The Time of the Titans

Chapter 24: The Red-headed Girl

The dawn greeted our expedition as we came out of the forest path and arrived at the gate of the Base. The red-headed girl was still unconscious when we carried her to the gate. Casper, the friendly ghost in ninja gear, who had replaced his chosen brother Pablo at the gate's tree guard, nearly fell off his platform when he saw our burden. Agile like a squirrel, he climbed down from the treehouse to the gate and dropped in front of us.

He stared at the girl and could not even utter the obvious question.

"We don't know who she is", said Master Emilio anyway. "We'll find that out once she wakes up."

"Can I help you somehow?" enquired Casper, unable to release his eyes from the captive.

"You'd better keep your guard post, Casper", said Emilio. He sounded calm and wise but added a smirk. "With a better thought, I should talk to Denis and ensure the guard's enhanced. This maiden's pals might try to strike against us after what we did."

Casper, disappointed, climbed back to his sentinel's post and we took the girl to the Gemüt House, the same building where my room was. Emilio sent Sid to get the custodians, and Ivan to find Marwan, so the latter could take a look at Ivan's minor battle injuries. As for me and Gio, Emilio asked us to wait until the custodians came. The red-headed girl had been placed on a bed. We loosened the ties binding her wrists and ankles, so they wouldn't go numb, but recalling the attitude manifested by her combatant sisters, we thought better to tie them to the edges of the bed. We removed her boots, and also her metal necklaces, which could have been used to saw the straps.

The room was similar to mine. The window had bars, the bed was squeaky, but there was no oil-lamp there. It was not needed, as morning had dawned. Voices of the waking Base started sounding from across the yard. The birds of the forest burst out singing at the moment when sun climbed above the horizon.

"What do you think?" asked Emilio, looking at us.

"I think she's beautiful", said Gio.

"That wasn't what I meant", said Emilio, but he gave a kittenish smile at Gio. Then he cast an enquiring glance at me. "What about you? You should understand more, you're older than us."

"I wonder if it matters at all in this case", I said. I wasn't even sure what Emilio meant by his question. But something now returned to my mind – something I had noticed but had been too busy to report back to him. "In the cave", I said, "I found the weapon used by the mahi who attacked me. The one Gio killed. The weapon was the same crowbar that was stolen from our camp when Mary and the girls were taken. I'm sure it wasn't in the camp in the morning. Yet now the mahi had the crowbar. It proves this was the same group that attacked us in our first night on the island. The one who took Mary and the girls."

Emilio nodded approvingly. "Right deductions, Mikael. You've begun to read the signs. But what do you think about this girl and the two other women who got away?"

I spread my hands. "I don't know what to think, Emilio. You're as wise as me on the matter, if not wiser. It seems these girls are older than your group, yet a bit younger than me. The brunette archer seemed to be the eldest among them and I assume she was their leader."

"And I took the blowpipe from her like a lollipop from a child", boasted Emilio and took the blowpipe from his belt. "This one." He wagged it in front of us.

I was still preoccupied by my thought concerning the age of the three warrior women. "I presume they're too old to be the same girls who once came with you from Atlantis?"

"You're right", said Emilio. "I've never seen these three before."

He seemed puzzled. I understood why. They hadn't had adult visitors for three years – none since the Grand Master had concealed himself. Now, suddenly I showed up here, and only a couple of days later, three warrior women appeared.