Core (2 page)

“Bring more wood, and we will begin to tell you about the shame of Vahsh.”

Cor obliged. She could hide it or simply move it if she had to. The wood had a pleasantly familiar scent. It had the tang of oak with the hint of pine. It burned easily and hot.

Two more armloads and she dropped the wood near the fire pit. The girls were all seated around the fire. “Now, tell me about why we are here.”

Tobeena looked over and Whelan leaned forward. “I will be telling the story. My father is a historian, and it is his job to keep the knowledge of our greatest triumphs and greatest failures.”

She cleared her throat and lifted her head, her eyes closed. “When Vahsh wished to begin a trade agreement with its neighbour Lero, it sent six representatives of noble houses to the surface. They were treated well by the people of Lero and introduced to the daughter of Lero, a woman name Dahla. The Vahsh nobles found her attractive, and they seduced her in this very temple.

“Lero was enraged, and when his Avatar returned from the negotiations on the station, Dahla had taken her own life for shame. The Vahsh nobles were remorseful and begged Lero to continue with the treaty for Vahsh needed the power crystals that are natural to this place in order to advance. Without the power, we have been at a standstill for seven hundred years.

“Lero’s Avatar was despondent. The faithless Dahla had been his intended bride. He banished the Vahsh from the surface of Lero and did not speak to them again. Lero grew barren, its population gone. No one knows where they fled, but the people of Lero left.

“The Vahsh tried to mine for the crystals they wanted, but freezing temperatures killed a few parties, and our people begged Lero for the crystals once again. His Avatar spoke and told us what we needed to do, and so, every ten years, six women come to the surface, and we wait to see if one of us can replace the lost Dahla.”

Whelan stopped speaking, and Cor could only say one thing. “Horse shit.”

The girls blinked at her, Whelan frowned. “What? That is our history.”

“And it is horse shit. Dahla was not seduced, she was raped, and it was right over here.” She walked across the garden and stood on the spot. “Each of your ancestors took a turn brutalizing her, and when they were done, they smashed her head against a rock.”

Cor took a turn and walked in a circle. She could see the scene as clear as if it were in front of her. “She was left here like a piece of garbage, and when the Avatar returned to seek her out, the Vahsh nobles realized their mistake. She was not a serving wench that they could abuse, she was the companion of the man who held the fate of their world in his hands. He grieved, and the world of Lero went silent.”

“Lero could not allow his Avatar to die at the loss of his love, and so, he developed this scheme to give his Avatar hope. Every ten years, six women would try to prove themselves worthy, and to date, none have even come close.” Cor sighed.

Whelan trembled. “How did you know?”

Cor clenched her fists and walked back toward the women who were now far less cocky. “How did I know? Because every moment here, I have seen what this place truly is, and you do not deserve it. I will be patrolling from a distance, Sox. I don’t want to be near them.”

Cor stalked off and walked into the building once again. Her anger at the hypocrisy of the Vahsh after seven centuries was still burning inside her. Fury was a hard thing to shake when she could see the scene behind her eyes.

Dahla had been a quiet girl, huge doe brown eyes and a shy smile. The Vahsh had been unable to ignore her purity and defiled it in a laughing, braying pack.

Cor walked down the hall, a peculiar light catching her attention. The light grew brighter as she walked, and the air warmed around her, the scent of cinnamon drawing her in.

The hall widened into an open room with a vaulted ceiling. The light was embedded in the floor, and it took her a dozen steps to walk to the collection of lights that was calling to her.

She knelt beside the stones and brushed her fingers over the greenish gleam. A pop and a click preceded a mechanical shift beneath the floor. The glow began to rise, the stones connected into a ball, and they rose up until she was facing a staff with a swirling ball of power on top. Unable to stop herself, she reached out and removed the staff from its base.

Energy surged through her, and a voice came into her thoughts.
He waits for you.

What?

He waits for you, bring the staff to the garden, and you will know what to do.

Cor carried the staff easily down the hall and into the garden. It was the tree that had yielded fruit that called to her.

Voices called out to her, but they couldn’t press through the roaring in her ears. She could hear nothing but the soothing murmur of power that was now a constant in her mind.

Cor stood just outside the branch radius of the tree, and she lowered the staff, pointing the smooth power crystals at the trunk, willing the energy to leave the stone and enter the wood.

The tree shivered dramatically, and while the girls were making shocked and frightened sounds, she continued to give the power of the sceptre to the tree.

There was a shift in the shape of the tree as it twisted under the onslaught of power. It took on a bipedal form, and when it completed its transition, it was definitely male, well built and completely naked.

Knowing who she was looking at, Cor went down on one knee, her staff pointing to the sky once again. “Welcome, Avatar.”

His voice was deep and quiet. “You are not a sacrifice.”

She looked up, trying not to let her gaze drag itself up his abs. “I am a guard for the sacrifice.”

He was made of green and deep bronzy brown. His hair was as dark as pine needles, his eyes bright lime green. Everything else was in shades of rich browns.

“It seems that Lero’s plan has brought me what I wanted, though not in the manner I had foreseen. Your name, child?”

“Cora Lietta Rhodes of the Alliance Protectorate of Terra. Most call me Cor.”

“Relak, Avatar of Lero, and very glad to meet you. Please, rise.” He held out his hand, and he lifted her to her feet.

She saw images of him laughing, his green hair flowing back in the sun. Images of his attention solely fixed on her with his eyes intent. More images rippled in of her hands on his skin and not only the skin on his chest.

Cor got to her feet and stood with the staff comfortably in her grip.

Relak looked her over, up and down for an uncomfortable amount of time. “What in the name of nineteen stars are you wearing?”

She closed her eyes for a moment then walked toward the fire. The costume had felt like a bit of a prank, and she now had proof.

Chapter Three

“Sox, grab your bag and change. These costumes are for the entertainment of our clients.” Cor ignored the man behind her and grabbed her small pack. The bodysuit that she flicked out was opaque, dark burgundy and considerably warmer than the costume she had on now.

The sacrifices were staring at the man in horror but Cor didn’t care. With swift moves honed in mixed-gender change rooms, she peeled off the lizard-like cowl and the rest of the suit. Naked in the growing darkness, she ignored everything around her while hopping into her new bodysuit. Sighing happily, she turned to speak to Relak. “Pardon the disturbance. That suit was driving me crazy.”

Cor remembered her manners, and she bowed low. “Relak, this is my partner, Socorea, and these are your prospective brides.”

The girls were still frozen in place, four of them had their gazes firmly fixed on his cock and two looked like fainting was the next option.

He grinned, and his body was covered with a soft tree bark in a matter of seconds. “If you will change your skin, so will I, but those women of Vahsh are not my brides.”

Cor blinked, “What?”

Sox stepped in, “What my partner means to say is they are the women sent here for the selection process and to wake you. If you are awake, you must be interested in one of them.”

Relak inclined his head. “I do see your logic, but none of them woke me. It was your partner who lifted the control staff and blasted me out of my waking dreams.”

Cor looked at the staff that she had picked up again out of reflex. With a grimace, she held it out to him. “Here you go. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to touch it.”

Relak shook his head. “It is yours. You have inherited it from Lero. It is his gift to you.”

Tobeena blanched, “My lord Avatar, please tell me that Lero has not just gifted the control staff to this creature.”

Relak closed in on the young woman in a minute, inhaling deeply. He must have scented something he recognized, because he frowned and growled. “Your family has no say in this matter. You know of their guilt in this matter. She is Lero’s choice for me and therefore my chosen.”

Cor blinked. “Wait. What?”

Sox snickered softly, “It looks like you just got hitched by hallucinating.”

Cor turned to her friend. “Finish closing your suit. It is hard to yell at someone who’s naked.”

Sox grinned and sealed her dark blue suit across her breasts. “It has never bothered you before.”

She shuddered, “It isn’t my fault that you sleep in the raw. Seeing you in the altogether once was enough for a lifetime. Bleah.”

Cor finally realized that their quiet bickering had gained an audience. Back in her standard Alliance uniform, she twirled the staff between her palms, sending light dancing across the faces of those watching.

Tobeena stretched out her hand. “Give me the staff, guardsman. You owe it to me as your employer.”

Sox laughed, “You are not our employer. The Alliance is our employer, and they only contracted for two guardsmen to bring six of the Vahsh to the surface and remain with them for three days. Nothing else. No commands. We didn’t even have to feed you.”

Tobeena frowned. “But, the last group of girls had service contracts with their guards.”

Relak was watching the exchange with interest.

Sox clarified matters. “That costs extra. Your people didn’t want to spend money on servants that you didn’t need. We are the basic package. We will defend you against outside threats, but that is where our obligation ends.”

Tobeena paled. “They didn’t think he would wake.”

She did something that Cor only thought of as stupid. Tobeena rushed at her and tried to grab the staff.

Acting on reflex, Cor twisted the staff to one side, struck Tobeena in the ribs and pinned her to the ground using the very object she wanted.

“What was that about? You are getting your flimsy dress dirty.” Cor kept her down and watched as she tried to grab the staff over and over, hissing as she did so.

“Sox, can you grab her if I let her up.”

“Sure, but I don’t think she will be grabbing again. I can smell scorched skin.” Sox lifted Tobeena, and the girl burst into tears.

Cor inclined her head to Relak again. “Avatar, what is the purpose of this staff?”

He moved toward her and placed his hand over hers on the smooth wood. “It controls the defences of Lero. It literally places the planet’s safety in your hands.”

She was about to ask another question when he kissed her with a move that was as sudden as it was stimulating. He smelled of sweet wood and male musk with a hint of citrus. There was a scar on his lower lip that she could feel with hers and there was the slightest hint of freckles dusted across his cheeks. Her hand under his recognized scars, callouses and the soft skin in places where his palm was pressed to her fingers.

His taste was the same as the fruit from the tree, and when he let her go, she licked her lips and blushed. “I am sorry for picking the fruit.”

“I am not. It woke me, and from there on, I watched.” His hand caressed her cheek. “So soft for one who is in a life of violence.”

“I prefer a life of protection.” She inclined her head. “Violence happens occasionally, but protecting those who cannot take care of themselves in all situations is a blessing in and of itself.”

“Your charges here have nothing to fear. If they would open their minds a little, they would see what you see. I will call for the servants to join us. Will you have dinner with me?”

Cor blinked. “You are kidding, right?”

Relak’s eyes were completely sober. “I need to know what I need to do to make you mine and that means I must know more about you. So, will you and your partner join me for dinner? I will set a guard from the population, and they will be safe in the middle of my garden.”

Cor was confused. “I thought this was supposed to be a dead world.”

“Only when those who do not know the truth look at it. To anyone who opens their mind to see everything around them, they see what you see, what I see. What all the people on Lero see, that our world is ours alone for now. That time is coming to a close, and you will help us re-join the rhythm of life outside our world.”

“I am currently under contract to the Vahsh.”

“You will find, if you examine your agreement, that you have already fulfilled your contract. So, dinner in two hours?”

She blinked. “Um. Sure. Two hours. Where?”

“The servants will come and find you.”

He pressed a kiss to her forehead and walked toward the hall where she had found the staff.

Sox grabbed her arm the moment he was out of earshot. “I think he is serious, Cora.”

“You only call me that when I am in trouble.”

“I think this qualifies as trouble. You just woke a planetary Avatar, and he wants you to join him with a planet living in your mind. Don’t you find that a little peculiar?”

Cor sat down on the ground and placed her staff across her lap. “Oh, you know these funny foreigners and their peculiar ways.”

Sox sat down next to her and sighed. “You have landed it in this time, Cor.”

Cor looked over at the group of girls examining Tobeena’s burned hands. “Oh, I am well aware of that.”

Chapter Four

Life returned rapidly to Lero’s surface. As if they had only been waiting for a signal, personnel filled the home and fires were lit in some of the open rooms.