The Mercenary (The War Chronicles Book 1) Read online

  Zoran had been taken aback by the Star Captain’s response. It had been the longest observation from the Star Captain. Moreover, there had been the references to Saakshi as his Budheya female and Zoran as the Ur’quay male’s friend, a relationship he was sure that the Ur’quay did not take very lightly. Despite his astonishment, the quiet words from the Star Captain had reassured Zoran.

  They walked silently through the deserted streets of the village, Saakshi following the big male as he unerringly made his way to the dwelling she'd marked out on the map for them. She couldn’t help but admire the graceful way he slipped through the streets, like a shadow, unfazed by the unknown terrain as he confidently and silently navigated through the jumble of dwellings, shops and places of worship that constituted the village.

  Zoran came to a stop beside a single storey dwelling with a big door. Now came the part he was uneasy about. Saakshi had convinced him that she should go alone into the house of Tilabok's cousin who would know how to send word to him for a meeting. As he paused, he felt Saakshi's smaller palm slide into his larger one – he guessed that it was intended to be a gesture of reassurance. He sighed silently as he knocked softly on the door before sliding back into the shadows of the surrounding walls as the door opened just an inch. Saakshi faced the door, pulling down her hood for easy identification. Zoran heard a soft exclamation and then a hand reached out to pull Saakshi through the door, before the door shut with a soft thud. He waited silently for what seemed like an eternity to him, but was probably about fifteen standard minutes, before Saakshi slid back out the door to join him again. She gave him a silent thumbs-up and a grin, the universal sign of a job accomplished, and Zoran wasted no time in clasping her hand to pull her away from the dwelling. They treaded the silent streets once more, this time to head back to the sanctuary of their hillock.

  They walked steadily for a standard hour, forced to hide themselves only once when a vehicle of Ketaari soldiers moved through an adjoining street. Once on the outskirts, they began a steady climb up the hillock, past where the ship had autoported them hours ago and all the way up until the village was just a small speck down below. Here, the entire valley lay before them. The decision had been made to hide in one of the caves built into the rock face of the cliff, since it would provide them with a clear view as well as a warning if anyone approached their hideout. The climb was stiff and arduous, light from the three moons of Budheyasta all that guided them. Zoran kept a watchful eye on Saakshi, who had not yet completely healed from her experience on board the Ketaari transport. She climbed steadily and surely without flagging until they stood before their destination - a deep cave with a small opening hidden behind some hanging reddish brown shrubs. Zoran gestured to her to stay put as he turned on the small but powerful light attached to his wristband before making his way into the cave. He intended to make sure that no unpleasant surprises awaited them inside should they decide to rest and hide away in the cave.

  The cave went in pretty deep, just as Saakshi had informed them, curving a little away from the entrance as he walked in. This made it ideal as a hiding place, for it allowed a small fire towards the back of the cave without the risk of revealing their presence to anyone outside.

  Satisfied by his reconnaissance, Zoran led Saakshi in through the opening to fetch up near the rear wall of the cave.

  “I'll collect some wood to start a fire. Why don't you open a couple of food packs for us?” he suggested, gesturing towards the pack he'd discarded on the floor.

  Saakshi went to work on his pack, sorting through all the supplies and necessities Zoran had carried, slung over his shoulder.

  Twenty minutes later, they sat by a small but roaring fire, polishing off food packs and drinking the water provided to Saakshi by Senara, Tilabok's cousin. Zoran had carried water with him from the Henia since Saakshi had warned them that water was a precious commodity on her desert home world. But Senara had also pressed two small containers of water into Saakshi's hands on her way out, with an affectionate hug and a hand gesture waving away Saakshi's words of gratitude.

  “Senara said that if all goes well, Tilabok should be able to meet with us at dusk tonight” Saakshi remarked, munching tiredly through the somewhat bland food provided in the pre-packaged packs. Her weariness was starting to catch up with her, now that the adrenalin and fear-fueled part of the night was done with, until they were ready to make the trek to meet up with Tilabok.

  “Where will he meet us?” Zoran inquired, watching her surreptitiously while he pretended to focus on his own meal.

  “I know the location. I can draw you a map in the morning.”

  “How far is it from here?”

  “Should be about three hours of travel by foot. We might have to go into the village first before the rendezvous. Senara will hang a white sheet out to dry in the courtyard once she receives confirmation from Tilabok by early afternoon.”

  Zoran shucked his empty food pack into the flames where it acted as fuel to enable the bright fire. He intended to leave no traces of their presence behind on this planet.

  “Get some rest, Saakshi. Dr Uish said that you need a few more days of the healing sleep. I'll keep first watch.” Zoran held out his hand for Saakshi's empty food pack.

  “You need rest too, Zoran” she protested. “Let me take the first watch.”

  Once he had the fire roaring successfully, Zoran had taken off his flame-colored cloak. He now laid the luxurious cloak lined with soft penda fur carefully on the floor between the fire and the cave wall before holding out his hand to her.

  “Sleep, tseriya. I will sleep during the day and you can keep guard then. We have nowhere to be until dusk anyway.”

  “You need the sleep more than me” he reiterated quietly as she hesitated. “Come, tseriya.”

  Saakshi walked over to his cloak to lay down on it, using her own as a blanket. She fell asleep watching him carefully sharpen the blades and knifes he had hidden on his person. When Zoran glanced up at her in a few minutes, she was out like a light.

  In the still of the dark night, broken only by the tiny sounds of the roaring fire on a planet deep in enemy space, Zoran mused on his little Budheya while she slept on unawares. She was tough, his tseriya, and she'd had to be, to overcome and survive her circumstances. She was proud too, and that was something he could appreciate. He understood only too well why she had insisted on accompanying him to her planet. It was her opportunity to contribute to their mission. Zoran had been fairly confident of locating and persuading the Budheya rebels on his own with the assistance of all the information that Saakshi had provided to them. Yet, he understood all too well that Saakshi was now a person without a world. Almost a person without an identity, for her only identity all her life had been fighting against the Ketaari occupiers of her world. Now, she was a fugitive from the Empire and would not be allowed to set foot on Budheyasta without being hunted by their powerful military. At least, not until her home world and its people were free of their oppressors, something Zoran knew might take at least a generation to accomplish. He intended to do his utmost to turn the tide of war, but Budheyasta was the jewel of the Budh-Ketaari Empire, something the Ketaari would fight till their last breath to hold onto. So, he’d capitulated to her request and invited her along, to contribute in her way to this effort to defeat the Empire and to perhaps set foot on her world for the last time. Her eyelashes cast small dark shadows on her face against the flames, and she looked exhausted as she lay huddled under her heap of furs. He was going to make damn sure that she made it back to the Ur'quay ship, no matter what the cost, Zoran promised himself fiercely again. He had negotiated Alliance citizenship for her and he was determined to give her a chance at the life that the Ketaari had denied all the denizens of her world.

  Saakshi awoke only once during the night. The fire roared brightly, warming up the cave from the chill of the night outside. Zoran’s pack lay discarded on the floor, but there was no sign of him. Sheer panic and a premonition of
disaster gripped her. Saakshi sprang up from her makeshift pallet to hurry towards the cave entrance, pausing only to wrap her cloak loosely around herself. She peered out cautiously through the opening. The hillock lay barren and deserted, with nary a sound to break the silence. Saakshi pondered anxiously whether to risk leaving the safety of the cave to venture outside in search of Zoran. A tiny slither of noise like the falling of a loose pebble was her only warning before a large hand grasped her to pull her back into the cave.

  “Looking for me?” Zoran queried as he walked over to warm himself by the fire.

  “I …uhh… I was worried about you” she said anxiously. “You aren’t familiar with the terrain and you don’t speak the language” she explained at his quizzical look.

  “Just went exploring a little to get the lay of the land” he said easily.

  “I didn’t venture very far” he added soberly, at the anxious look in her eyes. “You’re stuck with me, I’m afraid, Saakshi. I have no intentions whatsoever of letting you out of my sight while on your home world.”

  Saakshi subsided, mollified by his explanation.

  “You should have taken your cloak from me. You might’ve caught a chill” she admonished him, glancing significantly at the shabby Budheya peasant clothes on him.

  At the concern in her voice, Zoran gave her a singularly masculine grin.

  “Naah, I rarely feel the cold. Come on, back to bed, tseriya. You need more rest.”

  The temperature aboard the Ur’quay ship was a lot lower than Saakshi was used to. She had always needed a cloak on the Henia, though she’d noticed that Zoran had rarely needed one. He ushered her back to her makeshift bed before seating himself across the fire from her.

  “I’ll stay in here for a bit” he reassured her in his husky voice. “It’s pretty deserted out there.”

  Saakshi wrapped herself comfortably in her cloak to lie back again. She watched the fire silently, throwing occasional surreptitious glances at the large male gazing pensively at the flames. Something in the expression on his face as the fire cast shadows across it made her reach out to him.

  “Zoran” she called out haltingly. “Is something bothering you?”

  His eyes snapped to her from contemplating the depths of the fire. He shook his head slightly as if to snap himself out of his thoughts.

  “When we were out in your village tonight …” he stopped to gather his thoughts. “The rundown dwellings, the deserted streets, the Ketaari patrols, the barren valleys ... everything I’ve seen tonight has …”

  He paused, struggling to articulate what bothered him without causing her any unintentional hurt.

  “Everything is broken down … sub-standard” Saakshi agreed quietly. “We’re barely surviving.”

  “That’s the thing” he burst out. “The worlds outside have no clue how bad things are for your people. The Hadari’Kor still sing praises of your past achievements. I’m sure that the other worlds remember and commemorate the accomplishments of the Budheya in the same manner. There’s even a word in Hakor – Budhyeera. Derived from the term Budheya, it roughly translates to spiritual accomplishment. We use the term to describe a good deed, or an achievement intended to benefit others. That is how this quadrant regards the Budheya.”

  Saakshi stared back at him, a tad nonplussed by his vehemence.

  “We … that is, the Hadari’Kor and the rest, are just as guilty in allowing the Ketaari to reduce your people to this” Zoran said passionately. “We turned a blind eye, because it was easier to do so than face the unpleasant consequences of giving a damn. From what I’ve been taught about the Budheya, they would never have stood by and let such a fate befall any neighbor in need of similar assistance.”

  The irony was that it had been a Ketaari request for assistance to their world that had set the Budheya on a path to their eventual plight today.

  Saakshi sat up slowly to huddle against her cloak.

  “You’re not turning a blind eye, Zoran. You are here, and at great personal risk. The other Hadari’Kor, the Alliance, even the Ur’quay … you are all refusing to look the other way.”

  Zoran sighed softly. Yes, they were willing to offer their assistance now, but would the Alliance have offered any help if it hadn’t allied with their interests? Would the Hadari’Kor have bestirred themselves if he hadn’t jogged their conscience? Would he, Zoran, have gotten this involved if it wasn’t for meeting his little Budheya? He was afraid that he knew the answers to these questions, and they didn’t particularly cover any of them with glory.

  “Ever since you told me how the accomplishments of my ancestors are still celebrated across Quadrant Five, I’ve been thinking” Saakshi declared suddenly with quiet emphasis.

  “If they were truly that accomplished, how could they have allowed a much less accomplished species to take over their civilization and reduce their people to scrabble for survival? This spectacular reversal of fortune did not happen overnight. The only way that I can think of is that we were arrogant. That we couldn’t conceive of people intending to harm us, or to steal our technology or to get the better of us. Should my ancestors not have been more careful in dealing with the Ketaari? They either misjudged the Ketaari’s intentions completely or were aware of their intentions and didn’t consider them a viable threat. Either way, we’re as much responsible, if not more, for our own fate as the others, who you fault for standing by and doing nothing.”

  Zoran stared back at Saakshi, a little taken aback by her well-articulated perception of Budheya history.

  “You’re wiser beyond your years, tseriya” he whispered back, a tad comforted by her philosophical approach to the fate of her people. For the first time in their short history together, he could appreciate that she was Budheya too, much like the people the fables talked about. The unruffled dignity, a resilient approach to whatever life threw at her, and an unwillingness to blame anyone else for their plight – quintessential Budheya.

  “I told you a long time ago what my name meant in the old language” Saakshi remarked.

  “Witness” Zoran responded with confidence. He remembered it well, for it was the night they’d introduced each other in whispers. The night he’d claimed her for himself.

  “I was very young when my mother passed away. But when I was old enough to understand, a friend of hers told me that it was my mother who had insisted on naming me Saakshi. Her Pura had revealed to her in a dream before I was born that I was meant to live in a time of tremendous change for our people. And that I would stand witness to these great events.”

  The Budheya were also known for their spirituality, for their belief that their Pura always watched over them and guided them through the hard times. For a Hadari’Kor, whose simple philosophy was to appreciate and respect Mother Nature and the bounty she provided his people, and to do his best as an adult to live by the simple code of a mercenary, the Budheya philosophy felt alien and mystical.

  “Pura is your religious house, right?” he asked curiously.

  “No, Pura loosely translates to prophet” she explained. “There are hundreds of religious houses that the Budheya follow, and each is represented by an individual Pura. Each prophet has left behind some teachings and guidelines for their believers to follow and some prophecies for the future of our people.”

  “You believe in the prophet Bedana?”

  Saakshi nodded.

  “How’d you pick this particular Pura – did your parents follow the same one?”

  “Every Budheya child gets to pick his or her own Pura as an adolescent. There’s a simple ceremony where you get to add your Pura to your name. It becomes part of your identity. A child does not fully comprehend such spiritual matters at a young age, so we wait until the age of understanding. I studied the teachings of a few Pura before I chose mine. She also happens to be the one my father followed.”

  “Are you allowed to change your Pura once you pick one?”

  “At any time and as many times as you want. It’s c
onsidered a very personal thing. It’s not unusual to meet a large family where every member follows a different Pura.”

  Zoran studied her for a few moments while a companionable silence prevailed in the cave.

  “What happened to your father?” he asked.

  “He died a few days before my mother perished. There was an epidemic of ririka fever in the village, and my parents sent me to the neighboring village for safety. They didn’t survive it but they live on in my name.”

  She glanced at his bemused expression to explain further.

  “Like yours, my people have no tradition of a last name. Instead, our entire identity is encapsulated in our name. My parents, Merama and Ulmik live on in my name along with my Pura.”

  “It is a beautiful tradition” Zoran’s voice was colored by admiration. “What happens when you acquire a mate … uh …” he paused to search for the correct term for a committed mate in her culture.

  “You mean marriage?” she queried.

  “Marriage, yes! Do you include his or her name too?”

  “Yes, preceded by pelak for a male and pelaki for a female mate.”

  Much, much later, after Saakshi had lain back in her warm bed and almost fallen asleep, Zoran whispered in his husky voice, his low words carrying over the roaring fire.

  “Your mother named you very appropriately, Saakshi. I’ve a strong feeling that her Pura was correctly able to predict the future of your people.”

  Saakshi smiled as she closed her eyes. Lately, she too had been getting strong vibes about the Pura’s prediction.

  At dusk the next day, a rejuvenated Saakshi clambered steadily on another hillock some miles away from the one with the cave they'd hidden in for most of the night and day. Having slept through the night, Saakshi had stood watch carefully from behind their cave opening while Zoran dozed into the early afternoon. Zoran had concluded that checking for the white sheet in Senara's courtyard would be too risky in broad daylight, and so they'd only set out after sunset. After they had verified the presence of the sheet, they had set out for the rendezvous with Tilabok.