She flitted from lily pad to lily pad. Hardly a ripple disturbed the still, starlit water beneath her wispy feet. The moon bathed her hair, flowing and translucent, in white light.
Akyia’s gemstones also glowed at night. Like all Shiaz, her body contained seven jewels: one in her forehead, her belly button, and over her heart; and one each on top of her hands and feet. They were all sapphires, save the ruby over her heart.
She was young. A girl, yet on her way to becoming a woman. She surged with life and energy. Her misty feet lighted on the grasses and she burst into a floating run, gliding across the land, around the world. Carefree as a breeze through the lilies.
She paused only to stroke the great Elk King. He stood among the herd, antlers proud and silver and unhunted, for the Volos had enough treasures to last many lifetimes. They had no need to hunt that which was rare, for no rare thing existed. Treasures abounded in any Volos home.
Her fingers caressed the Elk King’s muzzle. At the contact, she turned solid in the night: a ghostly white girl, draped in a fine thin dress. Her jewels stood out on top of her skin. Her eyes shone blue as her sapphires. The Elk King stepped back, bowing his head, and she turned translucent once more.
The moon hung low when she returned home. Just beyond the glade, she saw a light. It wasn’t blue or white. It was yellow.
Peeking through some bushes, she saw it was a Volos man with a lantern. He wore a bag slung over his shoulder and walked slowly, head turning from side to side as though taking note of everything he saw.
His presence surprised Akyia. There was much trade between the Volos and Shiaz, but it usually occurred in the Nurture Market, where the Volos were allowed to cross into Shiaz lands. And it also only happened during the daylight. She’d never seen a Volos at night before.
When his back was turned, she dashed past, zipping through the forest until she reached her home high in a giant oak tree. Her mother and sister slumbered on their beds of velvet moss. Her father was gone as usual--he was a protector, out near the far borders of their lands, guarding against dark forces. Akyia paused, wondering if she should wake and tell her mother of the Volos man. She decided it could wait until morning.
* * *
When morning came, she forgot.
She went about her day as usual--tending the forest, the rivers. Breathing life into gardens. Harvesting and helping her mother cook for the Shiaz in their village. When the warm glow of sunset bowed before the diamonds of the night, Akyia ran off to visit the herd of the Elk King. She liked to play with the fawn.
But she couldn’t find them. She circled their meadow, then the treeline, then went back to the meadow. Then she saw smothered grasses and silver blood reflecting the moonlight. She bent down near the blood, heart pounding, her ruby gemstone flickering. Tears filled her eyes.
She looked up and gasped.
No one had snuck up on a Shiaz before, but somehow, he had. Moonlight cast the Volos man’s features in either white light or shadow. That was all she saw before he reached out, faster than a heartbeat, and wrapped a cold hand around her transparent wrist.
At once she turned solid. Before she could react, he snapped something heavy around her ankle. Blind panic seared her senses, and Akyia lashed out, swinging her free hand and kicking her free foot.
The man laughed and knocked her down with one blow, making sure his contact with her skin never broke. He clamped more heavy things on her, metal bands weighed down with cords attached to metal balls.
Unable to move, she did what she’d never once done in her entire life: she screamed. She channeled all her terror and rage into her voice, willing it to reach all corners of the world.
He slapped a hand over her mouth and squeezed her throat, killing her voice in seconds. “None of that,” he said quietly. As he released her throat, something appeared in his hand. She realized it was tape right before he smeared the stuff across her mouth.
Akyia felt new contact on her wrist as the man stood up, and saw now that he wasn’t alone. A woman in a cloak sat beside Akyia keeping that necessary contact--the contact from a living creature that trapped Akyia in a body of flesh. Without it, the bands would have no hold.
“Move fast,” said the woman’s hoarse voice.
The man went to a bag and pulled out a rod. Something clicked and the rod lit like a devilish red hook, which the man lowered to the sapphire jewel on Akyia’s right foot. “All too easy.”
Every part of Akyia screamed in silence. The glow of her jewels flickered madly, prompting the woman to laugh. “Look at the light show she’s giving us.”
Her body writhed, but to no avail. Sharp heat burned the top of her foot. It lasted only two seconds, but when Akyia’s jewel came free, the loss was unbearable. Strangely, no pain or blood seeped from her foot, yet it felt like her foot was completely gone.
He moved swiftly to remove the gems from her other foot and two hands. That left the three crucial jewels over her forehead, belly button, and heart. When he removed the sapphire from her stomach, Akyia felt sick. She wondered if she was going to die.
She closed her eyes against the red light when he brought the rod to her forehead. Heat erupted all around her face. This gemstone put up a fight; pain exploded everywhere as he held the rod there, wriggling and jiggling her forehead. But in the end, it gave up, providing relief from the heat but numbing her senses.
He bent down near her chest. “Last one.”
“I’ve heard--” the woman hesitated. “I--I’ve heard that removing the heartstone kills them.”
The man’s face hovered over Akyia’s, his face shining greedy and menacing in the red glow of his rod and Akyia’s ruby. He shrugged. “These gems will make us king and queen. Those freaks won’t be able to touch us.” He lowered the rod to her heart. “Once they get over her, we can take more. They’re so weak anyway.”
Why? Akyia thought desperately. When you have everything? The Volos need no jewels, they have their own! Why, oh mother goddess, why?
Heat pierced her chest. Akyia felt everything--anger, pain, love, sorrow, hope. She held on to everything she could, from her memories to her passions, to those things held dear and special in her heart. She was no mere carrier of jewels: she was a creature with love and dreams, and she would fight in any way she could. Even if it wasn’t enough.
Pain blossomed from her chest. This is the end.
But her ruby would not give in. The pain and heat grew until they mingled in a sort of red fog, a fog that suddenly grew vast but distant. She saw the faces of her family, of her friends both Shiaz and elk, and felt only love. She was scared to die, but she was proud of how she’d lived.
Then the heat dampened. Through the daze of her trauma, Akyia saw the man back off her so fast that he fell over.
And the woman let go.
Somehow Akyia pushed her broken body of light and wind to move, and she flew away from her bonds, from the ground. A giant streak ran past and Akyia gasped. It was the Elk King, as proud and magnificent as ever, though he ran with a limp and silver blood seeped from his hind leg. But his silver antlers stood unchallenged, and before the two Volos could pull their weapons, the Elk King did what any defender would--and the two Volos fell, never to move again.
Akyia floated over to the great elk. He sank to his knees and nudged a bag on the ground with his antlers. The bag held her jewels, their lights extinguished.
She’d never lost her gems before, and didn’t know if she could simply put them back, but she had to try. She fingered a sapphire and pressed it against her forehead. She didn’t know how long she waited, but when it was clear nothing would happen, she covered her face with her hands and sobbed.
“At least I’m alive,” she said over and over. “Thanks to you, mighty King and friend.”
In the gentlest of motions, he nuzzled her ruby jewel. She placed a hand over it, eyes closed. Her heart swelled from the love and sacrifice the Elk King had shown. The feeling spread, rushing through her limbs, filling her gem-less places with warmth. The warmth grew and grew until red light enveloped her.
The Elk King nuzzled her cheek. In those brief seconds of solidarity, her body felt fresh and new, and she finally saw why. Ruby jewels shimmered on her hands, the top of her feet, her belly button, and her forehead.
Joy burst inside her like a sunrise. She stroked the Elk King’s shoulders, and pressed the ruby on one of her hands against the wound on his leg. Red light swirled until blood stopped falling and the gash in his fur grew faint.
“Thank you forever and ever,” said Akyia, every part of her tingling with energy. “Now, let us warn and protect our people.”
