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Book I: He Who Would Valiant Be
1: The Huntress
"I don't care what Jarena thinks!" Prince Zordar growled in his deep bass voice. His Cometine green skin made his silver hair look closer to white than it actually was. "You are the one I've chosen; Jarena will get over her jealousy." The prince took her hand and kissed it, a look of possessiveness in his eyes.
The look both terrified and enticed her.
"What about our daughter?" she asked. "And Jarena will stop at nothing to see me gone; she wants you for herself."
Zordar laughed, the sound rumbling through his huge chest. "She never could understand that one woman is never enough for me." He put one arm around his lover's waist and pulled her close to him. "I will never send you away. I promise."
That had been seven years ago, just before her eighteenth birthday, and Dara was still bitter over what that reptile prince had done to her. A few months after that particular conversation with his highness, they had discovered Jarena was pregnant with the prince's daughter. Dara's own daughter, also Zordar's child, Constance, was only four at the time.
Jarena had thrown a tantrum rivaling that of any spoiled three year-old Dara had ever seen. The result? Jarena had gotten her way and Dara was exiled from Gatlantis to fend for herself and care for her daughter unaided. And what had Zordar done to make her life easier? Absolutely nothing.
The only thing she had heard about Zordar from that day onward that satisfied her sense of justice was that the prince did away with his second mistress for "seditious acts." Dara smirked at the memory.
The daughter Jarena bore Zordar was a pale-skinned, raven-haired girl named Invidia. The irony of it had struck Dara as supremely funny when she had heard the news. Whoever had named the child had obviously known the circumstances surrounding the girl's conception and birth. Invidia - "jealousy" - the perfect name for Jarena's progeny.
"When are we stopping again?" Constance's voice summoned her mother back from the tarn of memory.
"Soon, little butterfly." Dara turned to give her daughter a hug. "So where have you been this morning?"
"Playing with Mina and Rindi," she answered, her happy eyes twinkling with childish joy. Even though she was already eleven, in some ways Constance still seemed much younger. Her innocence had not yet been shattered – a minor miracle in the universe they lived in these days.
Constance's friend Mina was the daughter of another ship-resident worker also trying to make ends meet. The girl was quiet, but she seemed to be good for Constance, helping her understand that sometimes thinking was better than talking. Rindi was the son of the ship engineer. The boy was mischievous, as most boys his age were, and he had a curious affinity for fixing things.
"Where are we going now?" Constance asked, rolling up on her toes then back on her heels over and over, rocking forward, then backward again like a ringer-less bell.
"I'm not sure," Dara replied. "The captain changed course a couple of days ago. We're not on our originally plotted route anymore."
"Oh. Okay," Constance said, shrugging, then turning to leave the boring, adult conversation when a typically random question popped out of her child's mouth. "Amah*, why do I have pink skin when yours is blue and aba's* is... light green?"
Dara's face hardened at the mention of Zordar, but it softened again when she saw her daughter's purely curious face. "Well, dear, it's because, before you were born, your... father... and I planned what you would look like. It's called 'genetic engineering.'"
"Gen-eh-tick enj-in-earring..." Constance tested the words out, then a funny look crossed her face. "Does that mean I'm weird?"
"Oh no, no Constance. Not at all." Dara stepped over to her daughter and knelt on the cold hard deck plates. She gently grasped her daughter's shoulders, looking her directly in the eye. "And don't let anyone ever tell you that you are. You are mine, and I love you just the way you are."
Constance gave her mother a hug, then returned to her childish pursuits with her friends.
If only she would never have to face that label... If only I hadn't given in to him... If only, if only, if only... Life was too full of "if onlys" to look back on them all and contemplate what might have been, but sometimes Dara couldn't help wondering.
"Dara! Get down here, we've got more work for you to do before we reach our destination!" The order came to her through the ship-wide intercom system – ancient, but effective.
"Keep your shirt on, Malach!" Dara yelled back through the channel to the half-deaf cargo chief. She didn't want to take the risk that he had his bad ear closest to the receiver. "I'll be down there in a minute!"
"Girl, you don't have to yell! I'm not deaf, you know!"
Dara rolled her eyes and started for the main cargo bay.
"Alright, what have you got for me this time?" she sighed when she reached the hold.
"Got an escaped hybrid roamin' around the cargo bay right now. Nasty little chafe he is." said the chief.
"What kind of hybrid are we talking about?" Dara asked loudly.
"Oh, nothin' too bad. Some scientist's favorite experiment gone wrong I reckon."
"So what is it?" Dara prodded.
"Oh, just somethin' resemblin' a rat that thought was a snake."
Dara fought keep her eyes from bugging out of her head.
"Like I said, nothin' too bad. He's only a couple meters long – a real tiny fella."
"T-tiny?" Dara stuttered, still fighting to control her reaction to the job her boss had literally hunted up for her to do.
"Oh yeah," the chief laughed jovially. "That type of snake can get up to about fifteen meters long. You're lucky our scientist friend travels light."
"Yeah... lucky..." she mumbled to herself as the cargo chief left her to her baggage wrangling duties. "Of all the things that had to get loose, it would have to be a snake," she hissed. "Why do I always have to deal with reptiles?" She continued to talk to herself as she sauntered around the cargo hold, a stun-pistol in each hand, ready to shoot at anything that moved.
After an hour of doing this she decided to adopt a different strategy. Climbing atop one of the carefully secured stacks of crates in the hold, Dara sat on top of the tower, surveying the entire area as best as she could. There was no hint of the crazy animal's hiding place, not even the whisper of its tail swishing over the floor.
"Why me...?" she mumbled to herself again as she sat, her decorative leather skirt whisking over the pants she wore beneath it. She had modified the garment so that it had several thin panels taken out up to her knee – enough to give her extra movement, but not enough to draw unwanted attention to herself. The black boots she wore were old and worn, though still in serviceable condition. She had tucked the dark grey pants into her footwear, both to keep warmth in and to keep the cold of space out.
Where are you, you troublesome creature...? Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move. It was just the barest of disturbances, but her quick eye caught it.
There you are. Her eyes narrowed on her quarry. The strange animal's elongated, whiskered snout poked out from behind another wall of crates. It sniffed the air, it's forked tongue flicking in and out of its scaled mouth.
Just a little more. Dara slowly raised one of the pistols so it was pointed at the snake-rat.
The animal half walked, half slithered further out of hiding. Dara moved as slowly as she could, silently setting herself up to take down the beast with a single shot.
The beast was elegant in a strange way, lacking the awkwardness of other legged reptiles. Whoever designed it had thought through his work before putting it together. She would like to meet this man before he left the ship.
The creature tucked its clawed feet up against its sides, dropping to the floor, starting to slither instead of walk.
Dara was mesmerized by it for a second as the creature looked right at her, flicking its tongue to catch her scent.
The utter silence between the huntress and the hunted filled the gigantic space to the brim. Only the sounds of the ship around them hummed and clicked in the background.
The beast jerked around with lightning speed as the door to the cargo bay opened.
"I've been in here a buncha times before." Rindi's voice spilled through the silence.
Dara held her breath, hoping the boy would go away – shut the door and pick some other place to go. Get out of here. She willed the child to leave.
"Come on," came the voice again.
"You sure about this?" the voice of Mina trilled in sharp contrast to Rindi's. "There's supposed to be some dangerous things in here."
"Can't we go to the other cargo hold?" A third voice.
Dara froze. She tried to pull her pistol trigger, but her finger remained stubbornly hovering.
The reptile, out of sight of the children, flicked its tongue in the direction of the noise. It's scaled ears pointed towards the young voices.
Get away! Dara's mind screamed, but her mouth wouldn't open. Why couldn't she move? Was she so weak-willed that mere fear could overcome her this way?
While the paralysis of terror was upon her, the snake disappeared behind another fortress of crates.
The immediate danger passed, Dara's body unfroze and she quietly climbed down the tower she was still perched atop. Weaving through the crates, cages, and other containers, the young woman found her way back to the still-open door and the three children who weren't supposed to be anywhere near here.
"Constance," Dara said, startling her daughter and her two friends.
"Amah?" The girl jerked around in reaction to the familiar voice.
"What are you three doing here?" Dara whispered.
"We needed someplace to get away from all the adults," Mina replied. "They're 'discussing' something again." The little girl rolled her eyes.
"Go to the other hold. Quickly!" The insistence in her mother's voice made Constance's eyes grow frightened. "It's alright," she assured her daughter. "But you have to leave now – right now." She motioned for the children to leave.
"But why?" Rindi protested.
"I can't explain, Rindi. Just go!"
"But –"
"Amah!" Constance's shriek pierced the air and Mina screamed.
The eyes of her daughter and the other two children were locked on something behind her.
Faster than any of the three children had ever seen anyone move before, Dara spun around, one of her weapons instantly in her hand.
The creature she was after was in mid-jump, headed straight towards them, it's eyes fixed on the open door as it leapt. But as the children's screeching met its sensitive ears, it whipped its long body around in the air, bearing its snake's fangs at them, hissing in pain and displeasure.
A loud roar escaped the beast's throat.
Dara squeezed the trigger too late and the stun bolt flew past the twisting mass of flesh exploding into a crate.
The creature fell towards them. Rindi ran; Mina fell to the floor screaming in fear, but it was Constance who bore the brunt of the creature's wrath.
"No!" Dara's shrill yell hit the beast's tender ears, but not before it sank its fangs deeply into her daughter's leg. "Get away from her!" she yelled again, her eyes filling with tears.
The creature let go of Constance and turned to roar at Dara. The horrible sound clicked her brain into gear again and she finally pulled the trigger, splattering the beast's face with electricity.
The creature looked confused the instant before it slumped to the ground beside an unconscious Constance.
"Kapara sheli*!" Dara fell to her knees next to her little girl. "Talk to me, Connie!" She grasped her daughter by the shoulders and pulled her into a sitting position.
The girl didn't respond.
Fighting off panic, Dara unbuckled the belt she wore and tied it around Constance's bleeding leg, using her foot to push away the head of the unconscious beast.
She scooped up her child and ran out of the cargo hold, shutting the door and locking it after her and the other two children as an afterthought, not caring that she would likely have to round up the reptile again later. Right now, her daughter was the only thing she cared about.
"I need a doctor!" she shouted down every hall she passed, hoping someone would help her.
Her pleas went unheeded until she reached a portion of the ship she didn't frequent – first-class.
"Is there a doctor here?!" She was desperate now, knocking on door after door and being turned away by disgusted passengers who promised never to travel aboard the ship again.
Somehow, Rindi and Mina were still on her heels, looking utterly terrified, but very aware of the danger their friend was in.
Finally, Dara reached the last door on the hall of the passenger quarters – the best room on the ship, even surpassing the captain's.
She reached out to knock, her rapid breaths catching in her throat, tears streaming down her face as she held her bleeding daughter – the picture of helplessness.
Almost as soon as she knocked, the door opened and the face Dara saw made her mouth drop open. The man who opened the door was likewise stunned, but he was thrown out of his surprise quickly when he saw the girl the woman standing at his door was holding and the two other young children staring in horror at the first child.
"Come in!" The man threw open the door to them all and motioned for them to enter quickly. "Put her down here." He pointed to a long couch.
Dara laid her daughter down. "Help her, please," she pleaded with the stranger.
"Bring me some disinfectant." He pointed across to the room to a bottle nestled among many others atop a table.
Dara scurried over to it, picked it up and flew back to the couch.
"What bit her?" he asked as he examined the wound, the tourniquet still on Constance's leg.
"It – it was a snake – or a rat – a hybrid. I don't really know exactly what it was."
The man's jaw clenched and a pained expression crossed his face. "We need to stop the bleeding first."
"But what about the snake's venom?" Dara protested.
"It isn't poisonous," the stranger said, applying pressure to the child's leg. "She is lucky. No arteries or veins hit."
"How do you know it wasn't poisonous? You weren't there to see what happened."
"I didn't have to be." He stared at the floor. "I made the creature."
A loud slap echoed through the room followed by the sound of the stranger's monocle clinking to the floor. "I don't know who you are, but if you're the creator of that animal, I'm holding you responsible for this."
"I don't blame you." He picked up the monocle but didn't try to sooth his stinging face. "But right now, we need to help this girl."
Dara nodded, her sanity overcoming her anger.
"How do you know this girl?" he asked.
"She's my daughter," Dara replied, kneeling across from the man.
The stranger's head shot up, staring into Dara's green eyes. "How is that possible...?" he asked, still holding the compress tightly against Constance's leg. The bleeding was slowing now.
"She –" Realizing that she was going to reveal the truth to a stranger, Dara instead replied, "That's none of your business."
The stranger nodded, "I asked for that. Please, accept my apologies for the personal question... and for the trauma you and your daughter," he looked at the two other scared children standing in the room, "and you other friends have gone through because of me..."
Dara took a deep breath, considering what the stranger had said. She looked into his face. His short black hair and dark bushy eyebrows seemed to mute his kind dark eyes and she marveled again at the man's skin-tone, a bit darker than her owe blue skin. The clothes he wore looked like a military field uniform of some sort. She didn't recognize the uniform, but the sharp, roughly triangular, red insignia seemed familiar somehow. "Tell me who you are, and I'll consider it," she said.
The bleeding now stymied, the stranger let up the pressure on Constance's leg. He administered the antiseptic and cleared away any germs that might have flocked to the wound during the trek here.
Dara waited for his answer as he bandaged the wound in silence.
"She'll wake up soon enough. Likely she passed out from shock. Her vital signs are good. She is in no danger." The stranger looked thoughtfully at Dara and said, "I'm an astrophysicist. I dabble in xenobiology, as you've seen first-hand." He stood and motioned her to do the same. "I suppose you've disposed of him?"
"No." Dara shook her head. "I'm not authorized to carry out executions on passengers' property." She smirked.
The stranger nodded. "I'm... grateful."
"You're welcome," she said out of the corner of her mouth then looked back at Mina and Rindi who still stood waiting for their friend to wake up. "It's alright," Dara said to them. "She'll be okay." She looked at the stranger again. "Thank you... for helping my daughter..."
The man nodded. "I would never turn away someone in need of help." He looked at the other two children. "You may stay as long as you want."
"Th-thank you," Rindi replied.
The man smiled and turned to Dara. "My name is Garen Krenshaw."
After a moment's hesitation she returned the favor. "I'm Dara."
"I see we share common roots." He held up a hand, indicating the shared skin-tone.
"Truthfully, I... don't know where home is."
Garen thought about that for a moment. "Have you ever heard of an ancient line of starfarers, the Ibrahemic* people?"
"It sounds... familiar." A strange expression crossed Dara's face as something from her past skirted just out of reach of her memory. "But I don't remember why."
Garen shrugged. "No matter." He gestured to the sleeping child, changing the subject. "What is your daughter's name?"
Dara looked at her little girl's now-peaceful face and said, "Constance..." Then, realizing the man was waiting for a surname, she said the only thing she could make up on the spot, "Constance... Mariposa." She secretly added the title, "princess" onto it.
"She looks like her father then," Krenshaw said, noting again the girl's red-brown hair and light skin."
I'm so glad I colored my hair brown. "No... more like some other relative I think." A memory Dara couldn't quite grasp teased her. It had been her constant plague ever since she could remember... she had a life before she was entrusted to Zordar's... care, but she couldn't remember it. Every time she tried to call up a memory from before her seventh birthday it was like grasping air – nothing came to her.
"You are blessed to have her," Krenshaw said.
"I know."
"You can stay here tonight," he offered, then said to Mina and Rindi, "I assume you two have families to return to."
The two children nodded vigorously.
Dara looked intently at the scientist, evaluating him more thoroughly. Finally deciding he was no threat, she said, "We'll stay." then to the children she said, "Go on back to your parents."
Mina and Rindi nodded and left.
"I need to let the cargo chief know where he can reach me, and I need to corral your pet again. I'm sure he's awake by now," Dara said.
"No, please, stay here. I'll get him back in his cage. It's my own fault you had to try to re-cage him," said Garen.
"Thank you..." Dara said.
The scientist moved to leave.
"You... umm... might need this." She extended one of her weapons to him, handle first."
"Thank you." Krenshaw looked at the proffered gun. "But he prefers something a bit less... shocking." The scientist retrieved a container that held a medium-sized chunk of meat. "He's out because he's hungry. I'll be back."
When the scientist had gone, Dara knelt by her daughter again. The peculiar cowlick in the girl's hair that made her bangs split in the form of butterfly wings always made Dara smile. "Mariposa*..." she whispered. "Yes, from now on... you'll be Constance Mariposa..."
* Amah – mother
* Aba – father
* Kapara sheli – my little darling
* Ibrahemic - one branch of a three-branch family originating on Earth; they traveled the stars, settling many worlds; a reference to the previous book, The Guardiana
* Mariposa – butterfly