Part 16
Beka followed Neffa down the hall. She watched constantly for anything that would offer her even the smallest chance of escape. However, each exit they passed seemed to be guarded by heavily armed men. They quickly reached the room Beka was using. Neffa and Reenia entered the room with Beka. The two guards took up position outside the door.
"I need to return to my medical lab and begin preparing the herbs for her potion. I will need to start giving it to her as soon as possible. I should be gone less than an hour. Will you be all right alone with her?" Reenia asked her mother.
Beka interrupted before Neffa could speak.
"What potion? What the hell do I have to take potion for?" she was positively livid by this time. "If you want to kill me just do it. Don't drag it out like this."
"Relax Goddess." Neffa said actually sounding soothing. "The potion is simply to enhance your fertility. We only have eleven months before the curse on our people is permanent. We can not waste time on missed opportunities."
"This day just keeps getting freaking better!" Beka exclaimed throwing herself across the bed and burying her head under the pillow.
'Sunset is now less than four hours away. How the hell am I going to get out of this one?'
She thought to herself.
Reenia and Neffa exchanged a few whispered words and then Reenia left.
Neffa busied herself rummaging through the closets for several minutes. When she emerged Beka was still lying on the bed.
"Come Goddess. You must pick your dress for the bonding ceremony. Lord Tourk had several sent here for you to choose from. Although I must say I do not appreciate his taste in clothing." Neffa said holding up several very skimpy dresses. "Not at all what I would call decent."
Beka finally looked up to see what Neffa was referring to. All of the dresses appeared to be low-cut, sleeveless, diaphanous, or very short. Some were all of the above.
Beka started laughing.
"Well, he may think of himself as a God but it looks to me as if his taste in women's clothes is the same as any other mortal man."
"Yes, well regardless of that we must choose the one that will make you look your best." Neffa said laying all the dresses at the foot of the bed. Picking up the top dress she said, "Let's start with this one shall we?"
"If you think for one minute I am going to cooperate while you play dress up with me as your doll you can forget it right now. If Tourk wants to bond with me he will have to do so with me dressed as I am."
"That would not be appropriate." Neffa said looking at Beka's dress disdainfully. It had become wrinkled and dirty from her sitting on the floor earlier.
"Oh, like I give a rat's ass about being appropriate." Beka screamed at the woman. "Tell you what, I have a perfect dress in mind. Why don't you just let me scamper on back to my ship and I will fetch it." She added sarcastically.
Neffa pursed her lips and remained silent for a moment.
"Lady Beka, you may either choose your dress and change now, or I will call in the guards and have them hold you down while I dress you." Neffa snarled.
Beka laughed again.
"Now who is having inappropriate ideas?" she remarked archly.
Seeing Neffa moving towards the door Beka said, "Fine but I am going to have to bathe again first. I wouldn't want to get another lovely dress all sweaty and dirty."
"Fine, you choose the dress and I will prepare your bath. Just hurry please, we haven't much time."
Beka waited until Neffa had turned her back and leaned down to start the water. Picking up a heavy vase that sat on the nearby nightstand, she broke it over the old woman's head. Beka quickly caught her and lowered her to the floor, praying to the Devine or whoever would listen, that the guards hadn't heard the breaking vase. She quickly swept as many of the fragments from the vase as she could under the bed and arranged Neffa's body so that it appeared the old women had simply fainted. Looking around for something she could use as a weapon, Beka picked up an iron poker hanging by the fireplace. Hiding it behind her back, she approached the door and started hollering to guards.
"Hey, You out there. We need some help in here. Neffa is sick. Hey do you hear me?" she yelled banging on the door.
One of the guards opened the door and looked in. Seeing Neffa's body he quickly entered the room and moved toward her. Beka let him pass and waited until the second guard moved into the doorway. As soon as he did she swung the fireplace poker with all her strength reveling in the sound of the man's nose breaking. He doubled over in pain allowing her the chance she needed to bring the poker down on his head. He dropped like a ton of bricks and lay unmoving in the doorway. The second guard, alerted by the sound of his companion turned a second too late to avoid the poker coming down on the side of his face. He fell to his knees but seemed about to regain his footing after only a brief moment. Beka scooped up the other guard's sword and taking a deep breath, ran him through just as he pulled his own sword. Grabbing a couple of knives from the two fallen guards, she took off down the hallway in search of a way out.
Dylan and Tyr were almost to the rear wall. They should reach it in about a quarter hour. Dylan was going over everything Harper and Trance had revealed about these people as well as what the boy from the village had said. Reaching out a hand he stopped Tyr.
"What is it?" Tyr growled. "Why are you stopping us now?"
"I want to contact Trance about something and I think it would be best to do so before we leave the cover of these trees." Dylan replied.
"What must you speak to the annoying child about? You do realize by now that she is not going to give you a straight answer no matter what?" he asked although he did not appear to care about the answer.
Shaking his head at the others negative attitude Dylan opened a channel to the Andromeda.
"Hunt to Andromeda."
"Yes Captain?" Andromeda's voice responded.
"Let me speak to Trance."
"Of course Captain." There was a slight pause and then Trance's voice replied over the communicator.
"What is it Dylan? Have you found Beka yet? Is she all right?"
Interrupting her, Dylan said, "No, we haven't found her yet. But I have a question about something we were told in the village. Do you remember anything from your stories about bonding? Or anything called The Giving?"
Inhaling deeply, Trance tried to remain calm.
'They can't have recovered the magic necessary for that. This is worse than I thought. If they succeed it could be the end of everything.' She thought to herself.
"Trance?" Dylan called. When she didn't immediately answer he began to worry. "Andromeda is Trance okay?" he asked.
"She appears to be very pale and her heart-rate has increased significantly." The ship replied.
Shaking off her introspection Trance finally replied to Dylan's inquiry. "Dylan, listen to me. What these people have planned is very, very bad. You cannot let them do this no matter what. This goes far beyond just Beka's life now."
"What do you mean? Are we endangering ourselves on this mission?" Tyr inquired icily.
"Well of course you are silly. "Trance replied. "Did you think you were simply out for a pleasure walk?"
"Now listen to me you little," Tyr began but Dylan quickly interrupted him.
"Trance, please explain yourself a little better."
"Well if the Palorians, and I am sure these people must be them, really think they can perform The Giving ceremony, that means they have recovered at least some portion of their magic. That means they are pretty darn dangerous."
"Well we pretty much already knew the dangerous part." Tyr said sarcastically.
"Dylan, you must find Beka before sunset. The bonding will have to take place at sunset."
"What is the bonding?"
"Well it is essentially a wedding ceremony." Trance mumbled.
"I am sorry. I didn't quite hear that." Dylan said.
"It's a wedding ceremony." She repeated.
Dylan was stunned. He had a little over three hours to stop the woman he cared for from being forced to marry another man.
"But the bonding isn't the ceremony you need to worry about." Trance said breaking his reverie.
"That doesn't appear to be stopping him." Tyr's said.
Snapping out of it and glaring at Tyr Dylan asked, "Okay then what should I worry about?"
"The Giving is an ancient and evil ceremony. If they are able to perform it correctly they will break the curse laid on them a long time ago, a curse that prevents them from producing any more children. If they break the curse their children will be born with their people's magic and their race will be able to wreak havoc everywhere they go."
"Go? I thought they had no space vehicles." Tyr responded.
"They don't exactly need vehicles to travel. I don't understand how they do it and I probably couldn't explain if I did, so don't ask." She said cutting him off before he could ask another question.
"Trance, just what will they do to Beka in this Giving?" Dylan asked quietly.
"They won't do anything to Beka." Trance said sadly. "The Giving requires the sacrifice of an innocent's blood. They will need a child to perform it. I am guessing they want to bond Beka with their King to produce a child. A child that if born will never live to see a full days life."
Beka followed Neffa down the hall. She watched constantly for anything that would offer her even the smallest chance of escape. However, each exit they passed seemed to be guarded by heavily armed men. They quickly reached the room Beka was using. Neffa and Reenia entered the room with Beka. The two guards took up position outside the door.
"I need to return to my medical lab and begin preparing the herbs for her potion. I will need to start giving it to her as soon as possible. I should be gone less than an hour. Will you be all right alone with her?" Reenia asked her mother.
Beka interrupted before Neffa could speak.
"What potion? What the hell do I have to take potion for?" she was positively livid by this time. "If you want to kill me just do it. Don't drag it out like this."
"Relax Goddess." Neffa said actually sounding soothing. "The potion is simply to enhance your fertility. We only have eleven months before the curse on our people is permanent. We can not waste time on missed opportunities."
"This day just keeps getting freaking better!" Beka exclaimed throwing herself across the bed and burying her head under the pillow.
'Sunset is now less than four hours away. How the hell am I going to get out of this one?'
She thought to herself.
Reenia and Neffa exchanged a few whispered words and then Reenia left.
Neffa busied herself rummaging through the closets for several minutes. When she emerged Beka was still lying on the bed.
"Come Goddess. You must pick your dress for the bonding ceremony. Lord Tourk had several sent here for you to choose from. Although I must say I do not appreciate his taste in clothing." Neffa said holding up several very skimpy dresses. "Not at all what I would call decent."
Beka finally looked up to see what Neffa was referring to. All of the dresses appeared to be low-cut, sleeveless, diaphanous, or very short. Some were all of the above.
Beka started laughing.
"Well, he may think of himself as a God but it looks to me as if his taste in women's clothes is the same as any other mortal man."
"Yes, well regardless of that we must choose the one that will make you look your best." Neffa said laying all the dresses at the foot of the bed. Picking up the top dress she said, "Let's start with this one shall we?"
"If you think for one minute I am going to cooperate while you play dress up with me as your doll you can forget it right now. If Tourk wants to bond with me he will have to do so with me dressed as I am."
"That would not be appropriate." Neffa said looking at Beka's dress disdainfully. It had become wrinkled and dirty from her sitting on the floor earlier.
"Oh, like I give a rat's ass about being appropriate." Beka screamed at the woman. "Tell you what, I have a perfect dress in mind. Why don't you just let me scamper on back to my ship and I will fetch it." She added sarcastically.
Neffa pursed her lips and remained silent for a moment.
"Lady Beka, you may either choose your dress and change now, or I will call in the guards and have them hold you down while I dress you." Neffa snarled.
Beka laughed again.
"Now who is having inappropriate ideas?" she remarked archly.
Seeing Neffa moving towards the door Beka said, "Fine but I am going to have to bathe again first. I wouldn't want to get another lovely dress all sweaty and dirty."
"Fine, you choose the dress and I will prepare your bath. Just hurry please, we haven't much time."
Beka waited until Neffa had turned her back and leaned down to start the water. Picking up a heavy vase that sat on the nearby nightstand, she broke it over the old woman's head. Beka quickly caught her and lowered her to the floor, praying to the Devine or whoever would listen, that the guards hadn't heard the breaking vase. She quickly swept as many of the fragments from the vase as she could under the bed and arranged Neffa's body so that it appeared the old women had simply fainted. Looking around for something she could use as a weapon, Beka picked up an iron poker hanging by the fireplace. Hiding it behind her back, she approached the door and started hollering to guards.
"Hey, You out there. We need some help in here. Neffa is sick. Hey do you hear me?" she yelled banging on the door.
One of the guards opened the door and looked in. Seeing Neffa's body he quickly entered the room and moved toward her. Beka let him pass and waited until the second guard moved into the doorway. As soon as he did she swung the fireplace poker with all her strength reveling in the sound of the man's nose breaking. He doubled over in pain allowing her the chance she needed to bring the poker down on his head. He dropped like a ton of bricks and lay unmoving in the doorway. The second guard, alerted by the sound of his companion turned a second too late to avoid the poker coming down on the side of his face. He fell to his knees but seemed about to regain his footing after only a brief moment. Beka scooped up the other guard's sword and taking a deep breath, ran him through just as he pulled his own sword. Grabbing a couple of knives from the two fallen guards, she took off down the hallway in search of a way out.
Dylan and Tyr were almost to the rear wall. They should reach it in about a quarter hour. Dylan was going over everything Harper and Trance had revealed about these people as well as what the boy from the village had said. Reaching out a hand he stopped Tyr.
"What is it?" Tyr growled. "Why are you stopping us now?"
"I want to contact Trance about something and I think it would be best to do so before we leave the cover of these trees." Dylan replied.
"What must you speak to the annoying child about? You do realize by now that she is not going to give you a straight answer no matter what?" he asked although he did not appear to care about the answer.
Shaking his head at the others negative attitude Dylan opened a channel to the Andromeda.
"Hunt to Andromeda."
"Yes Captain?" Andromeda's voice responded.
"Let me speak to Trance."
"Of course Captain." There was a slight pause and then Trance's voice replied over the communicator.
"What is it Dylan? Have you found Beka yet? Is she all right?"
Interrupting her, Dylan said, "No, we haven't found her yet. But I have a question about something we were told in the village. Do you remember anything from your stories about bonding? Or anything called The Giving?"
Inhaling deeply, Trance tried to remain calm.
'They can't have recovered the magic necessary for that. This is worse than I thought. If they succeed it could be the end of everything.' She thought to herself.
"Trance?" Dylan called. When she didn't immediately answer he began to worry. "Andromeda is Trance okay?" he asked.
"She appears to be very pale and her heart-rate has increased significantly." The ship replied.
Shaking off her introspection Trance finally replied to Dylan's inquiry. "Dylan, listen to me. What these people have planned is very, very bad. You cannot let them do this no matter what. This goes far beyond just Beka's life now."
"What do you mean? Are we endangering ourselves on this mission?" Tyr inquired icily.
"Well of course you are silly. "Trance replied. "Did you think you were simply out for a pleasure walk?"
"Now listen to me you little," Tyr began but Dylan quickly interrupted him.
"Trance, please explain yourself a little better."
"Well if the Palorians, and I am sure these people must be them, really think they can perform The Giving ceremony, that means they have recovered at least some portion of their magic. That means they are pretty darn dangerous."
"Well we pretty much already knew the dangerous part." Tyr said sarcastically.
"Dylan, you must find Beka before sunset. The bonding will have to take place at sunset."
"What is the bonding?"
"Well it is essentially a wedding ceremony." Trance mumbled.
"I am sorry. I didn't quite hear that." Dylan said.
"It's a wedding ceremony." She repeated.
Dylan was stunned. He had a little over three hours to stop the woman he cared for from being forced to marry another man.
"But the bonding isn't the ceremony you need to worry about." Trance said breaking his reverie.
"That doesn't appear to be stopping him." Tyr's said.
Snapping out of it and glaring at Tyr Dylan asked, "Okay then what should I worry about?"
"The Giving is an ancient and evil ceremony. If they are able to perform it correctly they will break the curse laid on them a long time ago, a curse that prevents them from producing any more children. If they break the curse their children will be born with their people's magic and their race will be able to wreak havoc everywhere they go."
"Go? I thought they had no space vehicles." Tyr responded.
"They don't exactly need vehicles to travel. I don't understand how they do it and I probably couldn't explain if I did, so don't ask." She said cutting him off before he could ask another question.
"Trance, just what will they do to Beka in this Giving?" Dylan asked quietly.
"They won't do anything to Beka." Trance said sadly. "The Giving requires the sacrifice of an innocent's blood. They will need a child to perform it. I am guessing they want to bond Beka with their King to produce a child. A child that if born will never live to see a full days life."