Champion of Zenina

by Giselle Marks

  “Shouldn’t the queen be giving these orders? Isn’t it her right? Congratulations on your promotion Vlama. Will you visit me, niece? I would like to hear how Ga’Mikkal progresses under your training.”

  “Marina and I have discussed Vlama’s promotion already and she will be my Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, her orders have my support,” said Queen Plavina.

  Plavina then left, Baraneev following in her wake. Zadina picked up her clothes and dressed. She turned to Vlama and asked her company back to the Temple, which Vlama agreed to. Marina went to her apartments and the hot bath which Charles had already drawn for her. Plavina appeared briefly on the balcony and waved to the waiting crowds. They were disappointed Marina had not joined her, but dispersed to celebrate the new queen in their own way. The news of Zadina’s defeat and Marina’s victory was filtering through to the people of Hemithea and they were more forgiving of Marina. Plavina went back to her apartment and removed her coronation costume.

  She settled down to rest but after an hour she heard a call. She still had one more Royal duty that day. Neman waited below. Plavina found a dressing gown and walked down the stairs to the underground swimming pool. She still had to seal the Treaty between the land people of Zenina and the sea-men, whose Crown Prince waited below for her.

  Chapter Twenty-two - The Lioness and the Hyena

  Dalzina had an idea. It was not a very good idea or that original, but that never bothered Dalzina. Vlama returned to the Palace after escorting Zadina to the Temple. She had supervised the evacuation of those who wished to leave. There was sufficient food left from what Marina had given them the day before for those who remained, but there was no reason for feasting or celebrating. The blockade was lifted at least in part. Zadina cleaned herself up and trimmed what remained of her hair into some semblance of neatness. She dressed simply in a plain midnight blue dress and ate a frugal supper.

  Dalzina’s visit was not expected and Zadina was wary of her young cousin’s motives. Had she come to gloat? But no, she came to offer alliance, Dalzina and Zadina together. Now Marina felt safe from Zadina, she was bound to leave Zenina eventually. Zadina could not challenge Plavina until her hair grew. Dalzina would challenge Plavina as soon as Marina left the planet.

  If Plavina was dead, Marina would not want to be queen. So she would probably stay in exile, Dalzina believed. Then Dalzina could be queen and she would grant full precedence to the Fertility Cult. Zadina could crown her queen; Dalzina would double the Cult levy as payment for her support. The Cult would have involvement in all official occasions.

  “I’ll let you send missionaries to all Empire Planets to promote the Cult of Demina,” Dalzina promised.

  “I want to pick five of the Council Members, assuming Calzina and Klivina will remain in office,” Zadina demanded.

  “Agreed.”

  They haggled and Dalzina agreed to impose a Cult levy on the other planets in the Empire when she was queen, agreeing to almost everything if Zadina would support her rule. It was an uneasy partnership; they had little in common; they did not trust each other. It was the partnership of a wounded lioness and a hyena. The hyena knew the lioness was weakened but was careful to not get too close to her claws. The lioness could still kill her and devour her if she was hungry enough.

  Dalzina left the Temple feeling smug. Once she was queen it would be simple to deal with Zadina. With King Ga’Mishrin’s support she would secure her reign and make it glorious. It would solve problems if they conquered Ziga. The gene pool of men would enable the next generation to rule the universe and she Dalzina the First would be remembered as the queen who had made it possible. Her breeding program would ensure more Golds and Silvers were born and a few Platinums perhaps. She wondered why Zadina had never had children. When she was dead she would have her eggs removed and fertilised by Kabaneev or perhaps Divak. The fertilised eggs could be transferred to surrogate mothers; they could produce dozens of Golds from her ovaries.

  Chapter Twenty-three - Slavery Comprehended

  Marina rested for an hour but she did not feel upset by the fight. If anything her mood was positively cheery. She instructed the guards to have Mikkal returned to her apartments following his flogging. He entered with his head held high, clinging to some traces of his former princely arrogance. Marina ordered him to lie down and ran her hands gently over the welts on his back. He started to heal instantly.

  “Did you enjoy your beating, Miza?” Marina enquired conversationally.

  “No, er yes. I’m supposed to thank you for it Ma’am, thank you.”

  “You’re supposed to thank whoever beats you. I required a truthful answer.”

  “Then no I didn’t enjoy it. How could I when my mistress didn’t even come to watch. Please Marina, ma’am. Please beat me yourself in future. I’m really sorry I was rude and forgetful. I won’t forget my place again.”

  “The weals were quite shallow. I normally beat a man harder than that.”

  “I don’t care at least it would be you, ma’am.”

  “Do you know why you were beaten?”

  “Because I wasn’t respectful, ma’am.”

  “That was the least of the reasons I had you beaten for. Listen while I explain to you my reasons. Zadina doesn’t know you asked to be my slave. I may have to leave Zenina for a while and you’ll be unprotected. Imagine her wrath if she realises you put me up to it. The second reason for your beating was to teach you what will happen if you disobey me in the slightest thing. If you bore me or fail to please me, I shall sell you in open market. Understand it is not a hollow threat. I didn’t seek to enslave you; you begged to be my slave. You’ll have to work twice as hard to keep my interest.”

  Charles knocked and entered.

  “You wanted me, Marina?”

  “Yes I want you to help me with Miza’s training.”

  ***

  Late that night after Plavina had finally returned to her bed, tired, sore but content after Neman’s attentions, Marina heard his call once more. She slid out of bed leaving Charles to sleep alone. Mikkal had been sent to the slave quarters several hours earlier. Donning a flimsy dressing gown she walked down to the basement where the swimming pool was situated. Neman smiled up from the pool.

  “Didn’t Plavina seal the treaty with you?” Marina asked aloud.

  “She did,” he replied in her mind “But she was tired and I’m not. I thought perhaps you’d like to keep me company until dawn.”

  “Do I have a choice Neman?” Marina asked as she shed her wrap and joined him in the water. But Neman only laughed in her mind.

  “You don’t really want one.”

  She said nothing but relaxed as he drew her into his embrace.

  Chapter Twenty-five - Reeking of Sedition

  Several months had passed since the Purple Daggers had listened to the seditious words of their Colonel in Chief, Prince Ga’Mikkal and followed him to the boundaries of Zeninan space. There they waited for him to fulfil his promises. He had told them the wait would be a couple of months at most but his messages had been telling of delays. For over a month they’d had no word from Ga’Mikkal. Supplies were beginning to run low and the men were restless. They were a crack regiment sitting doing nothing in their space-crafts and inactivity was setting them at each other’s throats.

  The Officers met together to discuss what to do. They could not return to Kochab, not without Ga’Mikkal dead or alive to appease King Ga’Mishrin, doubting that gesture would lessen his wrath or reduce the retribution he would exact upon them. Together, they decided unless they received instructions from Ga’Mikkal within the week they would go forage for supplies and booty. They were now renegades. Laws were irrelevant, so several options were discussed, agreeing a Kurgian planet was their best target. They would attack if there was no news from Ga’Mikkal before the week was up. Zadina had been aware of the Purple Daggers for some time, Ga’Mikkal had been forced to confide in her, and she knew their supplies and morale would be l
ow.

  When Zadina had taken up the office of High Priestess of the Fertility Cult she had held the army rank of General. Kerina had insisted there was a conflict of interests and forced her resignation from the Army. Zadina had been a popular officer because she looked after her troops as well as her officers. She might have forgotten much of her army training during her sybaritic years with the Fertility Cult, but she knew a regiment stuck doing nothing for months on end was asking for trouble.

  Now her people could come and go from the Temple she arranged the despatch of three vast supply ships to the Kurgian Regiment. No one noted the cargo ships leaving Zenina even though their cargo did not match their documentation. The Fertility Cult eased their passage through customs by anointing a little fragrant grease upon the hands of various officials in the Customs Service. Ketla and Zada benefitted from some of the Fertility Cult’s largesse for the small handicap of being temporarily blind and dumb. Ketla took Zadina’s money and let the cargoes pass unquestioned, but her eyes took it in and her tongue described the contents in detail to Dalzina. Dalzina had no difficulty in collating this information with the knowledge of the Purple Daggers’ absence from Kochab and King Ga’Mishrin’s search for them.

  Additional Zeninan Army patrols had been sent to protect the boundaries of Zeninan space. Several sightings of the ships were made but they retreated away from the boundary only to return once more. Kurgian Army patrols came close several times but they retreated within the boundaries of Zeninan space where they could not follow. So the Purple Daggers had not been entirely bored and idle, whilst they waited for Ga’Mikkal’s call.

  Marina had no knowledge of the supply ships, nor did she discover their holds were off loaded earlier than their log books stated. The ships returned home laden with a consignment of beautiful fabrics from Bellatrix, a Zeninan Empire planet which was famous for its textiles. Bellatrix was an inhospitable place, cold and dark with no natural vegetation. The inhabitants had originally lived in underground tunnels or burrows, from which they gained the unwanted nickname “bunnies.”

  Over the centuries these warrens had grown into large towns, some tunnels being discarded as more spacious accommodation was built. Not long after their admission into the Zeninan Empire, the excellence of their manufactured fabrics became appreciated. Up until then, the Bellatrese had not specialised in any particular product, but the Zeninans promoted the sale of their textiles throughout the universe. As the value of their product increased as demand out-weighed supply, the people of Bellatrix tired of their subterranean existence.

  They could now afford to have towns built on the surface. The various subterranean cities contracted with architects and agreed designs according to the personal tastes and pockets of the committee or individual governing that city. The resulting cities varied from the geometric basic cube blocks of the huge city of Bellatrude to the random ovoid bubbles of the smaller New Vendenor named after the proposer and first Mayor of the subterranean town over which it was built. Zenina had created their new found affluence and Zenina’s construction industry benefitted from the aspirations that wealth created. The Zeninan Government took a cut from the trade in Bellatrese cloth and in all the imports that Bellatrix needed to make life on the planet bearable.

  All these new surface towns and cities had one thing in common. The outer walls of the towns were made of transparent artificial materials which afforded views of the dark sky above and the dull planetary surface around. The outer walls were constructed in three layers with lifts and gantries in between the layers for easy replacement of the prefabricated components. Bellatrix had a small pallid moon slightly pink in colour, but no star sufficiently close to light its surface more than dimly.

  So when the moon was visible, to the bunnies it was day and when it moved around the planet to its other side it was night. Day or night the lighting in Bellatrix was artificial, only hydroponically produced vegetables and fruit or expensive imports were available. Bellatrix had in recent decades started to build a cargo fleet of its own. They made sales independently, but found it hard to beat the profit margin of trade through the Zeninans. The discovery the Zeninans had not been swindling them on the price of their produce did not make them like Zeninans more.

  For although Bellatrix was rich there was great discontent within it, now only the poorest lived below ground. The subterranean towns had been partially abandoned, but as the hierarchy of the new towns established themselves, more members of the Bellatrese society felt excluded, returning to the warrens of their birth. Their number swelled with those who wished to avoid the restriction of regulations imposed by increasingly dictatorial regimes.

  The people’s affluence encouraged lawlessness below the surface of the planet. The unnatural life style living without vegetation, wild life and weather combined with vigorous suppression of sexual and other freedoms resulted in an exodus of large numbers of the younger generation to the underground tunnels or permanently off planet.

  The blame for the dissatisfaction of its youth was laid by the Bellatrese Government on the Zeninans. The lawlessness resulted, they said from the corruption of the Zeninans, even though there was no evidence to support that view. When Bellatrese young children, male or female fought their fellows in play, the reason was their emulation of the aggressive nature of the Zeninans. Some Bellatrese men chose slavery on the beautiful planet of Zenina in preference to life on Bellatrix and marriage to their women, clearly proof of the damage Zenina was doing to their society. The hierarchy could not understand their society’s problems were the result of their own success exacerbated by stagnation and excessive bureaucracy. They did not accept the young had a right to make decisions about their own lives. Nor did they wish to make way for younger faces in government.

  The three cargo ships returned to Zenina. That evening the Captain of one of the ships visited the Temple of Demina to thank the Goddess for a safe journey home. Zadina interviewed her privately.

  “I spoke with the Commanding Officer of the Purple Daggers and handed over your orders, ma’am. He accepted a couple of months delay and agreed to your suggestion they take six weeks rest and relaxation at Rimagon.”

  Zadina’s orders purporting to come from Prince Ga’Mikkal were accompanied by a substantial sum of Zeninan gold exchangeable anywhere and she had supplied a banker’s address in Rimagon, a free port away from the Kurgian Empire, where they could call on further funds to re-provision their ships and be contacted when necessary. The suggestion was immediately accepted and morale improved considerably. The soldiers were content to wait in the voluptuous atmosphere of Rimagon until Princess Zadina or Prince Ga’Mikkal summoned them.

  .

  Chapter Twenty-six - Not Afraid of Rejection

  When Prince Ga’Mazadeh’s ship docked at Hemithea space-port, the Captain was met by an attractive Silver woman, who introduced herself as the Deputy Director of Zeninan Internal Security. Fenzela accompanied by six guards requested to be taken to Prince Ga’Mazadeh. The Captain flustered by the request, denied any such important personage was on board his ship, but his thoughts indicated he was lying. Fenzela was not easily put off.

  “I will wait until my Director arrives, who will sort the matter out,” she declared.

  This information was relayed to Prince Ga’Mazadeh. He knew perfectly well who the Director of Zeninan Internal Security was. How had Princess Marina discovered his mission? He prepared to ascend to the bridge but she arrived before him. Princess Marina was dressed in military uniform from yet another military revue. She transported straight onto the ship beside Fenzela.

  “Where is Prince Ga’Mazadeh?” Marina asked her.

  “The Captain denies he’s on board, ma’am,” she replied.

  “Balderdash, I can feel his thoughts not far away. Captain, please have the Prince fetched.”

  A sailor was sent to fetch him but he was already on route. The prince was an athletically built man in his forties, he would have been handsome but for an
accident burning the skin of one side of his face. The doctors had tried to improve the appearance of his scars but only ended up making them look worse.

  “Your royal highness, we are honoured by your visit,” he said, bowing graciously.

  “May I welcome you to Zenina? Prince, is your visit private or public? Her majesty Queen Plavina would welcome the opportunity to meet you in person and we would arrange a banquet in your honour to celebrate your visit.”

  “My visit is private. I don’t want the fuss of official banquets, though I thank you for the offer.”

  “May I express my condolences to you on the foul murder of your Princess? I hope you have the opportunity to revenge yourself on Prince Ga’Mushrang on your return to Kochab.”

  “Do you have proof of Ga’Mushrang’s guilt, Marina?”

  “Not any that would convict him in a Kurgian court, Ga’Mazadeh. I had a spy at a banquet who reported the announcement of the death of your wife, along with the information Ga’Mushrang thought it was a pity he’d failed to kill her husband.”

  “Do you believe this spy?”

  “I’ve no reason to doubt the information. That particular spy has a 95 percent accuracy rate. Beside it fits with Ga’Mushrang, he comes from a long line of poisoners.”

  “I suspected him, but couldn’t tie it to him. Your word is enough for me, Marina.”

  “What brings you to Zenina, Ga’Mazadeh?”

  “Purely holiday. My oldest son travels with me.”

  “I hope you enjoy your visit. Probably wise to bring your son under the circumstances. Will you join me for dinner tonight? The invitation includes your son, of course.”

  “I would be honoured to dine with you, but I’m still in mourning for my wife. It wouldn’t do for me to be seen celebrating in public so soon after her death. Prince Ga’Mazal, my son has been badly hit by her death.”