My Kingdom Come book 1: The Saints We See

656 standard years after the signing of the Alliance treaty

Hathu stood near the front of the crowd of students, his heart beating a little faster than normal. He couldn’t get picked last or his father would hear about it and Hathu would be punished.

The four team captains, all a year or two from graduating, stood on the other side of the courtyard calling out names in turn. Hathu kept note of which students went to each team. It was partially a bid to mask his nerves and partially a move to develop a game strategy. Not that his team captain was likely to listen to him.

The students around Hathu didn’t stand too close to him, or too far away. They didn’t want to offend the son of Nediz, one of the head prison guards at the penal colony, but they also didn’t want to be too friendly with him. Nediz was not well liked outside his inner circle and Hathu’s siblings had upheld their father’s tradition of being powerful, but not particularly likable.

The group of unpicked students grew smaller around Hathu. He did his best to look like he didn’t care. After all this was the first year he would be allowed to participate in the game, now that he was ten standard years old. Most of the other students his age hadn’t been picked either. When Hathu was finally picked for blue team, he wasn’t last one to be picked. He hoped that would be enough to satisfy his father.

His team leader, Nassar, had each member of blue team jot down their name and age on a datapad and then they were released from school for the day.

Hathu walked down the dilapidated streets towards Deetha’s house. The small village had been built almost a hundred standard years ago when the penal colony had been founded out on the far edge of civilized space. Since then, almost the only new things to come out to this distant moon were convicts and slaves. Many of the prison guards had been born in the colony and grown up there, more doomed than the prisoners who came to serve a sentence and then left.

Hathu knocked on the door of Deetha’s house and it was opened by his five standard year old nephew, Armis.

“Oh, hello Hathu. I got home from school okay.” Armis was chewing on a piece of dried meat.

Hathu smiled. “I knew you would. Is Deetha awake?”

“Yeah.” Armis opened the door wider and stepped back.

Hathu stepped inside. Armis and his younger brother, Janim, were enacting out some loud scene with their toys in the living room. Janim paid little attention when Hathu tousled his hair as he passed through the room. In the kitchen a very pregnant Deetha was standing over the sink, her fists clenched, eyes closed and her breathing ragged. On the counter preparations for supper were halfway complete.

Hathu went to the counter and began to chop the vegetables that were still on the cutting board.

After a minute Deetha turned around. “Hello, Hathu. I didn’t expect to see you today.” Her smile was wan.

“All we did was pick teams today.”

“Ah.”

“What are we making tonight?”

Deetha’s smile widened for a moment. “Just stew tonight.”

Hathu nodded. “Go lay down, I don’t need help to finish this.”

Deetha stood undecided for a moment.

“Go, I probably wont be able to help out many more nights before the baby comes. Rest while you can. I’ll wake you up before Tannis comes home.” Hathu made a shooing motion.

“Father still hasn’t said anything to you about coming over and helping?”

Hathu shook his head. “Nope.”

“Alright. Thank you Hathu.” Deetha kissed him on the cheek and left the kitchen.

Hathu got the stew bubbling on the stove and then went and helped his two nephews clean up their toys.

“But why do we have to clean up?” Janim pouted.

“Because we can’t leave a mess when we go out and play tag.” Hathu answered.

“Tag?” Janim said excitedly. He began to shovel his toys quickly into the toy bin.

Soon Hathu and the two boys were running around in street in front of Deetha’s house playing tag. Some of the other children in the neighborhood joined them and they played for a good half hour or so before Hathu brought the boys back in the house.

“Wash up and brush your hair.” Hathu instructed them.

“Why do we always have to brush our hair before supper?” Armis asked.

Hathu shrugged. “I don’t know. It’s just something we do. It feels good to be neat and clean when you eat.”

The boys went off to clean up for supper and Hathu went to check on the food. It was just about ready. He set the table and found some bread to slice up before the boys came back to the kitchen. Hathu served them food and sat with them while they ate.

“I thought you said you weren’t coming tonight.” Armis said, his mouth full of bread.

“I didn’t think I was. I probably wont be able to for a while.”

“How come?” Janim asked.

“I’m going to be playing in the game this year at school.”

“What’s that?” Janim slurped up a spoonful of stew.

“Well, in the game there’s four teams.” Hathu explained. “Each team has a pennant that they have to protect and they have try to steal the pennants from the other three teams. Whoever steals all the other teams pennants wins a point, and whichever team gets three points first wins the game. Sometimes it can take a few weeks for a team to win the game.”

“What team are you on?” Armis asked.

“Blue team.”

Armis raised his eyebrows. “Isn’t the blue team field one of the bad ones?”

Hathu shrugged. “It’s supposed to be. But that just means more glory if we win.”

* * *

Hathu quietly let himself into the house. His father was home early today.

A quick glance and sniff told Hathu that his mother hadn’t been down all day. His father was sitting at the table, waiting. Hathu swallowed and went to stand near his father’s chair.

Nediz ignored him for a few minutes, nursing his tankard of beer.

Hathu waited, his hands clenching each other tightly behind his back. He tried to keep his breathing calm and even. He could hear the family’s Kaylor slave, Gemma, working quietly in the kitchen.

Nediz finally looked at Hathu. “Where were you? You didn’t have team training today.”

“I was at Deetha’s.”

Nediz stood up and unbuckled his belt. “Take off your shirt and lean over the table.”

Hathu obeyed, his hands trembling.

A loud crash came from the kitchen startling Hathu.

Nediz cursed loudly, threw his belt on the table and strode into the kitchen. “You useless bitch!”

Hathu waited, hands on the table his breathing shallow, as his father beat and cursed at Gemma. After fifteen minutes or so Nediz snarled, “come upstairs to my room tonight. You’ll be serving me instead of sleeping to pay for that dish.”

“Yes master.” Gemma answered on a quiet sob.

Nediz came back out of the kitchen, retrieved his belt and moved behind Hathu. “How many times do I have to tell you, cooking and taking care of children is not something a warrior does? That’s work for the those with weak primes. Your sister has a duty to serve, not to lie around and let others do her work.”

“It’s my duty as a warrior to look out for the welfare of my sister.” Hathu gritted out.

The belt snapped across Hathu’s back which was still sore from his last whipping. He flinched.

“Don’t move, runt,” Nediz snarled.

The belt fell across Hathu’s back ten more times. Then his father growled, “put your shirt back on.”

Hathu obeyed, relief flooding his body. This whipping had been a lot shorter than the last one.

Nediz threaded his belt through the loops in his pants and buckled it. “This will be the last time you go to Tannis’ house after school, do you understand?”

Hathu clenched his jaw. “Deetha is giving life to a warrior. It’s our duty to be sure she succeeds in nurturing her child. If you don’t want me to help her, at least let Gemma go over and help her for a few hours in the afternoons.”

His father slapped him across the face hard enough that Hathu stumbled back into the table. “You think you can teach me my duty?” Nediz snarled, stepping forward and leaning over him.

Hathu fought the urge to flinch or draw back. “No Father. I think that you have more important things to focus on than the care of Deetha’s home and family.”

Nediz straightened a little. “You’re right, pathetic runt.” He turned and walked up the stairs.

Hathu didn’t move till his heard his father’s bedroom door close. As soon as he heard it click shut he let out a breath and the tension in his body drained out. He felt weak and sick. He finished buttoning up his shirt with trembling hands then went to the doorway of the kitchen. Gemma was sweeping up the broken dish. She looked up.

“Are you alright, master?”

“I’m fine, Gemma.” There was a purple bruise on her blue cheekbone. “You shouldn’t have broken the dish, he was only going to use his belt on me.”

She smiled and started sweeping again. “You think I broke it on purpose, master? Accidents happen. What did you cook at master Deetha’s?”

“Stew.”

She nodded. “Did you eat already?”

“No.”

“Good, I cooked your favorite for tonight. What team did you get picked for?”

Hathu smiled. “Blue. Nassar is our team captain.”

“Blue team, hm? You’ve got a challenge on your hands, master Hathu.”