2199 Extinction

We disembark from the small ship and find ourselves standing inside the Zion Terminal. A building carved almost entirely of rock. We have a no-waste policy, so when they carved out sections of mountain rock for breeding grounds, the rock was hauled into town and used to build businesses and homes. Floor-to-ceiling breakable glass is used to make the walls of the terminal.

Once outside, we can see, the castle, ahead of us. It’s only about a ten-minute walk from the terminal. Proud, noble, watching over the city of Nix and its people. A mixture of feelings washes over me as I stare at it. Happiness for all the time I spent with my mother, and despair at the fact that she is no longer alive. No longer able to warm me with her smile. No longer able to give me advice.

I will find the underlying cause of my mother’s death if it’s the last thing I do.I will honor her memory and avenge her death!

I look around and see the Talfarian national flag being flown, a blue book on a red background, as well as the Nix Providence flag, black with a green X, being flown at half-mast. The book flag has always seemed a bit odd to me. I asked my mother about it when I was younger, and she said it was because Talfarians celebrated knowledge.

So, does that mean every other race is inferior to Talfarians? I wasn’t brave enough to ask her that question. How many races do you know that lay claim to being smarter than everyone else? The Nix Providence flag never drew as much interest for me. We learned about its history of it, but it just didn’t stick.

As it should be. My mother deserves the highest respect. Stores line the road, leading to the castle. Banners are draped over the front of the buildings with 3D images of my mother smiling and waving. The cobbled streets are full of Talfarians, some are walking, and some are rushing about. Life goes on for everyone else. Sure, they are sad at the loss of a great leader but after a few planetary rotations, it will be business as usual. But a few rotations won’t be enough to erase my deep sorrow. I fix my sight on my distant home, trying to ignore the images of my mother and the reminder of her death.

“Let’s hurry. The sooner we get there, the better.” Amlican says, looking at my face.

All around us, people start to take notice of me and call out their sorrow for my loss. Ugh. Why do people do that? Do they really believe that it helps? But after twenty-one years of my mother’s teachings I know to accept the well-meaning offers of sorrow and to thank them. Amlican does make a good point, so I pick up my pace, wishing we were, already, safely inside of the castle’s four walls.

We eventually make it through the crowded streets, through the mourners and those going about their daily lives, and come to the massive wooden doors that form the front entrance. I can see two, black hooded, Dolokki guards standing at either side of the doorway, and I know hundreds more are stationed throughout the castle.

The Dolokki are like the Talfarians except they have two faces on their head, one in the front of their head and one in the back. One face is always awake, watching where they are going, and the other sleeps. The hood, that they all wear, helps the other face to sleep. Very rarely do you ever see a Dolokki with its hood down? You can’t get much past them, as they are very perceptive. I remember testing how much they notice, when I was younger, got me into lots of trouble. I nod at the two guards as we walk by.

“Princess.” They respond in unison.

We walk through the long entryway, guards stationed near every doorway we pass. Several mourners are inside as well, a mixed collection of Talfarians and races from other planets. All those who have encountered, my mother, in some way or another, have turned out to pay their respects.

Tonight, will be the traditional feast in her honor, with several people hand-picked by Malum to sing her praises. Tomorrow, her body will be carried out to the riverside, where she will be put on a wooden raft, and then it will be set on fire.

This traditional funeral service is hundreds of thousands of years old. I wish they would bury her in the ground, as I’ve heard some aliens do. I really hate the thought of her being burned up, even though she is already dead. Although, burying her in the ground isn’t so great, either. Lots of scavengers on this planet, it makes me sick to think that one of them could dig her up. And eat her body.

I shake my head to clear my mind. Not exactly the happiest of thoughts. I look around and notice that we have made it to the throne room. Off to the left of the thrones, sits a small conference room. A place where my mother could talk to her advisors, without anyone overhearing. Mother’s throne sets next to Malum’s, and they are the main focus of the room. The whole room already looks so...I don’t know. Sad? Empty? Depressing?

To the right side is the door that leads to another room. Inside of this room is a large, round, table; big enough to hold fourteen. This is where my mother preferred to talk to anyone that brought a problem to her attention. Less intimidating for the people, and completely soundproof. And of course, there is Malum, sitting on his throne, making my mother’s seem even emptier.

“Astra! You have made it, safely! So glad to see you, my dear.” Malum says getting up, moving towards me, and enfolding me in his arms.

I automatically tense up. I’ve never liked him. Something about him that always seemed fake, and this time isn’t any different. Just a show for all of the people here. He is not fooling me. Amlican elbows me in the side. His way of reminding me to behave myself in front of all of these people. He knows me too well.

“Yes, I made it safely,” I say. “Where is Seri? I’d like to see my baby brother for a while.”

“With the Machin, of course. She does a wonderful job with him.” Malum says. “But you’ll have to wait to see him. We have so much we have to do, for tomorrow.”

“Where is Mother’s body? I’d like to see her one last time, to say my goodbyes, and to complete my birthright.”

“I have no problem with you saying goodbye, but she is already wrapped and waiting,” Malum explains.

“What do you mean, already wrapped? She just died, today. I still have time to say my goodbyes.” I say, my voice starting to rise.

“No, I’m sorry. She died four days ago. There was some sort of delay with the message getting to you. Not to worry, I’ll look into it and see why it took so long.”

“Four days?” I ask, surprised.

“Yes. As it is, I delayed the funeral long past tradition. I was beginning to worry. If you had not shown up, I would have been forced to have the funeral without you. Don’t want the Simrev to eat her.”

Four days?! We aren’t that far away, I don’t understand. He must have done it on purpose so that I couldn’t examine her body. And so, I could not complete the Talfarian Birthright of the Eldest. Now I’m sure, more than ever, that he killed her. I don’t say anything, I just glare at him, searching his eyes, for any signs of lies, but his face is blank. And while he returns my gaze, I can feel the hatred I have for him is mutual. I, alone, stand in the way of whatever he has planned. This doesn’t bode well for me. If I had Talfarian blood instead of Copaie, his stare might scare me, instead, it feeds my anger.

“Why don’t you two go talk, alone, in the conference room?” Amlican suggests.

“Good idea,” I say, breaking eye contact. I decide not to wait on Malum to walk to the conference room. Instead, I march angrily into the side room, turn around, face the door, and wait.

Malum grunts in response but he follows, shutting the door, behind us. We are now completely enclosed in the soundproof room. “What is it?” he sneers, as he turns around.

“Did you kill my mother?” I decide to just come right out and ask.

“Why would you ask me that?”

“You didn’t answer my question,” I say, folding my arms across my chest.

“Your mother was such a beauty. She fulfilled her purpose in this life and she moved on to the next. Shame she didn’t give me an equally beautiful daughter.” He replies casually.

“Is that a, yes?” I ask, feeling my face flush with anger.

“A daughter would have made my plans so much easier to fulfill. I do wish she was still alive, but she was no longer needed. She fulfilled her lot in life.” Malum says.

I can feel myself losing control of my temper. “You killed her, didn’t you?” I say balling up my fists at my side.

“Now, why would I do that? Let’s see, become King. Check. Have my wife produce an heir. Check. Become the sole leader. Check. Ensure that my heir, whom I will train to accomplish my goals, takes the throne. Check. Well, almost.” Malum says, arrogantly.

That is, it! I can’t take any more of his attitude! Maybe this will shut him up. I throw a punch at Malum and connect with his jaw. Then I throw another punch and hit his right eye before I can calm myself down.

“Thank you, that was a lot easier than I thought. I figured it would take a little more prodding to get you to blow your top. But obviously, those anger control classes aren’t working.

Thank goodness for that. Because now, I can finally rid this planet, no, the entire universe, of the scum called Copaie. No one will blame me, at all, when I call for the extermination of the Copaie. Shame the queen’s adopted daughter turned on her people.” he says.

The spot on his jaw is already red and starting to swell. His eye is turning black and swelling as well. Oh, boy. This is not good. I’ve made a mess this time. He opens the door and stumbles out of it, in an overly dramatic fashion.

“Help! Help me!” Two guards rush over, and all fifty of the people in the room, turn and stare. “I just lost my wife and now this dangerous monster has attacked me. She also threatened to attack and kill my son! The Queen’s blood son. Arrest her!”

Four guards head in my direction and panic sets in. I take off running, dodging in and out of the surprised people. I know this castle better than anyone else. If I can just make it to one of my hiding spots, I should be safe.

“Wait, stop!” One of the guards shouts.

I hear more shouting coming from behind me. This only fuels my fear and I run faster. I no longer have the protection of my mother. I’m just another Copaie to these people. Another danger that they must control, so I can’t trust anyone.

Once out of the throne room, I dodge through the hallways, duck into rooms that I know contain back passageways, and finally stop at the end of a hallway. No doors, anywhere. Ahead of me is piles of boxes filled with an assortment of old, forgotten about items, behind me awaits a fate unknown.

They will be here, shortly. I step over random boxes, careful not to disturb anything. And face the stone wall ahead of me. I run my hands along the bottom of the wall, find the nearly invisible lever, and pull it. The wall in front of me, splits open, half of it going to the right and the other half going to the left. I rush inside and push the block in, that’s sticking out.

I breathe a sigh of relief as the wall slides back into place. Just in time too, I swear I heard the echo of footsteps on the far end of the hallway, just before the wall slid completely shut. Thankfully, the wall is thick enough that I could scream at the top of my lungs for hours on end, and no one can hear me.

I turn around. Time to head to the room. I’m in a small, narrow, hallway. At the end of the hallway is another door. I walk through the door to find myself in another hallway. This narrow walkway is lined with doors.

Each door leads to a secret panel, undetectable from the outside unless you know what to look for. Being raised in this castle, and being as adventurous as I am, I of course know where every panel is. This hallway also ends in a door. I open it up and walk through it. I look around at the room I’m now in.

This place is well hidden in the center of the castle, forgotten by everyone but me. It’s a large square room, with a dozen bunks lining the far-left wall. Along the right side of the wall is several large dressers, leaving the middle open.

The open middle was the perfect place to practice my fighting skills, which is what I used to use it for. Now the middle is incredibly smaller because I moved a few food cabinets and bookshelves in here.

I’ve hidden in here for weeks at a time when Malum would drive me crazy. Along the back wall is a bathroom with several toilets and several showers that still work. I moved a small refrigeration unit along the right wall, next to the dressers, several planetary rotations ago.

The worst part about this place used to be the terrible lighting. The room used to stay dim, with deep shadows, but I fixed that last time I was home, by hanging several lanterns filled with Pulsis powder. I don’t know the original purpose for this area because I didn’t want to draw anyone’s attention to it.

But I’m fairly sure this used to be the sleeping room for guards, back before the Dolokki were created. Once they were created, there was no need for guard sleeping quarters, and the place was abandoned and forgotten. That must have been several thousand years ago. On the left side of the room, there is a door that leads out into a hallway. From there, I can move about the castle, undetected.

This has always been my favorite place to spend time, alone. I have always kept this place stocked with fresh food and clean clothes. Because I would come here when I started feeling overwhelmed by my mother’s expectations, by the day-to-day royal duties. Or when Malum would go on a tirade about all the enemies of Talfar and how they need to be eliminated.

When he would get in these moods, he was prone to breaking things. Pictures, books, valuable family heirlooms, he didn’t care. When I was little, I was afraid I would get hurt. Once I was older, I was afraid I would hurt him. This room is one secret that I never shared with anyone, including Amlican. I was afraid it would lose its specialness if I shared it with anyone, even my best friend.

I decide to shower and change my clothes. Now that I’m safely hidden, I do not have to get in a hurry. I walk into the bathroom and look around, nothing has changed. Along the right wall is six toilet stalls, each with its own door and lock.

Above each toilet is a mini wooden cabinet, each of them filled with toilet paper and scrubbers. Along the left wall, sits six sinks total, with one solid wooden shelf running across the wall, over all of the sinks. Above the sink shelf hangs a long mirror, also running the length of the sinks. The shelf is empty except for my stuff; my Silky hair and body wash, my toothbrush and toothpaste, a few washcloths, some folded towels, and some body lotion.

Everything is right where I left it, the last time I was here. I grab my body wash, my lotion, and two towels. I keep walking, past the sinks and the six toilet stalls. Along the back wall is a doorway, I walk in, and see six shower stalls. Three shower stalls on the left wall and three shower stalls on the right wall. The only thing separating the stalls is a small wall that comes to my hips. Each stall is open, with no doors. And each shower stall has a small stone bench. Yuck! I cannot imagine taking a shower, in here, with other people.

I walk to the first stall on the right and set my body wash and lotion down on the divider wall. Then I go to the shower stall directly across from it and lay down my towels on its divider wall, then get undressed, leaving my clothes in a pile on the floor.

I walk back over to the first stall and turn on the water until it reaches the right temperature, testing it with my hand, before stepping under the water. I just stand there for a while, letting the hot water run down my body as I contemplate the events of the day. I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do now that my mother is gone. My impulsiveness has cost me everything she wished for me. I step out of the water, grab the hair and body wash, squeeze a small amount into my hair, and scrub away. Scrubbing my head relaxes me and I momentarily forget my troubles. I squeeze more soap into the palm of my hand and lather up the rest of my body.

Once done, I step back under the hot water, close my eyes, and rinse the soap from my hair and body. I open my eyes, reach back, and turn off the water. The small shower area is filled with steam and for some reason, my thoughts turn to Amlican.

I do like him but expressing my feelings has never been easy for me. Except for expressing anger, that one seems to come naturally. I grab my bottle of lotion, sit sideways on the bench, and place one leg up in front of me. I squirt a liberal amount of lotion onto first one leg and then the other, taking time to rub it in.

Now what, Amlican? If it would have been difficult to be together, before, it will be impossible, now. Once I have successfully rubbed lotion into my entire body, I wrap myself up in a towel. Next, I use the other towel to towel dry my hair and use it to twist my hair up onto my head.

Then I walk back into the main room, and I pull some clothes out of my dresser and put them on. Where did I put that hairbrush?

“There you are,” I say aloud to no one. I unwrap my hair and carefully run the towel over it, again. I want to make sure my hair is mostly dry. I’m looking in the mirror and brushing my hair when I see it. A brown piece of paper is attached to the bottom right side of the mirror. Someone else has been here! Were they here while I was showering? How much did they see? Fear and adrenaline flood my veins. My hand is shaking as I pick up the note.

We need to talk. I have something important to discuss. Do not panic, I am not a threat to you. I will not tell anyone you are here. I don’t like Malum any more than you do. Meet me, tonight, at midnight, by the old pond. You know which one. And bring Amlican. You will need his help.

---- V

V? Who could V possibly be? And how does this person know about this room? I was so sure I was the only person who knew. But there is one thing I agree with V on, and that’s bringing Amlican. I will need his help to figure out what to do. The best part about your best friend’s dad working for the royal family is the fact that your best friend also lives in the castle. I stuff the note into my pants pocket.

Once I pull my long hair up into its traditional ponytail, I decide to take the secret passageways to Amlican’s room. I guess it’s time to let him in on this secret. I find Amlican, in his room, pacing about. It takes about thirty minutes before I can successfully convince him to come with me back to the hidden room. Once back there we sit on one of the bunks, talking.

I explain everything that happened with Malum, including me losing my temper and punching him. “It was a stupid thing to do, I know, but I couldn’t help myself. He was practically bragging about killing my mother.” I say. Then I explain about brushing my hair and finding the note. At which point, I stand up and pull the note out of my pocket. I watch his lips move as he silently reads the note.

When he finishes it, he hands it back to me, and I just lay it on the bed, beside me. “Any idea who this V might be?” he asks.

“No. But somehow he or she knew about this place and knew that I would tell you, everything.” We sit in silence for several minutes, just staring at each other and thinking.

“So, someone else knows how much I love you,” he says quietly.

“Amli..” I start to say, but I’m silenced by his lips pressing to mine. They are warm and inviting. I surprise myself by kissing him back and not pulling away. I deserve some happiness after everything that has happened, even if it’s only fleeting. And right now, kissing Amlican is bringing me happiness.

The kiss lasts a long time. When we do pull apart, we are both breathing heavily. “Look, I was lying when I said I don’t have feelings for you. I like you, a lot.” I say. This admission earns me another passionate kiss, interrupting my train of thought and ending with heavy breathing.

“But,” I say as he kisses my cheek. “We can’t do this.”

“Why not?” he asks, momentarily stopping, to look at me. “Because this isn’t the way. Not now. Not before marriage.” I say, pushing him off me.

“Okay, fine. I’ll stop,” he says. “While kissing you is an excellent distraction from how terrible my life has become; I have a lot I need to do. I have a lot to try and figure out. So, I need to know, what time is it?” I ask.

Amlican checks his watch. “It’s.” He clears his throat. “It’s five pm.”

“Good. That gives us an hour to get ready, two hours for the feast honoring my mother, and another four hours to try and figure out who V is and what he or she wants.”