Chapter Fifteen
“The princess—Princess Alanah is back—even sooner than she said she would be! She’s back!”
The news spread like wildfire across the inner and outer courts. By the time Alanah and her new mate reached the castle, almost everyone from the highest born noblewomen to the lowliest scullery maid had already gathered to greet her.
Alanah could see the curiosity and in some cases hope, in their eyes. This, in turn, gave her hope as well. She knew many of the women were tired of living in a world without men. And the Jor’gen Kindred, while huge in size, were gentle in spirit and lovely to look upon. She had certainly never seen a man as handsome as Bram—although it was possible she might be a little prejudiced in his favor since she was so in love with him, she admitted to herself.
She was wearing a simple yet elegant grayish-blue gown Bram had made for her and Bram himself was dressed in his uniform, as were all the Kindred warriors who accompanied him. They looked handsome with their long braids twisted into clubs at the back of their necks, their immense height, and their tight black leather trousers and deep blue uniform shirts.
Handsome but alien too, Alanah thought with a touch of unease. She just hoped she was making the right decision to show them to her people all at once. But she wanted the women to see there was more than one giant—and possibly begin to wonder about the idea of taking one for a husband, as Alanah herself was.
“Alanah! My Princess, it’s so good to see you!” Jenla came running up to take her hands as soon as Alanah walked into the outer courtyard. “And…who is this you have brought with you?” She looked up at Ren, who was just behind Bram, with a kind of wonder in her eyes. He stared back intently until Jenla dropped her own gaze in apparent confusion.
“These are the people of Bram, my beloved,” Alanah said firmly, reaching for Bram’s hand. “Jenla, do me a favor and send the town crier around. Let everyone know that I need to see them at once, here in the outer courtyard.”
“They’ll come to see the giants but I don’t know what people will say,” Jenla murmured. “Thiera has been doing her best to poison everyone against you ever since you left. In fact, she’s got half the noblewomen to agree that she ought to depose you as ruler.”
“What?” Alanah exclaimed. She had guessed that the Elder Witch might get up to some mischief while she was gone, but this was beyond the pale. “Never mind,” she said, shaking her head. “Just get the crier to bring everyone here as soon as possible.”
“That won’t be hard,” Jenla said. “Almost everyone in the outlying settlements has moved in towards the castle since the red-eyed death anyway. Rounding them up should take only a little while.”
She cast a last shy look over her shoulder at Ren, then ran off to find the crier, a girl named Grenlah who had a voice that could rattle windows in their panes.
“The red-eyed death?” Ren asked in a low voice as some of the crew they had brought with them started setting up the props Alanah had asked for.
“It’s what we called the plague which carried off our men,” Alanah explained softly. “The very first symptom is that the whites of the eyes turn as red as blood.” She swallowed hard. “I remember the first time I saw it—my father, he was the first to…to catch it. And his eyes…” She shook her head, unable to go on.
“Forgive me if I caused you pain, Princess,” Ren said hastily.
“No, it’s all right.” Alanah took a deep breath. “I’ll be fine.”
“You’ll be perfect,” Bram assured her, stroking her hair gently. “Are you ready to speak to your people, little one? I can hear the crier calling them now.” He winced. “Whoever it is, she has a voice like an alarm klaxon.”
“Yes, Grenlah actually has a much better voice for crying the news than her older brother did,” Alanah remarked. “She took over the job after…after the plague took him.”
In a few minutes Jenla came rushing up again.
“I think most everyone is here, my Princess. Should we begin?”
“I don’t see Thiera.” Alanah scanned the crowd. “Where is she?”
Jenla shrugged. “Who knows? In her magic room, most likely. You know the walls are thick in that part of the castle—it might be she can’t hear the crier. Or she might be ignoring the summons.”
“Let her ignore it if she wants to,” Alanah remarked. To be honest, she was somewhat relieved. Not having Thiera here would make it much easier to make her case to the skeptical group of noblewomen she saw standing near the front of the crowd with arms crossed over their chests and eyebrows raised.
“Show time, little one,” Bram murmured in her ear. “Everything is ready to go.”
“All right. Thank you.” She looked up to give him a grateful smile and Bram leaned down from his great height to give her a swift kiss on the lips.
There were scandalized murmurs from the noblewomen but many of the others looked more hopeful than upset.
Taking a deep breath, Alanah stepped forward.
“My people,” she said in a voice which echoed and carried in the large outer courtyard almost as well as Grenlah’s. “I bring you dire news—our world is in danger.”
“What?” Some of the women looked disbelieving—others turned pale.
“If you will be still I will show you what I mean,” Alanah told them, raising her hands to keep them quiet.
She stepped up beside the huge, portable viewscreen the Kindred had brought out and set up for her and motioned to Ren who was controlling it.
“Look into this mirror,” she told the crowd. “For it reflects things that are to come.”
The viewscreen flickered to life and many of the women gasped and made signs to ward off the evil eye.
“You do not have to fear the mirror,” Alanah told them quickly. “It will do you no harm—it only shows the future.”
In fact, this was a great simplification of the technology of the viewscreen but since she didn’t understand it herself, Alanah had decided to go ahead and take a mystical approach in dealing with her people. Time enough to teach them all about the “science” Bram was so excited for her to learn—for now, she had to speak in terms they could understand.
On the screen, an image suddenly appeared—it was a boulder made of rock and ice—a boulder so vast it nearly filled the entire screen. It was speeding through the darkness of space with faint stars flickering in the background.
“Behold, the world-killer,” Alanah told her people. “This is what Bram’s people call an ‘asteroid.’”
“A massive chunk of rock and ice which travels through the heavens above,” Bram put in helpfully. “This one is as tall as your tallest mountain.”
“And unfortunately, it is headed directly at our little world—at our very kingdom.” Alanah tried to keep her voice steady and her face calm as murmurs of dismay and whispers of worry rippled through the crowd. “When it reaches us, well…”
She pointed at the viewscreen which showed a new picture. The massive rock slammed into a round planet and burst it apart with pieces spinning off in all directions. Ren had explained to her this was what was called a “simulation”—a picture of what might happen in the future but hadn’t happened yet. It seemed to have a great effect on the assembled women. Many turned white and one or two fainted and had to be revived by their friends who held smelling salts under their noses.
“I know what the mirror shows is frightening, but don’t be alarmed, my people,” she said, raising her voice to be heard over the babble of the crowd. “We will not perish.”
“How shall we not?” shouted a voice from the crowd. “When this thing—this mountain from the darkness—is about to hit us?”
“It will not hit us,” Alanah said firmly. “Because we will not be here.” She held out a hand to Bram. “This giant—my giant—is Captain Bram of the Jor’gen Kindred. He and his people have volunteered to take us far from here before the world-killer can reach us.”
“Go with the giants?” demanded one of the women. And another asked, “Where will they take us?”
“Why straight to the fiery depths, of course!” a new voice rang out. “For they are demons from the pit, sent to drag us there.”
Alanah sighed deeply as she saw Thiera the Elder Witch pushing her way to the front of the crowd. Apparently she had heard the crier after all. She was wearing her traditional black feather headdress and cape and looking both regal and wrathful.
“They will not take us anywhere but up to their ship, which flies through the sky as our ships float on water,” Alanah said, making her voice strong and assertive.
“Lies!” Thiera exclaimed in her high, dramatic voice. “How can a solid ship float in the air?”
“I have been there,” Alanah said. “I have seen it. Where do you think this far-seeing mirror came from? Their ship is full of such wonders. They have machines—mechanical contraptions—which can do in a matter of minutes the work we slave for days to complete. Truly, it is a marvel to behold.” Encouraged by the wondering looks of the other women, she continued. “It is always warm there and there is always enough to eat—no one need break their back to harvest grain or worry about going hungry if not enough is harvested.”
“And what are we to pay for the privilege of losing our home to view this ‘marvel?’ Thiera sneered. “Must we be the giants’ slaves the rest of our days? Call them ‘Master’ and bow to them as we all once bowed to the king?” She narrowed her beady black eyes. “Or do they want other things from us?”
“We wish nothing but to be of service to you,” Bram said, stepping forward to stand by Alanah’s side. “There is another planet in your solar system—we believe it is where your ancestors came from. It is far enough away that it won’t be affected by the fall out of the world-killer’s collision with your own planet. Anyone who wishes, we will deposit them there. Although…” he cleared his throat. “Any who wish to stay aboard our Mother Ship are also welcome.”
The Elder Witch snorted. “Now we come to the crux of the matter! They wish to use us for their pleasure.” She turned to face the crowd. “But they cannot! See how tall and huge the giants are! Even the smallest of them would split one of us in two if they tried to put a baby in us.”
“It’s true that the Jor’gen Kindred have very large, er, members,” Alanah said quickly. “But along with the other wonders aboard their ship, they grow a special fruit.” She reached into the folds of her cloak and held up the peachy-pink, triangular fruit. “It’s called a ‘bonding’ fruit and it helps a female to, er, open to a male—even a big male, like my Bram here.” She nodded up at her giant who nodded gravely back.
“Poison!” Thiera shrieked, pointed a shaking finger at the bonding fruit. “It’s poison! One bite will kill you.”
Alanah was tired of having to shout down the other women. Without taking her eyes off Thiera, she put the ripe bonding fruit to her mouth and bit down on the juicy, fresh flesh.
There was a collective gasp but Alanah didn’t stop eating, even though she could see Ren from the corner of her eye trying to tell her something. The fruit was delicious—sweet and salty and tart all at once and she wished she had more time to savor it.
“There,” she said when she was finished. “Did I die? Am I poisoned? Of course not! I tell you, my people, I have come to offer you life, not death. There is a whole new world waiting for us aboard the Jor’gen Kindred’s Mother Ship.”
“I will come with you.” Jenla came forward, her cheeks rosy, her eyes bright. She was looking not at Alanah, but at Ren, who was standing behind her. “I dreamed of you,” she said in a low voice. “I…I dreamed you needed me.”
“And so I do, lovely one.” Ren came forward to take her hands in both of his. Leaning down, he pressed gentle kisses into her palms. “I dreamed of you as well, Jenla,” he murmured.
“I dreamed of that one,” Grenlah the town crier exclaimed loudly, pointing at a strapping Kindred who was even a bit taller than Bram. He came forward and picked her up, spinning her around until she squealed in delight and laid an eager, smacking kiss on his lips.
After that, many of the women came forward. Young and old, rich or poor, almost everyone, it seemed, had been dreaming of the giants from beyond the stars.
At last there were only a handful of the sourest and snobbiest noblewomen left. They had clustered around Thiera, as though the Elder Witch could somehow protect them from this new threat.
Thiera, for her part, looked absolutely furious.
“Go if you wish,” she cried in a high, dramatic voice. “But know this—each and every one of you will be barren. For I will not say a ritual for any of you who go with these demon spawn. And you—” She stepped forward and poked Alanah in the chest hard, with one pointed finger. “You, my princess, will be damned for all eternity for leading your people into this evil trap.”
“Don’t touch my female,” Bram growled, stepping between them and glaring down at Thiera. “And no one needs your rituals, Witch. We of the Kindred have our own sacred oils and rites. We are well able to help our females bloom—just as I helped Alanah bloom last night.”
“Oh, Alanah—is that true?” It was Jenla, looking at her with hope and anxiety written on her pretty face. “Were you really able to bloom without the ritual?”
“It’s true.” Alanah gave her a reassuring hug. “You need not fear. The Kindred have arts which far surpasses anything the Elder Witch can do. We do not need her—she has no power over us anymore.”
“No power, eh?” Thiera’s face was a mask of fury. Suddenly she stepped forward and pulled one long, sharp feather from the rustling headdress she wore. Quick as a striking snake, she darted at Alanah.
“Oh no, you don’t!” Bram moved to intercept her but the Elder Witch didn’t even try to get around him. Instead, she reached out and scratched the back of his hand with the quill end of the pitch-black feather she held.
“I…you…” Bram took a staggering step back, as though suddenly unsteady.
“Bram?” Alanah ran to his side just as he slumped to his knees. “Bram, beloved, what is it?” she exclaimed.
“I…I don’t know. She…she’s done something to me.” His head was hanging low but at last he managed to look up at Alanah.
What she saw in his face made her gasp in horror.
“Oh Gods and Goddesses, no…no!” She put a hand to her mouth as though to stifle the cry of terror and grief but she couldn’t hold it back.
“What? What is it?” Jenla rushed to put her arm around Alanah, supportive as always. But when she saw Bram, she gave a cry too. “The red-eyed death! The plague,” she moaned. “Oh Gods above, no! No, please—not again!”
For the whites of the big Kindred’s eyes had suddenly turned blood-red. It was an unmistakable sign that death was stalking him.
“Bram!” Alanah felt tears rise in her eyes, but then her sorrow turned to fury. “You!” She rounded on the Elder Witch, pointing an accusing finger at the older woman. “You did this! You gave my beloved the plague.” Sudden understanding dawned on her. “And you must have given it to my father as well.”
“And if I did? What of it?” Thiera held her head high, looking down her long nose at Alanah as though she was less than dirt. “He had ruled too long and I was tired of being under his thumb. I knew the only way to take control was to get rid of him.”
“But…all the other men.” Jenla looked at her numbly. “All the brothers and husbands and sons and fathers and fiancés. I lost my Yulen.”
“And I lost my Tiffen—my little boy,” another woman said, coming forward.
“And my husband!”
“And my little brother, Gareth. He never did anyone any harm—he was only nine!”
As more and more women came forward, Thiera held up her hands imperiously for silence.
“It was regrettable that the plague spread from the king to the other males in our kingdom,” she said loudly. “But what does it really matter? What good are men anyway? We are better off without them, are we not?”
“You may well say that, Thiera,” Alanah said, her voice still shaky with grief and shock. “Because you didn’t lose anyone. In fact, I think you’re the only woman who didn’t.”
“She killed our men! Our husbands and fathers and sons and brothers!” shouted Grenlah, who had left her tall Kindred to come stand by Alanah and Jenla. “The Witch took everyone we loved and she’s not even sorry!”
“Stone her!” someone shouted and soon others took up the chant.
“She killed those we loved!”
“Kill her!”
“Hang her!”
“Stone the Witch! Stone her dead!”
“No! No, wait!” Alanah gasped, throwing out her arms to stop the mob from surging forward. “Wait, I must get the antidote first! I cannot let another man I love die of the red-eyed plague!”
But Thiera laughed shrilly in her face.
“Stone me, Princess, if you dare. But don’t hold out hope I’ll give you the cure—there is no cure.” She pointed her finger at Bram, who was still on his knees, his breathing labored. “He’s dead! Already dead! As dead as that old fool, your father!”
Alanah couldn’t help herself then. She drew back her hand and slapped the Elder Witch as hard as she could. Then she ran to Bram and threw her arms around his neck.
“Bram, oh, Bram!” she gasped, pressing her face to his broad shoulder as tears began to well from her eyes.
“What is this? What has she done? What poison did she use?” Ren was suddenly there beside her, looking anxiously at Bram, whose eyes were red as blood.
“Don’t touch him, my love.” Jenla was at his side, urging him to step back. “The red-eyed plague spreads like wildfire between males who touch. You must be careful”
“She’s…right,” Bram rasped, holding up a hand to tell his friend to keep his distance. “Can’t…risk contaminating the crew. Stay…back.”
“The hell I will.” Ren sounded angry. Lifting his voice, he stared shouting orders. “Trek, bring me a hazmat suit in the captain’s size—I know we have at least one in the shuttles. And you two…” He pointed at two large Kindred guards. “Hold that female’s arms and take away her cape and headdress.”
“No! No!” Thiera struggled against the strong hands that restrained her.
“Careful,” Ren directed. “Don’t let her scratch you with the feathers—they’re poisoned.”
At that moment the first Kindred called Trek came back, carrying a bulky white bundle.
“Princess,” Ren said, taking it from his hands and turning to Alanah. “Do you think you can help Bram put this on? It will keep the infection—the poison—contained so that it cannot infect anyone else.”
“I…I think so. But what can you do for him?” Alanah asked anxiously. “Can…can you cure him?”
“I’m going to try my damndest—with the help of those.” He pointed to the feathered headdress and cape which one of the Kindred guards was holding at an arms length, as though it was a poison snake which might strike at any moment. He nodded at the angry Thiera, still hissing and spitting like a scalded catkin in the guards’ grip. “If she won’t tell us what the poison is, I’ll analyze it myself and concoct an antidote.”
Alanah felt a surge of hope. “Oh, do you really think you can?” she whispered.
Ren looked at her seriously.
“Princess, I swear to you now I will heal him. Bram is my dearest friend—I will not let him die.”
“Thank you,” Alanah whispered but inside she still felt a cold finger of dread. No male who had contracted the red-eyed death had ever lived. Could her new love really survive this? And what would she do if he didn’t?
Can’t think about that now, she told herself as she and Jenla helped Bram put on the strange white suit. Now I have to concentrate on getting him safely back up to the ship.
But she knew such thoughts couldn’t be kept at bay forever, The loss of her father and all the other men of their little kingdom hovered at the back of her mind like a black cloud, threatening to obscure her vision with grief and fear at any moment.