Nette by Barbara Rayne--5 sample chapters

NETTE

By Barbara Rayne

~ Sample Chapters ~ Publisher’s note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright © 2012 Barbara Rayne All rights reserved. No portion of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, mechanical, electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission from the publisher.

Editor: David Moadel Book and cover design by Marraii Design Female image © Konradbak Published by Barbara Rayne www.barbararayne.com

CONTENTS

1 WITH THE LIGHTS 2 THE VILLAGE 3 BIRTHDAY GIFTS 4 THE FUNERAL 5 THE BLUE ORB 6 PREDIOUS 7 THE RETURN FROM GUDGEON 8 THE SEED OF HATE 9 IN THE SENTUS WALL 10 THE KING’S HEAD 11 THE QUEEN NETTE 12 THE REBELLION 13 THE WAR 14 THE TREASON 15 THE END ALSO BY BARBARA RAYNE

1 WITH THE LIGHTS

“I want my Mommy,” I cried inconsolably looking at the unusual lights around me, “go away,” I tried to repel a purple light that carried and lowered me down on a brown bubble. I was throwing myself around crying desperately while lights touched my head, arms, legs.

Strong pain in my eyes brought darkness.

“Where am I?” I looked around the empty transparent bubble and then towards the floor, because I wanted to get up, but then screamed out of fear. I was lying in the air and deep down below me was the floor.

“How will I get down? Where’s my Mommy? Help,” I screamed begging for anybody to help me, “I have to use the toilet, and I have to go down, help!”

The light came in and flew around me. I was turning my head, observing different shades that were left in the room, and then remembered I had to use to toilet.

“I have to get down, I have to pee, please,” I asked the light nicely.

She lifted me up, and we flew out the window, then she put me gently on the ground outside.

“And the toilet? I’m not going to pee outside! Toilet paper?” The light simply overflowed around me while I stood there and waited.

When I couldn’t hold it anymore, I peed on the ground. She lifted me up and carried me back, but not to the transparent, but the blue bubble instead, full of numerous colors mixing, creating new ones.

I screamed from the pain trying to get away but was nailed down by different lights in colors and didn’t understand what was holding me. There were no ropes, no chains, and yet I was firmly tided down and couldn’t run away.

“It hurts, it hurts,” I wanted to die not to endure such pain they were inflicting on me, “Mommy,” inconsolably I cried for my beloved Mommy, “Save me, Mommy! Mommy!”

The most painful part of my life was that one at the age of five.

Everyday pains and different unbearable tortures of my body and head were something I didn’t want to remember, something I suppressed deep inside of me. When I turned six, the pain stopped, and I was forced to accept my Mommy and Daddy were gone, and that the people didn’t exist there. All the pain was inflicted by lights in color; everything that carried and moved me around was done by the lights.

Life without parents, consolation, toys, and everything I was used to, was hard to reconcile. For days, I was crying and almost died from sorrow.

I remember that, for a week, I was down with a fever and thought that maybe I would be returned home because of it. It was a futile hope of an unhappy child that, in its naïveté, nurtured many impossible dreams.

Even though I was a child, I knew that lights must have done something to my body when I didn’t have to eat. I kept asking questions in search of explanations as to why I never was hungry, — which, of course, nobody answered. Everything I ever asked never got answered. Here, I was the only one breaking the silence, the only one who spoke, who had a body and walked.

As I wasn’t eating or drinking, I had no more physiological needs.

My vocabulary became smaller, but my imagination still served me well, so while I was playing, I was always with my Mommy.

I lived alone in a transparent bubble that swung when I walked, and sometimes, when I cried at night, it would rock me until I fell asleep. I was bored, so I ran through the sand and watched the dust rise behind me. When night would fall, as I didn’t like the dark, the bubble would immediately create a mild light. If I wanted to sleep, I would simply lie down in my bubble, and it would lower the stars (making it half-light inside) and would wait for me to fall asleep.

The place was full of bubbles of various sizes, all transparent and differentiated only by their colors on top. Some bubbles were really huge, and some were like mine, enough for me to get in and stand straight. When I stretched, it stretched along with me and dropped to my head, but never touched me, just like the stars it made for me.

Various colored lights would move inside the bubble, and I would watch them for hours.

One day, I decided to walk until my legs hurt, imagining that I could run away and find Mommy and Daddy. I walked tirelessly, but everything constantly looked the same, as if I haven’t moved at all.

“Why didn’t I move away from the bubble when I walked vigorously? What kind of walk was that?”

Moping, I sat on the white sand, desperately trying to figure out how was it possible to walk and not move away.

“Something is holding me,” I concluded and started to look around.

Everything was sunny and empty, without even one colored light.

“Who’s keeping me, then? When I think about leaving, it brings me back.” I went in and started to object, “You are not good,” I said, “You are not letting me find my Mommy. And you don’t speak; you are boring,” I was angry with the bubble, “When my Daddy comes, he’ll punch you in the nose,” I threatened.

For the entire year, I was wandering around the place whose name I didn’t know, nor its location, nor how I got there in the first place. I spoke very little, and the only company was my bubble that was my home, as well. As I grew, it adjusted to my size. I lived in my imagination, and the hardest thing was the painful realization that I couldn’t picture my Mommy in my head anymore. I often thought about my parents, but it was harder and harder to picture their faces.

They were a distant memory that existed only because I didn’t know about anything else. In play, I would regularly mention words Mommy and Daddy, and that’s how they lived in me, but more like fairy tale characters than real people. I stopped crying because I learned that

there was nobody who could help me, and that made the crying in vain.

Sometimes I cried because I felt sorry for myself, but that stopped, too.

Sorrow had left me, and now I was just a lost child, neglected, with long hair and nails, endlessly lonely.

With my fingers, I was stroking the sand, and with long nails drew circles and different lines, when a red light descended next to me. I jumped up on my feet, because I haven’t seen a light for a long time and I feared them so much that I almost suffocated. My suppressed memories of a tremendous pain were tied to the lights, and my first instinct was to run away. I ran as fast as I could, but the light was persistently above me. I jumped in my bubble, sat down and bent my knees.

I was shaking my head as if she could understand my wish she would go away. I couldn’t even remember the word used to send someone away. I sat and sat, and the red light waited outside. I didn’t go out pleased that the light couldn’t or didn’t want to enter my bubble.

Now I felt gratitude towards my bubble, because it protected me from danger and was my only friend.

The red light made me feel angry, and like an immature child that I was, being fed up with sitting in the bubble, I forgot about the danger.

First, I leaned my head out and looked around the bubble, then stepped out, when something suddenly lifted me up high in the air. I screamed in panic, frightened of being dropped from that height.

The red light gently descended me down on a sandy beach next to a beautiful blue sea. I watched that gorgeous water, feverishly trying to

remember what it was. In my database, my memory, there was a sea, but it needed time to surface, time to remember what it actually was and that it was water. I touched it with a tip of my toe and jumped away as if I was burned, because it was wet. For three years, I haven’t seen water, and I forgot how it felt on my skin. I ran through the shallow water, watched small waves come in and roll over my toes on their way back to the sea. I was laughing and splashing, and the red light was wrapping around my head, flying out to the sea and coming back to me. I noticed that the red light would come back when I laughed and then it would cloak around me, bend and make unusual forms.

As I was absolutely wet, the sand stuck to my bare body, which irritated me. I went into the water and carefully walked further and further until the water reached my neck. The red light was flying above my head; I was waving and sprinkling her when something stung me in the leg. I screamed and lifted my bleeding leg up high, then lost balance and fell on my back with water closing above me. Frantically, I waved my hands calling for the red light, but the water filled up my mouth, and lungs, and drowned me.

The red light eventually got me out of the sea. When I opened my eyes, I was inside the red light, in red warmth, completely different from when we were flying. I felt protected, secure, and it somehow reminded me of my Mommy.

“Mommy,” I whispered, “is it you?”

The red light didn’t answer, just catapulted toward the sky carrying me in her warm womb, while I laid there absolutely carefree. She put me in my bubble and vanished. Left alone, I looked for the cut on my leg, but there was nothing. No scar, nothing.

The red light came the next day. I jumped up and down from joy of seeing her.

“Carry me,” I stretched my arms towards her, she lifted me up and flew into the heavenly blue sky. I wasn’t scared of falling anymore sitting on the edge of the red light, not having anything to hold onto.

Now I knew I could toss and turn, lay or stand, and the light was holding me even though I didn’t feel it.

Every day we sailed across the blue sky, and I enjoyed the love that I felt for her. Sometimes, she would take me to the mountains and to beautiful flowers, which I would hug, or to the vast meadows with high grass. Then we would return to our place of transparent bubbles, and she would put me straight into my bubble and leave. I loved the red light, loved her immensely.

Spending time with her, I noticed that her light and hue were not always the same. When I laughed, it would become radiantly bright as if she was laughing with me. When it would appear to her that I was about to fall, she would become darker red and less radiant. She took care of me. If I would sing, and it would usually be “la, la, la,” she would instantly swing and become brighter red.

I wanted her to love me back, so I was careful not to do the things that made her dark red. I stopped jumping off the big rock; I didn’t cry

when I bruised, but bravely lifted my head up towards her, and smiled as if I were saying, “See how good I’ve become.” I would wipe my tears off secretly, and she would intensify her glow twice as a thank you. We both adapted to one another, and more and more understood each other.

In the years that went by, our spending time together was the purpose of my life, the only reason to get out after waking up. Nothing waited for me, no obligation, person, nothing but the red light that would arrive and end my solitude.

Besides recognizing her moods, we developed an unusual way of communicating, so I felt as if we were talking. I knew how much she loved the sea, the sky and nature, so I loved it too, because I loved the red light.

2 THE VILLAGE

I was about ten when a terrible storm woke me up. I sat up and my bubble immediately adjusted encircling me. The wind howled and the bubble rocked harder than ever. The day disappeared, darkness replaced it, and the rain turned into enormous water pouring over my bubble. The wind lifted my bubble and threw it around like a leaf, carrying it and rolling somewhere. We tossed and turned for so long that I felt sick, and was unconscious for a while from all the dizziness.

For days, the wind carried us, smashing against hard surfaces, but luckily didn’t pierce the bubble. All those hits didn’t hurt me either; they just shook me and threw left – right, or turned me upside down.

All of a sudden, we weren’t rolling on a solid ground, but were in the air falling down some terribly deep slope. I saw cliffs we smashed against, and falling, falling, falling. When we fell to the bottom, the bubble burst; I felt a sharp pain, and then there was silence.

When I opened up my eyes, people were standing in front of me, people with heads, arms, and legs. They were leaning towards my face and speaking something, but I couldn’t hear them from all the humming in my ears. One of them moistened my mouth with a wet cloth, and then they covered me. Men were speaking fast to a woman next to them, and she was very angry waving her arms around. I tried to get up, so the woman stopped the conversation and ran to me.

“Put this shirt on, child; you cannot be naked.” Seeing them wearing clothes, I understood what she wanted me to do. She held the sleeves showing me to push my arms in. The shirt was warm but itchy, and I didn’t want to say anything to hurt their feelings.

“Are you all right now?” Quietly asked the woman with blue eyes and long hair like mine.

“Yes.” “What’s your name? How did you get here? What was that bubble you were in?”

I looked at her in confusion, and listened to a speech like mine, but too fast to understand anything. I smiled, not knowing what she said, so she turned around and shrugged her shoulders toward the men.

“It’s her, I’m sure. Still woozy… We’ll wait.”

“I think we should notify Sakril,” said the older man to a youngster next to him.

“No!” objected the woman, “We have to be sure what it means for the village.”

“Well, what are you suggesting; woman,” nervously replied a man, “that we leave her here and go get the Chieftain?”

“Yes! We’re not taking her to the village and she certainly is not coming to my house,” she said harshly.

“Alright,” he looked at the woman unsatisfied, “you can hand her over to the King’s soldiers, too. You think they’ll beat us less, that

they’ll treat us better? Is that what you’re thinking,” he was in her face, “because if you are, you’re dumber than I thought.”

“I’m not, Grut, but we should think things through. She is trouble for us all. You want him to destroy the village because of her? Is that what you want?”

“I don’t want anything, woman. We’ll do as the Chieftain says,” he replied looking at the distance as if he was expecting someone. The woman came back and crouched beside me.

“What’s your name,” she retorted.

“I can’t remember,” quietly I admitted.

“Where did you come from?”

I raised my arms and smilingly showed the sky, hoping she would realize I was describing the light, and then I whistled to describe the wind and throwing of my bubble and me on the floor.

“Bam!” I showed to the floor hoping she understood it.

“Don’t you know how to speak?” She asked me a lot gentler.

“No.” “Let the child be, she doesn’t know where she was, or how she survived,” an older man interfered while the youngster observed it all with some odd contempt.

“Here they come,” exclaimed the youngster. Man and woman hurried to greet the horsemen that were approaching. They got off their horses and came to me.

“She doesn’t know how to speak,” quickly explained the woman as they were standing, stunned, above me.

“Are you sure it’s a girl?” Asked an old man before he kneeled and caressed my hair.

“Certain,” snapped the woman and her husband nodded in agreement, “I suggest we hide the child, so the word of her return doesn’t get out. When the King finds out, we'll have a war; you know that well.”

“Don’t we have it now?” Interjected another man.

“Why don’t we banish her,” whispered the woman, “and save the village and ourselves that way?”

“Because she’s our only hope, our freedom,” the old man snarled, “what exactly do you want to save, Enya? Increasing number of corpses, everyday fear, and whipping? If we keep our tongues behind our teeth, the girl will become that young woman the prophecy is talking about.”

“I don’t believe that horse shit,” countered the woman, “his stories never came true, and why would they now?”

“Because she survived, that’s why I believe,” her husband joined in.

“Here comes Sakril,” the old man pointed to a horseman approaching.

The man jumped hastily from his horse and ran to me. He firmly embraced me and with teary eyes whispered into my ear: “Welcome, Nette, I’m your Grandpa Sakril,” he consulted with those present for a long time and lastly picked me up and sat me on his horse, “I will do as we agreed,” he said greeting them goodbye.

He placed me in front of him on a big white horse, and I enjoyed the warmth of his embrace. It was wonderful looking at other beings like me who could even talk, so I instantly started thinking of Mommy and Daddy. He’s taking me to my Mommy—a thought ran through my head, causing my heart to beat intensely—yes, I’m going to see my Mommy.

The house we went in didn’t look familiar to me, so I worriedly assumed that I must have forgotten it all. I turned around hoping Mommy would open a door, but nobody was there.

“Mommy and Daddy?” I looked at him desperately waiting for his answer. He sat me down on a chair and pretended not to hear my question. Just as I intended to ask again, Grandpa spoke: “Easy… there’s so much to tell you. First,” he was carefully choosing words, “do you know which gender you are?”

Gender? What is gender? Panicky, I browsed my memory, but I didn’t know that word.

“Are you a girl or a boy?”

“A boy,” I sputtered, happy to understand him.

“How do we know, in Sentus, who’s a girl and who’s a boy, of course, when clothed?” Again, I didn’t know what he asked me, so he went on, “boys, all the boys in Sentus have brown eyes, and all the girls have blue. By the eye color, we know who is a boy and who is a girl, right?”

I watched him all shaken up by a desire to see my parents, waiting for him to finally say when they would come, that I barely paid attention to his questions.

“You are Nette, the girl with brown eyes. The girl with the eyes of a boy.”

I jumped up, surprised. It’s been ages since I wondered whether I was a boy or a girl, because I was the only one human, and now Grandpa brought confusion I couldn’t keep up with.

“When you were born, your parents already had a son and a daughter, Mea and Gorsak. She had blue eyes, and he had brown eyes, but you… You were born with brown eyes. You didn’t have blue eyes for a while like all babies do at first, and then boys’ eyes gradually change to brown. No, yours were immediately brown. The problem was that they saw you were a girl, not a boy. They rapidly wrapped you up in a blanket, and told everyone a boy was born, naming you Nette.”

“A boy,” I repeated the word so familiar to me. Grandpa leaned over and smiled.

“No, angel, you are a girl. Your parents were so worried because they knew eventually people would find out you were a girl and that your life would not be easy.” He got up and walked restlessly to the fireplace. He looked at the fire and spoke with his voice visibly trembling, “It was discovered you were a girl when you were five. You fell into a river and literally drowned. Your parents, shocked and in panic, carried your dead body through the village on the way to the doctor. Doctors were the only ones who could pronounce you dead.

Your Mother fainted from sadness, and while everyone gathered to help her, you stood up and spoke. There was absolute chaos; some were crying out of luck, while others horrifically spoke of miracle.

Doctors forced your poor parents to leave you for at least an hour with them, because, by their judgment, you could fall into state of shock.

Your parents knew there was a danger of finding out your gender, but they couldn’t stop the doctors. The news rapidly spread through Sentus. The girl with the brown eyes rose from the dead. The King sent hundred soldiers and two executors. On the same day, they cut off your parents’ heads, and your brother and sister’s, too.”

I watched him with eyes wide open, feeling he was saying something terrible, when he gestured with his hand as if he was cutting his throat. Is he saying my Mommy is gone? That her throat was cut? And Daddy and brother and sister… I started crying. They’re gone.

“At the same time, they went after you, took over the hospital,” his voice trembled, no matter how much he tried to look calm, “but you were not there. You vanished. There were stories how people saw lights in numerous colors and that, perhaps, they took you, but nobody

really knew how you disappeared,” Grandpa’s face showed tremendous pain, I felt he was as miserable as I was, because of that story.

“No, no…” I gestured slitting my throat. I wanted to show him how horrified I was with the story. It seems like it was my fault, is that what Grandpa is trying to say? Did I understand him correctly?

“King Garlid IV Falkner issued a decree! There is a prophecy that says one day a young girl with brown eyes will kill the King and take over the kingdom.”

“Brrr… no… she…” How do I tell him that the word “kill” is something horrible? How can a child kill someone? I was confused, terribly confused.

“The prophecy says one cannot kill the young girl. Her body heals itself, and one day, a light shield will be installed around her heart, so she will be able to carry the blue orb. Your parents didn’t know you couldn’t die, even though you felt pain, even death. Where were you all these years, my child?”

“Alone… and… they…” I searched for the words to describe where I’ve been, when he said: “Colorful lights.”

“Yes! Color,” I repeated after him.

“Did they touch your heart?”

“Noooo…”

“Do you have a scar on your chest?” I didn’t understand him, so he moved my shirt and looked.

“O, ooo…” I waved my head left to right, and then nodded. I wanted to tell him how I had a scar, but it soon vanished, incredibly fast. How do I explain? I understood more than I knew how to say, and that bothered me.

“They made you a light shield for your heat. You are that girl, sweetheart. It is you, after all. Go ahead and eat something now,” Grandpa smiled while I helplessly sat and stared in front of myself, “this was all too much for you,” he stroked my hair, and I was startled because I still wasn’t used to human touch.

He put a plate full of food in front of me and a glass of water, but I just looked at it and finally realized that he wanted me to eat. Quickly I waved my head and showed him that I don’t eat and drink.

“No, eat… yum, yum…” I stared at him, worried he didn’t understand.

“Of course, you don’t eat!” He made my bed and pointed I should go to sleep.

I went to bed obediently and looked at him, too scared to say anything. I have to think about what he was trying to say. I did something; something was my fault when they killed my family. Brown eyes, a girl… went through my head before I feel asleep.

The day after, I got up and Grandpa took me to the field. I wore his shoes and could barely walk behind him how big they were. Being so

slow bothered me, so I took them off and ran bare foot as I used to all these years, carrying shoes in my hands. He just smiled without comment. Women were picking strawberries and putting them into baskets, and the men were carrying them to the carts pulled by horses and loading them. We were passing by the people in the field, who were scanning us below the eyebrows, and some were greeting Grandpa inquiring whose child I was. He didn’t say, just waved like he couldn’t hear them. We arrived on the small clearing where, sitting on a stump, an old man resting on his rod was waiting for us.

“Horatio, good day,” said my Grandpa Sakril.

“Good day, my friend. I need your help,” said Grandpa sitting on a small wooden bench.

“I’m listening!”

“I brought you my granddaughter Nette.”

“Nette!” The man, still leaning on his rod, jumped up and bent over, then stared intensely into my eyes. While he studied me, everything became graveyard silent. The old man went back to his stump and whispered: “Does the King know she’s back?”

“No, he doesn’t!”

“Good! She has to stay here; you know that. Make sure the guards on the wall intensify the watch.”

“I notified Peron this morning.”

“Go away now and hide. Take care!”

I looked at my Grandpa and saw he was about to leave. I went after him, but he made me go back to the unfamiliar old man. I watched him confused, but he gently pushed me and just whispered: “May God be with you, child,” and left. Again, I ran after him, but the old man yelled: “You have to stay here; that’s why he brought you,” I stopped, looking at my Grandpa distancing while tears ran down my face and clenched my fists. The old man, who was watching me, mumbled: “He didn’t hug you because his heart would break. Now, let’s go to work. Don’t cry.”

I wasn’t bothered by the hug, but by the fact he left without a word, he didn’t even say if he would come ever again. I dropped my head and went after Horatio toward a big wooden house.

We went inside, when I saw over fifty people, men, soldiers, watching us. The old man pulled me to the middle of the room and shouted: “This is Nette!” Suddenly everything went silent, “As of today, we have a new soldier.”

“He’s a kid,” objected a male voice from the middle of the crowd.

“She’s a soldier,” exclaimed the old man.

“You said she,” they started laughing while the old man looked at them grim-faced.

“If you weren’t that dumb, Rupert, you would know who Nette is!”

They all shut up while the old man walked left to right, thumping with his rod, “Nette is the future Queen of Sentus. The prophecy says she will kill King Garlid and free this nation of suffering and violence. Only she can take the blue orb without being killed and bring back a human form to the people of Predious.”

“How do we know she’s the one?” asked a soldier.

“Young girl with brown eyes, says the prophecy,” the old man replied.

“As far as I know, it says she is also invulnerable. Nobody can kill her. We should verify,” he laughed maliciously.

“Shame on you, Tio, when you don’t see a child in front of you. I’m asking you to train her as a soldier. One more important thing. It depends on you when the King finds out. Keep your mouth shut, and we stand a chance to make this child into a warrior. If you blurt it out sooner, may God help you.”

“Dear Chieftain, I think we should consider how much truth there is in the prophecy,” a young soldier tried to warn the old man.

“Isn’t it more important that the King believes in it?” Joined in the other one, “And what have we done by keeping her in the village?

Defied the King!”

“Yes! Exactly,” the Chieftain agreed, “provoking the King is what we want. Even if the girl is not our hero, that’s what we want, right? Aren’t we here for that?”

“Yes,” they all agreed.

“Then we have a deal. We tell no one until we’re ready for a showdown.”

The Chieftain ordered the soldiers to make a room for me out of the old storage. I was lying in a small, dark room, scared and alone, thinking about the red light, our silent time together, and our magnificent flight across the sky. I didn’t understand why I had to be there with those people when I just met my Grandpa, and why he left me there.

For twenty days, I was learning to speak and write. The Chieftain was thrilled by my speedy progress and decided that it was time for the field work. I was standing still with fifty other soldiers when he came and called out a young soldier and me to step forward.

“Ralph and Nette, come here! From today, you’re the only one working with the kid. Teach her wrestling techniques and report her progress to me on a daily basis.”

“Move,” yelled Ralph at me while I stood by the Chieftain in confusion.

We stopped at the meadow about 300 yards away from the rest.

Ralph unexpectedly halted in front of me and slapped me. He kept kicking me in the head, gut, and chin, until I fell.

“Defend yourself, dumbass,” he hissed. I started crying, and he laughed mockingly, “Are you in pain? You’re invulnerable!”

“I’m not invulnerable,” I said crying, “It hurts.”

“Why didn’t you tell that to the Chieftain? Why are you lying, you little shitty freak?”

“I’m not a freak. Just have different eye color,” I defended myself.

“A man without his thing,” he was mocking me.

“A girl with brown eyes,” I replied spitefully.

He approached me and grabbed my neck. He was strangling me with both hands while I fought for life in vain. I was on the brink of death; body mortified, choking on my own saliva. I was shivering from terror, from hate I felt for him, from fear for my life. Then he suddenly released me, and I was grasping for air, shivering like a twig. He headed back, and I was barely dragging myself behind him. Scared to even cry.

“So, how did the first practice go?” Sergeant Rupert asked me, and I didn’t reply.

“She’s not good at it,” said Ralph, “but she is good at crying,” he added spitefully.

“She is ten, don’t forget.”

I was slowly heading to my post when Sergeant grabbed my arm and pulled me back.

“Lift your head,” he ordered me, and as I did, he jumped, angry like a lynx. “What the hell is this Ralph?!” he screamed.

“Practice,” said Ralph sneeringly.

“Nette, tell me what happened. Now!” First, I carefully studied the Sergeant to see what pain he would inflict me. Can I trust him? Should I tell the truth or not? I have to say it, was my decision, because, with Ralph, I would soon lose my head. I had to risk it.

“Ralph tried to strangle me,” I replied calmly.

“You are mocking my honor, you filthy little shit. You’re lying!”

“I’m not lying! You were strangling me!”

“The neck says the kid is telling the truth, Ralph. You won’t be practicing with her anymore. I’ll notify the Chieftain.”

“She’s not the future Queen. She almost kicked the bucket,” he barked furiously, “She’s not the one!”

“What if Ralph is telling the truth?” One of the soldiers joined in.

“We’re risking an awful lot for her,” added the other, “if she’s not the one, we’ll look like fools.”

“The King will kill the entire village when he finds out she’s with us,” threw in the third, “if she’s not the one, we’re risking our lives and those of our family.”

“She’s not the one, believe me. She was perishing in my hands quicker that the regular people. Even faster. She is weaker than anyone,” Ralph finished his speech.

“She is a child. Usually, you’re strangling another soldier, that’s not the same.”

“She should be exiled or delivered to the King’s door,” Ralph sounded again.

More and more soldiers gathered and objected to the task the Chieftain had given them. All of a sudden, he spoke behind their backs.

“Shame on you, pathetic creatures. A child and a female one you wanted to strangle, Ralph. You don’t believe in prophecy, so you decided to check it out, eh? My word is not respected anymore; I see.”

“You’re wrong, Chieftain,” boldly said Ralph, “You’re endangering the village and us, because of this pathetic child.”

“She’s the future Queen,” said the Chieftain stubbornly.

“She’s a freak,” rasped Ralph, took his sword out and stabbed it deep into my gut. The pain streamed through my body, and I collapsed from that horror. I heard silence around me and saw faces of my dead parents, brother and sister. Am I dead?

I opened up my eyes and serious faces of soldiers, and the Chieftain were around me. My hand, which was on my belly, was covered in blood. First I sat up, and when I gathered enough strength; I got up and left the room full of their petrified faces.

I entered my dark room and cried out of sorrow. I begged the red light to come and get me, to take me away from these evil men. The Chieftain knocked on my door, and as I didn’t answer, he came in without switching the light on.

“Child, are you alive?”

“Yes,” I replied.

“Please, come out. It’s very important to come in front of them now, because only then you’ll have their respect for life.”

“I hate them,” quietly I muttered, and he laughed, “I don’t need their respect.”

“Your life isn’t and will not be easy. You’re special, honey, and special people always have enemies. Come…” we came out and everyone was still in the same place, waiting for us. When we came in, they looked at me in disbelief, and then at my bloody shirt.

“Show them the wound. Show your belly,” urged the Chieftain. I took my shirt out of the pants and lifted it up. There was no trace of stabbing wound, not even blood. Some came over and looked and my belly incredulously, others simply took their hats off or kneeled.

“The Queen,” yelled one and others joined in. They lifted me up and carried with admiration, but I didn’t trust them anymore. I was careful and scared of their inconsistency. Now they were worshiping me, and ten minutes ago, they tried to kill me.

I was taken to the table with served food and drinks because they wanted to toast me. The Chieftain was the only one who knew I didn’t eat or drink, but I guess it was time for them to find out. They were even delighted by it.

“Long live the Queen!” they cheered. All my specialties were now a reason to celebrate. Ralph got up and walked to me.

“I’m sorry I doubted you,” he murmured glancing at me.

“Never,” calmly I replied to everyone’s surprise.

“I beg your forgiveness,” he said arrogantly.

“I never forgive, Ralph. Never!”

“You are a child; you should know how to forgive,” he pushed.

“You tried to kill me, what’s to forgive?” I said and left them.

I sat alone and thought about the sword that went through my body. My wound healed itself and pretty fast. No one can kill me, really?

Why is it affecting people’s behavior towards me, as if they are scared?

Nobody loves me; they despise me being different, but then again, are kneeling before me and celebrating me. Why? I don’t want to be their Queen; I don’t want to be evil like them. The Chieftain sat quietly next to me.

“You mustn’t be sad, Nette,” his voice made me twitch, “our lives are in your hands even though you’re still a child.”

“I can see how I would end up, if my life was in your hands,” I cut him off.

“I’m not surprised by your maturity. The prophecy says: All knowledge will be hers, though a child she will be. Your strength and invulnerable body are every man’s desire. They all want what you’ve got, but know nothing of the burden you carry. All they see is injustice of a child, a female one, having what every man wants. Indestructible power! I almost forgot,” he smacked his forehead,” your Grandpa is

waiting for you by the oak. I could hardly stop him from fighting Ralph.”

I ran to the oak and carefully approached my Grandpa. I didn’t trust anyone anymore. He grabbed me into his embrace with eyes full of tears.

“They told me,” he whispered, pale and visibly furious.

“They are evil, I hate them,” I replied enjoying his warm hug, “take me home,” I said demandingly.

“There’s nothing more I’d rather do, sweetheart. Your life is and will not be ordinary, and I’m obligated to help you the best I can. If you lived with me, your life in the village would soon be bitter. People see you as a boy, but when they find out you’re a girl, you become their prey. There would be those, who would notify the King for a fistful of senties. There would be those who hate your indestructibility or would hold you accountable for every misfortune that happens in the village.”

“I would be blamed for everything, right?” I miserably glanced at him.

“I’m afraid so, child. People always see the culprit in others, never themselves. Just because you’re different, you become their prey. You saw how Ralph wanted to check your invulnerability?”

“Yes!” “They would hurt you all the time, because everyone would want to confirm for themselves. That’s why you have to be skilled, strong and learn to fight, a warrior.”

“So nobody can come near me if I don’t allow,” he smiled joyfully on my remark.

“You are so wise, yet so tiny. A child with grown up mind and life.

I’m proud to have you as a grandchild,” he cheered me up with his words.

“Tell me about the King Garlid,” I asked, sitting on the grass next to him.

“King Garlid IV Falkner owns the entire Sentus. All that is built, created, or born, belongs to him. Every senty you earn either by selling vegetables, timber, medicinal herbs, you give to the King. It’s like that in all professions: turners, woodcutters, and blacksmiths. You hand it all over to his tax collectors and get the paper in return. In three days’ time, you come back to get back how much they determined.

Sometimes they take 80 percent, and sometimes simply everything.

Explaining that you have a hungry family, children, or that your business will go bankrupt, doesn’t help. Those who complain have their fingers cut off on one hand, or foot, and then are no longer able to work. Before you were born, villages were on the verge of doom, and there were no senties for the King. He sent his army to force payment and to pillage. Three villages teamed up and created their army that was supposed to stop the torture and pillage of the poor. That, unfortunately, lasted for twenty days when royal army killed all of our soldiers. The King understood he shouldn’t take everything because peasants need senties to get new seeds and various tools, so he brought a decree about taking fifty percent. Half to the King, half to the

peasants. However, barging in of the royal army and pillaging of assets and people continued to this day.”

“How are things in the cities?”

“Rich people live in the cities, owners of factories, mines, shipyards.

We call them the nobility. They own schools for training of maids, servants, housekeepers, actors, painters and other crafts. They have fun in the theaters, circuses and arenas. Their bodies smell nice; they wear patent leather shoes and silk shirts.”

“Are their senties taken away?”

“They pay taxes based on the contract with the King, and their financiers deliver them. We all finance the King and his luxurious life, but when you’re poor, they take it all because it always seems too little to them.”

“Do we have schools in the village?”

“No. We’re uneducated.”

“They thought me how to write here,” I commended myself.

“Some do write, but sweetheart, that’s not education, although it means a lot. Villagers don’t want to spend their time on writing or reading because they think it’s not useful to them,” we walked and talked, holding hands until Grandpa said, “You have to go back. But I’ll come tomorrow and every day.”

I propped myself on my toes and kissed him, his eyes watered with tears.

3 BIRTHDAY GIFTS

“You’re a young woman now,” Grandpa exclaimed, after congratulating me on my thirteenth birthday.

“Grandpa, this is wonderful,” delighted, I looked at a golden chain with a little heart swinging on it.

“It belonged to your Mother,” he quickly glanced at me not wanting to make me sad, but wanted me to know that. I hugged him and buried my face into his shirt to hide how shaken I was by the first gift in my life, “hey, a minute ago you hammered three guys to the floor, and now a small chain hammered you.”

Up until now, Grandpa brought me flowers for my birthdays, so this took me completely by surprise.

“I’m like this only with you.”

“I know that. I’ve been observing your training and saw a fearless warrior, hitting with her left and right fist equally well. There’s no softness in it, and then a small chain…” he laughed gently, “ In these three years, you’ve transformed from a scared ten year old child, into a fearless thirteen year old young woman,” he proudly hugged me.

“Grandpa, let’s have a walk,” I suggested because I didn’t know how to handle compliments, “once Chieftain mentioned the prophecy said that the girl with brown eyes will help the people of Predious.”

“Yes.” “Where are they?”

“Predious is a country of lights. King Garlid with the help of a yellow, killer orb that shines like thousand lamps turned the people of Predious into colorful lights.”

“I was with them,” I whispered.

“Twelve years ago, King Garlid went with his ships to visit King Het, the ruler of Predious. Stories say that it was the richest country in our surroundings. Rich in fish, minerals and had the largest seaports. King Het had two magic orbs, a yellow one that had the power to turn humans into light, a blue one that returned to life. Ten most skilled fighters were guarding them. How the orbs were stolen, no one exactly knows, except for the story that they poisoned the soldiers who were guarding them, along with the King. That night, King Garlid went to his ship with only ten soldiers leaving hundred other people who accompanied him in the state visit, along with his wife and court ladies in Predious. From the ship, he fired the yellow orb and disappeared into the night. That instant, everyone became light never to be human again.”

“Where’s the blue orb?”

“Sunk with the ship. In fact, when he fired the yellow orb, the blue one shone fiery red glow, and no one could touch her any longer. When they arrived in Sentus, the King furiously ordered the orb delivered any way they could. Numerous people, countless ways, but none

managed to take the blue orb. She didn’t spread the heat, but when one tried to take her; she burnt one’s hands to the bone. They tried to push it into the boiler with the iron bars, but she bent the iron and melted the boiler. For two years, they tried to win against the blue orb, but all was in vain. She stood in the place where she was put when they stole her, and that place was not burned or even scratched. Her power nobody in Sentus could break. The King eventually decided to sink the ship along with the orb.”

“Why does the prophecy say that the girl can help them?”

“You are that girl, honey.”

“How can I help when nobody can touch the orb?”

“The prophecy says that only you can take the orb in your hands and in that moment, all the people in Predious will get their human form back. On that day, their homes disappeared; all traces of civilization were wiped out, and everything will come back when you take the orb in your hands. Everything.”

“I have to look for that ship as soon as possible,” I said drifting away in my thoughts, wanting to do what was expected of me.

“Can you dive?” Grandpa laughed, “Slowly, my child. Events will come to you when it’s time for you to solve them. Now you must keep company to your old Grandpa.”

“You're not old,” I hugged him.

I loved my grandfather more than he could have imagined. Those three years of intense military life were prettied only by his visits. The

soldiers were afraid of me, but did not like me. I was faster than them, more flexible and more skilled in everything. Most were lazy and chose the army because here on the hill, they were playing war without any real danger. They never came down to the village, except for a few and did not defend the peasants from the intrusion of the King's army. They hated when I reminded them that we needed to defend the village, and that was why we existed and called ourselves the army. Chieftain did go down to the village, but I never heard he helped or sent some soldiers to at least guard the peasant’s house and property.

I often talked to my grandfather about it and he shared my opinion that the army didn’t intend to help people, but prepared for an imaginary battle, and hoped it would never come to it. I loved grandfather's wisdom, his incredible tenderness and the attention he was paying me. He came to see me every day in these three years and became a true friend, whom I trusted with all my heart unquestionably.

“You're going to change it all, my dear, when your time comes,” he’d proudly say.

I watched grandfather as he was disappearing down the slope and waved like every time until my eyes no longer saw him. Excitedly, I watched the golden chain and a little heart, carefully carrying it as if my Mother's heart was still beating on my palm. I went to my room, sat on the bed and while holding it, closed my eyes hoping that I could feel my Mother's skin that way. I carefully placed it around my neck when in the middle of the room the red light distracted me.

“You came,” I ran to her and she raised me and flew right through the roof. Wrapped in her interior, I felt immense happiness. Maybe she knows it's my birthday; I thought. The light suddenly plunged sharply down and put me on a hillock near Grandpa's house. I was shocked by what I saw. The King’s soldiers were beating someone and a crowd was watching.

“It is not… Noooo, my grandfather,” I frantically ran to the grandfather’s house.

My heart was pounding wildly, and I didn’t dare to think out of terrible fear for Grandpa. I didn’t have my sword, but the knives were always in my boots. I pulled them out and precisely like a cat approached the back of the crowd who watched the beating. Covered in blood on the floor laid my grandfather. As if someone stuck a knife in my heart, as if someone was pulling out my guts, so much pain screamed inside of me. Rage, like a hurricane, stirred my being as I crept to the first soldier. I stuck a knife into his neck standing behind him and held him not to fall noisily to the floor. Nobody paid attention.

I pulled out the knife, wiped it clean on his uniform and aimed the one at the opposite and pierced him straight through the heart. The other three jumped, but my knife was thrown and flew straight into the trachea of one of the three. The other two went up to me while I stood still watching them. Gently, I pulled back, bent down, not taking my eyes off of them as they reached for their guns. Suddenly, I pulled out the knife from the soldier’s throat and struck the one on my left, then threw myself on the floor among the crowd. Now there was only one left. He cocked his gun and pushed nervously through the people trying

to find me. I had no more knives, so I rolled on the floor to the dead soldier and hand searched his boot for a knife. Yes! With a knife in hand, I gently propped myself and came up behind him. I slit his throat.

Shrieks and murmurs swept across the people, but I only saw my dear Grandpa.

I threw myself next to his bloody body and frantically tried to stop the gush of blood from the pierced belly. He looked at me, and I saw that death came for him.

“Grandpa,” I cried on his chest, bloody from his wound, “Look at me… Open your eyes… You have too, Grandpa. Get up,” I dragged him by the hand, “Get up… Look at me… You can’t, Grandpa; I need you. I need you…” Shivering from the pain, I didn’t want to let him die.

Death won and took away my grandfather. I got up and, not looking at the people around, staggered to one of the dead soldier’s horses, and brought him to grandfather’s dead body. I tried to lift the body and put it on the horse while my hands were shaking. So much pain and sorrow was in me that I lost all the strength, and all that was left was a dull void.

“I’ll take care of your grandfather. He was my best friend,” said a voice while I was struggling to get back to reality.

“Does he have a family tomb?”

“Yes, don’t you worry; I’ll take care of everything.”

“Can you make sure these dead soldiers are buried so the King doesn’t find out about them? At least till tomorrow,” I breathed.

“The King doesn’t know yet, or there would be an army of hundreds here. Someone wanted to sell a secret to these soldiers for several senties, but they decided to do it themselves. They wanted to impress the King and get the estates as a reward.”

“That’s what I thought. Tomorrow… I will not come to the funeral,” my voice was breaking from pain, “I said my goodbye and cannot do it again,” tears ran down my face and didn’t want to stop them. The man patted my shoulder.

“Go now, I’ll take care of everything.”

With a heavy step, legs like lead, I gathered horses, guns and ammunition from the dead soldiers while people looked at me in shock. I didn’t care what they thought, and nobody was talking to me, anyway. I jumped on a black stallion and led the horse toward the hill.

As I was approaching the military base, more and more soldiers gathered looking at me and the horses. I jumped off and took six guns and ammunition, went to the Chieftain and dumped it in front of his feet.

“Where did you get the horses and the guns?” he asked brusquely.

“From the King’s soldiers. I killed them.”

“Do you know what you’ve done?” He yelled at me, “You endangered the village! They’ll burn it down!”

“What does she care, six guns and she thinks she won the war,” mockingly added Ralph laughing his pants off, standing next to me.

The rage swirled pain and humiliation in me. I slightly skewed my body, grabbed his head and crashed it into the tree with all my strength. Blood gushed from his arcade and nose, and he fell down unconscious.

“Did she kill him?” Some asked, running to get the water for Ralph.

“No…” they looked at me full of hate and anger. About ten of them drew their swards and went for me. I positioned myself in a way they couldn’t get behind my back.

“Put away your swords, because they’re in vain anyway,” Chieftain interrupted, “You can’t harm her and she’s more skilled than any of you. You’ll be dead if she moves on you, fools. You endangered the village, Nette! Now the King will have his revenge,” he looked at me visibly aggravated.

“We will defend the village! Why are we called the army? We are playing here while they are on a killing spree in the village.”

“Because they have guns and we have swords. Because they have dynamite and bombs, we have knives. That’s why!”

“According to you, we should hide forever. You are playing soldiers, but you’re nothing but cowards! You belong in the village with the people!”

“How can you go with a sword against fire arms, foolish child?”

“Cunningness. Traps.”

“She revealed herself to the King, hopefully he’ll kill her,” someone from the back cut in.

“One of you notified King’s soldiers, you miserables,” I replied, looking at them with disgust.

“Banish that freak, Chieftain,” Bode joined in.

“Banish her!” they started chanting. The Chieftain was silent, and I looked at them without blinking. Each one of them, I looked straight into the eyes, and they promptly looked away.

“There’s great dissatisfaction, child,” the Chieftain said quietly, “You enraged us and jeopardized us.”

“Understood!” I didn’t want to mention Grandpa, so these filthy tongues wouldn’t touch him, and their arguments would have stayed the same, anyway. Fear for the village and their asses! I jumped on Dasher and not looking back, rode off to the village. When I was far enough, I started sobbing, crying out loud.

“Today is my birthday, goddamn you, and I lost the only being that made me want to live!” I stopped Dasher and put my head on his mane.

My heart almost broke from the pain, “why don’t you break already?” I screamed as the weight on my chest intensified, “I want to be dead!

Dead as my beloved Grandpa, dead as my whole family!”

4 THE FUNERAL

From the forest, I watched the funeral and waited for the last person to leave, then descended down to grandfather’s grave. I placed a rose from his garden on the fresh dirt and talked to him through tears.

“Please, forgive me, dear Grandpa. I’m cursed, everyone I love gets killed because of me. I’m dammed by not being able to die, but have to live with it. They are ripping my heart, piece by piece, and won’t allow it to stop beating. How will I go on without you? Without the hope you’ll show up?”

The night descended, and I didn’t want to leave. Underneath that dirt, laid the body of my beloved grandfather, my friend. Finally, I became aware of the darkness, and with leaden steps headed home when the red light appeared in front of me. I looked at her without joy and asked her: “You must have seen it all. I didn’t get there on time… they killed him. On my birthday, isn’t that the real mockery?” I was bitter, “Everyone is happy on their birthday, and I’ll be crying on every one of mine…” My voice cracked from pain, “Help me, please, I want to die.

Kill me, can’t you do it?”

“The King will find out I killed his soldiers and burn the village,” I continued my monologue after a while, “How will I live with so much

guilt? But I would kill them again for my Grandpa; kill them hundred times more…” I went silent, reliving his death again, “How will I save the village?” With my head bowed, I walked the dark path and all the joy that was once in my body, vanished.

The light swept me up and flew away. I sat peacefully cloaked in her red glow, but without the laughter and happiness. When she landed me on the ground, I started looking around the dark room full of wooden crates.

The light descended down low and lit the room. King’s ammunition warehouse. I looked at her with eyes wide open trying to figure out why we were there. Can red light carry heavy wooden crates? I was quickly thinking. I lifted the top of the first crate and saw bombs next to my feet. I tried to move the crate, so the red light picked it up, and placed it onto herself. I shook from excitement. When I reached for the next crate, the red light didn’t come down for it, instead glowed at the distance. Looking at her, I didn’t see the crate inside at all, just the red light as always. Now I knew nobody could see me either when she carried me. So she cannot take two; I thought to myself, and the light instantly plunged next to me. I sat on the crate, and the light took off.

When I’m in the light, I’m probably the light myself, that’s why I don’t feel hard objects. I am only aware of the light and flying, but not the roof we flew through. I can see the sky and stars, nothing more, I was thinking as the light was landing on the village fortress.

“Who is it?” asked the guard.

“I bring you bombs, soldier!”

“Let me see you,” sharp blade of the sword shone in the dark. I came closer carrying the crate, aware how naïve and incapable he was.

I could have killed him already if I wanted. He lifted the top of the crate and peeked in.

“Wow, where did you get it?”

“We’re expecting King’s attack, so you have to be ready. Hide this and don’t ask too much.”

“You’re that… guy… girl… “ “Yes.” I disappeared in the night just as quickly as I came in. The light lifted me up, and the soldier didn’t see a thing.

“Shall we go for more?” I asked quietly when we were high up in the air.

While I was loading a crate full of dynamite, two more lights landed next to us. I knew I could load them, too, because that’s why they came.

I loaded ammunition, guns and put more weapons all over me.

Ten more times we came to the warehouse. Under the bridge, I left crates full of dynamite. On guard’s posts, I unloaded bombs and guns, and in the grass by the village five crates full of guns, ammunition and two crates of bombs. It was already dawning when we finished. The light had to leave so I approached the red light and thanked her: “Thank you. I’ll never forget this,” I whispered barely audible, but the red light heard it and glowed twice before she disappeared.

I greeted the villagers on the street because I couldn’t go to sleep.

“I will give each man a gun, two bombs and ammunition. You have to be ready for King’s army. Armed, we’ll defend the village,” I led a group of men under the bridge and together with them, placed dynamite on crucial points.

“We’ll hit them with bombs from the wall, and as of today, we should be sleeping outside in the grass by the road so that the army doesn’t jump us. We’ll wait for them before the village, arm older men and women in the village, those who wish to help, in case our defense gets breached.”

“Where’s our army?”

“We are the army! Today we’ll practice shooting with guns because we have enough ammunition. I positioned guards for a mile before the village so we wouldn’t get surprised by the enemy. Tonight we’re there until the showdown.”

While I was determining my defense’s position and explaining them our strategy, our army was coming down the hill with the Chieftain in front. I didn’t stop my explaining, but I could see some villagers running to greet them, and bragging with the guns. When they tied their horses and lined up, the Chieftain brought them right behind my back.

“I see the village is armed,” he spoke, and then I slowly turned around, saying nothing, “we have to join forces,” he continued.

“I don’t have to do anything,” coldly I cut him off, “the village is yours as much as mine. You will either defend it or not—it’s up to you.”

“I suggest, child, that we organize village defense together.”

“He’s a soldier, we’ll listen to him,” said a young man about twenty years old.

“Don’t pick a fight between us and our army,” came out one of the grumpy villagers, “you won’t choose our leader for us!”

“She’s the reason we have a problem now,” Ralph added spitefully.

I felt the rage boiling in me.

“Because of me? Didn’t the royal army beat you, pillage and take your wives and property until now? Did it!!!” I yelled from the top of my lungs. They all bowed their heads, “We better target practice than lose time over this,” I added in a more peaceful manner.

“It’s different now. They’ll burn us down if the King doesn’t get you,” Tio walked to me defiantly.

“How do you know? Are you burnt, attacked? Now’s your chance to win freedom. You have guns and bombs you didn’t have.”

“There won’t be any peace until we get rid of you.”

“We had no peace,” said Grandpa’s friend Toss, “maybe you had it up there on the hill.”

“We were training for the battle,” said Chieftain in his defense, “now that time has arrived, and we’ll join in.”

“Don’t give her the leadership!” Snarled one of the soldiers, “You’re our leader!” They all started arguing until the Chieftain yelled: “Silence! We’ll lead you together.”

Objections were quieting down and finally stopped. With contempt, I listened to some of the villagers reject me, and when I gave them the guns, they were humble and happy to have them in their hands. Only the royal army had guns, and now every villager had one, too. I pressed my teeth together and accepted joint leadership.

The important thing is to defend the village, I reassured myself. I told the Chieftain what we did so far and how I planned to meet the royal army outside the village. He agreed. The rest of the day I was practicing shooting from a gun and didn’t stop until I was satisfied, and after the dusk, we all laid down in the grass by the main road.

Morning brought the news of dust rising on the road few miles from us, the cavalry was coming. I was standing under the bridge with four other men, listening to horse hooves and tensely waiting for more soldiers to come to the bridge.

I raised my hand and gave a signal to ignite the fuse. We ran as fast as we could when the explosion sounded, cries and shattering. I shot them with a bow and arrows straight through their heads or necks, and then took the gun. They were falling dead like reaped, those who backed up, fell right into a trap of villagers waiting hidden by the road.

Few survived. Later, some soldiers went looking for the wounded and pierced them with swords, killing them, and just two or three managed to escape.

On the way back to the village, women, elderly and children joyfully waved and celebrated our victory. For the first time, the village was defended, and the royal army defeated. While the villagers were toasting to quick victory and undamaged village, I waited for the Chieftain to get out of the delighted women and men’s embraces who were thanking him.

“You know the King will want his revenge. We have to make a new strategy as soon as possible,” I said to the Chieftain, eager to save the village.

“Easy, child. Let the people enjoy their victory, they waited for years.”

“That victory can easily be turned into a defeat if we don’t come up with a new tactic.”

“Do you ever rejoice? Where’s your grandfather?” I didn’t say. If he wanted to know, he would have found out. “Where’s Sakril?” He kept asking, and I looked at him disappointed, turned around and left.

I was sitting on grandfather’s porch when Toss came by.

“I wanted to thank you when no-one did,” he said smiling, “there wouldn’t be a victory if you hadn’t supplied the weapons.”

“I’m worried about us not getting ready for King’s revenge”, I said pretending I didn’t hear the compliment.

“I agree. The Chieftain accepted to be the village Chief few minutes ago, representative of the village, not just the military. He named his

deputy and as of tomorrow the old building by the post office will be rebuild. It will be called local regency.”

“Who’s his deputy? Ned?” I asked.

“Ralph,” he responded awaiting my reaction. I didn’t twitch. My face didn’t show how surprised I was by that outcome. “You’re not at his mercy,” he added.

“No, I’m not:” He saw I wasn’t in the mood to discuss the Chieftain and Ralph, so he wished me good night and left. I didn’t want to think about Chieftain’s political ambitions as long as villagers’ peace was in his heart. I was worried he didn’t understand that now was not the time to relax because the King would not tolerate defeat without swift retribution. It was not time for the politics when nothing was secured, not peace nor safety of the villagers.

Three days have gone by, and the village Chieftain wasn’t preparing defense. Workers were busy rebuilding the old regency and the Chieftain enjoyed the attention of the peasants, merrily stopping to talk to each one of them. Ralph, along his side, bragged with his military skills and retold the battle to the slightest detail over and over again.

I was returning from my daily tour of the surrounding villages, because I wanted to see all the ways to the village from which the royal army could hump us, when I saw a group of villagers and a Chieftain holding a speech. I tied my horse and approached them full of hope that the preparations for King’s revenge have begun.

“We need people we can trust to work with us in the regency,” the Chieftain was explaining to the mass leaning on his rod, “as of today, Ralph and I are the only official representatives of the village. Nothing can happen without our knowledge and no plans can be made without our clearance,” resolutely he declared to the crowd that doubled in numbers and listened carefully.

“Are you planning a new tactic to defend the village?” Quickly I asked frightened that I might have missed his strategy.

“Without our knowledge and advice, nothing can be organized,” he continued like he didn’t hear me.

“Do you even want to defend the village?” I asked aggravated.

“Without Ralph’s and my knowledge, I’m repeating because of you Nette; there will be no actions or retributions,” he looked at me menacingly.

“Do you mean, Chieftain, that I shouldn’t by any means get more weapons because it arrived to the village without your knowledge?”

His face turned pale.

“Nette, I will not tolerate this!” He growled, “You know well that’s not what I meant!”

“We have to defend the village. The King will want revenge for his army’s defeat. Why are we not discussing it?” I was impatient.

“We’ll come to that.”

“Why are you allowing, Chieftain, this chump to talk to you like this?” one of the villagers asked.

“Because this chump got the weapons and armed you,” I looked at him in fury. The present villagers were surprised because they believed that everything was organized by Chieftain’s army.

“Oh, and how exactly did you, poor thing, get all those weapons?”

Said another one mocking me and the others joined in. Ralph and the Chieftain kept quiet listening to the mockery. I understood they purposely let the villagers believe how they – the army, Chieftain and Ralph – armed them.

“I visited surrounding villages…” I continued as if I didn’t hear them mocking me, “and saw that the royal army can come…”

“That’s not your job,” Ralph cut me off sharply, “Military questions are my area, and I’ll have to arrest you if you don’t cooperate.”

I wonder how you could get me; I thought, but I didn’t say a word after that. I am naïve; they are fighting for power, not the safety of the village. How come others don’t see it?

“In my opinion, we can offer the King some of our terms now that we are free. We will pay less or no taxes,” said the Chieftain.

“Nothing,” yelled the crowd.

“We are not free, what’s the matter with you people? Wake up!

They can come any minute and tear you apart while you’re talking,” I tried reasoning.

“No, they can’t. We are guarding the wall with bombs,” spitefully said one of them as if I didn’t know exactly where every piece of weapon I brought with my own hands was.

“What about that side?” I pointed toward the fields. “From two neighboring villages they have a clear way. They can hit from three sides, while you’re prepared for one. From the main road…”

“Enough!” Ralph yelled, “Enough!”

They ignored me enough; I jumped on my horse and looked at them from high above.

“I did my part, now it’s up to you!”

Why are they not thinking, I thought to myself furiously, why…? We could join forces with other villages and throw one hell of a welcoming party to King’s army. Then we would be free. But… It bothered me why they acted as if they were safe. As if they knew King’s army wouldn’t attack. They are too careless… After all, they are soldiers, and they know the King won’t tolerate it. They… are not expecting an attack! I stopped my horse abruptly. They made a deal, it struck me like a lightning. They offered me for non-retribution. Is it possible the whole village knows it? I hurried down to see if Toss knew anything about it. He was in the village, so I sat in front of his house and decided to wait for him. Maybe I’m wrong, maybe they are just naïve and light-minded, I doubted myself as I waited for Toss.

The red light suddenly descended next to me, swooped me up and flew away with me.

“How come I never see you coming?” I finally laughed after a long time. “You just appear out of the blue.” Suddenly the light became transparent and a view opened up showing royal army heading for the village.

“Quickly, get me back to warn them! They can still get to their posts. Let’s go!”

The red light became red again, and I couldn’t see where we were anymore. I thought we were going back and that she would put me down any moment, but then the light became transparent again. A sight of Garlid’s army on the other side of the village and the main road broke in front of me.

“Exactly as I foresaw, they are coming from three sides, right?” I mumbled for myself. As the light didn’t put me down, I became impatient and started nagging. “You are awfully slow today; we’re not going to get there on time.” Then it struck me that she might be sick or having some problem when she’s so slow, like never before.

“Are you ill?” I looked at her worriedly, and she flashed once.

“You’re not. Then what is it?”

Suddenly she started descending and becoming transparent. She floated above the inn’s roof, hidden behind the chimney. I could hear voices, loud and clear, and see the Chieftain and Ralph greeting King’s army as if they were guests, not enemies. Garlid’s army came into the village from all sides heavily armed while villagers had no guns.

“Why are they unarmed?” I was panicking.

King’s deputy came off his horse and shook hands with the Chieftain and Ralph.

“The King accepted your offer,” spoke the deputy, “I have a treaty here that guarantees you thirty percent taxes and merger of your army with ours. You will have salary like the rest of the royal army; that was your request. The only thing King wants to know is how you broke in to the warehouse,” the deputy laughed.

“By cunningness,” replied Ralph.

“Not enough, soldier,” snarled the deputy, “The King wants details.

By granting you the status of his army, the King will supply the weapons for you in the future, but in return, he wants to know every detail of the grand robbery that this was. It’s one of the terms of this treaty. Mutual trust. You want a salary, senties from King’s pocket?

He’ll give you weapons and senties, if you give him the details of the robbery.”

“Why does it matter to him?” Arrogantly muttered Ralph.

“Because we have to know our flaws. Weapon warehouses are the best guarded of all facilities, and yet, you managed to take such big quantity.”

“Isn’t it more important for him to get Nette?” Asked the Chieftain trying to draw the attention of the deputy. I jumped up in shock.

“They betrayed me,” I whispered sadly.

“She is important, but so are the details of the robbery. You told the King you robbed the weapons. Don’t try to wiggle out. Not a fly can get

out of the village, so she’s not going anywhere. I have orders to find out how you did it,” yelled the deputy visibly agitated.

“Yesterday, I spoke to the King agreeing we would deliver Nette and in return he would name our soldiers his paid army,” said Ralph, “no robbery was discussed.”

“You want to be royal army but don’t want to disclose how you stole our weapons? Do you hear yourselves?”

“Tell him,” shouted one of the soldiers.

“What royal army?” Village woman was puzzled. “They are our village army.”

“We sneaked in while the guards weren’t looking and took out the crates with weapons,” answered Ralph to the deputy.

“How many guards?” Calmly asked the deputy. Ralph looked at the Chieftain asking for help, but he just shrugged.

“Ten,” said Ralph, “I wasn’t counting.”

“Where’s the warehouse?” Asked the deputy still calm. Ralph was really in trouble now. “Warehouses are on secret locations and who ever stole from them must know where they are.”

“In the woods,” blurted Ralph.

“Take him away,” ordered the deputy and five soldiers grabbed him. Village soldiers started squirming and only then realized there were royal soldiers all around them, and that the village was blocked by the royal army. Ralph tried to free himself, but the hit in the head

from a royal soldier calmed him down. Whispers of fear and panic broke through the village. Everyone believed this was a friendly meeting followed by joint celebration. Now they felt trapped and that something was wrong.

“Those were lies,” deputy spoke again, “let me hear what you have to say, old man,” he addressed the Chieftain tauntingly.

“We didn’t get the weapons, she did,” whispered the Chieftain.

“Who did? Speak louder, old man!”

“Nette!” Sounds of disgust were heard throughout the village. “We don’t know how or from where she got it. It was on the posts by the road, and on the guarding towers in the morning,” there was complete silence.

“Bring her!” Ordered the deputy to his soldiers. “Lead them,” he yelled to the Chieftain.

The Chieftain hurried to my grandfather’s house not needing his rod anymore, and about twenty royal soldiers followed him. They trashed the place and then ran out of the house.

“She’s not here,” shouted one of them.

They searched all the houses, broke stuff, and after three hours of pursuit, didn’t give up. They cuffed all the village soldiers and took them to the city, looked over the surrounding hills and groves until they concluded everything was searched thoroughly. In the village, about fifty royal soldiers were left to keep an eye and about hundred

more on all the roads to the village. Every gun, bomb, even a bullet, that they found was confiscated.

Whispering, I begged the light to put me down to confront the army, but she refused. “They cannot kill me,” I repeated, but the light was persistent. She kept me in her embrace and didn’t want to give in, not even after numerous pleads.

5 THE BLUE ORB

All of a sudden, the red light lifted off and flew high up into the sky, enclosing me with her red color, so I didn’t see where we were going.

“This is my village, you know. I want to help those people,” I fussed, “even though they betrayed me… You are behaving as if you are never going to let me down again,” I reprimanded her, “like you are afraid for me. You saved me today; I know. Thank you, who knows how I would have ended up. Probably they would have arrested me and locked me up in some small, dark room,” chills ran up my spine from the mere thought, and I realized how much she helped me, “I love you so much, red light, you know that, but you cannot keep saving me my whole life.

You’re always here when I need you the most and I’ll never be able to repay you.”

The light slowly descended and then stood still. As she became more and more translucent, I started seeing stone houses, big castles and finally the street. She absolutely stopped and waited for me to take a good look at the city.

A girl in a beautiful green dress grabbed my attention. I watched her gracious walk and realized how lumpy I looked in my soldier uniform compared to this elegance and femininity. How beautiful women looked in the city. The street was full of people who walked and carriages with rooftops. The girl’s hair was freely falling down her

shoulders, and her dress swooshed around her body as she walked.

Her shoes gently resounded down the street, and a young man, who was waiting for her by the carriage, held her hand to help her up and then went inside the carriage after her.

The smile on a young man’s face as he watched the girl approaching, completely bemused me. It wasn’t just the joy of seeing her, it was something totally different. He was enchanted… in love. All of a sudden, I was sad, and I didn’t know why.

“I don’t want to look at the city anymore,” I retorted. The light didn’t move as if she was enjoying the view of the city herself. My thoughts flew back to earlier events, and disappointment overcame me like a huge wave.

“They betrayed me, sold me for the privileges. My life for their salaries. I cannot understand why they would want to be the royal army,” restlessly I tossed inside the light, “instead of freedom, they prefer paid slavery. We could have done so much. Could have beaten the royal army, united several villages and became free zone. The King would have been forced to offer us some privileges and we could have asked for lower taxes, schools, paid our own army and the King’s couldn’t pillage, kill the villagers and their loved ones anymore. How could they have believed in the integrity of the King they talked about as the ruthless tyrant? They have decided to trade, and he showed them who’s the most competent salesman.”

I was painfully aware how little my enthusiasm was worth when I brought the weapons. They wanted the weapons, but not me.

“Red light, I want to look for the blue orb on the bottom of the sea,” I said eager to do at least something good to stop the painful disappointment, “I want to help you,” the light closed her colors and flew.

The sea was dark because of the night descending. I didn’t know how to swim, but I didn’t need to anyway. The orb was at the bottom of the sea on the depth no human heart could handle. I had to die to take it.

“Don’t be afraid for me, you know I’ll come alive again,” I reassured the red light, encouraging myself at the same time. I was scared, yet didn’t doubt for a moment my decision to find it. “My body survived stabbing, drowning in my early childhood, it will survive this,” I comforted us both. The light held me in the middle of a deep sea, and rocked left-right as if she was hesitant to drop me.

“Let me go, I want it from the bottom of my heart. Let’s go,” I shouted from the top of my lungs, and she dropped me into the cold water.

First, I fought the sea, tried to keep my head above the water, and then gave in and started to sink. It was horrible, my body twitched, and tremendous desire to inhale at least a bit of air was predominant in my mind. When the pain subsided, the silence and lightness of body signaled I passed away.

The ship, I saw the ship and as soon as I thought about going in there and searching for the blue orb, I was already inside. Something was leading me, and I was moving as if I knew where the orb was.

Right there in front of me, there she was on the floor, calling me with her enchanting blue light. Without fear, I approached her and lifted her up when the pain of thousand swords stabbed me. As if the orb merged with me and pierced every cell in my body. I didn’t know whether I was screaming, or she was, whether I was glowing, or she was. She lifted me up in the sky, and I was floating in the blue light above the sea when a sharp, cold wind blew me off and threw me down to the beach.

I was holding the orb in my hands, lying on the sand, not being able to move, without the feeling there even was a body to move.

I cannot move, cannot mouth a word. Am I dead? Just as I was asking myself, I felt the blood running to my toes and slowly climbing up my body. I tried to move my toes, and I did. I’m alive!

My whole body livened up, and I was back. Before getting up, I looked around and saw a young man lying about ten feet further.

Quickly I took out the knives from my boots and crawled to him. I jump on him and put a knife under his neck. He opened up his eyes and laughed.

“I expected this kind of welcome,” he said.

“Who are you?”

“Raul,” he was still smiling.

“Why are you smiling? Can’t you feel the knife?”

“No, I like having you this way on me,” he said devilishly.

“I got up quickly and ordered him to do the same, waiting for him with knives in my hands. Carefully, I watched his moves expecting him

to attack. He was very tall, so for a moment, I was sorry I didn’t stay on top of him. It would have been easier to slit his throat, now I had to back off to hit him from the distance.

“What are you doing here in the middle of nowhere?”

“Waiting for you.”

“Who ordered you to wait for me? Speak!” I was spinning the knives in my hands.

“You did,” I thought he was deliberately confusing me, but a shadow of doubt started digging… Could he be… No, impossible.

“You are…”

“Red light,” he finished the sentence for me.

“No, you’re not. She is…”

“Male,” he finished again.

I put down my knives and felt extremely embarrassed. I thought the red light was female, something like my Mother, and now a young boy about eighteen stood in front of me. I would never have gone with him if I knew.

“Nette,” he said warm and pleasant, “why are you disappointed?”

“I’m not… I am! I was sure you were a woman. I opened up my heart to you, you know everything about me, I don’t know what I’m going to do now,” I said completely beaten down by that insight.

He came really close and looked me straight into the eyes. All the people avoided my eyes except my Grandpa, and almost never looked long. He had very beautiful eyes that had some unknown fire in them, so I wanted to escape.

“I learned that you are a wonderful, honest being and that people did you so much harm,” he was saying while still looking into my eyes.

“I don’t know anything about you,” I muttered still under the impression of those beautiful eyes.

“Let’s sit here,” he showed to the sand.

“I’m the Prince of Predious. My father was killed by the King Garlid that night when he stole the orbs.”

“That means you’re the King now,” I looked at him astonished while he continued to stare at the sea. His hands were groomed and hair black like the coal.

“As of today,” he said absentmindedly, “my father wasn’t buried, the life stopped for us. I don’t know if I aged?” He laughed as if he was teasing me.

“How old were you when the yellow orb turned you into the light?” suspiciously I glanced at him.

“Six.” “Well, you certainly grew bigger,” I said jokingly and we both burst out laughing.

“When you were brought to Predious, I was ten and met you a year later. Even though I was light, I had a family, and we were together in a balloon. We talked to each other, yet vegetated in our solitude.

Telepathically we communicated our thoughts, but had no events, and that was the biggest punishment. I discovered you by chance as I was flying around like any other day. I understood your speech and that delighted me. You were my lost life that I remembered, life that played out before my eyes over and over again. I enjoyed watching you jump, dance, run. Everything I couldn’t do myself.”

“It was awful for me, too; I had nobody to share the sorrow with, and pain for my parents. Solitude scared me,” I wanted to remind him I was miserable too.

“You ended my loneliness, and I tried to end yours.”

“But you had your family. You said you talked telepathically.”

“Telepathically we whined all the time,” he said ruefully, “Mother didn’t handle this curse well. Your laughter, screaming, sprinkling,” gentle smile grew on his face, “and… and…” He made a theatrical pause, ”your conclusion that I was your Mother.”

“That’s not something to mock,” I was angry.

“Of course not, you were a little child. But you must admit…” He looked at me devilishly, “To me, an eleven-year-old, I wanted to scream when I heard that.”

“Ok… I admit. Good you didn’t give up,” I glanced inquisitively.

“I wanted to… but it was too unusual and fun. The only person who was human, although a girl like my sisters, but not a crybaby. That was a plus. Back then. Later you had more and more pluses in my eyes,” he said a bit absentmindedly.

“I felt you didn’t like my tears,” I added calmly.

“No, you thought wrong. You used to cry only when you were hurt, and I’d go crazy because… I wanted to comfort you and was powerless.

Your tears broke me; I don't know, when I see your tears I go nuts. I would crush everything in front of me just to make you smile,” he looked at me with special tenderness, so I quickly turned my look toward the sand.

“Did you know why I was in Predious?”

“Yes. I saw they kept constant surveillance so one day I went to them and found out everything about you.”

“I never saw anyone monitoring me,” I looked at him utterly stunned.

“They merged with the cloud, so you couldn’t have seen them. It wasn’t them doing operations on you, special light made a shield on your heart, made your body stronger, so you can live without food and water. Just like she made sure I was dressed in these unfamiliar clothes right now,” he inspected his apparel in detail.

“Why didn’t you ever go to Sentus and kill King Garlid?” I said, truly curious to hear his explanation, “He killed your father, sentenced your people to live forever in this vegetative state.”

“How? I had no hands.”

“You lift him up and drop him in the middle of the sea. It’s simple.

And that’s just one way, I’d think of many more, don’t you worry.”

He laughed so honestly that I started to become angry not realizing what was so funny.

“I love your intelligence and determination,” he looked at me thrilled, “what you don’t know is that we cannot lift anyone, but you.

You saw in the warehouse that lights were waiting for you to load them. Would we otherwise let a lady lift heavy cargo?”

“But when I loaded the crates on those two, they carried it,” I raised my eyebrows not fully understanding what he meant.

“Because you gave them. Everything connected to you was different. As if we could do only things tied to you.”

“Hmm… I didn’t know that.”

“Did you notice we are in Predious?” He said suddenly, “Blue orb transferred us with her mighty light where we ought to be,” I jumped up and glanced over the sea shore.

“I don’t belong here. My place is in Sentus.”

“Mighty blue orb knows the reasons. I want you to come with me to the court. I have to take care of my Mother and sisters, father’s funeral…”

“No,” I quickly responded, “you have enough worries as it is.”

“Nette,” he took me by the hand and his touch triggered a stream of peculiar tingling, “please, if you don’t want to go because of me, you must because of the blue orb. There’s no room for you in Sentus now, but if you wait, your time for revenge will come. You gave my people their lives back, and I want them to know it,” I hastily pulled out my hand and tried to persuade him not to say anything about me.

“Nope,” he seriously opposed, “King Garlid will know you found a blue orb and once he finds out we’re not lights anymore, that’s why I want my people to know your importance. That’s your biggest protection. They owe you everything, and he is their enemy.”

“But he cannot hurt me anymore; he used up the yellow orb, and I still have the blue one.”

“I don’t intend to explain that to them,” he smiled mischievously, “You gave us our human form back and annulled our vegetative state, that’s the most important,” he looked at me seriously.

“All right, let’s go,” I finally accepted. ~~~ End of sample ~~~

NETTE Out on Kindle

~~~

ALSO BY BARBARA RAYNE

21 Erased, (dystopian novella) Kindle Edition, October 30, 2011 21 Erased, (dystopian novella) Paperback Edition, November 8, 2011 Evolve, Kindle Edition, January 11, 2012 Evolve, Paperback Edition, January 17, 2012 Nette, Kindle Edition, March 12, 2012 Nette, Paperback Edition, March 21, 2012 Barriers of the New World, Kindle Edition, 2012 Barriers of the New World, Paperback Edition, 2012

See more about the author and forthcoming books at www.barbararayne.com