Chapter 47: Chapter 47

MIKHLAS

Mikhlas knew, before he even opened his eyes, what he would find. He could hear the heartbeats of two young, terrified boys not far away from him.

The pain in his arms and shoulders told him he was strung up, hanging. The smell of blood mixed with a distinct hint of an acidic plant in the room told him that Iry was hurt.

He took stock of his own body before he opened his eyes. ~I’ve been hanging for a while.~ His arms felt like wet cloth, his shoulder a bloom of pain. ~It’s dislocated again, and hanging like this is just causing more damage.~

He listened to the rest of the room. Three slow hearts were beating, one he recognized immediately.

~Silian is here, asleep by the sounds of it.~ The other two were slower, weaker. Amy and Izzy. He couldn’t hear anyone else.

He slowly opened his eyes and looked around. First, he saw Iry, lying on the floor, unconscious, a thin trail of blood still oozing from her head. Then, he saw Izzy, strapped to a chair, her head hung low.

Amy hung from her arms in a skintight synthweave uniform from the ship.

Not too far away from her, Silian lay on the floor, his body mauled and covered in blood. He turned his head to the side and saw James and Lucas, both strapped to a chair a few feet apart.

“Mikhlas. You awake?” James asked.

“Yes,” he croaked, his throat dry and his mind still trying to gather itself.

“Is my mom alive?” James asked, looking at Izzy.

“Yes, she is asleep. I can hear her heart. It’s slow and steady,” he said. “Are you all right?” he asked, looking at both boys.

“I think so,” James said, glancing at his brother. Besides being scared, and his face wet from tears, Lucas looked fine.

“Do you think you can get out of that strap?” he asked Lucas. The boy looked small enough. His wrists were like thin branches.

“I can try,” Lucas said as he began to wriggle in the chair.

Mikhlas tried to lift himself up by the chain. His arms screamed at him and he clenched his jaw against the pain.

He managed to get his feet halfway up before he had to stop and he fell back down, the chain rattling with the effort. The jerk made his shoulder pop out even more, and he grunted in pain and anger.

He closed his eyes and took it in. Let his anger fuel him but he couldn’t summon anything, his head still felt thick with mind-numbing clouds.

~Now is a good time to get very, very angry.~ He waited but felt only pain. The drugs they used on him. ~That’s why I feel so unfocused and dizzy.~

“Mikhlas, are you okay?” James asked.

“I’m fine,” he said, not looking at the boy.

“Your shoulder is dislocated again. I can see it,” James said.

“I know. Don’t worry about that now. Try and get free of those straps,” Mikhlas said.

“Are we going to die?” Lucas whispered, his lips trembling. ~He’s still such a little boy.~

~What do I say to that?~ He looked at Lucas and decided, ~Lie. Tell that scared little boy what he wants to hear. This might be the last hour he has.~

“We are going to get out of here, Lucas. The Sentinels won’t let you die,” Mikhlas said.

He felt a lump build in his throat. He knew that if it came to it, he could not do anything to protect them. And that killed him inside.

“Mom! Mom, are you okay?” James’s voice broke his thoughts. He looked at Isabelle as she stirred. She lifted her head and tried to focus blurry eyes.

“Isabelle, can you hear me?” he asked.

She looked at him and smiled. “Heeeyyyy,” she said.

“Are you hurt?”

“Nooo. I’m fiiiine,” Izzy said, sounding drunk.

“Shake your head.”

“Huh?” Izzy asked, looking up at him.

“Shake your head, as hard as you can,” Mikhlas told her. She smiled and began shaking her head. She stopped, and her head fell forward again.

“Mom!” James shouted.

“It’s all right. She will be fine. The drug needs to be dislodged from the brain. She will wake up soon,” Mikhlas reassured him.

“What the hell…,” Izzy said to herself.

“Mom?” James asked.

“James. James! Oh, God. Lucas, are you guys okay?” she asked, her eyes clearer now and more focused.

“We’re okay. Are you?”

“I think so. Mikhlas?” she said looking at him. She looked around the room, and he saw her begin to panic.

“Isabelle, calm down. Everyone is alive.”

“Are you sure?”

“I can hear all their hearts.”

“How do we get out of here?” she asked, pulling at her restraints.

“We are working on that,” he said, looking at Lucas.

“I can’t get my arms out,” Lucas said with tears falling down his face. “It’s too tight.”

“Lucas, honey, look at me. I’m right here, baby. I won’t let anyone hurt you,” she said to him. He nodded, but Mikhlas could see he wasn’t convinced.

“Where is everyone else?” Izzy asked.

“How many others were there?” Mikhlas asked, his heart sinking at the thought that his crew came after him, and they were now dead.

“I don’t know. Some of the crew were there, and there were some rebels as well,” she said.

Mikhlas closed his eyes and dropped his head. ~I’ve failed the crew again. Some of them are gone because of my choice to trust Bakron.~

A shuffle by his feet, and he opened his eyes to see Silian waking up. Silian shifted his leg and Mikhlas saw his feet bound to a ring in the floor. He rolled onto his back and looked up.

“Captain, your rescue didn’t go as planned,” Silian said.

“Silian, are you all right?”

“Yes. But I cannot move.”

“Give it a few minutes. The drugs affect everyone differently.”

“Where are we?”

“The basement. Prisoner detention.”

“Where is Dakira Izzy?”

“I’m right here, Silian,” Izzy said.

“And Amy?”

“She is here. She is alive,” Mikhlas said.

A dreamy smile crossed his face for a moment. “What about everyone else?”

“The princes are here. They are unharmed. Iry, however, is not doing well. See if you can move, Silian. She needs help.”

Mikhlas looked at the tiny frame of the woman lying on her side on the floor, the blood pooling around her head.

“Ugh!” Amy’s voice came from next to him.

“Amy. Are you all right?” Silian asked.

“No! I feel like I drank five bottles of tequila and slept on a rock,” she said.

“It will pass. Are you hurt?” he asked.

“Just my head. And my arms are killing me.” She looked up and then down. “That would be why.”

“We need to get out of here,” Izzy said.

The bolt on the door slid and then the door opened. “Bring the impostor,” Kasana said.

“NO!” Mikhlas yelled out.

“Mom!” Lucas shouted.

“Leave my mom alone, you fucking bastards!” James screamed.

“It’s okay, baby. I’ll be fine,” she said as the men simply picked up the chair with her in it.

Everyone started shouting, but Mikhlas looked into Izzy’s eyes and saw the message she was sending him.

All that mattered now were her boys. She begged him with the look she gave him to help them. The door shut behind her, and she was gone.

In his mind, Mikhlas felt angry, but his body didn’t feel it.

“What are they doing to her?” James asked, his face wet with tears.

“I don’t know,” Mikhlas said.

“Why doesn’t she use her flame?” Lucas said. “Infernia should help her, right?

“I don’t know,” Mikhlas said, looking down at Silian. He started to move. Only his feet and hands, but better than nothing.

The door swung open again, and the men came in. They looked around and stopped on Silian. They dragged his limp body out of the room, and the door closed again.

“What are they doing?” Amy asked. Mikhlas simply looked at Amy, and he could tell she understood. She clamped her jaws shut as tears ran down her face.

He knew now that they would be taken to their deaths. When the door opened again, and the soldiers approached him, he felt relief. ~This may be my only chance.~

Before they released his arms, one of them spun him around, and he felt the sting of a blow pin at the top of his neck.

The pin was a small explosive device. If he tried anything, they would blow out his spine. As they released his hands, he fell to the ground with his arm hanging painfully, and his side stinging from the wound.

The men grabbed him by the arms and pulled him up before shoving him to walk forward, and Mikhlas obeyed. He gave Amy and the boys a nod as he walked out.

They shoved him down a gray hallway lined with hostile-eyed guards toward a door at the end. Several of the soldiers spat on him as he walked past, and he heard mutters of “filthy traitor.”

As he wiped the spittle from his face, stepping through the door he saw a room half the size of his ship’s bridge, a dozen guards lining the steel-gray walls.

His eyes were drawn to Izzy, her dark hair a tangled mess spreading down her back.

Silian knelt in front of her, his hands tied behind his back and his body limp. Mikhlas ran his eyes over the room, taking note of where the only window lay, as harsh light from outside interrogated every corner of the room.

“About time you dragged this worthless trash in.”

Mikhlas looked at Kasana as she ran her sneering gaze over him.

“Let us begin.”

The men escorting him bound his arms behind his back, his dislocated shoulder burning with pain at every movement. They kicked the back of his legs, and he fell to his knees next to Silian.

Kasana stepped forward, examining the three of them as if they were new toys. She stopped in front of Silian, using one of her claws under his chin to lift his eyes to her mocking gaze before turning cold eyes to Isabelle.

“Bring one of the boys as well. The older one,” she commanded.

“No! Leave them alone!” Izzy shouted at her. “Leave them alone, you fucking bitch!” she repeated.

Kasana stepped across to her, her heeled boots clicking on the floor.

“A bitch, am I?” she said, grabbing the front of Isabelle’s shirt in a clawed fist. “Perhaps I should let my men take turns with you before we begin. Let your son watch?”

“Leave her alone!” Mikhlas barked.

Kasana looked across at him. “You know men. I think the Captain ~likes~ the little slut.”

She stepped over and whispered in his ear. “Did the Captain fall in love with the Queen? What a shame you’ll have to watch her die. Love is such a rare and precious thing, or so I’ve heard.”

Mikhlas stayed quiet, focusing on Isabelle’s eyes and the naked terror in them. Tears ran down her face, and there was nothing he could do.

The guards came back into the room, and James struggled between the two huge men. With negligent ease, they bound his hands and feet and shoved him to his knees beside Silian, facing his mother.

He watched his mother as his tears spilled.

Kasana waited until the guards left the room, and walked around until she stood behind Isabelle. One of the men handed her a long, thin knife, and she took it from its sheath, watching Mikhlas with a cruel smile.

“Summon the Sentinels,” Kasana said behind Izzy.

“I can’t,” Izzy said, trying to turn to look at her.

Kasana stepped close, resting her elbows on Isabelle’s shoulders, the sharp blade waving back and forth in front of her face. “Summon them, or I will kill one,” Kasana said.

“I would if I could. But I don’t know how,” Izzy said.

“Do you take me for a fool?” Kasana asked, slapping her across the back of her head.

“I know Infernia rests inside you. I know Garia came to assist you in the forest. Now summon Prime or Aquaria or I will cut someone’s throat,” Kasana said.

“Okay. Okay, I’ll try. Just, please, don’t hurt them,” Izzy said and closed her eyes.

Mikhlas desperately tried to think of something. The sight of Kasana holding that blade so close to his love infuriated him. He looked around the room.

“You men know what Kasana is asking her. There sits the ~real~ Chosen One. How can she summon the Sentinels if she is not the Chosen One? How?”

“Oh, these men know that, Captain Mikhlas,” Kasana said with a smug smile and stepping away from Isabelle and toward him. “You’re looking at the newest group of nobility that I shall endorse when I take the throne.”

“When ~you~ take the throne? I thought Zaftar was behind these plots.”

Kasana laughed again. “No, did you really think Zaftar stood behind this move? My lover is a cunning man, but he is too cautious by half. Now summon the Sentinels, or I shall kill one of these.”

“I’m trying.”

Kasana moved behind James, curling her claws into his blond hair and lifting his chin. “Try harder.”

Izzy closed her eyes, and Mikhlas could see she tried with every fiber of her being. She shook her head and tried again.

“I am running out of patience,” Kasana shouted, pressing the knife to James’s throat.

“Mom?”

“No! No, don’t hurt him. I’m trying.”

“Not hard enough.”

Izzy closed her eyes again and focused. Mikhlas heard her heart begin to race, and when she opened her eyes, he could have sworn he saw a flicker of flame in them.

“It’s not working. Something is blocking them,” Izzy said, looking at James.

“Fine if you will not summon Prime or Aquaria, then Morkai,” Kasana said and with a quick move, she slid the blade across James’ throat.

Mikhlas watched in horror as a bright-red fountain of blood sprayed out, splashing across Izzy’s horrified face.