by Angela Timms
Kel answered her, stony faced but his eyes said otherwise. “You could have been killed.”
Kyla half smiled but let the smile fade when she saw the seriousness of his expression. A dark cloud seemed to hang over him. “Anyone out there could have been. That is war, you know that.” She pulled away from him and tried to take her armour off but she couldn’t reach the straps. Pain she had ignored until now bit into her ribs and she gasped slightly.
Kel took a step forwards. “Let me help you. That is all I’m trying to do. You have to see it from my point of view. Let me help you get that armour off and we can talk.” There was a great sadness in his eyes.
She let him help her. Strap by strap he undid the armour, letting the pieces fall onto the thick carpet. Finally he lifted the breastplate over her head, catching her hair on one of the buckles.
Someone had laid out a dress on the bed. It was a delicate blue, plain with a high waist and tied with another braid, used as a belt. She walked over to the bed. “You could turn around.”
He did but the mirror behind him was not lost on him and he couldn’t resist looking as she pulled the rough gambeson and padding off and let her hair fall down her bare back before lifting the dress and heading for the bathroom.
Once in the room she stepped into the shower, washing off the dirt and dust of battle and feeling the aches fall away from her. As the water stopped the drying shaft of air drove the last of the water from her and she slipped from the shower and into the dress, letting it fall into place before tying it to define her waist. She pulled her hair out from down the back of her dress and picked up a second braid which she used to tame her wild curls. She looked around for the mirror and Kel froze, like an animal caught in a bright light he knew he had been caught out as he had moved so that he could see what she was doing from his position in the main room.
She smiled at his discomfort and he stepped out into the room and walked silently to the dresser where she picked up her hairbrush and began to brush her hair. She looked at him and handed him the brush. He took it and gently brushed her hair, pulling the wild curls into some sort of order. Kyla sat on a stool and relaxed, enjoying having her hair brushed. When she was happy with the hair she took the brush from him and laid it on the dresser.
Kel untied the wolf pelt. It was coated in dried blood, the once soft fur now stiff and hard. He unbuckled his armour with practiced skill and let it fall into the pile in the middle of the room. Kyla stood up. “Let me.” She unbuckled the rest of his armour and moved the pile to beside the door. A silken robe had been laid on the bed for him. He grabbed it and stepped to the bowl of water waiting on the wash stand and began to wash the blood off. “You have to understand the way I see it.”
Kyla had sat back down; she turned around on the stool and watched him as he ran the cloth over his muscular chest and neck, washing the blood from his torso. “Explain to me then so that I do understand.”
Kel hesitated then washed out the cloth. “Two years ago my life was very different. There were nearly thirty thousand people on my planet. Our planet. We fought the Followers and would not surrender and those souls died. We nearly all died and for a year I had begun to believe I was the last of us. There are others, I know that now but very few. How can I explain how I felt when I found out about you? It can’t mean so much to you; you never knew your people did you? They are gone now, in their thousands. How can I put it into words?”
Kyla stood up and crossed the room silently and took the cloth off of him, washed it out and began to help him wash the blood from his back. She ran the soft cloth over his shoulder blades and felt the taunt muscles underneath and ran the cloth down his spine. He visibly shuddered and his muscles tensed up. She spread the cloth and wiped around his side. He reached and caught her wrist with his hand. “You don’t need to. I understand now. It can’t mean as much to you. You have to understand my thinking too. If we fall to the Followers then all is lost and we’ll die anyway. I’d rather die fighting. But I’d rather not die at all.”
Kel turned slowly to face her and slipped his arm around her waist. “Thank you.” He swept a stray curl from her face with the other hand and rested his palm on her cheek, curling his fingers around her head. She looked into his eyes and he looked down at her and bent down towards her.
She was already pulling away from him when there was a knock at the door and they jumped apart. Kel went to the door, sword involuntarily in hand he opened the door and the Official stepped in. “I trust that everything is to your liking. The gladiatorial games have been cancelled. It was felt that a celebration banquet would be more appropriate . You would be very welcome to attend. I am also to tell you that you have been summoned to an audience with His High Excellency in the morning.” He smiled, turned on his heels and left.
Kel grabbed a towel and began rubbing himself dry. This done he slipped the robe on and turned to Kyla who was using the powders left on the dressing table for her. She stood up and he took her hand, they went to the door, opened it and followed others to the Banqueting Hall where they met Rennon and Dr Samson.
They recognized the General; he was sitting on a long table which stretched across the far end of the room. He was deep in conversation with a dark haired elegantly dressed noble looking man who was rubbing his goatee bearded chin thoughtfully with one hand. He looked very dignified; his mere manner was that of a ruler. His neatly trimmed black beard and hair were cut differently to the others in the room. His attire too was of a different style. His well- tailored jacket was gold brocade. An elegant gold cravat was fastened with a diamond pin. Occasionally the dark haired man took a glance around the room, taking it all in.
The seat of honour was large red velvet padded gold edged throne. It dwarfed the heavily robed man who sat there. He barely filled half the seat and was clearly propped up on a large red velvet cushion. He was painfully thin, his features pointed and his blonde hair long and thin. He waved his hands about constantly giving orders to serving staff and summoning guests who came to stand before him. He would speak, they would laugh or nod their heads vigorously and he would send them away as the dark haired guest looked around the room smiling enigmatically. The contrast between them was striking. One animated and seemingly overdoing every action, the other quietly confident and summoning respect with every steely look. There were many round tables set about the room, leaving a wide open space in the middle where entertainers and dancers were performing acts of great skill. As they walked past a fire eater blasted gout of flame in front of Kel. Kyla only just managed to catch his arm as he turned to strike out, he smiled at her thankfully and continued walking, and staring at the man who was looking very worried until Kel sat down in his seat.
The hall was immense and every seat at every table was full. There were many hundreds of people there and the hum of conversation almost drowned out the subtle music that was being played by a band of musicians in a gallery to the left of the head table.
The hall was vaulted and the ceiling intricately painted with rich oil paint. Gods were celebrating and the edge of each of the panels was painted as a grape vine. The central painting was a well built and well fed almost naked man pointing to a small stone which was painted to be glowing at his touch. Around his head there were many hundreds of flying doves. The ground at his feet was strewn with flowers. In his right hand he held a sword which was painted to depict flames emanating from it seemingly burning all around him. Behind him stood a beautiful, elegant, slim woman who had a hand on his shoulder. Her hair was ornately trimmed, rolled in curls which then hung down in a single curl over her shoulder. Her dress was of a similar style to the women in the room. The a high waist and full skirt a striking and distinctive fashion, although the material was depicted to be so soft that if fell smoothly over her body, as the dresses did on the women in the room. The painting was a center piece, other paintings spiraled away from it in triangles, some one way, some the other to fit inside the huge domed and vaulted ceiling.
Kyla was mesmerized; she couldn’t help looking around with her mouth open. Kel seemed totally unbothered. Rennon kept looking things up in a little techno book that he was constantly thumbing and scrolling through and Samson couldn’t help eyeing up the ladies.
They were being led to their table by a young woman who wore a similar dress to the rest but like the rest of the serving women she had a short skirt, her legs bare to the small gold sandals on her feet. She showed them to a table and they sat down.
Immediately bottles of rich ruby wine were opened and set in front of them. Cut glass goblets which looked fragile were set in front of them and Kyla gave Kel a worried look. He smiled. “Don’t worry, I have been to dinner before, I’ve learnt a lot while at Mission Command.”
Kyla laughed. “I didn’t say anything.”
Rennon shut his techno book and put it back in his pocket. “You didn’t have to, we were all thinking it.”
Kel looked offended. “This really is not my thing.”
Rennon laughed. “What drinking too much and watching scantily clad dancing girls?”
Kel looked interested. “What really?”
Rennon pulled his book out again. “Well according to this, these banquets are renowned through the galaxy as experience. The man on the throne there is Maxillius VIII, Supreme Ruler of this planet. Those at the table will be the dignitaries and honoured guests, mostly here for diplomatic reasons. This Hall is the “Hall of the Gods” and was built by his great, great grandfather as a place for celebration. Maxillius however has taken that celebration to a whole new level; you can expect a severe amount of drinking tonight.
Kyla was looking around the faces in the crowd, most of who were now looking at the Emperor who had stood up. There was silence.
The High Emperor spoke. His voice was high pitched but very loud. “I would like to welcome you one and all. Please, take your rest, take your ease and take your fill. I am delighted that you were able to join me on such an occasion, please, let me not keep you from what you really want to hear. Let the banquet commence.”
Serving girls scurried about carrying plates of food to different tables and the bubble of conversation had resumed.
Kyla was still looking around the room as if she was looking for something. Rennon caught her arm. “What is the matter, you look nervous?”
Kyla looked down at the plate that had been put in front of her. It was steaming and the meat and potatoes, vegetables and rich red sauce looked very tantalizing. “Something isn’t quite right, it is just a feeling but I can feel something.”
Rennon looked down at his plate and thanked the serving girl. “It could be that you aren’t used to being around this amount of people.”
Kyla shook her head slowly. “I don’t know, perhaps.”
Their conversation was much curtailed as course after course of fine food arrived accompanied by fine wines, brandies and other local delicacies.
Kyla was just about to dip her spoon into an ornate work of art when she caught sight of something out of the corner of her eye, a face she recognized. A shock of electricity ran down her spine and swirled uncontrollably in her stomach. She gasped slightly but the others didn’t notice as it coincided with a rather spectacular leap on behalf of one of the dancing girls.
Joniel was sitting about four tables down from them with a group of men in black robes. He too wore heavy black velvet robes, his face almost covered so she knew that he had let her see him rather than her seeing him by accident. He was looking straight at her and those eyes bit being something to the High Emperor into her very soul. He smiled and leant forwards said something, put his spoon down and got up.
Kyla put her spoon down too and caught Rennon’s attention. “If you would excuse me for a moment I must do something.” Rennon gave her a half smile but he was too engrossed with watching the dancing girls to really take much notice.
She got up and headed for the door. For some reason she was nervous that someone would know what she was doing. She almost smiled at herself that there was no way they could know and walking out for a while was just what many other guests were doing. There were many other guests wandering about as well as serving girls and it was easy to mix in with them. Nobody took much notice of her; she noticed this and relaxed a little. Some smiled. Most were looking towards the head table or a table to the right of it where very finely dressed men and women were sitting. She noticed that most of the guests seemed to be making effected movements trying to get noticed by the dignitaries who sat there.
A troop of swirling dancing girls dressed in gold bodysuits had just launched themselves into the room and Kyla chose this time to actually exit the room.
Once outside she walked slowly down the corridor which was filled with guests, serving girls carrying plates, guards and other city people going about their business. She couldn’t immediately see Joniel so she just kept walking.
Joniel passed her going in the opposite direction heading back to the Hall and pretended to ignore her before a sudden recognition led to him stopping a few paces past her and then turning and walking back as she turned to face him. He bowed politely. “My Lady you are looking well.” He made a grand gesture of bowing politely, one hand in front of him, the other behind his back in respect to the local custom. “May I say that it is a delight to meet you here.” Beneath his dark robes he wore a dandyish bright purple velvet suit complimented by a lilac lace jabot and rich purple cummerbund. He bowed close to her as he whispered almost inaudibly. “I want to speak to you. There is something that you really need to know. Are you mad being here? Is there a reason? Do you know who that guest of honour is? Walk with me.”
Kyla looked into his sincere eyes and saw a world of worry. His brow was actually furrowed and she had rarely seen him like that.
“No, I don’t know.” exaggerated body language of grand gesture of swirling her dress and taking his hand. “My Lord, it has been some years, please, walk with me a while, you may escort me to somewhere that we can talk.”
Joniel bowed deeply, placed her arm through his and led her down corridor after corridor. He looked down at her, smiled slightly and raised an She whispered then spoke loudly with pretend surprise at seeing him and a eyebrow once they were alone. He reached under his robes and Kyla felt a slight tingling sensation as he activated something.
He grabbed her arm and pushed her back against the wall. Their lips met in a passionate kiss and he wrapped his arms around her. She could feel the softness of his robes against her and that excitement that always arose when he was around. He then held her, his chin resting on her head. “You really should look into some research before you come walking into politically explosive situations like this. I’m guessing you don’t know the significance of any of it or I doubt you’d be here. Your Mission Command is sadly lacking in some significant intelligence I am guessing. Do you have any idea what is going on here and what you being here could mean? I am guessing that you don’t. It is dangerous Kyla, it could get you and all your friends killed. Mission Command really should pay attention to what is going on in the galaxies.”
Kyla looked up at him. She was genuinely shocked and it reflected on her face. He raised an ivory white hand and stroked her cheek. He smiled reassuringly. “That man sitting between the Emperor and the General is the Prince. It is said that he is destined to be the Prince of this Galaxy and possibly many others. He offers unity against these Followers which would solve a lot of problems and give us a fighting chance. He is commanding, a genuine in his beliefs so as assassination. The Emperor who he is sitting beside is the main person who covets that power and is currently in a position to get it while you are here
. You my love have just given him a way he can do it easily. I think I have assumed quite rightly that you had no idea of the political situation.”
Kyla nodded nervously. “Not at all, this is way beyond anything we were told. We’re just her looking for a lost crew member. Please explain. How am I so important?”
Joniel smiled to reassure her. “If you had any idea you wouldn’t be here. I know your cover story. I can understand your real mission, that makes sense. You obviously do not know their law. You are pretending to be married to Kel and they have no reason to doubt that. Should Kel die by accident or illness then you would be left a widow. As a widow you would be able to be claimed by the Emperor as a wife or concubine, even as a visiting dignitary. It would be his duty to find you someone to support you if he does not choose to send you off planet, which of course he wouldn’t. By Prima Matrimonia he would have first refusal as you are of noble blood. It was originally designed to stop visiting women marrying locals, removing their husbands and leaving the planet with their assets. It would however give him noble status. If he managed to do that and then eliminated the Prince he would be able to claim the Prince’s forces who are so conveniently camped on his doorstep as he would be the senior ranking noble here. He thinks that is already in good leader, a supreme strategist and you can imagine a prime target for hand. He thinks I am here to carry out that contract and he has commanded me to carry it out within the next few days. Your arrival has offered him the chance to legitimately claim what he intended to claim by difficult negotiation. He would have claimed the troops anyway but he could be challenged. If he has you he cannot be challenged.”
Kyla looked up at him horrified then she looked puzzled. “Why is it safe to talk openly like this?”
Joniel smiled. “I have a techno jammer running. It is a neat little toy. Their cameras are now seeing and hearing a computer generated conversation between us full of diplomatic niceties and all the usual small talk.