by Maia Starr
The announcer placed several chains of medallions over his shoulders. Then he pulled out a tool that I recognized. It was a tool that I hated. It was the same tool that had been used on me to tag my arm with some sort of chip that allowed anyone to find out who I belonged to by rubbing my arm.
Thaedon held out his arm and the solid, silver cuff was removed. Then he was tagged. It shocked me. I thought that only slaves were tagged. Then the announcer rubbed Thaedon's arm and a brand appeared that I assumed read Master.
The crowd cheered as he pushed his fist into the air. He walked in a small circle, showing everyone the tag. He was now officially the master. I knew that now he would officially be done with me. I wondered if I was one last thrill before he became master. Nothing else could explain why he went through the great lengths that he did in order to be in my company. He could have any female, be it Kalazaron or human, that he wanted.
Then the announcer gestured for the music to begin. It was a combination of drums and strings, very slow music. I watched as Thaedon leaned into the announcer and whispered something. By the look on the announcers face, it was something that shocked him. He shook his head no. Thaedon just smiled at him.
Thaedon moved away from the announcer and began walking toward the sides of the arena. The announcer shouted, "The master will be choosing his own dance partner for the first movement."
The entire crowd began to whisper and grumble at this news. I did not understand why. I assumed because this was not the tradition. Perhaps the master would have to dance with a chosen partner, or perhaps he didn't dance the first dance at all. I had no way of knowing as this was all new to me.
As I thought this, I suddenly felt Soko and Maris shift their weight and grow jittery. I looked up to see why. Thaedon was heading directly toward them. A frown came across my face as I realized that he was going to pick one of them to dance with. I would have to throw the train over the arm of the chosen female so that she could dance. I would have to make sure that her dress was in place all while she waited for him to sweep her off her feet. I didn't know if I could handle it. I looked down at the ground, hoping that I would not have to watch this and just get through it in a series of quick movements.
"Excuse me," I heard his deep voice say.
"Of course, Master Kree. Either one of us would be delighted to join in the first movement," Soko said with a light, flirtatious silkiness to her voice.
"No, I meant excuse me, can I get by," he replied. I looked up to see him move between the sisters and come straight for me. Was this really happening? He held out his hand to me and said, "Will you join me for the first movement, please?"
I stood in shock. My mouth fell open. I could not move. I could hear the level of chatter in the arena grow very loud at his shocking maneuver. The sisters gasped in horror at his words. I wanted to stick my tongue out at them. I still stood frozen and he leaned into my ear and whispered, "It's all right, Ella. It is just you and I, just like before. Don't pay attention to anyone."
I put my hand in his and he led me out onto the dance floor where we danced. He was right; after a few seconds, I got lost in his eyes. His hand on the small of my back, guiding me, burned through my flesh. I had never had such an attractive male touch me in such a familiar and sensual way. My hand in his was receiving comfort as he would squeeze it every now and again to reassure me. I don't know how long we danced, but it was at least half of the evening. It was only when a Kalazaron warrior that I had not seen before came over to him and said, "Master Kree, sorry to intrude. However, there is much more to the coronation that requires your attention."
"Yes, Consulate Moscurn. I have forgotten myself. I will be with you," he said as he grabbed my hand and led me to the side of the arena. Then he gave me a sort of bow and went away with the consulate. I smiled at him, happy for the fun evening.
Moments later, the Loki sisters approached me. "What the hell was that all about? How dare you embarrass us in such away," Soko said.
Chapter 6
MASTER THAEDON KREE
The day after the coronation ceremony was filled with one lecture after another. It was unbelievable. I was the damn master; I should have the authority to do what I liked, when I liked it. Yet all the council and elders surrounding me each had their say about what I had done during the coronation ceremony. I had picked a human female that was painted blue like a Kalazaron female and gave her my full attention for more than half of the evening. The entire public disapproved of this. Yet I did not care. There were no rules about how we were supposed to behave during the coronation ceremony. I did what I wanted.
"I would think that you, Consulate Dalik Moscurn, would understand. You have a human female mate that is your only mate. You had to prove yourself twice in the Stanis Trials many, many years ago. Yet you stand here and lecture me about what I can and cannot do," I said as I paced back and forth in my council room.
"Yes, I did all those things. But I am merely consulate. I am not the master. The rules are different for you, my friend," he said to me.
"Yes, I am the master! I make up the rules!" I shouted in anger.
"It just does not seem right. You made a great offense to our own Kalazaron by choosing a human above the Kalazaron females at such a grand and sacred ceremony. The fact that you do not see that makes me think that you are not fit to be a master. You are way too young for this position. How you passed the trials, I do not know, but this in itself is a trial and you are failing!" the consulate said as he got in my face.
I pushed my chest against his in anger. "How dare you speak to me in such a manner! I am your master! Do not forget that! I passed those trials with my intellect and I could do it again and again proving that I am the best for this position."
The consulate gave me an angry look and stormed out of the council room. I was fuming with anger. How dare they try to tell me what I can and cannot do. "Summon Huine Srit for me," I said over the communication panel.
I waited for a Huine Srit to enter. Finally, he arrived.
"Huine Srit, I need you to research documents as far back as 100 Kalazaron years. I need all the information there is on captives and ownership. Anything particular to captive human females. I wish to transfer the ownership of a human female into my own ownership. She belongs to the Loki family and has been owned by them since she arrived to this planet. Do I, as master, have the authority to take her away from them and transfer her into my own ownership? I need to know this answer and I need to know as fast as you can research it."
"Yes, Master, right away."
"Go now," I said, dismissing him. It was up to knowledge one more time. This knowledge would let me know if I could rescue Ella from the horrible treatment that the Loki sisters were bestowing upon her.
It did not escape my attention that they painted her blue in some sort of ridiculous joke for their own amusement. It made me so angry when they stepped forward. I knew it was her as soon as I saw the sisters. Ella's green eyes were one-of-a-kind and could belong to no other. Seeing her carrying their dresses, painted all blue made me practice great restraint. It would not be good to start off my coronation ceremony by assaulting two awful Kalazaron sisters by slapping them in the face as punishment. I kept my anger locked up inside. It was when I was pulled forward to do the first movement of the dance that I had the brilliant idea to shut them down by taking Ella into my arms as the first dance.
Three days later, I met with Huine Srit again as he had news for me. Finally, he entered and displayed a holographic file of documents on the wall.
"Tell me, Huine Srit, did you find documents in support of what I want?"
"Yes, master, I did. It is right here. It reads from documents from 100 years ago. No alterations have been made to this rule, therefore it still stands today. The master shall have control to interfere with the ownership of a slave or captive as the master seems fit. The amount of time that the slave has been with one owner shall not make a difference in this law."
"So that's it then? I can order that the human slave Ella be transferred into my ownership. It does not matter that she has been with the Loki family since she arrived to the planet?"
"Yes, that is correct."
I smiled and patted Huine Srit on the back with one hard pat that made him step forward. "That is great news! See to the orders right away!"
"Yes, Master, right away," he said as he left the room.
I smiled and sat back in my chair. It was finally done. I did not have a plan for bringing Ella into my household other than transferring ownership. I would ask her what she wanted. I would not force her to be my mate. She could live in my quarters as a free slave for all purposes, but I would have to retain ownership of her. It was the Kalazaron way. There was no such thing as a human without an owner, but it was up to that owner how to treat the human. I would treat her as a free creature. She could do as she wanted. I hoped that she would accept this.
Twenty-four hours later, I was met with the most uncomfortable news.
"Master, it seems that Fraon Loki already transferred ownership of the human female Ella Capricio."
"What! To whom?"
"To his brother," Huine Srit said to me.
"Who is this brother? Let us begin transfer of ownership from the brother," I said in anger.
"It is not that easy. It seems there is a complication."
"What complication?! Spit it out, Huine Srit!" I shouted at him, growing very impatient.
"The brother is a general. He is stationed at Belvenreed."
"Shit!" I threw a chair against the wall.
"As you know, Belvenreed has been—"
"Yes, I know. We lost communication with them this morning. They are under heavy attack from the rebel forces. They have been holding them at the gates. That was the last we heard before reinforcements were sent a few hour ago."
"Yes, that is correct. This matter of the human female will have to wait until communication is back online and the rebel invasion has been defeated."
"When was she transferred?"
"Four days ago. The very next morning after the coronation."
"Aaagh!" I shouted flipping over a table and clearing documents and tools off a shelf. I was in a complete rage. She had been transferred as punishment. It was my fault; I had made it known that I had interest toward her. No doubt this was a great offense to the Loki family that I did not pay attention to the Kalazaron sisters instead. They transferred her out of punishment. Who knows what else they would've done to her. Perhaps they beat her. Perhaps they scarred her beauty.
This was all on me. My extreme arrogance to have what I wanted when I wanted without thinking about consequence had caused Ella harm. I did not think about what would happen to her. In truth, I did not even think to check on her after the coronation to see if my actions had hurt her in anyway. I only thought of myself and how to get her, how to own her. Now that arrogance was making me pay a heavy price for my mistakes.
Yet it was nothing compared to the punishment that Ella was receiving. For all I knew, she could be dead by now. The raid on the Belvenreed Outpost had been intense, intense enough to cut off communication. It was something I had been dealing with on my first few days as being master. We had sent reinforcements only today when the rebels finally made their move. I was shouting in anger and tossing things about when Consulate Dalik Moscurn entered.
"What is all this?" he asked.
I stopped and turned to him and realized that he had been very much against my new relations with the human female. How did Fraon Loki get a transfer for Ella so quickly? He must've had help from someone in the buildings of order.
"You! It was you wasn't it?! You helped Fraon Loki transfer Ella to the General at Belvenreed. Admit it!"
"Master, I do not know what you speak of. Calm," he said.
"The human female that you lectured me about has been transferred to the Belvenreed Outpost. Right as I was preparing to transfer her ownership to me. You were against me being with her. You must have helped to have her transferred so quickly."
"To Belvenreed? But they are under attack," he replied.
"Yes, I am aware, and she is in danger. I will go myself to fetch her," I said, making my way toward the door.
"No! You must not. You are the master of this planet and you cannot put yourself in such a dangerous situation. Your death means this planet will be without leadership once again in such a short span. It will not be good for the systems and for the structure. We must keep order. You must not go!"
"None of that matters now! She is in danger because of me! I put her in the position to be punished by her owners! It is unfair to her," I said breaking free of the consulate’s grasp.
"No, not if we have to get every warrior on you. No one will allow you to go," the consulate said, standing in front of me. I realized that he was right. No one would let me go of my own free will. I would have to sneak away.
I calmed myself. "You are right. I have just grown angry in the moment of hearing the news. I just heard right before you stepped in. I am sure that she is fine. I will send for her when the rebels have been defeated and stay here."
"That is better. I will arrange the transport myself to fetch her once we hear news that it is safe to send one to Belvenreed."
"That is good of you. Thank you. Do not fail in sending that transport," I said, knowing that the transport very well might be my own rescue, because I was going to Belvenreed that very night.
Chapter 7
ELLA CAPRICIO
The Loki sisters were furious after the coronation. They questioned me for a long time, asking why the master would do such a thing. I never said a word; I would just shrug my shoulders. I never once mentioned that I had met him in the market. I did not tell them about our joy ride. I did not tell them about dinner. I kept everything to myself; it was still my secret that I was able to enjoy because it was all mine.
Even though Thaedon lied to me and did not tell me that he was the master, I overlooked the anger I felt for him because he made me feel special. It was an exhilarating, natural high just to think about it. I knew that the Loki family would punish me. They would probably beat me or double my work in the living quarters, but I did not expect that they would do what they did.
"Come with me," Fraon Loki said as he moved into my small closet like room.
I followed him into the main room of the living quarters. There were two, official-looking male Kalazaron and a guard standing there.
"What is it?" I asked.
"I hereby, in the presence of the authority, transfer ownership of this one human female slave, Ella Capricio, to my brother, the General Ulepio Loki."
"What? What is happening?" I asked. I was not answered. The guard took me by the arm and forcefully led me out of the living quarters. The two sisters were standing in the hallway watching and Soko said, "Serves you right. Now you won't get in the way. I should be the one to be with the master; not you."
I did not know exactly what was happening other than I was being transferred into the ownership of a general who was part of the Loki family. I was terrified. Who was this general? Would he be a terror? I felt some sense of relief that I would not be under the mistreatment of the Loki sisters. However, I could be going to a fate much worse.
As I was led out of the living quarters, I was terrified. I was being taken from the only home I had known for years; even if it was an unpleasant one, it was still home and I had grown comfortable. At least it was a consistent environment.
I was put into a large ship with a few other Kalazaron females and males. I looked over at a female and said, "Where are we being taken to?"
"To the Belvenreed Outpost. I am being punished because I stole from the market. What did you do?"
"I do not know," I said to her. But inside I knew. I had danced with the master and he now thought it was a mistake. He now was sending me as far away from him as possible. This was his doing. At first I thought that it was the Loki family transferring o
wnership. However, I now knew that the master must have some influence on this. He must have agreed to it. He possibly even ordered the family to do it.
Tears began to roll down my cheeks as I realized that he now felt ashamed of me. He felt so ashamed that he was sending me far away to an Outpost that was considered very dangerous. I thought it was very ironic that I had off and sat on the roof looking out toward the Blue Mountains wondering what it would be like for me in that environment. Now, I was getting to see for myself. I was terrified. Now that I was having the opportunity to go, I did not want to go. I wanted what I had with the master to be true and real. Now, I knew that it was not. It broke my heart.
When the ship landed, I was panicked. I did not know what to expect. The door opened and we were led out into the blue dirt. I was surprised by the size of the place. It was an entire village inside of tall walls. Over the walls, I could see the Blue Mountains in the distance. We were in fact very close to the rebels. Closer than I would like to be. I could see a lot of the sky and nature; it had a calming effect on me. I had been in the city for so many years that I forgot how beautiful the countryside could be. This was my first time seeing it on the planet of Kaethon, but it was very close to the countryside of Earth. I could hear creatures around us, the creatures similar to birds on Earth. It was beautiful.