Fairy Tales

The In-Between Part II

A splitting headache greeted Mileena when she woke. Her eyelids fluttered open, blurry at first, and she blinked away the dizziness. She looked down to see what had hit her. But instead, she saw ropes wrapped tightly around her, securing her to a large tree. She pushed against them, though they only seemed to tighten.

Laugher fell through the forest like a trickling waterfall. Mileena’s pulse quickened as she struggled harder. The laughter grew and more voices joined it. Mileena scanned the canopy for the owners of the voices, finding none.

Leaves crunched as feet landed on the ground behind Mileena. Foreign words snickered to the companions in the trees. A gleaming plasma blade danced under her throat.

“Please don’t kill me,” she whimpered.

More chuckles from the invisible Ari. The one beside her finally stepped into view. Sandy brown hair fell into deep oak eyes, matching the stripes along his bare chest and arms. Dark fur tipped his pointed ears. He said something in his native language, and another Ari dropped to the ground.

“You’re in the wrong place, miss,” the second Ari said with a thick accent. “And we don’t treat your kind nicely out here.”

“Please don’t kill me,” Mileena whispered again. “I don’t want any trouble.”

“The only thing your kind wants is trouble,” the first Ari scowled.

“I only want to find my friend.”

“And let me guess,” the first Ari twirled his blade, “your friend is a Guardian.”

Mileena shrinked away, dumbfounded and terrified. The first Ari leaned over her and pressed his glowing blade into her cheek.

“You’re Guardians don’t guard anything,” he seethed. “They destroy.”

Mileena wanted to protest. She wanted to argue that the Guardians protected the people and the supplies they traded. She wanted to argue that Kenney was not a killer, like the Ari were.

“When you came here on your little spaceships, you said you wanted to be allies,” he continued, sharp canines gleaming. “You lied. As soon as you had your roots in the ground, you destroyed everything. Our villages. Our fields. Our home. We were content living with the land, but you wanted to have it all. You wanted to strip us of our resources, build your cities and place your controlling Council here, then move on to the next planet.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Mileena whispered.

The Ari chuckled humorlessly. “That’s another thing. You’ve been lied to. You don’t know the truth, but now I’m telling you. Your little Council is lying!” His sudden outburst shook the trees and startled the birds into the sky.

And it clicked. The real reason the Council didn’t want people to know about the In-Between — they didn’t want the people to know the truth. They made lies to cover the horrors of their past, of what they’ve done to the Ari. The Ari were savages because the Council were the savages first. Tears welled in Mileena’s eyes.

“I’m sorry,” she said, though she knew nothing could make up for the past.

“You’re not sorry enough.” He changed his grip on the knife. Mileena squeezed her eyes shut. But the blow never came.

Tentatively, she opened one eye. Another Ari stood behind the first, firmly gripping his wrist. This Ari had bright orange hair like a tiger, braided back and swinging behind her. A leather strap secured a plasma rifle around a thick animal skin vest. Two knives, blades retracted, waited on her thighs. Her molten gold eyes demanded respect. She ordered something in her language, and the other Ari backed off, though he didn’t retract his blade.