The Two Sides of a Sword

Chapter Five

"What?" Rocki's voice crackled through the air. Her eyes blazed with fear and anger for her captured sister. She sat forward, leaning against the restraints that locked her in her seat. "You let a deadly species of alien take my sister, knowing she would likely be hurt?" As if I needed another reason to hate him.

His black eyes narrowed a little. "You saw how many of them there were. I'm not a soldier. They outnumbered me and even if they didn't, I'm not much of a match for a highly trained sariun warrior." He turned back to his buttons and levers. "Valicara can be dangerous too you know, but we want to take care of you. I'm just not sure if the sariun feel the same way. They had better unless they want the war to go on for eternity."

Rocki ran her hands through her brown hair, scratching gently at her skull in an attempt to calm herself. They're going to hurt Aley. I have to get to her. What can I do though? I'm stuck here with him, and even if I wasn't, I don't know how to find where the sariun are. I didn't even know they existed until an hour ago. Even if I could find them, what would I do? Walk up to them and demand they return my sister? If they're warriors like he says, I would never be able to force my way past them. I'm an author, not a combatant. Tears pricked the inside corners of her eyes, she had to fight to keep them from falling. I can't do anything. She hated problems she couldn't solve. Situations she couldn't control. When she needed to lose weight, she lost it. When Aley needed advice, she gave it. When her fans wanted a book, she wrote it. But this ... this was out of her hands. She couldn't control anything besides the way she reacted. She couldn't keep herself or her sister from being taken, she couldn't rescue her. Things were out of her hands, and she hated it.

Everything was silent except for the sounds of the ship drifting through space. Finally, Kofi broke the silence. "We're going to be going a lot faster in a moment, blue eyes. Are you ready?" When she didn't say anything, he glanced over his shoulder, then shrugged and turned back to press a button.

The ship rocketed forward, travelling at what Rocki assumed was lightspeed. She shivered, closing her eyes and gripping her seat tightly. She expected the gravitational weight to disappear after a few minutes, but it didn't. She had hoped it was only going to be a quick jump through a wormhole or something, but when they persisted in moving forward, she decided that was unlikely.

Looking out the cockpit gave her a headache, but closing her eyes made her feel nauseous, so she settled for staring at her lap, praying that the travel wouldn't harm her baby. She remembered the night that child had been formed. She would always remember it, but not for the reason she had originally hoped.

It was pretty loud, travelling through space, so Rocki didn't hear Kofi get out of his seat. He startled her by placing a hand on her knee and crouching down so he could see her face. "Food?" he said over the sounds of the ship. "Water?"

I shouldn't take anything. He might poison or drug it. Then again, he said he wouldn't hurt me. I can't imagine why he would want to drug me unless ... No. Nope. We are not going there today, Rocki. Just take the water. You have to stay hydrated. Do aliens drink water or did he take some from Earth?

"Water, please," she said loudly.

"Are you tired?" He was nearly shouting, although she would have been able to hear him even if he was a little quieter. "You look pale."

She was rarely told that. Being raised in Hawaii by a surfer meant she was outside often. She had only been called pale when she was in pain. Seeing as she wasn't currently hurt, she concluded it must have been fear, not exhaustion like he was guessing. That being said, she did feel a bit tired, but there was no way she was going to be able to fall asleep, so she shook her head.

Kofi nodded, then unbuckled her and pulled the woman out of her seat, leading her to a room separated from the cockpit. It was much quieter here, although the sound of air rushing by could still be heard and she could still feel the additional gravity the speed brought with it. The floor beneath her bare feet was cold, and almost metallic in feel.

"Just water?" Kofi asked after he sat her in a chair. They appeared to be in some kind of kitchen. There were three chairs around a table, and the walls were mostly made out of cabinets. "You sure you don't want anything to eat?"

"Yes," she said, noting that her chair was nailed to the floor. Probably so everything doesn't go flying when the ship moves. She watched as he fetched the water for her, still fascinated by his wings. "What are you?" she whispered the question out loud to herself without thinking.

Despite the noise outside and the quiet decibel at which she spoke, Kofi still heard her. "I'm a valicara. I thought I told you that already." He tilted his head when he placed the water in front of her. "Did staying on Earth injure your ability to retain information?"

She wasn't sure what to say to that, so she shrugged, taking a drink. She hesitated for a moment, then said, "would it be all right if I asked you some questions?"

"Anything, blue eyes." He winked.

"Where are you from?"

He sat down and leaned back in his chair. "Kliktal. A planet in the next galaxy over."

"And there are more like you?"

"There are many valicara, although I argue there are none like me." He grinned, enjoying the question session more than Rocki thought he would.

She could see he was trying to sway her with charm, but it only made her press her lips together. "How are you able to talk to me? Do valicara speak English?"

He tapped his temple. "Before I set out to find you, I had a translator installed. It can learn new languages in mere hours. Earth certainly has many, but I only downloaded the two most common on your island."

The woman took a deep breath. "Find me. You were looking for me specifically? You didn't just ... kidnap the first person you saw? How did you know where I lived? Why do you need me? Why do those other aliens want Aley?" She pushed her hair back. "None of this makes sense."

Kofi studied her for a moment. "It will."

"Why did you kidnap me? Why didn't you just talk to me? It seems like explaining everything would have been a lot simpler and less illegal than taking me away with little more than an introduction."

He shrugged. "I was told to bring you back by whatever means necessary, including force. The sooner you come to Kliktal the sooner our problems will be solved."

"What problems?"

He hesitated. "I'm not supposed to tell you." She studied his dark eyes, wishing she could read his secrets through them. "But ... the sooner you know the better, right? The sovereign might even thank me for explaining for him."

Rocki waited while he bobbed his head in thought.

He glanced at her again. "Those freaking blue eyes ... All right, fine. Look, Kliktal has been shrouded in war for a long time, almost a hundred years now. The valicara and the sariun are both fighting for dominance. When the war started, we asked a seer to tell us who the victor would be. She gave us a prophecy that spoke of two savioresses ending the war after a hundred years. 'They who have the savioresses have the victory.'" He paused, catching her blank expression. "What?"

Rocki blinked slowly. "I'm sorry, seers? Prophecies? Alien? This is starting to sound like a sci-fi book. Are you serious?"

His eyebrows flicked together. "What's sci-fi?"

"It's a genre. A type of book or movie. It usually involves aliens or the end of the world or superpowers. Sometimes all three. They're fake though. As much as they seem like they could be real, they aren't."

"I'm real, aren't I?" He brandished his wings. "Humans must not be very advanced if they think all of that is imaginary."

Rocki was quiet for a moment. "No, I suppose not." She took a sip of water. "That doesn't exactly explain why you took me though."

"Why wouldn't we?" He grinned. "You're one of the savioresses. Your sister is the other. The two of you are going to end the war."