by J. Naomi Ay
"What?"
"A story," Marik realized. "Tell me a story, Leta, a fairy tale. Sit down beside me, and talk to me until I fall asleep."
Leta hesitated for a moment. Although Marik was a boy, he looked like a man, and he was Rehnorian, a race she wasn’t entirely familiar with. Besides that, she had heard odd things back in her cloistered, private school, things about single-heads preferring to get it on with duals. Climbing into bed with Marik was certainly beyond their job description.
“I miss my mama.” Marik sniffed, large tears forming in his pale gray eyes.
“What?” Reta snorted awake.
“Hush.” Leta sighed with relief.
No, the boy, despite his size, was really just a lonely, unloved child searching for a mother figure. Settling into the bed, Leta pulled his head against her ample breast, a place he found amazingly comforting.
“Story?” he reminded. “A fairy tale?”
“Right, give me a moment to think of one.”
Leta leaned back and tried to recall a tale age appropriate for a ten year old boy. Unfortunately, she couldn’t come up with one in particular that she liked. Being both Beckwadian and Bagmagian, she aged five times faster than a Rehnorian, and in her four and half short years, very little time had been spent with her parents.
Since their earliest memory, Leta-Reta had lived at the Beckwadian School for Girls, an exclusive, private institute for the privileged class. The school was located right next door to the similar academy for boys, and it was there that Leta-Reta met the love of their lives, and subsequently, had their singular heart broken.
Therein lay a fairy tale, Leta realized, and began to relate it, couching the narrative in a way young Marik might understand.
“Once upon a time,” she began, and immediately received an anticipatory and delighted wiggle from the boy.
“Yes?” he cried. “Go on.”
“There was a beautiful princess.”
“What was her name?”
Leta paused.
Reta snorted again. “Reta,” she mumbled, turning her chin and leaning her head into her sister.
“Leta-Reta,” Leta continued. “Just like us. The princess was Reta and me.”
Marik squirmed excitedly. This was a nice story. So far so good.
“The princess went to a school on a distant planet, far away from her mum and dad, the Queen and King of the beautiful planet Beckwad.”
“Why?” Marik asked, his curiosity piquing. “Why couldn’t she stay home on her own planet?”
“Because that’s where every well-bred prince and princess went. Anyway, there was a dance once,” Leta sighed wistfully. “Just like Cinderella’s Ball. That’s where we met him, our prince charming. He was so handsome, so debonair, and so perfect for the two of us. We fell instantly in love.”
“Yes, we did,” Reta agreed. She sniffled a little, her long red curls rubbing against her sister’s face, a tiny tear now creeping from her eye.
“Did he have two heads too?”
“Indeed, he did, and neither of us were sure which one we loved more. Both were blonde with bright blue eyes, just like their namesakes, the Imperial Princes.”
“Ren-Ste.” Reta broke into a full out sob. “It was so unfair! So wrong. So cruel. He totally broke our heart.”
“What?” Marik gasped. “I’ll kill him.”
Leta paused, uncertain if the boy could handle the truth. On the other hand, Marik ruled this dark city with an iron fist.
“No. We don’t want you to kill him,” she replied. “It was simply because he didn’t love us back. The end. Now, go to sleep, or I’ll make you brush your teeth again.”
“No! Why not? What was wrong with you?”
“Nothing,” Leta snapped.
“He was in love with someone else!” Reta cried.
“Hush, Reta,” Leta whispered, patting her sister head with their right arm. “We’re better off without him anyway.”
“Who did he love?” Marik persisted. “There can’t be a dual head more beautiful than you. If I had two heads, I’d marry you in a minute.”
Both heads smiled sweetly for a brief moment, although the idea of marrying a single head turned their conjoined stomach.
“He was in love with his roommate,” Reta announced bitterly. “Ber-Kie Korelesk, the son of Princess Angelica of Cyganus.”
Marik bolted upright, his head swimming with confusion. He had no idea there was another Korelesk out there, especially one with two heads.
“Ber-Kie didn’t love him back. He had his heart set on Princess Sara, but she had no interest in him as she only thinks about herself. At least, that’s the rumor we heard. Then, everyone graduated, and the war came. After that, our lives all fell apart."
Marik lost interest in Leta-Reta at that point. He didn't care to hear another tale of woe about a couple of planets that were once allies, but now enemies. Politics didn’t interest him in the least.
Leta told him anyway, although the boy’s thoughts were far away.
“After the Emperor disappeared, our uncle King Bagmagia attacked us, and stole our fathers’ throne.”
“We had to run for our lives,” Reta added. “Without any of our material possessions.”
"So that's how we ended upon the street where you found us," Leta concluded.
"And, I still love Ren-Ste," Reta wept. "Despite him being a two-head, double-crossing Bagmagian bastard."
"Where is the other guy, the Korelesk?" Marik demanded, for the boy now realized there was yet another competition for him to win.
"How should we know?" Leta replied. “Go to sleep.”
"Well, find out!" the child snapped. “That’s your new job. Find him and bring him to me. I don’t want to see you again, unless the guy is with you.”
Hastily, the dual-headed woman leapt from the bed, and ran from the room, tasked with finding their old acquaintance, the one who had stolen the object of their double-sized heart.
As for Marik, his life suddenly had new meaning. Whereas moments earlier, the family duchy had meant nothing, now it was a territory to conquer. He had a new foe, a new rival to vanquish, someone to kill, or be killed in turn.
Secure in this new meaning for his life, the boy lay back on his luxurious hotel mattress, his head buried deep in his many down pillows. His angst instantly vanished, as a calm washed over his body. For the first time in what seemed like ages, Marik Korelesk fell sound asleep.
Chapter 11
By the time, Gani debarked the ship, she had become a monkey junkie. She loved what Horkin did to her, and how it made her feel. The psychedelic rainbows filled her with a crazy joy, while the golden light warmed every corpuscle in her body. Even Bork looked desirable and sexy when she was under the influence.
Unfortunately, when she was sober, he looked like a giant, ugly squid, and the thought of doing the things she did with him made her stomach turn. Horkin was her new love, though, and it completely owned her heart, as well as every muscle, every joint, and every brain cell.
"I need more," she demanded of Bork, as the drug had quickly become her salvation.
When under the influence, she couldn't remember her own name, let alone, anyone else. There was no guilt, no remorse, no foolish mistakes, only vibrant colors and harmonic music, as the drug made her feel instead that she was blessed. What started out as a tiny finger-full, turned into a snorting spoon, followed by hypodermic injections several times a day.
Initially, Bork was agreeable as he knew how this would turn out. Gani wasn't the first girl who had learned to dance to Horkin's seductive song.
"You'll need to pay me," he said when she was completely hooked. "My boss doesn't allow me to give it away for free. However, I'll give you discount since I like you very much, and I want you to be a member on my team."
A team they became, although the game was oddly matched, for the squid pulled all the strings and controlled the points. Gani was allotted a daily stash to sell for a price predetermined by Bork’
s boss. She was assigned to an area of the city that was hard and dangerous for a fully grown man, let alone a tiny monkey girl from the Dark Continent.
"Don't do this, Gani," Dirkeh had warned, as Vinz rolled him off the ship. "I thought you and I had something beautiful together."
Gani was already too far gone at this point, Horkin controlling her mind and soul, while Bork owned what little piece of her was left. Like him, she donned a bright blue robe, although she had no interest in the Rossorian religion, but enjoyed the anonymity provided by their signature garment.
Cloaked from head to toe, it was much easier to hide both her face and tail in the shadows where her illegal drug business was conducted. Beneath the shroud, Gani became someone else, someone who she never imagined she would want to be, and never would she have to see her drug-ravaged image in a mirror, for if she had, it would have shocked her.
Vinz wondered why he was always such a sap. What was it about him that made him lay down like a rug so everyone, even strangers, could walk all over him? Where did his spine disappear to whenever someone asked for his help? As he pushed Dirkeh down the street, away from the docks of Farku, he was thinking exactly this, and about his fate.
Had he not be in exactly the place he was, at exactly the time he was, when they spilled their melon cart as well as themselves, he might have already made his way to Korelesk. Instead, at every turn, these strangers delayed him with this or that, and the worst of it, he felt guilty to refuse them.
“I’m going to leave you in this hospital,” he told Dirkeh, stiffening his spine and his resolve, although knowing Vinz, a moment later, it would weaken again. “I have business to attend in Korelesk.”
"Please don't let Gani go to ruin," Dirkeh begged, as a nurse rolled him away from the hospital doors. "Save her from the streets. She's a good little monkey girl, innocent and sweet. She knows nothing, maybe even less than that."
Obviously, Dirkeh hadn't seen those moments of wildly contorted sex with a squid, as innocent was not the adjective Vinz would have used.
So there Vinz was, tasked again with saving someone else; first Maytor, then, Dirkeh, and now, Gani. What did they think he was? A guardian angel or some kind of saint? No, Vinz was just a retired chemical engineer who had been born without a spine, or so he thought.
“I’ll try,” he called reluctantly, before the doors slammed shut. “No promises. I’m not going to go search in crime and drug invested areas. I’m not going to risk my life for her.”
“Please!” Dirkeh called. “She’s tiny and doesn’t realize that she needs the help.”
Vinz sighed heavily, resolving not to do what he didn’t want, although deep in his heart, he knew he would have to save her.
In fact, Vinz’s revelation was confirmed a few nights later, as he lay in his cheap motel bed listening to wind. He had a bus ticket to Korelesk on his table, the reservation confirmed for the very next day, when a voice spoke to him, or at least he thought one did.
It might have been the wind. It could also have been the vid in the room next door, which was so loud it seemed to echo through the walls.
No, the voice specifically said, ‘Vinz’, several times as a matter of fact.
“What?” Vinz cried, bolting upright and looking around.
He didn’t see anyone, and neither did he hear a door open or close. However, there was a pervasive tobacco smell which filled the room. It might have come from that room next door, or the ones above or below. In these old motels, the HVAC systems were often interconnected.
“Find the girl,” the voice ordered, with no uncertainty or any doubt. “The girl must go to Korelesk in order for time to happen in the way it should.”
“Okay,” Vinz agreed, still searching the room for the owner of the voice, which sounded oddly familiar, although Vinz didn’t know why it would.
He could have sworn that a light shone above the bed, and a silver haze swirled like a mini tornado in the room. Then, it was gone in the blink of eye, perhaps having never been there at all. Still, Vinz was a bit disconcerted, for if it was a dream, it was an especially unnerving one at that.
The next morning, which was actually only a few hours later, Vinz trod down to the bus station to board the mid-morning shuttle to Korelesk. As he stood in the queue with his ticket firmly in hand, and his mind singularly focused on Duchess Luci, a scream rang out sending his stomach plunging to the floor.
“Leave me alone, you creep!”
Of course, it was Gani. Vinz didn’t really think he’d manage to leave Farku without her. Here she was in this very bus station, fighting off an attacker, and in need of hero, something Vinz generally preferred not to be.
“Not me again.” Vinz sighed and quickly assessed the situation.
While the little Dark girl had the advantage of dexterity, the Luminerian had three of each, arms and legs. With two of his arms, and a foot, he ensnared poor Gani about the waist.
“Give me all your drugs,” he growled. “Or, I’ll break your monkey body in two.”
Again, Vinz sighed as he moved out of the bus boarding line. In fact, before he acted, he watched the door swish closed, leaving him there.
“Hopefully, they’ll exchange my ticket,” he muttered, calculating if he had sufficient funds to purchase two. For as the night time visitor had insisted, he most likely would end up bringing Gani along.
Vinz’s largest muscle had always been his brain, although his legs and arms were strong from walking these last few years. Still, he didn’t want to risk a terrible injury, and end up in the hospital next to Dirkeh. Instead of striking out, he yelled for the cops.
“Police!” he screamed, and pointed wildly at Gani.
The girl was now hanging by her tail from a coatrack. The Luminerian was searching through her bag, dumping her personal items out on the floor, while pocketing the drugs and the money.
“Police,” Vinz shouted louder, searching the bus station for the state’s protective force, but unfortunately, since the fall of the Imperial Order things had changed. The police were virtually non-existent. It was basically every man, or woman for themselves.
Mostly, Vinz was ignored. People walked around him like a rock jutting out of the sea, avoiding him as if he had the plague. However, an enormous Cascadian man, who was both homeless and completely drunk, stopped to join Vinz in his screaming concert.
“Police!” the Cascadian man called, emitting a gust of foul and cheap alcoholic fumes from between his three rows of shark-like teeth. “Help, someone! Help us!” Then, he smiled at Vinz and held out his hand. “Lee. I’m from Cascadia III.”
“Vinz.” The men shook hands, while Gani swung suspended in mid-air. In the meantime, the Luminerian, having found her stash was heading out. “After him!” Vinz yelled, giving Lee a push in the thief’s direction, for he was certainly big enough to grab the guy.
“Okay,” the Cascadian said, setting off like a bear released from a trap, like an elephant given the order to stampede.
Vinz fetched Gani, unwrapping her tail and lifting her down, whereupon she leapt into his arms and hugged him tight.
“Thank you, Vinz,” she wept, enormous tears rolling down from her lilac eyes. “You’re my hero. You’ve saved me once again.”
Vinz didn’t think he had done anything heroic, but was happy enough to accept her gratitude. This changed quickly when Lee returned without the Luminerian in tow.
“He got away,” the big guy said with a toothy grin and gust of his stale breath.
"My stash!" Gani erupted. "And, all my money! The boss will kill me. You've got to save me."
"Sorry, but I'm going to Korelesk." Vinz disengaged Gani's limbs from his body, while considering if she could pass as his child. She was certainly small enough, and the child's fare was half the price. "I guess you'll have to come with me when the next bus leaves."
"Me too?" the big guy asked, his brow furrowing, his triple rows of teeth turned down. "I hate Korelesk. I hate all of them, especial
ly those named Marik. I will go to Korelesk and pull out their thieving hearts."
"Nobody asked you to come," Vinz replied, while Gani dug her heels into the floor.
"I'm not going. I like it here, and I love Bork. Thanks anyway, Vinz."
"Well, next time he can save you," Vinz grumbled, figuring his duty had been done. He tried to save her. She refused, so that was that. He was on his way, despite anything the odd voice in the night might have to say about it.
"Wait!" Gani called. "Maybe, you can come with me for just a few minutes. You could explain to Bork and his boss what happened to my stash. They won't kill me if you do that. They'll believe you because you look so honest."
"Or, they might kill me instead.” Vinz headed toward the ticket exchange window.
"They won't kill me," Lee suggested. "I will go with you, monkey girl, and explain the situation. After that, I will go with him to Korelesk."
Chapter 12
Leta-Reta, Phran, and Bork sat on the boardwalk watching a group of Rossorians as they played in the surf. Their bright blue robes stood out in stark contrast to the white sands.
A child, presumably, for the robe was quite short, ran out to the surf, squealing with delight when the water chased across his bare feet.
"I don't understand why they do that," Phran remarked, lighting up a cig.
Her own dress was practically the opposite of the heavy Rossorian robe. Instead of hiding nearly every bit of skin, Phran sought to expose all that could be shown without landing her in jail. Sometimes, Leta wondered if the girl was taking it just a little bit too far.
“I wish we could wear a top like that, or tiny short pants just like hers,” Reta whispered, admiring everything the single-headed, Mishnese girl did.
“I’d rather die,” Leta replied, which prompted a scuffle of sorts in their single body.
It was hard to fight when one shared everything below the neck. A punch, a yank on the hair, or a kick in one’s shin hurt oneself as much as it did the other.
Fighting was common amongst the two-headed women, more so than the men, who seemed to cooperate and coexist more peacefully. The ladies always argued over everything, from dress styles, to meal choices, to matters of policy. Leta recalled their Bagmagian mother, Queen Kate-Lina, forever scratching and pinching her sister head. Her Beckwadian father, King Mel-Roy was a much more laid back fellow, rolling his four eyes at their mothers’ divisiveness, and doing his best to avoid becoming the target of her wrath.