Rag Doll, Chapter 14
Okay, this is it, one of the tense chapters. Blade's going to meet up with his parents again after two weeks. What will happen when he tells them how he's been using their money?
Blade's POV
I was walking through my tunnel, thinking about how I was going to break the news to my parents. They would know that I had been lying to them for almost eight years now. They probably wouldn't take that well. I also had been using the money they gave me to better the lives of the slummers. They really wouldn't take that well.
All too soon, the end of the tunnel reached my sight, and I took my usual precautions to avoid detection. They would surely lock me up as punishment, but they would never get me to tell them exactly how I got there without their notice. I left the tunnel and carefully made my way to the high class district. I slipped around in the alleys until I could see my home. Nothing looked suspicious, so I carefully entered the door, turned on the light and found no one there.
"Well, it is still pretty recent" I thought. I had believed that news of the aqueduct named in my honor would have reached my parents already. I would probably hear about it tomorrow morning, but for now, I was safe. I showered, taking my time in the warm water, then went straight to bed.
When the next morning came, I did my morning routine, doing the extra twenty-five that my new routine demanded. Then I made myself a small breakfast since I skipped dinner last night. When I exited my house, however, I saw two guards with the sigil of my parents on them. They caught sight of me and stated
"Master Blade, you have been summoned by your parents. You are to meet with them immediately. Any plans you have for the day are to be put aside. Will you comply?" Nodding, I said
"I was actually planning to meet my parents today. Lead the way."
Without another word, the guards turned and began walking in the direction of my parent's mansion. I thought that during this journey I would be sweating over what I was going to say, worrying about my parent's reactions to my actions. But the truth is, I felt perfectly calm. I knew they would react badly to the news, but I was beyond caring at this point. I could take whatever they dished out, no matter if they locked me away or tried to force me to marry someone else.
When we arrived, everything looked normal, but I resigned myself for the worst. The guards escorted me to the dining room, but I saw no breakfast waiting. Then I knew that this was a business meeting, and if there was any breakfast to be had it would have to wait. My father motioned for me to sit, and I took the chair on the far side of my parents. They raised their eyebrows at this, but didn't say anything. There was a profound silence between the three of us, my father and I just staring at each other, sizing one another up. My mother was skipping her gaze between the two of us, back and forth, waiting for someone to break the monotonous silence. Finally, my father said
"So, I've been hearing reports of construction going on in the slums while you were away."
"Oh?" I asked.
"Yes, and it seems that it was for an aqueduct of sorts." I didn't say anything.
"And the funny thing is, they have named it the Blade Aqueduct." I didn't even flinch.
"Quite the coincidence, I thought, that they happened to know your name when we are supposed to stay away from the slums. I distinctly remember that our names were never given out when we had officially visited the slums. Do you have any idea how this could have happened, Blade?" he was speaking in a slow, deceptively mild tone. I stared at him and said only two words to draw this out.
"I might." We went back to our staring contest while my mother was struggling to get some words out.
"How… how could you possibly know something, dear? Surely, you know nothing about the slums, since you are supposed to stay away from such trash." This statement made me flinch, but in anger. My fiancée came from the slums, and she was anything but trash. I still said nothing.
"And you know," my father began, still deceptively mild "I have been taking a recent review of our finances. And I made the startling discovery of the fact that all the money that we gave you mysteriously disappeared, yet the overall health of the slums improved. I got these reports on a regular basis, but I never really paid attention to them. But with the news of the… strangely named aqueduct, I became more interested in past events. Then there were your… disappearances. You said you were training. And I believed you because shortly after our excursion to the slums, you began getting stronger. You became the champion of the contests and held the title to this day. But I also think there might have been a specific motivation behind your training. It's time to fess up, son."
"What do you mean, Harold?" my mother asked him. My father stood up and pointed an accusing finger at me.
"I believe that our son has been lying to us for five years now, and I think he's been giving money to and associating with the trash in the slum!" My mother gasped and looked at me with worry.
"Is this true, Blade?" she asked softly, fearing my answer. I put my head down, but not in shame, in mockery. I gave a low chuckle, one that sounded evil to my mother and made her grow pale, while my father narrowed his eyes in suspicion.
"Well," I started "you're smarter than I gave you credit for, old man." My father's face flushed and my mother gave a small shriek of despair.
"Yes," I said, rising from my chair. "I have been giving money but not to trash. I have been giving money to the citizens of the slums. And I have been lying to you and associating with them for seven years, not five. In fact, it's working on eight years." My father just stood there, quaking with rage, and my mother was crying silent tears.
"I have snuck away every day for the past seven years and going to the slums with large amounts of cash on hand. There I would buy food for the children, I would give to families that had nothing, and occasionally, I would give them something expensive from my house that they would be able to sell or barter for. I helped families who were poor when you would have condemned them. I healed people where you would have written them off without a second thought. And now, I have given them the means to clean the streets that you so despise, as well as improve their health. I came up with the idea to build the aqueduct, and with the help of someone we got the project underway. It was finished yesterday, and the citizens of the slums cheered for me."
My father was frozen in place, his face tomato-berry-red, my mother was close to a breakdown. Then I gave the news to push them over the edge.
"But the news isn't all bad, you know." My father's face turned to one of suspicion, but my mother perked up at the possibility that her son wasn't entirely done for.
"I have a fiancée now" I said lightly. My father flinched at the revelation, and my mother timidly asked
"Who is she, dear?" her face picking up somewhat. I gave an evil smile, and my mother's face grew downcast and terrified again.
"Her name is Rose, and she's from the slums." My mother wailed, unbelieving, but my father shouted
"Guards!" Two guards appeared in the doorway of the kitchen, ready to take my father's orders.
"Put this blasphemous traitor in the dungeons and make sure that he never gets out!" The guards rushed for me, but I merely snorted and took them down with ease. I looked at my father's face and spat
"What? Did you already forget that I am the champion of the contests, seven years running? You can't beat me, and you won't keep me from marrying the girl I love!" I ran for the exit and my father shouted for more guards. I could see their numbers and I was somewhat daunted. But then I mentally shook myself and thought of my fiancée.
"Rose."
I began to fight, taking down one guard after another. But for every guard I defeated, two more stepped in to take their place. I knew it would be a matter of time before they finally subdued me. One against two hundred is hardly fair odds.
It took half an hour, but they finally began to weigh me down. Then I couldn't move anymore, and I knew that I had been beaten. I heard my father's footsteps, along with my mother's, and I looked up in hatred to see him giving me the same look.
"What shall we do with him, my lord?" one of the guards asked my father. Sneering, he said
"Throw him in the dungeons and lock him up with chains. He is to go on a bread and water diet until the contests. I have a special punishment in mind for him." My mother beseeched him.
"Please, Harold, think what you're doing. You are condemning your own son." My father's face turned from a sneer to cold hatred, and he jerked himself from my mother's grasp.
"I have no son."
My mother shrieked and fainted, one of the guards moving to catch her, while the others dragged me away, kicking and fighting the entire time, to the dungeons. When we arrived, I had exhausted all my spare energy, so it was easy for them to put me in the cold, heavy chains. This was a special dungeon, one built under the mansion especially for treasonous people so my father could interrogate them at his leisure. But I would say nothing. He could do whatever he wanted to me, but he would never crack me. But then I realized, he doesn't have to.
"Rose."
I had given her name, and in here I couldn't protect her. My father might just kill her off.
"No, don't think like that" I told myself. He said he had a special punishment in mind for me during the contests, and I had a sinking feeling it would involve her. Whatever the case, the contests were only a week away, but I knew this would be the hardest week I would ever experience.
OMFG! What's going to happen next?!