“It’s nice of you to say that, but maybe he’s right. You’d think that after the first two times that I would give up, but that is not how I was raised. I was told that whenever we got knocked down, we dusted ourselves off and got back on the Dragos.” That was not the saying that I remember, but it was close enough.
“I don’t want you to give that man any credence. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He doesn’t see you the way that I do. I don’t want you to think of yourself as a failure. Think of it, as two practice runs for the real thing. You’re ready and I don’t want you to think that you’re not. You have the eye of the tiger.”
“What is this…tiger that you speak of?”
“Um, it doesn’t matter. It just means that you are ready for whatever they throw at you. Your instincts are honed and you’re destined to take your place with the elite. If his opinion really means that much to you, then prove him wrong. Prove them all wrong and show them the man that I know you can be. You are a warrior and nobody is going to be able to stand up to you.” The slump in his shoulders that I had seen after the guardsmen had gotten through with belittling him had now strengthened to a new resolve.
“I think that having you in my life has given me more fire in my belly. Courage is not given freely, it’s earned and I think I’ve done that and more. I don’t think you know this, but I volunteered to fight alongside the guardsmen when I was only 18. There was a raid coming and they needed every able bodied person that they could find. I was happy to do my duty, even though I was injured.” I had seen the scar on his left bicep, but I didn’t ask him about it.
“We have time and I would like to hear about it.” I was giving him the green light to speak of past glories. I’ve heard that warriors of the past had a duty to themselves and others to pass down their legacy. Braden had no son and his stories had fallen on deaf ears. He wanted an audience and now he had an audience of one. I could see that he was missing that moment of complete awe in everybody’s eyes, as he told his story. If they were to believe him, then warriors of the guardsmen had fallen, while he stood tall over everybody. If that was their history, then they really would want to sweep it underneath the rug. They couldn’t allow him to speak these lies, even if they were the god honest truths.
“It was pretty tame, until that one day that we were ambushed. Everybody around me was slaughtered and I fought valiantly with blood dripping from my hands. I was stabbed in the arm, but I was able to fight on through the pain. After the battle had come to its inevitable conclusion, I was the only one left standing. The guardsmen had been slain, but every time that I told that story, they made it sound like I was making it up.
“I can see in your eyes that it happened and for them to ridicule you, only means that they couldn’t believe that the guardsmen would go down like that. You take too much for granted, Braden. It shouldn’t matter what others think. You know the truth. There’s no reason to be better than anybody, but yourself. Take that lesson with you into this tournament and it will serve you well.” I was beginning to talk like them.
“You are good for me. My wife was for me. That is until that fateful day.” Her death had struck him hard and she was haunting him to this very day. Even from the grave, she still had a deep effect in his life. I didn’t want to compete with her and I didn’t think I had to. I wasn’t anything like her and I prided myself on my originality. I was not and nor would I ever be a damsel in distress.
Everybody was gathered in the main arena and then Lord Vadam stood on a parapet overlooking the festivities. “I want to welcome you to the 22nd annual Festival of Dragos. May your aim be true and may there be fire in your belly. Let us begin with introductions and then we will start with the flying of the arrow.” There was a hush across the crowd.
“I don’t like this, Shana. They are mixing things up and usually the flying of the arrow is the last of the festival. It is the most harrowing and for them to place it at the first, only means that they are looking for the best of the best. It would also mean that there is something coming. They want to find that raw talent.”
Introductions were made and then the two warriors that were chosen at random stood on either side of the arena with bow and arrows. The bow was a gleaming silver alloy and the arrow was made of pure white hot energy.
“As your Lord and master, I am ready to commence with the flag being unfurled.” Everybody looked skyward and this black and white flag with a blue flame in the center was raised. People stood and cheered wildly. There was not one person that was left sitting. I was overwhelmed and felt like I had to do something. I decided something of great importance and most likely Braden would never forgive me. I’d gotten caught up in all of this and for some reason it compelled me to stand and take a step away from Braden.
Before they could start, I pushed aside from Braden, even though he was trying to reach out to me. “Where are you going? Come back here.” I wasn’t listening and before long, I was standing in the middle of these two would be gladiators. They looked perplexed with seeing me out there. They turned toward Lord Vadam shrugging their shoulders. The crowd was aghast and they also turned towards Lord Vadam for guidance.
“I would like to be a part of this festival and become one of the guardsmen.” You could hear a pin drop and then laughter ensued from the parapet.
“You are a woman and you should know your place and stand by your man. This is no place for you. This is blasphemy and is punishable by death.” Two of the guardsmen in black armor appeared right beside me.” You have a warning to step aside young lady. If you do not, then I will be forced to make a drastic decision on behalf of my people.”
“I’m not going anywhere.” He motioned to the guardsmen and they raised their hands, until they turned into five electrical looking whips. They were now hanging from all of their fingers. People were standing waiting to see my punishment and even Braden was looking on in terror.
*Exclusive Chapter*
The Looking Glass
“I have no idea how you convinced me to come along on this god awful expedition. It’s cold and I’m hungry and I would really rather be someplace tropical, where I wouldn’t find myself on the verge of getting frostbite.” There were times that I cursed my best friend’s name. Kurt was always convincing me to do these things, even though I expressly made my feelings known that this was not my type of thing.
“I know that you protest, but you saw the results for yourself and you were convinced enough that you were willing to come along for the ride. Don’t try to fool me, Stella. This was after all your idea. I told you that it could wait, until the temperatures got a little better to handle. You insisted that you wanted to preserve what was there, even though there was no real evidence to say what exactly it was. We just know that from the readings that there is something inside that cave.
We took a Sherpa up a mountain that looked too daunting for even those that had climbed Mount Everest. Kurt was bald and he was wearing this black knit mask, which was something that we had in common. I had on this white parka and even that wasn’t keeping the cold from seeping into my bones.
Of all the people on this expedition, I was the oldest at 51. I felt that there was something to say for age and wisdom, but to these young explorers, I was an old relic that was supposed to be out to pasture. I may not be able to keep the same stamina, but I prided myself on keeping myself in the best shape of my life. I practiced yoga, meditated to keep my mind clear. There were things about my life that I would have regretted, had I not known that they were all meant to be.
“I understand all of that, but you know how I hate to be away from my family. I don’t enjoy living the nanny to take care of everything in my absence. I sometimes think that it might be better than I just hang it up and let some of these young up and comers take my place. I know that they would relish the idea of making a find like this, but I guess I just have it in my blood. There’s no way that I’m going to be able to let somebody else ca
ll the shots.”
“Stella, you’ve always been stubborn. I suppose I can’t blame you for that. We’re in an era where women are slowly getting the same kind of respect that men do in other professions.” Kurt had been with me for 10 years and I’d seen him go from a mild mannered nerd to somebody that was craving an adventurous lifestyle. He was married with children and suppose, if he could do this type of job, then I had no reason to put up such a fuss.
The man with the fur wrapped around him, so tightly, stopped suddenly and pointed towards a wall of snow in front of us. The men that were with him took out implements and began to chop into the obstacle. All we could do was watch and wait until they were finally able to break through to the other side.
“Kurt, I don’t think that I would be where I am today without you. I know that I haven’t said this before, but I think you know how important you are to me. I know that we can only be friends, but there was a time that I thought that there was something more between us. Don’t get me wrong, I would never try to ruin your marriage, but I thought it might be time that I show you all of my cards. I think that after this one, I’m going to take a break and try my hand at something a little less dangerous. Spelunking is better suited for somebody that hasn’t got arthritis in their fingers and a bad hip.”
“There’s no reason to put yourself down, Stella. You could run circles around some of these young ones. They are naïve; don’t realize the risk and sometimes you need to have a cautious eye.
“I know that you’re trying to be nice, but you can see the gray in my hair, the spread in my middle and we are coming up to the next millennia. In three days, the world will turn their clocks to the year 2000. I hope that everybody is prepared for the eventuality of Armageddon. Most companies have already taken in consideration that the clock on their computers doesn’t go that far. They have since taken precautions, but I’m wondering if it may not be too late.” I opened up my thermos and took a slug of the chicken noodle soup. It brought to mind those times that I had been a child. I was always too curious for my own good.
That was a trait that I had passed on to my children and they were growing up with a taste of what it was like to think outside the box. Conner was my pride and joy and he was on his way to college, but it was that precocious daughter of mine that made me believe that the terrible twos were not just a myth. Thankfully, she was five years old and had turned her attention towards picking on boys.
“I can see that look in your eye and I know that you’re thinking about going home. For now, I would like you to keep your mind on the business at hand. Those readings are abnormal and I think we both know what that might mean. Aliens may not be my forte, but you’ve been studying this subject for as long as I can remember. It was one of the reasons why I stayed to become your TA. I found the subject matter fascinating, but it was your delivery and passion that made me want to pursue the possibility of something out there.” I passed him the bottle and the smell the contents made him smile, like he was being taken back to his childhood.
“Miss Stella, we’ll be through in a few minutes. They have expressed that they do not want to enter into sacred territory. I myself am not of that same sentiment, but if it’s at all possible, I would like to be left out. We will stay by the entrance and make sure that you’re not interrupted, but essentially this is, as far as we’re going to go with you. If you really need me, I will be reluctant, but I will go along, because that is what I promised. I did not realize at the time that this was where you were going to lead me.” I had a feeling that there was a story behind this, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted to pick at that string.
“It’s fine by us that you stay out here. I think that it would be a good idea that we go in there alone.” As if on command, the ice cracked and the snow around it gave way to a small opening that was only big enough to crawl through.
“Miss Stella, I’m afraid that that is, as big as we can make it without destabilizing the whole thing. I can’t even guarantee that you’ll make it in and back out alive. We have lost friends that came up here and tried to go into that cave. There’s a superstition behind it, but I will not bore you with the details.” I didn’t want to hear it anyway and I’ve been down this road several times and knew that people just didn’t understand.
I grabbed my flashlight and strapped it around my head. I moved cautiously into the opening, squeezing my ample frame into a hole that really wasn’t supposed to handle somebody of my girth. I wasn’t fat, but I was fully packed and I guess I was at the weight that I was comfortable in. I was happy with what I saw in the mirror.
I heard scuffling behind me, but I didn’t have enough room to glance over my shoulder to see Kurt coming up from the rear. I finally emerged into this cavern. It took a lot of effort to come this far, but the least I could say that I had done it. I didn’t have to regret having somebody else steal what was rightfully mine.
The temperature inside the cave had risen to an almost sweltering heat. It penetrated into my jacket and I had to take it off to feel beads of sweat now pooling along my neckline. I took off the winter wear and grabbed my tools, only to see that the readings had gotten stronger, as we had gotten closer.
I heard the rushing water and Kurt looked at me and I looked at him and we still couldn’t quite believe that we were in here.
“Kurt, get some pictures of this and we’re going to need some proof that something like this even exists. There seems to be some kind of hot springs. The water is crystal clear and I can peer down to the…bottom.”
“What is it, Stella?” He had obviously heard the catch in my voice and there was a reason for it. “I need to know what you see. We need to record this for everybody. We might be able to get a Nobel Prize from this.” I still couldn’t believe what I was seeing. It was hard to wrap my mind around the fact that something like this could even be here. I’d heard it to be found in space, but not on the planet surface.
“Kurt, I’m not sure but I think that we might be looking at some kind of black hole.” It looked like it was in reaching distance, but when I put my hand down to my shoulder, there was still room. “Looks like I’m going to have to go in there. It’s a good thing that we brought oxygen. I can hold my breath for maybe 2 minutes, but then I’m going to have to resurface and do it all over again. There might be another way. Attach one of those hoses to the tanks and that should give me enough leeway. You’re going to have to watch for me to pull at the cord. When that happens, you are to pull me back up. I’m going to tie this around my waist and I’m going to breathe through the tube that is connected to the oxygen tank.” I was always one to improvise.
“I don’t think that it’s very safe for you to do that, Stella. We should wait for the rest of the expedition.” There was no way that I was going to wait for another day. They were slow enough as it was, always complaining, but then again, so did I when I finally got up here.
“There’s no time for that. We don’t know how stable this cavern is going to be. We need to take the bull by the horns and get everything that we can, before we have to vacate.” I draped the cord around my waist, tied it tight with two knots and then I placed the hose in my mouth, breathing that fresh oxygen. I taped around my mouth, sealing out any possibility that this was going to be my final death knell.
“Here goes nothing.” I lowered myself slowly, until I was up to my neck and then I took a moment to a look at Kurt, before I finally submerged. The water was crystal clear and it was that rectangular piece of black that caught my attention.
As I pushed myself towards the source, I saw that it was shimmering and at that moment, I thought about my daughter Shana. It was then that a hand came out of the darkness and grabbed my wrist. I didn’t get a chance to do much, as the gravity of this hole sucked at me. I struggled and panicked and then it was gone. The hand was gone, the black hole was gone, but I felt like I had almost stepped through the…looking glass.
Throughout the next few years there were
sightings of such an event, but nobody could get close. Each time they tried, it would disappear. I was the only one that had touched it. Maybe it had something to do with my physical chemistry. Perhaps those with this rare gene were like magnets to this thing.
Book 2
Chapter one
I look around at the crowd and I could sense that they wanted my blood. They were waiting for these guards to fulfill their duty and get rid of me once and for all. Braden wanted to do something, but he had been told by one look from me that I didn’t want his assistance. The guards had pulled their weapons and the tendrils of energy that came from their fingers were destructive and could cut me into ribbons. They raised their hands and I could see the smug look on Lord Vadam’s face, as he looked on and waited for the inevitable to happen.
“Before you do something that you’ll regret, I think that you should refer to the rule book.” Nobody expected me to say anything in the form of an argument, but now they were standing there with bated breath to see what was going to happen next. “I would ask for a reading.” There was an awe amongst the crowd and you could sense that nobody had asked for something like that in some time.
“I don’t think that you know exactly what you’re asking little girl. If we go through with a reading and there’s nothing to prevent us from killing you, then your execution will be held immediately. Be sure that you are in the right, or at least able to defend yourself.” Lord Vadam was laying down the gauntlet and daring me to pick it up in defiance.
“I’ve already said it once, but if it takes two times to get it through your thick skull, then I’ll be more than happy to repeat myself. I want a reading.” Once again, the people could not believe the audacity of a woman taking a stand like this. I felt empowered and I stood tall and proud with a grin on my face that was making Lord Vadam a little nervous.
Alien Romance: The Alien's Bliss: A Sci-fi Alien Warrior Invasion Abduction Romance Page 45