Chapter Ten- The Message to Hidon

Psalm 6:2- "Be merciful to me, Lord, for I am faint; O Lord, heal me, for my

bones are in agony. My soul in is anguish. How long, O Lord, how long?



Early the next morning, after a restless night filled with nightmares and tears, Tielle was woken and brought outside where a hover-car waited to take her to her next prison. Chayden and Hristen were both there, Hristen smirking, and Chayden's eyes shimmering with compassion. Tielle could not bring herself to look at either of the princes, and instead she gazed at the ground as her hands were tightly and roughly bound behind her.

She was shoved onto the 'car, and an overwhelming panic overcame her. Arilana's death had made her fear of hover-cars a hundred times worse, and she began to sweat and hyperventilate. "I can't do this," she whispered to no one in particular, her throat suddenly dry.

Chayden heard her and gently placed a hand on her shoulder. "You'll be fine."

"No. No! I can't, I can't do this. I-"

Looking her in the eye, Chayden said, "I will be right here beside you."

Hristen appeared suddenly, much to Tielle's chagrin. "Oh, is poor Princess Tielle afraid of the big bad hover-car?" His wicked grin and mocking tone made Tielle force her fear down and replace it with anger directed at Hristen and her plight. A shadow of her former pride resurfaced itself, and as she was blindfolded, Tielle's eyes glimmered with a spark of their previous fire.

***

They reached the ocean and Hristen allowed Tielle's blindfold to come off. Chayden watched as the princess gazed in wonder over the seemingly unending waters. Awe filled her sense, but grief and fear still lay beneath the surface.

Hristen would try to further that grief and fear, Chayden knew, so he felt that it was his responsibility to try to ease it, or at the very least no provoke it. For that reason he had borught Tielle's Holy Books, and he would have been ashamed to admit that instead of doing his nightly meditations the evening before, he had read Tielle's religious teachings.

They were fascinating. Filled with more wisdom, prophesy and commands than he could have ever imagined. Many things had been unclear and confusing to him, however, and he had some questions that he was eager to ask Tielle.

His questions would have to wait, though; they had crossed the ocean and were at the prison. An entourage of guards escorted Tielle inside, and when she was out of earshot, Chayden leaned close to his older brother. "When is Father telling Hidon that we have the princess?"

"Today." Hristen's eyes gleamed with anticipation that made Chayden uneasy. "And today we will give Hidon a reason to weep as their beloved Heir suffers."

***

After only a few hours of being locked in a dark, dingy cell slightly removed from the rest of the abrasive and repulsive inmates, Tielle was escorted to another, much, much, *much* smaller room and told to sit there and wait.

Wait for what? Tielle thought, but she did not ask. She had a feeling that she did not want to know.

Her answer came soon anyway.

***

On Hidon, King Partini was interrupted from his work by his secretary. "I'm busy!" he snapped at her, but she stoutly said, "Queen Shari is waiting to speak to you. She says it is a matter of extreme importance, a galactic matter that cannot be put off."

King Partini dismissed the secretary and slapped the button on his view- screen. "What?"

Shari was flushed as she burst, "King Faihn is transmitting a system-wide message to everyone in our system. He says he has news of our daughters."

***

In the palace on Shansire, Prince Kall and his father watched as King Faihn promised them that it was worth their time to listen to him. "I know exactly where the princesses of Hidon are, and I will tell you now."

***

"Where? Where?! Where are they?!?!" Partini exploded at the holo-screen as Faihn tiptoed around saying anything definite.

***

"The princesses are safe, that I guarantee you," Faihn continued as Pioti Ytin, a simple farmer on Hidon, watched. "How much longer they will be that way, I cannot say. It depends on King Partini."

***

In the large and fabulously lavish palace on Ziex, the Queen calmly watched, proving the widely believed idea that Ziex did not let their emotions show if they even felt any emotions at all. The next few words were enough to *almost* enough to rattle even Queen Tenia, however.

"The princesses are on Fareari, under my imprisonment. There they will remain until King Partini agrees to unconditionally surrender to Fareari."

***

"I will never surrender to you!" King Partini exploded at the holo-screen.

***

"He will never surrender to Faihn!" Kall exclaimed to his father. "Partini would never do that! Under any circumstances!"

***

"Because I realize that Partini will probably be unwilling to surrender his planet to Fareari, I have arranged for an… incentive. And it is only out of the kindness of my heart that I have not subjected both princesses to this fate." The screen winked out and Princess Tielle appeared as the farmer Pioti sourly thought, *you don't have a heart.*

***

As Klane watched the screen, he bitterly thought, *this is not going well. The assassins couldn't even finish the two princesses off, and now it looks like I will not be ruling Hidon- Faihn will!*

On Shansire, a wealthy merchant watched Faihn explain his incentive. The merchant, Ewate W'antani, had a feeling that this incentive was probably not a credit amount.

***

Pioti's children and wife had joined him in watching the holos. Pioti and his wife gasped as a levitating metallic device floated over to the princess. They knew what that was.

"Children, to your rooms. Now." Pioti sternly commanded, his tone giving no room for argument. He knew what was going to happen next.

***

It was the worst, absolutely most horrific and devastating thing that could have happened to Tielle. She nearly fainted when she saw it.

An interrogation sphere.

***

The sphere was covered with needles, injectors, electric shockers, and other things that Kall didn't recognize.

He didn't need to recognize them to know that they would probably do more than just tickle.

***

Ewate nearly passed out from shock when she saw the highly, highly, illegal interrogation sphere. She had seen one only once before, when she had been working as a black market smuggler, before she had gone "clean." Possessing a sphere on Shansire was enough for a twenty-year sentence; using it on someone, ever, was good for life.

***

Across the Inner Space System, billions of beings watched in horror as the interrogation sphere began its heinous task.

***

Queen Tenia gasped. She could not help herself. The beautiful princess was being beaten, electrocuted, cut, bruised, battered, stabbed, pricked, and injected with chemicals.

She was being *tortured.*

Finally she fainted, lapsing into unconsciousness. Tenia breathed a sigh of relief that the princess would be put out of her misery, but then she was revived.

***

And then it started all over again.

Tielle screamed as the sphere came near her again. She tried to defend herself, but the room was too small. There was nowhere to go, even if she had had any energy to flee with.

The worst was the tiny pinpricks that the needles gave her as they stabbed into her flesh, leaving blood and wounded skin behind. The needles hurt, and the chemicals that were injected felt like acid tearing her insides out. Her blood vessels screamed out in pain, and her heart felt like it was about to burst as the toxins circulated throughout her bloodstream.

Numb, dazed, in excruciating pain of unthinkable levels, all Tielle could pray was, *God… No… Help… Stop…

*Stop…*

***

Tielle cried out again and Chayden tightly reined in his emotions once again. He was standing with Hristen behind a one-way window, so Tielle could not see him, but he could see her.

And he didn't like what he was seeing.

Tielle screamed in agony again, her terror and pain vibrating through Chayden's head as strongly as if he was the one getting tortured. He wanted to stand up and grab the sphere's controls away from Hristen, but that would accomplish nothing.

Hristen was relishing this, much to Chayden's disgust. He smiled malevolently as he increased the toxin dosage levels on his controls. The electricity levels went up a notch also…

Tielle shrieked again, her tormented cries and anguished sense nearly causing Chayden to break, and it was in that moment that he knew that he loved her.