by C.L. Mozena
Chapter 37
Orion walked among the crowds inside the palace wall with his bodyguard, Alex, right beside him. The telblec girl he had been seeing had rushed off to be with her friends. Orion realized that she actually had a childhood sweetheart and wasn’t too thrilled about her parents forcing her to travel to the palace and try to win Orion’s heart, so he let her go. Orion didn’t really care. He and Alex had become good friends, and were spending more and more time together. With the amount of time they had been putting towards their training, the aid of weighted gauntlets and fysimae, Orion and Alex were becoming the strongest of all the telblec warriors. The turnout for his eighteenth birthday celebration was just as good as last year, even though Joshua hadn’t shown up. Oh, well, Orion thought, a little disappointed, he must have wanted his own party back on Lunspae. Orion greeted everyone he met quickly, hoping to find Tanya, but she kept out of his sight. Rick stayed with Orion, too, while they were in the crowd. Orion figured it was because the telblecs, who were all much taller than Rick, intimidated him a bit. Not only that, but Orion and Rick stood out among the crowd since they had pale skin rather than the usual dark skin of the telblecs. The only difference was that Orion was used to it, while Rick wasn’t.
Near the end of the day, Orion, Alex, and Rick took their seats at the head table for the feast. Orion once again thanked everyone for coming, and told them if they left early, not to forget their gift from the prince to them on their way out. The feast itself was delicious. Orion stuffed himself on every dish that was brought out, resulting in a stomach ache by the time desert was served. Orion ate the deserts sparingly, wishing he had done the same with each course of dinner. His stomach was so full by the end of the day that he thought he might need the tailor to make him a new, larger wardrobe. After shaking everyone’s hand as they left, Orion went straight to his rooms for the night and fell asleep quickly.
The next day, after Rick had gone back to Lunspae, Orion was in such high spirits, he decided to go flying. Alex tagged along like usual, but Orion playfully tried, unsuccessfully, to lose him. They were flying over the forest, racing each other through the sky. Spotting an opening in the trees, Orion took it, quickly landing and hiding under the branches of the nearest tree. He chuckled silently when he looked up and saw Alex circling, searching for him. He decided to pop out of the trees, surprising Alex, when he heard it.
“Help!” He heard the voice coming from the trees to his right. He wasn’t too sure if that’s what it said, but it sure sounded like it. Orion dashed through the trees trying to locate the source of the voice when he came to a small clearing. He saw a large, sickly green creature covered with dark green spots. It looked like it was crying. It raised it’s head and cried for help to the clouds passing by overhead. Orion was certain that this was the creature from his dream, but he was also certain that he had seen this type of creature before, although he couldn’t remember where. It certainly wasn’t native to the planet.
“Hello?” he ninmisned to the creature, knowing that it may not understand verbal speech. The creature tensed and looked around. Orion decided to show himself, so he stepped out from behind a tree. Once the creature sighted Orion, it’s beady little eyes grew as big as saucers, and it took a step back on it’s tiny legs. It opened it’s mouth to reveal lots of tiny, pointed teeth.
“Aoirealdnm?” It said, obviously scared out of it’s mind. “Trygaoiudfnmser?” Orion had no idea what the creature said, so he tried reading it’s thoughts with ninmisn. “You are jisbae?” The creature had asked, “Have you come to kill me now?”
“No,” Orion didn’t understand why this creature was so afraid of him, “I’m not going to kill you. I’m not going to hurt you in any way. Why would I?”
“Because you are jisbae,” the creature stared at Orion, “Do you not know who I am?”
“No, sorry,” Orion racked his brains, trying to remember where he seen this creature before.
“But you are jisbae! You have to know me!” The truth dawned on the creature as Orion stared back blankly. “You are not one of the jisbae from the spaceship? You are native to the planet?”
“Uh, yes.” Orion was unsure of what to make of this creature. Why does it think I’m from a space-, Orion didn’t finish his thought as he remembered the night that the jisbae ship crashed near the palace, and what Tanya’s mother had said.
‘“The largretoi had been chasing us for some time. They shot at us, destroying our ship and causing us to crash.”
“What are Largretoi?” Orion asked.
“Largretoi are an evil race. They enjoy causing mayhem and chaos. A largreto is large and fat. They stand about ten feet tall. They’re a sickly green with dark green spots on their back, head, arms and legs. Their arms and legs are tiny compared to their extreme body mass. They have tiny, beadlike eyes and a large mouth that holds hundreds of razor sharp teeth. They only have three fingers and toes, but they have very sharp claws. And they are the enemy of the jisbae.”
“Why?” Orion was curious. He had never heard of other alien races.
“I don’t know,” Tanya’s mother admitted. “It’s just always been that way.”
“Oh,” Orion was disappointed at not receiving a real answer. He pulled a chair up next to Tanya’s bed. “Do you think that largretoi can ever be friendly?”
“I doubt it, Prince,” she replied, “If you ever met one, you’d understand.” Orion looked down, wondering what kind of creatures they were dealing with. All his life, he had been taught that lunimorves were evil, but when he took his first trip to Lunspae, he found out otherwise. Maybe the largretoi were misunderstood as well?’
Orion looked at this creature in a different light. He could see that it was a largreto, but he couldn’t see how it could be so evil. It seemed likely that the jisbae from the ship were as clueless about largretoi as the telblecs were abut lunimorves.
“You know now, don’t you, jisbae?” it said ruefully. “You will kill me for sure.” It hung it’s head, defeated, and sat down. “I know I deserve it.”
“Why do you deserve it?” Orion couldn’t help but feel sorry for this creature. It had given up on life even though Orion hadn’t threatened it.
“There were many jisbae on that ship that didn’t make it off, right?” The largreto looked at his knees.
“Where did you come from?” Orion didn’t feel like killing a creature that he had come to save, so he tried changing the subject.
“My ship lost power due to a hit from the jisbae ship, and crashed somewhere in the forest on this planet. I am the only survivor.”
“And you’ve been wandering in the forest since?” Orion was shocked. The crash was over three months ago. The creature nodded, but didn’t say anything. Although he was amazed that anyone could survive in the forest that long, he knew that this largreto would not survive on his own for much longer. “Come with me,” he ninmisned, “I’ll take you to the palace, then we can find a way to get you home.”
“You mean,” the largreto raised his eyes to Orion’s, “you will not kill me?” Orion smiled. “But the others will. Jisbae are not our friends.”
“We’re friends now, aren’t we?” Orion smiled.
“Largretoi are not the friends of jisbae, either,” the largreto insisted.
“I don’t see why that can’t be changed.” Orion reached up and took the largreto’s wrist. The largreto shuddered. “By the way, my name’s Orion. Prince Orion.”
“Uh, I’m Pri- er, Nunu,” the largreto said, surprised at Orion’s friendliness. As the two turned to go, an angry Alex came bursting into the clearing.
“There you are, Orion!” He yelled, ignoring Nunu, and facing Orion. Nunu shrank back at Alex’s sudden appearance. “I’ve been looking all over for you. You nearly gave me a heart attack! Are you alright?”
“I’m fine, Alex,” Orion said apologetically, “I had planned on surprising you, but I heard someo
ne call for help and found this guy,” Orion gestured towards Nunu.
“Uh, huh,” Alex said, arms folded and looking Nunu up and down, “And what is this thing? Some kind of alien?”
“Yea. He’s a largreto,” Orion nodded, “I want to take him back to the palace and send him home.”
“Fine,” Alex pointed an accusing finger in Orion’s face, “but if you ever disappear on me like that again, you’ll have to find yourself a new bodyguard, get it?”
“Got it,” Orion smiled.
“Good,” Alex glanced back at Nunu, who was both surprised and glad that he wasn’t the object of Alex’s irritation. In fact, Alex wasn’t paying any attention to Nunu at all. “Well, I guess we’d better get back. I’ve been in the forest before; I know the way.” Alex pushed a branch out of the way. “Follow me.”
The three of them emerged from the forest almost an hour later, and arrived at the front gate of the palace. The gate was truly magnificent to behold. The high, white stone walls rose up behind tall, neat hedges, and were topped in gold trim. The walls curved upward and ended with two large stone pillars, each with a white marble lion roaring at the top.
The gates were gold, boldly curving out of the stone pillars, so that the top of the gate was slightly above the two lions. Each gate had a horizontal bar in the center, sporting lightning bolt-shaped vertical bars above and below. A large crown shape hiding the lock adorned the center, and split in half when the gates opened. Two guards stood in front of the gates.
“Halt!” one of the guards called out as Orion, Alex, and Nunu approached. “Please state your name and your, uh, business,” he said, slightly shaken at the sight of the largreto.
“Prince Orion,” Orion said, exasperated, “and I want to go inside and sit down after my long hike. These are my friends, Alex and Nunu. They would like a rest, too.”
“Oh!” the guard nearly tripped opening the gate, “Your Majesty! Forgive me, I didn’t realize you were out here.”
“That’s alright,” Orion brushed it off as he stepped through the gate. “Come on, Nunu.”
“What did you tell him?” Nunu, unable to understand telblec speech, asked as he followed Orion inside.
“He told him to let us in,” Alex answered, making his way to the front doors of the palace. They led Nunu into the great hall, where King Frederic was waiting for him.
“Where have you been?” King Frederic asked. Fully dressed in his royal robes, he descended the stairs, his fur cape billowing behind him. “I was worried sick!”
“Yea, right,” Orion said sarcastically. Alex stepped aside, not wanting to be in the way of the king.
“And what is that?” King Frederic gestured towards Nunu, unafraid at the largreto’s startling presence.
“This is Nunu, Father. I found him in the forest. We have to send him home,” Orion said with a tone of urgency. He knew that if Nunu didn’t get home soon, he would die. Before King Frederic had a chance to respond, Lee, along with a couple of other jisbae, entered the great hall. Orion noticed that Tanya was not one of Lee’s followers. Spying Nunu, the group stopped and stared.
“What is that filthy largreto doing here?” Lee ninmisned fiercely, fire blazing in his orange eyes.
“I brought him here, Lee,” Orion calmly replied.
“Kill it!” Hatred bubbled inside Lee and threatened to burst out, “Kill it before it kills us!” Lee’s gang murmured their agreement.
“No. I’m going to send him home,” Orion calmly stepped between Lee and Nunu.
“ARE YOU CRAZY?!” Lee couldn’t hold it back anymore. “If you let that thing go back to Togrenia , it will thank you by bringing all the largreto armies and destroying this world, and all the people in it!”
“I’ve made up my mind, Lee,” Orion could see that Lee wasn’t just going to stand by. He readied himself for an attack. “Nunu is going home, so you can just get out of my way.”
“No,” Lee shook his head, “I won’t let you send that thing home. Largretoi killed most of my family and friends on the ship,” he ninmisned fearfully, “and I won’t let them kill anymore of us!” Lee lunged at Nunu, but Orion, standing between him and Nunu, took the blow instead, and they both toppled over. Desperate to get at Nunu, Lee pulled himself off of Orion, but tripped again as Orion grabbed a hold ofone of Lee’s ankles. Lee smacked his chin hard on the marble floor, and rammed the back of his heel into Orion’s good eye, sending Orion rolling, clutching his face. Lee got up and made for Nunu again, but pain exploded in his back as Orion’s throwing dagger hit it’s mark. Enraged, Lee turned to Orion. Breathing hard and completely blinded from Lee’s kick, Orion stood there waiting for Lee to make a move. He thanked years of training blindfolded for being able to fight without the use of his good eye.
“You fool! Your backwards thinking will kill us all!” Lee cried as he turned his attention on Orion. They fought furiously, each taking as many hits as he dished out. King Frederic, Nunu, Lee’s gang, and the guards looked on dumbfounded as the struggle between the two jisbae alpha males lasted for nearly an hour, neither one willing to give in. Alex just stood by calmly, watching the fight progress. Knowing Orion so well, Alex knew Orion wouldn’t want, or need, any help. Being the prince’s bodyguard wasn’t keeping the prince out of fights, it was keeping him out of trouble, and providing protection when needed. This wasn’t one of those times. Finally, Orion managed to land his strongest attack, a spin back kick, on the side of Lee’s head, knocking Lee into the wall and unconscious.
“Anyone else have a problem with my decision?” Orion ninmisned coldly and breathing heavily from the fight. Using other people’s eyes through ninmisn, he saw the other jisbae shake their heads and take off. “Take him up to the hospital wing,” he pointed at Lee. Several shaken guards obeyed at once while the rest were frozen with fear. Orion touched his eye gingerly and began to heal himself. “Now listen, all of you,” Orion addressed everyone, mostly the other jisbae, “All my life, I had been taught that lunimorves were evil and had to be killed at any cost. My first trip to Lunspae revealed the opposite. I found out that lunimorves are people just like us. I believe that the largretoi are the same way. They’re just people. People that look different than us.” Orion paused and breathed deeply, Nunu and his people commited a terrible crime against those on the ship, but they were all killed, too. Nunu is the only survivor and has been stuck here on Olhoe since. I believe he’s paid for his crime. It’s time to let him go.”
Goodbyes were short as Nunu took off in a small spaceship. Having promised to speak to his queen about a peace treaty between largretoi and jisbae, Nunu wasted no time plotting the quickest course back to Togrenia, his home planet. Orion watched Nunu’s ship shrink as it got further and further away, eventually disappearing altogether. Orion silently hoped that Lee’s prediction wouldn’t come true.