The Lereni Trade (11 page)

Karik's icy glare melted slightly as
he held the clothing to her. "The Tah'Na expect
presentation."

She took the clothes and he
disappeared as silently as he had come. Krissa held up the gown, a
semi-sheer fabric that elicited a grimace from her. She clearly
didn't like it.

"It will be temporary." Torik knew it
was hardly reassuring when that "temporary" likely meant an end in
the form of her death as a demonstration to the Onduun of their
intentions to stir up further unrest. The Tah'Na had put them in a
worse situation.

And, by the pallor that fell over her
face, she understood that too. She lifted her eyes to him and that
unease transformed into a hardness of determination that lifted her
chin. This girl they had taken only five days ago had transformed
as rumors of the Onduun reported—quick to adapt. But she hadn't yet
shown her true abilities, something they had withheld from her
because of the Tah'Na warnings. He wasn't sure she was ready, even
after the transition she had made to accepting all this.

And he wasn't sure he wanted her to
know. Part of him longed for the freedom he had known as a young
child and a return to traditional ways without the oversight of the
Tah'Na. That fed into the guilt of seeing her traded as an object
when he also saw a being of inner strength.

Why had the Onduun chancellor
abandoned her own child on that remote world? How were the Inari
involved?

The Tah'Na were playing them and the
Onduun, but the team had suspected since the assignment of this
mission. This couldn't end well for Leisil either way, and in that,
the conquerors would ensure their destruction.

While standing at the top of the ramp
feeling almost naked, Krissa took several deep breaths to calm her
jitters.

The light clothes she wore were the
last thing she would have expected, leaving nothing for the
imagination in what they revealed beneath. A wide collar of silver
material with its intricate pattern of beads was all that held the
cape around her, which further muted the outline of her body but
provided no comfort in the chill of the ship. Her only hope was
that the temperature outside was tropical. Her only comfort came in
knowing that she wouldn't be judged by humans but by aliens who
knew nothing of human anatomy. Any other time, she would have loved
for guys to stare at her with a certain amount of interest; none
had ever given her the satisfaction of feeling attractive. Now, she
had mixed feelings, since her Lereni captors had made it clear that
her best chance at survival rested in enchanting the
Tah'Na.

The least they could have done was to
show her what the species looked like, or maybe that was their way
of saying the Tah'Na would be unappealing.

A hand on her shoulder startled her
and she caught her breath to look up in relief.

"Torik."

That he tried to smile gave her some
small comfort, but his face displayed a twist of pain. Her heart
sank to see him distraught. That was why she had agreed to this.
Rather than making them force her, which Karik would have done
anyway, she had seen no other choice and no reason for living when
no one had seemed to care about her. But since first meeting her,
Torik had shown her nothing but kindness and friendship, inspiring
a hope that maybe her life meant something and that it might be
worthwhile to live.

But it wasn't worthwhile if she knew
that he and his world would continue to suffer under the reign of
the Tah'Na.

"Karik was right to insist on
changing," he said in a low voice, letting his warm hand slide off
her shoulder to leave it colder than it had been before his touch.
"I suspect he took our discussion into consideration."

"Discussion?"

"Yesterday, in the lounge."

That discussion.

Before she could question him further,
the tap of steps on the grate of the ship's lower hold drew both
their eyes to the figures joining them.

Korr and Theen eyed her with a
regretful approval, if she read their less-than-enthusiastic
expressions correctly.

"You've given me more respect and
kindness than anyone," she told them all, the Lereni language
flowing easily already, a skill she now attributed to not being
human. "For that, I'm grateful. I hope your world is
freed."

"Your sacrifice will be remembered and
honored," Theen said.

Behind him, a surly face appeared, but
green eyes on that face went to Torik, avoiding her completely.
"Open the hatch," Karik ordered, cutting off the awkward moment of
regrets.

Torik reached forward and touched the
controls.

A sharp hiss accompanied a puff of
warm air pungent with strange but not unpleasant scents. The breeze
blew back the cape and her loose hair that she had managed to clean
in her preparatory bath, a small luxury with their limited recycled
water.

The piercing squeak of metal on metal
preceded the steady lowering of the ramp before her and the
widening line of glaring light.

Like the aliens around her, she lifted
a hand to shield her eyes and had the fleeting thought that the
lights in the ship had been dim compared to daylight; but her
Lereni captors had taken her at night. It had been a while since
she had last seen sunlight. Her eyes would adjust, but she hadn't
realized how dark the ship had been.

Sooner than she expected, she was able
to drop her hand and blinked away the brief spots to stare upon the
limited view of a smooth metal ground, which rang briefly from the
touch down of the ramp.

A light push at the small of her back
encouraged her forward. She took a breath and stepped down, the
discordant clatter of heavy steps behind her drowning her soft
sandal footfalls.

Each step down revealed to her a
greater majesty of the rich world upon which she set foot. She
lifted her eyes to the monuments around her, where the glaring
beauty of metal pierced the sky and flowed like spouts of water
frozen by the skill of architects. Bold in their fortitude and
shining in their radiance, a hint of the grandiose designs of the
builders, revealed vulgar schemes and pride such as what the Lereni
crew had warned about. The holographic images had done little
justice to standing as a bug among the giant monuments of Tah'Na
egos. Not far from the ship, the metal plate ended. Some distance
beyond a vast valley, orange and red and brown foliage at the far
cliffside draped the flow of white mist disappearing into a faint
crash that sounded far below.

Her first glimpse of an alien world
ended too soon at the rising hum of a machine.

Torik's gentle nudge to follow Karik
moved her feet. Not far from the ramp, she stopped behind him
facing several alien creatures, most of them above and surrounding
them. One stood upon a strange pedestal hovering a foot above the
ground before them. All were a hint of bluish gray with strange
tattoos upon exposed chests and arms—four arms. Those surrounding
them on what appeared to be gun sleds stared through targeting
holograms. The sun glinted off platinum caps on their
heads.

The one before them stood upon a
different scooter, no targeting visible. If he had weapons, she
wouldn't have known, but judging from the open ports on the front
width of steering columns on the others and those ominous displays
absent on the one, she guessed he was innocuous.

The blue-gray alien before them was
also dressed differently. While the others all wore the same gray
and black leggings and metal chest pieces with the same intricate
design as their head pieces, the lone greeter wore a simple cape
with this leggings, exposing his broad, tattooed chest.

"We are here—"

"I know who you are and why you are here." The alien cut
off Karik and looked down his wide nose at them with a sniff of
contempt. "I am
Kinyin
Raou Tormac. If you will step on the platform, I will
escort you to Premier Raou Salos."

Platform? She didn't see any
platform.

One of the upper pair of arms—the
lower two held the steering controls of his floating
scooter—motioned with a swish of flair to the footing before
them.

She saw it then, the circle. Circles
all around the perimeter of the landing area.

A steady grip on her shoulders guided
her to the nearest circle, the Lereni pressing in around her to fit
on it.

Their escort's mouth twitched into a
hint of approval before he turned his scooter towards the buildings
across a length of bridge.

A sudden lifting and forward movement
startled Krissa. At a loss for balance, she latched with each hand
onto the nearest objects.

After recovering her breath, she dared
a look down at the ground passing beneath the metal circle on which
she stood with the Lereni. Her confidence in her balance renewed,
she turned aside with the intent to apologize for digging her nails
into the arm of one of the crew.

And felt her insides go
cold.

Although he only looked down at her
hand, Karik's notice of her grip on his sleeve was like a bee
sting.

She snatched her hand away and turned
to her other side.

Korr gave a tip of his head that
assured her he took no offense.

But that she had grabbed at Karik set
her insides tumbling in dread. How would this play out with the
Tah'Na if he despised her action?

"Torik?" She dared not twist around,
fearing the loss of her balance and sending them all
tumbling.

A warm hand landed on her shoulder.
"Behind you," his gentle voice said.

She reached up and grasped his hand in
reassurance.

They rode the length of narrow walkway
from the ship to the city structures, the guards hovering in
accompaniment around them. The highrises grew as they approached
the bases, making her feel like a bug among blades of grass. Her
only comfort came in having her friends around her. Their escort
hovered before them, leading them to the buildings. Others of their
kind walked or hovered about on similar scooters, all as
elaborately attired as their escort.

Feeling more self-conscious under
their curious stares, Krissa wanted to hide amidst her Lereni
friends but could only squeeze Torik's fingers and Korr's
arm.

They rode in silence, her anxieties
about this trade growing. Without comment, Raou Tormac led them
through a gate before a vast expanse of courtyard before the
pyramid she recognized from their display.

Her breath caught in her throat as
much in awe of its resplendent beauty, a class far above the
ancient pyramids of Earth, as in fear of what would soon
come.

She didn't want to leave her new
friends, not even Karik.

But they deserved to have their
freedom, and only she could make that happen.

Guards stood in perfect lines facing
the road to the large front doors at the base of the
structure.

"Stand proud," a voice whispered from
behind as Torik withdrew his hand. "You are the daughter of
Chancellor Naperi. You deserve their respect."

Easy for him to say. He wasn't on
display being judged.

Despite her trepidations about the
nature of the Tah'Na to uphold such dignities, she set her
shoulders and lifted her chin.

"Better," a voice from beside her
muttered.

She almost faltered in a moment of
confusion at the realization but straightened her posture and
supported herself while floating through the doors into a hall of
dark stone even more extravagant than the exterior.

They continued past pillars of light
that touched streaks of gold in the black stone and set them
blazing. If the Tah'Na sought to impress guests, they certainly
knew how to stun in their architecture.

Krissa stared in astonishment and
hardly noticed that they stopped at another double door, until her
eyes rested on the figure languidly draped over a chaise at the top
of the dais at the far end. Pillars supported a veranda above it in
the tall hall of stone cast in light from the high windows all
around. Several guards stood on different levels of the
dais.

"Enter," a voice said with an air of
annoyance.

It sent a shudder through Krissa to
the same effect as metal scraping against metal.

The sudden start of the platform
beneath her stole her attention from the sprouting distaste for the
Tah'Na and the thoughts it inspired of how she could turn on them
what they imposed on others like the Lereni. Once again, she had to
focus on her balance, until the platform came to a stop several
paces from the base of the dais.

At the top, the figure moved, dropping
feet and sitting up.

The platform beneath them lowered to
the floor.

"The Lereni, as you expected," Tormac
said in their language and bowed his head to the other.

"Premier Raou Salos. We bring the
daughter of Naperi in exchange for our world, as agreed," Karik
said with that unforgiving tone that bore an edge of
growl.