“I cannot do it; I cannot marry a man I do not love when the man I do love is right in front of me,” she sobbed, her face pressed against his neck.
The man clutched her arms and pulled her away so he could look her in the face. “You must, Sharra. You are to be the empress and you must do your duty, as I must do mine. I will not marry you outside of our law, but I will wait for you, and I will be your second husband the moment you take the throne and are allowed to wed more than one man.”
“No! My father is still vibrant; it will be decades before I become empress. I cannot be with Haron all that time. I will die of heartbreak first!”
“My love, there is nothing we can do. Accept your destiny, as I have accepted mine.”
Sharra stared back at the man she had shared many firsts with, and felt as if she were dying of love for him. She could not imagine living with anyone else, but for his sake, she pulled herself together and wiped the tears from her eyes.
“That is my brave girl.” He drew her into a close embrace and kissed her passionately. He knew this might be their last touch, so he savored the moment before reluctantly pulling away and leaving the hall.
Then he was gone, and Agnar was alone in the throne room with the princess. He smiled, and waited for her to pass him. As she approached, he could see the tracks her tears had left on her face.
“Princess.” His voice was gravelly from disuse, and the girl started at the unexpected noise. She stared at him, at first shocked to hear her language coming out of a Yalsan’s mouth, and then angry that he had dared speak to her. She was just drawing in a breath to reprimand him when he spoke again.
“Princess, I may be a lowly prisoner, but I am also a pilot.” The princess exhaled, pondering the implications of this, and Agnar took the opportunity to press his advantage. “I can fly any ship you put me in. The emperor owns this planet, anywhere you ran, he would find you. But if you were to leave Bitowa . . .” Agnar waited for his words to sink in, watching the girl’s face intently. Her contemplative expression turned to disgust as she looked back at him, and he turned to the fire, looking into the flames as he threw his final assault over his shoulder.
“Or you could just stay here and marry the general. I am sure he will be a very good mate.” He hoped the girl’s dislike for the general was greater than her disgust for him. He feigned indifference and curled up next to the fire, ignoring her. She stood still for a moment, then turned and left the room. Agnar sighed in disappointment. The emperor’s daughter had been his soonest means of leaving this stinking planet. He drifted off to sleep, dreaming he was free and wandering the universe.
Agnar was awakened from a deep sleep by something hard and heavy falling on his arm. A hand was placed over his mouth, muffling his surprised grunt. He opened his eyes just as the hand was taken away and wiped fastidiously on a cloak, the owner of the hand grimacing at the grime. He looked down and discovered that the heavy object that had bruised his arm was the collar from around his neck. His heart leapt and he jumped up quickly, only to find himself staring down the barrel of a notoriously nasty Bitowan weapon.
The girl holding the weapon locked her steely gaze on him. “You will take me off this planet, and I will give you your freedom. If you try to escape before I free you, I will kill you. Now put this on to disguise your appearance and follow me.” She handed him the cloak she had wiped her hand on and turned, walking swiftly and quietly out of the room.
Agnar rose to his feet, his unsteady legs causing him to sway as he took his first steps in months. After a few seconds his legs remembered their function and he practically ran out of the room, throwing on the cloak and pulling up the hood to hide his face. He caught up with the princess and followed her through more corridors than he could count, until they reached an enormous docking bay where thousands of small ships gleamed in the low amber light.
The princess led him to a secluded dock at the far end. They entered and walked past a guard station. Sharra nodded at the guard, who nodded back respectfully. The princess led Agnar to the shiny ship that was the only resident of the dock. Much larger than the fighters, but still small and maneuverable, it was the sleekest ship Agnar had ever seen. Sharra opened a panel in the side and palmed a plate, and the door opened as a boarding plank slid out. Once inside, she palmed another plate and the plank retracted. The door closed behind them, sealing them in the dimly lit ship.
The princess turned toward him and gestured with her weapon. “You will walk ahead of me. Any attempts against me and I will wound you and take you back to my father. You will find the bridge at the end of this corridor. Now move.”
Agnar moved. The door to the bridge opened as they stepped in front of it. Agnar gasped as he entered the room. The command center of the ship was functional in the way of all Bitowan ships, but this was the first Bitowan ship he had seen that was . . . well . . . beautiful! He gawked at the cushioned chairs and well-matched color scheme. Instead of the one viewscreen that usually dominated the forward wall of the bridge, this bridge boasted four giant viewscreens, one on each wall. They were currently set to show their respective views.
The princess impatiently nudged him with her weapon. Agnar quickly moved to the helm and began the takeoff sequence. The helm sat in the center of the room where the captain’s seat was normally located. It was the best position to see all the viewscreens by simply rotating the chair. The captain’s seat sat against the back wall, the perfect position from which to see the entire bridge crew. Agnar found himself approving of the bridge’s layout, and wondered why no other species had built one as functional as the one on this Bitowan ship.
As the ship rose silently into the air, he turned to the princess and asked the question that had been bothering him since they had entered the docking bay. “Princess, why is it that there is no resistance and no alarm to our escape?”
She looked at him as if he were the stupidest man alive. “I am the eldest daughter of the most powerful emperor of the largest empire in the Vontyr Galaxy. This is my personal pleasure craft, and so the most advanced ship in the Bitowan arsenal. I have to travel in style and be well protected wherever I go. My command is second only to the command of my father until I inherit the throne. I come and go as I please, and no one questions me. We will escape under their very noses. No alarm will sound until we reach the ward around the solar system. By then it will be too late to catch the fastest ship they have ever built.”
For the first time Agnar saw the princess smile. It was a contented smile for escaping her father and her arranged marriage, and it was a sad smile for having to leave her first love. It was a wistful smile as they left the planet of her birth behind, and a hopeful smile for what her future might be now that it was hers to choose. It was a smile that made Agnar reassess his opinion that all Bitowans were ugly.
After passing Bitowa’s third moon, an alarm went off on the bridge. The princess casually reached over Agnar’s shoulder and tapped the glowing pad that turned it off. As he turned to look at her, she moved back. “You might want to hit the overdrive pad,” she suggested, pointing to the rear viewscreen. As the planet grew smaller behind them, the many fighters on their trail grew larger. Agnar looked down at the numerous and confusing glowing pads surrounding the helm control screen.
“And which one would that be, Princess?”
She strapped herself into the chair opposite the helm and pointed to the top pad. “That one.”
He tapped the pad, and gasped as the sudden acceleration drove him back into his seat. Stars blurred into streamers as they swept past. After a few seconds, he touched the pad again and they slowed to normal. He quickly revised his belief that the Bitowans weren’t the most intelligent of species. No other species had built a ship this fast. The propulsion drive was neither a system nor a star drive, but incorporated both into one, allowing the ship to travel slower and faster than either drive was capable of by itself.
Now that they were safe, he played with the controls, learning the quirks of his new ship. He had no intention of giving it up, no matter what the princess thought. His explorations were interrupted when the princess cleared her throat and tapped her weapon against the side of his head.
“The Hysterion System is just ahead. We will part ways on Bellos, where I can hire a pilot. Since you are a wanted criminal, I will do the talking to get us past security. Once we have landed, I never want to see you again. If I do, I will shoot you on sight. Understand?”
Agnar put on his most docile face. “Yes, Princess.” He slowed the ship and entered the system. Once they reached Bellos, he followed the landing instructions coming from the spaceport, quietly scheming about how he was going to take the ship.
They landed on Bellos without any problems. The princess forced Agnar to the ship’s exit, holding her weapon at his back. He left the ship without complaint, quickly blending into the vacationing crowd.
The princess headed for the nearest bar. She needed to hire a pilot, and figured any bar near the spaceport would be a likely place to find one. She didn’t notice Agnar watching her from behind a pillar as she entered the establishment. He stealthily followed her inside.
Agnar listened as the princess spoke to the clerk. She had to switch to Yalsan to be understood, as most humanoids didn’t speak Bitowan. The clerk informed her that the pilots didn’t show up until evening, when the party girls came out. The princess sighed in disappointment and thanked the clerk, deciding to return later. She headed back to her ship to sleep, exhausted from the night’s adventure.
Agnar figured he could be her new pilot. He just needed a disguise. He couldn’t get back on the ship without her handprint, and the only way she would allow him back on board was if she didn’t recognize him. Unfortunately he couldn’t just take her hand. The palm plate wouldn’t work unless the hand was living. It seemed the Bitowans were far more intelligent than the rest of the universe thought. He was beginning to believe that they were the species with the highest intelligence after what he’d seen, although they were still very barbaric as a society. He sighed and headed to a washhouse. He’d have to get clean if he wanted to pull off the plan that was mulling around inside his head.
At the washhouse several gorgeous native women greeted him. They giggled and wrinkled up their noses at his stench. He was glad the Bitowans hadn’t bothered to take his money. Of course, it was useless to them, so why would they? He flashed some coins at the girls. At the sight of the money they took his arms and led him into the establishment. In no time at all he was immersed in a tub of sudsy water with a hot towel wrapped around his face. The women shaved his face, and then he had them shave his head. It felt good to be rid of the matted hair and beard that months of captivity had grown. He didn’t think he could stand to be other than clean-shaven ever again. He sighed in ecstasy and sank lower in the tub, the water soaking away the months’ accumulation of grime.
He heard voices in the cubicle next to his, but ignored the words until a name caught his attention. Then he listened as hard as he could.
“Ah, this is the life, isn’t it, Tresar?”
“Mmmm, yes it is. I don’t know why Karina laughed when we told her where we were going. She said with men, some things never change. What does that mean?”
“I don’t know, but right now, I don’t care. Ah, here’s Sherizna. Could you bring us something to drink, sweetie?”
“Surely, love. You just relax that luscious body of yours.” Sherizna giggled as she swept out of the room.
The conversation dwindled after the lady left, and Agnar hurriedly finished washing. He couldn’t believe his luck at ending up in the same place Karina was staying. As he dried off, Tresar spoke again.
“So, Flavoi, what do you think of Karina?”
Flavoi snorted. “What do you mean, what do I think? You may as well come out and say it; it’s obvious you like her. It’s a shame you don’t have a chance, though, it’s just as obvious she likes me.”
“Ha! She hasn’t given either of us any indication of her preference. You just think that no woman can resist you.”
“Well, it is true, no woman can resist me. You see how Sherizna favors me.” Flavoi laughed.
Tresar snorted. “Shut up and let me relax. Karina is meeting me in a half hour in the lobby of the Bellisimo Hotel. I’d like to look refreshed for her. We’re having dinner together.”