by S King
Lethal silence filled the airbase as Fauve and Eikko stared at each other; Fauve’s amber eyes blazed while his hands started hissing of the red flames that were threatening to come out at any moment.
In turn, Eikko being the typical smartass that I had grown fond of just smirked in the older man’s face and let his own rose scented water swirl around his hands in a challenge.
“You might want to step in,” Emric whispered from my side. This was a battle that no one in the airbase, or Padrieg for that matter, was expecting.
I touched his arm, keeping my eyes on Eikko and Fauve stepping closer together, “when I get ordered to the meeting. Do me a favor and take Eikko back to my domicile. His thumb print is registered with the holograph.”
“Just take care of yourself,” he mumbled before following me.
Right before Fauve was going to make the initiative to pulverize Eikko, I stepped in between the two with my shoulders back and my head high, “sir?”
Eikko grabbed me, pulling my much smaller body to him as his arms wrapped around me and held me close to his chest. For a second, I closed my eyes just listening to his heartbeat.
That was the only thing that I wanted, but I couldn’t always have what I wanted and thanks to his quick tongue I was probably facing more punishment than I was before.
“I need to clean this up,” I whispered against his chest and swallowed hard before pushing away from him and turning back to my commanding officer. “Sir,” I said again.
“My office now,” was all Fauve said before turning on his heel and storming through the crowd that had gathered in the airbase.
There was no going back from this and if I had to exchange my life for Eikko, Emric, Theodora and Orrie’s safety, then I was willing to do that. But one thing was for certain, I was not going to let my superior officer burn the one man that I had feelings for to a charred crisp.
As if the fight in the airbase had been broadcasted to the rest of the military, every officer from each rank and station was lingering around the corridors leading to the airbase so much that by the time that Fauve shut us in his office I felt like I needed to hide under a rock and never come out again. Everyone within the military had witnessed my walk of shame to his office and I knew that everyone else knew why I was meeting with the highest-ranking officer in the military.
“Sit down,” he ordered with his back to me as he began to pace the length of the back wall.
I did as I was told, not bothering to answer him with an ignorant question or pathetic excuse of an explanation of the why I did what I did. Even though I wanted Fauve's opinion or at the very least, his input about the situation that I had found myself in. It was a problem that I couldn't worry about right now because Fauve turned on me and glared like I was a civilized Eyno.
“What the hell do you think you're doing?”
“I'm trying to keep everyone safe, sir.” I deadpanned.
“Trying to keep everyone safe?” Narrowing his eyes on me, he braced his hands on the desk and stared at me with his amber eyes glowing of the same irritation that was there when Eikko was barking at him. “You think that keeping everyone safe is you dragging your second command and a mechanic along with you on a suicide mission?”
“No, sir.”
“Then what the fuck were you thinking, Shaye?”
“I needed to make sure that my sister was ok.”
He pinched the bridge of his nose and took in a deep breath, “while you were there, did you find Somsang?”
“Yes.”
Fauve’s head snapped up in surprise as he looked out the wall of glass at all of the warriors waiting for orders, or better yet the newest gossip, before sliding his gaze back to me with a scowl covering his face, “where is he now?”
I took a deep breath, knowing that I was about to regret what was going to come out of my mouth. “I let him go.”
A simple statement that was a much bigger lie than what the surface was saying. There was no reason for Emric or Orrie to take the fall for my decision to let Somsang live to breathe another day.
“Excuse me?”
“After I found Theodora alive and well, I let Somsang go.”
Flames shot out from thin air landing on the papers that were on his desk. Unlike my white flames, Fauve's were a brilliant, bright red that could melt an ice glacier in less than a sekundi.
In the same amount of time that they had appeared, the flames disappeared. Leaving behind the charred pieces of paper as a reminder of their presence.
“Why?” He growled.
I didn't have an answer that could be considered as suffice for my commanding officer, because the reality of the situation was simple. I had done what I done because I was selfish and wanted to ensure that Theodora was safe and because I didn't want Eikko to hate me for killing his once dear friend.
“Damn it, Shaye!” Fauve slammed his chair away from from him to stop the annoying spin that the thing was doing. “How could you do that? Is it because of him?” He pointed out the glass window at Eikko's back.
Why hadn’t Emric taken him to my domicile? Why was he now sitting outside of Fauve’s office as if he were waiting for me? My attention snapped back to Fauve as he slapped the hard wood of the desk and yelled, “Is that why? Because you couldn’t beat the blood his friend on your hands?”
“Yes” I snapped, not meaning for the word to come out as harsh as it did. If I didn't sweeten up my tone and attitude for that matter, then I would be going to the gallows before the zatvorenici on the execution docket.
He rubbed his forehead, shaking with anger, “I'm going to give you an opportunity to rethink your answer, Ostana.” Finally, he looked at me.
“I don't need to rethink my answer, sir.” I had made the decision to stand beside Eikko. Not because I had feelings for him or because I couldn’t bear to see what would happen should I kill someone close to him. No, I was standing beside Eikko because he didn’t ask to be dropped off into a society that wasn’t as welcoming as the one that he had come from. He didn’t deserve the cruelties that were dished out to him since he’s been here.
Fauve grabbed the back of the chair, sitting down in the thing without taking his eyes away from me, “is he really worth all of this?”
“It wasn’t just for him, sir. Theodora is the only other family that I have with the exception of my grandmother. How could I just stay here and do nothing when she could’ve been in danger?”
Rubbing a hand over his face, he leaned back into his chair, “let me ask you something, Major. Why can’t you just let him go and find someone within your own society to have feelings for?”
I smirked, “have you ever known anyone that was able to choose who they wanted to be with when their heart was asking for someone else?”
“Do you not know what's going to happen if you continue this?” Panic filled Fauve's amber eyes as he searched my own for some kind of evidence that I’d lost my mind.
“Sir, I don't know what's going to happen. But I do know one thing,” I looked out the glass wall at Eikko’s back before turning back to my superior officer, “I love him as much as I love my own life and that's something that even the Padrieg officials, nor you, can take away from me.” I turned my attention back to him, “I’m prepared for the punishment that you’ve determined as suitable for my misdeeds.”
Again, he searched my face for something to tell him that I was feigning ignorance or having a mental defect, something that could tell him he could reasonably give me another chance.
When he realized that the cause was lost, he sighed before sobering and leveling his amber gaze to me.
“Major Shaye, you’re to be held in the detention district until further notice.” He pressed the communicator on his desk, waiting for the officers to escort me to the worst part of Padrieg. “Is there anything that you would like to add before your dismissal?”
I shook my head slowly, counting down the seconds that the officers would arrive, “I appreciate your w
orry and concern, sir. But there is a method to my madness,” I rubbed my cheeks to get rid of the tears that had begun to fall as I nodded, “I hope that you understand that I know what I need to do and the choices that must be made.”
The door to his office opened as two large men came into the office with the lisice hanging from their belts and neutral expressions covering their faces.
“Major Shaye is to be detained in the detention district until further notice,” Fauve ordered without looking at me.
“Yes sir,” both officers said in unison before one with dark sandstone eyes and cropped hair helped me from my seat and turned me away from him to put the lisice around my wrists.
I took a deep breath, preparing myself for yet another walk of shame; I may not have gotten a death sentence but going to the detention district was not any better. If I weren’t careful while I was waiting for the investigation to be completed, then I was going to die by the hand of someone that a member from my squadron had put away.
Walking out of the office with my wrists bound behind my back, I didn’t meet the eyes of my fellow warriors. It didn’t escape me that all eyes were on me and the silence that followed was nothing shy of shock, astonishment, and all-around hurt. Without me, Emric would have to run the reports and hand down orders to our squadron. He also was going to have to direct the warriors on the battlefield now that we had a working aircraft.
“Ostana!” Eikko’s voice erupted my rambling thoughts and caused me to look over my shoulder as the two officers continued to guide me toward the detention district transporter.
Running toward me with panic raging in his dark iris colored eyes he skidded to a halt in front of me and searched my face for some kind of reaction.
“I’m fine,” I breathed.
I didn’t trust that my voice wouldn’t break if I spoke louder; the look in his eyes killed me but this was something that he couldn’t help me out with. The order was handed down by Fauve and contrary to popular belief, what he said went and I wasn’t the exception to the rules that he and the other military officials set forth.
“No, no you’re not,” Eikko cupped my face in his hands as he continued to search my face for the truth that he spoke, “what is going on right now?”
“Sir, you’re going to need to back up.” The officer with the dark sandstone eyes ordered Eikko.
“You can wait one fucking minute,” he snapped at the officer before turning back to me, “what is happening?”
I opened my mouth, unable to speak and just shook my head. When I found my voice again, I couldn’t meet his eyes, “I have to go to the detention district. I’ll be back soon; this is just a protocol.”
His perfect dark brows knitted together as he glanced from one officer to the next then back to me, “it’s not going to be quick is it?”
“Sir, back up,” the officer ordered again and this time he stepped between Eikko and I.
Before I knew what was happening, Eikko’s fist shot out and sprayed the officer with rose scented water as he punched the other man square in the jaw.
Almost instantly the alarms went off, causing everyone to draw their weapons and train them on Eikko from every direction. But what surprised me the most was the fact that it took three big, mean looking warriors to take him down to the ground and put a pair of lisice on him as well.
“What the hell is going on now!” Fauve had come out of his office with his own fire dragon dancing around in his hand.
Eikko spit blood from his mouth toward the general’s boot and smirked at the older man sarcastically, “nothing.”
Fauve’s fire dragon grew before he pointed to the three warriors that had taken Eikko to the ground, “send his ass to the detention district as well.”
As if this was a game that he was winning, Eikko winked at me as the warriors regained their composure and jerked us forward to start moving to the detention district transporter.
“Why did you do that?” I hissed, glancing at him from the corner of my eye.
“Why not? I can’t stay in your house without you, besides,” he tried to shrug when the warrior on his right jerked him to keep moving without saying anything. “I wasn’t going to let you take the fall for everything and not keep you company during your punishment.” Again, he winked at me.
I hid my smirk behind the blonde curtain of my hair and stared forward.
The detention district transporter was something like a SUV according to Parlan standards; instead of wheels and needing to be planted on the ground the thing hovered several feet above the cement and had the shape of a loaf of kale bread.
A singular door that lifted upward made me frown; searching my mind, I remembered that Eikko had said the door style was gull-wing. Funny time to think of door styles and remember such conversations, I thought to myself as my two officers helped me into the transporter and strapped my safety belting in place before dragging Eikko in beside me and strapping him in roughly.
Soon enough we were off toward the detention district with nothing more than the eerie silence dancing in the air of the transporter. Neither Eikko nor I said anything, neither did the officers. Although, as strange as it was to admit, I enjoyed the silence that swam around me. It gave me time to think about who could’ve been the one behind the text to Orrie.
Not everyone knew Orrie’s communication code and the few that did weren’t in Parlan. They were in Padrieg and that meant that the picking pot was something of a mystery search. I concluded that it wasn’t any of the ranking officers in the military; they may have been cruel and unforgiving, but they wouldn’t go as far as to pretend that they were my sister and send a farewell message to the lead mechanic. Besides that, no one ranking high enough in the military, knew what a cellphone was nor a text message. So that left only Orrie, me, Eikko, Emric and Somsang.
I frowned thinking of my options. Orrie wasn’t the type to pull pranks or crack jokes so it definitely wasn’t him and I was speaking with Orrie when he got the message. That ruled me out. Emric had been acting crazy ever since I confronted him about Somsang and Eikko wasn’t as cruel as that to involve my sister in his assistant’s schemes. I may not have known a lot about the Parlan Playboy, but I did know that it wasn’t in his character to send me, or anyone else, on a wild bison chase.
That only left the two strongest possibilities: Emric and Somsang. Maybe the two of them were in cahoots to get to Eikko’s money. Even though, Emric had no use for Parlan currency because he was making a decent enough living on the salary that he was getting from his new station.
“Sorry Major,” one of the officers said across from me.
“For—” I didn’t even get the chance to respond before the sedation dart pieced through my comfortable clothes and sent me into a happy place that I hadn’t known existed until this moment.
“What the—” was all Eikko said, at least I think that’s all he said before his own sedation dart took effect.
I didn’t know how long I was asleep, but I did know that it was the best kind of sleep that I had since…well, I didn’t know when.
Turning over on the soft surface that I was laying on, I sighed in happiness. More sleep was calling my name, but then I remembered what had happen when I came back into the airbase. Eikko fighting with Fauve. Fauve and I fighting. Eikko causing a scene in the military official offices. Eikko getting detained with me. The sedation darts.
My eyes snapped open only to frown. I knew this room; this was my room. I bolted upright only to have to cradle my head.
The aftereffects from a sedation dart were something like a hangover from snake venom. Any quick movements would result in a wave of nausea and dizziness; I breathed through the spinning in my head and focused on the carpeting to try to regain my equilibrium enough to get to the kitchen for my health drink.
“Are you awake enough to have a civilized conversation now?” A familiar voice came from the corner of my room and forced me to jump out of bed and fall to the floor.
M
y head hit the hard carpeting, causing the headache that had begun to form come on full blown, “sir, what is going on?”
Fauve wasn’t the type to move whenever someone got hurt and didn’t bother with the pleasantries of asking someone if they were ok. Instead, he simply stared at the injured party until he could finish his business and move on with his life. Now was no different.
“As much as it pains me to see you going through this situation that could very well end up getting you killed. I could not send you or that smart-alecky boyfriend of yours to the detention district.”
I had rolled to my side and crawled to the corner of my bed to lean against the somewhat hard mattress and looked at him through foggy eyes.
“Why not?” I groaned as I closed my eyes again.