Page 8 of Dark Company

“Come child. I will look upon you closer.”

The soft voice calls up from a lush pillow on the floor. Making my way over, I glance at the reliefs lining the walls. It’s as if I’m walking through a hall of the gods. I recognize many of the depicted faces, and for a moment, I feel like I’m home. As I come closer, I see a pair of males on either side, their bodies rigid as they stand there looking straight ahead.

Pulling my shirt closer together, I kneel in front of the woman and bow my head. Though I don’t consider her a deity like the others, I recognize the need to show her respect. She saved me from death in the desert and took me into her commune.

“You are seventeen. Is that correct?”

“Yes, Clan Mother.”

“And you are nearing your eighteenth year. Is that also correct?”

“I believe so. But with the way time has passed, I cannot be sure of the day. My sister, Annora, would know.”

The woman waves her hand as if dismissing my sister. I suppose, at this point, I should dismiss her as well. It would take an act of the gods to get me back home to her. The only thing I have left of Stanlion are the few pills I brought with me, and the respirators lodged in my nose.

She leans forward and draws my scent deep into her nostrils. “What do you think, Jakrob?” Her lips lift into a smile as she turns to the man on her right. “Bedrel?” She addresses the man on her left.

At once, they both lean in and inhale before standing back like human statues. The one she called Jakrob is the first to speak. “She’s close. Within the week. Already her body is preparing itself for sacrifice.”

“That’s what I thought. I will need to speak to her alone for a moment.”

We both wait, my heart thudding hard in my chest as they turn to face the curtains behind them. With a thrust of their hands, they step through a slit I didn’t know was there, blinding me with the unexpected sun for a moment.

“I know you hail from Stanlion. I am very aware of what the High Echelon teaches. It is why we fled, to live outside the bonds of their stifling protection. We both worship the same gods, yet we live a life of freedom.”

Her words sting me. She speaks as if she’s lived there. Like she knows. But she doesn’t know a damn thing. She couldn’t. “I’m free,” I croak out through the rage bubbling up inside me. “I can go to school. I can get a profession if I want to. I have options.”

“And yet, you are not allowed to know about the sacred joining of mates. You are not allowed to even look upon the divine instruments that bring us closer to the gods.”

“But my mate -.”

“A mate which you do not have. Which you will never have. There are no Alphas here. No one to claim you. No one to bond with you. We do not allow the tyranny of an Alpha in these borders. If one happens to be in need, we will tend to them as Affara, the goddess of comfort demands, but then they are turned back out into the desert whence they came.”

My heart plummets as I sink to the floor. In my heart, I know this; nothing she’s saying is something I haven’t thought of. But, for some reason, I expected to be found by now. I never thought I would live my days as a vagabond. Fury fills my gut, souring my stomach as I hunch over, clutching at my midsection. I did everything that was asked of me, everything that was required. And yet, my sister never came for me.

The desert cannot be so vast that someone couldn’t have come looking for me. Was her cryptic massage her way of getting rid of me? Was I so horrible of a sister to her that she would leave me here to rot? On top of all of that, I’m being forced to confront a religion that makes me question everything, further twisting my mind until I can’t tell which way is up.

I followed every law the High Echelon imparted. Not once did I look upon the divine. Not once did I show myself to any male. I am intact. Whole. A beta with excellent prospects, and yet, the High Echelon did not help me. It was a strange commune that took me in. Granted, the labor was horrible and seeing the nakedness of everyone was off-putting. But these strangers seem to care for me. Most of them, at least. Brennen is the only one that makes me truly afraid.

“You’re right,” I finally whisper into the dim gloom that surrounds me. “And there’s no way I can ever go back, is there?”

“My child, the gods and goddesses brought you to us for a reason. We rarely travel to where we found you. It was a line of stars in the sky that drew us there. Until this time, we had never seen it before, and at the end of the trail was you.”

All of my hopes and dreams crumble at her words, like sands sifting under a strong wind. I know the trail that she speaks of. I’ve studied it in school. It is the line of Alcarac, denoting his mighty spear. I’ve seen it pass over every few years, but perhaps where we’re located, it is not in the right quadrant to be seen all the time.

Either way, it doesn’t mean that I’m anything special. Just because they think I’m some gift from the gods, it doesn’t mean anything. Hollowness rushes in, filling up the wound in my heart. Perhaps that’s why I’m set to be sacrificed. In their minds, I was given to them.

“Will it hurt?” It’s the one thing I have to know. If she can assure me it won’t hurt, then maybe it’s not such a bad thing. But if it will….

“Will what hurt, child?”

“When you sacrifice me to the gods. Will it hurt?”

“When I sacrifice you? Where did you get such an absurd notion?”

“Well, Brennen…. Jakrob -.”

“Ahhh. Brennen. I should have known he would say something to you. He’s been asking about you, desperate to be your first after the ceremony. He shouldn’t have said anything to you. It’s not his place.”