Space Blood

10. Tea

"Thank you, the drinks will be right up." The waitress collected the menus and left the table. I was gripping onto Alia's hand. Susie sat opposite us, dressed as a normal girl, her bow and arrows disappeared.

"So, my parents sent you?" I asked.

"They sent me with you, but a human plane hit our two pods and we separated. I spent all these years trying to find you, trying to keep my promise to our parents."

"Our parents?"

"Yes, I'm your blood sister." I looked at her, trying to find any proof that she was lying, her eyes were dead serious. Then the waiter came up with a tray with our drinks, Susie gave me a look saying 'We'll talk later.'

After the waitress left for the last time and Susie made sure she was serving a different table, she asked. "I'm thinking you want to know about this deal with our parents, I was 8 when I was sent to Earth with you, I was there when our parents died, trying to get us into the pods." Susie took a deep breath and continued.

"There was blood, but on the battlefield, Riley was in his real form, his blue sword, he was the real killing machine, but no blood stains, not even a speck of dust. Mum was lying on the floor, blood flowing free through the deep gashes on her body, her white dressing gown soaked blood red. I still remember it like yesterday."

"Then Dad turned to me and tears where in his eyes, 'Promise me dear, promise me Susie, that you will protect you brother. Riley will find where you are eventually, protect him, and be careful. I love you...' Then he slumped to the ground and I heard Riley laugh and then the pods took off. "

I looked at Susie, deep in thought, I thought I could find my parents again, but they're dead. All I had for family was Susie, a sister I barely knew. I felt bad for Susie, I was too young to remember, but she was 8 when she saw her parents die right in front of her. The worst part was there was nothing she could do. What could a 8 year old do to a magical blue sword?

Alia was looking at Susie, trying to see the resemblance. I wouldn't believe she was my sister either, but she remembered about our parents and she knew about the letter. She had freckles, I didn't. I had brown hair and she was blonde. But our eyes where exact, sky blue.

Susie tucked into her sandwich and she met our stares, "Yeah, I know what you guys are thinking, I look nothing like Kamo, I mean Thomas. I have Mum's freckles and Thomas has Dad's hair. We were always a different family."

"What did my parents do to make a sword master so mad that he had to create a sword just to kill the family. And it's no ordinary sword, a talking and thinking sword?"

I saw Susie sigh and put down her lunch, "Our family name was always hated in the Empire and amongst the townspeople. I overheard Mum and Dad fight, 2 months before they died. I could only get pieces of the argument. 'We cannot let our kids go through what you had to go through...There's nothing we could do...They're getting angrier and angrier...We can still go to a nearby galaxy...He's getting closer...'"

I looked her in the eye as she spoke, Susie stared back and continued. "Then Mum told me the truth. It happened centuries ago, to our ancestors. Our family was happy then, we had several friends and we owned a booming business in town. There was a teenage boy called Finlay Lorale. He was smart and popular at school.

"He had many friends but they all avoided him after that night. It was the night of October 30th, he was out with his friends, they were drinking. He got drunk and decided to go have a walk in the park. He left his friends at the bar and left himself. He was by the pond and he sat down on a park bench. Everything was quiet, then he heard a girl's soft sobs.

"He found her behind some trees, she was crying on a park bench. Similar to the one you and Alia was on. So Finlay went up to comfort her. Bad idea, she was Molly, the King's daughter. She was going to get married in a few days. She was crying because she didn't love the man she was going to marry, it was an arranged marriage so Amina would create an alliance with a legendary sword master.

"Finlay felt bad for her and they talked and joked around, then Finlay found himself falling in love with her. But he knew that if he liked her, it would mean harm to his family. Molly liked him too, he was full of humour and he was smart. They spent the whole night in the park, they were so engaged in their conversation, that they didn't notice a man sneak up behind him. He was an agent working for the king.

"The next day, around 10 guards showed up at Finlay's house, they were holding guns and they took down Finlay's dad first. Finlay's mum sneaked him through the back door, she told him to run, run as far as he could. So Finlay ran, his mum's screams and gunshot behind him. 

"And the King contacted the sword master and he created Riley." Susie finished talking and went quiet.