Imperial Masquerade (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 11)

by J. Naomi Ay

  As Petya was in no position to negotiate, having been tied face down upon his bed, he agreed to pay the price whatever it was to whoever this was. It wasn’t much, just a sum of money, of which Petya had inherited plenty and certainly, didn’t need it all. It also included one other thing which Petya had felt was a bit redundant.

  “I’m taking some of your soul,” Rosso dictated.

  “Sure,” Petya replied. “Have all you want.”

  Chapter 13

  Hannah had no desire to relocate in Kudisha. She had never liked that village. It was forever cold and gloomy as it was located in the shadows of great Douglas Firs and enormous cedar trees. It was also on the wrong side of the mountains where the rain endlessly fell and with the river and the proximity to the ocean, there was always a prevalent dampness.

  Hannah felt it deep in her bones. It chilled her even in the middle of the summer when others complained of the heat. On top of all that, the village was populated by an abundance of de Kudishas, most of whom she had dated in her youth, not to mention, married the most prominent amongst them.

  "My sister tells me your ex-husband will be arriving for the Holiday," Minka mentioned as they bounced around in the back of the cart.

  Why the hell couldn’t Karupatani join the current century? Hannah thought. Speeders had been around for a hundred years, cars that traveled on wheels even before that. Yet, here they were been ferried over the mountains in an ox cart, a journey that would take no less than four days.

  “I hate this,” Marik grumbled, banging his fist against the side of the cart. Again and again, he pummeled the wood, his knuckles surprisingly unbloodied. Rather the cart's siding began to chip away.

  "Stop it, Marik!" Hannah snapped before Minka tossed them out and made them walk.

  "Will you try to talk to him?" Minka asked, ignoring the child who was now making a simpering noise.

  "I just told him."

  "Not the boy. Your ex-husband, the Imperial Prince."

  "Shika? Marik!" While Hannah's eyes had turned to Minka for only a half second, Marik jumped from the cart, landing squarely in a mud puddle on the side of the road. "Stop!" Hannah screamed. "Stop this cart right now!"

  Unfortunately, the driver couldn't hear her. Between the clattering of the wheels, the hoofbeats and snorts of the oxen, his advanced age and nearly total deafness, Hannah's shouts and waves from behind were completely ignored. Hannah had no choice but to dive out as well, only to find herself tumbling amongst scraggly weeds and grass.

  "Wait!" Hannah called, but Minka just waved, tossing Hannah's single bag into the brush.

  "Enjoy your walk to Kudisha. If you haven't arrived by the weekend, I'll alert the village chief."

  "Kari-fa, la ka tirekuka!" Hannah screamed which roughly translated to, "Fuck you and go to Hell," to which Minka responded with a gesture that meant basically the same thing.

  The cart trundled away, leaving Hannah alone with her errant child, who was now heading into the adjacent forest as if on a mission.

  "Marik, where are you going?" Hannah called. "Come back here and walk next to me on the road. Maybe, we'll be lucky, and someone else will come along."

  Marik, however, had been distracted by a bird. It was that huge black one which he had seen several times in Shrotru. Ignoring his mother, he ran deeper into the forest following the winged creature, and leaving Hannah with no choice but to run after her child. She cursed herself for wearing only soft-soled shoes as she hefted her bag over her shoulder and shouted Marik’s name.

  No matter how many times she ordered him to obey her command, the boy refused to alter his course. Hannah hadn't a clue what was possessing him, and neither did the boy, who only knew that the bird was beckoning him on.

  It wasn't until the night began to fall and with it, large drops of rain, that both Marik and the bird ceased their traveling. The bird perched high upon a tree, whilst Marik sat down immediately below, waiting for his mother to come along. He was tired and very hungry, a combination that made him whine incessantly to poor Hannah when she finally arrived.

  "You shouldn't have jumped out of the cart," she snapped as she too collapsed beneath the tree. The forest grew dark, wet, and cold, as the rain now fell heavily around her.

  Although she was exhausted from running, and her thin shoes soaked through to the soles, Hannah dug through her bag searching for some food. She had packed some hard cheese and dried meat, a few biscuits and powdered milk, a cup to catch the water, and a hunting knife. Finding a thin blanket at the bottom of her bag, Hannah placed it over her son's wet head before carving a piece of cheese for him to chew.

  "He told me to, and I don't like this," Marik protested, about to toss both blanket and cheese aside.

  "Eat it." Hannah briefly slapped his hand before carving a smaller piece of the moldy rind for her own meal.

  "No!" The boy insisted. This time, Hannah smacked his cheek which only served to rile him more. Marik tossed the cheese into the dirt rendering it inedible, except to an army of ants who immediately swarmed and carried it off.

  "Fine, go hungry." Hannah was too tired to argue, and too frustrated to deal with this child.

  Since Marik's advent, granted something he was not responsible for, Hannah's whole life had basically collapsed. In pursuit of his due, she had abandoned her SpaceNavy career, her marriage and her two other children, who were still living with their father on Cascadia III.

  What had that gotten her? She closed her eyes trying to imagine her husband and children's faces. After two years, they were only shadows and blurry lines, vague memories of triple rows of sharp teeth and bright blue eyes. Tears pricked in Hannah's own eyes, as her heart filled with regret and remorse.

  "Lee might have been willing to work it out," Hannah reasoned. "He loved me. I know he did."

  "Who?" Marik demanded, throwing his body into her lap. "Nobody loves you more than me."

  When her son said this and wrapped his arms around her neck, Hannah's spine turned to jelly, and her heart melted. No, she loved Marik more, more than the others, more than life itself. She would continue to fight for what was his. She was already on this path, and there was no going back.

  "Do you love me too, Mama?"

  "Of course, darling," Hannah replied, "With all my heart. There is no one I love greater than you."

  It was the truth, although, in this truth, there was another emotion cleverly hidden. As beautiful as love could be, how different was it from hate? Here Hannah was once again bound up in emotional chains, her very existence under the control of a man, leading her to places she didn’t necessarily desire to go.

  Tuman had just finished his Holiday preparations and was locking the Temple doors when an unfamiliar ox cart trundled down the street. The woman, who sat in back enthusiastically waving to him, was easily recognizable as his great-aunt, Minka.

  “Is that you, Tuman?” she called. “Come give Auntie a kiss.”

  “Dressed in the robes of the High Priest, who else might it be?” Tuman replied, albeit under his breath.

  “You look just like your grandfather. I’ve always said you did, and now in your middle age, you could be his twin. Of course, the question is, which of the two brothers was your grandfather all along?” Minka laughed and grasped her grand-nephew’s cheeks, planting a wet kiss on each of them, her long earrings swinging forward and nearly catching in his hair.

  Tuman smiled and walked beside the cart, while refusing to engage in a discussion of his grandmother’s love life, something he’d rather not know about or imagine.

  “You are well, Auntie?” He asked instead.

  “Never better,” she replied. “Especially for my advanced age. Has Hannah arrived with her awful child?”

  “Hannah?” Tuman’s heart giving a tiny little skip for he knew exactly of which Hannah Auntie had referred. “Was she en route, as well? Shika is coming, or so I’ve been told.”

  “That shall make an interesting reunion,” Minka cackled, whi
le regaling Tuman with her adventures on the trail, enhancing the story only a little bit. “That child is the devil’s own. I tell you. I can see the evil from within his soul. Perhaps, my sister is correct and someday soon the MaKennah shall return to vanquish all of Satan's minions.”

  Tuman smiled politely, uncertain if he had heard the old woman correctly. As devout and pious as Tuman had become, he still had trouble believing his grandmother’s tales of angels and demons battling in spiritual wars.

  "Of course, Auntie," he replied with a polite bow of his head. "Well, I must be off. I have a child to attend of my own."

  "A child?" Minka scoffed. "From where did you acquire such a thing?"

  Tuman explained how young Arsan became his ward.

  "Arsan?" Minka gasped. "How did he come by this name? Who is this boy, Tuman? What do you know of him?"

  Once again, Tuman was surprised for his great aunt's reaction was exactly like his father's, filled with suspicion and alarm. Again, he didn't understand why, especially when she hadn't even seen the boy.

  "I must leave you now, Auntie," Tuman apologized, distractedly wondering what he was missing that others knew.

  "See you soon, Tuman," Minka cried with a broad wave of her hand. "Tomorrow, I shall bake your favorite nut pies for the Holiday."

  "Indeed," Tuman mumbled, heading in the direction of his home, whilst wracking his brain for that which he could not recall.

  There was so much written in those books, volumes and tomes which detailed the Karupta's history as well as the Great Father's insight into what was to come.

  From the nuclear wars that decimated the Mother Planet Rozari, the travel across the vast expanse of space, to the settling and taming of the new planet Rehnor, it would take a lifetime for anyone to read and comprehend it all. Within them, could there have been a mention of a boy named Arsan?

  "Arsan," Tuman called from the porch of his small house. "Arsan, did I ask you yesterday not to leave this door wide open? You are inviting all sorts of creatures inside to share our food and make themselves at home before our fire. Come, Arsan. Let us wash our hands and then, together we shall make our dinner."

  Tuman calls were met with no response, save an odd noise coming from the corner of his porch.

  "Arsan?" he yelled again, before quickly shutting the door. Yet, outside on the porch, the noise grew louder.

  At first, there was a hissing sound, followed by a thump against the wood, which might have been a chair toppling over, or something else. Tuman checked the door to make certain it was sealed and locked whilst praying that the boy was safe inside.

  Although, he had never been afraid of the woodland creatures who shared his land, Tuman grew strangely agitated. This noise was both threatening and unfamiliar, clearly not a bear, a wolf or fox, and neither was it a cougar or coyote.

  Uncertain as to what it might be, Tuman glanced around and inventoried his weapons. In the kitchen, he had a large knife and a hunting bow. There was an axe by the kitchen door next to the woodpile, as well as an old shotgun upstairs at the back of a closet.

  Now, the creature was banging on the front window. It had spied Tuman through the glass and was attempting to break its way inside. Tuman stood frozen in place, uncertain he hadn’t lost his mind for it appeared to be an enormous black and yellow snake.

  "Kari-fa!" Tuman gasped as the snake burst into the room. It was a thick as Tuman’s leg and as long as the length of this small house. There was simply no way poor Tuman could escape this horrid creature. "Kari-fa!" Tuman yelled again, as the snake slithered across King Merakoma’s rug and pinned him against the wall. Having no choice but to submit, Tuman fell to his knees, and began to pray. "Help me," he begged, the snake enveloping his leg, then circling his body, entwining about him, and cinching his waist. "I'm going to die here," Tuman realized, as the blood was stanched to his lower limbs. "This horrid creature has done me in and I don’t even know what it is or why it has chosen me."

  It was then that Tuman heard another's call. This time, it was a screech accompanied by the movement of large wings. Tuman could feel the wind washing over him as the great eagle swooped through the remains of the shattered window.

  The raptor seized upon the snake and breaking his clasp, pulled the reptile away from Tuman’s body. Then, he severed the snake's head with a quick slice of his beak. As quickly as he had come, the eagle disappeared. High into the trees, he rose, carrying the snake’s headless body off.

  Although, Tuman could no longer see him in the sky, he could hear the raptor’s victorious song as he feasted on a catch that would long sustain him. Were it not for the snake's severed head, and the blood upon his floor, Tuman would have thought this whole event a hallucinatory dream.

  He rose from the corner, his ribs aching, his breath short, and ventured to the window where he ran a finger along the broken pane.

  "It can't be," Tuman muttered, his blood pooling in the cut, the sting awakening his senses.

  Where was Arsan? Tuman prayed that the child had never come near, or if he had, that he had turned and run from the creature.

  “What of the eagle?” Tuman thought, now looking up into the trees and seeing nothing but the dark clouds portending yet more rain. It was black, he had been certain, large black wings with splashes of white upon the tips. It had to be. It could only be the Great Black Eagle who had returned.

  Chapter 14

  Rent had agreed to attend the Imperial Council meeting if only to shut his brother up. He had more than enough work to stay all night at SdK, which he would definitely have preferred to do. Actually, Rent probably would never be finished, even if he remained in his office all day, every day, year in, year out.

  "Do you want me to come with you?" Nancy asked, following her boss into the lift. "Maybe you need me to take notes or something?"

  "What?" Rent was staring at the ceiling, his mind busily running numbers, calculating what it would take, if at all possible, to save SdK Corporation.

  A ten percent layoff in the fourth quarter, followed by an additional five percent early next year, combined with normal attrition and retirements would reduce headcount by roughly twenty-two and one half percent. This in turn would lower operating expenses by thirty-seven point nine points.

  However, if he delayed the annual salary adjustments, he could probably reduce it further, perhaps even another point or two. If sales didn't increase, if they remained flat or worse, continued to plummet, even with all of these reductions, SdK would be doomed. The financials were bleeding red. The future prospects were looking bleak, and they were being sued up one side and down another.

  How in just two short years had Rent managed to destroy his father's company, something that had not only lasted, but thrived for the previous half century?

  "Your meeting," Nancy reminded him. "With your brother, the Imperial Prince, at the Palace tonight...do you want me to go with you?"

  "Why?" Rent replied, now staring at Nancy as if he didn't know who she was or how she had ended up in his elevator.

  Nancy had seen this blank look before, this quizzical expression when Rent studied her as if she had just materialized out of thin air. She knew he wasn't intentionally trying to be cruel. She understood Rent's mind worked in an entirely different way. Still, sometimes, it hurt to be so thoroughly disregarded by the man.

  "No, no, I don't think so," he replied, apparently having ascertained once again exactly who Nancy was. "But, thank you. I appreciate the offer."

  Then, he smiled that wry, white-toothed grin that made Nancy's heart flip over in her chest. Instantly, she forgave him and smiled back. Silently, she vowed never to bother him again, but instead, she would serve him with the utmost devotion. She’d be the very best secretary ever, and keep her fingers crossed behind her back that someday, he might think of her as more.

  Little did Nancy know, as Rent departed through the massive glass doors fronting the SdK Corporate Tower, he did spare a thought for her. It wasn’t at all what
she expected. In fact, as Rent climbed into the Imperial Limousine, the brief few moments of his impressive cerebral energy which he had allocated to her, were merely to add her name to the upcoming layoff list.

  Kinar was sick and tired of Shika's tantrums. As he shut the door to the Emperor's office, he wished fervently once again that said Emperor would return. As often as Kinar had cursed Senya, and make no mistake, he had many times over the years, he would have given his right arm to have him back. Actually, make that his left arm. Without his right arm, he'd be totally useless.

  "Kinar!" Shika bellowed. Even with the heavy oak doors closed, he could still hear the Imperial Prince's voice. "Kinar, when is my brother going to get here?"

  "Soon," Kinar mumbled. "He's on his way."

  "What did you say? I can't quite hear you."

  "Momentarily, Sir." Kinar opened the great doors once again and stuck in his head. "I shall escort him to the meeting room as soon as he arrives."

  Shika muttered something. It might have been profane. In either case, Kinar knew enough not to ask him to repeat. In fact, as Kinar once again shut the heavy doors, he muttered his own list of profanities, and most of them were directed at the Imperial Princes.

  Returning to his desk to make an attempt at his work, Kinar restarted the vid to check his emails and voice messages. He scanned through official communiques from various ministers and department heads, while the sound of Shika yelling in the adjacent room interrupted any hope of concentration.

  "I don't care if they don't like my budget, Eberly. I'll just shut down the whole damn government. I'm not going to let the Council hold the Imperial Office hostage. I only wish I could kill every politician like my dad would have done. No, I'm not going to do that, but believe me, if I could, I would."

  Fortunately, you can't, Kinar thought.

  "No, I don't need to consult with Lord Taner. Thank you very much. You know, Eberly, I can think for myself. I’ve been doing it for a number of years. Yes, I know how long Lord Taner’s been around too.”