CHAPTER 26 I Find Myself in Chains

It is the next morning and we've finally had restful sleep again - well except me. I am hopefully optimistic, though I know there's still work to be done. Our friends start the day by taking us to the city council meeting, held in one of the many rooms hewn out of the tall stone wall that surrounds the central fields, saying they go every day as guests. Izark and I stand in the back near our friends. As everyone is getting settled, a messenger runs into the room, stopping in front of the mayor, who is sitting in the main seat in front of everyone. "Mayor Mardwoog," he says, a bit breathlessly, "the messengers of the army of Donya have just come to the gate and issued an ultimatum. The army will be arriving tomorrow. If we surrender, we are to have the gates open to let them in when they arrive. If the gates are not open, they will consider it a refusal to comply and they will attack the city."

The council chamber goes very still, then explodes into complaints against the army and the government of Donya, but interestingly, there are no words of surrender, no pleas to the Mayor to reconsider his position. A debate ensues as to how it will be best to defend the city and the innocent children, women and elderly, and their honored guests, with whom they seem to be including Izark and I. For all that the citizens could be killed or injured, they will not bow to the corrupt officials in their government. They are indeed strong willed. Voices of the guests of the city and council from near Izark and I are now also adding their comments to the proceedings.

Koriki, the firecracker of the brothers, is saying that he will stand with those who will fight to protect the city. Rontarna's voice calls for negotiations or clandestine solutions. Even the older men, of whom there are three others besides Duke Jeida that are here as refugees from the political storm, add in calm advice and words of wisdom. It seems they have also adopted this city as their own. I reach for Izark's hand, thoughts and ideas forming in my head. Together, we reach a mutual moment and move to walk up to stand in front of the mayor. I know Izark wouldn't do this in public by himself, but I believe that in order to protect him and have the best result, the council should be used for the purpose it was created for.

"Mayor Mardwoog," I keep my voice calm and soft. The room falls silent, even our friends a bit amazed that again I would be the one to speak out. I dropped Izark's hand as soon as we were in place, since I know he would otherwise be embarrassed, and we both need to be seen in positions of strength. He stands next to me and we are the Fairy Queen and Fairy King together in that room. "We have not come here innocently." The room goes a bit electric. Perhaps not the best word choice. "We were informed that the army was coming and came quickly to arrive before them. Please hear our words and let your words and the words of your council direct us." Mayor Mardwoog gives us permission to have the floor.

I turn to the council, Izark silently with me, trusting me in this. He's learned that when I'm like this, it's to protect him, and my words have so far been words he can trust and that have helped him. With gratitude to him I'm careful with my words, now that they'll be publicly spoken. "If possible, we would help the citizens of Ennemarna do away with this threat without injury to anyone in the city, or even property damage. We would even see the army sent away without injury to them as well, if at all possible." People are looking at me with complete disbelief. I smile a little. "It is possible. You have the legends of light here in this place. Tell me, what do those legends say that can be of use in your defense?" I sat up most of the night reading. I know some of the ones I want them to say, but they must say them, and there are surely more that I haven't read or aren't written down.

An older man says, "The city of Ennemarna is said to be a city blessed and protected - a holy place protected by the divine. Many of the people of Donya believe this, or have believed it in the past. It's because of it being the City of Light."

I look at him. "Are there specific things that have been written or passed down of how or in what way it was protected before?"

His brow furrows, and many others are considering my question. Answers begin to be said from around the council. "A demon will rise up from the sands and devour the people." "The spirits of the dead will whisper death in the ears of those who turn from the path of light and attack the city." "The warriors of the mist will come with great spears and defend the city for the people of the city so they don't have to defend themselves." "Great sandstorms and confusion will come upon the armies that come against the city of Ennemarna, so that they can't even find the city, but are lost in the desert to wander until they die of thirst." "A shield of light will protect the city so that their enemies can't enter it, but are repelled by truth and determination." "If the citizens of the city stand firm in their conviction for truth and light, then they can't be overcome." "A gentle heart and a love of service to all will bear the fruits of peace." At this last I look at the speaker, then at Gaya.

After a few more suggestions I hold up my hand. "That's sufficient for now. Thank you." I pause, then bow to the council. "Thank you also, for your gentle hearts and service towards us since we came yesterday. If you will allow us, we will bring to you the fruits of peace." I look at Izark. "Is that sufficient for you to work with?" The room is in stunned silence, not quite comprehending what I've just asked Izark. I know he can do whirlwinds of confusion and create chaos, and probably whisperings of spirits. I'm not sure about the demon, unless it's him. The same with the shield of light, but if the army doesn't even get this far, that part may not be needed.

"Use the legends to create fear...like on the ship." I nod.

Izark turns to Mayor Mardwoog. "I've been gifted with special powers. I can use the legends against the army, to cause them to fear coming against the city. Let me go to them and see if I can make them leave the desert and return home. At dawn, I'll make them believe those legends have come true because they chose to come against Ennemarna. Perhaps they will run in fear and you won't have to fight them. Even if I can only chase off a portion of them, it will be that many less that the city will have to face." We both know that the council will not believe he can chase away the entire army as a single man, even with special powers, but we also don't want the whole of them to know what he is.

The mayor looks at us, an interesting look in his eye. He knows I'm a seeker of light, but he can't tell anything else. "You're a wandering swordsman?" he asks Izark.

"Yes," Izark says calmly.

"What price would you ask from the city to defend it by yourself against an army. Surely such a feat would be even more expensive than a city could afford, I would think." I'm surprised it was turned so quickly into a business transaction, but I hold my peace. Izark is a consummate negotiator, after all. It's his job.

He smiles slightly. "I understand that it's difficult to believe that I can do what I've said, but I can. I'm not here to extort, but to help. My first request is that the city keep Noriko safe while I'm gone. She is my beloved and her protection is the most important thing to me." The mayor raises an eyebrow and there are murmurs in the crowd. I squash any external reaction from me, most particularly the blush that threatens. "We've come to you with nothing. I would second ask that the city provide three sets of clothing for each of us, or if that's not possible, Noriko is an excellent seamstress and enough cloth and thread for her to make our clothing would be a sufficient substitute. Two bags for us to carry them in, one for each of us. When we leave, one water bottle each and food sufficient for us to reach our next destination." He looks at me and smiles. "Noriko also writes, but her notebooks, pens, and ink were stolen from us nearly two months ago and we haven't been able to replace them. If a few could be spared, we would be grateful." He looks back at the mayor. "Please continue to feed and house us without charge until we leave, though we won't overstay and become ungrateful and undesirable guests. This is the payment I require of the city to defend it from the army."

The mayor is staring at Izark in disbelief. "That's all?"

Izark tips his head. "That's what I require to even go out and attempt the job." There are noises that say they expect him to charge a lot more if he can actually make good on his promise. He calmly addresses that issue. "If I can make the entire army leave the field, then I'll take as my payment however much gold from their coffers that I can carry from what they leave behind. If they don't leave any gold behind, then I require twenty percent of whatever gain you earn from the sale of the provisions, supplies, and materials they leave behind. If I can only chase away a few, and the enemy will still attack, then I'll take instead five percent of what you can sell of their camp, or ten percent of the gold that is found in it."

"You assume that we'll win either way," comes a complaint.

I turn to the council and quietly say, "He will. Is this not the City of Light?" They are silent.

Mayor Mardwoog narrows his eyes at Izark. "That's still not a burden on the city. You'll take it from the enemy." Izark nods. "Ask for more," the mayor demands, "or I won't believe you can perform it." Izark raises an eyebrow.

I put my hand on his arm lightly and he nods. "Mayor Mardwoog, we have brought with us a man who has been kind and faithful to us, but we can't continue to take him with us. He needs a safe place of protection to live. Please, as part of the payment, allow Doros to become a citizen of Ennemarna and give him a place to live and a place where he can comfortably raise his chimos. He can tell you better than we what kind of a place that would be. He can earn his keep working with the animals of the city. I know of no better person to work with animals than him."

Izark nods. "I agree with Noriko. That would be an acceptable addition to the payment."

Now there are murmurs of astonishment in the council and the mayor is looking very confused. "Why won't you ask for the wealth that you could ask for?"

I look at Izark and smile. He smiles with his eyes back at me. "Is not the happiness of your friends and the peace of the land wealth? What need do I have of more than I can reasonably take with me and sufficient to provide for my wife and myself as we travel? We have goals that the gold from the army would help with, but to greedily demand more than that from the citizens of Ennemarna is to take from them what could be used to build the city up."

Calmly I add, "Aren't we trying to tear down those who are corrupt and use wealth and greed to build themselves up and subjugate the people around them? Why should we emulate them?"

There is a barked laugh from behind us. It has been a long time since I've heard Barago's laugh, but it's very distinctive. "Give it up, Mayor. No one wins against Noriko. ...Or Izark for that matter. If that's all they want, give it to them and say 'yes'. You won't find a better deal anywhere."

The mayor looks over to that part of the room, where we walked from to get here. We turn and look as well. The whole group is smiling or nodding in agreement. "Izark will make good on his promise," Duke Jeida says. "I will stake my reputation on it, if you need it." The council turns to look at us again in surprise. Izark is just rising from a brief bow to the Grand Duke.

"...Very well," Mayor Mardwoog says. "We'll protect Norkio from the time you leave until the time you return, give Doros a place in the city to live with his animals, and collect the other things you have requested, as well as let you stay with no charge - though we would have given you that anyway, since you're our guests. As to the rest, we'll see how your battle with them in the morning goes. I don't have a problem with your requirements."

Izark nods briefly and says, "Thank you." He takes my hand, puts it into his elbow and walks me back to our friends, continuing to be the Fairy King.

I float next to him calmly until we're back with the others. I look up into Duke Jeida's eyes. "Thank you." I turn to Barago and smile at him. "And thank you, also. I was afraid that was going to go on for another half-hour."

Barago waves his hand. "I don't have that kind of patience."

I tip my head. "I know. I figured I could count on you." He laughs and laughs, his barking ringing through the room. I put up with it patiently. It really is good to see him smile.

"Noriko," Glocia calls me over and I go to stand next to her. "I know what you said last night, but...you really are a princess aren't you, even over there?"

I shake my head. "Not there. Only here, and only because of Izark." I can tell she doesn't quite get it. I can only smile.

Niana pats me on the head. "Of course you're a princess. Everyone can tell."

"Yes, Niana," I say obediently.

Glocia looks at me in surprise, then turns away and laughs quietly into her hand. When she recovers, she leans over to me and whispers, "You really know Mother now, don't you?" I nod wisely, then wink at Glocia. Leaning back I whisper, "When Izark gets his gold and lets me have some, lets go shopping all day with Rottenina and Anita, okay? He forgot to ask for a brush...again."

Glocia giggles. "Sounds good to me." I'm glad she'll loosen up enough to girl-shop with me. She'll make a great Prime-Minister some day.

I'm sleeping in the same room as all the girls - Gaya, Zena, Anita, and Rottenina- since Izark left in the middle of the night and he wanted me safe. I've woken up early, but then, I went to bed early since I didn't get sleep the night before for all the reading I was doing. I spent the afternoon reading, too. There are many fascinating books in Zena's little library...but it takes me a bit to translate it. This is my first time to really get my hands on books of this world and I don't have my dictionary with me. It's so frustrating. Anita and Rottenina helped me yesterday afternoon, so I got further than I did the night before. A lot of the older books have archaic words in them and Zena has to step in to tell us younger folks what the characters mean, or define certain words. I would read now, to keep myself distracted, but I don't want to light a candle and wake the others up.

I hear a scrabbling near my bed and suddenly the two younger chimos are up on my bed and running up to me. My first reaction would be to jump and shove them off - pets, and in particular rodents - do not belong on human beds, but these two I did get to see when cute and little and they have no fear of me. Since shoulders is where we train them to sit, that's where they're heading, one on each shoulder of mine. I'm wrapped up in my blanket. The nights in the desert are as cold as the books say and the warmth of the sun isn't here yet. I can see there is the beginnings of light, though, through the one covered window in this room. I wonder if I can see Izark, and watch him, without the chimos on my shoulder taking me to him. I carefully try. It wouldn't be good to suddenly be next to him in the middle of the soldiers of the army.

The sand is being whipped up and swirling around. Izark is running lightly through it, whispering in the ears of the soldiers and they are in a panic. I watch carefully, lightly. When the hearts of the men are sufficiently terrified, Izark allows the wind to die down just a bit, then uses a complicated mixture of his powers to make it look like a monster is rising from the sand. He's gotten really good. I wouldn't have thought it possible. The men start to run - away from the monster, away from Ennamarna. Some take courage, so Izark begins to set off the explosives they brought with them, to make it seem like the monster is attacking them. That sends pretty much the rest of them running for home. There's a large exodus of men on foot and on whatever horses they can grab. A few out front took the time to get wagons together and they are packed with other men. He's done a good job of making them so afraid they are leaving everything behind.

As he carefully looks over the camp to see if there are any stragglers, the others in the room with me begin to stir. I curl up in the bed as if still sleeping. The chimos curl up with me, and I hold them to me, trying very hard to find comfort with them and not want to be with Izark. It's hard now the soldiers have gone. We've been separated by distance longer than we have been for quite some time. It shouldn't matter. I can feel him around me, his warmth, but...physical arms are still something else. Ah, I've wanted him too much. He looks at me and smiles. "Good morning, Noriko."

"Good morning, Izark. I see you've been successful. Congratulations."

"You look like you're still sleeping?"

"I'm disguising that I'm watching you."

"Oh, I see." He looks around the army encampment. "It looks like they've all gone. I'm going to wait just a little longer to make sure they don't come back, and hunt for the treasury. I should be back in about a half-hour. Just before I come I'll set off the last of all the explosives to make sure they stay scared off, and to make sure there isn't any left to attack Ennamarna with if they do come back. I've already destroyed the towers and catapults." We continue to chat - well, keep each other company anyway - while he walks the camp.

When he's satisfied with his take for his work, and that they won't be coming back soon, he sets off the explosives and heads back to Ennamarna. I give him one last "kiss", then withdraw. It will be good to see him at the breakfast table. The others in the room are dressing and getting ready. I'm thinking of getting ready myself when I slip back into sleep instead.

Where am I? I was in bed, just talked to Izark. Now I am laying on the floor. Well, on a rug, but on the floor. No blanket, no chimos. I rise unsteadily to my hands and knees. I'm in a mostly bare room. There's a small table with a basket on it and a box, set under a window. The room is dusty and cobwebs adorn the edges of the room, but not the corners. In the corners are crystals set in rings. That's odd. It feels like a kitchen from the pioneer houses I've seen in my American History book. Not as small as the one-room houses, though. There's a door that leads out into a hall, so more like the small two-story houses with two living spaces downstairs and two bedrooms upstairs. Oddly enough this room or house is made of wood. I wouldn't think there would be enough wood for a house in the desert.

"Izark?" My heart freezes and I drop through the layers. There is no sense of where Izark is at all. There is no answer to my call and I can't see him no matter how much I try. There is no warmth or presence of him, and I can't feel his fear, nor do I think my rising fear is getting out to him. I begin to tremble. I call louder, putting more strength and power behind it, wondering if I've been taken a continent away again. "Izark! Izark, I've been taken away!" It doesn't even echo. It's as if it's being absorbed by soundproofing. I look at the crystals again. They've been put newly into this room. I can tell by the lighter color of the wood that was pulled up by the rings being put into the walls. If I can get out of the room... I move to rise and run for the door and I'm pulled up sharply, and painfully as I fall to my hands and knees again, by a restraint around my ankle. I look back. There is a locked metal ring around my ankle and a chain from that to a sturdy ring set firmly into the brick wall of the fireplace behind me.

As my brain begins to comprehend, and my memory kicks in of my nightmare, I hear soft footsteps behind me. The fear from the dream of the evil approaching from behind me explodes in my belly. "I see you're awake, Miss Awakening." With the speed of my fear and my fight or flight training, my back is against the fireplace and I'm staring at the person who walked in. My heart stops, then beats harder than it has ever beat before. I'm frozen in place and a wail is building up in my chest that I try to hold down. I haven't felt like this since I arrived in this world. I look for any escape one more time, but chained and with him between me and the door...I grab the cuff and look for any way to get it to open...take it off. Rachef chuckles. My vision narrows as my fear wants to make me pass out. I force myself to breathe and return oxygen to my brain.

"They told me you could see Izark's near demise before, and you knew where to find him. That isn't going to happen this time." My eyes flick to the corner. "Hmm...so you already know? The crystals are moonstones. In the corners of the room, they separate it from the rest of the world. He can't find you, and you can't warn him." So...it is just the room. If I can get out... I work at the cuff, but my brain is going other places. The pin in the fireplace is actually the weak link. If he's going to keep me alive like last time, and leaves me alone, I'll be able to get out. It helps to have a plan. I don't want to wail any more. That doesn't make it less frightening to have him standing over me.

"The chimos were an unexpected prize. Thank you for bringing them with you." He's polite for an evil man. Like Zant, except not flamboyant. I pause, then call the chimos to me. They don't come. I swallow. Doros told me they'll come for those with strong desires and strong personalities. If someone with a stronger will is present, the strongest will and personality will trump. I quickly give up and don't let Rachef know I can call them. Maybe he'll leave them in the room, too. Now I'm very glad I relented and let them stay in the bed with me.

"Lord Rachef," the voice is scolding, angry, and sullen, and my head swings quickly to look at the doorway, "I thought you were going to kill the Awakening immediately. I gave you my power to find her so you could bring her here to kill her." It's Tazasheena, looking almost ugly with the angry scowl on her face...except she looks like she's trying not to cry, too. I stare at her, trying to understand that expression. "It took me a long time to find this place for you. Playing with little girls is not why you asked me to find it. If you can't kill her, I'd be happy to do it for you." I gasp just a little. She would do it, too, she already doesn't like me, but...was that a touch of jealousy in her voice? I look between her - gorgeous - and Rachef - cold and beautiful. Does Tazasheena want Rachef? I'm sure of it, down in the depths of my womanhood. How long as Rachef rejected Tazasheena? How can she still be trying? Can't she see he only loves himself, and not even that?

"Tazasheena," Rachef's voice is smooth but hard and cold, "take the chimos and leave."

Tazasheena stands shocked, then turns red. "I won't do that, Lord Rachef. My divining has shown me that if you leave Noriko alive that your plans will come to naught. You must kill her without delay. Let me do it for you." She has moved closer to him, desperate for him to hear her voice. In one quick, smooth motion, with no change of expression, Rachef slaps Tazasheena hard enough across the cheek to make her fall down with a small screech of surprise and pain. He has turned his back to me for the blow but I can tell he doesn't even want to grace her with a look. "You forget your place. Liwate and Tickowa!" Two men nearly immediately look around the door frame - not good. There are guards on the door. "Take Tazasheena and the chimos. Put them in a room in another building." I glance at Tazasheena. She is tearing up and I can tell her heart is broken. What little it had been holding to is gone. I think she picked the wrong guy, though they are certainly a pair as far as evil goes, but I still feel just a little compassion for her. Everyone wants to be loved, really.

It's just Rachef and I, and a closed door. My fear rises again as he turns to me, his face calm as if there were no emotions going on inside, though I know there was anger in that slap. He doesn't ever let anyone know what's really going on inside. The kind to look completely in control of every situation. Most likely he is and quickly makes it so if he thinks he isn't. I can probably expect to be punished until I'm in his control as well. I'm shivering inside now. What will he do to Izark if I break under this person? I can't let it happen.

"Eeek!" It escapes because he was so sudden. He is right in front of me, crouched down to look me in the face. My hands flew to my mouth in reaction as well, and I'm breathing hard in fear. This is almost worse than having the flower monster staring me down...except this monster can communicate...and is very beautiful this close up. If I'm not careful my own weaknesses coupled with my desire to live will be my undoing, not his punishments. "Miss Awakening, what is your special power?"

I blink. "Ah...what? S-special power?" I shake my head and take a deeper breath, trying to regain access to my brain.

"That man acquired tremendous power as soon as you appeared. He wasn't able to move at all before you came. What did you do for him?" I take another breath as Rachef puts his chin in his hand in a contemplative pose. He is really wanting to hear me give an answer. Will it help my cause to talk a long time and give any rescuers more time to find me? He doesn't seem the completely patient sort, but he is definitely intelligent.

"Well, you did have him released from the restraints just before then. It wasn't like he could move, pinned to the root. And...I did jump without thinking again. That makes him instinctively react to rescue me."

Rachef looks at me with eyes that say he doesn't believe me, he's frustrated I won't answer the question directly, and I'm rather stupid for jumping off into space without thinking about it. I find his eyes captivating. They are as expressive as Izarks, though his face is more still and private than Izark's. He looks off into space...into his memories. "I've always felt something was missing in my life. I've pushed my way to the top hoping to find out what it is that I lack." He wants to talk? Is he willing to because I'm going to die, or because I'm something different, something special with the label "Awakening"? "I've removed whoever stood in my way - my mother, my step-father, and government officials. I eliminated anyone who made me unhappy." Ah, does that count me? Is that a veiled threat? I swallow. I think I'll treat it as one. Wait, I'm confused. "But no matter how powerful I became, I couldn't rid myself of this empty feeling. I need to possess everything in the world so I can attain a sense of fulfillment. That's why I want to benefit from your special power. Why don't you become mine...so you can give me the same power you gave him?" His hand is reaching for my head. I duck my head away from his hand, clenching my eyes closed. I don't want him to touch me intimately. I'm not his.

The touch doesn't come. I peek out carefully. He's frozen. It's like he's another Banadam...only evil...thinking in his head I'm his without asking or considering me. I suppose I shouldn't expect him to. I take a deep breath, more mental than real, then cautiously reach up and take the hand that is still frozen in the air in mine and lower it to be between us. It's a cool hand, the soft of a man who doesn't work hard with his hands. I look just as cautiously into his eyes, trying to keep my fear hidden as much as possible, trying to keep my face calm. I'm also trying to reach past my fear to the calmness of the world of light inside me. Rachef's eyes have gone from stunned to a mixture of revulsion he is being touched and incomprehension or confusion. There's distrust as well. Whatever happened in his past, he doesn't trust others. I may not be able to reach him.

"Mister Rachef, will you hear me? You are frightening for me to talk to. Please, let me breathe just a minute. I'll try to answer your questions." He's my captor, but it's worth asking. He takes his hand back and sits back a little, resting his arm across his knee. The look on his face is one of twisted humor almost. He'll hear me, for now. I sit cross legged, close my eyes and take one clearing breath, deep enough to try to get proper oxygen to my brain and heart to settle them and get the blood flowing. I have to be the teacher - put that armor on so I can talk to him. "Mister Rachef, your reasoning has not been sound." His eyes flare slightly, but he waits. "If you have a hole of need in your heart and the path you are on cannot and has not yet filled it, how can continuing to walk it provide what you are looking for?" His eyes start to go angry. I hold up a hand. "Let's take a less personal example so you can look at it unemotionally, if you will?" I wait until he gives me a little nod.

I desperately hunt for one. It isn't a pre-prepared lecture. "If you've found a new creature, something you want to keep alive, but you don't know what it eats, how do you learn how to keep it alive? We will assume it can't go and forage on it's own. You have to provide the food for it."

He looks a little impatient, but I wait for him to answer the question. I want his brain engaged in this. "I give it something to eat."

I nod. "Okay. What would you start with, vegetable or meat?"

He blinks, surprised I would want him to be so specific. He frowns slightly. "Vegetable. Most things eat plants."

"Good," I praise him and am pleased when he reacts positively to simple praise. "You've used logical reasoning to make an informed choice, rather than a random one. Most creatures do eat plants. So you feed it grass. It doesn't move to eat it. You're intelligent. You'll try other plants until something gets it's interest, am I correct?" He nods.

"Let's assume there are several options in the cage with it now, and you're called away. You leave, hoping it wasn't hungry just then. You come back later, and one thing is missing. You clean up all the others and remove them from the cage and then just give it that one thing to eat. It's hopefully close enough." He nods. "A week later, you come and look at it closely, and it's thinner, moving around less, looking unhappy or unhealthy. You give it more of what you think it's been eating. Over time, it doesn't matter how much of that food you are giving it, it just isn't thriving. Is it right to continue to assume that's the correct food, or should the original assumption be questioned?"

I wait, watching his face. "At the very least other options should be tried," he answers, "if one can care enough to keep it alive." Well the first half was a good sign.

"Have you tried any other options yet, Mister Rachef? Or have you only tried to fill the hole by taking and taking and taking more and more and more? Are you feeding yourself grass when you need meat? That's what it looks like to me, Mister Rachef, like you are trying to become full on that which doesn't feed a man's heart, wholeheartedly believing that it's the only way." I lean back from the look in his eyes, but I'm sad. He rises and turns away from me sharply. "Can't you care enough to keep yourself alive, to even experiment on if there are other ways to find whatever it is you're missing?" I plead with him gently. He makes a sharp movement, though he doesn't look at me. I flinch slightly.

"What is your special power, Miss Awakening?" he is dangerous in his voice, demanding an answer now.

"You've just heard it, Mister Rachef. Logical reasoning and the desire to understand things. Experimentation and study until a thing is known. The desire to help others understand with me."

He turns back to me with a surprised look on his face. I look back at him soberly. He shakes his head. "It has to be more."

I shake my head back at him. "No. It really isn't. Izark has taken my words and at least listened to them. When he believes me, he finds strength inside himself to move closer to his own goals. If you want what I give to him, then take what I've just given you and increase your own strength."

Ouuuch! He's grabbed me by the hairs on the back of my neck, pulled me half-way up, to my knees, and is staring with fury into my eyes, which I can barely open due to the pain. "The sophistry of the scholar is not power," he hisses at me.

I sob in, taking a breath for air, then carefully say though gritted teeth, "In my world we have a saying: 'knowledge is power'." He shakes me. I open my eyes again and look deeply into his, waiting until I have some portion of his brain paying attention to me. "I come from one of the most intelligent nations of my world, and my world is far more advanced than this one - all because of knowledge, reason, experimentation, and study. If you don't want what I have to give you, let me go. I have nothing else to give."

Rachef glares at me a moment longer, then throws me to the floor. "I will not let you go." My heart drops with the declaration, though I really didn't expect him to, I suppose...just was hopeful. "I was going to kill you, but I've given you a chance to live. I'll give you anything if you'll obey me. Give me your special power." He waits for me to answer.

What answer can I give? I don't move, but I do answer, "I've already obeyed. Do what you will with it."

The blow doesn't come but his anger is palatable. When it's under control again, he says, "I'll give you time to think about it." He turns to leave. In a dangerously smooth voice he says, his hand on the door handle, "Be sure you think about it." He is gone.

How can I obey any differently? How can I give him something I don't have? If he can't trust me, then I'm dead. The tears flow. "Izark...," my heart moans and begs for him, "Izark, please...come save me." My tears run down my face and I can't prevent the sobs.

I am just returning to rational thought, and thinking of working on the pin in the fireplace when there's sudden movement in the center of the room. I'm staring in amazement at Tazasheena, a bandage on her cheek from the blow Rachef gave her. In her hands are both chimos that came with me. The tears are still running down my cheeks, though my sobs are calming. I don't really care. "You look a mess," she says to me. Yeah, you too, sister. "Do you want to escape from here?" She's the temptress. What does she want? "The chimos will take you out, but then I'll tell Rachef you've escaped and he will call you back. His control on the chimos is powerful. You can't get far enough on your own. When he has you back, he will kill you for escaping. You'd have to go all the way to Ennemarna for him to not reach you. That will kill you, you know, but if you love your man that much, you can call the chimos and go to him. Dead either way works by me."

I'm surprised at her complete lack of logic, the same as Rachef's. How is she going to survive telling Rachef she brought them to me? But with Rachef out of the room, maybe I can call the chimos. Maybe his hold over them is cut off because of the moonstones. If I can get from here to Izark, Izark can protect me...and Irktule and the spirits might have just enough power left to keep me alive, though we used up an awful lot two days ago. The balance is slim, but just weighted on the side of escape. I open up my full desire to be next to Izark and hold out my hands. The chimos are in my hands and I'm gone, the room disappearing. I hold my desire to be next to Izark tightly in my mind, thinking of nothing else, and suddenly he's in front of me. I can't help but smile. "Izark." And then I'm passing out. I can't breathe. I struggle to take in air.

"Noriko! Noriko!" Izark's voice is painfully frantic.

I'm in his arms and I'm so relieved. "I-zar-k," I struggle to let him know I can hear him, but the world is fading it's so hard to breathe. I send a small sending of love and sorrow and compassion to him, and then I know nothing.