Galaxy Crystal Chpt 17&18

Galaxy Crystal: A Forgotten Life
by Catherine Framke

Chapter 17


Koona needed to go for a walk. He couldn’t sit there in the castle with so many frozen people hanging around. It is a horrifying scene. There are people in mid air, some eating, there is even someone using the bathroom. All of them just there frozen in mid motion. Things like this don’t happen to normal people, but it has happened to everyone. Their whole Galaxy is full of normal people frozen in time.

If Saraquine didn’t help them, they will all be lost. An entire Galaxy will be destroyed and they don’t know why. Vacunay started taking the planets on the far side of the Galaxy. High Protector Violette tried to stop her, but it didn’t happen. Vacunay had a strange army, not of this Galaxy. The armies were full of demonic looking creatures that could not be killed by a sword.

It didn’t help that Vacunay’s magic revived them one by one. That was how she dominated three of their solar systems. Then she came to Sar. High Protector Violette tried everything to stop her decent on Sar, but her army was unstoppable. There was no way the Galaxy Kingdom could stop her, and then the people began to loose faith. With the people, not believing in High Protector Violette there was nothing she could do. A leader needs the people to believe in them or nothing can be done.

High Protector Violette couldn’t use the crystal after that. Even when Vacunay’s armies were all humans once more, the armies were too afraid to fight their best. That was when things came to the stand still. The only thing that blocked the territories was a forest and a reinforced magical barrier created by the last Protectors. The four of them used all the magic they had to stop Vacunay’s pursuit on the Galaxy Kingdom.

This all happened before Koona and the others were born. The four kept things at bay, but everyone knew that the fight was coming one way or another. Then Jalee entered Saraquine’s life and then High Protector Violette died. The barrier was weak enough that Vacunay got through and killed the High Protector. That was when Saraquine disappeared.

Vacunay took the opportunity to take the gray castle and the completely Southern tip of Sar. The gray castle was where the High Protector and her family lived for generations. With the southern part of Sar gone the people lost even more faith in the government. It got worse when High Protector Violette was gone. Everything happened so fast, and Koona and the others were too young to help.

Now all of the older protectors were gone, and it was up them. They were young compared to others, and they only know what their parents taught them. The only possible way to save the Galaxy is to learn the power that their parents couldn’t teach them. The old protectors were using all their strength to keep the barriers up and had nothing left to teach with. Now their all gone, and the Galaxy is completely defenseless.

Koona found his way to the gardens, where Sinara was before she died. Their family history was nothing but deaths. It started with the first Galactic war and it continues with the second. That was what they were living now, the second Galactic war. Last time they only won because the elementals saved their butts. There were no elementals to save them now. The only ones that can save the Galaxy were the Protectors.

During the first Galactic war, they didn’t have the Protectors. During that war, the creatures came from nowhere and ravaged the Galaxy. They went from solar system to solar system taking all the advantages away from the people they could. The planets were set back a thousand years. The only weapons they had were swords, bow and arrows, and other primitive weapons they could find. This tradition continued even to Koona’s time.

At this time, it is important to understand that some of the planets were already connected to each other and even a few solar systems. When these creatures came, everyone knew everyone else. The elementals had followed the creatures to their Galaxy. The elementals explained that the creatures master had been going from one Galaxy to the next taking control of them. They wished to control as much of the cosmos as they could. The elementals had been following these people and stopping them every chance that they had. Unfortunately, the elementals could not stop them on their own.

The leaders of the elementals gathered the leaders of each planet or government. They convinced them some how they did not want to hurt the people of the Galaxy and got them to fight together for the good of all the people. Together all of them were able to fight back against the invaders, whom to this day their names have been lost.

This war lasted over a hundred years, and the ways of the old were mostly lost. At the time of the end of the war, the people of all the solar systems decided that they needed a system of government that everyone could agree upon. This was the creation of the Galaxy Kingdom. The leaders came together and came up with names of people that were possible candidates to be the representative of the new government. These leaders became the first High Council of the Galaxy Kingdom.

This representative would also have a great amount of power in the government. They first had over a hundred names and slowly decreased them. Their characteristics had to fit with what everyone in the High Council would agree upon. Luckily, for Koona’s ancestors they did not discriminate against gender. Soon they came upon the first High Protector of the Galaxy and her unborn child.

This woman was an amazing warrior who came from a city in Europe, on Earth. She began her carrier with being the first female to join the Galactic army. Her example brought more capable woman. From there her ranks went up to where she had had her own army. That was where she met her infamous elemental.

As time went by the High Council assigned Lords, Dukes, and Generals; everything the new Kingdom needed. It was what the High council believed that they needed. The first High Protector had no real wish to rule over a Kingdom, but they convinced her that she was the best choice. They told her she would be more of a representative of the new government then a part of it. At the time she had no family, all of them had been killed in war. It was the only choice she had other then to keep fighting in the army.

The first High Protector’s daughter, Sarquin, she was the one that made the difference in the government. She had been raised watching the turmoil that the High council went through establishing the government. When her mother died she had took over her mother’s place. The High Council could not just kick her out of the place as High Protector because her mother became very popular.

She took over the High Council and practically took over the government. The High Council did nothing unless she told them that it was okay. If they didn’t ask her before hand she would go to the people and spread the word that the High council was not allowing her to do the job she was assigned. Sarquin was an amazing woman and any of her decedents were proud to call her their ancestor.

Sarquin also had help in the process, her husband. The Duke was born in politics and helped his wife with everything he had. There is an old saying that behind every great man is a great woman, well in their case behind every great High Protector was a great Duke. Unless they are talking about High Protector Violette’s husband, he is still missing in action. The High Protector might have always been the leader of the Galaxy Kingdom, but their husbands never sat back and waited. Koona’s wife is descendent of their second daughter.

Sarquin’s power was also a part of her success. Even though no one was allowed to know who her true father was, her power was known. She would look at some and instantly knew what they wanted. Sarquin could tell the members of the High council exactly what they were thinking before they even said anything. Her use of magic caused the family to have magic from then after, and made it where they could only have women heirs.

That was until Koona came into the picture. He sat down on the bench in the garden staring up in the trees. Koona had accepted a long time ago that he was the first man born in the family since the beginning of the Galaxy Kingdom. It made him very popular with the media. They wouldn’t have paid much attention to his family if it weren’t for the crystals. That was how everyone kept track of the Protectors Family, the inherited crystals.

Koona always wondered what his life would have been like if he wasn’t part of this heritage. Saraquine was given a normal life even if it was only a blink an eye for her. There had been more then once in his life that he wondered what it would be like to live on a planet and just live. Panoka and he would have lived a happy life no matter where they lived, or who they were. It was just the draw of the cards that they were part of the Protectors family.

He knows that if he could have one wish for his children it would be that they would have a normal life. He could see his little Violette playing in the streets of some city on Earth. She would go to a public school and have friends that liked her, not her position in society. She wouldn’t have to worry about balls and looking perfect every time she left the house.

Koona and Panoka would work for everything they have, instead of being handed it. They wouldn’t have been going to the best schools of the Galaxy. They also wouldn’t have to have the best grades in those schools afraid that the wrong people would know. The two of them would have dated like a normal couple, maybe even sneak out of the house to meet each other.

There could have been so many great things about living a life outside of the Protectors family. There are so many children that dreamed of being noble, but none of them knows the real pressure of being in this situation. There is no real way of explaining the difficulties of living a life with everyone expecting the best.

Koona knows that it is important for Saraquine to remember her past, but it doesn’t mean he likes it. There should be a moment when everyone should remember that for her she has been living a normal life for the past seventeen years. The Galaxy might need her, but she had a life once too. Saraquine is suddenly being thrown into a situation that is beyond her control. She knows nothing of the way the government is run, or how to fight Vacunay.

Saraquine might actually be the only hope in defeating Vacunay. She is the daughter of High Protector Violette, the only thing she could be is great. At one time everyone believed that she would be a better High Protector the Sarquin. Many don’t know that Violette named Saraquine after Sarquin. It was almost guaranteeing her position in life, almost prophetic.

Saraquine still had to live up to the name. This journey will prove whether she can handle her place in society. Life gives everyone tests to accomplish, this was the test that was laid out for Saraquine the minute she met Jalee. This journey had been waiting for the two ever since.

Jalee loves Saraquine. Koona did not know Jalee until recently, but he knew the minute he saw the way he looked at Saraquine before they left. There was a spark in his eyes that he had better hide from her. Koona didn’t know the story of how they met or fell in love, but Jalee would die for her. He spent the past fifty years in a cabin out side of the Glass city waiting for her. That kind of dedication is beyond any one could have imagined.

If something happened to Jalee and Saraquine gets her memory, back there will be hell to pay. Saraquine will loose the last person that she believes that cares for her. The rest of the Protectors don’t know her, they never had a chance too. The only time Koona saw her was when they were betrothed and that was a long time ago. Her life had changed when her mother died, and she was given a normal life.

Then again, Saraquine never had a normal life before hand. There was a time when her mother had sent her to school under a false name. Saraquine would have someone take the back way out of the Gray castle and to school and back again. The agreement to her going to school was that she wasn’t allowed to tell anyone who she was or where she lived. Saraquine had no friends in school because she was too afraid that they would learn who she was.

High Protector Violette was terrified that her daughter would be discovered, that she put that fear into Saraquine. It was to the point that when she was alone with Koona she wouldn’t admit who she was. Fearing who you are is no way to live, yet she lived this way for the first sixteen years of her life. After that, she spent seventeen years being normal.

Saraquine was going to have the biggest shock of her life and unlike Koona’s mothers wishes he could not help her. He was afraid that the one person that could help her wasn’t going to let Saraquine remember who she is. Jalee loves her and has the best intentions with her, and that means Saraquine living a normal life on Earth. The idea would work; no one knows that Saraquine is a Protector. At the ball, they never had the chance for her to meet the Duke.

Koona smiled at himself and thought about what kind of life she would live. There would only be one thing missing her in life really, love. He wonders if someone holding the Galaxy crystal could live without love. High Protector Violette lived without love, except with her daughter. Someone could live without or replace it with something else.

He was kidding himself, Saraquine couldn’t put her love aside to marry him, and she couldn’t do it now. She might not remember him but she felt something between them that she wouldn’t ignore. They were traveling alone to the Dark Castle, passing right by the Gray castle. She would know that there was something between them before she knows what it is.

Koona knows because he would know his wife even if he never met her. The moment he saw her he knew he wanted to marry her and live the rest of his life with her. Love made life worth living, it might sound corny but it was the truth. There were certain things nobody could live with out; love, sadness, joy, and pity. Life isn’t worth living without them.

Koona heard footsteps coming up behind him. He knew who it was before he turned and looked at her. His wife sat down next to him putting her arm through his and leaning her head on his shoulder. She took a deep breath inhaling the sent of the flowers around them.

“Why did you leave this morning, I was worried?” Her tone wasn’t anger, but there was a little disappointment.

“I’m sorry my love. I needed to get out of that place and think for a little while. All of this has happened so fast that I haven’t really had a chance to sit and think about what is going on.” Panoka nodded her head.

“This would be a great place to think.” She stood up and walked around the garden staring at the flowers. “These flowers are very beautiful; it is a good thing Vacunay could not stop nature from continuing on. The flowers would have died if everything had completely stopped.”

“Yes it is a good thing.” He walked over to his wife looking down at the flower she was staring at. “It could be her weakness. Vacunay can control most things around her, but the basic nature of life can not be changed by her magic.”

“It is a possibility, but I think that Saraquine is her biggest weakness. That is the only explanation on why Vacunay has not attacked the Galaxy Kingdom in her absence. The Galaxy Kingdom has been weak since then, and it would be easier then now.”

“Enough of this talk.” Koona wrapped his arms around his wives waist. “How are you feeling my dear? Are the children okay in there?”

Panoka giggled as he rubbed her stomach softly. “The twins are just fine. As long as we ware the crystals, we are just fine. I am not so sure about Violette when she wakes up I am afraid for her my love.”

Koona smiled at his wife with all of his heart. “She is as strong as you my dear, she will be fine.” He kissed her neck affectionately. “I love you my dear, you know that don’t you.”

She giggled again. “Of course I know you love me. What has brought this out of you my love?” She turned in his arms and looked into his eyes.

“I was just thinking about Jalee and Saraquine. The way he looks at her is almost intimidating.” She nodded her head softly. “Saraquine will loose her heart if something would happen to him, and Jalee would loose his life without her. It is hard to believe that the two waited fifty years to be together.”

Panoka raised an eyebrow at him questioningly. “Would you wait for me for fifty years?”

“I would wait for you for eternity.” Koona wrapped his arms around her tightly. “
The only difference is that I could not hold back on telling you so. If I was Jalee I would have kissed you the minute I saw you and express all the love I had for you.”

Koona kissed Panoka in a way that he would normally would never been able to in public. When he let go she smiled pleased. “It is a good thing that you are not in his position then. Jalee has a lot of strength and knows what needs to be done. I trust him to do the right thing.”

“You are right my love.” He let go of his wife and grabbed her arm very politely. “Come my love, it is time that we get something to eat. I will cook you a very nice omelet.”

“Since when can you cook Koona?” They both laughed as they descended the stairs to go back to the castle.

“My dear there are a lot of things that you do not know about me. There was never an occasion that I needed to cook. There has never been an occasion that I needed to cook.” They reached the bottom of the stairs when he finished talking

“Well if you wish I can change that?” He did not say anything as they walked through the courtyard to the kitchen. It was a dreary place at the moment with the people frozen in the kitchen.

“In a different life I would have cooked for you every morning and every night. If anyone caught me in a kitchen, they would make me go to a psychiatrist. My mom would have disowned me.”

Panoka laughed loudly as she sat down at a small table as he walked around the kitchen getting things to make breakfast with. “Your mother was quite a character wasn’t she; you still miss her a lot don’t you?” Koona didn’t answer, just nodded his head.

There was a lot of pain when it came to talking about his mother. She hadn’t been dead for very long and the pain was still deep inside of him. Pain seemed to be the trigger for his crystal. That will be good for later on when they will fight by Protector Saraquine.

Koona will have to think about that later. There is a war going to come soon after Saraquine comes back from her journey. There is no way that Vacunay could be killed during the journey; Saraquine does not have the strength to defeat her. That would mean whether Saraquine remembers anything or not a war is coming.

He should prepare for the fact that he might have to leave his wife and fight in such a war. Koona would not allow her to worry about this, not while she was pregnant. When the time comes, he will tell her that he is going to fight in the war. It is his duty to fight as much as it is for Saraquine to go on this journey.

Koona couldn’t miss the birth of his twins he couldn’t do that to his wife. When Violette was born, he almost missed her birth. He was away at a meeting with the other Lords. The moment he got the message, he ran as fast as he could, and barely made it. That just tells him how much time he spends with his wife and child.

In the past year, he maybe was able to spend seventy-five percent with his wife. Panoka never seemed to care. She would always tell him that it was his duty to the people. She will always be his strength, and could not see his life with out her.

If he had been his wife like the one his parents had set out for him, he would be even busier. He would probably never see Saraquine. She would be the one running around doing things as needed, and he would be home doing nothing. Then again, if they had married she wouldn’t be out there walking to the Dark Castle.

Koona couldn’t help but think how strange things would have been if it was him and not Jalee that Saraquine had chosen. For one, the biggest, her mother would still be alive and running things, or died of old age. Vacunay would have no interest in Saraquine, or how she ruled the Kingdom. Many things would be different if they had made that choice. His wife would have married someone else and not have to worry about loosing Koona in war.

That was just it though none of it turned out that way. The choice that people make has a big impact on everyone around them. For instance, High Protector Violette didn’t have to save Panoka when she was younger, but she did. If Panoka had died back then she would not be alive to day and a part of the Protectors. The group would not be at full strength.

It is strange to think that one decision will change everything. Koona had chosen the path he had taken by marrying Panoka. He would make the choice to fight along side the Galaxy Kingdom’s army. He would also choose to be strong for Saraquine and the difficult decisions that she will have to make when everything is over.

Being there for Saraquine was going to be hard. She would not take his help very well. Even as a child on Sar, she didn’t have anyone that would stand by her, except for Jalee. If Vacunay had her way, Jalee would not be there for Saraquine at the end of this journey. Vacunay would do anything to make sure Saraquine’s life is as miserable as possible. Koona only wished he knew why.

Koona looked over at his wife, wondering how empty his life would be if it wasn’t for her and Violette. He might have lost his parents, but he still had them. Panoka looked back up at him and smiled. This is their time to shine, their time to make history, and they will do it together.

Chapter 18

The doors seemed endless. The walk to freedom usually did. It was her walk to the end of captivity and a way out to end the pain. Violette told Saroo-Kinay once that all it took was one-step to change someone’s whole life. This might be one of those moments, for her. A moment for Saroo-Kinay that will show what she can do.

Saroo-Kinay never once had to use her skills in any way. This was her chance to show them what the Duchess was made of. Saraquine was not the only one that was trained to fight and protect. If Saroo-Kinay wanted to save Saraquine, she had to save herself first.

She wasn’t being stupid; she knew that Saraquine would still go to the Dark Castle to save her friend. This way at the least, she would be able to war Saraquine that there was one then one of them. This was important, because if Saraquine was caught off guard then she could die and so will the Galaxy Kingdom. All will be lost if she doesn’t try.

Saroo-Kinay walked up to the door and pressed her ear against the door. If she was lucky the man that kept the door open in her cell will be the one that stands at the door, but the chances are slim. A cough got her attention and she knew that there was someone there behind the door.

She knew she had to get the man to come through the door. There are many ways to do this. Saroo-Kinay considered knocking on the door, but then the soldier would open the door ready to fight. The last thing she needed was a soldier ready to fight. It would be easier if she could get him off guard.

Another idea came to mind. Saroo-Kinay knew that she could scream, but that could be dangerous. The first danger was that they might not get his attention. The worst part was that he might come in ready to hit her. Standing this close to the door, he would know that she got out of her cell.

There was always the idea that she could seduce the man, but that would also mean he would have to get to close to her. She would have to get his attention from her cell, and then he would know the cell was unlocked and hurt her. The idea would only work if he were already in the hall. The worse part would be if he were, brain washed and had no interest in her.

Then it hit her. They wanted everyone in the cells to live long enough for Saraquine to seem them. If Saraquine could scream as if she was in pain and needed help. There had to be more then just her screaming for help. She needed to make a loud noise and then a scream.

Saroo-Kinay had an idea, she had something that might work, but now she needed to find a noisemaker. She looked down the hall, but all she could see was doors. There had to be someway to use what is already there to make this noise sound desperate. It needs to sound like she could was dieing.

She walked over to the door tested how heavy it was. Saroo-Kinay knew it was heavy a bit heavy, but if she put enough force into the door it would make a loud crash. Still she wasn’t sure if she can make the crash and be ready to fight whoever comes through the door.

Saroo-Kinay went through her other options, and thought about anyway she could make it work. It didn’t matter how many scenarios she went through in her mind it was her only option. Saroo-Kinay knew that she had to move as fast as she could without considering the consequences.

Standing as straight as she could she took a deep breath. Her injuries were still serious, but that didn’t mean that she couldn’t fight. There were too many possibilities of being really hurt. If she injured herself more she wouldn’t be able to warn Saraquine. Saroo-Kinay hoped that her efforts were not in vain, but there was a large possibility that it was.

Getting into place, she grabbed the handle to the door from inside cell. When the door is closed, it will muffle her scream enough where the guard won’t know where it was coming from. Right before slamming the door, she had a thought. She looked down at her dress, and lifted the first layer and seeing the ruffles underneath. With all of her strength, she tore at the ruffles. The effort took sometime, but she was finally able to tear them completely off.

With that done and she was able to move easier, she took the handle again. Saroo-Kinay pulled the door completely back and with all the strength, she had slammed the door shut using her body for extra weight. With all she could she screamed an ear-piercing scream at the top of her lungs. “Oh my Goddess help me. Someone help me please!”

Saroo-Kinay screamed with all her might and it paid off. The door to the hallway flung open, and she could hear a guard running down the hall. Saroo-Kinay heard them stop, and then she leapt from the empty cell, seeing the man looking through one of the windows in the door.

She ran up to him hitting him in the back of his head. The soldier turned and looked at him, and she realized that it hadn’t worked. Saroo-Kinay though quickly and grabbed the sword strapped to his back and kicked him in the gut to get the sword out of the sheath. The man stumbled back shocked by her abrupt knowledge and skill.

The man tried to yell, but as quick, as Saroo-Kinay could she took the dull broad sword in both hands struck him as hard as she could on the side of his neck. The man staggered for a minute placing his hand on his neck. She watched the soldier look at his bloody hand as he fell back on the ground hitting the floor with a loud thump.

Saroo-Kinay stood there holding the sword in her hand. She was trying not to get emotional, and take everything personal. None of this was personal. She had never killed a man before and the fact that she just killed a soldier that might have been loyal to the Galaxy Kingdom. She shouldn’t be thinking about whether he had kids, or family that depended on him. She needed to turn around and start heading for the door.

Therefore, that is what she did. Saroo-Kinay held the sword in her hand and ran to the door. She slipped the door quietly opened and peaked out. As far as she could tell, there was no one there. Breathing deeply she opened the door all the way and walked through. With all that Saroo-Kinay was, she wanted to start destroying everything that she saw, but she didn’t.

Slowly and as quietly as she could she walked to the other side of the room and saw where a set of stairs spiraled down to the next floor. She could only hope that it was a way out of the castle. Saroo-Kinay started walking down the shaky stairs looking in all directions as she did.

As she reached the bottom, she saw a large empty room. At the far end of the room, she saw double doors. Saroo-Kinay began to run for the door, but something stopped her. There was walking somewhere close by to her. She ran to a door that she saw close by. She pressed her ear to it, making sure that it wasn’t from that particular door.

It didn’t matter because a door opened across the room. Saroo-Kinay opened the door and closed it just as quickly leaning against the door. She had her eyes closed as she listened to faint voices from the large room. The faint footsteps told her that they were going in the opposite direction.

Saroo-Kinay sighed in relief and opened her eyes. Her breath was caught back into her throat as she saw a sword coming at her head. She did what she could and lowered herself down into the splits. With the sword still in her hand, she thrust it up jabbing the man in the stomach causing him to move forward. Saroo-Kinay moved out of the way, as the man fell. She dropped the sword, still stuck in the man.

A tear fell down her face. She went from never seeing blood to killing two men in a single day. Saroo-Kinay may have been trained to kill if necessary, but she never thought an occasion would come. The knowledge that she had taken two lives hit her like stone in the back of her head.

Slowly she turned and looked down the hall. It was not as dark and dreary as the hallway with the cells. The outlook of the hall shocked Saroo-Kinay. The colors were not bright but it was there. She walked down the hall looking at the doors. Different signs on the door told her what there was.

Suddenly, a door opened in front of her. Instinctively she went to raise the sword, but it wasn’t in her hands anymore. Instead, she reached over and grabbed the soldier’s collar slamming it into the wall. The soldier went to grab for her but she moved behind him wrapping her arm around his neck and holding tightly.

She tightened her grip, but the man was stronger then her. The man reached up and grabbed her arm. Saroo-Kinay took in his size and shape and realized this man was taller then the other two she had killed. The man walked backwards slamming her against the wall and the doorframe.

Saroo-Kinay felt her head bang into the wall a few times. Blackness almost enveloped her, but somehow she was able to twist her arm enough to move out of his way. The man turned and looked at her anger creased his forehead, but then a small smile appeared on his face.

Instantly she felt as though he was mocking her. When he first turned to see who attacked him he thought it was another guard and he was mad. Now he saw that it was a woman in a dress, and thought he could take her. Saroo-Kinay felt the anger go through her body and she knew that she had to win this fight.

“Woman you are not strong enough to beat me.” He walked up to her and touched her face slightly. His eyes looked primal and you looked down her body. Saroo-Kinay knew that he was right she was not strong enough to fight him. “Maybe I should let you pay me for attacking me such a way, or were you trying to get my attention by attacking me.”

Saroo-Kinay saw his hand move to grab her arm. She hit it down away from her with her hand. The man looked at her hand and his. He reached back up to grab her hand and again she knocked it down. Quickly in her mind, she was going over her lessons on fighting a man twice her size. Her instructor told her that there are specific points on a person’s body that would knock them down.

The man in front of her became angry as she kept knocking his hands away from her. The man lunged at her once more and she grabbed his head and brought her knee up making him hit his head hard. Then with one of her hands, she hit the back of his head with her hand.

This she knew the man would feel it and stumble. Sure enough, he did and Saroo-Kinay wrapped her arm around his neck and grabbed his head. With all the strength, she yanked his head back until she heard a snap. Saroo-Kinay did not feel any remorse for killing this man. The man deserved to die, and the Galaxy was better off without him.

She turned and another guard stood in the doorway. Saroo-Kinay jumped into a fighting position and was ready to fight again. The man didn’t move from his position, but looked at her. It took her a while to realize what was going on. The adrenaline was still running through her body and she was ready to fight again. Then she looked closer and the soldier standing in front of her was the one that let her out of her cell.

Her stance changed and she looked him in the eye. “Why?” Saroo-Kinay asked as nice as she could. The man didn’t smile at her only looked away from her.

“No one deserves to be a captive, not even one of you.” He said it as if it was nothing new. He looked back up at her looking her into the eyes waiting for her to say something or leave. “That man was the strongest man in the army. You are tougher then you made yourself seem.”

“Not everything is as it appears young man.” A small smile creased his face. “What is your name?”

“Madra, and who are you?” Saroo-Kinay smiled a little as she looked up at him. She felt like she was a school meeting her crush in the hallway of school.

“I am Protector Duchess Saroo-Kinay daughter of High Protector Sinara Crena. It is a pleasure to meet you; I wish it were on different circumstances.” The man suddenly jolted and looked behind him as if someone had just hit him.

“You should be running Protector. This place is dangerous, and I don’t believe you are strong enough to fight the Queen.” Her eyes fell down to the man closest to her.

She had killed three men so far, and she is putting this strange man in danger. “You are right, thank you for all of your help.”

“Don’t think me; I’m going to be killed for this.” His words cut her deep, but she turned down the hall and ran.

Saroo-Kinay didn’t know where she was going, but she knew that she had too keep going. It wasn’t until she reached a dead end an alarm went through the whole castle simultaneously. She found a locked door and pushed it until it would open. If she was smart she would have read what the door had said, but she did not.

She turned and looked behind her seeing a child’s room. She stood in the room confused. Grabbing a small chair near by, she pushed it against the door. Saroo-Kinay she walked to the center of the room and looked at the strange place she found herself. The child’s room was small, but nice.

The furniture was plain, with a bed, a dresser, a closet, and a desk. She walked to the bed sitting down and stared at the room. As hard as she tried, she could not find a reason for a child’s room to be there in the dark castle. Many have been to the battles between Vacunay and the Galaxy Kingdom, but no one ever mentioned a child with her.

An image of a child like her daughter Anay growing up in this room made Saroo-Kinay want to cry. She could not imagine a child standing by Vacunay’s side while she sentenced be to death, Vacunay teaching the child how to use her dark magic and following orders like one of her soldiers. A child should not grow up in a place where people die on a daily basis.

Saroo-Kinay lay her head down on the mattress and closed her eyes. She buried a sob in her throat. An image of her daughter growing up in a horrible place like this was like a dagger through her heart and it hurt her more then anything else in her life. Saroo-Kinay will not allow any child to live a life this horrible.

She found her foot hit something underneath the bed. Curious she stood up and knelt down looking underneath the bed. Sure enough, there was box stuffed under the bed. Her curiosity got the best of her and she pulled it out opening the top. Dust was everywhere and she had to look away from the box.

Inside the box, she looked and saw something very strange. On top of the box lay letters, hundreds of letters all folded into a neat stack and placed on top of another box. One by one, Saroo-Kinay removed the letters and sat them aside. She pulled the smaller box out and sat it on her lap.

Slowly she opened the second box. Inside Saroo-Kinay held her breath in amazement. The small box had picture in it. They were small painted pictures, of Saraquine. Saroo-Kinay knew that High Protector Violette had her portrait painted every year, but she never knew that Saraquine had her own picture painted in a small scale for someone else.

Saroo-Kinay flipped through the pictures looking at Saraquine grows up before her eyes. A tear fell down her face as she realized how much she really missed her cousin. Seeing her face in these pictures was strange, but comforting. Saraquine was always the strong one in the family; she would have escaped by now.

At the bottom of the pictures was a small book. Saroo-Kinay pulled it out of the box and examined it slowly. There was no writing on the book. She opened it slightly and saw a name written on the first page, Saraquine Marianne Parkern. This was her diary from her childhood.

She opened it to some random page staring at the child’s writing. Saroo-Kinay closed the book again and looked around the room. She thought about all the possibilities of why Saraquine’s dairy was in this place underneath a child’s bed. There wasn’t a single reason she could come up with for this strange occurrence. There it was though, staring her in the face.

Then Saroo-Kinay got an idea. She opened the journal one more time, but to the end of the diary. Saroo-Kinay knew that if she were going to do something with her diary she would write it down at the last page. She stared at the writing, that did not look like a child had written it at all, but a young woman.

Today is my sixteenth birthday, and I know you were there. I wish you had told me that you were planning on surprising me. The minute you grabbed my hand and pulled me away from Koona, all I wanted was to hold you in my arms and kiss you. You know that we cannot keep doing these things. I was glad you showed up though.

I decided yesterday that I wanted to give you a present for my sixteenth birthday. A lot is going to change in the next year and I was hoping that you could keep my diary so that you know I love you more then I could ever love you. Some day my mother will make my presence known to the Galaxy and I will not be able to see you anymore.

I know you do not want to talk about it, but whether we want to or not it will happen. You will always be the one I love, and one will ever change that. My mother can make me marry anyone she wants, but it will not change that you have my heart.

Keep this and know that no matter what happens you will be the only man I can ever love. When the Goddess takes me to see her, you will be the one I will stand by, my love. Some day we will be together and we will live.

With all my love,

Saraquine Marianne Parkern


Saroo-Kinay had tears fall down her face. Saraquine gave her journal to someone that she loved. She didn’t just love this person she would have done anything for them. There was only one person Saroo-Kinay could think of that Saraquine loved with so much passion and conviction.

Slowly Saroo-Kinay placed the book back in the box and reached for one of the letters. She opened it carefully and looked at the heading. Sure enough, there was his name in Saraquine’s handwriting. Jalee was the one that lived in this room, and put these things in this box. He was Vacunay’s child.

She gasped despite herself and everything began to make since. Fifty years ago, Vacunay wasn’t chasing the next High Protector she was chasing her son, and the woman he was running away with. It was only a coincidence that it was the High Protector’s daughter. When Vacunay found out, she must have been furious.

The door suddenly flew open and Saroo-Kinay jumped up off the floor. In her hand, she placed the diary underneath her dress secure in under ware’s strap. She did this without anyone else noticing. Two guards walked in the room armed and ready to attack her. Saroo-Kinay could only guess that they had found their dead friends.

Vacunay walked in after them. She looked down at the box and back up at Saroo-Kinay. The old witch said nothing to her. She took her hand and slapped Saroo-Kinay across the face, before she had her soldiers drag her back to the dungeon. Saroo-Kinay would have been scared for Saraquine, knowing Jalee’s secret, but the look of anger in Vacunay’s eyes told her other wise.

Jalee meeting Saraquine and falling for her was not Vacunay’s idea. The whole thing was beyond her control and all she wanted was to kill Saraquine for what she had done. Saroo-Kinay smiled despite her position. This was good to know.