Upon the Threshold (2 page)

Lukkis’s attention shifted when Kraven put a hand to his ear and frowned. Lukkis lifted a brow. After a few grunts and single words from his friend, what he considered a long enough period, Lukkis started to make faces to gain some attention. During one particularly bad one, Kraven finally looked Lukkis’s way. Quickly turning his look into a grin, Lukkis waited.

His friend wasn’t amused, if the look Lukkis got was any indication. “Command from our homeworld are saying that they will be sending in an Intercessor to make contact. From all the scans and images we have sent back with our reports, they view them as low-risk contact.”

That was something. “When?” Lukkis asked.

“They are pulling in an Intercessor, a female, now. She should join us with more Keepers by tomorrow’s dawning if everything goes according to plan.”

“The sooner, the better. I’m more than a little tired of sitting around doing nothing. Had I known that there would be no shooting involved, I would never have answered the call to join you. I would have remained abed, preferably with female companionship, but either way I would not be here.”

“Right, like the last time we had a likely nondeadly encounter. You never leave me to my own devices for long.”

“True enough. You tend to get into trouble if I’m not around.”

“I tend to get into trouble when you
are
around.” Kraven snorted in return.

“Again, wounded here,” Lukkis said, shaking his head. “Really, must you be so harsh in your phrasing when you speak of me?”

“If the words befit the person they are aimed at, yes.”

“I’m beginning to believe you don’t like having me as a friend, Kraven. Say this is not the truth and relieve my mind of these dark thoughts.”

Kraven paused for a long time…much too long, in Lukkis’s opinion, for the question. “It is not the truth, so let your mind feel relief from the dark thoughts overshadowing it. You are my friend, and I value your friendship. If I did not, I would have left you to the Crastouols those many moons past.”

A shudder rippled through Lukkis at the mention of the Crastouols. Vile beings that they were, they’d wanted to make him—
him
—a pet to be used in many disgusting and offensive ways. “That is too cruel to even bring up in polite conversation, old friend.”

The nearly eight-feet-tall, red-skinned, horned beings of a planet rotating near the sun of the Droushanian system were not to be messed with. The males and females were impossible to distinguish except for stripes on their backs. Unfortunately, you had to be behind them to see the stripes to know if it was a male or female you spoke with, and they never let any being at their backs. Rather difficult to know how to refer to a being when you didn’t know its sex.

“Merely stating a point, old friend,” Kraven said with a low chuckle. Then he let out a sigh and laid his head back against the large stone they currently both leaned against. “I will catch a bit of sleep. Wake me before the suns get too high in the sky and we shall move locations so you may rest.”

“Acknowledged,” Lukkis said before falling silent.

Chapter Two

The following dawning brought their Intercessor to the scene. A female, as Kraven had told Lukkis the moon before.

After exchanging greetings and giving the female more information she might or might not require, they spread out to control the scene if needed. Kraven, along with Lukkis and two other Keepers, moved with the Intercessor down the hill toward the human’s village.

They were spotted quickly, the Keepers standing watch calling out warnings to the others of the populace. There was some panic before a small group, with Keepers surrounding them, came to meet Kraven’s group just outside the previously established borders.

Kraven’s group stopped as well, a fair distance back, close enough to easily hear with their superior senses, but far enough away to present less of a threat. And while their hands were on their weapons, all weaponry within sight of the humans was kept down in a nonthreatening manner. As the Intercessor had requested.

“Greetings on this fine dawning. I am Intercessor Phalea,” she began. Heels together, she gave a slight bow, pressing three fingers to her forehead before extending them in a downward sweep. An informal greeting to the humans. Not that they would know that.

The humans seemed stunned. Kraven had warned the Intercessor that they likely would be. The revelation about their language similarities had been a bit of a shock to her, but she’d appeared pleased at the idea.

The humans in the middle of the circle of Keepers leaned into one another to whisper. Not that it did much good with Droushanian hearing, of course.

“They speak English,” one male whispered.

“Who are they? Where did they come from?” another male whispered.

“They appeared well armed, but it’s a small contingent. We shouldn’t have any trouble if the need arises to kill them,” yet another male said, his voice more a whiny hiss than whisper.

Lukkis looked Kraven’s way and sent his gaze toward the sky as if praying for patience. His friend obviously had the same thought Lukkis did. The humans had no idea just how many weapons were actually trained on them. Nor would they if they behaved themselves.

Apparently the humans had come to some decision, and one of the males, an elder Lukkis was guessing from the white hair and heavily lined face, stepped forward. “I am called Marcus. It’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance, Intercessor Failah,” he said, his pronunciation of her name slightly off.

The Intercessor didn’t even flinch. Then again, she was likely used to non-Droushanians messing it up, Lukkis realized.

“A pleasure to meet you as well, Marcus.” She did better with his name than the male had done with hers. At least the way she’d pronounced his name made it sound more lyrical than it had from his own lips.

The male, Marcus, smiled at her before looking to the group behind him. Turning toward Kraven’s group, Marcus folded his hands before him. “If I may ask, Intercessor Failah, why are you here?”

“You may ask, and I wish to speak with you on the matter. I do not wish to be indelicate about this, but I also do not wish to miscommunicate either. I beg you allow me to be blunt in my words about this so there is no question.”

The male shot the others another look and received several nods. Turning to face her again, Marcus nodded. “Please, be as blunt as you need to be. I’d hate to have anything misinterpreted here as well. Speak freely and clearly on the matter.”

“Many thanks,” Phalea said quietly. Folding her hands before her, she took a breath. “This world you have created is within the Droushanian system, within their very sector of population. These males”—she indicated Kraven and Lukkis—“are Droushanians. This world you have created is one of theirs.”

The looks the males had could only be described as ones a male would wear when faced with death. They all paled, including their Keepers, and several swallowed repeatedly.

“Oh,” was all Marcus seemed capable of saying.

Holding up a shaking hand, he turned and moved back to the group, where they once again held a hushed meeting. Words like
screwed
and
dead meat
came up, as did “How could they do this to us?” and a few other things that made no sense.

The Intercessor let them go on for a time before stepping forward. “I do not wish you to be upset, but you did need to know the truth of the matter plainly for all to understand. The Droushanians bear you no ill will should you not raise weapons against them or theirs. But, I will warn you clearly here and now, should you decide to raise weapons against them and theirs, they will destroy you. Completely and absolutely. After claiming those they wish to use, as is their right.”

That appeared to take the males some time to figure out, but when they did, they looked unwell, very unwell. The male, Marcus, stepped forward again and nodded. “We can abide by that. We are here to start new and will respect the laws the Droushanians have. But we would like to know what they are, clearly.”

“The Droushanians live by few, though strict, laws. Come, let us sit over in the sun and we will go through them. It won’t take long,” she said softly. Waving a hand, she moved to the spot she’d picked and sat down, legs tucked under her and hands folded in her lap. The woman turned her face up to the sun, a peacefulness surrounding her as she did so. “This moon that you chose is just the right distance that there isn’t too much heat during the high time of day.”

She waited patiently as Marcus and the other males eventually joined her. They sat down and looked awkward doing so. Their Keepers stayed close but back far enough not to present imminent threat. Nodding to Lukkis, Kraven moved to a position to the left and behind the Intercessor and took up a relaxed posture.

“They are willing to allow you to reside here. This world was dead previously. You’ve made it habitable, so they thank you for that. You’ve shown no aggression toward them or their people and the people under their protection, so that is in your favor. The laws would be as follows. No aggression toward other people unless they first show aggression toward you and yours. You have the right to protect yourself, as is the right of all free peoples, should there be a threat shown.”

The males all nodded slowly, looking to one another as they did so.

“That is reasonable and understandable,” Marcus told her. “We can abide by that law easily. We have no wish to create trouble or bring trouble to anyone. We just wish to have a chance to rebuild our society and live our lives.”

“And you shall have that opportunity,” she said. “In times of turmoil you may be called upon to provide assistance. It is mandatory for residing under the protection of the Droushanian people. It is rare though for outsiders to ever be requested to do so. The Droushanians have a strong and formidable military force, so I would not waste worries on such a thing coming to be.”

“We can abide by that as well, but if it’s not too much to ask, we would request that they give us a couple years to settle in. We only just arrived, and while we have made incredible strides thus far, we still need more time to get our people settled, acclimated, and to have our city fully readied and protected.”

The Intercessor was silent for a time before nodding. “That is a very reasonable request. I will have to pass it through the high regent and the governing administrator’s offices, but I do not see a problem with it. I will ask, though, as the term is unfamiliar—what is a ‘year’ by your standards?”

“Uh, a year is one full rotation around the sun or, in this case, suns,” Marcus said with a confused look on his face.

“Ah. We call that a cycle,” she told them all. “The cycle of each world in this sector varies dependent upon its position to the suns, and this of course changes the seasons on each world as well. You and your people chose well, if strangely, with this planet.”

“Our scientists chose it because of the distance from the suns and its size, as well as from what little they could determine of the mineral content and other such things. They felt it was the best option for our survival to use this world to create our new one,” Marcus said, his tone cautious and his eyes wary.

“These scientists, as you refer to them, were very wise. And they did an amazing job with the transformation of the planet. The governing administrator would like to arrange a meeting between himself and these scientists when it is convenient to talk about this transformation. He is a very curious male and has many questions, most of which he tried to ask me to pass on, but they were too great in number.”

“Uh, sure,” Marcus said with a lift of his shoulders. “I’ll talk to them and see, but I’m quite sure they’ll be more than happy to have a meeting with this gentleman. They do love to talk about how smart they are and all they accomplished to save our race.”

“Good. Now, before I am further distracted, I should finish with the laws. You know about the weapons use and times of turmoil.” She chewed her lip before waving a hand. “As I was saying, apologies. You are to govern your people your ways, but when outsiders visit, the laws of the Droushanian sector are applicable. They do not need to abide by your laws but must abide by the laws of the Droushanian. Droushanian law overrides all others. I should have mentioned that sooner. Apologies.”

She tipped her head slightly. “During each cycle, in the beginning of the planting time, there is an open market upon the Droushanian world. It is at this time you may present any wares or goods you wish to sell. All prices for these are set by the Droushanians, but you have the right to request reevaluation should you feel you are not being given fair treatment. Negotiations on prices at time of sale are forbidden except in the Bonds Market Circle.”

“What exactly is that?” Marcus asked, leaning forward slightly. “We don’t have anything that might be comparable, I don’t think, to the Bonds Market Circle you mentioned.”

“It is where prisoners or prizes of wars are sold. It is the only place where prices are not truly set except for base value.”

All the males stared and blinked. “A slave market?” one hissed out.

“I am sorry but what is this word ‘
slave
’?” the Intercessor asked.

“On our world, a great number of years—sorry, cycles—past, people were sold by those who owned them. We called them slaves, and they would do work for the one who purchased them until they either repaid their value and gained freedom or died at the hands of their owner,” Marcus said, a look of disgust on his face.

“Oh, well, that is not it at all.” Phalea shook her head and sighed. “Prisoners are those who have done wrong by our laws. The Droushanians have one place for prisoners, and they are the vilest of all males and females. This place is where they are sent to await their executions, nothing more. Other prisoners, ones caught in the act of theft or such things, can be sold. The price they gain pays back the person they took from for the value of the items, and then they work for the buyer until that fee has been reclaimed. There is a set value per moon that a prisoner is worth, and their time dependent on the price they are sold at. Once they have worked off the price, they are returned to the market and given papers they must carry for a set number of cycles, depending on the price they had to repay.”