Kyle: The Jupiterian Queen

Queen Lenore looked down from the top of the Lyken fortress to the Lyken city below. Three hundred years ago she remembered standing at this exact spot looking below. But then instead of the roads and beautiful kaleidoscope of lights from buildings and flying bolters on the highways she was seeing now, she had seen slaves working to make this city. She looked behind, as if expecting someone to come to her with hands outstretched. It almost felt like it was just yesterday.

“Maximus” Lenore exclaimed, grabbing her full skirts in her hands and running towards him. An equally delighted Maximus pulled her up into his arms swirling her around before settling her down.

He grinned down at her “I thought I was going senile in this crazy place. Thank god you are here.”

Lenore laughed “Got bored of being the shaxtri?”

He frowned placing his hands on the stone balcony railing of the Lyken fortress, and looking down at the activity below. Lenore placed her hand on his arm and looked at him “You look very tense. What’s going on? Is something wrong?”

Maximus turned leaning on the balcony and looking at her thoughtfully. “Ah, lennie, everything seems wrong. I just keep having these ridiculous dreams in which Martrian keeps telling me to kill the plutonian princes.”

Lenore asked curiously “ Martrian as in the Martrian, the first shaxtri ra?”

Maximus nodded “Yeah him. He keeps coming to me in my dreams and asking me to kill those princes.”

Lenore looked at him “So what are you going to do?”

Maximus shrugged “It’s not that easy to just kill them. Your parents want them to be alive so that we can showcase them forever and assert that slaves would be slaves.”

“That isn’t the only problem is it?” Lenore asked.

“No. This place is really crazy. Did you know Lenore that we have only 10,000 guards guarding 500,000 of them?”

“The guards are stronger and can command the slaves. What’s the harm?” Lenore asked.

“That is what the council thinks too. But, just look at them Lenore. They aren’t weaklings even if they are slaves. Once they are freed of those chains only god knows what damage they can do.” Maximus muttered.

“You are worried that they might be released from the slave chains?” Lenore asked with a frown of concern.

“I am worried, Lenore because the princes I have caught are not exactly being subservient. We have done everything to break them but somehow, something keeps them confident that they would escape. Eleven years! You’d think some change would have come to them. Yeah, they have all physically grown but they are more stubborn then ever instead of docile.”

“It’s their nature Max, but what does that have to do with all slaves escaping from their chains?” Lenore enquired.

“These oxymorons think that the princes are their saviors. The fact that we haven’t been able to really break them is driving me nuts and they are becoming more savvy and restless than ever, as if they know their freedom is close at hand. It shouldn’t be so. They should not be thinking “Freedom” at all, but they are because these idiot princes are giving them hope.”

“And?” she asked feeling more uneasy now.

“I am also worried about Edimis’s attachment to that Lykos slave. She actually refused to beat him when he behaved arrogantly with some of the lykens.”

“Yeah she seems to love him” Lenore replied.

Maximus burst out laughing. “Love? That word is foreign to Edi. Lust might be a better word. She just likes the thought of controlling him.”

Lenore sighed. “If that’s the case what’s worrying you about the Lykos?”

Maximus frowned “That lykos has changed. Physically. His change is quite extraordinary actually. He was a skinny, puny little bag of bones with huge girl eyes and hair that stood on end like a porcupine. He was no more than five feet four at most. He was nineteen then Lenore. I was embarrassed to even call him a lykos. Lykos were supposed to be beautiful. He really looked like ugly duckling among swans. The strange thing is he doesn’t resemble that boy anymore.”

“Boys grow up Max.” Lenore said shaking her head and rolling her eyes.

“Didn’t you hear me say he was nineteen when he came here? Boys don’t change that dramatically after 19. Maybe they might grow a few inches but not a foot and a half taller. And seriously, he doesn’t look like that boy anymore. He doesn’t even look a Lykos. He doesn’t have that beauty of definition in his body and face. No. He resembles the two princes who committed suicide here.”

“Committed suicide? I didn’t know this.” Lenore asked shocked now.

“Yeah. It was kept under wraps. Only the council knew. Their deaths disturb me too. Till now we have no idea what happened to the spirits Avian and Luke were holding. I swear they held spirits. It should have come to me but it didn’t. And their suicide was completely unexpected given their stubbornness. I thought they would last longer but maybe we had pressured them too much. The most curious thing though was the way they chose to commit suicide and they did it on the same day. Avian poisoned both his arms. His strong zalz poison killed him. The other boy, Luke ate off both his hands. You know a neferati’s teeth are really strong.”

“Ew, They really did that? It must have hurt like hell when they were dying.” She said shuddering.

“I suppose so” Maximus said noncommittally. “The interesting thing though is that not a single one of their heart rates accelerated to a point that would have given us an indication that they were attempting suicide. When we discovered something wrong with the heartbeat, they were more than halfway dead. I was right there when their heart beat completely stopped. I sank my teeth into their necks but nothing. They weren’t holding any spirits. And now strangely, I see their face in that Lykos. Something is wrong Lenore. But I can’t convince Edimis to give up her slave for an inquisition. She absolutely refused it. She says the Lykos is a nobody. My question is then why was he crowned the prince of Plutonia? The others were princes too and they were more powerful according to the tests we did the first day we caught them. According to my sources, Avian should have been the crown prince. But obviously, their grandfather Argemion wanted the lykos to be the king. There must be a reason. He isn’t as mild as he looks.”

He laughed then. “No, perhaps mild cannot be used now.”

He sighed unhappily “I am not happy with the situation Lennie. I fear Edimis is also becoming a traitor like that Dymian idiot.”

“Max, Dymian was the crown Prince of Jupiteria before he decided to let all the slaves escape. He was a strong royalist warrior, whatever he had done later, he still deserves respect.” Lenore exclaimed.

“Respect?” Maximus snorted. “If not for that imbecile there wouldn’t have been any Plutonia. He fell in love with an ugly lykos woman. Who in his right mind would love the huge lykos women when they can have a royalist girl? He really was an idiot. He even gave that woman children and mixed his royal blood with the slaves. For god’s sake, he was supposed to be a lyken. It was a treachery of the worst sort.”

Lenore didn’t say anything to that. Maximus was really blind to anything good about the slaves. He was a despot when it came to them. And she still wasn’t sure such a man would make a good husband even if he had never shown his cruel side to her. But shaxtri’s were expected to behave that way.

Coming back from that long ago memory she started going down the winding stair case of the lyken fortress. She really had to come here tonight after what that spy had said. She smiled ruefully. Spies really created spies as sons. She remembered the man’s father from three hundred years ago. He had been a Jupiterian spy. The urgent call for a meeting at night had afterall seemed very important. And now, she needed to remember why she needed Armedien’s hands dead. She needed to remember that last horrific night. That night, had been her wedding night.

Lenore was putting on some white orchids to her royal blue hair. She was ready for her marriage now. She looked at the mirror seeing an expectant bride. She smiled back reassuring herself everything would go alright. Then a sharp rap came on her door. She thought it might be Maximus, her intended groom, coming for a last clandestine kiss. Indeed it was him looking very handsome in white.

She smiled at him and said in a mock rebuking voice “You are not supposed to visit the bride before the wedding ceremony.”

“I couldn’t wait” he replied gathering her to him in a hug.

“Max, someone might be coming here. You don’t want mom to catch you here now do you?” She asked him, leaning back in his arms.

He groaned at that. “I just hate the Jupiterian wedding ritual. It was much better in the twenty first century Earth. We should never have decided to suddenly become more traditional”

“It increases the expectations for the wedding night. I think I like the tradition.” She replied.

“Yeah, you like everything the old fashioned way” he replied with a pout.

Suddenly someone knocked on the door. She looked wide eyed at Maximus thinking it was her mother. But wouldn’t she have just come in instead of knocking? She looked at the screen. Two men were standing there. She frowned. Who were they?

Maximus looked at them and cursed “I asked Brian to stand guard outside. What is he doing here with that guy?”

He opened the door and the two men came in. Maximus snapped “ I didn’t ask you to come in.”

The man named Brian looked at her “My apologies princess but a very important thing came up that the King wants Maximus to handle.”

Lenore frowned “What would dad want him to handle tonight? This is supposed to be my wedding night and if I am not mistaken he is supposed to be my groom.”

The man looked pleadingly at Maximus and said “Armedien is coming tonight to save the slaves.”

“What?” Maximus exploded and Lenore looked pale. This was bad. Two months ago Armedien had escaped after killing Edimis in her bedroom. Since then Maximus had been trying to kill Armedien. It wasn’t just a death. Edimis’s body looked as if some wild animal had eaten half of the body.

The other man now stepped forward and said “Yes, sir. He is coming tonight to free his people.”

Maximus said frustratedly “Why tonight of all nights?”

The man named Brian replied “He deduced few people will be guarding the slaves tonight as you are getting married.”

Maximus snarled “Well he is very wrong then.”

The other man said “Sir, I have news too from Plutonia that you might not like.”

Maximus looked at him “You are the spy Gelwader aren’t you? What have you got?”

The man named Gelwader said “Sir, it seems Armedien is the elita of the millennium.”

Maximus thundered “What the hell? How could he, an idiot lykos slave become the elita?”

Gelwader cringed. “The people of Plutonia believe that sir.”

Maximus scowled furiously “People? What people? I thought I had either enslaved or killed the annoying slaves.”

Gelwader replied uneasily “Sir, there are about hundred people still alive. They haven’t gone to the earlier war because they were too young then.”

Maximus huffed. “So what else is Armedien doing?”

Gelwader said with a sneer “Crying over his father’s grave.”

Maximus looked at him sharply “Didn’t you say earlier that he ate his father”

Gelwader smiled “He did. But everyone believes it wasn’t his fault. It was his father who challenged him to fight in the first place.”

Maximus scoffed “Crying? And he calls himself a warrior, least of all the elita?”

Lenore looked at Maximus in dismay. “You are not going to fight him are you Max? That guy just said he is the elita. Don’t take an elita lightly Max.”

Maximus looked at Gelwader “ I don’t believe he could be the elita. All Elita’s so far had been royalists. Why should it be a plutonian this time? How could you be sure Armedien is the elita?”

The man named Gelwader looked nervously and said “Sir the spirits of Avian and Luke were never lost. Avian and Luke didn’t just commit suicide. They did a ritual that transferred their spirits to the elita. They knew Stephanos Armedien was the elita. Cutting off two hands in death is the ritual of the untouchables. By their death they had made Stephanos untouchable unless their blood is spilled.”

The elita could hold more than thousand spirits in his or her body at one time. If Armedien was the elita.. No, it was too horrific to be true. With growing panic Lenore said “But Luke and Avian are dead already.”

“No. You misunderstand. By their blood I mean their brothers’ blood. Avner and Kyle’s blood. They had made their brothers Armedien’s hands. As long as Avner and Kyle are alive, Stephanos Armedien is untouchable.” Gelwader clarified.

Shaking her head in disbelief Lenore said “This is unbelievable. I can’t understand why Avian and Luke did all that for Stephanos. It just doesn’t seem right.”

“No it does.” Maximus said with a frown. “Avian and Luke were pledged the protectors of the plutonian crown. Also after the war and the deaths of their family Luke and Avian must have seen how hopeless it was to escape without some real power. Only an elita could resist the shaxtri. Avian and Luke must have known Stephanos was the elita but he couldn’t fight unless he had more than one really strong spirit. That’s why they sacrificed themselves for Stephanos. They did it for freedom. They were obsessed with the idea of being free. I believe they would have done anything to have a free Plutonia.”

Lenore shook her head “But if that is true, why didn’t Stephanos attack the day after the death of Luke and Avian?”

Maximus shrugged “My guess is he was just too young and untrained to hold spirits. So at first he didn’t even know how to use the spirits he was holding. But I bet Edimis angered him to the extent that the power of his spirits somehow came out for the first time.”

Then in growing alarm he said “We have to kill Kyle and Avner now. I should have acted on the Shatri ra Martian’s warning. Now it might be too late.”

The man named Gelwader replied “No sir, it’s not too late. Avner and Kyle still haven’t officially undergone the ritual of being his hands yet.”

“Hey wait, that reminds me. Didn’t you say Armedien’s hands had been badly damaged from the wounds inflicted on him by Edimis? Wasn’t that the reason his father fought him? Because he was a useless warrior? If that was the case how could he win with his father and how does he think he will fight tonight?” Maximus asked.

Gelwader replied “As I told you sir, he ate his father and you are right. He can never fight with his hands as a lykos unless he breaks the curse of Edimis. That’s why he would need Kyle and Avner to work as his hands tonight. However, he still can take the form of the animal spirits other than lykos and fight. But he won’t be invincible, without Kyle and Avner as his hands.”

“We can’t dawdle here.” Maximus said leaving her. “I am sorry babe. I have to go. We will have to delay the wedding.”

Lenore looked at him with alarm and grief. Something told her there would be no wedding at all. But how could she stop him? She nodded looking away instead. Then another idea occurred to her. A very ridiculous idea. She could go with them and pretend she was a lyken. That way she could ensure Maximus was okay. But three hundred years later, she still wished she had not seen the massacre of that night.