Post date: Jul 23, 2016 1:43:26 PM
Caradorynee: Feats & Wagers
#14
Lark took a deep breath and forced himself to remain calm and appear as unnerved as he could. His insides were shaking though, so he clenched his left hand and concentrated on keeping himself grounded to the flooring of the spectator’s platform where he was watching the Human girl receive her final Shegata markings.
Lark didn’t consider himself a stupid man, however, he’d grossly miscalculated the depths of the Caradorynee’s people’s treachery.
Sure he had expected the final Shegata challenge to be almost next to impossible for the Human girl to complete, but the lengths in which the upper echelon of Caradorynee’s society had stooped surprised even his jaded soul.
The whole purpose of the Shegata battles was to weed out the weak and to preserve the strong. Only the strong perpetuated Caradorynee’s existence through it’s industries, for the bleak planet was harsh and unforgiving. Therefore it made no logical sense that the Human girl had been rendered as a threat.
To sacrifice her or to forfeit her life was something Lark could not wrap his head around. So why were the Boogaues in charge of administering the Shegata markings only providing her with a pittance of the strength of what she would need to survive the corrosive gases that surrounded the cone fields?
Anger surged through Lark.
Had he sentenced the Human girl to death because of his greed? Was her death the only viable option in order for the Duracka to sufficiently recoup their losses due to the massive amounts of bonedoons that had been wagered in the girl’s favour?
Lark growled in the back of his throat.
This was his doing. He and he alone was responsible for the Human girl’s ill fate.
No wonder the Duracka hadn’t bothered to shackle his feet. There was no need for them to worry that he’d escape before paying his debt. He’d be dead within seconds of the Human girl’s failure and they’d make billions on the masses of Caradorynee creatures that had followed him into the wagering booths with high expectations that they’d profit when the Human girl succeeded.
Star knew something wasn’t right. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it but the burning sensation that had coursed through her body at the previous Shegata marking ceremonies wasn’t there. Nor was the invigorating pulsing surge of energy that had made her muscles tingle.
Now she felt a strange sense of lethargy.
Star glanced down at her bare arms.
The orange spidery-web design marking her skin was still visible but only slightly.
Star felt a moment of panic. She needed the power of the Shegata markings to survive the final challenge. Without it she probably wouldn’t last more than an hour or so, if that.
Star stared at the male Boogaues who was controlling the administering process. She hadn’t paid much attention at the previous ceremonies so she couldn’t tell if the Boogaues was doing something incorrectly on purpose or not.
Star swung her head toward the wide platform where a mass of Caradorynee inhabitants were watching her. She scanned the crowd looking for anything familiar.
Someone or some creature had helped her in the last challenge. Had spoken in an Earth tongue. Was the same person in the crowd watching her now?
Her eyes searched wildly, beseeching anyone, anything to give her some kind of guidance. She didn’t want to die.
All she wanted was to go home. Back to the Artemis. Back to her life before the Artemis had crash landed on this barren and hostile planet. Back before she was the only surviver. Back before she was cruelly left all alone.
There!
Star’s mind slammed to a halt. In the crowd. Off to the far right. A man. Or what she thought resembled a man.
It wasn’t that he was so nondescript as it was that he looked so vaguely like herself, a human being.
Star focused her eyes upon him closer.
Yes…yes. He was a man. A tall man with a stock of white-blonde hair. Albeit, the man was glowing…orange. The same shade as the Shegata markings lining her skin. And the longer she stared the more translucent the man’s outline became, like his image was fading into the crowd. Being absorbed into what was surrounding him.
But he had had Human eyes. Beautiful and piercing, Human green eyes.
‘Help me.’ Star mouthed. ‘Please.’
©Human in Inhuman Worlds by Janet Merritt