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The Unknown Victim

It was not long after that Brigid was properly introduced to the Princes in the Belfry Lieu and Sinha that their uncle Aslan arrived and compared to Lion-O, he was quite unlike what Brigid had been expecting. He was four feet and four inches tall, a dwarf with a blind left eye and a withered left arm to match. Upon seeing Brigid, Aslan turned to an Evabon on his right and asked: "Who is this, Mark?"

Mark was a lime green-skinned Evabon standing at a height of five feet and nine inches with a set of scars upon his countenance that would have looked handsome on another man, but only made him look ugly. The voice that came out of his mouth was bizarrely unique with an extreme nasal tonality spoken entirely in mumbles that Brigid could not quite understand. She could understand her friend Kernunnos, whose facial deformities had led to a speech impediment of the worst kind, but Mark had no facial deformities that could have caused such a speech impediment and Brigid had no idea if she would be here long enough to learn to understand Mark's speech as she had that of Kernunnos.

Turning to Lieu, Brigid asked: "W-What did he say?"

Lieu immediately responded with an honest, yet deadpan: "I have no idea."

"He said 'Am I supposed to know every Evabon in Thundera?'" Aslan answered, stroking his chin. "Yes, quite right. Who are you, girl?"

"Brigid."

Again, Mark mumbled something and Aslan nodded, saying: "Yes, there are many Brigids. Who is are your parents?"

"Brutus and Calpurnia." Brigid could only hope there was such a couple in Thundera.

Once more, Mark mumbled something and Aslan commented: "Yes, I had no idea the two were together either, let alone had any children."

Brigid felt her stomach begin to climb up into her ribcage, figuratively, of course. That just was not something that Evabon anatomy was capable of. No race descended from humanity had a body capable of that. Still, she had heard the feeling described as such and it was an apt description. What if Mark met with Brutus or Calpurnia at some point? She had just picked two names out of thin air she did not think there had been any Evabon here with those names!

"Can she play with us, Uncle?" inquired Sinha.

Aslan, the Half-Blind Dwarf King of Thundera, stroked his chin for a moment as he eyed Brigid. Finally, he said: "Your brother Lieu is twelve and you are ten, Sinha. Why would you want a six-year-old for a playfellow?"

Twelve? It seemed Brigid has misjudged Lieu. He seemed a year older than he was. Still, being mistaken for six a second time in one day was something she to be a little bit irritating.

With her arms crossed, Brigid uttered: "I'm eight."

Aslan raised an eyebrow for a moment before saying: "Yes, indeed."

Brigid was tempted to exclaim "But I am!" Instead, she just stared at the King of Thundera… This was an ancestor of Lion-O? She was not sure if she saw a resemblance.

"What brings you here, Uncle?" inquired Lieu. "Is something wrong with our sister? Our mother?"

"They are both fine." Aslan replied. "Your mother Leeuwyfie is being the same annoyance at court she typically is, and your sister Iuaneshe may soon be married into the House of Tsavo."

"Father never would have arranged such a marriage!" Sinha exclaimed.

"Your father, my brother, is dead." Aslan said bluntly. "I rule Thundera now and I need every house available if we are to defeat that upstart Starlion. While your father lived, I was the second greatest warrior in this kingdom, now I must continue where he failed by ending this civil war. Come, Mark!"

And with that, Aslan made his departure with his Evabon companion following, his visit cut short by something as small as perceived criticism. In Brigid's eyes, Aslan was not half the person Lion-O was… Metaphorically speak, of course. Brigid had no reason to think of someone solely based on their height.

Turning to the two princes, Brigid said: "Your uncle seems… Tense."

"He is always tense when he suddenly turns to the subject of war." Lieu stated. "It is simply the way of things. Leading Thundera's armies is now his job. Would you like to join us inside the Belfry?"

Brigid's red eyes stared at the mammoth structure before her. Even Wilusa, a city of ruins built upon ruins did not look as this building did. Wilusa was beautiful, it was home, but this place… It made her think of how adults would say to children "Don't go to this place or this thing will get you!" What would get her here? Asad's angry ghost?

"What about your uncle's ghost?" asked Brigid.

"If he hasn't gotten us since we've been here, you are okay." Sinha replied.

"W-What did he to do to get put here?"

Nonchalantly, Lieu answered: "Oh, you know. He led a rebellion against our father, murdered a servant girl he accused of poisoning his wife, you know, typical middle son things for the royal family of Thundera."

Typical middle son things? Brigid was agog, she was aghast. Was this the family that Lion-O had been born into and Tygra adopted into?

"How did he die?" Brigid inquired, her stomach now well into her ribcage.

"He tried to escape and ended up drowning in the pool of water in the courtyard." Answered Sinha, not at all bothered by this.

"How long ago was this?"

"Five years, I think." Lieu answered.

"Have you seen his ghost?" asked Brigid.

"No, but the Belfry is plenty haunted, so his ghost must be here!" Sinha replied.

Brigid was not entirely convinced, but still, it being considered "plenty haunted" did not make her feel better. Why had the Red Star brought her back to this time? Why had it brought her to this place?

"Come on in, it's a nice place!" Lieu exclaimed, holding out a hand.

Her red eyes wide, Brigid stared at the prince's hand. Dare she take it? Dare she enter the Belfry of Thundera with its ghosts?

Her gaze turning to Lieu's eyes. They were blue like those of Balor, her dearest friend in all the world and the one she was arranged to marry when she turned sixteen. Maybe they were not exactly like Balor's, but still, they were similar.

Taking the hand of the elder prince, Brigid was led into the Belfry of Thundera and immediately she felt a chill run down her spine. What was that saying some cats used? Like someone stepped on her grave? For someone who came from a culture that predominantly cremated their dead, even one whose village had been "Thunderanized" Brigid had never really understood the expression until then.

Turning her head to the pool of water where Asad had drowned during his attempted escape, Brigid wondered if his ghost would appear from there and wet footprints would be seen leading from it. Perhaps she would see.

Or maybe it was something else.

Walking over, Brigid peered into the pool. All she saw was her own reflection, her red eyes staring back up at her. Why should she have expected Asad to be staring up at her?

"Is something wrong, Brigid?" Sinha inquired.

"I just thought I was going to see something." She answered, sounding a little bit disappointed.

"It isn't always what you see, Brigid." Commented Lieu. "Sometimes it is what you feel."

What one felt? Brigid could understand that. In this place, the Belfry of Thundera, she felt like she was away from home, in the middle of a rainstorm and there was no shelter. Although she did not want to show it, she was scared, scared of what she might encounter. Why had the Red Star sent her back here? What was the reason?

Taking a deep breath, Brigid sat down and dipped her feet into the water. She might not have been able to swim, but she could do this.

Her red eyes stared hard into the water that Asad had drowned in and for a moment thought that she was going to see him before he pulled her down into the water to drown her. Sighing in relief, when no such thing happened, Brigid heard a sound… What was it? Wind? No, there was no wind, it must have been someone shouting from nearby.

Having splashed her feet in the water enough, Brigid stood up and rejoined the princes. "Forgive me." She uttered, giving a curtsy. "I suppose I was just… uncertain about this place."

"It grows on you." Lieu assured her.

Brigid could only wonder how a place such as this could possibly grow on a person. Wilusa, a city built upon ruins, may have seemed strange, but it was never so sinister looking as the Belfry of Thundera, never so oppressive in appearance. Wilusa was full of mysteries to even its inhabitants, but while its mysteries were inviting, Brigid could not help but feel that whatever mysteries the Belfry had would cause nightmares of the worst kind.

As Brigid wondered, she stared past Lieu and what she saw caused her to stand on tiptoe in fright. From out of a doorway walked two guardsmen, carrying a stretcher. On the stretcher was body, was a body and resting between the body's right arm and torso was its head.

Pointing at guardsmen, Brigid asked in alarm: "Who is that?"

Both Lieu and Sinha turned to see what Brigid was pointing at, yet as they began to turn, the guardsmen and the stretcher vanished. Taking a few steps back, Brigid felt the edge of the pool behind her.

Turning back, Sinha inquired: "What did you see?"

Brigid explained what she had seen and Lieu answered: "Oh, them. They show up from time to time."

Her heart racing, Brigid asked: "Who is the body?"

Shrugging, Lieu replied: "I do not know, just someone who was executed long ago. What does it matter?"

"Haven't you asked anyone? Haven't you been curious?"

Sinha answered: "Sure, but they do not know who he is anymore than we do. He is just a victim whose ghostly body people see!"

"Many people have been executed here, Brigid." Stated Lieu, placing a hand on the Evabon girl's shoulder. "It is just a fact."

Just a fact? Brigid could only wonder what else was just a fact around here.

For a moment, Brigid stared once more into Lieu's eyes, before looking past him to where the apparitions had been. The guardsmen, the stretcher, the beheaded body with its cranium under its arm, they were still gone. Why did she expect something else? Why did she expect them to be there once more?

Sighing, Brigid said: "If you say so." Almost forgetting where she was, Brigid began to turn. When she did remember where she was, she looked down at the pool and quietly said to herself: "Sorry, Asad, I have no interest in joining you." And with that she walked away from the pool, her red eyes scanning her surroundings.

An unknown victim, a member of the royal family who had been imprisoned here, who else was she to see here? Who, what? Brigid could only wonder. Life was filled with beauty and danger, good and evil… Life was strange, to the point even the greatest fiction could not hold up sometimes.

What stories were told of the Cursed Belfry in Thundera during the time of Lion-O, Tygra, Cheetara and the rest? What stories were told of this place when they had lived in that city? What was the truth and what was the myth? What was the fact and what was the fiction and how much of the fact was stranger than the fiction?

Would Balor believe her? No doubt he would, but with how life could be, some things might have been a bit difficult to.

Ghosts were real and at the same time not. It all depended on the individual, there were the true ones and the fakes ones… And Brigid had a feeling she would be seeing many real ghosts.

The only question was… How many was she going to see? She had seen three already, how many more were there at the Belfry of Thundera?