Mind Games: The Fugitive
"Tell me, exactly why are we here again Neo?" The voice of a mutant Draik carried across the Game Graveyard. "This place gives me the creeps." Kemiah shivered and looked around.
The skunk Kyrii she was addressing replied. "I don't see why you're so creeped out Keia, you're supposed to be a valiant war hero." Neopet12345 grinned viciously at his sister and received a cuff for his jibe.
"I agree with with Keia." Commented their owner, Morgan. She was examining their surroundings, her storm gray eyes wary. She had her flaming red hair pulled back in a Uni tail and wore a sweatshirt and jeans. "This place is definitely creepy, why on Neopia did you want us to come here Neo?"
"Because I had a dream last night." Neo replied looking around. For any normal pet this would be nothing to worry about. But Neo was not a normal pet. In his dreams he glimpsed snatches of future events. His family assumed that it came with his ability to move objects with the power of his mind. But none of them really knew where it had come from.
"So you saw something here?" Morgan asked, gazing intently at her Kyrii.
Neo shook his head. "Well, I saw us and I saw the Haunted Woods. I know that we have to be here for something to happen that we're a part of."
"Great," Kemiah said grumpily. "Just what we need another weird thing to happen to us." She sighed. "Will we ever get to be normal?"
Neo grinned. "Not with me around you won't."
Kemiah smiled back and flexed her claws. "We can fix that."
"Stop it both of you." Morgan snapped. "This is no time to be bickering, we really need to be on our guard here."
Suddenly Neo whirled around, his ears pricked. "Did you hear that? It sounded like someone moaning."
"Yes well that could be anything." Kemiah snapped, her eyes darting around warily.
"No, I feel something... distress and pain." Neo replied, not catching the anxiety in his sister's voice. "It's over here, come on!" With that the skunk Kyrii was off, bounding through the undergrowth and vanishing into the misty shadows.
"Curse it!" Morgan snapped, she scooped up Kemiah and ran after him. "Neo, where are you!"
"Here Morgan, you'd better get over here!" Neo's voice filtered out from behind a solid wall of brambles.
"Neo, how the blazes did you get back there?" Kemiah called through the thick creepers, "There isn't a break anywhere along here!"
"Oops," Was the reply from behind the plants. There was a great groaning of wood as the thorny plants were moved against their will to allow the mutant Draik and human to get through. Beyond was a small clearing that seemed to have similar bramble walls on the far sides. Neo was looking sheepish, "I forgot that you couldn't get through so easily as I could." He said, dropping his paws to his sides. In doing so dropping the thorns back into place.
"So what's so important in here?" Kemiah asked, looking around.
"That," Neo replied, pointing. Morgan drew in a sharp breath of shock and Kemiah went rigid, her eyes widening. At the center of the clearing was a large, gnarled, old tree. The trunk was so bent and twisted that it looked painful. The branches clicked together in a slight breeze, sounding eerily like the clatter of bones. And suspended from two branches by the rusty dark chains attached to the manacles around his wrists, was a Neopet.
Morgan covered her mouth in horror. "I – is he still alive?" She asked, her voice betraying her fear. Kemiah could not bring herself to speak and merely hunched over and trembled. The image was bringing wave after wave of memories from the war, not pleasant memories. Morgan knelt and wrapped her arms around the Draik whispering comforting words into her ear.
"I think so," Neo replied moving forward. He raised his paws and jerked, there was a responding movement from the chains and one of them snapped. Causing the Neopet's body to swing wildly. Another jerk from Neo and the second chain snapped, and the Kyrii set the unconscious Neopet gently down on the ground.
Morgan and Kemiah came forward to examine him. His body was shrouded in a tattered black robe, a body that was no more than a mere skeleton. What they could see of his body was singed as though by fire. From his clawed paws, to the bones of his long ears. "A Zafara, I think." Morgan said, as she reached out and touched his face. "What can you see Neo?"
Frowning the Kyrii reached out and laid a dark paw on the Zafara's chest. "He's badly wounded. By fire I think, and he's been hanging here for a few days." Neo removed his paw and looked at Morgan. "Normally I would say take him to the faerie at Healing Springs, but I don't think there's anything she can do. I mean he doesn't have any flesh to heal. We should get him home and wait until he wakes up."
Morgan nodded. "Right, can you get those manacles off?" Neo nodded and did so. Morgan lifted the limp Zafara in her arms and marched off, with Kemiah and Neo trailing behind her.
A week after they had brought him to the house there was still no change in the Zafara. Morgan discovered that sponging healing potion over the his bones made the singes go away. Each member of the family took turns watching over him in case there was any change.
Kemiah sat moodily on her bed, watching the Zafara, whom Neo had given his own bed to. "I don't know what happened to you." The Draik murmured. "But if it was battle I feel for you. I have been scared both in body and spirit by the foul thing that is war." She looked at her mutated paw and clenched it into a fist. "Too many others have also."
"I know nothing of battle," said a strange weak voice. "But I know betrayal." Kemiah jumped and looked at the bed. The Zafara was lying on his back, his eyes roving the ceiling. He shut them tigh,t a grimace twisting his mouth. "I know betrayal all too well."
Kemiah jumped up and ran to his bedside. "How are you feeling?" She asked, concern darkening her eyes.
"Like a board," was the tart reply, but he smiled up at the Draik. "Where am I and who're you?"
Kemiah sat back. "My name's Kemiah, this is my home. My owner, brother, and I found you hanging from a tree in the Haunted Woods.
He snorted. "You should not have involved yourselves. If they discover my body missing and who took it, you and your family may very well meet the same fate."
"From whom?" Kemiah demanded indigently.
"From the residents of the Huanted Woods of course." The Zafara replied. He looked up at her his dark eyes showing surprise. "Don't you know who you rescued?"
Kemiah shook her head. "Not a clue. Listen, I'm going to get my owner. She's been worried sick about you and will be glad to know that you've woken up." With that Kemiah bustled out the door.
The Zafara was speechless. A complete stranger was worried about him? Him, of all pets? He looked around, the bedside table had several half empty bottles of healing potion sitting on it. There were also some dishes of food and a glass of water. They had obviously gone to a great deal of trouble to try and help him. The least he could do was leave now so that his being with them didn't endanger their lives. But as he tried to pry himself out of the wonderfully comfortable bed, daggers of pain ignited throughout his body like electric shocks. He fell back onto the pillows with a whimper of pain, his vision blurred and his head spun.
Not long after there was the thumping of hurried footsteps and the mutant Draik, Kemiah, came back in with a red-haired girl and a skunk Kyrii. The girl went instantly to the wounded Neopet's side. "Hey, I'm glad you're up. How are you feeling?"
"Not very good." The Zafara replied, attempting to smile and mask the pain that was making his whole body throb.
But the Kyrii flicked his ears and said. "You're in pain, what's wrong?" When the Zafara just stared in shock the Kyrii commented. "You were covered with burns when we found you, that could be the reason why you still hurt."
Instantly, the human opened a drawer and pulled out a full bottle of healing potion. "Here," She said kindly, "drink this." It felt to the Zafara as if the potion was flushing cold, ice water to the burning pain that covered his body. Soon there was nothing but a dull ache. The Zafara sat up and messaged his temples, then he realized that all three of them were gazing intently at him.
"Er, thank you for helping me." He said awkwardly, unsure of anything else to say.
Kemiah filled the silence by introducing her owner and sibling. "This is Morgan and Neo. And you don't have to call me Kemiah, I prefer Keia."
Neo cocked his head and asked. "You've got a name don't you?"
"Yes" the Zafara replied. "My name is Yrael." He flinched at the sound and expected them to begin screaming. But they merely looked confused as to why he was cringing.
Morgan frowned. "What's the matter, are you still hurting?"
"No no" Yrael held up his paws. "I was just expecting a, er, different reaction."
"What were you expecting?" Neo inquired, sitting on the edge of the bed, his eyes were glinting. "I know you're hiding something, and if you don't want to say what it is, I'll find out eventually." His dark eyes flashed and Yrael knew that he meant it.
"Neo!" Morgan cried. "The poor guy's just woken up for Fyora's sake don't berate him, he doesn't deserve it!"
"No" Yrael said quietly. "I do deserve it, he's right about my hiding something." The Zafara looked at Kemiah. "I told you Draik that you would have been much better off leaving me hanging from that tree. Because to hang there was the punishment sentenced to me by the authorities of the Haunted Woods. When they find me gone, they'll undoubtedly try to find you."
"So you're a criminal?" Neo asked. Yrael nodded. "How did you get burned so badly? I can only see fire when I try to figure it out." Yrael stared at him, Neo tapped his skull and said. "I'm psychic and telepathic."
Yrael was only slightly unnerved by this but more puzzled as to why they wanted to know his story. Why they weren't trying to get rid of him because he was a criminal. "I used to work with my brother, he and I were the greatest thieves the Haunted Woods had ever known. But they set a good detective on our tracks. That Lupe sniffed us out all the way to our last lair, an old abandoned house.
"I guess he must have had a few locals with him because they totally lost it and threw torches on the roof. My brother and I were running for the back exit, the other ways to get out were boarded up. The house was well on fire by the time we got to the door and flames were filling the hallway behind us.
"My brother was a little ways ahead of me and he reached to door first. He waited for me holding it open. But as I ran I sensed something wasn't right, he was sneering at me. Right as I got to the door he laughed and said. 'Sorry little brother, but you and I both know that we will prosper best alone.' He slammed the door in my face and held the knob as I scrabbled at it to open the door. There was a huge groaning sound and part of the ceiling fell in, blocking the only way I could escape death.
"Those last few minutes when I was hunched over in the hallway, watching fire come at me from all directions is probably the memory that you sensed Neo." Yrael, shivered. "Somehow I was still alive when the fire burnt itself out, but I was badly burned. I-" he held up his skeletal hands. "I didn't used to look like this." Yrael shivered at the vileness of the memory. "I don't remember much about the sentencing" he continued. "And I blacked out once they hung me up in that tree." Yrael looked up, Neo and Morgan both looked horrified. But Kemiah looked like her mind was elsewhere. Her bloodshot eyes were burning in her face and angry tears flowed down her cheeks. Her claws were clenched into shaking fists and she seemed to be attempting to calm herself.
The Draik turned those blazing eyes on Yrael and growled. "I know what it is like to suffer at the hands of a family member. Because of my sister who started the war that scared my appearance. Because of her I was wrongly imprisoned within stone for three years. Then Morgan and Neo found my prison an released me."
Morgan leaned forward and laid her hands across Yrael's clawed paw. "If you wish, you may stay here for the time being." Her dark gray eyes sparked. "I will never turn you away."
Yrael looked up at the human. He looked confused and uncertain. But she was smiling so lovingly that it was impossible for him to disbelieve her word. "I – I guess I c-could stay with you. J – just until the action dies down a little back home." Morgan nodded and withdrew her hands.
Yrael looked around to Neo, who had a knowing grin on his face, to Kemiah, who seemed to be mulling over his answer, to Morgan, who had the most joyous smile the Zafara had ever seen on her face. I said that wrong Yrael thought, gazing back at them. This is home now.