I was jolted out of my sleep by Tiik, who was frantically shaking my arm. I was dimly aware of yelling and pounding feet. The grogginess of morning was quickly displaced by fear.
"You've got to get up, Attla! It's terrible! You're the only one who can talk to them!"
"What's going on?"
"It's the royalty! The royalty from the city! They think we kidnapped a whole bunch of people! They've got a thousand Kattas out there!" By this time, I was already up and clothed. I ran down the hall, past streaming crowds, fearing the worst.
When I got to the front door, I saw Lemlia at the head of the conflict. Her wings were almost curled tight with tension. There had been some initial fighting, she informed me, but by now, everyone was back inside- things were at a stalemate. We were besieged.
I climbed out to one of the battle domes, and asked a Katta named Hickle to lift me to a window. From there I could hear the demands.
Allena, my former boss, had somehow become an army commander. I could pick out his red spikes between the trees. He was using a primitive cardboard megaphone to address the fortress.
"I repeat, relinquish the members of the royalty and the stolen goods, and no one will be hurt. We have recently developed a powerful weapon from the alien technology, and we are more than prepared to use it! The predicted destructive force will wipe out the entire settlement! This is a generous offer, the best I can give you. Stop this rebellious action now, and no one will be hurt! Surely, you do not want to risk your own lives?"
Lemlia was the one who responded- I could hear her clear, amplified voice from the other battle dome.
"We aren't being held hostage! Every Arlian here is free! We have merely started a new colony! All supplies were accounted for, and no hostages are being held! Your foolishness has already cost twelve valiant Kattas their lives. Please drop your weapons, and we can talk peaceably!"
I saw Allena clench his fists, and his antennae draped forward onto his forehead. From years of experience, I knew exactly what that meant.
"Out of the domes!" I cried, "Everyone out of the domes! Go to Level Three alert! Tell the other dome! Level Three Alert!" Everyone scattered, and Hickle put me down. We got back into the main hallway, and sealed the dome doors. Lemlia found me, and I explained.
"That general's name is Allena, he used to be my supervisor. He only ever really lost his temper five times in my memory. His fists clenched, and his antennae almost covered his eyes. Every time that happened, he would take whatever blunt object was at hand, and would start beating anyone and everyone who got within arm's length. In that state, he was capable of murder." Lemlia's eyes grew wide.
There was a horrible moment of quiet panic. We heard a great whooshing from outside, and a few screams filtered through the walls. There was a terrible long silence, then a muffled explosion. We were still.
"They missed." whispered Lemlia "They didn't know how much power they had." We waited. There was no noise. Slowly, I worked up the courage to go back into the battle dome. When we opened the door, smoke poured in, making us all cough. I rushed in, and Hickle tossed me up to the window. The entire clearing was blackened. A charred exoskeleton was plastered up against the wall. I looked around, but there didn't seem to be anyone left. Then I saw the sky.
The firmament was a wounded green, with roiling clouds and one large trail of smoke, leading off to the other side of the world. As I looked, black clouds swept back from the site of the explosion. Ash rained down, and a wave of heat struck me like a thousand fists. Destruction was coming.
"Get down!" I yelled, "Get down!" Hickle lowered me back to the floor, and we closed the battle dome doors. We then retreated down the main hall, and closed those doors. We were now at Level Five Alert.
Days passed, then weeks. The stored food was gradually depleted, and the farms got their first test run. All the doors were air tight, and we were sealed a hundred paces underground below solid lead walls. I wasn't sure we had the oxygen levels right, but it didn't seem to matter.
Weeks turned into months. The doors were still hot. Lemlia and I spent most of our time settling disputes, distributing supplies, and organizing education for the Draals and Kattas. We all got some pretty bad cases of cabin fever. The worst case was a Signette named Clia: she actually stopped eating until we started an amateur stick ball league.
It was a good time, though. We all got along, more or less. Lemlia and I were unofficially in charge: we had no command hierarchy to speak of. Our relationship grew as we spent time together: I moved out of my room with Tiik and started staying in her place.
One day, Lemlia and I got a general summons from the colony. We appeared before a representative of each class in the auditorium, and they informed us that we were unanimously elected the new King and Queen of New Hope City. Lemlia and I solemnly accepted our responsibilities in this new rank. A ceremony was scheduled. It all seemed so unreal.
I felt so weird about it. I mean, we couldn't even breed. I was the first Draal in history to get married. Lemlia eased my fears about it. She said: "Unless I become someone's wife, it is my biological destiny to fly away to almost certain doom. I can't do that here, and you're the only one I'll ever love. That means it's inescapable."
It was impossible to get the entire colony into the auditorium for the wedding, so we invited all our close friends, and everyone else watched from a hastily constructed, low-tech television network.
I stood at the cutter podium in my black robe. Master Zoran was playing the role of Firstborn, holding the roll of geldwrap for the linking. I watched, speechless, as Lemlia entered at the back. Her wedding gown was light and flowing. It covered her legs and mouth, leaving only her forehead and eyes showing to the guests. She unfurled her gossamer wings to their full extension, and proceeded down the aisle. She was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
She linked elbows with Zoran, then with me. She stepped to her place, laying her forearm on the cutting board. I put my feet behind hers as she pulled in her wings. I bent over her body, and placed my arm next to her arm. Our bodies touched, and we were like one Arlian. Zoran began the vows.
"Lemlia and Attla, you have come here to link yourselves under the great bond of matrimony. Do you accept the highness of this bond, and its power over every Arlian?"
We said yes. Zoran wrapped one strand of geldwrap around our wrists. There was no going back now.
"Lemlia and Attla, this colony is yours. Do you accept the responsibility for our well-being, and do you promise to hold the survival of New Hope City above your own?"
Zoran was changing the words to fit the situation, but I agreed with what he said. Lemlia and I said yes. Another length of geldwrap went around our arms, binding us closer together. With my peripheral vision, I could see several guests, overcome with emotion.
"Lemlia and Attla, the bond of marriage is permanent. Do you promise to respect this, and never forsake what you have sworn here?"
We said yes. Another coil was added.
"Lemlia and Attla, within marriage is the secret ecstasy, unknown to all but the Mother and Father. Do you promise to respect it, and never to slip into perversion?"
We said yes, even though it really didn't count. Another coil was added.
"Lemlia and Attla, within marriage are the ten secrets. Do you swear to bind them to your hearts, never to reveal them?"
We said yes, even though everyone already knew eight of the ten secrets, and nobody knew the ninth or tenth. Another link was added. I felt a hot wind brush across my legs. Where did that come from?
Zoran started the sixth vow, but I was considering the wind. Could it come from outside? I hadn't even considered the outside world for the past few months. Would it be possible to break in?
Zoran came to the end of the vow, and we said yes. I was still distracted.
If the inner doors were closed, then we couldn't hear what was going on with the outer doors. If someone broke through them, the inner doors had no lock…
Zoran came to the end of another vow, and we said yes. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw people getting up, talking quietly. Something was wrong.
I made eye contact with Zoran, and he saw I was worried. He started talking imperceptibly faster.
He said a vow, and we accepted. He said a vow, and we accepted. I could hear someone yell outside. There was a clash of metal on metal. Guests were really agitated now; some were leaving.
Zoran finished the vows in a flurry of eloquence, and slammed the cutter down. The severed geldwrap was instantly bonded around our arms, locking us together for all eternity. At that exact instant, a loud bang echoed through the chamber. I whirled around to face the danger.
The Draal intruder was bare naked except for a chest plate and a belt. His sword was dripping chartreuse, and his exposed tailbuds quivered. The assembly scattered like leaves in the wind, except for Hickle and Gimbal, who charged bravely to defend the ones they loved.
The rest of the invading army poured into the room, each of them similarly clad. Hickle took on the first three, who were trying to chop at his knees. He just threw them, one by one, against the wall. Gimbal wasn't so lucky: a blade through his calf left him limping terribly, and one of the soldiers had climbed onto his back to get a sword under his shell.
Zoran took my hand, and ran with Lemlia and I around the podium and into the supply closet at the rear of the auditorium. We had to push aside decorations and cleaning supplies to get to the back. We could still hear the battle outside, but what filled our ears was breathing; our own tense breathing. None of us talked.
All of a sudden, the noise stopped. I slowly crept to the door, and put my earplate against it. What I heard wasn't good. Our new enemies were searching the room, shouting their discoveries to each other. I made my way back to Zoran and Lemlia, and motioned for them to stay quiet, all was not well. We stayed quiet for another few minutes, and I checked the door again. Nothing.
I cracked it open, and took a peek. My breath caught in my throat. Bodies were sprawled in the aisles. Each class was mingled and made equal in violent death: the fragile winged corpses of young females lay unburied alongside the hulking wreckage of our staunch Katta defenders.
Click here for Part Five