Sacrifice

Chapter 42 - The Sacrifice

Kalli had lost all concept of time. She was tired but could not sleep, and only her growing thirst and hunger marked the passage of time. She went from wishing that day would come so that she could leave the prison and the solitude of her thoughts to wishing that time would stand still and that no one ever came for her. Finally, the door to her cell swung open, and a stern-faced guard stood there.

"It's time," he said and unlocked her shackles.

Kalli stood from the bench and almost passed out from lack of food and drink. Only the guard's firm grip kept her from hitting the floor. He escorted her to his guard station and had her sit. Gently he removed her gag. Kalli wasn't sure what to make of the weathered old guard. Though he treated her gently, she saw no evidence of compassion in his face. Saying nothing, he poured her a glass of water from a nearby jug. She drank it greedily under his watchful eye.

"Thank you," she said, as she handed the glass back to him.

He nodded and accepted the glass.

"Why?" she couldn't help but to ask.

He glanced at her. "I see no reason to treat you as less than human, no matter your crime. We must go now."

He escorted her out of the prison and to the edge of a square. A firing squad waited opposite a stone wall with a wooden platform and post in the centre.

Her breath caught at the sight. The Emperor appeared on the balcony and addressed the crowd that had gathered to watch her die.

"Citizens," the Emperor began, "not two days ago a heinous attack was perpetrated against my son, the Crown Prince. Lady Kallistrate al Aratina has taken responsibility for this crime."

He paused and looked over the crowd.

"Doubtless she also wished to put a stop to our Empire's great voyage to the stars. But she has failed, and even now the ships are readying for their departure. As she dies, they will be launched into space, and we will show the world what the Imkan Empire is capable of. Begin."

At the Emperor's command, the guard escorted her to the platform and bound her hands behind the post.

Kalli felt the bindings tighten and then heard the guard leave. She knew that the Emperor watched her from the balcony. But her time left was short, and she had no wish to spend her last minutes alive looking at the man who had signed her death warrant.

Her breathing came fast and heavy. She had been truthful with the Emperor, she was afraid to die. Kalli knew that she looked south and so alternated her search of the crowd with scans of the horizon.

The sky she searched for an indication that her death would not be in vain. The crowd she searched for the man who she needed so much, yet hoped would not come.

Then, there he was.

Adir stood on the edge of the crowd. Not in his uniform, but in the dark clothes that he would have worn to take the ships. Their eyes met from across the square. Kalli's breaths turned to heaving sobs as tears rushed down her face. It was Adir's eyes that she held as the firing squad took aim.

The first shot hit her in the stomach. Her eyes lifted as she cried out in pain and prayer.

There on the horizon was a flash of light that grew and began stretching towards the sky.

A second shot hit her higher up; she knew that her death would not be fast and would not be painless.

In the distance, more lights ignited and began to follow the first upwards.

More shots hit Kalli; she lost count of them and lost the breath to scream in pain. All that was keeping her on her feet were the bindings that held her to the wooden post.

Looking down she saw Adir, still on the edge of the crowd, his face as wet as her own. As the firing squad loosed their final shots and disengaged their plasma rifles, Kalli looked upwards one last time. She watched those shining lights moving through the sky, beacons of hope for an entire people. Then with one final breath, Kalli's soul left her body. It joined the ships and their passengers on a voyage towards the heavens.

Into the amazing and unending universe.