She sighed and took a seat, going over her notes one more time.
Chapter Two
It was cold when she stepped off the spaceship, and she pulled her jacket tighter around her form. Although the jacket had thermal qualities that were meant to keep her warm, it did little to protect against the chilly wind that was blowing from the north. The Saveithyans crowded around her, all speaking in their strange, guttural language and looking curiously at her. They seemed excited, and Rachael wondered if she should be scared.
“You are not the one we expected,” one of them finally told her, using a small, rectangular device to translate the message.
Rachael shrugged, wondering what to say in response to that. As far as she knew, she was the only person who had been even considered for this mission, but since the assignment was outside of her regular department, it was entirely possible that they'd considered another candidate before her. Perhaps that was why Damien had thrown her into this project so last-minute. Perhaps he had only broken up with her so that he could convince her to take part in this mission, so that she could further her career. Perhaps when she returned to Earth, he would take her back and kiss away her worries and tell her that he had always loved her and that he had only sent her away because it was in her best interest for him to do so.
She squared her shoulders and faced the crowd of Saveithyans. “My name is Rachael Leventhal,” she told them. “Who is your leader?”
There was more murmuring around her. “You will not be permitted to see Queen Aistrana,” the same Saveithyan told her, and if she wasn't mistaken, his flat, round face was momentarily amused. “She would never deign to see such a lowly creature as yourself. You will be dealing with me and some of my colleagues. I am the Lord Commander of this planet. You may call me Tavaayn.”
“Tavaayn,” Rachael repeated, rolling his name around her tongue. “It's nice to meet you.” She held out her hand and then slowly retracted it when he made no move to shake it.
Of course, she had prepared as much as she could before coming to Saveithya, but since the planet's inhabitants had been hostile towards humans for most of their interactions, there was very little conclusive research about their culture, their customs, and their political hierarchy. Rachael had expected to be embarrassed, but it seemed like nothing she did was right.
And in the back of her mind, she was afraid that these little missteps of hers would be taken as slights and that the barbarians would choose to kill her rather than continue dealing with her.
She swallowed hard and looked around, wondering who all the other Saveithyans were that had come to greet her ship. And wondering just what it was that she was supposed to do next. She gestured vaguely back towards the spaceship. “I should...get my things?” she tried.
Tavaayn snorted and clicked his tongue at one of the other Saveithyans, who responded with a sharp word and a military salute. “Your things will be brought to your chambers,” the Lord Commander told her. “Come. We will have a feast and entertainments tonight to celebrate your arrival.”
Rachael hesitated. “I should make sure that...” She wasn't sure that she trusted the Saveithyans to move her things, but she wasn't sure of a tactful way to tell that to the Lord Commander.
The alien in question narrowed his eyes at her. “Is there some sort of a problem?” he asked, his tone frostier than it had been.
Rachael ducked her head, staring at the ground. “No,” he said quietly. “Everything's fine.” She meekly followed the Lord Commander down the causeway from the docking platform and into their futuristic palace, which was made of some sort of strange green stone or glass that sparkled underfoot. “When will we begin...negotiations?” she asked.
“Impatient, are you?” Tavaayn asked, his lips thinning—and Rachael wondered if that was the wrong thing to ask him. She was just curious.
To be honest, she was already ready to return to Earth.
“I was just asking,” she mumbled, still trailing after the alien.
He turned to face her, watching her silently for a long moment. She took the opportunity to study him as well, making mental notes. His skin was a strange purplish color, and although his facial features and stocky body were decidedly humanoid, he had four long, sinewy arms that ended in fingerless points, and he walked on legs that wouldn't look out of place as the hind legs on a dog.
“You don't want to be here,” Tavaayn surmised. Rachael shook her head before she could stop herself, and the Lord Commander looked almost surprised at her admission. “We were told that Earth scientists would leap at the opportunity to study our planet.”
Rachael sighed and rubbed at her wrist. “I suppose many of them would,” she said. “But this sort of thing—diplomacy. It isn't what I studied. It isn't why I became a scientist. I much prefer to be in the lab, carrying out experiments. I don't even really know...” She trailed off, realizing that she probably shouldn't admit that she didn't even know what she was supposed to be bargaining for.
Tavaayn cocked his head to the side, continuing to study her. “You're...lonely,” he surmised, and Rachael wondered why he thought that. “Lonely and absolutely frightened.” He stroked one of his tentacles through the air just beside the earthling. “I can see it here, in the energy that surrounds you. You're upset.” Rachael blushed brilliantly, and the Lord Commander smiled a little. “Upset and now—embarrassed.”
“Is there any way to keep you from seeing my emotions?” Rachael asked. “On Earth, we consider that to be private information.”
“Hmm.” The Lord Commander shrugged. “Here on Saveithya, emotions are public knowledge. You should not feel ashamed of what you're feeling, for any one of us would likely feel the same if we were in your position.” He frowned at her. “What I don't understand is why you humans only sent one of your kind for these negotiations. Saveithyans would never agree to such an endeavor; we always travel with at least three members in a delegation.”
Rachael looked away from his curious eyes, staring out the window. “I suppose they consider me to be expendable,” she said bitterly, rethinking her earlier thoughts about why Damien had selected her for this mission. “If anything goes wrong, if...” She swallowed thickly. “Well, it's best that I'm the one they lose.”
“You aren't a talented scientist?” Tavaayn asked.
“It's not that,” Rachael said. She shook her head. “I don't know how to explain it to you.” She certainly wasn't about to tell the Lord Commander that the only reason she was there was because she had been sleeping with the head of the IDC in recent months.
“All right,” Tavaayn said easily. “Come. I will show you where you may wash up before the feast.”
“Thank you,” Rachael said quietly, trailing after him. In the bathing room, she leaned against the sink and then dunked her hands in the water, scrubbing ruthlessly at the skin. Then, she took a few deep breaths, trying to focus on the normalcy of Saveithya to stave off her loneliness and her nervousness about what was to come.
Chapter Three
Rachael stared at the spectacle in front of her, watching in horror as two massive aliens were dragged into the center of the room. She glanced down at the translation screen that they had placed in front of her and watched as the text scrolled across the screen:
“Introducing on the left, K'thaaaii, a fearsome Goriianaa. Many of you may have seen K'thaaaii in action before; he's quickly become a local favorite for his clever moves and gruesome beheadings. Today, he'll be pitted against Erveni, a newcomer to Saveithya. This Ythjan warrior may look easily outmatched by K'thaaaii, but his speed and dexterity will make for an interesting matchup. And we're ready to begin...”
Rachael looked down at her bowl of unappealing and strange blue broth and purple dumplings, stirring it restlessly and trying to keep her eyes away from the spectacle.
She had known, of course, that this was the sort of entertainment that was popular on Saveithya. But she hadn't expected them to put on this sort of a show to comm
emorate her arrival. After all, they had to know that these gladiatorial antics wouldn't be appreciated by humans…
“You're not enjoying this?” Tavaayn asked, glancing over at her.
Rachael wasn't sure how to respond to that. She took another hesitant bite of her soup, trying to get over its strange coloration. In truth, it didn't taste that bad, but with the aliens fighting in full combat down below them; she found that she had no appetite.
What would happen to her when the Saveithya realized she didn't really know what she was doing there? Would they force her to fight in this style? There was no way she could fight either of these hulking aliens—she probably wouldn't even be able to survive a fight against another human, especially since her heart wouldn't be in it!
She jolted in surprise as all the aliens around her, including the Lord Commander, rose out of their seats with a loud cheer. When she chanced a look down at the ring, K'thaaaii had Erveni by the arm and was flinging the smaller alien around in circles. Even as she watched, the Ythian's arm tore loose, sending the rest of his body flying. And yet, he climbed back to his feet and fought on.
For a moment, the human woman thought she was going to be sick. Fortunately, there wasn't enough in her stomach that she really had anything to come up.
Making a split-second decision, she stood up. “If you could have someone show me to my quarters...” she said to Tavaayn, trying to sound commanding and confident. If she sounded timid, she suspected he would force her to stay.
The Lord Commander turned to stare at her, an unreadable look on his face. At first, it was as though he couldn't even comprehend what she was saying. Then, he looked enraged. “Sit down,” he hissed at her. “When you said diplomacy was not your strong suit, I didn't realize you were about to insult our entire planet.”
Rachael held her head high. “This is despicable behavior, especially in terms of intergalactic diplomacy,” she said haughtily. “Now again, if you could have someone show me to my quarters...”
It was all false bravado on her part, and she was sure that he could feel the roil of her emotions and the spike of nervousness that she was currently experiencing. But if he would just let her leave… She didn't think she could stomach any more of these “entertainments”.
The Lord Commander stood, towering over her. Around the hall, the Saveithyans began to fall silent, watching the high table with interest. After a minute-long stare-down, even the combatants slowly came to a stop, turning to watch the Lord Commander with interest.
Rachael could only imagine what they were all thinking now, what sorts of punishments they were imagining for her. And she knew, deep down, that there was no way she would ever get out of there alive.
Mission or no mission, there was no way she would ever be returning to Earth—and what's worse, she was doomed to die there alone on this strange planet, to spend her final days surrounded by these brutes rather than her friends and loved ones.
She felt tears prick her eyes, but she still refused to back down. “Obviously if you knew anything about humans, you would know that none of us would appreciate such a display as this.” She took a deep breath. “You haven't arranged these entertainments just for my arrival,” she accused. “Or if you have, you've arranged them to remind me what you'll do to me if I don't go along with what you want—don't worry, I get the message.”
Tavaayn raised an eyebrow at her and then shrugged expansively, turning towards the crowd. “The human woman says she isn't having a good time,” he boomed out.
Rachael realized that he must have a microphone somewhere—but of course, since there was no way anyone would be able to hear and understand her, that meant it was entirely up to him to translate what it was that she was supposedly saying.
Tavaayn grinned at her for a moment and then addressed the crowd again. “What do you say we show her a real Saveithyan welcome?”
The crowd erupted in cheers, and the two fighting aliens were led out of the ring. Rachael stared around at the crowd, looking for any sort of clue as to what happened next.
“Sit down,” the Lord Commander ordered again, and she was at least glad to hear that he had deactivated his microphone before addressing her again. He grinned, his sharp teeth flashing in the curious lighting. “Trust me, you'll want to see this part—human or not.”
Although she didn't want to, it wasn't as though she could storm out of the banqueting area on her own, Rachael realized, and so she sat down slowly in her seat.
She was a prisoner there on Saveithya, she realized, feeling a rising horror inside of her. They could do anything to her and she would have to obey them—because otherwise, they could easily kill her; they outnumbered her by many thousands to her one. And with the way that they seemed able to sense her feelings—or maybe even her thoughts! —She had to expect that they would always be a step ahead of her, that they would always know if she was planning to escape.
Suddenly, the floor of the arena exploded into a frenzy of movement. When Rachael looked closer, she realized that instead of the previous alien types fighting one another, this was a fight between many different types of beasts—including, even, a tiger, if she wasn't mistaken. She stared in horrible fascination as they rent into one another, growling ferociously for everyone to hear.
It was almost interesting, even, just seeing how the many different species interacted with one another at their worst like this. She could even start to tell which of the beasts was territorial, which of the beasts had cunning instead of just brute force, and other unique characteristics like that.
Almost interesting, that was, until Rachael realized one of the combatants was a Gavrien, one of the stupid but entirely sentient beings from one of Saveithya's neighboring planets.
She stood again, turning to face the Lord Commander, who was looking amused. “You're sick,” she hissed at him, narrowing her eyes. Gone were all thoughts of diplomacy. Gone was all of her typical shyness. She refused to be subjected to such a disgusting parade of slaughter.
“Not enjoying this show either?” the Lord Commander asked silkily. “What a pity—when it was all arranged because of you.” He clucked his tongue at her and then stood as well. “I suppose we'll just have to see you brought to your chambers, then, while the real men of our planet enjoy a grand night of betting and entertainments.”
Rachael didn't say another word as she was ushered out of the banqueting hall and down the winding chambers to her rooms. And for a moment, she didn't expect Tavaayn was going to say anything else either. But when they reached her rooms, he caught her arm and turned her around to face him, looking deep into her eyes for a long moment.
“You realize you'll never be able to leave Saveithya, don't you?” he asked.
It wasn't threatening, but Rachael felt tears sting her eyes anyways. “Once this mission is over, you have to let me leave,” she begged. “I can't end up like...” She gestured sharply back the way they had come, hoping he could extrapolate her meaning. “You have to let me go home.”
“There's no going home again,” Tavaayn said. “Not once you come to Saveithya.” He frowned at her, still studying her face. “This is another thing we did communicate to your scientists earlier in our negotiations—but it seems they forgot to tell you this as well.”
Rachael felt as though all the air had been sucked out of the hallway where they stood. “No,” she said, shaking her head. “They must not have known. Or perhaps, they did not realize that-”
“They knew,” the Lord Commander insisted. “We would not have agreed to allow you to come here otherwise. There is a peculiar curse on our planet, set here long ago, back before our ancestors' ancestors. All who travel to this planet, all who ever lay a foot on this planet or anything inside of its atmosphere, are doomed to stay here for the rest of their lives. They are not able to leave—ships break down mid-flight, or they go mad in the attempt and plummet back to the surface of their own accord or… Well, you just aren't able to leave. You should have known that.”
“Our scientists weren't aware of that,” Rachael said, shaking her head. “Damien wouldn't have...” She shook her head again and sank down the wall, her legs suddenly unable to hold her. Damien surely wouldn't have sent her there if he had known about this supposed curse, if he had known that she would never be able to come back home. Even if he had broken up with her, he wouldn't have condemned her to be lonely forever, not like this.
She swallowed hard, looking up at the Lord Commander. “I have to leave here,” she said, her voice hoarse. “I have to leave here. As soon as possible, I have to leave here. I'm sorry, but… I just can't stay.”
For a moment, the purple alien looked almost sympathetic, but that emotion caused merely the briefest flicker of his expression. In the end, he shrugged. “If you want to try, we might be able to arrange something, but I don't expect that you'd be successful—and indeed, you could end up seriously injuring yourself, or even dying in the attempt.” He pursed his lips. “Is it really so bad to spend the rest of your life here?” he asked. “At least you're still alive.
Royal Defender: Her Space Guardian (Celestial Mates Book 9) Page 8