Hello everyone! *crickets chirp* *clears throat* anyway... next chapter is here! And introducing a new character! Well not technically a 'new' character considering you do actually see someone in the cell in-game, but a 'new' character in the sense that he will be having a much bigger role in my story then he did in the game. Have I piqued your curiosity yet?
The next stop was the gallows.
Melody eyed the water under the hole in the floor. She hadn't seen any of the monster fish so far, but that didn't mean that they weren't there waiting for her to fall in.
Reaching carefully, she managed to grab hold of the trapeze-looking bar. Sitting on it, she pulled on a rope and rode all the way to the top.
The place was so quiet. She kept a close eye out for guards, but there didn't seem to be any. She hurried over the walkway to the prison and began hunting for the masked man. They couldn't have already feed him to Jaws, could they? No, she would have heard or seen it.
The fourth cell she looked into was the only one occupied.
Even though she had been expecting it, indeed had been looking for him, it still made her jump.
At least that's what she told herself.
She wasn't about to admit that she had been startled by how dangerously and ruggedly handsome he was.
He had hair that was dark brown, almost black, and hung to his shoulders, slate colored eyes and a face that could have been sculpted from granite. Add to it the football-player-sized shoulders and a belted waist any bodybuilder would have killed to call his own and Melody was fighting the urge to fan herself.
She couldn't stop her mouth from sliding open, but she did manage to keep her tongue from hitting the floor.
He glanced up darkly and his expression didn't change much when he recognized her.
He jumped to his feet and all 6'2 of him strode over to her. Even though there were bars between them, Melody still took a step back reflexively.
He began speaking sharply in another language that wasn't D'ni. Could it be Rivenese? Either way, there was no way she was going to even try and make sense of what he was saying.
"Hold on a minute," she said, holding up her hands to stop him. "I can't understand you so I doubt you'll understand me, but I'm here to get you out. Let me find a way to open this door," her eyes darted around and lighted upon a wheel off to the side that looked promising. "I think I just found it. Hang on, I'll have you free in a sec."
He didn't respond and she could only hope he got the message.
The wheel was heavy and hard to move, but she kept at it. "This is in return for you getting me out earlier," she told him as she worked. "I suppose you wear that mask to scare people. Don't see why you'd need it though. One look at you coming at me and I'd be running away with my tail between my legs."
She didn't expect a response and she didn't get one. It was like when she had found Atrus. She had been by herself for so long that she just had to talk to somebody.
It took her a full five minutes to get the door open enough for him to squeeze out. She wiped the sweat from her forehead and waited.
Nothing happened.
"Uh... buddy?" she called. "I don't know when some guards will come along so I think we should move. Dude?"
She peeked inside and gasped.
The cell was empty.
Melody stood inside the cell, her mouth working but no sound coming out.
It had finally happened.
She'd completely lost her mind.
There had been a man in here. A massive, mouth-watering-ly gorgeous man. How could he just disappear?
He couldn't. There must be something she was missing.
Starting with the wall by the door, she examined every inch of the walls of the cell from floor to ceiling. It shocked her that no one came along and found her in there. Was everyone afraid she had a disease or something? Had Gehn ordered them to stay away from her? He had to know she was here by now. He had to know Atrus had sent her. What was he planning to do to her? Capture her? Hold her hostage along with Catherine? Feed her to his pets?
That last thought made her pale so she forced it from her mind.
After a while her hand encountered a slight crack in the wall. It ran from the floor to the ceiling in too straight a line to be natural. Pushing with all her strength, she felt a rush of excitement when the wall slide open to reveal a secret passage.
From her trip to Stoneship how could she not have guessed before?
How had the prisoners made this without anyone knowing?
A new thought occurred to her. Had the secret passage been written into the Age? But how? Had Atrus or Catherine written in after they'd trapped Gehn here? But what would be the purpose? And how had Mr. Gorgeous known about it?
The only way to find out would be to follow it and see where it led.
It led to a tunnel that wound around underneath the prison. Glowing orbs in ornamental sconces lit the way. It was cool and she could hear the pounding of the ocean above her. The walls seemed sturdy, but she hurried just the same. Although she could think of worse ways to die than trapped underground with Mr. Gorgeous.
The long tunnel ended up at a heavy wooden door that she expected to be locked, but swung open easily. She was a little shocked by that. She was so used to figuring out elaborate locks that to find an unlocked door was slightly unsettling.
"Hello?" she called softly as she entered. "Dude? You there?"
But the large circular room was empty.
She squelched the stab of disappointment at not seeing Mr. Gorgeous and wondered where he had gone. The only door she could see was the one she'd come in.
The majority of the floor was taken up by a large area encircled by upright stone tablets that came to her knee. Each tablet had an animal carved into it. In front of the tablets, across from the door she had entered, was a series of circular rocks that grew larger as they went out. It reminded her of rings in a tree. In the center of the circular rocks was the symbol of a dagger. The same dagger she had seen throughout Riven.
The daggers weren't Gehn's but the mark of these mysterious masked people. And the animals obviously had something to do with the wooden eyeballs she kept finding. She had already discovered that the symbols were the D'ni number system. Checking her notebook, she realized she had found four eyeballs so far. The only one she hadn't been able to mark down had been the one out in the middle of the lagoon. Since the ones she had found were marked 2-5, the missing eyeball had to be number one. Was that all there were? If so, that meant a five animal tablet combination. She had to find a way to get to that eyeball and see what kind of noise it made.
And since Mr. Gorgeous was no where to be seen she decided her only option was to go back the way she had came.
Melody found herself hoping that she hadn't seen the last of him...
Amazingly the door to the prison was still open. Maybe the guards had not bothered to close the door on an empty cell.
After spending nearly half an hour puttering around in the sub/train she finally gave up on getting close enough to see the ball in the water. There had to be another way. There was always another way.
She had just climbed out of the sub at the entrance of the village when she heard running feet.
Oh sure, she thought sarcastically, now the guards show up.
Two men chased her all the way into the jungle, shouting at her the whole way. She supposed they were telling her to stop, like that was going to happen.
By the time she reached the other side of the jungle her lungs were burning. Leaning over with her hands on her knees, she tried to catch her breath. There was no possible way she could keep this up. These guys were marathon runners and she was out of shape.
Her eyes caught the mine cart from before. At least she could hide in it til the guards were gone and she could plan her next move.
She took a precious second to dig in her bag and pull out her comb, tossing it far up the path toward the cable car. Hopefully they would think she'd gone back to Dome Island. She crouched inside the cart and waited.
Within seconds footsteps raced past her. They stopped abruptly and from the rapid speech she guessed they had found her comb.
She breathed a sigh of relief when they once again took off running toward the cable car. But she couldn't rest long. They'd see the cable car was still there and know she was still on the island. She leaned back against the side of the cart. At least she could catch her breath for a moment...
The cart began to move. She was so startled she didn't think to get out before it was too late. It went down a steep hill, gaining momentum each second. Melody screamed when the cart went flying through an underwater tunnel, a tunnel that was made by glowing red rings. She'd known there was something weird about the water in Riven. Apparently Gehn had discovered how to manipulate it and had used it in another form of transportation. All she could do was sit back and enjoy the ride toward another island.
So there you have it. The now dubbed 'Mr. Gorgeous' has joined our little Myst family.
Melody : Myst family? All you have is me and this guy that you only have made up.
Me : Hush up or no cookies for you!
Don't forget to review to let me know people actually read this. It encourages me to keep going.