Freeing the Prisoner Read online

  “Of course not,” she said sharply. “What prisoner? What are you talking about?”

  “Oh, don’t you know?” Lavi’s big eyes, as dark as Dani’s, widened even more. “There’s a foreign prisoner in Papa’s special cell—an alien who flew through the Blind and tried to attack us!”

  “Really?” Dani made her own eyes wide, feigning surprise. “Tell me all about it.” She slipped her arm though her little sister’s and began walking naturally towards the entrance of the royal sleeping chamber. As she had hoped, Lavi came with her, babbling all the way.

  “Well, he came in a big silver ship just bristling with weapons, or so Jontu says.”

  Jontu was a highly-placed courtier in their father’s court—a handsome male with medium blue skin and melting brown eyes who was Lavi’s current obsession.

  Dani frowned. She hadn’t seen any obvious weapons on the Kindred’s ship but maybe the guards had checked inside and seen something not visible from where she’d been hiding.

  “What else?” she asked. Letting her little sister run on would mean getting all the latest gossip from the court. It might be good to know what the rest of the palace thought of the strange captive.

  “Well, he’s huge—twenty hectares tall at least. A giant! And his skin isn’t blue—not even light blue!”

  "What is it then?” Dani asked, remembering her own interest in the Kindred’s tan skin.

  “It’s a tanish-pinkish color—so Jontu says. And so pale he looks like one of the spirits of the ancestors. If spirits could grow huge, at least.” She giggled.

  “That’s amazing!” Dani exclaimed, still pretending ignorance. “But what kind of male is he? I mean, what people does he come from?”

  She was hoping to hear more about the Kindred race and Lavi didn’t disappoint her.

  “Oh—that’s the most shocking thing of all!” she whispered, as though someone in the mirrored glass corridor they were walking through might be listening. “He’s a Kindred.”

  “A Kindred?” Dani frowned. “What’s that?”

  “A race of barbarians who live on the other side of the Blind,” Lavi said. “Jontu says there used to be some in our part of the universe but they were almost all killed off. But get this…” She took Dani’s hand and squeezed it excitedly. “These barbarians—these Kindred—actually worship a female deity! And they treat their females as equals. There—what do you think of that?”

  I think the Kindred was telling the truth, Dani thought. When he’d spoken of how the males of his race never lifted a hand in violence against a female she had thought he must be lying. Who ever heard of a people where the males refused to punish their females?

  She herself had been lucky—her father was too busy governing the planet—most of it anyway—to punish or hit her. But she knew many girls and women who often wore the marks of their father’s and husband’s hands. It was simply the way of things on Goshan Prime—males demanded and commanded and females obeyed. If they didn’t, they were punished.

  Of course, punishment wasn’t always physical. Maybe the Kindred had other ways of making their females behave.

  I’ll have to ask him that, she thought and then realized she was making plans to go and see him again, which was incredibly risky. She would have gotten into a great deal of trouble if anyone had caught her in the cell alone with a strange male—even one who was manacled and helpless.

  They’d think I was letting him change the color of my eyes, she thought and shivered suddenly, as though a cool wind had blown through the thin fabric of her dress.

  “I said, what do you think of that?”

  Lavi’s voice brought her back to the present and Dani realized she’d been lost in thought and hadn’t answered her little sister’s question.

  “I think it’s…different,” she said slowly. “Males not punishing females if they do wrong. But after all,” she went on more strongly. “Why should they have the right to punish us? We are people too—we have intelligent minds, even if our bodies are not so strong as theirs.”

  “Shhh! Lower your voice!” Lavi was clearly scandalized by Dani’s radical talk. “They can punish us because they are the superior sex—you know that. The best one can hope is to be married to a fine male like Jontu who will only punish you in the bedroom.” She giggled and twitched her hips meaningfully.

  It was Dani’s turn to be scandalized.

  “What do you know about such things?” she demanded.

  “More than you, I’m sure,” Lavi teased. “Though Papa has always tried to keep us so sheltered, males talk. The things Jontu has told me…”

  “Jontu, Jontu, Jontu,” Dani exclaimed. “If you’re not careful Jontu will change the color of your eyes and then where will you be?”

  “I would never go that far.” Lavi sounded shocked. “He just…likes to talk, that’s all.” She blushed, her creamy brown cheeks getting rosy. “Do you know what else he told me?”

  “Don’t tell me if it has to do with bedroom matters,” Dani said, frowning. She knew the basic facts of life—males had a scepter between their legs which fit into a female’s sacred channel. When a girl was married she must assume the Breeding Position and then the male who was her husband would then use his scepter to make her a woman and mark her as his own. He might also start a baby in her in this way.

  Some girls liked to talk and giggle about the details of the act but Danny didn’t care to dwell on them. Mostly because trying to imagine it with any of the males she knew made her feel slightly ill. She didn’t want to be given to some stranger and be forced to assume the position for him. Better to just stay unmarried by her father's side. He was lenient and allowed her to lead her own life.

  “There are different kinds of Kindred, you know,” Lavi said, catching her off guard. “That’s what else Jontu told me. There now—that has nothing to do with the bed chamber at least.”

  “Different kinds?” Dani frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “Oh, they have some that turn into beasts and claim their females like animals!” Lavi’s eyes widened. “And that’s not even the worst! Some of them grow fangs…” She used her index fingers to mime long sharp fangs hanging down from her front teeth. “And bite their females at the moment of breeding! And some…” She leaned in close to whisper to Dani. “Some actually take a woman in pairs—as in, there are two males who stay together and take the same female as a wife.”

  “Well, the prisoner is alone so he can’t be one of that last kind,” Dani said dryly but inside her heart was pounding. What kind of Kindred was this male chained in her father's interrogation cell? She hadn’t seen any fangs on him, although his teeth were certainly very white and even. Could it be that he was the beast kind of Kindred? Would he turn into some kind of a monster if she got too near him?

  I’ll have to be sure I’m armed the next time I go to see him, she thought and then realized how reckless she was being.

  What’s wrong with you, Dani? asked a shocked little voice in her head. How can you even think of going back, knowing how dangerous he might be—and knowing how much trouble you’d be in if anyone found you there?

  She had no answers but still she felt a pull towards the huge prisoner in his cell with his strange pale green eyes and tan skin. No matter how dangerous he might be, she had to see him again, though she didn’t know why.

  I will go back, she decided. But I’ll be careful…very, very careful.

  Chapter Three

  A few hours after the princess left, the guards came back. They turned off the magnetic field and freed his hands—always keeping him at blaster-point. At first Kyron was hopeful that they were going to take him to see their Monarch. But they only gave him a short bathroom break before shoving him back in position on the stone bench.

  “Hey, what about the Monarch?” he asked, frowning. “Or at least some food and water?” He wasn’t starving yet but it had been hours since he’d last had a drink and his mouth was so dry he was tasting cobwebs.