Beyond the Glow

Chapter 15

Kida, the girl who now looks like a young goddess. Her hair is clean of the grime from the streets where I had meet her, and now sparkled platinum blond. Bright blue eyes shone beneath her shabbily cut haircut. My knees give out, and I stare despairingly into her piercing gaze. She radiates beauty and power in waves, much like the water her power comes from.

"What have you done?" I whisper.

Kidas song abruptly stops, and for the first time I see the cruel contraption she's been rigged up to. An iron band is around her neck, and with the pull of a chin it tightens, forcing her to stop singing. Kida coughs, grasping at her throat, and the chain is loosened. I follow it with my eyes, and can see a hole in the wall covered with bar where a guard stands.

The guard holds the chain, his face impassive. He wears the same headgear I had watched Tran put on shortly before we entered the room. Kidas eyes are pleading, and flips to something behind my shoulder before widening in fear. Tran stands behind me, his face is grim.

"What is the meaning of this?" I plead, gesturing to Kida.

"The King has been," Tran hesitates, pondering. "Collecting certain children from the streets, ones who have special 'talents' you might say. This is his latest recruit, one of the last sirens."

Kida looks away, disappointment clouding her gaze. She obviously thinks I don't have the power or the influence to get her out. That I've joined those who captured her.

"Why did you bring me here?" I ask quietly. The chain contraption stays in my sight, reminding me of all the times Cynthia had me in the cellar under her house.

Its not that different honestly. If I just get rid of the echoing screams of other prisoners, and the heartbroken Kida in front of me, its like nothing ever changed.

"I brought you here, because I need your help." His answer catches me off guard. Kida obviously wasn't expecting this either, her head snaps up, and she opens her mouth, nearly bursting with questions.

The guard immediately snaps the chain taut, forcing her to choke and claw at it desperately. Tran grabs my wrist in an unexpectedly tight grip, preventing any sort of escape plans I might have had for Kida, and I watch unhappily as the chain eventually loosens and she catches her breath.

"Stop." Trans voice holds a commanding tone as he looks at the now confused guard. "I no longer need your services. You may go."

"But the King himself put me here sire." The guard uncertainly clings to the chain, torn between his Kings commands, and his Princes.

"If he gives you trouble, tell him I commanded you personally." Tran's voice is firm, final. The reluctant guard drops the chain, and moves to exit the room before looking back.

"I trust you no longer need my services at all Sire?"

"Yes. You are dismissed."

We are all silent until the guard has left the room, after the door shuts with a final sounding click, Tran releases me, visibly relaxing. I rub my wrist, the skin is already turning a bit red. My lamp grows hot against my skin, reminding me of the last time me and Kida met. In a moment, the soreness and red marks disappear. 

"Help?" I finally turn to Tran. Who was watching me, or my lamp, work its magic.

He blinks, and snaps out of his trance, "Yes, help." He takes a second to compose himself, me and Kida scowling impatiently. "My father and I... Have differing opinions on this matter. He is amassing an army. But not willingly. The... Magical creatures, you could say, don't want to be here. I have searched the whole city, and as far as I know, you are; were the only one he hasn't taken yet."