Chapter Forty-Five: Tayla Saves The Day-For Now
"Princess Tayla! There you are! Your entire family has been
worried about you!" The Arlian Interrogator, Reccor, cried aloud. "They have
been searching everyone for you!"
"I will see them, shortly, Reccor," Tayla told him calmly. "Reccor,
would you please find Nama and Dirkan and ask them to wait for me?"
She turned to Alberm, and said in an icy voice, "You will not
bother or touch Caline anymore, Alberm. You have hurt her long enough, way too
long for my taste! I am going to my grandmother and my Uncle Kitchator, and
they will make you pay for what you have done to Caline! You are a bastard,
worse than a Saiyan, and when you go to hell, I will feel sorry for the devils
down there, for even they don't deserve to put up with someone as despicable as
you! Why, even Frieza wouldn't sink as low as you have!" Tayla didn't know
that last fact for sure; she was just using that comparison to deliberately
insult Caline's abusive husband.
Alberm's red, fat face twisted into an ugly, sneering expression.
"You disreputable Astorian tramp! If you weren't a Princess of Chloe and a
guest of the King and the Queen's, I'd give you the spanking that you deserve!"
Tayla narrowed her milk chocolate eyes at him, as she held out her
sword in front of him. She said in a cool, frosty tone, "Why don't you do it
then, Alberm? You seem to be very talented at beating up little girls; why
don't you try to beat up one who can actually fight you back?"
Alberm pulled out his sword. "Are you challenging me?"
Tayla laughed derisively, arrogantly. Alberm was standing there,
angry, red-faced and sweating. Tayla was more than ready to teach him a lesson,
and Tayla stepped towards him deliberately, sword raised.
Alberm, who was usually hailed to be a mighty warrior, found himself
unnerved by this tiny girl, not much larger than Caline, determined to make him
see the errors of his ways. He had fought opponents long enough to know when
they were bluffing, and when they weren't. And Tayla was not bluffing.
Reccor knew that Tayla wasn't bluffing either. "Princess Tayla,
please, you mustn't challenge him," Reccor pleaded. "He is an important man
here, and fighting him could bring much trouble for your family and planet."
Tayla glared darkly at Reccor, but realizing that he was right, she
decided to take his advice-for now.
Tayla told Alberm coldly, her laughter dying. "You are no challenge
to me," she told him haughtily. "You are a coward and a beast, no calling you a
beast would be insulting real beasts, for even animals do not beat on their
mates. Why should I waste my time fighting a coward who hits on his own wife?
And to think, I could have been in Caline's shoes a few years from now! Well, I
will see personally that you will never harm Caline again, and if you do, I will
kill you whether you are an important person here or not."
Caline and Reccor gasped in horror at Tayla's final sentence,
wondering if she meant what she said. Alberm grew furious; no female of any age
was going to threaten his life, no matter how powerful she appeared to be.
"You little witch!" Alberm hissed. "How dare you threaten me? Do
you not know whom you are speaking with? I am Lord Alberm Dunlop, owner of the
city of Rendor, as well as twelve thousand acres of land! No female talks to me
this way! I think that I will give you that spanking-the spanking that your
grandmother and her husband should have given you years ago!" And with that, he
charged after her with his sword. Tayla prepared to defend herself.
"Alberm, no!" Reccor cried aloud. "You may be a mighty fighter, but
this child is more powerful than you are-"
But Alberm wouldn't listen, as he and Tayla clashed swords. Alberm
was determined to defeat this brat who dared to stand up to him. Astorian
females were such impertinent, disrespectful little wenches, and Alberm was
determined to put this one in her place.
The sword clashing continued for fifteen minutes until Alberm lunged for Tayla,
and Tayla leapt out of his way. Alberm threw himself at Tayla, determined this
time to truly harm her, as he aimed his sword towards her stomach, but Tayla
successfully blocked his sword with her blade. Alberm decided to cheat then,
and he pulled out a small dagger from a sheath on his belt with his free hand.
"Stop!" Reccor cried.
"Tayla, look out!" Caline cried in fear.
Tayla saw the dagger coming, and she responded with a swift kick of
her agile foot to Alberm's pudgy, soft abdomen. Alberm tried to stab her again,
this time with his sword, but Tayla reacted by blocking his sword once again
with hers, and this time Alberm fell over backwards onto the ground, hitting his
head on a rock. It was not hard enough to make him unconscious.
Tayla held her sword to Alberm's throbbing Adam's apple, which
resembled the loose skin under a turkey's neck. "You will apologize to Caline
at once, and then you will stay away from her forever! Say that you're sorry
for your sins to her-now!"
Alberm was not as fast a fighter as Tayla was, but he could be as
cunning as she was. He used his foot to kick Tayla's ankle and knock her off of
her feet literally. While Tayla was trying to steady herself, Alberm slid out
from under her the point of her sword, and he touched her, paralyzing her so
that she could not move at all.
Tayla froze until she was as still as a statue, and then she toppled
over onto the ground. Caline screamed in horror, as Tayla was the one to fall
down and hit her head hard on a stone bench. She lay there, very still and
quiet, with her eyes closed. Her ki was not present, and she didn't appear to
be breathing. Caline began to tremble and shake, terrified by her champion's
defeat.
Reccor was horrified himself, as his whole cricket-like body shook.
"Alberm, what have you done? Don't you know that was a Princess of Chloe that
you did that to? She was just a little girl, Alberm! What will her grandmother
say? Worst, what will Lord Frieza say if you killed her? Frieza will have both
of our heads on his wall for this! He will blame me for this!"
"Lord Frieza?" Caline gasped in horror. Caline knew who Frieza was,
although she did not know personally what he looked like. She turned to Reccor
and said hoarsely, "You work for Frieza too?"
"Reccor, you fool!" Alberm snarled, now standing on his feet again.
"Now my wife knows! What are we supposed to do now?"
"Wait a minute, Alberm," Reccor said. "She said the word 'too'.
She knows that you work for Frieza as well? She knows now that we are spies for
him?"
Caline's white face turned whiter than usual. Alberm turned to her,
realizing the truth, realizing that Caline now knew of his true occupation.
Caline was terrified now, for she had overheard Alberm using his
scouter last night to contact Frieza. She had heard Frieza's voice for the
first time, and it had been telling Alberm that Jaden (who had secretly
contacted Frieza through her scouter when the CRP officers weren't paying
attention) had managed to get her team arrested, and they were going to invade
the capital of Calmag and capture Princess Tayla that way. Alberm's child bride
had heard this after Alberm had beaten and raped her, and a bloody, battered
Caline had escaped while Alberm was sleeping, so that she could warn Tayla of
what was coming.
Alberm walked menacingly towards Caline, his face cruel and
murderous. "What else do you know about my work with Frieza, my dear, sweet
little wife?" he asked coldly.
"N-nothing!" Caline cried in terror, lying.
Alberm smiled cruelly. "And that's what they will hear from you, my
dear--nothing. You see, my darling, you are now a liability to me as well as a
nuisance. I wanted you, and you refused me countless times. While it is
exciting to force you now and then, your screams are starting to become
annoying. I doubt that you will even be able to bear me strong children with
your weak little body, so I shall have to find a new wife."
Caline shook in her crystal gold shoes, trying to figure out what
Alberm was truly saying. "You intend to divorce me?" she asked hopefully.
"Oh no, my love," Alberm purred. "I would never divorce a Calmagian
princess. It seems to me that you have a big mouth, and that was proved when
you dared to blab to your little girlfriend about my beating you, knowing that
the Astorians disapprove of our disciplinary methods. I bet that you were here
to tell Tayla about my working for Frieza, weren't you?"
Caline wanted to run, but she was frozen in terror, too seized with
fear to run away. "No, no, you are my husband; I would not betray you!"
"I know you wouldn't," Alberm told her easily, coming closer to her,
"And I know that you never will, for dead wives tell no tales." He then grabbed
Caline's throat in his big, meaty fist and began to strangle her.
Reccor was startled by Alberm's strangling his own wife, but he said
nothing. He knew as well as Alberm that Caline was now a threat to both of
them, if she spoke about what she knew. He was horrified that someone would
deliberately kill his own mate, especially a child, but he neither did nor said
nothing.
"Good-bye, sweet little Caline," Alberm told his dying child wife
silkily, as Caline began to pass out.
Suddenly, someone slid a hand up the hem of his trouser leg and
grabbed his ankle, and the hand grabbing his ankle raked its nails into his
thick flesh, piercing him, hurting him. Alberm howled in pain, as he was forced
to release Caline's neck. He looked down below him and into the now open eyes
of a very angry Tayla.
"P-Princess Tayla!" Alberm cried aloud. "You shouldn't have been
able to move-"
Tayla decided that she was through playing with Alberm, so she
seized his ankle again and electrocuted him, sending a nasty wave of electricity
throughout his fat, corpulent body. Alberm emitted a scream of pure terror, as
the voltage ran through his quivering, sweaty form, and then he fell to the
ground and collapsed.
Caline fell back away from Alberm just before his tubby body fell
and hit the concrete hard, hitting his head once again. Reccor quickly rushed
to Alberm, knelt beside him, and felt for a pulse; Alberm was still
alive-barely.
Tayla quickly rose to her feet, shocked at how much damage she had
inflicted on Caline's obese, abusive husband. She swallowed her horror at her
actions and repressed it. A sobbing Caline fled to her heroine, and Tayla took
her into her arms and let her cry.
"H-How were y-you able to-to overcome your paralysis?" Caline
stammered between sobs.
Tayla, trying to keep her voice steady, said shakily, "I was never
paralyzed to began with. While I was training under Kami Orchida, she helped me
to build immunity against certain attacks, and the Calmagian paralysis attack
was one of them. Never thought that I needed it, but I was proven wrong today.
In other words, I faked Alberm out."
Reccor began to tremble when he heard Tayla's words. That meant that Tayla
herself now knew that he worked for Frieza. Lord Frieza was not going to like
this.
Reccor knew then he had to flee, for he was a spy, not a warrior; he
had no chance against Tayla, if she chose to fight him. He also could not fly,
even though he had a cricket-like body. Before he could run, however, Tayla
released Caline and flew at him, landing on top of him and pinning him to the
ground. Quickly, she held the point of her sword to his throat.
"I'm placing you under Chloe Royalty Arrest for treason!" she told
sharply. "Stay where you are, or you will be sorry!"
Reccor froze at her words. He knew what Chloe Royalty Arrest was;
it was an act of arrest that any Clan of Chloe warrior or healior twelve years
or older could enact on any other Astorian, alien, or legal resident of Astoria.
All Clan of Chloe warrior or healior twelve years or older had the authority to
arrest anyone on Astoria whom they thought might be a threat to the lives or
safety of others, and by law, the parties being arrested had to submit. There
were laws and rules in place to prevent gross abuses of Chloe Royalty Arrest,
but most of the time, they weren't necessary, for the arresting fighters almost
always used their power judiciously.
"P-Princess," he stammered nervously, afraid to talk too loud
because of the nearness of Tayla's sword. "T-that talk about my
w-working for Frieza; it was just a joke, a very bad joke, but nevertheless a
joke! Please, Princess, release me; I was only kidding about working for
Frieza!"
Tayla did not believe him for a second. "That will be up to Nama
and Dirkan to determine; until then, consider yourself under arrest. If you try
to escape, I will be forced to hurt you, so I suggest you stay where you are."
Her tone now was steady and confident and bold; she was carefully hiding her
fears about Reccor's part in Frieza's empire.
"Tayla! There you are!" Gracina cried, flying towards her, her gold
hair streaming in the coming Calmagian wind.
"Tayla!" Shalila cried, following behind her, as Gorna followed
behind her grandmother and sister. All three older women gathered around her,
where they noticed Tayla holding a sword to Reccor's throat.
"Tayla, what are you doing?" Gorna gasped. "Why do you have a sword
at Reccor's throat?"
Tayla did not move an inch nor look into her relatives' eyes. She
kept a steady, wary gaze on both Reccor and Alberm. "He is a traitor under
arrest for treason," she told them calmly. "He works for Frieza, spying for
him. Ask Alberm when he awakens, for he is a spy for Frieza, as well."
Shalila and Gorna were horrified, for they had trusted and depended
upon Reccor for many years, many years before Tayla's birth. Gorna had known
Reccor since she was a young teenager. They found Tayla's words hard to
believe, but then Tayla had never lied to them, so they knew, without a doubt,
that she was telling the truth.
But Reccor was still trying to save himself. "She-she lies, or she
is mistaken!" Reccor cried hoarsely. "I would never betray Astoria or the Clan
of Chloe! How can you believe her word over mine? I have been a trusted
official for years, and she is a mere child! You both know how well children
can lie!"
Gorna carefully put her fine, red-booted toe under Reccor's chin,
just above the point of Tayla's sword. Reccor's insect chin rested unsteadily
upon Gorna's steel toe. "My sister does not lie," she told him evenly. "You
dare to call her a liar, and you are the worst liar of all. My sister has made
her mistakes in the past couple of days, but she is honorable; she has always
told the truth, to the best of my knowledge. I may not have always treated her
as well as I should have, but I have never had any reason to doubt her word.
How long have you been working for Frieza?"
Gorna then pulled out her own sword from a sheath resting on the
back of her pine-green caftan. She turned to Tayla. "Tayla, your grandmother
and I will handle matters from here; you may now step aside." Tayla did so
meekly, amazed at Gorna defending her for the first time. She still was
watching Gorna in astonishment, as she turned Reccor over to Gorna and backed
away. Gorna now had her sword at Reccor's throat and began barking questions at
him in sharp tones. Tayla drew Caline closer to her and led her over to Shalila
and Gracina.
Tayla looked into her grandmother's and her sister's eyes. "Alberm
was going to kill Caline, who is his wife, because she had learned about their
spying for Frieza, so I had to stop him." She looked towards the unconscious
corpulent form of Alberm lying on the ground, barely alive. "That's why I had
to fight him, and later electrocute him. I also had to fight him-because-"--her
next words were harder to say-"he beat up Caline and raped her."
Shalila gathered Tayla to her, and Gracina gathered Caline to her
and looked sadly into Caline's frightened eyes. "You poor child! That
bastard!" She smoothed a shaking Caline's wispy, pale hair. "You needn't fear
anymore, little one; no one is going to hurt you again." Caline cried in
Gracina's arms.
Shalila pressed Tayla to her body tightly and bent down towards her,
kissing her forehead firmly. "I am proud of you, my little dandelion."
Tayla was now deeply ashamed of the way she had behaved earlier that day. She
did not feel that she deserved her grandmother's praise. "Nama, will you
forgive me for the way I have been acting lately? I have been foolish. I don't
wish to marry Ridikar; am I going to have to anyway?"
Shalila smiled slowly, ruffling Tayla's dark hair. "All is
forgiven, and no, you don't have to marry anyone that you don't wish to. What
made you change your mind?"
Tayla was silent then; she did not feel like reliving the horror of
what Ridikar had tried to do to her that day. She herself was now crying
slowly, the slow tears soaking a spot on her grandmother's caftan.
"Tayla?" Shalila asked softly. "Did Ridikar do something to upset
you?"
Tayla nodded. She mumbled against her grandmother's stomach, "He
tried to-to do the same thing to me that Alberm did to Caline, but I escaped
before he could succeed. I-I didn't think that he would try to rape me; I
trusted him, Nama, I really did. I'm sorry, Nama, I feel that it was my fault
that he tried that. I told him no, but he tried to force me anyway."
"Tayla Chloe!" Shalila exclaimed, stunned. "It was not your fault
what Ridikar tried to do! I will get him for this! You mustn't blame yourself,
child; you told him no, and he tried to make advances on you anyway. He had no
right to do that. Dirkan and I will settle the boy, don't you worry about that.
Ridikar and Alberm will not trouble anyone anymore."
Tayla was thankful for her grandmother's support, but she now wanted to change
the subject. She no longer wanted to speak or think about Ridikar. "Nama, what
are we going to do about Frieza? Frieza surely knows that we are here on
Calmag."
Caline mumbled something into Gracina's pale pink caftan and white
sash. Gracina bent her head down closer to listen. "Caline, what did you just
say? Speak up, child, you are safe."
Caline tried to raise her voice above its normal whispery tone, but
couldn't do so very well.
"Caline?" Gracina prompted gently. "We know that you are frightened
and have been through a horrible experience, but we need your help. You know
about your husband's activities with Frieza. We need you to help us, dear,
because Frieza is an enemy of all Astorians, and possibly Calmagians as well.
Is he on his way here? Do not fear; we will protect you." Gracina held her
firmly against her body, rubbing Caline's back. Caline calmed down a little,
comforted by Gracina's motherly presence.
"No," Caline murmured softly. "He is not coming that I know of. He
has sent Elite people, people who allowed themselves to be arrested by the CRP,
that's Calmagian Royal Police. I-I heard Frieza's voice last night on Alberm's
scouter, t-telling Alberm that some people named Jaden and Zarbon managed to get
th-their team arrested, so they could get access to the capital of Calmag." She
swallowed nervously and continued, "But that's not mainly why they are coming."
"Then why are they coming?" Gracina asked as calmly as possible.
Caline cried aloud, "They are c-coming t-to take Tayla away!"
Gracina emitted a horrified shriek, Tayla clung to Shalila, and Shalila clenched
her fists.
"Curse you, Frieza!" she hissed.
*END PART THREE*
"Princess Tayla! There you are! Your entire family has been
worried about you!" The Arlian Interrogator, Reccor, cried aloud. "They have
been searching everyone for you!"
"I will see them, shortly, Reccor," Tayla told him calmly. "Reccor,
would you please find Nama and Dirkan and ask them to wait for me?"
She turned to Alberm, and said in an icy voice, "You will not
bother or touch Caline anymore, Alberm. You have hurt her long enough, way too
long for my taste! I am going to my grandmother and my Uncle Kitchator, and
they will make you pay for what you have done to Caline! You are a bastard,
worse than a Saiyan, and when you go to hell, I will feel sorry for the devils
down there, for even they don't deserve to put up with someone as despicable as
you! Why, even Frieza wouldn't sink as low as you have!" Tayla didn't know
that last fact for sure; she was just using that comparison to deliberately
insult Caline's abusive husband.
Alberm's red, fat face twisted into an ugly, sneering expression.
"You disreputable Astorian tramp! If you weren't a Princess of Chloe and a
guest of the King and the Queen's, I'd give you the spanking that you deserve!"
Tayla narrowed her milk chocolate eyes at him, as she held out her
sword in front of him. She said in a cool, frosty tone, "Why don't you do it
then, Alberm? You seem to be very talented at beating up little girls; why
don't you try to beat up one who can actually fight you back?"
Alberm pulled out his sword. "Are you challenging me?"
Tayla laughed derisively, arrogantly. Alberm was standing there,
angry, red-faced and sweating. Tayla was more than ready to teach him a lesson,
and Tayla stepped towards him deliberately, sword raised.
Alberm, who was usually hailed to be a mighty warrior, found himself
unnerved by this tiny girl, not much larger than Caline, determined to make him
see the errors of his ways. He had fought opponents long enough to know when
they were bluffing, and when they weren't. And Tayla was not bluffing.
Reccor knew that Tayla wasn't bluffing either. "Princess Tayla,
please, you mustn't challenge him," Reccor pleaded. "He is an important man
here, and fighting him could bring much trouble for your family and planet."
Tayla glared darkly at Reccor, but realizing that he was right, she
decided to take his advice-for now.
Tayla told Alberm coldly, her laughter dying. "You are no challenge
to me," she told him haughtily. "You are a coward and a beast, no calling you a
beast would be insulting real beasts, for even animals do not beat on their
mates. Why should I waste my time fighting a coward who hits on his own wife?
And to think, I could have been in Caline's shoes a few years from now! Well, I
will see personally that you will never harm Caline again, and if you do, I will
kill you whether you are an important person here or not."
Caline and Reccor gasped in horror at Tayla's final sentence,
wondering if she meant what she said. Alberm grew furious; no female of any age
was going to threaten his life, no matter how powerful she appeared to be.
"You little witch!" Alberm hissed. "How dare you threaten me? Do
you not know whom you are speaking with? I am Lord Alberm Dunlop, owner of the
city of Rendor, as well as twelve thousand acres of land! No female talks to me
this way! I think that I will give you that spanking-the spanking that your
grandmother and her husband should have given you years ago!" And with that, he
charged after her with his sword. Tayla prepared to defend herself.
"Alberm, no!" Reccor cried aloud. "You may be a mighty fighter, but
this child is more powerful than you are-"
But Alberm wouldn't listen, as he and Tayla clashed swords. Alberm
was determined to defeat this brat who dared to stand up to him. Astorian
females were such impertinent, disrespectful little wenches, and Alberm was
determined to put this one in her place.
The sword clashing continued for fifteen minutes until Alberm lunged for Tayla,
and Tayla leapt out of his way. Alberm threw himself at Tayla, determined this
time to truly harm her, as he aimed his sword towards her stomach, but Tayla
successfully blocked his sword with her blade. Alberm decided to cheat then,
and he pulled out a small dagger from a sheath on his belt with his free hand.
"Stop!" Reccor cried.
"Tayla, look out!" Caline cried in fear.
Tayla saw the dagger coming, and she responded with a swift kick of
her agile foot to Alberm's pudgy, soft abdomen. Alberm tried to stab her again,
this time with his sword, but Tayla reacted by blocking his sword once again
with hers, and this time Alberm fell over backwards onto the ground, hitting his
head on a rock. It was not hard enough to make him unconscious.
Tayla held her sword to Alberm's throbbing Adam's apple, which
resembled the loose skin under a turkey's neck. "You will apologize to Caline
at once, and then you will stay away from her forever! Say that you're sorry
for your sins to her-now!"
Alberm was not as fast a fighter as Tayla was, but he could be as
cunning as she was. He used his foot to kick Tayla's ankle and knock her off of
her feet literally. While Tayla was trying to steady herself, Alberm slid out
from under her the point of her sword, and he touched her, paralyzing her so
that she could not move at all.
Tayla froze until she was as still as a statue, and then she toppled
over onto the ground. Caline screamed in horror, as Tayla was the one to fall
down and hit her head hard on a stone bench. She lay there, very still and
quiet, with her eyes closed. Her ki was not present, and she didn't appear to
be breathing. Caline began to tremble and shake, terrified by her champion's
defeat.
Reccor was horrified himself, as his whole cricket-like body shook.
"Alberm, what have you done? Don't you know that was a Princess of Chloe that
you did that to? She was just a little girl, Alberm! What will her grandmother
say? Worst, what will Lord Frieza say if you killed her? Frieza will have both
of our heads on his wall for this! He will blame me for this!"
"Lord Frieza?" Caline gasped in horror. Caline knew who Frieza was,
although she did not know personally what he looked like. She turned to Reccor
and said hoarsely, "You work for Frieza too?"
"Reccor, you fool!" Alberm snarled, now standing on his feet again.
"Now my wife knows! What are we supposed to do now?"
"Wait a minute, Alberm," Reccor said. "She said the word 'too'.
She knows that you work for Frieza as well? She knows now that we are spies for
him?"
Caline's white face turned whiter than usual. Alberm turned to her,
realizing the truth, realizing that Caline now knew of his true occupation.
Caline was terrified now, for she had overheard Alberm using his
scouter last night to contact Frieza. She had heard Frieza's voice for the
first time, and it had been telling Alberm that Jaden (who had secretly
contacted Frieza through her scouter when the CRP officers weren't paying
attention) had managed to get her team arrested, and they were going to invade
the capital of Calmag and capture Princess Tayla that way. Alberm's child bride
had heard this after Alberm had beaten and raped her, and a bloody, battered
Caline had escaped while Alberm was sleeping, so that she could warn Tayla of
what was coming.
Alberm walked menacingly towards Caline, his face cruel and
murderous. "What else do you know about my work with Frieza, my dear, sweet
little wife?" he asked coldly.
"N-nothing!" Caline cried in terror, lying.
Alberm smiled cruelly. "And that's what they will hear from you, my
dear--nothing. You see, my darling, you are now a liability to me as well as a
nuisance. I wanted you, and you refused me countless times. While it is
exciting to force you now and then, your screams are starting to become
annoying. I doubt that you will even be able to bear me strong children with
your weak little body, so I shall have to find a new wife."
Caline shook in her crystal gold shoes, trying to figure out what
Alberm was truly saying. "You intend to divorce me?" she asked hopefully.
"Oh no, my love," Alberm purred. "I would never divorce a Calmagian
princess. It seems to me that you have a big mouth, and that was proved when
you dared to blab to your little girlfriend about my beating you, knowing that
the Astorians disapprove of our disciplinary methods. I bet that you were here
to tell Tayla about my working for Frieza, weren't you?"
Caline wanted to run, but she was frozen in terror, too seized with
fear to run away. "No, no, you are my husband; I would not betray you!"
"I know you wouldn't," Alberm told her easily, coming closer to her,
"And I know that you never will, for dead wives tell no tales." He then grabbed
Caline's throat in his big, meaty fist and began to strangle her.
Reccor was startled by Alberm's strangling his own wife, but he said
nothing. He knew as well as Alberm that Caline was now a threat to both of
them, if she spoke about what she knew. He was horrified that someone would
deliberately kill his own mate, especially a child, but he neither did nor said
nothing.
"Good-bye, sweet little Caline," Alberm told his dying child wife
silkily, as Caline began to pass out.
Suddenly, someone slid a hand up the hem of his trouser leg and
grabbed his ankle, and the hand grabbing his ankle raked its nails into his
thick flesh, piercing him, hurting him. Alberm howled in pain, as he was forced
to release Caline's neck. He looked down below him and into the now open eyes
of a very angry Tayla.
"P-Princess Tayla!" Alberm cried aloud. "You shouldn't have been
able to move-"
Tayla decided that she was through playing with Alberm, so she
seized his ankle again and electrocuted him, sending a nasty wave of electricity
throughout his fat, corpulent body. Alberm emitted a scream of pure terror, as
the voltage ran through his quivering, sweaty form, and then he fell to the
ground and collapsed.
Caline fell back away from Alberm just before his tubby body fell
and hit the concrete hard, hitting his head once again. Reccor quickly rushed
to Alberm, knelt beside him, and felt for a pulse; Alberm was still
alive-barely.
Tayla quickly rose to her feet, shocked at how much damage she had
inflicted on Caline's obese, abusive husband. She swallowed her horror at her
actions and repressed it. A sobbing Caline fled to her heroine, and Tayla took
her into her arms and let her cry.
"H-How were y-you able to-to overcome your paralysis?" Caline
stammered between sobs.
Tayla, trying to keep her voice steady, said shakily, "I was never
paralyzed to began with. While I was training under Kami Orchida, she helped me
to build immunity against certain attacks, and the Calmagian paralysis attack
was one of them. Never thought that I needed it, but I was proven wrong today.
In other words, I faked Alberm out."
Reccor began to tremble when he heard Tayla's words. That meant that Tayla
herself now knew that he worked for Frieza. Lord Frieza was not going to like
this.
Reccor knew then he had to flee, for he was a spy, not a warrior; he
had no chance against Tayla, if she chose to fight him. He also could not fly,
even though he had a cricket-like body. Before he could run, however, Tayla
released Caline and flew at him, landing on top of him and pinning him to the
ground. Quickly, she held the point of her sword to his throat.
"I'm placing you under Chloe Royalty Arrest for treason!" she told
sharply. "Stay where you are, or you will be sorry!"
Reccor froze at her words. He knew what Chloe Royalty Arrest was;
it was an act of arrest that any Clan of Chloe warrior or healior twelve years
or older could enact on any other Astorian, alien, or legal resident of Astoria.
All Clan of Chloe warrior or healior twelve years or older had the authority to
arrest anyone on Astoria whom they thought might be a threat to the lives or
safety of others, and by law, the parties being arrested had to submit. There
were laws and rules in place to prevent gross abuses of Chloe Royalty Arrest,
but most of the time, they weren't necessary, for the arresting fighters almost
always used their power judiciously.
"P-Princess," he stammered nervously, afraid to talk too loud
because of the nearness of Tayla's sword. "T-that talk about my
w-working for Frieza; it was just a joke, a very bad joke, but nevertheless a
joke! Please, Princess, release me; I was only kidding about working for
Frieza!"
Tayla did not believe him for a second. "That will be up to Nama
and Dirkan to determine; until then, consider yourself under arrest. If you try
to escape, I will be forced to hurt you, so I suggest you stay where you are."
Her tone now was steady and confident and bold; she was carefully hiding her
fears about Reccor's part in Frieza's empire.
"Tayla! There you are!" Gracina cried, flying towards her, her gold
hair streaming in the coming Calmagian wind.
"Tayla!" Shalila cried, following behind her, as Gorna followed
behind her grandmother and sister. All three older women gathered around her,
where they noticed Tayla holding a sword to Reccor's throat.
"Tayla, what are you doing?" Gorna gasped. "Why do you have a sword
at Reccor's throat?"
Tayla did not move an inch nor look into her relatives' eyes. She
kept a steady, wary gaze on both Reccor and Alberm. "He is a traitor under
arrest for treason," she told them calmly. "He works for Frieza, spying for
him. Ask Alberm when he awakens, for he is a spy for Frieza, as well."
Shalila and Gorna were horrified, for they had trusted and depended
upon Reccor for many years, many years before Tayla's birth. Gorna had known
Reccor since she was a young teenager. They found Tayla's words hard to
believe, but then Tayla had never lied to them, so they knew, without a doubt,
that she was telling the truth.
But Reccor was still trying to save himself. "She-she lies, or she
is mistaken!" Reccor cried hoarsely. "I would never betray Astoria or the Clan
of Chloe! How can you believe her word over mine? I have been a trusted
official for years, and she is a mere child! You both know how well children
can lie!"
Gorna carefully put her fine, red-booted toe under Reccor's chin,
just above the point of Tayla's sword. Reccor's insect chin rested unsteadily
upon Gorna's steel toe. "My sister does not lie," she told him evenly. "You
dare to call her a liar, and you are the worst liar of all. My sister has made
her mistakes in the past couple of days, but she is honorable; she has always
told the truth, to the best of my knowledge. I may not have always treated her
as well as I should have, but I have never had any reason to doubt her word.
How long have you been working for Frieza?"
Gorna then pulled out her own sword from a sheath resting on the
back of her pine-green caftan. She turned to Tayla. "Tayla, your grandmother
and I will handle matters from here; you may now step aside." Tayla did so
meekly, amazed at Gorna defending her for the first time. She still was
watching Gorna in astonishment, as she turned Reccor over to Gorna and backed
away. Gorna now had her sword at Reccor's throat and began barking questions at
him in sharp tones. Tayla drew Caline closer to her and led her over to Shalila
and Gracina.
Tayla looked into her grandmother's and her sister's eyes. "Alberm
was going to kill Caline, who is his wife, because she had learned about their
spying for Frieza, so I had to stop him." She looked towards the unconscious
corpulent form of Alberm lying on the ground, barely alive. "That's why I had
to fight him, and later electrocute him. I also had to fight him-because-"--her
next words were harder to say-"he beat up Caline and raped her."
Shalila gathered Tayla to her, and Gracina gathered Caline to her
and looked sadly into Caline's frightened eyes. "You poor child! That
bastard!" She smoothed a shaking Caline's wispy, pale hair. "You needn't fear
anymore, little one; no one is going to hurt you again." Caline cried in
Gracina's arms.
Shalila pressed Tayla to her body tightly and bent down towards her,
kissing her forehead firmly. "I am proud of you, my little dandelion."
Tayla was now deeply ashamed of the way she had behaved earlier that day. She
did not feel that she deserved her grandmother's praise. "Nama, will you
forgive me for the way I have been acting lately? I have been foolish. I don't
wish to marry Ridikar; am I going to have to anyway?"
Shalila smiled slowly, ruffling Tayla's dark hair. "All is
forgiven, and no, you don't have to marry anyone that you don't wish to. What
made you change your mind?"
Tayla was silent then; she did not feel like reliving the horror of
what Ridikar had tried to do to her that day. She herself was now crying
slowly, the slow tears soaking a spot on her grandmother's caftan.
"Tayla?" Shalila asked softly. "Did Ridikar do something to upset
you?"
Tayla nodded. She mumbled against her grandmother's stomach, "He
tried to-to do the same thing to me that Alberm did to Caline, but I escaped
before he could succeed. I-I didn't think that he would try to rape me; I
trusted him, Nama, I really did. I'm sorry, Nama, I feel that it was my fault
that he tried that. I told him no, but he tried to force me anyway."
"Tayla Chloe!" Shalila exclaimed, stunned. "It was not your fault
what Ridikar tried to do! I will get him for this! You mustn't blame yourself,
child; you told him no, and he tried to make advances on you anyway. He had no
right to do that. Dirkan and I will settle the boy, don't you worry about that.
Ridikar and Alberm will not trouble anyone anymore."
Tayla was thankful for her grandmother's support, but she now wanted to change
the subject. She no longer wanted to speak or think about Ridikar. "Nama, what
are we going to do about Frieza? Frieza surely knows that we are here on
Calmag."
Caline mumbled something into Gracina's pale pink caftan and white
sash. Gracina bent her head down closer to listen. "Caline, what did you just
say? Speak up, child, you are safe."
Caline tried to raise her voice above its normal whispery tone, but
couldn't do so very well.
"Caline?" Gracina prompted gently. "We know that you are frightened
and have been through a horrible experience, but we need your help. You know
about your husband's activities with Frieza. We need you to help us, dear,
because Frieza is an enemy of all Astorians, and possibly Calmagians as well.
Is he on his way here? Do not fear; we will protect you." Gracina held her
firmly against her body, rubbing Caline's back. Caline calmed down a little,
comforted by Gracina's motherly presence.
"No," Caline murmured softly. "He is not coming that I know of. He
has sent Elite people, people who allowed themselves to be arrested by the CRP,
that's Calmagian Royal Police. I-I heard Frieza's voice last night on Alberm's
scouter, t-telling Alberm that some people named Jaden and Zarbon managed to get
th-their team arrested, so they could get access to the capital of Calmag." She
swallowed nervously and continued, "But that's not mainly why they are coming."
"Then why are they coming?" Gracina asked as calmly as possible.
Caline cried aloud, "They are c-coming t-to take Tayla away!"
Gracina emitted a horrified shriek, Tayla clung to Shalila, and Shalila clenched
her fists.
"Curse you, Frieza!" she hissed.
*END PART THREE*
