Chapter 6: The Less I Know The Better...
The moment of quietness allowed my sanity to saunter, stifling silence shattered as the ballroom's grand oak doors crashed open, transporting my mind back to that fateful night I first laid eyes on Yana. Though she had been living at the palace for months, I had paid her little mind until that moment. As the memory took hold, the bunker's harsh fluorescent lights seemed to morph into the warm glow of the ballroom's glittering crystal chandeliers.
I grimaced at the swarms of preening Svetlan nobles packing the cavernous Buriti ballroom of my home, their hollow laughter echoing off the soaring frescoed ceilings. "Fucking party...I don't even know why I'm here," I muttered, feeling disgustingly out of place among all the pale faces essentially laughing at how little the Buritians had access to such finery.
The grand hall's lavish trappings were a sickening reminder of the plundered wealth seized from my conquered nation and then redistributed to my family's holdings--From the intricately carved mauve walls to the golden inlaid designs in every nook, all products of the native Buritians forced labor. I swirled the vintage port sourly, my jaw clenched as I watched the aristocrats fawn over each ostentatious detail.
As heir to the Vascan throne, producing an heir was my "royal duty"--A prospect that withered my bitter soul. I had zero interest in courtship, a fact that branded me the black sheep, not that any Buriti lady gave me a second glance. My crimson eyes marked me as an uncivilized savage in their minds.
I watched annoyedly as my portly cousin Dennis shamelessly pawed at the new Svetlan chauffeur we'd hired, his gut straining his tailored white jacket. The blasted automobiles they invented were already demolishing storefronts and running over children in the cramped streets. I shuddered thinking how much worse the bloodshed would be once those metal battering rams were unleashed on the common folk.
My sister Kash drifted through the throngs with practiced grace, her lighter red eyes twinkling as she traded barbs with scheming nobles, her glossy braids nearly skimming the black marble floorings. Though lower than me in the line of succession, she had always been father's favorite--more refined, more political...A liar. She flashed me a pleading look, silently urging me to join the power playing. I simply raised my glass and flipped her off with my free hand to her obvious dismay.
She may have found it indulging to scope out the future ins and outs of the rest of our sheltered life but to me, it was merely just repeating the same failing method of ruling that got our people trapped in Izmar to begin with. Even if near prehistory the stories of our once proud people of Vascaria were peddled by any monk that could get your attention. A truly dreadful tale of how far a people will fall...At least my father still held power unlike any of the other withered lineages of my culture.
The string ensemble's jaunty melody suddenly crescendoed into a lively Svetlan dance as the foreign aristocrats took their positions, gliding into the pavane like a kaleidoscope of jewel tones and powdered wigs. I watched in reviled fascination as their footsteps marred the immaculate floors of the royal Vascan palace, feeling the weight of generations of conquerors encroaching.
The Old Guard of Vascan nobles studiously avoided each other's gazes, refusing to let the facade crack. They handled anything my father was deemed unfit to handle by way of tribunal...Thieving our funds to send themselves on lavish vacations to lands I would never see or hear about no doubt. They only served to do what they did then at the party--Stand around and allow terrors to unfold before our eyes, the natives deserved better.
A discordant clamor came from the refreshment tables, shattering the contrived ambiance. I turned to see a skittish brown-skinned Buriti servant girl scrambling to clean up a spilled goblet of ruby wine, the sticky puddle spreading across the inlaid parquet. The other servants averted their eyes as raucous laughter erupted from the aristocrats leering around the poor girl.
Through the crowd, I locked eyes with a slim young woman of mixed Svetlan-Buriti descent--Her jet-black hair and tawny skin marked her as one of the oppressor's offspring, yet her taut expression spoke of barely restrained fury at the servant's humiliation.
Our gazes clashed like flint as the master of revels himself, the waddling corpulent figure of Consul Vadim, plowed through the crowd with reckless abandon. I hated him, more than I hated my father and tutor combined...He barely actually made any attempt to acknowledge my existence.
"You stupid animal!" he thundered, liquor sharp on his breath as he berated the petrified maid from even my own distance. "Tell me you didn't spill any of that Buriti swill on my daughter!" He grabbed her by the forearm, his other meaty hand raised to strike. Far to my right, I saw Kash tense, no doubt sensing the violence about to erupt and the political wildfire it could spark. She shot me a warning glance, mouthing Be smart for once.
My jaw gripped as I watched the maid wilt under Vadim's blistering verbal onslaught. Of course, the sadistic Consul wouldn't dare raise a hand to one of his own noble broods but had zero qualms mercilessly debasing those he considered beneath him. I could practically smell the sour reek of dread and humiliation pouring off the poor girl in waves.
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As Vadim drew back his fist, the mysterious woman's eyes hardened to flint. At that moment, I saw reflected in her gaze my own seething resentment at the injustices we suffered daily under Svetlan's rule --and the sparks of righteous rebellion yet to be stoked into an inferno of retribution. Our eyes remained locked across that sweltering, perfumed hall as the first strike fell, and the servant crumpled with a whimper. Battle lines had been drawn without a single word exchanged.
I snapped back as the clangorous clamoring of the Large blast doors came swiftly I heard the soft click of a button near Aiko's side of the smooth black chrome table. Vadim's horror was mounted on his face like a dying albino wilder beast. "MY LIEGE! Not only is this a disgusting misuse of power but you have no right to punish me by our people's treaty!" Each moment that passed his eyebrows furrowed more and his flat lips trembled heavily.
"Even if you try to pass off my petulant brat as Svet nobility..." He couldn't help but permit himself to put down women who function as the spine of our civilization as if it were an expectation of their existence.
I couldn't help but model a smile that was so wide it nearly touched my ears. "Alright, those blast doors take a minute to unlock....if you can persuade the untried Minister of Foreign Affairs and Finance that you are not a pustule on the oozing wound our country is attempting to cleanse...." I held my hand out pretending to give him a chance.
For the first time he looked at his daughter Yana in the eyes, he had only addressed me and Aiko thus far with such 'respect'. " My darling, Yana--You know I can be too hard on you..." He swallowed slowly as another lock shifted out of place.
"oh...I'm allowed to speak now?!" The sudden bolster to her voice made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. "I was told--though I've lived in the palace-to never DAIN to speak out of turn. You mocked my mother's intelligence like all the other Vascan nobles you claim are 'below' your status" Another lock sunk back into the blast door but without much fanfare. Yana's voice was nearly shaking with rage as her mother stood there with a stone-cold expression boring into her soon-to-be late husband.
"YOU SHUT YOUR STUPID MOUTH! I served in this hell hole of a backwater country for-" He has what he wanted yet paused now...All eyes fell on him. A lone Svet among the sand dogs-I had never felt so much pure love between the Vascan nobility and the common Buriti people until now.
Yana stood over him her slender frame seemed to be bursting with raw hatred for her progenitor as she began pointing at me with fervor. " Huck, you know better than anyone that he blocked even Kash from obtaining any autonomy or power based on simple 'Svetlan rules'! I watched as he signed over Buriti land to Svet, Doigan, and Vascan geedy fat fingers! OVER AND OVER!"
My ears perked at this new information. I was finally getting somewhere with this madhouse beginning to form. "Tell me about that, Yana...of course, we must walk and talk. Once the Rebels get their hands on him he will be no use to us anymore."
The final lock finally came undone as the doors slowly slid open. I could hear armed soldiers making their way into different spaces of the bunker. The pale and portly man now stood endeavoring to dash out the door before anyone passed the proclamation to carry him away. Pools of sweat smeared the seat he had left rocking. The distinct fragrance of mammal stress invaded my sinuses
"Well, Yana you are the one in charge of foreign affairs-How should we handle this wayward diplomat? A pardon....A slap on the wrist...." I was being a little too cute for my station as king but I couldn't help myself.
Yana seemed to contemplate for a moment, smoothing her black hair down anxiously. The rage seemed to die down as the opening blast door came with much more eyes. " We need first have him write a renouncement of his position signed also by him...Then we will have him cast into the dunes in a burlap sack."
The man turned in horror as a large royal guard seemed to sense who the elephant in the room was. "YOU BLACK SKINNED ANIMALS....The cold north will take you by storm! SVETLAN BLOOD NEVER FREEZES"
As I stood to retort Yana quickly stepped to him, her gate was writhe with violent purpose. She began pummeling her father, it didn't have much effect due to his overbuilt size but--With each punch, she became more fluid and found more of his bobbing head.
The royal guard's full Nelson turned this proud delegate into a simple training dummy. Aiko and I walked in unison making our way over to them. Both Yana and Vadim seemed to be holding back tears as small flecks of crimson blood stained her hands and face.
"Do not release this man...Until ordered by Yana otherwise." Aiko's elbow punctuated my sentence finding its sharp end into the socket of his eye wetly. Yana let out a small gasp at the ferocity of the strike as he let out a small wale. "Remember when you forced old King Vasca to send Kash away to your slave camps?! Boarding schools dont brand their students!"
Aiko gripped his swollen and bloody face with her black-gloved hand. "Do you remember....when you made that servant girl kill herself? SVET's don't like bastards right?!" She struck him so hard I swore I nearly heard the crunch of his skull on his brain matter.
I put my hand between Yana, Aiko, and Vadim. "Let me say this on behalf Vascan royalty and also for all Buritians everywhere that now fall into my hands..." I lowered my hand to the guard as he put the broken man to his knees violently.
The pitiful abuser could do nothing but moan and spit blood mixed with drool. My body tensed as I felt the words fill my chest before even speaking. "FUCK YOU DIE SLOW!" I knew I was going to lose it but the feeling of 4 consecutive headbutts in front of my new cabinet was an unexplored level. With each blow, I felt my forehead push deeper into his squishy desecrated cranium.
Wrath washed my mentality when one of my dreads came back wet with brain matter and bits of eye. The next few moments of feral kicking he accepted were surveyed silently as the room mirrored vultures over a carcass. After nearly twelve kicks to his now shattered rib cage, I composed myself.
pushing my red dreadlocks out my face and slicking them back with his blood, Yana's voice was the first to speak. "Duotros be swift! you are making an ass of yourself Huck! " She put her arm gently on the royal guardsman almost scaring him due to the sudden shift in dynamics. "Take Vadim to the Outlands and sew him into a burlap sack....I do not think he deserves the ammunition."