Alien Courage (Rise of the Empress) (17 page)

“You will make love to your husband when he returns,
but only once. Do you understand?”

“Yes,” she whispered, her glassy eyes staring blankly.

When I introduce you to anyone I call, ‘my friend’.
You will make love discreetly with them as soon as possible but only
once.  Do you understand?”

Understanding easily the Empress said, “Yes,” her
glassy eyes focusing on the Black Priest.

The Black Priest reached inside his robe and withdrew
a small vile. He placed it in her hand. “Drink this when you miss your cycle.
Do you understand?”

“Yes my Master,” she now said softly as her eyelids
were beginning to open and close. She took his hand and placed it on her face
and gently kissed it, then slid it down her body hugging it to her breast. His
suggestions were now intervening her every emotion and behaviour.

“Yes... yes my child. I know you are loyal to me. Make
it your most closely guarded secret,” he said and a wicked grin grew upon his
face. “Do you understand?”

“Yes, my Master,” she replied gently rubbing the grey
withered flesh of his hand.

The vile she held was a special enzyme that would abort
a celapod pregnancy in its early stages. It was not in the Black Priest’s
interest for her to fall pregnant while she was useful to him.

“You are now well and happy. You do not need medical
help and you will not remember anything of your experience here or of ever
being here. Now go outside and wake up feeling alive, happy and well.”

The Empress stood up and walked freely down the
passageway. The door was held open by an android guard and closed it after the
Empress went through. She stood out in the hallway and suddenly found herself
standing alone. She looked around and had no idea how she got there. She looked
at a small vile in her hand and realised it must be valuable and carefully hid
it away in a small pocket. Her throat felt tender but she realised she felt
well and alive, she smiled happily. A pleasant change from the last day or two
she thought. Her body felt different, it had a strange feeling but she was
very, very hungry. She rushed directly to the Palace kitchen and stood beside
the Chef as he cooked a stew. She joked and laughed with the man, which made
him very, very nervous.

The Captain walked in after being informed she was
there in response to his direct orders to Palace staff to locate the Empress.
“Empress, are you alright?” He asked pleased to see her smiling but disturbed
by her disappearance.

“Yes of course,” she said noticing his concern. “You
worry too much Captain. “Would you like some?” the Empress said sticking a fork
into the pot the nervous chef was tending over the stove and coming out with a
large piece of meat on it.  

“Empress, I truly don’t understand you,” he said
smiling but hiding his frustration. The Empress held the fork up higher. “No
thank you,” he said, “I have pressing business to attend to, are you truly all
right Empress?” he said with concern.

“Yes of course but thank you for asking. I am well and
happy,” she said then eating the food on the fork and jabbing the fork into the
pot again.

“I will see you tomorrow, good night Empress,” he said
and left. He motioned to an android guard personally trained by him outside the
kitchen to keep a close eye on the Empress. The android acknowledged its
mission and blended unseen with the wall that was behind him. 

“Good night,” the Empress said unaware the Captain was
no longer in the kitchen and spun around and grabbed the edge of a bench to
steady herself, her eyes went glassy and then returned to normal.

“Are you alright my Empress,” the Chef asked quietly
with his hands held out in case the Empress fell.

“Get out!” she hissed venomously and ravenously ate
the food straight out of the pot, the stew splashing from her mouth and down
her front staining her clothes. The Chef and other staff ran from the kitchen.

---------

Url
was the first to wake and hacked his way outside
through the built up ice. His noise and grunts swinging the small metal
trader’s axe woke the others. The sky was once again overcast and the dim
twilight of Zion’s perpetual twilight penetrated into the cave.

“Not so cold now,” Sasra said stamping his feet to get
his circulation working.

“Yes, good.
You wait, return after look,”
Url
said and crawled outside and trotted off with his gun cradled in his arm to
check the surrounding country.

Teni watched him as he disappeared into a large stand
of snow covered trees. He turned to Brakin who was checking his gun. “Url has a
great spirit within him. I hope he shares his knowledge with us.”

“Yes,” Brakin agreed, well aware of what Teni meant.
Url
was a man possessed, he acted alone most of the time and
it would be difficult and dangerous to follow him into enemy territory if you
had no idea of what he was going to do. “I will talk with him Teni. I fear for
my daughter if he attacks their village or kills Beclin without reason to his
actions.” Teni nodded and bent down to get the fire started again.

Sasra pulled the remains of the cooked meat down from
a branch they tied it to and began sawing it into thin strips. He pulled a
small satchel from his shoulder bag and sprinkled some powder like material
into his hand. The rough powder granules in his hand contained salt, small hard
beads of animal fat and seasoning herbs. He rubbed the mixture rapidly and it
formed a soft sticky ball. He rubbed and smeared the ball onto the strips of
meat. Brakin and Teni both knelt beside him to help him and with their fingers
worked the residue into the semi frozen strips of meat, preserving it. It also
made the meat palatable as dried moibla meat is tough and tastes of the conifer
they eat.  

They soon had a large pile of freshly preserved meat
and ate some for breakfast. They divided the rest it into four equal amounts
and packed it in their bags. Brakin took
Url’s
share
to give it to him later. Sasra was rubbing his sore arm when a soft whistle
made him look up.

Url
was above them in the rocks. His gun was on a sling
over his back and he held a long straight stick in his hands. He appeared
excited and was motioning them to join him quickly. The three men hurriedly got
their gear and scrambled up the rocks.

“Hunting party,”
Url
explained, “Beclin.” He pointed to the northwest. “Not far.”

The four men climbed to the top of the cliff where
Url
had the severed head of the moibla they had butchered
before their sleep. Its long antlers almost touching the ground as
Url
held it waist high. The others didn’t ask
Url
why as they didn’t have time, he had rushed off between
the trees. The others ran to keep up and soon the four men were crouched low
and carefully looking over a rise into a small valley with a cleared area
surrounded by tall trees.

They looked and waited and then they saw movement
between the trees below them. Three men were working their way slowly along the
cover at the edge of the clearing, the last man pulling a small sled. Between
the gaps in the trees the occasional flat clear area silhouetted them
perfectly. The long guns with fur clad bodies and the characteristic fur skin
headdress, with a tuft on top - Beclin!

Url
backed away slowly from the rise followed by the
others. He led them down between the trees on the gentle slope keeping away
from the edge of the clearing. Across the clearing was a rocky cliff running
the full length of the small valley. The base of the valley was bordered by a
thick forest which lead up to a rocky tree covered cliff. They stopped and
Url
looked back up the rise, he knew the Beclin would soon
work their way over the rise and along the cover of the trees just in front of
them. He was worried they might see their tracks in the snow but risked that
they wouldn’t. It was probably too far back and the Beclin would have their
attention on something else by then he gambled.

“We ambush,”
Url
said
excitedly. “Sasra, you there,” and he pointed to a tree with good undergrowth
so a man could hide easily.
“Teni, you there.”
He
pointed to another tree not far away from Sasra’s hiding spot. “
Brakin
you there,” he said pointing to yet another tree with
good cover. “I go there,” he said pointing to the end of the valley just out of
gun range, “and
do
this.” He rammed the end of the
stick he carried into the into the upturned moibla’s head. The sharpened stick
buried deeply into its head through the neck. He held up the antlered head on
the end of the stick and shook it. All three knew at once what he intended to
do. He would hide in the undergrowth at the end of the valley and move the
moibla’s head around in the conifer branches as though it is eating. The Beclin
will stalk it and will have to come past their positions. They all agreed on
the plan and quickly dispersed to their positions. Before they did,
Url
said one last thing, “kill all!”

As Brakin, Sasra and Teni went to their hiding places
they agreed on their sequence of targets. Brakin would take the man further
down the slope towards
Url
, Sasra the second and Teni
the last. Teni would fire first to make sure he got the last man that came into
the valley. They took their positions and waited.

It took quite a while but eventually the first Beclin
appeared over the rise. He followed the edge of the cover for a short way then
stopped, straightened and looked intently down the valley. He rushed quickly
back up the rise and signalled to his companions. The other two rushed to join
him, and then one of the others pointed as well, clearly excited. They saw
movement in the forest line at the base of the valley. Moibla antlers were just
visible and then disappeared but the shaking of branches continued; a large
moibla is feeding!

Brakin and the others saw the three men check their
guns and started whispering to each other. With one leading they formed a small
triangle with not too great a distance from each other and began to creep down
the edge of the cover. Suddenly just the antlers appeared through the top of a
low hanging branch and stopped moving, giving the impression the animal was
looking up the valley. The hunters froze and very, very slowly sank to their
knees and waited. The antlers bobbed back in the undergrowth and the branches
shook as before. The men slowly rose and continued toward their quarry.

The first of the hunters made their way past Teni and
then Sasra. Brakin could see the men clearly. They were intently looking toward
the shaking branches. Brakin studied the men with interest. They looked exactly
like we do he thought. The same guns and equipment, traded with the same
traders as they did. The same skins warmed and protected their bodies. It made
no sense to him why they had to kill each other. It was hard enough just to
survive in this wilderness let alone make war with intelligent and dangerous
tribesman.

Brakin dismissed his thoughts as he realised the enemy
was now in the killing zone. He slowly raised his gun taking aim at his man.
The man suddenly stopped and slowly sank to his knees.
Url
knew where they were and once again made his moibla look up the valley, in that
way he gave his companions the ideal sitting targets. Brakin’s target raised
his hand slowly and flipped his face covering off, it dangled from a leather
strip below his chin. The man was looking intently at the antlers just out of
range. Brakin saw that the man’s beard was patchy and was not long - he’s
nothing more than a boy! Brakin felt a wave of nausea sweep through him but his
finger remained resting on the trigger. He did however slightly alter his aim.
The boy in front of him had the butt of his gun exposed against his side just
under his elbow as he knelt. Brakin just got a bead on it when Teni fired. Both
Sasra and Brakin’s guns roared an instant later. The three men were blown to
the ground. Two didn’t move but Brakin’s target writhed in agony, his
breathless moans breaking the now silent woods. He tried to get up but fell
back in the snow.

Brakin rushed forward and knelt beside the boy. He
quickly took his knives and hunting axe off him and threw them to one side. He
grabbed his gun and saw the hole through the butt exactly where he had aimed.
His bullet went clean through but most of its energy was expended and it barley
penetrated through the boys thick skin coat.