by Bertina Mars
Ignoring him, Maya got out of bed and started dressing in the light yellow tunic and shorts that he’d got for her to wear, instead of the scratchy robe. He stopped dressing and frowned. “What are you doing?”
“I’m coming with you,” she stated. “Anything could be out there.”
“You will stay here,” Vron ordered his voice dark with thunder.
She looked up and defiantly met his gaze. “Don’t act the chauvinistic pig with me,” she said in an equally menacing voice. “I’m not some little woman who stays in the kitchen. We face everything together, as equals. I’m coming with you.”
Vron pursed his lips and then a defeated look crossed his face. “I suppose arguing with you isn’t going to help,” he conceded. “Has anyone ever told you that you are as stubborn as hell?”
“I’m my father’s daughter,” she said, with a disarming grin.
*
The rosy glow of dawn was beginning to break as they set out across the countryside to where they had witnessed the commotion from the night before. It took several hours to climb down to the lake and then find a suitable crossing, and then a few more miles of hiking through the undergrowth until they finally came to the scene of carnage that Maya had known they’d find.
Even though she had been expecting the worse, looking round at the devastation was still like a punch to the gut. The charred remains of what had once been a village stretched out before the couple, the ground blackened and mangled heaps of charcoal the only remains of the villagers. The stench of death leaked into her pores and she choked back the tears.
“What happened here?” she said roughly, when she could manage to speak.
Vron, blank-faced, pointed to the blood red banner sticking out of the ground in the middle of the ruined settlement. “The Prince Consort,” he said in a hollow voice. “He must still be sending out Blood Sharks to look for us.”
“The bastard!” Maya raged. “The fucking bastard! Why kill all these innocent people?”
“As a warning to others not to help us and to report anything they might see,” Vron replied, lowering his eyes. “It is standard practice.”
“The bastard!” Maya sobbed again. Vron reached out to her but she pushed him away.
Her eyes blinded with tears she turned away from the village and started running, wanting desperately to be as far away from his nightmare as she could.
Wanting to be as far away from this brutal world as possible, but through her tears she knew that was not possible.
She had wanted to stay with Vron and had paid a terrible price for her selfishness. Nothing could ever be the same again.
***
“He wasn’t always like this,” Vron said thoughtfully, gazing up at the statue of the Moon Lady.
“Who?” Maya asked. Her voice was barely louder than a whisper. After the scene at the village they had returned numb and exhausted back to the shrine and had sat for many hours in silence holding each other, lost in their own brooding thoughts.
“The Prince Consort, Ghamak,” Vron clarified. “He was a good man. He was a good friend once.”
“You’ve never really told me about your relationship,” Maya said. “You were close?”
“We grew up in the same village, we were like brothers,” Vron said with feeling. “We were happy then. Raja-kell was a different place. We were ruled by the Peacock Feathered Emperor in those days, and unlike the rulers before him he was progressive and compassionate.
He wanted to put an end to the constant stream of sacrifices demanded by the Blood God and restore Raja-kell to its former glory. He even tried to re-introduce the worship of the Moon Lady. In those times the Blood Shark Society was a force for good, and Ghamak and I wanted to join them. It was our life’s wish.”
Maya looked up at him, now interested in his story. He rarely spoke about the past, and more specifically his own past. “What happened?”
“Not everyone wanted to change. The Emperor’s chief vizier was the head of a rival power group, the Onyx Tiger Society. He claimed that he’d received visions from the Blood God that the Emperor was a heretic and had to be overthrown.
Raja-kell was plunged into a brutal civil war and many of the common people sided with the Emperor. Me and Ghamak wanted to go and fight, but our parents forbade it. We went anyway,” Vron added a sardonic smile on his lips.
“We joined the Blood Sharks and were eager to train in the arts of battle. The Onyx Tiger Society though managed to assassinate the Emperor and take control of the capital. They launched a terrible purge of the land and our village was destroyed, our family and friends massacred. I was eleven years old when this happened.”
Maya listened in appalled silence, her heart crying out to him. “What happened then?”
“We became guerrilla fighters,” Vron said darkly. “The Blood Sharks took to the jungle and waged a brutal campaign against the Onyx Tigers, and they responded with equal savagery. Those were terrible times.” He fell silent, lost in his dark memories. Maya reached out and stroked his face.
“But you won through,” she said gently. “You defeated the Onyx Tigers.”
“That was down to the Blood God,” Vron replied. “The Blood Sharks were at their lowest ebb and Ghamak and I were captured along with the last of the Blood Shark commanders. We were going to be sacrificed in public in the courtyard of the palace as a final show of victory for the Onyx Tigers. Everything seemed hopeless, and then the Blood God’s head turned to face us and shone a ray of scarlet light directly onto Ghamak.
The people took it as a sign that Ghamak was the chosen one and that he’d been selected by the Blood God Himself to lead our people. There was a massive uprising and the Onyx Tiger Society was destroyed. Ghamak and I formed the new government as a consequence.”
“But I thought the Blood God was on the side of these Onyx Tiger guys? Why would He suddenly send a sign to Ghamak?”
Vron shrugged his shoulders. “No one understands the motivations of the Blood God,” he said bitterly. “I suspect it chose to speak to the vizier when the Emperor tried to turn away from Him, and then after all the slaughter and chaos caused by the civil war He saw in Ghamak the opportunity to wreak more havoc.”
“You don’t believe the Blood God is a real deity to do?” Maya said.
“I don’t know what the Blood God is,” Vron replied grimly. “There is an ancient text that says that a glowing red meteorite fell from the sky during the chaos in the final days of the First Civilisation and spoke to the shamans and mystics telepathically. The first of the Blood God’s worshippers carved its face and built the palace where it could exert its dark influence, and it has dominated my people ever since.”
“Is that what happened with Ghamak? Did the Blood God corrupt him?”
“Maybe,” Vron said in a quiet voice. “I’m sure the God helped him along the road of depravity, but it was Seema’s death that first put his feet upon it.”
Maya sat up and stared at him. “Who is Seema?”
“She was Ghamak’s sister,” Vron said, his silver eyes looking into the middle distance, misty and unfocused, “and my wife.”
Maya gawped at him, taken aback from the bombshell. “You . . . you had a wife? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t know how to,” Vron replied, the pain in his voice raw and bleeding. “I told you I grew up with Ghamak, well I grew up with Seema too. She was my one true love and she came along with us to join the Blood Sharks. Women were allowed to in those days.
We fought together during the civil war and she was my world. She got me through those dark times, and when she died my whole world collapsed. I’ve been living amongst the ruins ever since, until I met you.”
Maya saw the misery etched in his proud face and squeezed his hand. “What happened to her?”
“Shortly after Ghamak was installed as Prince Consort, a terrible plague engulfed the land. After the trials and tragedies of war we now had to contend with a sickness that had no c
ure. Thousands died, and I thought all hope was lost. Then Seema received a dream from the Blood God. She believed that if she sacrificed herself, the plague would end.”
“Oh my God,” Maya whispered. “What happened?”
“I tried to stop her but it was no good. She was a stubborn woman. We found her body, but it was too late. She had taken poison and, true to His word, the plague ended.”
“That’s horrible,” Maya gasped, fighting back a sob.
“It is life on Raja-kell,” Vron said flatly. “The Prince Consort will keep sending men to find us. I was a fool to think we could live in freedom. Sooner or later they will find the shrine. I will make contact with the smugglers and arrange for you to get back to Earth.”
“You’re not coming with me?”
“I must stay,” Vron said numbly. “I have been asleep too long. The Prince Consort must be overthrown. I will try and connect with the scattered rebel groups out here and form some kind of coherent resistance.”
“I could fight with you,” Maya said hotly. “We can do this together!”
“I won’t lose you like I lost Seema,” Vron replied, his voice deep with meaning. “If you love me you will go back to Earth. Please.”
Maya felt her own world crumbling. Tears sprang in her eyes, but she didn’t argue. She knew he was right. This wasn’t her world and he couldn’t abandon his duty. Though it ripped her heart out, she would agree with his plan, even though it meant parting with him forever. There was no other choice.
*
The ragged smuggler eyed Maya suspiciously as he ran the scanner over her body. She ignored him and stared down at her feet, wishing that she was anywhere but his rank-smelling metal shed that was the smuggling gang’s hideout.
As part of the deal to get her off the planet, the smugglers had insisted they do a scan with their equipment to make sure she wasn’t implanted with any kind of tracking device or contraband before they agreed to take her aboard their ship.
The smuggler finished his inspection and looked at the results on the scanner’s tiny monitor. He gave a satisfied nod. “We will take her to Earth’s nearest frontier base,” he said in a gruff voice, “but it will cost six thousand rubies.”
“That’s twice than what we agreed,” Vron growled from where he stood in the shadows. “Why the increase?”
The smuggler gave Maya a knowing look. “That was before we knew we’d be taking two of them along?”
“What are you talking about?” Vron snapped, coming forward to join Maya.
Her heart did a somersault as she guessed what the smuggler was saying. “Vron, I think he means the baby.”
Vron looked at her, baffled. “What?”
“I wasn’t sure,” she said, her legs trembling. “But something felt different.”
“See for yourself,” the smuggler said, showing him the scanner. “Two passengers mean twice the price.”
Vron stared at the device for a long time, and then something happened to his face that Maya had never seen before. He was grinning with joy.
“No,” he said sharply. “You will be taking three passengers.”
Maya stared at him, unable to comprehend what he was saying. “You mean?”
“I can’t send you off on your own now,” Vron replied.
“You’re, you’re smiling, are you not mad?”
Vron let out a booming laugh that startled everybody, and scooped her up in his arms. He squeezed her in a protective bear hug and she got her answer there and then.
Chapter 7: A New Beginning
The stars outside the window of Frontier Base Olma seemed to glow with a softer light than those in the sky of Raja-kell, Maya thought to herself. Ever since leaving that planet she had felt a lightness of spirit, as if the sinister presence of the Blood God had faded away.
Her heart still ached for Tia and the other girls, but there was nothing she could do about that now. She had a new life to protect, and besides once they got back to Earth they would approach the Unity Government for help. Vron had brought quite a sizable fortune with him, and with it they hoped to try and bring freedom to his home world.
Vron.
She still couldn’t believe that he’d come with her, or that she was carrying his baby. It was like a dream made real. She had the man she truly loved and was going to start a family with him. To think, none of this would have ever happened if she hadn’t been thrown out of the army and then kidnapped.
Behind her, the sound of the running shower stopped and she heard Vron pad into the bedroom of their quarters while they were on the station. She turned to feast her eyes on his gorgeous body, wrapped only in a small towel, and smiled at him.
“I know that look,” he said with a chuckle. He came over to her and slipped his arms around her waist, caressing her skin through the skimpy, silk night gown that she wore.
She leaned forward and gave him a chaste kiss on the lips. “You should do that more often,” she said.
“Do what?” he asked.
“Smiling,” she replied breezily, “acting like you’re actually happy. It makes a nice change.”
“I am happy,” he said, trailing kisses down her neck. She felt his hardness pressing against his towel. “I can’t be anything else with you around.”
“I’m happy too,” she replied, caressing his still wet back. “I never want this to end.”
“Neither do I,” he whispered. “I want to be with you and our child for always.”
She kissed him again, harder more urgent and picking her up carried her to the bed. The towel fell from his waist, and now naked and magnificent, he laid her gently onto the bed. She squeezed her breasts with aching need and his hands ran along her soft thighs, before hitching up the short nightgown.
His eager tongue enveloped the moist swell of her triangle, and he pushed in deep, pleasuring her the way she liked. She lay back and closed her eyes, stroking his jet-black hair with her fingers.
He brought his own hands up to cup her breasts, tweaking her bullet hard nipples with his fingers. She breathed heavily, losing herself in the moment. The wild rush of orgasm came through her and her sweet nectar slipped into his mouth.
She sat up and forced him to face her, kissing him hard on his cunt wet lips. Hungry for more, he pulled off her nightgown and sank his face into her breasts, while his fingers pushed into her wet hole, caressing its tight walls until he found the rough patch of her g-spot.
She clawed his back as he found her pleasure point and brought her to climax again, one orgasm spiralling into another until she was an exhausted heap on the floor.
Giving her time to recover, he sat her on his lap and kissed her passionately as his aching dick pushed in deep. In this sitting position, they made love, he thrusting up from the pelvis deep into her until a geyser of come rocketed deep into her. They made eye contact as he climaxed, and the connection she had with him was unbreakable.
He was her one true soul mate and the father of her child, and probably the father of more of her children if they kept this up. She could never bear to be without him. Her life was complete now, and as they drifted off into blissful sleep a little while later, she finally felt content.
*
They found her in the courtyard, covered in the Prince Consort’s still fresh blood. After one beating too far, Tia had finally snapped. Taking up a dagger while he lay in a dream mushroom daze, she finally ended the tyrant’s reign.
Lost and confused, she had managed to wander outside and stood under the night sky staring up at the frightful visage of the Blood God. The House Matron and some of the guards came out shortly after, shocked at the discovery of their master’s body. First the Chief of Security had turned rogue and now their ruler himself was dead. Only chaos could ensue now.
Grim-faced, the House Matron ordered the soldiers to shoot Tia as she herself tried to figure out how she was going to survive this new crisis. Tia didn’t care about them. Her eyes were on the Blood God.
She coul
d hear Him speaking to her, filling her with visions of glory and power. Just as the soldiers raised their energy weapons, a beam of scarlet light came down from the Blood God Himself, enveloping her in His protective embrace.
The soldiers dropped their weapons instantly, and fell to their knees along with the House Matron. They grovelled in the dirt, begging for forgiveness, as their new queen stepped forward to begin her reign.
***