My legs were shaking so badly I didn't know how I was managing to follow Korrok. My fear was ammunition for the beings around me, especially Kadi, so I needed to hide it as much as possible. I lifted my head and headed for the hungry wolves that awaited me.
I needed to find out why my mother had turned against the rebellion; why had she instructed me to go to the galaxy's core, if she wasn't the one I would find there... Infiltrating the rebellion was my best alternative to getting answers; even though I just couldn't trust it.
"You reek of fear, sapiens." Korrok growled.
"And you of death."
He laughed; and I could feel Kadi's gaze boring into my back.
"Thanks." He replied. "It will be your scent if you don't stop shivering."
This time I didn't respond.
The creatures were waiting for me, forming a circle in the central square of Venerna. I stared at the mosaic of their skins, scales, feathers, teeth and claws, so varied, immense and powerful that I could do nothing but feel intimidated... And imagine all the different ways they could kill me. But it didn't matter that those beings were pure power in the flesh, because I knew they could destroy me without even touching me; and what I wondered was if, someday, I would not be crushed enough to grow.
Just as I was starting to be sure I wouldn't survive, one of the beings caught my eye: Plumala; flying calmly towards me as if there was nothing to fear in that nest I burrowed into.
"Thank you for bringing the humans, Korrok." She greeted him. "Now I can have the company of beings other than those barbarians."
"Make no mistake, little dove..." Korrok hissed. "Humans are the worst."
And then Korrok and Kadi left to join the circle, leaving me with the columba, which promptly studied me:
"I didn't think you were so involved with this cause..."
"Me neither. But my enemies have changed."
She cocked her head to the side, curious.
"Enemies do not change, Donecea." My name... She knew it. And I wondered what else those beings might know about me. "In this cruel universe, you either eliminate them or add new ones to your list."
"I'm making a collection of them, then."
"And allies too."
I nodded to her warm smile and then we headed towards the rebel leaders.
• • • ֍ • • •
As I approached, all conversation ceased.
"Stay in the center of the circle, sapiens."
I obeyed and sat down on the floor, as if I was the sacrifice of the day. The eyes around me dug into my skin, as if they could hear every vibration in my trembling body. There wasn't a movement I made that wasn't noticed, no feeling of mine that couldn't be felt, and no secret that could be contained in me... I had become totally transparent.
I sent a look at Kadi, who was staying out of the circle, maybe because they wouldn't let him get close, or maybe because he didn't want to... Too far away to save me.
Korrok walked over to me and circled me as he hissed through his teeth in a sly smile:
"This human wants to join our cause... What do you think about that?"
"I think your jokes are losing quality, Korrok." One of the beings replied. He looked like a huge wolf, covered in silver scales that took the place of fur, with no eyes. It was a canouro, a creature that didn't need to see to discover anything through mere particles in the air. "We already know that we cannot trust humans, when Arkadi is the example we have." He teased and Kadi let out an audible grunt.
"You may not see the light I bring, Lupan, but I know you can feel the speed of the ships I supply." Kadi replied with a smile and the canouro showed the darkness of his mouth, a black hole surrounded by teeth.
"This isn't about Phaga!" Korrok growled. "It's about Donecea Gaxy."
My name was a match lit in the pile of straw that those creatures were; a death sentence Korrok loved to see in the fear on my face.
"Gaxy is dead." Snarled a being that had skin black as night and ruby thorns protruding from the head to the tip of the tail. His body looked prehistoric, like a dinosaur that had fled Earth and accumulated knowledge for millennia, but had too many legs to be one. He was a espinero.
"Gaxy is... But this is her daughter."
"And why haven't you killed her already?"
The beings exploded into roars, ready to jump at my neck as soon as Korrok let them, and I prepared myself to put my legs to good use... When, suddenly, everyone fell silent.
"Because we need her, Deinos..." The voice came from behind me and I felt that intimidating presence, growing over me like mist... The metriona. When I turned to his colossal golden stature, my body shrank even further from that creature so intimidating, even with his broken horn. "Alive."
Up to a point, I imagined.
All beings around dodged away.
"We should not open the doors for a human so connected to the Aulics." The almost-dinosaur being, Deinos, replied very cautiously.
"He has a valid point." Korrok manifested, the only creature in that room that hadn't cowered in the presence of the metriona. "We do not need her to the point of making this effort. Why do you?"
The metriona approached the vorrampe with the step of someone who believed that only victory laid ahead. I didn't dare look him in the eye, even though I couldn't shake the power of his metallic stature. When he was near, I believed to see Korrok shiver... And, if even he feared him, what could I do?
When the metriona opened his mouth, his voice sounded like the thunder of an approaching storm, and I could already feel the drops on my skin:
"Because if you want to make it to the end alive, you need me."
Korrok gulped and backed away, opening a shaky smile that pretended to fear nothing, and then trying to sound cordial:
"Let's do a loyalty test then! If she passes, we don't kill her... For now." He sent me a dangerous look; and then he sent one to the metriona, who did not disapprove of his choice. "Tonight an ally of the Aulics will have a party at his mansion." Korrok slowly approached me. "And you're going to steal a key he keeps..."
I don't know where I got the courage to ask:
"Where is it?"
Korrok smiled sharply and all the creatures around him laughed at something I didn't know, until the vorrampe lowered to my face level and growled:
"Under his skin..."
The amazement in my eyes made everyone laugh like hyenas.
"How will I..." I gasped. "Why not 'convince' the host to give us the key?" I turned to the metriona, desperate for a crumb of pity that I would never find in him.
"I prefer beings to be convinced by their own terms... Because they continue to think that they have power; they continue to believe that they surrendered because they chose to; and end up being the most obedient."
Was he talking about me?
"And because we want to see if you are ready to join the revolution." Korrok added. "We haven't done a test like this since Phaga..."
"Who shouldn't help her, by the way." Lupan jumped, implying, or trying to facilitate my death. "He barely proved his loyalty."
"She has a better chance of surviving if she has my help."
"If she needs help, then she doesn't deserve to live." Deinos replied.
And I was about to scream for them to let me die in peace when Korrok ordered, his voice towering above all others:
"Phaga goes." And no one dared disagree. The vorrampe then turned to Kadi, aiming at him with the tip of his claw. "You will be our eyes... To observe her every move... And show us how much she is willing to be loyal to our revolution."
I would rather go alone.
• • • ֍ • • •
After my sentence, the leaders dispersed.
Kadi nodded and I followed him into a narrow corridor between the rock walls, dimly lit by the lamps on the walls.
"You can just walk away, Doxy..." He whispered, afraid the stones might hear us. "You don't have to prove anything to anyone."
"I can't find out that the Aulics killed my mother and just turn away." I replied. "I could not bear to go back without having done anything." Much less after promising so much.
Kadi crossed his arms.
"If you want to fight with the revolution because you think it's right, then do it." I raised an eyebrow. "But don't do it out of hate."
"Why?"
"Because it's corrosive." An exhausted sigh escaped his body, as if he felt that hatred on his skin. "And you are never satisfied." He turned to leave, but, as if he had forgotten a detail, he stopped. "You'd better get ready... Loyalty tests are just an excuse to get rid of the ones they don't want."
And then Kadi disappeared down the stone corridors.
Before I could process that, Plumala approached me with the flutter of her soft wings and rescued me from my questions. I followed her to a room in the black rock, so different from the lovely buildings in Avoria she was probably used to.
"We don't want you to die." She said and I silently thanked her. It was more than I could have expected from the other creatures of Venerna. "And, to survive, you will need a little help."
She pointed to a dress and I walked over to it, running my fingers through the flowing fabric. The dress had a bust structured with delicate gold chains, leading to a flowing skirt of navy blue fabric covered in crystals and pearl beads that reminded me of peacock feathers.
"It's beautiful..."
"And dangerous." I sent a confused look to the columba. "It is made of metrionas' eyes." I let go of the fabric and stepped back. "You've already realized that you can't look him in the eye, haven't you? They are like mirrors, because they reflect the emotions of those who look at them and show what you want to see..." Exactly how I had felt when I faced the metriona; as if I could be understood and, even when he was against me, as if I could trust him. "This dress will be your first armor." And I was hoping it would also be the last.
"I don't know how to thank you..."
"Stay alive. And bring this war to an end."
Did she want the rebellion to win or lose in the end? Maybe the answer didn't matter for the columbas...
But it mattered to me.
"That's what I plan."