Everyone, please be kind to poor Nataku down there. This is the first book he's written, and he's not quite caught onto the "vivid verb" thing. And pardon my throwing a bajillion new characters in.

Judecca, Canto V: Nataku

My name is Nataku. The grandfather in the lab named me that, after a Chinese god without a soul. He thought because I was artificially manufactured and not born from a womb that I would have no soul. But the woman from the Dragons of Heaven told me I have a soul, and I felt a warm feeling in my chest when she said it, so I figured it must be true.

Except now I'm not so sure. Because Papa came back and told me I didn't.

This is all very confusing, even for me, but here is how it happened: Kamui, the man who looked like my papa, and who always called me "Kazuki" after the girl upon whom I was based, killed me because I wouldn't get out of his way when we fought the Dragon of Heaven woman on the clock tower. I knew he would do it, and I did not blame him. It was my choice to die. I hope he let her live after that, because that is why I got in the way: so he would not kill her. But I do not know what happened to her.

I felt a great stabbing pain in my chest and I knew Kamui had impaled me with his hand, the way I killed the priest with the sacred sword when he wouldn't give it to me. Since I knew I did not have much time left, I thanked the woman (it seemed only right, as she had let me know I had a soul). Then I guess I died, but here is the strange thing: I was floating somewhere and Kamui appeared before me. "Papa!" I called, forgetting for a minute that it wasn't really Papa; it was Kamui, but as I said earlier he looks just like Kazuki's father.

"Nataku," he said, and he was frowning. I knew something was wrong then, as he hadn't called me "Kazuki." I pointed out his mistake and his frown grew deeper. "Nataku, how could you believe that woman's lies? She was the enemy! The enemy always tells you what you want to hear to get you to do what they want! You are a fool, and you have failed me."

"Does that mean...I do not have a soul?" I asked, and I felt very cold all over. I don't know why, because I'm not supposed to have emotions if I'm soulless, and the cold feeling was very much like fear.

"You must earn your soul, Nataku. As of right now, you do not have one. But this man--" and here a boy appeared next to Kamui, a slim boy with blue hair parted to the side and a wide, thin smile "--if you follow this man, he will give you your soul."

"That's all I have to do?" I asked, and the cold feeling was gone.

"That's it."

"I'll do it," I told the boy, who walked up to me and put something around my neck. My cheeks flushed; no one had ever given me a gift before, and it made me seem special. "This is for you," he told me, which seemed very obvious so I do not know why he said it. "I'll call you Pawn."

First I was Kazuki, then Nataku, now Pawn. Why can other people not make up their minds about my name? "What is your name?" I asked.

"Kaizer," he said, and his eyes flashed.

So that is how I came to work for Kaizer, and how I met Alec, who Kaizer calls Knight (and who is very nice) and Naesala, who Kaizer calls Rook (and who is not so nice).

Now here is how I met everyone else that showed up.

After the boy with the long dark hair and the man with the long dark robes had come and gone, Kaizer was in a very bad mood, so I tried to stay out of his way and decided to make friends with the man with the sword who had joined us. Alec taught me how to make friends, so I followed the steps he told me.

Step one. Ask for the person's name. I walked up to the man, who was just staring at the wall, and said, "What is your name?"

"Ike," he said, and kept looking at the wall. He was very still.

Step two. Give your name and ask questions about the person to show interest. Alec did this step very well when he met me...except he knew my name already and thought I was from a place called "X." He kept jumping up and down and screaming. I decided I would not jump up and down and scream, as I did not like it when he did that."I am Nataku, but Kaizer calls me Pawn," I said. I did not like the name "Pawn", and Alec told me it would be alright to stay "Nataku." "What sort of things do you like to do?"

"I want to kill the filthy Branded," growled Ike, who kept staring at the wall. "I'll wait for him to come back and then I'll kill him!"

I decided I did not want to be friends with Ike. He scared me. Then I noticed the bracelet he was wearing and I understood why he was acting so strangely. Kaizer likes putting these Dark Ring bracelets on people so they will do as he says. I do not know why he does this, or for that matter why the people refused to follow orders in the first place. I am happiest when I have orders to follow. It makes my life simple, and I like that.

So I abandoned befriending Ike, turned around, and nearly ran smack into another stranger, who seemed a bit disoriented from the way he kept glancing around and stroking his beard in puzzlement.

He glared at me. "Who are you?"

"I am called Nataku," I replied, wondering if I should ask for his name and deciding not to. I did not want to be friends with this man.

"Where is Majere?" the man demanded.

"I don't know," I told him, then remembered "Majere" was the last name of the man Kaizer hated so much. I do not have a last name myself. I suppose it should be "Tojo," as that was Kazuki's last name. "But I will find you someone who does."

So I went and got Kaizer and he went to see the stranger and got very mad all of a sudden, screaming things like "Who let a stranger into my fortress?" and "You fools; how could he have slipped past you?" but when the stranger interrupted him to say "Pardon me, but I hear you have word of Raistlin Majere," that got Kaizer's attention pretty quickly.

"I know him," he snapped. "What of it?"

The stranger smiled, and suddenly I wondered why he had seemed so mean before. He was such a nice man. "I seek him," he replied smoothly. "Be you his friend or his foe?"

"If I say I am his enemy?" Kaizer began to say.

The man's wonderful smile brightened. "I had suspected as much. So you are the Emperor who has so plagued poor Ken Ichijouji? I'm thrilled to meet you at last."

"Never heard of him. What about the mage?"

The man bowed deeply; his silk clothes rustled. "Duke Roger of Conte at your service, milord. Swordsman, artisan, wizard..." His voice dropped. "And sometimes assassin." He sounded like he was telling us a special secret. "I seek revenge for injustices and indignities done to me by Raistlin Majere. If we play our cards right, the two of us could form a most profitable alliance indeed."

"I heard the word 'profit,'" said Naesala as he entered the room, stooping so his wings would fit through the door. "What's going on in here?"

Kaizer turned, beckoned. "Ah, Rook. Tell Knight we have found our Bishop at last."

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The day's strangeness did not end there, though. After helping Roger move in (he had brought a lot of things; apparently one needs many objects to be a swordsman-artisan-wizard-assassin), I was walking down the hall wondering what to do with myself when a light flashed and two people fell out of the sky and onto my head.

This did not hurt nearly as much as it sounds, though: the people were very lightweight. They did, however, manage to knock me to the ground, and as I lay there wondering what was going on and how many new people it was possible to meet in the course of a single day they started yelling at each other.

"What in the name of—this isn't Mandos!" cried the taller of the two, who had red hair just like the Dragon of Heaven woman. "Father, what have you done!"

"Immediately your mind leaps to suspecting me," the other one replied, standing and smoothing his long dark hair. "That hardly fills me with confidence in you, Nelyafinwe. Perhaps you do not wish for me to be rewarded in any way, and have wrought this complication yourself." He looked down, noticed me sitting there. "And your ignoble transportation has incapacitated yet another native."

"What?--Oh, I apologize, sir!" I was helped to my feet by the tall one. "Pardon my father and I. We did not mean to intrude in this fashion, and shall be presently on our way." He shot a meaningful glance at his companion—though what that glance meant, I could not say. "We must, after all, return what we have retrieved."

"Of course we must," replied the other. "We must run back to our masters with our tails between our legs like the craven curs we are...No, I cannot even jest about this issue! Take your treachery to the Valar who will delight in it. I defy it, and I shall not return. I am staying in this place; whatever tricks it may conjure can do me no greater harm than that I have already suffered at the hands of my own inept kin."

"Then give me the--"

"I shall not." The dark-haired one's hand curled tightly over something it held in its pocket. "This trinket is small recompense for that which I have lost, yet I shall take what is given me, no matter how feeble and paltry it seems."

"Already it corrupts you! Did I not counsel you to destroy it?"

"Did I not ignore your counsel freely? You are wasting your breath. I will not be broken by the tricks of a Maia weak enough to be vanquished by Men. Fear for me is unfounded and unwanted. Now run back to your slavedriver and leave me to my dear-bought freedom!"

"Do you want to see Kaizer?" I asked; people called him "slavedriver" all the time right before he gave them their bracelets. "I will go get him."

So I did, though I thought he would be just as unhappy about seeing these new strangers as he had been when he met Roger—or maybe worse, as there were two newcomers this time. Yet oddly, he was pleased.

"Well done, Pawn! I've been waiting for these two. Welcome, weary travelers, to my castle! Come this way--" and he escorted them down the hall to speak with them in private.

Naesala sidled up behind me, a very smug look on his face. "Ah, so it's finally come."

"What has come?" I asked.

He looked surprised, though I realized later it was the mocking kind of surprise called "sarcasm." "You mean you didn't knew? Those two have the new piece for his collection! Why, even I brought something for it!"

"Did I forget to?" I asked, wondering what sort of collection Kaizer had and worrying that if I didn't find something for it, Kaizer might not give me my soul.

"Probably not," Naesala said lazily, like he didn't really care about the conversation. "If he wants you to get something, he'll tell you. I'm going out on surveillance. My wings are killing me." He left me there, waiting for Kaizer's orders, and I was still waiting when Kaizer and the other two came back down the hall.

"Oh, there you are," Kaizer said. "Meet Maedhros and Feanor. We're helping them get home."

I nodded to the two, then turned to Kaizer. "But Naesala told me that they brought you--"

"Naesala is a cawing old crow who can't open his beak without hoping gold will fall out. Never listen to him, Pawn. Now where is he, anyway? I need you two to help me with something!"

"He went out."

"Out?...Well, don't just stand there, you fool, find him!"

I ran off to get Alec. With his room full of computers, he can find anything.

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"This had better be important," grumbled Naesala. He hadn't wanted to be found.

I didn't say anything. Kaizer had told us to be quiet.

We marched in a triangle down the hall to the basement: Kaizer in front with Maedhros (red hair) and Feanor (black hair) behind him and Naesala and I trailing behind, one on either side. Kaizer told Maedhros and Feanor that he was taking them to a portal to their world since their transporter had broken, but I knew where we kept our transporters and we weren't going there. I didn't speak up about that, though; maybe a special transporter was this way; and besides, I was supposed to be silent.

We reached the basement. The doors were very tall. Kaizer pushed on them and they swung open with a creak. We all entered together, and I heard the two in front of me give sudden yells.

We stood in a very large room with a path down the center leading to an ornately carved golden chest. On either side of the chest, like Naesala and I stood, were two gigantic creatures seemingly made of fire and darkness. They held whips in their hands; as they beat their wings in the still air I felt heat sweep over me.

"Valarauko!" cursed Feanor.

"Balrogs!" gasped Maedhros. Both drew their swords. I looked at Naesala, wondering if I should get my ribbon ready, but he did not turn into a raven like I thought he would. Instead, he stood with his hands on his hips, his lips curled in an amused smile. I did not know what he found funny.

Kaizer did not panic either. "Come, now," he said, pulling Maedhros off to one side, one hand on Maedhros's arm and the other curled at his side, palm in, "there's a perfectly logical explanation--"

"Yes, that you have betrayed us!" cried Maedhros, pulling away, and his sword burst into flame. I had never seen a sword do that before. "Why should we listen to you when you employ the creatures of our Enemy?"

"I don't know," said Kaizer, closing his hand over Maedhros's wrist, and I heard something click into place. "Why should you?"

Maedhros sagged, his eyes as blank as Ike's. The sword fell from his fingers. Kaizer removed his hand, and I saw something black on Maedhros's wrist. Kaizer had hidden a Dark Ring in his hand and used it to stop Maedhros from hurting him. Now I was certain he was not helping them get home.

Naesala gave a startled yell, and I turned to see how he was faring with Feanor. To my surprise, Feanor was nowhere to be seen. "He disappeared!" Naesala cried.

"Of course he did, you idiot!" cried Kaizer, suddenly furious. "He must have put it on! I've captured the wrong one! Find him! I don't care if he's invisible, find him now!"

That was not easy, but I tried. I ran out of the basement, up to the ground floor, and out onto the street, with my ribbon ready but not sure at all how to capture someone invisible. Maybe I would just run into him if I ran around enough. So I dashed up and down every street I ran across, and pretty soon I did run into something. It had black hair, so I wrapped my ribbon around it immediately.

"Stop that!" the person commanded. "Who's there? Why do you apprehend me? I have done nothing! I know not even where I am!"

"Why not?" I asked. This was the wrong person. This person was wearing white. Feanor had been in purple and red. This person's hair was wavy. Feanor's was straight. And this person was a woman.

The woman twisted her head in my direction, and her cloudy grey eyes stared past me. "Who are you?..." she pleaded. "In Paladine's name, I beg you, let me go!"

But I decided I would not. I would bring this woman back to Kaizer. Alec had showed me a chessboard once, when I asked about the symbol on my choker. I didn't understand much, but I knew the names of all the pieces. And I knew Kaizer was missing only one piece. So I was going to surprise him, and then maybe he'd give me my soul.

I was going to bring him a Queen.

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a/n: Yeah, that's who you think it is. Sorry, Raistlin...

Kudos to anyone who can find the lines I ripped directly from the Silmarillion! And check out my blog for a description of X and a YouTube video (hopefully, if it works) featuring Ken's conversion from Emperor to REM.

Coming up next time on Judecca: Riley and Yamaki (who are they, you ask? Reread the end of Canto IV) bring us up to speed on Raistlin's gang: how Raistlin confesses (sort of), how Lucemon is put in a rather compromising position, where they end up working, and how they find an elf on their doorstep, thoroughly shaken and ashamed of himself.