The Reluctant Sacrifice

3

Mom hobbled back to the center of the market. The hunters slinked out of shadowy corners to meet her. They moved as they did in the air, in V formation with Joshua at the head. The tall hunter and Rooster brought up the rear on the left and right. When he reached Mom, Joshua made a circular motion in the air with his thumb. The hunters fanned out, forming a circle around Mom.

Joshua heaved a deep breath. "Where is she?"

Mom's voice was like steel on steel. "Gone."

"Gone where?"

"If you think I'm telling you then you're not only a traitorous bastard, you're a fool."

I watched as Mom and Joshua stared at each other, neither one blinking or taking a breath. As the angry stare-off stretched on, the hunters exchanged uncomfortable glances and a low grumble moved around the circle.

One hunter, with arms like sculpted marble sniffed the air noisily with a bumpy nose. "Aubrey is close," he said. "I can taste her in the air."

"Silence," Joshua barked.

"But her scent—"

"Use your eyes as well as your nose, idiot. It's obvious Rose switched shirts with Aubrey."

The hunter crunched his knuckles. "I'm no idiot. You can barely see the damn thing."

Mom shook her head. "Lefu always said you'd make a good Captain one day. Pity he's never wrong."

"Yeah, Pity." Joshua's eyes flickered to the gate and back to Mom. "The sacrifice isn't—"

"Sacrifice?" Mom cut him off. "Call it what it is, Joshua. Murder."

"It is not murder."

"She's sixteen! She's a child, and so are you. You should be taking her out on dates, not hunting her like a rabid dog."

"I wouldn't have to hunt her if she would turn herself in. She's meant to be on that altar, Rose. You can't keep telling her otherwise."

"But why her?" Mom demanded. "None of you stupid exiles can tell me why it has to be my daughter who pays the price for our sins."

Joshua's mouth opened and closed. Finally, he shook his head. "I don't know, Rose. The duty fell to her."

"To hell with duty," Mom said, stabbing him in the chest with a finger. "And to hell with Azure! And to hell with Celo and all you foul exiles!"

"Enough," Joshua boomed. His voice echoed in the sky like thunder causing Mom to yelp. "We are Aramithians, not humans," he said. "Just because we've been exiled to this backward world for the last two centuries, doesn't mean we can abandon our responsibilities of duty, obedience, and loyalty to Aramith."

Mom balled her fists, and her chin rose defiantly in the air. "Like I said. To hell with duty."

Sighing, Joshua raked a hand through his hair. "Look," he said. "The sacrifice isn't for another year. I can see to it Lefu lets you stay with Aubrey until then."

"And then?"

"That's the best I can do," Joshua said. "You won't be pardoned."

Mom smiled a cruel smile that would have never worked on her old face. "Is thirty pieces of silver still the going rate?"

"I'm not a traitor," Joshua said.

"Neither am I, but I'll gladly die like one instead of letting you vipers bleed my child dry."

A lovely mellifluous laugh came from the palm trees to the left of the circle. Bitterness flooded my mouth as Morgan stepped out. My sister had taken after my dad's side of the family, from their pointy, elvish faces to their sylphlike bodies.