by Leyton, Bisi
Throwing off his blanket, he saw he was now dressed in red pajamas. The moment his foot touched the marble floor, one of the doors opened.
Lluc entered, accompanied by two brown-eyed brunettes and Nular. The only reason Lluc would dream of bringing Thayns into Bach’s bedchamber was because these were Lluc’s other Favorites. “I hope I am not intruding? How are you feeling?”
“How long was I asleep?” Bach rubbed his face, relieved that his headache was gone.
“Almost a day, but nothing to be concerned about.” Lluc placed his hand on Bach’s shoulder. “That is to be expected after what Alba did. When she pulses you again, you could be out for days.”
“Welcome Eminent Bach, we have missed you so much.” One of the girls walked up to Bach and knelt before him. “Your brother was so worried and to see a great man like Lluc so concerned makes us all so sad.”
This aggravated Bach. With the exception of Wisteria, his views of humans hadn’t changed.
“Nia, get up.” Lluc perceived Bach’s discomfort. “You are embarrassing me.”
She pouted. Instead of obeying Lluc, the Thayn wrapped her arms around him affectionately.
“Nia!” Lluc snapped. “We agreed you and your sisters could come if you promised to be silent.”
“I was very quiet,” the girl whispered to him innocently. “I’m like a mouse.”
“Nizzar and Nular, they are being quiet.” Lluc pointed to the other girls.
Nizzar stood eagerly, watching him like she wanted to devour and worship Lluc at the same time. Nular looked betrayed.
“I’m so sorry, Eminent.” Nia’s brown eyes filled with tears. “What should my punishment be? I don’t want to ever hurt you again.”
“Nia, she is the new one?” Bach ran his hands through his hair with frustration.
“Yes, she has not learned how to desire and obey. Right now, all she wants is me. She needs to learn obedience. You remember how annoying new Favorites can be sometimes.” Lluc chuckled as he avoided Nia’s grasp.
“I do not remember because I have never used them,” he replied.
“Really? Enric and Felip told me you had something on Terra.” Lluc pushed Nia away. “Nia, enough!”
“I’m sorry. I’m really confused about this. I know you have to punish me, but I’m sorry.” She staggered away from Lluc and started to weep.
“And for that you are going to punish her?” Bach bent down to help Nia who now lay sobbing at Lluc’s feet.
The girl moved away from him.
“What? No!” Lluc laughed and took her away from Bach. “I do not punish my Favorites. She will eventually learn to obey me when she accepts that obeying makes me happiest.”
Nia clung tightly to Lluc as he helped her to her feet. “I’m here to serve you, sir. Do with me as you wish,” Nia muttered through her sobs.
Bach watched his brother whisper something to Nia that clearly cheered her up. Looking at Lluc’s two other Favorites, they seemed envious of the attention Nia was receiving. Although they were upset, they didn’t move from where they were standing.
“Nia, Nizzar, and Nular, go out now. I will be out in three hours,” Lluc said.
The Thayns left the room as Enric appeared at the door.
Bach gestured for him to come in.
“How many Favorites do you have?” Enric asked as the three Thayns left.
“No one needs more than one,” Bach added.
“Each serves me in a particular way,” Lluc explained. “Nizzar is a martial arts expert and she keeps my technique sharp. Nular organizes my life and sings beautifully. And you know how much I love music. Nia, well?” He grinned. “She is good for other things.
“But I hear your Favorite is musical too—allegedly,” Enric remarked.
“So how many do you have now?” Bach asked Lluc.
“At last count, you had forty-six,” Enric piped in.
“Sixty Thayns and three Favorites at the moment,” Lluc replied. “With this virus, there is a shortage of interesting Favorites, but every now and then I still find one. He looked over at Bach. “But you have not told me about your Thayn. Why did you not bring her with you?”
“I do not see how this is relevant to anything,” Bach replied with a testy tone. “I have been gone over seven hundred and one days. I want to concentrate on regenerating and return home, brother.”
“Indeed.” Lluc folded his arms.
“I am done talking about the island,” Bach maintained. “We went to get the obsidian coral and we got it.”
“I suppose that makes sense. Besides, with the attention you have gotten from the Terrans and Red Phoenix, your little friend must be quite popular now,” Enric said.
“Why do you say that?” Bach asked.
“Bach, we spent three hundred years creating Red Phoenix and they spent thirteen hundred years trying to destroy us. They exist only for that purpose and they will not give up just because you escaped,” Enric reminded him.
“You should have used a piron net on the tower,” Lluc remarked. “That would have shielded you from their consciousness.”
“We did not because we were certain they had all been destroyed.” Enric defended.
“Clearly they came back. And if they tracked you down once, they will keep trying.” Lluc laughed. “Though they will find journeying here somewhat out of their reach.”
“Did you not say we had nothing to fear about Terrans?” Bach reminded him.
“The Red Phoenix are not ordinary Terrans, they are monsters.” Lluc said. “I would bet my own Nular’s life that the fake obsidian coral came from them.”
“So you are saying the people who almost killed us will track me back to the Isle of Smythe?”
“Probably.” Lluc shrugged
“What will happen when they get there and find I am gone?” Bach asked.
“Red Phoenix will level it to the ground.” Enric grinned. “They have a thing for killing their own.”
“But I know what I can do,” Lluc interjected. “This is my best idea yet.”
“What?” Bach asked eagerly. His mind now locked on Wisteria and how she was in true danger now.
“You have always loved music. Nia has a sister Nadina who is incredibly musical as well. And she is in the castle,” Lluc continued calmly.
“Brilliant!” Enric agreed. “Anyone for me?”
“Huh?” Bach was lost because he did not see what a musical Thayn had to do with the problem of the Red Phoenix.
“Nadina will be a decent temporary Favorite for you until we return home,” Lluc announced. “Then you can find a proper girl.”
Of course, neither of them saw the lives of a Terran as anything more than a joke. “I have to return to Smythe.” Bach rose. He had to warn the island or at the very least take Wisteria away.
“Why would we want to do that?” Lluc seemed bewildered.
“Because.” Bach paused as he thought of Wisteria. “I do not have to explain myself to you.” He got to the doors of his room, swung them open, and found the three Favorites standing right outside the door. “I am finished with Lluc.”
“Bach, stop!” Lluc yelled
Nizzar and Nia rushed toward Lluc as he emerged, almost knocking him off his feet.
“Sit,” Lluc called out to Nizzar and Nia, but only Nizzar obeyed. “Nia, please sit with your sisters.” He pushed her off him again. “Or I will not be happy.”
Bach left Lluc to deal with his admirers and walked along the dark marble corridors.
“Eminent, consider what your brother’s asking,” Nular said while blocking his path. “This won’t end well.” With that announcement, she stepped aside.
He raced through the halls of the castle, reaching the main entrance. The passageway and path beyond eventually led to the Astolat River and the thresholds on the mountains.
Somehow, Lluc was already at the doorway waiting for him. And this time, he was alone. “Once upon a time, you would have been able to beat me her
e. Living with the Terrans has weakened you. You need to regenerate.”
“Lluc.”
“Bach, please, before you do something irrational. Rest; let all the Terran poison be purged. If you still want to go back? Then we will discuss it.”
“The people who came after me almost killed me. But if we all go together? You, Enric, Alba, Felip, and me, they will not stand a chance against us. This time we would not be taken by surprise,” he reasoned.
“Red Phoenix are animals. I have no interest in playing their games and neither should you. Bach. Red Phoenix and the people of Smythe must resolve their matter, without our interference.”
“Red Phoenix are only going there because of me!”
“Once you have fully recovered, we can go back. Your next encounter with Red Phoenix will be short and swift,” Lluc answered arrogantly.
“Alba’s full pulse could knock me out for days. I would need that to fully heal. If Smythe is attacked today or tomorrow, by the time I arrive, Wisteria could be dead!”
“Wisteria? You are speaking of Wisteria, the daughter of Lara from Red Phoenix? Colista-Bren-Navida-Dor-Elson-Elsner-Havash…” Lluc started reciting Bach’s real name in a loud voice.
A true Famila name was sacred and rarely spoken aloud. The last person to ever call Bach by his true name was his mother. Publicly naming Bach was like whipping him in public.
“Shut up!” Bach screamed and lunged at his brother. “There are Thayns here.”
“You want to kill yourself for an animal? Then let them call you by your name. Let them know who you truly are,” his brother yelled.
Thayns were passing by and they turned to stare at the shouting match.
“Leave us, leave us now!” Lluc yelled at them.
“Lluc, help me or step aside.”
“Bloody qwaynide, Bach! Do you think I will not beat you down because you are my brother?” Lluc’s green eyes darkened.
In Bach’s current state, he knew his brother would succeed.
“I will break every bone in your body if I have to, to stop you from seeking her out again,” Lluc threatened.
“Again… what do you mean again?” Bach noticed Lluc’s fingers started to glow in anger.
“You cannot imagine what I sacrificed to protect her—a Terran—for your sake. Imagine the humiliation I faced when the Sen learned I did not kill her, knowing she had contaminated you.”
“You are not making sense.”
“You almost went through Mosroc and bonded with that beast. The bond would have been impossible to break. Why are you trying to rebuild it?”
The Mosroc bond was something that happened between a couple late in life. In the days he’d spent with Wisteria, Bach had neither the strength nor desire to bond with her, not on that level.
“Lluc, I am not even forty; it is impossible for me to have gone through Mosroc, talkless of with a human,” Bach replied. “I truly do not have time for this now.”
Stepping forward, Lluc lunged at him, knocking Bach to the ground. “If you try to renew her, you will lose your mind! You will run mad, but I see now that Father was right; they are a disease. I was stupid to think that because you were young when it happened that you would move past this.”
Bach started to rise to his feet as his head started to pound, feeling worse now than he did when he arrived.
“If I had known that Wisteria was your Terran, I would have come to the island myself to take you and destroy her,” Lluc seethed.
“You are responsible for why I do not remember her?” Bach realized. “You did something to make us both forget!”
“Yes, Bach, I assured the Sen you were not affected by the Terran madness. If you returned home the way you were our father would have killed you.” Lluc grabbed Bach and pushed him down.
“Get out of my way!”
“Our mother came to Terra with you for a day. One day, they took you and her, because she trusted them. They used you for their research and they created the Nero disease. You were put in a cage like an animal, Bach. An animal! They had already murdered our mother. Ah!” he screamed and fell to the ground, unconscious.
Standing behind him was Enric. His fingers were glowing with blue light; he’d pulsed Lluc. “Go and find yourself,” Enric squatted over Lluc. “He will wake up in two days, completely furious. You need to be back by then.”
“This is not…a good…idea,” Felip stuttered as he appeared behind Enric. “Lluc is right. Red Phoenix is dangerous to us.”
“You have to leave before Alba or her father finds out,” Enric implored.
“What will you tell him?” Bach asked.
“That you have gone to complete your Great Walk. There is no shame in that.” Enric started to lift Lluc up. “My father is Lord of Jarthan, so Lluc cannot do anything to me here.”
“Why are you helping me?” Bach asked.
“Because you are my friend,” Enric replied. “But you must renew her this time or kill her , so it will finally be over.”
“We have to go now,” Felip called, while sprinting through the final passageway to the bridge.
CHAPTER TWENTY–FIVE
The next day, Wisteria ran up to Garfield while carrying his crossbow and a quiver of arrows. He was standing outside Rupert’s house. “I got your note.” She stopped in front of him, panting. “At first, I didn’t get what you meant.”
All Garfield had written was: I’ll use my skills to get into the house. See you at eight.
“What are you thinking? Are you going to hold them up with your bow and arrow in the middle of the afternoon?” she commented. “And I’m not even armed.”
“You do really have a dark rage inside you,” he teased while walking over to the Fletcher’s gate, leaving her standing on the side of the road.
“Garfield, no don’t.” She hurried after him.
“Wisteria, I’m not going to rob them.” Garfield knocked on the door.
“Garfield,” she exclaimed, grabbing his hand and yanking him away from the door. “This isn’t a game. I wasn’t saying we should go inside their house!”
The door opened and Vic appeared. “Are we ready to do this?”
“Do what?” she whispered.
“You really don’t remember much,” Garfield teased. “We promised Vic we’d give him some archery lessons. Me more than you.” He grinned at her. “Because you’re rubbish at it.”
“And this is going to be a good idea on a morning when we’ve got to be at school?” she asked.
“Yeah, Blair said they come down hard on kids for missing school.” Vic let them in. “Fortunately, our garden has high walls. Unless they have a helicopter, we’re fine.”
Soon, the boys were in the back garden, playing soldiers and drinking moonshine that Garfield had procured from Thomas Clarkson.
With Vic adequately distracted, Wisteria slipped back into the house. Creeping through, she had no idea what she was looking for. Slowly, she moved through the house. As long as she could hear Vic and Garfield’s voices outside, she was okay, she hoped. There wasn’t much to look through. The rooms barely had any furniture. The Fletchers seemed to have very little.
After thirty minutes of wandering, she decided to leave because she’d been unable to find anything. As she moved to the stairs, someone walked into the house. She ducked into the nearest room. This room was better furnished than the rest of the house. There was a large dresser and queen-sized bed. Hearing someone walking up the stairs, she slid under the bed. Seconds later, the person walked into that very room. All Wisteria could see was the person’s feet as he or she walked over to the window.
“Vic! Why aren’t you in school? Do know what they’re going to do to us if they find you?” A woman called out.
Wisteria realized that it was Brenda Fletcher.
“Oh shut up, woman,” Vic shouted back. “It’s just one day!”
“Vic, you know we’ve spoken about this,” his mother whined.
Wisteria saw the woma
n walk over to the dresser and a drawer opened and closed. “It’s Brenda.” She suddenly spoke with a South African accent.
She was using a mobile phone? How was that possible? Wisteria hadn’t seen a working phone in two years.
“No, removing the child will be easy. Lara will be a problem, but nothing a bullet won’t solve,” Brenda kept speaking.
There was a silence and Wisteria’s hands began trembling.
“But we have a bonus; Dr Edmund Hu is here too. Yeah, that’s right. He’s actually here, on this island. He goes by the name of Silas Cheung. You wouldn’t believe it, but he’s a mathematics teacher.” Brenda laughed. “I know, it’s hilarious.” She paused again. “I agree. We might as well kill him, since we’re here. He’s the only one who could possibly figure out a real cure—if such a thing were possible.”
There was more silence.
“No, this won’t distract us from getting Wisteria.”
Wisteria felt sick. This made no sense. She had nothing to do with anything.
“She’s very weak. I cannot believe she is the daughter of one of the greatest Red Phoenix there ever was. I’ll be doing Demi a favor when we free her of the burden of that pathetic child,” Brenda laughed coldly.
The man on the phone laughed and Wisteria could hear it echo from the phone.
Then the drawer opened and shut again. Brenda left the room.
Wisteria waited a few moments until she heard the woman talking outside. Shimming herself from beneath the bed she stopped when she saw a loose floorboard. She looked at the slightly elevated wood, unsure what to do, and then crawled back under. Prying the board up with her nails, she found nothing. When she started putting the floorboard back, she saw something glimmering. Reaching in, she brought out four gold rings. They all had the same insignia on them, a red fire bird. It was a phoenix and Wisteria knew she had seen this symbol before. Her mother had one of these. She stuffed the rings in her pocket and sped down the stairs as Vic and Garfield returned.
