Chosen
A Children of the Gods Short Story
By Monica Millard
Smashwords Edition
Chosen
Copyright 2011 Monica Millard All rights reserved.
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Children of the Gods – A Chosen Novel –
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This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
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Table of Contents
Chosen
“Are you coming into the forest tonight, Reka?” Niko’s lips were close to my ear as he whispered of secret gatherings. My skin danced with the tingles of excitement, not just at the prospect of freedom from the eyes that always watched, but also from the sensation his breath caused as it spilled down my back.
I looked at him as I reached my arm back and lobbed the rock at my target. He looked away to confirm if I had hit my mark. He shook his head and his eyes held wonder.
“How do you do that? You were not even looking that time.”
“They are rats. If I relied on my eyes I would never hit one. They make horrid noises with their little claws. Makes my skin crawl.”
Still standing with his hands behind his back, careful not to actually touch me, he laughed. “So you are saying you hear your targets?” He shook his head again and the humor drained from his eyes. The look he gave me made my mouth feel dry. I swallowed trying to wet my tongue. “You never answered my question.” His voice was very low. I almost leaned in to hear him.
I swallowed again before answering. “If you are going, so am I.”
He spun in a full circle on his heel. “Good,” he said, and pegged another rat with the rock he hid behind his back.
“Good,” I repeated, looking at the dead rats against the fence.
Lizanne hobbled up and scowled. “You started without me?”
“Rats wait for no one, Lizzy,” Niko said, pushing his face near to hers. She squeaked and stumbled back, pulling away from him, rolling her eyes.
“You are in a mood.”
Her comment stopped me as I drew my arm back. I looked at Niko. He did seem lighter than normal. I held in my smile and launched my projectile at the little scurrying creature across the yard, nailing it dead on.
~o~
I stared at the ceiling in the darkness, listening, waiting. The house was quiet. There had not been a single sound in what could have been minutes, but felt like hours. My stomach was tied in knots as I thought of Niko’s face. I tried not to think too much about the rest of it, of what I was going to do. I did not want doubts. I had decided, no turning back. Fear ruled everything I did. Just this one night I would not let it dictate my actions. Just one dance, a moment in time to feel normal, to be free.
I opened the door, slowly. The usual creak that accompanied my door was quiet. It was not my first time sneaking out to join the bonfires held deep in the forest. It was the first time though that I meant to participate, to leave my spectator role behind.
“Where are you going?” Lizanne whispered, her voice so soft, if she were not standing before me I might have believed I had imagined it. The look on her face however was not soft. The disapproval was stark and I took a small step back.
I raised my chin, unwilling to be intimidated by my younger sister. “I am going into the forest.”
Her eyes traced over my face. She looked so much like our mother it made me ache to think of her sleeping in the next room, the worry I would cause her if she woke and found me missing.
“You are going to see Niko.” It was a statement and one I would not deny.
“Yes, I am. It may be the last chance I ever have. Tomorrow—”
“I am aware of what tomorrow is, what it holds. You have been his closest friend forever, Reka. He will not forget you when the time comes.”
She did not say he would wait though. We both knew it was not true. No one ever waited. The fear of tempting a God was too great.
“I just want to dance with him, Lizanne. I want him to see me. Just once.”
The look she gave me was sharp. “You are going to make him see you?” Her voice had risen enough that I glanced at mother’s door, waiting for it to open or for a sound to indicate she had awaken. None came.
I pressed my lips together to hold in my surprise at her words. I had never even imagined using my gift but the idea was planted and though I tried to tamp it down, the thought spread.
“I had not even considered it,” I said.
Lizanne put her hand over her mouth and looked at me. There was guilt in her eyes that I did not understand. “You are now, though.”
“Why have this gift if I cannot use it?” I asked.
“You will draw attention to yourself, Reka.”
“That is what I want. Niko’s attention.” I knew that was not what she meant but I suddenly felt desperate that she agree with me.
“You know it will not only be Niko’s eye that you catch.”
“I cannot live in fear forever. This is not living, Lizanne. We are prisoners, no matter what they tell us, what luxuries they promise.”
“The attention you draw will not be limited to yourself, Reka. What of Mom or myself? What will happen if one of them sees you?”
“I risk them seeing me every day, Lizanne. It is why I hide with you and Niko in the fields, why I do not sell my blankets at market and only trade them with trusted friends. I have never once danced, not even during approved musical performances. Besides, it is safer in the forest. The Halorans cannot control the forest at night. It is too dangerous. They stay away.”
“And if Niko is Chosen tomorrow? What argument can you have for that? Will you add to things he has lost when they take him and make him a prisoner in his own body? Doomed to remember the love he will never have for as long as his body lasts?”
Her words stung. The thought of losing him, of having him unreachable, aching for me the way I ache for him with no hope of ever being together was agonizing. But would I rather have never known love for him?
“Is it better to live the rest of his tortured life never having known love? Would the memories not give him strength?”
“Would strength be a kindness, Reka? Have you not always said it was better, more humane for those that have gone quickly, expired earlier than the rest?”
I turned away from her. Unable to look at her face and the judgment I saw there. It was her words that had even brought about the idea. I could see the fear, the question she was not asking. What if it was me Chosen the next day? What would my selfishness do to Niko then?
As if she could read my mind she said, “You cannot use your gift for selfish reasons. You will be punished.”
I spun on her. “You would tell Mother?”
She shook her head. That guilt I did not understand was back, gleaming bright and ugly in her eyes.
“Who then, will punish me?”
“Whatever force it is out there that balances the scales of justice.”
I almost laughed. “You see injustice every day. Where is the punishment for the Halorans? How can you believe in such a thing anymore?”
She looked ruefully at her leg. “I know you and Mother believe I did not inherit her gift.” She closed her eyes and swallowed, hard. “I was too ashamed to tell you. I had just turned thirteen when I discovered it. Such gifts should never be given to children. The temptation was too great. I fought it, but like you, I had fallen for someone.”
I could not hide my surprise. A sad smile shaped her lips. It struck me that she was far too young at fourteen to have such a grown up expression. I did not want to hear the rest of her story and what made her the mature creature in front of me. She was going to share it with me anyway.
“I never told you. I never spoke of it to anyone,” Lizanne continued but the pain in her eyes was unmistakable. She did not want to relate this to me. I grabbed her and hugged her close, realizing the way she had looked at her leg. The accident that she barely survived, it left her with a permanent limp. She blamed herself for it. And the boy that came to find us after her fall. He was Chosen last year shortly after he turned sixteen, while Lizanne recovered.
“Lizanne, it was not your fault. You of all people should know that terrible things happen for no reason.”
“Maybe, but I cannot bear the thought of anything happening to you, Reka. What if it was punishment?”
“Is it possible that things happen for a reason? That if we let ourselves see them, learn from them then maybe we can take the bad things and make something good out of them? Maybe all of this will make sense one day?”
“Be careful,” she said, ignoring my question. I watched her move back toward her bedroom and stood there a long time after her door shut.
~o~
The night air was cool. It felt good on my heated skin. The distance was far and my stride brisk, but I was grateful for the time and the effort. It helped to burn off the doubts brought on by my conversation with Lizanne.
My heart leapt into my chest when I spotted the glow of the fire in the distance. Would Niko already be there? What if he changed his mind? I picked up the pace, slowing only when I was just outside the ring of trees that circled the site.
As before, I slipped in quietly and remained at the edge of the crowd gathered around the fire. Searching the faces for Niko, I spotted him. Slowly, I slipped around body after body, making my way closer to the front. Just inside the light gathering at the front, I stopped and watched Niko as he made his way around the crush of people, stopping and speaking with a friend here and there.
I could tell he knew I was there and watching by the way he avoided looking my direction. Sometimes he would stop and smile at nothing at all. Was this flirting? I had heard older people speak of it before when they did not know I was listening. Is that why it made my stomach flutter when I thought he would look at me, only to watch him smile and duck in the opposite direction?
Finally he glanced up, staring me in the eye. My breath caught. Now or never, I thought. Skin language was not one I spoke well. I had only ever tried it a handful of times before and never with desirable results. Maybe I never wanted it enough before because I felt the tingle immediately. I thought of the things I wanted to say and pleaded with him to hear me.
He took a step forward and I dropped my head, hair spilled around my face. Fear was a thing, alive and beating in my chest like the drums that played the very music I was hoping Niko would dance with me to. I blinked, breaking our connection, glancing quickly around to see that no one noticed.
I did not see anyone watching us, but that did not mean our exchange had not attracted attention. I slipped away toward a woman passing out flowers. She held out several and I reached for a white one, a lily. My favorite.
Another hand reached for my flower at the same time and we touched. I looked up into Niko’s soft brown eyes. In them I saw everything that I wanted, that I was feeling myself, desire, defiance, fear, but above all else there was hope. He took the lily between his fingers.
“May I?” he asked with a shy smile.
“If you would be so kind.”
Tilting my head so my ear was exposed, I held my breath. He brushed the hair away, softly laying a hand on my neck as he slipped the flower behind my ear. My skin tingled under his touch. He was touching me, something that was nearly forbidden. It was over too quickly and he stepped back.
“Beautiful.” His voice was so low it was as if he breathed the word.
I let out my breath finally. “What do you think?” I asked the woman.
“The gentleman did not do you justice with his reserve.”
I flushed and curtsied, nearly forgetting myself. “Thank you.” I turned to Niko. “Thank you.”
Finding myself lost again in his eyes, the woman cleared her throat. I flushed again, curtsied and stepped away, hoping he would follow. I was not disappointed. I could hear his footsteps only a short distance behind, just enough not to draw attention.
The music was building toward something or maybe it was something inside me that was building. I turned to face Niko. He froze. I thought I could see something in his eyes also. Words of warning from the Halorans ran through my head. They said music was dangerous, it could influence people to do things they would normally be too sensible to do. Timid, I thought. We were all too frightened to do the things we wanted to do.
I did not want to think, did not want to be careful. I was careful my whole life, thinking of every step before I took it, every word before I spoke it.
“Dance with me, Niko.” I only mouthed the worlds but before I could stop myself I made the gestures that would ensure he would not deny me. Looking him in the eyes, seeing what I had done, I almost wished I could take it back. His hips began to sway in time with mine and I could see his will bending to my own.
“Reka?” he mouthed my name. There was uncertainty in his eyes. Gingerly, he took my hand in his, leading me to an open space where others, those who were paired, already danced. Turning to face me he rested his hand against the rise of my hips. His eyes were hesitant, his touch questioning.
I looked up through a golden-brown veil of my hair and smiled. His grip firmed. There were no longer questions in his touch, only answers.
Neither of us spoke a word, though none were needed. He led me around the other couples like we had danced together our whole lives. Never once did his eyes leave mine. His arms were the only place I had ever felt free and I knew there would never be another place I wanted to be more.
The song came to an end and I glanced around, feeling the tiny hairs on my neck rise.
“What is it?” Niko asked.
“I feel as though there are eyes on me.”
“Of course there are, you are luminous. You have never seemed so alive. It is breathtaking. I have seen hint of it when you are chasing down prey for a farmer or when you are creating one of your masterpieces. But nothing has ever compared to the way you look tonight.”
My knees felt weakened by his words and I leaned into the arm he still held around my waist. My stomach dropped at the sight revealed by the small shift.
“Guard,” I whispered. His brow flexed in confusion before the word registered. “Guard,” I said, louder this time.
“Run,” he breathed, shoving me toward the trees.
All hell broke loose in the little clearing. I could hear his panicked footsteps behind me, closing the distance. His were not the only footfalls I could hear but I dared not look back to confirm who they belonged to. I whispered a silent plea that they were not the guard I had seen. He was larger than any I had laid eyes on and his eyes had been focused on Niko and I.
I felt a hand slide into mine and I chanced a look. Niko’s wild eyes met mine and there was fear like I had never seen in them. He tugged me forward at such a rate my feet nearly tangled with each other. By some miracle I was able to keep them both under me as he all but dragged me through the dark forest.
“Run!” The scream came from a distance behind us and I could not stop myself. I glanced back and caught the dark clothing of guards closing in. I clamped my free hand over my mouth to keep from screaming and looked into Niko’s desperate eyes.
“Go,” he said, shoving me ahead.
I shook my head. “Not without you.”
He did not give me a choice. He launched off in a different direction, leaving my escape partially hidden by a giant tree. Curse him! I leapt over a fallen tree and raced away with a heavy heart. The sounds of pursuit had all broken off and were heading in his direction. It would do neither of us good for me try to gain their attention. I could hear three distinct pursuers. One could easily catch me while still sparing two for Niko.
I briefly thought about gathering rocks and going after them. Even with their armor and head plate I could easily take them out. Their armor did not protect their necks and the thin strip between their eyes would be no match for my aim, but that would be a death sentence for both of us.
Anyone caught was facing severe penalties. We were, after all, doing a multitude of forbidden things. We were out after curfew for a start, then there was the music, and for Niko and I, dancing with another of Choosing age. Add in the secret gathering, and I am sure I smelled pork, which would have been another strike against Niko and I if we had partaken. Even with all of that the punishment would be terrible but we would be alive.
For all their cruelties, I had never heard of the Halorans killing anyone, if you did not count those that were Chosen. They would die eventually, when their bodies could no longer endure the strain of the Haloran inside it, sucking up all their resources and their strength. But I did not want to think about that. It made me feel ill and I needed to be at my peak if I was going to avoid capture.
I waited in the forest for what seemed like an eternity. Entering the town would have been as good as walking up to the Haloran ship and surrendering myself. Surely they had guards all over the town watching for those of us they had not caught to trickle in.
I leaned against the hollow of a tree to catch my breath, hoping it would keep me hidden till I could figure out what to do. My heart made a thunderous sound in my ears. If there was a guard near, surely he would hear it, giving away my position.
There were rumors of their inhuman abilities. Though I am not confident in the status of their humanity, so it would be entirely possible and just my luck. I thought of Lizanne’s words. What if it was punishment? It seemed more than likely.
I covered my mouth biting down on the back of my hand to stifle the sob that wanted to escape and forced my sister’s words and her face out of mind. I would find a way to return to her and my mother!
I just hoped Niko would do the same. I pleaded with the force that balanced the scales of justice not to punish him because of my selfishness.
###
Thank you for reading Chosen – A Children of the Gods short story. If you enjoyed it, the story doesn’t end here. Reka’s story continues in the full novel Children of the Gods which will be available beginning the Christmas season 2011.
About the author:
Monica was born and raised in Alaska. She doesn’t own a dog sled team, but has worked in a place where there are buildings with caged exterior doors to keep employees from being eaten by polar bears.
She lives in Wasilla, Alaska with all her critters, some four legged and others that stand on two. She writes Science fiction, fantasy, and Paranormal for young adults.
Find Children of the Gods and other future releases on Smashwords.com
http://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/MonicaMillard
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