Chapter 4: The Right Hand

Several days had passed before the dark man returned leaving Eries to become familiar with the tiny space that was now her home. She spent an enormous amount of time pacing from wall to wall. A mere five-step journey, but it didn't feel good to lie on the cot all day. And pacing was better staring at the ceiling and feeling the worry gnaw away at her stomach. The quiet solitude was broken every couple of hours by a guard who sometimes brought her food and sometimes walked her to the bathroom so she could relieve herself.

The guard never said much, and didn't know anything about when she might be released or what was happening with the other men from Asturia. Eries worried about them. Aston would be even more furious than normal should they be incarcerated because of her. She worried about them because they, no doubt, would not be treated hospitably. That worry kept her from sleeping right, and kept her pacing in that pathetic line over and over again trying to work out her tension.

When the dark cloaked man returned Eries sat on the cot casually though wanting to prove she wasn't rattled at all by the experience and she wasn't about to admit she'd been snooping around the fortress. Such an act would be suicide. No kingdom tolerated spies. They might send her home with an order to never return to Zaibach, but the men, who were far more expendable than she, would not be so lucky. She had to maintain her story for their sake as well as her own.

"So do you have a name?" Eries asked after the man finished the same line of questions as before. She wanted to leave the topic of herself behind.

"Folken," he replied.

"Folken," she repeated slowly. "Are you're a what to Zaibach?"

"I'm a sorcerer."

"I saw you before; you're missing your right arm. And Zaibach's technology gave you a new one. How'd you loose it?"

"That's not important," Folken said. "And I'm asking the questions here."

"Fine. Ask away. I've already told you everything," Eries said. "I just want to go home."

"Patience, princess. We've already questioned the other ambassadors and they've been sent back to Asturia. It was obvious they knew nothing of this incident."

"I wouldn't call it an incident," Eries said.

He ignored her and continued. "They'll send word of what happened to your father and we'll get this all sorted out. We do not want to ruin our relationship with your kingdom. But we can't merely let this pass by. So you'll have to wait." Out from under his dark cloak he pulled something familiar out that he'd been holding onto, Eries's satchel. "You said you were going to the ship for these."

"My books! You're letting me have them?"

"I've already read through them. I see no harm in letting you have them."

Eries took the heavy bag from him, having to hold with both hands while he had easily managed it with only one. "Thank you," she muttered rather surprised. No one had let her have her books in prison before; it'd usually been a fight to get them back after being released. "Did you really read all of these in the last few days?" she asked.

Folken smirked. "I've read many of them before. They're older books, much of that knowledge has long been outdated."

"Really?"

"Zaibach's knowledge far surpasses what those philosophers and scholars scribbled upon those pages. Though I do admit there is some interesting theory contained in some of them. But it's nothing compared to what Zaibach has learned. If you'd like I could lend you some books from my own collection."

"You'd do that?"

"With knowledge comes understanding, princess. You should understand Zaibach is not looking for war, but for peace. Perhaps, when you return, you'll be able to explain that to your father."

"I prefer to draw my own conclusions," Eries said defiantly. "I don't believe my books are so outdated I should toss their ideas aside. And I do not believe that the world will be made peaceful by the construction of metal arms."

"Vicious." Folken's lips curled upward in a feral grin. "You should find them more fascinating than children's picture books at least. Tales of knights and dragons tend to do less for the mind than the principles of science."

A blush crept up on Eries's cheeks thinking of the book Millerna had lent her for the trip. "That's my little sister's," she explained.

"How old is she?" he asked.

"Nine years," Eries said. "And I have an older sister as well."

"Marlene?" he asked and she nodded. "And your little sister's Millerna. They both have faces like porcelain and golden curls in their hair."

"Yes, have you've met them before? I don't ever remember seeing you at the palace, but I'm away so much."

"No, I haven't met them," he said quickly. "But I've heard about all the daughters of King Aston. Their beauty is legendary across Gaea."

A new blush crept over the old one and Eries wondered why. "I don't see them much anymore since I'm always visiting other kingdoms. It's strange, we fight when I'm home, but I always miss them while I'm away."

Folken's eyes softened and he gazed, lost in his own thoughts, at the floor.

Eries watched him curiously. "Do you think I could write to them? Let them know I'm okay?"

Folken looked up from the floor. "I'll see if I can arrange it. Of course, anything you write will be read by Zaibach before it is sent out."

"I would expect that," Eries said looking up at the tall man. She wondered how old he was. It was hard to tell. There was hardness, coldness to his looks, but when he had let down his guard and let his eyes soften he could have been as young as Marlene. Eries guessed he was a good four to eight years older than she. "Do you have any little brothers or sisters?"

"No, not anymore," he said. "But I used to have a little brother."

"I'm sorry. Did he die?"

Folken's eyes shifted back upon her, cold and hard.

"Sorry," she apologized. "You're the one questioning me. I'll try to remember that."

Folken left soon after and Eries congratulated herself on her small victory. She'd managed to steer the conversation away from what she was doing in the hanger. And fluster her questioner at the same time. It was all a game. A delicate struggle for power over the other played in diplomatic world. And Eries had too much at stake to lose.

+*+*+*+*+*+*+*+

Every day for the next month and a half Folken stopped by at first to question her, but the topic always wandered away from her spying. And now he barely bothered to ask her questions anymore. Instead, they'd discuss whatever book she happened to be reading at the time, or some of the technology she'd seen on her first day in the floating fortress. He stayed a little longer every time, their conversations carrying them away for hours drifting from topic to topic. He was astoundingly smart and talked over Eries's head quite often. But she found him to be patient about re-explaining things. And fascinating once he got started.

She looked forward to his visits. And though they talked more and more freely she still had to keep what she said in check. She was winning the game. But it would foolish to let her guard down.

"So how did you loose your arm?" Eries asked. She slid over on the cot and let him sit down. "They didn't cut it off just to put the metal one on, did they?"

"No," Folken laughed. "I lost it when I was fifteen; it got torn off by a dragon."

Eries cringed. "Was it hard to learn to use the metal one?" He'd pushed his cloak to the side and let her examine the arm and rub her palm against the clawed fingers.

"Not really," Folken said. "I never lost the sense of my old arm being there. And that's essential to using a prosthetic limb like this. It's always felt like my old arm, even if it isn't. But there are still things I can't do with it that I did before."

"Like?"

"Holding onto things is very hard. I have to watch what my hand is doing because I can't feel that I've gotten a grip on what I'm trying to pick up."

"If you don't watch it does it wander around on it's own?" Eries's eyes sparkled mischievously.

"No," Folken chuckled. "It acts, for the most part, like a regular arm. I feel it's presence, but it doesn't feel anything. So it's been an adjustment for me since I was right handed."

"I bet you can't use a sword anymore," Eries said looking down at the hilt of the blade he carried.

"I could use my left hand, but I don't swordfight anymore."

"So the sword is just for decoration, then?"

"I only use it when I absolutely have to," Folken said. "Which isn't very often."

"Did you used to fight a lot? Before you lost your arm."

He nodded. "But I gave up that whole way of life long ago. When I lost my arm I abstained from my old violent way of life. That life was wrong, the things I did were wrong. So cut myself off completely from my old life. Cut off the hand that was causing me to sin."

"I thought you said a dragon tore it off?"

"It did. It was just a symbolic action for me as well. Loosing my arm brought me to Zaibach, and Emperor Dornkirk woke up my way of thinking. I gave up the violent way of life. I didn't want to use my hands for war anymore."

"So your new arm is a pacifist," Eries concluded.

"Something like that. I used to accept that everything lived to slaughter another. That man was destined for death and war." He looked down at her capturing her eyes in his own. "But we don't have to follow that thread of fate. Zaibach's technology will help usher in a new era free of war."

Eries gazed up at him. "Zaibach's technology? All that stuff I read in your books?"

"Yes, but we still have a long way go in our knowledge. Someday we will learn how to control and change the fate of man."

"I always thought everyone controlled their own fate," Eries said.

"There is so much of it we can't control," Folken said. "Did you control the color of your eyes or hair? Or the year and season in which you were born? Or that you were born a girl? Or the fact that you are part of the royal family of Asturia?"

"I suppose not."

"There is so much we cannot control by ourselves. But why should we accept our fates? We should be the masters of our own destinies. Break man free of the destiny of war. Break free of the destiny of hurt and death and pain. And Zaibach will be the ones to do it. Zaibach will bring peace to Gaea."

Eries clasped her hands in her lap. "It sounds wonderful," she said quietly.

Folken stood up and stretched. "I've been here far too long today and I have much to do yet. Sleep well, princess."

Eries didn't watch him go. "Control my own destiny," she whispered. "And be free of pain." Eries flopped back on the cot and smiled. "Amazing. Folken, you are amazing."