by Kailin Gow
I gulped down a ball of rage as I saw the Catcher shove the child along, separating him from his mother. Though I managed to control myself at first, I lost it when the child began to wail. I stopped walking and immediately felt Liam’s hand at my back, pushing me along.
We emerged from the busy room through another set of double doors and were once again a dark but glistening corridor.
“Don’t even think of doing anything about what you see here. This isn’t the time.”
“But that was a child.”
“I know, Kama. I know. Believe me, it kills me to see what’s happening here, but there’s nothing we can do to stop it. Not yet. Not now.”
Inhaling a long deep breath, I took in his words and knew he was right. Making a scene now would serve absolutely no purpose.
“And I’ll warn you, what you just saw is nothing. Please control yourself as we go on, because, I promise you; it’s not going to get any easier.”
“I’ll control myself,” I promised. “Thanks for the warning.”
After another endless corridor we came to a small, narrow door that was almost impossible to see. The same charcoal as the walls, there was no window, no hinges and no doorknob.
I only learned it was a door when Liam put his hand to it and it silently opened.
“Don’t gasp. Don’t be shocked. Don’t panic. And for heaven’s sake, don’t faint.” Liam calmly entered the huge room.
Despite his warning, I couldn’t control the gasp that rose to my throat and the tears that sprung to my eyes.
The ceiling of the large circular room rose several hundred feet above us. The first twenty feet were lined with three rows of Magical Ones, harnessed into place, unable to move, unable to escape. Above them were endless rooms of small bottles, each housing a Magical One.
“This is impossible,” I whispered.
“If only that were true.”
I kept my gaze hard and unmoved as I scanned my surroundings, but inside I was falling apart. I wanted to gag, to throw up, to scream.
This was the true workings of Arcadia. This was where the illusion of perfection Pim Seer created was actually brought to light. Before each Magical One was a small bottle… the obvious threat of imprisonment a constant reminder of what will happen if they don’t comply.
Several Catchers stood on guard, watching the Magical Ones and ensuring they maintained the illusion that was Arcadia. Intent on their prisoners, no one paid attention to us and we roamed free and undisturbed.
But inside, I was disturbed beyond anything I could have imagined and in that moment, I knew I belonged here. I had to stay in Arcadia. I had to team up with Liam and rid Arcadia of all its ugly little secrets.
“They’re all so miserable,” I muttered. “What a bleak existence.”
“It’s hard to swallow the fact that my father is behind all this.”
“Don’t take it so hard, Liam. I’m sure he had a lot of encouragement. I mean, your dad didn’t do this all on his own. He had Sanz, remember?”
“Thanks for trying to make me feel better, but I know what my father is. It may have taken a while for me to figure it out, but now that I know… well, I won’t let him continue with the illusion he created. If Arcadia is ever to be truly perfect, it will be so for everyone.”
“I think it’s great what you want to do, Liam, but you do know the incredible battle you have ahead of you. I mean, between what’s going on here and what I saw at the Coliseum, there’s a lot of ugliness in Arcadia and there are a lot of people who seem happy to have it that way.”
“Was it really that bad… the Coliseum?”
“You know the monsters you conjure up as a kid, or the monsters that invade you dreams at night? None of that compares to what really happens in the Coliseum. And it’s not just what happens in the arena, the ultimate moment of torture for those prisoners, but it’s also the inhuman conditions in which all those prisoners are kept. They’re just barely kept alive in order to put on a show for all those…” I gazed at the Catchers who continued to guard over the poor miserable Magical Ones.
“I didn’t know it was this bad on this end either. I’d been told about a few Magical Ones who’d been hired to maintain my father’s illusion, but I had no idea these were the conditions they were kept in.” Liam gazed up at the bottled djinns. “Especially them.”
“Between the djinns here and the Arcadian citizens at the Coliseum, we sure have our work cut out for us.”
Liam turned to me, his eyes wise, almost cunning. “If things were so tough at the Coliseum and you found yourself at the mercy of those dogs, how did you manage to get free?”
“Part magic, part paternity.”
“Come again.”
“I concentrated on what I really desired, though I didn’t really realize at the time what I was doing. Well, what I really desired was to see the Coliseum disappear and, for a while, it did.”
“You did that?”
I heard the surprise and admiration in his voice.
“Yeah, but only for that little while, then the Coliseum and all its ugliness reappeared, but it reappeared and began to crumble, really crumble. The ceiling cracked open and began to fall apart.”
“And?”
I leaned in closer to him. “And that’s when my father came in and swept me off to safety,” I whispered.
His eyes shifted nervously around the large room, as though he feared the mere mention of my father would send the Catchers into a frenzy.
“We better get moving before someone gets suspicious or realizes who you are,” he said.
Chapter 7
“How are we ever going to find Torrid among all these djinns? There are hundreds of bottles.” I’d already noticed that he wasn’t among the Magical Ones who were hard at work.
“I don’t think they would have put him here with everyone else. There’s a list on the wall over there. It’s meant to keep track of all the Magical Ones; the ones who are bottled, the ones that are presently at work, and the ones on a legitimate break.”
“They get legitimate breaks?”
“Sanz came to realize that if pushed for too long, the Magical Ones ended up losing too much power, so he put them on a schedule; thirty six hours on then an hour off.”
“How generous,” I grunted.
“I’ll go have a look at the list, see if I can’t find Torrid on there.” With great authority in his stride, he walked to the electronic pad on the wall and scanned the list.”
“Can’t you just punch in ‘Torrid’ and do a search?”
He shook his head. “If I do that, they’ll know I’m looking for Torrid. It’s better if I just do a visual scan.”
As he scanned the list, I looked up at the wall filled with bottles. Would they really keep Torrid, a royal djinn, here among so many Magical Ones?
“Liam,” I whispered. “What if they’re not keeping Torrid here at all? What if they decided he’s too important to be kept with all the others? What if they’re keeping him somewhere else?”
Nodding he continued to scan the list. “That’s exactly the conclusion I’d just come to. He’s not on the list. Not only is he not here, but they’ve not even divulged that he’s in the building at all.”
“So how do we go about finding him?”
“Let’s get out of here.” He led me out to the hall and stopped. Scratching his head, he looked at me. “I’m afraid I don’t really know where to lead you from here. This building is huge and he could be anywhere. For all I know they might be keeping him in my father’s private office or they could have decided to chain him up in the utility room down in the basement.”
Upset, I tightened my jaw and turned away from him.
“I don’t want you to think I’m deliberately misleading you.”
“No,” I said, turning back to him. “I know you're doing your best, Liam.”
Without saying more, I started to walk down the hall.
“Kama?” Liam followed behind me. “Kama,
where’re you going?”
“I don’t know. To find Torrid.”
“Where?”
“I don’t know. Somewhere… down this way.” I turned to the left as we arrived at an intersection.
“Kama, this hallway leads to the workers’ quarters... the Catchers’ quarters.”
I stopped as we came to a door that opened onto a stairwell. Up or down? I closed my eyes. I could feel Torrid. He was close and I wondered if he wasn’t even calling out to me. I didn’t perceive a distinct message, but I felt I was getting closer.
“In here.” I pushed the door open and immediately headed for the steps that led up to the next floor. “He’s up here.”
“Kama, wait. You're randomly guessing.”
“No. I know what I’m doing. I know he’s up here.”
We emerged two floors higher and came upon a posh, elegant and distinguished passage lined with thick oak doors, wall sconces and covered with plush carpeting.
“Whoa,” Liam muttered as he stepped up behind me. “I’ve never been up here.”
“The executive floor, I take it.”
At the other end of the hall I spotted three Catchers standing guard.
“And where else would you keep someone as important as a djinn prince.”
Liam looked at me and grinned. “Guess your intuition was right.”
But as I took a step toward our goal, he grabbed my arm and stopped me. “Not so fast. What do you think you're going to do once you get there? They’re three of them and I have no doubt there’s another Catcher inside with Torrid.”
“I thought I’d improvise. Do you have a better idea?”
He checked his watch. “We’re about ten minutes before the change in shift.”
“We’ll go in and replace two of them,” I finished.
“Walk at my side and don’t lag behind. Keep your focus strong, stay cool and don’t forget that you're just one of them. That said, let me do the talking.”
My shoulders brushed against his as we walked side by side. Knowing I was about to find and save Torrid, I felt strong and sure, and it came through in my stride.
“Hey, Noj. Long shift?” Liam said. He nodded to the two other Catchers.
Intimidatingly large, all three guarded the door in a rather lax and casual manner.
“Not bad. Pretty quiet,” Noj said. “You got clearance to come guard up here?”
“I have the highest clearance I can get. Pim Seer personally appointed me to this task.”
“Sorry, no offence. It’s just that I was told Millen Conroy, Amite Lunerlang and Duron Thegh was relieving us.”
“Duron is on his way up, but Millen and Amite got caught up in some hassle down in the ward.”
The leaner Catcher shrugged. “I don’t really care who relieves us, so long as we can get out of here. This is the dullest duty I’ve ever been assigned to.”
“And what?” the last Catcher whined. “I get stuck having to wait for Duron?”
Liam walked past them to the door, turned around and effectively blocked the passage with the breadth of his shoulders. Tilting his head toward me, he said, “Between the two of us, I think we’re more than capable of guarding the door. Duron will surely be here in a minute or two.”
“Sounds good to me.”
They walked away, eager to move on to something more exciting.
I looked at Liam. “I didn’t think it would be that easy.”
“Let’s not celebrate too soon. Like I said, there’s probably at least one other Catcher in there, and chances are he won’t be so quick to let us take over.”
“Why so pessimistic? This was a breeze. These guys are bored out of their mind and are more than willing to let us take over.”
“That might be the case for those assigned to guard the door. The guys that are assigned to personally, face to face, guard a djinn aren’t the kind of guys you mess with.” His hand on the doorknob, he looked at me. “Again, let me do the talking.”
He opened the door and peered inside. Pale and wide-eyed, he shut the door and leaned back into it.
“What? What’s in there?”
He closed his eyes and groaned while beads of sweat poured down his forehead. “It’s Zanlord.”
“What’s Zanlord?”
“It’s not a what. It’s a who. He’s only the biggest and most powerful Catcher I’ve ever come across. He hates djinns with a passion. When he’s down in the ward he makes every Magical One sweat with fear. He pushes them well past their breaking point and last week, three died under his watch.”
I swallowed the ball of fear that quickly grew and tried to control the flow of tears that threatened to break my composure. Torrid was in there with this djinn hating monster.
“Don’t worry, Kama. Torrid is valuable property. No matter how much Zanlord hates djinns, he knows how to follow orders, and I have no doubt he was ordered to keep a close watch on Torrid all while ensuring his safety.”
“Okay, that’s a bit of a relief. Then again, what are the chances we succeed in subduing this Catcher?”
“You mentioned earlier that you were able to conjure up magic.”
I nodded.
“How fined tuned are these magical powers of yours?”
“I’m afraid it’s still a little hit and miss.”
“Do the best you can, and remember, we only have a few minutes.” He took in a long, deep breath, hardened his gaze and opened the door.
We entered the large office and I had to swallow the gasp of heartache that grabbed me when I saw Torrid. Housed in a large bottle, he sat, his legs crossed in front of him as he tugged at the leather band on his wrist.
I knew how difficult captivity was for him and it made me want to free him even more.
“What business do you have in here?” Zanlord said.
“Sorry to bother you, but my father sent me. He wants me to bring him an update on his prized prisoner.”
“Tell him he’s fine.”
“Mind if I take a look for myself.”
Zanlord gestured toward the bottle. “Look all you want. He’s right there.”
Torrid looked up. With the eyes of a caged panther he stood and pounded his fist on the glass that encased him.
Before he could call out my name, or give any indication he knew me, I shot him a harsh glare and he calmed down.
“He looks cramped,” Liam said.
“That’s the biggest bottle we have. You know how djinns are usually kept. He’s lucky to have the luxury of so much room.”
“If you don’t mind I’d like to examine him.”
“Afraid that’s impossible.”
“I have my father’s order… Pim Seer, Governor of Arcadia.”
“I’m well aware who your father is, Liam. I have strict orders; I’m not to let that djinn prince out of the bottle, and that’s that.”
I felt the tension rise in the large room. We were getting nowhere trying to charm Torrid free and I knew we’d have to battle for his freedom.
Liam gazed at me. With only the blink of his eyes, he warned me of what was to come.
Zanlord looked quizzically at Liam then turned his gaze to me. After a befuddled moment his eyes narrowed and I knew he’d recognized me.
Before he could act on that recognition, Liam jumped him, smacking his elbow up under the large Catcher’s jaw. Zanlord grabbed his throat as his mind tried to register what had just happened. I know I only had a few seconds before he attacked Liam. If ever my magical powers were to be of help, it would have to be now.
But what? What magical trick could I conjure that would help us win this fight.
“Bind his feet,” Liam called out.
I immediately shut my eyes and envisioned a thick rope that wrapped around Zanlord’s ankles. Opening my eyes, I was pleased to see the very same thick rope I’d imagined around his ankles. Without waiting for another order from Liam, I conjured up a rope to bind his hands.
This time my magic missed the mark and
the rope simply fell over his shoulder, limp and useless. It was just enough to give him time to lash out at Liam. With a fist hard and heavy like a sledgehammer, he swung at Liam’s head.
With a quick blink I put up a temporary shield in front of Liam. Zanlord slammed his fist into the shield and even from where I stood, I could hear his bones shatter.
Letting out a roar of anger, he turned his murderous glare to me. “You! A djinn? All I need is a good excuse to crush one of you lousy creatures.” With his ankles still bound together, he hopped forward and reached out to me with his good hand, his fingers extended as he aimed at my neck.
Startled, I stepped back and missed my chance to put up a protective shield, but Liam intercepted him and though he wasn’t able to cause any damage to the mammoth Catcher, he did manage to keep him from getting his hands on me.
With Zanlord once again distracted by Liam, I conjured a strong wire cable to bind his wrists. I watched the struggle between the strong young warrior and the oversized Catcher, my conjured cable snaking around him as it tried to get a hold of one wrist.
Letting out a snarl of surprise and aggravation, Zanlord fought against the cable as it finally got a good hold of one wrist and quickly reached out for the other wrist.
He was sufficiently subdued and I took advantage of the situation. I rushed to the large bottle in the corner and pulled off the cork. In a plume of violet fog, Torrid rushed out and materialized in front of me.
Thrilled, ecstatic and beyond relieved, I smiled at him and threw my arms around his neck. “I thought I might never see you again,” I whispered into his ear.
Hearing a grunt from Liam we both turned to see him struggle against Zanlord. I gave the big lout a mental push back and he fell into the corner.
“We don’t have much time left before his replacement arrives,” Liam warned.
“I’m still bound by this leather band.” Torrid held the band away from his wrist and tried to pull it off.
Liam whipped out a small jackknife, flicked the blade under the band and rid Torrid of his confinement.
“Have you guys been to the ward?”
Liam and I nodded.
