by Oxford, Rain
“I just woke up a few hours ago. No one has been in here.”
I retreated to the middle of the cage to get as far away from the bars and I could. I closed my eyes and focused on my brother. His presence was absent. I tried releasing my magic to amplify my call, but it still was not responding to me. “Ron. Answer me if you can hear me.”
No answer. If I couldn’t use my magic, I couldn’t call anyone or even summon Ikiru. If only I could get the griffin to my side… Ikiru and Seimei could find each other from opposite ends of the universe and they were smart. But I couldn’t call my griffin without my magic.
Just as I was wallowing in my despair, trying to stir up even an ounce of my Iadnah magic, the door opened. The doctor and his assistant entered the room. “You are awake,” the doctor said brightly. I stayed where I was and watched how close he was willing to come to the bars. The fact that he stayed by the door, much further from the bars than I could get, worried me. “I am Kade-mas Togo. How are you feeling?”
“Alive,” I said. “Was that your intention?”
He smiled kindly, but I didn’t like the look in his eyes… or the fact that I was in a cage. “Of course I want you alive. You would have been dead if I wanted that.”
“Why have you kidnapped Sari and me?”
“Oh, the girl was a mistake. My assistant was only supposed to get you, but your friend got in the way.”
“Why am I here, then?”
The doctor came closer and crouched right in front of the bars. “Do you know where your mother is right now?”
Oh, shit. Any question involving Mom was dangerous. “At home, probably doing dishes or… I don’t know, sweeping something. Whatever mothers do when they’re home alone.”
“So you believe she is at home, then? We went to your home in Shomodii. We also went to your grandfather’s home and your uncle’s home. To our surprise… we found nobody home anywhere. In fact, all three cabins looked like they were closed up for storms, as if nobody would be home for a long time. That is very surprising to me. Is that surprising to you, Yatunus-tai Samhail.”
“Not really. My family likes to travel. My uncle is on vacation with his girlfriend. It’s kind of the best time of year for vacations, being fire weather and all.”
“Of course, I can understand that. Your name, Samhail, is very exotic. Were you named after someone?”
He knew. My father was going to kill him for threatening his family this way. “It is a dragon name,” I lied. Many people believed dragons were fairytales and would have no idea what their names would be like.
“Do you know where your father is?”
“Working.”
“Working where?”
“Mokii. Why are you asking me questions about my family? Why have you kidnapped me and my girlfriend? This is illegal and you know it. You could be sent to Canjii for this.”
He frowned. “Your uncle isn’t your biological uncle. He is Ishte-mor Mordon.”
“He gave up the throne and was adopted by my grandfather. This is about ransom?!”
“No, of course not,” he said, standing.
“Then why am I here?!”
“We believe your mother has dealings with the gods and other worlds.”
Dad is going to be so mad. Nobody messed with our family. “That’s ridiculous. We are not even religious people.”
“Maybe you are not, but we know your entire family is heavily into magic.”
“So is everyone else on Shomodii.”
“We searched your house.”
He shouldn’t have been able to get into the house. The only way was if Ron forgot to set the wards before he left… or if he had to leave suddenly and without warning. Really, though, either one was equally likely. Ron forgot many of the mundane chores that he was supposed to do.
“There were many books and artifacts that are not written in any Duran language or known to Duran. In fact, many of the foods in your kitchen were strange. Now, I’m not saying you are involved, but you must know. I believe your father is involved, as well. Maybe you grew up without knowing any better than to consort with the gods. Maybe they made you do things you didn’t want to do. We can help you if you help us.”
“Are you joking?!” I yelled, trying not to screech like my brother. I stood, but didn’t get any closer to the bars. “You knock me out, lock me up, threaten my family, and expect me to help you?! I will kill you!”
“You have no magic. This stone is a foreign material that absorbs the nominal energy of those exposed to it.”
It hindered my Iadnah energy as well. “You accuse my mother of consorting with the gods when you are using alien magic?”
The doctor stepped back to stand next to his assistant. She just kept looking at her tablet. “We tested your DNA.”
I wasn’t afraid. Sago didn’t have the right technology. They had the skills to identify when a person is from a different world, but they didn’t know what to look for. The DNA of people from every world is very similar, because we are genetically compatible. The fact is that if they tested any random person from the streets, that person would have detectable traces from another world. It was just that most worlds, including Duran, didn’t know how to determine what was sago and what wasn’t.
“And you found nothing. What? You thought my mother had an affair with someone from another world?” I asked. I wasn’t as good with the deflecting and distractions as my parents and brother… I was better at making a threat and following through with it.
He wasn’t persuaded. “We believe your father, Yatunus-mas Dylan, is one of the servants of Erono.” Well, he was close. He was actually Mom’s Noquodi. Unfortunately, the doctor noticed my pause. “So I am correct.”
“Of course not! My father is not a demon.” Which was true. I mean, he owned a demon, and many of the people of Duran called the Noquodi demons, but my dad was not actually a demon. The people were wrong when they called the Guardians demons; a demon was a beast of the void.
“Your father was offered a level four title of cho, yet he refused it and retained his level three title. I wondered why anyone would refuse a higher title, so I looked into it deeper to see if it limited any of his hobbies or aspirations. Your grandfather, Yatunus-mal Kirosado has a level six title, while your mother, Vemie-sij Alia, has a level four title.
“Then I looked further into his records. Your father’s mother is not listed. Now, placing your father’s age to your grandfather’s history, I believe I found the reason your father is hesitant to take a higher title. Yatunus-mal was not married within a year of your father’s birth. That means he had a child with a woman he was not married to, which is against the law.”
I sighed. “It is a minor crime warranting no more than a fine and drop in title.”
“It would, however, raise questions.”
I rolled my eyes. “Anyone putting in the effort would be disappointed. My grandfather has gotten involved with women in school before. He met a woman and fell in love. She wanted to continue with her schooling and be with him, too, so she applied for a schooling license. It was approved, they got married, but then her school rejected her license, so they got their marriage annulled and she demanded to have the marriage removed from the records to clear her schooling history. They were already separated when she found out she was pregnant. Kiro took his son and the woman went on with her life.”
Mom, Dad, and Edward had spent countless hours of drilling false story after false story into mine and Ron’s heads just in case this very situation ever came up. Ron would roll his eyes and pick up every detail perfectly the first time while I would stumble over my words and mix elements of the stories in the most ridiculous ways. We had decided that if we were ever interrogated, Ron would talk and I would just pretend to be an idiot. Unfortunately, that didn’t work without my brother being here with me.
“If you and your family are innocent, then this stone will only make you powerless. You will be released after a thorough investigation has been completed.
On the other hand, if your family is as powerful as we suspect, they will find a way to rescue you.”
“And you will have a trap set?”
“Of course. None of them can sense you here, so if they can find you, it can be with nothing but the assistance of the gods.” They both left.
“Hail, is your father a servant of Erono?” Sari asked hesitantly.
“No, of course not.” He didn’t even like Erono very much.
She slumped against the bars as the fight left her. “Then no one can save us.”
“Hey. Don’t give up. Ron will know by now that I’m missing. He can outsmart anyone… maybe not my dad. Not yet anyway. But Ron will get us out and home before our parents even know we’re missing.”
“My mom will not like you anymore if I’m not home by the time she gets back from her trip. Actually… she will probably think we ran off to get married. She’d love you forever for that.”
I laughed. Sari wanted to complete her schooling. Neither of us were twenty-two yet, so our parents could actually marry us, but I knew Mom and Dad wouldn’t make me do that. Her mother would. However, for the most part, she respected Sari’s wishes.
“If you did get married, you could get a schooling license.”
She looked at me. “Why would you say that? I have no reason to get married. Who would I even marry?”
I shrugged. The only thing that popped into my head was the obvious; her boyfriend. But since I was her boyfriend, I kept my mouth shut and just looked away. This was normally the time when Ron would take the attention off me.
* * *
For the next few hours, I tried to get my magic to do anything. If I broke the bars without my magic, I would not only easily be caught, but they would know I wasn’t sago. If I waited, Ron would either come after me or he would tell Mom I was missing. The absolute worst case scenario, and the one that I knew was most likely, was that Ron would try to contact me, get desperate, and flash to me. If he can make it, his magic will be sucked away by the alien stone as well, and the doctor would know we deal with gods.
I had to find a way to get out before my brother discovered I was missing, and I had to do it as if I were a mortal sago. “Hey,” I said to Sari, sitting up. “You’re pretty thin.”
“What? That’s mean,” she said.
It is? I knew saying a woman was fat was bad, but I thought “thin” was a compliment. “I didn’t mean to insult you. I mean, you’re in shape, but not muscular. You’re soft and flexible. Wait, that feels like I said it wrong. I think I said that wrong.”
She sighed. “What is your point, Hail?”
“Can you fit through the bars?”
She paused before glaring at me. “Don’t you think if I could fit through the bars that I would have already?”
I examined her cage carefully. It was nowhere near as substantial as mine. They probably assumed the young woman couldn’t break through, but a regular, young, sago man could. “Take off your shirt.”
“What?! I don’t think this is the time, Hail.”
Oh, hell. Ron would have understood. “You’re wearing a long-sleeved, shirt,” I explained. Fortunately, they hadn’t changed or removed our clothing, so she was wearing the same shirt. “Tie the cuff of one sleeve to the bar closest to me and toss the other sleeve out so I can get it. Then go to the other side of the cage, stick your legs out, and push your heels. That should be enough to move the cage within my reach. Then I can break out one of your bars.”
“Can you break these bars?”
“I can.”
“Wouldn’t it be better if I take off my pants? They’re longer than my sleeves.”
“No, no, leave your pants on. I think that would be too distracting. I’m sure I would reach your shirt cuffs. And if your shirt tears, then you can take off your pants. And this conversation has gotten way off the mark fast.”
“On the upside, I have completely forgiven you for calling me scrawny.”
I didn’t recall calling her scrawny, but I didn’t have much to say when she stripped off her shirt. I mean, there was nothing scrawny about her. I wasn’t exactly watching her hands when she tied one sleeve to the bar, but at least I reached out and caught the other on autopilot. The heat from the stone bars that I was pressed against was nauseating, but I held on. She turned around and stuck her feet out to push.
I pulled, faking how difficult it was. Even though Sari was turned away, the doctor and his assistant could have been watching us. Slowly, the cage slid closer to mine until the bars were comfortably within arm’s reach.
“You are stronger than you look,” Sari said.
I gave her my best insulted face, which I copied from Ron. “Are you calling me scrawny?” I asked, reaching through the stone bars to get a firm grip on the metal ones. She laughed. With an exaggerated grunt, I broke the metal between the bar and the floor plate. Sari took no time at all contorting herself through the new hole. I kind of wished it took a little more effort.
“Where is the key?” she asked, looking around the dark basement.
“I don’t know that there is one. Don’t worry about me, just get out of here.”
“I’m not leaving you, but, I think I need to go find a key.”
“Just don’t get caught. If it looks risky at all, don’t come back. Go find my brother and tell him not to find me. Tell him I’m safe and can get free on my own. You have to convince him not to look for me.”
“I’ve only met him twice, and while his words were nothing but scathing, I can tell you there is nothing I could say to keep him from looking for you if he knew you were in a cage somewhere.”
Sari cracked open the door just enough to peek. “What do you see?” I asked.
“Just stairs, but it’s real bright at the top. I’m going to go up and try to find the keys.” She left before I could say anything else. I backed up to the middle of the cage because the bars were making me feel nauseous.
It was just a few more minutes before a loud crash and a shout could be heard upstairs… but it quickly became quiet again. I waited, holding my breath, for the door to open. Either Sari was caught and being taken back to her cell, or she would return with a key…
But the door didn’t open, and not knowing what happened was so much worse.
* * *
“Tell me about your last vacation.”
I gave the nosey doctor my best deadpan expression.
“You said your family went on a lot of vacations. Where did you go last?”
“Where is Sari?” I asked.
“Do you want to see her again? Why did she just leave you? You broke her out and she ran off without you. Doesn’t that make you mad?”
“Where is she?”
He sighed and examined his fingers. He was sitting in a chair by the door and I had been in the cage for at least a day without food or water. Anything he offered me, I rejected, not just in suspicion but because I was too nauseous to try to eat or drink.
“She escaped, and she wasn’t worth going after. We only wanted you anyway. Had we known you were so attached to her, we would have tried harder to use her against you. Now tell be about your last vacation.”
“We went to Hinode, one of the smaller islands of Zendii.” Actually, our last vacation was to Malta, but Hinode was the destination of our last vacation on Duran.”
“Wow. Sounds like quite the tourist destination.”
“Actually, it isn’t. It’s difficult to get to, and you have to use a small boat because you have to go through a cave. You could rock climb, but my brother doesn’t like heights.”
The doctor looked through the notes on his clipboard. “Yes, your younger brother… Yatunus-tai Ronez. There isn’t much information on him. He wasn’t named after a dragon, then.”
“No. He was named after another member of the family.”
“He doesn’t like heights, but he is fine with a dark cave?”
“The dark doesn’t bother him.”
“Does it both
er you?” he asked.
It used to bother me a lot when I was a child, but not so much in the past five years. “What does that have to do with anything?”
“We don’t want you too uncomfortable during these investigations. As far as I am concerned, you are innocent until proven guilty. I don’t believe you should be condemned by association, that you should be punished for your parents’ crimes.”
“My parents never committed any crimes.”
“Consorting with gods and demons… maybe not a crime in itself, but they must have used their unnatural powers to commit crimes. I’m not saying you had anything to do with it, but if we find out you did, you could be tried with them. Now, if you cooperate, you can be pardoned. If they made you do things, all you have to do is confess, and you will be forgiven. You’re still a child, not even of age to make your own decisions; not to blame for this.”
“I’m getting sick of your games. My parents are wizards, and all their power has been developed naturally over years of practice.”
“About your father…There are records of his homeschooling, his wizard tests, and his marriage license to your mother. The weird part is, nothing at all appeared until he was twenty-two. How is it a man has no record of childhood?”
“Growing up isolated on Shomodii can do that.”
“Your hair color is odd. Nobody else in your family has that color, correct?”
“It’s a recessive gene.”
“Perhaps from your mother’s parents?”
“I wouldn’t know. My mother was orphaned by a tragic accident. She was too young to remember it, but the story was that her parents were robbed and murdered.”
“What an unfortunate family history… so much death. Your uncle’s mother died at his birth, too, I believe.”
“That’s right. It seems to have brought us all together. We’re a very close family.”
“So they must realize by now that you’re missing.”
“I’m sure they have.”
“Your parents’ marriage license is expiring in a few months. Do you think they will renew it?”
“Of course they will.” The doctor kept switching topics, and while it was getting very tiresome, I knew it was on purpose to trip me up. He was trying to make me stumble over my story, or give up something I shouldn’t. The advantage I had was that my father and Ron rambled, endlessly and irrationally, so I was used to this.