The Lords Sacrifice - 1. Chapter 1

The Lord's Sacrifice

by Cia

Thud thud, Thud thud, Thud thud... There was a dual note in each heartbeat, the only sound I could hear as we sat crouched in the corner, huddled into a ball. The paired tattoo was proof that we still lived, though not for long if I couldn’t get us out of here. I had to figure out some way of getting past the security on the door.

My head tumbled around the different escape routes I could take from the facility. I knew Ch'ial waited in a hover car not far to the north of the field that bordered the squat gray building I was currently hiding in. The child clung to my neck, making small noises of fear.

“Shhh... Shhh,” I murmured. “It'll be alright, but we have to be very quiet.”

I was making more noise talking but the soothing sounds were calming us both down. There was just enough moonlight coming in the high windows in the warehouse to see the big green eyes staring up at me. The dusky skin I knew so well was washed out; pale and drawn in the cold white light. Why couldn't it have been cloudy?

I stood up quietly, easing from shadow to shadow, hiding behind the boxes and hunks of rusting junk that littered the cracked concrete floor. I was almost to the door when I stumbled over a small chunk of corroded metal, sending it skittering across the ground. In the silence the noise was startling, freezing me in mid step. I froze, listening.

I could hear footsteps. The guard on the outside of the door was coming. Moving quickly, but trying to stay quiet, I scurried over to the far side of the door, scooping up that betraying hunk of metal as I passed it. I hefted it, getting a good grip, praying that I would get the shot I needed. I set my burden down, holding a finger to my lips.

The guard thrust the door open, scanning the room with scarily blank eyes, somehow missing me as I stood hiding in the shadows. With a desperate look down at those fearful eyes next to me I rushed toward the guard, raising my hand and bringing that hunk of junk down on the base of his skull. He let out a groan and crumpled to the ground in a heap.

I stood over him, trembling as I had never done before. Of course I had never hit anyone in anything but practice either. When I was growing up everyone said how gentle I was, how quiet. They would be shocked to see me now, dressed in the rough clothes of my disguise standing over a man I had just brought down. I gestured to the child, hefting him onto my back where he clung like a monkey, now silent in terror, I could sense it coming off him in waves, feel his heartbeat as it sped faster now than ever before.

I grabbed the guard's gun, not really knowing how to use it but desperate enough to try if I had to. I went to the now unlocked door, straining my eyes as I looked left and right. I didn't see anyone but now the shadows that were my friends could also hide the enemy. I darted out moving as fast as I could to the corner of the building. I barely paused to give a quick peek around before I took off, sprinting for cover from the closest trees in the field.

Not much time left, I had to hurry, had to hurry... Ch'ial couldn't wait forever. If he was caught in the stolen hover car we were all dead. Ah. Just there, I'd almost missed it, the subtle glowing signs that were visible only to my kind waiting to guide us out of this hellish place. I ducked, weaved and threaded my way among the trees and bushes following the hidden path. I sighed in relief as we caught sight of the hover car hiding in the edges of the trees.

Ch’ial gripped my arm and gave me a fierce look of relief and pride. He ruffled the Bel’lel’s hair, grinning at the small boy who was staring up at him. I climbed in to the hover car and sank back into the passenger seat, cradling Bel’lel as we both dropped into an exhausted sleep, lulled by the sounds of the engines as they sped us towards home.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

I found myself captured by the Mahors, fighting enough to be trying to get away but not enough to risk them seriously injuring me. My hands were bound and I was loaded into the back of a truck and tied to the ring in the side by the rope still around my neck. I tried to keep myself pushed up against the wall during the journey but ended up choking myself more times than I could count, the rough hemp of the rope rubbing my neck raw in a wide weal. I could feel the slow ooze of blood running down in places to stain my naked shoulders from my split lips and bloody nose.

I blinked at the light that came suddenly into the pitch black box I was tied to like an animal. I couldn't remember if I had fallen asleep or drifted unconscious from one of my slips but I was lucky I hadn't choked to death. A man with a gun climbed through the opened door into the bed of the truck, untying my neck rope from the hook above my head.

Jerking me out in the light, the guard let out a sound of disgust. “Look at that blue blood. It's just unnatural, the way these things look so human until you look closer and see how disgusting they really are.”

“Only good Tria is a collared Tria.” The second guard agreed. “You want to take him to decontam, Mirstek or should I?”

“You might as well do it, I had to beat him down to get him cuffed. This one was particularly ripe, I didn't want to touch him but I had no choice. I want nothing more than to go scrub his stink off of me.” Mirstek complained.

“Yeah, they do have a certain odor, don't they?”

“Comes from living in those stinking hovels in the swamps, I'll bet. Nasty place, only true animals could live there.” Mirstek's nose wrinkled in disgust as he spit at me.

I kept my gaze down; it wouldn't do to let them see the rage in my eyes. I had heard stories for years about these invaders, but had never believed them. They truly believed we were just savages living in the swamp, not making the effort to understand our culture was their first mistake. Our lives in the past had been surrounded by much more technology than they could dream off, but they would never learn that.

The rope around my neck was yanked hard as the new guard pulled me off in the direction of two unnatural square buildings sitting so menacingly in the middle of the cleared field, the grass having quickly reclaimed the area previously kept bare from the tall trees that used to blanket these hills.

I stumbled wearily as we entered the building through door that had no handle on the inside, just a buzzer. Getting out of here would not be easy. A man behind the security cage eyed me with a now familiar look of disgust, jerking his head at the shower stalls I could see off to one side.

“Just strip him down and get him in there, I'll start the paperwork.”

I suffered through submitting to the ignominious process, having been showered and sprayed and dressed in scratchy rough clothing, way more covering than I was used to. It was stupid in the hot tropical areas of the swamps to wear more than modesty required, but these invaders weren't known for their common sense.

I was shoved into a cell, a small space without anything in it, no bed, no toilet, and no window. I was shut up in a box of metal and stone and I could feel my skin crawling as panic tried to creep in. Knowing there was nothing else I could do, I sat down cross legged in a corner to the right of the hinges on the door. I didn’t want to be in line of sight from the little hole I could see in it, not knowing what the sadistic men might do. I began my meditations.

Soon enough I saw flashes, pictures of a room so very different from the one I was in, yet made of the same metal and stone materials. I gazed down at a small child lying asleep in a soft bed, a small light shining in the corner just enough illumination to see his dusky skin glowing. His long dark hair was flowing across the pillow, so soft and silky.

I touched him softly; waking he looked up at me, blinking his eyes sleepily. A sweet smile played across his mouth.

“You came!” he squealed, launching himself into my arms. I held him to me tightly, rocking us back and forth as I relished the contact. He leaned back, his green eyes sparkling at me in pleasure.

“I told you I would come, little one. I'm here somewhere; I know we must be in the same building.”

“You're so much stronger when you're this close, I love being able to touch you now.”

“The closer I am to you, the stronger my manifestation when we link. I missed you little man, I'm sorry I haven't been able to come before now.” I stroked his hair back behind his small ears, the small tips just beginning to turn a light blue color as he began to mature.

“Are you going to take me away from here?” Bel'lel wanted to know, his voice anxious.

“Yes, everything you have taught me, I have shared with our people. The invaders don't know we do, but we know their language, their technology, and their greedy motives.”

“Will we be safe?” He was scared but so determined.

“Yes, once we get away, we will be safe.” I reassured him, knowing that I spoke the truth but there was so much more that I couldn’t tell him.

“Don't take too long, please; I've wanted to go home for so long, ever since you showed it to me.”

I nodded, smiling as I put the small body back in to his bed. His little feet poked out of the pale nightshirt, such a strange custom to sleep all covered up, so far away from the earth and the warm breezes that blew the sweet smell of the polalla trees.

“You won't leave me and forget to come back for me will you?”

I shook my head as I always did, “You know better than that. Go to sleep now, I'll come get you soon.”

It was torture waiting the next few days until I was deemed uncontaminated and sent out into the forest with the rest of the captured workers. They all recognized me, eyes widening as they restrained the urge to bow. I shook my head, getting to work digging with the rest of the crew. The guard stood in the shade, gun trained on us, never looking away and never letting up his guard.

I had to get away; I was going to have to use the codes to open the cells that Bel'lel gave me. It would have to be tonight, Ch'ial was going to be waiting with the stolen hover car but he couldn't keep coming every night. It had already been five days since I had been 'captured'. Our people were being killed or enslaved, more every day. My father hadn’t wanted me to come, but I had to know that Bel’lel was safe before the plan could go forward.

That night when the guards turned out the lights, I gathered the workers in the corner, whispering my plan to them. After the first check in I would open the cells. We would have to silence the guards as we left the building before they could alert all the others.

I was going to get Bel'lel while the rest of the workers headed south to draw the guards away from our escape route. The captured men knew who he was but had never spoken of it, afraid that doing so would only get the boy harmed. Right now he had it good, the adopted son of the leader of the invaders. It was unknown why the brutal man had taken mercy on the child when his mother was killed; I just was thankful he had.

The plan went well until the last guard, who managed to let out a shout of warning. I had already moved away through the building to find Bel'lel but heard the uproar as guards mobilized all through the facility. I burst into Bel’lel’s room right as I heard the pounding footsteps come down the hall. I hid quickly, just in time as an older man peeked in to the room to check on the sleeping child.

Bel'lel lay oblivious, serene as he reveled in the dreams of the innocent. The human shut the door softly; I could hear his quick footsteps as he followed after the guards. He needed those slaves here, digging in the forest. Bel'lel had told me of the long rambling talks they had as the leader told him about the 'Ancients' and their advanced race, the technology they were rumored to have used until they made themselves extinct. It was said this powerful weapon was still on this planet of savages and he was determined to find it.

That was what had provoked my father to call the council and institute a plan, an end they never wanted to come to, but this time had been foreseen. It was the beginning of the prophecy that wouldn’t be fulfilled until far into the future. The journey was begun; but first, first Bel'lel must be rescued and returned to their people to take up the leadership.

“Bel'lel, shhh, wake up.” I covered his mouth, waiting until I saw awareness in his eyes.

“H'vlek?! Where have you been?” he asked a bit petulantly. “I thought you had forgotten me!”

“Me, forget you? Never!” I reassured him. “It's time to go, right now, hurry.”

Bel'lel nodded as he stood up, the trust he showed in me when he had never met me in person was astounding. I guess the innocence of a child might seem naive but we shared a soul deep bond, something that transcended things as mundane as our physical bodies. We knew each other, we always had and would.

“Are the others getting away too?” He wanted to know first, worried about our people. I was so proud of him for that. I ached at the thought of leaving him, but I knew that he would grow into a wise man and the perfect leader our people needed.

“Yes, the men I released are drawing the guards to the south, but we have to go in another direction, north toward a friend who has stolen one of their hover cars. He will get us to safety but first we must get out of this facility. Let's go.”

We ran then, Bel'lel on my back, holding tight to my neck. I ducked around corners and into alcoves to hide as necessary as he guided me to the warehouse area of the facility, until we crouched down in a huddle together, resting, trying to figure out way past this one last guard.

** ** ** ** ** ** **

“H'vlek, H'vlek, wake up. We're back.” Ch'ial nudged me, causing me to tighten my arms around Bel'lel. I looked up to the see the proud faces of my father, Lord Tr'lon and my grandfather, Lord D'harvol.

“Are you okay? Is he okay?” My father asked anxiously.

“Minor injuries only, Father. I'll be fine. And my brother? He's perfect.”

I rubbed Bel'lel's back, patting him until he woke up. I saw his sleepy green eyes blinking up at me again as I smiled, the love I had for him eclipsing all the other sad emotions that I was feeling. He was safe, finally back with his people after being stolen as a small child.

“Look Bel'lel, we're home, and guess who’s here to see you?”

Bel'lel's eyes widened as he took in the sight of the jungle swamps around us, then his mouth drew open in a round little oh as he saw our Father and Grandfather. He didn't remember being with them in real life but had seen them in my memories often enough.

“Father!” he yelled, launching himself in the air. He seemed to like to do that. I laughed at the surprised look on our father's face as he caught Bel'lel, bracing himself in the nick of time to prevent falling on his backside. They hugged fiercely before Bel'lel held his arms out to Grandfather, softening the stern man as he looked him over surreptitiously, his medical training coming out as he looked for injuries.

“I told you we were fine.” I reminded him, but I understood. We had so little time with Bel'lel. He was too young to understand but one day he would. He would be in good hands; the priests would keep him safe until he was ready to rule. They would teach the people about the sacrifice we were going to make and the prophecy so that the lore would not be forgotten.

Ch'ial watched me, his eyes filled with tears, his skin flushing a blue shade, a pigment that our skin was showing more and more the longer we lived as one with the land. Something in the soil or the water that we were no longer filtering out was changing us. Such was the way with evolution. All I could think was how beautiful it looked on his strong body.

He grabbed me by the back of my neck, putting our foreheads together. His eyes swirled at me as he seemed to drink in my face.

“I will always love you!” he whispered, a choked raspy husk of his normal voice.

“One day in the future I will cross the Threshold and we will be together, I swear it.” I said in solemn promise. “As you wait in this lifetime I will wait through my afterlife, until we can rejoin each other.”

“I will watch out for Bel'lel, take care of him.” Ch'ial promised me.

“Thank you, my dearest one.” I was reduced to a whisper now, pressing our foreheads together harder, like I could join us mentally, as if our thoughts could merge and never part.

My father drew in a deep breath. We knew this would be hard, Bel'lel would probably be angry at the responsibility being thrust on his shoulders, saving our people would require many hard things from him over his lifetime. He would have to be very strong to forge our race anew. He had to survive; our bloodline had to continue unbroken to fulfill the prophecy.

“It's time you were going with Ch'ial now, Bel'lel.” Father drew all of us into a hug. “Remember we all love you, so much. Be strong my son.”

Bel'lel looked confused, but he was still young and very tired. He kissed each of us on the cheek then laid his head on Ch'ial's shoulder. Suddenly his head popped up and he looked at me.

“You won’t leave me and forget to come back, will you?” He asked, bringing tears to my eyes. I shook my head, pressing another kiss to his cheek. I climbed into the hover car, knowing this time I would be breaking my promise. They stood there; comforting each other and watching us as the hover car slowly rose and then drove away. I sobbed quietly in the backseat, leaving those closest to my heart behind was devastating.

“Shhh, H'vlek. We will be with them again one day. For now, we need to concentrate. Feel the artifact, tune into its vibration. Lead us.”

I nodded, understanding as I locked my self-pity away, this was for the people, not only the ones living now but our people in the future, their many times many sons to come. I would be strong, I would do my part. One day one of our sons would come with an invader at his side to help our people instead of harm them. We four were laying the path, saving the people, the planet and the galaxy.

I didn’t like the thought of killing, but sometimes our choices were not our own. Sometimes circumstances were beyond our personal choices and we had to do things not otherwise in our nature. After having been captured though, I couldn’t help but feel these invaders deserved what they got as I thought hotly of the way they had treated me, humiliating and demeaning my humanity as a person.

Unerringly, I lead my father to the right place as he set down the stolen hover car. We got out and he programmed in a pre-set course on auto drive, sending it straight into the mountain faces. He did not trust the invaders not to track their machine.

Now Grandfather led the way, disarming traps as we came to them, letting my father reset them after we passed. I really hoped our descendants would be able to figure out the clues we left for them in order to make it down here. Either they would, or it wouldn't be the right time. 'Have faith' I scolded myself.

Finally we were there, standing before the artifact. I cannot begin to describe how I felt as I viewed it, joy, hope, terror, and sadness...all of my emotions swirled in a violent pit that I tried to hide. Taking a deep breath, my Father gripped my hand and my Grandfather's waiting for us to link hands as we stood in a triadic circle around the artifact.

My father spoke the ancient intonation as we prayed, prayed this would work. After tonight, stealing the leader's adopted son? Extermination would be on the invaders minds. We couldn't allow that. We had to destroy them and make sure the deaths were enough to keep more of them away.

I felt a warm burning running up and down my arms all of a sudden; a cable of light began to link the three of us, roping us together. I prayed again, for the safety, for the happiness of our people. Soon those links of light were solid masses up our arms, flowing down our bodies. Looking for one last time at my father and grandfather, we all shared a love filled moment as the light took over our entire bodies.

I felt it sink into my mind, then our minds merged, thinking together and separately, which should be confusing but somehow wasn't. My father took the lead this time, his role in this triad to control the artifact. I could feel the hum all over as a vast tingle when it started up, faster and faster my father sent it until a huge roar sounded, spreading out over the jungle swamps, the grasslands, the mountains, encompassing the entire planet. We could feel the people; they could feel us as they froze and marveled at the deep connection they felt to each other and the planet.

Inside those connections, blurring the lines and contaminating the pattern were the invaders. The artifact let out a roar, somehow seeing as we saw, feeling as we felt. It knew what those men wanted, to rape the land, to destroy the people and to find the artifact. We willed it to protect us all by destroying those men who were a blot on the light of the world, pushing, begging and cajoling, bargaining our lives for the power needed. For one long moment there was an indecisive pause but then...

We were drawn physically closer and closer together and to the artifact as it grew stronger. Soon our entire bodies were touching all down our lengths, the artifact squeezed in the middle. In one blinding flash our bodies joined, we merged and became one. That next moment the power that produced surged out through the web of light crisscrossing the planet sending out a huge wave of sound that made everything on the planet vibrate at a cellular level.

Those invaders carrying weapons couldn't help the fingers that tightened on the triggers, killing some of their compatriots before they were brought down by the sharp pain in their heads. Blood leaked from their eyes, ears and noses as each and every one fell to the ground at the same instant. Not a single one of them was left standing.

The Lords pulled back from the artifact, sure that those dangerous men were now gone, not to return for a very long time. They looked at themselves, or we look at ourselves. Gah...I/We didn't know what to call us anymore. I was still me, I could feel my body inside of this one, but it was fluid, shifting. I had my own thoughts but I could hear theirs as well, sometimes we all thought together.

It was extremely disorienting, but the shock began to fade. It seemed the artifact had decided that more than just lore was needed to protect our family’s sons to come, that was our duty. It had left the knowledge of our task behind before it went quiescent.

If we were invoked by name by one of our family, we would be there, to protect and guide them, keeping the planet, the people and most importantly the artifact, safe. I could feel the link to Bel'lel still, and I knew that he could feel me as well. My last fear dropped away as I remembered the first time we had linked and met in our dreams so long ago.

Bel'lel had clung to me, feeling safe and secure for the first time in my arms and love. He didn't want me to go but I could feel the tug of my body calling me back. He had asked me a question, one he never failed to ask each time I was forced to leave him to his dreams and return to my own.

“You won’t leave me and forget to come back will you?”

“I'd never do that.”

I had kept my promise; I knew I would be back.

© 2010 Cia

Story Discussion

Illustration by Mary Parrish under the direction of Tom L. Phillips, University of Illinois, and Bill DiMichele, Department of Paleobiology, Smithsonian Institution.