Tithe Ch. 02

Dax looked down at the woman. The stress of being dismantled into tiny particles and then put back together again had been too much for her body and she had fainted. When they had rematerialized on the Starship he had placed her in a private room laid out in one of the pull down beds. He tried to make her as comfortable as possible. Now that he could get a closer look, he understood why Fex had chosen her. She was truly exquisite with darker skin than he'd ever seen and a mouth that was full, the top being ever so slightly fuller than the bottom. Dax could feel his cock swell as he looked at that mouth. Dax touched her hair. She had long soft, curls that felt like silk between his finger tips.

"Are you finished in there?" he heard a loud voice come from the wall. Dax looked over at the video intercom. Fex was watching him. Dax untangled his fingers from her hair.

"She fought," he said loud enough for Fex to hear him.

"Thank you for stating the obvious," Fex replied. He was in the main control room setting the computer up to transport them into space, and towards the Rean galaxy.

"We should take her back. She is not a willing Tithe."

There was silence and Dax looked up to see what Fex's reaction was. Fex was sitting still, too still, at the controls. When he spoke his voice was very,very calm.

"How long have we been exiled from home, Dax?"

"Almost six years."

"That's right. Six years is more than enough punishment, do you not agree?"

Dax said nothing. Fex turned and pinned him with a stare.

"Do you not agree?"

"I agree with you, sir"

"It would not be good for us to spend even one more day away from home would it?"

"No, sir."

"And if that bitch is our ticket back into the Rean Court than it really does not matter what she thinks does it?"

"No, sir"

Fex smiled, but that didn't fully erase the homicidal glint in his eye.

"Besides, when she finds herself thousands of light years away from everything she has ever known she will be begging us to take care of her."

His smile was sincere now as they jerked into hyperspace.

"Sedate her," he ordered. "I don't want her waking up until we are home."

*****

Ilaria felt heavy, overly tired. She tried to open her eyes but they were weighed down as if there was something heavy laid over them. She started to lift her hand to remove whatever lay over her face but at the sound of voices she stopped. Everything came rushing back to her. The crazy men in the parking lot, the flashing light and then that terrible feeling. Bile rose in Ilaria's throat, she had never felt anything like that before.

The voices were getting closer. One was female and the other was male. They were speaking in a language she had never heard before. It was full of clipped sounds almost like Cantonese. She wished she could understand what they were saying. Maybe then she could figure out what the hell was going on.

*****

"Where is she from again? Yert?"

"No, Amani. Earth. It's an extremely primitive planet. They don't even do casual intergalactic travel."

"How do they visit other worlds?"

"They don't"

"Ugh, how boring that must be, to be trapped on the same boring world day in, day out. No wonder you guys wanted to come back so badly."

Dax looked at his little sister Amani. She had changed a lot over the last six years, she was no longer the awkward youth he remembered. Amani was now a grown woman. One thing that hadn't changed however was her love of dangerous situations. His parents had fretted over Amani as she grew up. She wasn't submissive and docile like the women of Rea tended to be. Amani hadn't wanted to settle with a husband and have children, she had opted instead to become a privateer of goods and explore the worlds. Her warehouse station on the outer rim planet, Little Rune, was the first stop he and Fex had made once they entered the Rean Galaxy. True to her adventurous nature, Amani had accepted two fugitives of the Court, and an unknown alien into her home without batting an eyelash.

Dax would never have endangered his sister with his presence but they were only on the outer rim of the planets that made up the Rean galaxy. There were no royal guards to recognize him and Fex here.

"You say she has skin the color of Emiz drink?" Amani eyed the couch where the woman lay. Before Fex left to scrounge up a counterfeit identity for their guest, the two men had transferred her to the small trailer where his sister lived.

"Yes, brown like that but a little more golden than pure Emiz."

"I wanna see..."

"Amani!"

Dax stopped his sister from pulling down the thick yellow blanket that completely covered the girl.

"What?" she snapped at him. "You said she's asleep."

"Yes, but not for long. She should wake in about thirty minutes. Before that happens I need to fit her with a language simulator chip. I don't need you jostling her around."

Dax reached for the blanket but no sooner had he touched it when a scream came from beneath it and the blanket flew at him in a yellow blur.

*****

"Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Ilaria screamed ready to attack whoever was touching her. She knocked the blanket aside and took up what she hoped looked like a fierce fighting stance in the center of the small room she was in.

A man and woman stood in front of her, eyes wide. They looked a lot alike. Both of them had long brown hair, strong, sharp features and pale skin. She recognized the man from the parking lot.

"Where the fuck am I, you freak?"

"Calm down, miss," the man said in halted English. "We will produce no hurt to you."

Ilaria glared at him as the woman let loose a string of excited words that she couldn't understand.

"Hey!" Ilaria yelled as the woman reached forward to touch her face. The woman stared at her, fascinated "What's your goddamned problem? Haven't you ever seen a pissed off sister before?"

The man looked confused for a moment and then he smiled.

"Ah, I remember this. You are not referring to yourself as a sibling, but as a... woman of the Brown Skins."

"Black," Ilaria corrected almost automatically.

"Ah, yes. Black, I get so confused, always. Uh, but answering your question, no, my sister,sibling, Amani has never seen a... uh, black woman before, pissed or otherwise." He gave her a grin.

Ilaria felt like crying. Either that or kicking some ass.

"What is going on?" she tried her best to intimidate him with her glare.

The man visibly swallowed and his eyebrows came together in concern.

"You may want to sit down," he said a few quick word's to Amani who nodded enthusiastically and left the room.

"Where's she going?" Ilaria, still standing, eyed him suspiciously.

"To get you... uh... wa-ter" he smiled gently. "Sit."

Ilaria sat, more from exhaustion than anything else, but she kept her eyes on the strange man's every move. If these psychos were going to rape and kill her, they probably would have done so already, but that didn't mean that she should let her guard down.

"My name is Dax of Mossport." He held out his hand awkwardly. Ilaria cocked her head to one side and gave him a look. He eventually lowered his hand but remain quiet, waiting for her to speak.

"My name is Ilaria." She finally said. Dax's smile was bright and Ilaria felt herself calm down a bit.He would be cute, she thought,if he hadn't kidnapped me.

"That's a truly beautiful name."

"What's going on?" she chose to ignore his compliment.

"Uh... that is hard to explain" Dax looked uncomfortable.

"Well, Dax of Mossport, you can start by telling me where I am."

"You are on Little Rune the fifth regional planet, of the Rean Galaxy." He spoke fast, not looking at her until the very end.

Ilaria counted to ten and tried to keep her temper contained.

"You can tell Dennis that this is no longer funny."

"Pardon?"

"Dennis! He's the asshole that put you up to this isn't he? I admit I thought it was a clever joke in the beginning, but abducting me from the mall, that just goes to far."

Dax's face fell and Ilaria had to look away.

She stood up as Amani reentered the room. "Where's my cell phone?"

Amani gave her a confused smile and held out the glass of wa-ter.

"Never mind, I'll find it myself." Ilaria walked to the first door she saw. Maybe it was a closet, or it led to somewhere else in the house. The only thing on her mind was calling that jerk off Dennis and letting him know just how unfunny she found his since of humor. She certainly wasn't going to sit around and play "intergalactic abduction" with these freaks, and she didn't care if it hurt their feelings.

Before either one of them could stop her Ilaria yanked open the door and walked through. She hadn't opened the door and walked two steps before she fell to her knees, mouth opened in shock. The door hadn't led to another part of the house, it had led outside.

"As I told you," Dax walked up beside her. "You are on the planet of Little Rune. You have been brought here from Earth to be presented to Prince Arenostos of Rea, as Tithe."