Dealing With Consequences

Chapter 8

Her dreams were nightmares. There were animals cackling and bringing their teeth upon her. She ran only to be crushed into a group of beasts. "Enough, Amara." It rang in her ear and she forced her eyes open. She sat up and glanced around her confinement. She was in a cell carved from the very stone of the mountain. Her arms wrapped around her as she protected herself from the cold.

"Light," she timidly called. "Hello?" Nothing but silence greeted her. She pulled herself against the solid wall on the back of the cell and wept. Captured, she thought. She was captured by a horrible race of monsters. She shook as the uncertainty of her future corroded her mind.

A creak from above made her jump. She glanced up to cascades of light filling the small cell. She shaded her eyes to see. Above her peered a horrible looking thing. His nose was stretched out and his teeth were jagged. His beady red eyes pierced through Amara and made her shrink more. He sniffed around the opening before throwing something down. It hit with a loud clank. 

She kicked it carefully with her toe. The metal scrapped against the cold stone floor. She moved closer to it. Leaning over it, she stared down at the small tray with wet clumpy stuff splattered about. Next to it was a spongy square and she groaned. It was her meal.

The chuckle above her caused her to jerk up. He smoothly moved the latch back down leaving Amara in the dark again. She let out a whimper as her eyes adjusted to the blackness around her. With a shiver from the cold, she pulled her knees up and hugged them tight to her body.

"How did my life get so turned around", she thought. "I was heading to medical school. I was going to live up to my mother's name. Now, look at me. I sit here, hopelessly waiting my fate with that thing in my stomach." She glanced at her rounded stomach in disgust.

"Are you going to eat that," said a voice to her right. Amara jumped and skidded away from the sound. 

"I don't think she likes you," a low chuckle came from over Amara's left shoulder and she screamed. "Now look, you scared 'er."

"I just asked for her meal," the right voice spat. Amara leaned over and slid the tray closer to the bars to her right. Amara shivered from the gobbling noises coming from the corner.

"The names Brighton," the rough voice said behind her again.

"Amara," she replied.

"I know who you are, cupcake," the voice cooed. "The guards keep us informed. Said you stood up to that bugger up there. Wish I had the chance to rip out his throat before they threw me down here."

"Brighton," the voice called from the dark. "Now who is scaring the girl? You are just bitter for getting caught crossing over."

"Bah," Brighton argued. "I had my reasons. She was beautiful. A lady covered in red and dancing every night. How could I resist? You were the one addicted to Rockets!"

"Rockets," Amara gasped. "You couldn't possibly mean the candy!" The right growled in response. "That's impossible. Naih can't cross the barrier into human territory," Amara pushed.   

"Typical. You are as ignorant as the rest of your kind," Brighton groaned. "Certain Naih can cross through. Some of us don't have our DNA reconfigured to the extreme. Some of us are still human enough to cross. Bugger, some humans aren't all human, you know."

 "A Naih is not human," Amara argued. "Naih's are.... Made up of animals .... Beasts."

"Foolish girl, look around you," nipped the right voice. "We are not the primitive beasts the Elite want you to believe. The Naih started out same as you. Our ancestors were human experiments with DNA on Shelter. We coexisted with humanity; worked beside you, defended the borders from attack, loved and had families, and ate Rockets."

"What happened," Amara whispered. Her throat tightened. If it was true, the Elite had gone to the extremes to keep it all a secret. What reason would they have to destroy this history and convince everyone that they were beasts?

"DNA experiment went wrong. A few Elites were killed and a purge came to evict our kind from Shelter," Brighton explained with a bitter snap to his voice. "We moved here, started a new civilization and lived peacefully away from the humans. But they couldn't let it rest. They came over and started this war."

"That's a lie! The Naih started the war," Amara cried. "The Naih are monsters. They feed their dead and wounded to the Loggerheads and Valties as if they were nothing. They are ruthless hunters who have killed so many men. Men with families just wanting to get leave to see their loved ones. You lie." Tears ran down her face as she remembered the four Negotiators she had failed to protect. Light had recently learned his eldest daughter was going to school to be a teacher.

The right voice started in, arguing about how Naih have family too. Brighton cut him off.

 "How did the Naih start it Amara," Brighton asked softly. His renewed patience worried Amara.

"They ........ well.. they...... they attacked first," Amara whimpered. Amara retracted into her mind desperately trying to find the story. It had to be there. It was the key to everything. All that kept coming to her was various teachers, news reports, even her text books stating the same thing, "The Naih attacked first."

"Propaganda, my dear. They brainwashed you all," the right one bellowed.

"This isn't a laughing matter," Amara yelled. "Who started it then?"

"The elite," Brighton roared. "They killed our Mother."

"It was hundreds of years ago," Amara defended.

"Now, now don't get your feathers in a ruffle. The Mother not our mother," he explained. "She was a figure for all Naih. She was the caring, compassionate example to us all. Mother kept order and peace amongst a group that was going extinct . Well back then at least. Now we thrive on war."  

"How," Amara whispered but couldn't ask anymore.

"She was picking gems one day on a rocky hillside. They were her favorite, you know, only the blue ones drew her eye. She came across a group of excavators who were after the same stones. Some Elite group wanting to discover the next big thing for the Shelter hoping it would solve your water crisis or something. She couldn't speak English you see. The Mother refused to speak that tongue again after what they did and the Elite couldn't understand the Naih language. They killed her over some stupid rocks!"

Amara fell quiet. She shut down. There was no way she could accept such stories after all she had grown up with. The Elites couldn't be that horrible. Her father and his friends were Elites and they protected all. "Everyone except me", Amara's mind pushed back. Amara's breathing became shallow and her world started to darken.

"Amara?"

"Look, now you killed her. Her puny mind exploded!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Tiet," barked a guard. The boom of his voice echoed through the cells. The two shut right up and shuffled away.  A bright light came from one end of the cavern and slowly worked its way through the cells. Amara covered her sensitive eyes with the back of her hand. The light stopped at her cell. Amara could just make out three shadowed figures standing there. One's ears were pointed at the top of his head. Another didn't seem to have a head.

"Amara," stated a familiar voice. Her spine quivered upon hearing her name from those lips again. Her pulse quickened and her breathing started again. She hadn't realized she had stopped breathing. "Stand up." T'ranthiom sounded annoyed. Amara stood. Her legs shook under her. She was still drained from the attempt to protect like the Elite.

A faint red glow developed near T'ranthiom and the cell wall collapsed before him. He walked over and gently placed his arm under her to help. He looked down at her fragile frame and frowned. He had to practically drag her out of her cell. She would be of no help to him in the events to come.    

Another figure, a guard, slid his rough arm around Amara and she started to shake. T'ranthiom fumed at how quickly this land had broken her. He hoped in time, he could bring back that spirit he was starting to enjoy but for now he had to keep her safe.