Gui watched her as she closed her eyes, fell quiet, mumbled to herself, before opening her eyes to start on another sheet of printed material. Then he became conscious of someone else giving him a dark look.
‘They say you get old fast if you forget to smile.’
Radzi’s expression did not change. ‘Where are you exactly? Off-screen, I mean.’
‘Too far away for you to guess.’ Changing the subject, Gui commented, ‘So you’re the computer whiz, and she’s Memory Girl. We should’ve recruited you. I’d always tried to tell the rest that there were more untapped talents.’
‘Wouldn’t have joined anyway, not with you. Even from another corner of the globe, your face still screams money.’
‘And here I thought I was the one who didn’t trust you.’ The mischievous look slipped back into his face. ‘Why does she do that – the mumbling?’
‘You don’t know about eidetic memory, do you?’ Radzi smirked. ‘Her photographic memory registers raw material, just like the way raw information is absorbed into any normal person’s sensory memory, except that hers last several seconds longer. And in those seconds, in order to commit the impression fully, she’s got to reconstruct the images in her mind. The mumbling helps with audio recall, and processing the raw stuff comes later.’
‘Naturally. Long-term memory is aided by repetition.’
Annoyed that Gui caught on so quickly, Rad added, ‘Even with repetition, her memory has to be exceptionally fine-tuned to recall information word for word. Which she has, obviously, hands down.’
‘Tell me again why you need her to memorise all of that.’
‘Because, when we want to analyse the data, it’s perfect to have someone who knows every little detail in order to make the slightest connections. And if new information is received, there’s no point to it unless we know all the old information to make the links. Only then can we understand a situation.’
‘Ah.’ For a moment, Gui seemed uneasy, but a second later, that look was gone. ‘How long does she usually take?’
‘For every twenty-five pages with a rough average of 32 lines, it takes her an hour. She could do it much faster, but she prefers to rest in between, just to clear her mind before entering new material, so that the accuracy of recall will be over 99%.’
At this, Nikki spoke up. ‘But with the both of you talking about me in third person, it’ll only be 95%.’
Radzi turned around, smiling slightly, and explained to no one in particular. ‘Though, of course, even among the best, the memory is only a part of the human mind, constantly subject to variables such as adrenalin, distraction, or tiredness.’
Strangely, Gui looked as though he was trying not to puke. ‘No news about them, I’m afraid,’ he said directly to her.
She didn’t reply. There was still a lot of anger towards him, simply because he had contact to the outside world and he had people hunting down her mother and sister, whilst they were holed up in this stupid metal box. But no news was good news, and she couldn’t fault Gui.
‘Here.’ She thrust the papers to Radzi and looked cuttingly at him.
It was a horrible sound, that vindictive cackle … he was so close to her, only inches away … and then his face changed … it became Radzi’s … and he was standing over her, proud in his shining armour … he scooped her up in his arms, and she held onto him, relieved … then he started laughing in her face.
‘Shit!’ Radzi glanced at her from his computer. ‘Oh no, did I wake you up?’
She rubbed her eyes and checked her watch; she’d been out of it for about four hours.
‘Good rest?’
‘Yeah. Much needed.’ She squinted her eyes at him, looked at him for a little too long. ‘You got anything?’
He nodded solemnly. ‘It’s only some final information about Iyseek that I managed to screw up. This one –’ he pointed to the computer ‘– it’s gone. Virus attack. Either it’s protected by a very new system, or it’s got a really good bug on it, ’cause I’ve never seen such a virus. I got everything else printed though, so if you memorize all of it, we wouldn’t be needing this computer anyway.’
Nikki took a look at everything Radzi had printed out. ‘This is everything about the five criminals?’
‘Like you said: Andrea Kaniso, Chek Kavok, Hugo Jamber, Tallulah Printip, Jed Zhen. I’ve gone through most of them, but my memory only extends that far.’
‘Okay. Want to give me a summary? It always helps to know what I’m dealing with.’
Radzi tilted his head towards the documents. ‘You can sift through them while I recap. The first page for every person includes several close-up photographs, at different ages. Thought you might need to know what they looked like.’
She was inwardly impressed. He’d thought of everything.
‘So we already know about Kaniso and Kavok. Both thieves, both dead within year of each other. But Hugo Jamber is still alive. He was suspected of robbing three millionaires and running away with close to 5 million dollars. All he did was to sneak inside the rich houses, get a couple of collector’s stuff, like a painting or a china vase or an eighteenth-century Russian doll, and resell it on the black market. In all three cases, the police didn’t have a speck on him, his work was clean. And you’ve got to imagine the amount of security and alarm systems already installed – getting away was a ridiculous miracle.’
‘Yet, he did it.’
Radzi tapped his chin. ‘See, the 5 million was never recovered, but the police did get suspicious when the people in the mainland ghettos started coming out more, and started crowding the local hypermarkets. It happened three times, each time almost directly after a millionaire’s filed a case. One of the women they interviewed even mentioned that they called their ghetto Jamber-town, which was obviously meant to be sarcastic as well as political. No one'd call the ghettos a town.’
‘So Jamber was playing Robin Hood.’
‘Yup. And the best part was, the ghettos stood up for him, provided more than ten alibis for each case. But he’s MIA now. No one knows what happened to him, and I can’t find any leads either.’
Weeding out the papers, she studied Jamber’s pictures for little while, then held up another set of photos. ‘This one’s quite a looker.’
Rad shrugged. ‘Not the last photo. By then she seemed to have lost her mind a little. She was a high-class prostitute from 1993 to 2004, took a break in 2005, resumed work a year later. Her colleague – known only as Madam Madam – said she was never the same after that, and it shows in that last picture of her.’
Nikki gazed at the photos with a slight expression. The woman was beautiful, with cascades of nut-brown hair and a pair of deep-set, intense eyes, but in the final photo, her skin was sallow, her face hauntingly old.
‘She died. Age 29.’
‘Any thieving?’
‘Once, after her holiday in 2005. It seemed that she kept chanting, I took it from him. he’s going to find me, he’s going to kill me. But it was reported by Madam Madam, so we don’t know if it’s made-up.’
‘Well, she did die –’
‘Of natural causes. Became too depressed, fell sick, and wouldn’t take her medication.’
Nikki tapped her chin. ‘Okay. And this Jed Zhen?’
‘Constantly on the run, but he was no professional at it. He left traces everywhere, so it’d have been really easy to locate him at any one time. His thieving was a lot more random – some food from a kitchen restaurant, an unlocked car at a petrol station, a few hundred-dollar bills by threatening women who had pretty handbags.’
‘If he was so obvious, why couldn’t the police get to him?’
‘He had a kid with him. There was one particularly close call, but the police didn’t want to shoot a small-time thief, not when it would risk hurting the little girl. In fact, no one knew about the kid being held hostage until then – no missing person’s report matched her. His body turned up a few months later, in a construction site that had collapsed.’
Radzi looked away now, as if he’d talked too much about something too reprehensible.
‘What happened to the child?’
‘Don’t know. There’s nothing at all on her. Don’t know where she came from or where she went or who she was. Might have been an immigrant child, which would make sense if the parents were illegal – wouldn’t have wanted any records of her.’
She pursed her lips. ‘But what does it have anything to do with Jed Zhen?’
‘You tell me. We have four dead people, one missing Robin Hood, and an unknown child.’ Radzi leaned back in his seat and made a face. ‘I already know what you’re thinking.’
‘And what’s that?’
He sighed. ‘The cases are all so different, Nikki. And if what I think makes any difference to you - no, they can’t possibly be related.’
‘Okay,’ announced Radzi, a pack of ice balanced on his head. His fingers moved like lightning on the keyboard. ‘Basically, in these computers, there is a database that’s been hacked from the local police force, and since our population is a pitiful total of 15,000 including the mainland, there will be no problem tracking down individual activities.’
‘We can start with the Iyseeks.’
‘That’s what I thought as well. But the person himself - he doesn’t exist, not really. He was born as Reginalt Iyseek in 1949, attended the Coska nursery in 1953, pulled out half a year later. His parents migrated to the US, but in all the years until their deaths, they’ve never been seen with a child. No trail of him until year 2000 when he moved into a room above a pub. Reginalt Iyseek, 51 years old, citizen of Coska Island, born 27th January 1949, paid the mortgage installments until he turned 53, bought the whole pub three years later. Worked as the bartender until 16th October 2009 when the pub closed down due to permanent power failure.’
‘16th October,’ she repeated. ‘Nick died on the 18th. He must have closed down the pub and started terrorizing Daniel.’
Radzi frowned. ‘He didn’t have to close the pub down, surely he had other people to carry out his orders?’
‘Or maybe he wanted to make sure the deed was done right – what better way than to do it himself?’
‘Maybe. But that’s it about Iyseek. He was nothing more than a baby when his parents shipped him off to goodness-knows-where, or probably even left him behind with a different name, and then nothing – until he comes back.’
Nikki paused. Nothing more than a baby. ‘How did the parents die?’
‘It says here – oh –’ Radzi’s expression changed, ice droplets sliding to his chin. ‘It was a car accident in San Francisco.’
Nikki’s face was cheerless. ‘Can you find out anything about Andrea Kaniso?’
‘She was born in 1957, Cuban parents, attended a private high school here and later went to college in the US. In 1988, she stole 4,000 US dollars from a man but charges were dropped when the guy was found to be drug dealer. Apparently she snuck up on him in his own home.’
‘Looks like stealing from drug dealers can be justified.’ She looked disgusted. ‘What happened to Kaniso?’
‘Died ten years later. Natural causes.’
How strange. Why would Nick be researching her if she was a dead criminal?
‘What about Chek Kavok? K-a-v-o-k.’
‘Born in 1959 in Slovenia, got a scholarship for a Master’s degree in San Francisco when he turned 35. Prime suspect for stealing 30,000 USD from a doctor who specialized in bones, but no one could pin him down for earning that much by working three jobs over a year.’
‘You’re saying he covered himself with alibis?’
‘From the records I’m reading – he knew what he was doing, all right. Three different bar owners vouched that he’d been working for them for the whole of 1998 and that they only paid him at the end of the year, which explains why such a large sum of money came into his hands at one time.’ Radzi clicked some more and did something fast with his fingers. ‘You’ll find this interesting. He died in 1999, a few months after getting his money.’
Nikki had gotten out a pen and paper, and was drawing a timeline. ‘Which was also a year after Andrea Kaniso died. Anything else about Kavok?’
‘I’m hacking now. The database is useless. We don’t need formal information, we need the informal stuff, all the gritty details.’
As it turned out, it was difficult to track down his trail. There were no medical records that registered a similar age with Kavok’s asthma and hypoglycemic symptoms, no bank accounts with suspect passwords, no dental records.
‘Are you going to hack into foreign records?’
‘Yes, but it’ll take longer. Not so familiar with their security.’ He glanced at his girlfriend, the circles round her eyes dark. ‘Take a nap, Nikki. Seriously. When you wake up, I’ll have all the information ready.’
‘I need you to find out about the rest – Hugo Jamber, Tallulah Printip, Jed Zhen – here –’ She scribbled down their names for him. ‘Can you find anything about Jamber on the –?’
‘Sleep.’ Radzi looked like he meant it. ‘You’re no use when you’re tired. And I’ll need you to save everything into that photographic memory of yours.’
But he couldn’t know how hard it was for her to sleep. It was so much easier to be about and moving and doing, because when she lay there in the quiet, with only Radzi’s tap-tap-tap sounds for distraction, the speakerphone in her head roared with such ferocity that her head spun: You’re not Nick. You wanted to know. You left them for dead.
The computers that got installed were like no other.
‘These are massive,’ she commented to the bulky man who’d brought them in.
But it was Gui’s on-screen face who answered. ‘I already have two people on the case. Are you sure you want to do this?’
The question made her think of Radzi. ‘And these two people, they know about everything you and Nick have done?’
Gui didn’t say anything, which was as good an answer.
She touched Radzi lightly on the shoulder and spoke to Gui. ‘You got him the medicine, so yes, I think we can pull this off. Whatever information you already have regarding the Iyseeks, now would be the time to let us know. We don’t need to waste any more time.’
‘See the file over there? 50 pages.’ Seeing her expression, he added, ‘Not much. The Iyseeks clean up well.’
It took her two hours to have the entire file read and memorized. Frankly, she had no clue about what she was doing, but it seemed worth it – studying whatever knowledge she was privy to – because every time she thought of Jean’s disappointed face, something inside her ached like a gnawing tooth, a sore lump that sharpened her determination.
She tried to think back to six months ago, when she’d entered Nick’s room to find his papers on his bed. It was certainly odd, the way the papers were laid right side up, as though he’d just been reading them, or as if he’d wanted someone else to.
‘Think, dimwit. Think.’
There were the documents about the criminals. Andrea Kaniso, Chek Kavok, Hugo Jamber, Tallulah Printip, Jed Zhen – petty criminals, mostly thieving, all who managed to escape the law. Were they the criminals Nick researched on before settling on Iyseek? Were they Iyseek’s people? And the pictures of small babies, tiny babies, at least 20 of them, but Nick hadn’t offered any relevant information, not even their names. Why? What was so important about the babies?
Disconcerted, she racked her brain, and it dawned on her how meticulous her brother had been. He had filed birth certificates, driving licenses, fake identification cards, bank account numbers, times and dates and methods of thieving, names of victims – everything to know about the criminals had been carefully printed, splayed out across the bed like a winning credential. Nick must have known that once she looked, she could never get the information out of her head – but if that was the case, had he purposely made her know? Why hadn’t he told her earlier? What did he expect her to do now?
‘Nikki …’ Radzi stirred next to her.
‘Hey.' She mustered a small smile. ‘You feeling better?’
‘Head hurts like a son-of-a-bitch, and that medicine was pretty much made of poop, but otherwise, yes, I’m fine.’ He looked at her closely. ‘Wish I could say the same for you though.’
She helped him get up. ‘Gui got us the computers.’
‘Those big things? They look like calculators from the 1920s.’ He winced at his own joke. ‘And oh of course, yes-I’ll-use-my-amazing-brainpower, since you’ve already asked.’
She smirked at his sarcasm, becoming again the tough girl he knew. Right then and there, Radzi thought it'd be enough for him.
Veremor sat up and shook his head. He was drenched in sweat. He stared at his hand and questioned himself: one shall hath control over his fate, shall he not?
“Good heavens you’re up!” a woman shouted out. She pushed through the bushes and soon came into sight. She pulled her cape to cover her legs and simply wrap it. She examined him for a moment before she squatted down saying “Snap out of your sweet dreams already!”
“Well” he really did snapped out of it and looking back at her saying “it wasn’t that sweet seeing your own death!”
“Oh! Yes it does!” she called out playfully as she hugged her feet tightly “at least you get to know when, where and how you’ll fall asleep in that eternal chamber of woods, right? I know I’m not wrong, I’m just too correct! So, you don’t have to be embarrassed about how wrong you are, right?”
“Whatever...” he sighed “Let us go. We have destination to reach.” He stood up slowly, sweeping off some leaf on his shoulder. He channelled his mana around his body and evaporated his sweat. He studied his surrounding and soon came into conclusion about where they need head to.
“You’re no fun!” she stood up and laid her hand at her back. She followed him leisurely, still enjoying the natural view around her.
The forest was unusually quiet. No birds singing or animals sneaking about in the bushes. The wind blew gently caressing the woman elegant hair. Grass and bushes waved and rustle as they fractioned against each other in the wind.
Quite some time later, they have walked out from the forest to a narrow path. They came to a village. The village was fenced by strong thick and sturdy log. The unreasonably tall fences covered the inside of the village perfectly. Several watchtowers were behind the fences and two were just beside the gate. The village’s guards were busy. They held their weapon firmly and stayed vigilant. Their eyes marked tightly to the left of the village. The watchmen ringed a bell as they spotted Veremor and the woman. Every guard that was on the outside of the fence whispered against each other discussing what to do with Veremor and the woman. Soon they decided.
“Whoever you are, I suggest you take your leave before sunset” one of the village guards shouted out.
Veremor stopped and stand still. Pausing briefly he throw in a question “Something happen?”
“Several days ago some villagers spotted a few Lizardman lurking in the forest and butchering cases as well as kidnapping has been happening since then!” the guard take a deep breath “It’ll be dangerous when its dark!”
“Shooing us out when we have just arrive is a little unfriendly don’t you think?” the woman exclaimed “Besides, we may be of help if we stayed.”
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
The guards ringed a bell and someone on the inside ringed back. The gate was slowly pushed open by ten guards and ten more pulling some rope that is connected to assist the opening of the gate. The ropes were tied firmly and simple machines were used. As soon as the gate was opened about a height that was a meter and half, Veremor and the woman slipped in quickly. The door guards released the door and it slammed down, kicking up layers of sands.
They found an inn to rest in just before sunset. The inn was quite big with a total of three floors. They had to have two rooms on the second floors as all the others were full for whatever reasons the owner gave. The first and third floor was bright but the second floor was not so nice at all. The lamps were dim and the moonlight seems to be more useful then the lamp. The floor looks fragile and with each step it creaked. There were some cobwebs around the corner.
Veremor sat on a bed in the room while the woman laid herself on a comfortable bed in the other room. She took out her emerald flute and looked at it with deep passion. Soon she lost herself in dream, holding onto the flute. On the other hand, Veremor found himself a stool beside the window and sat on it. He unsheathed his sword and started to polish it. He polished each part thoroughly.
Veremor looked into the moon from his room window. The moon that night was quite fascinating. Some clouds slowly drifted nearer the moon. The dazzling moonlight reflected from his sword brightens up the room. Shadows danced on the ceiling, illuminated by the reflected moonlight. As the clouds blocked a part of the moonlight he sunk into deep thought. Recalling every scene he had watched today. Suddenly he stood up, pushing open his door and knocked on the woman door.
“Hey, you still awake?” he asked.
“Thanks to you now that I’m awake!” She answered. Rustling sound of blanket, a few light footsteps and the door opened. “Something bother you?”
“Lizardman don’t kidnap, they eat whenever they want!” he asked while examine his surroundings. His hands slowly slipped down to his sword. “They don’t have plans!”
“Now that you mentioned it, I guess it different area have different beast maybe” she lifted her hand to rubbed her eyes and yawned.
“Packed your things” he returned to his room; still resting his hands around his sword. “We must leave.”
She stood there a moment and thinks hard. Then, she shivered. She quickly turned around and packed her things. As soon as she finished packing her things, Veremor was waiting outside her room. She quickly followed him when he walks down the stairs. When they reach the first floor the owner get up from his room wand walked out.
“It is not safe out there.” He closed his door. “I suggest you stayed until morning.”
“We have urgent matter to attend.” He ignored him and walked to the front door while reaching for his sword. The woman followed tightly.
“Well, it’s very sad that we don’t like clever people!” the owner sprung up to the woman and clawed her.
Veremor unsheathed his sword and pulled the woman. His claw almost had her if Veremor was a little too late. He banged opened the door and command her “go west”
Meanwhile the owner screamed and his body started to expand. Scales slowly covered his body and shard claws protrude from his fingers. Veremor stabbed onto its head without second thought just when he started to take form. Blood spurt out as he pulled his sword out of the lizard head. He swung his sword hard to chop off the lizard head.
More lizards came out of the village as he caught up with the woman.
“I’ve never heard of lizard in human form!” she asked “How is that possible?”
“These were not lizardman!” he sped up his pace and casted a wind spell on the woman boots. “These were werelizard!”
“What!” she shouted out in surprise. “How is that possible? They don’t hunt in group!”
“Well they don’t but what if something controlled them?” he casted a fire spell lighting the way. “We better hurry!”
He suddenly stopped and so did the woman. He examined the surrounding carefully, his eyes search deeply into the dark. Slowly, few werelizards emerged in front of them from the shadow. Few seconds later more came out around them; they were surrounded.
Radzi became feverish. He woke up but, feeling how warm his forehead was, Nikki told him that everything was okay. He glanced at Gui’s big face, gave a groan and passed out again.
‘He really should toughen up.’
‘Shut up.’ She didn’t know why she was so angry at Gui; was it because he was the one delivering constant bad news? ‘He’s been driving me everywhere the past couple of days, and before that we were trying to get my mother admitted to rehab. Add all that to the way your men beat him up – just you be quiet.’
She saw him roll his eyes, but only slightly. It was agonizing to sit here and do nothing, to just wait for any news Gui’s people could get, but with Radzi ill – cruel as it sounded – it gave her something to do, someone to heal.
‘Can’t we do anything?’
‘Not unless you’d like to die and leave old Ratty here alone.’
‘It’s Radzi. And he’ll be safe with you.’
‘Who’s to say I won’t chuck him out onto the street?’
She hesitated. ‘You wouldn’t.’
A veiled look came over his expression. ‘Don’t chance it. I’m not doing this for him, Nikki.’
‘But then, you’re asking me to choose between my family and my boyfriend.’
‘Choices we make everyday anyway. And for the record, I’m asking you to choose between a potentially dead body and a potentially living one.’
‘Do you – DO YOU THINK I CARE IF I DIED?’
‘All this yelling. You’re outdoing yourself.’ Gui gave a crooked smile. ‘So noble, and yet you know so little. There is a fear of death in you so potent that anyone could smell it five miles away. Believe me, the Iyseeks won’t just want you dead, they’ll want to torture you, pry out the most meaningless information, kill you at a leisurely pace.’
Her face was white, stricken, and Gui smacked his lips in satisfaction. ‘Nick was the same. That’s why he drove at 100 miles per hour – in the rain, in the dark, hoping death would come easy and quick.’
She lay Radzi down on the cold metal floor, taking off her jacket for a make-do sheet. Gui had already arranged for medicine to be brought in, though she had a sneaking suspicion that he’d told his men to dally for time.
Walking around the metal hall slowly, she examined the place – the walls, the single overhead light, the big screen with the face. Now it wasn’t only fire-and-electricity proof, it also had a security system that only the four of us could get past, Gui had said. But if it was electricity proof, how was it then that the walls and ceiling and floor were made of metal?
‘This isn’t normal metal,’ she said to no one in particular. ‘Oh – this is – oh my – wow.’
‘Yes?’ Gui’s face came back on screen.
‘This is silicon metal. This whole place is silicon metal. It only forms covalent bonds, not ionic, and it doesn’t become a cation or anion unless you force it to.’
She walked faster, her fingers running across the walls, her face inches away from the metallics, finally realizing the extent of the gang’s ingenuity. ‘But if silicon metal can only form covalent bonds, it means that’s still a semi-conductor, so in order to reduce or desensitize its conductivity, you’ve got to add it with a very strong insulator. An extremely foolproof one, like glass.’
A wild light came into her eyes. ‘That’s why it looks like metal but acts as an insulator! Pure silicone is a shiny black solid; with the correct ratio of silicon metal, silica, calcium carbonate, dolomite, and perhaps more sodium sulfate, you’d only see the metal. You wouldn’t even be able to tell it was glass! But why couldn’t you just use glass alone – why the trouble – why –?’
‘First of all, it’s silicon metal powder,’ replied Gui, cutting through her reverie. ‘And we needed at least a little bit of conductivity, a tiny amount, for transmitting high-speed data. Why do you think there are no wires around you? Why do you think this screen is at 2185 x 1934 pixels of clarity when I’m probably halfway across the world? Wireless can only go so far, and so fast. We needed a compound that had a conductivity low enough to not hurt us, but high enough for electronic communication. Madrah came up with the perfect solution.’
It was brilliant, all of it, and suddenly Nikki was looking around and around and around in absolute awe. How long did it take Madrah to figure it out? And that single overhead light – it was sunlight, she saw it now, excess sunlight that was stored within these very walls, and retransmitted through the glass when need be. And it was so perfectly done! No adhesive necessary, the glass-silicon-metal was simply melted if separate panes of it had to be combined, at the right angles to make the rectangular shape. She ran her hands across the walls more fervently now, across the screen that was essentially a mere play of sunlight. Ingenius! How long did it take Madrah to do this? Did he have help from Nick and Daniel? Could Gui really have provided silicon metal powder without breaking his bank?
Then, just as quickly as she’d been enraptured by the aptitude of her seniors, she fell to Radzi’s side. Her mother and sister were suffering, for goodness’ sake, suffering because of this thirst for knowledge, and really, what was worse? to suffer or to die? Guilt settled in, reproved her for her abrupt lack of grief.
Then she called out to Gui, her voice sweet as honey. ‘I need a big favour.’
On the way back, Radzi looked over at Nikki but didn’t say anything. She was gazing out the window, her eyebrows curved in a way that made her look eerily sad.
He hesitated, then spilled out what he’d been thinking the whole drive. ‘I shouldn’t have encouraged you to find out. It’s more than you need to know.’
‘Since when did you get to choose what I need or needn’t know?’ she snapped.
Radzi stared ahead at the winding road. There was more to say, more truth, but she wasn’t paying attention to the way his hands quivered on the steering wheel – everything in her head was about Nick, about the innocence of a gifted teenage coterie.
As the car slowly went up the driveway, she guessed that her mother was drunk again. None of the lights were switched on except the one in Jean’s room, and her mother wasn’t waiting on the garden swing where she would be if she was sober.
‘Come on in,’ she said, an offering of reconciliation.
The living room was untidier than usual, and there was no sign of her mother passed out on the couch. In the small kitchen, a table was upturned, and coffee mugs and dinner plates lay in sharp shards on the floor.
‘Wha –?’
Then she ran to Jean’s room, calling out, yelling Jean’s name. Up the flight of stairs, three steps at a time, Radzi at her heel, and she kicked the door down. Then she stopped breathing. There was no one at all.
‘It’s okay,’ said Radzi, pulling Nikki to him. ‘It’s okay. Maybe they’re still at the movies. Maybe they rushed out and made a mess downstairs and – ’
He was jerked from her into the darkness. She felt someone cover her head in a rice sack and pull her hands back. There was a whamming pain at her temple, and then she lost herself.
When she came to, everything was wrong. Everything was dark and dizzy and she was still seeing stars. Then she made out a familiar voice, a voice that rang out in the dead silence, so shocking that it sent her mind reeling again.
‘I told you not to hurt her, you stupid fools! Just carry her out, I said! Look at those bruises!’
‘They tried to fight back, sir,’ answered a slow, thuggish voice.
‘Of course they tried to fight back! That’s what the sedative was for, you great old brute, and now you’ve brought that boy as well!’
There was a slow grunt. ‘Aye, he was fighting hard.’
‘Untie them now, and get out of my sight. I have work to do.’
Then her hands were freed, and the rice sack was pulled off.
‘Gui? What’s – Omigod – Jean – my mother – ’ Nikki was both confused and angry. Then she noticed Radzi curled up unconscious at her side. ‘WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO HIM?’
‘He’s out for a bit longer. Stupid thugs put a whole syringe of sedative into him. He’ll be fine,’ he added hastily. ‘We have more pressing matters. Your sister and mother were taken today, and I’m almost a hundred per cent positive it’s the Iyseeks.’
This isn’t really happening, she thought. It’s too much, all of it, at once.
‘I realized it almost immediately after you left,’ he continued. ‘I kept asking myself, why had you three been so safe, even after Nick’s death? Surely they wanted a clean job of it? Then I understood. You were only safe as long as they thought you didn’t know.’
But Nikki’d had enough of everything. ‘WHAT DIFFERENCE IS THERE? IT’S NOT LIKE I’M GOING TO HUNT THEM MYSELF!’
‘Paranoia is a funny thing. It can get very powerful, and very driven. It doesn’t matter what you would or wouldn’t do, it’s what they think you could do.’
‘STOP THE WORD GAMES! TELL ME WHAT THE HELL –?’
‘I guessed correctly: when you came here, they knew what you’d find out. So I sent some people after you, to take you back here, the single untouchable place in all of Coska Island. The Iyseeks want you dead now.’
A chill crept down her spine, and then anxiety set in. ‘But my mother and Jean – what will they – there’s nothing – what do you think –’
In the big screen, Gui’s face hardened. ‘If you’re lucky, they’re still alive.’
‘If I’m lucky – YOU – BASTARD!’ She ran up to the screen and started hitting at it, her fist half the size of Gui’s nose. ‘YOU LEFT THEM FOR DEAD!’
At this, he was taken aback. ‘But I didn’t, Nikki. You did. You wanted to know, you came here, you left them for dead.’
Carlos Griffins has it all- fame, fortune, power. At only 42 years old, he has already made a name for himself by being the proud CEO of his agency Griffs Ad, a leading player in the advertising industry. His company started on a small scale but through wise business investments and sheer luck, it began to slowly grow and today, nearly every product and service offered in the market is somehow linked to Griffs Ad. Oh Carlos is the envy of every man, what with a successful career and a lovely wife backing him up, he seems to do no wrong. Gifted with the Midas touch so some say.
As Carlos walks, no swaggers into his office at his usual time he is greeted by polite smiles and wishes of good mornings from his staff. His reply is a curt nod at them and though it doesn't show on his face, he is secretly proud of how his power and authority can make everyone either fear or respect him. But then again, most of the time respect breeds from fear.
At exactly 10.00am, Carlos gathers his papers and heads out of the office. No one questions where he is going, everyone knows anyway. Carlos holds a meeting with a different department at the central building downtown each day and an hour before the meeting, he will walk to the nearby Deli to read the daily newspaper. What no one dares to ask is why. Though there is a joke circulating among the staff that he likes being seen by the public as someone who actually cares about world affairs. Of course, no one has ever told Carlos this joke. They don't think he will understand anyway.
Carlos hums to himself as he leaves the office. He is in a pretty good mood until he suddenly bumps into a young man when turning into a corner. The young man, dressed in dirty blue overalls and with a cap covering his face apologizes profusely but Carlos only grunts and without a second glance, smoothens his shirt and continues walking. No point wasting time talking to such filth and clearly he bumped into me, thinks Carlos. As he reaches the Deli, his mood seems to have improved and he has never once thought of why would the young man emerge from Carlos' private carpark in the first place. No, the incident with the young man ceases to be remembered.
~.~.~.~
The French philosopher, Henri Bergson once said that the eye only sees what the mind is prepared to comprehend. In other words, we only see what we want to see.
Seems like a silly rule we tend to follow, I mutter to no one. I am alone in the washroom after all. As I finish applying powder I examine myself in the mirror. I guess I would say I was born with good looks- eyes as blue as the ocean and not set too near or far apart, high cheekbones, a straight nose and full lips. I flash a smile and see a set of perfectly straight pearly white teeth. But despite all these features that many will kill for, I am still not perfect. Reason? I'm a blonde.
I detest being blonde. Strangers rarely take me seriously, they think I am the stereotypical blonde- dumb and ignorant. Hell, once at a party a man started laughing when I told him that I graduated from Harvard with a law degree. He said to me “That's the best damn joke ever missy”. When I replied that I didn't find it funny, he said “Oh but you blondes never do get the joke!”. I have not seen that man ever since but last I heard, he got caught trying to grow weed in his backyard.
I take one last look at the mirror and straighten my clothes. My hair is tied up into a bun and somehow it makes me look older than my actual age but this is the sort of look I need today as it hardly attracts attention. I want people to think I'm 35 when I'm not even close to that age. I take out a book from my satchel and I leave the washroom. It's already 10.25am.
As I take my usual spot in the Deli and order an espresso, I open my book and begin to read. Well pretend to read actually. I prefer observing the people around me, it's far more interesting and with a book in my hand, most people wouldn't even realize they are being studied. I'm a natural when it comes to studying people, I can describe them by just looking.
I can tell you that the woman sitting with a man two tables away from me is married to a wealthy husband. Of course that fact is most obvious by the 5-carat diamond Cartier ring on her finger. But what you might not know is that the man with her is most likely her lover instead. She keeps glancing around nervously and is constantly twisting the ring on her finger. And when they hold hands, they do it under that table away from prying eyes like mine.
Or how about the arguing elderly couple on my left? Married for years and yes, they probably spent half of their lives at each other's throats. You probably wonder why they remain together for so long but I bet you fail to notice how the husband willingly gives the last piece of scone to her or how the wife shares her coffee with him when his own cup ran out. They quarrel, but that doesn't mean they don't love as well.
Most people focus solely on the bigger picture, the more obvious facts. For me? I look at the smaller details, the tell-tale signs. The things that actually give you clues about one's life, give you a more accurate description. The 'bigger picture' is just a facade anyway. I suppose I have the knack for looking through one's mask and see the real face behind it. Like when you're in court, your strongest weapon is information and it's best to know as much as possible about the clients and also the lawyers. It is a much needed skill in my profession after all, to know your enemy's weakness.
But today my main target is not the adulterous woman. Or even the arguing couple. No, I have been eyeing on someone for quite some time now. Been observing his every movement for about two weeks already. He is now seated several tables in front of me, his face obstructed by the newspaper he is reading. I can tell that he is going through the business section, glancing at the stock market. He wears an expensive grey suit, Armani perhaps. Well the suit sort of complements his receding hairline, now going grey. He cut a fine figure for a man of his age, strong and lean.
As he flips the page, I see his face. Nothing really out of the ordinary. Clean-shaven, prominent jaw, nose is slightly crooked. No it's the eyes that are intriguing. Piercing dark blue ones that make you feel sort of insecure when looking at them. But if he chooses to smile, he looks rather friendly though the smile never quite reaches his eyes. Overall he is quite an attractive man but he puts up a haughty demeanour, something which makes me dislike him immensely.
But I must admit, we have one thing in common- he is pretending to read as well. Instead, he seems to be observing someone and I follow his gaze. Ah yes, so he is fascinated with the young and pretty waitress Jenny who is utterly oblivious of this. I know for a fact that he has been observing her as long as, perhaps even longer, I've been observing him. What irony. The hunter has become the hunted.
I take a sip and flip a page, all the while my eyes are on him. At first glance, he looks like any other businessman taking his daily cup of coffee at the Deli. And yes perhaps he is but I know there's more to him than meets the eye, in fact I know a lot about him. Every dirty little secret. It is part of my job... No, he is my job and one that finishes today so that I can move on to other projects. I smile to myself as I take another sip.
I glance at my watch, exactly 10.40am. I look up at him once more and I see that his eyes are roaming the Deli, as if suddenly taking an interest of his surroundings. Suddenly his eyes meet mine and I stiffen, would he somehow recognize me? But no, my fear proves to be uncalled for as he seems to be staring at someone behind me. Oh yes, it's the pretty Jenny who is serving drinks. Get a hold of yourself, you're a professional, I say to myself softly but angrily.
After a minute, I ask and pay the bill. I stuff the book back into my bag, stand up and start walking. Three minutes walk to the washroom again. I look at the man once more. It's showtime.
~.~.~.~
Carlos looks at his watch, a classic Rolex given to him on his birthday by his wife. It's 10.42am. I really should get going, he thinks. But he takes one more look at Jenny the waitress. She's the reason why he's always coming to the Deli, perfect eye candy. Oh no, it's not like he's having an affair or anything, he just likes Jenny. Maybe because she's a brunette. He always has a thing for brunettes. He remember the last brunette he met, Angela was it? Well it doesn't really matter, she's dead to him. Literally.
As Carlos pushes his chair backwards, a blonde accidentally knocks against his chair. She looks straight into his face, mutters an apology and hurries on like she's late for something. Blondes, they're all the same, acting all important for no reason. He says it loud enough for her to hear, but she doesn't even turn around. At least she apologized, not so dumb after all, he mutters to himself. Hmm, but her voice.. Sounds familiar. Where did I hear it? Ah well, doesn't matter. They all probably sound the same too. And Carlos leaves the Deli, walking to his private carpark.
He hums a tune while walking, his mind all the while thinking about Jenny. He wonders a lot about her, even having fantasies of her lying naked, looking at him with fear. Well that's how he treats all the girls he likes, well liked since they're all gone now. He loves the idea of them being powerless against him, of being so submissive to his every whim. He knows exactly what goes on in their heads, they think he will let them go once he's done. What an absurd notion, he chuckles.
The best part about it, he suppose is that so far, no one has managed to link him to the murders. Who would suspect wealthy and successful CEO of Griffs Ad who is always abroad on business trips? No, he has never even come close to being under suspicion. Carlos feels clever for he is very careful. His women never died the same way so the police assume that the acts are committed by different people and he never chooses women from the same place twice. Funny, he never thinks of them as victims but his women. After all, they did belong to him at one point. As he reaches his car, he smiles knowing that since he has been safe for three years, he will continue to be safe. He is sure of it.
Carlos is about to start the car engine when he notices a yellow envelope on his dashboard. He picks it up, opens it and his face turns white upon seeing the contents. The envelope contains photographs of the women he has abducted, raped then murdered. And he's in the pictures as well. With shaking hands, Carlos looks through all the pictures that he himself has taken then stored away in a safe at home. No one checks his personal safe at home, not even his wife. So how the hell did these get out? He empties the entire envelope and finds a note that reads “Gotcha” and some strands of blonde hair.
And then it hits him. The young man he bumped into is blonde, Carlos has seen some strands of hair jutting out under the cap. And the woman who bumped into his chair is blonde too! No wonder she sounded familiar! She, the young man.. They were the same person. And didn't the young man emerged from the carpark? She knows about me, she's been through my safe. And she must have done something to my car. Breathing heavily, Carlos slowly lifts his foot off the gas pedal and thanking God that he has not start the car yet. He needs to get out from this car and find her. Frantically, he opens the door.
~.~.~.~
As I untie my hair and let it loose, I hear an explosion. Then a dead silence and immediately after, a commotion. I apply a little make up, put on some dangling earrings and when I think I'm ready, head out of the washroom. The Deli looks deserted, several heads poke out from windows of nearby apartments and a crowd has formed outside the office of Griffs Ad, looking and pointing at the fire and smoke. Even the employees have rushed out to see what happened. Soon I hear shouts of “I've called the police” and “I saw someone walked in there”. I have to admit, I find the situation amusing.
Sirens can be heard and in no time, police cars, fire trucks and an ambulance arrive. I walk through the crowd and pretend to find it shocking. I grab hold of a man and ask “Oh gosh, like what happened? I see fire and all”. He takes one look at my hair colour and the way I dressed then replies slowly, enunciating every word “Something exploded. People are saying that it's Carlos Griffins' car.”. I feign shock and start to babble incoherently making the man to edge away from me muttering “Crazy dumb blonde”. I walk away from the crowd and take out my cell phone. Time to make the call.
“Oh my God! You wouldn't believe what just happened!” The job is done.
“What? Tell me.” Are you really sure?
“I can't even describe it to you! So many people!” Absolutely. No one saw.
“I see. Then tell me when you see me later.” Well done. Don't contact me, I'll contact you.
And so, the conversation is over. We speak in code, you never know who might be listening in. I shut off my cell phone and look at the scene unfolding ahead of me. The police setting up the yellow tape around the office, firemen putting out the fire, while everyone else just stands and looks. No one takes any notice of me, I'm just another curious bystander like them.
I feel satisfied, I know and my boss know that I've done my job well, as always. This one was rather fun I would say. Poor Griffins probably thinks that if he pressed the gas pedal, the car would explode when actually the bomb goes off if he closes, then opens the door again. Of course it wasn't easy reading up on car models, bomb making and all that but that's the best part of the job, I can be as creative as I want to.
People detest my job, saying it as immoral and against the law. But I believe they say it out of either fear or awe. Fear because they never know if they're the next target, awe because they have no guts to do it themselves. I haven't committed a murder, I've merely assisted in catching a criminal, one that the police have no idea about. I did what I had to do in the name of justice. And I've been paid for my work, just like any other job. Unlike my other colleagues, I choose my 'projects'. I do not simply kill off anyone, only those who deserve it. Scums like Griffins need to be disposed of.
Like everyone else, I watch in silence as the police start asking for eye-witnesses. No one has seen anything suspicious. One employee mentions that it so happens the surveillance camera in the carpark hasn't been functioning since yesterday and Mr Griffins was supposed to call the repairman today. Well, I can tell them what happened to the cameras, I think to myself. When the crowd begins to slowly disperse, I make my exit as well.
As usual, no one takes notice of me. Even the man whom I've talked to earlier sees me and quickly dodges behind a parked car as if afraid I would talk to him again. I smile to myself, Sometimes it is pretty fun being blonde I guess. I keep on walking down the street, one hand holding my cell phone and another on my big Louis Vuitton bag. The people who do see me assume me as another rich blonde woman. They'll find it odd if they know what's inside my bag- a dirty blue overall, a cap, some wires. But no, they take one look at me and think they know everything about me. Well, this just proves Henri Bergson quoted rightly.
What is actually a Silent ? It is not a noun or a verbs but it a pronoun . Well , it is actually a soul who like silence so much that it will silent up anyone who make noise by force or peace depending what kind of Silent is this . The Silent that well known appear in the manga or a anime is from the Cardcaptor Sakura who does the same function as a Silent , Golden Sun as a Summon and from the Book of Greek God . Can you imagine there is a Silent in the library ?
Rayon is just an average school student in a High School of Schoil Grand Fence in Scotland where the school has among of a 100 years of history periods . A lot of strange occurrence happen in the school as assuming that the school has lot of haunting histories so he don't really bother much about it anyway ...
Rayon often go to the school old library compared to the new library as old library has more better books then rather new and yet no qualities book around ... Most of the student prefer to go the new one because of it good condition compared to a dark spooky old library with dust and spider web around . Rayon usually go there to read about book that interest him till he may read it till very late night then he will go back to his hostel alone without any disturbance along the way .
In the library , there is a picture of a beauty long haired lady who close her eye and pointed her finger near mouth implementing a sign of silence . Rayon felt that it was a normal case since it was a library after all as in library we always maintain silent . The picture does attract his attention as he observe that the lady in the picture often has a different ripples on her cloth like as if she was moving in the picture . However he did not care much about it at all as he thought it was just an imagination or a eye trick .
Usually in these days of reading , he don't seem bother much about surrounding . Often there are books dropping sound that he thought that it was just a rat banging out the door .But one day it was different .
That day there were book throwing everywhere . Once a book hit his head and he stood up and find the source . Hearing the laughters on the dark corner he know at the moment it was some jerks of the school . He was so furious that he ran to them but as soon the jerks saw him they quickly run away . Suddenly they stopped running and they seemed freezing out of no reasons . In the dark , Rayon saw a lady like feature with a glowing hand . It was the exact lady who was in the portray . In the air , she wrote using a glowing smoke " You are as silent as I am since I am a Silent , Don't worry, I shall be your companies in this silent library and let me help you handle this noisy humans " Rayon was so shocked and fainted .
The next day the three jerks who were disturbing found dead in the their sleep and harmlessly not wounded . Rayon was shock for his life and quickly run to the old library and surprises to see the lady in the picture missing . He also realizes something on his neck area that there was a tattoo with a word "SiLeNt" and he were unable to talk . Rayon know yesterday was not a dream . This life carry on just like that and be mute for life . Now he only goes to the new library for book reading and he was shocked to see something in the book " History , The High School of Schoil Grand Fence " and he realised that there was a lady teacher who were deceased in the old library from been stabbed on the throat by a student of asking the student to keep quiet . Turning on the next face , he was shocked again after looking that the picture which are identical to the one on the library and the Silent that he saw the other day . Now although he no longer the student there , he knew that the Silent is haunting him forever
‘He ran?’ Her face was incredulous. ‘He ran and left us?’
Gui’s expression was unfamiliar, a hint of disappointment. ‘You think too little of your brother, Nikki. He decided to be the diversion, he decided to go out on the road. He could have come in with us, live in this hall like Daniel and Madrah and I, but he couldn’t leave you alone. I could’ve found a better way, but he’d become so paranoid that he was sure that, only with his death, could you three stop being targets.’
‘But we never – there weren’t any threats, not obvious ones anyway – ’
‘Not then, but Nick was right to trust his instincts. Since then, we’ve learnt that the Iyseeks are a group of people, that they were plotting to hunt down all of us, not only because we’d provoked them, but also because they’d found out about our projects.’
This time, it was Radzi who spoke up. ‘But why would they want you dead? Without you, they wouldn’t be able to build more projects or use more of your stuff.’
‘It's because we were going to sell it to police authority. I had already started the early processes of patenting the projects, they must have realized then – ’ The shame was like a red flag across Gui’s forehead, but he tried to shake himself out of it. ‘Daniel tried to check on his parents the next day, wanted to see them in person. He never came back.’
‘What happened to Madrah?’
‘Now there’s one question I can’t fully answer. He was always the most resourceful, had such a mind to create from the simplest materials – metal, rubber, wood, you name it. He was here with me until a month ago, when he decided to run for it, couldn’t stay holed up in this place no more. I helped him cover his trail, but it was his own work for the most part, and no one trying to look for him would ever succeed, myself included.’
Nikki collapsed completely into her chair. All of this information, this other life of Nick, the detail, the things she knew and didn’t know – everything swirled in her head, too heavy to process.
If only to distract herself, she asked, ‘What do you mean, you failed Nick’s last request?’
‘Your mother hasn’t been the same.’ Gui’s large face looked painfully sad. ‘I hardly consider myself to have protected you three.’
Nikki shook her head, still lightheaded. ‘Mum was hooked on alcohol even before what happened.’
‘Still, I dare say she’s been considerably worse since.’
A silence fell between them, weighted and tensed. Then she asked, ‘Doesn’t Madrah have a family? Don’t you?’
‘Madrah’s an orphan. And whatever’s left of my family is in China, and I have sufficient money and connections to ensure round-the-clock security for them, and for myself to have some semblance of a normal life.’
‘But what’s going to happen now? How long can you keep hiding?’
‘It is only me guarding the projects now. I cannot destroy or walk away from everything we’ve created, I am not able to. Some of us, you see, have neither the brains nor the guts to do what’s needed, and we are fit only to guard the brilliance of those we revere.’
For the first time, Nikki noticed, even with his mischievous good looks, how old his face was for an eighteen-year-old.
'Reliving old memories.' Gui forced a chuckle and a wink. 'How fun, eh?'
But Gui answered with a question. ‘Do you know what Coska’s population is?’
'10,000,’ she replied, recalling her geography class. ‘And the mainland has 5,000.’
‘A tiny place, where everyone knows everyone else. The students who come back from Australia tell us that there are universities with more than our entire population. Which means that I’m not from here. My parents were from China, the area of Shenzhen, and they invested a great deal in this place, which explains the money I’ve come to inherit ever since Coska started to make money processing Hawaii’s cane sugar.’
The shame returned to his face. ‘Gui was a name that referred to someone honoured, someone noble-hearted, but I later discovered that, with a slight change in intonation, my name also meant ‘ghostly’. I have since learnt that the latter implication suited me much better.’
He looked at the both of them, stoic in their plastic chairs. ‘Have you not guessed it yet? I wanted all the projects perfected, so that our patents could stabilize in value for the stock market, and the one way to do this was to keep the group together. I started everyone on a training regime, at the end of Nick’s fifteenth year, and we decided to be superheroes. With everything we’d created, we could hunt down criminals. A bit of fun, an idea that would confirm our sense of self-importance, and a most perfect way to test our drugs and devices.
‘We did everything right. We researched carefully what we wanted to do. We wouldn’t do anything stupid, of course, like kill a criminal or even bring him to justice. We’d only sneak up on them, scare them a little, get into scrapes that pumped our adrenalin. And we filed papers and scanned articles and missing persons’ lists from both the island and the mainland, and even beyond the border.
‘It was going to be the adventure of a lifetime. We eventually settled on our first target: a man with slick hair and a white-toothed smile, and glasses that made him look nerdy as hell. He was the prime suspect for a missing girl’s case six years ago, but without evidence, charges were dropped and the case was never solved. Somehow, Nick was convinced he did something to the girl, and because we were so relieved that he finally showed some enthusiasm in our project – well – Mr. Iyseek was decidedly to become the first proof of our capabilities.’
At this point, a picture of a man came onto the large screen. Like Gui had described, Mr. Iyseek had slick, slippery hair and a set of startling white teeth, but Nikki thought he had a look of constant nervousness, like a twitch, as though he’d jerk his hand two miles far if you touched him.
‘Go on,’ she commanded.
‘What we didn’t know was that Mr. Iyseek wasn’t a lone operator. He had other people working with him, people we had no idea about, most of whom were involved in smaller, illegal dwellings. We found him in his home, played with the lights when he tried to sleep, messed around with his stove and plates and kitchen utensils. He was mighty freaked out for a while, until one day he just calmed down, sat still in the dark while we took out his main power switch. That’s when the same things started happening to Daniel.’
It was then that Nikki realized she’d been holding her breath, and Radzi had her hand in a tight grip, his palm sweaty.
‘Dan’s room lights started going on and off without cause, and when he found his notes and schoolwork strewn all over, he knew something was horribly wrong.
‘At first, we tried not to take him seriously, because I think we were all afraid of what the truth might mean. Dan started sleeping here, in this hall, and Madrah improved this place further. Now it wasn’t only fire-and-electricity proof, it also had a security system that only the four of us could get past.
‘On some level of consciousness, we knew we’d gotten ourselves too deep. Nick began to panic, but he wouldn’t stay in this hall. He said he had the rest of his family to look after, but I think he also knew that he was screwed. I can’t speak for him about that day – maybe he panicked, maybe he found out they were on his tail – all I know is that he called me up, told me to protect the three of you at all cost, and for the gang to hang in there. It was the last I heard from him.’
Rin was face down on her bed. She was tired... Really tired. She practically didn’t get any sleep the previous night. The King was sick with fever, so she was called in to see what she could do. She was after all, the Court Magi. A fever wouldn’t have been a problem. The problem was, that wasn’t fever. In fact, she didn’t know what it was.
The symptoms were mostly fever-like, but there were some... Unique symptoms. Total paralysis from the waist down, insomnia, and hallucinations to name a few. She’d been up all night trying to figure out what was the cause. Obviously it wasn’t a natural cause. Could it be some form of magic? Its possible... But one would need direct contact with the King for something of this magnitude. If that were the case, there would be many suspects. The maids, the escorts, the guards... Too many.She needed to narrow it down. Then, the last person to see the King. The last person was.... She shook her head. She doubted it, but it still was a possibility. The last person was... Kael.Kael Baon.
Someone burst through her door, stopping her train of thought. She shifted her gaze to the disturbance, it was someone dressed in chain mail with a blue cloth bearing the Eamonian insignia draped over his right shoulder, a palace guard.
“S-sorry to interrupt you Miss...” stuttered the guard, out of breath.
“Its Kael... He’s at the gate, and wounded. Badly.” He breathed.
Rin’s eyes widened. She didn’t say anything, and quickly proceeded to the main gate in long strides. She prayed the culprit wasn’t him. They were childhood friends... All those years of memories.
“It better not be you.” She muttered under her breath as she turned a corner, walking down the spiral staircase from her quarters. The guard was following behind her, and another one was barely keeping up.
It didn’t take long to reach the palace gate, and she didn’t like what she saw. Kael looked like a walking corpse, his left arm looked like it was dyed red, and each step he took looked very heavy and laboured. She and the two guards were running towards him now, the guards barely grabbed hold of him as he suddenly fell to the floor, barely conscious.
Kael finally reached the palace gates. It was only a few hours, but his face was pale. Blood was flowing down his left arm like a half-secured water tap. The burning sensation was getting too much to bear. Kael bit his lip while he dismounted, and slowly stumbled through the main gate.
The stone gate stood towering above him. A magnificent structure, the pride of his nation. The Eamonian flag fluttering in the wind. The palace entrance was just up ahead, a mere hundred metres away. Kael took heavy steps over the wooden bridge. He was barely holding up, he had lost too much blood… He may be suffering from anaemia.
As he was dragging himself towards the entrance, he heard sets of heavy metal footsteps approaching him. He could barely tilt his head up to see who they were. There were three figures. He could make out two palace guards on both sides. The figure in the middle was familiar, but his brain wasn’t working up to speed.
He started to collapse as he took another laboured step. He tried to stay conscious, but his knees, and weakness finally gave in. He felt being pulled up from both sides as he fell. The guards probably caught him.
“Kael? What happened? Where are the rest?” said a female voice.
He was being bombarded with questions, but he paid no heed to them. He was having difficulty suppressing the pain and breathing now.
“Her Highness....” he managed to mutter.
“Yes? Go on...” urged the voice.
“Ambushed...” he groaned, as he finally gave in.
Kael opened his eyes. His eyes met a dimly lit ceiling. It seemed that night had fallen, as the shadows danced on the ceiling, illuminated by the candlelight. He began to sat up, and shook his head, as if to shake himself awake. Having regained his senses, he studied the room he was in. He was in a bed, in what seemed to be an infirmary. The Palace. He thought to himself. Yes, the palace infirmary.
Then he remembered what he was supposed to do. He was supposed to report to the King what had happened. And the immense pain that was on his shoulder. Only, the pain wasn’t there anymore. He immediately flexed his left arm, which he regretted immediately. It stung when me moved his entire arm, but it wasn’t bleeding anymore, and the pain wasn’t as immense as it used to be. It was treated with a new set of bandages, and there were blue symbols on the bandages. They were glowing faintly.
Kael got out of the bed, he realized now that he was dressed in plain overalls, and it was actually pretty cold. I suppose I better get some clothes from my quarters first... He mumbled to himself, biting the chill, before making a move on to his quarters.
Kael felt a lot more secure wearing his armour, even though it was heavy. He didn’t have a weapon, but that didn’t matter, he was in the palace after all. He had to see the King first anyway. The princess had been kidnapped, and he had no time to just sit around and get well.
“And where do you think you’re going?” asked a familiar voice, as he closed the door to his room.
"Rin?” he managed to say before being knocked on the head.
“That was for leaving without saying goodbye.” She said crossly.
“Ow... Okay... Maybe I do deserve that... “ Kael replied as he messaged his head. “That aside, I need an audience with his Majesty immediately. Its about her Highness Millia...” he continued, with a more serious tone.
“I already know what happened, her Highness was kidnapped by two of the Einherjar, and they wiped out everyone but you.” she said with a bored tone, like it was already old news.
“Wha? How did you kno-“ Kael couldn’t finish, as he got cut off by Rin.
“You’ve been asleep for two days Kael. We’ve already sent out search parties, who have already found the place where you were attacked, and.... We’re at war with Iais.” She sounded concerned.
Kael took a deep breath. He didn’t know what else to say, he’d been out for two whole days, and that much had already developed.
“Wait... How did you know who attacked us? You couldn’t tell that much just by looking...” he thought out loud.
“We found a group of bandits, who were strangely helpful. One of them claimed to have saved you, though I didn’t buy it at first... But when he mentioned your name and how the whole group were wiped out...” Rin explained.
“You’ve met Reyva? Then... That would explain it...” said Kael... “In any case... May I see his Majesty?” he requested solemnly. He wanted to apologize, for losing the princess.
Rin nodded, and led him to his Majesty’s bed chamber.
The King lay in bed, he looked like he had already left this world. The only give away was his chest movements, his breathing. According to Rin, the King was in a coma, and no one was allowed in but her, and the Advisor. With the King’s absence, the Advisor ruled in his place.
“Your Majesty...” Kael whispered as he knelt down beside the King.
“I’m sorry... About the Princess... Your only daughter.”
“I know she will ascend the throne as your heir when the time comes. But now... I know how much you must hate me for this. For letting her get kidnapped, and starting a war. I know how you strive for peace between the nations, but all that was broken within days...” Kael continued to whisper sadly, as tears started to flow.
“But I promise you this your Majesty. I will bring her back, and stop this war. Whatever it takes.” Kael finished, his voice filled with conviction.
Rin stood behind him silently throughout the whole thing. She was sure now that Kael wasn’t responsible for the King’s illness. It had to be someone else. Then, she noticed something different on the King’s bedside table, where the medicines were.
She pushed past Kael and immediately started to check on the contents. A variety of herbs were mixed on the spot to make a medicinal drink for the King. But... There was an extra ingredient there. She took a pinch of it and rubbed it between her fingers. She immediately gave a shout as she quickly dipped her hands into a goblet of water nearby.
“It was poison...” She whispered. “How could I not notice this was happening!?” she shouted at herself.
“His Majesty’s condition was getting worse... Because of this...” she continued.
“Then... Who put it there?” asked Kael. “Who else had access to this room?”
Then it struck them both at once.
“Maelin. The advisor.” They both said at the same time.
Just then, a loud boom echoed through the room, the door had been broken down. A platoon of palace guards stormed the room.
“There they are!” Shouted a voice. “Rin Nalris, the one who tried to assassinate the King, and her conspirator!”
Kael grabbed Rin by the arm, and dragged her off to the other side of the room. They had been set up. They had been framed, and now, they needed to escape.
