
“Come with me.” Arees sprinted back toward the living quarters.
Lex and the others followed.
Most of the creatures ran into their stone homes and disappeared into the holes in the walls. A dozen or so stayed behind, congregating by the mouth of the tunnel.
“How far?” Arees asked them.
“A minute or so,” A creature dressed in brown pants and a dirty brown shirt replied. “It broke through the temporary wall in tunnel eight.”
A smaller creature handed out hard helmets. Another handed out long, white spears.
A sharp, fishy odor filled the air as Arees collected a helmet and a spear.
“It’s close,” she said. “Get ready!”
The group stood at the entrance of the Habby. The tunnel was deathly silent for only a moment. Slowly, the odor grew stronger. The sound of labored breathing and heavy footsteps echoed around them.
Lex, Nadira, Kiln, Seven, and Pennick found a spot between a stone house and the far wall of the tunnel. They hid there, peeking out to see the creature.
A long, narrow, green snout came first, the tough hide covered in tiny spikes. It opened its mouth slowly, revealing long, sharp teeth. Taller than three men, the giant beast peered over the heads of the deformed warriors and looked straight into the Habby.
The gator walked under the arch and stood in the middle of the Habby, sniffing the air for its next meal. It might have missed Arees and her companions completely if she hadn’t screamed at the top of her lungs.
“Forward!” She cried.
The warriors split into three groups. The first group waved their white spears at the gator, shouting as loud as their gruff voices could manage.
The gator back-pedaled a few steps before it looked down its snout at them, opened its massive mouth, and growled, its scaly throat shimmying with the terrifying noise.
The second group stabbed at the gator’s hind quarters.
The third group stabbed at its snout.
Enraged, the gator swung its massive head at the warriors in front of it. It whipped its tail at the warriors behind. All the warriors scattered then regrouped behind it, waving their spears and crying out.
The gator turned around and charged them, almost stepping on one of the warriors in its march. The gator opened its mouth and snapped, missing a brown-panted creature by inches.
Boom!
The gator jerked to the right, its eyes searching for the source of the explosion and looking through a haze of sweet-smelling dust.
Arees leaped in front of the gator.
The gator locked eyes on Arees.
Boom!
The gator marched away from the Habby while the warriors continued to shake their spears, stab at its hide, and shout as loud as they could, forcing the gator down the main tunnel.
Boom!
The gator snorted and shook its massive head, trying to clear the sweet-smelling dust from its eyes, choking and coughing mightily.
A roar shook the tunnel, and Arees rushed toward the open mouth of the creature, something white and smoking in her hand. She threw it into the gator’s mouth and leaped away. The gator closed its mouth and whipped its head to crush her against the tunnel wall.
Boom!
Something wet fell onto Nadira, and she felt Kiln shield her with his body.
“It’s dead!” someone cried. “The gator is dead!”
Nadira wiped her eyes on the inside of her dress and stood. Only tissue and skin were left where the gator’s head should have been. Its mighty tail continued to thrash even in death.
The Unders hoisted Arees, covered in blood and gore, onto their shoulders and marched around the Habby as they cheered the god who had come down to save them all.
CHAPTER 38
After a dozen creatures built stone steps around the gator, more creatures came out to help butcher and preserve the gator meat, and clean the tunnel.
Lex found Arees with the butchers.
Still covered in gator blood and flesh, Arees used a chisel and hammer to pound through the tough skin and peel it back to reveal tender, white meat.
Lex grabbed a chisel and a hammer from a stone tool bin and stepped up onto the pile of rocks positioned next to her.
“What you did out there was amazing,” he said.
“I did what I should have done,” Arees said. “I saved my people.”
“Not many leaders would go into the center of the battle,” Lex said. “Most would give orders and watch from afar.”
�
��Is that the type of leader you are?”
“No,” Lex said. “I probably would have done exactly what you did.”
“Any good leader would have,” Arees said. “I am trying my hardest to be a good leader.”
Her eyes dropped as clouds of sadness drifted across her beautiful face. She put down her tools, wiped her bloody hand on a dirty rag that hung from her pocket, crawled down the pile of rocks, and motioned for Lex to follow her toward God’s Tunnel.
“I do what I do for my people,” Arees said. “Why is it so hard for you to imagine?”
“Because of who you were,” Lex said.
“Tell me about who I was.”
“You didn’t care about anyone else,” Lex said. “You only did what suited you at that particular moment.” He sighed. “You were merciless.”
They walked past the watch station. Ahead, moonlight from the open roof soaked the tunnel in blue light.
“How could I have done such horrible things and not remember any of it?” Arees asked. “How could I go from hate to love so quickly?”
Lex shrugged.
Arees’ frown deepened. “Do you think people can change, Lex?”
“Yes.”
“Do you think I’ve changed?” Arees asked.
Lex nodded. “You are certainly different from who you were.”
Arees looked him square in the eye, “Do you believe I’ve changed?”
They stood in the moonlight. Lex watched with open fascination as Arees’ green eyes deepened in color. “Yes.”
“Then leave me here,” Arees said. “Let me govern these people in peace.”
“I can’t do that.”
“Why not?”
“Because you have to answer for what you’ve done,” Lex said. “The Magistrate demands it.”
Arees threw up her hands. “Will you punish these innocent people for crimes that I can’t even remember?”
Lex turned away. “It’s not my call.”
Arees stepped in front of him, “And if it was?” Her wide green eyes searched his and her lips trembled.
Lex lifted a hand to her and ran his thumb across her trembling lips.
Her eyes dropped to his thumb then looked openly at him.
Lex focused on the hole in the roof of the tunnel. The moons had dipped lower in the sky. It would be morning soon.
“I promised you a day to say goodbye,” he said, surprised at the chill that settled over his words. “You should get started.”
And then she was gone, her steps fading down the tunnel. He let out the breath he was holding and stared up at the moons.
What am I doing? She’s a criminal. And a hero. What am I saying? And why did I touch her? I shouldn’t have, but, by Venus, I couldn’t help myself. She was so beautiful with those eyes looking at me and those lips that practically begged me to kiss them as if ... No, Lex, don’t get your hopes up. I just ... I don’t remember her being so beautiful, so vulnerable. What is happening to me? I can’t let my desire cloud my judgment. I have to take her back. It’s the only way.
He made his way out of the tunnel, Arees’ eyes haunting him with each step.
If only it didn’t feel so right.
Lex returned to the gator carcass where Arees had taken up skinning the gator with renewed gusto. He climbed up the rocks and stood next to her.
Arees looked at him warily then continued to hammer. As she loosened the skin, Lex pulled it back. After struggling for some time, they removed the tough hide and began carving the meat, throwing it onto nearby wooden carts. When they had gotten down to the bone, they moved onto the next section.
After some time, the gator was gone, picked clean by the creatures and their fearless leader. Its meat went to the kitchens, its teeth, bones, and hide to the armory to make helmets, body armor, spears, and shields.
Arees stood where the gator had been. Through it all, Lex had never left her side.
She turned to thank him for his hard work when two creatures slid between them. Neither came above Lex’s waist. One wore blue overalls and one wore nothing at all.
Arees smiled at them. “Lex, this is Monk,” She patted the small naked creature. “And this is Cy-Cy.” She patted a creature wearing overalls. “They’re brothers.”
Lex nodded at the small boys.
“Boys,” Arees said. “This is Lex.”
“Did you fall from the sky, too?” Monk asked.
“Not exactly,” Lex said. “I landed here in a spaceship, and then I came in through the front door.”
“What’s a spaceship?” Monk asked.
Lex paused. How do I help this little one understand?
“A spaceship is like a large bird that flies among the stars.”
“Why are you here?” Cy-Cy asked.
“I am here to ... to ...” He looked at Arees, who didn’t meet his eye. “To help Arees for a little while.”
Monk laughed. “You mean you came here to help Arees clean dead gators?”
“Yes,” Lex said.
Monk narrowed his large eyes. “That’s silly.”
“Okay, boys, run along,” Arees said.
Monk and Cy-Cy took one last look at Lex before running back into the Habby.
“Cute kids,” Lex said. “And smart.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Arees said. “Monk and Cy-Cy ask me at least a thousand questions a day, and believe it or not, I don’t always have an answer.” She laughed.
Lex watched Arees’ mouth and wondered if she knew the ache that she made him feel in his heart.
He wondered if she would care.
CHAPTER 39
Arees slipped away from the excitement and stood in the mines. She stared at the glittering stones and allowed herself a few moments to think.
She sighed as Lex’s face settled in her mind.
How he could affect her so deeply in such a short time? Sure, she had dreamed of him, but in the dreams he calmed her. His physical presence was something else entirely. She tried to think of a word to describe it, and it took her a moment to pick out the perfect one.
Confusing. How can a person make me feel both calm and restless at the same time? It’s insanity. And when he touched me, it felt as if my body had caught on fire.
She put her finger to her lips and shivered at the memory of his touch. She wondered if he would ever touch her again. The wonder turned to hope. She shook her head to clear it.
I can’t let my feelings for Lex sidetrack me. I have more important things to think about. I can’t leave my people. I have to find a way to stay. But how?
She thought of and discarded several plans until the perfect one came to her.
If I go through with it ... She caught her breath. No, I’ll try once more to reason with them, and if that doesn’t work ...
Arees walked out of the mine and back to the Habby, where she approached Nadira. Her and Kiln were standing next to the armory. Nadira’s hands were plastered to Kiln’s wide chest. One of his hands was at her waist. Arees stopped for a moment, watching Kiln run his finger along Nadira’s jaw line. He whispered something in her ear that made her smile.
Jealousy rose within her, and she pushed it back down, refocusing her mind on her mission.
Perhaps if I can reason with Nadira...
Arees cleared her throat to get their attention. She focused her gaze on Nadira.
“It’s Nadira, right?” Arees asked.
Nadira nodded, her eyes narrow in suspicion. “Yes.”
Arees took Nadira’s hand. “Nadira, I wanted to tell you that whatever I did to you, I am so sorry.”
Nadira wrenched her hand free. “Don’t apologize to me. Apologize to all of the people you killed.”
She’s a tough one.
“I promise you that I will spend the rest of my life making amends for their deaths,” Arees said. “But I will need the chance to do so. I can’t make amends if I’m put away or executed, can I?”
Nadira blinked several times. “The
re’s nothing you can do to bring them back.”
“But I can dedicate my life to their memories,” Arees said. “I can serve children, like the children here, for the rest of—”
“No,” Nadira interrupted. “Never.” Nadira glared at her before stalking away, Kiln following closely behind.
Arees shook her head.
These Venians will never forgive me for whatever they say I did. All I’ll ever be to them is a monster. Well, if that’s what they think I am, then I may as well play the part.
With that, she set off to find the cook.
CHAPTER 40
“Can you believe the nerve of her?” Nadira asked.
Seven, Pennick, and Kiln stood close by. They were near the Habby’s kitchens. The scent of savory food hung heavy in the air, tainted only by the smell of the tunnel’s stagnant air.
“Does she think she can just apologize after what she’s done?” Nadira asked.
“Perhaps she’s changed,” Seven said.
“That doesn’t negate what she did,” Nadira said.
“Don’t you believe in redemption?” Seven asked.
“Not after what she’s done,” Nadira said.
“Tell me,” Seven said. “What do you want to see done to her?”
“Being burned alive would be a good start,” Nadira said.
“And would that undo all of the bad that she’s done?” Seven asked. “Would that bring back the children you speak of?”
“It would make me feel better,” Nadira said.
“Perhaps,” Seven said. “But I believe that justice is being done this way.”
“Justice? How is this justice?”
“The Arees that you know is gone,” Seven said. “Forgotten. Dead. Now this woman stands in her place, and her only mission in life is to do good. Isn’t that justice? If the gods want to punish her further, then that is their decision. But I for one won’t hold it against her. Not after she’s done so much good for these people.”
Seven turned and walked into the kitchen. She had been watching the Unders prepare food for most of the day.
Nadira turned to Pennick. “Do you agree with her?”