The Days of the Golden Moons (The Two Moons of Rehnor, Book 5) (19 page)

Tuman
and I glanced at each other.

"Ach
no," Senya said and made a move to go back upstairs.

"Come
now, Senya," I said and intercepted him.  "It may be the only way to
end this invasion."

"Go
on," Tuman agreed, catching his other arm.  "Go out there and show
yourself to be a normal man.  Well, as near normal as you can be and when you
are finished, and they have dispersed, perhaps Katie will make us lunch."

“Come
on, Mike,” the lady waved.  “You got us into this mess, so now you can get us
out of it.”

“Mike?”
Rekah repeated.

“Chapter
12 in your mother's book,” Tuman replied.

As
soon as Senya came outside, the crowd grew silent.  He limped across his front
porch and sat down in my father's chair whilst Wertoka and Keko brought out
chairs for the rest of us.  The lady sat next to him though she turned her back
to him and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

“Rekah,
call the people forward,” I said, gazing across the sea of bodies, bowed over
in obeisance, flowing out of the woodlands and into the village proper.  Rekah
named someone from our own village who was in the first row. 

A
young man stepped forward and then fell to his knees again.

“Sir,”
he said in a shaky voice.  “I have an affliction of the skin.”  He held out his
arm and showed us the scaly red bumps upon it.  “It is always itchy and
bothersome to me.  Can you fix it?”

Senya's
brow furrowed, and he lit yet another cigarette. 

“There
is a SdK hospital in Turko,” Katie said to which Tuman translated.  “We have
really good dermatologists at the clinic there.  You need to go there, and they
will cure you of this.”

The
man looked at Senya who was casually smoking his cigarette, his eyes blankly
flickering toward the sky.  Rekah called another forward.  This time it was a
woman with a small boy.  They made obeisance, and then the mother told how the
boy was small for his age and weak.

“What
is he eating?” Katie asked.  The mother described his diet.  “He needs more vitamins,”
Katie decided and told her so.  “He should be drinking three glasses of milk a
day too.”

“He
doesn't like milk,” the mother replied.  “It upsets his stomach.”

“Then
he should be drinking goat milk,” Katie suggested.  “And eating yogurt and
cheese.  He needs more protein and calcium.”

Senya
breathed great puffs of grey smoke into the air and looked bored.  Rekah picked
at the dirt beneath his fingernails and looked bored.  I was bored.  Another
woman came forward and fell to her knees.  In a shaky voice, she told everyone
how she was barren. 

“Please,
Sir,” she begged.  “Grant me a child.”

“There's
only one way he can do that,” Katie replied and then turning to my son, she
asked, “Are you up for it, Mike?” 

Senya
glared at his wife.  “I've had enough of this,” he said and rose to his feet. 
We all rose as well except for Katie who leaned back in her chair.

“Well,
she is kind of young for you.”

“Get
up!” Senya growled.

“No,”
Katie replied.  “I'm just getting started here.  Look at all those people out
there waiting for me to tell them what to do.”  Senya grabbed her hand and
pulled her to her feet.

“Go
upstairs now!” he ordered.

 “Okay!
 Okay!  Chill!”  She scampered back into the house.

“The
rest of you, get out!”  Senya turned back to the throngs.  “Get you to your own
villages.  If you are ill, then go to one of my ten thousand fucking
hospitals.  I will not tolerate this disturbance of my village any longer.  If
you do not live here and have not been invited to visit, then you will be
prosecuted for trespassing.  Go!”  He waved his hand at the sky for good
measure, and a tremendous bolt of lightning streaked across it.  Thunder
boomed, and dark clouds encompassed us when only a moment before it was clear
and sunny.  Rain came down in torrents, and thankfully everyone scrambled away
for shelter.  Senya was about to go back inside when he turned and faced the
distant ocean.  He waved his hand again.

“What
was that for?” Tuman asked as we peered into the clouds.

“Might
as well make it rain in Mishnah too,” Senya replied.  “Bloody well flood the
place.” 

From
the shelter beneath the porch roof, we watched the worshippers quickly depart. 
The pathways were turning to mud, and the rain was pounding over our heads and
rushing through the gutters.  The river behind the house had already grown
swollen and loud.

“How
does he do that?” Rekah asked, practically shouting to make himself heard. 
“How does he make it rain whenever he wants?”  Rekah held out his hand to catch
a few drops as if to reassure himself that the rain was real.

“Chapter
7 in your mother's book,” Tuman shouted back.  “How Sehron Controls the Weather
and Other Planetary Functions.” 

“I'm
going home,” I announced and happily did so.

Chapter 28

Katie

“I
have had absolutely enough of this!” he shouted.  Shouted!  The door slammed
behind him.  I glanced at the window.  “You are not going out there again.”

“I
wasn't planning to,” I replied.  “I was just wondering if it was going to end
up in my skull.”

“It
just might at that,” he declared and waved his hand.  My heart stopped.  I
watched the window.  “I am sick and tired of this,” he put his hand down.

“Maybe
you're just sick and tired,” I suggested quietly, still watching the window
though my heart had restarted.  His eyes flashed angrily.

“Do
you really mean to do this?” he demanded.  “Do you really intend to anger me so
much that…”

“That
what?  You want to lock me away again?”

“I
didn't want to lock you away!” he roared.  Thunder clapped overhead.  The house
shook.  “How many times do I have to tell you this?  What I want is
immaterial!”

“That's
bogus!” I screamed back.  “I don't believe that for a minute.  You control the
sun and moon and stars and all the ships at sea.”

“I
don't,” he said, shaking his head, his voice going quiet.  “I really don't.”

“You
do!”  Despite my best efforts, I had tears streaming down my cheeks.  “How did
you fix that child's head?”

He
turned his brilliant eyes to the floor and frowned.  I glared at him, swiping
at everything that was leaking from my face.

“I
don't want to argue with you, Katie.  I don't want to fight with you.  I love
you.”

"Well
you sure have a funny way of showing it," I snapped.  

He
didn’t respond, just continued to stare at the floor with his blank eyes.  I sat
down on the bed.

“You
are not to leave this room,” he said softly.  “The doors and the windows will
no longer open for you.”

“I'm
a prisoner?” I sniffed.

“As
am I,” he replied and left me sitting there.

"Madame,"
Keko pounded on the door.  "I have dinner for you on a tray."

"I
don't want it.  Take it away."

"Alright,
then," the old man replied.  "I will leave it right here by the door
in case you change your mind."

"Don't
worry, I won't," I called though he probably didn’t hear me.  I buried my head
under my pillow as he shut the door.  I considered calling him back, getting
him to open the door and making a run for it.  Where would I run to?  I was
done climbing trees and camping in the forest.  I could go to the Command
Center I supposed and throw myself on the mercy of Telix and his crew.  Would
they disobey the Evil Emperor's order and protect me?  Not likely.

The
vid rang.  It was Caroline.

"How
y'all doing there, honey?" she sang.  I shouldn't have answered.  "Y'all
having a second honeymoon?  Taner and me are having a first honeymoon since we
didn't do anything but spend a weekend in the Palace not working, the first
time around.  Gosh, we're over here in Turko at this absolutely gorgeous estate
that is Taner's and I, myself, am feeling like a queen too and let me tell you,
Katie, I'm loving that feeling.  What's the matter, honey?  How come you're so
quiet there?  And why don't you turn on the vid view?  I want you to see this
yummy sweater I bought and Luci talked me into washing the grey right out of my
hair and putting some blonde highlights in instead.  I'm looking and feeling
like I'm twenty-five again except this time I'm not getting myself space sick
or nearly killed every day on that nasty spaceship."

"Great,
Caroline.  Good for you."

"Uh
oh," she said.  "That don't sound too good.  Something going on
there?  You and the Big Man still having a little tiff?"

"That
would be a massive understatement," I mumbled.

"Hmmm. 
You want to speak to Taner about it?"

"No!"
I cried.  That's all I needed, one more of Senya’s loyal flunkies to tell me to
buck it up and enjoy captivity and servitude for the greater good.

"Alright,
okay, no need to bite my head off," she said and then brightly continued.  "Hey,
did you hear about the throngs of people in Mishnah a few days ago?  All these
crazy people somehow got this notion in their heads that your delightful
husband is some kind of angel.  Isn't that a kick?  Even Taner believes
it."

"What?"
I bolted upright.  "Taner believes it?"

"Yes,
I declare," she laughed.  "I told him that was the gall darn craziest
thing he has ever said, but he insists that HIM put his hand on Taner's chest
and that cleared his arteries and restarted his heart and now he is as fit and
healthy as a man half his age and let me tell you, Miss Katie, I can swear to
that.  And so Taner said HIM must be some kind of angel or something to be able
to save his life right there and then and the whole time Taner was seeing this
bright light and then when his vision cleared HIM had a sort of halo circling
his head."

"Man
oh man," I sighed.  Now even Taner's gone off the deep end.  "Why
don't you remind him what a fricking bastard Senya is and about his propensity
to break things and kill people?  Remind him how his great and wondrous angel
invaded Rozari a month ago and he begged me to find a way to stop him.  And
when you are done telling him that, tell him, I think Senya like every other
Karut savage in this godforsaken village is barely more advanced than a
Neanderthal and the only way he fixed Taner's heart is to direct his beta
protein energy at the blockage instead of causing a lightning storm with it,
and there is absolutely nothing angel-like about that!"

"My
heavens!" Caroline gasped.  "Alright, I'll tell him all that if you want
me to.  Let me just ask you one question though."

"What?"

"Where
does this beta protein energy come from and why doesn't a single other person
in the known galaxy have it?"

"That's
two questions!" I snapped.  "And I don't know, and I don't care! 
Goodbye Caroline!"  I clicked off the vid and buried my head under my
pillow again.

The
door opened.  "Go away, Keko!" I shouted from beneath my pillow. 
"And take your dinner tray with you."

It
was Senya.  I could hear how he limped across the room.  He lay down on the bed
next to me.

"What
do you want?" I demanded still beneath the pillow.

"Nothing
from you," he mumbled.  "I want to sleep.  I am tired.  This is my
bed."

I
pulled the pillow off my head and looked at him.  "Ok," I said. 
"I'll go someplace else."

He
sighed.  "Don't go anywhere.  Just stay right there and if you must,
pretend I am not here."

"I'll
just to do that."  I turned my back to him and threw the blanket over my
head.

He
sighed again.

I
tossed.  I turned.  "Are you going to get under the blanket," I
demanded.

"Why?"

"It’s
pinning me down with you on top like that.  It's not comfortable.  I'm too hot."

He
moved aside for a moment and I pulled the blanket out from beneath him.

"Are
you going to sleep in your clothes or are you waiting for your valet?"

He
pulled off his shirt.  Yikes!  His whole right arm was nothing but tattoos up
one side and down another.  "Why'd you let them do this to you?"

He
shrugged and lay down again.  "What reason did I have to say no?"

"It’s
your body..." I started to say and then shut up.  He belonged to them.  I
covered him with the blanket and then settled down again.  In a short time, he was
sleeping. 

I
couldn’t sleep now.  I laid there listening to him breathing, sometimes
mumbling strange words in his dreams.  Sometimes things moved when he slept; a
hairbrush, my shoe, his netbook would all go flying about the bedroom, years
ago in Takira-hahr. 

He
moaned a little and turned to his side.  I watched his face studying the lines
it, the silver hair in his beard.  I remember when he was a boy and how I would
lie awake at night staring at his face wondering how in the universe he ended
up here next to me.  I wondered the same thing now.  Almost involuntarily, I
reached up and gently stroked his hair and that's when I saw it.  There was an
aura surrounding him.  There was a light given off by the silver hair, and it
formed a sort of halo around him.  My hand ran through the light.  I could see
it reflected in my own skin.  "Beta proteins," I told myself.  I
whispered it like a mantra until I fell asleep.

Sometime
during the night, I forgot the last ten years happened.  Sometime during the
night, I folded myself into his skin, and he into me.  For a few beautiful
moments, all was right with the world, and everything was as it should have been. 
"Forgive me," he said and I did.

It
was morning and sunlight was streaming in through the windows.  Senya was
smoking a cigarette with his bad leg propped across mine, pinning me down just
in case I thought to escape.  I was not particularly interested in escaping
anywhere right now.  I was happily a victim of Stockholm syndrome and content
to be that way for the rest of my life.  Someone was on the vid droning on and
on with a morning report.

"I
hate when you smoke in bed," I said, playing with the silver strands in Senya’s
hair.  They glistened and sparkled like his eyes, sending out light, fooling
everyone into thinking he was some kind of angel.

"Shhh,
I'm listening."  He put his hand over my mouth.

"Sorry,
Your Majesty?" the disembodied voice said.

"Nothing,
continue."  Senya decided his hand could be put to better use elsewhere.  
I gently move his leg off me and pushing him back down in the pillows, I climbed
on top and carefully straddled him.

"Now
listen to me," I demanded, taking away the cigarette.

"Beg
pardon, Sir?" the voice asked.

"Actually,
Lord Beket, I've got an urgent matter I need to attend to.  Eberly and Garing
are in the office.  Contact them if you need to.  I'm on vacation, right?"

"Uh,
Sir?"

"Right. 
That will be all then, Beket."  The vid clicked off.  "You were saying?" 
The silver light flashed in my face. 

"No,
don't you go blinding me either."  I covered his eyes with my hands. 
"I was going to say that this is your last and final chance Sehron de
Kudisha.  It'd better be happily ever after from here on out or...stop
that."

"Stop
this?  Really?"

"Ok,
don't stop that, but you had better promise me..."

"I
promise," he said solemnly.  "Ay ow!"

"Oh! 
Sorry!"  I leaned to the left away, from his bad leg.  "Better?"

"Ay
yah."

"How
about here?"

"Ay
yah, better still."

I
was breathing hard and drenched in sweat when the vid rang.

"Fuck,"
he mumbled into my chest.  "It's your mother."

"How
do you know?"

"How
do I know?" he scoffed and gingerly rolling onto his back, he lit a
cigarette. The vid clicked on.

"That
camera better be off," I warned, scrambling to find the blanket.

"Katie,"
my mother shrieked.  "Katie Anne, are you there?"

"Yes
Mom, I can hear you.  How are you, Mom?  Are you settled in now?"

"Oh
yes, it's lovely here, just wonderful.  When are you coming, dear?  I want to
go shopping with you.  Why don't you turn on the picture dear?  It's too dark.
I can't see you.   Katie?"

"I'm
busy right now, Mom, and I don't know when we are coming back yet.  Why don't
you tell Noka and Kira to take you shopping?  Do you want me to tell
them?"

"No,
no, I just want to go with you or Luci.  Is Luci there?  Hello Luci!"

"Luci's
not here," I laughed. "Senya...Ron is here.  Say hello to Mother,"
I told him.

"Hello
Charlotte," Senya said.

No
response.

"Mom?"

"Tell
him, I absolutely refuse to get down on my knees.  I don't care what everyone
here says.  I am not getting on my knees.  Frankly, I don't believe he's the big
muckety muck they all say he is. "

"Now
I am a muckety muck?" Senya turned to me.  "What does this mean? 
Muckety muck?"

"Hush. 
Mom you don't have to do anything you don't want to do.  Just enjoy yourself.  When
I get back, we'll go to the mall."  I glanced at Senya.  He shook his
head.  "Or we won't," I added.  "I'm still under house arrest. 
I'll have Luci take you.  You'll have more fun with her anyway."

"Well
that will be nice, dear.  Oh, someone is delivering lunch.  I must run. Goodbye,
dear.  Goodbye…uh, Ron."

"Goodbye
Charlotte," Senya called, exhaling a puff of smoke and smiling.  "I
adore your mother."