Chapter 7 The Brown Cloak

“You what?!” Thunders Mevild.

“It just took really long, so he just came in… I sent him to get a book back from another teacher…” Mumbles Dot, who just can’t lie.

I don’t even know which lie can possibly save us now?

“Yes, it’s true… But father, I got lost on the way and… I met this beautiful girl. So I spent time with her. She was so sweet and lovely…”

Both Mevild and Dot open their mouths and look at me in utter disbelief. The wind outside picks up and blows out Dot’s candle. My dad closes and locks the door. Then we stand in the darkness, with just the pale light of the moon, shining through the windows.

There was only one thing that could knock Mevild out of his aggressive determination to squish me like a bug – me falling in love with a girl. He wanted that in the worst way, he dreamt of that, he hated my resistance, and he had no idea why I never cared for any brides he had to offer.

And now…

“You did, really? Is she of high standing? Or just another servant?”

“Hmm…” I say, realizing, that less information will yield more positive results for us now.

“But that’s OK, son! You can have her, even if she is a nobody… As long as she is a girl! Go, put him to bed!” He orders Dot, and walks up the stairs and down the hall to his bedroom in a most satisfied way.

My teacher takes my hand and squeezes it in a sign of relief only enslaved people like us can appreciate. I pull him upstairs, as I’m about to pass out with exhaustion.

“Did you go out with a boy?” He asks in a stifled voice full of pain.

“ What? No! I had to do something… I’ll tell you tomorrow. Just go to bed. Thanks for saving me.” I put a finger to his lips to remind him to keep all my secrets or perish in the flaming anger of my father…

I dream of being Ari again. This time I’m inside of a spaceship. Those things are fast, but now we’re slowly flying over a magnificent landscape, full of streams of dark water and tall elegant trees. I feel Leot behind me.

I turn around, and he crawls into the roomy space, surrounded by big screens, where I stand, waiting for him. He has no body to speak of and there is not much of a face on a big bulb of a head that transforms directly into the tentacles.

There are dark pools of vast intelligence where the eyes should be. Leot is highly psychic, capable of subduing whole dying civilizations without any violence for the purpose of reprogramming and saving them from self-destruction.

However he also has a private, touchy side – he is apprehensive about being an invertebrate without a skeleton. He always wanted someone like me for a friend. I can move quickly. He, on the other hand, swam a nitrogen ocean for millions of years before getting it in his head that he wanted something more than that…

I kneel down, and help him up my arm and onto my back. He loves me, I’m his dream come true. He embraces my neck and injects a neurotoxin under my skin. It feels exhilarating. His neurotoxin is the interface of our love, a powerful aphrodisiac.

“Take her down, Ari.” I hear his voice in my head.

We land on a huge field and get out of the ship. The atmosphere does not have much oxygen in it. It is mostly hydrogen. But it does not matter to me. I can switch off my lungs and run like crazy, my long blonde hair flying in the breeze, with Leot holding onto me tightly, sometimes wrapping his tentacles around my hair lovingly.

We run to the big, but shallow river, and I jump into it with a happy, noisy splash. Leot can’t scream with joy – he has no mouth or vocal cords to produce a sound, but he fills my head with glorious signals I know and understand.

I speed towards the opposite bank of the river, sparkling water flying everywhere. Neither of us like this much concentrated water, but it was his dream – to run across streams while on the back of a big, sweet creature from a planet unknown.

Leot had visions, and longings for that creature. Then he finally decided to crawl out of his ocean and go look for that magnificent bipedal thing from his visions. That thing happened to be my ancestors from Earth. That was long before my birth. Leot’s lifespan is over fifty million years.

He had and lost countless pets like me. The day will come he will cry over my body, too. But not today. Today we went for a walk, and we’re happy to be together, and share an afternoon on a planet filled with rivers from Leot’s dreams…

“Demi, wake up!” Someone shakes me by my shoulder.

I open my eyes only to find the frightened Dot above me. I understand he worships fear, but it’s six in the morning. Can we postpone the worshipping session until later in the day?!

“They are here!!!” My teacher’s face is dark with worry.

“Who?”

I can’t think straight… These dreams of Leot always leave me high and dry. More than anything I want to be with him, I need that neurotoxin, I was bred to yearn for it. Oh, what a torment.

Three massive men in riding leathers and swords on their belts walk into my room, push aside skinny and weak Dotristiar and pull me out of bed.

“Please don’t hurt my son!” Mevild runs into the room, but stops short of defending me. Well, that’s strange.

“We will only hurt him if you don’t stop screaming! Just let us follow our orders, Mr. Gidealis, and he will be back in no time!” Says one of the fierce men in a deep voice.

Good thing they let me get dressed. That gives me precious five minutes to scan their minds to find out what’s going on.

These men are the knights of Dara, one of the most prominent and wealthy aristocrats of Antein, the capital of a neighboring province about three hours north from Deikeren. They rode all the way from Antein to get me. Dara is a big friend and supporter of our Per Taonur. No wonder he knows about me, and possibly the story with Taonur’s daughter.

Dot holds my hand in a last desperate attempt to prevent my kidnapping.

“It’s OK” I say “They just need me as a hound.”

The men lead me away, out of the house, and there are four horses by the door. One of the men by the name of Ner with thin black mustache brings one of the horses to me. You have got to be kidding me. I never rode a horse before. I was always escorted around inside of a carriage. It is pointless to resist.

“Our master’s son, Aret, ran away with a woman right before the marriage. He was to marry a wealthy girl with a big dowry, instead he skipped town with a prostitute. We were told that you can find anyone, anywhere. Lead us to him and our master will reward your father with whatever he wants.”

They get on their horses with grace and confidence, which cannot be said about me. I finally get on this big black male horse and the ground seems far away all of a sudden.

We need to go back first. Let me see what else I can find out there.

I lead the way out of the town and into the fields and woods. My horse breaks into a gallop, and I frantically hold on to the reins, the saddle, his mane – anything in front of me, so scary it gets. But then I get used to it and the rough ride becomes beautiful, magical, unreal.

We enter the forest - abundant with life, smells, beautiful trees. All of that flies past me, sometimes drenched in luscious morning sunlight, and sometimes covered in deep velvet shadows. I don’t get to see that every day sitting in my room…

My strong, energetic horse does not slow down, and we both begin enjoying our race quite equally. I also notice that if I put the palm of my hand to his fuzzy, hot neck, he runs even faster. The men start falling behind, and finally yell for me to slow down.

Ha-ha, I could’ve run away right here! Alas, by now I’ve caught the energy of poor Aret and I’m focused on the target. There is no salvation for him anymore. I will hunt him down even if I have to chase him to the end of the Earth. It is all Leot’s programming. I take orders, I track things and I obtain them – day or night. Easy enough.

Ner catches up with me and rides along.

“What do you see?” He asks.

“The brown cloak with golden weaving. ” I answer.

He smiles. It is Aret’s favorite cloak.