THE AZURAK WARRIOR

Chapter Eight ( part three)

IZULLAR EIRAH RAZMAR

I sat handcuffed with electric bands in the spaceship. I couldn't blame Drake for contacting my people. I was a danger to their beautiful planet. A ticking time bomb.

Lirel took my digital mask and body transi-fit. Dirty looks were thrown my way but I didn't let that affect me. In my efforts to find peace on Earth I had broken myself. Talon Knightly had thrown me so many dirty looks that I was practically immune to them now.

And goodness I didn't blame him for loathing me. I hated myself as well.

I thought of last night when the Correon was in the Heranyth stage. I could clearly see how he cared for him. Goddess, he was just about ready to travel hell and back if it meant making Orin feel better.

When I told Talon of what Orin was going through I had hoped I'd remove the stone wall that was masking their true emotions and get them to reveal their deep emotions. And it looked like my plan had worked by the sounds resonating from that room all night. It was all that I could do for them after everything I have put them through.

I was happy for them. They kind of reminded me of Raed and I. I had to fix whatever I had destroyed between us.

I didn't dare think that he could be dead. My Raed was still alive and waiting for me.

" Wake up, arue. We have arrived home," said Thadis. He was one of the warriors from my home planet. He was Lirel's friend or was he?

I was escorted out of the spacecraft and into the hovercraft. I dreaded the moment I was to face the Emperor. I could just picture him sneering at me a menacing sword in his hand.

I shuddered at the thought. Maybe I deserved to die. I could be looking forward to seeing Raed but would he be pleased to see the woman who didn't stick with him through thick and thin.

I should have stayed with him.

I watched the view of my Father's kingdom. I had always thought it was an amazing view but not anymore.

It was a place I was forced to be selfless even if it killed me. It was a place where I was expected to be perfect yet I was not without imperfections. My royal blood was the reason why I had suffered all my life. Still now I was suffering from the injustice that ruled the Azurians.

Fighting was futile against Emperor Eocatheus yet I couldn't succumb to failure. I was my father's daughter, afterall.

I saw the palace looming ahead. I inwardly groaned at the imposing sight of it. It had been my cell for all my hundred years of life. A fortress of torture that was supposed to mould me into an epitome of my mother. A woman who never once told me she loved me.

But I didn't blame her. It was ingrained into her not to fall victim to love. Not to get close to me because she was going to lose me anyway. Being indifferent was her way of masking whatever emotion that wanted to break free from her.

That was just it. I didn't want to become her. I loved the feeling of loving someone to the point of death. I loved shedding away all my troubles and letting that special someone to take care of me. I loved the feeling of warmth that cocooned me whenever I was in the vicinity of my beloved.

The hovercraft landed on the landing spot a few yards away from the palace. Thadis and Jian walked on either side of me while Lirel led the way to the palace.

The Emperor and his wife along with their guards stood at the entrance. Mother shook her head with distaste. Father was frowning at my presence. I didn't give my emotions away.

Lirel grabbed my arm and dragged me infront of the Emperor. The first thing he did was backhand me across my face but I didn't give him the satisfaction of wincing in pain.

He slapped me and shoved me to the ground. " You are no daughter of mine," he spat maliciously.

I lowered my face. I spat blood at his feet. He glowered at me. " Lirel, take this, this thing where it belongs. Give her twenty lashes on her back and throw her in the cell with her lover."

Thadis and Jian hauled me up on my feet and dragged me in the palace. I fought against their grips glaring at my so-called parents.

" If you wanted an unfeeling daughter you shouldn't have created me. An android could have been better, " I yelled at them.

The guards dragged me all the well to the dungeons. They bound my hands with the shackles mounted on the wall. Lirel tore off my shirt.

I closed my eyes and willed my mind to think of Raed. I knew what was to come and it took everything in me not to beg them to release me.

Lirel took the whip that crackled with electric swirls and brought it on my back. My back arched from the searing pain that came with the whipping. He didn't hold back and I preferred it that way. I was not weak and I refused to be treated like a weakling.

When he was nearing twenty with his relentless whips I was numb from the pain. I was falling in and out of unconsciousness.

When he hit twenty-five I snarled at him. He chuckled darkly and threw the whip on the floor.

" That was for leaving this planet with a fake identify code,princess. "

Jian unbound me and pushed a servant dress in my arms. " Take the pants off, Aluri Trix, " said Lirel mockingly. I wore the dress wincing as it scratched my back. I then took my pants off and threw them at Lirel's smug face.

When Thadis tried to slap me Jian stopped him. " Don't, " he said simply. Thadis shoved him away from him and glared at me. " Just because you're of royal descent does not mean you are above the law," he sneered at me.

I spat at him. Jian dragged to me to the holding cells and threw me in one of them. He locked me in the cell and left. When I heard the door that led out of the dungeon close with a bang it was then that I let the tears I had been suppressing to fall free from my eyes streaking my cheeks.

I cried like never before. I was not crying for being beaten up or being humiliated, oh no, I was crying for the lad who lay curled up battered and bruised in a foetal position on the dirty floor. His breaths were shallow as though it took great effort to just breathe.

I hadn't recognized him at first because of the slightly longer hair but his face was one I would never forget. It was the face that had invaded my thoughts on numerous occasions. A face that enabled me to endure Lirel's vicious whips.

" Raed!" I exclaimed. As though my voice was the medice he needed he opened his eyes. His once vibrant blue skin looked sickly in the blinding fluorescent lights in the cell. He looked thin and pale. His blue eyes I had fallen in love with were dull and lacked the light that drew me to him.

I could just imagine the torture he had been subjected to in my absence.

" Izullar?" he croaked.

I nodded. I wanted to hug him so bad but I was afraid of hurting him.

" What are you doing here? You shouldn't be here. The Emperor will kill you, " he said. He winced when he tried to move.

" No, don't." He didn't listen to me. He reached out and cupped my face. I leaned on his hand. We gazed at each other. I drew patterns on his arm just enjoying being with him.

Even as my body quivered in pain I was fairly content being with my beloved. I couldn't trade thus moment for anything else. Seeing Raed alive was all that I wanted.

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§ MARTHA STREAMS §