The Power Behind the Throne by Stargate

Author:Stargate
Language: eng
Format: mobi
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Crossroad Press & Fandemonium Books
Published: 2011-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-two

Fear of Daylight

They were surrounded on all sides by thousands upon thousands of terrified Kelani being herded like cattle. Indeed, the analogy was distressingly appropriate, Daniel thought, seeing another black and silver clad soldier walk forward and taser a frightened woman. There was something utterly reprehensible about the man’s calm. Daniel bristled but before he could do anything stupid O’Neill rested a steadying hand on his shoulder.

“Pick your fights, Daniel.”

Daniel wanted to argue but there was absolutely no point, O’Neill was right.

There was something soulless about the Kelani. It was as though every last ounce of spirit and resistance had been stripped from them. They milled about like ghosts consigned to Purgatory. Beside him a young girl clawed at her father’s arm. She had cried all the tears she had inside her. She wasn’t even afraid, she was just hungry. He could see it in her bones as they pressed out through her skin. Her father drew her close to his side as though he could somehow absorb her so that she need not suffer any more than she already had. It was a tender moment in a crowd of desperation. People pushed and shoved, but without any real spirit. The fight had been leeched out of them.

He had talked to a few families, their stories had all been the same. The Raven Guard had come at night and dragged them out of their beds. It was all about fear. Come in the dark, batter down the doors, use fire and noise and anything else at their disposal to instill fear. Nothing broke the spirit as effectively as the unknown — and that was what they had been subjected to. They stumbled into the streets, frightened and disorientated, clinging to each other. Family became the only thing they could hold on to as more and more of the Kelani were dragged into the streets, branded filth, spat at and beaten. It was almost a science, intimidation and hate. It was all about striking hard and fast, not giving the people time to understand what was happening to them. Inevitably some of the Kelani must have died from the beatings, and not only by accident as the Raven Guard flexed their muscles.

It was every bit as effective as heads on spikes and other medieval tortures — it worked the same way, after all. Fear.

And now they were here, huddled up in their familial groups, the fear no less dulled for the hours they had been forced to sit and wait, not knowing if they were going to be separated and given all the time in the world for the reality of their situation to sink in.

They were never going home again.

Daniel listened sickly as one father told a story of the last few months in the city that broke his heart. It had started with the simplest of discriminations, children in the classrooms segregated according to race, the Kelani picked out for ‘special classes’. This had moved into other sectors

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