War Prize

Chapter Eight: KATIRINA

        The room I entered was filled with different displays of wealth. At first glance it could be viewed as warm and inviting, then as it all comes into full view that perspective changes. The first thing you see when you enter is a cluster of couches and chairs, sitting in the center of the room, surrounding a glass table. The chairs and couches were made of  soft brown leather, with pillows and blankets of varying shades of white and gold. My eyes shifted over the couches, the expensive leather in this room made my previous masters beloved commander chair look as though it was purchased on one of the underdeveloped planets in the Uncharted Sector in the far corner of the universe. 

        I glanced about the rest of the room, uncomfortable with being surrounded by such wealth. On one side of the room sat a clean TeloScreen mounted on the wall waiting patiently to be activated. On the other a sturdy wood desk nestled against the cream painted metal walls. Behind the desk, burgundy curtains were pulled closed making the room appear closed off and dark. The room felt too closed off, making my chest tighten as though all the oxygen in the room had been sucked from it. 

        With quick, brisk steps I moved to the curtains, my shaking hands gripped each one tightly and ripped them apart to reveal what lay outside the ship. 

        There was never ending darkness that filled my vision, it was only marred by the light of many distant suns and the planet in the distance that the ship was slowly drawing closer to. I wrapped my arms about myself, staring out into space, calming my raging heartbeat. The time I had spent in Chamber X had altered my reaction to condensed spaces, no longer could I willingly stand in a closed off room without my body working against me. I began to count my heartbeat, until it slowed down to sixty beats per minute.  

        "What do you find more calming?" A deep voice questioned, interrupting my count. I straightened my back at the voice, refusing to look at him for then he would know that I was in utter shock that he had managed to enter the room without my knowledge. I had been so wrapped up in myself to notice his presence, a mistake that could have cost me my life if he had intended to kill me. "Is it the darkness that you find relaxing or is it the faint lights that stop it from being completely dark?" 

         I could feel his body heat surround me as he came up to stand beside me staring out into darkness along side me. My eyes briefly took in his profile before shifting back to the darkness. I said nothing as I had no answer to the questions he was asking. 

        "I was informed that you were mute." He said after a while. "I suppose it doesn't make you any less qualified." My eyebrows drew together at his last comment. He spoke more to himself than to me at this point, acting as though me being 'mute' made me too useless to even speak to. At the thought of it, my nose scrunched up, and I turned away from the darkness. When I was a young child in the orphanage the nuns of the old religion always told us that if you stare into darkness for too long it will eventually swallow you up. I had never believed it to be true, but as I looked back at the Prince I could see the darkness that surrounded him like a layer of clothing. He had a hard ridged stance, as he stared at the darkness, a military stance that is strictly enforced. As I stared at him, taking in his appearance and stature in an effort to unravel him, my mind kept spinning back to the question he asked. 

        One implied that my soul was as black as that darkness, the other was a question as to if I was optimistic that even in darkness there was light. Neither was that the reason behind why the darkness of the universe calms me, yet I had no other explanation either. 

        Too many thoughts were swirling through my head to fast it made me dizzy. I made my way to one of the chairs sinking down into it slowly, attempting to clear my thoughts of the princes question as it swirled round and round through my head.   

        "We draw nearer to Gallium." the Prince said softly. I glanced at him. He glanced at me, staring for a long moment, before turning back to the window. "You belong to me now as you probably already know, but you are no longer a slave. You are my property, my possession. You shall do as I say, when I say it. If you disobey you shall be punished. If you rebel you shall be punished. If you escape, I shall find you, and you shall be punished. That bracelet shall remain about your wrist until I say that it can be removed." 

        My eyebrows scrunched together again. Confusion seemed to be the biggest emotion I hold when I converse with the people aboard this ship. Each person has told me something either surprising or confounding. The most mystifying person of all though, was the prince that stood staring out into space, telling me things I already knew while also saying that I am no longer a slave. His words were a contradiction to the ones he spoke mere seconds before. he was fully of contradictions. He demands a private conversation with someone he believes to be a mute then says barely anything at all, and when he does speak it is as though he is talking to himself. I would question his state of mind, if I hadn't already witnessed his intelligence for myself. 

        The ship drew closer and closer to Gallium, while the prince and I remained frozen in time, him staring into darkness, me staring at him. I analysed him as my old master would have analysed a slave he was preparing to purchase. I tried to understand the man who would want to own someone as cursed as me, but it only left me even more confused about the man himself. So as I stared at his ridged military stance for the rest of the journey to Gallium, I wondered who Prince James Solon really was and what he wanted from me.