Chapter 5: The Prisoner
Ronodin walked with Kendra in silence, much to Kendra's displeasure. I mean, he just gave Kendra one of the biggest cliffhangers in her life and expected her to be alright. You should see Kendra when her book ends with a cliffhanger and she doesn't have the next one. Not that Kendra could remember any of that now of course.
"What happened back there?" Kendra asked eventually.
"The Underking denied our request for sanctuary in his realm," Ronodin said, the earlier harshness is gone and the smooth boy returned, "I no longer have to work for him, but he insists I just leave at once. I am grateful he let me keep what we are going after now."
"And what is that?" Kendra blurted out.
Ronodin smiled, "I have to pick up an old friend of mine. Now you must listen closely, I am going to leave you alone with him for a bit."
"Is he dangerous?" Kendra asked, a little nervousness creeping into her voice.
"Very." Ronodin said, "But he won't be able to harm you. Seeing you will taunt him and he deserves it after what he has done."
"What did he do?" Kendra asked.
"My cousin was a friend of yours for a while." Ronodin explained, "Close friends. He turned out to be in league with your brother. Seth had told him either Bracken would be turned dark or I would and being the selfish man that he was, Bracken chose to save himself."
"That's terrible," Kendra said genuinely.
"It is," Ronodin agreed, "He was also conspiring against you with your brother. He tricked you and told you the saddest lie, that he loved you." He grabbed Kendra's shoulders, "You fell for his trap and he broke your heart. Then one day I came to save you and we have been together ever since."
"He said he loved me?" Kendra asked.
"He did," Ronodin confirmed, "He will try and use it against you today, claiming that he still does if it has any chance of getting him out. I only ask you this, don't fall for his tricks. I am loath to send you in there, but he needs to see that his plans are failing. I hope maybe I can free him from the dark person he became someday."
"And you can't come in there with me?" Kendra asked.
"I cannot," Ronodin said, "My cousin hates me for trying to save him like this and it will not help."
"Right," Kendra did her best to sound confident, despite the uneasiness Ronodin had planted in her mind, "I'll talk to this cousin of yours. What's his name?"
Ronodin regarded her, "Bracken." He said, "His name is Bracken."
"Not a very evil name." So this was Kendra's brilliant response. She mentally slapped herself.
Ronodin chuckled lowly, "I suppose not." He said, "But all the best evils are the ones that hide. Whether it's their identity or something worse. A deceptive evil, someone who takes advantage of opportunities. That is what is evil. He chose that name to appear kind, another terrible evil."
"Taking advantage of someone sounds terrible," Kendra said, "Was it like how Seth was going to take advantage of me? How Bracken and others have taken advantage of me?"
Ronodin beamed at her, "My love, you are starting to understand."
Seth didn't know why he felt so nervous about meeting this king.
Was it the fact that he was intimidating? The fact that he was a chance to help his sister? Heck, did it have to do with his intentions towards his daughter? Wow, that came out wrong, he said to himself. Or was it just the single word that kept plaguing his mind, infecting every corner?
Kendra, his mind continued to whisper. He had been separated from his sister before of course as most people had. Like that time he went on a beach trip with his friends for a week and didn't see Kendra this time. So why was this so different?
Maybe it had to do with her not coming back.
"You still want to do this?" Warren asked, "Me and Vanessa can handle this fine if you need to be alone for a bit, I would understand."
"I'll be fine." Seth said, "I should be there."
Warren nodded in understanding, for the most likely no doubt felt the same way. Seth could imagine the guilt he was feeling right now, for he felt it too. He also had a feeling this conversation was about to take a turn in that direction.
"I was supposed to be her protector," Warren said finally. Normally, Seth would first-bump himself for being right, but this time, he never wished he was more wrong.
"And you are," Seth said.
"Not a very good one," Warren chuckled bitterly, not an emotion often seen from his cousin.
"You're a great protector Warren." Seth said firmly, "You've saved her life so many times and she is grateful to you for that, I am too. I wouldn't ask for my sister to have a different protector, because no one could compare to you on any given day."
"It's more like she keeps saving me." Warren picked at the non-existent piece of lint on his jeans.
"You both have each other's backs." Seth switched, "She helps you and you help her."
"Then why couldn't I save her?" Warren asked, "It's not like she knows what I did for her. What she has done for me."
Seth paused, unsure of how to respond to that, but he tried. "She may not know," Seth said, "But this is Kendra we are talking about. She is known for her loyalty and would do anything to help her family. She would be cautious, slow to trust. She would follow her instincts and those are what brought her to us. Kendra will come back, we just have to give her time. And maybe, a helping hand."
Seth was amazed at himself at how that sounded. Maybe he did have a bit of a silver tongue after all. He was starting to get more and more like Loki every day, one of Kendra's favorite jokes. He would never admit, he secretly liked the nickname.
It appears Warren liked his speech to, for he was staring at Seth in open awe, resulting in a bashful blush from Seth. "Thanks, Seth," Warren said, "I needed that."
"Sure thing Cuz." Seth said, "You ready to talk to this king?"
"And his daughter." Warren teased, Yep, he was back to his old self.
"Maybe," Seth did his best to sound aloof but was near impossible. "But I think we should go now as Vanessa said, you don't want to be late for a meeting with a king. Though I am pretty sure this guy isn't as bad as other knights. He was pretty nice last time we saw him and forgave us right away."
"I bet I would make a better king." Warren dwelled.
Seth's eyes bulged, "Oh, heck no."
Kendra and Ronodin had walked for maybe twenty minutes before Ronodin announced they had arrived at the cell. Kendra didn't see anything peculiar about it if she was being honest. Down here, all the walls were stone and the door's iron. It honestly did not impress her much.
"This is the cell." Ronodin pointed to an iron door.
"I understand," Kendra said, taking care of her words.
"This is where I must leave you." Ronodin said, "I will be down the hall. If you need me, just yell for help. I don't want you to take longer than five minutes with him. That should be more than enough time. You know what you are supposed to be doing?"
"Show him that I am here," Kendra said, "Show him that he failed to corrupt me. Don't fall for his lies or trickery." She might as well have quoted it.
Ronodin smiled, "Good luck, Kens." He said as he pulled out a long iron key and shoved it into the door. "When you're ready, turn the key." And with that, Ronodin walked away, leaving Kendra with a key to turn, again. Though this time, she knew what it unlocked.
She took a deep breath and she turned the key. Instantly, the door popped open and Kendra hesitantly walked through it, jumping as it slammed behind her. She quickly took in her surroundings. Inside the room lay a single cot, a toilet, and a young boy, no older than Ronodin, sitting on the cot.
"Impossible," the boy said, "The real Kendra Sorenson would not be here."
"Your plans have failed Bracken," her voice trembled. "I am with Ronodin now, Seth's tricks and your lies can hurt me no longer."
"Ronodin? What are you talking about?" The boy, Bracken, urged.
"You can hurt me no longer." Kendra said, "I am with Ronodin and he has promised to take care of me. He has shown me the truth and now I know who I can trust and it is not you."
"Give me your hand." Bracken said, "Please."
"No.," Kendra said, "I won't allow you to touch me. No tricks."
She was startled as Bracken ran up to her and grabbed her hand. Kendra did her best to free herself from his grip, but with no avail. He looked like he was reading her very soul, which startled Kendra. After what seemed like hours, but was seconds, he let go of her. Out of breath.
"I hate to do it forcefully." He wheezed, "But you still have my horn, so I can do it. Kendra, this is you."
"What did you do to me?" Kendra whimpered.
"I didn't do anything," he tried to soothe her, "I checked if this was you and it is, Kendra what happened to you? It's like you were just born."
Kendra would not let her guard down, no matter how helpless and calm this boy sounded. "That is what it's like," she said, "You forced me to turn the key so you could take advance of me, Ronodin said that is how I lost my memory and you won't convince me otherwise."
"Kendra, do you feel rescued?" Bracken asked
"I'm not with you," Kendra said.
"Did you come here voluntarily?" Bracken confused.
Kendra paused, unsure of how to respond to that. "Kendra, allow yourself to hear me out." Bracken confided, "Here my story, here about us."
"There is no us." Kendra said, "You tricked me about us. There is no us and there will never be an us. I am with Ronodin now and I am happy. I don't need us." Bracken looked so heart-broken, Kendra almost felt bad about this. Had this guy broken her heart? It seemed more like she was breaking his…
"Kendra, it was never a lie." The emotion in his voice so raw, it made Kendra wince. "Look, you have my horn."
"Horn?" Kendra asked.
"You wear it along your waist," Bracken said. Kendra looked down and sure enough, there was a long, spiraled thing, a horn, tied onto the belt across her waist. "A unicorn gives their horn to someone they truly love, something that cannot be faked. The one you wear is mine."
"This is yours?" Kendra forgot all about the reason she came here, but rather, was focusing on the boy.
"Yes," Bracken said, "Look at me, Kendra. Ronodin is lying to you, you must get away from him. He's using you, Kendra!" He said loudly, leaving Kendra so confused, she could hardly breathe.
"I should have known better than to leave you alone," Ronodin said from behind her, causing her to jump in the air in surprise. "Kendra, I am so sorry I left you with him."
"What have you done!" Bracken cried furiously.
"Don't be such a sore loser Bracky." Ronodin tauntingly put an arm around Kendra's shoulders. Kendra could almost see the steam rising from Bracken's ears as he watched them interact. Kendra had a strange sensation that this didn't happen often either.
"Kendra, you must get away from him!" Bracken said desperately, "He's using you!"
"And he's tricking you," Ronodin countered, "Kendra, don't fall for his lies again. Remember what happened last time? Well, you don't remember, but remember what I told you. Bracken doesn't love you."
"Don't listen to him!" Bracken said, "He lies! He's a dark unicorn!"
"Courtesy of her brother and you." Ronodin said to Bracken, "Stop trying to do this Bracken. We are leaving the Underealm, but you are coming with us."
"I won't go with you." Bracken said, "I'd stay here in this dungeon and rot."
"If it wasn't for the reason you came here in the first place." Ronodin said, "To protect someone." He eyed Kendra and switched to his lies, "Himself."
"I didn't go to protect myself." Bracken said with an od nd calmness, "I went to say the one I loved."
"Yourself." Ronodin proclaimed, "You only love yourself."
"A unicorn's love cannot be faked," Kendra could feel his eyes drift to where Kendra held the horn across her waist.
"You didn't give her your horn," Ronodin said gleefully, "For an act, that is impressive. How you managed to fake such love I have no idea. Kendra, could you hand me that horn."
Kendra felt an odd protectiveness over the horn, "No." she said, "I think I'll keep it for now." She saw a small look of victory upon Bracken's face.
"Very well," Ronodin said, his eye was quite possibly twitching. "You can keep it, for now, my love." The victory vanished from Bracken's face as Ronodin's melded into one consisting of a smirk.
"We are leaving now." Ronodin announced, "Cousin, will you come peacefully? Or will we use other alternatives?" His grip on Kendra tightened.
"I'll come peacefully," Bracken held out his wrists to Ronodin, who promptly bonded them with a rope. Where he got the rope, Kendra had no idea. Ronodin also secured a gag around his mouth.
"Can't have you manipulating my girlfriend," Ronodin explained as he fastened the gag. Even though Bracken had a gag, it wasn't hard to see the curses flowing through his mouth.
"So what now?" Kendra asked.
"We relocate." Ronodin said, "But first I have a small errand for us to run."
A Former Love And A Lover. Shall I Choose?