Requiem II: Soul's Honor Lost
by Alisa Joaquin
Part 1: All Hallow's Eve
"NNNOOOO!"
Terror filled his heart and he suddenly bolted up from the pallet covered in sweat. His heart was pounding so fiercely in his chest, he feared it would bring on an early attack. Peter gulped in air as he tried to focus his thoughts and what he had just felt and dreamed. It had been too real and yet . . .'I've got to stop watching those horror flicks that Kermit likes so much,' he thought. 'I'm beginning to have nightmares,' he quipped to himself. Of course, Peter had nightmares for years, but not like what he just had.
Slowly, his heartbeat returned to normal. He rose from the pallet and reached out with his chi and lit the candle by his bedside. As soon as the adrenalin rush was over, he started to shiver. He pulled on the silken robe that laid across the end of the pallet, slipped his feet into a pair of slippers, then rose and walked down the hall to his father's meditation room, now his. He carried the single candle from the sleeping space and began lighting the candles on the altar. It gave him some measure of comfort to see their warm inviting glow, but at the same time, the room felt emptier than it had just a few hours ago.
Three weeks had passed since he had meditated and reached out to touch the essence of his father. His father was fine then, letting him know that he continued to search for the essence of Peter's mother, but no trace of her could be found. Caine had told Peter he had started searching in Paris, each week widening his circle until that circle covered the surrounding countryside. Eight months had passed, and Peter was beginning to wonder if his father was searching for a ghost after all. Then Peter got involved with a few cases at the 101st that required his expertise. He wasn't able to contact is father, until a few hours ago. When he had, he felt, not the warm glow of his father's chi, but a darkness that seemed to swallow him. He had felt that darkness only once before but that was when his father lay dying because his chi had been poisoned. This second time Peter did not want to believe that something could be wrong, but now he wondered if he had dismissed that darkness far too soon, and because he did, the result was the dream that he had experienced.
The thought that something could really be wrong with his father chilled Peter. He had to know if what he dreamed was real, even a foreshadowing of what was to come. And if it was, then it was imperative that he locate his father as quickly as possible and bring him out from whatever darkness had swallowed him.
Kwai Chang Caine was no longer at his father's home in St. Adele. He woke to find that once again, he had wandered the countryside without his knowledge, but this time, he had not returned to his father's cottage. Instead, he found himself in a small well-lit room, the walls the color of honey. Clerestory windows framed three sides of the room. The windows were small, barely even large enough for a child to climb through and clearly out of reach for an adult. They were designed to let light through, but not to allow anyone to escape. Where was this place?
'Where am I?' Caine thought. When he sat up in bed, the small cot that he found himself on creaked with the shifting of his weight. When his feet touched the floor, however, he discovered that they were no longer bare, but were covered in bandages stained with his own blood. Somehow, wherever he had wandered off to, Caine had managed to badly cut his feet. Caine looked around the room and discovered other things as well. First, his hat, coat, and pouch were missing. Secondly, his feet were not the only things that were covered in bandages. The sleeves of his shirt had been rolled up and his forearms bared two white bandages as well. As he staired at the bandages questioning their presence, a lock was turned in the only door that exited the room. Caine could not help noticing that the door was made of iron.
A man entered carrying a tray followed by a woman with long red graying hair.
Caine's eyes became wide when he spied her face. "Laura," he whispered.
Continues with Part 2
