Alexandru's Kiss

Chapter 1-3

Ten years before:

Ka’ya stiffly stood between the two Elders who had brought her to the spiritual leader’s hut. Her nose wrinkled at the foul smell of burning spices. The smoke from it burned her eyes, but she refused to rub them. The woman on her right smothered a cough while the man to her left raised a hand and wiped at the corner of his eye.

She stared at the room with distaste. The dim interior was depressing. It was nothing like the brightly lit interior of her home. The ceiling was covered in soot and made the little light that streamed down through the ceiling look gray and dirty.

The bones of dead animals lay scattered across a long table and on the floor. Bottles of liquids lined several shelves against a wall. Everything looked dirty and unkempt. Ka’ya did not understand how this man could declare himself better than her father. He knew nothing of what it meant to understand the spirit of the land and animals.

“She is here, Spiritual Leader,” the woman called.

Ka’ya watched as Jorge appeared from another room. He was a thin man with beady, almost black eyes. Dark shadows under them made the sockets around his eyes appear larger than they were in reality. His alabaster skin was streaked with smudges of soot from his dirty fingers and made him look older than his thirty years. He wore a dirty, off-white tunic over dark brown pants and boots. His hair was thin on top, with just a few strands of fine hair that made a line and was swept to the side.

He silently returned Ka’ya’s stare, as if willing her to look away first. Instead, she lifted her chin. Her light green eyes bore into his. She could see the circle of light from the open door surrounding the brown irises of each eye, giving them a malevolent glow. In the center, she could see her reflection. Even when he took a step forward and ran his dirty fingers down along her cheek, she didn’t turn away. His eyes narrowed and he gripped her chin hard.

“Do you think to defy me, girl?” he demanded in a reedy voice.

Ka’ya pulled her chin free and glared at him. “Yes,” she replied, biting her tongue to keep from saying anything else.

Jorge gazed down at her. She silently returned his stare. She didn’t flinch when he raised his hand to strike her. The blow never came – thanks to the sounding of the alarms. Jorge glanced up at the man standing next to her and jerked his head toward the door.

“Find out what is happening,” he ordered.

Ka’ya turned slightly when the Elder opened the door. There was a thud that reverberated through her and the Elder stumbled back. In the center of the elder’s chest the long shaft of an arrow protruded. The woman at her side screamed when several more arrows flew through the door. Jorge and the woman fell to the ground. Ka’ya took advantage of the open door and bolted.

Emerging outside, she could see more than two dozen Vikar swarming through the village setting fire to carts of hay and slicing through the men who charged them. Her gaze moved to one of the raiders. He was dragging her mother out of their home. Her mother was holding her newborn brother protectively in her arms.

Ka’ya started forward. Her gaze fixed on her mother and brother; she bent near the body of a fallen guard and pulled the bloody sword from his body. The moment her hand wound around the handle, power exploded through her body and a flood of knowledge swept through her mind. It was as if she had lived through thousands of battles, had hunted the greatest beasts, and knew what needed to be done. She gripped the sword with a strength that belied her tender years, twirled, and sliced through one of the attackers as he reached for her.

As she neared her family’s hut, the raider who had her mother’s arm, lifted the long shaft of his spear to strike her mother dead. Ka’ya pulled her arm back and threw the sword. The blade sank deep in the raider’s chest, driving him back against the stone wall of the hut. Racing forward, Ka’ya knelt and helped her mother to her feet.

“Inside,” she said in a soft urgent tone.

“Ka’ya,” her mother whispered, reaching out to run a trembling hand down her daughter’s face.

Ka’ya smiled. “Go inside. I will protect you,” she said.

Mayli looked worriedly back at her daughter, but hurried inside. Her brother whimpered, but her mother quickly soothed him. Ka’ya followed her mother into the bright hut. She could feel her mother’s gaze on her when she reached for her father’s bow and arrows.

“Ka’ya, don’t go,” Mayli begged when Ka’ya turned back to the door.

Ka’ya glanced at her mother. In the background the sounds of screams and fighting continued. Her face tightened and once again she felt the surge of power rush through her. She knew that if the raiders were not defeated or driven off, there would be nothing left of the village – including her family.

“I have to,” Ka’ya replied, turning and drawing back an arrow when the door opened.

She released the arrow. The raider standing in the doorway looked down in surprise before he fell forward. Ka’ya pulled another arrow from her quiver and walked toward the door. Stepping over the body of the dead raider, she released three more arrows in rapid succession before disappearing outside.

Ten arrows – ten raiders dead by her bow. By her sword, she killed another five before the raiders began to target her en masse. Ka’ya knew she was in trouble, but she never gave up. She pulled on the power flowing through her and used the knowledge to strike one deadly blow after another. Ka’ya’s desperate need to protect her mother and infant brother gave her the willpower to continue fighting. Revived by the dwindling number of raiders, the villagers began fighting beside her until the remaining raiders retreated in defeat.

Ka’ya turned in a slow circle as the remaining villagers who had sought to hide slowly emerged from their huts and gathered around her. She could feel their gazes on her and she smiled. Jorge stepped out of his hut where he had been hiding, and she eyed him with contempt. Gripping a bloody sword in her right hand, she reached up with her left and pushed her thin tunic to the side to reveal her shoulder and the mark of the Huntress.

“I am Ka’ya Stargazer. I am the Huntress,” she said in a clear voice. Ka’ya could hear the soft gasps of the villagers. Her light green eyes glowed with supernatural fire as she stared Jorge down. She slowly lifted the blood-coated blade in her hand to point it at him. “You will never possess my powers.”

The mark that her parents had tried to hide, the one that Jorge had somehow found out about and decided to use for his own purpose, was now clear for all to see. She would not hide any longer. No one would control her.