Chapter 23 Never to let go

“Here.” Kallitris points to the bin nearby.

I throw the carrot into the bin and the guard, finding nothing suspicious, looks away.

We’re almost to the middle of the field now. The tired and overworked people around pay no attention to us. But I still can’t see Relemill. Suddenly a man, bending to pick a carrot right by me falls to the ground.

“It’s him!” Sheirer runs to the man, who looks very old. His face is not only dirty, but it is wrinkly, and has the signs of jaundice.

“Oh my God!” I whisper, falling to my knees. I can barely recognize my dear Lynn Relemill in this sickly old man. “We came to save you,” I add, looking at him.

“He is dead. I kind of saw that coming.” Kallitris pulls out a syringe from a small bag on his belt, and sticks it into Relemill’s thigh right through the worn out pants. “This will restart his heart, but I have to get him to my base.”

Several horsemen notice us crowding on the ground and not working, and start approaching from several corners at the same time. One of them efficiently cuts us off from the forest where our horses are.

“We are in trouble,” I whisper, watching one of the horsemen getting ever so closely. All he seems to have in terms of weapons is a whip. But there is no way we can run away from the guys on horseback even if they are unarmed… “Think quickly, Kallitris.”

“I can’t reveal anything supernatural. Leot’s search systems are all around.”

“Hey, get to work!” yells the guard, a middle aged man with a beard. He is right over us, clutching the whip in a menacing way. “What happened to this one? Leave him, and continue working!”

“OK. We seem to have run out of options. Time to run out of the field.” Sheirer effortlessly picks up Relemill from the ground. “Hold my hand,” he tells me, breaking into a run.

“Stop!” screams the guard, spurring his horse.

Kallitris runs faster, holding Relemill in one hand, and pulling me with the other.

I look back only to catch a glimpse of a horrified look on the guard’s face as Kallitris spreads his huge wings that come right out of his back to carry us into the sky.

I manage to pull myself closer to my friend, and hang on his shoulder, still held by his enormously powerful hand. The flight is inebriating. It gets colder and colder, as we fly higher. The air in my face feels wet, but delightful. What a rush!

It is difficult not to look down. Everything on the ground looks small and faraway. The instinct tells me to be scared, but I’m not. I get ever closer to the body of my sweet, devoted lover, feeling him, inhaling his smell, enjoying a great sense of safety in his embrace.

“I’m burnt, Demi, I’m burnt. I was detected.” There is desperation in Kallitris’ voice. “I just heard an encrypted signal with Leot’s signature. I’m done for on this planet.”

A cloud like a lace, envelops us, washing us with pleasant, fresh moisture.

“If he catches you, will he imprison you?”

“No. I was already sentenced to death by the intergalactic tribunal. He will execute me.”

Ok, well, that just killed my buzz. I gasp, unable to handle such a possibility.

We descend to the mountain range between the two familiar peaks.

“Help me put your buddy into the destroyer, and let’s see if we can make it onto my base. It’s a temporary refuge, but it will work for now.”

I nod, choking back tears. Kallitris just showed the example of bravery to help me only to risk his own life. As I take Relemill’s hand, I notice that he has a pulse. Unable to speak, I smile to myself with hope.

We get into Kallitris’ base without an incident, however haunted by the possibility of being discovered by Leot. Is he going to fly here himself? Is he going to send someone? And what about me? Will he take me, or he’s got tunnel vision for Kallitris only?

What usually opens up as a small door in the sky now is a wide opening for us to fly into. We bring Relemill out of the destroyer into a huge hall. He is still unconscious. We’re immediately surrounded by erahis – small, furry stick figures about half size of a human.

Kallitris employs these fearful, jittery creatures due to the wide range of frequencies they are able to hear. From infrasound to megacycle, and everything in between including thoughts. They bring something resembling a stretcher, put Relemill on it. I can’t believe how old he looks. But it was fifteen years of hard labor, as much as I understand. The erahis, very strong for their fragile-looking frames, take him away.

“Find out the type of cell mutation the human has, synthesize the cure!” Kallitris orders.

One of the erahis approaches the sheirer, who by now took his regular form. The creature looks at me pitifully with his small eyes. Somehow all of them always thought me to be a victim. What’s with that?

“I have a message for you, master…” The erah sighs sadly.

“What? Did he find me?”

“N-no…” The erah pauses, his ashen face disturbed. “The war broke out on Ashtarma.”

“Not again! Come on!” The sheirer flaps his wings, and drags me to the elevator.

In so many years visiting his base ship I learned my way around. This place is fun, maybe beause I love its owner so much. The elevator takes us to the upper floor, where Kallitris runs to the screens and stares at them intently.

The most terrific sight opens up – I can see many bluish-gray hills, tall and overgrown with green and dark purple plants. The skies are cloudy, and the horizons are covered in milky mist. The mist envelops most of the landscape, so the spaces between the hills look mysterious and bottomless.

I catch a fleeting feeling of Kallitris’s longing for the place on the screen. He is somehow connected to it. He hugs me with his arm, and covers us both with his wings, so we find ourselves inside of a cozy tent with just me, him, and mystic landscape on the screen. I have a unique, unforgettable feeling of closeness to someone I really love. His hand feels so good on my shoulder. I wish I did not have to leave at all.

My friend is puzzled at first, as he studies the hills silently.

“This is Blisperada, my native planet’s dark side,” he explains finally.

The picture moves and zooms in on one of the hills. Now it looks enormous, full of holes here and there. Suddenly a creature with wings and a crest on its head flies out of the hole, and takes off. I’m startled at first, but then I want to know more.

“I thought you lived on the planet with benzene rains and mountains made of diamonds?”

“Yes. But this is my ancestors’ land. I have evolved, but they stayed pretty much the same. I care about them.” He adds, and his eyes turn purple, then completely dark.

A ball of fire flies from the sky with unstoppable power into one of the hills. The screen gets cloudy with smoke, but I can still see the havoc it wreaked – half of the hill is blown off, and a myriad of winged creatures fly out in panic. Some manage to fly away, and some fall to the ground.

“Oh!” Kallitris screams at the sight of destruction. “I can’t believe they are at it again!”

Another ball of fire hits between the hills, exuding flames and smoke at the impact.

“Why is attacking them?” I frown in disbelief.

“They are attacking each other. It’s a civil war that had been brewing for millennia. I thought I persuaded them to stop!” The sheirer moans, hits a button and the screen goes black.

“Demi, I can’t possibly ask you for this, but I have no choice. I can’t stay here any longer as it is, and now I must fly to save my cradle… “ He purses his dark lips and his voice breaks down. “Will you please fly with me? Yes, I’m going to need the Faith Star, but… I love you. My love for you is unfaltering. I’ve loved you for twenty years now. Ever since I smelled Leot on Earth, which was impossible…, and then…”

I treasure every moment of this delightful conversation.

“Is that how you found me?” I hug him, and he brings me closer to his chest, covered with wrinkly skin of weird pattern. I do not want this to end. I long for his love.