Predator: The Invisible Prince

4-5

The door to her room barely had time to shut before her tears burst forth. Deep wracking sobs took the last remaining strength from Ahzma's legs as she fell onto her bed not caring if she wrinkled the material to her already ruined gown. Over and over again the same terrible fact replayed itself in her mind, in a few days she was going to be given to a monster. A monster, who had every intention of using her body to fulfill its own monstrous desires. Nausea formed in the pit of her stomach at the thought of having to surrender her body sexually to some beastly creature. Memories of his blunt claws scraping along her skin and his rough textured skin sliding against hers made her cry even harder into her sheets.

Clutching the pillow next to her she hugged it tightly. She knew this day would come, she knew that one day her brothers were going to marry her off to some odious man for their benefit. She just never imagined how twisted reality would turn out be. They were probably laughing amongst themselves now—if they survived their one on one meeting with Iko. That thought lifted her spirits a bit. She had almost forgotten that they were drug off by the Prince's guard.

Turning her bleary eyes towards her window next to her bed, Ahzma stared into the direction of the cloaked ship floating above the lake. Every now and then, if she stared hard enough, she could see a slight shimmer in its cloak. It was huge, it easily spanned the distance of the lake and a few of the neighborhoods. In a few days she would be on that ship, leaving Upra. Where would they go? Would they live on the ship or would they live on the Ojibwe planet, the Prince—Rakkah—mentioned? When she tried her unsuccessful search for the word Yautja, she had tried searching for Ojibwe as well. Both came up with hardly anything. The only thing she could find was some old rudimentary star maps of the Narvis galaxy, a galaxy that all searches claimed was empty and riddled with large pockets of antimatter, making it impossible to travel through. The heavy feeling of nausea grew into a blanket of dread covering her from head to foot as her thoughts escalated in their worry. What if Ojibwe was full of monstrous beings that wanted to hurt her? What if...

Exhausted from worrying, her eyes eventually closed and she fell asleep.

#

Without a sound the figure moved around the bed scanning the room. Confirming the female's slowed pulse rate the figure turned towards the door. Positioning himself in the hallway next to the door, he waited and observed.

#

When she finally woke up, her room was completely dark. Checking the clock by her bed, it read two am. She had wasted a whole day sleeping and crying. Frustrated with herself and beyond hungry, she slipped off the bed and changed into a plain beige informal dress she was allowed to wear around the palace. Opening her door, she stuck her head out a bit and looked down the hall. Down the long hall, there were three other empty bedrooms, her room was at the end of the hall. She was relieved not to see one of the palace guards patrolling her hall, she hated them. Normally, they would prevent her from leaving her room, especially so since she was leaving without being summoned, and at times depending on which guards they would even hit her as "punishment" knowing it would be their word against hers. Leaving her room like this in the dead of night was not something she normally did, but this day had been anything but normal and more importantly there seemed to be no one around. If there was ever an opportunity to sneak out it was now.

Closing her door, she walked quickly to the end of the hallway. Staying close to the corner, she peered down the connecting hall—nothing. Relieved she quickly made her way to the kitchens. Flipping on the overhead lights, she made her way to the large refrigerator and pulled out some soup in a container. Warming it up, she stacked it on a tray along with a glass of water and a plate of sliced fruit. Carefully and quietly, she made it back to her room, pausing at each corner and looking over her shoulder with nearly every other step. Getting back to her door she let out a heavy sigh of relief. She made it, and all without getting caught. It was foolish but she was honestly a little proud of herself for her secret caper. Setting the tray on the table in her room, Ahzma turned back to close the door to her room and found it already closed.