CHAPTER TWO: Tortured

Malachite entered the dark tavern with a feeling akin to depression. He'd tried everything that he could think of to find the girl, but he hadn't had any luck. He was deeply worried for her, knowing that she was probably seriously hurt wherever she was.  He took a seat in the back of the room where he'd have a good view of the door without exposing his back. He ordered a drink from the barmaid, then sat nursing it as he pondered the girl's fate. He glanced up at the door as two people entered. One was a young woman who would have been quite pretty if she hadn't had so much hatred on her face. The other was the oily little man who'd taken the girl.

They glanced around fugitively, then sat at a table within earshot of his own. He kept his face pressed into his glass so they wouldn't notice him eavesdropping. He was extremely relieved when they sat facing the opposite direction. He listened closely to their conversation, hoping to learn something about where they'd taken the girl.

"So she shows no sign of breaking," the woman was saying coldly. "Surprising. Have you tried torture?" she asked as casually as if she were suggesting he have some tea.

"Yes, my queen. We've done everything we could think of. She's had three straight days of the most intense torture that we could devise, and she's not even close to breaking. It's puzzling. She should have died when that ball of negative energy hit her. Anyone else would have, but she was barely affected. If I didn't know better, I'd almost have to say that she's acting like a Sailor Guard."

The woman glared at him. "Explain," she hissed.

The man gulped nervously. "Well, first there's the fact that she found all of the infected, energy-stealing objects that we left around the castle. Second, she managed to destroy not only the objects, but she also killed most of our agents. That's not easy. Then, there's the fact that the negative energy didn't kill her. The only people ever to survive that sort of blast are the soldiers of the Silver Alliance. She has to be a Guard, and a strong one at that. She might even be a Scout. I mean, we know that she's not human. We've cut her in many places, and her blood runs gold."

The woman gave a satisfied smile. "At least we know what she is. Only Venusians possess gold blood. Does she show any signs of power?"

The breath escaped from the man's lips in a hiss. "Oh, yes. She has great power. I have rarely seen such power, even from Sailor Guards. In fact, I believe that she may even be shielding the other prisoners from the pain we've inflicted on them. We hurt them, but they don't react. I decapitated a man just to be sure, and almost immediately a welt formed across her throat in the exact same place as where I'd put the knife. It's amazing," he finished with awe.

The woman slammed her drink down. "Kill her. Tonight. If she is truly an agent of the Silver Alliance, then Selenity will send someone to find her. Where there's one agent, another always follows, especially if she is as high in the Sailor hierarchy as you suspect."

Malachite raced back to the castle. He knew where she was now. He'd recognized that woman the moment she entered. She was the daughter of a minor noble who'd caused immeasurable trouble in the past. Her father specialized in guerilla attacks and murders. They lived in a huge black castle located only a few miles north of here.

He quickly gathered some supplies and weapons, then mounted the fastest horse he could find. He would reach the castle well before nightfall. He only hoped that he could find her in time.

Malachite crept up to the castle, keeping out of sight of the castle's archers by hiding behind the large black boulders surrounding it. The castle itself was perched on a cliff above him. Rumor had it that the rock from which the castle was built came from the eruption of an ancient volcano. The rock itself was a glassy black, almost like obsidian. At the foot of the cliff was a large crated filled with polluted water. Not the best place to live, he decided.

As Malachite came closer to the base of the castle, he noticed two young women darting, like him, from boulder to boulder. They were both wearing some strange outfit that almost looked like an odd version of a sailor's uniform. The outfits were basically the same, except that one was accented with red while the other was accented with blue. The girl in red had long black hair, but the other girl had short- blue??- hair. How can anyone have blue hair? he wondered. They were whispering fiercely to each other, and the blue-haired girl kept looking at a small blue device in her hand. "There's got to be a way in," whispered to the one in red. "Mina's hurt. I can feel it."

The other girl started rapidly pushing the buttons on the device with one hand. "She's there alright, but I still don't have a way in. It's not like I can just hack into their computer systems and take the schematics. They don't even have computers yet."

Malachite had heard enough. These girls were obviously friends of the first girl, and they could probably help each other. He approached them cautiously. He didn't know what they were capable of, after all. "Ladies, I believe that we can help each other."

They whirled, taking fighting stances as they saw him. "Who are you?" demanded the girl in red. "How do you think you can help us?" The scorn in her voice was palpable.

"My name is Malachite. I believe we have a mutual friend locked up in that castle. I happen to know a way in, and you can locate her with that little device of yours. It seems that we need each other."

The girl in blue pointed her machine at him. "It's alright. He's clear, and he is who he says he is. We can trust him." She put the device away. "Well? Are you going to show us the way in or not?"

He led the way to the break in the wall that he'd discovered a few years ago during a battle with the noble of this castle. He ran his hands along the wall until he found the crack. He tugged at it until it a portion of the wall gave way, revealing a dank corridor leading into the depths of the castle. Malachite had to practically bend in half to fit. "How exactly did you know who I was?" he asked.

The girl in blue shrugged. "Mina sent us the dossiers from the royal staff. I simply scanned your image into the computer and waited until I found a match."

She spoke as if the whole matter were routine, so Malachite chose to treat it as such. "I take it that Mina is also the girl that I am searching for," he said.

The girl in red stiffened. "How are we supposed to trust you when you don't even know her name?" she asked acidly.

It was his turn to shrug. "She wouldn't tell me. She thought it was some kind of game to keep me guessing. It certainly entertained her."

"Yep. That's Mina, all right. Unless she's fighting, everything is a game to her. I'm Raye, by the way, and that's Amy. I guess if Mina was playing with you, then it's okay to trust you." She didn't look at if she did, though.

"She certainly did 'play' with me." He couldn't suppress the note of bitterness that crept into his voice, but he didn't really want to. He was still angry with the girl for lying to him. Maybe it had been necessary, but that didn't make it any easier to forgive her. He would help to rescue her, but then he never wanted to see her again.