Hate And Heresy

Meek stood in her upstairs room and looked about all her things. There wasn't much and she knew that. A bag of clothing would suffice. She could always get more useless things later if she felt the need. When she pulled out the large luggage from under her bed to empty her dresser, Meek thought for a moment about Moya's belongings, only to remember the slave had none but the clothing she had been given.

"So, time for sharing yet?" Moya asked, sitting on the bed. "You said you would. Tell me who you really are and then I'll tell you who I am."

"A funny offer, considering I didn't have any idea who you were anyway," Meek replied. "Aside from all the times you got pissed off and claimed you were a proud warrior from proud people."

Meek began to pull open drawers and pick out the favorites of her wardrobe. It would certainly have been possible to take everything they had, but only if there hadn't been a sense of urgency. Although, the women didn't exactly behave as if there was such a dangerous time limit upon them.

"My name now is Meek, but it used to be Koi," she began. "Those women out there were, or are, the Seven Sisters of the Queen. Sort of like, the special soldiers that get their orders straight from the leader of my people."

"That's a bad place to start," Moya interrupted. "I don't know anything about your people."

"Oh, uh, right," Meek said, tossing unwanted clothing to the floor. "My people are the Ordan. They are a hyper-religious people and very into crusades. They convert systems and take them over, making everyone worship the gods Offel and Makel or die. Offel is the god of war, peace, and madness. She blesses our soldiers before battle and officers who maintain the peace on our conquered planets. When people lose their minds, Offel is blamed. The Ordan sacrifice people who had gone mad in the name of Offel, believing they've been chosen.

"Makel is the god of new life and mothers. She blesses some children for certain walks of life. If someone excels at something, we say that Makel gave them the gift. There were other gods, but they died. Or really, the queen says that the gods said they died. We don't know for sure. We only did as we were told."

"And how did you fit into all of this?" Moya asked. "You seem like you're somebody important if the queen's own troops are after you."

"There used to be an order of special crusaders called the Red Knights of the Queen," Meek explained, her thoughts halting her progress on the packing. "I was one of them. We were about ten in all, I think. Red knights were special soldiers. Blessed soldiers. Titans amongst our fellow warriors."

"And the Seven Sisters were supposed to be able to defeat you?" Moya questioned. "Is that a feasible matchup?"

"It should have been," Meek replied, remembering what she was doing. "It would have been, with the old Seven Sisters. This new group isn't seasoned. They are nothing by comparison. The one that didn't fight was one of the old ones. She's a powerful warrior, but she chose to do nothing. She knew she couldn't take me. Seems pretty f.u.c.k.e.d up now that I think about it. She just threw away the lives of her sisters."

"But there wasn't seven present," Moya pointed out. "Are the other two a problem? Is that why we're leaving?"

Meek paused partway through the folding of a pair of jeans. She looked at the stitches of the cloth, as if some answers or relief would be found.

"They might be," Meek answered. "Adella, the veteran that didn't fight, said the missing two wanted to see me. That's enough to say that they're seasoned. But even if I kill them all, the queen won't stop hunting for me. She's too pissed off and full of herself to give up. More will come. This planet could turn into a battlefield."

Moya picked up a pair of p.a.n.t.i.e.s that had been packed and stretched them with her thumbs childishly.

"What happened to the Red Knights?" she asked.

Meek froze. Her eyes looked out the window behind the dresser and to the plains, passed every blade of grass and the remnants of the brief battle. Meek tried hard not to rediscover every detail of her past.

"You ever feel like you're dreaming?" Meek asked. "Like you see everything you do, but you can't stop. Like someone else is in control of your body?"

"I have, yes," Moya replied. "It's a terrible thing. You feel helpless and wronged. Betrayed by your own flesh and hopelessly lost. It makes you feel like all there can be is emptiness within."

"Well, I woke up," Meek explained. "And I killed every red knight. Most of the Seven Sisters too. All but Adella. And none of it was honorable. I blew them up during a special congregation by rigging the temple with explosives. Lots of ordinary people were in there too, but I didn't care. As far as I'm concerned, anyone following our religion are the garbage of the universe that don't care about innocent life.

"The Ordan, and myself, are responsible for countless dead. I cut through non-believers like butter. I hacked families to pieces because in my mind it was for the betterment of all. We had to all follow and obey or the universe would be nothing but thoughtless chaos."

"What woke you up?" Moya asked.

"A god that was supposed to be dead," Meek answered, looking like she had just gotten the chills. "His name is Kool. The queen said he was dead so we all believed her. Kool is the god of reason, humor, and anger and he told me to stop. I was on a planet we were about to begin cleansing of heretics when he showed himself to me. He stood in the field my army marched upon. Soldiers and tanks passed through him. No one knew he was there except me. He takes the form of a small boy in ragged clothing.

"When I reached him, he looked at me with big sad eyes. It instantly made me feel awful but for what, I didn't know. Then he said that what I was doing was wrong. He said we were all wrong. I fell to my knees when he spoke. The emotional force he wielded was crazy. It was like a million children pleading for their lives. His words crushed my soul."

"So, you decided to kill your most dangerous comrades before fleeing?" Moya questioned.

"I knew I couldn't stop my people, but I could at least deal out my own punishment," Meek replied. "It would have been best to kill the queen, but she's impossible to reach. The bitch hides in a fortress on our homeworld, locked away and guarded by some of the fiercest warriors there has ever been. It would have been a suicide run and I wasn't willing to die. I had to figure out what Kool wanted me to do."

"He gave you instructions?" Moya said. "Well, that's certainly handy."

"No, not really," Meek said. "After he told me I was doing wrong, he told me to find happiness and to wait for him again. I've been waiting for him to show up and say something. Still working on the happiness thing too."

"Think I could make you happy?" Moya asked, laying down on the bed suggestively with a beckoning motion of the hand.

"Carnally," Meek replied with a sly smile. "But it's your turn now. Tell me your story."

"I'm far less impressive," Moya replied. "I said I was a warrior from a proud race of war-loving people and I meant it. But my people, the Da'gak, were defeated and enslaved by the Votov many lifetimes before my birth. All my people know is the servitude they are born into. They don't question their lives, because it is the way things have been for generations. It is their reality.

I was born and raised to serve a rich Votov family. I cleaned and took care of the most basic of chores in a big house that wasn't mine, tackling more difficult things as I grew older. When I became a young woman and began to blossom, the bratty daughter of the family thought I was a threat to her. When they would have guest parties, which were basically matchmaking affairs for young people, she locked me in a room. Eventually, she had her father sell me away so she didn't have to deal with me."

"I have to say, you're talking about this pretty plainly," Meek said, having completely forgotten her packing.

"Like I said, it's all we know, my master," Moya replied. "How funny it is that I would end up your slave after finally escaping my fate of servitude."

"How did you escape?" Meek asked.

"Well, I wasn't just sold out of the family, I was sold off the damn planet," Moya explained. "The Votov did a lot of trading with other races, so the planet was a big-time space hub. I ended up the property of a merchant in the market for a slave woman."

"Is it as bad as I think it is?"

"Were you thinking the words 'meat puppet' just now?"

Meek frowned deeply.

"I'm sorry, Moya," she said. "That's f.u.c.k.i.n.g awful."

"Yeah, it was," Moya replied, putting her hands on her slave collar. "What I have now is wonderful by comparison. But anyhow, I escaped from the merchants after a few years. I did my best as an obedient pet until my owner eventually landed here. He took me into Kadence and sold me at a black market slave auction. Guess he was bored of me.

"This part of the story I actually like. While this was going on, the building was raided and everyone was arrested. At the time I was just worried about what would happen to my well being without an owner, but now that I've had time to think, it's really funny."

"F.u.c.k, you've spent your entire life living as someone else's property?" Meek questioned. "I almost feel bad now."

"And I don't feel very bad at all, knowing that you've killed countless amounts of innocent people," Meek replied.

"Yeah, okay, shut up," Moya said with much irritation. "So, how do we get to where we meet?"

"Well, the government decided to provide me sanctuary and they set me up in a women's shelter. But, this world didn't really invoke the sort of warrior-feeling that I sought. At least, not until I came across you in a bar. You were half the size of the guy you sent to the floor. The rest, you already know. I followed your cab and attacked you outside our front door but you kicked my a.s.s. Your power is incredible and I want it."

"And you'll get it if you lay with me and kill me?" Meek asked with a cheeky smile. "But wait, you didn't actually explain anything about that part. You didn't tell me anything about Maetodon or your beliefs and shit."

"Oh, yeah," Moya said. "I learned about our god Maetodon from elder Da'gak. They kept it a secret, but the oldest of my people were keeping their beliefs alive and passing it down carefully. I heard an old woman telling my mother all about it. I don't know grand amounts of scripture or anything, but I know that Maetodon promises eternal prosperity and power to those who sacrifice in his name. The old woman was trying to convince my mother that if she sacrificed her masters she could save us all and a rebellion could begin, but the pep talk didn't take.

"I never tried the sacrifice because I didn't believe it would work. I didn't have any reason to believe in higher powers or anything that would give me a life of my own. But as luck would have it, I ended up with my own life by accident and I didn't like it. I didn't know what to do with myself. Suddenly, I had to figure out my place. I had to decide what my days were for. I guess in my emptiness I decided that trying out that sacrifice was a good idea."

"Oh, and just so you know, apparently the s.e.x part is like an insurance policy," Moya remembered. "I could just kill you and it would supposedly work, but laying with you pleases Maetodon more. If I were a man, I'd have to eat you after I killed you, instead of the s.e.x."

Meek stared blankly at Moya. In all their talking she had completely forgotten her packing and had little progress.

"Man, we're both pretty f.u.c.k.e.d up, you know that?" Meek said. "But, as long as you know your place, I don't mind having you along."

With a few button presses upon her bracelet, Meek remotely unlocked the slave collar around Moya with an audible click. The masked woman was quite shocked and sat up quickly, allowing the deadly restraint to fall away from her.

"I feel like I can't f.u.c.k.i.n.g stress this enough," Meek said. "You really sure you want to stick with me?"

"You may not understand how I feel, but I believe I've grown to want you as my master," Moya replied. "You're the first owner I've actually wanted to serve. I'm not just blankly waiting for orders. I want to take care of you, you f.u.c.k.i.n.g lazy, incompetent, idiot."

"Fine then," Meek said with a heavy sigh. "Let's hurry up and get going then, before we have another fight on our hands."

"Can I try and kill you in the night for fun sometimes?" Moya asked playfully.

"If you don't mind getting punched in the face again," Meek answered.