Chapter 7
SILVER BROOKS
I was relieved when Korin returned from his meeting with the master as I thought that Lukah would be sending me to the commander as soon as possible. So when he returned that he had no news about me, I was so relieved. But I was soon to find out that Korin wanted to be rid of me. He took me to the growing fields of the Icannis plants and I was very happy. I loved being outside and in the green and blue spaces. The plants were tall and it reminded me of our time in the wild. I was having a fun experience when Korin scared me with a new plan.
"Silver, I want you to listen carefully to me," he said to me as he pulled me close to him and looked directly into my eyes. The blue of his eyes were always startling to me no matter how many times I saw them. I longed to run my fingers though his hair just as I had when he took my virginity the night before.
"Yes, Korin," I said, hoping that he would kiss me again.
"You see that structure over there, the white one?" he said pointing to a far off white structure down at the end of the field.
"Yes, I see it," I said as I looked in that direction, but I was not ready for what he had to say next.
"I have had a report that no one else has seen except for me and one other warrior. We believe that the building is a living space for a rebel. This rebel is one that arranges transportation for those Kalazaron that wish to join them at the Blue Mountains."
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked, already knowing the answer, and I did not want to hear it.
"If you were to run away again, run there. Tell them that you want to join the rebel cause and serve as a human slave at the base. They will take you to the Blue Mountains. I do not know what will happen to you there, as we have little knowledge of what goes on. However, you will be safer there than with the commander, I know that,” he said as he searched my eyes making sure that I was understanding what he was saying.
He wanted to be rid of me. He knew that the commander was coming for me and he wanted me to run away on my own, without him. It was not so long ago that I tried to be captured by the rebels myself in order to run away from him, the sergeant, and now the thought of running away alone brought extreme fear and sadness upon me.
"How? How could I run away?" I asked beginning to panic. I knew that I could not run away without him. I was not as strong as I was when we were out in the wild. Something had changed in me.
"Just as you did before, when I caught you. Only this time I will not catch you; I will say that you ran away in the middle of the night without my knowledge. If it comes to that. If it comes to the point where the commander is going to gain possession of you, I want you to run there, do you understand?"
My eyes grew wide and tears began to fall down my cheeks as I nodded my head yes. I understood more than he knew that I did. He was ready to be rid of me, but now he was attached enough to me to not want me to be with the commander. Still, he was not going to fight to keep me. He would rather that I ran away to be the rebels.
"When you run away, run here to the fields. It would be easier for you to come to the field and then run all the way down toward that structure under the cover of the tall plants. Do not try to run through the city; you will be captured. Humans do not go unnoticed. Especially after you have been tagged; it will show whose property you are on your arm, and you will be swiftly returned to them. Use this field. Are you listening to me?" he asked me as he shook my shoulders like a ragdoll.
"Yes, use the tall plants of the field as cover to make it to that structure, just as I used the tall grass to escape you when we were together in the wild," I said to him, hoping to make him think about that time together.
"Let us think of that no more. For now, enjoy this time outside. Take it all in," he said as he pressed his lips against mine and kissed me. I kissed him back fiercely. I did not want to leave him, but if he was fearful enough to bring me here, that meant our time together was limited and I did not want to waste it. He laid me down in the plants and undressed me. Then we made love, and I looked up at the wonderful blue sky and the plants towering over us as we did so.
When we returned to Korin’s home, we were in for a dark surprise. Commander Yun was waiting outside the door. Korin growled at him as he saw him.
“What are you doing here, Commander Yun?”
“I have come to collect what is now mine,” he sneered.
“The human female slave is mine until the arrangements have been made for transfer of ownership to you after the master has granted it,” Korin said as he stepped in front of me.
“And it has. In the last hour, Lukah approached her father to speed up the process and she contacted me. She seemed very pissed off, and I can see why,” he said as he noticed Korin being so possessive of me.
“I don’t believe it,” Korin said.
“Check your projection,” the commander said.
Korin took out a small tool and projected an image on the wall. There was a document with writing on it that I could not read, but by Korin’s reaction, it seemed to be true that the commander had bought me.
“Hand it over, Sergeant…or should I say General? The master told me how you traded the human female slave over in exchange for being made general, so congratulations on that.”
I gasped as I heard this remark. Was it true? Could Korin be so cold? I knew that he could. He was cold when I first met him only days before, so why would he change now? I was hurt and felt sick as I realized that I was being handed over to the commander so that Korin could rise in the ranks.
“She is mine,” the commander said as he lunged toward me.
Korin stepped between us and he pushed him hard against the wall, then he punched at his stomach as he shouted at me, “Run, Silver! Run!”
My eyes grew wide in panic as I realized that it was all happening right now, in this moment. The commander pushed Korin back and reached for me, grabbing my cloak. I screamed and Korin pulled him off of me.
“Run!” he shouted again as he loosened the commander’s grip on me and punched him once more. I ran away from the door as fast as I could and I could not believe that the runaway plan that Korin had told me only moments before was now really happening.
As I came into view of Kalazaron, I walked fast with the cloak on me. Human slaves did walk in the market alone in order to purchase goods and I was trying to blend in with them until I made it to the edge of the Icannis fields. I hoped that Korin would be all right. I had no way of knowing if he would win that fight as they were both brutal warriors.
I finally made it to the fields and ran into the tall plants deep in them. Then once I had made it in, I walked slowly in the direction of the structure that Korin had pointed out. But I was scared to go. I found myself where I had started, crawling on all fours trying to escape a place, only now it was more frightening than before.
I sat in the field near the structure, not wanting to move just yet. Was I really ready to hand myself over the rebels? What if there was another warrior there just like the commander? Then I would be in the same, troubled situation, only Korin would be nowhere around. I knew right then in that moment that I loved him. I was willing to give up my freedom for him. Freedom was the one thing I had been seeking since before I left Merton Loy, and now I was willing to give it up for this alien warrior with blond hair and blue eyes.
“General,” I whispered to myself as I remembered what Commander Yun had said. He said that Korin had exchanged me in order to become a General. Could that be true? It had to be true. Why would the commander make that up? He had already gained possession of me. I began to cry hard as I lay down on my side. Before I knew it, I had fallen asleep.