SYMBOLS

CHAPTER 29

Together, B'Elanna and Harry walked the length of the wind swept street. Harry could feel a warm breeze blow over his cheeks. He'd always liked exploring new places and discovering all the unfamiliar sounds, smells and sights of other worlds.

He held clumps of the purple robe in his hands to stop it from dragging so heavily behind him. The thick material, clenched in his fingers, soon made his arm muscles ache and after a few minutes he let it fall to the ground around him; from that moment on, Harry knew the awkward heavy robe was going to be a nuisance.

Suddenly he stopped dead. His robe had snagged behind him. He pulled at it a couple of times to free whatever had become caught, but it didn't release, so he turned around and found a red-haired youth standing on the purple material.

"An offering." The young boy was insistent and handed Harry a necklace made of tiny white shells.

Harry looked at the delicate shell necklace in his fingers. It was very nice, but he presumed the boy was selling the item and seeing as he didn't have any money, he quickly returned the necklace to the young man's hand.

"For protection," the boy pleaded.

"Look, it's really beautiful," Harry said. "But I don't need any jewelry at the moment, thank you."

Harry felt his robe become freed. He watched the boy step away, and then he continued walking on. Only seconds later, a loud noise stopped him in his tracks. The sound was very close and made Harry jump. He recognized the sound immediately. His mind reeled with vivid pictures of Kylani being shot on Voyager's bridge. He felt his heart catch in anticipation. Something instinctual raised the hairs on his neck, and with the sensation came a feeling of overwhelming dread.

Slowly, Harry turned around. He almost expected to find a guard aiming a disrupter at him. Instead, he saw the youth lying dead in the street, just a few meters from the end of his trailing robe. He raised his eyes up from the dead boy. Not far away, a red uniformed guard pushed aside the crowd of civilian spectators that had gathered around the boy's body, and moved toward him. The guard wore a proud smile.

Bending down, Harry lifted the string of white shells out of the pool of blood that was mixing with the dusty ground. Only seconds before, he'd held the necklace in his hands and the boy was still alive. Images of the frightened youth overlaid the images of Kylani, which were still dancing around in his mind. He turned the necklace over in his hands, before depositing it back on the ground. As soon as the necklace left his fingers, the guard picked it up and pocketed the piece. The guard bowed at him and disappeared back into the crowd.

Harry stood silent and watched the crowd dissipate. A couple of onlookers took the boy's body with them. All that remained was a dark bloodstain on the ground.

Harry could feel his hands shaking. His first real experience in the Anawin City hadn't been at all pleasant. He looked down at the robe he wore and began to comprehend the power of being a priest in this society. Now he understood that the purple robe gave him the right to choose who would live and who would die.

"Did you see what just happened?" Harry whispered to B'Elanna. She stood beside him, next to the burgundy bloodstain.

"Harry, it wasn't your fault. You didn't know." B'Elanna tried to placate him.

He could taste bile in his throat. His legs felt weak and he started to shiver and feel clammy. As he took a couple of steps forward, he felt the color drain from his face, leaving him a pale, sickly white. It was a delayed reaction. Walking into a small lane, he vomited down the stone wall.

"I just had somebody killed, for no reason," Harry said still pale. The acid from his stomach had burned his throat making him sound a little hoarse.

"Harry, try to calm down," B'Elanna said. "Now that we know, we're both going to have to be a lot more careful. Tayna was right when she said priests hold a lot of power here."

Harry wiped the spittle from his lips. The memory of the boy's bloody body still flooded his mind and filled him with dread, and it took a long time for B'Elanna to convince him that they had to venture out into the open street again.