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  Horiku blinked a few times, and then decided to be bold. "My Queen, please, just say what you would have me do."

  The queen rose from her chair. In a corner was a bowl on a carved pedestal made of black obsidian. The queen drew her hand above the water, and an image appeared.

  Both watched as a dark haired woman sat on a thick tree limb, watching something below her. Then her dark eyes moved to look directly at them, as if she could see the two watching her. Horiku prided herself in not stepping back.

  "Who is she?"

  "On her own world she is a warrior."

  Horiku looked up at the Queen startled. "You want me to teach her Kiuzi ways?"

  The Queen smiled. "Yes, and you to learn about her." The image in the water faded. "You must get to her before the Black Alliance soldiers do. She is headed to Ringlett."

  Horiku nodded bewildered. She was confused by the request and the sudden welling up of unpleasant feelings. Moments ago she really thought she had little feelings for the inhabitants of Ringlett. Why did staring in the waters release these memories?

  "Sometimes we bury unpleasant issues very deep, and when we least want them to appear… they do. The vibration in this tower is disintegrating some of those walls you erected around feelings you found unpleasant to deal with. You can process the feelings, or you can deny them. If you deny them, they then will merely go underground, and when you can least afford them to, they will overwhelm you."

  "I see." She did see. This was going to be a test of her honor. Would she succumb to the temptation of flaunting her new status among these townspeople or would she quietly enter and exit? "In my unworthy state, I will humbly follow the honor of Kiuzi, though I am but a trainee. And I will not dishonor the trust you have in me, my Queen."

  My first mission!

  "I am gifting you with your first sword of truth."

  The commander reentered the room with a scabbard and it's matching bracelets.

  "Do you feel you know the laws of using the sword?" The Queen asked.

  "Yes," she whispered reverently.

  "Then it is yours to use wisely on this mission," the commander told her.

  He helped her fit the scabbard on and had her test pulling the sword from her back at different positions until it was comfortable. Then he handed her the cuffs that would make the sword something more than a sharp instrument. The sword and cuffs were the most important part of a Kiuzu warriors uniform.

  The cuffs fit around her wrists like living things and just having them on she could feel the energy of the sword as if it came active. Horiku was too excited to think of the honor and advancement she was receiving and just to guide an off-worder.

  Horiku was seven days on the road. She was dressed in the sexless garb of a traveler that easily covered her sword. At every stop she practiced using the crystal bracelets and then the sword, putting what she had seen and heard into actualality so anything that called for their use would not be thoughtless reactions. Their appearance to most people were like any other leather bracelet with stones, but she kept the sleeves over them in case the rumors of raiding parties on unprotected travelers were true. The chance of using them were slight, as her hands and chobos were her weapons of choice if she could not avoid fighting. Resorting Kiuzu tools would be drawing attention to herself and she didn't feel comfortable to be identified as Kiuzu warrior yet. Her puzzling over why she had been given the cuffs before she reached the higher degrees would take up too much of her attention, so she had instead, decided to just focus on her mission. It wasn't like she had her classmates to worry at her for her promotion. Master Ken liked to say,

  "Everything becomes known in its own time."

  In the last five villages she heard the same stories of the off-worlder that cleaned local gamblers out. The off-worlder gained the reputation for being a bitizan, a successful gambler with few peers. The dark haired warrior was more than six days ahead of her, so rather than spend time to purchase a meal or rest during the noon-time, she pushed on, looking for a nearby airfield.

  Horiku paid for a flight to Ringlett. She would be three days ahead of the expected arrival of the warrior. The off-worlders questions in the villages were on finding the path up to the Rhi pass. She laughed to herself. No one knew where the path was. It was purposely hidden from the uninitiated, and if they did know, they would certainly not tell that to an off-worlder.

  It was dusk when the plane settled on the landing pad. Horiku clambered out with one other aged traveler. As a child she knew him as the mayor of Ringlett, however, she overheard a conversation he had with another passenger that he was a trader looking for buyers in neighboring towns for strawberry pots his small kiln put out.

  Horiku walked through an unfamiliar section of the town to where she used to live. Run down homes intermixed with just the outline of the foundations of buildings that once were there, were scattered along a street. The sidewalk was littered with potholes and trash. One vacant spot was where Horiku knew once had been their home.

  Emma woke to shouting from outside the house. Thuds against the walls of herroom shook the house. It was dark and she became frightened.

  "Ma! Da!" There was no response. "I'm scared," she whimpered. A familiarfigure came bustling into her room.

  "I'm here Emmie," her mother cooed to her.

  Emma wrapped her small arms around her mother's neck and held on as she wascarried out of her room.

  "Ma, why is there a fire in our house?" Her voice quivered with the fear she feltshaking her mother's body.

  Da was standing at the back door looking out through the drapes.

  "Come quickly. I see no one."

  "Be silent, Emmie." It was her mother's last verbal warning.

  As her mother ran with her, Emma could see behind them their house suddenlyignite in an explosion of sparks and fire.

  "There they are!" Jacobi, the nine year old shouted.

  Emma's eyes opened wide as a rock hit her mother's shoulder and then morecame their way. Emma would have knocked them away but her arms where wrappedtightly around her mother least she be dropped. She could not differentiate between thefrantic beating of her heart and her mother's but she knew when one of them suddenlystopped.

  Hariku stood very still, as the smell of fear mixed with the heat of the fire that burned her nostrils, brought her childhood trauma back to her. Her parents had a business selling pottery and seeds, which was considerably profitable compared to another family's business. Where there should have been no bitterness or jealously, the other family created it.

  Horiku's resentment and bitterness threatened to overwhelm her. The heavy weight of her mother's body that fell over hers was now suffocating her. She did not know what had happened to her father.

  Horiku did not realize she had walked the entire width of the town, until she was standing face to face with a man dressed as a constable.

  Jacobi.

  He had his baton out ready to use. Horiku pulled herself together quickly, thinking how easy it would be to fell him with one hit or kick, and how painful she could make it.

  Would it repay what he and the rest of the town citizens had done to her family?

  Her mentors and parents had taught her that revenge only fed the darker side of one's passions. Was he worth the energy required to sustain her anger? Her peripheral vision picked up the dark spirits and waifs that fed off that type of energy. She knew if she looked closer she would be able to see a city full of the dark entities. There was an intense desire to consume her.

  "You're dressed as a traveler," he sneered. "So you don't know our rules here " He sniffed at her, and spat on the ground. "As a woman you must cover yourself. Tempting good men to evil thoughts." He spat again, closer to her feet. "We don't take to trouble makers." He slapped the club into his palm, not so much as a warning but as suppressed excitement in wanting an excuse to use it.

  "Is that so, Jacobi of the Tre family? Let me ask you this, what do you do with people that kill innocent
s?"

  His expression hardened. Jacobi was a very large person even for his species, and for Horiku, who was Human-Elf female with both the height and slimness of the two species, he was twice her size.

  "You have less than a quamit to run that-a-way, or I'll chase you out, and you won't like the way I do it."

  "Oh, shut up, Jacobi!" she mimicked his mother.

  Jacobi shouted for reinforcements as he drew his club up to strike. Horiku realized she was baiting him. Not a Kiuzi thing to do. Silently she prayed for forgiveness, then stepped back to a less threatening position.

  "I'm not a threat to you, Jacobi," she reassured him in a softer voice. Horiku glanced around, daring to take her eyes off his glowering ones. She knew he would strike her and say she had resisted. That was how he was as a child. Horiku grimaced to herself.

  The town had always had its mean people and now those mean people seemed to be running the town.

  As he lunged at her, she simply shifted her weight, letting his momentum take him to the ground. From the ground Jacobi blew his whistle frantically.

  "And why, Jacobi, are you calling for help? There is no trouble from me." She turned to face him and four burly men that thudded to a halt at his side.

  "Ahh, Ringlett, what have you become? A town run by bullies?" she asked softly.

  And then regretted her judgment. A Kiuzi warrior did not judge but assessed the situation and did what could be done in a quiet manner.

  One of the men drew out an illegal taser gun. It was a painful nerve paralyzer.

  "Now what do you have there? she asked.

  "You're breaking the town rules by not covering your sinful self."

  She shook her head, surprised they did not recognize her. "I am dressed as a traveler. It is the custom on Arnica. And sinful? That is not a word in Drosu practice."

  "Who do you think you are to tell us what to do? We don't follow no Queen's rules!" Halighe stated menacingly. He was another bully from her childhood.

  "So, what they say about Ringlett is true. It has become as dark as it is unwholesome."

  "Get the witch!"

  It was easy to side step and use their weight to have them stumble over themselves. It was Jahamid that broke the game up. He wore the mayor's hat and carried a cane, the two emblems of the mayor's office. He came rushing up to see what the yelling was about. It looked like he was interrupted from his night meal.

  "Break it up!" Jahamid shouted angrily.

  The five men got up, but did not lower their clubs. Halighe kept his nerve gun ready.

  "Isn't that gun illegal, Mayor Jahamid?"

  The mayor looked at Halighe, then back at Horiku. "We could jail you for not following our town's laws," he warned her.

  "And I being the only one that could testify you have an illegal weapon would not be proved because I would be killed escaping."

  "We don't kill. It's against the Queen's Rules."

  "Halighe just said you don't follow the Queen's Rules which are Arnica's rules.

  You do kill. You run people you don't like out past the town markers, then stone them to death just so you can say it didn't happen in your town."

  "What do you want?" Jahamid demanded.

  "We'll take care of her," Jacobi boasted, moving with the others to surround her.

  "You have already condemned your town to death. Look around you. Can't you see what your behavior is doing? Look at the dark spirits and waifs that fill this town."

  "We didn't ask you to visit us! Get out! Now!" Jahamid shook his cane, then turned to the others, motioning for them to step back from her.

  "I will stay at the traveler's hut. See that you don't create any mischief. Queen M'Lu will know."

  They all looked around them as if expecting her to appear. However, Hariku knew they would never be able to see her. They had sunken so low, she doubted they could even see what was wandering their town with them.

  Before she turned to go, she stepped up to Halighe before any of them could move and took the stunner out of his hands. She was five feet down the street before the others responded.

  "Let her be," she heard Jahamid's hoarse voice tell the men. "She'll get hers soon enough."

  She laughed to herself. He was going to claim she had brought the weapon in town herself. During her childhood, there were seven boys that were just plain mean. All the younger kids knew them and tried their very best to avoid them. Repeated complaints to their parents did not change the harassing. If they were of one species she would have thought it was a species problem. Perhaps the bad energy had already settled in Ringlett.

  She walked into the traveler's lodge and decided against staying. The place was in shambles. The roof had more holes in it than the windows without coverings. There were no rules of behavior posted, which meant anyone visiting would and could be arrested.

  She jogged to the landing pad, looking for the pilot who was a previous Kiuzi trainee. He had his level and trainee status proudly displayed over his cockpit door. It was to prove he was dependable and trustworthy. The other passengers were still seated in their seats reading and waiting until the ship was serviced. It appeared service was slow.

  "Hello." He nodded politely to Horiku. "Didn't stay long."

  "I'm not leaving. I want you to take something to the authorities for me." She pulled out the taser gun, which he quickly and discreetly hid under his cloak.

  "Where did you get that?"

  "One of the village constables. I thought I would remove the temptation."

  "You're Kiuzi , aren't ch'a?" he asked softly.

  Horiku smiled.

  "I thought so. That's why I didn't think you needed to be warned about this town. I usually don't deliver here, but the regular pilot is on vacation. I'm glad I did make the run, just to see a Kiuzi bring justice. But, let me warn you. I heard talk over the waves that there's a group of rogue warriors headed this way. I think one of them once lived here."

  "I'll keep that in mind. Steady wind under your wings, pilot."

  Instead of the dilapidated visitors lodge she decided to sleep in the forest. She had not done that in a long time…alone. Besides, she had to think about her behavior. It was very unKiuzi and did not make her look good on her first assignment.

  Shaking her head in disgust, she moved into the woods searching for a place she knew as a child. What she found was a hide-away just big enough for a child.

  Looking around her, trees were felled and laying haphazardly. They had been chopped down indiscriminately and left. It did not make sense to her why someone would chop the trees and not use them. She could see plants used as healing herbs pulled out and tossed aside as if weeds. In the dark she could see their healing properties glow, though some weaker than others, depending upon how long they had been pulled. Some she gathered for her herb pouch, whispering a prayer of thanksgiving.

  As the sun, dropped below the horizon, it became completely dark. Cautiously, she moved in the dim light. She gave a soft call in Curilee language, signaling she was a friend, looking for a safe place to sleep. Their chitter greeted her as friend, and their images directed her to a safe space. They were small tree creatures that moved around in the dark and were very handy to have as lookouts. They did not like strangers in their territory, day or night.

  Before she went to sleep, she made certain none of the night entities would harm her, calling for her guardians on various levels to protect her.

  Chapter 5

  Tukuli's head rose from the rough reed mat as the smell of food seeped through his dream world.

  "Who goes there?" he croaked. A hacking cough shook his weak body.

  The voice of a child piped up, "It's only I, friend. I have brought your last meal for the day. It's best you eat this one and not toss it 'cause your fast will be long before your next meal."

  Tukuli struggled to sit up. He barely understood the language but recognized the voice. His body and mind felt ravaged from his own fury at waking up and finding his diminished c
apacities were not a nightmare. He indeed was in the mute world of the commoners. His screams of rage had left him hoarse for days. He was sightless, and could not interpret thoughts that would have foregone learning the commoners' language.

  He was bruised from bumping into things that did not move, and hurt for days.

  "Why… no food?" His tongue had a hard time wrapping around the words he just recently learned. He had not done well in his language classes. Why should it be mandatory since knowing what another thought was common on Allint? But the Queen Mother, his mother's second cousin, insisted they all learn to speak the languages of the various species that populated Arnica. A waste of time for someone of his class, he had thought disdainfully. But he was no longer part of that class. He was thrown out…like a criminal!

  Guiltily, he reminded himself, he was a criminal. He was furious with himself for getting involved in something as ugly as a plan that could end so many lives. He did not understand how he could have been so clouded in his judgment. Now he was an outcast.

  But it did not dim his anger at his cousin. She went too far when she exiled him.

  A warm bowl was placed in one hand and a spoon in the other. Sniffing for the scent of what was in the bowl, he again was reminded that his senses were gone. Not only could he not feel the properties of the objects in his hand but he also could not smell or taste what he was eating.

  "It is customary to fast on the fifth day of the week from sundown to sunset of the next day," the young voice broke through his angry thoughts.

  "Who is this fast for?" he whispered hoarsely between mouthfuls. He was hungry.

  It was as if he had not eaten in days. The boy seemed to easily understand his poor attempts to use his language. It irritated him that he could not understand the boy as easily.

  "For the cleansing of the body."

  He lifted his head in surprise. "What? Not for a god or something more profound?"

  The young boy laughed. "Of course. Aren't we all temples of the Beloved?"

  "Psaw!" But Tukuli did not want to risk insulting his benefactor too much.

  Finished with his meal, he laid the bowl down.