I gazed with bleary eyes at the clock on the wall. What
between worrying about Sadiyah’s case, and explaining to Kallisari the previous
night what was up, I hadn’t gotten much sleep. My research this morning hadn’t
eased my fears any. Sadiyah was definitely mixed up in the wrong crowd, but the
solution couldn’t even be guessed at before I talked with her and found out what
her part in this was.
I got up and rechecked my magical defenses. My
office of MonoKeras, Private Investigations, may look modest and even barren,
but to anyone who is thinking of causing trouble, let me warn you that there
are a lot of magical safeguards and weapons built into the room.
I finally sat in my chair, leaned back, and
tugged thoughtfully on my mane with my front hooves. I glanced at the Neomail
from Sadiyah. Not surprisingly, it was brief, courteous, and to the point:
MonoKeras:
Thank you for contacting me. I will certainly be at your office at three
thirty this afternoon.
--Sadiyah
This morning’s research made me wonder how
ominous this meeting might be. I glanced up at the clock on the wall. Three
twenty seven.
Fortunately for my nerves, Sadiyah stepped
inside a few minutes early. She was dressed in loose-fitting clothing. It was
a bit more daring than her dress of the previous night, though nothing like
her dancing costume had been. It was also blue and purple. I realized that she
hadn’t been kidding about not having any other colors in her wardrobe.
Her Faerie Cadro floated in front of her.
"Good afternoon, MonoKeras," it chirped.
I nodded to Sadiyah. "And to you, Miss
Sadiyah. Won’t you sit down?"
After a couple of seconds to let the Faerie
Cadro wave its arms at Sadiyah, she nodded and took the chair in front of my
desk. I reflected briefly that if she hadn’t been patient before, simply waiting
for everything she wanted to say to be translated should have made her that
way.
She didn’t seem inclined to continue the
conversation, so I braced myself and asked the most crucial question I could
think of. "Sadiyah, may I examine the ankle bracelet on your left ankle?"
She looked puzzled when that reached her,
but only shrugged slightly as she brought her foot up and put it on my desk.
I winced inwardly at the contortion required to keep one foot on the floor while
the other was up on the desk, but it was obvious that she’d done it without
a second thought.
As it turned out, she had three or four bracelets
on that ankle. Finding the one I wanted, though, wasn’t hard. It was the only
black one there. I pulled out two wands and began a careful probing. The knots
in my stomach had eased slightly -- in the worst case scenario, she would never
have given me permission to do this.
I was pleasantly surprised and more than
a little relieved at the results of my tests. I leaned back and gave a whoosh
of relief. I looked at Sadiyah thoughtfully. She looked back at me. As usual,
she won the staring contest.
"I suppose you’re wondering why I did
that."
A few brief paw waves later, Mu’awin’s high
voice gave her answer. "I wonder about many things. But tell me in your
own way."
I smothered my grimace with my hooves. She
could certainly sound obliging, but even then you got the feeling that she was
carefully evaluating you. "Before I do, Sadiyah, could you tell me where
you got this?" I tapped the offending bracelet with a wand.
Understanding flickered in her eyes after
my question was translated, then a look of sadness crossed her features. Her
paws moved slowly, almost reluctantly. "Yes, I can. It was not long after
I became a Desert Kyrii. I was born green, you understand."
I nodded. No surprise there. I hadn’t been
born gold myself.
Mu’awin’s piping voice managed to convey
his owner’s sadness. "A very special friend and I went to the Lost Desert
for a vacation. I suppose we were feeling silly. It was then that we found these
bracelets at a small shop. The owner promised that we would always be together
if we bought a pair, so we did. He lied, I think. I know he was wrong."
"And the matching tattoo?"
Sadiyah gave me a startled smile and her
paw went up to her left eye to tap the tattoo. "You are very observant,
MonoKeras," Mu’awin said. "The shop owner referred us to the pet that
gave us these. It was supposed to seal things between the two of us. It didn’t."
I closed my eyes briefly and let the last
of the tension drain out of me. We still had a huge set of problems, but I knew
now that Sadiyah and I were on the same side.
"You’re lucky it didn’t," I finally
said. "I’d be much more worried if it had."
Sadiyah’s expression changed only slightly
and she tapped a paw in one brief gesture. "Why?" asked Mu’awin.
"Because this is what we call a slave
bracelet." I paused to think of how to explain it, and Mu’awin had time
to give me Sadiyah’s response before I continued.
"I know, the shopkeeper told us."
"He no doubt did," I snorted. "What
he didn’t tell you was that they were Dark Faerie magic. These things produce
slaves -- and/or masters of slaves. Both sides in a relation wear the same bracelet."
A lot of pets would have been spooked at
the mention of dark faeries. Everyone knew, and most feared, their reputation
for cruelty and evil. Sadiyah never even blinked. She made the usual series
of paw motions to her petpet. "It sounds intriguing, but I fail to understand."
I decided to make it concrete. "If you
had become bound to your friend, it would have been as master and slave. One
of you would have been a helpless servant of the other."
Sadiyah did blink at that one before giving
a rueful smile. "Not much chance of that, MonoKeras. We were both too willful
and stubborn."
I had to snicker. Even with the actual voice
being Mu’awin’s piping, I could fully appreciate the tones Sadiyah would have
used if she hadn’t been deaf. "The shopkeeper knew that, I’m sure. He was
hoping one of you would prove strong enough to overpower the other. With both
of you having strong wills, his job would be accomplished no matter which of
you won."
Sadiyah frowned and her paws quivered a bit
before she made the signs containing her reply. "What job?" Mu’awin
asked.
"Recruiting potential leaders for his
clan."
Sadiyah’s mouth dropped open and she gave
a soundless gasp before she quickly motioned her reply. "Clan. But we joined
no clan."
"Actually, you did… in a way. To be
more accurate, you became a candidate for leadership in it."
Sadiyah looked totally baffled. Finally,
she waved her paws in a wild gesture. "I don’t understand at all,"
Mu’awin translated.
"Dark faeries value strength, and so
do their clans. To become the head of one, you must have a stronger will than
any of the others. By using this bracelet, the shopkeeper was giving you a chance
to exercise that will and control."
"But I never did anything."
"You don’t know how relieved I was when
I figured that out," I replied dryly. "That’s what my examination
just now proved. There’s been virtually no activity, either as master or slave."
Sadiyah locked those deep blue eyes of hers
on me and frowned. I waited a bit nervously for the translation from that series
of motions. "Very well. But what relevance does that have with anything.
You say yourself I did nothing."
I love a good straight line. Pulling out
the dagger, I dropped it on the desk. "It isn’t you that did something,
it’s our dark-worshipping cult. This is their invitation to you. You’ve been
invited to try your paw at the current leadership opening."
"How do you know."
I carefully tapped the relevant parts of
the dagger with the wand I held as I spoke. "First, the color and style
of the handle. Look at the black material with the purple overtones. Classic
dark Faerie The same goes for the ripples in the blade. Only a dark Faerie has
enough cruelty to fully appreciate what those can do. The groove here…"
I tapped the center of the blade itself, "…is called a blood groove. It’s
put there to let you pull your dagger out of your victim more quickly. The final
clincher comes from the designs in the handle grooves. Look at the designs formed
here and here…"
I waited for Sadiyah to say something but she
didn’t. I looked up to find her and Mu’awin in furious sign conversation and
sighed to myself. I’d gotten ahead of them and hadn’t even realized it. After
a minute, Sadiyah looked at what I was pointing at and nodded. Then I realized
I’d forgotten what I was going to say.
For once, Sadiyah filled in for me. "I see.
They look like my tattoo."
"Exactly. I did some research on those marks,
and found that there is a cult in the Lost Desert who uses this to mark people
of high Kartrah."
Mu’awin’s head spun to look at me before he turned
back to translate that. It seemed to take even longer than usual before Sadiyah’s
reply came back. "What is Kartrah."
I rested my muzzle thoughtfully on my hooves.
"Call it strength of will, or life force… perhaps spirit. It’s sort of
a mixture of all of those things. I don’t think there is any exact translation
into modern Neopian. The point is that someone with a lot of Kartrah will be
able to use this-" I tapped her ankle bracelet- "-to enslave others.
It’s the deciding factor, supposedly, in determining a master or slave."
Sadiyah looked at her foot when I tapped her
and quickly slipped it back down to where it was supposed to be. She actually
looked a bit embarrassed about it, though I’m not sure why. After Mu’awin translated
my explanation, she merely looked thoughtful. A few seconds passed before she
brought her gaze back up to me, silently waiting for me to continue.
I dithered a bit. "Before I proceed, I’d
like to test you and see what your abilities really are."
Not too surprisingly, she looked apprehensive.
"How does this work?"
"I set up a design here," I motioned
to my desktop, "and then we use your bracelet to engage in a battle of
wills. The traces of what happened will be left in my pattern and we’ll know
what you’re capable of."
Sadiyah looked far from reassured, but she eventually
nodded assent. I quickly brought out my kit and began sprinkling the dust in
a seven point mandala. "Your foot again, please," I murmured. Sadiyah
placed her left foot on the desk and I carefully centered things in my design.
"Good. Now, when you feel a pressure in your mind, push back as hard as
you can. Got that?"
She visibly gulped and for a second I wondered
if she was going to run out on the spot. But instead she just nodded again.
I put my front hooves in the mandala and activated things. I soon made mental
contact. I shoved lightly and she shoved back. I stared up at her as I increased
my pressure. We locked gazes and the mental tug o’ war continued. Suddenly,
all I could see were two dark blue pools, then that expanded to cover everything
and I blacked out.
I came to with Sadiyah slapping me across
the face. I blinked my vision clear and pulled her paws away. "I’m okay,"
I choked. She looked unconvinced, but let herself be pushed aside. I sat back
up and looked at my design. All seven points of my mandala had been blown to
smithereens. I felt a chill at the base of my spine. The old Kyrii hadn’t been
kidding. This girl was quite literally off the charts.
Mu’awin’s high tones penetrated my mental
fog "Are you okay?" I nodded. "Did it come out okay?" I
nodded again, sighed and sat back.
"Very much so," I admitted. "It
looks like you’re the next High Priestess of the Stone Eye."
Sadiyah’s sharp jerking motions conveyed
her frustration more than her Cadro’s translation could. "But I don’t want
to be any High Priestess."
"You don’t have much choice," I
replied. I lifted the dagger and waved it gently in one hoof. "This is
made to be used. Whoever succeeds at the trials is almost certain to… eliminate
the competition."
Sadiyah didn’t reply, but the set of her
chin showed that she was still unconvinced.
"Look, in a situation like this, there’s
fight or flight. Do you want to be on the run from cult members out to ventilate
your heart with one of these?" Sadiyah dropped her gaze, but still looked
sullen. "On the other hand, I would be very surprised if you couldn’t summon
the mental strength to wipe them out in their own contest."
She finally made a few tentative motions.
"Do I have to?"
I shrugged. "It’s either that or become
a fugitive for the rest of your life."
"I don’t like this."
"Me either, but sometimes we get only
bad choices in life."
"I know. I didn’t choose to be deaf,
either."
I gulped as another thought struck me. "Oh,
that’s another thing. We can’t let them know that you’re deaf…"
To be continued...
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