by RJ Gonzales
Her words struck a nerve. “Unfair! Father tell this incompetent woman you married how you allowed me the other.” Bane roared.
“Bane!” His father warned. But then, he turned to the Queen. “It is true, Ludenia. I allowed him the use of another guard when he’d found them. But he sent for the other later on. Only Paul started with him, the other went in to find them.”
“And it was during that time that the human killed him.”
“Where is the evidence of this?” The Queen persisted.
“Evidence? I’ll get you your evidence.” He removed a picture from inside his shirt. “Here,” he said, passing the photograph to his father. “I took a picture of her standing over the dead remains.” The King inspected the picture. “That is clearly her, a dark-haired woman. Her face isn’t able to be seen here because it was too dark, but I promise this is her. We apprehended her then. Look, she is wearing the same clothes.”
The King hopped down the steps and compared the image side by side to me. I managed to peek at it from the corners of my eyes. There was a dark-haired girl standing next to the body, exactly how Jett had left it. A bloody mess. She had blood on her arms and was wearing the same clothes as me, but it wasn’t me. No, she was too skinny and her hair wasn’t as defined as mine. An impostor. “That’s not me!” I said. “That’s someone else. He put someone else there.”
“Silence!” the King roared, still trying to compare.
The Queen ignored him and continued toward her husband. “Please,” she put a hand to his cheek once she’d arrived at the bottom. “Reconsider it, my love. Besides, the council still has to approve of this before you can even begin to send out the army to the human world.” She nodded over to a group of individuals sitting in the back of the arena. They were all dressed in lengthy purple robes that hid the sight of any of their skin or features. One of them stood and made their way over to inspect the photograph as well.
“It is her,” the King said to the hooded figure, removing his wife’s hand from his cheek and taking it into his. “I am most sure of it.”
The purple figure glided back to the others who took turns looking at the photograph and then me several times.
He turned to me and cleared his throat. “My final judgement,” he announced. “Is that you shall spend the remainder of your dainty life in the dungeon with the Enthiduans.”
The men yielding the massive axes and hammers, strapped them to their backs, and tore the chains from the floor. One of them threw me over their shoulder—and the other trailed behind, as we headed out of the room. I glanced to the Queen again as she and her family left back into the room they’d entered from. The purple robed figures stood from their corner of the arena and exited. The council. The ones who would decide the fate of the humans. The ones who were under the impression that I was, in fact, a murderer.
“You get fed once a day. You missed the food today so you’ll have to wait till tomorrow.” One opened the door to a stairwell—the light from torches across the stone walls lit the small spiraling staircase dimly—and took me in.
I bounced as the man who’d thrown me over his shoulder headed down the steps to a small chamber at the foot of the stairs. The smell hit me hard as he opened up the latches and set me down. It reeked of urine, excrement, and decay, and smelled like an outhouse. I wanted to gag. I did gag.
There wasn’t anybody in there. The orange glow from outside lit the tiny tiled room a few feet in. All I could see were chains, scattered across the floor and on the walls. They looked like loose wires or vines. “Get inside.” The man pushed me in after groping my behind, and kept shoving me until I’d reached the end of the chamber. The guard then took the torn ends of my chain and looped it to through a stray chain. Using his hand, he bent the metal to conjoin the two.
“Have a nice life,” he said, walking away and meeting the other guard back at the door. “Don’t let the carpethids bite.” He shut the door, encasing me in utter darkness, and latched the locks back on. It was as if I had my eyes closed. Completely pitch dark.
“God, what did I do to deserve this?” I questioned myself. The chain I was attached to rattled across the floor. “Who’s there?” I asked into the air. There was no response. “Please. I won’t hurt you, just please don’t hurt me. I’ve been through enough already.”
“You are an innocent,” A small voice rose. It was female and soft. “You don’t belong here.”
“Who are you?” I asked.
“I do not have a name. But, what is yours?”
“Rini,” I said slowly.
“Hello, Rini.” The voice in the dark greeted. Her voice was serene like a lullaby, and hushed like a whisper—but still audible.
“Hello. Where are you? I can’t see you.”
“Why are you here?” The voice broke. The chain at the other end of mine rattled again.
“I was wrongfully accused of killing a mundahlian and violating some stupid pact that was made a long time ago. Bane did it, he set the whole thing up.”
“Oh. I am very sorry to hear that.”
“Why are you here? Why can’t I see you?”
“I must apologize, Rini. We are sensitive to light and had to hide when the door was opened.”
Crack!
I gasped. “What was that.”
“Relax, Rini. All will be answered shortly.” There was a small glow in front of me that flashed then disappeared. A small neon white glimmer appeared, like a drop of ink dispersing in a glass of water. The first thing that became noticeable was the figure of a woman in a white dress that extended to the floor, standing before me. It traveled around, almost like a glow stick, filling in the rest of her arms and face. When the woman came into full view, she smiled sympathetically. She had no color. All white with eyes of grey. Her long snowy hair flowed to the floor. “We are Enthiduans,” she explained, then peered over her shoulders. “Come on out, she is not harmful.”
There were multiple sounds of cracking. Then, multiple flashes. The dark room slowly became illuminated with the incandescent light of them. The whole area came into view. There were many of them. If I had to guess a number, I’d say fifty or more. They varied. Some were women, and other’s were men, ranging from children to elders. But, like the one in front of me, had no color and eyes of gray.
There was enough slack of the chain for me to stand. “You all are so—pretty,” I said. “Why are you all here?”
“In our home, we are considered criminals. We were all convicted for trying to stand up for ourselves against the harsh indictments. So as punishment, the gods sent us here to be eaten.”
“Why don’t you just fly away?”
The woman turned and lowered her dress. There were black slits in the shape of a V going down her back. “We were stripped.”
“How will you all get home if you escape from here?”
The woman paused for a moment. She looked in her late twenties or early thirties. “Well, we cannot go home in these bodies. They have been marked as tainted. So I would guess, if by chance, we were freed or escaped, that we would simply run, as fast as we could, far away from these parts—and take refuge someplace else.”
“Is it true you all have a pearl inside of you?” I asked, then thought it to be in poor taste to ask.
She smiled. “Yes. It is a small piece of a power encased into a tiny sphere or, pearl, that we are given to guard. However, when the King spoke to the Gods some time ago, they allowed us to keep our spheres, so it could serve as entertainment for he and his children while we are—uh, devoured. Every celebratory dinner, one of us is selected and eaten. We lost a dear friend a few days ago when one of the King’s children aged another year older. For now, each of us is safe—for the time being. Until the council approves of the King’s request to start war. I suspect there will be another celebratory dinner then.” She saw me raise an interested eyebrow and told me how she knew of all of this. “We overheard the ruling. This chamber is set directly under the judgment room
.”
“I’m sorry,” I said feeling horrible that these beautiful creatures have to wait around until being eaten.
“Don’t be. It is not your fault. You are just an innocent human who’s done nothing wrong.” She heard my grumbling stomach announce itself. “Are you hungry, Rini?”
“Just a little, but I can wait till tomorrow.”
The woman reached into the pocket of her dress and pulled out a piece of bread. “We have to save all the food we can,” she explained. “Some days they forget to feed us.” She held the bread out to me, “Here you go. I’ve eaten enough to last until tomorrow.”
“Oh no! I couldn’t, really.”
“Please. You need to eat.”
It was then that I noticed that all the Enthiduans looked malnourished and sickly. A child somewhere in the crowd coughed and wheezed. It was a sad sight. This room was filthy and wet, and smelled horrible. They were fed only once a day, in less than appropriate rations, and were forced to sit around and wait until their death. They were living in their own personal holocaust.
“Take it,” she insisted and grabbed my hand.
I took the bread and bit. She smiled and sat beside me, leaning against the wall. I lowered myself down as well.
“You have beautiful eyes and gorgeous hair,” she said, looking as though she wanted to feel it in her hands. “May I play with it?”
“Thank you, and sure.”
She took strands of hair behind my ear, and ran her fingers through it. “It looks as though we are dungeon partners,” she said, looking at the chain for a brief moment, then back at the strand in her hand. The man had bound us together. “They pair us up by twos. I’ve never had one before, until now.”
“What does that mean?” I asked.
“Well, it means that wherever you go, I go, and like wise. We are chained together at the feet, so we have to cooperate when we need to go relieve ourselves in the corner, or when we go to the barrel for a drink of water.”
“Eww,” I said.
“It is a normal function.”
“I know, but-”
“I understand.” She put the back of her head against the wall—releasing my hair. “But we must make do with what we are given.” She relaxed and sighed. “I wonder what my husband and daughter are doing right this moment,” she murmured, looking into the air.
“Where are they?” I asked, finishing the last bite of bread.
“In Enthidua. I hope to one day be with them again.”
I gave her a sorrowful look. “I’m sorry.”
“For what?”
“That you are separated from your family.” In a way it was just like me. Being separated from family was something I could relate to. I was far from my family, just like this beautiful Angel.
“It’s okay, Rini,” she said softly, gazing into the air again. “I know I’ll see them again soon.” She sighed another time. “And to think, I used to own a bakery.”
“What do I call you?” I asked her. I needed something to refer to her as.
“I do not have a name,” She repeated. “The Enthiduan people are all referred to as You in Enthidua. You know, ‘you there’ or ‘you girl, come here.’”
“How about I call you—Angela,” I said after plucking a perfect name. “Get it, Angel-a.”
“Angela?” she pondered for a moment, as if she were sizing it up. “I like it.”
Jett
31
Three grueling days had passed by the time I decided to actually scan the date lit in neon red in the bottom corner of my alarm clock. And while I didn’t withdraw completely from the world, I didn’t really do much but sleep. Sleep until my brain boiled from too much dozing off. I’d let the stubble on my chin and cheeks grow out, like sprouting blades of grass. I usually had a routine of shaving every three days, but now I just let it be. I just—didn’t feel like doing anything. How was I supposed to? I’m sure eventually time will heal, but right now time is taking its sweet ass time.
“Hey!” A loud voice called, causing me to be briskly awakened from my slumber.
A sharp headache pulsed through my head. As if the soft tissue of my brain was being injected by a needle. “What the hell do you want Ray?” I said, pulling a pillow over my face. It was times like these I wish I had a room to myself—with a lock. “I’m tired!”
“It’s like seven at night, wake the hell up! We get it! You messed up bad and your chick’s dead. But come on bro, you gotta get out of this depression shit you’re in. You slept through your birthday, dude.” I flung the pillow at him for daring to remind me of what happened. “Seriously dick!” he said, catching it and tossing it to the floor. “Martin wants to talk to you. Now, wake the hell up! This whole emo shit is so tacky.” He pulled the sheet off my bed and exposed my legs to the chilly air. I was annoyed—and cold. But, my stomach grumbled and I figured I should at least get one meal in today. I stood from my bed and followed him out of the bedroom, half expecting Mark to be hovering behind the bar crafting some new Mexican dish Del wanted him to try out. But there was nobody in the kitchen, or the dining room. The whole family was sitting in the living room. Nicolas and his clan too. They had to have just arrived, because they still had the scent of their car lingering on them. Was this an intervention?
“Ah. Finally up, Sleeping Beauty?” Martin said. He was sitting next to Nicolas.
“Now, Jett,” Nicolas stood. “I bet you’re wondering why we are here.”
“A little.” I said. “Just so you know, I didn’t develop an addiction to alcohol or drugs if that’s the reason you’re here. I’m still clean.”
“We have some news,” Nina, the tall, dark-haired violent panther broke in.
“Great news,” Vicktor, the muscle man—stocky, and buzz-cut hair, added.
“Very great news,” Fredrick, the brains. Typical nerdy glasses, bowl cut hair, and a novelty comic book T-shirt, followed. Their version of Max. They all repeated each other, one after the other, just in a different way. Didn’t blame them, they were triplets. Same matching hair color. And the broad features, and deep caramel colored skin of their real parents, probably.
“Get to the point, kids,” Nicolas said. Even though they were already my age. “We may not age as fast as humans, but wasted time is still wasted time.”
Nina headed over to me and her siblings followed. “The news is that your girlfriend is not dead!”
Something hit me. “What did you say?”
“Rini. She is not dead!” Vicktor spoke with his deep raspy vocals.
“Very much alive!” Frederick followed.
“What are you all talking about?” I said. Getting irritated with every passing second at their redundancy.
“Well,” Fredrick continued—a finger in air, and now heading to his computer. “I have concluded from the ashes sampled today that the fire was not electrical, nor unintentional.” He lifted up the screen. “It was caused by an outside source, meaning that somebody had to have set it.”
“Bane!” My jaw clenched. “He’s the one that killed her!”
“She is not dead,” Nina corrected. “Follow us.”
We were at the site of where Rini’s cabin used to be and was now just a pile of debris. It still smelled of burnt wood and twisted metal. “Why are we here?” I moaned. “I already know—my girlfriend’s dead and it’s all my fault.”
“She is not dead!” Frederick corrected. There it was again—the urge to punch one of them in the face.
“He is correct,” Nina added. “There were in fact human remains left in the rubble. But not an ounce belonged to Rini.”
“Then who was it?” I said. “I heard a scream just before it caved in and exploded.”
“A woman named Melina Huffenson and another named Winter Ambers were also reported missing at the same time as the young girl, Del—um, took care of. We are ninety-nine percent sure these ashes belong to one of the missing women, and that the remains you all destroyed a few days ago along with
the mundahlian were from the other. And to further prove our theory of Rini still being alive, we happened to come across something else that may lead us into what we are trying to show you.” Frederick stepped onto the debris and crouched down to a pile of wood and metal somewhere in the center. He removed tweezers from his pocket and picked up a small red cloth, then headed to me. “Does this look suspicious to you?” he asked me. A golden necklace fell from the red cloth and landed by my feet. I saw the monogramed B from the place I stood. My hands balled into fists and my jaw clenched again, almost chipping away a part of my tooth. I then looked to the familiar little trinket by my toes. It was Rini’s. The one she wore across her neck everyday. The gift her grandmother had given her.
“We have a hunch that he is going to take her to Mundahlia to try and frame her for killing the Mundahlian you destroyed a few days ago. If he succeeds in persuading his father and the council, it will re-ignite the war.”
...
“You’re crazy!” Martin yelled. We were in the living room. I’d set Rini’s locket in my chest of collectables, and promised myself that I would have it fixed and given back to her first thing when we returned and I had her at my side again.
“It’s my fault! I let her out of my sight. Bane got to her because of me and my stupidity!” I said. “It’s something I am going to do regardless of what any of you think!” I pointed to the door. “I’m going Martin. I have to. And while I’m there, I’m going to get my mother back as well.”
“You can’t just go up to the King and demand them back,” Nicolas stated. “He has an army and guards that will take you out before you even step on solid ground.”
“He’s my father. I’m sure there is a part of him that oozes with curiosity as to what I look like now. It’s worth a shot.”
“True.” Nicolas sat. “But you can’t and will not go alone.”