The Ugly Flower, Liza Mynx [reading fiction .txt] 📗

place has less technology then a place where monks stay.
All of the men except the leader and the two men holding her disappeared in the hectic street of the small city; there were many people there, she had to admit. They were all the strange pale color, and from what she could see, they all had orange eyes, and were all unlawfully gorgeous. She didn’t see where any of the guards went, she hardly noticed they left because she was being taken to the pyramid.
“Eam auferam,” the leader said when they reached the base of the pyramid. “Ibis.”
The men who had held onto Katherine let go, turned around, and walked down the street, vanishing from sight in the throng of strange people. She was left alone with this terrifying man who grabbed a hold of her arm with a tight grip, one that she was sure would leave bruises, and half dragged her up the steps of the tall pyramid.
“Ouch! Hey, It’s not as if I can get away, you people are very fast! Could you please let go of my arm?” she shouted in protest.
He smiled and chuckled a bit, but he did let go.
“I am sorry, madam, force of habit. Not all people are as calm and willing as you are.”
His voice had taken a one-eighty degree turn from the harsh one she heard on the beach. Now it was light, airy almost; it made him sound like he was singing a ballad.
“When we reach the top, I’ll look at your arm to make sure there aren’t any marks.”
She was completely bewildered. Why was he being so nice to her all of the sudden?
They were both quiet for a while, and it wasn’t until they had reached the halfway point of the pyramid that he finally spoke again.
“My name, by the way, is Arthur. I am the head guard of our island.”
She didn’t really know how to respond to that, so Katherine merely smiled to show that she had heard what he said.
They continued walking up the steps for a second and then Katherine said, “Why are you being so nice to me all of the sudden, Arthur?”
He almost stopped walking as if he were completely stunned that she had asked such a stupid question. He looked at her, and he had the same look that seemed to have been plastered onto Remises’ face.
“We are in the presence of the Lady; can you not feel the good aura that surrounds this place? Does it not make you feel happier and make you want to do nothing but nice things?”
She stopped walking and tried to make sense of what he was saying. She did feel something in the air that was pushing to affect her, but it wasn’t good. There was something malevolent in the atmosphere; it made her want to run out of the place and back to the safety of the trees. It seemed that if she looked to the farthest edges of the city she could almost see a thin veil; a ripple around the city that was keeping an immortal spirit confined to this small city. In fact, the closer she and Arthur got to the top, the more she felt like it was the source of the ripple in the fabric of the universe.
To please Arthur though, who seemed to be growing irritated that she hadn’t answered him, she said, “I definitely feel something in the air.”
He seemed happy with this reply and was silent until they reached the top. When the couple got there, Katherine gasped.
She was in the entrance of a large, rectangular, open room with a ceiling supported by four poles that stood in the four corners of the room. There was a small fountain in the center of the room that had a sculpture of a woman. She was naked and held a pitcher of water that was tipped over and out of which water poured like a waterfall, glistening in the now setting sun. She saw animal skin rugs on the floor, or at least she thought they were animal skins. One was bright green with hair that was a little like that of a sheep, but was the size of a full grown alligator. There was another that was black with bright blue cow spots, and many more unusual rugs that somehow seemed to tie the whole room together. On top of some of these rugs were pieces of furniture, some made out of rock and some out of wood. There was a large wooden podium to her right that faced the northern part of the city and the forest from which she had traveled through. Next to that was a stone bed with more strange furs used as sheets. On her left, there was a sitting area made of three wooden love seats surrounding an open fire pit. There was a fire blazing, but the smoke wasn’t spreading into the room, it was escaping though a big whole in the ceiling directly above the pit. Though all of this was quite baffling, none of it was as captivating as the woman sitting on a throne made of gold in the center of the room.
She was absolutely stunning; the most beautiful woman Katherine had ever seen, probably in the entire world! She had long, wavy black hair that sparkled in the setting sun. Her eyes, unlike the rest of the people in the city, were as blue as the ocean. Her skin was pale like everyone else’s, but hers was like a pearl. The very air around her appeared to turn silver and it seemed as if energy radiated from her very soul.
Arthur kneeled down at the entrance and pulled Katherine down with him with great force.
“Rise,” the woman said. Her voice was soft, firm, warm, and cold…it seemed to contradict all laws nature made about how striking a voice could be.
Arthur rose to his feet and didn’t have to worry about pulling Katherine up with him, for she was already there. She wanted to get closer to the exotic beauty across the room, almost as if it were a force pulling her closer.
“You have done well, my love,” she said to Arthur. “You may leave her with me now.”
“As you wish my Lady.”
With that, he turned and left without so much of a glance at Katherine. Not that it broke her heart or anything; she was glad to be rid of the forceful man. She turned to face the woman and looked her directly in the eyes.
Instant connection. Katherine was forced, practically against her will, to stay starring at her.
“Katherine, welcome to my island.”
Before Katherine could even think about asking how she knew what her name was, the woman held her hand up.
“I know just about everything there is to know in the world; your name is hardly a challenge for me. By the way, I am your age; you need not keep considering me a woman. I don’t need to read your mind to know that you are thinking of me as such. My name is Stella. You may speak now.”
“U-u-uh…” she stuttered.
She couldn’t say anything! It was all happening so fast; it was like she was caught in a tornado. It took her a few minutes to touch back down to Earth. Lucky for her, Stella was patient. She sat there like she was carved out of marble and kept the eye contact with Katherine.
When she found her words she asked the most meaningless question she could, “I thought the people on this island were named after people from history that were in positions of high power? I’ve never heard of a powerful woman named Stella.”
Stella gave a bereaved smile. Even though she was sad, it lit the entire room up brighter than the sun could have.
“Ah, well, there is a story about that. I tell all the travelers that story, but I never jump right into it, but you are different. I know that. You are less patient than others before you. Alright, come and sit with me by the fire.”
She pointed to the seats by the fire place and got up to walk over to them. As she was walking, she totally captivated Katherine, because it wasn’t like she was walking at all. It seemed more like she was floating.
When they sat down, Katherine in the chair opposite Stella, she opened her mouth and began talking.
“Katherine, before we go any farther, I know who you saw before you came here. Would you like to tell me what really happened?”
Katherine sat there and stared. She just stared and stared at Stella, totally amazed and terrified at the same time. She knew what Stella was talking about; she wanted Katherine to tell her about her experience with Remises and Oberon, but she knew that they were in trouble. She had this sixth sense that when she told Stella what happened, she would never be able to see Oberon again. The thought knocked the wind out of her lungs and she couldn’t talk.
“Speak Katherine.”
Her voice was like a rope that pulled words out of Katherine’s mouth.
“I met Oberon and Remises. They were taking me to you, but they let me go, well, no, not really let me go. I got away from them. That’s when Arthur and his men came and got me.”
Stella sat back in her chair.
“I see,” she said. She then turned towards the entrance of the room where a couple steps down stood Stella’s lady in waiting. “Oberon et adduc Remises mihi quando dabit verbum!” she called to her servant.
She replied, “Ut voles, sic erit.”
Stella turned back to Katherine. “We speak Latin here.”
“Oh, ok. So, um, you were going to tell me a story?”
Stella’s face hardened as she thought of the painful story she was going to tell, the same one she’s been retelling for a long time.
“I know you are confused now, Katherine, after all that has happened to you, but after I tell you this story, everything will make sense. I promise.
“It all started a long time ago, when I was born. I lived in a small village, you see, right on this island. There was a legend in my village called the Flos Turpis, or the Ugly Flower. It stated that there would be a couple who would have a child for the wrong reasons. Born of them would be a girl and that girl would be so ugly her own mother would not look upon her face. As she grew, though, each year on her birthday she would become more and more beautiful. On her eighteenth birthday, she would become the most beautiful woman ever, but her price to pay was that she would stay eighteen forever.
“Well, you know how legends go: not everybody believed in it, least of all my parents. My father was the leader of the village. He and my mom wanted a son, not to love and cherish, but to make sure the family continued to be head of the village. That was not the right reason to have a child. So, my mom became pregnant and had me. I was a girl though, and although they wanted a boy, they couldn’t get rid of me for fear of being looked down upon by the villagers. My mother named me Diecti, from the Latin word deiecti , which means “disappointed”.
“Not only was I a girl, but I was such an ugly child! My parents were so ashamed of me, I was never allowed out of the house, so I became so pale, my skin was like a pearl by the time I was one. No one stopped to