Princess Rei - 01
Princess Rei | Noncon | Furry | Hetro
When the aliens arrive with their incredible machines, Princess Rei's father trades mineral rights for an unsurpassed fortune in metal. Their new-found wealth gives her family the power they need to surpass the other great houses.
The heir of House Lucent doesn't accept defeat. He bargains with one of the aliens for power. The alien only asks for one thing. Only accepts one thing as payment.
Princess Rei.
The mountain rumbles, heralding the arrival of another sky-born ship. An impossibly loud sound, felt, not heard, reverberates in my chest. Tail bristling, ears folded flat against my head, I stumble on the ancient steps carved into the side of the cliff.
The sky-born insist it isn't harmful.
They say it's just sound.
They're not wizards, no matter what the ignorant believe. Science, not magic, sends their ships through the void between worlds. Not that it really matters. Their technology is so far out of the kin's reach that we can't comprehend the basic underlying principles.
Are they more intelligent than we are, or will the kin reach the stars and greet them as equals one day?
From the top of the stairs, I take a few moments to marvel at the great wound their machines have rent straight through the center of the mountain. Nightfall comes quickly in the peaks, but mere darkness doesn't stop their tireless machines.
Climbing the last few steps, I cross across the threshold, entering Sanctuary. Two days ago these walls had been filled with holy priests and priestesses.
Not anymore.
Evacuating Sanctuary was part of the deal father made with the sky-born. These humans, as they call themselves, had insisted. At first, the priesthood was horrified. Outraged at being ordered to change their sermons. They refused to tell the masses about the new god. The human god.
It's amazing how quickly people's minds change when you come bearing ten pounds of gold.
My ears swivel, catching the echoes of my slow measured pace. Silence driving home just how empty Sanctuary has become.
In the courtyard, I close my eyes and lift my face to the heavens. Tonight, the night of my commencement, childhood ends. In the morning, I’ll be a grown woman, with the rights and responsibilities of an adult.
To my shame, my heart isn't in the prayer I make to the goddess. I no longer believe. Not after encountering the miracles the humans have created with their technology.
Giving up, I regretfully open my eyes.
The courtyard's fountain no longer flows. Still and flat, the pool’s crystal clear water casts a perfect reflection back at me.
Long white hair, silky and beautiful, tumbles down to my waist. White tail twitching nervously, I brush both hands down pale porcelain skin.
Hands without calluses. Perfectly trimmed fingernails. The hands of a pampered princess. Quietly, in the empty shrine, I whisper what I wish I could say openly.
"I’m the most beautiful woman in the world, or so everyone tells me, lithe and graceful with the voice of an angel. Poetry in motion, the bards have claim. Put on display, I sing and dance at your command. All for your pride."
I clench my hand into a fist, my voice rising into a shout, "Damn you, father, I'm more than a trophy."
All my life, father has watched over me, overprotective and doting. Always eager to give me everything I wanted. As long as what I wanted matched his idealized vision of perfect noblewoman. An ideal beauty.
I stare into my own silver eyes until sudden ripples dance across the water. Another sky-born ship has arrived, the power of it’s passing scattering my image.
Humans.
This morning father allowed me to come with him to the meeting. In many ways, humans look like us. We, the kin, are as furless as humans, except for our ears and tails. Our triangular ears swivel to catch sound with pinpoint accuracy. Theirs do nothing. Seeming to be afterthoughts, hung on the side of their heads, barely worthy of the name. Without a tail, they look strange. Not bad, just different. They are giants that tower over us. Especially me. The top of my head barely reaches their waists.
Closing my eyes, I sit, crossed legged, on the same stone my mother and grandmother meditated upon the night they came of age.
Peace doesn't come.
Not with my thoughts running wild. Not when their impossible machines tirelessly grind and tear their way deeper into the bedrock far below.
Father traded the crystals they harvest for a king's ransom in iron, copper, silver, and gold. Overnight, our house rose from thirteenth to first. We now have an army of mercenaries that outnumbers all the other great houses combined.
Father says our future is assured.
Yet, I don't feel secure.
Has our economy, our society, been damaged beyond repair? Will the humans leave, as father claims, or will they control our future as father controls mine.
"Good morning, Princess Rei."
At the unexpected voice, I jump to my feet, spinning around, coming to rest face-to-face with the heir of House Lucent. He dares to interrupt a woman on the night of her commencement?
For a heartbeat, I'm at a loss for words, shocked at his impertinence. Without conscious thought, my training kicks in, schooling my face. Steadying me.
"Lord Bentor," I say. My only response to his uncivilized behaviour is the carefully measured hint of disdain in my tone.
Since long before humans arrived, our families have been on the verge of open conflict. Thanks to father’s deal with the humans, our house has the upper hand. Lord Bentor shouldn’t be playing games. Not now. Why chance angering father?
Suddenly, I knew.
He was here to kidnap me.
Why else would he take the risk? He must plan to trade me back to the man that the world believes is a doting father. All I can do is hope my father's pride will be pricked by this insult. Only his pride is worth more to him than wealth and power.
A quiet pop comes from a small metal object in his hand, and a sharp sting pricks my neck. It fades as quickly as it had begun. My fingers find a dart. A strange dart. Not feathers. Too perfect.
A human weapon.
Vision blurring, body going numb, I collapse. I'm barely aware of my head bouncing off the stone floor as the world fades away.
Voices pierce the pounding of my head. Did I fall asleep? A human speaks. After a few seconds of incomprehensible sounds, their translator activates.
"...fulfilled my side of our bargain, now it's your turn," the human says in his strangely accented voice.
"She's in the back of the carriage," says Lord Bentor.
Adrenaline surges. My abduction. His strange weapon. The dart. Poison. My eyes snap open. A human? What would a human want with me? My breath quickens. Panic rises and fear grips my heart.
I... can't move.
Except my eyes. Just my eyes.
Nothing. Not a finger wiggles. Not an ear twitches.
My eyes dart around, but since I can't turn my head, all I see is the blurry ceiling.
Out of my line of sight, the door opens. With every fiber of my being, I strive to force my unresponsive body to move. To escape. To run.
Nothing happens.
Desperately, I scream for help.
Nothing happens.
Effortlessly, rough hands lift me. Large hands. I blink, trying to make out the dark blur holding me. Another blur comes close, and I attempt to focus on it.
"She's awake?" Lord Bentor exclaims, "I thought you said she wouldn't wake until noon!"
"I said that she'll be helpless until noon. She's awake, but she'll be paralyzed for a couple more hours."
"Oh."
"She's so small, even though she looks like a perfectly proportioned woman... Are you sure she's fully grown?"
"Of course," says Lord Bentor. "She turned eighteen last night. She was foolish enough to have her commencement ceremony at the abandoned cathedral. That's how I was able to kidnap her on such short notice."
"Good."
The human's dark chuckle sends a shiver down my spine.
Like a bolt of lighting, I realize what should have been obvious from the moment I saw a human weapon in Lord Benthor's hands. I'm not going to be ransomed to my father!
No no no no NO!
Over and over, I scream.
Silently.
Sounding curious, Lord Bentor says, "You never said what you wanted the princess for."
The human’s only response is a rumbling chuckle. Neither of them say another word as they part ways. What could one of these strange humans want with me?
An ‘airlock’ on the sky-born’s dwelling opens with a hiss and clank followed by a puff of cool musky air, and he carries me inside. Before my father took me to his meeting with the humans, I wouldn’t have known what an airlock was. The human strolls towards a beeping sound, leaving the airlock to seal itself shut behind him.
Dark Fantasies