From Part 28 ...
Then they waited.
Lois knew they were waiting for someone to take her.
No one moved.
“I will take her,” Yent said.
Lois broke from the grip of the solider and rammed into Kal’s anguished eyes. “No, Kal,” she sobbed. “No.”
“I’m sorry, Lois,” Kal said brokenly. “I’m so sorry. This is the only way.”
“I don’t care if you have nothing.”
“Please, Lois,” Kal begged. “Please go with Yent. You will be protected and he will treat -.”
From above them on the balcony, Nor’s voice sliced through their conversation. “I am higher than Yent,” Nor said. “I take her.”
“No!” Kal roared. He stepped from between the soldiers. Standing shoulder to shoulder with Lois, he confronted those on the balcony above him. “You will *not* take her.”
“I am the Supreme Ruler,” Nor said. He considered Kal, his contempt tangible. “I take her as my concubine.”
“NO!”
“You have no means to stop me,” Nor said.
“I offer my life,” Kal said.
Nor grasped the railing and peered down at Kal. “Repeat what you just said,” he ordered.
Kal stared back at Nor, his head high. “In return for you allowing her to fall to Yent,” Kal said. “I offer my life.”
Part 29
“NO!” Lois screeched. “No, Kal. No!”
She lunged towards him and Kal reached to steady her. There was barely time to register the familiarity of his touch before they were hauled apart.
Four soldiers crowded around Kal.
“No,” Lois sobbed, reaching for him. “No, Kal.”
The hand on her shoulder jerked her backwards and she teetered on her bound feet.
Nor gushed from the doorway of Kal’s building and strode forward.
The sea of soldiers parted.
Kal and Nor faced each other, two combatants, a yard apart, the veneer of alliance shattered.
“I accept your offer,” Nor said smugly.
“You cannot take her now, nor any time in the future,” Kal said, his voice piercing the silence of the crowded courtyard. “She remains under the protection of Yent and can never be taken by anyone from your House.”
“We have agreement,” Nor said, making no attempt to moderate his swagger.
The four soldiers closed in around Kal and propelled him to the wall between the door and the balcony. Nor paraded after them like a man chasing plunder.
Kal was backed against the wall. He faced his people for the final time.
Nor spoke. “In accordance with the Law of New Krypton, you are granted one minute to speak as you wish. You are not permitted to touch anyone. No one is permitted to approach you.”
The grip on Lois’s arms tightened.
As she watched, Kal took a breath that seemed to never end. He reached up and ran his hand through the hair above his left ear.
Then his eyes centred in hers.
Through the veil of her tears, she connected with him. All else faded away. There was nothing but Kal. Kal and her. Together.
“Lois,” he said. “Lois, my love.”
“Please don’t do this, Kal,” she sobbed, knowing her words were barely coherent.
“Listen to me, my Lois,” he said gently. He stalled, swallowed, took a quivering breath. “Don’t be unhappy,” he begged. “Don’t mourn my death. Celebrate my life ... you are my life ... you are everything to me.”
“P..please, Kal, pl -.”
“They awakened my body, Lois, but my heart slept on – until you came.” He paused and his eyes travelled her face like a caress. “Now, they will kill my body, but my heart will live on ... because my love for you will never die.”
Lois willed herself to speak. “But Kal, there sh..should have b.b.been so m.m.uch m.m.ore.”
“We have had so much, my love. Please don’t be sad. Please smile every day – just for me. Please laugh and remember that the sound of your laughter was the sweetest sound I ever heard.”
“Kal ... I c.c.can’t do this.”
“Imagine I am holding you, Lois. Feel my arms surround you. Feel my mouth on yours. Feel my hands soothe you. Feel my body against yours; lean against me and draw strength from our togetherness.”
She couldn’t do as he asked ... couldn’t force her mind to form the images he’d tried to paint for her... could not get past the horror of never feeling his touch again.
The heartbreak of losing him forever.
“Remember our time, Lois,” Kal said. “Remember *our* time.” He sculpted a smile and she knew it was his gift to her. “We are together, my love. Together, we are more than enough.”
“I don’t want to live without you.”
“They can’t separate us, Lois – not in our hearts. My heart will always belong to you.”
“Time’s up.” Nor stepped in front of Kal and signalled to the nearest soldier. “You,” he commanded. “You are to do this.”
The soldier walked to a position ten yards from the wall where Kal stood.
Nor closed in on Kal. “This I want to witness first hand,” he said in a low, taunting voice. “The moment when you finally learn that a conscience is the mark of the weak – and as such, you are the weakest of all men.” He leant closer to Kal. “You lived a slave to your pathetic need to protect, Kal-El. How fitting that it will be the death of you.”
The soldier raised his rifle.
Kal’s eyes – steady and focussed and without fear - found hers. <I love you> they messaged. <Be strong. I love you.>
The hands that had restrained Lois from going to Kal now released her. She crumpled and, restricted by the rope around her ankles, lost balance. As she fell, she thrust out her hands to break her fall. The rope binding her wrists gave way and she landed, hands outstretched, on the hard concrete. She looked up.
Looked for Kal.
The explosion of the bullet was like a physical assault. Lois leapt to her feet, snapping the rope around her ankles. She sprang towards Kal.
The world slowed.
She saw the bullet, whirring towards Kal with sickening certainty.
Lois chased it.
Passed it.
Flung herself at Kal.
Thudded into him.
Felt a sting on her right shoulder blade.
Behind her, commotion erupted.
“Kal!” she sobbed, her hands nimble on his hair, his face, his neck, his shoulders as she checked for injury. “Kal! Are you all right?”
His arms surrounded her, supporting her, clamping her to him.
Tek materialised beside them. “Get out of here now,” he ordered frantically. “It’s your only chance.”
“Lois,” Kal said. “You stay here with -.”
“I’m coming with you, Kal.”
“I will die, Lois. I have offered my life. There is no way back from -.”
“I’m coming with you, Kal.”
“Lois, you will die.”
“Then we will die together.”
“Go!” Tek implored. “Go. Both of you. Go.”
“Go where?” Lois breathed.
“House 208,” Tek said. “I will come as soon as I’m sure I’m not being followed.”
Lois took Kal’s hand and they slipped through the crowd – the crowd that had finally ruptured from its propriety and now seethed with tumultuous disorder.
Together, Lois and Kal ran from the courtyard and into the precarious world beyond the gates.
+-+-+-+
Eb-Ur’s life was good – very good.
She enjoyed working in the house with her mother-in-law. Dav’s mother had struggled to raise two sons while her husband battled to profitably farm the parched Kryptonian soil. Eb had lightened her burden considerably and the early qualms from both sides had dissolved into easy companionship.
Eb enjoyed the evenings when Dav and his brother came in from the fields and the four of them ate together and talked of the events of the day.
Most of all, she enjoyed the nights, when she and Dav went alone to their tiny lean-to at the back of the house.
Eb rested her hand on her softly rounded abdomen.
Her life was good because of the Supreme Ruler.
That thought still stunned her.
The *Supreme Ruler* had summoned her ... spoken to her ... *asked* what *she* wanted ... listened ... and then granted her request.
Eb slipped the puddings she had prepared into the oven. Dav, his mother and his brother had gone to the Extraordinary Report that had been called early that morning.
Dav hadn’t been pleased – he’d planned to spend a long day in the fields. Eb suspected the Report was scheduled so early because the Supreme Ruler was to marry the alien woman today.
When Dav and his family arrived back, they would be greeted by the aroma of warm, freshly-baked puddings. As they ate, they would tell her what had transpired at the Extraordinary Report.
Was it about the forthcoming marriage?
Was it to announce the long-awaited heir was imminent?
Did he care for her?
Dav didn’t think so. Dav said if the Regal Nobles had any feelings at all, they were certainly not expended on their wives.
But Eb couldn’t help but hope ... hope the Supreme Ruler had found someone he cared for.
Someone who cared for him.
She remembered how, as a nine year old, she’d listened as her parents had discussed the details of his Investiture. She remembered how before that, they had believed that the mysterious, never-seen Kal-El had not survived the Transition. How they had anticipated Southside rule when Lord Ked would take over from the Interim Cabinet.
She remembered their scepticism at the rumours of Kal-El’s appearance and their fear when he proved to be the lost Heir of Both Houses – condemning them, as they saw it, to a life under Northside rule.
Yet, in time, even her parents had come to admit that life on New Krypton had improved under Kal-El. There was less violence and more food. For most people, the past rivalries became less important than the harsh realities of the present. There were still the rebels – people who wanted to split New Krypton and resume the war – but most people simply wanted to live in peace.
The years of peace had mellowed her parents - so much so, they had accepted her marriage to Dav and had allowed the Northside boy to live in their home.
Then Dav’s brother had demanded he return to his family home.
And they had both thought there was no hope for their marriage.
Until she had been summoned by Kal-El.
Eb remembered the speculation that he had been kept in hiatus all the years since Krypton to guarantee his safety. She remembered the still-lingering stories that his time in hiatus had rendered him unintelligent and aloof.
Yet there had been nothing unintelligent or aloof about him when he had given her a chair and sat on the step so she had to face him.
She had seen kindness.
And compassion.
And a genuine desire to communicate.
A sharp rap sounded on her door, shattering the peace of the lonely farmhouse.
Eb opened the door.
And stood, face to face with the Supreme Ruler of New Krypton.
“We were told we would be safe here,” he said breathlessly.
It took Eb several seconds to recover enough to respond. “C..come in,” she said automatically. He stepped back to allow his companion – the alien woman - to enter first. Eb closed the door and stared, dumbstruck.
The Supreme Ruler was in her house.
She swallowed around a throat gone dry. “Safe?” she gulped.
“I have been deposed as the Supreme Ruler by Lord Nor.”
Eb felt the fear and dread grip her stomach. Lord Nor. New Krypton was now ruled by a Southside despot. Dav and his family were Northside. The baby she carried would be Northside. And with Nor, there would be no mercy – of that she was sure.
“I offered my life,” the Supreme Ruler - *former* Supreme Ruler - said. “They will be searching for me.”
A loud, angry bang shook the door. Before she had time to fully contemplate the consequences of her forwardness, Eb grabbed the Supreme Ruler’s arm and hustled him and the woman into her and Dav’s lean-to.
+-+-+-+
The door shut and Lois was alone with Kal.
Alive.
Together.
Alive.
Vulnerable.
Alive.
She clung to Kal.
His heart boomed.
His body heaved.
His breathing rasped.
She clung tighter, wanting to get closer to him.
Wanting to be whatever he needed.
Needing him.
Needing his presence, his comfort, his strength.
For timeless moments, there was only him … then reality encroached on the oasis of their togetherness.
She adjusted her head on his chest and looked through the door.
“What is happening out there?” he murmured.
“There’s a group of men at the door. They are talking to the woman.”
“Are they armed?”
“Yes.”
“Soldiers?”
“No. Maybe they’ve been sent by Nor.”
“Maybe ... or they’ve joined the hunt of their own volition.”
“*Ordinary* people are going to do that?”
Lois felt movement above her head which she took as reluctant acknowledgement. “Are they threatening her?” Kal asked.
“Not physically.”
“What are they saying?”
“She said something like she is south from birth until death.”
Kal groaned.
Lois sprung from his chest. “What’s wrong?” she hissed.
His arms pulled her closer again. “That’s the Oath of the South. If she is loyal to the South, we are not safe here.”
“We can’t *leave*,” Lois whispered. “The entire planet could be crawling with rabid vigilantes wanting to take pot shots at us.”
“We’ll stay here for now,” Kal decided. “Keep watching and listening.”
Lois returned to the haven of his chest. Nothing can hurt us, she told herself. Nothing can hurt us if we’re together.
+-+-+-+
After Eb had deposited the Supreme Ruler and the woman in her bedroom, she took a moment to steady herself despite the unrelenting barrage on her door. “Who is it?” she called tentatively.
“Open up! We are here on the business of the Supreme Ruler.”
She unlocked her door and opened it enough to peer out. Five men – civilians, not soldiers - crowded her doorway armed with an assortment of weapons. “We are looking for Kal-El, fugitive,” one of them stated loudly.
She tightened her grip on her door and tried to muster enough breath to answer. “The Supr-.”
“Kal-El is no longer the Supreme Ruler,” she was informed harshly.
“No one is here,” Eb said shakily.
“This is a Northside family ... you would hide a Northside outlaw.”
“I am Southside,” Eb proclaimed with quiet pride. “My husband and brother-in-law are not here. I would not permit a Northside vagabond to enter this house while I am here alone.”
“But you married a Northside man,” he accused with contempt.
“The marriage was forced upon me by the judgment of the Sup ... former Supreme Ruler. It was not my choice.”
The man stared at her, weighing her words.
“He is not here,” Eb repeated. “I would not allow him in my house ... if he were here, I would tell you.”
“Your loyalties are Southside?”
“Yes – from birth to death, I am Southside.”
“Why did you not attend the Extraordinary Report?” he asked suspiciously.
Eb stoked her hand over her gown, causing it to reveal her shape.
His eyes dropped and he retreated half a step.
Another man spoke up. “He’s not here. While we waste our time with this woman, the fugitive is increasing his lead on us.”
The group turned and streamed from her house.
Eb waited until she could no longer see them through the dust that rose in their wake and then shut the door. She collapsed against it, only now realising how loudly her heart thumped in her chest.
She crossed the kitchen and opened the door to the lean-to. “You can come out now,” she said shyly. “They have gone.”
The alien woman emerged. Kal-El followed, his hand resting on her back. “You gave the oath,” he said.
“Yes,” Eb admitted.
“It’s an oath,” the Supreme Ruler said.
Eb wasn’t sure if there was disapproval in his reminder. “Mere words are not to be compared with life.”
“You would lie for us?” he said.
“I am Eb-Ur,” she said. “We have met before – when you summoned me to your Chambers.”
“I remember.”
“You gave me the chance to live as I want to live.” She rested her hand on the gentle slope of her belly. “That is more important to me than any Northside-Southside silliness.”
“Thank you.”
Eb didn’t understand his words, but his tone dispelled her fears that she had offended him with her loose allegiance to the Southside Oath. “Who told you to come here?” she asked. “Tek?”
“Yes. You know him?”
“Tek and Riz are a mixed marriage, as are Dav and I. There are some who prefer not to associate with us – therefore we associate with each other.”
The alien woman stepped forward. “I’m Lois,” she said. “You can call me Lady if that is easier for you.”
“I’m Eb.”
“Tek said we would be safe here,” Lady said.
“With Lord Nor as the Supreme Ruler, none of us will be safe.” Again, Eb’s hands floated across the shape of her unborn child.
“We are safe for now,” Kal-El said, with a questioning look to the alien woman.
Lady said nothing, but Eb sensed her confirmation of his assessment.
The question of how they could know receded as Eb was swamped afresh with the impossible reality of exactly who was standing in her kitchen. Kal-El. The man who had ruled her planet for over half of her life.
The man whose birth had handed him absolute power.
She should be trembling.
But she wasn’t. There was something about him. Something ... kind. Reassuring. And his manner towards the alien woman ... the way his eyes softened every time he looked at her ... the way his hand rested on her arm, her back, her shoulder ... no one could be alarmed by a man who so clearly cared for a woman.
It reminded her of how Dav looked at her.
What an improbable coupling, Eb thought. The Supreme Ruler and an alien woman. She thought she and Dav had a mixed marriage!
Yet their togetherness just fitted ... perfectly.
Still ... she wasn’t sure exactly how one entertained the Supreme Ruler. Even if he had been deposed. “Would you like some beverage?” Eb asked cautiously.
Kal-El seemed unsure, but Lady did a strange stretchy thing with her mouth and said, “Thank you, Eb. That would be wonderful. Can I help you?”
“No. You sit down.” Eb reached for one shabby chair and began to drag it back from the table. With a swift movement, Kal-El took the chair from her and then he did the stretchy thing with his mouth – aimed directly at her.
Eb escaped to the familiarity of her preparations, pushing the simmering kettle to the hotter part of the top of her oven and taking out the nicely-browned puddings.
She had done it so often, it required no thought.
Which was good, because her mind was still trying to come to terms with the effect of the Supreme Ruler’s mouth stretch.
Her heart didn’t want to merely beat – it wanted to leap and spring as if it were no longer content to remain sedately in her ribcage.
The mouth stretch was amazing. The Supreme Ruler’s mouth stretch was incredible. It did something inside her. Warmed her. Made her think of Dav.
She needed to learn how to do it.
And when she had, she would try it out on her husband. In the lean-to. When they were alone.
Eb took the plate of puddings and two cups of beverage to the table and placed them in front of her guests. She was unsure what to do now. Did one sit *with* the Supreme Ruler as he ate? Or did one quietly fade into the background?
Lady pulled out the third chair. “Come and sit with us, Eb,” she said. “Those puddings smell wonderful.”
Eb took her beverage to the table and sat. This was a dream. It had to be. The *Supreme Ruler* and an *alien* at her table. She sipped from her beverage, sure that if she had a year to prepare, she still wouldn’t be able to think of one thing to say.
She didn’t need to. Lady looked at her and said, “When is your baby due?”
The question shocked Eb. Etiquette decreed that you didn’t directly refer to the ignobility of a woman’s condition. Certainly not in front of a man. “Not ... yet,” Eb said.
“You and your husband must be very happy.”
They were, but ... it was something they only talked about when they were snuggled together in their bed ... not at the kitchen table. “Yes,” Eb said, eyes lowered.
The alien woman brushed across Eb’s hand. “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable,” she said. “It is such a wonderful thing that you will soon have a baby. I didn’t realise you wouldn’t want to talk about it.”
It *was* wonderful. And Eb realised, she *did* want to talk about it. But maybe not now. Not with two people who, despite seeming wonderfully kind, were strangers. “We are very happy,” she said.
The conversation abated to heavy silence.
Eb wanted to ask what had happened. Kal-El had been deposed by Nor. There had to be more.
Again, it was Lady who broke the impasse. “This morning, Lord Nor claimed the mantle based on an ancient law demanding there be an heir within a certain time.”
“He can *do* that?”
“Yes,” Kal-El said.
Eb saw his despair and wished there was something she could do to ease his distress. That was ridiculous, of course. She was a woman of the underclass ... and he was Kal-El.
She was curious to know what could possibly have led to him offering his life. He couldn’t offer his life to reclaim the mantle. What else did he care about enough to die for?
Eb glanced to his face. His eyes were locked on Lady like he could stare at her all day and still want more of her.
So that was why. Someone … almost certainly Nor … had threatened Lady.
And Kal-El cared for Lady.
Cared enough to die for her.
Eb’s respect for him soared even as the hopelessness of their situation crushed her heart. If only there was a way for them to be together.
But he had offered his life.
There was no question he *would* die.
The only question was ‘when’.
Kal-El understood this. Possibly Lady did not. Maybe wherever she’d come from, they didn’t offer their lives.
She still thought there was hope.
He knew there wasn’t.
Both of them were distraught.
They needed to be alone.
Eb stood from the table and collected the empty cups. “This is my time for a morning rest,” she said. “Would you consider it rude if I left you alone?”
They tried to contain their eagerness at her suggestion.
It made her think of how she and Dav felt whenever his brother and mother went out and left them alone.
Eb went into the lean-to and shut the door with a long sigh.
+-+-+-+
The moment the door shut, Kal and Lois lurched from the chairs and melded into each other’s arms.
He clung to her.
Despite the superficial normality of eating and drinking, the full implications of their situation had repeatedly pummelled his mind.
They had no hope.
He was going to die.
Standing against the wall, he’d accepted that.
Now … he didn’t want to die.
He wanted to live.
With Lois.
For the first time, he truly treasured life.
Yet he had to find a way to face death.
And he had to find a way to help Lois face his death.
And he wasn’t sure either was possible.
But right now, he was holding her. And that was enough ... more than enough.
Kal’s hand gently strummed her back. “You’re still watching out there?” he asked.
“Uhmm.” The resonance of her voice vibrated through his chest.
“And listening?”
“Yes. There is no one out there. We’re safe.”
Kal doubted she fully understood that his situation was irrevocable. Was it kinder to destroy her flimsy harbour of hope? Or kinder to allow her its treacherous reassurance? “Lois,” he said desperately. “I offered my life.”
She lifted from him and he saw her teeter between hope and despair. “There has to be a way out,” she stated firmly.
But he could hear the trepidation hidden in her words. Kal shook his head. “There is no way back. Nor accepted. We have a binding agreement.”
“Surely there is *someone* who can annul the agreement?”
“Not even Nor. No one can grant me back my life.”
“Can’t we change the rule?”
“It’s Canon Law, Lois,” he grated. “If you offer your life, you die.”
Her hands surrounded his face with such tenderness, he could feel them cradling his heart. “Kal ...” She swallowed thickly as her surging tears glimmered. “Kal …”
He gathered her closer, wishing he could assure her they would be all right. “We are together, my love. Together, we are more than enough.” He dropped his mouth to her hair and brushed a kiss into its softness.
“They *will* come, won’t they?” she asked and her voice shook.
Instead of answering, Kal gently stroked his hand across her back. He couldn’t comfort her with words; perhaps he could comfort her with touch. He traced the shape of her back under her gown. Then, just below her shoulder, his fingers slid from the coarseness of the material to the softness of her skin.
He stopped and straightened.
“What’s wrong?” Lois asked.
He stepped around her and saw the hole in her gown – vaguely circular and roughly torn around the edges. “Lois?” he gulped.
She reeled at the significance underpinning his tone. “What?” she cried.
Kal gingerly touched his fingertips to her exposed patch of skin. “Are you hurt here?” he asked.
“No.”
“There’s a piece missing from your gown.”
“When I lunged at you, I felt something. I can’t remember what exactly. Everything moved so quickly.”
Especially you, Kal thought. “I think ...” His throat constricted with the onslaught of comprehension. “I think you took the bullet that was meant for me.”
“That’s what I figured,” she said nonchalantly.
Belatedly, his fear surged, squeezing his lungs with long razor-sharp talons. “Lois,” he choked. “You could have been killed.”
“So could you.”
“That’s different.”
She eased from his embrace, her smile already formed. “How is it different?” she challenged, her eyes soft with affection.
It was incomprehensible that anyone would do that for him.
The spontaneity of her action - the enormity of what she’d risked … for him - ravaged his ability to put words together with anything resembling cohesion. Any attempt at an explanation would be futile. “You couldn’t have known you would survive being hit by a bullet ... you shouldn’t have risked your life for me,” he said doggedly.
“If you’d died, I didn’t have a life.”
Her answer razed the small remnant of his brain that still functioned. “You … you … I’m *that* important to you?”
She smiled through her tears and her hand rested on his cheek. “What did you think ‘I love you’ meant?”
“I … I didn’t think it meant you were willing to die for me.”
“You were willing to die for me.”
“That’s because ...” His gush of words stopped suddenly.
She smiled. “That’s because why?”
He smiled in instinctive response, though his mind was completely absorbed with the flurry of his thoughts. “I was going to say ‘That’s because without you, I don’t have a life.’”
She laughed on a tremulous breath. “Then you should understand why I did what I did when they tried to shoot you.”
His heart had never been fuller. Its overflow covered his fears. Everything he needed was right here. “Stay with me,” he said huskily. “Stay with me always.”
“I *told* you we had to be together,” she said with a smile that was bursting with her love.
His fears flooded back, and his sigh cut off his answering smile.
“You think they will come after you, don’t you?” Lois said.
He hated hurting her. “It is a certainty,” he said. “There will be those who just want the reward of a year’s food. It is a strong incentive. There will be others who are loyal to Nor and will want to curry his favour by presenting him with my body.”
“If they are going to kill you, they are going to have to get past me,” she said.
“No, Lois,” Kal said. “You can’t -.”
“Tek said he would come,” she said. “He’ll take us to his hiding place.”
“His hiding place?”
“The day I fell into the ocean, I was following Tek. He got to the top of the cliff and simply disappeared. Later he brought our food to your bedroom. He *had* to go somewhere.”
“You think he went ...” Kal could think of no possibilities. “Where?”
“My guess is he went into the cliff. I’m not sure how. I intended to go back and investigate. There *has* to be a way into those cliffs. Tek will come and take us there.”
“Lois,” he groaned. “You can’t live in a cave.”
Her hand stroked his face again. “I can live anywhere, Kal. Anywhere I’m with you.”
Her mouth joined with his and her life flowed through him – restoring him, asserting that he still had life, filling him with hope ... a hope his mind knew was impossible, but a hope his heart could not be deterred from daring to believe.
She lurched from him, her alarm in sharp contrast to the elixir of their kiss. “I hear footsteps,” she said in a tight whisper. “Someone’s coming.”
“Who?”
Lois broke into a relieved smile. “It’s Tek.”
Kal gently butted his forehead against hers and sighed with relief. “You looked?” he asked.
“I didn’t need to,” Lois said. “I can hear his limp.”
