by Kim Fedyk
But it never came.
“There is no need for that,” King Absalom said grabbing Bella’s arm in mid-swing. “I think it is pretty obvious that this girl was running away from the man who killed the Greken.” Absalom had grown tired of diplomacy and stopped caring about choosing his words so carefully. He had just about enough of these two stupid, irritating buffoons. He had come as close as he wanted to losing Arleth to Val and he didn’t want to waste anymore time being diplomatic with these idiots. “Your son ran away when he saw the man running at him. This girl, Arleth, was left behind. She must have been terrified and when she saw the man kill the Greken and continue coming after her, she did the only logical thing, run away in the opposite direction. It just so happened that the opposite direction was away from your property and into the town, which set off her grapel.”
Bella had turned to face the king when he had grabbed her arm and was now staring at him in undisguised loathing. She jerked her arm free from his grasp with an angry grunt and clasped her hands in front of her. She wasn’t stupid enough to try and hit Arleth again, but with the way her hands were clenched together with her knuckles going white, it was clear that she was using all of her effort to restrain herself. “I don’t really think it is any of your business to interfere in the punishment of my slave,” said Bella in as restrained a voice as she could manage.
“In that you are quite wrong,” said Absalom. “By the terms of the Settlement of Edika laid out after The Great War, the King of Oherra has a duty to keep peace in all of the worlds. If it is my responsibility to maintain diplomatic relations for the entire universe, I think it is safe to presume that stopping a slave from being persecuted wrongfully is quite within my right.” Although Absalom kept his voice calm and even, Arleth thought she saw a hint of a smile. She couldn’t be sure though, if it was there, it was gone almost as soon as it had appeared.
Bella looked ready to explode. Although she knew that the King of Oherra was more important than her, she didn’t enjoy being reminded of it. She especially didn’t like that the King had chosen to remind her by standing up for her disobedient slave. And to make matters even worse, she had been utterly embarrassed not only in front of Arleth but in front of the dozens of townspeople who had been curiously watching the whole spectacle. Most of whom were now talking animatedly to their neighbours in hushed tones, but the snatches of conversation that drifted out were enough to set Bella’s blood to boil.
“.... hahahaha you’re right she does look just like a purple bubble with arms....”
“..... Actually to me she looks more like a mouldy juka berry, see how her face isn’t solid purple, but splotchy....”
“.... Ah yes, that is true, but bubbles are larger. Ok how about a very oversized mouldy, juka berry?”
“Well that serves her right for being so snobby. I always said she was too proud for her own good.....”
“.....Oh certainly, but really how embarrassing, to be told off in front of her own slave.”
Arleth listened to these exchanges with amusement. It certainly felt good to have Bella told off in front of her. After all these years of being bullied and tormented by Bella, it was satisfying that the woman was finally being put in her place. It was even better that all these people had been here to witness it. And even better that she had been the cause of it. It was sweet revenge at its finest.
But why had the king interfered for her? He certainly didn’t have to. What would he care if a slave was being mistreated?
Bella for her part didn’t seem to understand it either. She was still standing with her hands clasped tightly in front of her, anger etched on every feature of her face. But she hadn’t yet responded to Absalom, mostly because she really had nothing to say. Bella knew he was right; his authority was far superior to hers. Although her pride had been sorely wounded, she could think of nothing that would repair it. So, uncharacteristically, she had made a quite intelligent decision: she would remain silent until she had something to say.
“I’m glad you agree,” said Absalom, continuing on as though he hadn’t stopped. He pretended not to notice the way Bella was glaring at him with pure hatred. Instead he looked over at Arleth, his gaze drifting down to her ankle and the grapel that was still emitting a bright red flare. “Well since we have satisfied ourselves that she is not running away, I think it is past time that blasted thing was turned off.” With that he pulled out a small blade that had been tucked into his belt and walked over to Arleth.
“Put out your leg for me please,” said Absalom bending down in front of her. “I won’t hurt you. If I can just break this thing....” He trailed off, intent on what he was doing. He grabbed her foot and put it on his outstretched leg. Then, shoving his fingers between the grapel and her skin so as not to cut her, he started sawing at it with his knife.
Arleth didn’t think it was going to work, she thought the grapel would prove too strong for the king’s blade. But to her surprise she saw that it was indeed starting to cut through. The blade must be a lot sharper than it looked she thought. But she supposed that only made sense: the creatures were certainly different on Oherra, of course their weapons would be too. No matter how strong the king’s blade was though, she knew that the grapel would not shut off once it was off of her leg.
Bella knew that too and it made her smile through her anger. She couldn’t take away her past embarrassment, or make the townspeople stop their gossip, but she could take satisfaction from the fact that Absalom would look foolish when he realized he didn’t know how to turn off the grapel. She looked on with anticipation.
“There almost done,” said Absalom, cutting through the last bit of the grapel. The device broke apart in his hand but it was still emitting a bright red beam. To Bella’s horror the king didn’t even seem fazed. He put both pieces in his hand, stood up and dumped them into Bella’s arms. “I’m sure you have a way to turn this off. Otherwise Toccarra would be filled with red beaming lights.”
Bella spluttered something incomprehensible in reply and looked sadly down at her broken grapel. She pressed a small blue button on the inside of one of the pieces and said, “Bella Sneel. Runaway has been captured.” Instantly the red light turned off and the words “Runaway” disappeared from the sky.
“Much better. Now,” said Absalom, turning to face Arleth again “I have more important matters to attend to.” Arleth stared at the man in disbelief. In the past five minutes he had embarrassed Bella, stopped the woman from hitting her and taken off her grapel. Why he would do any one of these things for her she had no idea. And he had done all three as if they were nothing. She felt like whatever he was going to say next would be just as surprising.
“The man that killed my greken and then chased after you, did you see his face?”
“Yes I did. He was wearing a dark hood but during the fight with the greken it fell off and I could see his face clearly.”
“What did he look like?”
“Well,” said Arleth thinking back, “He was pretty ordinary except for a long scar across his face; brown hair, brown eyes. Absalom nodded to himself. Now, not only did he know for certain that it was Val, but the man had unwittingly given him a plausible reason to take Arleth back with him to Oherra.
"I believe that the man was following you because you saw his face. Back on Oherra, I have been plagued by a group of secretive assassins called the Black Thorn. They wear all black, cover their faces with hoods and carry long daggers. Am I correct in assuming that the man had these characteristics?”
“Yes he did,” said Arleth
“As I thought, they must have gotten wind that I was travelling to Tocarra and one of their number must have followed me here. I am of course less protected here than on my own planet. Unfortunately, we have never been able to catch one of them alive. The fact that you saw his face meant that you could identify him. And that is very dangerous information for their group. He had to kill you so that you couldn't lead me to him and then through him to the res
t of his associates. However, he failed and that works out wonderfully for me. I would like you to come back to Oherra with me. You would be very useful in identifying this man, and to be honest you aren’t safe here anyways. Knowing how persistent these particular assassins are, he won’t stop trying to kill you until he has succeeded. I have my own servants of course in my castle, but I daresay I treat them better than I have witnessed them get treated here. I believe you will have a better home with me in Oherra than you had here. What do you say? Will you come and help me?”
Arleth was speechless. She was being invited to go and live in Oherra, in Iridian Castle itself! Of course she wanted to go. She couldn’t remember wanting anything more in her entire life. She wouldn’t have to endure Kiran’s taunts and Bella’s cruelty and she would get to travel to a whole other world. A magical world, the most important magical world, the one that she had dreamed about for her entire life. Arelth was about to open her mouth to give her enthusiastic approval, when Bella loudly interjected.
“Don’t be ridiculous. You can’t just go around stealing other people’s slaves. I paid good money for her.”
“I can actually," Absalom interjected "But don’t worry, I will compensate you. And I believe you will find my offer more than fair. Let me see, you probably paid about 200 shintins for her. Your money is worth less than Oherran money, but since I am taking away your property and you have arranged comfortable accommodations for myself and my servants in your mansion, I will give you the same in Oherran coins. 200 renes. I believe you will find the exchange rate greatly in your favour and Oherran money can be used anywhere in the universe.
Bella’s eyes literally popped out of her head. “200 renes? For her?” Bella was far from cultured but she knew money and she was well aware that 200 renes was almost double what she paid for Arleth.
“Mother, that is a lot of money isn’t it? Why would he pay so much for such a useless id..” Bella quickly quieted her son with a hand over his mouth. She looked at king Absalom and smiled as sweetly as she could. “That sounds like a deal.”
“And what about you Arleth?” Said Absalom turning to face her. “Is that ok? Would you like to come to Oherra with me?”
Arleth was so surprised and so happy by her sudden turn of luck that all she could mutter was a “Hmmm” followed by a vigorous nod.
“Good that is settled then,” said Absalom. “We will leave this afternoon. I don’t want to stay here for another night when there is an assassin running loose. I’ll gather my servants and then we will be leaving. I will discuss the lynstones with my advisors when I return to Oherra and in a few weeks I will send an envoy with my decision.”
“Sure that is fine,” Bella replied. She was more than happy to see the king leave early. She had made a huge profit on her slave and if she didn’t have to spend another night hosting a banquet it was even better. As far as she was concerned, the sooner he left the better.
Absalom turned and started walking back to the city’s gates. Arleth followed him in a daze. She barely noticed the crowd part for them to pass, her walk to the edge of town or the Greken she rode back to Bella’s mansion on. Her mind wasn’t on Tocarra, but deep in her imagination, busy thinking about what Oherra would be like.
* * *
“And he put her in her place in front of all those people? I would have liked to see that!”
Arleth was sitting in the kitchen with Chuck, back at Bella’s mansion. Word had travelled fast once they had returned; it had only been a matter of minutes before the whole household knew that Arleth was leaving for Oherra with the king. But they weren’t leaving immediately: Absalom needed to organize his servants and arrange his departure. So Arleth had been given a few hours to pack her belongings and say goodbye to her friends before they had to leave. Since she had no belongings and no one she could call a friend aside from Chuck, she had decided to sit with him for her remaining hours in Tocarra. She was in the process of telling him what had happened. “Yes he did! Bella was so angry her face was actually purple.”
Chuck started laughing and Arleth laughed along with him. “Well that is something, isn’t it? But Arleth, enough about that, you are going to Oherra! You must be so excited.”
“Oh Chuck I am! I am so excited I can barely contain myself. I want to jump up and down, laugh uncontrollably, scream for joy and run around the mansion all at the same time. I can’t believe that I am actually going to go to Oherra. I always dreamt about seeing a magical world and Oherra is by far the most magical world there is. And now I get to actually live there.”
Chuck smiled at her, “I am so happy for you Arleth.”
Arleth thought for only about the hundredth time in the past couple of hours about how lucky she was. Only this morning she had been desperately running for her life. Her only thought was how she was going to survive to the next moment. As a measure of her plight, she had even been looking forward to seeing Bella and Kiran. She had been faced with slavery or death, none of which were attractive and she had chosen accordingly. But now, not only had she managed to run away from the assassin, but by the sheer fact that she had seen his face, the king had invited her to come to Oherra with him. She would never have to see Bella and Kiran again.
That fact by itself was worth celebrating.
She had to admit that it was a bit strange that he had given Bella so much money for her. But she guessed that he must be very intent on catching the assassins. No matter how accurate a description she could give, it would certainly be better to have her with him in Oherra so she could actually spot the man. Besides, what seemed like a lot of money to her or to Bella was probably nothing for the King of Oherra. And who was she to question the actions of a king? She had been given some good luck and just because she wasn’t used to things going her way didn’t mean that she should question them. She pushed any further questions of this nature out of her mind.
At that moment, the kitchen door opened and in popped a sandy blonde head. It was Sally, one of Bella’s bath slaves. “The king is leaving now. He is waiting for you to join him.” She punctuated “you” with as much venom as she could muster. She was jealous of Arleth and didn’t try to hide it. Arleth pretended not to have noticed Sally’s tone,
“Thank you Sally, I will be there in one minute,” she said, smiling innocently at the blonde girl. Sally just glared at Arleth with pure malice. Arleth couldn’t say that she blamed her really. There was no difference between the two of them; they were both roughly the same age, both had been Bella’s slaves since they were young children, but now Arleth was going to leave Bella forever, while Sally was stuck here indefinitely. If their situations were reversed, Arleth would have liked to think that she would have acted differently but she really wasn’t sure. That thought only made her feel slightly bad for the girl though; Sally had never been nice to her. In fact she was one of the worst tattle-tales among all of Bella’s slaves. She had gotten Arleth into trouble more times than she could count. Arleth hated to admit it, but she was enjoying Sally’s jealousy quite a bit.
She looked into Chuck’s kind, wrinkled face. He was smiling at her warmly. She did feel bad for him though. He had never partaken in the gossip and backstabbing of the other slaves. He had always been nice to her, giving her treats here and there. Since Flora died, he had been the closest thing to a friend she had. Sadly Arleth turned to face him, grabbing both of his hands with hers.
“I will miss you Chuck,” said Arleth. She almost wished she could bring him with her to Oherra. She felt guilty leaving him behind when she was leaving to another, more exciting world.
“I will miss you too,” said Chuck. And then as if he were reading her mind, “Don’t worry about me Arleth. An old man like me gets used to things, doesn’t like to change. But you are a young, curious woman. Go and have your adventures.”
“Oh but if only you could come too.”
“No Arleth, I have lived my whole life on Tocarra, who knows if I would even like Oherra? Besides, the desert
heat is good for my old bones. Here, take this.” He gently removed his hands from within hers and walked over to the other side of the kitchen. He returned carrying a small package. “It’s not much, just some bread and dried fruit, but I don’t know how long your journey is and you might get hungry.”
Arleth took the bundle from him gratefully and gave him a big hug. “Thank you Chuck. Good bye.”
“Bye Arleth. Have many great adventures for me, ok?”
“I will.”
Arleth turned and walked out of the kitchen behind Sally. She cast one last look back at Chuck and waved before she disappeared around the corner and into the hall. She walked down the hall and through the mansion, ignoring the glares and whispers of the other slaves she passed. At the main entrance, she was met by one of Absalom’s servants who led her outside. Absalom was standing in a circle with Kiran and Bella, his servants and Grekens arranged behind him. Undoubtedly the three of them were saying their diplomatic goodbyes. But the tension was evident. Bella hadn’t forgiven Absalom for embarrassing her in front of all those people, but she also didn’t want to lose the 200 renes for Arleth or a trade agreement for the lynstones. So she was being as diplomatic as possible, but still making a statement by not having any of her slaves coming to see the king off. Absalom saw Arleth almost immediately,
“Ahh there you are,” he called to her. “Come now, we should be leaving soon.”
Arleth hurried over to where they were standing.
“I look forward to hearing from you soon,” said Bella, finishing off their conversation.
“Yes, I will send word in a few weeks. In the meantime, I hope that both you and your son stay well. Hopefully we can usher in a new era of trade between the Sneels and the Amaras.” He turned towards Arleth, smiled and gestured her to follow him. Arleth looked at Bella and Kiran, she desperately wanted to say something to them. To tell Bella that she was an oversized buffoon or to laugh in Kiran’s face. But Absalom had already started walking away, and she realized, disappointedly that doing either of those things was very childish. She didn’t want to appear like a little child in front of Absalom. Besides, she had already had her victory over them; they could never bother her again. Proud at herself for taking the high road, she turned and walked after Absalom.