It's out for me for the weekend, but don't worry, I haven't forgotten about y'all who are still holding on to this story! Good things come to those who wait, you know.
chyp: Thanx, as usual. Taiwan was a bunch of fun. I'll tell you all about it someday when you're older…
James and Jacinda toiled just like the others in their cave. James dug deeper into the cave while Jacinda gathered the fallen rocks and stones into a cart and wheeled them away. The process repeated over and over again until everyone lost count of what they did and questions such as how much or how many no longer mattered.
"If they recruit witches for this," James asked, wiping sweat from his forehead, "then why don't they let us use our powers for this? It doesn't make any sense."
"Think about it," Jacinda said, setting the cart aside. "This many witches with free reign over their powers would easily be able to overpower the Order. They don't want that to happen at all."
"Then why have us work in the caves?" James asked.
"Well," Jacinda said slowly, "there is another reason. See, demons and warlocks kill witches to steal their powers. It's their raison d'etre."
"Their what?" James asked, confused at her choice of words.
"That's French," Jacinda replied. "It means 'reason to be.' I took French in school, you know. I went to live there for a couple of years during school. Have you been there before? It's such a great place! A lot of people say that they're stuck up and this and that, but I found that they're really very nice. Paris alone…"
"C'mon," James said, snapping his fingers in front of Jacinda. "This isn't the time for that. You were saying something?"
"Oh right," Jacinda said. "Well, and this is just speculation, but I've heard that this Gem that they're looking for can't even be reached by manual labor, which is what we're doing."
"I don't understand," James said.
"All this hard work that we're doing," Jacinda explained, "isn't for the purpose of finding the Gem, but to kill us. When we die, they take our powers and add them to their collection until they have enough power to find the Gem. I believe that the reason why there are so many of us is because they need a hell of a lot of power to find this thing."
"Then why don't they just kill us off quicker?" James asked.
"Because this is all designed to give them some entertainment," Jacinda answered. "Seeing this many witches suffer is pleasing to them."
They continued their work all through the afternoon until the sirens wailed, signaling the end of the afternoon shift, which actually lasted until late in the evening. The witches, as usual, filed out of the caves and returned to their quarters. James and Jacinda walked silently and Jacinda quietly pointed out one of the guards who wore his cap lower than the rest.
"A new member of the Order," she whispered.
"You keep track?" James asked.
"I try," she said, "but they all look so much alike that it's hard to tell."
Suddenly the guard they pointed at angrily marched towards them and roughly pulled them out of line. He gave them a death stare and pushed James to the ground with a forceful punch to the chest. Jacinda started to move, but the guard quickly pulled out his remote, prompting her to instinctively step away and check on James.
"What are you two doing?" he asked in a demanding tone. He looked around and saw another guard in the distance giving a nod of approval. "You better straighten up and do your jobs if you know what's good for you."
He reached down and grabbed James' shirt and pulled him back to his feet, leaning in within inches of his face. He winked at James and dropped something in his shirt pocket inconspicuously before pushing him back into the line. With a cruel look from the guard, Jacinda quickly shuffled back into line as well.
"I hate them," she grumbled.
"You better love that one," James said. "He's my brother."
The two stifled their smiles and concealed their pleasure as best as they could as they filed into their quarters to be left alone until dinnertime. Making absolutely sure that all the demons had left, James showed Jacinda the present that the guard gave him earlier. She smiled widely and clapped her hands in excitement as James unlocked both his and her collars.
"Here," he said to her, giving her the key. "Start unlocking everyone's collars. I have some business to attend to."
"Okay," she said. "You go, boy!"
On a completely different area of the caves stood a large green building, resembling more of a palace than any military quarters. It looked to be made of a sort of emeraldish stone; it brilliantly reflected the rays of the sun, making it seem almost majestic. Large windows, all stained green, adorned the building on all sides. In the front, two enormous wooden doors controlled who went in and who came out; it magically detected anyone with a remote control and opened only for those people.
Inside the grandiose building, a group of guards laughed as they took turns telling stories about the witches they had tortured earlier in the day. One by one, each demon entertained his comrades with a morbid, yet endlessly amusing anecdote. Two more guards entered the common room and nonchalantly took seats, joining in the rounds.
"You should've seen her," a guard said, stifling his laughter until the end. "Her body was jerking back and forth and side to side like something had just bitten her from everywhere at once! It was the funniest thing I'd ever seen!"
"You two," a demon said, pointing at the two newest additions to the conversation, who silently gasped, "just missed one of the funniest stories ever! I don't think we've seen you two around here lately. Did Xernevod send you in?"
"Um," one of the newbies said, "yeah. You know how it is. We come and go."
"Never know who's getting assigned where," the second newbie added, pulling his cap down over his eyes.
"Got that right," a guard replied. "A demon I came here with got transferred out just the other day. We'd been here for almost ten years and just like that, he was gone."
"How many of us are there around here anyway?" the first new guard asked, keeping his eyes low to the ground. "I can't keep count."
"Nobody knows," the demon who had just finished the latest story answered, eying his comrades discreetly. "Which quarters are you assigned to? The new guards usually go to Eight, Nine, or Ten."
"I have to take a piss," a guard said, standing up. "Reminds me of something that happened today. Tell you when I get back."
"I'm Nine," the first new guard said.
"And I'm in Eight," the second added.
"Interesting," the demon who asked the question responded, "especially since those don't even exist."
