Kiran- the Warrior's Bride, page 8
part #2 of Rights of the Strong Series
“Beautiful, almost a spitting image of Ciara. I couldn’t get the mother, but I will get her daughter!”
A fearful chill ran down my spine, but since mom had told me to stay silent, I said nothing.
“She is recovering quickly,” she announced, turning away from me. “Too quickly. You probably used up all your powers, Kirata. That is your right.”
“You were delayed, aytnah-khassash,” the aytnah in black bowed and said. “I did what I felt in my heart was right.”
“That is your right,” repeated the head aytnah. “But right now, I will need something more than power. It is necessary to find the girl who is bleeding. Immediately. The warriors have lost her, but she doesn’t have much time, she will die as soon as the night ends.”
All the while I was staring at the head aytnah, who seemed to hold some type of a grudge against my mother. I might have been staring too obviously…
“Does she see?” She asked suddenly.
“No!” The other two were too quick to answer.
“Kiran is Ciara’s daughter, she will see. She will definitely see,” the head aytnah leaned over me once again, but I stayed completely still. “We must hurry!”
She turned around swiftly, while her shadow was already opening the door. The two other women rushed behind her, but a shadow remained where the aytnah by the name of Kirata was standing a moment ago. It was barely noticeable, black, rippling slightly, with white cavities instead of eyes.
“Ciara, I know that you can hhhhhhear me,” the apparition whispered. “Take your daughter hhhhhhhhome!”
A quiet answer came from the earphone.
“Yes… mom.”
“Sssshe’s begun to mutate, she ssssssees now.”
“Yes, I know.”
“I’ll hhhhhhelp,” the shadow rippled and added in a barely audible whisper, “I missssss you…”
The shadow dashed out and the only two people left in the room were Ashara and me. While the shadow was talking, Ashara froze in an unnatural pose. After coming out of it, she continued as if nothing had happened.
“Stay silent,” mom whispered, “Just keep quiet. You need to sleep. Kier, I’ll tell you the truth when we are sitting on the beach in bikinis on some resort planet like Litora, sipping martinis and admiring the sunset. And remember, shadows are only visible to seers. Seers have only one path – to leave their family and identity behind, surrender to that which tears apart your soul, and serve the clan and its interests. This isn’t the fate that a mother wishes for her daughter. Sleep, Kier, sleep. Soon we’ll be laughing at everything that’s happened, I promise!”
I nodded silently, even though mom couldn’t see me anyway. Not noticing, I began to fall asleep. Then I was awakened by mom’s alarmed voice. It was as if she was talking to herself.
“Kier, I have one last question for you. Considering your health, it’s very important. You didn’t choose a blond warrior with bright blue eyes, did you? What am I saying, you couldn’t have! I specifically said to look for a weak warrior, and that’s definitely not the fair-haired ones. Not to mention the ruling clan doesn’t deal with t’yamehs – the gold-diggers. Huh, it’s just a coincidence that aytnah-khassash, who serves the ruling clan, is looking for a girl who’s bleeding. But no, it couldn’t be. That’s all, sleep!”
Blasted unstable atom! There was no way I could sleep now!
I lied there for a little while and thought about what she said. Then I pulled the blanket over my head.
“Mooom?” I whispered.
“I’m here, I can’t bring myself to disconnect. It’s so nice to hear you breathing and to know that everything is okay. Everything will be okay, Little Panther. Now that I found a way out, everything is going to be great.”
But I had a feeling that everything wasn’t okay, because that warrior I had chosen was, in fact, a fair-haired man with bright blue eyes. Not to mention, he was huge and not weak at all.
“Mooom… you know…” I was biding my time. “He wasn’t wearing any bling, he was only wearing pants.”
“Kierrrrra?”
“You know,” I sighed heavily and continued, “that blond men have always been my weakness.”
“Kier, please,” mom moaned.
What did she mean ‘please’? I needed to tell her everything somehow!
“Mom, his eyes weren’t really blue, they were more ultramarine, but a little darker.”
“Unstable atom!”
“And you know, it didn’t hurt at all. It was actually quite wonderful at first. He was big, but also really gentle and careful and….”
“And…?”
“Mom, don’t worry… It’s… I need to sleep.”
All I heard in return was muffled cursing – mom had probably covered the seyr’s microphone. I curled up in a ball and listened, horrified.
“Don’t leave the bedroom!” She ordered. “Don’t go anywhere at all! Not even on a walk with Nrogo, if he asks you. Do you understand?”
“Erm… yep.”
“Yep? Kiera. Kiera! Explain to me, how did you manage to find such a ‘weak’ warrior?”
“Mom, what did I do?” I tried to whisper as quietly as I could.
“What did you do?! You slept with a warrior from the ruling clan, Kiran! They are the strongest warriors on Eeristan! Explain to me, what were you thinking, Kiera? You could have died! How? I can’t even imagine! I begged, I begged you Kiran!”
What was I supposed to say? That the moment I laid eyes on him I fell head over heels? Or honestly confess that it was all because of hormones, that they went absolutely crazy, and my brain switched off completely? Or be even more honest and tell her exactly what I felt at that moment.
“I’ve never experienced anything like it, mom,” I whispered. “I have only one regret, that I won’t ever see him again.”
“Oh, you’ve made quite a mess of things!” Said mom and hung up.
I passed out immediately.
Story Five: The Fun Begins
I spent four days in bed. Ashara said I should have stayed even longer, but I’ve always been quick to recover, so I wasn’t about to waste my time lying around. I started crawling as soon as I felt a little bit better, as I found using a chamber pot to do my business too humiliating.
On the first day I made my way to and from the bathroom by crawling. The second day, I made it there on my hands and knees. On the third day I was even livelier, and on the fourth day I was able to walk by holding onto the wall. I would have been more comfortable on all fours, but I felt sick when I remembered my father’s face, seeing me like that.
He peeked in once to check on his least favorite daughter and saw me crawling with the ‘I really have to go now’ expression on my face. For some reason, he decided that I had lost my mind and demanded that an aytnah be called immediately. The great warrior just didn’t understand that when you really have to go, you don’t listen to people talking to you because you absolutely must continue to your destination. Especially if you are moving slowly.
The aytnah arrived. She wasn’t one of the ones who usually treated me, but even she could tell father that I was totally fine and it was just my pride. As it turned out, that was a family trait. Even father admitted that I got it from him.
Finally, came the morning of the fifth day. I woke up, opened my eyes and smiled at the sun. I had requested for my bed to be moved closer to the window. I could now watch the sunrise, and I enjoyed every minute of it. I was lying in bed and looking out the window, when I saw Naska climbing up the wall. Then, the young man jumped and disappeared.
I was curious as to where he’d gone, so I jumped out of bed, ran to the window and glanced over the windowsill. Suddenly, I realized that nothing hurt anymore, I wasn’t dizzy, the weakness and aches had gone, and I actually wanted to go for a run. Ah, right now I wouldn’t mind running around the shops at the mall with Micha, but since that was impossible, I resigned myself to waltzing around the bedroom. That’s basically how I recovered. But I never did find out where Naska had disappeared to.
A maid wearing a robe with a thin white belt arrived, saw me dancing across the room and ran to get Ashara. Ashara was flabbergasted when she saw me. Then she uttered with an air of importance something that was very interesting to me.
“Nrogo must increase the payment.”
“What for?” I stopped, smiling happily.
It was amazing to be able to dance after spending so many days in bed.
Ashara didn’t say anything but meaningfully glanced at the maids who were standing at the door, staring at me. In a second, the maids were gone. I ran up to the old lady, in hopes of getting the seyr, but Ashara made a very loud announcement.
“The Khassar Agarn, the great kagan Shotar, has discovered unauthorized sources of radiation. Measures were taken, and now only authorized communication devices will work in the khassar’s palace. Princess Kiran, you no longer have to worry about your safety.”
I was so disappointed that I sat down on the floor right where I had been standing a moment earlier. That meant that I could no longer call mom. So that’s why father had stopped by earlier!
“Princess Kiran,” continued Ashara, “Khassar Nrogo wishes to see you. May I let the esteemed warrior know that you are ready to see him?”
“What should I expect?” I asked the old lady.
“Nothing to worry about,” she whispered and winked. “You’ll just be receiving gifts.”
I thought about it a little, and since I was about to die of boredom, I decided to agree to the meeting.
“And where will this meeting take place?” I asked before stating my agreement.
As it turned out, I didn’t even have to move, the meeting was to take place in my living room. When I had crawled around the rooms earlier, I had found some bales and chests, but they had all been locked or wrapped up. At the time, my condition got in the way of my interest, but now my curiosity was taking over.
“Those are gifts from Nrogo,” explained Ashara, helping me put on the white dress that I had brought with me from home. “He must present them to you personally.”
I chose this particular dress for a reason. The summer here was just beginning, it seemed, and the weather was getting hotter. The grey robes were too hot and stuffy. So I put on a light, billowy and slightly see-through sundress. I didn’t have any matching white shoes, so I wore my red stilettoes. I threw on a red scarf as the final touch. I stood in front of the mirror, looking at my pale face without any makeup. I was satisfied – I looked awful!
There was a knock on the door and I was informed that Nrogo was waiting for permission to enter his fiancée’s chambers.
“Just a minute!” I yelled, removing my heels, ripping my scarf off and hastily dashing to the bathroom.
After a while, I came out, adjusting the top of my sundress. Closing the door behind me, I froze. While I had been doing my business, the great Nrogo had barged in, accompanied by six of his warriors, my father, a woman who was not mama hippo, two aytnahs, and two white creatures, one of which I already knew (I believe its name was Akashi). But that wasn’t what was bothering me. When I realized that they’d seen which room I was occupying, I blushed.
“Erm, what are you all doing here?” I asked politely.
“A minute has passed,” Nrogo told me.
“I meant that figuratively,” I explained, still blushing.
“The princess is not ready yet,” Nrogo announced after looking at me for a moment. “Everyone out!”
Everyone obeyed and headed for the exit. I felt really guilty.
“That’s okay,” I smiled charmingly. “I just need a min… I’ll be right back!”
I headed to my bedroom, navigating between the bales and trying to stay close to the wall as I walked, avoiding the center of the living room where everyone had gathered. I put on my heels, threw on my scarf, admired my blushing face in the mirror and, taking a deep breath, returned to my guests.
The guests were obviously shocked, and just stood there, staring at me.
“Wassup,” I said nervously. “Well, I’m ready!”
“You forgot to get dressed!” Said Nrogo in an angry voice.
For some reason I suddenly felt the need to check if I was wearing my underwear and ran my hand along my hip. I was wearing panties. Seeing this move, all the warriors, except for my father, suddenly began to breathe heavily. How do they survive being so hot-blooded?
I wanted to try something, so I gave them a charming smile and adjusted my bra, then the plunging neckline of my sundress.
Two of the younger warriors suddenly made a bee-line for the door. The others froze and stared at my décolletage without blinking. I thought of Micha, it was not as fun to do this kind of mischief without her, but it had to do.
“It’s too hot,” I said sultrily, as I tousled my hair, revealing my bare neck.
Once again, shadows rushed to the door, and the rest of the warriors followed suit. I couldn’t help giggling mischievously as they left. It was quite funny, if you ignored the creepy fact that the warriors had shadows that moved separately. Father and Nrogo held their ground. That was understandable. One of them was a pissed off relative, and the other was an older man, so probably not all of him worked like clockwork anymore.
“Oh no, what’s wrong with them?” I widened my eyes dramatically.
“Kiran is not an idiot,” Nrogo hissed. “But she plays the part well.”
“Yes, that’s me,” I flirtatiously adjusted my scarf. “So what’s going on with my presents?”
I gave the tahr-ehn an innocent look. Nrogo glanced at father, father wasn’t taking his eyes off me, the aytnahs were staring at the woman, the woman was staring at the creatures, and the creatures were staring at the door. I also glanced at the door.
Not giving a damn about anyone, I headed for the door. Something shiny had caught my eye and I wanted to check it out. I came up to it and took a closer look.
“You are all monsters,” I said, throwing off my heels and running to my room.
I retrieved the tweezers from my bag, ran back to the door and pulled out a mini surveillance camera.
“Aha!” I exclaimed as the device fell into the palm of my hand.
“Ouch!” I cried as father knocked the device out of my hand and didn’t give me a chance to examine the thing, stomping on it with his boot.
I shot him an offended look.
“That is unacceptable,” said Nrogo, looking at the white creatures.
Everyone else followed his gaze.
“Kiran, princess of Aigor,” announced Nrogo, “accept my first gift.”
“Eekhas,” he said, looking at the white beasts, one of which stepped toward me.
I took a graceful step back. The creature stared at me curiously, licked his lips as if in hunger, and took another step. I took two steps back. The creature hung out its tongue and took a jump that shortened the distance between us twofold. I made a note of my surroundings, estimating the distance to my bedroom, to the bathroom and to Nrogo. Finally, I made a decision.
“Aaaah!” I shrieked wildly and dashed toward the one, who I knew would definitely save me. He’d saved me before, after all.
The warrior habitually swooped me up, chuckled and held me closer.
“He’s playing with you, Kiran,” he explained. “Eekhas is Akashi’s puppy, he’s still young.”
“You should’ve warned me,” I replied, but made no attempt to leave Nrogo’s arms.
First of all, it made father angry, and second of all, it felt safe.
It turned out that it was also quite beneficial for my future husband.
“Kiran McVarras does not experience fear. The great warrior Nrogo’s request will be fulfilled!” One of the aytnahs exclaimed solemnly.
I flinched and looked at the warrior. He chuckled cockily and ravenously. What a bastard! It seemed that I wasn’t the only one reading romance novels, he’d obviously read some cliché nonsense about how ‘Women like to play the victim’.
“My memory is superb!” Nrogo leaned toward me and whispered.
It seemed that although he had been drunk that night, he still remembered everything. He was clearly hinting at the fact that he hadn’t taken my virginity. I looked into Nrogo’s dark narrow eyes and, still holding onto his huge neck, pulled myself closer to his ear.
“My seyr has a video camera,” I whispered.
His brow furrowed, and he cringed.
“When I find him, I’ll kill him,” he hissed, leaning even closer.
“The seyr?” I whispered in surprise.
“No, him.”
Not ‘if’, but ‘when’… well then.
“The important thing is that he doesn’t find me,” I whispered confidentially to the warrior, who was becoming my protector.
Surprisingly, Nrogo turned out to be quite a smart man. In fact his mind worked wonderfully. He put me down and turned to the aytnahs.
“I must ask that my request be postponed. Kiran is still too weak, and she should not attend the tournament in Shodanar.”
A very smart man indeed.
Then Nrogo took my hand and led me to the creature. He took me straight up to Eekhas, crouched down and petted him. The creature stuck his tongue out and began to grumble softly, wagging his tail. He turned out to be very sweet.
“Give me your hand,” commanded Nrogo.
“No thanks, I don’t want to, I can see from here that he’s carnivorous,” I said, hiding my hand behind my back.
The warrior cocked his head and thoughtfully looked me up and down.
“Have you ever had pets?” He asked.
I nodded.
“Give me your hand,” he repeated the command. “Now!”
For some reason I couldn’t bring myself to say no. Sometimes Nrogo was scarier than all the creatures put together. Grabbing my wrist, the tahr-ehn pulled my shaking and unwilling hand toward the creature’s muzzle.
“Protect,” he commanded “Always! She is your master.”
What happened next was unbelievable – the creature pushed his forehead against the palm of my hand, and my heart melted. It was so surreal. The fierce monster suddenly didn’t seem so much like a walking death machine, but turned out to be a cute and adorable ball of fluff.
