Reunification Read online

  Chapter Three

  How my death came so early in my life! For I was only thirty-years-old, not even half as old as Sir Lockfried, and yet today I had met my end as abruptly as the sudden appearance of sun in the middle of a stormy day. What a pathetic way for me to die, bleeding in the street like a dying rat, without ever seeing mine sister again.

  At least, that is what I believed had happened. Truthfully, I had no idea if I had actually died or not; having never died before, I did not know what that might feel like. The stories that my older brother Sura, a priest of the Old Gods, used to tell me about death always described it as an excruciatingly painful ordeal, an experience no one ever wanted to repeat. I vividly remembered the story of Garla and the Pepper, a story that ended with Garla's untimely death at the hands of the aforementioned pepper, which was said to have burned his innards and his very soul.

  Yet the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I was not in very terrible pain at all anymore. That might have been another clue that I was dead, for it was said that those who pass beyond death cease to feel pain.

  If that were so, it did not explain the soft mattress I felt under me. 'Twas as comfortable as—no, more comfortable than—the springy mattress of mine bed back in Dela, except that this one did not feel quite so springy at all. Indeed, it was more like a soft cushion for me to lie on, which made me only want to sleep and rest on it forever.

  But now was not the time to rest. For I now realized I was alive—Hallelujah! Praise to the Old Gods!—but I did not know where I was or what I was doing. My eyes were closed, but I managed to open them, slowly, in order to discover just where I was.

  The room I had awoken in was small, but clean, as far as I could tell. The walls were a calming white, like the garb of the priests and priestesses of the Old Gods, while a metal chair stood beside my bed. The room was made even whiter by the florescent bulb above, which made me squint it was so bright.

  As for the bed I lay on, it was large enough only to hold one person, and even then, I could easily roll off it if I wasn't careful. The sheets were blue, a deep, dark blue that contrasted sharply with the starkness of the white walls. And they were the softest blankets I had ever felt in my life, perhaps made of those synthetic fabrics that the Xeeonite scientists were said to have designed, though at the moment 'twas not much of a problem to me.

  For a moment, I thought I was in one of those Xeeonite healing centers, which the Xeeonites referred to as 'hospitals,' but this seemed too small to be the room of a hospital. There were no windows, either, though about ten feet from the foot of mine bed was a closed metal door. The door had a smooth surface, without a doorknob or keyhole to be found, which told me it was another one of those infernal automatic doors that the Xeeonites seemed to love more than life itself.

  Aside from myself, there was no one else present in the room. I pondered why that was so until I remembered the wound in my abdomen. The stink of blood was still strong in my nostrils, causing me to throw the blankets off my body to see how it was.

  To my surprise and relief, the wound had been sewn up and cleaned, but why and by who, I did not know. 'Twas no longer a bleeding, disgusting mess; instead, a white bandage had been wrapped 'round my body, wrapped so tight that it almost hurt. I touched my forehead and no longer felt that bleeding as well, although I felt no bandages, either.

  Thank the Old Gods! Here I was thinking that I had indeed bled to death, yet if this meant anything, I had been saved by a goodhearted fellow in my time of need, whoever it was. I only wished I knew who had done it, for I wished to thank them a thousand times over and pledge my life to theirs.

  But as I noticed before, there was no one else in the room. I tried to sit up and walk toward the door, but despite my wound being bandaged, my legs felt too heavy to move. It was like someone had tied cement blocks to my feet, making it impossible for me to even budge them.

  Then I noticed it. In the upper right corner of the room, to the door's right, was a mechanical eye that watched me as unblinking and still as the eye of a corpse. The florescent light reflected off its surface, which did little to ease my soul.

  What was this monstrosity? I pulled away from it, staring up at the eye uncertainly. It was elongated and attached to the ceiling via some wires that reminded me of the snakes of the Lower Panhandle. I could not recall seeing anything like it before in my life, which made me all the more frightful.

  Mine first impulse was to think that it was some kind of guard meant to prevent me from escape. It reminded me of the unliving eyes of the J bots; cold, calculating, without any hint of human compassion and emotion beneath.

  Unfortunately, I was still unarmed and could not get up and check out the eye for myself. Not that I wanted to, seeing as this thing was clearly a creature of evil, but I despised sitting here in this bed because there were still so many questions I had that I did not know the answers to, questions that were extremely important for me to discover the answers to.

  Naturally, then, I decided to ask the eye these same questions. I doubted it would hurt. Whilst the eye was clearly not a kind creature, it did not seem to have any sort of weapons or anything else with which to hurt me. The worst that could happen was that the eye would not answer my questions.

  Thus, I asked, “Great Eye, creature of evil, where am I? How did I get here? How long have I been out? Do ye want something out of me? If so, what is it?”

  As I suspected, the eye answered not one mote of any question I asked. It simply stared at me, stared at me as if it had not heard anything I just said. 'Twas an infuriating thought, that this machine had heard my questions but had decided not to answer them; yes, I had expected this silence, but it was still infuriating nonetheless.

  Just as I wondered whether I should try rephrasing mine questions in order to get a response, the door at the other end of the room slid open with a screech. The sound almost made me jump out of mine bed, but I recovered my composure quickly as two beings stepped through the door, allowing the door to slide shut behind them once they passed over the threshold.

  I blinked. No; not two beings, but one. It was an elvish woman, with some strange machine attached to her waist like a belt. Rising up from the machine was a writhing, snake-like metal creature, though its face was less serpentine and more humanoid, with a simple nose, bright blue eyes, and a speaker for a mouth. 'Twas the oddest thing I had seen in my life so far, which was saying much, for I had seen many, many odd things in my life, particularly during my time as a member of the Red Ring Smugglers.

  As for the elvish woman, she looked like most elves I knew: Tall and fair-skinned, with pointed ears, though she was as bald as the waitress of Crossways Cafe, which I suspected must have been a trend among the women of Xeeon. Yet another mystery of the fair sex that I would likely never know the answer to.

  Her clothes were by no means elvish. She wore a drab, colorless jumpsuit, which I thought was odd, for elves were known for their love of extravagant colors and designs in their clothing. Then again, I could tell already that this elvish woman was by no means a normal elf; she must have been raised on Xeeo, though I did not know that for certain.

  “Who be ye?” I demanded. I pointed at the eye. “And what is that eye up there? Is it a thing of evil?”

  The elvish woman rolled her eyes and nodded at the strange machine attached to her waist. A clipped, mechanical-sounding voice issued from the machine's mouth, saying, in clear Delanian, “That is a security camera, not an eye, Mr. Knight. And it's not evil, either. We set it up in here to keep an eye on you until you awoke.”

  Security camera? I vaguely recalled Sir Alart telling me about something like that once. He had told me that the Xeeonites had found ways to record crimes as they were being committed, often without the criminal knowing, and without using the skyras magic that we Delanians used for similar purposes. At the time, I had not believed him, but perhaps I owed my brother in arms an apology, assuming I ever saw him again.

  Regar
dless, I said to the machine, “Oh. I had not known that.”

  “No surprise there,” said the machine. “Most Delanians are ignorant of Xeeonite technology.”

  I nodded at the elvish woman, who still had not said a word during this whole conversation. “Machine, why does your mistress not speak? I'd rather speak with a fellow living being than a dead piece of metal like yourself.”

  “But I am talking to you,” said the machine. The elvish woman gestured at her throat. “I lost the ability to use my vocal chords a long time ago. Therefore, I have to use this speaking snake to communicate.”

  “Speaking snake?” I repeated. “What sorcery is this?”

  “It's not sorcery, it's science,” the speaking snake replied. “But that's irrelevant right now. I came in here because Coga saw you awake through the camera and told me. I was given the job of taking care of you, which is why I decided to come and talk to you.”

  I did not like how that 'speaking snake,' as she called it, sounded at all. It didn't look like a friendly helper to me; to me, it resembled a dangerous serpent, ready to strike and kill when you least expected it. I could not understand why the Xeeonites would even design such a thing after a snake; then again, there were few things about the Xeeonites I did understand, so perhaps it wasn't as puzzling a mystery as it first seemed.

  Nonetheless, I pointed a finger sharply at the woman and said, “Then tell me your name, woman. I have never laid eyes on ye in my life; nay, not even once.”

  “My name is Lanresia,” said the speaking snake (though I perhaps should have thought it as Lanresia, but to me the snake and the elf were still different entities). “It's an old elvish word that means 'kind one,' if you didn't know.”

  “Lanresia?” I repeated. I scratched my chin. “I seem to recall knowing another elf with that name once, a fellow Knight of mine in the Order. Though perhaps not; I sometimes have a hard time distinguishing between you elves.”

  Though the speaking snake's expression did not change, I noticed a shadow of annoyance cross the elf's face, as though she was offended by mine words. Though I cared not; after all, I did not know whether she be friend or foe, so why should I care if I offended her or not?

  “Yes …” said the elf, though I could tell based on the way her ears twitched that she was trying not to be highly offended by my words. “It's a common name, but it is my only connection to my home, so I wear it with pride just the same.”

  “Ah ha,” I said, stroking my chin in satisfaction. “I knew it. Ye are not a native-born Delanian elf at all; rather, ye are one of the Xeeonite elves. Tell me, did ye move here or were ye born here?”

  “How I got here doesn't matter,” said Lanresia, shaking her head. “Nor is it any of your business. All you need to know is that Xeeo is my home. I will tell you only what you need to know when you need to know it.”

  Though the speaking snake's mechanical voice seemed incapable of changing its tone, I could tell easily that Lanresia was quite offended by my questions. 'Twas not something I understood, though in truth, I barely understood elves as it was, even the ones I worked alongside with in the Order. They were a strange people, the elves, with their focus on the more mystical aspects of skyras magic and their odd dances.

  Still, I conceded that the question was an irrelevant and trivial one, which could be answered at a later point if necessary. I had more urgent questions, then, that I knew she would have to answer, unless she was trying to keep me in the dark, though why she would, I did not know.

  Thus, I spake, “Very well, then, she-elf. But I have other questions to ask, such as, where am I? How did I get here? And how do I know I can trust ye? Among countless others, of course.”

  Whilst I said that, I kept a careful eye on the she-elf. I could not be certain if or when she was lying to me, but having worked alongside several other elvish Knights for some time, I had learned to understand some of the physical clues elves displayed whenever they lied. A lying elf usually shuffled their feet unnecessarily and sometimes twitched their ears as well.

  This she-elf, however, displayed none of the usual signs of a lying elf. That may have meant she was not going to lie to me, though I kept mine guard up anyway, for I was unarmed and in an unknown location. Indeed, for all I knew, she was going to kill me in cold blood and dispose of my body where no one would ever find it, despite not seeming that psychotic.

  “Where are you?” Lanresia repeated. She gestured at the room. “You are in a secret place near Xeeon. I can't disclose its exact location to you just yet, but rest assured that you are safe here.”

  “I care not for mine own safety, she-elf, if that is what ye believe my main concern to be,” I replied. “I want to find mine sister, Kiriah, not hide underground like a rat.”

  “You don't want to find your sister,” said Lanresia. “Trust me. It's better that the two of you stay apart.”

  “Stop speaking in riddles,” I said. “I have spent six years searching for mine sister and ye are telling me that I should not see her? She-elf, ye do not know my sister or I. Kiriah would be overjoyed to see me again. This I know with the certainty of the sun.”

  “You're right,” said Lanresia, her speaking snake's eyes glowing. “I don't know you or your sister very well; however, I do know that trying to get involved with her is the quickest path to death. As you almost found out yourself when that assassin bot tried to kill you.”

  “But why?” I said. I threw the blankets off my legs and tried to stand up again, but my legs were still too weak to support me, so I simply stayed where I was. “Ye have yet to explain that to me. And if ye continue to speak vaguely, I shall draw upon the power of the Old Gods and teach ye how to speak plainly, she-elf.”

  That threat of mine did not mean much, because I truly could not draw upon the power of the Old Gods. I said it only to frighten Lanresia, who probably did not know of my bluff.

  Lanresia held up her hands, as if to calm me. “Don't get angry. There's a good reason for all of this, I can assure you. We are not holding you down here for no reason.”

  “'We'?” I repeated. “So there are more of ye? How many more?”

  “I can't disclose the exact number to you yet,” said Lanresia without hesitation. “We're not sure if we can trust you with that information. Still, I will do my best to answer your questions as honestly as I can.”

  I snorted at that. “Oh? I doubt it. I imagine if I asked ye what the position of the sun in the sky was right now, ye would say ye could not trust me with that information.”

  “We're running a very delicate operation right here,” said Lanresia, tapping her foot, which I recognize as an elvish movement that most elves used to show their frustration. “Very delicate. I'm sorry you can't handle the fact that we won't just disclose all of our secrets to random strangers like you, especially strangers who aren't even native Xeeonites in the first place.”

  “What can ye tell me, then?” I said. “No, wait. Do not answer that. I want to speak with your leader, whoever he or she is, not with a simple peon like yourself.”

  “The Head is currently too busy to talk to you at the moment,” said Lanresia. “Besides, speaking with guests is my main job in the organization. We have a very strict hierarchy here; no one ever does anyone else's job for them except in extreme or unusual circumstances.”

  “'Tis seems like an unusual circumstance to I,” I replied. “But very well. I know when I cannot win, so I shall instead ask what organization this is.”

  “Now that is information I can share with you,” said Lanresia. She gestured at the tiny room in which we stood. “You are currently inside the headquarters of the secret organization known as the Foundation.”

  “The Foundation?” I repeated. “What kind of foundation is it? And how come I have never heard of it?”

  “You've probably never heard of it because very, very few people outside of our circle have,” said Lanresia. “We've worked hard to keep it that way, for we answer to a much higher power.�
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  “King Waran-Una?” I asked. “The Old Gods? Who?”

  “That is another thing you don't need to know,” said Lanresia. “At least not yet. All I can tell you is that we are working hard at uncovering the lies and deception of Xacron-Ah, although that we do many other things as well.”

  “Xacron-Ah? I remember that name,” I said. I patted my body quickly and was relieved to feel the envelope with three pictures were still in my pockets. “That is the name of the man who was in that picture with my sister.”

  “We know,” said Lanresia. “We've been keeping a careful eye on your sister ever since she first appeared in this city. And we think she is working with him, though what their ultimate end game for this city is, even we don't know for sure.”

  “Hold on,” I said, holding up a hand. “I confess to being greatly confused. Why would my sister be working with the Mayor? How do you even know he's corrupt? My understanding of this situation is as opaque as the polluted oceans of your world.”

  “Xeeo's oceans aren't that polluted,” said Lanresia, rolling her eyes. “But you're right. I should probably start at the beginning. I can't tell you everything—I'm not allowed to tell you all of it—but I can tell you enough that you can be confident that you know what's going on.”

  Lanresia gestured at the chair next to my bed. Wheels, as round as the sun, popped out of the chair's legs, allowing it to roll over to her across the smooth floor. Whilst that might have shocked me under ordinary circumstances, I was not quite so surprised to see that her chair could move; after all, Xeeonite technology could do almost anything. 'Twould not be surprised if at some point I ran into a robot that could cast magic, though to my knowledge, such a feat was beyond the current limits of their technology.

  The chair stopped behind Lanresia, allowing her to sit down on it. When she did, the wheels popped back into the legs, thus assuring that she would not go sliding across the floor unnecessarily.

  “Where should I start?” said Lanresia, putting the tips of her fingers together. “Ah, I know. I will start with Mayor Xacron-Ah himself. He's at the center of all of this, so he's the best place to begin.”

  “I was told he came from Dela,” I said. “Is that correct?”

  “All our sources say so,” said Lanresia, her speaking snake nodding along with her. “More importantly, though, is the reason why he moved from Dela. Do you know?”

  “No, I do not,” I said, shaking mine head. “The merchant I spoke with did not tell me why.”

  “He has told very few people why,” said Lanresia. “It's pretty obvious, of course, why he's keeping it a secret, but that still doesn't make it any less scummy on his part.”

  “For what reason did he move to Xeeo?” I asked. “I am tired of you going on like this; please just get to the point.”

  “All right,” said Lanresia. “Xacron-Ah used to be a super speed drug dealer. He would arrange huge shipments of the drug to be illegally distributed from Dela's Lower Panhandle to Xeeon and the surrounding countryside. He says he's reformed, but considering how corrupt he is, we tend to doubt it.”

  “If he says he has reformed, why did you say he has kept it a secret?” I said, folding my arms over my chest.

  “I didn't say that was what he kept a secret,” said Lanresia. “Xacron-Ah ran a successful campaign six years back on the premise of absolute honesty, so he didn't deny the allegations that he had once illegally distributed super speed drugs to the general population. He apologized for it, and as a result, everyone thinks he's an honest man, which is how he won the election despite not being a native Xeeonian. What he kept a secret was why he came here in the first place, which has nothing to do with honesty or truth.”

  “What was his reason for doing so?” I asked. “Was he escaping the law?”

  “We believe so,” said Lanresia. “He left Dela because his former drug dealing friends turned on him. We think he sold out his gang to the authorities, which is why he moved to Xeeo, where he thought he would be safe.”

  “That seems an odd thing to keep a secret,” I remarked. “I am no expert in Xeeonite elections—for I find democracy an ill substitute for a good monarchy—but I would think the people would be more attracted to the criminal who turned in his comrades, not less.”

  “That's because it's not as simple as it seems,” said Lanresia, shaking her head. “He didn't have a simple change of heart, from ruthless drug dealer to noble statesmen. He sold out his fellows because he made a deal with the International Delanian Alliance of Law Enforcers to get some good money out of his deeds.”

  “I see,” I said, stroking my chin. “So this Xacron-Ah fellow betrayed his friends because he saw more green in the words of the law than in the spoils of crime.”

  “More or less,” said Lanresia, her speaking snake nodding as it spoke. “All of the guys he sold out to your government are currently behind bars, but they have friends on the outside who have been hounding Xacron-Ah for a while now, which is why he moved here.”

  “How come I have never heard of Xacron-Ah, if what you say is true?” I interrupted. “I used to be a member of the Red Ring Smugglers before joining the Knights about a year ago. I don't recall ever hearing about this Xacron-Ah fellow.”

  “Wait,” said Lanresia, looking at me in surprise (which I could read easily, as she still had normal facial expressions despite being mute). “You were a member of the Red Ring Smugglers?”

  I hesitated to answer that. That information had slipped from mine tongue like quicksilver; 'twas knowledge I usually kept to myself. I had thought this she-elf had already known about my past, but perhaps these Foundation people were not quite as knowledgeable as they appeared.

  In any case, I could not see any reason to deny it, for I was an honest man who believed in the virtue of truth, no matter the consequences. Though I made a note to be less frank about my past from now on, for such information could be used against me quite easily, a tactic I knew from mine Smuggler days quite well, for I had seen the Smugglers' leader use it to blackmail many individuals into aiding us.

  Thus, I nodded and said, “Yes, I was. 'Tis a time I now so deeply regret with mine deepest heart and soul, but it was true for a time.”

  “Interesting,” said Lanresia. “Well, I'm not going to ask why you were a member of the Smugglers. Mostly because I don't care.”

  Her ears twitched when she said that, though it was a subtle movement that she no doubt believed I had failed to notice. But notice it I did, which told me she was lying, though why she would lie to me, I did not know. Likely she truly did care about my past; if so, I would have to be more careful than ever with what I shared with her, or anyone else who was a member of this 'Foundation,' as she called it.

  “Anyway, Xacron-Ah wasn't a very big-time dealer, even at his prime, so that's probably why,” said Lanresia. She snapped her fingers and a holographic screen shot out of the speaking snake's eyes and hovered before her, glowing blue as the ocean. “Let's see … yes. According to this, the Red Ring Smugglers are active mostly in Northern Se-Dela, whereas Xacron-Ah's gang was on the tip of the Lower Panhandle. That explains it.”

  “This makes no sense to me,” said I. “Why would Xacron-Ah become the Mayor of a major Xeeonite city if he was trying to escape his former comrades? 'Tis similar to painting a red target on one's back in the middle of a war zone and hoping that it will deter a sniper's aim.”

  “True, but it's not quite as vulnerable position as you think,” said Lanresia.

  She waved at her holograph, causing it to spin around and show me an image of Mayor Xacron-Ah. The image closely resembled the one that the merchant showed me before, with the Mayor standing at a podium delivering a speech to an unseen crowd like a priest of the Old Gods, but I noticed several armed J bots standing 'round him like the walls of a fortress, whilst a vaguely glowing red energy field seemed to cover him like a dome.

  “The Mayor of Xeeon always receives an entire squadron of J bots whose sole purpose is to
protect the Mayor from enemies and assassins who would like to kill him,” said Lanresia. “And those are just the visible ones. Often, before Xacron-Ah appears in public, he will have his men scout out the area for any possible hiding assassins or enemies that he cannot see, such as hidden snipers on top of nearby buildings, for example.”

  “Ah ha,” I said. “I see now. The Mayor is the most protected man in the entire city; therefore, it is unlikely that his former smuggler friends will be able to get him, as he is protected at all times by those infernal machines.”

  “Exactly,” said Lanresia. “Not to mention that if he was attacked or killed, then his squadron of J bots would hunt down and arrest whoever did it. It was a brilliant move on his part, one which has served him quite well.”

  “Still seems to me a silly move, however,” I said, stroking my chin. “There must be some other reason why Xacron-Ah ran for Mayor.”

  “You're right,” said Lanresia. “There is. But that ties back into information I'm not allowed to give you yet, such as the true purpose of the Foundation, so don't ask.”

  I frowned. I hated working with such tight-lipped people, but 'twas no way for me to make her tell me the truth. I would figure out someday, however, though for now I would ask her other things that she might be allowed to tell me.

  “Was that assassin bot that attacked me one of his bodyguards?” I asked. “The one with the sword from earlier, which fought like a true Knight of Se-Dela?”

  “Yes,” said Lanresia. “That robot is called Assassin and is the only one of its kind that we know of. We think Xacron-Ah had it specially designed for his own needs; most likely, he ordered it from Annulus Robotics, Inc., the largest robotics company in Xeeo, even though we haven't found any evidence of that yet.”

  “But why did it attack me?” I asked, scratching the back of mine head in confusion. “I was not going to attack the Mayor. I merely wanted to see my sister.”

  “Protecting the Mayor isn't Assassin's only job,” said Lanresia, shaking both of her heads. “It also protects your sister and keeps away anyone the Mayor doesn't want talking to her. It must have recognized you as Kiriah's brother, maybe considered you a possible threat to Xacron-Ah's life, so it tried to end you before you could get too close to her.”

  “Vile machine,” I said. I shook my fist at the ceiling, even though Assassin was not there. “Why must ye keep me from reuniting with family? For what purpose does that serve? Do ye enjoy seeing siblings remain separated and apart? What perverted pleasure must you take from indulging in such evilness?”

  “He's not here,” said Lanresia. “You are talking to the ceiling.”

  I looked back at Lanresia and said, “I know that, she-elf. I am merely expressing my anger and frustration at this revelation. Once I leave this place, I will find that machine and dismantle it piece by piece.”

  “That's a nice thought, but not very realistic,” said Lanresia, leaning back in her chair. “Especially, you know, after you were almost killed by that same robot just a few hours ago.”

  “So I've only been out for a few hours now?” I said. “Tell me, the parade—”

  “Is over,” Lanresia finished for me. “The floats have been put back into storage, the onlookers have gone back to their homes, the performers have moved onto other towns and cities to entertain their audiences, and the streets are clear. That means your sister is gone again, Apakerec. I'm sorry.”

  I slammed my fist on the mattress under me, which did little, as the bed merely absorbed the force of the blow under me; nonetheless, it felt good to do so, for I needed a way to release mine anger constructively.

  “Falnor's luck must be upon me, for that is the only explanation for why I was unable to reach mine sister in time,” I said. “Tell me, where did Kiriah go?”

  “We don't know,” Lanresia admitted. “Despite our best efforts to keep an eye on her, she always manages to disappear every time she leaves the public. We suspect she's staying in the Mayor's Mansion, as it's the only place we've been unable to search, but we still don't know for sure.”

  “I had hoped ye would be able to tell me where she had gone,” I said, my shoulders slumping in disappointment. “Tell me, what is the point in having a secretive organization like yourselves if ye cannot locate even one woman in one city?”

  “Don't blame us,” said Lanresia in annoyance. “Your sister, in case you didn't know, is working with the Mayor. For whatever reason, Xacron-Ah is keeping her out of the public eye. He clearly doesn't want anyone to know of her, because he's gone to great lengths to hide her mere existence from everyone else.”

  “That does not tell me why my sister is working with him,” I said. I leaned forward, ignoring how tight the stitching in my stomach became when I did that. “According to the merchant I spoke with, Xacron-Ah was elected to Mayor six years ago, which is the same time my sister disappeared. Yet my sister has only been seen and photographed recently, which means there is a gap between the time my sister disappeared and when these photographs were taken.”

  I drew out of my pocket the envelope with the three photographs I had been given by the Knights of Se-Dela, pulled out the photographs, and held them up before her. The robotic eyes of Lanresia's speaking snake and her own organic eyes scanned my photographs, though something in the way Lanresia looked at the photos told me she had seen these before.

  “We don't know for sure why your sister is working with the Mayor,” Lanresia said. “We've been keeping track of her, of course, but so far she has not done anything except occasionally meet with the Mayor at Crossways Cafe for lunch. Even then, they don't talk about much; mostly they discuss the weather, sometimes recent political happenings, but not much else.”

  “It sounds as though this Mayor Xacron-Ah fellow is not quite as devious as ye make him out to be,” I said. “Now ye haven't explained just what this 'Foundation' is. Ye have only said that ye are against Xacron-Ah's lies and deception, which I know nothing about.”

  “Right,” said Lanresia. She briefly exchanged looks with the speaking serpent, like she was asking it a question, before looking back at me. “The Foundation is a secret organization founded by … well, I can't tell you that. What I can tell you is that we have been around for a very long time and have done many things. Our current objective is stopping Xacron-Ah's plans, which will hurt the people of both worlds if we fail to stop them in time.”

  “Yet ye told me that ye do not know what he is trying to do,” I pointed out. “How, then, do ye know that he is up to no good?”

  “Our founder says so,” said Lanresia, as if that was obvious. “And our founder is always right. Not to mention all of the evidence that incriminates him, although we still don't have enough yet to expose his true nature to the public.”

  “What government are ye affiliated with?” I demanded. “The United Federation of Xeeonite Nations?”

  “We're an independent organization,” said Lanresia. She gestured at her shoulder. “As you can tell, we have no symbol, no insignia, nothing to signify who we are or who we work with. That's intentional, because we can only be effective by working in the shadows, beneath the foundation of Xeeo, where no one can see us.”

  “I do not like shadowy organizations acting behind the scenes,” I said. “Even if your intentions are pure—which I doubt, but I shall play along with ye anyway—I find your unwillingness to tell me the truth about your actions to make ye out to be especially untrustworthy.”

  “You don't need to trust us,” said Lanresia. “Just listen and understand.”

  I thought that was an exceptionally silly thing to say, but I was getting bored of the subject, as it was quite clear that Lanresia was not going to tell me much more about the Foundation or its history. 'Twas time to change the subject.

  “Ye said it was better that I try not to contact my sister at all,” I said. “Why is that? Do ye think my sister would be unhappy to see me?”

  “Because you'll get killed if you try,” said Lanresi
a, as if I was being intentionally dimwitted and stubborn. “Assassin doesn't just protect the Mayor. It also protects Kiriah and anyone else who the Mayor wants to keep safe. Whether or not your sister still wants to see you, I don't know, but I do know you are better off here, where Assassin can't get you, than up there, where it can.”

  “Give me a sword,” I said, holding out mine left hand. “Any will do. I will then use it to slay this machine like a dragon.”

  “Not a good idea,” said Lanresia. “Assassin is the strongest robot working for the Mayor. It's never been defeated by anyone before. You'd be a fool to fight it now, especially since you're still recovering from your last fight with it.”

  I rested my hand on my abdomen, which was still covered with that bandage. I rubbed my fingers against the cloth as I said, “You are right, but I am still a Knight of Se-Dela. We are supposed to fight no matter how badly we are injured, especially when our family is in danger like this.”

  “Your sister isn't in any danger, from what we can tell,” said Lanresia, shaking her head. “Every time we've seen her, she's always been protected by Assassin. She doesn't seem to be held against her own will, at least.”

  “Nonsense,” I said. I lowered the photographs onto my lap. “My sister would never willingly work with a criminal like this Xacron-Ah fellow. I knew Kiriah. She was a righteous woman, even more so than I, for she never worked for any sort of criminal gang even once.”

  Lanresia held up her hands again. “I don't know everything that's going on. I'm just saying that it seems like your sister is not being held captive. Can you think of any reason why she might willingly work with Xacron-Ah? As you are her brother, you should know her better than anyone.”

  “No reason for this behavior of hers comes to mind,” I responded. “Assuming, of course, my fair sister is even doing that. Ye have lodged nothing but baseless accusations at her, offering not even the flimsiest of evidence with which to convict her.”

  “Well, could you tell us any reason she might have for disappearing in the first place?” said Lanresia. She swiped at her holograph, turning it back around to face her, and then swiped across its surface before placing one finger on it, as if to catch a bug that had landed there suddenly. “According to our records, your sister disappeared from her home in Northern Se-Dela on the third day of the fifth month six years ago. At the time, there were only three other people in her home; you, your older brother Sura, and a family friend called Hajan.”

  I tensed. My memory returned to that fateful night. Even now, I could still remember the sounds of the rain pattering against the roof, the rolling of thunder across the sky, and our own frantic attempts as my brother, our friend, and I searched for Kiriah, who we had thought might be hiding somewhere in the house.

  But I pushed away those memories. They were too painful for me to focus on right now; indeed, I had spent many a year ignoring these memories, for on that night something else terrible happened, something I had done my best to avoid remembering. I had done much a good job of avoiding its memory so far, but Lanresia's words were starting to jog that memory and I did not want that.

  So I said, “All of that is correct, but irrelevant. My sister had no reason to disappear or run away. She never even mentioned Xacron-Ah around us before. I stand by my belief that she was kidnapped, but by who, I cannot say.”

  I hoped that Lanresia did not notice how I refused to elaborate on the facts she had just read to me from her hologram. Granted, what I remembered was unlikely to be very useful to her, but knowledge was power and I was not going to give her any more power over me, not when I still knew so little about her.

  “I guess we'll see which one of us is right soon enough,” said Lanresia. She stood up, the hologram flashing back into the eyes of her speaking snake as she did so. “Now, Apakerec, I think I have told you as much as you need to know for now. I am going to leave, but don't worry, because we'll send someone soon with some food for you to eat.”

  “Ye are leaving?” I said. I tried once more to lift my legs, but the action 'twas in vain, as always. “I shall join ye. My sister is still out there. I cannot simply sit here and rest, as if I was on vacation in the Sunny Isles.”

  “Sorry, but we can't let you do that,” said Lanresia. She nodded at mine legs. “You still need to rest. Your fight with Assassin took a lot out of you and it's clear that the medicine is still affecting you. It would be incredibly foolish to go looking after your sister again; next time Assassin finds you, it will definitely finish the job it started.”

  I scowled. As much as I was loathed to admit it, the she-elf had a point. Whilst I did not feel quite as bad as I had when I had fought with Assassin earlier, I believed her when she said that I would not survive long if I fought it again, at least in mine current condition.

  But I still did not like being here. Despite Lanresia's reassurances that this 'Foundation' she belonged to was a good organization, I deeply distrusted anyone who held me in captivity and refused to tell me their true motives. The she-elf was hiding much from me, but sadly I did not think I could get her to tell me what.

  Then an idea occurred to me to convince her to let me go. It was a brilliant idea, as brilliant as the sun that shone over Dela and Xeeo, far more brilliant than I ever was. Perhaps the Old Gods had given me this idea, though whether they did or did not, I would still use it.

  So I said, “There is another reason ye cannot keep me down here forever, Lanresia. I imagine ye know this already, but I am a Knight of Se-Dela. Tomorrow, I am supposed to return to work, and if I do not, then my fellow Knights will notice and begin to search for me. They will find ye, and once they do, your precious Foundation will come crashing down all around ye like building blocks stacked on top of each other.”

  “Your fellow Knights couldn't find us if we opened the front door and placed a giant 'WELCOME' sign in neon lights outside it,” Lanresia replied, with more than a hint of sarcasm in her voice. “But you are correct that we can't keep you down here forever. Don't worry; we'll send you back home soon, once all of this is over.”

  Lanresia snapped her fingers. My eyelids became as heavy as a sack of potatoes and my muscles began to relax. My conscious rapidly began slipping away even as I realized what was going on: she had cast a sleep spell on me, the witch. I had not noticed any skyras rings on her fingers, but perhaps the Xeeonites could use magic without needing those, or maybe she had some other way of doing it.

  I reached out toward her, but it was no use. Sleep was coming upon me like a falcon flying over a field mouse. I tried to fight it, but it was like trying to fight the winds of a tornado.

  Just as sleep conquered me, a loud explosion rocked the room, causing Lanresia to stagger. The chair was knocked over, as if someone had thrown it, and my bed shuddered and shook with the explosion.

  But I did not have a chance to find out what was going on, because the comforting darkness of sleep claimed me at last.

  ***