BOOK OF REEVES 3
Note: Sorry for the long time no update! I'm lazy, and I've been putting most of my time into Antique-ing (a new hobby of mine) oh yes, and work fits into that schedule too. And also… I haven't been inspired much lately. BUT NOW I HAVE THE MYST SOUNDTRACK!!!! So if I keep holding things off, just through a prison book at me, and be sure it hits my face (not my hands!!).
Reeves couldn't believe what had just happened. He was standing back in D'ni, surrounded by the Nara bars that surrounded the worst of criminals. He had fallen for a trick, a very cruel tick. It had all been staged to get Reeves imprisoned, possibly killed. For what reason someone would do this he didn't know.
It was very dark and very quiet in the chamber where he was imprisoned. In the hall a few fire marbles emitted their orange glow on the wall. Outside her heard a few guards muttering, and out a window he could see the lake that surrounded the maintainer's compound.
Reeves walked over to the side of the prison room where he could see another man entering the room. The guards pushed the bald man into a prison, where they briefed him and told him about the prison age he would be visiting.
Reeves pressed his face up against the bars to see who it was. The man looked familiar, perhaps Lord Rekeri's son.
Yes that was it! Lord Rekeri, Veovis was it? Reeves could hardly imagine what kind of trouble Veovis could be in, then again, he was quite an activist about the whole "outsider" issue. Perhaps a riot was started of some sort.
Reeves brushed the ideas aside, whatever it was, Veovis would get out of it. What Reeves had was a much bigger problem then anything Veovis could have. The only witnesses to the crimes were the two that committed them. And they both blamed it on Reeves. So now he had to find proof that he didn't do it.
Weapons! Reeves suddenly remembered he did no have a weapon! He never even touched the ones that were used! All they he had to do was explain honestly. They would then test the weapons and discover his innocence.
"sir, there is a man here to see you." A tough looking jail keeper mumbled the words to Reeves.
"Thank you." Reeves replied.
Master Gerehn walked into the room, wearing a hood and a large cloak, perhaps keeping cover. Walked up the bars that held Reeves.
"Reeves, I must tell you something very urgent. Many people have been trying to tell you but… you're not a D'ni!"
"You speak lies Gerehn!" Reeves was astonished at the man's level of insult. To be not a D'ni was the biggest of insults. Reeves was D'ni. And there was no bigger truth.
"No, you were found Reeves! Your mother and I discovered you in the upper caverns, very close to the surface. Your mother had been wanting a child so we all pretended that you were her child. We've all agreed that this was the time you should know."
Reeves' mind reeled. Such impossibilities! All of his relatives and parents' friends spoke of when she was pregnant, and Gerehn could recall details of the birth perfectly. It was impossible. Impossible!
"Why is now any more special?" asked Reeves, quite dryly.
"Because, D'ni is changing, the liberal movement is growing. It is becoming more acceptable not to be D'ni. Your mother had a dream from Yahvo several years ago that you would help unite D'ni with the people of the ages. Now is your time."
"And how, if I'm about to go on trial? If I fail I will be imprisoned for life."
"There is a D'ni secret I must tell you about. On the day before you are imprisoned, you will find a book, that book will link you into another age, an age that has a vat of acid, and another linking book back to a prison on D'ni."
"What's the purpose?"
"Because only someone that is guilty will attempt to escape."
"And what is your point?"
"We will switch your linking book. Your father gave me a linking book to Kanrad, you will link there and refuge until all this passes."
…
The trial was harsh. Reeves had evidence against him that he had never seen before. People that he didn't even know testified they had seen him murder. They claimed he was a helper of Veovis, when he hardly knew who Veovis was.
Reeves stood in the room with a desk, a chair, and a single linking book, the one that Gerehn had told him about. The book appeared very simple, no special designs to hint as to where it led. He picked it up and looked at the inside panel. The panel displayed a beautiful flower that grew only on Kanrad. Reeves lifted his hand up to touch the panel.
In a brief moment Reeves' remembered everything that Gerehn had said to him. That he wasn't a D'ni. He suddenly remembered his father's absence from his life. The way his mother often gave him harsh punishment, and how she never properly took care of him. It was often servants, or people like Gerehn.
But now suddenly everything was twisted. People like Gerehn were kind, but too kind. His mother was a cruel-hearted D'ni. The D'ni were cruel, self-centered, proud, and heartless.
He felt his heart embrace his unknown blood. The blood he would never fully know; the blood that made him who he was. Deep inside he felt a massive change. The D'ni were a pest, a thorn, a maggot inside the body of Earth.
He threw the book across the room. He sat and pulled at his hair. Why did this change have to happen? The D'ni would never accept change. They were stubborn and proud, never accepting of outsiders. No one would allow a ahrotahn like him to live in a place like D'ni.
Just then a guard approached his cell, peeked inside and let out a breath of air. Reeves stared at his enemy. The D'ni stared directly back at him. Reeves' new mind set directly to work.
"Squirrel Brains!" He shouted, not knowing any better insult at the time.
"I beg your pardon?"
"You heard me maggot!" Reeves muttered
"I advise you to hold your tongue dead one! For you are as good as dead to all of D'ni."
"Then it was decided?"
"Your beheading will take place in two gahrtahvo."
Reeves felt his mind contorting and twisting. Trying to tap into some sixth sense. Images of slavery and mangled bodies filled his mind. Somewhere in the deep pockets of his memory he saw one of the least, carrying his tiny body out of a silver ship. It tripped and dropped him into a crack in the ground.
Reeves suddenly knew who he wasn't. Reeves was not a D'ni. He didn't know who he was, but knew that somehow his real parents knew of D'ni. Perhaps, they placed him in D'ni to destroy them all.
"You are wrong guildsman." Stated Reeves.
"oh?" The guard inquired.
"You… are the dead one." Reeves said with a smile on his face.
Reeves grabbed the chair and threw it directly at the guard. It shattered, sending splinters everywhere in the room. As the dirt and splinters settled, Reeves stared at what he had done. The Guard's face was covered in holes, blood, and pieces of wood. Slowly the Guard fell down.
Reeves could not take his eyes off of what he had just done. He had slaughtered a Guildsman that was performing his duties. Deep within his mind, a voice reminded him that this Guildsman was D'ni, and so, justice was done and Reeves no longer felt bad about it.
A tiny smile crept across Reeves' face. The smile of a job well done.
He stole the guard's clothes in order to disguise himself (his maintainer's clothes were missing), and slowly walked down the hall, avoiding eye contact with every person he came across.
…
Gerehn was not happy with the state he had found the guard in. He knew that Reeves would not be happy. But was the attack meant to kill? The guard's skull had cracked and he had suffered a concussion, and was also a blabbering idiot, but he was not dead.
"Have D'ni searched." Gerehn said to two Guildsmen nearby him, "Use Relyimah sparingly, we don't want them discovered again do we?"
"Yes Sir, No we don't sir." They responded in unison.
"Good. Don't kill him if you find him, bring him to me."
"Yes sir."
"Get to it. And be quick, I'm afraid he's become violent."
"Yes sir."
The two Guildsmen left, and Gerehn turned to an ancient looking man that had been silent throughout the time that they had been there.
"And you… of all people, remain silent this whole time?" Gerehn inquired.
"As I have told you many times Gerehn, we no longer speak."
"Why? Because you have such a low class? What difference does it make?"
"The difference is, because you caused it." The man defended himself and stared directly into Gerehn's eyes in a way that sent a chill down his spine.
…
Reeves could feel his unknown blood pulsing in his system now. It felt hostile, impure, and traitorous. These weren't the first time he had felt these feelings. As a child, he remembered having vivid dreams of amazing civilizations, dreams of the surface, and dreams of other ages.
He had dismissed the dreams as simply being his own imagination. But now in a small part of his mind, something told him this was his unknown blood telling him of his future, or perhaps his past.
In his mind he quickly formulated a plan. He was surprised to notice his mind was actually functioning much better in this stress. While running he had begun to think, and realized he could think as quickly and calmly as he did while at home.
First he would run home, and demand some real explanations from his parents, then he could get some blank books, and ink from home, and escape to the common library. He wouldn't have much time to write a book, or probably even a very stable one, so he'd take extra books and ink so that at some point he could perfect and age to which he could live in.
It was very complicated and he'd probably have to occasionally relocate to another age until he could finish his first one. He would also only bring a few linking books so that at one point he could seal off ages, so that no one could follow him.
He continued running and eventually came to the district in which his family's house was built. It was in an upper class neighborhood, and there were not many children. It was also very quiet compared to the other areas in D'ni.
He slowed down to a light stroll and soaked in everything that was D'ni. Soon he would never see any of this again. In fact, after today, he never planned to return to D'ni ever again. He despised the D'ni, every one of them.
There was only one thing that he still secretly admired, although they had done him wrong, it was all to protect D'ni. The D'ni were proud, and they would do anything in their power to protect D'ni.
He stopped walking and looked out onto the lake that surrounded the city. He looked to the island where the giant bell was, the bell that rang only when a great Lord died, or if D'ni itself was in danger. He knew, that with the maintainers working the way they did to protect D'ni, that the bell would never be rung in the sake of D'ni.