Page 31 of Betrothed to the Yeti

A tiger’s growl rumbles behind me. The time for stealth is over. I bounce on my toes and sprint to the gate. The keys jingle as I fumble to unlock the door to Alpha’s main square. When I throw the door open, the starving goats and cattle knock me from side to side as they flee. Tiger snarls mingle with Pabu’s grunts and roars in my wake.

Crack!The opening door hits the wall with a deafening blast. Faces pop into their windows and doorways, wearing perturbed scowls at my interruption. I sprint past Dronma and Nawang’s shop. They won’t help me. I vault the ‘culture wall’ and scrape my knees at the top. Who were they keeping out with such a short structure? A chill races down my spine. The wall is a functionless symbol of my sister’s power. How much damage has she done since I left? How could she ruin so many lives in a few months?

Leaders’ houses form a protective ring around the Elders’ houses. This was the symbolic wall before Nima’s physical walls. Why couldn’t she see that? Whether I seek answers, justice, or safety, my feet carry me to Old Mr. Rinzen’s home. Piles of rubble lie at the sides of the front door. Someone smashed the stone facade and its naked lady carvings, probably Nima. One of the few houses to have clear spent-crystal windows, condensation keeps me from looking inside the warm rooms. I’m stuck outside the elaborate home. Somewhere inside those three layers, Nima lives in luxury and schemes to torment the village.

Bleat. Bleat.

My lambs call from the back of the home. I strain my ears for tigers’ growls. Has Pabu taken care of them? I inadvertently left Alpha open to them…and showed the predators the way. Will Pabu kill them all and save the village or will his darkness narrow his focus to saving me? The right thing to do is to retrieve my goats and head to Delta, or at least through the doors opposite the tiger fight toward Beta. Pabu will rescue me from either village.

So why am I pounding on her door?

“Nima, Nima, I know you’re in there!” My screams ring over the bleats of my poor lambs.

“No one calls me that anymore!” My sister’s curses fly through the door before she opens it wide.

I plant my hands on her belly and barrel my way into the home. While I fattened up and gained muscle through honest work, my sister is as weak as the day we left. She wobbles on her platform shoes before tumbling onto her backside. Her thin earth-material dress slides along the marble corridor several feet until she slams into the back of an ornate, high-backed chair. Through the curls that dared to leave her hairstyle, she glares and bares her teeth at me.

“If you hate your name, why did you name your daughter after yourself?”

“Why didn’t the Yeti kill you? Why couldn’t you stay away? Why didn’t you cower like Dronma so I wouldn’t be forced to kill you myself?” Her whispered questions stab my gut.

“Why didn’t you protect us? Why didn’t you rescue me when you came into power? Why do you feel the need to punish those who starved alongside us?” My smart mouth fires back. The tone starts strong, but I’m reduced to a sniveling little girl by the third question.

As if the house comes to its owner’s defense, the front door smacks me before settling against the wall. I’m blasted with frigid air as the heat runs for freedom through the gaping opening. My niece cries upstairs. The rattle of the door’s jewels makes my deduction obvious. Nima never rescued me or reunited all three sisters under one roof for one reason.

Greed.

“Because I’m the oldest?” She says with a mocking tone and deranged smile. “Because I was born first I’m supposed to be the martyr?”

“No, you’re not,” I whisper to my toes. Guilt for all the happy times I had with Pabu sits in my belly like a rock. While I whined to him about abuse, Nima endured it.

“Because you haven’t suffered on this hunk of ice as long as I have, I’m supposed to marry Mr. Rinzen? Do you have any idea how horrible it was to lie under him as he rutted me? Perhaps you do—Yeti’s whore.” Her beautiful amber eyes sparkle at me as my hands cover my clothed body.

“What I have with Pabu isn’t the same—”

“Pabu? Oooh, first name basis with the Protector God, are you? Well, you had an advantage. You didn’t have to work in the brothel to pay Dear Old Dad’s debts. Why should I rescue you and Dronma, who weren’t enslaved but betrothed? How is that fair?”

“No one asked you—” My words are cut off as she jumps to her feet. Her right foot squishes my toes, she’s so close. Her pointer finger jabs my ribs. Over her flaming cheeks sit her vacant eyes, glassy with fury.

“When I clawed my way to independence by whoring, stealing, and murdering, I’m supposed to share my spoils with you? With anyone? How can you suggest that?”

Memories of the village dinner in Gamma dance through my head. I can almost hear them singing beneath Nima’s raving. They passed plates piled high with food around the table. Everyone took their share and then gave the rest away. No one filled their pockets because these meals were not once-in-a-lifetime. Food security allowed them to focus on something other than survival—like music, dance, and art… Can Alpha be saved under Nima’s leadership if I showed her Gamma? Is she too far gone to reclaim her security?

“If we weren’t fighting to live—”

“We would be dead, you imbecile,” she screeches.

She lunges for me, but instead of fighting, I curl into a ball. A scream explodes from my soul as her claws snag my hair on the way down. The strands leave my scalp to hang from her long nails. My arms fold over my head before she can rip out more, leaving my chest exposed where my knees don’t reach. The crystal wedges over her toes kick into my ribs. I see stars.

Open your eyes! Jaya! I can’t find you if all I see is the inside of your eyelids!Pabu’s darkness growls into my mind. The tigers must be dead, or he’s tired of listening to my pain. Either way, Nima will be ripped apart by the Yeti if I don’t do something. Pabu won’t forgive himself. There will be a strain between us, and my last memory of Nima will be her assault on me.

“Nima stop,” I yell, with my eyes tightly shut. I grab her foot and twist until she falls against my hip. With a boost on my elbows, I sit on her. “If you hurt me, you will summon Pabu to kill you. I didn’t come here to fight with you…” I stop talking. Oh, my Gods, I did come here to fight with her. Knowing Pabu’s phantom buried his nice-guy persona deep in his psyche, I led evil to my sister’s front door. Am I seeking revenge for her offering me to Mr. Rinzen when she lived the horrors?

“No, I’m not going to lie to you. I came here to fight. I fight for Alpha—especially our friends and neighbors you shoved behind the ‘lower wall.’ I want my lambs back. I want to teach you about the other villages and show you a better future than what you have,” I say with a deep, calming breath. Only when my pulse has slowed to normal do I open my eyes.

Nima smacks her fist into my hip, so I roll off her. I stand, dust off my backside, and offer a hand up. Instead of clasping my palm, she swats me. She throws her head back and releases a maniacal cackle. “You can’t show me a better future. I own the future. One snap of my fingers and I can have anything I want. Your lambs. Your tributes. Your Yeti killed. YOU.”

A violet light falls over us.

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